Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/273

 cians. OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 255 solutions of peace or war. Their abilities (unless they CHAP were employed in more eftective offices) were of little ' moment ; and their names served only as the legal date of the year in which they had filled the chair of Marius and of Cicero. Yet it was still felt and ac- knowledged, in the last period of Roman servitude, that this empty name might be compared, and even preferred, to the possession of substantial power. The title of consul was still the most splendid object of am- bition, the noblest reward of virtue and loyalty. The emperors themselves, who disdained the faint shadow of the republic, were conscious that they acquired an additional splendour and majesty as often as they as- sumed the annual honours of the consular dignity ^. The proudest and most perfect separation which can The patri- be found in any age or country, between the nobles and the people, is perhaps that of the patricians and plebeians, as it was established in the first age of the Roman republic. Wealth and honours, the offices of the state, and the ceremonies of religion, were almost ex- clusively possessed by the former ; who, preserving the purity of their blood with the most insulting jealousy", held their clients in a condition of specious vassalage. But these distinctions, so incompatible with the spirit of a free people, were removed, after a long struggle, by the persevering efforts of the tribunes. The most active and successful of the plebeians accumulated wealth, aspired to honours, deserved triumphs, con- tracted alliances, and, after some generations, assumed the pride of ancient nobihty ^. The patrician families, xi. 2. This exalted idea of the consulship is borrowed from an oration (iii. p. 107.) pronounced by Julian in the servile court of Constantius. See the abbe de la Bletene, (INlemoires de I'Academie, torn. xxiv. p. 289.) who delights to pursue the vestiges of the old constitution, and who some- times finds them in his copious fancy. the laws of the twelve tables ; and the uniform operations of human nature may attest that the custom survived the law. See in Livy, (iv. 1 — 6.) the pride of family urged by the consul, and the rights of mankind asserted by the tribune Canuleius. ^ See the animated pictures drawn by.Sallust, in the Jugurthine war, of the pride of the nobles, and even of the virtuous Metellus, who was unable
 * In consulatu honos sine labore suscipitur. INIamerlin in Panegyr. Vet.
 * Intermarriages between the patricians and plebeians were prohibited by