The Roman Empire under Augustus consisted of Italy and the following
countries governed as provinces:――In _Europe_, Sicily, Sardinia, and
the other islands in the west of the Mediterranean, Gaul as far as the
Rhine, Spain, Illyricum, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Thrace, Macedonia,
Greece, and the islands of the Ægean; in _Asia_, all the countries
between the Caspian Sea, the Parthian Empire, the Persian and Arabian
Gulfs, the Mediterranean, and the Caucasus; and in _Africa_,
Mauritania, Numidia, the ancient territory of Carthage, Cyrene, and
Egypt. Within these limits there may have been included, in all, about
100,000,000 of human beings, of different races, complexions,
languages, and degrees of civilization. Not less than one-half of the
whole number must have been in a condition of slavery, and of the
rest, only that small proportion who, under the envied name of Roman
citizens, inhabited Italy, or were distributed, in official or other
capacities, through the cities of the Empire, enjoyed political
independence. These ‘citizens,’ diffused through the conquered
countries, constituted the ingredient by which the whole was kept in
union. Working backwards and forwards in the midst of the various
populations in which they were thus planted, the Romans assimilated
them gradually to each other, till Celts, Spaniards, Asiatics, etc.,
became more or less Romanized. This process of assimilation was much
facilitated by the circumstance that, with the exception of Judea and
other portions of the East, all the nations of the Roman Empire were
polytheistic in their beliefs, so that there was no fundamental
repugnance in this respect between the modes of thought of one nation
and those of another. In fact, the Roman Empire may be defined as a
compulsory assemblage of polytheistic nations, in order that
Christianity might operate over a large surface at once of that
polytheism which it was to destroy and supersede. In the twenty-fifth
year of the reign of Augustus, and while that prince was ruling with
undisturbed sway over 100,000,000 of fellow-polytheists, there took
place in that small monotheistic corner of his dominions which lay on
the southern border of the Levant, an event, the importance of which
the wisest of the Romans could not have foreseen. This was the birth,
in an obscure Jewish town, of Jesus Christ. From that town, and from
that obscure corner of the vast Roman Empire, was to proceed an
influence which was to overspread the polytheistic nations, eat out or
dissolve into itself all existing creeds and philosophies, and
renovate the thoughts, the habits, the whole constitution of mankind.
Waiting for this influence, the various nations――Celts, Greeks,
Spaniards, etc.,――were submitted to the preliminary pressure of Roman
institutions, modifying, and in some cases changing, their native
characters. The eastern half of the Empire, however, had been too
thoroughly impregnated with the Greek element to yield easily to the
new pressure; and accordingly while the Latin language spread among
the barbarians of the west, Greek still continued to be the language
of the East. This demarcation between the western or Latin-speaking
and the eastern or Greek-speaking portions of the Empire became
exceedingly important afterwards.
Of this vast empire Rome was the metropolis, now a city of innumerable
streets and buildings, and containing, it is calculated, a population
of about two millions and a half. From Rome roads branched out in all
directions leading to the other towns of Italy, and passing through
the villa-studded estates of the rich Roman citizens. From the coasts
of Italy, the Mediterranean afforded an easy access to the various
provinces, by whose industry the metropolis and Italy itself were in a
great measure supported. The provinces themselves were traversed by
roads connecting town with town, and laying all parts of the Empire
open to the civil and military functionaries of government. Usually
residing at Rome, the will of the emperor vibrated through a hierarchy
of intermediate functionaries, so as to be felt throughout the whole
of his vast dominions. In effect, this will was absolute. In Augustus,
as in Julius Cæsar, all the great offices of state, which had so long
subsisted as mutual checks upon each other, were united, so as to
confer on him power of the most unlimited description. The senate
still met, but only as a judicial body in cases of treason, or
legislatively to pass the decrees which Augustus had previously
matured with a few private counselors; and the comitia were still
held, but only to elect candidates already nominated by the emperor.
In this system of absolute dominion in the hands of a single
individual, the Romans cheerfully acquiesced, partly from experience
of the superior nature of the government thus exercised to the
wretched anarchy from which they had escaped, and partly in
consequence of the hopelessness of revolt against a man who had the
entire military force of the Empire at his disposal. In Rome
and Italy, the public peace was preserved by the _prætorian
cohorts_――bodies of soldiers of tried valor, to whom Augustus gave
double pay. Throughout the provinces, the people were kept in check by
the regular troops, who were accumulated, however, principally in the
frontier provinces of the Empire, where they might both maintain
tranquillity among the recently-conquered populations, and resist the
attacks of the barbarian races beyond. The provinces where military
force was required, Augustus retained in his own hands, administering
them through legates appointed by himself, usually for several years;
the others he intrusted to the senate, who named governors for a
single year.
The cities of the Empire were the centres of Roman influence. It was
in them that the Roman citizens were congregated, that schools were
established, and that the various agencies of civilization operated
most uniformly. In the rustic populations of the provinces, the
national individuality was preserved with the national language. It
was part of the policy of Augustus to found cities in the choicest
situations in the provinces; and so rapid was the spread of the Roman
civilization during his reign, that Roman writers and orators of note
began to be produced even in remote parts of the Empire. The Greek
language and literature began also to penetrate the provinces of the
west, and to find students among the Celts and Spaniards.
THE SUCCESS OF AUGUSTUS――DISSEMINATION OF CHRISTIANITY――DIVISION OF
THE EMPIRE.
During a period of nearly three centuries after the death of Augustus,
the Empire remained, so far as political arrangements were concerned,
pretty nearly as he had left it; and the history of Rome during these
centuries is little more than an account of the personal characters of
the successive emperors. Some of these seem to have been specimens of
the utmost depravity to which human nature could attain; others were
men of great mind, and worthy of their station. At first, the Empire
was inherited as a birthright by those who could claim descent from
Augustus; but in the end, the real patrons of the sovereign dignity
were the armies, and especially the prætorian cohorts. To raise
favorite generals to the purple, and afterwards to murder them for the
sake of the donations which it was customary to receive in the case of
a new accession, became the pastime of the various armies; and
sometimes it happened that there were several emperors at the same
time, different armies throughout the Empire having each appointed
one. The effect of these military appointments was to raise to the
highest dignity of the state men born at a distance from Rome, and
who, spending their lives in the camp, entertained no affection for
the city of the Cæsars. Meanwhile, under all the emperors alike, the
great family of nations incorporated under the Roman rule were daily
advancing towards that condition out of which modern society was to
arise. The reader, however, must imagine for himself the toil and
bustle of the successive generations of Celts, Spaniards, Greeks,
Africans, and Asiatics, who were born and buried during these three
important centuries in which modern civilization was cradled; all that
we can give here is a chronological list of the emperors during that
period:――
Augustus, from 30 B. C. to 14 A. D.
Tiberius, “ 14 A. D. to 37 “
Caligula, “ 38 “ 41 “
Claudius, “ 41 “ 54 “
Nero, “ 54 “ 68 “
Galba, Otho, Vitellius, “ 68 “ 70 “
Vespasian, “ 70 “ 79 “
Titus, “ 79 “ 81 “
Domitian, “ 81 “ 96 “
Nerva, “ 96 “ 98 “
Trajan, “ 98 “ 117 “
Hadrian, “ 117 “ 138 “
Antonius Pius, “ 138 “ 161 “
Marcus Antoninus, “ 161 “ 180 “
Commodus, “ 180 “ 192 “
Pertinax, “ 193
Septimius Severus “ 193 “ 211 “
Caracalla, “ 211 “ 217 “
Heliogabalus, “ 218 “ 222 “
Alexander Severus, “ 222 “ 235 “
Julius Maximinus, “ 235 “ 238 “
Gordian, “ 238 “ 243 “
Philip, “ 243 “ 249 “
Decius, “ 249 “ 251 “
Gallus, “ 251 “ 253 “
Valerian and Gallienus, “ 253 “ 260 “
Gallienus, “ 261 “ 268 “
Aurelius, “ 268 “ 270 “
Aurelianus, “ 270 “ 275 “
Tacitus, “ 275 “ 276 “
Florian, “ 276
Probus, “ 276 “ 282 “
Carus, “ 282 “ 284 “
Diocletian & Maximian, “ 284 “ 305 “
The only facts connected with the reigns of these emperors which need
be noticed here are, that in the reign of Claudius, Britain was added
to the Roman dominion; that under the great Trajan, the Empire was
still farther extended; and that under Caracalla, the Roman franchise
was extended to all the free inhabitants of the Empire. The vices of
such emperors as Caligula, Nero, Commodus, Caracalla, and
Heliogabalus, may pass unnoticed, as may also the military
achievements of some of the later emperors. The reign of Diocletian,
however (A. D. 248-305), constitutes an epoch in the history of the
Empire. Finding the unwieldy mass too great for the administration of
a single individual, he divided it between himself and his colleague
Maximian, assigning to Maximian the western or Latin-speaking nations,
and retaining the East in his own hands. Under each emperor there was
to be a royal personage called Cæsar, who was to govern part of that
emperor’s section of the Empire, and afterwards succeed him in the
chief dignity. This arrangement did not last long; and after various
subdivisions of the Empire, and struggles between emperors and Cæsars,
the whole was reunited under Constantine the Great (A. D. 306-337).
Under this remarkable man Christianity was established as the religion
of the Empire.
During the three centuries which had elapsed between the crucifixion
of Christ――which took place in the nineteenth year of the reign of
Tiberius――and the accession of Constantine to the supreme government
of the whole Empire, the new religion had been silently but surely
spreading itself; first among the Jews, then among the Greek or
eastern, and lastly among the Latin or western Gentiles. It had been
subjected to numerous persecutions, some local, and others general,
over the whole Empire; but had, nevertheless, made such progress, that
it is calculated that in Constantine’s reign about a twentieth part of
the whole population of the Empire were professed Christians, while
even over the nineteen-twentieths who continued in polytheism, the
indirect influence of Christianity had been immense. Led to embrace
Christianity himself, although with a considerable tincture of
polytheistic superstition, Constantine gave his imperial recognition
to the already fully-organized ecclesiastical system of the
Christians, with its churches, presbyters, bishops, metropolitans. The
civil ban having thus been removed from the profession of
Christianity, it began to prevail in form, as it already did in fact,
over the heterogeneous polytheism of the Empire.
Another important act of Constantine’s reign, besides his proclamation
of toleration for Christianity (A. D. 321), was his removal of the
seat of empire from Rome to Constantinople. Not long after this was
effected, Constantine died at the age of sixty, leaving the Empire
divided among his three sons. One of them, Constantius, ultimately
acquired the whole, and transmitted it to his successors; but in the
year 395, Theodosius, one of these successors, effected a permanent
separation between the East and the West. From that date, the history
of Rome divides itself into two distinct histories――that of the
Western or Latin and that of the Eastern or Greek empire. The latter
protracted its existence till A. D. 1453, when Constantinople was
taken by the Turks: the former crumbled to pieces much earlier, before
the attacks of the northern barbarians, who finally destroyed it in
476.