Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/98

 xlvi almost every Day considerable Advantages upon them ; that at last he made them come too, and submit to his own Terms ; and then returning to Rome he kept the Solemnity of the Decennalia, and observ'd those Religious Ceremonies which were usual upon the occasion.

During the Peace, the Emperour employ'd himself in reforming the Laws, and correcting the Faults in the Administration. To give some Instances. First, To the end that those who were Free-born, might never be at a loss to prove their Privilege, he order'd every Citizen in Rome to go to the Treasury in Saturn's Temple, where the Publick Records were kept, and there give an Account of the number of his Children ; and in the Provinces also he set up Offices to Register the Births in every Family.

He very wisely Prohibited all Enquiries into the Circumstances and Condition of the Dead, after the Term of five Years. And that Malefactors might not be too long unpunish'd, nor the Subject suffer so much by the Interruption of the Holy Days ; he followed Augustus's Precedent, and lengthen'd the Law Term ; so that now the Courts sat two hundred and thirty Days in the Year : This Method had two good Consequences ; for thus Causes were