OP THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 97
The reformation of the senate was one of the char.
first steps in which Augustus laid aside the ty-_
rant, and professed himself the father of his He reform*country. He was elected censor; and, in con- the seiiate ‘cert with his faithful Agrippa , he examined thelist of the senators, expelled a few members,whose vices or whose obstinacy required a pub-lic example, persuaded near two hundred toprevent the shame of an expulsion by a volun-tary retreat, raised the qualification of a senatorto about ten thousand pounds, created a suffi-cient number of patrician families, and acceptedfor himself the honourable title of prince of thesenate, which had always been bestowed, by thecensors, on the citizen, the most eminent forhis honours and services.' But whilst he thusrestored the dignity, he destroyed the indepen-dence of the senate. The principles of a free con-stitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legis-lative power is nominated by the executive.
Before an assembly thus modelled and pre- Re8iKns , lispared, Augustus pronounced a studied oration, usur r eJwhich displayed his patriotism, and disguised hisambition. “ He lamented, yet excused, his past“ conduct. Filial piety had required at his“ hands the revenge of his father’s murder; the“ humanity of his own nature had sometimes“ given way to the stern laws of necessity, and“ to a forced connection with two unworthy col-“ leagues: as long as Antony lived, the republic
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