MODERN HISTORY. BOOK IV. CHAPTER I. A.-1. Octavius assumed the name of Augustus, and of Emperor.-Agrippa had made him victorious. Mecænas had been first in the cabinet. Mecanas, perceiving the revengeful disposition of Augustus, threw a paper to him as he sat on the judgment seat, on which paper he had written the words, "Descend from the tribunal, thou butcher." Octavius, now Augustus, obeyed the wise command. He came down from the tribunal without passing sentence of death on the accused, and from that moment reformed his character. So that if Octavius could be forgotten, Augustus would be blameless. 2. Sylla had retired from the dictatorship, and died in peace. Julius Cæsar had continued in office, and had fallen by the hands of former friends whom his station converted into enemies. Augustus wished to imitate the example of Sylla, lest he should meet with the fate of his uncle, Julius Cæsar. Agrippa advised as Augustus wished. Mecanas opposed both, and was successful in his advice. Augustus continued to act as the pilot on board the good ship of the Roman empire. 3. Virgil and Horace, through the intercession of Mecænas, obtained their inheritances, forfeited by the part which they may have taken in the revolution. They were in the interests of Brutus and Cassius. All learned men, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Livy, were protected by Mecænas. Of these not one was more grateful than Horace. He dedicated to Mecenas: (1) his Odes, (2) his Epodes, (3) his Satires, (4) his Epistles, commencing each of his four works with a suitable address to Mecænas: 1. Mecenas atavis edite regibus O! et præsidium et dulce decus meum.-Odes. Lib. 1. Od. 1. Mecenas sprung from ancestral kings O both my safeguard and agreeable honour. 2. Ibis Liburnis inter alta navium, Amice, propugnacula, Paratus Omne Cæsaris periculum Subire, Mecænas, tuo ?-Epodes, Carmen i. My friend, Mecanas, will you go in Liburnian [ships-(the fleet of Octavius; Liburnus, a mountain of Campania, a country of Italy, of which Capua was the capital)-between the lofty bulwarks of ships (the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra), prepared to undergo all the danger of Cæsar at your own (danger— periculo). 3. Qui fit, Mecanas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortem How comes it to pass, O Mecanas, that no one lives content with that lot (sorte), which lot either reason may have given or chance may have thrown to him (ut, that)-he praises those following things (matters of business) different (from what he follows). 4. Prima dicte mihi, summa dicende Camoena, Ep. Lib. 1. Ep. 1. O Mecænas, celebrated by me in my first muse (camena, a cantû amano, from a lovely song—from a song of the muses, the name Camena was given to them), to be celebrated in my last, do you seek to include again in the old game, me, seen sufficiently, and already gifted with the rod (of freedom). The age is not the same, nor the mind. I have thus translated these passages which prove the gratitude of Horace and the gentle spirit of Mecanas. The "donatum jam rude" is thus explained in a note in Francis's Horace: "Donatum Rude." The Gladiators, in learning their exercises, played with wooden swords, called Rūdes, as we use foils in fencing schools. When they had served three years (in public) they received their dismission, or they received it for any uncommon proof of courage. Or for any uncommon dexterity they were sometimes immediately dismissed by the public, and afterwards wore the rudis as a mark of their freedom. They could not again be compelled to fight, but were usually purchased at a large expense, if ever they appeared on the stage. Gladiators." When any gladiator was wounded, the people exclaimed, Habet vel, hoc habit: He has got it. The gladiator lowered his arms as a sign of his being vanquished; but his fate depended on the pleasure of the people, who, if they wished him to be saved, pressed down their thumbs; if to be slain, they turned up their thumbs and ordered him to receive the sword, which gladiators usually submitted to with amazing fortitude. Sometimes a gladiator was rescued by the entrance of the emperor, or by the will of the editor."-Dr. Adam. CXI. I see before me the Gladiator lie; He leans upon his hand-his manly brow And his drooped head sinks gradually low And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one, Like to the first drops of a thunder shower and now The arena swims around him-he is gone, Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won. CXII. He heard it, but he heeded not-his eyes 5. The genius of Horace has exerted itself in two instances, illustrative of the fact that great poetic or historic genius must record the events of this world's inhabitants or these events-remaining unsung and unrecorded-must perish in perfect oblivion.-Carmen ix. Epodi : AD MECENATEM. Quando repostum Cæcubum ad festas dapes Victore lætus Cæsare, Tecum sub alta, sic Jovi gratum, domo, Beate Mecænas bibam, Sonanti mixtum tibiis carmen lyra Hac Dorium, illis Barbarum? Ut nuper, actus quum freto Neptunius Minatus urbi vincla, quæ detraxerat, Servis amicus perfidis. Romanus, eheu, posteri negabitis, Emancipatus feminæ, Fert vallum et arma miles, et Spadonibus Interque signa turpe militaria Sol adspicit canopium! Ad huc frementes verterunt bis mille eqnos. Galli, canentes Cæsarem : Hostiliumque navium portu latent Puppes sinistrorsum citæ. Io triumphe! tu moraris aureos Currus, et intactas boves? Io triumphe! nec Jugurthino parem Neque Africanum, cui super Carthaginem Terra marique victus hostis, Punico Aut ille centum nobilem Cretam urbibus, Exercitatas aut petit Syrtes Noto; Capaciores affer huc, puer, scyphos, Vel quod fluentem nauseam coerceat, Curam metumque Cæsaris rerum juvat I thus translate this Epode: When, O blessed Mecænas, shall I, joyful in Cæsar Victor, drink with you in a lofty house, thus agreeable to Jove, Cæcuban wine laid up for festive entertainments, the lyre sounding, the song mingled with the pipes, the lyre, the Dorian, the pipes, the Barbarian (Phrygian)? As lately (five years before), when the Neptunian leader (Sextus Pompeius) fled, driven by the sea, his ships left by him being burned (by Augustus), having threatened to the city those chains which he, a friend to perfidious slaves, had taken off (from those slaves). A Roman, alas! Posterity, ye will deny it; enslaved to a woman, a soldier carries a pallisade, and is able to serve wrinkled eunuchs! and, amidst military standards, the sun beholds a base canopy. Indignant at this (frementes ad hoc), the Gauls turned (to Cæsar) twice one thousand horses, canentes Cæsarem, celebrating (wishing health and prosperity and success to) Cæsar. And the swift sterns of the hostile ships lie hidden in a port on the left (Antony must sail to the left, Italy must be on his right hand). Io! triumphe! You delay the gilded chariots and the untouched heifers (boves, fem.) Io! triumphe! You have not carried back from the Jugurthine war an equal leader (1. Metellus; 2. Caius Marius): nor Africanus (Scipio), to whom virtue built a sepulchre over Carthage. The enemy, conquered by land and sea, took in exchange for the punic (purple veste, garment), the mournful cloak (segum). Or he about to go with winds, not his own (suis, i.e. not favourable), to Crete, noble by a hundred cities: or seeks the syrtes exercised by Notus (the south wind; syn, any wind; syrtes, quicksands), or is borne on the uncertain sea. Bring hither, boy, more capacious cups and chian wines of Lesbian, or what may restrain the fluent nausea; measure to us Cæcuban wine. It is delightful to dismiss (or loose) by sweet Lyæan wine the care and fear of Cæsar's affairs (or interests). "Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero Tempus est dapibus, Sodales. "Antehac nefas depromere Cœcubum Regina dementes ruinas Funus et Imperio parabat Ebria. Sed minuit furorem, Cæsar, ab Italia volantem Hæmoniæ; duret ut catenis Classe cita reparavit oras; Tractare serpentes, ut atrum Non humilis mulier triumpho." I thus translate this ode:Now we must drink, now we must beat the earth with a free foot; now was (erat) the time to adorn the temple (pulvinar-a cushion used by the worshippers. It means the temple itself) of the gods with liberal feasts. (Saliaribus dapibus. The Salu were priests of Mars. They were always invited to the feasts of the first order; hence the most sumptuous feasts were named from the Salu. The feasts were given in honour of the gods, who were supposed to be present and to partake of the good things provided. It is easy to imagine how the heathen, when converted to Christianity, carried all these habits of life into the new religion which they had embraced. This will explain the conduct of the Corinthians in their celebration of the Lord's Supper. The apostle Paul corrects their error. They saw not the representative nature of the Eucharist. It represented the communion of the body; it represented the communion of the blood of Christ. They discerned not this representation of the sacrifised body of the Saviour, and made no difference between the Eucharist and a feast in the idols' temple.) Before this it was unlawful to bring forth from ancestral cellars Cocuban wine, whilst the queen was preparing mad ruins for the capitol, and death for the empire (a poetic licence-Cleopatra designed to transfer the seat of empire to Alexandria), with her herd of men, base by contaminated disease, impotent to hope for anything, and drunk by sweet fortune. But scarcely one ship, safe from the fires, lessened her fury; and Cæsar reduced to real terrors her mind, mad (lymphatam-who ever saw a sea nymph, who feared the sea afterwards) with Mareotic wine (Mareotis, a lake in Egypt, near to Alexandria, famous for the vine), urging with oars her flying from Italy, as the hawk (urges) the tender doves, as the swift huntsman (urges) the hare in the plains of the snowy Hæmonia (a country of Greece, called from Emon, or Hæmon, or Emus. Achilles was called Emonius because he was born there. Hamon is the name of a mountain which separates Thrace from Thessaly. It received its name from Hamus, son of Boreas and Orithyia, who was changed into the mountain for aspiring to divine honours), that he might give to chains the fatal monster, who, seeking to perish more nobly, neither in an effeminate manner (muliebriter) has feared the sword (Proculeius forced the dagger from her), nor has she procured (reparavit for paravit) with her swift fleet, latent shores. She dared both to behold with serene countenance her palace lying (in affliction), and to handle revengeful (asperas) serpents that she might suck in her body the mortal (atrum) poison. More ferocious in deliberated death (she had studied the easiest mode of dying), to wit, envying the savage Liburnians (small ships were used by the savage Liburnian pirates-Liburnia in Illiricum-Liburnus, a mountain in Campania. The ships of Augustus are intended), that she-no humble woman-should be brought down-a private woman-in a proud triumph. The metre of this ode is Horace's favourite metre, and is found in thirty-seven odes. It consists of two great Alcaics, one small Alcaic, and one Iambic Dimeter Hypercatalectic. The first two verses are the Great Alcaic.-S. or I.I. Cæs. D.D. The third verse is the Iambic Dimeter Hypercatalectic.-S. or I.I.S.I. Cæs. The fourth verse is the Small Alcaic.-D.D. Ch. Ch. It commences as the Great Alcaic ends, with D.D. Two dactyls. Nunc est | bibendum | nunc pede | libero Pulsan da tel | lus | nunc saliaribus. Ornare pulvinar | Deo | rum Tempus erat dapi | bus So | dales. The Great Alcaic. The Iambic Dimeter The Small Alcaic. I refer to a prosody published by the Rev. Thomas Harding, A.M., A.D. 1819. He uses the word Choree, which is the same as Trochee, long, short Rev. John Walker, once Fellow of the Dublin University, published a full and plain account of the Horatian metresThe school is the place in which these difficulties should be overcome. The grammars, both Greek and Latin, which do not contain full and plain accounts of the metres, peculiar to both the Latin and the Greek poets, are not complete. 1. This ode and the epode show the genius of Horace, to which all succeeding generations of learned men have done homage. I do not desire to undervalue the merits of Horace, or of any composition from the old heathen world. My design is to exalt the estimation of the great men who cultivated language as the conveyancer of thought, and adorned the vehicle without obscuring the material carried. Some have designed to conceal, not convey, the thoughts of the speaker or of the writer." The praise of the genius of the heathen writers has been given by some to the evident undervaluing of the compositions found in the Bible. The closing scene of ancient history is celebrated by Horace in his very beautiful epode to Mecenas, and in his equally beautiful ode to his companions. I now open my Bible. Can it supply me with anything in composition at all to be compared with the beautiful compositions of Horace? I find the song composed by Moses when he had secured the passage of his people through the dry path in the Red Sea, and when he had witnessed the destruction of the pursuing Pharaoh and his host-a composition far in advance of even the refined poetry of Horace, though Moses wrote his song fourteen hundred and sixty years (1460) before the battle of Actium.-Exodus xv. 1-19. I open my Bible and I find, in the fifth chapter of the Book of Judges, the song of Deborah and Barak : a song, as a composition, far in advance of the exquisite elegance, of the polite eloquence, or of the elegant politeness of the gifted Horace. Deborah composed that song twelve hundred and sixty (1260) years at least before the battle of Actium. She determined to leave a lasting memorial of her gratitude to God for the victory which she and Barak had obtained over the great and well-armed forces of Jabin, king of Canaan. Sisera was the general of Jabin's army. By the expression in the song, "The stars in their courses fought against Sisera," is described the fact, that a high wind, and hail, and rain prevailed during the battle. The storm raged in the faces of the Canaanites, and thus threw them into confusion, and caused a panic amongst them; whilst the storm raged in the backs of the Israelites, who preserved their order and must have caused great destruction to their enemies. The perfidious cruelty of Jael, though praised by Deborah (Aeßßwpa) in the fury of her success and of her rejoicing, cannot be considered carefully without feelings of utter disgust. Ehud, the judge, is not more to be detested for his mean and cowardly murder of Eglon, king of Moab. David's conduct, in procuring the murder of Uriah, the Hittite, is in the list of acts worthy of condemnation from generation to generation. B.-1. Herod the Great felt the difficulty of his position. -His friend, Mark Antony, was no more. Cleopatra had sunk into the tomb. Octavius, now Augustus Cæsar, had destroyed the power of Egypt, of Cleopatra, and of Mark Antony, and was undisputed emperor of the civilized world. Herod was in fear of loss. He determined to try what he could gain by timely submission to Augustus. He met Augustus at Rhodes, laid aside his diadem, and addressed Augustus in an open and undisguised confession of his great friendship for Mark Antony, and of his regret that Mark Antony had not followed the advice which he (Herod) had given to him: "To separate himself from Cleopatra, and to be reconciled to Augustus." If Augustus would restore to him (Herod) the crown which Mark Antony had given to him, he would serve Augustus as faithfully as he had served Mark Antony. Augustus was favourably impressed by this plain statement of Herod. Herod's presents to Augustus and to his friends confirmed the first favourable impressions. Augustus gave back to Herod the crown which Mark Antony had bestowed, and the Roman Senate ratified this arrangement made by Augustus. Herod was reinstated in his government of Judea. Augustus (even to Herod's death) was the friend and protector of Herod. Herod died A.D. 2. Augustus died A.D. 14. 2. Herod had many wives and many children. His favourite wife was Mariamne. Her mother lived in Jerusalem. Both mother and daughter had two great enemies in the mother and sister of Herod. His sister Salome knew how to work upon the jealous disposition of Herod. He had given secret orders some years before, when he was leaving home to meet Mark Antony, that if he did not return alive, both Alexandra and Mariamne were to be put to death. This secret order was made known to Mariamne and Alexandra her mother. The insult could not be forgiven. No cordiality could exist in the minds of the mother and her daughter towards Herod, whose jealousy had caused him to determine upon the deaths of both in the event of his own death. Salōme was successful in her schemes, and Herod put to death Mariamne on a false accusation of an attempt to poison him; and soon after he caused her mother Alexandra to be executed for a real plot against his life. But love cannot be put to death together with its object whom jealousy has hurried to an untimely grave. Herod had gratified the false suggestions of his unfounded jealousy, but he had not killed the love which the murdered Mariamne had created in his heart of hearts. Where is she? The murderer's conscience upbraided him for his unnatural and ill-timed villainy. Herod must pass the remainder of his wretched life in perpetual upbraidings of himself for murder, most foul, most unnatural, and in groundless and real suspicions that his own life may be taken away by some less groundless accusation than that which he allowed to deprive of life the ever-loved and never-to-be-forgotten Mariamne. What was his future career? The life of a man driven to acts of cruelty and injustice by the evergoading stings of a guilty and accusing conscience. He honoured some. He put whom his caprice suggested into the high-priesthood. He turned them out of office when the humour seized him. He innovated (not slowly, as Lord Bacon advises) in the laws, customs, and religion of the Jews. He introduced Roman customs to please Augustus. Wrestlers, combats of wild beasts and criminals, and all theatrical spectacles, were introduced to the nation, for the adoption of the Jews, to the pleasing of Augustus, and to the utter disgust of the Jews. He built towers in and around Jerusalem. He built temples in many cities and dedicated them to Cæsar. "Præseus Divus habebitur." Augustus' present shall be held (in esteem-or treated) as a Divus or Deus, or God. ("Præsens Divus habibitur Augustus." -Hor. Odes. Lib. iii. 5. 2.) This is heathenism. Nebuchadnezzar in Judea. The Jews very naturally hated Herod. He remitted portions of taxes. He did many kind and benevolent actions for the purpose of gaining the good-will of the people. He failed. They hated the Idumean, the heathenising ruler, the murderer of the beautiful Mariamne, the last of the Maccabees. His inventive genius at last hit on an expedient. He had aimed frequently, but missed the mark. He now aimed and felt assured that his aim would prove a hit. Such is the wretched life between aims and hits of him who (in certain times) wears a crown. He proposed to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. It had stood during a period of nearly five hundred years since the return from the Babylonian Captivity. It had been injured, broken, and repaired. promised to restore it with more than its ancient magnificence and glory. Не 3. He provided all materials necessary to build the new Temple, at vast expense, in two years. He was thus, at an enormous outlay from his own resources, prepared to engage in his proposed undertaking. He employed, during these two years, ten thousand artificers, one thousand wagons, and one thousand priests for direction. The people consented. Herod commenced to work. The Temple was built of large stones, each twenty-five cubits long, twelve cubits broad, and eight cubits in thickness, to which our Lord's disciples directed his attention.-Mark xii. 1-2. The Sanctuary, meaning the Holy and the Most Holy, properly called the Temple, were finished in a year and a half. So that the people engaged in the performance of divine worship in the new building; and, after the lapse of eight years, Herod completed the building of the walls, the galleries, the pillars, and the courts, according to the proposed plan. 4. The Temple is said to have been forty and six years in building. Ino. ii. 20. The rebuilding of the Temple was commenced forty and six years before that passover at which our Saviour, being nearly thirty-one years old, was present at Jerusalem. The great plan or design was built in nine years and a half; still Herod and his successors were always building outworks round it, and adding new ornaments to it, at the very time mentioned (Mark xii. 1-2), and long afterwards. It was finished and dedicated on the same day, the anniversary of Herod's accession to the crown. Countless sacrifices and universal rejoicing did honour to the dedication of the Temple, and to the anniversary of Herod's accession to the crown of Judea. This Temple was called the Second Temple. It was repaired, not rebuilt. The Temple was not destroyed, as the first Temple had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. After all, it was a new Temple. It was rebuilt. All the materials for the building were new. There was no patch-work. 5. Herod obtained for the Jews, in Greece and Asia Minor, a new grant of liberty and privilege, with permission to live in other countries according to their own laws and religion, granted to them before by the kings of Syria and by the Romans. The sons of Mariamne, Aristobulus and Alexander, educated in Rome, returned to Jerusalem, and, in the heat of youth, did not conceal but did frequently express their resentment for the death of their mother. Salome marked them for her prey. She insinuated, intrigued, for many years against the two sons of the murdered Mariamne. The other side counter-plotted. Herod, in his old age, was the victim of continual suspicions, fears, and uneasiness. Salome was victorious. Herod ordered the execution of his two sons, Aristobulus and Alexander, the children of his beloved Mariamne, and obtained the consent of Augustus to this most cruel and bloody outrage on the feelings of human nature, however degraded that nature may be. Augustus, on this occasion, was guilty of making a pun. The Greek word vo (huse) means pig. The Greek word voor (wheeos) means son. There is a similarity in sound, but a contradiction in sense. Augustus said, "I would rather be Herod's vơ than his voo-his pig than his son." Herod would not kill his pig. He did kill his sons. 6. ZeBaσToo.-Augustus Cæsar was not unmindful of the means necessary to conduct the affairs of his empire. He issued a decree for the taxing of all the countries in his empire. The land of Judea was included. "This taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria." Such is the translation in our authorised version. It is not correct. Caius Sulpicius Quirīnus was not governor of Syria at that time, nor was he governor of Syria for ten or twelve years afterwards, that is, till ten or twelve years after the birth of our Lord. Aurη & απογραφή πρώτη ἐγένετο ἡγεμονεύοντοσ τησ Συρίασ Kvpnvíov.-Luke ii. 2. This first taxing was made by Cyrenius or Quirinus, who governed Syria (ten or twelve years afterwards, but was not governor when he was making the taxing). 7. The Romans were now masters of all the known world. The Temple of Janus was shut in token of peace. This Temple was always open in time of war. The city of Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus, B.C. 700, and this Temple had been closed only three times during these seven hundred years. First, by Numa. Second, by the Consuls, Marcus Attilius and Titus Manlius, in the Carthagenian |