99
vinces, and the general command of the Roman chap-
armies, under the well-known names of Proconr- __
sul and Imperator .* But he would receive themonly for ten years. Even before the expirationof that period, he hoped that the wounds of ci-vil discord would be completely healed, andthat the republic, restored to its pristine healthand vigour, would no longer require the dange-rous interposition of so extraordinary a magi-strate. The memory of this comedy, repeatedseveral times during the life of Augustus , waspreserved to the last ages of the empire, by thepeculiar pomp with which the perpetual mo-narch s of Rome always solemnized the tenthyears of their reign/
Without any violation of the principles of the Power ofconstitution, the general of the Roman armies gen^aiT*might receive and exercise an authority almostdespotic over the soldiers, the enemies, and thesubjects of the republic. With regard to thesoldiers, the jealousy of freedom had, even fromthe earliest ages of Rome , given way to thehopes of Conquest, and a just sense of militarydiscipline. The dictator, or consul, had a rightto command the service of the Roman youth;and to punish an obstinate or cowardly disobe-dience by the most severe and ignominious pe-
* Imperator (from which we have derived emperor) signified, underthe republic, no more than general, and was emphatically bestowed bythe soldiers, when on the field of battle they proclaimed their victori-ous leader worthy of that title. When the Roman emperors assumed itin that sense, they placed it after their name, and marked how oftenthey had taken it.
f Dion, I. liii, p. 703, Sec.
H 2