fisc, and was considered as the private estate of the prince. But
the old office under this new appellation rose in proportion as the
praetorship had declined. For the procurator seems to have drawn to
himself the cognizance of all civil, while capital cases alone were
reserved for the judgment of the legate.[21] And though his power was at
first restrained within narrow bounds, and all his judgments were
subject to a review and reversal by the praetor and the senate, he
gradually grew into independence of both, and was at length by Claudius
invested with a jurisdiction absolutely uncontrollable. Two causes, I
imagine, joined to produce this change: first, the sword was in the
hands of the legate; the policy of the emperors, in order to balance
this dangerous authority, thought too much weight could not be thrown
into the scale of the procurator: secondly, as the government was now
entirely despotical, a connection between the inferior officers of the
empire and the senate[22] was found to shock the reason of that absolute
mode of government, which extends the sovereign power in all its fulness
to every officer in his own district, and renders him accountable to his
master alone for the abuse of it.

The veteran soldiers were always thought entitled to a settlement in the
country which had been subdued by their valor. The whole legion, with
the tribunes, the centurions, and all the subordinate officers, were
seated on an allotted portion of the conquered lands, which were
distributed among them according to their rank. These colonies were
disposed throughout the conquered country, so as to sustain each other,
to surround the possessions that were left to the conquered, to mix with
the _municipia_ or free towns, and to overawe the allies. Rome extended
herself by her colonies into every part of her empire, and was
everywhere present. I speak here only of the military colonies, because
no other, I imagine, were ever settled in Britain.

There were few countries of any considerable extent in which all these
different modes of government and different shades and gradations of
servitude did not exist together. There were allies, _municipia_,
provinces, and colonies in this island, as elsewhere; and those
dissimilar parts, far from being discordant, united to make a firm and
compact body, the motion of any member of which could only serve to
confirm and establish the whole; and when time was given to this
structure to coales