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declaring that he meant nothing but what was just and lawful, brought his claim before the tribunal of the decemvir. Numitorius, the uncle of Virginia, represented that her father, the guardian and protector of his child, was at this time absent, and in arms for the defence of his country.. He asked a delay only of two days, in order to send for him from the camp, and demanded, in the mean time, that, as her nearest relation, the damsel should be committed to his care. The decemvir, with the show of much candor, allowed that there was great equity in the request of sending for Virginius, which he therefore immediately granted, but urged at the same time that this delay ought not to be prejudicial to the right of a master who claimed his slave. He therefore decreed that Marcus should take the young woman to his house, on giving security to produce her upon the return of her father. The flagrant injustice of this decree excited a cry of universal indignation. Marcus, advancing to lay hold of Virginia, was repulsed by the people, and particularly by Icilius, her intended husband, who, being apprized of the affair, had flown in rage and distraction to the forum. The tumult became so violent, that Appius, alarmed for his own safety, thought proper to suspend the execution of his decree, and to allow the young woman to remain under the protection of her friends till the arrival of her father. He despatched, in the meantime, a messenger to the army, desiring that his colleagues would on no account permit Virginius to quit the camp. But this unfortunate man, whom his friends had found means to inform of the situation of his child, was already on his way. He got to Rome without hindrance, and, to the confusion of the decemvir, appeared next day in the forum, supporting in his arms his daughter drowned in tears. An immense crowd attended; and all awaited the issue of this interesting question, their breasts alternately agitated with fear, with compassion, and indignation.

Appius, determined to prosecute his purpose, had ordered the troops to surround the forum. He now called on Marcus to make his demand, and to produce the proofs of his claim. To these Virginius was at no loss to give the most satisfactory answers, which fully exposed the villany of the imposture. Appius was not to be thus foiled. With the most unparalleled effrontery, he stood forth as a witness as well as a judge; declaring that it was consistent with his own knowledge that the plea of Marcus was true. He therefore gave his final sentence, that the slave should be delivered up to her lawful master, and ordered his officers to enforce, without delay, the execution of his decree. The soldiers were removing the crowd, and Marcus, together with the lictors, was advancing to seize Virginia, who clung for protection around the neck of her father. "There is," said he, "but one way, my dear child, to save thy honor and preserve thy liberty." Then seizing a knife from the stall of a butcher-Thus," said he, striking her to the heart, "thus, I send thee to thy forefathers, un43

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polluted and a free woman. Then turning to the tribunal of Appius, "Thou monster!" cried he, "with this blood I devote thy head to the infernal gods!" Appius, in a transport of rage, called out to the lictors to seize Virginius; but he, rushing out from the forum, and making way for himself with the knife which he held in his hand, while the multitude favored his escape, got safe without the city, and arrived in a few hours at the camp. Meantime Numitorius and Icilius exposed the bleeding body to the sight of the whole people, who, inflamed to the highest pitch of fury, would have torn Appius to pieces, had he not found means to escape amidst the tumult, and to conceal himself in the house of one of his friends.

Valerius and Horatius, two of the senators, men of consular dignity, and who had opposed the last creation of decemviri, now put themselves at the head of the people. They promised them the redress of all their wrongs, and the abolition of those hated magistrates; but urged that they should first wait the resolution of the army, which could not fail to coincide with their own.

The unfortunate Virginius had no sooner acquainted his fellowsoldiers of what had happened, than there was a general insurrection. Without regard to the orders of the decemvirs in the camp, the whole army, headed by their centurions, marched to Rome, and, retiring to the Aventine mount, chose ten leaders, with the title of military tribunes. They then declared their determined purpose of abolishing the decemvirate, and reestablishing the consular government, together with the tribunes of the people. The senate was assembled. The decemvirs thought proper voluntarily to resign their office. Valerius and Horatius were chosen consuls; and the popular magistrates, the tribunes, were elected with the same powers as formerly, which reinstated the people at once in all their rights and privileges.

Among the tribunes first chosen were Virginius, Icilius, and Numitorius. It may be believed that their vengeance against the infamous Appius was not long delayed. Virginius cited him before the people, at whose orders he was seized and thrown into prison, where, a few days after, he was found dead. It was suspected, says Dionysius, that he was privately strangled by order of the tribunes; but other authors, with more probability, affirm that he chose to escape a certain and ignominious fate by a voluntary death. His colleague Oppius, the chief abettor of his crimes, had the same catastrophe, and the rest underwent a voluntary banishment, while their goods were forfeited to the public use. Such is the history of the decemvirate, that inauspicious and shorts lived magistracy, which was thus violently terminated in the third year after its institution.*

* An amusing comparison may be made of the talents of the two great b

CH. VI.] PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS.-INTERMARRIAGE.

CHAPTER VI.

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Law against intermarriage of Patricians and Plebeians repealed- Military Tri bunes created--Creation of Censors--Their high powers of office-A regular pay assigned to the Army introduces a new balance into the ConstitutionConsequences of-Siege of Veii-Romans begin to extend their conquestsReflections on the state of the Republic at this period-War with the Gauls -Its fabulous aspect-New popular Laws-Institution of the office of Prætor, -of Quæstor-of Ædile-Licinian law limiting property in land

No sooner was tranquillity in some measure reestablished in the city of Rome, than the consuls Valerius and Horatius, at the head of a large army, animated with the spirit of patriotism which the late events had strongly stimulated, marched against the enemy. The Volsci and Equi sustained a complete defeat; but the senate, jealous, as is said, of the too great popularity of the successful generals, thought proper to refuse them the honors of a triumph. The consuls, indignant at this insult, applied to the people, who unanimously decreed them this reward of their services. Thus the senate most imprudently threw away its privileges; and every day gave some new accession of weight to the scale of the people.

Two powerful barriers which at this time subsisted between the patricians and plebeians, were the law which prevented the intermarriage of these orders, and another ordinance which excluded the plebeians from the consulate and higher offices of the state. It was only necessary to remove these two obstructions, to bring the separate ranks to a perfect equality in every substantial privilege of Roman citizens; and the plebeians were determined to leave no means untried for the accomplishment of this end.

On the occasion of a new war, the ordinary device was practised of refusing to enter the rolls. In this purpose the people were

torians of the Roman republic, Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in the accounts they have given of that celebrated event, the death of Virginia by the hand of her father, and its important consequences. In Livy, we have a concise, clear, and animated narrative, where no circumstance is superfluous, no observation strained or far-fetched, nor any thing omitted which contributes to the effect of the picture. In Dionysius, we wade through a minute detail of facts, and a laborious legal discussion, resembling the report of a law-process in which every argument is brought forward, and every reflection anticipated, that the mind can form upon the case. It is easy to judge which method of writing is best adapted to historical composition. Vide Liv. lib. iii. c. 31-59; and Dion. Hal., Ant. Rom., lib. xi.

obstinate; and the tribunes proposed, as the only expedient to bring them to compliance, that the law against intermarriage should be repealed; a measure which, they urged, would be equally advantageous for both parties, as it would tend to an union of their interests, and put an end to those perpetual jealousies and contentions which were so ruincus to the republic.

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There were three different modes by which marriage could be contracted among the Romans. The marriages of the patricians were celebrated in the presence of ten witnesses, and with a variety of religious ceremontes peculiar to their order. plebeians married after two different forms: the one was by a species of sale, emptio venditio; and the other by the simple cohabitation of the parties for a year, which by law constituted a marriage. Religion, therefore, made a barrier between the patricians and plebeians in this article; and this necessarily constituted the principal objection against the repeal of the law. The senate, however, saw the necessity of some concessions; and they judged that, by granting this request, they would put a stop to any further claims, at least for the present. But they were mistaken. The spirit of encroachment is never allayed by concession. This law was no sooner repealed than the people, with the same obstinacy, refused to enrol themselves till a second law was passed, admitting them to the capacity of holding all the offices of the republic.

No measure could be more galling than this to the pride of the patricians; but the necessity was extreme, as the enemy was at the gates of Rome. The senate sought a palliative to content both parties. It was determined to suspend for a time the office of the consuls, and to create in their place six military tribunes, with a similar extent of power, three of whom should be patricians and three plebeians. This proposal was heartily embraced by the people, who, provided they were admitted to the chief dignity of the state, did not value under what title it was; and the senators, on the other hand, flattered themselves that, having preserved the consulship inviolate, they would soon be able to restore that magistracy. While they were thus soothing themselves with shadowy distinctions, it was very evident that they were daily losing substantial power.

It was customary for those who were candidates for any magistracy to appear in the Comitia, clad in white apparel. The plebeians, who aspired to the military tribunate, appeared accordingly in that dress; but as the votes were called by centuries, and the patricians had been at some pains to influence their dependents, it happened that not one of the plebeians was elected. Three months afterward, the military tribunes, as had been preconcerted, resigned their office on pretence of some irregularity in their election. A powerful canvass was now set on foot by the plebeians to make good their pretensions to the new magis

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tracy; but differing in their choice of candidates, and finding it impossible to arrive at an unanimity of sentiment, they consented, rather than yield to each other, that the consulate should, in the meantime, be restored; and these jealousies being artfully kept alive by the patricians, it thus happened that there was no election of military tribunes for several years.

War and domestic dissensions had prevented the consuls from making the usual census or numeration of the people, for a great many years; so that much confusion had arisen in the levying of the taxes, from ignorance of the exact number of the citizens, and the proportion of burdens to be levied from individuals. To remedy this evil, the consuls being now usually too much occupied to make the census regularly every five years, the senate created two new magistrates under the title of censors; an office which became afterwards of the highest respectability, and was given only to persons of consular dignity.

The most important privilege of the censors, and which, in fact, rendered their authority formidable to all ranks in the state, was the right they possessed of inspecting the morals, and examining into the conduct of all the citizens. It was in virtue of this high prerogative that, as Livy remarks, they kept in dependence both the senate and people. They possessed a constitutional power of degrading such as had manifested any irregularity of conduct, and depriving them of the rank and office which they held in the state. It was not an authority which extended to the punishment of those ordinary crimes and delicts which fall under the penal laws of a state. But there are offences which, in point of example, are worse than crimes, and more pernicious in their consequences. It is not the breach of express laws that can ever be of general bad effect, or tend to the destruction of a government; but it is that silent and unpunishable corruption of manners, which, undermining private and public virtue, weakens and destroys those springs to which the best ordered constitution owes its support. The counteracting this latent principle of decay was the most useful part of the office of the censors. If any citizen had imprudently contracted large debts; if he had consumed hist fortune in extravagance, or in living beyond his income; if he had been negligent in the cultivation of his lands; nay, if, being in good circumstances and able to maintain a family, he had declined, without just cause, to marry,-all these offences attracted the notice of the censors, who had various modes of inflicting a penalty. The most usual, and not the least impressive, was a public denunciation of the offender as an object of disapprobation-ignominiâ notabant. It did not amount to a mark of infamy; but punished solely by inflicting the shame of a public reprimand. A penalty, however, of this kind is not fitted to operate on all dispositions, and accordingly the censors had it in their power to employ means more generally effectual. They could degrade a

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