01, when Pompey was
the third time consul. Cicero lived several years beyond this period,
and in the two last years of his life, he composed those valuable works
which contain sentiments diametrically repugnant to the visionary system
of Epicurus. The argument, therefore, drawn from Cicero's revisal, so
far from confirming the principle of Lucretius, affords the strongest
tacit declaration against their validity; because a period sufficient for
mature consideration had elapsed, before Cicero published his own
admirable system of philosophy. The poem of Lucretius, nevertheless, has
been regarded as the bulwark of atheism--of atheism, which, while it
impiously arrogates the support of reason, both reason and nature
disclaim.

Many more writers flourished in this period, but their works have totally
perished. Sallust was now engaged in historical productions; but as they
were not yet completed, they will be noticed in the next division of the
review.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Plin. Epist. i. 18, 24, iii. 8, v. 11, ix. 34, x. 95.

[2] Lycee, part I. liv. III. c. i.

[3] Julius Caesar Divus. Romulus, the founder of Rome, had the honour
of an apotheosis conferred on him by the senate, under the title of
Quirinus, to obviate the people's suspicion of his having been taken off
by a conspiracy of the patrician order. Political circumstances again
concurred with popular superstition to revive this posthumous adulation
in favour of Julius Caesar, the founder of the empire, who also fell by
the hands of conspirators. It is remarkable in the history of a nation
so jealous of public liberty, that, in both instances, they bestowed the
highest mark of human homage upon men who owed their fate to the
introduction of arbitrary power.

[4] Pliny informs us that Caius Julius, the father of Julius Caesar, a
man of pretorian rank, died suddenly at Pisa.

[5] A.U.C. (in the year from the foundation of Rome) 670; A.C. (before
Christ) about 92.

[6] Flamen Dialis. This was an office of great dignity, but subjected
the holder to many restrictions. He was not allowed to ride on
horseback, nor to absent himself from the city for a single night. His
wife was also under particular restraints, and could not be divorced. If
she died, the flamen resigned his office, because there were certain
sacred rites which he could not perform without her assistance. Besides
other marks of distinction, he wore a purple robe called laena