The Commentaries of Caesar, Translated Into English (Volume 1); To Which Is Prefixed a Discourse Concerning the Roman Art of War - Tapa blanda

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This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1755. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAP, abuse of that Prerogative, which the Patricians tenaciously kept, of being the sole Judges in civil Causes: and on many other Occasions we find, that the Commons, urged by Oppression to Fury, exerted their natural Strength in such manner as proclaimed them sovereign Masters of the Administration, and gradually extended their Privileges, VII. But the Commonwealth of Rome Was never truly a free State, 'till after the publication of the Licinian Laws, those Laws which, in their Consequences, made Merit alone the ordinary Scale whereby to ascend to the highest Offices; and which, by admitting the Plebeians to a reasonable share of what was purchased with their Blood, delivered them from that servile subjection to the wealthy Nobles, in which their Indigence had so long detained them. From this Period, the Roman People, when they made Laws, or elected Magistrates for the execution of them, were < enerally speaking free from all undue Inuence j not overawed, as before, by the Rich and the Great, nor' constrained by any Force, but that of Reason and natural Justice, in the most absolute subjection to which is the most perfect Freedom. No Citizen, who had shewed superior Talents, and Virtue, stood excluded, on account of the low degree of his Birth, from the Dignities of the State; and l.gn~e proceeded an Emulation among the Individuals to surpass each other in deserving 4 fjonours, Honours. Indeed the haughty Patricians, as, CHA when vanquished by the Plebeians, they had ^JX^ given ground with an angry Reluctance, and retired fighting, so they afterwards, from time to time, shewed a strong Disposition to renew the War, in order to regain their unrighteous Sovereignty: but their Efforts were faint and ineffectual: and at length acquiescing in what they...