We have thus rapidly passed along the whole coast from the Baetis to the Pyrenees; but in the valley of the Ebro I have still to notice CAESARAUGUSTA (Saragoza). Spain is the real country of the great and flourishing military colonies of the Romans; Gaul had but few of them, such as Cologne, which, however, was of a mixed character, as Germans there dwelt together with the veterans. Cologne and Lyons were national towns rather than real military colonies of the Romans; but those in Spain were pure military colonies, differing from those of Italy in the fact that the latter, with the exception of Placentia and Cremona, were established in towns which had existed before, whereas those in Spain consisted of newly-built towns. These foundations of towns belong to the age of Augustus and his successors. Augustus evidently had a twofold object in view, first to reward his veterans, and secondly to Romanise the Spaniards. The population in those parts had been almost annihilated during the unfortunate wars, and hence Augustus sent out whole legions to establish themselves there. In this manner arose _Emerita Augusta_, the modern Merida, which must have been an immensely large town, for it contained the veterans of three legions. He gave them extensive estates, so that the territory of the town must have been a whole province, and the ancient inhabitants could not possibly till their lands. The veterans became the lords of the soil. Caesaraugusta was a town of this kind. Augustus was a distinguished man, whatever we may think of him; in regard to intellect and talent we may rate him very low, and I believe that he even deserves to be ranked lower than is generally done; but he was a ruler of great ability; and the fact that the time in which he lived was deplorable and full of confusion, must not induce us to be unjust towards him. The age in which he lived was morally bad, but the cause of this lay in the period which preceded it, just as the horrors of the French revolution must be set down to the account of those who had the power in their hands before it broke out; had these men been better, the ferment of the dregs of the people would have met with quite a different resistance. But the whole fabric was rotten and in a state of dissolution. In like manner the age of Augustus was bad, because it was the offspring of a bad and corrupt period. It was as impossible to save the Roman republic, as it was to restore the republic of Florence after the reign of Alexander de Medici. The men who had conspired against Caesar may have been the best and noblest, but they were extremely unwise, they ought to have taken into account the actual circumstances. Alcmaeon, the profound Pythagorean, says, that men perish, if they do not understand how to fit the beginning to the end.[68] This is very frequently the case in history; and hence the noblest endeavours often lead to unfortunate results. The regulations of Augustus for the