of description, and the discriminating eye, which, touching on every subject, brings those prominently forward only which, from their intrinsic importance, should attract the attention of the reader. He works out every thing with equal care and minuteness, and, in consequence, the impression produced on the mind of an ordinary reader is so confused as to amount almost to nothing. Like Pevele or Waterloo, in the imitation of nature, (and landscape-painting, and historical description in this particular are governed by the same principles,) he works out the details of each individual object with admirable skill; but there is no breadth or general effect on his canvass, and he wants the general shade and subdued tones, which in Claude, amidst an infinity of details, not less faithfully portrayed, rivet the eye of the spectator on a few brilliant spots, and produce on the mind even of the most unskilled the charm of a single emo tion. Niebuhr's history, however, with all its merits and defects, comes only down to the commencement of the most important era in the annals of the Republic. It is in the empire that the great want of continued annals is felt. Literally speaking, there is nothing, either in ancient or modern literature, which deserves the name of a history of the whole period of the Emperors. Tillemont has, with unwearied industry and admirable accuracy, collected all that the inimitable fragments of Tacitus, and detached lights of Seutonius, Florus, and the panegyrists have left on this vast subject; and Gibbon has, with incomparable talent, thrown, in his first chapters, over the general conditions of the empire, the light of his genius and the colouring of his eloquence. But Tillemont, though a laborious and valuable compiler, is no historian; if any one doubts this, let him take up one of his elaborate quartos and try to read it. Gibbon, in his immortal work, the greatest monument of historical industry and ability that exists in the world, has given a most luminous view of the events which led to the decline and fall of the empire, and erected, with consummate talent, a bridge across the gulf which separates ancient from modern story. But he begins only to narrate events with any minuteness at the period when the empire had already attained to its highest elevation; he dismisses in a few pages the conquests of Trajan, the wisdom of Nerva, the beneficence of Marcus Aurelius, and enters into detail for the first time when the blind partiality of Marcus Antoninus, and the guilt of his empress, had prepared, in the accession and vices of Commodus, the commencement of that long series of depraved emperors who brought about the ruin of the empire.What do we know of the conquests of Trajan, the wars of Severus, the victories of Aurelian? Would that the pencil of the author of the Decline and Fall had thrown over them the brilliant light which it has shed over the disasters of Julian, the storming of Constantinople, the conquests of Mahomet, or the obstinate wars of the Byzantine emperors with the Parthian princes. But his history embraces so vast a range of objects, that it could not satisfy our curiosity on the annals even of the people who formed the centre of the far-entended group, and it is rather a picture of the progress of the nations who overthrew Rome than of Rome itself. There is ample room, therefore, for a great historical work, as voluminous and as eloquent as Gibbon, on the Rise and Progress of Roman greatness; and it embraces topics of far more importance, in the present age of the world, than the succession of disasters and fierce barbarian inroads which long shook, and at last overturned the enduring fabric of the empire. Except as a matter of curiosity, we have little connection with the progress of the Gothic and Scythian nations.Christianity has turned the rivers of barbarism by their source; civilization has overspread the wilds of Scythia; gunpowder and fortified towns have given knowledge a durable superiority over ignorance; Russia stands as an impenetrable barrier between Europe and the Tartar horse. But the evils which the Roman institutions contained in their own bosom, as well as the deeds of glory and extent of dominion to which they led, interest us in the most vital particulars. Our institutions more closely resemble theirs than those of any other people recorded in history; and the causes which have led to the vast extent of our dominion and the durability of our power, are the same which gave them for centuries the empire of the world. The same causes of weakness, also, arc now assailing us which once destroyed them; we, too, have wealth imported from all parts of the world to corrupt our manners, and an overgrown metropolis to spread the seeds of vice and effeminacy, as from a common centre, over the length and breadth of the land; we, too, have patricians striving to retain power handed down to them by their ancestors, and plebeians burning with the desire of distinction, and the passion for political elevation which springs from the spread of wealth among the middle classes; we, too, have Gracchi ready to hoist the standard of disunion by raising the question of the Agrarian law, and Syllas and Mariuses to rear their hostile banners at the head of the aristocratic and democratic factions; in the womb of time, is provided for us as for them, the final overthrow of our liberties, under the successful leader of the popular party, and long ages of decline under the despotic rule imposed upon us by the blind ambition and Eastern equality of the people. A fair and philosophic history of Rome, therefore, is a subject of incalculable importance to the citizens of this, and of every other constitutional monarchy; in their errors we may discern the mirror of our own-in their misfortunes the prototypes of those we are likely to undergo in their fate, that which, in all human probability, awaits ourselves. Such a history never, in modern times, could have been written but at this period. All subsequent ages, from the days of Cicero, have been practically ignorant of the very elements of political knowledge requisite for a right understanding or fair discussion of the subject. In vain were the lessons of political wisdom to be found profusely scattered through the Roman historians-in vain did Sallust and Tacitus point, by a word or an epithet, to the important conclusions deducible from their civil convulsions; -the practical experience, the daily intercourse with Republican institutions were wanting, which were necessary to give the due weight to their reflections. The lessons of political wisdom were so constantly brought home to the citizens of antiquity by the storms and dissensions of the Fo rum, that they deemed it unnecessary to do more than allude to them, as a subject on which all were agreed, and with which every one was familiar. Like first principles in our House of Commons, they were universally taken for granted, and therefore never made the theme of serious illustration. It is now only that we begin to perceive the weighty sense and condensed wisdom of many expressions which dropped seemingly unconsciously from their historical writers, that dearbought experience has taught us that pride, insolency, and corrupt principle are the main sources of popular ambition in our times, as in the days of Catiline; and that the saying of Johnson ceases to pass for a witty paradox, that "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Dr. Arnold has now fairly set himself to work with this noble task, and he is, in many respects, peculiarly fitted for the undertaking. Long known to the classical world as an accom plished scholar, and the learned editor of the best edition of Thucydides ex tant, he is still more familiar to many of our readers as the energetic headmaster of Rugby School; and is to this hour looked up to with mingled sentiments of awe and affection by many of the most celebrated characters of the age. The first volume of the great work in which he is engaged alone is published, which brings down the history of the Republic to the burning of Rome by the Goths; but it affords a fair specimen of the spirit and ability with which the remainder is likely to be carried on. In many respects he has shown himself admirably calculated for the great, but difficult task which he has undertaken. His classical attainments, both in Greek and Roman literature, are of the very highest order; his industry is indefatigable, and he possesses much of that instinctive glance or natural sagacity which enabled Niebuhr, amidst the fictions and chaos of ancient annals, to fix at once on the outlines of truth and the course of real events. His powers of description are of no ordinary kind, as our readers will at once perceive from the extracts we are about to lay before them; and many of his reflections prove that he is endowed with that faculty of drawing general conclusions from particular events, which, when not pushed too far, is the surest sign of the real genius for philosophical history. many Dr. Arnold it is well known, is a Whig-perhaps, we may add, an ultraLiberal. So far from objecting to his book on this account, we hail it with the more satisfaction that it does come from an author of such principles, and therefore that it can safely be referred to as a work in which the truth of ancient events is not likely to be disguised or perverted to answer the views at least of the Conservative party in Great Britain. We are satisfied from instances in the volume before us, that he is of an inquisitive, searching turn of mind, and that he would deem himself dishonoured if he concealed or altered any well-ascertained facts in Roman history. More than this we do not desire. We not only do not dislike, we positively enjoy, his occasional introduction of liberal views in what we may call Roman politics. We see in them the best guarantee that the decisive instances against democratic principles, with which all ancient history, and most of all, Roman history abounds, will not be perverted in his hands, and may be relied on as authentic facts against his principles. Provided a writer is candid, ingenuous, and liberal, we hold it perfectly immaterial to the uitimate triumph of truth what is the shade of his political opinions. The cause is not worth defending which cannot be supported by the testimony of an honest opponent. Every experienced lawyer knows the value of a conscientious but unwilling witness. Enough is to be found in their apologist, Thiers, to doom the French Revolution to the eternal execration of mankind. There is no writer on America who has brought forward such a host of facts decisive against republican institutions as Miss Martineau, whom the Liberals extol as the only author who has given a veracious account of the Transatlantic deinocracies; and we desire no other witness but Dr. Arnold to the facts which demonstrate that it was the extravagant pretensions and ambition of the commons, which, in the end, proved fatal to the liberties of Rome. The Campagna of Rome, the fields of Latium, the Alban Mount, the Palatine Hill, were familiar to the childhood of us all; and not the least de lightful hours of the youth of many of us have been spent in exploring the realities of that enchanting region. We transcribe with pleasure Dr. Arnold's animated and correct description of it, drawn from actual observation with the hand of a master. "The territory of the original Rome during its first period, its true Ager Romanus, could be gone round in a single day. It did not extend beyond the Tiber at all, nor probably beyond the Anio; and on the east and south, where it had most room to spread, its limit was between five and six miles from the city. This Ager Romanus was the exclusive property of the Roman people, that is of conquered from the Latins, and given the houses; it did not include the lands back to them again when the Latins became the plebs or commons of Rome. According to the Augurs, the Ager Romanus was a peculiar district in a religious sense; auspices could be taken within its bounds which could be taken nowhere without them. "And now what was Rome, and what was the country around it, which have both acquired an interest such as can The hills of Rome are such as we rarecease only when earth itself shall perish? ly see in England, low in height, but with steep and rocky sides. In early times the natural wood still remained in patches amidst the buildings, as at this day it grows here and there on the green sides of the Monte Testaceo. Across the Tiber the ground rises to a greater height than that of the Roman hills, but its summit is a level unbroken line; while the heights, which opposite to Rome itself rise immediately from and Vaticanus, then swept away to some the river, under the names of Janiculus distance from it, and return in their highest and boldest form at the Mons Marius, just above the Milvian bridge and the Flaminian road. Thus to the west the view is immediately bounded; but to the north and north-east the eye ranges over the low ground of the Campagna to the nearest line of the Appenines, which closes up, as with a gi. gantic wall, all the Sabine, Latin, and still distincly to be seen the high sumVolscian lowlands, while over it are mits of the central Appenines, covered with snow, even at this day, for more than six months in the year. South and south-west lies the wide plain of the Campagna; its level line succeeded by the equally level line of the sea, which can only be distinguished from it by the brighter light reflected from its waters. Eastward, after ten miles of plain, the view is bounded by the Alban hills, a cluster of high bold points risfrom the sea, on the heights of which, ing out of the Campagna, like Arran at nearly the same height with the sum mit of Helvellyn, stood the Temple of Jupiter Latiaris, the scene of the common worship of all the people of the Latin name. Immediately under this highest point lies the crater-like basin of the Alban lake; and on its nearer rim might be seen the trees of the grove of Ferentia, where the Latins held the great civil assemblies of their nation. Further to the north, on the edge of the Alban hills, looking towards Rome, was the town and citadel of Tusculum; and beyond this, a lower summit, crowned with the walls and towers of Labicum, seems to connect the Alban hills with the line of the Appenines just at the spot where the citadel of Præneste, high up on the mountain side, marks the opening into the country of the Hernicians, and into the valleys of the streams that feed the Liris. "Returning nearer to Rome, the lowland country of the Campagna is broken by long green swelling ridges, the ground rising and falling, as in the heath country of Surrey and Berkshire. The streams are dull and sluggish, but the hill sides above them constantly break away into little rocky cliffs, where on every ledge the wild fig now strikes out its branches, and tufts of broom are clustering, but which in old times formed the natural strength of the citadels of the numerous cities of Latium. Except in those narrow dells, the present aspect of the country is all bare and desolate, with no trees nor any human habitation. But anciently, in the time of the early kings of Rome, it was full of independent cities, and, in its population and the careful cultivation of its little garden-like farms, must have resembled the most flourishing parts of Lombardy or the Netherlands." We have already adverted to the difficulty of determining where fiction ends and real history begins in the early Roman annals, and the scanty foundation there is in authentic records, for any of the early legends of their history. Fully alive, however, to the exquisite beauty of these remains, and the influence they had on the Roman history, as well as their importance as evincing the lofty character of their infant people, Dr. Arnold has adopted the plan of not rejecting them altogether, but giving them in a simple narrative, something like the Bible, and commencing with his ordinary style when he arrives at events which really rest on historic ground. This is certainly much better than entirely rejecting them; but at the same time, it introduces a quaint style of writing, in recounting these early events, to which we can hardly reconcile ourselves, after the rich colouring and graphic hand of Livy. As an example of the way in which he treats this interesting but difficult subject, we give his account of the story of Lucretia, the exquisite episode with which Livy terminates his first book and narrative of the kings of Rome. And "Now when they came back to Rome, King Tarquinius was at war with the people of Ardea; and as the city was strong, his army lay a long time before it, till it should be forced to yield through famine. So the Romans had leisure for feasting and for diverting themselves: and once Titus and Aruns tus, and their cousin Tarquinius of Colwere supping with their brother Sexlatia was supping with them. they disputed about their wives, whose wife of them all was the worthiest lady. Then said Tarquinias of Collatia,' Let us go, and see with our own eyes what our wives are doing, so shall we know which is the worthiest.' they all mounted their horses, and rode Upon this first to Rome; and there they found the wives of Titus, and of Aruns, and of Sextus, feasting and making merry. Then they rode on to Collatia, and it was late in the night; but they found Lucretia, the wife of Tarquinius of Collatia, neither feasting, nor yet sleeping, but she was sitting with all her handmaids around her, and all were working at the loom. So when they saw this, they all said, 'Lucretia is the worthiest lady.' And she entertained her husband and his kinsmen, and after that they rode back to the camp before Ardea. "But a spirit of wicked passion seized upon Sextus, and a few days afterwards he went alone to Collatia, and Lucretia received him hospitably, for he was her husband's kinsman. At midnight he arose and went to her chamber, and he said if she yielded not to him he would and would say to her husband that he slay her and one of her slaves with her, had slain her in her adultery. So when Sextus had accomplished his wicked purpose he went back again to the camp. "Then Lucretia sent in haste to Rome, to pray that her father, Spurius Lucretius would come to her; and she sent to Ardea to summon her husband. Her father brought along with him Publius Valerius, and her husband whom men called Brutus. When they brought with him Lucius Junius, arrived, they asked earnestly, 'Is all well?' Then she told them of the wicked deed of Sextus, and she said, 'If ye be m n, avenge it.' And they all swore to her, that they would avenge it. Then she said again, I am not guilty; yet must I too share in the punishment of this deed, lest any should think that they may be false to their husbands and live.' And she drew a knife from her bosom, and stabbed herself to the heart. "At that sight her husband and her father cried alond; but Lucius drew the knife from the wound, and held it up, and said, 'By this blood I swear that I will visit this deed upon King Tarquinins and all his accursed race; neither shall any man hereafter be king in Rome, lest he do the like wickedness.' And he gave the knife to her husband, and to her father, and to Publius Valerius. They marvelled to hear such words from him whom men called dull; but they swore also, and they took up the body of Lucretia, and carried it down into the forum; and they said, Behold the deeds of the wicked family of Tarquinius.' All the people of Collatia were moved, and the men took up arms, and they set a guard at the gates, that none might go out to carry the tidings to Tarquinius, and they followed Lucius to Rome. There, too, all the people came together, and the crier summoned them to assemble before the tribune of the Celeres, for Lucius held that office. And Lucius spoke to them of all the tyranny of Tarquinius and his sons, and of the wicked deed of Sextus. And the people in their curia took back from Tarquinius the sovereign power, which they had given him, and they banished him and all his family. Then the younger men followed Lucius to Ardea, to win over the army there to join them; and the city was left in the charge of Spurius Lucretius. But the wicked Tullia fled in haste from her house, and all, both men and women, cursed her as she passed, and prayed that the furies of her father's blood might visit her with vengeance. "Meanwhile King Tarquinius set out with speed to Rome to put down the tumult. But Lucius turned aside from the road that he might not meet him, and came to the camp; and the soldiers joyfully received him, and they drove out the sons of Tarquinius. King Tarquinus came to Rome, but the gates were shut, and they declared to him from the walls the sentence of banishment which had been passed against him and his family. So he yielded to his fortune, and went to live at Care with his sons Titus and Aruns. His other son, Sextus, went to Gabii; and the people there, remembering how he had betrayed them to his father, slew him. Then the army left the camp before Ardea and went back to Rome. And all men said, 'Let us follow the good laws of the good King Servius; and let us meet in our centuries, according as he directed, and let us choose two men, year by year, to govern us, instead of a king. Then the people met in their centuries in the field of Mars, and they chose two men to rule over them, Lucius Junius, whom men called Brutus, and Lucius Tarquinius of Collatia. Every classical reader must perceive the object which our author had in view. He has in great part translated Livy, and he wishes to preserve the legend which he has rendered immortal; but he is desirous, at the same time, of doing it, as he himself tells us, in such a manner that it shall be impossible for any reader, even the most illiterate, to imagine that he is recording a real force of early association, but we can event. It may be prejudice, and the hardly reconcile ourselves to this Mosaic mode of writing the history of the most remote events. Every author's style, to be agreeable, should be natural. The reader experiences a diagreeable feeling in coming upon such quaint and perhaps affected passages, after being habituated to the flowing and vigorous style of the author. It would be better, we conceive, to write the whole in one uniform manner, and mark the difference between the legendary and authentic parts by a difference in the type, or some other equally obvious distinction. But this is a trivial matter, affecting only the commencement of the work; and ample subject of meditation is suggested by many facts and passages in its later pages. cisive evidence which the Cloaca MaxWe have previously noticed the deima and the treaty with Carthage, in the time of Tarquin, afford of the early greatness of the Roman monarchy.But we were not aware, till reading Arnold-even Niebuhr has not so distinctly brought out the fact that at the time of the expulsion of the Tarquins and the commencement of the Republic, Rome was already a powerful monarchy, whose sway extended from the northern extremity of the Campagna to the rocks of Terracina; and that it was then more powerful than it ever was for the first hundred and fifty years of the Commonwealth! The Roman kingdom is compared, by Arnold, under the last of the kings, to Judea under Solomon; and the fact of a treaty, recorded in Polybius, being in that year |