This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER V. THE GENERAL ADMINISTRATION. INTEGRITY and precision in the administration of justice had always been the pride of Rome, but at no time more so than in the century which followed the reign of Trajan. That period represents the zenith of Roman jurisprudence and the perfection of that code which in later times became the basis of most systems of European law. Hadrian was largely responsible for the great impetus which jurisprudence received in his time. His reforms introduced something of bureaucracy and militarism into the state. New wants arose and the older fashions fell into disrepute, and men who had previously engaged in the pursuits of literature and art found more profit in administrative posts and in the study of the law. From Julian to Paulus juristic work was continually progressing; after Paulus little remained beyond the work of codification. Ulpian and his colleagues in the consilium were in fact the last of a long line of jurists whose works form the most prominent feature of literature and thought in Rome and who save the age from the accusation of intellectual mediocrity or worse. Julian, Pomponius, Caius and the Antoninian Jurists strictly so called were followed by Cervidius Scaevola, who still exercised his profession under Septimius, in his turn to be followed by Papinian, Ulpian, and Paulus. Papinian is perhaps most famed in modern times for his high principles and his integrity: the words ascribed to him in his answer to Caracalla, --"that to defend the murder of the innocent is to slay him again,"--are epigrammatically characteristic of Papinian the man. But he was more than a man of high principles; the spirit of equity, the clearness and perspicuity, the keenness and depth of insight with which he wrote...

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1907 Edition.

Alexander Severus' is full of controversy and contradictions. He came to the throne through the brutal murder of his cousin, Elagabalus, and was ultimately assassinated himself. The years between were filled with regular uprisings and rebellions, court intrigue (the Praetorian Guard slew their commander at the Emperor's feet) and foreign invasion. Yet the ancient sources generally present his reign as a golden age of just government, prosperity and religious tolerance Not yet fourteen when he became emperor, Alexander was dominated by his mother, Julia Mammaea and advisors like the historian, Cassius Dio. In the military field, he successfully checked the aggressive Sassanid Persians but some sources see his Persian campaign as a costly failure marked by mutiny and reverses that weakened the army. When Germanic and Sarmatian tribes crossed the Rhine and Danube frontiers in 234, Alexander took the field against them but when he attempted to negotiate to buy time, his soldiers perceived him as weak, assassinated him and replaced him with the soldier Maximinus Thrax. John McHugh reassesses this fascinating emperor in detail.