XIII. And fame having recognised these eminent qualities in Numa Pompilius, the Roman people, without partiality for their own citizens, committed itself, by the counsel of the. senators, to a king of foreign origin, and summoned this Sabine from the city of Cures to Rome, that he might reign over them. Numa, although the people had proclaimed him king in their Comitia Curiata, did nevertheless himself pass a Lex Curiata respecting his own authority; and observing that the institutions of Romulus had too much excited the military propensities of the people, he judged it ex- pedient to recall them from this habit of warfare by other employments.
XIV. And in the first place, he divided severally among the citizens the lands which Romulus had conquered, and taught them that even without the aid of pillage and devasta- tion, they could, by the cultivation of their own territories, — procure themselves all kinds of commodities. And he in- spired them with the love of peace and tranquillity, in which faith and justice are likeliest to flourish, and extended the most powerful protection to the people in the cultivation of their fields, and the enjoyment of their produce. Pompilius likewise having created hierarchical institutions of the highest class, added two augurs to the old number. He entrusted. the superintendence of the sacred rites to five pontiffs, selected from the body of the nobles; and by those laws which we still preserve on our monuments, he mitigated by religious. ceremonials the minds that had been too long inflamed by military enthusiasm and enterprise.
He also established the Flamines and the Salian priests and the Vestal Virgins, and regulated all departments of our ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 329 ecclesiastical policy with the most pious care. In the ordi- nance of sacrifices, he wished that the ceremonial should be very arduous, and the expenditure very light. He thus appointed many observances, whose knowledge is extremely important, and whose expense far from burdensome. ‘Thus in religious worship he added devotion, and removed. costli- ness. He was also the first to introduce markets, games, and the other usual methods of assembling and uniting men. By these establishments, he inclined to benevolence and amia- bility spirits whom the passion for war had rendered savage and ferocious. Having thus reigned in the greatest peace and concord thirty-nine years—for in dates we mainly follow our Polybius, than whom no one ever gave more attention to the investigation of the history of the times—he departed this life, having corroborated the two grand principles of political stability, religion and clemency. _ XV. When Scipio had concluded these remarks,—Is it not, said Manilius, a true tradition which is current, that our king Numa was a disciple of Pythagoras himself, or that at least he was a Pythagorean in his doctrines? For I have often heard this from my elders, and we know that it is the popular opinion; but it does not seem to be clearly proved by the testimony of our public annals. r Then Scipio replied—The supposition is false, my Manilius; it is not merely a fiction, but a ridiculous and bungling one too; and we should not tolerate those statements, even in’ fiction, relating to facts which not only did not happen, but which never could have happened. For it was not till the fourth year of the reign of Tarquinius Superbus, that Pytha- goras is ascertained to have come to Sybaris, Crotona, and _ this part of Italy. And the sixty-second Olympiad is the common date of the elevation of Tarquin to the throne, and» of the arrival of Pythagoras. From which it appears, when - we calculate the duration of the reigns of the kings, that about one hundred and forty years must have elapsed after the death of Numa before Pythagoras first arrived in Italy. And this fact, in the minds of men who have carefully studied the annals of time, has never been at all doubted.
Oh, ye immortal gods! said Manilius, how deep and how inveterate is this error in the minds of men! However, it costs me no effort to concede that our Roman sciences were 330 ON THE COMMONWEALTH.
not imported from beyond the seas, but that they sprung from our own indigenous and domestic virtues.
XVI. You will become still more convinced of this fact, said Africanus, when tracing the progress of our common- wealth, as it became gradually developed to its best and ma- turest condition. And you will find yet further occasion to admire the wisdom of our ancestors on this very account, since you will perceive that even those things which they borrowed from foreigners received a much higher improve- ment among us than they possessed in the countries from whence they were imported among us; and you will learn that the Roman people was aggrandized, not by chance or hazard, but rather by counsel and discipline, to which fortune indeed was by no means unfavourable. | XVII. After the death of King Pompilius, the people, after a short period of interregnum, chose Tullus Hostilius for their king, in the Comitia Curiata; and Tullus, after Numa’s example, consulted the people in their curies to pro- cure a sanction for his government. His excellence chiefly appeared in his military glory and great achievements in war. He likewise, out of his military spoils, constructed and decorated the House of Comitia, and the Senate House. He also settled the ceremonies of the proclamation of hostilities, and consecrated their righteous institution by the religious sanction of the Fetial priests, so that every war which was not duly announced and declared, might be adjudged illegal, unjust, and impious. And observe how wisely our kings at that time perceived that certain rights ought to be allowed to the people, of which we shall have a good deal to say here- after. Tullus did not even assume the ensigns of royalty without the approbation of the people; and when he ap- pointed twelve lictors, with their axes, to go before him,” XVIII. * * * [Manilius.|—This commonwealth of Rome, which you are so eloquently describing, did not creep toward perfection, it rather flew at once to the maturity of its grandeur. | [Scipio.|—After Tullus, Ancus Martius, a descendant of Numa by his daughter, was appointed king by the people.
1 Two pages are lost here.
Scape Sa meee: A AS ee ew ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 331 He also procured the passing of a law* through the Comitia Curiata respecting his government. This king having con- quered the Latins, admitted them to the rights of citizens of Rome. He added to the city the Aventine and Ceelian hills; he distributed the lands he had taken in war; he bestowed on the public all the maritime forests he had acquired; and he built the city Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, and colonized it. When he had thus reigned twenty-three years, he died.
Then said Leelius—Doubtless this king deserves our praises, but the Roman history is obscure. We possess indeed the ~name of this monarch’s mother, but we know nothing of his father.
It is so, said Scipio; but in those ages little more than the names of the kings were recorded. | XIX. For the first time at this period, Rome appears to have become more learned by the study of foreign literature; for it was no longer a little rivulet, flowing from Greece towards the walls of our city, but an overflowing river of Grecian sciences and arts. This is generally attributed to Demaratus, a Corinthian, the first man of his country in reputation, honour, and wealth; who, not being able to bear ' the despotism of Cypselus, tyrant of Corinth, fled with large treasures, and arrived at Tarquinil, the most flourishing city in Etruria. There, understanding that the domination of Cypselus was thoroughly established, he, like a free and bold- hearted man, renounced his country, and was admitted into the number of the citizens of Tarquinii, and fixed his resi- dence in that city. And having married a woman of the city, he instructed his two sons, according to the method of Greek education, in all kinds of sciences and arts.2 * * * * XX, * * * [One of these sons] was easily admitted to the rights of citizenship at Rome; and on account of his accomplished manners and learning, he became a favourite of our king Ancus to such a degree, that he was a partner in all 1 The Lex curiata de Imperio, so often mentioned here, was the same as the Auctoritas Patrum, and was necessary in order to confer upon the dictator, consuls, and other magistrates, the <mperium or military command; without this they had only a potestas, or civil authority, and could not meddle with military affairs.
2 Two pages are missing here.
oon ON THE COMMONWEALTH.
his counsels, and was looked upon almost as his associate in the government. He, besides, possessed wonderful affability, and was very kind in assistance, support, protection, and even gifts of money to the citizens. | When, therefore, Ancus died, the people by their unani- mous’ suffrages chose for their king this Lucius Tarquinius (for he had thus transformed the Greek name of his family, that he might seem in all respects to imitate the customs of his adopted countrymen). And when he, too, had procured the passing of a law respecting his authority, he commenced his reign by doubling the original number of the senators. The ancient senators he called patricians of the major families — (patres majorum gentium), and he asked their votes first; and those new senators whom he himself had added, he entitled patricians of minor families. After this, he established the order of knights, on the plan which we maintain ‘to this day. He would not, however, change the denomination of the Tatian, Rhamnensian, and Lucerian orders, though he wished to do so, because Attus Nevius, an augur of the highest reputation, would not sanction it. And, indeed, I am aware that the Corinthians were remarkably attentive to provide for the maintenance and good condition of their cavalry, by taxes levied on the inheritance of widows and orphans. To the first equestrian orders Lucius also added new ones, com- posing a body of three hundred knights. And this number he doubled, after having conquered the Aiquicoli, a large and ferocious people, and dangerous enemies of the Roman state. Having likewise repulsed from our walls an invasion of the Sabines, he routed them by the aid of his cavalry and subdued them. He also was the first person who instituted the grand games, which are now called the Roman Games. He fulfilled his vow to build a temple to the all-good and all- powerful Jupiter, in the Capitol—a vow which he made during a battle in the Sabine war,—and died after a reign of thirty-eight years.
XXi. Then Leelius said—All that you have been relating corroborates the saying of Cato, that the constitution of the Roman commonwealth is not the work of one man, or one age; for we can clearly see what a great progress in excellent and useful institutions was continued under each successive king. But we are now arrived at the reign of a monarch ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 339 who appears to me to have been of all our kings he who had the greatest foresight in matters of political government.
So it appears to me, said Scipio; for after Tarquinius Priscus comes Servius Sulpicius, who was the first who is reported to have reigned without an order from the people. He is supposed to have been the son of a female slave at Tar- quinii, by one of the soldiers or clients of king Priscus; and as he was educated among the servants of this prince, and waiting on him at table, the king soon observed the fire of his genius, which shone forth even from his childhood, so skilful was he in all his words and actions. Therefore, Tar- quin, whose own children were then very young, so loved Servius, that he was very commonly believed to be his own son, and he instructed him with the greatest care in all the sciences with which he was acquainted, according to the most exact discipline of the Greeks.
But when Tarquin had perished by the plots of the sons of Ancus, and Servius (as I have said) had begun to reign, not by the order, but yet with the goodwill and consent of the citizens,— because, as it was falsely reported that Priscus was recovering from his wounds, Servius, arrayed in the royal robes, delivered judgment, freed the debtors at his own expense, and, exhibiting the greatest affability, announced that he delivered judgment at the command of Priscus,—he did not commit himself to the senate; but after Priscus was buried, he consulted the people respecting his authority, and being authorized by them to assume the dominion, he pro- cured a law to be passed through the Comitia Curiata, con- firming his government.
He then, in the first place, avenged the injuries | of the Etruscans by arms. After which * XXII. * * * he enrolled eighteen centuries of eee of the first order. Afterwards, having created a great number of knights from the common mass of the people, he divided the rest of the people into five classes, distinguishing between the seniors and the juniors. These he so constituted as to place the suffrages, not in the hands of the multitude, but in the power of the men of property. And he took care to make it a rule of ours, as it ought to be in every government, that the greatest number should not have the greatest weight.
1 Here two pages are missing, 334 ON THE COMMONWEALTH.
You are well acquainted with this institution, otherwise I would explain it to you; but you are familiar with the whole system, and know how the centuries of knights, with six suffrages, and the first class, comprising eighty centuries, besides one other century which was allotted to the artificers, on account of their utility to the state, produce eighty-nine centuries. If to these there are added twelve centuries—for that is the number of the centuries of the knights which remain ‘—the entire force of the state is summed up; and the arrangement is such that the remaining and far more numerous multitude, which is distributed through the ninety- six last centuries, is not deprived of a right of suffrage, which would be an arrogant measure; nor, on the other hand, per- - mitted to exert too great a preponderance in the government, _ which would be dangerous.
In this arrangement, Servius was very cautious in his choice of terms and denominations. He called the rich assidut, because they afforded pecuniary succour’ to the state. As to those whose fortune did not exceed 1500 pence, or those who had nothing but their labour, he called them proletarit classes, as if the state should expect from them a hardy progeny * and population.
Even a single one of the ninety-six last centuries contained numerically more citizens than the entire first class. Thus no one was excluded from his right of voting, yet the preponde- rance of votes was secured to those who had the deepest stake in the welfare of the state. Moreover, with reference to the accensi, velati, trumpeters, horn-blowers, proletarii * * ** XXIII. * * * That that republic is arranged in the best manner which, being composed in due proportions of those three elements, the monarchical, the aristocratical, and the democratic, does not by punishment irritate a fierce and savage mind. * * * [A similar institution prevailed at Carthage], which was sixty-five years more ancient than Rome, since it was founded thirty-nine years before the first Olympiad; and that most ancient lawgiver Lycurgus made nearly the same arrangements. Thus the system of regular - 1] have translated this very corrupt passage according to Niebuhr’s emendation.
2 Assiduus, ab cere dando. 3 Proletarii, a prole.
* Here four pages are missing.
ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 335 subordination, and this mixture of the three principal forms of government, appear to me common alike to us and them. But there is a peculiar advantage in our commonwealth, than which nothing can be more excellent, which [ shall endeavour to describe as accurately as possible, because it is of such a character that nothing analogous can be discovered in ancient states: for these political elements which I have noticed were so united in the constitutions of Rome, of Sparta, and of Carthage, that they were not counterbalanced by any modify- ing power. For in a state in which one man is invested with a perpetual domination, especially of the monarchical charac- ter, although there be a senate in it, as there was in Rome under the kings, and in Sparta, by the laws of Lycurgus, or even where the people exercise a sort of jurisdiction, as they used in the days of our monarchy, the title of king must still be preeminent; nor can such a state avoid being, and being called, a kingdom. And this kind of government is especially subject to frequent revolutions, because the fault of a single individual is sufficient to precipitate it into the most pernicious disasters.
In itself, however, royalty is not only not a reprehensible form of government, but I do not know whether it is not far preferable to all other simple constitutions, if I approved of any simple constitution whatever. But this preference ap- plies to royalty so long only as it maintains its appropriate character; and this character provides that one individual’s perpetual power, and justice, and universal wisdom, should regulate the safety, equality, and tranquillity of the whole people. But many privileges must be wanting to communi- ties that live under a king; and, in the first place, liberty, which does not consist in slavery to a just master, but in slavery to no master at all * # Hs? wig u XXIV. * * * | Let us now pass on to the reign of the seventh and last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus.] And even this unjust and cruel master had good fortune for his com- panion for some time in all his enterprises. For he subdued all Latium; he captured Suessa Pometia, a powerful and wealthy city, and becoming possessed of an immense spoil of gold and silver, he accomplished his father’s vow by the build- ing of the Capitol. He established colonies, and, faithful to 1 Two pages are missing here, 336 ON THE COMMONWEALTH.
the institutions of those from whom he sprung, he sent magnificent presents as tokens of gratitude for his victories, to Apollo at Delphi.
XXV. Here begins the revolution of our political system of government, and I must beg your attention to its natural course and progression. For the grand point of political science, the object of our discourses, is to know the march and the deviations of governments, that when we are acquainted with the particular courses and inclinations of constitutions, we may be able to restrain them from their fatal tendencies, or to oppose adequate obstacles to their decline and fall.
For this Tarquinius Superbus, of whom I am speaking, being first of all stained with the blood of his admirable pre- decessor on the throne, could not be a man of sound conscience and mind; and as he feared himself the severest punishment for his enormous crime, he sought his protection’ in making himself feared. Then, in the glory of his victories and his treasures, he exulted in insolent pride, and could neither regulate his own manners nor the passions of the members of his family.
When, therefore, his eldest son had offered violence to Laicretia, daughter of Tricipitinus and wife of Collatinus, and this chaste and noble lady had stabbed herself to death on account of the injury she could not survive—then a man eminent for his genius and virtue, Lucius Brutus, dashed from his fellow-citizens this unjust yoke of odious servitude; and though he was but a private man, he sustained the govern- ment of the entire commonwealth, and was the first that taught the people in this state that no one was a private man when the preservation of our liberties was concerned. Be- neath his authority and command our city rose against tyranny, and, stirred by the recent grief of the father and relatives of Lucretia, and with the recollections of Tarquin’s haughtiness, and the numberless crimes of himself and his sons, they pronounced sentence of banishment against him and his children, and the whole race of the 'Tarquins. | XXVI. Do you not observe, then, how the king sometimes degenerates into the despot, and how, by the fault of one in- dividual, a form of government originally good, is abused to the worst of purposes? Here is a specimen of that despot over the people, whom the Greeks denominate a tyrant. For, ON THE COMMONWEALTH, 337 according to them, a king is he who, like a father, consults the interests of his people, and who preserves those whom he is set over in the very best condition of life. This indeed is, as I have said, an excellent form of government, yet still liable, and as it were inclined, to a pernicious abuse. For as soon as a king assumes an unjust and despotic power, he instantly becomes a tyrant, than which nothing baser or fouler—than which no imaginable animal can be more detestable to gods or men—for though in form a man, he surpasses the most savage monsters in ferocious cruelty. For who can justly call him a human being, who admits not between himself and his fellow-countrymen, between himself and the whole human race, any communication of justice,—any association of kind- ness? But we shall find some fitter occasion of speaking of the evils of tyranny, when the subject itself prompts us to declare against them, who, even in a state already liberated, have affected these despotic insolencies.
XXVII. Such is the first origin and rise of a tyrant. For this was the name by which the Greeks chose to designate an unjust king; and by the title king, our Romans universally understand every man who exercises over the people a per- petual and undivided domination. Thus Spurius Cassius, and ~ Marcus Manlius, and Spurius Meelius, are said to have wished to seize upon the kingly power, and lately [Tiberius Geanphus incurred the same accusation.]| 1 * * XXVIII...[Lycurgus in Sparta, formed, iets. name of Elders, ] a small council consisting of twenty-eight members only; to these he allotted the supreme legislative authority, while the king held the supreme executive au- thority. Qur Romans, emulating his example, and translat- ing his terms, entitled those whom he had called Elders, Senators, which, as we have said, was done by Romulus in reference to the elect patricians, In this constitution, how- ever, the power, the influence, and name of the king, is still preeminent. You may distribute, indeed, some show of power to the people, as Lycurgus and Romulus did, but you inflame them with the thirst of liberty by allowing them even the slightest taste of its sweetness, and still their hearts will be overcast with alarm, lest their king, as often happens, should become unjust. The prosperity of the people, therefore, can 1 Two pages are missing here, DE NAT. ETC, 4 be little better than fragile, when placediat the disposal of any one individual, and subjected to his will and caprices. | XXIX. Thus the first example, prototype,:and original:of ‘tyranny, has been discovered by usin the history of our own Roman state, religiously founded by Romulus, without apply- ing ‘to the theoretical commonwealth which, according to Plato’s recital, Socrates -was accustomed to describe in his peripatetic dialogues. We have observed Tarquin, not by the usurpation of any new power, but by the unjust abuse of the power which ‘he already possessed, overturn the whole system of our: monarchical constitution.
Let us oppose to this example of the tyrant another, a vir- tuous king—wise, experienced, and well informed:respecting the true interest and dignity of the citizens—a guardian, as.it were, and. superintendent of the commonwealth; for that is:a proper name. for every:ruler and governor of a state. And take you care to recognise such a man when you meet him, for he is the man who, by counsel and. exertion, can best pro- tect the nation. And as the name of this:man has not yet been: often mentioned in our discourse,and as:the:character of sucha man must be often alluded to in our future: conversa- tions, [I shall take an early opportunity of desembing it.]
XXX...[Plato |has chosen to suppose a territory and establishments of citizens, whose fortunes| were precisely equal. And he has given usa description of a. city, rather to be desired than expected; and he has made out not such:an one as.can really exist, but.one in which the principles. of political affairs may be discerned. But for me, if I can in any way accomplish it, while I adopt the same general principles as Plato, I am seeking to reduce them ‘to experience and prac- tice, not in the shadow and:picture:of a state, but ina real and actual commonwealth, of unrivalled amplitude and power; in order to be:able to:point out, with the most graphic pre-_ cision, the causes.of every political good and social:evil.
For after Rome had flourished:more:than 240 years under her kings and interreges, and after Tarquin was sent imto— banishment, the Roman people conceived as much detestation. of the name of king as they had once experienced »regret at the death, or rather disappearance, of Romulus. Therefore, 1 Here twelve pages are missing.
a ee Bite pre aye ee ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 339 as in the first instance they could hardly bear the idea of losing a king, so in the latter, after the expulsion of Tarquin, they could:not.endure'to hear the name of a king.! * * XXXI...Therefore, when that admirable constitution of Romulus had lasted ‘steadily about two hundred and forty The whole of ‘that law was abolished. In this humour, our ancestors banished Collatinus, in spite of his innocence, be- cause of the suspicion that attached to his family, ‘and all the rest of the Tarquins, on account of the unpopularity of their name. In the same humour, Valerius Publicola was the first to lower the fasces before the people, when he spoke in the assembly of the people. He also had the materials of his house conveyed to the foot of Mount Velia, having observed that the commencement of his edifice‘on the summit of this hill, where king Tullius had once dwelt, excited the suspicions of the people.
It was the same man, who in this respect preeminently deserved the name of Publicola, who carried in favour of the people the first law received in the Comitia Centuriata, that no magistrate should sentence to death or scourging’a Roman citizen who appealed from his authority to the people. And the pontifical books attest that the right of appeal had existed, even against the decision of the kings. Our augural books affirm the same thing. And the Twelve Tables prove, by a multitude.of laws, that there was aright ‘of appeal from every judgment and penalty. Besides, ‘the historical ‘fact that the decemviri who compiled the laws were created with the pri- vilege of judging without appeal, sufficiently proves that the other magistrates had not the same power. And a‘consular law, passed by Lucius Valerius Politus and Marcus Horatius Barbatus, men justly popular for promoting union and concord, enacted that no magistrate should thenceforth ‘be ‘appointed with authority to judge without appeal; and ‘the Portian laws, the work of three citizens of the name of Portius, as you are aware, added nothing new’to ‘this edict ‘but'a penal sanction.
‘Therefore Publicola, having promulgated this law in favour of appeal to the people, immediately ordered the axes to be removed from the fasces, which the lictors carried before the 1 Sixteen pages a missing here. | Z 340 ON THE COMMONWEALTH.
consuls, and the next day appointed Spurius Lucretius for his colleague. And as the new consul was the oldest of the two, Publicola ordered his lictors to pass over to him; and he was the first to establish the rule, that each of the consuls should be preceded by the lictors in alternate months, that there should be no greater appearance of imperial insignia among the free people than they had witnessed in the days of their kings. Thus, in my opinion, he proved himself no ordinary man, as, by so granting the people a moderate degree of liberty, he more easily maintained the authority of the nobles.
Nor is it without reason that I have related to you these ancient and almost obsolete events; but I wished to adduce my instances of men and circumstances from illustrious per- sons and times, as it is to such events that the rest of my discourse will be directed.
XXXII. Ai that period, then, the senate preserved the commonwealth in such a condition, that though the people were really free, yet few acts were passed by the people, but almost all, on the contrary, by the authority, customs, and traditions of the senate. And over all the consuls exer- cised a power—in time, indeed, only annual, but in nature and prerogative completely royal.
The consuls maintained, with the greatest energy, that rule which so much conduces to the power of our nobles and great men, that the acts of the commons of the people shall not be binding, unless the authority of the patricians has approved them, About the same period, and scarcely ten years after the first consuls, we find the appointment of the dictator in the person of Titus Lartius. And this new kind of power, namely, the dictatorship, appears exceedingly similar to the monarchical royalty. All his power, however, was vested in the supreme authority of the senate, to which the people deferred; and in these times great exploits were performed in — war by brave men invested with the supreme command, whether dictators or consuls. | XXXIII. But as the nature of things necessarily brought it to pass that the people, once freed from its kings, should arrogate to itself more and more authority, we observe that after a short interval of only sixteen years, in the consulship _ of Postumus Cominius and Spurius Cassius, they attained their object; an event explicable, perhaps, on no distinct ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 341 principle, but nevertheless, in a manner, independent of any distinct principle. For, recollect what I said, in commencing our discourse, that if there exists not in the state a just dis- tribution and subordination of rights, offices, and prerogatives, so as to give sufficient domination to the chiefs, sufficient authority to the counsel of the senators, and sufficient liberty to the people, this form of the government cannot be durable, For when the excessive debts of the citizens had thrown the state into disorder, the people first retired to Mount Sacer, and next occupied Mount Aventine. And even the rigid discipline of Lycurgus could not maintain those restraints in the case of the Greeks. For in Sparta itself, under the reign of Theo- pompus, the five magistrates whom they term Ephori, and in Crete, ten whom they entitle Cosmi, were established in oppo- sition to the royal power, just as tribunes were added among us to counterbalance the consular authority.
XXXIV, There might have been a method, indeed, by which our ancestors could have been relieved from the pressure of debt, a method with which Solon the Athenian, who lived at no very distant period before, was acquainted, and which our senate did not neglect when, in the indignation which the odious avarice of one individual excited, all the bonds of the citizens were cancelled, and the right of arrest for a while suspended. In the same way, when the plebeians were op- pressed by the weight of the expenses occasioned by public misfortunes, a cure and remedy were sought for the sake of public security, The senate, however, having forgot their _ former decision, gave an advantage to the democracy; for, by the creation of two tribunes to appease the sedition of the people, the power and authority of the senate were diminished; which, however, still remained dignified and august, inasmuch as it was still composed of the wisest and bravest men, who protected their country both with their arms and with their counsels; whose authority was exceedingly strong and flourish- ing, because in honour they were as much before their fellow- citizens, as they were inferior in luxuriousness, and, as a general rule, not superior to them in wealth. And their public virtues were the more agreeable to the people, because even in private matters they were ready to serve every citizen, by their exertions, their counsels, and their liberality, XXXV. Such was the situation of the commonwealth, when 342 ON. THE. COMMONWEALTH.