to its effect in taking away that reverence for the gods, which alone could preserve that deep sense of the sanctity of oaths for which Rome, in her better days, had been so distinguished. She had originally established her political system on this fear of the gods; and the people continued, as appears from Livy, to practise the duties of their religion (such as it was) more scrupulously than any other ancient nation. The most amiable of the Roman patriots attributes the antecedent success and grandeur of his country to their conviction "that all events are directed by a Divine power † ;" and Polybius, speaking merely as a politician, accuses some, in his age, of rashness and absurdity, for endeavouring to extirpate the fear of the gods; declaring, that what others held to be an object of disgrace, he believed to be the very thing by which the republic was sustained. He illustrates his position by adducing the conduct of the two great states, one of which, from its adoption of the doctrines of Epicurus, had no sense of religion left, and, consequently, no reverence for the solemnities of an oath, which the other retained in its full force. "If, among the Greeks," says he, "a single talent only be intrusted to those who have the management of any of the public money, though they give ten written sureties, with as many seals, and twice as many witnesses, they are unable to discharge the trust reposed in them with

* Nulla unquam respublica sanctior, nec bonis exemplis

ditior fuit.

+ See Montagu on the Rise and Fall of Ancient Republics.

integrity, — while the Romans, who, in their magistracies and embassies, disburse the greatest sums, are prevailed on, by the single obligation of an octh, to perform their duty with inviolable homesty."

In her subsequent total dereliction of this integrity, what a lesson does Rome hold out to us, to be careful not to lose the influences of a purer religion! To guard, especially, against the fatal effects of a needless multiplication of oaths, and the light mode in which they are too frequently administered! The citizens of Rome, in the days of the younger Cato, had no resource left against this pressing evil, because it was in vain to inculcate a reverence for their gods, and to revive the influence of their religion. But, if even the belief of false gods had the power of conveying political and moral benefits, which the dark system of Atheism annihilated, how earnestly should we endeavour to renovate and diffuse the ancient deference for the true religion, by teaching systematically and seriously to our youth, the divine principles of that Christianity which, in better times, was the honourable practice of our forefathers, and which alone can restore a due veneration for the solemnity of oaths. +

• Hampton's Polybius, vol. ii. book 6. on the Excellencies of the Roman Government.

+ The admirable Hooker observes, that even the falsest religions were mixed with some truths, which had “very notable effects." Speaking of the dread of perjury in the ancient Romans, he adds, "It was their hurt untruly to

attribute so great power to false gods, as that they were able to prosecute, with fearful tokens of divine revenge, the wilful violation of oaths and execrable blasphemies, offered by deriders of religion even unto those false gods. Yet the right belief which they had that to perjury vengeance is due, was not without good effect, as touching the course of their lives who feared the wilful violation of oaths.”—Ecclesiastical Polity.

CHAP. IX.

CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS, WHO WERE CONCERNED IN THE TRANSACTIONS WHICH THEY RECORD.

Or the modern writers of ancient history, the young reader will find that Rollin * has, in one respect, the decided superiority; we mean, in his practice of intermixing useful reflections on events and characters. But we should strongly recommend the perusal of such portions of the original ancient historians as a judicious preceptor would select. And, in reading historians, or politicians, ancient or modern, the most likely way to escape theories and fables is to study those writers who were themselves actors in the scenes which they record.

Among the principal of these is — THUCYDIDES, whose opportunities of obtaining information, whose diligence in collecting it, and whose judgment and fidelity in recording it, have obtained for him the general suffrage of the best judges; who had a considerable share in many of the events which he records, having been an unfortunate, though meritorious, commander in the Peloponnesian war, of which he is the incompar

The writer forbears to name living authors.

able historian; whose chronological accuracy is derived from his early custom of preparing materials as the events arose; and whose genius confers as much honour, as his unmerited exile reflects disgrace, on his native Athens. In popular governments, and in none perhaps so much as in those of Greece, the ill effects of mismanagement at home have been too frequently charged on those who have had the conduct of armies abroad; and where a sacrifice must be made, that of the absent is always the most easy. The integrity and patriotism of Thucydides, however, were proof against the ingratitude of the republic. His work was as impartial as if Athens had been just; like Clarendon, he devoted the period of his banishment to the composition of a history, which was the glory of the country that banished him. A model of candour, he wrote not for a party or a people, but for the world; not for the applause of his age, but the instruction of posterity. And though his energy, spirit, and variety must interest all readers of taste, statesmen will best know his value, and politicians will look up to him as a master. — XENOPHON, the Attic bee, equally admirable in whatever point of view he is considered; a consummate general, historian, and philosopher; who carried on the historic series of the Greek revolutions from the period at which Thucydides discontinued it; like him, was driven into banishment from that country, of which he was so bright an ornament,

“And with his exil'd hours enrich'd the world!"