1 to the Bey and his guards. His principal officers and flaves came to vifit me, and in talking over my cafe, they agreed that it was very hard, but to comfort me, faid, that their mafter was a very good prince, and would not keep me long confined. I found feveral of them pleasant liberal-minded men, and we converfed together very fociably through my Arabian fervant, who remained with me. "The people in this country always fleep after dinner till near four o'clock, they then rife, wash, and pray; that time of prayer is called by them Affer, and is the common hour of vifiting; the Beys then give audience, and tranfact bufinefs: Muftapha Bey now fent for me again, and feeming to be in good humour, endeavoured to coax me into payment of the demand he made; but I continued firm in my refufal, on which he changed the fubject, and fmiling, afked me if I fhould not like to be a Muffulman, telling me it was much better than being a Chriftian, and hinted that I fhould be very well off if I would become one of them, and stay at Cairo, ufing likewife other arguments to effect my converfion, and all this in a jocular laughing manner: while he was proceeding in his endeavours to bring me over to his faith, two officers came from Ibrahim Bey to procure my releafe. I have before told you that he is the chief Bey, and luckily Mr. R, having very good intereft with him, had made application in my behalf, and in confequence thereof thefe two ambaffadors were fent to request that Muftapha Bey would deliver me up to them; but he feemed by no means inclinable fo to do, and, refuming his former fternnefs of look, remained for fome time inexorable; till at length, wrought on by their entreaties, he confented to let me go, obferving at the fame time that whenever he had an opportunity of making a little money, Ibrahim Bey always interfered and prevented him-a pretty obfervation! From which you may infer, that they look upon us as fair plunder, and do not give themfelves much trouble to find out a pretence on which to found their claims, "The English feem particularly to have been victims to this fpecies of rapine, owing, I believe, to the facility, with which they always fubmit to it: and many of our wealthy countrymen having returned by this road laden with the fpoils of India, thefe Beys have frequently fleeced them, allured by the temptation of that wealth, which thefe nabobs are fo fond of difplaying: various are the inftances of extortions practifed on them. You may form an idea of all, when I mention one of a gentleman, who paffing by Suez in his way to England, that he might not be detained there by the fearching of his baggage, prevailed on the Cuftom-house officers to difpenfe therewith, and only put their feals on his trunks to exempt them from being vifited till his arrival at Cairo, where being come, fatigued with his journey, and impatient to fhift himfelf, he would not wait for the infpection of the officers, but broke the feals to get his clothes, and paid a thousand pounds for the luxury of a clean fhirt an hour before he otherwise would have had it." Remarks on the annual inundations of the Nile, and their effects on the ancient and modern cities of Alexandria, the dimenfions of Pompey's pillar, and the well-known ftory of fome English fhip-mafters mounting to the top of it in a drunken frolic, difcovering the remains of a pedestrian statue, and triumphantly drinking a bowl of punch there, make up the twelfth.The thirteenth conducts the author from Alexandria, through the islands of the Archipelago to Tunis, and thence to Leghorn, where the work concludes. A tranflation of a firman of the Grand Signor's, prohibiting all foreign fhips. and Chriftians from approaching the port of Suez, is fubjoined. Though the dangers of traverfing regions where no regular or effective government affords protection, render the interior parts of Arabia but little known, and indeed a country uniformly defert, or occupied by tribes of wandering barbarians, is not much the object of cultivated enquiry, yet the facra fames auri, that purfues its object per mare, per faxa, per ignes, has made us 4. pretty pretty well acquainted with the fea creates fcarcely a wish that he had done coaft. more. On the whole, however, they may be read with pleasure by all who feek from books amufement rather than inftruction. After what we have faid, it may feem impertinent to defcend to verbal criticifm, but our zeal for the purity of the English language obliges us to remind the author that own is not the participle paffive of fow for few, and that the active verb lay is improperly ufed for the neuter lie throughout. The travels before us are related in an eafy, agreeable manner, and in language fufficiently correct for the epiftofary ftyle. At the fame time they differ fo little from former accounts that it is difficult to fay how far the author has written from his own obfervation, or felected from the information of others. He confines himfelf chiefly to narrative and defcription, and feldom inferts reflections moral or political, and the little he has done in that way ART. XIV. The Hiftory of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic. By Adam Ferguson, LL.D. Professor of Moral Philofophy in the University of Edinburgh. 4to. 3 Vols. Illuftrated with Maps. Cadell, and Creech in Edinburgh. (Continued from page 68.) IN our laft number we gave our readers the plan of this very valuable history in the author's own words, together with fome extracts from it, and a general character of the work. Our opinion, we apprehend, will be fully juftified by the following account of the growing corruption of the Roman officers of ftate, which is at once interefting and inftructive: "About the time that Pompey obtained his commiffion to command with fo extenfive a power in the fuppreffion of the pirates, the tide began to run high against the aristocratical party. The populace, led by fome of the Tribunes, were ever ready to infult the authority of the fenate; and the vices of particular men gave frequent advantages against the whole order of nobility. Corruption and dangerous faction prevailed at elections, and the preferments of ftate were generally coveted, as fteps to the government of provinces, where fortunes were amaffed by every fpecies of abufe, oppreffion, and violence. Envy and indignation concurred in roufing the people against these abuses. Cornelius, one of the Tribunes, propofed a fevere law againft bribery, by which perfons convicted of this crime fhould be difqualified for any office of ftate. The fenate wished to foften the rigour of this law, by limiting the penalty to a pecuniary fine; and the Conful, Calpurnius Pifo, moved for an edict to this purpofe, in order to anticipate and to preclude the more violent law of Cornelius. But the Tribune prevailed, and obtained an act impofing the feverer penalty. He likewife, by another decree of the people, attacked the difcretionary jurifdiction of the Prætors*, obliged them to be more explicit in the edicts they published, and to obferve them more exactly. "The crime of extortion in the provinces, however, was the great difgrace of the Romans. To have found an effectual remedy for this evil, would have done more honour to the commonwealth than they had derived from all their conquefts. Severe laws were accordingly enacted, complaints were willingly received, and profecutions encouraged. Candidates for popularity and public favour generally began with endeavouring to bring fome offender under this title to public juftice; but the example of this ftate, after all, has left only this piece of inftruction to mankind: That juft government over conquered provinces is fcarcely to be hoped for, and leaft of all where republics are the conquerors. "Manilius, one of the Tribunes of the people, in order to ftrengthen the inferior clafs of his conftituents, had obtained by surprise an act+, by which the citizens of flavish extraction were to be promifcuously inrolled in all the tribes. This act, having drawn upon him the refentment of the fenate, com * Dis. Caff, lib. xxxvi. c. 23. + Ibid. lib. xxxvi. pelled pelled him to feek for fecurity under the protection of Gabinius and Pompey. With this view he moved his famous act, in which Cicero concurred, to veft Pompey with the command in Afia. This motion procured him a powerful fupport, and, on fome occafions, the general voice of the people in his favour. Soon after this tranfaction, being profecuted for fome offence at the tribunal of Cicero, who was then Prætor, and being refufed the ufual delays, the Prætor was obliged to explain this ftep in a fpeech to the people; in which he told them, that he meant to favour Manilius, and that, his own term in office being about to expire, he could not favour him more effectually, than by haftening his trial, and by not leaving him in the power of a fucceffor, who might not be equally difpofed in his favour. Such were the loofe and popular notions of justice then prevailing at Rome*. At the election of Confuls for the following year, there occurred an opportunity to apply the law against bribery. Of four candidates, Publius Autronius Pætus, Publius Cornelius Sylla, L. Aurelius Cotta, and L. Manlius Torquatus, the majority had declared for the former two; but thefe being convicted of bribery were fet afide, and their competitors declared duly elected. Ábout the fame time L. Sergius Catilina, who has been already mentioned as one of the most violent executioners of Sylla's profcriptions, having returned from Africa, where he ferved in the capacity of Prætor, and intending to ftand for the Confulate, was accufed of extortion in his province, and stopped in his canvas by a profecution raised on this account. In his rage for this difappointment, he was ripe for any diforder; and, being readily joined by Autronius and Pifo, formed a confpiracy to affaffinate their rivals +, to maffacre the Senate, to feize the enfigns of power, and, with the aid of their faction, to lay hold of the government. Julius Cæfar and Craffus are mentioned by Suetonius as accomplices in this plot. Craffus was to have been named Dictator, and Cæfar his general of the horfe§. Cæfar was to have given the fignal for the execution of the maffacre, by uncovering his fhoulders of his gown; but Craffus having relented, abfented himfelf from the Senate on the day appointed, and Cæfar, though prefent, omitted to give the fignal, by which means the whole was difconcerted. Sylla was tried fome years after as an acceffory, and was defended by Cicero. Many of thofe who, by their birth and diftinction, were deftined to run the career of political honours, found their fortunes, by the extravagant expence of public fhows, and of gratuities to the people, by bribes to private perfons, as well as by their own debauchery and prodigality, ruined before they attained their end. They fought to repair their ruin by any unwarrantable means, and were ready to engage in any dangerous defign. The ftate appears to have apprehended an increafe of this danger from the number of foreigners, who, from every quarter, crowded to Rome, as to the general refort of perfons who wifhed to gratify their own extravagance, or to prey upon that of others. Under this apprehenfion, an edict was obtained, upon the motion of C. Papius, Tribune of the people, to oblige all ftrangers to leave the city: but it is likely, that the ftate was in greater danger from natives than foreigners. Cataline, having prevailed upon Clodius, by the confideration of a fum of money, to drop the profecution which had been intended against him, was left to offer himself a candidate for the confulate of the following year. "The office of Cenfor had been revived in the perfons of Catulus and Craffus; but thefe officers found that its authority, fo powerful in former times, was now of little effect. They fcarcely ventured to give it a trial with in the city; and, having differed about the enrolment of citizens refiding beyond the Po, and about fome other particulars, they refigned their power**. Cenfors were again named in the following *Plutarch. in Vit. Cicer. + Cic. in Catal. i. c. 6. · ·‡ Dion. lib. xxxvi. &c. Sueton. in Calar. Plutarch. in Vit. Ciceronis, Cicero de Aurufpicum Refponfis, ** Dion. lib. xxxvi. Plutarch. in Craffo. Jowing year, but with no greater effect; fome of the Tribunes, fearing to be degraded from the fenate, forbade them to proceed in making up the roll*. "In the next confulate, Caius Julius Cæfar, at this time thirty-five years of age, entered on his career of popularity and ambition. Being Edile, together with Marcus Bibulus, he not only concurred with his colleague in all the expenfive fhews that were given to the people, but gave separate entertainments on his own account. The multitudes of gladiators he had affembled on this occafion gave an alarm to the magistracy, and he was ordered not to exceed a certain number. In the adminiftration of his office as Prætor, he took fome steps that were likely to revive the animofity of the late parties of Marius and Sylla; and, notwithstand ing the act of indemnity which had paffed, raised profecutions on a charge of affaffination, against all those who had put any citizen to death in execution of Sylla's profcription+. From this time Suetonius obferves, that Cicero dated the beginning of Cæfar's project to fubvert the republic, and to make himself master of the state. "What has moft diftinguished this confulate, however, is the competition of candidates for the fucceffion to that office on the following year, and the confequences of the election which followed. The candidates were M. Tullius Cicero, C. Antonius, fon of the late celebrated orator, L. Sergius Catalina, P. Sulpitius Galba, and L. Caffius Longinus, Quintus Cornificius, and Licinius Sacerdos. "Cicero was the firft of his family who hadever refided, or enjoyed any honours, at Rome, he was a native of Arpinum, a country-town of Italy, and was confidered as an obfcure perfon by thofe who were defcended of ancient families, but had great confideration on account of his eloquence, and the confequences of it to all fuch as had any interefts at ftake before the tribunals of juftice. Being folicited by Cataline to undertake his defence on a trial for malverfation in Sicily, he did not at once reject the request, nor always deny his aid to the factious Tribunes, in fupport of their measures. He was undoubtedly, like other ambitious men at Rome, difpofed to court every party, and willing to gain individuals; and had of late, in particular, confiderably ftrengthened his intereft, by having fupported the preten fions of Pompey, and by having joined the popular Tribunes, in what they propofed in behalf of that officer. He was, notwithstanding, probably by his averfion to appear for fo bad a client as Cataline, faved from the reproach of having efpoufed his caufe; and by his known inclination in general to fupport the authority of the fenate he difpofed the aristocratical party to forgive the occafional part which he took with the Tribunes in particular queftions, not immediately fuppofed to affect their government. "In the courfe of this competition for the confulfhip, Antonius and Cataline joined interefts together, and fpared no kind or degree of corruption. Cicero complained of their practices in the fenate, and moved to revive the law of Calpurnius against bribery, with an additional penalty of ten years banifhment. Cataline confidered this meafure as levelled againft himfelf; and, incited by this provocation, as well as by the animofity of a rival, was then fuppofed to have formed a defign againft Cicero's life, and to have expreffed himself to this purpose in terms that gave a general alarm to the electors, and determined great numbers against himself. He had drawn to his interefts many perfons of infamous character and defperate fortune, many youths of good family, whom he debauched, or encouraged in their profligacy. His language, at their meetings, was full of indignation at the unequal and fuppofed unjust distribution of fortune and power. All the wealth of the ftate, all authority, faid he, is engroffed by a few, while others Dien. lib. xxxvi. Plutarch. in Craffo. Sueton. in Vit. C. J. Cæfaris. ‡ Ibid. c. ix. Sue. tonius fuppofes, that Cicero alluded to the confpiracy of Autronius and Sylla, in which Craffus, as well as Cæfar, was faid to be engaged. Ep. ad Atticum, lib. i. ep. 2. Dion. lib. xxxvii. c. 39. others of more merit are kept in po- "Thefe declarations, being made to the affembly of the centuries, as well as in that of the tribes, the diforderly and the profligate began to prevail; and as it was impoffible that the collective body of the people could meet, the comitia, for the moft part, was but another name for fuch riotous affemblies, as were made up of the perfons who haunted the streets of Rome. The minds of fober men were full of fear and distrust, alarmed with furmifes of plots, and various combinations of defperate perfons, who united their influence, not to carry elections or attain to preferments, but to overturn the government, or to fhare in its fpoils *. "One of the Tribunes of the prefent year, Servilius Rullus, foon after his admiffion into office, under pretence of providing fettlements for many of the citizens, promulgated the heads of an Agrarian law, which he carried to the fenate and the people. The fubject of former grants was now in a great meafure exhaufted, and all Italy was inhabited by Roman citizens. This Tribune propofed a new expedient to open fettlements for the indigent, not by conqueft, but by purchase. It was propofed, that all eftates, territories, or poffeflions of any fort, which belonged to the republic, fhould be fold; that all acquifitions of territory recently made, and the fpoils taken from any enemy, fhould be difpofed of in the fame manner; that the money arifing from fuch fales fhould be employed in purchafing arable and cultivable lands, to be af figned in lots to the needy citizens: and that, to carry this law into execution, ten commiffioners fhould be named in the fame manner in which the Pontiffs were named, not by the whole people, but by feventeen of the tribes felected by lot: that thefe commiffioners fhould be judges, without appeal, of what was or was not public property; of what was to be fold, of what was to be bought, and at what price; that they were to receive and judge of the accounts of every Conful, or other officer, except Pompey, commanding in any province, where any capture was made, or new territory Cicero de Lege Agraria. "By this event the defigns of Cataline were fuppofed to be fruftrated; but the confuls were not likely to enter on a quiet adminiftration. The Tribunitian power, from the time of its reftoration, was gradually recovering its force, and extending its operations. Every perfon that could give any public difturbance, that could annoy the Senate, or mortify any of its leading members; every one that had views of ambition adverfe to the laws, or who wifhed to take part in fcenes of confufion and tumult; every perfon oppreffed with debt, who wished to defraud his creditors; every perfon who, by his profligacy or crimes, was at variance with the tribunals of juftice, was comprehended under the general denomination of the popular party. The Roman people had once been divided into Patrician and Plebeian, next into noblemen and commoners; but now they took fides, with little regard to former diftinctions, against or for the preservation of public order. In acquired: |