He, says one
historian, shed no ray of light or illustration upon the imperial house,
except by one solitary quality. This bears a harsh sound; but it has the
effect of a sudden redemption for his memory, when we learn--that this
solitary quality, in virtue of which he claimed a natural affinity to the
sacred house, and challenged a natural interest in the purple, was the
very princely one of--a merciful disposition.
The two Antonines fix an era in the imperial history; for they were both
eminent models of wise and good rulers; and some would say, that they
fixed a crisis; for with their successor commenced, in the popular belief,
the decline of the empire. That at least is the doctrine of Gibbon; but
perhaps it would not be found altogether able to sustain itself against a
closer and philosophic examination of the true elements involved in the
idea of declension as applied to political bodies. Be that as it may,
however, and waiving any interest which might happen to invest the
Antonines as the last princes who kept up the empire to its original
level, both of them had enough of merit to challenge a separate notice in
their personal characters, and apart from the accidents of their position.
Pages:
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195