6. Macedonia was taken by the Romans, B. C. 168, and subjected to the regular government of a Roman province twenty years after. It has been related, that the Grecian states which were united in the Achaian league, maintained their liberty against the attempts of Macedonia to keep them in a state of subjection, that they called upon the Romans to aid them, and they readily consented. About two hundred years before Christ, the war of Rome with Macedonia began, and ended in the defeat of Perseus, the last king. Macedonia was an independent state, from the death of the first Philip to the defeat of Persius, 168 years.

All that the

7. A triumph, or ovation, was a very splendid procession made in the city of Rome in honour of some victorious general. This procession was formed by the citizens of Rome, the soldiers, the conqueror, and the prisoners of war. Roman army had taken in the war, of armour, gold and other valuable things, was carried about the streets of the city, that the people might see the riches which had been forcibly and cruelly torn from their right owners. The princes who had been subdued, and their wives and children were made to walk in mean garments in the procession, and were not treated with the least compassion.

8. The wretched appearance of Perseus and his family, when they were carried to Rome to adorn the triumph of Paulus Emilius, is described nearly thus by Plutarch:-The gold, silver, and precious stones taken by Paulus Emilius, having been displayed to the people, next came the chariot of Perseus, and upon it lay his armour and his diadem (his crown:) after a small space followed the

little children of Perseus with their nurses and governors, and these young creatures were taught by their attendants to extend their hands and beg for mercy of the people.

9. The Romans could not forbear shedding tears at this touching sight. After the children and their attendants, came Perseus clad all in black, with a wild and distracted countenance, and followed by a great company of persons who had, for a long time, been his companions and friends. The faces of these unfortunate captives were all covered with tears, and the marks of excessive sorrow.

10. Then came the conqueror himself, richly dressed, standing in a magnificient chariot, and listening to the acclamations of crowds and the loud breath of trumpets, proclaiming him to be the greatest and the happiest of men. He who owes his pleasure to another's pain, whether he be a child or a man, whether he is humble or exalted in his station, is not to be envied or to be imitated; and he may expect to be punished who can enjoy any entirely selfish gratification.

11. The descendants of these very Romans who made slaves of princes and trod their crowns in the dust, about six hundred years after the time of Emilius's triumph, were themselves conquered by barbarians from the north of Europe, who devasted their country with a more destructive and cruel spirit, than the Romans had ever shewn to other nations.

12. Mr. Everett, in his fine dirge, Alaric the Visigoth, makes one of the conquerors of Rome personify the empire, and call it a queen, and say of her,

"The queen of empires kneels,
And grovels at my chariot wheels."

This is to show the extreme hard-heartedness of the conqueror, and the servile spirit of the Romans, who entreated for mercy of the Goths, and found none.

THE ROMANS.

Among the people of antiquity, it would be strange to forget the Romans, because their Latin language forms part of our education; we also see the name of Romans in our Bibles, and read in the New Testament of Paul's letter or epistle to the Romans; and we learn in the Acts, that this apostle was a prisoner at Rome, and that he was made prisoner on account of our Christian Religion, which he taught there. A few people then at Rome loved the religion of Jesus, but many more had another religion.

2. We read in our New Testament, Luke, chap. II. that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed; and all people went, every one to his own city, to the place of his proper residence, to be taxed according to this law. We read in another place that the accusers of our Saviour led him to Pilate, and declared falsely, "We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Cæsar, and calling himself king of the Jews."

3. In the Acts, the people of Jerusalem are represented as about to kill Paul, when a military officer interfered, and perhaps saved the apostle's life, but afterwards ordered him to be scourged or beaten, that he might be induced to confess what he had done to provoke the people. Upon this Paul addressed himself thus to the centurion who stood near: "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned ?" Paul had before declared himself to be a native of Tarsus, in Cilicia; yet the centurion admonished his captain, "take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman."

4. When the captain afterwards learned from Paul's lips that he was a Roman citizen, he replied," with a great sum bought I this freedom.". And Paul said, "But I was born free." These are a few of the passages of the New Testament in which the Roman state is mentioned; but you cannot understand the historical part of your Bible unless you know something of the Roman history.

5. ROME was at first only a small city on the banks of the Tiber in Italy, but the Romans grew strong, and loved war; they conquered, first the country about Rome, and afterwards all the countries which were called the Empire. The people whose country they conquered, were united to them, were governed by the Roman laws, served in the Roman armies, and paid tribute or taxes to Rome, in order to support the government, that is to pay the magistrates and the soldiers; and the free men of these conquered countries were also called Roman citizens.

6. In time the Romans conquered all Italy; all the countries surrounding the Mediterranean, and

the islands; and these countries were called Roman provinces, and had Roman governors. Judea, the birth place of our Lord, was a Roman province. Cilicia of Asia Minor, in which was Tarsus, the city of Paul, was another Roman province. 7. Augustus Cæsar was a Roman Emperor, when he ordered all the world to be taxed. All the world is a figurative expression, signifying the civilized world, the large portion of the civilized world then subject to the Roman laws, and the orders of a Roman emperor: Judea was under this government. It was accounted by the laws a crime worthy the punishment of death, for any citizen to set himself against the Roman government, and to pretend to be a magistrate without any appointment. It was this treason-this pretended offence against the laws, of which the blameless Jesus was accused, who had expressly taught his fellow citizens to render to Cæsar the things which were Cæsar's, that is, to submit to the established authority under which they lived. Yet, on account of this false accusation, he suffered crucifixion. Cæsar, was a title given to the first emperors of Rome.

S. The Romans kept the people of the provinces in order, by the laws-and in fear, by the army; yet in the time of Paul, the army itself was governed by the laws. The centurion advised his superior not to scourge a Roman citizen "uncondemned." The law required that a man's crime should be proved, or be shown clearly to have been committed before he was punished; and if the officer had inflicted blows upon Paul, for presumptive guilt, that is, for a supposed crime, he would himself have been liable to punishment.