DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62267#0379
THROUGH ITALY.
369
sillanimous prince, when he gave up a title
which had been the ambition of the wisest and
the most heroic of his ancestors, and which raised
his family above all the royal dynasties of Europe,
had more legions under his command than were
assembled under both Csesar and Pompey to
dispute the empire of the world in the plains of
Parsalia. But, if Rome has to blush for the
pusillanimity of her Emperor, she may justly
glory in the firmness of her Pontiff, and acknow-
ledge in Pius VII. the unconquerable soul of her
ancient heroes. While all the other sovereigns
of the continent bowed in silent submission to
the will of the victor, and resigned or assumed
provinces and diadems at his nod, the humble
Pontiff alone had the courage to assert his inde-
pendence, to repel indignantly the pretended
and the rival, not the successor of the Caesars. This at«
tempt to make France the seat of empire is the second nr?
record. The first was made during the distractions that
accompanied the contest between Vespasian and Viteliius
Though successful at first, it soon terminated in disgrace
and discomfiture, and the empire of the Gauls vanished
before the genius of Rome.-—TflczL Hist, iv. It is to be
wished, for the sake of the human race at large, that this
second attempt at universal dominion may meet with the
same fate !
VOL. IV
B B
369
sillanimous prince, when he gave up a title
which had been the ambition of the wisest and
the most heroic of his ancestors, and which raised
his family above all the royal dynasties of Europe,
had more legions under his command than were
assembled under both Csesar and Pompey to
dispute the empire of the world in the plains of
Parsalia. But, if Rome has to blush for the
pusillanimity of her Emperor, she may justly
glory in the firmness of her Pontiff, and acknow-
ledge in Pius VII. the unconquerable soul of her
ancient heroes. While all the other sovereigns
of the continent bowed in silent submission to
the will of the victor, and resigned or assumed
provinces and diadems at his nod, the humble
Pontiff alone had the courage to assert his inde-
pendence, to repel indignantly the pretended
and the rival, not the successor of the Caesars. This at«
tempt to make France the seat of empire is the second nr?
record. The first was made during the distractions that
accompanied the contest between Vespasian and Viteliius
Though successful at first, it soon terminated in disgrace
and discomfiture, and the empire of the Gauls vanished
before the genius of Rome.-—TflczL Hist, iv. It is to be
wished, for the sake of the human race at large, that this
second attempt at universal dominion may meet with the
same fate !
VOL. IV
B B