THE DECLINE AND FALL

20 2

CHAP.

V.

New max-ims of theimperialpreroga-tives.

the despotism of military command. His haugh-. ty and inflexible spirit could not discover, orwould not acknowledge, the advantage of pre-serving an intermediate power, however imagin-ary, between the emperor and the army. Hedisdained to profess himself the servant of an as-sembly that detested his person, and trembled athis frown ; he issued his commands, where hisrequest would have proved as effectual; assum-ed the conduct and style of a sovereign and aconqueror, and exercised, without disguise, thewhole legislative as well as the executive power.

The victory over the senate was easy and in-glorious. Every eye and every passion were di-rected to the supreme magistrate, who posses-sed the arms and treasure of the state; whilstthe senate, neither elected by the people, norguarded by military force, nor animated bypublic spirit, rested its declining authority onthe frail and crumbling basis of ancient opinion.The fine theory of a republic insensibly vanish-ed, and made way for the more natural and sub-stantial feelings of monarchy. As the freedomand honours of Rome were successively com-municated to the provinces, in which the oldgovernment had been either unknown, or wasremembered with abhorrence, the tradition ofrepublican maxims was gradually obliterated.The Greek historians of the age of the Anto-nines,* observe with a malicious pleasure, thatalthough the sovereign of Rome , in compliancewith an obsolete prejudice, abstained from the

* Appian in Proem.