Imatges de pàgina
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tary Difcipline, and a steady Obfervance of Civil Polity, are the fureft Barriers against these Evils. But there is still another Point of great Importance to be confidered. The Profperity of fome rifing Colonies, and the fpeedy Ruin of others, have in great meafure been owing to their Form of Government. Was there but one manner of ruling States and Cities that could make them happy, the Choice would not be difficult. But I have learnt, that of the various Forms of Government among the Greeks and Barbarians, there are three which are highly extolled by those who have experienced them; and yet, that no one of thefe is in all ReIpects perfect, but each of them has fome innate and incureable Defect. Chufe you then in what manner this City fhall be governed. Shall it be by one Man? fhall it be by a felect Number of the wifeft among us? or fhall the Legislative Power be in the People? As for me, I fhall submit to whatever Form of Adminiftration you fhall please to eftablifh. As I think myfelf not unworthy to command, fo neither am I unwilling to obey. Your having chofen me to be the Leader of this Colony, and your calling the City after my Name, are Honours fufficient to content me; Honours, of which, living or dead, I can never be deprived.

LESSON II.

Romulus was chofen King; and Rome was governed by Kings for upwards of 240 Years, till the Expulfion of Tarquin the 2d, which was occafion'd by his Son Sextus ravishing Lucretia, the Wife of Collatinus, a noble Roman. Lucretia, upon receiving this Injury, fent for her Husband, who was then in the Camp at Ardea with Tarquin, and for feveral of his Friends, and having inform'd them of the Outrage he had received, and engag'd them to revenge it, ftab'd berfelf to the Heart, and dy'd before them. The Romans had long groan'd under the Tyranny and Cruelties of the Tarquins, and were therefore glad to lay hold on fo flagrant and outrageous an Infult, to shake off their Yoke. The famous Junius Brutus, who for fome Reafons had mask'd himfelf, and concealed great Talents, under the Appearance of Idiotifm, fuddenly threw off his Difguife; and going near to the dying Lady, drew the Ponyard out of her Bofom, and VOL. I.

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fhewing it all bloody to the Affembly, to their great Astonist ment, thus addressed them.

YES

ES, noble Lady, I fwear by this Blood, which was once fo pure, and which nothing but Royal Villainy could have polluted, that I will purfue Lucius Tarquinius the Proud, his wicked Wife, and their Children, with Fire and Sword; nor will I ever fuffer any of that Family, or of any other whatsoever, to be King in Rome: Ye Gods, I call you to witnefs this my Oath!-There, Romans, turn your Eyes to that fad Spectacle-the Daughter of Lucretius, Collatinus's Wife-fhe died by her own Hand. See there a noble Lady, whom the Luft of a Tarquin reduced to the Neceffity of being her own Executioner, to atteft her Innocence. Hofpitably entertain'd by her as a Kinfman of her Husband's, Sextus, the perfidious Gueft, became her brutal Ravisher. The chafte, the generous Lucretia could not furvive the Infult. Glorious Woman! But once only treated as a Slave, fhe thought Life no longer to be endur'd. Lucretia, a Woman, difdain'd a Life that depended on a Tyrant's Will; and shall We, fhall Men with fuch an Example 'before our Eyes, and after five and twenty Years of ignominious Servitude, fhall We, through a Fear of dying, defer one fingle Inftant to affert our Liberty? No, Romans, now is the Time; the favourable Moment we have fo long waited for, is come. Tarquin is not at Rome. The Patricians are at the Head of the Enterprize. The City is abundantly provided with Men, Arms, and all Things neceffary. There is nothing wanting to fecure the Succefs, if our own Courage does not fail us. And fhall thofe Warriors, who have ever been fo brave when foreign Enemies were to be fubdued, or when Conquefts were to be made to gratify the Ambition and Avarice of Tarquin, be then only Cowards, when they are to deliver themselves from Slavery? Some of you are perhaps intimidated by the Army which Tarquin now commands. The Soldiers, you imagine, will take the Part of their General. Banish fo groundless a Fear. The Love of Liberty is natural to all Men. Your Fellow-Citizens in the Camp feel the Weight of Oppreffion with as quick a Senfe as you that are in Rome. They will as eagerly feize the Occafion of throwing off the Yoke. But let us grant there may be fome among them, who thro' Bafenefs of Spirit, or a bad Education, will be difpofed to favour the Tyrant. The Number of these can be but small, and we have Means fufficient in our Hands to reduce them to Reafon. They have left us Hoftages more

dear to them than Life. Their Wives, their Children, their Fathers, their Mothers, are here in the City. Courage, Romans, the Gods are for us; thofe Gods, whofe Temples and Altars the impious Tarquin has profaned by Sacrifices and Libations made with polluted Hands, polluted with Blood, and with numberless unexpiated Crimes committed against his Subjects. Ye Gods, who protected our Fore-fathers, ye Genii, who watch for the Prefervation and Glory of Rome, do you infpire us with Courage and Unanimity in this glorious Caufe, and we will to our laft Breath defend your Worfhip from all Profanation.

LESSON III.

After the Expulfion of the Tarquins, Rome was governed by two Confuls, who held their Office during the Space only of a Year, at the Conclufion of which new ones were chofen by the Senate and People. After fome time, the People found themfelves very much oppreffed by the Patricians; who engrofjed the whole Power of the State, and by various Extortions, fuch as lending them Money at exorbitant Intereft, and the like, bad got Poffeffion of all their Lands, and often feized their Perfons, imprisoned, or used them as Slaves, (the Laws permitting it in cafe of the Non-payment of their Debts) in a barbarous Manner. Unable to bear this cruel Treatment, a Number of them, at the Infligation of Sicinnius Bellutus, and another Junius Brutus, took an Opportunity, when the State had great Need of their Affiftance, to defert their Generals, and retired to a Hill three Miles from Rome. In this Exigence, a Deputation was fent to them from the Senate, perfuading them with many fair Promifes, to return. At the Head of this Deputation were T. Lartius, Menenius Agrippa, and M. Valerius, all three in great Efteem; and of whom two had govern'd the Republic, and commanded her Armies in quality of Dictator. When they were introduced to the Camp of the Male-contents, and had given an Account of their Commiffion, Junius Brutus, perceiving his Comrades continued in a profound Silence, and that none of them attempted to make himself an Advocate in the Caufe, ftepped forward, and thus addreffed them.

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O

NE would imagine, Fellow-Soldiers, by this deep Si→ lence, that you are still awed by that fervile Fear in which the Patricians and your Creditors kept you fo long. Every Man confults the Eyes of the reft, to discover whether there be more Refolution in others than he finds in himself; and not one of you has the Courage to fpeak in public, that which is the conftant Subject of your private Conversation. Do you not know that you are free? This Camp, these Arms, do not they convince you that you are no longer under your Tyrants? And if you could ftill doubt it, would not this Step which the Senate has taken be fufficient to fatisfy you? Thofe Patricians, fo haughty and imperious, now fend to court us; they no longer make ufe either of proud Commands, or cruel Threats; they invite us as their FellowCitizens to return into our common City; nay some of our Sovereigns, you fee, are fo gracious as to come to our very Camp, to offer us a general Pardon. Whence then can proceed this obftinate Silence, after fuch fingular Condefcenfions? If you doubt the Sincerity of their Promifes; if you fear that under the Veil of a few fine Words they conceal your former Chains, why do you not fpeak? Declare your Thoughts freely. Or, if you dare not open your Mouths, at least hear a Roman, who has Courage enough to fear nothing but the not speaking the Truth. [Then turning to Valerius,] You invite us to return to Rome, but you do not tell us upon what Conditions: Can Plebeians, poor, tho' free, think of being united with Patricians fo rich, and fo ambitious? And even though we fhould agree to the Conditions you have to offer, what Security will the Patricians give us for the Performance, thofe haughty Patricians, who make it a Merit among themselves to have deceived the People? You talk to us of nothing but Pardon and Forgiveness, as if we were your Subjects, and Subjects in Rebellion; but that is the Point to be difcuffed. Is it the People or the Senate who are in Fault? Which of the two Orders was it, that first violated thofe Laws of Society, which ought to reign among the Members of the fame Republic? This is the Queftion. In drder to judge of this without Prejudice, give me leave barely to relate a certain Number of Facts, for the Truth of which I will appeal to no other but yourfelf and your Collegue. Our State was founded by Kings, and never was the Roman People more free, and more happy, than under their Government. Tarquin himfelf, the laft of thofe Princes, Tarquin, fo odious to the Senate and the Nobility, favoured our Interests as much

39 as he oppofed yours. Nevertheless, to revenge your Wrongs, we drove that Prince from Rome; we took Arms against a Sovereign who defended himself only with the Prayers he made to us to leave your Interefts, and return to his Obedience. We afterwards cut to Pieces the Armies of Veii and Tarquinii, which endeavoured to reftore him to the Throne. The formidable Power of Porfenna, the Famine we underwent during a long Siege, the fierce Affaults, the continual Battles, were all thefe, or in fhort, was any thing capable of fhaking the Faith which we had given you? Thirty Latine Cities united to restore the Tarquins. What would you have done then, if we had abandoned you, and joined your Enemies? What Rewards might we not have obtained of Tarquin, while the Senate and Nobles would have been the Victims of his Refentment? Who was it that difperfed this dangerous Combination? To whom are you obliged for the Defeat of the Latines? Is it not to this People? Is it not to them you owe that very Power which you have fince turned against them? What Recompence have we had for the Affiftance we gave you? Is the Condition of the Roman People one Jot the better? Have you affociated them in your Offices and Dignities? Have our poor Citizens found fo much as the fmalleft Relief in their Neceffities? On the contrary, have not our braveft Soldiers, oppreffed with the Weight of Ufury, been groaning in the Chains of their mercilefs Creditors? What has come of all thofe vain Promifes of abolishing, in time of Peace, the Debts which the Extortions of the Great had forced us to contract? Scarce was the War finished, but you alike forgot our Services, and your Oaths. With what Defign then do you come hither? Why do you try to reduce this People by the Enchantments of your Words? Are there any Oaths fo folemn as to bind your Faith? And after all, what would you get by a Union brought about by Artifice, kept up with mutual Diftruft, and which muft end at laft in a Civil War? Let us on both Sides avoid fuch heavy Misfortunes, let us not lofe the Happiness of our Separation; fuffer us to depart from a Country where we are loaded with Chains like fo many Slaves, and where being reduced to be only Farmers of our own Inheritances, we are forced to cultivate them for the Profit of our Tyrants. So long as we have our Swords in our Hands, we fhall be able to open ourfelves a Way into more fortunate Climates; and wherever the Gods fhall grant us to live in LIBERTY, there we fhall find our COUNTRY.

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