truce or a peace, in which the places taken were given up: the second war broke out in the last years of Marcus. On the magnificent bas reliefs of the monumental column erected to M. Aurelius, which, however, is very much damaged, there are many representations which tell favourably for the Romans; as for instance, barbarous princes who made their submission to him. One cannot believe that this was invented to flatter him, as he never would have tolerated anything of the kind. There is no doubt but that the war during the last years turned out a victorious one for the Romans; yet it was full of immense difficulties for them. If Marcus had lived longer, he would certainly have made Marcomannia and Sarmatia a province. The progress of this war was interrupted by the rebellion of Avidius Cassius. This Avidius Cassius is a remarkable man; yet we are so much in the dark as to these times, that we do not even know his descent. According to some, he was a native of Cyprus or Syria; but it is more generally thought that he was sprung from the _gens Cassia_, either in the male line, or through a woman of that house who had married into his father’s family: the latter case was possible, even if he was a native of the East. It is, however, somewhat unlikely that an Asiatic should have had the chief command of an army. So long as the Latin language was spoken, it mattered not from what country a man came, whether he was a Spaniard, an African, or a Roman; but it was otherwise with the peoples of the East, who spoke Greek: that these should have risen to the highest offices, is not to be believed. Cassius was distinguished as a commander. The discipline of the Roman army had long fallen off, and the legions seem at that time to have been recruited from the military colonies and from the _limes_: this was owing to the long peace under Hadrian, and to the unwarlike rule of the pious Antonine. It was particularly in the East, that the legions had degenerated. They remained stationary in the same place; and being constantly recruited, whilst the veterans of course were discharged, they became a sort of resident janissaries in the border countries. This was quite a senseless arrangement, and one cannot understand how Trajan could have tolerated such a thing. They should have been kept in camps; but they were most of them quartered in the towns, as at Antioch, and elsewhere. Syria is an exceedingly fine and lovely country, and there they became thoroughly demoralized. Yet among these very legions, Cassius had at this time restored discipline; and he had led them to victory in a war against the Parthians who had made a most successful attack: these last, though they likewise had degenerated, had still an excellent cavalry. The proconsuls in the senatorial provinces were changed; but the _legati pro Prætore_ in the imperial ones very often remained the whole of their lives in the same province: thus also Cassius remained here a very long time, and was