r
the venerable names of ancient magistracy, and artfully to collect, in
his own person, all the scattered rays of civil jurisdiction. With this
view, he permitted the senate to confer upon him, for his life, the
powers of the consular and tribunitian offices, which were, in the same
manner, continued to all his successors. The consuls had succeeded
to the kings of Rome, and represented the dignity of the state. They
superintended the ceremonies of religion, levied and commanded the
legions, gave audience to foreign ambassadors, and presided in the
assemblies both of the senate and people. The general control of the
finances was intrusted to their care; and though they seldom had leisure
to administer justice in person, they were considered as the supreme
guardians of law, equity, and the public peace. Such was their ordinary
jurisdiction; but whenever the senate empowered the first magistrate
to consult the safety of the commonwealth, he was raised by that decree
above the laws, and exercised, in the defence of liberty, a temporary
despotism. The character of the tribunes was, in every respect,
different from that of the consuls. The appearance of the former was
modest and humble; but their persons were sacred and inviolable. Their
force was suited rather for opposition than for action. They were
instituted to defend the oppressed, to pardon offences, to arraign the
enemies of the people, and, when they judged it necessary, to stop, by
a single word, the whole machine of government. As long as the republic
subsisted, the dangerous influence, which either the consul or the
tribune might derive from their respective jurisdiction, was diminished
by several important restrictions. Their authority expired with the year
in which they were elected; the former office was divided between two,
the latter among ten persons; and, as both in their private and
public interest they were averse to each other, their mutual conflicts
contributed, for the most part, to strengthen rather than to destroy
the balance of the constitution. * But when the consular and tribunitian
powers were united, when they were vested for life in a single person,
when the general of the army was, at the same time, the minister of the
senate and the representative of the Roman people, it was impossible
to resist the exercise, nor was it easy to define the limits, of his
imperial prerogative.

To these accumulated honors, the policy of Augustus soon added the