Vico. 635 demned or absolved, and declared their pleasure by oracles. In the heroic age force was law, but force tempered by reli- gion. The early jurisprudence of the Romans was charac- terized by the rigid observance of the legal formulae, agreeably to the rigid and inflexible temper of its aristocracy ; the actus legitime or symbolical legal acts, were a remnant of the hiero- glyphic language of the preceding age. The third age is the Iniman^ or the age of certain history, in Greece marked by the sera of the Olympiads, nearly coin- cident with that of the foundation of Rome. It is evident, however, that Vico by no means regards history as becoming certain from the time of these two events ; in Greece it hardly deserves this character till the generation preceding the Pelo- ponnesian war ; it is not till the second Punic war, that Livy declares himself able to write with confidence the history of Rome. This uncertainty of the ancients themselves justifies, according to Vico, the boldness with which he has rejected the history of preceding ages, on the ground of its intrinsic absurdity. In the human age hieroglyphical and symbolical characters had been exchanged for alphabetical, poetry for prose, the figurative language of men of passion and imagina- tion, for one which was the production of the understanding. The law of this age is characterized by a regard to reason and natural equity; it becomes more humane, as the popular influence in its decisions becomes greater^^ This effect is visible in the history of the Roman government, which from a strict and exclusive aristocracy, became more popular, by the in- creasing power of the plebs. It is an error to suppose that this popular liberty was founded by Junius Brutus ; that was merely an aristocratic liberty ; the census, as originally instituted by Servius Tullius, was aristocratic, it was a tax paid by the plebeians for the lands which they held, but
- ° In connexion with this subject Vico makes a remark equally original and
profound, iii. 48. "that by means of language free nations are masters of their laws, and compel the powerful to adopt their sense of them." The ideas annexed to words are necessarily determined by the majority of those who use them, and with new ideas new sentiments find their way into the minds of the smaller num- ber, without the violence of controversy. Language thus becomes a powerful but quiet instrument for producing harmony of feeling, among the different orders in a state, and preparing those changes of opinion, of which changes in law and government are the effect and indication. Vol. II. No. 6. 4 M
