The history now shows us in the second year the decemvirs in possession of every magisterial power. They are stated to have kept a guard of an hundred and twenty lictors (ῥαβδοφόροι), twelve men each. This was in the style of all the Greek oligarchs; these lictors therefore had quite a different meaning from those of the consuls; they are the σωματοφύλακες of the Greek tyrants. Now the decemvirs of Livy and Dionysius are represented as criminal tyrants. This account is, however, to be received with just as much caution as most of the stories of the ancient tyrants; for, the worst monsters of history in most instances did not commit crimes for the sake of outrage, but for quite different purposes. Thus also Cicero tells us, that though the decemvirs did not altogether behave as good citizens, yet one of them, C. Julius, respected the public liberties, and summoned the people to pass judgment on one who was not _reus manifestus_. Among them were Appius Claudius and Sp. Oppius, the presidents of the senate; these exercised the jurisdiction in the city, and they seem also to have possessed the censorial power. Now, it is stated by Livy in a very lively description, that the Forum and the Curia had grown silent, that the senate had been called together but rarely, and that no _comitia_ had been holden. This was quite natural. The tribunes were done away with, there was therefore nobody to harangue the people in the Forum; politics there were none, the constitution being quite new, nor was there any change to be made in the civil law; the senate was convoked but rarely, because the board of the decemvirs could manage most of the affairs alone; the patricians therefore went into the country, and minded their estates, and the city passed all at once into a state of the most unruffled peace. Yet the people was so much used to excitement, that it longed for fresh agitation; there was an uncomfortable feeling abroad, because every thing that had filled the whole mind of the public had now for once ceased to exist. In unsettled times, such a transition is very dangerous; just as when one who is accustomed to the use of strong stimulants, or to gambling, is suddenly obliged to give them up. Thus it was in the year 1648, when the Dutch had concluded the peace of Munster with the Spaniards according to the accounts of contemporary writers, people found the state of things insufferably tedious, and thence arose a wild sort of life, and the differences between William II. and the city of Amsterdam. Every circumstance, be it ever so trifling, was laid hold of on which men might vent their passions. The very same thing occurred in France just after the restoration. When such a temper prevails, the necessary consequence is a very sore feeling between government and people. The Romans became discontented with their new constitution. Even though the decemvirs had not been had, or no one else but Appius Claudius had been such, they could not have been borne