ANCIENT AND MEDIIEVAL ROME.*
Tuts is a book with a very special purpose. It is written for the glorification of Rome, Rome Pagan and Rome Papal. The latter, it aims at showing, was, under divine Providence, a strictly organic development out of the former. The external splendour of the book is thoroughly in harmony with the grandeur of the subject. On its sumptuous cover of green and gold are blazoned the names of the reigning Pontiff, of St. Peter and St. Paul, and beneath are the familiar axes and fasces, the symbol of the Con- sular authority in old Republican Rome. The volume is almost too gorgeous, as well as too unwieldy, for ordinary reading pur- poses, and it is obviously meant to grace a drawing-room table.
• Ancient Roane, and its Connection with tise Cisristtan Religion. By the Rev. Henry Formby. Lmdon: C. Regan Paul and Go.
It is profusely illustrated; we have the Roman Forum, as it was and as it is ; Roman temples and public buildings as imaginarily restored by Canina, endless busts of distinguished Romans ; everything, in fact, which can bring the life of the old City vividly before us. We have, too, several scenes from the Catacombs, as a connecting link between heathen and Christian Rome. Occasionally we stumble on an illus- tration imaginary rather than historical, as, for in- stance, the death of Cmsar and the martyrdom of St.
Stephen. Greek history also is richly illustrated, and alto- gether the ancient world, the world at least of Greece and Rome, is represented in all its known aspects. The result is a splendid and attractive volume, which, however, is perhaps rather too costly to fulfil the hope of the author, and find its way into many "Christian households." There are, no doubt, quarters in which it will be very welcome.
When we turn from the engravings and vignettes to the subject-matter, some of us will be tempted to say that parts of it are as fanciful and imaginary as are two or three of the illustrations we have above noted. The author's purpose is triumphantly clear,—indeed, he never seeks to veil or disguise it. He starts with a theory, which he works out in a way which would, we should suppose, thoroughly commend itself to the tastes and sympathies of the present Pontiff. Leo as we all know, likes philosophy in its place, and is anxious to show that there is a real harmony between the Christian Church and some of the best results of modern civilisation. Our author's line of thought will quite approve itself to him. Rome, accord- ing to Mr. Formby, had as distinct and as special a place in the divine economy as Jerusalem, and all Roman history con- clusively proves this. Her growth and progress were as care- fully watched over and directed as those of the Jewish nation, and they led up to as clear and definite an end. This, if we rightly understand our author, can hardly be said of any of the other states or nations of antiquity. Of the Asiatic Powers and of their internal affairs we know but very little, and it would seem pretty evident that however great they may have once been, they have, after all, played but a very subordinate part in the drama of the world's history. They are, at any rate, but very remotely connected with modern life and civilisation, and all researches into their past are almost purely antiquarian, and cannot be said to have anything approaching to an universal interest. With Greece, of course, it is different; Greek art and literature must, as far as we can see, be for all time an "ever- lasting possession," like her great historian's work. But Greece, though in this respect supremely great, failed politi- cally, and frittered away her energies till she fell under the grasp of a power less highly gifted indeed than herself, but one which, under special divine guidance, from the very first moved on steadily and persistently to a well-defined goal of empire. From the begin- ning Rome was marked out to be the mistress of the world, and her great men had just those qualities which fitted them to rule and civilise those whom they had conquered. She was able to accomplish a work that was altogether unique. How is this to be explained P We must have some theory to account for it. Our author gives us a complete outline of Roman history, in the course of which he is perpetually calling our attention to.
what he regards as signs of a distinctly divine guidance and control. Rome never could have been what she was, or accom- plished what she did, but for such guidance ; this hypothesis
at least necessarily flows out of any belief in an over-ruling Providence. The book is written throughout to illustrate this view. It is, of course, not a novel one ; but the peculiarity of our author is that he presses it at every point, and strives to force every part of Rome's eventful history into agreement with it.
It need hardly be said that this is a dangerous way of treat- ing a subject. And we must say that though we have a sincere respect for Mr. Formby's evident learning and ability, we cannot
help quarrelling with some of his reasonings, or rather, perhaps, his speculations, as they may be more properly called. We sup-
pose that he would care but little for the contempt of modern scholars, to which he will surely subject himself, by speaking of Romulus and Numa Pompilius as undoubtedly historical per-
sons, on whose alleged acts and policy a serious argument may be founded. German scepticism may have been too uncom- promising, but the labours and researches of such men as Niebuhr and Mommsen are certainly something better than "transient hallucinations." The maxim," Quieta non movere," which he quotes approvingly, is rather out of place, when we are dealing with times of which we have no contemporary records. Livy himself, though he felt bound to relate the current traditions, never regarded (at least, we gather this from remarks he occasionally lets drop) the histories of the early kings as on a par with the events of the Punic war. Nor are we at all certain that Cicero, as Mr. Formby assumes, would had the question been distinctly put to him as to the authen- ticity of early Roman history, have committed himself to an un- qualified acceptance of the story of the birth and life of Romulus. We cannot consider these matters finally settled by saying, as our author does, " Seca rus judicat orbis terrazum." He is, we assure him, hopelessly mistaken, if he thinks that on these matters the verdict of modern criticism can be wholly reversed. Nor is it, as far as we can see, by any means necessary for his general argu- ment. 'The real point is that from the first Rome was a cosmo- politan city ; that in this she was an exception to most of the cities of the old world ; and that, though she was the centre of alien populations, she contrived to inspire them with a feeling of unity and of patriotism. Whether this can be fairly called -" a supernatural characteristic" must be an open question. Mr. Formby would argue that it is so evidently supernatural, that we are almost constrained to regard Rome as divinely intended to have been, once for all, marked out as the centre of the true life and civilisation of the world for all subsequent time. It seems to us that we may be content to believe that Rome was destined to hold this high place for many ages, without -having an everlasting supremacy. What if she were to lose the capacity of carrying on her work, by being at variance with States and Governments which, though they have been deeply indebted to her, have advanced beyond her both morally and intellectually ? There was a time when she really deserved to rule the world, and was most truly God's instrument for that end; but surely it is easy enough to believe that that time has passed away, unless, indeed, we had, what we have not, the most dis- tinct and unequivocal proof that it was God's will that it never should. But this would hardly agree with what Christians have generally believed respecting God's dealings. It is, in fact, to tie down Providence to one set of condi- tions. And how can all the reasoning in the world as to Rome's .antecedents, and all the accumulated proofs as to their marvel- lous and, if you will, supernatural character, demonstrate, in the face of other powerfully conflicting evidence, the conclusion to which our author would lead us? We may agree and we do agree with much that lie says, and we may well admit that there was something truly providential in the triumph of Rome over Carthage. For this opinion, we have good and substantial reasons. Rome, on the whole, was morally superior to Car- thage, and this was long ago dwelt on by Arnold; and it can, we think, hardly be seriously. contested. Mr. Formby does well to fix our attention on it, and to connect the fate of Rome's rival with that mammou-worship which is as fatal to the best civilisation a.s it is irreconcilable with the service of God. Riches, according to Aristotle, were a power of more account in Car- thage than virtue. It is, however, when he comes to Augustus that our author seems to feel himself on his surest ground. Here he sees the most unmistakeable evidences of the finger of God. The life nod career of Augustus are something unique, and yet they are inseparably connected with Rome's past his- tory. He cannot be understood as standing by himself; lie is "a link in a chain of a providential order of events." He was not a particularly great man, and he was not a good man ; lie had, in fact, been guilty of cold-blooded cruelties. Ile was not at all qualified to play the part of a hero. Consequently, his elevation to the empire of the world must have some very special meaning. So argues Mr. Formby. Rome has now entered on the lesser blessing which fell to the lot of the elder brother Esau; she possesses "the fullness of the earth," but now the time has comae for the "dew of heaven from above," and, in order that she may enjoy this, she must, like Esau, be the servant of the younger brother. She had conquered, it is true, by her sword, but not by this .alone; she had conquered mainly by that genuine superi- ority which enabled her to give laws and civilisation to her provinces. The city which had been originally an asylum /or forlorn fugitives was now the centre of public government and of jurisprudence for the world. Could this have been possible without "a specific design in the counsels of God ? " When the "dew of heaven came," in the shape of Christ's religion, the city was once for all marked out as destined to
occupy a wholly exceptional position in relation to all countries and nations.
We do not profess to be doing full justice to our author's argu- ment; we could not possibly do so, as it ranges over a very wide field, but we have pretty fairly indicated its drift. To his mind, the whole history of Rome testifies to the working of a most distinctly supernatural influence. Gibbon, it will be remembered, tries to explain the progress of Christianity by the operation of natural causes, and he might have applied the same reasoning to the rise and development of the power of Rome. These causes no sensible man would reject, and we may add, with Mr. Formby, that they are all so many proofs of the wisdom and forethought of God. This, indeed, is a position with which nobody but an atheist can reasonably quarrel. We can go a long way with our author, and what he has written may well have the effect of strengthening whatever belief we may have in a providential superintendence of human affairs. Much of what he says about Augustus is both true and interesting. He delights in com- paring him to the elder brother who receives the lower and subordinate blessing, and who is ultimately supplanted by a younger rival. "He must increase, but we must decrease," is the witness of the Roman Emperors, the precursors of Christ, and at the same time the divinely appointed preparers of the world for his kingdom. The rule of Rome, it is argued, had in a variety of ways prepared the world for the government of the Christian Church. The Church could not have settled down and done its work to much purpose amid utter barbarism and confusion. The world, if corrupt, was at least peaceful and orderly. And at home Augustus had done a good deal for the refor- mation of manners, which, under all circumstances, those of the man himself and of the society which he strove to reform, was something which cannot easily be explained by merely ordi- nary and natural causes. Here, says our author, we seem almost forced to recognise the special working of God. The Christian reforms which supplanted the attempts of Augustus, still adhered to the main outlines of his work, and in this sense, according to Mr. Formby, "the successor of St. Peter, who has succeeded to the career of Augustus, con- tinues his reforms, furnished with the whole of both the old and new armament of God, the broken fragments of a certain por- tion of the old armament being all that Augustus had at his command." But the question is whether the present Pontiff and his predecessors have been thus furnished. Some of us hold that they have been found grievously wanting, and that just as the Christian reform was needed to supplant that of Augustus. so reforms have been from time to time needed to supplant Papal decisions and Papal jurisdiction. Rome has, no doubt, had a great past, and she may yet have a great future, and, as Macaulay says, the Catholic Church may be destined to see the end of all existing States and Governments. But it can hardly be denied that Rome's position relatively to modern States is infinitely weaker than it was in old days or in the middle-ages, and this is a fact which needs explanation. It may point to the ultimate extinction of her influence. She may, in fact, be once for all supplanted. Or she may recover her- self, as indeed she has formerly done, in some marvellous way, which we cannot at all imagine or forecast. But all Mr. Formby's arguments, all the evidences he accu- mulates of a specially divine guidance of her destiny, can never convince a dispassionate student of history that she may not finally share the fate of other great cities. One does not like to believe it; the extreme grandeur of her past makes us shrink from such a thought. Our author, of course, cannot believe it ; he is so saturated with a conviction of her mission from the very beginning to rule and control the world. But after all, he appeals to our imagination much more than to our reason. What it all comes to is this. Can we believe that a city which did so great a work and which bears such an exceptional testimony to an overruling Providence will ever cease to hold the highest rank among the cities of the world ?
Our author has, we observe, a very decided sympathy with much of the heathen literature and philosophy. He looks on them from the point of view of Clement of Alexandria, as pre- parations for the Gospel. Even the old religion finds favour with him, and he takes delight in setting forth its better and nobler aspects. The whole Gentile world, he truly says, was intensely earnest in its religion, and no trouble or expense was ever grudged in paying honour to the gods. There was a profound conviction that there could be no stable govern- ment without a State religion, or something like an Established Church. In this the greatest philosopher and the humblest peasant would have been practically agreed. In Rome we see this feeling in peculiar intensity. The Romans, from time immemorial, had always been a most religious people. Their victories they ascribed directly to the gods, and a Roman general on the occasion of his triumph would ascend on his knees the stone steps leading to the vestibule of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitol. In all this our author very rightly sees something far better and truer than mere superstition, and it was on this as a basis that Augustus worked in his attempts at reform. Any of our modern theories of human perfectibility would, he thinks, have struck the Emperor as worthy of a madman. The practical sense of Rome decided that if people are to be well and happily governed, they must have a religious belief. Mr. Formby, we notice, is one of those who still cling to the notion that all the best beliefs of the heathen world were derived from a primitive revelation. On such points as these he cannot endure many of the conclu- sions of recent research into the early history of religion and language. He regards them, we suppose, as the offspring of a perverse self-conceit, which delights in setting at defiance the common-sense and the hitherto current traditions of mankind.
However, Mr. Formby is evidently a man of genuine learning, and can often use it skilfully. We are not able to accept the inferences he would draw from his survey of Roman history. The bias of his mind leads him aside, we think, into opinions which have no sure foundation. But we have read his book with a good deal of interest, and parts of it—his sketch, for instance, of Greek philosophy and of the service it .has rendered to Christianity--will well repay perusal.
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