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 Ancient histor 
 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027765373 
 

 s 
 
 V 
 
 y. 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY 
 
 BY 
 
 PHILIP VAN NESS MYERS 
 
 FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI, AUTHOR OF "MEDIAEVAL AND 
 
 MODERN HISTORY," "A GENERAL HISTORY," 
 
 AND "HISTORY AS PAST ETHICS" 
 
 SECOND REVISED EDITION 
 
 GINN AND COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON • NEW YORK - CHICAGO ■ LONDON 
 ATLANTA - DALLAS ■ COLUMBUS ■ SAN FRANCISCO 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1904, 1916, BY PHILIP VAN NESS MYERS 
 
 ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVEI? 
 
 516.8 
 
 
 M 
 
 GINN AND COMPANY- PRO- 
 PKIETORS ■ BOSTON • U.S.A. 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND REVISED 
 EDITION 
 
 The first revision of this book, as stateH in the preface to the 
 edition of 1904, was issued sixteen years after its first publication as 
 a textboolc. After another interval, of twelve years, I now give out 
 this second revised edition. The text has again been subjected in 
 every part to a careful revision and the latest assured results of dis- 
 covery and research have been incorporated. The additions include, 
 besides many new sections, a wholly new chapter (under the title of 
 jEgean Civilization) on the Cretan and the Mycenasan period. The 
 series of cuts has been augmented by the adjlition of many new illus- 
 trations, including five plates in colors. Works of special importance 
 that have appeared since the issue of the first revised edition of the 
 book have been added to the bibliographies, and books superseded 
 by later works omitted from the lists. 
 
 In the Topics for Class Reports the subjjSdts suggested, it will be 
 noted, bear largely on the private life, the manners, and the customs 
 of the period under review ; that is, on matters which could not be 
 given detailed treatment in the text without leaving lank and meager 
 the narrative of events. That the citations for readings in the prepa- 
 ration of these reports might possess the maximum of usefulness for 
 schools whose expenditures for books must be carefully limited, these 
 selections have, in so far as possible, been restricted to just a few of 
 the best, yet inexpensive, books on the subjects named. 
 
 For assistance that I have received in the" work of revision on this 
 edition I am under special indebtedness to Dr. W. Max Miiller, of 
 the University of Pennsylvania, who kindly read the manuscript of the 
 
IV PREFACE 
 
 chapters on the Orient and favored me with many valuable sugges- 
 tions. To Dr. Joseph Edward Harry, of the University of Cincinnati, 
 I also owe thanks for aid in reading the proofsheets of the chapters 
 on Greek history, and to Mr. Stillman Percy Roberts Chadwick, of 
 The Phillips Exeter Academy, for a similar service in connection with 
 the proofsheets of the chapters covering the history of Rome. 
 
 P. V. N. M. 
 College Hill, Cincinnati 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST REVISED 
 ' EDITION 
 
 I cannot perhaps better introduce what I have to say here than 
 by quoting the following paragraph from the preface to the 1888 
 edition of this work : " The following pages are a revision and ex- 
 pansion of . . . my Outlines of Ancient History, which was published 
 as a library book in 1882 by Messrs. Harper & Brothers. It is 
 through the generous action of these publishers that I have had the ad- 
 vantage of making this earlier work the basis of the present text-book." 
 
 After the lapse of sixteen more years I now give out the present 
 revised edition. The Oriental portion of the work has been almost 
 wholly rewritten ; the Greek part is based on my History of Greece 
 (1895); the Roman portion on my Rome: Its Rise and Fall (1901). 
 
 Besides this brief statement of fact there are various other things 
 relating to the scope and aim of the work that might properly enough 
 be said in this place ; but the book must speak for itself. I write 
 these prefatory words solely to express my gratitude to those who 
 have helped me, and in doing this to disclaim title to that which does 
 not belong to me. It would not be right should I withhold the fact 
 that during the years I have labored on the volume I have from time 
 to time been assisted by several eminent historical scholars, and that, 
 while the faults of the book are all my own, to these scholars should 
 be ascribed in part whatever merits it may possess. To Professor 
 Nathaniel Schmidt, of Cornell University, I am deeply indebted for 
 aiding me in the revision of the proof sheets of the chapters of the 
 Oriental part of the volume ; to Dr. Ruf us B. Richardson, for many 
 years head of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 
 I owe special thanks for reading the proofs of the Greek portion ; 
 to Dr. Eduard Meyer, of the University (}f Halle, and Professor 
 Henry F. Pelham, of the University of Oxford, I am indebted for 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 reading all the chapters (but in their more extended form as they 
 appear in my Rome : Its Rise and Fall) of the Roman part ; while 
 to Professor George L. Burr, of Cornell University, I am under like 
 deep obligation for giving me his scholarly aid in the revision of the 
 sheets of those chapters of my Middle Ag4s on which the continu- 
 ation of the present work from the extinction, of the Roman Empire 
 in the West to its restoration by Charlemagne is based. 
 
 I wish further to make grateful acknowledgment of the assistance 
 given me by Mrs. Mabel E. Hodder, graduate student of Radcliffe 
 College, Cambridge, in the revision and extension of the bibliographies 
 of the Greek and Roman chapters ; and of the aid I have received 
 from my former pupil, Miss Lucy M. Blanchard, who has kindly 
 given me the benefit of long class-room use of the earlier work by 
 making various suggestions which I have found very helpful. 
 
 I would also tender my thanks to the officers of the Architectural 
 Library of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of the Fogg 
 Museum of Harvard University, of the Public Library of Boston, 
 and of the Public Library of Cincinnati, for the use and loan of 
 books, photographs, and other illustrative material. ... In this con- 
 nection it is fitting that mention should be made of the fact that the 
 many fine pen drawings which cmbelhsh the book are by the artist 
 Mr, Homer W. Colby of Boston. 
 
 Lastly, to my publishers I feel prompted to express my appreci- 
 ation of the generosity they have shown, exceeding even what I 
 have dared to suggest, in enriching the volume with maps, cuts, and 
 plates ; and to make acknowledgment of the courtesies and efficient 
 aid I have received from the heads and members of the various 
 departments of their house. 
 
 P. V. N. M. 
 
 College Hill, Ohio 
 May 12, 1904 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. General Introduction : Prehistoric Times 
 II. Races and Groups of Peoples 
 
 PAGE 
 I 
 
 17 
 
 PART I. THE EASTERN PEOPLES 
 
 III. Ancient Egypt. (From earliest times to 30 B.C.) . . . 
 
 I. Political History ... .... 
 
 II. The Civilization ... .* . 
 
 IV. The Early City-kingdoms of Babylonia and the Old 
 
 Babylonian Empire. (From earliest times to 728 B.C.) 
 
 I. Political History 
 II. Arts and General Culture . ... ... 
 
 V. The Assyrian Empire. (From an unknown date to 606 b.c.) 
 
 I. Political History . . . .... 
 
 II. The Civilization 
 
 VI. The Chaldean Empire. (625-538 b.c.) 
 
 VII, Thf. Hebrews . 
 
 VIII. Phoenicians, Hittites, and Lydians 
 I. The Phoenicians . . . 
 
 II. The Hittites . . . ... 
 
 III. The Lydians 
 
 IX. The Persian Empire. (558-330 b.c.) 
 
 I. Political History . ... 
 
 II. Government, Religion, and Arts 
 
 X. The East Asian Peoples 
 
 I. India 
 
 II. China 
 
 23 
 
 23 
 34 
 
 S3 
 
 64 
 
 64 
 69 
 
 75 
 79 
 87 
 87 
 91 
 93 
 
 95 
 
 95 
 100 
 
 106 
 
 106 
 no 
 
Vlll 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PART II. GREECE 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XI. The Land and the People 
 
 XII. Prehistoric Times according to Greek Accounts 
 
 XIII. The ALgean Civilization . 
 
 XIV. The Heritage of the Historic Greeks . . . 
 
 I. Political Institutions ... 
 
 II. Religious Ideas and Institutions ... 
 III. Language, Mythology, Literature, and Art 
 
 XV. Early Sparta and the Peloponnesian League 
 XVI. The Age of Colonization and o*' Tyrannies 
 
 I. The Age of Colonization. (About 750-600 B.C.) 
 II. The Tyrannies. (About 650-500 B.C.) .... 
 
 XVII. The History of Athens up to the Persian Wars 
 XVIII. Hellas Overshadowed by the Rise of Persia 
 
 Prelude to the Persian Wars 
 
 XIX. The Persian Wars. (500-479 b.c.) 
 
 XX. The Making of the Athenian Empire. (479-445 b. c.) 
 XXI. The Age of Pericles. (445-431 b.c.) ... . 
 
 XXII. The Peloponnesian War; the Spartan and the 
 Theban Supremacy .... . . . . . 
 
 I. The Peloponnesian War. (431-404 B.C.) . . . . 
 
 II. The Spartan and the Theban Supremacy 
 
 XXIII. The Greeks of Western Hellas. (413-336 b.c.) 
 
 XXIV. The Rise of Macedonia: Reign of Philip 1 1. (359- 
 
 336 B.C.) 
 
 XXV. Alexander the Great. (336-323 «.c.) . . . . . 
 
 XXVI. The Gr«co-Oriental World from the Death of 
 
 Alexander to the Conquest of Greece by the 
 
 Romans. (323-146 b.c.) , . 
 
 I. Hellenistic Culture . . 
 
 II. Macedonia ... . . . , 
 
 III. Continental Greece 
 
 IV. Rhodes 
 
 V. Pergamum . 
 
 VI. The Syrian Kingdom 
 
 VII. The Kingdom of the Ptolemies in Egypt .... 
 
 PAGE 
 
 114 J, 
 
 I2I_^ 
 
 128 
 
 140 
 
 140 
 
 143 
 
 162 
 
 162 
 171 
 
 177 
 
 187 
 191 
 207 
 212 
 
 226 
 
 226 
 240 
 
 248 
 
 251 
 256 
 
 266 
 266 
 268 
 269 
 
 273 
 274 
 276 
 278 
 
CONTENTS ix 
 
 CHAPTER _ PAGE 
 
 XXVII. Greek Architecture, Sculpturej and Painting 283 
 
 I. Architecture . ... ... . . 284 
 
 II. Sculpture . . ago 
 
 III. Painting . . . . 298 
 
 XXVIII. Greek Literature . . 302 
 
 I. Introductory .... . , . 302 
 
 II. The Period before 475 B.C. .... . 303 
 
 III. The Attic or Golden Age. (475-300 B.C.) .... 305 
 
 IV. The Alexandrian Age. (300-146 B.C.) . ... 314 
 
 XXIX. Greek Philosophy and Science 317 
 
 XXX. Social Life of the Greeks .... ... 329 
 
 PART III. ROME 
 
 First Period — Rome as a Kingdom 
 
 XXXI. Italy and its Early Inhabitants . . ... 337 
 
 XXXII. Rome as a Kingdom ... ... 342 
 
 I. The Beginnings of Rome . '. .... 342 
 
 II. Society and Government ... . 344 
 
 III. Religion . .... 348 
 
 IV. Rome under the Kings. (Legendary Date 753-509 B.C.) 353 
 Legends of Early Rome . . 357 
 
 Second Period — Rome as a Republic. (509-31 b.c.) 
 
 XXXIII. The Early Republic; Plebeians Secure Equality 
 
 with the Patricians. (509-367 *b. c.) 360 
 
 XXXIV. The Conquest and Unification of Italy. (367- 
 
 264 B.C.) , 373 
 
 XXXV. Expansion of Rome beyond the Peninsula . . 382 
 
 I. The First Punic War. (264-241 B.C.) 382 
 
 II. Rome and Carthage between the First and the Second 
 
 Punic War. (241-218 B.C.) 388 
 
 III. The Second Punic War. (2i8-20( B.C.) 392 
 
 IV. Events between the Second and the Third Punic War. 
 
 (201-146 B.C.) 397 
 
 V. The Third Punic War. (149-146 B.C.) 403 
 
 XXXVI. The Last Century of the Republic: the Period 
 
 of Revolution. (133-31 b.c.) 408 
 
X CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 Third Period — Rome as an Empire. (31 B.C. -476 a.d.) 
 
 / The Principate. (31 B.C.-284 a.d.) 
 
 XXXVII. The Establishment of the Empire and the Prin- 
 cipate OF Augustus C/esar. (31 b.c.-i4A,d.) . 442 
 XXXVIII. From Tiberius to the Accession of Diocletian 
 
 (14-284 a.d.) . . . . 452 
 
 // The Absolute Monarchy 
 
 XXXIX. The Reigns of Diocletian and- Constantine the 
 
 Great 1 475 
 
 I. The Reign of Diocletian. (284^305 a.d.) . . 475 
 
 II. Reign of Constantine the Great. (306-337 a.d.) . . 480 
 
 XL. The Break-up of the Empire in the West. 
 
 (376-476 A.D.) . ... 486 
 
 XLI. Architecture, Literature, La,w, and Social Life 
 
 t 
 
 AMONG THE ROMANS ... . . . 503 
 
 I. Architecture and Engineering . . . 503 
 
 II. Literature and Law ... . . . . 510 
 
 III. Social Life .... 518 
 
 PART IV. THE ROMANO-GERMAN OR TRANSITION AGE 
 (476-800 A.D.) 
 
 XLII. The Barbarian Kingdoms 527 
 
 XLIII. The Church and its Institutions 532 
 
 I. The Conversion of the Barbarians . . . ^32 
 
 II. The Rise of Monasticism .... . r3r 
 
 III. The Rise of the Papacy .... , . . C38 
 
 XLIV. The Fusion of Latin and Teuton . . . . 543 
 
 XLV. The Roman Empire in the East 548 
 
 XLVI. The Rise of Islam ■ ■ ■ S5i 
 
 XLVII. Charlemagne and the REssroRATioN of the 
 
 Empire in the West . . rr8 
 
 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ^63 
 
 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 573 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 (After photographs, and from cuts taken from Baunieister's Deftkmaeler des klassi- 
 schen AlteriumSy Oscar Jaeger's Weltgeschichte^ Schreiber's Atlas of Classical Antiquities^ 
 and other reliable sources.) 
 
 FIGURE PAGE 
 
 1. Implements of the Old Stone Age . , . . 2 
 
 2. Engraving of a Mammoth on the Fragment of a Tusk ... .3 
 
 3. Engraving on a Reindeer Antler . . .... 3 
 
 4. Wall Painting from the Cavern of Font-de-Gaume, France . . 4 
 
 5. Implements of the New Stone Age . . . . ... 5 
 
 6. A Prehistoric Egyptian Tomb . . . . . 6 
 
 7. Typical Megalithic or Huge Stone Monuments 7 
 
 8. A Restoration of Swiss Lake Dwellings of the Later Stone Age . . 8 
 
 9. Pirimitive Methods of making Fire . . . , . . 9 
 
 10. Indian Picture Writing . . . . ... ... -13 
 
 n. Stonehenge 15 
 
 12. Negro Captives . . , , .... ... 18 
 
 13. Ploughing and Sowing . ..... 24 
 
 14. Reaping the Grain . . . . -24 
 
 1 5. Ivory Statuette of a King of the First Dynasty . . 26 
 
 16. Khufu, Builder of the Great Pyramid . . 27 
 
 17. The"Sheikh-el-beled" -28 
 
 18. The Scribe 29 
 
 ig. Amenhotep IV and Family Bestowing Gifts .... .... 30 
 
 20. Detail of Relief Portraying Victory of Rameses II over the Kheta 
 
 at Kadesh, on the Orontes . ' . 31 
 
 21. Phalanx of the Hittites 32 
 
 22. Brick-Making in Ancient Egypt .... . .... 33 
 
 23. Forms of Egyptian Writing .... . . ... .35 
 
 24. The Rosetta Stone i- 36 
 
 25. Two Royal Names in Hieroglyphics .... . ... .37 
 
 26. Mummy of a Sacred Bull 38 
 
 27. Profile of Rameses II 4° 
 
 28. Mummy Case with Mummy 4' 
 
 29. Servant for the Underworld 42 
 
 30. The Judgment of the Dead 43 
 
 31. An Egyptian Obelisk > 44 
 
 32. Tubular Drill Hole 45 
 
 33. A Scarab Amulet 45 
 
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 34. Ancient Babylonian Canal 49 
 
 35. Impression of a Seal of Sargon I . . . 5' 
 
 36. Door Socket of Sargon I -. 5^ 
 
 37. Excavation showing Pavements in a Court of the Temple of Bel 
 
 at Nippur . . . . . • S4 
 
 38. Cuneiform Writing ..... . . 55 
 
 39. Table showing the Development of the Cuneiform Writing . . 55 
 
 40. Babylonian Tablet 5^ 
 
 41. Contract Tablet .... . . 56 
 
 42. Diorite Seated Statue of Gudea, Ruler of Lagash (Shirpurla) . . 59 
 
 43. Writing-exercise Tablets of a Child . . . 60 
 
 44. Hammurabi Receiving the Code from the Sun-god 61 
 
 45. Restoration of Sargon's Palace at Khorsabad 66 
 
 46. Transport of a Winged Bull 67 
 
 47. An Assyrian Kelek ... . 68 
 
 48. An Assyrian King and his Captives .... .... 69 
 
 49. Excavating an Assyrian Palace . 70 
 
 50. Emblem of Ashur, the Supreme Deity of Assyria . . . . 71 
 
 51. Restoration of a Court in Sargon's Palace at Khorsabad • 72 
 
 52. Assyrians Flaying Prisoners Alive 
 
 53. Lion Hunt .... 
 
 54. Restoration of the Southern Citadel of Babylon 
 
 55. Babylonian Lion . . . 
 
 56. The Place of Wailing 
 
 57. The Later Temple at Jerusalem as Enlarged and Beautified by Herod 
 
 58. Species of the Murex 
 
 59. Phoenician Galley . 
 
 60. Table showing the Development of English Letters from the 
 
 Phoenician 
 
 61. The Hittite God of the Sky . . 
 
 62. Caravan Crossing the Taurus 
 
 63. Hittite Hieroglyphic Writing 
 
 64. Croesus on the Pyre . . . ... 
 
 65. The Tomb of Cyrus, at Pasargadse . . . 
 
 66. Insurgent Captives brought before Darius 
 
 67. Traces of the Royal Road of Darius . . 
 
 68. The Behistun Rock . . 
 
 69. Rock-cut Tomb of Darius I, near Persepolis . . . 
 
 70. Ancient Persian Fire-altars . . . . . i . . 
 
 71. The King in Combat with a Monster Symbolizing Ahriman 
 
 72. The Ruins of Persepolis 
 
 73. Showing the Derivation of Modern Chinese Characters from 
 
 Earlier Pictorial Writing .... .111 
 
 74. Gallery in the South Wall at Tiryns ... 1. ... -115 
 
 75. The Plain of Olympia . , 116 
 
 73 
 73 
 76 
 
 77 
 83 
 85 
 87 
 
 90 
 
 91 
 92 
 92 
 96 
 
 97 
 98 
 
 99 
 99 
 roc 
 102 
 103 
 104 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Xlll 
 
 76. 
 
 77- 
 78. 
 
 79- 
 80. 
 81. 
 82. 
 
 83- 
 84. 
 85. 
 86. 
 
 87. 
 
 90. 
 
 91- 
 
 92. 
 
 93- 
 
 94. 
 
 95- 
 96. 
 
 97- 
 98. 
 99. 
 
 100. 
 
 loi. 
 
 102. 
 
 103. 
 
 104. 
 
 105. 
 
 106. 
 
 107. 
 
 108, 
 
 109. 
 
 no. 
 
 III. 
 
 112. 
 
 113- 
 114. 
 
 115. 
 116. 
 
 by 
 
 The Labyrinth 
 
 Theseus and the Minotaur 
 
 The Lions' Gate at Mycenae 
 
 Battle at the Ships between the Greelis and Trojans . 
 
 Hissarlik, the Probable Site of Ancient Troy 
 
 Grave Circle at Mycenas 
 
 Inlaid Sword Blades Found at Mycense 
 
 Great Magazines, or Storerooms, of the Palace at Cnossus . . 
 Fresco of a Young Cup-bearer ... . .... 
 
 A Cnossian Seal Impression . 
 
 Theater and " Dancing-place " (?) Excavated at Cnossus 
 
 Dr. Evans . , . .... 
 
 Cretan Linear Tablet with Chariot and Horse ... 
 
 The So-called " Throne of Minos " 
 
 Group of Gods and Goddesses . 
 
 The Carrying off of Persephone by Hades to the Underworld ; her 
 
 Leave-taking of her Mother Demeter . 
 
 Apollo . . . . . 
 
 Greek Runners . . .... . ... 
 
 Racing with Four-horse Chariots . ... 
 
 Battle between Greeks and Amazons . . ... 
 
 Sparta, with the Ranges of the Taygetus in the Background 
 Ruined Temples at Passtum .... . . . 
 
 Coin of Cyrene . . . . . 
 
 Coin of Corinth .... .... 
 
 The Bema, or Orator's Stand, on the Pnyx Hill, Athens 
 The Athenian Tyrannicides, Harmodius and Aristogiton 
 Ostrakon with Name of Themistocles . 
 Hoplite, or Heavy-armed Greek Warrior 
 A Memorial of the Battle of Platasa- . . 
 
 Pericles . . . . 
 
 The So-called Theseum at Athens . . 
 The Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheum 
 
 Alcibiades ... . 
 
 Coin of Syracuse .... 
 
 Demosthenes . . . . . 
 
 Alexander the Great 
 
 The So-called Sarcophagus of Alexander 
 
 The Dying Gaul 
 
 A Restoration of the Great Altar of Zeus Soter at Pergamum 
 Showing the Influence of the Master-form of the Pharos on the 
 
 Evolution of the Moslem Minaret and the Christian Church 
 
 Tower . . . 
 
 Orders of Greek Architecture , . . . 
 
 The Parthenon 
 
 PAGE 
 122 
 123 
 
 126 
 128 
 129 
 130 
 
 131 
 
 132 
 133 
 
 134 
 
 135 
 144 
 
 145 
 146 
 
 147 
 148 
 152 
 
 '55 
 16S 
 170 
 170 
 178 
 183 
 197 
 205 
 206 
 213 
 218 
 220 
 
 233 
 249 
 
 253 
 257 
 264 
 274 
 27s 
 
 280 
 284 
 287 
 
xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIGURE PAGE 
 
 117. -The Theater of Dionysus at Athens 289 
 
 118. Stadium at Athens 290 
 
 119. The Wrestlers . '. 291 
 
 120. Stele of Aristion ... ... . . . . ... 29' 
 
 121. The Charioteer . . . • 292 
 
 122. Throwing the Discus, or Quoit ... . . .... 293 
 
 123. Athenian Youth in Procession ... . 294 
 
 124. Athena Parthenos . . .... 295 
 
 125. Head of the Olympian Zeus by Phidias .... . . . 295 
 
 126. Nike, or Victory, of Pasonius ... .... 296 
 
 127. Hermes with the Infant Dionysus ... . . • . 297 
 
 128. The Nike, or Victory, of Samothrace . . . .298 
 
 129. Aphrodite of Milos . . ... 298 
 
 130. The Laocoon Group . . . . 299 
 
 131. Portrait in Wax Paint . . . 300 
 
 132. Homer 303 
 
 133. Hoeing and Ploughing . 304 
 
 134. Bacchic Procession • 306 
 
 135. Sophocles . . . ... 308 
 
 136. Euripides .... . ....... 309 
 
 137. Herodotus ... ... 311 
 
 138. Thucydides . . . . .... 312 
 
 139. Socrates . . . . . . 321 
 
 140. Plato . 322 
 
 141. Aristotle . 323 
 
 142. Pedagogue and Children . . . . . „ . ... 330 
 
 143. A Greek School . . . . ..... . 331 
 
 144. A Banquet Scene , 333 
 
 145. An Etruscan Chariot . . .... 339 
 
 146. Wall Painting of an Etruscan Banquet . 340 
 
 147. Head of Janus ... 350 
 
 148. Divining by Means of the Appearance of the Entrails of a Sacri- 
 
 ficial Victim . . ..... ... 3^1 
 
 149. The Cloaca Maxima . . . ... 354 
 
 150. Roman Soldier . ... ... 355 
 
 151. Lictors with Fasces . ,. . . . 361 
 
 152. The Appian Way .... . . . . 377 
 
 153. Grotto of Posilipo ,. ... ... 380 
 
 1 54. Prow of a Roman Warship . . . . . . . ■jg^ 
 
 155. The Triumphal Column of Duilius . ,. 385 
 
 1 56. Augur's Birds -587 
 
 157. Hannibal . -igi 
 
 158. Publius Cornelius Scipio (Africanus) . . , . . -ing 
 
 159. Coin of the Italian Confederacy . . ^15 
 
 160. Mithradates the Great 420 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv 
 
 FIGURE PAGE 
 
 1 61. Marius (?) . . 421 
 
 162. Roman Trading Vessel . . . . 425 
 
 163. Pompey the Great 427 
 
 164. Julius Cassar . . 434 
 
 165. Octavian (Octavius) as a Youth .... . . . . . 437 
 
 166. Cicero 438 
 
 167. Augustus ....'. . 443 
 
 168. Maacenas . . 447 
 
 169. Vespasian ... ... . . . . 456 
 
 170. " Judaea Capta " 457 
 
 171. Triumphal Procession from the Arch of Titus 457 
 
 172. A Street in Pompeii . . . ... . .... . . 458 
 
 173. House of the Vetti at Pompeii .... 459 
 
 174. Trajan . . . 460 
 
 175. Bridge over the Danube, Built by Trajan . 461 
 
 176. Trajan's Column 462 
 
 177. The Hadrian Wall 464 
 
 178. Hadrian . .... 465 
 
 179. Siege of a City . . 466 
 
 180. Roman Aqueduct and Bridge near Nimes, France ... ... 469 
 
 181. Commodus Represented as the Roman Hercules 470 
 
 182. Caracalla 471 
 
 183. Triumph of Sapor over Valerian . . . . . 473 
 
 184. Christ as the Good Shepherd . . 479 
 
 185. The Labarum • ■ ■ • 480 
 
 186. Arch of Constantine at Rome, as it Appears To-day 481 
 
 187. Germans Crossing the Rhine ... 494 
 
 188. The Pantheon, at Rome 503 
 
 189. The Roman Forum in 1885 ,, 504 
 
 190. The Circus Maximus .... . . .... . 505 
 
 191. The Colosseum 506 
 
 192. A Roman Milestone ... . . .... . . 507 
 
 193. The Claudian Aqueduct . . . . . ^oS 
 
 194. The Medicinal Spring of Umeri 509 
 
 195. Mausoleum of Hadrian, at Rome . . 510 
 
 196. Seneca . . . . . ■ S'S 
 
 197. Gladiators ... . . 521 
 
 198. Semicircular Dining-couch .... . 522 
 
 199. Tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna . . .... . 528 
 
 200. Ruins of the Celebrated Monastry of lona .... 535 
 
 201. A Monk Copyist 537 
 
 202. Trial by Combat . 546 
 
 203. The Kaaba at Mecca 552 
 
LIST OF PLATES 
 
 PLATE 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. The Parthenon. (A restoration ; in colors) . . Frontispiece 
 
 II. Paintings on the Walls of Caverns, by the Hunter-Artists of the 
 
 Old Stone Age. (Aitex Brenil; in colors) 6 
 
 III. The Great Sphinx and the Pyramids of Gizeh. (From a photo- 
 
 graph) 26 
 
 IV. Ruins of the Great Hall of Columns at Karnak. (From a photo- 
 
 graph) 30 
 
 V. Fapade of Rock Temple at Ipsambul. _ (From a photograph) . . 34 
 VI. A Restoration of the Hall of Columns at Karnak. (From Liibke, 
 
 History of Art ; in colors) 42 
 
 VII. " The Frieze of the Archers," from the Palace of Darius at Susa. 
 
 (After M. Dieulafoy, L'Acropole de Suse ; in colors) 102 
 
 VIII. The Vaphio Cups and their Scrolls. (From photographs and 
 
 drawings) , ... 13S 
 
 IX. The Acropolis of Athens. (From a photograph) . . 178 
 
 X. The Piraeus and the Long Walls of Athens. (A restoration) . 210 
 
 XI. A Restoration of the Acropolis of Athens . . . ... 218 
 
 XII. The Mourning Athena. (From a photograph) 228 
 
 XIII. General View of Olympia. (A restoration) ... ... 286 
 
 XIV. A Rock-hewn Facade at Petra, Arabia Petraea. (From a photo- 
 
 graph) . 466 
 
 XV. The Roman Forum. (A restoration) . . . . 502 
 
 XVI. House of Livia, on the Palatine Hill (interior view). (From 
 
 Stobart, The Grandeur that was Rome; in colors) . . . , ^lo 
 
LIST OF MAPS 
 
 Colored Maps 
 
 (After Kiepert, Schrader, Droysen, Spruner-Sieglin, and Freeman. The Freeman 
 
 charts have been so modified by omissions and additions that most of them as they 
 here appear are virtually new maps.) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Ancient World, showing Areas occupied by Hamites, Semites, and 
 
 Indo-Europeans ... . i8 
 
 Ancient Egypt 22 
 
 Assyrian Empire, about 660 B.C. . . . .66 
 
 Median and Babylonian Empires, about 600 B.C. . ...... 78 
 
 The Division of Solomon's Kingdom, about 953 B.C. . 82 
 
 The Persian Empire at its Greatest Extent, about 500 B.c 98 
 
 General Reference Map of Ancient Greece 114 
 
 Greece and the Greek Colonies ... • ■ . 162 
 
 The Greek World at the Beginning of the Peloponnesian War, 431 B.C. 226 
 
 Empire of Alexander the Great, about 323 B.c 258 
 
 Italy before the Growth of the Roman Power 338 
 
 The Mediterranean Lands at the beginning of the Second Punic War, 
 
 Z18 B.c 390 
 
 The Roman Dominions at the End of the Mithradatic War, 64 B.C. . 426 
 
 The Roman Empire at the Death of Augustus, 14 A. D 446 
 
 The Roman Empire at its Greatest Extent (under Trajan, 98-1 1 7 a.d.) . 462 
 
 The Roman Empire Divided into Prefectures 478 
 
 Map showing Barbarian Inroads on the Fall of the Roman Empire 
 
 (movements shown down to 477 A.D.) . . . 486 
 
 Europe in the Reign of Theodoric, about 500 a.d. 526 
 
 Greatest Extent of the Saracen Dominions, about 750 a.d 554 
 
 Europe in the time of Charles the Great, 814 A.D ... 558 
 
 Sketch Maps 
 
 The Tigris-Euphrates Valley 50 
 
 The World according to Homer 143 
 
 Magna Graecia and Sicily 167 
 
 Plan of the Battle of Marathon 194 
 
 xvii 
 
xviii LIST OF MAP§ 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Map Illustrating the Invasion of Greece by Xerxes ^'-'° 
 
 Athens and Salamis ^°4 
 
 Athens and her Long Walls ; ^'° 
 
 Pylos . 231 
 
 March of the Ten Thousand Greeks ...,;. • ^4i 
 
 Plan of the Battle of Leuctra, 371 B.C. . . . . 244 
 
 The Mountain System of Italy . . > ■ ■ 33^ 
 
 The Seven Hills of Rome . .... 343 
 The Roman Domain and the Latin Confederasy in the Time of the 
 
 Early Republic, about 450 B.C. . . . 3^4 
 
 The Route of Hannibal . ■ ... 392 
 
 The Roman Empire under Justinian . . • . 549 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION: PREHISTORIC TIMES 
 
 1. The Prehistoric and the Historic Age. The immensely long 
 periods of human life which lie back of the time when man began 
 to keep written or graven records of events form what is called the 
 Prehistoric Age. The comparatively few centuries of human experi- 
 ence made known to us through such records comprise the Historic 
 Age. In Egypt we find records which date from the fifth or fourth 
 millennium b. c. ; so for that land the historic period begins six or 
 seven thousand years ago. For Babylonia it begins several centuries 
 later than for Egypt. For the Mediterranean regions of Europe it 
 opens about loop B.C.; for the countries of central and northern 
 Europe, speaking broadly, not until about the beginning of our era ; 
 and for the New World only a little over four hundred years ago. 
 
 2. How we Learn about Prehistoric Man. A knowledge of what 
 manner of man prehistoric man was and what he did is indispensable 
 to the historical student; for the dim prehistoric ages of human life 
 form the childhood of the race — and the man cannot be understood 
 without at least some knowledge of the child. 
 
 But how, in the absence of written records, are we to find out 
 anything about prehistoric man ? In many ways we are able to learn 
 much about him. First, by studying the life of present-day backward 
 races ; for what they now are, the great races of history, we have 
 reason to believe, were in their prehistoric age. 
 
 Again, the men who lived before the dawn of history left behind 
 them many things which witness as to what manner of men they 
 were. In ancient gravel beds along the streams where they fished or 
 hunted, in the caves which afforded them shelter, in the refuse heaps 
 
 I 
 
PREHISTORIC TIMES 
 
 [§3 
 
 (kitchen middens) on the sites of their villages or camping, places, or 
 in the graves where they laid away their dead, we find great quan- 
 tities of tools and weapons and other articles shaped by their hands. 
 From these various things we learn what skill these early men had 
 acquired as tool makers, what degree of culture they had attamed, 
 and something of their conception of the Jife in the hereafter. 
 
 Fig. I. Implements of the Old Stone Age 
 
 No. I, the core of a flint nodule, was the earliest and the characteristic tool and weapon 
 of Paleolithic man. It served a variety of purposes, and was used without a handle, being 
 clutched with the hand (No. 9), and hence is called the hand-ax or fist-ax. No. 2 is a 
 flint flake struck from a nodule. No. 8 (a harpoon-poilit) tells us that the man of this 
 age was a fisher as well as a hunter. From No. 6 (a bone needle) we may infer that he 
 made clothing of skins, for since he had not yet learned the art of weaving (the spindle- 
 whorl does not appear till the next epoch ; see Fig. 5 and eiiplanatory note), the material 
 of which he made clothing could hardly have been anything else than the skins of 
 animals killed in the chase. That skins were carefully prepared is evidenced by the 
 scraper (Nos. 4, 11), an implement used in dressing hides. No. f (an engraving-tool) 
 tells us that art had its beginnings in Paleolithic times 
 
 3. Divisions of Prehistoric Times. The long period of prehistoric 
 times is divided into different ages, or stages of culture, which are 
 named from the material which man used in the manufacture of his 
 weapons and tools. The earliest epoch is known as the Paleolithic or 
 Old Stone Age; the following one as the Neolithic or New Stone 
 
 1 Besides these material things that can be seen and handled, there are manv 
 immaterial things — as, for instance, language, which is as full of human memories 
 as the rocks are of fossils — that light up for us the dim ages before history (see 
 sect, 10), 
 
§4] 
 
 THE PALEOLITHIC OR OLD STONE AGE 
 
 Fig. z. Engraving of a Mammoth on 
 
 THE Fragment of a Tuski 
 
 (Old Stone Age) 
 
 Age ; and the later period as the Age of Metals. The division lines 
 between these ages are not sharply drawn. In most countries the 
 epochs run into and overlap one another, just as in modern times the 
 Age of Steam runs into and overlaps the Age of Electricity. 
 
 4. The Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. :in the Old Stone Age 
 man's chief implements were usually made of stone, and especially 
 
 of chipped flints, though 
 bones, horns, tusks, and 
 other material were also 
 used in their manufacture. 
 These rude implements and 
 weapons of Paleolithic man, 
 found mostly in river gravel 
 beds and in caves, are the 
 very oldest things in ex- 
 istence which we know 
 positively to have been shaped by human . hands. 
 
 The rhan of the Old Stone Age in Europe saw the retreating 
 glaciers of the great Ice Age, of which geology tells us. Among the 
 animals which lived with him on that continent (we know most of 
 early man there) were the woolly-haired mammoth, the bison, the wild 
 ox, the cave bear, the rhinoceros, the wild horse, and the reindeer 
 — species which are no longer 
 found in the regions where 
 primitive man hunted them. 
 As the climate and the vege- 
 tation changed, some of these 
 animals became extinct, while 
 others of the cold-loving 
 species retreated up the mountains or migrated towards the north. 
 What we know of Paleolithic man may be summed up as follows : 
 he was a hunter and fisher ; his habitation was often merely a cave or 
 a rock shelter ; his implements were in the main roughly shaped flints ; 
 
 1 These interesting art objects are from France. Tliey represent tiie earliest artistic 
 efforts of man of which we have knowledge. In comparison with them the pictures on 
 the oldest Egyptian monuments are modem. 
 
 Fig. 3. Engraving on a Reindeer 
 Antler.1 (Old Stone Age) 
 
PREHISTORIC TIMES 
 
 [§'^ 
 
 he had no domestic animals save possibly the dog ; he was ignorant 
 of the arts of spinning and weaving, and practically also of the art 
 of making pottery.^ 
 
 The length of the Old Stone Age no one knows'; we do not attempt 
 to reckon its duration by centuries or by millenniums even, but only 
 by geologic epochs. But we do know that the long slow epochs did 
 not pass away without some progress haying been made by prime- 
 val man, which assures us that though so lowly a creature, he was 
 endowed with the capacity for growth and improvement. Before 
 
 the end of the age he had 
 acquired wonderful skill in 
 the chipping of flint points 
 and blades ; he had learned 
 the use of fire, as we know 
 from the traces of fire found 
 in the places where he made 
 
 his abode : and he had prob- 
 liiG. 4. Wall Painting from the ^ 
 
 Cavern OF Font-de-Gaume, France ably invented the bow and 
 (After Breuil) arrow, as we find this weapon 
 
 in yery general use at the 
 opening of the following epoch. This important invention gave man 
 what was to be one of his chief weapons in the chase and in war 
 for thousands of years — down to and even after the invention of 
 firearms late in the historic period. 
 
 But most prophetic of the great future of ithis savage or semisavage 
 cave man of the Old Stone Age was the fine artistic talent that some 
 tribes or races of the period possessed ; for, strange as it may seem, 
 among the men of this epoch there were some amazingly good art- 
 ists. Besides numerous specimens of his drawings and carvings of 
 animals, chiefly on bone and ivory, which have been found from time to 
 time during the last half century and more, there have recently been 
 discovered many large drawings and paintings on the walls of various 
 grottoes in southern France and northern Spain.^ These wonderful 
 
 1 The Australians and New Zealanders when first discovered were in the Paleolithic 
 stage of culture ; the Tasmanians had not yet reached it. 
 
 2 The first of these wall paintings were discovered in 1879, but that they reallv 
 were of the immense age claimed for them was not established beyond all doubt until 
 
§4] 
 
 THE PALEOLITHIC OR OLD STONE AGE 
 
 pictures are in the main representations of animals. The species 
 most often represented are the bison, the horse, — one species being 
 lilce the Celtic pony of to-day, — the wild ox, the reindeer, and the 
 mammoth. This astonishing art of the European cave men shows 
 that primitive man, probably because he is a hunter and lives so close 
 to the wild life around him, often has a keener eye for animal forms 
 and movements than the artists of more advanced races ; for as a 
 
 Fig. 5. Implements of the New Stone Age 
 
 These tools and weapons mark a great advance over the chipped flints of the Old 
 Stone Age (Fig. i). They embody the results of thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) 
 of years of human experience and invention, and mark the first steps in human progress. 
 Nos. 7— J and 'j^jo show how after unmeasured ages man had learned to increase the 
 effectiveness of his tools and weapons by grinding them smooth and sharp, and by 
 fitting handles to them. No. 5 records the incoming of the art of making pottery — one 
 of the most important industrial arts prior to the Age of Iron. No. 6 (a spindle-whorl 
 of stone or of hardened clay used as a weight in twisting thread) informs us that man 
 had learned the civilizing arts of spinning and weaving 
 
 high authority asserts, " in some respects the art of these hunter 
 painters has never been surpassed or even equaled." The history of 
 art (sculpture, engraving, and painting) must hereafter begin with the 
 works of these artist hunters of the Paleolithifc time.^ 
 
 1902 (see Cartailhac et Breuil, La Caveme d^Aliamira^ 1906 ; and Perony, La Caverne 
 de Foni~de-Gaume^ 191c). The pictures are generally found in the depths of caverns 
 where not a ray of the light of day ever enters. They were made by the light of lamps 
 fed with the fat of animals. It is almost certain that they had a magical purpose, that 
 is, were made in the belief that by a species of magic they would cause an increase of 
 the game animals represented, or would render them a sure prey in the chase, 
 
 1 See Reinach, AfoUo (1900), chap, i; also Art. "Painting," Encyc.Brit., nth ed. 
 
PREHISTORIC TiAlES 
 
 [§5 
 
 
 5. The Neolithic or New Stone Age. the Old Stone Age was 
 followed by the New.'. Chipped or hammered stone implements 
 still continued to be used, but what characterizes this period was 
 the use of ground or polished implements. Man had learned the 
 art of grinding his tools and weapons to a sharp edge with sand 
 on a grinding stpne.^ To his ax he had 
 also learned to attach a handle, which 
 made it a vastly more effective implement 
 
 (Fig- S)- 
 
 Besides these improvements in his tools 
 
 and weapons, the man of the New Stone 
 Age had made other great advances be- 
 yond the man of the Old Stone Age. He 
 had learned to till the soil ; he had learned 
 to make fine pottery, to spin, and to weave ; 
 he had domesticated various wild animals ; 
 though like Paleolithic man he sometimes 
 lived in caves, he built houses, often on 
 piles on the margins of lakes and morasses 
 (Fig. 8) ; and he" buried his dead in such 
 a manner — ■ with accompanying gifts 
 (Fig. 6) — as to show that he had a firm 
 belief in a future life.* 
 
 The later period of this New Stone Age 
 was marked by the beginnings of architec- 
 ture. . In many regions, particularly in west- 
 ern Europe, the men of this age began to 
 construct rude tombs and other monuments of huge undressed 
 stones — often of blocks so immense .that it must have required the 
 
 1 Some archaeologists put a period, which they name the Middle Stone Age between 
 the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Age. Most, however, consider this period merely 
 a subdivision of the Old Stone Age. 
 
 2 The North American Indians were in this stage of culture at the time of the dis- 
 covery of the New World. The Egyptians and Babylonians were just emerging from 
 it when they first appeared in history. 
 
 8 Recent discoveries have revealed traces of this belief even before the close of the 
 Paleolithic period. Several cases of burial have been<found with rich grave outfits of 
 flint implements and weapons, which point unmistakably to a belief in a life after death. 
 
 Fig. 6. A Prehistoric 
 
 Egyptian Tomb 
 
 (After/, de Morgan) 
 
 Primitive man's belief in a fu- 
 ture life led him to place in the 
 grave of the deceased weapons, 
 implements, food, and articles 
 of personal adornment for use 
 in the other world (cf. sects. 
 37-40). Outfits of this kind 
 found in prehistoric graves 
 are an important source of 
 our knowledge of man before 
 recorded history begins 
 
Plate II. Remarkable Palniings on the WaIlls of Caverns, by the 
 Hunter-Artists of the Old Stone Age. (After BreuU ; see p. 4, n. 2) 
 
§6] 
 
 THE AGE OF METALS 
 
 united strength of a thousand or more men to haul them and to 
 set them up. The most common forms of these monuments are 
 shown in the accompanying cut (Fig. 7). 
 
 The Neolithic stage of culture lasted several thousand years — the 
 length of the period varying of course in the different lands — and 
 was widespread. The relics of Neolithic man are found on all the 
 continents. In Egypt, in Babylonia, in Greece, in Italy, and in other 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 
 Fig. 7. Typical Megalithic or Huge Stone Monuments 
 
 A single stone (No. /) is called a menhir^ and a large stone resting on smaller ones 
 (No. 2) a dolmen. Prehistoric stone monuments of these and other types are found in 
 almost all parts of the world, but in especially great numbers in western Europe and 
 North Africa. The oldest of these monuments dkte frpm the later Stone Age. They 
 doubtless served various purposes. Some were the tombs of great persons, some were 
 man's first temples, others marked sacred spots, and still others were probably erected 
 to preserve the memory of great events 
 
 lands the historic development grew directly out of this 5tone Age 
 culture. It thus formed the basis of the civilizations of all the great 
 peoples of the ancient world. 
 
 6. The Age of Metals. Finally the long ages of stone passed into 
 the Age of Metals. This age falls into threes subdivisions — the Age 
 of Copper, the Age of Bronze, and the Agel of Iron. Some peoples, 
 like the African negroes, passed directly frorn the use of stone to the 
 use of iron ; but in most of the countries of the Orient and of Europe 
 the three metals came into use one after the other and in the order 
 named. Speaking broadly, we may say that .the Age of Metals began 
 
PREHISTORIC TIMES 
 
 [§6 
 
 for the more advanced peoples of the ancient world between 3000 
 and 4000 B.C.''- 
 
 The history of metals has been declared to be the history of civili- 
 zation. Indeed, it would be almost impossible to overestimate their 
 importance to man. Man could do very little with stone implements 
 
 /f.-,. 
 
 
 Fig. 8. A Restokation of Swiss Lake Dwellings of the Later Stone 
 Age. (From Keller, Lake Dwellings) 
 
 This mode of building on piles in the shallow water of lakes, begun (as a means of 
 
 protection against enemies) by the men of Neolithic times, was continued far into 
 
 the Bronze Age, as proved by the bronze objects found in the mud on the sites of 
 
 ancient pile-villages in Switzerland and elsewhere 
 
 compared with what he could do with metal implements. It was a great 
 labor for primitive man, even with the aid of fire, to fell a tree with a 
 stone ax and to hollow out the trunk for a boat. He was hampered 
 
 1 The limited use of copper seems to have begun among the peoples of the Orient 
 some centuries before this date — in Egypt about ssooJb.c. But copper is a soft metal, 
 and tools and weapons made of it were not so greatly superior to the stone ones then in 
 use as to put them out of service. But either by accident or through experiment it was 
 discovered that by mixing about nine parts of copper with one part of tin a new metal 
 called bronze, much harder than either tin or copper, could be made. So greatly superior 
 were bronze implements to stone that their introduction caused the use of stone for 
 tools and weapons to be practically discontinued, and consequently the Age of Bronze 
 constitutes a well-defined and important epoch in the history of culture. 
 
§7] 
 
 THE DOMESTICATION OF FIRE 
 
 in all his tasks by the rudeness of his tools. It was only as the bearer 
 of metal implements and weapons that he began really to subdue the 
 earth and to get dominion over nature. All the higher cultures of the 
 ancient world with which history begins were based on the knowledge 
 and use of metals. 
 
 7. The Domestication of Fire. In this and the immediately follow- 
 ing sections we shall dwell briefly upon some of the special discoveries 
 and achievements, several of which have already been mentioned, 
 marking important steps in man's progress during the prehistoric ages. 
 
 (^ 
 
 Fig. g. Primitive Methods op making Fire. (After Tylor) 
 
 Doubtless the discovery that fire could be produced by friction came about through 
 the operation of the primitive toolmaker. The processes of smoothing, polishing, and 
 grooving softwood implements, and of boring holes in them with pieces of harder wood, 
 could hardly fail of revealing the secret. The character of the fire-making devices of 
 present-day savages point the way of the discovery 
 
 Prominent among the achievements of early man was the domesti- 
 cation of fire. The origin of the use of fire is hidden in the obscur- 
 ity of primeval times. That fire was known to Paleolithic man we 
 learn, as already noted, from the traces of it discovered in the caves 
 and rock shelters which were his abode. No people has ever been 
 found so low in the scale of culture as to be without it. 
 
 As to the way in which early man came into possession of fire, we 
 have no knowledge. Possibly he kindled his first fire from a glowing 
 lava stream or from some burning tree trunk set aflame by the light- 
 ning.^ However this may be, he had in the earliest times learned to 
 produce the vital spark by means of friction. The fire borer, accord- 
 ing to Tylor, is among the oldest of humg^n inventions. Since the 
 
 i Fires thus lighted are surprisingly numerous. During the year 1914 there were 
 over 2000 fires started by lightning in the national forests of the United States. 
 
lO PREHISTORIC TIMES [§^ 
 
 awakening of the spark was difficult, the fire once alight was carefully 
 fed so that it should not go out. The duty of watching the flame 
 naturally fell to the old women or to the daughters of the community, 
 to which custom may be traced the origin of such institutions as that 
 among the Romans of the vestal virgins, the guardians of the sacred 
 flame on the hearth of the goddess Vesta (sect. 390). 
 
 Only gradually did primeval man learn the various properties of 
 fire and discover the different uses to which it might be put, just as 
 historic man has learned only gradually the possible uses of electricity. 
 By some happy accident or discovery he learned that it would harden 
 clay, and he became a potter ; that it would smelt ores, and he became 
 a worker in metals ; and that it would aid him in a hundred other 
 ways. " Fire," says Joly, " presided at the birth of nearly every art, 
 or quickened its progress." The place it holds in the development of 
 the family, of religion, and of the industrial arts is revealed by these 
 three significant words — " the hearth, the altar, the forge." No other 
 agent has contributed more to the progress of civilization. Indeed, it 
 is difficult to conceive how without fire primitive man could ever have 
 emerged from the Age of Stone. 
 
 8. The Domestication of Animals. " When we visit a farm at the 
 present day and observe the friendly nature of the life which goes on 
 there, — the horse proudly and obediently bending his neck to his 
 yoke ; the cow offering her streaming udder to the milkmaid ; the 
 woolly flock going forth to the field, accompanied by their trusty pro- 
 tector, the dog, who comes fawning to his master, — this familiar 
 intercourse between man and beast seerns so natural that it is 
 scarcely conceivable that things may once have been different. And 
 yet in the picture we see only the final result of thousands and 
 thousands of years of the work of civilization, the enormous impor- 
 tance of which simply escapes our notice because it is by everyday 
 wonders that our amazement is least excited." ^ 
 
 The most of this work of inducing the animals of the fields and 
 woods to become, as it were, members or dependents of the human 
 family, to enter into a league of friendship with man and to become 
 his helpers, was done by prehistoric man. When man appears in 
 
 1 Schrader, Prehistoric Antiquities of the Arycfn Peoples (1890), p. 259. 
 
§9] THE DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS ii 
 
 history, he appears surrounded by almost all the domestic animals 
 known to us to-day. The dog wag already his faithful companion — 
 and probably the first won from among the wild creatures; the 
 sheep, the cow, and the goat shared his shelter with him.* 
 
 The domestication of animals had such a profound effect upon 
 human life and occupation that it marks the opening of a new epoch 
 in history. The hunter became a shepherd,^ and the hunting stage 
 in culture gave place to the pastoral.' 
 
 9. The Domestication of Plants. Long before the dawn of history 
 those peoples of the Old World who were to play great parts in early 
 historic times had advanced from the pastoral to the agricultural stage 
 of culture. Just as the step from the hunting to the pastoral stage 
 had been taken with the aid of a few of the most social species of 
 animals, so had this second upward step, from the pastoral to the 
 agricultural stage, been taken by means of the domestication of a few 
 of the innumerable species of the seed grasses and plants growing 
 wild in field and wood. 
 
 Wheat and barley, two of the most impoftant of the cereals, were 
 probably first domesticated somewhere in Asia, and from there carried 
 over Europe. These grains, together with oats and rice, have been, 
 in the words of Tylor, " the mainstay of human life and the great 
 moving power of civilization." They constituted the basis of the 
 earliest great states and civilizations of Asia and Europe. 
 
 The domestication of plants and the art of tilling the soil effected 
 a great revolution in prehistoric society. The wandering life of the 
 hunter and the herder now gave way to a settled mode of existence. 
 Cities were built, and within them began to be amassed those 
 
 1 The task, still unfinished, of the historic period has been not so much to increase 
 the number as to improve the breed of the stock of domesticated animals bequeathed 
 from the prehistoric time. 
 
 2 In some regions favored in climate and soil the farmer preceded the shepherd, but 
 agriculture upon a large scale could hardly be carried on until man had domesticated 
 the ox and the ass and taught them to draw the plough. 
 
 8 It is of interest to note that most of the wild stocks whence have come our domestic 
 animals are of Old World origin. It is thought by some that one reason why the tribes 
 of the New World at the time of its discovery were so farljehind the peoples of the Old 
 was that there were fewer tamable animals here — none of real importance save the 
 llama and the alpaca in the Andean uplands of South America and possibly the buffalo 
 of North America. 
 
12 PREHISTORIC TIMES 
 
 [§10 
 
 treasures, material and immaterial, which constitute the precious 
 heirloom of humanity. This attaohment to the soil of the hitherto 
 roving clans and tribes meant also the beginning of political life. e 
 cities were united into states and great kingdoms were formed, and 
 the political history of man began, as in the valleys of the Nile 
 and the Euphrates. 
 
 Early man seems to have realized how much he owed to the art of 
 husbandry, for in the mythologies of many peoples some god or god- 
 dess is represented as having taught men how to tiH the soil and to 
 plant the seed. It seemed to man that for so great a boon he must 
 be beholden to the beneficence of the gods.^ 
 
 10. The Formation of Language. Another great task and achieve- 
 ment of primitive man was the making of language. The earliest 
 speech used by historic man, as Tylor observes, " teaches the inter- 
 esting lesson that the main work of language-making was done in the 
 ages before history." 
 
 The vastness of this work is indicated by .the languages with which 
 history begins, for language-making, particularly in its earliest stages, 
 is a very slow process. Periods of time like geologic epochs must have 
 been required for the formation out of the scanty speech of the first 
 men, by the slow process of word-making, of the rich and polished 
 languages already upon the lips of the great peoples of antiquity 
 when they first appear in the light of history. 
 
 We need not dwell upon the inestimable value to man of the 
 acquisition of language. Without it all his other acquisitions and 
 discoveries would have remained comparatively fruitless, all his ef- 
 forts to lift himself to higher levels of culture have been unavailing. 
 
 1 So thorough was prehistoric man's search for whatever in the plant world could be 
 cultivated for food, that historic man has not been able during the last 2000 years from 
 the tens of thousands of wild plants to discover any Species comparable in value to any 
 one of the staple food-plants selected and domesticated by primeval man (De Candelle, 
 Origin of Cultivated, Plants, p. 451). It is interesting further to note that while early 
 man exploited the organic kingdoms, that is to say, the animal and vegetable realms he 
 made few and slight requisitions upon the forces of the, inorganic world. It was reserved 
 for the men of the later historic age — for the ancient- civilizations have to their credit 
 no epoch-making achievements here — to domesticate, so to speak, the powerful agents 
 steam and electricity and through their utilization to effect revolutions in modem society 
 like those effected in prehistoric times by the domestication of animals and plants 
 
§11] THE INVENTION OF WRITING 13 
 
 Without it, so far as we can see, he must have remained forever 
 in arl unprogressive and savage or semisavage state. 
 
 11. The Invention of Writing. Still anotlier achievement of pre- 
 historic man, and after the making of language perhaps his greatest, 
 certainly the most fruitful, vi'as the invention of viriting — the perfec- 
 tion of which marks the opening of historic times. 
 
 The iirst form of writing used by primitive man was picture writ- 
 ing, such as was and is still used by some of the Indian tribes of 
 the New World. In this system of writing the characters are rude 
 pictures of material objects, as, for instance, la picture of an eye <s>- 
 to indicate the organ of sight ; or they are symbols of ideas, as, for 
 
 Fie. 10. Indian Picture Wkiting. (After MalUry-Deniker) 
 
 Record of an Alaskan hunt. It reads thus ; I go, by boat (indicated by paddle) ; 
 
 sleep one night (hand to side of head denotes sleep), on island with two huts; I go to 
 
 another island ; two sleeps there ; hunt with harpoon, sga lion ; also with bow ; return 
 
 by boat with companion (indicated by two paddles), to my lodge 
 
 illustration, a picture consisting of wavy lines beneath an arc represent- 
 ing the sky U^^ to indicate rain. This way of representing ideas, 
 which seems »M natural to man, is known as ideographic writing, 
 and the signs are called ideograms. 
 
 A great step in advance is taken when the picture writer uses his 
 pictures or symbols to represent not actual objects or ideas, but 
 sounds of the human voice, that is, words. This step was taken in 
 prehistoric times by different peoples — the Egyptians, the Baby- 
 lonians, and the Chinese — independently. It seems to have been 
 taken by means of the rebus, a mode of writing which children love 
 to employ. What makes rebus writing possible is the existence in 
 every language of words having the same sound but different mean- 
 ings. Thus in English the pronoun / is sounded like the word eye, 
 and the word reign, to rule, like the word rain. Now the picture 
 writer, wishing to express the idea / reign, could do so by the use 
 of the two pictures or ideograms given above, in this way, <s^ i^j^. 
 When so used, the ideogram becomes a phonogram, and the M» 
 
14 PREHISTORIC TIMES 
 
 [§11 
 
 writing is phonetic or sound writing. In this way the chasm between 
 picture writing and sound writing is bridged, and the most difficult step 
 taken in the development of a practical system of representing thought. 
 
 In the first stage of sound writing, each picture or symbol stands 
 for a whole word. In such a system as this there must of course 
 be as many characters or signs as there are words in the language 
 represented. In working out their system of writing the Chinese 
 stuck fast at this point (sect. 122). 
 
 Two additional steps beyond this stage are required in order to 
 perfect the system. The first of these is taken when the characters 
 are used to represent syllables instead of words. This reduces at 
 once the number of signs needed from m"any thousands to a few 
 hundreds, since the words of any given language are formed by 
 the combination of a comparatively small number of syllables. With 
 between four and five hundred symbols the ancient Babylonians and 
 Assyrians, who used this form of writing, were able to represent all 
 the words of their respective languages (sect. 52). Characters or 
 symbols used to represent syllables are called syllabic phonograms, 
 and a collection of such signs is called a syllabary. 
 
 While a collection of syllabic signs is a great improvement over 
 a collection of word signs, still it is a clumsy instrument for express- 
 ing ideas, and the system requires still further simplification. This is 
 done and the final step in developing a convenient system of writing 
 is taken when the symbols are used to represent not syllables but 
 elementary sounds of the human voice, of which there are only a 
 few — a score or two — in any language. Then the symbols become 
 true letters, a complete collection of which is called an alphabet, 
 and the mode of writing 'alphabetic. 
 
 When and where this final step was taken we do not know. But 
 soon after 900 B.C. we find several Semitic peoples of western Asia 
 in possession of an alphabet. Through various agencies, particularly 
 through the agency of trade and commerce, this alphabet was spread 
 east and west and thus became the parent of all but one ^ of the 
 alphabets employed by the peoples of the ancient world of history, 
 and of every alphabet in use on the earth to-day (sect. 95). 
 
 1 See p. 56, ».. I. 
 
§12] 
 
 THE GREAT BEQUEST 
 
 IS 
 
 12. The Great Bequest. We of this twentieth century esteem our- 
 selves fortunate in being the heirs of a noble heritage — the in- 
 heritors of the precious accumulations of alL the past centuries of 
 history. We are not used to thinking of the men of the first genera- 
 tion of historic times as also the heirs of a great legacy. But even 
 the scanty review we have made of what was discovered, invented, 
 and thought out by man during the unmeasured epochs before re- 
 corded history opens cannot fail to have impressed us with the fact 
 that a vast estate was transmitted by prehistoric to historic man. 
 
 Fig. II. Stonehenge. (From a photograph) 
 
 This imposing huge stone monument on Salisbury Plain, England, probably dates from 
 
 about the end in western Europe of the New Stone Age or from the beginning of the 
 
 Bronze Age (between igoo and 2000 B.C.). Some archseologists regard the structure as 
 
 a sepulchral monument ; others suppose it to have been a shrine for sun-worship 
 
 If our hasty glance at those far-away times has done nothing more 
 than to do this, then we shall never again regard history quite as 
 may have been our wont. We shall see everything in a new light. 
 We shall see the story of man to be more wonderful than we once 
 thought, the path which he has followed to be longer and more 
 toilsome than we before imagined. 
 
 But our interest in the traveler will have been deepened through 
 our knowing something of his early hard and narrow life, and of his 
 first painful steps in the path of civilization. We shall follow with 
 deeper interest and sympathy this wonderful being, child of earth 
 and child of heaven, this heir of all the ages, as he journeys on and 
 upward with his face toward the light. 
 
1 6 PREHISTORIC TIMES 
 
 References. Osborn.i Men of the Old Stone Age (" The most important 
 work on the evolution of our own species that has appeared since Uarwin s 
 ' Descent of Man.' "—Theodore Roosevelt). Sollas, Ancient Hunters. Myre, 
 The Dawn of History. YlOY.-B.fi-s.?., Primitive Man. H.j^i.iOT, Prehistoric Man 
 and his Story. Joly, Man before Metals. Keary, The Dawn of History. 
 Starr, Some First Steps in Hiiman Progress. Tylor, Anthropology, chaps, iv, 
 vii, "Language" and "Writing"; Primitive Culture, 2 vols. Lubbock, Pre- 
 historic Times. Mason, First Steps in Human Culture and The Origin of Inden- 
 tion. Davenport, Domesticated Animals and Plants. Shaler, Domesticated 
 Animals. Hoffmann, The Beginnings of Writing. Clodd, The Story of the 
 Alphabet. TAYLOR, The Alphabet, 2 vols. Fergusson, Rude Stone Monuments. 
 HOLBROOK, Cazie, Mound, and Lake Dwellers (juvenile). 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i . The relation of domesticated animals to man's 
 advance in civilization: Shaler, Domesticated Animals, pp. 103-151; Daven- 
 port, Domesticated Animals and Plants, chap. i. 2. The making and the use 
 of fire : Mason, The Origin of Invention, chap, iii, and First Steps in Human 
 Culture, chaps, i, ii ; Frobenius, The Childhood of Man, chap, xxvii. 3. The 
 origin of writing: Hoffmann, The Beginnings of Writing; Mason, First Steps 
 in Human Culture, chap, xxi ; Tylor, Anthropology, chap, vii ; Keary, The 
 Dawn of History, chaps, xii, xiii. 4. The dawn of art : Reinach, Apollo, 
 pp. 1-9 ; Parkyn, Introduction to the Study of Prehistoric Art, chaps, iii, iv. 
 5. How the great stones were moved : Frobenius, The Childhood of Man, 
 pp. 428-429. 6. Marett, Anthropology, chap, ii, "Antiquity of Man." 
 
 1 For full names of authors and further information concerning works cited, see list 
 at end of book. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 RACES AND GROUPS OF PEOPLES 
 
 13. Subdivision's of the Historic Age. We begin now our study of 
 the Historic Age — a record of about six or seven thousand years. 
 The story of these millenniums is usually divided into three parts — 
 Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern History. Ancient History begins, 
 as already indicated, with the earliest peoples of which we can gain 
 any certain knowledge through written records, and extends to the 
 break-up of the Roman Empire in the West, in the fifth century a.d. 
 Mediasval History embraces the period, the So-called Middle Ages, 
 about one thousand years in length, lying between the fall of Rome 
 and the discovery of the New World by Columbus, 1492 a.d. 
 Modem History commences with the close of the mediaeval period 
 and extends to the present time.^ It is Ancient History alone with 
 which we shall be concerned in the present volume. 
 
 14. The Races of Mankind in the Historic Period. Distinctions 
 mainly in bodily characteristics, such as form, color, and features, 
 divide the human species into many types or races, of which the 
 three chief are known as the Black or Ethiopian Race, the Yellow 
 or Mongolian Race, and the White or Caucasian Race.^ But we 
 must not suppose each of these three types to be sharply marked 
 off from the others ; they shade into one another by insensible gra- 
 dations. There is a great number of intermediate types or subraces. 
 
 1 It is thought preferable by some scholars to let the decisive beginning of the 
 great Teutonic migration (376 a.d.), or the restoration of the Empire by Charlemagne 
 (800 A.D.), mark the end of the period of Ancient History, and to call all after that 
 Modem History. Some also prefer to date the beginning of the modem period from the 
 capture of Constantinople by the Turks (1453 a.d.) ; while still others speak of it in a 
 general way as commencing about the close of the fifteenth century, at which time there 
 were many inventions and discoveries, and great movements in the intellectual world. 
 
 2 The classification given is simply a convenient and practical one (see table, p. 22). 
 It disregards various minor groups of uncertain ethnic relationship. 
 
 17 
 
I8 
 
 RACES AND GROUPS OF PEOPLES 
 
 [§15 
 
 We assume the original unity of the human race. It is probable 
 that the physical and mental differences of existing races arose 
 through their ancestors having been subjected to different climatic 
 influences and to different conditions of life through long periods 
 of prehistoric time. There has been no perceptible change in the 
 great types of mankind during the historic period. The paintings 
 upon the oldest Egyptian monuments show us that at the dawn 
 of history the principal races were as distinctly marked as now, 
 
 each bearing its racial badge of color and 
 
 physiognomy. 
 
 15. The Black Race. Africa south of 
 the Sahara is the true home of the typical 
 folk (the negroes) of the Black Race, but 
 we find them on all the other continents 
 and on many of the islands of the seas, 
 whither they have migrated or been car- 
 ried as slaves by the stronger races ; for 
 since time immemorial they have been 
 " hewers of wood and drawers of water " 
 for their more favored brethren. 
 
 16. The Yellow or Mongolian Race. 
 Eastern and northern Asia is the central 
 
 seat of the Mongolian Race. Many of the Mongolian tribes are 
 pastoral nomads, who roam over the vast Asian plains north of the 
 great ranges of the Himalayas ; their leading part in history has 
 been to harass peoples of settled habits. 
 
 But the most important peoples of this type are the Japanese and 
 the Chinese. The latter constitute probably .a fifth or more of the en- 
 tire population of the earth. Already in times very remote this people 
 had developed a civilization quite advanced on various lines, but hav- 
 ing reached a certain stage in culture they did not continue to make 
 so marked a progress. Not until recent times did either the Chinese 
 or the Japanese become a factor of significance in world history. 
 
 17. The White or Caucasian Race and its Three Groups. The so- 
 called White or Caucasian Race embraces almost all of the historic 
 nations, Its chief peoples fall into three groups — the Hamitic the 
 
 P"iG. 12. Negrc Captives 
 
 (From the monuments of 
 
 Thebes) 
 
 Illustrating the permanence of 
 race characteristics 
 
THE ANCIENT WORLD 
 
 showing Areas occupied by 
 HAMITES, SEMITES 
 
 AND 
 INDO-EUKOPEANS 
 
 TIanillrsiC I Sri.illi-s: C__J 
 
§17] THE WHITE OR CAUCASIAN RACE 19 
 
 Semitic, and the Indo-European or Aryan.*' The members forming 
 any one of these groups must not be looked upon as kindred in 
 blood ; the only certain bond uniting the peoples of each group is 
 the bond of language. 
 
 The ancient Egyptians were the most remarkable people of the 
 Hamitic branch. In the gray dawn of history we discover them already 
 settled in the valley of the Nile, and there erecting great monuments 
 so faultless in construction as to render it certain that those who 
 planned them had had long previous training in the art of building. 
 
 The Semitic family includes among its chief peoples the ancient 
 Babylonians and Assyrians, the Hebrews, the Phoenicians, the 
 Aramaeans, the Arabians, and the Abyssinians. Most scholars re- 
 gard Arabia as the original home of this family, and this peninsula 
 certainly seems to have been the great distributing center. 
 
 It is interesting to note that three great monotheistic religions 
 (that is, religions teaching the doctrine of one god) — the Hebrew, 
 the Christian, and the Mohammedan — arose among peoples be- 
 longing to the Semitic family. 
 
 The peoples of Indo-European speech form the most widely dis- 
 persed group of the White Race. They include the ancient Greeks 
 and Romans, all the peoples of modem Europe (save the Basques, 
 the Finns and Lapps, the Magyars or Hungarians, and the Turks), 
 together with the Persians, the Hindus, and some other Asian peoples,^ 
 
 1 The application of the name Aryan is by some historians restricted to the Indo- 
 Iranian branch (Hindus and Persians) of the Indo-European peoples. The term, 
 however, has been long and generally used as the equivalent of Indo-European or 
 Indo-Germanic (cf. Schrader, The Prehistoric Civilization of the Aryan Peoples; Taylor, 
 The Origin of the Aryans^ etc.), and is still very commonly used in the same sense by 
 careful scholars of the highest authority. It should be carefully noted that where the 
 term Indo-European is applied to a people it simply means that the people thus desig- 
 nated use an Indo-European language, and that it does not mean that they are related 
 by blood to any other people of Indo-European speech. Physical or racial relationships 
 cannot he determined by the test of language. Think of the millions of English- 
 speaking African negroes in the United States I For a masterly discussion of the 
 question of the ethnic types or races making up the population of Europe, see Ripley, 
 The Races of Europe. 
 
 2 The kinship in speech of all these peoples is most plainly shown by the similar 
 form and meaning of certain words in their different languages, as, for example, the 
 word father, which occurs with but little change in several of the Aryan tongues 
 (Sanscrit, /!V«; Persian, /arfar; Greek, iraT-^p ; l.&'axi,' pater; German, Vater). 
 
20 RACES AND GROUPS OF PEOPLES 
 
 L§18 
 
 18. The Indo-European or Aryan Expansion. Long before the 
 dawn of history in Europe, the clans and tribes of the hitherto 
 undivided Indo-European family began to break up and to push 
 themselves among older and more civilized peoples. They came 
 probably from the steppe lands of central Asia.^ 
 
 Some of these tribes in the course of their wanderings found 
 their way out upon the table-lands of Iran and into the great river 
 plains of India. They subjugated the aborigines of these lands and 
 communicated to them their language. These Aryan invaders and 
 the natives, thus Aryanized in speech and probably somewhat 
 changed in blood, became the progenitors of the Persians and the 
 Hindus of history.^ 
 
 Other tribes of the family, either through peaceful expansion, 
 through social relations, or through conquest, had in times still pre- 
 historic made Indo-European in speech, though probably very par- 
 tially so in blood, the native pre-Aryan peoples of almost every 
 part of Europe.^ 
 
 1 Some scholars have sought the early home of the primitive Aryan community in 
 southern Russia, others in the Baltic regions of Europe, and still others in central 
 Asia in the region of the Oxus. The recent discovery (1907-1908) in East Turkestan 
 of documents dating from about 500 A. D., and written in an Indo-Germanic language 
 related to those of -western Europe^ gives probability to the opinion that the cradle of 
 the Indo-Germanic folk was the high grasslands of central Asia north of the great 
 Asian mountain zone. See Eduard Meyer, Geschichte lies Altertums, I 2, 891, 3. Aufl. 
 
 2 It is very important to note that in every case where a people of non-Aryan speech 
 gave up their own language and adopted that of their Aryan (Indo-Germanic) con- 
 querors, there must have taken place at the same time almost necessarily a mingling 
 of the blood of the two races. " Thus it will be correct to say that an Aryan strain per- 
 meates all or most of the groups now speaking Aryan tongues." — Keane, Ethnology 
 (Cambridge Geographical Series, 1896), p. 396. 
 
 2 This prehistoric Indo-European expansion can best be made plain by the use of 
 an historical parallel — the Roman expansion. From their cradle city on the Tiber, the 
 ancient Romans — a folk Indo-European in speech if not in race — went out as con- 
 querors and colonizers of the Mediterranean world. Wherever they went they carried 
 their language and their civilization with them. Many iof the peoples whom they sub- 
 jected gave up their own speech, and along with the civilization of their conquerors 
 adopted also their language. In this way a large part of the ancient world became 
 Romanized in speech and culture. When the Roman Empire broke up, there arose 
 a number of Latin-speaking nations — among these, the French, Spaniards, and Portu- 
 guese. During the modem age these Romanized nations, through conquest and colo- 
 nization, have spread their Latin speech and civilization over a great part of the New 
 World. Thus it has come about that to-day the language of the ancient Romans, diifer- 
 entiafed into many dialects, is spoken by peoples spread over the earth from Rumania 
 
§18] THE INDO-EUROPEAN EXPANSION 21 
 
 Although the Indo-European expansion movement began so long 
 ago, probably in the third millennium B.C., still we should not think 
 of it as something past and ended, The outward movement in 
 modern times of the peoples of Europe, that is to say, the expan- 
 sion of Europe into Greater Europe and the Europeanizing of the 
 world, is merely the continuation in the light of history of the earlier 
 Indo-European expansion which went on in the obscurity of the 
 prehistoric ages. 
 
 Thus we see what leading parts, after what we may call the 
 Semitic Age, peoples of Indo-European speech have borne in the 
 great drama of history. 
 
 References. Ripley, The Races of Europe. Keane, Ethnology and Man, 
 Past and Present. Deniker, The Paces of Man. Sergi, The Mediterranean 
 Race. Ratzel, The History of Mankind, 2 vols. Keith, Ancient Types of Man. 
 Brinton, Races and Peoples. TAYLOR, The Origin of the Aryans. Schrader, 
 The Prehistoric Civilization of the Aryan Peoples. 
 
 in eastern Europe to Chile in South America. All these peoples we call Latins, not 
 because they are all descended from the ancient Romans, — in fact they belong to 
 many different ethnic stocks, — but because they all speak languages derived from 
 the old Roman speech. Just as we use the term Latin here, so do we use the term 
 Indo-European in connection with the peoples of Indo-European speech. 
 
22 
 
 RACES AND GROUPS OF PEOPLES 
 
 A WORKING CLASSIFICATION OF THE PRINCIPAL 
 RACES AND PEOPLES 
 
 The larger divisions (races) are based on physical characteristics, the subdivisions of the 
 White Race are based on language 
 
 Black Race 
 (Ethiopian or 
 Negro) 
 
 Yellow Race 
 (Mongolian) 
 
 Tribes and peoples whose true home is central and 
 southern Africa. 
 
 (I) The Chinese, Japanese, and kindred peoples of east- 
 ern Asia; (2) the nomads (Tartars, Mongols, etc.) of 
 northern and central Asia and of eastern Russia; 
 (3) the Turks, the Magyars or Hungarians, and the 
 Finns and Lapps, in Europ'e.^ Some consider the Amer- 
 ican Indians a branch of the Yellow Race ; others 
 consider them a distinct race — the Red Race. 
 
 White Race 
 (Caucasian) 
 
 Hamites 
 Semites 
 
 ' Egyptians, 
 Libyans 2 (modern Berbers). 
 Babylonians, 
 Assyrians, 
 Phoenicians, 
 Hebrews, 
 
 
 Aramaeans, 
 
 
 
 Arabians, 
 
 
 
 Abyssinians. 
 
 Hindus, 
 
 
 Asiatics 
 
 Medes, 
 
 Persians, 
 
 Armenians, 
 
 Indo-Eu- 
 
 Classical peoples . . 
 
 Scythians. 
 " Greeks, 
 ^ Romans. 
 
 ropeans . 
 or Ar- 
 
 Celts 
 
 Gauls, 
 ^ Britons, etc. 
 
 yans 
 
 Teutons . . . . ^ 
 , Slavs , 
 
 Germans, 
 
 English, 
 ^ Scandinavians. 
 ' Russians, 
 
 Poles, 
 , Serbians, etc. 
 
 1 In the case of many if not all of these peoples the.Mongolian type has been modi- 
 fied through fusion with other races. The Mongolian intruders in Europe through 
 fusion with peoples of Caucasian blood have lost almost entirely the Mon^oIiL r °^^ 
 
 ^The Egyptians and Libyans, together with the Iberians (in Ipa^") ^he r 1 "''' 
 (m Uaty), and the " Pelasgians" (in Greece), are branches of the " Med^r^^eScT" 
 
PART I. THE EASTERN PEOPLES 
 
 CHAPTER m 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPT 
 
 (From earliest times to 30 B.C.) 
 
 I. POLITICAL HISTORY 
 
 19. Egypt and the Nile. The Egypt of history comprises the 
 Delta of the Nile and the narrow valley of its lower course. These 
 rich lands were formed in pa^ geologic ages from the sediment 
 brought down by the river in seasons of flood. The Delta was 
 known to .the ancients as Lower Egypt, while the valley proper, 
 reaching from the head of the Delta to the First Cataract,' a distance 
 of six hundred miles, was called Upper Egypt. 
 
 Through the same means by which Egypt was originally created 
 is the land each year still renewed and fertilized ; ^ hence an old 
 
 1 About seven hundred miles from the Mediterranean, low ledges of rocks stretching 
 across the Nile form the first obstruction to navigation in passing up the river. The 
 rapids found here are termed the First Cataract. At this point the divided river forms 
 the beautiful islet of Philse, " The Pearl of Egypt," now submerged by the waters of the 
 great Assuan reservoir. 
 
 2 The rate of the fluviatile deposit is from three tb five inches in a century. The 
 surface of the valley at Thebes, as shown by the accumulations about the monuments, 
 has been raised about seven feet during the last seventeen hundred years. 
 
 23 
 
24 
 
 ANCIENT EGYET 
 
 [§20 
 
 Fig. 13. Ploughing and Sowing 
 (From a papyrus) 
 
 Greek historian, in happy phrase, called the country " the gift of the 
 Nile." Swollen by heavy tropical rains and the melting snows of 
 the mountains about its sources, the Nile begins to rise in its lower 
 parts late in June, and in two or three months, when the inundation 
 has attained its greatest height, the country presents the appearance 
 
 of a turbid sea.- 
 
 By the end of No- 
 vember the river has 
 returned to its bed, 
 leaving the fields cov- 
 ered with a film of 
 rich earth. In a few 
 weeks after the sowing, the entire land, so recently a flooded- plain, 
 is overspread with a sea of verdure, which forms a striking contrast 
 to the desert sands and barren hills that rim the valley. 
 
 20. Climate and Products. In Lower Egypt, near the sea, the rain- 
 fall in the winter is abundant ; but the climate of Upper Egypt is all 
 but rainless, only a few slight showers, as a riile, falling throughout the 
 year,^ This dryness of the Egyptian air is what has preserved through 
 so many thousand years, in such wonderful freshness of color and 
 with such sharpness of outline, the numerous paintings and sculptures 
 of the monuments of 
 the country. 
 
 The southern line 
 of Egypt only just 
 touches the tropics ; 
 still the climate, in- 
 fluenced by the wide 
 and hot deserts that 
 hem the valley, is semitropical in character. The fruits of the tropics 
 and the cereals of the temperate zone grow here luxuriantly. Thus 
 favored in climate as well as in the matter of irrigation, Egypt be- 
 came in early times the granary of the East. To it less favored coun- 
 tries, when stricken by famine, — a calamity so common in the East 
 
 1 At irregular intervals of a few years, however, theire occurs a real cloud-burst and 
 the mud-built villages of the natives are literally half dissolved and washed into the river. 
 
 Fig. 14. Reaping the Grain 
 (From a papyrus) 
 
§21] THE PREHISTORIC OR PREDYNASTIC AGE 25 
 
 in regions dependent upon the rainfall, — looked for food, as did the 
 families of Israel during drought and failure of crops in Palestine. 
 
 21. The Prehistoric or Predynastic Age. The existence of man in 
 Egypt long before the opening there of the historic period is evidenced 
 by the stone implements, belonging to both the earlier and the later 
 Stone Age, which are found in great numbers on the edges of the 
 neighboring desert and in the numerous graves that in places fill the 
 sands of the river valley. The flints lying on the surface of the desert 
 are of the Old Stone Age type. Beyond what we may infer from 
 these weathered stone implements, we know nothing of Paleolithic 
 man in Egypt. The contents of the graves, however, belong to the 
 New Stone Age; and these burial outfits (cfsect. 5), along with other 
 evidences that we possess, tell us something of the culture and of 
 the manner of life of the men of this epoch. By the opening of the 
 historic era — -that is, before the end of the fifth millennium B.C. — 
 they had taken great steps towards civilization. They lived in villages, 
 and probably had even created little city-kingdoms. They engaged in 
 the tillage of the soil, and hunted the wild creatures which infested 
 the forest and jungles which then covered much of the river valley.^ 
 They had knowledge of copper, but seem generally to have used 
 stone implements, in the manufacture of which they had acquired 
 wonderful skill. They possessed a system of writing, which, along 
 with the other elements of their culture, they transmitted to the 
 Egyptians of the historic period. 
 
 22. The Pharaoh and the Dynasties. The rulers of historic Egypt 
 bore the royal title or common name of Fharaoh. The Pharaohs that 
 reigned in the country up to the conquest of Alexander the Great 
 (332 B.C.) are grouped in thirty-one dynasties. Thirty of these we 
 find in the lists of Manetho, an Egyptian priest who lived in the third 
 century B.C., and who compiled in the Greek language a chronicle of 
 the Pharaohs.'' The history of these thirty-one dynasties covers more 
 
 1 Still earlier, possibly in the Old Stone Age, forests grew also on the now sterile 
 plateaus bordering the valley. The petrified remains o^ these forests, like the fossilized 
 forests of Arizona in our own country, now lie strewn in places over the desert. One of 
 these mummified forests is easily visited from the modem city of Cairo. 
 
 2 The first ten of these dynasties comprise what is usually called the Old Kingdom 
 (the grouping here by Egyptologists is not uniform, some including in this group only 
 
26 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPT 
 
 [§23 
 
 than half of the entire period of authentic Ipstoiy. Almost three mil- 
 lenniums of this history lie back of the beginnings of the historic 
 
 period in»Greece and Italy. 
 
 23 . Menes and the First Dynasty 
 (date not later than 3200 B.c.^). 
 In the earliest prehistoric period 
 Egypt seems to have been divided 
 into numerous little kingdoms. 
 In the course of time these came 
 to form two states, one in the 
 north and one in the south. Then 
 these were united into a single 
 kingdom. Tradition makes Menes 
 to have been the founder of the 
 First Dynasty of the dual king- 
 dom, and thus the first of the 
 Pharaohs. 
 
 The essential fact respecting 
 Egyptian culture under the First 
 Dynasty is that most of the ele- 
 ments of the later civilization are 
 found here, not in germ, but in 
 a surprisingly advanced stage of 
 maturity. Sculpture had reached 
 a stage far beyond primitive rude- 
 ness, and the writing system had . 
 been already practically perfected. 
 Copper "was in use, though most 
 
 five dynasties and others six or more) ; the eleventh anfl twelfth form what is known as 
 the Middle Kingdom; the next five cover a period of disorder and the rule of the 
 Hyksos, Asiatic intruders ; and the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth constitute 
 what is commonly designated as the New Empire. The- remaining dynasties represent 
 a period of decadence and revival, and the rule mainly of foreigners and conquerors. 
 
 1 Egyptologists are not yet in agreement as to the date of Menes. Flinders Petrie 
 puts his reign at about 5 500 b. c. In the present edition we have adopted the Berlin dating. 
 
 2 Found by Flinders Petrie at Abydos in 1903. " Clad in his thick embroidered robes, 
 this old king, wily yet feeble with the weight of years, stands for diplomacy and stated 
 craft of the oldest civilized kingdom that we know" i(Petrie). "One of the greatest 
 treasures of the British Museum." — Hall 
 
 Fig. 15. Ivory Statuette of a 
 
 King of the First Dynasty ^ 
 
 (From Petrie's Abydos, Part II) 
 
s 
 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 O 
 
 
§24] 
 
 THE FOURTH DYNASTY 
 
 27 
 
 of the weapons and implements were still of stone, bone, and wood. 
 Many of the stone utensils were of exquisite workmanship. There 
 had been worked out a calendar which remained unchanged to the 
 end of Egyptian history.^ 
 
 24. The Fourth Dynasty (about 2900-2750 B.C.) : the Pyramid 
 Builders. The Egypti^ architects at first used chiefly crude brick, 
 and constructed tombs and 
 other buildings of only small 
 dimensions ; the age of 
 gigantic stone construction 
 began with the Pharaohs of 
 the Fourth Dynasty, who 
 reigned at Memphis and are 
 called the pyramid builders,- 
 though there were pyramids 
 constructed both before and 
 long after this, but none on 
 such an immense scale as 
 those erected at this period. 
 
 Khufu, the Cheops of the 
 Greeks, was the greatest of 
 the pyramid builders. He 
 constructed the Great Pyra- 
 mid, at Gizeh, — "the great- 
 est mass of masonry that 
 has ever been put together 
 by rnortal man." ^ A recent 
 fortunate discovery enables us now to look upon the face of this 
 Khufu (Fig. 16), one of the earliest and most renowned person- 
 ages of the ancient world. 
 
 To some king of this same early family of pyramid buil<iers is 
 also ascribed, by some authorities, the wonderful sculpture of the 
 
 1 Egyptologists place the introduction of this calendar in the year 4241 B.C. — about 
 one thousand years before Manes. 
 
 3 This pyramid rises from a base covering thirteen acres to a height of four hundred 
 and fifty feet. According to Herodotus, Cheops employed one hundred thousand men 
 for twenty yeais in its erection. 
 
 Fig. 16. Khufu, Builder of the Gkeat 
 Pyramid. (From Petrie's Aiydos, Part II) 
 
 " Though only a minute figure in ivory, it shows 
 
 a diaracter of immense energy and will ; the 
 
 face is an astonishing portrait to be expressed in 
 
 a quarter of an inch." — Petrie 
 
28 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPT 
 
 [§2S 
 
 gigantic human-headed Sphinx at the foot of the Great Pyramid — 
 the largest statue in the world. 
 
 These sepulchral monuments, for the pyramids were the tombs of 
 the Pharaohs who constructed them (sect. 39), and the great Sphinx 
 are the most venerable memorials of the early world that have been 
 preserved to us. Although standing so far back in the gray dawn of 
 the historic morning, they mark, in the 
 marvelous granite lining of their chambers 
 and the colonnades of their chapels, not 
 the beginning but in some respects the 
 perfection of Egyptian architecture. And 
 as with architecture so was it with portrait 
 sculpture, which during this period attained 
 a perfection thit has hardly ever been 
 surpassed.-"^ 
 
 25. The Twelfth Dynasty (about 2000- 
 1800 B.C.). Afterthe Sixth Dynasty, Egypt 
 for several centuries is almost lost from 
 view. When finally the valley emerges 
 from the obscurity of this period, the old 
 city of Memphis, for long the residence 
 of the Pharaohs, has receded into the 
 background and the city of Thebes has 
 taken its place as the seat of the royal 
 power. 
 
 The period of the Twelfth Dynasty, a 
 line of Theban kings, is one of the bright- 
 est in Egyptian history. It has been called 
 Egypt's golden age. One of the most 
 notable achievements of the period was the improvement made by 
 one of the Pharaohs in the irrigation of the Fayum oasis in the 
 desert west of Memphis. This district consists of a great depression, 
 part of which, like the Imperial Valley of California, lies below the 
 
 1 The portrait sculpture of this age represents the second great art of the earlv 
 world — the first being the amazing art (thousands of years earlierl of tho hL^ - 1 
 of the Old Stone Age in Europe (cf. sect. 4). ^ ' ""^ hunter-artists 
 
 Fig. 17. The "Sheikh-el- 
 BELED.'" (Gizeh Museum) 
 
 Supposed portrait statue, carved 
 in wood, of one of the overseers 
 of the work on the Great Pyra- 
 mid. This is one of the master- 
 pieces of Egyptian sculpture 
 
 » 
 
§26] 
 
 PERIOD OF OBSCURITY 
 
 29 
 
 sea level. It contains a lake fed by a branch of the Nile. By various 
 engineering means the storage and distribution of the flood waters of 
 the season of inundation were regulated, and the area of cultivation 
 was thus greatly extended. 
 
 26. Period of Obscurity and of the Rule of the Hyksos (about 
 1800-1580 B.C.). Soon after the bright period of the Twelfth Dynasty, 
 Egypt again underwent a great eclipse. Tribes of unknown race from 
 Asia pressed across the frontier 
 of Egypt and set up in the valley 
 what was called the rule of the 
 "Shepherd Kings." These in- 
 truders soon adopted the manners 
 and culture of the people they 
 had subjected. After they had 
 ruled in the valley probably up- 
 wards of a century, an end was 
 put to their dominion by the 
 Theban kings, whom they had 
 made vassals. It is thought by 
 some scholars that it was during 
 the supremacy of the Hyksos 
 that the families of Israel found 
 a refuge in Lower Egypt. 
 
 The rule of the Hyksos in the 
 Nile-land derives special impor- 
 tance from the fact that these in- 
 
 FiG. 18. The Scribe. (The Louvre) 
 
 " With his head raised, his hand holding 
 his reed-pen, ... he still waits as he has 
 done for [five thousand years], for the 
 moment when his master will consent 
 to resume his interrupted dictation." — 
 Maspero 
 
 truders introduced into Egypt from Asia the horse and the war 
 chariot, which now appear for the first time on the monuments of 
 the country. From this period forward the war chariot holds a 
 place of first importance in the armaments of the Pharaohs. 
 
 27. The Eighteenth Dynasty (about 1580-1350 B.C.). The most 
 eventful period of Egyptian history, covered by what is called the 
 New Empire, now opens. The Pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty, 
 the first of this epoch of imperialism, in order to free Egypt from 
 the danger of another invasion from Asia, endeavored to extend 
 their authority over Syria. In the pursuit of this object they made 
 
30 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPT 
 
 [§27 
 
 numerous campaigns in Asia. Under Thothmes^ HI, who because 
 of his wide conquests has been called "' the Alexander of Egyptian 
 history," the empire attained its greatest extension, stretching from 
 the upper reaches of the Nile to the Middle Euphrates. 
 
 The conquest of Syria 
 brought vast wealth in 
 booty and tribute to the 
 Pharaohs, and this gave 
 a great impulse to the 
 arts and industries of the 
 Nile-land. The monarchs 
 gave much attention to 
 the erection and adorn- 
 ment of sacred edifices, 
 Thothmes had a great 
 share in this work. It was 
 to him that the Temple 
 of Karnak at Thebes, the 
 remains of which form 
 the most majestic ruin in 
 the world, owed much of 
 its splendor. His obelisks 
 stand to-day in Constan- 
 tinople, Rome, London, 
 and New York. 
 
 And perhaps it was the 
 widening of Egypt's out- 
 look that accounts for the 
 apf>earance at this time 
 of a religious reformer — a surprising thing in conservative Egypt. 
 It was one of the Pharaohs of this Eighteenth Dynasty, Amenho- 
 tep IV (about 1350 B.C.), known as the "-heretic king,"^ who tried 
 
 1 Or Thutmose, Greek Thutmosis. The Egyptian writing being without vowels, the 
 form of many names is uncertain. 
 
 2 The name of this Pharaoh is connected with one of the most interesting and 
 important discoveries ever made on oriental ground. (This was the discovery in 1887, 
 at Tell el-Amarna, on the Nile, of several hundred letters, written in the Babylonian 
 
 Fig. 19. Ameniiotep IV and Family 
 
 Bestowing Gifts. (From a tomb at Tell 
 
 el-Amarna) 
 
 The life-giving and sustaining power of the sun, 
 whose radiant energy is conceived as the sole source 
 of life and movement in the universe, is symbolized 
 by streaming rays, each ending in an outstretched 
 hand. This striking emblem was an entirely new 
 type in Egyptian symbolism 
 
"■"^^^-x 
 
 Plate IV. Ruins of the Great Mall or Columns at Karnak. 
 (From a photograph) 
 
§27] 
 
 THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY 
 
 31 
 
 to do away with the worship of many divinities and to establish the 
 worship of one God. The deity thus raised to single sovereignty 
 was the old Egyptian sun-god, whose suggestive new symbol — the 
 old human and animal emblems were cast aside — was the sun's 
 disk represented with streaming rays, each ending in a human hand 
 extended as if in bless- 
 ing (Fig. 19). So far 
 as we know, this was 
 the earliest attempt 
 in the history of the 
 world to establish 
 monotheism.^ The re- 
 form, however, failed. 
 Amenhotep was too 
 far in advance of his 
 age. Upon his death 
 the new capital city 
 which he had founded 
 at Tell el-Amarna, 
 belovlr Thebes, was 
 destroyed, his mem- 
 ory was consigned to 
 eternal infamy, and 
 Egypt resumed or 
 rather continued — 
 for the masses never 
 in heart accepted the new creed — .its worship of many gods. 
 Monotheism was not to go forth from Egypt, but from Judea.^ 
 
 language and script and comprising the correspondence, not only between the reigning 
 Pharaoh and the kings of Assyria and Babylonia, but also between the Egyptian court 
 and the Egyptian governors and vassal kings of various Syrian towns. The significance 
 of this discovery consists in the revelation it makes of the deep hold that the civilization 
 of Babylon had upon the Syrian lands centuries before the Hebrew invasion of Palestine. 
 This means that the Hebrew development took place in an environment charged with 
 elements of Babylonian culture. 
 
 1 See Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (1912), lect. ix. 
 
 2 The interpretation of this religious movement which we have adopted in the text 
 is not, it should be said, accepted by all Egyptologists. Some regard the reformer as a 
 henotheist or monolatrist rather than a pure monotheist.* 
 
 Fig. 20. Detail of Relief Portraying Victory 
 
 OF RaMESES II OVER THE KhETA AT KaDESH, ON 
 
 the 'Orontes 
 
 " First aid " being administered to a half-drowned chieftain 
 by his soldiers holding him head downwards 
 
32 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPT 
 
 [§28 
 
 28. The Nineteenth Dynasty (about 1350-1205 B.C.). The Pharaohs 
 of the Nineteenth Dynasty rival those of the Eighteenth in their fame 
 as conquerors and builders. It is largely their deeds and works, in 
 connection with those of the great rulers of the preceding dynasty, 
 that have given Egypt such a name and place in history. The great- 
 est name of this dynasty is that of Rameses or Ramses II (about 
 1292-1225 B.C.), the Sesostris of the Greeks. Ancient writers accorded 
 him the first place among all the Egyptian sovereigns, and told most 
 
 exaggerated stories of his conquests 
 and achievenjents. His long reign, em- 
 bracing sixty-seven years, was, however, 
 well occupied with the superintendence 
 of great architectural works, of which 
 there are mofe connected with his name 
 than with that of any other oriental ruler. 
 The chief of Rameses' wars were 
 those against the Kheta, the Hittites of 
 the Bible, who at this time were main- 
 taining an extensive empire, embracing 
 in the main the interior uplands of Asia 
 Minor and northern Syria. We find 
 Rameses at last concluding with them a 
 celebrated treaty of peace and alliance, 
 in which the xhief of the Hittites is 
 formally recognized as in every respect 
 the equal of the Pharaoh of Egypt. 
 The meaning of this alliance was that the Pharaohs had met their 
 peers in the princes of the Hittites, and that they could no longer 
 hope to become masters of western Asia. 
 
 It is the opinion of some scholars that this Rameses II was the 
 oppressor of the children of Israel, the Pharaoh who " made their 
 lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all 
 manner of service in the field," ^ and that what is known as the 
 Exodus took place in the reign of his son Merneptah (about 
 
 1225-1215 B.C.). 
 
 1 Exod. i, 4. 
 
 Fig. 31. Phalanx of the 
 Hittites 
 
 In the background, town protected 
 by walls and moats 
 
i29] 
 
 THE TWENTY-SIXTH DYNASTY 
 
 33 
 
 29. The Twenty-sixth Dynasty (663-62S B.C.). We pass without 
 comment a long period of several centuries, marked indeed by great 
 vicissitudes in the fortunes of the Egyptian monarchs, yet characterized 
 on the whole by a sure and rapid decline in the power and splendor 
 of their empire.^ During the latter part of this period Egypt was tribu- 
 tary to Ethiopia ^ or to Assyria ; but, a native prince, Psammetichus 
 by name, with the aid of Greek mercenaries, "bronze men who came 
 up from the sea," drove out the foreign garrisons. Psammetichus 
 thus became the founder of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (663 b. c). 
 
 Owing his throne chiefly to the swords of Greek soldiers, Psam- 
 metichus was led to open the country ev«;n more completely than 
 
 Fig. 22. Brick-Making in Ancient Egypt. (From Thebes) 
 
 the earlier Pharaohs had done to the settlement of Greek colonists. 
 The creation of these closer relations with Greece at just this time 
 when the Greeks were coming prominently forward to play their 
 great part in history was a most significant event. From this time 
 on, Greek philosophers are represented as° becoming pupils of the 
 Egyptian priests ; and without question the learning and philosophy 
 of the old Egyptians exercised a profound influence upon the open, 
 
 1 The most important episode in the history of this period was an attempted invasion 
 of Egypt by sea raiders whom the Egyptian records called the " Peoples of the Sea." 
 They were met and defeated somewhere along the Syrian coasf by Rameses III (about 
 1200 B.C.). These sea folk are believed to have been JEgean peoples — Cretans, Lycians, 
 etc. The Greeks it seems were at this time pressing into the Greek peninsula from 
 the north, and were subjecting or driving out the native inhabitants of the iEgean shore- 
 lands and islands (sect. 152). A part of the raiders settled on the coast plain of Pales- 
 tine and became the formidable enemies of the Israelites — the Philistines of the Bible 
 writers (sect. 80). 
 
 2 The Twenty-fifth Dynasty was Ethiopian. This is the sole instance of the appearance 
 of the Black Race in Mediterranean or world history. 
 
34 ANCIENT EGYPT [§30 
 
 receptive mind of the Greek race, that was, in its turn, to become 
 the teacher of the world. 
 
 With the name of Necho II (610-594 B.C.), the son of Psammeti- 
 chus, is connected an adventurous undertaking — the circumnaviga- 
 tion of Africa.! For this exploring expedition Necho is said to have 
 engaged Phoenician sailors. The feat of sailing around the continent, 
 there is reason to believe, was actually accomplished ; for the historian 
 Herodotus, in his account of the enterprise, says that the voyagers 
 upon their return reported that when they were rounding the Cape 
 the sun was on their right hand (to the north). This feature of 
 the report, which led Herodotus to disbelieve it, is to us fairly good 
 evidence that the voyage was really performed. 
 
 30. The Last of the Pharaohs. Before the end of Necho's reign 
 Egypt lost to Babylon its possessions in Asia, and a little later 
 (525 B.C.) bowed beneath the Persian yoke. Only for a little space 
 did she ever again regain her independence. From about the middle 
 of the fourth century b, c. to the present day no native prince has sat 
 upon the throne of the Pharaohs.^ 
 
 Upon the extension of the power of the Macedonians and the 
 Greeks over the East through the conquests of Alexander the Great 
 (Chapter XXV), Egypt willingly accepted them as masters ; and for 
 three centuries the valley was the seat of the renowned Grsecq- 
 Egyptian empire of the Ptolemies. The Romans finally annexed the 
 region to their all-absorbing empire (30 B.C.). 
 
 " The mission of Egypt among the nations was fulfilled ; it had lit 
 the torch of civilization in ages inconceivably remote, and had passed 
 it on to other peoples of the West." 
 
 II. THE CIVILIZATION 
 
 31. The Government. From first to last the government of ancient 
 Egypt bore a sacred character. The Pharaoh was regarded as divine, 
 as the son and representative of the sun-gdd. Three thousand years 
 and more after Menes, Alexander the Great, after his conquest of the 
 
 1 See Herodotus, iv, 42. 
 
 a See Ezek. xxx, 13 : " There shall be no more a prince out of the land of Egypt." 
 
§32] THE EGYPTIAN SYSTEM OF WRITING 35 
 
 country, thought to strengthen his position by causing himself to be 
 proclaimed the son of the highest of the Egyptian gods (sect. 283). 
 
 The authority of the divine Pharaoh was in theory absolute, but in 
 practice was limited by a nobility and a powerful priesthood.* The 
 nation seemed almost to exist for the god-king. The construction of 
 his pyramid tomb, or his vast rock sepulchfr and its attached temple, 
 laid under heavy tribute the labor and resources of the nation. 
 
 Taxes were paid in kind, that is, in the products of field and 
 workshop, for the ancient Egyptians did not, until late in their 
 history, use coined money. All the salaries of officials and the wages 
 of workmen were paid in the provisions or articles received by the 
 government in payment of tribute or taxes. This system necessitated 
 
 k 
 
 o 5)c.'?iii 
 
 Fig. 23. Forms of Egyptian Wkiting 
 The top line is hieroglyphic script ; the bottom line is the same text in hieratic 
 
 the erection of immense storehouses, granaries, and stables for the 
 storing of the grain, wine, and cattle received by the tax collectors. 
 The building of these warehouses was, as :we learn from the Bible 
 narrative, one of the tasks required of the Israelites : " Therefore 
 they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. 
 And they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses." ^ 
 32. The Egyptian System of Writing. One of the greatest 
 achievements of the ancient Egyptians was the working out of a 
 system of writing. By the middle of the fourth millennium B.C. this 
 system had passed through all the stages which we have already 
 indicated as marking the usual development of a written language 
 (sect 1 1). But the curious thing about the system was this ; when 
 
 1 The sacerdotal order was at certain periods a dominant force in the state. They 
 enjoyed freedom from taxation, and met the expenses of the temple service mainly from 
 the income of the sacred lands, which are said to have embraced, at one period, one third 
 of the soil of the country. ^ Exod. i, 11. 
 
36 ANCIENT EGYPT [§33 
 
 an improved method of writing had been vrorked out the old method 
 was not discarded. Hence the Egyptian writing was partly picture 
 writing and partly alphabetic writing, and exhibited besides all the 
 intermediate forms. The Egyptians, as has been said, had developed 
 an alphabet without knowing it. 
 
 Just as we have two forms of letters, one for printing and another 
 for writing, so the Egyptians employed three forms of script : the 
 hieroglyphic, in which the pictures and symbols were carefully drawn 
 — a form generally employed in monumental inscriptions; the hieratic, 
 a simplified form of the hieroglyphic, adapted to writing, and forming 
 
 the greater part of the papyrus manu- 
 scripts ; and Igter a still simpler form 
 developed from the hieratic, and called 
 by the Greeks demotic, that is, the ordi- 
 nary writing (from demos, " the people "). 
 33. The Rosetta Stone and the Key 
 to Egyptian Writing. The key to the 
 
 Egyptian writing was discovered by 
 Fig. 24. The Rosetta r ^i t, . r^ 1 • 1 
 
 Q,,„^ means 01 the Rosetta Stone, which was 
 
 found by the French when they invaded 
 Egypt under Napoleon in 1798. This precious relic, a heavy block of 
 black basalt, is now in the British Museum. It holds an inscription 
 in the Egyptian and the Greek language, which is written in three 
 different forms of script — in the Egyptian hieroglyphic and demotic, 
 and in Greek characters. The chief credit of deciphering the Egyp- 
 tian script and of opening up the long-sealed libraries of Egyptian 
 learning belongs to the French scholar ChampoUion. 
 
 34. Egyptian Literature. The literature j opened up to us by the 
 decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphics is varied and instructive, 
 revealing as it does the life and thought and scientific attainments of 
 Old Egypt at a time when the Greek world was yet young.^ There 
 is the ancient Book of the Dead, containing instructions for the use 
 
 1 The chief writing material used by the ancient Egyptians was the noted papyrus 
 paper, manufactured from a reed which grew in the marshes and along the water 
 channels of the Nile. From the Greek names of this Egyptian plant, byblos and 
 papyrus, come our words Bible and paper. 
 
(35], 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN GODS 
 
 37 
 
 and guidance of the soul in its perilous jou'riiey to the realms of the 
 blessed in the nether world ; there are novels or romances, and fairy 
 tales, among these a parallel to " Cinderella "and the Glass Slipper '' ; 
 religious inscriptions, public and private fetters, fables, and epics ; 
 treatises on medicine and various other scientific subjects ; and books 
 on ancient history — in prose and in verse — which fully justify the 
 declaration of Egyptian priests to the Greek philosopher Solon: 
 " You Greeks are mere chil- 
 
 (MSM 
 
 1> 
 
 
 o 
 
 dren; you know nothing at 
 all of the past." ^ 
 
 35. The Egyptian Gods. 
 
 It has been said of man that 
 he is " incurably religious.'' 
 This could certainly be said 
 of the ancient Egyptians — 
 that is, if we may regard the 
 possession of many gods and 
 anxious concern respecting 
 the life in the hereafter as 
 constituting religion. 
 
 Chief of the great Egyptian deities was the sun-god Ra (or Re), 
 from whom the Pharaohs claimed descent. He was imagined as sail- 
 ing across the heavens in a sacred bark on a celestial river, and at 
 night returning to the east through subterranean water passages — 
 an adventurous and danger-beset voyage. 
 
 Osiris at first was probably the spirit or god of vegetation,' but 
 later he' came to be invested with the attributes of the sun-god Ra. 
 
 1 See note at end of Chapter XIII. 
 
 2 The twelve hieroglyphics used in writing these names have the following values : 
 
 Fig. 25. Two Royal Names in 
 Hieroglyphics 
 
 It was the first of these names which gave the 
 clue to the interpretation of the hieroglyphic 
 script. Through a comparison of the two 
 the values of several symbols were definitely 
 determined 2 
 
 21K, -Sail^ 
 
 :M, 
 
 \e., £[0, DP, 
 
 A, 
 
 ' or c-T, 
 
 I (AT), PS, 
 
 With these the reader will easily decipher the names.' It should be noted that the last 
 two signs in the longer word are used merely to indicate that the word is a divine, i.e. 
 royal, feminine proper name, and that for the sake of symmetry one symbol is sometimes 
 placed beneath another. The upper sign should be taken first. 
 8 Cf. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris (2d ed,), pp. 267 ff. 
 
38 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPT 
 
 [§36 
 
 In his primitive character as the spirit of plants and trees, which die 
 and come to life again each year, he came naturally to be conceived 
 as the god of human resurrection and imihortality,i and judge and 
 ruler in the realms of the dead. 
 
 The god Seth, called Typhon by the Greek writers, was the Satan 
 of later Egyptian mythology. He was the personification of the evil 
 in the world, just as Osiris was the personification of the good. 
 
 Besides the great gods'* there was a multitude of lesser deities, 
 each nome or district and village having its local god or gods. 
 
 36. Animal Worship. The Egyptians believed some animals to 
 be incarnations of a god descended from heaven. Thus a god was 
 
 thought to animate the body 
 of some particular bull, which 
 might be known from certain 
 spots or markings. Upon the 
 death of the sacred bull, or 
 Apis, as he was called, a great 
 search, accompanied with loud 
 lamentation, was made through- 
 out the land for his successor ; 
 for the moment the god de- 
 parted from the dying bull it 
 entered a calf that moment 
 born. The body of the de- 
 ceased Apis was carefully embalmed, and, amid funeral ceremonies 
 of great expense and magnificence, laid away in a huge granite 
 sarcophagus in the tomb of his predecessors.' 
 
 Not only were individual animals held sUcred and worshiped, but 
 sometimes whole species, for example, the cat, were regarded as 
 sacred. To kill one of these animals was adjudged the greatest 
 
 1 See Fig. 9© (p. 145) and descriptive note. 
 
 2 Tliese great divinities were often grouped in triads. First in importance among 
 tiiese groups was that of Osiris, Isis (liis wife and sister), and Horus their son. The 
 members of this triad were worshiped throughout Egypt. 
 
 8 In 1S51 Mariette discovered this sepulchral chamber of the sacred bulls (the 
 Serapeum). It is a narrow gallery two thousand feet in length cut in the limestone 
 cliffs just opposite the site of ancient Memphis. A large number of immense granite 
 coffins and several mummified bulls were found. 
 
 Fig. 26. Mummy of a Sacred Bull 
 (From a photograph) 
 
§ 37] EGYPTIAN DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE LIFE 
 
 39 
 
 impiety. Persons so unfortunate as to kill one through accident 
 were sometimes murdered by the infuriated people. 
 
 Many explanations have been given to account for the existence 
 of such a primitive form of worship among so cultured a people as 
 the ancient Egyptians. There can be little doubt that these low 
 elements in their religion were nothing more nor less than the crude 
 ideas and practices of the savage prehistoric tribes of the Nile valley. 
 The Egyptians simply did in the domain of religion what they 
 did in all other domains of their culture — kept the old alongside 
 the -new. 
 
 37. The Egyptian Doctrine of a Future Life. Among no other 
 people of antiquity did the life after death seem so real and hold so 
 large a place in the thoughts of the living as among the people of 
 Old Egypt. It is difficult to give an account of this behef, for the 
 reason that there were different forms of it held at different times 
 and in different places. But the essential part of the belief was that 
 man has a soul which, aided by magic words and rites, survives the 
 death of the body.'' Its abode was sometimes thought to be in or 
 near the tomb ; again its dwelling place was conceived to be the great 
 western desert, the land of the setting sun, hence the term westerners 
 applied to the dead; and still again its abode was imagined to be 
 the starry heavens, or a vast realm beneath the earth. 
 
 This belief in a future life, taken in connection with certain ideas 
 respecting the nature of the soul's existence in the other world and 
 of its needs, reacted in a remarkable way upon the people of ancient 
 Egypt. It was the cause and motive of many of the things they 
 did when they laid away their dead.^ 
 
 1 " There is no ground for the complicated conception of a person in ancient Egypt 
 as consisting, besides the hody, of a ka, a ba (soul), a y'hw (spirit), a shadow, etc. Be- 
 sides the body and the ba (soul), there was only the ka, the protecting genius, which 
 was not an element of the personality ..." (Breasted, Development of Religion and 
 Thought in Ancient Egypt (1912), p. 56, n. 2). And so Steindorff: "In my opinion it 
 [the ka] is not, as commonly supposed, a kind of ethereaLfacsimile or double of the man, 
 but a guardian spirit or genius " {The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (1905), p. 122). 
 
 2 The ideas and beliefs which underlie such practices as are portrayed in the follow- 
 ing sections are common to all primitive peoples. What is extraordinary in the case 
 of the Egyptians is that they should have retained these customs so long after their 
 emergence from barbarism. This is to be attributed: to their extreme conservatism 
 (of. sect. 36). 
 
40 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPT 
 
 [§38 
 The first need 
 
 38. The First Need of the Soul : the Old Body. 
 
 of the soul was the possession of the old body, upon the preservation 
 of which the existence or happiness of the soul was believed to de- 
 pend. Hence the anxious care with which the Egyptians sought to 
 preserve the body against decay by embalming it. 
 
 In the various processes of embalming, use was made of oils, 
 resins, bitumen, and various aromatic gums. The bodies of the 
 wealthy were preserved by being filled with costly aromatic and 
 
 resinous substances, and swathed 
 in bandages of linen. To a body 
 thus treated is applied the term 
 mummy. As this method of em- 
 balming was very costly, the bodies 
 of the poprer classes were simply 
 dipped into hot asphalt, or salted 
 and dried, and wrapped in coarse 
 mats preparatory to burial in the 
 desert sands, or in common tombs 
 cared for by the priests. 
 
 To this practice of the Egyp- 
 tians of embalming their dead we 
 owe it that we can look upon the 
 actual faces of many of the ancient 
 Pharaohs. Towards the close of 
 the last century (in 1881) the mummies of Thothmes III, Sethos I, 
 Rameses II, and those of about forty other kings, queens, princes, 
 and priests, embracing nearly all the Pharaohs of the Eighteenth, 
 Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-first dynasties, were found in a 
 secret rock chamber near Thebes. The faces of Sethos and Rameses, 
 both strong faces, are so remarkably preserved that, in the words of 
 Maspero, " were their subjects to return to the earth to-day they 
 could not fail to recognize their old sovereigns.'' 
 
 Along with the mummy there were often placed in the tomb a 
 number of wood, clay, or stone portrait statuettes of the deceased. 
 The lid of the coffin was also carved in the form of a mummy. The 
 idea here was that, if through any accident the body were destroyed, 
 
 Fig. 27. Profile of Rameses II 
 (From a photograph of the mummy) 
 
§39] 
 
 THE SECOND NEED OF THE SOUL 
 
 41 
 
 the soul might avail itself of these substitutes. It was the effort put 
 forth by the artist to make these portrait images and carvings lifelike 
 that contributed to bring early Egyptian sculpture to such a high 
 degree of excellence. 
 
 39. The Second Need of the Soul : a Secure HabiUtion. Another 
 need of the soul was a safe habitation. Upon the temporary homes 
 of the living the Egyptians bestowed little care, but upon the " eternal 
 abodes " of the dead they lavished unstinted labor and cost. 
 
 The tombs of the official class and of the rich were sometimes 
 structures of brick or stone, and again they were chambers cut in the 
 limestone cliffs that rim 
 the Nile valley. 
 
 The bodies of the ear- 
 lier Pharaohs were, as we 
 have seen, hidden away 
 in the heart of great moun- 
 tains of stone — the pyra- 
 mids. Many of the later 
 Pharaohs constructed for 
 themselves magnificent rock-cut tombs, some of which are perfect 
 labyrinths of corridors, halls, and chambers. In the hills back of 
 Thebes, in the so-called Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, there are 
 so many of these royal sepulchers that the place has been called the 
 " Westminster Abbey of Egypt." 
 
 40. The Third Need of the Soul : , Food and Things Used in the 
 Earthly Life. But not all the wants of the soul were met by the 
 mummy, the substitute portrait-images, and the secure tomb. It had 
 need also of food and drink and implements — of everything, in a 
 word, that the deceased had needed while on earth. Hence all these 
 things were put into the tomb when the body was laid away, and 
 thereafter, from time to time, fresh supplies of food were heaped 
 upon a table placed to receive them. That there might be no failure 
 of gifts, the tombs of the wealthy were often richly endowed, and 
 the duty of renewing the supplies laid upon the priest of some 
 neighboring temple. The very poor had scanty provision, often only 
 a pair of worn-out shoes or pasteboard sandals. 
 
 Fig. 28. Mummy Case with Mummy 
 
42 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPT 
 
 [§41 
 
 But as it was only the spirit or double of the things thus set out 
 which the soul could make use of, it came to be believed that a 
 picture or an inexpensive model in wood or clay of these objects 
 would serve just as well as the actual objects themselves. Thus the 
 pictures of different kinds of food and drink supplied the soul with 
 "art unsubstantial yet satisfying repast"; and the model of a boat 
 made possible a pleasure sail on the celestial Nile. Among the 
 objects sometimes put in the tomb were models of slave women 
 without feet — presumably that they might not 
 run away wlien wanted ; and models of servants, 
 called respondents or " answerers," since their 
 duty was '" to arise and answer in place of the 
 dead man when he was called upon to do work 
 in the underworld." 
 
 It was this belief — that pictures and models 
 would take the place of the real things — which 
 covered the walls of the Egyptian tombs with 
 those sculptures and paintings which have con- 
 verted for us these chambers of the dead into 
 picture galleries where the Egypt of the Pharaohs 
 rises again into life befoi-e our eyes. 
 
 41. The Judgment of the Dead and the Negative 
 Confession. But alongside these crude ideas and 
 beliefs which made well-ieing and happiness in 
 the hereafter dependent , upon the preservation of 
 the old body, a sumptuous tomb, a constant supply of food and 
 other things, there developed a belief and tonviction that the lot of 
 the soul in the future is determined solely hy the life, whether good 
 or evil, lived on earth. 
 
 This belief found expression in the so-called Judgment of the Dead. 
 King and peasant alike must appear before the dread tribunal of Osiris, 
 the judge of the underworld, and render an account of the deeds done 
 in the body. Here the soul sought justification in such declarations 
 
 1 A statuette of a workman placed in the tomb along with the mummy. It was thought 
 aiat the recital of certain magical formulas imparted life to the image. A number of these 
 tigures put m the tomb supplied the deceased with servants in the other world 
 
 Fig. 29. Servant 
 
 FOR THE UndER- 
 
 woRLD.i {After 
 Wiedeman7t) 
 
•^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 u 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 
 a 
 
 (4 
 
§41] 
 
 THE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD 
 
 43 
 
 as these, which form what is called the Negative Confession : " I have 
 not blasphemed " ; "I have not stolen " ; "I have not slain any one 
 treacherously " ; "I have not slandered any one or made false accu- 
 sation " ; "I have not reviled the face of my father " ; "I have not 
 eaten my heart through with envy." ^ 
 
 In other declarations of the soul we find a singularly close approach 
 to Christian morality, as for instance in this: "" I have given bread to 
 the hungrj* and drink to him who was athirst ; I have clothed the 
 naked with garments." 
 
 The truth of what the soul thus asserted in its own behalf was 
 tested by the balances of the gods. In one of the scales was placed 
 
 Fig. 30. The Judgment of the DEAb. (From a papyrus) 
 Showing the weighing of the heart of the deceased in the scales of truth 
 
 the heart of the deceased ; in the other, a feather, the symbol of 
 truth or righteousness. The soul stood by watching the weighing. 
 If the heart were found not light, the soul was welcomed to the 
 companionship of the good Osiris. The unjustified were sent to a 
 place of torment or were thrown to a monster to be devoured. 
 
 This judgment scene in the nether world "forms the most instructive 
 memorial of Old Egypt that has been preserved to us. We here learn 
 what sort of a conscience the Egyptian had early developed ; for the 
 confession and the doctrine of a judgment date from a very remote 
 
 1 It will be noted that these are in substance the equivalent of six of the Ten 
 Commandments of the Hebrews. 
 
44 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPT 
 
 [§42 
 
 period of Egyptian civilization. The moral teachers of Egypt here 
 anticipated the moral teachers of Israel.^ 
 
 43. Architecture, Sculpture, and Minor Arts. At a comparatively 
 early period Egyptian civilization ceased to make further notable prog- 
 ress. The past was taken as a model, just as it is in China to-day. 
 So what is here said of the arts is, speaking broadly, as true of them 
 
 in the third millennium before 
 Christ as at any later period of 
 Egyptian history. 
 
 In the building art the ancient 
 Egyptians, in some respects, have 
 never been surpassed. The Mem- 
 phian pyramids built by the earlier, 
 and the Theban temples raised by 
 the later Pharaohs have excited the 
 astonishment and the admiration 
 alike of all the successive genera- 
 tions that have looked upon them. 
 "Thebes," says Lenormant, "in 
 spite of all the ravages of time and 
 of the barbarian stiU presents the 
 grandest, the most prodigious as- 
 semblage of buildings ever erected 
 by the hand of man." 
 
 In the cutting and shaping of 
 enormous blocks of the hardest 
 stone, the Egyptians achieved re- 
 sults which modern stonecutters 
 can scarcely equal. " It is doubtful," says Rawlinson, " whether the 
 steam-sawing of the present day could be trusted to produce in ten 
 years from the quarries of Aberdeen a single obelisk such as those 
 which the Pharaohs set up by dozens." ^ 
 
 1 " ... In this judgment the Egyptian introduced for the first time in the history of 
 man the fully developed idea that the future destiny of the dead must be dependent 
 entirely upon the ethical quality of the earthly life, the idea of future accountability." — 
 Breasted, History of Egypt (1912), p. 173 
 
 "^History of Ancient Eg}'pt, vol. i, p. 498. The Egyptian stonecutters did much of 
 their work with copper and bronze tools, to which they were able by some process to 
 
 Fig. 31. An Egyptian Obelisk 
 
§43] ASTRONOMY, GEOMETRY, AND MEDICINE 45 
 
 Fig. 32. Tubular 
 Drill Hole 
 
 As we have seen (sect. 24), Egyptian sculpture was at its best in 
 the earliest period; that it became so imitative and the figures so 
 conventional and rigid was due to the influence of religion. The 
 artist, in the portrayal of the figures of the gods, was not allowed 
 to change a single line of the sacred forrn. Wilkinson says that 
 Menes would have recognized the statue of Osiris 
 in the temples of the last of the Pharaohs. 
 
 In many of the minor arts the Egyptians at- 
 tained a surprisingly high degree of excellence. 
 They were able in coloring glass to secure tints 
 as brilliant and beautiful as any which modern 
 art has been able to produce. In goldsmith's work 
 they showed wonderful skill. The scarabaeus 
 (beetle) was reproduced with lines of almost microscopic delicacy. 
 It should be noted here that it was especially in the domain 
 of art that the influence of Egypt was exerted upon contemporary 
 civilizations. Until the full development of Greek art, Egyptian art 
 reigned over the world in somewhat the same way that Greek art has 
 reigned since the Golden ^ — , — 
 
 Age of Greece. Its in- f< fj 
 
 fluence can be traced in 
 the architecture, the sculp- 
 ture, and the decorative art 
 of all the peoples of the 
 Mediterranean lands. 
 
 43. The Sciences: As- 
 tronomy, Geometry, and 
 Medicine. The cloudless 
 and brilliant skies of Egypt invited the inhabitants of the Nile valley 
 to the study of the heavenly bodies. And another circumstance 
 closely related to their very existence — the inundation of the Nile, 
 following the changing cycles of the stars — could not but have 
 incited them to the watching and recording of the movements of 
 
 give a very hard edge. In the very earliest times they had invented the tubular drill, 
 which they set with hard cutting points. VSTith this instrument they did work which 
 engineers of to-day say could not be surpassed with the modern diamond drill. See 
 Flinders Petrie, Ten Years' Digging in Egypt, pp. 26, 27. 
 
 Fig. 33. A Scarab Amulet 
 
46 ANCIENT EGYPT [§44 
 
 the heavenly bodies. Their observations Ifd them to discover the 
 length, very nearly, of the solar year, which they divided into 
 twelve months of thirty days each, with a. festival period of five 
 days at the end of the year.^ This was the calendar that, with 
 minor changes, Julius Csesar introduced into the Roman Empire, and 
 which, slightly reformed by Pope Gregory XIII, in 1582, has been 
 the system employed by almost all the civilized world up to the 
 present day (sect. 487). 
 
 The Greeks accounted for the early rise of the science of geometry 
 among the Egyptians by the necessity they were under of reestab- 
 lishing each year the boundaries of their fields — the inundation 
 obliterating old landmarks and divisions. The science thus forced 
 upon their attention was cultivated with zeal and success. A single 
 papyrus has been discovered that holds twelve geometrical theorems. 
 The work of the Greek scholars in this field was based on that done 
 by the Egyptians. 
 
 The Egyptian physicians relied largely on magic, for every ailment 
 was supposed to be caused by a demon that must be expelled by 
 means of magical rites and incantations. T3ut they also used drugs 
 of various kinds ; the ciphers or characters employed by modem 
 apothecaries to designate grains and drams are believed to be of 
 Egyptian invention. 
 
 44. Egypt's Contribution to Civilizatioij. Egypt, we thus see, 
 made valuable gifts to civilization. From the Nile came the germs 
 of much found in the later cultures of the peoples of western Asia 
 and of the Greeks and Romans, and through their mediation in that 
 of the modern world. " We are the heirs of the civilized past," says 
 Sayce, " and a goodly portion of that civilized past was the creation 
 of ancient Egypt." 
 
 How varied and helpful Egypt's contributions were to the growing 
 cultures of the Mediterranean area will appear as we proceed in 
 following chapters to rehearse briefly the story of the other historic 
 peoples of antiquity, 
 
 1 The Egyptian scholars knew that 365 days was a period J of a day short of a year, 
 but the conservatism of the people prevented the use of a calendar that provided for 
 the addition of one day to every fourth year. 
 
REFERENCES 
 
 47 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Records of the .Past (New Series, edited by 
 Sayce), vol, iii, " The Precepts of Ptah-Hotep." Petrie's Egyptian Tales 
 (Second Series), "Anpu and Bata." Maspero's Popular Stories of Ancient 
 Egypt, " Tlie Lamentations of tlie Fellah," pp. 43-i-67 ; and " The Shipwrecked 
 Sailor," pp. 98-107. Herodotus, ii, 1-14. The student should bear in mind 
 that the parts of Herodotus' work devoted to the Orient have a very different 
 historical value from that possessed by those portions of the history which 
 deal prinlarily with Greek affairs. " The net result of Oriental research," says 
 Professor Sayce, " in its bearing upon Herodotus is to show that the greater 
 part of what he professes to tell us of the history of Egypt, Babylonia, and 
 Persia is really a collection of ' marchen,' or popular stories, current among 
 the Greek loungers and half-caste dragomen on the skirts of the Persian 
 empire. . . . After all, ... it may be questioned whether they are not of 
 higher value for the history of the human mind than the most accurate 
 descriptions of kings and generals, of wars and treaties and revolutions." 
 
 References (Modern). Breasted, A History of Egypt, A History of the 
 Ancient Egyptians, and DevelopTnent of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, 
 Maspeko, The Dawn of Civilization, chaps, i-vi ,' The Struggle of the Nations, 
 chaps, i-v ; and Manual of Egyptian Archceology. RAV^fLlNSON, History of 
 Ancient Egypt, 2 vols., and Story of Ancient Egypt. NEWBERRY and Garstang, 
 A Short History of Ancient Egypt. Baikie, The Story of the Pharaohs. Hall, 
 Ancient History of the Near East (consult table of contents). Wiedemann, 
 Religion of the Ancient Egyptians. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the 
 Ancient Egyptians (should be used with caution — portions are antiquated). 
 Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt. Budge, Egyptian Religion and Egyptian 
 Ideas of the Future Life. Steindorff, The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians. 
 Perrot and ChipIez, History of Art in Ancient Egypt. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Characteristics of Egyptian art: Reinach, 
 Apollo, pp. 17-22. 2. Industrial arts: Maspero, Egyptian Archcsology, chap. v. 
 3. Dwellings of the poor and of the rich : Maspero, Egyptian Archcsology^ 
 pp. 2-28. 4. The market and the shops : Maspero, Life in Ancient Egypt 
 and Assyria, chap. ii. 5. The Tell el-Amarna letters ; Breasted, History of 
 Egypt, PP- 332-337) 382-389. 393 ! Light from the East, pp. 86-94. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE EARLY CITY-KINGDOMS OF BABYLONIA AND THE OLD 
 BABYLONIAN EMPIRE 
 
 (From earliest times to 728 B.C.) 
 I. POLITICAL HISTORY 
 
 45. The Tigris and Euphrates Valley ; the Upper and the Lower 
 Country. We must now trace the upspringing of civilization in 
 Babylonia, " the Asian Egypt." 
 
 As in the case of Egypt, so in that of the Tigris and Euphrates 
 valley,^ the physical features of the country exerted a great influence 
 upon the history of its ancient peoples. Differences in geological 
 structure divide this region into an upper and a lower district ; and 
 this twofold division in natural features is reflected, as we shall see, 
 throxighout its political history. 
 
 The northern part of the valley, the portion that comprised ancient 
 Assyria, consists of undulating plains, broken in places by mountain 
 
 1 The ancient Greeks gave to the land embraced by the Tigris and the Euphrates 
 the name of Mesopotamia, which means literally " the land between or amidst the rivers." 
 The __name is often loosely applied to the whole Tigris Euphrates valley. 
 
 Note, The picture at the head of this page shows the Babil Mound, at Babylon, as 
 it appeared in i8ii. 
 
 48 
 
§45] THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES VALLEY 
 
 49 
 
 ridges. This region nourished a hardy and warlike race, and became 
 the seat of a great military empire. 
 
 The southern part of the valley, the part known as Babylonia, is, 
 like the Delta region of Egypt, an alluvial deposit. The making of 
 new- land by the rivers has gone on steadily during historic times. 
 The ruins of one of the ancient seaports pi the country (Eridu) lie 
 over a hundred miles inland from the present head of the Persian 
 Gulf. In ancient times much of the land ;was protected against the 
 
 
 Fig. 34. Ancient Babylonian Canal 
 
 inundations of the rivers, and watered in -seasons of drought, by a 
 stupendous system of dikes and canals, which at the present day, in 
 a ruined and sand-choked condition, cover like a network the face 
 of the country. 
 
 The productions of Babylonia are very like those of the Nile valley. 
 The luxuriant growth of grain upon these alluvial flats excited the 
 wonder of the Greek travelers who visited the East. Herodotus will 
 not tell the whole truth for fear his veracity may be doubted. It is 
 not strange that tradition should have located here Paradise, that 
 primeval garden " out of the ground of which God made to grow 
 every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." This 
 
so EARLY CITY-KINGDOMS OF BABYLONIA [§46 
 
 favored plain in a remote period of antiquity became the seat of an 
 agricultural, industrial, and commercial population among which the 
 arts of civilized life found a development which possibly was as old 
 as that of Egypt, and which ran parallel with it. 
 
 46. The Babylonian a Mixed Culture. In ancient times the part of 
 Babylonia in the south near the gulf was called Sumer and the part 
 in the north Akkad. The first inhabitants of Sumer, known from 
 the name of the land as Sumerians, were of non-Semitic race. They 
 
 Map of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley 
 
 had already, when they appear in history, emerged from the Stone 
 Age and were using utensils of copper. They possessed a system 
 of writing and other arts of a comparatively advanced culture. It 
 was this people who laid in the main the basis of civilization in the 
 Euphrates valley. 
 
 About the same time that the Sumerians were establishing them- 
 selves in the south, there came into Akkad in the north — such 
 appears to have been the course of events — Semitic immigrants 
 from Arabia. These peoples were nomadic in habits, and altogether 
 much less cultured than the Sumerians. Gradually gaining ascendancy, 
 they took over the Sumerian culture and developed it. They retained. 
 
§47j 
 
 THE AGE OF CITY-KINGDOMS 
 
 SI 
 
 however, their own language, which in the course of time superseded 
 the Sumerian speech. The union of the two races gave rise to the 
 Babylonians of history, and their mixed culture formed what is 
 known as the Babylonian civilization. 
 
 47. The Age of City-Kingdoms (fourth and third millenniums B.C.). 
 ■ When the light of history first falls upon the Mesopotamian lands, 
 in the later centuries of the fourth millennium b.c, it reveals the 
 lower river plain filled with independent walled cities like those which 
 we find later in Palestine, Greece, and Italy. Each city had its patron 
 god, and was ruled by a 
 prince bearing the title 
 of king or lord. 
 
 From the tablets of 
 the old Babylonian tem- 
 ple archives (sect. 53), 
 patient scholars are 
 slowly deciphering the 
 wonderful story of these 
 ancient cities. The polit- 
 ical side of their history 
 may, for our present purpose, be summarized by saying that for a 
 period of two thousand years and more their records, so far as they 
 have become known to us, are annals of wars waged for supremacy 
 by one city and its gods against other cities "and their gods. 
 
 Of all the kings whose names have been recovered from the monu- 
 ments, we shall here mention only one — Sargon I (about 2775 B.C.'), 
 the " Menes of Chaldea," a Semitic king of Akkad, whose reign 
 forms a great landmark in early Babylonian annals. He built up a 
 powerful state in Babylonia and carried his arms to " the land of 
 the setting sun " (Syria). It is possible that he even extended his 
 authority to the island of Cyprus. An emirient historian of the East 
 calls his kingdom " the first world-kingdom known to history." 
 
 Fig. 35. Impression of a Seal of Sargon I 
 (Date about 2800 B.C.) 
 
 " Must be ranked among the masterpieces of Oriental 
 engraving." — Maspero 
 
 1 The earlier date for this king, which was formerly accepted on the evidence of 
 the so-called Nabonidus Cylinder, has been discredited by recent discoveries, which 
 show that several of the early dynasties once supposed to be consecutive were really 
 contemporaneous. 
 
52 EARLY CITY-KINGDOMS OS BABYLONIA [§48 
 
 48. The Rise of Babylon: Hammurabi and the Old Babylonian 
 Empire. From the remotest times the city-states of Babylonia had 
 for enemies the kings of Elam, a country bordering Babylonia on the 
 east, and of which Susa was the capital. For centuries at a time the 
 Elamite kings held the cities of the plain in a state of more or less 
 complete vassalage. Their dominion was finally broken by a king of 
 Babylon, a city which had been gradually rising into prominence, 
 and which was to give to the whole country the name by which 
 
 it is best known — Babylonia. 
 The name of this king was 
 Hammurabi (about 2 loo B.C.). 
 He tinited under his rule all 
 the cities of Babylonia, and 
 thus became the true maker 
 of what is known as the Old 
 Babylonian Empire. 
 
 Hammurabi has been called 
 the Babylonian Moses, for the 
 reasqn that he promulgated a 
 code of law& which in some 
 respects is remarkably like the 
 Mosaic code of the Hebrews. Concerning this oldest system of laws 
 in the world we shall say something a little farther on (sect. 60). 
 
 49. The Old Babylonian Empire Eclipsed by the Rising Assyrian 
 Empire. For more than fifteen hundred years after Hammurabi, 
 Babylon continued to be the political and commercial center, of an 
 empire of varying fortunes, of changing, dynasties, and of shifting 
 frontiers. This long history, still only very imperfectly known to ' 
 us, we pass without notice. 
 
 Meanwhile a Semitic power had been slowly developing in the 
 north. This was the Assyrian Empire, thus called from Assur 
 (Ashur), its early royal city. Later, the city of Nineveh grew to be 
 its populous center and capital. The earlier rulers of Assyria were 
 vassals of the kings of Babylonia ; but late in the eighth century B.C. 
 Babylonia was conquered by an Assyrian king, and from that time on 
 to 625 B.C. the country was for the most part under Assyrian control 
 
 Fig 36 Door Socm i of Sargon I 
 
§50] REMAINS OF THE BABYLONIAN CITIES S3 
 
 II. ARTS AND GENERAL CULTURE 
 
 50. Remains of the Babylonian Cities and Public Buildings. The 
 Babylonian plains are dotted with enormous mounds, generally in- 
 closed by vast ramparts of earth. These heaps are the remains 
 of the great walled cities, the palaces and shrines of the ancient 
 Babylonians. The peculiar nature of those ruins arises from the 
 character of the ancient Babylonian edifices and the kind of material 
 used in their construction. 
 
 In the first place, in order to secure for their temples and palaces 
 a firm foundation on the water-soaked land, as well as to lend to 
 them a certain dignity and to render them more easily defended, the 
 Babylonian kings raised their public buildings on enormous plat- 
 forms of earth or adobe. These substructures were often many 
 acres in extent and were raised generally to a height of forty or 
 more feet above the level of the plain. 
 
 Upon these immense platforms were built the temples of the gods 
 and the palaces of the king. The country affording neither timber 
 nor stone, recourse was usually had to sun-dried bricks as the chief 
 building material, burnt brick being used, in the main, only for the 
 outer casing of the walls. The buildings were one-storied, with thick 
 and heavy walls. Often the lower portion= of the walls of the chief 
 courts and chambers were paneled with glazed bricks. 
 
 In their decay these edifices have sunk down into great heaps of 
 earth which the storms of centuries have furrowed with deep ravines, 
 giving many of them the appearance of natural ruin-crowned hills 
 — for which, in truth, some of the earlier visitors to Babylonia 
 mistook them, 
 
 51. Excavations and Discoveries. About the middle of the nine- 
 teenth century some mounds of the upper country, near and on the 
 site of ancient Nineveh, were excavated, and the world was astonished 
 to see rising as from the tomb the palaces of the great Assyrian kings 
 (sect. 68). This was the beginning of excavations and discoveries in 
 the Mesopotamian lands which during the past half century have re- 
 stored the history of long-forgotten empires, reconstructed the history 
 of the Orient, and given us a new beginning for universal history. 
 
54 EARLY CITY-KINGDOMS OF BABYLONIA [§52 
 
 Some of the most important finds in Babylonia were made during 
 the closing years of the nineteenth century by the expedition of the 
 University of Pennsylvania, on the site of the ancient Nippur. The 
 excavation here of the ruins of the great temple of Bel brought to 
 light memorials which prove that this city was one of the religious 
 centers of the old Babylonian world for more than three thousand 
 
 Fig. 37. Excavation showing Pavements in a Court of the Temple 
 OF Bel at Nippur. (After ffilprecht) 
 
 The lower pavement, marked " i," was put down by Sargon I and Naram-Sin (about 
 
 2800 B.C.), and the upper one, marked " 5," by the Assyrian king Ashur-bani-pal (668- 
 
 626 ? B.C.). The pavements are thus separated by a period of over 2000 years 
 
 years — a period a thousand years longer than that during which 
 Rome has been the religious center of Catholic Christendom. 
 
 52. Cuneiform Writing. The most valuable things that have been 
 unearthed in Babylonia are the old libraries and temple archives. 
 But to appreciate the import of this a word is here necessary con- 
 cerning the Babylonian system of writing and its decipherment. 
 
 From the eariiest period known to us, the Babylonians were in 
 possession of a system of phonetic writing. To this system the 
 
§52] 
 
 CUNEIFORM WRITING 
 
 SS 
 
 term cuneiform (from cuneus, a "wedge") has been given on account 
 of its wedge-shaped characters. The signs assumed this peculiar 
 
 Fig. 38. Cuneiform Writing 
 Translation : " Five thousand mighty cedars -I spread for its roof " 
 
 form from being impressed upon soft clay tablets with an angular 
 writing instrument (stylus). 
 
 This system of writing had been developed out of an earlier 
 system of picture writing, as is plainly shown by a comparison of 
 
 MEANING 
 
 OUTLINE 
 CHARACTER, 
 B. C. 3500 
 
 ARCHAIC 
 CUNEIFORM, 
 B. C. 2500 
 
 'ASSYRIJH, 
 B. C. 700 
 
 UTE 
 
 BABYLONIAN, 
 
 B.C. 500 
 
 I. 
 
 The sun 
 
 <> 
 
 <> 
 
 ij 
 
 "ir 
 
 2. 
 
 God, heaven 
 
 ^ 
 
 ►^ 
 
 w- 
 
 ►>f- 
 
 3- 
 
 Mountain 
 
 i< 
 
 ^< 
 
 i< 
 
 :i< 
 
 4- 
 
 Man 
 
 /VfTK 
 
 ^J^ 
 
 m 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 5- 
 
 Ox 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^i 
 
 «{ 
 
 6. 
 
 Fish 
 
 <h 
 
 4 
 
 ff< 
 
 M< 
 
 Fig. 39. Table showing the Development of the Cuneiform Writing 
 
 (After Xing) 
 
 the earlier with the later forms of the characters (Fig. 39). The 
 Babylonians never developed the system beyond the syllabic stage 
 
S6 EARLY CITY-KINGDOMS OF BABYLONIA [§53 
 
 (sect. ii). They employed a syllabary of between four and five 
 
 hundred signs.^ 
 
 This mode of writing was in use among the peoples of western 
 
 Asia from before 3000 B.C. down to the first century of our era. 
 Thus for three thousand years it was just 
 such an important factor in the earlier civili- 
 zations of the ancient world as the Phoeni- 
 cian alphabet in its various forms has been 
 during the last three thousand years in the 
 civilizations of all the peoples of culture, 
 save those of eastern Asia. 
 
 53. Books and Archives. The writing 
 material of the Babylonians was usually 
 clay tablets of various sizes. Those holding 
 contracts of spedal importance, after hav- 
 ing been once written upon and baked, 
 were covered with a thin coating of clay, 
 and then the matter was written in dupli- 
 cate and the tablets again baked. If the 
 outer writing were defaced by accident or 
 
 altered by design, the removal of the outer coating would at once 
 
 show the true text. 
 
 The tablets were carefully preserved in 
 
 great public archives, which sometimes formed 
 
 an adjunct of the temple of some specially 
 
 revered deity. The temple archives found at 
 
 Telloh contained over thirty thousand tablets. 
 54. The Decipherment of the Cuneiform 
 
 Writing ; the Contents of the Tablets. Just 
 
 as the key to the Egyptian writing was found 
 
 by means of bilingual inscriptions, so was the key to the cuneiform 
 
 script discovered by means of trilingual inscriptions, among which 
 
 was a very celebrated one cut by a Persian king on the so-called 
 
 Behistun Rock (sect. 104). Credit for the decipherment of the 
 
 ' The Persians at a much later time borrowed the system and developed it into a 
 purely alphabetic one, Their alphabet consisted of thirty-six characters. 
 
 Fic. 
 
 40. Babylonian 
 Tablet 
 
 Fig. 41. Contract 
 Tablet 
 
 The outer case has been 
 
 broken to show the inner 
 
 version 
 
§55] THE RELIGION 57 
 
 difficult writing, and thereby the opening up to us of the records of 
 a long buried civilization, is divided among several scholars.^ 
 
 The tablets cover the greatest variety of subjects. There are 
 mythological tablets, which hold the myth's and tales of the Baby- 
 lonian gods ; religious tablets, filled with prayers and hymns ; legal 
 tablets, containing laws, contracts, wills, and various other matters of 
 a commercial nature ; and astronomical, historical, and mathematical 
 tablets — all revealing a very highly developed society. We will say 
 just a word of what the tablets reveal respecting the religion and 
 mythology of the Babylonians, and of the state of the sciences 
 among them. 
 
 55. The Religion. The tablets hold a large religious literature, 
 which forms one of the earliest and most instructive chapters in the 
 religious history of mankind. At the earliest period made known to 
 us by the native records, we find the pantheon, like the Egyptian, 
 to embrace many powerful nature gods and local deities — the patron 
 gods of the different cities. Besides the great gods there was a vast 
 multitude of lesser gods. 
 
 The most prominent feature from first to last of the popular 
 religion was a belief in spirits, particularly in wicked spirits, and 
 the practice of magic rites and incantations to avert the malign 
 influence of these demons. 
 
 A second most important feature of the religion was what is 
 known as astrology, or the foretelling of events by the aspects 
 of the stars. This side of the religious -system was, in the later 
 Chaldean period, most elaborately and ingeniously developed until 
 the fame of the Chaldean astrologers was spread throughout the 
 ancient world. 
 
 Alongside these low beliefs and superstitious practices there existed, 
 however, higher and purer elements. This is best illustrated by the 
 
 1 Copies of trilingual inscriptions — written in Persian, Susian, and Babylonian- — 
 were brought from Persepolis to Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. The 
 clue to the decipherment of the Persian text was found by Grotefend in 1802. He 
 identified the names of Darius, Hystaspes, and Xerxes, the word for king, and nine 
 of the thirty-nine signs. In 1835 Sir Henry C. Rawlinspn copied a longer inscription in 
 ' these same languages made by Darius on the rock at Behistun. Independently he 
 arrived at the same conclusions as Grotefend. 
 
58 EARLY CITY-KINGDOMS OF BABYLONIA [§S6 
 
 so-called penitential psalms, dating, some of them, from the second 
 millennium B.C., which breathe a spirit like that which pervades the 
 penitential psalms of the Old Testament.^ 
 
 The most instructive fact for us to note respecting this old Baby- 
 lonian religion is the influence which it had upon the culture of later 
 ages. For the most part this influence was of a baneful character, 
 for it was chiefly the lower elements of the system — magic, sorcery, 
 and astrology — which were absorbed by ,the borrowing nations of 
 the West. Thus astrology among the later Romans and the popular 
 behefs of the Middle Ages in regard to evil spirits, exorcisms, 
 charms, witches, and the devil were in large part an inheritance 
 from old Babylonia. Much of this wretched heritage was trans- 
 mitted from the East to the Western world at the same time that 
 Christianity came in from Judea. 
 
 56. Ideas of the Future Life. The beliefs of the Babylonians 
 respecting the other world were in strange contrast to those of the 
 Egyptians. In truth, they gave but little thought to the after life; 
 and it is no wonder that they did not like to keep the subject in 
 mind, for in general they imagined the li^ after death to be most 
 sad and doleful. The abode of the dead (Aralu), the " dark land," 
 the " land of no return," was a dusky region beneath the earth. 
 Bats flitted about in the dim light ; dust was upon the lintels of 
 the barred doors ; the souls drowsed in their places ; their food was 
 dust and mud. 
 
 There was no judgment of the dead as among the Egyptians. 
 There was no distinction, in the case of the great multitude,' 
 between the good and the bad ; the same Jot awaited all who went 
 down to death. 
 
 1 A few lines of such a psalm follow : 
 
 O my god who art angry with me, accept my prayer. 
 
 May my sins be forgiven, my transgressions be wiped out. 
 
 [May] flowing waters of the stream wash ijie clean. 
 Let me be pure like the sheen of gold. 
 
 Jastrow, The Religion of Baiylonia a7id Assyria, p. 323 
 
 2 There was a sort of Elysium, like that of the Greeks, for men of great deeds and 
 great piety. 
 
§S7] 
 
 THE TEMPLE AND THg PEOPLE 
 
 S9 
 
 57. The Place of the Temple in the Life of the People. Religion 
 among the Babylonians, as among all the peoples of antiquity, was 
 largely an affair of the state. A chief care and duty of the king 
 was the erection and repair of the 
 temples and shrines of the gods.^ 
 
 The temples were much more than 
 abodes of the gods and places of 
 worship. Besides the chambers for 
 the priest, storerooms for the prod- 
 ucts of the temple lands, and stables 
 for the animals for the sacrifices, there 
 were attached to many of the temples 
 schools, which were in charge of the 
 priests and scribes. The courts of 
 the temples were also places for the 
 transaction of all manner of business. 
 All kinds of contracts were drawn up 
 by the temple scribes and copies of 
 the same deposited for safe-keeping 
 in the temple archives. An immense 
 number of these contract tablets have 
 been found, so that we now have 
 probably a better knowledge of the 
 commercial affairs of the old Babylo- 
 nians than of those of any other 
 people of antiquity. 
 
 Many of the temples, like the 
 churches and monasteries of medi- 
 aeval Europe, were richly endowed 
 with lands and other property. In- 
 deed, the gods were the largest landowners in the state. The god 
 Bel at Nippur seems to have owned a great part of the city and 
 its lands. 
 
 Fig. 42. DioRiTE Seated 
 
 Statue of Gudea, Ruler of 
 
 Lagash (Shirpurla). (Museum 
 
 of the Louvre) 
 
 Gudea reigned about 2450 B.C. He 
 was a great builder, and his inscrip- 
 tions dwell chiefly upon his pious 
 labors in the restoration and beauti- 
 fying of the old city-temples 
 
 1 A peculiar architectural feature of the later temple was an immense ziggurat, or 
 tower, which ordinarily consisted of a number of stages or platforms raised one upon 
 another in the form of a great step p^amid. 
 
6o 
 
 EARLY CITY-KINGDOMS OF BABYLONIA [§S8 
 
 58. The Epic of Creation or the Babylonian Genesis. A great part 
 of Babylonian literature was of Sumerian origin and dates from the 
 third millennium b. c. In what is called the Creation Epic, which has 
 been recovered in a fragmentary state from the cuneiform tablets, 
 we have the Babylonian version of the creation of the heavens and 
 the earth by the great god Marduk. 
 
 This story of the creation is told with many variations in the litera- 
 ture of the Babylonians and Assyrians. These tales present certain 
 
 resemblances to the account 
 of the creation given in the 
 Sacred Scriptures of the 
 Hebrews. But there are 
 striking differences which 
 it is instructive to notice. 
 The Bible account, in con- 
 trast with the Babylonian 
 tales, is divested of all poly- 
 theistic elements, and is 
 moralized, that is, so told 
 as to cause it to become a means of moral instruction. 
 
 59. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Besides the Creation Epic the Baby- 
 lonians had a large number of other heroic and nature myths. The 
 most noted of these form what is known as the Epic of Gilgamesh,' 
 the Babylonian Heracles. This is doubtless the oldest epic of the 
 race; It held some such place in Babylonian literature and art as the 
 cycle of legends making up the epic of the Trojan War held in the 
 literature and art of the Greeks. Echoes of it reached the .^gean 
 lands and helped to mold the Greek story of Heracles (sect. 138). 
 
 60. Legislation: the Code of Hammurabi. In 1901-1902 the 
 French excavators at Susa, in the ancient Elam, discovered a block 
 of stone upon which was inscribed the code of laws set up by 
 
 1 The epic is made up of a great variety of material. One of the stories of greatest 
 interest is that of the Deluge, of which there are several versions in Babylonian litera- 
 ture. The oldest of these was discovered recently (in 1913) by Dr. Amo Poebel among 
 the Nippur tablets in the Museum of Archaeology of the University of Pennsylvania. 
 The tablet holding this version is believed to date from 1850 or 1900 B.C. Sec Jastrow, 
 Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions (1914), p. 335. 
 
 Fig. 43. Wkiting-exercise Tablets of a 
 Child. (Found at Nippur; after Hilprecht) 
 
§60] LEGISLATION: THE CODE OF HAMMURABI 6i 
 
 Hammurabi, king of Babylon, just at the dose of the third mil- 
 lennium B.C. (sect. 48). This is the oldest system of laws known 
 to us. It is evidently, in large part at least, merely a collection 
 of earlier laws and ancient customs. 
 
 The code casts a strong side light upon the Babylonian life of the 
 period when it was compiled, and thus constitutes one of the most 
 valuable monuments spared to 
 
 us from the old Semitic world. 
 It defined the rights and duties 
 of husband and wife, master 
 and slave, of merchants, gar- 
 deners, tenants, shepherds — 
 of all the classes which made 
 up the population of the Baby- 
 lonian Empire. As in the case 
 of the later Hebrew code, the 
 principle of retaliation deter- 
 mined the penalty for injury 
 done another; it was an eye 
 for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, 
 and a limb for a limb. 
 
 The owner of a vicious ox 
 which had pushed or gored a 
 man was required to pay a 
 heavy fine, provided he knew 
 the disposition of the creature 
 and had not blunted its horns 
 (see Exod. xxi, 28-32). 
 
 The law fixed prices and wages, the hiire for boats and wagons 
 and of oxen for threshing, the fee of the surgeon, the wages of the 
 brickmaker, of the tailor, of the carpenter, and of other artisans. 
 
 There were also provisions forbidding under severe penalties the 
 harboring of runaway slaves — provisions which read strangely like 
 our own fugitive-slave laws of a half century and more ago. 
 
 For more than two thousand years after its compilation this code 
 of laws was in force in the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, and 
 
 Fig. 44. Hammurabi Receiving the 
 Code from the Sun-god 
 
 " Hammurabi places as the headpiece of the 
 monument containing the laws of the country 
 an effigy of himself in an attitude of adoration 
 before Shamash, ' The Judge,' as the ultimate 
 source of the laws." — Jastrow 
 
62 EARLY CITY-KINGDOMS OF BABYLONIA [§61 
 
 even after this lapse of time it was used as a textbook in the schools 
 of the Mesopotamian lands. Probably no other code save the Mosaic 
 or the Justinian (sect. 565) has exerted a greater influence upon human 
 society. " As the oldest body of laws in existence," says an eminent 
 Assyrian scholar, " it marks a great epoch in the world's history, and 
 must henceforth form the starting point Jor the systematic study 
 of historic jurisprudence." 
 
 61. Sciences : Astronomy, the Calendar, and Mathematics. In 
 astronomy the Babylonians made greater advance than the Egyptians. 
 Their knowledge of the heavens came about from their interest as 
 astrologers in the stars. They divided the zodiac into twelve signs 
 and named the zodiacal constellations, a memorial of their astronomi- 
 cal attainments which will remain forever "inscribed upon the great 
 circle of the heavens ; they foretold eclipses of the sun and moon ; 
 they invented the sundial ; they divided the year into twelve months, 
 the day and night into hours, and the hours into minutes, and devised 
 a week of seven days."- 
 
 In the mathematical sciences, also, the Babylonians made consider- 
 able advance. A tablet has been found which contains the squares 
 and cubes of the numbers from one to sixty. The duodecimal system 
 in numbers was the invention of the Babylonians, and it is from them 
 that the system has come to us. 
 
 The Babylonians invented measures of length, weight, and capacity. 
 It was from them that all the peoples of antiquity derived their systems 
 of weight and measure. Aside from letters, these are perhaps the 
 most indispensable agents in the life of a people after they have 
 risen above the lowest levels of barbarism. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Jastrow's The Civilization of Babylonia and 
 Assyria, pp. 453-461. Harper's Assyrian and Babylohian Literature (selected 
 translations), pp. 408-413, " Ishtar's Descent to Hades" (this is one of the 
 choicest pieces of Babylonian literature). Sayce's Early Israel and the Sur- 
 rounding Nations, pp. 313-319, "The Babylonian Account of the Deluge" 
 (this can be found also in Smith's The Chaldean Account of Genesis, chap, xvi, 
 and in Jastrow's The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 443-452). The 
 
 1 This week of seven days was a subdivision of the moon-month, based on the phases 
 of the moon, namely, new moon, first quarter, full moon, and last quarter. 
 
REFERENCES 63 
 
 Code of Hammurabi, in either the Johns or the Harper translation ("The 
 Code of Hammurabi is one of the most important monuments of tlie human 
 race.:" — Johns). 
 
 Sefeiences (Modern). Maspeeo, The Dawn of Civilization, chaps, vii-ix, 
 and The Struggle of the Nations, chap. i. King, History of Akkad and Sumer 
 and A History of Babylon. Rogers, History of Babylonia and Assyria, vol. i. 
 HoMMEL, The Civilization of the East. Goodspeed, A History of the Baby- 
 lonians and Assyrians, pts. i, ii. Peters, Nippur, 2 vols. Jastrow, The 
 Religion of Babylonia and Assyria and Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions. 
 King, Babylonian Religion and Mythology. Sayce, Social Life among the 
 Assyrians and Babylonians. Perrot and Chipiez, A History of Art in 
 Chaldcea and Assyria, 2 vols. Hall, The Ancient History of the Near 
 East, chap. v. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. French excavations at Tello : Hilprecht, 
 Explorations in Bible Lands, pp. 216-260. 2. American excavations at Nippur; 
 Peters, Nippur, vol. ii, chaps, ii-x; Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands, 
 pp. 289-568. 3. The temple archives : Jastrow, The Civilization of Baby- 
 lonia and Assyria, pp. 316—318. 4. Moral maxims and penitential psalms; 
 Jastrow, The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 464-465, 469-474. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE 
 
 (From an unknown date to 606 B. C. ) 
 I. POLITICAL HISTORY 
 
 62. Introduction. In the preceding chapter we traced the begin- 
 nings of civilization among the early settlers of the lowlands of the 
 Euphrates. Meanwhile, as has already been noticed, farther to the 
 north, upon the banks of the Tigris, were growing into strength and 
 prominence a rival Semitic people — the Assyrians. Of the place in 
 world history of the empire represented by this people we must now 
 try to form some sort of idea. 
 
 The story of Assyria is in the main a story of the Assyrian kings. 
 And it is a story of ruthless war, which made the Assyrian kings 
 the scourge of antiquity. To relate this story with any measure of 
 detail would involve endless repetition of the royal records of pillag- 
 ing raids and punitive campaigns in all Jthe countries of western 
 Asia. We shall therefore speak of only two or three of the great 
 kings of the later empire whose energy as conquerors or ability as 
 organizers, or whose munificence as builders and patrons of arts and 
 letters, has caused their names to live among the renowned personages 
 of the ancient world. 
 
 64 
 
§63] TIGLATH-PILESER -IV 65 
 
 63. Tiglath-Pileser IV ^ (745-727 B.C.). Orle of the greatest of the 
 later kings was Tiglath-Pileser IV. He was;a man of great energy 
 and of undoubted military talent. The empite which had been built 
 up by earlier kings having fallen into disorder, he restored the Assyrian 
 power and extended the limits of the empire even beyond its former 
 boundaries. 
 
 But what renders the reign of this king a landmark not only in 
 Assyrian, but, we may almost say, in universal history, is the fact that 
 he was not a mere conqueror like his predecessors, but a political 
 organizer of great capacity. 
 
 Hitherto the empires that had arisen in "western Asia consisted 
 simply of tributary or vassal cities and states, each of which, having 
 its own king, was ready at the first favorable moment to revolt 
 against its suzerain, who, like a mediaeval feudal king, was simply 
 a great overlord, a " king of kings." 
 
 Now Tiglath-Pileser, though not the first to introduce, was the first 
 to put into practice in a large way, the plan of reducing conquered 
 states to provinces ; that is, instead of allowing conquered princes 
 to rule as his vassals, he put in their places Assyrian magistrates, or 
 viceroys, upon whose loyalty he could depend. 
 
 This system gave a more compact and permanent character to his 
 conquests. It is true he was not able to carry out his system per- 
 fectly ; but in realizing the plan to the extent that he did, he laid 
 the basis of the power and glory of the great kings who followed 
 him upon the Assyrian throne, and made the later Assyrian Empire, 
 to a certain degree, the prototype of the succeeding world empires 
 of Darius, Alexander, and Caesar. 
 
 64. Sargon II (722-705 B.C.). Sargon II was a great conqueror and 
 builder. In 722 B.C. he captured Samaria, the siege of which had 
 been commenced by his predecessor, and carried away the most influ- 
 ential classes of the "Ten Tribes" of Israel into captivity^ (sect. 84). 
 The greater portion of the captives were scattered among the towns 
 
 1 Formerly Tiglath-Pileser III. Since the first revised edition of this work evidence 
 has come to light which proves this Tiglath-Pileser to have been the fourth instead of, 
 as hitherto supposed, the third to bear this name. 
 
 2 2 Kings xvii, 6. 
 
66 
 
 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE 
 
 [§6S 
 
 of Media and Mesopotamia, and probably became, for the most part, 
 merged with the population of those regions. 
 
 This transplanting of a conquered people was a regular govern- 
 mental device of the Assyrian kings. It was done not only in order 
 that conspiracy and revolt should be rendered virtually impossible, 
 but also in order that, with the old ties of country arid home thus 
 severed, the rising generation might the more easily forget past 
 wrongs and old traditions and customs, and become blended with the 
 
 peoples about them. 
 Sargon was a fa- 
 mous builder. Near 
 the foot of the hills 
 rimming the Tigris 
 valley on the north- 
 east he founded a 
 large city, which he 
 named for himself; 
 and there he erected 
 a royal residence, 
 described in the in- 
 scriptions as " a pal- 
 ace of incomparable 
 magnificence," the 
 site of which is now marked by the mounds of Khorsabad (sect. 68). 
 65. Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.). Sargon was followed by his son 
 Sennacherib, whose name, connected as it is with the history of 
 Jerusalem and with many of the most wonderful discoveries among 
 the ruined palaces of Nineveh, has become as familiar as that of 
 Nebuchadnezzar in the story of Babylon. 
 
 The fullness of the royal inscriptions of this reign enables us to 
 permit Sennacherib to tell us in his own words of his great works 
 and military expeditions. Respecting the decoration of Nineveh, of 
 which he was the chief builder, he writes: "I raised again all the 
 edifices of Nineveh, my royal city ; I reconstructed all its old streets, 
 and widened those that were too narrow. , I made the whole town a 
 city shining like the sun," 
 
 Fig. 45- Restoration of Sargon's Palace at 
 Khorsabad. (From Place, Ninive ei I'Assyrie) 
 
 The royal residence consisted of a complex of halls and 
 
 chambers surrounding a number of courts, large and small. 
 
 The stepped pyramid is a ziggurat^ or temple-tower 
 
i6S] 
 
 SENNACHERIB 
 
 67 
 
 Concerning an expedition against Hezekiah, king of Judah, he 
 says : "I took forty-six of his strong fenced cities ; and of the 
 smaller towns which were scattered about I took and plundered a 
 countless number. And from these places" I captured and carried off 
 as spoil 200,150 people, old and young, male and female, together 
 with horses and mares, asses and camels, oxen and sheep, a count- 
 ' less multitude. And Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jerusalem, his 
 capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers round the city to 
 
 Fig. 46. Transport of a Winged Bull. (From Layard's 
 Monuments of Ntnevek) 
 
 While hundreds pull on the ropes, others place rollers beneath the sled, and still others 
 aid with a great lever behind 
 
 hem him in, and raising banks of earth against the gates, so as to 
 prevent escape." ^ 
 
 In this recital Sennacherib conceals the fact that his siege of the 
 strong city of Jerusalem remained fruitless ; according to the Hebrew 
 account^ the Assyrian host was smitten by " the angel of the Lord,"' 
 and the king returned with a shattered army and without glory to his 
 capital Nineveh. 
 
 Sennacherib laid a heavy hand upon Babylon, which at this time 
 was the leading city of the lower country. That city having revolted, 
 
 1 From the so-called Taylor Cylinder; translation by Sir H. Rawlinson (Rawlinson, 
 Ancient Monarchies, vol. ii, p. 161). A translation by Professor Rogers can be found in 
 Records of the Past (^<i-vi's,&t\<^s),\o\.\\,-g.')a. 2 2 Kings xix, 35-37. 
 
 s This expression is a Hebraism, meaning often atiy physical cause of destruction, 
 as a plague or a storm. In the present case the destroying agency was probably a 
 pestilence. 
 
68 
 
 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE 
 
 [§66 
 
 Sennacherib captured the place, and, as his inscription declares, 
 destroyed it "root and branch," casting the -rubbish into the "River 
 of Babylon." ' 
 
 66. Ashur-bani-pal (668-626 B.C.). This feing, the Sardanapalus of 
 the Greeks, is distinguished for his magnificent patronage of art and 
 letters (sect. 70). His reign was also marked by important military 
 operations. Egypt having revolted,'' he brought it again into subjec-' 
 
 tion to Assyria. Elam, 
 in punishment for its 
 hostility, was made an 
 awful example of his 
 vengeance ; its cities 
 were leveled, and the 
 whole country was 
 laid waste. All the 
 scenes of his sieges 
 and battles he caused 
 to be sculptured on 
 the walls of his palace 
 at Nineveh. These 
 pictured panels are 
 now in the British 
 Museum. They are a 
 perfect Iliad in stone. 
 
 67. The Fall of Nineveh (606 B.C.). A ruler named by the Greek 
 writers Saracus was the last of the long line of Assyrian kings. For 
 nearly or quite six centuries the Ninevite kings had now lorded it over 
 the East. There was scarcely a state in all western Asia that during 
 this time had not, in the language of the royal inscriptions, " borne the 
 heavy yoke of their lordship " ; scarcely a people that had not suffered 
 their cruel punishments or tasted the bitterness of enforced exile. 
 
 But now swift misfortunes were bearing down from every quarter 
 upon the oppressor. First, wild Scythians- from the north ravaged 
 
 1 The city was rebuilt by Sennacherib's son and successor Esarhaddon I (680-668 B.C.). 
 
 2 Egypt had been conquered and brought under Assyrian rule by Sennacherib's son 
 Esarhaddon. Northern Arabia had also been added to the empire by him. 
 
 Fig. 47. An Assyrian Kelek. (After Layard) 
 
 A kind of raft (depicted on the Assyrian monuments) 
 used by the ancient Assyrians for floating grain, stone, 
 etc., down the Mesopotamian rivers. It consisted of^ a 
 framework of poles supported by a great number of in- 
 flated goat-skins. On arrival at Its destination the raft was 
 taken to pieces, the wood sold, and the skins carried back 
 on asses. Exactly the same system of transportation : is 
 employed on the Tigris to-day. The swimmer in the pic- 
 ture is astride an inflated skin 
 
§68] ASSYRIAN EXCAVATIONS AND DISCOVERIES 69 
 
 the Assyrian lands far and wide. After this 'weakening of the state, 
 Egypt revolted and tore Syria away from the empire. In the south- 
 em lowlands the Babylonians also rose in revolt, while from the 
 mountain defiles on the east issued 
 the armies of the recent-grown empire 
 of the Aryan Medes, led by the re- 
 nowned Cyaxares, and laid close siege 
 to Nineveh. 
 
 The city was finally taken and sacked, 
 and dominion passed away forever from 
 the proud capital (606 B.C.). Two hun- 
 dred years later, when Xenophon with 
 his Ten Thousand Greeks, in his 
 memorable retreat (sect. 265), passed 
 the spot, the once great city was a 
 crumbling mass of ruins and its name 
 had been forgotten. 
 
 II. THE CIVILIZATION 
 
 68. Assyrian Excavations and Dis- 
 coveries. In Assyria there are many 
 mounds like those in Babylonia. These 
 mark the sites of the old Assyrian 
 cities ; for though stone in this upper 
 country is abundant, the Assyrians, 
 under the influence of Babylonia, used 
 mainly sun-dried bricks in the construc- 
 tion of their buildings.^ Hence in their 
 decay the Assyrian edifices have left 
 just such earth-mounds as those which 
 form the tombs of the old Babylonian 
 cities and temples. 
 
 Fig. 48. An Assyrian King 
 AND HIS Captives 
 
 T^e captives are held by hook and 
 bridle in nose and lips. The sculp- 
 ture thus depicting this cruel prac- 
 tice^of the Assyrian kings is a vivid 
 illustration of these words of the 
 prophet Isaiah : "Therefore will I 
 put my hook in thy nose, and my 
 bridle in thy lips." — Isa. xxxvii, 29 
 
 1 Stone, when employed, was used mainly for decorative purposes and for the 
 foundation of walls. Because of the freer use of stone- by the Assyrian architect and 
 sculptor (sect. 69),. the Assyrian ruins have yielded far more monuments than the 
 Babylonian. 
 
^o 
 
 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE 
 
 [§69 
 
 In 1843-1844 M. Botta, the French consul at Mosul on the 
 Tigris, excavated the mound at Khorsabad, and astonished the world 
 with most wonderful specimens of Assyrian art from the palace of 
 Sargon II. The sculptured and lettered slabs were removed to the 
 museum of the Louvre, in Paris. In 1845-1851 Layard disentombed 
 the palace of Sennacherib and those of other kings at Nineveh 
 and Calah (the earliest capital of the Assyrian kingdom), and 
 enriched the British Museum with the treasures of his search. 
 
 
 Fig. 49. Excavating an Assyrian Palace. (After Layard) 
 
 69. Assyrian Palaces and their Wall Sculptures. The Assyrian 
 kings paid more attention to the royal residence than to the temples 
 of the gods, though they were by no means neglectful of the latter. 
 In imitation of the Babylonian sovereigns they built their palaces 
 and temples upon artificial terraces or platforms. The great palace 
 mound at Nineveh covers an area of about one hundred acres, and 
 is sixty or seventy feet in height. Upon this mound stood several 
 of the most splendid palaces of the Nineyite kings. 
 
 The group of buildings constituting the -royal residence was often 
 of enormous extent ; the various courts, halls, and chambers of the 
 
i70] 
 
 THE ROYAL LIBRARY AT NINEVEH 
 
 71 
 
 peilace of Sennacherib, which surmounted the great platform at 
 Nineveh, covered an area of twenty acres. The palaces were one- 
 storied. The rooms and galleries were plastered with stucco, paneled 
 with precious woods, or lined with enameled bricks. The main halls, 
 however, and the great open courts were "faced with' slabs of ala- 
 baster, covered with sculptures and inscriptions, the illustrated nar- 
 rative of the wars and the labors of the monarch. There were nearly 
 two miles of such sculptured paneling at Kuyunjik. At the portals, to 
 guard the approach, were stationed the colossal human-headed bulls. 
 The human figures of the wall 
 carvings are generally stiff 
 and without special artistic 
 merit, but some of the animal 
 sculptures, as is often the case 
 in primitive art (see sect. 4), 
 are of surprising excellence. 
 The hunting pictures are 
 particularly fine and strong. 
 " There are animals among 
 these hunting scenes," affirms 
 
 the sculptor Lorado Taft, "that have never been surpassed by the 
 sculptors of any age or country." 
 
 70. The Royal Library at Nineveh. Within the palace of Ashur- 
 bani-pal at Nineveh was discovered what is known as the Royal 
 Library, the largest and most important library of the old Semitic 
 world, from which over twenty thousand tablets were taken. We 
 learn from the inscriptions that a librarian had charge of the col- 
 lection. Catalogues of the books have bden found, made out on 
 clay tablets. Respecting the purpose of the library an inscription 
 says, " I [Ashur-bani-pal] wrote upon the tablets ; I placed them in 
 my palace for the instruction of my people." 
 
 The greater part of the tablets were copies of older Babylonian 
 works ; for the literature of the Assyrians, as well as their arts and 
 sciences, was borrowed almost in a body from the Babylonians.^ All 
 
 1 The relations of Assyria to Babylonian civilization may be illustrated by the 
 relations of Rome (also a military empire) to Greek culture. 
 
 Fig, jo. Emblem of Ashur, the 
 Supreme Deity of Assyria 
 
72 
 
 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE 
 
 [§71 
 
 the old temple libraries of the lower country were ransacked by the 
 agents of Ashur-bani-pal, and copies of " the old masters '' made for 
 the new palace collection at Nineveh. In this way was preserved in 
 duplicate a considerable portion of the early Babylonian literature, 
 besides historical records, and astronomical, medicinal, and other 
 scientific works. The literary treasures secured from the Ninevite 
 library are of much greater interest and value to us than those 
 yielded by any other Assyrian-Babylonian collection thus far unearthed. 
 
 
 Fig. 51. Restoration of a Court in Sargon's Palace at Khorsabad 
 (After Fergusson) 
 
 71. Cruelty of the Assyrians. The Assyrians have been called 
 the " Romans of Asia." They were a proud, warlike, and cruel race. 
 The Assyrian kings seem to have surpassed all others in the cruelty 
 which characterizes the warfare of the whole ancient Orient. The 
 sculptured marbles of their palaces exhibit the hideously cruel tortures 
 inflicted by them upon prisoners (Fig. 52). A royal inscription which 
 is a fair specimen of many others runs as follows : " The nobles, 
 as many as had revolted, I flayed ; with their skins I covered the 
 pyramid. . . . Three thousand of their captives I burned with fire. 
 
§71] 
 
 CRUELTY OF THE ASSYRIANS 
 
 73 
 
 I left not one alive among them to become a hostage. ... I cut off 
 the hands [and] feet of some ; I cut off the noses, the ears [and] the 
 fingers of others ; the eyes of the numerous soldiers I put out. . . . 
 Their young men [and] their maidens I burned as a holocaust."^ 
 
 KiG. 52. Assyrians Flaying Prisoners Alive. (From a bas-relief) 
 
 The significant thing here is that the king exults in having done 
 these things and thinks to immortalize himself by portraying them 
 upon imperishable stone. The careful way in which to-day all refer- 
 ence to atrocities of this character, when in the fury of battle they 
 
 Fig. 53. Lion Hunt. (From Nineveh) 
 
 are inflicted upon an enemy, are suppressed by those responsible for 
 them, and the indignant condemnation of them by the public opinion 
 of the civilized world, measures the moral progress humanity has 
 made even along those lines on which progress has been so pain- 
 fully slow and halting. 
 
 1 Records of ihe Past {New Series), vol. ii, pp. 143 ff. 
 
74 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE [§ 72 
 
 72. Royal Sports. The Assyrian king gloried in being, like the 
 great Nimrod, " a mighty hunter before the Lord." In his inscrip- 
 tions the wild beasts he has slain are as carefully enumerated as the 
 cities he has captured. The monuments are covered with sculptures 
 that represent the king engaged in this favorite royal sport of the 
 Orient. We see him slaying lions, bulls, and boars, as well as less 
 dangerous animals of the chase, with which the uncultivated tracts 
 of the country appear to have abounded. 
 
 73. Services Rendered Civili2ation by Assyria. Assyria did a work 
 like that done by Rome at a later time. Just as Rome welded all 
 the peoples of the Mediterranean world into a great empire, and 
 then throughout her vast domains scattered the seeds of the civi- 
 lization which she had borrowed from vanquished Greece, so did 
 Assyria weld into a great empire the innumerable petty warring 
 states and tribes of western Asia, and then throughout her extended 
 dominions spread the civilization which she had in the main bor- 
 rowed from the conquered Babylonians. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Records of the Past (New Series), vol. v, 
 pp. 120-128, "The Nimrud Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser III," on military 
 and building operations. Ibid. vol. iv, pp. 38-52, " Inscription on the Obelisk 
 of Shalmaneser II," shows the harshness and cruelty of Assyrian warfare. 
 This inscription, along with many other selected translations, can also be 
 found in Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Literature. The Old Testament, 
 Nahum iii, 18, 19; Zeph. ii, 13-15. 
 
 References (Modern). Maspero, The Struggle of the Nations, chap, vi, and 
 The Passing of the Empires, chaps, i-v. Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies, 
 vol. i (last part). Goodspeed, A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians, 
 pt. iii. Layard, Nineveh and its Remains. Perrot and Chipiez, A History 
 of Art in Chaldaa and Assyria, 2 vols. Rogers, A History of Babylonia and 
 Assyria, vol. ii, pp. 1-295. Ragozin, The Story of Assyria. Wincklkr, The 
 History of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 167-310. Hall, The Ancient History of 
 the Near East, chap. x. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Layard's excavations and discoveries: see 
 his Nineveh and its Remains. 2. Sargon's palace at Khorsabad : Hilprecht, 
 Explorations in Bible Lands, pp. 84-87. 3. Assyrian art: Reinach, Apollo, 
 pp. 23-27. 4. Industrial and social life: Goodspeed, A History of the Baby- 
 lonians and Assyrians, pp. 71-76. 5. A royal hunting adventure: Maspero, 
 Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria, chap. xiv. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE CHALDEAN EMPIRE 
 
 (62S-S38 B.C.) 
 
 74. Babylon becomes again a World Power. Nabopolassar (625- 
 605 B.C.) was the founder of what is known as the Chaldean Em- 
 pire.^ At first a vassal king, when troubles and misfortpnes began 
 to thicken about the Assyrian court, he revolted and became inde- 
 pendent. Later he entered into an alliance with the Median king 
 against his former suzerain (sect. 67). Through the overthrow of 
 Nineveh and the break-up of the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian 
 state received large accessions of territory. For a short time there- 
 after Babylon filled a great place in history. 
 
 75. Nebuchadnezzar II (eoS-Sei e.g.). Nabopolassar was followed 
 by his renowned son Nebuchadnezzar, whose gigantic architectural 
 works rendered Babylon the wonder of the ancient world. 
 
 Jerusalem, having repeatedly revolted, was finally taken and 
 sacked (sect. 85). The temple was stripped of its sacred vessels 
 of silver and gold, which were carried away to Babylon, and the 
 temple itself was given to the flames ; a part of the people were 
 also carried away into the "Great Captivity" (586 B.C.). 
 
 With Jerusalem subdued, Nebuchadnezzar pushed with all his 
 forces the siege of the Phoenician city of Tyre, whose investment 
 had been commenced several years before. In striking language 
 the prophet Ezekiel (xxix, 18) describes the length and hardness 
 of the siege : " Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was 
 peeled." After thirteen years Nebuchadnezzar was apparently forced 
 to raise the siege. 
 
 1 Called also the New Babylonian Empire. Nabopolassar represented the Chaldeans 
 (Kaldu), a people whose home was on the Persian Gulf, and who made themselves 
 gradually masters of Babylon. 
 
 7i 
 
1^ 
 
 THE CHALDEAN ElVEPIRE 
 
 [§75 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar sought to rival even the Pharaohs in the execu- 
 tion of immense works requiring a vast expenditure of human labor. 
 Among his worlcs were the Great Palace in the royal quarter of 
 
 "7^ ' \ r U n :^ \ A 
 
 .9J^' 
 
 Fig. 54. Restoration of the Southern Citadel of Babylon. (From 
 Koldewey's Excavations at Babylon) 
 
 The citadel of Babylon was an artificial mound surrounded with stupendous walls and 
 crowned with the royal residence and other buildings. The upper left-hand portion of 
 the cut shows the restored palace of Nebuchadnezzar with its three great courts. Near 
 the center of the picture is seen the famous Ishtar Gate — a double towered-gateway. 
 Its walls were decorated with an immense number of animals in relief. The round inset 
 shows the excavated towers. Passing through the Ishtar Gate was the great Procession 
 Street (see note under Fig. 55). In the lower left-hand comer of the palace inclosure 
 will be noted a vaulted structure. This is conjecturally connected by Dr. Koldewey with 
 the famous Hanging Gardens 1 
 
 Babylon, the celebrated Hanging Gardens,-'- the quays along the 
 Euphrates, and the city walls. The gardens and the walls were 
 reckoned among the seven wonders of the ancient world. 
 
 1 The Hanging Gardens, according to a Greek, tradition, were constructed by 
 Nebuchadnezzar to please his wife Amytis, who, tired .of the monotony of the Baby- 
 lonian plains, longed for the mountain scenery of her native Media. Dr. Koldewey, the 
 
§76] 
 
 THE FALL OF BABYLON 
 
 77 
 
 Especially zealous was Nebuchadnezzar in the erection and resto- 
 ration of the shrines of the gods. " Like dear life," runs one of his 
 inscriptions, " love I the building of their lodging places." He dwells 
 with: fondness on all the details of the work, and tells how he orna- 
 mented with precious stones the panelings of the shrines, roofed 
 them with huge beams of cedar overlaid with gold and silver, and 
 decorated the gates with plates of bronze; making the sacred abodes 
 as " brilliant as the sun " and " bright as the stars of heaven." ' 
 
 IJIIjJIl^WfflSW 
 
 Fig. 55. Babylonian Lion. (From Koldewey, Excavations at Babylon) 
 
 A characteristic feature of Babylonian art was the decoration of walls with figures 
 formed of colored enameled bricks. The figure here shown is a restoration from ex- 
 cavated fragments. Over a hundred such figures formed the magnificent friezes of the 
 walls lining the great Procession Street (Fig. 54), made by Nebuchadnezzar, and 
 leading to the famous temple of Marduk 
 
 76. The Fall of Babylon (538 b.c). The glory of the New Baby- 
 lonian Empire passed away with Nebuchadnezzar. Among the moun- 
 tains and on the uplands to the east of the Tigris-Euphrates valley 
 there had been growing up an Aryan kingdom. At the time which 
 we have now reached, this state, through the destruction of the 
 Assyrian Empire (sect. 67) and the absorption of its provinces, had 
 
 director of the German excavations at Babylon, unearthed massive ruins which he thinks 
 may have formed the vaulted substructure of the gardens. " The reason," he says, " why 
 the Hanging Gardens were ranked among the seven wonders of the world was that they 
 were laid out on the roof of an occupied building" {Excavations at Babylon, p. 100). 
 
 1 See the inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, Records of the Past (New Series), vol. iii, 
 pp. 102 ff. 
 
78 THE CHALDEAN EMPIRE [§76 
 
 grown into a great imperial power — the Medo-Persian. At the head 
 of this new empire was Cyrus, a strong, energetic, and ambitious 
 sovereign (sect. 102). Coming into collision with the Babylonian 
 king Nabonidus he defeated his army in the open field, and the 
 gates of the strongly fortified capital Babylon were without further 
 resistance thrown open to the Persians.-'- ' 
 
 With the fall of Babylon the scepter of dominion, borne so long 
 by Semitic princes, was given into the hands of the Aryan peoples, 
 who were destined from this time forward to shape the main course 
 of events and control the affairs of civilization.^ 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, 
 pp. 134-143, " The East India House Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II" (a 
 record of the king's great building operations) ; and pp. 171-174, " The Cylin- 
 der of Cyrus " (an account of the taking of Babylon). 
 
 References (Modern). Maspero, The Passing of the Empires, chap, v, and 
 Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria, chaps, xi-xx. Rogers, A History of Baby- 
 lonia and Assyria, vol. ii, pp. 297-3S1. Goodspeed, A History of the Baby- 
 lonians and Assyrians, pt. iv. Sayce, The Religions of Ancient Egypt and 
 Babylonia, pt. ii. WiNCKLER, The History of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 313- 
 328. KoLDEWEY, The Excavations at Babylon. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i . The outer walls of Babylon : Koldewey, The 
 Excavations at Babylon, pp. 1-6. 2. The Ishtar Gate and its wall decorations'. 
 Koldewey, The Excavations at Babylon, pp. 38-49. 
 
 1 The device of turning the Euphrates, which Herodotus makes an incident of the 
 siege, was not resorted to by Cyrus; but it seems that a little later (521-519 B.C.), 
 the city, having revolted, was actually taken in this way by the Persian king Darius. 
 Herodotus confused the two events. 
 
 2 For the temporary revival of Semitic power throughout the Orient by the Arabs, 
 see Chapter XL-VI. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 THE HEBREWS 
 
 77. The Patriarchal Age. The history of the Hebrews, as nar- 
 rated in their sacred books, begins with the departure of the 
 patriarch Abraham out of " Ur of the Chaldees.'' The stories of 
 Abraham and his nephew Lot, of Isaac and his sons Jacob and 
 Esau, of the sojourn and the oppression of the descendants of Jacob 
 in Egypt, of the Exodus under the leadership of the great lawgiver 
 Moses, of the conquest of Canaan by his successor Joshua, and the 
 apportionment of the land among the twelve tribes of Israel — all 
 these wonderful stories are told in the old Hebrew Scriptures with 
 a charm and simplicity that have made the"m the familiar possession 
 of childhood. 
 
 78. The Israelites and the Canaanites. It was probably shortly 
 after the end of the rule of the Hyksos (sect. 26) that the Hebrew 
 refugees from the Nile-land, bearing the stain of their desert and 
 nomadic life, drifted into Palestine from the " wilderness " beyond 
 the Jordan. The country was at this time in possession of Amorite 
 or Canaanite tribes, close kin of the newgomers. Their cities were 
 strongly walled, and the desert warriors were not able to drive out 
 the inhabitants. So the two peoples dwelt together in the land, the 
 Canaanites holding in the main the hill districts and the Israelites 
 the plains. The Hebrew nation arose from the intermingling and 
 final union of the invaders and the native city inhabitants. This dual 
 ancestry explains much in the religious and the moral life of the 
 Hebrew people. 
 
 79. The Age of the "Judges" (ending about loso B.C.), The in- 
 trusion into Canaan of the Israelite tribes was followed by a long 
 period of petty wars, brigandage, and anarchy. During this time 
 there arose a line of national heroes, such as Gideon, Jephthah, and 
 
 79 
 
8o THE HEBREWS [§80 
 
 Samson, whose deeds of valor and daring, and the timely deliverance 
 they wrought for the tribes of Israel from their foes, caused their 
 names to be handed down with grateful remembrance to following 
 ages. These popular leaders, most of whom were local rulers, are 
 called " Judges " h^ the Bible writers. 
 
 80. Founding of the Hebrew Monarchy (about 1050 B.C.). During 
 the time of the " Judges " there was, as the history of the period 
 shows, no effective union among the tribei of Israel. But the com- 
 mon danger to which they were exposed from enemies — especially 
 from the warlike Philistines, who had come into Palestine from the 
 ^.gean region about 1200 B.C.' and the example of the nations 
 about them, led the people finally to begin to think of the advantages 
 of a more perfect imion and of a strong central government. 
 
 The situation of things at just this time favored the rise of a 
 Hebrew kingdom. All the great states of the Orient — Egypt, 
 Babylonia, Assyria, and the Hittite Empire — exhausted by their 
 struggles with one another for supremacy or undermined by other 
 causes, were suffering a temporary decline, and the way was clear 
 for the advance into the arena of world politics of another competitor 
 for imperial dominion. The hitherto loose confederation was changed 
 into a kingdom, and Saul of the tribe of Benjamin was made king of 
 the new monarchy. (about 1050 B.C.). 
 
 81. The Reign of David (about 1025-993 B.C.). Upon the death of 
 Saul, David, son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, assumed the scepter. 
 After reducing to obedience all the tribes, David set about enlarging 
 his dominions. He built up a real empire and waged wars against 
 the troublesome tribes of Moab, Ammon, and Edom. 
 
 David was a poet as well as a warrior. His lament over Saul and 
 Jonathan" is regarded as one of the noblest specimens of elegiac 
 poetry that has come down from Hebrew antiquity. Such was his 
 fame that the authorship of a large number of hymns written in a 
 later age was ascribed to him. 
 
 82. The Reign of Solomon (about 993-953 B.C.). David was followed 
 by his son Solomon. The son did not possess the father's talent for 
 military affairs, but was a liberal patron of art, commerce, and learning. 
 
 1 See above, p. 33, n. 1. 22 Sam. i, 17-27. 
 
§83] THE DIVISION OF THE 'jCINGDOM 8i 
 
 He erected with the utmost magnificence of adornment the temple 
 at Jerusalem planned by his father David. The dedication cere- 
 monies upon the completion of the building were most impressive.'^ 
 Thenceforth this temple was the center of the Hebrew worship and 
 of the national life. 
 
 For the purpose of extending his comberce Solomon equipped 
 fleets upon the Mediterranean and the Re'd Sea.^ Remote regions 
 of Africa were visited by his ships, and their rich and wonderful 
 products made to contribute to the wealth and glory of his kingdom. 
 The reputed author of famous proverbs, he has lived in tradition as 
 the wisest king of the East. He maintained a court of oriental 
 magnificence. When the queen of Sheba, made curious by reports 
 of his glory, came from South Arabia to "visit him, she exclaimed, 
 " The half was not told me." 
 
 83. The Division of the Kingdom (about 953 B.C.). The reign of 
 Solomon was brilliant, yet disastrous in the end to the Hebrew 
 monarchy. In order to- carry on his vast undertakings he had 
 laid oppressive taxes upon his people. When Rehoboam, his son, 
 succeeded to his father's place, the people entreated him to lighten 
 the taxes that were making their very lives a burden. He replied 
 to their reasonable petition with haste and insolence : " My father," 
 said he, " chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with 
 scorpions." 
 
 Immediately all the tribes, save Judah and Benjamin, rose in 
 revolt, and succeeded in setting up to tha north of Jerusalem a 
 rival kingdom, with Jeroboam as its first king. This northern state, 
 of which Samaria afterwards became the capital, was known as the 
 Kingdom of Israel ; the southern, of which Jerusalem remained the 
 capital, was called the Kingdom of Judah. 
 
 Thus was torn in twain the empire of David and Solomon. 
 United, the tribes might have maintained an empire capable of 
 offering successful resistance to the encroachments of the power- 
 ful and ambitious monarchs about them. But now the land became 
 an easy prey to the spoiler. It was hence'forth the pathway of the 
 conquering armies of the Nile and the Euphrates. Between the 
 
 1 See I Kings v-viii. ^ i Kings ix, 26-28 ; x, 22. 
 
82 THE HEBREWS [§S4 
 
 powerful monarchies of these regions, as between an upper and a 
 nether millstone, the little kingdoms were destined, one after the 
 other, to be ground to pieces. 
 
 84. The Kingdom of Israel (9S3?-722 B.C.). The kingdom of the 
 Ten Tribes maintained its existence for about two hundred years. 
 Many passages of its history are recitals ^of the struggles between 
 the worship of the national god Yahweh (Jehovah) and the idolatrous 
 service of the gods of the surrounding nations. The cause of Yahweh 
 was boldly espoused by a line of remarkable prophets, among whom 
 Elijah and Elisha in the ninth century, and Amos and Hosea in the 
 eighth, stand preeminent. 
 
 The little kingdom was at last overwhelmed by the Assyrian 
 power. This happened 7 2 2 b. c, when Samaria, as we have already nar- 
 rated in the history of Assyria (sect. 64), was captured by Sargon, king 
 of Nineveh, and 27,290 of the inhabitants, the flower of the people, 
 were carried away into captivity beyond the Mesopotamian rivers. 
 
 85. The Kingdom of Judah (953 ?-586 B.C.). This little kingdom, 
 often on the verge of ruin from Egyptian or Assyrian armies, main- 
 tained a semi-independent existence for o\?er three centuries. Then 
 upon the extension of the power of Babylon to the west, Jerusalem 
 was forced to acknowledge, the suzerainty of the Babylonian kings. 
 
 The kingdom at last shared the fate of its northern rival. Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, the powerful king of Babylon, in revenge for an uprising 
 of the Jews, besieged and captured Jerusalem and carried away a 
 large part of the people into captivity at Babylon (sect. 75)- This 
 event virtually ended the separate political life of the Hebrew race 
 (586 B.C.). Henceforth Judea constituted simply a province of the 
 empires — Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman — which 
 successively held sway over the regions of western Asia, with, how- 
 ever, one important period of national life under the Maccabees, 
 during a part of the two centuries jusf preceding the birth of 
 Christ (sect. 309). 
 
 It only remains to mention those succeeding events which belong 
 rather to the story of the Jews as a people than as a nation. Upon 
 the capture of Babylon by the Persian king Cyrus (sect. 76), that 
 monarch permitted the exiles to return to Jerusalem and restore their 
 
§86] 
 
 HEBREW LITERATURE 
 
 83 
 
 temple. Jerusalem thus became again the center of the old Hebrew 
 worship, and, although shorn of national glory, continued to be the 
 sacred center of the ancient faith till the second generation after 
 Christ. Then, in chastisement for repeated revolts, the city was laid 
 in ruins by the Romans ; while vast numbers of the inhabitants were 
 slain, or perished by famine, and the remnant were driven into exile 
 to different lands (sect. 511). 
 
 Thus by a series of unparalleled calamities were the descendants 
 of Abraham " sifted among all nations " ; but to this day they ding 
 with a marked devotion 
 and loyalty to the faith 
 of their fathers. 
 
 86. Hebrew Litera- 
 ture, The literature of 
 the Hebrews is a reli- 
 gious one; for litera- 
 ture with them was in 
 the main merely a 
 means of inculcating re- 
 ligious truth or awaken- 
 ing devotional feeling. 
 
 This unique litera- 
 ture is contained in 
 sacred books known 
 as the Old or Hebrew 
 Testament. In these 
 
 ancient writings patriarchal traditions, histories, dramas, poems, proph- 
 ecies, and personal narratives blend in a wonderful mosaic, which 
 pictures with vivid and grand effect the migrations, the deliverances, 
 the calamities — all the events and religious experiences making up 
 the checkered life of the people of Israel. 
 
 Out of the Old Testament arose the New, which we should think 
 of as a part of Hebrew literature ; for although written in the Greek 
 language and long after the close of the political life of the Jewish 
 nation, still it is essentially Hebrew in thought and doctrine, and is 
 the supplement and crown of the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 
 Fig. 56. The Place of Wailing 
 
 A well-preserved portion of the substruction walls of the 
 
 Temple at Jerusalem, where Jews assemble each Friday 
 
 to bewail the desolation of Zion 
 
84 THE HEBREWS [§87 
 
 Besides the Sacred Scriptures, called collectively, by way of pre- 
 eminence, the Bible (the Book), it remains to mention especially the 
 Apocrypha, which embraces a number of books composed after the 
 decline of the prophetic spirit and showing traces of the influence 
 of Persian and of Greek thought. Whether these books possess 
 divine inspiration is among Protestants still a disputed question, 
 but by the Roman Catholic Church they are in the main regarded 
 as possessing equal authority with the other books of the Bible. 
 
 Neither must we fail to mention the Talmud, a collection of 
 Hebrew customs and traditions with the comments thereupon of the 
 rabbis, a work held by most Jews next in sacredness to the Holy 
 Book; the writings of Philo, an illustrious Alexandrian philosopher 
 (born about 25 b.c.) ; and the Antiquities of the Jews and the Jewish 
 War by the historian J oseph us, who lived and wrote at the time of 
 the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus (sect. 506), 
 that is, during the latter part of the first century after Christ. 
 
 87. Hebrew Religion and Morality. The ancient Hebrews made 
 little or no contribution to science. They produced no new order of 
 architecture. In sculpture they did nothing ; their religion forbade 
 their making " graven images." Their mission was to make known 
 the idea of God as a being holy and just and loving — as the Uni- 
 versal Father whose care is over not one .people alone but over all 
 peoples and races — and to teach men that what God requires of 
 them is that they shall do justice and practice righteousness. 
 
 This history-making idea of God and his character, which has pro- 
 foundly influenced the religious and moral development of the race, 
 was the most fruitful element in the bequest which the ancient 
 Hebrews made to the younger world of Europe, and is largely what 
 entitles them to the preeminent place they hold in the history of 
 humanity. 
 
 88. An Ideal of Universal Peace. Another element of great his- 
 torical significance in the bequest of Israel to civilization was an ideal 
 of universal peace. The great prophets Isaiah and Micah, writing in 
 the war-troubled times of the eighth centijry B.C., persuaded of the 
 ultimate triumph of justice and righteousness in the world, foretold 
 the coming of a time when the nations of the earth, with enmities 
 
189] 
 
 IDEAS OF THE FUTURE LIFE 
 
 85 
 
 laid aside, should dwell together in unity and peace : " Out of Zion 
 shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem ; . . . 
 and they [the nations] shall beat their swords into plowshares, and 
 their spears into pruning hooics ; nation shall not lift up sword against 
 nation, neither shall they learn war any more." ^ 
 
 This is the first distinct expression in Hebrew literature, or in the 
 literature of any race, of the brotherhood of man and a federated 
 
 Fig. .57. The Latek Temple at Jerusalem as Enlarged and Beauti- 
 fied BY Herod. (A reconstruction by Schick) 
 
 world. The lofty ideal has lived on through the ages, inspiring many 
 visions of world unity and peace, and in our own day has found 
 concrete embodiment in the noble Peace Palace at the Hague — but 
 has not yet found realization in the conduct of the nations. 
 
 89. Ideas of the Future Life. Speaking di the Hebrew conception 
 of the after life, George Rawlinson says : " How it happened that 
 in Egyptian thought the future life occupied so large a space, and 
 was felt to be so real and so substantial, while among the Hebrews 
 and the other Semites it remained, even after contact with Egypt, 
 so vague and shadowy, is a mystery which it is impossible to 
 penetrate." 
 
 1 Isaiah ii, 3, 4 ; Micah iv, 1-3. 
 
86 THE HEBREWS [§89 
 
 The Hebrew conception of the future life was lilce that of the 
 Babylonians. Sheol was the Babylonian " land of no return " 
 (sect. 56), a vague and shadowy region beneath the earth, a sad and 
 dismal place. " The small and the great w£re there." There was no 
 distinction even between the good and the bad ; the same lot awaited 
 all who went down into the " pit." The good man was thought to 
 receive his reward in long life and prosperity here on earth. But with 
 the moral and religious development of the nation, under the leader- 
 ship and inspiration of their great prophets and teachers, the Hebrews 
 attained a wholly different conception of life beyond the tomb, so that 
 it was finally by them that the doctrine of immortality and of a coming 
 judgment was spread abroad in the Western world. 
 
 Selection from the Sources. The Old Tesiam&ni, z Sam. i, 17-27, David's 
 lament over Saul and Jonathan (see Nathaniel Schmidt's The Message of the 
 Poets, pp. 364-367) ; I Kings v-viii, the building and the dedication by Solomon 
 of the Temple at Jerusalem. 
 
 References (Modern). Sayce, Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations. 
 Kent, A History of the Hebrew People, ? vols. Renan, History of the People 
 of Israel, 4 vols. CORNILL, History of the People of Israel. HiLPRECHT, Recent 
 Research in Bible Lands and Explorations in Bible Lands in the Nineteenth 
 Century (consult tables of contents). Montefiore, Lectures on the Origin 
 and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by the Religion of the Ancient Hebrews. 
 Ball, Light from the East. Budde, Religion of Israel to the Exile. Cheyne, 
 fewish Religious Life after the Exile. MouLTON, The Literary Study of the 
 Bible. Peters, The Heligion of the Hebrews. The special student will of course 
 consult McCuRDY, History, Prophecy, and the Monuments. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, 1. Israel in Egypt: Petrie, Egypt and Israel, 
 chap. ii. 2. The Song of Deborah (Judges v) : Nathaniel Schmidt, The Message 
 of the Poets, pp. 354-362. 3. Some Hebrew laws concerning the poor and the 
 bondsman: Exod. xxii, 25-27; xxiii, 10; Deut. xv, 7-15; xxiv, 6, 10-13. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 PHCENICIANS, HITTITES, AND LYDIANS 
 
 90. Introduction. Three peoples served as intermediaries between 
 the culture lands of the Orient and the early centers of civilization in 
 the West. Along the land and sea routes of trade and travel which 
 they controlled, many of the elements of the civilizations of Egypt 
 and Babylonia were carried to the Western lands. In the present 
 chapter we shall relate some facts pertaining to these peoples which 
 will indicate the place they hold in the cultural history of the ancient 
 world. 
 
 I. THE PHCENICIANS 
 
 91. The Land and the People. Ancient Phoenicia embraced a little 
 strip of broken seacoast lying between the Mediterranean Sea and 
 the ranges of Mount Lebanon.''- One of the 
 most noted productions of the country was 
 the fine fir timber cut from the forests that 
 crowned the lofty ranges of the Lebanon 
 Mountains. The " cedars of Lebanon " 
 hold a prominent place both in the history 
 and in the poetry of the East, F^^, ^8_ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ 
 
 Another celebrated product of the country Murex. (After Maspem) 
 was a purple dye, which was obtained from The mollusks which secrete 
 several varieties of the murex, a species of **= '^""""^ purple dye of the 
 
 ancient Tynans 
 
 shellfish, secured at first along the Phoenician 
 
 coast, but later sought in distant waters, especially in the Grecian seas. 
 
 The Phoenicians were of Semitic race. Long before the advent 
 
 of the Israelites in Canaan, these earlier comers had built great port 
 
 cities along the Mediterranean and developed an extensive sea trade. 
 
 1 Tn the study of this chapter the maps which will be found at pages 82 and 162 
 should be used. 
 
 87 
 
PHCENICIANS, HITTITES, AND LYDIANS [§92 
 
 ' ■ r ■■ 1 r 
 
 92. Tyre and Sidon. The various Phoenician cities never coalesced 
 to form a true nation. They constituted merely a sort of league or 
 confederacy, the petty states of which geiierally acknowledged the 
 leadership of Tyre or of Sidon, the two chief cities. The place 
 of supremacy in the confederation was at first held by Sidon, but 
 later by Tyre. 
 
 From about the eleventh to the fourth century B.C. Tyre con- 
 trolled, almost without dispute on the part of Sidon, the affairs of 
 Phoenicia. During this time the maritime enterprise and energy 
 of Her merchants spread throughout the = Mediterranean world the 
 
 fame of the little island 
 capital. Alexander the 
 Great, after a memora- 
 ble siege, captured the 
 city and reduced it to 
 ruins (sect. 282). Tyre 
 recovered in a measure 
 from this blow, but 
 never regained the 
 place she had previously 
 held in the world. The 
 larger part of the site 
 of the once great city is now " bare as the top of a rock " — 
 a place where the fishermen that still frequent the spot spread their 
 nets to dry. 
 
 93. Phoenician Commerce. It was natural that the people of the 
 Phoenician coast should have been led to a seafaring life. The lofty 
 mountains that back the little strip of shore-seemed to shut them out 
 from a career of conquest and to prohibit an extension of their land 
 domains. At the same time, the Mediterranean in front invited them 
 to maritime enterprise, while the forests of Lebanon in the rear 
 offered timber in abundance for their ships. They were skillful navi- 
 gators, and pushing boldly out from the shore, made voyages out of 
 sight of land. It is believed that they were the first to steer their 
 ships at night by the polar star, since the Greeks called this the 
 Phgenician Star. We have already seen how in the service of an 
 
 Fig. 59. Phcenician Galley. 
 Assyrian sculpture) 
 
 (From an 
 
§94J PHCENICIAN COLONIES 89 
 
 Egyptian king they circumnavigated Africa (sect, 29), thus anticipating 
 by more than two thousand years the achievernent of the Portuguese 
 navigator Vasco da Gama. 
 
 One of the earliest centers of activity of the Phoenician traders 
 was the ^Egean Sea. Here they exchanged wares with the natives, 
 bought or kidnapped slaves, searched the seas for the purple-yielding 
 mollusks, and mined the hills for gold. Herodotus avers that a whole 
 mountain on one of the islands was turned upside down by them in 
 their search for ores. 
 
 Towards the close of the tenth or th6 ninth century B.C. the 
 jealousy of the Greek city-states, now growing into maritime power, 
 closed the yEgean against the Phoenician adventurers. They then 
 pushed out into the western Mediterrane'an, One chief object of 
 their quest here was tin, which was in great demand on account 
 of its use in the manufacture of bronze. The tin was first sup- 
 plied by the mines opened in the Iberian (Spanish) peninsula. 
 Later the bold Phoenician sailors passed the Pillars of Hercules, 
 braved the dangers of the Atlantic, and brought back from those 
 stormy seas the product of the tin-producing districts^ of western 
 Europe. 
 
 94. Phoenician Colonies. Along the different routes pursued by 
 their ships, and upon the coasts visited by them, the Phoenicians 
 established naval stations and trading posts. The sites chosen were 
 generally islands or promontories easily defended, and visible from 
 afar to approaching ships. 
 
 Settlements were planted in Cyprus, in Rhodes, and on other 
 islands of the ^gean Sea, and probably even in Greece itself. 
 The shores of the islands of Sicily and Sardinia were fringed with 
 Phoenician colonies; while the coast of North Africa was dotted 
 with such great cities as Utica, Hippo, and Carthage. Colonies 
 were even planted beyond the Pillars of Hercules, upon the Atlantic 
 seaboard. The Phoenician setdement of Gades, upon the western 
 coast of Spain, is still preserved in the modern Cadiz. Its prosperity 
 
 1 Probably one or all of the following regions : northwest Spain, southwest Britain 
 (Cornwall), and the neighboring Scilly Islands — po&ibly the ancient Cassiterides. 
 The subject has been and is a matter of controversy. 
 
90 PHCENICIANS, HITTITES, AND LYDIANS [§9S 
 
 rested on the salt-fish trade of the Atlantic, as well as on the mineral 
 products and agricultural riches of Spain.^ 
 
 95. Arts Disseminated by the Phoenicians; the Alphabet. Com- 
 merce has been called the pathbreaker of civilization. Certainly it 
 was such in antiquity when the Phoenician traders carried in their 
 ships to every Mediterranean land the wares of the workshops of 
 Tyre and Sidon, and along with these material products carried also 
 
 the seeds of culture 
 from the ancient 
 lands of Egypt and 
 Babylonia. In truth, 
 we can scarcely over- 
 rate the influence of 
 Phoenician maritime 
 enterprise upon the 
 distribution of the 
 arts and the spread 
 of culture among the 
 early peoples of the 
 Mediterranean area. 
 " 'Egypt and Assyria,'' 
 as has been tersely 
 said, " were the birthplace of material civilization ; the Phoenicians 
 were its missionaries." 
 
 Most fruitful of all the arts which the Phoenicians introduced 
 among the peoples with whom they traded was the art of alpha- 
 betic writing. As early at least as the ninth century B.C. they were 
 in possession of an alphabet (sect. 1 1). Now wherever the Phoenician 
 
 Phcenician 
 
 ANCIENT GREEK 
 
 LATER GREEK 
 
 ENGLISH 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^ x;/iA 
 
 A. A 
 
 A 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 B 
 
 B 
 
 /)M 
 
 /\^Ac 
 
 r 
 
 C 
 
 A. A 
 
 ^A^P 
 
 A 
 
 D 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^.^^^^ 
 
 E e 
 
 E 
 
 1 
 
 A /^ 
 
 
 F 
 
 Z 
 
 s z _zr 
 
 z 
 
 Z 
 
 Fig. 6o. Table showing the Development of 
 English Letters from the Phcenician 
 
 1 From the mother city Tyre and from all her imp^ortant colonies and trading posts 
 radiated long routes of land travel by which articles were conveyed from the interior 
 of the continents to the Mediterranean seaboard. Thus amber was brought from the 
 Baltic, through the forests of Germany, to the mouth of the river Padus (Po), in Italy} 
 while the tin of western Europe was, at first, brought across Gaul to the outlets of the 
 Rhone, and there loaded upon the Phcenician ships. The trade with India was carried 
 on by way of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, great caravans bearing the burdens 
 from the ports at the heads of these seas across the Arabian and Syrian deserts to the 
 warehouses of Tyre. Other routes led from Phoenicia across the Mesopotamian plains 
 to Armenia, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, and thence on into the heart of central Asia, 
 
j96] 
 
 THE EMPIRE OF THE HITTITES 
 
 91 
 
 traders went they carried this alphabet as "'one of their exports." It 
 was through them that the Greeks received it ; the Greeks passed it 
 on to the Romans, and the Romans gave it to the German peoples. 
 In this way our alphabet came to us from 
 the ancient East.^ It would be difficult to 
 exaggerate the importance of this gift of the 
 alphabet to the peoples of Europe. Without 
 it their civilization could never have become 
 so rich and progressive as it did. 
 
 Among the other elements of culture which 
 the Phoenicians carried to the peoples of the 
 Mediterranean lands, the most important, 
 after alphabetic writing, were systems of 
 weights and measures. These are indispen- 
 sable agents of civilization, and hold some 
 such relation to the development of trade 
 and commerce as letters hold to the develop- 
 ment of the intellectual life. 
 
 II. THE HITTITES 
 96. The Empire of the Hittites, 
 
 growing knowledge of the peoples and states 
 of Asia Minor has revealed the fact that the 
 elements of Egyptian and Mesopotamian cul- 
 ture were carried westward over the im- 
 memorial land routes through this 'peninsula 
 as well as by the waterways of the Medi- 
 terranean. Chief in importance, before the 
 Persian period, of the peoples controlling 
 these land routes were, first, the Hittites, 
 and then at a much later time the Lydians. We have already had 
 our attention drawn to the empire of the Hittites (sect. 28), whose 
 capital city Hatti was situated on the uplands of Asia Minor, east of 
 the Halys River. From about 1600 B.C. on for several centuries this 
 
 1 All systems of writing now in use, except the Chinese and those derived from it, 
 jre from the Phoenician script 
 
 Our YiG. 61. The Hittite 
 God of the Sky 
 
 A stele excavated by Dr. 
 Koldewey in the palace of 
 Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon, 
 whither it probably had been 
 carried as a war trophy froni 
 northern Syria. The figure 
 holds in one hand the light- 
 ning and in the other an ax, 
 a primitive symbol of power 
 and sovereignty 
 
92 
 
 PHOENICIANS, HITTITES, A1<JD LYDIANS [§97 
 
 Hittite state was one of the great powers of the Orient, and divided 
 with Egypt, Babylonia, and Assyria the control of western Asia. 
 The empire finally fell to pieces, and the very memory of it was lost 
 
 W a^" 
 
 Fig. 62. Caravan Crossing the Taurus. (From a photograph) 
 
 Scene on the ancient trade route — a branch of the great Royal Road (sect. 104) — w^iich 
 crosses the Taurus Mountains by the famous Cilician Gates. This road has been a 
 chief artery of the trade of western Asia and the pathway of armies for more than four 
 thousand years. Its long story of peace and war will end with the completion of the 
 Constantinople-Bagdad railroad 
 
 97. Relation to the History of Civilization. The importance of 
 the Hittite princes for the history of culture arises from the circum- 
 stance, as already intimated, that the great overland trade routes 
 
 Fig. 63. Hittite Hieroglyphic Writing 
 The key to this difficult script has not yet been discovered 
 
 between the East and the West ran through their dominions. They 
 held, in a word, the same relation to the land traffic of the times that 
 the Phcenicians held to the sea traffic. They themselves absorbed 
 
§98] THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 93 
 
 various elements of Egyptian and Babylonian-Assyrian culture. They 
 developed an art which bore the deep impress of Assyrian influence, 
 and worked out a system of hieroglyphic writing, probably under the 
 influence of Egypt. This is a very difficult script and has not yet 
 been deciphered. In their foreign diplomatic correspondence they 
 used the Babylonian cuneiform script, and many clay tablets like those 
 of the Mesopotamian countries have been' found on the site of the 
 ancient capital.'' 
 
 III. THE LYDIANS 
 
 98. The Land and the People. The third people that played the 
 role of intermediaries in the ancient world were the Lydians. Lydia 
 was a country in the western part of Asia Minor. It was a land 
 highly favored by nature. It embraced two rich river valleys — the 
 plains of the Hermus and the Cayster — which from the mountains 
 inland sloped gently to the island-dotted ^gean. The Pactolus, 
 and other tributaries of the streams we have named, rolled down 
 " golden sands,'' while the mountains were rich in the precious metals. 
 The coast region did not at first belong to Lydia; it was held by 
 the Greeks, who had fringed it with cities. Later, these cities, with 
 the exception of Miletus, were subjugated by the I^ydian kings. The 
 capital of the country was Sardis. It seems probable that the Lydian 
 state was a fragment of the great Hittite Empire. 
 
 99. Lydia a Connecting Link between the East and the West. As 
 we have said, the Lydians hold an important place in the history of 
 ancient culture because they played a part like that of the Phcenicians 
 and the Hittites. The cities of the coast la'nds were the last stations 
 towards the west of the great overland trade routes. They were the 
 gateways through which various elements of the culture of the Orient 
 passed into Europe. 
 
 The best gift of Lydia to the Western world was the art of coinage, 
 for the Lydian kings were the first to coin gold and silver; that is, 
 to impress a stamp upon pieces of these metals and thus testify to 
 their purity and weight.^ Before this invention gold and silver were 
 
 ^ The modem Boghaz-Keui. 
 
 2 Holm, History of Greece (iSgg), vol. i, p. 214. 
 
94 PHOENICIANS, HITTITES, AND LYDIANS [§99 
 
 taken by weight/ which had to be determined anew by balances 
 each time the metal changed hands. The invention, quickly adopted 
 by the Greek cities, gave a great impulse to their expanding trade 
 and commerce. From Greece the art was introduced into Italy. 
 Thus Lydia gave to civilization one of its most important and 
 indispensable agencies. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. The Bible, Ezek. xxvii (a striking portrayal 
 by thie prophet of tlie commerce, the trade relations, and the wealth of Tyre), 
 The Voyage of Hanno, a record of a Phoenician exploring expedition down the 
 western coast of Africa (a translation of this celebrated record will be found 
 in Rawlinson's History of Pkcenicia, pp. 389-392). 
 
 References (Modern). Rawunson, History of Phanicia and The Story of 
 Phainicia. Kenrick, Pkcenicia. Old (1855), but still valuable. Lenoemant 
 and Chevallier, Ancient History of the East, vol. ii (consult table of contents). 
 Sayce, The Ancient Empires of the East, chaps, iii, iv. Duncker, History 
 of Antiquity, vol. ii, bk. iii, chaps, xi, xii. KelIer, Colonization, pp. 26-39. 
 Garstang, The Land of the Hittiies. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Phcenician commerce and its influence upon 
 the progress of civilization : Keller, Colonization, pp. 28-30, 38-39. i. The 
 Tyrian purple dye ; Rawlinson, The Story of Phoenicia, pp. 5, 6, 27,5-282. 
 3. A Phoenician adventure — the circumnavigation of Africa : Rawlinson, 
 The Story of Phoenicia, chap. xii. 4. Croesus and Solon : Herodotus, i, 29-33 
 jretold in Church, Herodotus, pp. 3-10). 
 
 1 See Gen. xxiii, 7-16. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 
 
 (558-330 B.C.) 
 I. POLITICAL HISTORY 
 
 100. Kinship of the Medes and Persians. It was in remote times, 
 probably before 1500 B.C., that some Aryan tribes, separating them- 
 selves from kindred clans, the ancestors of the Indian Aryans, with 
 whom they had lived for a time as a single community, sought new 
 abodes on the plateau of western Iran. The immigrants that settled 
 in the south, near the Persian Gulf, became known as the Persians ; 
 while those that took possession of the mountain regions of the 
 northwest were called Medes. The names of the two peoples were 
 always very closely associated, as in the familiar legend, " The law 
 of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.'' 
 
 101. The Medes at first the Leading Race. Although the Persians 
 were destined to become the dominant tribe of all the Iranian 
 Aryans, still the Medes were at first the leading people. Cyaxares 
 (625-585 B.C.) was their first prominent leader and king. We have 
 already seen how he overthrew the last king of Nineveh, and destroyed 
 that capital (sect. 67). The destruction of the Assyrian power resulted 
 in the speedy extension of the frontiers of the new Median empire 
 to the river Halys in Asia Minor. 
 
 102. Cyrus the Great (558-529 B.C.) Founds a Great World Empire. 
 The leadership of the Median chieftains was of short duration. 
 A certain Cyrus, king of Anshan, in Elam, overthrew their power, 
 and assumed the headship of both Medes and Persians. Through 
 his energy and soldierly genius Cyrus soon built up an empire more 
 extended than any over which the scepter had yet been swayed by 
 oriental monarch, or indeed, so far as we know, by any ruler before 
 his time. 
 
 95 
 
96 
 
 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 
 
 [§102 
 
 After the conquest of Media and the acquisition of the provinces 
 formerly ruled by the Median princes, Cyru? rounded out his empire 
 by the conquest of Lydia and Babylonia. 
 
 The Lydian throne was at this time held by Crcesus (560-546 b.c), 
 the last and most renowned of his race. The tribute Croesus collected 
 from the Greek cities, and the revenues he derived from his gold 
 mines, rendered him the richest monarch: of his times, so that his 
 name has passed into the proverb " rich -as Croesus." ' 
 
 Now the fall of Media, which had been a- friendly and allied power, 
 and the extension thereby of the domains of the conqueror Cyrus to 
 
 the eastern frontiers of Lydia, 
 naturally filled Crcesus with alarm. 
 He at once formed an alliance 
 with Nabonidus, king of Babylon, 
 and with Amasis, king of Egypt, 
 both of whom, like Croesus, had 
 fears fbr the safety of their own 
 kingdohis. Furthermore, Crcesus 
 formed an alliance with the Greek 
 city of Sparta, which was now 
 rising into prominence. 
 
 Without waiting for his allies 
 
 to join him, Crcesus crossed the 
 
 river Halys and threw down the 
 
 gage of battle to Cyrus. But he 
 
 had misjudged the strength and activity of his enemy. Cyrus defeated 
 
 the Lydians in the open field, and after a short siege captured Sardis. 
 
 Lydia now became a part of the Persian Empire (546 B.C.). 
 
 This war between Croesus and Cyrus derives a special importance 
 from the fact that it brought the Persian Empire into contact with 
 the Greek cities of Asia, and thus led on 'directly to that memorable 
 struggle between Greece and Persia known as the Graeco-Persian 
 War, the incidents of which we shall narrate in a later chapter. 
 
 1 Legend tells how Cyrus caused a pyre to be built on which to bum Croesus, and 
 how Apollo, because the king had made rich gifts to his shrine, put out the kindling 
 fire by a sudden downpour of rain. See Herodotus, i, .86 f. 
 
 Fig. 64. Crcesus on the Pyre^ 
 
il03] 
 
 REIGN OF CAMBYSES 
 
 97 
 
 The fall of Lydia was quickly followed by that of Babylonia, as 
 has been already related as part of the story of the Chaldean Empire 
 (sect. 76). Cyrus had now rounded out his dominions. 
 
 Tradition says that Cyrus lost his life -in an expedition against 
 Scythian tribes in the north. He was buried at Pasargadffi, the old 
 Persian capital, and there his tomb stands to-day, surrounded by the 
 ruins of the magnificent buildings with which he adorned that city. 
 
 103. Reign of Cambyses (529-522 e.g.). Cyrus the Great left two 
 sons, Cambyses and Smerdis ; the former, as the elder, inherited the 
 scepter and the title 
 of king. He began a 
 despotic and unfortu- 
 nate reign by causing 
 his brother, whose 
 influence he feared, 
 to be secretly put to 
 death. 
 
 With far less ability 
 than his father for 
 their execution, Cam- 
 byses conceived even 
 vaster projects of con- 
 quest and dominion. Upon some slight pretext he invaded and 
 conquered Egypt, together with Nubia. After a short, unsatisfactory 
 stay in the country, Cambyses set out on his return to Persia. While 
 on his way home, news was brought to him that his brother Smerdis 
 had usurped the throne (an impostor, Gomates by name, who re- 
 sembled the murdered Smerdis, had personated him, and actually 
 seized the scepter). Entirely disheartened by this startling intelligence, 
 Cambyses in despair took his own life.'' 
 
 104. Reign of Darius I (521-484 B.C.). The Persian nobles soon 
 rescued the scepter from the grasp of the false Smerdis, and their 
 leader, Darius, took the throne. The first act of Darius was to 
 punish those who had taken part in the usurpation of Smerdis. 
 
 Fig. 65. The Tomb of Cyrus, at Pasargad^ 
 
 1 So the records of Darius inform us. Other less reliable accounts say that his death 
 was the result of an accident. 
 
98 
 
 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 
 
 [§104 
 
 With quiet and submission secured throughout the empire, Darius 
 gave himself, for a time, to the arts of peace. He built a great palace 
 at Susa ; erected magnificent structures at Persepolis ; reformed the 
 administration of the government, making such wise and lasting 
 changes that he has been called " the second founder of the Persian 
 Empire " ; and constructed post roads with which he bound together 
 all parts of his extended dominion. The celebrated Royal Road ran 
 from Susa through the ancient Assyria and Armenia, and across Asia 
 
 
 Fig. 66. Insurgent Captives brought before Darius 
 
 (From the Behistun Rock) 
 
 Beneath the foot of the king is Gomates, the false Smerdis 
 
 Minor — over the uplands once controlled by the Hittite princes — 
 to Sardis and so on to the ^gean at Ephesus.^ This roai;! must 
 have been in the main merely the ancient trails, used by caravans 
 from time immemorial, improved and better provided with relay 
 stations. Over it couriers, changing frequently their mounts, car- 
 ried the royal commands "swifter than the crane." This magni- 
 ficent road was a main artery of ancient trade and commerce for 
 more than a thousand years. 
 
 1 See Herodotus v, 52, 53, 
 
§105] 
 
 REIGN OF DARIUS I 
 
 99 
 
 To commemorate his achievements, Darius inscribed upon the 
 great Behistun Rock (Fig. 68), a lofty smooth-faced cliff on the west- 
 ern frontier of Persia, 
 a record of what he 
 had done. 
 
 And now the Great 
 King, lord of western 
 Asia and of Egypt, 
 conceived and entered 
 upon the execution of 
 vast designs of con- 
 quest, the far-reaching 
 effects of which were 
 destined to live long 
 after he had passed 
 away. He determined 
 to extend the frontiers 
 of his empire into India 
 and Europe alike. 
 
 At one blow Darius 
 brought the region of 
 northwestern India known as the Panjab under his authority, and 
 thus by a single effort pushed out the eastern boundary of his empire 
 so that it included one of the 
 richest countries of Asia. 
 
 105. Campaigns in Eu- 
 rope. Several campaigns 
 in Europe followed. These ^ 
 brought Darius in direct 
 contact with the Greeks, of 
 whom we shall soon hear 
 much. How his armaments 
 and those of his son and 
 successor, Xerxes I (484- 
 464 B.C.), fared at the hands of this freedom-loving people, who 
 now appear for the first time as prominent actors in large world 
 
 Fig. 67. Traces of the Royal Road of Darius 
 (From Garstang, The Land of the Hittites) 
 
 The great Royal Road of Darius can still be traced in 
 places over the uplands of Asia Minor by the wheel-ruts 
 of chariots and other vehicles worn in the surface rock. 
 The section shown in the picture is near the old capital 
 of the Hittites (see sect. 96) 
 
 Fig. 58. The Behistun Rock 
 (After Rawlinson) 
 
lOO 
 
 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 
 
 [§106 
 
 affairs, will be told when we come to narrate the history of the Greek 
 city-states. We need now simply note the result — the wreck of the 
 Persian plans of conquest and the opening of the great days of Greece. 
 106. The Decline and Fall of the Persian Empire. The power and 
 supremacy of the Persian monarchy passed away with the reign of 
 Xerxes. The last one hundred and forty years of the existence of the 
 
 empire was a time of 
 weakness and rebel- 
 lions of satraps and 
 nations, and presents 
 nothing that need 
 claim our attention 
 in this place. 
 
 In the year 334 B.C. 
 Alexander the Great, 
 king of Macedonia, 
 led a small army of 
 Greeks and Mace- 
 donians across the 
 Hellespont intent up- 
 on the conquest of 
 Asia. His succeeding 
 movements and the 
 establishment of the 
 short-lived Macedo- 
 nian monarchy upon 
 the ruins of the Persian Empire are matters that properly belong to 
 Grecian history, and will be related at a later stage of our story. 
 
 Fig. 69. Rock-cut Tomb of Darius I, near 
 PEKSJii'OLis. (After Flandin and Coste) 
 
 II. GOVERNMENT, RELIGION, AND ARTS 
 
 107. The Extent and Population of the Empire. The extent of 
 the Persian Empire and the number of races it embraced justified 
 the claim of the Persian rulers to a universal dominion. They 
 assumed the title of king of kings, and proclaimed themselves as 
 " the lord of all men from the sun-rising to the sun-setting." 
 
§108] THE GOVERNMENT loi 
 
 The population of the empire, including Egypt, was probably 
 about fifty million, which is eight or nine million more than the 
 same lands contain to-day. Of this number only about one-half 
 million were genuine Persians.-' 
 
 108. The Government. Before the reign of Darius I the govern- 
 ment of the Persian Empire was like that of all the great empires 
 that had preceded it, save the Assyrian in a measure and for a short 
 space of time ; that is to say, it consisted of a great number of sub- 
 ject states, which were allowed to retain their own kings and manage 
 their own affairs, only paying tribute and furnishing contingents, 
 when called upon in time of war, to the Great King. 
 
 We have seen how weak was this rude and primitive type of 
 government. Darius I, who possessed rare ability as an organizer, 
 remodeled the system of his predecessors, and actually realized for 
 the Persian monarchy what Tiglath-Pileser IV had long before 
 attempted, but only with partial and temporary success, to accom- 
 plish for the Assyrian (sect. 63). 
 
 The system of government which Darius thus first made a real 
 fact in the world is known as the satrapal, a form represented to-day 
 by the Turkish Empire.^ The main part of the lands embraced by 
 the monarchy was divided into twenty or more provinces, over each 
 of which was placed a governor, called a satrap, appointed by the 
 king. These officials held their position at the pleasure of the 
 sovereign, and were thus rendered his subservient creatures. Each 
 province contributed to the income of the king a stated revenue. 
 
 There were provisions in the system by which the king might be 
 apprised of the disloyalty of his satraps. Thus the whole dominion 
 was firmly cemented together, and the facility with which almost- 
 sovereign states — which was the real character of the different 
 parts of the empire under the old system — could plan and execute 
 revolt, was removed, 
 
 109. Religion and Morality; Zoroastrianism. The literature of 
 the ancient Persians was mostly religious, Their sacred book is 
 called the Zend-Avesta. 
 
 1 Eduard Meyer, Geschichte des Altertiims, III, 91, 2. Aufl. 
 
 2 The provincial system of the Romans reproduced this satrapal system of the Persians. 
 
I02 
 
 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 
 
 [§109 
 
 The religious system of the Persians, as taught in the Zend-Avesta, 
 is known as Zoroastrianism, from Zoroaster, its supposed founder. 
 This great reformer and teacher is now generally believed to have 
 lived and taught about looo b.c, though some scholars place him 
 several centuries later. 
 
 Zoroastrianism, the first religion that claimed universality, that 
 is, to be a creed for all men, was a system of belief best defined 
 as dualism. There was a good spirit, Ahyra Mazda, whose truest 
 emblem or manifestation was fire. Upon high mountain tops the 
 
 eternal flame on fire- 
 altars was kept burn- 
 ing from generation to 
 generation. Because 
 of their veneration 
 for fire the ancient 
 Persians are often 
 called fire-worshipers. 
 Opposed to the 
 good spirit Ahura, or 
 Ormazd, was an evil 
 spirit Ahriman, who 
 was constantly striv- 
 ing to destroy the 
 good creations of 
 Ahura by creating all 
 evil things — storm, drought, pestilence, noxious animals, weeds and 
 thorns in the world without, and evil in the heart of man within. 
 From all eternity these two powers had been contending for the 
 mastery; in the present neither had the decided advantage; but 
 in the near future Ahura would triumph over Ahriman, and evil 
 be forever destroyed. 
 
 The duty of man was to aid Ahura by working with him against 
 the evil-loving Ahriman. He must labor to eradicate every evil and 
 vice from his own heart; to reclaim the earth from barrenness; and 
 to kill all noxious animals — frogs, toads, snakes, lizards — which 
 Ahriman had created. Herodotus saw with amazement the priests 
 
 Fig. 70. Ancient Persian Fire-altars. 
 Perrot, History of Persian Art) 
 
 (From 
 
Plate VII. "The Frieze of the Archers," from the Palace 
 
 OF Darius at Susa. (After M. Dieulafpy, V Acropole de Snse) 
 This frieze (now in the museum of the Louvre) is .regarded as the masterpiece 
 of Persian art. It is formed of enameled tiles (cf. Fig. 55 and note, on p. 77) 
 
§110] 
 
 THE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD 
 
 103 
 
 armed with weapons and engaged in slaying these animals as a 
 " pious pastime." Agriculture was a sacred calling, for the husband- 
 man was reclaiming the ground from the curse of the dark spirit.^ 
 
 HO. The Judgment of the Dead. As the moral feelings of the 
 ancient Egyptians led them to create the Osirian tribunal of the 
 underworld (sect. 41), so did the moral feelings of the Iranian 
 teachers create a like judgment of the dead. The Persian concep- 
 tion of this judgment, however, was truer and loftier than the 
 Egyptian. The soul was conceived as 
 being judged by itself. Upon its 
 departure from this life the soul of 
 the faithful is met by a beautiful 
 maiden, " fair as the fairest thing," 
 who says to him : "I am thy own 
 conscience ; I was lovely and thou 
 madest me still lovelier ; I was fair 
 and thou madest me still fairer through 
 thy good thought, thy good speech, 
 and thy good deed." And then the 
 soul is led into the paradise of end- 
 less light. But the soul of the wicked 
 one is met by a hideous old woman, 
 " uglier than the ugliest thing,'' who 
 is his own conscience. She says to 
 him : "' I am thy bad actions, O youth 
 of evil thoughts, of evil words, of evil 
 deeds, of evil religion. It is on account of thy will and actions that 
 I am hideous and vile." And then the soul is led down into the 
 hell of endless darkness.^ 
 
 Fig. 71. The King in Combat 
 
 WITH A Monster Symbolizing 
 
 Ahkiman. (From Persepolis) 
 
 1 After the Zoroastrians had added to their creed the Magian belief in the sacredness 
 of the elements, — earth, water, fire, and air, — there arose a difficulty in regard to the 
 disposal of dead bodies. They could neither be burned, buried, thrown into the water, 
 nor left to decay in a sepulchral chamber or in the open air without polluting one or 
 another of the sacred elements. So they were given to the birds and wild beasts, being 
 exposed on lofty towers or in desert places. Those whose feelings would not allow 
 them thus to dispose of their dead were permitted to buiy them, provided they first 
 encased the body in wax to preserve the ground from contamination. 
 
 2 Zend-Avesta, pt. ii, yasht xxii (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxiii, pp. 314 ff.). 
 
104^ 
 
 THE PERSIAN EMfIRE 
 
 [§111 
 
 Thus in the earliest period of the faith of the Zend-Avesta was 
 taught the doctrine that heaven and hell are within the human 
 soul itself, and that conscience is the supreme witness and judge 
 of the soul's worthiness or unworthiness. 
 
 111. The Duty of Truthfulness. Among the special virtues of 
 the Persian moral code was truthfulness. As Ahura was the god 
 of sincerity and truth, the man who battles on his side must also 
 be sincere and truthful. Lying was the great crime. To lie, to de- 
 ceive, was to be a follower of Ahriman, thg god of lies and deceit. 
 
 Fig. 72. The Ruins of Persepolis 
 
 '" The most disgraceful thing in the world," affirms Herodotus in 
 his account of the Persians, " they think, is to tell a lie." * In his 
 report of the Persian system of education he says : " The ,boys are 
 taught to ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the truth."'' I was 
 not wicked, nor a liar, is the substance and purport of many a 
 record of the ancient kings. 
 
 The Persian rulers, shaming in this all other nations ancient and 
 modern, kept sacredly their pledged word ; only once were they ever 
 even charged with having broken a treaty v^rith a foreign power.' 
 
 1 Herodotus, i, 139. '^ Ibid, i, 136. 
 
 8 This was in the case of the city of Barca (see Herodotus, iv, 201). The later 
 Persians fell away woefully from this high standard. 
 
§ 112] ARCHITECTURE 105 
 
 118. Architecture. In the earliest times ^the Persians had no tem- 
 ples. Their fire-altars stood beneath the open heavens. The palace 
 of the monarch was the structure that absorbed the best efforts of 
 the Persian architect. In imitation of the builders of the Tigris- 
 Euphrates valley the Persian kings raised their palaces upon lofty 
 terraces or platforms. But upon the table-lands they used stone 
 instead of brick, and at Persepolis built for the substruction of 
 their palaces an immense platform of massive masonry, which, with 
 its sculptured stairways, is one of the most wonderful monuments 
 of the world's ancient builders. 
 
 Surmounting this platform are the ruins of the residences of several 
 of tiie Persian monarchs. The ruins consist mainly of lofty columns 
 and great monolithic door and window frames. Colossal winged bulls, 
 copied from the Assyrians, stand as wardens at the gateway of the 
 ruined palaces. Numerous sculptures decorate the faces of the walls, 
 and these throw much light upon the manners and customs of the 
 ancient Persian kings. The successive palaces increase not only in 
 size but in sumptuousness of adornment, thus registering those 
 changes which may be traced in the national history. The residence 
 of Cyrus was small and modest, while that of Artaxerxes III (359- 
 338 B.C.) equaled in size the great palace of the Assyrian Sargon. 
 
 Selections from the Sources, Herodotus, i, 46-55, on Croesus and the 
 oracles; 86-91, on Cyrus and Crcesus; 131-140, on the customs of the Per- 
 sians. Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, pp. 174-187, " The Large 
 "inscription of Darius from' Behistun." (We make no reference either here or 
 in the following chapter to the Sacred Books of the East, for the reason that 
 these translations are in general not suited to young readers.) 
 
 References (Modern). Maspero, The Passing of the Empires, ch?i-p.\i. Raw- 
 LINSON, Five Great Monarchies, vol. iii, pp. 84-539. Sayce, The Ancient 
 Empires of the East, chaps, iv, v. WHEELER, Alexander the Great, chap. xii. 
 Jackson, Zoroaster, the Prophet of Ancient Iran. Hall, Ancient Histoty of 
 the Near East, chap, xii, pp. 551-579. Benjamin, Persia, chaps, vii-xi. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Persian character and public and private life : 
 Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies, vol. iii, chap, iii, pp. 164-247. 2. The Royal 
 Road from Susa to Sardis : Herodotus, v, 52-54. 3. The Parsees, the modern 
 representatives of the ancient fire-worshipers: see Encyc. Brit., vol. xx (nth 
 ed.),. under "Parsees." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 THE EAST ASIAN PEOPLES 
 
 113. The East Asian Circle of Culture. While in Egypt and west- 
 ern Asia there were slowly developing the Egyptian, the Babylonian- 
 Assyrian, the Syrian, and the Persian cultures of which we have given 
 some account in the preceding chapters, there were developing at the 
 other end of Asia, in India and China, civilizations which throughout 
 this early period were in the main uninfluenced by the cultures of the 
 West. Before following further the development of civilization in the 
 Western lands, we must cast a glance upon these civilizations of 
 the Far East.^ 
 
 I. INDIA 
 
 114. The Aryan Invasion. At the time of the great Indo-European 
 dispersion (sect. i8), some Aryan bands, journeying from the north- 
 west, settled first the plains of the Indus and then occupied the valley 
 of the Ganges. They reached the banks of the latter river as early 
 probably as 1500 B.C. 
 
 These fair-skinned invaders found the land occupied by a dark- 
 skinned, non-Aryan race, whom they either subjugated and reduced 
 to serfdom, or drove out of the great river valleys into the mountains 
 and the half-desert plains of the peninsula. 
 
 In the course of time the conquered peoples, who doubtless 
 formed the great majority of the population, adopted the language 
 and the religion of the invaders, " They became Aryans in all 
 things save in descent." ^ 
 
 1 Besides the Hindus and the Chinese, the Japanese are a third important people be- 
 longing to the East Asian sphere of culture, but as they did not emerge from the obscurity 
 of prehistoric times until about the beginning of the fiftii,century of our era, when writing 
 was introduced into Japan from the continent, their true history falls wholly outside the 
 period covered by the present volume. 
 
 2 The unsubdued tribes of southern India, known as Dravidians, retained their native 
 speech. Over 54,000,000 of the present population of India are non-Aiyan in language, 
 
 106 
 
§11S] DEVELOPMENT OF SYSTEM OF CASTES 107 
 
 115. The Development of the System of Castes. The conflict and 
 mingling of races in northern India caused the population to become 
 divided into four social grades or hereditary classes, based on color. 
 These were (i) the nobles or warriors ; (2) the Brahmans or priests ; ' 
 (3) the peasants and traders ; and (4) the Sudras. The last were 
 of non-Aryan descent. IJulow these several grades were the Pariahs 
 or outcasts, the lowest and most despised of the native races. The 
 marked characteristics of this graded sociely were that intermarriage 
 between the classes was forbidden, and that the members of different 
 classes must not eat together nor come into personal contact. 
 
 The development of this system, which is known as the system of 
 castes, is one of the most important facts in the history of India. 
 The system, however, has undergone great modification in the lapse 
 of ages, and is now less rigid than in earlier times. At the present 
 day it rests largely on an industrial basis, the members of every trade 
 and occupation forming a distinct caste. The number of castes is now 
 about two thousand. 
 
 116. The Vedas and the Vedic Religion, The most important of 
 the sacred books of the Hindus are called the Vedas. They are writ- 
 ten in the Sanscrit language, which is the oldest form of Aryan 
 speech preserved to us. The Rig-Veda^ the most ancient of the 
 books, is made up of hymns which were composed chiefly during the 
 long period, perhaps a thousand years or more, while the Aryans 
 were slowly working their way from the mountains on the northwest 
 of India across the peninsula to the Ga,nges. These hymns, the 
 oldest of which probably date from about 1500 B.C., are filled with 
 memories of the long conflict of the fair-faced Aryans with the 
 dark-faced aborigines. 
 
 The early religion of the Indian Aryans was a worship of the 
 powers of nature. As this system characterized the period when 
 the oldest Vedic hymns were composed, ft is known as the Vedic 
 religion. 
 
 117. Brahmanism and the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls. 
 As time passed, this nature worship of the Vedic period developed 
 into a form of religion known as Brahmaniism, It is so named from 
 
 1 At a later period the Brahmans arrogated to theijiselves the highest rank. 
 
I08^ THE EAST ASIAN PEOPLES [§118 
 
 Brahma, which is the Hindu name for the Supreme Being. Below 
 Brahma there are many gods. 
 
 A chief doctrine of Brahmanism is that all life, apart from 
 Brahma, is travail and sorrow. We can make this idea plain to our- 
 selves by recalling what are our own ideas of this earthly life. We 
 call it a feverish dream, a journey through a vale of sorrow. Now 
 the Hindu regards all existence, whether in this world or in another, 
 in the same light. The only way to deliverance from pain and evil 
 lies in communion with and final reabsorption into Brahma. But this 
 return to Brahma is dependent upon the soul's purification, for no , 
 impure soul can be reunited with the Univfersal Soul. The purity of 
 soul required for reunion with Brahma can test be attained by living ' 
 aloof from society and by contemplation and self-torture ; hence the 
 asceticism of the Hindu devotee. 
 
 As only a few in each generation reach the goal, it follows that the 
 great majority of men must be born again and yet again, until all 
 evil has been purged away from the soul and eternal repose found in 
 Brahma. He who lives a virtuous life is at death bom into some 
 higher caste or better state, and thus he advances towards the longed- 
 for end. The evil man, however, is born into a lower caste, or per- 
 haps his soul enters some unclean animal, or is imprisoned in some 
 shrub or tree. This doctrine of rebirth is known as the Transmigration 
 of Souls. 
 
 In the early period only the first three classes were admitted to the 
 benefits of religion. The Sudras and the outcasts were forbidden to 
 read the sacred books, and for any one of the upper classes to teach 
 a serf how to atone for sin was a crime. 
 
 118. Buddhism. In the fifth century before our era a great teacher 
 and reformer named Gautama (about 557-477 B.C.), but better known 
 as Buddha, that is, " the Enlightened," arose in India. He was more 
 Chrisdike than any other teacher whose life and words are known to 
 us. He was of noble birth, but legend represents him as being so 
 touched by the universal misery of mankind that he voluntarily aban- 
 doned the luxury of his home and spent his life in seeking out and 
 making known to men a new and better way of salvation. His creed 
 was very simple. What he taught the people was that they should 
 
§119] ALEXANDER'S INVASION OF INDIA 109 
 
 seek salvation — that is, deliverance from existence, which like the 
 Brahman he felt to be an evil — not through sacrifices and rites and 
 self-torture, but through honesty and purity of heart, through charity 
 and tenderness and compassion toward all creatures that have life. 
 
 Buddha admitted all classes to the benefits of religion, the poor 
 outcast as well as the high-born Brahman, and thus Buddhism was 
 a revolt against the earlier exclusive system of Brahmanism. 
 
 Buddhism gradually gained ascendancy over Brahmanism; but 
 after some centuries the Brahmans regained their power, and by 
 the eighth century after Christ the faith .of Buddha had died out 
 or had been crowded out of almost every part of India. 
 
 But Buddhism has a profound missionary spirit, like that of Chris- 
 tianity, Buddha having commanded his disciples to make known to all 
 men the way to salvation; and consequently during the very period 
 when India was being lost, the missionaries of the reformed creed 
 were spreading the teachings of their master among the peoples of 
 all the countries of eastern Asia, so that to-day Buddhism is the 
 religion of almost one third of the human race. Buddha has probably 
 nearly as many followers as both Christ and Mohammed together. 
 
 During its long contact with Buddhism, Brahmanism was greatly 
 modified, and caught much of the gentler spirit of the new faith, so 
 that modem Brahmanism is a very different religion from that of the 
 ancient system ; hence it is usually given a new name, being known 
 as Hinduism.^ 
 
 119. Alexander's Invasion of India (327 B.C.). Although we find 
 obscure notices of India in the records of the early historic peoples 
 of western Asia, yet it is not until the invasion of the peninsula by 
 Alexander the Great in 327 B.C. that the history of the Indian Aryans 
 comes in significant contact with that of the progressive nations of 
 the West. 
 
 From that day to our own its systems of philosophy, its wealth, 
 and its commerce have been more or less important factors in 
 universal history. Columbus was seeking a short all-sea route to 
 
 ^ Among the customs introduced or revived by the Brahmans during this period 
 was the rite of suttee, or the voluntary burning of the widow on the funeral pyre of 
 her husband. 
 
no THE EAST ASIAN PEOPLES [§120 
 
 this country when he found the New World. And in the upbuilding 
 of the imperial greatness of the England of to-day, the wealth and 
 trade of India have played no inconsiderable part. 
 
 II. CHINA 
 
 120. General Remarks : the Beginning. China was the cradle of 
 a very old civilization, older perhaps than that of any other lands save 
 Egypt and Babylonia; yet Chinese affairs" have not until recently 
 exercised any direct influence upon the general current of history. All 
 through the later ancient and mediseval times the country lay, vague 
 and mysterious, in the haze of the world's horizon. During the Middle 
 Ages the land was known to Europe under the name of Cathay. 
 
 The beginning of the Chinese nation was a band of Mongolian 
 wanderers who came from the west into the Yellow River valley, 
 probably prior to 3000 B.C. These immigrants pushed out or ab- 
 sorbed the aborigihes whom they found in the land, and laid the 
 basis of institutions that have endured to the present day. 
 
 121. Dynastic History. The Chinese have books that purport to 
 give the history of the different dynasties that have ruled in the land 
 from a vast antiquity ; but these records are largely mythical. While it 
 is possible to glean some assured historic facts from the third and second 
 millenniums b. c, it is not until we reach the eighth century b. c. that 
 we tread on firm historical ground ; and even then we meet with little 
 of interest in the dynastic history of the country until we come to the 
 reign of Che Hwang-te^ (221-209 B.C.). This energetic ruler consoli- 
 dated the imperial power, and executed great works of internal im- 
 provement, such as roads and canals. As a barrier against the 
 incursions of the Huns, he began the erection of the celebrated 
 Chinese Wall, a great rampart extending for about fifteen hundred 
 miles along the northern frontier of the country." 
 
 From the strong reign of Che Hwang-te= to the end of the period 
 covered by ancient history, Chinese dynastic records present no 
 matters of universal interest that need here occupy our attention. 
 
 1 Or Shih Hwang-ti. 
 
 2 The Great Wall is one of the most remarkable works of man. " It is," says 
 Dr. Williams, " the only artificial structure which would arrest attention in a hasty 
 survey of the globe." 
 
^•^ ^ t 'n-'^A 
 
 §122] CHINESE WRITING III 
 
 122. Chinese Writing. It is nearly certain that the art of phonetic 
 writing (sect. 1 1) was known among the Chinese as early as 2000 B.C. 
 The system employed is curiously cumbrous. In the absence of an 
 alphabet, each word or idea is represented by means of a symbol, 
 or combination of symbols ; this, of course, requires that there be 
 as many symbols or characters as there are words in the language. 
 The number sanctioned by good use is about twenty-five thousand ; 
 but counting obsolete signs, the number amounts to over fifty thou- 
 sand. A knowledge of five or six. thousand characters, however, 
 enables one to read and write without difficulty. The nature of the 
 signs shows conclusively that the Chinese system of writing, like 
 that of all others 
 with which we are 
 acqiiairited, was at 
 first pure picture ^ __. 
 writing (sect. II). _0_ tl UJ ^ tH ^; A 
 Time and use have 1 234557 
 worn the pictorial Fig. 73. Showing the Derivation of Modern 
 svmbols to their Chinese Characters from Earlier Pictorial 
 
 , Writing. (From Deniker) 
 
 present form. 
 
 This Chinese Sys- The upper line shows the eariier forms: i, morning; 
 tern of representing ^' ""o" ' 3, mountain ; 4, tree ; 5, dog ; 5, horse ; 7, man 
 
 thought, cumbrous 
 
 and inconvenient as it is, is employed at the present time by one 
 
 third of the human race. 
 
 Printing from blocks was practiced in China as early as the sixth 
 century of our era, and printing from movable types as early as the 
 tenth or eleventh century, — that is to say, about four hundred years 
 before the same art was invented in Europe. 
 
 123. The Teachers Confucius and Mencius. The great teacher of 
 the Chinese was Confucius (551-478 B.C.). He was not a prophet 
 or revealer ; he laid no claims to a supernatural knowledge of God 
 or of the hereafter ; he said nothing of an Infinite Spirit, and but 
 little of a future life. His cardinal precepts were obedience to parents 
 and superiors, and reverence for the ancients and imitation of their 
 virtues. He himself walked in the old paths, and thus added the 
 
1 1 2 THE EAST ASIAN PEOPLES [§ 124 
 
 force of example to that of precept. He gave the Chinese the 
 Golden Rule, stated negatively: "What you do not want done to 
 yourself, do not do to others." The influence of Confucius has 
 probably been greater than that of any other teacher excepting 
 Christ and perhaps Buddha. 
 
 Another great teacher of the Chinese was Mencius (372-288 B.C.). 
 He was a disciple of Confucius and a scarcely less revered philosopher 
 and moral teacher. 
 
 124. Chinese Literature. The most highly prized portion of Chinese 
 literature is embraced in what is known as the Five Classics and the 
 Four Books, called collectively the Nine Classics. A considerable 
 part of the material of the Five Classics was collected and edited by 
 Confucius. The Four Books, though not written by Confucius, yet 
 bear the impress of his mind and thought, just as the Gospels teach 
 the mind of Christ. The cardinal virtue inculcated by all the sacred 
 writings is filial piety. The second great moral requirement is 
 conformity to ancient custom. 
 
 It would be difficult to exaggerate the iiifluence which the Nine 
 Classics have had upon the Chinese nation. For more than two 
 thousand years these writings have been the Chinese Bible. But their 
 influence has not been wholly good. The Chinese in strictly obeying 
 the injunction to walk in the old ways, to conform to the customs of 
 the ancients, have failed to mark out new footpaths for themselves. 
 Hence their lack of originality, their habit of imitation ; hence one cause 
 of the unprogressive character of Chinese civilization. 
 
 125. Education and Civil-Service Competitive Examinations. China 
 has a very ancient educational system. The land was filled with schools, 
 academies, and colleges more than a thousand years before our era. 
 Until recently a knowledge of the sacred books was the sole passport 
 to civil office and public employment. AH "candidates for places in 
 the government had to pass a series of .competitive examinations in 
 the Nine Classics. 
 
 126. The Three Religions ; Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. 
 There are three leading religions in China' — Confucianism, Taoism, 
 and Buddhism. The great sage Confucius is reverenced and wor- 
 shiped throughout the empire. He holds somewhat the same relation 
 
§127] THE CHINESE AND WESTERN CULTURE 1 13 
 
 to the system which bears his name that Christ holds to that of Chris- 
 tianity. Taoism takes its name from Tao, which means Nature's way 
 or method. It is a very curious system of 'mystical ideas and super- 
 stitious practices. Buddhism was introduced into China about the 
 opening of the Christian era, and soon became widely spread. 
 
 There is one element mingled with all these religions, and that 
 is the worship of ancestors. Every Chinese, whether he be a Con- 
 fucianist, a Taoist, or a Buddhist, reverences his ancestors and prays 
 and makes offerings to their spirits. 
 
 127. The Chinese Outside the Western Circle of Ancient Culture. 
 Though constituting so important a factor in the East Asian circle of 
 culture, the Chinese during ancient times, as we have already inti- 
 mated, did not contribute any historically important elements to the 
 civilization of the West Asian and Mediterranean lands. What contri- 
 butions this great people will make to the -general civilization of the 
 future, the future alone will disclose. 
 
 References. For India : Ragozin, The Story of Vedic India. HUNTER, A 
 Brief History of the Indian Peoples, chaps. i-vL DuTT, The Civilization of 
 India, chaps, i-v. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India and Buddhism, its History 
 and Literature. Hopkins, The Religions of India. Arnold, The Light of 
 Asia (this is Buddhism idealized). 
 
 For China : Williams, A Histoiy of China, chap, i (this work comprises 
 the historical chapters of the author's The Middle Kingdom). Go wen, An 
 Outline History of China, pt. i, earlier chapters. Legge, The Religions of 
 China. GILES, The Civilization of China, chaps, i-iii, and A Histor)/ of Chinese 
 Literature, pp. 3-1 16. De Groot, The. Religion of the Chinese and Religion in 
 China. Martin, The Lore of Cathay. Doolitt^e, Social Life of the Chinese. 
 Geil, The Great Wall of China (valuable for its illustrations; the literary 
 qualities of the book cannot be commended). 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. The old Chinese civil service competition 
 examinations: Martin, The Lore of Cathay, chap, xvii; Doolittle, Social 
 Life of the Chinese, chap, xv-xvii. 2. The worship of ancestors and filial 
 piety : Martin, The Lore of Cathay, chap, xy ; Legge, The Religion of China, 
 lectii, pp. 69-95; Giles, The Civilization of China, pp. 75-77' 
 
PART II. GREECE 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 
 
 128. Hellas. The ancient people whom we call Greeks called 
 themselves Hellenes and their land Hellas. But this term Hellas 
 as used by the ancient Greeks embraced much more than modem 
 Greece. " Wherever were Hellenes there was Hellas." Thus the 
 name included not only Greece proper and= the islands of the adjoin- 
 ing seas, but also the Hellenic cities on the shore-lands of Asia Minor, 
 in southern Italy, and in Sicily, besides many other Greek settlements 
 scattered up and down the Mediterranean and along the shores of 
 the Hellespont and the Euxine. 
 
 Yet Greece proper was the real homeland of the Hellenes and 
 the actual center of classical Greek life and culture. Therefore it 
 will be necessary for us to gain at least some slight knowledge of 
 the divisions and the physical features of this country before passing 
 to the history of the people themselves. 
 
 129. Divisions of Greece. Long arms of the sea divide the Greek 
 peninsula into three parts, called Northern, Central, and Southern 
 Greece. The southern portion, joined to the mainland by the Isthmus 
 of Corinth, and now generally known as the Morea, was called by 
 the ancients the Peloponnesus, that is, the Island of Pelops, from 
 the fabled founder there of a mythic line of kings. 
 
 Northern Greece included^ the ancient districts of Thessaly and 
 Epirus. Thessaly consists mainly of a large and beautiful mountain- 
 walled valley. On its northern edge, between Olympus and Ossa, 
 is a beautiful glen, named by the ancients -the Vale of Tempe, the 
 only practicable pass by which the plain of Thessaly can be entered 
 from the side of the sea. The district of Epirus stretched along 
 
 114 
 
§129] 
 
 DIVISIONS OF GREECE 
 
 "S 
 
 the Ionian Sea on the west In the deep recesses of its forests 
 of oak was situated the renowned Dodonean oracle of Zeus. 
 
 Central Greece was divided into eleven districts, among which 
 were Phocis, Boeotia, and Attica. In Phocis was the city of Delphi, 
 famous for its oracle and temple ; in Boeotia, the city of Thebes ; 
 and in Attica, the brilliant Athens. Boeotia has been called " the 
 stage of Ares" (the Greek god of war), because, like Belgium in 
 modern Europe, it was so often the battle-ground of the warring 
 Greek cities. The Attic land, as we shall learn, was the true center 
 of the artistic and 
 the intellectual life of 
 HeUas. 
 
 The chief districts 
 of Southern Greece 
 were Corinthia, Ar- 
 cadia, Argohs, La- 
 conia, Messenia, and 
 EHs. 
 
 The main part of 
 Corinthia formed the 
 isthmus uniting the 
 Peloponnesus to Cen- 
 tral Greece. Its chief 
 
 city was Corinth, the gateway of the peninsula, and the most 
 important station on the great trade sea-route between eastern and 
 western Hellas. 
 
 Arcadia, sometimes called "the Switzerland of the Peloponne- 
 sus," formed the heart of the peninsula. This region consists of 
 broken uplands shut in from the surrounding coast plains by irreg- 
 ular mountain walls. The inhabitants of this district, because thus 
 isolated, were, in the general intellectual movement of the Greek 
 race, left far behind the dwellers in the more open and favored por- 
 tions of Greece. It is the rustic, simple life of the Arcadians that 
 has given the term Arcadian its meaning of pastoral simplicity. 
 
 Argolis formed a tongue of land jutting out into the ^gean. 
 This region is noted as the home of an early prehistoric culture, 
 
 Fig. 74. Gallery in the South Wall 
 
 AT TiRYNS 
 "Tiryns the strong-walled." — Iliad, ii, 559 
 
ii6 
 
 THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 
 
 [§129 
 
 and holds to-day the remains of cities — Mycenae and Tiryns — 
 the kings of which built great palaces, possessed vast treasures in 
 gold and silver, and held wide sway centuries before Athens had 
 made for herself a name and place in history. The chief city of 
 the region during the historic period was Argos. 
 
 Laconia, or Lacedasmon, embraced the southeastern part of the Pel- 
 oponnesus. A prominent feature of the physical geography of this 
 region is a deep river valley, — the valley of the Eurotas, — whence 
 
 »*^ 
 
 '^^ 
 
 _'*> K^v. 
 
 
 Fig. 75. The Plain of Olympia. (From Boetticher, Olyvipia) 
 The valley of the Alpheus in Elis, where were held ^the celebrated Olympic games 
 
 the descriptive term, hollow Lacedasmon. This district was ruled by 
 the city of Sparta, the great rival of Athens. 
 
 Messenia was a rich and fruitful region lying to the west of 
 Laconia. It nourished a vigorous race, who in early times carried 
 on a stubborn struggle with the Spartans, by whom they were 
 finally overpowered. 
 
 Elis, a district on the western side of the Peloponnesus, is chiefly 
 noted as the consecrated land which held Olympia, the great assem- 
 bling place of the Greeks on the occasion of the celebration of the 
 most famous of their national festivals — the so-called Olympic games. 
 
§130] MOUNTAINS 117 
 
 130. Mountains. The Cambunian Mountains form a lofty wall 
 along a considerable reach of the northern frontier of Greece, shut- 
 ting out at once the cold winds and hostile races of the north. 
 Branching off at right angles to these mountains is the Pindus 
 range, which runs south into Central Greece, 
 
 On the northern border of Thessaly is Mount Olympus, the most 
 celebrated mountain of the peninsula. The Greeks thought it the 
 highest mountam in the world (it is about ten thousand feet high), 
 and believed that its cloudy summit was the abode of the gods. 
 
 South of Olympus, close by the sea, are Ossa and Pelion, cele- 
 brated in fable as the mountains which the giants, in their war 
 against the gods, piled one upon the other "and both upon Olympus, 
 in order to scale the heavens. 
 
 Parnassus and Helicon, in Central Greece — beautiful mountains 
 clad with trees and vines and filled with fountains — were believed 
 to be the favorite haunts of the Muses. Near Athens are Hymettus, 
 praised for its honey, and Pentelicus, renowned for its marbles. The 
 Peloponnesus is rugged with mountains that radiate in all directions 
 from the central country of Arcadia. 
 
 131. The Rivers and Lakes of the Land. Greece has no rivers 
 large enough to be of service to commerce. Most of the streams 
 are scarcely more than winter torrents. Among the most important 
 streams are the Peneus, which drains the Thessalian plain ; the 
 Alpheus in Elis, on the banks of which the Olympic games were 
 celebrated ; and the Eurotas, which threads the central valley of 
 Laconia. The Ilissus and Cephissus are little streams of Attica 
 which owe their renown chiefly to the poets. 
 
 The lakes of Greece are in the main scarcely more than stagnant 
 pools, the back water of spring freshets. In this respect, Greece, 
 though a mountainous country, presents a striking contrast to 
 Switzerland, whose numerous and deep " lakes form one of the 
 most attractive features of Swiss scenery. 
 
 132. Islands about Greece. Very much of the history of Greece 
 is intertwined with the islands that lie about the mainland. On the 
 east, in the ALgean Sea, are the Cyclades, so called because they 
 form an irregular circle round the sacred island of Delos, where 
 
Il8 THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE [§133 
 
 was a very celebrated shrine of Apollo. Between the Cyclades and 
 Asia Minor lie the Sporades, which islands, as the name implies, 
 are sown irregularly over that portion oi the ^gean. They are 
 simply the peaks of submerged mountain ranges, which may be 
 regarded as a continuation beneath the sea of the mountains of 
 Central Greece. 
 
 Just off the coast of Attica is a large island called by the ancients 
 Euboea. Close to the Asian shores are the large islands of Lemnos, 
 Lesbos, Chios, Samos, and Rhodes. 
 
 In the Mediterranean, midway between Greece and Egypt, is 
 the large island of Crete, noted in legend for its Labyrinth and its 
 legislator Minos. This island was, before the historic age in Greece, 
 a sort of midway station between the ^gean lands and Africa, and 
 became the home of one of the earliest civilizations of antiquity. 
 Tradition affirms that there were in the island in prehistoric times 
 a hundred cities.'^ To the west of Greece lie the Ionian Islands, the 
 largest of which was called Corcyra (now Corfu). 
 
 133. Climate and Productions. There is a great variety in the 
 climate of Greece. In the north and upon the uplands the climate 
 is temperate, in the south semitropical. The slopes of the mountains 
 in Northern Greece and in Arcadia support forests of beech, oak, 
 and pine ; while the southern districts of the Peloponnesus nourish 
 the date palm, the citron, and the orange. Attica, midway between 
 the north and the south, is the home of the olive and the fig. The 
 vine grows luxuriantly in almost every part of the land. Wheatj 
 barley, grapes,'' and oil are to-day, as they were in ancient times, 
 the chief products of the country; but fiaxj honey, and the products 
 of herds of cattle and sheep have always formed a considerable part 
 of the economic wealth of the land. 
 
 The hills of Greece supplied many of the useful metals. The 
 ranges of the Taygetus, in Laconia, yielded iron, in which the Lace- 
 demonians became skillful workers. Eubcea furnished copper, which 
 created a great industry. The hills of southern Attica contained 
 
 1 Iliad, ii, 649. 
 
 2 At the present time the seedless grape (" currant ") is the most profitable of 
 all exports. 
 
§134] THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 119 
 
 silver mines, which helped the Athenians to build their earliest navy.* 
 Mountains near Athens and the hills of the island of Paros afforded 
 beautiful marbles, which made possible the creation of such splendid 
 temples as the Parthenon. 
 
 134. Influence of the Land upon the People. The physical 
 geography of a country has much to do wjth molding the character 
 and shaping the history of its people. Mountains, isolating neigh- 
 boring communities and shutting out conquering races, foster the 
 spirit of local patriotism and preserve f feedom ; the sea, inviting 
 abroad and rendering intercourse with distant countries easy, awakens 
 the spirit of adventure and develops commercial enterprise. 
 
 Now Greece is at once a mountainous and a maritime country. 
 Mountain walls fence it off into a great number of isolated districts, 
 and this is probably one reason why the Greeks formed so liiany 
 small independent states, and never could be brought to feel or to 
 act as a single nation.^ 
 
 The Grecian peninsula is, moreover, converted by deep arms and 
 bays of the sea into what is in effect an archipelago. There is no 
 spot in Greece below Epirus and Thessaly which is over forty miles 
 from the sea. Hence the Greeks were early tempted to a sea-faring 
 life — tempted to follow what Homer calls the " wet paths " of 
 Ocean, to see whither they might lead. Intercourse with the old 
 civilizations of the Orient — which Greece faces ' — stirred the natu- 
 rally quick and versatile Greek intellect to early and vigorous 
 thought. The islands strewn with seeming carelessness through 
 the .iEgean Sea were " stepping-stones," which invited intercourse 
 between the settlers of Greece and the inhabitants of the delightful 
 coast countries of Asia Minor, and thus blended the life and history 
 of the opposite shores. 
 
 1 See sect. 220. 
 
 2 The history of the cantons of Switzerland affords a somewhat similar illustra- 
 tion of the influence of the physical features of a country upon the political fortunes 
 of its inhabitants. But we must be careful not to exaggerate the influence of geog- 
 raphy upon Greek history. For the root of feelings and sentiments which were far 
 more potent than geographical conditions in keeping the Greek cities apart, see 
 sects. 154, 155. 
 
 8 That is to say, the most and the best of her harbors are on her eastern shore. Greece 
 thus turns her back, as it were, to Italy. (Cf. sect. 375.) 
 
120 THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE [§135 
 
 How much the sea did in developing enterprise and intelligence 
 in the cities of the maritime districts of Greece is shown by the con- 
 trast which the advancing culture of these regions presented to the 
 lagging civilization of the peoples of the interior districts; as, for 
 instance, those of Arcadia. 
 
 135. The Hellenes. The historic inhabitants of the land we have 
 described were called Greeks by the Romans ; but, as we have already 
 learned, they called themselves Hellenes, from their fabled ancestor 
 Hellen. They were divided into four families or tribes — Achasans, 
 lonians, Dorians, and .lEolians. These several tribes, united by bonds 
 of language and religion, always regarded themselves as kinsmen. All 
 non-Hellenic people they called barbarians} 
 
 When the mists of prehistoric times first rise from Greece, about 
 the beginning of the eighth century b. c, we discover the several fami- 
 lies of the Hellenic race in possession of Greece proper, of the islands 
 of the j^gean, and of the western coast of Asia Minor. Respecting 
 their prehistoric migrations and settlements we have little or no cer- 
 tain knowledge. In the next chapter we shall see how they pictured 
 to themselves the past of the ^gean lands. 
 
 References. Curtius, vol. i, pp. 9-46.2 Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ii, 
 pp. 141-163. Abbott, vol. i, chap. i. Holm, vol. i, chap. ii. Bury, History of 
 Greece, pp. 1-5. Tozer, Classical Geography (Primer). Richardson, Vacation 
 Days in Greece (Dr. Richardson was for many years Director of the American 
 School of Archaeology at Athens ; his delightful sketches of excursions to in- 
 teresting historical sites will give a much better idea of the physical features 
 of Greece than all the formal descriptions of the geographers). Butcher, 
 Some Aspects of the Greek Genius (for the advanced student). ManATT, ^^«» 
 Days (has pictures of the life and scenes of the isles of the ^gean by one 
 " smitten with the love of Greece "). 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. The nature and features of the land as 
 factors in Greek life and history : Grote, vol. ii, pp. 1 53-1 57 ; Holm, vol. i, 
 pp. 29, 30 ; Abbott, vol. i, pp. 19-23. Bury, History of Greece, pp. 4, 5. 
 2. The marble quarries of Paros : Manatt, yEgean Days, chap, xvii, " Pares 
 the Marble Island." 
 
 1 At first this term meant scarcely more than " unintelligible folk " ; but later it came 
 to express aversion and contempt. 
 
 2 We shall throughout cite the standard extended histories of Greece and of Rome 
 by giving merely the author's name with volume and page. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 PREHISTORIC TIMES ACCORDING TO GREEK ACCOUNTS 
 
 136. Character and Value of the Legends. The Greeks of historic 
 times possessed a great store of wonderful legends and tales of the 
 foretime in Greece. Though many of these "stories were doubtless in 
 large part a pure creation of the Greek imagination, still for two rea- 
 sons the historical student must make hiftiself familiar with them. 
 First, because the historic Greeks believed them to be true, and hence 
 were greatly influenced by them. What has been said of the war 
 against Troy, namely, " If not itself a fact, the Trojan War became 
 the cause of innumerable facts," is true of the whole body of Greek 
 legends. These tales were recited by the historian, dramatized by the 
 tragic poet, cut in marble by the sculptor, and depicted by the painter 
 on the walls of portico and temple. They thus constituted a very 
 vital part of the education of every Greek. 
 
 Second, a knowledge of these legends is of value to the student of 
 Greek history because recent discoveries in the vEgean lands prove 
 that at least some of them contain a certain element of truth, that 
 they are memories, though confused memories, of actual events. 
 
 Therefore, as a prelude to the story we have to tell we shall in 
 the present chapter repeat some of these tales, selecting chiefly those 
 that contain references to a wonderful civilization which is repre- 
 sented as having existed in the ^gean lands in prehistoric times, 
 but which long before authentic Greek history opens had vanished, 
 leaving behind barely more than a dim mepory. In what measure 
 these particular legends may reflect a real past we shall see in the 
 next chapter. 
 
 137. Ori^tal Immigrants. The legends of the Greeks represent 
 the early growth of civilization among them as having been promoted 
 by the settlement in Greece of oriental immigrants, who brought 
 
122 
 
 PREHISTORIC TIMES 
 
 [§138 
 
 with them the arts and culture of the East. Thus from Egypt, legend 
 affirms, came Cecrops, bringing with him the arts, learning, and 
 priestly wisdom of the Nile valley. He is represented as the builder 
 of Cecropia, which became afterwards the citadel of the illustrious 
 city of Athens. From Phoenicia Cadmus brought the letters of the 
 alphabet, and founded the city of Thebes. 
 
 The nucleus of fact in these legends is probably this — that the 
 European Greeks received certain of the elements of their culture 
 from the East. Without doubt they received thence letters, a gift 
 of incomparable value, and hints in art, be- 
 sides suggestions and facts in philosophy and 
 science. 
 
 138. The Heroes ; Heracles. The Greeks 
 believed that their ancestors were a race of 
 heroes of divine or semidivine lineage. Every 
 tribe, district, city, and village even, preserved 
 traditions of its heroes, whose wonderful ex- 
 ploits were commemorated in song and story. 
 Heracles was the greatest of the national 
 heroes of the Greeks, He is represented as 
 performing twelve superhuman labors, and as being at last trans- 
 lated from a blazing pyre to a place among the immortal gods. The 
 myth of Heracles is made up in part of the very same tales that 
 were told of the Chaldean hero Gilgamesh (sect. 59). Through the 
 Phoenicians and the peoples of Asia Minor these stories found their 
 way to the Greeks, who ascribed to their own Heracles the deeds 
 of the Babylonian hero.^ 
 
 139. Minos the Lawgiver and Sea-king of Crete. Many of the 
 Greek legends cluster about the island of Crete. These have much 
 to do with a great ruler named Minos, king of Cnossus, a city on 
 the northern shore of the island. In some of the traditions he appears 
 as the " Cretan Moses." He is represented as being the giver to 
 his people of laws received, in a cave on a high mountain, from his 
 
 Fig. 76. The Laby- 
 rinth. (From a coin) 
 
 1 Originally a solar divinity, Heracles, transferred from the heavens to the earth and 
 idealized by the Greek moralists, became the personification and type of the lofty moral 
 qualities of heroism, endurance, and self-sacrifice in the service of others (see sect. 359). 
 
)140] 
 
 THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR 
 
 123 
 
 reputed father Zeus. He is further made to be the founder of the 
 first great maritime state in the ^Egean, and the suppressor of piracy 
 in those waters. Some versions of the tradition make him to have 
 been a cruel tyrant, who kept in a structure called the Labyrinth 
 a monster named the Minotaur (Minos-bull), a creature half man 
 and half bull, which he fed 
 upon youths and maidens 
 whom he exacted every 
 year as a tribute from the 
 city of Athens. 
 
 140. Theseus and the 
 Minotaur. Theseus was the 
 favorite hero of the Athe- 
 nians, being one of their 
 legendary kings. Among his 
 exploits, while yet a youth, 
 was the slaying of the Cretan 
 Minotaur. When the fatal 
 time came round for the pay- 
 ment of the tribute of boys 
 and girls, Theseus offered 
 himself as one of the num- 
 ber, being resolved on kill- 
 ing the monster. Upon his 
 arrival in Crete the fair- 
 haired Ariadne, daughter of 
 Minos, fell in love with him, 
 and gave him a clew of thread which would guide him through the 
 mazes of the Labyrinth. With this aid Theseus was able, after slay- 
 ing the Minotaur, to find his way out of the Labyrinth and escape. 
 Of what actual facts, doubtless mingled w}th mythological elements 
 and colored by the imagination, this and the Minos legend may be a 
 confused recollection we shall leam in the following chapter.^ 
 
 Fig. 77. Theseus and the Minotaur 
 
 " The Athenian potter was always sure of a mar. 
 
 ket for his vases with pictures of the bull-headed 
 
 Minotaur falling to the sword of the national 
 
 hero " — Baikie, Sea-kings of Crete 
 
 ^ The very galley in which Theseus was believed to have made his voyage was 
 religiously preserved at Athens till as late as the third century B.C., and was sent each 
 year tp the island of Delos on a mission commemorative of his exploit (see sect. 266). 
 
124 PREHISTORIC TIMES [§141 
 
 141. Daedalus the Architect and Sculptor. Closely connected with 
 the legendary figures of Minos and Theseus is that of Daedalus. 
 The tradition represents him as an Athenian-born architect, inventor, 
 and sculptor of unsurpassed ingenuity and excellence. He made 
 statues in the attitude of walking that had to be chained to their 
 pedestals so that they should not run away. Skilled in architecture, 
 he constructed for Minos the famous Labyrinth, and a "dancing- 
 floor " for the king's daughter, Ariadne. For aiding Ariadne in the 
 Theseus adventure, or, as some say, for another fault, he was con- 
 fined by Minos in the Labyrinth, from which, however, he escaped 
 by ingeniously attaching wings to his body, and flew to the island of 
 Sicily. Pursuing him thither with a fleet and army, Minos met a 
 tragic death in the island. What actual facts connected with the ori- 
 gin and development of architecture and art in the ^gean lands 
 may be embodied in this legend will appear later. 
 
 142. The Argonautic Expedition. Besides the labors and exploits 
 of single heroes, such as we have been naming, the legends of the 
 Greeks tell of various memorable enterprises which were conducted 
 by bands of heroes. Among these were the Argonautic Expedition 
 and the Siege of Troy. 
 
 The tale of the Argonauts is told with many variations in the 
 legends of the Greeks. Jason, a prince of Thessaly, with fifty com- 
 panion heroes, among whom were Heracles, Theseus, and Orpheus, 
 
 — the latter a musician of superhuman skill, the music of whose lyre 
 moved trees and stones, — set sail in " a fifty-oared galley " called 
 the Argo (hence the name Argonauts, given to the heroes), in search 
 of a " golden fleece " which was fabled to be nailed to a tree and 
 watched by a dragon in a grove on the eastern shore of the Euxine 
 
 — an inhospitable region of unknown terrors. The expedition was 
 successful, and after many wonderful adveritures the heroes returned 
 in triumph with the sacred relic. 
 
 In its origin and primitive form this tale was doubtless an oriental 
 nature myth ; but in the shape given it by the Greek story-tellers it 
 may be taken as symbolizing the explorations and adventures of the 
 prehistoric Greeks or their predecessors in the North ^gean and 
 the Euxine. 
 
§143] 
 
 THE TROJAN WAR 
 
 I2S 
 
 143. The Trojan "War (legendary date, H94-1184 B.C.). The Trojan 
 War was an event about which gathered a great circle of tales and 
 poems, all full of an undying interest and fascination. 
 
 Ilibs, or Troy, was a strong-walled city which had grown up in 
 Asia Minor just south of the Hellespont. The traditions tell how 
 Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, visited the Spartan king Menelaus, 
 and ungenerously requited his hospitality by secretly bearing away 
 to Troy his wife Helen, fa- 
 mous for her rare beauty. 
 
 All the heroes of Greece 
 flew to arms to avenge the 
 wrong, A host of a hun- 
 dred thousand warriors was 
 speedily gathered. Aga- 
 memnon, brother of Mene- 
 laus and king of Mycenae, 
 "wide-wayed and rich in 
 gold," was chosen leader 
 of the expedition. Under 
 him were the " lion-hearted 
 Achilles" of Thessaly, the 
 '" crafty Odysseus," king of 
 Ithaca, the aged Nestor, 
 and many more — the most 
 valiant heroes of all HeUas. 
 Twelve hundred galleys bore the gathered clans across the ^gean, 
 from Aulis to the Trojan shores. 
 
 For ten years the Greeks and their allies hold in close siege the 
 city of Priam. On the plains beneath the walls of the capital the war- 
 riors of the two armies fight in general battle or contend in single 
 encounter. At first Achilles is foremost in every fight; but a fair- 
 faced maiden, who had fallen to him as a prize, having been taken 
 from him by his chief, Agamemnon, he is filled with wrath and 
 sulks in his tent. Though the Greeks are often sorely pressed, still 
 the angered hero refuses them his aid. At; last, however, his friend 
 Patroclus is killed by Hector, eldest son of Priam, and then Achilles 
 
 Fig. 78. The Lions' Gate at Mycen^ 
 
126 PREHISTORIC TIMES [§144 
 
 goes forth to avenge his death. In a fierce combat he slays Hector, 
 fastens his body to a chariot, and drags it thrice round the walls 
 of Troy. These later events, beginning with the wrath of Achilles 
 and ending with the funeral rites of Patroclus and Hector, form the 
 subject of the Iliad oi Homer. 
 
 The city was at last taken through a device of the artful Odys- 
 seus, and was sacked and burned to the ground, ^neas, with his 
 aged father Anchises and a few devote^i followers, escaped, and 
 after long wanderings reached the Italian land and there became 
 
 the founder of the 
 Roman race. 
 
 What nucleus of 
 fact is embodied in 
 this, the most elabo- 
 rate and interesting 
 
 of the Greek legends,: 
 Fig. 7q. Battle at the Ships between the ^i . , f „. , 
 r^ „ ,,,^ . ^. , ■ the sequel of our 
 
 Greeks and Trojans. (After a vase painting), ^ 
 
 story ■ will disclose. 
 
 144. The Home-coming of the Gteek Chieftains. After the fall of 
 Troy the Greek chieftains and princes returned home. The legends 
 represent the gods as withdrawing their protection from the hitherto 
 favored heroes, because they had not spared the altars of the Trojans. 
 Consequently many of them were driven in endless wanderings over 
 sea and land. Homer's Odyssey portrays the sufferings of the " much- 
 enduring Odysseus," impelled by divine wrath to long journeyings 
 through strange seas. 
 
 In some cases, according to the tradition, advantage had been 
 taken of the absence of the princes, and their thrones had been 
 usurped. Thus in Argohs, ^gisthus had won the unholy love of 
 Clytemnestra, wife and queen of Agamemnon, who on his return 
 was murdered by the guilty couple. A tradition current among the 
 Greeks of later times pointed out Mycenae as the place where the 
 unfortunate king and those slain with him were buried. In pleasing 
 contrast with the disloyalty of the queen of Agamemnon, we have 
 exhibited to us the constancy of Penelope, although sought by many 
 suitorS; during the absence of her husband Odysseus. 
 
§145] THE DORIAN INVASION 1 27 
 
 145. The Dorian Invasion, or the Return of the Heraclidee 
 (legendary date, 1104 B.C.). Legend tells how Heracles in the times 
 before the Trojan War ruled over the Peloponnesian Achasans. 
 Just; before that event his children were driven from the land. After 
 a hundred years of exile the descendants of the hero returned at the 
 head of the Dorians from Northern Greege, conquered the greater 
 part of the Peloponnesus, and established themselves as masters in 
 the land that had formerly been ruled by their semidivine ancestor. 
 
 The legend connects with this conquest the colonization and settle- 
 ment by the Greeks of the islands and eastern shore-lands of the 
 .(Egean. As we shall see, the tradition doubtless preserves the 
 memory of a great upheaval and shifting of the prehistoric popula- 
 tion of peninsular Greece caused by the intrusion of the conquering 
 Dorian race. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Thucydides (Jowett's trans.), i, 4, 8, 10-12 
 (on Minos, Mycenae, and the Trojan War). Iliad (Bryant's trans.), xviii, 601- 
 762 (the shield of Achilles). Odyssey (Palmer's trans.), xxi, xxii (Odysseus 
 and the suitors). There have recently appeared a number of excellent source 
 books on ancient history. One or more of these should be in every high- 
 school library, especially if the library does not contain the original works in 
 translation. For this chapter pertinent selections will be found in Thallon's 
 Readings in Greek History, pp. 9-27. 
 
 References (Modern). Cuetius, vol. i, pp. 70-74. Holm, vol. i, chap. x. 
 Baikie, The Sea-kings of Crete, chap. i. Gayley, The Classical Myths in 
 English Literature and in Art (rev. ed., 1911), chaps, xiv-xxiv (gives with 
 illustrative quotation and comment the tales of the older and the younger 
 Greek heroes, including the legends of the Argonauts (pp. 229-233), the 
 Seven against Thebes (pp. 265-268), and the Trojan War (pp. 277-306)). 
 
 Topics for Class Reports. 1. Tales of Crete — Minos, Theseus, and 
 Ariadne : Harrison, The Story of Greece, chap. viii. 2. Change in the opinion 
 of scholars in regard to the historical elements in Greek legends : Baikie, The 
 Sea-kings of Crete, chap. i. 
 
CHAPTER XI fl 
 THE iEGEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 146. Introduction. In the preceding chapter we saw what embel- 
 lished tales the Greeks of the historic agp told of the foretime in 
 Greece. In the present chapter we shall see what basis of fact some 
 at least of these legends had — what research and excavation have 
 revealed respecting the existence in the ^gean lands of a wonderful 
 civilization which was in its bloom a thousand years £lnd more before 
 
 Fig. 8o. Hissarlik, the Probable Site of Ancient Troy 
 (From a photograph) 
 
 the opening of recorded Greek history. A closing paragraph will 
 indicate the probable relation of this prehistoric civilization to the 
 brilliant culture of the Greeks of the historic period. 
 
 147. Discoveries on the Site of Ancient Troy. The first of the dis- 
 coveries which have revealed the existence in the ^gean lands of an 
 advanced civilization almost as old as that of Egypt were made by 
 Dr. Schliemann, an enthusiastic student of Homer who believed in 
 the poet as a narrator of actual events. In the year 1870 he began 
 to make excavations in the Troad (at Hissarlik), on a spot pointed 
 out by tradition as the site, of ancient Troy. His faith was largely 
 rewarded. He found the upper part of the hill where he carried on 
 his operations to consist of the remains of a succession of nine towns 
 or settlements. In the second stratum from the bottom he found 
 remains of such a character that he was led to believe that they were 
 
 128 
 
§147] DISCOVERIES ON SITE OF ANCIENT TROY 129 
 
 the actual memorials of the Troy of the Iliad. Besides uncovering 
 massive walls and gateways, he exhumed numerous articles of ar- 
 chaic workmanship in bronze, silver, and gold, including the so-called 
 " Treasure of Priam." Later excavations have proved that not the 
 second city but the sixth city from the bottom was the one whose 
 date, as determined by the relics found, corresponds to that of the 
 Troy of the tradition. 
 
 These discoveries have demonstrated that in prehistoric times there 
 really was in the Troad a city which was the stronghold of a rich and 
 
 Fig. 81. Grave Circle at Mycen^. (After Tsountas-Manatt) 
 
 powerful royal race, and they afford good grdund for the belief that the 
 story of the Trojan War, mixed of course with much mythical matter, 
 embodies the memory of a real prehistoric conflict between the Greeks 
 and the wealthy rulers of the Troy-land. We may reasonably believe 
 that the basis of the power and riches of these rulers was the control 
 which their strategic position at the entrance to the water passage to 
 the Propontis and the Euxine gave them over the trade of those 
 regions -"^ — a trade the adventurous character of which is perhapB 
 ' reflected in the embellished tale of the Argonauts (sect. 1 42). 
 
 1 Troy in prehistoric times seems to have held the- same relation to this northern 
 trade that Byzantium, located at the northern entrance to the Bosphorus, held through- 
 out the classical Greek period, and which Constantinople holds to-day. 
 
I30; 
 
 THE ^.GEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 [§148 
 
 148. Discoveries at Mycenae and Tiryns. Made confident by his 
 wonderful discoveries at Hissarlik, and accepting as historically true 
 those legends of the Greeks which represent Argolis as having in the 
 earliest times nourished a race of powerful rulers, and Mycenae as 
 having been the burial place of Agamemnon and his murdered com- 
 panions (sect. 144), Dr. Schliemann began excavations at Mycenas in 
 the year 1876. He soon unearthed remains of an even more remark- 
 able character than those on the supposed site of Troy. The most 
 interesting of all the discoveries made on the spot were several tombs 
 
 Fig. 82. Inlaid Sword Blades Found at Mycenae 
 
 The figures are inlaid on a separate bronze plate which is then set into the blade. The 
 
 metals used are gold and electron, a natural alloy of gold and silver. Egyptian influence 
 
 on this Mycenaean art is evident from the design on the upper blade — the cat chasing 
 
 ducks along a river with lotus plants being a characteristically Egyptian motive 
 
 (Fig, 81) holding the remains of nineteen -bodies, which were sur- 
 rounded by an immense number of articles of gold, silver, and bronze 
 — golden masks and breastplates, drinking cups of solid gold, bronze 
 swords inlaid with gold and silver, and personal ornaments of every 
 kind. There was one hundred pounds in wejight of gold articles alone. 
 Dr. Schliemann believed that he had actually found the tomb and 
 body of Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks at Troy. This con- 
 clusion of enthusiasm has not been accepted by archaeologists ; but all • 
 are agreed that the ancient legends, in so far .as they represent Mycense 
 as having been in early pre-Dorian times the seat of an influential 
 and wealthy royal race, rest on a basis of actual fact. In a word, 
 
§149] 
 
 DISCOVERIES IN CRETE 
 
 131 
 
 Schliemann had found, " not, indeed, the tomb of Agamemnon — but 
 the tomb of that Homeric life which Agamemnon represents to us." 
 In the years 1884-1885 Dr. Schliemann made extensive excavations at 
 Tiryns, where he laid bare the foundations of the walls of the ancient 
 citadel and the ruins of an extensive palace like that at Mycenas. 
 
 149. Discoveries in Crete. A quarter of a century after the first of 
 these amazing discoveries in the Troad and in Argolis, Dr. Arthur J. 
 Evans, guided by Greek legends, began excavations at Cnossus in 
 
 Fig. 83. Great Magazines, or Storerooms, of the Palace at Cnossus 
 
 The great terra-cotta jars were for the storing of oil and other provisions. The boxlike 
 
 receptacles (of which there were a hundred or more) in the fioor were probably for the 
 
 safe-keeping of valuables 
 
 the island of Crete. What the spade unearthed here was even more 
 astonishing than what had been uncovered at Troy and Mycense. 
 The excavations laid bare the ruins of a prehistoric palace of great 
 extent and magnificence, which had been at least once destroyed and 
 rebuilt. There were evidences that the civilization represented by the 
 remains had been brought to a sudden end by some great catastrophe. 
 The last palace had evidently perished in a vast conflagration, after 
 having been stripped of everything of value. Later excavations on 
 
132 
 
 THE ^GEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 [§1S0 
 
 other ancient sites in Crete brought to light additional memorials of 
 a long-vanished civilization. 
 
 150. Character of the Civilization. This island culture, as demon- 
 strated by its remains, was in some respects not at all inferior to the 
 
 contemporary civilizations of Egypt and 
 Babylonia. The great palace at Cnossus 
 rivaled in magnificence and extent the 
 royal residences of the East. It con- 
 tained numerous courts, halls, store- 
 rooms, royal apartments, and rooms 
 for the humbler folk (potters, stone- 
 cutters, goldsmiths, and other artisans) 
 attached to the royal household — all 
 forming such a perfect maze as almost 
 to force the conviction that here we 
 look upon the remains of the veritable 
 Labyrinth of Greek tradition. Frescoes 
 of buU-grapplings in which athletes, 
 both girls and boys, are depicted as 
 seizing the bulls by the horns as they 
 charge and leaping over their backs, 
 and, again, as being gored and tossed 
 by the furious beasts,'' suggest that 
 these cruel sports — which recall the 
 animal-baitings and gladiatorial games 
 of the Romans — were the actual basis 
 of the Greek tales of the Minotaur and 
 the Athenian tribute of youths and 
 maidens (sect. 140). 
 
 In art work of various kinds the 
 Cretan artists evinced surprising talent. 
 Animal reliefs and paintings, particu- 
 larly designs on pottery and on gold and silver cups, were character- 
 ized by an astonishing vigor and naturalness. Probably we should 
 
 Fig. 84. Fresco of a Young 
 Cup-bearer. (Cnossus) 
 
 This splendid fresco was found on 
 the palace walls at Cnossus. « The 
 colors were almost as brilliant as 
 when laid down over three thousand 
 years ago. For the first time the 
 true portraiture of a man of this 
 mysterious Mycenaean [Mgean] 
 race rises before us." — Evans 
 
 1 Note detail of the scroll at the end of this chapter. This scroll is taken from one 
 of the Vaphio cups (see Plate VIII and accompanying note). The goldsmith artist is 
 
iiso] 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE CIVILIZATION 
 
 133 
 
 ^^m 
 
 -'-'W 
 
 not be wrong in thinking that the picturesque tales of the artist 
 Daedalus (sect. 141), which were current among the Greeks of the 
 earliest historical times, had for their nucleus of fact the supreme 
 excellence of the work of a school of Cretan art which gave the 
 first impulse to the early art of classical Greece. 
 
 The numerous representations in the wall-paintings and on vases 
 of ships with both sails and oars confirm the tradition of the nautical 
 interest and maritime ac- 
 tivity of the Cretan kings, 
 which is further confirmed 
 by the vases and other 
 objects of Cretan make 
 found in the tombs of 
 almost every ancient people 
 of the Mediterranean 
 lands. Special confirma- 
 tion of the statements of 
 the Greek historians re- 
 specting the sea-power of 
 the kings of Crete is found 
 in the fact that their capi- 
 tal city, Cnossus, was un- 
 walled, which goes to show 
 that they relied for security 
 on their mastery of the sea. 
 
 One of the most interesting features of the ruins at Cnossus is the 
 so-called " Theatral Area," a paved space with tiers of seats on two 
 sides for spectators. Some have thought to identify this structure 
 with the "dancing-floor" which Daedalus made for the princess 
 Ariadne (sect. 141). With less hesitation we may regard the struc- 
 ture as the prototype of the classical Greek theater.^ 
 
 An important element in the Minoan civilization was a system of 
 
 writing, which was developed independently out of a local picture 
 
 writing, though possibly under Egyptian influence. Thousands of 
 
 here evidently portraying the same grisly athletic games as are depicted on the 
 Cnossian frescoes. 
 
 1 C. H. and H. B. Hawes, Ci-eie, the Forenmncr of Greece (1911), p. 85. 
 
 Fig. 85. A Cnossian Seal Impression 
 
 Possibly a record, as Dr. Evans suggests, of the 
 inipertation of the horse from Egypt into Crete. 
 It is noteworthy that this appearance of the horse 
 in the records of Cnossus is synchronous with its 
 appearance on the monuments of Egypt at the begin- 
 ning of the Eighteenth Dynasty (see above, p. 29) 
 
134 
 
 THE ^GEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 [§151 
 
 clay tablets similar to the Babylonian have been found, not a word of 
 which, however, can yet be read. Doubtless they hold an interesting 
 
 chapter of the early 
 history of the ^gean 
 world. 
 
 151. Origin and De- 
 velopment of Mgean 
 Civilization. Until the 
 key is found to the 
 writing on the Cretan 
 tablets we must rely 
 almost wholly upon the 
 science of archaeology 
 for our knowledge of 
 the origin and develop- 
 ment of this newly 
 discovered civilization, 
 The broad lines of this 
 evolution from the 
 Stone Age up to the beginning of classical Greek history in the eighth 
 century B.C., as revealed by the architectural remains and cultural 
 objects recovered largely from the soil of Crete, are these : The 
 ^gean islands and coast lands were the arena on which developed 
 the very earliest civilization on European soil. This civilization was 
 
 (?) 
 
 Fig. 86. Theater and "Dancing-place" 
 Excavated at Cnossus by Dk. Evans 
 
 " Also did the glorious lame god devise a dancing-plac^' 
 
 like unto that which once in wide Knosos Daidalos 
 
 wrought for Ariadne of the lovely tresses." — /Uati 
 
 (tr. Lang and others), xviii, 590-592 
 
 ^1- 
 
 Fig. 87. Cretan Linear Tablet with Chariot and Horse 
 
 One of a number of clay labels found by Dr. Evans in the so-called " Room of Chariot 
 Tablets " in the great magazine (Fig. 83) of the palace at Cnossus 
 
 in the main an independent development, though it plainly was deeply 
 influenced by the civilizations of the Nile-land and Mesopotamia. 
 The earliest home and the radiating point of this culture was the 
 island of Crete. Its creators and bearers were a non-Greek race 
 
§151] 
 
 ORIGIN OF ^GEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 135 
 
 of brunette type. It was chiefly a Bronze Age civilization, wliich, like 
 that: of Egypt, grew directly out of an earlier Neolithic culture, the 
 beginnings of which are lost in the depths of prehistoric times.^ The 
 metal development began as early at least as 3000 B.C., and was at its 
 height in the island of Crete about 1600 or 1500 B.C. At this period 
 the kings of Cnossus were maintaining a naval supremacy and a 
 political dominion which embraced seemingly many of the ^gean 
 islands, and even parts 
 of the mainland of Greece. 
 Articles of Cretan handi- 
 work found in Egypt 
 point to intercourse with 
 that country as early 
 at least as the Sixth 
 Dynasty (about 2500 
 B.C.). The memory of 
 this maritime activity 
 and dominion lived on 
 into historic times and 
 was embodied in the 
 Greek legends of the 
 sea power of Minos. 
 
 Troy, Mycenas, and 
 Tiryns were colonies or 
 outposts of the mother 
 cities of Crete, or were 
 centers of culture which 
 developed under Cretan 
 influence. The golden 
 age of these mainland fortress cities was from about 1500 to 1 100 b.c.^ 
 
 1 There are no traces in the island of a Paleolithic stage of culture. 
 
 2 To this civilization the term Mycencean was at first applied, since Mycense seemed 
 to be its radiating point ; but when the discoveries in Crete showed that island to have 
 been its earliest home, then the name Minoan^ from Minos, was suggested. Recently the 
 term ^gean has come into very general use. Sir Arthur Evans, however, uses the term 
 Minoan instead of Algean^ and divides the whole age (about 3000-1200 B.C.) into three 
 periods, which he names Early Minoan, Middle Minoan, and Late Minoan, Each of 
 these periods he again subdivides into three epochs. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 The So-called " Throne of Minos ' 
 
 Excavated by Dr. Evans in the palace at Cnossus. 
 
 It is the most ancient throne in Europe. It is carved 
 
 from alabaster-like stone 
 
136 THE ^GEAN CIVILIZATION [§1S2 
 
 152. Relation of the JEgean to Classical Greek Culture. The gener- 
 ally accepted view respecting the relation of this hitherto unsuspected 
 civilization to the classical culture of Greece may be briefly stated 
 as follows: Not later than 2000 B.C. the ancestors of various Greek 
 tribes, a branch of the great Indo-European peoples, began to move 
 southward from the northern Balkan regions and to press into the 
 Greek peninsula. Chief and first among these intruders were the 
 Achaeans. Mingling with the original inhabitants, these newcomers 
 imparted to them their own speech, in a word, Hellenized them, and 
 eventually superseding the native princes ruled in their stead in the 
 great palace fortresses at Mycenje, Tiryns, and elsewhere. Through 
 the intermingling of the two races arose the brilliant " Achaean " civi- 
 lization (about 1 5 00- 1 1 00 B.C.), the glories of which were sung by 
 the Homeric bards. 
 
 Then, probably as early as the thirteenth or twelfth century B.C., 
 the Achaeans, together with lonians and other Greek folk who by this 
 time had drifted into Greece from the north, began to migrate from 
 the western to the eastern shore of the ^Egean. Achaeans and 
 Cohans from Thessaly settled the island lof Lesbos and the north- 
 western shore of Asia Minor, the latter folk giving name to the 
 district — JEolis. The coast south of these settlements — the Ionia 
 of the historic period — was settled by lonians from Attica and 
 Argolis. In the blood of all these emigrants there was doubtiess 
 a deep strain of the native .^Egean population of Greece. It was 
 probably this prehistoric colonization movement which brought on 
 the memorable struggle between the Greeks and the rulers of the 
 Troy-land (sect. 143). 
 
 Soon after the destruction of Troy by the Achsans and their 
 allies there came into Greece from the north another wave of in- 
 vasion (about HOG or 1000 B.C.), which spent its force in the 
 Peloponnesus.* These new intruders were chiefly Dorians, an iron- 
 using folk. They were less cultured than their Achaean kinsmen, and 
 apparently destroyed utterly the 'strongholds of the Achaean princes. 
 This Dorian invasion appears to have given a fresh impulse to the 
 
 1 A dim memory of this invasion and conquest is doubtless embodied in the legend 
 of the Return of the Heraclidae (sect. 145). 
 
§ 152] RELATION OF tEGEAN TO GREEK CULTURE 137 
 
 migration movement from peninsular Greede to the eastern shores of 
 the ^gean. Hard pressed or dispossessed peoples, pushing across 
 the waters, found new homes among their kinsmen already established 
 in ^olis and Ionia. The Dorians having conquered and colonized 
 Crete and Rhodes, formed new settlements all along the southwestern 
 shores of Asia Minor, creating the Doris of history. 
 
 On the Asian shores, in Ionia and ^olis and upon the neighboring 
 isles, the fires of culture on new altars burned afresh. The torch of 
 culture lighted two thousand years before in Crete was here held 
 aloft. In continental Greece, however, the light of civilization was 
 almost extinguished. The Dorian conquest had ushered in here 
 those " Dark Ages " which cover the three centuries and more 
 lying between the bright Achaean Age and the opening of the 
 truly historic age of Hellas. 
 
 As the golden Achaean Age had its poet in Homer, so did these 
 " Dark Ages " have their poet in Hesiod, — the first great Greek 
 poet of flesh and blood, — the spokesman of the common folk in 
 this evil age of iron.'' Yet it was in this dark period of which 
 Hesiod is the representative that, through the fusion and inter- 
 mingling of races and cultures, the Greece of history was born. 
 There is a striking and instructive parallel between these " Dark 
 Ages " of Greek story and the " Dark Ages " of later European 
 history. For just as in this later period two races, the Latin and 
 the Teuton, and two cultures, the refined civilization of Rome and 
 the ruder culture of the Teutonic tribes, mingled to form modern 
 Europe, so in the early history of the ^gean lands two races, the 
 ^gean and the Hellenic, and two cultures, the advanced ^gean 
 civilization and the primitive culture of the Greek tribes, mingled 
 to form the brilliant civilization of classical Hellas. Thus "the 
 Golden Age of Crete was the forerunner of the Golden Age of 
 Greece, and hence of all our western culture."* 
 
 ^ See sect. 337. 
 
 2 C. H. and H. B. Hawes, Crete, the Forerunner of Greece (1911), p. z. The discovery 
 of the long-lost .Egean civilization has given new significance not only to several of 
 the Greek legends narrated in the preceding chapter,. but also to an alleged Egyptian 
 tradition of "the lost Atlantis" — a tale preserved in the Timaus and the Critias of 
 Plato. The essential part of Plato's narrative runs as follows : " The Athenian Solon 
 
138 THE ^GEAN CIVILIZATION 
 
 References. Schliemann, Troy and Us Remains (1875); Mycence (\Z']%)\ 
 Ilios (i88i) ; Troja (1884) ; and Tiryns (1885). For an admirable summary of 
 all these works of Dr. Schliemann's and a scholarly estimate of the histori- 
 cal import of his discoveries, see Schuchhardt, Schliemann's Excavations. 
 DiEHL, Excursions in Greece (an account of the results of excavations at 
 Mycenae, Tiryns, and on other sites in Greece). Gardner, New Chapters in 
 Greek History, chaps, i-v (compares the Greek. legends with recent archaeo- 
 logical discoveries and discusses the question whether or not these dis- 
 coveries may be regarded as a verification in any degree of the legends). 
 
 (sect. 200) returning from a visit to Egypt brought back a tale of a lost island-empire, 
 a tale so wonderful that if Solon had made poetry the business of his life and had com- 
 pleted the story he would have been as famous as Homer or Hesiod. This old-world 
 story was told to Solon in the city of Sais in the Egyptian Delta. Solon had asked the 
 priests something about antiquity, and made the discovery that neither he nor any other 
 Hellene knew anything worth mentioning about ancient times. For when he tried to 
 impress the priests by talking about ancient things, one of them exclaimed, ' Solon, 
 you Hellenes are nothing but children,' and then related the following story ; ' There 
 was an island called Atlantis situated in front of the Pillars of Hercules. The island 
 was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands and to 
 a continent beyond. Now in this island there was a great and wonderful empire which 
 had rule over the whole island, and several others and jDver parts of the continent. And 
 these men of Atlantis had harbors and docks which were full of triremes and stores of 
 every kind. The kings possessed a fleet of 1200 ships, and tlie royal palace which they 
 built in the center of the island was ornamented by successive generations until it be- 
 came a marvel to behold for size and beauty. And there were bulls which the kings 
 hunted without weapons but with staves and nooses. This vast power had subjected all 
 the parts of Libya within the Pillars of Hercules as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far 
 as Tyrrhenia, and then it endeavored to subdue at a blow our country and yours, and 
 the whole of the region within the straits ; and then, Solon, your country shone forth. 
 She preserved from slavery those who were not yet subjugated, and generously liber- 
 ated all the rest of us. But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods, 
 and the island of Atlantis disappeared in the depths of the sea.'" 
 
 This story of the lost Atlantis has been variously interpreted. It has been pro- 
 nounced by some a pure creation of Plato's imagination, while others have seen in it 
 a confused memory of a real past. As we have said, the recent discoveries in Crete 
 give the narrative a new significance. The nucleus of the story may very well have 
 been the Egyptian recollection, much distorted of course, of the great empire of the 
 kings of Cnossus. James Baikie {The Sea-kings of Crete (1913), p. 258) says: "The 
 only difficulty in accepting the identification [of Plato's Atlantis with the island of 
 Crete] is that it is stated that the lost Atlantis lay beyond the Pillars of Hercules; but 
 doubdess this statement is due to Solon's misinterpretation of what was said by his 
 Egyptian informant, or to the Saite priest's endeavor to accommodate his ancient tradi- 
 tion to the wider geographical knowledge of his own time. . . . Almost certainly, then, 
 Plato's story gives the Saite version of the actual Egyptian records of the greatness 
 and the final disaster of the great island state with which Egypt so long maintained 
 intercourse. Doubtless to the men of the latter part of the Eighteenth Dynasty the 
 sudden blotting out of Minoan trade and influence by the overthrow of Cnossus seemed 
 as strange and mysterious as though Crete had actually been swallowed up by the sea." 
 
Plate VIII. The Vaphio Cups and their Scrolls. (Cups from 
 photographs ; the scrolls drawn from facsimiles of the cups) 
 
 Found in a tomb at Vaphio, near Sparta, in 1889. " The finest product of the 
 
 goldsmith's art left to our wondering eyes by the Achaean civilization of Greece." — 
 
 Rufijs B. Richardson 
 
REFERENCES 
 
 139 
 
 TsouNTAS and Manatt, The Mycenaaii Age. Hall, The Oldest Civilization 
 of Greece. Ridgeway, The £arly Age of Greece, 2 vols. All the works thus 
 far cited were written before the chief discoveries in the island of Crete, and 
 the opinions and conclusions of their authors must be tested and corrected 
 by the revelations made since the opening of the present century by the 
 excavations at Cnossus and elsewhere. The following more recent works 
 summarize and interpret the new discoveries : Hall, ALgean Archeology ; 
 Mosso, The Palaces of Crete ; Baikie, The Sea-k'ings of Crete ; Fowler and 
 Wheeler, Greek Archieology, chap. i. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Summary of the excavations: Hall, Aegean 
 ArchiBology, chap. ii. 2. The palace at Cnossus : Mosso, The Palaces of 
 Crete, chaps, iv, v. 3. Bull-grappling : Mosso, The Palaces of Crete, chap. xi. 
 4. vEgean art : Mosso, The Palaces of Crete, chap, xiii ; Hall, Aigean Archm- 
 ology, chap, vii; Reinach, Apollo (rev. ed.), pp. 30-36; Fowler and Wheeler, 
 Greek Archaology, chap. i. 5. Early intercourse between Crete and Egypt: 
 Baikie, The Sea-kings of Crete, chap. vii. 6. A day in Troy : Manatt, Aigean 
 Days,- chap. xxiv. 
 
CHAPTER Xiy 
 THE HERITAGE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS 
 
 153. A Rich and Mixed Heritage. The Greeks when they appeared 
 in history, in the eighth century B.C., were the bearers of an already 
 advanced culture. They possessed well-developed political and reli- 
 gious institutions, a wonderfully copious language, a rich and varied 
 mythology, an unrivaled epic literature, and an art which, though 
 immature, was yet full of promise. 
 
 This was indeed a rich heritage. We now know that it was a 
 mixed inheritance. It was in part a transmission from their own 
 foretime, and in part a legacy from that earlier ^gean civilization 
 depicted in the preceding chapter. There were mingled in it also 
 elements derived directly from oriental cultures. But all these non- 
 Hellenic racial and cultural contributions had before historic times 
 received the deep impress of the Hellenic spirit. This will become 
 evident as we now proceed to examine somewhat in detail this 
 heritage of the historic Hellenes, and note how different a product 
 it is from anything we have found before. We shall be convinced 
 that the chief factor, after all, in the wonderful thing we call Greek 
 civilization was the Greek genius itself — a genius bom of the union 
 of two gifted races. 
 
 I. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS 
 
 154. The City-State; its Elements — the Clan, the Phratry, and 
 the Tribe. The light that falls upon Greece in the eighth and seventh 
 centuries B. c. shows most of Greece proper, the shore-lands of Asia 
 Minor, and many of the .iEgean islands filled with cities. Respecting 
 
 140 
 
§154] THE CITY-STATE; ITS ELEMENTS 141 
 
 the nature of these cities we must say a word, for it is with them 
 
 with cities — that Greek history has to do. 
 
 In the first place, each of these cities was an independent com- • 
 munity, like a modern nation. It was a city-state. It made war and 
 peace and held diplomatic relations with its neighbors. Its citizens 
 were aliens in every other city. 
 
 In the second place, these city-states were, as we think of inde- 
 pendent states, very small.-' So far as we know, no city in Greece 
 proper, save Athens, ever had over twenty thousand arm-bearing 
 citizens. In most cases each consisted of nothing more than a single 
 walled town with a little encircling zone of farming and pasture land. 
 Sometimes, however, the city-state embraced, besides the central 
 town, a large number of smaller places; Thus the city-state of 
 Athens, in historic times, included all Attica with its hundred or 
 more villages and settlements. In most other cases, however, the 
 outlying villages, if any, were so close to the walled town that all 
 their inhabitants, in the event of a sudden raid by enemies, could get 
 to the city gates in one or two hours at most. 
 
 In the third place, each of these early cities was made up of 
 groups — clans,^ phratries or brotherhoods (groups of closely united 
 families), and tribes — which were a survival from the tribal age of 
 the Greeks, the age before they began to live in cities. It was at first 
 only members of these groups who enjoyed the rights of citizenship.' 
 
 1 There is a limit, Aristotle argued, to the size of a city as there is to the size of a plant, 
 an animal, or a ship. It should be large enough, he maintained, to be self-sufficing, and 
 yet not too large to be well governed. In order that the government might be good he 
 thought that the city should be small enough to enable each citizen to know all his 
 fellow-citizens. 
 
 2 The clan was simply the expanded family ; for in primitive society the family as it 
 expands holds together, being united by the worship of ancestors or of domestic divini- 
 ties, whereas in advanced society as it expands it disintegrates, the several households 
 no longer living together, but each usually going its own way. This forms a fundamental 
 difference between primitive and modem society. 
 
 3 It was only after a long lapse of time that the ties which bound together these 
 primitive groups became relaxed, largely through a change in the religious beliefs of 
 men, and that the way was thus paved for the entrance of strangers into the city. This 
 great revolution, the greatest that ever took place in the society of antiquity, was already 
 in progress, both in Italy and in Greece, at the opening of the historical period, and 
 resulted finally in making property and residence instead of birth and worship the 
 basis of civil and political rights and privileges. (See sects. 204, 396.) 
 
142 HERITAGE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS [§155 
 
 In the beginning, that is, in the Achaean or Homeric Age, these 
 cities were ruled by hereditary kings. But because these Greek cities 
 were at first city-kingdoms, we must not think that they were like the 
 early city-kingdoms we found in Babylonia and other lands of the 
 Orient. In the oriental city the power of the priest-king was abso- 
 lute ; the people were hi.s servile subjects. In the Greek city the 
 authority of the king was limited ; the people were, in some measure 
 at least, self-governed. In a word, the Greek city contained the 
 germs of a political constitution. It was a vital organism with powers 
 of growth. Into what it grew we shall see as we follow particulariy 
 the history of the typical Greek city of Athens. 
 
 155. The Influence of the City upon Greek History. We cannot 
 understand Greek history unless we get at the outset a clear idea of 
 the feelings of a Greek towards the city of which he was a member. 
 It was the body in which he lived, moved, and had his being. It was 
 his country, his fatherland, for which he lived and for which he died. 
 Exile from his native city was to him a fate scarcely less dreaded 
 than death. This devotion of the Greek to his city was the sentiment 
 which corresponds to patriotism amongst us, but, being a narrower 
 as well as a religious feeling, it was much more intense. 
 
 It was this strong city feeling among the Greeks which prevented 
 them from ever uniting to form a single nation. The history of 
 Greece from first to last is, in general, the history of a great number 
 of independent cities wearing one another out with their never-ending 
 disputes and wars arising from a thousand and one petty causes of 
 rivalry, jealousy, and hatred. It is the history of modern Europe 
 in miniature. 
 
 But it was this very thing that made life in the Greek cities so 
 intense and strenuous, and that developed so wonderfully the facul- 
 ties of the Greek citizen. In the eager atmosphere of the agora 
 human talents were fostered as plants are forced in the growing air 
 of a conservatory. Hence there arose in the Hellenic cities a rich 
 and many-sided culture (within their walls -art and literature and phi- 
 losophy developed forms and systems of Supreme excellence), which 
 became the precious legacy of Greece to the world at large. In a 
 word, Greek civilization was the flower and fruitage of the city-state. 
 
§156] 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY OF THE GREEKS 
 
 143 
 
 II. RELIGIOUS IDEAS AND INSTITUTIONS 
 
 156. Ideas of the Greeks regarding the System of the Universe. 
 
 Forming another important element of the inheritance of the historic 
 Greeks were their religious ideas and institutions. In speaking of 
 these we shall begin with a word respecting their ideas in regard to 
 the system of the universe. 
 
 The early Greeks supposed the earth to be, as it appears, a plane, 
 oval or circular in form like a shield. Around it flowed the " mighty 
 strength of the 
 ocean river,'' a 
 stream broad and 
 deep, on the fur- 
 ther side of which 
 lay realms of 
 Cimmerian dark- 
 ness and terror. 
 The heavens were 
 a solid vault, or 
 dome, the edge of 
 which shut down 
 close upon the 
 earth. Beneath 
 the earth, reached 
 by subterranean 
 passages, was the 
 realm of Hades, 
 a vast region, the 
 
 place of departed souls.^ Still beneath this was the prison Tartarus, 
 a pit deep and dark, made fast by strong gates of brass and iron. 
 
 The sun was an archer god, borne in a fiery chariot up and down 
 the steep pathway of the skies. Naturally it was imagined that the 
 regions in the extreme east and west, which were bathed in the 
 near splendors of the sunrise and the sunset, were lands of delight 
 
 1 Erebus, in the Homeric mythology, was a gloomy intermediate region between the 
 earth and Hades. 
 
 The World according to Homer 
 
144 HERITAGE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS [§157 
 
 and plenty. The eastern region was the favored country of the Ethio- 
 pians, a land which even Zeus himself 80= loved to visit that often 
 he was found absent from Olympus when sought by suppliants. In 
 the western region, adjoining the ocean stream, were the Isles of the 
 Blest (Elysium), the abodes of the shades of heroes and poets. 
 
 157. The Olympian Council. At the head of the Greek pantheon 
 there was a council of twelve members, comprising six gods and as 
 many goddesses. The male deities usually included were Zeus, the 
 father of gods and men ; Poseidon, ruler of the sea ; Apollo, the god 
 of light, of music, and of prophecy ; Ares, the god of war ; Hephaestus, 
 
 the deformed god of 
 fire, and the forger 
 of the thunderbolts of 
 Zeus ; and Hermes, 
 the wind-god, the 
 swift-footed herald 
 of the celestials, the 
 inventor of the pipe 
 and the lyre — "for 
 the wind whistles and 
 sings." 
 
 The female divini- 
 ties were Hera, the 
 proud and jealous 
 queen of Zeus ; Athena, or Pallas, — who sprang full-grown from 
 the forehead of Zeus, — the goddess of wisdom and the patroness 
 of the domestic arts ; Artemis, the goddess of the chase ; Aphro- 
 dite, the goddess of love and beauty, bom of the white sea foam ; 
 Hestia, the goddess of the hearth ; and Demeter,' the earth-mother, 
 the goddess of grains and harvests.^ 
 
 1 The cult or worship of Demeter and Persephone was connected with the Eleu- 
 sinian mysteries celebrated at Eleusis in Attica. These secrets were so carefully 
 guarded that to this day it is not known what they really were. It seems, however, 
 that the hopeful doctrine of a future life more real and satisfying than that repre- 
 sented by the popular religion was taught, or at least suggested, by the symbolism of 
 the mysteries, and that the initiated were helped thereby to live better and happier lives. 
 
 2 Besides the great gods and goddesses that constituted the Olympian Council, there 
 was an almost infinite number of other deities, celestial personages, and monsters neither 
 
 Fig. 89. Group of Gods and Goddesses. (From 
 the frieze of the Parthenon) 
 
 " The chief gods, in striking contrast with the monstrous 
 
 divinities of the oriental mythologies, had been molded 
 
 by the fine Hellenic imagination into human forms of 
 
 surpassing beauty and grace " 
 
§158] 
 
 THE DELPHIC ORACLE 
 
 145 
 
 These great deities were simply magnified human beings. They 
 give way to fits of anger and jealousy. All the celestial council, at 
 the sight of Hephaestus limping across the palace floor, burst into 
 "inextinguishable laughter"; and Aphrodite, weeping, moves all to 
 tears. They surpass mortals rather in power than in size of body. 
 They can render themselves visible or invisible to human eyes. 
 Their food is am- 
 brosia and nectar ; 
 their movements 
 are swift as light. 
 They may suffer 
 pain ; but death 
 can never come to 
 them, for they are 
 immortal. Their 
 abode is Mount 
 Ol3Tnpus and the 
 airy regions above 
 the earth. 
 
 158. The Delphic 
 Oracle and its In- 
 fluence on Greek 
 Life and History. 
 The most precious 
 
 part, perhaps, of the religious heritage of the historic Greeks from 
 the misty Hellenic foretime was the oracle ^of Apollo at Delphi. 
 
 The Greeks believed that in the early ages the gods were wont to 
 visit the earth and mingle with men. But even in Homer's time this 
 
 Fig. 90. The Cakrving off of Persephone by 
 Hades to the Underworld ; her Leave-taking 
 OF HER Mother Demeter. (After a vase painting) 
 
 In accordance with the animistic ideas of primitive man, 
 the souls of plants were thought to descend to the under- 
 world in the winter and to return to the upper world in the 
 spring. Out of this conception grew the beautiful myth of 
 Demeter and Persephone, who as goddesses of the com 
 came to be personifications of the yearly death and revival 
 of vegetation, and then by analogy as symbols (in the Eleu- 
 sinian mysteries) of man's renewed life after death 
 
 human nor divine. Hades ruled over the lower realms ; Dionysus was the god of wine ; 
 Eros, of love ; Iris was the goddess of the rainbow, and the special messenger of Zeus ; 
 Hebe (goddess) was the cupbearer of the celestials ; the goddess Nemesis was the 
 punisher of crime, and particularly the queller of the proud and arrogant; jEolus was 
 the ruler of the winds, which he confined in a cave secured by mighty gales. There 
 were nine Muses, inspirers of art and song. The Nymphs were beautiful maidens, who 
 peopled the woods, the fields, the rivers, the lakes, and the ocean. Three Fates allotted 
 life and death, and three Furies (Eumenides, or Erinyes) avenged crime, especially 
 murder and sacrilegious crimes. Besides these there wrere the Centaurs, the Cyclopes, 
 the Harpies, the Gorgons, and a thousand others. 
 
146 HERITAGE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS [§158 
 
 familiar intercourse was a thing of the past — a tradition of a golden 
 age that had passed away. In historic times, though the gods often 
 revealed their will and intentions through signs and portents, still 
 they granted a more special communication of counsel through what 
 were known as oracles. These communications, it was believed, were 
 made sometimes by Zeus,-' but more commonly by Apollo. Not 
 everywhere, but only in chosen places, did these gods manifest 
 their presence and communicate the divine will. These favored spots 
 
 were called oracles, as were also the 
 responses there received. 
 
 The most renowned of the Greek 
 oracles, 'as we have intimated, was 
 that at Delphi, in Phocis. Here, from 
 a deep fissure in the rocks, arose 
 stupefying vapors, which were thought 
 to be the inspiring breath of Apollo. 
 Over this spot was erected a temple 
 in honor of the Revealer. The com- 
 munication was generally received by 
 the Pythia, or priestess, seated upon 
 a tripod placed above the orifice. As 
 she became" overpowered by the va- 
 pors, she uttered the message of the 
 god. These mutterings of the Pythia 
 were taken down by attendant priests 
 and put in verse. Sometimes the divine will was communicated to 
 the pious seeker by dreams and visions granted him while sleeping 
 in the temple of the oracle. 
 
 Some of the responses of the oracle contained plain and wholesome 
 advice ; but many of them, particularly those that implied a knowledge 
 of the future, were made obscure and given? a double meaning, so that 
 they would correspond with the event however affairs might turn.'' 
 
 ^ The oracle of Zeus of widest repute was that at DotJona, in Epirus, where the priests 
 listened for the voice of the god in the rustling leaves of the sacred oak. 
 
 2 Thus Croesus at the time he made war on Cyrus (sect. 102) was told in response 
 to his inquiry that if he undertook the war he would destroy a great empire. He did, 
 indeed, — but the empire was his own. 
 
 Fig. 91. Apollo 
 
§159] 
 
 THE OLYMPIC GAMES 
 
 147 
 
 The oracle of Delphi gained a celebrity wide as the world ; it was 
 often consulted by the monarchs of Asia and the people of Rome in 
 times of extreme danger and perplexity. Among the Greeks scarcely 
 any undertaking was entered upon without the will and sanction of 
 the oracle being first sought. 
 
 Especially true was this in the founding of colonies. Apollo was 
 believed " to take delight in the founding of new cities." No colony, 
 it was believed, could prosper that had not been established with the 
 sanction or under the superintendence of the Delphic god.^ 
 
 The Delphian oracle, furthermore, exerted a profound influence 
 upon Hellenic unity. Delphi was, in some respects, such a religious 
 center of Hellas as papal Rome was of mediasval Europe. It was the 
 common altar of the Greek race. By thus providing a worship open 
 to all, Delphi drew 
 toge±er by bonds 
 of religious senti- 
 ment and fraternity 
 the numberless com- 
 munities of Greece, 
 and created, if not a 
 political, at least a 
 religious, union that 
 embraced the entire 
 Hellenic world.^ 
 
 159. The Olympic Games. Another of the most characteristic 
 of the religious institutions of the Greeks which they inherited from 
 prehistoric times was the sacred games celebrated at Olympia in Elis, 
 in honor of the Olympian Zeus. The origin of this festival is lost in 
 the obscurity of tradition ; but by the opening of the eighth century 
 B.C. it had assumed national importance. In 776 B.C. a contestant 
 named Coroebus was victor in the foot race at Olympia, and as from 
 that time the names of the victors were carefully registered, that 
 
 1 The managers of the oracle, doubtless through the visitors to the shrine, kept them- 
 selves informed respecting the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean, and thus were 
 able to give good advice to those contemplating the founding of a new settlement. 
 
 2 For an illustration of the influence of the oracle upon Greek morality, read the 
 story of Glaucus (Herodotus, vi, 86). 
 
 Fig. 92. Greek Runners 
 
148 HERITAGE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS [§160 
 
 year came to be used by the Greeks as the starting point in their 
 chronology. The games were held every fourth year, and the interval 
 between two successive festivals was known as an Olympiad.^ 
 
 To the foot-race, which at first was the only contest, were gradually 
 added boxing, wrestling, spear-throwing, and other athletic games. 
 Later, chariot-racing was introduced, and became the most popular 
 of all the contests. The competitors must be of Hellenic race ; must 
 have undergone special training in the gymnasium ; and must, more- 
 over, be unblemished by any crime against tlie state or sin against the 
 gods. Spectators from all parts of the world crowded to the festival. 
 
 Fic. 93. Racing with Four-horse Chariots. (From a vase painting of 
 the fifth century B.C.) 
 
 The victor was crowned with a garland of sacred olive; heralds 
 proclaimed his name abroad ; his native city received him as a con- 
 queror, sometimes through a breach made in the city walls; statues 
 of him, executed by eminent artists, were erected at Olympia and in 
 his own city ; sometimes even divine honor and worship were accorded 
 to him ; and poets and orators vied with the artist in perpetuating 
 his name and triumphs as the name and triumphs of one who had 
 reflected immortal honor upon his native s'tate. 
 
 160. The Pythian, the Nemean, and thelsthmian Games. Besides 
 the Olympic games there were transmitted from prehistoric times 
 the germs at least of three other national 'festivals. These were the 
 Pythian, held in honor of Apollo, near his ^shrine and oracle at Del- 
 phi ; the Nemean, celebrated in honor of Zeus, at Nemea, in Argolis ; 
 and the Isthmian, observed in honor of Poseidon, on the Isthmus of 
 Corinth. Just when these festivals had their beginnings it is impos- 
 sible to say, but by the time the historic period had fairly opened, 
 
 1 The date of an occurrence was given by saying that.it happened in the first, second, 
 third, or fourth year of the first, second, or third, etc. Olympiad, This mode of designat- 
 ing dates, however, did not come into general use in Greece before the third century B.C. 
 
§161] INFLUENCE OF THE GREtlAN GAMES 149 
 
 that is to say, by the sixth century e.g., they had lost their local and 
 assumed a national character, and were henceforth to be prominent 
 features of the common life of the Greek cities. As the gods were 
 believed to take delight in these exhibitions of strength and skill, the 
 presentation of them was a religious duty — a Greek mode of worship. 
 
 161. Influence of the Grecian Games. For more than a thousand 
 years these national festivals, particularly those celebrated at Olympia, 
 exerted an immense influence upon the social, religious, and literary 
 life of Hellas. They enkindled among the widely scattered Hellenic 
 states and colonies a common literary taste jand enthusiasm ; for into 
 all the four great festivals, save the Olympic, were introduced, sooner 
 or later, contests in poetry, oratory, and history. During the festi- 
 vals, poets and historians read their choicest productions, and artists 
 exhibited their masterpieces. The extraordinary honors accorded to 
 the victors stimulated the contestants to the utmost, and strung to the 
 highest tension every power of body and mind. 
 
 Particularly were the games promotive of sculpture, since they 
 afforded the sculptor living models for his krt (sect. 324), " Without 
 the Olympic games," says Holm, " we should never have had Greek 
 sculpture." 
 
 Moreover, they promoted intercourse and trade ; for the festivals 
 naturally became great centers of traffic and exchange during the 
 progress of the games. They softened, too, the manners of the peo- 
 ple, turning their thoughts from martial exploits and giving the states 
 respite from war ; for during the season in which the religious games 
 were held it was sacrilegious to engage in nailitary expeditions. 
 
 They tended also to keep alive common Hellenic feelings and sen- 
 timents. In all these ways, though they never drew the states into a 
 real political union, still they did impress a common character upon 
 their social, intellectual, and religious life.^ 
 
 162. The Amphictyonic Council. Closely connected with the reli- 
 gious festivals were the so-called Amphictyonies, or "leagues of 
 neighbors," which formed another important part of the bequest 
 
 1 By the third century B. c. the games had degenerated and lost much of their origi- 
 nal religious character. The Olympic games, having been suspended since the fourth 
 century of our era, were revived, with an international character, in i8g6, at Athens. 
 
ISO HERITAGE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS [§163 
 
 from the legendary age to historic Greece. These were associations 
 of a number of cities or tribes for the celebration of religious rites 
 at some shrine, or for the protection of some particular temple. 
 
 Preeminent among such unions was that known as the Delphic 
 Amphictyony, or simply The Amphictyony. This was a league of 
 twelve of the subtribes of Hellas, whose main object was the protec- 
 tion of the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Another of its purposes was, 
 by humane regulations, to mitigate the cruelties of war. The follow- 
 ing oath was taken by the members of the league : '" We will not 
 destroy any Amphictyonic town, nor cut it off from running water, 
 in war or in peace ; if any one shall do so, we will march against him 
 and destroy his city." This was one of the first steps taken in the 
 practice of international law. 
 
 The Amphictyons waged in- behalf of the Delphic god Apollo a 
 number of crusades, or sacred wars. The first of these occurred at 
 the opening of the sixth century B.C. (probably about 595-586), and 
 was carried on against the Phocian towns of Crissa and Cirrha,^ 
 whose inhabitants had been guilty of annoying the pilgrims on their 
 way to the shrine. The cities were finally taken and leveled to the 
 ground. Their territory was also consecrated to the gods, which 
 meant that it was never thereafter to be ploughed or planted, or 
 in any way devoted to secular use. 
 
 163. Doctrine of Divine Jealousy. Several religious or semi- 
 religious ideas, which were a bequest to the historic Greeks from 
 primitive times, colored so deeply all their conceptions of life, and 
 supplied them so often with motives of action, that we must not fail 
 to take notice of them here. Two of these ideas related to the 
 envious disposition of the gods and the nature of the life in the 
 hereafter. 
 
 The Greeks were impressed, as all peoples and generations have 
 been, with the mutations of fortune and the vicissitudes of human 
 life. Their observation and experience had taught them that long- 
 continued good fortune and unusual prosperity often issue at last 
 in sudden and overwhelming calamity. They attributed this to the 
 jealousy of the gods, who, they imagined, were envious of mortals 
 
 1 Cirrha was the seaport of Crissa. 
 
§164] IDEAS OF THE FUTURE 151 
 
 that through such prosperity seemed to have become too much like 
 themselves. Thus the Greeks believed the downfall of Croesus, after 
 his extraordinary course of uninterrupted prosperity, to have been 
 brought about by the envy of the celestials, and they colored the 
 story to bear out this version of the matter. 
 
 Later, as the moral feelings of the Greeks became truer, they put 
 a different interpretation upon the facts. They said that the downfall 
 of the great was due not to the envy of the gods, but to their right- 
 eous indignation, aroused by the insolence and presumptuous pride 
 engendered by overgreat prosperity. 
 
 164. Ideas of the Future. To the Greeks life here on earth was 
 so bright and joyous a thing that they looked upon death as a great 
 calamity. Moreover, they pictured life after death, except in the 
 case of a favored few, as being hopeless and aimless.'' The Elysian 
 Fields, away in the land of sunset, were, indeed, filled with every 
 delight ; but these were the abode only of the great heroes and 
 benefactors of the race. The great mass of mankind were doomed, 
 to Hades, where the spirit existed as " a feeble, joyless phantom." ^ 
 So long as the body remained unburied, the shade wandered without 
 rest ; hence the sacredness of the rites of sepulture. 
 
 III. LANGUAGE, MYTHOLOGY, LITERATURE, AND ART 
 
 165. The Greek Language. One of the most wonderful things 
 which the Greeks brought out of their dim foretime was their lan- 
 guage. At the beginning of the historic period their language was 
 already one of the richest and most perfectly elaborated languages 
 ever spoken by human lips. Through what number of centuries this 
 language was taking form upon the lips of the forefathers of the his- 
 toric Greeks, we can only vaguely imagine. It certainly bears testimony 
 to a long period of Hellenic life lying behind the historic age in Hellas. 
 
 1 Homer makes the shade of the great Achilles in Hades to say : 
 
 " I would be 
 A laborer on earth and serve for hire 
 Some man of mean estate, who makes scant cheer, 
 Rather than reign o'er all who have gone down 
 To death." — Odyssey, xi, 489-490 (Bryant's trans.) 
 
 2 Cf. sects. 56, 89. 
 
152 HERITAGE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS [§166 
 
 166. The Mythology of the Greeks. Another wonderful posses- 
 sion of the Greeks when they first appeared in history was their 
 mythology. All races in the earlier stages of their development are 
 myth-makers, but no race has ever created such a rich and beauti- 
 ful mythology as did the ancient Greeks, and this for the reason 
 that no other race was ever endowed with so fertile and lively 
 an imagination. 
 
 This mythology exercised a great influence upon the life and 
 thought of the ancient Greeks. Their religion, their poetry, their 
 
 Fig. 94. Battle hetween Greeks and Amazons. (From a sarcophagus 
 
 of about 300 B.C.) 
 
 The whole mythology was pictured on vases or carved in marble 
 
 art, and their history were one and all deeply impressed by this 
 wonderful collection of legends and myths. Some of these stories 
 inspired religious feeling; some afforded themes to the epic and 
 tragic poets ; others suggested subjects to the sculptor and the 
 painter; and still others inspired the actors in Greek history to 
 many an heroic deed or adventurous undertaking. 
 
 167. Early Greek Literature: the Homeric Poems. The rich and 
 flexible language of the Greeks had already in prehistoric times been 
 wrought into epic poems whose beauty and perfection are unequaled 
 by the similar productions of any other people. These epics trans- 
 mitted from the Greek foretime are known- as the Homeric poems 
 (the Ilmd and the Odyssey), to which reference has already been made. 
 
§168] EARLY GREEK ART 153 
 
 Neither the exact date nor the authorship of the Homeric poems 
 is known (sect. 336). That they were the prized possession of the 
 Greeks at the beginning of the historical period is all that it is 
 important for us to note here. They were a sort of Bible to the 
 Greeks, and exercised an incalculable influence not only upon the 
 religious but also upon the litex-ary life of the entire Hellenic world. 
 
 168. Early Greek Art. In the field of art the heritage of historic 
 Greece from the legendary age consisted rather in a certain inherited 
 instinct or feeling for the beautiful than in acquired skill. "The 
 Homeric poetry was, indeed," says Professor Jebb, " instinct with 
 the promises of Hellenic art. Such qualities of poetical thought, 
 such forms of language, announced a race from which great artists 
 might be expected to spring." ''■ 
 
 This prophecy we shall see passing into fulfillment in the ideal 
 perfection of the art of Phidias and Praxiteles. 
 
 Selections from the Sources, //tad (Bryant's trans.), ii, 1-490 (council of 
 the chiefs and assembly of the people). Thallon's J?eac/m^s, pp. 3-9; Davis's 
 Readings (Greece), pp. 65—73, 90-97 ; Fling's Source Book of Greek History, 
 pp. 22, 41-53. 
 
 References (Modern). Curtius, vol. ii, p. i-iii. Grote (ten-volume ed.), 
 vol. ii, pp. 164-194 ; vol. iii, pp. 276-297. Holm, vol. i, chaps, i, xi, xix. Bury, 
 History of Greece, pp. 65-73. CouLANGES, The Ancietit City, bks. i-iii. Fowler, 
 The City-State of the Greeks and Romans, chaps., i-iii. DiEHL, Excursions in 
 Greece, chap, vii (on the Grecian games). Seymour, Life in the ITomeric Age. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Delphi and the oracle : Richardson, Kim/wm 
 Days in Greece, pp. 24-33. ^- '^^^ Olympic Festival : Gardiner, Greek Athletic 
 Sports and Festivals, chap, ix ; Percy Gardner, New Chapters in Greek History, 
 chap.ix. 3. Gymnastics: Bliimner, The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks, cha-p.vm. 
 4. Demeter and Persephone, and the F.leusinian mysteries : Frazer, Spirit of 
 the Com and of the Wild (The Golden Bough), vol. i, chap, ii ; Fairbanks, 
 Mythology of Greece and Rome, chap, vi, pp. 171-183 ; Gayley, Classic Myths 
 (consult index). 5. The Greek doctrine of "divine envy." Consult Herodotus 
 (Rawlinson's trans.) by index under " Croesus," "' Polycrates," and " Artabanus." 
 
 1 "When the Hellenes created the Epos, they were already Greeks ; i.e. the chosen 
 people of poetry and art." — Perrot and Chipiez, History of Art in Primitive Greece, 
 vol. i, p. 7 
 
1 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 EARLY SPARTA AND THE PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE 
 
 169. Situation of Sparta. Sparta was one of the cities of the 
 Peloponnesus which owed their origin or importance to the Dorian 
 Invasion (sect. 145). It was situated in the deep valley of the Eurotas, 
 in Laconia, and took its name Sparta (sown land) from the circum- 
 stance that it was built upon tillable ground, whereas the heart and 
 center of most Greek cities consisted of a lofty rock (the citadel, or 
 acropolis). But Sparta needed no citadel. Her situation, surrounded 
 as she was by almost impassable mountain .barriers, and far removed 
 from the sea, was her sufficient defense. Indeed, the Spartans seem 
 to have thought it unnecessary even to erect a* wall round their city, 
 which stood open on every side until late and degenerate times. And 
 events justified this feeling of security. So difficult of access to an 
 enemy is the valley, that during more than four hundred years of 
 Spartan history the waters of the Eurotas never once reflected the 
 camp fires of an invading army. 
 
 170. Classes in the Spartan State. The population of Laconia 
 was divided into three classes — Spartans, Perioeci, and Helots. The 
 Spartans proper were the descendants of the conquerors of the country, 
 and were Dorian in race and language.^ They formed but a small 
 fraction of the entire population, at no period numbering more than 
 ten thousand men capable of bearing arms. 
 
 The Perioeci (dwellers around), who constituted the second class, 
 were probably the subjected pre-Dorian inhabitants of the land — 
 a mixed ^gean-Achasan population. They are said to have out- 
 numbered the Spartans three to one. They were allowed to retain 
 possession of their lands, but were forced to pay tribute-rent, and in 
 times of war to follow the lead of their Spartan masters. 
 
 1 The Spartans are believed to have had less of the blood of the pre-Hellenic 
 inhabitants of Greece in their veins than any others of the historic Greeks. 
 
 •54 
 
§170] 
 
 CLASSES IN THE SPARTAN STATE 
 
 IS5 
 
 The third and lowest class was composed of slaves, or serfs, called 
 Helots. The larger number of these were laborers upon the estates 
 of the Spartans. They were the property of the state, and not of the 
 individual Spartan lords, among whom they were distributed by lot. 
 
 These Helots had practically no rights which their Spartan masters 
 felt bound to respect. It is affirmed that when they grew too numer- 
 ous for the safety of the state, their numbers were thinned by a 
 
 Fig. 95. Sparta, with the Ranges of the Taygetus in the Background 
 (From a photograph) 
 
 deliberate massacre of the surplus population.' The Ephors (sect. 172), 
 when they took office, proclaimed war against the Helots, in order 
 that it might be lawful to kill them. The young Spartans, if we may 
 believe our authorities, were required to go out at night and kill any 
 Helots they came across. Often they would range about the fields 
 and make away with the strongest and bravest they could find.^ 
 
 1 " Once, when they [the Spartans] were afraid of the number and vigor of the Helot 
 youth, this was what they did : They proclaimed that a selection would be made of those 
 Helots who claimed to have rendered the best service to the Laceda^monians in war, 
 and promised them liberty. The announcement was intended to test them ; it was 
 thought that those among them who were foremost in asserting their freedom would 
 be most high-spirited, and most likely to rise against their masters. So they selected 
 about two thousand, who were crowned with garlands and went in procession round the 
 temples ; they were supposed to have received their liberty ; but not long afterwards 
 the Spartans put them all out of the way, and no man knew.how any one of them came 
 by his end." — Thucydides, iv, 80 (Jowett's trans.) 2 Plutarch, Lycurgus, xvii. 
 
IS6 EARLY SPARTA [§171 
 
 171. The Legend of Lycurgus. Of the history of Sparta before 
 the first Olympiad we have no certain knowledge. Peace, prosperity, 
 and rapid growth, according to tradition, were secured through the 
 adoption of a most remarkable pohtical :constitution framed by a 
 great lawgiver named Lycurgus.' 
 
 Legend represents Lycurgus as having fitted himself for his great 
 work through an acquaintance, by converse with priests and sages, 
 with the laws and institutions of different lands. He is said to have 
 studied with zeal the laws of Minos, the legendary lawgiver of Crete, 
 — a tradition which doubtless reflects the fact that the Spartan laws 
 were deeply influenced by those of Crete,*^ — and to have become, 
 like the legislator Moses, learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. 
 
 Upon the return of Lycurgus to Sparta — we still follow the tradi- 
 tioa — his learning and wisdom soon made him the leader of a strong 
 party. After much opposition a system of laws and regulations drawn 
 up by him was adopted by the Spartan people. Then, binding his 
 countrymen by a solemn oath that they would carefully observe 
 his laws during his absence, he went into an unknown exile. 
 
 It is probable that Lycurgus was a real person and that he had 
 something to do with shaping the Spartan constitution. But circum- 
 stances, doubtless, were in the main the real creator of the peculiar 
 political institutions of Sparta — the circumstances that surrounded 
 a small band of conquerors in the midst of =a large and subject popu- 
 lation. Sparta was a camp, and its laws and usages were the laws 
 and usages of a camp. 
 
 172. The Spartan Constitution: the Kings; the Senate; the 
 General Assembly ; and the Ephors. The so-called constitution of 
 Lycurgus provided for two joint kings, a Senate of Elders, a General 
 Assembly, and a sort of executive board composed of five persons 
 called Ephors. 
 
 The two kings corresponded in some respects to the two consuls 
 at Rome (sect. 401). One served as a check upon the other. This 
 
 1 The date of Lycurgus falls somewhere in the ninth century b. c, probably near 
 its close. 
 
 2 Thucydides (ii, lo) says that the Spartan constitution was probably very largely 
 a copy of the Cretan. 
 
§173] LAND, TRADE, AND MONEY 157 
 
 double sovereignty worked admirably ; for five centuries there was 
 no successful attempt on the part of a Spartan king to subvert the 
 constitution. The power of the joint kings, it should be added, came 
 to be rather nominal than real, except in time of war. And this, 
 according to Plutarch, saved them ; losing the odium of absolute 
 power, he says, they escaped being dethroned. 
 
 The Senate consisted of twenty-eight elders. The two coordinate 
 kings were also members, thus raising the number to thirty. The 
 duties of the body seem to have been both of a judicial and a legis- 
 lative character. No one could become a senator until he had reached 
 the age of sixty. 
 
 The General Assembly was composed of all the citizens of Sparta 
 over thirty years of age. By this body laws were made and questions 
 of peace and war decided; but nothing could be brought before it 
 save such matters as the Senate had previously decided might be 
 entertained by it. In striking contrast to the custom at Athens, all 
 matters were decided without general debate, only the magistrates 
 and persons specially invited being allowed to address the assem- 
 blage. The Spartans were fighters, not talkers ; they hated windy 
 discussion. 
 
 The board of Ephors was composed, as we have noticed, of five 
 persons, elected in some way not known to us. This body gradually 
 drew to itself many of the powers and functions of the Senate, as 
 well as much of the authority of the associate kings. 
 
 173. Regulations as to Land, Trade, and Money. Plutarch says 
 that Lycurgus, seeing that the lands had fallen largely into the hands 
 of the rich, made a general redistribution of them, allotting an equal 
 portion to each of the nine thousand Spartan citizens, and a smaller 
 and less desirable portion to each of the thirty thousand Perioeci. It 
 is not probable that there ever was such an exact division of landed 
 property. The Spartan theory, it is true, > seems to have been that 
 every free man should possess a farm large enough to support him 
 without work, so that he might give himself wholly to his duties a? 
 a citizen ; but as a matter of fact there existed, at certain periods at 
 least, great inequality in landed possessions among the Spartans. In 
 the fourth century, according to Plutarch, not more than one hundred 
 
158 EARLY SPARTA [§174 
 
 of the citizens held any land at all. 'J'he historian Eduard Meyer ven- 
 tures the opinion that had the land been divided rationally and the 
 subject population made equal with the Spartans, Sparta would have 
 become the strongest state in Hellas, and might have united all. 
 
 The Spartans were forbidden to go outside the country without 
 permission, to engage in commerce, or to pursue any trade ; all their 
 time must be passed in the chase, or in gymnastic and martial 
 exercises. Iron was made the sole money of the state. This money, 
 as described by Plutarch, was so heavy in proportion to its value that 
 the amount needed to make a trifling purchase required a yoke of 
 oxen to draw it. The object of Lycurgus In instituting such a cur- 
 rency was, we are told, to prevent its being used for the purchase 
 of worthless foreign stuff.^ Of like purpose was another regulation, 
 which required that the timbers of the roof of every house should be 
 worked only with the ax and the doors with the saw alone. This was 
 to discourage ambitious display. 
 
 174. The Common Tables. The most =peculiar, perhaps, of the 
 Spartan institutions were their common meals. In order to correct , 
 the extravagance with which the tables of the rich were often spread, 
 Lycurgus is said to have ordered that afl the citizens should eat 
 at public and common tables. This was their custom, but Lycurgus 
 could have had nothing to do with instituting it. It was part of 
 their military life. 
 
 Every citizen was required to contribute to these common meals 
 a certain amount of flour, fruit, game, or pieces from the sacrifices; 
 if any one failed to pay his contribution. Tie was degraded and dis- 
 franchised. Excepting the Ephors, none, not even the kings, was 
 excused from sitting at the common mess. One of the kings, return- 
 ing from an expedition, presumed to dine privately with his wife, but 
 received therefor a severe reproof. 
 
 l.The real truth about this iron money is simply this : the conservative, nontniding 
 Spartans retained longer than the other Grecian states»^e use of a primitive medium of 
 exchange. Gold and silver money was not introduced into Sparta until about the close 
 of the fifth century B. c, when the great expansion of her interests rendered a change 
 in her money system absolutely necessary. In attributing the establishment of the early 
 currency to Lycurgus the Spartans simply did in this case just what they did in regard 
 to their other usages. 
 
§175] EDUCATION OF THE YOUTH 159 
 
 Avluxury-loving Athenian once visited Sparta, and, seeing the coarse 
 fare of the citizens, which seems to have consisted in the main of 
 a blacli broth, is reported to have declared that now he understood 
 the Spartan disregard of life in battle : " Any one," said he, " must 
 naturally prefer death to life on such fare *as this.'' 
 
 175. Education of the Youth. Children at Sparta were regarded 
 as belonging to the state. Every male infaijt was brought before the 
 Council of Elders, and if it did not seem likely to become a robust 
 and useful citizen, was condemned to be exposed in a mountain glen. 
 At seven the education and training of the youth were committed 
 to the charge of public officers, called boy-trainers. The aim of the 
 entire course was to make a nation of soldiers who should contemn 
 toil and danger and prefer death to military tiishonor. 
 
 The mind was cultivated only so far as might contribute to the 
 main object of the system. The art of rhetoric was despised. Only 
 martial poems were recited — poems that warmed the blood and 
 stirred to deeds worthy of record. The Spartans had a profound con- 
 tempt for the subtleties and literary acquirements of the Athenians. 
 Spartan brevity was a proverb, whence our word laconic (from 
 Laconia), meaning a concise and pithy mode of expression. Boys 
 were taught to respond in the fewest words possible. At the public 
 tables they were not permitted to speak until questioned ; they sat 
 "silent as statues." As Plutarch puts it, " Lycurgus was for having 
 the m6ney bulky, heavy, and of little value ; and the language, on 
 the contrary, very pithy and short, and a great deal of sense com- 
 pressed in a few words." Wordy persons, he adds, seldom say 
 anything worth remembering. 
 
 But while the mind was neglected, the body was carefully trained. 
 In running, leaping, wrestling, and hurling the spear the Spartans ac- 
 quired the most surprising nimbleness and dexterity. At the Olympic 
 games Spartan champions more frequently than any others bore off 
 the prizes of victory. 
 
 But before all things else was the Spartan youth taught to bear 
 pain, unflinchingly. He was inured to the cold of winter by being 
 forced to pass through that season with only the light dress of 
 summer. His bed was a bundle of river reeds. Sometimes he was 
 
l6o EARLY SPARTA [§176 
 
 placed before the altar of Artemis and spourged just to accustom 
 him to bear pain bravely. Frequently the whipping was so severe 
 as to cause death. Plutarch says that he himself had seen many 
 boys die under the scourge. 
 
 Another custom tended to the same end as the foregoing usage. 
 The boys were at times compelled to forage for their food. If one 
 was caught, he was severely punished for having been so clumsy as 
 not to get safely away with his booty. This custom, as well as the 
 fortitude of Spartan youth, is familiar to all through the story of 
 the boy who, having stolen a young fox and concealed it beneath 
 his tunic, allowed the animal to tear out his vitals without betraying 
 himself by the movement of a muscle. 
 
 That the laws and regulations of the Spartan constitution were 
 admirably adapted to the end in view — the rearing of a nation 
 of skillful and resolute warriors — the long military supremacy of 
 Sparta among the states of Greece abundantly attests. 
 
 176. The Spartan Conquest of Messenia. The most important 
 event in Spartan history between the age of Lyqurgus and the 
 commencement of the Persian wars was the long contest with 
 Messenia, known as the First and Second Messenian wars (about 
 743-723 and 645-631 B.C.). 
 
 Messenia was one of those districts of the Peloponnesus which, 
 like Laconia, had been taken possession of by Dorian bands at the 
 time of the great invasion. It was the most pleasant and fertile 
 of all the Peloponnesian districts which fell into the hands of the 
 Dorians. Here the intruding Dorians, contrary to what was the 
 case in Laconia, had mingled with the native population to form 
 a new mixed race. 
 
 The outcome of the protracted struggle just referred to was the 
 defeat of the Messenians and their reduction to the hard and bitter 
 condition of the Helots of Laconia. According to tradition the 
 Spartans owed in part their final victory to a poet named Tyrtasus, 
 who, at a critical period of the war, reanimated their drooping spirits 
 by his inspiring war songs. 
 
 At the end of each of the two wars, many of the better class of 
 the Messenians, preferring exile to servitude, fled beyond the seas to 
 
§177] SPARTA AND THE PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE i6i 
 
 Ionia or to Italy in search of new homes. Some of the fugitives 
 conquered for themselves a place in Sicily and gave name and im- 
 portance to the still existing city of Messana (Messina), on the 
 Sicilian straits. 
 
 Thus Sparta secured possession of Messenia. From the end of 
 the Second Messenian War on to the decline of the Spartan power 
 in the fourth century B.C., the Messenians were the serfs of the 
 Spartans. All the southern part of the jPeloponnesus was now 
 Spartan territory. 
 
 177. Sparta becomes Head of a Peloponnesian League. After 
 Sparta had secured possession of Messenia, her influence and power 
 advanced steadily until her leadership was acknowledged by all 
 the other states of the Peloponnesus save Argos^ and the cities 
 of Achaea. The virtual management of the Olympic games, at 
 Olympia, in Elis, was in her hands. Through these national festi- 
 vals her name and fame were spread throughout all Hellas. She 
 now, as head of a Peloponnesian league, ;began to be looked to 
 even by the Greek cities beyond the Peloponnesus as the natural 
 leader and champion of the Greeks. 
 
 Having now traced in brief outline the rise of Sparta to supremacy 
 in the Peloponnesus, we must turn aside to take a wider look over 
 Hellas, in order to note an expansion movement of the Hellenic 
 race which resulted in the establishment of Hellenes upon almost 
 every shore of the then known world. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. V\jnA.^ca,Lycurgtis. Thucydides (Jowett's 
 trans.), i, lo, i8 (beginning of each section). Thallon's Readings, pp. 87-112; 
 Davis's Readings (Greece), pp. 103-111 ; Fling's Source Book, pp. 54-75- 
 
 References (Modern). Curtius, vol. i, pp. J75-25'S. Grote (ten-volume ed.), 
 vol. ii, pp. 259-377. Abbott, vol. i, chaps, vi-viii. Holm, vol. i, chaps, xv— xvii. 
 AllcROFT and MaSOM, Early Grecian History, chaps, viii, xi. Oman, History 
 of Greece, chaps, vii, viii. Bury, History of Greece, chap. iii. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Argos and King Pheidon: Holm, vol. i, 
 chap, xvii, pp. 202-208 ; Bury, History of Greece, chap, iii, pp. 139-144. 2. The 
 Helots of Laconia : Thucydides, iv, 80 ; Plutarch, Lycurgus, xxvii ; Grote, vol. ii, 
 chap, vi, pp. 291-298. 
 
 1 Argos was a Dorian city in Argolis which, under her celebrated king Pheidon, held, 
 befpre the supremacy of Sparta, the leadership in the Eeloponnesus. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 ^ THE AGE OF COLONIZATION AND OF TYRANNIES 
 
 I. THE AGE OF COLONIZATION (About 750-600 b.c.) 
 
 178. Causes of Greek Colonization. The latter half of the eighth 
 and, the seventh century B. c. constituted a period in Greek history 
 marked by great activity in the establishment of colonies. This 
 expansion movement of the Greek race forms an important chapter 
 not only in Hellenic but also in general history. 
 
 The inciting causes of Greek colonization at the period named' 
 were various. One was the growth in wealth of the cities of the 
 homeland "^ and the consequent expansion of their trade and com- 
 merce. This development had created an eager desire for wealth, 
 and had given birth to a spirit of mercantile enterprise. Thousands 
 were ready to take part in any undertaking which seemed to offer 
 a chance for adventure or to open a way to the quick acquisition 
 of riches. 
 
 Another motive of emigration was supplied by the political unrest 
 which at this time filled almost all the cities of Greece. The growth 
 within their walls of a wealthy trading class, who naturally desired to 
 have a part in the government, brought this order in conflict with the 
 oligarchs, who in most of the cities at this time held in their hands 
 all political authority. The resulting contentions, issuing in the triumph 
 now of this party and now of that, or perhaps in the rise of a tyrant 
 whose rule often bore heavily on all orders =alike, created a large dis- 
 contented class, who were ready to undergo the privations attending 
 the founding of new homes in remote lands if only thereby they 
 might secure freer conditions of hfe. 
 
 1 We are not concerned in the present chapter with the earlier emigration from 
 continental Greece to the islands and eastern shore-lands of the jEgean (sect, 152). 
 
 2 By the homeland, as we here use the term, we mean the western shore of Asi? 
 Minor, the islands of the jEgean, and Greece proper. 
 
 162 
 
GREECE 
 
 AND THE 
 
 GREEK COJLOXIES 
 
 ff .".n 1 00 200 ^ciO iOd r,ii( 
 
 loiiiaa I I 
 
 Dorian | ' 
 
 OiJtcr Grtdi nuces I I 
 Stii/cmeiilfl |_J 
 
§179] THE GREEK COLONY AND MOTHER CITY 163 
 
 Other motives blended with those already mentioned. There was 
 the restless Greek spirit, the Greek love of adventure, which doubt- 
 less impelled many of the young and ardent to embark in the under- 
 takings. To this class especially did Sicily and the other little-known 
 lands of the West present a peculiar attraction. 
 
 To all these inciting causes of the great emigration must be added 
 the aggressions of Sparta upon her neighbors in the Peloponnesus. 
 We have already seen that many of the Messenians, at the end of 
 their first and again at the close of their second unsuccessful struggle 
 with Sparta, joined the emigrants who just" then were setting out for 
 the colonies in the western seas (sect. 176). 
 
 179. Relation of a Greek Colony to its Mother City. The history 
 of the Greek colonies would be unintelligible without an understand- 
 ing of the relation in which a Greek colony stood to the city sending 
 out the emigrants. There was a fundamental difference between 
 Greek colonization and Roman. The Roman colony was subject 
 to the authority of the mother city. The emigrants remained citi- 
 zens or semicitizens of Rome. The Greek colony, on the other 
 hand, was, in almost all cases, wholly independent of its parent city. 
 The Greek mind could not entertain the idea of one city as rightly 
 ruling over another, even though that other were her own daughter 
 colony.^ 
 
 But while there were no political bonds uniting the mother city 
 and her daughter colonies, still the colonies were attached to their 
 parent country by ties of kinship, of culture, and of filial piety. The 
 sacred fire on the altar of the new home was kindled from embers 
 piously bome by the emigrants from the public hearth. of the mother 
 city, and testified constantly that the citizens of the two cities were 
 members of the same though a divided family. Thus by the ties of 
 religion were the mother and the daughter city naturally drawn into 
 close sympathy. 
 
 1 Besides these independent colonies, however, which were united to the mother city 
 by the ties of friendship and reverence alone, there was another class of colonies known 
 as clenichies. The settlers in these did not lose their rights of citizenship in the mother 
 city, which retained full control of their affairs. Such settlements, however, were more 
 properly garrisons than colonies, and were few in number compared with the independent 
 communities. Athens had a number of such colonies. 
 
1 64 THE AGE OF COLONIZATION [§180 
 
 The feeling that the colonists entertained for their mother country 
 is shown by the names which they often gave to the prominent 
 objects in and about their new home. Just as the affectionate 
 memory of the homes from which they had gone out prompted the 
 New England colonists to reproduce in the new land the names of 
 places and objects dear to them in the old, so did the cherished 
 remembrance of the land they had left lead the Greek emigrants 
 to give to the streets and temples and fountains and hills of their 
 new city the familiar and endeared names of the old home. The new 
 city was simply " a home away from home." 
 
 180. The Condition of the Mediterranean World Favorable to the 
 Colonizing Movement. The Mediterranean lands were at this time, 
 say during the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., in a most favorable 
 state for this colonizing movement of the Greeks. The cities of 
 Phcenicia, the great rivals of the Greeks in maritime enterprise, had 
 been crippled by successive blows from the Assyrian kings, who just 
 now were pushing out their empire to !he Mediterranean. This 
 laming of the mercantile activity of Tyre and Sidon left their trade 
 and that of their colonies a prey to the Greeks. It should be noticed, 
 however, that after the decline of the cities of Phoenicia, the Phoeni- 
 cian colony of Carthage on the African shore gradually grew into a 
 new center of Semitic trade and colonizing activity, and practically 
 shut the Greeks out of the greater part of the Mediterranean lying 
 west of Sicily, 
 
 Another circumstance was favorable to ,Greek colonization. The 
 shores of the Mediterranean were at this time, speaking broadly, 
 unoccupied. The great kingdoms of later times, Lydia, Persia, 
 Macedonia, and Rome, had not yet arisen, or were still inland 
 powers, and indifferent respecting the coast lands ; while the bar- 
 barian tribes whose territories bordered upon the sea of course 
 attached no special value to the harbors and commercial sites along 
 their coasts. But these peoples were advancing in culture and were 
 beginning to feel a desire for the manufactures of foreign lands, and 
 consequently had a strong motive for welcoming the Greek traders 
 to their shores. So between the indifference of the Greeks respect- 
 ing the hinterlands, and the indifference of the barbarians respecting 
 
§181] THE CHALCIDIAN COLONIES 165 
 
 the shore-lands, the Greek settlements in general became what an old 
 writer said of Massalia (sect. 186), " a fringe of Greece clinging to the 
 lands of the barbarians." 
 
 181. The Chalcidian Colonies (about 750-650 B.C.). An early colo- 
 nizing ground of the Greeks was the Macedonian coast. Here a triple 
 promontory juts far out into the ^gean. On this broken shore 
 Chalcis of Eubcea, with the help of emigrants from other cities, 
 founded so many colonies — thirty-two owned her as their mother 
 city — that the land became known as Chalcidice.^ 
 
 One of the chief attractions of this shore to the Greek colonists 
 was the rich copper, silver, and gold deposits. The immense slag 
 heaps found there to-day bear witness to the former importance of 
 the mining industry of the region. The hills, too, were clothed with 
 heavy forests which furnished excellent timber for shipbuilding, and 
 this was an important item in the trade of the Chalcidian colonies, 
 since in many parts of Greece timber was scarce. 
 
 The Chalcidian colonies exercised a very important influence upon 
 the course and development of Greek history. Through them it was, 
 in large measure, that the inland tribes of Macedonia, particularly the 
 ruling class, became so deeply tinged with Hellenic culture.^ It was 
 this circumstance which, as we shall learn, gave special historical 
 significance to the Macedonian conquests of later times, making 
 them, as it did, something more than the mere destructive forays of 
 barbarians. 
 
 182. Colonies on the Hellespont, the Propontis, and the Bosphorus. 
 A second region full of attractions to the colonists of the enter- 
 prising commercial cities of the mother country was that embrac- 
 ing the Hellespont and the Bosphorus, together with the connecting 
 sheet of water known to the Greeks as the Propontis — ■ " the vesti- 
 bule of the Pontus." These water channels, forming as they do 
 the gateway to the northern world, early drew the attention of the 
 Greek traders. 
 
 1 Potid^a, however, one of the most important cities in Chalcidice, was a colony 
 of Corinth. 
 
 2 Thus the colony of Stagira became the birthplace of the great philosopher Aristotle, 
 who, through his father's relation as physician to the Macedonian court, was selected as 
 the tutor of the prince Alexander (sect. 278). 
 
I66 THE AGE OF COLONIZATION [§ 183 
 
 Here was founded, among other cities, Byzantium (658 B.C.). The 
 city was built, under the special direction of the Delphic oracle, on one 
 of the most magnificent sites for a great emporium that the ancient 
 world afforded. It was destined to a long and checkered history. 
 
 183. Colonies in the Euxine Region. The tale of the Argonauts 
 (sect. 142) shows that in prehistoric times the Greeks probably carried 
 on trade with the shores of the Euxine. The chief products of the 
 region were fish, grain, and cattle, besides timber, gold, copper, 
 and iron. 
 
 The fisheries formed the basis of a very active and important trade. 
 The fish markets of the Ionian cities of European Greece and of 
 Asia Minor, in which fish formed a chief article of diet among the 
 poorer classes, were supplied in large measure by the products of 
 these northern fisheries. So large was the trade in wheat and otHer 
 cereals that we may call this Black Sea region the granary of Greece 
 in the same sense that North Africa and Egypt were in later times 
 called the granary of Rome. 
 
 Still another object of commerce in the Euxine was slaves, one of 
 the " first necessaries " of Greek life.^ This region was a sort of slave- 
 hunters' land — the Africa of Hellas. It supplied to a great degree 
 the slave markets of the Hellenic world. In the modern Caucasian 
 slave trade of the Mohammedan sultans we may recognize a survival 
 of a (?ommerce which was active twenty-five hundred years ago. 
 
 Eighty colonies in the region of the Euxine are said to have owned 
 Miletus as their mother city. The coast of the sea became so crowded 
 with Greek cities, and the whole region was so astir with Greek 
 enterprise, that the Greeks came to regard this quarter of the world, 
 once looked upon as so remote and inhospitable, as almost a part 
 of the home country. When the Ten Thousand Greeks on their 
 memorable retreat sighted, from the mountains of Armenia, the 
 waters of the Pontus, they seemed to feel that they were already 
 home (sect. 265). 
 
 1 " For those commodities which are the first nedessaries of existence, cattle and 
 slaves, are confessedly supplied by the districts around the Pontus in greater pro- 
 fusion and in better quality than any other" (Polybius, iv, 38). Along with these 
 " necessaries " Polybius names honey, wax, and salt-fish as " luxuries," 
 
184] 
 
 THE MIGRATION WESTWARD 
 
 167 
 
 184. Colonies on the Ionian Islands and the Adjacent Shores. At 
 the same time that the tide of migration was flowing towards the 
 north it was also flowing towards the west and covering with a deposit 
 of Greek population the Ionian Islands and the coasts of southern 
 Italy and Sicily. 
 
 The group of islands lying off the western coast of Greece, known 
 as the Ionian Isles, together with the adjacent continental shores, 
 
 Magna Gr^bcia and Sicily 
 
 formed an important region of Greek colonization. Corinth, as was 
 natural from her position, took a prominent part in the establishment 
 of colonies here. One of the most important of her settlements was 
 Corcyra. The relations of this colony to its mother city was very 
 unfilial, and a quarrel between them was one of the immediate causes 
 of the Peloponnesian War (sect. 249). 
 
i68 
 
 THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 [§185 
 
 The colonies on the Ionian Islands were the halfway station to 
 Italy, and it was by the way of these settlements that Italy during the 
 era of colonization received a large and steady stream of immigrants. 
 
 185. Colonies in Southern Italy: Magna Grscia. At this time 
 Italy, with the exception of Etruria on the western coast, was occu- 
 pied by tribes that had made but little progress in culture. The 
 power of Rome had not yet risen. Hence the land was practically 
 open to settlement by any 
 superior or enterprising race. 
 
 Ruined Temples at 
 
 P^STUM 
 
 Paestum was the Greek Posidonia, in 
 Lucania. These ruins, which stand to- 
 day on a desolate plain, form the most 
 noteworthy existing monuments of the 
 early Greek occupation of southern Italy 
 
 Consequently it is not surprising that during the Greek colonizing 
 era southern Italy became so thickly set with Greek cities as to 
 become known as Magna Grcscia (Great Greece). Here were 
 founded during the latter part of the eighth century B.C. the impor- 
 tant city of Taras, the Tarentum of the Romans (708 B.C.); the 
 yEolian city of Sybaris (721 B.C.), noted for the luxurious life of 
 its citizens, whence our term Sybarite, meaning a voluptuary ; ' the 
 great Croton (711 b. c), distinguished for its schools of philosophy 
 and its victors in the Olympic games ; and Rhegium (about 7 1 5 b. c), 
 the mother of statesmen, historians, poets, and artists. 
 
 1 " It was the habit, he [Plutarch] tells us, at Sybaris, to send out invitations with 
 a year's notice, in order that the ladies might have time to prepare a splendid toilet- 
 — Mahaffy, The Silver Age of the Greek World, p. 384 
 
§186] COLONIES IN SICILY AND SOUTH GAUL 169 
 
 Upon the western coast of the peninsula was the city of Cumse 
 (Cyme), famed throughout the ancient world for its oracle and sibyl. 
 This was probably the oldest Greek colony in Italy. Near Cyme was 
 Neapolis, " the new city " (Naples), probably a colony of Cyme, situ- 
 ated on one of the most picturesque bays in Europe. All this shore 
 was the scene of cultured Greek life and activity long before Rome 
 was anything more than a cluster of rude hill-villages. 
 
 The chief importance of the cities of Magna Grascia for civilization 
 springs from their relations to Rome. Through them, without doubt, 
 the early Romans received many primary elements of culture, deriv- 
 ing thence probably their knowledge of letters as well as of Greek 
 constitutional law. 
 
 186. Greek Colonies in Sicily and Southern Gaul. The island of 
 Sicily is in easy sight from the Italian shore. About the same time 
 that the southern part of the peninsula was being filled with Greek 
 colonists, this island was also receiving a swarm of immigrants. Here 
 was planted by the Dorian Corinth the city of Syracuse (734 B.C.), 
 which, before Rome had become great, waged war on equal terms 
 with Carthage. Upon the southern shore of the island arose Acragas 
 (Agrigentum), " the fairest of the cities of men," which became, after 
 Syracuse, the most important of the Greek cities in Sicily. 
 
 Sicily was the most disorderly and tumultuous part of Hellas. It 
 was the " wild West " of the Hellenic world. It was the land of 
 romance and adventure, and seems to have drawn to itself the most 
 untamed and venturesome spirits among the Greeks. To the grounds 
 of disorder and strife existing among the Greek colonists themselves 
 were added two other elements of discord — the native barbarians 
 and the Phoenicians. 
 
 That part of Gaul which touches the Mediterranean where the 
 Rhone empties into the sea was another region occupied by Greek 
 colonists. Here were established several colonies, chief among which 
 was Massalia (about 600 B.C.), the modem Marseilles. It is from 
 the advent of these Greek colonists, rather than from the passage of 
 the Alps by the Roman legions centuries later, that we must date the 
 beginnings of civilization in southern Gaul. The Romans in those 
 parts built upon foundations laid by the Greeks. 
 
\yo 
 
 THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 [§187 
 
 Fig. 97. Coin of Cyrene 
 
 187. Colonies in North Africa and Egypt : Cyrene and Naucratis. 
 
 In the seventh century B.C. the Greeks, in obedience to the com- 
 mands of the Delphian Apollo, founded on the African coast, nearly 
 opposite the island of Crete, the important colony of Cyrene, which 
 
 became the metropolis 
 of a large district 
 known as Cyrenaica. 
 The site of the city 
 was one of the best 
 on the African shore. 
 The rain was so abun- 
 dant that the region 
 was characterized as 
 "' the place where the sky leaks." The clitnate has changed greatly 
 since the Greek period. 
 
 In the Nile Delta the Greeks early established the important station 
 of Naucratis. This colony was at the height of its prosperity in the 
 sixth century B.C., although it certainly existed as early as the begin- 
 ning of the seventh century. It was the gateway through which 
 Hellenic influences passed into Egypt and Egyptian influences passed 
 out into Greece. 
 
 188. Place of the Colonies in Grecian History. The history of dis- 
 persed Hellas is closely interwoven with that of continental Hellas, 
 In truth, a large part of the his- 
 tory of Greece would be unin- 
 telligible should we lose sight of 
 Greater Greece, just as a large 
 part of the history of Europe 
 since the seventeenth century 
 cannot be understood without a 
 knowledge of Greater Euro|^. 
 
 In colonial interests, rivalries, and jealousiejs we shall find the inciting 
 cause of many of the contentions and w;ars between the cities of 
 the homeland. 
 
 Indeed, in its influence upon the social arid intellectual development 
 of mankind, the colonization movement which we have been tracing 
 
 Fig. 
 
 Coin of Corinth 
 
§189] CHARACTER OF THE TYRANNIES 171 
 
 may well be compared to that expansion of the English race which 
 has established peoples of English speech and culture in so many 
 lands and upon so many shores of both the Old and the New World. 
 The Greek colonies were the outposts and radiating centers of Greek 
 civilization. Through them at many points of the Mediterranean 
 world, as in southern Gaul, southern Italy, Macedonia, and Thrace, 
 Hellenic culture filtered into and quickened into a higher life the 
 neighboring barbarism. 
 
 II. THE TYRANNIES (About 650-500 e.g.) 
 
 189. The Character and Origin of the Greek Tyrannies. The latter 
 part of the period of Greek colonization Qprresponds very nearly to 
 what has been called the " Earlier Age of the Tyrants," ^ of whom 
 a word must here be said. 
 
 In the heroic age pictured in the Homeric poems the preferred 
 form of government among the Greeks was a patriarchal monarchy. 
 The Jliaif (ii, 203-206) says, " The rule of rriany is not a good thing : 
 let us have one ruler only, — one king, -^ him to whom Zeus has 
 given the scepter." But by the dawn of the historic period, the patri- 
 archal monarchies of the Achaean Age had, given place, in almost all 
 the Grecian cities, to ohgarchies or aristocracies. A little later, just 
 as the Homeric monarchies had been superseded by oligarchies, so 
 were these in many of the Greek cities superseded by tyrannies. 
 
 By the term tyrannos (tyrant) the Greeks did not mean one who 
 ruled harshly, but simply one who held the supreme authority in 
 the state illegally. Some of the Greek tyrants were beneficent rulers, 
 though too often they were all that the name implies among us. 
 Sparta was almost the only important state which did not at one 
 time or another fall into the hands of a tyrant. 
 
 The causes that in so many cities led, to the overthrow of oligarchic 
 rule and the establishment of government by a single person were 
 
 1 For a hundred years after the expulsion of the tyrants from Athens (sect. 203) there 
 were no tyrants in Greece proper, and for a great part of this time there were no tyrants 
 anywhere in the Greek world. In the fourth century b. c. tyrants arose again, particularly 
 in Sicily. This distribution in time of these rulers leads some historians to divide the 
 tyrannies into an earlier and a later age. 
 
1/2 THE AGE OF COLONIZATION [§ 190 
 
 various. A main cause, however, of the rise of tyrannies is found 
 in the misrule of the oligarchs, into whose hands the royal author- 
 ity of earlier times had passed. By their selfish, cruel, and arbitrary 
 administration of the government, they provoked the revolt of the 
 people and invited destruction. The factions, too, into which they 
 were divided weakened their authority and paved the v/ay for 
 their fall. 
 
 Working with the above causes to undermine the influence of 
 the oligarchs, was the advance in intelligence and wealth of the 
 trading classes in the mercantile and commercial states of Greece, 
 especially in the Ionian cities, and their resulting discontent with 
 the oppressive rule of the aristocratic families and desire to partici- 
 pate in the government. 
 
 Generally the person setting up a tyranny was some ambitious 
 disappointed member of the aristocracy, who had held himself out as 
 the champion of the people, and who, aided by them, had succeeded 
 in overturning the hated government of the oligarchs. 
 
 190. The Greek Feeling towards the Tyrants. The tyrants sat 
 upon unstable thrones. The Greeks, always lovers of freedom, had 
 an inextinguishable hatred of these despots.^ Furthermore, the odious 
 vices and atrocious crimes of some of them caused the whole class 
 to be regarded with the utmost abhorrence — so much so that tyran- 
 nicide (that is, the killing of a tyrant) came to be regarded by the 
 Greeks as a supremely virtuous act. The slayer of a tyrant was 
 looked upon as a devoted patriot and preeminent hero (sect. 203). 
 
 Consequently the tyrannies were, as a rule, short-lived, rarely 
 lasting longer than three generations. They were usually violently 
 overthrown, and democracies set up in their place, or the old oli- 
 garchies reestablished. Speaking broadly, the Dorian cities preferred 
 aristocratic government, and the Ionian cities democratic. 
 
 Sparta, which state, as has been noted, never fell into the hands 
 of a tyrant, was very active in aiding those cities that had been so 
 unfortunate as to have their government usurped by despots to drive 
 
 I A Greek writer voices this feeling as follows : " The mere word ' tyrant ' involves 
 ihe idea of everything that is wickedest, and includes every injustice and crime possible 
 to mankind." '—Polybius, ii, 59 
 
§191] PERIANDER, TYRANT OF CORINTH 173 
 
 out the usurpers and to reestablish their -aristocratic constitutions.^ 
 Athens, as we shall see, on escaping from- the tyranny under which 
 she for a time rested, became the representative and the ardent 
 champion of democracy. 
 
 191. A Typical Tyrant; Periander of Corinth (625-585 B.C.). To 
 repeat in detail the traditional accounts of all the tyrants that arose 
 in the different cities of Hellas during the age of the tyrannies 
 would be both wearisome and unprofitable ; wearisome because the 
 tales of the various despots possess a singular sameness, and un- 
 profitable because these stories are often manifestly colored and 
 distorted by popular prejudice and hatred, since the Greeks of a 
 later time could hardly speak temperately of a tyrant, so unutter- 
 ably odious to them was even the name itself. We shall therefore 
 here simply give in brief form the story of two or three of these 
 unconstitutional rulers, who may be taken as fair representatives 
 of their class. 
 
 Among the most noted of the tyrants was Periander of Corinth 
 (625-585 B.C.). According to Herodotus, Periander learned from 
 Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus, the art of playing the tyrant safely. 
 He sent a messenger to that despot to ask him the best way to 
 conduct his government. Thrasybulus is said to have conducted the 
 envoy to a field of grain, and, as they walked through it, to have 
 broken off and thrown away such heads as lifted themselves above 
 the others. Then, without a word, he dismfesed the messenger. The 
 man, returning to Periander, reported that he had been able to 
 secure from Thrasybulus not a single word of advice, but told how 
 singularly he had acted in destroying the best of his crop of grain. 
 Periander understood the parable, and strfflghtway began to destroy 
 all those citizens whose heads overtopped the others. 
 
 Periander maintained a court which riyaled in splendor that of 
 an oriental potentate. Like many another tyrant, he was a generous 
 patron of artists and literary men. 
 
 1 Her aim in tliis policy was to strengthen her own: influence in these cities by pre- 
 serving in them institutions lilie her own, and by keeping the control of their public 
 affairs in the hands of a few families who should be under the necessity of looking to 
 iier for the support of their authority. 
 
174 THE AGE OF COLONIZATION [§192 
 
 192. Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos (535-522 B.C.). Another tyrant 
 whose deeds were noised throughout the Hellenic world, and the 
 vicissitudes of whose career left a deep impression upon the Greek 
 imagination, was Polycrates of Samos. 
 
 Polycrates established his rule in Samos in the way so common 
 with the tyrants — by overturning through violence the government 
 of his own order, the oligarchs. Having made Samos his stronghold, 
 Polycrates conquered many of the surrounding islands in the ^gean, 
 together with several of the cities of the Asian mainland, and made 
 himself the head of a maritime empire, which he maintained with 
 ■ a fleet that was the largest any Greek state had up to that time 
 collected. 
 
 Like Periander, Polycrates maintained a magnificent court, to 
 which he invited, among other persons o"f fame and learning, the 
 celebrated lyric poet Anacreon, a native of Ionia, who seems to have 
 enjoyed to the full the gay and easy life of a courtier, and who, 
 inspired by the congenial atmosphere of his patron's palace, sang so 
 voluptuously of love and wine and festivity that the term Anacreontic 
 has come to be used to characterize all poetry overredolent of 
 these themes. 
 
 The astonishing good fortune and uninterrupted prosperity of 
 Periander awakened, according to Herodotus, the alarm of his 
 friend and ally, Amasis, king of Egypt, who became convinced that 
 such felicity in the lot of a mortal must awaken the envy of the 
 gods (sect. 163), and accordingly broke off his alliance with him. 
 
 The issue justified the worst fears of Amasis. Polycrates was 
 lured to the Asian shore by a Persian satrap, a bitter enemy of his, 
 and put to a shameful and cruel death. 
 
 193. Benefits Conferred by the Tyrants upon Greek Civilization. 
 The rule of the tyrants conferred upon Greek civilization some bene- 
 fits which, perhaps, could not have been so well secured under any 
 other form of government. 
 
 Thus the tyrants, through the connections which they naturally 
 formed with foreign kings and despots, broke the isolation in which 
 the Greek cities up to this time had lived. Pheidon of Argos — a 
 tyrant of the better class — was in close relations with the Lydian 
 
§193] BENEFITS CONFERRED BY THE TYRANTS 175 
 
 kings ; and Polycrates, as we have seen, was the friend and ally of 
 Amasis, king of Egypt. These connections between the courts of the 
 tyrants and those of the rulers of oriental countries opened the cities 
 of the Hellenic world to the influences of those lands of culture, 
 widened their horizon, and enlarged the sphere of their commercial 
 enterprise. 
 
 Again, the tyrants, some of them at least, as, for example, Periander 
 of Corinth, Polycrates of Samos, and Pisistratus of Athens, were 
 liberal patrons of art and literature. Poetry and music flourished in 
 the congenial atmosphere of their luxurious courts, while architecture 
 was given a great impulse by the public buildings and works which 
 many of them undertook with a view of embellishing their capitals, 
 or of winning the favor of the poorer classes by creating oppor- 
 tunities for their employment. Thus it happened that the age of the 
 tyrants was a period marked by an unusually rapid advance of many 
 of the Greek cities in their artistic, intellectual, and industrial life. 
 
 In the political realm also the tyrants rendered eminent services 
 to Greece. By depressing the oligarchies and lifting the people, they 
 created a sort of political equality between these rival orders of 
 society, and thereby helped to pave the way for the incoming of 
 democracy. They were also active in the establishment of colonies, 
 and so gave a great impulse to that expansion movement of the 
 Greek race which meant so much for Greek civilization. 
 
 In still another way — in the way implied in Emerson's adage to 
 the effect that bad kings help us, if only they are bad enough — did 
 the tyrants render a great service to the cause of constitutional 
 government in the Greek cities. As we have seen, they rendered 
 rule by a single person unrestrained by law inexpressibly odious to 
 the Greeks, and thus deepened their love ;for constitutional govern- 
 ment and made them extremely watchful of their freedom. The bare 
 suspicion that any person was scheming to make himself a tyrant was 
 often enough to insure his immediate expulsion from the city or the 
 infliction of some worse punishment. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Herodotus, iv, "150-153, 156-159 (on the part 
 taken by the Delphic oracle in the founding of Cyrene). Thallon's Readings, 
 chaps, ii, iv; Davis's Readings (Greece), pp. 99-102, 114-117. 
 
176 THE AGE OF COLONIZATION 
 
 References (Modern). For the colonies : Cuetius, vol. i, pp. 432-500. 
 Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. iii, pp. 163-220, 247-275. Abbott, vol. i, pp. 333- 
 365. Holm, vol. i, chap. xxi. Oman, History of Greece, chap. ix. Bury, 
 History of Greece, chap. ii. ICeller, Colonization, pp. 39-5°* 
 
 For the tyrannies ; Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ii, pp. 378-421. Holm, 
 vol. i, chap. xxii. Fowler, The City-State of the Greeks and Romans, chaps, iv, v. 
 Mahaffy, Problejns in Greek History, chap. Iv, and Survey of Greek Civilizaiion, 
 pp. 99-101. Cox, Lives of Greek Statesmen, " Polykrates." 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. The trade of the Pontus, or Euxine : Curtius, 
 vol. i, pp. 439-441. z. Relations of a colony to its mother city . Curtius, vol. i, 
 pp. 496-500. 3. The Delphic oracle and Greek colonization : Herodotus, iv, 
 150-153,156-159; Curtius, vol. ii, pp, 49, 50. 4. Tales of the tyrants Cypselus, 
 Polycrates, and Periander: Herodotus (consult index). 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE HISTORY OF ATHENS UP TO THE PERSIAN WARS 
 
 194. The Beginnings of Athens. Four or five miles from the sea, 
 a little hill, about one thousand feet in length and half as many in 
 width, rises about one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the 
 plains of Attica. The security afforded by this eminence doubtless 
 led to its selection as a stronghold by the early settlers of the Attic 
 plains. Here a few buildings, perched upon the summit of the rock 
 and surrounded by a palisade, constituted the beginnings of the capital 
 whose fame has spread over all the world. 
 
 195. The Kings of Athens. In the prehistoric age Athens was 
 ruled by kings, like the other Greek cities. The name of Theseus is 
 one of the most noted of the regal line. To him* tradition ascribed 
 the work of uniting the separate Attic villages or strongholds, twelve 
 in number, into a single city-state, thus making all the villagers 
 Athenian citizens.^ The annexed or absorbed villages or towns kept 
 their minor offices and their social and religious institutions. 
 
 This prehistoric union of the Attic communities, however or by 
 whomsoever effected, laid the basis of the greatness of Athens. 
 How much the union meant for Athens, how it stood related to 
 her ascendancy afterwards in Greece, is shown by the history of 
 Thebes. Although holding the same relation to Boeotia that Athens 
 held to Attica, Thebes never succeeded in uniting the Boeotian towns 
 
 1 It was not an unusual thing for the Greeks to create a city in this way, and on the 
 other hand t6 destroy one by separating it into villages. 
 
 17.7 
 
178^ 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF ?ATHENS 
 
 [§196 
 
 into a single city-state, and consequently fretted away her strength in 
 constant bickerings and wars with them. 
 
 196. The Archons. By the dawn of history the real power in the 
 Athenian state had slipped out of the hands of the royal family and 
 had come into the hands of the nobles. The old-time duties of the 
 king had been assigned to magistrates chosen by the nobles from 
 among themselves. A little after the opening of the seventh century 
 we find a board of nine persons, called Archons, of whom the king 
 
 in a subordinate posi- 
 tion was one, stand- 
 ing at the head of the 
 Athenian state. The 
 old Homeric mon- 
 archy had become an 
 oligarchy. 
 
 197. The Council 
 of the Areopagus and 
 the General Assembly. 
 Besides the board of 
 Archons there was in 
 the Athenian state at 
 this time a very im- 
 portant tribunal, called the Council of the Areopagus.^ This council 
 was a purely aristocratic body. Its members held office for life. 
 The duty of the council was to see that the laws were duly observed, 
 and to judge and punish great criminals. There was no appeal 
 from its decisions. This council was, at the opening of the historic 
 period, the real power in the Athenian state. 
 
 In addition to the board of Archons and the Council of the 
 Areopagus, there is some evidence of the existence of a general 
 assembly ('EKxATyo-ta, Ecdesia), in which all those who served in the 
 heavy-armed forces of the state had a placq,^ 
 
 1 So called from the name of the hill "Apeios iri.'^ai, " Hill of Ares," which was the 
 assembling place of the council. It was " in the midst " of this hill that the Apostle Paul 
 stood when he made his eloquent defense of Christianity (see Acts xvii, 22-31). 
 
 " The meetings of the Ecclesia in early times, until the construction of the Theater 
 of Dionysus (sect. 320), were held on a low hill to the west of the Acropolis, supposed 
 
 Fig. gg. The Bema, or Orator's Stand, on 
 THE Pnyx Hill, Athens.^ (From a photograph) 
 
§198] CLASSES IN THE ATHElsilAN STATE 179 
 
 198. Classes in the Athenian State. The leading class in the 
 Athenian state were the nobles, or Eupatrids. These men were 
 wealthy landowners, a large part of the best soil of Attica, it is 
 said, being held by them. As already shown, all political authority 
 was in thuir hands. 
 
 Beneath the nobles we find the body of the nominally free inhabi- 
 tants. Many of them were tenants living in a condition little removed 
 from serfdom upon the estates of the wealthy nobles. They paid 
 rent in kind to their landlords, and in case of failure to pay, they, 
 together with their wives and children, might be seized by the pro- 
 prietor and sold as slaves. Others owned their little farms, but at 
 the time of which we are speaking had fallen in debt to the wealthy 
 class, their fields being heavily mortgaged to the money lenders. Thus 
 because of their wretched economic condition, as well as because of 
 their exclusion from the government, these classes among the common 
 people were filled with bitterness towards the nobles and were ready 
 for revolution. 
 
 199. Draco's Code (621 B.C.). It was prgbably to quiet the people 
 and to save the state from anarchy^ that the nobles at this time 
 appointed a person named Draco, one of their own order, to write 
 out and publish the laws."" In carrying into effect his commission, 
 Draco probably did little more than reduce existing rules and cus- 
 toms to a definite and written form. The laws as published were 
 very severe. Death was the penalty for the smallest theft. This 
 severity of the Draconian laws is what icaused a later Athenian 
 orator to say that they were written, " nof in ink, but in blood." 
 But Draco was not responsible for their harshness; he made them 
 no harsher than they were in their unwritten form. 
 
 to be identical w.ith the so-called I'nyx Hill of to-day. On the Pnyx Hill may be seen a 
 platform mounted by steps, the whole cut out of the native rock (Fig. 99). This rock 
 pulpit is believed to be the celebrated Bema of the Athenian orators. 
 
 1 Taking advantage of the unrest in the state, Cylon, a rich and ambitious noble, had 
 just made an unsuccessful attempt to seize the supreme power (the Rebellion of Cylon, 
 628 or 624 II. c). 
 
 2 Lip to this time the rules and customs of the city had been unwritten, and hence 
 the ICupatrid magistrates, who alone administered the laws, could and often did interpret 
 them unfairly in favor of their own class. The people demanded that the customs should 
 be put in writing and published, so that every one mfght know just what they were 
 (cf. sect. 406). 
 
l8o EARLY HISTORY OF ATHENS [§200 
 
 There was one real and great defect in Draco's work. He did 
 not accomplish anything in the way of land or economic reform, and 
 thus did nothing to give relief to those who were struggling with 
 poverty and were the victims of the harsh laws of debt. 
 
 200. The Reforms of Solon (594 B.C.). This condition of the poorer 
 classes made urgent some measures of relief. Once more, as in the 
 time of Draco, the Athenians placed their laws in the hands of a 
 single man to be remodeled as he might deem best. Solon, one 
 of the noblest and best beloved of the so-called Seven Wise Men 
 (sect. 354), a man held in high esteem by all Athenians on account 
 of distinguished pubhc services, was selected to discharge this re- 
 sponsible duty. He turned his attention first to relieving the misery 
 of the debtor class. He canceled all debts for which the debtor 
 had pledged his liberty, and set free all who had been sold into 
 slavery for debt. Moreover, that there might never again be seen 
 in Attica the spectacle of men dragged off in chains to be sold as 
 slaves in payment of their debts, Solon prohibited the practice of 
 securing debts on the body of the debtor. No Athenian was ever 
 after this sold for debt. 
 
 Such was the most important of the economic reforms of Solon.' 
 His constitutional reforms were equally wise and beneficent. The 
 Ecclesia, or popular assembly, was at this time composed of all those 
 persons who were able to provide themselves with arms and armor; 
 that is to say, of all the members of the three highest of the four 
 property classes into which the people were divided." The fourth 
 and poorest class, the Thetes, were excluded. Solon opened the 
 Ecclesia to them, giving them the right to vote, but not to hold 
 office. An even more important constitutional change made by 
 Solon was the establishment of popular courts of justice^ whereby the 
 magistrates became responsible to the people, who henceforth not 
 only elected them, but judged them in case they did wrong. " The 
 constitution of the judicial courts out of the whole people ' was the 
 
 1 According to some authorities Solon gave further relief to debtors by annulling all 
 debts secured on land and by remitting a part of other debts. 
 
 2 " It is doubtful whether Solon first instituted, or merely availed himself of the 
 divisions of the citizens into the four classes," — Greenidge, Roman Public Lif' 
 (1901), p. 151 a See sect. 242. 
 
§201] PISISTRATUS, TYRANT OF ATHENS i8i 
 
 secret of democracy which Solon discovered. It is his title to fame in 
 the history of the growth of popular government in Europe " (Bury). 
 
 Furthermore, Solon created a very important council composed 
 of four hundred members, and hence called the Council of the Four 
 Hundred.^ Its chief duty was to prepare measures to be laid before 
 the public assembly. 
 
 Besides his relief measures and constitutional reforms, Solon made 
 various decrees in the interest of morahty and good citizenship. He 
 forbade evil speaking, at certain times and in certain places, not 
 only of the dead but also of the living ; forbade women to go about 
 at night except in a wagon with a light carried before it; forbade 
 hired mourners at a funeral ; ruled that a son need not support his 
 father if the father had neglected to teach him a trade ; and decreed 
 that any one failing to take sides in political party fights should forfeit 
 his citizenship and be regarded as infamous;^ 
 
 After having established his constitution and laws, in order to es- 
 cape answering troublesome questions, Solon, according to Plutarch, 
 left Athens and went abroad. Following the tradition current in his 
 day, Plutarch makes him to have visited Croesus (sect. 102), and to 
 have had with him the famous discussion on what constitutes true 
 happiness.' All this is probably pure invention, for it is hardly pos- 
 sible to make Solon and Croesus contemporaries, but Plutarch thinks 
 that so good a story ought not to be given up " because of so-called 
 rules of chronology." 
 
 201. Pisistratus makes himself Tyrant of Athens (560 e.g.). The 
 reforms of Solon naturally worked hardship to many persons. These 
 became bitter enemies of the new order of things. Moreover, the 
 reformed constitution failed to work smoothly. Taking advantage of 
 the situation, Pisistratus, an ambitious noble and a nephew of the 
 lawgiver Solon, resolved to seize the supreme power. This man 
 courted popular favor and called himself '" the friend of the people." 
 One day having inflicted many wounds upon himself, he drove his 
 chariot hastily into the public square, and pretended that he had 
 
 1 This council replaced an earlier one consisting of four hundred and one members. 
 
 2 Plutarch, Solati, xxi, xxii. 
 
 s Plutarch, Solon, xxvi, xxvii ; see also Herodotus, i, 30-33. 
 
1 82 EARLY HISTORY OF ATHENS [§202 
 
 been thus set upon by the nobles, because of his devotion to the 
 people's cause. The people voted him a guard of fifty men. Under 
 cover of raising this company, Pisistratus =gathered a much larger 
 force, seized the Acropolis, and made himself master of Athens. 
 Though twice expelled from the city, Pisistratus as often returned 
 and reinstated himself in the tyranny. 
 
 202. Character of the Rule of Pisistratus. Pisistratus gave Athens 
 a mild rule, and under him the city enjoyed a period of great pros- 
 perity. He may be taken as a type of the better class of Greek 
 tyrants, and much that was said in an earlier chapter respecting the 
 domestic and foreign policies of these rulers finds illustration in the 
 circumstances of his reign. 
 
 It was, as we have seen, the general policy of the tyrants to 
 strengthen themselves by means of foreign alliances. This we find 
 Pisistratus doing. He entered into alliances with Sparta, Thebes, 
 Macedonia, and other states. Through these various connections 
 Pisistratus made firmer his position both at home and abroad, while 
 giving at the same time a wider range "to the growing fame of 
 Athens and enlarging the field of enterprise of the Athenian traders. 
 
 But before all else was the tyrant, in imitation of so many others 
 of his class, a liberal patron of the gods and of art. He established 
 or at least gave increased splendor to what was known as the Great 
 Panathenasa,'- a festival held every fourth year, in honor of Athens' 
 patron goddess Athena, a main feature of which was a brilliant pro- 
 cession of youth carrying a rich robe woven by Athenian maidens 
 and matrons as a gift to the virgin goddess.; instituted a new festival 
 in honor of Dionysus ; and began at Athens the erection of a temple 
 to Zeus Olympius on such a magnificent scale that it remained 
 unfinished until the resources of the Roman emperor Hadrian, 
 nearly seven hundred years later, carried the colossal building to 
 completion. 
 
 Nor did Pisistratus fail to follow the traditional policy of the tyrants 
 in respect to the patronage of letters. He invited to his court the 
 literary celebrities of the day. tie is credited with having gathered 
 
 1 An annual festival in honor of the same patron goBdess continued to be celebrated 
 as hitherto, but henceforth was known as the Lesser Panatheneea. 
 
j203] 
 
 THE ATHENIAN TYRANNICIDES 
 
 183 
 
 the first public library at Athens, and is said to have caused the 
 Homeric poems to be collected and critically edited. These poems 
 were thus given their final form — an event in the literary history 
 of Greece that has been likened in importance to the publication 
 of King James's version of the Bible in the literary history of the 
 English people. He is said also to have added to the embellishments 
 of the Lyceum, a sort of public park just outside the city walls, 
 which in after times became one of 
 the favorite resorts of the poets, 
 philosophers, and pleasure seekers of 
 the capital. 
 
 203 . Expulsion of the Tyrants from 
 Athens (sio B.C.). The two sons of 
 Pisistratus, Hippias and Hipparchus, 
 succeeded to his power. At first they 
 emulated the example of their father, 
 and Athens flourished under their rule. 
 But at length an unfortunate event 
 gave an entirely different tone to the 
 government. Hipparchus, having in- 
 sulted a young noble named Harmo- 
 dius, this man, in connection with 
 his friend Aristogiton and some 
 others, planned to assassinate both 
 the tyrants. Hipparchus was slain, 
 but the plans of the conspirators mis- 
 carried as to Hippias. Harmodius 
 was struck down by the guards of the tyrants, and Aristogiton, after 
 having been tortured in vain to force him to reveal the names of 
 the other conspirators, was put to death. 
 
 We have already spoken of how tyrannicide appeared to the Greek 
 mind as an eminently praiseworthy act (sect. 190). This is well illus- 
 trated by the grateful and venerated remembrance in which Harmo- 
 dius and Aristogiton were ever held by the Athenians. Statues were 
 raised in their honor (Fig. 100), and the story of their deed was 
 rehearsed to the youth as an incentive to patriotism and self-devotion. 
 
 •Fig. 100. The Athenian 
 
 Tyrannicides, Harmodius 
 
 AND Aristogiton 
 
 Marble statues in the Naples Mu- 
 seum, recognized as ancient copies 
 of the bronze statues set up at Athens 
 in commemoration of the assassina- 
 tion of the tyrant Hipparchus 
 
1 84 EARLY HISTORY OF ATHENS [§204 
 
 The plot had a most unhappy effect upon the disposition of 
 Hippias. It caused him to become suspicious and severe. His rule 
 now became a tyranny indeed. With the help of the Spartans he 
 was finally driven out of the city, 
 
 204. The Reforms of Clisthenes (508 B.C.). Straightway upon the 
 expulsion of the tyrant Hippias, old feuds ""between factions of the 
 nobles broke out afresh. A prominent noble named Clisthenes, head 
 of one of the factions, feeling that he was not receiving in the way 
 of coveted office the recognition from his own order which his merits 
 deserved, allied himself with the common people as their champion. 
 He thus got control of affairs in the state. With power once in his 
 hands he used it to remold the constitution into a form still more 
 democratic than that given it by Solon. 
 
 One of the most important of his measures was that by which he 
 conferred citizenship upon a great body of poor Athenians who had 
 hitherto been excluded from the rights of the city, and also upon 
 many resident aliens and freedmen. This measure, which was effected 
 through a regrouping of the people,'^ made such radical changes in 
 the constitution in the interests of the masses that Clisthenes has 
 been called " the second founder of the Athenian democracy." 
 
 205. Ostracism. Among the other innovations or institutions 
 generally ascribed to Clisthenes was the celebrated one known as 
 ostracism. By means of this process any person who had excited 
 the suspicions or displeasure of the people could, without trial, be 
 banished from Athens for a period of ten years. Six thousand 
 
 1 The population of Attica comprised originally four tribes {<pv\al) membership in 
 which was based on birth. In place of these four tribes Clisthenes formed ten new tribes 
 in which he enrolled all free native Athenians, including, it would seem, many resident 
 aUens and emancipated slaves. These new tribes, which were practically geographical 
 divisions of Attica, were each made up of a number of local subdivisions called demes, or 
 townships. The demes constituting any given tribe were scattered about Attica. The 
 object of this was to break up the old factions, and also to give each tribe some territory 
 in or near Athens, so that at least some of its members should be within easy reach of 
 the meeting place of the Ecclesia. Fifty men chosen by lot from each of the ten new 
 tribes constituted a new Council of Five Hundred, which took the place of the old 
 Council of Four Hundred (sect. 200). A few years after the creation of these new tribes 
 an imporunt change was made in the organization of the army. In place of the four 
 strategi, or generals, who commanded the forces of the four old tribes, ten generals 
 were now elected, one by each of the ten new tribes. 
 
§206] SPARTA'S JEALOUSY OF ATHENS 185 
 
 votes* cast against any person in a meeting of the popular assembly 
 was a decree of banishment. The name of 'the person whose banish- 
 ment was sought was written on a shell or a piece of pottery, in 
 Greek ostrakon (oa-rpaKov), whence the term ostradsm. 
 
 The design of this institution was to prevent the recurrence of such 
 a usurpation as that of Pisistratus. It was first used to get rid of 
 some of the old friends of the ex-tyrant Hippias, who, the Athenians 
 had reason to believe, were plotting for his return. Later the vote 
 came to be employed, as a rule, simply to settle disputes between 
 rival leaders of political parties. Thus the vote merely expressed 
 political preference, the ostracized person being simply the defeated 
 candidate for popular favor. No stigma or disgrace attached to him. 
 
 The power that the device of ostracisni lodged in the hands of 
 the jJeople was not always wisely used, and some of the ablest and 
 most patriotic statesmen of Athens were sent into exile through 
 the influence of some demagogue who for the moment had caught 
 the popular ear.^ 
 
 206. Sparta Opposes the Athenian Democracy. The aristocratic 
 party at Athens was naturally bitterly opposed to all these demo- 
 cratic irmovations. The Spartans also viewed with disquiet and 
 jealousy this rapid growth of the Athenian democracy, and, inviting 
 Hippias over from Asia, tried to overthrow the new government and 
 restore him to power. But they did not succeed in their purpose, 
 because their allies refused to aid them in such an undertaking, and 
 Hippias went away to Persia to seek aid of King Darius. We shall 
 hear of him again. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Vi,\sikkq.ts.,SoIo^. A.-r.istotle, Atkenian Con- 
 stitution, 13-19. Thallon's Readings, pp. 113-145'; Davis's Readings (Greece), 
 pp. 117-129; Fling's Source Book, pp. 77-97. 
 
 1 Or possibly the largest vote cast against any person in an assembly of not less than 
 six thousand citizens. The authorities are not clear. 
 
 2 The institution was short-lived. It was resorted to for the last time during the 
 Peloponnesian War (418 B.C.). The people then, in a freak, ostracized a man. Hyper- 
 bolus by name, whom all admitted to be the meanest man in Athens. This, it is said, 
 was regarded as such a degradation of the institution, as well as such an honor to the 
 mean man, that never thereafter did the Athenians degrade a good man or honor a bad 
 one by a resort to the measure. 
 
1 86 EARLY HISTORY OF ATHENS 
 
 References (Modern). Curtius, vol. i, pp. 316-431. Grote (ten-volume 
 ed.), vol. ii, pp. 422-529; vol. iii, pp. 324-398. Abbott, vol. i, chaps, ix, xiii, 
 XV. The accounts of the Athenian constitution in Curtius, Grote, and Abbott, 
 which were written before the discovery of the Aristotelian treatise, must 
 be read in the light of the new evidence. Holm, vol. i, chaps, xxvi-xxviii. 
 Allcroft and Masom, Early Grecian History^ chaps, xii— xv. Cox, Lives of 
 Greek Statesmen, " Solon," " Peisistratus," and " Kleisthenes." Greenidge, 
 Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, chap, vi, sects. 1—3. Oman, History 
 of Greece, chaps, xi, xii. Bury, History of Greece, chap, iv, sect, iv ; chap, v, 
 sect. ii. Seignobos {Wilde ed.), History of Ancient Civilization, chap. xii. 
 Youthful readers will enjoy Harrison, Story of Greece, chaps, xvi-xviii. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. The environment of Athens: Tucker, /;/« 
 in Ancient Athens, chap. ii. z. Story of Solon and Croesus : Plutarch, Solon, 
 xxvii, xxviii. 3. The Council and the Assembly (Ecclesia) : Tucker, Life in 
 Ancient AiAens,cha,p. xiii. 4. Dwelling-houses: 6u\ick, TAe Life of ike Ancient 
 Greeks, chap. iii. 5. The occupations of farming and herding: Gulick, The 
 Life of the Ancient Greeks, chap. xvii. 6. The Athenian vase trade (" One of 
 the most interesting phenomena in the history of ceramic art is the absorption 
 of the market of the world by Attic wares.") : The Annual of the British School 
 at Athens, No. xi, pp. 224 ff., " The Distribution of Attic Vases " ; Fowler and 
 Wheeler, Greek Archeology, pp. 471-506. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 HELLAS OVERSHADOWED BY THE RISE OF PERSIA : 
 PRELUDE TO THE PERSIAN WARS 
 
 207. The Real Cause of the Persian Wars, In a foregoing chapter 
 on Greek colonization we showed how the expansive energies of the 
 Greek race, chiefly during the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., 
 covered the islands and shores of the Mediterranean world with 
 a free, liberty-loving, progressive, and ever-growing population of 
 Hellenic speech and culture. 
 
 The first half of the sixth century had barely passed before this 
 promising expansion movement was first checked and then seriously 
 cramped by the rise of a great despotic Asiatic power, the Persian 
 Empire, which, pushing outward from its x;entral scat on the table- 
 lands of Iran to the ^gean Sea, before the close of the century had 
 subjugated the Greek cities of Asia Minor and was threatening to 
 overwhelm in like manner those of European Greece. Here must be 
 sought the real cause of the memorable wars between Hellas and Persia. 
 
 To understand, then, the character and import of the contest which 
 we are approaching, we must now turn from our study of the rising 
 cities of Greece in order to cast a glance at this colossal empire whose 
 giant shadow was thus darkening the bright Hellenic world, and whose 
 steady encroachments upon the Greek cities threatened to leave the 
 Greeks no standing room on the earth. 
 
 As we have already watched from the standpoint of the oriental 
 world the rise of the Persian Empire (Chapter IX), we shall here 
 notice only those conquests of the Persian kings which concerned 
 the Hellenic race, in whose fortunes we ^ cannot now but feel an 
 absorbing interest. 
 
 208. Conquest by Cyrus of the Asiatic Greek Cities (546-544 B.C.). 
 It will be recalled that the Persian Empire was founded by Cyrus the 
 Great (sect. 102), and that among the states=of Asia Minor which he 
 
 187 
 
1 88 HELLAS AND THE RISE OF PERSIA [§209 
 
 brought under his dominion was the kingdom of Lydia. The Greek 
 cities of the Asian coast which had formed part of the Lydian king- 
 dom soon realized of what serious concern to them was the revolution 
 that had transferred authority in Asia Minor from Lydian to Persian 
 hands. Cyrus had asked them to join him in his war against Croesus^ 
 but all except Miletus, satisfied with the easy conditions which that king 
 had imposed upon them, refused to listen to any proposal of the kind. 
 
 Upon the downfall of Croesus, these cities hastened to offer sub- 
 mission to the conqueror, asking that he would allow them to retain 
 all the privileges which they had enjoyed under the Lydian monarchy. 
 Cyrus refused their petition. Thereupon they closed their gates 
 against him, and resolved to fight for their Hberties. In a short time, 
 however, all were reduced to submission. 
 
 Many of the lonians, rather than live in Ionia as slaves, abandoned 
 their old homes and sought new ones among the colonies of Western 
 Hellas and on the Thracian shore. All the remaining inhabitants of 
 the Asian Greek cities, together with those of the large islands 
 of Chios and Lesbos, became subjects of the Persian king. The 
 cities retained the management of their own affairs, under such gov- 
 ernments as they chanced to have, but were forced to pay tribute, 
 and to furnish contingents to the army of their master. 
 
 Thus at one blow was the whole of the eastern shore of the 
 ^gean, the cradle and home of the earliest development in Greek 
 poetry, philosophy, and art, severed from the Hellenic world. 
 
 209. Conquest of Phoenicia, Egypt, Csrprus, and Cyrene by Camby- 
 ses (529-522 B.C.). Under Cyrus' son, Carrjbyses, the Persian power 
 pressed still more heavily upon the Greek world. 
 
 Cambyses first brought the cities of Phoenicia under his authority, 
 and thus obtained control of their large naval resources. Straightway 
 their galleys were ordered to be put in readiness to aid in the pro- 
 posed subjection of Egypt. To the Phoenician fleet when collected 
 was added a large contingent of ships furnished by the Asian Greeks, 
 who were thus compelled to assist their master in reducing to slavery 
 the rest of the world. Cyprus, a dependengy of Egypt, was now con- 
 quered, and the naval strength of that island added to the already 
 formidable armament of the Persian king. 
 
§210] THE FALL OF POLYCRATES 189 
 
 Supported by his fleet, Cambyses marched his army from Syria 
 into Egypt and, as already stated (sect. 103), speedily brought that 
 country under his control. The conquest of Egypt drew after it the 
 subjection to the Persian power of the Greek colonies of Cyrene and 
 Barca on the African coast. 
 
 This extension of the authority of the Persian king over Phoenicia, 
 Cyprus, Egypt, and the Greek colonies of the African shore, was 
 another severe blow to Greek interests' and Greek independence. 
 The naval armaments of all these maritime countries were now sub- 
 ject to the orders of the Persian despot, and were ready to be turned 
 against those of the Greeks who still were free. 
 
 210. Destruction of the Sea Power of Polycrates in the Mgean 
 (522 B.C.). But it was the extension of the Persian authority in the 
 West that most intimately concerned the Greek world. The year 
 preceding the accession of Darius I to the Persian throne had wit- 
 nessed the fall of Polycrates (sect. 192) and the virtual destruction of 
 his maritime empire in the ^gean. 
 
 The dominion of Polycrates was scarcely more, it is true, than 
 a piratical sea power; yet it was a Greek state, and might have 
 proved, in the critical time fast approaching, an effectual barrier 
 in the ^gean against the barbarian wave of conquest which now 
 threatened to overwhelm with irretrievable ruin even the cities of 
 European Greece. 
 
 211. The Scythian Expedition of Darius I; Conquests in Europe 
 (513? B.C.). The growing anxiety of the Greeks in the homeland 
 was intensified by the passage of the Bosphorus, about the year 
 513 B.C., by an immense Persian army led by Darius in person, 
 whose purpose was the subjection of Thrace and the chastisement 
 of the Scythians, old foes of the Asian peoples, inhabiting the lands 
 north of the Lower Danube and the bleak steppes which comprise 
 South Russia of to-day. 
 
 The outcome of this expedition was the addition of both Thrace 
 and Macedonia, together with important islands in the northern 
 ^gean, to the Persian Empire, and the advance of its western 
 frontier to the passes of the mountains which guard Greece on 
 the north. 
 
I go HELLAS AND THE RISE OF PERSIA [§212 
 
 The greater part of the shores of the yEgean was now in the pos- 
 session of the Great King.^ That sea which had so long been the 
 special arena of Greek activity and Greek achievement had become 
 practically a Persian lake. Moreover, through the loss of the Helles- 
 pontine regions the Greeks were cut off from the Euxine, which had 
 come to be such an important part of the Hellenic world. 
 
 212. The Rise of the Persian Power in the East Synchronizes with 
 the Rise of the Power of Carthage in the West. At the same time 
 that the Greeks of the eastern Mediterranean were thus falling under 
 the yoke of the Persians, and the liberty of the cities in the home- 
 land was being threatened with extinction, "the Greeks in Sicily were 
 being hard pressed by another barbarian people, the Phoenicians. 
 The power of Carthage was rising, and the Greek cities of Sicily 
 were just now engaging in a doubtful contest with her for the pos- 
 session of the island. Thus all round the horizon threatening clouds 
 were darkening the once bright prospects of the Hellenic world. 
 
 It was, indeed, a critical moment in the history of the Greek race. 
 As Ranke says, " It cannot be denied that the energetic Greek world 
 was in danger of being crushed in the course of its vigorous 
 development." 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Herodotus, i, 152, 153; iv, 137 (will afford 
 a glimpse into the thought of the times). Thallon's Readings, pp. 147-154. 
 
 References (Modern). Cuetius, vol. ii, pp. 135-193. Grote (ten-volume 
 ed.), vol. iii, pp. 399-491. Holm, vol. i, chap. xx(ii. Oman, History of Greece, 
 pp. 1 18-140. Cox, The Greeks and Persians, chap. iii. Bury, History of 
 Greece, pp. 229-241. Harrison, Stojy of Greece, chap, xx, pp. 220-228. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Culture of the Asiatic Greeks: Holm, vol. i, 
 chap, xxiv, " Growth of Greek Philosophy, Literature, and Art in Asia Minor." 
 i.. The sea power of Polycrates and its end ; Curtius, vol. ii, pp. 160-172. 
 
 1 Consult map after p. 98. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS 
 
 (500-479 B.C.) 
 
 213. The Beginning of the Ionian Revolt (5oo B.C.) ; the Burning 
 of Sardis (499 b.c.). The Greek cities reduced to servitude by Persia 
 could neither long nor quietly endure the loss of their independence. 
 In the year 500 b. c. Ionia became the center of a widespread rebellion 
 against the Great King. 
 
 The Athenians sent twenty ships to the aid of their Ionian kins- 
 men.'- Sardis was taken and laid in ashes. Defeated in battle, the 
 Athenians, thoroughly disheartened, forsook their Ionian confederates 
 and sailed back to Athens. 
 
 This unfortunate expedition was destined to have tremendous con- 
 sequences. The Athenians had not only burned Sardis, but " had set 
 the whole world on fire." When the news of the affair reached Darius 
 at Susa, he asked, Herodotus tells us, w ho the Athenians were, and 
 being informed, called for his bow, and placing an arrow on the 
 string, shot upward into the sky, saying as he let fly the shaft, 
 " Grant, O Zeus, that I may have vengeance on the Athenians." 
 After this speech, he bade one of his servants every day when his 
 dinner was spread to repeat to him three times these words : " Master, 
 remember the Athenians." 
 
 214. Spread of the Rebellion; the Fall of Miletus (494 B.C.). De- 
 serted by the Athenians, the only course left to the lonians was to 
 draw as many cities as possible into the revolt. In this they had great 
 
 1 The Eretrians of Eubrea joined the Athenians with five triremes. 
 191 
 
192 THE PERSIAN WARS [§215 
 
 success. The movement became widespread and threatened the 
 destruction of the Persian power in all those regions where its 
 yoke had been laid upon the n£ck of once free Hellenes. 
 
 The military sources of the Great King were now collected for 
 the suppression of the formidable rebellion. The Persian land and 
 sea forces closed in around Miletus. After a long siege the city 
 was taken. Most of the men were slain, and the women and children 
 were transported beyond the Euphrates; 
 
 The cruel fate of Miletus stirred deeply the feelings of the Athe- 
 nians. When, the year following the fall of the city, there was pre- 
 sented in the theater at Athens a drama entitled the Capture of 
 Miletus, the people were moved to tears, Emd afterwards fined the 
 author " for recalling to them their own' misfortune." They also 
 made a law forbidding the presentation o'f the piece again. 
 
 The remaining cities of Ionia shared the fate of Miletus. They 
 were sacked and destroyed, and the fairest of the boys and maidens 
 were carriedoff for the service of the Great King. Also all the Greek 
 cities on the European side of the Hellespont were taken and burned, 
 and several important islands in the northern ^Egean were harried. 
 
 The first serious attempt of the enslaved Greeks to recover their 
 lost freedom was thus suppressed. The eastern half of the Greek 
 world, filled with the ruins of once flourishing cities, and bearing 
 everywhere the cruel marks of barbarian ^Warfare, lay again in vas- 
 salage to the Great King. " The mild Ionian heavens did their part 
 to heal the wounds : the waste places ward again in time built upon, 
 and cities, such as Ephesus, bloomed again in great prosperity ; but 
 as to a history of Ionia, that was for all time past." ■^ 
 
 215. The First Expedition of Darius against Greece (492 B.C.). 
 With the Ionian revolt crushed and punished, Darius determined to ■ 
 forestall all further trouble from the European Greeks by incor- 
 porating Greece in the Persian Empire. Accordingly he sent heralds 
 to the various Greek states to demand ear.th and water, the Persian 
 symbols of submission.^ The weaker states gave the tokens required ; 
 
 1 Curtius, Grtechische Geschkhtc (6th ed,), vol. i, p. 629. 
 
 2 We follow Eduard Meyer in bringing this embassy into connection with the 
 expedition of 492 n.c. instead of that of 490 B.C. Meyer believes Herodotus (vi, 48) 
 is wrong in connecting it with the second expedition. 
 
§216] THE SECOND EXPEDITION OF DARIUS 193 
 
 but the Athenians and Spartans threw the envoys of the king into 
 pits and wells and bade them help themselves to earth and water. 
 
 A large land and naval armament was now fitted out and placed 
 under the command of Mardonius, the sonrin-law of Darius, for the 
 subjugation of the cities that had not only refused to comply with 
 the demand for earth and water, but had further violated the sanctity 
 of ambassadors. The expedition was unfortunate. The land forces 
 suffered severe losses at the hands of the barbarians of Thrace, and 
 the fleet was wrecked by a violent storm off Mt. Athos (492 B.C.). 
 
 216. The Second Expedition of Darius (490 B.C.). Undismayed by 
 this disaster, Darius issued orders for the raising and equipping of 
 another and stronger armament. By the opening of the year 490 B.C. 
 an army had been mustered for the seconii attempt upon Greece.^ 
 This armament was entrusted to the command of the experienced 
 generals Datis and Artaphernes, but was under the guidance of the. 
 traitor Hippias (sect. 206). Transports bore the army from the coasts 
 of Asia Minor over the ^gean towards the Grecian shores. 
 
 After receiving the submission of the most important of the Cyc- 
 lades, and capturing and sacking the city of Eretria upon the island 
 of Euboea, the Persians landed at Marathon, barely one day's journey 
 from Athens. Here is a sheltered bay, which is edged by a crescent- 
 shaped plain backed by the rugged ranges of Pames and Pcntelicus. 
 Upon this level ground the Persian generals, acting upon the advice 
 of Hippias, drew up their army, flushed and confident with their 
 recent successes. 
 
 217. The Battle of Marathon (490 B.C.). The Athenians made sur- 
 passing efforts to avert from their city the impending destruction. 
 Instead of awaiting behind their walls the: coming of the Persians, 
 they decided to offer them battle in the ppen field at Marathon. 
 Accordingly they marched out ten thousand strong. 
 
 While the Athenians were getting ready for the fight, a fleet run- 
 ner, Phidippides by name, was hurrying with a message to Sparta 
 for aid. The practical value of the athletic training of the Greeks 
 
 1 It is impossible to reach any certainty as to the 3size of the Persian army. The 
 lowest figures given by any ancient authority is 210,000, while the estimates of modem 
 military experts and historians vary from 200,000 to 20,000. This last number is the 
 estimate of Eduard Meyer. 
 
194 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS 
 
 [§217 
 
 was now shown. In just thirty-six hours Phidippides was in Sparta, 
 which is one hundred and thirty-five or forty miles from Athens. 
 Now it so happened that it lacked a few days of the full of the 
 moon, during which interval the Spartans, owing to an old super- 
 stition, dared not set out upon a military expedition.^ Nevertheless, 
 they promised aid, but marched from Sparta only in time to reach 
 Athens after all was over. 
 
 The Plataeans, however, firm and grateful friends of the Athenians 
 on account of the protection accorded them by Athens against the 
 
 ') If ••j\/y ^ 
 
 s \ ■ 
 
 V 
 
 jp£^/f 
 
 ^ 
 
 > I PERSIAN CAMP 
 
 \ 
 
 
 •-"^ 
 
 
 iJ/ ''^^TT'v''"^-*/'"^ f 
 
 
 <~^^sc<fif'a:£^^ j\j 
 
 (, -2^ *%\. _J 
 
 
 
 \ r> \ 
 
 
 ^^"^?^^s^ jj 
 
 
 
 'fH 
 
 Heracleum 
 
 '4 
 
 
 \ 
 
 SCALE' OF MILES 
 
 •6 Ji i 2 
 
 Plan of the Battle of Marathon 
 
 Thebans, no sooner had received their appeal for help than they 
 responded to a man, and joined them at Marathon with a thousand 
 heavy-armed soldiers. 
 
 The Athenians and their faithful allies took up their position just 
 where the hills of Pentelicus sink into the plain of Marathon, thus 
 covering the road to Athens. The Persian army occupied the low 
 ground in their front, while the transports covered the beach behind. 
 
 1 Such is the reason assigned by Herodotus (vi, io6) for their delay. Modem his- 
 torians are divided in opinion as to whether or not the alleged excuse was anything more 
 than a subterfuge. We shall be less likely to regard it as a mere pretext, if we recall that 
 even an Athenian general, in the very heyday of Athens' intellectual life, acted on a like 
 superstition to his own tragic undoing and that of his city (sect. 261). 
 
§218] RESULTS OF THE BATTLE OF MARATHON 195 
 
 After a delay of a few days the battle was begun by the Greeks 
 suddenly charging down upon the enemy's lines. These being broken 
 and thrown into disorder by the onset, the Persians were driven 
 with great slaughter to their ships. 
 
 A legend of later origin tells how straJightway after the battle, 
 Miltiades, the Athenian general who was in supreme command, 
 dispatched a courier to take news of the victory to Athens. The 
 messenger reached the city in a few hours, but so exhausted that, 
 as the people pressed around him to hear the news he bore, "he 
 breathed forth his life " with the words in which he announced 
 the victory.^ 
 
 But the danger was not yet over. The Persians, instead of return- 
 ing to the coast of Asia, sailed round to Athens, thinking to take the 
 city before the Athenian army could return from Marathon. Miltiades, 
 however, informed by watchers on the hills of the movements of the 
 enemy, straightway set out with his little airmy for the capital, which 
 he reached just at evening, probably on th6 day following the fight 
 at Marathon. The next morning when the Persian generals would 
 have made an attack upon Athens, they found themselves confronted 
 by the same men who had beaten them back from the Marathon 
 shore. Shrinking from another encounter with these citizen soldiers, 
 the Persians spread their sails and bore away for the Ionian shore. 
 
 Thus the cloud that had lowered so threateningly over Hellas was 
 for a time dissipated. The most imposing honors were accorded to 
 the heroes who had achieved the glorious victory, and their names 
 and deeds were transmitted to posterity in song and marble. The 
 bodies of the one hundred and ninety-two Athenians who had fallen 
 were buried on the field, and an enormous mound of earth was raised 
 over them.^ 
 
 218. Results of the Battle of Marathon. The battle of Marathon 
 is justly reckoned as one of the " decisive ibatties of the world." It 
 marks a turning point in the history of humanity. The battle decided 
 that no longer the despotism of the East, with its repression of all 
 individual action, but the freedom of the West, with all its incentives 
 
 1 The modem " Marathon race " owes its origin" to this picturesque story. 
 
 2 Herodotus malces the loss of the Persians 6400. 
 
196 THE PERSIAN WARS [§219 
 
 to personal effort, should mark the future centuries of history. The 
 tradition of the fight forms the prelude of th;e story of human freedom. 
 
 Again, by the victory Hellenic civilization was saved to mature its 
 fruit, not for Hellas alone but for the world. We cannot conceive 
 what European civilization would be like without those rich and vital- 
 izing elements contributed to it by the Greek, and especially by 
 the Athenian, genius. But the germs of all these might have been 
 smothered and destroyed had the barbarialns won the day at Mara- 
 thon. Ancient Greece, as a satrapy- of the Persian Empire, would 
 certainly have become what modem Greece became as a province 
 of the empire of the Ottoman Turks. 
 
 Moreover, the overwhelming defeat which the handful of Athenian 
 freemen had inflicted upon the hitherto invincible army of the Great 
 King broke the spell of the Persian name and destroyed forever the 
 prestige of the Persian arms. The victory gave the Hellenic peoples 
 that position of authority and preeminence that had been so long 
 held by the successive races of the East. 
 
 The great achievement further especially revealed the Athenians 
 to themselves. The consciousness of resources and power became 
 the inspiration of their after deeds. They did great things thereafter 
 because they beheved themselves able to do them. From the battle 
 of Marathon dates the beginning of the great days of imperial Athens. 
 V219. Themistocles and his Naval Policy. At this time there came 
 prominently forward at Athens a man whose genius, aided by favor- 
 ing circumstances, was to create the naval greatness of the Athenian 
 state. This was Themistocles, a sagacious, farsighted, versatile states- 
 man, who, in his own words, though " he knew nothing of music and 
 song, did know how of a small city to majie a great one." He was 
 an ambitious man, whom " the trophies of Miltiades robbed of sleep," 
 
 While many among the Athenians were inclined to believe that 
 the battle of Marathon had freed Athens forever from the danger 
 of another Persian attack, Themistocles was clear-sighted enough to 
 perceive that that battie was only the beginning of a tremendous 
 struggle between Hellas and Persia, and the signal for still another 
 and more formidable invasion of Greece by the barbarians. Hence 
 he labored incessantly to persuade the Athenians to strengthen their 
 
§22Q] OSTRACISM OF ARISTIDES 1 97 
 
 navy, which they had begun to build after the fall of Miletus, as the 
 only reliable defense of Hellas against subjection to the Persian power. 
 220. Aristides Opposes the Policy of Themistocles and is Ostracized 
 (483 B.C.). Themistocles was opposed in this policy by Aristides, called 
 the Just, a man of the most scrupulous integrity, who feared that 
 Athens would make a serious mistake if she converted her land force 
 into a naval armament. This seemed to him a wide departure from 
 the traditions of the fathers. The contention grew so sharp between 
 the two that ostracism was called into use to decide the matter. Six 
 thousand votes were cast against Aristides, and he was sent into exile. 
 
 
 Fig. ioi. Ostrakon with Name of Themistocles. (British Museum) 
 
 This recently discovered ostrakon (potsherd) is probably one that was cast against 
 Themistocles at the time Aristides was ostracized 
 
 It is related that while the vote that ostracized him was being taken 
 in the assembly, an illiterate peasant, who was a stranger to Aristides, 
 asked him to write the name of Aristides =upon his tablet. As he 
 placed the name upon the shell, the statesman asked the man what 
 wrong Aristides had ever done him. " None,'' replied the voter ; " I do 
 not even know him ; but I am tired of hearing him called the Just.'' 
 
 After the banishment of Aristides, Themistocles was free to carry 
 out his naval policy, and soon Athens had the largest fleet of any 
 Greek city, with a splendid harbor at Pira^us.^ These ships, as we 
 shall learn soon, were the salvation of Athfens and of Greece. 
 
 I Circumstances happily concurred in the advancement of Themistocles' plans. Just 
 at this time there was a large sum of money in the treasury of the city, which had been 
 derived from the public silver mines at Laurium, in the southeastern part of Attica. This 
 money was about to be divided among the citizens ; Themistocles persuaded them to 
 devote it to the building of warships. 
 
198 THE PERSIAN WARS [§221 
 
 221. Xerxes' Preparations to Invade Greece. No sooner had the 
 news of the disaster at Marathon been carried to Darius than he 
 began to mal-ce gigantic preparations to avenge this second defeat 
 and humiliation. But in the midst of these: plans for the punishment 
 of the presumptuous Greeks his reign was cut short by death, and 
 his son Xerxes came to the throne. 
 
 Urged on by his nobles as well as by exiled Greeks at his court, 
 who sought to gratify ambition or enjoy revenge in the humiliation 
 and ruin of their native land, Xerxes, though at first disinclined to 
 enter into a contest with the Greeks, at lepgth ordered the prepara- 
 tions begun by his father to be pushed forward with the utmost energy. 
 For eight years all Asia was astir with the work of preparation. Levies 
 were made upon all the provinces that acknowledged the authority of 
 the Great King, from India to Macedonia, from the regions of the 
 Oxus to those of the Upper Nile. From all the maritime states upon 
 the Mediterranean were demanded vast contingents of war galleys, 
 transport ships, and naval stores. 
 
 While these land and sea forces were being gathered and equipped, 
 gigantic works were in progress on the Thracian coast and on the 
 Hellespont to insure the safety and facilitate the march of the coming 
 hosts. It will be recalled that the expedition of Mardonius was ruined 
 by the destruction of his fleet in rounding the promontory of Mount 
 Athos (sect. 215). That the warships and transports of the present 
 armament, upon the safety of which the success of his undertaking 
 so wholly depended, might not be exposed to the dangers of a 
 passage around this projecting tongue of land, Xerxes determined 
 to dig a canal across the neck of the isthmus. This great work 
 consumed three years. Traces of the cutting may be seen to-day. 
 
 At the same time that the canal at Mount Athos was being 
 excavated, a still more gigantic work was in progress upon the 
 Hellespont. Here Europe was being bound to Asia by a double 
 bridge of boats, probably at a point where the strait is about 
 one and a half miles in width. This work was in the hands of 
 Egyptian and Phoenician artisans. 
 
 By the spring of the year 481 B.C. the preparations for the 
 long-talked-of expedition were about completed, and in the fall 
 
§222] DISUNION OF THE GREEKS 199 
 
 of that year we find Xerxes upon his way to Sardis, which had 
 been selected as the rendezvous of the -contingents of the great 
 army of invasion. 
 
 Just as Xerxes was about to march from Sardis, news was 
 brought to him that the bridges across (he Hellespont had been 
 broken by a violent storm. Herodotus relates that Xerxes was 
 thrown into a great passion by this intelligence, and ordered the 
 architects of the bridges to be put to death and the Hellespont 
 to be scourged with three hundred lashes. The scourgers carried 
 out obediently the orders of their master, and as they lashed the 
 traitorous and rebellious waters cursed them " in non-Hellenic and 
 blasphemous words." 
 
 882. Disunion of the Greeks; Congress at Corinth (481 b.c). 
 Startling rumors of the gigantic preparations that the Persian king 
 was making to crush them were constantly borne across the ^gean 
 to the ears of the Greeks in Europe. 'Finally came intelligence 
 that Xerxes was about to begin his march. Something must now 
 be done to meet the impending danger. Mainly through the exer- 
 tions of Themistocles, a council of the Greek cities was convened 
 at Corinth in the fall of 481 B.C. 
 
 But on account of feuds, jealousies, and party spirit, only a small 
 number of the states of Hellas could be brought to unite their 
 resources against the barbarians ; and even the strength of the cities 
 that entered into the alliance was divided by party spirit. The friends 
 of aristocratic government were almost invariably friends of Persia, 
 because the Persian king looked with more favor upon aristocratic 
 than democratic government in his subject Greek cities. Thus, for 
 the sake of a party victory, the oligarchs were ready to betray their 
 country into the hands of the barbarians. 
 
 Furthermore, the Delphian oracle was wanting in courage, — to 
 the managers of the shrine the situation doubtless looked desperate, 
 — and by its timid responses disheartened the patriot party. But 
 under the inspiration of Themistocles the patriots . in convention at 
 Corinth determined upon stout resistance to the barbarians. It 
 was at first decided to concentrate a strong force in the Vale of 
 Tempe, and at that point to dispute the advance of the enemy ; but 
 
20Q. 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS 
 
 [§223 
 
 this place having been found untenable, the first stand against the 
 invaders was made at the Pass of Thermopyte. 
 
 The Spartans were given the chief command of both the land 
 and the naval forces. The Athenians might fairly have insisted upon 
 their right to the command of the allied fleet, but they patriotically 
 waived their claim for the sake of harmony. 
 
 223. The Passage of the Hellespont. With the first indications 
 of the opening spring of 480 B.C., just ten years after the defeat at 
 
 Mai' Illustkating the Invasion of Greece by Xerxes 
 
 Marathon, the vast Persian army was astir and concentrating from 
 all points upon the Hellespont. The passage of this strait, as pictured 
 to us in the inimitable narration of Herodotus, is one of the most 
 dramatic of all the spectacles afforded by history. Herodotus affirms, 
 with exaggeration doubtless, that for seven days and seven nights the 
 bridges groaned beneath the living tide that Asia was pouring into 
 Europe. 
 
 Upon an extended plain called Doriscus, on the European shore, 
 Xerxes drew up his vast army for revie^^ and census. The count 
 
§224] THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYL^ 201 
 
 completed,^ the immense army, attended along the shore by the fleet, 
 marched forward through Thrace, and so on toward Greece. 
 
 224. The Battle of Thermopylffi (480 B.C.). Leading from Thessaly 
 into Central Greece is a narrow pass, pressed on one side by the sea 
 and on the other by rugged mountain ridges. At the foot of the 
 cliffs break forth several hot springs, whence the name of the pass, 
 Thermopylae (Hot Gates.) 
 
 At this point, in accordance with the decision of the Corinthian 
 congress, was offered the first resistance to the progress of the 
 Persian army. Leonidas, king of Sparta, with three hundred Spartan 
 soldiers and about six thousand allies from different states, held the 
 pass. As the Greeks were about to celebrate certain festivals which 
 fell at just this time, and as no one thought that the fight at the pass 
 would be decided so quickly as it actually was, this handful of men 
 was left unsupported to hold in check the army of Xerxes until the 
 festival days were over.^ 
 
 The Spartans could be driven from their advantageous position 
 only, by an attack in front, as the Grecian fleet prevented Xerxes 
 from landing a force in their rear. Before assaulting them, Xerxes 
 summoned them to give up their arms. The answer of Leonidas 
 was, " Come and take them." For two days the Persians tried to 
 storm the pass. But eveiy attempt to force the way was repulsed ; 
 even the Ten Thousand Immortals,' the loyal bodyguard, were hurled 
 back from the Spartan front like waves from a cliff. 
 
 1 According to Herodotus, the land and naval forces of Xerxes amounted to 
 2,317,000 men, besides about 2,000,000 slaves and attendants. It is certain that these 
 figures are a great exaggeration, ^\'idely different estimates have been made by modern 
 historians. Eduard Meyer puts the land forces at 100,000 and the naval forces at 150,000 
 to 200,000. These numbers take no account of camp followers. For a scholarly discus- 
 sion of the question, see T/te Classical Journal, vol. .a (1914-1915), a paper entitled 
 "Thoughts on the Reliability of the Classical Writers, with Special Reference to the 
 Size of the Army of Xerxes," by Dr. John A. Scott. 
 
 2 This is the explanation of the conduct of the allies given by Herodotus (vii, zo6). 
 Modem critics are inclined to the opinion that the plea of the Spartans respecting the 
 observation of the festival days was a mere pretext, and that the real reason they and 
 the other Peloponncsians — on whom the duty of providing the land forces chiefly rested, 
 since the Athenians were on the water — did not send a larger force to the pass was be- 
 cause it was their selfish policy to make the real stand against the enemy at the Isthmus. 
 
 2 This body of picked soldiers was so called because its number was always kept up 
 to ten thousand. 
 
202 THE PERSIAN WARS [§225 
 
 But an act of treachery on the part of a native Greek, Ephialtes 
 by name, " the Judas of Greece," rendered unavailing all the bravery 
 of the keepers of the pass. This man, hoping for a large reward, re- 
 vealed to Xerxes a bypath leading over the mountain to the rear of 
 the Greeks. The startling intelligence was brought to Leonidas that 
 the Persians were descending the mountain path in his rear. Realizing 
 that the pass could no longer be held, the most of the allies now with- 
 drew from the place while opportunity still remained ; but for Leonidas 
 and his Spartan companions there could be no thought of retreat. 
 Death in the pass, the defense of which had been intrusted to them, 
 was all that Spartan honor and Spartan law now left them. The next 
 day, surrounded by the Persian host, they fought with desperate valor; 
 but, overwhelmed by mere numbers, they were slain to the last man, 
 With them also perished seven hundred Thespians who had chosen 
 death with their companions. 
 
 The fight at Thermopylas echoed through all the after centuries of 
 Grecian history. The Greeks felt that all Hellas had gained great 
 glory on that day when Leonidas and his companions fell, and they 
 gave them a chief place among their national heroes. Memorial pillars 
 marked for coming generations the sacred spot, while praising inscrip- 
 tions and epitaphs told in brief phrases the story of the battle. Among 
 these was an inscription in special memory of the Spartans who 
 had fallen, which, commemorating at once Spartan law and Spartan 
 valor, read, " Stranger, go tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here in 
 obedience to their commands 1 " ^ 
 
 225. The Athenians Abandon their City and Betake Themselves to 
 their Ships. Athens now lay open to the invaders. The Peloponne- 
 sians, thinking first of their own safety, commenced throwing up 
 defenses across the Isthmus of Corinth. Athens was thus left 
 outside to care for herself. 
 
 Counsels were now divided. The Delphian oracle had obscurely 
 
 1 While Leonidas and his men were striving to liold the pass, the Greek fleet, 
 stationed at Artemisium at the head of the island of Euboea, was endeavoring to 
 prevent the Persian fleet from entering the strait between the island and the mainland. 
 Here for three days the Greeks fought the Persian ships (the battle of Artemisium), 
 and then, upon receipt of the news that the pass was lost, retreated down the Euboean 
 straits, and came to anchor in the gulf of Salamis, near Athens. 
 
§226] THE NAVAL BATTLE OF SALAMIS 203 
 
 declared, "When everything else in the land of Cecrops shall be 
 taken, Zeus grants to Athena that the wooden walk alone shall 
 remain unconquered, to defend you and your children." The oracle 
 was believed to be, as was declareii, "firip as adamant." 
 
 But there were various opinions as to what was meant by the 
 "wooden walls," Some thought the Pythian priestess directed the 
 Athenians to seek refuge in the forests on the mountains; others, 
 that the oracle meant that they should defend the Acropolis, which 
 in ancient times had been surrounded with a wooden palisade ; but 
 Themistocles (who, it is thought, may have himself prompted the 
 oracle) contended that the ships were plainly indicated. 
 
 The last interpretation was acted upon. All the soldiers of Attica 
 were crowded upon the vessels of the fleet at Salamis. The aged 
 men, with the women and children, were carried out of the country 
 to different places of safety. All the towns of Attica, with the capital, 
 were thus abandoned to the conquerors. A few days afterwards the 
 Persians entered upon the deserted plain, which they rendered more 
 desolate by ravaging the fields and burning 'the empty towns. Athens 
 shared the common fate, and her temples sank in flames. 
 
 226. The Naval Battle of Salamis (480 B.C.). Just off the coast of 
 Attica, separated from the mainland by a narrow passage of water, 
 lies the island of Salamis. Here lay the Greek fleet, awaiting the 
 Persian attack. To hasten on the attack before dissensions should 
 divide the Greek forces, Themistocles resorted to the following strata- 
 gem. He sent a messenger to Xerxes representing that he himself 
 was ready to espouse the Persian cause, and advised an immediate 
 attack on the allied fleet, which he represented as being in no condi- 
 tion to make any formidable resistance. Xerxes was deceived. He 
 ordered an immediate attack. From a lofty throne upon the shore 
 he himself overlooked the scene and watched the result. The Persian 
 fleet was broken to pieces and two hundred of the ships destroyed."^ 
 
 The blow was decisive. Xerxes, fearing that treachery might bum 
 or break the Hellespontine bridges, instantly dispatched a hundred 
 ships to protect them ; and then, leaving Mardoniiis with a large 
 
 * The entire Persian fleet numbered about 750 vessels ; the Grecian, about 380 ships, 
 mostly triremes. 
 
204 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS 
 
 [§227 
 
 force to retrieve the disaster of Salamis, and effect, as he promised 
 to do, the conquest of the rest of Greece, the monarch with a strong 
 escort made an ignominious retreat into Asia. 
 
 227. Mardonius Tries to Bribe the Athenians ; the Battle of Plataea 
 (479 B.C.). With the opening of the spring of 479 B.C. Mardonius 
 sent an embassy to Athens, promising the Athenians many things 
 provided they would come over to the Persian side. The Athenians' 
 reply was, " While the sun holds his course in the heavens, we will 
 
 Athens and Salamis 
 
 never form a league with the Persian king.'' Upon receiving this 
 answer Mardonius, breaking up his camp in Thessaly, marched south, 
 and, after ravaging Attica anew, withdrew into Bceotia. Here the 
 Greeks confronted him with the largest army they had ever gathered.' 
 In the battle which followed (the battle of' Platasa), Mardonius was 
 slain and his army with great losses was put to flight. 
 
 228. The Battle of Mycale (479 B.C.). Upon the same day, tradi- 
 tion says, that the Greeks won the victory at Plataea they gained 
 another over a Persian land and sea force at Cape Mycale in Ionia. 
 
 1 Estimates of the number vary from 110,000 to 70,000. The Spartan Pausanias was 
 in chief command. 
 
§229] MEMORIALS OF THE WAR 205 
 
 This victory at Mycale was a fitting sequel to the one at Platsea : 
 that had freed European Greece from the presence of the barbarians ; 
 this,, in the phrase of Herodotus, "restored to Grecian freedom 
 the Hellespont and the islands." For straightway Samos, Chios, 
 Lesbos, and other islands of the ^gean that had been in vassalage 
 to Persia were now liberated, and received' as members into the con- 
 federacy of the patriot states of the mother land.^ 
 
 229. Memorials and Trophies of the War. The glorious issue of 
 the war caused a general burst of joy and exultation throughout 
 Greece. Poets, artists, and orators 
 all vied with one another in com- 
 memorating the deeds of the heroes 
 whose valor had warded off the im- 
 pending danger. The poet Simon- 
 ides^ composed immortal couplets 
 for the monuments of the fallen 
 heroes of Thermopylse and Salamis ; 
 the dramatist ^schylus, who had 
 fought at Marathon and perhaps 
 at Salamis and Platsa, erected an _ „ ^, 
 
 ' FiC. -102. HOPLITE, OR HeAVY- 
 
 eternal monument in literature in armed Greek Warrior 
 
 his Persians^ which, eight years 
 
 after the battle, was presented at Athens before twenty thousand 
 spectators, many of whom had had part in the fight ; and the great 
 artist Polygaotus painted on the walls of a public porch at Athens 
 the battle of Marathon. In truth, the great Hterature and art of the 
 golden age of Athens were an imperishable memorial of the war. 
 
 Nor did the pious Greeks think that the marvelous deliverance 
 had been effected without the intervention of the gods in their behalf. 
 '"A god," sang Pindar, "hath turned away the Tantalus stone hanging 
 over Hellas." Upon the Acropolis at Athens was erected a colossal 
 
 1 On the very day of the battle of Salamis, according to tradition, Gelo, tyrant of 
 Syracuse, gained a great victory in Sicily over the Carthaginians, who had arranged 
 with Xerxes to attack the Greeks in the West at the same time that the Persians made 
 their attack in the East. So that was a memorable day for Hellas. 
 
 2 Simonides of Ceos (556-467 B.C.). 
 
 ^ This is the only Greek drama presei'ved to us which^deals with contemporary history, 
 
206 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS 
 
 [§229 
 
 statue of Athena, made from the brazen arms gathered from the field 
 at Marathon, while within the sanctuary of the goddess were placed 
 the broken cables of the Hellespontine bridges, 
 at once a proud trophy of victory and a signal 
 illustration of the divine punishment that had 
 befallen the audacious and impious attempt 
 to lay a yoke upon -the sacred waters of the 
 Hellespont. 
 
 Lastly, to Apollo at Delphi was gratefully 
 consecrated a tenth of the immense spoils from 
 the field of Platsea. The gift was in the form 
 of a golden tripod set on a bronze pedestal of 
 twisted snakes. Upon the base of the support 
 were inscribed the names of all the cities and 
 states which had taken part in the war. Eight 
 centuries after it was set up, this pedestal was 
 carried off to Constantinople, probably by the 
 Roman emperor Constantine the Great, and 
 there it stands to-day (Fig. 112). 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Msckylvs, The 
 Persians (an historical; drama which celebrates the 
 victory of Salamis). Herodotus, v, 49-54 (Aris- 
 tagoras pleads before Cleomenes). Plutarch, The- 
 mistocles and Aristides. Thallon's Readings, pp. 1 54- 
 227; Davis's Readings (Greece), pp. 130-198; Fling's 
 Source Book, pp. 98-143. 
 
 References (Modern). Curtius, vol. ii, pp. 201- 
 352. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. iii, pp. 492-521 ; 
 vol. iv, pp. 1-294. Abbott, vol. ii, chaps, i-v. Holm, 
 vol. ii, chaps, i-vi. Cox, The Greeks and the Persians. 
 Creasy, Decisive Battles of the World, chap, i, "The Battle of Marathon." 
 Church, Pictures from Greek Life and Story,' c\i.2.^^. iii-viii (for youthful 
 readers). Teachers will find valuable topographical material in GkundV, The 
 Great Persian War. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, j. The Delphic oracle given the Athenians at 
 the beginning of the Persian War: Herodotus, vii, 140-143. ;;. The trireme: 
 Gulick, The Life of the Ancient Greeks, chap, xv, pp. 199-205. 3- Themistocles 
 in council and in battle at Salamis : Plutarch, Themistocles, xi-xv. 
 
 Fig. 103. A Memorial 
 
 OF THE Battle of 
 
 Plat^^la 
 
 The bronze pedestal, pre- 
 served at Constantino- 
 ple, that supported the 
 golden tripod dedicated 
 to the Delphic Apollo 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 THE MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 
 
 (479-445 B.C.) 
 
 230. The Rebuilding of Athens ; the Fortifications of the Pirseus 
 (478-477 B.C.). After the battle of Plataea and the expulsion of the 
 barbarians from Greece, the Athenians who had found an asylum at 
 Salamis, ^gina, and other places returned to Athens. They found 
 only a heap of ruins where their city had once stood. Under the lead 
 of Themistocles, the people with admirable spirit set themselves to 
 the task of rebuilding their homes and erecting new walls. 
 
 The rival states of the Peloponnesian League watched the pro- 
 ceedings of the Athenians with the most jealous interest. The 
 Spartans sent an embassy to dissuade them from rebuilding their 
 walls, hypocritically assigning as the ground of their interest in the 
 matter their fear lest, in case of another Persian invasion, the city, 
 if captured, should become a stronghold for the enemy. But the 
 Athenians persisted in their purpose, and soon had raised the wall 
 to such a height that they could defy intdrference. 
 
 At the same time that the work of restoration was going on 
 at Athens, the fortifications at Pirseus were being enlarged and 
 strengthened. That Athens' supremacy depended upon control of 
 the sea had now become plain to all. Consequently the haven town 
 was surrounded with walls even surpassing in strength the new walls 
 of the upper city. The Pirseus soon grew into a bustling commercial 
 city, one of the chief centers of trade in the Hellenic world.^ 
 
 1 A few years after this Themistocles fell into disfavor and was ostracized (471 B. c). 
 He finally bent his steps to Susa, the Persian capital. King Artaxerxes appointed him 
 governor of Magnesia in Asia Minor and made provision for his wants by assigning 
 to three cities the duty of providing for his table : one was to furnish bread, a second 
 wine, and a third meat. Plutarch relates that one day as the exile sat down to his richly 
 loaded board he exclaimed, " How much we should have lost, my children, if we had 
 not been ruined ! " He died probably about 4G0 B. c. 
 
 207 
 
2o8 THE MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE [§231 
 
 231. The Formation of the Confederacy of Delos (477 B.C.). Soon 
 after the battle of Mycale the Ionian states, in order that they might 
 be able to carry on more effectively the work to which they had set 
 their hands, namely, the liberating of the Greek cities yet in the 
 power of the Persians, formed a league known as the Confederacy 
 of Delos. Sparta and her Peloponnesian allies were excluded from 
 the league on account of the treachery of the Spartan Pausanias, 
 who had been in command of the alhed flegt. All the Asian cities of 
 Ionia and ^ohs, almost all the island towns of the Mgean, the cities 
 of Chalcidice, together with those just set free along the Hellpspont 
 and the Bosphorus, became members of the alliance. The league was 
 a free association of independent and equal states, about two hun- 
 dred and sixty in number. Athens was to be the head of the con- 
 federacy. Aristides was chosen as the first president Matters of 
 common concern were to be in the hands of a congress convened 
 yearly in the sacred island of Delos and composed of delegates from 
 all the cities. 
 
 At Delos, also, in the temple of Apollo, was to be kept the 
 common treasure chest, to which each state was to make contri- 
 bution according to its ability. What proportion of the ships and 
 money should be contributed by the several states for carrying out 
 the purposes of the union was left at first entirely to the decision of 
 Aristides, such was the confidence all possessed in his fairness and 
 incorruptible integrity; and so long as he retained control of the 
 matter, none of the allies ever had cause for complaint. 
 
 The formation of this Delian League constitutes a prominent land- 
 mark in Grecian history. It meant not simply the transfer from 
 Sparta to Athens of leadership in the maritime affairs of Hellas. 
 It meant that all the promises of Panhellenic union in the great 
 alliance formed at Corinth in 481 B.C. had come to naught. It 
 meant, since the Peloponnesian Confederacy still continued to exist, 
 that henceforth Hellas was to be a house divided against itself. 
 
 232. The Athenians Convert the Delian League into an Empire. 
 The Confederacy of Delos laid the basis. of the imperial power of 
 Athens. The Athenians misused their authority as leaders of the 
 league, and gradually, during the interval tietween the formation of 
 
§232] DELIAN LEAGUE BECOMES AN EMPIRE 209 
 
 the union and the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, reduced their 
 allies to the condition of tributaries and subjects. 
 
 Athens transformed the league into an empire in the following 
 manner. The contributions assessed by Aristides upon the different 
 members of the confederation consisted of ships for the larger states 
 and of money payments for the smaller ones. From the first, Athens 
 attended to this assessment matter, and saw to it that each member 
 of the league made its proper contribution. 
 
 After a while, some of the cities preferring to make a money pay- 
 ment in lieu of ships, Athens accepted the commutation, and then, 
 building the ships herself, added them to her own navy. Thus the 
 confederates disarmed themselves and armed their master. 
 
 Very soon the restraints which Athens imposed upon her allies 
 became irksome, and they began to refuse, one after another, to pay 
 the assessment in any form. Naxos, one of the Cyclades, was the 
 first island to secede from the league (466 B.C.). But Athens had 
 no idea of admitting any such doctrine of 3tate rights, and with her 
 powerful navy forced the Naxians to remain within the union and to 
 pay an increased tribute. 
 
 What happened in the case of Naxos happened in the case of 
 other members of the confederation. By .the year 449 b. c. only 
 three of the island members of the league — Lesbos, Chios, and 
 Samos — still retained their independence. They alone of all the 
 former allies did not pay tribute. 
 
 Even before the date last named (probably about 457 B.C.) the 
 Athenians had transferred the common treasury from Delos to 
 Athens, and, diverting the tribute from its original purpose, were 
 beginning to spend it, not in the prosecution of war against the 
 barbarians, but in the carrying on of home enterprises, as though 
 the treasure were their own revenue. About this time also the 
 congress probably ceased to exist. 
 
 Thus what had been simply a voluntary confederation of sovereign 
 and independent cities was converted into what was practically an 
 absolute monarchy, with the Attic democracy as the imperial master. 
 Thus did Athens become a " tyrant city." From being the liberator 
 of the Greek cities she had become their enslaver. 
 
2IO THE MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE [§233 
 
 233. Cimon and Pericles. Two of the most prominent of the 
 Athenian leaders at this time were Cimon and Pericles. Cimon, 
 son of Miltiades, was one of the most successful of the admirals 
 to whom, after the expulsion of the Persians from Greece, was 
 intrusted the command of the armaments designed to wrest from 
 them the islands of the ^gean and the Hellenic cities of the Asiatic 
 coast. He was the leader of the aristocratic party at Athens, and 
 the friend of Sparta. He was broad-minded, and his policy was the 
 
 Athens' AND her Long Walls 
 
 maintenance in Greece of a dual hegemony, Sparta being allowed 
 leadership on land and Athens leadership on the sea. 
 
 Cimon was opposed by Pericles, who believed that such a double 
 leadership was impracticable. The aim of his policy was to make 
 Athens supreme not only on the sea but also on the land. The popular- 
 ity of Cimon at last declined and he was ostracized. The fall of Cimon 
 gave Pericles a free hand in the carrying out of his ambitious policy. 
 
 234. Construction of the Long Walls. As a part of his maritime 
 policy, Pericles persuaded the Athenians to push to completion what 
 were known as the Long Walls (about 457-455 B.C.), which united 
 Athens to the port of Piraeus. By means of these great ramparts 
 
§235] THE THIRTY YEARS' ^RUCE 211 
 
 Athens and her principal port, with the intervening land, were con- 
 verted into a vast fortified district, capable in time of war of holding 
 the enth-e population of Attica.^ With her communication with the 
 sea thus secured, and with a powerful navy at her command, Athens 
 could bid defiance to her foes on sea and land. 
 
 235. Pericles Tries in Vain to Create a Land Empire; the Thirty 
 Years' Truce (445 B.C.). At the same time that Pericles was making 
 Athens' supremacy by sea more secure, he was endeavoring to build 
 up for her a land empire in Central Greece. As Athenian influence 
 in this quarter increased, Sparta became more and more jealous, and 
 strove to counteract it by enhancing the power of Thebes and by lend- 
 ing support to the aristocratic party in the various cities of Boeotia. 
 
 The contest between the two rivals was long and bitter. It was 
 ended by what is known as the Peace of Pericles, or the Thirty 
 Years' Truce (445 B.C.). By the terms of this treaty each of the 
 rival cities was left at the head of the confederation it had formed, 
 but neither was to interfere with the other's allies or give aid to its 
 revolted subjects. All disputes were to be settled by arbitration. 
 
 The real meaning of the truce was that Athens gave up her am- 
 bition to establish a land empire and was henceforth to be content 
 with supremacy on the seas. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plutarch, Arisiides and Cimon. Thucyd- 
 IDES, i, 90-93 (tells how Themistocles outwitted 'Sparta). Thallon's Readings, 
 pp. 241-268; Fling's A!!<?r? 5oo^, pp. 144-159. 
 
 References (Modem). Curtius, vol. ii, pp. 353-459- Grote (ten volume 
 ed.), vol. iv, pp. 330-437. Abbott, vol. ii, pp. 243-41 S- Holm, vol. ii, chaps, vii- 
 xiv. Allcroft, The Making of Athens, c\v2i^%.vm-,-:i.. OM.A.ii, History of Greece, 
 chaps, xxii-xxiv. Bury, History of Greece, chap. viii. Cox, The Athenian 
 Empire (earlier chapters) ; and Lives of Athenian Statesmen, " Aristeides,'' 
 " Themistokles," " Pausanias," " Kimon." Greenidge, Handbook of Creek 
 Constitutional History, chap, vi, sect. 5. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i . The walls of Athens and the Pirasus : Bury, 
 History of Greece, pp. 330-332, 377. 2. Aristides the Just; his ostracism: 
 Harrison, The Story of Greece, pp. 317-321. 3. The treachery of Pausanias: 
 Bury, History of Greece, pp. 317-321. 
 
 1 It is probable that Cimon began the work on these defenses. The ramparts were 
 built about two hundred feet apart, and were between four and five miles in length. 
 They were twelve feet thick and thirty feet high, and were defended by numerous 
 towers, which, when Athens became crowded, were used as shops and private dwellings. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE AGE OF PERICLES ^ 
 
 (445-431 B.C.) 
 
 236. General Character of the Period. The fourteen years imme- 
 diately following the Thirty Years' Truce = are usually designated as 
 the Years of Peace. During this period Athens was involved in only 
 one short war of note. And not only was there peace throughout 
 the empire of Athens, but also throughout the Mediterranean world. 
 There was peace between the Eastern Greeks and the Persians, 
 as well as between the Western Greeks and the Carthaginians. The 
 rising city of Rome, too, was at peace with her neighbors. Thus 
 there was peace throughout the world, as happened again four cen- 
 turies later in the reign of the Roman ernperor Augustus. And as 
 that later period of peace marked the Golden Age of Rome, so did 
 this earlier era mark the Golden Age of Athens.^ 
 
 The epoch, as we here limit it, embraced less than the lifetime of 
 a single generation, yet its influence upon the civilization of the world 
 can hardly be overrated. At this time Athens was the center of 
 the political, the artistic, and the intellectual life of the Greek world. 
 It was a " Hellas in Hellas." During the short period defined, it 
 nourished the youth or the maturity of more great men (among them 
 the statesman Pericles, the artist Phidias, the historians Herodotus and 
 Thucydides, the dramatists Sophocles and Euripides, the philosophers 
 Anaxagoras and Socrates — men who belong not to a single people 
 but to humanity) than have been nourished in any other period of 
 equal length in the history of the world. 
 
 1 This designation is a very elastic one : by it is often meant tlie whole period 
 marlced by the influence of Pericles, say from the assassination of the statesman 
 Ephialtes in 461 B.C. to the death of Pericles in 429 B.C. ; and again it is employed to 
 designate the entire period of Athenian ascendancy from the battle of Plataea to the 
 outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. 
 
 2 Lloyd, The Age of Pericles, vol. ii, p. in. 
 
 212 
 
§237] 
 
 PERICLES 
 
 213 
 
 237. Pericles. Among all the distinguished men of this age 
 Pericles stood preeminent. Such was the impression he left upon 
 the period that it is called after him the Periclean Age. Pericles was 
 a man of illustrious ancestry. He possessed a mind of unusual facul- 
 ties enriched and refined by culture. As a boy he had seen Athens 
 aflame at the time of the Persian invasion, and had felt the thrill and 
 uplift of those great days. The trivial and transient things of life did 
 not appeal to him. He never at- 
 tended banquets, and never took a 
 walk in the pleasant gardens and 
 groves beyond the city gates, never 
 lounged like Socrates in the market- 
 place, but walked straight from his 
 home to the place of public business. 
 He was a friend of the new Ionian 
 culture just now becoming dominant 
 at Athens, and delighted in the com- 
 pany and conversation of men of 
 intellect and scholarship.'^ He was 
 reserved and rarely spoke in the 
 Ecclesia, " keeping himself," as Plu- 
 tarch, quoting another, says, " like 
 the Salaminian trireme, for great 
 crises." " His lofty and impressive 
 eloquence and severe and dignified 
 bearing won for him the title of " the 
 Olympian." So great was his influ- 
 ence that, as Thucydides asserts, under him the Athenian government 
 was in name a democracy but in fact an autocracy — the rule of a 
 single man. Yet Pericles' authority was simply that which genius 
 and character justly confer. He ruled, as Plutarch puts it, by the art 
 of persuasion. His throne was the Bema (Fig. 99). 
 
 238. The Demos. The people were at this period the source and 
 fountain of all power. The reforms and revolutions of a century and 
 
 Fig. 104. Pericles 
 
 1 Plutarch, Pericles. 
 
 2 The Salaminia was a state trireme used only for important public services. 
 
214 THE AGE OF PERICLES [§239 
 
 more had finally removed all restraints up^n the will of the Demos/ 
 and that will was now supreme. Every matter which concerned Athens 
 and her empire was discussed and decided by the popular assembly. 
 Never before in the history of the world had any people enjoyed 
 such unrestricted political liberty as did the citizens of Athens at this 
 time, and never before were any people, through so intimate a knowl- 
 edge of public affairs, so well fitted to take part in the administration 
 of government. The historian Grote gives as his opinion that the 
 average Athenian citizen was better educated politically than the aver- 
 age member of the House of Commons in his day.^ As a rule every 
 citizen was qualified to hold public oifice. At all events the Athenians 
 acted upon this assumption, as is shown by their extremely democratic 
 practice of filling almost all the public offices by the use of the lot. 
 Only a very few positions — and these in the army and navy, which 
 called for special qualifications — were filled by ballot or open voting. 
 239. The Ecclesia. The center of the political life of Athens at this 
 time, as at all others under the democracy, was the Ecclesia. There 
 is nothing like this body in the world to-day except in some of the 
 httle Swiss cantons. It was not composed of representatives or dele- 
 gates, but of the whole body of Athenian citizens. In the Periclean 
 Age all Athenians over^eighteen years of age were members. There 
 were forty regular meetings during the year, and special meetings 
 when there were urgent matters to be considered. The usual attend- 
 ance at this period was probably about five thousand ; during the 
 Peloponnesian War it was difficult to get together this number. For 
 matters of great importance, however, a quorum of six thousand was 
 required. The regular place of meeting was, in the fifth century, the 
 Pnyx, an open space on a low hill near the Acropolis. At a later time 
 the assembly met in the great Theater of Dionysus. Any one, after 
 certain officials had spoken, could address the meeting, but citizens 
 over fifty years of age had the privilege of speaking first. Only such 
 measures could be discussed or voted upon as had previously been 
 drafted and laid before the meeting by the Council of Five Hundred." 
 
 1 By the term Demos (the people) is meant the whole body of Athenian citizens.' 
 
 2 Cited by Mahaffy, What have the Greeks done for Modem Civilization ? p. 208. 
 8 See above, p. 184, n. i. 
 
§240] LIMITATION OF CITIZENSHIP 215 
 
 If the council did not refer to them a matter that they wished to 
 consider, they could request that body to do so. The voting was 
 usually by show of hands, but in special rriatters, such, for instance, 
 as involved the rights of a citizen, it was by ballot. One of the most 
 important rules of the assembly was that which made the proposer of 
 a resolution or a measure responsible for it. If it contained anything 
 that was illegal or contrary to some existing law, he was liable to 
 prosecution and punishment. 
 
 The Athenian Ecclesia was probably the most mentally alert popu- 
 lar audience that a speaker ever addressed. Every happy historical 
 or mythological allusion, every reference, however veiled, to contempo- 
 rary leaders or events, evoked instant response. And it was a critical 
 audience withal. The merest slip in pronunciation was likely to create 
 an uproar. Demosthenes'was once noisily corrected when he chanced 
 to mispronounce a word in one of his addresses. 
 
 240. The Limitation of Citizenship to Persons of Pure Attic Descent. 
 We must now speak of a matter which had a most important, perhaps 
 decisive, influence upon the fortunes of Athens. Just a few years be- 
 fore the opening of the period with which we are dealing, Pericles had 
 secured the enactment of a law hmiting Athenian citizenship to persons 
 born of an Athenian father and an Athenian mother.^ 
 
 The passing of this law marks a most '-significant change in the 
 policy of the Athenian state. Up to this time Athens had been the 
 most liberal of all the cities of Greece in the admission to citizenship 
 of a:liens or semi-aliens, and it was this liberal policy that had con- 
 tributed largely to make Athens strong and to give her the imperial 
 position she held among the states of Hellas. Aside from the forma- 
 tion of a federal union like the later Achasan League (sect. 301), it was 
 the sole pohcy through which Athens could hope to unite into a real 
 nation the various cities she had brought under her rule. It was the 
 policy which Rome was just now adopting, and by steady adhesion to 
 which she was to make of the multitude of Italian cities and tribes a 
 great nation, and gain the dominion of the World. 
 
 1 The ground for this piece of legislation probably was that since the rights and 
 privileges of Athenian citizenship were becoming valuable, those possessing, these 
 rights were anxious to keep them as exclusively as ppssible to themselves. 
 
2i6 THE AGE OF PERICLES [§241 
 
 Probably it was impossible for Athens to play in history the part 
 of Rome. The feeling of the Greek for his own city was too strong. 
 But we cannot help asking ourselves when we see Athens thus aban- 
 doning the liberal principle which had carried her so far, what might 
 have been her future had she only steadily adhered to her earlier 
 policy and kept her gates, as Rome did hers, wide open to strangers, 
 and thereby kept full and strong the ranks of her citizens. 
 
 We are told that as an immediate result of the law in question 
 almost five thousand persons were disfranchised, and the number of 
 citizens thereby reduced to about fourteen thousand.^ 
 
 241. Citizens are Taken into the Pay of the State. It was a fixed 
 idea of Pericles and the other great democratic leaders of this period 
 that in a democracy there should be not only an equal distribution 
 of political rights among all classes but also an equalization of the 
 means and opportunities of exercising these rights, together with an 
 equal participation by all in social and intellectual enjoyments. By 
 such an equalization of the privileges and pleasures of political and 
 social life it was thought that the undue influence of the rich over 
 the poor would be destroyed, and class envy and discord banished. 
 
 In promoting these views Pericles and his party carried to great 
 lengths the system of payment for the most common public services. 
 Thus just before this time or during the administration of Pericles, 
 salaries were attached to the vaHOus civil offices, all of which were 
 originally unpaid positions. This reform enabled the poorer citizens 
 to offer themselves as candidates for the different magistracies, which 
 under the earlier system, notwithstanding the provisions of the con- 
 stitution, had been open, in effect, only to men of means and leisure. 
 There was also introduced a system of payment of the citizen for serv- 
 ing as a juryman and for military services ; hitherto the Athenian, 
 save possibly as respects service in the fleet, had served his country 
 in time of war without compensation. At a later period citizens 
 were even paid for attendance at the meetings of the Ecclesia. 
 
 It was the same motives that prompted the above innovations 
 which during the Periclean Age, or perhaps somewhat later, led 
 to the practice of supplying all the citizens with tickets to the 
 
 1 Plutarch, Pericles, xxxvii. 
 
§242] THE DICASTERIES 217 
 
 theater^ and other places of amusement, and of banqueting the 
 people on festival days at the public expense. In regard to the effect 
 of these particular measures upon the character of the Athenian 
 democracy we shall say a word a little farther on. 
 
 The outcome of this general policy of the democratic leaders was 
 that before the beginning of the Peloponnesian War almost every 
 citizen of Athens was in the pay of the state. Aristotle says that 
 more than twenty thousand were receiving payment for one kind 
 of service or another.'^ 
 
 242. The Dicasteries. Among the services just enumerated for 
 which the citizen received a payment from the state was that 
 rendered by the Athenian juryman in the great popular courts. 
 These tribunals formed such a characteristic feature of the Athens 
 of Pericles that we must pause here long enough to cast a glance 
 upon them. 
 
 Each year there were chosen by lot from those Athenian citizens 
 of thirty years of age and upwards who had volunteered for jury 
 service six thousand persons.' One thousand of this number was 
 held in reserve ; the remaining five thousand were divided into ten 
 sections of five hundred each. These divisions were called dicasteries, 
 and the members dicasts, or jurymen. Although the full number of 
 jurors in a dicastery was five hundred, still the usual number sitting 
 on any given case was between two hundred and four hundred. 
 Sometimes, however, when an important case was to be heard, the 
 jury would number two thousand or even more. 
 
 There was an immense amount of law business brought before 
 these courts, for they tried not only all cases arising between the 
 citizens of Athens, but attended also to a large part of the law 
 business of the numerous cities of Athens' great empire. All cases 
 arising between subject cities, all cases in which an Athenian citizen 
 
 1 The theater was rented to parties who charged forjidmission to cover expenses. 
 
 2 The various classes and magistrates supported by the public funds are given as 
 follows: 6000 dicasts, 1600 bowmen, 1200 horsemen, 500 senators, 500 harbor guards, 
 50 city guards, 700 domestic magistrates, 700 foreign magistrates, 2500 hoplites, 4000 
 sailors, the crews of zo watch ships, 2000 sailors forming crews of ships employed in col- 
 lecting tribute, together with jailers and other officers {Athenian Constitution, chap. 24). 
 
 8 Collectively known as the Heliisa. 
 
21 8 
 
 THE AGE OF PERICLES 
 
 [§243 
 
 was interested, and finally, indeed, all important cases arising in the 
 dependent states, were brought to Athens and heard in these courts. 
 It is easy to see that the volume of business transacted in them 
 must have been immense. 
 
 The pay of the juror was at first one obpl per day ; but later this 
 was increased to three obols, a sum equal to about eight cents in 
 our money. This, it seems, was sufficient to maintain an Athenian 
 citizen of the poorer class. 
 
 When a case was to be tried, it was assigned by lot to one 
 of the dicasteries, this method of allotment being observed in 
 
 order to guard against 
 
 bribery. 
 
 The average Athe- 
 nian enjoyed sitting 
 on a jury. As Lloyd 
 says, " the occupation 
 fell in wonderfully 
 with his humor." 
 The influence of the 
 courts upon the Athe- 
 nian character was 
 far from wholesome. 
 They fostered certain 
 traits of the Athenians which needed the bridle rather than the goad. 
 The decision of the jurors was final. There was no body or 
 council in the state to review their decision. The judgment of a 
 dicastery was never reversed or annulled. 
 
 243. Pericles Adorns Athens with Public Buildings. "The arts 
 follow in the wake of victory and it has ever been their loftiest task 
 to perpetuate in lasting works great success achieved by human 
 wisdom and valor." ^ The Periclean Age well illustrates this law. 
 This period was marked by such a development of the arts as no 
 other age in history has surpassed. The influences which gave such 
 an impulse to artistic effort were felt alike by architecture, sculp- 
 tiire, and painting. This art movement awakened by the stirring 
 
 1 Curtius, History of Greece (1902), vol. ii, p. 604. 
 
 Fig. 105. The So-called Theseum at Athens 
 (From a photograph) 
 
 This is one of the best-preserved of Greek temples 
 
§243] PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF ATHENS 219 
 
 events and achievements of the War of Liberation had its center in 
 Athens, and was directed largely by Pericles. It was his idea that 
 Athens having achieved such a position as she now held, the city 
 should be adorned with monuments that would symbolize the power 
 and glory of her empire, and at the same time fittingly express the 
 nation's gratitude to the gods for the favor and protection they had 
 vouchsafed. Nor was it difficult for him to persuade his art-loving 
 countrymen to embellish their city with those wonderful creations 
 which even in their ruins excite the admiration of the world and 
 still reflect " the glory, that was Greece.'' 
 
 The most noteworthy of the Periclean; structures were grouped 
 upon the Acropolis. Here was raised the beautiful Parthenon, sacred 
 to the virgin goddess Athena. The architects of this building were 
 Ictinus and Callicrates ; the celebrated sculptures of the frieze and 
 the pediments were designed by Phidias. These wonderful figures 
 mark the perfection of Greek art. Within the temple was the 
 celebrated ivory-and-gold statue of the goddess. Near by stood the 
 colossal bronze statue of Athena, — made, it is said, from the spoils 
 of Marathon, — whose glittering spear point was a beacon to the 
 mariner sailing in from Sunium. 
 ^ As a porch and gateway to the sacred inclosure of the citadel 
 were erected the magnificent propylaea, which have served as a 
 model for similar structures since the time of Pericles. 
 
 At the western end of the southern precipitous side of the Acrop- 
 olis was constructed the Odeon, or Music 'Hall. This building was 
 intended for the musical contests held in connection with the Pana- 
 thenaic festivals. The roof was in imitation of the great tent of 
 Xerxes, which was a part of the spoils of the field of Platsea. At the 
 eastern end of this same side, just at the foot of the Acropolis, was 
 the celebrated Theater of Dionysus, which Pericles is believed to 
 have improved and adorned.^ 
 
 The Athenians obtained a considerable portion of the money 
 needed for the prosecution of their great architectural and art under- 
 takings from the treasury of the Delian Confederacy. The allies 
 
 1 This was not the famous stone theater ; that dates- from the century after Pericles. 
 For additional details concerning the art matters here dealt with, see Chapter XXVII. 
 
J20 
 
 THE AGE or PERICLES 
 
 [§244 
 
 naturally declaimed bitterly against this proceeding, complaining that 
 Athens with their money was " adorning herself as a vain woman 
 decks her body with gay ornaments." But Pericles' answer to these 
 charges was that the money was contributed to the end that the 
 cities of the league should be protected against the Persians, and 
 that so long as the Athenians kept the enemy at a distance they 
 
 had a right to use 
 the money as they 
 pleased. 
 
 244. Herodotus and 
 ffistory Writing. The 
 influences which made 
 architecture and sculp- 
 ture the material em- 
 bodiment of the spirit 
 of the Periclean Age, 
 contributed also to 
 make history, philos- 
 ophy, and the drama 
 the spiritual expres- 
 sion of the epoch. , 
 It may be truly 
 said that in this period 
 history had its birth, 
 for Herodotus, " the 
 father of history,"^ was a contemporary of Pericles. He was a 
 native of Halicarnassus in Asia Minor, but his home for a time 
 was Athens, where he formed one of the brilliant company that 
 surrounded the great statesman. And it was in this city probably 
 that he wrote parts of his great work, the history of the Persian 
 Wars. In the year 445 B.C., at a public festival, he read portions 
 of it to the Athenians. It was fitting that the Athenians should hear 
 Herodotus read his praises of them, — he praised them highly for 
 their devotion and patriotic sacrifices in the great War of Liberation, 
 — for "it was their deeds," as'Curtius says, "that made him an 
 
 1 The reason for giving Iiim this title is that he was the first artist in prose. 
 
 Fig. 106. The Caryatid Porch of the 
 Erechtheum. (From a photograph) 
 
 The Erechtheum was built, some time after the death of 
 
 Pericles, on the site of an older temple which perished, 
 
 with the other buildings on the Acropolis, at the time of 
 
 the Persian invasion 
 
§245] ANAXAGORAS AND SO'CRATES 221 
 
 historian, and in fact gave birth to the art of historical writing among 
 the Hellenes in Greece." 
 
 A pleasing though unverified story connects the name of Thu- 
 cydides with that of Herodotus. The tale is that Thucydides while 
 yet a mere boy was taken by his father to one of the readings of 
 Herodotus, and that the recitation and the accompanying applause 
 moved the boy to tears, and to the resolve to become an historian. 
 The story will help us to remember that though Thucydides' famous 
 history was written in the generation following that of Pericles, still 
 it was the influences of that brilliant age that molded the mind and 
 inspired the genius of the great historian. 
 
 245. Anaxagoras and Socrates. Philosophy as well as history is 
 linked with the story of Athens in the Age of Pericles. The Greek 
 cities of Ionia were the earliest home of Greek philosophy, but at 
 this period the fame of Athens was attracting distinguished scholars 
 and original thinkers from all parts. The center of philosophic activity 
 in Hellas was thus shifted from Ionia to Attica. Foremost among the 
 immigrant Ionian philosophers was Anaxagoras (about 500-427 B.C.), 
 the friend and teacher in philosophy of Pericles. All that we need 
 notice here in regard to his teachings is thact he represented the true 
 scientific spirit that had been awakened in Ionia, and held views 
 respecting oracles, omens, and the gods w;hich were far in advance 
 of the popular conceptions of the time. 
 
 In connection with Anaxagoras must be mentioned the name of 
 another philosopher of world-wide fame. At the opening of the 
 Periclean Age, Socrates, the best beloved of human teachers, had 
 just entered young manhood. We shall meet him again later, 
 questioning earnestly everybody whose attention he can gain on 
 the streets, in the porticoes, and in the loitering places of Athens. 
 Judged by spiritual standards he was a greater man than the one 
 for whom his age is named ; but, as we shall learn, his own age, 
 aside from a few choice spirits, knew him not. 
 
 Because of some of his opinions, Socrates came, though unfairly, 
 to be regarded as belonging to a class of teachers of uncertain repu- 
 tation just now coming into prominence at Athens, and of whom we 
 must next speak. 
 
222 THE AGE OF PERICLES [§246 
 
 246. The Sophists and the New Education. The Age of Pericles 
 witnessed a new movement in education. Up to this time the sons 
 of well-to-do families had been taught redding, writing, music, and 
 gymnastics. There was now a growing demand for something more 
 than this elementary instruction. To meet this demand there came 
 forward a class of teachers called Sophists. The aim of the higher 
 education which they gave was to teach one how to get on in life. 
 But to get on in Athens, or, indeed, in any other democratic Greek 
 city, one must be able to address the popular assembly, to plead in 
 the courts, where every man had to be his own lawyer, and, in general, 
 to take the lead in public discussions. Hence the chief arts taught 
 by the Sophists were rhetoric and the art of speaking. They them- 
 selves as a class were wonderfully ready speakers, and thus they 
 taught by example as well as by precept. Their lecture-rooms 
 were crowded with eager listeners and enthusiastic admirers, young 
 and old. 
 
 These new teachers were men who had come under the influence 
 of the new Ionian philosophy, which was skeptical in its tendencies. 
 They scoffed at many ancestral usages, rejected the creed of the 
 masses, and said things that tended to unsettle the religious faith of 
 the young. Hence they were looked upon askance by old-fashioned 
 and pious folk. It was this feeling of distrust and dislike which 
 they awakened that contributed, as we shall see later, to one of the 
 saddest tragedies in the history of Athens — the condemnation to 
 death by the Athenians of the philosopher Socrates (sect. 266). 
 
 But, on the other hand, there is much to be placed to the credit of 
 these teachers. Thus for one thing the attention they as rhetoricians 
 gave to the form of expression made the Athenian speech the most 
 perfect that was ever formed on the lips of men. The exquisite per- 
 fection of language and style of Thucydides, Demosthenes, and Plato 
 owes much to the Sophists.^ 
 
 247. The Attic Drama. A more effective agency of the higher 
 education than the Sophists were the dramatists. The Attic drama 
 was the supreme embodiment of the spirit of the Age of Pericles. 
 By the opening of the epoch it was already a great creation. From 
 
 1 Croiset, J-fisioiy of Greek Literature (1904), p. 283. 
 
§248] NATURE OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 223 
 
 the energies awakened by the War of Liberation it had received 
 an impulse which had hurried it forward to a wonderful perfection. 
 It was represented by the powerful tragedies of .^schylus, who 
 belonged to the preceding age. It was his genius that incited 
 the genius of Sophocles (496-406 B.C.), the true representative of 
 the Periclean drama. 
 
 We should also note that it was under the influences of the Peri- 
 clean Age that the powers of the third great 'Attic tragedian, Euripides, 
 and those of the famous writer of comedy, Aristophanes, were ripen- 
 ing. "■ It was, however, the intellectual and social tendencies of the 
 following epoch that they represented. 
 
 248. Strength and "Weakness of the Athenian Empire. We must 
 now resume our narrative of events. And first we cast a glance 
 upon the empire Athens had created, in order to note in what 
 measure it was prepared for the test of stability it was soon to 
 undergo. Under Pericles Athens had become the most powerful 
 naval state in the world. In one of his last speeches (sect. 251), 
 made soon after the outbreak of the Pelqponnesian War, in which 
 he recounts the resources of the Athenian Empire, Pericles says to 
 his fellow-citizens : " There is not now a kipg, there is not any nation 
 in the universal world, able to withstand that navy which at this 
 juncture you can launch out to sea." 
 
 And this was no empty boast. The ^gean in truth had become 
 an Athenian lake. Its islands and coast lands, together with the 
 Hellespontine region, formed virtually an Athenian empire. The 
 revenue ships of Athens collected tribute from more than two hun- 
 dred Greek cities. It seemed almost as though the union of the 
 cities of Hellas was to be effected on an irnperial basis through the 
 energy and achievements of the Athenians. 
 
 But the most significant feature of this new imperial power was 
 the remarkable combination of material and intellectual resources 
 which it exhibited. Never before had there been such a union of 
 the material and the intellectual elements of civilization at the seat 
 
 1 Euripides (480-406 B.C.) ; Aristophanes (450-385,5.0.). For further biographical 
 facts of the philosophers and writers mentioned in the above paragraphs, and for some 
 comments on their worlcs, see Chapters XXVIII and XXIX. 
 
224 THE AGE OF PERICLES [§248 
 
 of empire.^ Literature and art had been parried to the utmost per- 
 fection possible to human genius. 
 
 But there were elements of weakness in the splendid imperial 
 structure. The Athenian Empire was destined to be short-lived be- 
 cause the principles upon which it rested were in opposition to the 
 deepest instinct of the Greek race — to that sentiment of local patri- 
 otism which invested each individual city with political sovereignty 
 (sect. 155). Athens had disregarded this feeling. Pericles himself 
 acknowledged that in the hands of the Athenians sovereignty had 
 run into a sort of tyranny. The so-called confederates were the 
 subjects of Athens. To her they paid tribute. To her courts they 
 were dragged for trial.'' Naturally the subject cities of her empire 
 — that is, the patriotic or home-rule party in these dependent 
 states — -regarded Athens as the destroyer of Hellenic liberties, 
 and watched impatiently for the first favorable moment to revolt 
 and throw off the yoke that she had imposed upon them. Hence 
 the Athenian Empire rested upon a foundation of sand. 
 
 Had Athens, instead of enslaving her confederates of the Delian 
 League, only been able to find some way of retaining them as allies 
 in an equal union, — a great and perhaps impossible task under the 
 then existing conditions of the Hellenic "world, — as head of the 
 federated Greek race she might have secured for Hellas the sover- 
 eignty of the Mediterranean, and the history of Rome might have 
 ended with the first century of the repubHc. 
 
 Illustrations of the weakness as well as of the strength of the 
 Athenian Empire will be afforded by the great struggle between 
 Athens and Sparta known as the Peloponnesian War, the causes 
 and chief incidents of which we shall next rehearse. 
 
 1 "The average ability of the Athenian race [was], on the lowest possible estimate, 
 very nearly two grades higher than our own ; that is, about as much as our race is above 
 that of the African negro. This estimate, which may seem prodigious to some, is con- 
 firmed by the quick intelligence and high culture of the Athenian commonalty, before 
 whom literary works were recited, and works of art exhibited of a far more severe char- 
 acter than could possibly be appreciated by the average of our race, the calibre of whose 
 intellect is easily gauged by a glance at the contents of a railway bookstall." — Galton, 
 Hereditary Genius (2d Am. ed., 1887), p, 342 ; quoted by KiAi, Social Evolutit>n,c\af.'^- 
 
 " The subject cities were allowed to maintain only their lower courts of justice; all 
 cases of importance, as we have seen (sect. 242), were carried to Athens, and there 
 decided in the Attic tribunals. 
 
REFERENCES 225 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plutarch, Pericles. Thucydides, ii, 65 (on 
 the character of Pericles). Thallon's Readings, pp. 268-293 ; Davis's Readings 
 (Greece), pp. 207-2151 Fling's Source Book, pp. 159-172. 
 
 References (Modern). Curtius, vol. ii, pp. 460-641. Grote (ten-volume 
 ed.), vol. iv, pp. 438-533. Abbott, vol. iii, chaps, i, ii. Holm, vol. ii, chaps, xv- 
 XX. Bury, History of Greece, chap. ix. Cox, The Athenian Empire and Lives 
 of Greek Statesmen, " Ephialtes " and " Perikles." Lloyd, The Age of Pericles, 
 vol, ii, chaps, xli, xlii. BuTLER, The Story of Athens, chap. vii. Abbott, Peri- 
 cles and the Golden Age of Athens, chaps, x-xviii. Grant, Greece in the Age of 
 Pericles, chaps, vii, viii, xii. Mahaffy, Survey of Greek Civilization, chap. v. 
 Cotterill, Ancient Greece, chap. vi. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports. 1 . The public buildings of Athens ; Reinach, 
 Afollo, chap, vi; Fowler and Wheeler, Greek Archceology, pp. 144-150, 155- 
 157. 2. "A Day in Athens"; Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens, chaps, vi, vii; 
 Bliimner, The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks, chsi^.v, ■pp. 'iT)-20i. 3. Trades 
 and manufactures : Gulick, The Life of the Ancient Greeks, chap, xviii, pp. 227- 
 238. 4. Various classes of the population : Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens, 
 chap. iv. 5. Civic duties of citizens : Guhck, Life of the Ancient Greeks, 
 chap. xvi. 6. Private dwellings and furniture : Tucker, Life in Ancient 
 Athens, chap. v. 7. Religion of the average Athenian: Tucker, Life in 
 Ancient Athens, chap. xi. 8. The things seen in a walk about your own city 
 which remind you of the contributions of Greece to our civilization. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE PELOPONWESIAW WAR ; THE SPARTAN AND THE 
 THEBAN SUPREMACY 
 
 I. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR (431-404 B.C.) 
 
 249. The Immediate Causes of the War. Before the end of the 
 
 life of Pericles the growing jealousy between Ionian Athens on the 
 one hand and Dorian Sparta and her allies on the other broke out in 
 the long and calamitous struggle known as the Peloponnesian War. 
 Pericles had foreseen the coming storm: "I descry war," he said, 
 " lowering from the Peloponnesus." 
 
 One immediate cause of the war was the mterference of Athens, 
 on the side of the Corcyrasans, in a quarrel between them and 
 their mother city Corinth. The real root of this trouble between 
 Corinth and Corcyra was mercantile rivalry. Both were enterprising 
 commercial cities, and both wished to control the trade of the islands 
 and the coast towns of Western Greece. The motive of the Athe- 
 nians for interesting themselves in this quarrel between mother and , 
 daughter was to prevent any accession to the naval power of Corinth 
 by her possible acquisition of the fleet of the Corcyrasans, and to 
 make sure of Corcyra as an important station and watch post on 
 the route to Italy. 
 
 The second immediate cause of the war was the blockade of 
 Potidsea, in Chalcidice, by the Athenians. This was a Corinthian 
 colony, but it was a member of the Delian League, and was now 
 being chastised by Athens for attempted secession. Corinth, as the 
 ever-jealous naval rival of Athens, had endfeavored to lend aid to her 
 daughter, but had been worsted in an engagement with the Athenians. 
 
 With affairs in this shape, Corinth, seconded by other states that 
 had causes of complaint against Athens, appealed to Sparta, as the 
 head of the Dorian alliance, for aid and justice. The Spartans, after 
 
 226 
 
Ill TIaly and Sicily 
 loniaus 1 i 
 
 Doriaiis | | 
 
 .Roman Domain I I 
 
 THE GKEEK WORLD 
 
 at the besiiiiiiiiK of the 
 PKLOPONMiSLV^ A\ All 
 431 IS. C. 
 
 _L 
 
 IS LoDsllurte Ea«l ^ 
 
§250] THE PELOPONNESIANS RAVAGE ATTICA 227 
 
 listening to the deputies of both sides, decided that the Athenians 
 had been guilty of injustice, and declared for war. The resolution 
 of the Spartans was indorsed by the Peloponnesian Confederation, 
 and apparently approved by the Delphic oracle, which, in response 
 to an inquiry of the Spartans as to what would be the issue of 
 the proposed undertaking, assured them that " they ^would gain the 
 victory, if they fought with all their might." 
 
 250. The Peloponnesians Ravage Attica (431 B. c). A Peloponnesian 
 army was soon collected at the Isthmus, ready for a campaign against 
 Athens. With invasion imminent, the inhabitants of the hamlets and 
 scattered farmhouses of Attica abandoned their homes and sought 
 shelter behind the defenses of the capital. Into the plain thus deserted 
 the Pelopoimesians marched, and ravaged the country far and near. 
 From the walls of the city the Athenians could see the flames of their 
 burning houses, which recalled to the old men the sight they had 
 witnessed from the island of Salamis just forty-nine years before, at 
 the time of the Persian invasion. The failure of provisions finally 
 compelled the Peloponnesians to withdraw from the country, and the 
 contingents of the different cities scattered to their homes. 
 
 251. Funeral Oration of Pericles. ^ It was the custom of the Athe- 
 nians to bury with public and imposing ceremonies the bodies of those 
 who fell in battle. In the funeral procession the bones of the dead 
 of each tribe were borne in a single chest on a litter, while an empty 
 litter covered with a pall was carried for those whose bodies had not 
 been recovered. The remains were laid in the public cemetery, out- 
 side the city gates. After the burial, some person chosen by his fellow- 
 citizens on account of his special fitness for the service delivered an 
 oration over the dead, extolling their deeds and exhorting the living 
 to an imitation of their virtues. 
 
 1 Respecting the speeches which Thucydides introduces so frequently in his narra- 
 tive, he himself says : " As to the speeches which were made either before or during 
 the war, it was hard for me, and for others who reported them to me, to recollect the 
 exact words. I have therefore put into the mouth of each speaker the sentiments 
 proper to the occasion, expressed as I thought he would be likely to express them, 
 while at the same time I endeavored, as nearly as I could, to give the general purport 
 of what was actually said" (Thucydides, Jowett's trans., i, 15). To insert in their text 
 made-up speeches was the practice of all the ancient historians. Concerning the cus- 
 tom, the historian Polybius (xii, 25 z) says: "To select from time to time the proper 
 and appropriate language is a necessary part of our art." 
 
228 THE PELOPONNESIAiN WAR [§251 
 
 It was during the winter following the campaign we have described 
 that the Athenians celebrated the funeral ceremonies of those who 
 had fallen thus far in the war. Pericles was chosen to give the oration 
 on this occasion. This funeral speech, as .reported by Thucydides, 
 is one of the most valuable memorials preserved to us from antiquity, 
 All the circumstances under which the oration was pronounced lent 
 to it a peculiar and pathetic interest. 
 
 The speaker took advantage of the occasion to describe the 
 institutions to which Athens owed her greatness, and to picture 
 the glories of the imperial city for which the heroes they lamented 
 had died. He first spoke of the fathers from whom they had 
 inherited their institutions of freedom, and their great empire, and 
 then passed on to speak of the character and spirit of those institu- 
 tions through which Athens had risen to power and greatness. The 
 Athenian government, he said, was a democracy ; for all the citizens, 
 rich and poor alike, participated in its administration. There was 
 freedom of intercourse and of action among the citizens, each doing 
 as he liked ; and yet there was a spirit of reverence and of respect 
 for law. Numerous festivals and games furnished amusement and 
 relaxation from toil for all citizens. Life in the great city was more 
 enjoyable than elsewhere, being enriched by fruits and goods from 
 all the world. 
 
 The speaker praised, too, Athens' military system, in which the 
 citizen was not sacrificed to the soldier, as at Sparta ; and yet Alliens 
 was alone a match for Sparta and all he,r allies. He extolled the 
 intellectual, moral, and social virtues of the Athenians, which were 
 fostered by their free institutions, and declared their city to be "' the 
 school of Hellas " and the model for all other cities. 
 
 * A bas-relief recently excavated on the Acropolis of Athens. Dr. Charles Waldstein 
 thinks that this sculpture may " have headed an inscription containing the names of those 
 who had fallen in battle, which record was placed in some public spot in Athens or on 
 the Acropolis. Our Athene-Nike would then be standing in the attitude of mourning, 
 with reversed spear, gazing down upon the tombstone which surmounts the grave of her 
 brave sons." As to the possible connection of this relief with the funeral oration of 
 Pericles, Dr. Waldstein says ; " Though I do not mean! to say that the inscription which 
 it surmounted referred immediately to those who had fallen in the campaign of 431 n.c, 
 I still feel that the most perfect counterpart in literature is the famous funeral oration of 
 Pericles as recorded by Thucydides." 
 

 Flate XII. The Mourmxg Athena* (From a photograph) 
 
§252] THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS 229 
 
 Continuing, the speaker declared that Athens alone of all existing 
 cities was greater than the report of her in the world ; and that she 
 would never need a Homer to perpetuate her memory, because she 
 herself had set up everywhere eternal monuments of her greatness. 
 " Such is the city," he exclaimed impressively, " for whose sake these 
 men nobly fought and died ; they could not bear the thought that 
 she might be taken from them ; and eve^ one of us who survive 
 should gladly toil on her behalf." 
 
 Then followed words of tribute to the valor and self-devotion of 
 the dead, whose sepulchers and inscriptions were not the graves and 
 the memorial stones of the cemetery — "for the whole earth is the 
 sepulcher of famous men," and the memorials of them are " graven 
 not on stone but in the hearts of mankind." Finally, with words of 
 comfort for the relatives of the dead, the orator dismissed the 
 assembly to their homes.^ 
 
 " Thus did Pericles represent to the Athenian citizens the nature 
 of their state, and picture to them what Athens should be. Their 
 better selves he held before them, in order to strengthen them and 
 to lift them above themselves, and to inspire in them self-devotion 
 and constancy and bravery. With new courage turned they from 
 the graves of the fallen to their homes, and went forward to meet 
 whatever destiny the gods might have ordained " (Curtius). 
 
 That funeral day was, indeed, one of the great days in ancient 
 Athens. 
 
 252. The Plague at Athens (430 B.C.); the Peath of Pericles 
 (429 B.C.). Very soon had the Athenians need to exercise all those 
 virtues which the orator had admonished them to cherish ; for upon 
 the return of the next campaigning season the Peloponnesians, 
 having mustered again two thirds of all their fighting forces, broke 
 once more into Attica and ravaged the land anew, giving to the 
 fliames such villages and farmhouses as had escaped destruction the 
 previous year. 
 
 The walls of Athens were unassailable by the hostile army; but 
 unfortunately they were no defense against a more terrible foe. 
 A pestilence broke out in the crowded city and added its horrors 
 
 1 See Thucydides, ii, 35-46, for the whole oration. 
 
230 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [§253 
 
 to the already unbearable calamities of war. The mortality was 
 frightful. One fourth of the population of the city was swept away. 
 
 In the third year of the war the plague reappeared at Athens. 
 Pericles, who had been the very soul and life of Athens during all 
 these dark days, fell a victim to the disease. The plague had pre- 
 viously robbed him of his sister and his two sons. The death of his 
 younger son Paralus, the last of his family, had bowed him in grief, 
 and as he laid the usual funeral wreath upon the head of the dead boy, 
 for the first time in his life, it is said, he gave way to his feelings in a 
 passionate outburst of tears. In dying, the great statesman is reported 
 to have said that he regarded his best title to honored remembrance to 
 be that " he had never caused an Athenian -to put on mourning."^ 
 
 After the death of Pericles the leadership of affairs at Athens fell 
 to a great degree into the hands of demagogues. The mob element 
 got control of the Ecclesia, so that hereafter we shall find many of its 
 measures marked neither by virtue nor by wisdom. 
 
 253. The Cruel Character of the War : the Athenians Wreak Ven- 
 geance upon the Mytileneans, and the Spartans upon the Platseans. 
 On both sides the war was waged with the utmost vindictiveness and 
 cruelty. Thus in the year 428 b. c. the city of Mytilene, on the island of 
 Lesbos, revolted from the Athenians. With the rebellion suppressed, 
 the fate of the Mytileneans was in the hands of the Athenian as- 
 sembly. Cleon, a rash and violent leader of the democratic party, 
 proposed that all the men of the place, six thousand in number, 
 should be slain, and the women and children sold as slaves. This 
 infamous decree was passed and a galley dispatched bearing the 
 sentence to the Athenian general at Mytilene for execution. 
 
 By the next morning, however, the Athenians had repented of their 
 hasty resolution. A second meeting of the assembly was hurriedly 
 called, the barbarous vote was repealed, and a swift trireme, bearing 
 the reprieve, set out in anxious haste to overtake the former galley, 
 which had twenty-four hours the start. The trireme reached the island 
 just in time to prevent the carrying out of the cruel edict. 
 
 The second resolution of the Athenians, though more discriminat- 
 ing than the first decree, was quite severe enough. The leaders of the 
 
 1 Plutarch, Pericles^ xxxviij. 
 
§254] THE SURRENDER OF A SPARTAN FORCE 231 
 
 revolt were put to death, the walls of the city were torn down, and the 
 larger part of the lands of the island was given to citizens of Athens.^ 
 
 Still more unrelenting and cruel were the. Spartans. In the summer 
 of the same year that the Athenians wreaked such vengeance upon 
 the Mytileneans, the Spartans and their allies captured the city of 
 Plataea, put to death all the men, sold the women as slaves, and 
 turned the site of the city into pasture lan}3. 
 
 254. The Surrender of a Spartan Force; the Significance of this. 
 Soon after the affair at Mytilene and the destruction of Plataea, an 
 enterprising general of the Athenians, 
 named Demosthenes, seized and fortified 
 a point of land (Pylos) on the coast of 
 Messenia. The Spartans made every effort 
 to dislodge the enemy. In the course of 
 the siege some Lacedaemonians, having 
 landed upon an adjacent little island 
 (Sphacteria), were so unfortunate as to 
 be cut off from the mainland by the sud- 
 den arrival of an Athenian fleet. After 
 having made a splendid fight, they were 
 completely surrounded and hopelessly out- 
 numbered. They must now either sur- 
 render or die. They decided to surrender. 
 Among those giving themselves up were over a hundred Spartans, 
 some of whom were members of the best families at Sparta. 
 
 The surrender of Spartan soldiers had hitherto been deemed an 
 incredible thing. " Nothing which happened during the war," declares 
 Thucydides, " caused greater amazement in Hellas ; for it was uni- 
 versally imagined that the Lacedaemonians would never give up their 
 arms, either under the pressure of famine or in any other extremity, 
 but would fight to the last and die sword in hand." 
 
 The real significance of the affair was the revelation it made of the 
 relaxing at Sparta of that tense militaiy discipline which had given 
 
 1 These settlers were cleruchs (p. 163, n. i). They did not cultivate with their own 
 hands the lands received ; these were tilled by the native Lesbians, who paid the new 
 proprietors a fixed rent. 
 
232 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [§255 
 
 the Spartans such a place and reputation in the Hellenic world. It 
 was the beginning of the end. In passing from Thermopylae to Pylos 
 we cross a great divide in Spartan history. 
 
 255. The Peace of Nicias (421 B.C.). After four more years of 
 fighting both sides became weary of the war. Negotiations for peace 
 were opened, which, after many embassies back and forth, resulted 
 in what is known as the Peace of Nicias, because of the prominent 
 part that Athenian general had in bringing it about. The treaty 
 provided for a truce of fifty years. 
 
 -The Peace of Nicias was only a nominal one. Some of the allies 
 of the two principal parties to the truce were dissatisfied with it, and 
 so the wat went on. For about seven years, however, Athens and 
 Sparta refrained from invading each other's territory ; but even 
 during this period each was aiding its allies in making war upon 
 the dependents or confederates of the other. Finally, hostilities 
 flamed out in open and avowed war, and all Hellas was again lit 
 up with the fires of the fratricidal strife. 
 
 256. The Fall of Melos (416 B.C.). The matter that especially 
 arrests our attention in the first five years of the renewed war was 
 the seizure by the Athenians of the island of Melos. This pleasant 
 island, which is one of the most westerly of the Cyclades, was the 
 only island in the ^gean, with the exception of Thera, which was 
 not at this tirrie included in the Athenian "Empire. The Athenians 
 determined to take possession of it. So they sent an expedition 
 to the island, and commanded the Melians to acknowledge at once 
 the suzerainty of Athens. The demand, if we may here trust Thu- 
 cydides' account, was based on no other ground than Athenian im- 
 perial interests and the right of the strong to rule the weak. " For 
 of the gods we believe," — thus Thucydides makes the Athenian 
 envoys speak, — " and of men we know, that by a law of their 
 nature wherever they can rule they will. This law was not made 
 by us, and we are not the first who have acted upon it ; we did but 
 inherit it, and shall bequeath it to all time."^ 
 
 The Melians, relying on the righteousness of their cause and the 
 help of their Lacedasmonian kinsmen, refused to surrender, at the 
 
 1 Thucydides (Jowett's trans.), v, 105. 
 
§257] 
 
 ALCIBIADES 
 
 233 
 
 bidding of Athens, their independence, which, according to their 
 traditions, they had enjoyed for seven centuries. 
 
 So the city of Melos was blockaded by sea and beset by land, and 
 in a few months, neither the gods nor the Lacedaemonians bringing 
 help, the whole island was in the hands of the Athenians. All the 
 men were at once put to death, and the women and children sold 
 into slavery. The island was then repopulated by settlers sent out 
 from Athens.^ 
 
 257. Alcibiades. It becomes necessary for us here to introduce 
 a new leader of the Athenian Demos, Alcibiades, who played a most 
 conspicuous part, not only in Athenian 
 but also in Hellenic affairs, from this 
 time on to near the close of the war. 
 Alcibiades was a young man of noble 
 lineage and of aristocratic associa- 
 tions. He was versatile, brilliant, and 
 resourceful, but unscrupulous, reck- 
 less, and profligate. He was a pupil 
 of Socrates, but he failed to follow the 
 counsels of his teacher. His astonish- 
 ing escapades kept all Athens talking ; 
 in truth, Plutarch says that he did out- 
 rageous things just to give the Athe- 
 nians something to gossip about. Yet 
 these things seemed only to attach the 
 people more closely to him, for he possessed all those personal traits 
 which make men popular idols. His influence over the democracy 
 was unlimited. He was able to carry through the Ecclesia almost 
 any measure that it pleased him to advocate. 
 
 The more prudent of the Athenians were filled with apprehension 
 for the future of the state under such guidance. The noted misan- 
 thrope Timon gave expression to this feeling when, after Alcibiades 
 
 Fig. 107. Alcibiades 
 
 1 Doubtless Thucydides in making the story of this crime the prelude to his account 
 of the Sicilian Expedition (sect. 258) would have his readers see in the arrogant and 
 wicked conduct of the Athenians and the awful disaster that befell them in Sicily =i 
 striking illustration of the workings of the law of Nemesis (sect, 342), 
 
234 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [§258 
 
 had secured the assent of the popular assembly to one of his impolitic 
 measures, he said to him: "" Go on, my brave boy, and prosper; for 
 your prosperity will bring on the ruin of all this crowd." And it did, 
 as we shall see.'^ 
 
 258. Debate on the Sicilian Expedition. The most prosperous 
 enterprise of Alcibiades, in the Timonian sense, was the inciting of 
 the Athenians to undertake an expedition against the Dorian city 
 of Syracuse, in Sicily. The resolution to engage in the tremendous 
 enterprise seems to have been taken lightly by the Athenians, which 
 was quite in keeping with their usual way of doing things ; but a 
 few days after their first vote, a second meeting of the Ecclesia 
 having been called for the purpose of making arrangements for the 
 equipment of the armament, Nicias, who was opposed to the under- 
 taking, tried to persuade the people to reconsider their original vote 
 and give up the project. This opened the flood gates of a regular 
 Athenian debate. 
 
 Nicias stated the reasons why he thought the proposed expedi- 
 tion should be abandoned. His first point was that the situation 
 at home — with the cities of the Thracian shore in open and un- 
 punished revolt, and with other subject cities watching for a favor- 
 able moment to rebel — was such as to render it very unwise for 
 them to send so far away a large part of their fighting force. 
 The Athenians should secure well their present empire before 
 attempting to conquer a new one in the Western world. 
 
 Nicias also reminded the Athenians that there were still great 
 unfilled gaps in their ranks made by the plague and by a war that 
 had known scarcely any real intermission during sixteen years. The 
 finances of the state, too, needed to be husbanded. 
 
 The speaker then proceeded to pay his attention to Alcibiades, 
 who was the real instigator of the whole movement. He appealed 
 to the citizens of experience and mature judgment not to allow grave 
 public affairs to be thus toyed with by this harebrained youth, and 
 those like him, with whom he had filled the benches of the assembly. 
 He appealed to them, by a fearless raising of their hands, to avert 
 from Athens the greatest danger that had ever threatened the city.^ 
 
 1 Plutarch, Alcibiades, xvi. 2 gee Thucydides, vi, 9-14, for the entire speech. 
 
§258] DEBATE ON THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION 235 
 
 This speech of Nicias summarizes the arguments that should have 
 weighed with the Athenians in deterring them from embarking in 
 the hazardous undertaking that they had in mind. But from the 
 speeches that followed, and their reception by the assembly, it was 
 evident that the veteran general had not carried his audience with 
 him. He was supported by a few speakers, but the most of the 
 assembly opposed his conservative policy. 
 
 The leader of the war party, as has already appeared, was 
 Alcibiades. He made himself the mouthpiece of his party, and 
 replied to Nicias in a violent and demagogic speech, which he 
 closed by telling the Athenians that if they wished to rule, instead 
 of being ruled, they must maintain that enterprising and aggressive 
 policy that had won for them their empire. To adopt Nicias' policy 
 of inaction and indolent repose was simply to give up their imperial 
 position. Let old and young unite, he said, in lifting Athens to a 
 yet greater height of power and glory. With Sicily conquered, the 
 Athenians would without doubt become lords of the whole Hellenic 
 world. 
 
 Alcibiades evidently had the ear of the meeting. Nicias perceived 
 this, and realizing that to address arguments to the understanding 
 of tfie people in their present martial tnood would be useless, 
 changed his tactics, and in a second speech strove to frighten them 
 from the undertaking by dwelling upon the size and expense of the 
 armament they must place at the disposal of their generals. 
 
 This speech produced just the opposite effect upon the meeting 
 from that which Nicias had hoped. The vastness of the enterprise, 
 the magnificent proportions of the armament needed, as pictured by 
 Nicias, seemed to captivate the imagination of the Athenians, and 
 they were more eager than ever to embark in the undertaking. The 
 expedition further presented itself to the ardent imagination of the 
 youth as a sort of pleasure and sight-seeing excursion among 
 the wonders of the land of the " Far West." Those who had no 
 mind of their own in the matter or who were opposed to the under- 
 taking were carried away or were silenced by the enthusiasm of the 
 others ; and so it came about that, almost without a dissenting voice, 
 the assembly voted for the expedition. 
 
236 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [§259 
 
 259. The Departure of the Expedition from the Pireeus (415 B.C.). 
 The day of the departure of the Athenian fleet ^ from the Piraeus 
 was one of the great days in ancient Athens. It was yet early 
 morning when the soldiers and sailors poured down from the upper 
 city into the harbor town and began to man the ships. " The entire 
 population of Athens," says Thucydides, who must have been an 
 eyewitness of the stirring scene which he describes, " accompanied 
 them, citizens and strangers alike, to witness an enterprise of which the 
 greatness exceeded belief." Prayers having been offered and libations 
 made to the gods, the psean was raised, and the ships put out to sea.'' 
 
 Anxiously did those remaining behind watch the departing ships 
 until they were lost to sight. Could the anxious watchers have fore- 
 seen the fate of the splendid armament, their anxiety would have 
 passed into despair : " Athens itself was sailing out of the Pirasus, 
 never to return." 
 
 260. The Recall of Alcibiades ; he Flees to Sparta and "Plays 
 the Traitor." Scarcely had the expedition arrived at Sicily when 
 Alcibiades, who was one of the generals in command of the arma- 
 ment, was summoned back to Athens to answer a charge of impiety.' 
 Fearing to trust himself in the hands of his enemies at Athens, he 
 fled to Sparta, and there, by traitorous counsel, did all in his power 
 to ruin the very expedition he had planned. 
 
 The surest way, Alcibiades told the Spartans, in which to wreck 
 the plans of the Athenians was to send to Sicily at once a force of 
 heavy-armed men, and above all a good Spartan general, who alone 
 would be worth a whole army. The Spartans acted upon the advice 
 given them by Alcibiades. They sent to Sicily their ablest general, 
 Gylippus, with instructions to push the war there with the utmost vigon 
 
 261. Sad Plight of the Athenians before Syracuse; the Fatal 
 Eclipse ; the Retreat ; the End of the Tragedy (413 B.C.). The affairs 
 of the Athenians in Sicily at just this time were prospering greatly. 
 But the arrival of Gylippus changed everything at once. After some 
 
 1 It consisted of 134 costly triremes, bearing 36,000 soldiers and sailors. 
 
 2 Thucydides, vi, 32, 
 
 8 Just upon the eve of the departure of the expedition, the statues of Hermes 
 scattered throughout the city were grossly mutilated. Alcibiades was accused of having 
 had a hand in the affair, and furthermore of having mimicked certain sacred rites. 
 
§261] END OF THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION 237 
 
 severe fighting in which the Athenians lost heavily, they resolved to 
 withdraw their forces from the island while retreat by the sea was 
 still open to them. 
 
 Just as the ships were about to weigh anchor, there occurred an 
 eclipise of the moon. This portent caused the greatest consternation 
 among the Athenian troops. Nicias unfortunately was a man who 
 had full faith in omens and. divination. He sought now the advice, 
 not of his colleagues, but of his soothsayers. They pronounced the 
 portent to be an unfavorable one, and advised that the retreat be 
 delayed thirty-seven days. 
 
 Never did a reliance upon omens more completely undo a people. 
 The salvation of the Athenians depended absolutely upon their im- 
 mediate retreat. The delay prescribed by the diviners was fatal. It 
 seems the irony of fate that the Athenians, who more than any -other 
 people of antiquity had learned to depend in the management of 
 their affairs upon their own intelligence and judgment, should perish 
 throtigh a superstitious regard for omens and divination. 
 
 Further disaster and a failure of provisions finally convinced the 
 Athenians that they must without longer delay fight their way out 
 by sea or by land. An attempt to fight their way out of the harbor 
 failed dismally. There was now no course open save retreat by land. 
 Making such preparations as they could for their march, they set out. 
 " They were," says Thucydides, whose words alone can picture the 
 distress of the scene, '" in a dreadful condition : indeed they seemed 
 not like an army, but like the fugitive population of a city captured 
 after a siege ; and of a great city, too ; for the multitude who were 
 marching numbered not less than forty thousand." 
 
 Pursued and harassed by the Syracusans, the fleeing multitude was 
 practically annihilated. Only a few escaped. The prisoners, about 
 seven thousand in number, were crowded in deep, open stone quarries 
 around Syracuse, in which prison pens hundreds soon died of exposure 
 and starvation. Most of the wretched survivors were finally sold into 
 slavery. The unfortunate generals Nicias and Demosthenes were both 
 put to death. 
 
 The tragedy of the Sicilian expedition was now ended. Two 
 centuries were to pass before Sicily was again to become the arena 
 
238 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [§262 
 
 of transactions equally significant for universal history. Then another 
 imperial city was to seek in Sicily, with the fates more propitious, 
 the path to universal dominion (sect. 424). 
 
 262. The Decelean War ; the Fall of Athens (404 B.C.). While the 
 Athenians were before Syracuse, the Spartans, acting upon the 
 advice of Alcibiades, had taken possession of and fortified a strong 
 and commanding position known as Decelea, in Attica, only fourteen 
 miles from Athens. This was a thorn in the side of Athens. Secure 
 in this stronghold, the Spartans could annoy and keep in terror 
 almost all the Attic plain. The occupation by the Spartans of this 
 strategic point had such a determining influence upon the remainder 
 of the Peloponnesian War that this latter portion of it is known as 
 the Decelean War (413-404 B.C.). 
 
 With most admirable courage the Athenians, after the great dis- 
 aster in Sicily, set to work to retrieve their seemingly irretrievable 
 fortune. Forgetting and forgiving the past, they recalled Alcibiades 
 and gave him command of the army, thereby well illustrating what 
 the poet Aristophanes said of their disposition towards the spoiled 
 favorite — "They love, they hate, but cannot live without him." 
 
 Alcibiades gained some splendid victories for Athens. But he 
 could not undo the evil he had done. He had ruined Athens 
 beyond redemption by any human power. The struggle grew more 
 and more hopeless. Alcibiades was defeated, and, fearing to face 
 the Athenians, who had deposed him from his command, sought 
 safety in flight.'^ 
 
 Finally, at ^gospotami, on the Hellespont, the Athenian fleet 
 was surprised and captured by the Spartan general Lysander 
 (405 B.C.). The native Athenians, to the number of four thousand, 
 it is said, were put to death, the usual rites of burial being denied 
 their bodies. Among the few Athenian vessels that escaped cap- 
 ture was the state ship Paralus, which hastened to Athens with 
 the tidings of the terrible misfortune. It arrived in the nighttime, 
 and from the Pirseus the awful news, published by a despairing 
 wail, spread up the Long Walls into the upper city. " That night," 
 says Xenophon, "" no one slept." 
 
 1 Some years later he was killed in Asia Minor. 
 
§263] THE RESULTS OF THE WAR 239 
 
 Besieged by sea and land, Athens was s6on forced to surrender. 
 Some of the allies insisted upon a total destruction of the city. The 
 Spartans, however, with apparent magnanimity, declared that they 
 would never consent thus " to put out one of the eyes of Greece." 
 The real motive of the Spartans in sparing the city was their fear 
 lest, with Athens blotted out, Thebes or Corinth should become too 
 powerful, and the leadership of Sparta be thereby endangered. The 
 final resolve was that the lives of the Athenians should be spared, 
 but that they should be required to demolish their Long Walls and 
 those of the Pirteus, to give up all their ships save twelve, and to 
 bind themselves to do Sparta's bidding by sea and land. 
 
 The Athenians were forced to surrender on these hard conditions. 
 Straightway the victors dismantled the harbor at Piraeus, burning 
 the unfinished ships on the docks, and then began the demolition of 
 the Long Walls and the fortifications, the work going on to the 
 accompaniment of festive music and dancing ; for the Peloponne- 
 sians, says Xenophon, looked upon that day as the beginning of 
 liberty for the Hellenes. 
 
 The long war was now over. The dominion of the imperial city 
 of Athens was at an end, and the great da^s of Greece were past. 
 
 263. The Results of the War, " Never," says Thucydides, com^ 
 menting upon the results of the Peloponnesian War, "never were 
 so many cities captured and depopulated. . . . Never were exile and 
 slaughter more frequent, whether in the war or brought about by 
 civil strife." Greece never recovered from the blow which had 
 destroyed so large a part of her population. 
 
 Athens was merely the wreck of her former self. The harbor 
 of Piraeus, once crowded with ships, was now empty. The popula- 
 tion of the capital had been terribly thinned. Things were just the 
 reverse now of what they were at the time of the Persian invasion, 
 when, with Athens in ruins, Themistocles at Salamis, taunted with 
 being a man without a city, could truthfully declare that Athens was 
 there on the sea in her ships. Now the real Athens was gone; only 
 the empty shell remained. 
 
 - Not Athens alone, but all Hellas, bore the marks of the cruel war. 
 Sites once covered with pleasant villages or flourishing towns were 
 
240 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [§264 
 
 now plough and pasture land. The Greek world had sunk many 
 degrees in morality, while the vigor and productiveness of the intel- 
 lectual and artistic hfe of Hellas were impaired beyond recovery. 
 The achievements of the Greek intellect in the century following 
 the war were, it is true, wonderful ; but these triumphs merely show, 
 we may believe, what the Hellenic mind would have done for art 
 and general culture had it been permitted, unchecked, and under 
 the favoring and inspiring conditions of liberty and self-government, 
 to disclose all that was latent in it. 
 
 II. THE SPARTAN AND THE THEBAN SUPREMACY 
 
 264. Character of the Spartan Supremacy. For just one genera- 
 tion following the Peloponnesian War (404-371 B.C.), Sparta held 
 the leadership of the Greek states. Throughout that struggle she 
 had maintained that her only purpose in warring against Athens 
 was to regain for the Greek cities the liberty of which Athens had 
 deprived them. But no sooner was the power of Athens broken 
 than Sparta herself began to play the tyrant. Aristocratic govem- 
 ments, with institutions similar to the Spartan, were established in 
 the different cities of the old Athenian Empire. At Athens the demo- 
 cratic constitution under which the Athenians had attained their 
 greatness was abolished, and an oppressive oligarchy established in 
 its stead. The Thirty Tyrants, however, who administered this gov- 
 
 ■ ernment, were, after eight months' infam"ous rule, driven from the 
 city, and the old democratic constitution, somewhat modified, was 
 reestablished (403 B.C.). 
 
 265. The Expedition of the Ten Thousand Greeks (401-400 B.C.). One 
 of the most memorable episodes of this period of Spartan supremacy 
 was the famous expedition of the Ten Thousand Greeks. Cyrus, 
 brother of the Persian king Artaxerxes II, and satrap in Asia Minor, 
 feeling that he had been unjustly excluded from the throne by his 
 brother, secretly planned to dethrone him. From various quarters 
 he gathered an army of over one hundred thousand barbarians and 
 about thirteen thousand Greek mercenaries under the lead of a Spartan 
 named Clearchus, and set out on the undertaking. 
 
§265] EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND 
 
 241 
 
 The march of the expedition through Asia Minor and across the 
 Meaopotamian plains was unimpeded by the Persians, and Cyrus had 
 penetrated to the very heart of the Persian Empire before, at Cunaxa 
 in Babylonia, his farther advance was disputed by Artaxerxes with an 
 army numbering, it is said, eight hundred thousand men. In the battle 
 which here followed, the splendid conduct of the Greeks won the day 
 for their leader. Cyrus, however, was slain; and Clearchus and the 
 other Grecian generals were treacherously seized and put to death. 
 
 The March of the Ten Thousand Greeks 
 
 The Greeks, in a hurried night meeting, chose new generals to 
 lead them back to their homes. The real chief of these was Xeno- 
 phon, the popular historian of the expedition. Under his direction the 
 Greeks made one of the most memorable retreats in all history. 
 They traversed the plains of the Tigris, and then, in the midst of the 
 winter season, crossed the snowy passes of the mountains of Armenia. 
 Finally, after almost incredible hardships, the head of the retreating 
 column reached the top of a mountain ridge whence the waters of the 
 Euxine appeared to view. A great shout, " Thalatta f Thalatta!" 
 (The seal the seal), arose and spread back through the column, 
 creating a tumult of joy among the soldiers, weary with their seemingly 
 
242 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [§266 
 
 endless marching and fighting. The Greeks had struck the sea at 
 the spot where stood the Greek colony of Trapezus (now Trebizond), 
 whence they finally made their way home. 
 
 The march of the Ten Thousand is regarded as one of the most 
 remarkable military exploits of antiquity. Its historical significance is 
 derived from the fact that it payed the way for the later expedition 
 of Alexander the Great. This it did by revealing to the Greeks the 
 decayed state of the Persian Empire and showing how feeble was 
 the resistance which it could offer to the march of an army of 
 disciplined soldiers. 
 
 266. The Condemnation and Death of Socrates (399 B.C.). While 
 Xenophon was yet away on his expedition, there took place in his 
 native city the tragedy to which we have already referred (sect. 246) 
 — the trial and condemnation to death by the Athenians of their 
 fellow-citizen Socrates, the greatest moral teacher of pagan antiquity. 
 
 The double charge upon which he was condemned was worded as 
 follows : " Socrates is guilty of crime — first, for not worshiping the 
 gods whom the city worships, but in introducing new divinities of his 
 own ; next, for corrupting the youth. The penalty is death." 
 
 We are surprised that such a man as Socrates should have been 
 the object of such a prosecution in tolerant, free-thinking, and 
 freedom-loving Athens. But his prosecutors were moved by other 
 motives besides zeal for the national worship. Socrates during his 
 long life — he was now an old man of seventy years — spent as 
 an uncompromising teacher of truth and righteousness had made 
 many personal enemies. He had exposed by his searching questions 
 the ignorance of many a vain pretender to wisdom, and stirred up 
 thereby many lasting resentments. 
 
 Socrates, again, had offended many through his opposition to the 
 Athenian democracy ; for he did not always approve of the way the 
 Athenians had of doing things, and told them so plainly. He favored, 
 for instance, the limitation of the franchise, and ridiculed the Athenian 
 method of selecting magistrates by the use of the lot (sect. 238), as 
 though the lot could pick out the men best fitted to govern. But 
 the people, especially since the events of the years 404-403 B.C. 
 (sect. 264), were very sensitive to all criticism of this kind which 
 
§267] THE BATTLE OF LEUCTRA 243 
 
 tended to discredit tlieir cherished democratic institutions. The fact 
 that Alcibiades and Critias ^ had both been disciples of his was used 
 to show the dangerous tendency of his teachings. 
 
 The trial was before a dicastery or citizen court (sect. 242) com- 
 posed of over five hundred jurors. Socrates" made no serious attempt 
 to secure a favorable verdict from the court, steadily refusing to make 
 any unbecoming appeal to his judges for clemency. After he had been 
 pronounced guilty, and when called upon, according to custom, to 
 name the penalty which he would have the^court inflict,'' he said that 
 he thought he deserved to be supported for the rest of his life at the 
 public expense. He finally, however, yielding to the entreaties of his 
 friends, proposed a penalty of thirty mini." The dicasts, irritated 
 by the words and manner of Socrates, pronounced against him by a 
 majority vote the extreme sentence of death. 
 
 It so happened that the sentence was pronounced just after the 
 sacred ship that yearly bore the offerings to Delos in commemoration 
 of the deliverance of the Athenian youth from the Cretan Minotaur 
 (sect. 1 40) had set sail on its holy mission, and since by a law of the 
 city no one could be put to death while it was away, Socrates was 
 led to prison, and there remained for about thirty days before the 
 execution of the sentence. This period Socrates spent in serene con- 
 verse with his friends upon those lofty themes that had occupied his 
 thoughts during all his life. When at last the hour for his departure 
 had arrived, he bade his friends farewell, and then calmly drank the 
 cup of poison hemlock. 
 
 267. The Battle of Leuctra (371 b.c.); the End of the Spartan 
 Supremacy. The crimes against the' liberties of the Greek cities with 
 which Sparta began the years of her supremacy were repeated, as 
 she had opportunity, throughout the period.* One of her worst 
 
 1 Critias was the leader of the Thirty Tyrants (sect. 264). 
 
 2 The way of fixing the penalty in an Athenian court was this : the accuser named a 
 penalty (in this case the prosecutor had named death) and then the condemned was at 
 liberty to name another. The jury then chose between the two. 
 
 8 A mina was equivalent to about ^iS or $20. 
 
 < During eight years of this period the chief cities of Greece, aided by the Persians, 
 carried on a tedious struggle, known as the Corinthian War (395-387 B.C.), against 
 Sparta. The war was ended by the so-called Peace of Antalcidas, which left Sparto's 
 supremacy in European Greece unimpaired. 
 
244 
 
 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 
 
 [§257 
 
 crimes, and the one which brought about her undoing, was the 
 treacherous seizure of the citadel of Thebes and the placing of a 
 Spartan garrison in it. All Greece stood aghast at this perfidious 
 and high-handed act, and looked to see some awful misfortune befall 
 Sparta as a retribution. 
 
 And misfortune came speedily enough, and not single-handed. 
 The Spartan garrison was driven out of the citadel by an uprising 
 led by Pelopidas, a Theban exile of distinguished family. A Spartan 
 army was soon in Boeotia. The Thebans met the invaders at Leuctra. 
 
 The Spartans had no other 
 thought than that they should 
 gain an easy victory. But 
 the military genius of the 
 Theban commander, Epami- 
 nondas, had prepared for 
 Hellas a startling surprise. 
 Hitherto the Greeks had 
 fought drawn up in extended 
 and comparatively thin op- 
 posing lines, not more than 
 twelve ranks deep. The 
 Spartans at Leuctra formed 
 their line in the usual way. 
 Epaminondas, on the other hand, massed his best troops in a solid 
 column, that is, in a phalanx, fifty deep, on the left of his battle 
 line, the rest being drawn up in the ordinary extended line. With 
 all ready for the attack, the phalanx was set in motion first. It 
 ploughed through the thin line of the enemy "as the beak of a 
 ship ploughs through a wave " — and the day was won. Of the 
 seven hundred Spartans in the fight four hundred were killed. 
 
 The manner in which the news of the overwhelming calamity was 
 received at Sparta affords a striking illustration of Spartan discipline 
 and self-control. It so happened that when the messenger arrived 
 the Spartans were celebrating a festival. The Ephors would permit 
 no interruption of the entertainment. They merely sent lists of the 
 fallen to their families and ordered that the women should make no 
 
 Plan of the Battle of Leuctra, 
 371 B.C. 
 
§26S] THE THEBAN SUPREMACY 245 
 
 lamentation nor show any signs of grief. "The following day," says 
 Xenophon, " those who had lost relatives in the battle appeared 
 on the streets with cheerful faces, while those whose relatives had 
 escaped, if they appeared in public at all, went about with sad and 
 dejected looks." When we contrast this scene at Sparta with that at 
 Athens upon the night when the news of the disaster at ^gospotami 
 was received (sect. 262), we are impressed with the wide interval 
 which separated the Athenian from the Spartan. 
 
 The moral effect of the battle was greater perhaps than that of any 
 other battle ever fought in Greece, except possibly that of Marathon. 
 It was the first time that a Spartan army with its king had been 
 fairly beaten in a great battle by an enemy inferior in numbers (the 
 Spartan forces at Thermopylae, headed by their king, had, it is true, 
 been annihilated — but annihilation is not defeat). Consequently the 
 impression which the event produced throughout Greece was pro- 
 found. The prestige of Sparta was destroyed. Her leadership was 
 brought to an end. 
 
 268. The Theban Supremacy (371-362 b.:c.). From the victory of 
 Leuctra dates the short but brilliant period of Theban supremacy. 
 The year after that battle Epaminondas led an army into the Pelo- 
 ponnesus to aid the Arcadians against Sparta. Laconia was ravaged, 
 and for the first time Spartan women saw the smoke of the camp 
 fires of an enemy. 
 
 From Laconia Epaminondas marched into Messenia. The emanci- 
 pation of the Messenians from their Spartan masters was proclaimed, 
 and Messenia, which for three hundred years had been a part of 
 Laconia (sect. 176), was separated from Sparta and made an in- 
 dependent state. The Helots, converted by the proclamation of 
 emancipation into freemen, engaged in the work of building a new 
 city, Messene, which was to represent their„restored nationality. The 
 walls went up amidst music and rejoicing. Messenian exiles, the 
 victims of Spartan tyranny, flocked from all parts of the Hellenic 
 world to rebuild their homes in the homeland. 
 
 This emancipation and restoration of the Messenians forms one 
 of the most interesting transactions in Greek history. Two years 
 after their liberation a Messenian boy was crowned as a victor in 
 
246 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [§268 
 
 the foot race at Olympia. For three hundred years the Messenians 
 had had neither lot nor part in these national games, for only free 
 Hellenes could become contestants. How the news of the victory 
 was received in Messenia is not recorded, but we probably should 
 not be wrong were we to imagine the rejoicings there to have been 
 unlike anything the Greek world had ever seen before. 
 
 But, moved by jealousy of the rapidly growing power of Thebes, 
 Athens now formed an alliance with her old rival, Sparta, against her. 
 Three times more did Epaminondas lead an army into the Pelopon- 
 nesus. Upon his last expedition he fought with the Spartans and 
 Athenians the great battle of Mantinea, in Arcadia. On this memor- 
 able field Epaminondas led the Thebans once more to victory ; but 
 he himself was slain, and with him fell the hopes and power of 
 Thebes (362 b. c). 
 
 All the chief cities of Greece now lay in a state of exhaustion or 
 of helpless isolation. Sparta had destroyed the empire of Athens;' 
 Thebes had broken the dominion of Sparta, but had exhausted her- 
 self in the effort. There was now no city energetic, resourceful, 
 unbroken in spirit and strength, such as was Athens at the time 
 of the Persian Wars, to act as leader and champion of the Greek 
 states. Yet never was there greater need of such leadership in Hellas 
 than at just this moment; for the Macedonian monarchy was now 
 rising in the north and threatening the independence of all Greece. 
 
 In a succeeding chapter we shall trace the rise of this semibarbarian 
 power, and tell how the cities of Greece, mutually exhausted by their 
 incessant quarrels, were reduced to a state of dependence upon its 
 sovereign. But first we shall turn aside for a moment from the 
 affairs of the cities of Greece proper, in order to cast a glance 
 upon the Greeks of Magna Grascia and Sicily. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plutarch, Aldbiades. Thucydides, ii, 35- 
 46 (the funeral oration of Pericles) ; vi, 8-23 (the debate in the Athenian 
 assembly on the proposed Sicilian expedition). Xenophon, Anabasis, iii, 2 
 (a speech of Xenophon to his soldiers). Plato, Apology (the bearing of 
 Socrates before his judges). Thallon's Readings, pp. 293-557 ; Davis's Readings 
 (Greece), pp. 218-255 ! Fling's Source Book, pp. x;i,-^?>^. 
 
 1 Athens had indeed made herself the center of a new confederacy and had recovered 
 some of her old possessions, but she was, after all, only the shadow of her former self. 
 
REFERENCES 247 
 
 References (Modern). CuRXius.vols.iii, iv. GioxE (ten-volume ed.), vols, v- 
 viii. Abbott, vol. iii, chaps, iii-xii. Holm, vol. ii, chaps, xxi-xxviii; vol. ill, 
 chaps, i-xiii. Bury, Histoty of Greece, chaps, x-xiv. Cox, History of Greece, 
 vol. ii, pp. 104-594 ; and Lives of Greek Statesmen, " Kleon,'' " Brasidas," 
 " Demosthenes," and " Nikias." Creasy, Decisive Battles of the World, chap, ii, 
 "Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, B.C. 413." Sankey, The Spartan and 
 Theban Supremacies. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports! i. The Athenian army and navy : Tucker, Life 
 in Ancient Athens, chap. x. 2. The condemnation of the Athenian generals 
 after the battle of Arginusae (406 e. c.) ; see any comprehensive history of 
 Greece. 3. " Festivals and the Theaters " • Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens, 
 chap. xii. 4. " An Athenian trial " - Tucker, Life-in Ancient Athens, chap. xiv. 
 5. The trial and condemnation of Socrates : Grote, vol. vii, pp. 140-172. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 THE GREEKS OF WESTERN HELLAS 
 
 (413-336 B.C.) 
 
 269. The Carthaginians Lay Waste Hellenic Sicily. Shortly after 
 the destruction of the Athenian army before Syracuse (sect. 261), 
 the Carthaginians, finding their opportunity in the dissensions of the 
 Greek cities, came into the island with a great army of one hundred 
 thousand men. One city after another was taken by them, the greater 
 part of the inhabitants being either massacred or sold into slavery 
 and the walls and temples of the places destroyed. Throughout a 
 considerable part of the island Hellenic civilization, planted centuries 
 before, was virtually uprooted. As we shall see, the land afterwards 
 recovered in a measure from the terrible blow, and enjoyed a short 
 bloom of prosperity ; nevertheless the resources and energies of this 
 part of the Hellenic world, like those of continental Greece through 
 the unhappy causes we have recounted in other chapters, were 
 impaired beyond permanent remedy. 
 
 270. Dionysius I, Tyrant of Syracuse (405-367 B.C.). The alarm, 
 distress, and anarchy occasioned by the Carthaginians afforded the 
 opportunity at Syracuse for a man of low birth, named Dionysius, 
 to usurp the government. His career as despot of the city was long 
 and remarkable, embracing a period of thirty-eight years. Reducing 
 the free Greek cities both in Sicily and in Magna Graecia to a state 
 of dependence upon Syracuse, he built up an empire which included 
 nearly all of Western Hellas. Syracuse was thus raised to a position 
 of power and affluence corresponding to that which Athens had so 
 recently held in Eastern Hellas. 
 
 The object of universal detestation, Dionysius carried his life in 
 his hands. The state of constant apprehension in which he lived 
 
 248 
 
§271] 
 
 TIMOLEON THE LIBERATOR 
 
 249 
 
 is illustrated by the story of the sword of Damocles.'^ The Damoclean 
 sword did not fall during the lifetime of Dionysius. He died a natural 
 death, and tfansmitted his power to his son, who ascended the throne 
 as Dionysius the Younger. 
 
 271. Timoleon the Liberator (344-336 B.C.); the Golden Era of the 
 Sicilian Greek Cities. The young Dionysius lacked the ability of his 
 father to play the tyrant. His reign (367-^343 B.C.) was a troubled 
 one and was filled with all sorts of vicissitudes. Most of the Sicilian 
 cities broke away from the empire. The Carthaginians began again 
 
 Fig. 108. Coin of Syracuse 
 
 to harass the island. Everything was in confusion, and distress 
 among the people was universal. Under the stress of these circum- 
 stances the Syracusans sent an embassy -to Corinth, their mother 
 city, for help to free themselves from the tyrant Dionysius. The 
 Corinthians listened favorably to the appeal, and sent to the succor 
 of the Syracusans a small force under the lead of Timoleon, a 
 man who at home had shown his love for liberty by consenting to 
 the death of his own brother when he attempted to make himself 
 tyrant of Corinth. 
 
 Arriving at Syracuse, Timoleon quickly drove out the tyrant and 
 restored the government to the people. He also expelled the despots 
 
 1 A courtier named Damocles having expressed to Dionysius the opinion that he 
 must be supremely happy, the tyrant invited him to a sumptuous banquet, assigning to 
 him his own place at the board. When the courtier was in the midst of the enjoyments 
 of the table, Dionysius bade him look up. Turning his eyes towards the ceiling, Damocles 
 was horrified at the sight of a sword, suspended by a single hair, dangling above his head. 
 " Such," observed Dionysius, " is the life of a tyrant." 
 
250 THE GREEKS OF WESTERN HELLAS [§271 
 
 who were holding in slavery other Greek cities in the island, and 
 restored freedom to these places. Under the reign of liberty and 
 order instituted by Timoleon, the half-depopulated cities began to fill 
 with inhabitants. Exiles flocked back from all quarters. Corinth, 
 mindful that Syracuse was her own daughter colony, gathered from 
 all parts of Eastern Hellas colonists for the repeopling of the city. 
 At one time ten thousand emigrants sailed together for Sicily. This 
 great influx of population, and the new and unwonted courage and 
 energy infused into the people by the beneficent measures of Timo- 
 leon, brought to Hellenic Sicily a period of remarkable expansion 
 and prosperity. 
 
 With his great work of freeing and repeopling Sicily accomplished, 
 Timoleon resigned his authority and retired to private life. He died 
 in the year 336 B.C., loved and revered by all the Sicilian Greeks as 
 their liberator and benefactor. 
 
 The golden age of the Sicilian Greek cities came to an end shortly 
 after the death of Timoleon, and before the end of the third cen- 
 tury B.C. they, together with the cities of Magna Gragcia, had been 
 brought into subjection to Rome. That part of the story we shall 
 tell in later chapters. 
 
 Having made this hasty review of the course of events in Western 
 Hellas, we must now return to Greece -proper in order to trace 
 further the fortunes of the cities of the homeland. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plutarch, Timoleon and Dion. 
 
 References (Modern). Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. viii, pp. 366-495 ; vol. ix, 
 pp. 1-194. Holm, vol. iii, chap. xi. Oman, History of Greece, chap, xxxvii. 
 Allcroft and Masom, History of Sicily, chaps, vii-xi. Freeman, History of 
 Sicily, vol. iv, chaps, x, xi, and The Story of Sicily, chaps, x, xi. An interest- 
 ing brief treatment of the rule of Dionysius the Elder will be found in Bury, 
 History of Greece, pp. 639-666. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Dionysius the Elder as a pioneer champion 
 of European civilization against Semitic intruders : Bury, History of Greece, 
 pp. 664-666. 2. Monuments of Greek civilization in Sicily: Richardson, 
 Vacation Days in Greece, pp. 173-207. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA : REIGN OF PHILIP II 
 
 (359-336 B.C.) 
 
 272. The Macedonians and their Rulers. We have reached now 
 the threshold of a new era in Greek history. A state, hitherto but 
 little observed, at this time rose suddenly into prominence and began 
 to play a leading part in the affairs of the Greek cities. This state 
 was Macedonia, a country lying north of the Cambunian Mountains 
 and back of Chalcidice (see map, p. 258). 
 
 The peoples of Macedonia were for th? most part mountaineers 
 who had not yet passed beyond the tribal state.'^ They were a hardy, 
 warlike race, possessing the habits and the virtues of country people. 
 They were Aryans or Indo- Europeans in .speech, and close kin to 
 the Hellenic stock, if not really a branch of it, but ^nce they did 
 not speak pure Greek and were backward in culture, they were 
 looked upon as barbarians by some of their more refined city 
 kinsmen of the south. 
 
 The ruling race in the country, however, were generally conceded 
 to be of pure Hellenic stock. They claimed to be descended from 
 the royal house of Argos, and this claim had been allowed by the 
 Greeks, who had permitted them to appear as contestants in the 
 Olyrripic games — a privilege, it will be recalled, accorded only to 
 those who could prove pure Hellenic ancestry. Their efforts to 
 spread Greek culture among their subjects, combined with inter- 
 course with the Greek cities of Chalcidice, had resulted in the native 
 barbarism of the Macedonian tribes being overlaid with a veneer of 
 Hellenic civilization. 
 
 1 There were, however, a few towns in Macedonia, of which /Egae and Pella, each of 
 which was in turn the seat of the royal court, were of chief note. 
 
 251 
 
252 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA [§273 
 
 273. The Youth of Philip of Macedon. Macedonia first rose to 
 importance during the reign of Philip II (;3S9-33^ v.c), generally 
 known as Philip of Macedon. He was a man of preeminent ability, 
 of wonderful address in diplomacy, and of rare genius as an organizer 
 and military chieftain. 
 
 Several years of Philip's boyhood were passed as a hostage at 
 Thebes. This episode in the life of the prince had a marked influ- 
 ence upon his later career; for just at this time Epaminondas was 
 the leading spirit among the Thebans, and It was in the companion- 
 ship of this consummate military tactician and commander that Philip 
 learned valuable lessons in the art of war. The Macedonian pha- 
 lanx,^ which Philip is said to have originated, and which holds some 
 such place in the military history of Macedonia as the legion holds 
 in that of Rome, was simply a modification of the Theban phalanx 
 that won the day at Leuctra and again at Mantinea. 
 
 Nor was this all. Besides the knowledge of military affairs which 
 he acquired, the quick and observant boy gained during his enforced 
 residence at Thebes an insight into Greek character and Greek poli- 
 tics which served him well in his later diplomatic dealings with the 
 Greek cities. 
 
 With his kingdom settled and consolidated at home, Philip's 
 ambition led him to seek the leadership of the Greek states. 
 
 274. The Second Sacred War (355-346 B.C.). Philip quickly ex- 
 tended his power over Thessaly, a large part of Thrace,'' and the 
 Greek cities of Chalcidice. Meanwhile he was in the following 
 way acquiring a commanding position in the affairs of the states 
 of Greece proper. 
 
 The Phocians had put to secular use sdme of the lands which at 
 the end of the First Sacred War (sect. 162) had been consecrated 
 
 1 The phalanx was formed of soldiers drawn up sixteen files deep and armed with 
 pikes so long that those of the first five ranks projected beyond the front of the column, 
 thus opposing a perfect thicket of spears to the enemy. On level ground and supported 
 by strong cavalry it was irresistible. A Roman consul once declared that he "never 
 beheld anything more alarming and terrible " (Polybius, xxix, 17). 
 
 2 In this quarter he founded the well-known city of Philippi. This was the first 
 European city in which the Gospel was preached. The preacher was the Apostle Paul, 
 who went over from Asia in obedience to a vision in which a man of Macedonia 
 seemed to stand and pray, " Come over into Macedonia, and help us " (Acts xvi, 9). 
 
§275] 
 
 BATTLE OF CH^RONEA 
 
 253 
 
 to the Delphian Apollo. Taken to task and heavily fined for this act 
 by the other members of the Delphian AmpKictyony, they took pos- 
 session of the temple and used the treasure in the maintenance of a 
 large force of mercenary soldiers.' The Amphictyons, being unable 
 to punish them for their "impiety," 
 were forced to ask help of Philip, who 
 gladly rendered the assistance sought. 
 
 The Phocians were now quickly sub- 
 dued. All but one of their cities were 
 broken up into villages, and the inhab- 
 itants were forced to undertake to re- 
 pay in yearly instalments the treasure 
 they had taken from the Delphian 
 shrine. The place that the Phocians 
 had held in the Delphian Amphictyony 
 was given to Philip, upon whom was 
 also bestowed the privilege of presiding 
 at the Pythian games. The position he 
 had now secured was just what Philip 
 had coveted in order that he might 
 use it to make himself master of all 
 • Greece. 
 
 275. Battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.). 
 Demosthenes at Athens was one of the 
 few who seemed to understand the real 
 designs of Philip. With all the energy 
 of his wonderful eloquence he strove to 
 stir up the Athenians to resist his en- 
 croachments. He hurled against him 
 his famous " Philippics," speeches so 
 
 filled with fierce denunciation that they hkve given name to all 
 writings characterized by bitter criticism or ^violent invective. 
 
 Moved by the realization of a common peril and by the persuasion 
 of Demosthenes, the Athenians and the Thebans, in spite of their 
 immemorial enmity one towards the other, now united their forces 
 
 1 The Phocians claimed that they toolj the treasure merely as a loan. 
 
 Fig. 109. Demosthenes 
 (Vatican Museum) 
 
 " If thy power, Demosthenes, had 
 
 been as great as thy spirit never 
 
 had Hellas bowed before the 
 
 Macedonian sword." — Plutarch 
 
254 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA [§276 
 
 and met Philip at Chseronea, in Bceotia. The battle was stubbornly 
 fought, but finally went against the allies, who were driven from the 
 field with heavy loss. It is of interest to note that the Macedonian 
 phalanx was led by the youthful Alexander, the son of Philip, who 
 on this memorable field began his great career as a commander. The 
 result of the battle was the subjection of all Greece to the authority 
 of the Macedonian foreigner. " The drama [shall we call it a 
 tragedy ?] was now at an end." 
 
 276. The Congress at Corinth (338 B.C.] ; Plan to Invade Asia. 
 Soon after the battle of ChEeronea, Philip convened at Corinth a 
 council of the Greek states. At this meeting was adopted a consti- 
 tution, drafted by Philip, which united the . various Greek cities 
 (Sparta alone held aloof) and Macedonia in a sort of federation, 
 with Macedonia as the leading state. Differences arising between 
 members of the federation were to be referred for settlement to 
 the Amphictyonic assembly. 
 
 But PhiUp's main object in calling the congress was not so much 
 to promulgate a federal constitution for the Greek cities as to secure 
 their aid in an expedition which he had evidently long been meditat- 
 ing for the conquest of the Persian Empire. The exploit of the Ten 
 Thousand Greeks (sect. 265) had shown the feasibility of such an 
 undertaking. The plan was indorsed by a second meeting of the^ 
 congress (337 b. c). Every Greek city was to furnish a contingent 
 for the army of invasion. Philip was chosen leader of the expedition, 
 and commander-in-chief of the war forces of Greece. 
 
 All Greece was now astir with preparations for the great enter- 
 prise. By the spring of the year 336 B.C. the expedition was ready 
 to move, and the advance forces had already crossed over into Asia, 
 when Philip, during the festivities attending the marriage of his 
 daughter, was assassinated and his son Alexander succeeded : to 
 his place and power. 
 
 277. Results of Philip's Reign. Philip by his achievements made 
 possible the greater achievements of, his son. He paved the way 
 for Alexander's remarkable conquests by consolidating the Mace- 
 donian monarchy and organizing an army which was the most 
 effective instrument of warfare the world had yet seen. But the 
 
§277] RESULTS OF PHILIP'S REIGN 255 
 
 most important outcome of Philip's activity and policy was the union 
 of the Macedonian monarchical and military system with Hellenic 
 culture. This was the historical mission of Philip. Had not Hellenic 
 civilization been thus incorporated with the Macedonian system, then 
 the wide conquests of Alexander would have resulted in no more 
 good for humanity than those of an Attila or a Tamerlane.^ Greece 
 conquered the world by being conquered. It was Hellenic institu- 
 tions, customs, and manners, the Hellenic language and civilization, 
 which the extended conquests of Alexander spread throughout the 
 Eastern world. It is this which makes the short-lived Macedonian 
 Empire so important a factor in universal history. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plutarch, Demosthenes. Demosthenes, 
 Orations on the Crown (this masterpiece of Demosthenes has been called 
 " The funeral oration of extinct Athenian and Grecian freedom "). Thallon's 
 Readings, pp. 539-621 ; Davis's Readings (Greece), pp. 284-297 ; Fling's Source 
 Book, pp. 286-294. 
 
 References (Modern). Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol.ix, pp. 195-504. CuR- 
 Tius, vol. v. Holm, vol. iii, chaps, xiv-xix. Hogarth, Philip and Alexander 
 of Macedon (first part). BuRV, History of Greece, pp. 681-737. Oman, Histoiy 
 of Greece, pp. 490-520. Allcroft and Masom, Decline of Hellas, pp. 32-104. 
 CuRTEis, Rise of the Macedonian Empire, chaps, i-viii. Pickard-Cambridge, 
 Demosthenes. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. The youth and training of Demosthenes: 
 Pickard-Cambridge Demosthenes, chap. i. 2. Imperialism vs. Home Rule ; or 
 was Demosthenes' policy of opposition to Philip wise ? Mahaffy, Problems in 
 Greek History, chap, vii, " Practical Politics in the Fourth Century." 
 
 1 Mongol or Turanian conquerors. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT 
 
 (336-323 B.C.) 
 
 378. The Youth of Alexander ; Formative Influences. Alexander 
 was only twenty years of age when he came to his father's throne. 
 Those traits of temper and mind which marked his manhood and 
 which fitted him to play so great a part in history were foreshown 
 in early youth — if we may believe the tales that are told of his say- 
 ings and doings as a boy. The familiar story of the fractious steed 
 Bucephalus, which none dared either to mount or to approach, but 
 which was subdued in a moment by the skillful handling of the little 
 prince, reveals that self-reliance and passion for achievement and 
 command which in after years gave him mastery of the world. The 
 spirit of the man is again shown in the complaint of the boy when 
 news of his father's victories came to him : " Boys," said he to his 
 playmates, " my father will get ahead of us in everything, and will 
 leave nothing great for you or me to do." 
 
 Certain cultural influences under which the boy came in his earliest 
 years left a permanent impress upon his mind and character. By 
 his mother Olympias, an Epirote princess, from whom doubtless he 
 inherited his ardent, passionate nature, he was taught to trace his 
 descent from the great Achilles, and was incited to emulate the 
 exploits of that hero and to make him his model in all things. The 
 Iliad, which recounts the deeds of Achilles, became the prince's 
 inseparable companion. 
 
 After his mother's influence, perhaps that of the philosopher Aris- 
 totle, whom Philip persuaded to become the tutor of the youthful 
 Alexander, was the most potent and formative. This great teacher 
 implanted in the mind of the young prince a love of literature 
 and philosophy, and through his inspiring companionship and lofty 
 
 256 
 
§279] 
 
 BEGINNING OF THE REIGN 
 
 257 
 
 conversation exercised over the eager, impulsive boy an influence for 
 good which Alexander himself gratefully acknowledged in later years. 
 
 279. Troubles attending the Accession of Alexander. For about 
 two years after his accession to the Macedonian throne, Alexander 
 was kept busy in thwarting conspiracies and suppressing open revolts 
 against his authority. 
 
 While the young king was campaigning against some barbarian 
 tribes on his northern frontier a report was spread in Greece that 
 he was dead. The Thebans rose in revolt and 
 called upon the Athenians to join them. De- 
 mosthenes favored the appeal, and began to 
 stir up the Athenians and others to unite with 
 the Thebans in freeing the Grecian land from 
 the foreigners. 
 
 But Alexander was not dead. Before "the 
 Greek cities had settled upon any plan of con- 
 certed action, Alexander with his army was in 
 front of Thebes. In a sharp battle outside 
 the gates the Thebans were defeated and their 
 city was captured. As a warning to the other 
 Greek towns, Alexander leveled the city to the 
 ground, sparing only the temples and the 
 house of the poet Pindar, and sold thirty thou- 
 sand of the inhabitants into slavery. Thus was one of the largest 
 and most renowned of the cities of Greece wiped out of existence. 
 
 280. Alexander Crosses the Hellespont ; the Battle of the Granicus 
 (334B.C.). Alexander was now free to carry out his father's scheme in 
 regard to the Asiatic expedition. In the spring of 334 B.C., with all his 
 plans matured, he set out at the head of an army numbering about 
 thirty-five thousand men, for the conquest of the Persian Empire. 
 
 Crossing the Hellespont, Alexander first proceeded to the plain 
 of ancient Troy, in order to place a garland upon the supposed tomb 
 at that place of his mythical ancestor Achilles. 
 
 Proceeding on his march, Alexander met a Persian army on the 
 banks of the Granicus, over which he gained a decisive victory. All 
 Asia Minor now lay open to the invader, and soon virtually all 
 
 Fig. 1 10. Alexander 
 
 THE Great 
 (Capitoline Museum) 
 
258 ALEXANDER THE GREAT [§281 
 
 of its cities and tribes were brought to acknowledge the authority 
 of the Macedonian.^ 
 
 881. The Battle of Issus (333 B.C.). At the northeast corner of 
 the Mediterranean lies the plain of Issus. Here Alexander met a 
 Persian army, numbering, it is said, six hundred thousand men, and 
 inflicted upon it an overwhelming defeat. The king ^ himself escaped 
 from the field, and hastened to his capital Susa to raise another 
 army to oppose the march of the conqueror. 
 
 282. The Siege of Tyre (332 B.C.). Alexander now turned to the 
 south, in order to effect the subjugation of Phoenicia, that he might 
 command the Phoenician fleets and prevent their being used either 
 to sever his communication with Greece or to aid revolts in the 
 cities there against his authority. The island-city of Tyre, after a 
 memorable siege, was taken by means of a mole, or causeway, built 
 with incredible labor through the sea to the city. It still remains, 
 uniting the rock with the mainland. 
 
 When at last the city was taken after a siege of seven months, 
 eight thousand of the inhabitants were slain and thirty thousand sold 
 into slavery — a terrible warning to those cities that should dare to 
 close their gates against the Macedonian. After the fall of Tyre the 
 cities of Palestine and Philistia, with the sole exception of Gaza, sur- 
 rendered at once to the conqueror. Gaza resisted stubbornly, but 
 after a siege of three months the city was taken and its inhabitants 
 were sold as slaves. 
 
 283. Alexander in Egypt. With the cities of Phoenicia and the 
 fleets of the Mediterranean subject to his control, Alexander easily 
 effected the reduction . of Egypt. The Egyptians, indeed, made no 
 resistance, but willingly exchanged masters. 
 
 While in Egypt, Alexander founded at one of the mouths of the 
 Nile a city named, after himself, Alexandria. Ranke declares this to 
 
 l.At Gordium, in Phrygia, Alexander performed an exploit which has given the 
 world one of its favorite apothegms. In the temple at this place was a chariot to the 
 pole of which a yoke was fastened by a curiously intricate knot. An oracle had been 
 spread abroad to the effect that whoever should untie the knot would become master of 
 Asia. Alexander attempted the feat. Unable to loosen the knot, he drew his sword 
 and cut it. Hence the phrase cutting the Gordian knot, meaning a short way out of a 
 difficulty. 2 Darius III (sumamed Codomannus), 336-330 B.C. 
 
EMPIRE OF 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GR 
 
 About 323 B. C. 
 
 March of AlexQnder;=^^- 
 n 50 100 200 Sflf -"?" ^". ' 
 Scale ofTlliltfl. 
 
 45 Longflude 
 
Autlu/niies. 
 
 H. Kieperi, Atla^ Aittiquus 
 W. SiegUn, Alias Andquus 
 
 50 from Grpenulch 5. 
 
EMl'IKK OF 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GB 
 
 Al>oiit3'23B.€. 
 
 nijircli of Alexauiler.- ^.^ — ^ 
 50 inn 200 300 ■him ■'^" o 
 Scale of Mlk'B. 
 
§284] THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 259 
 
 have been the " first city in the world, after the Piraeus, erected ex- 
 pressly for purposes of commerce." The city became the meeting 
 place of the East and the West; and its importance through many 
 centuries attests the farsighted wisdom of its founder. 
 
 A less worthy enterprise of the conqueror was his expedition to the 
 oasis of Siwa, located in the Libyan desert, where were a celebrated 
 temple and oracle of Zeus Ammon. To gratify his own conceit, as 
 well as to impress his new oriental subjects, and especially to qualify 
 himself as the legitimate successor of the divine Pharaohs (sect. 31), 
 Alexander evidently desired to be declared of celestial descent. The 
 priests of the temple, in accordance with the wish of the king, gave 
 out that the oracle pronounced Alexander to be the son of Zeus and 
 the destined ruler of the world. It would! seem that Alexander was 
 quite fully persuaded that, like the early Greek heroes, he was allied 
 to the race of the gods. 
 
 284. The Battle of Arbela (331 B.C.). From Egypt Alexander 
 retraced his steps to Syria and marched eastward. At Arbela, not 
 far from the ancient Nineveh, his farther advance was disputeji by 
 Darius with an immense army, numbering, if we may rely upon our 
 authorities, over a million men. The vast Persian host was overthrown 
 with enormous slaughter. Darius fled from the field, as he had done 
 at Issus, and later was treacherously killed by an attendant. 
 
 The battle of Arbela was one of the decisive combats of history. 
 It marked the end of the long struggle between the East and the 
 West, between Persia and Greece, and prepared the way for the 
 spread of Hellenic civilization over all western Asia. 
 
 285. Alexander at Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis. From the field 
 of Arbela Alexander marched south to Babylon, which opened its 
 gates to him without opposition. Susa was next entered by the 
 conqueror. Here he seized immense quantities of gold and silver, 
 the treasure of the Great King. He also found here and sent 
 back to Athens the bronze statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton* 
 (sect. 203), which had been carried off by Xerxes at the time of the 
 invasion of Greece. 
 
 1 So Arrian, Hi, i6. Other authorities, however, make it to haye been some successor 
 of Alexander who returned the statues. 
 
26o ALEXANDER THE GREAT [§286 
 
 From Susa Alexander's march was next directed to Persepolis, 
 where he secured a treasure more than twice as great as that found 
 at Susa. Upon Persepolis Alexander wreaked vengeance for all that 
 Greece had suffered at the hands of the Persians. Many of the 
 inhabitants were massacred and others were sold into slavery, while 
 the palace of Darius was given to the flames.^ 
 
 Alexander having thus overthrown the power of Darius now began 
 to regard himself not only as his conqueror but as his successor, and 
 was thus looked upon by the Persians. He assumed the pomp and 
 state of an oriental monarch, and required the most obsequious hom- 
 age from all who approached him. His Greek and Macedonian com- 
 panions, unused to paying such servile adulation to their king, were 
 much displeased at Alexander's conduct, and from this time on to his 
 death intrigues and conspiracies were being constantly formed among 
 them against his power and life.'^ 
 
 886. Conquest of Bactria and Sogdiana (329-328 B.C.). After the 
 death of Darius (sect. 284), Alexander led his army towards the east, 
 and, after subduing many tribes that dwelt about the southern shore 
 of the Caspian Sea and in the mountainous regions of what is now 
 known as Afghanistan, boldly conducted his soldiers over the snowy 
 and dangerous passes of the Hindu Kush, and descended into the 
 province of Bactria (which region some believe to have been the early 
 home of the primitive Aryan community). Alexander wished to be- 
 come master of this country because it was the sacred land of the 
 Persian religion. After the reduction of this region, Alexander subdued 
 the tribes of Sogdiana, a country lying still farther to the north. 
 
 Throughout these remote regions Alexander founded numerous 
 cities, several of which bore his own name. One of them is said to 
 have been built, wall and houses, in twenty days. These new cities 
 were peopled with captives, and by those veterans who, because of 
 fatigue or wounds, were no longer able to follow the conqueror in his 
 swift campaigns. 
 
 1 Diodorus, xxvii, 7 ; Plutarch, Alexander, xxxviii ; and Arrian, Anabasis, iii, 18, all 
 agree that the palace was burned to ashes. Read Dryden's Alexander's Feast. 
 
 2 For complicity in one of these plots Alexander put to death one of his ablest 
 generals, Parmenio, apd for scoffing at his pretensions killed with his own hand his 
 dearest friend Clitus (sect. 286). 
 
§287] CONQUESTS IN INDIA 261 
 
 Alexander's stay in Sogdiana was saddened by his murder of his 
 dearest friend Clitus, who had saved his life at the Granicus. Both 
 were heated with wine when the quarrel arose ; after the deed 
 Alexander was overwhelmed with remorse.^ 
 
 287. Conquests in India. With the countries north of the Hindu 
 Kush subdued and settled,^ Alexander recrossed the mountains and 
 led his army down into the rich and crowded plains of India (327 e.g.). 
 Here again he showed himself invincible, and received the submission 
 of many of the native princes of the country; Alexander's desire was 
 to extend his conquests to the Ganges, but his soldiers began to mur- 
 mur because of the length and hardness of their campaigns, and he 
 reluctantly gave up the undertaking. To secure the conquests already 
 made, he founded, at different points in the=valley of the Indus, Greek 
 towns and colonies. One of these he named Alexandria, after himself; 
 another Bucephala, in memory of his favorite steed — -the mettlesome 
 Bucephalus that he as a boy had so easily subdued ; and still another 
 Nicaea, for his victories. The modern museum at Lahore contains 
 many relics of Greek art dug up on the sites of these Macedonian 
 cities and camps. 
 
 288. Rediscovery of the Sea Route from the Indus to the Euphrates. 
 It was Alexander's next care to bind these distant conquests in the 
 East to those in the West. To do this, it was of the first importance 
 to establish water communication between India and Babylonia. Now, 
 strange as it may seem, the Greeks had no positive knowledge of what 
 sea the Indus emptied into, and only a vague idea that there was a 
 waterway from the Indus to the Euphrates." This important mari- 
 time route, once known to the civilized world, had been lost, and 
 needed to be rediscovered. 
 
 So the conqueror Alexander now turned explorer. He sailed down 
 the Indus to its mouth, and was rejoiced to find himself looking out 
 
 1 " Ale}tander was great because he was able to repent." — Holm 
 
 2 The Macedonian kingdom which grew out of the conquests of Alexander in central 
 Asia lasted for about two centuries after his death. Traditions of the conqueror still linger 
 in the land, and coins and plate with subjects from classic mythology are frequently turned 
 up at the present day. 
 
 8 According to Arrian, when Alexander reached the Indus he at first thought that 
 he had struck the upper course of the Nile, The presence in the river of crocodiles 
 like those in Egypt was one thing that led him to this conclusiOH {Anabasis, vi, i). 
 
262 ALEXANDER THE GREAT [§289 
 
 upon the southern ocean. He now dispatched his trusty admiral 
 Nearchus with a considerable fleet to explpre this sea and to deter- 
 mine whether it communicated with the Euphrates. He himself, with 
 the larger part of the army, marched westward along the coast. His 
 march thus lay through the ancient Gedrosia, now Baluchistan, a region 
 frightful with burning deserts,' amidst which his soldiers endured 
 almost incredible privations and sufferings. 
 
 After a trying and calamitous march of over two months, Alexander, 
 with the survivors of his army, reached Carmania. Here, to his un- 
 bounded joy, he was joined by Nearchus, who had made the voyage 
 from the Indus successfully, and thus " rediscovered one of the most 
 important maritime routes of the world," the knowledge of which 
 among the Western nations was never again to be lost. 
 
 To celebrate appropriately his conquests and discoveries, Alexander 
 instituted a series of religious festivals, amidst which his soldiers for- 
 got the dangers of their numberless battles and the hardships of their 
 unparalleled marches, which had put to the test every power of human 
 endurance. In a few years they had conquered half the world and 
 changed the whole course of history. 
 
 289. The Plans of Alexander ; the Hellenizing of the World. As 
 the capital of his vast empire, which now stretched from the Ionian 
 Sea to the Indus, Alexander chose the ancient Babylon, upon the 
 Euphrates. He proposed to make this old Semitic city the center 
 of his dominions for the reason that such a location of the seat of 
 government would help to promote his plans, which aimed at noth- 
 ing less than the union and Hellenizing of the world. Not only 
 were the peoples of Asia and Europe to be blended by means of 
 colonies, but even the floras of the two continents were to be inter- 
 mingled by the transplanting of plants and trees from one continent 
 to the other. Common laws and customs were to unite the nations 
 into one great family. Intermarriages were to blend the races. 
 Alexander himself married two Persian princesses; to ten thousand 
 of his soldiers, whom he encouraged to take Asiatic wives, he gave 
 magnificent gifts. 
 
 1 " After Alexander's experience no European is kilbwn to have penetrated it down 
 to tlie present century." — Wheeler, Alexander the Great (iqoo), p. 466 
 
§ 290] THE MUTINY AT QPIS 263 
 
 290. The Mutiny at Opis (324 B.C.). Not all the old soldiers of 
 Alexander approved of his plans and measures, particularly since in 
 these magnificent projects they seemed to be relegated to a second 
 place. His Macedonian veterafts especially were greatly displeased 
 that he should enlist in his service effeminate Asiatics, and dress and 
 equip them in the Macedonian fashion. They also disapproved of 
 Alexander's action in wearing the Persian costume and surrounding 
 himself with Persian attendants. So when Alexander proposed to 
 send back to Macedonia the aged and the maimed among his veterans, 
 the soldiers broke out in open mutiny. 
 
 Alexander caused the movers of the sedition to be executed, and 
 then made to the mutinous soldiers a speech such as they had never 
 listened to before. He recalled to their minds how his father Philip 
 had found them vagabond shepherds tending a few sheep on the 
 mountain-sides in Macedonia, and had made them conquerors and 
 rulers of all Thrace and Greece ; and how he himself had made 
 them conquerors of the empire of the Great King, the possessors 
 of the riches of the world and the envied xif all mankind.^ 
 
 By these words the mutinous spirit of tlje soldiers was completely 
 subdued, and with every expression of contrition for their fault and 
 of devotion to their old commander they begged for forgiveness and 
 reinstatement in his favor. Alexander was moved by their entreaties, 
 and gave them assurances that they were once more his companions 
 and kinsmen. The reconciliation was celebrated by a magnificent 
 banquet in which more than nine thousand participated.^ 
 
 291. The Death of Alexander (323 B.C.). In the midst of his vast 
 projects Alexander was seized by a fever and died at Babylon, 
 323 B.C., in the thirty-second year of his age. His soldiers could 
 not let him die without seeing him. The watchers of the palace 
 were obliged to open the doors to them, and the veterans of a 
 
 1 Arrian, Anabasis, vii, 9, 10, 
 
 a It was soon after this meeting that Alexander's dearest friend, Hepha:stion, died 
 at Ecbatana. Alexander indulged in most extravagant expressions of grief. He caused 
 a funeral pyre to be erected at a cost, it is said, of 10,000 talents ()i!i2,ooo,ooo), and 
 instituted in memory of his friend magnificent funeral games. He even ordered the 
 tops of the towers of the surrounding cities to be cut off, and the horses and mules to 
 be put in mourning by having their manes docked. 
 
264 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT 
 
 [§292 
 
 hundred battlefields filed sorrowfully past the couch of their dying 
 commander. His body was carried first to Memphis, but afterwards 
 it was taken to Alexandria, in Egypt, and there inclosed in a golden 
 coffin, over which was raised a splendid mausoleum. His ambition 
 for celestial honors was gratified in his death, for in Egypt and else- 
 where temples were dedicated to him and divine worship was paid 
 to his statues. 
 
 292. Results of Alexander's Conquests. The remarkable conquests 
 of Alexander had important and far-reaching consequences. First, 
 
 
 
 ^ ■ "- 
 
 'WAAA'i''iWi'(i''("l''W"'fC)'fi-,'- '"■.""" ' ■' 
 
 
 ym.wm-..'::: 
 
 ..^yi<''^''.'''M'■-.'A;^^.i:i 
 
 .■'iW.ft^J^WSWi'WM()Wi('Wj6^ 
 
 'l|l)ll|||.i|{jli^lHJ'll 
 
 Fig. III. The So-called SaIicophagus of Alexander 
 (Constantinople Museum) 
 
 The finest of sixteen sarcophagi found at Sidon in 1887. " This is the most exquisite 
 sarcophagus that the world has ever seen" (Richardson). Its deUcate coloring is still 
 
 well preserved 
 
 they ended the long struggle between Persia and Greece, and spread 
 Hellenic civilization over Egypt and westeen Asia. 
 
 Second, the distinction between Greek and barbarian was obliter- 
 ated, and the sympathies of men, hitherto so narrow and local, 
 were widened, and thus an important preparation was made for 
 the reception of the Christian creed of universal brotherhood. 
 
 Third, thejworld was given ^a^unLversalJanguageotxulture, which 
 was. a further preparation for the spread of Christian teachings. 
 
§292] RESULTS OF ALEXANDER'S CONQUESTS 265 
 
 " Without the introduction of Greek civilization into the East 
 Christianity would never have been able to take root."^ 
 ^ Fourth, the .^a jwite_fmiruljidia--ta Eiimpe_.was__.rediscoyered. 
 This the historian Ranke, on account of its influence upon trade and 
 commerce, views as one of the most important results of Alexander's 
 expedition. 
 
 But the evil effects of these conquests were also positive and far- 
 reaching. The sudden acquisition by the Greeks of the enormous 
 wealth of the Persian Empire, and contact with the vices and the 
 effeminate luxury of the oriental nations, had a most demoralizing 
 effect upon Hellenic life. Greece became corrupt, and she in turn 
 corrupted Rome. Thus the civilization of classical antiquity was 
 undermined. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plutarch, Alexander. Arrian, Anabasis of 
 Alexander, vii, 9 (Alexander's speech to his soldiers reminding them of the 
 debt they owe to his father); vii, 28-30 (for an estimate of Alexander's char- 
 acter). Davis's Readings (Greece), pp. 298-321 ; Fling's Source Book, 296-328. 
 
 References (Modern). Wheeler, Alexander the Great; affords a most inter- 
 esting and scholarly treatment of our subject. Dodge, Alexander. Hogarth, 
 Philip and Alexander of Macedim (last part). Mahaffy, Survey of Greek Civi- 
 lization, chap, viii (first part) ; The Story of Alexandei' s Empire, chaps, i-v ; 
 and Creek Life and Thought, chap. ii. Grote (teji-volume ed.), vol. ix, pp. 505- 
 549; vol. X, pp. 1-212. Holm, vol. iii, chaps, xx— xxvii. Hogarth, The Ancient 
 East, chap. v. Bury, History of Greece, pp. 738-836. Curteis, Rise of the 
 Macedonian Empire (later chapters). FreemaIj, Historical Essays (Second 
 Series), "Alexander." 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Alexander's visit to the oracle of Zeus 
 Ammon : Wheeler, Alexander the Great, chap. Tcxi. 2. Alexander's letter to 
 Darius: Bury, History of Greece, pp. 761, 762. 3. "The marriage of Europe 
 and Asia " : Wheeler, Alexander the Great, chap, xxx, pp. 476-479. 
 
 1 Holm, History of Greece (1900), vol. iii, p. 397. 
 
264 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT 
 
 [§292 
 
 hundred battlefields filed sorrowfully past the couch of their dying 
 commander. His body was carried first to Memphis, but afterwards 
 it was taken to Alexandria, in Egypt, and there inclosed in a golden 
 coffin, over which was raised a splendid mausoleum. His ambition 
 for celestial honors was gratified in his death, for in Egypt and else- 
 where temples were dedicated to him and divine worship was paid 
 to his statues. 
 
 292. Results of Alexander's Conquests. The remarkable conquests 
 of Alexander had important and far-reaching consequences. First, 
 
 
 
 lih|'',ii|l!|i Ill 'II 
 
 ;/A'aa'Wt«.cMiWiMi!M)ia.'i.'aWi 
 
 Fig. hi. The So-called Sa'kcophagus of Alexander 
 (Constantinople Museiim) 
 
 The finest of sixteen sarcophagi found at Sidon in 1887. "This is the most exquisite 
 sarcophagus that the world has ever seen " (Richardson) . Its delicate coloring is still 
 
 well preserved 
 
 they_ended the long struggle between Persia and Greece, and spread 
 Hellenic civilization over Egypt and western Asia. 
 
 Second, the distinction between Greek and barbarian^was obliter- 
 ated, and the sympathies of men, hitherto so narrow and local, 
 were widened, and thus an important preparation was made for 
 the reception of the Christian creed of universal brotherhood. 
 
 Third, the^ world was given a universaljanguage ofjculture, which 
 was a further preparation for the spread of Christian teachings. 
 
§292] RESULTS OF ALEXANDER'S CONQUESTS 265 
 
 " Without the introduction of Greek civilization into the East 
 Christianity would never have been able to take root."^ 
 ^■( Fourth, the __sea joule_f rom^India -_tQ__EurQp£__was .rediscoxered. 
 This the historian Ranke, on account of its influence upon trade and 
 commerce, views as one of the most important results of Alexander's 
 expedition. 
 
 But the evil effects of these conquests were also positive and far- 
 reaehing. The sudden acquisition by the Greeks of the enormous 
 wealth of the Persian Empire, and contact with the vices and the 
 effeminate luxury of the oriental nations, had a most demoralizing 
 effect upon Hellenic life. Greece became corrupt, and she in turn 
 corrupted Rome. Thus the civilization of classical antiquity was 
 undermined. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plutarch, Alexander. Arrian, Anabasis of 
 Alexander, vii, 9 (Alexander's speech to his soldiers reminding them of the 
 debt they owe to his father); vii, 28-30 (for an estimate of Alexander's char- 
 acter). Davis's Readings (Greece), pp. 298-321 ; Fling's Source Book, 296-328. 
 
 References (Modeia). Wheeler, Alexander the Great; affords a most inter- 
 esting and scholarly treatment of our subject. Dodge, Alexander. Hogarth, 
 Philip and Alexander of Macedtm (last part). Mahaffy, Survey of Greek Civi- 
 lization, chap, viii (first part); The Story of Alexander's Empire, chaps, i-v; 
 and Greek Life and Thought, chap. ii. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ix, pp. 505- 
 549; vol. X, pp. 1-212. Holm, vol. iii, chaps, xx-xxvii. Hogarth, The Ancient 
 East, chap. v. Bury, History of Greece, pp. 738-836. CURTEIS, Rise of the 
 Macedonian Empire (later chapters). Freeman, Historical Essays (Second 
 Series), "Alexander." 
 
 Topics for Class Reports. 1. Alexander's visit to the oracle of Zeus 
 Ammon : Wheeler, Alexander the Great, chap. xxi. 2. Alexander's letter to 
 Darius; Bury, History of Greece, pp. 761, 762. 3. "The marriage of Europe 
 and Asia " ■- Wheeler, Alexander the Great, chap, xxx, pp. 476-479. 
 
 1 Holm, History of Greece (1900), vol. iii, p. 397. 
 
CHAPTER XXVl 
 
 THE GRJECO-ORIENTAL WORLD FROM THE DEATH OF 
 
 ALEXANDER TO THE CONQUEST OF GREECE 
 
 BY THE ROMANS 
 
 (323-146 B.C.) 
 
 I. HELLENISTIC CULTURE 
 
 893. The Three Epochs of Greek Colonization. It has already been 
 noticed that the most important result of the conquests of Alexander 
 was the spreading of Greek culture over the countries of the Near 
 East. This movement eastward of Greek civilization will be seen in 
 its true historical relations only when it is viewed as the third expan- 
 sion and colonization movement of the Greek race. The first move- 
 ment took place in the twilight period between the prehistoric and 
 the historic age (sect. 152). Establishing a Greek population on the 
 western shores of Asia Minor and on the neighboring islands, it made 
 the ^gean a Greek lake and doubled the area of Greek lands. 
 
 The second colonization movement (Chapter XVI), which went 
 on in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., planted Greek colonies 
 on almost every shore of the Mediterranean and the Euxine, and 
 made the selvage lands of a great part of the ancient Mediterranean 
 world the arena of Greek enterprise and Greek achievement 
 
 The third expansion and colonizing movement, with which we 
 shall deal in the present chapter, and which was made possible 
 by the breaking down of the barrier of the Persian Empire by the 
 conquests of Alexander, overflowed all the culture lands of the 
 Orient — -Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt — and once 
 more enlarged vastly the sphere of Greek life and Greek activity. 
 
 294. The Hellenizing of the Orient: Hellenistic Culture. The 
 results of this third Greek colonizing movement were quite different 
 from those of the two earlier expansions. The settlement by Greeks' 
 
 266 
 
§295] THE TWO AGENCIES IN GREEK CULTURE 267 
 
 in the first colonization epoch on the western shore-lands of Asia 
 Minor resulted in the establishing there of a civilization which was 
 essentially Hellenic, although, as we have seen, ^olian and Ionian 
 culture were undoubtedly deeply tinged with non-Hellenic racial and 
 cultural elements. Likewise, the numerous Greek colonies founded 
 during the second expansion age, although in some cases the Greek 
 settlers mingled with the ruder native populations, kept for the most 
 part pure and unmixed, if not their Hellenic blood, at least their 
 Hellenic culture. 
 
 In the third great colonizing epoch, however, the new cities were 
 founded generally in the midst of a dense native population more or 
 less advanced in civilization. In this environment Hellenic culture 
 in all its elements — language, arts, manners and customs, ways of 
 living and ways of thinking — inevitably became modified, in some 
 countries less, in others more. We indicate this changed character 
 of the civilization by calling it Hellenistic^ thereby distinguishing it 
 from the pure Hellenic culture of Greece. 
 
 The formation of this Hellenistic or Grasco-oriental culture is one 
 of the great matters of universal history, a "matter like the formation 
 later of the Grasco-Roman civilization in the great melting-pot of the 
 world-empire of Rome, and of the Romano-German civilization in 
 the Europe of the Middle Ages.^ 
 
 295. The Two Agencies in the Dissemination of Greek Culture. It 
 was chiefly through two agencies that the Gjeek language and arts and 
 Greek letters were spread throughout the Oripnt. These were, first, the 
 courts of the successors of Alexander which were established in Asia 
 Minor, Syria, and Egypt ; and second, the hundreds of Greek cities 
 which were founded throughout all the regions included in the king- 
 doms of these Graeco-Macedonian rulers. Each court and each city was 
 the radiating center of Greek culture and arts. The cities, however, 
 
 1 From HsUettist, a non-Greek who adopts the Greek language and imitates Greek 
 manners and customs. 
 
 2 The meeting again of European and Asian cultures in the countries (Japan, China, 
 and India) of the Far East will repeat, indeed is repeating, the history of these great 
 cultural blends of the past. The final issue of these blendings must be a world-culture 
 which will have assimilated and unified the best elements of all the separately developed 
 civilizations. 
 
268 THE GR^CO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§ 296 
 
 were the more effective of the two agencies in the spread of the 
 Greek civilization, and of these we must here speak more in detail. 
 
 296. Cities of the Hellenistic Age. As has been seen, Alexander 
 founded a great number of cities. His successors in general fol- 
 lowed his example, and some of them became celebrated as city- 
 builders. These new cities were established all along the western 
 and southern coasts of Asia Minor, upon the banks of the rivers of 
 the different regions, along the main routes of travel, and at all the 
 strategic points of trade and commerce. Many of these cities were 
 entirely new foundations, others were old cities reconstructed and 
 given Greek names. They were furnished and adorned with Greek 
 temples, theaters, gymnasia, and covered colonnades. They had con- 
 stitutions and laws, councils and popular assemblies, like those of 
 the old city-states of Hellas. It is probable that in many, if not in 
 most, cases only the Greeks — who ordinarily could have formed but 
 a small part of the population — were citizens with full rights. 
 
 One thing in regard to these cities of the Hellenistic Age should 
 be carefully noted. They were not in general independent city-states 
 like those of pre-Macedonian Hellas, but rather what we should call 
 free municipalities. They were included in the territories of the king- 
 doms of the successors of Alexander, and enjoyed home rule, that is, 
 the management of their own local affairs, but had nothing to do with 
 foreign or international matters. 
 
 In the remaining paragraphs of this chapter we shall state some 
 facts concerning the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic 
 period, and speak of the most noteworthy matters in the history of 
 continental Greece and of the leading kingdoms that resulted from 
 the break-up of the empire of Alexander. 
 
 II. MACEDONIA 
 
 297. The Break-up of Alexander's Empire. There was no one 
 who could wield the sword that fell from the hand of Alexander. 
 Before the close of the fourth century B.C. the vast empire created 
 by his unparalleled conquests had become broken into many frag- 
 ments. Besides minor states, three kingdoms of special importance, 
 
§ 298] MACEDONIA AND ROME 269 
 
 centering in Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt, rose out of the ruins. All 
 were finally overwhelmed by the now rapidly rising power of Rome. 
 
 298. Macedonia and Rome. The story of Macedonia from the death 
 of Alexander on to the conquest of the country by the Romans is made 
 up largely of the quarrels and crimes of rival aspirants for the crown 
 that Philip and Alexander had worn. During a great part of the 
 period the successive Macedonian kings were exercising or attempt- 
 ing to exercise authority over the cities of Greece. Respecting the 
 extent of their power or influence in the peninsula we shall find it 
 more convenient to speak in the following section. 
 
 Macedonia was one of the first countries east of the Adriatic to 
 come in hostile contact with the great military republic of the West. 
 After much intrigue and a series of wars, the country was eventually 
 brought into subjection to the Italian power and made into a Roman 
 province (146 B.C.). A large part of the population were sold as 
 slaves. Not a man of note was left in the country. The great but 
 short role Macedonia had played in history was ended (see sect. 447). 
 
 III. CONTINENTAL GREECE 
 
 299. Greek Freedom and Demosthenes. From the subjection of 
 Greece by Philip of Macedon to the absorption of Macedonia into 
 the growing dominions of Rome, the Greek cities of the peninsula 
 were, as we have said, much of the time, at least, under the real or 
 nominal overlordship of the Macedonian kings. But the Greeks 
 were never made for royal subjects, and consequently they were in a 
 state of chronic revolt against this foreign authority. 
 
 Thus no sooner had they heard of the death of Alexander than 
 several of the Greek states rose against Antipater, the general whom 
 Alexander had intrusted with the government of Macedonia. The 
 struggle ended disastrously for the Greeks, and Demosthenes, who 
 had been the soul of the movement, to escape falling into the hands 
 of Antipater, put an end to his own life by means of poison. 
 
 300. The Celtic Invasion (278 B.C.). The next matter of moment 
 in the history of Greece was an invasion of the Gauls, kinsmen of the 
 Celtic tribes that about a century before this time had sacked the city 
 
270 THE GRvECO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§ 301 
 
 of Rome (sect. 413). These terrible marau'ders, pouring down from 
 the north, ravaged Greece as far south as Delphi and the Pass of 
 Thermopylae. If we may believe the Greek accounts, they met with 
 heroic resistance and were driven back with great loss. A little later 
 some of the tribes settled in Asia Minor and there gave name to the 
 province of Galatia.^ 
 
 301. The Achaean and MtolisLti Leagues. In the third century B.C. 
 there arose in Greece two important confederacies, known as the 
 Achaean and ^tolian leagues, whose history embraces almost every 
 matter of interest and instruction in the later political life of the 
 Greek cities.^ These late attempts at federation among the Grecian 
 cities were one expression of that tendency towards nationalism that 
 marks this period of Greek history. They were fostered by the in- 
 tense desire of all patriotic Hellenes to free Aemselves from the 
 hated arbitership of Macedonia. The Greeks had learned at last — 
 but unhappily too late — that the liberty they prized so highly could 
 be maintained only through union. 
 
 The Achaean League (281-146 B.C.) was in its beginnings simply 
 a revival of a very ancient religious union of the cities of Achasa, but 
 it came finally to embrace all the states of the Peloponnesus ' as well 
 as some cities beyond its limits. It was one of the most successful 
 efforts ever made to unite the Greek cities into a real federal state in 
 which all the members should enjoy perfect equality of rights and 
 privileges.* 
 
 The ^tolian League, established about 280 B.C., was composed of 
 tribes — -chiefly the half-civilized mountain tribes of Central Greece. 
 Its chieftains displayed little of the statesmanship evinced by the 
 
 1 It was to these people that St. Paul addressed one of his epistles (see the Epistle 
 to the Galatians). 
 
 2 For a study of these confederations, the first of which was very much lilce our own 
 federal union, and which in truth served in a measure as a model to the framers of our 
 Constitution (both Hamilton and Madison made a careful Study of it), consult Freeman's 
 work entitled Ifisiary of Federal Constitutions. 
 
 8 Sparta became a member of the league in 192 B.C. (Polybius, xxiii, 17, 18). 
 
 * The chief promoters of the movement were Aratus (271-213 B.C.) and Philopoemeil 
 (about 252-1S3 B.C.), both of whom were trusted generals of the league and men of 
 eminent ability and enlightened patriotism. Pausanias calls Philopcemen " the last of the 
 Greeks," while Plutarch says that Greece loved him as- " the last great man bom of her 
 old age." 
 
r302] ATHENS AS A UNIVERSITY CITY 271 
 
 leaders of the Achaean League, and it never became prominent in 
 Greek affairs save from a military point of view. 
 
 The sudden rise into such importance of these regions which had 
 remained in comparative obscurity during "the great days of Greece 
 was due to the fact that the folk here, particularly in ^tolia, were 
 chiefly rough mountaineers who supplied recruits for the armies that 
 conquered and ravaged Asia. The basis of their importance and 
 power was the booty that fell to these mercenaries as their share of 
 the pillage of a continent. The wealth they thus acquired was 
 enough, Mahaffy asserts, "to buy all Greece ten times over.'" 
 
 Both of the leagues were broken up by Rome. In the year 
 146 B.C. Corinth, the most splendid city at this time of all Greece, 
 and the most important member of the Achaean League, .was taken 
 by the Romans, the men were killed, the women and children sold 
 into slavery, the rich art treasures of the city sent as trophies to 
 Rome, and its temples and other buildings given to the flames 
 (cf. sect. 448). This was the last act in the long and varied drama 
 of the political life of ancient Greece. Henceforth the country 
 formed simply a portion of the Roman Empire. 
 
 302. Athens as a University City. But the things of greatest 
 interest in the history of continental Greece during the period we are 
 reviewing are connected with none of the political matters so far 
 noticed, but rather with the intellectual life:Of Athens. At the begin- 
 ning of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles, in his celebrated funeral 
 oration, called Athens "the School of Hellas." With even better 
 right could the Athens of the Hellenistic Age lay claim to the title 
 of "the School of the World." Throughout this period she was 
 preeminently a university town in a very real meaning of the term. 
 
 The beginning of this phase of Athenian life was the bequest made 
 by the philosopher Plato at his death (347 B.C.) of his house and 
 garden, close to the Academy,^ as a school for those wishing to pursue 
 philosophical studies. So far as we know this was the first endowed 
 school in the world, and the one of. which our own endowed acade- 
 mies and universities are the lineal descendants. Others imitated 
 
 1 Greek Life and Thought (1S87), p. ?. 
 
 2 The Academy, like the Lyceum, was a pleasure-ground outside the city walls. 
 
272 THE GR/ECO-ORIENTA.L WORLD [§303 
 
 the example set by Plato, and in quick succession there were estab- 
 lished and endowed at Athens three other famous schools, known as 
 the Lyceum, the School of Epicurus, and the School of the Stoics. 
 The first was founded by the famous philosopher Aristotle, the second 
 by the teacher whose name it bore, and the third by the philosopher 
 Zeno (sect. 363). 
 
 These several schools of philosophy were the chief attraction at 
 Athens during the last three centuries before the Christian era and 
 even long thereafter. Their pleasant gardens and beautiful buildings 
 were the show places of the city. They drew to Athens the mentally 
 alert, the choice spirits of every land, both as teachers and as pupils, 
 and made that city the intellectual hearth of the ancient world. Many 
 of the Roman youth in the second and first centuries before our era 
 came here to sit at the feet of teachers whose fame was world-wide. 
 
 In a later chapter •■• we shall speak of some of the doctrines of the 
 Stoics and the Epicureans and give some details of the lives and 
 works of the greatest representatives of the several schools. In the 
 present connection we shall stop to notice only certain facts concern- 
 ing the School of the Stoics, because these facts show how close 
 and vital were the relations of this school of thought to the spirit 
 and tendencies of the age in which it arose. 
 
 303. Rise of the Stoic Philosophy. In speaking of the Stoic sys- 
 tem. Professor Mahaffy says, " This philosophy was one of the first 
 results, and perhaps the greatest, of Hellenism proper — the reaction 
 upon Greece of the thought and culture of the East."^ It was a 
 blend of Greek and oriental elements. The leaders of the school 
 came chiefly from Asia, or from regions that had felt oriental influ- 
 ences, racial or cultural.^ This explains the presence of an oriental 
 element in their philosophy and in their code of morals. In certain 
 of their teachings, as, for instance, in their fundamental doctrine that 
 a man should regard himself not as a citizen of this city or of that, 
 but as a citizen of the world, they were the truest representatives 
 of the broadening spirit of the .Hellenistic Age. " We are the off- 
 spring of God," quoted by the Apostle Paul (Acts xvii, 28) was a 
 
 1 See Chapter XXIX. 2 Greek Life and Thought (1887), p. 142. 
 
 * Zeno, the founder of the school, was of Phoenician descent. 
 
§304] RHODES AS A CENTER OF COMMERCE 273 
 
 Stoic epigram, which shows how the new philosophy was approaching 
 the standpoint of Christianity and preparing the way for it. 
 
 Panastius, who died in 110 B.C., was for a time head of the Stoic 
 school in Athens. It was the Stoic philosophy and code of morals 
 as modified by him that the Romans adopted. This was one of the 
 most important of the elements of the intellectual and moral legacy 
 which Greece bequeathed to Rome. It was next in influence to the 
 religious and moral doctriijes given to Rome by Judea. 
 
 IV. RHODES 
 
 304. Rhodes as a Center of Commerce and Trade. Rhodes was 
 one of the most important centers of the commercial and trading 
 life of the Greek world during the Hellenistic Age. It was the suc- 
 cessor to the sea power of prehistoric Crete — the mountains of 
 which on a clear day can be sighted from Rhodes — and to the sea 
 empire of Athens in the period following the Persian Wars. It was 
 the Venice of the age. Like early Crete, it was the relay station of 
 the trade between Egypt and the yEgean, and it was largely this 
 which made it a great emporium. It developed a strong naval force 
 and kept the sea free from pirates. It acted as peacemaker and 
 mediator in adjusting disputes between the cities of the Greek world. 
 
 In the second century B.C. the commercial power and renown of 
 Rhodes awakened the jealousy of the Romans, who undermined 
 the prosperil^ of the city by estabhshing a rival port on the island 
 of Delos. 
 
 305. Rhodian Schools of Art and Oratory. Public art is a child 
 of wealth. The commercial prosperity of Rhodes caused it to be- 
 come during the Hellenistic period a great art center. One charac- 
 teristic of Rhodian art was its tendency to bigness. A bronze statue 
 of Helios erected by the Rhodians was so colossal (it was one hundred 
 and five feet high) that it was numbered among the seven wonders of 
 the world.^ Besides this gigantic statue the city was crowded with 
 
 1 The statue, however, was not as large as the statue of Liberty in New York harbor. 
 The height of the latter is 151 feet. After standing about half a century, the Colossus 
 was overthrown by an earthquake, Nine hundred years later it was broken up and sold 
 for olcJ metal 
 
274 
 
 THE GR^CO-ORIENTAL WORLD 
 
 [§306 
 
 thousands of others, many of which were of colossal size. The city 
 became a favorite resort of artists, and the schools founded by them 
 acquired a wide renown. 
 
 At the same time that Rhodes was nourishing its art schools, it 
 was maintaining schools of rhetoric and oratory which gained great 
 repute. Sons of well-to-do Roman families — Rome was now coming 
 
 ! 
 
 Fig. 112. The Dying Gaul. (Capitoline Museum) 
 
 A marble copy of a bronze original presented to Athens by Attalus I of Pergamum, about 
 200 B.C. in commemoration of his victory over the Gauls (Galatians) 
 
 into political relations with the Greek East and was learning to appre- 
 ciate Greek culture — came hither in great ryrmbers to become pupils 
 in these famous schools. 
 
 V. PERGAMUM' 
 
 306. Pergamum as a Center of Letters and Art. Another of the 
 important artistic and literary centers of the Hellenistic world was 
 Pergamum, the capital of a kingdom which at one time embraced 
 a great part of western Asia Minor.''- Through its great university 
 and library the city gained the repute of ^ being next to Alexandria 
 in Egypt the most important center of = letters in the Hellenistic 
 
 1 This state came into existence 280 B.C. Its period of bloom was in the second 
 century before our era. In the year 133 B.C. Attalus HI died, bequeathing his kingdom 
 to the Romans, who made it into a province of their empire under the name of Asia 
 (sect. 467), 
 
§ 306] PERGAMUM AS A CENTER OF ART 275 
 
 world; Parchment — it is worth noting that this word is derived 
 from Pergamum — was here first extensively used for books in 
 place of the paper made from the Egyptian papyrus/ the expor- 
 tation: of which the rulers of Egypt at this time forbade, as the 
 entire output of the Egyptian manufactories was needed for the 
 copyists at the great Alexandrian Library (sect. 310). 
 
 Along with this literary activity there ran an artistic development 
 which is of great interest because of its close relation to the political 
 
 AT Pergamum 
 
 The gigantic figures that decorated the base are now in the Berlin Museum. This monu- 
 ment is doubtless what in Revelation (ii, i3)-is called " Satan's seat." The early Chris- 
 tians, in their image-breaking zeal, so mutilated the statues that the modern excavators 
 of the ruins found hardly a face unmarred 
 
 history of the period. For just as the great art of the age of Phidias 
 received its inspiration from the sacrifices and achievements of the 
 War of Liberation, so did the great Pergamene art receive its impulse 
 from the exaltation of feeling that followed the victory of the princes 
 of Pergamum over the savage Gauls (sect. 300), who at this time 
 spread panic and terror throughout almost all Asia Minor. The 
 feelings of exaltation and of» gratitude to the gods for the great 
 deliverance were embodied in a series of remarkable sculptures, 
 among which are the so-called Dying Gaul (Fig. 112), and a great 
 
 1 See above, p. §6, n. i. 
 
2/6 THE GR^CO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§307 
 
 number of figures in high relief and of colossal size which decorated 
 the four sides of the base of a great altar (Fig. 113) dedicated to 
 Zeus the Deliverer in commemoration of the triumph over the Gallic 
 marauders.^ The subject of the sculpturings was the mythical contest 
 of the gods with the earth-born giants,^ which struggle seemed to the 
 Greeks the counterpart of their own terrific fight with the uncouth 
 and savage Gauls. 
 
 VI. THE SYRIAN KINGDOM 
 
 307. The Seleucidae (312-65 B.C.). The Syrian kingdom during 
 the two centuries and more of its existence played an important 
 part in the civil history of the world. Under its first king it com- 
 prised nominally almost all the countries of Asia conquered by 
 Alexander, thus stretching from the Hellespont to the Indus ; but 
 in reality the monarchy embraced only Asia Minor, part of Syria, 
 and the old Assyria and Babylonia. Its rulers were called Seleucidse, 
 from the founder of the kingdom, Seleucus Nicator, famous as the 
 builder of cities. 
 
 The successors of Seleucus Nicator led the kingdom through 
 checkered fortunes. On different sides provinces fell away and be- 
 came independent states.' At last, coming into collision with Rome, 
 the kingdom was destroyed, and the lands embraced by it were 
 incorporated with the Roman Republic. 
 
 308. Antioch and its Suburb, Daphne, f he most important of the 
 numerous cities founded by Seleucus was Antioch, on the Orontes, 
 in northern Syria. Next to Alexandria in Egypt this was the largest 
 and most splendid city of the Hellenistic world. It owed its prosperity 
 and importance to the fact that it was one -of the chief relay stations 
 of the trade between the East and the West. To its docks and ware- 
 houses were brought, by heavily laden camel trains, the natural and 
 manufactured products of all the regions of western and interior Asia 
 
 1 The altar is supposed to have been built by Eumenes 11 (197-159 B.C.). 
 
 2 See Gayley, Classic Mytlis. Consult index under " Giants. " 
 
 3 One of the most important of these was Parthia, a powerful non-Aryan state (from 
 about 255 B.C. to 226 A.D.) that grew up east of the Euphrates in the lands which origi- 
 nally formed the heart and center of the old Persian Empire. Its kings were at first 
 formidable enemies of the rulers. of Syria, and later of the Romans. 
 
§309] THE MACCABEAN REVOLT 277 
 
 for redistribution to every part of the Mediterranean world. It was 
 in Antioch that the disciples of Christ were first called Christians 
 (see Acts xi, 26). 
 
 About five miles from the city was the famous Grove of Daphne, 
 a great pleasure ground, the natural beauty of which had been so 
 enhanced by art as to make it one of the most beautiful spots of all 
 the Mediterranean lands. It was the favorite resort of the voluptuous 
 pleasure-seekers of the capital. Only Sybaris, in Italy (sect. 185), gained 
 such a reputation for luxury and love of pleasure as Antioch won. 
 
 309. The Maccabean Revolt. In an earlier chapter on the He- 
 brews, mention was made of the reestablishment of the Jewish state 
 during parts of the second and first centuries preceding the Christian 
 era (sect. 85). We are now in a better position to catch the signifi- 
 cance of this revolution, which was one of the most important in 
 ancient history. 
 
 At the opening of the second century the Jews had been under 
 the rule of the Seleucidae and surrounded by Greek influences for 
 upwards of a century and a half. During this period the Hellenizing 
 of the nation had proceeded far. In Jerusalem a great part of the 
 Jews spoke the Greek language, wore the Greek costume, and imi- 
 tated the Greek manner of life. Had this Hellenizing process gone 
 on without interruption, the Jewish people might have become 
 wholly denationalized and that religious and moral development 
 which issued in Christianity have been arrested. This threatened 
 calamity was averted in the way that similar menacing calamities in 
 the lives of races have been averted time and again in history — by 
 a bad king. This was Antiochus IV (surnamed Epiphanes), 176- 
 164 B.C. Resolved upon the destruction of Judaism, he ordered all 
 scrolls of the Law to be destroyed, prohibited the Jewish worship 
 and the observance of the Sabbath, and finally, setting up a statue of 
 Zeus Olympius on the great altar before the Temple in Jerusalem, 
 substituted the worship of the Greek god for that of Jehovah. 
 Those who refused to offer sacrifices on the pagan altars he put 
 to death. Jerusalem was virtually transformed into a Greek colony. 
 "Never," says the historian Renan, "had the fate of Israel been 
 in more peril than at this evil epoch [about 172 B.C.]. A little 
 
27? THE GR^CO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§310 
 
 more, and the Hebrew Bible would have been lost, and the Jewish 
 religion blotted out forever."^ 
 
 At this crisis a reaction came. Those Jews who still clung to their 
 ancestral inheritance revolted, and after a long fight under the heroic 
 Maccabees, overcame their persecutors and reestablished the wor- 
 ship of the Temple. From this time forward to the coming of the 
 Romans, Judea was an independent state. Thus was Judaism saved 
 to flower and fruit in Christianity and to make its unique and rich 
 contribution to the growing spiritual and moral life of the world. 
 
 VII. THE KINGDOM OF THE PTOLEMIES IN EGYPT 
 
 310. The Ptolemies (323-30 B.C.). The Grscco-Egyptian empire 
 of the Ptolemies was by far the most important, in its influence upon 
 the civilization of the world, of all the kingdoms that owed their 
 origin to the conquests of Alexander. The founder of the dynasty 
 was Ptolemy I (surnamed Soter), 323—283 B.C. Ptolemy was a 
 general under Alexander, and seemed to possess much of his great 
 commander's ability and restless energy, with a happy freedom from 
 his worst faults. 
 
 Upon the partition of the empire of Alexander, Ptolemy had re- 
 ceived Egypt, with parts of Arabia and Libya. To these he added by 
 conquest Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Cyrene, and Cyprus. Fol- 
 lowing the usage of the time, he transported a hundred thousand 
 Jews from Jerusalem to Alexandria, attached them to his person and 
 policies by wise and conciliatory measures, and thus effected, in such 
 measure as was possible, at this great capital of the Nile, that fusion of 
 the races of the East and the West which was the dream of Alexander. 
 In its mixed population Alexandria was the Constantinople of its age. 
 
 Under Ptolemy, Alexandria became the great depot of exchange 
 for the products of all the countries of the ancient world. At the 
 entrance of the harbor stood the Pharos, Or lighthouse, — the first 
 structure of its kind,- — -which Ptolemy built to guide the fleets of 
 the world to his capital. This edifice was reckoned one of the 
 Seven Wonders (see Fig. 114 and accompanying note). 
 
 1 History of the People of Israel (1895), vol. iv, p. 268. 
 
§ 311] CONCLUSION 
 
 279 
 
 But it was not alone the exchange of material products that was 
 comprehended in Ptolemy's scheme. His am was to make his capi- 
 tal the intellectual center of the world — the place where the arts, 
 sciences, literatures, and even the religions «f the world should meet 
 and mingle. He founded the famous Museum,^ a sort of college, 
 which became the "University of the East," and established the 
 renowned Alexandrian Library. He encouraged poets, artists, phi- 
 losophers, and teachers in all departments of learning to settle in 
 Alexandria by conferring upon them immunities and privileges, and 
 by gifts and a munificent patronage. His court embraced the learning 
 and genius of the age. 
 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus (283-247 B.C.) followed closely in the foot- 
 steps of his father, carrying out as far as possible the plans and 
 policies of the preceding reign. He added largely to the royal 
 library,' and extended to scholars the same liberal patronage that his 
 father had before him. It was under his direction that the important 
 Greek translation of the old Hebrew Scriptures was begun. From 
 the traditional number of translators (Latin septuaginta, " seventy ") 
 the version is known as the Septuagint. 
 
 Altogether the Ptolemies reigned in Egypt almost exactly three 
 centuries (323-30 B.C.). The rulers who held the throne for the 
 last two hundred years were, with few exceptions, a succession of 
 monsters, such as even Rome in her, worst days could scarcely equal. 
 The story of the beautiful but dissolute Cleopatra, the last of the 
 house of the Ptolemies, belongs properly to the history of Rome, 
 which city was now interfering in the affairs of the Orient. In the 
 year 30 b, c., the year which marks the death of Cleopatra, Egypt 
 was made a Roman province (sect. 493). 
 
 311. Conclusion. We have now traced the political fortunes of the 
 Greek race through about six centuries of authentic history. In suc- 
 ceeding chapters, in order to render more complete the picture we 
 have endeavored to draw of ancient Hellas, we shall add some 
 details respecting Hellenic art, literature, philosophy, and society — • 
 details which could not well have been introduced in the foregoing 
 
 1 " The Museum was the first example of a permanent institution for the cultivation 
 of pure science founded by a government; that was something great." — Holm 
 
iiiii 
 
 ''#\C-'"^vis;>,5i3ii5ias--iaii=ji£Siiiil 
 
 iuuiuimmumuiimuMiiuuiuiuuuuiiuiiiDuiuuumuuiu/uiuuulU 
 
 S Ao 
 
 280 
 
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 ^ S Si " « d -^ i r " 1 1 " ^11 ^ i I - I * ^ ^ 
 
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 pq -r: -- m ^ 2 f! > SI "i ^^ =2 T, ^ 
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 r^ u -r, '3 o « " 
 
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 -^ .H ^ .:S CU.2 £: 0, ^ "rt ■§ 
 
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 281 
 
28z THE GR^CO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§311 
 
 chapters without interrupting the movement of the narrative. Even 
 a short study of these matters will help us to form a more adequate 
 conception of that wonderful, many-sided genius of the Hellenic race 
 which enabled Hellas, " captured, to lead captive her captor." 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plutarch, Philopamen and Aratus. Davis's 
 Readings (Greece), pp. 322-329 ; Fling's Source Book, pp. 330-33S. 
 
 References (Modern). Holm, vol. iv (the best history in English of the 
 period). Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. x, pp. 213-326. Gardner, New Chapters 
 in Greek History, chap, xv, " The Successors of Alexander and Greelc Civili- 
 zation in the East." Mahaffy, The Story of Alexander's Empire, chaps, vi-xxxii; 
 Greek Life and Thought from the Age of Alexander to the Roman Conquest; 
 A Survey of Greek Civilization, chaps, viii, ix ; and The Progress of Hellenism 
 in Alexander's Empire. FREEMAN, History of Federal Government, chaps, v-ix 
 (gives with great fullness the history of the Achaean and the ^tolian League). 
 Davidson, The Education of the Greek People, chap, viii, "Greek Education in 
 Contact with the Great Eastern World." Draper, Intellectual Development 
 of Europe (consult index) (has an account of the Alexandrian Museum). 
 Walden, The Universities of Ancient Greece, chap. iii. Hogarth, The Ancient 
 East, chap. vi. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. The Museum and Library at Alexandria: 
 Mahaffy, Greek Life and Thought, chap, ix, pp. 192-197. 2. Rhodes as a center 
 of Hellenistic culture : Holm, History of Greece, vol. iv, chap, xxii ; Mahaffy, 
 Story of Alexander's Empire, chap, xx (last part). 3. The Stoics and the Epi- 
 cureans: yiahs&y. Survey of Greek Civilisation, -p^.z^it-zfu. 4. The Grove of 
 Daphne at Antioch : Lew Wallace, J3e7i Hur, bk. iv, chaps, v, vi. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 GREEK ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE, AND PAINTING 
 
 312. Relation of Greek Art to that of Earlier Cultures. Greek art 
 in all its forms was in the main a creation of the Greek artistic fac- 
 ulty and spirit. Speaking of its possible heritage, Professor Gardner 
 compares the art of the Greeks to their literature. As in literature 
 the Greeks borrowed their alphabet but with it made a literature that 
 was essentially a pure embodiment of their own ideas and spirit, so 
 was it in their art. The alphabet of it may have been borrowed, but 
 the developed art was an original product of the Greek artistic genius."^ 
 
 313. The Greek Sense of Beauty. The Greeks were artists by 
 nature ; at least, all classes, the uneducated as well as the educated, 
 seem to have had a refined taste in art matters. With us it is gen- 
 erally true that only the instructed have good artistic taste. Every- 
 thing the Greeks made, from the shrines for their gods to the 
 meanest utensils of domestic use, was beautiful. " Ugliness gave 
 thera pain like a blow." Beauty they placed next to holiness ; in- 
 deed, they almost or quite made beauty and moral goodness the 
 same thing. It is said that it was noted by the Greeks as something 
 strange and exceptional that Socrates was good, notwithstanding 
 he was ugly in his features. 
 
 The first maxim in Greek art was the same as that which formed 
 the first principle in Greek morality — " Nothing in excess." The 
 Greek eye was offended at any exaggeration of parts, at any lack 
 of proportion in an object. The proportions of the Greek temple 
 are perfect. Any deviations from the canons of the Greek artists 
 are found to be departures from the ideal. 
 
 Clearness of outline was another requirement of Greek taste. The 
 £esthetic Greek had a positive dislike of all vagueness or indistinctness 
 
 1 Percy Gardner, The Principles of Greek Art (1914), p. 72- 
 283 
 
284 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE [§314 
 
 of form. Contrast the clear-cut lines of a Greek temple with the 
 vague, vanishing lines of a mediaeval Gothic cathedral. 
 
 It is possible that Nature herself taught the Greeks these first 
 principles of their art. Nature in Greece never goes to extremes. 
 The mountains and islands are never overlarge. The climate is 
 rarely excessively cold or oppressively hot. And Nature here seems 
 to abhor vagueness. The singular transparency of the atmosphere, 
 especially of that of Attica, lends a remarkable clearness of outline to 
 
 Doric Ionic Corinthian 
 
 Fig. 115. Orders of Gkeek Architecture^ 
 
 every object. The Parthenon in its clear-cut features seems modeled 
 after the hills that lie with such absolute clearness of form against 
 the Attic sky. 
 
 I. ARCHITECTURE 
 
 314. Orders of Greek Architecture. By the close of the sixth 
 century Greek architecture had made considerable advance and pre- 
 sented three distinct styles, or orders. These are commonly known 
 as the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian^ (Fig. ns). They are dis- 
 tinguished from one another chiefly by differences in the proportions 
 and ornamentation of the column. 
 
 ^ By some the Corinthian style is regarded as a suborder developed from the Ionic. 
 See Fowler and Wheeler, Greek Archnology (1909), p.-ii2. 
 
§315] GREEK ARCHITECTURE CHIEFLY SACRED 285 
 
 The Doric column, derived from the Mycensean, is without a 
 base and has a perfectly plain capital. At first the Doric temples 
 of the Greeks were almost as massive as those of the Egyptian 
 builders, but gradually they grew less heavy as they became per- 
 meated with the freer Greek spirit. 
 
 The Ionic column is characterized chiefly by the volutes, or spiral 
 scrolls, of its capital, but is also marked by its fluting, its base, and 
 its slender proportions. This form was principally employed by the 
 Greeks of Ionia, whence its name. 
 
 The Corinthian order is distinguished by its rich capital, formed 
 of acanthus leaves. The addition of the acanthus leaves is said to 
 have been suggested to the artist Callimachus by the pretty effect 
 of a basket surrounded by the leaves of an acanthus plant, upon 
 which it had accidentally fallen. This order was not much employed 
 in Greece before the time of Alexander the Great. 
 
 The entire structure was made to harmonize with its supporting 
 columns. The general characteristics of the orders are happily sug- 
 gested by the terms we use when we speak of the severe Doric, the 
 graceful Ionic, and the ornate Corinthian. 
 
 Speaking of the place which these styles held in Greek archi- 
 tecture and have held in that of the world since Greek times, an 
 eminent authority says, " We may admit that the invention and 
 perfecting of these orders of Greek architecture has been (with 
 one exception — the introduction of the arch) the most important 
 event in the architectural history of the world." 
 
 315. Greek Architecture chiefly Sacred.:; Early Greek Temples. 
 Religion was the very breath of Greek architecture. It was reli- 
 gious feeling which created the noblest monuments of the architec- 
 tural genius of Hellas. Hence in the few words which we shall have 
 to say concerning Greek architecture our -attention will be confined 
 almost exclusively to the temples of Greece. 
 
 In the earliest times the Greeks had no temples ; the statues 
 of the gods were placed beneath the shelt* of a tree or within its 
 hollow trunk. After a time a building rudely constructed of the 
 trunks of trees and shaped like the habitations of men marked the 
 first step in advance. Then stone took the place of the wooden 
 
286 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE [§316 
 
 frame. With the introduction of a durable material the artist was 
 encouraged to expend more labor and care upon his work. At the 
 same time he received helpful hints from the old builders of the 
 East. Thus architecture began to make rapid strides, and by the cen- 
 tury following the age of Solon at Athens there were many beautiful 
 temples in different parts of the Hellenic world. 
 
 316. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. One of the oldest 
 as well as most beautiful of Greek edifices of the Ionic order was 
 the temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus.^ The original rude pre- 
 historic shrine was several times restored and enlarged. Towards 
 the end of the sixth century a temple of great size and grandeur 
 was begun, which was one hundred and twenty years in process of 
 building. It was this structure that, in the year 356 B.C., on the 
 same night, it is said, that Alexander was born, an ambitious youth 
 named Herostratus, set aflame simply to render his name immortal. 
 The temple was restored with increased magnificence. It was known 
 far and wide as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. 
 The value of the gifts and votive offerings to the temple was beyond 
 all calculation ; kings and cities vied with one another in the cost 
 and splendor of their donations. Painters and sculptors were eager 
 to have their masterpieces assigned a place within its walls, so that 
 it became a great national gallery of paintings and statuary.^ 
 
 Just after the middle of the third century'of our era the barbarian 
 Goths robbed the shrine and left it a ruin. Builders of a later date 
 used the ruins as a stone quarry. Some of the celebrated jasper 
 columns of the temple may be seen to-day in the great mosque 
 (once the church of Santa Sophia) at Constantinople. 
 
 1 See Acts xix, 21-41. 
 
 2 Besides being in a sense museums, the temples of the Greeks were also banks of 
 deposit. The priests often loaned out on interest the money deposited with them, the 
 revenue from this source being added to that from the leased lands of the temple and 
 from the tithes of war booty to meet the expenses of the services of the shrine. Usually 
 the temple property in Greece was managed solely by the priests, but the treasure of 
 the Parthenon at Athens formed an exception to this rule. The treasure here belonged 
 to the state, and was controlled and disposed of by the vote of the people. Even the 
 personal property of the goddess, the gold drapery of the statue, which was worth 500 
 talents (about, ?6oo,coo) , could be used in case of great need ; but it must be replaced in 
 due time, with a fair interest. 
 
§317] 
 
 THE DELPHIAN TEMPLE 
 
 287 
 
 317. The Delphian Temple. The first temple erected at Delphi 
 over the spot whence issued the mysterious vapors (sect. 158) was 
 a rude wooden structure. In the year 5.48 b.c. the temple then 
 standing was destroyed by fire. All the cities and states of Hellas 
 contributed to its rebuilding. 
 
 The later structure was impressive both from its colossal size and 
 from the massive simplicity that characterizes the Doric style of archi- 
 tecture. It was crowded with the spoils 6f many battlefields, with 
 the rich gifts of kings, and with rare works of art. After remaining 
 
 Fig. 116. The Parthenon. (From a photograph) 
 
 "A summary of all that is best and most characteristic in Greek architecture and 
 sculpture," — Ernest A. Gardner 
 
 long secure, through the awe and reverence which its oracle inspired, 
 it finally, like the temple at Ephesus, suffered frequent spoliation. 
 The Phocians despoiled the temple of a treasure Equivalent, it is 
 estimated, to more than ten million dollars (sect. 274), and later the 
 Romans seem to have stripped it bare of its art treasures.' 
 
 318. The Athenian Parthenon. We have already glanced at the 
 Parthenon, the sanctuary of the virgin goddess Athena, upon the 
 Acropolis at Athens (sect. 243). This temple, which is built in 
 the Doric order, of marble from the neighboring Pentelicus, is 
 regarded as the finest specimen of Greek architecture. The art 
 
 2 At all events the spade has turned up comparatively few relics on the site of the 
 temple, which was thoroughly excavated towards the close of the last century, 
 
288 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE [§319 
 
 exhibited in its construction is an art of ideal perfection. After 
 standing for more than two thousand years, and having served suc- 
 cessively as a pagan temple, a Christian church, and a Mohammedan 
 mosque, it finally was made to serve as a Turkish powder magazine 
 in a war with the Venetians in 1687. During the progress of this 
 contest a bomb ignited the magazine, and more than half of the 
 wonderful masterpiece was shivered into fragments. Even in its 
 ruined state the structure constitutes the most highly prized memorial 
 that we possess of the builders of the ancient world.^ 
 
 319. Olympia and the Temple of Zeus Olympius. The sacred 
 plain of the Alpheus in Elis was, as we have learned, the spot 
 where were held the celebrated Olympic 'games. Here was raised 
 a magnificent Doric temple consecrated to Zeus Olympius, and 
 around it were grouped a vast number of : shrines, treasure-houses, 
 porticoes, and various other structures. 
 
 For many centuries these buildings adorned the consecrated spot 
 and witnessed the recurring festivals. But in the. fifth century of our 
 era the Christian emperor Theodosius H ordered their destruction, 
 as monuments of paganism, and the splendid structures were given 
 to the flames. Earthquakes, landslips, and the floods of the Alpheus 
 and the Cladeus completed in time the work of destruction and 
 buried the ruins beneath a thick layer of earth. 
 
 For centuries the desolate spot remained unvisited ; but late in 
 the last century the Germans thoroughly excavated the site. The 
 remains unearthed were of such an extensive nature as to make 
 possible a restoration of the noble assemblage of buildings (PL XIII) 
 which we may believe re-creates with fidelity the scene looked upon 
 by the visitor to Olympia in the days of its architectural glory. 
 
 320. Theaters and Other Structures. The Greek theater was nearly 
 semicircular in form, and open to the sky, as shown in the accompany- 
 ing cut (Fig. 117). The structure comprised three divisions: first, the 
 semicircle of seats for the spectators; second, the orchestra, or dancing 
 place for the chorus, which occupied the space in front of the lower 
 range of seats ; and third, in later times at least, a stage or platform 
 for the actors. 
 
 1 For short notices of other buildings at ^hens, see sect. 243. 
 
§321] 
 
 STADIA 
 
 289 
 
 TKe most noted of Greek theaters was the Theater of Dionysus at 
 Athens, which was the model of all the others. It was cut partly in 
 the native rock on the southeastern slope of the Acropolis, the 
 Greeks in the construction of their theaters generally taking advan- 
 tage of a hillside. The structure probably would seat about twenty 
 thousand spectators.^ 
 
 321. Stadia. The Greek stadium, in which foot races and other 
 festival games were held, was a narrow rectangular enclosure between 
 six and seven hundred feet in length (Fig. 118). In its construction. 
 
 
 Fig. 117. The Theater of Dionysus at Athens. (From a photograph) 
 
 as in that of the theater, advantage was usually taken of a hillside, 
 or of a trough between two ridges, the slopes of which gave standing- 
 ground for the spectators or, in later times, formed the foundation for 
 tiers of wooden or stone seats. A magnificent colonnade often crowned 
 the structure. There was a stadium at each of the four places where 
 the great national sacred games were held, and, indeed, at all the chief 
 places of assemblage in the Greek world. 
 
 322. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. This structure was a monu- 
 mental tomb designed to preserve the memory of Mausolus, king of 
 Caria, who died 352 B.C. The chief remains of the mausoleum are 
 
 1 On account of the ruined condition of the upper part of the structure, it is impossible 
 to make a close estimate of its seating capacity. 
 
290 GREEK ARCHITECTURE ANb SCULPTURE [§323 
 
 numerous sculptures dug up on the site and now preserved in the 
 British Museum. It is the tradition of this beautiful structure that 
 has given the world a name for all monuments of unusual magnifi- 
 cence raised in memory of the dead. 
 
 II. SCULPTURE 
 
 323. Beginnings of Greek Sculpture. The relation of the sculpture 
 of the Mycenaean Age to that of historic times in Greece is unknown. 
 
 Fig. 1 18. Stadium AT Athens. (From a photograph) 
 
 It is probable, however, that in the art of the Mycenaean period we 
 may recognize the rudiments, the alphabet, as it were, of the art of the 
 age of Phidias. " And as the Mycenaean people were probably not 
 exterminated, but absorbed, some of the skill of hand and eye which 
 had found scope in the monuments of the prehistoric age may have 
 been of avail in aiding the rise of an art which was essentially Greek."* 
 However this may be, the earliest art in Greece to which we may 
 without hesitation apply the term Hellenic exhibits distinct marks 
 
 1 Percy Gardner, Principles of Greek 4^ (1914), p. 73. 
 
Fig. iig. The Wrestlers 
 
 " Particularly were the games promo- 
 tive of sculpture, since they afforded 
 the sculptor living models for his art I' 
 (sect. i6i) 
 
 §324] INFLUENCE OF GAMES ON SCULPTURE 291 
 
 of oriental influence. From both Egypt and Assyria the cariy Greek 
 
 artist received models in gold, silver, ivory, and other material, deco- 
 rative designs, and a knowledge of 
 technical processes. But this was 
 all. The Greek was never a servile 
 imitator. His true artistic feeling 
 caused him to reject everything un- 
 natural and gro- 
 tesque in the de- 
 signs and models 
 of the Eastern 
 artists, while his 
 kindling genius 
 breathed into the 
 rigid figures of 
 the oriental sculp- 
 tor the breath of 
 
 life, and endowed them with the beauty and grace 
 
 of the living form. From the beginning of the sixth 
 
 century b. c. forward to the fifth we can trace clearly 
 
 the growing excellence of Greek sculpture until it 
 
 blooms in the supreme beauty of the art of the 
 
 Periclean Age. 
 
 324. Influence of the Olympic Games and the 
 
 Gymnasium upon Greek Sculpture. Towards the 
 
 latter part of the sixth century B.C. it became 
 
 the custom to set up images of the victors in the 
 
 Olympic games. It was probably this custom that 
 
 gave one of the earliest impulses to Greek sculp- 
 ture. The grounds at Olympia became crowded 
 
 with " a band of chosen youth in imperishable 
 
 forms." 
 
 In still another way did the Olympic contests 
 
 and the exercises of the gymnasia exert a most helpful influence upon 
 
 Greek sculpture. They afforded the artist unrivaled opportunities for 
 
 the study of the human form. " The whole race," as Symonds says. 
 
 r3 
 
 "Ao/va.pi^[rF7 n3> 
 
 Fic. 120. Stele 
 OF Aristion 
 
 Example of archaic 
 Attic sculpture 
 
292 GREEK ARCHITECTURE ANO SCULPTURE [§325 
 
 " lived out its sculpture and its painting, rehearsed, as it were, the 
 
 great works of Phidias and Polygnotus, in physical exercises, before 
 
 it learned to express itself in marble or in color." 
 
 As the sacred buildings increased in number and costliness the 
 
 services of the artist were called into requisition for their adornment. 
 
 Every available space was filled with 
 statues and groups of figures executed 
 by the most renowned artists and repre- 
 senting the national deities, the legend- 
 ary heroes, victors at the public games, 
 or incidents in the life of the state in 
 which piety saw the special interposition 
 of the god in whose honor the shrine 
 had been raised. 
 
 325. The Archaic Period, down to the 
 Persian Wars. Among the oldest re- 
 mains of Greek sculpture are specimens 
 of carvings in relief. A good example 
 of this archaic phase of Greek sculpture 
 is seen in the tombstone of Aristion 
 (Fig. i2o), discovered in Attica in 1838. 
 The date of this work is placed at about 
 500 B. c. A sort of Assyrian or Egyptian 
 rigidity still binds the limbs of the figure ; 
 still there are suggestions of the grace 
 and freedom of a truer and higher art.^ 
 
 326. The ^Period of Perfection of 
 Greek Sculpture : the Age of Phidias. 
 Greek sculpture was at its best in the last 
 three quarters of the fifth century B.C., 
 when art, like all other Greek activities, 
 
 felt the thrill and stimulation of the great achievements of the War 
 of Liberation. Our space will permit us merely to mention three or 
 
 Fig. 121. The Charioteer 
 
 (Date about 477 li.c. — artist 
 
 unknown ; found at Delphi) 
 
 " The bronze charioteer is, on the 
 
 whole, the finest Greek bronze 
 
 statue in existence." — Fowler and 
 
 Wheeler 
 
 1 Other specimens o£ this early art are the sculptures of a temple of the city of 
 Selinus in Sicily (date about 600 B.C.) and the celebrated figures of the temple at 
 .Egina, now in the Museum of Munich. 
 
§326] PERFECTION OF GREEK SCULPTURE 293 
 
 four of the great sculptors who contributed to the glory of the age, 
 and name what the world regards as their Masterpieces. 
 
 Myron, whose best work was executed probably about 460 B.C., 
 was a contemporary of Phidias. His worjcs were chiefly in bronze. 
 They were strikingly lifelike. Tt is told that he once made a cow 
 which was so true to life that pass- 
 ing shepherds tried to drive it off 
 with their herds. One of his most 
 celebrated pieces was the Discoh- 
 olus, or " Discus-thrower," which 
 represents the athlete just in the 
 act of pitching the discus. The ac- 
 companying cut (Fig. 122) is from 
 a copy in marble of the bronze 
 original. '^ 
 
 But the preeminent sculptor of 
 this period of perfection was 
 Phidias. " Myron," says the his- 
 torian Holm, " brought art to the 
 verge of perfection, Phidias con- 
 ducted it into the sanctuary itself." 
 Phidias was almost the only Greek 
 sculptor whose name really lived 
 in the memory and imagination of 
 the Middle Ages. He was an Athe- 
 nian and was bom about 488 B.C. He 
 delighted in the beautiful myths and 
 legends of the heroic age, and from 
 these often drew subjects for his art. 
 
 Phidias being an architect as well as a sculptor, his patron Pericles 
 gave into his hands the general superintendence of those magnificent 
 buildings with which the Athenians at just this time were adorning 
 
 1 Almost all the masterpieces of the Greek sculptors have perished ; they are known 
 to us only through copies. But to these copies is attributed by archseologists a special 
 value, since they represent, in the language of Furtwangler, "that pick of the master- 
 pieces of the classical epoch which pleased ancient taste and connoisseurship in the 
 times of the highest culture." 
 
 Fig. 122. Throwing the Discus, 
 
 OR QcroiT. (The "Discobolus of 
 
 Myron," Vatican Museum) 
 
 " For its age one of the most wonderful 
 of human works." — Percy Gardner 
 
294 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AN'D SCULPTURE [§326 
 
 their city. It was his genius which, as already mentioned, created the 
 marvelous figures of the pediments and of the frieze of the Parthenon.' 
 The most celebrated of his colossal sculptures were the statue 
 of the goddess Athena within the Parthenon and that of Olympian 
 Zeus in the temple at Olympia. The statue of Athena was about 
 forty feet in height, and was constructed of ivory and gold, the 
 hair, weapons, sandals, and drapery being of the latter material. 
 
 Fig. 123. Athenian Youth in Procession. (From the frieze of the 
 Parthenon) 
 
 The statue of Olympian Zeus was also of ivory and gold. It was 
 sixty feet high and represented the god seated on his throne. The 
 hair, beard, and drapery were of gold. The eyes were brilliant stones. 
 Gems of great value decked the throne, and figures of exquisite de- 
 sign were sculptured on the golden robe. The colossal proportions 
 of this wonderful work, as well as the lofty yet benign aspect of the 
 
 1 That is to say, the designs were his ; but a great part of the actual sculpturing must 
 have been done by other hands worliing under the direction of the master mind. The 
 subject of the wonderful frieze was the procession which formed the most important 
 feature of the Athenian festival known as the Great Panathensa, which was celebrated 
 every four years in honor of the patron goddess of Athens. The greater part of the frieze 
 and of the pediment statues are now in the British Museum, the Parthenon having been 
 largely despoiled of its coronal of sculptures by Lord Elgin. Read Lord Byron's The 
 Curse of Mincva. To the poet Lord Elgin's act appeared worse than vandalism. 
 
§ 327] 
 
 POLYCLITUS AND P^ONIUS 
 
 295 
 
 countenance, harmonized well with the popular conception of the 
 majesty and grace of the " father of gods and men.'' It was thought 
 a great misfortune to die without having seen the Olympian Zeus} 
 The statue was in existence for eight hundred 
 years. It is believed to have been carried to 
 Constantinople and to have perished there in a 
 conflagration in the fifth century a.d.^ 
 
 327. Polyclitus and Paeonius. At the same 
 time that Phidias was executing his ideal repre- 
 sentations of the gods, Polyclitus the Elder, whose 
 home was at Argos, was producing his renowned 
 bronze statues of athletes. Among his pieces was 
 one representing a spear bearer, which was re- 
 garded as so perfect as to be known as " the Rule." '^ 
 Another name belonging to this period of bloom 
 has been given new re- 
 nown by the fresh art 
 treasures recovered at 
 Olympia. Among the 
 sculptures exhumed was 
 a Nike, or ': Victory" 
 (Fig. 126), by the artist 
 Paeonius. This beautiful 
 statue was, according to 
 a tradition current in the 
 time of Pausanias, set up 
 
 Fig. 124. Athena 
 Pakthenos 
 
 After a statue found at 
 Athens in 1880, which 
 is supposed to be a 
 copy, executed in the 
 second century of our 
 era, of the colossal 
 statue of Athena by 
 Phidias 
 
 Fig. 125. Head OF THE 
 Olympian Zeus by 
 Phidias. (From a coin) 
 
 1 " Phidias avowed that he took his idea from the representation which Homer gives 
 in the first book of the Iliad in the passage thus translated by Pope : 
 
 " He spake, and awful bends his sable brow, 
 Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod, 
 The stamp of fate and sanction of the god. 
 High heaven with reverence the dread signal took, 
 And all Olympus to the center shook." 
 
 BuLFlNCH, Age of Fable 
 
 2 Phidias met an unmerited fate. He was prosecuted on the charge of sacrilege 
 because he introduced among the figures on the shield of Athena portraits of his patron 
 Pericles and himself. According to Plutarch, he died in prison. 
 
 a Other celebrated works of Polyclitus were his Amazon and his ^«»-a — the latter a 
 gold and ivory statue which was greatly admired by his contemporaries. 
 
296 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE [§328 
 
 at Olympia by the Messenians in commemoration of the humiliation 
 inflicted upon the Spartans, their age-long oppressors, by the affair at 
 Sphacteria during the course of the Peloponnesian War (sect. 254). 
 
 328. Scopas, Praxiteles, and Lysippus (fourth century b.c.). 
 Though Greek sculpture attained its highest perfection in the fifth 
 century, still the following century produced sculptors whose work 
 possessed qualities of rare excellence. 
 Among the names of this period those of 
 Scopas, Praxiteles, and Lysippus hold a 
 chief place. Scopas (flourished about 395- 
 35qB.c.) was one of ■ the sculptors who 
 cut the figures of the Mausoleum at Hali- 
 carnassus. To him, of to one of his school, 
 is also ascribed by some the famous 
 composition known as the Nidbe Group. 
 
 But the most eminent sculptor of this 
 period was Praxiteles (period of activity 
 about 360-340 B.C.), of jvhom it has been 
 said that he "rendered into stone the 
 moods of the soul." Among his chief pieces 
 may be mentioned the Cnidian Aphrodite, 
 the Satyr, and the Hermes. The first of 
 these, which stood in the temple of Aphro- 
 dite at Cnidus, was regarded by the ancients 
 as the most perfect embodiment of the god- 
 dess of beauty. Pilgrimages were made 
 from remote countries to Cnidus for the 
 sake of looking upon the matchless statue. 
 Many copies were set up in different cities. 
 The Satyr also was greatly admired by the ancients and was often 
 copied. The copy in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome, — the one 
 made known to all the world through Hawthorne's romance of the 
 Marble Fatal, — is merely one of the finest of the existing copies of 
 the masterpiece. 
 
 The Hermes was set up in the temple of Hera at Olympia. To 
 the great joy of archasologists this precious memorial of antiquity 
 
 Fig. 126. Nike, or Vic- 
 tory, of Pteonius. (Found 
 at Olympia) 
 
 "It might almost be said that 
 in the plastic art of all times 
 and all peoples there is no 
 human figure that gives such 
 an illusion of floating and 
 fiying." — Furtwangler 
 
§329] SCULPTURE IN THE HELLENISTIC AGE 297 
 
 was discovered by the German excavators of Olympia in 1877, so 
 that now we possess an undoubtedly original work, though not the 
 best, of one of the great masters of Greek sculpture (Fig. 127). 
 
 Lysippus, a native of Sicyon, is renowned for his works in bronze.^ 
 His period of activity falls in the last half of the fourth century B.C. 
 His statues were in great demand. Alexander gave the artist many 
 orders for statues of 
 himself, and, it is said, 
 would permit no other 
 artist to portray him. 
 
 329. Sculpture in the 
 Hellenistic Age.^ The 
 Hellenistic period has 
 been called the Silver 
 Age of Greek art, this 
 term of course implying 
 the inferior character of 
 its products compared 
 with the works of the 
 preceding age. But in 
 truth some of the finest 
 pieces of Greek sculpture 
 were produced during 
 this period. Among such 
 are the Victory of Samo- 
 thrace (Fig. 128), the so- 
 called Sarcophagus of Alexander (Fig. 1 1 1), and probably the Aphrodite 
 ofMelos (Fig. 129), which are masterpieces of the Greek artistic genius. 
 
 Along with these works which preserve the qualities of the purest 
 Hellenic art there are others which mark a great change in taste, 
 and which may be designated as Hellenistic. Thus one of the 
 tendencies of the sculpture of the age, in contrast with the restraint, 
 
 1 The statue of Sophocles (Fig. 135) is after Lysippus. 
 
 2 Several of the most remarkable works of sculpture of this period — the Colossus of 
 Rhodes (sect. 305), the Dying Gaul (sect. 306), and the giant figures of the Pergamene 
 Altar (sect. 306) —have already been noticed in connection with the political events with 
 which they stand in close relation. 
 
 Fig. 127. Hermes with the Infant 
 •Dionysus 
 
 An original work -of Praxiteles, found in 1877 at 
 Olympia 
 
298 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE [§ 330 
 
 dignity, and quiet charm of pure Attic art, is the portrayal of violent 
 
 action and passion. The most famous work showing this character- 
 istic is the group known as the 
 Laocoon (Fig. 130). 
 
 Another characteristic of Hellenistic 
 sculpture is its fondness for the repre- 
 sentation of rustic or simple every- 
 day life and 
 scenes. As a 
 good example 
 of this tend- 
 ency we show 
 the fine relief 
 of a peasant 
 driving a cow 
 to market (see 
 illustration at 
 end of this 
 chapter). This 
 tendency in 
 art, it is in- 
 teresting to 
 note, had its 
 
 counterpart in literature in the idylls of 
 
 Theocritus (sect. 352). 
 
 F1G.128. TheNikk.orVictory, 
 ofSamothrace. (Louvre, Paris) 
 
 Set up on the island of Samothrace 
 by Demetrius Poliorcetes of Mace- 
 donia in commemoration of a naval 
 victory over Ptolemy of Egypt in 
 306 B.C. 
 
 III. PAINTING 
 
 Fig. 129. Aphrodite OF 
 
 MiLOS 
 
 "Venus of Milo" (Louvre, 
 Paris) 
 
 330. Introductory. Not a single work of 
 any great painter of Greek antiquity has sur- 
 vived the accidents of time. Consequently 
 our knowledge of Greek painting is derived 
 in the main from vase paintings, from some interesting portraits 
 (dating probably from the second century of our era), found in 
 graves in Lower Egypt (see Fig. 131), and from Roman wall- 
 paintings and mosaics which were copies of celebrated paintings by 
 Greek masters. In addition, however, to this material on which to 
 
§331] 
 
 POLYGNOTUS 
 
 299 
 
 base an opinion we have the description by old writers of renowned 
 paintings, and their anecdotes of great painters. These classic stories 
 are always epigrams of criticism, and thus possess a technical as well 
 as a literary and historical value. 
 
 331. Polygnotus. Polygnotus (flourished 475-455 B.C.) has been 
 called the Prometheus of painting, because he was the first to give 
 fire and animation to the ex- 
 pression of the countenance. 
 " In his hand," it is affirmed, 
 " the human features became 
 for the first time the mirror of 
 the soul." He seems to have 
 excelled in the expression of 
 pathos. Of a Polyxena' 
 painted by this great master 
 it was said that she "carried 
 in her eyelids the whole his- 
 tory of the Trojan War." 
 
 332 . Zeuzis and Parrhasius. 
 These great artists lived and' 
 painted in the later years of 
 the fifth century B.C. A 
 favorite and familiar story 
 preserves their names as com- 
 panions and commemorates 
 their rival genius. 2^uxis, 
 such is the story, painted a 
 cluster of grapes which so 
 closely imitated the real fruit 
 that the birds pecked at them. 
 His rival, for his piece, painted a curtain. Zeuxis asked Parrhasius 
 to draw aside the veil and exhibit his picture. " I confess I am sur- 
 passed," generously admitted Zeuxis to his rival ; " I deceived birds, 
 but you have deceived the eyes of an experienced artist." 
 
 1 PoljTtena was a daughter of the Trojan Priam, famous for her beauty and 
 sufferings. 
 
 Fig. 130. The Laocoon Group 
 (Vatican Museum) 
 
 Found at Rome in 1506. The subject repre- 
 sented is the cruel suffering inflicted upon 
 Laocoon, a Trojan priest, and his two sons, 
 through the agency of terrible serpents sent 
 by Athena, whose anger Laocoon had incurred 
 (see Aineid^ ii, 212-224) 
 
300 GREEK ARCHITECTURE ANb SCULPTURE [§333 
 
 333. Apelles. Apelles, who has been called the " Raphael of 
 antiquity," was the court painter of Alexander the Great. He was 
 such a consummate master of the art of painting and carried it to 
 such a state of perfection that the ancient .writers spoke of it as the 
 "Art of Apelles." 
 
 That Apelles, like Zeuxis and Parrhasiu^, painted lifelike pictures 
 is shown by the following story. In a con- 
 test between him and some rival artists, horses 
 were the objects represented. Perceiving that 
 the judges were unfriendly to him, Apelles 
 insisted that less prejudiced judges, namely, 
 some horses that we;re near, should pronounce 
 upon the merit of the respective pieces. When 
 brought before the pictures of his rivals the 
 horses exhibited no concern; but upon being 
 shown the painting of Apelles they manifested 
 by neighing and other intelligent signs their 
 instant recognition of the companions the 
 great master had created. 
 
 In the hands of Apelles Greek painting 
 attained its highest excellence. After him the 
 art declined, and no other really great name 
 appears. 
 
 Fig. 131. Portrait IN 
 
 Wax Paint 
 
 {From the Fayum) 
 
 " These paintings [Fayum 
 portraits] give us a better 
 idea of what ancient paint- 
 ing was, and what a higli 
 state it must have reached 
 in its prime, than anything 
 yet known, excepting 
 some Pompeian frescoes." 
 — Flinders Petrie 
 
 Selection from the.Sources. Pausanias, x. 25- 
 31 (description of the paintings of Polygnotus at 
 Delphi). 
 
 References (Modern). Hamlin, Text-book of 
 the History of Architenture, chaps, vi, vii. FoWLER 
 and Wheeler, Greek Archeology. Richardson, 
 History of Greek Sculpture. Reinach, ^/oZ/ff, chaps, iv-ix. MURRAY, Hand- 
 book of Greek Archaology; A History of Creek Sculpture, 2 vols.; and The 
 Sculptures of the Parthenon. Perrot and Chipiez, History of Art in Primitive 
 Greece, 2 vols. E. A. Gardner, Ancient Athens and Handbook of Greek Sculp- 
 ture. DiEHL, Excursion's in Greece, chap, iv (gives the results of excavations 
 made on the Acropolis of Athens during the years 1883-1889). Furtw angler, 
 Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture. VON Mach, Greek Sculpture : its Spirit and 
 Principles. PERCY Gardner, Principles of Greek Art. Tarbell, A History of 
 Greek Art. YIk^S-Iso^, Introductory Studies in Greek Art. Va^vi, The Two Great 
 
REFERENCES 
 
 301 
 
 Art Epochs (first part). Teachers will enjoy Pater, Greek Studies. Consult also 
 by means of indexes and tables of contents the histories of Curtius, Gkote, 
 Abbott, and Holm. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Greek art as = reflection of Greek history: 
 Percy Gardner, Principles of Greek Art, chap, xix, "Art in Relation to 
 History." z. Building material and methods ; JFowler and Wheeler, Creek 
 Archeology, chap, ii, pp. 96-108. 3. The Great Altar of Zeus Soter at Perga- 
 mum : Reinach, Apollo, pp. 69, 70 ; Fowler and Wheeler, Greek Archceology, 
 pp. 181-183, 284-286. 4- Attic art : Tucker, Zi/* « ^««V«< /4W^«.r, chap. xvi. 
 5. Greek painting and mosaic : Fowler and Wheeler, Greek Archeology, chap, ix ; 
 Percy Gardner, Principles of Greek Art. chap, xii. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 GREEK LITERATURE 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY 
 
 334. The Greeks as Literary Artists. It was that same exquisite 
 sense of fitness and proportion and beauty which made the Greeks 
 artists in marble that also made them artists in language. "Of all 
 the beautiful things which they created," says Professor Jebb, "their 
 own language was the most beautiful," This language they wrought 
 into epics and lyrics and dramas and histories and orations as incom- 
 parable in form and beauty as their temples and statues. 
 
 Even the Greek philosophers arranged and expressed their ideas 
 and speculations with such regard to the rules of literary art that 
 many of their productions are fairly entitled to a place in literature 
 proper. Especially is this true of the earlier Greek philosophers, 
 who wrote in hexameter verse, and of Plato, in whose works the 
 profoundest speculations are embodied in the most perfect literary 
 form. But since Greek philosophy, viewed as a system of thought, 
 had a development distinct from that of Greek literature proper, 
 we shall deal with it in a separate chapter, contenting ourselves here 
 with merely pointing out the unusually close connection in ancient 
 Greece between philosophy and literature. 
 
 335. Periods of Greek Literature. Greek literature, for the tinie 
 covered by our history, is usually divided into three periods, as 
 follows: (i) the period before 475 B.C.; (2) the Attic or Golden 
 Age (475-300 B.C.); (3) the Alexandrian Age (300-146 B.C.). 
 
 The first period gave birth to epic and lyric poetry; the second, 
 to history, oratory, and, above all, to dramatic literature; while 
 the third period was one of decline, during which the productions 
 of the preceding epochs were worked over and commented upon 
 or feebly imitated. 
 
 302 
 
§336] EPIC POETRY: THE HOMERIC PO^MS 303 
 
 II. .THE PERIOD BEFORE 475 b.q. 
 
 336. Epic Poetry : the Homeric Poems. The most precious literary 
 products of the springtime of Greece, as we have learned (sect. 167), 
 are the so-called Homeric poems — the Eiad and the Odyssey. 
 
 Until the rise of modern German criticism these poems were 
 almost universally ascribed 
 to a single bard named 
 Homer, who was believed 
 to have lived about the mid- 
 dle of the ninth century B.C., 
 one or two centuries after 
 the events commemorated 
 in his poems. Tradition 
 represents seven different 
 cities as contending for the 
 honor of having been his 
 birthplace. He traveled 
 widely (so it was believed), 
 lost his sight, and then as 
 a wandering minstrel sang 
 his immortal verses to admir- 
 ing listeners in the different 
 cities of Hellas. 
 
 But it is now the opinion 
 of the majority of scholars 
 that the Jliad and the 
 Odyssey, as they stand to- 
 day, are not, either of them, 
 the creation of a single poet. They are believed to be the work of many 
 bards. The " Wrath of Achilles," however, which forms the nucleus 
 of the Miad, may, with very great probability, be ascribed to Homer, 
 whom we may believe to have been the most prominent of a brother- 
 hood of bards who flourished about the ninth and eighth centuries B.C. 
 The Odyssey is probably at least a century later than the Iliad} 
 
 1 During the last twenty years the opinion has been growing that each poem, practi- 
 cally in its entirety, is the work of a single poet. 
 
 EiG. 132. Homer 
 Ideal portrait of the Hellenistic Age 
 
304 GREEK LITERATURE [§337 
 
 337. Hesiod. Hesiod, a Boeotian, who is believed to have lived 
 towards the dose of the eighth century B.e., was the poet of nature 
 and of real life, especially of peasant life, in the dim transition age of 
 Hellas (sect. 152). The Homeric bards sang of the deeds of heroes, 
 and of a far-away time when gods mingle^ with men. Hesiod sings 
 of common men, and of everyday, present duties. His greatest poem, 
 a didactic epic, is entitled Works and Days. This is, in the main, a 
 sort of farmer's calendar, in which the poet points out to the husband- 
 man the lucky and unlucky days for doing certain kinds of work, gives 
 him minute instructions respecting farm labor, discourses on justice 
 
 Fig, 133. Hoeing and Ploughing. (From a vase painting of the sixth 
 
 century B.C.) 
 
 " Pray to Zeus . . . when thou beginnest thy labor, as soon as, putting thy hand to the 
 
 plough, thou touchest the back of the oxen that draw at the oaken beam. Just behind 
 
 thee, let a servant, equipped with a mattock, raise trouble for the birds by covering the 
 
 seed." — Hesiod, Works and Days^wi. ifi^-i,Ti (Croiset's trans.) 
 
 (in spite of all the injustice of the evil age in which Hesiod lived he 
 kept his faith in the justice of heaven), and intersperses among all 
 his practical lines homely maxims of morality and beautiful descrip- 
 tive passages of the changing seasons. 
 
 338. Lyric Poetry: Pindar. As epic poetry, represented by the 
 Homeric and Hesiodic poems, was the characteristic production of 
 the earlier part of the first period of Greek literature, so was lyric 
 poetry the most noteworthy product of the: latter part of the period.* 
 
 The ^olian island of Lesbos was the hearth and home of several 
 of the earlier lyric poets. The songs of these Lesbian bards fairly 
 
 1 This species of poetry had a forerunner in Archilbchus, who belongs to the early 
 part of the seventh century B.C. He wrote both elegies and lyrics, of which we have 
 only fragments. He possessed in rare measure " the lovely gift of the Muses " ; but his 
 satires were often coarse and venomous. 
 
§339] GOLDEN AGE OF GREEK LITERATURE 305 
 
 glow and quiver with ardent passion. Among the earliest of these 
 singers were Alcasus and Sappho. 
 
 The poetess Sappho (about 600 b. c), " the poetess of love and 
 beauty," was exalted by the Greeks to a place next to Homer. Plato 
 calls her the tenth Muse. "Of all the poets of the world," writes 
 Symonds, " of all the illustrious artists of literature, Sappho is the one 
 whose every word has a peculiar and unmistakable perfume, a seal 
 of absolute and inimitable grace,'' Although her fame endures, her 
 poetry, except a few precious verses (some of which were recently 
 found in Egypt), has long since perished. 
 
 Anacreon, as already mentioned, was a courtier at the time of the 
 Greek tyrannies. He was a native of loniaj but passed much of his 
 time as a favored minstrel at the court of Polycrates of Samos 
 (sect. 192) and of the tyrant Hipparchus at Athens. 
 
 Simonides of Ceos (556-467 B.C.) lived during the Persian Wars. 
 He composed immortal couplets for the taonuments of the fallen 
 heroes of Thermopylae and Salamis. These epigrams were burned 
 into the very soul of every person in Hellas. 
 
 But the greatest of the Greek lyric poetSi=and perhaps the greatest 
 lyric poet of any age or race, was Pindar (522-448 B.C.). He 
 was a citizen of Thebes, but spent much of his time in the cities 
 of Magna Grsecia. The greater number of Pindar's poems were in- 
 spired by the scenes of th^ national festivals. They describe in lofty 
 strains the splendors of the Olympic chariot races, or the glory of 
 the victors at the Isthmian, the Nemean, and the Pythian games. 
 
 Pindar insists strenuously upon virtue and self-culture. With deep 
 meaning, he says, " Become that which thou art " ; that is, Be what 
 you were made to be. 
 
 III. THE ATTIC OR GOLDEN AGE (475-300 B.C.) 
 
 339. Influences Favorable to a Great Literature. The Golden Age of 
 Greek literature followed the Persian Wars and was in a large meas- 
 ure produced by them. Eveiy great literary outburst is the result 
 of a profound stirring of the depths of national life. All Hellas 
 had been profoundly moved by the tremendous struggle for political 
 
3o6 
 
 GREEK ETTERATURE 
 
 [§340 
 
 existence. Athens especially had risked all and achieved all. Her citi- 
 zens now felt an unwonted exaltation of life. Hence Athens naturally 
 became the home and center of the literary activity of the period. 
 
 The Attic literature embraces almost every species of composition, 
 yet its most characteristic forms are drarna, history, and oratory. 
 Especially favorable were the influences of the time for the production 
 of great dramatic works. The two conditions, " intense activity and 
 an appreciative audience," without which, it is asserted, a period of 
 great drama cannot occur, met in the Age of Pericles. Hence the 
 unrivaled excellence of the Attic drama, the noblest production of 
 the artistic genius of the Greeks. 
 
 The Greek Drama and Dramatists 
 
 340. Origin of the Greek Drama. The Greek drama, in both its 
 branches of tragedy and comedy, grew out of the songs and dances 
 
 instituted in honor of 
 Dionysus, the god of 
 wine. 
 
 Tragedy (goat song, 
 possibly from the ac- 
 companying sacrifice 
 of a goat) sprang from 
 the graver songs, and 
 comedy (village song) 
 from the lighter and 
 more farcical ones. 
 
 Fig. 134. Bacchic Procession 
 
 Gradually recital and dialogue were added, there being at first but a 
 single speaker, then two, and finally three — the classical number. 
 Thespis (about 534 B.C.) is said to have introduced this idea of an 
 actor or reciter, hence the term Thespian applied to the tragic drama. 
 Owing to its origin, the Greek drama always retained a religious 
 character and, further, presented two distinct features — the chorus 
 (the songs and dances) and the dialogue. At first the chorus was the 
 all-important part ; but later the dialogue became the more prominent 
 portion, the chorus, however, always remaining an essential feature 
 
§341] THE SUBJECTS OF THE TllAGIC POETS 307 
 
 of the performance. Finally, in the golden age of the Attic stage, the 
 chorus dancers and singers were carefully trained at great expense, 
 and the dialogue and choral odes formed'the masterpiece of some 
 great poet — and then the Greek drama, tihe most splendid creation 
 of human genius, was complete. 
 
 341. The Subjects of the Tragic Poets. The tragic poets of Athens 
 drew the material of their plays chiefly from the myths and legends 
 of the heroic age, just as Shakespeare for many of his plays used the 
 legends of the semihistorical periods of his own country or of other 
 lands. These legendary tales they handled freely, so changing, color- 
 ing, and moralizing them as to render them the vehicle for the con- 
 veying of great ethical lessons, or of profound philosophical ideas 
 regarding the divine government of the world. 
 
 342. The Leading Idea of Greek Tragedy. Symonds believes the 
 fundamental idea of Greek tragedy to be the doctrine of Nemesis. 
 Nemesis, it will be recalled, was the goddess who punished pride 
 and presumption. 
 
 To understand how the Greeks should have come to regard inso- 
 lent self-assertion or the unrestrained indulgence of appetite or pas- 
 sion as the most heinous of sins, we must recall the legend upon 
 the front of the Delphian temple — "Measure in all things." As 
 proportion was the cardinal element of beauty in art, so was wise 
 moderation the prime quality in virtue. Those who moderated not 
 their desire of fame, of wealth, of dominior],, were the most impious 
 of men, and all such the avenging Nemesis failed not to bring, 
 through their own mad presumption and overvaulting ambition, to 
 overwhelming and irretrievable ruin. 
 
 We shall see in a moment how this idea inspired some of the 
 greatest of the Greek dramas. 
 
 343. The Three Great Tragic Poets. There are three great 
 names in Greek tragedy — ^.schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. 
 These dramatists, as we have seen (sect. 247), all wrote during the 
 century which followed the victories of the Persian Wars. Of the 
 two hundred and fifty-eight dramas produced by these poets, only 
 thirty-two have come down to us; all the others have perished 
 through the accidents of time. 
 
3o8 
 
 GREEK LITERATURE 
 
 [§343 
 
 ^schylus (525-456 B.C.) is called "the father of tragedy." He 
 belonged to the generation preceding the Age of Pericles. He aimed 
 so to interpret the national myths and legends as to make them a 
 means of moral instruction and stimulus. Prometheus Bound is one 
 
 of his chief works — "one of 
 the boldest and most original 
 dramas," Ranke declares, " that 
 has ever been written." He 
 makes prominent Prometheus' 
 faults of impatience and self- 
 will, and shows that his suffer- 
 ings are but the just penalty 
 of his presumption and self- 
 assertion.* 
 
 Another of the great tragedies 
 of ^schylus is his Agamemnon^ 
 thought by some to be his master- 
 piece. The subject is the crime 
 of Clytemnestra (sect. 144). It 
 is a tragedy crowded with spirit- 
 shaking terrors and filled with 
 more than human crimes and 
 woes. Nowhere is portrayed with 
 greater power the awful venge- 
 ance with which the implacable 
 Nemesis is armed.'' 
 
 1 In punishment for having stolen fire 
 from heaven and given it to men, and 
 for having taught them the arts of life, 
 the Titan Prometheus is chained by 
 Zeus to a lonely crag, and an eagle is 
 sent to feed upon his liver, which each 
 night grows anew. For the scene of the 
 
 Prometheus Bound, see Joseph Edward Harry, The Greek Tragic Poets, pp. 14 f., 22 ff. 
 2 The Agamemnon forms the first of a trilogy, that is, a series of three dramas, 
 
 the other pieces being entitled the Clioiphora and the Eumenides. These continue the 
 
 subject of the Agamemnon, so that the three really form a single drama or story. 
 
 This trilogy of ^schylus is the only one from the ancient stage of which all the parts 
 
 have come down to us. 
 
 Fig. 135. Sophocles. (Lateran, 
 Rome) 
 
§343J 
 
 THE THREE GREAT TRAGIC POETS 
 
 309 
 
 The theme of the Persians, as we have already learned, was the 
 defeat of Xerxes and his host, which afforded the poet a good oppor- 
 tunity " to state his philosophy of Nemesis, here being a splendid 
 tragic instance of pride humbled, of greatness brought to nothing, 
 through one man's impiety and pride." The, poet teaches that " Zeus 
 tames excessive lifting up of heart." 
 
 Sophocles (about 496-405 B.C.), while yet a young man, gained the 
 prize in a poetical contest with ^schylus (468 B.C.). Plutarch says 
 that .^schylus was so chagrined by 
 his defeat that he left Athens and re- 
 tired to Sicily. In any event, Soph- 
 ocles now became prominent as a 
 leader of tragedy at Athens. He 
 lived through nearly a century — a 
 century, too, that included the most 
 brilliant period of the life of Hellas. 
 His dramas, judged by those that 
 have been spared to us, were perfect 
 works of art. 
 
 The central idea of his dramas is 
 essentially the same as that which 
 characterizes those of .^Eschylus, 
 namely, that self-will and insolent 
 pride arouse the righteous indignation of the gods, and that no mortal 
 can contend successfully against the will of Zeus. The chief works of 
 Sophocles are CEdipus the King, CEdipus at Colonus, and Antigone, 
 all of which are founded upon old tales of the prehistoric royal line 
 of Thebes. 
 
 Euripides (480-406 B.C.) though unpopular at first became as time 
 passed more popular than either vEschylus or Sophocles. ^Eschylus 
 was too lofty and severe, and Sophocles tqo old-fashioned and pious, 
 to please the people, after the state of exalted religious feeling 
 awakened by the tremendous experiences of the Persian Wars had 
 passed away. Euripides was a better representative than either of 
 the new age that opened with the Peloponnesian War — an age of 
 new ideas and of growing disbelief in the ancestral religion. 
 
 Fig. 136. 
 
 Euripides. (Vatican, 
 Rome) 
 
3 Id GREEK LITERATU.RE [§344 
 
 The fame of Euripides passed far beyond the limits of Greece. It 
 is asserted that his verses were recited by the natives of the remote 
 country of Gedrosia ; and Plutarch says that the Sicilians vi^ere so 
 fond of his lines that many of the Athenian prisoners, taken before 
 Syracuse, bought their liberty by teaching -their masters such of his 
 verses as they could repeat from memory. 
 
 344. Comedy: Aristophanes. Foremost among all writers of 
 comedy must be placed Aristophanes (about 450-385 B.C.). For a 
 generation — the generation, speaking broadly, of the Peloponnesian 
 War — his inimitable humor furnished the Athenians with a chief 
 part of their entertainment in the theater.* Nothing or no one was 
 immune from the shafts of his caustic and often coarse wit. The 
 statesman Pericles, whom he called " the onion-headed Zeus " from 
 the peculiar shape of his head and his Olympian bearing, and the 
 demagogue Cleon were alike the butt of his ridicule. He parodied 
 the stories of Herodotus, and travestied the tragic style of Euripides 
 — even .^schylus and Sophocles did not escape. He caricatured 
 Socrates and ridiculed the New Education and the Sophists (sect. 246), 
 of whom he made Socrates the repre.sentative. He even made the 
 Athenians laugh at themselves as he held ijp to mirth-provoking ridi- 
 cule their mania for everything new, their credulity and fickleness, 
 and their other foibles and weaknesses, and made fun of their pro- 
 ceedings in the Ecclesia, and their fondness for sitting daylong in 
 their great law courts, and their way of doing things in general. 
 
 But Aristophanes was something more than a master of political 
 and social and literary comedy and satire. Many of the lyrics form- 
 ing the choruses of his pieces breathe the ffinest sentiments and are 
 inexpressibly charming and beautiful.^ 
 
 History and Historians 
 
 Poetry is the first form of literary expression among all peoples. 
 So we must not be surprised to find that it was not until two cen- 
 turies or more after the composition of the Homeric poems, that is, 
 
 1 His best-known plays are the Knights, the Clouds, tiienWasps, the Birds, and the Frogs. 
 
 2 Menander (342-292 e. c.) was, after Aristophanes, the most noted of Greelc comic 
 poets. He was the leader of what is known as the New Comedy. 
 
§ 345] 
 
 HERODOTUS 
 
 3" 
 
 about the sixth century r.c, that prose writing began among the 
 Greeks. During the next century and a half there appeared three 
 famous historians — Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon — whose 
 names were cherished among the ancients, and whose writings are 
 highly valued and carefully studied at the present day. The relation of 
 these writers to the political history of their respective periods has 
 already been noted in our narrative of events.^ In this place we 
 shall add only a few biographical facts about each together with brief 
 mention of his most important works. 
 
 345. Herodotus (about 484-42S B.C.). He- 
 rodotus was, as we have learned, one of the 
 throng of men of brilliant genius who made 
 so preeminent in history the Age of Pericles 
 (sect. 244). He gathered material for his writ- 
 ings through wide travel and by converse with 
 everybody who had a fact to tell or a tale to 
 relate. He journeyed over much of the then 
 known world, visiting Egypt, Babylonia, and 
 Persia, and describes with never failing vivacity 
 and freshness the wonders of the different 
 lands he had seen. Herodotus lived in a story- 
 telling age, and he is himself an inimitable 
 story-teller. To him we are indebted for a 
 large part of the picturesque tales of antiquity 
 events of which the world will never tire, 
 
 Fig. 137. Hekodotus 
 
 (National Museum, 
 
 Naples) 
 
 - Stories of men and 
 He was overcredulous, 
 and was often imposed upon by his guides in Egypt and at Babylon ; 
 but he describes with great care and accuracy what he himself saw. 
 The central theme of his great history is the Persian Wars, the strug- 
 gle between Asia and Greece. Around this he groups the several 
 stories of the nations of antiquity. 
 
 346. Thucydides. Thucydides (about 471-400 B.C.), though not 
 so popular an historian as Herodotus, was a much more philosophical 
 writer. He was born near Athens. He held a command during the 
 earlier years of the Peloponnesian War, but having incurred the dis- 
 pleasure of the Athenians he was sent into the exile which afforded 
 See sects. 244, 251, 265, 
 
312 
 
 GREEK LITERATURE 
 
 [§347 
 
 him leisure to compose Iiis history of that great struggle. Through 
 the closest observation and study, he qualified himself to become 
 the historian of what he from the first foresaw would prove a 
 memorable war. 
 
 Thucydides died before his task was completed.' His work, in the 
 care shown to state the exact facts and to find the real causes of 
 events, is considered a model of historical writing. It was the first 
 scientific history. Demosthenes read and reread it to improve his 
 own style, and the greatest orators and historians of modern times 
 have been equally diligent students of the 
 work of the great Athenian. 
 
 347. Xenophon. Xenophon (about 445- 
 355 B.C.) was ah Athenian, and is known 
 both as a general and as a writer. The 
 works that render his name so familiar 
 are his Anabasis, a simple yet thrilling 
 narrative of the expedition of the Ten 
 Thousand Greeks (sect. 265), and his 
 Memorabilia, or " Recollections " of Soc- 
 rates. This work by his devoted yet by no 
 means brilliant pupil is the most realistic 
 portrait that we possess of that philosopher. 
 Xenophon's Cyropcedia, or " Education of Cyrus," is essentially an 
 historical romance, which portrays not alone the youth, but the 
 whole life of Cyrus the Great, besides dehrieating the manners and 
 institutions of the Persians. 
 
 Fig. 138. Thucydides 
 (National Museum, Naples' 
 
 . Oratory 
 
 348. Influence of Democratic Institutions. The art of oratory 
 among the Greeks was fostered and developed by the generally 
 democratic character of their institutions. In the public assemblies 
 of the free cities all questions that concerned the state were discussed 
 and decided. The gift of eloquence secured for its possessor a sure 
 preeminence and conferred a certain leadership in the affairs of state. 
 
 1 His history breaks off abruptly in the twenty-first year of the war. The Helknica 
 o£ Xenophon forms a continuation of the interrupted narrative. 
 
§349] DEMOSTHENES 313 
 
 The great jury courts of Athens (sect. 2:42) were also schools of 
 oratory ; for there a citizen was obliged to be his own advocate 
 and to defend his own case. Hence the attention bestowed upon 
 public speaking, and the high degree of perfection attained by the 
 Greeks in the difficult art of persuasion. Almost all the prominent 
 Athenian statesmen were, like Pericles, masters of oratory. 
 
 349. Demosthenes. It has been the fortune of Demosthenes 
 (385-322 B.C.) to have his name become throughout the world 
 the synonym of eloquence.'' The exercises and labors by which, 
 according to tradition, he achieved excellence in his art are held up 
 anew to each generation of youth as guides in the path to success. 
 
 The latter part of the life of Demosthenes is intertwined with that 
 of another and rival Athenian orator, ^schines. For his services to 
 the state, the Athenians awarded to Demosthenes a crown of gold. 
 jEschines, along with other enemies of the orator, attacked this 
 measure of the assembly and brought the matter to a trial. All 
 Athens and strangers from far and near gathered to hear the rival 
 orators ; for every matter at Athens was decided by a great debate. 
 Demosthenes' address, known as the Oration on the Crown, was an 
 unanswerable defense by Demosthenes of his whole policy of oppo- 
 sition to Philip of Macedon, and of his counsel to the Athenians to 
 try doubtful battle with him on the fatal field of Chaeronea (sect. 275). 
 The refrain that runs through all that part of the speech which deals 
 with this last crisis in the affairs of the Athenians is this : It is better 
 to have fought at Chaaronea and to have left our dead on the lost 
 field, than never to have undertaken battle in defense of the liberties 
 of Hellas. It was ours to do our duty, the issue rested with the gods, 
 ^schines was completely crushed. He left Athens and became a 
 teacher of oratory at Rhodes. 
 
 Respecting the several orations of Demosthenes against Philip of 
 Macedon, and the death of the eloquent patriot, we have already 
 spoken (sects. 275, 299). 
 
 1 Lysias (about 440-380 B.C,),Isocrates (436-338 B.C.), and Isa;us (born about 420 B.C.) 
 were all noted representatives of the art of political or forensic oratory, and forerunners 
 of Demosthenes. We should call Isocrates a rhetorician instead of an orator, as his dis- 
 courses (many of which were written for others to deliver) were intended to be read 
 rather than spoken. The Roman Cicero was his debtor and imitator. 
 
314 GREEK LITERATUJlE [§350 
 
 IV. THE ALEXANDRIAN AGE (300-146 b.c.) 
 
 350. Character of the Literature. The Alexandrian period of 
 Greek literature embraces the time between the break-up of Alex- 
 ander's empire and the conquest of Greece"by Rome (300-146 B.C.). 
 During this period Alexandria in Egypt was the chief center of liter- 
 ary activity, hence the term Alexandrian, applied to the literature 
 of the age. The great Museum and Library of the Ptolemies afforded 
 in that capital such facilities for students and authors as existed in no 
 other city in the world. But the creative age of Greek literature was 
 over. With the loss of political liberty and the decay of faith in the 
 old religion, literature was cut off from its sources of inspiration. 
 Consequently the Alexandrian literature lacked freshness and origi- 
 nality. It was imitative, critical, and learned. The writers of the 
 period were grammarians, commentators, and translators — in a 
 word, bookworms. 
 
 351. Translations and Chronicles. One of the most important 
 literary undertakings of the age was the translation of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures into Greek, of which mention has already been made 
 (sect. 310). It was also during this period 'that Manetho wrote from 
 the monuments his Chronicles of Egypt (sect. 22) and Berosus, a 
 Babylonian priest, compiled for one of the Syrian rulers the Chronicles 
 of Chaldea. We possess only fragments of these works, but these 
 have a high historical value. 
 
 352. Poetry and Romance. Of the poets of the period we need 
 mention only Theocritus, a native of Sicily, who lived and wrote for 
 a time at Alexandria under Ptolemy Philadelphus. " He is the only 
 one among the Alexandrian poets who belongs to the literature of the 
 world " (Holm). His rustic idylls mirror the simple, artless life of 
 the peasant shepherd of that age — and of every age. The Roman 
 Vergil was his imitator and debtor. 
 
 What Theocritus is in. the realm of pastoral poetry Callimachus 
 is in the domain of the love romance. He wrote the first love 
 tale of the type of the modern novel. "This love story," says 
 Professor Mahafty, commenting on the tale, " is undoubtedly the 
 first literary original of that sort of tale which makes falling in 
 
§353] CONCLUSION: GR^CO-ROMAN WRITERS 315 
 
 love and happy marriage the beginning and the end, while the 
 obstacles to this union form the details, of the plot.'"- 
 
 353. Conclusion : Graeco-Roman "Writers. After the Roman con- 
 quest of Greece, the center of Greek literary activity shifted from 
 Alexandria to Rome. Hence Greek literature now passes into what 
 is known as its Grseco-Roman period (146 B.C.-527 a.d.). 
 
 The most noted historical writer of the first part of this period 
 was Polybius (about 203-121 B.C.), who wrote a history of the 
 Roman conquests from 264 to 146 B.C. His work, though the 
 larger part of it has reached us in a mutilated state, is of great 
 worth ; for Polybius wrote with true insight and understanding of 
 matters that had become history in his own day. He was one of 
 the best informed of the writers of antiquity. Next to Herodotus 
 and Thucydides he is the truest interpreter to us of the life of the 
 ancient world. He lived to see the greater part of the world he 
 knew absorbed by the ever-growing empire of the city of Rome. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus, who lived under Augustus Cassar at Rome, was 
 the author of a general history of the world, of which we possess 
 only about one third. H'e was not a critical historian, but from those 
 portions of his work fortunately preserved we gather many facts 
 reported by no other writer. He tells us that he spent thirty years 
 in composing his history and traveled over a great part of Asia and 
 Europe that he might view with his own eyes the places of which 
 he had to write. 
 
 Plutarch (bom about 40 a.d.), "the prince of biographers," was 
 a native of Chaeronea in Boeotia. He will always live in literature 
 as the author of the Parallel Lives, in which, with great wealth of 
 illustrative anecdotes, he compares or contrasts Greek with Roman 
 statesmen and soldiers. One motive that led Plutarch to write the 
 book, as we may infer from the partiality which he displays for 
 his Greek heroes, was a desire to let the world know that Hellas 
 had once bred men the peers of the best men that Rome had ever 
 brought forth; another was "through the = example of great men to 
 
 1 Mahaffy, Greek Life and Tlwught (1887), p. 237. The story was simply an episode 
 in a long poem named ^tia. Some, however, fmd the first example of the new type of 
 love tale in the Lyde of Antiraachus of Colophon (flourished about 410 B.C.)., 
 
3i6 GREEK LITERATURE [§353 
 
 teach men to live well." And this last end he attained, for his work 
 has been and is a great force in the moral education of the world. 
 "" The Shakespearean gallery of characters owes a great debt to 
 Plutarch. Next to the Bible and the history of one's own country, 
 one might place the Lives in value for the promotion of character 
 in youth." ■" 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Homer, Iliad (Bryant's trans.), vi, 505-640 
 (the parting of Andromache and Hector). Sophocles, Antigone. .lEsCHYLUs, 
 Prometheus Bound. Davis's headings, pp. 335-337, " The Hymn of Cleanthes." 
 
 References (Modern). Croiset, An Abridged History of Greek Literature. 
 Wright, A Short History of Greek Literature. Jebb, Primer of Greek Literature 
 and Attic Orators, 2 vols. FelToN, Gi'eece, Ancient and Modem, vol. i, pp. 3- 
 267 (on the Greek language and Greek poetry) ; vol. ii, pp. 1 1 1-246 (six lectures 
 on the orators of Greece). Mahaffy, History of Classical Greek Literature, 
 2 vols. Jevons, History of Greek Literature. MURRAY, History of Ancient 
 Greek Literature. Capps, From Llomer to Theocritus. Barnett, The Creek 
 Drama (Primer). Symonds, Studies of the Greek'Poets, 2 vols. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Sappho: Manatt, ^ean Days, chap, xxv, 
 " Lesbos and the Lesbian Poets." 2. Presentation of a Greek drama at 
 Athens : Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens, chap. xii. 3. Pindar : Mahaffy, 
 Survey of Greek Civilization, pp. 91-96. 
 
 ^ Percy Gardner, Principles of Greek Art, p. 339. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE 
 
 354. The Seven Sages; the Forerunners. About 600 B.C. there 
 lived in different parts of Hellas many persons of real or reputed 
 originality and wisdom. Among these were seven men, called the 
 Seven Sages, who held the place of preeminence.-' To them be- 
 longs the distinction of having first aroused the Greek intellect to 
 philosophical thought. The wise sayings — such as " Know thy- 
 self," "Nothing in excess," "Wisdom is the fairest possession" — 
 attributed to them are beyond number. 
 
 While the maxims and proverbs ascribed to the sages, like the 
 so-called proverbs of Solomon, contain a vast amount of practical 
 wisdom, they do not constitute philosophy proper, which is a sys- 
 tematic search for the reason and causes of things. They form 
 simply the introduction or prelude to Greek philosophy. 
 
 355. The Fable Philosophy of ^sop. Connected with the names 
 of the Seven Wise Men is the name of ^sop, whom tradition makes 
 to have been a contemporary of Solon. The fables attributed to 
 him — such as "The Wolf and the Lamb," "The Body and the 
 Members," " The Fox and the Raven," " The Frogs Asking for a 
 King " — have been the delight of childhood from the days of JEsop 
 to our own. But it is the wisdom they embody which gives them a 
 place along with the epigrams of the sages. Simple as they seem, 
 these fables are inimitable, having a charm and flavor all their own. 
 Socrates filled some of his last hours, while Hn prison, in turning some 
 of them into verse ,^ and a collection of them which had passed down 
 through the Middle Ages was one of the first books printed after 
 
 . 1 As in the case of the seven wonders of the world,- ancient writers were not always 
 agreed as to what names should be accorded the honor of enrollment in the sacred 
 number. Thales, Solon, Periander, Cleobulus, Chilo, Bias, and Pittacus are, however, 
 usually reckoned as the Seven Wise Men. 2 Plato's Phado, 60. 
 
 317 
 
3l8 GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE [§356 
 
 the invention of printing in the fifteenth century.^ ^.sop was highly 
 honored by the Athenians, who, it is said, commissioned Lysippus to 
 make a bronze statue of him. This statue was, with deep significance, 
 accorded a place in front of the statues of the Seven Sages. 
 
 356. The Ionic Natural Philosophers; Thales. The first Greek 
 school of philosophy grew up in the cities of- Ionia, in Asia Minor, 
 where almost all forms of Hellenic culture seem to have had their 
 beginnings. The founder of the school was Thales of Miletus'' 
 (born about 640 B.C.), the Father of Greek Philosophy. 
 
 Thales visited Egypt, and it is probable that what he learned there 
 formed the basis of his work in geometry and astronomy. He is said 
 to have taught the Egyptians how to measure the height of the pyra- 
 mids by means of their shadows. He is also credited with having 
 foretold an eclipse of the sun — a very great scientific achievement. 
 
 Thales taught, as did the other Ionic philosophers, that there are 
 four elements — earth, water, air, and fire.° Out of these four elements 
 all things in heaven and earth were supposed to be made. 
 
 357. Pythagoras. Pythagoras (about 580-500 e.g.) was bom on 
 the island of Samos, whence his title of the " Samian Sage." The 
 most of his later years were passed at Croton, in Southern Italy, 
 where he became the founder of a celebrated brotherhood, or associa- 
 tion. Legend tells how his pupils, in the fii^st years of their novitiate, 
 were never allowed to look upon their master ; how they listened to 
 his lectures from behind a curtain ; and how in debate they used no 
 other argument than the words Ipse dixit (he himself said so). It is 
 to Pythagoras, according to the legend, that we are indebted for the 
 word philosopher. Being asked of what he was master, he replied 
 that he was simply a "philosopher," that'is, a "lover of wisdom.'' 
 
 In astronomy the Pythagoreans — it is impossible to separate the 
 teachings of Pythagoras himself from those of his disciples — held 
 views which anticipated by two thousand years those of Copernicus 
 and his school. They taught that the earth is a sphere, and that it, 
 together with the other planets, revolves about a central globe of fire, 
 " the hearth, or altar, of the universe.'' 
 
 1 Some at least of the tales which now pass as vEsop's fables are from oriental sources. 
 
 2 Other members of the school were Anaximander, Anaximenes, and Heraclitus. 
 
 8 These four elements correspond to the eighty or more elements of modern science. 
 
§ 358] ANAXAGORAS 
 
 3T9 
 
 358. Anaxagoras. Anaxagoras (about 500-427 b.c.) was the first 
 Greek philosopher who made Mind, instead of necessity or chance, 
 the arranging and harmonizing force of the -universe. " Reason rules 
 the world " was his first maxim.^ In the views he held of the universe 
 in general Anaxagoras was far in advance' of his age. He ventured 
 to believe that the moon was somewhat like the earth, and inhabited ; 
 and taught that the sun was not a god, but a glowing rock, as large, 
 probably, as the Peloponnesus. He suffered the fate of Galileo in a 
 later age ; he was charged with impiety and exiled. Yet this did not 
 disturb the serenity of his mind. In banishment he said, " It is not I 
 who have lost the Athenians, but the Athenians who have lost me." ^ 
 
 359. The Sophists. The philosophers of whom we have thus far 
 spoken were in general men who made the physical universe the sub- 
 ject of their speculations. Their systems of thought possessed little 
 or no practical value. They did not supply motives for right living, 
 having no word for the citizen in regard to his duties to god or to man. 
 
 About the middle of the fifth century, however, there appeared 
 in Greece a new class of philosophers, or rather teachers, called 
 Sophists.^ We have already met them in the Athens of Pericles 
 (sect. 246). They abandoned in despair the attempts of their prede- 
 cessors to solve the problems of the physical world,* and, as we have 
 seen, devoted themselves to civic matters 'and to giving instruction 
 in rhetoric and the art of public speech. For a long time after the 
 Periclean Age, these men were the most popular educators in Greece. 
 They traveled about from city to city, and contrary to the usual cus- 
 tom of the Greek philosophers took fees from their pupils. Notwidi- 
 standing their professions, many of them were teachers of superficial 
 knowledge, who cared more for the dress In which the thought was 
 
 1 This world-ordering Mind, or Reason, of Anaxagoras was not quite the same as the 
 Supreme Ruler or Divine Wisdom of the later philosophers, or as the personal God of the 
 Jews. There was lacking in the conception, in some degree, the idea of design or moral 
 purpose. 
 
 2 In the teachings of Empedocles (about 492-432 E.G.) and Democritus (about 460- 
 370 B.C.) we meet with many speculations respecting the constitution of matter and the 
 origin of things which are startlingly similar to some $f the doctrines held by modern 
 scientists. Empedocles has been called the Father of the Evolution Idea. 
 
 8 The most noted of the Sophists were Protagoras, Gorgias, and Prodicus. 
 4 Not until the rise of modern science in the sixteenth century were physical phe- 
 nomena again to absorb so much attention as they did in the earlier schools of Hellas. 
 
320 GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE [§359 
 
 arrayed than for the thought itself, more for victory than for truth. 
 The better philosophers of the time disapproved of their method, 
 and applied to them many harsh epithets, taunting them with selling 
 wisdom and accusing them of boasting that they could " make the 
 worse appear the better reason." 
 
 But there were those among the Sophists who taught a true 
 morality, and whose good influence was great and lasting. Prodicus 
 of Ceos (born about the middle of the fifth century B. c), who lectured 
 for a time at Athens, was such a teacher. The apologue, or text, of 
 one of his discourses was the celebrated allegory, " The Choice of 
 Heracles." ^ 
 
 Prodicus represents Heracles as a young man standing at a part- 
 ing of ways perplexed as to which path he should take. As he 
 hesitates he is met by two women — one, named Vice, urges him 
 to follow her, promising to lead him by an easy and pleasant path 
 to the present gratification of every desire ;^ the other, named Virtue, 
 urges him to follow her in the path in which she will direct his feet. 
 Virtue promises him that the road shall lead him to exalted happi- 
 ness, but she tells him that the way is long and steep and toilsome 
 — for it was the path of self-denial, of painful toil in the service of 
 mankind. The choice that the young Heracles made is evident from 
 the superhuman, self-sacrificing labors by which he won the undying 
 praise of men and a place among the celestials'"' (sect. 138). 
 
 Prodicus thus moralized the myth of Heracles, and holding before 
 his young pupils the hero as a model for irnitation, eamesdy adjured 
 them to make his choice their own, and through like self-denial and 
 toilsome labor for others to win the hero's meed of enduring praise 
 and honor. 
 
 Aside from the allegories and parables of the Bible, no allegory 
 probably ever exercised so great and lasting an influence over the 
 lives of wide circles of men as this allegory of " The Choice of 
 Heracles." Because of the stress Prodicus in his discourses laid upon 
 virtue, he has been called the forerunner of Socrates, the first of the 
 three celebrated philosophers of whom we shall next speak. 
 
 1 See sect. 138 and note. 
 
 2 Xenophon, Memorabilia^ bk. ii, chap, i, sect. 21. 
 
§36(5] 
 
 SOCRATES 
 
 321 
 
 •,«"■ 
 
 360. Socrates. Volumes could not contain all that would be both 
 instructive and interesting respecting the teachings and speculations 
 of the great philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.^ We can, 
 however, accord to each only a few words. 
 
 Of these eminent thinkers, Socrates (469-399 r.c), though sur- 
 passed in grasp of intellect by both Plato and Aristotle, has the firm- 
 est hold upon the affections of the world. Nature, while generous to 
 the philosopher in the gifts of soul, was unkind to him in the matter 
 of his person. His face was as ugly as a .satyr's, so that he invited 
 the shafts of the comic poets of his time. He lovedv to gather a little 
 circle about him in the Agora or in the streets, and then to draw 
 out his listeners by a series of ingenious 
 questions. His method was so peculiar to 
 himself that it has received the designation 
 of the " Socratic dialogue." He has vesy 
 happily been called an educator, as opposed 
 to an instructor. In the young men of his 
 time Socrates found many devoted pupils.' 
 
 This great philosopher believed that the 
 proper study of mankind is man, his favorite 
 maxim being, " Know thyself " ; hence he is 
 said to have brought philosophy down from 
 the heavens to the homes of men. 
 
 Socrates taught the purest system pf 
 morals that the world had yet known — one 
 which has been surpassed only by the pre- 
 cepts of the Great Teacher. He thought himself to be restrained by 
 a guardian spirit from doing what was wrong. He believed in the 
 immortality of the soul and in a Supreme Ruler of the universe. Of 
 his condemnation to death on the charge of impiety, and of his last 
 hours with his devoted disciples, we have already spoken (sect. 266). 
 
 1 We have met Socrates and Aristotle before and noticed their relations to the main 
 current of Greek life and history (see sects. 266, 278). 
 
 2 Socrates was unfortunate in his domestic relations, Xanthippe, his wife, seems to 
 have been of a practical turn of mind, and unable to sympathize with the abstracted ways 
 of her husband, whose life at home she at times made very uncomfortable. Her name 
 has been handed down as " the synonym of the typical scold." 
 
 Fig. 139. Socrates 
 
 (National Museum, 
 
 Naples) 
 
322 
 
 GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE 
 
 [§361 
 
 361. Plato. Plato (427-347 B.C.), "" t^e broad-browed," was a 
 philosopher of noble birth, before whom in youth opened a brilliant 
 career in the world of Greek affairs ; but, coming under the influence 
 of Socrates, he resolved to give up all his prospects in politics and 
 devote himself to philosophy. Upon the condemnation and death of 
 his master he went into voluntary exile. In foreign lands he gathered 
 knowledge and met with varied experience"s. He finally returned to 
 Athens and established a school of philosophy in the Academy. 
 Here, amid the disciples that thronged to his lectures, he passed a 
 '^ great part of his long life — he died 
 
 347 K.c, at the age of eighty-one 
 years — laboripg incessantly upon the 
 great works that bear his name. Prob- 
 ably in a. greater degree than any other 
 philosopher, ancient or modern, he com- 
 bined capacity for philosophical thought 
 with an extraordinary gift of literary 
 expression. 
 
 Plato imitated in his writings Socrates' 
 method in conversation. The discourse 
 is carried on by questions and answers, 
 hence the term Dialogues that attaches 
 to his works. He attributes to his mas- 
 ter, Socrates, much of the philosophy 
 that he teaches ; yet his writings are 
 all deeply tinged with his own genius and thought. In the Republic 
 Plato portrays his conception of an ideal state. But he realized that 
 the world was not yet ready for a perfect state, and so in his Laws 
 he drew up what he himself designated as a " second-best consti- 
 tution.'"^ It was in large part the laws, institutions, and customs of 
 Sparta and of Athens improved and refined. 
 
 The Phmdo is a record of the last conversation of Socrates with his 
 disciples — an immortal argument for the irtimortality of the soul. 
 
 Plato believed not only in a future life (postexistence), but also 
 in preexistence, teaching that the ideas of reason, or our intuitions, 
 
 1 Laws, V, 739. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 140. Plato (National 
 Museum, Naples) 
 
§362] 
 
 ARISTOTLE 
 
 323 
 
 are reminiscences of a past experience.^ Plato's doctrines have 
 exerted a profound influence upon all schools of thought and all 
 philosophies since his day. In some of his precepts he made a close 
 approach to the teachings of Christianity. "We ought to become 
 like God," he said, " as far as this is possible ; and to become like 
 Him is to become holy and just and wise." 
 
 362. Aristotle. As Socrates was surpassed by his disciple Plato, 
 so in turn was Plato excelled by his pupil Aristotle (384-322 b.c), 
 "the master of those who know." In 
 him the philosophical genius of the 
 Hellenic intellect reached its culmina- 
 tion. It may be doubted whether all 
 the ages since his time have produced 
 so profound and powerful an intellect 
 as his. He was born in the Macedo- 
 nian city of Stagira, and hence is 
 frequently called the " Stagirite." 
 
 After twenty years spent in the 
 school of Plato at Athens and some 
 years passed in travel, Aristotle, as 
 has been noted, accepted the invita- 
 tion of Philip II of Macedon to be- 
 come the preceptor of his son, the 
 young prince Alexander (sect. 278). 
 In after years Alexander, not forgetful 
 of what he owed to his old teacher, 
 became his liberal patron, and, besides giving him large sums of 
 money, aided him in his scientific studies by sending him collections 
 of plants and animals gathered on distant expeditions. 
 
 At Athens the great philosopher conversed with his favorite 
 disciples while walking about beneath the trees and porticoes of 
 
 Fig. 141. Aristotle (Spada 
 Palace, Rome) 
 
 1 In the following lines from Wordsworth we catch a reflection of Plato's doctrine 
 of preexistence : 
 
 Not in entire forgetfulness, 
 And liot in utter nakedness, 
 
 Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting ; 
 The soul that rises with us, our life's star, 
 
 Hath had elsewhere its setting, 
 And Cometh from afar : 
 
 But trailing clouds of glory, do we come 
 From God, who is our home. 
 Ode Oft Jitiiniations of Imnioriality 
 
324 GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE [§ 363 
 
 the Lyceum ; hence probably the term peripatetic (from the Greek 
 peripatein, " to walk about ") sometimes applied to his philosophy.^ 
 Among the productions of his fertile intellect are works on the 
 natural history of animals, on rhetoric, logic, poetry, morals and 
 politics, physics and metaphysics. Eor centuries his works were 
 studied and copied and commented upon by both European and 
 Asiatic scholars, in the schools of Athens and Rome, of Alexandria 
 and Constantinople, Until the time of Francis Bacon in England, for 
 nearly two thousand years, Aristotle ruled over the realm of mind 
 with a despotic sway. All teachers and philosophers acknowledged 
 him as their guide and master. " 
 
 363. Zeno and the Stoics. We are now approaching the period 
 when the. political life of Greece, the freedom of her city-states 
 having been cramped or destroyed by the Macedonians, was failing, 
 and the whole Greek world was being fast overshadowed by the 
 rising greatness of Rome. But the intellectAial life of the Greek race, 
 as we have learned, was by no means extinguished by the calamity 
 that ended its political career. For centtiKes after that event the 
 scholars and philosophers of this highly gifted people led a brilliant 
 career in the schools and universities of the Mediterranean world. 
 
 Among the philosophers of this period the most important were 
 Zeno and Epicurus, whom we have already mentioned as the 
 founders at Athens of schools of philosophy that stood in close 
 relations to the moral and spiritual movements of the Hellenistic 
 Age (sect. 302). It is only the moral systems of these two schools 
 that are of historical" importance. 
 
 The Stoic mofaT'cbde was the outgrowth in part, at least, of that 
 of the Cynics, a sect who thought that a man to be good should 
 have only few wants. The typical representative of this sect was 
 Diogenes, who lived, so the story goes, in a wine jar (in'Sos), and 
 went about Athens by daylight with a lantern, in search, as he said, 
 of a man. The Cynics were, in a word, a race of pagan hermits ; 
 many of them were rude and ignorant, yet among them were to be 
 found men of choice spirit and even of fine culture. 
 
 1 By some the term is derived from the name of the portico in the Lyceum in which 
 Aristotle taught. 
 
§354] EPICURUS AND THE EPICUREANS 325 
 
 Zeno adopted all that was good in the code of the Cynics, and, add- 
 ing to this everything that he found of value in the systems of other 
 philosophers, formed therefrom the Stoic system. In man y of i ts^ doc- 
 trines the new_philosophY__aDticipated._Christian teachings and was, in 
 the philosophical world, a very important preparati on for ChristianitY - 
 
 The Stoics inculcated virtue for the sake of itself. They believed — 
 and it would be very difficult to frame a better creed — that "man's 
 c hief business here is to d o his duty." Health and sickness, fortune 
 and misfortune, they taught were all alike indifferent — were matters 
 of no moment. They schooled themselves to bear with composure 
 any lot that destiny might appoint. Any sign of emotion on account 
 of calamity was considered unmanly. Thus a certain Stoic, when 
 told of the sudden death of his son, is said merely to have remarked, 
 " Well, I never imagined that I was the father of an immortal." 
 
 This Stoic code did not become a really important factor in the 
 moral life of the ancient world until after its adoption by the finer 
 spirits among the Romans. Tt^evf.r inflifpnred the masses, but for 
 severaTcentunes it gave moral support and guidance to many of the 
 best men of the Roman race, among whom were several emperors. 
 In'timh, Sfoiciim was one of the most helpful elements in the rich 
 legacy which Hellas transmitted to Rome. 
 
 364. EpK;ufus~an3~Tlie Epicureans. Epicurus (341-270 B.C.), 
 who was a contemporary of Zeno, taught, in opposition to the 
 Stoics, th at pleasure is th e highest good. He recommended virtue, 
 indeed, but only as a means for the attainment of plea^re ; whereas 
 the Stoics made virtue an end in itself. In other words, Epicurus 
 said, Be virtuous, because virtue will bring "you the greatest amount 
 of happiness ; Zeno said, Be virtuous, because you ought to be. 
 
 Epicurus had many followers in Greece, and his doctrines were 
 eagerly embraced by many among the Romans during the corrupt 
 and decadent period of the Roman Empire. Many of these disciples, 
 persons to whom the Stoic sentiment of *duty as something noble 
 and majestic made little or no appeal, carried the doctrines of their 
 master to an excess that he himself would have been the first to con- 
 demn. Their whole philosophy of life was expressed in the proverb, 
 " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." 
 
326 GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE [§365 
 
 SCIENCE AMONG THE GREEKS 
 
 The contributions of the Greek observers to the physical sciences 
 have laid us under no small obligation to thern. Some of those 
 whom we have classed as philosophers were careful students of 
 nature, and might be called scientists. The great philosopher Aris- 
 totle wrote some valuable works on anatomy and natural history. 
 From his time onward the sciences were pursued with much zeal 
 and success. Especially did the later Greeks do much good and 
 lasting work in the mathematical sciences, basing their labors upon 
 what had already been achieved by the Egyptians and the Chaldeans. 
 
 365. Mathematics: Euclid and Archimedes. Alexandria, in Egypt, 
 under the Ptolemies (sect. 310), became the seat of the most cele- 
 brated school of mathematics of antiquity. Here, under Ptolemy 
 Soter, flourished Euclid, the great geometer, whose work forms the 
 basis of the science of geometry as taught in our schools to-day. 
 Ptolemy himself was his pupil. The royal student, however, seems 
 to have disliked the severe application required to master the prob- 
 lems of Euclid, and asked his teacher if there was not some easier 
 way. Euclid replied, " There is no royal road to geometry." 
 
 In the third century B.C., Syracuse, in Sicily, was the home of 
 Archimedes (about 287-212), the greatest mathematician and engi- 
 neer that the Grecian world produced. His knowledge of the laws 
 of the lever is indicated by the oft-quoted boast that he made to 
 Hiero, king of Syracuse : " Give me a place to stand, and I will 
 move the world." 
 
 366. Astronomy and Geography. Among ancient Greek astrono- 
 mers and geographers the names of Aristarchus, Eratosthenes, Hip- 
 parchus, Strabo, Pausanias, and Claudius Ptolemy are distinguished. 
 
 Aristarchus of Samos, who lived in the third century B.C., held 
 that the earth revolves about the sun as a fixed center and rotates 
 on its own axis. He was the Greek Copernicus. But his theory 
 was rejected by his contemporaries and successors. 
 
 Eratosthenes (born about 276 B.C.) might be called an astronomical 
 geographer. His greatest achievement was "the fairly accurate deter- 
 mination of the circumference of the earth by means of the different 
 
§367] MEDICINE AND ANATOMY 327 
 
 lengths of the shadow cast by the midday sun in Upper and in 
 Lower Egypt at the time of the summer solstice. 
 
 Hipparchus, who flourished about the middle of the second cen- 
 tury B.C., was, through his careful observations, the real founder of 
 scientific astronomy. He calculated eclipses, catalogued the stars, 
 'and wrote several astronomical works of a really scientific character. 
 
 Strabo was born about half a century before our era. He traveled 
 over a large part of the world, and describes, as an eyewitness, the 
 scenery, the productions, and the peoples of all the countries known 
 to the ancients. 
 
 About two centuries after Strabo's time, Pausanias, " the Greek 
 Baedeker," wrote his Tour of Greece, a sort of guidebook, which is 
 crowded with invaluable little items of interest concerning all the 
 places best worth visiting in Greece. 
 
 Claudius Ptolemy lived in Egypt about the middle of the second 
 century after Christ. His great reputation is due not so much to 
 his superior genius as to the fortunate circumstance that a vast 
 work ^ compiled by him preserved and transmitted to later times 
 almost all the knowledge of the ancient world on astronomical and 
 geographical subjects. In this way it has happened that his name 
 has become attached to various doctrines and views respecting the 
 universe, though these probably were not originated by him. The 
 phrase " Ptolemaic System," however, links his name inseparably, 
 whether the honor be fairly his or not, with that conception of the 
 solar system set forth in his works, which continued to be the received 
 theory from his time until Copernicus, fourteen centuries later. 
 
 Ptolemy combated the theory of Aristarchus in regard to the rota- 
 tion and revolution of the earth ; yet he believed the earth to be 
 a globe, and supported this view by exactly the same arguments 
 that we to-day use to prove the doctrine. 
 
 367. Medicine and Anatomy. Hippocrates (born about 460 B.C.) 
 did so much to emancipate from superstition and ignorance the art 
 of healing, and to make it a scientific study, that he is called the 
 " Father of Medicine." His central doctrine was that there are laws 
 of disease as well as laws of healthy life. 
 
 1 Known to mediasval Europe by its Arabian title Almagest, meaning " the greatest." 
 
328 GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE [§367 
 
 The advance of the science of anatomy among the ancient Greeks 
 was hindered by their feelings concerning the body, which caused 
 them to look with horror upon its deliberate mutilation. Surprising 
 as the statement may appear, it is nevertheless true that Aristotle, 
 " the greatest of all thinkers in antiquity, the son of a physician, 
 especially educated in physical science, and well acquainted for the 
 time with the dissection of animals, regarded the brain as a lump of 
 cold substance, quite unfit to be the seat and organ of the sensus 
 communis} This important office he ascribed rather to the heart. 
 The brain he considered to be chiefly useful as the source of fluids 
 for lubricating the eyes, etc." ^ At Alexandria, however, in the later 
 period, under the influence, doubtless, of Egyptian practices in embalm- 
 ing, the Greek physicians greatly promoted the knowledge of anatomy 
 not only by the dissection of dead bodies but even by the vivisection 
 of criminals condemned to death.' 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plato, Republic (Jowett's trans.), ii, 379, 
 380 (on God as the author of good) ; and Phcedo ^(on immortaHty). 
 
 References (Modern). Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. iv, pp. 65-94 (Ionic 
 philosophers and Pythagoras) ; vol. vii, pp. 32-172 (the Sophists and Socrates). 
 OSBORN, From the Greeks to Dai-win, pp. 29-68 (traces the development of 
 the idea of evolution among the Greek philosophers). Burt, A Brief History 
 of Greek Philosophy. MARSHALL, A Short History of Greek Philosophy. MAYOR, 
 Sketch of Ancient Philosophy. Turner, History of Philosophy, chaps, i-xx. 
 Lewes, Biographical History of Philosophy (first-part). Davidson, The Edu- 
 cation of the Greek People, chap, v (on the teachings of Socrates). Leonard, 
 Socrates : Master of Life. Zeller, The Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics. All 
 these works are for the teacher and the advanced student. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. The life of Socrates: Leonard, Socrates: 
 Master of Life, pp. 31-61. 2. Extempore declamations by the Sophists: Walden, 
 The Universities of Aiicient Greece, chap. xi. 
 
 r The thinking faculty, the mind. 
 
 2 Ladd, Elements of Physiological Psychology (1887), p. 240. 
 
 3 Some practices among the Greek physicians strilie us as peculiar. The following 
 is too characteristically Greek to be omitted. Plato, in the Gorgias, tells us that some- 
 times the doctor took a Sophist along with him to persuade the patient to take his pre- 
 scription. Professor Mahaffy comments thus upon .this practice: "This was done 
 because it was the fashion to discuss everything in Greece, and people were not satis- 
 fied to submit silently to anybody's prescription, either in law, politics, religion, or 
 medicine." 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GREEKS 
 
 368. Education. Education at Sparta, where it was chiefly gym- 
 nastic, as we have seen, was a state affair (pect. 175) ; but at Athens 
 and throughout Greece generally, the youth were trained in private 
 schools. These schools were of all kinds, ranging from those kept 
 by the most obscure teachers, who gathered their pupils in some 
 recess of the street, to those established in the Athenian Academy 
 and Lyceum by such philosophers as Plato, and Aristotle. 
 
 It was only the boys who received education. These Grecian boys, 
 Professor Mahaffy believes, were " the most attractive the world has 
 ever seen." At all events, we may believe that they were trained 
 more carefully than the youth among any other people before or 
 since the days of Hellenic culture. 
 
 In the nursery the boy was taught the beautiful myths and stories 
 of the national mythology and religion.^ At about seven he entered 
 school, being led to and from the place of training by an old slave 
 known as z. pedagogue, which word in Greek means a guide or leader of 
 
 1 At the birth of a child, many customs of a significant character were carefully 
 observed. Thus at Sparta the new-bom infant was first cradled on a. shield, which 
 symbolized the martial life of the Spartan citizen ; while at Athens the child was laid 
 upon a mantle in which was wrought the segis of Athena, by which act was emblemized 
 and invoked the protection of that patron goddess. Infanticide was almost universally 
 practiced throughout Greece. (At Thebes, however, the exposure of children was pro- 
 hibited by severe laws.) Such philosophers as Plato and Aristotle saw nothing in the 
 custom to condemn. Among the Spartans, as we have already learned (sec. 175), the 
 state determined what infants might be preserved, condemning the weakly or ill-formed 
 to be cast out to die. At Athens and in other states the right to expose his child was 
 given to the father. The infant was abandoned in some desert place, or left in some 
 frequented spot in the hope that it might be picked up -and cared for. Greek literature, 
 like that of every other people of antiquity, is filled with stories and dramas turning 
 upon points afforded by this common practice. The career of Sargon of Agade, of Cyrus 
 the Great of Persia, of the Hebrew Moses, of O^^dipus of Thebes, of Romulus and Remus 
 of Roman legend, and a hundred others, are all prefaced by the same story of exposure 
 and fortunate rescue. 
 
 329 
 
330 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GREEKS 
 
 [§369 
 
 boys — not a teacher. His studies were grammar, music, and gymnas- 
 tics, the aim of the course being to secure a symmetrical development 
 of mind and body alike. 
 
 Grammar included reading, writing, and arithmetic ; music, which 
 embraced a wide range of mental accomplishments, trained the boy 
 to appreciate the masterpieces of the great poets, to contribute his 
 part to the musical diversions of private entertainments, and to join 
 in the sacred choruses and in the p^an of the 
 battlefield. The exercises of the palestree and 
 the gymnasia trained him for the Olympic 
 contests, or for those sterner hand-to-hand 
 battle struggles in which so much depended 
 upon personal strength and dexterity. 
 
 Upon reaching maturity the youth was en- 
 rolled in the list of citizens. But his gradu- 
 ation from school was his " commencement " 
 in a much more real sense than with the aver- 
 age modern graduate. Never was there a 
 people besides the Greeks whose daily life 
 was so emphatically a discipline in liberal cul- 
 ture. The schools of the philosophers, the 
 debates of the popular assembly, the practice 
 of the law courts, the masterpieces of a divine 
 art, the religious processions, the representa- 
 tions of an unrivaled stage, the Panhellenic 
 games — all these were splendid and efficient 
 educational agencies, which produced and maintained among the citi- 
 zens of the Greek cities a standard of average intelligence and culture 
 probably never attained among any other people (see sect. 238). 
 
 369. Social Position of Woman. Although there are in Greek 
 literature some exquisitely beautiful portraitures of ideal womanhood, 
 still the general tone of the literature betiays a deep contempt for 
 woman, which Symonds regards as " the greatest social blot upon 
 the brilliant but imperfect civilization of the Greeks.'' Thucydides 
 quotes with seeming approval the Greek proverb, " That woman is 
 best who is least spoken of among men, whether for good or for evil." 
 
 Fig. 142. Pedagogue 
 andChildren. (Terra- 
 cotta group from Tana- 
 gra ; Louvre, Paris) 
 
370] 
 
 THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 331 
 
 This unworthy conception of womanhood necessarily consigned 
 woman to a narrow and inferior place in the Greek home. Her posi- 
 tion may be defined as being about halfway between oriental seclu- 
 sion and modern, or ^^'estern, freedom. Her main duties were to 
 cook and spin, and to oversee the domestic slaves, of whom she her- ' 
 self was virtually one. In the fashionable society of Ionian cities she 
 was seldom allowed to appear in public, or to meet, even in her own 
 house, the male friends of her husband. In Sparta, however, and in 
 Dorian states generally, also in ..^Eolis, she was accorded unusual 
 freedom, and was a 
 really important factor 
 in society. 
 
 370. Theatrical En- 
 tertainments. Among 
 the ancient Greeks the 
 theater was a state es- 
 tablishment, " a part 
 of the constitution." 
 This arose from the 
 religious origin and 
 character of the drama 
 (sect. 340), all matters 
 pertaining to the popu- 
 lar worship being the 
 care and concern of 
 the state. Theatrical performances, being religious acts, were pre- 
 sented only during religious festivals — in certain celebrations held 
 in honor of Dionysus. The spectators sat under the open sky ; and 
 the pieces followed one after the other in close succession from early 
 morning till nightfall. 
 
 While the better class of actors were highly honored, ordinary players 
 were held in very low esteem, in which matter the Greek stage pre- 
 sents a parallel to that of England in the sixteenth century. And as in 
 the Elizabethan age the writers of plays were frequently also the per- 
 forrriers, so in Greece, particularly during the early period of the drama, 
 the author often became an actor — ^schylus and Sophocles both 
 
 Fig. 143. A Gkekk School. (From a vase paint- 
 ing of the fifth century B. c.) 
 
 The master on the left is teaching the boy seated in front 
 of him to play the lyre ; the master in the center of the 
 picture is giving instruction in reading or in recitation to 
 the boy standing before him. The man seated and lean- 
 ing on a staff is probably the pedagogue who has brought 
 the boys to the school 
 
332 SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GREEKS [§371 
 
 assumed this role — and assisted in the presentation of his own pieces. 
 Still another parallel is found in the fact that the female parts in the 
 Greek dramas, as in the early English theater, were taken by men. 
 
 In the earlier period of the great dramatists the theater equipment 
 was still simple, as it was in England in Shakespeare's time, but later 
 it became more elaborate. The tragic actor increased his height and 
 size by wearing thick-soled buskins, an enormous mask, and padded 
 garments. The actor in comedy wore thin-soled slippers, or socks, 
 The sock being thus a characteristic part of the make-up of the 
 ancient comic actor, and the buskin that of the tragic actor, these 
 foot coverings have come to be used as the symbols respectively of 
 comedy and tragedy, as in the familiar lines of Dryden : 
 
 Great Fletcher never treads in buskins here. 
 Nor greater Jonson dares in socks appear. 
 
 The theater exerted a great influence upon Greek life. It per- 
 formed for ancient Greek society somewhat the same service as that 
 rendered to modern society by the pulpit and the press. During the 
 best days of Hellas the frequent rehearsal upon the stage of the 
 chief incidents in the lives of the gods and the heroes served to 
 deepen and strengthen the religious faith of the people ; and later, 
 when with the Macedonian supremacy the days of decline came, the 
 stage was one of the chief agents in the diffusion of Greek culture 
 throughout the Hellenistic world. 
 
 371. Banquets and Symposia. Banquets and drinking parties 
 among the Greeks possessed some features which set them apart 
 from similar entertainments among other people. 
 
 The banquet proper was partaken, in later times, by the guests in 
 a reclining position, upon couches or divans arranged about the table 
 in the oriental manner. After the usual courses a libation was poured 
 out and a hymn .sung in honor of the gods, and then followed that 
 characteristic part of the entertainment known as the symposium. 
 
 The symposium was "the intellectual side:of the feast," It consisted 
 of general conversation, of riddles, and of convivial songs rendered to 
 the accompaniment of the lyre passed from hand to hand. Some- 
 times professional singers and musicians, dancing girls, jugglers, and 
 
§372] 
 
 OCCUPATIONS 
 
 333 
 
 jesters were called in to contribute to the merrymaking. All the while 
 the wine flowed freely, the rule being that a man might drink " as 
 much as he could carry home without a guide, — unless he were far 
 gone in years.'' Here also the Greeks applied their maxim, " Never 
 too much." Besotted drunkenness, though by no means unknown 
 in Greece, was always regarded as a most disgraceful thing. 
 
 The banqueters usually consumed the night in merrymaking, some- 
 times being broken in upon from the street by other bands of revelers, 
 who made themselves self-invited guests. 
 
 The symposium must at times, when the conversation was sustained 
 by such persons as Socrates and Aristophanes, have been " a feast of 
 reason and a flow of 
 soul " indeed. Xeno- 
 phon in his Banquet 
 and Plato in his Sym- 
 posium have each left 
 us a memorable re- 
 port of such an enter- 
 tainment. 
 
 372. Occupations. 
 The enormous body 
 of slaves in ancient 
 Greece relieved the 
 
 free population from most of those forms of labor classed as drudgery. 
 Any kind of work with the hands was thought degrading, and was left 
 largely to slaves and aliens. Speaking on this subject Plutarch says ; 
 " No \yell-nurtured man, viewing the statue of Zeus Olympius, would 
 wish he were a Phidias, for it does not follow that because we admire 
 the work we esteem the workman." 
 
 At Sparta and in other states where oligarchical constitutions pre- 
 vailed the citizens formed a sort of military caste, strikingly similar to 
 the military aristocracy of feudal Europe. Their chief occupation, as has 
 already appeared, was martial and gymnastic exercises and the adminis- 
 tration of public affairs. The Spartans, it wfll be recalled, were forbid- 
 den by law to engage in trade. In other aristocratic states, as at Thebes, 
 a man by engaging in trade disqualified himself for full citizenship. 
 
 Fig. 144. A Banquet Scene 
 
334 SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GREEKS [§373 
 
 In the democratic states, however, labor and trade were in gen- 
 eral regarded with less contempt, and a considerable portion of the 
 citizens were traders, artisans, and farmer^. 
 
 Life at Athens presented some peculiar features. All Attica being 
 included in what we should term the corporate limits of the city, the 
 roll of Athenian citizens included a large body of well-to-do farmers 
 whose residence was outside the city walls. The Attic plains and the 
 slopes of the encircling hills were dotted with beautiful villas and 
 inviting farmhouses. 
 
 And, since Athens was the head of a great empire of subject 
 cities, a large number of Athenian citizens were necessarily employed 
 as salaried officials in the minor positions of the public service, and 
 thus politics became a profession. In any event, the meetings of the 
 popular assembly and the discussion of matters of state engrossed 
 more or less of the time and attention of qvery citizen. 
 
 Again, the great Athenian jury courts (sect. 242), which were 
 busied with cases from all parts of the empire, gave constant 
 employment to nearly one fourth of the citizens, the fee that the 
 juryman received enabling him to live, if he lived narrowly, without 
 other business. It is said that, in the early morning, when the jury- 
 men were passing through the streets to the different courts, Athens 
 appeared like a city wholly given up to the single business of law. 
 Furthermore, the great public buildings and monuments, which were 
 in constant process of erection, afforded employment for a vast number 
 of artists and skilled workmen of every class. 
 
 In the Agora, again, at any time of the day, a numerous class 
 might have been found, whose sole occupation, as was the case with 
 Socrates, was to talk. The writer of the Acts of the Aposdes was so 
 impressed with this feature of life at Athens that he summarized the 
 habits of the people by saying, "AH the Athenians and strangers 
 which were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or 
 to hear some new thing" (Acts xvii, 21). 
 
 373. Slavery. There is a dark side to Greek life — as in truth 
 there is to almost all ancient hfe. Hellenic art, culture, refinement — 
 " these good things were planted, like exqi|isite exotic flowers, upon 
 the black, rank soil of slavery." 
 
§ 373] SLAVERY 
 
 335 
 
 Slaves were very numerous in Greece. No exact estimate can 
 be made of their number, but it is believed that they greatly out- 
 numbered the free population. Almost every freeman was a slave 
 owner. It was accounted a real hardship to have to get along with 
 less than half a dozen slaves. 
 
 This large class of slaves was formed *"in various ways. In the 
 prehistoric period the fortunes of war had brought the entire popu- 
 lation of whole provinces into a servile condition, as in certain parts of 
 the Peloponnesus. During later times, the ordinary captives of war still 
 further augmented the ranks of these unfortunates. Their number 
 was also largely added to by the slave traffic carried on with the bar- 
 barian peoples of Asia. Criminals and debtors, too, were often con- 
 demned to servitude, and foundlings were usually brought up as slaves. 
 
 The relation of master and slave was regarded by the Greek as 
 being not only a legal but a natural one. A free community, in his 
 view, could not exist without slavery. It formed the natural basis of 
 both the family and the state, the relation bi master and slave being 
 regarded as " strictly analogous to the relation of soul and body." 
 Even Aristotle and other Greek philosophers approved the maxim 
 that slaves were simply domestic animals possessed of intelligence.-' 
 They were considered just as necessary in the economy of the family 
 as cooking utensils. 
 
 In general, Greek slaves were not treated harshly, according to 
 the standard of humanity that prevailed in antiquity. Some held 
 places of honor in the family and enjoyed the confidence and even 
 the friendship of their master. The sale of a slave by a Greek to 
 a non-Greek master offended Greek feeling. At Sparta, however, 
 where slavery assumed the form of serfdom, the lot of the bondsman 
 was peculiarly hard and unendurable. 
 
 1 This harsh, selfish theory, it should be noted, was somewhat modified and relaxed 
 when the slave class, through the numerous captives of the unfortunate civil wars, came 
 to be made up in considerable part of cultured Greeks, instead of being, as was the case 
 in earlier times, composed almost exclusively of barbarians, or of inferior branches of 
 the Hellenic race, between whom and their cultured masters there was the same differ- 
 ence in mental qualities as existed between the negro slaves and their masters in our own 
 country. The sentiment that a slave was an unfortunate person, rather than an inferior 
 being, came to prevail — a sentiment which aided in preparing the way for the Christian 
 doctrine of the universal brotherhood of man. 
 
336 SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GREEKS [§373 
 
 If ever slavery was justified by its fruits, it was in Greece. The 
 brilliant civilization of the Greeks was its product, and could never 
 have existed without it. As one truthfully says, " Without the slaves 
 the Attic democracy would have been an impossibility, for they alone 
 enabled the poor, as well as the rich, to take a part in public affairs." 
 Relieving the citizen of all drudgery, the system created a class 
 characterized by elegant leisure, refinement, and culture. 
 
 We find an almost exact historical parallel to all this in the feudal 
 system of mediaeval Europe. Such a society has been well likened to 
 a great pyramid whose top may be gilded with light while its base 
 lies in dark shadows. The civilization of ancient Hellas was splendid 
 and attractive, but it rested with crushing weight upon the lower 
 orders of Greek society. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. ARrsxoTLE, Paliiics, viii (on education). 
 Xenophon, Symposium, i, iv. 
 
 References (Modern). Blumner, T/ie Home Life of the Ancient Greeks. 
 Davidson, The Education of the Greek People and Ancient Educational Ideals. 
 Walden, The Universities of Ancient Greece. Mahaffy, Social Life in Greece \ 
 Old Greek Education ; Greek Life and Thought fselected chapters) ; and Old 
 Greek Life. Felton, Greece, Ancient and Modern, vol. i, pp. 271-511 (pictures 
 various aspects of the life of Greece). GuHL and Koner, Life of the Greeks 
 and the Romans (first part). GuLICK, Life of tpe Ancient Greeks. TuCKER, 
 Life in Ancient Athens. 
 
 Especially noteworthy among recent books of importance to students of 
 Greek home life, education, religion, and culture is Caroline Dale Snedeker's 
 The Coward of ThermopylcE (Doubleday, Page & Gompany, 1911). This work, 
 while fiction in form, is history in reality. It portrays, with deep sympathy and 
 intimate knowledge, and always with conscienticms fidelity to historical facts, 
 Greek customs, life, and thought in the fifth century E. c, that is, in the days 
 of Leonidas and Pindar. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Greek education: Bliimner, Home Life of 
 the Ancient Greeks, chap, iii ; Gulick, Life of the Ancient Greeks, chap, vii; 
 Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens, chap. ix. z. Student days ; Walden, The 
 Universities of Ancient Greece, chap. xiv. 3. Social life and entertainments : 
 Gulick, Life of the Ancient Greeks, chap, xiv ; Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens, 
 chap. vii. 4. Greek slavery : Bliimner, Home Life of the Ancient Greeks, chap. xv. 
 5. Funeral customs: Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens, chap. xv. 
 
PART III. ROME 
 
 FIRST PERIOD — ROME AS A KINGDOM 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 ITALY AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 
 
 374. Divisions of the Italian Peninsula. The Italian peninsula 
 is generally conceived as consisting of three sections — Morthern, 
 Central, and Sflitthexu. Italy. The first comprises the great basin of 
 the . river Po (Fadus), lying between the Alps and the Apennines. 
 In ancient times this part of Italy included three districts, namely, 
 Liguria, Gallia Cisalpina, and Venetia. Liguria embraced the south- 
 western and Venetia the northeastern part of Northern Italy. Gallia 
 Cisalpina lay between these two districts, occupying the finest portion 
 of the valley of the Po. It received its name, which means " Gaul on 
 this..[the Italian] side of the Alps,'' from the Gallic tribes that about 
 the fifth century before our era found their way over the mountains 
 and setded upon these rich lands. , Ast^vI— 
 
 The cQ.ui; ^tf| ps of , f SCfraLTtj^y were Etruria, Latium, and Campania, 
 facing the Western or Tyrrhenian Sea ; Umbria and Picenum, looking 
 out over the Eastern or Adriatic Sea ; and Samnium and the coun- 
 try of the Sabines, occupying the rough mountain districts of the 
 Apennines. 
 
 Southern Italy comprised the ancient districts of Apulia, Lucania, 
 Calabria, and Bruttium. Calabria^ formed the "heel," and Bruttium 
 the "toe," of the bootlike peninsula. The coast region of Southern 
 Italy, as we have already learned, was called Magna G raecia, or 
 " Great Greece," on account of the number and importance of the 
 
 1 During the Middle Ages this name was transferred to the toe of the peninsula, and 
 this forms the Calabria of to-day. 
 
 337 
 
33^ 
 
 ITALY AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS [§375 
 
 Greek cities that during the period of Hellenic supremacy were 
 established on these shores. 
 
 The large island of Sicily, lying just off the mainland on the 
 south, may be regarded simply as a detached fragment of Italy, so 
 intimately has its history been connected with that of the peninsula. 
 
 375. Mountains, Rivers, and Harbors. Italy, like the other two 
 peninsulas of Southern Europe — Greece and Spain — has a high 
 
 THE MOUNTAIJf 
 STSTEII OF HALT 
 
 mountain barrier, the Alps, along its northern frontier. Correspond- 
 ing to the Pindus range in Greece, the Apennines run as a great cen- 
 tral ridge through the peninsula. Eastward of the ancient Latium 
 they spread out into broad uplands, which in early times nourished 
 a race of hardy mountaineers, who incessantly harried the territories 
 of the more civilized lowlanders of Latium and Campania. Thus 
 the physical conformation of this part of the peninsula shaped large 
 sections of Roman history, just as in the case of Scotland the physi- 
 cal contrast between the north and the south was reflected for 
 centuries in the antagonisms of Highlan4ers and Lowlanders. 
 
§375] 
 
 EARLY INHABITANTS OF ITALY 
 
 339 
 
 Italy has only one really great river, fhe Po, which drains the 
 large northern plain, already mentioned, lying between the Alps 
 and the Apennines. The streams running down the eastern slope 
 of the Apennines are short and of little volume. Among the rivers 
 draining the western slopes of the Apennines, the one possessing 
 the greatest historic interest is the "Eber, on the banks of which 
 Rome arose. North of this stream is the Arno {Arnus), which 
 watered a part of the old Etruria, 
 and south of it, the Liris, one of 
 the chief rivers of Campania. 
 
 The finest Italian harbors, of 
 which that of Naples is the most 
 celebrated, are on the western 
 coast. The eastern coast is precipi- 
 tous, with few good havens. Italy 
 thus faces the west. What makes 
 it important for us to notice this 
 circumstance is the fact that Greece 
 faces the east (sect. 134), and that 
 thus these two peninsulas, as the 
 historian Mommsen expresses it, 
 turn their backs to each other. 
 This brought it about that Rome/ 
 and the cities of Greece had almost 
 no dealings with one another for 
 many centuries. 
 
 376. Early Inhabitants of Italy: the Etruscans, the Greeks, and 
 the Italians. There were in early historic times three chief races in 
 Italy — the Etruscans, the Greeks, and the Italians. They had all, save 
 the Greeks, found their way into the peninsula in prehistoric times. 
 
 The Etruscans, a wealthy, cultured, and seafaring people of uncer- 
 tain race and origin, dwelt in Etruria, now called Tuscany after 
 
 Fig. 145. An Etruscan Chariot ' 
 (From a photograph) 
 
 1 This interesting memorial of Etruscan art was acquired by the Metropolitan 
 Museum of New York City at a cost of ^48,000. It was found in an ancient Etruscan 
 cemetery (1901). Almost every part of the chariot, including the wheels, was sheathed 
 in figured bronze. The relic probably dates from the seventh century B.C. 
 
340 ITALY AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS [§376 
 
 them.'' They seem to have come into Italy from the east by way of 
 the sea. Before the rise of the Roman people they were the leading 
 race in the peninsula. Certain elements in their culture lead us to 
 believe that they had learned much from the cities of Magna Grsecia. 
 The Etruscans in their turn became the teachers of the early Romans 
 and imparted to them certain elements of civilization, including mili- 
 tary usages, hints in the art of building, and various religious ideas 
 and rites. 
 
 With the Greek cities in Southern Italy and in Sicily we have 
 already formed an acquaintance. Through the medium of these 
 
 Fig. 146. Wall Painting of an Etruscan Banquet 
 
 From an Etruscan tomb of the fifth century B. c. This cot illustrates, among other things, 
 the state of art among the Etruscans at that early date. Banqueting scenes are favorite 
 representations on Etruscan tombs, sarcophagi, and funeral urns. The participators 
 " were represented in the height of social enjoyment to symbolize the bliss on which 
 their spirits had entered" (Dennis, Cities and Cemetertes of Etruria) 
 
 cultured communities the Romans were taught the use of letters 
 and given valuable suggestions in matters iof law and constitutional 
 government. 
 
 The Italians, peoples of Indo-European speech, embraced many 
 tribes or communities (Latins, Umbrians, Sabines, Samnites, etc.) 
 that occupied nearly all Central and a considerable part of Southern 
 Italy. They were kin to the Greeks and brought with them into the 
 peninsula, where they probably mixed with an aboriginal population, 
 those customs, manners, beliefs, and insfitutions that formed the 
 1 In early times they had setdements in Northern Italy and in Campania. 
 
§376] EARLY INHABITANTS (JF ITALY 341 
 
 common possession of the Indo-European peoples. Their life was 
 for the most part that of shepherds and farmers. 
 
 The most important of the Italian peoples were the Latins, who 
 dwelt in Latium ; and the most important of the Latins were the 
 Romans. Concerning the beginnings of early Rome, its society, gov- 
 ernment, and religion, and the fortunes of the city under its later 
 kings, we shall give a brief "account in the next chapter. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Munro's Source Book of Roman History, 
 pp. 2-4. The teacher will find this admirable collection of extracts from the 
 sources an invaluable aid in imparting a sense of life and reality to the story 
 of ancient Rome. 
 
 References (Modern). Moiimsen, vol. i, chaps, i, ii. Freeman, Historical 
 Geography of Europe, ^o\. i (text), pp. 7-9, 43-49. ToZER, Classical Geography, 
 chaps, ix, X. Merivale, vol. iv, pp. 414-416 (for some interesting observa- 
 tions on the evidence afforded by ancient geographical names of the wooded 
 character of the districts about Rome in early times). How and T.EroH, 
 History of Home, chaps, i, ii. Shuckburgh, History of Some, chaps, ii, iii. 
 ALLCKorx and Masom, Tutorial History of Rome, pp. 1-18. Dennis, The 
 Cities and Cemeteries of Etmria, vol. i, introduction (the author probably exag- 
 gerates the debt which the early civilization of Rome owed to the preceding 
 culture of Etruria). Leland, Etniscan- Roman Remains. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Geographical conditions tending to make the 
 history of Italy different from that of Greece : Freeman, Historical Geography 
 of Europe, vol. i (text), pp. 7-9. 2. Explain the historian Freeman's statement 
 that " the course of all history has been determined by the geological fact that 
 certain hills by the Tiber were lower and nearer together than the other hills 
 of Latium." 3. "While the Grecian peninsula is turned towards the east, the 
 Italian is turned towards the west" (Mommsen); show the influence of this 
 geographical fact on the history of each land. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 ROME AS A KINGDOM 
 
 I. THE BEGINNINGS OF ROME 
 
 377. Latium and the Latin League. At the opening of the historic 
 period, Latium, the " flat country," as the name probably signifies, 
 lying south of the lower course of the Tiber, was dotted with strongly 
 fortified hill-towns or petty city-states, like those of early Greece. 
 In some cases at least a great part of the families forming one of 
 these little hill-states lived in hamlets scattered over the territory of 
 the city, in order that they might be near the fields they ploughed 
 or the common pastures upon which they = herded their flocks. The 
 walled town on the hill served as a common refuge for the villagers 
 in times of danger. It was also here that they held their markets 
 and religious festivals. According to tradition there were in all 
 Latium in prehistoric times thirty of these hill-towns. These had 
 formed an alliance among themselves kno„wn as the Latin League. 
 
 378. Early Rome. Among these hill-towns was one named Rome, 
 situated on a cluster of low hills on the left bank of the Tiber, about 
 fifteen miles from the sea. At the dawn Of history the leadership 
 in the Latin League was held by this city.^ Rome, which was 
 
 1 In earlier times the leadership was held by Alba Longa, a city on the isolated 
 Alban Mount 
 
 342 
 
§379] 
 
 INFLUENCE OF COMMERCE 
 
 343 
 
 destined to play such a great role in history, had been formed by the 
 union in prehistoric times of three or more settlements, the dwell- 
 ings of which were upon the slopes or atjthe foot of the hills just 
 mentioned. Pressed probably by common enemies, they had come 
 to unite on equal terms to form a single city-state, and had learned 
 to call themselves by the same name — Romans. The early union 
 of these little communities was a matter of great moment in the 
 history of Rome. Con- 
 tributing to make her 
 first in nurhbers and 
 strength among all the 
 Latin city-states, it helped 
 to lay the basis of her 
 greatness and foreshad- 
 owed her marvelous po- 
 litical fortunes. 
 
 379. Influence of Com- 
 merce upon the Growth 
 of Early Rome. Besides 
 the early happy union of 
 the several hill villages, 
 other circumstances with- 
 out doubt contributed to 
 the early and rapid 
 growth of Rome. Among 
 these a prominent place 
 
 must be given to the advantages in the way of trade and commerce 
 afforded by its fortunate situation upon the Tiber. Its distance from 
 the sea protected it against the depredations of the pirates who in 
 early times swarmed in the Mediterranean and swept away the cattle 
 and the crops from the fields of the coast settlements, while its 
 location on the chief stream of Central Italy naturally made it the 
 center of the lucrative trade of a wide reach of inland territory 
 bordering upon the Tiber and its tributaries. Furthermore, this posi- 
 tion upon a navigable river and not too far away from the sea gave 
 it control of an important sea-borne traffic. 
 
 The Seven Hills of Rome 
 
 " The course of all Kistory [has] been determined by 
 
 the geological fact that certain hills by the Tiber were 
 
 lower and nearer together than the other hills of 
 
 Latium." — Freeman 
 
344 ROME AS A KINGDOM [§380 
 
 II. SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 380. The Roman Family; the Worship of Ancestors. At the 
 
 base of Roman society and forming its smallest unit was the 
 family. This was a very different group from that which among 
 us bears the same name. The typical Roman family consisted of 
 the father (^paterfamilias) and mother, the sons together with their 
 wives and sons, and the unmarried daughters. When a daughter 
 married she became a member of the family to which her husband 
 belonged. 
 
 The most important feature or clement of this family group was 
 the unrestrained authority {J>otestas) of the father. In early times his 
 power over every member of the family was in law absolute, though 
 custom required that in cases involving severe punishment he should 
 seek the advice of a council of near relatives. He could for miscon- 
 duct sell a son of mature years into slavery or even put him to death 
 (see sect. 406). 
 
 The father was the high priest of the family, for the family had 
 a common worship. This was the cult of d'pmestic divinities and the 
 spirits of ancestors. These latter were believed to linger near the 
 old hearth. If provided with frequent offerings of meat and drink, 
 they would, it was thought, watch over the living members of the 
 family and aid and prosper them in their daily work and in all 
 their undertakings. If they were neglected, however, these spirits 
 became restless and suffered pain, and in their anger would bring 
 trouble in some form upon their undutiful kinsmen. 
 
 It was particularly this worship of ancestors that made the Roman 
 family so exclusive, and that caused it to close its doors against 
 all strangers ; for the spirits of its dead members could be served 
 only by their own kith and kin. By a certain religious ceremony, 
 however, a stranger could be adopted into a family, and thus could 
 acquire the same rights as its members by^ birth or by marriage to 
 participate in its worship and festivals. 
 
 When the father died the sons became free, and each in his 
 own household now came to exercise the full authority that the 
 father had held. 
 
§381] THE FAMILY IN ROMAN HISTORY 345 
 
 381. The Place of the Family in Roman History. It would be 
 difficult to overestimate the influence of the family upon the history 
 and destiny of Rome. It was the cradle of at least some of those 
 splendid virtues of the early Romans that contributed so much to 
 the strength and greatness of Rome, and that helped to give her 
 the dominion of the world. It was in the 'atmosphere of the family 
 that were nourished in the Roman youth the virtues of obedience, 
 of deference to authority, and of submission to law and custom. 
 When the youth became a citizen, obedjfince to magistrates and 
 respect for law were with him an instinct and indeed almost a 
 religion. And, on the other hand, the exercise of the parental 
 authority in the family taught the Roman Tiow to command as well 
 as how to obey — how to exercise authority with wisdom, moderation, 
 and justice. 
 
 382. Dependents of the Family : Clients and Slaves. Besides 
 those members constituting the family proper there were attached 
 to it usually a numb er of depende nts. These were the clients and 
 slaves. The client was a person standing in a semiservile relation to 
 the head of the family, who was called his patron. The class 
 of clients was probably made up largely of homeless refugees or 
 strangers from other cities, or of freed slaves dwelling in their 
 former master's house. They were free to engage in business at 
 Rome and to accumulate property, though whatever they gathered 
 was legally the property of the patron. 
 
 The duty of the patron was, in general, to look after the interests 
 of his client, especially to represent him before the legal tribunals. 
 The duty of the client, on the other hand, was faithfulness to his 
 patron, and the making of contributions of money to aid him in 
 meeting unusual expenses. 
 
 The slaves constituted merely a part - of the family property. 
 There were only a few slaves in the early Roman family, and these 
 were held for service chiefly within the home and not in the fields. 
 They relieved the mother and daughters of the coarser work of the 
 household. It was not until later times, when luxury crept into 
 Rome, that the number of domestic slaves became excessively 
 great (sect. 573). 
 
346 ROME AS A KINGDOM [§383 
 
 383. The Clan, the Curia, the Tribe, and the City. Above the 
 family stood the clan or gens. This was probably in the earliest 
 times simply the expanded family, the members of which had out- 
 grown the remembrance of their exact relationship. Yet they all 
 beheved themselves to have had a common ancestor and called 
 themselves by his name, as the Fabii, the Claudii, the Julii, and so 
 on. The gens, like the family, had a comttion altar. 
 
 The next largest group or division of the community was the 
 curia, which, like the Greek phratry (sect. 154), was a "brotherhood," 
 the members of which were united by the ties of religion and 
 blood. This was the most important political division of the people 
 in early Rome. Levies for the army were made by curiae, and vot- 
 ing in the primitive assembly of the people, as we shall explain 
 presently, was done by these same bodies. There were thirty curiae 
 in primitive Rome. 
 
 Above the curias was the tribe, the largest subdivision of the 
 community. In early Rome there were three tribes, each com- 
 prising ten curiae. 
 
 These several groups made up the cornmunity of early Rome. 
 This city, like the cities of ancient Greece (sect.. 154), was a city- 
 state — that is, an independent sovereign body like a modern nation. 
 As such it possessed a constitution and government, concerning 
 which we will next give a short account. 
 
 384. The King and the Senate. At the head of the early Roman 
 state stood a king, the father of his people, holding essentially the 
 same relation to them that the father of a family held to his house- 
 hold. He was at once ruler of the nation, commander of the army, 
 and judge and high priest of his people. He was preceded by serv- 
 ants called lictors, each bearing a bundle of rods (the fasces) with 
 an ax bound therein, the symbol of his power to punish by flogging 
 and by putting to death. 
 
 Next to the king stood the Senate, a body composed of the 
 "fathers," or heads of the ancient clans of the community. Two 
 important functions of the Senatfi_were togivecoynssLto the 
 king, and to cast_ib£ ^decisive vote o n all measures passed by the 
 assembly of citizens. 
 
§385] THE POPULAR ASSEMBLY 347 
 
 385. The Popular Assembly. The popular assembly (comitia cu- 
 riatd) comprised all the freemen of Rome. The manner of taking 
 a vote in this assembly should be noted, for the usage here was 
 followed in all the later popular assemblies^ of the republican period. 
 The voting was not by individuals but by curiee ; that is, each curia 
 had one vote, and the measure before the body was carried or lost 
 according as a majority of the curiae voted for or against it. 
 
 It should be further noted that this assembly was not a representa- 
 tive body, like a modern legislature, but a primary assembly,, that is, 
 a meeting like, a New England town meeting. All of the later assem- 
 blies at Rome were like this primitive assembly. The Romans never 
 learned, or at least never employed, the principle of representation, 
 without which device government by the people in the great states 
 of the present day would be impossible. How important the bearing 
 of this was upon the political fortunes of Rome we shall learn later. 
 
 386. The Rights of Roman Citizenship. The rights of the Roman 
 citizen were divided into private rights and public rights. The chief 
 private rights were two, namely, the right of trade (/«j commercii) 
 and the right of marriage (Jus connubii). The right of trade or com- 
 merce was the right to acquire, to hold, and to bequeath property 
 (both personal and landed) according to the forms of the Roman 
 law. This in the ancient city was an important right and privilege.^ 
 The right of marriage was the " right of contracting a full and reli- 
 gious marriage." Such a marriage could take place in early Rome 
 only between patricians, or persons of noble birth. 
 
 The three chief public or political rights of the Roman citizen 
 were the right of voting in the public assemblies {jus suffragii), the 
 right to hold office {jus honorum), and the right of appeal from the 
 decision of a magistrate to the people {jus provocationis). 
 
 These rights taken together constituted the most highly valued 
 rights and prerogatives of the Roman citizen. What we should 
 particularly notice is that the Romans adopted the practice of 
 bestowing these rights in installments, so to speak. For instance, 
 the inhabitants of one vanquished city would be given a part of 
 
 1 In some modem states aliens are not allowed to acquire landed property ; in Roman 
 terms there is withheld from them a part of the/Mj commercii. 
 
348^ ROME AS A KINGDOM [§387 
 
 the private rights of citizenship, those of another perhaps all of 
 this class of rights, while upon the inhabitants of a third place would 
 be bestowed all the rights, both private and public. This usage 
 created many different classes of citizens in the Roman state ; and 
 this, as will appear later, was one of tho most important matters 
 connected with the internal history of Rome. 
 
 387. Patricians and Plebeians. In early Rome there were two 
 classes or orders known as patricians and plebeians} The patricians 
 formed the hereditary nobility of the state. They alone possessed all 
 the rights of citizenship as enumerated in the preceding section. Some 
 of the private rights, as we shall see directly, they shared with the 
 plebeians, but the chief political rights they jealously guarded as the 
 sacred patrimony of their own order. 
 
 The plebeians (irompkbs, " the multitude '") were the humbler mem- 
 bers of the community. Some of this class were shopkeepers, artisans, 
 and manual laborers living in Rome; but the larger number were 
 small landowners living outside the city in scattered hamlets, and 
 tilling with their own hands their little farms of a few acres in extent. 
 
 From what has already been said of them, it will be seen that these 
 plebeians possessed at least one of the most important rights of Roman 
 citizenship, namely, the private right of engaging in trade. But from 
 most of the other rights and privileges of the full citizen they were 
 wholly shut out. They could not contract a legal marriage with one 
 of the patrician order. They could not hold office or appeal from 
 the decision of a magistrate. A large part of the early history of 
 Rome as a republic is made up of the struggles of these plebeians 
 to better their economic condition and to secure for themselves social 
 and political equality with the patricians. 
 
 III. RELIGION 
 
 388. The Place of Religion in Roman History. In Rome, as in 
 the ancient cities of Greece, religion, aside from the domestic and 
 local cults, was an affair of the state. The magistrates of the city 
 
 1 Tliere have been many theories as to the origin of this division in the population 
 of primitive Rome, but nothing certain is known about it. It is possible that the patri- 
 cians were the offspring of the invading Indo-Europeans (sect. 376), and the plebeians the 
 descendants of the subjected non-Aryan people. See Frank, Homan Imperialism^ p. 12. 
 
§389] LEGAL CHARACTER OF THE RELIGION 349 
 
 possessed a sort of sacerdotal or priestly character ; and since almost 
 every official act was connected in some way with the rites of the 
 temple or the sacrifices of the altar, it happens that the political 
 history of the Romans is closely interwoven with their religion. 
 
 389. The Practical and Legal Character of the Religion. The 
 Roman thought of the gods as watchful of the conduct of their 
 worshipers, and as interested in their affairs. Hence the Roman 
 was in his way very religious, and exceedingly scrupulous in render- 
 ing to the divinities the worship due them. He did not, however, 
 serve his gods for naught; he expected from them a full equivalent 
 for the sacrificial victims that he offered them, for the incense that 
 he Kurned upon their altars, for the gifts he hung up in their temples, 
 and for the costly games and spectacles he provided for their enter- 
 tainment in the circus and the amphitheater. 
 
 And the gods, on their part, were ready to meet this expectation. 
 They gave counsel and help to their faithful followers, and secured 
 them good harvests and a successful issue of their undertakings. On 
 the other hand, neglect angered the gods and caused them to bring 
 upon their unfaithful worshipers all kinds pf troubles and calamities 
 — dissensions within the state, defeat of their armies in the field, 
 drought, fire and flood, pestilence and famine. 
 
 Another noteworthy feature of the Roman religion was its legal 
 character ; for the Roman religion was a sort of contract between 
 the gods and their worshipers. If the worshipers performed their 
 part of this contract, then the gods were bound to fulfill theirs. 
 
 But the Roman was ever ready to take advantage of a flaw in a 
 contract and to overreach in a bargain, and making his gods like 
 unto himself, he imagined that they would act in a like manner. 
 Hence the anxious care with which he performed all the prescribed 
 religious rites, in order to insure that there should be no flaw in the 
 proceedings which might be taken advantage of by the gods. Plutarch 
 says; that sometimes a sacrifice would be repeated as many as thirty 
 times, because each time there was some little oversight or mistake. 
 
 390. The Chief Roman Deities. At the head of the Roman 
 pantheon stood Jupiter, identical in all essential attributes with 
 the Hellenic Zeus. He was the special protector of the Roman 
 
3S0 
 
 ROME AS A KINGDOM 
 
 [§391 
 
 people. To him, together with Juno his wife, and Minerva goddess 
 of wisdom, was consecrated a magnificent temple upon the summit 
 of the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the forum and the city. 
 
 Mars, the god of war, was the favorite deity and the fabled father 
 of the Roman race, who were fond of calling themselves the " Chil- 
 dren of Mars." They proved themselves worthy offspring of the 
 war-god. Martial games and festivals were celebrated in his honor 
 during the first month of the Roman year — the month which bore, 
 
 and still bears, in his honor, the name 
 of March. 
 
 Janus was a double-faced deity to 
 whom the month of January was 
 sacred, as were also all gates and 
 doors. The gates of his temple were 
 always kept open in time of war and 
 shut in time of peace. 
 
 The fire upon the household hearth 
 was regarded as the symbol of the 
 goddess Vesta. Her worship was a 
 favorite one with the Romans. The 
 nation, too, as a single great family, 
 had a common national hearth in the 
 temple of Vesta, where the sacred fires were kept burning from 
 generation to generation by six virgins, daughters of the Roman 
 state (see sect. 7). 
 
 391. Oracles and Divination. The Romans, like the Greeks, 
 thought that the will of the gods was communicated to men by 
 means of oracles, and by strange sights, unusual events, or singular 
 coincidences. There were no true oracles at Rome. The Romans, 
 therefore, often had recourse to those of the Greeks. Particularly 
 in great emergencies did they seek advice from the celebrated 
 oracle of Apollo at Delphi. From Etruria was introduced the art 
 of the haruspices, or soothsayers, which consisted in discovering the 
 will of the gods by the appearance of the inward parts of victims 
 slain for the sacrifices.' 
 
 1 This art came originally from Babylonia, probably by way of Asia Minor, 
 
 Fig. 147. Head of Janus 
 (From a Roman coin) 
 
§392] 
 
 THE SACRED COLLEGES 
 
 351 
 
 392. The Sacred Colleges. The four chief sacred colleges or 
 societies were the K eepers of the Sibylline Boo ks, theJ^oUege of 
 Aygurs, the C ollege of pontiff s, and the [ColIege_of_the_Heralds. 
 
 The Sibylline Books were volumes written in Greek, the origin 
 of which was lost in fable. They were kept in a stone chest in a 
 vault beneath the Capitoline temple, and special custodians were 
 appointed to take charge of them and interpret them. The books 
 were consulted only in times of extreme danger (sect. 431). 
 
 The* duty of the 
 members of the Col- 
 lege of Augurs was to 
 interpret the omens, 
 or auspices, — which 
 were casual sights or 
 appearances, particu- 
 larly the flight of birds, 
 — by which means 
 it was believed that 
 Jupiter made known 
 his wUl. Great skill 
 was required in the 
 " taking of the aus- 
 pices," as it was called. No business of importance, public or pri- 
 vate, was entered upon without the auspices being first consulted to 
 ascertain whether they were favorable. 
 
 The College of Pontiffs was .so called probably because one of 
 the duties of its members was to keep in repair a certain bridge 
 l^pons) over the Tiber. This guild was the most important of all 
 the religious institutions of the Romans ; for to the pontiffs belonged 
 the superintendence of all religious matters. The head of the college 
 was called Pontifex Maximns, or "Chief Bridge Builder," which 
 title was assumed by the Roman emperors, and after them by the 
 Christian bishops of Rome ; and thus the name has come down to 
 our times. 
 
 The College of Heralds {Fetiaks) had the care of all public 
 matters pertaining to foreign nations. Thus, if the Roman people 
 
 Fig. 148. Divining by Means of the Appearance 
 OF THE Entrails of a Sacrificial Victim 
 
 This was with the Romans a. usual way of foretelling 
 future events 
 
352^ ROME AS A KINGDOM [§393 
 
 had suffered any wrong from another state, and war was determined 
 upon, then it was the duty of a herald to proceed to the frontier of 
 the enemy's country and hurl over the boundary a spear dipped in 
 blood. This was a declaration of war. The Romans were very 
 careful in the observance of this ceremony.^ 
 
 393. Sacred Games and Festivals. The Romans had many reli- 
 gious games and festivals. Prominent among these were the so- 
 called Circensian games, or games of the circus, which were very 
 similar to the sacred games of the Greeks. They consisted, in the 
 main, of chariot-racing, wrestling, foot-racing, and various other 
 athletic contests. 
 
 These festivals, as in the case of those of the Greeks, had their 
 origin in the belief that the gods delighted in the exhibition of feats 
 of skill, strength, or endurance ; that their anger might be appeased 
 by such spectacles ; or that they might by the promise of games be 
 persuaded to lend aid to mortals in great emergencies.^ At the open- 
 ing of the year it was customary for the Roman magistrates, in the 
 name of the state, to promise to the gods games and festivals, pro- 
 vided good crops, protection from pestilence, and victory to their arms 
 were vouchsafed to the Roman people during the year. 
 
 Towards the close of the Republic these games lost much of their 
 religious character, and at last became degraded into mere brutal 
 shows given by ambitious leaders for .the purpose of winning 
 popularity. 
 
 The Saturnalia were a festival held in December in honor of 
 Saturn, the god of sowing. It was an occasion on which all classes, 
 including the slaves, who were allowed to act during the celebration 
 like freemen, gave themselves up to riotous amusements ; hence the 
 significance we attach to the word saturnalian. The well-known 
 Roman carnival of to-day is a survival of the ancient Saturnalia. 
 
 1 Besides the members of the learned colleges there were priests, called flamines, 
 who had the oversight of the worship of Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus, and other special deities. 
 
 2 " The games were an entertainment offered to the Quests [the gods, who were '' the 
 guests of honor,"] which were as certainly believed tot be gratifying to their sight as a 
 review of troops or a deer hunt to a modem European sovereign." — V\^heeler, 
 Dionysos and Immoriality, p. 1 1 
 
§394] THE LEGENDARY KINGS 353 
 
 IV. ROME UNDER THE KINGS .(Legendary Date 
 753-509 B.C.) 
 
 394. The Legendary Kings. The early government of Rome was 
 a monarchy. The regal period, according to tradition, embraced 
 nearly two and a half centuries (from 753' to 509 B.C.). To span 
 this period the legends of the Romans tell of the reigns of seven 
 kings — Romulus, the founder of Rome ; Numa, the lawgiver ; 
 TuUus Hostilius and Ancus Martius, both conquerors; Tarquinius 
 Priscus, the great builder; Servius Tullius, the reorganizer of the 
 government and second founder of the state ; and Tarquinius Super- 
 bus, the haughty tyrant whose oppressions led to the abolition by 
 the people of the office of king.^ 
 
 The traditions of the doings of these moharchs and of what hap- 
 pened to them blend hopelessly fact and fable. We cannot be quite 
 sure even as to their names. Respecting Roman affairs, however, 
 under the last three rulers (the Tarquins), who were of Etruscan 
 origin, some important things are related, the substantial truth of 
 which we may rely upon with a fair degree of certainty ; and these 
 matters we shall notice in the following sections. 
 
 395. Growth of Rome under the Tarquins. The Tarquins extended 
 their authority over much of Latium. Tlje position of supremacy 
 thus given Rome was attended by the rapid growth of the city in 
 population and importance. The original walls soon became too 
 strait for the increasing multitudes ; new ramparts were built, — tra- 
 dition says under the direction of the king Servius Tullius, — which, 
 with a great circuit of seven miles, swept around the entire cluster 
 of seven hills on the south bank of the Tiber, whence the name 
 that Rome acquired of " the City of the Seven Hills." 
 
 A large tract of marshy ground between the chief hills was re- 
 claimed by means of the Cloaca Maxima, a great sewer or drain, 
 
 1 Modern excavations and research have estabUshed the fact that there was a settle- 
 ment, on the site of Rome long before the eighth century, but it is necessary to keep in 
 mind the traditional year (753 B. c.) of the founding of the city, because the Romans 
 reckoned dates from that year. 
 
 2 For some of the best-known legends of early Rome, see Legends of Early Rome, 
 at the end of this chapter. 
 
354 
 
 ROME AS A KINGDOM 
 
 [§396 
 
 which at a later period was covered with a vault of masonry. 
 The land thus reclaimed became the Forum, the public market place 
 of the early city. At one end of this public square, as we should 
 call it, was the Comitium, an inclosure where assemblies for voting 
 purposes were held. Standing on the dividing line between the 
 Comitium and the Forum proper was the speakers' stand, later named 
 the Rostra} This assembling place was in later times enlarged and 
 
 decorated with various monu- 
 ments and surrounded with splen- 
 did buildings and porticoes. Here 
 more was said, resolved upon, and 
 done than upon any other spot 
 in the ancient world. 
 
 396. "The Reforms of Servius 
 Tullius: the Five Classes and 
 the Four New Tribes. It was 
 the second king of the Etruscan 
 house, Servius Tullius by name, 
 to whom tradition attributes a 
 most important change in the 
 constitution of the Roman state.^ 
 He Jiade_ property i nstead of 
 birth, or membership inthS^imi- 
 tive curias and tribes, the basis 
 of the duties, particularly the mili- 
 tary duties, of citizenship. 
 
 In the earhest times the army 
 was composed of three thousand 
 foot soldiers and three hundred horsemen, each of the three tribes 
 furnishing one third of this number. Tradition affirms that this force 
 had been doubled by Tarquinius Priscus. But the growing state — 
 conquests had made additions both to the territory and the population 
 
 l.So called because decorated with the beaks {rostra) of war galleys taken from 
 enemies. 
 
 2 The reform itself is an historical fact, but it is possible that it was not effected by 
 the efforts of any particular king. It may have been the result of a long period of slow 
 constitutional development. 
 
 Fig. 149. The Cloaca Maxima 
 (From a photograph) 
 
 Until recently the existing arch work of 
 the " great sewer " was believed to be of 
 Etruscan origin, but excavations made in 
 the Forum in 1903 prove that this dates 
 from the later Republic 
 
§397] 
 
 THE ARMY-, THE LEGION 
 
 35S 
 
 of Rome — had come to need a larger military force than the o'riginal 
 tribes alone could maintain. Servius TuUios increased the army by 
 requiring all landowners between seventeen and sixty years of age 
 to assume a place in the ranks. The whole body of persons thus 
 made liable to militaiy service was divid ed into five cla sses according 
 to the amount of land each possessed! The largest landowners, most 
 of whom at this time were patricians, were enrolled in the first three 
 classes, and were required to provide them- 
 selves with heavy armor ; the smaller pror 
 prietors, who made up the remaining two 
 classes, were called upon to furnish them- 
 selves with only a light equipment. 
 
 At the same time, in place of the three 
 old tribes there were now created four new 
 ones, each including a part of the city area 
 an3~also a part of the city territory beyond 
 its walls.^ Though these new divisions of 
 the population were called tribes, still they 
 were very different in character from the 
 earlier divisions bearing this name. Mem- 
 bership in one of the old tribes was deter- 
 mined by birth or relationship, while 
 membership in one of the new tribes was 
 determined by place of residence.^ 
 
 397. The Army; the Legion. T^^jinit ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ 
 
 of the military organization was the century, Soldier 
 
 probably containing at this time, as the nSme 
 
 (centuria) indicates, one hundred men.^ F orty-two cen turie's were united 
 t o form t he legio n, which thus at this period probably ntimbered 
 forty-two hundred men, its normal strength till towards the end of the 
 
 ' Somewhat later, after the expulsion of the kings (sect. 400), these four tribes were 
 confined to the city, and the territory outside was divided into seventeen new tribes, 
 known as rural tribes. 
 
 2 Thus these new tribes were like our wards or townships. As new territory was 
 acquired by the Romans through conquest, new tribes were created, until there were 
 finally thirty-five, which number was never exceeded. 
 
 3 Later the number of the body was increased so that the term century lost all 
 numerical significance. 
 
3S6 ROME AS A KINGDOM '[§398 
 
 Republic. The tactical formation of the legion was the old Grecian 
 phalanx, which seems to have been borrowed from the Dorian cities 
 of Magna Grsecia. This legion phalanx had probably a front of five 
 hundred men and a depth of six ranks. The heavy-equipped citizens 
 made up the front ranks, the light-equipped the rear. 
 
 There were at the period of the Servian reforms four legions. 
 Two, composed of the younger men, were for service in the field ; 
 the remaining two, made up of the older citizens, formed a sort of 
 home guard. Besides the four legions there was a cavalry force of 
 eighteen hundred men-, made up of the richest landowners. This 
 brought the total strength of the army, for both field and home 
 service, up to about twenty thousand men. 
 
 398. The Comitia Centuriata. The assembling place of those liable 
 to military service, thus organized into centuries and classes, was just 
 outside the city walls, on a large plain called the Campus Martins, 
 or Field of Mars. The meeting of these military orders was called 
 the comitia centuriata, or the Assembly of Centuries. This body, in 
 which the plebeians through the increase among them of the num- 
 ber of rich landowners gradually acquired grgat influence, came in the 
 course of time to absorb most of the powers of the earlier assembly 
 (comitia curiatci). 
 
 399. Importance of the Servian Reforms. The reforms of Servius 
 Tullius were an important step towards the establishment of social 
 and political equality between the two great orders of the state — 
 the patricians and the plebeians. The new constitution, indeed, as 
 Mommsen says, assigned to the plebeians duties chiefly, and not 
 rights ; but being called upon to discharge the most important duties of 
 citizens, it was not long before they demanded^ all the rights of citizens ; 
 and as the bearers of arms they were able to enforce their demands.^ 
 
 400. The Expulsion of the Kings. The legends, as already noted, 
 make Tarquinius Superbus the last king of Rome. He is represented 
 as a monstrous tyrant, whose arbitrary acts caused both patricians and 
 
 1 This reform movement at Rome was part of a revolution which seems to have been 
 participated in by all the peoples of Greece and Italy who had reached the city stage of 
 development. Thus, at just about the time that traditiqn represents Servius Tullius as 
 effecting his reform at Rome, Clisthenes, the Athenian legislator, was instituting a similar 
 reform in the constitution of Athens (cf. sect. 204). 
 
§400] LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME 357 
 
 plebeians to unite and drive liim and all his house into exile. This 
 event, according to the Roman annalists, occurred in the year 509 B.C., 
 only one year later than the expulsion of the tyrants from Athens 
 (sect. 203). 
 
 T.EGENDS OP EARLY ROMEi 
 
 Tale of the Founding of Rome. After Troy had been taken by the 
 Greeks (sect. 143), /Eneas, led by the Fates, came in search of a new home 
 to the Italian shores. First at a place called Lavinium, and later at Alba 
 Longa, on the Alban Mount, there ruled a long line of his descendants. 
 At length a usurper seized the throne, and caused the twin heir-princes, of 
 whoni the god Mars was declared to be the father, to be thrown into the 
 Tiber. The cradle in which the babes were borne was cast upon the land 
 by the strong current. Attracted by the cries of the children, a she-wolf 
 directed her course to them, and with the greatefst tenderness nursed them. 
 Finally a shepherd, discovering the babes in the care of the wolf, took them 
 to his home and reared them with his own children. 
 
 When grown to be men, Romulus and Remus, — for so the brothers 
 were named, — having put to death the usurper, resolved to build a city on 
 the spot where they had been exposed and rescued. Unhappily, in a quar- 
 rel as to which should give name to the new city, Remus was killed by his 
 brother. Thus Romulus was left as the sole founder of the city, which was 
 called Rome after him. 
 
 The Romans Capture the Sabine Women for Wives. The new city, hav- 
 ing been made by Romulus a sort of asylum or refuge for the discontented 
 and the outlawed of all the surrounding states, soon became very populous, 
 and more powerful than either Lavinium or Alba Longa. But there were 
 few women among its inhabitants. Romulus therefore sent embassies to the 
 neighboring cities to ask that his people might take wives from among them. 
 But the adjoining nations were averse to entering into marriage alliances with 
 the men of the new city. Thereupon the Roman youth determined to secure 
 by violence what they could not obtain by other means. Romulus appointed a 
 great festival, and invited to the celebration all the surrounding peoples. The 
 Sabines especially came in great numbers with their wives and daughters. 
 In the midst of the games, the Roman youth, at a preconcerted signal, 
 rushed among the spectators, and seized and carried off to their homes the 
 daughters of their guests. This violation of the laws of hospitality led to a 
 war on the part of the injured Sabines against the Romans. Peace, how- 
 ever, was made between the combatants by the young women themselves, 
 
 1 From Livy's History of Rome, i, ii. In this connection read Macaulay's Lays of 
 Ancient Rome. 
 
3S8 ROME AS A KINGDOM [§400 
 
 who, as the wives of their captors, had become reconciled to their lot. The 
 two nations were now combined into one, the Sabines removing to one of 
 the Seven Hills. Each people, however, retained its own king ; but upon 
 the death of the Sabine king, Titus Tatius, Romulus ruled over both the 
 Romans and the Sabines. During a thunderstorm Romulus was caught up 
 to the skies, and Numa Pompilius ruled in his stead. 
 
 The Combat between the Horatii and the Curiatii. In process of time a 
 war broke out between Rome and Alba Longa. It might be called a civil 
 war, for the Romans and Albans were alike descendants of the Trojan 
 exiles. The two armies were ready to engage in battle when it was proposed 
 that the controversy should be decided by a combat between three Alban 
 brothers named the Curiatii, and three Roman brothers known as the 
 Horatii. The nation whose champions gained the victory was to rule over 
 the other. On the signal being given, the combat began. Two of the 
 Romans soon fell lifeless, and the three Curiatii. were wounded. The re- 
 maining Roman, who was unhurt, was now surrounded by the three Albans. 
 To avoid their united attack, he turned and fled, thinking that they, being 
 wounded, would almost certainly become separated in following him. This 
 did actually happen ; and when Horatius, looking back as he fled, saw the 
 Curiatii to be following him at different intervals, he turned himself about 
 and fell upon his pursuers, one after the other, and despatched them. 
 
 So in accordance with the terms of the treaty which the two cities had 
 made, conditioned on the issue of the fight between the champions, Rome 
 held dominion over Alba Longa. But the league between the Romans and 
 the Albans was soon broken, and then the Romans, demolishing the houses 
 of Alba Longa, carried off all the inhabitants to Rome, and incorporated 
 them with the Roman state.-' 
 
 The Exploit of Horatius Codes. After the expulsion of the Tarquins 
 from Rome, they besought Porsenna, king of Clusium, a powerful city of 
 Etruria, to espouse their cause, and help thera to regain the kingly power 
 at Rome. Porsenna lent a favorable ear to their solicitations, and made war 
 upon the Roman state. As his army drew near to Rome, all the people 
 from the surrounding country hastened within the city gates. The bravery 
 of a single man, Horatius Codes, alone prevented the enemy from effecting 
 an entrance into the city. This man was posted as a guard on the Subhcian 
 Bridge, which led across the Tiber from the citadel of the Janiculum. The 
 Janiculum having been taken by the enemy, its defenders were retreating 
 in great disorder across the bridge, and the victors following closer after. 
 Horatius Codes called after his fleeing companions to break down the 
 bridge, while he held the pursuers at bay. Taking his stand at the farther 
 1 For the sequel of this story, see I-ivy, i, 26. 
 
§400] LEGENDS OF EARLY ROME 359 
 
 entrance of the bridge, he, with the help of two comrades, held the enemy 
 in check, while the structure was being destroyed. As the bridge fell with 
 a crash into the stream, Codes leaped into the water, and amidst a shower 
 of darts swam in safety to the Roman side. Through his bravery he had 
 saved Rome. His grateful countrymen erected a statue to his honor, and 
 voted him a plot of land as large as he could plough in a single day. 
 
 The Fortitude of Mucius Scaevola. Failing to take Rome by assault, Por- 
 senna endeavored to reduce it by a regular siege. After the investment had 
 been maintained for a considerable time, a Roman youth, Gaius Mucius by 
 name, resolved to deliver the city from the presence of the besiegers by 
 going into the camp of the enemy and killing Porsenna. Through a mis- 
 take, however, he slew the secretary of the king instead of the king him- 
 self. He was seized and brought into the presence of Porsenna, who 
 threatened him with punishment by fire unless he made a full disclosure of 
 the Roman plots. Mucius, to show the king how little he could be moved 
 by threats, thrust his right hand into a flame that was near, and held it 
 there unflinchingly until it was consumed. Porsenna was so impressed by 
 the fortitude of the youth, that he dismissed him without punishment. 
 From the loss of his right hand, Mucius received the surname of Scc£vola, 
 " The Left-handed." 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plutarch, Romulus and Numa (in the case 
 of these particular lives the student will of course bear in mind that he is read- 
 ing Roman folklore ; but it is worth while for the student of Roman history to 
 know what the Romans of later times themselves believed respecting their 
 early kings). LiVY, i, ii (a choice may be made among the early legends). 
 Munro's Source Book, pp. 4-19; Davis's Readings. {KomeJ, pp. 5-15. 
 
 Secondary Works. Mommsen, vol. i, bk. i, chaps, iv-xv. Coulanges, T/ie 
 Ancient City, bk. i, chaps, i-iv, "Ancient Beliefs"; bk. ii, chap, i, "Religion 
 was the Constituent Principle of the Ancient Family " ; chap, a, " The Gens 
 at Rome and in Greece." Duruy, vol. i, chaps, i, iv. How and Leigh, History 
 of Rome, pp. 20—52, 288-293. Seignobos (Fairly ed.), History of the Roman 
 ■People, chaps, ii, iv. Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. i, chaps, ii, ill. 
 Ihne, Early Rome. FowLER, The City-state of the Greeks and Rom-ans, 
 chaps, ii, HI. Morey, Outlines of Roman Law, chap, i, " The Organization 
 of Early Roman Society.'' ABiioxT, Roman Political Institutions, chaps. I, ii. 
 Greenidge, Roman Public Life, chap. i. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. The family cult and \h& patria potestas : 
 Johnston, The Private Life of the Romans, pp. 28-32 ; Wllklns, Roman Antiipti- 
 ties, chap. iii. 2. The Roman character : Wilkins, Roman Antiquities, chap. i. 
 
 3. The position of women : Johnston, The Private Life of the Romans, pp. 64-66. 
 
 4. Prehistoric Rome : Lanciani, Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discov- 
 eries, chap, ii, " The Foundation and Prehistoric Life of Rome." 
 
SECOND PERIOD — ROME AS A REPUBLIC 
 
 (509-31 B.C.) 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 THE EARLY REPUBLIC ; PLEBEIANS SECURE EQUALITY 
 WITH THE PATRICIANS 
 
 (509-367 B.C.) 
 
 401. Republican Magistrates : the Consuls and the Dictator. With 
 the monarchy overthrown and the last king and his house banished 
 from Rome, the people set to work to reorganize the government. 
 In place of the king there were elected two patrician magistrates, 
 called at fast prators or "" leaders," but later, consuls or " colleagues." 
 These magistrates were chosen for one year, and were invested with 
 all the powers, save some priestly functions, that had been exercised 
 by the king during the regal period. In public each consul was 
 attended, as the king had been, by twelve lictors, each bearing the 
 "dread fasces" (Fig. 151). 
 
 Each consul had the power of obstructing the acts or vetoing the 
 commands of the other. This was called the " right of intercession." 
 This division of authority weakened the executive, so that in times of 
 great public danger it was necessary to supersede the consuls by the 
 appointment of a special officer bearing the tide of dictator, whose 
 term of office was limited to six months, but whose power during this 
 time was as unlimited as that of the king had been. The dictator was 
 nominated by one of the consuls acting under an order of the Senate 
 which must be obeyed. He was preceded by twenty-four lictors. 
 
 A consul could not be impeached, or reached by any legal or con- 
 stitutional process, while in office ; but after fhe expiration of his term 
 he could be prosecuted for any misconduct, or illegal act of which he 
 
 360 
 
§402] 
 
 THE RIGHT OF APPEAL 
 
 361 
 
 might have been guilty while holding his magistracy. This rule was 
 applied to all the other magistrates of the Republic. 
 
 402. The Right of Appeal Secured by the Valerian Law (509 B.C.). 
 We have seen that virtually all the authority exercised by the king 
 was transferred in undimin- 
 ished measure to the consuls. 
 But the very year of the 
 overthrow of the regal power, 
 the authority of the consuls 
 was restricted in a most im- 
 portant respect. The consul 
 Publius Valerius secured the 
 passage of a law concerning 
 appeals known as the Valerian 
 Law, which forbade any mag- 
 istrate, except a dictator, to put 
 any Roman citizen to death 
 without the sanction, on ap- 
 peal, of the people in the 
 Assembly of Centuries. This 
 law, however, did not bind 
 the consuls when they were 
 at the head of the army out- 
 side the city. From this time 
 on, the consular lictors, when 
 accompanying the consuls 
 within the city, removed the ax 
 from the fasces, as a symbol 
 that the power to execute there 
 the death sentence upon any 
 citizen had been taken away. 
 
 This right of appeal from the sentence of a magistrate in cases 
 involving life and death was afterwards extended to cases of flogging, 
 and thus it became a very great security torthe citizen against unjust 
 and cruel treatment at the hands of arbitrary magistrates. More 
 than five hundred years after the enactment of this law Paul the 
 
 Fig. 151. Lictors with Fasces 
 
 The symbolic fasces borne by these officers were 
 
 probably of Etruscan origin. The Tarquins are 
 
 said to have brought them to Rome along with 
 
 other insignia of the kingly office 
 
362 THE EARLY REPUBLIC [§403 
 
 Apostle, having been flogged by his jailer, caused him to fall into 
 great fear by sending him word that he had beaten openly and 
 uncondemned a Roman citizen."^ 
 
 403. First Secession of the Plebeians (traditional date 494 B.C.). 
 The law of debt in early Rome was very harsh. During the period 
 of disorder and war which followed the expulsion of the Tarquins, 
 poor plebeians fell in debt to the wealthy class, and payment was 
 exacted with heartless severity. A debtor became the absolute prop- 
 erty of his creditor, who might sell him as a slave to pay the debt, 
 and in some cases might even put him to death. 
 
 The situation was intolerable. The plebeians resolved to secede 
 from Rome and build a new city for themselves on a neighboring 
 eminence, known afterwards as the Sacred Mount. Having on one 
 occasion been called to arms to repel an invasion, they refused to 
 march out against the enemy, but instead marched away in a body 
 from Rome to the spot selected beforehand, and began to make 
 preparations for erecting new homes. 
 
 404. The Covenant and the Tribunes. The patricians well knew 
 that such a division would prove ruinous to the state, and that the 
 plebeians must be persuaded to give up their enterprise and come 
 back to Rome. The consul Valerius was sent to treat with the in- 
 surgents. The plebeians were at first obdurate, but at last were 
 persuaded to yield to the entreaties of the embassy to return, being 
 won to this mind, so it is said, by one of the: wise senators, who made 
 use of the well-known fable of " the Body and the Members." 
 
 The following covenant was entered into and bound by the most 
 solemn oaths : the debts of the poor plebeians were to be canceled 
 and debtors held in slavery set free ; and two (the number was soon 
 increased to ten) plebeian magistrates called tribunes, whose duty 
 it should be to watch over the plebeians and protect them against 
 the injustice and partiality of the patrician magistrates, were to be 
 chosen in an assembly of the plebeians.'' 
 
 1 Acts xxii, 25-29. It was also under this same law, as revised later (it was revised 
 and confirmed 449 B.C. and again 300 13. c), that Paul accused before Festus, appealed 
 unto Caesar (Acts xxv, 11). 
 
 2 This assembly, the origin of which is obscure, is kiiown as the Assembly of Tribes 
 {comitia tribntd). 
 
§ 405] BORDER WAR AND BORt)ER TALES 363 
 
 That the tribunes might be the protectors of the plebeians in 
 something more than name, they were invested with an extraor- 
 dinary power known as the jiix auxilii, "the right of aid " ; that 
 is, they were given the right, should any patrician magistrate at- 
 tempt to deal wrongfully with a plebeian, to annul his act or stop 
 his proceeding.^ 
 
 The persons of the tribunes were made inviolable, like the persons 
 of heralds or ambassadors. Any person interrupting a tribune in the 
 discharge of his duties or doing him any violence was declared an 
 outlaw whom any one might kill. That the' tribunes might be always 
 easily found, they were not allowed to go more than one mile beyond 
 the city walls. Their houses were to be open night and day, that 
 any plebeian unjustly dealt with might flee thither for protection 
 and refuge.'^ 
 
 405. Border Wars and Border Tales; Cincinnatus. The chief 
 enemies of early Rome and her Latin allies were the Volscians, the 
 ^Equians, the Sabines, and the Etruscans. For more than a hundred 
 years after the founding of the Republic, Rome, either alone or in 
 connection with her confederates, was almost constantly fighting one 
 or another or all of these peoples. But these operations cannot be 
 regarded as real wars. They were, on the side of both parties, for 
 the most part mere plundering forays or cattle-raiding expeditions 
 into the enemy's territories. We shall probably not get a wrong idea 
 of their real character if we liken them to the early so-called border 
 wars between England and Scotland. Like the Scottish wars, they 
 were embellished by the Roman story-tellers with the most extrava- 
 gant and picturesque tales. One of the best known is the tale of 
 Cincinnatus. The legend tells how, while one of the consuls was 
 away fighting the Sabines, the ^quians defeated the forces of the 
 other and shut them up in a narrow valley whence escape seemed 
 
 1 A tribune, however, had no authority over a consul when the consul was at the 
 head of the army away from Rome, but under all other circumstances he could for 
 disobedience even arrest and imprison him. 
 
 2 Roman writers assign to this period the beginning of the quarrel concerning the 
 disposal of the public lands. This land question was the eternal question at Rome. We 
 shall examine this subject in connection with the great .reformers Tiberius and Gaius 
 Gracchus. See sects. 459, 460, 461. 
 
364 
 
 THE EARLY REPUBLIC 
 
 [§406 
 
 impossible. There was great terror in Rome when news of the situ- 
 ation of the army was brought to the city. The Senate immediately 
 appointed Cincinnatus, a grand old patrician, dictator. The com- 
 missioners who carried to him the message from the Senate found 
 him upon his little farm across the Tiber, at work ploughing, Cincin- 
 natus at once accepted the office, gathered the Roman army, sur- 
 rounded and captured the enemy, and sent them all beneath the 
 
 I '• :r'\ The Soman Somaln. 
 
 ^^^ Tlie Zaiin Confederaoy. 
 
 I V^Vi ■ I The.eri^Lnal dumain nf ihf. city 0/ TJnjjie. X^—^-w*^ >|li^ 
 
 The Roman Domain and the Latin Confederacy in the Time of the 
 Early Republic, about 450 e.g. 
 
 yoke.^ He then led his army back to Rome in triumph, laid down 
 his office, having held it only sixteen days, and sought again the 
 retirement of his farm. 
 
 406. The Decemvirs and the Twelve Tables of Laws (traditional 
 date 451-450 B.C.). While these petty border wars were furnishing 
 the material for tales of adventure and heroism, the contest between 
 
 1 This was formed of two spears thrust firmly into the ground and crossed a few feet 
 from the earth by a third spear. Prisoners of war were forced to pass beneath this yolce 
 as a symbol of submission. 
 
§406] THE TWELVE TABLES OF LAWS 365 
 
 the patricians and plebeians was going on unceasingly in the very 
 heart of the community itself. One phase of this struggle consti- 
 tutes a landmark in the history of Rome. This was the revision and 
 reduction to writing of the customs and laws of the state. 
 
 Written laws are always a great safeguard against oppression. 
 Until what shall constitute a crime and what shall be its penalty 
 are clearly written down and well known and understood by all, 
 judges may render unfair decisions or inflict unjust punishment, 
 and yet run little risk — unless they go altogether too far — of 
 being called to account ; for no one but themselves knows what 
 either the law or the .penalty really is. Hence, in all struggles of the 
 people against the tyranny of a ruling class, the demand for written 
 laws is one of the first measures taken by them for the protection of 
 their persons and property. Thus the comrnons at Athens, early in 
 their struggle with the nobles, demanded and obtained a code of 
 written laws (sect. 199). The same thing now took place at Rome. 
 The plebeians demanded that the laws be written down and pub- 
 lished. The patricians offered a stubborn resistance to their wishes 
 but finally were forced to yield to the popular clamor. 
 
 A commission, so tradition says, was sfint to the Greek cities of 
 southern Italy and to Athens to study their laws and customs. Upon 
 the return of this embassy, a commission of ten magistrates, who 
 were known as decemvirs, was appointed to frame a code of laws. 
 These officers, while engaged in this work, were also to administer 
 the entire government, and so were invested with the supreme power 
 of the state. The patricians gave up their consuls, and the plebeians 
 their tribunes. At the end of the first year the task of the board was 
 quite far from being concluded, so a new decemvirate was elected to 
 complete the work. The code was soon finished, and the laws were 
 written on twelve tablets of bronze, whith were fastened to the 
 Rostra, or orator's platform in the Forum, where they might be 
 seen and read by all. 
 
 Only a few fragments of these^celebKitedJaws have been pre- 
 served, but the~"suBitance of a considerable part of the code is 
 kSown to us through the indirect quotations from it or allusions to 
 it occurring in the works of later writers and jurists. The following 
 
366 THE EARLY REPUBLIC [§407 
 
 quotations will give some idea of the character of this primitive law- 
 system — the starting-point of a great development (see sect. 565). 
 7 The provisions regarding the treatment of debtors are noteworthy. 
 The law provided that, after the lapse of a certain number of days 
 of grace, the creditor of a delinquent debtor might put him in the 
 stocks or in chains, sell him to any stranger resident beyond the 
 Tiber, or put him to death. In case there were several creditors 
 the law provided as follows : " After the third market day his [the 
 debtor's] body may be divided. Any one taking more than his just 
 share shall be held guiltless." We are iriformed by later Roman 
 writers that this savage provision of the law was, as a matter of 
 fact, never carried into effect. 
 
 A special provision touching the power of the father over his sons 
 provided that " during their whole life he shall have the right to im- 
 prison, scourge, keep to rustic labor in chains, to sell or to slay, even 
 though they may be in the enjoyment of high state offices." The 
 prevalence of popular superstitions is revealed by one of the laws 
 which provides for the punishment of any one who by enchantments 
 should blight the crops of another. 
 
 These " Laws of the Twelve Tables " formed the basis of all new 
 legislation, touching private or personal rights, for many centuries, 
 and constituted a part of the education of the Roman youth — ) 
 every schoolboy being required to learn them by heart. ~— J 
 
 407. Misrule and Overthrow of the Decemvirs ; Second Secession 
 of the Plebeians (450 B. c). The first decemvirs used the great power 
 lodged in their hands with justice and prudenCe ; but the second board, 
 under the leadership of one Appius Claudius, instituted, if we may 
 believe tradition, a most infamous and tyrannical rule. No man's 
 life was safe, be he patrician or plebeian. An ex-tribune, daring to 
 denounce the course of the decemvirs, was caused by them to be 
 assassinated. 
 
 Another act, even more outrageous than this, filled to the brim 
 the cup of their iniquities. Virginia was the beautiful daughter of a 
 plebeian. Appius Claudius, desiring to gain possession of her, made 
 use of his authority as a judge to pronounce her a slave. The father 
 of the maiden, preferring the death of his daughter to her dishonor, 
 
THE VALERIO-HORATIAN LAWS 367 
 
 killed her with his own hand. Then, drawing the weapon from her 
 breast, he hastened to the army, which was away from Rome resist- 
 ing a united invasion of the Sabines and ^quians, and, exhibiting the 
 bloody knife, told the story of the outrage.-' 
 
 The soldiers rose as a single man and hurried to the city. The 
 excitement resulted in a great body of the Romans, probably chiefly 
 plebeians, seceding from the state and marching away to the Sacred 
 Hill. This procedure, which once before had proved so effectual in 
 securing justice to the oppressed, had a similar issue now, The situ- 
 ation was so critical that the decemvirs were forced to resign. The 
 consulate and the tribunate were restored. 
 
 408. The Valerio-Horatian Laws; "the Roman Magna Charta " 
 (449 B.C.). The consuls chosen were Lucius Valerius and Marcus 
 Horatius, who secured the passage of certain laws, known as the 
 Valerio-Horatian Laws. These laws were of such constitutional impor- 
 tance that they have been called " the Magna Charta of Rome." Like 
 the great English charter, their purpose was not so much the creation 
 of new safeguards of liberty as the reaffirming and strengthening of 
 the old securities of the rights and privileges of the humbler citizens 
 of Rome. Among the provisions of the laws the following were the 
 most important : 
 
 1. That the resolutions (^flebisdtd) passed by the plebeian Assem- 
 bly of Tribes should in the future, presumably if they received the 
 sanction of the Senate,^ have the force of laws and should bind the 
 whole people the same as the resolutions of the comitia centuriata. 
 
 2. That the law which made sacred and inviolable the person of 
 the tribunes be reaffirmed and its operation extended to certain other 
 plebeian magistrates, and that he who did injury to any plebeian 
 magistrate be accursed* and his property dedicated to the service 
 of the gods. 
 
 1 Livy, ili, 44-50. This tde is possibly mythical, but it at least gives a vivid, and 
 doubtless truthful, picture of the times. 
 
 2 Our authority here (Livy, iii, 55) makes no mention whatsoever of conditions. 
 Since, however, at this time the approval of the Senate was necessary to give validity to 
 acts of the people in the Assembly of Centuries it is% reasonable conjecture that the 
 measures of the plebeians in the Assembly of Tribes must have been subjected to the 
 same condition. At a later period both assemblies were emancipated from the control 
 of the Senate. See below, p. 372, u. 2. 
 
368= THE EARLY REPU-BLIC [§409 
 
 3; That the tribunes be permitted to sit as listeners before the 
 door of the Senate house. This was an important concession, on 
 account of what it led to ; for very soon the tribunes secured the 
 right, first to sit within the Senate hall itself, and then to put a stop 
 to any proceeding of the Senate by the usepf the veto. 
 
 We may summarize the effect of these laws by saying that they 
 made the tribunes and the other plebeian magistrates, as well as the 
 plebeian assembly, a recognized part of the constitutional arrange- 
 ments of the Roman commonwealth. They mark a long step taken 
 towards the equalization of the two orders within the state. 
 
 409. Marriages between Patricians and Plebeians made Legal 
 (445 B.C.). Up to this time the plebeians had not been allowed to 
 contract legal marriages with the patricians. But only a few years 
 after the passage of the Valerio-Horatian 'Laws marriages between 
 plebeians and patricians were legalized. 
 
 This established social equality between the two orders. The ple- 
 beians were now in a more advantageous position for continuing their 
 struggle for additional civil rights and for perfect political equality 
 with the patricians. 
 
 410. Military Tribunes with Consular Power (444 B.C.). This same 
 tribune Canuleius also brought forward another proposal, which pro- 
 vided that plebeians might be chosen as consuls. This suggestion 
 led to a violent contention between the two orders. The issue of 
 the matter was a compromise. 
 
 It was agreed that, in place of the two patrician consuls, the 
 people might elect from either order magistrates that should be 
 known as " military tribun es with consula r pTowers," These officers, 
 whose number varied, differed from consuls more in name than in 
 functions or in authority. In fact, the plebeians had gained the 
 consularj3ffice_hilLnot the consular name. 
 
 The patricians wereespeaally unwilling that any plebeian should 
 bear the title of consul, for the reason that an ex-consul enjoyed 
 certain dignities and honors, such as the right to wear a particular 
 kind of dress and to set up in his house images of his ancestors (^jus 
 imaginuni). These honorary distinctions the higher order wished to 
 retain exclusively for themselves. Owing to the great influence of 
 
§411] THE CENSORS 369 
 
 the patricians in the elections, it was not njntil about 400 B. c. that 
 a plebeian was chosen to the new office. 
 
 411. The Censors (443 b.c). No sooner had the plebeians secured 
 the right of admission to the military tribunate with consular powers, 
 than the jealous and exclusive patricians began scheming to rob them 
 of the fruit of the victory they had gained. They effected this by 
 taliing from the consukte_some of its most distinctive duties and 
 powers, and confernng them upon two new patrician officers called 
 censors. 
 
 The functions of these magistrates, which were gradually extended 
 as time passed, were many and important. They took the census 
 of the citizens and their property, and thus assigned to every man 
 his position in the different classes. They could, for immorality or 
 for any improper conduct, degrade a knight from his rank, expel a 
 member from the Senate, or deprive any citizen of his vote by strik- 
 ing his name from the roll of the tribes. It was their duty to rebuke 
 ostentation and extravagance in living, and in particular to watch 
 over the morals of the young. From the name of these Roman 
 officers comes our word censorious, meaning fault-finding. 
 
 412. Siege and Capture of Veil (405-396 B.C.) ; the Romanization of 
 Etruria. We must now turn our attention once more to the fortunes 
 of Rome in war. Almost from the founding of the city we find 
 its warlike citizens carrying on a fierce contest with their powerful 
 Etruscan neighbors on the north. The war finally gathered around 
 Veil, the largest and richest of the cities of Etruria. The place was 
 at length taken, and the immense spoils were carried to Rome. 
 
 The siege of Veii forms a sort of landmark in the military history 
 of Rome. The length of the siege and the necessity of maintaining 
 a force permanently in the field, winter and summer alike, led to the 
 introduction of pay into the army ; for hitherto the common soldier 
 had not only equipped himself but had served without pay. From 
 this time forward the professional soldier came more and more to 
 take the place of the citizen soldier. 
 
 The capture of Veii was followed by that of many other Etruscan 
 towns, and all the southern portion of Etruria, divided into four 
 tribes or wards, was added to the Roman domain, doubling it in 
 
370 THE EARLY REPUBLIC [§413 
 
 extent. Into this rich and inviting region thus opened up to Roman 
 enterprise, Roman immigrants crowded in great numbers, and soon 
 all this part of Etruria became Roman in manners, in customs, and 
 in speech. The Romanization of Italy was now fairly begun. 
 
 A generation or so after the absorption by Rome of southern 
 Etruria, an unsuccessful war against the Romans by the Etruscan 
 cities that still retained their independence marks the decisive turning 
 point in the fortunes of the Etruscan race. We shall find them in 
 arms against Rome again and again after this, but their attacks were 
 no longer formidable. What elements of vitality and strength still 
 remained in the race were gradually absorbed by Rome,' and the 
 Etruscan people and the Etruscan civilization, as distinct factors in 
 history, disappeared from the world, 
 
 413. Sack of Rome by the Gauls (traditional date 390 B.C.). Only 
 a few years after the fall of Veil, there broke upon Rome a storm 
 from the north which all but cut short the story we are narrating. 
 We have noticed how, in early times, Celtic tribes from Gaul crossed 
 the Alps and established themselves in northern Italy (sect. 374). 
 While the Romans were conquering the towns of Etruria these bar- 
 barian hordes were moving southward and overrunning and devastating 
 the countries of central Italy. 
 
 They soon appeared in the neighborhood of Rome. A Roman 
 army met them on or near the river AUia, a few miles from the capi- 
 tal. But an unaccountable panic seized the Romans and they aban- 
 doned the field in disgraceful flight. The greater part of the fugitives 
 sought safety behind the walls of Veil, which were still standing. 
 
 Consternation filled the capital when news of the terrible disaster 
 reached the city. The vestal virgins, hastily burying such of the ' 
 sacred things of the temple of Vesta as they could not carry away, 
 fled into Etruria, and fownd a kind reception at the hands of the people 
 of Caere. A large part of the population -of Rome followed them 
 across the river and threw themselves into such places of safety as 
 they could find. No attempt was made to defend any portion of the 
 city except the citadel. A tradition tells how, when the barbarians, 
 under cover of the darkness of night, had climbed the steep rock 
 and had almost effected an entrance to the citadel, the defenders 
 
1414] 'THE LICINIAN LAWS 3^1 
 
 were awakened by the tackling of some geese, which the piety of the 
 famishing soldiers had spared because these birds were sacred to Juno. 
 
 News was now brought the Gauls that the Venetians were over- 
 running their possessions in northern Italy, This led them to open 
 negotiations with the Romans. For one thousand pounds of gold 
 the Gauls agreed to retire from the city. As the story runs, while 
 the gold was being weighed out in the Forum the Romans com- 
 plained that the weights were false, whereupon Brennus, the Gallic 
 leader, threw his sword also into the scales, exclaiming, " Vm victis 1" 
 " Woe to the vanquished ! " Just at this moment, so the patriotic tale 
 continues, Camillus, a brave patrician general who had been appointed 
 dictator, appeared upon the scene with a Roman army that had been 
 gathered from the fugitives. As with heavy blows he scattered the 
 barbarians, he exclaimed, " Rome is ransomed with steel, and not 
 with gold." According to one account Brennus himself was taken 
 prisoner ; but another tradition says that he escaped, carrying with 
 him the ransom money. 
 
 The city was quickly rebuilt. There were some things, however, 
 which could not be restored. These were the ancient records and 
 documents, through whose irreparable loss the early history of Rome 
 is involved in great obscurity and uncertainty. 
 
 414. The Licinian Laws; the Consulate Opened to Plebeians. 
 Soon after these events a great advance of the plebeians towards 
 equality with the patricians was effected through the passage of the 
 Licinian_.Laws, so called from one of their proposers, the tribune 
 Gaius Lincinius. The only provisions of these laws which we need to 
 notice here were the following : (i) that the office of military tribune 
 with consular power (sect. 410) should be abolished, that two consuls 
 should be chosen yearly as at first, and that one of these should be 
 a plebeian; (2) that in place of the two patrician keepers of the 
 Sibylline Books (sect. 392) there should in the future be ten keepers, 
 and that five of these should be plebeians. 
 
 For ten years the patricians withstood the^demands of the commons ; 
 but finally, when they saw that it would be impossible longer to resist 
 the popular demand, they had recourse to the old device. They les- 
 sened the powers of the consulshig_by taking away from the consuls 
 
372- THE EARLY REPUBLIC [§414 
 
 an important part of their judicial functions and devolving them 
 upon a new patrician magistrate bearing the name oi prator. The 
 pretext for this was that the plebeians had no knowledge of the 
 sacred formulas of the law. The Senate then approved the proposals 
 and they became laws (367 B.C.). The son of a peasant might now 
 rise to the highest office in the state. The plebeians later gained with 
 comparative ease admission to the remaining offices from which the 
 jealousy of the patricians still excluded them.^ 
 
 As a symbol and memorial of the virtual end of the long con- 
 tention between the two orders of the state,^ the year following the 
 passage of the Licinian Laws there was erected near the Comitium a 
 temple dedicated to the goddess Concord, fhe reconciliation of the 
 orders insured the future of Rome. It was followed by a century of 
 successful wars which made the city the mistress of Italy and paved 
 the way for her advance to the dominion of the civilized world. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plutarch, Poplicola and Gaius Marcius Cori- 
 olanus. Livy, ii, 33, 34, 39, 40 (for the story of Coriolanus); v, 35-49 (on the 
 taking of Rome by the Gauls). Munro's Source Book, pp. 47-64, 71-77 ; Davis's 
 Readings (Rome), pp. 15-33, 42-48. 
 
 References (Modern). Mommsen, vol. i, bk. ii, chaps, i-iii. Duruy, vol. i, 
 chaps, vi-xiii. Pelham, Outlines of Roman Hisigiy, bk. ii, chap. i. How and 
 Leigh, History of Rojne, chaps, v— xiii. ShucKBURGH, History of Rome, 
 chaps. V, viii, ix. Abbott, Roman Political Institutions, ^'^.i^-'^-]. lyiti^, Marly 
 Rome, chaps, x-xxi. Frank, Roman Imperialism, chaps, i, ii. Greenidge, 
 Roman Public Life, chap. ii. Granrud, Roman Constitutional flisiory, pp. 27-92. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports. 1. Legend of the Fabii: Livy, ii, 48, 49. 2. Vir- 
 tues prized by the early Romans as shown by the stories of their heroes 
 (Mucins ScEevola, Cincinnatus, Lucius Junius Brutus, Marcus Curtius, etc.) : 
 find these tales by use of the indexes of available histories. 
 
 1 They secured admission to the dictatorship in 356 B.C.; to the censorship in 
 351 B.C.; to the prsetorship in 337 B.C. 
 
 2 Though with the opening of the consulate to the plebeians the issue of the struggle 
 between the orders was virtually decided, there was something lacking to render com- 
 plete the triumph of the plebeians. The assembly of the plebs was still subject to the 
 control of the aristocratic Senate (see p. 367, n. 2). By the famous Hortensian Law, 
 287 B.C., itwas emancipated from this control, and became, like the Assembly of Centuries 
 (which had been freed from the power of the Senate" by the so-called Puhlilian Law, 
 339 H'C.), an independent sovereign legislature whose acts bound the whole people. 
 This emancipation measure may be compared to that which in 19 11 freed the ijnglish 
 House of Commons from the virtual control of the House of Lords. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 THE CONQUEST AND UNIFICATION OF ITALY 
 
 (367-264 B.C.) 
 
 415. Rome Creates a New Grade of Citizens; the Case of Caere 
 (353 B.C.). It will be fitting if we begin the present chapter, in which 
 we shall have much to say concerning the matter of Roman citizenship, 
 with an account of the creation by the city of a new grade of citizens.^ 
 
 We have seen how, after the taking of Veii, the Romans incorpo- 
 rated with the territory of their state a great part of southern Etruria 
 (sect. 412). The Romanization of these lands, and the threatening 
 advance of the Roman power in these regions, caused an uprising of 
 several of the Etruscan cities, among them Casre. The movement 
 was quickly suppressed and the leaders punished. But the people 
 of Caere, because this city at the time Rome was destroyed by the 
 Gauls had given an asylum to the vestal virgins and the sacred 
 things of the Roman gods (sect. 413), were dealt with leniently. 
 Their political independence was, indeed, taken away from them, 
 and their territory incorporated with the Roman state, but they 
 were left in control of their own local affairs, and were given all the 
 private rights of Roman citizens, but not the right to hold office or 
 to vote in the assemblies at Rome.^ 
 
 416. The Beginning of the Roman Municipal System. Now the 
 Roman statesmen in determining the relations of Caere to Rome had 
 done something more than to create a new class or grade of Roman 
 citizens. They had, consciously or unconsciously, created a new sys- 
 tem of government. For Rome had never before, so far as we know 
 
 1 The student should here reread sect. ^8^5. 
 
 2 The class of rights conferred upon the citizens of Caere were known as " Caeritan 
 rights." 
 
 373 
 
374 CONQUEST AND UNIFICATION OF ITALY [§416 
 
 positively,^ dealt with a conquered city in just the way that she dealt 
 with Care. When Alba Longa (a leading city of Latium) was taken, 
 in the times of the kings, the city, according to the tradition, was 
 destroyed, and its inhabitants transported in a body to Rome and 
 incorporated with the Roman people. When Veil was taken, in the 
 year 396 B.C. (sect. 412), the greater part of the inhabitants were 
 killed or sold as slaves, and the vanquished community was thus 
 wholly broken up and, as it were, wiped out of existence. 
 
 Now Rome admittedly could not attain to greatness by following 
 either of these two policies. But in dealing with Casre, she happily 
 hit upon a new governmental device which enabled her to incorporate 
 into her growing dominions one conquered city after another until she 
 had absorbed the whole Mediterranean world. This device was what 
 is known as the municipal system, for the reason that the Roman 
 writers gave to a city having a status like that of Caere the name 
 munidpium. 
 
 We shall best secure a good understanding of the essential feature 
 of this municipal system, if we glance at the system as it exists among 
 ourselves to-day ; for our so-called municipal system, in its underlying 
 principle, is an inheritance from Rome. A municipality or municipal 
 town in our system of government is a city which, acting under a 
 charter granted by the state in whose territory it is situated and of 
 which it forms a part, elects its own magistrates, and manages, with 
 more or less supervision on the part of the state, its own local affairs. 
 The essential principle involved in the arrangement is local self- 
 government, carried on under the superior authority of the state. 
 The city, without its local political life haying been stifled, has been 
 made a vital part of a larger political organism. 
 
 How this form of government fostered j.mong the Italians, at one 
 and the same time, local patriotism and national patriotism, love for 
 one's native city and interest and pride in^ the affairs of the greater 
 commonwealth of which that city was only a part, is well illustrated 
 by these memorable words once used by Cicero : " Every burgher of a 
 
 1 Some authorities maintain that Gabii, with which city Rome had treaty relations just 
 at the opening of history, others that Tusculum, which was subjected in some way to 
 Rome in 381 B.C., was tlie most ancient of Roman miinicipia. The question of precedence 
 here raised has, however, only an antiquarian interest. 
 
§ 417] THE REVOLT OF THE LATIN CITIES 375 
 
 corporate town," he says, " has, I take it, two fatherlands, that of which 
 he is a native, and that of which he is a citizen. I will never deny 
 allegiance to my native town, only I will never forget that Rome is my 
 greater Fatherland, and that Arpinum ^ is but a portion of Rome." ^ 
 
 What we have now said will convey some idea of the important 
 place which the municipal system of Rome 'holds in the development 
 of free self-government among men. This was Rome's great, and 
 almost her only, contribution to political constitutional history, and 
 after her law system (sect. 565) her best gift to civilization. 
 
 417. The Revolt of the Latin Cities (340-338 B.C.). This govern- 
 mental device of the municipium was first applied by Rome, in a large 
 way, to the neighboring cities of Latium. We have seen how at the 
 opening of the historic period the little city-states of this region formed 
 a federation known as the Latin League, of which Rome was the 
 leading member (sect. 378). At the outset this association seems to 
 have been somewhat like the Delian League, which after the repulse 
 of the Persians from Greece Athens formed with her Ionian allies 
 (sect. 231). But as time passed Rome began to play in the league 
 the same role that Athens played in the Delian Confederacy. She 
 used her position in the at first equal alliance between her and the 
 Latin towns to make herself virtually their master. From allies they 
 became dependents. With this position they could not be satisfied. 
 They resolved that Rome should give up the sovereignty she was 
 virtually exercising. Accordingly they sent an embassy to Rome, 
 demanding that the association should be made one of perfect equality. 
 To this end the ambassadors proposed that in the future one of the 
 consuls should be a Latin, and that one half of the Senate should be 
 chosen from the Latin nation. Rome was to be the common father- 
 land, and all were to bear the Roman name^. 
 
 These demands of the ambassadors were listened to by the Roman 
 senators with amazement and indignation. " O Jupiter I " exclaimed 
 Titus Manlius, one of the consuls, addressing the statue of the god, 
 " canst thou endure to behold in thy own sacred temple strangers as 
 consuls and as senators ? " ' 
 
 ^ 1 Cicero's birthplace. 
 
 2 De Legibus, ii, ;!, 3 ; as quoted by Strachan-Davidson, Cicero, p. 6. ' Livy, viii, J. 
 
376 CONQUEST AND UNIFICATION OF ITALY [§418 
 
 The demands of the- Latin allies were refused, and war followed. 
 After about three years hard fighting, the rebellion was subdued, 
 Rome now dissolved the Latin League and resettled her relations to 
 its members. The essence of this famous settlement was that most 
 of the cities — a few, three or four, were left their independence — 
 were made municipia of different grades ; that is to say, they were 
 deprived of sovereignty and their territories were made a part of the 
 Roman domain, but they were left their city constitutions and were 
 allowed to live on as separate communities with local self-government 
 inside the Roman state. The inhabitants of some of these munici- 
 palities were admitted at once to full Roman citizenship, while those 
 of others were allowed only a part of the rights and privileges of 
 citizens. After a period of probation these semicitizens^ were all 
 admitted to the full rights of the city. 
 
 Rome was now fairly started on the way to greatness. She had 
 laid the foundations of a state unlike anything the world had seen 
 before, and one capable of great expansion. " It was, in short, to the 
 liberal policy inaugurated by the statesman of 338 that the Roman 
 city-state owed its capacity to unify Italy and make it one people." ^ 
 
 418. The Samnites. The most formidable competitors of the 
 Romans for supremacy in Italy were the Samnites, rough and war- 
 like mountaineers who held the Apennines to the southeast of Latium. 
 The successive struggles between these martial races — the ancient 
 writers tell of three wars — extended over a period of half a century 
 (about 343-290 B.C.), and in their course involved almost all the 
 states of Italy. The Romans were final victors. The Samnites were 
 forced to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome, and the states and 
 tribes that had formed alliance with them were chastised. Within a 
 short time after the subjection of the Samnites almost all the Greek 
 cities of southern Italy, except Tarentum, had also come under the 
 growing power of the imperial city. 
 
 During the course of these wars with the Samnites and their allies 
 Rome had added extensive territories to her domain,, and had made 
 
 1 Known as cives sine siiffragio (citizens witliout suffrage), since they could not vote 
 in the assemblies at Rome. 
 
 2 Frank, Roman Imperialism (1914), p. 40. 
 
§419] THE WAR WITH TARENTUM AND PYRRHUS 377 
 
 her hold of these secure by means of colonies and military roads ; for 
 it was at this time that Rome began the construction of those remark- 
 able highways that formed one of the most impressive features of her 
 later empire. The first of these roads, which ran from Rome to Capua, 
 was begun in the year 312 b. c. by the cerisor Appius Claudius, and 
 was called after him the Via Appia. 
 
 419. The War with Tarentum and Pjrrrhus (282-272 B.C.). Taren- 
 tum, a seaport of Calabria, was one of the most opulent of the cities 
 
 Fig. 152. The Appian Way. (From a photograph) 
 
 of Magna Grsecia. Its inhabitants were luxurious in their habits, idle, 
 and frivolous, entering into and breaking engagements with careless 
 levity. They spent the most of their time in feasting and drinking, in 
 lounging in the baths, in attending the theater, and in idle talk on 
 the streets. 
 
 The Tarentines having mistreated some Roman prisoners, the 
 Roman Senate promptly sent an embassy to Tarentum to demand 
 amends. In the theater, in the presence of a great assembly, one of 
 the ambassadors was grossly insulted, his toga being befouled by a 
 clownish fellow, amidst the approving plaudits of a giddy crowd. 
 
378 CONQUEST AND UNIFICATI0N OF ITALY t§4l9 
 
 The ambassador, raising the soiled garment, said sternly, " Laugh 
 now ; but you will weep when this toga is cleansed with blood." 
 Rome at once declared war. 
 
 The Tarentines turned to Greece for aid. . Pyrrhus, king of Epirus 
 and a cousin of Alexander the Great, a restless man, who, as Plutarch 
 says, " thought life consisted in troubling pthers and in being trou- 
 bled," and who had an ambition to build up such an empire in the 
 West as his famous kinsman had established in the East, responded 
 to their entreaties, and crossed over into Italy with an army of Greek 
 mercenaries and twenty war elephants. He organized and drilled the 
 effeminate Tarentines, and soon felt ready to face the Romans. 
 
 The hostile armies met at Heraclea (280 B.C.). The battle was 
 won for Pyrrhus by his war elephants, the sight of which, being 
 new to the Romans, caused them to flee from the field in dismay. 
 But Pyrrhus had lost thousands of his bravest troops. As he looked 
 over the battlefield he is said to have turned to his companions and 
 remarked, " Another such victory and I sliall be ruined " ; hence 
 the phrase, "' A Pyrrhic victory." 
 
 The prudence of the victorious Pyrrhus led him to send to the 
 Romans proposals of peace. When the Senate hesitated, its resolu- 
 tion was fixed by the eloquence of the now old and blind Appius 
 Claudius; "Rome," he exclaimed, "shall never treat with a victorious 
 foe." The ambassadors were sent back to Pyrrhus with the reply 
 that if he wanted peace he must first quit the soil of Italy. 
 
 After a second victory as disastrous as his first, Pyrrhus crossed over 
 into Sicily to aid the Greeks there, who were being hard pressed by 
 the Carthaginians. At first he was everywhere successful, but finally 
 fortune turned against him, and he was glad to escape from the island. 
 Recrossing the straits into Italy, he once more engaged the Romans ; 
 but at Beneventum he suffered a disastrous defeat (275 B.C.). Leav- 
 ing a sufficient force to garrison Tarentum, Pyrrhus now set sail 
 for Epirus, " leaving behind him nothing save a brilliant reputation." 
 He had scarcely embarked before Tarentum surrendered to the 
 Romans (272 B.C.). This virtually ended the struggle for the mastery 
 of Italy. Rome was soon mistress of all the peninsula south of the 
 streams of the Arnus (Amo) and the Rubicon. 
 
§420] UNITED ITALY 379 
 
 420. United Italy. We cannot make out clearly just what rights 
 and powers Rome exercised over the various cities, tribes, and nations 
 which she had brought under her rule.^ This much, however, is clear. 
 She took away from them the right of making war, and thus put 
 a stop to the bloody contentions which from time immemorial had 
 raged between the tribes and cities of the peninsula. She thus gave 
 Italy what, after she had laid her restraining authority upon all the 
 peoples of the Mediterranean lands, came to be called the Pax. 
 Romana (the Roman Peace). 
 
 This political union of Italy paved the way for the social and racial 
 unification of the peninsula. The greatest marvel of all history is how 
 Rome, embracing at first merely a handful of peasants, could have 
 made* so much of the ancient world like unto herself in blood, in 
 speech, in custom, and in manners. That: she did so, that she did 
 thus Romanize a large part of the peoples of antiquity, is one of the 
 most important matters in the history of the human race. Rome 
 accomplished this great feat in large measure by means of her 
 system of colonization, which was, in some respects, unlike that of 
 any other people in ancient or in modem times. We must make 
 ourselves familiar with some of the main features of this unique 
 colonial system. 
 
 421. Roman Colonies and Latin Colonies. The colonies that Rome 
 established in conquered territories fall into two classes, known as 
 Roman colonies and Latin colonies. Roman colonies were made up 
 of emigrants, generally three hundred in number, who retained in the 
 new settlement all the rights and privileges, both private and public, 
 of Roman citizens, though of course some of these rights, as for in- 
 stance that of voting in the public assemblies at Roihe, could be exer- 
 cised by the colonist only through his return to the capital. Such 
 colonies were in effect permanent military camps intended to guard 
 or to hold in subjection conquered territories. Usually it was some 
 conquered city that was occupied by the Roman colonists, the old 
 inhabitants either being expelled in whole or in part or reduced to a 
 
 1 We refer here, not to those territories and communities {municifia) that Rome had 
 actually incorporated with the Roman domain, which now embraced about one third of 
 the peninsula, but to those communities to which was given the name of Italian allies a 
 
38o CONQUEST AND UNIFICATION OF ITALY [§421 
 
 subject condition. The colonists in their new homes organized a 
 government which was almost an exact imitation of that of Rome, 
 and through their own assemblies and their own magistrates man- 
 aged all their local affairs. These colonies were, in a word, simply 
 suburbs of the mother city, They were in effect just so many minia- 
 ture Romas — xenters from which radi- 
 ated Roman culture into all the regions 
 round about therri. 
 
 The Latin colonies were so called, 
 not because they were founded by Latin 
 settlers,^ but because their inhabitants 
 possessed substantially the same rights 
 as the towns of the old Latin League. 
 The Latin colonist possessed some of 
 the most valuable of the private rights 
 of Roman citizens, together with the 
 capacity to acquire the suffrage by 
 migrating to the capital and taking up 
 a permanent residence there, provided 
 he left behind in the town whence he 
 came sons to' take his place. 
 
 There is an analogy between the 
 status of a settler in an ancient Latin 
 colony and of a settler in a Territory 
 of our Union. When a citizen of any 
 State migrates to a Territory he loses 
 his right of voting in a federal election, just as a Roman citizen in 
 becoming a Latin colonist lost his right of voting in the assemblies 
 at Rome. Then again, the resident of a Territory has the privilege 
 of changing his residence and settling in a State, thereby acquiring 
 the federal suffrage, just as the inhabitant of a Latin colony could 
 migrate to Rome, and thus acquire the right to vote in the public 
 assemblies there. 
 
 ^tpjjfc 
 
 Fig. 153. Grotto of Posi- 
 Lipo. (Near Naples) 
 
 An old Roman tunnel, about half a 
 
 mile in length, still in use on the 
 
 Appian Way 
 
 1 Both Romans and Latins participated in the establishment of these earlier Latin 
 colonies, the Roman settlers giving up their Roman citizenship and assuming the 
 Latin status. 
 
§421] ROMAN COLONIES AND LATIN COLONIES 38 1 
 
 The Latin colonies numbered about thirty at the time of the 
 Second Punic War. They were scattered everywhere throughout 
 Italy, and formed, in the words of the historian Mommsen, "the real 
 buttress of the Roman rule." They were, even to a much greater 
 degree than the Roman colonies, active and powerful agents in the 
 dissemination of the Roman language, law, and culture. They were 
 Rome's chief auxiliary in her great task of making all Italy Roman. 
 
 AH these colonies were kept in close touch with the capital by 
 means of splendid military roads, the construction of which, as we 
 have seen, was begun during the Samnite wars (sect. 418). 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Yi.tjt k^co.. Life of PyrrJms. Livy, ix, i;-ii 
 (the Roman defeat at Caudine Forks) ; x, 28, 29 (the self-sacrifice of Decius 
 Mus). Mmt\xo'% Source Book, pp. 74-77; Davis's Readings (Rome), pp. 33-41. 
 
 References (Modern). Mommsen, vol. i, bk. ii, chaps, v-ix. Ihne, vol. i, 
 bk. iii, chap, xviii, " Condition of the Roman People before the Beginning of 
 the Wars with Carthage." Heitland, vol. i, chaps, xvi-xx. Duruy, vol. i, 
 chaps, xiv-xvii. Tighe, The Development of the Roman Constitution, chap. v. 
 Freeman, The Story of Sicily, chap, xiii, " Eyrrhus in Italy." Pelham, 
 Outlines of Roman History, bk. ii, chap. ii. Shuckburgh, History of Rome, 
 chaps, x-xv. How and Leigh, History of Rome, chaps, xiii-xvi. Reid, The 
 Municipalities of the Roman Empire, chaps, i— iii, iv (first part). 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Was the action of the Roman Senate in the 
 affair of the Caudine Forks honorable ? Livy, ix, 2-1 1 ; How and Leigh, His- 
 tory of Rome, pp. 108-110. 2. Tales of the Pyrrhic War: Plutarch, Pyrrhus. 
 3. The system employed by the Roman engineers in tunneling mountains : 
 Lanciani, Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries, pp. 61—62. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV 
 EXPANSION OF ROME BEYOND THE PENINSULA 
 
 I. THE FIRST PUNIC WAR (264-241 5. C.) 
 
 422. Carthage and her Empire. Foremost among the cities 
 founded by the Phoenicians (sect. 94) upon the different shores of 
 the Mediterranean was Carthage, upon the northern coast of Africa. 
 The favorable location of the colony upon one of the best harbors 
 of the African coast gave the city a vast and lucrative commerce. At 
 the period which we have now reached it had grown into an imperial 
 city, covering, with its gardens and suburbs, a district twenty-three 
 miles in circuit. It is said to have contained seven hundred thousand 
 inhabitants. 
 
 By the time Rome had extended her authority over Italy, Car- 
 thage held sway, through peaceful colonization or by force of arms, 
 over the northern coast of Africa, and possessed Sardinia as well as 
 the larger part of Sicily. She also collected tribute from the natives 
 of Corsica and of southern Spain. With all its shores dotted with 
 her colonies and fortresses and swept in every direction by her war 
 galleys, the western Mediterranean had become a " Phoenician lake," 
 in which, as the Carthaginians boasted, no one dared wash his hands 
 without their permission. 
 
 The government of Carthage was democratic in theory but oligar- 
 chic in fact. Corresponding to the Roman consuls, two magistrates, 
 called suffetes, stood at the head of the state. The senate was com- 
 posed of the heads of the leading families ; its duties and powers 
 were very like those of the Roman Senate. 
 
 423. Rome and Carthage Compared. These two great republics, 
 which for more than five centuries had been slowly extending their 
 limits and maturing their powers upon the opposite shores of the 
 
 382 
 
§423] ROME AND CARTHAGE COMPARED 383 
 
 Mediterranean, were now about to begin one of the most memorable 
 struggles of all antiquity — a duel that was to last, with every vicis- 
 situde of fortune, for over one hundred years. 
 
 In material power and resources the two rival cities seemed well 
 matched as antagonists ; yet Rome had elements of strength, hidden 
 in the character of her citizens and embodied in the principles of her 
 government, which Carthage did not possess. 
 
 First, the Carthaginian territories, though of great extent, were 
 widely scattered, while the Roman domains were compact and confined 
 to a single and easily defended peninsula. 
 
 Again, the subject peoples of Carthage's empire_wfire-_in race, 
 languagej_ and religion mostly alientn Jhelr^_PliQenician- conquerors, 
 and so were ready, upon the first disaster to the ruling city, to fall 
 away from their allegiance. On the other hand, the Latin allies and 
 the Italian confederates of Rome were close kin to her, and so 
 through natural impulse they for the most part — although not all 
 were satisfied with their position in the state — remained loyal to her 
 during even the darkest periods of her struggle with her rival. 
 
 But the greatest contrast between the two states appeared in the 
 jmnciples_u.pQii.-whieh they were respectively based. Carthage was a 
 despotic oligarchy. The many different races of the Carthaginian 
 empire were held in an artificial union by force alone, for the Car- 
 thaginians had none of the genius of the Romans for political organ- 
 ization and state building. The Roman state, on the other hand, as' 
 we have learned, was the most wonderful political organism that the 
 world had ever seen. It was not yet a nation, but it was rapidly 
 growing into one. Every free man within its limits was either a 
 citizen of Rome or was on the way to becoming a citizen. Rome 
 was already the common fatherland of more than a quarter of a 
 million of men. The Roman armies were, in large part, armies of 
 citizen soldiers, like those Athenian warriors that fought at Marathon 
 and at Salamis ; the armies of Carthage were mainly armies of mer- 
 cenaries like those that Xerxes led against the Greek cities. And 
 then the Romans, in their long contests with the different races of 
 Italy for the mastery of the peninsula, had Secured such a training in 
 war as perhaps no other people before them ever had, 
 
384 
 
 EXPANSION OF ROME 
 
 [§424 
 
 As to the naval resources of the two States there existed at the 
 beginning of the war no basis for a comparison. The Romans 
 were destitute of anything that could be called a war navy,^ and 
 were almost without experience in naval warfare ; while the Cartha- 
 ginians possessed the largest and the most splendidly equipped 
 fleet that had ever patrolled the waters of the Mediterranean. 
 
 Fig. 154. Prow of a Roman Warship. {From an ancient relief) 
 
 The representation shows the arrangement of the tiers of oars in a two-banked ship. In 
 just what way the hnes of rowers in triremes and quinqueremes were arranged is unknown 
 
 And in another respect Carthage had an immense advantage over 
 Rome. She had Hannibal. Rome had some great commanders, but 
 she had none like him. 
 
 424. The Beginning of the War. Lying between Italy and the 
 coast of Africa is the large island of Sicily. At the commencement 
 of the First Punic War, the Carthaginians ^held possession of all the 
 island save a strip of the eastern coast, which was under the sway of 
 the Greek^ty^of Syracuse. The Greeks and the Carthaginians had 
 
 1 Polybius (i, zo) says that they did not have a single galley when they first crossed 
 over to Sicily. He says they ferried their army across ih boats borrowed from the Greek 
 cities of southern Italy. 
 
§425] 
 
 FIRST ROMAN NAVAL VICTORY 
 
 38s 
 
 carried on an almost uninterrupted struggle through two centuries for 
 the control of the island, but the Romans had not yet set foot upon 
 it. In the year 264 B.C., however, on a flimsy pretext of giving pro- 
 tection to some friends, the Romans crossed over to the island. That 
 act committed them to a career of conquest destined to continue 
 till their armies had made the circuit of the Mediterranean lands. 
 
 The Syracusans and the Carthaginians, old 
 enemies and rivals though they had been, 
 joined their forces against the newcomers. 
 The allies were defeated in the first battle, 
 and the Roman army obtained a sure foot- 
 hold in the island. Hiero, king of Syracuse, 
 seeing that he was upon the losing- side, for- 
 sook the Carthaginians, formed an alliance 
 with the Romans, and ever after remained 
 their firm friend. 
 
 425. The Romans Gain their First Naval 
 Victory (260 B.C.). Their experience during 
 the past campaigns had shown the Romans 
 that if they were to cope successfully with 
 the Carthaginians, they must be able to meet 
 them upon the sea as well as upon the land, 
 so they determined to build a fleet. A Car- 
 thaginian galley, tradition says, that had been 
 wrecked upon the shores of Italy served as a 
 pattern.^ It is affirmed that within the short 
 space of SLKty days a growing forest was converted into a fleet of 
 one hundred and twenty war galleys. 
 
 The consul C. Duilius was intrusted with the command of the fleet. 
 He met the Carthaginian squadron near the city and promontory of 
 Mylae, on the northern coast of Sicily. Now, distrusting their ability 
 to match the skill of their enemy in naval tactics, the Romans had 
 
 Fig. 155. The Trium- 
 phal Column of Dui- 
 lius. (A restoration) 
 
 The column was decorated 
 
 with the prows of ships 
 
 captured at Mylse 
 
 1 The Greek and Etruscan ships were merely triremes, that is, galleys with three 
 banks of oars ; while the Carthaginian ships were quinqueremes, or vessels with five 
 rows of oars. The former were unable to cope with the latter, such an advantage did 
 these have in their greater weight and height. 
 
386 EXPANSION OF ROME [§426 
 
 provided each of their vessels with a drawbridge. As soon as a 
 Carthaginian ship came near enough to a Roman vessel, this 
 gangway was allowed to fall upon the approaching galley ; and the 
 Roman soldiers, rushing along the bridge, were soon engaged in a 
 hand-to-hand conflict with their enemies, in which species of encoun- 
 ter the former were unequaled. The result was a complete victory 
 for the Romans. It inspired in the more sanguine splendid visions 
 of maritime command and glory. The Mediterranean should speedily 
 become a Roman lake in which no vessel might float without the 
 consent of Rome. 
 
 426. Regulus and the Carthaginian Embassy. The Romans now 
 resolved to carry the war into Africa. At first they were successful 
 in all their operations there. Finally, however, Regulus, one of the 
 consuls who led the army of invasion, suffered a severe defeat and 
 was made prisoner. A fleet which wa? sent to bear away the rem- 
 nants of the shattered army was wrecked in a terrific storm off the 
 coast of Sicily. A second expedition to Africa ended in like disaster 
 to the Romans, with the loss of another great fleet. For a few years 
 the Romans refrained from tempting again the hostile powers of the 
 sea, and Sicily became once more the battle-ground of the contend- 
 ing rivals. At last, having lost a great battle (battle of Panormus, 
 251 B.C.), the Carthaginians became dispirited, and sent an embassy 
 to Rome to negotiate for peace. Among the commissioners was 
 Regulus, who, since his capture five years before, had been held a 
 prisoner in Africa. Before leaving Carthage he had promised to 
 return if the embassy were unsuccessful. For the sake of his own 
 release, the Carthaginians supposed he would counsel peace, or at 
 least urge an exchange of prisoners. But it is related that, upon 
 arrival at Rome, he counseled war instead of peace, at the same time 
 revealing to the Senate the enfeebled condition of Carthage. As to 
 the exchange of prisoners, he said, " Let those who have surrendered 
 when they ought to have died, die in the land which has witnessed 
 their disgrace." 
 
 The Roman Senate, following his counsel, rejected all the pro- 
 posals of the embassy; and Regulus, in spite of the tears and en- 
 treaties of his wife and friends, turned away from Rome, and set 
 
§427] 
 
 LOSS OF TWO MORE ROMAN FLEETS 
 
 387 
 
 out for Carthage, to meet whatever fate the Carthaginians, in their 
 disappointment and anger, might plan for him. The tradition affirms 
 that he was put to a cruel death. 
 
 427. Loss of Two More Roman Fleets. After the failure of the 
 Carthaginian embassy the war went on for several years by land and 
 by sea with many vicissitudes. At last, on -the coast of Sicily, one of 
 the consuls, Claudius, met with an overwhelming defeat. Almost a 
 hundred vessels of his fleet 
 were lost. The disaster caused 
 the greatest alarm at Rome. 
 Superstition increased the fears 
 of the people. It was reported 
 that just before the battle, 
 when the auspices were being 
 taken and the sacred chickens 
 would not eat, Claudius had 
 given orders to have them 
 thrown into the sea, irrever- 
 ently remarking, "' At any rate, 
 they shall drink." Imagina- 
 tion was free to depict what 
 further evils the offended gods 
 might inflict upon the Roman 
 state. 
 
 The gloomiest forebodings 
 might have found justification 
 in subsequent events. The other consul just now met with a great 
 disaster. He was proceeding along the southern coast of Sicily with 
 a fleet of over nine hundred war galleys and transports, when a 
 severe storm arising, the squadron was beaten to pieces upon the 
 rocks. Not a single ship escaped. 
 
 428. Close of the First Punic War (241 B.C.). The war had now 
 lasted for fifteen years. Four Roman fleets had been destroyed, three 
 of which had been sunk or broken to pieces by storms. It was several 
 years before the Romans regained sufficient courage to again commit 
 their fortune to the element that had been so unfriendly to them. 
 
 Fig. 156. Augur's Birds. (After a 
 drawing based on an ancient relief) 
 
 The knowledge sought was gained by observ- 
 ing the birds' manner of taking their food. 
 Their refusal to eat was an unlucky omen 
 
388 EXPANSION OF ROME [§429 
 
 A fleet of two hundred vessels was then byilt and equipped, entirely 
 by private subscription, and intrusted to the command of the consul 
 Catulus. He met the Carthaginian fleet near the ^gatian Islands, 
 and inflicted upon it a decisive defeat (241 B.C.). 
 
 The Carthaginians now sued for peace. A treaty was at length 
 arranged, the terms of which required that Carthage should give up 
 all claims to the island of Sicily, surrender iall her prisoners, and pay 
 an indemnity of thirty-two hundred talents (about four million dollars), 
 one third of which was to be paid down, and the balance in ten yearly 
 payments. Thus ended, after a continuance of twenty-four year-s, the 
 first great struggle between Carthage and Rome. 
 
 One important result of the war was the crippling of the sea 
 power of the Phoenician race, which from time immemorial had been 
 a most prominent factor in the history of .the Mediterranean lands, 
 and the giving virtually of the control of the sea into the hands 
 of the Romans. 
 
 II. ROME AND CARTHAGE BETWEEN THE FIRST AND 
 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR (241-218 B.C.) 
 
 429. The First Roman Province and the Beginning of the Pro- 
 vincial System (241 B.C.). For the twenty,three years following the 
 close of the fii/st struggle between Rome and Carthage the two rivals 
 strained every power and taxed every resource in preparation for a 
 renewal of the contest. 
 
 The Romans settled the affairs of Sicily, organizing all of it, save 
 the lands in the eastern part belonging to Syracuse, as a province of 
 the Republic.^ This was the first Roman province, but as the imperial 
 city extended her conquests, her provincial possessions increased in 
 number and size until they formed at last a perfect cordon about the 
 Mediterranean. Each province was governed by a magistrate sent 
 out from the capital. This officer exercised both civil and military 
 authority, with power of life and death over the natives. Each 
 province also paid an annual tribute in kind, or a money tax, to 
 Rome, something that had never been exacted of the Italian allies. 
 
 1 The government established in 241 B.C. was temporary; it was made regular and 
 permanent in 227 B.C. 
 
§430] ROME ACQUIRES SARDINIA *AND CORSICA 389 
 
 This Roman provincial system presented a sharp contrast to that 
 liberal system of federation and incorporation that formed the very 
 comer stone of the Roman power in Italy-. There Rome had made 
 all, or substantially all, of the conquered peoples either citizens or 
 close confederates. Against the provincials -she not only closed the 
 gates of the city but denied to the most of them all but the mere 
 name of allies. She made them virtually lier subjects, and admin- 
 istei;ed their affairs not in their interest but in her own. This illiberal 
 policy contributed largely, as we shall learn, to the undoing of the 
 Roman Republic. 
 
 430. Rome Acquires Sardinia and Corsica (227 B.C.). The first 
 acquisition by the Romans of tribute-paying lands beyond the penin- 
 sula seems to have created in them an insatiable ambition for foreign 
 conquests. They soon found a pretext for seizing the island of 
 Sardinia, the most ancient, and, after Sicily, the most prized of the 
 possessions of the Ckrthaginians. This island in connection with 
 Corsica, which was also seized, was formed into a Roman province 
 (227 B.C.). With her hands upon these islands, the authority of Rome 
 in the Western or Tuscan Sea was supreme.^ 
 
 431. War with the Gauls; Roman Authority Extended to the 
 Alps. In the north, during this same period, Roman authority was 
 extended from the Apennines and the Rubicon to the foot of the 
 Alps. Alarmed at the advance of the Romans, who were pushing 
 northward their great military road called the Flaminian Way, Gallic 
 tribes on both sides the Alps gathered for an assault upon Rome. 
 Intelligence of this movement among the northern tribes threw all 
 Italy into a fever of excitement. At Rome the terror was great ; for 
 not yet had died out of memory what the city had once suffered 
 at the hands of the ancestors of these sarfie barbarians (sect. 413). 
 An ancient prediction, found in the Sibylline Books, declared that a 
 
 1 In a more legitimate way the Romans extended their influence over the seas that 
 wash the eastern shores of Italy. For a long time the Adriatic and Ionian waters had 
 been infested with Illyrian pirates. These buccaneers troubled not only the towns along 
 the shores of Greece but were even so bold as to make descents upon the Italian coasts. 
 The Roman fleet chased these corsairs from the Adriatic, and captured several of their 
 strongholds. Rome now assumed a sort of protectorate over the Greek cities of the 
 Adriatic coast. This was her first step in the path tfiat was to lead her to absolute 
 supremacy in Greece and throughout all the East. 
 
390 EXPANSION OF ROME [§432 
 
 portion of Roman territory must needs be occupied by Gauls. Hop- 
 ing sufficiently to fulfill the prophecy and satisfy fate, the Roman 
 Senate caused two Gauls to be buried alive in one of the public 
 squares of the capital. 
 
 Meanwhile the barbarians had advanced into Etruria, ravaging the 
 country as they moved southward. There they were surrounded by 
 the Roman armies and almost annihilated (225 B.C.). The Romans, 
 taking advantage of this victory, pushed on into the plains of the Po, 
 captured the city now known as Milan, and extended their authority 
 to the foothills of the Alps. To guard the new territory two Latin 
 colonies, Placentia and Cremona, were established upon the opposite 
 banks of the Po. The Gauls, thus reduced to subjection, were of 
 course restless and resentful, and were very ready to embrace the 
 cause of Hannibal when, a few years after this, he descended from 
 the Alps and appeared among them as a. deliverer. 
 
 432. Carthage in the Truceless War (241-237 B.C.). Scarcely had 
 peace been concluded with Rome at the end of the First Punic War, 
 before Carthage was plunged into a still deadlier struggle, which for 
 a time threatened her very existence. Her mercenary troops, upon 
 their return from Sicily, revolted on account of being unpaid. Their 
 appeal to the native tribes of Africa was answered by a general 
 uprising throughout the dependencies of Carthage. The extent of 
 the revolt shows how hated was the rule of the great capital over 
 her subject states. The war was unspeakably bitter and cruel. It is 
 known in history as " the Truceless War." But the genius of the 
 great Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca at last triumphed, and 
 the authority of Carthage was everywhere restored. 
 
 433. The Carthaginians in Spain. After =the disastrous ending of 
 the First Punic War, the Carthaginians sought to repair their losses 
 by new conquests in Spain. Hamilcar Barca was sent over into that 
 country, and for nine years he devoted his commanding genius to 
 organizing the different Iberian tribes into a compact state, and to 
 developing the rich gold and silver mines of the southern part of the 
 peninsula; He fell in battle 228 B.C. 
 
 As a rule, genius is not transmitted ; but: in the Barcine family the 
 rule was broken, and the rare genius of Hamilcar reappeared in his 
 
■er Syrtifl 
 
 THE MEOITERRANEAN LANDS 
 
 AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 
 
 SECOND PUNIC "WAR 
 
 I 100 200 aoo 400 goo eo,ft 
 
 g.-ftlP of Milu3. 
 
 Roman Possessions and Allies ^ \ Free Greeh States | | 
 
 Oanhaginian " " | | Syrian Possessions \ [ 
 
 Macedonian '* " | | EgypUan " \ | 
 
§434] 
 
 HANNIBAL'S VOW 
 
 391 
 
 sons, whom he himself, it is said, was fond of calling the " lion's 
 brood." As Hannibal, the eldest, was only nineteen at the time of 
 his father's death, and thus too young to assume command, Hamil- 
 car was succeeded by his son-in-law, Hasdrubal. 
 
 434. Hannibal's Vow; he Attacks Saguntum. Upon the death of 
 Hasdrubal, which occurred 221 B.C., Hannibal, now twenty-six years 
 of age, was by the unanimous voice of the army called to be its leader. 
 When a child of nine years he had been led by his father to the altar, 
 and there, with his hands upon the sacrifice, the little boy had sworn 
 eternal hatred to the Roman race. He was driven on to his gigantic 
 undertakings and to his hard fate not 
 only by the restless fires of his warlike 
 genius but, as he himself declared, by 
 the sacred obligations of a vow that 
 could not be broken. 
 
 In two years Hannibal extended the 
 Carthaginian power to the Ebro. Sagun- 
 tum, a native city upon the east coast of 
 Spain, alone remained unsubdued. The 
 Romans, who were jealously watching 
 affairs in the peninsula, had entered into 
 an alliance with this city, and taken it, 
 with some Greek cities at the foot of the 
 Pyrenees, under their protection. Han- 
 nibal laid siege to the place in the spring of 219 B.C. The Roman 
 Senate sent messengers to him forbidding him to make war upon a 
 city that was an ally of the Roman people ; but Hannibal, disregard- 
 ing their remonstrances, continued the siege, and after an investment 
 of eight months gained possession of the town. 
 
 The Romans now sent commissioners to Carthage to demand of 
 the senate that they give up Hannibal to them, and by so doing 
 repudiate the act of their general. The Carthaginians hesitated. 
 Then Quintus Fabius, chief of the embassy, gathering up his toga, 
 said : " I carry here peace and war ; choose, men of Carthage, which 
 ye will have." " Give us whichever ye will," was the reply. " War, 
 then," said Fabius, dropping his toga. 
 
 Fig. 157. Hannibal 
 
392 
 
 EXPANSION OF ROME 
 
 [§43S 
 
 III. THE SECOND PUNIC WAR (218-201 B.C.) 
 
 435. Hannibal's Passage of the Alps. The Carthaginian empire 
 was now all astir with preparations for the rpighty struggle. Hannibal 
 was the life and soul of every movement. His bold plan was to cross 
 the Pyrenees and the Alps and descend upon Rome from the north. 
 Early in the spring of 218 B.C., he set out from New Carthage with 
 an army numbering about one hundred thousand men and including 
 thirty-seven war elephants. Traversing northern Spain and crossing 
 
 ■ 50 100 aSo 
 
 'liAnEE'rANia / sitifensis / NUmniA 
 
 The Route of Hannibal 
 
 the Pyrenees and the Rhone, he reached the foothills of the Alps, 
 probably under the pass known to-day as the Little St. Bernard. 
 The season was already far advanced, — it was October, — and snow 
 was falling upon the higher portions of the trail, so that the passage 
 of the mountains was accomplished only after severe toil and losses. 
 At length the thinned columns, numbering less than thirty thousand 
 men, issued from the defiles of the foothills upon the plains of 
 the Po. This was the pitiable force with which Hannibal proposed 
 to attack the Roman state — a state that at this time had on its 
 levy lists over seven hundred thousand foot soldiers and seventy 
 thousand horse. 
 
§436] FABIUS "THE DELAYER" 393 
 
 436. Fabius " " the Delayer." In three successive battles in northern 
 Italy and Etruria,^ the Romans suffered disastrous defeat, and two 
 great Roman armies were almost annihilated. The way to Rome was 
 now open. Believing that Hannibal would march directly upon the 
 capital, the Senate caused the bridges that spanned the Tiber to be 
 destroyed, and appointed Fabius Maximus dictator. But Hannibal 
 did not deem it wise to throw his troops against the walls of Rome. 
 Crossing the Apennines, he pressed eastward to the Adriatic, and 
 then marched southward into Apulia. The fate of Rome was in the 
 hands of Fabius, Should he risk a battle and lose it, everything 
 would be lost. He determined to adopt a rriore prudent policy — to 
 follow and annoy with his small force the Carthaginian army, but to 
 refuse all proffers of battle. Thus time would be gained for raising 
 a new army and perfecting measures for the public defense. 
 
 In every possible way Hannibal endeavored to draw his enemy 
 into an engagement. He ravaged the fields far and wide and fired 
 the homesteads of the Italians, in order to force Fabius to fight in 
 their defense. The soldiers of the dictator began to murmur. They 
 called him Cundator, " the Delayer." But nothing moved him from 
 the steady pursuit of the policy which he dearly saw was the only 
 prudent one to follow. 
 
 437. The Battle of Cannae (216B.C.). The time gained by Fabius 
 had enabled the Rofnaris to raise and discipline an army that might 
 hope to engage successfully the Carthaginian forces. Early in the 
 summer of the year 216 B.C. these new levies, numbering eighty 
 thousand men, under the command of the recently chosen consuls 
 Paulus and Varro, confronted the army of Hannibal, amounting to 
 not more than half that number, at Cannap, on the banks of the 
 Aufidus, in Apulia. It was the largest army Rome had ever gathered 
 on any battlefield. Through the skillful maneuvers of Hannibal, the 
 Romans were completely surrounded and huddled together in a help- 
 less mass ; then they were cut down by the Numidian cavalry. From 
 forty to seventy thousand are said to have been slain ; '' a few thousand 
 
 1 Battles of the Ticinus and the Trebia (218 B.C.), and Lake Trasimenus (217 B.C.). 
 
 2 Polybius (iii, 117) places the killed at 70,000 and the prisoners at 10,000; Livy 
 (xxii, 49) puts the nuniber of the slain at 42,700. 
 
394 EXPANSION OF ROME [§438 
 
 were taken prisoners; only a handful escaped. The slaughter was 
 so great that, according to Livy, when Mago, a brother of Hannibal, 
 carried the news of the victory to Carthage, he, in confirmation of 
 the intelligence,, poured out on the floor of the senate house nearly a 
 peck of gold rings taken from the fingers of Roman knights. 
 
 438. Events after the Battle of Cannae. The awful news flew to 
 Rome. Consternation and despair seized the people. The city would 
 have been emptied of its population had not the Senate ordered the 
 gates to be closed. Never did that body display greater calmness, 
 wisdom, and resolution. Little by little the panic was allayed. Meas- 
 ures were concerted for the defense of the capital, as it was expected 
 that Hannibal would immediately march upon the city. Swift horse- 
 men were sent out along the Appian Way to gather information of 
 the conqueror's movements, and to learn, as Livy pathetically ex- 
 presses it, "' whether the immortal gods, out of pity to the empire, 
 had left any remnant of the Roman name." 
 
 But Hannibal did not deem it prudent to fight the Romans behind 
 their walls. He even sent an embassy to Rome to offer terms of 
 peace. The Senate would not even permit the ambassadors to enter 
 the gates, displaying in this what Polybius calls " the noble peculi- 
 arity," inherited from their ancestors, of constancy, unyielding firm- 
 ness, and haughtiness in the face of defeat. Hardly less disappointed 
 was Hannibal in the temper of the Roman confederates. All the 
 allies of the Latin name adhered to Rome through all these trying 
 times with unshaken loyalty. Some tribes in the south of Italy, how- 
 ever, now went over to the Carthaginians. Capua also seceded from 
 Rome and entered into an alliance with Hannibal, who quartered his 
 army for the winter following the battle of Cannse in the luxurious 
 city.^ A little later Syracuse also was lost to Rome. 
 
 439. The Fall of Syracuse (212 B.C.) and of Capua (211 B.C.). While 
 Hannibal was resting in Capua and awaiting reenforcements, Rome 
 was busy raising and equipping new levies Jo take the place of the 
 
 1 Hannibal's soldiers, it is said (Livy, xxiii, 18), passing the winter in a round of 
 feasting, drinking, and indulgences of every kind, were fatally enervated both in body 
 and mind by the influences of the Sybarite capital ; whence the phrase " Capuan ease," 
 meaning indolent self-indulgence which impairs one's physical and moral powers. 
 
§440] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 395 
 
 legions lost at Cannae. The first task to be undertaken was the 
 chastisement of Syracuse for its desertion of the Roman alliance. 
 The distinguished general, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, called "' the 
 Sword of Rome," was intrusted with this commission. In the year 
 214 B.C. he laid siege to the city. For three years it held out against 
 the 'Roman forces. It is said that Archimedes, the great mathematician 
 (sect. 365), rendered valuable aid to the besieged with curious and 
 powerful engines contrived by his genius. But the city fell at last 
 and was given over to sack and pillage. Innumerable pictures were 
 carried to Rome there to ad^n the city and the homes of the rich. 
 
 Capua must next be punished for opening its gates and extending 
 its hospitalities to the enemies of Rome. A liije of circumvallation 
 was drawn about the city, and two Roman armies held it in close 
 siege. Hannibal endeavored to create a diversion in favor of his 
 allies by making a dash on Rome, — legend says that he rang a 
 defiant lance against one of the city gates, — but he failed to draw 
 the legions from before Capua. The city soon fell, and paid the 
 penalty that Rome never failed to inflict upon an unfaithful ally. 
 The chief men of the place were put to death and a large part of 
 the inhabitants sold as slaves (211 b. c). 
 
 440. Hasdrubal Attempts to Carry Aid to his Brother; Battle of 
 the Metaums (207 b. c). During all the years Hannibal was waging 
 war in Italy, his brother Hasdrubal was carrying on a desperate 
 struggle with the Roman armies in Spain. At length he determined 
 to leave the conduct of the war in that country to others and go to 
 the relief of his brother, who was sadly in need of aid. He followed 
 the same route that had been taken by Hannibal, and in the year 
 207 B.C. descended from the Alps upon the plains of northern Italy. 
 Thence he advanced southward, while Hannibal moved northward 
 from Bruttium to join him. Rome made a supreme effort to prevent 
 the junction of the armies of the two brothers. At the river Metaurus, 
 Hasdrubal's march was blocked by a large Roman army. Here his 
 forces were cut to pieces, and he himself was slain (207 B.C.). His 
 head was severed from his body and sent to Hannibal. Upon recog- 
 nizing the features of his brother, Hannibal, it is said, exclaimed sadly, 
 " Carthage, I read thy fate," 
 
396: EXPANSION OF ROME [§+« 
 
 441. The Romans Carry the War into Africa; Battle of Zama 
 (202 B.C.). Hannibal now drew back into the rocky peninsula of Brut- 
 tium. There he faced the Romans like a lion at bay. No one dared 
 attack him. It was resolved to carry the war into Africa, in hopes 
 that the Carthaginians would be forced to call their great commander 
 out of Italy to the defense of Carthage. Publius Cornelius Scipid led 
 the army of invasion. He had not been Jong in Africa before the 
 Carthaginian senate sent for Hannibal. At Zama, not far from Car- 
 thage, the hostile armies 
 met. Hannibal here suf- 
 fered his first and last 
 defeat (202 B.C.). 
 
 442. The Close of the 
 War (201 B.C.). Car- 
 thage was now com- 
 pletely exhausted, and 
 sued for peace. The 
 terms of the treaty were 
 much severer than those 
 imposed upon the city 
 at the end of the First 
 Punic War. She was 
 required to give up all 
 
 claims to Spain and the 
 Fields. PuDLius Cornelius Scipio . , , r ^ -.t j-^ 
 
 ^ , , , islands of the Mediterra- 
 
 (Africanus) 
 
 nean; to surrender her 
 war elephants, and all her ships of war save ten galleys ; to pay an 
 indemnity of four thousand talents (about five million dollars) at 
 once, and two hundred talents annually for fifty years ; and not, 
 under any circumstances, to make war upOn an ally of Rome. Five 
 hundred of the costly Phoenician war galleys were towed out of the 
 harbor of Carthage and burned in full sight of the citizens.''- 
 
 1 Some time after the close of the Second Punic War, the Romans, persuading them- 
 selves that Hannibal was preparing Carthage for another war, demanded his surrender 
 by the Carthaginians. He fled to Syria, and thence to Asia Minor, where, to avoid 
 capture, he committed suicide by means of poison (183 B.C.). 
 
§443] EFFECTS OF THE WAR tiN ITALY 397 
 
 Such was the end of the Hannibalic War, as it was called by the 
 Romans. Scipio was accorded a grand friumph at Rome and in 
 honor of his achievements given the surname Africanus. 
 
 443. Effects of the War on Italy. Italy never entirely recovered 
 from the effects of the Hannibalic War. Three hundred thousand 
 Roman citizens are said to have been slain in battle, and four hun- 
 dred towns and hamlets were virtually swept out of existence. Agri- 
 culture in some districts was almost ruined. The peasantry had been 
 torn from the soil and driven within the walled towns. The slave class 
 had increased, and the estates of the great landowners had constantly 
 grown in size, and absorbed the little holdings of the ruined peasants. 
 In thus destroying the Italian peasantry, Haqnibal's invasion and long 
 occupancy of the peninsula did much to aggravate those economic 
 evils which even before this time were at work undermining the 
 earlier sound life of the Romans and filling Italy with a numerous 
 and dangerous class of homeless and discontented men. 
 
 IV. EVENTS BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THE THIRD 
 PUNIC WAR (201-146 B.C.) 
 
 444. Introductory. The terms imposed upon Carthage at the end 
 of the Second Punic War left Rome mistress of the western Mediter- 
 ranean. During the eventful half century that elapsed between the 
 close, of that struggle and the breaking out of the Third Punic War, 
 her authority became supreme also in the eastern Mediterranean. 
 In an earlier chapter in which we narrated the fortunes of the most 
 important states into which the great empire of Alexander was 
 broken at his death, we followed their several histories until, one 
 after another, they fell beneath the arms of Rome, and were absorbed 
 into her growing dominions (Chapter XXVI). We shall therefore in 
 this place speak of these states only in the briefest manner, merely 
 indicating the connection of their affairs with the series of events 
 which mark the advance of Rome to universal empire. Our main 
 interest in these events will be in observing how Rome became 
 ever more and more involved in the affairs of the East, and in 
 noting the growing enthusiasm of the Romans for things Hellenic. 
 
398= EXPANSION OF ROME [§445 
 
 445. The Second Macedonian War^ (200^197 B.C.) ; "the Restora- 
 tion of Greek Freedom." Rome came first into hostile relations with 
 Macedohia. During the Second Punic War Philip V of that kingdom 
 had entered into an alliance with Hannibal. He was now troubling 
 the Greek cities. They appealed to Rome, whose prestige was now 
 great, for protection. Rome, moved both by fear of what Philip 
 might do and by a genuine admiration for the great past of Greece, 
 listened favorably to the appeal. Such was the prelude to what is 
 known as the Second Macedonian War. 
 
 In the third year of the war an army under Flamininus was sent 
 into Greece, and on the plains of Cynoscephalse, in Thessaly, the 
 supple Roman legion demonstrated its superiority over the rigid 
 Macedonian phalanx by subjecting Philip to a most disastrous defeat 
 (197 B.C.). The king was forced to give up all his conquests, and all 
 the Greek cities that he had been holding in subjection were declared 
 free. The edict of emancipation was read by a herald to the Greeks 
 assembled at Corinth for the celebration of the Isthmian games. It 
 ran thus : " The Roman people and Senate and Flamininus their 
 general . . . order that Greece shall be free from foreign garrisons, 
 shall not be subject to tribute, and shall live under her own customs 
 and laws." 
 
 The decree was received with the greatest enthusiasm and rejoicing, 
 " A shout was raised," says Plutarch, " that was heard as far as the 
 sea coast." Flamininus was hailed as the " Restorer of Greek Lib- 
 erties," But unfortunately the Greeks had lost all capacity for free- 
 dom and self-government, and the anarchy into which their affairs 
 soon fell afforded the Romans a valid excuse for extending their rule 
 over all Greece. 
 
 446. War against Antiochus the Great of Syria (192-189 B.C.). 
 Antiochus the Great of Syria had at this time not only made impor- 
 tant conquests in Asia Minor but had even carried his arms into 
 Europe. He was at this moment in Greece. The object of his pres- 
 ence in these regions, he declared, was to give liberty to the Greek 
 cities. But the Greeks, as Plutarch remarks, were at this particular 
 
 1 The First Macedonian War (215-206 B.C.) took place during the Second Punic 
 War and was an episode of that struggle. 
 
§447] THE THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR 399 
 
 time in no need of a liberator, since they had just been delivered 
 from the Macedonians by the Romans. 
 
 Just as soon as intelligence was carried to Italy that the Syrian 
 king was in Greece, at the head of an army, the legions of the 
 Republic were set in motion. Some reverses caused Antiochus to 
 retreat in haste across the sea to Asia, whither he was followed by 
 the Romans. At Magnesia, Antiochus was overthrown, and much 
 of Asia Minor fell into the hands of the Romans. Not yet pre- 
 pared to maintain provinces so remote frpm the Tiber, the Senate 
 conferred a great part of the new territory upon their friend and 
 ally, Eumenes, king of Pergamum,--(setrt. 3o6)>^ 
 
 447. The Third Macedonian W^ (171-I68 B.C.). And now Mace- 
 donia, under the leadership of Persetl5;--s§ffi3i£IBi)ilip V, was again 
 in war with Rome. On the memorable field of Pydna (168 B.C.) the 
 Roman consul, ./Emilius Paulus, crushed the Macedonian power for- 
 ever. The country was broken up into four states, and a little later 
 these were organized as a Roman province. The great role which 
 Macedonia, as an independent state, had played in history was ended. 
 
 But the battle of Pydna constitutes a great landmark not merely 
 in the history of Macedonia : it forms a landmark in universal history 
 as well. It was one of the decisive battles fought by the Romans in 
 their struggle for the dominion of the world. The last great power 
 in the East was here broken.* The Roman Senate was henceforth 
 recognized by the whole civilized world as the source and fountain of 
 supreme political wisdom and authority. We have yet to record many 
 campaigns of the Roman legions ; but these, if we except the cam- 
 paigns against the Pontic king Mithradates the Great, were efforts 
 to suppress revolt among dependent or semivassal states, or were 
 expeditions aimed at barbarian tribes |hat skirted the Roman 
 dominions. 
 
 448. The Achaean War and the Destruction of Corinth (i46 B.C.). 
 During the third war between Rome and Macedonia, a party in 
 the cities of the Achaean League had shown themselves lukewarm 
 in their friendship for Rome. Consequently, after the battle of Pydna, 
 
 I Mithradates the Great had not yet appeared to dispute with Rome the sovereignty 
 of the Orient (sect. 468). 
 
400 EXPANSION OF ROME [§449 
 
 the Romans collected a thousand prominent citizens of these federated 
 cities and transported them to Italy, where they were to stand trial 
 for alleged unfriendliness towards Rome. They were never tried, 
 however, but for seventeen years were held as hostages for the good 
 conduct of their countrymen at home. Among these exiles was the 
 celebrated historian Polybius (sect, 353), who wrote an account of 
 all these events which we are now narrating and which mark the 
 advance of Rome to the sovereignty of the world. 
 
 At the end of the period named, the Roman Senate, in an indul- 
 gent mood, gave the survivors permission to return home. They 
 went back burning with a sense of wrong, and their presence in the 
 home cities doubtless added to the intensity of the ill feeling that 
 had been growing against Rome. The people of Corinth particularly 
 displayed the most unreasonable and vehement hostility toward the 
 Romans. There could be but one issue of this foolish conduct, and 
 that was war with Rome. 
 
 This came in the year 1 47 b. c. Corinth was soon in the hands of 
 the Romans. The men were killed, and the women and children sold 
 into slavery. Much of the booty was sold on the spot at public 
 auction. Numerous works of art — invaluable statues and paintings, 
 with which the city was crowded — were laid aside to be transported 
 to Rome, but a large part of the rich art treasures of the city must 
 have been destroyed by the rude and unappreciative soldiers. Polybius, 
 who was an eyewitness of the sack of "the city, himself saw groups 
 of soldiers using priceless paintings as boards on which to play their 
 games of dice. 
 
 The despoiled city, in obedience to the command of the Roman 
 Senate, was given up to the flames, its walls were leveled, and the 
 very ground on which the city had stood was accursed. Thus fell 
 the brilliant city of Corinth, the " last precious ornament of the 
 Grecian land once so rich in cities." ^ 
 
 449. The General Effect upon Rome of her Conquest of the East. 
 In entering Greece the Romans had entered the homeland of Greek 
 culture, with which they had first come in close contact in Magna 
 
 1 At a later period, Greece, under the name of Achtra, was reduced to the status of 
 a province and joined to Macedonia. 
 
§450] CATO THE CENSOR 401 
 
 Graecia. This culture was in many respects Vastly superior to their 
 own, and for this reason it exerted a profound influence upon life 
 and thought at Rome. Many among the Romans seem to have con- 
 ceived a sudden contempt for everything Roman, as something pro- 
 vincial and old-fashioned, and as suddenly to have become infatuated 
 with everything Greek. Greek manners and customs, Greek modes 
 of education, and Greek literature and philosophy became the fashion 
 at Rome, so that Roman society seemed in a fair way of becoming 
 Hellenized. And to a certain degree this did take place: Greece 
 captive led enthralled her captor. So many and so important were 
 the elements of Greek culture which in the process of time were 
 taken up and absorbed by the Romans that there ceased to be such 
 a thing in the world as a pure Latin civilization. We recognize this 
 intimate blending of the cultures of the two great peoples of classical 
 antiquity when we speak of the civilization of the later Roman Empire 
 as being Grasco-Roman. 
 
 But along with the many helpful elements of culture which the 
 Romans received from the East, they received also many germs of 
 great social and moral evils. Life in Greece and in the Orient had 
 becorne degenerate and corrupt. Close communication with this 
 society, in union with other influences which we shall notice later, cor- 
 rupted life at Rome. " To learn Greek is to learn knavery " became 
 a proverb. The simplicity and frugality of the earlier times were 
 replaced by oriental extravagance, luxury, and dissoluteness. Evi- 
 dences of this decline in the moral life of the Romans, the presage 
 of the downfall of the Republic, will multiply as we advance in the 
 history of the years following the destruction of Corinth. 
 
 450. Cato the Censor. One of the most noted of the Romans of 
 this time was Marcus Porcius Cato (surnarhed the Censor), 232- 
 147 B.C. His active life covered the whole of the long period — the 
 chief events of which we have just been narrating — which makes up 
 the interval between the Second and the Third Punic War. Indeed, 
 Cato as a young man fought in the Hannibalic War, and as an old 
 counselor did more than any other person to bring on the third war, 
 which resulted in the destruction of Carthage. His life is a mirror 
 in which is reflected the life of three 'generations at Rome. 
 
402 EXPANSION OF ROME [§450 
 
 Cato was born the son of a peasant at Tusculum, in Latium. 
 From his father he received as an inheritance a scanty farm in the 
 Sabine country. Near by were the cottage and farm of the celebrated 
 Roman commander Manius Curius Dentatus, one of the popular 
 heroes of the Samnite wars, of whom tradition related that, when 
 the Samnites on one occasion sought to bribe him, they found him 
 cooking turnips, and wanting nothing that they could give him. This 
 worthy old Roman, Cato took as his model. 
 
 As we have seen, at just this time Greek ideas and customs were 
 being introduced at Rome. Cato set his face like a flint against all 
 these innovations. He did everything in his power to cast discredit 
 and contempt upon everything Greek. He visited Athens and made 
 a speech to the people ; but instead of addressing the Athenians in 
 their own language, which he could speak well enough, he talked to 
 them in Latin, simply in order, Plutarch says, to rebuke those of his 
 countrymen who affected to regard the Greek language as better 
 than the Roman. He told the Romans that Greek education and 
 Greek literature and philosophy would bring their country to ruin. 
 He wished to see all the Greek teachers of philosophy sent back 
 home. He refused to allow his little son to be taught by a Greek 
 slave, as was coming to be the custom in the leading Roman families, 
 but he himself attended carefully to the education of the boy. 
 
 One of the most unattractive, and, indeed, to us, repellent, sides of 
 Cato's character is revealed in his treatment of his slaves. He looked 
 upon them precisely as so much live stock, raising them and dis- 
 posing of them just as though they were cattle. When a slave became 
 old or worn out he sold him, and recommended such a course to 
 others on the ground of its economy. 
 
 But notwithstanding all of Cato's faults and shortcomings his char- 
 acter was, according to Roman ideals, noble and admirable, and his 
 life and services, especially those which he rendered the state as 
 censor, were approved and appreciated by his fellow-citizens, who set 
 up in his honor a statue with this inscription : " This statue was 
 erected to Cato because when censor, finding the state of Rome cor- 
 rupt and degenerate, he, by introducing wise regulations and virtuous 
 discipline, restored it." 
 
§451] CARTHAGE SHOULD BE E)ESTROYED 403 
 
 V. THE THIRD PUNIC WAR (149-146 B.C.) 
 
 451. " Carthage should be Destroyed." The same year that Rome 
 destroyed Corinth she also blotted from the face of the earth her 
 great rival Carthage. It will be recalled that one of the conditions 
 imposed upon the city at the close of the Second Punic War was 
 that she should under no circumstances engage in war with an ally 
 of Rome (sect. 442). Taking advantage of the helpless condition of 
 Carthage, Masinissa, king of Numidia and an ally of Rome, began to 
 make depredations upon her territories. Carthage appealed to Rome 
 for protection. The envoys sent to Africa by the Senate to settle 
 the dispute, unfairly adjudged every point in favor of the robber 
 Masinissa. ' 
 
 Chief of one of the embassies sent out was Marcus Cato the 
 Censor. When he saw the prosperity of Carthage — her immense 
 trade, which crowded her harbor with ships, and the country for 
 miles back of the city a beautiful landscape of gardens and villas 
 — he was amazed at the growing power and wealth of the city, and 
 returned home convinced that the safety of Rome demanded the 
 destruction of her rival. All of his addresses after this — no matter 
 on what subject — he is said invariably to have closed with the decla- 
 ration, '" Moreover, Carthage should be destroyed." Better advice was 
 given by Publius Scipio, who, it is said, in opposition to Cato, ended all 
 his speeches with the words, " Moreover, Carthage should be let alone." 
 
 452. Roman Perfidy. A pretext for destroying the city was not 
 long wanting. In 150 B.C. the Carthaginians, when Masinissa made 
 another attack upon their territory, instead of calling upon Rome, 
 from which source experience had taught them they could hope for 
 neither aid nor justice, gathered an army with the resolution of 
 defending themselves. Their forces, however, were defeated by the 
 Numidians and sent beneath the yoke. 
 
 In entering upon this war Carthage had broken the conditions 
 of the last treaty. The Carthaginian senate, in great anxiety, now 
 sent an embassy to Italy to offer any reparation the Romans might 
 demand. They were told that if they would give three hundred hos- 
 tages, children of the noblest Carthaginian families, the independence 
 
404 EXPANSION OF ROME [§4S3 
 
 of their city should be respected. They e^erly complied with this 
 demand. But no sooner were these hostages in the hands of the 
 Romans than the consular armies, thus secured against attack, crossed 
 from Sicily into Africa, and disembarked at Utica, only ten miles from 
 Carthage. 
 
 The Carthaginians were now commanded to give up all their arms. 
 Still hoping to win their enemy to clemency, they complied with this 
 demand also. Then the consuls made known the final decree of the 
 Roman Senate — ■ " That Carthage must be destroyed, but that the 
 inhabitants might build a new city, provided it were located ten miles 
 from the coast." 
 
 When this resolution of the Senate was announced to the Cartha- 
 ginians and they realized the baseness and perfidy of their enemy, 
 a cry of indignation and despair burst from the betrayed city. 
 
 453. The Carthaginians Prepare to Defend their City. It was 
 resolved to resist to the bitter end the execution of the cruel decree.' 
 The gates of the city were closed. Men, women, and children set 
 to work and labored day and night manufacturing arms. The entire 
 city was converted into one great workshop. Statues, vases, the uten- 
 sils of the home, and the sacred vessels of the temples were melted 
 down for weapons. Material was torn froiii the buildings of the city 
 for the construction of military engines. The women cut off their 
 hair and braided it into strings for the catapults. By such labor 
 and through such sacrifices the city was soon put in a state to 
 withstand a siege. 
 
 When the Romans advanced to take possession of the place, they 
 were astonished to find the people they had just now so treacherously 
 disarmed, with weapons in their hands, manning the walls of their 
 capital and ready to bid them defiance. 
 
 454. The Destruction of Carthage (i46B.c.). For four years the 
 city held out against the Roman army. At length the consul Scipio 
 .<^milianus ^ succeeded in taking it by storm. When resistance ceased 
 only fifty thousand men, women, and children, out of a population of 
 several hundred thousand, remained to be made prisoners. The city 
 
 1 Publius Cornelius Scipio ^milianus, grandson by adoption of Scipio Africanus, the 
 conqueror of Hannibal. After Tiis conquest of Carthage hg was known as Africanus Minor. 
 
§455] ROME'S TRIUMPH OVER CARTHAGE 405 
 
 was set on fire, and for seventeen days the space within the walls 
 was a sea of flames. Every trace of building which fire could not 
 destroy was leveled, a plough was driven over the site, and a dreadful 
 curse invoked upon any one who should dare attempt to rebuild 
 the city. 
 
 Such was the hard fate of Carthage. Polybius,'' who was an eye- 
 witness of the destruction of the city, records that Scipio, as he 
 gazed upon the smoldering ruins, seemed to read in them the fate 
 of Rome, and, bursting into tears, sadly repeated the lines of Homer : 
 
 The day shall be when holy Troy shall fall 
 And Priam, lord of spears, and Priam's folk.^ 
 
 The Carthaginian territory in Africa was made into a Roman prov- 
 ince, with Utica as the leading city ; and by means of traders and 
 settlers Roman civilization was spread rapidly throughout the regions 
 that lie between the ranges of the Atlas and the sea. 
 
 455. The Significance of Rome's Triumph over Carthage. The 
 triumph of Rome over Carthage may perliaps rightly be given as 
 prominent a place in history as the triumph, more than three cen- 
 turies before, of Greece over Persia. In each case Europe was saved 
 from the threatened danger of becoming a mere dependency or 
 extension of Asia. 
 
 The Semitic Carthaginians had not the political aptitude and moral 
 energy that characterized the Italians and the other Aryan peoples 
 of Europe. Their civilization was as lacking as the Persian in ele- 
 ments of growth and expansion. Had this civilization been spread 
 by conquest throughout Europe, the germs of political, literary, artistic, 
 and religious life among the Aryans of the continent might have been 
 smothered, and their history have been rendered as barren in political 
 and intellectual interests as the later history of the races of the Orient. 
 
 It is these considerations which justify the giving of the battle 
 of the Metaurus, which marks the real turning point in the long 
 struggle between Rome and Carthage, a place along with the battle 
 of Marathon in the short list of the really decisive battles of the 
 
 1 It was usual for great Romans to have in their train a Greek philosopher or scholar 
 as a companion. 2 Iliad^ vi, 448. 
 
406" EXPANSION OF ROME [§456 
 
 world — battles which, determining the trend of great currents of 
 history, have seemingly decided the fate of races, of continents, and 
 of civilizations. 
 
 456. The Capture and Bestruction of Numantia (i33 B.C.). It is fit- 
 ting that the same chapter which narrates the blotting out of Corinth 
 in Greece and of Carthage in Africa should tell also the story of the 
 destruction, at the hands of the Romans, of Numantia in Spain. 
 
 The Romans had expelled the Carthaginians from the peninsula, 
 but the warlike native tribes- — -the Celtiberians and Lusitanians — ■ 
 of the North and the West were ready to dispute stubbornly with 
 the newcomers the possession of the soil. The war gathered about 
 Numantia, the siege of which was brought to a close by Scipio ^mi- 
 lianus, the conqueror of Carthage. Before the surrender of the place, 
 almost all the inhabitants had met death either in defense of the walls 
 or by deliberate suicide. The miserable remnant which the ravages 
 of battle, famine, pestilence, and despair had left alive were sold into 
 slavery, and the city was leveled to the ground (133 B.C.). 
 
 Though ever since the Second Punic War Spain had been regarded 
 as forming a part of the Roman dominions, yet now for the first 
 time it really became a Roman possession. Roman merchants and 
 settlers crowded into the country. As a result of this great influx of 
 Italians, the laws, the manners, the customs, and the language of the 
 conquerors were introduced everywhere, so that the peninsula became 
 in time thoroughly Romanized. Thus was laid the basis of two 
 of the Romance nations of modern times — the Spanish and the 
 Portuguese. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Polybius, i, 10-63 (for ^" account of the 
 First Punic War) ; xxxviii, 3-1 1 (the cause of the fall of Greece) ; xxxix, 3-5 
 (the fall of Carthage ; it should be remembered that Polybius here writes as 
 an eye-witness of the scenes that he describes). Plutarch, Fabius Maximus 
 and Marcus Cato. Munro, Source Book, pp. 78-100; Davis's Readings (Rome), 
 PP- 53-84- 
 
 Secondary Works. Mommsen, vol. ii, bk. iii, chaps, i-xiv. Heitland, vol. i, 
 chaps, xxi-xxvi; vol. ii, chaps, xxvii-xxxiv. Pelham, Outlines of Roman 
 History, bk. iii, chaps, i-iii. How and Leigh, History of Rome, chaps, xvii- 
 XXX. Smith, Carthage and the Carthaginians and Rome and Carthage. Arnold, 
 The Roman System of Provincial Administration, iz\i2c^. i. Arnold, History of 
 Rome, chaps, xhii-xlvii (these chapters are generally regarded as the best 
 
REFERENCES 
 
 407 
 
 account ever written of the Second Punic War). Dodge, Hannibal. Morkis, 
 Hannibal. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, pp. \i,-zi. 
 Church, Story of Carthage (interesting for younger classes). 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Hannibal's passage of the Alps : Polybius, 
 iii, 50-56. 2. The battle of the Metaurus (207 B.C.) : Creasy, Decisive Battles 
 of the World, chap. iv. 3. Change effected in Roman life and manners through 
 contact with corrupt Hellenism ; Mommsen, vol.-ii, bk. iii, chap, xiii, pp, 480- 
 491; Plutarch, Marcus Cato; Seignobos (Wilde ed.), History of Ancient 
 Civilization, chap. xxii. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 THE LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC : THE PERIOD 
 OF REVOLUTION 
 
 (133-31 B.C.) 
 
 457. Introductory. We have now traced in broad outlines the 
 development of the institutions of republican Rome, and have told 
 briefly the story of that wonderful career of conquest which made 
 the little Palatine city the mistress first of Latium, then of Italy, and 
 finally of the greater part of the Mediterranean world. In the present 
 chapter we shall follow the fortunes of the Republic through the last 
 century of its existence. During this time, though the territorial 
 expansion went on, many agencies were at work undermining the 
 institutions of the Republic and paving the way for the Empire. What 
 these agencies were will best be made apparent by a simple narration 
 of the events that crowd this memorable period of Roman history. 
 
 458. The First Servile War in Sicily :(135-132 B.C.). With the 
 opening of this period we find a terrible struggle going on in Sicily 
 between masters and slaves — what is known as the First Servile 
 War. The condition of affairs in that island was the outgrowth of 
 the Roman system of slavery. 
 
 • The captives that the Romans took in war they usually sold into 
 servitude. The great number furnished by their numerous conquests 
 had caused slaves to become a drug in the slave markets of the 
 Mediterranean world. They were so cheap that masters found it 
 more profitable to wear their slaves out by a few years of unmerci- 
 fully hard labor and then to buy others than to preserve their lives 
 for a longer period by more humane treatment. Often in case of 
 sickness they were left to die without atfention, as the expense of 
 nursing exceeded the cost of new purchases. Some estates were 
 worked by as many as twenty thousand slaves. That each owner 
 
 408 
 
§459] THE PUBLIC LANDS 409 
 
 might know his own, the poor creatures were branded like cattle. 
 What makes all this the more revolting is ttie fact that many of these 
 slaves were in every way the peers, and some the superiors, of their 
 owners. The fortunes of war alone had made the one a servant and 
 the other a master. 
 
 The wretched condition of the slaves in Sicily,^ where the slave 
 system exhibited some of its worst features, and the cruelty of their 
 masters at last drove them to revolt. The insurrection spread through- 
 out the island until two hundred thousand slaves were in arms — if 
 axes, reaping hooks, staves, and roasting spits may be called arms. 
 • They defeated four Roman armies sent against them, and for three 
 years defied the power of Rome. Finally, however, in the year 
 132 B.C., the uprising was suppressed. Twenty thousand of the un- 
 happy slaves are said to have been crucified. Sicily was thus pacified, 
 and remained quiet for nearly a generation.^ 
 
 459. The Public Lands. In Italy itself affairs were in a scarcely 
 less wretched condition than in Sicily. At the bottom of a large part 
 of the social and economic troubles here was the public land system. 
 By law or custom those portions of the public lands which remained 
 unsold or unallotted as homesteads were open to any one to till or 
 to pasture. In return for such use of the public land the user paid 
 the state usually a fifth or a tenth of the yearly produce. Persons 
 who availed themselves of this privilege were called possessors or 
 occupiers ; we should call them " squatters " or " tenants at will." 
 
 Now it had happened that, in various ways, the greater part of 
 these public_lands^had fallen, into the _hands__ of the wealthy. They 
 alone had the capital necessary to stock with cattle and slaves the 
 new lands, and hence they were the sole "occupiers of them. The 
 small farmers everywhere, too, were being ruined by the unfair com- 
 petition of slave labor, and their little holdings were passing by pur- 
 chase, and often by fraud or barefaced robbery, into the hands of 
 the great proprietors. 
 
 1 Only a few years before this, upon the destruction of Carthage, thousands of cap- 
 tives, masters along with their slaves, were sold to Sicilian slave-traders and transferred 
 to Sicily. 
 
 2 In the year 102 B.C. another insurrection of the slaves broke out in the island, 
 which It required three years to quell. 
 
4IO LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§460 
 
 There was a law, it is true, which made it illegal for any person 
 to occupy more than a prescribed amount of the public lands ; but 
 this law had long since become a dead letter. The greater part of 
 the lands of Italy, about the beginning of ihe first centiiry B.C., are 
 said to have been held by not more than twoJihQ i i sa nd p ersons. 
 These great landowners found stock-raising more profitable than 
 working the soil. Hence Italy had been -made into a great sheep 
 pasture. The dispossessed peasants, left without home or employ- 
 ment, crowded into the cities, congregating especially at Rome, where 
 they lived in vicious indolence. Thus, largely through the workings 
 of the public land system, the Roman people had become divided 
 into two great classes — t he rich and the p oor, the possessors and 
 the nonpossessors. 
 
 460. Reforms of the Gracchi ; Tiberius ^Gracchus (133 B.C.). The 
 ablest champions of the cause of the poor against the rich and 
 powerful were the celebrated brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, 
 sons of Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of 
 Hannibal. Aside from their noble birth, they had been carefully nur- 
 tured by a mother noted not alone for her acquaintance with the new 
 Greek learning, but also for the superior qualities of her mind and 
 heart. It was Tiberius, the elder of the brothers, who first undertook 
 the cause of reform. The resolution to consecrate his life to the 
 alleviation of the distress among the poor and disinherited citizens 
 of Rome is said to have been taken by him while traveling through 
 Etruria, where he saw the mischief and distress caused by the usurpa- 
 tion of the soil by the great landowners, and the displacement of the 
 peasant farmers by swarms of barbarian slaves. 
 
 Elected by the people to the tribuneship for the year 133 B.C., 
 Tiberius as tribune brought forward a proposal which took away 
 ; from the great proprietors all the public lands they were occupying 
 over and above a specified amount. The lands thus resumed by the 
 state were to be allotted in small holdings of a few acres each to 
 poor citizens. 
 
 As was natural, the senatorial party, who represented the wealthy 
 landowners, bitterly opposed the measures brought forward by Tibe- 
 rius. They resorted to an old device for thwarting a tribune whose 
 
§461] TRIBUNATE OF GAIUS GRACCHUS 411 
 
 proposals were obnoxious to them. They persuaded one of the col- 
 leagues of Tiberius, the tribune Octavius, to interpose his veto. 
 Octavius did this, and thus prevented the proposals from being 
 brought to a vote in the popular assembly.^ 
 
 The deadlock was broken by Tiberius, and in this way. Through 
 the votes of his partisans in an assembly of the people he deposed 
 his colleague Octavius. But Octavius refused to acknowledge the 
 validity of such a vote ; then Tiberius caused him to be dragged from 
 the Rostra by freedmen. Never before since the first year of the 
 Republic had the Romans deposed one of their magistrates in this 
 way from the office to which they had eledted him. The sanctity of 
 the constitution, the inviolability of which had been the safeguard 
 of the state for a period of almost four centuries, was destroyed. 
 It was the beginning of the end. 
 
 After the deposition of Octavius, a client of Tiberius was chosen 
 to fill his place. Tiberius' proposal was now made a law, and a board 
 of commissioners was appointed to carry out its provisions and to 
 prevent the law from becoming a dead letter, as had happened in 
 the case of the earlier law. 
 
 To make himself secure for the future against the revenge of the 
 nobility, Tiberius' now became a candidate for a second term as 
 tribune. This_was^ unconstitutional, for at this time a tribune could 
 not hold his office for two consecutive years. Naturally the enemies 
 of Tiberius opposed his reelection. Rome was in a seething tumult ; 
 rioting began. The partisans of Tiberius were overpowered, and he 
 and a number of his followers were killed and their bodies thrown 
 into the Tiber. This was the first time since the creation of the 
 plebeian tribunate that the contention of parties in Rome had led to 
 an appeal to open force, the first time that the city had witnessed 
 such a scene of violence and blood. But such scenes were very 
 soon to become common enough. 
 
 461. Tribunate of Gaius Gracchus (123-122 B.C.). Gaius Gracchus 
 now came forward to assume the position made vacant by the death 
 of his brother Tiberius. In the year 124 B.C. he was elected tribune 
 
 1 Each member of the board of tribunes had the right thus to veto the act of any or 
 of all of his colleagues, just as one of the consuls could obstruct the act of his colleague. 
 
412 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§461 
 
 for the following year. As quaestor in Sardinia he had proved that 
 he was of a different mold from the ordinary Roman magistrate. He 
 had " left Rome," as Plutarch puts it, " with his purse full of money 
 and had brought it back empty ; others had taken out jars full of 
 wine and had brought them back full of nioney." 
 
 Once in the tribuneship, Gaius entered straightway with marvelous 
 energy and resourcefulness upon the work ^ of reform. His aim was 
 to destroy the government of the Senate, now hopelessly incapable 
 and corrupt, and to set up in its place a new government with him- 
 self at its head. First, he secured the passage of a law by the people 
 which made it constitutional for a tribune to hold his office two years 
 in succession. This meant, of course, the virtual transformation of 
 the tribuneship into a possible life-tenure office. He next won the 
 affection of the poor of the city by carrying a law which provided 
 that every Roman citizen, on personal application, should be given 
 corn from the public granaries at half or less than half the market 
 price. Gaius could not have foreseen all the evils to which this law, 
 which was in effect what we know as a poor law, was destined to 
 lead. It led eventually to the free distribution of com to all citizens 
 who made application for it. Very soon a large proportion of the 
 population of Rome was living in vicious indolence and feeding at 
 the public crib.'' 
 
 As a further measure of relief for the poorer traders and the 
 artisan class, Gaius established new colonies in Italy, and sent six 
 thousand settlers, comprising Italians as well as Roman citizens, to 
 the site of Carthage, and founded there a colony called Junonia. 
 This was the first citizen-colony established by the Romans outside 
 of Italy. 
 
 Another measure now proposed by Gaius alienated a large section 
 of his followers, and paved the way for his downfall. This proposal 
 seems to have been that all the Latinj should be made full Roman 
 citizens, and that the Italian allies should be given the rights and 
 
 1 By another law Gaius made friends of the knights:{e juifes), the rich merchants and 
 bankers, between whom and the senatorial order there was much jealousy and ill will. 
 This law transferred the courts in which provincial magistrates accused of wrong-doing 
 were tried from the senatorial to this rival equestrian order. Thereby Gaius won the 
 favor of this powerful class. 
 
§462] THE WAR WITH JUCJURTHA 413 
 
 privileges then enjoyed by the Latins (sect. 465). Gains was in this 
 matter out of touch with his times. The masses were unwilling to 
 confer the rights of the city upon those still without them, for the 
 reason that citizenship now, since the whole world was paying tribute 
 in one form or another to the ruling class in the Roman state, was 
 something valuable. The proposal was defeated, and the popularity 
 of Gaius visibly declined. When he stood the third time for reelection 
 as tribune he was defeated. Without the protection of his office his 
 life was in danger. His friends rallied around him. Fighting took 
 place in the streets between the contending factions, Gaius in despair 
 took his own life, and three thousand of his followers were killed. 
 
 The consul Lucius Opimius had offered for the head of Gaius and 
 that of one of his partisans their weight in gold. The persons who 
 brought in the heads appear to have received the promised reward. 
 " This is the first instance in Roman history of head money being 
 offered and paid, but it was not the last " (Long). 
 
 The common people ever regarded the Gracchi as martyrs to their 
 cause, and their memory was preserved, in later times, by statues 
 in the public square. To Cornelia, their mother, a monument was 
 erected, bearing the simple inscription, "The Mother of the Gracchi." 
 
 462. The War with Jugurtha (111-106 e.g.). After the death of 
 the Gracchi there seemed no one left to resist the heartless oppres- 
 sions of the aristocratic party. The Gracchan laws respecting the 
 public lands were annulled or made of no effect. Italy fell again 
 into the hands of a few overrich landowners. The provinces were 
 plundered by the Roman governors. The votes of senators and the 
 decisions of judges, the offices at Rome and the places in the prov- 
 inces — everything pertaining to the government had its price, and 
 was bought and sold like merchandise. This is well illustrated by 
 affairs in Africa. 
 
 Jugurtha, king of Numidia, had seized all that country, having put 
 to death the rightful rulers of different provinces, who had been con- 
 firmed in their possessions by the Romans at the close of the Punic 
 wars. Commissioners sent from Rome to look into the matter were 
 bribed by Jugurtha. An investigation was ordered ; but many promi- 
 nent officials at Rome were implicated in the offenses, and the matter 
 
414 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§463 
 
 was hushed up with money. The venality of the Romans disgusted 
 even Jugurtha, who exclaimed, " O venal city, thou wouldst sell thyself 
 if thou couldst find a purchaser ! " 
 
 In the year io6 B.C. the war begun five years before against 
 Jugurtha was brought to a close by Gaius Marius, a man who had 
 risen to the consulship from the lowest ranks of the people. Under 
 him fought a young noblemarijiamed_Sulla, " a degenerate Sybarite," 
 of whom we shall hear much hereafter. 
 
 463. Invasion of the Cimbri and Teutons (113-101 B.C.). The war 
 was not yet ended in Africa before terrible tidings came to Rome 
 from the north. Two mighty nations of " horrible barbarians," three 
 hundred thousand strong in fighting men, coming whence no one 
 could tell, had invaded and were now desolating the lands of southern 
 Gaul, and might any moment cross the Alps and sweep down into Italy. 
 
 The mysterious invaders proved to be two Germanic tribes, the 
 Teutons and Cimbri, the vanguard of that great German migration 
 which was destined to change the face and history of Europe. These 
 intruders \yere seeking new homes. They carried with them in rude 
 wagons all their property, their wives, and their children. The Celtic 
 tribes of Gaul were no match for the newcomers, and fled before 
 them as they advanced. Several Roman armies, the guardians of the 
 Gallic province of Narbonensis and of the passes of the Alps, were cut 
 to pieces. The terror at Rome was only equaled by that occasioned 
 by the invasion of the Gauls three centuries before (sect. 413). The 
 Gauls were terrible enough; but now the conquerors of the Gauls 
 were coming. 
 
 Marius, the conqueror of Jugurtha, was looked to by all as the 
 only man who could save the state in this crisis. In disregard of the 
 constitution^ he was reelected to the consulship, and intrusted with 
 the command of the armies. The barbarians had divided into two 
 bands. The Cimbri were to cross the eastern Alps and join in the 
 valley of the Po the Teutons, who were to force the defiles of the 
 western Alps. Marius determined to prevept the union of the barba- 
 rians and to crush each band separately. 
 
 1 According to a law passed in i8o b.c, no citizen could be reelected to any magis- 
 tracy until after an interval of ten years. 
 
§464] CHANGES IN THE ARMY 415 
 
 Anticipating the march of the Teutons, Marius hurried into south- 
 em Gaul, and falling upon the barbarians at a favorable moment 
 almost annihilated the entire host.^ He now recrossed the Alps and 
 hastened to meet the Cimbri, who were entering the northeastern 
 comer of Italy. Uninformed as to the fate of the Teutons, the 
 Cimbri sent an embassy to Marius to demand that they and their 
 kinsmen be given lands in the peninsula. Marius sent back in reply, 
 " The Teutons have got all the land they need on the other side of 
 the Alps." The devoted Cimbri were soon to have all they needed 
 on this side. 
 
 A^ terrible battle almost immediately followed at Vercellae (101 B.C.). 
 More than one hundred thousand of the barbarians were killed, and 
 sixty thousand taken prisoners to be sold as slaves in the Roman 
 slave markets. 
 
 464. Changes in the Army. Up to this period a property qualifi- 
 cation had been required of the legionary. Only in times of great 
 public peril had propertyless citizens been called upon for military 
 service. Foreign mercenaries, it is true, had found a place in the- 
 army, but not in the legions. Marius now gave permission to citizens 
 without property to enlist. From this time on, the ranks of the 
 Roman armies were filled almost entirely, as in the case of our own 
 standing army, by voluntary enlist ments. This tended, of course, to 
 create a class of poor professional soldiers, 1 who became in effect the 
 clients of their general, lookedJo-iiiiLto secpre_lhejn_jKar-booty, and, 
 at the expiration of their term of enlistment, grants of public lands ; 
 and who were ready to follow him in all kinds of undertakings, even 
 in undertakings against the commonwealth. 
 
 465. The Social or Marsic War (91-89 B.C.), Scarcely was the 
 danger of the barbarian invasion past before Rome was threatened 
 by another and greater evil arising within her own borders. At this 
 time all the free inhabitants of Italy were embraced in three classes 
 — Roman citizens, Latins, and Italian allies. The Roman citizens 
 included the inhabitants of the capital, of the towns called munidpia, 
 and of the Roman colonies (sect. 421), besides the dwellers on isolated 
 farms and the inhabitants of villages scattered everywhere throughout 
 
 1 In the battle of Aquse Sextiae, fought 102 e.c. 
 
4i6 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§465 
 
 Italy. . The Latins comprised the inhabitants of the Latin colonies 
 (sect. 421). The Italian allies were those conquered peoples that 
 Rome had excluded wholly from the rights of the city. 
 
 The Social or Marsic War (as it is often called on account of the 
 prominent part taken in the insurrection by the warlike Marsians) 
 was a struggle that arose from the demands of the Italian allies for 
 the rights and privileges of Roman citizenship.^ Their demands 
 being stubbornly resisted by both the aristocratic and the popular 
 party at Rome,^ they took up arms, resolved upon the establishment 
 of a rival state. A town called Corfinium, among the Apennines, was 
 chosen as the capital of the new republic, and its name changed to 
 Italica. Thus in a single day a large part of 
 Italy south of the Rubicon was lost to Rome. 
 The greatness of the danger aroused all the 
 old Roman courage and patriotism. Aristo- 
 crats and democrats hushed their quarrels and 
 Fig. 159. Coin of fought bravely side by side for the endangered 
 THE Italian Con- life of the Republic. The war lasted three 
 FEDERACv ycars, and was finally brought to an end rather 
 
 The Sabeiiian bull goring by prudent concessions on the part of Rome 
 Oman wo ^^^^ ^^ fighting. In the year 90 B.C., alarmed 
 
 by signs of disaffection in certain of the communities that up to this 
 time had remained faithful, Rome granted the franchise of the city 
 to all Italian communities that had not declared war against her or 
 that had already laid down their arms. The following year the full 
 rights of the city were offered to all Italians who should within two 
 months appear before a Roman magistrate and express a wish for 
 the franchise. This tardy concession to the just demands of the 
 Italians virtually ended the war.' 
 
 1 It should be carefully noted that the opposition to the admission of strangers to 
 the rights of the city was no longer based on religious grounds, as was the case in the 
 days of patrician Rome (sect. 417). The opposition now arose simply from the selfish 
 desire of a privileged class in the Roman state to retain its monopoly rights. 
 
 2 The Italians found one open-minded and generous champion in a nobleman named 
 Marcus Livius Drusus ; but by his espousal of their cause Drusus made bitter enemies 
 at Rome and he was assassinated. 
 
 " After the close of the war the rights that had up to this time been enjoyed by the 
 Latin towns were conferred upon all the cities between the Po and the Alps. 
 
§466] POLITICAL RESULTS OF THE SOCIAL WAR 417 
 
 466. Comments on the Political Results of the Social War. Thus 
 as an outcome of the war practically all the freemen of Italy south 
 of tKe Po were^made e qual in civil and p olitical rights. This was a 
 matter of great significance. " The enrollment of the Italians among 
 her own citizens deserves to be regarded," declares the historian 
 Merivale, " as the greatest stroke of policy in the whole history of 
 the Republic." This wholesale enfranchisement of Latin and Italian 
 allies more than doubled the number of Roman citizens.^ 
 
 This equalization of the different classes of the Italian peninsula 
 was simply a later phase of that movement in early Rome which 
 resulted in the equalization of the two orders of the patricians and 
 plebeians (Chapter XXXIII). But the purely political results of the 
 earlier and those of the later revolution were very different. At the 
 earlier time those who demanded and received the franchise were 
 persons living either in Rome or in its immediate vicinity, and conse- 
 quently able to exercise the acquired right to vote and to hold office. 
 
 But now it was very different. These new-made citizens were living 
 in towns and villages or on farms scattered all over Italy, and of 
 course very few of them could ever go to Rome, either to participate 
 in the elections there, to vote on proposed legislation, or to become 
 candidates for the Roman magistracies. Hence the rights they had 
 acquired were, after all, politically barren. But no one was to blame 
 for this state of things. Rome had simply outgrown her city constitu- 
 tion and her system of primary assemblies (sect. 385). She needed 
 for her widening empire a representative system like ours ; but repre- 
 sentation was a political device far away from the practice if not 
 from the thoughts of the men of those times. 
 
 As a result of the impossibility of the Roman citizens outside of 
 Rome taking part, as a general thing, in the meetings of the popular 
 assemblies at the capital, the offices of the state fell into the hands 
 of those actually living in Rome or settled in its immediate neighbor- 
 hood. Since the free, or virtually free, distribution of corn and the 
 public shows were drawing to the capital from all quarters crowds of 
 the poor, the idle, and the vicious, these assemblies were rapidly 
 
 1 The census for the year 70 B.C. gives the number of citizens as 900,000, as against 
 394,336 about a generation before the war. 
 
41 8 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§467 
 
 becoming simply mobs controlled by noisy demagogues and unscrupu- 
 lous military leaders aiming at the supreme power in the state. 
 
 This situation brought about a serious division in the bod^ of 
 Roman citizens. Those of the capital came to regard themselves as 
 the real rulers of the state, as they actually were, and looked with 
 disdain upon those living in the other cities and the remoter districts 
 of the peninsula. They alone reaped the fruits of the conquered 
 world. At the same time the mass of outside passive citizens, as 
 we may call them, came to look with jealousy upon this body of 
 pampered aristocrats, rich speculators, and ragged, dissolute clients 
 and hangers-on at Rome. They became quite reconciled to the 
 thought of power passing out of the hands of such a crowd arid 
 into the hands of a single man. The feelings of men everywhere 
 were being prepared for the revolution that was to overthrow the 
 Republic and bring in the Empire. 
 
 467. Condition of Things in the Province of Asia. While the Social 
 * ' War was still in progress in Italy a formidable enemy of Rome ap- 
 peared in the East. Mithradates VI, surnamed the Great, king of 
 Pontus,'^ taking advantage of the distracted state of the Republic, 
 had practically destroyed the Roman power throughout the Orient 
 and made himself master of Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece, 
 In order to render intelligible this amazing and swift revolution in 
 the affairs of the East, we must here giye a short account of the 
 condition of things in that part of the Mediterranean world before 
 the appearance upon the stage of Mithradates. 
 
 We have already seen how Rome extended her authority over 
 Macedonia and Greece (sects. 447, 448). Soon after the establish- 
 ment of her rule in these lands, it was vastly extended in Asia by 
 " one of the surprises of history — the extinction of a rich and power- 
 ful monarchy by suicide." In the year 133 B.C. King Attalus III of 
 Pergamum (sect. 306) died, having willed his kingdom to the Roman 
 people.^ The Romans accepted the bequest, and made the territory 
 into a province under the name of Asia. 
 
 1 See map after p. 426. 
 
 2 There were during this period several of these surprises: 96 B.C. Cyrene was 
 bequeathed by its last ruler to the Roman Republic; and 75 e.g. the last liing of 
 Bithynia likewise willed his kingdom to Rome. 
 
§468] MITHRADATES CREATES AN EMPIRE 419 
 
 This province of Asia embraced probably the richest region, as it 
 was certainly one of the oldest in its civilization, that Rome had thus 
 far acquired. The Greek cities of the country had traditions reaching 
 back into prehistoric times. Their tribute had swollen the fabulous 
 wealth of the Lydian Croesus (sect. 102). This exceptional prosperity 
 of the earlier time had now indeed passed away, but the wealth and 
 trade of the region were still great and important, so that the prov- 
 ince presented an attractive field for the operations of Italian traders, 
 speculators, and money lenders. The country became crowded with 
 these immigrant classes, who plundered the natives,^ and carried their 
 ill-gotten booty to Rome to spend it there in gross and ostentatious 
 living. 
 
 The Roman magistrates of the province were, as a rule, men who 
 were willing to accept a share of the plunder in return for connivance 
 at the wickedness going on all around them. Of course there were 
 among the Italian residents many honorable merchants ; but the dis- 
 honesty, extortion, and cruelty of the majority were so odious and so 
 galling that they all alike became the objects of the utmost hatred 
 and detestation of the natives. Bearing in mind this feeling of the 
 natives towards the Italians, we shall understand how it was possible 
 for Mithradates to effect such an overturning of things so quickly 
 as he did. 
 
 468. Mithradates Creates an Empire in the East. Mithradates had 
 come to the throne of the little kingdom of Pontus in the year 
 120 B.C. His extraordinary career impressed deeply the imagination 
 of 'his times, and his deeds and fame have come down to us dis- 
 guised and distorted by legend. His bodily frame and strength were 
 immense, and his activity untiring. He could carry on conversation, 
 it is said, in twenty-two of the different la,nguages of his subjects. 
 He was familiar with the science and letters of Greece. His court, 
 crowded with Greek artists and scholars, was one of the great radiat- 
 ing centers of Greek influence in the Hellenistic Age. In no other 
 
 1 This plundering went on largely in connection with the collection of the taxes and 
 public rents. The natives paid a tenth in kind of the produce of the tilled land, and a 
 rent for thfe use of the public pastures. There were also custom duties on imports. Under 
 a law of Gaius Gracchus, the collection of these rents or taxes was farmed out, the 
 censors every five years selling the privileges at public auction. 
 
420 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§469 
 
 country of Asia was there a more perfect blending of Persian and 
 Greek civilizations. In truth, Mithradates was " the heir of Darius 
 and Alexander." He carried on in regions which the Macedonian 
 conquests had not reached, the work of Alexander and his successors. 
 He founded new Greek cities and encouraged marriages between 
 the natives and Greeks. But Mithradates, notwithstanding the fact 
 of his half Greek descent, ^ his mother was a Syrian Greek, — was 
 in his deepest instincts and impulses a typical oriental barbarian. 
 
 In the course of a few years Mithradates pushed out the bound- 
 aries of his little hereditary kingdom until it almost encircled the Eux- 
 ine, which became in effect a Pontic sea. 
 He now audaciously encroached upon the 
 Roman possessions in Asia Minor. The 
 natives of the Roman province of Asia, 
 oppressed by Roman speculators, tax farm- 
 ers, usurers, and corrupt magistrates, hailed 
 him as their deliverer. 
 
 In order to make secure his power in 
 
 Asia, Mithradates now gave orders that 
 Fig. i6o. Mithradates . , _ ,. -^i .. 
 
 THE Great. (Coin) «" a certain day every Italian, without 
 
 distinction of age or sex, should be put to 
 death. This savage order was almost everywhere carried out to the 
 letter. Men, women, and children, all of the Italian name, were mas- 
 sacred. The number of victims of the wholesale slaughter is variously 
 estimated at from seventy thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand. 
 
 Mithradates now turned his attention to Europe and sent his afmy 
 into Greece. Athens, hoping for the revival of her old empire, and 
 the most of the other Greek cities, renounced the authority of Rome 
 and hailed Mithradates as the protector of Hellenism against the 
 barbarian Romans. Thus in the space of a few months was the 
 power of the Romans destroyed throughout the East, and the bound- 
 aries of their empire pushed back virtually to the Adriatic. 
 
 469. Marius and Sulla Contend for the Command in the War against 
 Mithradates. The Roman Senate now bestirred itself. An army was 
 raised for the recovery of the Orient. Straightway a contest arose 
 between Marius and Sulla for the command of the forces. The 
 
§470] MARIUS MASSACRES THE ARISTOCRATS 421 
 
 Senate conferred this upon Sulla, who at that time was consul. 
 But by violent means an unconstitutional measure i/ was carried in an 
 assembly of the people whereby the command was taken away from 
 Sulla and given to Marius. Sulla now saw that the sword must settle 
 the dispute. At the head of his legions he marched upon Rome and 
 entered the gates, and " for the first time in the annals of the city a 
 Roman army encamped within the walls." The party of Marius was 
 defeated, and he and ten of his com- 
 panions were proscribed. Sulla soon 
 embarked with the legions to meet 
 Mithradates in the East (88 B.C.). 
 
 470. Marius Massacres the Aristocrats 
 (87 B.C.). Leaving Sulla to carry on the 
 Mithradatic war,^ we must first follow 
 the fortunes of the proscribed Marius. 
 Returning from Africa, whither he had 
 fled,' Marius joined the consul Cinna in 
 an attempt to crush by force the sena- 
 torial party. Rome was cut off from her 
 food supplies and starved into submission. 
 
 Marius now took a terrible revenge^ 
 upon his enemies. The consul Gnseus 
 Octavius, who represented the aristocrats, 
 was assassinated, and his head set up in front of the Rostra. Never 
 before had such a thing been seen at Rome — a consul's head ex- 
 posed to the public gaze. For five days and nights a merciless 
 slaughter was kept up. The life of every man in the capital was in 
 the hands of the revengeful Marius. As a fitting sequel to all this 
 violence, Marius and Cinna were, in an entirely illegal way, declared 
 consuls. Marius was now consul for the sfeventh time. He enjoyed 
 his seventh consulship only thirteen days, being carried away by death 
 in the seventy-first year of his age (86 B.C.). 
 
 1 The measure was a provision of the Sulpician Laws (88 B.C.), so called from their 
 proposer, the tribune Sulpicius, who, from fear of the designs of Sulla, had entered into 
 an understanding with Marius. 
 
 2 This was what is known as the First Mithradatic War (88-84 B.C.). 
 
 ? for the wanderings of Marius, see Plutarch, Gaitis Mariits, xxxv-xli. 
 
 Fig. 161. Marius (?) 
 (Uffizi Gallery, Florence) 
 
422 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§47l 
 
 471. The Proscriptions of Sulla (82 B.C.). With the Mithradatic 
 war ended, Sulla wrote to the Senate, saying that he was now com- 
 ing to take vengeance upon the Marian party — his own and the 
 Republic's enemies. The terror and consternation created at Rome 
 by this letter were increased by the accidental burning of the Capitol. 
 The Sibylline Books, which held the secrets of the fate of Rome, 
 were"consumed. This accident awakened the most gloomy apprehen- 
 sions. Such an event, it was believed, could only foreshadow the 
 most direful calamities to the state. 
 
 The returning army from the East landed in Italy (83 B. c). After 
 much hard fighting^ Sulla entered Rome with all the powers of a 
 dictator. The leaders of the Marian party were proscribed, rewards 
 were offered for their heads, and their property was confiscated. 
 Sulla was implored to make out a list of those he designed to put to 
 death, that those he intended to spare might be relieved of the terrible 
 suspense in which all were now held. He made out a list of eighty, 
 which was attached to the Rostra. The -people murmured at the 
 length of the roll. In a few days it was extended to over three 
 hundred, and then grew rapidly until it included the names of thou- 
 sands of the best citizens of Italy. Hundreds were murdered simply 
 because some favorites of Sulla coveted their estates. A wealthy 
 noble, coming into the Forum and reading his own name in the list 
 of the proscribed, exclaimed, " Alas ! my villa has proved my ruin." 
 Julius Cassar, at this time a mere boy of eighteen, was proscribed on 
 account of his relationship to Marius, but, upon' the intercession of 
 friends, Sulla spared him ; as he did so, however, he said warningly, 
 " There is in that boy many a Marius." 
 
 The number of victims of these proscriptions has been handed 
 down as forty-seven hundred. Almost all of these must have been 
 men of wealth or of special distinction on account of their activity in 
 public affairs. The property of the proscribed was confiscated and sold 
 at public auction, or virtually given away by Sulla to his favorites. The 
 foundations of some of the colossal fortunes that we hear of a little 
 after this were laid during these times of prgscription and robbery. 
 
 1 The fighting was especially marked by a terrible battle before the Colline Gate of 
 the capital. 
 
§472] SULLA MADE DICTATOR 423 
 
 This reign of terror bequeathed to later times a terrible "" legacy 
 of hatred and fear." Its awful scenes haunted the Romans for gen- 
 erations, and at every crisis in the affairs of the commonwealth the 
 public mind was thrown into a state of painful apprehension lest 
 there should be a repetition of these frightful days of Sulla. 
 
 472. Sulla made Dictator, with Power to Remodel the Constitution 
 (82 B.C.). The Senate now passed a decree which approved and con- 
 firmed all that Sulla had done, and made him dictator during his own 
 good pleasure. This was the first time a dictator had been appointed 
 since the war with Hannibal, and the first time the dictatorial authority 
 had ever been conferred for a longer period than six months. The 
 decree further invested Sulla with authority to make laws and to 
 remodel the constitution in any way that might seem to him necessary 
 and best. The power here given Sulla was like that with which the 
 d ecemvir s had been clothed nearly four Centuries before this time 
 (sect. 406). 
 
 The reforms of Sulla had for their chief aim the restoration of the 
 authority of the Senate, which recent revolutions had reduced almost 
 to a nullity, and the lessening of the power of the tribunate and of 
 the assembly of the plebs. 
 
 473. The Death of Sulla; Result of his Rule. After having exer- 
 cised the unlimited power of his office for three years, Sulla, to the 
 surprise of everybody, suddenly resigned the dictatorship and went 
 into retirement. He died the year following his abdication (78 B.C.). 
 One important result of the reign of Sulla as an absolute dictator 
 was the accustoming of the people to the i3ea of the rule of a single 
 man. His short dictatorship was the prelude to the reign of the 
 permanent imperator. 
 
 The parts of the old actors in the drama were now all played to 
 the end. But the plot deepens, and new men appear upon the stage 
 to carry on the new, which are really the old, parts. 
 
 474. Spartacus ; War of the Gladiators (73-71 B.C.). About a 
 decade after the proscriptions of Sulla, Italy was the scene of fresh 
 troubles. Gladiatorial combats had become at this time the favorite 
 sport of the amphitheater. At Capua was a sort of training-school 
 from which skilled fighters were hired out for public or private 
 
424 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§475 
 
 entertainments. In this seminary was a Thracian slave, known by the 
 name of Spartacus, who incited his companions to revolt. The in- 
 surgents fled to the crater of Vesuvius and made that their strong- 
 hold. There they were joined by gladiators from other schools, and 
 by slaves and discontented persons from every quarter. Their num- 
 ber at length increased to one hundred and fifty thousand men. For 
 three years they defied the power of Rome, and even gained control 
 of the larger part of southern Italy. But at length Spartacus himself 
 was killed and the insurrection suppressed.-"- 
 
 475. The Abuses and the Prosecution of Verres (70 B.C.). Terrible 
 as was the state of society in Italy, still worse was the condition of 
 affairs outside the peninsula. At first the rule of the Roman gov- 
 ernors in the provinces, though severe, was honest and prudent. But 
 during the period of profligacy and corruption upon which we have 
 now entered, the administration of these foreign possessions had 
 become shamefully dishonest and incredibly cruel and rapacious. 
 The prosecution of Verres, the proprsetor of Sicily, exposed the 
 scandalous rule of the oligarchy, into whose hands the government 
 had fallen. For three years Verres plundered and ravaged that island 
 with impunity. He sold all the offices andjall his decisions as judge. 
 He demanded of the farmers the greater part of their crops, which 
 he sold to swell his already enormous fortune. Agriculture was thus 
 ruined and the farms were abandoned. Verres had a taste for art, and 
 when on his tours through the island confiscated gems, vases, statues, 
 paintings, and other things which struck his fancy, whether in temples 
 or in private dwellings. 
 
 Verres could not be called to account while in office (sect. 401), 
 and it was doubtful whether, after the end of his term, he could be 
 convicted, so venal had become the Senate, the body by which all 
 such offenders were tried. Indeed, Verres himself openly boasted 
 that he intended two thirds of his gains for his judges and lawyers ; 
 the remaining one third would satisfy himself. 
 
 At length, after Sicily had come to look as though it had been 
 ravaged by barbarian conquerors, the infamous robber was impeached. 
 
 1 The defeat of the gladiators was mainly the work of the general Marcus I,icii)ii)5 
 Crasus (see sect. 4S0). 
 
§ 476] 
 
 PIRACY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 
 
 425 
 
 The prosecutor was Marcus Tullius Cicero, the brilliant orator, who> 
 was at this time just rising into prominence at Rome. The storm of 
 indignation raised by the developments of the trial caused Verres to 
 flee into exile to Massilia, whither he took with him much of his 
 ill-gotten wealth. 
 
 476. Growth of Piracy in the Mediterranean ; War with the Pirates 
 (78-66 B.C.). Another most shameful comnaentary on the utter inca- 
 pacity of the government of the aristocrats" was the growth of piracy 
 in the Mediterranean 
 waters during their rule. 
 It is true that this was 
 an evil which had been 
 growing for a long time. 
 The Romans through 
 their conquest of the 
 countries fringing the 
 Mediterranean had de- 
 stroyed not only the 
 governments that had 
 maintained order on the 
 land but at the same 
 time, as in the case of 
 Carthage, had destroyed 
 the fleets which, since the 
 
 days when the rising Greek cities suppressed piracy in the ^gean 
 Sea, had policed the Mediterranean and kept its ship routes clear of 
 corsairs. In the more vigorous days of the Republic the sea had been 
 well watched by Roman fleets, but after the close of the wars with 
 Carthage the Romans had allowed their war navy to fall into decay. 
 
 The Mediterranean, thus left practically without patrol, was swarm- 
 ing with pirates ; for Roman oppression in Africa, Spain, and espe- 
 cially in Greece and Asia Minor, had caused thousands of adventurous 
 spirits in those maritime countries to take to their ships and seek a live- 
 lihood by preying upon the commerce of the seas. The cruelty and 
 extortion of the Roman governors in the various provinces, the civil 
 war, the proscriptions and confiscations of the days of terror at Rome, 
 
 Fig. 162. Roman Trading Vessel 
 
426 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§476 
 
 the impoverishment and dispossession of the peasant farmers every- 
 where through the growth of great slave estates — all these things, 
 filling as they did the Mediterranean lands with homeless and des- 
 perate men, had also driven large numbers of hitherto honest and 
 industrious persons to the same course of life. " They harvested the 
 sea instead of the land." 
 
 These " ruined men of all nations," now turned pirates, had banded 
 themselves together in a sort of government and state. They had 
 as places of refuge numerous strong fortresses — four hundred it is 
 said^^ among the inaccessible mountains of the coast lands they fre- 
 quented. They had a fleet of a thousand sail, with dockyards and 
 naval arsenals. They made treaties with the Greek maritime cities 
 and formed leagues of friendship with the kings and princes of 
 the East. 
 
 Swift ships, sailing in fleets and squadrons, scoured the waters of 
 the Mediterranean, so that no merchantman could spread her sails in 
 safety. Nor were these buccaneers content with what spoils the sea 
 might yield them ; like the Vikings of the Northern seas in later times, 
 they made descents upon every coast, plundered villas and towns, and 
 sweeping off the inhabitants sold them openly as slaves in the slave 
 markets of the East. In some regions the inhabitants, as in early 
 times, were compelled to remove for safety from the coast and re- 
 build their homes farther inland. The pirates even ravaged the 
 shores of Italy itself. They carried off merchants and travelers from 
 the Appian Way and held them for ransom. At last they began to 
 intercept the grain ships of Sicily and Africa and thereby threatened 
 Rome with starvation. Corn rose to famine prices. 
 
 The Romans now bestirred themselves. In the year 67 B.C. Gnaeus 
 Pompey, a rising young general, upon whom the title of " Great " 
 had already been conferred, was invested with dictatorial power for 
 three years over the Mediterranean and all its coasts for fifty miles 
 inland. He quickly swept the pirates from the sea, captured their 
 strongholds in Cilicia, and settled in colonies, chiefly in Cilicia and 
 Greece, the twenty thousand prisoners that fell into his hands. His 
 vigorous and successful conduct of this campaign against the pirates 
 gained him great honor and reputation. 
 
THE KOMAX DOIMTTVIOXS 
 
 AT THE EXD OP THE 
 
 MITHKADATIC WAR 
 
 B. C. 64 
 
 J= 
 
§ 477] 
 
 POMPEY IN THE EAST 
 
 427 
 
 477. Pompey in the East; the Death of Mithradates. Pompey 
 had not yet ended the war with the pirates before he was given, by 
 a vote of the people, charge of the war against Mithradates,^ who 
 now for several years had been in arms against Rome. In a great 
 battle in Lesser Armenia Pompey almost annihilated the army of 
 Mithradates. The king fled from the field, and soon afterwards, to 
 avoid falling into the hands of the Romans, took his own life " 
 (63 B.C.). His death removed one of the most formidable enemies 
 that Rome had ever encountered, Hamilcar,^ 
 Ha nnib al, and Mith radat es were the three 
 great names that the Romans always pro- 
 nounced with respect and dread. 
 
 Pompey now turned south and conquered 
 Syria, Phoenicia, and Coele-Syria, which coun- 
 tries he erected into a Roman province under 
 the name of Syria (64 B.C.). Still pushin"g 
 southward, the conqueror entered Palestine, 
 and after a short siege of Jerusalem, by 
 taking advantage of the scruples of the Jews 
 in regard to fighting on the Sabbath day, 
 captured the city (63 B.C.). In spite of the 
 protestations of the priests, Pompey in- 
 sisted upon entering the innermost shrine 
 of the temple there. He was astonished to find the chamber vacant, 
 without even a picture or a statue of the god to whom the temple was 
 dedicated. Seemingly awed by his surroundings, he left untouched 
 the treasures of the God of the Bible. "-Alone of all the gods of 
 the Orient his gold was respected by a Roman adventurer " (Ferrero). 
 
 In the conquest of Palestine the Romans brought within the bound- 
 aries of their widening empire one of the least of all the lands they 
 had subjected, yet one destined to exert a profound influence upon 
 its destinies. 
 
 1 The so-called Third Mithradatic War {74-64 b.c.)^ What is Icnown as the Second 
 Mithradatic War (83-82 B.C.) was a short conflict that arose just after the close of the 
 First" (p. 421, 11. 2). The chief conduct of the present war had been in the hands of 
 Lucius Licinius Lucullus, 
 
 2 Some authorities, however, say that he was murdered by his son. 
 
 Fig. 163. Pompey the 
 
 Great 
 (Spada Palace, Rome) 
 
428 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§478 
 
 478. Pompey's Triumph. After regulating the affairs of the differ- 
 ent states and provinces in the East, and 'founding a great number 
 of cities, Pompey set out on his return to Rome, where, dressed in 
 the manner of Alexander the Great, he celebrated such a triumph as 
 never before had been seen since Rome became a city. The spoils 
 of all the East were borne in the procession; three hundred and 
 twenty-two princes walked as captives before the triumphal chariot 
 of the conqueror ; legends upon the banners proclaimed that he had 
 conquered twenty-one kings, captured one thousand strongholds, nine 
 hundred towns, and eight hundred ships, and subjugated more than 
 twelve millions of people; and that he had put into the treasury 
 twenty thousand talents,^ besides doubling the regular revenues of the 
 state. He boasted that three times he had triumphed, and each time ' 
 for the conquest of a continent — first for Africa, then for Europe, 
 and now for Asia, which completed the conquest of the world. 
 
 479. The Conspiracy of Catiline (64-62 B.C.). While the legions 
 were absent from Italy with Pompey in the -East a most daring con- 
 spiracy against the government was formed at Rome. Lucius Sergius 
 Catilina, a ruined spendthrift, had gathered a large company of profli- 
 gate young nobles, weighed down with debts and desperate like him- 
 self , and had deliberately planned to murder the consuls and the chief 
 men of the state and to plunder and burn the capital. The offices of 
 the new government were to be divided among the conspirators. The 
 proscriptions of Sulla were to be renewed and all debts were to be 
 canceled. 
 
 Fortunately, all the plans of the conspirators were revealed to the 
 consul Cicero, the great orator. The Senate immediately clothed 
 the consuls with dictatorial power with th® usual formula that they 
 " should take cai-e that the Republic recei.ved no harm." The city 
 walls were manned ; and at every point the capital and state were 
 armed against the "" invisible foe." Then in the senate chamber, with 
 Catiline himself present, Cicero exposed the whole conspiracy in a 
 famous Philippic, known as the First Oration against Catiline. The 
 senators shrank from the conspirator and left the seats about him 
 empty. After a feeble effort to reply to Cicero, overwhelmed by a 
 
 1 About ^25,000,000. 
 
§480] C^SAR, CRASSUS, AND POMPEY 429 
 
 sense of his guilt, and the cries of " traitor " and " parricide '' from 
 the senators, Catihne fled from the charhber and hurried out of the 
 city to the camp of his followers in Etruria. In a desperate battle 
 fought near Pistoria he was slain with many of his followers (62 b.c). 
 His head was borne as a trophy to Rome. Cicero was hailed as the 
 " Savior of his Country." 
 
 480. Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey : the So-called "First Trium- 
 vii;ate" (60 B.C.). Although the conspir3.cy of Catiline had failed, 
 still it was very easy to foresee that the downfall of the Roman 
 Republic was near at hand. Indeed, from this time on, only the 
 name remained. The days of liberty at Rome were over. From 
 this time forward the government was practically in the hands 
 of ambitious and popular leaders, or of corrupt combinations and 
 " rings." Events gather about a few great names, and the annals 
 of the Republic become biographical rather than historical. 
 
 There were now in the state three m«n — Caesar, Crassus, and 
 Pompey — who were destined to shape affairs. Gaius Julius Caisar 
 wasborn__m_the_. year jpo B.C. Although descended from an old 
 patrician family, still he had identified himself with the Marian or 
 democratic party. In every way he courted public favor. He lav- 
 ished enormous sums upon public games, and tables. His popularity 
 was unbounded. A^successful campaign in Spain had already made 
 kngwn_to himself, as well as to others, his genius as a commander. 
 
 Mar cus Licinius Crassus_belonged to the senatorial or aristocratic 
 party. He owed his influence to his enormous wealth, being one of 
 the richest men in the Roman world. His property was estimated at 
 seventy-one hundred talents.^ 
 
 With Gnseus Pompey and his achievements we are already familiar. 
 His influence throughout the Roman world was great ; for in settling 
 and reorganizing the many countries he subdued he had always taken 
 care to reconstruct them in his own interest, as well as in that of the 
 Republic. The offices were filled with Ws friends and adherents. 
 This patronage had secured for him incalculable authority in the 
 provinces. His veteran legionaries, too, were naturally devoted to 
 the general who had led them so often to victory. 
 
 1 About Sq.ooo.ooo. 
 
430 LAST CENTURY OF THE "REPUBLIC [§ 481 
 
 What is commonly known as the '" First Triumvirate " ^ rested on 
 the genius of ^Casar , , the. wealth of Crassus,,3nd.th£aGhievements of 
 Pomgg^„ It was a private arrangement entered into by these three 
 men for the purpose of securing to themselves the control of public 
 affairs. Each pledged himself to work for the interests of the others. 
 Caesar was the manager of the "ring." Through the aid of his 
 colleagues he secured the consulship. " Dark was the issue which 
 destiny was reserving for each of the three " (Ferrero). 
 
 481. Cffisar's Conquest of Gaul (58-51 B-U). At the end of his 
 consulship Caesar secured for himself, as proconsul, the administra- 
 tion of the provinces of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul, together 
 with Illyricum. Beyond the Alps the Gallic and Germanic tribes were 
 in restless movement. Csesar saw there a grand field for military 
 exploits, which might gain for him such glory and prestige as in other 
 fields had been won and were now enjoyed by Pompey. With this 
 achieved, and with a veteran army devoted to his interests, he might 
 hope easily to attain that position at the head of affairs towards which 
 his ambition was urging him. 
 
 In the spring of 58 B.C. alarming intelligence from beyond the 
 Alps caused Caesar to hasten from Rome into Transalpine Gaul. 
 Now began a series- of eight brilliant campaigns directed against the 
 various tribes of Gaul, Germany, and Britain. In his admirable Com- 
 mentaries, the best history written by a Roman, Caesar himself has 
 left us a faithful and graphic account of all the memorable marches, 
 battles, and sieges that filled the years between 58 and 51 B.C. 
 
 The year 55 B.C. marked two notable achievements. Early in the 
 spring of this year Ceesar constructed a bridge across the Rhine and 
 led his legions against the Germans in their native woods and swamps. 
 In the autumn of the same year he crossed, "by means of hastily con- 
 structed ships, the channel that separates the mainland from Britain, 
 and after maintaining a foothold upon that island for two weeks with- 
 drew his legions into Gaul for the winter. The following season he 
 
 1 This designation of this unofficial alliance is not strictly correct since the term 
 Triumvirate is the title of a board of three regular magistrates and therefore should 
 properly be applied only to the body mentioned in section 4S9 and commonly desig- 
 nated as the " Second Triumvirate." That body was established by a plebescitum which 
 conferred upon the triumvirs dictatorial powers for five years. 
 
§482] RESULTS OF THE GALLIC WARS 431 
 
 made another invasion of Britain, but, after some encounters with 
 the fierce barbarians, recrossed to the mainland without having estab- 
 lished any permanent garrisons in the island. Almost one hundred 
 years passed away before the natives of Britain were again molested 
 by the Romans (sect. 503). 
 
 Great enthusiasm was aroused at Rome byCsesar's victories over the 
 Gauls. " Let the Alps sink," exclaimed Cicero ; " the gods raised them 
 to shelter Italy from the barbarians ; they are now no longer needed." 
 
 482. Results of the Gallic Wars. The historian Ferrero pro- 
 nounces Caesar's conquest of Gaul to be " the most important fact 
 in Roman history." One of the many important results of the con-' 
 quest was the estajafehment thr-oughout this region of Jhe Roman 
 Peace. Before the Romans entered the country it was divided among 
 a great number of tribes that were constantly at war with one another. 
 In throwing her authority over them all, Jlome caused their inter- 
 tribal contentions to cease, and thus established &■ condition of things' 
 that first made possible the rapid and steady development among the 
 people of the arts of peace. 
 
 A second result of the Gallic wars of Casar was the Romanizing 
 pf Gaul . The country was opened to Roman traders and setders,' 
 who carried with them the language, customs, and arts of Italy. 
 Honors were conferred upon many of the Gallic chieftains, privi- 
 leges were bestowed upon the different conjmunities, and the Roman 
 franchise was granted to prominent and influential natives. 
 
 This Romanization of Gaul meant much both for Roman history 
 and for the general history of Europe. The Roman stock in Italy 
 was failing. It was this new Romanized people that in the times of 
 the Empire gave to the Roman state many of its best commanders, 
 statesmen, emperors, orators, poets, and historians. 
 
 The Romanization of Gaul meant, further, the adding of another 
 toJh_^numheLof LatiQJiatiQns.Jhat were to arise from the break-up 
 of the Roman Empire. There can be little doubt that if Cassar had 
 not conquered Gaul it would have been overrun by the Germans, 
 and would ultimately have become simply an extension of Germany. 
 There would then have been no great Latin nation north of the Alps 
 and the Pyrenees. It is difficult to imagine what European history 
 
432 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§483 
 
 would be like if the French nation, with its semi-Italian temperament, 
 instincts, and traditions, had never come into existence. 
 
 A. final result of Cesar's campaigns in Gaul and against the 
 intruding German tribes wasthe check £iven^Jo_the_migratory 
 movements of these peoples. Had this check not been given, it 
 is possible that what we call the Great Migration of the German 
 peoples might have taken place in the first century before, instead of 
 in the fifth century after, the coming of Christ, and Rome's great 
 work of enriching civilization and establishing it everywhere through- 
 out the Mediterranean world might have been interrupted while yet 
 only fairly begun. 
 
 483. The Death of Crassus ; Rivalry between Caesar and Pompey. 
 While Cassar was engaged in his Transalpine wars, Crassus was 
 leading an army against the Parthians, hoping to rival there the 
 brilliant conquests of Ceesar in Gaul. But his army was almost 
 annihilated by the enemy, and he himself was slain (54 b.c). 
 
 The world now belonged to Caesar and Pompey. That the in- 
 satiable ambition of these two rivals should sooner or later bring 
 them into collision was inevitable. Their alliance in the " triumvirate " 
 was simply one of selfish convenience, not of friendship. While Caesar 
 was carrying on his campaigns in Gaul, Pompey was at Rome watch- 
 ing jealously the growing reputation of his great rival. He strove by 
 a princely liberality to win the affections of the common people. He 
 gave magnificent games and set public tables, and when the interest 
 of the people in the sports of the circus flag:ged he entertained thera 
 with gladiatorial combats. 
 
 In a similar manner Cassar strengthened himself with the people 
 for the struggle which he plainly foresaw. He sought in every way 
 to ingratiate himself with the Gauls; he increased the pay of his 
 soldiers, conferred the privileges of Roman citizenship upon the in- 
 habitants of different cities, and sent to Rome enormous sums of 
 gold to be expended in the erection of temples, theaters, and other 
 public structures, and in the celebration of games and shows that 
 should rival in magnificence those given by Pompey. 
 
 The Senate, favoring Pompey, made him sole consul for one year 
 (52 B.C.), which was about the same thing as making him dictator, and 
 
§484] C^SAR BECOMES MASTER=OF THE WEST 433 
 
 issued a decree that Caesar should resign his office and disband his 
 Gallic legions by a stated day. The crisis had now come. Cassar 
 ordered his legions to hasten from Gaul iuto Italy. Without waiting 
 for their arrival, at the head of a small body of veterans that he had 
 with him at Ravenna, he crossed the Rubicon, a little stream that 
 marked the boundary of his province. This was a declaration of war. 
 As he plunged into the river, he exclaimed, " The die is cast ! " 
 
 484. Caesar becomes Master of the West (49-48 B.C.). As Caesar 
 marched southward, one city after another threw open its gates to 
 him ; legion after legion went over to his standard. Pompey, with a 
 few legions, fled to Greece. Within sixty days Caesar had made him- 
 self master of all Italy. His moderation won all classes to his side. 
 Many had looked to see the terrible scenes of the days of Marius 
 and Sulla reenacted. Caesar, however, soon gave assurance that life 
 and property should be held sacred. 
 
 With order restored in Italy, and with Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain 
 brought under his authority, Cassar was free to turn his forces against 
 Pompey in the East. The armies of the rivals met upon the plains 
 of Pharsalus in Thessaly. Pompey's forces were cut to pieces. He 
 himself fled from the field and escaped to Egypt. Just as he was 
 landing he was assassinated. 
 
 485. A Laconic Message; End of the Civil War. Csesar, who had 
 followed Pompey to Egypt, was detained there nine months in settling 
 a dispute respecting the throne. The kingdom was finally secured to 
 the celebrated Cleopatra and a younger -brother. Intelligence was 
 now brought from Asia Minor that Pharnaces, son of Mithradates 
 the Great, was inciting a revolt among the peoples of that region. 
 Caesar met the Pontic king at Zela, defeated him, and in five days 
 put an end to the war (47 B.C.). His laconic message to a friend 
 announcing his victory is famous. It ran thus : Veni, vidi, vici^ 
 (" I came, I saw, I conquered "). 
 
 Caesar now hurried back to Italy, and thence proceeded to Africa, 
 which the friends of the old Repubhc had made their last chief 
 rallying-place. At the great batde of Thapsus (46 B.C.) they were 
 crushed. Fifty thousand lay dead upon the field. Cato,^ who had 
 
 1 Plutarch, Cicsar, 1. 2 This was a grandson of Cato the Censor (sect. 450), 
 
434 
 
 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC 
 
 [§486 
 
 been the very life and soul of the army, refusing to outlive the 
 Republic which he had served, took his own life. 
 
 486. Cffisar as Dictator ; an Uncrowned King. Cffisar was now 
 virtually lord of the Roman world.' He refrained from taking the 
 title of king, but he assumed the purple robe, the insignia of royalty, 
 and, after the manner of sovereigns, caused his effigy to be stamped 
 
 on the public coins. His 
 . statue was significantly 
 .given. a place along with 
 those of the seven kings 
 of early Rome. He was 
 "invested with all the offices 
 and dignities of the state. 
 The Senate made him per- 
 petual dictator (44 b.c), 
 and conferred upon him 
 the powers of censor, con- 
 sul, and tribune, with the 
 titles of Pontifex Maximus 
 and Imperator. Thus, 
 though not a king in 
 •name, Cagsar's actual posi- 
 tion at the head of the 
 state was that of an ab- 
 solute ruler. 
 
 487. Caesar as a States- 
 man. CcEsar had great 
 plans which embraced the 
 whole world that Rome had conquered. A chief aim of his was 
 to establish between the different classes of the empire equality 
 of rights, to place Italy and the provinces on the same footing, to 
 blend the various races and peoples into a real nation — in a word, 
 to carry to completion that great work of making all the world 
 Roman which had been begun in the earliest times. To this end he 
 
 1 The sons of Pompey^Gna=us and Sextus-had headed a revolt in Spain, tesar 
 crushed the movement a httle later in the decisive battle of Munda, 45 B.C. 
 
 Fig. 164. Julius C.-esar. (Vatican Museu 
 
§487] C^SAR AS A STATESMAN 435 
 
 established numerous colonies in the provinces and settled in them 
 a hundred thousand of the poorer citizens of the capital. With a liber- 
 ality that astonished and offended many, he admitted to the Senate 
 sons of freedmen, and particularly representative men from among 
 the Gauls, and conferred upon individual provincials and upon entire 
 classes and communities in the provinces the partial or full rights 
 of the city. His action here marks an epoch in the history of Rome. 
 The immunities and privileges of the city had never hitherto been 
 conferred, save in exceptional cases, upon any peoples other than 
 those of the Italian race. Caesar threw the gates of the city wide 
 open to the non-Italian peoples of the provinces. Thus was fore- 
 shadowed the day when all freemen throughout the whole Empire 
 should be Roman in name and privilege^ (sect. 516). 
 
 In the administration of the provinces (Ssesar introduced reforms 
 which placed checks upon the robbery of the provincials by rapacious 
 governors, tax farmers, and usurers. At Rome he corrected abuses 
 in the com doles by restricting the distribution to the really needy. 
 This reform reduced the number of recipients of this public charity 
 by more than one half. 
 
 As Pontifex Maximus, Caesar reformed the calendar so as. to bring 
 the festivals once more in their proper seasons, and provided against 
 further confusion by making the year consist of three hundred and 
 sixty-five days, with an added day for every fourth or leap year. 
 This is what is called the Julian Calendar.^ 
 
 Besides these achievements, Caesar projected many vast under- 
 takings (among these a survey of the enormous domains of the state 
 and the codification of the Roman laws) which the abrupt termination 
 of his life prevented his carrying into execution. 
 
 1 One of the most important of all Caesar's laws was that known as the Lex Julia 
 Munkipalis (45 B.C.), whose aim was to bring order and uniformity into the municipal 
 system and to develop a more vigorous civic life in tl^e municipal towns of Italy. All 
 the municipal governments organized after this, whether in towns in Italy or in the prov- 
 inces, conformed to the principles embodied in this important constitutional measure. 
 
 2 This calendar, which was based on the old Egyptian calendar (sect. 43), was in 
 general use in Europe until the year 1582, when it was reformed by Pope Gregory XlII, 
 and became what is known as the Gregorian Calendar. This in time came to be used in 
 all Christian countries except those of the Greek Church (Russia, etc.), where the 
 Julian Calendar is still followed. 
 
436 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§ 4S8 
 
 488. The Death of Caesar (44 B.C.). Caesar had his bitter personal 
 enemies, who never ceased to plot his downfall. There were, too, 
 sincere lovers of the old Republic to whom he was the destroyer of 
 republican liberties. The impression began to prevail that he was 
 aiming to make himself king. A crown was several times offered 
 him in public by the consul Mark Antony ; but seeing the manifest 
 displeasure of the people, he each time pushed it aside. Yet there is 
 no doubt that secretly he desired it. It was reported that he proposed 
 to rebuild the walls of Troy, the fabled cpdle of the Roman race 
 (sect. 143), and make that ancient capital the seat of the new Roman 
 Empire. Others professed to believe that the arts and charms of the 
 Egyptian Cleopatra, who had borne him a son at Rome, would entice 
 him to make Alexandria the center of the proposed kingdom. Thus 
 many, out of love for Rome and the old Republic, were led to enter 
 into a conspiracy against the life of Cassar -with those who sought to 
 rid themselves of the dictator for other and personal reasons. 
 
 The Ides (the fifteenth day) of March, 44 b. c, upon which day 
 the Senate convened, witnessed the assassination. Seventy or eighty 
 conspirators, headed by Gaius Cassius and Marcus Bmtus, were con- 
 cerned in the plot. The soothsayers must have had some knowledge 
 of the plans of the conspirators, for they had warned Caesar to " be- 
 ware of the Ides of March." As he entered the hall where the Senate 
 was to assemble that day, he observed the astrologer Spurinna and 
 remarked carelessly to him, referring to hi| prediction, " The Ides of 
 March have come." " Yes," replied Spurinna, •" but not gone." 
 
 No sooner had Caesar taken his seat than the conspirators crowded 
 about him as if to present a petition. Upon a signal from one of 
 their number their daggers were drawn. For a moment Cassar 
 defended himself ; but seeing Brutus, upon whom he had lavished 
 gifts and favors, among the conspirators, he is said to have exclaimed 
 reproachfully, ".£'/ tu, Brute!" — "Thou, too, Brutus I " then to 
 have drawn his mantle over his face and to have received unresistingly 
 their further thrusts. 
 
 The Romans had killed many of their best men and cut short their 
 work ; but never had they killed such a man as Cassar. He was 
 the greatest man their race had yet produced or was ever to produce. 
 
§489] 
 
 THE SECOND TRIUMViRATE 
 
 437 
 
 Csesar's work was left all incomplete. What lends to it such great 
 historical importance is the fact that by his reforms and policies 
 Caesar drew the broad lines which his successors followed, and in- 
 dicated the principles on which the government of the future must 
 be based. 
 
 489. The Second 
 Triumvirate (43 B.C.). 
 Antony, the friend and 
 secretary of Csesar, 
 had gained possession 
 of his will and papers, 
 and now, under color 
 of carrying out the 
 testament of the dic- 
 tator, according to a 
 decree of the Senate, 
 entered upon a course 
 of high-handed usur- 
 pation. He was aided 
 in his designs by Mar- 
 cus ^milius Lepidus, 
 ■one of Caesar's old 
 lieutenants. Very soon 
 he was exercising all 
 the powers of a real 
 dictator. "The tyrant 
 is dead," said Cicero, 
 " but the tyranny still 
 lives." 
 
 Fig. 165. OcTAviAN (Octavius) as a Youth 
 (Vatican Museum) 
 
 To what lengths Antony would have gone in his career of usurpa- 
 tion it is difficult to say, had he not been opposed at this point by 
 Gaiijs Octavian (Octavius), the young grand-nephew of Julius Cassar, 
 and the one whom he had named in his will as his heir and adopted 
 as his son. Civil war at once ensued. After a few months' hostilities,'^ 
 
 1 The "War of Mutina " (44-43 B.C.), so called for the reason that the fighting took 
 place around Mutina (now Modena) in northern Italy. 
 
438 
 
 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC 
 
 [§489 
 
 a common fear of the growing strength in the East of the murderers 
 of Csesar, led Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus to resolve to put aside 
 their rivalry and unite their forces against them. The outcome of a 
 conference was an alliance, — sanctioned by the assembly of the 
 plebs, — known as the Second Triumvirate '■ (43 B. c). 
 
 The plans of the triumvirs were infamous. A general proscription, 
 such as had marked the coming to power of Sulla, was resolved upon. 
 
 It was agreed that each should give 
 up to the assassin such friends of 
 his as had incurred the ill-will of 
 either of the other triumvirs. Under 
 this arrangement Octavian gave up 
 his friend Cicero — who had in- 
 curred the hatred of Antony by op- 
 posing his schemes — and allowed 
 his name to be put at the head of 
 
 ^^ V^ ^ ^^^ ''®* °^ ^^^ proscribed. 
 
 The friends of the orator urged 
 him to flee the country. " Let me 
 die," said he, "in my fatherland, 
 which I have so often saved ! " His 
 attendants were hurrying him, half 
 unwilling, towards the coast, when 
 his pursuers came up and dispatched 
 him in the litter in which he was 
 being carried. His head was taken 
 to Rome and set up in front of the 
 Rostra, " from which he had so 
 often addressed the people with his eloquent appeals for liberty." It 
 is told that Fulvia, the wife of Antony, ran her gold bodkin through 
 the tongue in revenge for the bitter Philippics it had uttered against 
 her husband. The right hand of the victim — the hand that had 
 penned the eloquent orations — was nailed to the Rostra. 
 
 Cicero was but one victim among many hundreds. All the dreadful 
 scenes of the days of Sulla were reenacted. Two thousand knights 
 
 ^ See above, p. 430, n. it 
 
 Fig. i66. Cicero. (Madrid) 
 
§490] LAST STRUGGLE OF THE REPUBLIC 439 
 
 and between two and three hundred senators were murdered. The 
 estates of the wealthy were confiscated and sold at public auction. 
 
 490. Last Struggle of the Republic at Philippi (42 B.C.): the 
 Roman World in the Hands of Antony arfd Octavian. . The friends 
 of the old Republic and the enemies of the triumvirs were meanwhile 
 rallying in the East. Brutus and Cassius were the animating spirits. 
 Octavian and Antony, as soon as they had disposed of their enemies 
 in Italy, crossed the Adriatic into Greece Ho disperse the forces of 
 the republicans there. 
 
 At Philippi, in Thrace, the hostile armies met (42 B.C.). In two 
 successive engagements the new levies of the liberators were cut to 
 pieces, and both Brutus and Cassius, believing the cause of the 
 Republic forever lost, committed suicide. It was, indeed, the last 
 effort of the Republic. The history of the events that lie between 
 the action at Philippi and the establishment of the Empire is simply 
 a record of the struggles among the triumvirs for the possession of 
 the prize of supreme power. After various redistributions of prov- 
 inces, Lepidus was at length expelled from the triumvirate, and then 
 the Roman world was again, as in the times of Csesar and Pompey, 
 in the hands of two masters — Antony in the East and Octavian in 
 the West. 
 
 491. Antony and Cleopatra. After the battle of Philippi Antony 
 went into Asia for the purpose of settiing the affairs of the provinces 
 and vassal states there. At Tarsus, in Cilicia, he met Cleopatra, the 
 famous queen of Egypt. Antony was completely fascinated, as had 
 been the great Caesar before him, by the witchery of the " Serpent 
 of the Nile." Enslaved by her enchantments and charmed by her 
 brilliant wit, in the pleasure of her company he forgot all else — 
 ambition and honor and country. 
 
 492. The Battle of Actium (31 B.C.). Affairs could not long con- 
 tinue in their present course. Antony had put away his faithful wife 
 Octavia, sister of Octavian, for the beautiful Cleopatra. It was whis- 
 pered at Rome, and not without truth, that he proposed to make 
 Alexandria the capital of the Roman world, and announce Caesarion, 
 son of Julius Csesar and Cleopatra, as the heir of the Empire. All 
 Rome was stirred. It was evident that a struggle was at hand in 
 
440 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC [§493 
 
 which the question for decision would be whether the West should 
 rule the East, or the East rule the West. All eyes were instinctively 
 turned to Octavian as the defender of Italy and the supporter of the 
 sovereignty of the Eternal City. 
 
 Both parties made the most gigantic preparations for the inevitable 
 conflict. Octavian met the combined fleets of Antony and Cleopatra 
 just off the promontory of Actium, on the western coast of Greece. 
 While the issue of the battle that there took place was yet undecided, 
 Cleopatra turned her galley in flight. The Egyptian ships, to the 
 number of fifty, followed her example. Antony, as soon as he per- 
 ceived the withdrawal of Cleopatra, forgot all else and followed in 
 her track with a swift galley. Overtaking the fleeing queen, the 
 infatuated man was received aboard her vessel and became her 
 partner in the disgraceful flight. 
 
 The abandoned fleet, still fighting bravely, was destroyed, and the 
 army surrendered to Octavian. The conqueror was now sole master 
 of the civilized world. From this decisive battle (3 1 b. c.) are usually 
 dated the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Empire. 
 Some historians, however, make the establishment of the Empire 
 date from the year 27 B.C., as it was not utitil then that Octavian was 
 formally invested with imperial powers. 
 
 493. Death of Antony and of Cleopatra ; Egypt becomes a Roman 
 Province. Octavian pursued Antony to Egypt, where the latter, de- 
 serted by his army and informed by a messenger from the false 
 queen that she was dead, committed suicide. 
 
 Cleopatra then sought to enslave Octavian with her charms ; but 
 failing in this, and becoming convinced that he proposed to take her 
 to Rome that she might there grace his triumph, she took her own 
 life, being in the thirty-eighth year of her age. With the death of 
 Cleopatra the noted dynasty of the Ptolemies came to an end. 
 Egypt was henceforth a province of the Roman state. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Plutarch, Tiberius Gracchus and /ulius 
 Cesar. AfPiAN, The Civil Wars, bk. ii, chap, xviii (the panic in Rome after 
 Cesar's death). Cicero, Letters to Atticus (Loeb Classical Library), bit. vii, 
 letters, 1-26. Munro, Source Book, pp. 100-141^ 217-220; Davis's Readings 
 (Roine), pp. 85-166. 
 
REFERENCES 441 
 
 Secondary Works. Heitland, vol. ii, chaps, xxxv-xlvii ; vol. iii, chaps, 
 xlviii-lxi. Geeenidge, History of Rome, vol. i. ^ERRERO, The Greatness and 
 the Decline of Rome, vols, i-iii ; vol. iv (chaps, i-vi). Merivale, The Fall of the 
 Roman Republic. Beesly, The Gracchi, Marius and Sulla. Pelham, Outlines 
 of Roman History, pp. 201-258, 333-397. GiLMAN, Story of Rome, chaps, xii, 
 xiii. Abbott, Roman Political Institutions, chaps, vi, vii. Mommsen, vol. iv 
 (read chap, xi, " The Old Republic and the New Monarchy"). Oman, Seven 
 Roman Statesmen of the Republic. Strachan-Davidson, Cicero and the Fall 
 of the Roman Republic. Trollope, The Life of Cicero. ¥o'WLmL, fulitis Ccesar. 
 Holmes, Ccesar' s Conquest of Gaul (for advanced students). Long, The Decline 
 of the Roman Republic (for general reference). 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i . Roman slavery : Johnston, The Private Life 
 of the Romans, chap, v, pp. 87-1 11. 2. Marcus Livius Drusus, the champion of 
 the Italians (consult by index any comprehensive^history of Rome). 3. Cicero 
 and his friends as admirers of things Greek : Mahaffy, The Greek World under 
 Roman Sway, chap. vi. ^. The Conspiracy of Catiline: Church, Roman Life 
 in the Days of Cicero, chap. vii. 5. Causes of the fall of the Republic : How 
 and Leigh, History of Rome, chap, xxxi ; Seignobos (Wilde ed.), History of 
 Ancient Civilization, pp. 274-278. 
 
THIRD PERIOD — ROME AS AN EMPIRE 
 
 (31B.C.-476A.D.) 
 
 I. The Principate 
 
 (31B.C.-284 A.D.) 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE AND THE 
 PRINCIPATE OF AUGUSTUS CiESAR 
 
 (31 B.C.-14 A.D.) 
 
 494. The Character of the Imperial Government ; the Dyarchy. 
 
 The hundred years of strife which ended with the battle of Actium 
 left the Roman Republic, exhausted and helpless, in the hands of one 
 wise enough and strong enough to remold its crumbling fragments 
 in such a manner that the state, which seemed ready to fall to pieces, 
 might prolong its existence for another five hundred years. It was a 
 great work thus to create anew, as it were, out of anarchy and chaos, 
 a political fabric that should exhibit such elements of perpetuity and 
 strength. " The establishment of the Roman Empire,'' says Merivale, 
 " was, after all, the greatest political work that any -human being ever 
 wrought. The achievements of Alexander, of Caesar, of Charlemagne, 
 of Napoleon are not to be compared with it for a moment." 
 
 Soon after his return from the East, Octavian laid down the ex- 
 traordinary powers which he, as sole master of the legions, had been 
 exercising. Then the Senate, acting doubtless in accordance with a 
 previous understanding or the known wishes of Octavian, reinvested 
 him with virtually the same powers but with republican titles; for, 
 mindful of the fate of Julius Ceesar, Octavian saw to it that the really 
 absolute power which he received under the new arrangements was 
 
 44- 
 
§494] 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT 
 
 443 
 
 veiled under the forms of the old Republic. He did not take the title 
 of king. He knew how hateful to the people that name had been 
 since the ex- 
 pulsion of the 
 Tarquins, and 
 he was mindful 
 how many of the best 
 men of Rome, in 
 eluding the great Julius, 
 had perished because they gave 
 the people reason to think that 
 they were aiming at the regal 
 power. Nor did he take the title 
 of dictator, a name that since the 
 time of Sulla had been almost as 
 intolerable to the people as that 
 of king. But he adopted or ac- 
 cepted the title of Imperator, — 
 whence the name Emperor, — a 
 title which, although it carried 
 with it the absolute authority of 
 the commander of the legions, 
 still had clinging to it no odious 
 memories. He also received from 
 the Senate the honorary surname 
 of Augustus, a title that hitherto 
 had been sacred to the gods, and 
 hence was free from all sinister 
 associations. A monument of 
 this act was erected in the cal- 
 endar. It was decreed by the 
 Senate that the sixth month of 
 the Roman year should be called 
 Augustus (whence our August) 
 in commemoration of the Imperator, an act in imitation of that by 
 which the preceding month had been given the name Julius (whence 
 
 Fig. 167. Augustus. (Vatican 
 Museum) 
 
 This statue of Augustus is regarded as 
 one of the best of Roman portraits 
 
444 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE [§ 494 
 
 our July) in honor of Julius C^sar. Common usage also bestowed 
 upon Octavian the name of Prmceps, which was only a designation 
 of courtesy and dignity and which simply pointed out him who bore 
 it as the " first citizen " of a free republic. 
 
 And as Octavian was careful not to wound the sensibilities of the 
 lovers of the old Republic by assuming any titie that in any way 
 suggested regal authority and prerogative, so was he careful not to 
 arouse their opposition by abolishing any of the republican offices or 
 assemblies. He allowed all the old magistracies to exist as hereto- 
 fore ; but he himself absorbed and exercised the most important part 
 of their powers and functions. 
 
 Likewise all the popular assemblies remained and were convened 
 as usual to hold elections and to vote on measures laid before them. 
 But Octavian, having been invested with both the consular and the 
 tribunician power, had the right to summon them, to place in nomi- 
 nation persons for the various offices,^ and to initiate legislation. The 
 titular consuls and tribunes also, it is true, had this right, but after 
 the new order of things had become firmly established during the 
 long rule of Augustus they dared not exercise it without the concur- 
 rence of the new master of the state. Consequently the deliberations 
 of the popular assemblies were really idle forms. 
 
 The Senate still existed,^ but it was shorn of all real independence 
 by the predominating influence of its first member, the Princeps. 
 Octavian endeavored to raise the body to a higher standard. He 
 reduced the number of senators — which had been raised by Antony 
 to one thousand — to six hundred, and struck from the rolls the names 
 of unworthy members and of obstinate republicans. 
 
 1 The consuls were generally nominated by Augustus, and in order that a large 
 number of his friends and favorites might be amused with the dignity, the term of 
 office was reduced to a shorter period. At a later time the length of the consulate was 
 shortened to two or three months. 
 
 2 Since in. the early Empire the Senate under the constitutional arrangements of 
 Augustus shared the government with the emperor, the government of this period is 
 by some called a dyarchy, which means a government by two persons. As a matter of 
 fact, however, the Senate had only so much authority as the ruling emperor chose to give 
 it. Some emperors, like Augustus, treated ther body vjith respect and allowed it a real 
 share in the government, while others rejected the theory of a joint rule of Frinceps 
 and Senate and ruled practically alone. 
 
§495] THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCES 445 
 
 We may summarize all these changes ^ by saying that the monarchy 
 abolished five hundred years before this was now slowly rising again 
 amidst the old forms of the Republic. This is what was actually 
 taking place; for the chief powers and prerogatives of the ancient 
 king, which during the republican period had been gradually broken 
 up and lodged in the hands of a great number of magistrates, col- 
 leges, and assemblies, were now being oncp more gathered up in the 
 hands of a single man. This drift towards the unrestrained rule of a 
 single person is the essence of the constitutional history of Rome for 
 the first three centuries of the Empire ; by .the end of that period the 
 concentration of all power in the hands of the Princeps was com- 
 plete, and the veiled monarchy of Octavian emerges in the unveiled 
 oriental monarchy of Diocletian (sect. 519). 
 
 495. The Government of the Provinces. The revolution that 
 brought in the Empire effected a great improvement in the condi- 
 tion of the provincials. The government of all those provinces that 
 were in an unsettled state and that needed the presence of a large 
 military force Augustus^ withdrew from the Senate and took the 
 management of their affairs in his own hands. These were known as 
 the provinces of Cmsar. Instead of these ^ countries being ruled by 
 practically irresponsible proconsuls and propraetors, they were hence- 
 forth ruled by legates of the emperor, who were removable at his 
 will and answerable to him for the faithful and honest discharge of 
 the duties of their offices. Salaries were atlached to their positions, 
 and thus the scandalous abuses which had grown up in connection 
 with the earlier system of self-payment through fees, requisitions, and 
 the like devices were swept away. 
 
 The more tranquil provinces were still left under the control of 
 the Senate, and were known as public provinces. These also profited 
 by the change, since the emperor extendeti his care to them, and, 
 as the judge of last appeal, righted wrongs and punished flagrant 
 offenders against right and justice. 
 
 1 Respecting all these governmental arrangements Professor Greenidge comments 
 as follows : " Such was the settlement which was greeted, officially and unofficially, as a 
 restoration of the Republic, but which later writers held, with equal reason, to be the 
 commencement of the legitimate monarchy" {Roman Public Life, 1901, p. 339). 
 
 2 From this on we shall refer to Octavian by this his honorary surname. 
 
446 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE [§496 
 
 496. The Defeat of Varus by the Germans under Arminius (9 a.d.). 
 
 The reign of Augustus was marked by one of the most terrible dis- 
 asters that ever befell the Roman legions. The general QuintHius 
 Varus had made the mistake of supposing that he could rule the 
 freedom-loving Germans, who had in part been brought under 
 Roman authority, just as he had governed the servile Asiatics of 
 the Eastern provinces, and had thereby stirred them to determined 
 revolt. While the general was leading an army of three legions, 
 numbering altogether about twenty thousand men, through the almost 
 pathless depths of the Teutoburg Wood, he was surprised by the bar- 
 barians under their brave chieftain Hermann — called Arminius by 
 the Romans — and his army destroyed. 
 
 The disaster caused great consternation at Rome. Augustus, 
 wearied and worn already with the cares of empire and domestic 
 affliction, was inconsolable. He paced his palace in agony, and kept 
 exclaiming, '" O Varus, Varus ! give me back my legions I give me 
 back my legions ! " 
 
 The victory of Arminius over the Romans was an event of great 
 significance in the history of European civilization. The Germans 
 were on the point of being completely subjugated and put in the 
 way of being Romanized, as the Celts of Gaul had already been. 
 Had this occurred, the history of Europe would have been changed ; 
 for the Germanic element is the one that has given shape and color 
 to the important events of the last fifteen hundred years. Among 
 these barbarians, too, were our ancestors. Had Rome succeeded in 
 exterminating or enslaving them, Britain, as Creasy says, might never 
 have received the name of England, and the great English nation 
 might never have had an existence. 
 
 497. Literature and the Arts under Augustus. The reign of 
 Augustus lasted forty-four years, from 31 b.c. to 14 a.d. Although 
 the government of Augustus, as we have learned, was disturbed by 
 some troubles upon the frontiers, still, never before, perhaps, had the 
 civilized world enjoyed so long a period of general rest from the tur- 
 moil of war. Three times during this auspicious reign the gates of 
 the Temple of Janus at Rome, which were -open in time of war and 
 closed in time of peace, were shut. Only twice before during the 
 
AT THE 
 
 DEATH OF AUGUSTUS 
 
 A. D. 14: 
 
§498] SOCIAL LIFE AT ROME UNDER AUGUSTUS 447 
 
 existence of the city had they been closed, so constantly had the 
 Roman people been engaged in war. 
 
 This long repose from the strife that had filled all the preceding 
 centuries was favorable to the upspringing of literature and art. 
 Under the patronage of the emperor and that of his favorite minister 
 Mascenas, poets and writers flourished and made this the Golden 
 Age of Latin literature. Many who lamented the fall of the Republic 
 sought solace in the pursuit of letters ; and in this they were encour- 
 aged by Augustus, as it gave occupation to many restless spirits that 
 might otherwise have been en- 
 gaged in political intrigues against 
 his government. The four great 
 names in the literature of the 
 period are those of Vergil, Horace, 
 Ovid, and Livy.^ 
 
 Augustus was also a munificent 
 patron of architecture and art. He 
 adorned the capital with many 
 splendid structures, including tem- 
 ples, theaters, porticoes, baths, and 
 aqueducts. He said proudly, "" I 
 found Rome a city of brick ; I left 
 it a city of marble." The popula- 
 tion of the city at this time was 
 probably about one million. Two 
 other cities of the Empire — Antioch and Alexandria — are thought 
 to have had each about this same number of citizens. These cities, too, 
 were made magnificent with splendid architecture and works of art. 
 
 498. Social Life at Rome under Augustus. One of the most re- 
 markable features of life at the capital during the reign of Augustus 
 was the vast number of Roman citizens who were recipients of the 
 state doles of corn. There were at least two hundred thousand male 
 beneficiaries of this public charity,^ which means that upwards of 
 
 Fig. 168. M^CENAS. (From a 
 medallion) 
 
 1 For brief notices of the works of these writers, see sects. 559, 562. 
 
 2 The number had risen as high as 320,000, but both Julius Caesar and Augustus 
 purged the lists of unworthy claimants. 
 
448 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE [§499 
 
 half a million people in the capital were unable or unwilling to earn 
 independently their daily bread. The purchase of immense quantities 
 of com needed for these free distributions was one of the heaviest 
 drains upon the imperial treasury. 
 
 Another striking feature of life at Rome at this time was the 
 growing infatuation of the people for the bloody spectacles of the 
 amphitheater. The emperor himself gives the following account of 
 the spectacles that he presented : " Three times in my own name, 
 and five times in that of my sons or grandsons, I have given gladia- 
 torial exhibitions ; in these exhibitions about ten thousand men have 
 fought. . . . Twenty-six times in my own name, or in that of my 
 sons or grandsons, I have given hunts of African wild beasts in 
 the circus, the forum, the amphitheatres, and about thirty-five hundred 
 beasts have been killed. 
 
 " I gave the people the spectacle of a naval battle beyond the 
 Tiber, where now is the grove of the Caesars. For this purpose 
 an excavation was made eighteen hundred feet long and twelve 
 hundred wide. In this contest thirty beaked ships, triremes or 
 biremes, were engaged, besides more of smaller size. About three 
 thousand men fought in these vessels in addition to the rowers." ^ 
 
 Still another phase of social life at Rome which arrests our 
 attention was the loosening of the family ties. Divorces had multi- 
 plied, and the family seemed about to be dissolved, as had been the 
 larger groups of the tribe and the gens. Augustus strove to arrest 
 this downward tendency by edicts and laws in encouragement of 
 marriage and in restraint of divorces. But the trouble was too 
 deep-seated in the failing moral and religious life of the times to 
 be reached and remedied by any measures 'of state. 
 
 499. The Religious Life. The decay of religious faith had been 
 going on for a long time. Augustus did all in his power to arrest 
 the process. He restored the temples and shrines that had fallen 
 into decay, renewed the ancient sacrifices, and erected new temples, 
 not only at Rome but in every part of the Empire. The unauthorized 
 
 1 MonummtumA,tcyramm,Q}n-a.^%. xxii, xxiii ; edited by William Fairlcy, Ph. D., Trans- 
 lations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, published by the 
 Department of History of the University of Pennsylvaflia. See Selections, p. 451. 
 
§500] DEATH AND DEIFICATION' OF AUGUSTUS 449 
 
 foreign cults, particularly those from the Onent, which had been intro- 
 duced at the capital, he drove out, and strove to awaken in the people 
 a fresh veneration for the ancestral deities of Rome. 
 
 The Greek Apollo, however, was excepted from the list of pro- 
 scribed alien gods. In honor of this great deity, who Augustus 
 believed had secured him the victory at Actium, the emperor erected 
 a splendid temple at Rome, and caused to be transported from Egypt 
 and set up in the capital an immense obelisk, the emblem in Egyptian 
 theology of the sun-god. 
 
 500. The Death and Deification of Augustus. In the year 14 a. d. 
 Augustus died, having reached the seventy-sixth year of his age. His 
 last words to the friends gathered about his bedside were, " If I have 
 acted well my part in life's drama, greet my departure with your 
 applause." By decree of the Senate, divine worship was accorded 
 to him and temples were erected in his honor. 
 
 The cult of Augustus had developed, particularly in the Orient, 
 while he was yet living. At first flush this worship of Caesar seems 
 to us strange and impious. But it will not seem so if we put our- 
 selves at the point of view of the ancients. In the Orient the king 
 had very generally been looked upon as in a sense divine. Thus in 
 Egypt the Pharaoh, as we have seen, waslbelieved to be of the very 
 race of the gods (sect. 31). It was natural, then, that the subjects 
 of Rome in the Eastern provinces should look upon the head of the 
 Empire as one lifted above ordinary mortals and possessed of divine 
 qualities. This way of thinking caused the provincials of the Orient 
 to become sincere and zealous worshipers in the temples and before 
 the altars of the " divine Caesar." 
 
 From the East the cult spread to the West, and became a favorite 
 worship of the masses everywhere. Its establishment had far-reaching 
 consequences, as we shall see ; since at the very time that the polythe- 
 istic religion of the Grseco-Roman world was taking on this form, 
 there was springing up in a remote corner of the Empire a new 
 religion with which this imperial cult must necessarily come into 
 violent conflict. 
 
 For it was in the midst of the happy reign of Augustus, when pro- 
 found peace prevailed throughout the civilized world, — the doors of 
 
4SO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE [§500 
 
 the Temple of Janus having been closed (sect. 390), — that Christ was 
 born in Bethlehem of Judea. The event was unheralded at Rome; 
 yet it was, as we have intimated, filled with profound significance not 
 only for the Roman Empire but for the world. Of the relation of 
 Christianity to paganism, and particularly to the new cult of the 
 Roman emperor, we shall speak later (sect. 512). 
 
 TAET.E SHOWING THE NUMBER OF ROMAN CITIZENS AT DIFFERENT 
 PERIODS OF THE REPUBLIC AND THE EMPIRE 1 
 
 Citizens of 
 Military Age 
 
 Under the later kings (Mommsen's estimate) . . . 20,000 
 
 338 B.C. . . . . . ■ . 165,0002 
 
 293 B.C. . . . . . • • ,• ... 262,322 
 
 251 B.C. . . . . 279,797 
 
 220 B.C. . . . . ..... 270,213 
 
 204 B. C . . . . . . 214,000^ 
 
 164 B.C . . . 327,022 
 
 115 B.C ... . . . 394.336 
 
 70 B.C. ... . . 900,000 
 
 27 E.C . . . . . 4,063,000* 
 
 8 B.C ... . 4,233,000 
 
 13 A. D ... 4,937,000 
 
 47 A. D. (under Claudius) 6,944,000 
 
 1 These figures embody what is perhaps the most important matter in Roman history, 
 namely, the gradual admission of aliens to the full rights of the city until every freeman 
 in the civilized world had become a citizen of Rome. This movement we have endeav- 
 ored to trace in the text. Consult particularly sects. 415-417, 465, 466, 487, 503, 516. 
 
 2 These figures do not include the inhabitants of the Latin colonies nor of the 
 allied states. 
 
 3 The falling off from the number of the preceding census of 220 B.C. was a result 
 of the Hannibalic War. 
 
 4 These figures and those of the enumerations for S B.C. and 13 a.d. are from the 
 Monumentum Aiicyranum. The increased number given by the census of 70 B.C. over 
 that of 115 B.C. registers the result of the admission to the city of the Italians at the 
 end of the Social War (sect. 466). The tremendous leap upwards of the figures between 
 70 and 27 B. c. is probably to be explained not wholly by the admission during this period 
 of aliens to the franchise but also, possibly, by the failure of the censors of the repub- 
 lican period to include in their enumerations the Roman citizens living in places remote 
 from the capital. It is the opinion of E. Meyer, however, that the census of 27 B.C. 
 included the whole Roman citizen population (men, women, and children) while the 
 republican census gave only the number of the male citizens above seventeen years 
 of age. 
 
REFERENCES 45 1 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Monnmentum Ancyranum (Res Gesta Divi 
 Augusii — " The Deeds of Augustus "), vol. v, No. 7, of the Translations 
 and Reprints from the Original Sources of F.uropean History, published by 
 the Department of History of the University of Pennsylvania. This forms 
 one of the most important of the original sources for the reign of Augustus. 
 It is a long bilingual inscription (Latin and Greek) discovered in 1595 on the 
 walls of a ruined temple at Ancyra (whence the name), in Asia Minor. The 
 inscription is a copy of a tablet which was set up in front of the mausoleum 
 of Augustus at Rome. Tacitus, Annals, i, 2 (how Augustus made himself 
 supreme at Rome). Munro, Source Book, pp. 143-148; Davis's Readings 
 (Rome), pp. 166-185. 
 
 References (Modern). Ferrero, The Greatness and Decline of Rome, vols, iv 
 (chaps, vii-xi), v. Inge, Society in Rome under the CcEsars, chap, i, " Religion " 
 (deals with the decay of Roman religion and the establishment at the capital • 
 of cjriental cults). Capes, The Early Empire, chap, i, "Augustus." Pelham, 
 Outlines of Roman History, bk. V, chap. iii. BuRY, The Rovian Empire 
 (Student's Series), pp. 1-163. Firth, Augustus Casar. Thierry, Tableau de 
 VEmpire Romain (teachers and mature students will find this work very sug- 
 gestive; the book might be entitled " Rome's Place in Universal History"). 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. In theory the government of the early 
 Empire was a dyarchy — a joint rule of the emperor and the Senate. How 
 real was the participation of the Senate in the government ? 2. The signifi- 
 cance of the defeat of Varus: Creasy, Decisive- Battles of the World, chap. v. 
 3. The life of the court under the early Empire : Friedlander, Roman Life 
 and Manners, vol. i, pp. •ja-^'j. 4. Means of communication : Friedlander, 
 Roman Life and Manners, vol. i, pp. 268-322 ; Davis, The Influence of Wealth 
 in Imperial Rome, pp. 80-105. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 FROM TIBERIUS TO THE ACCESSION OF DIOCLETIAN 
 
 (14-284 A.D.) 
 
 601. Principate of Tiberius (i4-37 A.D.). Tiberius, the adopted 
 •stepson of Augustus, became his successor. One of his first acts 
 was to take away from the popular assemblies the right which they 
 still nominally possessed of electing the yearly magistrates, and to 
 bestow the same upon the Senate, which, however, as a rule elected 
 candidates presented by the emperor. This meant practically the 
 end of the participation of the people in thfe government of the state. 
 
 During the first years of his reign Tiberius used his virtually 
 unrestrained authority with moderation, being seemingly desirous of 
 promoting the best interests of all classes in his vast empire ; and 
 even to the last his government of the provinces was just and benefi- 
 cent. The spirit in which he ruled the provincials is shown in his 
 reply to a governor of a province who urged him to increase the 
 tribute : " A good shepherd," he said, " should shear and not flay 
 his sheep." ^ 
 
 But unfortunately Tiberius was of a morose, suspicious, and jealous 
 nature, and the opposition which he experienced in the capital caused 
 him, in his contest with his political and personal enemies, soon to 
 institute there a most high-handed tyranny, which made the latter 
 part of his reign a tragedy.^ An old law, known as the Law of 
 Majestas, which made it a capital offense for any one to speak a 
 careless word, or even to entertain an unfriendly thought, respecting 
 the emperor, was oppressively enforced. Rewards were offered to 
 informers, and hence sprang up a class of persons called delators, 
 
 1 Suetonius, Tiberius, xxxii. 
 
 2 Eduard Meyer characterizes Tiberius as "the most pathetic figure in history." He 
 was misrepresented by Tacitus. 
 
 452 
 
§50r] PRINCIPATE OF TIBERIUS 453 
 
 who acted as spies upon society. Often false charges were made to 
 gratify personal enmity ; and many, especially of the wealthy class, 
 were accused and put to death that their property might be confiscated. 
 
 Tiberius appointed as his chief minister and as commander of the 
 praetorian guard ^ one Sejanus, a person of the lowest and most 
 corrupt life. Then he retired to Capreae, an islet in the Bay of 
 Naples, and left to this man the management of affairs at the capital. 
 For a time Sejanus ruled at Rome very much according to his own 
 will. He murdered some of the best citiiens, and caused possible 
 heirs to the throne to be put out of the way in order that Tiberius 
 might be constrained to name him as his successor. He even grew 
 so bold as to plan the assassination of the emperor himself. His 
 designs, however, became known to Tiberius, and the infamous and 
 disloyal minister was arrested and put to death. During the remainder 
 of his principate Tiberius ruled sternly, disdainfully indifferent to the 
 love of his subjects. " I care not that the people hate me," he is 
 represented as saying, " if they approve my deeds." 
 
 It was in the midst of the reign of Tiberius that, in a remote 
 province of the Roman Empire, the Saviour was crucified. Animated 
 by an unparalleled missionary spirit, his followers traversed the length 
 and breadth of the Empire, preaching everywhere the '" glad tidings." 
 Men's loss of faith in the gods of the old mythologies, the softening 
 and liberalizing influence of Greek culture, the unification of the whole 
 civilized world under a single government, the widespread suffering 
 and the inexpressible weariness of the oppressed and servile classes — 
 all these things had prepared the soil for the seed of the new doctrines. 
 In less than three centuries the Empire had become Christian not 
 only in name but also very largely in fact. This conversion of Rome, 
 of which we have here during the rule of Tiberius the beginning, is 
 one of the most important events in all history. A new element is 
 here introduced into civilization, an element which has given color 
 and character to much of the history of all the succeeding centuries. 
 
 ^ This was a corps of select soldiers which had been created by Augustus, and which 
 was designed for a sort of bodyguard to the emperor. *It numbered about ten thousand 
 men, and was given a permanent camp alongside the city walls and near one of the 
 gates. It soon became a formidable power in the state and made and unmade emperors 
 at will. 
 
454 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN [§502 
 
 502. Gaius Ceesar or Caligula (37-41 A.D.). Tiberius was followed 
 by Gaius Cffisar, better known as Caligula. Caligula's reign was, in 
 the main, a tissue of follies. After a few months spent in arduous 
 application to the affairs of the Empire, during which time his many 
 acts of kindness and piety won for him the affection of all classes, 
 the mind of the young emperor seemingly became disordered. He 
 soon gave himself up to a life of dissipation. The cruel sports 
 of the amphitheater possessed for him a strange fascination. He 
 even entered the lists himself and fought as a gladiator upon the 
 arena. After four years his insane career was brought to a close by 
 some of the officers of the praetorian guard whom he had wantonly 
 insulted. 
 
 503. The Rule of Claudius (41-54 A. D.). The successor of Caligula 
 was his uncle, Claudius,^ a man of strangely inconsistent moods and 
 acts. At times his acts were those of a „ sagacious statesman and 
 again those of an imbecile or an insane person. 
 
 His principate was made a landmark in the constitutional history 
 of Rome by the admission of the Gallic nobles to the Roman Senate 
 and the magistracies of the city. Tacitus has given us a paraphrase 
 of a speech which the emperor made before the Senate in answer to 
 the objections which were urged against such a course. The emperor 
 touched first upon the fact that his own most ancient ancestor, 
 although of Sabine origin, had been received into the city and made 
 a member of the patrician order. This liberal policy of the fathers 
 ought, he thought, to be followed by himself in his conduct of public 
 affairs. Men of special talent, wherever found, should be trans- 
 ferred to Rome. " Nor am I unmindful of the fact," he continued, 
 " that . . . from Etruria and Lucania and all Italy persons have been 
 received into the Roman Senate. Finally, the city was extended to 
 the Alps, so that not single individuals but entire provinces and tribes 
 were given the Roman name. Is it a matter of regret to us that 
 the Balbi came to us from Spain? that men not less distinguished 
 migrated to Rome from Gallia Narbonensis ? The descendants of 
 these immigrants remain among us, nor do they yield to us in their 
 
 ^ As in the case of Caligula, Claudius was proclaimed emperor by the insolent 
 prffitorians. The Senate was powerless to do otherwise than to ratify their action. 
 
§504] RULE OF NERO 455 
 
 devotion to the fatherland. What other cause was there of the down- 
 fall of Sparta and of Athens, states once powerful in arms, save this 
 — that they closed their gates against the conquered as aliens ? " ^ 
 The generous policy here advocated by Claudius was acted upon, at 
 least as to a part of the Gallic nobility, who were given admission to 
 the Roman Senate. 
 
 The successors of Claudius in general followed his example. They 
 not only admitted foreigners to the Senate, but freely granted Latin 
 and Roman rights to provincials. This liberal policy was justified by 
 its fruit. The provinces gave to Rome several of her best emperors. 
 Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius were of Spanish origin, and 
 Antoninus Pius was of Gallic descent.^ 
 
 In the field of military enterprise the principate of Claudius was 
 especially signalized by the/'conquest of Britain. Nearly a century 
 had now passed since the invasion of the: island by Julius Caesar. 
 Claudius, through his generals Plautius and Vespasian, subjugated 
 the southern part of the island and made it into a Roman province 
 under the name of Britannia (43 a.d.). Many towns soon sprang up 
 here, which in time became important centers of Roman trade and 
 culture, and some of which were the beginnings of great English 
 towns of to-day. 
 
 The rule of Claudius was further distinguished by the construction 
 of many important works of a utilitarian character. The Claudian 
 Aqueduct, which the emperor completed, was a stupendous work, 
 bringing water to the city from a distance of forty-five miles. 
 
 Throughout his life Claudius was ruled by intriguing favorites 
 and unworthy wives. For his fourth wife he married the "wicked 
 Agrippina," who secured his death by means of a dish of poisoned 
 mushrooms, in order to make place for the succession of her son 
 Nero, then only sixteen years of age. 
 
 504. Rule of Nero (54-68 a.d.). Nero was fortunate in having for 
 his preceptor the great philospher and moralist Seneca (sect. 563); 
 but never was teacher more unfortunate in his pupil. For five years 
 
 1 Tacitus, Annals^ xi, 23. Compare these sentiments of Claudius with those of Titus 
 Manilas (sect. 417). Ct. also sect. 240, 
 
 2 See F. R. Abbott, Roman Political Institutions (jgoi), p. 309. 
 
4S6 
 
 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN 
 
 [§504 
 
 Nero, under the influence of Seneca and Burrhus, the latter the com- 
 mander of the pra2torians, ruled with moderation and equity; then 
 gradually breaking away from the guidance of his tutor Seneca, he 
 entered upon a career filled with crimes of almost incredible enormity. 
 It was in the tenth year of his reign (64 a.d.) that the so-called 
 Great Fire laid more than half of Rome in ashes. For six days and 
 nights the flames surged like a sea through the valleys and about 
 the base of the hills covered by the city. It was rumored that Nero 
 _ had ordered the conflagration to be 
 
 lighted in order to clear the ground 
 so that he could rebuild the city on a 
 more magnificent plan, and that from 
 the roof of his palace he had enjoyed 
 the spectacle and amused himself by 
 singing a poem of his own composi- 
 tion entitled the Sack of Troy. To 
 turn attention from himself, Nero ac- 
 cused the Christians of having con- 
 spired to burn the city in order to 
 help out their prophecies. The doc- 
 trine which was taught by some of 
 the new sect respecting the second 
 coming of Christ and the destruction 
 of the world by fire lent color to the 
 charge. The persecution that followed was one of the most cruel 
 recorded in the history of the Church. Many victims were covered 
 with pitch and burned at night to serve as torches in the imperial 
 gardens. Tradition preserves the names of the apostles Peter and 
 Paul as victims of this persecution. 
 
 The emperor was extravagant, and consequently always in need 
 of money, which he secured through murders and confiscations. 
 Among his victims was his old preceptor Seneca, who was im- 
 mensely rich. On the charge of treason, he condemned him to 
 death and confiscated his estate. At last the Senate declared him 
 a public enemy and condemned him to death by scourging, to avoid 
 which, aided by a servant, he took his own life. 
 
 Fig. 169. Vespasian. (Museum 
 at Naples) 
 
§ SOS] 
 
 GALEA, OTHO, AND VITELLIUS 
 
 457 
 
 505. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius (68-69 A.D.). These three names 
 are usually grouped together, as their reigns were all short and 
 
 uneventful. The succession, upon the 
 death of Nero and the extinction in him 
 of the Julian-Claudian line, was in dis- 
 pute, and the legions in different quarters 
 supported the claims of their favorite 
 leaders. One after another the three 
 aspirants named were killed in bloody 
 struggles for the imperial purple. The 
 last, Vitellius, was hurled from the throne 
 by the soldiers of Vespasian, the old and 
 beloved commander of the legions in 
 Palestine, which were at this time engaged in war with the Jews. 
 
 506. Vespasian (69-79 A. d.). The accession of Flavins Vespasian 
 marks the beginning of a period, embracing three reigns, known as 
 the Flavian Age (69-96 a.d.). One of th& most memorable events 
 of Vespasian's reign was the capture and destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 FiG.;i7o. "JuD^A Capta" 
 (Coin of Vespasian) 
 
 Fig. 171. Triumphal Procession from the Arch of Titus. (From a 
 
 photograph) 
 Showing the seven-branched candlestick and other trophigs from the temple at Jerusalem 
 
458 
 
 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN 
 
 [§ 507 
 
 After one of the most harassing sieges recorded in history, the city 
 was taken by Titus, son of Vespasian. A vast multitude of Jews 
 who had crowded into the city — it was the period of the Pass- 
 over— perished. In imitation of Nebuchadnezzar, Titus robbed the 
 temple of its sacred utensils and bore them away as trophies. Upon 
 the triumphal arch at Rome that bears his name may be seen at 
 the present day the sculptured representation of the seven-branched 
 golden candlestick, which was one of the memorials of the war. 
 
 Fig. 172. A Street in Pompeii. (From a photograph) 
 
 After a most prosperous reign of ten years Vespasian died, 79 a.d., 
 the first emperor after Augustus who had not met with a violent death. 
 
 507. Titus (79-81 A.D.). In a short reign of two years Titus won 
 the title of "the Friend and the Delight of Mankind." He was 
 unwearied in acts of benevolence and in the bestowal of favors. 
 Having let a day slip by without some act of kindness performed, 
 he is said to have exclaimed reproachfullyj " I have lost a day." 
 
 Titus completed and dedicated the great Flavian amphitheater be- 
 gun by his father, Vespasian. This vast structure,, which seated over 
 forty thousand^ spectators, is better known as the Colosseum — a 
 
 1 The old estimate of So,oao is now regarded as an exaggeration. 
 
i508] 
 
 DOMITIAN 
 
 459 
 
 name given it either because of its gigantic proportions, or on ac- 
 count of a colossal statue of Nero which happened to stand near it. 
 The reign of Titus, though so short, was signalized by two great 
 disasters. The first was a conflagration at Rome, which was almost 
 as calamitous as the Great Fire in the reign of Nero. The second- 
 was the destruction, by an eruption of Vesuvius, of the Campanian 
 cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The cjties were buried beneath 
 showers of cinders, ashes, and streams of volcanic mud. Pliny the 
 
 Fig. 173. House of the Vetti at Pompeii. (From a photograph) 
 
 Elder, the great naturalist, venturing through curiosity too near the 
 mountain to investigate the phenomenon, lost his life."^ 
 
 508. Domitian (81-96 A.D.). Titus was followed by his brother 
 Domitian, whose rule, after the first few years of admirable govern- 
 ment, became a merciless tyranny. During the reign, however, 
 transactions of interest and importance w£re taking place on the 
 northern frontier lines. In Britain the able commander Agricola, 
 
 ^ During the past century extensive excavations have uncovered a large part of 
 Pompeii and revealed to us the streets, homes, theaters, baths, shops, temples, and 
 various monuments of the ancient city — presenting to us a vivid picture of Roman life 
 during the imperial period eighteen hundred years ago. 
 
460 
 
 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN 
 
 [§508 
 
 the father-in law of the historian Tacitus, subjected or crowded back 
 the warlilie tribes until he had extended the frontiers of the Empire 
 
 far into what is now Scot- 
 land. Then, as a protection 
 against the incursions of the 
 Caledonians, the ancestors 
 of the Scottish Highlanders, 
 he constructed a line of for- 
 tresses from the Frith of 
 Fo'rth to the Frith of Clyde. 
 Behind this shelter Roman 
 civilization now began to 
 develop rapidly in the new- 
 formed province. 
 
 Under this emperor took 
 place what is known in 
 Church history as "the 
 second persecution of the 
 Christians," who incurred 
 Domitian's special hatred 
 through refusal to bum in- 
 cense before his statues. 
 The name of the emperor's 
 niece Domitilla has been 
 preserved as one of the 
 victims of this persecution. 
 This is significant, since it 
 shows that the new faith was 
 thus early finding adherents 
 among the higher classes, 
 even in the royal family itself. 
 ^Domitian was killed in his 
 palace by members of his 
 
 Fig. 174. Trajan. (From a statue in the 
 
 museum at Naples) 
 " All the imperial portraits of this age, as pre- 
 served on coins and sculptures, are perfectly 
 authentic, and the likenesses are consistent. In 
 the British Museum the reader may see the 
 features of these great C^sars as faithfully 
 reproduced as those of British statesmen in the 
 National Portrait Gallery." — Fowler 
 
 own household. The Senate 
 ordered his infamous name to be erased from the public monuments 
 and to be blotted from the records of the Roman state. 
 
iS09] 
 
 THE FIVE GOOD EMPERORS 
 
 461 
 
 509. The Five Good Emperors; Rule of Nerva (96-'98 A.D.). The 
 
 five emperors — Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines — 
 who succeeded Domitian were elected by the Senate, which during 
 this period assumed something of its former influence in the affairs 
 of the Empire. The wise and beneficent administration of the gov- 
 ernment by these rulers, under whom the theory of a joint control 
 by Princeps and Senate became something of a reality, won for 
 them the distinction of being called '" the five good emperors." This 
 period probably marks the high tide of civilization in ancient times. 
 
 Fig. 175. Bridge over the Danube, Built by Trajan. (From a relief on 
 Trajan's- Column) 
 
 Nerva, who was an aged senator and an ex-consul, ruled paternally. 
 He died after a short reign of sixteen months, and the scepter passed 
 into the stronger hands of the able commander Trajan, whom Nerva 
 had previously made his associate in the government. 
 
 510. Trajan (98-H7 A.D.). Trajan was a native of Spain and a 
 soldier by profession and talent. He was the first provincial to sit 
 in the seat of the Csesars. From this time forward provincials were 
 to play a part of ever-increasing importance in the affairs of the 
 Empire. It was the policy of Augustus — a policy adopted by most 
 of his successors — to make the Danube in Europe and the Euphrates 
 in Asia the limits of the Roman Empire in those respective quarters. 
 But Trajan determined to push the frontiers of his dominions beyond 
 
462 
 
 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN 
 
 [§510 
 
 both these rivers. In the early part of his reign he was busied in 
 wars against the Dacians, a people dwelling north of the Lower 
 
 Danube. These troublesome enemies 
 were subjugated, and Dacia was made 
 into a province. The modem name 
 Rumania is a monument of this Roman 
 conquest and colonization beyond the 
 Danube. The Rumanians to-day speak 
 a language that in its main elements is 
 largely of Latin origin.^ 
 
 As a memorial of his achievements 
 the emperor erected, in what came to 
 be known as Trajan's Forum, a splen- 
 did marble shaft called Trajan's Column. 
 To-day, after eighteen centuries, the 
 great pillar is in almost perfect pres- 
 ervation. It is one hundred and forty- 
 seven feet high, and is wound from 
 base to summit with a spiral band of 
 sculptures containing more than twenty- 
 five hundred human figures. Its pic- 
 tured sides are the best and almost 
 the only record we now possess of 
 the Dacian wars of the emperor. 
 
 In the latter years of his reign (114- 
 116 A. D.) Trajan led his legions to the 
 East, crossed the Euphrates, reduced 
 Armenia, anti wrested from the Par- 
 
 thians most of the lands which had 
 Fig. 176. Trajan's Column , , , , r , . 
 
 (From a photograph) °"'^<^ ^°™ed the heart of the Assyrian 
 
 "A chiselled picture-book of the monarchy. Out of the territories thus 
 Dacian War, to which almost conquered Trajan made three new 
 
 everywhere we lack the text." — 
 Mommsen 
 
 1 The Romanic-speaking peoples of Rumania 
 and the neighboring regions number about ten millions. It seems probable that dur- 
 ing media:val times there was a large immigration into the present Rumania of Latin- 
 speaking people from the districts south of the Danube. 
 
THE I10:MAX E3IPTEE 
 
 AT ITS GIli:ATESr KXTENT 
 (Under Trajan, A. D. 98-117) 
 
 9 100 ^nn nfio jno ^oo r,oo "()0 
 
10 10 
 
§ 511] HADRIAN 463 
 
 provinces, which bore the ancient names of Armenia, Mesopotamia, 
 and Assyria. Another province which he created in these remote 
 regions was known as Arabia Petrsea,''- which included the ancient 
 Bible land of Edom with its celebrated capital Petra. 
 
 To Trajan belongs the distinction of having extended the boun- 
 daries of the Empire to the most distant points to which Roman 
 ambition and prowess were ever able to push them. 
 
 Respecting the rapid spread of Christianity at this time, the char- 
 acter of the early professors of the new faith, and the light in which 
 they were viewed by the rulers of the Roman world, we have very 
 important evidence in a certain letter written by Pliny the Younger 
 (sect. 563) to the emperor in regard to the .Christians of Pontus, in 
 Asia Minor, of which remote province Pliny was governor. Pliny 
 speaks of the new creed as a " contagious superstition that had seized 
 not cities only but the lesser towns also, and the open country." Yet 
 he could find no fault in the converts to the new doctrines. Notwith- 
 standing this, however, because the Christians steadily refused to 
 sacrifice to the Roman gods, he ordered many to be put to death 
 for their " inflexible obstinacy." 
 
 Trajan died 117 a. d. His principate, after that of Augustus, was 
 the most fortunate that had befallen the lot of the Roman people. 
 
 511. Hadrian (117-138 A.D.). Hadrian, a kinsman of Trajan, suc- 
 ceeded him in the imperial office. He possessed great ability and 
 displayed admirable moderation and good judgment in the adminis- 
 tration of the government. He prudently abandoned the territory 
 beyond the Euphrates that had been acquired by Trajan, and made 
 that stream once more the eastern boundary of the Empire. 
 
 1 The Roman province of Arabia Petraea corresponded roughly to the biblical Edom 
 and Moab. Petra (probably the Sela, " the Rock," of the Bible writers) was the strong- 
 hold and capital of the former region. Its ruins lie in a vast natural amphitheater in the 
 sterile mountains of Edom. The importance of the place was due to its control of sev- 
 eral of the great commercial routes of the ancient East. It was a city of note in Hellen- 
 istic times, and in the second and third centuries of our era enjoyed great prosperity 
 under the Romans. Many of the later rock-cut tombs (of Gra=co-Roman type) which 
 line the high cliffs inclosing the site of the city were, the tombs of Roman merchant 
 princes and military officers. The exquisite rock-cutting shown in Plate XIV (it probably 
 dates from the first century A.D.) is one of the best-preserved rock-hewn fa5ades to be 
 seen to-day in any of the lands included within the boundaries of the old Roman 
 Empire. 
 
464 
 
 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN 
 
 [§5I1 
 
 More than fifteen years of his reign were spent by Hadrian in 
 making tours of inspection through all the different provinces of the 
 Empire. He visited Britain, and secured the Roman possessions there 
 against the Picts and Scots by erecting a continuous wall, about 
 seventy miles in length, across the island from the Tyne to the 
 Solway Firth. This rampart was constructed some distance to the 
 south of the line of fortified stations that had been established by 
 Agricola (sect. 508). The Hadrian Wall, in places well preserved, 
 and broken at intervals by the ruins of old"watchtowers and stations, 
 
 Fig. 177. The Hadrian Wall. (From a photograph) 
 
 can still be traced over the low hills of the English moorlands almost 
 from sea to sea.^ There exists nowhere in the lands that once formed 
 the provinces of the empire of Rome any more impressive memorial 
 of her world-wide dominion than these ramparts, along which for 
 three hundred years and more her sentinels kept watch and ward 
 for civilization against the barbarian marauders of Caledonia. 
 
 On the Continent, in the upper regions of the Rhine and the 
 Danube, Hadrian likewise secured the frontier by constructing a pali- 
 sade and a chain of forts extending from one river to the other. 
 
 1 The best work on the rampart is J. C. Bruce's Ttie Roman Wall (London, 1851). 
 Handbook to the Roman Wall, by the same author, is an abridgment of his larger work. 
 One of the best-preserved sections of the wall can be easily reached from the Haltwhisde 
 station on the railroad between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Carlisle. The student traveler 
 m those parts should not fail to examine these interesting memorials of the Roman 
 occupation of Britain. 
 
§512] 
 
 THE ANTONINES 
 
 46s 
 
 After his visit to Britain Hadrian returned to Gaul, and then in- 
 spected in different tours all the remaining provinces of the Empire. 
 Many of the cities vi^hich he visited he adorned with temples, theaters, 
 and other buildings. Upon Athens, particularly, he lavished large 
 sums in art embellishments, reviving in a measure the fading glories 
 of the Periclean Age.^ 
 
 In the year 132 the Jews in 
 Palestine, who had in a measure 
 recovered from the blow Titus 
 had given their nation (sect. 
 506), broke out in desperate re- 
 volt, because of the planting of 
 a Roman colony upon the al- 
 most desolate site of Jerusalem, 
 and the placing of the statue of 
 Jupiter in the holy temple. 
 More than half a million Jews 
 are said to have perished in the 
 hopeless struggle, and the most 
 of the survivors were driven 
 into exile — the last dispersion 
 of the race (135 a.d.). 
 
 The latter years of his reign 
 Hadrian passed at Rome. It 
 was here that this princely 
 builder erected his most splen- 
 did structures. Among these 
 were a magnificent temple con- 
 secrated to the goddesses Venus 
 and Roma, and a vast mausoleum (now the castle of St. Angelo) 
 erected on the banks of the Tiber and designed as a tomb for himself. 
 
 512. The Antonines (i38-l80 A.D.). Aurejius Antoninus (surnamed 
 Pius), the adopted son of Hadrian, and his successor, gave the Roman 
 Empire an administration singularly pure and parental. Throughout 
 
 - - -^ 
 
 " 
 
 >Jr:"f^Cr'J\. 
 
 ^ >s 
 
 S2. fti'Sfc. '*£biA 
 
 1 3f 
 
 r^S il ^/Su- J^R 
 
 ■■^1 
 
 B^ferf^ JjRfwKJM 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 
 ^MBS^ajL 
 
 7^(* a^^S^ 
 
 ^l^ 
 
 g^jy^HK 
 
 'V 
 
 
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 f- 
 
 \ 
 
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 ' 
 
 ^'^i-'Z^^ 
 
 Fig. 178. Hadrian. (Capitoline 
 ^Museum, Rome) 
 
 All Roman portraits before the time of 
 Hadrian it will be noticed have the face 
 clean-shaven. Hadrian introduced the prac- 
 tice of weairing a beard. This now became 
 the mode, '-■ as is shown by the portraits 
 from this time forward 
 
 1 Besides erecting many new structures, he completed the great temple of Olympian 
 Zeus begun by the tyrant Pisistratus (see sect. 202). 
 
464 
 
 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN 
 
 [§511 
 
 More than fifteen years of his reign were spent by Hadrian in 
 malting tours of inspection through all the different provinces of the 
 Empire. He visited Britain, and secured the Roman possessions there 
 against the Picts and Scots by erecting a continuous wall, about 
 seventy miles in length, across the island from the Tyne to the 
 Solway Firth. This rampart was constructed some distance to the 
 south of the hne of fortified stations that had been established by 
 Agricola (sect. 508). The Hadrian Wall, in places well preserved, 
 and broken at intervals by the ruins of old watchtowers and stations, 
 
 Fig. 177. The Hadrian Wall. (From a photograph) 
 
 can still be traced over the low hills of the English moorlands almost 
 from sea to sea.^ There exists nowhere in the lands that once formed 
 the provinces of the empire of Rome any more impressive memorial 
 of her world-wide dominion than these ramparts, along which for 
 three hundred years and more her sentinels kept watch and ward 
 for civilization against the barbarian marauders of Caledonia. 
 
 On the Continent, in the upper regions of the Rhine and the 
 Danube, Hadrian likewise secured the frontier by constructing a pali- 
 sade and a chain of forts extending from one river to the other. 
 
 1 The best work on the rampart is J. C. Bruce's The Roman Wall (London, 1S51). 
 Handbook to the Roman Wall, by the same author, is an abridgment of his larger work. 
 One of the best-preserved sections of the wall can be easily reached from the Haltwhistle 
 station on the railroad between Newcastle-upon-Tyne ai^d Carlisle. The student traveler 
 in those parts should not fail to examine these interesting memorials of the Roman 
 occupation of Britain. 
 
§512] 
 
 THE ANTONINES 
 
 46 s 
 
 After his visit to Britain Hadrian returried to Gaul, and then in- 
 spected in different tours all the remaining provinces of the Empire. 
 Many of the cities which he visited he adorned with temples, theaters, 
 and other buildings. Upon Athens, particularly, he lavished large 
 sums in art embellishments, reviving in a measure the fading glories 
 of the Periclean Age.''^ 
 
 In the year 132 the Jews in 
 Palestine, who had in a measure 
 recovered from the blow Titus 
 had given their nation (sect. 
 506)' broke out in desperate re- 
 volt, because of the planting of 
 a Roman colony upon the al- 
 most desolate site of Jerusalem, 
 and the placing of the statue of 
 Jupiter in the holy temple. 
 More than half a million Jews 
 are said to have perished in the 
 hopeless struggle, and the most 
 of the survivors were driven 
 into exile — the last dispersion 
 of the race (135 a.d.). 
 
 The latter years of his reign 
 Hadrian passed at Rome. It 
 was here that this princely 
 builder erected Ms most splen- 
 did structures. Among these 
 were a magnificent temple con- 
 secrated to the goddesses Venus 
 and Roma, and a vast mausoleum (now the castle of St. Angelo) 
 erected on the banks of the Tiber and designed as a tomb for himself. 
 
 512. The Antonines (138-180 A.D.). Aurelius Antoninus (surnamed 
 Pius), the adopted son of Hadrian, and his successor, gave the Roman 
 Empire an administration singularly pure and parental. Throughout 
 
 1 Besides erecting many new structures, he completed the great temple of Olympian 
 Zeus begun by the tyrant Pisistratus (see sect. 202). 
 
 Fig. 178. Hadrian. (Capitoline 
 Museum, Rome) 
 
 All Roman portraits before the time of 
 Hadrian it will be noticed have the face 
 clean-shaven. Hadrian introduced the prac- 
 tice of wearing a beard. This now became 
 the mode, as is shown by the portraits 
 from this time forward 
 
466 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN [§512 
 
 his long reign of twenty-three years the Empire was in a state of 
 profound peace. The attention of the historian is attracted by no 
 striking events, which fact, as many have not failed to observe, illus- 
 trates admirably the oft-repeated epigram, " Happy is that people 
 whose annals are brief." 
 
 Antoninus, early in his reign, had united with himself in the gov- 
 ernment his adopted son Marcus Aurelius, and upon the death of 
 the former (i6i a.d.) the latter succeeded quietly to his place and 
 work. Aurelius' studious habits won for him the title of philosopher. 
 He belonged to the school of the Stoics, and was a most thoughtful 
 
 Fig. 179. Siege of a City. (From Trajan's Column) 
 
 writer. His Meditations breathe the tenderest sentiments of devotion 
 and benevolence, and make the nearest approach to the spirit of 
 Christianity of all the writings of pagan antiquity. He established an 
 institution or home for orphan girls, and, finding the poorer classes 
 throughout Italy burdened by their taxes and greatly in arrears in 
 paying them, he caused all the tax claims to be heaped in the Forum 
 and burned. 
 
 The tastes and sympathies of Aureliu? would have led him to 
 choose a life passed in retirement and study at the capital; but 
 hostile movements of the Parthians, and especially invasions of the 
 barbarians along the Rhenish and Danubian frontiers, called him from 
 his books and forced him to spend most 'of the latter years of his 
 reign in the camp. The Parthians, who had violated their treaty with 
 
Plate XIV. A Rock-hewn Facade at Petra, Akahia Petk/ea. (From 
 a photograph; see p. 463, n.) 
 
 Most of the numerous rock-cuttings at Petra are tombs, but several of the largest and 
 most elaborate, including the one here shown, were probably temples or public shrines. 
 
§512] THE ANTONINES 467 
 
 Rome, were chastised by the lieutenants of the emperor, and a part 
 of Mesopotamia again fell under Roman authority (165 a.d.). 
 
 This war drew after it a series of terrible calamities. The return- 
 ing soldiers brought with them the Asiatic plague, which swept off 
 vast numbers, especially in Italy, where entire cities and districts 
 were depopulated. The Empire never wholly recovered from the 
 effects of this pestilence. In the general distress and panic the super- 
 stitious people were led to believe that it was the new sect of Chris- 
 tians that had called down upon the natiqn the anger of the gods. 
 Aurelius permitted a fearful persecution to be instituted against 
 them, during which the celebrated Christian fathers, Justin Martyr 
 at Rome and the aged Polycarp at Smyrna, suffered death. 
 
 It should be noted that the persecution of the Christians under 
 the pagan emperors sprang from political and social rather than from 
 religious motives, and that is why we find the names of the best 
 emperors, as well as those of the worst, in the list of persecutors. It 
 was believed that the welfare of the state was bound up with the 
 careful performance of the rites of the national worship ; and hence, 
 while the Roman rulers were usually very tolerant, allowing all forms 
 of worship among their subjects, still they required that men of every 
 faith should at least recognize the Roman gods and burn incense be- 
 fore their statues, and particularly before the statue of the emperor 
 (sect. 500). This the Christians steadily refused to do. Their neglect 
 of the services of the temple, it was believed, angered the gods and 
 endangered the safety of the state, bringing upon it drought, pesti- 
 lencf , and every disaster. This was a main reason for their persecution 
 by the pagan emperors. 
 
 But pestilence and persecution were both forgotten amidst the 
 imperative calls for immediate help that now came from the North. 
 The barbarians were pushing in the Roman outposts and pouring 
 over the frontiers. A tribe known as the Marcomanni even crossed 
 the Alps and laid siege to Aquileia, " the g^te of Italy." Not since 
 the invasion of the Cimbri and Teutones (sect. 463) had the inhabit- 
 ants of any city of Italy seen the barbarians before their gates. To 
 the panic of the plague was added this new terror. Aurelius placed 
 himself at the head of his legions and hurried beyond the Alps. He 
 
468 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN [§513 
 
 checked the inroad of the barbarians, but could not subdue them, 
 so weakened was the Empire by the ravages of the pestilence and 
 so exhausted was the treasury from the heavy and constant drains 
 upon it. At last his weak body gave way beneath the hardships of 
 his numerous campaigns, and he died in his camp at Vindobona (now 
 Vienna) in the nineteenth year of his reign (i8o A.D.). 
 
 The united voice of Senate and people pronounced him a god, 
 and divine worship was accorded to his statue. Never was Monarchy 
 so justified of her children as in the lives and works of Antoninus 
 Pius and Marcus Aurelius. As MerivalCj in dwelling upon their 
 virtues, very justly remarks, " The blameless career of these illustrious 
 princes has furnished the best excuse for Caesarism in all after ages." 
 
 513. The State of the Provinces. The close of the auspicious era 
 of the Antonines invites us to cast a glance i over the Empire, in order 
 that we may note the condition of the population at large. As we 
 have already observed, the great revolution which brought in the 
 Empire was a revolution which redounded to the interests of the 
 provincials (sect. 495). Even under the worst emperors the adminis- 
 tration of affairs in the provinces was as a rule prudent, humane, and 
 just. It is probably true that, embracing in a single view all the 
 countries included in the Roman Empire, the second century of the 
 Christian era marks the happiest period in their history. Without 
 question there is no basis for a comparison, but only for a contrast, 
 between the condition of the countries of the Orient under the earlier 
 Roman emperors and the condition of the same lands to-day under 
 their arbitrary and rapacious Mohammedan rulers. "Wherever a 
 corner of the country," says Mommsen, speaking particularly of 
 Asia Minor, " neglected under the desolation of the fifteen hun- 
 dred years which separate us from that time, is opened up to in- 
 vestigation, there the first and most powerful feeling is that of 
 astonishment, one might almost say of shame, at the contrast of 
 the wretched and pitiful present with the happiness and splendor 
 of the past Roman age." ■* 
 
 The cities and towns of the Eastern countries, as well as hundreds 
 of similar communities in Spain, in Gaul^ in Britain, and in other 
 
 1 The Provinces of the Roman Empire (I8S7), vol. i, p. 384, 
 
§513] 
 
 THE STATE OF THE PROVINCES 
 
 469 
 
 lands of the West, were enjoying, under : the admirable municipal 
 system developed by the Romans, a measure of local self-government 
 probably equal to that enjoyed at the present time by the municipali- 
 ties of the most advanced of the countries of modern Europe. This 
 wise system had preserved or developed the sentiment of local patri- 
 otism and civic pride. The cities vied with one another in the erection 
 of theaters, amphitheaters, baths, temples, and triumphal arches, and 
 
 Fig. 180. Roman Aqueduct and Bridge, dating from the Early 
 Empire, near NfMES, France. (Present condition) 
 
 This is one of the finest and most impressive of the existing monuments of the old 
 Roman builders. The lower row of arches carries a modern roadway 
 
 in the construction of aqueducts, bridges, and other works of a utili- 
 tarian nature. In these undertakings they 'were aided not only by 
 liberal contributions made by the emperors from the imperial treasury 
 but by the generous gifts and bequests of individual citizens. Private 
 munificence of this character was as remarkable a feature of this age 
 as is the liberality of individuals at the present day in the endowment 
 of educational and charitable institutions. As the representative of 
 this form of ancient liberality, we have Atticus Herodes (about 104- 
 180 A.D.), a native of Athens. He was the Andrew Carnegie of his 
 time. With a truly royal munificence he built at his own expense at 
 
470 
 
 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN 
 
 [§S14 
 
 Athens a splendid marble stadium large enough to hold the entire 
 population of the city. To the city of Troas in Asia Minor he made 
 a gift equivalent to over a half million dollars to aid the inhabitants 
 in the construction of an aqueduct. 
 
 Scores of majestic ruins scattered throughout the lands once form- 
 ing the provinces of the ancient empire of Rome bear impressive 
 testimony not only as to the populousness, culture, and enterprise 
 of the urban communities of the Roman dominions, but also as to 
 
 the generally wise, fostering, 
 and beneficent character of the 
 earlier imperial rule. 
 
 514. " The Barrack Em- 
 perors." Commodus, son of 
 Marcus Aurelius, was a most 
 unworthy successor of his illus- 
 trious father. His name, like 
 that of Nero, is infamous. 
 Through his crimes and de- 
 baucheries he brought the im- 
 perial office to its lowest estate. 
 For nearly a century after his 
 death (from 192 to 284 a. d.) 
 the emperors were elected by 
 the army, and hence the rulers 
 for this period have been called 
 the " Barrack Emperors." The 
 character of the period is revealed by the fact that of the twenty- 
 five emperors who mounted the throne during this time all except 
 four came to death by violence. To internal disorders was added the 
 terror of barbarian invasions. On every side savage hordes were 
 breaking into the Empire to rob, to murder, and to burn. 
 
 515. The Public Sale of the Empire (193 A.D.). The beginning of 
 these troublous times was marked by a shameful proceeding on the 
 part of the praetorians. These soldiers, having slain the successor of 
 Commodus, gave out notice that they would sell the Empire to the 
 highest bidder. It was accordingly set up for sale at their camp and 
 
 Fig. 181. Commodus Represented as 
 
 THE Roman Hekcules. (From bust 
 
 found in the Horti Lamiani, Rome) 
 
§516] 
 
 CARACALLA 
 
 471 
 
 struck oif to Didius Julianus, a wealthy senator, who promised twenty- 
 five thousand sesterces to each of the twelve thousand soldiers at this 
 time composing the guard. So the price pi the Empire was three 
 hundred million sesterces (about twelve million dollars). 
 
 As soon as the news of the disgraceful transaction reached the 
 legions on the frontiers, they rose in indignant revolt. Each army 
 proclaimed its favorite commander emperor. The leader of the 
 Danubian troops was Septimius Severus, a man of great energy and 
 force of character. He knew that there were other competitors for 
 the throne and that 
 the prize would be 
 his who first seized 
 it. Instantly he 
 set his veterans in 
 motion and was 
 soon at Rome. 
 The praetorians 
 were no match for 
 the trained legion- 
 aries of the fron- 
 tiers, and did not 
 even attempt to 
 defend their em- 
 peror, who was 
 taken prisoner and 
 put to death after a reign of sixty-five days. As a punishment for 
 the insult they had offered to the Roman state the unworthy praeto- 
 rians were disbanded and banished from the capital, and a new body- 
 guard of fifty thousand legionaries was organized to take their place. 
 
 516. Caracalla (211-217 A.D.). Severus, after a prosperous reign, 
 died in Britain, leaving the Empire to his two sons, Caracalla and 
 Geta. Caracalla murdered his brother and then ordered Papinian, 
 the celebrated jurist, to make a public argument in vindication of 
 the fratricide. When that great lawyer refused, saying that " it was 
 easier to commit such a crime than to justify it," he put him to death. 
 Driven by remorse and fear, he fied from the capital and wandered 
 
 Fig. 182. Caracalla. (Museum at Naples) 
 
4/2 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN [§517 
 
 about the provinces. Finally, after a reigfi of six years marked by 
 many deeds of incredible wickedness, the monster was slain in Asia. 
 
 Caracalla's sole political act of real importance was the bestowal 
 of citizenship upon all the free inhabitants of the Empire ; and this 
 he did, not to give them a just privilege, =but that he might collect 
 from them certain special taxes which only Roman citizens had to 
 pay. Before the reign of Caracalla it was only particular classes of 
 the provincials, or the inhabitants of some particular city or province, 
 that, as a mark of special favor, had from time to time been admitted 
 to the rights of citizenship. But by this wholesale act of Caracalla 
 the entire free population of the Empire that did not already possess 
 the rights of the city was made Roman, at least in name and nominal 
 privilege. That vast work of making the whole world Roman, the 
 beginnings of which we saw in the dawn of Roman history (sect. 378), 
 was now completed.' " Rome was the world, and the world was 
 Rome." 
 
 517. The Age of the Thirty Tyrants (2S1-268 a.d.). For about a 
 generation after Caracalla the imperial scepter passed rapidly from 
 the hands of one emperor to those of another. Then came the 
 so-called Age of the Thirty Tyrants. The throne being held by 
 weak emperors, there sprang up in every part of the Empire com- 
 petitors for it — several rivals frequently appearing in the field at 
 the same time. The barbarians pressed upon all the frontiers and 
 thrust themselves into all the provinces.^ The Empire seemed on 
 the point of falling to pieces.' But a fortunate succession of five good 
 emperors — Claudius, Aurelian, Tacitus, Probus, and Carus (268- 
 284 A.D.) — restored for a time the ancient boundaries and again 
 
 1 It must not be supposed, however, that the edict of Caracalla did much more than 
 register an already accomplished fact. It seems probable that by this time the greater 
 part of the freemen of the Empire were already enjoying the Roman franchise. 
 
 2 The Parthians were a menace in the East, the Franlcs crossed the Rhine and harried 
 Gaul ; the Goths, crossing the Danube, raided Mossia, Thrace, and Macedonia, while 
 their fleets from the Euxine ravaged the seaboards Si Asia Minor ; Athens, Corinth, 
 and other cities of "continental Greece were sacked. 
 
 3 It was during this period that the Emperor Valerian (253-260 A. D.), in a battle with 
 the Persians before Edessa, in Mesopotamia, was defeated and taken prisoner by Sapor, 
 the Persian king. A large rock tablet (Fig. 183), still to be seen near the Persian town of 
 Shiraz, commemorates the triumph of Sapor over the unfortunate emperor. 
 
§517] THE AGE OF THE THIRTY TYRANTS 
 
 473 
 
 forced together into some sort of union the fragments of the shat- 
 tered state.^ But the Empire bore the marks of the long anarchy. 
 Large districts were almost depopulated, and the land was lying 
 waste. Industry and commerce had been brought almost to a standstill. 
 The most noted of the usurpers of authority in the provinces 
 during the period of anarchy was Zenobia, the ruler of the celebrated 
 city of Palmyra in the Syrian desert. Boldly assuming the title Queen 
 of the East, she bade defiance to Rome. Aurelian marched against 
 
 Fig. 183. Triumph of Sapor over Valerian. (See p. 472, n. 3) 
 
 her, and defeating her armies in the open field, drove them within 
 the walls of Palmyra. After a long siege the city was taken, and, 
 in punishment for a second uprising, given to the flames,^ 
 
 The ruins of Palmyra are among the most interesting remains of 
 Greek and Roman civilization in the East. ' For a long time even the 
 
 1 During the reign of Aurelian the Alemanni made an incursion into Italy and threat- 
 ened Rome. After their expulsion the emperor, in order to insure the safety of the cap- 
 ital in case of future inroads of the barbarians, began the erection of a new wall around 
 the city, which had now greatly outgrown the old Servian defenses (sect. 395.) This 
 wall, which was completed by Probus, was over twelve miles in extent. 
 
 2 Zenobia was carried a captive to Rome. After having been led in golden chains 
 in the triumphal procession of Aurelian, the queen was given a beautiful villa in the 
 vicinity of Tibur, where, surrounded by her children, she passed the remainder of her 
 checkered life. 
 
474 FROM TIBERIUS TO DIOCLETIAN [§517 
 
 site of the city was lost to the civilized world. The Bedouins, how- 
 ever, knew the spot, and told strange stories of a ruined city witli 
 splendid temples and long colonnades far away in the Syrian desert. 
 Their accounts awakened an interest in the wonderful city, and 
 towards the close of the seventeenth century some explorers reached 
 the spot. The sketches they brought back of the ruins of the long- 
 lost city produced almost as much astonishment as did the discoveries 
 at a later time of Botta and Layard at Nineveh (sect. 68). 
 
 Selections from the Sources. TAcri'US, Annals, i, 74 (the "Informer "at 
 Rome), and his Life of Agricola. The Early Christian Persecutions (Transla- 
 tions and Reprints, University of Pennsylvania, vol. iv, No. i) (read Pliny's 
 letter to Trajan and Trajan's reply). Marcus Aurelws, Meditations. Munro, 
 Source Book, pp. 148-174, 217-234; Davis's Readi7igs (Rome), pj). 186-290. 
 
 References (Modern). Gibbon, chap, ii, " Of the Union and Internal Pros- 
 perity of the Roman Empire in the Age of the Antonines." Mommsen, The 
 Provinces of the Roman Empire from CcEsar to Diocletian, Pelham, Oittlines of 
 Roman History, pp. 470-548. DiLL, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aun- 
 lius (a notable book). Farrar, Seeliers after God. Davis, The Influence of 
 Wealth in Imperial Rome. TuCTCER, Life in the Roman }Vo7-ld of Nero and 
 St. Paul. Merivale, History of the Romans under the Empire (for general ref- 
 erence). Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire before A.D. lyo, chap, x, 
 " Pliny's Report and Trajan's Rescript " ; chap, xi, " The Action of Nero 
 towards the Christians " ; chap, xv, " Causes afld Extent of Persecutions." 
 BoissiER, Rome and Pompeii, chap, vi, " Pompeii."' Wa'i'Son, Marcus Aurelius 
 Antoninus, chap, vii, " The Attitude of Aurelius towards Christianity." Capes, 
 The Age of the Antonines and The Early Empire (in this latter work read 
 chap, xii, " The Position of the Emperor," and jchap. xix, " The Revival of 
 Religious Sentiment"). Hardy, Christianity and the Roman Government (i 
 valuable study of the relations of the Christians to the imperial government 
 during the first two centuries of the Empire). 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, j.. Pompeii and what we have learned of Roman 
 life from its remains : Mau, Pompeii: its Life and AH. 2. Letters, books, and 
 libraries : Johnston, The Private Life of the Romans, pp. 287-298. 3. An elec- 
 tion campaign in Pompeii: Abbott, Society and Politics in Ancient Rome, 
 pp. 3-21. 4. The Hadrian Wall in Britain: Bruce, The Roman Wall. 5. The 
 spread of Christianity in the first two centuries : Eriedliinder, Roman Life and 
 Majiners, vol. iii, chap, ii, pp. 186-214. 6- The Catacombs: Lanciani, Pagan 
 and Christian Rome, chap. vii. 7. Zenobia, "Queen of the East": Wright, 
 An Account of Palmyra and Zenobia. 
 
II. The Absolute Monarchy 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 THE REIGNS OF DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE 
 THE GREAT 
 
 I. THE REIGN OF DIOCLETIAN (284-305 A. D.) 
 
 518. General Statement. The accession of Diocletian marks an 
 important era in the history of the Roman Empire. The two matters 
 of chief importance connected with his reign are the changes he 
 effected in the government and his persecution of the Christians. 
 
 Diocletian's governmental reforms, though radical, were salutary, 
 and infused such fresh vitality into the frame of the dying state as 
 to give it a new lease of life for a term of nearly two hundred years. 
 
 519. The Empire becomes an Undisguised Oriental Monarchy. 
 Up to the time we have now reached, the really monarchical charac- 
 ter of the government was more or less Carefully concealed under 
 the forms and names of the old Republic. Realizing that republican 
 government among the Romans had passed away forever, and that 
 its forms were now absolutely meaningless, Diocletian cast aside all 
 the masks with which Augustus had concealed his practically un- 
 limited power and which fear or policy had led his successors, with 
 greater or less consistency, to retain, and let the government stand 
 forth naked in the true character of what it had now become — an 
 absolute Asiatic monarchy. In contrasting the policy of Augustus 
 with that of Diocletian, Gibbon truly says : " It was the aim of the 
 one to diguise, and the object of the other to display, the unbounded 
 powers which the emperors possessed over the Roman world." 
 
 The change was marked by Diocletian's "assumption of the titles 
 of Asiatic royalty and his adoption of the court ceremonials and 
 etiquette of the East. He took the title of lord, in Latin dominus, 
 
 475 
 
476 DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE [§520 
 
 whence this period of the absolute monarchy is sometimes called 
 The Dominate. He clothed himself in magnificent robes of silk and 
 gold. All who approached him, whether of 'low or of high rank, were 
 required to prostrate themselves to the ground, a form of oriental and 
 servile adoration which the free races of the West had hitherto, with 
 manly disdain, refused to render to their mp.gistrates and rulers. 
 
 The imperial household also now assumed a distinctively oriental 
 character. Ostentation and extravagance marked all the appointments 
 of the palace. Its apartments were crowded with retinues of servants 
 and oflScers of every rank, and the person of the emperor was hedged 
 around with all the " pomp and majesty of oriental monarchy.'' 
 
 The incoming of the absolute monarchy .meant, of course, the last 
 blow to local municipal freedom. The little Uberty that still survived 
 in the cities or municipalities of the Empire was virtually swept 
 away. There was no place under the new government for any 
 degree of genuine local independence and self-direction. Italy was 
 now also reduced to a level in servitude with the provinces and was 
 taxed and ruled like the other parts of the Empire. 
 
 520. Changes in the Administrative System. The century of 
 anarchy which preceded the accession of Diocletian, and the death 
 by assassination during this period of ten of the twenty-five wearers 
 of the imperial purple,^ had made manifest the need of a system 
 which would discourage assassination and provide a regular mode of 
 succession to the throne. Diocletian devised a system the aim of 
 which was to compass both these ends. 'First, he chose as a col- 
 league a companion ruler, Maximian, who, like himself, bore the title 
 of Augustus. Then each of the co-emperors associated with himself 
 an assistant, who took the title of Cassar and was considered the son 
 and heir of the emperor. There were thus two Augusti and two 
 Csesars. 'Milan, in Italy, became the capital and residence of 
 Maximian ; while Nicomedia, in Asia Minor, became the seat of the 
 court of Diocletian. The Augusti took charge of the countries near 
 their respective capitals, while the Caesars — Galerius and Constantius 
 — younger and more active, were assigned the government of the 
 
 1 This enumeration does not include the so-called- Thirty Tyrants, of whom many 
 met death by violence, 
 
§521] GROWTH OF A CASTE SYSTEM 477 
 
 more distant and turbulent provinces. The vigorous administration 
 of the government in every quarter of the Empire was thus secured. 
 
 Diocletian also subdivided many of the, provinces.^ His purpose 
 in doing this was to diminish the power of the provincial governors 
 and thus make it imoossible for them to raise successfully the 
 standard of revolt. 
 
 To give still further security to the throne, Diocletian divided the 
 civil and military powers, appointing two different sets of persons in 
 each of the larger and smaller divisions of the state, the one set to 
 represent the civil and the other the military authority. 
 
 Under the new regime the Senate was deprived of all share in 
 imperial matters, and became merely a local body concerned only 
 with the affairs of the city of Rome. 
 
 A most serious drawback to this system was the heavy expense 
 involved in the maintenance of four courts with their endless retinues 
 of officers and dependents, and the great number of officials needed 
 to man and work the complicated system. It was complained that 
 the number of those who received the revenues of the state was 
 greater than that of those who contributed to them. The burden 
 of taxation grew unendurable. Husbandry in some regions ceased, 
 and great numbers were reduced to beggary or driven into brig- 
 andage. The curiales or members of the local senates were made 
 responsible for the payment of the taxes due the governmenti from 
 their respective communities, and hence office-holding became not an 
 honor to be coveted but a burden to be evaded. It was this vicious 
 system of taxation which more than any other one cause con- 
 tributed to the depopulation, impoverishment, and final downfall 
 of the Empire. 
 
 521. Growth of a Caste System. To escape from the intolerable 
 burdens many of the peasant farmers fled ,to the desert and became 
 monks ; others escaped across the frontiers and sought freedom 
 among the barbarians. The well-to-do tried in every way to evade 
 
 1 He increased the number from fifty-seven to ninety'six. His successor Constantine 
 raised the number to one hundred sixteen. The provinces were gathered into larger 
 divisions, called dioceses, which were apportioned among four great divisions of the 
 Empire caSied prefectures. The prefectures were probably created by Constantine. 
 
478 DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE [§522 
 
 the burden of taxation and of office. To meet the situation the 
 government adopted the policy of tying every one liable to taxation 
 to his post or profession. The member of a municipal curia or senate 
 was bound to his office and could not leave the city without permis- 
 sion ; the colonus '■ or peasant farmer was attached to the land he 
 worked and thus made a serf; the artisan was bound to his trade, 
 the merchant to his business. Moreover, all offices, trades, and pro- 
 fessions were, in so far as it was possible, made hereditary, children 
 being forced to follow the occupation of their father.^ Every one 
 was to remain in the station in which he was born : the son of a 
 member of a local senate must take his father's place ; the son of 
 a peasant must stay on the farm ; the son of a soldier must be a 
 soldier, and so on through all trades and occupations. Classes thus 
 tended to become rigid hereditary castes. Personal liberty disappeared. 
 
 522. The Imperial Court. Perhaps we cannot better indicate the 
 new relation to the Empire into which the head of the Roman state 
 was brought by the innovations of Diocletian and his successor than 
 by saying that the Empire now became the private estate of the 
 sovereign and was managed just as any great Roman proprietor 
 managed his domain. The imperial household and the entire civil 
 service of the government were simply such a proprietor's domestic 
 establishment drawn on a large scale and given an oriental cast 
 through the influence of the courts of Asia. 
 
 This imperial court or establishment was, next after the body of the 
 Roman law and the municipal system, the most important historical 
 product that the old Roman world transmitted to the later nations 
 of Europe. It became the model of the court of Charlemagne and 
 
 1 The colon! (cultivators of the soil) were originally free peasants who tilled for a rent 
 paid in money or in kind the imperial domains or the estates of great private landowners. 
 By the third century of the Empire many of them, through debt and other causes, had 
 sunk into a scmiservile condition and had become virtually attached to the soil they 
 tilled. This status was now, for the imperial reasons mentioned in the text, made the 
 legal status of the class. We have here the beginnings of mediseval serfdom (see 
 sect. 574). 
 
 2 This transformation of the society of the Empire was in process before the reign 
 of Diocletian. The trade guilds that supplied necessaries of life had already, in order 
 to bring them more completely under the imperial control, been transformed into 
 hereditary castes. 
 
§523] 
 
 PERSECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS 
 
 479 
 
 of the courts of the later emperors of the so-called Holy Roman 
 Empire ; and in the form that it reappeared here was copied by all 
 the sovereigns of modern Europe. 
 
 523. Persecution of the Christians. Towards the end of his reign 
 Diocletian inaugurated against the Christians a persecution which 
 continued long after his abdication, and which was the severest, as it 
 was the last, waged against the Church by the pagan emperors. 
 The Christians were cast into dungeons, thrown to the wild beasts in 
 the amphitheater, and put to death by every other mode of torture 
 that ingenious cruelty could devise. But nothing could shake their 
 constancy. They courted the death that se- 
 cured them, as they believed, immediate en- 
 trance upon a life of unending happiness. 
 
 It was during this and the various other 
 persecutions that vexed the Church in the 
 second and third centuries that the Christians 
 sometimes sought refuge in the Catacombs, 
 those vast subterranean galleries and cham- 
 bers under the city of Rome. Here 'they 
 buried their dead, and on the walls of the 
 chambers sketched rude symbols of their 
 hope and faith. It was in the darkness of these subterranean 
 abodes that Christian art had its beginnings. 
 
 524. The Abdication of Diocletian. After a reign of twenty years, 
 becoming weary of the cares of state, Diocletian abdicated the 
 throne and forced or induced his colleague Maximian also to lay 
 down his authority on the same day. 6alerius and Constantius 
 were, by this act, advanced to the purple and made Augusti; and 
 two new associates were appointed as Caesars. 
 
 Diocletian then retired to his country seat at Salona, on the 
 eastern shore of the Adriatic, and there devoted himself to rural 
 pursuits. It is related that, when Maximiah wrote him urging him 
 to endeavor with him to regain the power they had laid aside, he 
 replied, "Were you but to come to Salona and see the cabbages 
 which I raise in my garden with my own hands, you would no longer 
 talk to me of empire." 
 
 Fig. 184. Christ as 
 
 THE Good Shepherd 
 
 (From the Catacombs) 
 
48o DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE [§525 
 
 II. REIGN OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT (306-337 A. D.) 
 
 525. The Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312 A.D.); "In this Sign 
 Conquer." Galerius and Constantius, who became Augusti on the 
 abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, had reigned together only 
 one year when Constantius died at York, in Britain. His soldiers, 
 disregarding the rule of succession as determined by the system 
 of Diocletian, proclaimed his son Constantine emperor. Six com- 
 petitors for the throne arose in different quarters. For eighteen 
 years Constantine fought to gain the supremacy. 
 
 One of the most important of the battles that took 
 r-^^. place between the contending rivals for the imperial 
 purple was the battle of the Milvian Bridge, about 
 two miles from Rome, in Wjhich Maxentius, who was 
 holding Italy and Africa, was defeated by Constan- 
 tine. Constantine's standard on this celebrated battle- 
 field was the Christian cross. He had been led to 
 adopt this emblem through the appearance, as once 
 
 he prayed to -the sun-god, of a cross over the setting 
 Fig. 185. The ^ .^, ,, . . ° ' .^ „ ^ ,, . . ^ 
 
 Labarum ^^"' ^ mscription upon it, In this sign con- 
 
 quer."^ Obedient unto the celestial vision, Constan- 
 tine had at once made the cross his banner,^ and it was beneath this 
 new emblem that his soldiers marched to victory at the battle of the 
 Milvian Bridge. 
 
 Whatever may have been the circumstances or the motives which 
 led Constantine to make the cross his standard, this act of his con- 
 stitutes a turning point in the history of the Christian Church. 
 Christianity had come into the world as a religion of peace and good 
 will. The Master had commanded his disciples to put up the sword. 
 For two centuries and more, obedience to this command by a large 
 body of his followers had been so impUcit tliat a Quaker, nonmilitary 
 spirit had throughout this period characterized the new sect. Some of 
 
 1 /i! hoc sigm vince ; in Greek, iv roiirv vIko., 
 
 2 The new standard was called the Labarum (from the Celtic lavar, meaning " com- 
 mand "). It consisted of a banner inscribed with the Greek letters XP, the first being a 
 symbol of the cross, and the two forming a monogram of the word Chnst, since the 
 letters are the initials of the Greek XPISTOS (Christos). 
 
§526] CONSTANTINE'S EDICT OF TOLERATION 481 
 
 the early Church Fathers taught that the profession of arms was incom- 
 patible with a true Christian life. But after the victory for the Cross 
 at the Milvian Bridge a change passed over the Church. It leaned more 
 and more upon earthly power, and became militant. This infusion into 
 the Church of the military spirit of Rome was one of the most impor- 
 tant consequences of the story of the miraculous cross in the sky, and 
 of the espousal of the Christian cause by the emperor Constantine. 
 
 Fig. 186. Arch of Constantine at Rome, as it Appears To-day 
 
 Erected fay the Roman Senate in commemoration of Constantine's victory over Max- 
 entius at the Milvian Bridge 
 
 526. Constantine makes Christianity the Religion of the Court. 
 
 By a decree issued at Milan 313 a.d., the year after the battle at 
 the Milvian Bridge, Constantine placed Christianity on an equal 
 footing with the other religions of the Empire. The language of 
 this famous edict of toleration, the Magna Charta, as it has been 
 called, of the Church, was in import as follows: "We grant to 
 Christians and to all others full liberty of following that religion 
 which each may choose." " For the first time in history, the prin- 
 ciple of universal .toleration was [thus] officially laid down."^ 
 
 1 The Cambridge Medicevat History, vol. i, p. 5. An earlier edict of toleration by the 
 emperor Galerius gave the Christians freedom of worship, but did not recognize the 
 principle of universal toleration. 
 
482 DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE [§S27 
 
 But by subsequent edicts Constantine made Christianity in effect 
 the state religion and extended to it a patronage which he withheld 
 from the old pagan worship. By the year 321 a.d. he had granted 
 the Christian societies the right to receive gifts and legacies, and he 
 himself enriched the Church with donations of money and grants 
 of land. This marks the beginning of the great possessions of the 
 Church, and with these the entrance into it of a worldly spirit 
 From this moment can be traced the decay of its primitive sim- 
 plicity and a decline from its early high moral standard. It is these 
 deplorable results of the imperial patronage that Dante laments in 
 his well-known lines : 
 
 . Ah, Constantine ! of how much ill Was mother, 
 Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower 
 Which the first wealthy Father took from thee ! ' 
 
 Another of Constantine's acts touching the new religion is of 
 special historical interest and importance. He recognized the Chris- 
 tian Sunday as a day of rest, forbidding ordinary work on that day, 
 and ordering that Christian soldiers be then permitted to attend the 
 services of their Church. This recognitioii by the civil authority of 
 the Christian Sabbath meant much for the slave. Now, for the first 
 time in the history of the Indo-European peoples, the slave had one 
 day of rest in each week. It was a good augury of the happier 
 time coming when all the days should be his own. 
 
 587. The Church Council of Nicaea (325 a. D.), With the view of 
 harmonizing the different sects that had sprung up among the Chris- 
 tians, and to settle the controversy between the Arians and the 
 Athanasians^ respecting the nature of Christ, — the former denied 
 his equality with God the Father, — Constantine called the first 
 ecumenical or general council of the Church at Nicaea, a town of 
 Asia Minor, 325 a.d. Arianism was denounced, and a formula of 
 Christian faith adopted which is known as the Nicene Creed. 
 
 1 Inferno, xix, 115-117. 
 
 2 The Arians were the followers of Anus, a presbyter of Alexandria in Egypt; 
 the Athanasians, of Athanasius, archdeacon and latfr bishop of the same city, and 
 the champion of the orthodox or Catholic view of the Trinity. 
 
§528] CONSTANTINE FOUNDS CONSTANTINOPLE 483 
 
 528. Constantine Founds Constantinople, the New Rome, on the 
 Bosphorus (330 a.d.). After the recognition of Christianity, the most 
 important act of Constantine was the selection of Byzantium, on the 
 Bosphorus, as the new capital of the Empire. There were many and 
 weighty reasons urging Constantine to establish a new capital in 
 the East. 
 
 First, there were urgent military_xeasons ^or making the change. 
 The most dangerous enemies of the Empire now were the barbarians 
 behind the Danube and the kings of the recently restored Persian 
 monarchy. This condition of things rendered almost necessary the 
 establishment in the East of a new and permanent base for military 
 operations, and pointed to Byzantium, with its admirable strategic 
 position, as the site, above all others, adapted to the needs of the 
 imperiled Empire. 
 
 Second, there were also oommercial r easops for the transfer of 
 the capital. Through the Roman conquest of Greece and Asia, the 
 center of the population, wealth, and commerce of the Empire had 
 shifted eastward. Now, of all the cities in the East, Byzantium was 
 the one most favorably situated to become the commercial metropolis 
 of the enlarged state. 
 
 But far outweighing all other reasons for the removal to the East 
 of the chief seat of the government were the political motives. 
 Constantine, like Diocletian, wished to establish a system of gov- 
 ernment modeled upon the despotic monarchy of the Orient. Now, 
 the traditions, the feelings, the temper of the people of the West 
 constituted the very worst foundation conceivable for such a political 
 systemi Constantine wisely determined to seek in the submissive and 
 servile populations of the East, always accustomed to the rendering 
 of obsequious homage to their rulers, a firm base for the structure of 
 that absolute monarchy proclaimed by his predecessor Diocletian. 
 
 The location for the new capital having been decided upon, the 
 artistic and material resources of the whole Graeco-Roman world 
 were called into requisition to create upon the spot a city worthy 
 its predestined fortunes. The imperial invitation and the attractions 
 of the court induced multitudes to crowd into the new capital, so 
 that alrnost in a day the old Byzantium grew into a great city. In 
 
484 DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE [§S29 
 
 honor of the emperor the name was changed to Constantinople, 
 the " City of Constantine." The old Rorne on the Tiber, emptied 
 of its leading inhabitants, soon sank to the obscure position of a 
 provincial town.^ 
 
 529. Pagan Restoration under Julian the Apostate (361-363 a.d.). 
 A troubled period of nearly a quarter of a century followed the 
 death of Constantine the Great, and then the imperial scepter came 
 into the hands of Julian, called the Apostate because he abandoned 
 Christianity and labored to restore the pagan worship. In his earlier 
 years Julian had been carefully nurtured in the doctrines of the new 
 religion ; but later, in the schools of Athens and of other cities where 
 he pursued his studies, he came under the iiifluence of pagan teachers, 
 and his faith in Christian doctrines was undermined, while at the same 
 time he conceived a great admiration for the culture of ancient Hellas. 
 
 Julian, in his efforts to restore paganism, did not resort to the old 
 means of persuasion, — " the sword, the fire, the lions," — ■ for the 
 reason that, under the softening influences of the very faith Julian 
 sought to extirpate, the Roman world had already become imbued 
 with a gentleness and humanity that rendered morally impossible 
 the renewal of the Neronian and Diocletian persecutions. Julian's 
 chief weapon was the pen, for he was a writer and satirist of no 
 mean talent. 
 
 It was in vain that the apostate emperor labored to uproot the 
 new faith ; for the purity of its teachings, the universal and eternal 
 character of its moral precepts, had given it a name to live. Equally 
 in vain were his efforts to restore the worship of the old Greek and 
 Rornan divinities. Polytheism was a form of religious belief which 
 the world had now outgrown : great Pan was dead. 
 
 The disabilities under which Julian had placed the Christians were 
 removed by his successor Jovian (363-364 a.d.). In the army the 
 old pagan standards were replaced by the Labarum, and Christianity 
 was again made the religion of the imperial court. 
 
 1 It should be borne in mind that the old Rome had already been in a measure 
 deposed from its imperial position by Diocletian, and Milan made the residence of the 
 subordinate emperor. But Constantine, by the founding of the new capital in the East, 
 made the deposition poUtically and socially complete and final. 
 
REFERENCES 485 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Translations and Reprints, University of 
 Pennsylvania, vol. iv, No (read " Edicts of Diocletian " and " Edict of Tol- 
 eration by Galerius"). Munro's Source Book, pp. 174-176, 235, 236; Davis's 
 Readings (Rome), pp. 291-296. 
 
 Refeiences (Modern). Milman, The History of Christianity, vol. ii, bk. ii, 
 chap, ix, " The Persecution unde Diocletian." Gibbon, chap, xv, " The 
 Progress of the Christi Religion and the Sentiments, Numbers, and Con- 
 dition of the Primitive Christians " ; chap, xv (on the founding of Constanti- 
 nople and the form of the government). '&\ifCi,.Later Roman Empire, vol. i, 
 bk. i, chap. iv. Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, pp. 551-559. Uhlhokn, 
 Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism, bk. iii, chaps, i-iii. BoiSSIER, Rome 
 and Pompeii, chap, iii, " The Catacombs." Firth, Constantine the Great. 
 Stanley, Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church, lects. ii-v (for the 
 history of the Council of Nic^a, 325 B.C.) lect. vi (for events concerning 
 the Church during the reign of the emperor Constantine). Sf.eley, Roman 
 Imperialism, lect. iii, " The Later Empire." Lanciani, Pagan and Christian 
 Rome, chap. i. Newman, The Arians of the Fourth Centuiy, chap, iii, " The 
 Ecumenical Council of Nicsea." The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. i, 
 chaps, i-vii. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Motives underlying the Diocletian persecu- 
 tion bf the Christians : Mason, The Persecution of Diocletian, chap. iii. 2. The 
 Council of Nicasa : Carr, The Church and the Roman Empire, chap. v. 3. The 
 founding of Constantinople : Oman, The Byzantine Empire, pp. 13-30. 4. Julian 
 and the pagan restoration : Carr, The Church and the Roman Empire, chap, vii; 
 Gardner, fiilian the Philosopher, and the last Struggle of Paganism against 
 Christianity. 5. Efforts of Diocletian to fix prices of provisions and wares : 
 Abbott, The Common People of Ancient Rome, pp. 145-178. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE BREAK-UP OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST 
 
 (376-476 A.D.) 
 
 530. Introductory : the Germans and Christianity. The two most 
 vital elements in the GrEeco-Roman world of the fifth century were 
 the German barbarians and Christianity. They had, centuries before 
 this, as we have seen, come into certain relations to the Roman gov- 
 ernment and to Roman life ; but during the period lying immediately 
 before us they assumed an altogether new historical interest and 
 importance. 
 
 The two main matters, then, which will claim our attention during 
 the century yet remaining for our study will be (i) the struggle 
 between the dying Empire and the young German races of the 
 North ; and (2) the final triumph of Christianity, through the aid of 
 the temporal power, over expiring paganism. 
 
 531. The Goths Cross the Danube (376 A.D.). The year 376 of the 
 Christian era marks an event of the greatest importance in the East. 
 The Visigoths (Western Goths) dwelling north of the Lower Danube 
 appeared as suppliants in vast multitudes upon its banks. They said 
 that a terrible race, whom they were powerless to withstand, had in- 
 vaded their territories and spared neither their homes nor their lives. 
 They begged permission of the emperor Valens^ to cross the river 
 and settle in Thrace, and promised, should this request be granted, 
 ever to remain the grateful and firm allies of the Roman state. Their 
 petition was granted on condition that they surrender their arms and 
 give up th'eir children as hostages. 
 
 The enemy that had so terrified the Visigoths were the Huns, a 
 monstrous race of fierce nomadic horsemen from the vast steppes of 
 
 iValens (364-378 a.d.) was emperor of the East. Valentinian (364-375 a.d.), 
 emperor in the West, had just died, and been succeeded by Gratian (375-383 A. D.). 
 
 486 
 
§ 532] THE PROHIBITION OF THE PAGAN CULTS 487 
 
 Asia. Scarcely had the fugitives been received within the limits of 
 the Empire before a large company of their kinsmen, the Ostrogoths 
 (Eastern Goths), also driven from their homes by the same terrible 
 enemy, crowded to the banks of the Danube and pleaded that they 
 also might be allowed to place the river between themselves and their 
 drfeaded foe. But Valens, becoming alarmed at the presence of so 
 many barbarians within his dominions, refused their request, where- 
 upon they crossed the river with arms in the^ir hands. 
 
 Once within the Empire they, joined by their Visigothic kinsmen, 
 soon began to overrun and ravage the Danubian provinces. Valens 
 dispatched swift messengegrs to Gratian, epperor in the West, ask- 
 ing for assistance ; but without awaiting the arrival of the Western 
 legions he imprudently risked a battle with the barbarians near 
 Adrianople. The Roman army was almost annihilated and Valens 
 himself was killed (378 a.d.). 
 
 Gratian was hurrying to the help of his colleague Valens when 
 news of his death was brought to him. He at once appointed as his 
 associate Theodosius (379-395 a.d.), known afterwards as the Great, 
 and intrusted him with the government of the East. Theodosius 
 quickly reduced the Goths to submission. Great multitudes of them 
 were settled upon the waste lands of Thrace, while more than forty 
 thousand of these warlike barbarians, the destined subverters of the 
 Empire, were enlisted in the imperial legions. 
 
 332. The Prohibition of the Pagan Cults. Both Gratian and Theo- 
 dosius were zealous champions of the orthodox Church, and a large 
 portion of the edicts issued during their joint reign had for aim the 
 uprooting of heresy or the suppression of the pagan worship. (Speak- 
 ing generally, from the accession of Constantine down to the time 
 which we have now reached, the pagans had been allowed full lib- 
 erty of worship.) At first the pagans were merely placed under certain 
 disabilities, but finally it was made a crime for any one to practice 
 any pagan cult, or even to enter a temple. The sacred fire which 
 had burned so long on the national hearth in the temple of Vesta 
 (sect. 390) was extinguished. In the year 392 a.d. even the private 
 worship of the Lares and Penates was prohibited. The struggle 
 between Christianity and heathenism was now virtually ended — and 
 
488 THE BREAK-UP OF THE EMPIRE [§533 
 
 the "Galilean" had conquered. Pagan rites, however, especially in 
 the country districts, were practiced secretly long after this. 
 
 533. Emperor Theodosius the Great and Bishop Ambrose of Milan. 
 A memorable incident, illustrative of the influence of the new religion 
 that was now fast taking the place of paganism, marks the reign of 
 Theodosius the Great. In a sedition caused by the arrest and im- 
 prisonment of a favorite charioteer, the people of Thessalonica, in 
 Macedonia, had murdered the general and several officers of the 
 imperial garrison in that place. When intelligence of the event 
 reached Theodosius, who was at Milan, his hasty temper broke 
 through all restraint, and, moved by a spirit of savage vengeance, 
 he ordered an indiscriminate slaughter of the inhabitants of Thes- 
 salonica. The command was obeyed and at least seven thousand 
 persons perished. 
 
 Shortly after the massacre, the emperor, as he was entering the 
 door of the cathedral at Milan where he was wont to worship, was 
 met at the threshold by the pious Bishop Ambrose, who, in the name 
 of the God of justice and mercy, forbade him to enter the sacred 
 place until he had done public penance for his awful crime. The 
 commander of all the Roman legions was constrained to obey the 
 unarmed pastor. In penitential garb and attitude Theodosius made 
 public confession of his sin and humbly underwent the penance 
 imposed by the Church. 
 
 This passage of history is noteworthy as marking a stage in the 
 moral progress of humanity. It made manifest how with Christianity 
 a new moral force had entered the world, how a sort of new and 
 universal tribunician authority (see sect. 404) had arisen in society to 
 interpose, in the name of justice and hurrlanity, between the weak 
 and defenseless and their self-willed and arbitrary rulers. 
 
 534. Final Administrative Division of the Empire (395 A.D.). 
 Upon the death of Theodosius, in 395 a. D., the imperial government, 
 as he had prearranged, was divided between his two sons, Arcadius 
 and Honorius, Arcadius, who was only eighteen years of age, 
 received the government of the East, and Honorius, still a mere 
 child of eleven, the government of the West. This division was in 
 no way different from those that had been repeatedly made since the 
 
§535] THE EMPIRE IN THE EAST 489 
 
 time of Diocletian, and was not to affect the unity of the Empire. 
 But so different was the trend of events in the two halves of the old 
 Empire from this time on that the historians of Rome have generally 
 allowed this division of the imperial rule to constitute a dividing line 
 in the history of the Empire, and have begun here to trace separately 
 the story of each part. 
 
 535. The Empire in {he East.^ The story of the fortunes of the 
 Empire in the East need not detain us lon'g here. The line of East- 
 ern emperors lasted over a thousand years — until the capture of 
 Constantinople by the Turks, 1453 a.d. It will thus be seen that 
 the greater part of its history belongs to the mediaeval period. Up to 
 the time of the dissolution of the Empire in the West the emperors 
 of the East were engaged almost incessantly in suppressing uprisings 
 of their Gothic aUies or mercenaries, or in repelling invasions of 
 different barbarian tribes. 
 
 536. First Invasion of Italy by Alaric (402-403 a.d.). Only a few 
 years had elapsed after the death of the great Theodosius before the 
 barbarians were trooping in vast hordes through all parts of the 
 Empire. First, from Thrace and Mcesia came the Visigoths, led by 
 the great Alaric. They poured through the Pass of Thermopyte and 
 devastated almost the entire peninsula of Greece ; but being driven 
 from that country by Stilicho, the renowned Vandal general of 
 Honorius, they crossed the Julian Alps and spread terror through- 
 out Italy. Stilicho followed the barbarians cautiously, and, attacking 
 them at a favorable moment, inflicted upon them a memorable defeat 
 in northern Italy. The captured camp was found filled with the 
 spoils' of Thebes, Corinth, and Sparta. After an attempt to seize 
 Rome by a sudden dash, which was thwarted by the vigilant Stilicho, 
 Alaric withdrew from Italy through the defiles of the Alps. 
 
 537. Last Triumph at Rome (404 A.D,). A terrible danger had 
 been averted. All Italy burst forth in expressions of gratitude and 
 joy. The days of the Cimbri and Teutons were recalled, and the 
 name of Stilicho was coupled with that of Marius (sect. 463). 
 A magnificent triumph at Rome celebrated the victory. It was the 
 last triumph that Rome ever saw. Three hundred times — such is 
 
 1 For the proper use of this phrase " Empire in the East," see below, p. 561, n. i. 
 
490 THE BREAK-UP OF THE EMPIRE [§S38 
 
 asserted to be the number — the Imperij^ City had witnessed the 
 triumphal procession of her victorious generals, celebrating conquests 
 in all quarters of the world.'- 
 
 538. Last Gladiatorial Combat of the Amphitheater. The same 
 year that marks' the last military triumph at Rome signalizes also the 
 last gladiatorial combat in the Roman "amphitheater. It is to Chris- 
 tianity that the credit of the suppression of these inhuman exhibi- 
 tions is entirely, or almost entirely, due. The pagan philosophers 
 usually regarded them with indifference, often with favor. Thus 
 Pliny commends a friend for giving a gladiatorial entertainment at 
 the funeral of his wife. They were defended on the ground that 
 they fostered a martial spirit among the people and inured the 
 soldiers to the sights of the battlefield. Hence gladiatorial games 
 were sometimes actually exhibited to the legions before they set out 
 on their campaigns. 
 
 But the Christian Fathers denounced the combats as immoral, and 
 labored in every possible way to create a pubhc opinion against 
 them. At length, in 325 a.d., the first imperial edict against them 
 was issued by Constantine. From this time forward the exhibitions 
 were under something of a ban, until their final abolition was 
 brought about by an incident of the games that closed the triumph 
 of Honorius. In the midst of the exhibition a Christian monk 
 named Telemachus, leaping into the arena, .rushed between the com- 
 batants, but was instantly killed by a shower of missiles thrown by 
 the people, who were angered by his interruption of their sport. The 
 people, however, soon repented of their act ; and Honorius himself, 
 who was present, was moved by the scene. Christianity had lawak- 
 ened the conscience and touched the heart of Rome. The martyr- 
 dom of the monk led to an imperial edict " which aboUshed forever 
 the human sacrifices of the amphitheater." 
 
 539. The Ransom of Rome (409 A.D.). Shortly after the. victories 
 of Stihcho over the German barbarians,^ he came under the suspicion 
 of the weak and jealous Honorius, and was executed. Thus fell the 
 
 1 Soon after the Gothic invasion of the year 403, Italy was again invaded by a mixed 
 German host led by a chieftain named Radagaisus. At Florence the barbarians were 
 surrounded by the Roman army under Stilicho and fofced to surrender. 
 
§540] SACK OF ROME BY ALARIC 491 
 
 great general whose sword and counsel had twice saved Rome from 
 the barbarians, and who might again have averted similar dangers 
 already at hand ; for just now the thirty thousand Gothic mercenaries 
 in the Roman service were incited to revolt by the massacre, at the 
 hands of Italian mobs, of their wives and children, who were held 
 as hostages in the different cities of Italy. The Goths beyond the 
 Alps joined their kinsmen to avenge the atrqcious deed. Alaric again 
 crossed the mountains and led his hosts to the very gates of Rome. 
 Not since the time of the dread Hannibal (sect. 439) — more than 
 six hundred years before this — had Rome been insulted by the 
 presence of a foreign foe beneath her walls. 
 
 Famine soon forced the Romans to sue for terms of surrender. 
 The ambassadors of the Senate, when they came before Alaric, 
 began, in lofty language, to warn him not to render the Romans 
 desperate by hard or dishonorable terms : their fury when driven to 
 despair, they represented, was terrible, and their number enormous. 
 " The thicker the grass, the easier to mow it," was Alaric's derisive 
 reply. The barbarian chieftain at length named the ransom that he 
 would accept and spare the city. Small as it was, comparatively, the 
 Romans were able to raise it only by the most extraordinary meas- 
 ures. The images of the gods were first stripped of their ornaments 
 of gold and precious stones, and finally the statues themselves were 
 melted down. 
 
 540. Sack of Rome by Alaric (410 A.D.). Upon retiring from 
 Rome, Alaric established his camp in Etruria. The chieftain now 
 demanded for his followers lands of Honorius, who, with his court, 
 was safe behind the marshes of Ravenna ; but the emperor treated 
 all the proposals of the barbarian with foolish insolence. 
 
 Rome paid the penalty. Alaric turned upon the city, resolved 
 upon its plunder. The barbarians broke into the capital by night, 
 "and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound of 
 the Gothic trumpet." Just eight hundred years had passed since 
 its sack by the Gauls (sect. 413). Now it is given over for the 
 second time as a spoil to barbarians. Alaric commanded .his sol- 
 diers to spare the lives of the people, and to leave untouched the 
 treasures of the Christian churches ; but the wealth of the citizens 
 
492 THE BREAK-UP OF THE EMPIRE [§541 
 
 he permitted them to make- their own. It was a rich booty with 
 which they loaded their wagons, for within the palace of the Casars 
 and the homes of the wealthy were gathered the riches of a plun- 
 dered world. 
 
 541. Eifects of the Disaster upon PagaMsm. The overwhelming 
 disaster that had befallen the Imperial Gity produced a profound 
 impression upon both pagans and Christiaris throughout the Roman 
 Empire. The pagans maintained that these unutterable calami- 
 ties had overtaken the Roman people because of their abandon- 
 ment of the worship of the gods of " their forefathers, under 
 whose protection and favor Rome had become the mistress of 
 the world. 
 
 The Christians, on the other hand, saw in the fall of the city the 
 fulfillment of the prophecies of their Scriptures against the Babylon 
 of the Apocalypse. It was this interpretation of the appalling calam- 
 ity that gained credit amidst the panic and despair of the times. 
 " Henceforth," says the historian Merivale, " the power of paganism 
 was entirely broken, and the indications which occasionally meet us 
 of its continued existence are rare and trifling. Christianity stepped 
 into its deserted inheritance." 
 
 542. The Death of Alaric (410 A.D.). After withdrawing his war- 
 riors from Rome, Alaric led them southward. As they moved slowly 
 on, they piled still higher the wagons of their long trains with the 
 rich spoils of the cities and villas of Campania and other districts of 
 southern Italy. In the villas of the Roman nobles the barbarians 
 spread rare banquets from the stores of their well-filled cellars, and 
 drank from jeweled cups the famed Falernian wine. 
 
 Alaric's designs of conquest in Africa were frustrated by his death, 
 which occurred 410 a. D. Tradition tells how, with religious care, his 
 followers secured the body of their hero against molestation. The 
 little river Busentinus, in northern Bruttium, was turned from its 
 course with great labor, and in the bed of the stream was con- 
 structed a tomb, in which was placed the body of the king, with 
 his jewels and trophies. The river was then restored to its old 
 channel, and, that the exact spot might never be known, the pris- 
 oners who had been forced to do the work were all put to death. 
 
§ 543] THE DISINTEGRATION OF ;THE EMPIRE 493 
 
 543. The Disintegration of the Empire and the Beginnings of the 
 Barbarian Kingdoms (410-451 a.d.).'- We must now turn our eyes 
 from Rome and Italy in order to watch the movement of events in 
 the Western provinces of the Empire. During the forty years fol- 
 lowing the sack of Rome by Alaric, the German tribes seized the 
 greater part of these provinces and established in them what are 
 known as the barbarian kingdoms. 
 
 The Goths who had pillaged Rome and Italy, after the death of 
 their great chieftain Alaric, under the lead of his successors, recrossed 
 the Alps, and establishing their camps in the south of Gaul and the 
 north of Spain, set up finally in those regions what is known as the 
 Kingdom of the Visigoths or West Goths (sect. 577). 
 
 While the Goths were making these migrations and settlements, 
 a kindred but less civilized tribe, the Vandals, moving from their 
 seat in Pannonia, traversed Gaul, crossed the Pyrenees into Spain, 
 and there occupied for a time a large tract of countiy, which in its 
 present name of Andalusia preserves the memory of . its ' barbarian 
 settlers. Then they crossed the straits of Gibraltar, overthrew the 
 Roman authority in all North Africa, and made Carthage the seat 
 of a dreaded corsair empire (sect. 577). 
 
 About this same time the Burgundians established themselves in 
 southeastern Gaul. A portion of the region occupied by these settlers 
 still retains from them the name of Burgundy. 
 
 Meanwhile the Franks, who about a century before the sack of 
 Rome by Alaric had made their first settlement in Roman territory 
 west of the Rhine, were increasing in numbers and in authority, and 
 were laying the foundation of what after the fall of Rome was to 
 become known as the Kingdom of the Franks — the beginning of the 
 French nation of to-day (sect. 578). 
 
 But the most important of all the settlements of the barbarians 
 was being made in the remote province of Britain. In his efforts 
 to defend Italy against her barbarian invaders, Stilicho had with- 
 drawn the last legion from Britain, and had thus left unguarded the 
 Hadrian Wall in the north (sect. 511) and-Uhe long coast line facing 
 
 1 We choose these dates for the reason that they -set off the interval between two 
 great events — the sack of Rome by Alaric and the battle of ChJlons (sect. 544). 
 
494 THE BREAK-UP OF THE EMPIRE [§S44 
 
 the continent. The Picts of Caledonia, taking advantage of the 
 withdrawal of the guardians of the province, swarmed over the 
 unsentineled rampart and pillaged the fields and towns of the south. 
 The half-Romanized and effeminate provincials — no match for their 
 hardy kinsmen who had never bowed their necks to the yoke of 
 Rome — were driven to despair by the ravages of their relentless 
 enemies, and, in their helplessness, invited to their aid the Angles 
 and Saxons from the shores of the North Sea. These people came 
 
 Fig. 187. Germans Crossing the Rhine. (After a drawing by Alphonse 
 
 de Neuville) 
 
 in their rude boats, drove back the invaders, and, being pleased with 
 the soil and climate of the island, took possession of the country for 
 themselves and became the ancestors of the .English people. 
 
 544. Invasion of the Huns; Battle of Chalons (451 A.D.). The 
 barbarians who were thus overrunning and parceling out the inherit 
 ance of the dying Empire were now in tufn pressed upon and ter- 
 rified by a foe more hideous and dreadful in their eyes than they 
 themselves were in the eyes of the Roman provincials. These were 
 the Mongol Huns, from the region northwest of China, of whom ,we 
 have already caught a glimpse as they drove the papic-stricken Goths 
 
§545] ATTILA THREATENS ROME 495 
 
 across the Danube (sect. 531). At this time their leader was Attila, 
 whom the affrighted inhabitants of Europe called the " Scourge of 
 God." It was Attila's boast that the grass -never grew again where 
 once the hoof of his horse had trod. 
 
 Attila defeated the armies of the Eastern emperor and exacted 
 tribute from the court of Constantinople. Finally he turned west- 
 ward, and, at the head of a host numbering, it is asserted, seven 
 hundred thousand warriors, crossed the Rhine into Gaul, purposing 
 first to ravage that province and then to traverse Italy with fire and 
 sword, in order to destroy the last vestige of the Roman power. The 
 Romans and their German conquerors united to make common cause 
 against the common enemy. The Visigoths rallied about their king, 
 Theodoric ; the Italians, the Franks, and the Burgundians flocked to 
 the standard of the Roman general Aetius.-' Attila drew up his mighty 
 hosts upon the plain of Chilons, in the north of Gaul, and there 
 awaited the onset of the Romans and their allies. The conflict was 
 long and terrible, but at last fortune turned against the barbarians, 
 whose losses were enormous. Attila succeeded in escaping from the 
 field and retreated with his shattered hosts across the Rhine. 
 
 This great victory is placed among the significant events of history; 
 for it decided that the Indo-European folk, and not the Mongolian 
 Huns, should inherit the dominions of the expiring Roman Empire 
 and control the destinies of Europe. 
 
 545. Attila Threatens Rome; his Death (453 ? a. d.). The year 
 after his defeat at Chalons, Attila crossed the Alps and burned or 
 plundered all the important cities of northern Italy. The Veneti fled 
 for safety to the morasses at the head of the Adriatic (452 a.d.). 
 Upon the islets where they built their rude dwellings there grew up 
 in time the city of Venice, "the eldest daughter of the Roman 
 Empire," the "Carthage of the Middle Ages." 
 
 The barbarians threatened Rome; but Leo the Great, bishop of 
 the capital, went with an embassy to the camp of Attila and pleaded 
 for the city. He recalled to the mind of Attila how death had over- 
 taken the impious Alaric soon after he had given the Imperial City 
 
 1 Aetius has beSn called " the last of the Romans." For twenty years previous to this 
 time he had been the upholder of the imperial authority in Gaul. 
 
496 THE BREAK-UP OF THE EMPIRE [§546 
 
 as a spoil to his warriors, and warned him not to call down upon 
 himself the like judgment of Heaven. Attila was induced to spare 
 the city and to lead his warriors back beyond the Alps. Shortly after 
 he had crossed the Danube he died suddenly in his camp, and like 
 Alaric was buried secretly. 
 
 546. Sack of Rome by the Vandals (4S5A.D.). Rome had been 
 saved a visitation from the spoiler of the North, but a new destruction 
 was about to burst upon it by way of the sea from the South. Africa 
 sent out another enemy whose greed for plunder proved more fatal 
 to Rome than the eternal hate of Hannibal; The kings of the Vandal 
 empire in North Africa had acquired as perfect a supremacy in the 
 Western Mediterranean as Carthage ever enjoyed in the days of her 
 commercial pride. Vandal corsairs swept the seas and harassed all 
 the shore-lands. In the year 455 a Vandal fleet led by the dread 
 Geiseric sailed up the Tiber. 
 
 Panic seized the people, for the name Vandal was pronounced with 
 terror throughout the world. Again the great Leo, who had once 
 before saved his flock from the fury of Attila, went forth to intercede 
 in the name of Christ for the Imperial City. Geiseric granted to the 
 pious bishop the lives of the citizens, but said that the movable prop- 
 erty of the capital belonged to his warriors. For fourteen days and 
 nights the city was given over to the barbarians. The ships of the 
 Vandals, which almost hid with their number the waters of the Tiber, 
 were piled, as had been the wagons of the Goths before them, with 
 the rich and weighty spoils of the capital. Palaces were stripped of 
 their furniture, and the walls of the temples denuded of the trophies 
 of a hundred Roman victories.'' From the Capitoline sanctuary were, 
 borne off the golden candlestick and other sacred things that Titus 
 had stolen from the temple at Jerusalem ^ (sect. 506). 
 
 The greed of the barbarians was sated at last, and they were ready 
 to withdraw. The Vandal fleet sailed for Carthage, bearing, besides 
 
 1 It would seem that, in some instances at least, after the closing of the temples to 
 the pagan worship, many of the sacred things, such as war trophies, were left undis- 
 turbed in the edifices where they had been placed during pagan times. 
 
 2 " The golden candlestick reached the African capital, was recovered a century later, 
 and lodged in Constantinople by Justinian, and by him replaced, from superstitious 
 motives, in Jerusalem. From that time its history is lost." — Merivale 
 
§ 547] LAST OF THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPERORS 497 
 
 the plunder of the city, more than thirty thousand of the inhabitants 
 as slaves. Carthage, through her own barfcarian conquerors, was at 
 last avenged upon her hated rival. The mournful presentiment of 
 Scipio had fallen true (sect. 454). The cruel fate of Carthage might 
 have been read again in the pillaged city that the Vandals left 
 behind them. 
 
 547. Last Act in the Break-up of the Empire in the West (476 a.d.). 
 Only the shadow of the Empire in the West now remained. The 
 provinces of Gaul, Spain, and Africa were in the hands of the 
 Franks, the Goths, the Vandals, and varioiis other intruding tribes. 
 Italy, as well as Rome herself, had become again and again the spoil 
 of the barbarians. The story of the twenty years following the sack 
 of the capital by Geiseric affords only a repetition of the events we 
 have been narrating. During these years several puppet emperors 
 were set up by army leaders. The last was a child of only six years. 
 By what has been called a freak of fortune this boy-sovereign bore 
 the name of Romulus Augustus, thus uniting in the name of the last 
 Roman emperor of the West the names of the founder of Rome and 
 the establisher of the Empire. He became known as Augustulus, 
 the "little Augustus.'' He reigned only one year, when Odoacer, 
 the leader of a small German tribe, dethroned the child-emperor. 
 
 The Roman Senate now sent to Constantinople an embassy to 
 represent to the Eastern emperor Zeno that the West was willing 
 to give up its claims to an emperor of its own,^ and to request 
 that the German chief, with the title of patrician, might rule 
 Italy as his viceroy. With this rank and title Odoacer assumed 
 the government of the peninsula. Thus Italy, while remaining 
 nominally a part of the Empire, became in reality an independent 
 barbarian kingdom, like those which had already been set up 
 in the other countries of the West. The transaction marks not 
 only the end of the line of Western Roman emperors, but also 
 the virtual extinction of the Roman imperial rule in the western 
 provinces of the old Empire-^ the culmination of a century-long 
 process of dissolution. 
 
 1 There was an exiled emperor of the West, Julius Nepos, living at Salona. He was 
 ignored by Odoacer. 
 
498 THE BREAK-UP OF THE EMPIRE [§54« 
 
 548. Summary of the Causes of the Failure of the Empire. It has 
 
 been said that the Empire perished for lack of men. It is, in truth, 
 a well-attested fact that, particularly in the later period of the Empire, 
 there was a steady decline in the population. This resulted from many 
 causes, some of which had been at work from the time of the later 
 Republic. Prominent among these agencies were slavery (later, serf- 
 dom), an oppressive tax system, terrible pestilences, like that which 
 visited the Empire in the reign of Marcus^ Aurehus (sect. 512), and, 
 above all, the destruction of the flower of the Italian race in the 
 wars, civil and foreign, which make up so large a part of the his- 
 tory of Rome. 
 
 But a more potent cause of the weakness of the Empire than this 
 decline in the number of men was the general decline in public spirit 
 and in the intellectual and moral vigor of the Roman people. The 
 generally assigned causes of this moral decadence are many and 
 cannot be dwelt upon here. We must be content with simply em- 
 phasizing its deep significance for the political fortunes of the Empire. 
 It sapped the very foundations of the state and made certain the 
 final catastrophe. 
 
 Another cause of the decay of the Empire was the decay of that 
 free farmer class which was the strength of early Rome. This down- 
 ward movement of the rural population began in the republican 
 period. It was caused largely by the monopolization of the land by 
 a few persons. All the efforts of the statesmen of the later Republic, 
 all the devices of the emperors, to remedy this evil and to re-create 
 in Italy and in the provinces a body of freje peasant proprietors, had 
 effected very litde. In the third century after Christ, as in the second 
 century before, the great masses who turned the soil had not a clod 
 they could call their own. They had become serfs, that is, laborers 
 living in a semiservile condition on the estates of the great landowners 
 or on the imperial domains. There they had become merged with 
 the earlier slave class and had naturally sunk to the intellectual and 
 moral level of that class. The weakening effect upon the Empire of 
 this Virtual enslavement, and the resulting degradation of the once 
 free peasantry of Italy and of the Western provinces cannot be 
 overrated. 
 
§548] THE FAILURE OF THE EMPIRE 499 
 
 Contributing in like manner to the failure of the Empire was the 
 ruin and disappearance of the middle class of society. How the 
 growing needs of the imperial government led to the laying of ever- 
 heavier burdens upon this order, and how withering were the effects 
 of this policy, has already been explained (sect. 520). " It was to the 
 conversion of the curiales into an hereditary caste, loaded with incal- 
 culable liabilities, that the decay of the Western Empire was to a 
 large extent due." ^ 
 
 Another contributing cause of the fatal weakness of the imperial 
 government was the Germanization of the Empire. As early as the 
 second century a.d. the policy of permitting barbarians to setde in 
 the empty provinces was adopted by the emperors. Multitudes of 
 barbarian prisoners were settled as coloni or serfs on the waste land 
 along the frontiers. By the fifth century a considerable part of the 
 inhabitants of the Empire were Germans. Now these barbarian set- 
 tlers brought in an anti-Roman spirit, and especially a spirit of per- 
 sonal freedom, which was directly opposed to the absolutism of the 
 Roman imperial government. When their kinsmen came as invaders 
 and conquerors they welcomed them as deliverers. 
 
 At the same time that the civil population of the Empire was being 
 thus Germanized, the army was in like manner being transformed. 
 The growing dislike among the Italians of the military service brought 
 it about that the army was recruited more and more from among the 
 Germans beyond the frontiers. The ranks were filled with barbarians 
 or semibarbarians, and leaders among them dike Stilicho and Odoacer 
 gained as commanders the place once held by the Fabii and the 
 Scipios. This transformation of the army could have no other out- 
 come than what we have seen to be the issue of it all — the entrance 
 into the legions of an un-Roman spirit and the final seizure of the 
 reins of government by disaffected or ambitious leaders of the 
 mutinous soldiers. 
 
 Still another reason of the breakdown of -the Empire was the lack 
 of a rule of succession to the throne. The imperial crown never be- 
 came hereditary or regularly elective. Generally the successful 'aspir- 
 ant for the imperial dignity reached the throne through violent or 
 
 1 Dill, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurdlus (1904), p. 213. 
 
500 THE BREAK-UP .OF THE EMPIRE [§ 549 
 
 irregular means. The throne never became buttressed by what con- 
 stitutes the strength of a monarchical government — the sentiment of 
 loyalty to a legitimate dynasty. 
 
 Again, lack of unity in the Empire contributed largely to its weak- 
 ness and failure. Rome had reached out too far and embraced too 
 much. She could not absorb and assimilate the diverse races, creeds, 
 and civilizations included in her extended frontiers. She had, it is 
 true, Romanized the West, and a large part of it remains Roman 
 (Latin) to this day, but she could not Romanize the East. The result, 
 as we have seen, was the division of the Empire into an Eastern and 
 a Western section. This lack of unity appears again when we view 
 the local units of the Empire — the cities. The Empire was made 
 up of hundreds of cities, but there were no vital bonds uniting them. 
 There was city pride and spirit, but nothing, or almost nothing, cor- 
 responding to what is to-day called national patriotism. It was this 
 lack of public spirit, this lack of spiritual bonds binding the cities into 
 a unified state, that the historian Guizot maintains was the chief 
 cause of the dissolution of the Empire. With the first blows of the 
 barbarians it fell to pieces. 
 
 Lastly, in the growing strength of the German tribes outside the 
 Empire must be sought the immediate cause of the destruction of 
 the Roman authority in the West. Since the time of Julius Caesar 
 these tribes had formed powerful confederacies. By the Romans, 
 too, they had been taught the art of war. Thus Rome put into 
 the hands of the barbarians the weapons they were to use against 
 her. The part that these northern folk played in the tragedy of the 
 downfall of the imperial government in the West we have just now 
 witnessed. But in contemplating the tragedy we need to bear in mind 
 the adage that a thing cannot be crushed from without until ready 
 to perish from decay within. The Germans, as a great historian 
 (Eduard Meyer) has said, did not destroy Roman civilization ; it was 
 selfrdestroyed. 
 
 549. Import of the Downfall of the Roman Government in the 
 West. " The emancipation of Italy and the Western provinces from 
 direct imperial control, which was signalized by Odoacer's succes- 
 sion," writes an eminent historian of Rome, '" has rightly been 
 
§549] IMPORT OF THE REVOLUTION 501 
 
 regarded as marking the opening of a newl epoch." ^ We reach here 
 a turning point in the history of the Western world. 
 
 The revolution, one of the most momentous in the annals of the 
 European peoples, brought it about that the lamp of culture, which 
 since the second century of the Empire had burned with ever lessen- 
 ing light, was almost extinguished. It ushered in the so-called 
 " Dark Ages." During this period the new race was slowly attaining 
 the level of culture that the Greeks and Romans had reached. 
 
 But the revolution meant much besides disaster and loss. It meant 
 the enrichment of civilization through the incoming of a new and 
 splendidly endowed race. Within the Empire during several centuries 
 three of the most vital elements of civilization, the Greek, the Roman, 
 and the Christian, had been gradually blending. Now was added a 
 fourth factor, the Germanic. It is this elerhent which has had much 
 to do in making modem civilization richer and more progressive than 
 any preceding civilization. 
 
 The downfall of the Roman imperial government in the West was, 
 further, an event of immense significance in the political world, for 
 the reason that it rendered possible the growth in western Europe 
 of several nations or states in place of the single Empire. 
 
 Another consequence of the fall of the Roman power in the West 
 was the development of the Papacy. In the absence of an emperor 
 in the West the popes rapidly gained influence and power, and soon 
 built up an ecclesiastical empire that in some respects took the place 
 of the old Roman Empire and carried on its civilizing work. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Tacitus, Germania (the most valuable origi- 
 nal account that we possess of the life and manners of our German ancestors 
 about the first century of our era). Jordanes, Origin and Deeds of the Goths 
 (Mierow's trans.), xxxiv-xli (on Attila and the battle of Chalons). St. Augus- 
 tine, The City of God. Davis's Readings (Rome), pp. 297-325. 
 
 References (Modern). Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, vols, i, ii (on the 
 Visigothic, the Hunnish, and the Vandal invasion). Pelham, Outlines of 
 Roman History, pp. SS7-S72- Milman, The History of Christianity, vol. iii. 
 Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire (a book of un- 
 surpassed value). CuRTEis, History of the Roman Empire (from 395 to 800 a.d.), 
 chaps, vi-ix. Gibbon, chap, ix, " The State of Germany till the Invasion of 
 
 1 Pelham, Outlines of Roman History (1895), p. 572. 
 
S02 THE BREAK-UP OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 the Barbarians in the Time of the Emperor Dec'ius." Church, The Beginnings 
 of the Middle Ages ; read the introduction and chap. i. Kingsley, The Roman 
 and the Teuton, lects. i-iii. Creasy, Decisive Battles of the World, chap, vi, 
 " The Battle of Chalons, 451 A.D." Emerton, An IntrQduction to the Study of 
 the Middle Ages, chaps, ii, iii. (These chapters cover admirably the following 
 subjects : " The Two Races," " The Breaking of the Frontier by the Visi- 
 goths," and " The Invasion of the Huns.") The Cambridge Medieval History, 
 vol. i, chaps, viii-xiv, xix, xx. For the causes of the failure of the Empire in 
 the West, see the following : Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, vol. ii, 
 pp. 532-613; Seeley, Roman Imperialism, lect. ii, pp. 37-64; Bury, A 
 History of the Later Roman Empire, vol. i, chap, iii (Bury makes slavery, 
 oppressive taxation, the importation of barbarians, and Christianity the four 
 chief causes of the weakness and failure of the Empire). 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Alaric the Goth : Bradley, 7)5^ Go^y^j, chap, x, 
 pp. 84-98. 2. St. Jerome : Curr, The Church and the Roman Empire, chscp.yxv. 
 3. St. Augustine and his CityofGod; Carr, The Church and the Roman Emf ire, 
 chap, XV ; Cutts, Saint Augustine, chap, xx, pp. 184-194; Dill, Roman Society 
 in the Last Century of the Western Empire, pp. 59-73. 4. Causes of the down- 
 fall of the Empire in the West : Hodgkin, Seeley, and Bury, as cited above in 
 " References " ; Davis, The Influence of Wealth in Imperial Rome, chap. viii. 
 
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CHAPTER XDI 
 
 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW, AND SOCIAL LIFE 
 AMONG THE ROMANS 
 
 I. ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING 
 
 550. Rome's Contribution to Architecture. The architecture of the 
 Romans was, in the main, an imitation of Greek models. But the 
 Romans were not mere servile imitators. They not only modified 
 the architectural forms they borrowed but they gave their structures 
 a distinct character by the 
 prominent use of the arch, 
 which the Greek and orien- 
 tal builders seldom em- 
 ployed, though they were 
 acquainted with its prin- 
 ciple. By means of it 
 the Roman builders gave 
 a new artistic effect to 
 edifices, vaulted wide pas- 
 sages and chambers, car- 
 ried stupendous aqueducts 
 across the deepest valleys, 
 and spanned the broadest 
 streams with bridges that 
 have resisted all the as- 
 saults of time and flood 
 
 Fig. iS 
 
 . The Pantheon, at Rome 
 (Present condition) 
 
 for eighteen centuries and more down to the present day. These 
 applications of the principle of the arch were the great contribution 
 which the Roman architects made to the science and art of building. 
 651. Sacred Edifices. The temples of the Romans were in general 
 so like those of the Greeks that we need not here take space to enter 
 into a particular description of them. Mention, however, should be 
 
 5°3 
 
504 
 
§5S2] CIRCUSES, THEATERS, AMPHITHEATERS 505 
 
 made of their circular vaulted temples, as this was a style of building 
 almost exclusively Italian. The best representative of this style of 
 sacred edifices is the Pantheon, at Rome, which has come down to, 
 our own times in a state of wonderful preservation. This structure is 
 about one hundred and forty feet in diameter. The immense con- 
 crete dome which vaults the building is one of the boldest pieces of 
 masonry executed by the master builders of the world. 
 
 552. Circuses, Theaters, and Amphitheaters. The circuses of the 
 Romans were what we should call race courses. There were several 
 at Rome, the most celebrated being the Circus Maximus, which was 
 
 Fig. 190. The Circus Maximus. (A restoration) 
 
 first laid out in the time of the Tarquins and afterwards enlarged as 
 the population of the capital increased, until it was capable, it is said, 
 of holding two or three hundred thousand spectators. 
 
 The Romans borrowed the plan of their theaters from the Greeks ; 
 their amphitheaters, however, were original with them. The Flavian 
 amphitheater, generally designated as the Colosseum, to which refer- 
 ence has already been made, speaks to us perhaps more impressively 
 of the spirit of a past civilization than any other memorial of the 
 ancient world.* The ruins of this immense structure stand to-day as 
 " the embodiment of the power and splendor of the Roman Empire." 
 
 Many of the most important cities of Italy and of the provinces 
 were provided with amphitheaters similar in all essential respects to 
 the Colosseum at the capital only much inferior in size, save the 
 one at Capua, which was nearly as large as the Flavian structure. 
 
 1 See sect. 507, and Fig. 191, p. 506. 
 
5o6 ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING [§ 553 
 
 553. Military Roads. Foremost among the works of utility exe- 
 cuted by the Romans, and the most expressive of the practical genius 
 of the people, were their military roads. Radiating from the capital, 
 these roads lengthened with the growing Empire, until all the coun- 
 tries about the Mediterranean and beyond the Alps were united 
 to Rome and to one another by a perfect network of highways of 
 such excellent construction that even now, in their ruined state, 
 they excite the admiration and wonder of modem engineers.^ 
 
 Fig. 191. The Colosseum. (From a photograph) 
 " Monument of the glory of the Empire, and of its shame." — Dill 
 
 These military roads, with characteristic Roman energy and dis- 
 regard of obstacles, were carried forward, as nearly as possible, in 
 straight lines and on a level, mountains being pierced with tunnels, 
 and valleys crossed by means of massive viaducts. Near Naples 
 may be seen one of these old tunnels still in use. It is nearly half 
 
 1 Besides the Via Appia (sect. 418), which connected Rome with Campania and south- 
 eastern Italy, there were three other specially important roads issuing from Rome and 
 affording communication between the capital and northern Italy, These were the Via 
 Flaminia, which ran to Ariminum on the Adriatic ; the Via Aurelia, which ran up the 
 coast to Pisa ; and the Via Cassia, which traversed the midland districts. The plains of 
 the Po were fairly netted with roads. One of the most important of these was the Vw 
 Emilia, which continued the Via Flaminia to Placentia on the Po. 
 
§554] 
 
 AQUEDUCTS 
 
 so; 
 
 a mile in length, and is called the Grotto of Posilipo (see Fig. 153). 
 It leads the ancient Appian Way through a promontory that at this 
 point presents an obstacle to its course. 
 
 The usual width of. the roadway was from four to five yards. 
 The bed was formed of cement and broken rock, upon which was 
 sometimes laid, as in the case of the Via Appia, a solid pavement 
 of stone. In the great Forum at Rome 
 was a gilded post, from which distances 
 on all the roads of the peninsula were 
 measured. 
 
 554. Aqueducts. The aqueducts of an- 
 cient Rome were among the most impor- 
 tant of the utilitarian works of the Romans. 
 The water system of the capital was com- 
 menced about 3 13 B.C. by Appius Claudius, 
 who secured the building of an aqueduct 
 which led water into the city from the 
 Sabine hills. During the Republic four 
 aqueducts in all were completed ; under aA 
 the emperors the number was increased to 
 fourteen.^ The longest of these was about 
 fifty-five miles in length. The aqueducts 
 usually ran beneath the surface, but when 
 
 Fig. 192. A Roman Mile- 
 stone. (From a photograph) 
 
 a depression was to be crossed they were This milestone, which stands at 
 vr, 1 1 1-1 . ■ the modern Chesterholm near 
 
 litted on arches, which sometimes were 
 
 the line of the Hadrian Wall, 
 is the only one in Britain stand- 
 ing where it was placed by the 
 old Roman engineers 
 
 over one hundred feet high.'' These lofty 
 arches running in long, broken lines over 
 the plains beyond the walls of Rome are 
 the most striking feature of the Campagna at the present time. 
 555. Thermae or Baths. Among the ancient Romans bathing be- 
 came in time a luxurious art. Under the Republic, bathing-houses 
 were, erected in considerable numbers. But it was during the imperial 
 
 1 Several of these are still in use. 
 
 ^ The Romans carried their aqueducts across depressions and valleys on high arches 
 of masonry, not because they were ignorant of the principle that water seeks a level, 
 but fox the reason that they could not make large pipes strong enough to resist the 
 great pressure to which they would be subjected. 
 
508 ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING [§555 
 
 period that those magnificent structures to which the name thermm 
 properly attaches, were erected. These edifices were very different 
 from the bathing-houses of the republican era, being among the 
 most elaborate and expensive of the imperial works. They con- 
 tained chambers for cold, hot, and swimming baths ; dressing-rooms 
 and gymnasia ; museums and libraries ; covered colonnades for 
 lounging and conversation; beautiful grounds filled with statues; 
 and every other adjunct that could add to the sense of luxury and 
 
 Fig. 193. The Claudian Aqueduct. (From a photograph) 
 
 « 
 
 relaxation.-' Being intended to exhibit the liberality of their imperial- 
 builders, they were thrown open to the public free of charge. 
 
 It was not the inhabitants of the capital alone that had converted 
 bathing into a luxury and an art. There was no town of any con- 
 siderable size anywhere within the limits of the Empire that was 
 not provided with its thermae ; and wherever springs possessing 
 medicinal properties broke from the ground, there arose magnificent 
 baths, and such spots became the favorite watering-places of the 
 Romans. Thus Baden-Baden was a noted and luxurious resort of 
 the wealthy Romans centuries before it became the great summer 
 haunt of the modern Germans. 
 
 1 Lanciani calls these imperial thermae " gigantic clubhouses, whither the voluptuary 
 and the elegant youth repaired for pastime and enjoyment." 
 
§556] 
 
 VILLAS 
 
 509 
 
 556. Villas. Every wealthy Roman possessed his villa, and many 
 kept up several in different parts of Italy. =These country residences, 
 while retaining all the conveniences of the city palace, such as baths, 
 museums, and libraries, added to these such adjuncts as were denied 
 a place by the restricted room of the capital — extensive gardens, 
 aviaries, fish ponds, 
 vineyards, olive or- 
 chards, shaded walks, 
 and well-kept drives. 
 
 The most noted 
 of Roman villas was 
 that of Hadrian, at 
 Tibur (now Tivoli). 
 It was intended to 
 be a miniature rep- 
 resentation of both 
 the upper and the 
 lower world. In one 
 part of the grounds 
 were reproduced the 
 Vale of Tempe and 
 other celebrated bits 
 of scenery, which 
 doubtless Hadrian in 
 his extended travels 
 had seen and ad- 
 mired. Subterranean 
 labyrinths enabled 
 the visitor to descend 
 into Hades and to behold the fabled scenes of that dolorous region. 
 
 557. Sepulchral Monuments. The Romans in the earliest times 
 seem usually to have disposed of their dead by burial ; but towards 
 the close of the republican period cremation or burning became 
 common. The incoming of Christianity with its doctrine of the 
 resuirection of the body caused burying to become again the prev- 
 alent mode. 
 
 Fig. 194. The Medicinal Spring of Umeri 
 (From Schreiber's Atlas- of Classical Antiquities) 
 
 A visitor's souvenir of the spring. At the top the nymph 
 of the spring pours water from an urn ; in the center a man 
 fills a large jar ; at the bottom, another man fills a barrel on 
 a water-wagon. At the right an invalid receives a glass of 
 water from an attendant. The other two persons (one ob- 
 viously poor and the other well-to-do) at the altars make 
 offerings or pour libations 
 
5IQ 
 
 LITERATURE AND .LAW 
 
 [§ 558 
 
 The favorite burying-place among the Romans was along the 
 highways ; " for the dead were thought of as ever turning towards 
 this life." The Appian Way, for a distance of several miles from 
 the gates of the capital, was lined with sepulchral monuments. 
 
 Fig. 195. Mausoleum of Hadrian, at Rome. (From a photograph) 
 
 Many of these, in a ruined state, still line the ancient highway 
 (see Fig. 152). These structures were as varied in design as are. the 
 monuments in modern cemeteries.'' 
 
 II. LITERATURE AND LAW 
 
 558. Poets of the Republic. Latin literature was almost wholly 
 imitative or borrowed, being a reproduction of Greek models ; still 
 it performed a most important service for civilization by being the 
 medium for the dissemination throughout the world of the .rich 
 literary treasures of Greece.^ 
 
 1 For examples of Roman triumphal columns and arches, see Figs. 176 and 1S6. 
 
 2 There will here be in place a word respecting ancient publishers and books. There 
 were in Rome several publishing-houses, which, in their day, enjoyed a wide reputation 
 and conducted an extended business. " Indeed, the- antique book trade," says Guhl, 
 
§559] POETS OF THE AUGUSTAN AGE 511 
 
 It was the dramatic productions of the 'Greeks which were first 
 copied and studied by the Romans. For nearly two centuries, from 
 240 to 78 B.C., dramatic literature was almost the only form of 
 composition cultivated at Rome. During this epoch appeared all 
 the great dramatists ever produced by the Latin-speaking race. The 
 most noteworthy of these were Plautus (about 254-184 b.c.) and 
 Terence (about 185-160 B.C.), both writers of comedy. Their works 
 were drawn from or based upon the pieces of the Greek New Com- 
 edy.^ Some of the stock characters of the comic stage of to-day are 
 types portrayed in their pieces, for as Plautus and Terence borrowed 
 from the Greek stage so have modern writers of comedy drawn 
 freely from Roman predecessors. 
 
 During the later republican period there appeared two poets of 
 distinguished merit, Lucretius and Catullus. Lucretius (95-51 B.C.) 
 studied at Athens, wh ere he becam e deeply imbued with the philos- 
 oph y of Epicuru s (sect. 364). In his great poem On the Nature of 
 Things, the practical aim of which was to free men from fear of the 
 gods and of death, he tells how the generations of life were evolved 
 from the teeming earth ; declares that the gods do not trouble them- 
 selves about earthly affairs, but that storms, lightning, volcanoes, and 
 pestilences are produced by natural causes and not by the anger of 
 the celestials ; and finally_rea<^'^^s the^ conclusion that death ends all 
 for m an, and s o need not be feared. 
 
 Catullus (bom about 87 b.c.) was a lyric poet. He has been called 
 the Roman Bums, as well on account of the waywardness of his life 
 as from the sweetness of his song. 
 
 559. Poets of the Auigustan Age. Three poets — Vergil (70- 
 19 B.C.), Horace (65-8 b.c), and Ovid (43 B.C.-18 a.d.) — have cast 
 an unfading luster over the period covered by the reign of Augustus. 
 
 "was carried on on a scale hardly surpassed by modem times. . . . The place of the 
 press in our literature was taken by the slaves." Through practice they gained surprising 
 facility as copyists, and books were multiplied with great rapidity. And, as to the books 
 themselves, we must bear in mind that a book in the ancient sense was simply a roll of 
 manuscript or parchment, and contained nothing like the amount of matter held by an 
 ordinary modem volume. Thus Cesar's Gallic Wars, which makes a single volume of 
 moderate size with us, made eight Roman books. Most of the houses of the wealthy 
 Romans contained libraries. The collection of Sammonicus Serenus, tutor of Gordian, 
 numbered 62,000 books. 1 See above, p. 310, n. z. 
 
512 LITERATURE AND LAW [§560 
 
 So distinguished have these writers rendered the age in which they 
 lived, that any period in a people's literature signalized by exceptional 
 literary taste and refinement is called, in allusion to this Roman era, 
 an Augustan Age. 
 
 The three great works of Vergil are the Eclogues, the Georgics, 
 and the .^neid. The Eclogues are a series of pastorals, which are 
 very close imitations of the poems of Theocritus, the Sicilian 
 (sect. 352). In the Georgics Vergil extols and dignifies the husband- 
 man and his labor. The work was written at the suggestion of 
 Maecenas, who hoped by means of the poet's verse to allure his 
 countrymen back to that love for the art of husbandry which ani- 
 mated the fathers of the early Roman state. Throughout the work 
 Vergil follows very closely the Works and Days of the Greek poet 
 Hesiod (sect. 337). Without the Georgics we should never have had 
 the Seasons of Thomson ; for this work of the English poet is in a 
 large measure a direct translation of the verses of Vergil. 
 
 The ALneid holds a place among the world's great epics. In this, 
 his chief work, Vergil was a close student of the Iliad and the 
 Odyssey, and to them he is indebted for very many of his finest 
 metaphors, similes, and descriptive passages. A chief aim of the 
 poem was to glorify Rome by connecting its origin and history 
 with the story of Troy and the purposes of the gods, and to exalt 
 Augustus as the man who had ended desolating war and brought in 
 an era of peace. 
 
 Horace's Odes, Satires, and Epistles have all helped win for him 
 his widespread fame ; but the first best exhibit his genius and his 
 subtle grace of expression. 
 
 Ovid's most celebrated work is his Metamorphoses, in which he 
 describes between two and three hundred metamorphoses, or trans- 
 formations, suffered by various persons, gods, heroes, and goddesses, 
 as related in the innumerable fables of the Greek and Roman 
 mythologies. 
 
 560. Satire and Satirists. Satire thrives best in the reeking soil 
 and tainted atmosphere of an age of selfishness, immorality, and 
 vice. Such an age was that which followed the Augustan at Rome. 
 Hence arose a succession of writers whose mastery of sharp and 
 
§ 561] ORATORY AMONG THE ROMANS 5 1 3 
 
 stinging satire has caused their productions to become the models 
 of all subsequent attempts in the same species of literature. 
 
 Two names stand out in special prominence — Persius (34-62 a.d.), 
 " the Roman Puritan," and Juvenal (about 40-120 a.d.). The works 
 of these writers possess a special historical value and interest since 
 they cast a strong side light upon life at Rome during the early 
 portion of the imperial period.^ 
 
 The indignant protest of Persius and Juvenal against the vices 
 and follies of their time is almost the last utterance of the Latin 
 Muse. After the death of Juvenal the Roman world produced not 
 a single poet of preeminent merit. 
 
 561. Oratory among the Romans. " Public oratory," as has been 
 truly said, " is the child of political freedom, and cannot exist without 
 it." We have seen this illustrated in the history of republican Athens 
 (sect. 348). Equally well is the same truth exemplified by the records 
 of the Roman state. All the great orators of Rome arose under the 
 Republic. Among these Hortensius and Cicero stand preeminent. 
 
 Hortensius (114-50 B.C.) was a famous lawyer whose name adorns 
 the legal profession at the capital both as the learned jurist and as 
 the eloquent advocate. His forensic talent won for him a lucrative 
 law practice, through which he gathered an immense fortune. 
 
 Marcus TuUius Cicero (106-43 B.C.), the contemporary and friend 
 of Hortensius, is easily the first of Roman orators — " the most 
 eloquent of all the sons of Romulus." As a youth he enjoyed every 
 advantage that wealth and parental ambition could confer or suggest. 
 Like many others of the Roman patrician youth of his time, he was 
 sent to Greece to finish his education in the schools of Athens. 
 Returning to Italy, he soon assumed a position of commanding 
 influence at the Roman capital (sect. 479). Even more highly prized 
 than his orations and essays are his letters, for Cicero was a most 
 delightful letter-writer. His letters to his friend Atticus — nearly 
 three hundred have been preserved — are among the most charming 
 specimens of that species of composition. 
 
 1 Martial, an epigrammatic poet (bom about 40 a.d.), also was a satirist of this period, 
 but he rebuked only some of the minor vices of society. Many of his own writings, judged 
 by the moral sense of to-day, are grossly immoral. 
 
514 LITERATURE AND LAW [§S6Z 
 
 562. Latin Historians. Ancient Rome produced four writers of 
 history whose works have won for them lasting fame — Cassar, 
 Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus.'' Suetonius may also be mentioned in this 
 place, although his writings were rather biographical than historical, 
 
 Cassar's productions are his Commentaries on the Gallic War and 
 his Memoirs of the Civil War. His Commentaries will always be 
 cited along with the Anabasis of Xenophon as a model of the 
 narrative style of writing. 
 
 Sallust (86-34 B.C.) was the contemporary and friend of Caesar. 
 As prastor of one of the African provinces, he amassed an immense 
 fortune, by harsh, if not unjust, exactions, and erected at Rome a 
 palatial residence with beautiful gardens, which became one of the 
 favorite resorts of the literary characters of the capital. The two 
 works upon which his fame rests are the Conspiracy of Catiline and 
 th^ /ugurthine War. 
 
 Livy (59 B.C.- 1 7 A.D.) was one of the brightest ornaments of the 
 Augustan Age. Herodotus among the ancient, and Macaulay among 
 the modern, writers of historical narrative are the names with which 
 his is most often compared. His greatest work is his Annals, a history 
 of Rome from the earliest times to the year 9 b.c. Unfortunately, 
 only thirty-five of the one hundred and forty-two books of this admira- 
 ble production have been preserved. Many have been the laments 
 over " the lost books of Livy." Livy loved a story equally well with 
 Herodotus. Like the Greek historian, he was overcredulous, and 
 relates with charming ingenuousness, usually without the least ques- 
 tioning of their credibility, all the legends and myths that were extant 
 in his day respecting the early affairs of Rome. Modern criticism 
 has shown that the first portion of his history is entirely unreliable 
 as a chronicle of actual events. However, it is a most entertaining 
 account of what the Romans themselves thought and believed in 
 regard to the origin of their race, the founding of their city, and 
 the deeds and virtues of their forefathers. 
 
 1 A fuller list of Roman historical authors would have to admit the name of Fabius 
 Pictor, who was the first historian of the Latin-speaking race ; that of Cato the Censor, 
 of whose Antiquities we possess the merest fragments ; and that of Cornelius Nepos, 
 who wrote in the first century B.c, 
 
§563] SCIENCE, ETHICS, AND PHILOSOPHY 515 
 
 The most highly prized work of Tacitus is his Germania, a treatise 
 on the manners and customs of the Germans. In this work Tacitus 
 sets in strong contrast the virtues of the untutored Germans and the 
 vices of the cultured Romans. 
 
 563. Science, Ethics, and Philosophy. Under this head may be 
 grouped the names of Seneca, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, 
 Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus. 
 
 Seneca (about 1-65 a.d.), moralist and philosopher of the Stoic 
 school, has already come to our notice as the tutor of Nero (sect. 504). 
 He was a disbeliever in the popular religion of his countrymen, and 
 entertained conceptions of God and his 
 moral government not very different from 
 those of Socrates. K&&<^iii'& 
 
 Pliny the Elder (23-79 a.d.) is almost 
 the only Roman who won renown as a natu- 
 ralist (see sect. 507). The only work of his 
 that has been spared to us is his Natural 
 History, a sort of Roman encyclopedia. 
 
 In connection with the name of Pliny 
 the Elder must be mentioned that of his 
 nephew, Pliny the Younger (sect. 510). His 
 epistles, like the letters of Cicero, are among 
 the most valuable of the Roman prose pro- 
 ductions that have come down to us. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius the emperor and Epictetus the slave hold the first 
 place among the ethical teachers of Rome. The former wrote his 
 Meditations (sect. 512) ; but the latter, like Socrates, committed noth- 
 ing to writing, so that we know of the character of his teachings 
 only through one of his pupils, Arrian by name. Epictetus (born about 
 50 A.D.) was for many years a slave at the capital, but, securing in 
 some way his freedom, he became a teacher of philosophy. His name 
 is inseparably linked with that of Marcus Aurelius as a teacher of the 
 purest system of morals found outside of Christianity. Epictetus and 
 Aurelius were the last eminent representatives of the philosophy of 
 Zeno (sect. 363). Christianity, giving a larger place to the affections 
 than did Stoicism, was already fast winning the hearts of men. 
 
 n 
 
 \ 
 
 Tig. 196. Seneca. (From 
 
 the double bust of Seneca 
 
 and Socrates in the Berlin 
 
 Museum) 
 
Si6 LITERATURE AND LAW [§564 
 
 564. Writers of the Early Latin Church. The Christian authors 
 of the first three centuries, like the writers of the New Testament, 
 employed the Greek, that being the language of learning and culture, 
 As the Latin tongue, however, gradually came into more general use 
 throughout the West, the Christian authors naturally began to use it 
 in the composition of their works. Hence almost all the writings of 
 the Fathers of the Church produced in the western half of the Empire 
 during the later imperial period were composed in Latin. From 
 among the many names that adorn the Church literature of this 
 period we shall select only two for special mention — St. Jerome 
 and St. Augustine. 
 
 Jerome (342 ?-42o a.d.) was a native of Pannonia. For many 
 years he led a monastic life at Bethlehem. He is especially held in 
 memory through his translation of the Scriptures into Latin. This 
 version is known as the Vulgate, and is the one which, with slight 
 changes, is still used in the Roman Catholic Church. " It was for 
 Europe of the Middle Ages," asserts Mackail, " more than Homer 
 was to Greece." 
 
 Aurelius Augustine (354-430 a.d.) was bom near Carthage, in 
 Africa. He was the most eminent writer of the Christian Church 
 during the later Roman period. His City of God, a truly wonderful 
 work, possesses a special interest for the historian. The book was 
 written just when Rome was becoming the spoil of the barbarians. 
 It was designed to answer the charge of the pagans that Christianity, 
 turning the people away from the worship „of the ancient gods, was 
 the cause of the calamities that were befalling the Roman state. 
 
 565. Roman Law and Law Literature. Although the Latin writers 
 in all the departments of literary effort which we have so far reviewed 
 did much valuable work, yet the Roman intellect in all these prov- 
 inces was under Greek guidance. Its work was largely imitative. 
 But in another department it was different. We mean, of course, the 
 field of legal and political science. Here the Romans ceased to be 
 pupils and became teachers. Nations, like men, have their mission. 
 Rome's mission was to give laws to the woTld. 
 
 Our knowledge of the law system of the Romans begins with 
 the legislation of the Twelve Tables, about 450 B.C. (sect 406). 
 
§565] ROMAN LAW AND LAW LITERATURE 517 
 
 Throughout all the republican period the laws were growing less 
 harsh and cruel, and were becoming more liberal and scientific. 
 
 From 100 B.C. to 250 a.d. lived and wrote the most famous of 
 the Roman jurists and law writers, who created the most remarkable 
 law literature ever produced by any people. The great unvarying 
 principles that underlie and regulate all social and pohtical relations 
 were by them examined, illustrated, and expounded. Gaius, Ulpian, 
 Paulus, Papinian, and Pomponius are among the most renowned of 
 the writers who, during the period just indicated, enriched by their 
 writings and opinions this branch of Latin hterature. 
 
 In the year 527 a.d. Justinian became emperor of the Roman 
 Empire in the East. He almost immediately appointed a commission, 
 headed by the great lawyer Tribonian, to collect and arrange in a 
 systematic manner the immense mass of Roman laws and the writ- 
 ings of the jurists. The undertaking was like that of the decemvirs 
 in connection with the Twelve Tables, only far greater. The result 
 of the work of the commission was what is known as the Corpus 
 Juris Civilis, or " Body of the Civil Law.'' This consisted of three 
 parts — the Code, the Fandects, and the Institutes} The Code was 
 a revised and compressed collection of all the laws, instructions to 
 judicial officers, and opinions on legal subj.ects promulgated by the 
 different emperors since the time of Hadrian ; the Pandects (" all- 
 containing") were a digest or abridgment of the writings, opinions, and 
 decisions of the most eminent of the old Roman jurists and lawyers. 
 The Institutes were a condensed edition of the Pandects, and were 
 intended to form an elementary textbook for the use of students in 
 the great law schools of the Empire. 
 
 The body of the Roman law thus preserved and transmitted was 
 the great contribution of the Latin intellect to civilization.^ It has 
 
 1 A later work called the Nmicls comprised the laws of Justinian promulgated sub- 
 sequent to the completion of the Code. 
 
 2 Notwithstanding that the Romans had much political experience and developed 
 a wonderfully complex unwritten constitution, still, aside from their municipal and 
 administrative systems, they made no permanent contribution to the art of govern- 
 ment or to the science of constitutional law. It was left for the English people, 
 virtually unaided by Roman precedents, to work out the constitution of the modern 
 free state. The primary assemblies of the Romans could afford no instructive pre- 
 cedents in the department of legislation. The practical working of the device of the 
 
5I& SOCIAL LIFE [§566 
 
 exerted a profound influence upon the law systems of almost all the 
 European peoples. Thus does the once little Palatine city of the 
 Tiber still rule the world. The religion of Judea, the arts of Greece, 
 and the laws of Rome are three very real and potent elements 
 in modem civilization. 
 
 III. SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 566. Education. Under the Republic there were no public schools 
 in Rome ; education was a private affair. Under the early Empire a 
 mixed system prevailed, there being both "public and private schools. 
 Later, education came more completely under the supervision of the 
 state. The salaries of the teachers and lecturers were usually paid 
 by the municipalities, but sometimes from the imperial chest. 
 
 Never was the profession of the teacher held in such esteem as 
 among the later Romans. Teachers were made exempt from many 
 public burdens and duties and were even invested with inviolability, 
 like heralds and tribunes. 
 
 The education of the Roman boy differed from that of the Greek 
 youth in being more practical.^ The laws of the Twelve Tables were 
 committed to memory ; and rhetoric and oratory were given special 
 attention, as a mastery of the art of public speaking was an almost 
 indispensable acquirement for the Roman cutizen who aspired to take 
 a prominent part in the affairs of state. 
 
 After their conquest of Magna Graecia and of Greece the Romans 
 were brought into closer relations with Greek culture than had 
 hitherto existed. The Roman youth were taught the language of 
 Athens, often to the neglect, it appears, of their native tongue ; for 
 we hear Cato the Censor complaining that the boys of his time 
 spoke Greek before they could use their own language. Young men 
 belonging to families of means not unusually went to Greece, just as 
 the graduates of our schools go to Europe,* to finish their education. 
 
 dual executive of the Republic was not calculated to. qommend it to later statesmen. 
 The single admirable feature in the composition of the later republican Senate of Rome, 
 namely, the giving of seats in that body to ex-magistrates, has not been imitated by 
 modern constitution makers, though James Bryce, in his commentary on the American 
 commonwealth, suggests that they might have done so to advantage in the making up 
 of the upper chambers of their legislatures. 1 Cf, sect. 368. 
 
§567] SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMAN 519 
 
 Many of the most prominent statesmen of Rome, as, for instance, 
 Cicero and Julius Caesar, received the advantages of this higher 
 training in the schools of Greece. 
 
 567. Social Position of Woman. Until after her marriage the 
 daughter of the family was kept in almost oriental seclusion. 
 Marriage gave her a certain freedom. She might now be present 
 at the races of the circus and the shows of the theater and amphi- 
 theater — a privilege rarely accorded to her before marriage. 
 
 In the early, virtuous period of the Roman state the wife and 
 mother held a dignified and assured position in the household, and 
 divorces were unusual, there being no instance of one, it is said, until 
 the year 231 B.C.; but in later times her position became less honored 
 and divorce grew to be very common. The husband had the right to 
 divorce his wife for the slightest cause or for no cause at all. In this 
 disregard of the sanctity of the family relation may doubtless be found 
 one cause of the degeneracy and failure of the Roman stock. 
 
 568. Public Amusements; the Theater and the Circus. The enter- 
 tainments of the theater, the games of the circus, and the combats of 
 the amphitheater were the three principal public amusements of the 
 Romans. These entertainments, in general, increased in popularity 
 as liberty declined, the great festive gatherings at the various places 
 of amusement taking the place of the political assemblies of the 
 Republic. The public exhibitions under the Empire were, in a certain 
 sense, the compensation which the emperors offered the people for 
 their surrender of the right of participation in public affairs ; and the 
 people were content to accept the exchange. 
 
 Tragedy was never held in high esteem at Rome ; the people saw 
 too much real tragedy in the exhibitions of the amphitheater to care 
 much for the make-believe tragedies of the stage. The entertain- 
 ments of the theaters usually took the form of comedies, farces, and 
 pantomimes. The last were particularly popular, both because the 
 vast size of the theaters made it quite impossible for the actor to 
 make his voice heard throughout the structure and for the reason 
 that the language of signs was the only language that could be 
 readily understood by an audience made :. up of so many different 
 nationalities as composed a Roman assemblage. Almost from the 
 
520 SOCIAL LIFE [§569 
 
 beginning the Roman stage was gross and immoral. It was one 
 of the main agencies to which must be attributed the undermining 
 of the originally sound moral life of Roman society. 
 
 More important and more popular than the entertainments of 
 the theater were the various games of the circus, especially the 
 chariot races. 
 
 569. Animal Baitings. But far surpassing in their terrible fasci- 
 nation all other public amusements were the animal baitings and the 
 gladiatorial combats of the amphitheater. 
 
 The beasts required for the baitings were secured in different parts 
 of the world and transported to Rome and the other cities of the 
 Empire at enormous expense. The wildernesses of northern Europe 
 furnished bears and wolves ; Scotland sent fierce dogs ; Africa con- 
 tributed lions, crocodiles, and leopards ; Asia added elephants and 
 tigers. These creatures were pitted against one another in every 
 conceivable way. Often a promiscuous multitude would be turned 
 loose in the arena at once. But even the terrific scene that then 
 ensued became at last too tame to stir the blood of the Roman 
 populace. Hence a new species of entertainment was demanded by 
 the spectators of the amphitheater. This was the gladiatorial combat. 
 
 570. The Gladiatorial Combats. Gladiatorial shows seem to have 
 had their origin in Etruria, whence they were brought to Rome. 
 It was a custom among the early Etruscans to slay prisoners upon 
 the warrior's grave, it being thought that the manes of the dead 
 delighted in the blood of such victims. In later times the prisoners 
 were allowed to fight and kill one another, this being deemed more 
 humane than slaying them in cold blood. 
 
 The first gladiatorial spectacle at Rome was presented by two 
 sons at the funeral of their father in the year 264 B.C. This exhibi- 
 tion was arranged in one of the forums, as there were at that time 
 no amphitheaters in existence. From this time the public taste for 
 this kind of entertainment grew rapidly, and by the beginning of the 
 imperial period had become an infatuation. It was no longer the 
 manes of the dead, but the spirits of the living that the spectacles 
 were intended to appease. At first the combatants were slaves, cap- 
 tives, or condemned criminals ; but at last knights, senators, and 
 
i570] 
 
 THE GLADIATORIAL COMBATS 
 
 521 
 
 even women descended voluntarily into the arena. Training-schools 
 were established at Rome, Capua, Ravenna, and other cities. Free 
 citizens often sold themselves to the keepers of these seminaries ; 
 and to them flocked desperate men of all classes and ruined spend- 
 thrifts of the noblest patrician houses. Slaves and criminals were 
 encouraged to become proficient in the art by the promise of freedom 
 if they survived the combats beyond a certain number of years. 
 
 Sometimes the gladiators fought in pairs ; again, great 'companies 
 engaged at once in the deadly fray. They fought in chariots, on 
 horseback, on foot — in 
 all the ways in which 
 soldiers were accustomed 
 to fight in actual battle. 
 The contestants were 
 armed with lances, swords, 
 daggers, tridents — with 
 every manner of weapon. 
 Some were provided with 
 nets and lassos with which 
 they entangled their ad- 
 versaries before slaying 
 them. 
 
 The life of a wounded 
 gladiator was, in ordinary 
 cases, in the hands of the spectators. If in response to his appeal for 
 mercy, which was made by outstretching the forefinger, the specta- 
 tors waved their handkerchiefs or reached out their hands with 
 thumbs extended, that indicated that his prayer had been heard ; but 
 if they extended their hands with thumbs turned in, that was the 
 signal for the victor to give him the death stroke. Sometimes the 
 dying were aroused and forced to resume the fight by being burned 
 with a hot iron. The dead bodies were dragged from the arena with 
 hooks, like the carcasses of animals, and the pools of blood soaked 
 up with dry sand. 
 
 These shows increased to such an extent that they entirely over- 
 shadowed the entertainments of the circus and the theater. Ambitious 
 
 Fig. 197. Gladiators. (From an 
 ancient mosaic) ' 
 
533 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 [§571 
 
 officials and commanders arranged such spectacles in order to curry- 
 favor with the masses ; magistrates were expected to give them in 
 connection with the public festivals; the heads of aspiring families 
 provided them " in order to acquire social position " ; wealthy citizens 
 prepared them as an indispensable feature of a fashionable banquet ; 
 the children — catching the spirit of their elders — imitated them in 
 their plays. 
 
 The rivMries between ambitious leaders during the later years of 
 the Republic tended greatly to increase the number of gladiatorial 
 shows, as liberality in arranging these spectacles was a sure passport 
 
 Fig. 198. Semicircular Dining-couch. (From a Pompeian wall painting) 
 
 to popular favor. It was reserved for the emperors, however, to ex- 
 hibit them on a truly imperial scale. Titus, upon the dedication of 
 the Flavian amphitheater, provided games, mostly gladiatorial com- 
 bats, that lasted one hundred days. Trajan celebrated his victories 
 with shows that lasted still longer, in the progress of which ten 
 thousand gladiators fought upon the arena, and more than ten 
 thousand wild beasts were slain.'' 
 
 571. Luxury. By luxury, as we shall use the word, we mean 
 extravagant and self-indulgent living. This 'vice seems to have been 
 almost unknown in early Rome. The primitive Romans were men 
 of frugal habits, who, like Manius Curius Dentatus (sect. 450), 
 found contentment in poverty and disdained riches. 
 
 1 For the suppression of the gladiatorial games, see sect. 538, 
 
§572] STATE DISTRIBUTION :OF CORN 523 
 
 A great change, however, as we have seen, passed over Roman 
 society after the conquest of the East and the development of the 
 corrupt provincial system of the later Republic. The colossal fortunes 
 quickly and dishonestly amassed by the ruling class marked the in- 
 coming at Rome of such a reign of luxury as perhaps no other 
 capital of the world ever witnessed. This luxury was at its height in 
 the last century of the Republic and the first of the Empire. Never 
 perhaps has great wealth been more grossly misused than during this 
 period at Rome. A characteristically Roman vice of this age was 
 gluttony, or gross table-indulgence. 
 
 572. State Distribution of Corn. The free distribution of corn at 
 Rome has been characterized as the leading fact of Roman life. 
 It will be recalled that this pernicious practice had its beginnings in 
 the legislation of Gaius Gracchus (sect. 461). Just before the estab- 
 lishment of the Empire over three hundred thousand Roman citizens 
 were recipients of this state bounty. In the time of the Antonines 
 the number is asserted to have been even larger. The com for this 
 enormous distribution was derived, in large part, from a grain tribute 
 exacted of the African and other corn-producing provinces. In the 
 third century, to the largesses of corn were added doles of oil, wine, 
 and pork. 
 
 The evils that resulted from this misdirected state charity can 
 hardly be overstated. Idleness and all its accompanying vices were 
 fostered to such a degree that we probably shall not be wrong 
 in enumerating the practice as one of the chief causes of the 
 demoralization of society at Rome under the emperors. 
 
 573. Slavery. The number of slaves in the Roman state under 
 the later Republic and the earlier Empire was very great, some 
 estimates making it equal to the number of freemen. Some large 
 proprietors owned as many as twenty thousand. The love of osten- 
 tation led to the multiphcation of offices in the households of the 
 wealthy and the employment of a special «lave for every different 
 kind of work. Thus there was the slave called the sandalio, whose 
 sole duty it was to care for his master's sandals ; and another called 
 the nomendator, whose exclusive business it was to accompany his 
 master when he went upon the street and give him the names of 
 
524 SOCIAL LIFE [§574 
 
 such persons as he ought to recognize. The price of slaves varied 
 from a few dollars to ten or twenty thousand dollars — these last 
 figures being, of course, exceptional. Greek slaves were the most 
 valuable, as their lively intelligence rendered them serviceable in posi- 
 tions calling for special talent. Slaves skilled in medicine or other 
 professions were often let out for hire, or were set free on condition 
 that they should give their former master a part of their earnings. 
 
 The slave class was chiefly recruited, as jn Greece, by war and by 
 the practice of kidnaping. Some of the outlying provinces in Asia 
 and Africa were almost depopulated by the slave hunters. Delinquent 
 taxpayers were often sold as slaves, and frequently poor persons sold 
 themselves into servitude. 
 
 The feeling entertained towards this unfortunate class in the later 
 republican period is illustrated by Varro's classification of slaves as 
 " vocal agricultural implements," and again by Cato the Censor's 
 recommendation to masters to sell their old and decrepit slaves in 
 order to save the expense of caring for them (sect. 450). Sick and 
 hopelessly infirm slaves were taken to an island in the Tiber and left 
 there to die of starvation and exposure. In many cases, as a measure 
 of precaution, the slaves were forced to work in chains and to sleep 
 in subterranean prisons. Their bitter hatred towards their masters, 
 engendered by harsh treatment, is witnessed by the well-known 
 proverb, " As many enemies as slaves," and by the servile revolts of 
 the repubhcan period. 
 
 Slaves were treated better under the Empire than under the later 
 Republic — a change to be attributed, doubtless, to the influence of 
 Stoicism and of Christianity. From the first century of the Empire 
 forward there is observable a growing sentiment of humanity towards 
 the bondsman. Imperial edicts take away from the master the right 
 to kill his slave or to sell him to the trader in gladiators, or even to 
 treat him with undue severity, while the Christian priests encouraged 
 the freeing of slaves as an act good for the soul of the master. 
 
 574. Transformation of Slavery into Serfdom. Besides the teach- 
 ings of philosophy and religion other influences, social and economic, 
 were at work ameliorating the lot of the slave, and gradually chang- 
 ing the harsh system of slavery as it had developed in the ancient 
 
§574] TRANSITION FROM SLAVERY TO SERFDOM 525 
 
 world into the milder system of serfdom, which characterized the 
 society and life of the Middle Ages. We have seen how in the 
 Middle Empire the originally free tenant farmer was bound to 
 the soil and made a serf (sect. 521). During the same period that 
 the poor agricultural freeman was thus being reduced to a semi- 
 servile condition, the practice grew up of giving the slave of the 
 great Roman proprietor a small plot of ground cut out of the estate 
 to which he belonged on conditions similar to those on which the 
 serf-peasant held his little farm. Custom soon decreed that the pos- 
 sessor of such a holding should not be disturbed in its enjoyment so 
 long as he paid the fixed rent in produce or in personal service, and, 
 furthermore, that it should be an hereditary possession. By the time 
 of the break-up of the Empire in the We§t, this revolution was far 
 advanced. It was hastened by the incoming of the barbarians, and 
 was well-nigh completed by the seventh or eighth century. The 
 former slave had become a serf. His lot was still hard, but he had 
 gained much. He was no longer a mere chattel : he could not be 
 bought and sold. He could not be separated from his family. 
 Certain of the work days were his own. He could accumulate 
 property. He had secured a part of the rights of a man. 
 
 Thus gradually and silently was effected this great revolution, 
 which perhaps more than any other change marked the transforma- 
 tion of the ancient into the mediaeval world, and announced the 
 opening of a new epoch in the history of western Europe. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Cato, On Agriculture, chap, ii (the duties of 
 a Roman proprietor). TACITUS, Dialogue concerning Oratory, chaps, xxviii, 
 xxix (the old and the new education). Munro's Source Book, pp. 179-216; 
 Davis's Readings (Rome), pp. 211-265. 
 
 References (Modern). Lanciani, Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent 
 Discoveries and New Discoveries in the Forum. Fowler, History of Roman 
 Literature. Skllar, The Roman Poets of the Republic and The Roman Poets of 
 the Augustan Age. Mackail, Latin Literature. Hadley, Introduction to 
 Roman Law, lect. iii, " The Roman Law before Justinian." Gibbon, chap, xhv 
 (for Roman jurisprudence ; this chapter is one of the most noted of Gibbon's 
 great work). Inge, Social Life in Rome under the Cc^sars. GuHL and Koner, 
 The Life of the Creeks and Romans (consult index). Lecky, History of Euro- 
 pean Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne (a book of the first importance; 
 the student is recommended to read vol. i, chap. ii). DiLL, Roman Society in 
 
526 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 the Last Century of the Western Empire (read bk. v, " Characteristics of Roman 
 Education and Culture in the Fifth Century"), Preston and Dodge, The 
 Private Life of the Romans. GiLMAN, The Story of Rome, chap, xviii, " Some 
 Manners and Customs of the Roman People." 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i, Roman art: Reinach, Apollo, pp. 87-94. 
 2. Education of the Roman boy : Johnston, The Private Life of the Romans, 
 chap. iv. 3. The gladiatorial combats : Johnston, The Private Life of the 
 Romans, pp. 242-264 ; Friedlander, Roman Life and Manners, vol. ii, chap, i, 
 pp. 41-62. 4. Roman luxury: Friedlander, Roman Life and Manners, vol. ji, 
 chap, ii; Davis, The Influence of Wealth in Imperial Rome, pp. 152-187. 
 5. Character and motives of Roman benefactions : Abbott, The Common 
 People of Ancient Rome, pp. 179-204. 
 
EUROPE 
 
 IX THE REIGN OF 
 
 THEODORIC 
 
 About A. D. 300 
 
 I \ Roman EmxJire | | Cctls | | 
 
 Triitoiih- Settlpjitertts 
 
PART IV. THE ROMANO-GERMAN 
 OR TRANSITION AGE 
 
 (476-800 A.D.) 
 
 CHAPTER XLII 
 THE BARBARIAN KINGDOMS 
 
 In connection with the history of the break-up of the Roman 
 Empire in the West we have already given some account of the 
 migrations and settlements of the German tribes. In the present 
 chapter we shall indicate briefly the political fortunes, for the two 
 centuries and more following the dissolution of the Roman govern- 
 ment in the West, of the principal kingdoms set up by the German 
 chieftains in the different parts of the old Empire. 
 
 575. Kingdom of the Ostrogoths (493-554 a.d.). Odoacer will be 
 recalled as the barbarian chief who dethroned the last of the West- 
 em Roman emperors (sect. 547). His feeble government in Italy 
 lasted only seventeen years, when it was brought to an end by the 
 invasion of the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) upder Theodoric, the 
 grea:test of their chiefs, who set up in Italy a new dominion known 
 as the kingdom of the Ostrogoths. 
 
 The reign of Theodoric covered thirty-three years (493-527 a.d.) 
 — years of such quiet and prosperity as lialy had not known since 
 the happy era of the Antonines. The king made good his promise 
 that his reign should be such that "the only regret of the people 
 should be that the Goths had not come at an earlier period." His 
 effort was to preserve Roman civilization, and to this end he repaired 
 the old Roman roads, restored the monuments of the Empire that 
 were falling into decay, and in so far as possible maintained Roman 
 law and custom. 
 
 527 
 
528 
 
 THE BARBARIAN KINGDOMS 
 
 [§576 
 
 The kingdom established by the rare abilities of Theodoric lasted 
 only twenty-seven years after his death.^ Justinian, emperor of the 
 East, taking advantage of that event, sent his generals to deliver 
 Italy from the rule of the barbarians. The last of the Ostrogothic 
 kings fell in battle, and Italy, with her fields ravaged and her cities 
 in ruins, was for a brief time reunited to the Empire^ (544 a.d.). 
 
 576. Kingdom of the Visigoths (415-711 a.d.). The Visigoths 
 (Western Goths) were already in possession of southern Gaul and 
 
 the greater part of 
 Spain when the Ro- 
 man imperial govern- 
 ment in the West 
 was brought to an 
 end by the act of 
 Odoacer and his com- 
 panions. They were 
 driven south of the 
 Pyrenees by the kings 
 of the Franks, but 
 held their possessions 
 in Spain until the be- 
 ginning of the eighth century, when their rule was ended by the 
 Saracens (sect. 622). When thus overturned, the Visigothic kingdom 
 had lasted nearly three hundred years. During this time the con- 
 querors had mingled with the old Romanized inhabitants of Spain, 
 so that in the veins of the Spaniard of to-day is blended the blood 
 of Iberian, Celt, Roman, and Teuton, together with that of the last 
 intruder, the African Moor, 
 
 577. Kingdom of the Vandals (429-533 a.d.). We have already 
 spoken of the establishment in North Africa of the kingdom oi the 
 Vandals, and told how, under the lead of their king, Geiseric, they 
 bore in triumph down the Tiber the heavy spoils of Rome (sect. 546). 
 
 1 Theodoric's chief minister and adviser was Cassiddorus, a statesman and writer of 
 Roman birtli, whose constant but unfortunately vain effort was to effect a union of the 
 conquerors and the conquered, and thus to establish in Italy a strong and permanent 
 Romano-Gothic state under the rule of the royal house of the Ostrogoths. 
 
 2 See sect, 6iJ. 
 
 Fig. 199, Tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna 
 
§578] FRANKS UNDER THE MEROVINGIANS 529 
 
 Being Arian Christians, the Vandals persecuted with furious zeal 
 the orthodox party, the followers of Athanasius. Moved by the 
 entreaties of the African Catholics, Justinian, the Eastern emperor, 
 sent his general Belisarius to drive the barbarians from Africa. The 
 expedition was successful, and Carthage and the fruitful fields of 
 Africa were restored to the Empire after having suffered the inso- 
 lence of the barbarian conquerors for more than a hundred years. 
 The Vandals remaining in the country were "gradually absorbed by the 
 old Roman population, and after a few generations no certain trace of 
 the barbarian invaders could be detected in the physical appearance, 
 the language, or the customs of the inhabitants of the African coast. 
 The Vandal nation had disappeared ; the name alone remained. 
 
 578. The Franks under the Merovingidns (486-752 a.d.). Even 
 long before the fall of Rome the Franks, as we have seen (sect. 543), 
 were on the soil of Gaul, laying there the foundations of the French 
 nation and monarchy. Among their several chieftains at this time 
 was Chlodwig or Clovis. Upon the break-up of the Roman Empire 
 in the West, Clovis conceived the ambitiorr of erecting a kingdom 
 upon the ruins of the Roman power. He attacked Syagrius, the 
 Roman governor of a district in northern Gaul still independent of 
 the barbarians, and at Soissons gained a decisive victory over his 
 forces (486 A.D.). Thus was destroyed forever the last remnant in 
 Gaul of that Roman authority which had been established among 
 its barbarian tribes more than five centuries before by the conquests 
 of Julius Caesar. 
 
 Clovis in a short time extended his authority over the greater 
 part of Gaul, reducing to the condition of tributaries the various 
 Teutonic tribes that had taken possession of different portions of 
 the country. Upon his death (511 a. d.) his extensive dominions, 
 in accordance with the ancient Teutonic law of inheritance, were 
 divided among his four sons. About a century and a half of dis- 
 cord followed, by the end of which time the Merovingians^ had 
 become so feeble and inefficient that they were contemptuously 
 called rois faineants, or "do-nothing kings," and an ambitious officer 
 of the crown known as mayor of the palace (major domus), in a 
 
 1 So called from Merowig, an early chieftain of the race. 
 
S30 THE BARBARIAN KINGDOMS [§579 
 
 way that will be explained a little later, pushed aside the weak 
 Merovingian king and gave to the Prankish monarchy a new royal 
 line — the Carolingian. 
 
 579. Kingdom of the Lombards (568-774 A.D.). Barely a decade 
 had passed after the recovery of Italy from the Ostrogoths by the 
 Eastern emperor Justinian (sect. 6ii), before a large part of the 
 peninsula was again lost to the Empire through its conquest by 
 another barbarian tribe known as the Lombards. When they entered 
 Italy the Lombards were Christians of the Arian sect ; but in time 
 they became converts to the orthodox faith, and Pope Gregory I 
 bestowed upon their king a diadem which came to be known as the 
 " Iron Crown," for the reason that there was wrought into it what 
 was believed to be one of the nails of the cross upon which Christ 
 had suffered. 
 
 The kingdom of the Lombards was destroyed by Charles the 
 Great, the most noted of the Prankish rulers, in the year 774; but 
 the blood of the invaders had by this time become intermingled with 
 that of the former subjects of the Empire, so that throughout all 
 that part of the peninsula which is still called Lombardy after them 
 one will to-day occasionally see the fair hair and light complexion 
 which reveal the strain of German blood in the veins of the present 
 inhabitants. 
 
 One important result of the Lombard conquest of Italy was the 
 destruction of the political unity established by the Romans and th6 
 breaking up of the country into a multitude of petty states. This 
 resulted from the imperfect nature of the conquest and from the 
 loose feudal constitution of the Lombard monarchy, which was rather 
 a group of virtually independent duchies than a real kingdom. 
 
 580. The Anglo-Saxons in Britain. We have already seen how in 
 the time of Rome's distress the Angles and Saxons secured a footing 
 in Britain (sect. 543). By the close of the sixth century the invading 
 bands had set up in the island eight or nine or perhaps more king- 
 doms — frequently designated, though somewhat inaccurately, as the 
 Heptarchy. For the space of two hundred years there was an almost 
 perpetual strife for supremacy among the leading states. Finally, 
 Egbert, king of Wessex (802-839 ^' °'')> brought all the other 
 
§581] TEUTONIC TRIBES OUTSIDE THE EMPIRE 531 
 
 kingdoms to a subject or tributary condition, and became in reality 
 — though he seems never, save on one dgcasion, to have actually 
 assumed the title — the first king of England. 
 
 581. Teutonic Tribes outside the Empire. We have now spoken 
 of the most important of the Teutonic tribes which forced themselves 
 within the limits of the Roman Empire in the West, and that there, 
 upon the ruins of the civilization they had overthrown, laid or helped 
 to lay the foundations of the modem nations of Italy, Spain, France, 
 and England. Beyond the boundaries of the old Empire were still 
 other tribes and clans of this same mighty family of nations — tribes 
 and clans that were destined to play great parts in European history. 
 
 On the east, beyond the Rhine, were the ancestors of the modem 
 Germans. Notwithstanding the immense hosts that the forests and 
 morasses of Germany had poured into the Roman provinces, the 
 western portion of the fatherland,^ in the = sixth century of our era, 
 seemed still as crowded as before the great "migration began. These 
 tribes were yet barbarians in manners, and, for the most part, pagans 
 in religion. In the northwest of Europe were the Scandinavians, the 
 ancestors of the modern Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians. They were 
 as yet untouched either by the civilization or the religion of Rome. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. The Letters of Cassiodonts (Thomas Hodgkin's 
 trans.), bk. i, letters 24, 35; bk. ii, letters 32, 34; bk. iii, letters 17, 19, 29, 
 31, 43; bk. xi, letters 12, 13; bk. xii, letter 20. (These letters are invaluable 
 in showing what was the general condition of things in the transition period 
 between ancient and mediaeval times.) 
 
 References (Modern). Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders and Theodoric the 
 Goth (Hodgkin is recognized as the best authority on the period of the migra- 
 tion). GuMMERE, Germanic Origins (an authoritative and interesting work on 
 the early culture of the Germans). Gibbon, chaps, xxxviii, xxxix. Church, 
 The Beginning of the Middle Ages, chaps, i-v. Emerton, An Introduction to 
 the Study of the Middle Ages, chaps, vi, vii. The Cambridge Medieval History, 
 vol. i, chap. XV ; vol. ii, chaps, iv-vii. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports. 1. Life and work of Cassiodorus ; his state 
 papers: Hodgkin, Theodoric, chap, ix, pp. 160-173. ^- The German conquest 
 of Gaul : Adams, The Growth of the French Nation, chap. ii. 
 
 1 The Slavs had pushed into the eastern parts of Germany. 
 
CHAPTER XLIII 
 THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS 
 
 I. THE CONVERSION OF THE BARBARIANS 
 
 582. Introductory. The most important event in the history of the 
 tribes that took possession of the Roman Empire in the West was 
 their conversion to Christianity. Many of the barbarians were con- 
 verted before or soon after their entrance into the Empire ; to this 
 circumstance the Roman provinces owed their immunity from the 
 excessive cruelties which pagan barbarians seldom fail to inflict upon a 
 subjected enemy. Alaric left untouched the treasures of the churches 
 of the Roman Christians because his own faith was also Christian 
 (sect. 540). For like reason the Vandal king Geiseric yielded to the 
 prayers of Pope Leo the Great and promised to leave to the inhabit- 
 ants of the Imperial City their lives (sect. 546). The more tolerable 
 fate of Italy, Spain, and Gaul, as compared with the hard fate of 
 Britain, is owing, in part at least, to the fact that the tribes which 
 overran those countries had become, in the main, converts to Chris- 
 tianity before they crossed the boundaries of the Empire, while the 
 Saxons, when they entered Britain, were still untamed pagans. 
 
 583. Conversion of the Goths, Vandals, and Other Tribes. The 
 first converts to Christianity among the barbarians beyond the limits 
 of the Empire were won from among the Goths. Foremost of the 
 apostles that arose among them was Ulfilas, who translated the Scrip- 
 tures into the Gothic language, omitting from his version, however, 
 the Books of the Kings, as he feared that the stirring recital of wars 
 and battles in that portion of the Word might kindle into too fierce a 
 flame the martial ardor of his new converts. 
 
 What happened in the case of the Goths happened also in the case 
 of most of the barbarian tribes that participated in the overthrow of 
 the Roman Empire in the West. By the time of the fall of Rome the 
 
 532 
 
§584] CONVERSION OF THE FRANKS $33 
 
 Goths, the Vandals, the Suevi, and the Burgundians had become 
 proselytes to Christianity. They, however, professed the Arian creed, 
 which had been condemned by the great council of the Church held 
 at Nicasa during the reign of Constantine the Great (sect. 527). 
 Hence they were regarded as heretics by the Catholic Church, and 
 all had to be reconverted to the orthodox creed. This good work was 
 gradually and almost perfectly accomplished. 
 
 The remaining Teutonic tribes of whose conversion we shall speak 
 — the Franks, the Anglo-Saxons, and the chief tribes of Germany — 
 embraced at the outset the orthodox Catholic faith. 
 
 584. Conversion of the Franks. The Franks, when they entered 
 the Empire, like the Angles and Saxons when they landed in Britain, 
 were still pagans. Christianity gained way very slowly among them 
 until a supposed interposition by the Christian God in their behalf 
 led the king and nation to adopt the new religion in place of their old 
 faith. The circumstances, as reported by tradition, were these. In a 
 terrible battle between the Alemanni and the Franks under their 
 king Clovis, the situation of the Franks at „ length became desperate. 
 Then Clovis, falling upon his knees, called upon the God of the 
 Christians, and vowed that if he would giVe victory to his arms he 
 would become his follower. The battle turned in favor of the Franks, 
 and Clovis, faithful to his vow, was baptized, and with him three 
 thousand of his warriors (496 a. d.). 
 
 This story of the conversion of Clovis and his Franks illustrates 
 how the barbarians' belief in omens and divine interpositions, and 
 particularly their feeling that if their gods did not do for them all they 
 wanted done they had a right to set them aside and choose others in 
 their stead, contributed to their conversion, and how the reception of 
 the new faith was often a tribal or national affair rather than a matter 
 of personal conviction. 
 
 585. Importance of the Conversion of the Franks. "The con- 
 version of the Franks," says the historian Milman, " was the most 
 important event in its remote as well as its immediate consequences 
 in European history." It was of such moment for the reason that 
 the Franks embraced the orthodox Catholic faith, while almost all 
 the other German invaders of the Empire had embraced the heretical 
 
534 THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS [§586 
 
 Arian creed. This secured them the loyalty of their Roman subjects 
 and also gained for them the official favor of the Church of Rome. 
 Thus was laid the basis of the ascendancy in the West of the 
 Frankish kings. 
 
 586. Augustine's Mission to England. In the year 596 a.d. Pope 
 Gregory I sent the monk Augustine with a band of forty companions 
 to teach the Christian faith in Britain, in whose people he had become 
 interested through seeing in the slave market at Rome some fair-faced 
 captives from that remote region. 
 
 The monks were favorably received by the English, who listened 
 attentively to the story the strangers had come to tell them, and 
 being persuaded that the tidings were true, they burned the 
 temples of Woden and Thor, and were in Jarge numbers baptized in 
 the Christian faith. 
 
 One of the most important consequences of the conversion of 
 Britain was the reestablishment of that connection of the island with 
 Roman civilization which had been severed by the calamities of the 
 fifth century. 
 
 587. The Conversion of Ireland. The spiritual conquest of Ireland 
 was effected largely by a zealous priest named Patricius (died about 
 469 A.D.), better known as St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. 
 
 .With such success were his labors attended that by the time of his 
 death a great part- of the island had embraced the Christian faith. 
 Never did any race receive the Gospel with more ardent enthusiasm. 
 The Irish or Celtic Church sent out its devoted missionaries into the 
 Pictish highlands, into the forests of Germany, and into the wUds 
 of Alps and Apennines. 
 
 Among the numerous religious houses founded by the Celtic mis- 
 sionaries was the famous monastery established 563 a.d. by the Irish 
 monk St. Columba, on the little isle of lona, just off the Pictish coast, 
 lona became a most renowned center of Christian learning and mis- 
 sionary zeal, and for almost two centuries was the point from which 
 radiated light through the darkness of the surrounding heathenism. 
 
 588. The Conversion of Germany. The conversion of the tribes of 
 Germany was effected chiefly by Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Frankish 
 missionaries. The great apostie of Germany was the Saxon Winfrid, 
 
§589] 
 
 THE RISE OF MONASTICISM 
 
 S3S 
 
 better known as St. Boniface, who was born about 688 a.d. During 
 a long and intensely active life he founded schools and monasteries, 
 organized churches, preached and baptized,;and at last died a martyr's 
 death (7 S3 a.d.). Through him, as says Milman the Saxon invasion 
 of England flowed back upon the Continent.^ 
 
 589. Reaction of Paganism on Christianity. Thus were the con- 
 querors of the Empire met and conquered by Christianity. The 
 victory, it must be confessed, was in a great degree a victory rather 
 in name than in fact. The Church could not all at once leaven the 
 great mass of heathenism which had so suddenly been brought within 
 its pale. For a long 
 time after they were 
 called Christians, the 
 barbarians, coarse 
 and cruel and self- 
 willed and supersti- 
 tious as they were, 
 understood very little 
 of the doctrines and 
 exhibited still less of 
 the true spirit of the 
 religion they pro- 
 fessed. To this de- 
 pressing reaction of Teutonic barbarism upon the Church is, without 
 doubt, to be attributed in large measure the deplorable moral state 
 of Europe during so large a part of mediaeval times. 
 
 Fig. 200. Ruins of the Celebrated Monastery 
 OF loNA. (After an old drawing) 
 
 " That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would 
 
 not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety 
 
 would not grow warmer among the ruins of lona." — 
 
 Dr. Johnson, A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland 
 
 II. THE RISE OF MONASTICISM 
 
 590. Monasticism Defined ; St. Anthony, " the Father of the Her- 
 mits." It was during the period between the third and the sixth 
 century that there grew up in the Church the institution known as 
 Monasticism. This was so remarkable a system, and one that ex- 
 erted so profound an influence upon mediaeval and even later history, 
 that we must here acquaint ourselves with at least its spirit and aims. 
 
 1 The story of the conversion of the Scandinavian peoples, of the Eastern Slavs, and 
 of the Hungarians belongs to a later period than that embraced by our present survey. 
 
536 THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS [§591 
 
 The term monastidsm, in its widest application, denotes a life of 
 austere self-denial and of seclusion from the world, with the object 
 of promoting the interests of the soul. As thus defined, the system 
 embraced two prominent classes of ascetics: (i) hermits or anchor, 
 rites — ^ persons who, retiring from the world, lived solitary lives in 
 desolate places ; (2) cenobites or monks, who formed communities 
 and lived usually under a common roof. 
 
 St. Anthony, an Egyptian ascetic (born about 251 a.d.), who by 
 his example and influence gave a tremendous impulse to the strange 
 enthusiasm, is called the " father of the hermits." The romance of 
 his life, written by the celebrated Athanasius, stirred the whole 
 Christian world and led thousands to renounce society and in imita- 
 tion of the saint to fiee to the desert. It is estimated that before the 
 close of the fourth century the population of the desert in many 
 districts in Egypt was equal to that of the cities. 
 
 591. Monasticism in the West. During the fourth century the 
 anchorite type of asceticism, which was favored by the mild climate 
 of the Eastern lands and especially by that of Egypt, assumed in 
 some degree the monastic form ; that is to say, the fame of this or 
 that anchorite or hermit drew about him a number of disciples, 
 whose rude huts or cells formed what was known as a laura, the 
 nucleus of a monastery. 
 
 Soon after the cenobite system had been established in the East 
 it was introduced into Europe, and in an astonishingly short space 
 of time spread throughout all the Western countries where Chris- 
 tianity had gained a foothold. Here it prevailed to the almost total 
 exclusion of the hermit mode of life. Monasteries arose on every 
 side. The number that fled to these retreats was vastly augmented 
 by the disorder and terror attending the invasion of the barbarians 
 and the overthrow of the Empire in the West. 
 
 592. The Rule of St. Benedict. With a view to introducing some 
 sort of regularity into the practices and austerities of the monks, rules 
 were early prescribed for their observance. The three essential re- 
 quirements or vows of the monk were poverty, chastity, and obedience. 
 
 The greatest legislator of the monks was St. Benedict of Nursia 
 (480-543 A.n.), the founder of the celebrated monastery of Monte 
 
§593] 
 
 THE RISE OF MONASTICISM 
 
 S37 
 
 Cassino, situated midway between Rome and Naples in Italy. His 
 code was to the religious world what the Corpus Juris Civilis of 
 Justinian (sect. 565) was to the lay society of Europe. Many of his 
 rules were most wise and practical, as, for :instance, one that made 
 manual work a pious duty, and another that required the monk to 
 spend an allotted time each day in sacred reading. 
 
 The monks who subjected themselves to the rule of St. Benedict 
 were known as Benedictines. The order became immensely popular. 
 At one time it embraced about 
 forty thousand abbeys. 
 
 593. Services Rendered by the 
 Monks to Civilization. The early 
 establishment of the monastic 
 system in the Church resulted in 
 great advantages to the new world 
 that was shaping itself out of the 
 ruins of the old. The monks, es- 
 pecially the Benedictines, became 
 agriculturists, and by patient labor 
 converted the wild and marshy 
 lands which they received as gifts 
 from princes and others into fruit- 
 ful fields, thus redeeming from barrenness some of the most desolate 
 districts of Europe. The monks, in a word, formed the vanguard of 
 civilization towards the wilderness. 
 
 The monks also became missionaries, and it was largely to Uieir 
 zeal and devotion that the Church owed her speedy and signal 
 victory over the barbarians. 
 
 The quiet air of the monasteries nourished learning as well as 
 piety. The monks became teachers, and under the shelter of the 
 monasteries established schools which were the nurseries of learn- 
 ing during the earlier Middle Ages and the centers for centuries of 
 the best intellectual life of Europe. 
 
 The monks also became copyists, and with great painstaking and 
 industry gathered and multiplied ancient manuscripts, and thus pre- 
 served and transmitted to the modern wofld much classical learning 
 
 Fig, 20I. A Monk Copyist. (From 
 a manuscript of the fifteenth century) 
 
538 THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS [§594 
 
 and literature that would otherwise have been lost. Almost all the 
 remains of the Greek and Latin classics that we possess have come 
 to us through the agency of the monks. 
 
 The monks became, further, the almoners of the pious and the 
 wealthy, and distributed alms to the poor and needy. Everywhere 
 the monasteries opened their hospitable doors to the weary, the sick, 
 and the discouraged. In a word, these retreats were the inns, the 
 asylums, and the hospitals of the mediaeval ages. 
 
 III. THE RISE OF THE PAPACY 
 
 594. The Empire within the Empire. Long before the fall of 
 Rome there had begun to grow up within the Roman Empire an 
 ecclesiastical state, which in its constitutibn and its administrative 
 system was shaping itself upon the imperial model. This spiritual 
 empire, like the secular empire, possessed ti hierarchy of officers, of 
 which deacons, priests or presbyters, and bishops were the most 
 important. The bishops collectively formed what is known as the 
 episcopate. There were four grades of bishops, namely, country 
 bishops, city bishops, metropolitans or archbishops, and patriarchs. 
 At the end of the fourth century there were five patriarchates, that 
 is, regions ruled by patriarchs. These centered in the great cities 
 of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. 
 
 Among the patriarchs, the patriarchs of Rome were accorded 
 almost universally a precedence in honor and dignity. They claimed 
 further a precedence in authority and jiurisdiction, and this was 
 already very widely recognized. Before the close of the eighth cen- 
 tury there was firmly estabhshed over a great part of Christendom 
 what we may call an ecclesiastical monarchy. 
 
 Besides the influence of great men — ^such as Leo the Great, 
 Gregory the Great, and Nicholas I — who held the seat of St. Peter, 
 there were various historical circumstances that contributed to the 
 realization by the Roman bishops of their claim to supremacy. In 
 the following paragraphs we shall speak briefly of several of these 
 favoring circumstances. These matters constitute the great land- 
 marks m the rise and early growth of the Papacy. 
 
§S95] THE RISE OF THE EAPACY 539 
 
 595. The Belief in the Primacy of St. Peter and in the Founding 
 by him of the Church at Rome. It came to be believed that the 
 apostle Peter had been given by the Master a sort of primacy 
 among his fellow apostles. It also came to be believed that Peter 
 himself had founded the church at Rome, , and had suffered martyr- 
 dom there under the emperor Nero. 
 
 These beliefs and interpretations of history, which make the Ro- 
 man bishops the successors of Peter and the holders of his seat, con- 
 tributed greatly to enhance their reputation and to justify their claim 
 to a primacy of authority over all the dignitaries of the Church. 
 
 596. Advantages of their Position at the Political Center of the 
 World. The claims of the Roman bishops were in the early cen- 
 turies greatly favored by the spell in which the world was held by 
 the name and prestige of imperial Rome. Thence it had been accus- 
 tomed to receive commands in all temporal matters ; how very nat- 
 ural, then, that thither it should turn for command and guidance 
 in spiritual affairs. 
 
 The Roman bishops in thus occupying the geographical and 
 political center of the world enjoyed a great advantage over all 
 other bishops and patriarchs. The halo that during many cen- 
 turies of wonderful history had gathered about the Eternal City 
 came naturally to invest with a kind of aureole the head of the 
 Christian bishop. 
 
 597. Effect of the Removal of the Imperial Government to Con- 
 stantinople. Nor was this advantage that was given the Roman 
 bishops by their position at Rome lost when the old capital ceased 
 to be an imperial city. The removal, by the acts of Diocletian and 
 Constantine, of the chief seat of the government to the East, instead 
 of diminishing the power and dignity of the Roman bishops, tended 
 greatly to promote their claims and authority. It left the pontiff the 
 foremost personage in Rome. 
 
 598. The Pastor as Protector of Rome. Again, when the barbarians 
 came, there came another occasion for the .Roman bishops to widen 
 their influence and enhance their authority. Rome's extremity was 
 their opportunity. Thus it will be recalled how mainly through the 
 intercession of the pious Pope Leo the Great the fierce Attila was 
 
540 THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS [§S99 
 
 persuaded to turn back and spare the Imperial City (sect. 540); and 
 how the same bishop, in the year 455 a.d., also appeased in a meas- 
 ure the wrath of the Vandal Geiseric and shielded the inhabitants 
 from the worst passions of a barbarian soldiery (sect. 546). 
 
 Thus when the emperors, the natural ^defenders of the capital, 
 were unable to protect it, the unarmed Pastor was able, through the 
 awe and reverence inspired by his holy office, to render services that 
 could not but result in bringing increased honor and dignity to the 
 Roman see. 
 
 599. Effects upon the Papacy of the Extinction of the Roman 
 Empire in the West. But if the misfortunes of the Empire in the 
 West tended to the enhancement of the reputation and influence of 
 the Roman bishops, much more did its final downfall tend to the 
 same end. 
 
 Thus, upon the surrender of the sovereignty of the West into the 
 hands of the emperor of the East, the bishops of Rome became 
 the most important personages in western. Europe, and, being so far 
 removed from the court at Constantinople, gradually assumed almost 
 imperial powers. They became the arbiters between the barbarian 
 chiefs and the Italians, and to them were referred for decision the 
 disputes arising between cities, states, and kings. Especially did the 
 bishops and archbishops throughout the West in their contests with 
 the Arian barbarian rulers look to Rome for advice and help. It is 
 easy to see how greatly these things tended to strengthen the authority 
 and increase the influence of the Roman bishops. 
 
 600. The Missions of Rome. Again, the early missionary zeal of 
 the Church of Rome made her the mother of many churches, all of 
 whom looked up to her with affectionate and grateful loyalty. Thus 
 the Angles and Saxons, won to the faith by the missionaries of 
 Rome, conceived a deep veneration for the holy see and became 
 its most devoted children. To Rome it was that the Christian 
 Britons made their most frequent pilgrimages, and thither they sent 
 their offering of St. Peter's pence, And when the Saxons became 
 missionaries to their pagan kinsmen of the Continent, they trans- 
 planted into the heart of Germany these same feelings of filial 
 attachment and love. 
 
§601] THE POPES AS TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNS 541 
 
 601. Result of the Fall of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria 
 before the Saracens. In the seventh centdry all the great cities of 
 the East fell into the hands of the Mohammedans.^ This was a 
 matter of tremendous consequence for the Church of Rome, since 
 in every one of these great capitals there was, or might have 
 been, a rival of the Roman bishop. The virtual erasure of An- 
 tioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria from the map of Christendom left 
 only one city, Constantinople, that could possibly nourish a rival 
 of the Roman Church. Thus did the very misfortunes of Christen- 
 dom give an added security to the ever-increasing authority of the 
 Roman prelate. 
 
 602. The Popes become Temporal Sovereigns. A dispute about 
 the use of images in worship, known in church history as the " War 
 of the Iconoclasts," ^ which broke out in the eighth century between 
 the Greek churches of the East and the Latin churches of the West, 
 drew after it far-reaching consequences as respects the growing power 
 of the Roman pontiffs. 
 
 Leo the Isaurian, who came to the throne of Constantinople 
 716 A.D., was a most zealous iconoclast. The Greek churches of the 
 East having been cleared of images, the emperor resolved to clear ' 
 also the Latin churches of the West of these " symbols of idolatry." 
 To this end he issued a decree that they should ' not be used. The 
 bishop of Rome, Pope Gregory II, not only opposed the execution 
 of the edict, but by the ban of excommunication cut off the emperor 
 and all the iconoclastic churches of the East from communion with 
 the true Catholic Church. 
 
 In this quarrel with the Eastern emperors the Roman bishops 
 formed an alliance with the Frankish princes of the Carolingian 
 house. We shall a little later tell briefly the story of this alliance.' 
 Never did allies render themselves more serviceable to each other. 
 The popes consecrated the Frankish chieftains as kings and em- 
 perors ; the grateful Frankish kings defended the popes against all 
 their enemies, imperial and barbarian, and dowering them with cities 
 and provinces, laid the basis of their temporal power. 
 
 1 See Chapter XLVI. « Iconoclast means " image breaker." 
 
 8 See Chapter XLVII. 
 
542 THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS [§602 
 
 Such in broad outline was the way in which grew up the Papacy, 
 an institution which, far beyond all others, was destined to mold the 
 fortunes and direct the activities of Western Christendom throughout 
 the mediaeval time. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Bede, Ecclesiastical Histo?y, bk. i, chaps, xxiii- 
 XXV ; bk, il, chaps, i, xili ; bk. ili, chaps, iii, xxv. Translations and Reprints 
 (University of Pennsylvania), vol. ii, No. 7, "Life of Saint Columban" (an 
 instructive biography of an Irish monk ; the subject of this biography is some- 
 times named Columba the Younger, to distinguish him from St. Columba of 
 lona). Henderson's Select Documents of the Mikdle Ages, pp. 274-314, "The 
 Rule of Saint Benedict " ; Robinson's Readings, vol. i, chaps, iv, v ; Ogg's 
 Source Book of Media:val History, chap. vi. 
 
 References (Modern). Zimmek, The Irish Element in Mediceval Culture (an 
 authoritative and interesting account of the services rendered mediaeval 
 civilization by the Irish monks). KiNGSLEY, The Hermits. Montalembert 
 (Count de), The Monks of the West from Saint Benedict to Saint Bernard, 
 7 vols, (an ardent eulogy of monasticism). Lecky, History of European Morals, 
 vol. ii, chap, iv (gives the light and the shade of the picture). Wishart, A 
 Short History of Monks and Monasteries (the best= short account in English of 
 the origin, ideals, and effects of the monastic system). Putnam, Books and 
 their Makers during the Middle Ages, vol. i (for the labors of the monks as 
 copyists and illuminators). Fisher, Histoiy of the Christian Church, the 
 earlier chapters (concise, fair, and scholarly). Emerton, Introduction to the 
 Study of the Middle Ages, chap, ix, " The Rise of the Christian Church." 
 Adams, Civilization during the Middle Ages, chap, vi, " The Formation of the 
 Papacy." Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of our Fathers, chap, ix, " The 
 Primacy of Peter " and chap. .\, " The Supremacy of the Popes " (an authorita- 
 tive statement of the Catholic view of these matters). The Cambridge Medieval 
 History, vol. i, chap, xviii ; vol. ii, chaps, viii, xvi, xxii. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. The religion of the Germans and their con- 
 version : Seignobos, History of Mediceval and Modem Civilization, chap. ii. 
 a. The scriptorium and the labors of the monks as copyists, chroniclers, and 
 authors : Putnam, Books and their Makers during the Middle Ages, vol. i, pp. 3- 
 145. 3. St. Boniface and the conversion of the Western Germans: Merivale, 
 The Continental Teutons, chap. vii. 4. The monasteries as industrial colonies: 
 Cunningham, Western Civilization (Mediaeval and Modern Times), pp. 35-40- 
 5. St. Benedict and the Benedictine Rule : Wishart, A Short History of Monks 
 and Monasteries, chap. iii. 
 
CHAPTER XLW 
 
 THE FUSION OF LATIN AND TEUTON 
 
 603. Introductory. The conversion of the barbarians and the 
 development in Western Christendom of the central authority of the 
 Papacy prepared the way for the introduction among the Northern 
 races of the arts and the culture of Rome, and hastened in Italy, 
 Spain, and Gaul the fusion into a single people of the Latins and 
 the Teutons, of which important matter we .shall treat in the present 
 chapter. We shall tell how these two races, upon the soil of the* 
 old Empire in the West, intermingled their blood, their languages, 
 their laws, their usages and customs, to form new peoples, new 
 tongues, and new institutions. 
 
 604. The Romance Nations. In some districts the barbarian in- 
 vaders and the Roman provincials were kept apart for a long time 
 by the bitter antagonism of race, and by a sense of injury on the one 
 hand and a feeling of disdainful superiority on the other. But for the 
 most part the Teutonic intruders and the Latin-speaking inhabitants 
 of Italy, Spain, and France very soon began freely to mingle their 
 blood by family alliances. 
 
 It is quite impossible to say what projjortion the Teutons bore 
 to the Romans. Of course the proportion varied in the different 
 countries. In none of the countries named, however, was it large 
 enough to absorb the Latinized population ; on the contrary, the 
 barbarians were themselves absorbed, yet not without essentially 
 changing the body into which they were incorporated. Thus, about 
 the end of the fourth century everything in Italy, Spain, and France 
 — dwellings, cities, dress, customs, language, laws, soldiers — reminds 
 us of Rome. A little later and a great change has taken place. The 
 barbarians have come in. For a time we see everywhere, jostling 
 each other in the streets and markets, crowding each other in the 
 theaters and courts, kneeling together in the churches, the former 
 
 543 
 
544 THE FUSION OF LATIN AND TEUTON [§605 
 
 Romanized subjects of the Empire and their uncouth Teutonic con- 
 querors. But by the close of the ninth century, to speak in very 
 general terms, the two elements have become quite intimately blended, 
 and a century or two later Roman and Teuton have alike disappeared, 
 and we are introduced to Italians, Spaniards, and Frenchmen. These 
 we call Romance nations, because at base they are Roman. 
 
 605. The Formation of the Romance Languages. During the five 
 centuries of their subjection to Rome, the natives of Spain and Gaul 
 forgot their barbarous dialects and came to speak a corrupt Latin. 
 Now in exactly the same way that the dialects of the Celtic tribes of 
 Gaul and of the Celtiberians of Spain had given way to the more 
 refined speech of the Romans did the rude languages of the Teutons 
 yield to the more cultured speech of the Roman provincials. In the 
 course of two or three centuries after their entrance into the Empire, 
 Goths, Lombards, Burgundians, and Franks had, in a large measure, 
 dropped their own tongue and were speaking that of the people they 
 had subjected. 
 
 But of course this provincial Latin underwent a great change upon 
 the lips of the mixed descendants of the Romans and Teutons. 
 Owing to the absence of a common popular literature, the changes 
 that took place in one country did not exactly correspond to those 
 going on in another. Hence, in the course of time, we find different 
 dialects springing up, and by about the nihth century the Latin has 
 virtually disappeared as a spoken language, and its place been usurped 
 by what will be known as the Italian, Spanish, and French languages — 
 all more or less resembling the ancient Latin, and all called Romance 
 tongues, because children of the old Roman speech. 
 
 606. The Barbarian Codes. The Teutonic tribes, before they 
 entered the Roman Empire, had no written laws. As soon as they 
 settled in the provinces, however, they began, in imitation of the 
 Romans, to frame their rules and customs into codes. In some 
 countries, particularly in Spain and Italy, this work was under the 
 supervision of the clergy, and hence the codes of the Teutonic 
 peoples in these countries were a sort of fusion of Roman principles 
 and barbarian practices. But in general these early compilations of 
 laws — they were made, for the most part, between the sixth and 
 
§607] TEUTONIC LAWS 
 
 S45 
 
 ninth centuries — were not so essentially modified by Latin influence 
 but that they serve as valuable and instructive memorials of the 
 customs, ideals, and social arrangements of the Teutonic peoples. 
 
 607. The Personal Character of the Teutonic Laws. The laws of 
 the barbarians, instead of being territorial as with us, were generally 
 personal ; that is, instead of all the inhabitants of a given country being 
 subject to the same laws, there were different ones for the different 
 classes of society. The Latins, for instance, were subject in private 
 law only to the old Roman code, while the Teutons lived under the 
 tribai rules and regulations which they had brought with them from 
 beyond the Rhine and the Danube. The curious state of things 
 resulting from this personality of law, as it is called, is vividly pic- 
 tured by the following observation of a chronicler : " For it would 
 often happen," he says, " that five men would be sitting or walking 
 together, not one of whom would have the same law with any other." 
 
 Even among themselves the Teutons knew nothing of the modern 
 legal maxim that all should stand equal before the law. The penalty 
 inflicted upon the evil-doer depended not upon the nature of his 
 crime but upon his rank or that of the party injured. Thus slaves 
 and serfs were beaten and put to death for minor offenses, while a 
 freeman might atone for any crime, even for murder, by the pay- 
 ment of a fine, the amount of the penalty being determined by the 
 rank of the victim. 
 
 608. Ordeals. The agencies relied upon by the Germans to 
 ascertain the guilt or innocence of accused persons show in how 
 rude a state the administration of justice among them was. One 
 very common method of proof was by What were called ordeals, 
 in which the question was submitted to the judgment of God. 
 Of these the chief were the ordeal by fire, the ordeal by -water, 
 and the wager of battle. 
 
 The ordeal by fire consisted in taking in the hand a piece of red- 
 hot iron, or in walking blindfolded with bare feet over a row of hot 
 ploughshares laid lengthwise at irregular distances. If the person 
 escaped unharmed, he was held to be innocent. Another way of 
 performing the fire ordeal was by running through the flame of two 
 fires built close together, or by walking over live brands. 
 
546 
 
 THE FUSION OF LATIN AND TEUTON [§609 
 
 The ordeal by water was of two kinds, by hot water and by cold. 
 In the hot-water ordeal the accused person thrust his arm into boil- 
 ing water, and if no hurt was visible upon the arm three days after 
 the operation, the party was considered guildess. In the cold-water 
 trial the suspected person was thrown into a stream or pond ; if he 
 floated, he was held to be guilty ; if he sank, innocent. The water, it 
 was believed, would reject the guilty but receive the innocent into 
 
 its bosom. 
 
 The wager of battle 
 or trial by combat was 
 a solemn judicial duel. 
 It was resorted to in 
 the belief that God 
 would give victory, to 
 the right. Naturally it 
 was a favorite mode 
 of trial among a peo- 
 ple who found their 
 chief delight in fight- 
 ing. Even religious dis- 
 putes were sometimes 
 settled in this way. 
 
 The ordeal was fre- 
 quently performed by 
 deputy, that is, one 
 person for hire or for 
 the sake of friendship 
 
 Fig. 202. Trial by Combat. (From a manu- 
 script of the fifteenth century ; after Lacroix) 
 
 would undertake it for another ; hence the expression " to go through 
 fire and water to serve one." Especially was such substitution com- 
 mon in the judicial duel, since women and ecclesiastics were generally 
 forbidden to appear personally in the lists. 
 
 609. The Revival of the Roman Law. Now the barbarian law 
 system, if such it can be called, the character of which we have 
 merely suggested by the preceding illustrations, gradually displaced 
 the Roman law in all those countries where the two systems at first 
 existed alongside each other, save in Italy and in southern France, 
 
§609] THE REVIVAL OF THE ROMAN LAW 547 
 
 where the provincials greatly outnumbered the invaders. But the ad- 
 mirable jurisprudence of Rome was eventually to assert its superiority. 
 About the close of the eleventh century there was a great revival in 
 the study of the Roman law as embodied in the Justinian code, and 
 in the course of a century or two this became either the groundwork 
 or a strong modifying element in the law systems of almost all the 
 peoples of Europe. 
 
 What took place may be illustrated by reference to the fate of the 
 Teutonic languages in Gaul, Italy, and Spain. As the barbarian 
 tongues, after maintaining a place in those countries for two or three 
 centuries, at length gave place to the superior Latin, which became 
 the basis of the new Romance languages, so now in the domain of 
 law the barbarian maxims and customs, though holding their place 
 longer, likewise finally give way almost everywhere, in a greater 
 or less degree, to the more excellent law system of the Empire. 
 Rome must fulfill her destiny and give laws to the nations. 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Translations and Reprints (University of 
 Pennsylvania), vol. iv, No. 4, " Ordeals," etc. Henderson's Select Historical 
 Documents, pp. 176-189, "The Salic Law," and pp. 314-319, "Fonnula Liiur- 
 gicee in use at Ordeals"; Lee's Source-book of English History, chap, v, "Anglo- 
 Saxon Laws"; Ogg's Source Book of Medtceval History chap. xii. 
 
 References (jyioderu). EmekTON, Introduction to the Middle Ages, chap, viii, 
 " Germanic Ideas of Law." Lea, Superstition and Force : Essays on the Wager 
 of Law, the Wager of Battle, the Ordeal and Torture. Hadley, Introduction to 
 Roman Law, lect. ii, " The Roman Law since Justinian.'' 
 
 Topics for Class Reports. 1. The spread of the Latin speech and the 
 formation of the Romance languages: Abbott, The Common People of Ancient 
 Rome, pp. 3-31. 2. The contribution made by the Germans to civilization: 
 Adams, Civilization during the Middle Ages, chap. v. 3. Give summary of the 
 history of the wager of battle (the judicial duel) between individuals and then 
 draw a parallel between this institution and the wager of battle (the interna- 
 tional duel) between nations : Lea, Superstition and Force (4th ed.), pt. ii, 
 chaps, i-vii. 4. The influence of the Roman law upon the law systems of 
 Europe : Hadley, Introduction to Roman Law, lect. ii. 
 
CHAPTER XLV 
 THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE EAST 
 
 610. The Era of Justinian (527-565 a. d.). Throughout the half 
 century and more following the sack of Rome by the Vandals 
 (sect. 546), the Eastern emperors struggled hard and sometimes 
 doubtfully to withstand the waves of the barbarian inundation which 
 constantly threatened to overwhelm Constantinople with the same 
 awful calamities that had befallen the Imperial City of the West. 
 Had the New Rome — the destined refuge for a thousand years of 
 Grasco-Roman learning and culture — also gone down at this time 
 before the storm, the loss to the cause of civilization would have 
 been incalculable. 
 
 Fortunately, in the year 527 a. d., there ascended the Eastern 
 throne a prince of unusual ability, to whom fortune gave a general of 
 such rare genius that his name has been allotted a place in the short 
 list of the great commanders of the world. Justinian was the name of 
 the prince, and Belisarius that of the soldier. The sovereign has given 
 name to the period, which is called after him the " Era of Justinian." 
 
 611. Justinian as the Restorer of the Empire and the " Lawgiver 
 of Civilization." One of the most important matters in the reign of 
 Justinian is what is termed the " Imperial Restoration," by which is 
 meant the recovery from the barbarians of several of the provinces 
 of the West upon which they had seized. Africa, as we have seen 
 (sect. 577), was first wrested from the Vandals. Italy was next 
 recovered from the Goths and again made a part of the Roman 
 Empire (553 a.d.). Besides recovering from the barbarians Africa 
 and Italy, Justinian also reconquered from the Visigoths the south- 
 eastern part of Spain. 
 
 But that which gives Justinian's reign a greater distinction than 
 any conferred upon it by the achievements of his great generals was 
 the collection and publication by him of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the 
 
 548 
 
§612] 
 
 THE EMPIRE BECOMES GREEK 
 
 549 
 
 " Body of the Roman Law." This work, as we have already learned 
 (sect. 565), embodied all the law knowledge of the ancient Romans, 
 and was the most precious legacy of Rome to the world. In causing 
 its publication, Justinian earned the title of the "Lawgiver of 
 Civilization." ^ 
 
 612. The Empire becomes Greek. Less than a generation after 
 the death of Justinian, the Arabs, of whom we shall tell in the 
 following chapter, entered upon their surprising career of conquest, 
 which in a short time completely changed the face of the entire East. 
 
 ,'«*.l,r„N .-"".V' -Un,,, ,s-'\-^\4r.-^ ~%/ ^V, ^. 
 
 Vr«""<^'V- Ti,n,„,„„/ «"•>■"■■— '——^ ' "' 
 
 iv eJissi. It? " " " , A \ 
 
 L Tprua~^ f /■ 
 
 T 
 
 AWnndria^ 
 Imperial Possessions at Opening of Jieign 
 [:> J Lands reconqnered from the Earbanans 
 
 The Roman Empire under Justinian 
 
 The conquests of the Arabs cut off from the Empire those prov- 
 inces that had the smallest Greek element, and thus rendered the 
 population subject to the emperor more homogeneous, more thor- 
 oughly Greek. The Roman element disappeared, and though the 
 government still retained the imperial character impressed upon it by 
 the conquerors of the world, the court of Constantinople became 
 ■Greek in tone, spirit, and manners. Hence, instead of longer apply- 
 ing to the Empire the designation Roman, rnany historians from this 
 on call it the Greek or Byzantine Empire. 
 
 1 Justinian also earned renown as one of the world's greatest builders. He rebuilt 
 with increased splendor the church of Santa Sophia, which, founded by Constantine the 
 Great, had been burned during a riot in his reign. The structure still stands, though 
 the cross which originally surmounted the dome was in 1453 replaced by the Moslem 
 crescent. In its interior decorations this edifice is regarded as one of the most beautiful 
 creations of Christian art. 
 
550 THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE EAST [§613 
 
 613. Services Rendered European Civilization by the Roman Em- 
 pire in the East.^ _The later Roman Empire rendered such eminent 
 services to the European vs^orld that it justly deserves an important 
 place in universal history. First, as a military outpost it held the 
 Eastern frontier of European civilization for a thousand years against 
 Asiatic barbarism. 
 
 Second, it was the keeper for centuries of the treasures of ancient 
 civilization and the instructor of the new Western nations in law, 
 in government and administration, in literature, in painting, in archi- 
 tecture, and in the industrial arts. 
 
 Third, it kept alive the imperial idea and principle, and gave this 
 fruitful idea and this fnolding principle back to the West in the time 
 of Charlemagne. Without the later Roman Empire of the East 
 there would never have been a Romano-German Empire of the 
 West (sect. 630). 
 
 Fourth, it was the teacher of religion and civilization to the Slavic 
 races of Eastern Europe. Russia forms part of the civilized world 
 to-day largely by virtue of what she received from New Rome. 
 
 References (Modern). Gibbon, chaps, xl-xliv (on the reign of Justinian; 
 chap, xliv deals with Roman law). Oman, The Story of the Byzantine Empire, 
 chaps, iv-viii ; and The Dark Ages, chaps, v, vi. Hodgkin, Italy and her In- 
 vaders, vol. iv, '■" The Imperial Restoration." Rawlinson, The Seveftth Great 
 Oriental Monarchy, chap. xxiv. Encyc. Brit., Art. "Justinian I," by James 
 Bryce. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, 2 vols, (a work of superior 
 scholarship). Harrison, Byzantine History in the Early Middle Ages (a brilliant 
 lecture). The Cambridge Medieval Histoiy, vol. ii, chaps, i, ii. 
 
 Topics for Class Eeports. i. Justinian as a builder; St. Sophia: Oman, 
 The Byzantine Empire, chap, viii, pp. 106-111; Gibbon, chap, xl (consult 
 table of contents) . 2 . Introduction into Europe :of the silk industry : Gibbon, 
 chap, xl (consult table of contents). 3. The Hippodrome and the " Blues" and 
 the " Greens " : Oman, The Byzantine Empire, chap, ii, pp. 22-25 ; chap, vi, 
 pp. 75-80. 
 
 1 See Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, vol. ii, chap. xiv. 
 
CHAPTER XLVI 
 THE RISE OF ISLAM 
 
 614. The Attack from the South upon Ancient Civilization. We 
 have seen the German barbarians of the 'North descend upon and 
 wrest from the Roman Empire all its provinces in the West. We 
 are now to watch a similar attack made upon the Empire by the 
 Arabs of the South, and to see wrested from the emperors of the 
 East a large part of the lands still remaining under their rule.^ 
 
 615. The Religious Condition of Arabia before Mohammed. Be- 
 fore the reforms of Mohammed the Arabs were idolaters. Their 
 holy city was Mecca. Here was the ancient and most revered 
 shrine of the Kaaba,^ where was preserved a sacred black stone 
 that was beheved to have been given by an angel to Abraham. 
 To this Meccan shrine pilgrimages were made from the most remote 
 parts of Arabia. 
 
 But though polytheism was the prevailing religion of Arabia, still 
 there were in the land many followers of other faiths. The Jews 
 especially were to be found in some parts of the peninsula in great 
 numbers, having been driven from Palestine by the Roman persecu- 
 tions. From them the Arab teachers had been made acquainted with 
 the doctrine of one sole God. From the numerous Christian con- 
 verts dwelling among them they had learned something of the 
 doctrines of Christianity. 
 
 616. Mohammed. Mohammed, the great prophet of the Arabs, 
 was bom in the holy city of Mecca, probably in the year 570 a.d. 
 In his early years he was a shepherd and a watcher of flocks by 
 night, as the great religious teachers Moses and David had been 
 before him. Later he became a merchant and a camel driver, 
 
 1 The student should make a careful comparative study of the maps after pp. 486, 
 526, 554. 2 So named from its having the shape of a cube. 
 
 551 
 
552 
 
 THE RISE OF ISLAM 
 
 j617 
 
 Mohammed possessed a soul that was early and deeply stirred 
 by the contemplation of those themes that ever attract the religious 
 mind. He declared that he had visions in which the angel Gabriel 
 appeared to him and made to him revelations which he was com- 
 manded to make known to his fellow men. The essence of the new 
 faith which he was to te'ach was this : There is but one God, and 
 Mohammed is his prophet. 
 
 For a considerable time after having received this commission, 
 Mohammed endeavored to gain adherents merely by persuasion ; but 
 
 
 Fig. 203. The Kaaba at Mecca. (From a drawing) 
 
 such was the incredulity which he everywhere met, that at the end 
 of three years' preaching his disciples numbered only forty persons. 
 617. The Hegira (622 a,d.). The teachings of Mohammed at last 
 aroused the anger of a powerful party airiong the guardians of the 
 national idols of the Kaaba, and they began" to persecute Mohammed 
 and his followers. To escape these persecutions Mohammed fled to 
 the neighboring city of Medina. This Hegira, or "flight," as the 
 word signifies, occurred 622 A.D., and was considered by the Mos- 
 lems as such an important event in the history of their religion that 
 they adopted it as the beginning of a new era, and from it still 
 continue to reckon historical dates. 
 
§618] THE FAITH EXTENDED BY THE SWORD 553 
 
 618. The Faith Extended by the Sword. His cause being warmly 
 espoused by the inhabitants of Medina, Mohammed now assumed 
 along with the character of a lawgiver and moral teacher that of 
 a warrior. He declared it to be the will of feod that the new faith 
 should be spread by the sword. 
 
 The year following the Hegira he began to attack and plunder 
 caravans. The flame of a sacred war was Soon kindled. Warriors 
 from all quarters flocked to the standard *of the prophet. Their 
 reckless enthusiasm was intensified by the assurance that death met 
 in fighting those who resisted the true faith insured the martyr 
 immediate entrance upon the joys of paradise. Within ten years 
 from the time of the assumption of the *sword by Mohammed, 
 Mecca had been conquered and the new orccd established widely 
 among the independent tribes of Arabia. 
 
 619. The Koran and its Teachings. The doctrines of Moham- 
 medanism or Islam, which means "' submission to God," are con- 
 tained in the Koran, which is believed by thg orthodox to have been 
 written from all eternity on tablets in heaven. From time to time 
 Mohammed recited to his disciples portions of the " heavenly book " 
 as its, contents were revealed to him in his dreams and visions. 
 These communications were held in the '" breasts of men," or were 
 written down upon pieces of pottery, the broad shoulder-bones of 
 sheep, and the ribs of palm leaves.-' Soon after the death of the 
 prophet these scraps of writing were religiously collected, supple- 
 mented by tradition, and then arranged chiefly according to length. 
 Such was the origin of the sacred book of Islam. 
 
 The fundamental doctrine of Islam is the unity of God : " There is 
 no God save Allah " echoes through the Koran. To this is added the 
 equally binding declaration that " Mohammed Ss the prophet of Allah." 
 
 The Koran inculcates the practice of four cardinal virtues or 
 duties. The first is prayer ; five times every day must the believer /, 
 turn his face towards Mecca and engage in devotion. Tjie^second 
 requirement is almsgiving, or payment of the so-called holy tax. *" 
 The third is keeping the fast of Ramadan, which lasts a whole month, > 
 
 1 Palmer in the introduction to his translation of the KAran saysthat it is "probable 
 Mohammed could neither read nor write." 
 
554 THE RISE OF ISLAM [§620 
 
 throughout which period nothing must be eaten during the day. The 
 fourth_duty_is making a pilgrimage to Mgcca. Every person who can 
 possibly do so is required to make this journey. 
 
 620. The Conquest of Persia, Syria, "Egypt, and Worth Africa. 
 For exactly one century after the death of Mohammed the caliphs 
 or successors of the prophet ■■■ were engaged in an almost unbroken 
 series of conquests. Persia was subjugated and the authority of 
 the Koran was established throughout the land of the ancient fire- 
 worshipers. Syria was wrested from the Eastern Roman Empire 
 and Asia Minor was overrun. Egypt and North Africa, the latter 
 just recently delivered from the Vandals (sect. 577), were also 
 snatched from the hands of the Byzantine emperors. 
 
 By the conquest of Syria the birthplace of Christianity was lost to 
 the Christian world. By the conquest of North Africa, lands whose 
 history for a thousand years had been intertwined with that of the 
 opposite shores of Europe, and which at one time seemed destined 
 to share in the career of freedom and progress opening to the peoples 
 of that continent, were drawn back into the fatalism and the stagna- 
 tion of the East. From being an extension of Europe they became 
 once more an extension of Asia. 
 
 621. Attacks upon Constantinople. Thus in only a little more than 
 fifty years from the death of Mohammed his standard had been 
 carried by the lieutenants of his successors through Asia to the Hel- 
 lespont on the one side and across Africa to the Straits of Gibraltar 
 on the other. We may expect to see the Saracens at one or both of 
 these points attempt the invasion of Europe. 
 
 The first attempt was made in the East, where the Arabs vainly 
 endeavored to gain control of the Bosphorus by wresting Constanti- 
 nople from the hands of the Eastern emjjerors. This check that the 
 Saracens received before Constantinople was doubtless next in im- 
 portance for European civihzation to the check given their conquering 
 hordes a little later in France at the great battle of Tours.^ 
 
 1 Abu-Bekr (632-634 A. d.), Mohammed's father-in-law, was the first caliph. He 
 was followed by Omar (634-644 a.d.), Othman (644-655 A.D.), and All (655-661 A.D.), 
 all of whom fell by the hands of assassins. Ali was the last of the four so-called 
 orthodox caliphs. 2 Some historians regard 'ij as even more important. 
 
IS 80 
 
 
 
 
 ^e-^^ 
 
 sarSt^ 
 
 
 
 TR 
 
 k 
 
 _^S^-^ \ "HOD 
 
 CHETE 
 
 GREATEST EXTENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SAKACEN DOMINIONS 
 
 C. A. D. 750 
 
 20 LoDe'lude 25 Eagt 
 

 
 S6 40 45 60 Sf 60 65 70 76 
 
 80 
 
 s 
 
 9 
 
 ) 
 
 \ 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 6 
 
 A c i: 
 
 Doryl^um 
 PHU6 Beryt 
 
 * 
 
 
 \ ^^ ' 
 
 \ ^ 2 
 
 r 
 
 A Tjrtr^i 
 
 Ptokmaisi 1, 
 (Acn;) iJ>ff 
 Ascalo^ jjj 
 
 Wt 
 
 \ 
 
 iJ 
 
 ^ 
 
 \ 1 \ y a'j m n "■ ' I 0. r \ \ _,^-^ 
 
 1 8 
 
 "" ^ ^ ' "r L\ .^^~^\^ SX'^^^'^x 
 
 
 ^1 \ K^\ 
 
 from 35 Greenwicli 40 46 60 0» 
 
 
 
§622] THE CONQUEST OF SPAIN 555 
 
 622. The Conquest of Spain (711 a. d.). While the Moslems were 
 thus being repulsed from Europe at its eastern extremity, they suc- 
 ceeded in gainmg a foothold in Spain. Roderic, the last of the Visi- 
 gothic kings (sect. 576), was hopelessly defeated in battle, and all the 
 peninsula, save some mountainous regions in the northwest, quickly 
 submitted to the invaders. By this conquest some of the fairest 
 provinces of Spain were lost to Christendom for a period of eight 
 hundred years. 
 
 No sooner had the subjugation of the country been effected than 
 multitudes »of colonists from Arabia, Syria, and North Africa crowded 
 into the peninsula, until in a short time the provinces of Seville, 
 Cordova, Toledo, and Granada became predominantly Arabic in 
 dress, manners, language, and religion. 
 
 623. Invasion of France ; B attle of Tours (732 a.d.). Four or five 
 years after the conquest of Spain the Saracens crossed the Pyrenees 
 and established themselves upon the plains of Gaul. This advance 
 of the Moslem host beyond the northern wall of Spain was viewed 
 with the greatest alarm by all Christendom. It looked as though 
 the followers of Mohammed would soon possess all the continent. 
 As Draper pictures it, the Crescent, lying in a vast semicircle upon 
 the northern shore of Africa and the curving coast of Asia, with one 
 horn touching the Bosphorus and the other the Straits of Gibraltar, 
 seemed about to round to the full and overspread all Europe. 
 
 In the year 732 A. D., just one hundred years after the death of 
 the prophet, the Franks, under their leader Charles Martel , and their 
 allies met the Moslems upon the plains of Tours in central Gaul and 
 committed to the issue of a single battle the fate of Christendom and 
 the future course of history. The Arabs suffered an overwhelming 
 defeat and soon withdrew behind the Pyrenees. 
 
 The young Christian civilization of western Europe was thus 
 delivered from an appalling danger such as had not threatened it 
 since the fearful days of Attila and the Huns (sect. 544). 
 
 624. The Dismemberment of the Caliphate. "At the close of the 
 first century of the Hegira," writes Gibbon, " the caliphs were the 
 most potent and absolute monarchs of the globe." But in a short 
 time the extended empire, through the quarrels of sectaries and the 
 
556 THE RISE OF ISLAM [§625 
 
 ambitions of rival aspirants for the honors of the caliphate, was broken 
 in fragments, and from three capitals — from Bagdad upon the Tigris, 
 from Cairo upon the Nile, and from Cordova upon the Guadalquivir 
 — were issued the commands of three rival caliphs, each of whom 
 was regarded by his adherents as the sole rightful spiritual and civil 
 successor of Mohammed. All, however, held the great prophet in 
 the same reverence, all maintained with equal zeal the sacred char- 
 acter of the Koran, and all prayed with their faces turned toward 
 the holy city of Mecca. 
 
 625. The Civilization of Arabian Islam. The Saracens were 
 co-heirs of antiquity with the Germans. They made especially their 
 own the scientific^ accumulations of the ancient civilizations and 
 bequeathed them to Christian Europe. From the Greeks and the 
 Hindus they received the germs of astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, 
 algebra, medicine, botany, and other sciences. The scientific writings 
 of Aristotle, Euclid, and Galen, and Hindu treatises on astronomy 
 and algebra were translated from the Greek and Sanskrit into Arabic, 
 and formed the basis of the Arabian studies- and investigations. 
 Almost all of the sciences that thus came "into their hands were im- 
 proved and enriched by them, and then transmitted to European 
 scholars. 2 They devised what is known from them as the Arabic or 
 decimal system of notation,^ and gave to Europe this indispensable 
 instrument of all scientific investigations dependent upon mathematical 
 calculations. 
 
 In the lighter forms of literature — romance and poetry — the 
 Arabs produced much that possesses a high degree of excellence. 
 The inimitable tales of the Arabian Nights, besides being a valuable 
 
 1 Gibbon affirms that no Greek poet, orator, or historian was ever translated into 
 Arabic. See Decline and Fall, chap. lii. 
 
 2 What Europe received in science from Arabian sources is kept in remembrance 
 by such words as alchemy, alcohol, alembic, algebra, alkali, almanac, azimuth, chemistry, 
 elixir, zenith, and nadir. To how great an extent the chief Arabian cities became the 
 manufacturing centers of the mediaeval world is indicated by the names which these 
 places have given to various textile fabrics and other articles. Thus muslin comes from 
 Mosul, on the Tigris, damask from Damascus, and gait%e from Gaza. Damascus and 
 Toledo blades tell of the proficiency of the Arab workmen in metallurgy. 
 
 s The figures or numerals, with the exception of the zero symbol, employed in their 
 system, they seem to have borrowed from India. 
 
§625] THE CIVILIZATION OF ARABIAN ISLAM 557 
 
 commentary on Arabian life and manners at the time of the culmina- 
 tion of oriental culture at the court of Bagdad, form also an addition 
 to the imperishable portion of the literature' of the world. 
 
 All this literary and scientific activity naturally found expression 
 in the estabhshment of schools, universities, and libraries. In all the 
 great cities of the Arabian empire, as at Bagdad, Cairo, and Cordova, 
 centuries before Europe could boast anything beyond cathedral or 
 monastic schools, great universities were drawing together vast crowds 
 of eager young Moslems and creating an atmosphere of learning and 
 refinement. The famous " university " at Cairo, which has at the 
 present day an attendance of several thousand students, is a survival 
 from the great days of Arabian Islam. 
 
 Ill the erection of mosques and other public edifices the Arab 
 architects developed a new and striking style of architecture, — one 
 of the most beautiful specimens of which is preserved to us in the 
 palace of the Moorish kings at Granada, — a style which has given 
 to modern builders some of their finest models. 
 
 Selections fiom the Sources. The Koran is our chief source for a knowl- 
 edge of Islam as a religion. The translation by Palmer, in Sacred Books of the 
 East, is the best. The Speeches and Table-talk of the Prophet Mohammed (chosen 
 and translated by Stanley Lane-Poole). European History Studies (University 
 of Nebraska), vol. ii, No. 3, '" Selections from the Koran." Robinson's Readings, 
 vol. i, chap, vi, pp. 11 4-1 20 ; Ogg's Source Book of Mediarual History, chap. vii. 
 
 References (Modern). Muir, The Cordn : its Composition and Teachings; 
 The Life of Mohammed; Annals of the Early Caliphate; and The Rise and 
 Decline of Islam (all these works are based on the original sources ; they 
 are, however, written in an unfriendly and unsympathetic spirit). Smith, 
 Mohammed and Mohammedanism (has a short bibliography). Sprenger, 
 The Life of Mohammed. IRVING, Mahomet and his Successors. GiBBON, 
 chaps. Wii. MA.^GO-LlO\3Tti, Mohammed and the Rise of Islam. CARhYTJE, Heroes 
 and Hero-worship, lect. ii, "The Hero as Prophet." Freeman, HistoTy and 
 Conquests of the Saracens (a rapid sketch by a master). GiLMAN, The Saracens 
 from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Bagdad. Syed Ameer Ali, The Spirit of 
 Islam : or the Life and Teachings of Mohammed and Short History of the Saracens. 
 Poole, Studies in a Mosque. Encyc. Br,t., nth ed., Arts. " Mahomet," •; Ma- 
 hommedan Institutions," " Mahommedan Law," " Mahommedan Religion. 
 The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. ii, chaps.>x-xn. 
 
 topics for Class Reports, i. Mohammed,: Carlyle, Heroes and Hero- 
 wonhii, lect. ii, "The Hero as Prophet." 2. Some teachings of Islam: 
 Oilman, The Saracens, chap. xv. 3- Selected tales from the Arabian Nights. 
 
CHAPTER XLVII 
 
 CHARLEMAGNE AND THE RESTORATION OF THE EMPIRE 
 IN THE WEST 
 
 636. Introductory. We return now to the West. The Franks, 
 who with the aid of their confederates withstood the advance of 
 the Saracens upon the field of Tours and saved Europe from fub- 
 jection to the Koran, are the people that first attract our attention. 
 Among them it is that a man appears who makes the first grand 
 attempt to restore the laws, the order, the 'institutions of the ancient 
 Romans. Charlemagne or Charles the Great, their king, is the im- 
 posing figure that moves amidst all the events of the times — indeed, 
 is the one who makes the events and renders the period an epoch in 
 universal history. 
 
 The story of this era affords the key to very much of the subse- 
 quent history of western Europe. The mere enumeration of the 
 events which are to claim our attention will illustrate the important 
 and germinal character of the period. We shall tell how the Mayors 
 of the Palace of the Merovingian princes became the actual kings of 
 the Franks ; how, through the liberality of the Frankish kings, the 
 popes laid the foundations of their temporal sovereignty ; and how 
 Charlemagne restored the Roman Empire in the West, and through- 
 out its extended limits, in the fusion of things Roman and of things 
 Germanic, laid the basis of modern civilization. 
 
 627. How Duke Pippin became King of the Franks (751 A-D.). 
 Charles Martel, who saved the Christian civilization of western 
 Europe on the field of Tours, although the^real head of the Frankish 
 nation, was nominally only an officer of the Merovingian court 
 (sect. 578). He died without ever having borne the tide of king, 
 notwithstanding he had exercised all the authority of that office. 
 
 But Charles's son. Pippin III, aspired to"the regal title and honors. 
 He resolved to depose his titular master and to make himself king. 
 
 558 
 
* 20 
 
 EUROPE 
 
 IN THE TIME OF 
 
 CHARLES THE GREAT 
 814 
 
 lU/man £mfire of the 1 
 
 Raman Tnif^re o/iht V 
 avd (Vt depimdenl State 
 
§628] TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPES 559 
 
 Not deeming it wise, however, to do this without the sanction of the 
 Pope, he sent an embassy to represent to him the state of affairs 
 and to solicit his advice. Mindful of recent favors that he had re- 
 ceived at the hands of Pippin, the Pope gave his approval to the 
 proposed scheme by replying that it seemed altogether reasonable 
 that the one who was king in reality should be king also in name. 
 This was sufficient. Childeric — such was^ the name of the Mero- 
 vingian king — was straightway deposed, and Pippin, whose own 
 deeds together with those of his illustrious father had done so much 
 for the Prankish nation and for Christendom, was crowned king of 
 the Franks (751 a. d.), and thus became the first of the Carolingian 
 line, the name of his illustrious son Charles (Charlemagne) giving 
 name to the house. 
 
 628. Pippin Helps to Establish the Temporal Power of the Popes 
 (756 A. D.). In the year 754 a.d. Pope Stephen II, troubled by the 
 king of the Lombards, besought Pippin's aid against the barbarian. 
 Pippin, quick to return the favor which the head of the" Church had 
 rendered him in the securing of his crown,; straightway interposed in 
 behalf of the Pope. He descended into Italy with an army, expelled 
 the Lombards from their recent conquests, and made a donation to 
 the Pope of the regained lands ^ (756 a. d.). As a symbol of the gift 
 he laid the k&ys of Ravenna, Rimini, and of many other cities on the 
 tomb of St. Peter. 
 
 This endowment may be regarded as having practically laid the 
 basis of the temporal sovereignty of the popes ; for although Pope 
 Stephen, as it seems, had already resolved to cast off allegiance to 
 the Eastern emperor and set up an independent Church state, still 
 it is not probable that he could have carried out successfully such an 
 enterprise had he not been aided in his project by the Prankish king. 
 
 639. Charlemagne or Charles the Great. Pippin was followed by 
 his son Charles' (768-814 a.d.), who by the almost unanimous 
 verdict of students of the medieval period. has been pronounced the 
 
 1 The sovereignty of all these lands belonged nominally to the emperor at Constanti- 
 iple. His claims were ignor 
 
 2 During the first three ye 
 with him in the government. 
 
 nople. His claims were ignored by Pippin, 
 
 2 During the first three years of his reign a brother named Carloman was associated 
 
56a RESTORATION OF THE EMPIRE [§630 
 
 most imposing personage that appears between the fifth and the 
 fifteenth century. " He stands alone," says Hallam, " like a beacon 
 upon a waste, or a rock in the broad ocean." His greatness has 
 erected an enduring monument for itself in his name, the one by 
 which he is best known — Charlemagne. 
 
 Charlemagne's long reign of nearly half a century was well filled 
 with military campaigns and conquests by which he so extended the 
 boundaries of his dominions that they came to embrace the greater 
 part of western Europe. But his most noteworthy work was achieved 
 not as a warrior, but as a wise ruler and administrator. He gave 
 personal attention to matters of every kind, public and private ; kept 
 a fatherly watch over the affairs of the Church ; and established in 
 connection with the cathedrals and monasteries numerous schools, 
 which mark the beginning of a new intellectual life for Western 
 Christendom. 
 
 630. Restoration of the Empire in the West (soo a.d.). The great 
 historical event of Charles's reign was the conferring upon him by 
 the Pope of the imperial crown of the Caesars. The circumstances 
 of this famous transaction were these. 
 
 Pope Leo III having called upon Charlemagne for aid against a 
 hostile faction at Rome, the king soon ajjpeared in person at the 
 capital and punished summarily the disturbers of the- peace of the 
 Church. The gratitude of Leo led him at this time to make a most 
 signal return for the many services of the Prankish king. To under- 
 stand his act a word of explanation is needed. 
 
 For a considerable time a variety of circumstances had been 
 fostering a growing feeling of enmity between the Italians and the 
 emperors at Constantinople. Just at this time, by the crime of the 
 Empress Irene, who had deposed her son (Constantine VI) and put 
 out his eyes that she might have his place, the Byzantine throne 
 was vacant, in the estimation of the Italians, who contended that 
 the crown of the Cassars could not be wctrji by a woman. In view 
 of these circumstances Pope Leo and those about him conceived 
 the purpose of taking away from the heretical and effeminate Greeks 
 the imperial crown and bestowing it upon some strong and orthodox 
 and worthy prince in the West. 
 
§630] CHARLEMAGNE BECOMES EMPEROR 561 
 
 Now, among all the Teutonic chiefs of Western Christendom 
 there was none who could dispute in claims to the honor with the 
 king of the Franks, the representative of a most illustrious house 
 and the strongest champion of the young Christianity of the West 
 against her pagan foes. Accordingly, as Charles was participating 
 in the solemnities of Christmas Day in the basilica of St. Peter 
 at Rome, the Pope approached the kneeling king, and placing 
 a crown of gold upon his head proclaimed him Emperor and 
 Augustus (800 A.D.). 
 
 The mtention of Pope Leo was, by a sort of reversal of the act of 
 Constantine the Great, to bring back from the East the seat of the 
 imperial court ; but what he really accomplished was a restoration of 
 the line of emperors in the West, which three hundred and twenty- 
 four years before had been ended by Odd-acer, when he dethroned 
 Romulus Augustus (sect. 547). We say this was what he actually 
 effected ; for the Greeks of the East, disregarding wholly what the 
 Roman people and the Pope had done, maintained their line of 
 emperors just as though nothing had occurred in Italy. So now 
 from this time on for centuries there were, most of the time, two 
 emperors, one in the East and another in the West, each claiming to 
 be the rightful successor of Ceesar Augustus.^ 
 
 This revival of the Empire in the West was one of the most 
 important matters in European history. It gave to the following 
 centuries '" a great political ideal," which was the counterpart of 
 the religious ideal of a universal Church embodied in the Papacy, 
 and which was to determine the character of large sections of 
 mediaeval history. 
 
 1 From this time on it will be proper for us to use '-the terms Western Empire and 
 Eastern Empire. These names should not, however, be employed before this time, for 
 the two parts of the old Roman Empire were simply administrative divisions of a single 
 empire ; but we may properly enough speak of the Roman Empire in the West, and the 
 Roman Empire in the East, or of the Western and Eastern emperors. What it is very 
 essential to note is, that the restoration of the line of the Western emperors actually 
 destroyed the unity of the old Empire, so that from this time on until the destruction of 
 the Eastern Empire in 1453, there were, as we have said in the text, two rival emperors, 
 each in theory having rightful suzerainty of the whole world, whereas the two (or more) 
 emperors in Roman times were the co-rulers of a single and indivisible world empire. 
 See Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire. 
 
562 RESTORATION OF THE EMPIRE [§631 
 
 Charlemagne reigned as emperor only "fourteen years. He died 
 814 A. D., and his empire soon afterwards fell in pieces. It was 
 renewed, however, by Otto the Great of Germany in the year 962 
 and came to be known as the Holy Roman J^mpire. 
 
 631. The Revival of the Empire as a Dividing Line in History. 
 As Pope Leo placed the imperial diadem upon the head of Charles 
 in St. Peter's basilica he cried, " To Charleg the Augustus, crowned 
 by God, great and pacific emperor, life and victory." The Roman 
 populace within the church repeated the cry, which was taken up by 
 the Prankish warriors outside. " In that shout was pronounced the 
 union, so long in preparation, so mighty in its consequences, of the 
 Roman and the Teuton, of the memories and the civilization of 
 the South with the fresh energy of the North, and from that 
 moment modern history begins." ^ 
 
 Selections from the Sources. Eginhard (Einhard), Life of the Emperor 
 Karl the Great (translation by William Glaister recommended). (Einhard was 
 Charles' confidential friend and secretary. " Almost all our real, vivifying 
 knowledge of Charles the Great," says Hodgkiii, " is derived from Einhard, 
 and the Vita Caroli is one of the most precious bequests of the early 
 
 Middle Ages.") 2 rSn stations and Jieprints (University of Pennsylvania), vol. vi, 
 No. 5, " Selections from the Laws of Charles the Great." Robinson's Jiead- 
 ings^ vol. i, chap, vii; Ogg's Source Book 0/ Mediaeval History, chap. ix. 
 
 References (Modern). Hodgkin, Charles the Great, and Mombert, His- 
 tory of Charles the Great (the first is the best shcat biography in English). 
 Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire, chaps, iv, v (giv^s a clear view of the import 
 of the restoration of the Empire). Emerton, introduction to the Middle Ages, 
 chaps, xii-xiv. Sergeant, I'he Franks, chaps, xvi-xxii (an admirable sketch, 
 with a moderate appraisement of Charles's work). West, Alcuin and the Rise 
 of the Christian Schools, and Mullinger, The Schools of Charles the Great. 
 Adams, Civilization during the Middle Ages, chap. vii. Davis, Charlemagne. 
 The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. ii, chaps, xviii, xix, xxi. 
 
 Topics for Class Reports, i. Charlemagne and his court: Davis, Charle- 
 magne, chap. X. 2. Alcuin and the Palace School: West, Alcuin and the Rise 
 of the Christian Schools, chap. iii. 3. The import of the restoration of the 
 Empire: Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire (8th ed.), chaps, iv, v, xxi (a subject 
 for the advanced student). 
 
 i Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire, p. 49. Bryce here uses the phrase modem 
 history as comprehending both the mediasval and the modern period. For the moment 
 he conceives history as presenting only two phases, thd ancient and the modern. 
 
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 (Containing the full titles of works referred to, arranged in groups alphabetically 
 according to authors, with names of publishers and d^ates of issue. Well-known text- 
 books are not included in the list.) 
 
 FOR PREHISTORIC TIMES AND THE ORIENT 
 
 Arnold, Sir E., The Light of Asia. Little, Boston, igoi. 
 Baikie, J., The Story of the Pharaohs. Adam and Black, London. 1908. 
 Ball, C. J., Light from the East. Eyre & Spottiswoode, London. 1899. 
 Benjamin, S. G. W., Persia. Putnam, New York. igoS. 
 '&x&3.&t^A,].V\., A History of Egypt. Scribner, New York. igi2. 
 
 A History of the Ancient Egyptians. Scrjbner, New York. 1914. 
 
 Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt. Scribner, New 
 York. 1912. 
 Brinton, D. G., Races and Peoples. McKay, New'York. 
 Budde, K., Religion of Israel to the Exile. Putnam, New York. 1899. 
 Budge, E. A. W., Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life. K. Paul, London. 1899. 
 
 The Mummy. Cambridge [Eng.] University Press. 1893. 
 Burrows, R. M., The Discoveries in Crete. Murray, London. 1907. 
 CandoUe, A. H. de, Origin of Cultivated Plants. Appleton, New York. 1885. 
 Cheyne, T. V..,fewish Religious Life after the Ei^ile. Putnam, New York. 
 Clodd, E., The Stoiy of the Alphabet. Appleton, New York. 1900. 
 Cornill, C. H., History of the People of Israel. Open Court Pub. Co., Chicago. 
 Davenport, R., Domesticated Animals and Plants. Ginn, Boston. 
 De Groot, J. J. M., The Religion of the Chinese. Macmillan, New York. 1910. 
 
 Religion in China. Putnam, New York. 1912. 
 Tte.'[i\;ex.x,]., The Races of Man. New ed. Scribner, New York. 1901. 
 Doolittle, J., Social Life of the Chinese. Hjrper, New York. 1865, T867. 
 
 2 vols. O.p. 
 Douglas, R. K., China. Putnam, New York. 1899. 
 Duncker, M., The History of Antiquity. Trans, by Evelyn Abbot. Bentley, 
 
 London. 1877-1882. 6 vols. O.p. 
 Dutt, R. C, The Civiliiation of India. Dent, London. T900. 
 Edwards, A. B., A Thousand Miles up the Nile. Burt, New York. 
 Elliot, G. F. S., Prehistoric Man. Seeley, London. 1915. 
 Erman, A., Life in Ancient Egypt. Macmillan, L,ondon. 1894. 
 Ferguson, J., Rude Stone Monuments. Murray, London. 1872. 
 Yx2^^x,).Q., The Golden Bough. Macmillan, London. 191 1. 12 vols. 
 
 Adonis, Aitis, Osiris. Macmillan, London. 2 vols. 
 Frobenius, L., The Childhood of Man. Lippincott, Philadelphia. 1909. 
 Garstang, J., The Land of the Hiitites. Dutton, New York. 1910. 
 Geil W ^,The Great Wall of China. Murray, London. 1909. 
 Giles, H. A., Civilization of China. Holt, New York. 
 
 A Histoiy of Chinese Literature. Appleton, New York. 1901. 
 Goodspeed, G. S., A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians. Scribner, 
 New York. 1902. 
 
 563 
 
564 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Gowan, H. H., Outline History of China (pt. i). Sherman, Boston. 1913. 
 Hilprecht, H. V., Explorations in Bible Lands during the ji)th Century. Holman, 
 Philadelphia. 1903. 
 
 Recent Research in Bible Lands. S. S. Times, Philadelphia. 
 }loe.i:a&&, M., Pri?nitive Man. Button, New York. 1901. 
 Hoffmann, W. J., The Beginnings of Writing. Appleton, New York. 1895. 
 Hogarth, D. G., The Ancient East. Holt, New York. 
 Holbrook, F., Cave, Mound, and Lake D-wellers. Heath, Boston. 191 1. 
 Hommel, F., The Civilization of the East. Button, New York. 1900. 
 Hopkins, E. W., 7^5,? Religions of India. Ginn, Boston. 1895. 
 Hunter, W. W., A Brief History of the Indian Peoples. 23d ed. Clarendon 
 
 Press, Oxford. 1897. 
 Jackson, A, V. W., Zoroaster. Lemcke, New York. 1899. 
 Jastrow, M., The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria. Ginn, Boston. 1898. 
 
 Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions . Scribnef, New York. 1914. 
 
 The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria. Lippincott, Philadelphia. 1915. 
 Joly, N., Man before Metals. Appleton, New York- 1883. 
 Keane, A. H., Ethnology. Cambridge [Eng.] University Press. 1896. 
 
 Man, Fast and Present. Cambridge [Kng.] University Press. 1899. 
 Keary, C. F., The Dawn of History. Scribner, New York. 1883. 
 Keith, A., Ancient Types of Man. Harper, New York. 1912. 
 Keller, F., The Lake Dwellings of Switzerland. Longmans, London. 1866. 
 V..&nx\ck, }., Phoenicia. Fellowes, London. 1855. O.p. 
 Kent, C. F., A History of the Hebrew People. Scribner, New York. 1896, 
 Kidd, B., Savage Childhood. Adani and Black, London. igo6. 
 King, L. W., Babylonian Religion and Mythology. K. Paul, London. 1899. 
 
 A History of Sumer and Akkad. Stokes, New York. 
 
 A History of Babylon. London. 1915. 
 Koldewey, R., The Excavations at Babylon. MacmiUan, London. 1914. 
 Layard, Sir A. H., N'ineveh and its Remains. Murray, London. 1867. 
 Legge, J^, The Religions of China. Scribner, New York. 1881. 
 Lubbock, Sir J., Prehistoric Times. Holt, New York. 
 McCurdy, J. F., History, Prophecy, and the Monuments. Macmillan, New York. 
 
 Three volumes in one. 
 Marett, R. R., Anthropology. Holt, New Y'ork. 
 Martin, W. A. P., The L,ore of Cathay. Revell, New York. 1901. 
 Mason, O. T., Woman's Share in Primitive Culture. Appleton, New York. 1894. 
 
 TJie Origin of Invention. Scribner, New York. 1914. 
 
 First Steps i7i Human Cultu?-e. Flood, Meadville. 1895. 
 Maspero, G., The Dawn of Civilization. Ed. by A. H. Sayce. Trans, by 
 M. L. McClure. Soc. Prom. Chr. Knowl., London. 1894. 
 
 Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria. Appleton, New York. 1900. 
 
 The Passing of the Empires. Soc. Prom. Chr., Knowl., London. 1900. 
 
 The Struggle of the Nations. Soc. Prom. Chr. Knowl., London. 1894. 
 
 Popular Stories of Ancient Egypt. Putnam, New York. 1915. 
 Montefiore, C. G., Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated 
 
 by the Religion of the Ancient Hebrews. Williams, London. 1892. 
 Mosso, A., The Dawn of Mediterranean Civilization. Baker, New York. 
 Moulton, R. G., The Literaiy Study of the Bible. Heath, Boston. 1895. 
 Myres, J. L., The Dawn of History. Holt, New York. igu. 
 Newberry, P. E., and Garstang, J., Short History of Egypt. Dana Estes and 
 
 Co. (now The Page Company), Boston. 1904. 
 Osborn, H. F., Men of the Old Stotte Age. Scribner, New York. 1915. 
 V3.i)^j-[\,'%. h.. Prehistoric Art. Longmans, London. 1915. 
 
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 565 
 
 Perrot, G,, and Chipiez, C, History of Art in Ancient Egypt. Trans, by 
 W. Armstrong. Chapman, London. 1883. 2 vols. 
 
 A History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria. Trans, by W. Armstrong. 
 Chapman, London. 1884. 2 vols. 
 Peters, J. P., Nippur. Putnam, New York. 1897. 2 vols. 
 
 The Religion of the Hebrews. Ginn, Boston. 1914. 
 Petrie, W. M. Flmderj, Egyptian Tales. Second Series. Methuen, London. 
 ,1895- 
 
 Egypt and Israel. Soc. Prom. Chr. Knowl., London, 191 1. 
 
 A Histoiy of Egypt. Methuen, London. 1894-1901. 6 vols. 
 Kagozm, Z. A., TAe'Story of Assyria. Putnam, New York. 1896. 
 
 Story of Vedic India. Putnam, New York. 1895. 
 Ratzel, F., The History of Mankind. Macraillan,,London. 1896-1898, 3 vols. 
 Rawlinson, G., Five Great Monarchies. 2d ed. Murray, London. 1871. 
 3 vols. O.p. 
 
 History of Phmnicia. Longmans, London. 1S89. 
 
 The Story of Phcenicia. Putnam, New York. 1896. 
 Reinach, S., Apollo. Scribner, New York. 191 4. 
 Renan, E., History of the People of Israel. Little, Boston. 5 vols. 
 Rhys-Davids, T. W., Buddhism. Putnam, New York. 1896. 
 
 Buddhist India. Putnam, New Y'ork. t896. 
 Ripley, W. Z., The Races of Europe. Appleton, New York. 1899. 
 Rogers, R. W., A History of Babylonia and Assyria. Eaton, New York. 
 
 1901. 2 vols. 
 Sayce, A. H., The Ancient Empires of the East. Scribner, New York. I8g6. 
 
 Early Israel and the Surroitnding Nations. Service, London. 1899. 
 
 Social Life among the Assyrians and Babylonians. Revell, New York. 
 Schmidt, N., The Message of the Poets. Scribner, New York. 191 1. 
 Schrader, O.^ Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples. Griffin, London. O.p. 
 Sergi, G., The Mediterranean Race. Scott, London. 1901. 
 Shaler, N. ?>., Domesticated Animals. Scribner, New York. 1S95. 
 ?,mith.,G., The Chaldean Account of Genesis. Scribner, New York. 1S80. O.p. 
 SoWsiS, W. ]., Anciejit Hunters. Macmillan, London. 1911. 
 Starr, F., Some First Steps in Human Progress. Flood, Meadville. 1S95. 
 Steindorff, G., The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians. Putnam, New York. 
 
 1905. 
 TAyXax,!., The Alphabet. K. Paul, London. 1883. 2 vols. O.p. 
 
 The Origin of the Aryans. Scott, London. 1890. 
 Tylor, E. B., Anthropology. Hill, New York. 1904. 
 
 Early History of Mankind. Holt, New York. 1S78. 
 
 Primitive Culture. 3d ed. Murray, London.. 1891. 2 vols. O.p. 
 Warren, H. C, Buddhism in Translations. Cambridge [U.S.] University 
 
 Press. 1896. 
 Wiedemann, A., Religion of the Ancient Egyptiaris. Grevel, London. 1897. 
 Wilkinson, Sir J. G., Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. Murray, 
 
 London. 1S78. 3 vols. 
 Williams, S. W., The Middle Kingdom. Scribner, New York. 1883. 2. vols. 
 Winckler, H., The History of Babylonia and Assyria. Scribner, New York. 
 1907. 
 
 FOR GREECE 
 
 Abbott, E., A History of Greece. Putnam, New York. 1888-1900. 3 vols. 
 
 Pericles and the Golden Age of Athens. Putnam, New York. 1891. 
 AWcrotU k.H., The Decline of Hellas. Clive, London. 1894. 
 
566 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 AUcroft, A. H., and Masom, W. F., Early Grecian History. Clive, London. 
 
 A History of Sicily. Clive, London. 1890? 
 Baikie, J., The Sea-kings of Crete. Adam and Black, London. 1913. 
 Barnett, L. D., The Greek Drama. Dent, London. 1900. 
 Blumner, H., The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks. Cassell, London. 1895. 
 Burt, B. C, A Brief History of Greek Philosophy. Ginn, Boston. 1889. 
 Bury, J. B., History of Greece. Macmillan, London. 1900. 
 Butler, H. C, The Story of Athens. Century Co., New*York. 1902. 
 Csj^'ps,'E., From Homer to Theocritus. Scribner, New York. 1901. 
 Church, A. J., Pictures from Greek Life and Story. Putnam, New York. 1894. 
 Cotterill, H. B., Ancient Greece. Stokes, New York. 1913. 
 Cox, Sir G. W., The Athenian Empire. Longmans, London. 1897. 
 
 A General History of Greece. New ed. Longmans, London. 1892. 
 
 The Greeks and the Persians. loth ed. Longmans, London. 1900. 
 
 Lives of Greek Statesmen. Longmans, London. 1885, 1886. 2 vols. O.p. 
 Creasy, E. S., The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World. Harper, New York. 
 Croiset, A. and M., An Abridged History of Greek Literature. Macmillan, 
 
 New York. 1904. 
 Q.xa'axis,'?^., History of Greece. Scribner, New York. 1871-1874. 5 vols. 
 Davidson, T., Aristotle and Ancient Educational ^Ideals. Scribner, New York. 
 
 The Education of the Greek People. Appleton, New York. 1S94. 
 Dickinson, G. L., The Greek View of Life. Doubleday, New York. 1909. 
 Diehl, C, Excursions in Greece. Grevel, Londoff. 1893. 
 Dodge, T. A., Alexander. Houghton, Boston. 1890. (Great Captains.) 
 Draper, J. W., History of the Intellectual Developme^it of Europe. Harper, 
 
 New York. 2 vols. 
 Felton, C. C, Greece, Ancient and Modern. Ticknor, Boston. 1867. 
 Fowler, H. N., and Wheeler, J. R., Greek Archaeology. American Book Com- 
 pany, New York. 1909. 
 Furtwangler, A., Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture. Heinemann, London. 1885. 
 Gallon, F., Hereditary Genius. Macmillan, London. 1892. 
 Gardiner, E. N., Greek Athletic Sports. Macmillan, London. 1910. 
 Gardner, E. A., Ancient Athens. Macmillan, New York. 1902. 
 
 Handbook of Greek Sculpture. Macmillan, London. 1897. 
 Gardner, P., New Chapters in Greek History. Murray, London. 1892. 
 
 Principles of Greek Art. Macmillan, London. 1914. 
 Gayley, C. M., Classic Myths in English Literdtu7'e. 2d ed. Ginn, Boston. 
 
 1900. 
 Grant, A. J., Greece in the Age of Pericles. Murray, London. 1893. 
 Greenidge, A. H. J., Handbook of Greek Constitutional Histoiy. Macmillan, 
 
 London. 1896. 
 (^xo^^^G., Histoiy of Greece. Harper, New York. 1856,1857. 12 vols. 
 
 History of Greece. Murray, London. 10 vols. Little, Boston. 
 Grundy, G. B., The Great Persian War. Scribner, New York. 1901. 
 Guhl, E., and Koner, W., The Life of the Greeks and Romans. Appleton, 
 
 New York. 1896. 
 Gulick, C. B., The Life of the Ancient Greeks. Appleton, New York. 1902. 
 Hall, H. R. H., The Oldest Civilization of Greece. Nutt, London. 1901. 
 
 yEgean Archeology. Putnam, New York. 1915. 
 
 Ancient Histoiy of the iVear East. Methuen, -London. 1913. 
 Hamlin, A. D. F., Text-book of the Histoiy of Architecture. Longmans, London. 
 
 1909. 
 Harrison, J. A., Story of Greece. Putnam, New York. 1897. 
 Harrison, J. E., Introductory Studies in Greek Art. Unwin, London. 1885. 
 
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 567 
 
 Harry, J. E., The Greek Trag-k Poets. University of Cincinnati. 1914. 
 Hawes, C. H. and H. B., Crete, the Forerunner of Greece. Harper, New York. 
 
 1911. 
 Hogarth, D. G., Philip and Alexander of Macedon. Scribner, New York. 1897. 
 'HoXm, A., History of Greece. Macmillan, London. 1895. 4 vols. 
 Jebb, Sir R. C, Attic Orators. Macmillan, Londo'n. 1876. 2 vols. 
 
 Greek Literature. Macmillan, London. 1881. 
 Jevons, F. B., A History of Greek Literature. Scribner, New York. 1886. 
 Keller, A. G., Colonization. Ginn, Boston. 1908. 
 
 Leonard, W. E., Socrates, Master of Life. Open CBurt Pub. Co., Chicago. 191 5. 
 Lewes, G., The Biographical History of Philosophy. Button, New York. 
 L\oyd,W.Vv., The Age of Pericles. Macmillan, London. 1875. 2 vols. O.p, 
 Mach, E. von, Greek Sculpture. Ginn, Boston. 1903. 
 Mahaffy, J. P., Greek Life and Thoicght. Macmillan, London. 1887. 
 
 The Greek World under Romari Sway. Macmillan, London. i8go. 
 
 History of Classical Greek Literature. Macmillan, London. 1895. Two 
 volumes in four. 
 
 Old Greek Education. Harper, New York. 1882. 
 
 Problems in Greek Histoty. Macmillan, London. 1892. 
 
 Social Life in Greece. Macmillan, London. 1875. 
 
 The Story of Alexander'' s Empire. Putnam, New York. 1897. 
 
 Survey of Greek Civilization. Macmillan, New York. 1896. 
 
 The Progress of Hellenism in Alexander's Empire, The University of 
 Chicago Press. 1905. 
 Manatt, J. I., Aigean Days. Houghton, Boston. .1914. 
 Mayor, J. B., Sketch of Ancient Philosophy. Cambridge [Eng.] University Press. 
 
 1885. 
 Mosso, A., The Palaces of Crete. Putnam, New York. 1907. 
 Moulton, R. G., Ancient Classical Drama. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1898. 
 Murray, A. S., Greek Archeology. Scribner, New York. 
 
 History of Greek Sculpture. Rev. ed. Scribner, New York. 2 vols. 
 
 The Sculptures of the Parthenon. Dutton, New York. 1903. 
 Murray, G. G. A., History of Ancient Creek Literature. Appleton, New York. 
 Om3.n, C, History of Greece. 7th ed. Longmans, New York. 1901. 
 Osborn, H. F., From the Greeks to Darwin. Macmillan, New York. 1894. 
 Parry, E. L., The Two Great Art Epochs. McClurg, Chicago. 1914. 
 Pater, W., Greek Studies. Macmillan, London. 1895. 
 Perrot, G., and Chipiez, C, History of Art in Primitive Greece. Trans, by 
 
 W. Armstrong. Chapman, London. 1S94. 2 vols. 
 Pickard-Cambridge, A. W., Demosthenes. Putnam, New York. 1974. 
 Richardson, R. B., Vacation Days in Greece. Scribner, New York. 1903. 
 
 Greek Sculpture. American Book Company, New York. 191 1. 
 Rjdgeway, W., The Early Age of Gr-eece. Cambridge [Eng.] University Press. 
 
 1901. 2 vols. (New edition in press.) 
 Robinson, J. H., and Breasted, J. H., Outlines of European History (pt. i). 
 
 Ginn, Boston. 1914. 
 Sankey, C, The Spartan and Theban Supremacies, Scribner, New York. 1898. 
 SchUemann, H., Ilios. Harper, New York. 1881. 
 
 Mycence. Scribner, New York. 1878. O.p. 
 
 Tiryns. Scribner, New York. 1885. 
 
 Troja. Harper, New York. 1884. 
 
 Troy and its Remains. Murray, London. 1875. O.p. 
 Schuchhardt, C, SchUemann'' s Excavations. Macmillan, London. 1891. O.p. 
 Seymour, T. D., Life in the Homeric Age. Macmillan, New York. 1908. 
 
5 65 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Snedeker, C. H., The Coward of ThermopylcB. Doubleday, New York. igii. 
 
 (Now issued under the title of The Spartceti.) 
 Symonds, J. A., Studies of the Greek Poets. Harper, New York. 
 Tarbell, F. B., A History of Greek Art. Macmillan, New York. 
 Tozer, H. F., Classical Geography. American Book Company, New York. 
 Tsountas, C, and Manatt, J. I., The Mycenaan Age. Houghton, Boston. 1897. 
 
 O.p. 
 'Y\ic\ie.r,'\:.Q., Life in Ancient Athens. Macmillan, New York. 1914. 
 Walden, J. W. H., The Universities of Ancient Qreece. Scribner, New York. 
 
 1910. 
 Wheelei-, B. I., Alexander the Great. Putnam, New York. 1900. 
 Wright, W. C, Greek Literature. American Book Company, New York. 1907. 
 Zeller, E., The Stoics., Kpicitreans, and Sceptics. Longmans, London. 1892. 
 
 FOR ROME AND THE TRANSITION PERIOD 
 
 Abbott, F. F., History and Description of Roman Political Institutions. Ginn, 
 Boston. 1901. 
 Society and Politics in. Ancient Rome. Scribner, New ^'ork. 1912. 
 The Common People of Ancient Rome. Scribner, New York. 1916. 
 Adams, G. B., Civilization during the Middle Ages. Scribner, New York. 1894. 
 The Growth of the French Nation. Macmillan, New York. 1902. 
 European History. Macmillan, New York. 1899. 
 Amir, "All, M. S., Ihe Life and Teachings of Mohammed. Allen, London. 1895. 
 
 O.p. 
 Arnold, T., History of Rome. Appleton, New York. 1879. O.p. 
 Arnold, W. T., The Roman System of Provincial Administration. Macmillan, 
 
 London. 1879. OP- 
 Beesly, A. H., The Gracchi., Marins and Sulla. Longmans, London. 1S93. 
 Boissier, G., Cicero and his Friends. Putnam, New York. 
 
 Rome and Pompeii. Putnam, New York. 1896. 
 Bradley, H., The Goths. Putnam, New York. 1903. 
 
 Bryce, J., The Holy Roman Empire. New ed. Micmillan, London. 1904. 
 Bury, J. B., History of the Roman Empire. Murray, London, 1893. O-P' (New 
 ed. in preparation.) 
 Cambridge Medieval History. Macmillan, =New York. (Two volumes 
 
 now (1916) ready.) 
 History of the Later Roman Empire. Macmillan, London. 1889. 2 vols. 
 The Students Roman Empire. American Bopk Company, New York. 
 Capes, W. W., Roman History : the Early Empire. 8th ed. Longmans, Lon- 
 don. 1891. 
 The Roman Empire of the Second Century. Longmans, London. 1894. 
 Carlyle, T., Heroes arid Hero-worship . Scribner, New York. 
 Carr, A., The Church and the Romari Empire. Longmans, London. 1887. 
 Church, A. J., Roman Life in the Days of Cicero. "Dodd, New York. 
 
 The Story of Carthage. Putnam, New York. 1895. 
 Church, R. W., The Beginning of the Middle Ages-. Scribner, New York. 1890. 
 Coulanges, Fustel de. The Ancient City. Lee & Shepard, Boston. 1896. 
 Cunningham, W., Western Civilization (Mediseval and Modern Times). Cam- 
 bridge [Eng.] University Press. 1900. 
 Curteis, A. M., Ilistoiy of the Roman Empire, A.D. ^c/^-Soo. Rivingtons, Lon- 
 don. 1875. 
 Rise of the Macedonia?!- Em-pire. 4th ed. Lorjgmans, London. 1886. 
 
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 569 
 
 Davis, H. W. C, Charletnagne. Putnam, New York. igoo. 
 
 Davis, W. S., The Influence of PVealtk in Imperial Rome. Macmillan, New York. 
 
 . 1913- 
 Dennis, G., Cities and Cemeteries of Etniria. Murray, London. 1S83. 
 Dill, S., Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire. 2d ed. 
 
 Macmillan, London. 1899. 
 Roman Society from N'ero to St. Paul. Macmillan, London. 1904. 
 Dodge, T. A., Ccesar. Houghton, Boston. 1892. 
 
 Hannibal. Houghton, Boston. 1896. (Great Captains.) 
 Duruy, J. V., Ilistoiy of Rome. Ed. by Mahaffy. Jewett Pub. Co., Boston. 
 
 1896. 8 vols. O.p. 
 Emerton, E., An Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages. Ginn, Boston. 
 
 1888. 
 Ferrero, G., The Greatness and Decline of Rome. Putnam, New York. 1909. 
 
 5 vols. 
 Firth, J. B., Augustus Ciesar. Putnam, New York. 1903. 
 
 Constantine the Great. Putnam, New York. 1905. 
 Fisher, G. P., Histojy of the Christian Church. Scribner, New York. 18S7. 
 Fowler, H. N., A Histoiy of Roman Literature. Appleton, New York. 1903. 
 Fowler, W. W., The City-state of the Creeks and Romans. Macmillan, London. 
 
 1893- 
 
 ftihus Ccesar. Putnam, New York. 1892. 
 
 Rome. Holt, New York. 1912. 
 Frank, T., Roman Imperialism. Macmillan, New York. 1914. 
 Freeman, E. A., History of Federal Government ^ in Greece and Italy. Ed. by 
 J. B. Bury. 2d ed. Macmillan, London. 1893. O.p. 
 
 History of Sicily. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1891-1894. 4 vols. 
 
 History and Conquests of the Saracens. Henry & Parker, Oxford. iSy?. 
 
 The Story of Sicily. Putnam, New York. 1892. 
 Friedlander, L., Roman Life and Manners. Routledge, London ; Dutton, 
 
 New York. 4 vols. 
 Froude, J. A., Ccesar. Scribner, New York. 1900. 
 
 Gardner, X., Julian, Philosopher and Emperor. Putnam, New York. 1906. 
 Gibbon, E., The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Ed. by 
 
 J. B. Bury. Methuen, London. 1896-190(11. 7 vols. 
 Gibbons, J. (Cardinal), The Faith of our Fathers. Murphy, Baltimore. 1888. 
 Oilman, A., The Stoiy of Rome. Putnam, New York. 1896. 
 
 The Story of the Saracens. Putnam, New York. 1896. 
 Granrud, J. E., j?<7»;aK Constittitional History . Allyn, Boston. 1901. 
 Greenidge, A. H. J., Roman Public Life. Macmillan, London. 1901. 
 
 A History of Rome (vol. i). Dutton, New York. 1905. 
 Gummere, F, B., Germanic Origins. Scribner, New York. 1892. 
 Gwatkin, H. M., The Arian Controversy. Longmans, London. 1898. 
 Hadley, J., Introduction to Roman La-w. Appletop, New York. 1873. 
 Hardy, E. G., Christianity and the Roman Government. Longmans, London. 
 
 Harrison, F., Byzantine Hi'^tory in the Early Middle Ages. Macmillan, Lon- 
 don. 1900. 
 Havell, H. L., Republican Rome. Stokes, New York. 1914. 
 Heitland, W. E., The Roman Republic. Cambridge [Eng.] University Press. 
 
 1909. 3 vols. 
 Hodgkin, T., Charles the Great. Macmillan, London. 1897- 
 
 Italy and her Invaders. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1880-1899. 8 vols. 
 Theodoric the Goth. Putnam, New York. 1900. 
 
S70 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Holmes, R., Casar's Conquest of Gaul. Clarendqn Press, Oxford, igii. 
 How, W. W., and Leigh, H. D., History of Ronii^ Longmans, London. 1898. 
 Ihne, W., Early Rome. 6th ed. Longmans, London. 1900. 
 
 History of Rome. Longmans, London. 1871-1882. 5 vols. O.p. 
 Inge, W. R., Society in Rome imder the Ccesars. Scribner, New York. 1888. 
 Irving, W., Mahomet and his Successors. Putnam, New York. i868, 1869. 
 
 2 vols. 
 Johnston, H. W., The Private Life of the Romans, Scott, Chicago. 1903. 
 Jones, H. S., The Roman Empire. Putnam, New York. 1908. 
 Kingsley, C, The Hermits. Macmillan, London. 1868. 
 Lanciani, R., Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries. Houghton, 
 
 Boston. 1892. 
 Pagan and Christian Rome. Houghton, Boston. iSgg. 
 Ruins and Excavatio7is of Ancient Rome. Llbughton, Boston. 1897. 
 Lea, H. C, Superstition and Force. 4th ed. Lea, Philadelphia. 1892. 
 Lecky, W. E, H., A History of Eiiropean Morals. Appleton, New York. 1870. 
 Leland, C. G.-, Etruscan-Roman Remains in Poptilar Tradition. Unwin, London. 
 
 1892. O.p. 
 Long, G., The Decline of the Roman Republic. Bell, London. 1864-1874. 
 
 5 vols. O.p. 
 Macaulay, T. B., Lays of Ancient Rome. Houghton, Boston. 1895. 
 Mackail, J. W., Latin Literature. Scribner, New .York. 1900. 
 Mahan, A. T., The Influence of Sea Power upon ffistory. Little, Boston. 
 Margoliouth, I). S., Mohammed and the Rise of Islam. Putnam, New York. 1905. 
 yia-son. A.]., The Persectition of Diocletian. Deighton, Cambridge. 1876. O.p. 
 yisM, K., Pompeii : its Life and Art. Macmillan, New York. 1902. 
 Merivale, C, The Fall of the Roman Republic. Longmans, London. 1853. 
 7X1? Continental Teutons. Soc. Prom. Chr. K'nowl., London. 
 A History of the Romans under the Empire. Longman^, New York. 
 
 1862-1865. 8 vols. 
 Mierow, C. C, The Gothic Histoiy of fordanes. Princeton University Press. 
 
 1915. 
 Mombert, J. I., A Histoiy of Charles the Great. Appleton, New York. 1888. 
 Mommsen, T., jY/.<fc/;)' tf/ /?£7/Kf. Scribner, New York. 1901. 5 vols. 
 
 The Provinces of the Roman Empire from C<£sar to Diocletian, Scribner, 
 
 New York. 1SS7. 2 vols. 
 Montalembert, Count de. The Monks of the West from St. Benedict to St. Ber- 
 nard, Longmans, New York. i8g6. 6 vols. 
 Morey, Wm. C, Outlines of Roman Law, Putnam, New -York. 1884. 
 Morris, W. O., Hannibal. Putnam, New York. 1897. 
 Muir, Sir W., The Life of Mahomet, Smith, Elder & Co., London. 1894. 
 Annals of the Early Caliphate. Smith, Elder & Co., London. 1888. 
 The Cordn. Soc. Prom. Chr. Knowl., London. 1878. 
 The Rise and Decline of Islam. Relig. Tract Soc, London. 1883. 
 Mullinger, J. B., The Schools of Charles the Great. Stechert, New York. 1877. 
 Newman, J. H., The Arians of the Fourth Centurji. Lumley, London. 1854. 
 Oman, C, Seven Roman Statesmen of the Later Republic. Arnold, London. 1902. 
 
 The Byzantine Empire. Putnam, New York. iSgS. 
 Pelham, H. F., Outlines of Roman Hisioty. Putnam, New York. i8g3. 
 Poole, S. L., Studies in a Mosque. Allen, London. 1883. 
 Preston, H. W., and Dodge, L., The Private "Life of the Romans. Leach, 
 
 Boston. i8g3. 
 Putnam, G. H., Boohs and their Makers during the Middle Ages, Putnam, New 
 
 York. 1896, 1S97. 2 vols. 
 
GENERAL BIRLIOGfeAPHY 571 
 
 Ramsay, W M., The Church in the Roman Empire before A.D. 170. Hodder 
 London. 1893. ' 
 
 Reid, J. S., The Municipalities of the Roman Empire. Cambridge rEnff.l Uni- 
 versity Press. 1913. 6 L e J '.^ " 
 
 Robinson, J. H., and Breasted, J. H., Outlines of European Bistory (pt. i). 
 Gmn, Boston. 1914. ^ J' \e 1 
 
 '&^f^\e.y,].^., Roman Imperialism. Roberts, Boston. 1871. O.p. 
 
 Seignobos, C, History of the Roman People. Ed. by Fairly. Holt, New York 
 1902. 
 History of Ancient Civilization. Scribner, Ivfew York. 1906. 
 History of Med iisval and Modem Civilization. Trans, by James. Scribner 
 New York. 1909. ' 
 
 Sellar, W. Y., The Roman Poets of the Au^i^tan Age. Clarendon Press, 
 Oxford. 2 vols. 
 The Roman Poets of the Republic. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1S89 
 
 Sergeant, L., The Pranks. Putnam, New York. 189S. 
 
 &h\ickbnrgh,^.S., History of Rome. MacmiUan, New York. 1894. 
 
 ^m\th,K.'^., Mohammed and Mohammedanis?n. Harper, New York. 1875. O-P- 
 Carthage and the Carthaginians. Longmans, London. 1879. 
 Rome and Carthage. 8th ed. Longmans, London. 1893. 
 
 Silirenger, K., The Life of Mohammed. Allahabad. 1851. 
 
 Stanley, A. P., Christian Institutions. Murray, London. 1881. 
 
 Lectures on the History of the Eastern Chmrh. Scribner, New York. 1862. 
 
 Strachan-Davidson, J. L., Cicero and the Fall of the Roman Republic. Putnam, 
 New York, 1894. 
 
 ThicxTy, Amidie, Tableau de I' Empire Romain. .Didier, Paris. 1862. O.p. 
 
 Thomas, E., Roman Life under the Casars. Unwin, London. 1899. 
 
 T'lghs, Pi.., De7jelopment of the Roman Constitution. Appleton, New York. 1886. 
 
 TroUope, A., The Life of Cicero. Harper, New York. 1881.^ 2 vols. O.p. 
 
 Tucker, T. G., Life in the Roman World of Nero and St.' Paul. Macmillan, 
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 Uhlhorn, G., The Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism. Scribner, New York. 
 
 Watson, P. B., Marcus Aurelius Antonintis. Plafper, New York. 1884. 
 
 West, A. F., Alcuin and the Rise of the Christian Schools. Scribner, New York. 
 
 Wilkins, A. S., Roman Antiquities. American Book Company, New York. 
 
 Wishart, A. W., A Short History of Monks and Monasteries. Brandt, Trenton. 
 
 ViTight,V^., An Account of Palmyra and Zenobia. Nelson, New York. 1895. O.p. 
 Zimmer, H., The Irish Element in Mediceval Culture. Putnam, New York. 1891 . 
 
 SOURCES 
 
 (Most of the primary works to which we have made reference are to be found in the 
 Bohn Library, Harper's Classical Library, or the Loeb Classical Library. We name here 
 by way of special recommendation editions of a few of the most important translations, 
 together with several valuable collections of translations and extracts.) 
 
 Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Trans, by Long. Lee & Shepard, 
 
 Boston. 
 Appian, The Foreign Wars and The Civil Wars. Loeb Classical Library. 4 vols. 
 Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander. Trans, by Chinnock. Bell, London. 1893. 
 Cassiodorus, Letters. Trans, by Hodgkin. Frowde, London. 1886.' 
 Cicero, Letters to Atticus. Macmillan, New York. 1912. 3 vols. 
 Code of Hammurabi, The. Trans, by Harper. The University of Chicago 
 
 Press. 1904. 
 
572 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Davis, W. S., Readings in Ancient History. Allyn, Boston. 1912. 2 vols. 
 
 Demosthenes, Ora/ZoMj. Trans, by Kennedy. Scribner, New York. 1889. 5 vols. 
 
 Dillard, D. H., Fifty Letters of Cicero. Ginn, Boston. 1901. 
 
 Eginhard, Life of the Emperor Karl the Great. Trans, by Glaister. Bell, London. 
 1877. 
 
 Egyptian Book of the Dead, The. Trans, by Davis. Putnam, New York. 1894. 
 
 Extracts from the Sources. Department of History of Indiana University. 
 
 Fling, F. M., Source Book of Greek History. Heath, Boston. 1907. 
 
 Harper, R. F., Assyrian and Babylonian Literature. Appleton, New York. 1901. 
 
 Henderson, E. F., Select Historical Documents. ]^ell, London. 1892. 
 
 Herodotus. Trans, by Rawlinson. Scribner, New York. 1S75. 4 vols. 
 
 Homer, Iliad. Trans, by Bryant. Houghton, Boston. 1870. 
 Odyssey. Trans, by Palmer. Houghton, Boston. 1891. 
 
 Jordanes, Origin and Deeds of the Goths. Trans, by Mierow. Princeton Uni- 
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 Koran lQu?-'dn]. Trans, by Palmer. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 18S0. 2 vols. 
 
 Livy. Trans, by Spillan and others. Bell, London. 1900-1903. 4 vols. 
 
 Monroe, P. N., Source Book of the History of Education for the Greek and Roman 
 Period. Macmillan, New York. 1901. 
 
 Munro, D. C, Source Book of Roman Histoiy. Heath, Boston. 1904. 
 
 Ogg, F. A., Source Book of Medicmjal History. American Book Company, New 
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 Plato, Dialogues. Trans, by Jowett. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1892. 5 vols. 
 The Republic. Trans, by Jowett. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1881. 
 
 Plutarch, X«'«. Trans, by Stewart and Long. Bell, London. 1880-1882. 4 vols. 
 
 Polybius, Histories. Trans, by Shuckburgh. Macmillan, London. 1889. 2 vols. 
 
 Records of the Past. Trans, of the Assyrian and Egyptian monuments. Ed. by 
 Birch. Bagster, London. 12 vols. New Series. Ed. by Sayce. 6 vols. 
 
 ^ohin&OYi., ].\l... Readings in Eu7'opean History. Ginn, Boston. 1904,1906. 2 vols. 
 
 Sacred Books of the East. Ed. by Max Miiller. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1S79- 
 1904. 50 vols. 
 
 St.Axigu&X.me,TheCityofGod. Trans. by Dods. Clark, Edinburgh. 1S88. 2voIs. 
 
 Tacitus, Works. Oxford translation. Bell, London. 1886, 1887. 2 vols. 
 
 Thallon, L C, Readings in Greek Histoiy. Ginn, Boston. 1914. 
 
 Thucydides. Trans, by Jowett. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1900. 2 vols. 
 
 Translations and Reprints. Department of History of the University of Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
 Webster, H., Readijigs in Ancient History. Heath, Boston. 1913. 
 
 Xenophon, Anabasis and Hellenica. Trans, by Daykins. Macmillan, Lon- 
 don. 4 vols. 
 
INDEX 
 
 AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 
 
 Note. In the case of words whose correct pronunciation has not seemed 
 to be clearly indicated by their accentuation and syllabication, the sounds of 
 the letters have been denoted thus : a, like a in gray ; a, like a, only less pro- 
 longed ; a, like a in have; a, like a in/ar; a, like a in al/; e, like ee in meet; 
 e, like i, only less prolonged ; e, like e in &a'; e, like e in Here ; e, like e in err; 
 I, like ;■ in/r»^; i, like i mpiii ; 5, like o in note; 6, like o, only less prolonged; 
 o, like o in nSt ; o, like o in Srb ; oo, like oo in moon ; 66, like oo in yw^ ; 
 u, like u in «j? ; ii, like the French ii ; « and 5 have the same sound as e would 
 have in the same position ; e and eh, hke /■ ; 9, like j- ; g, like g in get ; g, hke 
 j; g, like z; ch, as in German ach ; G {small capital) as in German Hamburg; 
 fi, like ni in minion ; ri denotes the nasal sound in French, being similar to 
 ng in song. 
 
 Abraham, Hebrew patri^ch, 79 
 Abu-Bekr (a'boo-bek'r), caliph, 554 
 
 n. I 
 Academy, the, at Athens, 271 n. 2 
 A chas'a, Roman province, 400 n. i 
 A chee'an Age, 137 
 Achasan League, 270, 271; hostages 
 
 in Italy, 400, 599 ; war with Rome, 
 
 599 
 
 Achas'ans in the Heroic Age, 136 
 
 A chiries, 125 
 
 Ac'ra gas. See Agrigentum 
 
 Acropohs, the, at Athens, 177 ; build- 
 ings on, 2:9 
 
 Actium (ak'shi um), battle of, 439 
 
 A dri an o'ple, battle near (378 A.D.), 
 487 
 
 iE'gae, 251 n. i 
 
 yfigatian (e ga'shi an) Islands, naval 
 battle near, 388 
 
 ./Egean civilization, 128-137; the 
 term, how used, 13S n. 2 ; relation 
 to classical Greek culture, 136 
 
 j'E ge'an Sea, islands in, 117 
 
 R gi'na, island, 292 n. i 
 
 jE gis'thus, 126 
 
 jE gos pot'a ml, capture of Athenian 
 fleet at, 238 
 
 .^milianus. See Scipio 
 
 /E ne'as, 126, 357 
 
 /R 6'li ans, the, 120 ; early settlements 
 
 in Asia Minor, 136 
 ^oHs (e'6 hs), 136 
 .(E'qui ans, early enemies of Rome, 
 
 363 
 ^s'ehi nes, 313 
 
 .iEs'ehy lus, tragic poet, 307, 308 
 /Esop (e'sop), fables of, 317 
 Aetius (ae'shius), Roman general, 
 
 495 "■ I 
 j'E to'li an League, 270 
 Ag a mem'non, 125, 126 
 A'gerpiiblims. See Public lands 
 Ag'o ra, the, 334 
 Agrarian law of Tiberius Gracchus, 
 
 410 
 A gric'o la in Britain, 459 
 Agrigen'tum founded, 169 
 Ag rip pi'na, 455 
 Ah'ri man, 102 
 A hu'ra Maz'da, 102 
 Alaric, his first invasion of Italy, 489; 
 
 wrings ransom from Rome, 491 ; 
 
 sacks Rome, 491 ; his death, 492 
 Alba Longa, 342, 374 
 Al cffi'us,: lyric poet, 305 
 
 573 
 
574 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Al 5! bl'a des, personal traits, 233 ; 
 speech in favor of the Sicilian Expe- 
 dition, 235 ; charged with mutilation 
 of the Herma5, 236 n. 6 ; his recall to 
 Athens, 236 ; his flight and counsel 
 to the Spartans, 236 ; his recall, 238 ; 
 is deposed from his command, 238 ; 
 his death, 238 n. i 
 Al e man'ni, 533 
 
 Alexander the Great, his youth and 
 accession to the throne, 256; de- 
 stroys Thebes, 257 ; crosses the 
 Hellespont, 257 ; at the battle of 
 the Granicus, 257 ; cuts the Gor- 
 dian knot, 258 n. i ; at the battle of 
 Issus, 258 ; at the siege of Tyre, 
 258 ; in Egypt, 258 f at Arbela, 259 ; 
 at Babylon and PersepoHs, 259; in 
 Bactria and Sogdiana, 260 ; in India, 
 261 ; his plans, 262 ; his speech to 
 mutinous soldiers at Opis, 263 ; his 
 death, 263 ; results of his conquests, 
 264 ; partition of his empire, 268 
 Alexandria in Egypt founded, 258 
 Alexandria in India founded, 261 
 Alexandrian Age, literature of, 314- 
 
 316 
 
 Alexandrian Library, 279 
 
 AU (alee), caliph, 554 n. 1 
 
 Al'li a, battle of the, 370 
 
 Al pac'a, 1 1 n. 3 
 
 Alphabet, the Semitic, origin of, 14; 
 disseminated by the Phoenicians, 90 
 
 Al phe'us, river, 117 
 
 Altamira (al ta me'ra), 4 n. a 
 
 Ambrose, bishop, 488 
 
 A men ho'tep IV, 30, 31 
 
 Amos, Hebrew prophet, 82 
 
 Am phic'ty o ny,'The, 1 50. See Sacred 
 wars 
 
 Amphitheaters, spectacles of, ar- 
 ranged by Augustus, 448 ; the Fla- 
 vian, 505; shows of, 520-522 
 
 Am'y tis, 76 n. i 
 
 A nac're on or A na'cre on, lyric poet, 
 
 174, 305 
 
 An ax ag'o ras, 221, 319 
 
 A nax i man'der, 318 n. 2 
 
 An ax im'e nes, 318 n. 2 
 
 Ancestor worship, among the Chi- 
 nese, 113; among the Romans, 344 
 
 Anchi'se^, 126 
 
 Ancus Martins (an'cus mar'shius), 
 king of Rome, 353 
 
 Andalusia (an da lu'shi a), origin of 
 
 the name, 493 
 Angles, See Anglo-Saxons 
 Anglo-Saxons, invade Britain as set- 
 tlers, 494 ; the " Heptarchy," 530 ; 
 
 their conversion, 534 
 Anshan (an'shan), in Elam, 95 
 An tal'ji das. Peace of, 243 n. 4 
 An tig'o lie, 309 
 Antioch, 276 
 An ti'o chus III (the Great), king of 
 
 Syria, 398 
 An tip'a ter, 269 
 An to nj'nus Pi'us, Roman emperor, 
 
 465 
 Antony, Mark, the triumvir, delivers 
 
 funeral oration over Caesar's body, 
 
 437 ; opposed by Octavius, 437 ; 
 
 enters the Second Triumvirate, 438 ; 
 
 his revels with Cleopatra, 439 ; at 
 
 the battle of Actium, 439, 440; his 
 
 death, 440 
 A pel'le^, Greek painter, 300 
 Ap'en nines, the, 338 
 Aph ro dl'te, goddess, 144; statue of, 
 
 at Cnidus, 296 
 Apis, sacred Egyptian bull, 38 
 A poc'ry pha, the, 84 
 A pol'lo, his oracle at Delphi, 146; 
 
 the patron of colonies, 147 
 Appian "Way. See Via 
 Appius Claudius. See Claudius 
 Apulia, 337 
 
 A'quas! Sex'ti 9e, battle of, 415 n. 1 
 Aqueducts, Roman, 507 
 Aquileia (a kwe la'ya), 467 
 Arabia Pe tree'a, Roman province, 463 
 ^ and note 
 
 Ar'abj. See Mohammedanism 
 A ra'lu, Babylonian Hades, 58 
 A ra'tus, general of the Achaean 
 
 League, 270 n. 4 
 Ar be'la, battle of, 2 59 
 Ar ca'di a, geography of, 115 
 Arca'di ans, rustic manners of, 115 
 Ar ca'di us, Roman emperor of the 
 .. East, 488 
 
 Ar chil'o chus, 304 n. i 
 Ar ehi me'des, the mathematician, 326 
 Architecture, Babylonian, 53, 76; 
 
 Egyptian, 44 ; Persian, 105 ; Greek, 
 
 284-290 ; Roman, 503 
 Archohs at Athens, 178 
 A re op'a gus, council of the, 178 
 
INDEX 
 
 S75 
 
 A'rej, 144 
 
 Ar'go lis, description of, 115 
 
 Ar'go nauts, the, 124 
 
 Ar'gos, 116 
 
 Ariad'ne, daughter of Minos, 124, 
 134 
 
 Arianism, 482, 533 
 
 A rim'i num, Latin colony, 506 n. i 
 
 Ar is tar'chus, the astronomer, 326 
 
 Ar is ti'dej, opposes the naval policy 
 of Themistocles, 197 ; is ostracized, 
 197 ; president of the Delian League, 
 208 
 
 A ris'ti on, stele of, 291 
 
 A ris to gi'ton, the Athenian tyranni- 
 cide, 183 
 
 Ar is toph'anes, comic poet, 310 
 
 Ar'is tot le, life and works, 323-324 
 
 Ar'i us, 482 n. 2 
 
 Ar roin'i us defeats Varus at the 
 Teutoburg Wood, 446 
 
 Army, Roman, the, before Servian 
 reforms, 354; after Servian re- 
 forms, 355 
 
 Ar'no, river, 339 
 
 Ar'nus. See Amo 
 
 Ar pi'num, 37 5 
 
 Arta pher^nes, Persian general, 193 
 
 Artaxerxes (ar tax erx'ez) 11, 240 
 
 Artaxerxes III, 105 
 
 Ar'te mis, goddess, 144 ; temple of, 
 at Ephesus, 286 
 
 Artemisium (iir te mish' i um), naval 
 battle of, 202 n. i 
 
 Ar'y ans, use of the term, 19 n. 1. 
 See Indo-Europeans 
 
 Asia, Roman province of, 418, 419 
 
 Asia Minor, migrations to, of Greeks, 
 
 .. 127, 136 
 
 As shur ban'i pal, 68 
 
 Assyria, the country, 48 ; excavations 
 and discoveries in, 69 
 
 Assyrian Empire, rise of, 52; politi- 
 cal history, 64-69 ; civilization, 69- 
 74; services rendered to civiliza- 
 tion, 74 
 
 Astrology among the Babylonians, 
 
 58 
 Astronomy, among the Egyptians, 
 
 45 ; among the Babylonians, 62 ; 
 
 among the Greeks, 326 
 Athanasius (ath ana'shius), 482 n. 2 
 Athe'na, goddess, 144; statue of, 
 
 by Phidias, 294, 295 
 
 Athenian constitution, 178; the So- 
 lonian reforms, iSo ; the Clisthe- 
 nean reforms, 184 
 
 Athenian Empire, outgrowth of the 
 Delian League, 208, 209 ; strength 
 and weakness of, 223 
 
 Athenians, the, their part in the burn- 
 ing of Sardis, 191 ; Galton's re- 
 marks on, 224 n. I 
 
 Athens, relation of, to villages and 
 towns of Attica, 177; history of, 
 under kings, 177; history of, 
 up to the Persian wars, 177-186; 
 monarchy transformed into an oli- 
 garchy, 178; classes at, 179; aban- 
 doned by Athenians, 202 ; Ijurned 
 by the Persians, 203 ; rebuilding 
 of, after the Persian wars, 207 ; in 
 the Periclean Age, 212-224; ''sr 
 fall (404]!. c), 238; Thirty Tyrants 
 
 _ at, 240 ; as a university city, 271 
 
 A'thos or Ath'os, Mount, destruction 
 of Persian fleet at, 193; canal at, 
 cut by Xerxes, 198 
 
 At lan'tis, island of, Egyptian tradition 
 concerning, 137 n. 2 
 
 At'talus III, king of Pergamum, 
 bequeaths his kingdom to the 
 Roman people, 418 
 
 Attica, central point of Greek his- 
 tory, 115; consolidation of the vil- 
 lages of, 177; the four so-called 
 Attic tribes, 184 n. i ; ten new 
 Attic ;tribes formed by Clisthenes, 
 184 n." I 
 
 Atticus Herodes (at'i kus he ro'dez), 
 469 
 
 At'ti la, leader of the Huns, his de- 
 feat at Chalons, 495 ; invades Italy, 
 495; his death, 496 
 
 Augur, birds of, 387 
 
 Augurs, College of, 351 
 
 Augustus Caesar. See Octavian 
 
 Aurelian, emperor, 472, 473; con- 
 structs new wall around Rome, 
 
 473 n- I 
 Au re'li us, Marcus, Roman e'mperor, 
 reign, 466-468 ; his Meditations, 
 
 515 
 Aus'pi ces, taking of the, 351 ; taken 
 by means of sacred fowls, 387 
 
 Babylon, rise of, 52 ; destroyed by 
 Sennacherib, 67 ; fall of, 77 
 
576 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Babylonia, geology, 49 ; productions, 
 49 ; remains of its cities, 53 ; exca- 
 vations and discoveries in, 53 ; be- 
 comes part of Persian Empire, 77 
 
 Babylonian Empire, Old, political 
 history, 52; civilization, 53-62. See 
 Chaldean Empire 
 
 Babylonian Genesis, the, 60 
 
 Bactria, conquest of, by Alexander, 
 260 
 
 Baluchistan (bal cJo chis tan'), 262 
 
 Barbarians, German, movements in 
 the last century of the Roman Em- 
 pire, 486-501 ; the so-called barba- 
 rian kingdoms, 527-53 1 ; conversion, 
 532-535 ; fusion with Latins, 543- 
 547 ; their codes, 545 
 
 Barca. See Hamilcar 
 
 Barrack emperors, the, 470 
 
 Baths. See Thermas 
 
 Be his tun' Rock, 99 
 
 Bel i sa'ri us, commander, 548 
 
 Be'ma, the Athenian, 178 n. 2 
 
 Ben e ven'tum, battle of, 378 
 
 Be ro'sus, 314 
 
 Bi'as, 317 n. i 
 
 Bithynia (bi thin'i a), 418 n. 2 
 
 Bee p'ti a, 1 1 5 
 
 Boghaz-Keui (bo'gaz-ke'e), 93 n. i 
 
 Book of the Dead, 36 
 
 Bos'pho rus, the, 165 
 
 Bot'ta, M., 70 
 
 Brah'ma, 108 
 
 Erahmanism, 107 
 
 Brahmans, the, 107 
 
 Brennus, Gallic leader, 371 
 
 Britain, invaded by Czfesar, 430 ; con- 
 quest of, in reign of Claudius, 455 ; 
 Angles and Saxons settle in, 494 
 
 Bronze, Age of, 8 n. i 
 
 Brut'ti um, 337 
 
 Brutus, Marcus, 436 
 
 Buddha (boo'da), 108 
 
 Buddhism, 108; in China, 113 
 
 Burgundians establish kingdom in 
 southeastern Gaul, 493 
 
 Burrhus, 456 
 
 Bu sen ti'nus, river, 492 
 
 Byzantium (bi zan'shium), founding 
 of, 166. See Constantinople 
 
 Cad'mus, 122 
 
 Cas're, , gives asylum to Roman ves- 
 tals, 370 ; made a municipium, 374 
 
 Cser'i tan rights, 373 n. 2 
 Caesar, Augustus. See Octavian 
 Caesar, Gains. See Caligula 
 Caesar, Gains Julius, in the SuUan 
 proscAption, 422 ; in the First 
 Triumvirate, 429 ; consul, 430 ; 
 assigne<l as proconsul to Gallic 
 provinces, 43c ; campaigns in Gaul, 
 430 ; invades Britain, 430 ; results 
 of his Gallic wars, 431 ; rivalry with 
 Pompey, 432 ; crosses the Rubicon, 
 433 ; civil war between him and 
 Pompey, 433 ; defeats Pharnaces, 
 433 ; as an uncrowned king, 434 ; 
 as a statesman, 434 ; his assassina- 
 tion, 436; his literary works, 514 
 Caesariop (se za're on), 439 
 Cairo (kVro), university at, 557 
 Ca la'bri a, 337 
 
 Calendar, Egyptian, 46; Babylonian, 
 62 ; Julian, 435 ; Gregorian, 435 n. 2 
 Calig'uja, Roman emperor, 454 
 Ca'liphs, 554 11. I ; dismemberment 
 
 of the caliphate, 555 
 Cal lic'ra tej, architect, 219 
 Cam bu',ni an Mountains, 117 
 Cam by'ses, 97 
 Ca mil'lus. See Furius 
 Campagna (kam pan'ya), 507 
 Campus-Martius (kam'pus mar'shi us), 
 
 356 
 Canaanites (ka'nan Its), 79 
 Can'nas, battle of, 394 ; events after, 
 
 394 
 Can u le'i us, Gaius, tribune, 368 
 Cap'i to line Hill,' 350 
 Ca'pre ae, island, 453 
 Cap'u a, revolts from Rome, 394 ; 
 
 ■Hannifial's winter quarters, 394 n. i; 
 
 fall of, 395 
 Car a cal'la, Roman emperor, reign, 
 
 471 
 
 Carloman, king of the Franks, 559 n. 2 
 
 Car ma'ni a, 262 
 
 Carthagfe, founded, 89 ; empire of, 
 382 ; government, 382 ; compared 
 with Rome, 382-384 ; navy at 
 beginning of Punic wars, 3S4; 
 Truceless War, 390; prosperous 
 condition just before Third Funic 
 War, 403 ; destruction, 404 
 
 Carthaginians, their empire in Spain, 
 390 ; unpromising character of 
 their civilization, 405 
 
INDEX 
 
 577 
 
 Cas si o do'rus, 528 n. i 
 
 Cassiterides (kas i ter'i dez), the. S^^ 
 Scilly Islands 
 
 Cas'sius, Gaius, conspirator, 436; 
 death, 439 
 
 Caste, Hindu system of, 107 ; growth 
 of, in Roman Empire, 477 
 
 Catacombs, 479 
 
 Cathay (kath a'). Ste China 
 
 Cat i li'na, Lu'ci us Ser'gi us, con- 
 spiracy of, 428 
 
 Catiline. Sen Catilina 
 
 Cato, Marcus Porcius (the Censor), 
 401 ; counsels the destruction of 
 Carthage, 403 
 
 Cato, Marcus Porcius (the Younger), 
 his suicide, 433 
 
 Ca tul'lus, poet, 511 
 
 Cat'u lus, C. Lutatius, consul, 388 
 
 Cayster (ka is'ter), river, 93 
 
 Qe cro'pi a, 122 
 
 (|)e'€rops, 122 
 
 ^elt 1 be'ri ans, 544 
 
 Censors, creation of office, 369 ; 
 functions and duties, 369 
 
 Century, unit of Roman military 
 organization, 355 
 
 ^e phis'sus, stream, 117 
 
 -Chaer o ne'a, battle of, 253 
 
 -€hal ^id'i 9e, the name, 165; relation 
 to Slacedonia of colonies in, 165 
 
 -Ghal'jis, colonies of, on Macedonian 
 shore, 165 
 
 Chaldean Empire, the, 75—78 
 
 Chaldeans, early home, 75 n. i 
 
 ChSlons (sha lofi'), battle of, 494 
 
 Champollion (sham pol'i on), 36 
 
 Charlemagne (shar'le man), acces- 
 sion, 559; wars, 560; restores the 
 Empire in the West, 560 
 
 Charles Martel, 555 
 
 Che Hwang-te (she whong-te), Chi- 
 nese ruler, no 
 
 ■Ghe'ops, 27 
 
 Chilo (krio), 317 n. i 
 
 China, early history, no 
 
 Chinese, writing, 103 ; literature, 112 ; 
 competitive examinations, 112 
 
 Chinese Wall, the, no 
 -€hr6s, island, 1 18 
 
 Chlodwig. See Clovis 
 
 Christ, birth, 450; crucifixion, 453 
 
 Christianity, first preached, 453 ; 
 gains adherents from the higher 
 
 classes, 460 ; under Trajan, 463 ; 
 martial spirit enters the Church, 
 480 ; made in effect state religion 
 by Coflstantine, 481 ; effects upon, 
 of imperial patronage, 482 ; one of 
 the ipost vital elements in the 
 Roman Empire, 4S6 ; heresy and 
 idolatry suppressed by Theodosius 
 and Gratian, 487 ; represents a new 
 morat force, 488 ; influence in sup- 
 pressing the gladiatorial combats, 
 490; among the German races, 532- 
 535 ; reaction upon, of Teutonic 
 barbarism, 535. See Christians 
 
 Christians, the persecution of, under 
 Nero, 456 ; under Domitian, 460 ; 
 under Marcus Aurelius, 467 ; mo- 
 tives of persecutions, 467 ; per- 
 secutions under Diocletian, 479; 
 status under Julian, 484 
 
 Cicero, Marcus Tullius, his prosecu- 
 tion of Verres, 425 ; J'irsi Oration 
 against Catiline, 428 ; his death, 
 438; his letters, 513; as an orator, 
 
 557 
 
 (j;im'bri, the, 414 
 
 ^imon, son of Miltiades, 210 
 
 Cin cin na'tus, legend of, 363 
 
 Cinna. See Cornelius 
 
 Circus, games of the, 352 
 
 Cir'cus Max'i mtis, description, 505 
 
 Cirrha (sir'a), destroyed by Amphic- 
 tyons, 150 
 
 Citizenship, Roman, privileges of, 
 347 ; -rights bestowed in install- 
 ments, 347 ; Gaius Gracchus pro- 
 poses that Latins be made citizens, 
 412; demanded by the Italians, 
 416; secured by Italians as result 
 of the Social War, 416; Caesar's lib- 
 erality in conferring, upon provin- 
 cials, 435 ; conferred by Caracalla 
 upon all free inhabitants of the 
 Empire, 472 
 
 City-state, the Greek, 140-142; Rome 
 as a, 346 
 
 Clan. See Gens 
 
 Claudius, Roman emperor, reign, 454; 
 admits Gallic nobility to Roman 
 Senate, 454; conquest of Britain, 
 
 455 
 Claudius, Appms, decemvir, 366 
 
 Claudius, Appius (C^cus), 378 
 
 Claudius, Publius, consul, 3S7 
 
578 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Cle ar'chus, a general of the Ten 
 Thousand, 240, 241 
 
 Cleobulus (kle obu'lus), 317 n. i 
 
 Cle'on, his advice in regard to the 
 Mytileneans, 230 
 
 Cleopatra, Caesar secures for her the 
 throne of Egypt, 433 ; meets Mark 
 Antony, 439 ; at the battle of Ac- 
 tium, 440 ; her death, 440 
 
 Cle'ru chies, nature of, 163 11. I ; set- 
 tlement formed by Athenians in 
 Lesbos, 231 n. i 
 
 Clients, dependents of the Roman 
 family, 345 
 
 Clis'the ne§, reforms of, 184 
 
 Cll'tus, murdered by Alexander, 
 260 n. 2, 261 
 
 Cly tem nes'tra, wife of Agamemnon, 
 126 
 
 Clo S'ca Max'i ma, 353 
 
 Clovis, king of the Franks, 529 ; his 
 conversion, 533 
 
 Cnossus (nos'us), Cretan city, 131, 
 132, 133 
 
 Code, the, of Justinian, 517, 548 
 
 Ccele-Syria (se'le-sir'i a), 427 
 
 Collme Gate, battle at, 422 n. i 
 
 Co lo'ni, 478 n. I 
 
 Colonies, Greek: causes of Greek 
 colonization, 162 ; relation of, to 
 the mother city, 163; cleruchies, 
 163 n. I ; in Chalcidice, 165; on 
 the Hellespont, the Propontis, and 
 the Bosphorus, 165 ; in the Euxine 
 region, 166; on the Ionian Islands, 
 167; in southern Italy, 168; in 
 Sicily and southern Gaul, 169; in 
 North Africa and Egypt, 170 ; place 
 of, in Grecian history, 170 
 
 Colonies, Latin : why so called, 380 ; 
 rights of colonists, 380 ; status of 
 settlers in, compared to that of set- 
 tlers in a territory of the United 
 States, 380 ; number of, at time of 
 Second Punic War, 381 ; influence 
 of, in spreading Roman culture, 381 
 
 Colonies, Roman, rights and privi- 
 leges, 379 
 
 Colonization, Greek, three epochs of, 
 266 
 
 Col OS se'um, 458, 505 
 
 Colossus of Rhodes, 273 
 
 Comitia (ko mish'i a) centuriata, out- 
 growth of Servian reforms, 356 
 
 Comitia- ciiriata, 347 ; a nonrepresen- 
 
 tative body, 347 
 Comitia iribiita, 362 n. -^ 
 Comitium (ko mish'i um), the, 354 
 CommerciiifH. See Jus 
 Com'mo dus, Roman emperor, reign, 
 
 470 . 
 
 Confucianism, 112 
 
 Confucius, Chinese sage, iii 
 
 Co?imtbium- See Jits 
 
 Constantine the Great, reign, 480- 
 484 ; defeats Maxentius at the Mil- 
 vian Bridge, 480 ; makes the cross 
 his standard, 480 ; grants tolera- 
 tion to Christians, 481 ; recognizes 
 the Sabbath as a day of rest, 482 ; 
 summons Council of Nicaea, 482 ; 
 founds Constantinople, 483 
 
 Constantine VI, 560 
 
 Constantinople, founded, 483 ; be- 
 sieged by the Saracens, 554 
 
 Consuls, first chosen, 360 ; original 
 powers, 360 ; immunity from pros- 
 ecution, 360 ; authority restricted 
 by the Lex Valeria, 361 ; term- of 
 office -shortened, 444 n. i 
 
 Cor9y'ra, city, founded, 167; quarrel 
 with Corinth, 226 
 
 Corcyra, island, 118 
 
 Cor'do va, 557 
 
 Cor fin'ium, 416 
 
 Corinth, Greek council at, in 481 B.C., 
 199; quarrel with Corcyra, 226; 
 congress convened at, by Philip of 
 Macedon, 276; destroyed by the 
 Romans, 400 
 
 Corinth, Listhmus of, 115 
 
 Corinthia, description of, 115 
 
 Corinthian War, 243 n. 4 
 
 Corn, free distribution of, at Rome, 
 
 41=. 5?3 
 
 Corne'lia, mother of the Gracchi, 
 410, 4,13 
 
 Cornelius Cinna, Lucius, consul, 421 
 
 Co roe'buS, victor at Olympia, 147 
 
 Cor'pus Ju'ris Civi'lis, 517 
 
 Corsica,"'3S9 
 
 Crassus," Marcus Licinius, defeats 
 the gla'diators, 424 n. i ; his great 
 wealth,,429 ; enters the First Trium- 
 virate, 430 ; his Parthian campaign, 
 472 ; his death, 472 
 
 Cre mo'na, Roman colony, 390 
 
 Crete, in Greek legend, 122-124 
 
INDEX 
 
 S79 
 
 Cris'sa, destroyed by Amphictyons, 
 
 Crit'i as, Athenian oligarch, 243 
 
 Crre'sus, king of Lydia, 96 
 
 Cro'ton founded, 168 
 , ^ Cu'mae, oracle at, 169 
 
 Cu nax'a, battle of, between Cyrus 
 and Artaxerxes, 241 
 
 Cuneiform writing, 54 ; its decipher- 
 ment, 56 
 
 Curia (ku'ri a), 346; number of curiae 
 in early Rome, 346 
 
 Cu ri a'les, 477 
 
 Curiatii (ku ri a'shi T), 358 
 
 (Jy ax'a rej, king of the Medes, 95 
 
 5yc-la des, the, 117 
 
 Cyclopes (si klo'pez), the, 144 n. 2 
 
 ^y'lon, rebellion of, 179 n. i 
 
 ^yn'ics, the, 324 
 
 ^yn OS 9eph'a 1^, battle of, 398 
 
 (Jyr e na'i ca, 170 
 
 ^y re'ne, founded, 170; brought un- 
 der Persian rule, 189 ; bequeathed 
 to Rome, 418 n. 2 
 
 Qyrfipcedta, the, of Xenophon, 312 
 
 Cyrus the Great, 95-97 
 
 Cyrus the Younger, 240 
 
 Dacia reduced to a province by 
 Trajan, 462 
 
 Daedalus (de'da lus or ded'a lus), leg- 
 endary architect, 124 
 
 Dam'o cleg, story of, 249 n. i 
 
 Darius I, reign, 97-99; reorganizes the 
 empire, 98 ; conquests in Europe, 
 i8g; first expedition against Greece, 
 192; second expedition, 193-19S 
 
 David, king, 80 
 
 Da'tis, Persian general, 193 
 
 De^ e le'a, its occupation urged on 
 the Spartans by Alcibiades, 238 ; 
 effects upon Athens of its occu- 
 pation by the Spartans, 238 
 
 Decelean War, the, 238 
 
 De cem'virs, first board, 364-366 ; 
 second, 366 ; their misrule and 
 overthrow, 366 
 
 De la'tors, 452 
 
 Delian League. See Delos, Confed- 
 eracy of 
 
 De'IOs, Confederacy of, its formation, 
 208 ; transformed into an empire 
 by the Athenians, 208 
 
 Delos, island, 117 
 
 Delphian oracle, the, 145-147; con- 
 sulted by Croesus, 146 n. 2 ; influ- 
 ence on Hellenic unity, 147 ; its 
 services in Greek colonization, 147 
 n. I ; its attitude in the Persian 
 wars, 199; message to the Athe- 
 nians at the time of the Persian 
 wars, 202 ; oracle given Spartans 
 at beginning of Peloponnesian 
 War, 227 
 Deme (dem), the Attic, 184 n. i 
 De me'ter, goddess, cult of, 144 n. 1, 
 
 145 
 De moc'ri tus, 319 n. 2 
 De'mos, the Athenian, 214 n. i 
 De mos'the nes, Athenian admiral, 
 
 237 
 Demosthenes, the orator, his Philip- 
 pics, 253; his death, 269; his Ora- 
 tion on ike Crown, 313 
 Den ta'tus, Manius Curius, 402 
 Di cas'te ries, Athenian, description 
 of, 207 ; method of fixing penalty, 
 243 n. 2 
 Dictator, his powers, 360 ; how nomi- 
 nated, 360 ; term first made in- 
 definite in Sulla's case, 423 
 Dioceses (dl o se'sez), 477 n. i 
 DT cle'tian, Roman emperor, reign, 
 475-479 ; persecution of the Chris- 
 tians, '479 
 Dl do'rus Sic'u lus, 315 
 DI og'e neg, the Cynic, 324 
 DI nys'i us I, tyrant of Syracuse, 248 
 Dionysius II (the Younger), 249 
 DIony'sus, 144 11.2; Theater of, at 
 
 Athens, 289 
 Dis cob'o lus, the, 293 
 Do do'na, oracle at, 146 n. i 
 Domestication, of animals, 10 ; of 
 
 plants, 1 1 
 Domitian, Roman emperor, reign, 
 
 459 
 Do mi til'la, 460 
 
 Dorian invasion, the, legend of, 127 
 Dorians, conquer the Peloponnesus, 
 
 136 
 Do ris'cus, plain of, 200 
 Dowry of the dead, 6; in ancient 
 
 Egypt,, 41 
 Draco, his code, 179 
 Drama, the Attic, origin of, 306 ; 
 
 leading idea of Greek tragedy, 
 
 3°7 
 
58o 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Dravidians, the, io6 n. 2 
 
 Dru'sus, Marcus Livius, tribune, 
 
 416 n. 2 
 Du il'i us, Gaius, consul, gains victory 
 
 at Mvlas, 385, 386 
 
 Ec cle'ji a, at Athens, in earliest 
 times, 178; place of meeting, 178 
 n. 2; Thetes admitted to, by Solon, 
 180; in the Age of Pericles, 214 
 
 Education, Chinese, 112; Greek, 329; 
 Roman, 518; Spartan, 159 
 
 Egbert, king of Wessex, 531 
 
 Egypt, geology, 23 ; Delta of the 
 Nile, 23; climate and products, 
 24; Prehistoric Age in, 25; the 
 thirty-one dynasties, 25; Old King- 
 dom, Middle Kingdom, and New 
 Empire, 25 n. 2 ; political history, 
 25-34; civilization, 34-46; her con- 
 tribution to civilization, 46 ; under 
 the Ptolemies, 278 ; under the 
 Romans, 440 ; conquered by the 
 Arabs, 554 
 
 Elam, 52 
 
 El eu sin'i an mysteries, the, 144 n. i, 
 
 MS 
 Elgin (el'gin). Lord, 294 11. I 
 Elijah, the prophet, 82 
 E'lis, description of, 116 
 ^lisha, the prophet, 82 
 Elysium (8 lizh'i um), 144 
 Em ped'o cleg, 319 n. 2 
 E pam i non'das, at Leuctra, 244 ; 
 
 ravages Laconia, 245 ; his death, 
 
 246 
 Eph'e sus, 192 
 
 Eph i al'tej, Greek statesman, 212 n. i 
 Ephialtes, Greek traitor, 202 
 Eph'ors, the, at Sparta, 156, 157 
 Ep ic te'tus, the Stoic, 515 
 Ep i cu'rus. School of, at Athens, 272; 
 
 doctrines, 324 
 E pi'rus, district of, 114 
 Equites (ek'wT tez), 412 n. i 
 Er a tos'the nes, geographer, 326 
 Er'e bus, 145 
 Er ech the'um, the, 220 
 E re'tri a, destroyed by the Persians, 
 
 193 . _ . 
 Eridu (a'ridoo), city, 49 
 Erinyes (e rin'iez), the, 144 n. 2 
 E'ros, 144 n. 2 
 E sar had'don T, 68 n. i 
 
 E tru'ri a, location, 337 ; southern 
 
 part Romanized, 369, 370 
 E trus'cans, their early civilization, 
 
 339 ; decline of their power, 370 
 Euboe'a, island, 108 
 Eu'clid, the mathematician, 326 
 Eu'menej II, king of Pergamum, 
 
 276 n-. I 
 Eumenides (0 men'I dez), the, 144 n. 2 
 Eu'patrids, the, at Athens, 179 
 Euphrates, valley of the, 48 
 Eu rip'i deg, tragic poet, 307, 309 
 Eu ro'tas, valley of the, 116 
 Euxine Sfea (uk'sin), Greek colonies 
 
 on, 1 66 ; trade of, 1 66 
 Evans, Arthur J., at Cnossus, 131 
 
 Fabius Maximus ("the Delayer"), 391, 
 
 393 
 Family, the Roman, 344 ; its place in 
 
 Roman history, 345 
 Fasces (fas'ez), the, 360 
 Fates, the, 144 n. 2 
 Fayum (fi oom'), district of the, 28 
 Festivals. See Sacred games 
 Fetiales. See Heralds 
 Fire, origin of its use, 9 ; methods of 
 
 fire-making, 9 
 Fire-worshipers. See Zoroastrianism 
 Flam'ines, 352 n. i 
 Flaminian Way. See Via 
 Flam i nl'nus, Roman general, 398 
 Flavian 'Age, 457 
 Forum, :the Roman, in time of the 
 
 kings, 354 
 Franks, the, form first settlement in 
 
 Gaul, 493; under the Merovingians, 
 
 529 ; their conversion, 533 ; impor- 
 tance of this event, 533 
 Furius Camillus, Marcus, dictator, 
 
 ransoms Rome with steel, 371 
 Future life, doctrine of, Egyptian, 
 
 39; Babylonian, 58; Hebrew, 85; 
 
 Greek, 151 
 
 Galsii, 374 n. i 
 
 Ga'dej, 89 
 
 Gaius, jurist, 517 
 
 Gaius Cassar, See Caligula 
 
 Gal'Ii a Gis al pi'na, geographical situ- 
 ation, 337 ; origin of name, 337 
 
 Galton, quoted, 224 n. i 
 
 Gaul, conquest of, by Cassar, 430; 
 results of the Gallic wars, 431 ; 
 Romapization of, 431. See Gauls 
 
INDEX 
 
 581 
 
 Gauls, their invasion of Greece, 269 ; 
 early settlement in North Italy, 337 ; 
 sack Rome, 370; victory over the 
 Romans near the Allia, 370; Rome's 
 war with, between First and Second 
 Punic wars, 389 
 Gau'ta ma. See Buddha 
 Gaza, reduced by Alexander, 258 
 Gedrosia [ge dro'shi a), 262 
 Geiseric (gi'zer ik). Vandal leader, 496 
 Gens (clan), the, among the Greeks, 
 . 141 n. 2 ; in early Rome, 346 
 Gen'ser ic. See Geiseric 
 Geometry, science of, among the 
 
 Egyptians, 46 
 Germans. See Barbarians 
 Gideon, Hebrew "Judge," 79 
 Gil'ga mesh. Epic of, 60 
 Gladiatorial combats, given by Augus- 
 tus, 448 ; their suppression, 490 ; 
 attitude of Christians towards, 490 ; 
 general description of the shows, 
 520-522 
 Gladiators, War of the, 423 
 Go ma'te§. See Smerdis 
 Gordian knot, 258 n. i 
 Gor'di um, 258 n. I 
 Gor'gias, Sign. 3 
 Goths, Eastern. See Ostrogoths 
 Goths, Western. See Visigoths 
 Grac'chus, Gaius, 411-413 
 Gracchus, Tiberius, 410-411 
 Granl'cus, battle of the, 257 
 Grecian games, influence of, 149 
 Greece, homeland of the Hellenes, 
 114; divisions of, 114-116; moun- 
 tains of, 117; rivers and lakes of, 
 117; islands round, 117; climate 
 and productions of, 118; influence 
 of land upon the people, 119; 
 oriental settlers in, 120 
 Greeks, their legends, 121-127; in- 
 heritance of, 140-153; religious 
 ideas and institutions, 143-151 ; 
 their language, 151 ; their mythol- 
 ' °gy' ' 52 ; their early literature, 152; 
 
 their early art, 153. See Hellenes 
 Gregory II, Pope, 541 
 Grotefend (gro'te fend), 57 n. i 
 Guadalquivir (gwa dal ke ver'), river, 
 
 • 556 
 
 Gy lip'pus. Spartan general, 236 
 Gymnastic art, influence upon sculp- 
 ture, T49, 291 
 
 Hades (ha'dez), 143 
 
 Hadrian, emperor, reign, 463-465 
 
 Hadrian Wall in Britain, 464 
 
 Hal i car nas'sus, mausoleum at, 289 
 
 Ha'lys, river, 91, 96 
 
 Ha mil'car Barca, Carthaginian gen- 
 eral, 390 
 
 Hamites, 19 
 
 Hammurabi (ham moo rii'be), Baby- 
 lonian king, 52 ; his code, 60-62 
 
 Hanging Gardens of Babylon, 76 n. i 
 
 Hannibal, as a youth, 391 ; attacks 
 Sagurjtum, 391 ; marches from 
 Spain, 392 ; passage of the Alps, 
 392 ; in Italy, 393-396 ; his death, 
 396 n. I 
 
 Har mo'di us, the Athenian tyranni- 
 cide, 183 ; statue of, carried off by 
 Xerxes, sent back by Alexander, 
 259 
 
 Ha rils'pi 963, art of the, 350 
 
 Has'dru 6al, brother of Hannibal, in 
 Spain, 395; at the Metaurus, 395 
 
 Hasdrubal, son-in-law of Hamilcar, 
 
 391 
 
 Hatti, royal city of the Hittites, 91 
 
 He'be, 144 n. 2 
 
 Hebrews, the, in Egypt, 79 ; the 
 Exodus, 79 ; Patriarchal Age, 79 ; 
 Age of the "Judges," 79; founding 
 of the monarchy, 80 ; reign of 
 David, 80; reign of Solomon, 80; 
 division of the monarchy, 81 ; King- 
 dom of Israel, 81, 82 ; Kingdom of 
 Judah, 81, 82 ; literature, S3 ; reli- 
 gion and morality, 84 ; ideal of 
 universal peace, 84 ; ideas of the 
 future life, 85 
 
 Hector, son of Priam, 125 
 
 Hegira (hejl'ra), the, 552 
 
 Hel'en, wife of Menelaus, 125 
 
 He li ffi'a, the, 217 n. 3 
 
 Hel'i con. Mount, 117 
 
 Hel'las, term defined, 114 
 
 Hellenes (hel'enz), divisions of, 113, 
 114; Greece proper their home- 
 land, 114; influence of land upon, 
 119. See Greeks 
 
 Hellenistic culture, 266-268 
 
 Hel'les pont, the, bridged by Xerxes, 
 198 
 
 He'lots, the, at Sparta, 155; jnassacre 
 of, by Spartans, 155 n. j 
 
 He phass'ti on, 263 n. 2 
 
58z 
 
 INDEX 
 
 He phecs'tus, 144 
 
 Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon, 530 
 
 He'ra, 144 
 
 Her a cle'a, battle of, 378 
 
 Her'a cles, twelve labors of, 122 
 
 Her a cli'dae, return of the, 127 
 
 Her a cli'tus, 318 n. 2 
 
 Heralds, College of, 351 
 
 Her cu la'ne um, 459 
 
 Hermann. See Arminius , 
 
 Her'mej, 144 
 
 Hermits, 536 
 
 Her'mus, river, 93 
 
 Herodes, Atticus. See Atticus Her- 
 odes 
 
 He rod'o tus, 220, 311 
 
 Hesiod (he'shiod), 137, 304 
 
 Hes'ti a, 144 
 
 Ili'e ro II, tyrant of Syracuse, 385 
 
 Hieroglyphics, Egyptian, 36; deci- 
 pherment of, 36, 37 n. 2 
 
 Him'e ra, battle of, 205 n. i 
 
 Hinduism, 109 
 
 Hip par'ehus, astronomer, 327 
 
 Hipparchus, Athenian tyrant, 183 
 
 Hip'pi as, 183 ; driven from Athens, 
 184 ; goes to Susa, 185 ; guides the 
 Persians to Marathon, 193 
 
 Hip'po, 8g 
 
 Hip poc'ra tes, physician, 327 
 
 His sar'lik, excavations at, 128 
 
 Historic Age, divisions of, 17 n. i 
 
 Hittites (hit'its), the, 91-93 
 
 Homer, 303 
 
 Homeric poems, date and authorship 
 
 of, 303 
 Ho no'ri us, Roman emperor, 488 ; 
 
 suppresses gladiatorial games, 490 
 Horace, poet, 512 
 Horatii (ho ra'shiT), 358 
 Horatius Codes (ko'klcz), 358 
 Horatius, Marcus, consul, 367 
 Hortensian Law, 372 n. 2 
 Ilortensius (horten'shi us), jurist, 513 
 Ho'rus, Egyptian deity, 38 n. 2 
 Hosea, Hebrew prophet, 82 
 Hos tiri us, TuUus, king of Rome, 353 
 Huns, drive Goths across the Danube, 
 
 486 ; defeated at Chdlons, 494 
 Hyk'sos, the, 29 
 Hy met' tus. Mount, T17 
 
 Iconoclasts, War of the, 541 
 Ic ti'nus, architect, 219 
 
 Ide'ogi'ams defined, 13 
 
 Iliad, subj ect of the, 1 26. See Homeric 
 poems 
 
 Il'i OS. See Troy 
 
 I lis'sus, stream, 117 
 
 lUyrian -corsairs punished by Rome, 
 425, 426 
 
 Imperator, the title, 443 
 
 India, early history, 106-110; con- 
 quests in, by Dariu.s, gg ; conquests 
 in, by Alexander, 261 
 
 Indo-Europeans, chief peoples, 19; 
 early expansion, 20 
 
 lona (e 6'na), monastery, 534 
 
 I 6'ni a, in early times, 136; cities of, 
 subjected by Lydian kings, 93 ; 
 reduced by Cyrus, 187; revolt 
 against Persians, igi ; suppression 
 of the revolt, 192; at the end of 
 the Ionian revolt, 192 
 
 Ionian Islands, the, 118 
 
 lonians, settlements of, in Asia Minor, 
 136. See Ionia 
 
 Iran (e ran'), plateau of, 95 
 
 Irene (I reen'), empress, 560 
 
 I'ris, 144 n. 4 
 
 Iron, Age of, 7 
 
 I SEe'us, Greek orator, 313 n. 1 
 
 Is'lam. See Mohammedanism 
 
 I soc'ra te§, Greek orator, 313 n. i 
 
 Israel, captivity of, 82 ; Kingdom of, 
 82 
 
 Is'sus, battle of, 258 
 
 Isthmian games, the, 148 
 
 Italian allies, status before the Social 
 War, 449. See Social War 
 
 Italians, branches of, 340 
 
 I tal'i ca. See Corfinium 
 
 Italy, divisions, 337 ; mountain sys- 
 tem, 338 ; rivers, 339 ; its early in- 
 habitants, 339 ; united under Rome, 
 379 
 
 Ja nic'ulum, 358 
 
 Ja'nus, Roman deity, 350 ; doors of 
 
 temple closed in reign of Augustus, 
 
 446 
 Japanese, the, racial relationship, 18 
 Jason, legendary prince of Thessaly, 
 
 124 
 Jealousy of the gods, doctrine of, 
 
 150 
 Jeph'thah, Hebrew hero, 79 
 Jeroboam, 81 
 
INDEX 
 
 583 
 
 Jerusalem, taken by Nebuchadnezzar, 
 75, 82; taken by Pompey, 427; 
 taken by Titus, 458 
 
 Jews, revolt of, in reign of the em- 
 peror Hadrian, 465. See Jerusalem 
 and Hebrews 
 
 Josephus, historian, 84 
 
 Jovian, Roman emperor, 484 
 
 Juda!h, Kingdom of, 81, 82 
 
 Judgment of the Dead, the, in Egyp- 
 tian theology, 42 ; in Persian, 103 
 
 Ju gur'tha, war with Rome, 413 
 
 Julian the Apostate, reign, 484 
 
 Ju li a'nus, Did'i us, 471 
 
 Jupiter, 349 
 
 Jus,_auxiHi, of the plebeian tribune, 
 363 ; commercii, defined, 347 ; con- 
 nubii, defined, 347 ; /tonontm, de- 
 fined, 347 ; provocaiioiLis, defined, 
 
 347 ; sujfragii, defined, 347 ; en- 
 joyed by plebeians in early Rome, 
 
 348 ; imaginum, defined, 368 
 Justin Martyr, 467 
 
 Justinian, Eastern emperor, his code,- 
 517; era of, 548; reign, 548-549 
 Juvenal, satirist, 513 
 
 Kaaba (ka'ba), 551 
 Kar'nak, Temple of, 30 
 Kheta (ke'ta). See Hittites 
 Khor sa bad (korsabad'), 66, 70 
 Khufu (kCO'fDU). See Cheops 
 Kitchen middens, 2^ 
 Koran (ko'ran ^rkSran'), the, 553 
 Kuyunjik (koo yoon jek'ji native 
 name of largest mound at Nine- 
 veh, 70, 71 
 
 Lab'a rum, the, 480 n. 2 
 
 Labyrinth (lab'i rinth), Cretan, 123, 
 
 124 
 La9 e da^'mon, descriptive epithet 
 
 hollow, 116 
 Lacedsemonians. See Spartans 
 La co'ni a, geography of, 116 ; classes 
 
 in, 1 54 ; ravaged by .Epaminondas, 
 
 245 
 Language, formation of, 12 
 Laocoon (la oc'o on), the, 298 
 La're§, cult of, prohibited, 487 
 Latin colonies. See Colonies 
 Latin League, in earliest times, 342 ; 
 
 jn 340 B.C., 375. &^ Latins 
 
 Latins, ethnic relationship, 341 ; re- 
 volt of Latin towns in 340 B.C., 
 375; how treated by Rome after 
 the Latin War, 376 
 
 Latium (la'shium), 337; before the 
 rise of Rome, 342 
 
 Lau'ri um, silver mines at, 197 n. i ; 
 revenue from, used by the Athe- 
 nians for building a navy, 197 n. i 
 
 La vin'ium, 357 
 
 Lebanon, Mount, 87 
 
 Legion, Roman, its normal strength 
 and tactical formation in early 
 times,^3S5 
 
 Lem'nos, island, 118 
 
 Lenormant (leh nor moh'), quoted, 44 
 
 Leo the Great, Pope, turns Attila 
 back, 495 ; intercedes for Rome 
 with Geiseric, 496 
 
 Leo the Isaurian, Eastern emperor, 
 
 541 
 
 Leo III, Pope, 560, 561 
 
 Le on'i das, king of Sparta, at Ther- 
 mopylae, 201, 202 
 
 Lepidu^, Marcus yErailius, the trium- 
 vir, 437> 438. 439 
 
 Les'bos, island, 118; settled by .Co- 
 hans, 136 
 
 Leuc'tra, battle of, 243-245 
 
 Lex Julia Municipalise 435 n. I 
 
 Licinian Laws, 371 
 
 Lictors, attendants of the Roman 
 king, 346 ; consular, 360 
 
 Li gu'ri a, 337 
 
 Literature, Assyrian, 71 ; Egyptian, 
 36; Babylonian, 57, 60; Hebrew, 
 83, 84; Chinese, 112; Greek, 302- 
 316; Roman, 510-518 
 
 Little St. Ber'nard, pass, 392 
 
 Livy, historian, 514 ^ 
 
 Llama (la'ma), it n. 3 
 
 Lombards, enter Italy, 530 ; king 
 receives " Iron Crown " from the 
 Pope, 530 ; kingdom destroyed by 
 Charles the Great, 530 ; conse- 
 quence of their conquest of Italy, 
 
 53° 
 Long Walls, at Athens, 210, 211 n. i ; 
 
 their demolition by the Pelopon- 
 
 nesians, =39 
 Lu ca'ni a, 337 
 
 Lucretius (lu cre'shi us), poet, 511 
 Lu cul'lus, Lucius Licinius, 427 n. i 
 Lusitanians, 406 
 
584 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Luxury, Roman, 522 
 
 Ly ce'um, the, adorned by Pisistratus, 
 
 183 
 Ly cur'gus, legend of, 156 
 Lydia, the land, 93 ; conquered by 
 
 Cyrus the Great, 96 ; import of 
 
 this for Greece, 96 
 Ly san'der, Spartan general, captures 
 
 Athenian fleet at ^^gospotami, 238 
 Lys'ias, Athenian orator, 313 n. i 
 Ly sip'pus, sculptor, 297 
 
 Mac'ca bees, the, 82, 277 
 
 Macedonia, submits to Darius, 181 ; 
 under Philip II, 251-255; its rulers, 
 251 ; its population, 251 ; after 
 Alexander's death, 269 
 
 Macedonian War, First, 398 n. i ; 
 Second, 398 ; Third, 399 
 
 Mx je'nas, patron of literature, 447 
 
 Magna Grtecia, the name, 16S ; colo- 
 nies of, 168, 169; cities of, con- 
 quered by Dionysius I of Syracuse, 
 248 
 
 Magnesia (mag ne'shi a), battle of, 
 
 399 
 
 Ma'go, brother of Hannibal, 394 
 
 Man'e the, 25, 314 
 
 Manlius, Titus, consul, opposes de- 
 mands of the Latins, 375 
 
 Mantine'a, battle of (363 i). c), 246 
 
 Mar'a thon, battle of, 193-195; results 
 of, 195 
 
 Mar cel'lus, Marcus Claudius, Roman 
 general, 395 
 
 Mar CO man'ni, the, 467 
 
 Mar do'ni us, Persian general, 193, 
 20.3, 204 
 
 Ma'ri us, Gaius, in Jugurthine War, 
 414; destroys the Cimbri and Teu- 
 tons, 414; contends with Sulla for 
 command against Mithradates, 420 ; 
 is proscribed, 421 ; massacres the 
 aristocrats, 421 
 
 Mars, Roman god of war, 350 
 
 Marsic War. See Social War 
 
 Martial, poet, 513 n. i 
 
 Mas i nis'sa, 403 
 
 Mas sa'li a, founded, 169 
 
 Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, 289 
 
 Mau so'lus, king of Caria, 289 
 
 Maxim'ian, Roman emperor, 476, 
 
 479 
 Mecca, 551 
 
 Medes, tlie, 95 
 
 Medicine, science of, among the 
 Egyptians, 46 ; among the Greeks, 
 
 327 
 
 Medina (ma de na), 553 
 
 Me'los, taken possession of, by the 
 Athenians, 232 
 
 Memphis, in Egypt, 27 
 
 Me nan'der, 310 n. 2 
 
 Mencius (men'shlus), Chinese sage, 
 112 
 
 Men e la'Us, 125 
 
 Me'nes, '^ 
 
 Mer'ne ptah, 32 
 
 Merovingians, Prankish kings, 529 
 
 Mesopotamia, the name, 48 n. i 
 
 Mes sa'ria, Greek colony, 161 
 
 Mes se'ne, founding of, by Epami- 
 nonda;s, 245 
 
 Mes se'ni a, its physical character- 
 istics, 116 
 
 Mes se'ni an wars, 160 
 
 MessSnians, liberation of, by Epami- 
 nondas, 245 
 
 Metals, Age of, 7 
 
 Metaurus, battle of the, 395 ; a turn- 
 ing point in history, 405 
 
 Ml le'tus, colonies of, in Euxine re- 
 gion, 466; fall of, 191, 192 
 
 Mil ti'a de§, in command at Mara- 
 thon, 195 
 
 Milvian Bridge, battle at, 480 
 
 Min o'an, the term, how used, 135 n. 2 
 
 Mi'nos, .king of Crete, founder of 
 maritime empire, 122 
 
 Min'o taur, the, 123, 132 
 
 Mith ra da'tes VI (the Great), king 
 of Pohtus, 418; his characteristics, 
 419; orders massacre, of Italians 
 in Asia, 420 ; invades Europe, 420; 
 his death, 427 
 
 Mithradatic War, First, 421 n. 2 ; Sec- 
 ond, 427 n. I ; Third, 427 n. i 
 
 Mohammed, 551-553 
 
 Mohammedanism, its teachings, 553 ; 
 conquests of Saracens, 554, 555; 
 dismemberment of caUphate, 555 ; 
 civilization of Arabian Islam, 556 
 
 Monastkism, 535-538 
 
 Monte Gassino (mon'ta ka se'no), 536 
 
 Moses, Hebrew lawgiver, 79 
 
 Mucius Scsevola (sev'o la), 359 
 
 Mulvian Bridge. See Milvian Bridge 
 
 Mun'da, battle 'of, 434 n. i 
 
INDEX 
 
 58s 
 
 -Municipal system, Roman, 373-375; 
 
 the Lex Julia Municipalis, 435 n. I. 
 
 See Mitnicipla 
 Municip'ia, meaning and use of 
 
 the term, 374 ; lose self-government 
 
 under later emperors, 477, 499 
 Myc'a le, battle of, 204 
 Myce'nae, seat of prehistoric race, 
 
 116, 130, 136 
 Mycenae'an civilization, use of term, 
 
 135 "■ ^' S^^ ."ligean civilization 
 My'lse, naval battle near, 385 
 My'ron, sculptor, 293 
 Myt i le'ne, revolt of, 230 
 
 Nab o nfdus, king of Babylon, 78 
 
 Nabo po las'sar, 75 
 
 Naples, 339 
 
 Nar bo nen'sis, Gothic province, 414 
 
 Nau'cra tis, founded, 170 
 
 Nax'os secedes from the Delian 
 League, 209 
 
 Ne ap'6 lis, 169 
 
 Ne ar'chus, Alexander's admiral, 262 
 
 Neb u chad nez'zar II, 75-77 
 
 Ne'cho II, 34 
 
 Negative Confession, the, in Egyptian 
 theology, 42—44 
 
 Ne'roe a, 148 
 
 Ne me'an games, the, 1 48' 
 
 Nem'e sis, goddess, 144 n. 2 ; doc- 
 trine of, in Greek tragedy, 233 n. i, 
 
 307 
 
 Ne o lith'ic Age, 6 
 
 Nero, Roman emperor, reign, 455, 456 
 
 Nerva, .Roman emperor, 461 
 
 Nes'tor, 125 
 
 Ni 9as'a. Church council at, 482 
 
 Nicias (nish'i as or nij'i as), Athenian 
 general, his speech against the Si- 
 cilian Expedition, 234; reply to 
 Alcibiades, 235 ; in Sicily, 237 ; his 
 execution, 237 
 
 Nicias, Peace of, 232 
 
 Nile, the. Delta ai, 23; First Cataract, 
 23 ; deposits of, 23 n. 2 ; inunda- 
 tion, 24 
 
 Nin'e veh, decoration of, by Sen- 
 nacherib, 66 ; its fall, 68 ; palace 
 mound at, 70, 7 r ; Royal Library 
 found at, 71 
 
 Nippur (nip poor'), city, 54; excava- 
 tions at, 54 
 
 No' men (14 tor, 523 
 
 Numantia (nu man'shi a), destruction 
 of, 406 
 
 Obelisks, Egyptian, 44 
 
 Octavian, Gains, opposes Antony, 
 437 ; enters the Second Trium- 
 virate, 438; at the battle of Ac- 
 tium, 439, 440 ; character of his 
 government, 442 ; his reign, 442- 
 450; reforms the administration of 
 the provinces, 445 ; literature and 
 the arts during his reign, 446; his 
 death and deification, 449 
 
 Octavius. See Octavian 
 
 Octavius, Gnseus, consul, 421 
 
 Octavius, M., tribune, 411 
 
 O de'on, the, at Athens, 219 
 
 O do a'cer, 497, 527 
 
 Odysseus (odis'us), 126 
 
 Od'ys sey, subject of the, 126. See 
 Homeric poems 
 
 CEd'i pits at Colonus, 309 
 
 Olym'pi.a, location of, 116; national 
 Greek games at, 147 ; temple of 
 Zeus Olympius at, 288 ; excavation 
 of the site, 288 
 
 O lym'pi ad. First, 147; mode of 
 designating dates by, 148 n. i 
 
 Olympian Council, the, 144 
 
 Olympian games, the, 147 ; revival of, 
 149 n. I ; influence upon* Greek 
 sculpture, 149, 291 
 
 O lym'pus. Mount, 117 
 
 Omar, caliph, 554 n. i 
 
 O'pis, 263 
 
 Oracles among the Greeks. See Del- 
 phian oracle 
 
 Oratory, Greek, 312-313; Roman, 513 
 
 Ordeals, 545 
 
 Orders of Greek architecture, 284 
 
 Or'mazd. See Ahura Mazda 
 
 O sl'ris, Egyptian deity, 37 
 
 Os'sa, Mount, 117 
 
 Ostracism, 184, 185 n. 2 
 
 Ostrogoths, cross the Danube, 487 ; 
 reduced to obedience by Theodo- 
 sius, 487 ; in Italy, 527 
 
 Othman, caliph, 554 n. i 
 
 O'tho, Roman emperor, 457 
 
 Otto I (the Great), 562 
 
 Ov'id, poet, 512 
 
 Pac to'lus, river, 93 
 Pa'dus. ! See Po 
 
SS6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Pse o'ni us, JVi'&e of, 295 
 
 Painting, Greek, 298-300 
 
 Pa le o lith'ic Age, 3-5 
 
 Palmyra, fall of, 473 
 
 Pansetius (pa ne'shi us), 273 
 
 Pan ath e nae'a, the Great, established 
 
 by Pisistratus, 182 ; the Lesser, 
 
 182 n. 1 
 Pan jab', 99 
 Pantheon, the, 505 
 Papacy, rise of, 538-542 
 Pa pin'i an, jurist, 517 
 Papyrus paper, 36 n. i 
 Par'a lus, Atjienian state ship, 238 
 Par me'ni 5, Macedonian general, 
 
 260 n. 2 
 Parnas'sus, Mount, 117 
 Pa'ros, marbles of, 119 
 Parrhasius (para'shlus), Greek 
 
 painter, 300 
 Parthenon, the, 219; treasure in, 
 
 286 n. 2 ; description of, 287 ; 
 
 sculptures of, 294 n. 1 
 Parthia, 276 n. 3 
 Pa sar'ga da2, 97 
 Pa ier fa mil'i as, power of, 344 
 Patricians in early Rome, 348 
 Pa tro'clus, 125 
 Pau'lus, jurist, 517 
 Pau'lus, Lu'cius M mil'i us, consul, 
 
 393 • 
 
 Paulus, Lucius ^milius, son of pre- 
 ceding, victor at Pydna, 399 
 
 Pau sa'ni as at Platsea, 204 n. i 
 
 Pausanias, traveler and writer, 327 
 
 Pax Romana. See Roman Peace 
 
 Pe'li on. Mount, 117 
 
 Pel'la, 251 n. i 
 
 Pe lop'i das liberates Thebes, 244 
 
 Peloponnesian (pel o pon ne'shi an) 
 League, 161 
 
 Peloponnesian War, the, causes of, 
 226; events of, 227-239; results 
 of, 239. See Contents 
 
 Peloponnesus, the name, 114; con- 
 quered by the Dorians, 127 
 
 Pe'lops, fabled colonizer of the Pelo- 
 ponnesus, 114 
 
 Pe na'tes, worship of, interdicted, 487 
 
 Pe nel'o pe, 126 
 
 Pe ne'us, river, 117 
 
 Pentel'icus, Mount, 117 
 
 Per'ga mum [or Pergamus), center of 
 Hellenistic culture, 274-276 
 
 Per i an'der, tyrant of Corinth, 173 
 Per'i cleg, opposes Cimon, 210; comes 
 to the head of affairs in Athens, 
 210; hegotiates the Thirty Years' 
 Truce with Sparta, 211; his posi- 
 tion at Athens, 213; his law limit- 
 ing citizenship, 215; adorns Athens 
 with public buildings, 218-220; 
 funeral oration of, 227 ; his death, 
 230 
 Pericles, the Age of, 212-224 
 Per ice' ji, the, in Laconia, 154 
 Per seph'so ne, cult of, 144 n. i 
 Per sep'o lis, structures at, 105 ; de- 
 stroyed by Alexander, 260 
 Per'se us, king of Macedonia, 399 
 Persian Empire, political history of, 
 95-100; extent, 100; population, 
 loi ; nature of government, loi ; 
 cramp's the Greek world, 187-igo; 
 wars with Greece, 191-206; con- 
 quered by Alexander the Great, 
 257-265 
 Persians, relation to the Medes, 95 ; 
 
 literature and religion, 1 01- 104 
 Per'sius, poet, 513 
 Pe'tra, 463 n. i 
 Pha'do, 322 
 Phalanxj Macedonian, Theban origin 
 
 of, 252 n. I 
 Pharaoh (fa'ro), title, 25 
 Phar'na cej, defeated by Caesar, 433 
 Pha'ros, the, at Alexandria, 278, 280, 
 
 281 _ 
 Phar sa'lus, battle of, 433 
 Phei'don, king of Argos, 161 n, 1 
 Phid'i as, his masterpieces, 293-295 
 Phi dip'pi des, Greek runner, 193 
 Philas, island, 23 n. i 
 Philip II, king of Macedon, his youth, 
 252; his accession to the throne, 
 252 ; his conquests in Chalcidice 
 and Thrace, 252 ; in the Second 
 Sacred War, 253; his victory at 
 Chseronea, 253 ; his plan to invade 
 Asia, 276 ; his death, 276 ; results 
 of his reign, 276 
 Phi lip'pl, founded, 252 n. i 
 Philistines (fi lis'tinz), 33 n. i 
 Phil o p«E'men, 270 n. 4 
 Phocians, in Second Sacred War, 
 
 2 C2 
 
 Pho'cis, district of Greece, 115 
 Phoe'bu£i. See Apollo 
 
INDEX 
 
 587 
 
 Phoenicia (fe nish'i a), the land, 87 ; 
 
 products, 87 
 Phoenicians, their commerce, 88 ; col- 
 onies, 89 ; routes of trade, 90 n. i ; 
 
 arts disseminated by, 90 
 Phonograms defined, 13 
 Phra'try, the, 140, 141 
 Pi ce'num, 337 
 
 Picts ravage province of Britain, 494 
 Pindar, 305 
 Pippin III, becomes king of the 
 
 Franks, 55S ; makes donation of 
 
 lands to the Pope, 559 
 Pi rse'us, the, fortified by Themisto- 
 
 cles, 207 ; dismantled by the Pelo- 
 
 ponnesians, 239 
 Pirates, in the Mediterranean, 425 ; 
 
 punished by Pompey, 426 
 Pi sis'tra tus, makes himself tyrant of 
 
 Athens, 181 ; character of his rule, 
 
 182 
 Pistoria (pis to'ya), 429 
 Pit'ta cus, 317 n. i 
 Placentia, Roman colony, 390 
 Platsc'a, its destruction, 231; battle 
 
 of, 204 
 Platasans, the, at Marathon, 194 
 Plato, endows school at Athens, 271 ; 
 
 life and works, 322 
 Plautus, dramatist, 511 
 Plebeians (pie be'yanz), origin of the 
 
 order, 348 n. i ; their status in early 
 
 Rome, 348 ; first secession, 362 ; 
 
 second secession, 367 ; marriage 
 
 with patricians made legal, 368 ; 
 
 secure admission to the consulship, 
 
 371, 372; to the dictatorship and 
 
 other offices, 372 n. i 
 Pleb is fTta, 367 
 Pliny the Elder, 4^9, 515 
 Pliny the Younger, letter to Trajan, 
 
 463 ; literary notice, 515 
 Plu'tarch, 315 
 Pnyx (niks) Hill, the, at Athens, 
 
 178 n. 2 
 Po, river, 337 
 Po lyb'i us, historian, 315 
 Pol'y carp. Church father, 467 
 Poly cli'tus, sculptor, 295 
 Po lyc'ra tes, tyrant of Samos, 174, 189 
 Pol yg no'tus, painter, 299 
 Po lyx'e na, daughter of Priam, 299 n. i 
 Pompeii (pom pa'yee) destroyed, 
 
 459 n- I 
 
 Pompey, Gnse'us (the Great), given 
 command against the pirates, 426 ; 
 given: charge of war against Mith- 
 radates, 427 ; conquers Syria, 427 ; 
 takes Jerusalem, 427 ; his triumph, 
 438 ; enters the First Triumvirate, 
 429, 430 ; rivalry between him and 
 Caesar, 432 ; his death, 433 
 
 Pompey, Gnaeus, son of the preced- 
 ing. 434 n. I 
 
 Pompeyi Sextus, 434 n. i 
 
 Pom po''ni us, 517 
 
 Pontifex Maxinius^ 351 
 
 Pontiffs," College of, 351 
 
 Pontus, state in Asia Minor, 419 
 
 Popes. See Papacy 
 
 Po sei'don, 144 
 
 Pes i do'hi a, 1 68 
 
 Posilipo (po se le'po), grotto, 507 
 
 Potidas'a, Corinthian colony, 226; 
 revolt of, against Athens, 226 
 
 Praetorian guard, created by Augus- 
 tus, 453 ; disbanded by Septimius 
 Severus, 471 
 
 Pras'tors, original title of the con- 
 suls, 360 ; creation of the office, 
 
 372 
 
 Prax it'e les, 296 
 
 Pre'fec tures, the subdivisions of the 
 later Roman Empire, 477 n. i 
 
 Prehistoric Age, defined, i ; in what 
 way knowledge of, secured, i; divi- 
 sions of, 2 ; in Egypt, 25 
 
 Princefs, the title, 444 
 
 Printing; art of, among the Chinese, 
 III 
 
 Prod'i cts, 320 
 
 Prometheus (pro me'thiis 07- pro me'- 
 thius), the Titan, 30S n. i 
 
 Prop y Iffi'a, the, 219 
 
 Pro tag'o_ras, 319 n. 3 
 
 Provinces, first Roman, 388, 389 ; gov- 
 ernment of, reformed by Augustus, 
 445 ; condition of, under the An- 
 tonines, 468 
 
 Psammetichus (sam met'i kus) I, 33 
 
 Ptolemy (tol'e mi), Claudius, astrono- 
 mer, 337 
 
 Ptolemy I (Soter), 278 
 
 Ptolemy II (Philadelphus), 279 
 
 PubUc lands, Roman, how acquired 
 and how administered, 409 ; at the 
 time of the Gracchi, 410 
 
 Publilian Law, 372 n. 2 
 
588 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Punic War, First, 382-388 ; Second, 
 
 392-397J_ Third, 403-405 
 Punjab (poon jab'). See Panjab 
 Pyd'na, battle of, 399 
 Py'los, 231 
 Pyramid builders, 27 
 Pyramids, the, 27 ; as tombs, 41 
 Pyrrhus (pir'us), takes command of 
 
 the Tarentines, 378 ; campaigns in 
 
 Italy and Sicily, 378 ; defeated at 
 
 Beneventum, 378 
 Py thag'o ras, 318 
 Pyth'i a, the, 146 
 Pythian games, 148 
 
 Quinqueremes (kwin'kweremz), 385 
 n. i; first fleet of, built by the 
 Romans, 385 
 
 Ra (ra), Egyptian deity, 37 
 Races of mankind, 17-19; table of, 22 
 Radagaisus (rad a ga'sus), 490 n. i 
 Rameses (ram'e sez) II, 32 ; mummy 
 
 of, 40 
 Rameses III, 33 n. i 
 Re (ra). See Ra 
 Reg'u lus, A til'i us, Roman general, 
 
 386 
 Re ho bo'am, 81 
 Re'mus, 357 
 
 Rhegium (re'gixlm), founded, 168 
 Rhodes, island, 118; settled by Do- 
 rians, 137 ; center of Hellenistic 
 culture, 273 ; school of sculpture 
 at, 273 
 Rimini (re'me ne), 559 
 Roderic, Visigothic king, 555 
 Roman colonies. See Colonies 
 Roman Empire, definitely established 
 by Augustus, 442-445 ; greatest ex- 
 tent under Trajan, 463 ; public sale 
 of, 470 ; its final division, 488 ; the 
 Eastern, 489 ; fall of the, in the 
 West, 497 ; causes of failure, 498 ; 
 import of its downfall, 500 ; the 
 Empire in the East, 548-550 i re- 
 stored in the West by Charles the 
 Great, 560 
 Roman law, 516-518; revival of, 546 
 Roman Peace {Pax Jiomana), 379; 
 
 established in Gaul, 431 
 Roman roads, construction begun, 
 
 377 ; their extension, 506 n. i 
 Romance languages, 544 
 
 Romance nations, origin, 543 
 
 Rome, location, 342 ; early society 
 and government, 344-348 ; under 
 the kings, 353-359; under the Tar- 
 quins, 353; legends of, 357r3S9; 
 sacked by the Gauls, 370 ; its re- 
 building, 371 ; effect upon, of con- 
 quest >of the East, 400 ; destroyed 
 by the Great Fire, 456 ; last triumph 
 at, 489 ; ransom of, by Alaric, 490 ; 
 sacked by Alaric, 491 ; sacked by 
 the Vandals, 496 
 
 Rom'u lus, king of Rome, 353, 357 
 
 Romulus Augustus, last emperor of 
 the West, 497 
 
 Rosetta Stone, the, 36 
 
 Ros'tra, 354 ; origin of name, 354 n. i 
 
 Royal Road, Persian, 98 
 
 Rubicon, river, crossed by Cassar, 
 
 433_ 
 Ru ma'ni'a, 462 n. i 
 
 Sabbath, adopted as day of rest by 
 
 Constantine, 482 
 Sabines (sa'binz), 357 
 Sacred games among the Romans, 
 
 352 
 
 Sacred War, First, 150; Second, 252 
 
 Sa gun'tum taken by Hannibal, 391 
 
 St. Anthony, 536 
 
 St. Augustine, mission to Britain, 534 
 
 St. Augustine, Aurelius, 516 
 
 St. Benedict, his Rule, 536 
 
 St. Boniface (bon'e fass), 534, 535 
 
 St. Columba, 534 
 
 St. Jerome, 516 
 
 St. Patrick, 534 
 
 St. Peter, martyr at Rome, 456 ; his 
 primacy, 539 
 
 Sa'is, 137 n. 2 
 
 Salamin'ia, Athenian state ship, 
 213 n. 2 
 
 Sal'a mis, battle of, 203 
 
 Sallust, historian, 514 
 
 Sa 16'na, 479 
 
 Samaria captured by Sargon II, 65 
 
 Samnite wars, 376 
 
 Sa'mos, island, 118 
 
 Samson, Hebrew hero, 80 
 
 Sappho (saf'o), 305 
 
 Saracenk. See Mohammedanism 
 
 Sar'a cus, last king of Nineveh, 68 
 
 Sardinia, with Corsica, made a Ro- 
 man province, 389 
 
INDEX 
 
 S89 
 
 Siir'dis, capital of Lydia, 93 ; cap- 
 tured by Cyrus, 96 ; sacked by the 
 Greeks, 191 
 Sar'gon I, 51 
 Sargon II, reign, 65 
 
 Sat tirndli a, 352 
 Saul, king of the Hebrews, 80 
 Scarabas'us, Egyptian, 45 
 Schliemann (shle'miin). Dr., 128 
 Scilly (sil'i) Islands, 89 n. i 
 Scipio, Publius Cornelius (Africanus 
 Major), defeats Hannibal at Zama, 
 396 
 
 Scipio, Publius Cornelius ^milia- 
 nus (Africanus Minor)., at siege of 
 Carthage, 404, 405; at siege of 
 Numantia, 406 
 
 Sco'pas, 296 
 
 Sculpture, Greek, 290-298 ; relation 
 to Mycenaean art, 290 
 
 Se ja'nus, 453 
 
 Se leu'9i dse, kingdom of the, 276- 
 278 
 
 Se leu'cus Ni ca'tor, 276 
 
 Senate, Roman, under the kings, 346 ; 
 power restored by Sulla, 423 ; num- 
 ber reduced to six hundred by 
 Augustus, 444 ; Tiberius confers 
 upon, right to elect magistrates, 
 452 ; admission to, of Gauls, 455 
 
 Sen^e ca, moralist, Nero's tutor, 455 ; 
 his teachings, 515 
 
 Sen naeh'e rib, reign, 66 
 
 Sep'tu a gint, the, 279 
 
 Ser a pe'um, the, 38 n. 3 
 
 Serfdom, mediaeval, beginnings of, 
 478 n. I 
 
 Servile War, First, 408 ; Second, 
 409 11. 2 
 
 Servius Tullius, builds walls of Rome, 
 353 ; his reforms, 354-35^ 
 
 Sesostris. See Rameses II 
 
 Seth (or Set), Egyptian god, 38 
 
 Sethos I, 38 
 
 Se'ti I. See Sethos 
 
 Seven Hills, the, 343, 353 
 
 Seven Sages, the, 3x7 
 
 Se ve'rus, Septimius, Roman emperor, 
 reign, 471 
 
 Seville (sev'il), 555 
 
 Sheba (she'ba), queen of, 8r 
 
 She'ol, the Hebrew underworld, 86 
 
 Shepherd Kings. See Hyksos 
 
 Sib'ylline Books, 351; number of 
 
 keepers raised to ten, 371 ; prophecy 
 in, 389 ; burned, 422 
 
 Sicilian Expedition, the, 234-238 ; 
 debate at Athens respecting, 234 ; 
 departure of, from the Piraeus, 236; 
 the end, 236-237 
 
 Sicily, Greek colonies in, 169 ; golden 
 era of the Sicilian Greek cities, 249, 
 250; "relation to Roman history, 
 338 ; at the beginning of the First 
 Punic War, 384 ; conquest of, by the 
 Romans, 3S5 ; becomes a Roman 
 province, 388 ; First Servile War in, 
 408; Second Servile War in, 409 n. 2 
 
 Sidon, 88 
 
 SI mon'i dig of Ceos, lyric poet, 
 205 n. 2, 305 
 
 Siwa (se'wa), oasis of, 259 
 
 Slavery,, among the Greeks, 334-336 ; 
 in early Rome, 345 ; condition of 
 slaves in Sicily, 408 ; general state- 
 ments respecting, 523-525 
 
 Smer'dis, the false, 97, 98 
 
 Social War, 415; comments upon 
 results, 417 
 
 Socrates, in the Athens of Pericles, 
 221 ; his trial and condemnation, 
 242 i his teachings, 321 
 
 Sog di a'na, conquest of, by Alexan- 
 der, 260 
 
 Soissons (swa son'), battle of, 529 
 
 Solomon, king, 80 
 
 So'lon, his economic reforms, 180 ; 
 his constitutional reforms, 180; 
 special laws enacted by, 181 
 
 Sophists, the, 222, 319, 320 
 
 Soph'o cles, tragic poet, 309 
 
 Spain becomes Romanized, 406 ; con- 
 quered by the Saracens, 555 
 
 Sparta, location of, 154; the name, 
 154; classes in, 154; early history 
 of, 1 56 ; public tables, 1 58 ; educa- 
 tion of Spartan youth, 1 59 ; conquers 
 Messenia, 160; becomes supreme 
 in central and northern Pelopon- 
 nesus, 161 
 
 Spar'ta cus, leader of gladiators, 423 
 
 Spartan -.constitution, the, 156 
 
 Spartan supremacy (404-371 B.C.), 
 240-245 
 
 Spartans, number of, 154; detach- 
 ment of, shut up in Sphacteria, 
 231 ; their surrender, 231 ; import 
 of this 'event, 231 
 
590 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Spar ti a'ta;, the. See Spartans 
 
 Sphac te'ri a, island, 231 
 
 Sphinx, the, 27, 28 
 
 Spor'a des, the, 118 
 
 Sta'di um (pi. stadia), 289 
 
 Stephen II, Pope, 559 
 
 Stil'i cho. Vandal general, 489, 490 
 
 Stoics, the, 272, 324 
 
 Stonehenge (ston'henj), 15 
 
 Stra'bo, the geographer, 327 
 
 Sublician Bridge, 358 
 
 Suetonius (swe to'ni us), biographer, 
 
 514 
 
 Suf fe'te|, 382 
 
 Sulla, Lucius Cornelius, in Jugurthine 
 War, 414; given command against 
 Mithradates, 420, 421 ; marches 
 upon Rome, 421 ; war between him 
 and the Marian party, 422 ; his 
 proscriptions, 422 j made dictator, 
 423 ; his abdication and death, 423 
 
 Sulpician Laws, 421 n. i 
 
 Sulpicius (sul pish'i us), tribune, 
 421 n. I 
 
 Sii'raer, 50 
 
 Sumerians, the, 50 
 
 Su'ni um, cape, 219 
 
 Susa, capital of Elam, 52 ; capital of 
 Persian Empire, 98 ; taken by 
 Alexander, 259 
 
 Sut tee', T09 n. i 
 
 Sy a'gri us, Roman governor, 529 
 
 Syb'a ris, founded, 168 
 
 Syl'labary, defined, 14 
 
 Symposium, the, features of, 332 
 
 Syracuse, founded, 169; operations 
 of the Athenians at, in the Pelo- 
 ponnesian War, 236, 237 ; under 
 the Dionysian tyrants, 248, 249 ; its 
 golden era, 249, 250 ; forms alliance 
 with Carthage, 394 ; fall of, 395 
 
 Syria, made a Roman province, 427 
 
 Tacitus, historian, 515 
 
 Tal'mud, 84 
 
 Ta'o ism, 113 
 
 Taras. See Tarentum 
 
 Tarentum, Greek colony, 168 ; war 
 with Rome, 377 ; character of in- 
 habitants, 377 
 
 Tar quin'i us Priscus, king of Rome, 
 
 353 
 Tarquinius Superbus, king of Rome, 
 353 ; his expulsion, 356 
 
 Tar'ta rus, in Greek myth, 143 
 
 Tas ma'hi ans, 4 n. i 
 
 Tayg'etus Mountains, 118 
 
 Te-lem'a chus, monk, 490 
 
 Tell el-Amarna (el-ii mar'na), cunei- 
 form letters discovered at, 30 n. 2 
 
 Telloh (or Tello), 56 
 
 Tem'pe, Vale of, 114 
 
 Ten Thousand, expedition of the, 
 240-242 
 
 Ter'ence, dramatist, 51 1 
 
 Teutoburg Wood (toi'to borg), scene 
 of defeat of Varus, 446 
 
 Teutons. See Barbarians 
 
 ThaTes, 318 
 
 Thap'suS, battle of, 433 
 
 Theaters : Grecian, description of, 
 288; entertainments of, 331; Ro- 
 man, construction of, 505 ; enter- 
 tainments of, 519 
 
 Thebes, in Egypt, ruins at, 30 
 
 Thebes, in Greece, seized by the 
 Spartans, 244; liberated by Pe- 
 lopidas, 244 ; hegemony of, 245- 
 247 ; destroyed by Alexander the 
 Great, 257 
 
 The mis'to cle§, his character, 196; 
 his naval policy, 196; his agency 
 in convening the council at Cor- 
 inth, 199; interprets the oracle of 
 the "wooden walls," 203; his 
 policy in regard to the Piraeus 
 and the Athenian navy, 207 ; his 
 ostracism and death, 207 n. i 
 
 The oc'ri tus, poet, 314 
 
 The od'o ric, king .of the Ostrogoths, 
 
 527 
 Theodosius I (the Great), emperor, 
 
 reduces Goths to submission, 487 ; 
 
 the destroyer of paganism, 487 ; 
 
 orders, massacre at Thessalonica, 
 
 488 ; "bows to Bishop Ambrose, 
 
 488 ; divides the Empire, 488 
 Ther'ma;, Roman, 507 
 Ther mop'y Ice, battle of, 201 
 Thermopyla5, Pass of, the name, 201 
 The se'um, the, 218 
 Theseus (the'sus), slays the minotaur, 
 
 123 ; king of Athens, 177 
 Thes'pis, tragic poet, 306 
 Thes sa lo nl'ca, massacre at, 488 
 Thes'sa ly, description of, 114 
 The'tes, the, 180 
 Thirty Tyrants, the, at Athens, 240 
 
INDEX 
 
 591 
 
 Thirty Years' Truce, the, 3ii 
 Thoth'mes III, 30 
 
 Thras y bu'lus, tyrant of Miletus, 173 
 Thucyd'ides, the historian, tale of 
 
 his youth, 221; character of the 
 
 speeches in his history, 227 n. i ; 
 
 banished from Athens, 311; his 
 
 history, 312 
 That mo'se. See Thothmes 
 Tiber, river, 339 
 Tiberius, Roman emperor, reign, 
 
 452. 453 
 
 Tl'bur, 509 
 
 Ti ci'nus, battle of the, 393 n. 1 
 
 Tig'lath-Pi le'ser IV, 65 
 
 Tigris, valley of the, 48 
 
 Ti mo'le on, the Liberator, frees Syra- 
 cuse from the tyrant Dionysius 
 the Younger, 249; his death, 250 
 
 Ti'mon, the misanthrope, 233 
 
 Tl'ryns, seat of prehistoric race, 
 116 
 
 Titus, Roman emperor, at siege of 
 Jerusalem, 458 ; reign, 458, 459 
 
 Tiv'o li. See Tibur 
 
 Tours (toor), battle of, 555 
 
 Trajan, Roman emperor, reign, 461- 
 463 
 
 Transmigration, Hindu doctrine of, 
 108 
 
 Tra pe'zus, 242 
 
 Tras i me'nus. Lake, battle at, 393 n. 1 
 
 Tre'bi a, battle of the, 393 n. i 
 
 Treb'i zond. See Trapezus 
 
 Tribes, among the Greeks, 141 ; as 
 divisions of the Roman commu- 
 nity, 346; the four Servian, 354, 
 355 ; maximum number, 355 n. 2 
 
 Tribunes, military, with consular 
 power, creation of office, 368 ; 
 abolished, 371 
 
 Tribunes, "plebeian, first, 362 ; num- 
 ber, 362 ; duties, 362 ; their right 
 of aid, 363 ; sacrosanct character, 
 363 ; acquire the right to sit within 
 the Senate hall, 368; powers ab- 
 sorbed by Augustus, 444 
 
 Triumph, last, at Rome, 4S9 
 
 Triumvirate, First, 430 ; Second, 437 
 
 Trojan War, the legend of, 125 
 
 Troy, 125. See Hissarlik 
 
 Truceless War, the, 390 
 
 Tus'cu lum, 374 n. i 
 
 Twelve Tables, the, 364-366 
 
 Tyne (tin), the, 464 
 
 Ty'phon. See Seth 
 
 Tyrants, the Greek, 171-175; char- 
 acter and origin of rule, 171 ; Greek 
 feeling; towards, 172 ; benefits con- 
 ferred by, 174; Pisistratidas, at 
 Athens, 181-183 
 
 Tyre, Ijesieged by Nebuchadnezzar, 
 72 ; hjstory of, 75 ; siege of, by 
 Alexander, 258 
 
 Tyr rhi'ni an Sea, 337 
 
 Tyr tae'iis, i6o 
 
 Ul'fi las, apostle of the Goths, 532 
 Ul'pi an, jurist, 517 
 Um'bri a, 337 
 Ur, city of, 79 
 
 Valens, Roman emperor, 486 
 
 Val en tln'i an I, Roman emperor, 
 
 486 n. I 
 Va le'rian, Roman emperor, 472 n, 3 
 Va le'ri an Law, 361 
 Valerio-'Horatian Laws, 367 
 Va le'ri us, Lu'ci us, consul, 367 
 Valerius, Publius, consul, 361 
 Vandals, in Spain, 493 ; in Africa, 
 493 ; sack Rome, 496 ; persecute 
 African Catholics, 528 ; kingdom 
 destroyed by Justinian, 529 
 Vaphio "(va'fi o) cups, 132 n. i 
 Varro, Gaius Terentius, consul, 393 
 Varus, Quintilius, defeated by Ar- 
 
 minius, 446 
 Ve'das '{orvs.'&s.s), sacred books of 
 
 the Hindus, 107 
 Veil (ve'yT), siege and capture of, 369, 
 
 374 
 Ven e ti, the, 495 
 Venetia fve ne'shi a), 387 
 Venice, its beginnings, 495 
 Ver 9eri£e, battle at, 415 
 Vergi], 511, 512 
 Ver'res, propraetor, his scandalous 
 
 misgovernment of Sicily, 424; his 
 
 prosecution by Cicero, 424,-425 
 Vespasian (ves pa'zhi an), Flavius, 
 
 Roman emperor, reign, 457 
 Vesta, worship of, at Rome, 350 
 Vi'a, y^mil'ia^ 506 n. T; Ap'pi a^ 
 
 337' 5*^6 ^^- ^ ' Cas'si a, 506 n. I ; 
 
 J^^a min'i a, 506 n. I 
 Villas, Roman, 509 
 Vin do bd'na, 468 
 
592 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Visigoths, cross the Danube, 486 ; 
 reduced to submission by Theo- 
 dosius, 487 ; invade Italy, 4S9 ; 
 second invasion, 491 ; after saclc 
 of Rome, 492, 493 ; establish king- 
 dom in Spain, 528 ; kingdom de- 
 sti-oyed by the Saracens, 555 
 VI tel'li us, Roman emperor, 4^7 
 Volscians, border wars with Rome, 
 363 
 
 Wirifrid. See St. Boniface 
 
 Woman, social position of, in Greece, 
 
 330 ; at Rome, 519 
 Writing, invention of, 13; Egyptian 
 
 system, 35; Chinese, iii 
 
 Xan thip'pe, 321 n. 2 
 Xen'o phon, with the Ten Thousand 
 Greeks, 241 ; his works, 312 
 
 Xerxes ^zerks'ez) I, 99 ; prepares to 
 invade: Greece, 198; crosses the 
 Hellespont, 200; reviews army at 
 Doriscus, 200 ; after the battle of 
 Salamis, 203 
 
 Yahweh (ya'we), 82 
 
 Yoke, symbol of submission, 364 n. i 
 
 Za'ma, battle at, 396 
 
 Ze'la, baitle at, 433 
 
 Zend A ves'ta, loi 
 
 Ze'no, the Stoic, 272, 324 
 
 Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, 473 n. ^ 
 
 Zeus (zus), 144 ; oracles of, 146 n. i 
 
 Zeus Ammon, oracle of, 259 
 
 Zeuxis (ziik'sis), Greek painter, 300 
 
 Zo ro as'ter, 102 
 
 Zoroastrianism, 102