with intent, if he could lie concealed during the rest of the day, to fly for refuge to his brother and the cohorts under his command at Tarracina. His natural irrefolution returned upon him. He dreaded every thing, and, with the ufual diftraction of fear, what was prefent alarmed him moft. He returned to his palace, and found it a melancholy defert. His flaves had made their escape, or thunned the presence of their mafter. Silence added to the terror of the fcene. He opened the doors of his apartments, and stood aghaft at the dreary folitude. All was defolation round him. He wandered from room to room till his heart funk within him. Weary, at length, of his wretched condition, he chofe a difgraceful lurking-place, and there lay hid with abject fear, till Julius Placidus, the tribune of a cohort, dragged him forth. With his hands bound behind him, and his garment torn, he was conducted, a wretched spectacle, through crowds infulting his diftrefs, and not a friend to pity his misfortunes. A cataftrophe fo mean and despicable moved no paffion but contempt. A German foldier, either in wrath, or to end his mifery, ftruck at him with his fabre, and miffing his aim, cut off the ear of a tribune, Whether his defign was against that officer, cannot now be known, For his attempt he perifhed on the fpot. Vitellius was dragged along amidst the fcoffs and infults of the rabble. With fwords pointed at his throat, they forced him to raise his head, and expose his countenance to fcorn and derifion; they made him look at his ftatues tumbling to the ground; they pointed to the place of public harangues, and thewed him the spot where Galba perifhed. In this manner they hurried him to the charnel, where the body of Flavius Sabinus had been thrown amongst the vileft malefactors. An expreffion fell from him, in the last extremity, that bespoke a mind not utterly deftitute of fentiment. A tribune infulted him in his mifery; " and yet," said Vitellius, "I have been your fovereign." He died foon after under repeated wounds. The populace, who had worfhipped him in the zenith of his power, continued, after his death, with the fame depra, vity, to treat his remains with every mark of fcorn and infolence," Vol. III. p. 284.

The virtuous conduct of the ancient Germans refpecting mar riage, gave Tacitus an opportunity of feafoning his description with allufions to the degenerate manners of the Romans :

"In confequence of these manners, the married ftate is a life of affection and female conftancy. The virtue of the woman is guarded from feduction: no public fpectacles to feduce her; no banquets to inflame her paffions; no baits of pleasure to disarm her virtue. The art of intriguing by clandeftine letters is unknown to both fexes. Populous as the country is, adultery is rarely heard of: when detected, the punishment is inflant, and inflicted by the husband. He cuts off the hair of his guilty wife, and, having affembled her relations, expels her naked from his houfe, purfuing her with ftripes through the village. To public lofs of honour no favour is fhewn. She may poffefs beauty, youth, and riches; but a husband fhe can never obtain. Vice is not treated by the Germans as a fubject of raillery,

nor

:

nor is the profligacy of corrupting and being corrupted called the fashion of the age. By the practice of fome ftates, female virtue is advanced to still higher perfection with them none but virgins marry. When the bride has fixed her choice, her hopes of matrimony are closed for life. With one hufband, as with one life, one mind, one body, every woman is fatisfied: in him her happiness is centered; her defires extend no farther; and the principle is not only an affection for her husband's perfon, but a reverence for the married ftate. To fet limits to population, by rearing up only a certain number of children, and deftroying the reft, is accounted a flagitious crime. Among the favages of Germany virtuous manners operate more than good laws in other countries."Vol. IV. p. 23.

The tribute which is always paid by Tacitus to the heroifm of the ancient Britons, must be highly gratifying to their defcendants. Even Cæfar is pronounced by our impartial hiftorian never to have been the conqueror of our island. The ambition of the Romans is painted in the most vivid colours in the speech of the noble Galgacus, who thus animates his army to engage the troops of Agricola:

"All that can infpire the human heart; every motive that can excite us to deeds of valour, is on our fide. The Romans have no wives in the field to animate their drooping fpirit; no parents 66 to reproach their want of courage. They are not lifted in the "cause of their country: their country, if any they have, lies at a

diftance. They are a band of mercenaries, a wretched handful "of devoted men, who tremble and look aghaft as they roll their eyes around, and fee on every fide objects unknown before. The "fky over their heads, the fea, the woods, all things confpire to fill "them with doubt and terror. They come like victims, delivered "into our hands by the gods, to fall this day a facrifice to freedom. "In the enfuing battle be not deceived by falfe appearances: the "glitter of gold and filver may dazzle the eye; but to us it is harmlefs, to the Romans no protection. In their own ranks we shall "find a number of generous warriors ready to affift our caufe. The "Britons know that for our common liberties we draw the avenging

fword. The Gauls will remember that they once were a free "people; and the Germans, as the Ufipians lately did, will defert "their colours. The Romans have left nothing in their rear to oppose us in the purfuit: their forts are ungarrifoned; the vete"rans in their colonies droop with age; in their municipal towns, nothing but anarchy, defpotic government, and difaffected fub"jects. In me behold your general; behold an army of freeborn men. Your enemy is before you, and, in his train, heavy tributes, drudgery in the mines, and all the horrors of flavery. Are those calamities to be entailed upon us? Or fhall this day relieve us "by a brave revenge? There is the field of battle, and let that "determine. Let us feck the enemy, and, as we rush upon him, remember the glory delivered down to us by our ancestors; and

"let

"let each man think that upon his fword depends the fate of all "pofterity."-Vol. IV. p. 85.

The Notes contain every thing which the diligence of the tranflator could amafs, or the reader can defire for the illuftration of the original. They are judiciously placed at the end of each volume. One paffage of Tacitus is very frequently quoted to throw light upon another, fo as to render him a most excellent commentator on himself. Mr. Murphy here appears as a scholar of no small respectability, displayiug a very wide extent of claffical reading. His obligations to the editors of Tacitus, and more particularly to the ingenious Brotier, are very great we do not however wifh, by this remark, to take from a great part of his notes their due praife for ingenuity and originality; many of them deferve to be felected; out of which we fhall produce the following. Tacitus writes thus in his account of the affected reluctance of Tiberius to take the empire;

"In the courfe of the debate Quintus Haterius and Mamercus Scaurus had the misfortune to alarm that gloomy and fufpicious temper the first, by afking "How long is it your pleasure, Cæfar, that

the commonwealth fhall want a head to direct it?" Scaurus, by faying, "Since the prince has not interpofed the tribunitian authority to prevent the report of the confuls, there is room to hope that he will yield to the entreaties of the fenate," Tiberius took fire at what was faid by Haterius, and broke out with fudden vehemence to Scaurus he made no reply; refentment had taken root in his heart, and for that reafon was fmothered in filence." Vol. I. p. 21,

This paffage the tranflator thus illuftrates:

The queftion put by Haterius feems to imply a compliment. Ti berius, perhaps, thought it came from a man who faw through his affected delays. Mamercus Scaurus is mentioned, Annals, book iii. f. 31, as one of the most eloquent orators of his time, and afterwards, f. 66, as a man whose diffolute manners made him a difgrace to an illuftrious line of ancestors. His vices are defcribed by Seneca, De Beneficiis, lib. iv. cap. 31. Being accufed of writing verses against Tiberius, he prevented a fentence of condemnation by a voluntary death. Annals, book vi. f. 29. What he fays in the senate is a pointed remark, and no wonder that it provoked refentment. Tiberius, by virtue of his tribunitian power, might have put an end to the importunity of the fenate. Since he did not use his authority, it was evident that he was acting a part, and Scaurus, by his obfervation, pulled off the mask. Suetonius fays, the fenate grew impatient: according to him, a member cried out, "Let him accept the fovereignty, or renounce it at once." Another faid, “Some men are quick to promife, and flow to perform: Tiberius is the reverfe; he acts already, and yet will not promife." Tiberius faw that the farce

lafted

lafted too long. He therefore faid, "I accept the imperial dignity, till you yourselves fhall think fit to relieve old age from fuch a weight of care." Suetonius, in Tib. f. 24.—Vol. I. p. 439.

This acount of Paterculus is also judicious:

"This writer's work is dignified with the title of a Roman Hiftory; but it is well obferved by Lipfius and Voffius, that it deferves no fuch title, being, in truth, nothing more than a collection of the principal events, that happened in the world, from the Trojan war down to the xvith of Tiberius, A. U. C. 783. It is not, fays Lipfius, a compendium, or abridgment of hiftory, though it must be allowed that the narrative proceeds in chronological order. It contains an account of eminent men, and characters well delineated; but the whole of the first book is a miscellaneous review of ancient times and foreign nations. The fecond book is a narrative of Roman affairs, written with eafe and elegance, but when it treats of the Cæfars, in a ftyle of adulation. In the conclufion, the hiftorian composes a fervent prayer, which must aftonish all who are converfant in the hiftory of Tiberius. He throws himself on his knees, and invokes the protection of Jupiter, Mars, and all the gods, to prolong the valuable life of Tiberius, and late, very late, to give to the Roman people a line of princes worthy of the fucceffion to fo great a prince. Cuftodite, fervate, protegite bunc ftatum, hanc pacem; eique functo longiffimâ ftatione mortali deftinate fucceffores quam feriffimos, &c, See Vell. Patercul. in the conclufion," Vol. I. p. 517.

This alfo of the Phenix:

"The accounts given by the ancients of this wonderful bird, if collected together, would fwell into a volume. Tacitus was aware of the decorations of fable; but of the real existence of such a bird, and its periodical appearance in Egypt, he entertained no kind of doubt, It has been objected by fome critics, that he breaks the thread of his narrative for the fake of a trifling digreffion: but it fhould be remembered, that what is now known to be a fable, was formerly received as a certain truth. It was, therefore, in the time of Tacitus, an interefting defcription, and even now curiofity is gratified with the particulars of fo celebrated a fiction. La Bleterie obferves, that, fince the Chriftian æra, many learned and pious writers have been carried away by the torrent, and embraced the popular opinion. He fays, the word poîvi fignifying palma, the palm-tree, as well as the bird in queftion, Tertullian was fo ingenious as to find the phenix mentioned in fcripture. The Latin tranflators have faid, Juftus ut palma florebit; he tranflates it, Juftus ut phenix florebit. Pliny the naturalift seems to dwell with pleasure on the particulars of the birth, the age, the death, and revival of this wonderful bird. He fays, that a pretended phenix was brought to Rome from Egypt, A. U. C. 800, and exhibited as a public fpectacle in the Forum; but the people confidered it as an impofition. Quem falfum effe nemo dubitavit. Pliny, lib. x. f. 2. Pomponius Mela has given an elegant description

of

of the phenix. The fubftance of what he fays, is, when it has lived five hundred years, it expires on its own neft, and being regenerated, carries the bones of its former frame to Heliopolis, the city of the Sun, and there, on an altar, covered with Arabian spices, performs a fragrant funeral. Mela, lib. iii. f. 9. Mariana, the Spanish hiftorian, who wrote in modern times, may be added to the Chriftian writers who have mentioned this bird with pious credulity. He confiders the re-appearance of the phenix, towards the end of Tiberius, as a prognoftic of the refurrection, because it revives out of its own ashes. See his Hiftory of Spain, lib. iv. cap. 1. See alfo Sir John Mande

ville."-Vol. I. p. 533.

Nor is that on fuicide, which follows it, lefs worthy of notice. On this paffage, "That which in time of peace would have been no more than the effect of natural caufes was now called fate, and the wrath of the gods," Mr. M. thus comments:

"The obfervation which Tacitus has compreffed into a maxim, is explained by Cicero in his more open ftyle. Having mentioned a number of prodigies he fays, Atque hæc in bello plura et majora videntur timentibus; eadem non tam animadvertuntur in pace. Accedit illud etiam, quod in metu et periculo, cum creduntur facilius, tum finguntur impunius. Cicero de Divinatione, lib. ii. f. 27. This may account for the portents and prodigies which so often occur in the Roman historians, who are often faid to be fuperftitious, when they are giving a true picture of the public mind. See the phænomena of this kind, Hift. i. f. 86."-Vol. III. p. 509.

In the 81ft fection of the fourth book of his Hiftory, Tacitus relates two pretended miracles of Vefpafian; on which occafion Mr. M. thus properly attacks Voltaire:

"It is not clear that Tacitus placed any faith in this extraordinary ftory. He fays, indeed, that the two miracles were attested by men who were eye-witneffes, and had no longer any interest to corrupt their teftimony. But that very obfervation implies, that there might have been, at the point of time, mendacio pretium: if fo, men, who have been the authors of a lie, are not always willing to convict themfelves. It is moreover evident that they might have been impofed upon. We fee that Vefpafian was afraid of expofing himself to public ridicule, and therefore confulted the phyficians, who reported that the two men were curable; and in confequence of that opinion, Vefpafian was willing to hazard the attempt, as Suetonius fays, before a public affembly, palam pro concione. The phyficians, it is highly probable, produced the two patients, when they had by their previous arts enfured the emperor's fuccefs. The ftory is not related by Tacitus with the air of a man who believed the fact: he has elsewhere given his reafon for fometimes admitting the improbable into his narrative: Vulgatis traditifque demere fidem non aufim. Voltaire feems to be the only writer who has endeavoured to establish this miraculous cure. He fays, De toutes les guérifons miraculeufes, les

plus