is merit, the freedom of
complaint, and perhaps the means of revenge. But the empire of the
Romans filled the world, and when the empire fell into the hands of a
single person, he wold became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies.
The slave of Imperial despotism, whether he was condemned to drags his
gilded chain in rome and the senate, or to were out a life of exile on
the barren rock of Seriphus, or the frozen bank of the Danube, expected
his fate in silent despair. [58] To resist was fatal, and it was
impossible to fly. On every side he was encompassed with a vast extent
of sea and land, which he could never hope to traverse without being
discovered, seized, and restored to his irritated master. Beyond the
frontiers, his anxious view could discover nothing, except the ocean,
inhospitable deserts, hostile tribes of barbarians, of fierce manners
and unknown language, or dependent kings, who would gladly purchase
the emperor's protection by the sacrifice of an obnoxious fugitive. [59]
"Wherever you are," said Cicero to the exiled Marcellus, "remember that
you are equally within the power of the conqueror." [60]

[Footnote 58: Seriphus was a small rocky island in the Aegean Sea, the
inhabitants of which were despised for their ignorance and obscurity.
The place of Ovid's exile is well known, by his just, but unmanly
lamentations. It should seem, that he only received an order to leave
rome in so many days, and to transport himself to Tomi. Guards and
jailers were unnecessary.]

[Footnote 59: Under Tiberius, a Roman knight attempted to fly to the
Parthians. He was stopped in the straits of Sicily; but so little danger
did there appear in the example, that the most jealous of tyrants
disdained to punish it. Tacit. Annal. vi. 14.]

[Footnote 60: Cicero ad Familiares, iv. 7.]

Chapter IV: The Cruelty, Follies And Murder Of Commodus.--Part I.

The Cruelty, Follies, And Murder Of Commodus--Election Of
Pertinax--His Attempts To Reform The State--His
Assassination By The Praetorian Guards.

The mildness of Marcus, which the rigid discipline of the Stoics was
unable to eradicate, formed, at the same time, the most amiable, and the
only defective part of his character. His excellent understanding was
often deceived by the unsuspecting goodness of his heart. Artful men,
who study the passions of princes, and conceal their own, approached his
person in the disguise of philosophic sanctity, and acquired