Julius Caesar and the foundation of the Roman imperial system . ty of high treason, and unless that actcan be justified, all that he did afterwards must bereckoned as a wanton violation of those sacred prin-ciples of constitutional order under which all freepolitical societies agree to live. Such a principle atRome was that of senatorial government; it wasalmost a necessary law of the Roman mind. Toattempt to make conditions with the Senate, as Caesarhad done, and then to disobey it, to make war on it,and to drive it and the magistrates out of Italy, wasto break utterly with one of the most de
Julius Caesar and the foundation of the Roman imperial system . ty of high treason, and unless that actcan be justified, all that he did afterwards must bereckoned as a wanton violation of those sacred prin-ciples of constitutional order under which all freepolitical societies agree to live. Such a principle atRome was that of senatorial government; it wasalmost a necessary law of the Roman mind. Toattempt to make conditions with the Senate, as Caesarhad done, and then to disobey it, to make war on it,and to drive it and the magistrates out of Italy, wasto break utterly with one of the most deeply rootedtraditions of government in the mind of the ordinaryRoman.! But we have tried to make it plain in thisvolume that there was another principle, of latergrowth, and rooted in the great changes of recenttimes, which was of far graver importance to thehuman race than the idea of government by an assem-bly of Roman notables. This was the principle ofthe development of Italy and the provinces by meansof Roman institutions; and of this Caesar was the rep-. THE YOUNG AUGUSTUS. FROM THE BUST IN THE VATICAN.{Baumeister.) 49 Civil ]]\x7 in Italy and Spaiii. 269 resentative. Were the two principles incompatible ?Was it really necessary to overthrow the|Senate inorder to govern and develop the Empire ?^The onlyway to answer these questions is to study impartiallythe whole history of the relations between Rome andher dependencies, first under the Republic and thenunder the Empire; and such a study must almostalways lead to an affirmative answer. The Senatehad failed to do the work that had to be done; ithad resisted every project of reform; it was tieddown by the selfish interests of a permanent ma-jority ; it was unable to control its own provincialgovernors, and the strongest of them for the timebeing must always be its master. Thus, when Caesarcrossed the Rubicon in January, and when in Aprilhe told the senators that he was prepared to take thegovernment on himself, he wa
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