I I r ^ Class _.JL5^ Book lSBS. C^TightN". COPYRIGHT DEPOSm V / BARNES ONE-TERM SERIES A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANCIENT PEOPLES WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THEIR MONUMENTS, INSTITUTIONS, ARTS, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS BY JOEL DORMAN STEELE, Ph.D., E.G.S. 1) AND ESTHER BAKER STEELE, LiT.D. NEW YORK • : . CINCINNATI • : • CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY LIBRARY of CONGRESS Two CoDies Received FEB 25 1909 ^ Copyright Entry CLASS O- XXc, No. COPY a. -5^^^^ ^c,%3 BAENES BRIEF HISTORY SERIES. i2M0. Illustrated. By Joel Dorman Steele and Esther B. Steele, BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, FOlt THE U8E OF SCHOOLS ANU FOB PKIVATE READING. BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF FRANCE, for the Use or Schools and for Private Reading. •BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF GREECE, with Select Readings from Standard authors. BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OP ROME, with Select Readings from Standard Authors. •BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF ANCIENT PEOPLES, for the Use of Schools and for Private Reading. BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL AND MODERN PEOPLES, for the Use of Schools and FOR Private Reading. BARNES BRIEF GENERAL HISTORY, AncIent. Me- dieval, and Modern Peoples. Copyright, 1881, bij A. S. Barnes & Co Copyright, 1909, by Esther Baker Steele. p. ij. J "V ^ THE plan of the Barnes Brief History Series has been thoroughly tested in the books already issued, and their extended use and approval are evidence of its general ex- cellence. In this work the political history, which occu- pies most if not all of the ordinary school-text, is condensed to the salient and essential facts, in order to give room for some account of the literature, religion, architecture, char- acter, and habits of the different nations. Surely, it is as important to know something about Plato as all about Ceesar ; to learn how the ancients wrote their books as how they fought their battles; and to study the virtues of the old Germans and the dawn of our own customs in English home-life, as to trace the petty squabbles of Alexander's successors or the intricacies of the Wars of the Roses. The general divisions on '^Civilization" and '^Manners and Customs'' were prepared by Mrs. J. Doriian Steele. The chapters on "Manners and Customs" and '^ Scenes in Real Life" represent the people of history as men and women subject to the same wants, hopes, and fears, as ourselves, and so bring the distant past near to us. The "Scenes," which are intended only for reading, are the result of a careful study of the monuments in foreign museums, of the ruins themselves, and of the latest authorities on the do- IV PREFACE. mestic life of the peoples of other lands and times. Though intentionally written in a semi-romantic style, they are accurate pictures of what might have occurred, and some of them are simple transcriptions of the details sculptured in Assyrian alabaster, or painted on Egyptian walls. It should be borne in mind that the extracts here made from "The Sacred Books of the East" are not comprehen- sive specimens of their style and teachings, but only gems selected from a mass of matter, much of which is absurd, meaningless, and even revolting. It has not seemed best to cumber a book like this with selections conveying no moral lesson. ' The numerous cross-references, the abundant dates in parentheses, the blackboard analyses, the pronunciation of the names in the index, the genealogical tables, the choice reading references at the close of each general subject, and the novel "Historical Recreations'^ in the appendix, will be of service to both teacher and pupil. An acknowledgment of indebtedness in the preparation of this history is hereby made to the works named in the reading references. It is hoped that a large class of persons who desire to know something about the progress of historic criticism as well as the discoveries resulting from recent archaeological excavations, but who have no leisure to read the ponderous volumes of Brugsch, Layard, Grote, Mommsen, Rawhnson, Ihne, Lanfrey, Froude, Martin, and others, will find this little book just what they need. PAGE 1. Inteoduction 9 8. Egypt 15 8. Babylonia and Assyria 45 4. Phcenicia 73 5. JUDEA 80 6. Media and Persia 88 7. India 105 8. China 109 9. Greece ,...113 10. EoME , 203 11. Appendix: 1. The Seven Wonders of the "World. * i 2. The Seven Wise Men i 3. Historical Recreations ii 4. Index zi LIST OF MAPS. PAGE Map of Early Races and Nations 11 Map of Ancient Egypt 16 Map of the Assyrian and Persian Empires 45 Map of Ph(enicia and Judea in Solomon's Time 74 Map of Canaan and the Wilderness 81 Map of Greece and her Colonies 113 Map of Hellas in the Heroic Age 118 Map of Gtreece in the Time of the Persian Wars 125 Map of the Plain op Marathon 126 Map of the Vicinity of Thermopyl^ 130 Map of the Vicinity of Athens and Salamis 135 Map illustrating the Peloponnesian War 142 Map of the Empire of Alexander 153 Map of the Roman Empire and its Provinces. 203 Map of the Early Tribes and Cities of the Italian Pen- insula 210 Map illustrating the Punic Wars 228 Map of the Divisions of Italia to the Time of Augustus > 255 Map or Plan of Ancient Rome 299 ANCIENT PEOPLES. Examine History, for it is " Philosophy teaching by Experience." Carlyle, " Truth comes down to us from the past, as gold is washed down from the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, in minute but precious particles— the debris of the centuries." BLACKBOARD ANALYSIS. 1' Egyp.- tians. 1. Political HiSTORYo 1. Origin. 2. Old Empire. 3. Middle Empire. 4. New Empire. 5. Decline. Civiliza- tion. 3. Manners AND Customs, 1. Society. 2. Writing. 3. Literature. King. Priests. Military Class. Lower Classes. Hieroglyphics. Papyrus. Book of the Dead. Phtahhotep's Book. Miscellaneous Books. 2. Babylo- nians and AssY^ans^ 4. Summary. 5. Chronology. 6. Reading References 1, 2, Political J 3, History. | 4 5, 4. Education. 5. Monuments and Art. 6. Practical Arts and Inventions. 1. General Character. 2. Religion. 3. Embalming. 4. Burial. il. Pyramid Building. 2. A Lord of the IVth Dynasty 3. Amenemhe Illd. 4. A Theban Dinner Party. Civiliza- tion. 3. Manners .AND Customs. 3. PhtEni- cians. 4i Hebrews, 5. Medes and Persians, 6. Hindoos. 7. Chinese. 1. Political History. 2. Civilization. 1. Political History. 2. Civilization. 1. Political History. 2. Civilization. 3. Manners and Customs. 1. Political History. 2. Civilization. 1. Political History. 2. Civilization. Origin. Chaldea. Assyria. Names of Kings. Babylonia. Names of Kings. 1. Society. 2. Writing. 3. Literature. 4. Monuments and Art. 5. Pi'actical Arts and Inventions. 1. General Character. 2. Religion. 3. Curious Customs. {1. A Chaldean Home. 2. A Morning in Nineveh. 3. A Royal Lion Hunt. 4, Asshurbanipal going to War. [The subdivisions of these general topics may be filled in from the titles of the paragraphs in the text, as the student pro- ceeds.] 8. Grecians. 9. Romans, 1. Political History. Geographical and Early History. Sparta. Athens. Persian Wars. Age of Pericles. Peloponnesian War. Lacedeemon and Theban Rule. Macedon. Alexander's Successors. 2. Civilization. 3, Manners and Customs. 1. Political History. 2. Civilization. 3. Manners and Customs, GREAT HALL OF KAKNAK. History is a record of what man has done. It treats of the rise and growth of the different nations which have ex- isted, of the deeds of their great men, the manners and customs of their peo- ples, and the part each nation has taken in the progress of the world.. Dates are reckoned from the birth of Christ, the central point in history. Time before that event is 10 ANCIENT HISTORY. denoted as b. c. j time after, a. d. {Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord).^ Three Divisions. — History is distinguished as Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern. Ancient history extends from the earliest time to the fall of the Roman Empire (476 a. d.) ; Medigeval, or the history of the Middle ages, covers about a thousand years, or to the close of the 15th century j and Modern history continues to the present time. The only Historic Race is the Caucasian, the others having done httle worth recording. It is usually divided into three great branches : the Ar'yan, the Semit'ic, and the Hamit'ic. The first of these, which includes the Per- sians, the Hindoos, and nearly all the European nations, is the one to which we belong. It has always been noted for its intellectual vigor. The second embraces the Assyrians, the Hebrews, the Phoenicians, and the Arabs. It has been marked by religious fervor, and has given to the world the three faiths — Jewish, Christian, and Mohammedan — which teach the worship of one God. The third branch ^ includes the Chaldeans and the Egyptians. It has been remarkable for its massive architecture. Ancient Aryan Nation. — Asia was probably the birth- place of mankind. In a time far back of aU history there lived in Bactria (map, p. 11) a nation that had made con- siderable progress in civilization. The people called them- 1 This method of reckoning was introduced by Exiguus, a Roman abbot, near the middle of the 6th century. It is now thought that the birth of Christ occurred about four years earlier than the time fixed in our chronology. The Jews still date from the Creation, and the Mohammedans usually from the Hegira (p. 326), 622 A. D. 2 The Chaldeans were a mixed people, and are variously classed as Semitic, Hami tic, or Turanian. Those nations of Europe and Asia that are not Aryan or Semitic are frequently termed Turanian. This branch would then include the Mongols, Chinese, Japanese, Turks, Tartars, Lapps, Finns, Magyars, etc. Iran (e'-rahn), or Aria, the old name of Persia (the "land of light"), is opposed toTuran, the barbarous region around (the "land of darkness"). The Aryan (Indo-European) and Semitic languages have certain resemblances, but the so-called Turanian dialects bear little resemblance to one another. 12 ANCIENT HISTORY. selves Aryas or Aryans, — those who go straight or upward. They dwelt in houses, plowed the soil, ground their grain in mills, rode in vehicles, worked certain metals, calcu- lated up to 100, and had family ties, a government, and a religion,^ Aryan Dispersion. — How long our Aryan forefathers lived united in their early home, we have no means of know- ing. As they increased in numbers, they would naturally begin to separate. When they moved into distant regions, the bond of union would become weaker, their language would begin to vary, and so the seeds of new tongues and new nations would be sown. To the south-east these Aryan emigrants pushed into Persia and northern India; to the west they gradually passed into Europe, whence, in a later age, they settled Australia and America. In general, they drove before them the previous occupants of the land. The peninsulas of Greece and Italy were probably earhest occu- pied. Three successive waves of emigration seem to have afterward swept over central Europe. First came the Celts (Kelts), then the Teutons (Germans), and finally the Slaves.^ Each of these appears to have crowded the preceding one farther west, as we now find the Celts in Ireland and Wales, and the Slaves in Russia and Poland. 1 These views are based on similarities of language. About 600,000,000 people— half the population of the globe— speak Aryan languages. These contain many words which have a family likeness. Thus, night, in Latin, is noct; in German, nacht; and in Greek, nykt. TJiree,\n Latin, is tres ; in Greek, treis ; and in Sanscrit (the aucieut language of the Hindoos), tri. All such words are supposed to have belonged to one original speech, and to suggest the life of that parent race. Thus we infer tliat the Aryans had a regular government, since words meaning king or ruler are the same in Sanscrit, Latin, and English ; and that tliey had a family life, since the words meaning father, mother, brother, sister, etc., are the same in tliese kindred tongues. Some recent theories discredit successive western migrations, place the primitive Aryan home in Europe, and argue that the Indo-Iranians emigrated from Europe to Asia. 2 This word originally meant " glorious," but came to have its present signification because at one time there were in Europe so many bondsmen of Slavonic birth. INTRODUCTION. 13 The following table shows the principal peoples which have descended from the ancient races: — 1. HAMITIC RACE 2. SEMITIC BACE. •{ 3. ABYAN BACE. Egyptians. Chaldeans (?). Assyrians. Phcenicians. Hebrews. Arabs. MEDES AND PERSIANS. HINDOOS. . « GREEKS. s e '^l ROMANS . Celts ■•••J Teutons SLAVES . French. Italians. Spaniards. [ Portuguese. J Welsh. Irish. Highland Scots. Britons. Germans. Dutch. English. Swedes. Danes. Norwegians. Romanic {Romance) Reoples. Commencement of Civil History. — History begins on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates.^ There the rich alluvial soil, the genial climate, and the abun- dant natural products of the earth, offered every inducement 1 " The Nile valley and the Tigris- Euphrates basin were two great oases in the vast desert which extended from west to east very nearly across the eastern hemi- sphere. These favored spots were not only the two centers of early civilization, but ' they were rivals of each other. They were connected by roads fit for the passage of vast armies. Whenever there was an energetic ruler along the Nile or the Tigris- Euphrates, he at once, as if by an inevitable law, attempted the conquest of his com- petitor for the control of western Asia. In fact, the history of ancient as well as modern Asia is little more than one continuous record of political struggles between Egypt and Mesopotamia, ending only when Europe entered the lists, as in the time of Alexander the Great and the Crusaders." 14 ANCIENT HISTORY. to a nomadic people to settle and commence a national life. Accordingly, amid the obscurity of antiquity, we catch sight of Memphis, Thebes, Nineveh, and Babylon,— the ear- liest cities of the world. The traveler of to-day, wandering among their ruins, looks upon the records of the infancy of civilized man. EGYPT. 1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. The Origin of the civilization which grew up on the banks of the Nile is uncertain. The earhest accounts repre- sent the country as divided into nomes, or provinces, and having a regular government. About 2700^ B. c. Menes (me'-neez), the half -mythical founder of the nation, is said to have conquered Lower Egypt and built Memphis, which he made his capital. Succeeding him, down to the conquest of Egypt by the Persians under Camby'ses (527 B. c), there were twenty-six dynasties of Pharaohs, or kings. The his- tory of this long period of over 2000 years is divided into that of the Old, Middle, and New Empires. 1. The Old Empire (2700-2080 b. c.).~During this Geographical Questions.— liocate the capitals of the five early kingdoms of Egypt : This, Elephantine (fan' te-na), Mem'phis, Heracleop'olis, Thebes ; the Pyramids of Gizeh ; the Nile's first cataract. Why is southern Egypt called Upper ? Describe Egypt. Ans. A flat valley, 2 to 10 miles wide, skirted by low, rocky hills ; on the west, the desert; on the east, a mountainous region rich in quarries, extending to the Red Sea. Through this narrow valley, for 600 miles, the Nile rolls i' s muddy waters northward. About 100 miles from the Mediterranean the hills i icede, the valley widens, and the Nile divides into two outlets,— the Damietta and Rosetta. These branches diverge until they enter the sea, 80 miles apart. Ancientl there were seven branches, and the triangular space i)hey inclosed was called the Delta, from the Greek letter A. As the Nile receives no tributary for the last 1100 miles of its course it becomes smaller toward its mouth. 1 Before the discoveries of the last century, the chief sources of information on Egypt were (1) Herodotus, a Greek historian who traveled along the Nile about 450 B. C. ; (2) Diodo'ms Sic'ulus, another Greek historian, who visited Egypt in the 1st century b. c, ; and (3) Man'etho, an Egyptian priest (3d century B. c.) of whose history only fragments now remain. Manetho, who compiled his accounts from archives preserved in the Egyptian temples, has been the main authority on chronology. How many dynasties were contemporaneous is a subject of dispute EGYPT. ANCIENT EGYPT Scale QfSng.MUes 60 J.WELL8 DEL. ^ T H I 7 O P I A new epocli began in Egyptian history, claimed all the district watered by the epocli the princi pal interest clusters about the IV*^ or Pyramid dynasty, so called because its chief monarchs built the three great pyra- mids at Gizeh (ghe'- zeh). The best- known of these kings was Khu'fu, termed Cheops (ke'-ops) by Herodotus. In time, Egypt broke up into kingdoms, Memphis lost its preeminence, and Thebes became the favorite capital. 2. The Middle Empire (2080 b. c- 1525 B. c.).— When the hundred-gated city, Thebes, rose to sovereign power, a The XIP^ dynasty Nile, and under its among Egyptologists, who differ over 3000 years— from 5702 B. c. to 2691 B. c— on the date for Menes. As the Egyptians themselves had no continuous chronology, hut reckoned dates from the ascension of each king, the monuments furnish little help. Of the five recovered lists of kings, only one attempts to give the length of their respective reigns, and this is in 164 fragments. All early Egyptian dates are there- fore extremely uncertain, although most Egyptologists differ less than 200 years on those following the foundation of the New Empire. The Egyptian Exploration Fund (founded 1883) and the Archaeological Survey (1890) are now systematically investigating monuments and papyri. In this book, what is called the "Short Chro- laology" has been followed. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 17 great kings, the Sesorta'sens and the Amenem'hes, Ethiopia was conquered. To this dynasty belong the famous Lake Moeris and the Labyrinth (p. 39). The briUiant XIP^ dynasty was followed by the weak XIII"\ The divided country invited attack, and the Hyksos (" shepherd kings "), a rude, barbarous race that had already conquered Lower Egypt, finally overran the whole region, and ruled it for 400 years. When at last they were di'iven out, they left to Egypt a strong, centralized government. 3. The New Empire (1525-527 b. c.).— The native kings having been restored to the throne, Egypt became a united people, with Thebes for the capital. Then followed a true national life of 1000 years. The XVIII"^ and XIX*^ dynasties exalted Egypt to the height of its glory. Thoth- fues I. (tot'-meez) began a system of great Asiatic expedi tions, which lasted 500 years. Thothmes III.,^ the Egyptian Alexander the Great, was a magnificent warrior-king. In the sculptures, Nineveh and Babylon pay him tribute ; while his ships, manned by Phoenician sailors, sweep the Mediterranean. The Great Temple of Karnak (p. 26) was largely built by him. Am'imoph III. was also a famous war- rior and builder. Among his structures there remains the Vocal Memnon, which was said to sing when kissed by the rising sun. Khii-en-A'ten, the heretic king, rejected the The- ban gods for the one-god {Aten) sun-worship of his foreign mother. He founded a new capital (now Tel-el-Amarna ruins), but neither capital nor religion long survived him. Seti (Mineptah I.) subdued Mesopotamia, and built the Great HaU of Columns at Karnak. At an early age his son, 1 In 1881, between 30 and 40 royal munimiea, Including those of Thothmes III., Seti I., and Rameses II., were found in a concealed mummy pit near Thebes. The oflficial records on the cases and bandages show that tliese precious relics had been moved from tomb to tomb, probably for safety, until at some crisis they had been hurriedly deposited here. The great Barneses had thus been shifted many times, 18 EGYPT. Ram'eses II., was made joint king with him, and they reigned together until Mineptah's death. Barneses II., the Sesostris the Great of the Greek historians, carried his conquering arms far into Africa. The greatest builder^ of aU the Pharaohs, his gigantic enterprises exhausted the nation. Annual slave-hunting expeditions were made into Ethiopia ; prisoners of war were lashed into service 5 and the lives of the unhappy Hebrews were made " bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick" (Exod. i. 14). He founded a library inscribed " The Dispensary of the Soul," and gathered about him many men of genius, making his time a golden age of art and Hterature. The Decline of Egypt began with the XX*^ dynasty, when it was no longer able to retain its vast conquests. The tributary peoples revolted, and the country was subdued in turn by the Ethiopians and the Assyrians (p. 49). After nearly a century of foreign rule, PsammeticMis of the XXVI"^ dynasty threw off the Assyrian yoke, and restored the Egyp- tian independence. This monarch, by employing Greek only to land at last in the Gizeh museum, where " his uncoveretl face now lies for the whole world to gaze upon." In 1891, over 60 mummies of the same period (XVI Ith to XXIst dynasties) were found in another tomb near the first. These had escaped the eyes of modern trafficking thieves, and were found as they were left over 3000 years ago. In 1892, Khueu-Aten's tomb was uncovered. His enemies had shat- tered his sarcophagus, torn his mummy- wrappings to shreds, and effaced every token of his hated religion. Babylonian clay-tablet dispatches (p. 65) dug up in 1887 at Tel- el-Amarua fix Khu-en-Aten's reign at about 1430 B. c. 1 Though most of the monuments in Egypt bear his name, it is often inscribed over the erased cartouch (p. 22) of a previous king One of his first acts after Seti's death was to complete the unfinished temple of Ab'ydus, where his father was buried. A long inscription which he placed at the entrance, ostensibly in praise of the de- parted Seti, is a good example of his own boastfulness and habit of self-glorification. He says, "The most beautiful thing to behold, the best thing to hear, is a child with a thankful breast, whose heart beats for his father. Wherefore my heart urges me to do what is good for Mineptah. I will cause them to talk forever and eternally of his son, who has awakened his name to life." The filial zeal of Rameses so declined in his later years, that, true to his ruling propensity, he chiseled out his father's name and memorials in many places on the temple walls, and substituted his own in their place. Rameses II. is supposed to be the Pharaoh of tlie Israelitish Oppression, and his son, Mineptah II., to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus. THE CIVILIZATION. 19 troops, so offended the native warriors that 200,000 of them mutinied, and emigrated to Ethiopia. His successor, Neclio (Pharaoh-Necho of the Scriptures), maintained a powerful fleet. Under his orders the Phoenician ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope.^ The internal prosperity of Egypt still continued, as is shown by the magnificent monuments of this period ; but the army was filled with mercenaries, and the last of the Pharaohs fell an easy prey to the fierce-fighting Persians under Cambyses. Egypt, like Babylon (p. 51), was now reduced to a Persian province governed by a satrap. 2. THE CIVILIZATION. Egyptian Society was divided into distinct classes, so that ordinarily no man could rise higher than the station in which he was born.2 The priestly and military classes, which included the king, princes, and all men of rank, were far above the others. The King received the most exalted titles, and his authority was supposed to come direct from the gods. The courtiers, on approach- ing him, fell prostrate, rubbing the ground with their noses ; some- times, by his gracious consent, they were permitted to touch his sacred knee.^ That he might be kept pure, he was given from childhood only the choicest and most virtuous companions, and no 1 Twice during this voyage, says Herodotus, the crews, fearing a want of food, landed, drew their ships on shore, sowed grain, and waited for a harvest. The pupil will notice that this was over 2000 years before Vasco da Gama (Hist. U. S., p. 41), to whom is generally accorded the credit of first circumnavigating Africa. 2 There seems to have been an exception in favor of talented scribes. " Neither descent nor family hampered the rising career of the clever. Many a, monument con- secrated to the memory of some nobleman who had held high rank at court has the simple but laudatory inscription, ' His ancestors were unknown people.' "—Brugsch. Royal preferment was also without restriction. 3 " When they had come before the king, their noses touched the ground, and their feet lay on the ground for joy; they fell down to the ground, and with their hands they prayed to the king. Thus they lay prostrate and touching the earth before the king, speaking thus : ' We are come before thee, the lord of heaven, lord of the earth, sun, life of the whole world, lord of time, creator of the harvest, dis- penser of breath to all men, animator of the gods, pillar of heaven, threshold of the earth, weigher of the balance of the two worlds,'" etc. (Inscription of Rameses II. at Abydus). 20 EGYPT. hired servant was allowed to approach his person. His daily con- duct was governed by a code of rules laid down in the sacred books, which prescribed not only the hourly order and nature of his occupations, but limited even the kind and quantity of his food. He was never suffered to forget his obligations ; and one of the offices of the High Priest at the daily sacrifice was to remind him of his duties, and, by citing the good works of his ancestors, to impress upon him the nobility of a well-ordered life. After death he was worshiped with the gods. The Priests were the richest, ths most powerful, and the only learned body of the country. They were not limited to sacred offices, and in their caste comprised all the mathematicians, scientists, lawyers, and physicians of the land. Those priests who " excelled in virtue and wis- dom " were initiated into the holy mys- teries, — a privilege which they shared only with the king and the prince-royal. Among the priesthood, as in the other classes, there were marked distinctions of rank. The High Priests held the most honorable station. Chief among them was the Prophet, who offered sacrifice and libation in the temple, wearing as his insignia a leopard-skin over his robes. The king himself often performed the duties of this office. The religious observances of the priests were rigid. They had long fasts, bathed twice a day and twice in the night, and every third day were shaven from head to foot, the most devout using water which had been tasted by the sacred Ibis. Beans, pork, fish, onions, and various other articles of diet, were forbidden to them ; and on certain days, when a religious ceremony compelled every Egyptian to eat a fried fish before his door, the priests burned theirs instead. Their dress was of linen : woolen might be used for an outer, but never for an inner garment, nor could it be worn into / a temple. The influence of the priests was immense, since they not only ruled the living, but were supposed to have power to open and shut the gates of eternal bliss to the dead. They received an ample income from the state, and had one third of the land free of tax,— EGYPTIAN PROPHET. (From Monument at Thebes.) THE CIVILIZATION. 21 an inheritance which they claimed as a special gift from the god- dess Isis. The Military Class also possessed one third of the land, each soldier's share being about eight acres. The army, which numbered 410,000 men, was well disciplined and thoroughly organized. It comprised archers, spearmen, swordsmen, clubmen, and shngers. Each soldier furnished his own equipments, and held himself in constant readiness for duty. He wore a metal coat of mail and a metal or cloth helmet, and carried a large shield made of ox-hide drawn over a wooden frame. The chariots, of which great use was EGYPTIAN WAR CHARIOT (THEBES). made in war, were sometimes richly ornamented and inlaid with gold. The king led the army, and was often accompanied by a favorite lion. Lower Classes. — All the free population not belonging to the priesthood or the military was arbitrarily classified ; each trade or occupation having its own rank in the social scale, and inhabiting a certain quarter in the town, — a custom still observed in Cairo. Scribes and architects, whose profession gave them access to temples and palaces, and who had thus a chance to win royal favor, naturally stood highest. Swine-herds were the most despised of all men ; the Egyptian, like the Hebrew, Mohammedan, and Indian, considering the pig an unclean animal. Swine-herds were forbid- den to enter a temple. As the entire land of Egypt was owned by 22 EGYPT. the king, the priests, and the soldiers, the lower classes could hold no real estate; but they had strongly marked degrees of importance, depending upon the relative rank of the trade to which they were born, and their business success. According to Herodotus, no artisan could engage in any other employment than the one to which he had been brought up. He also tells us that every man was obliged to have some regular means of subsistence, a written declaration of which was deposited periodically with the magis- trate. A false account or an unlawful business was punished by death. Writing. — Hieroglyphics'^ (sacred sculptures). — The earliest Egyptian writing was a series of object pictures analogous to that still used by the North American Indians (Brief Hist. U. S., p. 13). a _.— ^ ^ Gradually this primitive system ^ I ?!^ Ife. ylj ^ (^^ was altered and abbreviated into ^ • * ^ • • -^ ^^ (1) hieratic (priestly) writing, THE NAME OF EGYPT IN tho form lu wMch most Egyp- HiEROGLYPHics. tlau litcraturc is written, and which is read by first resolving it into the original hieroglyphs ; and (2) demotic (writing of the people), in which all traces of the original pictures are lost. During these changes many meanings became attached to one sign, so that the same hieroglyph might represent an idea, the symbol of an idea, or an abstract letter, syllable, or word. An Egyptian scribe used various devices to explain his meaning. To a hieroglyphic word or syllable he would append one or more of its letters ; then, as the letter-signs had different meanings, he 1 So called by the Greeks, who thought them to be mystic religious symbols understood only by the priests. Neither the Greeks nor Komans attempted to dlecipher them. The discovery of the Rosetta stone (1799) furnished the first clew to their reading. A French engineer, while digging intrenchments on the site of an old temple near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile (Brief Hist. France, p. 229), unearthed a black basalt tablet inscribed in three languages,— hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek. It proved to be a decree made by the priests in the time of Ptolemy V. (196 B. c), whom it styled the "god Epiphanes," increasir.g his divine honors, and ordering that the command should be engraved in the three languages, and placed in all the chief temples. By a comparison of the Greek and Egyptian texts, a principle of interpretation was finally established. Hieroglyphics had hitherto been supposed to represent only ideas or symbols. Twenty-three years after the discovery of the Rosetta stone, the great French scholar Frangois CharapoUion announced that they express both ideas and sounds. The Egyptians inclosed their royal names and titles in an oval ring or cartouch. Out of the four cartouches, r^^^^^^jTj Ptolemaios, &n^V»] | Berenike, (^^^a\^VCJ Kleopatra, and ^^^^^ Alexandros, Champollion obtained a partial alphabet, which was completed by subsequent analyses. THE CIVILIZATION. 23 would add a picture of some object that would suggest the intended idea. Thus, for the word tread "^ ^ he would write the syllable ^^ [Aq) then its complement •* (Q) and finally, as a determinative, give the picture of a loaf ((^ ). Cue would suppose that the form of the loaf would itself have been sufficient, but even that had several interpretations. In like manner the scribe appended the determinative ^R not only to words sig- nifying actions of the mouth, as eating, laughing, speaking, etc., but to those of the thought, as knowing, judging, deciding. To under- stand hieroglyphics, a knowledge of the peculiar ideas of the Egyp- tians is also necessary. It is easy to see that ^JL means worship, and ^jSj crime; but we should hardly interpret Im^ as son, or '^1 as mother, unless we knew that geese were believed to possess a warm filial nature, and all vultures to be females. Besides these and other complications in hieroglyphic writing, there was no uniform way of arranging sentences. They were written both hori- zontally and perpendicularly ; sometimes part of a sentence was placed one way, and part the other j sometimes the words read from right to left, sometimes from left to right, and sometimes they were scattered about within a given space without any apparent order. Papyrus. — Books were written and government records kept on papyrus i (hence, paper) rolls. These were generally about ten inches wide and often one hundred and fifty feet long. They were written upon with a frayed reed dipped into black or red ink. As the government had the monopoly of the papyrus, it was very costly. 1 The papyrus, or paper reed, which flourished in ancient times so luxuriantly that it formed jungles along the banks of the Nile, is no longer found in Egypt. ("The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, . . . shall wither, be driven away, and be no more."— Isa. xix. 7.) It had a large, three-sided, tapering stem, two to three inches broad at the base. The reed was prepared for use by peeling off the smooth bark, and cutting the inner mass of white pith lengthways into thin slices, which were laid side by side witli their edges touching one another. A second layer having been placed transversely upon the first, and the whole sprinkled with the muddy Nile water, a heavy press was applied which united them into one mass. It was th«n dried, and cut into sheets of the required size. Papyrus was in use until the end of the 7th century A. D., when it was superseded by parchment (prepared skins). The latter was alEo used in Egypt at a very early period ; and though it is generally supposed to have been invented by Eumenes, King of Pergamus, in the 2d century B. c, "records written upon skins and kept in the temple " are mentioned in the ^uae-of the XVIII"' dynasty, 1200 years before Eiimenes (p. 156). 24 EGYPT. For common purposes therefore, the people used bits of broken pottery, stones, boards, the bark and leaves of trees, and the shoulder- bones of animals. Literature.— 5oo^ of the Bead.—Uhe most cele- " '"'^^ brated Egyptian book is the " Book of the Manifestation to Light," often called the " Book of the Dead." It is a ritual for the use of the soul in its journeys i after death, and a copy more or less 1 After death the soul was supposed to descend into the lower world, where, in the great Hall of Justice, before Osiris and his forty-two assessors (p. 34), it was weighed In the infallible scales of Truth. The soul's defense before Osiris is elaborately de- tailed in the Ritual. If accepted, it became itself an "Osiris," and roamed the universe for three thousand years, always maintaining a mysterious connection with its mummied body, which it visited from time to time. In its wanderings it assumed different forms at will, and the Ritual gives instructions by means of which it could become a hawk, heron, lotus-flower, serpent, crocodile, etc., all emblems of Deity. Various incantations are also given by which it could vanquish the frightful mon- sters that assailed it in the nether world. The Soul, the Shadow, and the Ka were at last reunited to the body in a blissful immortality. The Ka (p. 38) was a man's mysterious " double," an ethereal counterpart distinct from the soul, which dwelt in THE CIVILIZATION. 25 complete, according to the fortune of the deceased, was inclosed in the mummy-case. This strange book contains some sublime pas- sages, and many of its chapters date from the earliest antiquity. As suggestive of Egyptian morals, it is interesting to find in the soul's defense before Osiris such sentences as these : — " I have not been idle ; I have not been intoxicated ; I have not told secrets ; I have not told falsehoods ; I have not defrauded; I have not slandered; I have not caused tears ; I have given food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, and clothes to the naked." Phtah-Tio'tep's Boole. — Good old Prince Phtah-hotep, son of a king of the V*^ dynasty, wrote a moral treatise full of excellent advice to the young people of 4000 years ago. This book, now preserved in Paris, is believed to be the oldest in the world. The following extracts are noticeable : — On Filial Obedience. "The obedient son shall grow old and obtain favor; thus have I, myself, become an old man on earth and have lived 110 years in favor with the king, and approved by my seniors." On Freedom from Arrogance. "If thou art become great, after thou hast been humble, and if thou hast amassed riches after poverty, being because of that the first in thy town; if thou art known for thy wealth and art become a great lord, let not thy lieart become proud because of thy riches, for it is God who is the author of them. Despise not another who is as thou wast ; be towards him as towards thy equal." On Cheerfulness. " Let thy face be cheerful as long as thou livest; has any one come out of the coffin after having once entered it?" Miscellaneous Books. —Several treatises on medicine have been deciphered. They generally abound in charms and adjurations. Works on rhetoric and mathematics, and various legal and po- litical documents, are extant. Epistolary correspondence is abun- dant. A letter addressed by a priest to one of the would-be poets of the time contains this wholesome criticism : — " It is very unimportant what flows over thy tongue, for thy compositions are very confused. Thou tearest the words to tatters, just as it comes into thy mind. Thou dost not take pains to find out their force for thyself. If thou rushest wildly forward thou wilt not succeed. I have struck out for thee tlie end of thy composi- tion, and I return to thee thy descriptions. It is a confused medley when one liears it ; an uneducated person could not understand it. It is like a man from the low- lands speaking with a man from Elephantine." A few works of fiction exist which belong to the XII*^^ dynasty, and there are many beautiful hymns addressed to the different g^ds. A long and popular poem, the Epic of Pentaur, which celebrated the tomb with his mummy while his soul performed its appointed pilgrimage. The soul which was rejected by Osiris and his forty-two assessors, took the form of a pig or other unclean animal, and, if incorrigible, was finally annihilated. 26 EGYPT. the deeds of Rameses II., won the prize in its time as an heroic song, and was engraved on temple walls at Abydus, Luxor, Karnak, and the Ramesseum. It is sometimes styled " The Egyptian Iliad." Education was under the control of the priesthood. Great attention was paid to mathematics and to writing, of which the Egyp- tians were especially fond. Geom- etry and mensuration were important, as the yearly inundation of the Nile produced constant disputes concern- ing property boundaries. In music, only those songs appointed by law were taught, the children being care- fully guarded from any of doubtful sentiment. As women were treated with great dignity and respect in Egypt, reigning as queens and serv- ing in the holiest offices of the temple, they probably shared in the advan- tages of schooling. The common people had little education, except what pertained to their calling. Reading and writing were so difficult as to be considered great accomplishments. Monuments and Art. — Stupendous size and mysterious sym holism characterize aU the monuments of this strange people They built immense pyramids holding closely hidden chambers : gigantic temples ^ whose massive entrances, guarded by great stone statues, were approached by long avenues of colossal sphinxes ; vast temple-courts, areas, and halls in which were forests of carved and painted columns ; and lofty obelisks, towers, and sitting statues,^ QUEEN AIDING KING IN TEMPLE SERVICE (THEBES). 1 The temples were isolated by huge brick inclosures, and wore an air of solemn mystery. None but priests could enter the holy precincts. The Great Temple of Karnak (see ill. p. 9) was 1200 feet long by 360 wide; its Great Hall, 340 by 170 feet, contained 134 painted columns, some of them 70 feet high and 12 feet in diameter. This temple was joined to one at Luxor by an avenue of sphinxes two miles long. Other famous monuments are the Memnoniutn, built by Amunoph III. ; the Barnes- seM«t, by Rameses II.; and the ilfe^inei-^ftow palace of Rameses III. The construction and various reparations of some of these vast piles of stone cover immense periods of times Excavations made in 1887 at Tell-Basta, the ancient Bubastis, show that a temple to Pasht, tlie cat-lieaded goddess (p. 30), existed there from the time of the Pyramid dynasty down to 150 B. c. 2 Rameses II. reared gigantic self-statues all over Egypt. A wall-painting discov- ered at Luxor in 1891 shows six colossi in front of the temple at its dedication. His sitting statue at the Meranonium was 22 feet across the shouldeis, and weighed nearly 900 tons ; his standing statue at Tanis towered 92 feet above the plain. THE CIVILIZATION. 27 which still endure, though desert winds and drifting sands have beaten upon them for thousands of years. Sculpture, Painting, Statuary. — Egyptian granite is so hard that it is cut with difficulty by the best steei tools of to-day ', yet the ancient sculptures are sometimes graven to the depth of several inches, and show an exquisite finish and accuracy of detail. Painting was usually combined with sculpture, the natural hue of the objects represented being crudely imitated. Blue, red, green, black, yellow, and white were the principal colors. Red, which typified the sun, and blue, the color of the sky reflected in the Nile, were sacred tints. Tombs, which were cut in the solid rock, had no outer ornamentation, but the interior was gayly painted with scenes from every-day life. Sarcophagi and the walls which inclosed temples were covered both inside and outside with scenes or inscrip- tions. The painted scenes were sometimes taken from the " Book of the Dead " j often they were vivid delineations of the royal conquests. The proportion, form, color, and e?:pression of every statue were fixed by laws prescribed by the priests, the effect most sought being that of im- movable repose. 1 A wooden statue found at Sakkarah, and belonging to one of the earliest dynasties, is remarkable for its fine expression and evident effort at portraiture.^ Mode of Drawing, Perspective. — In drawing the human form, the entire body was traced, after which the drapery was added (see cut). Several artists were employed on one picture. The first drew squares of a definite size, upon which he sketched in red an outline of the desired figure ; the next corrected and improved it in black ; the sculptor then followed with his chisel and other tools j and finally the most important artist of all laid on the pre- scribed colors. The king was drawn on a much larger scale than his subjects, his dignity being suggested by his colossal size. Gods and 1 All Egyptian statues have a stiflf, rigid pose, and are generally fastened at the hack to a pillar. In standing statues the arms are held close to the sides . in seated, the knees are pressed together, and the hands spread out upon them, palms down. 2 When Mariette discovered in tlie Memphite necropolis this now famous statue of a man standing and holding in his hand the baton of authority, the fellahs (peasants) saw in it a wonderful resemblance to their own rustic tax-assessor, the dignitary of the place. An astonished fellah shouted out, " It's the Sheikh-el-Beled ! " His com- panions took up the cry, and the statue has been called by that name ever since. This incident Illustrates the persistency of national type. SON OF KAMESES III. (Thebes.) 28 EGYPT. goddesses were frequently represented with the head of an animal on a human form. There was no idea of perspective, and the general effect of an Egyptian painted scene was that of grotesque stiffness. Practical Arts and Inventions. — We have seen how the Egyptians excelled in cutting granite. Steel was perhaps in use as early as the IV^^^ dynasty, as pictures on the Memphite tombs seem to represent butchers sharpening their knives on a bar of that metal. Great skill was shown in alloying, casting, and sol- dering metals. Some of their bronze implements^ though buried for ages, and since exposed to the damp of European climates, are still smooth and bright. They possessed the art of imparting elasticity to bronze or brass, and of overlaying bronze with a rich green by means of acids. Glass bottles are represented in the earliest sculptures, and the Egyptians had their own secrets in coloring, which the best Venetian glass-makers of to-day are unable to discover. Their glass mosaics were so delicately ornamented that some of the feathers of birds and other details can be made out only with a lens, which would imply that this means of magnifying was used in Egypt. Gems and precious stones were successfully imitated in glass; and Wilkinson says, *' The mock pearls found by me in Thebes were so well counterfeited that even now it is difficult with a strong lens to detect the imposition." Goldsmiths washing and working gold are seen on monuments of the IV*'^ dy- nasty ; and gold and silver wire were woven into cloth and used in embroidery as early as the XII^'^ dynasty. Gold rings, bracelets, armlets, necklaces, ear-ringSi vases, and statues were common in the same age, the cups being often beauti- fully engraved and studded with precious stones. Objects of art were sometimes made of silver or bronze inlaid with gold, or of baser metals gilded so as to give the effect of solid gold. Veneering was extensively practiced, and in sculptures over 3300 years old workmen are seen with glue- pot on the fire, fastening the rare woods to the common sycamore and acacia. In cabinet-work Egypt excelled, and house-furni- ture assumed graceful and elegant forms. EGYPTIAN EASY-CHAIR. THE CIVILIZATION. 29 Flax and Cotton were grown, and great perfection was reached in spinning and weaving. Linen cloth of exquisite texture has been found in Memphite tombs, and the strong flax-strings used EGYPTIAN COUCH, PILLOW, AND STEPS. for fowling-nets were so finely spun that it was said "a man could carry nets enough to surround a whole wood." Finally, wooden hoes, shovels, forks, and plows, toothed sickles, and drags aided the farmer in his work^ the carpenter had his ax, hammer, file, adz, hand - saw, chisel, drill, plane, right angle, ruler, and plummet j the glass-worker and gem-cutter used EGYPTIAN MUSICIANS cmcry powder, if (THE GUITAR, HARP, AND BOUBLE PIPE). jj^q^ ^ lapidary'S wheel } the potter had his wheel upon which he worked the clay after he had kneaded it with his feet j the public weigher had stamped weights and measures, and delicate scales for balancing the gold and silver rings used as currency 5 musicians played on pipes, harps, flutes,i guitars, lyres, tambourines, and cymbals j while drum and trumpet cheered the soldier in his march. 1 In 1889 several flutes were found in an Egyptian tomb. These instruments, which are over three thousand years old, give the exact sounds of our diatonic scale. 30 EGYPT. 3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. General Character. — The Egyptians were mild in disposition, polite in manners, reverential to their elders and superiors, extremely loyal and patriotic, and intensely religious. They have been called a gloomy people, but their sculptures reveal a keen sense of humor and love of caricature. They were especially fond of ceremonies and of festivals. Their religion formed a part of their every-day life, and was interwoven with all their customs. Bieligion. — The Egyptian priests believed in one invisible, over- ruling, self-created God; the immortality of the soul; a judgment after death ; the final annihilation of the wicked ; and the ultimate absorption of the good into the eternal Deity. "God created his own members, which are tJie gods," they said; and so out of one great God grew a host of lesser ones, regarded by the priests as only His attributes and manifestations, but becoming to the people distinct and separate divinities. Natural objects and prin- ciples were thus deified, — the soil, the sky, the east, the west, even the general idea of time and space. Each month and day had its own god. The Nile, as the source of the country's fertility, was especially revered ; and the conflict of God with sin was seen in the life-giving river, and the barren, encroaching desert. TJie Sun, especially in later times, was the great exponent of Deity. His mysterious disappearance each night, and his return every morning to roll over the heavens with all the splendor of the pre- ceding day, were events full of symbolic meaning. The rising sun was the beautiful young god Horus. In his mid-day glory he was Ra, as he neared the western horizon he became Tum, and during the night he was Amun. Each of these gods, as well as the many others connected with the sun, had his own specific character. This complex sun-god was imagined to float through the sky in a boat, accompanied by the souls of the Supremely Blest, and at night to pass into the regions of the dead. Tt'iad of Orders. — There were three orders of gods. The first l 1 In Thebes, -4mMn- 22a (the "Concealed God" or "Absolute Spirit ") headed the deities of the first order. He was represented as having tlie liead of a ram, the hieroglyphic of a ram signifying also concealment. In Memphis, Phtah ("Father of the Beginnings "), the Creator, was chief . his symbol was the Scaraboeus, or beetle, an image of which was placed on the heart of every mummy. Phtah was father of Ba, the sun-god. Ra was, in the mystic sense, that which is to day, the existing present. The hawk was his emblem. Pasht, his sister, one of tlie personifications of the sun's strong rays, sometimes healthful, sometimes baneful, was both loved and feared. She was especially worshiped at Bubastis; but her statues, having the head THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 31 was for the priesthood, and represented the ideal and spiritual part of the religion ; the second impersonated human faculties and powers ; and the third — the most popular of all among the people — was made up of forms and forces in nature. Triads of Gods. — Each town or city had its specially honored triad of deities to whom its temples were dedicated. The triads often con- sisted of father, mother, and son, but sometimes of two gods and a king. Osiris, who with Isis and Horus formed the most celebrated of these triads, was worshiped throughout the land. So popular were these deities that it has been said, " With the exception of Amun and Neph, they comprise all Egyp- tian mythology." 1 Animal Worship. — As early as the II'i dynasty certain animals had come to be regarded as em- blems or even incarnations of the gods. The bull Apis, whose tem- ple was at Memphis, was sup- posed to be inhabited by Osiris himself, and the sacred presence of the god to be attested by cer- tain marks on the body of the animal. Apis was consulted as an BRONZE FIGURE OF APIS. of a cat, are common all over Egypt. Neph, often confounded with Amun, and, like him, wearing the ram's head, was the Divine Breath or Spirit pervading matter; sheep were sacred to him. Thoth, son of Neph, was god of intelligence; the ibis was his emblem. Sate, the wife of Neph and one of the forms of Isis, was the god- dess of vigilance ; she was the eastern sky waiting for the morning sun. Athor, goddess of love, was the beautiful western sky, wife of the evening sun, taking the wearied traveler to rest in her arms after each day's labor ; the cow was her emblem. Neifh, wife of Phtah, was goddess of wisdom ; she was the night sky which induces reflection. Maut, the Mother Goddess and greatest of the sky divinities,— which were all feminine,— was the cool night sky tenderly brooding over the hot, exhausted earth ; the shrew-mouse was sacred to her. Typhon was the common enemy of all the other gods ; his emblems were the pig, the ass, and the hippopotamus. 1 It was related that Osiris once went about the earth doing good ; that he was slain by Set (Typhon), his brother ; that his wife, Isis, by prayers and invocations, assisted in his resurrection; and that finally Horus, his son, avenged his wrongs and destroyed Set. In this myth Osiris represents Divine Goodness; Isis is the Love of Goodness ; Set, the principle of Evil ; and Horus, Divine Triumph. Osiris had a multitude of characters. He was the Nile ; he was the sun ; he was the judge of the dead; from him all souls emanated, and in him all justified souls were swal- lowed up at last. To know " the mysteries of Osiris " was the glory of the priesthood. Isis, too, appeared in many forms, and was called by the Greeks " she of the ten- thousand names." Mystic legends made her the mother, wife, sister, and daughter of Osiris ; while Horus was their son and brother, and was Osiris himself. 32 EGYPT. oracle, and his breath was said to confer upon children the gift of prophecy. When an Apis died, great was the mourning until the priests found his successor, after which the rejoicing was equally- demonstrative. The cost of burying the Apis was so great as some- times to ruin the officials who had him in charge, i The calf Mnevis at Heliopolis, and the white cow of Athor at Athribis, were also rev- erenced as incarnations of Deity. Other animals were considered as only emblems. Of these, the hawk, ape, ibis, cat, 2 and asp were every- where worshiped; but crocodiles, dogs, jackals, frogs, beetles, and shrew-mice, as well as certain plants and vegetables, were venerated in different sections of the country. Those sacred in one nome were often in others hated and hunted or used for food. Thus, at Thebes the crocodile and the sheep were worshiped, while the goat was eaten ; at Mendes the sheep was eaten and the goat worshiped ; and at Apollinopolis the crocodile was so abhorred as an emblem of the evil spirit, that the people set apart an especial day to hunt and kill as many crocodiles as possible, throwing the dead bodies before the temple of their own god. The crocodile was principally worshiped about Lake Moeris in the Fayoom. A chosen number of these animals was kept in the tem- ples, where they were give» elegant apartments, and treated to every luxury, at public expense. Let us imagine a crocodile fresh from a warm, sumptuoiis bath, anointed with the most precious oint- ments, and perfumed with fragrant odors, its head and neck glittering with jeweled ear-rings and necklace, and its feet with bracelets, wal- lowing on a rich and costly carpet to receive the worship of intelligent human beings. Its death was mourned as a public calamity ; its body, wrapped in linen, was carried to the embalmers, attended by a train of people, weeping, and beating their breasts in grief ; then, having been expensively embalmed and bandaged in gayly colored mummy-cloths, amid imposing ceremonies it was laid away in its rock sepulcher. Embalming. — This art was a secret known only to those priests 1 Ancient authorities state that no Apis was allowed to live over twenty-five years. If he attained that age, he was drowned witli great ceremony in the Nile. The following inscription upon a recently discovered memorial stone erected to an Apis of the XXIId dynasty, shows that at least one Apis exceeded tliat age : " This is the day on which the god was carried to his rest in the beautiful region of the west, and was laid in the grave, in his everlasting house and in his eternal ahode." . . " His glory was sought for in all places. After many months he was found in the temple of Phtah, beside his father, the Memphian god Phtah." ..." The full age of this god was 26 years." 2 When a cat died in any private dwelling, the inmates shaved their eyebrows ; when a dog died, they shaved their entire bodies. The killing of a cat, even acci- dentally, was reckoned a capital offense. All sacred animals were embalmed, and buried with impressive ceremonies. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 33 A MUMMY IN BANDS. who had it in charge^ The mummy was more or less elaborately pre- pared, according to the wealth and station of the deceased. In the most expensive process the brain and intestines were extracted, cleansed with palm- wine and aro matic spices, and either returned to the body or deposited in vases which were placed in the tomb with the coffin. 1 The body was also cleansed, and filled with a mixture of resin and aromatics, after which it was kept in niter for seventy days. It was then wrapped in bands of fine linen smeared on the inner side with gum. There were sometimes a thousand yards of bandages on one mummy. A thick papyrus case, fitted while damp to the exact shape of the bandaged body, next inclosed it. This case was richly painted and ornamented, the hair and features of the deceased being imitated, and eyes inlaid with brilliant enamel inserted. Sometimes the face was covered with heavy gold leaf. Often a network of colored beads was spread over the body, and a winged scarabseus (p. 30) placed upon the breast. A long line of hieroglyphics extending down the front told the name and quality of the departed. The inner case was inclosed in three other AN EGYPTIAN SAKCOPHAGUS. cases of the same form, all richly painted in different patterns. A wooden or carved stone sarcophagus was the final receptacle in the tomb. 2 1 "So careful were the Egyptians to show proper respect to all that belonged to the human body, that even the sawdust of tlie floor where they cleansed it was tied up in small linen bags, which, to the number of twenty or thirty, were deposited in vases, and buried near the tomb."— Wilkinson. 2 Tn a less expensive mode of embalming, the internal parts were dissolved by Oil of cedar, after which the body was salted with niter, as before. The ordinary 34 EGYPT. Burial. — ^When any person died, all the women of the house left the body and ran out into the streets, wailing, and throwing dust upon their heads. Their friends and relatives joined them as they went, and if the deceased was a person of quality, others accompanied them out of respect. Having thus advertised the death, they returned home and sent the body to the embalmers. During the entire period of its absence they kept up an ostentatious show of grief, sitting unwashed and unshaven, in soiled and torn garments, singing dirges and making lamentation. After the body was restored to them, if they wished to delay its burial, they placed it in a movable wooden closet standing against the wall of the principal room in the house. Here, morning and evening, the members of the family came to weep over and embrace it, making offerings to the gods in its behalf. Occasionally it was brought out to join in festivities given in its honor (p. 42). The time having come to entomb it, an imposing procession was formed, in the midst of which the mummy was drawn upright on a sledge to the sacred lake adjoining every large city. At this point forty-two chosen officials — einblem- atical of the forty-two judges in the court of Osiris (p. 24) — formed a semicircle around the mummy, and for- mal inquiries were made as to its past life and character. If no ac- cusation was heard, an eulogium was pronounced, and the body was passed over the lake. If, however, an evil life was proven, the lake could not be crossed, and the distressed friends were compelled to leave the body of their disgraced relative unburied, or to carry it home, and wait till their gifts and devotions, united to the prayers of the priest- hood, should pacify the gods. Every Egjrptian, the king included, was subjected to the "trial of the dead," and to be refused interment was ' the greatest possible dishonor. The best security a creditor could have was a mortgage on the mummies of his debtor's ancestors. If the debt were not paid, the delinquent forfeited his own burial and that of his entire family. A WOMAN EMBRACING HUSBAND'S MUMMY rThebes.) HER mummy-cloth was coarse, resembling our sacking. The bodies of the poor were simply cleansed and salted, or submerged in liquid pitch. These black, dry, heavy, bad smelling relics are now used by the fellahs for fuel. It is a fact that few mum- mies of children have been discovered. The priests had the monopoly of everything connected with embalming and burial, and they not only resold tombs which had been occupied, but even traflScked in second-hand mummy-cases. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 35 The mummies of the poorer classes were deposited in pits in the plain or in recesses cut in the rock, and then closed up with masonry ; those of the lowest orders were wrapped in coarse cloth mats, or a bundle of palm-sticks, and buried in the earth or huddled into the THE FUNEKAL OF A MUMMY (AFTEK BRIDGEMAN). general repository. Various articles were placed in the tombs, espe- cially images of the deceased person, and utensils connected with his profession or trade (p. 38). Among the higher classes these objects were often of great value, and included elegant vases, jewelry, and important papyri. SCENES IN REAL LIFE. Scene I. — Pyramid Building (IV^b dynasty). ^ — Let us imagine ourselves in Egypt about 2400 B. c. It is the middle of November. The Nile, which, after its yearly custom, began to rise in June, changing its color rapidly from a turbid red to a slimy green and then again to red, overflowed its banks in early August, and, spreading its waters on either side, made the country to look like an immense lake dotted with islands. For the last month it has been gradually creeping back to its winter banks, leaving everywhere behind it a fresh layer of rich brown slime. Already the farmers are out with their light wooden 1 Over seventy Egyptian pyramids have been discovered and explored, all situated on the edge of the desert, west of the Nile. The three Great Pyramids of Gizeh built by Khufu and his successors are the most celebrated. The Great Pyramid built In steps at Sakkarah, and said to date from the I"* or II'' dynasty, is believed by many to be the oldest monument in Egypt. 36 EGYPT. A MODERN SHADOOF. plows and hoes, or are harrowing with bushes the moist mud on which the seed has been thrown broadcast, and which is to be tram- pled down by the herds driven in for the pur- pose. The first crop of clover is nearing its har- vest ; by proper care and a persistent use of the sJtadoof,'^ three more crops will be gathered from the same ground. The crocodile and the hippopotamus haunt the river shores ; in the desert the wolf, jackal, and hyena prowl; but the greatest scourge and torment of the valley are the endless swarms of flies and gnats which rise from the mud of the subsiding Nile. King Khufu of the IVth dynasty is now on the throne, and the Great Pyramid, his intended tomb, is in process of erection near Mem- phis, the city founded by Menes three hundred years ago. One hun- dred thousand dusky men are toiling under a burning sun, now quarrying in the limestone rock of the Arabian hills, now tugging at creaking ropes and rollers, straining every nerve and muscle under the rods of hard overseers, as along the solid causeway 2 and up the inclined plane they drag the gigantic stones they are to set in place. Occasion- ally a detachment is sent up the river in boats to Syene to bring fine red granite, which is to be polished for casings to the inner passages and chambers. Not a moment is lost from work save when they sit down in companies on the hot sand to eat their government rations of ''radishes, onions, and garlics," the aggregate cost of which is to be duly inscribed upon the pyramid itself. So exhausting is this forced and unpaid labor that four times a year a fresh levy is needed to take the place of the worn-out toilers. When this pyramid is finished, — and it will continue to grow as long as the king shall live, 3 — it will stand 1 The pole and bucket with which water was drawn from the Nile to irrigate the land. It is still in use in Egypt. 2 It took ten years to build the causeway whereon the stone was brought. The construction of the pyramid required twenty years more. Herodotus thought the causeway as great a work as the pyramid itself, and described it as built of polished stone, and ornamented with carvings of animals. 3 As soon as a Pharaoh mounted his throne, he gave orders to some nobleman to plan the work and cut the stone for the royal tomb. The kernel of the future edifice THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 37 480 feet high, with a base covering 13 acres. Its sides, which exactly face the four cardinal points, will be cased with highly polished stone fitted into the angles of the steps ; the workmen beginning at the apex and working downward, leaving behind them a smooth, glassy sur- face which cannot be scaled. There will be two sepulchral chambers with passages leading thereto, and five smaller chambers, ^ built to relieve the pressure of so great a mass of stone. The king's chamber, which is situated in the center of the pyramid and is to hold the royal sarcophagus, will be ventilated by air-shafts, and defended by a suc- cession of granite portcullises. But Khufu will not rest here, for his oppression and alleged impiety have so angered the people that they will bury him elsewhere, leaving his magnificently planned tomb, with its empty sarcophagus, to be wondered and speculated over, thousands of years after his ambitious heart has ceased to beat. Meantime other great public works are in progress. 2 Across the arm of the Red Sea, on the peninsula of Sinai, — not sacred Sinai yet, for there are centuries to come before Moses, — are the king's copper and turquoise mines. Sculpture is far advanced ; and images of gold, bronze, ivory, and ebony are presented to the gods. The whole land swarms with a rapidly increasing population ; but food is abundant,-^ raiment little more than a name, and lodging free on the warm earth. Besides, the numbers are kept down by a royal policy which rears enormous monuments at the price of flesh and blood. The over- wrought gangs constantly sink under their burdens, and hasten on to crowd the common mummy-pits in the limestone hills. •was raised on the limestone soil of the desert in the form of a small pyramid built in steps, of wliicli the well constructed and finished interior formed the king's eternal dwelling, witli the stone sarcophagus lying on the rocky floor. A second covering was added, stone by stone, on the outside of this kernel, a third to this second, and to this a fourth, the mass growing greater the longer the king lived. Every pyramid had its own proper name. That of Khufu bore a title of honor, "The Lights."— Brugsch's Egypt. 1 In one of these small chambers. Colonel Vyse, who was the first to enter them, found tlie royal name scrawled in red ocher on the stones, as if done by some idle overseer in the quarry. It is a proof of the architectural skill of the Egyptians, that in such a mass of stone they could construct chambers and passages which, with a weight of millions of tons pressing upon them, should preserve their shape without crack or flaw for thousands of years. 2 Near Khufu's Pyramid is the Great Sphinx, a massive union of solid rock and clumsy masonry, 14G feet long. This recumbent, human-headed lion, an image of the sun-god Horus, is believed to be older than the pyramid itself. Under the sand close by lies a vast temple constructed of enormous blocks of black or rose-colored granite and oriental alabaster without sculpture or ornament. Here, in a well, were found fragments of splendid statues of Shafra, the successor of Khufu. 3 "The whole expense of a child from infancy to manhood," says Diodorus, "is not more than twenty drachmas " (about four dollars). 38 EGYPT. Scene II. — A Lord of the IV^^ Dynasty has large estates managed by a host of trained servants. He is not only provided with baker, butler, barber, and other household domestics, but with tailor, sail- maker, goldsmith, tile-glazer, potter, and glass- blower, l His musi- cians, with their harps, pipes, and flutes, his acrobats, pet dogs, and apes, amuse his leisure hours. He has his favorite games of chance or skill, which, if he is too indolent to play himself, his slaves play in his presence. He is passionately fond of hunting, and of fishing in the numerous canals which intersect the country and are fed from the Nile. He has small papyrus canoes, and also large, square-sailed, double-masted boats, in which he sometimes takes out his wife and children for a moonlight sail upon the river ; his harpers sitting cross- legged at the end of the boat, and playing the popular Egyptian airs. But he does not venture out into the Mediterranean with his boats. He has a horror of the sea, and to go into that impure region would be a religious defilement. On land he rides in a seat strapped between two asses. He has never heard of horses or chariots, nor will they appear in Egypt for a thousand years to come. He wears a white linen robe, a gold collar, bracelets and anklets, but no sandals. For his table he has wheaten or barley bread, beef, game, fruits and vegetables, beer, wine, and milk. His scribes keep careful record of his flocks and herds, his tame antelopes, storks, and geese, writing with a reed pen on a papyrus scroll. He has his tomb cut in the rocks near the royal pyramid, where he sometimes goes to oversee the sculptors and painters who are ornamenting the walls of its entrance- chambers with pictures 2 of his dignities, riches, pleasures, and manner of life. Directly below these painted rooms, perhaps at a depth of sev- enty feet, is the carefully hidden mummy-pit. Here, in recesses cut 1 Such a household must have been a center of practical education ; and an enter, prising Egyptian boy, dearly as he loved his games of ball and wrestling, was likely to be well versed in the processes of every trade. (See Brief Hist. France, p. 33.) 2 These pictures, with various articles stored in the tomb, served a magical purpose, for the benefit of the Ka (p. 24). In the paintings on the walls, the Ka saw himself going to the chase, and he went to the chase; eating and drinking with liis wife, and he ate and drank with her. The terra-cotta statuettes, armed with hoe, flail, and seed-sack, worked the fields, drew the water, and reaped the grain, in his phantom life of industry , while the painted workmen on tlie papyri made his shoes, cooked his food, and carried liim to hunt in the desert or to fish in the marshes. Besides the periodical ofi'erings of fresh baked meats, wine, and fruits brought by ministering friends, the Ka was sometimes furnished with mummied meats packed in sealed hampers; and, to make sure of an abundance, a magical formula, placed on the funerary tablet in the entrance-chamber of the tomb, insured to him ghostly supplies of "thousands of loaves, thousands of beeves, thousands of geese," etc., down to the end of the weary cycle of waiting. If, finally, when that glad liour came, the mummy had perished, its place could be supplied by a portrait statue, which was snugly con- cealed behind the solid masonry. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 39 in the sides and bottom, will finally be placed the mummies of this lord and his family. Meantime he strives to be true to his gods, obedient to his king, and affectionate to his household ; for thus he hopes to pass the rigid ordeals which follow death, and to rest at last in the Boat of the Sun. Scene III. — Amenemhe JIT., the Labyrinth, and Lake Mceris'^ (XII^'i dynasty, about B. c. 2080-1900). — Over four centuries have passed since Khufu's Pyramid was finished, and now toward the southwest, on an oasis in the midst of the desert, we see rising a magnificent group of palaces, built about an immense twelve-courted rectangle. The stone roofs and walls are covered with carvings Here are three thousand chambers, large and small, half of which are under ground and are to sepulcher mighty kings and sacred crocodiles This marvelous Labyrinth, where one "passes from courts into chambers, and from chambers into colonnades, from colonnades into fresh houses, and from these into courts unseen before," is surrounded by a single wall, and incloses three sides of the large central rectangle. On the fourth side stands a pyramid, engraven with large hieroglyphics, and entered by a subterranean passage. Amenemhe III. does not leave his identity as the founder of this grand palace tomb to the chance scrawls of a quarry workman, as did Khuf u with his pyi'amid, but has his cartouch properly inscribed on the building-stones. Lake Moeris. — There have been some grievous famines 2 in Egypt produced by the variable inundations of the Nile, and Amenemhe 1 These descriptions of the Labyrinth and Lake Moeris are founded on Herodotus Strabo located the Labyrinth " between two pyramids." Prof. Petrie. who spent nearly three years (1888-90) exploring the Fayoom, states that he " found between two pyramidal structures an immense bed of fine white limestone concrete, upon which lie thousands of tons of limestone and red granite, fragments of the destroyed walls of some enormous structure." Profs. Sayce and Maspero believe that in " Lake Moeris " Herodotus saw only an overflow into a natural depression. All Egyptologists concede, however, that Amenemhat Ilf., in some way, greatly increased the amount of arable land m this region. Petrie found here several inscribed fragments of Amenemhat's statues and pyramidal pedestals. 3 "All Egypt is the gift of the Nile," wrote Herodotus. The river, however, was not left to overflow its banks without restrictions. The whole country was inter sected with canals and protected by dikes, Menes himself, according to Herodotus, having constructed a dike and turned aside the course of the Nile in order to found Memphis. The rise of the river was closely watched, and was measured by " Nilom- eters " In various parts of the country , and the proper moment for cutting away the dams and opening the canals was awaited with intense anxiety, and decided by auspicious omens. "A rise of fourteen cubits caused joy, fifteen security, sixteen de- light." Twelve cubits foretold a famine. An excessive Nile was as disastrous as a deficient one. A " Good Nile " brought harvests so abundant as to make Egyptian storehouses the granary of the eastern world. For this reason, when the famine arose in Canaan, Abrara and Sarai came to Egypt, probably during the reign of the .XI"' dynastv. 40 EGYPT. causes to be constructed not far from the Labyrinthine Palace a gigan- tic lake, with one canal leading to the great river, and another ter- minating in a natural lake still farther to the west. He thus diverts the waters of an excessive Nile, and hoards those of a deficient one to be used at need on the neighboring lands. He stocks this lake with fish, and so provides for the future queens of Egypt an annual revenue of over $200,000 for pin-money. The banks of Lake Moeris are adorned with orchards, vine- yards, and gardens, won by its waters from the sur- rounding desert. Toward the center of the lake, rising three hundred feet above its surface, stand two pyra- mids, and on the apex of each sits a majestic stone figure. But pyramid-building is going out of favor in Egypt, and the fashion of obelisks has come in. These are made of single blocks of beautiful red granite from Syene, and are covered with delicately carved hiero- glyphs. Memphis is losing her precedence. Thebes is shining in her first glory, and the Temple of Kar- nak, which is to become the most splendid of all times and countries, is begun; while, down the river, at Beni Hassan, 1 the powerful princes have built tombs which, like cheerful homes, spread their pillared porches in the eastern rocky heights. Scene IV. — A Thehan Diymer-Party (time of Ea- meses 11., 1311-1245 b. c). — The Labyrinth has stood for nearly seven centuries. During this time the shepherd kings have had their sway and been expelled. The XVIII*^ dynasty, including the long and ■^'Vo ■ OBELISK. 1 The tombs of Beni Hassan in Middle Egypt are remarkable for their archi- tecture, the prototype of the Grecian Doric (p. 182). They are also noticeable for being east of the Nile, and for not being concealed, as was the almost universal custom. A recent visitor to these tombs writes : " Having ascended the broad road which leads gradually up to the entrances, we found ourselves on a sort of platform cut in tlie cliff nearly half-way to the top, and saw before us about thirty high and wide doorways, each leading into one chamber or more, excavated in the solid rocli. The first we entered was a large square room, with an open pit at one end,— the mummy-pit; and every inch of the walls was covered with pictures. Coming into this tomb was like getting hold of a very old picture-book, which said in the begin- ning, 'Open me and I will tell you what people did a long time ago.' Every group of figures told a separate story, and one could pass on from group to group till a whole life was unfolded. Whenever we could find a spot where the painted plaster had not been blackened or roughened, we were surprised at the variety of the colors, — delicate lilacs and vivid crimsons and many sliades of green." Though these pic- tures on the walls of tombs were supposed to serve the dead, they were no less repre- sentations of real life. Were it not for them, we should never liave learned the secrets of those homes along the Nile where people lived, loved, and died over four thousand years ago. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 41 brilliant reign of Thothmes III., has passed away, leaving behind it temples, obelisks, and tombs of marvelous magnificence. Thebes is at the height of that architectural triumph which is to make her the won- der of succeeding ages. Meantime, what of the people ? Let us invite ourselves to a dinner-party in Theban high life. The time is mid-day, and the guests are arriving on foot, in palanquins borne by servants, and in chariots. A high wall, painted in panels, surrounds the fashion- able villa, and on an obelisk near by is inscribed the name of the owner. We enter the grounds by a folding-gate flanked with lofty towers. At the end of a broad avenue bordered by rows of trees and spacious water-tanks stands a stuccoed brick l mansion, over the door of which we read in hieroglyphics, " The Good House." The building is made airy by corridors, and columns, and open courts shaded by awnings, all gayly painted and ornamented with banners Its extensive grounds include flower-gardens, vineyards, date-orchards, and sycamore-groves. There are little summer-houses, and artificial ponds from which rises the sweet, sleepy perfume of the lotus-blossom ; here the genial host sometimes amuses his guests by an excursion in a pleasure-boat towed by his servants. The stables and chariot-houses are in the center of the mansion, but the cattle-sheds and granaries are detached. "We will accompany the guest whose chariot has just halted. The Egyptian grandee drives his own horse, but is attended by a train of servants ; one of these runs forward to knock at the door, another takes the reins, another presents a stool to assist his master to alight, and others follow with various articles which he may desire during the visit. As the guest steps into the court, a servant receives his sandals and brings a foot-pan that he may wash his feet. He is then invited into the festive chamber, where side by side on a double chair, to which their favorite monkey is tied, sit his placid host and hostess, blandly smelling their lotus-flowers and beaming a welcome to each arrival. They are dressed like their guests. On his shaven head the Egyptian gentleman wears a wig with little top-curls, and long cues which hang behind. His beard is short — a long one is only for the king. His large-sleeved, fluted robe is of fine white linen, and he is adorned with necklace, bracelets, and a multitude of finger-rings. The lady by his side wears also a linen robe over one of richly colored stuff. Her hair falls to her shoulders front and back, in scores of crisp and glossy braids. The brilliancy of her eyes is heightened by antimony ; and amulet beetles, 2 dragons, asps, and strange symbolic eyes dangle from 1 The bricks were made of Nile mud mixed with chopped straw, and dried in the sun. 2 The beetle was a favorite emblem for ornaments. No less than 180 kinds of scarabfei are preserved m the Turin Museum alone. It was also engraved on the precious stones used as currency between Egypt and neighboring countries. 42 EGYPT. her golden ear-rings, necklace, bracelets, and anklets. Having saluted his entertainers, the new-comer is seated on a low stool, where a serv- ant anoints his bewigged head with sweet-scented ointment, hands him a lotus-blossom, hangs garlands of flowers on his neck and head, and presents him with wine. The servant, as he receives back the emptied vase and offers a napkin, politely remarks, ''May it benefit you." This completes the formal reception. Each lady is attended in the same manner by a female slave. While the guests are arriving, the musicians and dancers belonging to the household amuse the company, who sit on chairs in rows and chat, the ladies commenting on each other's jewelry, and, in compliment, ex- changing lotus-flowers. The house is furnished with couches, arm- chairs, ottomans, and footstools made of the native acacia or of ebony and other rare imported woods, inlaid with ivory, carved in animal forms, and cushioned or covered with leopard-skins. The ceilings are stuccoed and painted, and the panels of the walls adorned with colored designs. The tables are of various sizes and fanciful patterns. The floor is covered with a palm-leaf matting or wool carpet. In the bed- rooms are high couches reached by steps ; the pillows are made of wood or alabaster (see cut, p. 29). There are many elegant toilet con- veniences, such as polished bronze mirrors, fancy bottles for the kohl with which the ladies stain their brows and eyelids, alabaster vases for sweet-scented ointments, and trinket-boxes shaped like a goose, a fish, or a human dwarf. Everywhere throughout the house is a profu- sion of flowers, hanging in festoons, clustered on stands, and crowning the wine-bowl. Not only the guests but the attendants are wreathed, and fresh blossoms are constantly brought in from the garden to replace those which are fading. And now the ox, kid, geese, and ducks, which, according to custom, have been hurried into the cooking-caldrons as soon as killed, are ready to be served. After hand-washing and saying of grace, the guests are seated on stools, chairs, or the floor, one or two at each little low, round table. The dishes, many of which are vegetables, are brought on in courses, and the guests, having neither knife nor fork, help themselves with their fingers. Meantime a special corps of servants keep the wine and water cool by vigorously fanning the porous jars which contain them. During the repast, when the enjoy- ment is at its height, the Osiris — an image like a human mummy — is brought in and formally introduced to each visitor with the reminder that life is short, and all must die. This little episode does not in the least disturb the placidity of the happy guests. There is one, how- ever, to whom the injunction is not given, and who, though anointed and garlanded, and duly installed at a table, does not partake of the delicacies set before him. This is a real mummy, a dear, deceased SUMMARY. 43 member of the family, whom the host is keeping some months before burial, being loath to part with him. It is in his honor, indeed, that the relatives and friends are assembled, and the presence of a beloved mummy, whose soul is journeying toward the Pools of Peace, is the culminating pleasure of an Egyptian dinner-party. 4. SUMMARY. 1. Political History. — Our earliest glimpse of Egypt is of a country already civilized. Menes, the first of the Pharaohs, changed the course of the Nile and founded Memphis. His successor was a physician, and wrote books on anatomy. Khufu, Shafra, and Menkara, of the IVtii dynasty, built the three Great Pyramids at Gizeh. In their time there were already an organized civil and military service and an established religion. From the Vltii to the Xl^h dynasty the monu- ments are few and history is silent. Thebes then became the center of power. The XIPii dynasty produced Lake Mceris and the Laby- rinth, and waged war against the Ethiopians. Meanwhile the Hyksos invaded Lower Egypt and soon conquered the land. At last a Theban monarch drove out the barbarian strangers. The XVIIItii and XIX^^i dynasties raised Egypt to the height of her glory. Thothmes, Amunoph, Seti, and, chief of all, Rameses II., covered the land with magnificent works of art, and carried the Egyptian arms in triumph to the depths of Asia. After the XXtii dynasty Egypt began to decline. Her weak kings fell in turn before the Ethiopians, the Assyrians, and, finally, the Persians. The illustrious line of the Pharaohs was at length swal- lowed up in the Empire of Persia (see note, p. 46). 2. General Character of Egyptian Civilization. — ^In sum- ming up our general impressions of Egypt, we recall as characteristic features her Pyramids, Obelisks, Sphinxes, Gigantic Stone Statues, Hieroglyphics, Sacred Animals, and Mummies. We think of her wor- shiped kings, her all-powerful priests, and her Nile-watered land divided between king, priests, and soldiers. We remember that in her fondness for inscriptions she overspread the walls of her palaces and the pillars of her temples with hieroglyphics, and erected monuments for seemingly no other purpose than to cover them with writing. We see her tombs cut in the solid rock of the hillside and carefully con- cealed from view, bearing on their inner walls painted pictures of home life. Her nobility are surrounded by refinement and luxuries which we are startled to find existing 4000 years ago ; and her com- mon people crowd a land where food is abundant, clothing little needed, and the sky a sufficient shelter. We have found her architecture of the true Hamite type, colossal, 44 EGYPT. massive, and enduring ; her art stiff, constrained, and lifeless ; her priest-taught schools giving special attention to writing and mathe- matics ; her literature chiefly religious, written on papyrus scrolls, and collected in libraries ; her arts and inventions numerous, including weaving, dyeing, mining and working precious metals, making glass and porcelain, enameling, engraving, tanning and embossing leather, working with potter's clay, and embalming the dead. Seeing her long valley inundated each year by the Nile, she made herself pro- ficient in mathematics and mensuration, erected dikes, established Nilometers, appointed public commissioners, and made a god of the river which, since it seldom rains in Egypt, gives the land its only fertility. Her religion, having many gods growing out of One, taught a judgment after death, with immortality and transmigration of soul ; its characteristic form was a ceremonial worship of animals as emblems or incarnations of Deity. Finally, as a people, the Egyp- tians were in disposition mild, unwarlike, superstitiously religious, in habits cleanly, luxurious, and delighting in flowers ; in mind subtle, profound, self -poised; in social life talkative, given to festivals, and loud in demonstrations of grief ; having a high conception of morals, a respect for woman, a love of literature, and a domestic affection which extended to a peculiar fondling of their mummied dead. READING REFERENCES. Brugsch'8 Egypt under the Pharaohs.— Bunsen's Egypt's Place in the World's History.— Birch's Egypt from the Earliest Times, and Egypt from the Monuinents.— Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.— Herodotus, Bawlin- son'8 Translation with Notes.- Rawlinson's Origin of Nations, and Manual of Ancient History.— Lenormant and Chevallier's Ancient History of the East.— Records of the Past (New Series).— Egypt over 3300 Years Ago {Illustrated Library of Won- ders).— Lilbke's History of Art. — Westropp's Handbook of Archaeology .— Fergusson's History of Architecture.— Early Egyptian History for the Young {Macmillan, Lon- don).— Zerffi's Historical Development of Art— George Ebers's Egypt {illustrated); and An Egyptian Princess, The Sisters, and Uarda {historical romances).— Mariette's Monuments of Upper Egypt— Perrot and Chipiez's History of Ancient Egyptian Art— Goodyear' s Grammar of the Lotus.— Books of the Egypt Exploration Fund and Archceological Survey.— Biblia {a current magazine). COMPARATIVE CHRONOLOGY, "LONG" AND "SHORT." B. C. B. C. Menes 5700 2700 Old Empire 5700-3450 2700-2080 Middle Empire 3450-1750 2080-1525 Hyksos Rule 2325-1750 1900-1525 New Empire 1750- 525 1525-527 Persian Conquest ^ • - 525 527 J.WELU6| OEki re jiy Ulue lines iTTovincea nuSSELL & STRUTHER8, &NQ'6 N.Y. BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. The Origin of the civilization along the Tigris and Euphrates may rival the Egyptian in antiquity j recent discoveries seem to remove far into the remote past that patriarchal civilization called Accadian, Sumerian, or Su- mero-Accadian. 1. Chaldea. — Our earhest political glimpse of this country shows us a Turanian people with important cities ; each city governed by a priest-king, and containing a temple sacred to some particular deity. Semitic peoples then enter the land. These have less culture but greater intellectual capacity than the Accadians. During the many centuries which follow — how many no one knows — Sargon I., King of Accad, emerges from the mist of antiquity as a builder of palaces and temples, an editor of ancient Accadian literature, and a founder of libraries ; Ur-ea (Uruch, p. 64), King of Ur, scatters gigantic, rudely constructed temples all over Chaldea ; and Khamfnuragus, patron of science and litera- Oeographical Questions.— Locate Nineveh, Babylon, Tadmor, Accad, Erech, and Calneh. How far was it by direct line from Babylon to Memphis? To Thebes? Describe the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Locate and describe Mesopotamia, As.sy- ria, Chaldea or Babylonia, and Susiana. Ans Mesopotamia is a name given by the Greeks to the entire rolling plain between the Tigris and the Euphrates , Assyria was an arid plateau cut up by rocky ridges, stretching north of Babylonia to the Armenian Mountains; Babylonia was a rich alluvial plain formed by the deposit of the Tigris and Euphrates in the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf ; Susiana lay south-east of Assyria and east of Babylonia. Northern Chaldea was called Accad ; Southern Chaldea, Shumir. The alluvium was marvelously fertile. In it wheat grew so rank, that, to make it ear, the people mowed it twice, and then fed it off with cattle. The yield was enormous,— fifty-fold at the least, and often a hundred-fold- 46 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. [2280 B. C. ture, unites Accad and Shumir into one kingdom and makes Babylon the capital. All this occurs before 2000 b. c.^ The ever-nomadic Semites push northward, and, later, people the middle Tigris, where they build great cities and lay the foundations of the Assyrian Empire. As Chaldea had no natural boundary or defense, it was singularly open to attack. There were constant wars with the fast-rising power of Assyria, and in the 13th cent- ury B. c. the Chaldeans were conquered by their northern rival. The period of their servitude lasted nearly seven cent- uries, during which they became thoroughly Assyrianized in language and customs. Being, however, a sturdy, fiery, impetuous, warlike race, they often revolted. At one time — known in history as the Era of Nahonassar {74:7 B. c.) — they achieved a temporary independence, and on the fall of Nineveh (606 ? b. c.) they at once rose to power, founding the second Babylonian Empire. 2. Assyria, for nearly seven centuries (1298-606 b. c), — from the conquest of Babylon to the overthrow of Nineveh, its own capital, — was the great empire ^ of south-western Asia. It attained its glory under Sargon and his descend- ants, — the Sargonidae. The Assyrian sway then reached to the Mediterranean Sea, and included Syria, Media, Baby- lonia, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Palestine, and parts of Arabia and Egypt. These conquered nations retained their laws, 1 Early Chaldean chronology is as uncertain as P^gyptian. Berosus, a Babylonian, wrote (4th century b. c.) a history of his country, founded on the records in the temple of Belus. His work, like Manetho's, is known only by portions quoted in other books. Archaeological research is now as enthusiastically pressed in Chaldea as in Egypt. A recently discovered cylinder at Sippara, near Accad, points to the remote date of 3800 B. c. for Sargon I. 2 This was the first of the successive " World-Empires." Following it was the Persian under Cyrus. This was conquered by Alexander, wlio founded the Mace- donian ; and it in turn gave place to the grandest of all,— the Roman. Out of its ruins grew up the Mohammedan of Asia and Africa, and Charlemagne's in Europe. The former was shattered by the Turks, and the latter was broken un into several of the kingdoms of modern Europe. 625 B. c] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 47 kings, and religion, but, being required to pay tribute and furnish a military contingent to the royal army, they were always ripe for revolt. The history of Assyria is therefore the record of an empire constantly falling to pieces, and as often restored through the genius of some warrior-king. ASSYRIAN HEADS (FROM NIMROUU). About 606 B. c. Nineveh was captured by the combined forces of the Babylonians and Medes. Tradition says that its effeminate king Sar'-a-cus, taking counsel of his despair, burned himself in his palace with all his treasures. The conquerors utterly destroyed the city, so that there remained only a heap of ruins. ^ The Names of the Assyrian Kings are tedious, and the dates of their reigns uncertain. Authorities differ greatly even in the spelling of the names. Some of the monarchs are notable from their connection with Grecian or Jewish history. Tig' -IqtM-nin (worship be to Nin, p. 62) is sup- posed to be the G-reek Ninus; on his signet-ring was in- scribed " The Conqueror of Babylon," which connects him with the overthrow of Chaldea, already mentioned. Tiglath- Pile'ser I. (1110 b. c.) may be called "The Religious Con- queror." He built temples, palaces, and castles, introduced 1 Xenophon, during the famous retreat of the Ten Thousand, only two centuries after this catastrophe, passed the site of Nineveh, yet does not even mention the tact in his history, so perfectly had Nineveh disappeared. 48 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. [1130 B. C. foreign cattle and vegetable products^ and constrncted canals. He multiplied the war-chariots, and carried the Assyrian arms to the Persian mountains on the east and to northern Syria on the west ; ^ but he was repulsed by the Babylonians, who bore off his idols to their capital, where they were kept four hundred years. Asshur-kir-pal (Sardanapalus I., 883-858), a cruel but magnificent king, made many con- quests, but is chiefly to be remembered in connection with the arts, which he raised to a point never before attained. He lined his palace walls (Nimroud) with great alabaster slabs, whereon were sculptured in spirited bas-reUef the various glories he had achieved. He was a hunter as well as a warrior and an art patron, and kept a royal menagerie, where he gathered all the mid beasts he could procure from his own and foreign lands. Shahnane'ser ^ II. was contemporary with Ahab and Jehu, ' kings of Israel ; he personally conducted twenty-four mili- tary campaigns. Vul-lush III. (810-781) married Sam- muramit, heiress of Babylon, and probably the original of 1 A lengthy document written by Tiglath-Pileser, narrating some events of liif. reign, has been discovered. He writes : " The country of Kasiyara, a difficult region, I passed through. With their 20,000 men and their five kings I engaged. I defeated them. The ranks of their warriors in fighting the battle were beaten down as if by the tempest. Their carcasses covered the valleys and the tops of the mountains. I cut off their heads. Of the battlements of their cities I made heaps, like mounds of earth. Their movables, their wealth, and their valuables I plundered to a countless amount. Six thousand of their common soldiers I gave to my men as slaves." Having restored two ancient temples, he invokes the support of the gods, and adds ; " The list of my victories and the catalogue of my triumphs over foreigners hostile to Asshur I have inscribed on my tablets and cylinders. Whoever shall abrade or injure my tablets and cylinders, or shall moisten them with water, or scorch them with fire, or expose them to the air, or in the holy place of God shall assign them to a place where they cannot be seen or understood, or shall erase the writing and inscribe his own name, or shall divide the sculptures and break them off from my tablets, may Anu and Vul, the great gods, my lords, consign his name to perdition ! May they curse him with an irrevocable curse! May they pluck out the stability of the throne of his empire! May not his offspring survive him! May his servants be broken ! May his troops be defeated ! May his name and his race perish ! " 2 In connection with Shalmaneser and the following kings, read carefully 2 Kings, xv-xix. 810B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 49 the mythical " Semiramis." According to the legend, this queen, having conquered Egypt and part of Ethiopia, invaded India with an army of a million men, but was beaten back by elephants ; she adorned Babylon with wonderful works, and at last took the form of a dove and flew away. Tiglath- Pileser III. (745-727) captured Damascus and conquered Ahaz, King of Judah. Shalmaneser IV. (727-722) laid siege to Samaria, which was taken by his successor, Sargon (722- 705), who carried off its inhabitants and supplied their place with captive Babylonians. Sargon founded the house of the Sargonidse, who were the most brilliant of the Assyrian kings, and who made all the neighboring nations feel the weight of their conquering arms. He himself so subdued the Egyptians that they were never afterward the powerful nation they had been ; he also reduced Syria, Babylonia, and a great part of Media and Susiana. His son, the proud, haughty, and self-confi- dent SemiacJierih (sen-nak^-e-rib, 705-681), captured the " fenced cities of Judah," but afterward lost 185,000 men, '^ smitten by the angel of the Lord" in a single night. The sculptures represent him as standing in his chariot per- sonally directing the forced labor of his workmen, who were war-captives, often loaded with fetters. Usarhaddon, Sar- gon's grandson, divided Egypt into petty states, took Ma- nasseh. King of Judah, prisoner to Babylon (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11), and more fully settled Samaria with colonists from Babylonia, Persia, and Susiana Asshur-hani-pal (Sardana- palus II., 668-626 ?),i Sargon's great-grandson, was a famous warrior, builder, and art patron. He erected a magnificent palace at Nineveh, in which he founded a royal Ubrary. His 1 Aa the Greeks confounrled several Egyptian monarchs under the name of Sesostris the Great, so the Assyrian king whom they called Sardanapa'lus seems to have been a union of Asshurizirpal, Asshurhanipal, and Asshuremedihn. The Greek ideal Sardanapalus is celebrated m Byron's well-known play of that name. 50 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. [626 B. O. son, Asshur-eined-ilin, or Saracns, as he was called by some Greek writers (p. 47), was the last Assyrian king. 3. Later Babylonian Empire {606-bSS).—Nabopo- las'sar, a favorite general nnder Saracns, obtained from his master the government of Babylon. Here he organized a revolt, and made an alliance with Cyaxares, King of the Medes j in 606 b. c. their combined forces captnred Nineveh. The conquerors divided the spoils between them, and to BABYLONIAN HEADS (FROM THE SCULPTURES). Nabopolassarfell Phoenicia, Palestine, Syria, Snsiana, and the Euphrates valley. Babylon, after the ruin of its rival, became again the capital of the East. It held this position for nearly a century, when it was captured by Cyrus the Great (538 b. c). The Names of two of its kings are famihar to every Bible reader. Nehuchadnezzar (604-561), the son of Nabo- polassar, gave the new empu-e its character and position. Without him Babylon would have had little if any history worth recording. A great warrior, he captured Jerusalem,^ overran Egypt, and, after a thirteen-years' siege, subdued Tyre. A great builder, he restored or repaired almost every temple and city in the country. By his marvelous energy Babylon became five or six times the present size of London ; 1 " Israel is a scattered sheep ; . . first the king of Assyria hatli devoured him ; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Bahylon hath broken his bones."— J^er. 1. 17. 538 b. 0.] THE CIVILIZATION. 51 and its walls and hanging gardens (p. 58) were among the Seven Wonders of the World (Appendix). Immense lakes were dug for retaining the water of the Euphrates, whence a net- work of canals distributed it over the plain to irrigate the land, while quays and breakwaters were constructed along the Persian GuK for the encouragement of commerce.i BeUhazzar held the throne jointly with his father, Nabona'- dius, the last king of Babylon. Cyrus, ruler of the rising empire of the Medes and Persians, invaded the country "with an army wide-spreading and far-reaching, hke the waters of a river." Having defeated the army in the open field, he besieged Babylon. One night when the Babylo- nians were celebrating a festival with drunken revelry, the Persians seized the unguarded gates and captured the place. From that time Babylon was a province of the Persian Empire, and its glory faded. Semitic power had suc- cumbed to Aryan enterprise. To-day the site of the once great city is marked only by shapeless mounds scattered over a desolate plain. 2. THE CIVILIZATION. Society. — In Assyria there were no castes or hereditary aris- tocracy, but all subjects, foreign and native, had equal privileges, dependent upon the one absolute royal will. The King, though not worshiped as a god, as in Egypt, was considered " the earthly vicegerent of the gods," having undis- puted authority over the souls as well as the bodies of his people. The chief courtiers were eunuchs, who directed the public affairs, leaving the king undisturbed to enjoy his sports and pleasures. They, however, held their offices at his caprice, and were Hable at any moment to be removed. The people had the privilege of 1 Read the Scriptural account of Babylon and its kinoes in Daniel, Isaiah (chaps. X., xi., xlii., xiv., xxi., xlv., xlvl., xlvii., and especially xix., xxiii.), Jeremiah (chapSr xlix., 1., and li.), 2 Kings (chaps, xxiv., xxv.), and Ezra (chaps, i.-vl.). bZ BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. direct petition to the Mug in case of public wrong or neglect.! In Babylonia^ where there was a mixed population, ^rr\ society was divided into castes, of which the highest, ^^ the ancient Chaldean, was not unlike that of the Egyp- \L^ tian priesthood. The Chaldeans read the warnings of 1 ^1 ^ the stars, interpreted dreams and omens, gave instruc- ^ I ^ tions in the art of magic and incantation, and conducted x/' I 1 the pompous religious ceremonies. They also decided = -o politics, commanded the armies, and held the chief state '^ g t offices. From them came all the royal rulers of Babylon. ^i ^ "I The king was as despotic as in Assyria, and Baby- ^ H o Ionian nobles at every slight offense trembled for their »jr- 1 S I heads. The whole Chaldean caste were once ordered to j^X ^ i ^6 exterminated because they could not expound the L I I dream of a king which he himself could not recall II (Dan. ii. 12). JY '^' I Merchants, artisans, and husbandmen formed each a I caste. The fishermen of the marshes near the Persian '^ Gulf corresponded to the swine-herds in Egypt, as * being lowest in the social scale. They lived on earth- i covered rafts, which they floated among the reeds, and I subsisted on a species of cake made of dried fish. ^ i Writing. — Cuneiform Letters {cuneus, a wedge). — Clay ^y g ^ Tahlets.—The earliest form of this writing, invented ^~ E by the Turanians, was, hke the Egyptian, a collec- tion of rude pictures, with this peculiarity, that they TJJT were all straight-hned and angular, as if devised to be ]^^ cut on stone with a chisel. The Chaldeans, having no stone in their country, made of the clay in which it abounded tiny pillow-shaped tablets, from one to five inches long. Upon these soft, moist tablets they traced ^i 1 A tablet in the British Museum thus exposes an official peculation in the time of Asshurbanipal : "Salutation to the king, my lord, from his humble petitioner,* Zikar Nebo. To the king, my lord, may Asshur, Shamash, Bel, Zarpanit, Nebo, Tashmit, Ishtar of Nineveh, Ishtar of Arbela, the great gods, protectors of royalty, give a hundred years of life to the king, my lord, and slaves and wives in great number to the king, my lord. The gold that in the month Tashrit the minister of state and the controller of the palace should have given me— three talents of pure gold and four talents of alloyed gold— to make an image of the king and of the mother of the king, has not yet been given. May my lord, the king, give orders to the minister of state and to the controller of the palace, to give the gold, to give it from this time, and do it exactly." THE CIVILIZATION. 53 the outline of the original object -picture in a series of distinct, wedge-like impressions made by the square or triangular point of a small bronze or iron tool. As in Egypt, the attempt to pre- serve the picture outline was gradually abandoned, and the charac- ters, variously modified by the differ- ent-speaking races inhabiting Assyria, came to have a variety of meanings.^ Cuneiform writing has been found even more difficult to interpret than Egyptian hieroglyphics. It has some of the peculiarities of that writing, but has no letter-signs, the cuneiform- writing nations never advancing so far as to analyze the syllable into vowels and consonants. Nearly three hun- dred different characters have been deciphered, and a large number re- main yet unknown.2 Other Writing Materials, as Alabas- ter Slabs, Terra-cotta Cylinders, Cylin- der Signets, etc. — The Assyrian clay tablets were generally larger than the Chaldean, and for the royal records slabs of fine stone were preferred. ASSYRIAN CLAY TABLET. 1 GeBerally all trace of tlie original picture disappeared, but in a few cases, such as the outline is still visible. A curious example of tlie picto- rial origin of the letters is furnished by the character iV^ which is the French une, the feminine of " one." This character may be traced back through several known forms to an original picture on a Koyunjik tablet ^ fc where it appears as a double-toothed comb. As this was a toilet article peculiar to women, it became the sign of the feminine gender. 2 The BeMstun Inscription furnished the key to Assj^rian literature, as did the Rosetta stone to Egyptian. This inscription was carved by order of Darius Hys- tasp'es (p. 91) on the precipitous side of a high rock mountain in Media, 300 feet above its base. It is in three languages,— Persian, Median, and Assyrian. The Per- sian, which is the simplest of the cuneiform writings, having been mastered, it became, like the Greek on the Rosetta stone, a lexicon to the other two languages. Honorably connected with the opeuing-up of the Assyrian language in the present centuiy, are tlie names of Sir Henry Rawlinson. who at great personal risk scaled the Behistun Mountain and made a copy of the inscription, which he afterward pub- lished ; and M. Oppert, who systematized the newly discovered language, and founded an Assyrian grammar for the use of modern scholars. 54 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, These slabs were used as panels in palace walls, where they set forth the glorious achievements of the Assyrian monarch s. Even where figures were sculptured upon the panels, the royal vanity was not deterred, and the self-glorifying narrations were earned uninterruptedly across mystic baskets, sacred trees, and the dresses of worshiping kings and eagle-headed deities. The colossal ala- baster bulls and lions which guarded the palace portals were also inscribed, and formal invocations to the gods were written on hollow terra-cotta cylinders, from eighteen to thirty-six inches high, which were placed in the temple corners. The hnes are sometimes more closely compacted than those in this paragraph, and the characters so fine that a magnifying glass is required to read them. Little cylinders made of jasper, chalcedony, or other stone were engraved and used as seals by rolling them across the clay tablets. There is no positive proof that anything like paper or parch- ment was ever in use among the Assryians,though the ruins furnish indirect testimony that it may have been employed in rare instances. Literature. — Libraries. — An Assyrian or Babylonian book con- sisted of several flat, square clay talDlets written on both sides, care- fully paged, and piled one upon another in order. Asshurbanipal, who as patron of arts and literature was to Assyria what Rameses II» had been to Egypt 600 years before, estabhshed an extensive public library 1 in his palace at Nineveh. Many of the books were copied from borrowed Babylonian tablets, but a large number were evi- dently composed under his royal patronage. He gathered works on geography, history, law, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, botany, and zoology. Complete lists of plants, trees, metals, and minerals were prepared; also a catalogue of every known species of animals, classified in families and genera. ^' We may well be aston- ished," says Lenormant, ^' to learn that the Assyrians had ah-eady invented a scientific nomenclature, similar in principle to that of A TERKACOn A CYLINDER. 1 " Palace of Asshurbanipal, king of the worlcl, king of Assyria, to whom the god Nebo and the goddess Tashmit (the goddess of wisdom) have given ears to hear and eyes to see what is the foundation of government. They have revealed to the kings, my predecessors, this cuneiform writing, the manifestation of the god Nebo, the god of supreme intelligence. I have written it upon tablets, I liave signed it, I have placed it in my palace for the instruction of my subjects" {Inscription). One of the bricks of this library contains a notice that visitors are requested to give to the librarian the number of the book: they wish to consult, and it will be brought to them. THE CIVILIZATION. 65 LinnsBus." Here, also, were religions books explaining the name, functions, and attributes of each god j magical incantations with which to charm away evil spirits ; and sacred poems, resembling in style the Psalms of David. Among the records copied from Baby- lonian tablets, which were already antiquities in the time of As- shurbanipal, were the Chaldean accounts of the Creation, the Deluge, and the Tower of Babel, which are strikingly like the nar- rative in Genesis, though written hundreds of years before Moses was born Most numerous of all were the various grammatical works. The Assyrians found their own language so complex, that lexicons and grammars were multiplied in efforts to explain and simplify it j and these books, written to aid the Assyrian learner over 2500 years ago, have been found invaluable in opening the long-lost language to the student of to-day. All this vast collec- tion of tablets, gathered with so much care by Asshurbanipal, fell with the palace in its destruction under his son, Saracus, and were mostly broken into fragments, i Monuments and Art. — As the Chaldeans had no stone, they made their edifices of burnt or sun-dried bricks, strengthening the walls by layers of reed matting cemented with bitumen. Their tem- ples were built in stories, each one smaller in area than the one below, thus forming an irregular pyramid. In later times the number of stories increased, and the outer walls of Babylonian temples were painted in colors consecrated to the heavenly bodies. That of Nebo at Borsippa ^ had its lowest stage black (Saturn) j the next orange (Jupiter) j then red (Mars), gold (the sun), yellow (Venus), blue (Mercury), and silver (the moon). The gold and 1 " The clay tablets lay under the ruined palace in such multitudes that they filled the chambers to the height of a foot or more from the floor. The documents thus discovered at Nineveh probably exceed in amount of writing all that has yet been afforded by the monuments of Egypt" (Layard's Nineveh). To Austen Henry Layard, an English archseologist, we are chiefly indebted for the wonderful dis- cov'eriesraade in exploring the mounds which mark the site of Nineveh. The British Museum has a magnificent collection of Assyrian antiquities recovered from these mounds, whole rooms being lined with the alabaster slabs exhumed from the ruins of the palaces of Asshurizirpal at Nimroud, Sennacherib and his grandson Asshur- banipal at Koyunjik, and Sargon at Khorsabad. Most of the remains of Sargon's palace, however, are deposited in the Louvre at Paris, having been excavated for the L^rench government by M. Botta, who has the honor of having made (in 1843) the lirst discovery of an Assyrian monument, 2 Borsippa was a town near Babylon. Some authorities include the ruins of this temple, now called the Birs-i-Nimrud, within the outer wall of Babylon, and believe it to have been the true Temple of Belus (p. 59), if not tlie actual Tower of Babel. A mound called Babil, near the Great Palace, is the other disputed site. 56 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. silver stages seem to have been covered with thin plates of those metals. Either the sides or the angles of these structures exactly faced the cardinal points, and the base was strengthened by brick buttresses scientifically arranged. The royal name and titles were engraved upon each building-brick. BABYLONIAN BRICK. TheAssyrians msidie their temples simple adjuncts to their palaces, where they were used as observatories. Here the priestly astrolo- gers consulted the stars, and no enterprise was undertaken, however it might otherwise promise success, unless the heavens were de- clared favorable. Following the example of their Chaldean instruc- tors, the Assyrians continued to build with brick, though they had an abundance of excellent stone. Their edifices, placed, like those in Chaldea, upon high artificial mounds of earth, were incased with bricks used while still soft, so that they adhered to one another without cement, and formed a single, compact mass. As their palaces were constructed of this same weak material, which was liable to disintegrate within twenty or thirty years,they were obliged to make the walls enormously thick, the halls narrow and low as compared with their length, and to limit the height to one story. The roof was loaded with earth as a protection from the fierce summer sun and the heavy winter rains. Their building-plan was always the same. Around immense square courts were arranged halls or chambers of different sizes opening into one another. These halls, though never more than 40 feet wide, were sometimes 180 feet THE CIVILIZATION. 57 in length. The sides were lined with alabaster slabs, from eight to fifteen feet high, covered with elaborate sculptures illustrating the sports, prowess, and religious devotion of the king ; above these were enameled bricks. The court-yards were paved with chiseled stone or painted bricks, and the beams of Lebanon cedar were sometimes overlaid with silver or gold. The courts themselves were or- namented by gigantic sculp- tures, and the artificial mound was edged by a ter- raced wall. Sennacherib's palace at Koyunjik was only second in size and grandeur to the palace tem- ple at Karnak. The ruling idea in Assyrian architec- ture, however, was not, as in the Egyptian, that of mag- nitude, much less of dura- bility, but rather of close and finished ornamenta- tion; the bas-reliefs being wrought out with a minute- ness of detail which ex- tended to the flowers and rosettes on a king's gar- ment or the intricate pat- tern of his carved footstool. But Assyrian alabaster was far easier to manage than Egyptian granite, and where masses of hard stone like basalt were used, to which the Egyptians would give the finish of a cameo, the Assyrians pro- duced only coarse and awkward effects. A few stone obelisks have been found — one only, the Black Obelisk of Nimroud, being in per- fect preservation. In statuary, the Assyrians signally failed, and in BLACK OBELISK FROM NIMROUD. 58 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. drawing they had no better idea of perspective than the Egyptians. In their water-scenes the fishes are as large as the ships, and the birds in the woods are half as tall as the men who hunt them. They excelled in bas-relief, in which they profusely detailed their religious ideas, home life, and royal greatness. As compared with Egyptian art,i the Assyrian was more progressive, and had greater freedom, variety, and taste. Walls, Temple, Palaces, and Hanging Gardens of Babylon. — The wall of this great city formed a square, each side of which was, according to Herodotus, 14 miles long, 85 feet thick, and 335 feet high.2 Twenty- five brass gates opened from each of the four sides upon straight, wide streets, which extended across the city, dividing it into squares. A space was left free from buildings for some dis- tance next the walls ; within that, beautiful gardens, orchards, and fields alternated with lofty dwellings. The broad Euphrates, in- stead of skirting the city as did the Tigris at Nineveh, ran midway through the town, and was guarded by two brick walls with brass gates opening upon steps which led down to the water. The river-banks were lined throughout with brick-and-bitumen quays, and the stream was crossed by ferries, and, during the day, by a movable drawbridge resting on stone piers. On either side of the Euphrates rose a majestic palace, built upon a high platform, and surrounded by triple walls a quarter of a mile apart. The outer wall of the larger palace was nearly seven miles in circumference. The inner walls were faced with enameled brick, representing hunting scenes in gayly colored figures larger than life. The glory of the palace was its Hanging Gardens, imi- tated from those in Assyria, and built by Nebuchadnezzar to please his Median queen, who pined for her native hills. They consisted of a series of platforms resting on arches, and rising one above the other till the summit overtopped the city walls. The soil with which they were covered was deep enough to sustain not only flowers and shrubs, but the largest trees, so that the effect was that of a mountain clothed m verdure. The structure was ascended by broad stairs, and on the several terraces, among fountains, groves, and fragrant shrubs, were stately apartments, in whose cool shade 1 The Chaldean tomb (p. 65) is without inscription, bas-relief, or painting (contrast with Egyptian tomb). No Assyrian sepulcher has yet (1892) been found. 2 Other authorities reduce this estimate. In Alexander's time the wall still stood over seventy feet high. Curtius asserts that "nine tenths of Babylon consisted of gardens, parks, fields, and orchards." i THE CIVILIZATION. 59 the queen might rest while making the tour of her novel pleasure- ground. The Temple ofBelus was also surrounded by a wall having brass gates. Within the sacred mclosure, but outside the building, were two altars for sacrifice, one of stone and one of gold. At the base of the tower — which was a huge, solid mass of brick- work — was a chapel containing a sitting image of Bel, a golden stand and table, and a human figure eighteen feet high, made of soUd gold. The ascent was from the outside, and on the summit was the sacred shrine, containing three great golden images of Bel, Beltis, and Ishtar (p. 61). There were also two golden lions, two enormous silver serpents, and a golden table forty feet long and fifteen broad, besides drinking- cups, censers, and a golden bowl for each deity. Practical Arts and Inventions. — Agriculture was carried to a high degree of perfection in both countries, and the system of ir- rigation was so complete that it has been said '^not a drop of water was allowed to be lost." Their brilliantly dyed and ivoven stuffs, especially the Babylonian carpets, were celebrated throughout the ancient world ; and the elaborate designs of their embroideries served as models for the earliest Grecian vases. In metal-work they were far advanced, and they must have possessed the art of casting vast masses, since their town and palace gates are said to have been of bronze. Where great strength was required, as in the legs of tripods and tables, the bronze was cast over iron, an ingenious art unknown to moderns until it was learned and imitated from Assyrian antiquities. The beams and furniture of palaces were often cased with bronze, and long bronze friezes with fantastic figures in relief adorned the palace halls. Gold, silver, and bronze vases^ beautifully chased, were important articles of commerce, as was also the Assyi'ian pottery, which, being enameled by an entirely different process from that of Egypt, and having a finer paste, brighter hue, and thinner body, was largely exported to the latter country during the XVIII^^* dynasty. Mineral tints were used for coloring. Assyrian terra cotta was remarkably fine and pure. Transparent glass was in use in the time of Sargon. A rock- crystal lens has been found at Nimroud, the only object of its kind as yet discovered among the remains of antiquity. In gem -cutting the Assyrians decidedly excelled the Egyptians, and the exceeding minuteness of some work on seals implies the use of powerful magnifiers. Most of the mechanical powers whereby heavy weights have com- monly been moved and raised among civilized nations were under- 60 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. stood. 1 The Assyrians imported their steel and iron tools from the neighboring provinces of the Caucasus, where steel had long been manufactured ; the carved ivories which ornamented their palaces probably came from Phoenicia. It will be seen that in all the common arts and appliances of life the Assyrians were at least on a par with the Egyptians, while in taste they greatly excelled not only that nation, but all the Orientals. It must not be for- gotten, however, that Egyptian civilization was over a thousand years old when Assyria was in its infancy. 3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. General Character. — The Assyrians were brave, cruel, 2 and aggres- sive. Isaiah calls them a '' fierce people," and Nahum speaks of Nine- veh as ''full of lies and robbery." The mixed people of Babylonia were more scholarly and less warlike than the purely Semitic Assyr- ians, but they, also, were "terrible and dreadful, going through the breadth of the land" with chariots "like the whirlwind," and "horses swifter than the leopards and more fierce than the evening wolves." In war savage and pitiless, in peace they were " tender and delicate, given to pleasures, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads." Their covetousness and luxurious indulgences became a proverb. They were fond of giving banquets in their brilliantly painted saloons, where their visitors, clothed in scarlet robes and resplendent in cosmetics and jewelry, trod on carpets which were the envy of the ancient world, and were served with rich meats and luscious fruits on gold and silver plates. In Babylonia the guests were not formally garlanded, as in Egypt, but a profusion of flowers in elegant vases adorned the rooms. Meantime, while the air was filled with music and heavy with per- fumes, the merry revelers drank deeply of the abundant wine, and loudly sang the praises of their favorite gods. In pleasant contrast to their dissipation appear their learning, enter, 1 The Assyrians wrought all the elaborate carvings of their colossi before moving them. They then stood the figure on a wooden sledge, supporting it by heavy frame- work, and bracing it with ropes and beams. The sledge was moved over rollers by gangs of men, levers and wedges being used to facilitate its progress. The entire process of transporting a colossal stone bull is graphically pictured in an extensive bas-relief found at Koyunjik, and now in the British Museum. 2 The horrible atrocities inflicted on war captives are exultantly detailed on royal inscriptions. Tt is significant of the two civilizations that wliile Assyrian kings were thus mutilating and flaying alive their defenseless prisoners, Egypt had abolished the death penalty as a punishment lor crime. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 61 prise, and honesty in trade. In their intercourse with strangers they are said to have cultivated calmness of manner, a virtue probably not natural to them, but which was founded upon an intense pride in their superior culture and scientific attainments. Religion. — The Assyrians and Babylonians were both, in an idola- trous way, religious nations, though much less so than the Egyptians. The sun, moon, and planets were conspicuous among their gods. Their ideas of one First Cause or Deity were even more obscure than those of the Egyptians, and although II or lia, who stood at the head of the Chaldean Pantheon, was vaguely considered as the fount or origin of Deity, there were several other self-originated gods, each supreme over his own sphere. II was too dimly comprehended to be popular, and had apparently no temple in Chaldea. Two Triads were next in rank. The first comprised Ana, the lord of spirits and demons, who represented original chaos; Bel or Bel- Nimrod, the hunter, lord and organizer of the world ; and Roa, the lord of the abyss, and regulator of the universe. The second triad embraced Sin, the moon-god ; San (called in Assyria Shamas), the sun -god ; and Vul, the air-god. Each god had a wife, who received her share of divine honors. After these came the five planetary deities : Nin or Saturn, sometimes called the fish-god — his emblem in Assyria being the man-bull ; Bel-Merodach or Jupiter ; Nergal or Mars — the man-lion of Assyria ; Ishtar or Venus ; and Nebo or Mercury. A host of inferior gods made up the Pantheon, In the later Babylonian empire, Bel, Mero- dach, Nebo, and Nergal were the favorite deities, the last two receiving especial worship at Babylon. The most popular god- desses were Beltis, wife of Bel-Nimrod, and ^' mother of the great gods;" and Ishtar, "queen of the gods," who shared with Beltis the titles of goddess of fertility, of war, and of hunting.! The gods were symbolized by pictorial emblems, and also by mystic numbers. Thus, MOONGOD. (From a Cyl- inder ) Hoa = 40, emblem a serpent emblem the moon Sin = 30, W San = 20, emblem the sun 1 In all the Pagan religions the characteristics of one deity often trench upon those of another, and in Chaldea the most exalted epithets were divided between a number of gods. Thus, Bel is the "father of the gods, the king of the spirits; " Ana and Merodach are each "the original chief" and "the most ancient;" Nebo is the "lord of lords, who has no equal in power;" Sin is "the king of the gods and the lord of spirits," etc. The same symbol also stands for different gods. Hoa and Nebo, each as the " god of intelligence," " teacher and instructor of men," have for one of their emblems the wedge or arrowhead characters used in cuneiform writing. 62 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. Among the emblems symbolizing other, and to us unknown, gods, is a double cross, generally repeated three times. Eeligious etiquette erected honorary shrines to outside gods in temples consecrated to one chosen favorite ; and a Babylonian gentleman wore on his cylinder seal, besides the emblem of his chosen god patron, the complimentary symbols of other deities. In Assyria, II was known as Asshur,"^ and was the supreme object of worship. He was the guardian deity of king and country, and in the sculptures his emblem is always seen near the monarch. In the midst of battle, in processions of victory, in public worship, or in the pleasures of the chase, Asshur hovers over the scene, pointing his own arrow at the king's enemies, uplifting his hand with the king in wor- ship, or spreading his wings protectingly over the scene of enjoyment. In bas-reliefs representing worship, there also appear a "sacred tree," whose true symbolism is unknown, 2 and winged eagle-headed deities or genii who hand to the king mysterious fruit from a sacred basket. Sin and Sliamas were highly honored in Assyria, and their emblems were worn by the king on his neck. Upon the cylinders they are conjoined, the sun resting in the crescent of the moon. Bel was also a favorite god j 3 "but Nin and Nergal, the winged bull and lion, the gods whc "made sharp the weapons" of kings, and who presided over war and hunting, were most devotedly worshiped. The race of kings was traditionally derived from Nin, and his name was given to the mighty capital (Nineveh). Below the Great Gods were countless inferior ones, each city having its local deities which elsewhere received small respect. Good and evil spirits were represented as perpetually warring with one another. Pestilence, fever, and all the ills of life, were personified, and man was like a bewildered traveler in a strange land, exposed to a host of imseen foes, whom he could subdue only by charms and exorcisms. The Assyrians apparently had no set religious festivals. When a feast was to be held in honor of any god, the king made special proc- lamation. During a fast, not only king, nobles, and people abstained from food and drink, clothed themselves in sackcloth, and sprinkled 1 In the original language, the name of the country, of the first capital, and the term " an Assyrian," are all identical with the name of this god. 2 Recent theories identifying the Egyptian lotus with all classic ornamentation assert that the " sacred tree " was a conventional arrangement of lotus palmettes and buds, tliat the mysterious cone-like fruit was a lotus-hud, and that the Assyrian *' rosette " was the ovary stigma of the lotus-flower,— all heing symbols of sun-worship. (See Goody ear's Grammar of the Lotus.) 3 It was common for both Assyrian and Babylonian kings to signify their favorite god by associating his name with their own. The gods most frequently allied with royal names in Assyria were Asshur, Bel, and Nebo; in Babylonia, Neboand Merodach. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 63 ashes on their heads, but all the animals within the city walls were made to join in the penitential observance (see Jonah iii. 5-9). Image Worship. — The stone, clay, and metal images which adorned the temple shrines of Assyria and Babylonia were worshiped as real gods. So identified was a divinity with its idol, that, in the inscrip- tions of kings where the great gods were invoked in turn, the images of the same deity placed in different temples were often separately addressed, as Ishtar of Babylon, Ishtar of Arbela, Ishtar of Nineveh, etc. In worship, living sacrifices and offerings were made and obla- tions poured, the king taking the chief position, instead of the priest, as in Egypt. Curious Babylonish Customs.— If we are to believe Herodotus, the Babylonians buried their dead in honey, and married their daughters by auction, the money brought by the handsome ones being given as a dowry to their less favored sisters. The marriage festival took place once a year, and no father could give his daughter at any other time or in any other way. Each bride received a clay model of an olive, on which were inscribed her name and that of her hus- band, with the date of the ceremony; this was to be worn on her neck. Unlike the Egyptians, the— Babylonians had no regular physicians ; the sick and infirm were brought out into the market-place, where the passers-by prescribed remedies which had proved effectual in their own experience or that of their friends ; it being against the law to pass by a sick person without inquiring into the nature of his disease. Every summer the slaves had a festival, called Sacees, when for five days they took command of their masters, one of them, clothed in a royal robe, receiving the honors of a king. ASSYRIAN LAMPS. SCENES IN REAL LIFE. Scene I. — A Chaldean Home. — Let us visit the home of an ancient Chaldean as we should have found it over 3500 years ago. Before us rises a high brick platform, supporting an irregular cross-shaped house built of burnt or sun-dried bricks cemented with mud or bitumen. The outside is gayly adorned with colored terra-cotta cones embedded in mud or plaster. Entering, we find long, narrow rooms opening one 64 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. into another. If there are windows, they are set high, near the roof or ceiling. Upon the plastered walls, which are often broken by little recesses, are cuneiform inscriptions, varied by red, black, and white bands, or rude, bright-red figures of men and birds. ^ The chairs or stools, of soft, light date-wood, have legs modeled after those of an ox. The invaluable palm-tree, as useful in Chaldea as in Egypt, has not only supplied the table itself, but much of the food upon it. Its fresh or dried fruit appears as bread or sweetmeats ; its sap, as wine, vin- egar, and honey. The tableware is clay or bronze. The vases which contain the wine are mostly of coarse clay mixed with chopped straw; but here and there one of a finer glaze shows the work of the potter's wheel and an idea of beauty. The master of the house wears a long linen robe, elaborately striped, flounced, and fringed, which, passing over one shoulder, leaves the other bare, and falls to his feet. His beard is long and straight, and his hair either gathered in a roll at the back of his head or worn in long curls. He does not despise jewelry on his own person, and his wife revels in armlets and bracelets, and in rings for the fingers and toes. Bronze and iron — ^which is so rare as to be a precious metal — are affected most by the Chaldean belle, but her ornaments are also of shell, agate, and sometimes of gold. For the common people, a short tunic tied around the waist and reaching to the knee is a per- petual fashion, suitable for a temperature which ranges from 100° to 130° F. in summer. In the severest winter season, when the ther- mometer falls to 30° above zero, the Chaldean hunter dons an extra wrap, which covers his shoulders and falls below his tunic ; then, barefooted, and with a skull-cap or a camel's-hair band on his head, he goes out, with his bronze arrowhead and bronze or flint knife, to shoot and dissect the wild boar. Our Chaldean gentleman makes out SIGNET CYLINDER OF URUCH.2 (The earliest Chaldean king, of whom many definite re- mains have been found. Date, perhaps, 2800 b. c. See p. 45.) 1 This description is based upon the only two Chaldean residences which have as yet, so far as is known, been exhumed. They are supposed to date from between 1800 and 1600 B. c. 2 Uruch, King of Ur, lived perhaps before Babylon was founded. He was the first to call himself " King of Shumir and Accad." From his cylinder we learn that the Chaldeans at this early date dressed in delicate fabricfi elaborately trimmed, and had tastefully fashioned household furniture. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 65 a deed or writes a letter with a small bronze or ivory tool suited to his minute, cuneiform script, on a bit of moist clay shaped like a tiny pillow (p. 52). He signs it by rolling across the face the little engraved jasper or chalcedony cylinder, which he wears at- tached by a string to his wrist. Having baked it, he incloses it in a thin clay envelope, upon which he repeats his message or contract, and bakes it again. When the Chaldean dies, his friends shroud him in fine linen, and incase him in two large stone jars, so that the upper part of his body rests in one, '^ cylinder seal. and the lower part in the other, after which they cement the two jars together with mud or bitumen ; or they lay him upon a brick plat- form with a reed matting beneath him, and place over him a huge, burnt-clay cover, — a marvel of pottery, formed of a single piece, and shaped like a modern tureen cover ; or they put him on the mat in the family arched vault, pillowing his head on a sun-dried brick covered with a tapestry cushion. About him they arrange his ornaments and favorite implements ; vases of wine are within his reach, and in the palm of his left hand they rest a bronze or copper bowl filled with dates or other food to strengthen him in his mysterious journey through the silent land. Scene II. — A Morning in Nineveh. — The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, exalted above all the trees of the field, so that all the trees that were in the garden of God envied him, and not one was like unto him in his beauty (Ezek. xxxi.)- Six centuries and a half have passed since Chaldea was humbled by her northern neighbor; and Assyria, not dreaming that her own fall is so near, is in the fullness of her splendor and arrogance. It is about the year 650 B. c, and the proud Asshurbanipal is on the throne — Asshurbanipal, who has subdued the land of the Pyramids and the Labyrinth, and made Karnak and Luxor mere adjuncts to his glory. Nineveh, with her great walls one hundred feet in height, upon which three chariots can run abreast, lies before us. The bright spring sun of the Orient looks down upon a country luxuriant with a rich but short-lived verdure. Green myrtles and blossoming oleanders fringe the swollen streams, and the air is filled with the sweet odors of the citron-trees. The morning fog has loaded the dwarf oak with manna, and the rains have crowded the land with flowers. The towers, two hundred feet high, which mark the various city gates, throw long shadows over rows of windowless houses, topped with open domes or high, steep, cone-like roofs. Out from these houses come the people, dressed according to their several stations : bareheaded and barefooted laborers, clothed in one garment, a plain, short-sleeved tunic reaching to the knee ; pros- perous folk in sandals and fringed tunics, and the wealthy, in long 66 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 67 fringed and elegantly girdled robes. Only the higher orders are privi- leged to cover their heads with a cap, but all, even the meanest, glory in long, elaborately dressed hair. In the dwellings of the rich we may see furniture of elegant design : canopied beds and couches, and curtains of costly tapestry ; carved stools and tables with feet fashioned like gazelle-hoofs ; and, in the palace, luxurious chairs, and articles sacred to gods and the king. In the west end of the city, abutting the swift- flowing Tigris, is a high plat- form covering one hundred acres, on which stands the magnificent palace of Asshur- banipal. Near it is the still larger one built by Sennach- erib, his grandfather, and about it are parks and hanging gardens. The palaces have immense portals guarded by colossal winged and human- headed bulls and lions ; great court-yards paved with elc gantly patterned slabs ; and arched doorways, elaborately sculptured and faced by eagle- headed deities. We miss the warm, glowing colors so generously lavished on Egyptian temples. There are traces of the painter, but his tints are more subdued and more sparingly used. It is the triumphant day of the sculptor and the enameler. Asshurbanipal sits on his carved chair, arrayed in his em- broidered robe and mantle. On his breast rests a large circular orna- ment wrought with sacred emblems ; golden rosettes glitter on his red- and-white tiara, and rosettes and crescents adorn his shoes. He wears a sword and daggers, and holds a golden scepter. Necklaces, armlets, bracelets, and ear-rings add to his costume. Behind him is his parasol- bearer, grasping with both hands a tall, thick pole supporting a fringed and curtained shade. His Grand Vizier — who interprets his will to the people, and whose dress approaches his own in magnificence — stands before him in an attitude of passive reverence to receive the royal orders ; the scribes are waiting to record the mandate, and a host of attendants are at hand to perform it. Scene III. — A Boyal Lion-hunt. — To-day it is a lion-hunt. At the palace gates, surrounded by a waiting retinue, stands the king's chariot, headed by three richly caparisoned horses, champing bronze bits and gayly tinkling the bells on their tasseled collars, while grooms hold other horses to be placed before the chariots of high officials, after COLOSSAL HUMAN-HEADED WINGED BULL. 68 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. the monarch shall have mounted. As the king steps into the box-like chariot, his two favorite eunuchs adjust the well-stocked quivers, put in the long spears, and enter behind him ; the charioteer loosens the reins, and the horses start at full speed. At the park, or ''paradise," a large circuit is inclosed by a double rampart of spearmen and archers, and a row of hounds held in leashes. Here the lions kept for the king's sport wait in their cages. Having arrived at the park and received a ceremonious salute, the king gives the order to release the wild beasts. Cautiously creeping out from their cages, they seem at first to seek escape ; but the spearmen's large shields and bristling weapons dazzle their eyes ; the fierce dogs, struggling in their leashes, howl in their ears ; and the king's well-aimed arrows quickly enrage them to combat. Swifter and swifter fly the darts. The desperate beasts spring at the chariot sides only to receive death-thrusts from the spears of the attendants, while the excited king shoots rapidly on THE ROYAL LION-HUKT (FROM THE SCULPTURES). (n front. Now one has seized the chariot-wheel with his huge paws, and grinds it madly with his teeth ; but he, too, falls in convulsions to the ground. The sport fires the blood of the fierce Asshurbanipal. He jumps from his chariot, orders fresh lions to be released, grasps his long spear, selects the most ferocious for a hand-to-hand combat, furiously dispatches him, and, amid the deafening shouts of his ad- miring courtiers, proclaims his royal content. The hunt is over ; the dead lions have been collected for the king's inspection, and are now borne on the shoulders of men in a grand procession to the palace, whither the king precedes them. The chief otficers of the royal house- hold come out to welcome him ; the cup-bearer brings wine, and, while the king refreshes himself, busily plies his long fly-whisk about the royal head, the musicians meantime playing merrily upon their harps. It remains to ofl'er the finest and bravest of the game to the god of the chase ; and four of the largest lions are aceoi'dingly selected and arranged side by side before the altar. The king and his attendants, THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 69 all keeping time to formal music, march, in stately majesty to the shrine, where Asshurbanipal raises the sacred cup to his lips, and slowly pours the solemn libation. A new sculpture depicting the grand event of the day is ordered, and beneath it is inscribed, — " I, Asshurbanipal, king of the nations, king of Assyria, in my great courage, fighting on foot with a lion terrible for its size, seized him by the ear, and in the name of Asshur and of Ishtar, Goddess of War, with the spear that was in my hand I terminated his life." Scene IV. — Jsshurhanijml going to War. — The king goes to war in his chariot, dressed in his most magnificent attire, and attended by a retinue of fan-bearers, parasol-bearers, bow, quiver, and mace-bearers. About these gather his body-guard of foot-spearmen, each one bran- dishing a tall spear and protected by scale-armor, a pointed helmet, and a great metal shield. The detachment of horse-archers which follows is also dressed in coats of mail, leather breeches, and jack- boots. Before and behind the royal cortege stretches the army — a vast array of glancing helmets, spears, shields, and battle-axes; war- riors in chariots, on horse, and on foot ; heavy-armed archers in helmet and armor, with the strung bow on the shoulders and the highly decorated quiver filled with bronze or iron-headed arrows on the back ; light-armed archers with embroidered head-bands and short tunics, and bare arms, limbs, and feet; spearmen who carry great wicker shields, which are made, in ease of need, to join and furnish boats ; and troops of slingers, mace-bearers, and ax-bearers. The massive throne of the king is in the cavalcade ; upon this, when the battle or siege is ended, he will sit in great state to receive the prisoners and spoil. Here, too, are his drinking-cups and washing-bowls, his low-wheeled pleasure-chair, his dressing-table, and other toilet lux- uries. Battering-rams, scaling-ladders, baggage-carts, and the usual paraphernalia of a great army make up the rear, where also in carefully closed arahas are the king's wives, who, with the whole court, follow him to war. The Ninevites come out in crowds to see the start ; the musicians — ^who, however, remain at home — play a brisk farewell on double-pipes, harps, and drum ; the women and children, standing in procession, clap their hands and sing; and so, amid ''the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots " (Nahum iii. 2), the Assyrian army sets off. Scene V. — A Royal Banquet. — After many days the host comes back victorious (the sculptors never record defeats), bringing great spoil of gold, silver, and fine furniture, countless oxen, sheep, horses, and camels, prisoners of war, and captured foreign gods. Rejoicing and festivities abound. A royal feast is given in the most magnificent of the sculptured halls, where the tables glitter with gold and silver stands laden with dried locusts, pomegranates, grapes, and citrons. 70 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. There are ehoiee meats, hare, and game-birds, and an abundance of mixed wine in the huge vases from which the busy attendants fill the beakers of the guests. Afterward the king invites the queen from her seclusion in the beautiful harem to sup with him in the garden. At this banquet the luxurious Asshurbanipal reclines on a couch, leaning his left elbow on a cushioned pillow, and holding in his hand a lotus, here, as in Egypt, the sacred flower. A table with dishes of incense stands by his couch, at the foot of which sits his hand- some queen. Her tunic is fringed and patterned in the elaborate Assyrian style, and she is resplendent with jewelry. A grape-vine shelters the royal pair, and behind each of them stand two fan-bearers with long brushes, scattering the troublesome flies. Meantime the king and queen sip wine from their golden cups ; the attendants bring in fresh fruits ; the harpers play soft music ; and, to complete the triumph of the feast, from a neighboring tree sur- rounded by hungry vultures dangles the severed head of the king's newly conquered enemy. ASSYRIAN KING AND ATTENDANTS. 4. SUMMARY. 1. Political History. — Our earliest glimpse of Chaldea is of a Tu- ranian people in temple cities. Later come the Semites, a nomadic people, who migrate northward, and finally build the Assyrian cities upon the Tigris. Henceforth war rages between the rival sections, and the seat of power fluctuates between Babylon and Nineveh. About 1300 B. c. Babylon is overwhelmed, and for nearly 700 years Nineveh is the seat of empire. Here the Sargonidee — Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Asshurbanipal — develop the Golden Age of Assyrian rule. The Babylonians, however, continue to revolt, and in 747 b. c. Nabonassar ascends the Babylonian throne, destroys the records of all the kings before his time, and establishes a new era from which to reckon dates. In 606 B. c. Nineveh is finally overthrown by the Babylonians and the Medes, and Nabopolassar establishes the second Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar subdues the surrounding nations, humiliates Egypt, captures Tyre, crushes Judea, and with his captives brought back to Babylon makes that city the marvel of all eyes. It is, however, the last of her glory. Within the next quarter of a century Babylon is taken by the stratagem of Cyrus the Great, Belshazzar is slain, and the mighty city falls, never again to rise to her ancient glory. SUMMARY. 71 2. Civilization. — Tlie Early Chaldeans build vast temples of sun- dried brick cemented with bitumen ; write in cuneiform characters on clay tablets ; engrave signet cylinders ; use implements of stone, flint, and bronze ; manufacture cloth ; make boats and navigate the sea. They are learned in astronomy and arithmetic ; discover the equinoctial precession (Steele's Astronomy, p. 121); divide the day into twenty- four hours ; draw maps, record phenomena, invent dials, and calculate a table of squares. They place their houses on high platforms, make their furniture of date-wood, and use tableware of clay or bronze. The palm-tree furnishes them food. Their dead are buried in large clay jars, or in dish-covered tombs, or are laid to rest in arched brick vaults. ^ yy 'ys^^^^ INTEKIOR COUKT-yARD OF A MODERN ORIENTAL HOUSE Tlie Assyrians, their Semitic conquerors, are a fierce, warlike race, skillful in agriculture, in blowing glass and shaping pottery, in casting and embossing metals, and in engraving gems. They dye, weave, and are superior in plastic art. They build great palaces, adorning them with sculptured alabaster slabs, colossal bulls and lions, paved courts, and eagle-headed deities. They, too, wi-ite upon clay tablets, and cover terra-cotta cylinders with cuneiform inscriptions. Their principal gods are the heavenly bodies. They do not worship animals, like the Egyptians, but place images of clay, stone, or metal in their temples, and treat them as real deities. Magic and sorcery abound. There is no caste among the people, but all are at the mercy of the king. Women are not respected as in Egypt, and they live secluded in their own apartments. Clay books are collected and libraries founded, but most of the learning comes from the conquered race, and the Chaldean is the classic language. 72 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. TJie Babylonians are a hixurioiis people. Industries flourisTi and commerce is extensive. Babylonian robes and tapestries surpass all others in texture and hue. Far below Assyria in the art of sculptured bas-relief, Babylonia excels in brick-enameling, and is greatly the supe- THE SITE OF ANCIENT BABYLON. rior in originality of invention, literary culture, and scientific attain- ment. From her Assyria draws her learning, her architecture, her religion, her legal forms, and many of her customs. " In Babylonia almost every branch of science made a beginning. She was the source to which the entire stream of Eastern civilization may be traced. It is scarcely too much to say that, but for Babylon, real civilization might not even yet have dawned upon the earth, and mankind might never have advanced beyond that spurious and false form of it which in Egypt, India, China, Japan, Mexico, and Peru, contented the aspirations of the people."— ^azolmson's Ancient Monarchies. READING REFERENCES. Bawlinson'' 8 History of A ncient Monarchies.— Fergusson''8 History of A rcJiiteeture, and Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored.— Layard' s 3Ionuments of Nineveh^ and Nineveh and its Remains.— Records of the Past {New Series).— Sayce's Babylonian Literature ; Assyria, its Princes, Priests, and People ; and Fresh Lights from An- cient Monuments.— Perrot and Chipiez's History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria.— Qeorge Smith's Chaldean Account of Genesis {Revised); Assyrian Discoveries ; and Early History of Assyria.— Loftus's Chaldea and Susiana.—Also the Oeneral Ancient Histories named on p. 44. CHRONOLOGY. B. C. SargonI 38001 Ur-6a(Uruch) 2800? Khammuragus 2280? Rise of Assyria 1300 Era of Nabonassar 747 Fall of Nineveh 6061 Cyrus captured Babylon 538 Alexander captured Babylon 331 PHOENICIA. The Phoenicians were Semites. They inhabited a bar- ren strip of land on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, not more than one hundred and eighty miles long and a dozen broad. The country was never united under one king, but each city was a sovereignty by itself. A powerful aristocracy was connected with these little monarchies, but the bulk of the people were slaves brought from foreign countries. The principal cities were Sidon and Tyre,^ which successively exercised a controlling influence over the others. The chief defense of the Phoenicians lay in their naval power. Situated midway between the east, and the west, and at the junction of three continents, they carried on the trade of the world.^ The Mediterranean became the mere highway of their commerce. They passed the Strait of Gibraltar on one hand, and reached India on the other. They settled Cyprus, Sicily, and Sardinia. In Spain they founded Gades (now Cadiz) ; and in Africa, Utica and Carthage, the latter destined to be in time the dreaded rival of Rome. They planted depots on the Persian Gidf and the Geographical Questions.— Boxxnd. Phoenicia. Locate Tyre; Sidon. Name the principal Phoenician colonies. Where was Carthage? Utica? Tarshish? Gades? The Pillars of Hercules? 1 Tyre, which was founded by Sidonians, has been called the Daughter of Sidon and the Mother of Carthage. 2 Read the 27th chapter of Ezekiel for a graphic account of the Phoenician com- merce in his day. 74 PHOENICIA, Red Sea. They obtained tin from the British Isles, amber from the Baltic,^ silver from Tarshish (southern Spain), and gold from Ophir (southeastern Arabia). In connection with their maritime trade they established great commercial 1 Over tlieir land trade routes. Amber also existed near Sidon. They carefully- concealed the source of their supplies. An outward-hound Phoenician captain once found himself followed by a Roman ship. To preserve his secret and destroy his follower, he ran his own vessel on the rocks. The government made up his loss. 1000 B. c] PHCENICIA. 75 routes by wMch. their merchants penetrated the interior of Europe and Asia. With the growth of Carthage and the rising power of Greece they lost their naval supremacy. But the land traffic of Asia remained in their hands ; and their caravans, following the main traveled route through Palmyra, Baalbec, and Babylon, permeated aU the Orient. THE RUINS OF ANCIENT TYRE. Loss of Independence. — Rich merchant cities were tempting prizes in those days of strife. From about 850 B. c, Phoenicia became the spoil of each of the great con- querors who successively achieved empire. It was made a province, in turn, of Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Egypt, Greece, and finally Rome. The Phoenicians patiently sub- mitted to the oppression of these various masters, and paid their tribute at Memphis or Nineveh, as the case might be. To them the mere question of liberty, or the amount of their taxes, was a small one compared with the opening or 76 PHCENICIA. [880-146 B.C. closing of their great routes of trade. The general avoid- ance of war, except as they entered the service of theu' foreign masters, must have arisen from self-interest, and not from cowardice, since the Phoenician navigator displayed a courage shaming that of the mere soldier. Carthage,^ the most famous Phoenician colony, was founded, according to legend, about 880 b. c, by Dido, who came thither with a body of aristocrats fleeing from the democratic party of Tyi-e. The location of Carthage was African, but its origin and language were Asiatic. The poUcy of the warlike daughter proved very unhke that of the peaceful mother. The young city, having gained wealth by commerce, steadily pushed her conquests among the neigh- boring tribes inch by inch, until, by the 7th century b. c, she reached the frontier of Numidia. No ancient people rivaled her in ability to found colonies. These were aU kept subject to the parent city, and their tribute enriched her treasury. Of the history of Carthage we know little, and still less of her laws, customs, and life. No Punic orator, philosopher, historian, or poet has left behind any fragment to teU of the thoughts that stirred or the events that formed this wonderful people. Had it not been for the desolating wars that accompanied her fall, we should hardly know that such a city and such a nation ever existed. 1 Carthage was built on a peninsula about three miles wide. Across this was constructed a triple wall with lofty towers. A single wall defenrtert the city on every side next the sea. The streets were lined with massive houses lavishly adorned with the riches of the Punic traders. Two long piers leached out into the sea, forming a double harbor,- the outer for mercliant ships, and the inner for the navy. In the center of the inner harbor was a lofty island crowned with the admiral's palace. Around this island and the entire circumference of the inner liarbor ex- tended a marble colonnade of Ionic pillars two stories high ; the lower story foiming the front of the curved galleries for the protection of the ships ; and the upper, of the rooms for workshops, storehouses, etc. The limits of tlie city were twenty-three miles, and it was probably more populous than Rome, Its navy was the largest in the world, and in the seaflght with Regulus comprised 350 vessels, carrying 150,000 men. THE CIVILIZATION. 77 THE CIVILIZATION. Civilization. — "Assyria and Egypt were the birthplaces of ma- terial civilization, and the Phoenicians were its missionaries." The depots of the Phoenician merchants were centers whence germs of culture were scattered broadcast. To Europe and Africa these traders brought the arts and refinements of the older and more advanced East. Literature.— Bwi the Phoenicians were more than mere carriers. To them we are said to owe the alphabet,^ which came to us, with some modifications, through the Greeks and Romans. Unfortu- nately no remains of Phoenician literature survive. Treatises on agriculture and the useful arts are said to have been numerous ; Debir, a Canaanite (probably Phoenician) town of Palestine, was termed the " book-city." Arts and Inventions. — The Phoenicians were the first to notice the connection of the moon with the tides, and apply astronomy prac- tically to navigation. They carried on vast mining operations, and were marvelous workers in ivory, pottery, and the metals, so that their bronzes and painted vases became the models of early Gre- cian art. The prize assigned by Achilles for the foot-race at the funeral of Patrocles (Iliad, XXIII., 471) was — 'A bowl of solid silver, deftly wrought, That held six measures, and in beauty far Surpassed whatever else the world could boast ; Since men of Sidon skilled in glyptic art Had made it, and Phoenician mariners Had brought it with them over the dark sea." 2 1 According to general belief, the Phoenicians selected from the Egyptian hieratic twenty-two letters, making each represent a definite articulation. Twelve of these we retain with nearly their Phoenician value. But the age and origin of the alphabet are still under discussion. Mr. Petrie says that the inscribed potsherds found by him (1890) in Egypt "point to the independent existence of the Phoenician and perhaps the Greek alphabet at least 2000 b. c. ;" while Pi-of. Sayce, speaking of recent dis- coveries (1890) in Arabia, remarks, " Instead of seeking in Phoenicia the primitive home of our alphabet, we may have to look for it in Arabia." 2 Until recently no specimen of pure Phoenician art was known to exist. Luigi Palma di Cesnola, former Consul to the Island of Cyprus, in his excavations on that island, uncovered tlie sites of seventeen cities, and opened many thousand tombs. Here he found countless Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, and Phoenician treasures, dating from before the time of Thothmes III. (p. 17), whose official seal he exhumed. Tlie Phoenician tombs were several feet below the Grecian ; one city hav- ing perished and another sprung up, " which, in turn, buried its dead, unconscious of the older sepulcher below. Time had left no human remains except a few skulls, to some of which still adhered the gold leaf placed by the Phoenicians over the mouth of their de^d." 78 PHCENICIA. Sidon was noted for its glass- working, in whicTi the blow-pipe, lathe, and graver were used. The costly purple dye of Tyre, ob- tained in minute drops from shell-fish, was famous, the rarest and most beautiful shade being worn only by kings. The Phoenicians were celebrated for their perfumes, and had a reputation for nicety of execution in all ornamental arts. When Solomon was about to build the great Jewish Temple, King Hiram sent, at his request, " a cunning man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, in silver, SIDON. in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber ; in purple, in blue, in crimson, and in fine Unen ; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him." Their Beligion resembled that of the Chaldeans and Assyrians, but was more cruel. Baal and Moloch were great gods connected with the sun. They were worshiped in groves on high places, amid the wild cries and self -mutilations of their votaries. Before and after a battle (if victorious) large numbers of human beings THE CIVILIZATION. 79 were sacrificed. Melcarth, the special god of Tyre, united the attributes of Baal and Moloch. He was a Hercules who pulled back the sun to the earth at the time of the solstices, moderated all extreme weather, and counteracted the evil signs of the zodiac ; his symbol was that of the Persian Ormazd, — a never-ceasing flame (p. 98). Astarte, or Ashtaroth, goddess of fire and chief divinity of Sidon, became the wife of Melcarth ; she symbolized the moon. Children were the favorite offerings to Moloch. At Jerusalem (2 Kings xxiii. 10) the hollow metal image of the Tyrian god was heated hy a fire beneath it, the priest placed the child in the idol's glowing hands, and drums were beaten to drown the little sufferer's cries. So common were such sacrifices, that one historian says the Phoenicians offered some relative on the occasion of any great calamity ; and when the Carthaginians were besieged by Agathocles, tyrant of Sicily, they devoted two hundred of their noblest children in a public sacrifice. Even in Roman Carthage these horrible sights were revived, and infants were publicly offered till Tiberius, to put a stop to the revolting practice, crucified the priests on the same trees beneath whose shade they had performed these cruel rites. READING REFERENCES. The General Ancient Histories named on pp. 44 and 72.— Chevalier and Lenor- mant's Manual of Oriental History.— Capt. Mago's Adventures, a Phoenician Ex- pedition 1000 M.c— Arnold's History of Borne, Vol. II., pp. 455-467 {Carthaginian Institutions).— Mommsen's History of Borne, Vol. II., p. 261 (Carthage).— Bawlinson's Phoenicia; and Church's Carthage (Story of the Nations Series).— Ferrot and Chipiez's History of Art in Phoenicia CHRONOLOGY. B.C. Sldon founded, about 1550 Rise of Tyre, about 1050 Carthage founded, about 880 Phoenicia conquered by Assyria, about 850 Tyre captured by Nebuchadnezzar 585 Tyre captured by Alexander 332 A FH(£NICIAN GALLBY. JUDEA. The Hebrews were Semites, and related to the Assyrians and the Phoenicians. Their history opens, in the 20th cen- tury B. c, with the coming of Abram from Chaldea into Canaan. There he and his descendants lived, simple shep- herds, like the Arabs of to-day, dwelling in tents among their flocks and herds. By a singular fortune, Joseph, his great-grandson, became vizier of A-pe-pi II., one of the shepherd kings of Egypt (p. 17). Being naturally desu'ous of surrounding himself by foreigners who would support him against a revolt of the people, that monarch invited the Hebrews to settle in Egypt. Here they greatly pros- pered. But in time the native kings, who " knew not Joseph," were restored. During the XIX"' dynasty, Rameses II. greatly oppressed them with hard service on his public works (p. 18). During the next reign (Mineptah's) Moses, one of the profoundest statesmen of history, who was versed in aU the learning of the Egyptian court, — then the center of civilization, — rescued his people from their bondage.^ Geographical Questions.— Bound Palestine. Locate the Dead Sea ; the Sea of Galilee; the Kingdom of Judah; the Kingdom of Israel. Describe the River Jordan. Where was Jerusalem? Samaria? Jericho? Damascus? Palmyra (Tad- mor)? Joppa? Why, in going from Galilee to Jerusalem, did Jesus of Nazareth " needs pass through Samaria " ? Name the five cities of the Philistines. Ans. Ash- dod, Gaza, Ascalon, Gath, Ekron. 1 The wonderful events by which this was accomplished are familiar to every Bible student. The design is here to give only the political history, omitting that J.WELLSj DEL, RgSSELU & STRUTHERSjENa'S N-V. b22 JUDEA. [1491b. C. The Exodus (about 1300 b. c.).1— For forty years Moses led the Jews through the wilderness until the 3,000,000 of slaves became assimilated into a nation of freemen, were won from Egyptian idolatries to the pure worship of the one God of their fathers, were trained to war, and made acquainted with the religious rites and the priestly govern- ment which were henceforth to distinguish them as a people. The Conquest of Palestine was accomplished by Joshua,^ successor to Moses, in six years of fierce fighting, during which thirty-one Canaanite cities were destroyed, and the country was allotted to the tribes. The Judges. — Unfortunately, Joshua at his death did not appoint a new leader; and for want of a head, the tribes fell apart. The old spirit of enthusiasm, national- ity, and religious fervor waned. Idolatry crept in. For a while the conquered Cana,anites made easy prey of the dis- united tribes. From time to time there arose heroic men who aroused their patriotism, inspired a new zeal for the Mosaic law, and induced them to shake off the yoke of servitude. These were the days of the Judges — Othniel, Ehud, Gideon, Samson, the prophetess Deborah, and the prophet Samuel. Kingdom of Israel. — During the last days of the Judges, while the Jews and the Canaanites were at war, a new power grew up on their borders. The Philistines providential oversight more often avowed in the case of the Jews, but not more real than in the life of every nation and individual. It is noticeable that Mineptah, the Pharaoh who, according to a common belief not supported by the Bible record, perished in the Bed Sea, lived many years after that disaster, and died in his bed. (See 1 Kings vi. 1.) 1 This is the date now generally accepted by Egyptologists. Usher, whose chro- nology is still preferred by some Bible students, says 1491 b. c. (See i Kings vi. 1.) 2 Joshua's plan of crossing the Jordan, capturing Jericho, taking the heights be- yond by a night-march, and delivering the crushing blow at Bethhoron (Josliua x. 9), was a masterpiece of strategy, and ranks him among the great generals of the world. His first movement placed him in the center of the country, where he could prevent his enemies from massing against him, and, turning in any direction, cut them up in detail. 1095-975 B. c] JUDEA. 83 formed a strong confederation of five cities along the coast sonth of Phoenicia, and threatened the conquest of Canaan. In order to make head against them, the people demanded a king. Accordingly, three monarchs were given them in succession, — 8md^ David, and Momon. Each reigned forty years. The first was merely a general, who obeyed the orders of God as revealed through the prophet Samuel. The second was a warrior king. He enlarged the boundaries of Palestine, fixed the capital at Jerusalem, organized an TOMBS OF THE JUDGES. army, and enforced the worship of Jehovah as the national religion. The third was a magnificent oriental monarch. His empire reached to the Euphrates, and the splendor of his court rivaled that of Egypt and Assyria. He married an Egyptian princess, built the temple on Mount jVIoriah in Jerusalem, erected splendid palaces, and sent expeditions to India and Arabia. This was the golden age of Judea, and Jerusalem overflowed with wealth. 84 JUDEA. [975 b. C, The Two Kingdoms. — Luxury, however, brought ener- vation, commerce introduced idolatry, extravagance led to oppressive taxation. The people, on Solomon's death, de- manded of his son a redress of their grievances. This being haughtily refused, a revolt ensued. The empire was rent into the two petty kingdoms of Israel and Judah, — ^the former containing ten tribes ; the latter, two. Israel (975 to 722 = 253 years) was idolatrous from the start. It was a continued scene of turmoil and wrong. Its nineteen kings belonged to nine different families, and eight met a violent death. Finally the Assyrians captured Sa- maria, the capital, and sent the people prisoners into Media. They vanished from history, and are known as the " Lost Tribes." The few remaining Israelites combined with the foreign settlers to form the Samaritans. With this mongrel people pure Hebrews had ''no dealings" (John iv. 9). Judah (975 to 586 == 389 years) retained the national religion. Its twenty kings, save one usurper, were all of the house of David in regular descent. But it lay in the pathway of the mighty armies of Egypt and Assyria. Thrice its enemies held Jerusalem. At last Nebuchadnezzar de- stroyed the city, and carried many of the principal inhabit- ants to Babylon. The Captivity lasted about seventy years. The Jews prospered in their adopted country, and many, like Daniel, rose to high favor. The Restoration. — Cyrus, after the capture of Babylon (p. 51), was friendly to the Jews,^ and allowed those who chose to return to Judea and rebuild their temple. They were greatly changed by their bondage, and henceforth were faithful to their religion. While they had lost their native 1 This was owing to (1) similarity in their religions; (2) the foretelling of the victories of Cyrus by the Jewish prophets; and (3) the influence of Daniel. Bead Daniel, Nehemiah, and Ezra. 536 B. c] THE CIVILIZATION. 85 language, they had acquired a love for commerce, and many afterward went to foreign countries and engaged in trade, for which they are still noted. Their Later History was full of vicissitude. They became a part of Alexander's World Empire (p. 151). When that crumbled, Palestine fell to the Ptolemies of Egypt (p. 154). In the 1st century b. c, Judea was absorbed in the universal dominion of Rome. The Jews, however, frequently re- belled, until finally, after a siege of untold horror, Titus captured Jerusalem and razed it to the ground. The Jew- ish nation perished in its ruins. OKIENTAL SANDAL. THE CIVILIZATION. Civilization. — The Hebrews were an agricultural people. The Mosaic law discouraged trade and intercourse with foreign na- tions. The priests, who received a share of the crops, naturally favoredthe cultivation of the soil. There was no art or science developed. When the Temple was to be built, Solomon obtained not only skilled laborers from the Phoenicians (p. 78), but also sailors for his fleet. Yet this people, occupy- ing a Httle territory 150 miles long and 50 broad, has, like no other, influenced the world's history. Its sacred books constitute the Bible; its religion has molded the faith of the most progres- sive and civilized nations; while from its royal family descended Jesus of Naz- areth, the grandest factor in aU history. The Hebrew Cormnonwealth was the first republic of which we have definite knowledge. The foundation was the house : thence the ascent was through the family or collection of houses, and the tribe or collection of families, to the nation. There were twelve heads of tribes, or princes, and a senate of seventy elders, but the source of ANCIENT JEWISH BOOK. 86 JUDEA. power was the popular assembly known as tlie " Congregation of Israel," in which every Hebrew proper had a voice. This, like the centui'ion assembly of Rome (p. 215), formed the Jewish army. The Mosaic Laws were mild, far beyond the spirit of the age. The cities of refuge modified the rigors of the custom of personal retaha- tion, and gave to all the benefits of an impartial trial. The slave was protected against excessive punish- ment, and if of Hebrew birth was set free with his children at the Jubilee year. Land could not be sold for more than fifty years, and the debtor could always expect on the Jubilee to go back to the home of his fathers. The stranger secured hospitality and kindness. Usury was prohibited. For the benefit of the poor, fruit was left on the tree, and grain in the field, the law forbidding the harvest-land or vine- yard to be gleaned. Cruelty to animals was punished, and even the mother-bird with her young could not be taken. Learning was held in high esteem. All Hebrews received what we should call a '^ common-school education." With this, the Levites, the hereditary teachers, blended instruction in the sacred history, the precepts of religion, and their duties to God and their coun- try. Every boy was com- pelled to learn a trade. Ignorance of some kind of handicraft was discred- itable, and the greatest scholars and statesmen had somie regular occupation. After the captivity, education seems to have been made compulsory. The Hittites, mentioned in the Old Testament, inhabited the fer- tile valleys of the Orontes, and spread throughout southern Sjrria. They were a military and commercial nation, and made great ad- vances in civihzation and the fine arts. A court poet is mentioned HEBREW PRIEST OFFERING INCENSE. JEWISH SHEKEL. THE CIVILIZATION. 87 on the Egyptian monuments as having been among the retinue of a Hittite king, and the early art discovered in Cyprus by Di Cesnola is supposed to be largely derived from this people,who long resisted both the Assyrians and the Egyptians. The Egyptians called them the Kheta, and the victory of Rameses II. over the " vile chief of Kheta" is celebrated in the poem of Pentaur (p. 25). Some famous sculptured figures along ancient key. the roads near Ephesus and from Smyrna to Sardis, attributed by Herodotus to Rameses II., prove now to be Hittite monuments. The language and various memo- rials of this once- powerful people are being eagerly investigated JEKUSALEiM IN EAKLY TIMES. by archaeologists, who have ah*eady discovered the site of their commercial capital, Carchemish, in a huge mound on the lower Euphrates. In this mound — a mass of earth, fragments of ma- sonry and debris, surrounded by ruined walls and broken towers — important remains with inscriptions are now being found. CHRONOLOGY. B. C. Abrara migrated to Canaan, about 200O The Exodus, about 1300 Monarchy established 1095 Reign of Solomon 1015-975 Division of the Kingdom 975 Sargon took Samaria 722 Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem 588 Titus took Jerusalem • A. D. 70 MEDIA AND PERSIA. 1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. The Medes and Persians, two Aryan nations, were early conquered by the Assyrians. The Medes were the first to assert their independence. Under Cyax'ares they de- stroyed Nineveh (606 B. c.) and divided Ass3n:*ia between themselves and the Babylonians, who had aided them in this conquest (p. 47). Asty'ages, successor of Cyaxares, had been acknowledged superior by the Persian king Cambyses, whose son, Cyprus, became a hostage at the Median court. But the Medes were better fighters than organizers, and, besides, were soon enfeebled by the luxury that follows conquest. Cyrus ^ was bold, athletic, and ambitious, and soon came OeograpMcal Questions.— Bonrifi Persia ; Media. Locate Persepolis; Susa; Pasar- gadae. Name the countries of Asia Minor. Wliere was Lydia? Sardis? The river Halys? What was the extent of the Persian Empire at the time of Alexander the Great 1 1 According to one of many legends, Cyrus was the grandson, on his mother's side, of King Astyages. His future greatness, and through him that of Media's rival, Persia, were revealed to Astyages in a dream. Harpagus, who was ordered to kill the cliild, gave liim to a herdsman to expose on a mountain (compare Greek and Roman customs, pp. 178, 286 ; and Romulus, p. 205). The herdsman, in pity, saved the child as his own. A boyish quarrel sent Cyrus before the Median king, who, struck by his noble bearing, sent for Harpagus, and, finally learning the truth, quietly directed him to send his son to be a companion for the young i)riuce, and himself to attend a banquet at the palace. Cyrus was kept at court; but Harpagus, at the royal feast which he was directed to attend, was served with the roasted flesh of his own son. In time Harpagus roused Cyrus to revolt, betrayed the Median army to the young prince, and became his most devoted general. 558 B. c] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 89 to despise the now effeminate Medes. Arousing his war- like countrymen to revolt, he not only achieved their in- dependence, but conquered Media and established the Medo-Persian, the second great empire of western Asia, His reign was a suc- cession of wars and con- quests. He defeated Croesus, King of Lydia/ thus adding to his dominions all Asia Minor west of the Halys. He captured Babylon (p. 51) and overthrew the Assyrian Em- pire. With the fall of Baby- lon the fabric of Semitic grandeur was shattered, and Aryan Persia took the lead in all western Asia. When Cyrus died, the Medo-Persian kingdom reached from the borders of Macedonia to the banks of the Indus. The ex- tensive conquests and noble character of this king won for him the title of Cyrus the Great. 1 Lydia was an exceedingly rich country. Her mountains abounded in precious ores ; and tlie sands of the river Pactolus, which coursed her capital, Sardis, were heavj^ with electrum,— a mixture of gold and silver. Of this electruin, the first known coins were made in the 8th century B. c. Croesus was so rich that his name has be- come proverbial. He was now doomed to die. Legend relates that, as he watched tlie flames surmounting liis funeral pile, he exclaimed " Solon ! Solon ! " that in response to the queries of Cyrus he answered that the great Athenian statesman (p. 122) had once visited him, and had made light of his wonderful riclies, saying, "No man can be judged happy till the manner of his death is known; " and tliat Cyrus, moved by the incident, thereupon released him, and became his faithful friend. Chronological difficulties in regard to Croesus and Solon have discredited this legend, so charmingly told by Herodotus. A BAS-RELIEF OF CYRUS. 90 MEDIA AND PERSIA. [529-522 B. C. Cambyses (529 b. c), his son, succeeded to the throne. He conquered Egypt (p. 19) in a single battle, using, it is said, the stratagem of placing before his army cats, dogs, and other animals sacred to the Egyptians. After this victory he invaded Ethiopia, but his army CRCESUS ON THE FUNERAL PYKE (FKOM AN ANCIENT VASE). nearly perished in the burning sands of the desert, and he returned, disgraced, to Memphis. On his journey back to Persia he died (522 b. c.) in Syria of a wound from his own sword.i The Persians called the gracious Cyrus '' Father ; " the reckless Cambyses was branded as " Despot." 1 He had just learnecl of the assumption of the " False Smerclis " (p, 91). Hastily- mounting his horse, his sword fell from its sheath, and, " killing himself, he died," says the Behistun Inscription. Differing authorities interpret this as a suicide or an accident. 521-486 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 91 Darius I. (521 b. c.) ^ organized the vast kingdom whicli Cyrus had conquered. There were twenty-three provinces, all restless and eager to be free. InsuiTections were there- fore frequent. Darius divided the empire into twenty great '' satrapies," each governed by a satrap appointed by the king. The slightest suspicion of treachery was the signal for their instant death. To secure prompt communication with dis- tant portions of the empire, royal roads were established with coui'iers to be relieved by one another at the end of each day's journey. Every satrapy paid a regular tribute, but retained its native king, laws, and religion.^ The capi- tal of the empire was fixed at Susa. Darius I. is called the Second Founder of the Persian Monarchy. To his ability as an organizer was added the ambition of a conqueror. Having by one masterly move grasped the riches of India on the east, he essayed the conquest of Greece on the west. The story of his defeat we shall study in Greece. The Later History of Persia presents the usual charac- teristics of oriental despotisms. There were scenes of cruelty, treachery, and fraud. Brothers murdering brothers, queens slaying their rivals, eunuchs bartering the throne and assassinating the sovereign, were merely ordinary events. At last the empire itself crumbled before the triumphant advance of Alexander. 1 During the absence of Cambyses in Egypt, the Magi made one Gomates king, representing him to be Smerdis, the son of Cyrus. Cambyses, liowever, had secretly murdered this brother before his departure from Persia. Darius, conspiring with six other nobles, slew the " False Smerdis." The seven noblemen agreed to ride out at sunrise of the following day, and that he whose horse tirst neighed should become king. Darius secured the prize, Herodotus says, by a trick of his groom in placing a horse well known to his master's horse near where they were to pass. 2 The satraps rivaled the king himself in the magnificence of tlieir courts. Each had several palaces with ideasure gardens, or "paradises," as they called them, attached. The income of the satrap of Babylon is said to have been four bushels of silver coin per day. 92 MEDIA AND PERSIA. 2. THE CIVILIZATION. Society. — The King, as in Assyria and Babylonia, held at Ms disposal the lives, liberties, and property of his people. He was bound by the national customs as closely as his meanest subject, but otherwise his will was absolute. His command, once given, could not be revoked even by himself: hence arose the phrase, "Un- changeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians." His every caprice was accepted without question. If he chose, in pure wan- tonness, to shoot an innocent boy before the eyes of his father, the parent, so far from expressing horror at the crime, would praise his skillful archery ) and offenders, bastinadoed by royal order, declared themselves delighted that his majesty had condescended to notice them even with his displeasure. The king was the state. If he fell in battle, all was lostj if he were saved, it outweighed every calamity. The Seven Princes (Esther i.l4; Ezra vii. 14) were grandees next to the king. One was of the royal family; the others were chiefs of the six great houses from which the king was legally bound to choose his legitimate wives. No one except the Seven Princes could approach the royal person unless introduced by a court usher. They sat beside the king at public festivals, entered his apartment at their pleasure, and gave him advice on public and private matters. The Court was principally composed of Magi (p. 97), who judged all moral and civil offenses. The People seem to have been divided into two general classes : those who lived in towns and cities and who generally cultivated the soil, and the roving or pastoral tribes. Social grades were strongly marked, and court etiquette was aped among all classes, special modes of salutation being prescribed for a man's superior, his equal, and his inferior. Trade and commerce were held in con- tempt, and the rich boasted that they neither bought nor sold. Writing. — Cuneiform Letters. — The Persian characters were formed much more simply than the Assyrian. They were, so far as now known, less than forty in number, and were written from left to right. For public documents the rock and chisel were used ; for private, prepared skin and the pen. Clay tablets seem never to have been employed, and papyrus brought from Egypt was too costly. As the cuneiform letters are not adapted to writing on parchment, it is probable that some cursive characters were also in THE CIVILIZATION. 93 use. The Persian writing which has survived is almost entirely on stone, either upon the mountain side or on buildings, tablets, vases, and signet cyhnders. Science and Literature. — To science the Persians contributed absolutely nothing. They had fancy, imagination, and a relish for poetry and art, but they were too averse to study to produce any- thing which required patient and laborious research. In this respect they furnish a striking contrast to the Babylonians. The Avesta, or Sacred Text, written in Zend, the ancient idiom of Bactria, is all that remains to us of their literature. It is com- posed of eight distinct parts or books, compiled from various older works which have been lost, and purports to be a revelation made by Ormazd (p. 98) to Zoroaster, ^ the founder of the Persian religion. The principal books are the Vendidad and the Yagna : the former contains a moral and ceremonial code somewhat corresponding to the Hebrew Pentateuch; the latter consists of prayers, hymns, etc., for use during sacrifice. The contents of the Zend-Avesta date from various ages, and portions were probably handed down by oral tradition for hundreds of years before being committed to writing. FROM THE Zend-Avesta. " Zoroaster asked Ahura Mazda: ' Ahura Mazda, holiest spirit, creator of all exist- ent worlds, the trutliloviug! Wliat was, O Ahura Mazda, the word existing before the heaven, before the water, before the eartli, before the cow, before the tree, before the lire, the son of Aliura Mazda, before man the truthful, before the Devas and car- nivorous beasts, before the whole existing universe, before every good thing created by Ahura Mazda and springing from truth ?' " Then answered Ahura Mazda : ' It was the All of the Creative Word, most holy Zoroaster. I will teach it thee. Existing before the heaven, before the water, before the earth,' etc. (as before). "'Such is the All of the Creative Word, most holy Zoroaster, that even when neither pronounced, nor recited, it is worth one hundred other proceeding prayers, 1 Zoroaster was a reformer who lived in Bactria, perhaps as early as 1500 B. c. Little is known of his actual history. The legends ascribe to him a seclusion of twenty years in a mountain cave, where he received his doctrines direct from Ormazd. His tenets, though overlaid by superstition, were remarkably pure and noble, and of all tlie ancient creeds approach the nearest to tlie inspired Hebrew faith. Their common hatred of idolatry formed a bond of S3'^mpathy between the early Persians and the Jews, Ormazd and Jehovah being recognized as the same Lord God (Isa. xliv. 28; Ezra i. 2, 3). At the time of the Persian conquest by Alex- ander, the Zoroastrian books were said to number twenty-one volumes. Duiing the five hundred years of foreign rule they were scattered and neglected. Under the Sassanian kings (226-651 a. u.) the remaining fragments were carefully collected, and translated, with explanatory notes, into the literary language of the day. This trans- lation was called Avesta-u-Zend (text and comments). By some mistake the word "Zend" was applied to the original language of the text, and is now generally used in that sense : hence " Zend-Avesta.'* 94 MEDIA AND PERSIA. neither pronounced, nor recited, nor chanted. And he, most holy Zoroaster, who in this existing world remembers the All of the Creative Word, utters it when remem- bered, chants it when uttered, celebrates when chanted, his soul will I thrice lead across the bridge to a better world, a better existence, better truth, better days. I prououuced tliis speech containing the Word, and it accomplished the creation of Heaven, before the creation of the water, of the earth, of the tree, of the four-footed beast, before the birth of the truthful, two-legged man.' " A Hymn.—" We worship Ahura Mazda, the pure, the master of purity. " We praise all good thoughts, all good words, all good deeds which are or shall be ; and we likewise keep clean and pure all that is good. "O Ahura Mazda, thou true, happy being! We strive to think, to speak, and to do only such actions as may be best fitted to promote the two lives [i. e., the life of the body and the life of the soul]. '• We beseech the spirit of eaith for the sake of these our best works [i. e., agricul- ture] to grant us beautiful and fertile fields, to the believer as well as to the unbe- liever, to him who has riches as well as to him who has no possessions." Education. — '' To ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the truth," were the great ends of Persian education. When a boy was five years old, his training began. He was made to rise before dawn, to practice his exercises in running, slinging stones, and the use of the bow and javehn. He made long marches, exposed to all weathers, and sleeping in the open air. That he might learn to endure hunger, he was sometimes given but one meal in two days. When he was seven years old, he was taught to ride and hunt, in- cluding the ability to jump on and off his horse, to shoot the bow, and to use the javelin, all with his steed at full gallop. At the age of fifteen he became a soldier. Books and reading seem to have formed no part of an ordinary Persian education. The king him- self was no exception. His scribes learned his wishes, and then wrote his letters, edicts, etc., affixing the royal seal without calling upon him even to sign his name.^ Monuments and Art. — As the followers of Zoroaster worshiped in the open air, we need not look in Persia for temples, but must content ourselves with palaces and tombs. The palaces at Persep- olis2 were as magnificent as those at Nineveh and Babylon had been, though different in style and architecture. Like them they stood on a high platform, but the crude or burnt brick of Assyria 1 " Occasionally, to beguile weary hours, a monarch may have had the ' Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Persia and Media' read before him; but the kings themselves never opened a book or studied any branch of science or learning."— Bawlinson. 2 Remains of a large palace have been discovered at Susa, which is supposed to be the identical one described in the Book of Esther. On the bases of the pillars it is stated that the palace was erected by Darius and Xerxes, but repaired by Artaxerxes Memnon, who added the inscriptions. THE CIVILIZATION. 95 and Babylon gave place to enormous blocks of hewn stone,i fastened with iron clamps. The terraced platform, and the broad, gently sloping, elaborately sculptured staircases, wide enough to allow ten horsemen to ride abreast, were exceedingly grand and imposing. The subjects of sculpture were much like those in As- syria: the king in combat with mythical monsters, or seated on his throne surrounded by his attendants; long processions of royal guards, or of captives bringing tribute ; and symbolical combats be- I LUl PERSIAN SUBJECTS BRINGING TRIBUTE TO THE KING. tween bulls and lions. Colossal winged and human-headed bulls, copied from Assyria, guarded the palace portals. For effect, the Persians depended upon elegance of form, richness of material, and splendor of coloring, rather than upon immense size, as did the Egyptians and Chaldeans. The Great Hall of Xerxes, how- ever, was larger than the Great Hall of Karnak, and in propor- tion and design far surpassed anything in Assyria. What enam- eled brick was to Babylon, and alabaster sculpture to Assyria, the portico and pillar were to Persia. Forests of graceful columns, over sixty feet high, with richly carved bases and capitals, rose in hall and colonnade, between which were magnificent hangings, white, X An idea borrowed from the conquered Egyptians. 96 MEDIA AND PERSIA. TOMB OF CYRUS AT PASARGAD^. green, and violet, " fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble" (Esther i. 6). Pavements "of red, blue, white, and black marble," with carpets from Sardis spread for the king to walk upon; walls covered with plates of gold and silver ; the golden throne of the king,under an embroidered canopy, supported by piUars of gold inlaid with precious stones j a golden palm-tree ; gold and silver couches; and over the royal bed a golden vine, each grape being a precious stone of enormous value, — are recorded as appurtenances to the royal palace. The Persian king, like the Egyptian, attended during his lifetime to the building of his last resting-place. The most remarkable of the Persian tombs is that of Cyrus at Pasargadae, _ - ^ ^^^_ which has been called "a house upon a pedestal." Upon a pyram- idal base made of huge blocks of beautiful white marble was erected a house of the samematerial,crowned with a stone roof. Here, in a small chamber entered by a low and nar- row door, were deposited in a golden coffin the remains of the great con- queror. A colonnade of twenty -four pillars, whose broken shafts are still seen, seems to have inclosed the sacred spot. With this exception, all the royal sepulchers that remain are rock tombs, similar in situation to those in Egypt. Unlike those, however, they were made conspicuous, as if intended to catch the eye of an ob- server glancing up the mountain side. A spot difficult of approach having been chosen, the recessed chamber was ex- cavated in the solid rock, and marked by a porticoed and sculptured front, some- what in the shape of a Greek cross. The sarcophagi, cut in the rock floor of the recesses, were covered by stone slabs. Persian Architecture is distinguished for simplicity and regularity, in most build- ings one half being the exact duplicate of the other. Although many ideas were bor- rowed from the nations we have already considered, Persian art, in its best features, such as the grand sculptured staircases and the vast groves of tall and slender THE GREAT STAIRCASE AT PERSEPOLIS. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 97 pillars,! with their peculiar ornamentation, was strikingly original. The Persian fancy seems to have run toward the grotesque and monstrous. When copying nature, the drawing of animals was much superior to that of the human form. Statuary was not attempted. The Practical Arts and Inventions were almost entirely want- ing. No enameling, no pottery, no metal castings, no wooden or ivory carvings, were made. A few spear and arrow heads, coins, and gem cylinders are all the small objects which have been dis- covered among the ruins. Persia thus presents a marked contrast to the other nations we have been studying. It was, indeed, the boast of the Persians that they needed not to toil, since by their sMll in arms they could command every foreign production. ^' The carpets of Babylon and Sardis, the shawls of Kashmir and India, the fine linen of Borsippa and Egypt, the ornamental metal- work of Greece, the coverlets of Damascus, the muslins of Babylonia, and the multiform manufactures of the Phoenician towns," poured continually into Persia as tributes, gifts, or merchandise, and left among the native population no ambition for home industries. 8. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. General Character. — The Persian was keen-witted, and ingeni- ous, generous, warm-hearted, hospitable, and courageous. He was bold and dashing in war ; sparkling, vivacious, and given to repartee in social life. Except in the presence of the king, where no sadness was allowed, he never cheeked the expression of his emotions, but childishly, regardless of all spectators, laughed and shouted when pleased, or wept and shrieked when in sorrow. In this he was very unlike the Babylonian gentleman, who studied calmness and repose of manner. He was self-indulgent and luxurious, but chary of debt. The early Persians were remarkable for truthfulness, lying being abhorred as the special characteristic of the evil spirit. Religion. — That of the Persians was Mazdeism, from Ahura Mazda (Ormazd), their great and good god ; it was also called Zoroas- trianism, after its founder (p. 93). That of the Medes was Magism, so named from the priests, who were of a caste called Magi. Mazdeism taught the existence of two great principles, — one good, the other evil, — which were in perpetual and eternal conflict. 1 In Assyria the pillar was almost unknown, while in Egypt it was twice as broad in proportion to its height as in Persia. 98 MEDIA AND PERSIA. Ormazd was the "all-perfect, all-powerful, all-wise, all-beautiful, all-pure ; sole source of true knowledge, of real happiness ; him who hath created us, him who sustains us, the wisest of all intelligences " {Yagna). Having created the earth, he placed man thereon to pre- serve it. He was represented by the sun, fire, and light. SYMBOL OF ORMAZD. (Copied by the Persians from that of the Assyrian god Asshur. ) Ahrirnan was the author of evil and death, causing sin in man, and barrenness upon the earth. Hence the cultivation of the soil was con- sidered a religious duty, as promoting the interests of Ormazd and defeating the malice of his opposer. Those who yielded to the seduc- tions of Ahriman were unable to cross the terrible bridge to which all souls were conducted the third night after death ; they fell into the gulf below, where they were forced to live in utter darkness and feed on poisoned banquets. The good were assisted across the bridge by an angel, who led them to golden thrones in the eternal abode of hap- piness. Thus this religion, like the Egyptian, contained the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and of future reward and punishment. Ormazd and Ahriman had each his councilors and emissaries, but they were simply genii or spirits, and not independent gods, like the lesser deities of the Egyptians and Assyrians. Zoroastrian WorsMj) consisted mainly in prayer and praises to Ormazd and his court, the recital of Gathas or hymns, and the Homa ceremony. In the last, during the recitation of certain prayers, the priests extracted the juice of a plant called ^^homa," ^ formally offer- ing the liquid to the sacrificial fire, after which a small portion was drunk by one of the priests, and the rest by the worshipers. Magism taught not only the worship of Ormazd, but also that of Ahriman, who, under another name, was the serpent-god of the Tura- nians. In Media, Ahriman was the principal object of adoration, since a good god, so it was reasoned, would not hurt men, but an evil 1 A kind of milkweed, sometimes called the "moon-plant." In India it was called " soma," and was similarly used. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 99 one must be appeased by honor and sacrifice. Sorcery and incanta- tions, which were expressly forbidden by Zoroaster, were the out- growth of the Median faith. The Magi apparently held their office by hereditary succession. In time, Magism and Mazdeism became so assimilated that the Magi were accepted as the national priests of Persia. As we have seen the Egyp- tian religion characterized by animal and sun worship, and the Chal- deo-Assyrian by that of the sun, moon, and planets, so we find the Persian distinguished by the icorship of the elements. The sun, fire, air, earth, and water were all objects of adoration and sacrifice. On lofty heights, whence they could be seen from afar, stood the fire- altars, crowned by the sacred flame, believed to have been kindled from Heaven, and never suffered to expire. It was guarded by the Magi, who so jealously kept its purity that to blow upon it with the breath was a capital offense. By these holy fires, flickering on lonely mountain-tops, the Magi, clad in white robes and with half-concealed faces, chanted day after day their weird incantations, and, mysteri- ously waving before the awe-stricken spectators a bundle of tamarisk twigs (divining-rods), muttered their pretended prophecies. Sacrifice was not offered at the altar of the eternal flame, but on fires lighted from it, a horse being the favorite victim. A small part of the fat having been consumed by the fire, and the soul of the animal having been, according to the Magi, accepted by the god, the body was cut into joints, boiled and eaten, or sold by the worshipers. Sacri- fices to water were offered by the side of lakes, rivers, and fountains, care being taken that not a drop of blood should touch the sacred element. No refuse was allowed to be cast into a river, nor was it even lawful to wash the hands in 'a stream. The worship of these elements rendered the disposal of the dead a difficult matter. They could not be burnt, for that would pollute fire ; nor thrown' into the river, for that would defile water ; nor buried in the ground, for that would corrupt earth. The Magi solved the problem by giving their own dead to be devoured by beasts of prey. The people revolted from this, and incased the lifeless bodies of their friends in a coating of wax ; having made this concession to the sacred earth, they ventured to bury their dead in its bosom. Domestic Life. — The early Persians were noted for their simple diet. They ate but one meal a day, and drank only water. With their successes their habits changed. They still ate only one meal each day, but it began early and lasted till night. Water gave place to wine, and each man prided himself on the quantity he could drink. Drunkenness at last became a sort of duty. Every serious family council ended in a debauch, and once a year, at the feast of Mithras, part of the royal display was the intoxication of the king. Love of 100 MEDIA AND PERSIA. OUDINARY PERSIAN COSTUME. dress increased, and to the flowered robes and tunics, embroidered trousers, tiaras, and shoes of their Median predecessors, the Per- sians now added the hitherto unwonted fineries of gloves and stock- ings. They wore massive gold collars and bracelets, and studded the golden sheaths and handles of their swords and daggers with gems. They not only drank wine from gold and silver cups, as did their fallen neighbors the Babylonians, but they plated and inlaid the tables themselves with the precious metals. Even the horses felt the growing extravagance and champed bits made of gold instead of bronze. Every rich man's house was crowded with servants, each confining himself to a single duty. Not the least of these were the "adorners," who applied cosmetics to their mas- ter's face and hands, colored his eyelids, curled his hair and beard, and adjusted his wig. The perfume- bearer, who was an indispensable valet, took charge of the perfumes and scented ointments, a choice selection of which was a Persian gentleman's pride. Women were kept secluded in their own apartments, called the harem or seraglio, and were allowed no communication with the other sex.l go rigid was etiquette in this respect, that a Persian wife might not even see her own father or brother. When she rode, her litter was closely curtained, yet even then it was a capital ofi'ense for a man simply to pass a royal litter in the street. 2 TJie King^s Household numbered 15,000 persons. The titles of some of his servants reveal the des- potism and dangers of the times. Such were the "Eyes" and "Ears," who were virtually spies and detectives; and the "Tasters," who tried every dish set before the king, to prove it not poisoned. A monarch who held the life of his subjects so lightly as did the Persian kings might well be on the alert for treachery and conspiracy against himself. Hence the court ANCIENT PERSIAN customs and etiquette were extremely rigorous. SILVER COIN Even to touch the king's carpet in crossing the 1 Even at the present day it is considered a gross indecorum to ask a Persian after the health of his wife. 2 It is curious to notice that the same custom obtained in Russia a few centuries ago. In 1674 two chamberlains were deprived of their offices for having accidentally met the carriage of the Tsaritsa Natalia. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 101 courts was a grave offense ; and to come into Ms chamber unan- nounced, unless the royal scepter was extended in pardon, was punished by instant death. Every courtier prostrated himself in the atti- tude of worship on entering the royal presence, and kept his hands hidden in his sleeve during the entire interview. Even the king was not exempt from restrictions of etiquette. He was required to live in seclusion ; never to go on foot beyond the palace walls ; and never to revoke an order or draw back from a promise, however he might desire it. He took his meals alone, excepting occasionally, when he might have the queen and one or two of his children for company. "When he gave a great banquet, his guests were divided into two classes ; the lower were entertained in an outer court, and the higher, in a chamber next his own, where he could see them through the cur- tain which screened himself. Guests were assigned a certain amount of food; the greater the number of dishes, the higher the honor con- ferred ; what was left on their plates they were at liberty to take home to their families. Sometimes at a "Banquet of Wine," a select num- ber were allowed to drink in the royal presence, but not of the same wine or on the same terms with the king ; he reclined on a golden- footed couch, and sipped the costly wine of Helbon ; they were seated on the floor, and were served a cheaper beverage. The Persians in War. — Weapons, etc. — The Persian footman fought with bow and arrows, a sword and spear, and occasionally with a battle-ax and sling. He defended himself with a wicker shield, similar to the Assyrian, and almost large enough to cover him. He wore a leather tunic and trousers, low boots, and a felt cap; some- times he was protected by a coat of mail made of scale-armor, or of quilted linen, like the Egyptian corselet. In the heavy cavalry, both horse and horsemen wore metal coats of mail, which made their move- ments slow and hesitating ; the light cavalry were less bin'dened, and were celebrated for quick and dexterous maneuvering. The special weapon of the horseman was a javelin, — a short, strong spear, with a wooden shaft and an iron point. Sometimes he was armed with a long leather thong, which he used with deadly effect as a lasso. The war-chariots, which we have seen so popular in Egyptian and Assyrian armies, were regarded by the Persians with disfavor. Kings and princes, however, rode in them, both on the march and in action, and sometimes a chariot force was brought into the field. The wheels of the Persian chariot were armed with scythes, but this weapon does not seem to have caused the destruction intended, since, as it was drawn by from two to four horses, and always contained two or more occu- pants, it furnished so large a mark for the missiles of the enemy, that a chariot advance was usually cheeked before reaching the opposing line of battle. Military engines seem rarely if ever used, and the 102 MEDIA AND PERSIA. siege-towers and battering-rams, so familiar in Egyptian and Assyrian sculptures, are never mentioned in Persian inscriptions. Elephants were sometimes employed in battle ; and at Sardis, Cyrus gained his victory over Croesus by frightening the Lydian horses with an array of camels. Organization of the Army. — The Persians trusted for success mainly to numbers. The army was commanded personally by the king, or some one appointed by him. In the division of men under officers a decimal system prevailed, so that, grading upward, there were the cap- tains of tens, of hundreds, of thousands, and of tens of thousands. Sometimes a million men were brought into service. i PERSIAN FOOT-SOLDIEUS. On the March. — The Persians, like the Assyrians, avoided fighting in winter, and led out their armies in early spring. They marched only by day, and, as before the time of Darius there were neither roads nor bridges, their immense cavalcade made slow progress. The baggage-train, composed of a vast multitude of camels, horses, mules, 1 The troops were drawn from the entire empire, and were marshaled in the field according to nations, each tribe accoutered in its own fashion. Here were seen the gilded breastplates and scarlet kilts of the Persians and Medes ; there the woolen shirt of the Arab, the leatliern jerkin of the Berber, or the cotton dress of the native of Hindustan. Swart savage Ethiops from the Upper Nile, adorned with a war-paint of white and red, and scantily clad with the skins of leopards or lions, fought in one place with huge clubs, arrows tipped with stone, and spears terminating in the horn of an antelope. In another, Scyths, with their loose, spangled trousers and their tall pointed caps, dealt death around from their unerring blows; while near them Assyrians, helmeted, and wearing corselets of quilted linen, wielded the tough spear or the still more formidable iron mace. Rude weapons, like cane bows, unfeathered arrows, and stakes hardened at one end in the fire, were seen side by side with keen swords and daggers of the best steel, the finished productions of the workshops of Phoenicia and Greece. Here the bronze helmet was surmounted with the ears and horns of an ox ; tliere it was superseded by a fox-skin, a leathern or wooden skull-cap, or a head-dress fashioned out of a horse's scalp. Besides horses and mules, elephants, camels, and wild asses diversified the scene, and rendered it still more strange and wonderful to the eye of a European.— iJawMnsow. SUMMARY. 103 oxen, etc., dragging heavy carts or bearing great packs, was sent on in advance, followed by about half the troops in a long, continuous column. Then, after a considerable break, came a picked guard of a thousand horse and a thousand foot, preceding the most precious treasures of the nation, — its sacred emblems and its king. The former consisted of the holy horses and cars, and perhaps the silver altars on which flamed the eternal fire. The monarch followed, riding on a car drawn by Nisaean steeds. After him came a second guard of a thousand foot and a thousand horse ; then ten thousand picked foot — probably the famous '^ Immortals ^^ (p. 130) — and ten thousand picked horsemen. Another break of nearly a quarter of a mile ensued, and then the remainder of the troops completed the array. The wives of the chief officers often accompanied the army, and were borne in luxurious litters amid a crowd of eunuchs and attendants. On enter- ing a hostile land, the baggage-train was sent to the rear, horsemen were thrown out in front, and other effective changes made. In Battle the troops were massed in deep ranks, the bravest in front. Chariots, if used, led the attack, followed by the infantry in the center, and the cavalry on the wings. If the line of battle were once broken, the army lost heart ; the commander usually set the example of flight, and a general stampede ensued. 4. SUMMARY. 1. Political History. — In the 7th century B. c. the hardy Medes threw off the Assyrian yoke and captured Nineveh. But the court of Astyages became as luxurious as that of Asshurbanipal had been, and the warlike Persians pushed to the front. Under Cyrus they conquered Media, Lydia, Babylonia, and founded an empire reaching from India to the confines of Egypt. Cambyses, helped by Phoenicians, subdued Egypt, but most of his army perished in the Ethiopia desert. Mean- while a Magian usurped the throne in the name of Smerdis, the mur- dered brother of Cambyses. Darius unseated the Pseudo-Smerdis, and organized the empire which Cyi-us had conquered. He invaded India, Scythia, and finally Greece, but his hosts were overthrown on the field of Marathon (see p. 126). 2. Civilization. — Every Persian, even though one of the Seven Princes, held his life at the mercy of the king. Truthful and of simple tastes ill his early national life, he grew in later days to be luxurious and effeminate. Keen-witted and impulsive, having little love for books or study, his education was with the bow, on the horse, and in the field. In architecture he delighted in broad, sculptured staircases, and tall, slender columns. He expressed some original taste and de- 104 MEDIA AND PERSIA. sign, but his art was largely borrowed from foreign nations, and his inventions were few or none. He wrote in cuneiform characters, using a pen and prepared skins for epistles and private documents ; his public records were chiseled in stone. He had little respect for woman, and kept his wife and daughters confined in the harem. He went to war with a vast and motley cavalcade, armed by nations, and relied upon THK UUINS OF tEUSEPOLIS. overwhelming numbers for success. He worshiped the elements, and the Magi — ^his priests — guarded a holy flame on mountain heights. When he died, his friends incased his body in wax ^nd buried it, or exposed it to be destroyed by the vultures and wild beasts. READING REFERENCES. The General Ancient Histories named on pp. 44 and 72.— Bawlinson's Five Great Monarchies.— Vaux's Nineveh and Persepolis.—Fergusson's Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis restored.— Loftus's Chaldea and Susiana.— Hang's Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsees.—Ebers''s Egyptian Princess {p. 44) contains a vivid description of the times of Cambyses and the Pseudo-Smerdis.-Raw- linson's Translation of Herodotus.— Miiller's Sacred Books of the East ( Vols. TV. and v.). —Benjamin's Story of Persia.— Media and Persia in the various Cyclopcedias. CHRONOLOGY. B.C. Cyaxares destroyed Nineveh 606? Cyrus subdued the Medes 558 Cyrus defeated Croesus, and captured Sardis 547? Cyrus subdued the far East 553-540 Cyrus captured Babylon 538 Cambyses ascended the Tlirone 529 Cambyses conquered Egypt • 527 Darius Hystaspes ascended the Throne 521 Darius invaded Greece 490 INDIA. The Hindoos, like the Persians, were Aryans. In all respects, except color, they resemble the Europeans. They are thought to have emigrated from Iran (p. 12) earlier than 1500 B. c. They never materially influenced the steady flow of history,^ and are only incidentally mentioned when for- eigners went thither for purposes of trade or conquest. The first authentic event recorded is that of the invasion of Darius (518 b. c), and the next that of Alexander (p. 152). THE CIVILIZATION. Civilization. — The character of their civilization was early stereotyped. By mixing with the dark races of the country, the fair-skinned invaders lost the Aryan progressiveness and energy. What Alexander found in India meets the traveler there to-day, — a teeming, peaceable population; fabulous riches; arts and in- dustries passing unchanged from generation to generation; and a rehgion whose rigorous rules and ceremonies regulate all the details of life. The products of Indian looms were as eagerly sought anciently as now ; and the silks, pearls, precious stones, spices, gold, and ivory of India have in successive ages enriched Phoenicia, the Italian republics, and England. Society. — Castes were established by the early Aryans : (1) the Brahmans, or priests, who had the right of interpreting the sacred books, and possessed a monopoly of knowledge ; (2) the Kshatriyas, 1 There is little, if anything, in the Indian annals worthy the name of history. The Hindoo mind, though acute and intelligent, is struck, not by the reasonableness or truth of a statement, but by its grandeur. Thus, in the Brahman mythology we hear of R^hu, an exalted being, 76,800 miles high and 19,200 miles across the shoul- ders. While the Egyptian engraved on stone the most trivial incident of daily life, the Hindoo disregarded current events, and was absorbed in metaphysical subtleties. 106 INDIA. or soldiers; (3) the Vaisya, or traders and farmers; and (4) the Sudras, or laborers, who consisted of the conquered people, and were slaves. The Fariahs, or outcasts, ranked below all the others, and were condemned to perform the most menial duties. Inter- marriage between the castes was forbidden, and occupations de- scended rigidly from father to son. Literature. — The Sanskrit (perfected), the language of the conquerors, is preserved among the Hindoos, as is the Latin with us, through grammars and dictionaries. Its literature is rich in fancy and exalted poetry, and embalms the precious remains of that language which was nearest the speech of our Aryan fore- fathers. Thousands of Sanskrit works are still in existence. No man's life is long enough to read them all. A certain Hindoo king is said to have had the contents of his library condensed into 12,000 volumes ! A portion of the Vedas, the sacred books of Brahma, was compiled 1200 b. c. The Rig- Veda contains 1028 hymns, invoking as gods the sun, moon, and other powers of nature. The following extract is a beautiful litany : — 1. " Let me not yet, O Varuna [the god of water], enter into the house of clay. Have mercy. Almighty, have mercy ! 2. " If I go along trembling, like a cloud driven by wind, have mercy, Almighty, have mercy ! 3. " Through want of strength, thou Strong One, have I gone to the wrong shore. Have mercy. Almighty, have mercy! 4. " Thirst came on the worshiper, in the midst of the waters. Have mercy. Almighty, have mercy ! 5. " Wherever we men, O Varuna, commit an oflfense before the heavenly host; wherever we break thy law through thoughtlessness, have mercy, Almighty, have mercy ! " Religion. — Brahmanism, the Hindoo faith, teaches panfheismj^ a system which makes God the soul of the universe, so that *' what- ever we taste, or see, or smell, or feel, is God." It also contains the doctrine of the transmigration of souls; i, e., that after death good spirits will be absorbed into the Supreme Being, but wicked ones will be sent back to occupy the bodies of animals to begin afresh a round of purification and elevation. The idea of prayer, meditation, sacrifice, and penance,^ in order to secure this final 1 The doctrmeof the Hindoo Trinity, i. e., that God reveals himself in three forms,— Brahma the creator, Vishnu the i)reserver, and Siva the destroyer,— is now known to be a modern one. It grew out of an attempt to harmonize all the views that were hostile to Buddhism. 2 Travelers tell us that Hindoo fanatics carry this idea of penance to such an extent as to keep their hands clinched until the nails grow through the palms, and to hold their arms upright until they become paralyzed. THE CIVILIZATION. 107 absorption which is the highest good, constitutes the key to Brah- manism, and explains why in its view the hermit and devotee are the truly wise. By acts of benevolence and sacrifice performed in different stages of trans- migration, one may ac- cumulate a vast stock of merit, so as finally to at- tain to a godlike intelli- gence. Several of these divine sages are believed to have arisen from time to time. Buddhism (500 B. c.) was an effort to reform Brahmanism by incul- cating a benevolent and humane code of morals. It teaches the necessity of a pure life, and holds that by the practice of six transcendent virtues — alms, morals, science, energy, patience, and charity — a person may hope to reach Nirvana or eternal repose. Buddha, the founder of this sys- tem, is said to have ^'previously existed in four hundred millions of worlds. During these successive transmigrations he was almost every sort of fish, fly, animal, and man. He had acquired such a sanctity millions of centuries before as to permit him to enter Nir- vana, but he preferred to endure the curse of existence in order to benefit the race." Buddha is an historic character. His life was marvelously pure and beautiful; but his religion was a practi- cal atheism, and his teachings led to a belief in annihilation and not absorption in Brahma, or God, as the chief end of existence. The Buddhists were finally expelled from India. But they took refuge in Ceylon ; their missionaries carried their doctrines over a large part of the East, and Buddhism now constitutes the rehgion of BUDDHIST PKIESTS. 108 INDIA. over one fourth, of the world's population. There are almost end- less modifications of both these faiths, and they abound in senti- ments imaginative and subtle beyond conception. Mingled with this lofty ideahty is the grossest idolatry, and most grotesque images are the general objects of the Hindoo worship. The Sacred Writings of the Hindoos contain much that is simple and beautiful, yet, like all such heathen literature, they are full of silly and repulsive statements. Thus the Institutes of Vishnu declare that "cows are auspicious purifiers ; " that " drops of water falling r ' A BRAHMAN AT PRAYER. from the horns of a cow have the power to expiate all sin 5 " and that *' scratching the back of a cow destroys all guilt." The Brah- mans assert that prayer, even when offered from the most unworthy motives, compels the gods to grant one's wishes. The Institutes of Gautama (Buddha) forbid the student to recite the text of the Veda "if the wind whirls up the dust in the day-time." The Buddhists declare that all animals, even the vilest insects, as well as the seeds of plants, have souls. READING REFERENCES. Muller's Saered Boohs of the East, and History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature.— Whitney's Oriental and Linguistic Studies. — LenormanVs Manuel, etc., Vol. III.— Johnson's Oriental Religions, India.— Taylor' s Student's Manual of the History of India.— Bayard Taylor's India, China, and Japan.— Articles on India, etc., in Apple- tons', Zell's, and Johnson's Cyclopaedias, and Encyclopcedia Britannica. CHINA. The Chinese were Turanians (p. 10). Their historical records claim to reach far back of all known chronology, but these are largely mythical. Good authorities place the foundation of the empii-e at about 2800 B. c. Since then more than twenty dynasties of kings have held sway. From early times the country has been disturbed by incursions of the Tartars (Huns or Mongols). The Emperor Che Hwang-te, the Chinese national hero, expelled these wild barbarians, and to keep them out began (214 B. c.) the Great Wall of China along the northern frontier. This wall is fif- teen to thirty feet high, wide enough for six horsemen to ride abreast upon the top, and extends over mountains and valleys a distance of over twelve hundi*ed miles. Che Hwang-te died six years before it was finished. , In the 13th centuiy the great Asiatic conqueror Genghis Khan invaded the empire, and paved the way for the estab- lishment of the first Mongol dynasty, which held the king- dom for nearly one hundred years. During this period the famous traveler Marco Polo (Brief Hist. U. S., p. 19) visited China, where he remained seventeen years. On his return to Europe he gave a glowing description of the magnificence of the Eastern monarch's court. Again, in the 17th century, the Tartars obtained the throne, and founded the dynasty which now governs the empire. 110 CHINA. THE CIVILIZATION. Civilisation. — The Chinese have always kept themselves isolat- ed from the other nations : consequently China has influenced his- tory even less than has India. Law and tradition have done for the former what a false religion has for the latter. Everything came to a stand-still ages ago.^ The dress, the plan of the house, the mode of bowing, the minutest detail of life, are regulated by three thou- z^:: /- <'-►'' '•«.. THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. sand ceremonial laws of almost immemorial usage. No man pre- sumes to introduce any improvement or change. The only hope is to become as wise as the forefathers by studying the national classics. 1 Heroclotus says that in dealing with foreigners the Chinese were wont to deposit their wool or silk in a certain place, and then go away. The merchants came up, laid beside the goods the sum of money they were willing to pay, and retired. The Chi- nese then ventured out again, and, if satisfied, took the money and left the goods; if not, they left the money and carried off the goods. There is a marked resemblance between this people and the ancient Egyptians. Both have the same stereotyped character, the same exceptional mode of writing, the same unwillingness to mingle with surrounding nations, the same mode of reckoning time by dynasties, and the same enjoyment in the contemplation of death. THE CIVILIZATION. Ill Such is the esteem in which agriculture is held, that once a year the emperor exhibits himself in public, holding a plow. The in- genuity of the Chinese is proverbial. They anticipated by centu- ries many of the most important inventions of modern Europe, such as gunpowder, printing, paper, porcelain, and the use of the compass. A Chinese chart of the stars represents the heavens as seen in that country 2300 b. c. , thus showing how early astron- omy was cultivated by this people. The Literature is very extensive. The writings of Confucius (551-478 B. c.) are the chief books perused in the schools. All appointments to the civil service are based on ex- aminations, which include the prep- aration of essays and poems, and the writing of classical selections. Three Religions, Buddhism, Tad- ism or Rationalism, and Confu- cianism, exist. Such is the liberty of faith, that a man may beheve in them all, while the mass of the people will pray in the temples of any one indiscriminately. All these faiths agree in the worship of one's ancestors. Buddhism was introduced from India (p. 107), and by its gor- geous ritual and its speculative doc- trines, powerfully appeals to the imagination of its devotees. Tadism traditional likeness of confucrs. is a rehgion of the supreme reason alone. Confucianism is named from its founder, who taught a series of elevated moral precepts, having reference solely to man's present, and not his future state. Confucius died eight years before the birth of the Greek philosopher Socrates (p. 174). Sayings of Confucius.—" He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the noith polar star whicli keeps its place, and all the (other) stars turn towards it." " What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others." " I am not concerned that I have no place (office) ; I am concerned how I may fit myself for one. I am not concerned that I am not known , I seek to he worthy to be known." " Slow in words and earnest in action. Act before speaking, and then speak ac- cording to your actions." 112 CHINA, EXTRACT FROM THE CLASSIC OF FILIAL PIETY.—" The Services of love and rev. erence to parents when alive, and those of grief aud sorrow to them when dead :— these completely discharge the fundamental duty of living men." The Chinese call their country the " Middle Kingdom," from a notion that it is in the center of the world. Their map of the globe is a parallelogram, of the habit- able part of which China occupies nine tenths or more. " I felicitate myself," says a Chinese essayist, " that I was born in China, and not beyond the seas in some remote part of the earth, where the people, far removed from the converting maxims of the ancient kings, and ignorant of the domestic relations, are clothed with tlie leaves of plants, eat wood, and live in the holes of the earth." READING REFERENCES. DooUttle's Social Life of the Chinese.— Loomis's Confucius and the Chinese Classics.—Collie's Four Books {a Translation of Chinese Classical Works).— Thornton's History of China.— Williams's Middle Kingdom.— Legge's Religions of China.— John- son's Oriental Religions ; China.— Articles on China and Confucius in Appletons', ZelVs, and Johnson's Cyclopaedias and Encyclopcedia Britannica. ^ CHINESE TEMPLE. HELLAS OR GREECE Scale of English Miles * lenos' .*V>^'"" LEMNOS i TENED06 I. ¥^, ^iSSS^ ^"V^ -^^^ : ^ larisJ^*"'"*'Mt.^«»a^^A,us.!...^- ^/^ »*- 1'.. Y*^ 05 ^ergantas r' 'i-' O C R I 8- VpiRN^-Ji^v-i ■ • -r ; s '*^^ '• tectum Pr Hethymnaiiwi g Iresus^ >»*'^ ^ ^ iB. 8CYR06 I. Argiausse ls.«i -tnonjeuugVi- "* -..9..... -3(? * *> Lfc,"^ kANDROS t. V -^/y • Jiebeflus **» navster _B Colopho ^ SAMOS Lade Miletnsi t^..-< .i O ?Cros ^ ■ ACsi ^3 jTHalicarnassus " E I. Criumetopoif CA80S U Sammonium Prom. RUSSELL & 6TRUTHERS. ENG'S N.Y. GREECE. 1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. Seat of Civilization Changed.— Thus far we have traced the beginnings of civilization among the oldest peoples of antiquity. Our study has been confined to the Orient. We now turn to Europe. Its history, so far as we know, began in Greece. The story of that little peninsula became, about the time of the Persian wars (p. 91), the record of civilization a.nd progress, to which the history of the East is thenceforth but an occasional episode. The Difference between Eastern and Western Civilization is marked. The former rose to a considerable height, but, fettered by despotism, caste, and polygamy, was soon checked. The monarchs were absolute, the empires vast, and the masses passive. In Greece, on the contrary, we find the people astir, every power of the mind in full play, and little states aU aglow with patriotic ardor. Assy- rian art, Egyptian science, and the Phoenician alphabet were absorbed, but only as seeds for a new and better growth. Much of the hf e we live to-day, with its political, social, and Geographical Questions —^owa^ Greece Name the principal Grecian states; the principal Grecian colonies (map, p 11) ; the chief islands in the JEgean Sea. Locate the Peloponnesus; Arcadia. Where was Ionia? ^olir? Athens? Sparta? Thebes? Argos? Corinth? Delphi? Marathon? Plataea? The pass of Ther mopylae? Ilium? The Hellespont? The isle of Rhodes? Mount Parnassus? ValeofTempe? Mount Ossa? Mount Pelion? Salamis Island? Syracuse'? Magna Graecial Chaeronea? 114 GREECE. intellectual advantages; its music, painting, oratory, and sculpture; its thii^st for knowledge, and its free institu- tions, — was kindled on the shores of the ^ge'an Sea, was transmitted by the Greek to the Roman, by him to the Teu- ton, and so handed down to us. The Geographical Features of Grreece had much to do with fixing the character of its inhabitants. The coast was indented, like no other, with bays having bold promon- tories reaching far out to sea, and forming excellent harbors. Nature thus afforded every inducement to a sea-faring life. In striking contrast to the vast alluvial plains of the Nile and the Euphrates, the land was cut up by almost impassable mountain ranges, isolating each little valley, 'and causing it to develop its peculiar life. A great variety of soil and climate also tended to produce a versatile people. The Early Inhabitants were our Aryan kinsfolk (p. 12). The Pelasgians,^ a simple, agricultural people, were the first to settle the country. Next the Helle'nes, a warlike race, conquered the land. The two blended, and gave rise to the Grecian language and civilization, as did in later times the Norman and Anglo-Saxon to the English. Hellas and Hellenes. — The Greeks did not use the name by which we know them, but called their country Hellas, and themselves Hellenes. Even the settlements in Asia Minor, and in the isles of the ^ge'an and Mediter- ranean, were what Freeman happily styles "patches of Hellas." All those nations whose speech they could not understand they called Barbarians. Grecian Unity. — The different Grecian states, though always jealous and often fighting, had much in common. 1 Bemains of the PelasgiaB architecture still survive. They are rude, massive stone structures. The ancients considered them the work of the Cyclops,— a fabulous race of giants, who had a single eye in the middle of the forehead. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 115 All spoke the same language, though there were several dialects. They had many common customs, and a com- mon inheritance in the poems of Homer (p. 162) and the glory of the Hellenic name. There were, moreover, two great "holding-points" for all the Greeks One was the half-yearly meeting of the Amphictyonic Council,^ and the other the national games or festivals (p. 186). All Hellenes took part in the latter, and thus the colonies were united to the parent state. The Grecian calendar itself was based on the quadrennial gathering at Olympia, the First Olympiad dating from 776 b. c.^ Legendary History. — The early records of Greece are mythical. It is not worth the effort to pick out the kernels of truth around which these romantic legends grew. They chronicle the achievements of the Heroic Age of the poets. Then occurred the Argonautic Expedition in search of the Golden Fleece, the Twelve Labors of Hercules, the Siege of "Troy divine," the Hunt of the Calydonian Boar, and the exploits of heroes whose adventures have been familiar to each succeeding age, and are to-day studied by the youth of every civilized land.^ 1 In early times twelve tribes in the north agreed to celebrate sacrifices together twice a year, — in the spring to Apollo at Delphi, and in the autumn to Ceres at An- thela, near Thermopylae. Their deputies were called the Amphictyonic Council (council of the neighbors or co religionists), and the meetings, from being at first purely religious, became great centers of political influence. The temple at Delphi belonged to all the states, and the Delphic Oracle attained celebrity not only among the Greeks, but also among foreign nations. 2 This was twenty -nine years before the era of Nabonassar (p. 46), and half a century before the Captivity of the Ten Tribes by Sargon (p 84) 3 Thus read the legends : (1) Jason, a prince of Thessaly, sailed with a band of adventurers in the good ship Argo. The Argonauts went through the Dardanelles, past the present site of Constantinople, to the eastern coast of the Euxine Sea Jason there planted a colony, took away the famous Golden Fleece, carried oflf tlie beautiful princess Medea, and returned to Thessaly in triumph. (2) Hercules was the son of Jupiter and Alcmena Juno, Queen of Heaven, sent two seipeuts to strangle him in his cradle, but the precocious infant killed them both, and escaped unharmed. Afterward his half brother, Eurystheus, imposed upon him twelve difficult under takings, aU of which he successfullv accomplished. (2) Soon after the return of the 116 Gr Hi £i £1 C £! • Primitive Governments. — In legendary times, as we learn from the Iliad, each little city or district had its he- reditary king, supposed to be descended from the gods. He THE DEPARTURE OF ACHILLES (FROM AN ANCIENT VASE). was advised by the Council of the Elders and the Assembly, the latter being a mass meeting, where all the citizens gath- Argoiiautic expedition several of the Grecian wariiora— Meleager, Theseus, and others— joined in an iEolian war, which the poets termed the "Hunt of the Calydo- nian Boar." ^neus, Icing of Calydon, father of Meleager, having neglected to pay homage to Diana, that goddess sent a wild hoar, which was impervious to the spears of ordinary huntsmen, to lay waste his country. All the princes of the age assembled to hunt him down, and he was at last killed hy the spear of Meleager. (4) The story of the Siege of Troy is the subject of Homer's Iliad. Venus had promised Paris, son of Priam, King of Troy, that if he would pronounce her the most beautiful of the goddesses, he should have for wife the handsomest woman of liis time, Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Paris granted the boon, and then going to Sparta carried oflf Helen to Troy. Menelaus, smarting under this wrong, appealed to the Grecian princes for help. They assembled under his brother Agamemnon, King of My- cenae. A hundred thousand men sailed away in eleven hundred and eighty-six ships across the JEge'an, and invested Troy. The siege lasted ten years. Hector, "of the beamy helm," son of Priam, was tlie bravest leader of the Trojans. Achilles, the first of Grecian warriors, slew him in single combat, and dragged his body at his chariot- wheels in in- solent triumph around the walls of the city. But the "lion-hearted "Achilles fell in turn "for so the Pates had decreed." Troy was finally taken by stratagem. The Greeks feigned to retire, leaving behind them as an ottering to Minerva a great wooden horse. This was reported to be purposely of such vast bulk, in order to prevent the Trojans from taking it into the city, as that would be fatal to the Grecian cause. The deluded PROW OF AN EARLY GREEK SHIP. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 117 ered about the king and the elders to discuss political^ affairs. The power of the kings gradually diminished until most of the cities became repubhcs, or commonwealths. In some cases the authority was held by a few families. If good, it was styled an aristocracy [aristos, best) ; but if bad, an oligarchy {oligos, few). In a democracy any citizen could hold office and vote in the assembly. At Sparta there were always two kings, although in time they lost most of their power. The Dorian Migration was one of the first clearly defined events of Grecian history. After the Trojan war the ties which had temporarily held the princes together were loosed, and a general shifting of the tribes ensued. The Dorians — a brave, hardy race — descended from the mountains, and moved south in search of new homes.^ They conquered the Achaeans in the Peloponnesus, and occupied the chief cities, — Argos, Corinth, and Sparta. This was about the 11th century B. c. Grecian Colonies. — HeUas was greatly extended in con- sequence of these changes. A part of the Ach^ans fled northward, dispossessing the lonians, many of whom emi- grated to Asia Minor, where they founded the Ionic colonies,^ among which were Ephesus (Acts xix. 1 ; xx. 15) and Mile'- iiihaWtants fell into the snare, and eagerly dragged the unwieldy monster within their walls. That night a body of men concealed in the horse crept out, threw open the gates, and admitted tlie Grecians, wlio liad quietly returned. From the terrible mas- sacre which ensued, Mne'sm, a famous Trojan chief, escaped with a few followers. His subsequent adventures form the theme of Virgil's ^Ene'id. Homer's Odyssey tells the wanderings of the crafty Ulysses, king of Ithaca, on his journey home from Troj% and the trials of his faithful wife Penelope during his absence. 1 The word "politics" is derived from the Greek word for city, and meant in its original form only the affairs of the city. The Hellenes, unlike most other Aryans (except the Italians), from the very first gatliered in cities. 2 This event is known in Grecian histoiy as "The Return of the Heraclei'dae." The Dorians were induced by the descendants of Hercules to support their claim to the throne of Argos, whence their ancestor had been driven by the family of Pelops. s Some authorities make the Ionic colonies the parents of Greece. 118 (Greece. tus. Similarly, the ^olians had already founded the u^olic colonies. Finally the Dorians were tempted to cross the sea and establish the Doric colonies, chief of which was Rhodes (map, p. 11). In subsequent times of strife many G-reek citizens grew discontented, and left their homes to try their fortune in new lands. The colonial cities also soon became strong enough to plant new settlements. Every opportunity to extend their commerce or political influence was eagerly seized by these energetic explorers. In the palmy days of Greece, the Euxine and the Propontis (Sea of Marmora) were fringed with Hellenic towns. The Ionian cities, at the time of the Persian conquest (p. 125), " extended ninety miles along the coast in an almost uninterrupted line of magnificent quays, warehouses, and dwellings.'' On the African shore was the rich Cjrrene, the capital of a prosperous state. Sicily, with her beautiful city of Syracuse, was like a Grecian island. Southern Italy was long called Magna Grgecia (Great Greece). The Phoenicians, the seamen and traders of these times, almost lost the commerce of the eastern Mediterranean. On the western coast the Greeks possessed the flourishing colony of Massilia (Marseilles), and, had it not been for the rising power of Carthage, would have secured nearly the entire shore, and transformed the Mediterranean into a " Grecian lake." Wherever the Greek went, he remained a Greek. He carried with him into barbarian lands the Hellenic language, manners, and civihzation. In the colonies the natives learned the Grecian tongue, and took on the Grecian mode of thought and worship. Moreover, the transplanted Greek matured faster than the home growth. So it happened that in the magnificent cities which grew up in Asia Minor, philosophy, letters, the arts and sciences, bloomed even sooner than in Greece itself. J.WELLS, DEL THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 119 Sparta and Athens. — The Dorians and the lonians came to be the leading races in Greece. Their diverse characteristics had a great influence on its history. The Dorians were rough and plain in their habits, sticklers for the old customs, friends of an aristocracy, and bitter ene- mies of trade and the fine arts. The lonians, on the other hand, were refined in their tastes, fond of change, demo- cratic, commercial, and passionate lovers of music, painting, and sculpture. The rival cities, Sparta and Athens, repre- sented these opposing traits. Their deep-rooted hatred was the cause of numerous wars which convulsed the country; for in the sequel we shall find that the Grecians spent their best blood in fighting among themselves, and that Grecian history is mostly occupied with the doings of these two cities. SPARTA. Early History. — One of the Dorian bands occupied Lacedasmon, called also Sparta from its grain-fields {sparte, sown land). The former owners (termed perioe'M, dwellers- around) were allowed to keep the poorest of the lands, and to be tradesmen and mechanics. But they could neither have voice in the government nor intermarry with their Dorian conquerors, who now came to be called Spartans. The latter took the best farms, and compelled their slaves (helots) to work them. The helots were captives or rebels, and were at first few, but in the succeeding wars rapidly increased. The Spartans (only nine thousand strong in the time of Lycurgus), planted thus in the midst of a hostile population, were forced to live like soldiers on guard. In the rest of the Peloponnesus the Dorians betook themselves to peaceful pursuits, and mingled with the na- 120 GREECE. [850 B.C. tives. But in Sparta there was no relaxation, no blend- ing. The Dorians there kept on their cold, cruel way. They were constantly quarreling among themselves, and so little gain did they make, that two centuries and a half passed and the Achaeans were still fortified only little over two miles away from Sparta. Lycurgus,^ according to tradition, was a statesman of royal birth who crystallized into a constitution all the pecu- liarities of the Spartan character. His whole aim was to make the Spartans a race of soldiers. Trade and travel were prohibited. No money was allowed except cumbrous iron coins^ which no foreigner would take. Most property, as slaves, horses, dogs, etc., was held in common. Boys were removed from home at the age of seven, and educated by state officers. The men ate at pubhc tables, slept in bar- racks, and only occasionally visited their homes. Private life was given up for the good of the state, and devoted to military drill. The two kings were retained ; but their power was limited by a senate of twenty-eight men over sixty years old, and an assembly of all the citizens. The five epliors (overseers) chosen annually by the assembly were the real rulers. No popular discussion was allowed, nor could a private citizen speak in the assembly without special leave from a magis- trate. Thus the government became in fact an oligarch}' under the guise of a monarchy. The people having prom ised to live under this constitution until he should return. Lycurgus left Sparta, never to return. The Supremacy of Sparta dates from this time. " A mere garrison in a hostile country, she became the mistress 1 Lycurgus, like many other legendary heroes, has been banished by modern critics into the region of myth. There seems, however, good evidence that he existed about the 9tli century b. c. Just what his laws included, and how far they were his own creations, is uncertain. 743-668 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 121 of Laconia." The conquest of Messenia, in two long, bloody wars, made her dominant in the Peloponnesus. This was preceded and followed by several minor wars, all tending to increase her territory and establish her authority over her neighbors. At the beginning of the 5th century B. c. the Spartans had already repeatedly carried their arms across the isthmus into Attica, and were ready to assert their posi- tion as the leaders in Grecian affairs, when, at this juncture, all Greece was threatened by the Persian forces (p, 124). ATHENS. Early History. — ^Athens, like the other Grecian cities, was governed for a time by kings. Cecrops, the first ruler, according to the legends, taught the people of Attica navigation, marriage, and the culture of the olive. CodruSj the last monarch, fell (1050 B. c.) while resisting the Dorians. After his death the nobles selected one of the royal family as archon, or chief. At first the archon ruled for lifej afterward the term was shortened to ten years, and finally to one, the nobles choosing nine archons from their own number. Thus Athens became an aristocratic republic. Draco's Code (621 b. c). — But demo- cratic spirit was rife. The people com- plained that they got no justice from the nobles, and the demand for written laws became so ur- gent that Draco was directed to prepare a code. His laws were so merciless that they were said to have been written COIN OF ATHENS. 122 GREECE. [624 B. c. SOLON'S TABLETS. in blood, every offense being punished with death. To avoid the popular indignation, Draco fled, and his name is to this day synonymous with cruelty. His code shows (1) the bar- barity of the age, and its lack of sympathy with the poor ; (2) the growing spirit of democracy. Solon's Constitution ^ (594 b. c). — Party strife was now prevalent. The state being threatened with anarchy, Solon was appointed to draft a new constitu- tion. He repealed the harsh edicts of Draco ; relieved debtors j^ re- deemed many slaves; forbade parents to sell or pawn their children ; ordered every father to teach his sons a trade ; and required sons to support their aged father if he had educated them. He aimed to weaken the nobles and strengthen the people. He therefore gave every free-born native of Attica a vote in the assembly, where laws were enacted, archons elected, and the conduct of officers reviewed. The business presented in this assembly was prepared by a senate of four hundred, selected annually by lot. Property, instead of birth, now gave rank. The people were divided into four classes, according to their income. Only the three richest classes could hold office, but they had to pay the taxes and to equip themselves as soldiers. The wealthiest could serve as archons ; those who had thus served were ehgible to the Court of Areopagus.^ This court 1 This famous Athenian lawgiver, descended from the ancient kings, was forced by poverty to earn a livelihood. He gained a fortune by commerce, retired from busi- ness, and then traveled to the East in search of knowledge. He was reckoned one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece (Appendix). 2 In that age a debtor might be sold into slavery (Nehemiah v. 3, 5 ; 2 Kings iv. 1). 3 So called because it met on the hill known by that name (Acts xvii. 19). 560 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 123 repealed laws hurtful to the state, looked after public morals, and rebuked any person who was not properly bringing up his children, or who otherwise lived unworthy an Athenian Tyrants. ^ — Athens prospered under Solon's Avise man- agement The people got their rights The mortgage-pil- lars ^ disappeared. But moderate measures pleased neither extreme of society. Class factions strove for power. One day Pisis'tratus, a noble aspiring to office, rushed, besmeared with blood, into the market place, and, pointing to his self- inflicted wounds, asked for a guard, pretending that the other nobles had attacked him because he was the people^s friend.^ Solon detected the sham, but the people granted the request. Pisistratus soon seized the AcropoUs (p. 194), and became the first tyrant of Athens. His use of his craftily secured place was beneficent. He established Solon's laws, erected beautiful public buddings, encouraged art, and founded the first library. The Pisistrat'idw, Hippias and Hipparchus, trod in their father^s steps. But the assassination of Hipparchus im- bittered his brother, so that he became moody and cruel. His enemies, led by the Alcmseon'idae,* bribed the oracle 1 The Greeks applied this name at first to a person who became king in a city where the law did not authorize one. Afterward the Tyrants became cruel, and the word took on the meaning which we now give it 2 A mortgaged farm was known by a stone pillar marked with amount of loan and name of lender. 3 Solon, though under obligations to his kinsman, Pisistratus, resisted his am- bitions. He now exclaimed . "You are but a bad imitation of Ulysses He wounded himself to delude his enemies, you to deceive your countrymen." 4 At the time Draco's laws aroused so much feeling, a noble named Cylon at- tempted to make himself tyrant. He seized the Acropolis, but was defeated, and his followers, half dead with liunger, were forced to take refuge at the altars of the gods. The archon Megacles induced them to surrender on the promise of their lives , but they had scarcely left the altars, when his soldiers cut them down. Soon after- ward a plague broke out, and the Athenians, believing that a judgment had fallen on their city, forced the AlcmaeonidfB (the clan of Megacles) into exile. To atone for their impiety, the Alcmieonidte, who were rich, rebuilt the burned temple at Delphi. The contract called for common stone, but they faced the building with fine marble, and thus gained the favor of the Delphic oracle. 124 GREECE. [510 B.C. at Delphi, so that when the Lacedaemonians consulted the priestess, they received the reply, "Athens must be freed." The Spartans accordingly invaded Attica and drove away the tyrant (510 b. c). Hippias went over to the Persian court, and was henceforth the declared enemy of his native city. We shall hear from him again. Democracy Established. — Aristocratic Sparta had only paved the way for a republic. Solon's work now bore fruit. CUis'tJienes, an Athenian noble, head of the Alcmte- onidse but now candidate of the people's party, became ar- chon. All freemen of Attica were admitted to citizenship. To break up the four old tribes, and prevent the nobles from forming parties among the people of their clans, or accord- ing to local interests, he divided the country into districts, and organized ten new tribes by uniting non-adjacent dis- tricts ; each tribe sent fifty representatives to the senate, and also chose a strategus, or general, the ten generals to command the army in daily turn. To protect the rising democracy from demagogues, he instituted ostracism,^ or banishment by popular vote (p. 129). The triumph of democracy was complete. Four times a month all Athens met to deliberate and decide upon ques- tions affecting the public weal. " The Athenians then," says Herodotus, " grew mighty, and it became plain that liberty is a brave thing." It was now near the beginning of the 5th century B. c. Both Sparta and Athens had risen to power, when all Greece was threatened by a new foe. The young civilization of the West was for the first time called to meet the old civiliza- tion of the East. In the presence of a common danger, the warring states united. The next twenty years were stirring ones in the annals of freedom. 1 strangely enough, Cleisthenes was the first man ostracized. 500 B. a] THE POLITICAL HlSTOBY= 125 THE PERSIAN WARS, Cause. — The Persian empire now reached the borders of Thessaly. The Grecian colonies in Asia Minor had fallen into the hands of Cyrus; and the conquering armies of Darius were already threatening the freedom of Greece itself, when an act of Athens hastened the struggle. The OREECE, TIME OF THE PERSIAN WARS Ionian cities having tried to throw off the Persian yoke, the mother city sent them aid.^ The Great King subdued the Ionic revolt, and then turned to punish the haughty f oreign- 1 During tlie brief campaign of the Athenians in Asia Minor, Sardis, the capital of Lydia, was accidentally burned. When Darius received this news, he took a bow and shot an arrow to the sky, with a prayer to Ahura Mazda (p. 93) for help ; and that he might not forget the insult, he ordered that at dinner each day a servant should call out thrice, " Master, remember the Athenians." 126 Gr K> £i £ £i • [493 B. c. ers who had dared to meddle in the affairs of his empire, and also to force the Athenians to receive back Hippias (p. 124) as their tyrant. The First Expedition (493 b. c.) against Greecje was sent out under Mardonius, the son-in-law of Darius. The land troops were defeated in Thrace, and the fleet was shat- tered while rounding Mount Athos. Mardonius returned without having set foot into the region he went to conquer. The Second Expedition. — ^Darius, full of fury, be- gan at once raising a new army. Meanwhile heralds were dispatched to demand the surrender of the Grecian cities. Many sent back earth and water, the oriental symbols of submission; Sparta and Athens refused, Sparta throwing the envoys into a deep well, and bidding them find there the earth and water they demanded. Battle of Marathon (490 b. c). — The Persian fleet of six hundred triremes (p. 192) safely crossed the ^gean, and landed an army of over a hundred thousand on the field of Marathon, twenty-two miles from Athens. Mil- tiades (to whom the other strategi had been led by Aristides to surrender their command) went out to meet them with but ten thousand soldiers. The usual prayers and sacrifices were offered, ^mA ^° T'T.ATN OF M ARATHON but it was late in the day before the auspices became favor- able to an attack. Finding that the Persians had placed their best troops at the center, Miltiades put opposite them a weak line of men, and stationed heavy files of his choicest soldiers on the wings. Giving the enemy no time to hurl their jave- 490 B. C.J THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 127 lins, he immediately charged at full speed, and came at once to a hand-to-hand fight. The powerful wings swept every- thing before them, and then, wheeling, they fell upon both flanks of the Adctorious Persian center. In a few moments the Asiatic host were wildly fleeing to their ships. ^ 1 The Spartans had promised aid, but from religions scrnples the troops were unwilling to march until the full moon, and so did not arrive till after the hattle. A thousand men from Plataea— all the little city had— stood by the vSide of the Athenians on that memorable day. When the victory was gained, Eucles, the swiftest runner in Greece, ran with the tidings, and, reaching Athens, had breath only to tell the news, when he fell dead in the street. Seven of the Persian vessels were captured by the pursuing Greeks. The brother of ^schylus, the poet, is said to have caught a trireme by the stern, and to have held it until his hand was hacked off by the enemy. Hardly had the Persians and Athenians separated from the last conflict on the beach, when the attention of both was arrested by a flash of light on the summit of Mount Pentelicus. It was the reflection of the setting sun on the glittering surface of an uplifted shield. Miltiades at once saw in this a signal from the traitors in Athens, inviting the fleet to join them before he returned. Not a moment was to be lost, and he ordered an instant march to tlie city. When the Persian ships arrived, they found the heroes of Marathon drawn up on the beach, awaiting them. 128 GREECE. [490 b. C. The JEffect ^ of this victory was to render the reputation of Athens for valor and patriotism equal, if not superior, to that of Sparta. The Persian invasion had made a union of the Hellenic states possible, and Marathon decided that Athens should be its leader. . Greece was saved, and her deliverer, Miltiades, was for a time the favorite hero ; but a disgraceful expedition to the Isle of Paros cost him his popularity, and soon after his return he died. Themistocles and Aristides, generals associated with Miltiades at Marathon, now came to be the leading men in Athens. The former was an able but often unscrupulous statesman ; the latter, a just man and an incorruptible patriot. Themistocles foresaw that the Persians would make another attempt to subdue Greece j and that Athens, with its excellent harbor and commercial facilities, could be far stronger on sea 1 "So enderl what may truly be cnWeC\. the birthday of Athenian greatness. It stood alone in their annals. Other glories were won in alter times, but none ap- proached the glory of Marathon. It was uot.merely the ensuing generation that felt the effects of that wonderful deliverance It was not merely Themistocles whom tlie marble tropliy of Miltiades would not suffer to sleep. It was not merely ^schy- lus, who, when his end drew near, passed over all his later achievements in war and peace, at Salamis. and in the Dionysiac theater, and recorded in his epitaph only th.e one deed of his early days,-that he had repulsed the ' long-haired Medes at Marathon.' It was not merely the combatants in the battle wlio told of supernatural assistance in the shape of the hero Theseus, or of the mysterious peasant, wielding a gigantic plowshare. Everywhere.in the monuments and the customs of their country, and for centuries afterward, all Athenian citizens were reminded of that great day, and of that alone. The frescoes of a painted portico— the only one of the kind in Athens— exhibited in lively colors the scene of the battle The rock of the Acropolis was crowned on the eastern extremity by a temple of Wingless Victory, now snp. posed to have taken up her abode forevei in the city ; and in its northern precipice, the cave, which up to this time had remained untenanted, was consecrated to Pan, in commemoration of the mysterious voice which rang through the Arcadian moun tains to cheer the forlorn messenger on his empty-handed return from Sparta. The one hundred and ninety two Atlienians who had fallen on the field received the honor-unique in Athenian history— of burial on the scene of their death (the tumulus raised over their bodies by Aristides still remains to mark the spot), their names were invoked with hymns and sacrifices down to the latest times of Grecian freedom; and long after that freedom had been extinguished, even in the reign of Trajan and the Antonines, the anniversary of Marathon was still celebrated, and the battle-field was believed to be haunted night after night by the snorting of unearthly chargers and the clash of invisible combatants." 482 b. O.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 129 than on land. He therefore urged the building of a fleet. Aristides, fond of the old ways, condemned this measure. Themistocles, dreading the opposition, secured the ostra- cism ^ of his rival. Third Expedition. — Darius died before he could make a new attempt to punish Athens. But his son Xerxes assem- bled over a million soldiers, whom he led in person across the Hellespont and along the coast of Thrace and Macedonia. A fleet of twelve hundred war-ships and three thousand transports kept within easy reach from the shore .^ Battle of Thermopylae (480 b. c.).— At the Pass of Thermopylae his march was checked by seven thousand Greeks under Leonidas, a Spartan. Xerxes sent a messen- ger to demand their arms. He received the laconic reply, '' Come and take them." For two days the Greeks repulsed every attack, and the terrified Persians had to be driven to the assault with whips. On the third day, a traitor having pointed out to Xerxes a mountain-path, he sent the Immor- tals over it, to the rear of the Grecian post. Spartan law bade a soldier to die rather than yield. So Leonidas, learn- ing of the peril, sent away his allies, retaining only three hundred Spartans and seven hundi^ed Thespians, who wished to share in the glory of the day. The little band prepared 1 For the origin of ostracism see p. 124. Into an urn placed in the assembly any citizen could drop a shell {ostrakon) bearing the name of the person he wished exiled. Six thousand votes against a man banished him for ten years. It is said that on this occasion a countryman coming to Aristides. whom he did not know, asked him to write Aristides on his shell. " Why, what wrong has he done? " inquired the patriot. " None at all," was the reply, "only I am tired of hearing him called the Just " Six years later Aristides was recalled. 2 Two magnificent bridges of boats which he built across the Hellespont having been injured m a storm, the story is that Xerxes ordered the sea to be beaten with whips, and fetters to be thrown into it to show that he was its master. The vast army was seven days in crossing. The king sat on a throne of white marble, in. specting the army as it passed. It consisted of forty six different nations, each armed and dressed after its own manner, while ships manned by Phoenicians covered the sea Xerxes is said to have burst into tears at the thought that in a few years not one of all that immense throng would be alive. 130 GREECE, [480 B. 0. for battle, — ^the Spartans combing their long hair, according to custom, — and then, scorning to await the attack, dashed down the defile to meet the on-coming enemy^ All per- ished, fighting to the last.i 1 "Xerxes could not believe Demaratus, who assured him that the Spartans at least were come to dispute the Pass with him, and that it was their custom to trim their hair on the eve of a combat. Four days passed before he could be convinced that his army must do more than show itself to clear a way for him. On the fifth day he ordered a body of Median and Cissian troops to fall upon the rash and insolent enemy, and to lead them captive into his presence. He was seated on a lofty throne from which he could survey the narrow entrance of the Pass, which, in obedience to his commands, his warriors endeavored to force. But they fought on ground where their numbers were of no avail, save to increase tlieir confusion, when their attack was repulsed: their short spears could not reach their foe; the foremost fell, the hinder advancing over their bodies to the charge ; their repeated onsets broke upon the Greeks idly, as waves upon a rock. At length, as the day wore on, the Medians and Cissians, spent with their efforts and greatly thinned in their ranks, were recalled from the contest, which the king now thought worthy of the superior prowess of his own guards, the ten thousand Immortals. They were led up as to a certain and easy victory ; the Greeks stood their ground as before ; or, if they ever gave way and turned their backs, it was only to face suddenly about, and deal tenfold destruction on their pursuers. Thrice during these fruitless assaults the king was seen to start up from his throne in a transport of fear or rage. The combat lasted the whole day ; the slaughter of the barbarians was great ; on the side of the Greeks a few Spartan lives were lost; as to the rest, nothing is said. The next day the attack was renewed with no better success ; the bands of the several cities that made up the Grecian army, except the Phdcians, who were employed in defending the mountain-path by which the defile was finally turned, relieved each other at the post of honor ; all stood equally firm, and repelled the charge not less vigorously than before. The confidence of Xerxes was changed_into despondence and perplexity." 480 B. c] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 131 The Sacrifice of Leonidas became the inspiration of all Greece, and has been the admiration of the lovers of free- dom in every age. The names of the three hundred were LEONIDAS AT THE PASS OF THEKMOPYLiE. familiar to their countrymen, and, six hundred years after, a traveler spoke of seeing them inscribed on a pillar at Sparta. Upon the mound where the last stand was made 132 GREECE. [480 b. 0. a marble lion was erected to Leonidas, and a pillar to the three hundred bore this inscription, written by Simonides (p. 164) :- " Go, stranger, and to Lacertaemon tell That here, obeying her behests, we fell." Battle of Sal' amis. — At first, however, the loss at Ther- mopylae seemed in vain, and the Asiatic deluge poured south over the plains of Greece. Warned by the oracle that the safety of Athens lay in her " wooden walls," the inhabitants deserted the city, which Xerxes then burned. The ocean, however, seemed to "fight for Greece." In a storm the Persian fleet lost two hundred ships. But it was still so much superior, that the Greeks were fearful, and as usual quarreling,^ when Themistocles determined to bring on the battle, and accordingly sent a spy to the enemy to say that his countrymen would escape if they were not attacked immediately. Thereupon the Persians blockaded the Hel- lenic fleet in the harbor of Salamis. Animated by the spirit of Thermopylae, the Grecians silenced their disputes and rushed to the fray. They quickly defeated the Phoenician ships in the van, and then the very multitude of the vessels caused the ruin of the Persian fleet : for while some were 1 "All the Thessalians, Locrians, and Boeotians, except the cities of Thespiae and Plataea, sent earth and water to the Persian king at the first call to submit, although these tokens of subjection were attended by the curses of the rest of the Greeks, and the vow that a tithe of their estates should be devoted to the city of Delplil. Yet of the Greeks who did not favor Persia, some were willing to assist only on condition of being appointed to conduct and command the whole, others, if their country could be the first to be protected ; others sent a squadron, which was ordered to wait till it was certain which side would gain the victory, and others pretended they were held back by the declarations of an oracle." An oft-told story, given in con nection with this engagement, illustrates the jealousy of the Grecian generals. They were met to decide upon the prize for skill and wisdom displayed in the contest. When the votes were collected, it appeared that each commander had placed his own name first, and that of Themistocles second. While the Grecian leaders at Salamis were deliberating over the propriety of retreat, and Themistocles alone held firm, a knock was heard at the door, and Themistocles was called out to speak with a stranger. It was the banished Aristides. " Themistocles," said he, " let us be rivals still, but let our strife be which best may serve our country." He had crossed from .^gina in an open boat to inform his countrymen that they were surrounded by the enemy. 480 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 133 trjdng to escape, and some to come to the front, tlie Greeks, amid the confusion plying every weapon, sunk two hundred vessels, and put the rest to flight. Xerxes, seated on a lofty throne erected on the beach, watched the contest. Terrified by the destruction of his fleet, he fled into Asia, leaving three hundred and fifty thou- sand picked troops under Mardonius to continue the war. Battle of Himera. — While the hosts of Xerxes were pour- ing into Hellas on the northeast, she was assailed on the southwest by another formidable foe. An immense fleet, three thousand ships-of-war, sailing from Carthage to Sicily, landed an army under Hamilcar,^ who laid siege to Himera. Gelo, tyrant of Syracuse, marched to the relief of Himera, and on the very day of Salamis utterly routed the Phoenician forces. The tyranny of the commercial ohgarchy of Carthage might have been as fatal to the Hberties of Europe as the despotism of Persia. Battle of Platcea (479 B. c). — Mardonius wintered in Thessaly, and the next summer invaded Attica. The half- rebuilt houses of Athens were again leveled to the ground. Finally the allies, over one hundred thousand strong, took the field under Pausanias, the Spartan. After the two armies had faced each other for ten days, want of water compelled Pausanias to move his camp. While en routes Mardonius attacked his scattered forces. The omens were unfavorable, and the Glrecian leader dare not give the signal to engage. The Spartans protected themselves with their shields as best they could against the shower of arrows. Many Greeks were smitten, and fell, lamenting, not that they must fall, but that they could not strike a blow for their country. Id his distress, Pausanias lifted up his streaming eyes toward the temple of Hera, beseeching the goddess, that, 1 This was an ancestor of the Hamllcar of Punic fame (p. 230). 134 GREECE. [479 b. c. if the Fates forbade the Greeks to conquer, they might die like men. Suddenly the sacrifices became auspicious. The Spartans, charging in compact rank, shield touching shield, with their long spears swept all before them. The Athenians, coming up, stormed the intrenched camp. Scarcely forty thousand Persians escaped. The booty was immense. Wagons were piled up with vessels of gold and silver, jewels, and articles of luxury. One tenth of all the plunder was dedicated to the gods. The prize of valor was adjudged to the Plataeans, and they were charged to preserve the graves of the slain, Pausanias promising with a solemn oath that the battle-field should be sacred forever. That same day the Grecian fleet, having crossed the ^gean, destroyed the Persian fleet at Mycale in Asia Minor. The Effect of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale was to give the death-blow to Persian rule in Europe. Grecian valor had saved a continent from eastern slavery and barbarism. More than that, the Persian wars gave rise to the real Hellenic civilization, and Marathon and Sala- mis may be looked upon as the birthplaces of Grecian glory. Athenian Supremacy. — Greece was now, to para- phrase the language of Diodorus, at the head of the world, Athens at the head of Greece, and Themistocles at the head of Athens. The city of Athens was quickly rebuilt. During the recent war the Spartan soldiers had taken the lead, but Pausanias afterward proved a traitor, and, as Athens was so strong in ships, she became the acknowledged leader of all the Grecian states. A league, called the Confederation of Delos i^ll B. c), was formed to keep the Persians out of the ^gean. The different cities annually contributed to Athens a certain number of ships, or a fixed sum of money for the support of the navy. The ambition of Themistocles was to form a grand maritime empire, but, his share in the treason 478b,Oo] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 135 of Pausanias having been discovered, he was ostracized. Aristides, seeing the drift of affairs, had changed his views, and was ah'eady the popular commander of the fleet. mPhebes \ "B (EHO VICINITY OF ATHENS AND SALAMIS Though the head of the party of the nobles, he secured a law abolishing the property qualification, and allowing any person to hold office.i AGE OF PERICLES. (479-429 B. c.) The Leading Men at Athens, after the death of Aris- tides, were Pericles and Gimon. The heroes of the Persian invasions had passed from the stage, and new actors now appeared. 1 The thouglitful student of history cannot but pause here to consider the fate of these three great contemporary men,— Pausanias, Themistocles, and Aristides. Pausanias fled to the temple of Minerva. The Spartans, not daring to violate this sanctuary, blocked the door (the traitor's mother laying the first stone), tore off the roof, guarded every avenue, and left the wretch to die of cold and hunger. Themis- tocles was welcomed by Artaxerxes, then King of Persia, and assigned the revenue of three cities. He lived like a prince, but finally ended his pitiable existence, it is said, with poison. Aristides the Just went down to his grave full of honors. The treasurer of the league, he had yet been so honest that tradition says he did not leave enough money to meet his funeral expenses. The grateful republic paid these rites, finished the education of his son, and portioned his daughters. 136 GREECE. [466 B.C. Cimon ^ renewed the glory of his father Miltiades, the victor at Marathon. He pushed on the war in Asia Minor against Persia with great vigor, finally routing her land and sea forces in the decisive battle of the JEurymedon (466 b. c). As the head of the nobles, he was naturally friendly to aris- tocratic Sparta. The Helots and Messenians, taking advan- tage of an earthquake which nearly destroyed that city, revolted, and a ten-years' struggle (known in history as the Third Messenian War) ensued. The haughty Spartans were driven to ask aid from Athens. By the influence of Cimon, this was granted. But the Spartans became fearful of their allies, and sent the army home. AU Athens rose in indignation, and Cimon was ostracized (461 B. c.) for expos- ing his city to such insult. Pericles,^ who was the leader of the democracy, now 1 Cimon was the richest man in Athens. He kept open tahle for tlie public. A body of servants laden with cloaks followed him through the streets, and gave a garment to any needy person whom he met. His pleasure-garden was free for all to enter and pluck fruit or flowers. He planted oriental plane-trees in the market place ; bequeathed to Athens the groves, afterward the Academy of Plato, with its beautiful fountains; built marble colonnades where the people were wont to promenade; and gave magnificent dramatic entertainments at his private expense. 2 "To all students of Grecian literature, Pericles must always appear as the central figure of Grecian history. His form, manner, and outward appearance are well known. We can imagine that stern and almost forbidding aspect which repelled rather than invited intimacy; the majestic stature; the long head,— long to dispro- portion,— already, before his fiftieth year, silvered over with the marks of age ; the sweet voice and rapid enunciation— recalling, thougli by an unwelcome association, the likeness of his ancestor Pisistratus. We knew the stately reserve which reigned through his whole life and manners. Those grave features were never seen to relax into laughter, twice only in his long career to melt into tears. For the whole forty years of his administration he never accepted an invitation to dinner but once, and that to his nephew's wedding, and then staid only till the libation [p. 199]. That princely courtesy could never be disturbed by the bitterest persecution of aristocratic enmity or popular irritation. To the man who had followed him all the way from the assembly to his own house, loading him with the abusive epithets with which, as we know from Aristophanes, the Athenian vocabulary was so richly stored, he paid no other heed tlian, on arriving at his own door, to turn to his torch-bearer with an order to light his reviler home. In public it was the same. Amidst the passionate gesticulations of Athenian oratory, amidst the tempest of an Athenian mob, his self- possession was never lost, his dress was never disordered, his language was ever studied and measured. Every speech that he delivered he wrote down previously. Every time that he spoke he offered up a prayer to Heaven that no word might escape his lips which he should wish unsaid. But when he did speak the effect was almost 461 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 137 had everything his own way. A mere private citizen, living plainly and unostentatiously, this great-hearted man, by his eloquence, genius, adi'oitness, and wisdom, shaped the policy of the state. Opposing foreign conquest, he sought home development. He was bent on keeping Athens all-powerful in (xreece, and on making the people all-powerful in Athens. He had perfect confidence in a government by the people, if they were only properly educated. There were then no common schools or daily papers, and he was forced to use what the times supplied. He paid for all service in the army, on juries, at religious festivals and civil assemblies, so that the poorest man could take part in public affairs. He had the grand dramas of ^schylus, Euripides, and Sophocles performed free before the multitude. He erected magnificent public buildings, and adorned them with the noblest historical paintings. He enriched the temples of the gods with beautiful architecture and the exquisite sculptures of Phidias. He encouraged poets, artists, philosophers, and orators to do their best work. Under his fostering care, the Age of Pericles became the finest blossom and fruitage of Hellenic civilization. Athens Ornamented and Fortified. — Matchless colonnades and temples were now erected, which are yet the wonder of the world. The Acropolis was so enriched with awful. The ' fierce democracy ' was struck down before it. It could be compared to nothing short of the thundeis and lightnings of that Olympian Jove whom in majesty and dignity he resembled. It left the irresistible impression that he was always in the right. ' He not only throws me in the wrestle,' said one of his rivals, ' but wflen I have thrown him, he will make the people think that it is I and not he who has fallen.' What Themistocles, what Aristides, what Cimon, said, has perished from memory; but the condensed and vivid rlietorical images of Pericles were handed down from age to age as specimens of that eloquence which had held Athens and Greece in awe 'The lowering of the storm of war' from Peloponnesus— 'the spring taken out of the year' in the loss of the flower of Athenian youths— the comparison of Greece to 'a chaiiot drawn by two horses'— of ^gina to 'the eyesore of the Piraeus'- of Athens to ' the school of Greece'— were traditionary phrases which later writers preserved, and which Thucydides either introduced or imitated in the 'Funeral Oration ' which he has put in his moutli." 138 GREECE. [455 B. C. magnificent structures that it was called "the city of the gods." The Long Walls were built two hundred yards apart, and extended over four miles from Athens to Pir^us — its harbor. Thus the capital was connected with the sea, and, while the Athenians held the command of the ocean, their ships could bring them supplies, even when the city should be surrounded by an enemy on land. A SCENE IN ATHENS IN THE TIME OF PERICLES. The Wonderful Spirit and enterprise of the Athenians are shown from the fact that, while they were thus erecting great public works at home, they were during a single year (458 B. c.) waging war in Cyprus, in Egypt, in Phoenicia, off 450 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 139 ^gina, and on the coast of Peloponnesus. The Corinthians, knowing that the Athenian troops were occupied so far from home, invaded Megara, then in alliance with Athens, but the " boys and old men " of Athens sallied out and routed them. So completely was the tide turned, that (450 b. c.) Artaxerxes I. made a treaty with Athens, agreeing to the independence of the Grecian cities in Asia Minor, and promising not to spread a sail on the ^gean Sea, nor bring a soldier Avithin three days' march of its coast. PELOPONNESIAN WAR. (431-404 B. c.) Causes of the War. — The meddhng of Athens in the affairs of her allies, and the use of their contributions (p. 134) to erect her own public buildings, had aroused bitter hatred. Sparta, jealous of the glory and fame of her rival, watched every chance to interfere. At last an opportunity came. A quarrel arose between Corinth and her colony of Corcyra. Athens favored Corcyra ; Sparta, Corinth. Nearly all Greece took sides in the dispute, according to race or pohtical sympathy ; the real question at issue being the broad one, whether the ruhng power in Hellas should be Athens — Ionic, democratic and maritime ; or Sparta — Doric, aristocratic and military. The lonians and the democracy naturally aided Athens; the Dorians and the aristocracy, Sparta. Both parties were sometimes found withm the same city, contending for the supremacy. Allies of Athens. All the islands of the ^Egean (except Melos and Thera), Corcyra, Zacynthos, Chios, Leshos, and Samos ; the nu- merous Greek colonies on the coast of Asia Minor, Thrace, and Macedon; Naupactus, Platsea, and a part of Acar- nania. Allies of Sparta. All the states of the Peloponnesus (except Argos and Achaia, which re- mained neutral) ; Locris, Phocis, and Megara ; Ambracia, Anactorium, and the island of Leucas; and the strong Boeotian League, of which Thebes was the head. 140 GREECE. [431 B.C. Conduct of the War. — The Spartan plan was to invade Attica, destroy the crops, and persuade the Athenian allies to desert her. As Sparta was strong on land, and Athens on water, Pericles ordered the people of Attica to take refuge within the Long Walls of the city, while, the fleet and army ravaged the coast of the Peloponnesus. When, therefore, Archida^mus, king of Sparta, invaded Attica, the people flocked into the city with all .their movable possessions. Temporary buildings were erected in every vacant place in the public squares and streets, while the poorest of the populace were forced to seek protection in squalid huts beneath the shelter of the Long Walls. Pitiable indeed was the condition of the inhabitants during these hot summer days, as they saw the enemy, without hindrance, burning their homes and destroying their crops, while the Athenian fleet was off ravaging the coast of Peloponnesus. But it was worse the second year, when a fearful pestilence broke out in the crowded population. Many died, among them Pericles himself (429 B. c.).^ This was the greatest loss of all, for there was no statesman left to guide the people. 1 " When, at the opening of the Peloponnesian war, the long enjoyment of every comfort which peace and civilization could bring was interrupted by hostile invasion ; when the whole population of Attica was crowded within the city of Athens ; when, to the inflammable materials which the populace of a Grecian town would always afford, were added the discontented land-owners and peasants from the countiy, who were obliged to exchange the olive glades of Colonus, the thymy slopes of Hymettus, and the oak forests of Acharnte, for the black shade of the Pelasgicum and the stifling huts along the dusty plain between the Long Walls ; when witliout were seen the fire and smoke ascending from the ravage of their beloved orchards and gardens, and within the excitement was aggravated by the little knots which gath- ered at every corner, and by the predictions of impending evil which were handed about from mouth to mouth,— when all these feelings, awakened by a situation so wholly new in a population so Irritable, turned against one man as the author of the present distress, then it was seen how their respect for that one man united with their inherent respect for law to save the state. Not only did Pericles restrain the more eager spirits from sallying forth to defend their burning property, not only did he calm and elevate their despondency by his speeches in the Pnyx and Ceramicus, not only did he refuse to call an assembly, but no attempt at an assembly was ever made. The groups in the streets never grew into a mob, and, even when to the hor- rors of a blockade were added those of a pestilence, public tranquillity was never for a moment disturbed, the order of the constitution was never for a moment infringed. i29B. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 141 Demagogues now arose, chief among whom was Cleon, a cruel, arrogant boaster, who gained power by flattering the populace. About this time, also, the Spartans began to build ships to dispute the empire of the sea, on wliich Athens had so long triumphed. The Memorable Siege of Plataea, which began in the third year of the war, illustrates the desperation and destruc- tion that characterized this terrible struggle of twenty- seven years. In spite of Pausanias's oath (p. 134), Archida'- mus with the Spartan army attacked this city, which was defended by only four hundred and eighty men. First the Spartan general closed every outlet by a wooden palisade, and constructed an inclined plane of earth and stone, up which his men could advance to hurl their weapons against the city. This work cost seventy days' labor of the whole army, but the garrison undermined the mound and destroyed it entirely. Next the Spartans built around the And yet the man who thus swayed the minds of his fellow-citizens was the reverse of a demagogue. Unlike his aristocratic rival, Cimon, he never won their favor hy indiscriminate bounty Unlike his democratic successor, Cleon, he never influenced their passions hy coarse invectives. Unlike his kinsman, Alcibiades, he never sought to dazzle them by a display of his genius or his wealth. At the very moment when Pericles was preaching the necessity of manful devotion to the common country, he was himself the greatest of sufferers. The epidemic carried off his two sons, his sister, several other relatives, and his best and most useful political friends. Amidst this train of calamities he maintained his habitual self command, until the death of his favorite son Paralus left his house without a legitimate representative to maintain the family and its hereditary sacred rites. On tbis final blow,— the greatest that, •according to the Greek feeling, could befall any human being,— though he strove to command himself as before, yet at the obsequies of thfe young man, when it became his duty to place a garland on the dead body, liis grief 'Gecame uncontrollable, and he burst into tears. Every feeling of resentment seems to have passed away from the hearts of the Athenian people before the touching sight of the marble majesty of their great statesman yielding to the common emotion of their own excitable nature. Every measure was passed which could alleviate this deepest sonow of his declining age. But it was too late, and he soon sank into the stupor from which he never recovered. As he lay apparently iiassive in the hands of tlie nurse, who had hung round his neck the amulets which in life and health he had scorned, whilst his friends were dwelling with pride on the nine trophies which on Bceotia and Samos, and on the shores of Peloponnesus, bore witness to his success during his forty years' career, the dying man suddenly broke in with the emphatic words, ' That of which I am most proud you have left unsaid: No Athenian, through my fault, was ever clothed in the black garb of mourning.' " —Quarterly Review 429-427 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 143 city two concentric walls, and roofed over the space between them so as to give shelter to the soldiers on guard. For two long years the Plataeans endured all the horrors of a siege. Provisions ran low, and one stormy December night a part of the men stole out of the gate, placed ladders against the Spartan w\all, climbed to the top, killed the sentinels, and escaped through the midst of the enemy with the loss of only one man. The rest of the garrison were thus enabled to hold out some time longer. But at length their food was exhausted, and they were forced to surrender. The cruel Spartans put every man to death, and then, to please the Thebans, razed the city to the ground. Heroic Httle Platasa was thus blotted out of the map of Greece.^ Alcibi'ades, a young nobleman, the nephew of Pericles and pupil of Socrates, by his wealth, beauty, and talent, next won the ear of the crowd. Reckless and dissolute, with no heart, conscience, or principle, he cared for nothing except his own ambitious schemes. Though peace had then come through the negotiations of Nicias, the favorite Athenian general, it was broken by the influence of this demagogue, and the bloody contest renewed. Expedition to Sicily (415 b. c). — The oppressions of the tyrants of Syracuse, a Dorian city in Sicily, gave an ex- cuse for seizing that island, and Alcibiades advocated this brilliant scheme, which promised to make Athens irresistible. The largest fleet and army Hellas had yet sent forth were accordingly equipped. One morning, just before their de- parture, the busts of Hermes, that were placed along the roads of Attica to mark the distance, and in front of the Athenian houses as protectors of the people, were found to be muti- lated. The populace, in dismay, lest a curse should fall on the city, demanded the punishment of those who had com- 1 It was restored 387 b. c, again destroyed 374 b. c, and again rebuilt 338 B. c. 144 GREECE. [415 b. 0. mitted this sacrilegious act. It was probable that some drunken revelers had done the mischief ; but the enemies of Alcibiades made the people believe that he was the offender. After he sailed he was cleared of this charge, but a new one impended. This was that he had privately performed the Eleusinian mysteries (p. 184) for the amusement of his friends. To answer this heinous offense, Alcibiades was summoned home, but he escaped to Sparta, and gave the rival city the benefit of his powerful support. Meanwhile the exasperated Athenians condemned him to death, seized his property, and called upon the priests to pronounce him accursed. The expedition had now lost the only man who could have made it a success. Nicias, the commander, was old and sluggish. Disasters followed apace. Finally Gylippus, a famous Spartan general, came to the help of Syi'acuse. Athens sent a new fleet and army, but she did not furnish a better leader, and the reenforcement served only to increase the final ruin. In a great sea-fight in the harbor of Syracuse the Athenian ships were defeated, and the troops attempt- ing to flee by land were overtaken and forced to surrender (413 B. c). Fall of Athens. — The proud city was now doomed. Her best soldiers were dying in the dungeons of Syracuse. Her treasury was empty. Alcibiades was pressing on her destruction with aU his revengeful genius. A Spartan gar- rison held Decelea, in the heart of Attica. The Athenian allies dropped off. The Ionic colonies revolted. Yet with the energy of despair Athens dragged out the unequal con- test nine years longer. The recall of Alcibiades gave a gleam of success. But victory at the price of submission to such a master was too costly, and he was dismissed. Persian gold gave weight to the Lacedaemonian sword and 405 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 145 equipped her fleet. The last ships of Athens were taken by Lysander, the Spartan, at ^gospotami in the Hellespont (405 B. c). Sparta now controlled the sea, and Athens, its harbor blockaded, suffered famine in addition to the horrors of war. The proud city surrendered at last (404 B. c). Her ships were given up 5 and the Long Walls were torn down amid the playing of flutes and the rejoicings of dancers, crowned with garlands, as for a festival. " That day was deemed by the Peloponnesians," says Xenophon, " the com- mencement of liberty for Greece." Thus ended the Peloponnesian war, twenty-seven years after its commencement, and seventy-six years after Salamis had laid the foundation of the Athenian power. Athens had fallen, but she possessed a kingdom of which Sparta could not deprive her. She still remained the mistress of Greece in hterature and art. The Thirty Tyrants. — A Spartan garrison was now placed on the Acropolis at Athens, and an ohgarchy of thirty persons established. A reign of terror followed. The " Thirty Tyrants " put hundreds of citizens to death without form of trial. After they had ruled only eight months, the Athenian exiles returned in arms, overthrew the tyrants, and reestablished a democratic government. Retreat of the Ten Thousand (401 b. c). — Now that peace had come at home, over ten thousand restless Greeks ^ went away to help Cyrus the Younger, satrap of Asia Minor, dethrone his elder brother, Artaxerxes. At Cunaxa, near Babylon, they routed the Persians. But Cyrus fell, and, to complete their misfortune, their chief officers were induced to visit the enemy's camp, where they were treacherously taken prisoners. Left thus in the heart of the Persian Em- 1 Greece at this time was full of soldiers of fortune,— men wlio made war a trade, and served anybody who was able to pay them. 146 GREECE. [401b. C. pire, the little army chose new captains, and decided to cut its way home again. All were ignorant alike of the route and the language of the people. Hostile troops swarmed on every side. Guides misled them. Famine threatened them. Snows overwhelmed them. Yet they struggled on for months. When one day ascending a mountain, there broke from the van the joyful shout of "The sea! The sea ! " It was the Euxine,— a branch of that sea whose waters washed the shores of their beloved Greece. About three-fourths of the original number survived to tell the story of that wonderful march (p. 172). Such an exploit, while it honored the endurance of the Greek soldier, revealed the weakness of the Persian Empire. LACED^MON AND THEBAN DOMINION. Lacedsemon R-ule (405-371 b. c). — -Tempted by the glit- tering prospect of Eastern conquest, Sparta sent Agesila'us into Asia. His success there made Artaxerxes tremble for his throne. Again Persian gold was thrown into the scale. The Athenians were helped to rebuild the Long Walls, and soon their flag floated once more on the ^gean. Conon, the Athenian admiral, defeated the Spartan fleet off Cnidus, near Rhodes (394 b. c). In Greece the Spartan rule, cruel and coarse, had already become unendurable. In every town Sparta sought to estabhsh an oligarchy of ten citizens favorable to herself, and a harmost, or governor. Wherever popular liberty asserted itself, she endeavored to extinguish it by military force. But the cities of Corinth, Argos, Thebes, and Athens struck for freedom. Sparta was forced to recall Agesilaus. Strangely enough, she now made friends with the Persian king, who dictated the Peace of Antalci' 387 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 147 das ^ (387 B. c). This ended the war, and gave Asia Minor to Persia. So low had Hellas fallen since the days of Salamis and Plataea ! Theban Rule (371-362 b. c.).— At the very height of Sparta's arrogance her humiliation came. The Boeotian League (p. 139) having been restored, and the oligarchical governments favorable to Sparta overthrown, a Spartan army invaded that state. At this juncture there arose in Thebes a great general, Epaminondas, who made the Theban army the best in the land. On the famous field of Leuctra (371 B. c), by throwing heavy columns against the long lines of Spartan soldiers, he beat them for the first time in their history.^ The charm of Lacedaemonian invincibihty was broken. The stream of Persian gold now turned into Thebes. The tyrannical Spartan liarmosts were expelled from all the cities. To curb the power of Sparta, the inde- pendence of Messenia, after three centuries of slavery, was reestabhshed (p. 121). Arcadia was united in a league, having as its head Megalopolis, a new city now founded. A wise, pure-hearted statesman, Epaminondas sought to com- bine Hellas, and not, like the leaders of Athens or Sparta, 1 So namerl from the Spartan envoy who managed it. This peace was a mournful incident in Grecian history. Its true character cannot be better described than by a brief remark and reply cited in Plutarch : " Alas, for Hellas! " observed some one to .Agesilaus, " when we see our Laconians Medizing ! " — " Nay," replied the Spartan king, "say rather the Medes (Persians) Laconizing." 2 The Spartan lines were twelve ranks deep. Epaminondas (fighting en echelon) made his, at the point where he wished to break through, fifty ranks deep. At his side always fought his intimate friend Pelopidas, who commanded the Sacred Band. This consisted of three hundred brothers-iu -arms,— men who had known one another from childhood, and were sworn to live and die together. In the crisis of the struggle Epaminondas cheered his men with the words, " One step forward ! " While the by- standers after the battle were congratulating him over his victory, he replied that his greatest pleasure was in thinking how it would gratify liis father and mother. Soon after Epaminondas returned from the battle of Leuctra. his enemies secured his election as public scavenger. The noble-spirited man immediately accepted the office, declaring tliat " the place did not confer dignity on the man, but the man on the place," and executed the duties of this unworthy post so efficiently as to baffle the malice of his foes. 14S aREECE. [362 B. c. selfishly to rule it. Athens at first aided him, and then, jealous of his success, sided with Lacedeemon. At Mantinea (362 B. c), in Arcadia, Epaminondas fought his last battle, and died at the moment of victory. ^ As he alone had made Thebes great, she dropped at once to her former level. Three states in succession — ^Athens, Sparta, and Thebes — had risen to take the lead in Greece. Each had faUed. Hellas now lay a mass of quarreling, struggling states. MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. Rise of Macedonia. — The Macedonians were aUied to the Grreeks, and their kings took part in the Olympian games. They were, however, a very different people. In- stead of hving in a multitude of free cities, as in Greece, they dwelt in the country, and were all governed by one king. The polite and refined Athenian looked upon the coarse Macedonian as almost a barbarian. But about the time of the fall of Athens these rude northerners were fast taking on the Greek civilization. Philip (359-336 b. c.) came to the throne of Macedonia well schooled for his career. A hostage for many years at the Theban court, he understood Grecian diplomacy and military art. He was now determined to be recognized not only as a Greek among Greeks, but as the head of all Greece. To this he bent every energy of his strong, wUy nature. He extended his kingdom, and made it a compact empire. He thoroughly organized his army, and formed the famous 1 He was pierced with a javelin, and to extract the weapon would cause his death by bleeding. Being carried out of the battle, like a true soldier he asked first about his shieldj then waited to learn the issue of the contest. Hearing the cries of vic- tory, he drew out the shaft with his own hand, and died a few moments after. 359 B. c] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 149 PORTEAIT OF PHILIP OF MACEDON. Macedonian phalanx/ that, for two centuries after, decided the day on every field on which it appeared. He craftily mixed in Grecian affairs, and took snch an active part in the Sacred War 2 (355-346 b. c), that he was admitted to the Amphictyonic Council (p. 115). Demosthenes, the great Athenian orator, seemed the only man clear-headed enough to detect Philip's scheme. His eloquent ^' Philippics " (p. 202) at last aroused his apathetic countrymen to a sense of their danger. The Second Sacred War, declared by the Amphictyons against theLocrians for alleged sacri- lege, having been intrusted to Philip, that monarch marched through Ther- mopylae, and his designs against the liberties of Greece became but too evident. Thebes and Athens now took the field. But at Cheer one' a (338 b. c.) the Macedonian phalanx annihilated their armies, the Sacred Band perishing to a man. Greece was prostrate at Philip's feet. In a congress of 1 The peculiar feature of this body was that the men were armed witli huge lances twenty-one feet long. The lines were placed so that the front rank, composed of the strongest and most experienced soldiers, was protected by a bristling mass of five rows of lance-points, their own extending fifteen feet before them, and the rest twelve, nine, six, and three feet respectively. Formed in a solid mass, usually six- teen ranks deep, shield touching shield, and maiching with the precision of a ma- chine, the phalanx charge was irresistible. The Spartans, carrying spears only about half as long, could not reach the Macedonians. 2 The pretext for the First Sacred War Is said to have been that the Phocians had cultivated lands consecrated to Apollo. The Amphictyonic Council, led by Thebes, Inflicted a heavy fine upon them. Thereupon they seized the Temple at Delphi, and finally, to furnish means for prolonging the struggle, sold the riches accumulated from the pious offerings of the men of a better daj\ The Grecians were first shocked and then demoralized by this impious act. The holiest objects circulated among tlie people, and were put to common uses. All reverence for the gods and sacred things was lost. The ancient patriotism went with the religion and Hellas was forever fallen from her high estate. Everywhere her sous were ready to sell their swords to the liighest bidder. 150 GREECE, [337-336 B. c. all the states except Sparta, he was appointed to lead their united forces against Persia. But while preparing to start he was assassinated (336 B. c.) at his daughter's marriage feast. A TETRADRACHM OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. Alexander, 1 his son, succeeded to Philip's throne and ambitious projects. Though only twenty years old, he was 1 On the clay of Alexander's birth, Philip received news of the defeat of the lUyrians, and that his horses had won in tlie Olympian chariot-races. Overwhelmed by such fortune, the monarch exclaimed, "Gieat Jupiter, send me only some slight reverse in return for so many blessings ! " That same day also the famous Temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was burned by an incendiary. Alexander was wont to consider this an omen that he should himself kindle a flame in Asia. On his father's side he was said to be descended from Hercules, and on his mother's from Achilles. He became a pupil of Aristotle (p. 176), to whom Philip wrote, announcing Alexander's birth, saying that he knew not which gave him the gieater pleasure,— that he had a son, or that Aristotle could be his son's teacher. The young piince at fourteen tamed the noble horse Bucephalus, which no one at the Macedonian court dared to mount ; at sixteen he saved his father in battle, and at eighteen defeated the Sacred Band upon the field at Chseronea. Before setting out upon his Persian expedition, he con. suited the oracle at Delphi. The priestess refused to go to the shrine, as it was an unlucky day. Alexander thereupon grasped her arm. "Ah, my son," exclaimed she, " thou art irresistible! "—"Enough," shouted the delighted monarch, "I ask no other reply." He was equally happy of thought at Gordium. Here he was shown the famous Gordian knot, which, it was said, no one could untie except the one des- tined to be the conqueror of Asia. He tried to unravel the cord, but, failing, drew his sword and severed it at a blow. Alexander- always retained a warm love for his . mother, Olympias. She, however, was a violent woman. Antip'ater, who was left r governor of Macedon during Alexander's absence, wrote, complaining of her conduct. "Ah," said the king, " Antipater does not know that one tear of a mother will blot out ten thousand of his letters." Unfortunately, the hero who subdued the known world had never conquered liimself. In a moment of drunken passion he slew Clltus, his dearest friend, who had saved his life in battle. He shut himself up for days after this horrible deed, lamenting his crime, and refusing to eat or to transact any business. Yet in soberness and calmness lie tortured and hanged Callisthenes, a Greek author, because he would not worship lilm as a god. Carried away by his success, he finally sent to Greece, ordering lii.s name to be enrolled among the deities. Said the Spartans in reply, " If Alexander will be a god, let him." 336 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 151 more than his father's equal in statesmanship and military skill. Thebes having revolted, he sold its inhabitants as slaves, and razed the city, sparing only the temples and the house of Pindar the poet. This terrible example quieted aU opposition. He was at once made captain-general of the Grecian forces to invade Persia, and, soon after, he set out upon that perilous expedition from which he never returned. Alexander's Marches and Conquests. — In 334 b. c. Alexander crossed the Hellespont with thirty thousand in- fantry and four thousand five hundred cavalry. He was the first to leap on the Asiatic shore.^ Pressing eastward, he defeated the Persians in two great battles, — one at the river Granicus, and the other at Issiis.^ Then he turned south and besieged Tyre. To reach the island on which the city stood, he built a stone pier two hundred feet wide and half a mile long, on which he rolled his ponderous machines, breached the wall, and carried the place by a desperate assault. Thence passing into Egypt, that country fell with- out a blow. Here he founded the famous city of Alexandria (p. 154). Resuming his eastern march, he routed the Persian host, a million strong, on the decisive field of Arhela. Baby- lon was entered in triumph. Persepolis (p. 94) was burned to avenge the destruction of Athens one hundred and fifty years before (p. 132). Darius was pursued so closely, that, to prevent his falling into the conqueror's possession, he was slain by a noble. 1 Alexander was a great lover of Homer (p. 162), and slept with a copy of the Iliad under his pillow. Wliile his army was now landing, he visited the site of Troy, offered a sacrifice at the tomb of Achilles, hung up his own shield in the temple, and, taking down one said to have belonged to a hero of the Trojan war, ordered it to be henceforth carried before him in battle. 2 Just before this engagement Alexander was attacked by a fever in consequence of bathing in the cold water of the Cydnus. While sick he was informed that hi8 physician Philip had been bribed by Darius to poison him. As Pbilip came into the room, Alexander handed him the letter containing the warning, and then, before the doctor could speak, swallowed the medicine. His confidence was rewarded by a speedy recovery. 152 GREECE. [326 B.C. The mysterious East still alluring him on, Alexander, exploring, conquering,^ founding cities, at last reached the river Hyph'asis, where his army refused to proceed fiu*ther in the unknown regions. Instead of going directly back, he built vessels, and descended the Indus ; thence the fleet cruised along the coast, while the troops returned through Gedro'sia (Beloochistan), suffering fearful hardships in its inhospitable deserts.^ When he reached Babylon, ten years had elapsed since he crossed the Hellespont. The next season, while just setting out from Babylon upon a new expedition into Arabia, he died (323 b. c). With him perished his schemes and his empire. Alexander's Plan was to mold the diverse nations which he had conquered into one vast empire, with the capital at Babylon. Having been the Cyrus, he desired to be the Darius of the Persians. He sought to break down the distinctions between the Greek and the Persian. He married the Princess Roxana, the "Pearl of the East," and induced many of his army to take Persian wives. He enlisted twenty thousand Persians into the Macedonian phalanx, and appointed natives to high office. He wore the Eastern dress, and adopted oriental ceremonies in his court. He respected the rehgion and the government of the various countries, restrained the satraps, and ruled more beneficently than their own monarchs. The Results of the thirteen years of Alexander's reign have not yet disappeared. Great cities were founded by 1 Porus, an Indian prince, held the banks of the Hydaspes with three hundred war-chariots and two hundred elephants. The Indians being defeated, Poms was brought into Alexander's presence. When asked what he wished, Porus replied, "Nothing except to be treated like a king." Alexander, struck by the answer, gave him his liberty, and enlarged his territory. 2 One day while Alexander was parched with thirst, a drink of water was given him, but he threw it on the ground lest the sight of his pleasure should aggravate the suffering of his men. 336-323 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 153 him, or his generals, which are still marts of trade. Com- merce received new life. Greek culture and civilization spread over the Orient, and the Greek language became, if not the common speech, at least the medium of communi- cation among educated people from the Adriatic to the Indus. So it came about, that, when Greece had lost her national hberty, she suddenly attained, through her con- querors, a world-wide empire over the minds of men. But while Asia became thus Hellenized, the East exerted a reflex influence upon Hellas. As Rawlinson well remarks, — "The Oriental habits of servility and adulation superseded the old free-spoken independence and manliness; patriotism and public spirit disappeared; luxury increased ; literature lost its vigor ; art deteriorated ; and the people sank into a nation of pedants, parasites, and adventurers." ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS. Alexander's Principal Generals, soon after his death, divided his empire among themselves. A mortal struggle of twenty- two years followed, during which these offi-cers, released from the strong hand of their master, "fought, quarreled, grasped, and wrangled like loosened tigers in an amphitheater." The greed and jealousy of the generals, or kings as they were called, were equaled only by the treachery of their men. Finally, by the decisive battle of Ipsus (301 B. c), the conflict was ended, and the following distribution of the territory made : — Ptolemy received Egypt, and conquered all of Palestine, Phoenicia, and Cyprus. Lysim'aclius received Thrace and nearly all of Asia Minor. Seleueus received Syria and the East, and he af- terward conquered Asia Minor, Lysim- achus being slain. Cassander received Macedon and Greece. Ptolemy founded a flourishing Greek kingdom in Egypt. The Greeks, attracted by his benign rule, flocked thither in 154 GREECE. [323 B.C. multitudes. The Egyptians were protected in their ancient religion, laws, and customs, so that these stiff-necked rebels against the Persian rule quietly submitted to the Macedonian. The Jews ^ in large numbers found safety under his paternal government. This threefold population gave to the second civilization which grew up on the banks of the Nile a pe- cuHarly cosmopolitan character. The statues of the Greek gods were mingled with those of Osiris and Isis ; the same hieroglyphic word was used to express a Greek and a lower Egyptian ; and even the Jews forgot the language of Pales- tine, and talked Greek. Alexandria thus became, under the Ptolemies, a brilliant center of commerce and civilization. The building of a commodious harbor and a superb light- house, and the opening of a canal to the Red Sea, gave a great impetus to the trade with Arabia and India. Grecian architects made Alexandria, with its temples, obelisks, palaces, and theaters, the most beautiful city of the times. Its white marble lighthouse, called the Pharos, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World (p. 601). At the center of the city, where its two grand avenues crossed each other, in the midst of gardens and fountains, stood the Mausoleum, which contained the body of Alexander, embalmed in the Egyptian manner. The Alexandrian Museum and Library founded by Ptolemy I. (Soter), but greatly extended by Ptolemy II. (Philadelphus), and enriched by Ptolemy III. -(Euergetes), were the grandest monuments of this Greco-Egyptian kingdom. The Library comprised at one time, in aU its collections, seven hundred thousand volumes. The Museum was a stately marble edifice surrounded by a portico, beneath which the philosophers walked and conversed. The pro- 1 They had a temple at Alexandria similar to the one at Jerusalem, and for their use the Old Testament was translated into Greek (275-250 B. c). From the fact that seventy scholars performed this work, it is termed tlie Septuagint. 323-222 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY, 155 fessors and teachers were all kept at the public expense. There were connected with this institution a botanical and a zoological garden, an astronomical observatory, and a chemical laboratory. To this grand university resorted the scholars of the world (see Steele's New Astronomy, p. 9). At one time in its history there were in attendance as many as fourteen thousand persons. While wars shook Europe and Asia, Archimedes and Hero the philosophers, Apelles the painter, Hipparchus and Ptolemy the astronomers, Euclid the geometer, Eratosthenes and Strabo the geographers, Manetho the historian, Aristophanes the rhetorician, and Apollonius the poet, labored in quiet upon the peaceful banks of the Nile. Probably no other school of learning has ever exerted so wide an influence. When Caesar wished to revise the calendar, he sent for Sosigenes the Alexandrian. Even the early Christian church drew, from what the ancients loved to call " the divine school at Alexandria," some of its most eminent Fathers, as Origen and Athanasius. Modern science itself dates its rise from the study of nature that began under the shadow of the Pyramids. Last of the Ptolemies. — The first three Ptolemies were able rulers. Then came ten weak or corrupt successors. The last Ptolemy married his sister,^ the famous Cleopatra (p. 254), who shared his throne. At her death Egypt became a province of Rome (30 b. c). Seleucus was a conqueror, and his kingdom at one time stretched from the JEgean to India, comprising nearly all the former Persian empire. He was a famous founder of cities, nine of which were named for himself, and sixteen for his son Antiochus. One of the latter, Antioch in Syi'ia (Acts xi. 26, etc.), became the capital instead of Babylon. The descendants of Seleucus (Seleucidae) were unable to 1 This kind of family intermarriage was common among the Pharaohs. 156 GREECE. [65 B.C. retain his vast conquests, and one province after another dropped away, until the wide empire finally shrank into Syria, which was grasped by the Romans (65 b. c). Several Independent States arose in Asia during this eventful period. Pergamus became an independent kingdom on the death of Seleucus I. (280 B. c), and, mainly through the favor of Rome, absorbed Lydia, Phrygia, and other provinces. The city of Pergamus, with its school of literature and magnificent public buildings, rivaled the glories of Alexandria. The rapid growth of its library so aroused the jealousy of Ptolemy that he forbade the export of papjrrus ; whereupon Eumenes, king of Pergamus, resorted to parchment, which he used so extensively for ^Titing that this material took the name of pergamena. By the will of the last king of Pergamus, the kingdom fell to Rome (p. 237). Parthia arose about 255 b. c. It gradually spread, until at one time it stretched from the Indus to the Euphra- tes. Never absorbed into the Roman dominion, it remained throughout the palmy days of that empire its dreaded foe. The twenty-ninth of the Arsacidae, as its kings were called, was driven from the throne by Artaxerxes, a descendant of the ancient line of Persia, and, after an existence of about five centuries, the Parthian Empire came to an end. It was succeeded by the new Persian monarchy or kingdom of the Sassanidae (226-652 a. d.). Pontus, a rich kingdom of Asia Minor, became famous through the long wars its great king Mithridates V. carried on with Rome (p. 243). Greece and Macedonia, after Alexander's time, pre- sent little historic interest.^ The chief feature was that nearly aU the Grecian states, except Sparta, in order to make 1 In 279 B. c. there was a fearful irruption of the Gauls under Brennus (see Brief Hist. France, p. 10). Greece was ravaged by the barbarians. They were finally expelled, and a remnant founded a province in Asia Minor named Galatia, to whose people in later times St. Paul directed one of his Epistles. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 157 head against Macedonia, formed leagues similar to that of our government during the Revolution. The principal ones were the Achcean and the ^tolian. But the old feuds and petty strifes continued until all were swallowed up in the world-wide dominion of Rome, 146 b. c. (p. 236). Athens under the Romans was prosperous. Other centers of learning existed, — Alexandria, Marseilles, Tarsus ; but scholars from all parts of the extended empire of Rome still flocked to Athens to complete their education. True, war had laid waste the groves of Plato and the garden in which Epicurus lived, yet the charm of old associations continued to linger around these sacred places, and the Four Schools of Philosophy (p. 175) maintained their hold on public thought.^ The Emperor Hadrian (p, 261) estab- lished a Library, and built a pantheon and a gymnasium. The Antonines endowed university professorships. So late as the close of the 4th century a. d. a writer describes the airs put on by those who thought themselves " demigods^ so proud are they of having looked on the Academy and Lyceum, and the Porch where Zeno reasoned." But with the fall of Paganism and the growth of legal studies — so peculiar to the Roman character — Athens lost her importance, and her schools were closed by Justinian (529 a. d.). 1 It is strange to hear Cicero, in De Finibus, speak of these scenes as already classic ground : " After hearing Antiochus in the Ptolemaeam, with Piso and my brother and Pomponiiis, ... we agreed to take our evening walk in the Academy. So we all met at Piso's house, and, chatting as we went, walked the six stadia between the Gate Dipylum and the Academy. When we reached the scenes so justly famous, we found the quietude we craved. ' Is it a natural sentiment,' asked Piso, *or a mere illusion, which makes us more affected when we see the spots frequented by men worth remembering than when we merely hear their deeds or read their works? It is thus that I feel touched at present, for I think of Plato, who, as we are told, was wont to lecture here. Not only do those gardens of his, close by, remind me of him, but I seem to fancy him before my eyes. Here stood Speusippus, here Xenocrates, here his hearer Poleraon.' . . . ' Yes,' said Quintus, ' what you say, Piso, is quite true, tor as I was coming hither, Colonus, yonder, called my thoughts away, and made me fancy that I saw its inmate Sophocles, for whom you know my passionate admi- ration.'— 'And I, too,' said Pomponius, 'whom you often attack for my devotion to Epicurus, spend much time in his garden, which we passed lately in our walk.' " 158 GREECE. 2. THE CIVILIZATION. "Athens is the school of Greece, and the Athenian is best fitted, by diversity of gifts, for the graceful performance of all life's duties."— PericZes. Athens and Sparta. — Thongli the Greeks comprised many distinct tribes, inhabiting separate cities, countries, and islands, having different laws, dialects, manners, and customs, Athens and Sparta were the great centers of Hellenic life. These two cities differed widely from each other in thought, habits, and tastes. Sparta had no part in Grecian art or literature. " There was no Spartan sculptor, no Laconian painter, no Lacedaemonian poet." From Athens, on the contrary, came the world's masterpieces in poetry, oratory, sculpture, and architecture. GREEK GALLEY WITH THREE BANKS OF OARS. Society. — The Athenians boasted that they were Autochthons,"^ i. e., sprung from the soil where they lived; and that their descent was direct from the sons of the gods. The ancient Attic tribes were divided into phratries, or fraternities ; the phratries into gentes, or clans ; and the gentes into hearths, or families. The four tribes were bound together by the common worship of Apollo Patrous, reputed father of their common ancestor, Ion. Each phratry had its particular sacred rites and civil compact, but all the phratries of the same tribe joined periodically in certain ceremonies. Each gens had also its own ancestral hero or god, its exclusive privilege 1 In recognition of this belief, they wore in their hair, as an ornament, a golden grasshopper,— an insect hatched from eggs laid in the ground. THE CIVILIZATION. 159 of priesthood, its compact of protection and defense, and its spe- cial burial-place. Last of all, every family had its private worship and exclusive ancestral rites. Thus their religion both unified and separated the Greeks ; while the association of houses and brother- hoods powerfully influenced their early social and pohtical life. Athens in her golden days had, as we have already seen, neither king" nor aristocracy. Every free citizen possessed a voice in the general government, and zealously maintained his rights and liberty as a member of the state. Although to belong to an old and noble house gave a certain position among all true-born Athenians, there was little of the usual exclusiveness attending great wealth or long pedigree. An Athenian might be forced from poverty to wear an old and tattered cloak, or be only the son of a humble image- maker, as was Socrates, or of a cutler, as was Demosthenes, yet, if he had wit, bravery, and talent, he was as welcome to the brilliant private saloons of Athens as were the richest and noblest Trade and Merchandise were as unpopular in most parts of Greece as in Persia. The Greeks regarded arms, agriculture, music, and gymnastics as the only occupations worthy a freeman. To profit by retail trade was esteemed a sort of cheating, and handicrafts were despised because they tied men down to work, and gave no leisure for athletic exercises or social culture. In Sparta, where even agriculture was despised and all property was held in common, an artisan had neither public influence nor political rights; while in Thebes no one who had sold in the market within ten years was allowed part in the government. Even in democratic Athens, where extensive interests in ship- building and navigation produced a strong sentiment in favor of commerce, the poor man who lived on less than ten cents a day, earned by serving on juries^ or in other public capacities, looked with disdain on the practical mechanic and tradesman. Consequently most of the Athenian stores and shops belonged to 1 Tliere were ten courts in Athens, employing, when all were open, six thousand jurymen. The Athenians had such a passion for hearing and deciding judicial and political questions, that they clamored tor seats in the jury-box. Greek literature abounds with satires on this national peculiarity. In one of Lucian s dialogues, Menippus is represented as looking down from the moon and watching the chaiacter- istic pursuits of men. "The northern hordes were fighting, the Egyptians were plowing, the Phoenicians were carrying their merchandise over the sea, the Spartans were whipping their children, and the Athenians were sitting in the jury-box." So also Aristophanes, in liis satire called The Clouds, has his hero (Strepsiades) visit the School of Socrates, where he is shown a map of the world. Student. — "And here lies Athens." Strep.— "Athens ! nay, go to That cannot be. I see no laio courts sitting!" 160 Gr Iv £] £] G Ej • aliens, who paid heavy taxes and made large profits. Solon sought to encourage manufacturing industries, and engaged in com- merce, for which he traveled ; Aristotle kept a druggist's shop in Atnens ; and even Plato, who shared the national prejudice against artisans, speculated in oil during his Egyptian tour. Sparta, with her two kings, powerful ephors, and landed aris- tocracy, presents a marked contrast to Athens. The Two Kings were supposed to have descended by different lines from the gods, and this belief preserved to them what little authority they retained under the supremacy of the ephors. They offered the monthly sacrifices to the gods, consulted the Delphian oracle, which always upheld their dignity, and had nominal com- mand of the army. On the other hand, war and its details were decided by the ephors, two of whom accompanied one king on the march. The kings were obliged monthly to bind themselves by an oath not to exceed the laws, the ephors also swearing on that condition to uphold the royal authority. In case of default, the kings were tried and severely fined, or had their houses burned. The population of Laconia, as we have seen, comprised Spar- tans, perioeki, and helots (p. 119). The Spartans lived in the city, and were the only persons eligible to public office. So long as they submitted to the prescribed discipline and paid their quota to the public mess, they were Equals. Those who were unable to pay their assessment lost their franchise, and were called Inferiors; but by meeting their public obligation they could at any time regain their privileges. The Periceki were native freemen. They in- habited the hundred townships of Laconia, having some liberty of local management, but subject always to orders from Sparta, the ephors having power to inflict the death penalty upon them without form of trial. The Helot was a serf bound to the soil, and belonged not so much to the master as to the state. He was the pariah of the land. If he dared to wear a Spartan bonnet, or even to sing a Spartan song, he was put to death. The old Egyptian kings thinned the ranks of their surplus rabble by that merciless GKECIAN PEASANT. THE CIVILIZATION. 161 system of forced labor whicli produced the pyramids j the Spar- tans did not put the blood of their helots to such useful account, but, when they became too powerful, used simply the knife and the dagger.^ The helot served in war as a light-armed soldier attached to a Spartan or perioekian hoplite.^ Sometimes he was clothed in heavy armor, and was given freedom for superior bravery. But a freed helot was by no means equal to a pericekus, and his known courage made him more than ever a man to be watched. Literature. — In considering Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian literature, we have had only fragments, possessing little value for the present age except as historical curiosities, or as a means of insight into the life and attainments of the people. Grecian literature, on the contrary, exists to-day as a model. From it poets continue to draw their highest inspiration ; its first great historian is still known as the "Father of History;" its philosophy seems to touch every phase of thought and argument of which the human mind is capable j and its oratory has never been surpassed. So vast a subject should be studied by itself, and in this book we can merely furnish a nucleus about which the pupil may gather in his future reading the rich stores which await his industry. For convenience we shall classify it under the several heads of Poetry, History, Oratory, and Philosophy. Poetry. — Epics (Narrative Poems). — The earliest Grecian litera- ture of which we have any knowledge is in verse. In the dawn of Hellas, hymns of praise to the gods were performed in choral dances about shrines and altars, and heroic legends woven into ballads were musically chanted to the sound of a four- stringed lyre. With this rhythmical story -telling, the Rhapsodists {ode-stitchers) used to delight the listening multitudes on festive occasions in 1 The helots were once free Greeks like their masters, whom they hated so bitterly that there was a saying, " A helot could eat a Spartan raw." They wore a sheep-skin garment and dog-skin cap as the contemptuous badge of their slavery. There was constant danger of revolt, and from time to time the bravest of them were secretly killed by a band of detectives appointed by the government for that purpose. Some- times a wholesale assassination was deemed necessary. During tlie Peloponnesian war the helota had shown so much gallantry in battle, that the Spartan authorities were alarmed. A notice was issued that two thousand of the bravest— selected by their fellows— should be made free. There was great rejoicing among the deluded slaves, and the happy candidates, garlanded with flowers, were marched proudly through the streets and around the temples of the gods. Then they mysteriously disappeared, and were never heard of more. At the same time seven hundred other helots were sent off to join the army, and the Spartans congratulated themselves on having done a wise and prudent deed. 2 A hoplite was a heavy-armed infantryman. At Platiea every Spartan had seven helots, and every pericekus one helot to attend him. 162 GREECE. princely halls, at Ampliictyonic gatherings, and at religious as- semblies. Among this troop of wandering minstrels there arose , Homer i (about 1000 B.C.), an Asiatic Greek, whose name has become immortal. The Iliad and Odyssey are the grandest epics ever writ- ten. The first contains the story of the Siege of Troy (p. 115); the second narrates the wanderings of Ulysses, king of Ithaca, on his return from the Trojan Conquest. Homer's style is simple, ar- tistic, clear, and vivid. It abounds in sublime descrip- tion, delicate pathos, pure domestic sentiment, and no- ble conceptions of character. His verse strangely stirred the Gre- cian heart. The rhapsodist Ion describes the emotion it produced : " When that which I recite is pathetic, my eyes fill with tears ; when it is awfnl or terrible, my hair stands on end, and my heart leaps. The spectators also weep in sympathy, and look aghast with terror." Antiquity paid divine honors to Homer's name; the cities of Greece owned state copies of his works, which not even the treas- uries of kings could buy j and his poems were then, as now, the standard classics in a literary education (p. 179). HOMER. 1 According to tradition, Homer was a schoolmaster, who, wearying of confine- ment, began to travel. Having become blind In the conrse of his wanderings, he re- turned to his native town, where he composed his two great poems. Afterward he roamed from town to town, singing his lays, and adding to them as his inspiration came. Somewhere on the coast of the Levant he died and was buried. His birth- place is unknown, and, according to an old Greek epigram, " Seven rival towns contend for Homer dead. Through which the living Homer begged his bread." Many learned writers have doubted whether Homer ever existed, and regard the two great poems ascribed to him as a simple collection of heroic legends, recited by differ- ent bards, and finally woven into a continuous tale. The three oldest manuscripts we have of the Iliad came from Egypt, the last having been found under the head of a mummy excavated in 1887 at Hawara, in the Fayoom. Some critics assert that tlie story of the Siege of Troy is allegorical, a repetition of old Egyptian fancies, " founded on the daily siege of the east by tlie solar powers that everj^ evening are robbed of their brightest treasures in the west." Dr. Schliemann, a Geinuin explorer, un- earthed (1872-82) in Asia Minor what is believed to be the Homeric Ilium. His dis- coveries are said to refute all skepticism as to the historic reality of the Siege of Troy. THE CIVILIZATION. 163 Hesiod, wlio lived after the time of Homer, wrote two long poems, '' Works and Days " ^ and " Theogony." In the former he details his agricultural experiences, enriching them with fable, allegory, and moral reflections, and also furnishes a calendar of lucky and unlucky days for the use of farmers and sailors ; the latter gives an account of the origin and history of the thirty thousand Grecian gods, and the creation of the world. The Spar- tans, who despised agriculture, called Hesiod the ''poet of the helots," in contrast with Homer, " the deUght of warriors." In Athens, however, his genius was recognized, and his poems took their place with Homer's in the school education of the day. After Homer and Hesiod the poetic fire in Greece slumbered for over two hundred years. Then arose many lyric, elegiac, and epigrammatic poets, whose works exist only in fragments. Tyrtceus, "the lame old schoolmaster," invented the trumpet, and gained the triumph for Sparta ^ in the Second Messenian War by his impassioned battle-songs. Archil' ochus^ was a satirical poet of great reputation among the ancients. His birthday was celebrated in one grand festival with that of Homer, and a single double-faced statue X3erpetuated their memory. He invented many rhythmical forms, and wrote with force and elegance. His satire was so venomous that he is said to have driven a whole family to suicide by his pen, used in 1 The Works and Days was an earnest appeal to Hesiorl's dissipated brother, whom he styles the "simple, foolish, good-t'or-uaught Perses." It abounds with arguments for honest industry, gives numerous suggestions on the general conduct of society, and occasionally dilates on the vanity, frivolity, and gossip, which the author imputes to womankind. 2 The story is that, in obedience to an oracle, the Spartans sent to Athens for a general who should insure them success. The jealous Athenians ironically answered their demand with the deformed Tyrtseus. Contrary to their design, the cripple poet proved to be just what was needed, and his wise advice and stirring war-hymns spurred the Spartans on to victory. 3 One of the greatest of soldier poets, Archilochus proved himself a coward on the battle-field, afterward proclaiming the fact in a kind of apologetic bravado, thus: "The foeman glories o'er my shield, J left it on the battle-field. I threw it down beside the wood, Unscathed by scars, unstained with blood And let him glory ; since from death Escaped, I keep my forfeit breath. I soon may find at little cost As good a shield as tliat I lost." When he afterward visited Sparta, the authorities, taking a different view of shield- dropping, ordered him to leave the city iu an hour. 364 GREECE. revenge for his rejection by one of the daughters. He likened himself to a porcupine bristling with quills, and declared, " One great thing I know, The man who wrongs me to requite with woe." Sappho, " the Lesbian Nightingale," who sang of love, was put by Aristotle in the same rank with Homer and Archilochus. Plato called her the tenth muse, and it is asserted that Solon, on hearing one of her poems, prayed the gods that he might not die till he had found time to learn it by heart. Sappho's style was intense, bril- liant, and full of beautiful imagery; her language was said to have a *' marvelous suavity." She sought to elevate her country- women, and drew around her a circle of gifted poetesses whose fame spread with hers throughout Greece. AlccBus, an unsuccessful lover of Sappho, was a polished, pas- sionate lyrist. His pohtical and war poems gained him high repute, but, like Archilochus, he dropped his shield in battle and ran from danger. His convivial songs were favorites with the clas- sic topers. One of his best poems is the famihar one, beginning, " What constitutes a state ? Not high-raised battlement or labored mound. Thick wall or moated gate." Anacreon, a courtier of Hipparchus (p. 123), was a "society poet." Himself pleasure-loving and dissipated, his odes were devoted to " the muse, good humor, love, and wine." He lived to be eighty-five years old, and his memory was perpetuated on the Acropohs at Athens by a statue of a drunken old man. Simonides was remarkable for his terse epigrams and choral hymns. He was the author of the famous inscription upon the pillar at Thermopylae (p. 132), of which Christopher North says, " 'Tis but two lines, and all Greece for centuries had them by heart. She forgot them, and Greece was living Greece no more." Pindar, the " Theban Eagle," came from a long ancestry of poets and musicians. His fame began when he was twenty years old, and for sixty years he was the glory of his countrymen (p. 151). As Homer was the poet, and Sappho the poetess, so Pindar was the lyrist, of Greece. Of all his compositions, there remain entire only forty-five Triumphal Odes celebrating victories gained at the national games. His bold and majestic style abounds in striking metaphors, abrupt transitions, and complicated rhythms. The Drama.— Rise of Tragedy and Comedy. — In early times the wine-god Dionysus ( Bacchus) was worshiped with hymns and THE CIVILIZATION. 165 dances around an open altar, a goat being the usual sacrifice. i During the Bacchic festivities, bands of revelers went about with their faces smeared with wine lees, shouting coarse and bantering songs to amuse the village-folk. Out of these rites and revels grew tragedy (goat-song) and comedy (village-song). The themes of the Tragic Chorus were the crimes, woes, and vengeance of the "fate- driven " heroes and gods, the murderous deeds being commonly enacted behind a curtain, or narrated by messengers. The great Greek poets esteemed fame above everything else, and to write for money was considered a degradation of genius. The prizes for which they so eagerly contended were simple crowns of wild olives. j^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the great tragic trio of antiquity, belong to the golden Age of Pericles. The first ex- celled in the sublime, the second in the beautiful, and the third in the pathetic. 2 ^schylus (525-456 b. c.) belonged to a noble family in Eleusis, a village near Athens famous for its secret rites of Demeter (p. 184). Here, under the shadow of the sacred mysteries, a proud, earnest boy, he drank in from childhood a love of the awful and sublime. A true soldier poet, he did not, like Archilochus and AIcsdus, vent all his courage in words, but won a prize for his bravery at Marathon, and shared in the glory of Salamis. In his old age he was publicly accused of sacrilege for having disclosed on the stage some details 1 Grecian m5'^tliolosy represented Bacchus as a merry, rollicking god, whose attendants were fauns and satyrs,— beings half goat and half man. The early Tragic Chorus dressed in goat-skins. Thespis, a strolling i)layer, introduced an actor or story-teller between the hymns of his satyr-chorus to fill up the pauses with a nar rative. ^scliylus added a second, and Sophocles a third actor; more tlian that never appeared together on the Athenian stage. Women were not allowed to act. A poet contesting for the prize generally offered three plays to be produced the same day in succession on the stage. This was called a trilogy ; a farce or satyr-drama often followed, closing the series. 2 <' Oh, our ^schylus, the thunderous ! How he drove the bolted breath Through the cloud, to wedge it ponderous In the gnarled oak beneath. " Oh, our Sophocles, the royal, Who was born to monarch's place, And who made the whole world loyal Less by kingly power than grace. " Our Euripides, the human. With his droppings of warm tears. And his touches of things common Till they rose to touch tlie spheres." Mrs. Browning, in " Wine of Cyprus." 166 GREECE. of the Eleusinian mysteries. Becoming piqued at the rising success of Sophocles, who bore a prize away from him, he retired to Syra- cuse, where, at the court of Hiero, with Pindar, Simonides, and other hterary friends, he passed his last years, ^schylus wrote over seventy tragedies, of which only seven are preserved. ^schylus, " THE GREAT TRAGIC TKIO." "Prometheus Bound " is perhaps his finest tragedy. In the old myth, Prometheus steals fire from heaven to give to man. For this crime Zeus sentences him to be hound upon Mount Caucasus, where for thirty thousand years an eagle sliould feed upon his vitals. Thetaunts and scoffs of the hrutal sheriffs, " Strength " and " Force," who drag him to the spot; the reluctant riveting of his chains and bolts by the sj'-m- pathiziiig Vulcan ; the graceful pity of the ocean-nymphs who come to condole with him ; the threats and expostulations of Mercury, who is sent by Zeus to force from the fettered god a secret he is withholding ; the unflinching defiance of Prometheus, and the final opening of the dreadful abyss into which, amid fearful thunders, light nings, and " gusts of all fierce winds," the rock and its sturdy prisoner drop suddenly and are swallowed up,— all these are portrayed in this drama with a force, majesty, and passion which in the whole range of literature is scarcely equaled. From Prometheus Bovm\— {Prometheus to Mercury.) " Let the locks of the lightning, all bristling and whitening, Flash, coiling me round. While the ether goes surging 'neath thunder and scourging Of wild winds unbound ! Let the blast of the firmament whirl from its place The earth rooted below, And the brine of the ocean, in rapid emotion. Be it driven in the face Of the stars up in heaven, as they walk to and fro ! Let him hnrl me anon into Tartarus— on— To the blackest degree, . . . But he cannot join death to a fate meant for me." Mrs. Browning's Translation THE CIVILIZATION. 167 Sophocles (495-406 b. c), the sweetness and purity of whose style gained for him the title of the Attic Bee, was only twenty-seven years old when he won the prize away from ^schylus, then ap- proaching sixty, -^schylus had been a gallant soldier ', Sophocles was a polished gentleman. Less grand and impetuous, more graceful and artistic, than his great competitor, he came like sun- shine after storm. The tragedies with which the elder poet had thrilled the Athenian heart were tinctured with the unearthly mysteries of his Eleusinian home ; the polished creations of Sopho- cles reflected the gentle charm of his native Colo'nus, — a beautiful hill-village i near Athens, containing a sacred grove and temple. Sophocles improved the style of the Tragic Chorus, and attired his actors in ''splendid robes, jeweled chaplets, and embroidered girdles." Of him, as of -^Eschylus, we have only seven tragedies remaining, though he is said to have composed over one hundred. "CEdipus tlie Kii)g" was selected by Aristotle as tlie masterpiece of tragedy. CEdipus, so runs the plot, was son of Laius, king of Tliebes. An oi acle having fore- told that he should "slay his father and marry his mother," Jocasta, the queen, exposes him to die in the forest. A shepherd rescues him. He grows up unconscious of his story, and journeys to Thebes. On the way he meets an old man, whose chariot jostles him. A quarrel ensues, and lie slays the gray-haired stranger. Arrived at Thebes, he finds the whole city in commotion. A frightful monster, called the Sphinx, has propounded a ilddle which no one can solve, and eveiy failure costs a lite. So terrible is the crisis that the hand of the widowed queen Is offered to any one who will guess the riddle and so save the state. CEdipus guesses it, and weds Jocasta, his mother. After many years come fearful pestilences, which the oracle declares shall continue until the murderer of Laius Is found and punished. The unconscious CEdipus pushes the search, and is confronted with the revelation of his unhappy destiny. Jocasta hangs herself in horror ; CEdipus tears a golden buckle from her dress, thrusts its sharp point into both his eyes, and goes out to roam the earth. In " QEdipus at Colonus" the blind old man, attended by his faithful daughter Antig'one, has wandered to Colonus, where he sits down to rest within the precincts of the sacred grove. The indignant citizens, discovering who the old man Is, command him to depart from their borders. Meantime war is raging in Thebes between his two sons, and an oracle declares that only his body will decide success. Everynieans is used to obtain it, but the gods have willed that his sons shall slay eacli other. CEdipus, always " driven by fate," follows the Queen of Night, upon whose borders he has trespassed. The last moment comes ; a sound of subterranean thunder is heard ; his daughters, wailing and terrified, cling to him in wild embrace ; a mys- terious voice calls from beneath, "CEdipus! King CEdipus! come hither; thou art wanted ! " The earth opens, and the old man disappears forever. 1 Here, two years before the fall of Athens (p. 145), he closed his long, prosperous, luxurious life. "We can imagine Sophocles in his old age recouniing the historic names and scenes with which he had been so familiar ; how he had listened to the thunder of ' Olympian Pericles ; ' how he had been startled by the chorus of Furies in the play of ^schylus ; how he had talked with the garrulous and open-hearted Herodotus; how he had followed Anaxagoras, the great skeptic, in the cool of the day among a throng of his disciples ; how he had walked witli Phidias and supped with Aspasia."— ColMws. 168 GREECE. The following is from a famous chorus in " CEdipus at Colonus," describing the beauties of the poet's home :— " Here ever aud aye, through the greenest vale, Gush the wailing notes of the nightingale, From her home where tlie dark-hued ivy weaves With the grove of the god a night of leaves ; And the vines blossom out from the lonely glade. And the suns of the summer ai'e dim in the shade, Aud the storms of the winter have never a breeze That can shiver a leaf from the charmed trees. And wandering there forever, the fountains are at play, And Cephissus feeds his river from their sweet urns, day by day ; The river knows no dearth ; Adown the vale the lapsing waters glide. And the pure rain of that pel acid tide Calls the rife beauty from the heart of earth." Bulwer's Translation. Euripides ^ (480-406 b. c), the " Scenic Philosopher/' was born in Salamis on the day of the great sea-fight.^ Twenty-five years after- ward—the year after ^schylus died — his first trilogy was put upon the stage. Athens had changed in the half-century since the poet of Eleusis came before the public. A new element was steadily gaining ground. Doubts, reasonings, and disbeliefs in the marvel- ous stories told of the gods were creeping into society. Schools of rhetoric and philosophy were springing up, and already 'Ho use discourse of reason" was accounted more important than to recite the Iliad and Odyssey entire. To ^schylus and to most of his hearers the Fates and the Furies had been dread realities, and the gods upon Olympus as undoubted personages as Miltiades or The- mistocles; Sophocles, too, serenely accepted all the Homeric deities; but Euripides belonged to the party of '^ advanced thinkers," and 1 Fragments of Antiope, one of the lost plays of Euripides, have recently come to liglit in a curious manner. At Gurob, in the Egyptian Fayoom, Prof. Petrie thought he detected writing on some of the papyrus scraps that were sttick together to form the papier-mache mummy-cases. Among these fragments, after they had been care- fully separated, cleansed, and deciphered, were found portions of Plato's Phredo, and three pages of Antiope. The writing belongs to a period almost contemporary with Plato and Euripides themselves. Thus, in some of these Egyptian nuunniy-cases, made up of old waste paper, may yet be found the very autographs of the great mas- ters of Greek literature. " If a bit of Euripides has leaped to light, why not some of the lost plays of ^.schylus and Sophocles, or some songs of Sappho? " (For inter- esting account, see Biblia, September, 1891.) 2 The three great tragic poets of Athens were singularly connected by the battle of Salamis. ^schykis, in the heroic vigor of Ids life, fought there; Euripides, whose parents had fled from Athens on the approach of tlie Persians, was born near the scene, probably on the battle-day ; and Sopliocles, a beautiful boy of fifteen, danced to the choral song of Simonides, celebrating the victory. THE CIVILIZATION. 169 believed no more in the gods of the myths and legends than in the prophets and soothsayers of his own time. Discarding the ideal heroes and heroines of Sophocles, he modeled his characters after real men and women, endowing them with human passions and aifections.i Of his eighty or ninety plays, seventeen remain. " Mede'a" is bis most celebrated tragedy. A Colchian princess skilled in sorcery becomes the wife of Jason, the hero of the Golden Fleece. Being afterward thrust aside for a new love, she finds lier revenge by sending the bride an enchanted robe and crown, in wliich she is no sooner clothed than they burst into flame and con- sume her. To complete her vengeance, Medea murders her two young sons,— so deeply wronged by their father, so tendei-ly loved by herself,— and then, after hovering over the palace long enough to mock and jeer at the anguish of the frantic Jason, she is whirled away with the dead bodies of her children in a dragon-borne car, the chariot of her grandsire, the sun. From Mkde a.— (Medea to her sons.) " Why gaze you at me with your eyes, my children ? Why smile your last sweet smile 1 Ah me ! ah me ! What shall I do? My heart dissolves within me, Friends, when I see the glad ej'es of my sons ! Yet whence this weakness? Do I wish to reap The scorn that springs from enemies unpunished? Die they must ; tliis must be, and since it must, I, I myself will slay them, I who bore them. O my sons ! Give, give your mother your dear hands to kiss. O dearest hands, and mouths most dear to me, And forms and noble f^ces of my sons ! O tender touch and sweet breath of my boys ! " Symonds's Translation. Comedy. — When Aristophanes appeared with the first of his sharp satires, Enripides had been for a quarter of a century before the public, and the Peloponnesian war was near at hand. The new poet whose genius was so full of mockery and mirth was a rich, aristocratic Athenian, the natural enemy of the ultra-democratic mob-orators of his day, whom he heartily hated and despised. In the bold and brilliant satires which now electrified all Athens, 1 Aristophanes ridiculed his scenic art, denounced his theology, and accused him of corrupting society by the falsehood and deceit shown by his characters. The line in one of his plays, " Though the tongue swore, the heart remained unsworn," caused his arrest for seeming to justify perjury. When the people were violent in censure, Euripides would sometimes appear on the stage and beg them to sit the play through. On one occasion, when their displeasure was extreme, he tartly ex- claimed, " Good people, it is my business to teach you, and not to be taught by you." Tradition relates that he was torn to pieces by dogs, set upon him by two rival poets, "While he was walking in the garden of the Macedonian king, at Pella. The Athenians were eager to honor him after his death, and erected a statue in the theater where he had been so often hissed as well as applauded. 170 GREECE. every prominent public man was liable to see his personal pecu- liarities paraded on the stage.i The facts and follies of the times were pictured so vividly, that when Dionysius, the Tyrant of Syra- cuse, wrote to Plato for information as to affairs in Athens, the great philosopher sent for answer a copy of " The Clouds." Aristophanes wrote over fifty plays, of which eleven, in part or all, remain. Of these, "The Frogs" and the "Woman's Festival" were direct satires on Eu- ripides, "The Knights" was written, so the author declared, to "cut up Cleon the Tanner into slioe leather." 2 "The Clouds" ridiculed the new-school philosophers, 3 and " The Wasps," the Athenian passion for law-courts. From the Clouds.— (-Scene ; Socrates, absorbed in thought, swinging in a basket, surrounded by his students. Enter Strepsiades, a visitor.) Str. Who hangs dangling in yonder basket? STUD. HIMSELF. STK. And who's Himself? STUD. Why, Socrates. Str. Ho, Socrates! Sweet, darling Socrates ! SOC. Why callest thou me, poor creature of a day? Str. First tell me, pray, what are you doing up there 1 Soc. I walk in air and contemplate the sun ! Str. Oh, that 's the way that you despise tlie gods— You get so near them on your perch there— eh ? Soc. I never could have found out tilings divine. Had I not hung my mind up thus, and mixed My subtle intellect with its kindred air. Had I regarded such things from below, I had learnt nothing. For the earth absorbs Into itself the moisture of the brain. It is the same with water-cresses. STR. Dear me ! So water-cresses grow by thinking ! The so-called Old Comedy, in which individuals were satirized, died with Aristophanes; and to it succeeded the Neio Comedy, por- traying general types of human nature, and dealing with domes- tic life and manners. Menander {342-291 B.C.), founder of this new school, was a 1 Even the deities were burlesqued, and the devout Athenians, who denounced Euripides for venturing to doubt the gods and goddesses, were wild in applause wJieu Aristophanes dragged them out as absurd cowards, or blustering braggarts, or as " Baking peck-loaves and f rj'ing stacks of pancakes." 2 The masks of the actors in Greek comedy were made to caricature the features of the persons represented. Cleon was at this time so powerful that no artist dared to make a mask for his character in the play, nor could any man be found bold enough to act the part, Aristophanes, therefore, took it himself, smearing his face with wine lees, which he declared " well represented the purple and bloated visage of the demagogue." 3 It is said that Socrates, who was burlesqued in this play, was present at its per- formance, wliich he heait ily enjoyed ; and that he even mounted on a bencli, tliat every one might see the adiuirable resemblance between himself and his counterfeit upon the stage. THE CIVILIZATION. 171 warm friend of Epicurus (p. 177), whose philosophy he adopted. He admired, as heartily as Aristophanes had disliked, Euripides, and his style was manifestly influenced by that of the tragic poet. He excelled in delineation of character, and made his dramatic personages so real, that a century afterward it was written of him, " O Life, and O Menander ! Speak and say Which copied which? Or Nature, or the play? " Of his works only snatches remain, many of which were household proverbs among the Greeks and Romans. Such were: " He is well cleansed that hath his con- science clean," "The workman is greater than his work," and the memorable one quoted by St. Paul, " Evil communications corrupt good manners." Ml THE GREAT HISTORIANS OF GREECE. History. — Here is another illustrious trio: Herodotus (484-420), Thucydides (471-400), and Xenophon (about 445-355). Herodotus^ ^'Father of History," we recall as an old friend met in Egyptian study (p. 15). Having rank, wealth, and a passion for travel, he roamed over Egypt, Phoenicia, Babylon, Judea, and Persia, study- ing their history, geography, and national customs. In Athens, where he spent several years, he was the intimate friend of Sopho- cles. His history was divided into nine books, named after the nine Muses.i The principal subject is the Greek and Persian war ; but, by way of episode, sketches of various nations are introduced. His style is artless, graphic, flowing, rich in description, and inter- 1 Leonidas of Tarentum, a favorite writer of epigrams, wlio lived two hundred years after Herodotus, thus accounted for their names: — " The Muses nine came one day to Herodotus and dined, And in return, their host to pay, left each a book behind," 172 GREECE. spersed with, dialogue. He has been described as having '* the head of a sage, the heart of a mother, and the simplicity of a child." Thucydides is said to have been won to his vocation by hearing the history of Herodotus read at Olympia, which charmed him to tears. E-ich, noble, and educated, he was in the prime of his man- hood, when, at the opening of the Peloponnesian war, he received command of a squadron. Having failed to arrive with his ships in time to save a certain town from surrender, Cleon caused his disgrace, and he went into exile to escape a death penalty. Dur- ing the next twenty years he prepared his "History of the Pelo- ponnesian war." His style is terse, noble, and spii'ited ; as an historian he is accurate, philosophic, and impartial. "His book," says Macaulay, "is that of a man and a statesman, and in this respect presents a remarkable contrast to the delightful childish- ness of Herodotus." Xenophon'^s historical fame rests mostly on his Anabasis,^ which relates the expedition of Cyrus and the Retreat of the Ten Thou- sand. He was one of the generals who conducted this memorable retreat, in which he displayed great firmness, courage, and military skill. A few years later the Athenians formed their alliance with Persia ; and Xenophon, who still held command under his friend and patron, the Spartan king Agesilaus, was brought into the position of an enemy to his state. Having been banished from Athens, his Spartan friends gave him a beautiful country residence near Olympia, where he spent the best years of his long life. Next to the Anabasis ranks his Memorabilia (memoirs) of Socrates,^ his friend and teacher. Xenophon was said by the ancients to be "the first man that ever took notes of conversation." The Memo- rabilia is a collection of these notes, in which the character and doctrines of Socrates are discussed. XeUophon was the author of fifteen works, all of which are extant. His style, simple, clear, racy, refined, and noted for colloquial vigor, is considered the model of classical Greek prose. Oratory. — Eloquence was studied in Greece as an art. Pericles, 1 This word means the " march up," viz., from tlie sea to Babylon. A more ap- propriate name wouhl he Katahasis (march down), as most of the hook is occupied with the details of the return journey. 2 There is a story that Xenophon, when a boy, once met Socrates in a lane. The philosopher, barring tlie way with his cane, demanded, " Where Is food sold?" Xenophon having replied, Socrates asked, "And where are men made good and noble?" Tlie lad hesitated, whereupon Socrates answered himself by saying, " Follow me, and learn." Xenophon obeyed, and was henceforth his devoted disciple. THE CIVILIZATION. 173 DEMOSIHENES. though he spoke only upon great occasions, Isoc'rates, and ^s'- chines were all famed for powers of address, but Demosthenes (385-322 b. c.) was the unrivaled orator of Greece, if not of the world. An awkward, sickly, stam- mering boy, by his deter- mined energy and persever- ance he ''placed himself at the head of all the mighty masters of speech — unap- proachable forever" {Lord Brougham). His first address before the public assembly was hissed and derided j but he was resolved to be an orator, and nothing daunted him. He used every means to overcome his natural defects, ^ and at last was rewarded by the palm of eloquence. He did not aim at display, but made every sentence subservient to his argument. " We never think of his words," said Fenelon ; " we think only of the things he says." His oration ''Upon the Crown" 2 is his masterpiece. Philosophy and Science.— The Seven Sages (Appendix), Cleobu'lus, Chi'lo, Perian'der, Pit'tacus, Solon, Bias, and Thales, lived about 600 b. c.^ They were celebrated for their moral, social, and political wisdom. 1 That he might study without hindrance, he shut himself up for months in a room under ground, and, it is said, copied the History of Thucydides eight times, that he might be infused with its concentrated thought and energy. Out on the seashore, with his mouth filled with pebbles, he exercised his voice until it sounded full and clear above the tumult of tlie waves; while in the privacy of his own room, before a full-length mirror, he disciplined his awkward gestures till he had schooled them into grace and aptness. 2 It had been proposed that his public services should be rewarded by a golden crown, the custom being for an orator to wear a crown in token of his inviolability while speaking, ^schines, a fellow-orator, whom he had accused of favoring Philip, opposed the measure. The discussion lasted six years. When the two finally appeared before a vast and excited assembly for the closing argument, the impetuous eloquence of Demosthenes swept everything before it. In after years, though his whole life had proved him a zealous patriot, he was charged with having received bribes from Macedon. Exiled, and under sentence of death, he poisoned himself. 3 About this time lived JEsop, who, though born a slave, gained his freedom and the friendship of kings and wise men by his peculiar wit. His fables, long preserved by oral tradition, were the delight of the Athenians, who read in them many a pithy 174 GREECE. Tholes founded a school of thinkers. He taught that all things were generated from water, into which they would all be ulti- mately resolved. During the two following centuries many philosophers arose . — Anaximan'der, the scientist, invented a sun-dial, — an instrument which had long been used in Egypt and Babylonia, — and wrote a geographical treatise, enriched with the first known map. Anaxag'oras discovered the cause of eclipses, and the difference between the planets and fixed stars. He did not, like his prede- cessors, regard fire, air, or water as the origin of all things, but believed in a Supreme Intellect. He was accused of atheism,! tried, and condemned to death, but his friend Pericles succeeded in changing the sentence to exile. Contemporary with him was Hippoc' rates, the father of physicians, v*'ho came from a family of priests devoted to ^sculapius, the god of medicine. He wrote many works on physiology, and referred diseases to natural causes, and not, as was the popular belief, to the displeasure of the gods. Pytliag'oras, the greatest of early philosophers, was the first to assert the movement of the earth in the heavens j he also made some important discoveries in geology and mathematics. At his school in Crotona, Italy, his disciples were initiated with secret rites ; one of the tests of fitness being the power to keep silence under every circumstance. He based all creation upon the numer- ical rules of harmony, and asserted that the heavenly spheres roll in musical rhythm. Teaching the Egyptian doctrine of transmi- gration, he professed to remember what had happened to himself in a previous existence when he was a Trojan hero. His fol- lowers reverenced him as half divine, and their unquestioning faith passed into the proverb. Ipse dixit (He has said it). Sod rates (470-399 B. c). — During the entire thirty years of the Peloponnesian war a grotesque-featured, ungainly, shabbily dressed, barefooted man might have been seen wandering the streets of Athens, in all weathers and at all hours, in the crowded market place, among the workshops, wherever men were gathered, incessantly asking and answering questions. This was Socrates, public lesson. His statue, the work of Lysippus (p. 183), was placed opposite to those of the Seven Sages in Athens. Socrates greatly admired ^sop's Fables, and during Ids last days in prison amused himself by versifying them. 1 The Greeks were especially angry because Anaxagoras taught that the sun is not a god. It is a curious fact that they condemned to death as an atheist the first man among tlietn who advanced the idea of One Supreme Deity. THE CIVILIZATION. 175 a self-taught philosopher, who believed that he had a special mis- sion from the gods, and was attended by a " divine voice " which counseled and directed him. The questions he discussed pertained to life and morality, and were especially pointed against Sophists, who were the skeptics and quibblers of the day.i His earnest elo- quence attracted all classes,^ and among his friends were Alci- biades, Euripides, and Aristophanes. A man who, by his irony and argument, was continually " driving men to their wits' end," naturally made enemies. One morning there appeared in the portico where such notices were usually displayed the following indictment : '' Socrates is guilty of crime ; first, for not worshiping the gods whom the city worships, but introducing new divinities of his own ; secondly, for corrupting the youth. The penalty due is death." Having been tried and convicted, he was sentenced to drink a cup of the poison-hemlock, which he took in his prison chamber, surrounded by friends, with whom he cheerfully con- versed till the last. Socrates taught the unity of God, the immor- tality of the soul, the beauty and necessity of virtue, and the moral responsibility of man. He was a devout believer in oracles, which he often consulted. He left no writings, but his philosophy has been preserved by his faithful followers, Xenophon and Plato. The Four Great Schools of Philosophy (4th century B.C.). — 1. The Academic school was founded by that devoted disciple of Socrates, Plato (429-347), who delivered his lectures in the Academic Gardens. Plato ^ is perhaps best known from his argu- 1 Their belief that "what I think is true is true; what seems right ts right," colored state policy and individual action in the Peloponnesian war, and was respon- sible for much of its cruelty and baseness. The skeptic Pyrrlio used to say : " It may be so, perhaps ; I assert nothing, not even that I assert." Socrates taught his pupils by a series of logical questions whicli stimulated thought, cleared perception, and created in the learner a real hunger for knowledge. The " Socratic Method " of teach- ing is still in use. When addressed to braggarts and pretenders, the apparently innocent "Questions" of Socrates were a terror and a confusion. 2 " Gradually the crowd gathered round him. At first he spoke of the tanners, and the smiths, and the drovers, who were plying their trades about him ; and they shouted with laughter as he poured forth his homely jokes. But soon the magic charm of his voice made itself felt. The peculiar sweetness of its tone had an effect which even the thunder of Pericles failed to produce. The laughter ceased— the crowd thick- ened—the gay youth, whom nothing else could tame, stood transfixed and awe- struck . . . —the head swam— the heart leaped at the sound — tears rushed from their eyes, and they felt that, unless they tore themselves away from that fascinated circle, they should sit down at his feet and grow old in listening to the marvelous music of this second Marsyas." 3 The Greeks had no family or clan names, a single appellation serving for an individual. To save confusion the father's name was frequently added. Attic wit 176 GREECE. ments in regard to the immortality of the soul. He believed in one eternal God, without whose aid no man can attain wisdom or vir- tue, and in a previous as well as a future existence. All earthly- knowledge, he averred, is but the recollection of ideas gained by the soul in its former disembodied state, and as the body is only a hindrance to perfect communion with the " eternal essences," it follows that death is to be desired rather than feared. His works are written in dialogue, Socrates being represented as the principal speaker. The abstruse topics of which he treats are en- livened by wit, fancy, humor, and picturesque illustration. His style was considered so perfect that an ancient writer exclaimed, " If Jupiter had spoken Greek, he would have spoken it. like Plato." The fashionables of Athens thronged to the Academic Gardens to hsten to " the sweet speech of the master, melodious as the song of the cicadas in the trees above his head." Even the Athenian women — shut out by custom from the intellectual groves — shared in the universal eagerness, and, disguised in male attire, stole in to hear the famous Plato. 2. The Peripatetic school was founded by Aristotle (384-322), who delivered his lectures while walking up and down the shady porches of the Lyceum, surrounded by his pupils (hence called Peripatetics, walkers). An enthusiastic student under Plato, he remained at the academy until his master's death. A few years afterward he accepted the invitation of Philip of Macedon to be- come instructor to the young Alexander. Returning to Athens in 335 B. c.,he brought the magnificent scientific collections given him by his royal patron, and opened his school in the Lyceum Gym- nasium. Suspected of partisanship with Macedon, and accused of impiety, to avoid the fate of Socrates he fled to Euboea, where he died. Aristotle, more than any other philosopher, originated ideas whose influence is still felt. The ^' Father of Logic," the princi- ples he laid down in this study have never been superseded. His books include works on metaphysics, psychology, zoology, ethics, politics, and rhetoric. His style is intricate and abstruse. He differed much from Plato, and, though he recognized an infinite, immaterial God, doubted the existence of a future life. supplied abundant nicknames, suggested by some personal peculiarities or cir- cumstance. Thus this philosopher, whose real name was Aiis'tocles, was called Plato because of his broad brow. He was descended on his father's side from Codrus, the last hero-king .of Attica, and on his mother's from Solon ; but his ad- mirers made him a son of the god Apollo, and told how in liis infancy the bees had settled on his lips as a prophecy of the honeyed words which were to fall from them. THE CIVILIZATION. 177 3. The Epicureans were the followers of Epicu'rus (340-270), who taught that the chief end of life is enjoyment. Himself strict- ly moral, he lauded virtue as a road to happiness, but his fol- lowers so perverted this that ^^ Epicurean" became a synonym for loose and luxurious hving. — The Cynics {kunikos, dog-like) went to the other extreme, and, despising pleasure, gloried in pain and privation. They scoffed at social courtesies and family ties. The sect was founded by Antisthenes, a disciple of Socrates, but its chief exponent was Diogenes, who, it is said, ate and slept in a tub which he carried about on his head.^ 4. The Stoics were headed by Zeno (355-260), and took their name from the painted portico {stoa) under which he taught. Pain and pleasure were equally despised by them, and indifference to aU external conditions was considered the highest virtue. For his example of integrity, Zeno was decreed a golden chaplet and a public tomb in the Ceramicus. Grecian philosophy culminated in Neo-Platonism, a mixture of Paganism, mysticism, and Hebrew ethics, which exalted revela- tions and miracles, and gave to reason a subordinate place. In Alexandria it had a fierce struggle with Christianity, and died with its last great teacher, the beautiful and gifted Hypatia, who was killed by a mob. Later Greek Writers.— Plutarch (50-120 a.d.) was the great- est of ancient biographers. His '' Parallel Lives of Greeks and Eomans " still delights hosts of readers by its admirable portrait- ure of celebrated men. Lucian (120-200 a.d.), in witty dialogues, ridiculed the absurdities of Greek mythology and the follies of false philosophers. His '^Sale of the Philosophers" humorously pictures the founders of the different schools as auctioned off by Mercury. Libraries and Writing Materials. — Few collections of books were made before the Peloponnesian war, but in later times it be- came fashionable to have private libraries,^ and after the days of 1 He was noterl for his caustic wit and rude manners Tradition says that Alex- ander the Great once visited him as he was seated in his tub, basking in the sun. " I am Alexander," said the monarch, astonished at the Indifference with which he was received. " And I am Diogenes," returned the cynic. " Have you no favor to ask of mel" inquired the king. " Yes," growled Diogenes, " to get out of my sunligM." He was vain of his disregard for social decencies. At a sumptuous banquet given by Plato he entered uninvited, and, rubbing his soiled feet on the rich carpets, cried out, "Thus I trample on your pride, O Plato!" The polite host, who knew his visitor's weakness, aptly retorted, " But with still greater pride, O Diogenes ! " 2 Aristotle had an immense library, wbich was sold after his death. Large 178 O BEi EiCG • the tragic poets Athens not only abounded in book-stalls, but a place m the Agora was formally assigned to book-auctioneering. Manuscript copies were rapidly multiplied by means of slave labor, and became a regular article of export to the colonies. The Egyptian papyrus, and afterward the fine but expensive parchment, were used in copying books; the papyrus was writ- ten on only one side, the parchment on both sides.^ The reed pen was used as in Egypt, and double inkstands for black and red ink were invented, having a ring by which to fasten them to the girdle of the writer. Waxed tablets were employed for letters, note-books, and other requirements of daily life. These were written upon with a metal or ivory pencil {stylus), pointed at one end and broadly flattened at the other, so that in case of mistake the writing could be smoothed out and the tablet made as good as new. A large burnisher was sometimes used for the latter purpose. Several tab- lets joined together formed a book. Education. — A Greek father held the lives of his young children at his will, and the casting-out of infants to the chances of fate was authorized by law throughout Greece, except at Thebes. Girls were especially subject to this unnatural treatment. If a child were rescued, it became the property of its finder. The Athenian Boy of good family was sent to school when seven years old, the school-hours being from sunrise to sunset. Until he was sixteen he was attended in his walks by a pedagogue,— n^M^Wy A GREEK TABLET. collections of books have been found in the remains of Pompeii and Herculaneiim. Some of these volumes, although nearly reduced to coal, have by great care been unrolled, and have been published. 1 The width of the manuscript (varying from six to fourteen inches) formed the length of the page, the size of the roll depending upon the number of pages in a book. When finished, the roll was coiled around a stick, and a ticket containing the title was appended to it. Documents were sealed by tying a string around them and affixing to the knot a bit of clay or wax, which was afterward stamped with a seal. In libraries the books were arranged in pigeon-holes or on shelves with the ends out- ward ; sometimes several scrolls were put together in a cylindrical box with a cover. The reader unrolled the scroll as he advanced, rolling up the completed pages with his other hand (see illustration, p. 279). THE CIVILIZATION, 179 some trusty, intelligent slave, too old for hard work,— who never entered the study room, no visitors, except near relatives of the master, being allowed therein on penalty of death. The boy was first taught grammar, arithmetic, and writing. His chief books were Hesiod and Homer, which he committed to memory. The moral lessons they contained were made prominent, for, says Plato, " Greek parents are more careful about the manner and habits of the youth than about his letters and music." Discipline was enforced with the rod. All the great lyric poems were set to music, which was universally taught. "Rhythms and harmonies," again says Plato, "are made famihar to the souls of the young, that they may become more gentle, and better men in speech and action." Symmet- rical muscular development was considered so im- portant that the young Athenian between sixteen and eighteen years of age spent most of his time in gymnastic exercises. During this period of pro- bation the youth's behavior was carefully noted by his elders. At eighteen he was ceremoniously enrolled in the hst of citizens. Two years were now given to public service, after which he was free to follow his own inclinations. If he were scholarly disposed, and had money and leisure,i he might spend his whole life in learning. The httle an Athenian girl was required to know was learned from her mother and nurses at home. The Spartan Lad of seven years was placed under the control of the state. Henceforth he ate his coarse hard bread and black broth at the public table, 2 and slept in the public dormitory. Here he A GRECIAN YOUTH. 1 Our worrl " school " is derived from the Greek word for leisure. The education of the Greeks was obtained not so much from books as from the philosophical lec- tures, the public assembly, the theater, and the law courts, where much of their time was spent (p. 159). 2 The public mess was so compulsory, that when, on his return from vanquishing the Athenians, King Agis ventured to send for his commons, that he might take his first meal at home with his wife, he was refused. The principal dish at the mess- table was a black broth, made from a traditional recipe. Wine mixed with water was drunk, but toasts were never given, for the Spartans thousrht it a sin to use two words when one would do. Intoxication and the Symposium (p. 199) were forbidden by law. Fat men were regarded with suspicion. Small boys sat on low stools near their fathers at meals, and were given half rations, which they ate in silence. 180 GREECE. was taught to disdain all liome affections as a weakness, and to think of himself as belonging only to Sparta. He was brought up to despise not only softness and luxury, but hunger, thirst, torture, and death. Always kept on small rations of food, he was some- times allowed only what he could steal. If he escaped detection, his adroitness was applauded ; if he were caught in the act, he was severely flogged j but though he were whipped to death, he must neither wince nor groan. ^ BAST END OF THE PARTHENON (AS RESTORED BY FERGUSSON). Monuments and Art.— The three styles of Grecian architecture ^Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian— are distinguished by the shape of their columns (see cut, p. 182). The Bone was originally borrowed from Egypt (p. 40); the Parthenon at Athens, and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, were among its most celebrated examples. The Parthenon, or House of the Maiden, situated on the Acropohs, was sacred to Pallas 1 The Spartan lad had a model set before him. It was that of a hoy who stole a fox and hid it under his short cloak He mnst have been somewhat awkward,-no donht the Spartan children were warned against this fault in his morals,-for he was suspected, and ordered to he flogged till he confessed W^hile the lashes fell, the fox struggled to escape. The boy, with his quivering back raw anrt bieeoing and his breast torn by savage claws and teeth, stood sturdily, and flinched not. At last the desperate fox readied his heart, and he dropped dead-but a hero' THE CIVILIZATION. 181 Athena, the patron goddess of Attica. It was built throughout of fine marble from the quarry of Mount Pentelicus, near Athens, its ghsteuing whiteness being here and there subdued by colors and gilding. The magnificent sculptures^ which adorned it were designed by Phidias,— that inimitable artist whom Pliny desig- nates as " before all, Phidias, the Athenian." The statue of the virgin goddess, within the temple, was forty feet high ; her face, neck, arms, hands, and feet were ivory 5 her drapery was pure gold.2 The temple at Olympia was built of porous stone, the roof being tiled with Pentelic marble. It stood on the banks of the Alpheus, in a sacred grove (Altis) of plane and olive trees. Not to have seen the Olympian statue of Zeus, by Phidias, was considered a calamity. ^ The most celebrated Ionic temple was that of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus, which was three times destroyed by fire, and as often rebuilt with increased magnificence. Corinthian architecture was not generally used in Greece before the age of Alexander the Great. * The most beautiful example is the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates (pp. 188, 194), in Athens. 1 These sculptures, illustrating events in the mythical life of the goddess, are among the finest in existence. Some of them were sent to England by Lord P^lgin when he was British ambassador to Turkey, and are now in the British Museum, where, with various other sculptures from the Athenian Acropolis, all more or less mutilated, they are known as the Elgin Marbles. 2 The Greeks accused Phidias of having purloined some of the gold provided him lor this purpose ; but as, by the advice of his shrewd friend Pericles, he had so at- tached the metal that it could be removed, he was able to disprove the charge. He was afterward accused of impiety for having placed the portraits of Pericles and him- self in the group upon Athena's shield. He died in prison. 3 The statue, sixty feet high, was seated on an elaborately sculptured throne of cedar, inlaid with gold, ivory, ebony, and precious stones ; like the statue of Athent: in the Parthenon, the face, feet, and body were of ivory; the eyes, were brilliant jewels, and the hair and beard pure gold. The drapery was beaten gold, enameled with flowers. Due hand grasped a scepter composed of precious metals, and sur- mounted by an eagle; in the other, like Athena, he held a golden statue of Nike (the winged goddess of victory). The statue was so high in proportion to the building, that the Greeks used to say, "If the god should rise, he would burst open the roof." The effect of its size, as Phidias had calculated, was to impress the beholder with the pent-up majesty of the greatest of gods. A copy of tlie head of this statue is in the Vatican. The statue itself, i-emoved by Theodosius I. to Constantinople, was lost in the disastrous fire (A. D. 475) which destroyed the Library in that city. At the same time perished the Venus of Cnidus, by Praxiteles (p. 183), which the an- cients ranked next to the Phidian Zeus and Athena. ■* The invention of the Corinthian capital is ascribed to Callimachus, who, seeing a small basket covered with a tile placed in the center of an acanthus plant which grew on the grave of a young lady of Corinth, was so struck with its beauty that he executed a capital in imitation of it.— Westropp'B Hand-book of Arehitecturt. 182 GREECE. The Propylaea, or entrance to the Athenian Acropolis, was a magnificent structure, which opened upon a group of temples, altars, and statues of surpassing beauty. All the splendor of Grecian art was concentrated on the state edifices, private archi- tectural display being forbidden by law. After the Macedonian conquest, dwellings grew luxurious, and Demosthenes rebukes certain citizens for living in houses finer than the public buildings. Doric. louic. THREE ORDERS OF GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. CoriDthian. (1, shaft; 2, capital; 3, architrave; 4, frieze; 5, cornice. T7ie entire part above the capital is the entablature. At the bottom of the shaft is the base, which rests upon the pedestal.) The Athenian Agora (market place), the fashionable morning resort, was surroimded with porticoes, one of which was decorated with paintings of glorious Grecian achievements. Within the inclosure were gi'ouped temples, altars, and statues. Not one ancient Greek edifice remains in a perfect state. Paintings were usually on wood ; wall-painting was a separate and inferior art. The most noted painters were ApoUodorus of Athens, sometimes called the Greek Rembrandt ; Zeuxis and Par- rhasius, who contended for the prize— Parrhasius producing a picture representing a curtain, which his rival himself mistook for a real hanging, and Zeuxis offering a picture of grapes, which de- ceived even the birds ; Apelles, the most renowned of all Greek artists, who painted with four colors, blended with a varnish THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 183 of his own invention ; his friend Protogenes, the careful painter, sculptor, and writer on art; Nicias, who, having refused a sum equal to seventy thousand dollars from Ptolemy I. for his master- piece, bequeathed it to Athens; and Pausias, who excelled in wall-painting, and in delineating children, animals, flowers, and arabesques. The Greeks tinted the background and bas-reliefs of their sculptures, and even painted their inimitable statues, gilding the hair, and inserting glass or silver eyes. In marble and bronze statuary, and in graceful vase-painting^ the Greeks have never been surpassed. All the arts and orna- mentation which we have seen in use among the previous nations were greatly improved upon by the Greeks, who added to other excellences an exquisite sense of beauty and a power of ideal ex- pression peculiar to themselves. Besides Phidias, whose statues were distinguished for grandeur and sublimity, eminent among sculptors were Praxiteles, who excelled in tender grace and finish ; Scopas, who delighted in marble allegory ; and Lysippus, a worker in bronze, and the master of portraiture.^ 3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. Eeligion and Mythology. — Nothing marks more strongly the poetic imagination of the Greeks than the character of their religious worship. They learned their creed in a poem, and told it in marble sculpture. To them nature overflowed with deities. Every grove had its presiding genius, every stream and fountain its protecting nymph. Earth and air were filled with invisible spirits, and the sky was crowded with translated heroes, — their own half-divine ancestors. Their gods were intense personalities, endowed with human passions and instincts, and bound by domestic relations. Such deities appealed to the hearts of their worshipers, and the Greeks loved their favorite gods with the same fervor bestowed upon their earthly friends. On the summit of Mount Olympus, in Thessaly, beyond impenetrable mists, according to their mythology, the twelve 2 great gods held council. 1 The masterpieces of Praxiteles were an undraped Venus sold to the people of Cnidus, and a satyr or faun, of which the best antique copy is preserved in the Capitoline Museum, Rome. This statue suggested Hawtliorne's charming romance, The Marble Faun. The celebrated Niobe Group in the Uffizi Gallery, Floience, is the work of either Praxiteles or Scopas. The latter was one of the artists employed on the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Appendix). Lysippus and A pelles were favorites of Alexander the Great, who would allow only them to carve or paint liis image. 2 They were called the Twelve Gods, but the lists vary, increasing the actual number. Roman mythology was founded on Greek, and, as tlie Latin names are now in general use, they have been interpolated to assist the puiJil's association. 184 GREECE. Zeus (Jove or Jupiter) was supreme. He ruled with the thunderbolts, and was king over gods and men. His symbols were the eagle and the lightning, both asso- ciated with great height. His two brothers, Poseidon (Neptune) and Hades ( Pluto) held sway respectively over the sea and the depths under ground. As god of the sea, Poseidon had the dolphin for his symbol; as god over rivers, lakes, and springs, his symbols were the trident and the horse. Hades had a helmet which conferred invisibility upon the wearer. It was in much demand among the gods, and was his symbol. The shades of Hades, wherein the dead were received, were guarded by a three-headed dog, Cerberus. Hera (Juno), the haughty wife of Zeus, was Queen of the Skies. Her jealousy was the source of much discord in celestial circles. The stars were her eyes. Her symbols were the cuckoo and the peacock. Demeter (Ceres) was the bestower of bountiful harvests. Her worship was con- nected with the peculiarly sacred Eleusinian mysteries, whose secret rites have never been disclosed. Some think that ideas of the unity of God and the immortality of the soul were kept alive and handed down by them. Demeter's symbols were ears of corn, the pomegranate, and a car drawn by winged serpents. Hestia (Vesta) was goddess of the domestic hearth. At her altar in every house were celebrated all important family events, even to the purchase of a new slave, or the undertaking of a short journey. The family slaves joined in this domestic worship, and Hestia's altar was an asylum whither they might tlee tr» escape punish- ment, and where the stranger, even an euemy, could find protection. She was the persomficatiou of purity, and her sj'mbol was an altar-flame. Hephcestus (Vulcan) was the god of volcanic fires and skilled metal-work. Being lame and deformed, his parents, Zeus and Hera, threw him out of Olympus, but his genius finally brought about a reconciliation. Mount Etna was his forge, whence Prometheus stole the sacied fire to give to man. His brother. Ares (Mars) was god of war. His symbols were the dog and the vulture. Athena (Minerva) sprang full-armed from the imperial head of Zeus. She was the goddess of wisdom and of celestial wars, and the especial defender of citadels. Athena and Poseidon contested on the Athenian Acropolis for the supremacy over Attica. The one who gave the greatest boon to man was to win. Poseidon with his trident brought forth a spring of water from the barren rock; but Athena produced an olive-tree, and was declared victor. As a war-goddess she was called Pallas Athene. Her symbol was the owl. Aphrodite (Venus) was goddess of love and beauty. She arose from the foam of the sea. In a contest of personal beauty between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, Paris decided for Aphrodite. She is often represented with a golden apple in her hand, the prize offered by Eris (strife), who originated the dispute. Her symbol was the dove. Apollon (Apollo), the ideal of manly beauty, was the god of poetry and song, fie led the Muses, and in this character his symbol was a lyre ; as god of the fierce rays of the sun, which was his chariot, his symbol was a bow with arrows. Artemis (Diana), twin-sister to Apollo, was goddess of the chase, and protector of the water-nymplis. All young girls were under her care. The moon was her chariot, and her symbol was a deer, or a bow with arrows. Hermes (Mercury) w as the god of cunning and eloquence. In the former capacity he was associated with mists, and accused of thieving. The winged-footed messen- ger of the gods, he was also the guide of souls to the realms of Hades, and of heroes in difficult expeditions. As god of persuasive speech and success in trade he was popular in Athens, where he was worshiped at the street-crossings. i His symbol was a cock or a ram. 1 The " Hermes " placed at street-corners was a stone pillar, surmounted by a buman head (p. 143). THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 185 Dionysus (Bacchus), god ol wine, with his wife Ariadne, ruled the fruit season. JHebe was a cup-bearer in Olympus. There was a host of minor deities and personifications, often appearing in a group of three, such as the Three Graces,— heautiful women, who represented the brightness, color, and perfume of summer ; the Three Fates,— stern sisters, upon whose spindle was spun the thread of every human life; the Three Hesperides,- daugliters of Atlas (upon whose shoulders the sky rested), in whose western garden golden apples grew ; the Three Harpies,— mischievous meddlers, who personated the effects of violent winds ; Three Gorgons, whose terrible faces turned to stone all who beheld them ; and Three Furies, whose mission was to pursue criminals. There were nine Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory), who dwelt on Mount Parnassus, and held all gifts of inspiration : Clio presided over history; Melpomene, tragedy; Thalia, comedy; Calliope, epic poetry; Urania, astronomy; Euterpe, music ; Polyhymnia, song and oratory ; Erato, love-songs ; and Terpsichore, dancing. PRESENTING OFFERINGS AT THE TEMPLE OF DELPHI. Divination of all kinds was universal. Upon signs, dreams, and portents depended all the weighty decisions of life. Birds, especially crows and ravens, were watched as direct messengers from the gods, and so much meaning was attached to their voices, habits, manner of flight, and mode of alighting, that even in Homer's time the word "bird" was synonymous with " omen." The omens obtained by sacrifices were still more anxiously regarded. Upon the motions of the flame, the appearance of the ashes, and, above all, the shape and aspect of the victim's liver, hung such momentous human interests, that, as at Platasa, a great army was sometimes kept waiting for days till success should be assured through a sacrificial calf or chicken. Oracles. — The temples of Zens at Dodona (Epinis), and of Apollo at Delphi (Phocis), were the oldest and most venerated prophetic shrines. At Dodona three priestesses presided, to whom the gods spoke in the 186 GREECE. rustling leaves of a sacred oak, aud the murmurs of a holy rill. But the favorite oracular god was Apollo, who, besides the Pythian temple at Delphi, had shrines in various parts of the land.i The Greeks had implicit faith in the Oracles, and consulted them for every important undertaking. Priests and Priestesses shared in the reverence paid to the gods. Their temple duties were mainly prayer and sacrifice. They occu- pied the place of honor in the public festivities, aud were supported by the temple revenues. Grecian religion included in its observances nearly the whole range of social pleasures. WorshijD consisted of songs and dances, proces- sions, libations, festivals, dramatic and athletic contests, and various sacrifices and purifications. The people generally were content with their gods and time-honored mythology, and left all difficult moral and religious problems to be settled by the philosophers and the serious- minded minority who followed them. BeliffioHS Games and Festivals. — The Olympian Games were held once in four years in honor of Zeus, at Olympia. Here the Greeks gathered from all parts of the country, protected by a safe transit through^hostile Hellenic states. The commencement of the Festival month having been formally announced by heralds sent to every state, a solemn truce supj^ressed all quarrels until its close. The competitive exercises consisted of running, leaping, wrestling, boxing, and chariot- racing. The prize was a wreath from the sacred olive-tree in Olympia. The celebration, at first confined to one day, came in time to last five days. Booths were scattered about the Altis (p. 181), where a gay traffic was carried on ; while in the spacious council-room the ardent Greeks crowded to hear the newest works of poets, philosophers, and historians. All this excitement and enthusiasm were heightened by the belief that the pleasure enjoyed was an act of true religious \vorsh'ip. The Pythian Games, sacred to Apollo, occurred near Delphi, in the third year of each Olympiad, and in national dignity ranked next to the Olympic. The prize-wreath was laurel. The Kemean and the Isthmian Games, sacred respectively to Zeus and Poseidon, were held once in two years, and, like the Pythian, had prizes for music and poetry, as well as gymnastics, chariots, and horses. The Nemean J A volcanic site, having a fissure through which gas escaped, was usually selected. The Delphian priestess, having spent thiee days in fasting and batliing, seated herself on a tripod over the chasm, where, under the real or imaginary effect of the vapors, she uttered her prophecies. Her ravings were recorded by the attend- ing prophet, and afterward turned into hexameter verse by poets hired for the pur- pose. The shrewd priests, through their secret agents, kept well posted on all matters likely to be urged, and when tlieir knowledge failed, as iti predictions for the future, made the responses so ambiguous or uniutelligible tliat they would seem to be verified by any result. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 187 crown was of parsley, the Isthmian of pine. Sparta took interest only in the Olympic games, with which she had been connected from their beginning, and which, it is curious to note, were the only ones having no intellectual competition. Otherwise, Sparta had her own festivals, from which strangers were excluded. TJie Panathence'a,^ which took place once in four years at Athens, in honor of the patron goddess, consisted of similar exercises, termi- nating in a grand procession in which the whole Athenian population took part. Citizens in full military equipment ; the victorious con- testants with splendid chariots and horses; priests and attendants leading the sacrificial victims ; dignified elders bearing olive-boughs ; young men with valuable, artistic plate; and maidens, the purest and most beautiful in Athens, with baskets of holy utensils on their heads, — all contributed to the magnificent display. Matrons from the neighboring tribes carried oak-branches, while their daughters bore the chairs and sunshades of the Athenian maidens. In the center of the procession was a ship resting on wheels, having for a sail a richly embroidered mantle or peploSy portraying the victories of Zeus and Athena, wrought and woven by Attic maidens. The procession, having gone through all the principal streets round to the Acropolis, marched up through its magnificent Propylaea, past the majestic Parthenon, and at last reached the Erechtheion, or Temple of Athena Polias (p. 194) Here all arms were laid aside, and, amid the blaze of burnt-offerings and the ringing pseans of praise, the votive gifts were placed in the sanctuary of the goddess. Tlie Feast of Diomjsns was celebrated twice during the spring season, the chief festival continuing for eight days. At this time those tragedies and comedies which had been selected by the archon — to whom all plays were first submitted — were brought out in the Dionysiac Theater 2 at Athens, in competition for prizes. 1 The Panathenaic Procession formed the subject of the sculpture on the frieze around the Parthenon cella, in which stood the goddess sculptured by Phidias. Most of this frieze, much mutilated, is with tlie Elgin Marbles. 2 This theater was built on the sloping side of the Acropolis, and consisted of a vast number of semicircular rows of seats cut out of the solid rock, accommodating thirty thousand persons. The front row, composed of white marble arm-chairs, was occupied by the priests, the judges, and the archons, each chair being engraved with the name of its occupant. Between the audience and the stage was the orchestra or place for the chorus, in the center of which stood the altar of Dionysus. Movable stairs led from the orchestra up to the stage, as the course of the drama frequently required the conjunction of the chorus with the actors. The stage itself extended the whole width of the theater, but was quite narrow, except at the center, where the representation took place. It was supported by a white marble wall, handsomely carved. There was a variety of machinery for change of scenes and for producing startling effects, such as the rolling of thunder, the descent of "Ods from heaven, the rising of ghosts and demons from below, etc. The theater 188 GREECE. Each tribe furnished a chorus of dancers and musicians, and chose a choragus, whose business was not only to superintend the training and costumes of the performers, but also to bear all the expense of bringing out the play assigned to him. The office was one of high dignity, and immense sums were spent by the choragi in their efforts to eclipse each other ; the one adjudged to have given the best enter- tainment received a tripod, which was formally consecrated in the temples, and placed upon its own properly inscribed monument in the Street of Tripods, near the theater. The Actors, to increase their size and enable them the better to per- sonate the gods and heroes of Greek tragedy, wore high-soled shoes, padded garments, and great masks which completely enveloped their heads, leaving only small apertures for the mouth and eyes. As their stilts and stage-attire impeded any free movements, their acting con- sisted of little more than a series of tableaux and recitations, while the stately musical apostrophes and narrations of the chorus filled up the gaps and supplied those parts of the story not acted on the stage. 1 Tlie Performance began early in the morning, and lasted all day, eating and drinking being allowed in the theater. The price of seats varied according to location, but the poorer classes were supplied free tickets by the government, so that no one was shut out by poverty from enjoying this peculiar worship. 2 Each play generally occupied from one and a half to two hours. The audience was exceedingly demonstrative ; an unpopular actor could not deceive himself ; his voice was drowned in an uproar of whistling, clucking, and hissing, was open to the sky, but had an awning which might be drawn to shut out the direct rays of the sun, while little jets of perfumed water cooled and refreshed the air. To aid the vast assembly in hearing, brazen bell-shaped vases were placed in different parts of the theater. 1 In comedy, the actors themselves often took the audience into their confidence, explaining the situation to them somewhat after the manner of some modern comic operas. 2 Tragedy, which dealt with the national gods and heroes, was to the Greeks a true religious exercise, strengthening their faith, and quickening their sympathies for the woes of their beloved and fate-driveu deities. When, as in rare instances, a subject was taken from contemporaneous history, no representation which would pain the audience was allowed, and on one occasion a poet was heavilj'- fined for presenting a play which touched upon a recent Athenian defeat. Some great public lesson was usually hidden in the comedies, where the fashionable follies were merci- lessly satirized; and many a useful hint took root in the hearts of the people when given from the stage, that would have fallen dead or unnoticed if put forth in the assembly. " Quick of thought and utterance, of hearing and apprehension, living together in open public intercourse, reading would have been to the Athenians a slow process for the interchange of ideas. But the many thousands of auditors in the Greek theater caught, as with an electric flash of intelligence, the noble thought, the withering sarcasm, the flash of wit, and the coveit Innuendo."— P7iiWi> Smith. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. •189 and he might esteem himself happy if he escaped from the hoards without an actual beating. The favorite, whether on the stage or aa a spectator, was as enthusiastically applauded. i In comedies, tun^ult was invited, and the people were urged to shout and laugh, the co:^ic poet sometimes throwing nuts and figs to them, that their scrambling and screaming might add to the evidences of a complete success. GRECIAN FEMALE HEADS. Marriage. — Athenians could legally marry only among themselves. The ceremony did not require a priestly oflacial, but was preceded by offerings to Zeus, Hera, Artemis, and other gods who presided over marriage. 2 Omens were carefully observed, and a bath in water from the sacred fountain, Kallirrhoe, was an indispensable preparation. On the evening of the wedding-day, after a merry dinner given at her 1 At the Olympian games, when Themistocles entered, it is related that the whole assembly rose to honor him. 2 In Homer's time the groom paid to the lady's father a certain sum for his bride. Afterward this custom was reversed, and the amount of the wife's dowry greatly affected her position as a married woman. At the formal betrothal preceding every marriage this important question was settled, and in case of separation the dowry was usually returned to the wife's parents. 190 • GREECE. father's house, the closely veiled bride was seated in a chariot between her husband and his "best man," all dressed in festive robes and garlanded with flowers. Her mother kindled the nuptial torch at the domestic hearth, a procession of friends and attendants was formed, and, amid the joyful strains of the marriage-song, the whistling of flutes, and the blinking of torches, the happy pair were escorted to their future home. Here they were saluted with a shower of sweet- meats, after which followed the nuptial banquet. At this feast, b}^ privilege, the women were allowed to be present, though they sat at a separate table, and the bride continued veiled. The third day after marriage the veil was cast aside, and wedding-presents were received. The parties most concerned in marriage were seldom consulted, and it was not uncommon for a wicTow to find herself bequeathed by her deceased husband's will to one of his friends or relatives. Death and Burial. — As a portal festooned with flowers an- nounced a wedding, so a vessel of water placed before a door gave notice of a death within. i As soon as a Greek died, an obolus was inserted in his mouth to pay his fare on the boat across the River Styx to Hades. His body was then washed, anointed, dressed in white, garlanded with flowers, and placed on a couch with the feet toward the outer door. A formal lament 2 followed, made by the female friends and relatives, assisted by hired mourners. On the third day the body was carried to the spot where it was to be buried or burned. It was preceded by a hired chorus of musicians and the male mourners, who, dressed in black or gray, had their hair closely cut. 3 The female mourners walked behind the bier. If the body were burned, sacrifices were oft'ered ; then, after all was consumed, the fire was extinguished with wine, and the ashes, sprinkled with oil and wine, were collected in a clay or bronze cinerary. Various articles were stored with the dead, such as mirrors, trinkets, and elegantly painted vases. The burial was followed by a feast, which was considered as given by the deceased (compare p. 42). Sacrifices of milk, honey, wine, olives, and 1 The water was always brought from some other dwelling, and was used for the purification of visitors, as everything within the house of mourning was polluted by the presence of the dead. 2 Solon sought to restrain these ostentatious excesses by enacting that, except the nearest relatives, no women under sixty years of age should enter a house of mourning. In the heroic days of Greece the lament lasted several days (that of Achilles continued seventeen), but in later times an early burial was tliought pleasing to the dead. The funeral pomp, which afterward became a common custom, was originally reserved for heroes alone. In the earlier Attic burials tlie grave was dug by the nearest relatives, and afterward sown with corn that the body might be recom- pensed for its own decay. 3 When a great general died, the hair and manes of all the army horses were cropped. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 191 flowers were periodically offered at the grave, where slaves kept watch. Sometimes a regular banquet was served, and a blood-sacrifice offered by the side of the tomb. The dead person was supposed to be con- scious of all these attentions, and to be displeased when an enemy approached his ashes. Malefactors, traitors, and people struck by lightning,! were denied burial, which in Greece, as in Egypt, was the highest possible dishonor. GRECIAN WARRIOllS ANU ATTENDANT. Weapons of War and Defense.— The Greeks fought with long spears, swords, clubs, battle-axes, bows, and slings. In the heroic age, chariots were employed, and the warrior, standing by the side of the charioteer, was driven to the front, where he engaged in single combat. Afterward the chariot was used only in races. A soldier in full armor wore a leather or metal helmet, covering his head and face; a cuirass made of iron plates, or a leather coat of mail over- laid with iron scales ; bronze greaves, reaching from above the knee 1 Such a death was supposed to be a direct punishment from the gods for some great offense or hidden depravity. 192 GREECE. down to the ankle ; and a shield ^ made of ox-hides, covered with metal, and sometimes extending from head to foot. Thus equipped, they advanced slowly and steadily into action in a uniform phalanx of about eight spears deep, the warriors of each tribe arrayed together, so that individual or sectional bravery was easily distinguished. The light infantry wore no armor, but sometimes carried a shield of willow twigs, covered with leather. In Homer's time, bows six feet long were made of the horns of the antelope. Cavalry horses were pro- tected by armor, and the rider sat upon a saddle-cloth, a luxury not indulged in on ordinary occasions. Stirrups and horseshoes were un- known. The ships of Greece, like those of Phoenicia and Carthage, were flat-bottomed barges or galleys, mainly propelled by oars. The oarsmen sat in rows or banks, one above the other, the number of banks determining the name of the vessel. Bows and arrows, jave- lins, ballistas, and catapults were the offensive weapons used at a distance ; but the ordinary ship tactics were to run the sharp iron prow of the attacking vessel against the enemy's broadside to sink it, or else to steer alongside, board the enemy, and make a hand-to- hand fight. SCENES IN REAL LIFE. Retrospect. — We will suppose it to be about the close of the 6th century B. c, with the Peloponnesian war just ended. The world is two thousand years older than when we watched the building of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh, and fifteen centuries have passed since the Labyrinth began to show its marble colonnades. Those times are even now remote antiquities, and fifty years ago Herodotus delighted the wondering Greeks with his description of the ancient ruins in the Fayoom. It is nearly two hundred and fifty years since Asshurbani- pal sat on the throne of tottering Nineveh, and one hundred and fifty since the fall of Babylon. Let us now visit Sparta. Scene I. — J Day in JSjmrta. — A hilly, unwalled city on a river bank, with mountains in the distance. A great square or forum (Agora) with a few modest temples, statues, and porticoes. On the highest hill (Acropolis), in the midst of a grove, more temples and 1 These shields were sometimes richly decorated with emblems and inscriptions. Thus ^schylus, in The Seven Chiefs against Thebes, describes one warrior's shield as bearing a flaming torch, with the motto, " I will burn the citj' ; " and another as having an armed man climbing a scaling-ladder, and for an inscription, "Not Mars himself shall beat me from the towers." 2 A ship with three banks of oars was called a trireme; with four, a quadrireme, etc. In the times of the Ptolemies galleys of twelve, fifteen, twenty, and even forty banks of oars were built. The precise arrangement of the oarsmen in these large Ships is not known (see cut, p. 158). THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 193 statues, among them a brass statue of Zeus, the most ancient in Greece. In the suburbs the hippodrome, for foot and horse races, and the pUitmmtw, — a grove of beautiful palm-trees, partly inclosed by run- ning streams, — where the Spartan youth gather for athletic sports. A scattered city, its small, mean houses grouped here and there ; its streets narrow and dirty. This is Sparta. If we wish to enter a house, we have simply to announce ourselves in a loud voice, and a slave will admit us. We shall hear no cry of puny infants within ; the little boys, none of them over seven years old (p. 179), are strong and sturdy, and the girls are few ; their weak or deformed brothers and surplus sisters have been cast out in their babyhood to perish, or to become the slaves of a chance rescuer. The mother is at home, — a brawny, strong-minded, strong-fisted woman, whose chief pride is that she can fell an enemy with one blow. Her dress consists of two garments, — a chiton ; i and over it a peplos, or short cloak, which clasps above her shoulders, leaving her arms bare. She appears in public when she pleases, and may even give her opinion on matters of state. When her husband or sons go forth to battle, she sheds no sentimental tears, but hands to each his shield, with the proud injunction, '^Return with it, or upon it." No cowards, whatever their excuses, find favor with her. When the blind Eurytus was led by his slave into the foremost rank at Thermopylae, she thought of him as having simply performed his duty; when Aristodemus made his blindness an excuse for staying away, she re- viled his cowardice ; and though he afterward died the most heroic of deaths at Platsea, it counted him nothing. She educates her daughters to the same unflinching defiance of womanly tenderness. They are trained in the palaestra or wrestling-school to run, wrestle, and fight like their brothers. They wear but one garment, a short sleeveless chiton, open upon one side, and often not reaching to the knee. Tlie Spartan gentleman, who sees little of his family (p. 120), is debarred by law from trade or agriculture, and, having no taste for art or literature, spends his time, when not in actual warfare, in daily military drill, and in governing his helots. He never appears in public without his attendant slaves, but prudence compels him to walk be- hind rather than before them. In the street his dress is a short, coarse cloak, with or without a chiton; perhaps a pair of thong-strapped sandals, a cane, and a seal-ring. He usually goes bare-headed, but when traveling in the hot sun wears a broad-brimmed hat or bonnet. His ideal character is one of relentless energy and brute force, and his 1 The Doric chiton was a vSimple woolen shift, consisting of two short pieces of cloth, sewerl or clasperl together on one or both sides up to the breast; the parts covering the breast and back were fastened over each shoulder, leaving the open spaces at the side for arm-holes. It was confined about the waist with a girdle. 194 GREECE. standard of excellence is a successful defiance of all pain, and an ability to conquer in every fight. Scene II. — A Day in Athens (4th century b. c.).— To see Athens is, first of all, to admire the Acropolis, — a high, steep, rocky, but broad-crested hill, sloping toward the city and the distant sea ; ascended by a marble road for chariots, and marble steps for pedestrians ; en- tered through a magnificent gateway (the Propylasa) ; and crowned on its spacious summit — one hundred and fifty feet above the level at its base — with a grove of stately temples, statues,! and altars. Standing on the Acropolis, on a bright morning about the year 300 B. c, a magnificent view opens on every side. Away to the southwest for four miles stretch the Long Walls, five hundred and fifty feet, apart, leading to the Pirasan harbor ; beyond them the sea, dotted with sails, glistens in the early sun. Between us and the harbors lie the porticoed and templed Agora, bustling with the morning commerce ; the Pnyx,2 with its stone bema, from which Demosthenes sixty or more years ago essayed his first speech amid hisses and laughter ; tlie Areopagus, where from time immemorial the learned court of arehons has held its sittings ; the hill of the Museum, crowned by a fortress ; the tem- ples of Hercules, Demeter, and Artemis ; the Gymnasium of Hermes ; and, near the Pirsean gate, a little grove of statues, — among them one of Socrates, who drank the hemlock and went to sleep a hundred years ago. At our feet, circling about the hill, are amphitheaters for mu- sical and dramatic festivals ; elegant temples and colonnades ; and the famous Street of Tripods, more beautiful than ever since the recent erection of the monument of the choragus Lysicrates. Turning toward the east, we see the Lyceum, where Aristotle walked and talked within the last half century ; and the Cynosarges, where Antisthenes, the father of the Cynics, had his school. Still further to the north rises the white top of Mount Lycabettus, beyond which is the plain of Marathon ; and on the south the green and flowery ascent of Mount Hymettus, swarming with bees, and equally famous for its honey and 1 Towering over all the other statues was the bronze Athena Promachus, by Phidias, cast out of spoils won at Marathon. It was sixty feet high, and represented the goddess with her spear and shield in the attitude of a combatant. Tlie remains of the Erechtheion, a beautiful and peculiar temple sacred to two deities, stood near the Parthenon. It had been burned during tlie invasion of Xerxes, but was in process of restoration when the Peloponnesian war broke out. Part of it was dedicated to Athena Polias, whose olive-wood statue witliin its walls was reputed to have fallen from heaven. It was also said to contain the sacred olive-tree brought forth by Athena, the spring of water which followed the stroke of Poseidon's trident, and even the impression of the trident itself. 2 The two hills, the Pnyx and the Areopagus, were famous localities. Upon the former the assemblies of the people were held. The stone pulpit {bema), from which the orators declaimed, and traces of the leveled arena where the people gathered to listen, are still seen on the Pnyx. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 195 its marble. Through the city, to the southeast, flows the river Ilissus, sacred to the Muses. As we look about us, we are struck by the ab- sence of sj)ires or pinnacles. There are no high towers as in Babylon ; no lofty obelisks as on the banks of the Nile ; the tiled roofs are all flat or slightly gabled, and on them we detect many a favorite promenade. GRECIAN LADIES AND ATIENDANT. A Greek Home. — The Athenian gentleman usually arises at dawn, and after a slight repast of broad and wine goes out with his slaves 1 for a walk or ride, lirevious to his customary daily lounge in the market place. While he is absent, if we are ladies we may visit the house- hold. We are quite sure to find the mistress at home, for, especially if she be young, she never ventures outside her dwelling without her husband's permission ; nor does she receive within it any but her lady- friends and nearest male relatives. The exterior of the house is very plain. Built of common stone, brick, or wood, and coated with plaster, it abuts so closely upon the street that if the door has been made to open outward (a tax is paid for this privilege) the comer-out is obliged to knock before opening it, in order to warn the passers-by. The dead- wall before us has no lower windows, but a strong door furnished with 1 No gentleman in Alliens went out unless he was accompanied by his servants. To be unattended by at least one slave was a sign of extreme indigence, and no more to be thought of than to be seen without a caue. As to the latter, "a gentleman found going about without a walking-stick was presumed by the police to be dis- orderly, and was imprisoned for the night." 196 GREECE. knocker and handle, and beside it a Hermes (p. 143) or an altar to Apollo. Over the door, as in Egypt, is an inscription, here reading, " To the good genius, " followed by the name of the owner. In re- sponse to our knock, the porter, who is always in attendance, opens the door. Carefully placing our right foot on the threshold, — it would be an unlucky omen to touch it with the left, — we pass through a long corridor to a large court open to the sky, and surrounded by arcades or porticoes. This is the peristyle of the androiutis, or apartments be- longing to the master of the house. Around the peristyle lie the ban- queting, music, sitting, and sleeping rooms, the picture galleries and libraries. A second corridor, opening opposite the first, leads to another porticoed court, with rooms about and behind it. This is the gynce- conitis, the domain of the mistress. Here the daughters and hand- maidens always remain, occupied with their wool-carding, spinning, weaving, and embroidery, and hither the mother retires when her husband entertains guests in the andronitis. The floors are plastered and tastefully painted,! the walls are frescoed, and the cornices and ceilings are ornamented with stucco. The rooms are warmed from fireplaces, or braziers of hot coke or charcoal ; they are lighted mostly from doors opening upon the porticoes. In the first court is an altar to Zeus, and in the second the never-forgotten one to Hestia. The furniture is simple, but remarkable for elegance of design. Along the walls are seats or sofas covered with ANCIENT BRAZIER. gkins or purplc carpets, and heaped with cushions. There are also light folding-stools 2 and richly carved arm-chairs, and scattered about the rooms are tripods support- ing exquisitely painted vases. In the bedrooms of this luxurious home are couches of every degree of magnificence, made of olive-wood inlaid with gold and ivory or veneered with tortoise-shell, or of ivory richly embossed, or even of solid silver. On these are laid mattresses of sponge, feathers, or plucked wool ; and over them soft, gorgeously colored blankets, or a coverlet made of peacock skins, dressed with the feathers on,^ and perfumed with imported essences. 1 In later times flagging and mosaics were used. Before the 4th century B. c. the plaster walls were simply whitewashed, 2 The four-legged, backless stool was called a diphros ; when an Athenian gentle- man walked out, one of his slaves generally carried a dipliros for the convenience of his master when wearied. To the diphros a curved back was sometimes added, and the legs made immovable. It was then called a klismos. A high, large cliair, with straight back and low arms, was a thronos. The thronoi in the temples were for the gods, those in dwellings, for the master and his guests. A footstool was indisj)en. sable, and was sometimes attached to the front legs of the thronos. 3 "One of the greatest improvements introduced by the Greeks into the art ol THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 197 The mistress of the house, who is superintending the domestic labor, is dressed in a long chiton, doubled over at the top so as to form a kind of cape which hangs down loosely, clasped on the shoulders, girdled at tlie waist, and falling in many folds to her feet. When she ventures abroad, as she occasionally does to the funeral of a near relation, to the great religious festivals, and sometimes to hear a tragedy, she wears a cloak or MmationA The Athenian wife has not the privileges of the Spartan. The husband and father is the complete master of his household, and, so far from allowing his wife to transact any inde- pendent bargains, he may be legally absolved from any contract her request or counsel has induced him to make. — This is a busy morning in the home, for the master has gone to the market place to invite a few friends to an evening banquet. Tlie foreign cooks, hired for the occasion, are already here, giving orders, and preparing choice dishes. At noon, all business in the market place liaving ceased, the Athenian gentleman returns to his home for his mid-day meal and his siesta. 2 As the cooler hours come on, he re^^airs to the crowded gymnasium, wliere he may enjoy the pleasures of the bath, listen to the learned lectures of philosophers and rlietoriciaus, or join in the racing, mili- tary, and gymnastic exercises. 3 Toward sunset he again seeks his home to await his invited guests. llie Banquet. — ^As each guest arrives, a slaved meets him in the court, and ushers him into the large triclinium or dining-room, where his host warmly greets him, and assigns to him a section of a couch. Before he reclines, 5 however, a slave unlooses his sandals and washes sleeping was the practice of undressing before going to bed,— a thing unheard of until liit upon by their inventive genius."— i^eMon. 1 The dress of botli sexes was nearly the same. The himation was a large, square piece of cloth, so wrapped about the form as to leave only the right arm free. Much skill was required to drape it artistically, and the taste and elegance of the wearer were decided by his manner of carrying it. The same himation often served for both husband and wife, and it is related as among the unamiable traits of Xantippe, the shrewish wife of Socrates, that she refused to go out in her husband's himation. A gentleman usually wore a chiton also, though he was considered fully dressed in the himation alone. The lower classes wore only the chiton, or were clothed in tanned skins. Raiment was cheap in Greece. In the time of Socrates a chiton cost about a dollar i and an ordinary himation, two dollars. 2 The poorer classes gathered together in groups along the porticoes for gossip or slumber, where indeed they not unfrequently spent their nights. 3 Ball-playing, which was a favorite game with the Greeks, was taught scien- tifically in the gymnasium. The balls were made of colored leather, stuffed with feathers, wool, or fig-seeds, or, if very large, were hollow. Cock-and-quail fighting was another exciting amusement, and at Athens took place annually bylaw, as an instructive exhibition of bravery. < 4 A guest frequently brought his own slave to assist in personal attendance upon himself. 6 The mode of reclining, which was similar to that in Assyria, is shown in th© 198 GREECE. his feet in perfumed wine. The time having arrived for dinner, water is passed around for hand ablutions, and small, low tables are brought in, one being placed before each couch. There are no knives and forks, no table-cloths or napkins. Some of the guests wear gloves to enable A GliEEK SyMPOSIUM. them to take the food quite hot, others have hardened their fingers by- handling hot pokers, and one, a noted gourmand, has prepared him- self with metallic finger-guards. The slaves now hasten with the first course, which opens with sweetmeats, and includes many delicacies, cut, "A Greek Symposium." The place of honor was next the host. Tlie Greek wife and daughter never appeared at these banquets, aiul at their every-day meals the wife sat on the couch at the feet of her master. The sons were not permitted to recline till they were of age. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 199 such as thrushes, hares, oysters, pungent herbs, and, best of all, Copaie eels, cooked crisp and brown, and wrapped in beet-leaves. ^ Bread is handed around in tiny baskets, woven of slips of ivory. Little talking is done, for it is good breeding to remain quiet until the sub- stantial viands are honored. From time to time the guests wipe their fingers upon bits of bread, throwing the fragments under the table. This course being finished, the well-trained slaves sponge or remove the tables, brush up the dougli, bones, and other remnants from the floor, and pass again the perfumed water for hand-washing. Garlands of myi'tle and roses, gay ribbons, and sweet-scented ointments are distributed, a golden bowl of wine is brought, and the meal closes with a libation. The Symposiwn is introduced by a second libation, accompanied by hymns and the solemn notes of a flute. The party, hitherto silent, rapidly grow merry, while the slaves bring in the dessert and the wine, which now for the first time appears at the feast. The dessert con- sists of fresh fruits, olives well ripened on the tree, dried figs, imported dates, curdled cream, honey, cheese, and the salt-sprinkled cakes for which Athens is renowned. A large crater or wine-bowl, ornamented with groups of dancing bacchanals, is placed before one of the guests, who has been chosen archon. He is to decide upon the proper mixture of the wine,2 the nature of the forfeits in the games of the evening, and, in fact, is henceforth king of the feast. The sport be- gins with riddles. This is a favorite pastime ; every failure in guessing requires a forfeit, and the penalty is to drink a certain quantity of wine. Music, charades, dancing and juggling performed by profes- sionals, and a variety of entertainments, help the hours to fly, and the Symposium ends at last by the whole party inviting them- selves to some other banqueting-place, where they spend the night in revel. 3 1 The Greeks were extravagantly fond of fish. Pork, the abhorred of the Egyp- tians, was their favorite meat. Bread, more than anything else, was the " staff of life," all other food, except sweetmeats— even meat— being called relish. Sweetmeats were superstitiously regarded, and scattering them about the house was an invitation to good luck. 2 To drink wine clear was disreputable, and it was generally diluted with two thirds water. 3 The fashionable Symposia were usually of the character described above, but sometimes they were more intellectual, affording an occasion for the brilliant display of Attic wit and learning. The drinking character of the party was always the same, and in Plato's dialogue, The Symposium, in which Aristoplianes, Socrates, and other literary celebrities took part, the evening is broken in upon by two different bauds of revelers, and daylight finds Socrates and Aristophanes still drinking with the host. " Parasites (a recognized class of people, who lived by sponging their dinners) and mountebanks always took the liberty to drop in wherever there was a feast, a fact which tliey ascertained by walking through the streets and snuffing at the kitchens."- i^eWon. 200 GREECE. 4. SUMMARY. 1. Political History. — The Pelasgians are the primitive inhab- itants of Greece. In time the Hellenes descend from the north, and give their name to the land. It is the Heroic Age, the era of the sons of the gods, — Hercules, Theseus, and Jason, — of the Argonautic Expedition and the Siege of Troy. With the Dorian Migration ("Return of the Heraclidae "), and their settlement in the Pelopon- nesus, the mythic stories end and real history begins. The kings disappear, and nearly all the cities become little republics. Hellenic colonies arise in Asia Minor, rivaling the glory of Greece itself. Ly- curgus now enacts his rigid laws (850 B. c). In the succeeding centuries the Spartans — pitiless, fearless, haughty warriors — conquer Messenia, become the head of the Peloponnesus, and threaten all Greece. Meanwhile — spite of Draco's Code, the AlcmaeonidaB's curse, the factions of the men of the plain, the coast, and the mountain, and the tyranny of the Pisistratidse — Athens, by the wise measures of Solon and Cleisthenes, becomes a powerful republic. Athens now "sends help to the Greeks of Asia Minor against the Persians, and the Asiatic deluge is precipitated upon Greece. Miltiades defeats Darius on the field of Marathon (490 B. c). Ten years later Xerxes forces the Pass of Thermopylae, slays Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans, and burns Athens ; but his fleet is put to flight at Salamis, the next year his army is routed by Pausanias at Plataea, and his remaining ships are destroyed at Mycale. Thus Europe is saved from Persian despotism. The Age of Pericles follows, and Athens, grown to be a great com- mercial city, — its streets thronged with traders and its harbor with ships, — is the head of Greece. Sparta is jealous, and the Peloponnesian war breaks out in 431 b. c. Its twenty-seven years of alternate vic- tories and defeats end in the fatal expedition to Syracuse, the defeat of Ji^gospotami, and the fall of Athens. Sparta is now supreme ; but her cruel rule is broken by Epaminon- das on the field of Leuctra. Thebes comes to the front, but Greece, rent by rivalries, is overwhelmed by Philip of Macedon in the battle of Chseronea. The conqueror dying soon after, his greater son, Alexander, leads the armies of united Greece into Asia. The battles of Granicus, Issus, and Arbela subdue the Persian Empire. Thence the conquering leader marches eastward to the Indus, and returns to Babylon only to die (323 B. c). His generals divide his empire among themselves ; while Greece, a prey to dissensions, at last drops into the all-absorbing Roman Empire (146 B. C), SUMMARY. 201 2. Civilization. — ^Athens and Sparta differ widely in thought, habits, and taste. TJie Sjfartans care little for art and literature, and glory only in war and patriotism. They are rigid in their self-dis- cipline, and cruel to their slaves. They smother all tender home sen- timent, eat at the public mess, give their seven-year-old boys to the state, and train their girls in the rough sports of the paleestra. They distrust and exclude strangers, and make no effort to adorn their capital with art or architecture. TJie Athenians adore art, beauty, and intellect. Versatile and brilliant, they are fond of novelties and eager for discussions. Law courts abound, and the masses imbibe an education in the theater, along the busy streets, and on the Pnyx. In their democratic city, filled with magnificent temples, statues, and colonnades, wit and talent are the keys that unlock the doors of every saloon. Athens becomes the center of the world's history in all that pertains to the fine arts. Poetry and philosophy flourish alike in her classic atmosphere, and all the colonies feel the pulse of her artistic heart. Grecian Art and Literature furnish models for all time. Infant Greece produces Homer and Hesiod, the patriarchs of epic poetry. Coming down the centuries, she brings out in song, and hymn, and ode, Sappho, Simonides, and Pindar; in tragedy, ^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; in comedy, Aristophanes and Menander; in history, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon ; in oratory, Pericles and Demosthenes ; in philosophy, Thales, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle ; in painting, Apelles ; in sculpture, Phidias, Praxiteles, and Lysippus. Greek Mythology invests every stream, grove, and mountain with gods and goddesses, nymphs, and naiads. The beloved deities are worshiped with songs and dances, dramas and festivals, spirite(3 contests and gorgeous processions. The Four Great National Games unite all Greece in a sacred bond. The Feasts of Dionysus give birth to the drama. The Four Great Schools of Philosophy flourish and decay, leaving their impress upon the generations to come. Finally Grecian civilization is transported to the Tiber, and becomes blended with the national peculiarities of the conquering Romans. READING REFERENCES. Grote's History of Greeos.— Arnold's History of Greece.— Curtius's History of Greece.— Felton's Ancient and Modern Greece.— History Primers,- Greece, and Greek Antiquities, edited by Green..— Smith's Student's History of Greece.— Becker's Chari- cles.—Guhl and Koner's Life of the Greeks and Romans.— Bryce's History of Greece^ in Freeman's Series. — Freeman's General Sketch of European History.- Collier's History of Greece— Heer en's Historical Researches.— Putz's Handbook of Ancient 202 GREECE. History.— Bulwers Rise and Fall of Athens.- Williams's Life of Alexander the Great— ThirlwalVs History of Greece.- Schliemann'c llios. and Troja-Niebuhrs Lectures on Ancient History.— Xenophon's Anabasis, Memorabilia, and Cyropcedia. —St. John's The Hellenes.-Fergusson's History of Architecture.— Stuart s Antiqui- ties of Athens.— Mahaffy's History of Greek Literature— Murray's Hand-book of Greek Archceology. CHRONOLOGY. B. C. Dorian Migration, abont ,,_ 1100 Lycurgus, about 850 First Olympiad 77g [It is curious to notice how many important events cluster about tliis period, viz.: Rome was founded in 753; the Era of Nabonasspr in Babylon began 747; and Tiglath Pileser II., the great military king of Assyria, ascended the throne, 745.] First Messenian War 743-724 Second Messenian War ....685-668 Draco 521 Solon 594 Pisistratus 560 Battle of Marathon 490 Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis 480 " " Plattea and Mycale 479 Age of Pericles 479-429 Peloponnesian War 431-404 Retreat of the Ten Thousand 400 Battle of Leuctra 371 Demosthenes delivered his " First Philippic " (Oration against Philip) 352 Battle of Chaeronea 338 Alexander the Great 336-323 Battle of the Granicus 334 " " ISSUS 333 " " Arbela ^' 331 Oration of Demosthenes on "The Crown" 330 Battle of Ipsus 301 Greece becomes a Roman Province 146 BAS-UELIEF OF THE NINE MUSES. -THE PROVINCES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE^ at the time of its greatest extent SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 100 500 On this Map Italia is divided into the 11 Regions of Augustus. J.WELLS, DEL. ROME. 1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. While Greece was winning her freedom on the fields of Marathon and Plataea, and building up the best civilization the world had then seen ; while Alexander was carrying the Grecian arms and culture over the East; while the Con- queror's successors were wrangling over the prize he had won ; while the Ptolemies were transplanting Grecian thought, but not Grecian freedom, to Egyptian soil, — there was slowly growing up on the banks of the Tiber a city that was to found an empire wider than Alexander's, and, molding Grecian civilization, art, and literature into new forms, preserve them long after Greece had fallen. Contrasts between Greece and Italy. — Duration. — Greek history, from the First Olympiad (776 B. c.) to the Roman Conquest (146 B. c), covers about six centuries, but the national strength lasted less than two centui'ies ; Roman history, from the founding of Rome (753 b. c.) to its down- fall (476 A. D.), stretches over twelve centuries. OeograpMcal Questions.— &>ee maps, pp. 210 and 255. Describe the Tiber. Locate Rome ; Ostia ; Alba Longa ; Veii (Veji) ; the Sabines , the Etruscans. Where was Carthage? New Carthage? Saguntuml Syracuse? Lake Trasimenus? Capua? CannsB? Tarentum? Cisalpine Gaul? lapygia (the "heel of Italy," reaching toward Greece)? Bmtiura (the " toe of Italy ") ? What were tlie limits of the empire at the time of Its greatest extent? Name the principal countries which it then included. Locate Alexandria ; Antioch ; Smyrna ; Philippi ; Byzantium. 204 ROME. Manner of Growth. — Greece, cut up into small valleys, grew around many little centers, and no two leaves on her tree of liberty were exactly alike ; Italy exhibited the un- broken advance of one imperial city to universal dominion. As a result, we find in Greece the fickleness and jealousies of petty states ; in Italy, the power and resources of a mighty nation. Direction of Groivth. — Greece lay open to the East, whence she originally drew her inspiration, and whither she in time returned the fruits of her civilization ; Italy lay open to the West, and westward sent the strength of her civilization to regenerate barbarian Europe. Character of Influence. — The mission of Greece was to ex- hibit the triumphs of the mind, and to illustrate the prin- ciples of hberty; that of Rome, to subdue by irresistible force, to manifest the power of law, and to bind the nations together for the coming of a new religion. Ultimate Results. — When Greece fell from her high estate, she left only her history and the achievements of her artists and statesmen ; when the Roman Empire broke to pieces, the great nations of Europe sprang from the ruins, and their languages, civilization, laws, and religion took their form from the Mistress of the World. The Early Inhabitants of Italy were mainly of the same Aryan swarm that settled Greece. But they had be- come very different from the Hellenes, and had split into various hostile tribes. Between the Arno and the Tiber lived the Etruscans or Tuscans, — a league of twelve cities. These people were great builders, and skilled in the arts. In northern Italy, Cisalpine Gaul was inhabited by Celts, akin to those upon the other side of the Alps. Southern Italy contained many prosperous GreeJc cities. The Italians occupied central Italy. They were divided into the Latins THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 205 and Oscans. The former comprised a league of tMrty towns (note, p. 117) south of the Tiber ; the latter consisted of various tribes living eastward, — Samnites, Sabines, etc.^ B.ome was foiinded^ (753 b. c.) by the Latins, perhaps 1 Some authorities group the Samnites, Sabines, Umbrians, Oscans, Sabelliaus, '^tc, as the Umbrians ; and others call them the Umbro Sabellians. They were doubtless closely related. 2 Of the early history of Rome there is no reliable account, as the records were burned when the city was destroyed by the Gauls (390 b. c), and it was five hundred years after the founding of the city (A. U. C, anno urbis conditce) before the tirst rude attempt was made to write a continuous narrative of its oiigin. The names of the early monarchs are probably personifications, rather than the appellations of real persons. The word " Rome " itself means border, and piobably had no relation to the fabled Romulus. The history which was accepted in later times by the Romans, and has come down to us, is a series of beautiful legends. In the text is given the real history as now received by the best critics, and in the notes the mythical stories. ^NEAS, favored by the god Mercury and led by his mother Venus, came, after the destruc- tion of Troy, to Italy. There his son Ascanius built the Long White City (Alba Louga). His descendants reigned m peace for three hundred years. When it came time, according to the de- cree of the gods, that Rome should be founded, ROMULUS AND REMUS Were born. Their mother, Rhea Silvia, was a priestess of the goddess Vesta, and their father. Mars, the god of war. Amulius, who had usurped the Alban throne from their grandfather Numitor, or- dered the babes to be thrown into the Tiber. They were, how- ever, cast ashore at the foot of Mount Palatine. Here they were nursed by a wolf. One Faustulus, passing near, was struck by the sight, and, carrying the children home, brought them up as his own. Romulus and Remus, on coming to age, discovered their true rank, slew the usurper, and restored their grandfather Numitor to his throne. Founding of Rome.— The brothers then determined to found a city near the spot where they had been so wonderfully preserved, and agreed to watch the flight of birds m order to decide which should fix upon the site. Remus, on the Aventine Hill, saw six vultures but Romulus, on the Palatine, saw twelve, and was declared victor. He accoi-dingiy began to mark out the bounaanes with a brazen plow, drawn by a builock and a heifer. As the mud wall rose, Remus m scorn jumped "ti ^;:?v ROMAN WOLF STATUE. 206 ROME a colony sent out from Alba Louga, as an outpost against the Etruscans, whom they greatly feared. At an early date it contained about one thousand miserable, thatched huts, surrounded by a wall. Most of the inhabitants were shep- herds or farmers, who tilled the land upon the plain near by, but lived for protection within their fortifications on the Palatine Hill. It is probable that the other hills, after- ward covered by Rome, were then occupied by Latins, and that the cities of Latium formed a confederacy, with Alba Longa at the head. over it; whereupon Roraulns slew him, exclaimlTig, "So perish everyone who may try to leap over these ramparts ! " The new city he called Rome after his own name, and became its first king. To secure inhabitants, he opened an asylum for refugees and criminals ; but, lacking women, he resorted to a curious expedient. A great festival in honor of Neptune was appointed, and the neighboring people were invited to come with their families. In the midst of the games tlie young Romans rushed among the spectators, and each, seizing a maiden, carried her off to be his wife. The indignant parents returned home, but only to come back in arms, and thirsting for vengeance. The Sabines laid siege to the citadel on the Capitoline Hill. Tarpeia, the commandant's daughter, dazzled by the glitter of their golden bracelets and rings, promised to betray the fortress if the Sabines would give her " what they wore on their left arms." As they passed in tlirough the gate, which she opened for them in the night, they crushed her beneath their heavy shields. Henceforth that part of the hill was called the Tarpeian Rock, and down its precipice traitors were hurled to death. The next day after Tarpeia's treachery, the battle raged in tlie valley between the Capi- toline and Palatine Hills. In his distress, Romulus vowed a temple to Jupiter. The Ro- mans thereupon turned, and drove back their foes. In the flight, Mettius Curtius, the leader of the Sabines, sunk with his horse into a marsh, and nearly perished. Ere the contest could be renewed, the Sabine women, with disheveled hair, suddenly rushed between their kindred and new-found husbands, and implored peace. Their entreaties prevailed, the two people united, and their kings reigned jointly. As the Sabines came from Cures, the united people were called Romans and Quirites. THE TARPEIAN ROCK (FROM AN OLD PRINT). THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 207 The Early Government was aristocratic. It had a king, a senate, and an assembly. The priest-king offered sacrifices, and presided over the senate. The senate had the right to discuss and vote; the assembly, to discuss only. Each original family or house {gens) was represented in the senate by its head. This body was therefore composed of the fathers (patres), and was from the beginning the soul of the rising city ; while throughout its entire history the intelligence, experience, and wisdom gathered in the senate determined the pohcy and shaped the public Ufe Romulus, after the death of Tatius, became sole king. He divided the people into nobles and commons ; the former he called patricians, and the latter plebeians. The patricians were separated into three tTiheH,—Eamnes, Tities, and Luceres. In each of these he made ten divisions, or curice. The thirty curiaj formed the assembly of the people. The plebeians, being apportioned as tenants and dependants among the • patricians, were called clients. One hundred of the patricians were chosen for age and wisdom, and styled fathers (patres). After Romulus had reigned thirty-seven years, and done all these things according to the will of the gods, one day, during a violeut thunder-storm, he disappeared from sight, and was henceforth worshiped as a god. NUMA POMPiLius, a pious Sabine, was the second king. Numa was wise from his youth, as a sign of which his hair was gray at birth. He was trained by Pythag- oras (p. 174) in all the knowledge of the Greeks, and was wont, in a sacred grove near Rome, to meet the nymph Egerja, who taught him lessons of wisdom, and how men below should worship the gods above. By pouring wine into tlie spring whence Faunus and Picus, the gods of the wood, drank, he led them to tell him the secret charm to gain the will of Jupiter. Peace smiled on the land during his happy reign, and the doors of the temple of Janus remained closed. TULLUS HosTiLius, the third king, loved war as Numa did peace. He soon got into a quarrel with Alba Longa. As the armies were about to fight, it was agreed to decide the contest by a combat between the Horatii (three brothers in the Roman ranks) and the Curatii (three brothers in the Alban). They were cousins, and one of the Curatii was engaged to be married to a sister of one of the Horatii. In the fight two of the Horatii were killed, when the third pretended to run. The Curatii, be- cause of their wounds, followed him slowly, and, becoming separated, he turned about and slew them one by one. As the victor returned laden with the spoils, he met his sister, who, catching sight of the robe which she had embroidered for her lover, burst into tears. Horatius, unable to bear her reproaches, struck her dead, saying, " So perish any Roman woman who laments a foe ! " The murderer was con- demned to die, but the people spared him because his valor had saved Rome. Alba submitted, but, the inhabitants proving treacherous, the city was razed, and the people were taken to Rome and located on the Ccelian Hill. The Albans and the Romans TEMPLE OF JANUS, 208 ROME. that made Rome the Mistress of the World. The assembly {comitia curiata) consisted of the men belonging to these ancient families. Its members voted by curice; each curia contained the voters of ten houses (gentes). Sabine Invasion and League. — The Sabines, coming down the valley of the Tiber, captured the CapitoHne and Quirinal Hills.' At first there were frequent conflicts be- tween these near neighbors, but they soon came into alliance. Finally the two tribes formed one city, and the people were thereafter known as Romans and Quirites. Both had seats in now became one nation, as the Sabines and the Romans had become in the days of Romulus. In his old age, Tullus sought to find out the will of Jupiter, using the spells of Numa, but angry Jove struck him with a thunderbolt. ANGUS MARCius, the grandson of Numa, conquered many Latin cities, and, bringing the inhabitants to Rome, gave them homes on the Aventine Hill. He wrote Numa's laws on a white board in the Forum, built a bridge over the Tiber, and erected the Mameitine Prison, the first in the city. Tarquinius Pkiscus, the fifth king, was an Etruscan, who came to Rome during the reign of Ancus. As he approached the city, an eagle flew, circling above his head, seized his cap, rose high in air, and then returning replaced it. His wife, Tanaquil, being learned in augury, foretold that he was coming to distinguished honor. Her prediction proved true, for he greatly pleased Ancus, who named him as his successor in place of his own children. The people ratified the choice, and the event proved its wisdom. Tarquin built the famous Drain (cloaca), which still remains, with scarce a stone dis- placed. He planned the Great Race-Course (Circus Maximus) and its games. He conquered Etruria, and the Etruscans sent him "a golden crown, a scepter, an ivory chair, a purple toga, an embroidered tunic, and an ax tied in a bundle of rods." So the Romans adopted these emblems of royal power as signs of their dominion. Now, there was a boy named Servius Tullius brought up in the palace, who was a favorite of the king. One day while the child was asleep lambent flames were seen playing about his head. Tanaquil foresaw from this that he was destined to great things. He was hence- forth in high favor; he married the king's daughter, and became his counselor. The sons of Ancus, fearing lest Servius should succeed to the throne, and being wroth with Tarquin because of the loss of their paternal inheritance, assassinated the king. But Tanaquil re- ported that Tarquin was only wounded, and wished that Servius might govern until he recovered. Before the deception was discovered, ROMAN FASCES. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 209 the senate, and the king was taken alternately from each. This was henceforth the mode of Rome's growth ; she ad- mitted her aUies and conquered enemies to citizenship, thus adding their strength to her own, and making her victories their victories. Alba Liong^a, the chief town of the Latin League and the mother city of Rome, was herself, after a time, destroyed, and the inhabitants were transferred to Rome. The Alban nobles, now perhaps called Luceres, with the Sabines {Titles) j already joined to the original Romans (Bamnes), made the Servius was firmly fixed in his seat. He made a league with the Latins, and, as a sign of the union, built to Diana a temple on the Aventine, where both peoples offered annual sacrifices for Rome and Latium. He enlarged Rome, inclosing the seven hills with a stone wall, and divided the city into four parts,— called tribes, after the old division of the people as instituted by Romulus,— and all the land about into twenty-six districts. The son of a bond-maid, Servius favored the common people. This was shown in his separation of all the Romans— patricians and plebeians— into five classes, according to their wealth. These classes were subdivided into centuries, and they were to assemble in this military order when the king wished to consult concerning peace or war, or laws. In the centuriate assembly the richest citizens had the chief influence, for they formed eighty centuries, and the knights (equites) eighteen centuries, each having a vote ; while fewer votes were givei) to the lower classes. But this arrangement was not unjust, since the wealthy were to provide themselves with heavy armor, and fight in the front rank ; while the poorest citizens, who formed but one century, were exempt from military service. The two daughters of Servius were married to the two sons of Tarquinius the Elder. The couples were ill matched, in each case the good and gentle being mated with the cruel and haughty. Finally, TuUia murdered her husband, and Lucius killed his wife, and these two partners in crime, and of like evil instincts, were mar- ried. Lucius now conspired with the nobles against the king. His plans being ripe, one day he went into the senate and sat down on the throne. Servius, hearing the tumult which arose, hastened thither, whereupon Lucius hurled the king headlong down the steps. As the old man was tottering homeward, the usurper's attendants followed and murdered him. Tullia hastened to the senate to salute her husband as king ; but he, somewhat less brutal than she, ordered her back. While returning, her driver came to the prostrate body of the king, and was about to turn aside, when she fiercely bade him go forward. Th(5 blood of her father spattered her dress as the chariot rolled over his lifeless remains. The place took its name from this horrible deed, and was thenceforth known as the Wicked Street. Lucius tarquinius, who thus became the seventh and last king, was surnamed Superbus (the Proud). He erected massive edifices, compelling the workmen to re- ceive such pitiable wages that many in despair committed suicide. In digging the foundations of a temple to Jupiter, a bleeding head {caput) was discovered. This the king took to be an omen that the city was to become the head of the world, and so gave the name Capitoline to the temple, and the hill on which it stood. In the vaults of this temple were deposited the Sibylline books, concerning which a singular story was told. One day a sibyl from Cumae came to the king, offering to sell him for a fabu- k»us sum ijine books of prophecies. Tarquin declined to buy, whereupon she burned THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 211 number of tribes three 5 of curiae, thirty; and of houses, (probably) three hundred. Etruscan Conquest. — The rising city was, in its turn, conquered by the Etruscans, who placed the Tarquins on the throne. This foreign dynasty were builders as well as warriors. They adorned Rome with elegant edifices of Etruscan architecture. They added the adjacent heights to the growing capital, and extended around the ^' seven-hilled city" a stone wall, which lasted eight centuries. Rome, within one hundred and fifty years after her founding, be- came the head of Latium. three of the books, and demanded the same price for the remaining six. Tarquin laughed, thinking her mad ; but when she burned three more, and still asked the original amount for the other volumes, the king began to reflect, and finally bought the books. They were thereafter jealously guarded, and consulted in all great state emergencies. The Latin town of Gabii was taken by a stratagem. Sextus, the son of Tarquin, pretending to have fled from his father's, ill usage, took refuge in that city. Hav- ing secured the confidence of the people, he secretly sent to his father, asking advice. Tarquin merely took the :aiessenger into his garden, and, walking to and fro, knocked off with his cane the tallest poppies. Sextus read his father's meaning, and managed to get rid of the chief men of Gabii, when it was easy to give up the place to the Romans. Tarquin was greatly troubled by a strange omen, a serpent having eaten the sacri- fice on the royal altar. The two sons of the king were accordingly sent to consult the oracle at Delphi. T4»ey were accompanied by their cousin Junius, called Brutus because of his silliness ; which, however, was only assumed, through fear of the tyrant who had already killed his brother. The king's sons made the Delphic god costly presents; Brutus brought only a simple staff, but, unknown to the rest, this was hollow and filled with gold. Having executed their commission, the young men asked the priestess which of them should be king. The reply was, " The one who fii'st kisses his mother." On reaching Italy, Brutus, pretending to fall, kissed the ground, the common mother of us all. As the royal princes and Tarquinius CoUatinus were one day feasting in the camp a dispute arose concerning the industry of their wives. To decide it they at once hastened homeward through the darkness. They found the king's daughters at a festival, while Lucretia, the wife of CoUatinus, was in the midst of her slaves, distaff in hand. CoUatinus was exultant ; but soon after, Lucretia, stung by the insults she received from Sextus, killed herself, calling upon her friends to avenge her fate. Brutus, casting off the mask of madness, drew forth the dagger she used, and vowed to kill Sextus and expel the detested race. The oath was repeated as the red blade passed from hand to hand. The people rose in indignation, and drove the Tarquins from the city. Henceforth the Romans hated the very name of king. Rome now became a free city after it had been governed by kings for two hundred and forty- five years. The people chose for rulers two consuls, elected yearly , and to offer sacrifices in place of the king, they selected a priest who should have no power in the state. 212 ROME. The Servian Constitution. — The Tarquins diminislied patrician power and helped the plebs by a change in the constitution. Servius ( p. 209) divided all the Romans into five classes, based on property instead of birth, and these into one hundred and ninety-three centuries or companies. The people were directed to assemble by centuries (comitia centuriata), either to fight or to vote. This body, in fact, constituted an army, and was called together on the field of Mars by the blast of the trumpet. To the new centuriate assembly was given the right of selecting the king and en- acting the laws. The king was deprived of his power as Brutus and Collatinus were the first consuls. Soon after this the two sons of Brutus plotted to bring Tarquin back. Their father was sitting on the judgment-seat when they were brought in for trial. Tlie stern old Roman, true to duty, sentenced both to death as traitors. Tarquin now induced the Etruscans of the towns of Veii and Tarquinii to aid him, and they accordingly marched toward Rome. The Romans went forth to meet them. As the two armies drew near, Aruns,.son of Tarquin, catching sight of Brutus, rushed forward, and the two enemies fell dead, each pierced by the other's spear. Night checked the terrible contest which ensued. During the darkness the voice of the god Silvanus was heard in the woods, saying that Rome had beaten, since the Etruscans had lost one man more than the Romans. The Etruscans fled in dismay. The matrons of Rome mourned Brutus for a whole year because he had so bravely aveiiged the wrongs of Lucretia. Next came a powerful army of Etruscans under Porsenna, king of Clusium He captured Janiculum (a hill just aross the Tiber), and would have forced his way into the city with the fleeing Romans had not Horatius Codes, with two brave men, held the bridge while it was cut down behind them. As the timbers tottered, his com- panions rushed across. But he kept the enemy at bay until the shouts of the Romans told him the bridge was gone, when, with a prayer to Father Tiber, he leaped into the stream, and, amid a shower of arrows, swam safely to the bank. The people never tired of praising this hero. They erected a statue in his honor, and gave him as much land as he could plow in a day. "And still his name sounds stirring Unto the men of Rome, As the trumpet-blast that cries to them To charge the Volscian home. And wives still pray to Juno For boys with hearts as bold As his who kept the bridge so well In the brave days of old." Macaulay's Lays, Porsenna now laid siege to the city. Then Mucins, a young noble, went to the Etruscan camp to kill Porsenna. By mistake he slew the tieasurer. Being dragged before the king, and threatened with death if he tlid not confess his accomplices, he thrust his right hand into an altar-fire, and held it there until it was burned to a 509B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 213 priest, this office being conferred on the chief pontiff. The higher classes, aggrieved by these changes, at last combined with other Latin cities to expel their Etruscan rulers. Kings now came to an end at Rome. This was in 509 B. c, — a year after Hippias was driven out of Athens (p. 124). The Republic was then established. Two chief magis- trates, consuls (at first called prietors), were chosen, it being thought that if one turned out badly the other would check him. The constitution of Servius was adopted, and the senate, which had dwindled in size, was restored to its ideal number, three hundred, by the addition of one hundred and sixty-foiir life-members {conscripti) chosen from the richest of the knights {equites), several of these being plebeians. The Struggle between the Patricians and the Plebeians was the characteristic of the first two hundred years of the republic. The patricians were the descendants of the first settlers. They were rich, proud, exclusive, and demanded all the offices of the government. Each of these nobles was supported by a powerful body of clients or dependants. The plebeians were the newer famihes. They were generally poor, forbidden the rights of citizens, crisp. Porsenna, amazed at his firmness, gave liim his liberty. Mucins thereupon told the king that three hundred Roman youths had sworn to accomplish his death. Porsenna, alarmed for his life, made peace with Rome. Among the hostages given by Rome was Clcelia, a noble maiden, who, escaping from the Etruscan camp, swam the Tiber. The Romans sent her back, but Porsenna, admiring her courage, set her free. Tarquin next secured a league of thirty Latin cities to aid in his restoration. In this emergency tlie Romans appointed a dictator, who should possess absolute power for six months. A great battle was fought at Lake Begillus. Like most ancient con- tests, it began with a series of single encounters. First, Tarquin and the Roman dictator fought ; then the Latin dictator and the Roman master of horse. Finally the main armies came to blows. The Romans being worsted, their dictator vowed a temple to Castor and Pollux. Suddenly the Twin Brethren, taller and fairer than men, on snow-white horses and clad in rare armor, were seen fighting at his side. Everywhere the Latins broke and fled before them. Tarquin gave up his attempt in despair. That night two riders, tlieir horses wet with foam and blood, rode up to a fountain before the Temple of Vesta at Rome, and, as they washed olf in the cool water the traces of the battle, told how a great victory had been won over the Latin host (see Steele's New Astronomy, p. 227). 214 ROiHE, [494 B.C. and not allowed to intermarry with the pati'icians. Obliged to serve in the army without pay, during their absence their farms remained nntilled, and were often ravaged by the enemy. Forced, when they returned from war, to borrow money of the patricians for seed, tools, and food, if they failed in their payments they could be sold as slaves, or cut in pieces for distribution among their creditors. The prisons connected with the houses of the great patricians were full of plebeian debtors. Secession to Mons Sacer.^ — Tribimes (494 b. c). — The condition of the plebs became so unbearable that they finally marched off in a body and encamped on the Sacred Mount, where they determined to build a new city, and let the patricians have the old one for themselves. The pa- tricians,^ in alarm, compromised by canceling the plebeian debts and appointing tribunes of the people, whose persons were sacred, and whose houses, standing open day and night, were places of refuge. To these new officers was after- ward given the power of veto (I forbid) over any law passed by the senate and considered injurious to the plebs. Such was the exclusiveness of the senate, however, that the trib- unes coidd not enter the senate-house, but were obliged to remain outside, and shout the "veto" through the open door. There were now two distinct peoples in Rome, each with its own interests and officers. This is weU illustrated in the fact that the agreement made on Mons Sacer was concluded in the form of an international treaty, with the usual oaths and sacrifices ; and that the magistrates of the plebs were 1 Piso mentions the Aventine as the probable " Mons Sacer," or Sacred Mount. 2 Old Menenius Agrippa tried to teach the plebeians a lesson in a fable. Once upon a time the various human organs, tired of serving so seemingly idle a member as the stomach, "struck work ;" accordingly the hands would carry no food to the mouth, and the teeth would not chew. Soon, however, all the organs began to fail, and then, to their surprise, they learned that they all depended on this very stomach. 494 B. c] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 215 ROMAN PLEBEIANS. declared to be inviolate, like the ambassadors of a foreign power. The Three Popu- lar Assemblies of Rome, with their pecu- liar organization and powers, marked so many stages of constitutional growth in the state. The Assembly of Curi- es (eomitia ciu'iata), the oldest and long the only one, was based on the patrician separation into tribes {Ranmes, Ti- tles , and Idiceres). No plebeian had a voice in this gather- ing, and it early lost its influence, and became a relic of the past. The Assembly of Centuries (eomitia centuriata), which came in with the Etruscan kings, was essentially a miUtary organi- zation. Based on the entire population, it gave the plebe- ians their first voice, though a weak one, in public affairs. The Assembly of the Tribes (eomitia tributa), introduced with the rising of the plebs, was based on the new separa- tion into tribes, i. 6., wards and districts. The patricians were here excluded, as the plebeians had been at first ; and Rome, which began with a purely aristocratic assembly, had now a purely democratic one. The original number of the local tribes was twenty in all, — four city wards and sixteen country districts. With the growth of the republic and the acquisition of new territory, the number was increased to thirty-five (241 e. c.)* 216 ROME. [486 B.C. The Roman citizens were then so numerous and so scattered that it was impossible for them to meet at Rome to elect officers and make laws ; but still the organization was kept up till the end of the repubhc. An Agrarian Liaw (ciger, a field) was the next measure of relief granted to the common people. It was customary for the Romans, when they conquered a territory, to leave the owners a part of the land, and to take the rest for them- selves. Though this became public property, the patricians used it as their own. The plebeians, who bore the brunt of the fighting, naturally thought they had the best claim to the spoils of war, and with the assertion of their civil rights came now a claim for the rights of property.^ Spuriiis Cassms^ (486 b. c), though himself a patrician, secured a law ordaining that part of the public lands should be divided among the poor plebeians, and the patricians should pay rent for the rest. But the patricians were so strong that they made the law a dead letter, and finally, on the charge of wishing to be king, put Spurius to death, and leveled his house to the ground. The agitation, how- ever, still continued. The Decemvirs (451 b. c). — The tribunes, through ignorance of the laws, which were jealously guarded as the exclusive property of the patricians, were often thwarted in their measures to aid the common people. The plebs of Rome, therefore, like the common people of Athens nearly two hundred years before (p. 121), demanded that the laws should be made public. After a long struggle the senate yielded. Ten men {decemvirs) were appointed 1 Property at that early date consisted almost entirely of land and cattle. The Latin word for money, pecunia (cattle), indicates this ancient identity. 2 Spurius was the author of tlie famous League of the Romans, Latins, and Her- nicans, by means of which the .^quians and Volsciaus were long held in check. Tfte iften of the Latip League fought side hy side until after the Gallic invasion. 451 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 217 to revise and publish the laws. Meanwhile the regular government of consuls and tribunes was suspended. The decemvirs did their work well, and compiled ten tables of laws that were acceptable. Their year of office having expired, a second body of decemvirs was chosen to write the rest of the laws. The senate, finding them favorable to the plebeians, forced the decemvirs to resign, introduced into the two remaining tables regulations obnoxious to the com- mon people, and then endeavored to restore the consular government without the tribuneship. The plebs a second time seceded to the Sacred Mount, and the senate was forced to reinstate the tribunes.^ The Laws of the Twelve Tables remained as the grand result of the decemviral legislation. They were engraved on blocks of brass or ivory, and hung up in the 1 The account of this transaction given in Livy's History is doubtless largely legendary. The story runs as follows: Three ambassadors were appointed to visit Athens (this was during the " Age of Pericles"), and examine the laws of Solon. On their return the decemvirs were chosen. They were to be supreme, and the consuls, tribunes, etc., resigned. The new rulers did admirably during one term, and com- pleted ten tables of excellent laws that were adopted by the Assembly of Centuries. Decemvirs were therefore chosen for a second term. Appius Claudius was the most poi)iilar of the first body of decemvirs, and the only one reelected. Now all was quickly changed ; the ten men became at once odious tyrants, and Appius Claudius chief of all. Each of the decemvirs was attended by twelve lictors, bearing the fasces with the axes wherever he went in public. Two new tables of oppressive laws, coutirming the patricians in their hated privileges, were added to the former tables. , When the year expired the decemvirs called no new election, aud held their office in defiance of the senate and the people. No man's life was safe, and many leading persons fled from Rome. The crisis soon came. One day, seeing a beautiful maiden, the daughter of a plebeian named Virginius, crossing the Forum, Claudius resolved to make her his own. So he directed a client to seize her on the charge that she was tlie child of one of his slaves, and then to bring the case before the decemvirs for trial. Claudius, of course, decided in favor of his client. Thereupon Virginius drew his daughter one side from the judgment-seat as if to bid her farewell. Suddenly catching up a butcher's knife from a block near by, he plunged it into his daughter's heart, crying, "Thus only can 1 make thee free! " Then brandishing the red blade, he liastened to the camp and roused the soldiers, who marched to the city, breathing vengeance. As over the body of the injured Lucretia, so again over the corpse of the spotless Virginia, the populace swore that Rome should be free. The plebeians flocked out once more to the Sacred Mount. The decemvirs were forced to resign. The tribunes and consuls were restored to power. Appius, in despair, committed suicide. (The version of this story given in the text above is that of Ihne, the great Germap critic, in his new work on Early Roiiie.) 218 ROME. [4513.0. Forum, where all could read them. Henceforth they con- stituted the foundation of the wiitten law of Rome, and every schoolboy, as late as Cicero's time, learned them by heart. Continued Triumph of the Plebs. — Step by step the plebeians pushed their demand for equal privileges with the patricians. First the Valerian and Horatian decrees (449 B. c), so caUed from the consuls who prepared them, made the resolutions passed by the plebeians in the Assembly of the Tribes binding equally upon the patricians. Next* the Canuleian decree (445 b. c.) abolished the law against in- termarriage. The patricians, finding that the plebeians were likely to get hold of the consulship, compromised by abol- ishing that office, and by choosing, through the Assembly of Centuries, from patricians and plebeians alike, three Diilitary trihimes with consular powers. But the patricians did not act in good faith, and by innumerable arts managed to cir- cumvent the plebs, so that during the next fifty years (until 400 B. c.) there were twenty elections of consids instead of military tribunes, and when military tribuues were chosen they were always patricians. Meanwhile they also secured the appointment of ceyisors, to be chosen from their ranks exclusively, who took the census, classified the people, and supervised public morals. Thus they constantly strove to offset the new plebeian power. So vindictive was the strug- gle that the nobles did not shrink from murder to remove promising plebeian candidates.^ But the plebs held firm, 1 Tlins the Fabii, a powerful patrician house, having taken the side of the plebs, and finding that tliey could not thereafter live in peace at Rome, left the city, and founded an outpost on the Cremera, below Veil, where thej' could still serve their country. This little body of three hundred and six soldiers— including the Fabii, their clients and dependants— sustained for two years the full brunt of the Veientine war. At length they were enticed into an ambuscade, and all were slain except one little boy, the ancest<»r of the Fabius afterward so famou.s. During the massacre the con- sular army was neai" by, but patrician hate would not peiiuit a rescue. Again, during a severe fapaine at Home (440 p. C.), a rich plebeian, uametl Spqriqs 367 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 219 and finally secured the famous lAcinian Rogation (367 B. c), which ordered, — I. That, in case of debts on wliich interest had been met, the sura of tlie interest paid sliould be deducted from the principal, and the remainder become due in three successive years. (This bankrupt law was designed to aid the poor, now overwhelmed with debt, and so in the power of the rich creditor.) II. That no citizen should hold more than five hundred jugera (about three hun- dred and twenty acres) of the public land, and should not feed on the public pastures more than a limited number of cattle, under penalty of fine. III. That henceforth consuls, not consular tribunes, should be elected, and that one of the two consuls must be plebeian. IV. That instead of two patricians being chosen to keep the Sibylline books (p. 209), there should be ten men, taken equally from both orders. For years after its passage the patricians struggled to pre- vent the decree from going into effect. But the common people finally won. They never lost the ground they had gained, and secured, in rapid succession, the dictatorship, the censorship, the praetorship, and (300 B. c.) the right to be pontiff and augur. Rome at last, nearly two centuries after the republic began, possessed a democratic govern- ment. "Civil concord," says Weber, "to which a temple was dedicated at this time, brought with it a period of civic virtue and heroic greatness." Wars -with Neighboring Tribes. — ^While this long civil contest was raging within the walls of Rome, her armies were fighting without, striving to regain her lost supremacy over Latium, and sometimes for the very exist- ence of the city. There was a constant succession of wars ^ Maelius, sold grain to the poor at a very low rate. The patricians, finding that he was likely to be a successful candidate for office, accused him of wishing to be king, and as he refused to appear before his enemies for trial, Ahala, the master of horse, slew him in the Forum with his own hand. 1 Various beautiful legends cluster around these eventful wars, and they have attained almost the dignity, though we cannot tell liow much they contain of the truth, of history. CORIOLANUS.— While the Romans were besieging Corioli, the Volscians made a sally, but were defeated. In the eagerness of the pursuit, Caius Marcius followed the enemy inside the gates, which were closed upon him. But with his good sword he liewed his way back, and let in the Bomans. So the city was taken, and the hero 220 ROME. [390 B. C. with tlie Latins, ^quians, Volscians, Etruscans, Veientes, and Samnites. Connected with these wars are the names, famous in Roman legend, of Coriolanus, Cincinnatus, and Camillus. The Gallic Invasion. — In the midst of these contests a horde of Gauls crossed the Apennines, and spread like a devastating flood over central Italy. Rome was taken, and nearly aU the city burned (390 B. c.)- The invaders con- received tlie name Coriolanus. Afterward there was a famine at Rome, and, grain arriving from Sicily, Cains would not sell any to the plebs unless they would submit to the patricians. Thereupon the tribunes sought to bring him to trial, but he lied, and took refuge among the Volsci. Soon after, he returned at the head of a gieat army, and laid siege to Rome. The city was in peril. As a final resort, his mother, wife, and children, with many of the chief women, clad in the deepest niourning, ■went forth and fell at his feet. Unable to resist their entreaties, Coriolanus ex- claimed, " Mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son." Having given the order to retreat, he is said to have been slain by the angiy Volsci. CINCINNATUS RECEIVING THE DICTATORSHIP. Cincinnatus.— One day news came that the iEquians had surrounded the consul Minucius and his army in a deep valley, whence they could not escape, The only one in Rome deemed fit to meet this emergency was Titus Quinctius, surnamed Cincin- natus (the Curly-haired), who was now declared dictator. The oflBcers who went to 390B.O.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY, 221 sented to retire only on the payment of a heavy ]:'ansom. So deep an impression was made upon the Romans by the size, strength, courage, and enormous number of these bar- barians, that they thenceforth called a war with the Gauls a tumult, and kept in the treasury a special fund for such a catastrophe. The Final Effect of all these wars was beneficial to Rome. The plebeians, who formed the strength of her army, frequently carried their point against the patricians by refusing to fight until they got their rights. These long struggles, too, matured the Roman energy, and developed announce his appointment found him plowing on his little farm of four acres, which he tilled himself. He called for his toga, that he might receive the commands of the senate with due respect, when he was at once hailed dictator. Repairing to the city, he assembled fresh troops, bidding each man carry twelve wooden stakes. That very night he surrounded the -^quiaiis, dug a ditch, and made a palisade about their camp. Minucius, hearing the Roman war-cry, rushed up and fell upon the enemy with all his might. When day broke, the ^quians found themselves hemmed in, and were forced to surrender and to pass under the yoke. Ciucinnatus, on his return, was awarded a golden crown. Haviug saved his country, he resigned his office and went back to his plow again, content with the quiet of his rustic home. THE Siege of Veii— the Troy of Roman legend— lasted ten years. Before that the Roman wars consisted mainly of mere forays into an enemy's country. Now the troops remained summer and winter, and for the first time received regular pay. In the seventh year of the siege. Lake Albauus, though in the heat of summer, over- flowed its banks. The Delphic oracle declared that Veii would not fall until the lake was dried up, whereupon the Roman army cut a tunnel through the solid rock to convey the surplus water over the neighboring fields. Still the city did not yield. Camillus, having been appointed dictator, dug a jjassage under the wall. One day the king of Veii was about to offer a sacrifice, when the soothsayer told him that the city should belong to him who slew the victim. The Romans, who were beneath, heard these words, and, forcing their way through, hastened to the shrine, and Camillus completed the sacrifice. The gates were tlirown open, and the Roman army, rushing in, overpowered all opposition. THE City of Falerii had aided the Veientes. When Camillus, bent on revenge, appeared before the place, a schoolmaster secretly brought into the Roman camp his pupils, the children of the chief men of Falerii. Camillus, scorning to receive the traitor, tied his hands behind his back, and, giving whips to the boys, bade them flog their master back into the city. The Falerians, moved by such magnanimity, sur- rendered to the Romans. Camillus entered Rome in a chariot drawn by white horses, and having his face colored with veimilion, as was the custom when the gods were borne in procession. Unfortunately, he offended the plebs by ordering each man to restore one tenth of his booty for an offering to Apollo. He was accused of pride, and of appropriating to his own use the bronze gates of Veii. Forced to leave the city, he went out praying that Rome might yet need his help. That time soon came. Five years after, the Gauls defeated the Romans at THE River Allia, where the slaughter was so great that the anniversary of the 222 ROME. [390 b. c. the Roman character in all its stern^ unfeehng, and yet heroic strength. After the Gallic invasion Rome was soon rebuilt. The sur- rounding nations having suffered still more severely from the northern barbarians, and the Gauls being now looked upon as the common enemy of Italy, Rome came to be con- sidered the common defender. The plebs, in rebuilding their ruined houses and buying tools, cattle, and seed, were reduced to greater straits than ever before (unless after the expulsion of the Etruscan kings) ; and to add to their bur- dens a double tribute was imposed by the government, in battle became a black day in the Roman calendar. The wreck of the army took refuge in Veil. The people of Rome fled for their lives. The young patricians garrisoned the citadel; and the gray-haired senators, devotiug themselves as an offering to the gods, put on their robes, and, sitting in their ivory chairs of magistracy, awaited death. The barbarians, hurrying through the deserted streets, at length came to the Forum. For a moment tliey stood amazed at the sight of those solemn figures. Then one of the Gauls put out his hand reverently to stroke the white beard of an aged senator, when the indignant Roman, revolting at the piofanation, felled him with his staff. The spell was broken, and the senators were ruthlessly massacred. The Siege of the Capitol lasted for months. One night a party of Gauls clambered np the steep ascent, and one of them reached the highest ledge of the rock. Just then some sacred geese in the Temple of Juno began to cry and flap their wings. Marcus Manlius, aroused by tlie noise, rushed out, saw the peiil, and dashed the foremost Gaul over the precipice. Other Romans rallied to his aid, and the imminent peril was arrested. Finally the Gauls, weary of the siege, offered to accept a ran- som of a thousand pounds of gold. This sum was raised from the temple treasures and the ornaments of the Roman women. As they were weighing the articles, the Romans complained of the scales being false, when Brennus, the Gallic chief, threw in his heavy sword, insolently exclaiming, " Woe to the vanquished ! " At that moment Camillus strode in at the head of an army, crying, " Rome is to be bought with iron, not gold! " drove out the enemy, and not a man escaped to tell how low the city had fallen on that eventful day. When the Romans returned to their devas- tated homes, they were at first of a mind to leave Rome, and occupy the empty dwell- ings of Veii ; but a lucky omen prevailed on them to remain. Just as a senator was rising to speak, a centurion relieving guard gave the command, " Plant your colors ; this is the best place to stay in." The senators rushed forth, shouting, " The gods have spoken ; we obey ! " The people caught the enthusiasm, and cried out, " Rome forever ! " Marcus Manlius, who saved the Capitol, befriended the people in the distress which followed the Gallic invasion. One day, seeing a soldier dragged off to prison for debt, he paid tlie amount and released the man, at the same time swearing that while he had any property left, no Roman should be imprisoned foi- debt. The patri- cians, jealous of his inttiience among tlie plebs, accused him of wishing to become king. He was brouglit to trial in the Campus Martins ; but tlie hero pointed to the spoils of thirty warriors wliom he had slain; forty distinctions won in battle; his innumerable scars , and, above all, to the Capitol he had saved. His enemies, finding 396 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 223 order to replace the sacred gold used to buy off the Gauls. But this very misery soon led to the Licinian Rogations (p. 219), and so to the growth of liberty. Thus the plebs got a consul twenty-four years after the Gauls left, just as they got the tribunes fifteen years after the Etruscans left ; the succeeding ruin both times being followed by a triumph of democracy. The CapUire of Yeii (396 B. c.) gave the Romans a foothold beyond the Tiber ; and, only three years after the Gallic in- vasion, four new tribes, carved out of the Veientine land, were added to the republic. a conviction in that place impossible, adjourned to a grove where the Capitol could not be seen, and there the man who had saved Rome was sentenced to death, and at once hurled from the Tarpeian Rock. QuiNTUS Cuimus.— Not long after the Licinian Rogations were passed, Rome was afflicted by a plague, in which Camillas died; by an overflow of the Tiber; and by an earthquake, which opened a great chasm in the Forum. The augurs de- clared that the gulf would not close until there were cast into it the most precious treasures; whereupon Quintus Curtius mounted his horse, and, riding at full speed, leaped into the abyss, declaring that Rome's best treasures were her brave men. The Battle of Mount Vesuvius (340 b. c.) was the chief event 6f the Latin war. Prior to this engagement the consul Manlius ordered that no one should quit his post under pain of death. But his own son, provoked by the taunts of a Tusculan officer, left the ranks, slew his opponent in single combat, and brought the bloody spoils to his father. The stern parent ordered him to be at once belieaded by the lictor, in the presence of the army. During the battle which followed, the Romans were on the point of yielding, when Decius, the plebeian consul, who had promised, in case of defeat, to otter himself to the infernal gods, fulfilled his vow. Calling the pontifex maxim us, he repeated the form devoting the foe and himself to death, and then, wrapping his toga about him, leaped upon his horse, and dashed into the thickest of the fight. His death inspired the Romans with fresh hope, and scarce one fourth of the Latins escaped from that bloods'^ field. Battle of the Caudine Forks.— During the second Samnite war there arose among the Samnites a famous captain named Caius Pontius. By a stratagem he en- ticed the Roman army into the Caudine Forks, in the neighborhood of Caudium. High mountains here inclose a little i)lain, having at each end a passage through a narrow defile. When the Romans were fairly in the basin, the Samnites suddenly appeared in both gorges, and forced the consuls to surrender witli four legions. Pontius, having sent his prisoners under the yoke, furnished them with wagons for the wounded, and food for their journey, and then released them on certain conditions of peace. The senate refused to ratify the terms, and ordered the consuls to be delivered up to the Samnites, but did not send back the soldiers. Pontius replied that if the senate would not make peace, then it should place the army back in the Caudine Forks. The Romans, who rarely scrupled at any conduct that promised their advantage, con- tinued the war. But when, twenty-nine years later, Pontius was captured by Fabius Maximus, that brave Samnite leader was disgracefully put to death as the triumphal chariot of the victor ascended to the CapitoL 224 ROME. [337 B.C. The final result of the Latm war (340-338 B. c.) was to dissolve the old Latin League,^ and to merge the cities of Latium, one by one, into the Roman state. The three Samnite wars (343-290 b. c.) occupied half a century, with brief intervals, and were most obstinately contested. The long-doubtful struggle culminated at the great battle of Sentinum, in a victory over the combined Samnites, Gauls, and Greek colonists. Samnium became a subject-ally. Eorne was now mistress of central Italy. War with Pyrrhus (280-276 b. c.).— The rich city of Tarentum, in southern Italy, had not joined the Samnite coalition. Rome had therefore made a treaty with her, promising not to send ships of war past the Lacinian Prom- ontory. But, having a garrison in the friendly city of Thurii, the senate ordered a fleet to that place ; so one day, while the people of Tarentum were seated in their theater witnessing a play, they suddenly saw ten Roman galleys sailing upon the forbidden waters. The audience in a rage left their seats, rushed down to the shore, manned some ships, and, pushing out, sank four of the Roman squadron. The senate sent ambassadors to ask satisfaction. They reached Taren- tum, so says the legend, during a feast of Bacchus. Postu- mius, the leader of the envoys, made so many mistakes in talking Greek, that the people laughed aloud, and, as he was leaving, a buffoon threw mud upon his white toga. The shouts only increased when Postumius, holding up his soiled robe, cried, "This shall be washed in torrents of your blood ! " War was now inevitable. Tarentum,^ nnable to 1 The Latin League (p. 216) was dissolved in the same year (338 B. c.) with the battle of Chgeronea (p. 149). 2 The Greek colonists retained the pride, though they had lost the simplicity, of their ancestors. They were effeminate to the last degree. " At Tarentum there were not enough days in the calendar on which to hold the festivals, and at Syharis they killed all the cocks lest they should disturb the inhabitants in their sleep." 280 b. c] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 225 resist the " barbarians of the Tiber/' appealed to the mother country for help. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, came over with twenty-five thousaind soldiers and twenty elephants. For the first time the Roman legion (p. 271) met the dreaded Macedonian phalanx. In vain the Roman soldiers sought to break through the bristling hedge, with their swords hewing off the pikes, and with their hands bearing them to the ground. To complete their discomfiture, Pyrrhus launched his elephants upon their weakened ranks. At the sight of that "new kind of oxen," the Roman cavalry fled in dismay. Pyrrhus won a second battle in the same way. He then crossed over into Sicily to help the Greeks against the Car- thaginians. When he returned, two years later, while at- tempting to surprise the Romans by a night attack, his troops lost their way, and the next morning, when w^eary with the march, they were assailed by the enemy. The once-di'eaded elephants were frightened back by fire-brands, and driven through the Grecian lines. Pyrrhus was defeated, and, having lost nearly all his army, re turned to Epirus.' The Greek colonies, deprived of his help, were subjugated in rapid succession. . 1 Many romantic incidents are told of this war. As Pyrrhus walked over the battle-field and saw the Romans lying all with wounds in front, and their countenances stern in death, he cried out, "With such soldiers I could conquer the world!"— Cineas, whom Pyrrhus sent to Rome as an ambassador, returned, sajung, "The city is like a temple of the gods, and the senate an assembly of kings." Fabricius, who came to Pyrrhus's camp on a similar mission, was a sturdy Roman, who worked his own farm, and loved integrity and honor more than aught else, save his country. The Grecian leader was surprised to find in this haughty barbarian that same great- ness of soul that had once made the Hellenic character so famous. He offered him " more gold than Rome had ever possessed" if he would enter his service, but Fabri- cius replied that "poverty, with a good name, is better than wealth." Afterward the physician of Pyrrluis offered to poison the king; but the indignant Roman sent back the traitor in irons. Pyrrhus, not to be outdone in generosity, set free all his captives, saying that " it was easier to turn the sun from its course than Fabricius from the path of honor."— Dentatus, the consul wlio defeated Pyrrlius, was offered by the grateful senate a tract of land. He replied that he already had seven acres, and that was sufficient for any citizen. 226 ROME. [265 B.C. Rome was now mistress of peninsular Italy. She was ready to begin her grand career of foreign conquest. The Roman Government in Italy was that of one city supreme over many cities. Rome retained the rights of de- claring war, making peace, and coining money, but permitted her subjects to manage their local affairs. All were requu'ed to furnish soldiers to fight under the eagles of Rome. There were three classes of inhabitants, — Roman citizens, Latins, and Italians. The Roman citizens were those who occupied the territory of Rome proper, including others upon whom this franchise had been bestowed. They had the right to meet in the Forum to enact laws, elect consuls, etc. The Latins had only a few of the rights of citizenship, and the ItaUans or allies none. As the power of Rome grew, Roman citizenship acquired a might and a meaning (Acts xxii. 25 ; xxiii. 27 J XXV. 11-21) which made it eagerly sought by every person and city ; and the prize constantly held out, as a reward for special service and devotion, was that the Italian could be made a Latin, and the Latin a Roman. The Romans were famous road-builders, and the great national highways which they constructed throughout theu* territories did much to tie them together (p. 282). By their use Rome kept up constant communication with all parts of her possessions, and could quickly send her legions wherever wanted. A portion of the land in each conquered state was given to Roman colonists. They became the patricians in the new city, the old inhabitants counting only as plebs. Thxis little Romes were built aU over Italy. The natives looked up to these settlers, and, hoping to obtain similar rights, quickly adopted their customs, institutions, and language. So the entire peninsula rapidly assumed a uniform national character. 264B.C.] THE POliITIOAL HISTORY. 227 THE PUNIC WARS. Carthage (p. 76) was now the great naval and colonizing power of the western Mediterranean. She had established some settlements in western Sicily, and these were almost constantly at war with the Greeks on the eastern coast. As Sicily lay between Carthage and Italy, it was natural that two such aggressive powers as the Carthaginians and the tlomans should come to blows on that island. First Punic War (264-241 b. c). — Some pirates seized Messana, the nearest city to Italy, and, being threatened by the Carthaginians and the Syracusans, asked help of Rome, in order to retain their ill-gotten possessions. On this wretched pretext an army was sent into Sicily. The Car- thaginians were driven back, and Hiero, king of Syracuse, was forced to make a treaty with Rome. Agrigentum, an important naval depot belonging to Carthage, was then cap- tured, in spite of a large army of mercenary soldiers which the Carthaginians sent to its defense. Rome^s First Fleet (260 b. c.).^ — The Roman senate, not content with this success, was bent on contesting with Car- thage the supremacy of the sea. One hundred and thirty vessels were accordingly built in sixty days, a stranded Phoenician galley being taken as a model. To compensate the lack of skilled seamen, the ships were provided with drawbridges, so that coming at once to close quarters their disciplined soldiers could rush upon the enemies' deck, and decide the contest by a hand-to-hand fight. They thus beat 1 From punicus, an adjective derived from Pceni, the Latin form of the word Phoenicians. 2 The Romans began to construct a fleet as early as 338 B. c, and in 267 we read of the questors of tlie navy ; but the vessels were small, and Rome was a land-power until 260 B. c. 256B.C.] THE POLITICAL HirfTOBr. 229 the Carthaginians in two great naval battles within four years. Romans cross the Sea. — Under Regulus the Romans then crossed the Mediterranean, and " carried the war into Africa." The natives, weary of the oppressive rule of the Carthagin- ians, welcomed their dehverers. Carthage seemed about to fall, when the presence of one man turned the tide. Xan- thippus, a Spartan general, led the Carthaginians to victory, destroyed the Roman army, and captured Regulus.^ After this the contest dragged on for several years ; but a signal victory near Fanormus, in Sicily, gave the Romans the ascendency in that island, and finally a great naval defeat off the ^gu'saB Islands cost the Carthaginians the empire of the sea. Effects. — Carthage was forced to give up Sicily, and pay thirty-two hundred talents of silver (about four million dollars) toward the war expenses. The Temple of Janus was shut for the first time since the days of Numa (p. 207). Eoine^s First Frovince was Sicily. This was governed, like all the possessions which she afterward acquired outside of Italy, by magistrates sent each year from Rome. The peo- ple, being made not aUies but subjects, were required to pay an annual tribute. 1 It is said that Regulus, wliile At the height of his success, asked permission to return home to his little farm, as a slave had run away with the tools, aud his family was likely to suffer with want during his absence. After his capture, the Caitha- ginians sent him to Rome with proposals of peace, making him swear to return in case the conditions were not accepted. On his arrival, he refused to enter the city, saying that he was no longer a Roman citizen, hut only a Carthaginian slave. Having stated the terms of the proposed peace, to the amazement of all, he urged their re- jection as unworthy of the glory and honor of Rome. Then, without visiting his home, he turned away from weeping wife and children, and went back to his prison again. The enraged Carthaginians cut off his eyelids, and exposed him to the burn- ing rays of a tropic sun, and then thrust him into a barrel studded with sharp naUs. So perished this martyr to his word and his country.— Historic research throws doubt on the truth of this instance of Punic cruelty, and asserts that the story was invented to excuse the barbarity with which the wife of Regulus treated some Car- thaginian captives who fell into her hands ; but the name of Regulus lives as the per- sonification of sincerity and patriotic devotion. 230 ROME. [218 b. c. Second Punic War (218-201 b. c). — During the ensu- ing peace of twenty-three years, Hamilcar (surnamed Barca, lightning), the great statesman and general of Carthage, built up an empire in southern Spain, and trained an army for a new struggle with Rome. He hated that city mth a oerfect hatred. When he left home for Spain, he took with him his son Hannibal, a boy nine years old, having first made him swear at the altar of Baal always to be the enemy of the Romans. That youthful oath was never forgotten, and Hannibal, like his father, had but one purpose, — to humble his country's rival. When twenty-six years of age, he was made commander-in-chief of the Carthaginian army. Pushing the Punic power northward, he captured Sagimtum. As that city was her ally, Rome promptly declared war against Carthage.-"- On the receipt of this welcome news, Hannibal, with the daring of genius, resolved to scale the Alps, and carry the contest into Italy. Invasion of Italy. — In the spring of the year 218 B. c. he set out ^ from New Carthage. Through hostile tribes, over the swift Rhone, he pressed forward to the foot of the Alps. Here dangers multiplied. The mountaineers rolled down rocks upon his column, as it wearily toiled up the steep as- cent. Snow blocked the way. At times the crack of a whip would bring down an avalanche from the impending heights. The men and horses slipped on the sloping ice-fields, and slid over the precipices into the awful crevasses. New roads had to be cut through the sohd rock by hands benumbed with 1 An embassy came to Carthage demanding that Hannibal should be surrendered. This being refused, M. Fabius, folding up his toga as if it contained something, exclaimed, "I bring you peace or war; take which you will!" The Carthaginians answered, " Give us which you wish ! " Shaking open his toga, the Eoman haughtily replied, " I give j'ou war ! "— " So let it be ! " shouted the assembly. 2 Before starting on this expedition, Hannibal went with liis immediate attendants to Gades, and offered sacrifice in tlie temples for the success of the great work to which he had been dedicated eighteen years before, and to which he had been looking forward so long. 218 B. c] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 231 cold^ and weakened by scanty rations. Wlien at last he reached the smiling plains of Italy, only twenty-six thousand men were left of the one hundred and two thousand with whom he began the perilous march five months before. Jioff/is oi In'Jna, nft — All i\ iiiii .il Ihe ]\\i \ Tulmi III I)< « 1 m- 1m I II.iiiMili.il Iniind 11m' Ii<>Tii.ni>«. iimler K^Lmpiomuj^j i'«i