Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery.

Let us read with method, and propose to ourselves an end to which our studies may point. The use of reading is to aid us in thinking.

Yet the civilians have always respected the natural right of a citizen to dispose of his life . . .

The best and most important part of every man's education is that which he gives himself.

History has scarcely deigned to notice [Libius Severus's] birth, his elevation, his character, or his death.

To resume, in a few words, the system of the Imperial government, as it was instituted by Augustus, and maintained by those princes who understood their own interest and that of the people, it may be defined an absolute monarchy disguised by the forms of a commonwealth. The masters of the Roman world surrounded their throne with darkness, concealed their irresistible strength, and humbly professed themselves the accountable ministers of the senate, whose supreme decrees they dictated and obeyed.

The character of the tribunes was, in every respect, different from that of the consuls. The appearance of the former was modest and humble; but their persons were sacred and inviolable. Their force was suited rather for opposition than for action. They were instituted to defend the oppressed, to pardon offences, to arraign the enemies of the people, and, when they judged it necessary, to stop, by a single word, the whole machine of government.