example strengthens all his laws."
Instead of proposing his sentiments with a manly boldness, he insinuates
them with the most guarded caution; puts them into the mouth of a
friend, and as far as we can collect from a corrupted text, makes a show
of refuting them himself.]

Chapter III: The Constitution In The Age Of The Antonines.--Part I.

Of The Constitution Of The Roman Empire, In The Age Of The
Antonines.

The obvious definition of a monarchy seems to be that of a state, in
which a single person, by whatsoever name he may be distinguished, is
intrusted with the execution of the laws, the management of the revenue,
and the command of the army. But, unless public liberty is protected
by intrepid and vigilant guardians, the authority of so formidable a
magistrate will soon degenerate into despotism. The influence of the
clergy, in an age of superstition, might be usefully employed to assert
the rights of mankind; but so intimate is the connection between the
throne and the altar, that the banner of the church has very seldom
been seen on the side of the people. [101] A martial nobility and
stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property, and
collected into constitutional assemblies, form the only balance capable
of preserving a free constitution against enterprises of an aspiring
prince.

[Footnote 101: Often enough in the ages of superstition, but not in the
interest of the people or the state, but in that of the church to which
all others were subordinate. Yet the power of the pope has often been of
great service in repressing the excesses of sovereigns, and in softening
manners.--W. The history of the Italian republics proves the error of
Gibbon, and the justice of his German translator's comment.--M.]

Every barrier of the Roman constitution had been levelled by the vast
ambition of the dictator; every fence had been extirpated by the cruel
hand of the triumvir. After the victory of Actium, the fate of the
Roman world depended on the will of Octavianus, surnamed Caesar, by
his uncle's adoption, and afterwards Augustus, by the flattery of the
senate. The conqueror was at the head of forty-four veteran legions,
[1] conscious of their own strength, and of the weakness of the
constitution, habituated, during twenty years' civil war, to every act
of blood and violence, and passionately devoted to the house of Caesar,
from whence alone they had received, and expected the most lavish
r