even too effeminate to maintain a form of government over themselves.

The barbarous nations, which lay north of the empire, were indeed numerous and warlike; but they could not subdue the Romans, till they had learned of them the art of war. And the power of Rome, under the emperors, lay chiefly in the northern provinces, where it was most needed. As we have already said, sixteen or twenty legions generally lay bordering upon the Rhine and Danube. The barbarians, in these times, were generally poorly clothed and fed, and had few arms, and little knowledge of the art of war. Their invasions were like those of a hungry lion, whom fierce appetite impels to rush on the point of the spear, in order to seize his prey; and their chief difficulty was want of union. Their tribes were composed of warlike, fierce, impetuous spirits; but they were unsettled, barbarous, roving, independent, and jealous of the power of their chiefs, as weli as tenacious of the honor of their tribes.

Yet the nations composing the Northern Hive,* could not but experience a gradual improvement. Their proximity to a great and enlightened people, with whom they were at perpetual war, their strength of body, their intellectual vigor, and ambition to acquire those arts, which had so long rendered the Romans invincible, must, in time, have produced their natural and unavoidable effects. In the barbarian armies and countries, there must have been a multitude of Romans. Numbers, having fled from justice, or induced to rove, from disgust at their own capricious and tyrannical government, would naturally seek an asylum in the wilds of Europe, and among a more free and equitable people. Numbers being detained there would, at length, yield to necessity, and voluntarily remain in a land, whither they had been dragged as captives, assimilating by degrees to its customs and habits.

The Gauls and Germans, from the period now before us, composed the strength of the Roman armies; and great

*The northern parts of Europe and Asia are sometimes called the Northern Hive, from the vast swarms of barbarians, who, from time to time, have issued from those regions, to desolate the world. Some have supposed these regions to have been anciently crowded with inhabitants. But the opinion of Robertson is much more rational, that those regions were anciently less populous than at present; though_at present, they are less populous, than other parts of the continent.-Ed

numbers of these nations, whom we shall indiscriminately call the Goths and Vandals and Huns, were now admitted into the Roman service, either as legionaries or auxiliaries. Some of them were promoted to the highest stations, both civil and military, and even wore the imperial diadem and purple. Many of these, either never had, or else lost, all attachment to Rome; and, rejoining their countrymen, carried and diffused among them, the arts of war, and advantages of disciplined valor.

From the reign of Commodus, to the extinction of the Western Empire, history presents one uniform scene of disorder, vice and misery. We have almost constantly before our eyes, a great empire going rapidly to destruction under the influence of bad government. A very few of the emperors, however, during this dreary period, were both able statesmen and commanders. Had it been their fortune to have reigned in happier times, and over a more virtuous people, their administrations would have done more important service to mankind. But their best measures and greatest exertions, seemed only to have the effect of medicines given to the sick man, after his disease has become incurable. They might a little procrastinate, but could not prevent, the moment of dissolution.

About the year of Christ 267, the emperor Valerian was taken prisoner by the Persians, when no less than nineteen persons in various parts of the empire assumed the imperial purple, with the titles of Cesar, and Augustus; and each of them endeavored to support his claims and titles by the sword. There can be no stronger proof than this of the extreme wretchedness of those times. All was tumult, war, distrust, cruelty and the most sudden and bloody revolutions.

But there are two circumstances in the period of history now before us, which merit the particular attention of the reader, viz. the establishment of the Christian religion throughout the empire, by means of the conversion of the emperor Constantine, surnamed the Great; and his removal of the seat of government from Rome to the ancient city Byzantium, which he rebuilt, and called Constantinople, or the City of Constantine.

We have already noticed the rapid spread of the Christian religion. In the days of Constantine, it had penetrated almost every part of the empire. No sooner, therefore, did that prince declare in favor of it, than it became the religion of the court, the capital, and soon, of the empire

itself. This was truly an amazing change; and forms one of the most memorable eras in ecclesiastical history. A meek and humble religion, unknown to the world, or if known, despised and persecuted, set on foot by a few obscure persons in Judea, and propagated only by the force of rational conviction, spread and prevailed against all opposition; overturned the altars and silenced the oracles of the heathen; and at last, through hosts of prejudices, fortified by antiquity, and sanctioned by universal custom, made its way to the throne of the Cesars. It was like a "stone cut out of a mountain without hands, becoming a great mountain and filling the whole earth.”

There are various accounts given, and various opinions formed, concerning the conversion of Constantine. Whether his mind was swayed by the power of truth, or by temporal, political and interested motives, is not easy to determine. It is related, and believed by some, that his conversion was miraculous. They say, that he saw in the heavens the sign of the cross, with this inscription in radiant letters, Touto Nika, i. e. By this conquer; and that upon this, he immediately embraced Christianity. His life and conduct were by no means eminent for Christian virtue; nor was he wholly free from crimes of the deepest die.

From this period, the Christian church was loaded with honor, wealth and power; nor did her virtue ever sustain a severer trial. The chief dignitaries of the empire could scarcely do less, than imitate their master; and Christianity soon became a necessary qualification for public office. The church now no longer appeared in her ancient simplicity and purity; lords and princes were among her converts; and she was dressed in robes of state. Her ceremonies were increased; her forms of worship were loaded with pomp and splendor; her doctrines were intermingled with the senseless jargon of a philosophy, equally absurd and vain; and the way seemed prepared, not only for the decay of Christian doctrine and morality, but of every science, which distinguishes civilized from savage nations.

After various wars and competitions, Constantine, in the year of Christ 320, became sole master of the Roman empire. He certainly did whatever could be done, by an accomplished general and statesman, toward restoring the empire to its ancient glory. But, alas! he did not reign over the ancient Romans. His people had been often defeated, humbled, enslaved, and trampled in the dust. The true

Roman spirit was long since utterly extinguished; and, as we have had occasion to observe, Italy itself was filled with a mighty heterogeneous mass of population, of no fixed character. His strong genius, for a moment, sustained, but could not ultimately save, the falling fabric.

The ambition of Constantine gave a more fatal blow to the Roman empire, than even the vices of Commodus. To secure to himself a glory equal with that of Romulus, he formed the resolution of changing the seat of empire. The place, upon which he pitched as a new capital, to immortalize his name, was indeed well chosen. The ancient city of Byzantium enjoyed the finest port in the world, on the strait of the Thracian Bosphorus, which communicates with those inland seas, whose shores are formed by the most opulent and delightful countries of Europe and Asia. Thither Constantine caused the wealth of the empire to be conveyed; and directly a new and splendid city arose, which was able to rival ancient Rome. That proud capital, so long the mistress of empire, suddenly became but a satellite, and was forsaken of honor, wealth and glory; since the emperor, and all who were devoted to his interest, used every possible means to exalt the new seat of empire.

This wound was deadly and incurable. It proved fatal not only to one city, but to the Western Empire. Rome was utterly abandoned by Constantine. Nor was it much

alleviated under his successors, among whom, a permanent division of the empire taking place, Rome and Italy fell under the government of a series of weak, miserable, short-lived tyrants, who rose by conspiracy, and fell by murder, in rapid succession; till, in the 476th year of the Christian era, Augustulus, the last of the Roman emperors, was conquered and dethroned by Odoacer, king of the Herali, who, at the head of an immense army of barbarians, overrun all Italy, and put a period to the Western Empire.

Thus ended Rome, after having stood 1229 years. When we consider the length of her duration, her character, and the nature and extent of her resources, we shall not hesitate to pronounce her the most powerful and important city, which ever existed, and as standing at the head of the first rank of cities. But if this remark is true of Rome in the times of which we are now speaking, it will serve to awaken our admiration, when we consider, that Rome survived even this shock; and, as though she was destined to bear rule, from being the head of a most powerful empire, she soon became

the head of an ecclesiastical institution not less powerful. She spread her wing over all the powers of Europe. They trembled at her mandates. She deposed monarchs at her pleasure, trampled on crowns and sceptres, and, for ten centuries, exerted the most despotic sovereignty. She is even to this day, one of the finest cities in the world.

[Athens and Corinth under the Romans.-After the Roman power was permanently established in Greece, no cities but Athens and Corinth were sufficiently distinguished to merit particular attention. Athens revolted from the Romans, in the time of the Mithridatic war; but was reduced by Sylla, who burned the Piræus and defaced the city and suburbs. The civil war between Cesar and Pompey soon followed; in which they sided with Pompey. Here they were unfortunate; for Cesar conquered. But Cesar did not treat them as Sylla had done. With that clemency, which made so amiable a part of his character, he dismissed them with a fine allusion to their illustrious ancestors; saying, that he spared the living, for the sake of the dead. Cesar likewise rebuilt the city of Corinth, which. had lain desolate ever since its destruction by the savage Mummius.

The Athenians afterwards sided with Brutus and Cassius against Augustus; and erected the statues of these republicans near those of their own ancient deliverers, Harmodius and Aristogiton. But they were still unfortunate; for their enemies triumphed.

At this time the city was manifestly declining, on account of the Romans having fixed the seat of their government at Corinth. The literary fame of Athens, however, did not then decline. When the apostle Paul visited that city, it was full of philosophers, rhetoricians, orators, painters statuaries, and young persons who came to learn philosophy and the arts. But this sort of people being generally very idle, were great talkers, and had an insatiable curiosity. This account is corroborated by Luke: "All the Athenians and strangers who were there, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing." It is said, there were more images in Athens, than in all Greece besides, and that they worshipped the gods more than all the rest of Greece. Well, therefore, might Paul tell the Areopagites, that he perceived they were in all things too superstitious, or extremely religious. His eloquent address before that venerable council will be found in Acts xvii. 'Though the apostle's success was small at that time, the