Now first in thy long annals thou didst rest from a civil war
in such a peace, that righteously, and with maternal tenderness, thou
mightst claim for it the honors of a civic triumph."]
--"God and his Son except,
Created thing nought valued she nor shunned."
That the possessor and wielder of such enormous power--power alike
admirable for its extent, for its intensity, and for its consecration from
all counterforces which could restrain it, or endanger it--should be
regarded as sharing in the attributes of supernatural beings, is no more
than might naturally be expected. All other known power in human hands has
either been extensive, but wanting in intensity--or intense, but wanting
in extent--or, thirdly, liable to permanent control and hazard from some
antagonist power commensurate with itself. But the Roman power, in its
centuries of grandeur, involved every mode of strength, with absolute
immunity from all kinds and degrees of weakness. It ought not, therefore,
to surprise us that the emperor, as the depositary of this charmed power,
should have been looked upon as a _sacred_ person, and the imperial family
considered a "_divina_ domus.
Pages:
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28