Class Book t) S / j)'i(giii i>l?. COPyRIGHT DEPOSIT. / til BARNES GENERAL HISTORY A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN PEOPLES WITH SOME ACCOUNT OK THEIK MONUMENTS, INSTITUTIONS ARTS, MANNEKS, AND CUSTOMS JOEIi DORMAN STEELE, Ph.D., F.G.S. AND ESTHER BAKER STEELE, Lit.D. NEW YORK ..-. CINCINNATI :• CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 1 Lfbrary of Coiigrdi% Offfco of tht M«Y 1 1900 S»(fl«t.r of Copyrlgit* /^^ y^^/ SECOND COPY, 61514 BAli^iES BRIEF HISTORY SERIES. r2M0. ILLUSTUATEI). By Joel Dorman Steele and Esther B. Steele. BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, FOK THE Use of schools and for PiaVATE KEAUINO. BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF FRANCE, fou the Use OF SCIIOOI-S AND FOU PltlVATE KEADING. BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF GREECE, with Select Readings fuoai Standard autiious. BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF ROME, with Select Readings fuoji Standard Althoks. BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF ANCIENT PEOPLES, FOR THE Use of Schools and for riavATK Reading. BARNES BRIEF HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN PEOPLES, roii the Use of Schools and FOR PRIVATE READING. BARNES BRIEF GENERAL HlfSTORY, Ancient, Mk- DI.?':VAL, AND MODERN PEOl'I^ES. Copyright, 1883, hy A. S. Barnes & Co. Copyright, 1809, hy American Book Company. ^., wlien it was superseded by parchment (prepared skins). The latter was also used in Egj-pt at a verj' early period ; and though it is generally supposed to have been invented by Kumenes, King of Pergamus, in the 2d century B. c, "records written upon skins and kept in the temple " are mentioned in the time of the XVIII"' djnasty, 1200 years before Eumenes (p. 15G). 24 EGYPT. bones of animals. Literature. — Booh of the Dead.— The 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 cleath 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. Tlie soul's defense before Osiris is elaboratelj^ 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 Sliadow, and the Ka were at last re-united to the body in a blissful immoitality. The Ka (p. 38) was a man's mysterious "double," an ethereal counterpart distinct from the soul, which dwelt in THE CiViLiZATlON. ZO 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 liave not told secrets ; I liave not told falselioods ; I have not defrauded ; I have not slandered; I have not caused tears; I have given food to the hungry, drink to tlie thirsty, and clothes to the naked.'* Phtah-ho'tep's Book. — 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 beUeved 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 heart become proud because of thy riches, for it is God who is the author of them. Despise not another who is as tliou 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 ^oofe. —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 coiTespondence 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 verj'^ unimportant what flows over thy tongue, for tlij' compositions are very confused. Thou tearest the words to tatteis, just as it comes into tliy 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 medle}' when one liears it; an unediicated person could not understand it. It is like a man from the low- lands speaking witli a man from Elephantine." A few works of fiction exist which belong to the XIP^' dynasty, and there are many beautiful hymns addressed to the different gods. A long and popular poem, the Epic of Fcntaur, which celebrated the tomb with his mummy while his .soul performed its appointed pilgrimage. The soul which was rejected by Osiri.s and his foity-two assessors, took tlie form of a pig or otlier unclean animal, aiul, 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 schoohng. 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- bolism characterize all 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,^ QUEKN AHIINC, KINO IX TKMfI.E SEIIVICK (TIIKI5ES). 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 Cireat 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 Memnonium, built by Amunoph III. ; the Rames- «eMm, by Rameses II.; andtheJfertine«-^bo?t palace of Rameses III. The construction and various reparations of some of tliese vast piles of stone cover immense periods of time. Excavations made in 1887 at Tell-Basta, the ancient Bubastis, show tliat a temple to Pasht, the cat-headed 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 Memnonium was 22 feet across the shoulders, and weighed nearly 900 tons; his standing statue at Tania towered 92 feet above the plain. THE CIVILIZATION 27 which still endui'e, 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 steel 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 " ; often they were vivid delineations of the royal conquests. The proportion, form, color, and expression 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 entke 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 ; and finally the most important artist of all laid on the pre- scribed colors. The king was di-awn on a much larger scale than his subjects, his dignity being suggested by his colossal size. Gods and 1 All Egyptian statues liave a stiff, rigid pose, and are generally fastened at the back 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 the 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 tlieir own rustic tax-assessor, the dignitary of the place. An astonished fellah shouted out, " It's the Sheikh-el-Beled ! " Ilis 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. SOX OF RAMESES HI. (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 gi'anite. 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 j 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 Xllt'^ dynasty. Gold rings, bracelets, armlets, necklaces, ear-rings, 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 liouse-furni- ture assumed graceful and elegant forms. :vrriAN i;a!^y-chai THE CIVILIZATION. 29 Flax and Cotton were f exquisite texture has been found in Meniphite touil>s, and the strong flax-strings used KG V I'll AN I'urc for fowling-nets were so finely spun that it was said '^a man could eaiTy 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, di'ill, plane, right angle, ruler, and plummet; the glass-worker and gem-cutter used icGYi'TiAN MUSICIANS cmBry powder, if (THE GUITAR, HAKP, AND DOUBLE I'll'K). j^Ot a lapidary's wheel ; the potter had his wheel upon which he worked the clay after he had kneaded it with his feet ; the public weigher had stamped weights and measures, and delicate scales for balancing the gold and silver rings used as currency; musicians played on pipes, ha'rps, flutes,^ guitars, lyres, tambourines, and cymbals; while di-um and trumpet cheered the soldier in his march. 1 In 1889 several flutes were fonnd in an Ej^yptiau 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. Beligion. — 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 the 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 sj^mbolic meaning. The rising sun was the beautiful young god Horus. In his mid-day glory he was Ea, 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. Triad of Orders. — There were three orders of gods. The first i 1 In Thebes, Amun-Ea (tlie "Concealed God" or " Absolnte Spirit") headed the deities of the fust order. He was represented as having the head of a ram, the hieroglyphic of a ram signifying also concealment. In Memphis, PMaU (" Fatlier of the Beginnings"), the Creator, was chief ; his symbol was the Scarabcens, or beetle, an image of which was placed on the heart of everj^ ninmniy. Phtali was father of lia, the sun-god. Ila was, in the mystic sense, that which is to-day, tlie existing present. Tlie hawk was his emblem. Paslit, his sister, one of tlie personifications of the sun's strong rays, sometimes healthful, sometimes baneful, was botli loved and feared. She was especially worshiped at Bnbastis: 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 tlie 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, w^ho with Isis and Horns 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." l Animal Worship. — As early as the 11^ 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 15KONZE FIGUUE OK APIS. of a cat, are common all over Egypt. Nepfi, often confounded with Amun, and, like him, wearing the ram's head, was the Divine Breath or Spirit pervading matter; sheep were sacred to liim. Tlioth, son of Neph, was god of intelligence; tlie 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. Neith, wife of Phtah, was goddess of wisdom ; she was the night skj' which induces reflection. 3Iaut, the Mother Goddess and greatest of the sky divinities,— which were all feminine,— was the cool night sky tenderlj^ brooding over the hot, exhausted earth ; the shrew-mouse was sacred to her. TypJion was the common enemj' 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 Avife, Isis, by prayers and invocations, assisted in his resurrection; and that finally Ilorus, his son, avenged his wrongs and destroj'ed Set. In this myth Osiris represents Divine Goodness; Isis is the Love of Goodness ; Set, tlie 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 lier 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, l 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 given elegant apartments, and treated to every luxury, at public expense. Let us imagine a crocodile fresh from a warm, sumptuous 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 antliovities state that no Apis -was allowed to live over twentj-^-tive years. If he attained that age, he was drowned with great ceremony in the Nile. The following inscription upon a recently discovered memorial stone erected to an Apis of the XXI I' dj'uasty, shows that at least one Apis exceeded that 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 liis eternal abode." . . " 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. Tlie killing of a cat, even acci- dentally, was reckoned a capital otteuse. All sacred animals were embalmed, aud buried with impressive ceremonies. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 33 who lijiil it in cliaifjje. Tlu' mumiiiy was more or le.ss elaborately pre- pared, according to the wealth and station of the deceased. In the expensive process f^ w^^miimm MLMMV IN UANDK. most the brain and intestines were extracted, cleansed with palm-wine and aro- matic spices, and either retmnied to the body or deposited in vases which were placed in the tomb with the coffin. ^ 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 gmn. There were sometimes a thousand yards of bandages on one mummy. A thick pax)>i"us 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 scarabteus (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 Vl'TlAN !5AUtOl'llA(;i is eases 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 bodj', that even the sawdust of the 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 tom\)."—Wilkimon. 2 In 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 — emblem- 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 Egyptian, 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 EMIiRACINO HER IIUbl{ANI>\S JIUMMY. (Thobes.; 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 mout)poly of everything connected with embalming and burial, and they not only resold tombs which had been occupied, but even traflacked 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 FLNEUAL OK A MLMMY (AFTKU IMUnOEMAN). general repository. Various articles were placed in the tombs, espe- cially images of the deceased person, and utensils connected with liis profession or trade (p. 38). Among the higher classes these objects were often of gi'eat value, and included elegant vases, jewelry, and important papyri. SCENES IN REAL LIFE. Scene I. — Pyramid Building (IV^ii dynasty). l — 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 Hght 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 (iizeh Imilt by Khufu and his successors are the most celebrated. The Cireat Pyramid built in steps at Sakkarah, and said to date from the I" or 11"* dynasty, is believed by many to be the oldest monument in Egypt. BGH-3 36 EGYPT. A jModern 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 piu'- pose. The first crop of clover is nearing its har- vest ; by proper care and a persistent use of the shadoof, 1 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 IV^i 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 deta.chment 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 aggi*egate 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 tell years to build the causeway whereon the stone was brovight. The construction of the pyramid required twenty years more. Herodotus thought the iauseway as great a work as the py ramid 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 th« 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 which the well constructed and finished interior formed the king's eternal dwelling, with 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 thi« a fourth, the mass growing greater the longer the king lived. Every pyramid had iii 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 tliem, found the 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, 146 feet long. This recumbent, human-headed lion, an image of the sun-god Horus, is believed to be older than tlie 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 sciilpturo or ornament. Here, in a well, were found fragments of splendid statues of Sliafra, the successor of Khufu. 3 "The whole expense of a child from infancy to manhood," says Diodorus, "ia 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, i His musi- cians, with their harps, pipes, and flutes, his acrobats, pet dogs, and apes, amuse his leism-e 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 iiractical education ; and an enter- prising Egyptian bOJ^ 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 tlie benefit of the Ka (p. 24). In the paintings on tlie walls, the Ka saw himself going to the chase, and he went to the chase; eating and drinking with his wife, and he ate and drank with her. Tlie 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 him to hunt in tlie desert or to fish in the marshes. Besides the periodical offerings 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 hour 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 mninmies of this lord and his family. Meantime lie strives to be true to his gods, obedient to his king, and affectionate to his houseliold ; for thus he hopes to pass the rigid ordeals which follow death, and to rest at last in the Hoiit of the Sun. Scene III. — Amencmlic III., the Luhyrinth, and Lake Marls'^ (Xllf' 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 gi-ound 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 Khufu with his pyramid, but has his cart ouch properly inscribed on the building-stones. Lake Maris. — There have been some gi-ievous famines 2 iu 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 Fayooni, states that lie " found between two pyramidal structures an immense bed of fine white limestone concrete, upon wliich lie thousands of tons of limestone and red granite, fragments of the destroyed walls of some enormous structure." Profs. Saj^ce and INIaspero believe that in " Lake Mceris " Herodotus saw only an overflow into a natural dei)ression. All Egyptologists concede, however, that Amenemhat III., iu some way, greatly increased the amount of arable land in this region, Petrie found here several inscribed fragments of Ameuemhat's statues and i)yramidal pedestals. 2 "All Egypt is the gift of the Nile," wrote Herodotus. The river, however, was not left to overflow its banks without restrictions. The whole coxmtry was inter- sected with canals and j)r<)tected bj' 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 fcmrteen cubits caused joy, fifteen security, sixteen de- liglit." 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 Egyptiau storehouses the granary of the eastern world. For tliis reason, when tlie famine arose in Canaan, Abram and Sarai came to Egypt, probably during the reigu of the XI"- dynasty. 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 Mosris 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 pyi-amid-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 gi-anite 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, i the powerful princes have built tombs ' ^'^-'-^ '^^o- which, like cheerful homes, spread their pillared oiiEusK. porches in the eastern rocky heights. Scene IV. — A Tkehan Dinner- Party (time of Ra- meses II., 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 XVIIPii dynasty, including the long and 1 The tombs of Beni Hassan in Middle Egypt are remarliable for tlieir 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 the 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 rock. The first we entered was a large square room, with an open pit at one end,— tlie mnmmy-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 1 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 shades 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 overfour thousand years ago. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 41 brilliant reign of Thothmes III., lias passed away, leaving behind it temples, obelisks, and tombs of marvelous magnificence. Thebes is at the height of that architectural triumphwhich 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 i 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-gi-oves. 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 c f servants ; one of these runs forward to knock at the door, another take s the reins, another presents a stool to assist his master to alight, ani 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 in\4tel into the festive chamber, where side by side on a double chair, to whie i 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 Eg^^jtian gentleman wears a wig Avith little top-curls, and long cues wiiich 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 brick.s were made of Nile iiiud mixed with chopped straw, and dried iu the sun. 2 The beetle was a favorite emblem for ornaments. No less than 180 kinds of scarabaii are preserved iu tlie Turiu 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. Everyw^here 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 wliich 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 mummv, a dear, deceased SUMMARY. 43 member of the family, whom the host is keeping some montlis 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 I^ools 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 XI^ii dynasty the monu- ments are few and history is silent. Thebes then became the center of power. The XII^ii 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 Tlieban monarch drove out the barbarian strangers. The XVIIItii and XIX*'' 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 onl^ 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. BrugscJi's Egypt under the Pharaohs.— Bunsen' a Egypt's Place in the World's History.— Birch's Egypt from the Earliest Titnes, and Egypt from the Monuments.— Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.— Herodotus, Rawlin- son's Translation xvith Notes.— Eaivlinson's Origin of Nations, and Manual of Ancient History.— Lenormant and Chevallier's Ancient History of the East-Records of the Past {Netv Series).— Egypt over 3300 Years Ago {Illustrated Library of Won- ders).— Lubke's History ofArt.— Westropp's Handbook of Archceology.—Fergusson'i History of Architecture.— Early Egyptian History for the Voting (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— Ooodyear's Grammar of the Lotus.— Books of the Egypt Exploration Fund and Archceological Survey.— Bihlia (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. WELLS, OEU _ 2 leet clteaied iy Hue ItnesjFrovincea RMMkk * •TRVTHSfW, MQ't 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; recent discoveries seem to remove far into the remote past that patriarchal civilization called Accadian, Sumerian, or Su- mero-Accadian. 1. Chaldea. — Om* earliest 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 (Urueh, p. 64), King of Ur, scatters gigantic, rudely constructed temples all over Chaldea ; and Khamninragus, patron of science and litera- GeograpMcal Questions.— L.ocsite Nineveh, Babylon, Tadmor, Accad, Erecli, 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, Assy- 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 and plateau cut up by rocky ridges, stretching north of Babj'lonia 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 soutli-east of Assyria and east of Babylonia. Northern Chaldea was called Accad; Southern Chaldea, Shumir. The alluvium was niarvelously 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. 0. ture, unites Accad and Shuniir 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-risnig 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 (747 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 SargonidaB. 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 Egyptian. Berosus, a Babylonian, wrote (4th century H. c.) a histoTy of his country, founded on the records in tlie temple of Belus. His work, like Manetlio'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 H. 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, who 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 sliattered by tlie Turks, and the latter was broken up 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 fui-nish 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 NIMKOUD). About 606 B. c. Nineveh was cai)tured by the combined forces of the Babylonians and Medes. Tradition says that its effeminate king Sar'-a-cus, taking counsel of his despair, bui-ned himself in his palace with all his treasiu-es. 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 gi-eatly even in the spelling of the names. Some of the monarchs are notable from their connection with Grecian or Jewish history. Tig' -lathi-nin (worshij) be to Niu, p. 62) it sup- posed to be the Greek Ninus; on his signet-ring was in- scribed " The Conqueror of Babylon," which connects him with the overthrow of Clialdea, already mentioned. Tiglath- Pile'ser I. (1110 b. c.) may be called ^^The Religious Con- queror." He built temples, palaces, and castles, introduced I Xtuiophoii, durinf; tlie faniouH retreat of the Teu Thouauiul, only two centuries after this catastrophe, passed the site of Nineveh, yet does not even mention the fact in his history, so perfectly had Nineveh disappeared. 48 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. [1130 B. C. foreign cattle and vegetable products, and constructed 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 5 ^ but he was repulsed by the Babylonians, who bore off his idols to their capital, where they were kept four hundred years. Asslmr-izir-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 hned his palace walls (Nimroud) with great alabaster slabs, whereon were sculptured in spirited bas-rehef 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 wild beasts he could procure from his own and foreign lands. SJialmane' ser ^ II. was contemporary with Ahab and Jehu, kings of Israel ; he personally conducted twenty-four mih- tary campaigns. Vul-lush III. (810-781) maiTied Sam- muramit, heiress of Babylon, and probably the original of 1 A lengthy document written by Tiglatli-Pileser, narrating some events of liis reign, has been discovered. He writes : " The country of Kasiyara, a diflQcult region, I passed tlirough. 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 bj^ the tempest. Their carcasses covered the valleys and the tops of the moimtains. 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 tlie sculptures and break them off from my tablets, maj^ Ann 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 liis oflfspring survive him ! May liis 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.O.J 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 Aliaz, King of Judah. SJiahnaneser IV. (727-722) laid siege to Samaria, which was taken by his successor, Sargon (722- 705), who carried off its inhabitants and suppHed their place with captive Babylonians. Sargon founded the house of the Sargonidae, who were the most briUiant of the Assyi-ian kings, and who made aU 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 seK-confi- dent Sennacherib (sen-nak^-e-rib, 705-681), captui-ed 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- sonall}^ du-ecting the forced labor of his workmen, who were war-captives, often loaded with fetters. Esarhaddon, 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 AssJmr-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 library. His 1 As the Greeks confounded several Egyptian monarclis under the name of Sesostris the Great, so the 'Assyrian king wliora thoy called Sardanapa'liis seems to have been a union of Asshurizirpal, Asshurbanipal, and Asshuremedilin. The Greek ideal Sardanapalus Is celebrated in Byron's well-known play of that name. 50 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. [626 B. 0. son, AssJiur-emed-ilm, or Saraciis, as he was called by some Greek writers (p. 47), was the last Assyrian king. 3. Later Babylonian Empire (606-538). — Nahopo- las'sar, a favorite general nnder Saracus, obtained from his master the government of Babylon. Here he organized a revolt, and made an alliance with Cyaxares, King of the Medes; in 606 B. c. their combined forces captured Nineveh. The conquerors divided the spoils between them, and to BABYLONIAN HEADS (FROM THE SCULPTURES). Nabopolassarfell Phoenicia, Palestine, Syria, Susiana, 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. Nebucliadnezzar (604-561), the son of Nabo- polassar, gave the new empire 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 j 1 "Israel is a scattered sheep; . . , first the king of Assyria hath devourerl him, and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones."— ^er 1. 17 538 b. c] THE CI VI I.IZ ATION. 51 and its wiiils and lianging o;,,rd(Mis (p. r)8) were among the Seven Wonders of the World (Appendix). Immense lakes were dug for retaining the Avater of the Enphrates, whence a net- work of eanals distributed it over the plain to irrigate the land, while quays and breakwaters were constructed along the Persian Gulf for the encouragement of commerce.i BeJshazzar held the throne jointly wdth 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 w^aters 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 wiU. The Kind, though not worshiped as a god, as in Egj^t, 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 kinjrs in Daniel, Isaiah (chaps. X., xi., xiii., xiv., xxi., xlv., xlvi., xlvii., and especially xix., xxiii.), Jeremiah (chaps. xlix., 1., and li.), 2 Kings (chaps, xxiv., xxv.), and Ezra (chaps, i.-vi.), BaH-4 52 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. m %i direct petitiou to the king in case of public wrong or neglect.i In Babylonia, where there was a mixed population, society was divided into castes, of which the highest, the ancient Chaldean, was not unlike that of the Egyp- ^^> tian priesthood. The Chaldeans read the warnings of rp, the stars, interpreted dreams and omens, gave instruc- I . tions in the art of magic and incantation, and conducted \y ~ 1 the pompous religious ceremonies. They also decided = -H politics, commanded the armies, aud held the chief state "^ ^ t offices. From them came all the royal rulers of Babylon. ^J~ 2 I The king was as despotic as in Assyria, and Baby- ^ g "? Ionian nobles at every slight offense trembled for their I heads. The whole Chaldean caste were once ordered to I be exterminated because they could not expound the I dream of a king which he liimself could not recall I 1 (Dan. ii. 12). lY ^. I Merchants, artisans, and husbandmen formed each a ^1 caste. The fishermen of the marshes near the Persian YT i ^ Griilf 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 11 ° I subsisted on a species of cake made of dried fish. ^ § I Writing. — Cuneiform Letters {cmwus, a wedge). — Clay ^ g ^ Tablets. — The earliest form of this writing, invented by the Turanians, was, like the Egyptian, a collec- tion of rude pictures, with this peculiarity, that they Ttrt were all straight-lined 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 1 A tablet in tlie Biitisli Museum thus exposes an oiflcial peculation in the time of Asshurbanipal : "Salutation to the king, my lord, from his humhle 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 roj'^alty, 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 tlie 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 " ►r "t TilL CIVILIZATION i>o 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 foun*i even more difficult to interpret thai Egyptian hieroglyphics. It has sonn of the peculiarities of that writini: but has no letter-signs, the cuneiform writing nations never advancing so far as to analyze the syllable into vowel- and consonants. Nearly three hun- di-ed 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- ■^\y^] der Signets, etc. — The Assyrian clay tablets were generally larger than the Chaldean, and for the royal records slabs of fine stone were prefeiTed. ^/^ ASftVKlAN t'l.AV TAIil.I-yr. Oeiieijilly all tiaci- of the original picture disappeared, but in a few cases, such as the outline is still visible. A curiou.s example of the picto- rial origin of the letters is furnished by the character iy^ which is the French une, the feiuiniiie of "(»ne." This character may be traced back through several known forms to an original picture on a Koyimjik tablet, 3 t, where it appears a-s a double-toothed comb. As this was a toilet, article peculiar to women, it became the sign of the feminine gender. 2 The Beliistun Inscription furnished the key to Assyrian literature, as diir'the Rosetta stone to p:gyptian. This inscription was carved by order of Darius llys- tasp'es (p. 91) on the precipitous side of a high rock mountain in Media, lit'O 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 Ilosetta stone, a lexicon to the otheitwo languages. Honorably connected with tlie opening-up of the Assyrian language in the present century, are llie names of Sir Henry Rawlinson, who at great personal risk scaled tlie Behistun Mountain and made a copy of the inscription, which he afterward pub- lished ; and M. Oppert, who systematized the ncwlj- discovered language, and founded an Assyrian gramnuir 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 carried 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 lines 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 tablets 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, established an extensive pubhc 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 j 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 already invented a scientific nomenclature, similar in principle to that of A TERRA-COTTA CYLINDER. 1 " Palace of Assliurbanipal, king of tlie world, king of Assyria, to whom the god Nebo and the goddess Taslmiit (the goddess of wisdom) have given ears to hear and eyes to see what is the foundation of government. The}'' have levealed to the kings, my predecessors, tliis cuneiform writing, the manifestation of tlie god Nebo, the god of supreme intelligence. T liave written it upon tablets, I have 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. 55 LimiflBus." Here, also, were religious books explaining the name, fimetious, and attributes of each god; 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- shui'banipal, 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 gi'ammatical works. The Assyrians found their own language so complex, that lexicons and grammars were multiplied in efforts to explain and simplify it ; 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 sou, Saracus, and Avere mostly broken into fragments, i Monuments and Art.— As the Chaldeans had no stone, they made their edifices of burnt or sun-di'ied 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 (Satui'u) ; the next orange (Jui)iter) -, then red (Mars), gold (the sun), yellow (Venus), blue (Mercury), and silver (the moon). The gold and 1 "The clay tablets lay niuler the ruined palace in such niultitudos that they tilled the cliamhcrs to tlie height of a foot or more from tlie floor. Tlie documents tlius 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 arclutologist, we are chielly indebted for the wonderful dis- coveries made in exploring the mounds which mark the site of Nineveh. The British Museum has a magniticent collection of Assyrian antiquities recovered from these mounds, wliole rooms being lined witli the alabaster slabs exhunuMl from tlie ruins of the palaces of xVssliurizirpal at Niinroud, Sennacherib and liis grandson Assliur- banipal at Koyunjik, and Sargon at ICIutrsabad. Most of the remains of Sargon's palace, however, are deposited in the Louvre at Paris, having been excavated for tlie French government by M. Botta, who has the honor of having made (in 18-13) the first discovery of an Assyrian monument. 2 Borsiiipa 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 tJie actual Tower of BabeL A mound i'jillfvl Rnbil, near the Oreat Palace, is the other dispnteil site. 56 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. silver stages seem to liave 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 streng'thened by brick buttresses scientifically arranged. The royal name and titles were engi'aved upon each building-brick. Vr.VI,OMAN I'.KICK. TheAfssi/rians made 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 w^ere obUged 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 elaboi'ate 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 presei-vation. In statuary, the Assyrians signally failed, and in ■r% t^'. iKl.ISK FKOM M.MKOLi 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 g-reatness. As compared with Egyptian art,i the A&syrian 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 j w^ithin that, beautiful gardens, orchards, and fields alternated with lofty dwellings. The brond 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 x^iers. 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 tbe 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 w^as deep enough to sustain not only flowers and shi-ubs, but the largest trees, so that the effect was that of a mountain clothed in 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 (contiast with Ejiyptian tomb). No Assyrian sepiilcher has yet (18'J2) been louutl. '■^ Other authorities reduce this estimate. In Alexander's time the wall still stood over seventy leet higli. Curtius asserts that "nine tenths of Babylon consisted of gardens, jJiirk.H, fields, and oichards." 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 inclosure, 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 imag'^ of Bel, a golden stand and table, and a human figure eighteen feet high, made of solid gold. The ascent was from the outside, and on the summit was the sacred shrine, contaiuing 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 In-venHoii^.— 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 ^coven 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. Wliere 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 i)alaces 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 Assyrian pottery, Avhich, 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 XVIIItii 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 roek- ciystal lens has been found at Nimi'oud, 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 Assyi'ia 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 Nahiim 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 eovetousness 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 lieavy 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 Tlie Assyrians wrought all the elaborate carvings of their colossi Ijefore moving them. They then stood the fignre on a wooden sledge, supporting it by heavy frame- work, and biaciug 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 Koj^unjik, and now in the British INIuseum. 2 The horrible atrocities inflicted (m war captives are exultantly detailed on royal inscriptions. It is significant of the two civilization.s that wliile Assyrian kings were thus mutilating and flaying alive their defenseless prisoners, Egypt had aboli-shed the death penalty as a punishment for crime. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, Gl prise, and lioiii'sly in Iradc In thcii' iiitci't'oursc with sli-aiiiLCcrs, thoy are said to have cultivated cahuness of manner, a virtue i>robaV)ly not natiu'al to them, but whicli 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 tlian those of the Egyptians, and although // or Ha, who stood at the head of the Chaldean Pantheon, was vaguely considered as the fount or origin of Deity, tliere 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 Uoa, 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 Ful, the air-god. Each god had a wife, who received her share of divine honors. After these came the five planetary deities : Xin or Saturn, sometimes called the fish-god — his emblem in Assyria being the man-bull ; Bcl-Merodach or Jupiter ; Xcrgal or Mars — the man-lion of Assyria; /.y/y rollin<^ across tlio face the little enp-aved jasper or chalcedony cylinder, wliich he wears at- tached by a string to his wrist. Having baked it, he incloses it in a thin clay envelojie, upon which ho 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 ujsper part of his body rests in one, 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 j^ottery, formed of a single x>iece, and shaped like a modern tureen cover ; or they put him on the mat in the family arched vault, j)illowing liis 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 tliey rest a bronze or copper bowl filled with dates or other food to strengthen him in his mysterious journey througli 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 Avas 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 Asshurbanijial 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 gi"eat walls one hundred feet in height^ ' 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 stieam of Eastern civilization may be traced. It is scarcely too much to say that, but for Babj'lon, real civilization might not even yet liave 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 tlie aspirations of the people."— i2awliw5on*« Ancient Ilonarchies. READING REFERENCES. Eawlinson's History of Ancient Monarchies.— Fergusson's History of Architecture, and Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Bestored.—Layard's Monuments of Nineveh, and Nineveh and its Remains.— Secords of the Past ( New Series).— Say ce's Babylonian Literature; Assyria, its Princes, Priests, and People; and Fresh Lights from, An- cient Momiments.—Perrot and Chipiez's History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria.— George Smith's Chaldean Account of Genesis {Revised) ; Assyrian Discoveries ; and Early History of Assyria.— Loftus's Chaldea and Susia7ia.—Also the General Ancient Histories named on p. 44. CHRONOLOGY. B.C. Sargon 1 38001 Ur6a(Uruch) 2800? Khammuragus 2280? Rise of Assyria 1300 Era of Nabonassar 747 Fall of Nineveh 606? Cyrus captured Babylon 538 Alexander captured Babylon 331 PHCENICIA The PhcBnicians 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 Sidou 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 GuK and the Geographical Questions.— Bound Phoenicia. Locate Tj^re; Sidon. Name the principal Plioenician colonies. Where was Carthage? Utical 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 PHCENICIA. Red Sea. They obtained tin from the British Isles, amber from the Baltic,^ silver from Tarshish (southern Spain), and PHCENICIA andtbe '^v...... - •. o - .7- DOMINION OF Wildekess /c / JUDEA; of PlraTi '^ ^ y TIME OF KING SOLOMON. J^';^^' Scale of Miles J.WELL8 DEL. gold from Ophir (southeastern Arabia). In connection with their maritime trade they established great commercial 1 Over tlielv land trade routea. Amber also existed near Sidon. Tliey carefully concealed the source of their supplies. An outward-bound 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 which 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 all the Orient. THE KUINS OF ANCIEiNT TYKE. 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, Eg\^t, 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 their foreign masters, must have arisen from self-interest, and not from cowardice, since the Phoenician navigator displayed a corn-age 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 Tyre. The location of Carthage was African, but its origin and language were Asiatic. The policy of the warlike daughter proved very unlike 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 all 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 tell 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 defended the city on every side nest the sea. The streets were lined with massive houses lavinhly adorned with the riclies of the Punic traders. Two long piers reached out into the sea, forming a double harbor,— the outer for merchant ships, and the inner for the navy. In the center of flie inner harbor was a lofty island crowned with the admiral's palace. Around this island and the entire circumference of the inner harbor ex- tended a maible colonnade of Ionic pillars two stories high ; tJie lower story forming the fi'03t of the curved galleries for the protection of the ships ; and the upper, of the rooms for workshops, storehouses, etc. The limits of the city were twenty-three miles, and it was probably more populous than Rome. Its navy was the largest in the world, and in the seafight with Kegulus comprised 350 vessels, carrying 150,000 men. THE CIVILIZATION. 77 THE CIVILIZATION. Civilization. — "Assyria and Egypt were the birtli places of ma- terial civilization, and the Phoenicians were its missionaries." The depots of the Phoenician merchants were centers whence germs of cultm-e were scattered broadcast. To Europe and Africa these traders brought the arts and refinements of the older and more advanced East. Literature. — But the Phoenicians were more than mere carriers. To them we are said to owe the ali)habet,i 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 — •k "A bowl of solid silver, deftly wrought, That held six measures, and iu beauty far Surpassed whatever else the world coiHd boast ; Since men of Sidon skilled in glj'ptic art Had made it, and Phoenician mariners Had brought it with them over the dark sea." 2 1 According to general belief, the Phrenicians selected from the Egyptian hieratic twenty -two letters, making each represent a definite articulation. Twelve of these we retain with nearly tlieir 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 tlie Phojuician and perhaps the Greek alphabet at least 2000 n. c. ; " wliile Pi-of. Sayce, speaking of recent dis- coveries (1890) in Arabia, remarks, " Instead of seekingiu Phceniciathe primitivehome of oui alphabet, wo may have to look for it in Arabia." 2 Until recently no specimen of pure Phfenician art was known to exist. Luigi Palnia d\ Cesnola, former Con.sul to the Island of Cyprus, in his excavations on that island, uncovered the sites of seventeen cities, and opened many thonsand tombs. Here he found countless Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, and Plia*nician treasures, dating from before the time of Thnthnios III. (p 17), whose official seal he exhumed. The Phoenician tombs wore several feet below the Grecian , one city hav- ing perished and another sprung up, " which, in turn, buried its dead, unconscious of the oldev .sepulclier below. Time had left no human remains except a few sknlLs, to some of which still adhered the gold leaf placed by the Phreniciaus ovor the mouth of their dead." 78 PHCENICIA. Sidon was noted for its glass- working, in which 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, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber ; in purple, in blue, in crimson, and in fine linen ; 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 Assyi'ians, 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 liuman beings THE CIVILIZATION. 79 •were sacrificed. Melcarth, the special god of Tyre, imited 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 w^eatlier, 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 linage of the Tyrian god was heated by 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 liLscOriau says the Phoenicians ofiered ^ome relative on the occa.siou of any great calamity ; and when the Carthaginians were besieged by Agathocles, t3naut 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. READI NG REFERENCES. The General Ancient Histories named on pp. 44 and 72.— CJievalier and Lenor- manVs Manual of Oriental History.— Capt. Mago's Adventures, a Phoenician Ex- pedition 1000 \%.(:.— Arnold's History of Rome, Vol. II., pp. 455-467 {Carthaginian Institutions).— Mommsen's History of Rome, Vol. II., p. 261 (Carthage).— Rawlinson's Phoenicia; and Church's Carthage {Story of the Nations Series).— Perrot and Chipiez'8 History of Art in Phoenicia. CHRONOLOGY. B.C. Sidon 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 I'llCKNICIAN GALLEY. JUDEA. The Hebrews were Semites, and related to the Ass^-rians 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 Ai-abs 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 desirous 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 sei'vice on his public works (p 18). During the next reign (Mineptah's) Moses, one of the profoundest statesmen of history, who was versed in all the learning of the Egyptian court, — then the center of civilization, — rescued his people from their bondage.^ GeograpJiical Qiiestions.—Bonud Palestine Locate the Dead Sea , the Sea of Galilee ; the Kingdom of Jndah ; the Kingdom of Israel. Describe tlie 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 Phihstines. Ans. Ash- dod, Gaza, Ascalon, Gath, Ekron. i 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 .rtELLS, OEL. RUSSELL A STRUTHERSiENQ'S N.Y. 82 JUDEA. [1491 B.C. The Exodus (about 1300 b. c.).^ — 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 Avaned. Idolatry crept in. For a while the conquered Canaanites 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 j)rophetess 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 oversiglit 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 Miueptah, the Pharaoh who, according to a common belief not supported by the Bible record, perished in the Red 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 jireferred by some Bible students, says 1491 B. c. (See 1 Kings vi. 1.) 2 Joshua's i>lan of crossing the Jordan, capturing Jericho, taking the heights be- yond by anight march, and delivering the crusliiug blow at Bethhoron (Joshua 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 iu detail. 1095-975 B. c] JUDEA. 83 formed a strong confederation of five cities along the coast south 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, — Saulj David^ and Solomon. Each reigned forty 3'ears. 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 com-t rivaled that of Egypt and Assyria. He man-ied an Egyptian princess, built the temple on Mount Moriah 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. O. 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 Juclah, — 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 famihes, 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 usiu-per, were all of the house of David in regular descent. But it lay in the pathway of the mighty armies of Egypt and Assyria. Tlu*ice 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 Tliis 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. Read Daniel, Nehemiah, and Ezra. 536 B. c] THE CIVILIZATION. 85 language, they had acquired a love for commerce, aud numy afterward went to foreign countries and engaged in trade, for which they ai'e still noted. Their Later History was full of vicissitude. They became a part of Alexandei-^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, how^ever, frequently re- belled, until finally, after a siege of untold horror, Titus cap- tured Jerusalem and razed it to the ground. The Jewish nation perished in its ruins. OUIENTAL 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 favored the 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 Phcfinicians (p. 78), but also sailoi*s for his fleet. Yet this people, occupy- ing a little ten'itory 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 progi'es- sive and civilized nations; while from its royal family descended Jesus of Naz- areth, the gi'andest factor in all history. TJie Hebrew Commonwealth was the first definite knowledge. ANCIENT JEWISH HOOK. fepublic of which we have The foundation was the house : thence the ascent was through the family or collection of houses, and the tribe or collection of famiUes, to the nation. There were twelve heads of tribes, or princes, and a senate of seventy elders, but the soui'ce of 86 JUDEA. power was the popular assembly known as the " Congregation of Israel," in which every Hebrew proper had a voice. This, Uke the centurion 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 imj^artial 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 some regular occupation. After the captivity, education seems to have been made compulsory. HEHREW PIUEST OFFERING INCENSE. JEWISH SHEKEL The Hittites, mentioned in the Old Testament, inhabited the fer- tile valleys of the Orontes, and spread throughout southern Syria. They were a military and commercial nation, and made great ad- vances in civilization and the fine arts. A court poet is mentioned THE CIVILIZATION 87 on the Egyptian monuments as having been among the retinue of a Hittite king, and the early art discoveriid in Cyprus by Di Cesnola is supposed to be largely derived from this people, who longresisteAI.1..M I.N KAIM.V 'I'l.MF.S. by archaeologists, who have already 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 pnd debris, surrounded by ruined walls and broken towers — important remains with inscriptions are now being found. CHRONOLOGY. B. C. Abram migrated to Canaan, about 2000 The Exodus, about 1300 Monarchy established 1095 Reign of Solomon 1015-975 Division of the Kingdom 975 Sargon took Samaria 722 Nebuchadnezzar destmycd Jerusalem 588 Titus took Jerusalem A. D. 70 BQ H— 6 MEDIA AND PERSIA. 1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. The Medes and Persians, two Aryan nations, vfere early conquered by the Assyrians. The Medes were the first to assert their indej)endence. Under Cyax'ares they de- stroyed Nineveh (GOG b. c.) and divided Assyria 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 Persiali king Gambyses, whose son, Cy'rus, 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 Geographical Questions.— Jio\nn\ Persia ; Media. Locate Persepolis ; Susa ; Pasar- gada3. Name the couutries of Asia Minor. Where was Lydia? Sardis'? Tlie river Halys? What was the extent of the Persian Empire at the time of Alexander the Great? 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 child, gave him to a herdsman to expose on a mountain (conniaro Greek and Roman customs, pp. 178, 28G; and Romulus, p. 205). The herdsman, in pity, saved tlje 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, quietlj'- directed him to send his son to be a companion for the ycmng prince, 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 liis war- like countrymen to revolt, lie 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 Assyi-ian Em- pire. With the f aU 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. A BAS-KELIEF OF CYRUS. 1 Lydia was an exceedingly ricli countiy. Her nionntains abonnded in precious ores ; and the sands of the liver ractolus, wliicli coursed her capital, tSardis, were iieavj^ with electruni,— a mixture of gold and silver. Of this electruni, the first known coins were made in the 8th century b. c- Croesus was so rich that liis name has be- come proverbial. He was now doomed to die. licgend relates that, as lie watched tlie flames surmounting liis funeral pile, he exclaimed " Solon ! Solon ! " tliat in response to the queries of Cyrus he answered that the great Atlienian statesman (p. 122) had once visited him, and had made light of liis wonderful riches, saying, "No man can be judged happy till the manner of his death is known ; " and that Cj^rus. moved by tlie incident, thereupon released him, and became his faitliful friend. Chronological difficulties in regard to Crousus and Solon have discredited this legend, so chaimingly told by Herodotus. 90 MEDIA AND PERSIA. [529-522 B. C. Cambyses (529 b. c), liis son, succeeded to tlie throne. He conquered Egypt (p. 19) in 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 CRtESUS ON THE FUNKRAL PVHE (KKOM 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.^ The Persians called the gracious Cyrus " Father ; " the reckless Cambyses was branded as " Despot." I He had just learned of the assumption of the "False Smerdis" (p. 91). Hastily mounting his lioise, liis sword fell from its sheath, and, "killing himself, he died," says the Behistim Inscription. Differing authorities interpret this as a suicide or an accident. 521-48GB.C.] THE POLITK'AL HISTORY. 91 Darius I. (521 b. c.)' oi-gaiiizi'd the vast kiii^lom whicli Cyrus had conquered. There were twenty-three provinces, all restless and eager to be free. Insurrections 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 com-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 abilit}^ 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 Caniby.ses in Egypt, the Magi made one Gomates king, representing him to be Smerdis, tlie son of Cyrus. Cambyses, liowever, liad 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 liis groom in placing a horse well known to his mastei's horse near where they were to pass. 2 The satraps rivaled the king himself in the magnificence of their courts. Eacli had several palaces with pleasure gardens, or "paradises," as they called tliem, 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 his 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, conld 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 lost; if he were saved, it outweighed every calamity. The Seven Princes (Esther i. 14; 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 cylinders. 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 A vesta, 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 pui'ports to be a revelation made by Ormazd (p. 98) to Zoroaster, ^ the founder of the Persian reMgion. 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 Aliura Mazda : ' Ahura Mazda, holiest spirit, creator of all exist- ent worlds, the truth loving! Wliat was, O Ahura Mazda, the word existing before the heaven, before the water, before the eartli, before the cow, before tJie tree, before the fire, the son of Ahura 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 h^ly 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 j-ears 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 the ancient creeds approach the nearest to the inspired Hebr '//. Vv- LJ S:. hm-mP-^ ^^p^ II.;.!-:. y/U II L ]-- 1,1. IM 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 tiie Egyptians and Chaldeans. The Great Hall of Xerxes, how- ever, was larger than the Great Hall of Karuak, and in propor- tion and design far surpassed anything in Assyi'ia. What enam- eled brick was to Babylon, and alabaster seul^^ture 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, I An iilea borrowed from tlio <-on(iut'reA 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 5 the golden throne of the king,under an embroidered canopy, supported by pillars of gold inlaid with precious stones ; 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 PasargadfB, 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 same material, crowned with a stone roof. Here, in a small chamber entered by a low and nar- row door, were deposited in a golden coflin 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 THK GKEAT STAIRCASE AT PEUSEPOLIS. 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. Wlien 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 skill 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 mushns 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. 3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. General Character. — The Persian was keen-witted and ingeni- ous, generous, warm-hearted, hospitable, and eom-ageous. He was bold and dashing in war ; sparkling, vivacious, and given to repartee in social life. Except in tlie presence of the king, where no sadness was allowed, he never checked 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 gi-eat 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 uukuowu, while in Eg3'pt it was twice as broad in proportion to its height as in Persia. 98 MEDIA AND PERSIA. Ormazd was tlio ''all-i)orfect, 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. SYMUOL OF ORMAZI). (Copied by tht; Persians from tliat of the Assyrian god Asshiir. ) Aliriman 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 Worship 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," l formally ofifei- 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 Akiud 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 faitli. 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 wo have seen the Egyp- tian religion characterized by animal and sun worshiji, and the Chal- deo-Ass}Tian by that of the sun, moon, and planets, so we find the Persiau distinguished by the icorshij) 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 gi'ound, 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. Drimkenness at last became a sort of duty. Every serious family council ended in a debauch, and once a year, at the feast of IMithras, part of the royal display was the intoxication of the king. Love of 100 MEDIA AND PERSIA. OKDINAKY 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. Wonioi were kept secluded in their own apartments, called the harem or seraglio, and were allowed no communication with the other sex.l So 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 offense for a man simply to pass a royal litter in the street. 2 TJie Eing^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 w^ho 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 iudeconira to ask a Persian after the liealth 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 liaving accidentally- met the carriage of the Tsaritsa Natalia. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 101 courts was a grave offense ; and to come into his chamber unan- nounced, unless the royal scepter was extended in i)ardon, 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 wliich 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 jilates 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 wdth the king ; he reclined on a golden- footed couch, and sipped the costly Mdno of Helbou ; 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 si^ear, 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 Egj^ptian 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 burdened, 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 Assp'ian 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 checked 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. ^ TEIWIAN KOOT-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 Tlie troops were drawn from the entire empire, ami were marslialecl in tlie field according to nations, eacli tribe accoutered in its own fasliion. Here were seen the gilded breastplates and scarlet kilts of the Persians and Medes ; there the woolen shirt of the Arab, the leathern jerkin of tlie 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 qrilted linen, wielded the tough spear or t'le 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 prof"uctions of the worksliops of Pdoenicia and Greece. Here the bronze helmet was surmounted with the ears and ho- ns of ar ox ; there it was superseded by a fox-skin, a leathern or wooden skull-cap, or a head-dress fashioned out of a liorse's scalp. Besides horses and mules, elephants, camels, and wild asses diversified the scene, and rendered it still more strange anti wonderful to the eye of a European.— jBawlin«on. 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, carne 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 whieli flamed the eternal fire. The monarch followed, riding on a car drawn by Nisa?an 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 throwm 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 Cyrus 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 in 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 m the field. In architecture he delighted in broad, sculptui-ed staircases, and tall, slender columns. He expressed some original taste and de- B Q H— 7 104 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 A^ast and motlev oavalr'ade. armed by nations, and relied upon I'HE RUINS OF I'EKSEl'OMS. 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 and 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.— Eaivlinso7Vs Five Great Monarchies.— Vaux's Nineveh and Persepolis.—Fergusson's Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis restored.— Loftus's Chaldea and Susiana.—Haug's Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsees.—Ehers's Egyptian Princess (p. 44) contains a vivid description of the times of Cambyses and the PseudoSmerdis.—Eaw- linson's Translation of Herodotus.— Miiller's Sacred Books of the East ( Vols. IV. and v.). —Benjamin's Story of Persia.— Media and Persia in the various Cyclopcedias. CHRONOLOGY. B.C. Cyaxares destroyed Nineveh •'Oe ? Cyrus subdued the Medes ^^ Cyrus defeated Croesus, aud captured Sardis 547? Cyrus subdued the far East 553-540 Cyrus captured Babylon 538 Cambyses ascended the Throne 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 thoug-ht to have emigrated from Iran (p. 12) earlier than 1500 B. c. They never materially influenced the steady flow of histor}^,^ 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 ^-^^tones, 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 bj' the reasonableness or truth of a statement, but by its grandeur. Thus, in the Brahman mythology we hear of Rdhu, an exalted being, 76,800 miles high and 19,200 miles across the shoul- ders. Wliile the Egyptian engraved on stone the most trivial incident of dailj' lite, the Uindoo disregarded currcut cveuts, and was absorbed in uietaphysical 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 Pariahs, 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 hterature 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 Varnna [tlie 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. " Tlirough 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 offense before the heavenly host; wherever we break thy law through thoughtlessness, have mercy, Almighty, have mercy ! " Religion. — Brahmanism, the Hindoo faith, teaches pantheism,'^ 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 doctrine of the Hindoo Trinity, i. e., that God reveals himself in three forms,— Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, 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- manisni, 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 earned their doctrines over a large part of the East, and Buddhism now constitutes the religion of BUUDH18T PKIESIS. 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 ideality 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 A HUAllMAN AT I'UAVRK. from the horns of a cow have the power to expiate all sin ; " 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. READI NG REFERENCES. Miiller's Sacred Books 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 3Ianual of the History of India.— Bayard Taylor's India, China, and Japan.— Articles on India, etc., in Apple- tons', Zell's, and Johnson's CyclopoHlias, and Encyclopcedia Britannica. CHINA. The Chinese were Turanians (p. 10). Their historical records claim to reach far back of all kno^\ii chronology, but these are largely mythical. Good authorities place the foundation of the empire 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, mde enough for six horsemen to ride abreast upon the top, and extends over mountains and valleys a distance of over twelve hundred miles. Che Hwang-te died six years before it was finished. In the 13th century 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 hundi'ed 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 glo\Wng description of the magnificence of the Eastern mcmarch's court. Again, in the 17tli century, the Tartars obtained tlie throne, and founded the dynasty >yhich now governs the empu^e. 110 CHINA. THE CIVILIZATION. Civilization. — 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- THE GREAT WALL OF CH 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 Herodotus says that in dealing with foreigners the Chinese were wont to deposit theii" wool or silk in a certain place, and then go away. The merchants came np, laid beside the goods the snm 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, tlu^ same exceptional mode of writing, the same unwillingness to mingle with surrounding nations, the same mode of reckoning time by dynasties, apd th© same enjoyment in the contemplation of death. THE CIVILIZATION, 111 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. Tlie Literature is very extensive. The writings of Confucius (551^78 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 Beligions, Buddhism, Tao- ism or Rationalism, and Confu- cianism, exist. Such is the liberty of faith, that a man may believe 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. Taoism traditional i.um.m..-.-. vi- . wm , > ,, .-,. is a religion 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. 17J:). Sayings of Confucius.—" He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be comparefl to the north polar star which keeps its place, au J(#%NAXOS I ON ^ ^ s,PH.08..t .^C^fl. *oo...... .""^ •-'%, ■ > (^ CIMOCOS I I *a^^ HER'^cv.^iS- "^ -,«;i»» uebinThos I. ME.offP ^^^^.OS,. ^„,,3, COS A '^Malea Prom. pholegandros i. ''^os // „ ^ fiLA,^'*)- /!) ** CYTHERA ASTYPAL/tA I. \<^^ ^ » - ANAPHE I. 4te TEL08 iT^ / Criumetopo Prom. VCARPATHOS RUSSELL * eTRUTHfins, EMQ-ft 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 antiquit3^ Oin* study has been confined to the Orient. We now tui'n 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 ci\alization and 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 empii-es vast, and the masses passive. In Greece, on the contrary, we find the people astir, every power of the mind in f idl play, and little states aU aglow with patriotic ardor. Assy- rian art, Egyptian science, and the Phoenician alphabet w^ere absorbed, but only as seeds for a new and l)etter growth. Much of the life we live to-day, with its political, social, and Geographical Questions.— ^onrnX Greece. Name the principal Grecian states ; the principal Grecian colonies (map, p. 11) ; the chief islands in the jEge'an Sea. Locate the Peloponnesus; Arcadia. Where was Ionia? ^Eolis? Athens? Sparta? Thebes? Argos? Corinth? Delphi? Marathon? Plataea? The pass of Ther- mopylai? Uinm The Hellespont? The isle of Rhodes? Mount Parnassus? ValeofTempel MountOssa? Mount Pelion? Salamis Island? Syracuse? Magna Graicia? Chajrouea? 114 GREECE. intellectual advantages j its music, painting, oratory, and sculpture; its thirst 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 Greece 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 Remaifls of the Pelasgian 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 Olyimpiad 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 Ai-gonautic 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-d^ 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 Thermopylfe. 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 celebritj'^ 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 tlie 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 the beautiful princ(^s8 Medea, and returned to Thessalj' in triumph. (2) Jiercules was the son of Jupiter and Alcmena. Juno, Queen of Heaven, sent two serpents 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- tBikings, all of which he successfully accomplished. (3) Soon after the return of the 116 GREECE. Primitive Governments. — In legendary times, as we learn from tlie Iliad, each little city or district had its he- reditary king, supposed to be descended from the gods. He THE DEPAUTUUE OF ACHII.LES (FROM AN ANCIENT VASE). was advised by the Council of the Elders and the Assemhly, the latter being a mass meeting, where all the citizens gath- Argouautic expedition several of tlie Grecian waniors— Meleager, Theseus, and others— joined in an ^olian war, wliich the poets termed the " Hunt of the Calj'do nian Boar." ^neus, king of Calydon, father of Meleager, liaving neglected to pay homage to Diana, that goddess sent a wild boai', which was impervious to the spears of ordinary liuntsmen, to lay waste his country. All the princes of the age assembled to hunt him down, and he was at last killed by tlie spear of Meleager. (4) The story of the Siege of Troy is the subject of Homer's Iliad. Venus had promised Paris, sou of Priam, King of Troy, that if he would pronounce lier the most beautiful of the goddesses, he sliould have for wife tlie handsomest woman of his time, Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Paris granted the boon, and then going to Sparta carried off 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 Mge'im, and invested Troy. The siege lasted ten years. Hector, "of the beamy helm," son of Priam, was the bravest leader of the Trojans. Achilles, the first of Grecian warriors, slew him in single combat, and dragged his bodj' at his chariot- wheels in in- solent triumph around the walls of the city. But the " lion-hearted "Acliilles fell in turn, "for so the Fates liad decreed." Troy was finally taken by stratagem. The Greeks feigned to retire, leaving behind them as an offering 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 I'KOVV OF AN EAIU.V (ilU'-EK THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 117 ered about the king and the elders to diseuss political ^ affairs. The power of the kings gradually diminished until most of the cities became republics, 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 then* 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 Achgeans in the Peloponnesus, and occupied the chief cities, — Argos, Corinth, and Sparta. This was about the 11th century b. c. Grecian Colonies. — Hellas was greatly extended in con- sequence of these changes. A part of the Achaeans 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'- iuhabitauts fell into the suare, and eagerly dragged the unwieldy monster within tlieir walls. That night a body of men concealed in tlie horse crept out, threw open the gates, and admitted the Grecians, who had quietly returned. From the terrible mas- sacre which ensued, ^ne'as, a famous Trojan chief, escaped with a few followers. His subsequent adventures form the theme of Virgil's -Ene'id. Homer's Odyssey tells tlie wanderings of the crafty Ulysses, king of Ithaca, on his journey home from Troy, 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 afifairs of the city. Tlie Hellenes, unlike most other Aryans (except the Italians), from the very first gatliered in cities. 2 This event is known in Grecian history as "Tlie Return of the Heraclei'da;." 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. 3 Some authorities make the Ionic colonies the parents of Greece. 118 GREECE. tus. SimDarly, the ^olians had already founded the JSolic colonies. Finally the Dorians were tempted to cross the sea and estabhsh the Boric colonies, chief of which was Rhodes (map, p. 11). In subsequent times of strife many Greek 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 Gyrene, the capital of a prosperous state. Sicily, with her beautiful city of Syracuse, was Like a Grecian island. Southern Italy was long called Magna Grsecia (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 Massiha (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. HELLAS or GREECE. IN THE HEROIC AGE yColians I I lonians Achaeansl I Dorians '^11^%*^: T'asnarium P '- 1*^ HELLAS 01 (fKEECE. AFTER THE DORIC MIGRATION. I | /Eolians i I lonians I I Ar.hanans QBI DorianS DWELLS, DEL. RHOOES CABPATH06 I. £»nrin.nJi Ionian cities having tried to throw off the Persian yoke, the mother city sent them aid.i The Great King subdued the Ionic revolt, and then turned to punish the haughty f oreign- 1 During the brief campaign of the Atlienians 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 GREECE. [49S ^. 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 Greece was sent out under Mardonius, the son-in-law of Darius. The land troops were defeated in TJirace, 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 Mgenn, 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. ^o'ad to PLAIN OF MARATHON 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 theii' jave- 490 B. c] THE rOTilTinATi HISTORY 127 r*«P%8|iis»«l*e**. M\:, VIEW UK TllK I'LAINS OK MAUATHON. lins, he iinniediately 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 victorious Persian center. In a few moments the Asiatic host were \Wldly fleeing to their ships.^ 1 The Spartans had promiaoa aid, but from religious scruples the troops were unwilling to march until the full nioou, and so did not arrive till after the battle. A thousand men from Plat.ua— all the little city had-stood by the side of the Athenians on that memorable day. When the victory was gained, Eucles, the swiftest runner in Greece, ran witli the tidings, and, reaching Athens, had breath only to tell tlie news, when he fell dead in the street. Seven of the Persian vessels were captured by the pursuing Greeks. The brother of yEschylus, 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 r»y 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 lie ordered an instant marcli to the cit}'. When the Persian ships arrived, they found the heroes of Marathon drawn ujj on the beach, awaiting them. 128 GREECE. [490 B.C. The Effect ^ 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 uii scrupulous statesman ; the latter, a just man and an incorruptible patriot. Themistocles foresaw that the Persians would make another attempt to subdue Greece ; and that Athens, with its excellent harbor and commercial facilities, could be far stronger on sea 1 " So ended wliat may truly be called the birthday of Athenian erreatness. It stood alone in their annals. Other glories were won in alter times, but none ap- proached the glory of Marathon. It was not merely the ensuing generation that felt the effects of that woudeiful deliverance. It was not merely Themistocles whom the marble trophy 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 Salamls, and in the Dionysiac theater, and recorded in his epitaph only the one deed of his earl.v days,— that he had repulsed the 'long-haired Medes at Marathon.' It was not merely the combatants in the battle who 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 Victoiy, now sup- posed to have taken up her abode forever 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 mj'sterious 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 Athenians who had fallen on the field received the honor— tinique in Athenian historj'- 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, ana 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. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 129 than on land. He therefore urged the building of a fleet. Ai-istides, 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 punisli 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 hundred 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) hearing 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, wliom he did not know, asked him to wi-ite 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 injuied in 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 -rhite marble, in- specting the army as it passed. It consisted of forty-six different nations, each armed and dre.s.scd after its own manner, while' ships manned by Plu^nicians covered the sea. Xerxes is said to have burst into tears at the thought tliat in a few years not one of all that immense throng would be alive. 130 GREECE. [480 B. C. for battle, — the Spartans combing their long hair, according to custom, — and then, scorning to await the attack, dashed VrCIT^ITY OO; /^ ir» I C v: ^^^^■"^'>iV ON; PARKASSU, ' <^V^ I :» . './ -^ „^^ PASS OF THERMOPYL/E. down the defile to meet the on-coming enemy. All per- ished, fighting to the last.i 1 "Xerxes could not believe Demaratiis, wlio assured him tliat 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 their 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 iipon a rock. At lengtli, as the day wore on, the Medians and Cissians, spent with their efforts and greatly tliinned in tlieir 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 bauds of the several cities that made up the Grecian army, except the Phociaus, 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 LEOMDAS AT THE I'ASii OF Til KUMCl'VLiK. 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.C. a marble lion was erected to Leonidas, and a piUar to the three liundred bore this inscription, wiitten by Simonides (p. 164) :— " Go, stranger, and to Laceda'mon (ell Tliat 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 liundred 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 nmltitude of the vessels caused the ruin of the Persian fleet : for while some were 1 "All the Thessaliaua, Locrians, and Bneotians, except the cities of Thespiae and Plataia, sent earth and water to the I'ersian king at the first call to submit, althongh tliese tokens of subjection were attended by the curses of the rest of the Greeks, and the vow tliat a tithe of their estates should be devoted to the city of Delphi. Yet of the Greeks who did not favor I'ersia, some were willing to assist only on condition of being appointed to conduct and command the whole ; others, if their country could be the lirst 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 witli this engagement, illustrates the jealousj' of the Grecian generals. Thej^ were met to decide upon the prize tor 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 Salamia 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." Ho had crossed from ^gina in an open boat to inform his countrymen thJit they were snrroiinileci by the enemy. 480 b. C] THK POLITICAL HISTORY. 133 trying to escape, and some to come to tlic front, the Greeks, amid the confusion plying every weapon, sunk two hundred vessels, and put the rest to fliglit. 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 luider Mardonius to continue the war. Battle of Ilimera. — 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, saihng 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 oligarchy of Carthage might have been as fatal to the liberties of Europe as the despotism of Persia. Battle of Flatcea (479 b. c). — Mardonius wintered in Thessaly, and the next summer invaded Attica. The half- rebuilt houses of Athens were again leveled to the gi-ound. 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, w^ant of water compelled Pausanias to move his camp. While en routej Mardonius attacked his scattered forces. The omens were unfavorable, and the Grecian leader dare not give the signal to engage. The Spartans protected themselves with their shields as best they could against the shoW' er of aiTows. Many Greeks were smitten, and fell, lamenting, not that they must fall, but that they could not strike a blow for their country. In his distress, Pausanias Ufted up his streaming eyes toward the temple of Hera, beseeching the goddess, that, 1 This was an ancestor of the Haiuilcar of Punic fame (p. 230). 134 GREECE. [479 b. a 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, Platsea, 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 an B. c), was formed to keep the Persians out of the Mgesm. 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 478 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY 13D of Paiisanias having been discovered, he was ostracized. Aristides, seeing the drift of affairs, had ch^inged his views, and was ah'eady the popuhir commander of the fleet. T' VICINITYOF • ATHENS 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 Cimon. The heroes of the Persian invasions had passed from the stage, and new actor^ now appeared. 1 Tlie thonjriitfnl student of history cannot btit pause here to consider the fate of these three great contonipoi-ary men,— Paiisanias, Thoniistocles, and Aristides. Pausanias fled to tlio temple of Minerva. The Spartans, not darinc: to violate this sauctuaiy, blocked the door (tlie traitor's motlier laying the llrst stone), tore off the roof, guarded everj' avenue, and left tlie wretch to die of cold and hungei'. Themis- tocles vp^as 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 lumors. The treasurer of the league, he liad yet been so hoiKJst that traditiou says he did not leave enough mouej' to meet his funeral expenses. The grateful republic paid these rites, finished the education of his sou, 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 Enrymedon (466 b. c). As the head of the nobles, he was natui'ally 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, 2 who was the leader of the democracy, now 1 Ciraou was the richest man in Athens. He kept open table for the public. A body of servants laden witli cloaks followed him throngh the streets, and gave a garment to any needj' person whom iie 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 exi^ense. 2 " To all students of Grecian literature, Pericles must always appear as tlie 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 than, on arriving at his own door, to turn to his torch-bearer with an order to light his revilerhome. 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. 1' ""ery time that he spoke he offered up a prayer to Heaven that no word might escape hiH Jips which he should wish unsaid. But when he did apeak 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, adroitness, and wisdom, shaped the policy of the state. Opposing foreign conquest, he sought home development. He was bent on keeping Athens all-powerful in Greece, 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 di-amas 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 encom-aged 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 deinoci acy ' was struck down before it. It could be compared to nothing short of the thunders and lightnings of that Olympian Jove whom in majesty and dignity he resembled. It left the inesistible impression that he was always in the riglit. ' He not oulj' throws me in tlie wrestle,' said one of his rivals, ' but when 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 tlie condensed and vivid rhetorical images of Pericles were handed down from age to age as specimens of tliat eloquence which had lield Athens and Greece in awe. 'The lowering of the storm of war' from Peloponnesus— 'tlie spring taken out of the year' in the loss of the flower of Athenian jouths— the comparison of Greece to * a chariot drawn by two horses '—of ^T^gina to ' the eyesore of the Piraeus'— of Athens to 'the school of Greece '-were traditionary phrases wliich later writers preserved, and which Thucydides either introduced or imitated in the •Funeral Oration' which he has put in his mouth." 138 GREECE. [455 B. c. magnificent structures that it was called '^the city of the gods." The Long Walls were built two hundi-ed yards apart, and extended over four miles from Athens to Piraeus — ^its harbor. Thus the capital was connected with the sea, and, while the Athenians held the command of the ocean, theu" ships could bring them supplies, even when the city should be suiTounded 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] T1[E POLITKJAli UlSToliV. 13d ^giiia, aiul on tlie coast of Peloponnesus. Tlie Corinthians, knowing that the Athenian troo})s were occnpied so far from home, invaded Megara, tlien in aUiance with Athens, Init the " boys and okl men " of Atliens salUed out and routed tliem. So completely was the tide turned, that (450 b. c.) Artaxerxes T. 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 within tln*ee davs' march of its coast. PELOPONNESIAN WAR. (431-404 B. c.) Causes of the War. — The meddling 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 Corey ra ; Sparta, Corinth. Nearly all Greece took sides in the dispute, according to race or political sympathy ; the real question at issue being the broad one, whether the ruHng power in HeUas 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 within the same city, contending for the supremacy. Allies of Athens. All the islands of the iEgean (except Melos and Thera), Corcyra, Zacynthos, ( hios, Lesbos, and Samos ; the nu- meroiis Greek colonies on the coast of Asia Minor, Tlirace, and Macedon ; Naupactus, Platsea, and a part of Acar- uania. Allies of Sparta. All the states of the Peloponnesus (except Argos and Achaia, whicli ri-- mained neutral) ; Locris, Phocis, ami Megara; Ambracia, Anactoriuiu, and the island of Leucas; and the stronK Boeotian League, of which Thebes was the head. 140 GREECE. [431b. C. Conduct of the War. — The Spartan plan was to invade Attica, destroy tlie crops, and persuade the Athenian aUies to desert her. As Sparta was strong on hind, 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 " Wlien, at the opening of the Peloponneaian war, the long enjoyment of every comfort which peace and civilization could bring was interrupted hy hostile invasion ; when the whole population of Attica was crowded within the city of Athens ; when, to the intlamniahle materials which the populace of a Grecian town would always afford, were added the discontented land-owners and peasants from the country, who were obliged to exchange the olive glades of Colonus, the thymy slopes of Hymettus, and the oak forests of Acharnae, for the black shade of the Pelasgicum and the stifling huts along the dusty plain between the Long Walls ; when without were seen the Are 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. 429 B. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 141 Demagogues now arose, chief among whom was Cleon^ a cruel, ari'ogant 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 which 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 constiiicted an inclined plane of earth and stone, up which his men (^ould advance to hurl theii- weapons against the city. This work cost seventy days' labor of the whole army, but the garrison undermined the mound and destroyed it entii-ely. Next the Spartans built around the Aiu\ yet the man who thus swayed the minds of his fellow-citizens was the reverse of a demagogue. XTnlike his aristocratic rival, Cinion, he never won their favor by indiscriminate bounty. Unlike his democratic successor, Cleon, he never infiuencet. their passions bj' 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 this 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 the young man, when it became his duty to place a garland on the dead body, his grief became 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 sorrow 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 passive 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 Ba'otia and Samos, and on the shores of Peloponnesus, bore witness to his success during his forty-years' career, the dying man .suddenlj'^ broke in with the emphatic words, ' That of which \ 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 tlie space between them so as to give shelter to the soldiers on guard. For two long years the Plata^ans 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 wall, 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 little Platgea 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 owm 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 HeUas 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 u. c, and again rebuilt 338 b. c. BO H— 9 144 GREECE. [415 B.C. 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 Gylippns, a famous Spartan general, came to the help of Syracuse. 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 sush 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 sliips of Athens were taken by Lysander, the Spartan, at ^gospotanii 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 ; 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-sever 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 literature and art. The Thirty Tyrants. — A Spartan garrison was now placed on the Acropolis at Athens, and an oUgarchy of thirty persons established. A reign of terror followed. The " Thiity 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 feU, 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 tliis time was full of soldiers of fortune,— men who made war a trade, and served anybody wlio was able to pay them. 146 GREECE. [401 B.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. Lacedaemon Rule (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 unendm*able. In every town Sparta sought to estabhsh an oligarchy of ten citizens favorable to herself, and a harmost, or governor. Wherever popular Uberty 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 Platipa ! 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 overtlu-own, 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 Lenctra (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 invincibility was broken. The stream of Persian gold now tui*ned into Thebes. The tyrannical Spartan Jiarmosfs were expelled from all the cities. To curb the power of Sparta, the inde- pendence of Messenia, after three centuries of slavery, was reestablished (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 named from the Spartan envoy who managed it. This peace was a monrnful incident in Grecian liistory. 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 Laconiaus 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, flf tj' ranks deep. At his side always fought liis intimate friend Pelopidas, wlio commanded the Sacred Band. This consisted of three hundred brothers-inarms,— 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 ! " Wliile the by- standers after the battle were congratulating him over his victorj^ he replied tliat his greatest pleasure was in thinking how it wouhl 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 " tlie place did not confer dignity on tlie 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. 148 GREECE. [362 b. c. selfishly to rule it. Athens at first aided him, aud then, jealous of his success, sided with Lacedt^mon. At Manfinea (362 B. c), in Ai'cadia, Epaminondas fought his last battle, and died at the moment of victory.^ As he alone had made Thebes great, she di-opped at once to her former level. Three states in succession — Athens, Sparta, and Thebes — had risen to take the lead in Greece. Each had failed. Hellas now lay a mass of quarreling, struggling states. MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. Rise of Macedonia. — The Macedonians were aUied to the Greeks, and their kings took part in the Ol^Tupian games. They were, however, a very different people. In- stead of living in a nniltitude of free cities, as in Greece, they dwelt in the country, and were aU governed by one king. The polite and refined Athenian looked upon the coarse Macedonian as almost a barbarian. But about the time of the f aU 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 energj^ of his strong, wily nature. He extended his kingdom, and made it a compact empii-e. He thoroughly organized his army, and formed the famous 1 He was pierced with a jaTelin, and to extract the weapon would cause his death by bleeding. Being carried out of the battle, like a true soldier he asked tirst about his shield, 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 HISTOItY 149 I'OlillCAl 1 Ol- I'i 111,11' OF MACfeDON. Ma(;eclonian phalanx,^ that, for two centuries after, decided tlie day (ju every field on which it appeared. He. craftily mixed in Grecian affaii-s, and took such an active part in tlie Sacred War 2 (355-34G 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 " Pliihppics" (p. 202) at last aroused his apathetic countrj^men to a sense of their danger. The Second Sacred War, declared by the Amphictyons against the Locrians for alleged sacri- lege, having been intrusted to Philip, that monarch marched through Ther- mopylae, and his designs against the liberties of Gfeece became but too evident. Thebes and Athens now took the field. But at CJicerone'a (338 B. c.) the Macedonian phalanx annihilated theii* 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 tlie front rank, composed of the strongest and most experienced soldiers, was protected by a hiistling mass of five rows of lance-points, tlieir own extending fifteen feet before them, and the rest twelve, nine, six, and three feet respectively. Fonned in a solid mass, tisually six- teen ranks deep, shield touching shield, and marching with the precision of a ma- chine, the phalanx charge was irresistible. The .Spartans, canying 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 Delplii, and finally, to furnish means for prolonging the struggle, sdld the riches accumulated from the pious offerings of the men of a better daj'. Tlie Grecians were first shocked and then demoralized by this impious act. Tlie holiest objects circulated among the people, and were put to conim in heaven, as they walk to and fro ! Let him hurl Tue anon into Tartarus— on— To tlie blackest degiee, . . . But he cannot join death to a fate meant for me." Mrs. Browning's Translation. THE CIVILIZATION. 167 Sophocles (495^06 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 gi*eat 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 ^schylus, we have only seven tragedies remaining, though lie is said to have composed over one hundred. "CEdipus the King" was selected by Aristotle as the masterpiece of tragedy. (Edipus, so runs the plot, was son of Laius, king of Thebes. An oracle 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 groAvs up unconscious of his story, and journeys to Thebes. Ou the way he meets an old man, whose chariot jostles him. A quarrel ensues, and he slays the gray -haired stranger. Arrived at Thebes, he finds the whole city in commotion. A friglitful monster, called the Sphinx, has propounded a riddle which no one can solve, and every failure costs a life. So terrible is tlie 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, Lis 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 lier dress, thrusts its sharj) point into both his eyes, and goes out to roam the earth. In "CEdipus 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 bodj' will decide success. Everymeans is used to obtain it, but the gods have willed that his sons shall slay each other. CEdipus, always "driven by fate," follows tlie Queen of Night, upon whose borders he has trespassed. The last moment comes ; a sound of subterranean thunder is heard ; Ills 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. H5), he closed his long, prosperous, luxurious life. " We can imagine Sophocles in his old age recounting the historic names and scenes with which he had been so fnmiliar; how he had listened to the thunder of 'Olympian Pcncles ; ' liow he had been startled by the chorus of Furies in the play of .Eschylus ; how lie had talked with the garrulous and open-hearted Herodotus; how he liad followed Anaxagoras, the great skeptic, in the cool of the day among a throng of his disciples ; how lie liad walked with Phidias and supped with Aspasia."— CoWin«. 168 GREECE. The following is from a famous chorus in " (Edipus at Colonus," describing the beauties of the poet's home :— " Here ever and aye, througli tlie greenest vale, Gush the wailing notes of the nightingale. From her home where the 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 are dim in the shade. And the storms of the winter hare 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 tlieir sweet urns, day by day ; The river knows no dearth ; Adown the vale the lapsing waters glide, And the pure rain of that pelucid tide Calls the rife beauty from the heart of earth." Biiliver'8 Translation. Euripides ^ (480-406 B. c), the " Scenic Philosopher," was born in Salamis on the day of the great sea-fight.2 Twenty-five years after- ward —the year after ^schyhis died — his first trilogy was put upon the stage. Athens had changed in the half-century since the poet of Eleusis came before the pubhc. A new element was steadily gaining ground. Doubts, reasonings, and disbehef s in the marvel- ous stories told of the gods were creeping into society. Schools of rhetoric and philosophy were springing up, and already " to 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 Fuiies had been di'ead 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 light in a curious manner. At Ciurob, in the Egyptian Fayoom, Prof. Petrie thought he detected writing on some of the papyrus scraps that were stuck together to form tlie papier-mache mummy-cases. Among these fragments, after they had been care- fully separated, clean.sed, and deciphered, were found portions of Plato's Phaedo, and tliree pages of Antiope. The writing belongs to a period almost contemporary with Plato and Euripides themselves. Thus, in some of these Egyptian miimmy-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 lo.st plays of iEschylus 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. .Eschylus, in the heroic vigor of his life, fought there; Euripides, whose parents had fled from Athens on the approach of the Persians, was bom near the scene, probably on the battle-day; and Sopliocles, a beautiful boy of fifteen, danced to the choral song of Simonides, celeb? nti fig 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 ht'roines of Sophocles, he modeled his characters after real men and women, endowing them with human passions and alfections.i Of his eighty or ninety plays, seventeen remain. " Mede'a" is his most celebrated tragedy. A Colcliiau princess skilled in sorcerj' becomes the wife of Jason, the hero of the Golden Fleece. Being afterward thrust aside for a new love, she finds her revenge by sending the bride an enchanted robe and crown, in whicli she is no sooner clothed than they burst into flame and con sunie her. To complete her vengeance, Medea murders lier two young sons,— so deeply wronged by tlieir father, so tenderly loved by herself,— and then, after hovering over the palace long enough to mock and jcvv at the anguish of the frantic Jason, she is whirled away with the dead botlies of her children in a dragon-borne car, the chariot ol her graudsire, the sun. Fkom 'Mevea.— (Medea to her sons.) " Wliy gaze you at me with your eyes, my children ? W^hy smile your last sweet smile ? Ah me ! ah me ! What shall I do ? My heart dissolves within me. Friends, when I see the glad eyes of my sons ! Yet whence this weakness ? Do I wish to reap The scorn that springs from enemies uxipunished ? Die the}' must ; this 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 faces of my sons ! O tender touch and sweet breath of my boys ! " Syinonds's Traiulation. Comedy. — When Anstophanes appeared with the first of his shai-p satires, Euripides had been for a quarter of a century before the public, and the Pelopomiesian war was near at hand. The new poet whose genius was so full of mockery and mirth was a rich, aristocratic Athenian, the natm-al 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 plaj'S, " 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 j-ou, and not to be taught by you." Tradition relates that he was torn to pieces by dogs, set up«m him by two lival 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 bad 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 affah'S 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 tlie Tanner into shoe leather." 2 "The Clouds" ridiculed the new-school philosophers; ^ 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.) Stk. Who hangs dangling in yonder basket? STUD. HIMSELF. STU. And who's Himself? Stud. Wliy, Socrates. Str. Ho, Socrates! Sweet, darling Socrates ! SOC. Why callest thou me, poor creature of a day 1 STR. First tell me, pray, what are you doing up there 1 SOC. I walk in aii- and contemplate the sun ! STR. Oh, that 's the way that you despise the gods— You get so near them on your perch there— eh ] SOC. I never co.uld have found out things 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 Comechj, in which individuals were satirized, died with Aristophanes; and to it succeeded the New Comedy, por- traying general types of human nature, and dealing with domes- tic life and manners. Menandm- {M2r-2Ql 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 when Aristophanes dragged them out as absurd cowards, or blustering braggarts, or as " Baking peck-loaves and frying stacks of pancakes." 2 The masks of the actors in Greek comedy were made to caricature the features of tlie 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 heartily enjoyed ; and that he even mounted on a bench, that every one might see the admirable 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, aud O ISIenander ! Speak and say Which copied whicli ? Or Nature, or the play 1 " Of his works onlj-- snatches remain, many of which were houseliohl proverbs among tlie Greeks aud Romans. Such were: " He is well cleansed that liath his con- science clean," "The workman is greater than his work," and the memorable one quoted by St. Paul, " Evil communications corrupt good manners." Mkf0 THE GREAT IIISTOIUANS OK 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 di\dded 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 Lconidas of Tarentum, a favorite writer of epigrams, who lived two hundred years after H^-rodotus, thus accounted for their names: — " The Muses nine came one daj' to Herodotus and dined. And in return, their host to pa^', 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 simpHcity of a child." Thuci/dides is said to have been won to his vocation by hearing the history of Herodotus read at Olympia, which charmed him to tears. Rich, noble, and educated, he was in the prime of his man- hood, when, at tlie 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 spirited ; as an historian he is accm*ate, 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." XenopJioii's historical fame rests mostly on his Anabasis, ^ which relates the expedition of Cyi'us and the Retreat of the Ten Thou- sand. He was one of the generals who conducted this memorable retreat, in wliich he displayed great fii'mness, coui*age, and military skill. A few years later the Athenians formed their alhance 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 hfe. Next to the Anabasis ranks his Memorabilia (memoirs) of Socrates,^ his fi'iend and teacher. Xenophon was said by the ancients to be "the iu'st 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. Xenophon 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 the sea to Babylon. A more ap- propriate name would 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 hoy, once met Socrates in a lane. The philosopher, harriiifr the way with his cane, demanded, " Where is food sold?" Xenophon having replied, Socrates asked, "And where are men made good and noble?" The lad hesitated, whereupon Socrates answered himself by saying, " Follow me, and learn." Xenophon obeyed, and was henceforth his devoted disciple. THE CIVILIZATION. 173 DEM0STHENK8. though he spoke only upon great occasions, Isoc'rates, and ^s'- chiues 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 liis 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; but he was resolved to be an orator, and nothing daunted him. He used every means to overcome his natural defects, i 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 ; 'Sve 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, Chile, Perian'der, Pit'tacus, Solon, Bias, and Tha'les, lived about 600 B. c.^ They were celebrated for their moral, social, and political wisdom. 1 That he might study without liindrauce, ho .shut himself up for months in a room under {ground, aud, it is said, copied the History of Thucydides eight times, that lie might bo 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 the waves; while in the privacj' of his own room, before a full-length mirror, he disciplined his awkward gestures till he had schooled them into giace aud 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. yE.schines, a fellow-orator, whom ho hud accused of favoring Philip, opposed the measure. The discussion lasted six years. When the two finally appeared •before a va^t and excited assembly for the closing argument, the impetuous eloquence of Demostlienes 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 ^sop, who, though born a slave, gained liis fieedom 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. Thales 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, who 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 ; 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). Soc' 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 l)is last days in prison amused liimself hy versifying them. 1 The Greeks wei'e especially angry because Auaxagoras 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 them who advanced the idea of One Supreme Deity. THE CIVILIZATION. 175 a self -taught philosopher, who believed that he had a special mis- siou from the gods, and was attended by a '^ divine voice " which counseled and directed him. The questions he discussed pertained to hfe 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 (-ith 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 iliiuk is true is true; what seems right is right," colored state policy and individual action in the Peloponnesiau wai-, and was respon- sible for much of its cruelty and baseness. The skeptic Pyrrho used to sa}' : " It may be so, perhaps ; I assert nothing, not even that I assert." Socrates taught his pupils by a series of logical questions which stimulated thought, cleared i»erception, 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, wlio were plying their trades about him ; and they shouted Willi 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 an(^ awe- struck . . . —the head swam— the heart leaped at the sound— tears rushed from their eyes, and they felt that, unless they tore themselves awaj' 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 B. G. H.— 11. 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 hke 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, ivalkers). 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 inflnite, immaterial God, doubted the existence of a future life. suppliod abundaut nicknames, suggested by some personal peculiarities or cir- cumstance. Thus this philosopher, whose real name was Aris'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 niotlier's from Solon; but his ad- mirers made him a son of the god Apollo, and told how in his 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 Epicure'ans were the followers of Epicurus (340-270), who tiiught tliat 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 living. — 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.i 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 all 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 gi'eat 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 Romans" still dehghts 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 foUies 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 noted for his caustic -wit and rude manners. Tradition says that Alex- ander the Great once visited him as he was seated in liis tub, basking in the sun. " I am Alexander," .''aid the monarch, a.stonished at the iudifforence witli which he was received. "And I am Diogenes," returned the cynic. " Have you no favor to ask of mef" inquired the king. " Yes," growled Diogenes, " to get out of my sunlight." 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 T trample (tn 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, which was sold after his death. Large 178 GREECE. the tragic poets Athens not only abounded in book-stalls, but a place in 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 (sti/lus), 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 A thenian 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, — usually A GREEK TABLET. collections of books have beeu fomid in the remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Some of these volumes, although nearly reduceil 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 scaled by tying a string aiound 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 cut- ward ; sometimes several scrolls were put together in a cylindrical box with a cover. The reader unrolled the scioll as lie 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 list of citizens. Two years were now given to pubhc 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 little 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 word " school" is derived from the Greek word for leisure. The education of the Greeks was obtained not so mucli from books as from tlie philosopliical lec- tures, the public assembly, the theater, aud the law courts, wliere much of their time was spent (p. 159). 2 Tlie public mess was so compulsor}', that when, on his return from vanquishing tlie Atlieuians, King Agis ventured to send for his commons, that he might take his first meal at home with his wife, he was refused. The princijial dish at the mess- table was a black brotli, made from a traditional recipe. WMne mixed with water was drunk, but toasts were never given, for the Spartans thought it a sin to use two words when one would do. Intoxication and the S3'mposium (p. 199) were forbidden by law. Fat men were regaided 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 home 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 adi'oitness was applauded; if he were caught in the act, he was severely flogged; but though he were whipped to death, he must neither wince nor groan.i EAST ENU UF TUli rAKTllENON (AS KESTOKEU bV FEUGUtSON). 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). w Am . +v.a The Doric 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 Acropolis, was sacred to Pallas desperate fox reached bis heart, and he dropped dead-but a beio . THE CIVILIZATION. 181 Athena, the patron goddess of Attica. It was built throughout of fine marble from the quarry of Mount l*entelicus, near Athens, its glistening 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 vii'gin goddess, within the temple, was forty feet high ; her face, neck, arms, hands, and feet were ivory; 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 io have seen the Olympian statue of Zeus, by Phidias, was considered a calamity. '^ The most celebrated loyiic temple was that of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus, which was three times destroyed by fii'e, 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 Elgin when he was Britisli 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 Tlie Greeks accused Phidias of liaving purloined some of the gold provided him for 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 tlie 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 Tlie 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 Athena in the Parthenon, the face, feet, and body were of ivory; the eyes were brilliant Jewels, and the hair and beard pure gold. Tlie drapery was beaten gold, enameled with tlowers. One 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 tlie Greeks used to say, " If the god shouhl rise, he would burst open the roof." The effect of its size, as Phidias had calculated, was to impress the beliolder with the pent-up majestj-- of the greatest of gods. A copy (tf the head of this statue is in the Vatican. Tlie statue itself, removed by Tlieodosius I. to Constantinople, was lost in the disastrous th-e (A. D. -IT.j) which destroyed the Library in tliat city. At the same time perished tlie Venus of C'liidus, by Praxiteles (p. 183), which the an- cients ranked next to the Pliidiau Zeus and Athena. •* Tlie 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 witli its beauty that he executed a capital in imitation of it.— Wrftfropp's Handbook o/ Architecture. 182 GREECE. The Propyla?a, 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. Coiiiithian. THREE ORDERS OK GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. (1, shaft; 2, capital; 3, architrave; 4, frieze; 5, cornice. TTie entire part above the capital is the entablature. At the bottom of tJce shaft is the base, tohich rests npvn the pedestal.) The Athenian Agora (market place), the fashionable morning resort, was surrounded with porticoes, one of which was decorated with paintings of glorious Grecian achievements. Within the inclosure were grouped temples, altars, and statues. Not one ancient Greek edifice remains in a perfect state. Paintings were usually on wood j wall-j)ainting was a separate and inferior art. The most noted painters were Apollodorus of Athens, sometimes called the Greek Rembrandt ; Zeiixis and Par- rhasius, who contended for the prize— Parrhasius producing a picture representing a curtain, which liis 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; Niciaft, who, liaving 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-jjainting, 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 Piddias, 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 Lysippiis, a worker in bronze, and the master of portraiture. ^ 3. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. Religion and Mythology.— Nothing marks more strongly the poetic iuiagiiiatioii of the Greeks than the character of their rehgious worship. They learned their creed in a poem, and told it in marble scnlpture. 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 Inuiiau passions and instincts, and bound by domestic relations. Sncli deities ai)pealed to the hearts of their worshipers, and the Greeks loved their favorite gods with the same fervor bestowed upon tlieir earthly friends. On the summit of Mount Olympus, in Thessaly, beyond impenetrable mists, according to their mythology, the twelve 2 great gods lield council. 1 Tlie luasterpieces of Praxiteles were an nudraped Venus sold to tlie people of Ciiulus, and a satjT or faun, of which the best antique cop3' is preserved m the Capitoliiie Miiseuni, Rome. Tliis statue suggested Hawthorne's chainiing romance, Tlie Maible Kaiin. The celebrated Niobe (Jroiip in the Uflizi Gallery, Florence, is the work of either Praxiteles or Scojjas. The latter was one of the artists employed on the Mausolemn at llalicarnassus (Appendix). Lysippus and A pelles were favorites of Alexander the Great, who would allow only them to carve or paint his image. 2 They were called the Twelve Gods, but the lists vary, increasing the actual number. Roman mythology was founded on Greek, and, as the Latin names are now in general use, they have been interpolated to assist the pupil's association. 184 GREECE. Zeus (Jove or Jnpiter) 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 witli great height. His two brothers, Poseidon (Neptuue) and Hades (Pluto) held sway respectively over tlie sea and the deptlis under ground. As god of the sea, Poseidon had tlie dolphin for his sj'uibol ; 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 tlio source of much discord in celestial circles. The stars were her ej'es. Her symbols were the cuckoo and the peacock. Denieter (Ceres) was the bestower of bountiful harvests. Her worship was con- nected with the peculiarly sacred Eleusinian mysteries, whose secret rites have never been di.sclosed. Some tliink 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, tlie pomegranate, and a car drawn bj^ 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 famil}^ slaves joined in this domestic worship, and Hestia's altar was an asylum whither tliey might flee to escape punish- ment, aud where the stranger, even an enemy, could find protection. She was the personification of purity, and her symbol was an altar-flame. Hephcestns (Vulcan) was the god of volcanic fires and skilled metal- work. Being lame and deformed, liis parents, Zeus and Hera, threw him out of 01ymi)us, but his genius finally brouglit about a reconciliation. Mount Etna was his forge, wlience Prometheus stole tlie sacred fire to give to man. His brotlier, Ares (Mars) was god of war. His symbols were the dog aud tlie 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 brouglit foith 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 s.vmbol Avas 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. Ho led the Muses, and In this character his symbol Avas a lyre ; as god of the fierce rays of the sun, which was his chariot, his symbol was a bow with ariows. Artemis (Diana), twin-sister to Apollo, was goddess of the chase, and protector of the water-nymphs. 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) was the god of cunning and eloquence. In tlie 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 lieroes 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 jiillar, surmounted by a human head (p. 143). THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 185 Dionysus (Bapclius), god of wiiio, witli lii8 wife Ariadiif, ruled the fruit season. Jlebe was a cup-beaier iu Olj'iiipn.s. There was a host of luiuor deities and personifications, often appearing in a group of three, sucli as the Three (J races,— beautiful 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 Uesperides, — daughters of Atlas (upon whose shoulders the sky rested), in whose western garden golden apples grew ; the Three Harpies,— mischievous meddlers, who jiersonated 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 histoiy; Melpomene, tragedy ; Thalia, comedy ; Calliope, epic poetry; Urania, astronomy ; Euterpe, music ; Polyhymnia, song and oratory; Erato, love-songs; and Terpsichore, dancing. FKESENTl.NG OFFERINGS AT I ilE TEMl'LE OF DELFHl. 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 Plataea, a great army was sometimes kept waiting for days till success should be assured through a sacrificial calf or chicken. Oracles. — The temples of Zvus at Ihxhnui (Epirus), and of Apollo at Delphi (Phocis), were the oldest and most venerated prophetic shrines. At Dodoua three priestesses presided, to whom the gods spoke in the 18G GREECE. rustling leaves of a sacred oak, and 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, and were supported by the temple revenues. Grecian religion included in its observances nearly the whole range of social pleasures. Worship 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. ReJigioas Games and Festivals. — The OJyntj)lan Gaines were held once in four years in honor of Zeus, at Olymjiia. 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 suppressed all quarrels imtil 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 worship. The Pytliian Games, sacred to Apollo, occurred near Delj>hi, in the third year of each Olympiad, and in national dignity ranked next to the Olympic. The prize-wreath was laurel. The Nemean 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 1 A volcanic site, having a fissure throngli wlncli gas escaped, was usually •elected. The Delphian priestess, having spent three days in fasting and bathing, seated lierself 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, tlirough their secret agents, kept well posted on all matters likely to be urged, and when tlieir knowledge failed, as in predi<'tions for the future, made the responses so ambiguous or unintelligible 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 liaving no intellectual competition. Otherwise, Sparta had her own festivals, from which strangers were excluded. The Pavathence'al which took place once in four years at Athens, in honor of the i atron goddess, consisted of similar exercises, ternn- 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 jilate ; 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 sliip resting on wheels, having for a sail a richly embroidered mantle or })cplof<, 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 Propyla?a, 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-oti'erings and the ringing paeans of praise, the votive gifts were placed in the sanctuary of the goddess. Tlie Feast of Dionysus 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 jdays were first submitted — were brought out in the Dionysiac Theater 2 at Athens, in competition for prizes. 1 The Pauatheiiaic Proccssiou formed the subject of tlie sculpture on the frieze around the Parthenon celhi, in which stood the goddess sculpture*! by Phidias. Most of this frieze, much mutilated, is with the 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 aini-chairs, was occupied by the priests, the judges, and the archous, each chair being engraved with tlie 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 witli the actors. The stage itself extejided the whole widtli of tlie theater, but was quite narrow, excejit at the center, where the representation took place. It was supported bj' a white marble wall, handsomely carved. There was a variety of machinery for change of scenes and for producing startling effects, sucli as the rolling of thunder, the descent of gods from heaven, the rising of ghosts and demons from below, etc. The theater 188 GREECE. Each tribe fnraishecl 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 aiul eyes. As their stilts and stage-attire impeded any free movements, their acting con- sisted of little moi'e 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 sluit 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 differeui 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-driven 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 heavily lined 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 covert innuendo."— PTitfip Smith. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 189 and he might esteem himself happy if he escaped from the boards without an actual beating. The favorite, whether on the stage or as a spectator, was as enthusiastically applauded. l In comedies, tumult was invited, and the })eople were urged to shout and laugh, the comic poet sometimes throwing nuts and tigs to them, that their scrambling and screaming might add to the evidences of a complete success. GKECIAX FEMALE HEADS. Marriage. — Athenians could legally marry only among themselves. The cereniony did not require a priestly official, but was preceded by offerings to Zeus, Hera, Artemis, and other gods who presided over marriage.'-^ 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 nonier'3 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 aflfected 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 GREFCE. 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, by 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 widow to find herself bec[ueathed 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. l As soon as a Greek died, an obolus was inserted in his mouth to pay Ids 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 offered; then, after all was consumed, the fire was extinguished witii 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. Tlie burial was followed by a feast, which was considered as given by the deceased (compare p. 42). Sacrifices of milk, honey, wine, olives, anersoii was supposed to be con- scious of all these attentions, and to bo 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. GKFX'IAN WAltKIOUS AND 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 Sucli a death was supposed to be a direct punishment from the gods for some great offense or hidden depravity. B O H-l« 192 GREECE. down to the ankle ; and a shield i 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 fiat-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. 2 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 5th 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. — A Day in S^mrta. — 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 soiuetimes richly decorated with emblems and inscriptions. Thus ^schylus, in The Seven Chiefs against Thehes, describes one warrior's shield as bearing a flaming torch, with the motto, " I will burn the city ; " 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 tlie platanista', — 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; l 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 TliermopylsB, 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 Plat^ea, it counted him nothing. She educates her daughters to the same unflinching defiance of womanly tenderness. They are trained in the palsestra 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. The 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 simple woolen shift, consisting of two short pieces of cloth, sewed or clasped 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 contiued 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 Propylsea) ; 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 Pir^ean 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,'^ with its stone bema, from which Demosthenes sixty or more years ago essayed his first speech amid hisses and laughter; the Areopagus, where from time immemorial the learned court of archons 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 Pireean 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 Proniachus, 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. The remains of the Ereehtheion, a beautiful and peculiar temple sacred to two deities, stood near the Parthenon. It had been burned during the invasion of Xerxes, but was in process of restoration wlien the Peloponnesian war broke out. Part of it was dedicated to Athena Polias, whose olive-wood statue within its Avails 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 ou the Pnyx. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 195 its marble. Tlirough tlio city, to tho soutlieast, flows the river Ilissus, sacred to the Muses. As we look about us, we are struck by the ab- sence of spires 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 ATTENDANT. A Greek Home. — The Athenian gentleman usually arises at dawn, and after a slight repast of bread and wine goes out with his slaves l for a walk or ride, previous to his customary daily lounge in the market place. While he is absent, if w^e 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 gentloTiian in Alliens went out unless lie was accompanied by his servants. To be unattended b.v at least one slave was a sip^n of extreme indifjence, and no more to be thought of than to be seen without a cane. As to the latter, " a gentleman fojind going about witlicnit a walking-stick was presumed by the police to be dis- orderly, and was imprisoned for the night." 196 GREECE. knocker and liandle, 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 andronifis, 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 gynw- 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 furnitiu-e is simple, but remarkable for elegance of design. Along the walls are seats or sofas covered with ANCIENT ijRAziER. gldus 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, 3 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 diphros 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, largo chair, 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 liis guests. A footstool was indispen- sable, and was sometimes attached to the front legs of the thronos. 8 "One of the greatest improvements introduced by the Greeks into the art of THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 197 The mistress of the house, who is superintending the domestic labor, is di'essed 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 the waist, and falling iu 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 iiiinatiouA 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 frientts to an evening banquet. The foreign cooks, hired for the occasion, are already liere, giving orders, and preparing choice dishes. At noon, all business in the market place having ceased, the Athenian gentleman returns to his liome for his mid-day meal and his siesta. 2 As the cooler hours come on, he repairs to the crowded gjnnnasium, where he may enjoy the pleasures of the bath, listen to the learned lectures of philosophers and rhetoricians, or join in the racing, mili- tary, and gymnastic exercises.^ Toward sunset he again seeks his home to await his invited guests. The 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 sleepiug was the practice of undressing before going to bed,— a thing unheard of until hit upon bj- their inventive genma."—FeUon. 1 The dress of both sexes was nearly the same. The hiniation was a large, square piece of cloth, so wrapped about tlie form as to leave only tlie right arm free. Much skill was required to drape it artisticall3', and the taste and elegance of the wearer were decided by liis manner of carrying it. The same hiniation often served for both husband and wife, and it is related as among the unamiable traits of Xantippe, the slirewish wife of Socrates, that she refused to go out in lier husband's hiination. A gentleman usuallj' wore a chiton also, though he was considered fully dressed in the himatiou 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 ; 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 featliers, wool, or fig-seeds, or, if very large, were hollow. Cock-and-quail fighting was anotlier exciting amusement, and at Athens took place annually by law, as an instructive exhibition of bravery. •* A guest frequently brought his own slave to assist in personal attendance upon himself. B The mode of reclining, which was similar to that In Assyria, is shown in the 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 GKEEK SVMrOSIUM. 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 liouor was next the host. The Greek wife and daughter uever appeared at these banquets, and at their every-day meals the wife sat on the couch at the feet of her master. The sous Avere not permitted to recline till they were of ago. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 199 such as thrushes, hares, oysters, pungent herbs, and, best of all, Copaic 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 dough, bones, and other remnants from the fioor, and pass again the perfumed water for hand-washing. Garlands of myrtle and roses, gay ribbons, and sweet-scented ointments are distributed, a goldeu bowl of wine is brought, and the meal closes with a libation. The Symposium 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 fiy, 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 extravagautly fond of fish. Pork, the abhorierl of the Egyp- tians, was tlieir favorite meat. Bread, more tlian anything else, was tlie " stafl' of life," all other food, except sweetmeats— even meat— being called relish. Sweetmeats ■were superstitiouslj"^ regarded, and scattering them about the house was an invitation to good luck. 2 To drink wine clear was di8rei)utable, and it was generally diluted with two thirds water. 3 The fashionable Symposia were usually of the character described above, but Bometimes they were more intellectual, affording an occasion for the brilliant disj)laj' 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 diinking with the host. " Parasites (a recognized class of people, who lived by sponging tlieir dinners) and mountebanks always took the liberty to drop in wherever there was a feast, a fact which they ascertained by walking through the streets and snuffing at the kitchens."— /Te«on. 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 Argouautie Expedition and the Siege of Troy. With the Dorian Migration ("Return of the Heraelidas "), 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 --^pite of Draco's Code, the Alcma?onidae's curse, the factions of the men of the x^lain, the coast, and the mountain, and the tyranny of the Pisistratida? — 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 x>ut to flight at Salamis, the next year his army is routed by Pausanias at Plataea, and his remaining ships are destroyed at Myeale. 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 Pelopounesian 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 ^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 Cha?ronea. 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. Tlic Spartans 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 pahestra. They distrust and exclude strangers, and make no effort to adorn their capital with art or architecture. The 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 unloc^j 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 ami 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, ^sehylus, 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, spirited 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 IJlended with the national peculiarities of the conquering Romans. READING REFERENCES. Orote'8 History of Oreece.— Arnold's History of Greece.— Curtius' 8 History of Greece.— Felton' 8 Ancient and Modern O recce.— History Primers; Greece, and Greek Antiquities, edited by Green.— Smith's Student's History of Greece.— Becker's Chart- cles.—Guhl and K'dner's Life of the Greeks and Romans.— Br yce's History of Greece, in Freeman's Series.- Freeman's General Sketch of European History.— Collier' 8 History of Greece —Heeren's Historical Researches. —Futz's Hand-book of Ancient 202 GREECE. History.— Buhver' 8 Mse and Fall of Athens.— Williams's Life of Alexander the Great— ThirlwalVs History of Greece.— Schliemann's Ilios, and Troja.-NiebuJir's Lectures on Ancient History.— Xenophon's Anabasis, Meinorabilia, and Cyropcedia. —St. John's The Helle7ies.—Fergusson's History of Architecture.— Stuart's Antiqui- ties of Athens.— Mahaffy's History of Greek Literature.— Murray's Hand-book of Greek Archaeology. CHRONOLOGY. B. C. Dorian Migration, about 1100 Lycurgus, about 850 First Olympiad 776 [It is curious to notice how many important events cluster about this period, viz.: Rome was founded in 753; the Era of Nabonassar 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 621 Solon 594 Pisistratus 560 Battle of Marathon 490 Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis 480 " " Plataea 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 Chseronea 338 Alexander the Great 336-323 Battle of the Granicus 334 " " Issus 333 " " Arbela 331 Oration of Demosthenes on "TheCrown" 330 Battle of Ipsus 301 Greece becomes a Roman Province 146 BAS-KEI-IEK OF THE NINE MUSES. J.WELLS, DEL. ROME. 1. THE POLITICAL HISTORY. While Greece was winning her freedom on the fields of Marathon and Plata?a, 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 wTangling 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 empu-e wider than Alexander^Sj 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 centimes ; Roman history, from the founding of Rome (753 B. c.) to its down- fall (476 A. D.), stretches over twelve centuries. Geographical Questions. —^a^ maps, pp. 210 and 255. Describe the Tiber. Locate Rome; Ostia; Alba Longa; Veii (Veji) ; the Sabines ; the Etruscans. Where was Carthage? New Cartliage? Saguntum'? Syracuse? Lake Trasimeuus? Capua? Cannae? Tarentum? Cisalpine Gaul? lapygia (the " heel of Italy," reaching toward Greece)? Bmtium (the " toe of Italy ") ? What were the limits of the empire at the time of its greatest extent? Name the principal countries which it then inclu^led. Locate Alexandria ; Autioch ; Smyrna ; Pliilippi ; 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 GroivtJi.— 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 civiHzation 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 liberty; 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. TJltiniate 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 OreeJc cities. The Italians occupied central Italy. They were divided into the Latins THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 205 and Oscans. The former comprised a league of thii'ty towns (note, p. 117) south of the Tiber; the hitter consisted of various tribes living eastward, — Samnites, Sabines, etc.^ Rome was founded ^ (753 b. c.) by the Latins, perhaps 1 Some authorities group the Samnites, Sabines, Umbrians, Oacaus, Sabclliaus, etc., as the Umbrians,- and others call them the Umbro-Sabellians. They were doubtless closely related. 2 Of the early I1I8T0UY 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 first rude attempt was made to write a continuous narrative of its origin. The names of the early monarchs are probably personifications, rather than the appellations of real persons. The word " Home " itself means border, and probably had no relation to the fabled Romulus. The history which was accepted in later times by tlie 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 Longa). His descendants reigned in 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. Thej' 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 KOMAN WOLF STATUE true rank, slew the usurper, and restored their grandfather Numitor to liis throne. FOUNDING OF ROME.— Tlie brothers then determined to found a city near tho spot where they had been so wonderfully preserved, and agreed to Avatch the flight of birds in 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 accordingly began to mark out the boundaries with a brazen plow, drawn by a bullock and a heifer. As the mud wall rose, Remus in scorn jumped 206 ROME. a colony sent out from Alba Longa, 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 Roiiinhis slew liim, exclaiming, "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 the young Romans rushed among the spectators, and each, seizing a maiden, carried her ofif 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 Capitoliue 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 through 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 the valley between the Capi- toliue 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 TARrEIAN ROCK (FROM AN OLD PRINT). THE POLITICAL HISTORY, 207 The Early Government was aristocratic. It had a king, a senate, and an ass('nd)ly. The priest-kin<>' offered saerifiees, and presided over the senate. The senate had the right to discuss and vote ; the assembly, to discuss only. Each original family or house {gem) 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 poUcy and shaped the puljlic life Romulus, after the death of Tatius, became sole king. He divided the people into nobles aud commons; the former he called patricians, and the latter plebeians. The patricians were separated into tliree tribes^,— Hamnes, Titles, and Luceres. In each of these he made ten divisions, or curice. The thirty curiae formed the assembly of the people. The plebeians, being apportioned as tenants and dependants among the patilcians, were called clients. One hundred of the patricians were cliosen for age and wisdom, and styled fathers (patres). After Ilomulus had reigned thirtj'-seven years, and done all these things according to the will of the gods, one day, during a violent thunder-storm, he disappeared from sight, and was henceforth worsliiped as a god. NUMA POMi'iLius, 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 Egeria, who taught him lessons of wisdom, and how men below should worship the gods above. By pouring wine into the 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 Curalii was engaged to be Tuarried 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 tlieir wounds, followed him slowly, and, becoming separated, he turned about and slew them one by one. As the victor returned laden with tlie 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 Romana TEMPLE OF JANUS. 20S ROME. that made Rome tlie Mistress of the World. The assembly {comitia curiafa) consisted of the men belonging to these ancient families. Its members voted by curim; 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 aUiance. 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 liis old age, Tullus sought to find out the will of Jupiter, using the spells of Numa, but angry Jove struck him with a thunderbolt. ANCUS^ Makcius, 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 Mamertine 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 thathe 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 embioidered 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 \^> UIIIIIJjjLIJU ^ 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 horn each. This was henceforth the mode of Rome's gi-owth ; she ad- mitted her allies and conquered enemies to citizenship, thns adding their strength to her own, and making her victories their victories. Alba Lionga, 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 Liiceres, with the Sabines {Titles), ali-eady joined to the original Romans (Ranmes), made the Servius was liriuly fixed in his seat. He made a league witJi the Latins, and, as a sign of the union, built to Diana a teniiile on the Aventine, where both peoples oflfeied annual sacrifices for Rome and LatiuTn. He enlarged Rome, inclosing tlie 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 sepaiatiou of all the Romans— patricians and plebeians— into five classes, according to their wealth. These classes were .subdivided into centuries, and tliey 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, tor they formed eighty centuries, and the knights (equites) eighteen centuries, each having a vote; while fewer votes were given to the lower classes. But this arrangement was not unjust, .since the wealthy were to provide themselves with lieavj' armor, and fight in the front rank ; while the poorest citizens, who formed but one century, were exempt from military service. The hoo daughters of Servius were married to the two sons of Tarquinius the Elder. The couples were ill matched, in each casp the good and gentle being mated with the cruel and haughty. Finallj-, Tullia murdered her husband, and Lucius killed his wife, and the.se 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 aro.se, ha.steued thither, whereupon Lucius hurled the king headlong down the steps. As tlie old man was tottering homeward, tlie usurper's attendants followed and murdered him. Tullia hastened to the senate to salute her liu-sband as king ; but he, somewhat le.ss 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 hira go forward. Tlie blood of her father spattered lier 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 TAUQirixiLS, 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 {captit) was discovered. This the king took to be an omen tliat the city was to become the lieadof the world, and so gave the name Capitoline to tlie temi)le, and the liill on which it stood. In the vaults of this temple weredeposited the Sibylline books, concerning which a singular story was told. One day a sibyl from CumOi.rnCAL HISTORY. 225 resist the " barbarians of the Tiber," appealed to tlie mother eouutry for help. Pyi-rhus, King of Epirus, came over with twenty-five thousand soldiers and twenty elephants. For the fii'st time the Roman legion (p. 271) met the dreaded Macedonian phalanx. In vain the Roman soldiers sought to break through the l)ristling hedge, with their swords hewing off the pikes, and with their hands bearing them to the gi-ound. To complete their discomfiture, Pyrrhus launched his elephants upon their weakened ranks. At the sight of that '^ new^ kind of oxen," the Roman cavahy fled in dismay. PyiThus 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 weary with the march, they w^ere assailed by the enemy. The once-dreaded elephants were frightened back by fire-brands, and driven through the Grecian lines. Pyi-rhus was defeated, and, having lost nearly all his army, returned to Epirus. ^ The Greek colonies, deprived of his help, w^ere subjugated in rapid succession. 1 Many romautic incidents are told of this war. As Pyrrhns walked over the battle-fieM 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!"— Ciueas, whom Pyrrhus sent to Rome as an ambassador, returned, saying, " The city is like a temple of tlie gods, and the senate an assembl}-- 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 tliat same great- ness of soul that liad once made the Hellenic cliaracter 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 Pyrrhus offered to poison the king; but tlie indignant Roman sent back the traitor in irons. Pyrrlius, not to be outdone in j-enerosity, .set free all his captives, saying tliat "it was ea.sier to turn the sun from its course than Fabricius from the path of honor."— Deutatus, the consul wlio defeated Pyrrhus, 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. B Q H— 14 226 ROME. [265 B.C. Rome ivas now 7m stress 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 then- local affairs. All were required 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 Italians or aUies none. As the power of Rome grew, Roman citizenship acquired a might and a meaning (Acts xxii. 25 ; xxiii. 27 ; 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 ItaUan could be made a Latin, and the Latin a Roman. The Romans were famous road-builders, and the gi-eat national highways which they constructed throughout their 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. Thus 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. 264 b. 0.] THE POLITICAL HISTOKY. 227 THE rUNIC 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 natnral that two such aggressive powers as the Carthaginians and the Romans 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 Pa'iii, the Latin form of tlie word PhceuiciaiKS. 2 The Romans 1)ogan to construct a fleet as early as 338 B. c, and in 267 we read of the qviestors of tlic navy ; but the ves.sols were small, and Homo was a land-power until 260 B. c. 256 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 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 deliverers. 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 Panormus, in Sicily, gave the Romans the ascendency in that island, and finally a great naval defeat off the ^gu^sae Islands cost the Carthaginians the empire of the sea. affects. — Carthage was forced to give up Sicily, and pay thii-ty-two hundred talents of silver (about four million dollars) tow^ard tlie war expenses. The Temple of Janus was shut for the first time since the days of Numa (p. 207). Eome^s First Province 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 allies but subjects, were required to pay an annual tribute. 1 It is said that Regulus, wliile at tlic height of his success, asked permission to return home to his little farm, as a slave had run away with the tools, and his family was likely to suffer with want during his absence. After his capture, the Cartlia- 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, but only a Carthaginian slave. Having stated the terms of the proposed peace, to the amazement of all, ho 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 cliildrcn, 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 nails. So perislied tliis martyr to his word and his country.— Historic research tlirows doubt on the truth of this instance of Punic cruelty, and asserts tliat the storj- was Invented to excuse the barbaritj' with wliicli tlie wife of Regulus treated some Car- thaginian captives who fell into her hands ; but the name of Regulus lives as the per- soniflcation 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, Haniilcar (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 perfect 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 captm*ed Saguntum. 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 npon his column, as it wearily toiled up the steep as- cent. Snow blocked the way. At times the crack of a Avhip woidd 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 througli the sohd rock by hands benumbed with 1 An embassy came to Carthage demandiug 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 Avhich you will!" The Cartliaginians answered, "Give us which you wish ! " Sliakingopen liis toga, the Roman haughtily replied, " I give j'ou war ! "— " So let it be ! " shouted the assembly. 2 Before starting on this expedition, Hannibal went with his immediate attendants to Gades, and offered sacrifice in the 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. When 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. HANNIUAL CUOSSING THE ALPS. Battles of Tre'hia, Trasime'nus, and Can- nce. — Ai-riving at the river Trehia in Decem- ber, Hannibal found the Romans, under Sempronius, ready to dispute his progi'ess. One stormy morning, he sent the light Numidian cavaliy over to 232 ROME. [218 b. o. make a feigned attaek cm the enemy's camp. Tlie Romans fell into the snare, and pnrsned the hoi'semen back across the river. When the legions, stiff with cold and faint with hunger, emerged from the icy waters, they found the Carthaginian army drawn up to receive them. Undismayed by the sight, they at once joined battle ;«but, in the midst of the struggle, Hannibal's brother Mago fell upon their rear with a body of men that had been hidden in a reedy ravine near by. The Romans, panic-stricken, broke and fled. The fierce Gauls now flocked to Hannibal's camp, and remained his active allies during the rest of the war. The next year Hannibal moved soutlnvard.^ One day in June, the consul Flaminius was eagerly pursuing him along the banks of Lalie Trasimemis. Suddenly, through the mist, the Carthaginians poured down from the heights, and put the Romans to rout.^ Fabius was now appointed dictator. Keeping on the heights where he could not be attacked, he followed Hanni- bal everywhere,^ cutting off his supplies, but never hazarding a battle. The Romans became impatient at seeing their country ravaged while their army remained inactive, and Varro, the consul, offered battle on the plain of Cannce. Hannibal di-ew up the Carthaginians in the shape of a half- moon having the convex side toward the enemy, and tipped 1 In the low flooded grounds along tbe Aino the army suffered fearfully. Hanni- bal himself lost an eye by intlamniation, and tradition says that liis life was saved by the last remaining elephant, which carried him out of the swamp. 2 So fierce was this struggle that none of the combatants noticed the shock of a severe earthquake which occurred in the midst of the battle. 3 While Hannibal was ravaging the rich plains of Campania, the wary Fabius seized the passes of the Apennines, tlirough which Hannibal must recross into Sam- nium witli his booty. Tlie Carthaginian was apparently cauglit in the trap. But his mind was fertile in devices. He fastened torches to the horns of two thousand oxen, and sent men to drive them up the neighboring heights. The Romans at the defiles, thinking the Carthaginians were trying to escape over the hills, ran to the defense. Hannibal quickly seized the passes, and marched through with his army. 216 b. c] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 233 the horns of the crescent with his veteran cavalry. The massive legions quickly broke through his weak center. But as they pressed forward in eager pursuit, his terrible horse- men fell upon their rear. Hemmed in on all sides, the Romans could neither fight nor flee. Twenty-one tribunes, eighty senators, and over seventy thousand men, fell in that horrible massacre. After the battle, Hannibal sent to Car- thage over a peck of gold rings, — the ornaments of Roman knights. At Rome all was dismay. " One fifth of the cit- izens abla to bear arms had fallen Avithin eighteen months, and in every house there was mourning." All southern Italy, including Capua, the city next in importance to the capital, joined Hannibal. HannihaVs Be verses. — The tide of Hannibal's victories, how^ever, ebbed from this time. The Roman spirit rose in the hour of peril, and, while struggling at home for exist- ence, the senate sent armies into Sicily, Greece, and Spain. The Latin cities remained true, not one revolting to the Car- thaginians. The Roman generals had learned not to fight in the open field, where Hannibal's cavalry and genius Avere so fatal to them, but to keep behind walls, since Hannibal had no skill in sieges, and his army was too small to take their strongholds. Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal was busy fighting the Romans in Spain, and could send him no aid. The Carthaginians also were chary of Hannibal, and re- fused him help. For thirteen years longer Hannibal remained in Italy, but he was at last driven into Brutium, — the toe of the Italian boot. Never did his genius shine more brightly. He con- tinually sallied out to protect his allies, or to plunder and devastate. Once he went so near Rome that he hurled a javelin over its walls. Nevertheless, and in spite of his efforts, Capua was retaken. Syracuse promised aid, but was 234 ROME. [212 B.C. captured by the Roman army.^ Hasdrubal finally managed to get out of Spain and cross the Alps, but at the 3£etaurus^ (207 B. c.) he was routed and slain. The first notice Hannibal had of his brother's approach was when Hasdrubal's head was thrown into the Carthaginian camp. At the sight of this ghastly memorial, Hannibal exclaimed, '' Ah, Carthage, I behold thy doom ! " Hannihal Recalled. — P. Scipio, who had already expelled the Carthaginians from Spain, now carried the war into Africa. Carthage was forced to summon her great general from Italy. He came to her defense, but met the first defeat of his life in the decisive battle of Zama. On that fatal field the veterans of the Italian wars fell, and Hannibal himself gave up the struggle. Peace was granted Carthage on her paying a crushing tribute, and agreeing not to go to war without the permission of Rome. Scipio received the name Africanus, in honor of his triumph. Fate of Hannihal. — On the return of peace, Hannibal, with singular wisdom, began the reformation of his native city. But his enemies, by false representations at Rome, compelled him to quit Carthage, and take refuge at the court of Anti'ochus (p. 237). When at length his patron was at the feet of their common enemy, and no longer able to protect him, Hannibal fled to Bithynia, where, finding himself still piu'sued by the vindictive Romans, he ended his 1 Tlie siege of Syracuse (214-212 B. C.) is famous for the genius aisplayed in its defense by tlie mathematician Archimedes. He is said to have fired the Roman fleet 1)y means of immense burning-glasses, and to have contrived machines that, reaching liuge arms over the walls, grasped and overturned the galleys. The Romans became so timid that they would " flee at tlie sight of a stick thrust out at them." When the city was finally taken by storm, Marcellus gave orders to spare Archimedes. But a soldier, rushing into the philosopher's study, found an old man, wlio, ignoring his drawn sword, bade him "Noli turbare circulos meos" (Do not disturb my circles). Enraged by his indifference, the Roman slew him on the spot. 2 This engagement, which decided tlie issue of Hannibal's invasion of Italy, is reckoned among the most important in the history of the world (see Creasy's Fif- teen Decisive Battles, p. 96). 183 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 235 days by taking poison, which lie had carried about with him in a lioHow rin<^^ Third Punic War (149-14G b. c.).— Half a century passed, during- which Carthage was slowly recovering her former prosperity. A strong party at Rome, however, was bent upon her destruction.^ On a slight pretense war was again declared. The submission of the Carthaginians was abject. They gave up three hundred hostages, and surren- dered their arms and armor. But when bidden to leave the city that it might be razed, they were driven to desperation. Old and young toiled at the forges to make new weapons. Vases of gold and silver, even the statues of the gods, were melted. The women l)raided their long hair into bow-strings. The Romans intrusted the siege to the younger Scipio.^ He captured Carthage after a desperate struggle. Days of con- flagration and plunder followed. The city, which had lasted over seven hundred years and numbered seven hundred thousand inhabitants, was utterly wasted. The Carthaginian territory was turned into the province of Africa.^ 1 Prominent among these was Cato the Censor. This rough, stern man, -with his red hair, projecting teeth, anrt coarse robe, was the swora foe to luxury, and the per- soniticatiou of the old Roman character. Cruel toward his slaves and revengeful toward his foes, he was yet rigid in morals, devoted to his country, and fearless in punishing crime. In the discharge.of his duty asceusor, rich furniture, jewels, and costly attire fell under his ban. He even removed, it is said, the cold-water pipes lead- ing to the private houses. Jealous of auy rival to Rome, he finished every speech with the words, " Delenda est Carthago!" (Carthage must be destroyed!) In Plutarch's Lives (p. 177), Cato is the counterpart of Aristides (p. 128). 2 (1) Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major (p. 234) was the conqueror of Hannibal. (2) Fitblius Cornelius Scipio ^Emiliantis Africanus Minor, the one spoken of in the text as the Destroyer of Carthage, was the sou of Lucius ^Emilius Paullus, the conqueror of Macedon (p. 236) ; he was adopted by P. Scipio, the son of Africanus Major. (3) Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, Avho defeated Antiochus (p. 237), and hence received his last title, was tlie brother of Africanus Major. 3 When Scipio beheld the ruin of Carthage, he is said to have burst into tears, and, turning to Polybius the liistorian, to have quoted tlie lines of Homer,— " The day will come when Tr()y shall sink in fire. And Priam's people with himself expire,"— and, reflecting on the mutati(»U3 of time, to have declared tliat Hector's words might yet prove true of K<»me herself. 236 ROME. [146 B.C. Rome was at last victor over her great rival. Events had decided that Europe was not to be given over to Punic civili- zation and the intellectual despotism of the East, Wars in Macedon and Greece. — While Hannibal was hard-pressed in Italy he made a treaty with Philip, king of Macedon, and a descendant of Alexander. In the First War which ensued (214-207 b. c), not much of importance occurred, but Rome had begun to mix in Grecian affaii's, which, according to her wont, meant conquest by and by. The Second War (200-197 B.C.) was brought about by Philip attacking the Roman allies. The consul Flaminius now entered Greece, proclaiming himself the champion of Hellenic liberty. Transported with this thought, nearly all Hellas ranged itseK under the eagles (p. 257) of Rome. Philip was overthrown at the battle of CijnoscepJialce (197 B. c), and forced to accept a most degrading peace. After Philip's death, his son Perseus was indefatigable in his efforts to restore Macedon to its old-time glory. The Third War (171-168 B. c.) cubninated in the battle of Pydna, where the famous Roman general Paullus van- quished forever the cumbersome phalanx, and ended the Macedonian monarchy. One hundred and fifty-six years after Alexander's death, the last king of Macedon was led in triumph by a general belonging to a nation of which, probably, the Conqueror had scarcely heard. The Results of these wars were reaped within a brief period. The Federal Unions of Greece were dissolved. Macedon was divided into four commonwealths, and finally, under pre- tense of a rebellion, made a Roman province (146 B. c). In the same year that Carthage fell, Corinth, i the gi'eat seaport 1 Muiiimiiis, the consul who took Corinth, which Cicero termed "The rye of Hellas," sent its wealth of statiies and pictures to Rome. It is said, that, ignorant of the unique value of these works of art, he agreed with the captains of tlie vessels to furnish others in place of any they sliould lose on the voyage. One can hut remem- THE lM)TiT'ri('ATi HISTOlCV. 237 of the eastern Mediterraiieaii, wim .sa<*ky the Romans, invited Antiochns to come over to their help. He despised the wise counsel and military skill of Hannil)al, and, appearing in Greece with only ten thousand men, was easily defeated by the Romans at ThernwpijM. The next year, L. 8cipio (note, p. 235) fol- lowed him into Asia, and overthrew liis power on the field of Magnesia (190 b. c). The great empire of the Seleucidaa now shrank to the kingdom of Syria. Though the Romans did not at present assume formal control of their conquest, yet, by a shrewd policy of weakening the powerful states, playing off small ones against one another, supporting one of the two rival fac- tions, and favoring their allies, they taught the Greek cities in Asia Minor to look up to the great central power on the Tiber just as, by the same tortuous course, they had led Greece and Macedon to do. Thus the Romans aided Per- gamus, and enlarged its territories, because its king helped them against Antiochns; and in return, when Attains HI. ber, however, that this ignoraut plebeian luaintaiuert his houesty, aud kept uoiie of the rich spoils for himself 238 ROME. [133 b. C. died, he be(ineathed to them his kingdom. Rome thus ac- quired her first Asiatic province (133 b. c). War in Spain. — After the capture of Carthage and Corinth, Rome continued her efforts to subdue Spain. The rugged nature of the country, and the bravery of the inhab- itants, made the struggle a doubtful one. The town of Mimantia held out long against the younger Scipio (note, p. 235). Finally, in despair, the people set fire to the place, and threw themselves into the flames. When the Romans forced an entrance through the walls, they found silence and desolation within. Spain thus became a Roman province the same year that Attains died, and thirteen years after the fall of Carthage and Corinth. The Roman Empire (133 b. c.) now included southern Europe from the Atlantic to the Bosporus, and a part of northern Africa ; while Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor were practically its dependencies. The Mediterranean Sea was a ''Roman lake," and Rome tvas mistress of the civilized tvorld. Henceforth her wars were principally with barbarians. Effect of these Conquests. — Italy had formerly been covered with little farms of a few acres each, which the in- dustrious, frugal Romans cultivated with their ow^n hands. When Hannibal swept the country with fii^e and sword, he destroyed these comfortable rural homes throughout entire districts. The people, unable to get a living, flocked to Rome. There, humored, flattered, and fed by every dema- gogue who wished their votes, they sank into a mere mob. The Roman race itself was fast becoming extinct.^ It had 1 "At the time wheu all the kings of the earth paid homage to the Roman.s, this people was becomiug extinguished, consumed by the double action of eternal war, and of a devouring system of legislation ; it was disappearing from Italy. The Ro- man, passing his life in camps, beyond the seas, rarely returned to visit his little field. He had in most cases, indeed, no land or shelter at all, nor any other domestic gods than the eagles of the legions. An exchange was becoming established between Italy and the provinces. Italy sent her children to die in distant lands, and received in THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 239 perished on its hundred battle-fields. Rome was inhabited by a motley population from all lands, who poorly filled the place of her ancient heroes. The captives in these various wars had been sold as slaves, and the nobles, who had secured most of the land, worked it by their unpaid labor. Everywhere in the fields were gangs of men whose only crime was that they had fought for their homes, tied together with chains ; and tending the flocks were gaunt, shaggy wretches, carrying the goad in hands that had once wielded the sword. The riches of Syracuse, Carthage, Macedonia, Greece, and Asia poured into Rome. Men who went to foreign wars as poor soldiers came back with enormous riches, — the spoils of sacked cities. The nobles were rich beyond every dream of republican Rome. But meanwhile the poor grew poorer yet, and the curse of poverty ate deeper into the state. A few wealthy families governed the senate and filled all the offices. Thus a new nobility, founded on money alone, had grown up and become all-powerful. It was customary for a candidate to amuse the people with costly games, and none but the rich could afford the expense. The consul, at the end of his year of office, was usually appointed governor of a province, where, out of an oppressed people, he could recompense himself for all his losses. To keep the Roman populace in good humor, he would send back gifts of gi-ain, and, if any complaint were nuide of his injustice and robbery, he could easily bribe the judges and senators, who were anxious only for the same chance which he had. compensation millions of slaves. Thus a new people succeeded to tlie absent or destroj-ed Roman ))eople. Slaves took the place of masters, pi"oudly occupied the Fonim, and in their fantastic saturnalia goveiued, by their decrees, the Latins and the Italians, who tilled the legions. It was soon no longer a question where were the plebeians of Rome. They had left tlieii- bones on every shore. Camps, urns, and immortal roads,— these were all that remained of them." —Michelet. 240 ROME. In the early days of the republic the soldier was a citizen who went forth to fight his country's battles^ and, returning home, settled down again upon his little farm, contented and happy. Military life had now become a profession. Patriotism was almost a forgotten virtue, and the soldier fought for plunder and glory. In the wake of the army followed a crowd of venal traders, who bought up the booty ; contractors, who "farmed" the revenues of the provinces; and usurers, who preyed on the necessities of all. These rich army-followers were known as knights {equites), since in the early days of Rome the richest men fought on horse- back. They rarely took part in any war, but only reaped its advantages. The presents of foreign kings were no longer refused at Rome 5 her generals and statesmen demanded money wher- ever they went. WeU might Scipio Africanus, instead of praying to the KOMAN SOLDIERS. THE POLITICAL HISTOKV. 241 gods, as was the eustoin, to increase tlie state, implore tlieiu to presence it. Ill this general decadence the line iiiond lil)er of the nation lost its vigor. Fii'st the people left their own gods and took up foreign ones. As the ancients had no idea of one God for all nations, such a desertion of their patron deities was full of significance. It ended in a general skepticism and neglect of religious rites and worship. In addition, the Romans became cruel and unjust. Notliing showed this more clearly than their refusal to grant the Roman franchise to the Latin cities, which stood by them so faithfuUy during Hannibal's invasion. Yet there were great men in Rome, and the ensuing centuries were the palmiest of her history. THE CIVIL WARS. Now began a century of civil strife, during which the old respect for laws became weak, and parties obtained theii* end by bribery and bloodshed. The Gracchi. — The tribune Tiberius Gracchus,^ per- ceiving the peril of the state, secured a new agrarian law (p. 216), directing the public land to be assigned in small farms to the needy, so as to give every man a homestead ; and, in addition, he proposed to divide the treasures of Attains among those who received land, in order to enable them to build houses and buy cattle. But the oligarchs aroused a mob by wliich Gracchus was assassinated. 1 Cornelia, the mother of Tiberius ami Cains Gracchus, was the daughter of Scipio Africanus the Elder (note, p. 235). Left a widow, she was offered marriage with tlio king of Egypt, but preferred to devote herself to the education of her children. When a rich friend once exhibited to her a cabinet of rare gems, she called in her two sons, saying, " Tliese are my jewels." Her statue bore the inscription by which she wished to be known, " The mother of the Gracchi."— Tiberius was the grandson of the Conqueror of Hannibal, the son-in-law of Appius Claudius, and the brother-in- law of the Destroyer of Carthage. 242 ROME. [123 b. c. About ten years later his brother Caius tried to carry out the same reform by distributing grain to the poor at a nominal price (the "Roman poor-law"), by choosing juries from the knights instead of the senators, and by planting in conquered territories colonies of men who had no work at home. All went well until he sought to confer the Roman franchise upon the Latins. Then a riot was raised, and Caius was killed by a faithful slave to prevent his falling into the hands of his enemies. With the Gracchi perished the freedom of the republic ; henceforth the corrupt aristocracy was supreme. Jugurtha (118-104 b. c), having usurped the throne of Numidia, long maintained his place by conferring lavish bribes upon the senators. His gold conquered every army sent against him, and he declared that Rome itself could be had for money. He was finally overpowered by the consul Caius Marius,^ and, after adorning the victor's triumph at Rome, was thrown into the Mamertine Prison to perish.^ The Cimbri and Teutones (113-101 b. c), the van- guard of those northern hosts that were yet to overrun the empire, were now moving south, half a miUion strong, spreading dismay and ruin in their track. Six different Ro- man armies tried in vain to stay their advance. At Arausio alone eighty thousand Romans f eU. In this emergency, the senate appealed to Marius, who, contrary to law, was again and again reinstated consul. He annihilated the Teutones at Aquce Sextm (Aix) ; and, the next year, the Cimbri at Vercellce, where the men composing the outer line of the 1 Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the Roman questor (p. 243), captured Jugurtha by treachery. Claiming that he was the real hero of this war, he had a ring engraved which represented J ugurtha's surrender to liim. Marius and Sulla were henceforth bitter rivals. 2 This famous dungeon is still shown tlie traveler at Kome. It is an underground vault, built of rough stones. The only opening is by a hole at the top. As Jugurtha, accustomed to the heat of an African sun, was lowered into this dismal grave, he exclaimed, with chattering teeth, "Ah, what a cold bath they are giving me 1 " 101 B. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 243 barbarian army were fastened together with chains, the whole making a solid mass three miles square. The Koman broad- sword mercilessly hewed its way through this struggling crowd. The Gallic women, in despair, strangled their childi-en, and then threw themselves beneath the wheels of their wagons. The very dogs- fought to the death. Rome was saved in her second great peril from barbarians. Marius was hailed as the " third founder of the city." Social War (90-88 b. c). — Drusus, a tribune, ha\dng proposed that the Itahans should be granted the coveted citizenship, was mm-dered the very day a vote was to be taken upon the measui'e. On hearing this, many of the Italian cities, headed by the Marsians, took up arms. The veteran legions, which had conquered the w^orld, now faced each other on the battle-field. The struggle cost three hun- dred thousand lives. Houses were burned and plantations wasted as in Hannibal's time. In the end, Rome was forced to aUow the Italians to become citizens. First Mithridatic War (88-84 b.c.).— Just before the close of this bloody struggle, news came of the massacre of eighty thousand Romans and Italians residing in the towns of Asia Minor. Mithridates the Great, king of Pontus, and a man of remarkable energy and genius, had proclaimed himself the deliverer of Asia from the Roman yoke, and had kindled the fires of insurrection as far westward as Greece. The war against the Pontic monarch was confided to SuUa, who stood at the head of the Roman aristocracy. But Marius, the favorite leader of the people, by unscrupu- lous means wrested the command from his rival. There- upon Sulla entered Rome at the head of the army. For the first time, civil war raged within the walls of the city. Marius was driven into exile. ^ Sulla then crossed into 1 Marias, after many romantic adventures, was thrown into prison at Min- 244 ROME. I87B. 0. Greece. He carried on five campaignSj mainly at his private expense, and finally restored peace on the condition that Mithridates should give up his conquests and liis fleet. Return of Marius. — Meanwhile Cinna, one of the two consuls at Rome, recalled Marius, and together they entered the city with a body of men- composed of the very dregs of Italy. The nobles and the friends of Sulla trembled at this triumph of the democracy. Marius now took a fearful vengeance for all he had suffered. He closed the gates, and went about with a body of slaves, who slaughtered every man at whom he pointed his finger. The principal senators were slain. The high priest of Jupiter was massacred at the altar. The consul Octavius was struck down in his curule- chair. The head of Antonius, the orator, was brought to Marius as he sat at supper; he received it with joy, and embraced the murderer. Finally the monster had himself declared consul, now the seventh time. Eighteen days after, he died, " drunk with blood and wine^' (86 b. c). Sulla's Proscriptions. — Three years passed, when the hero of the Mithridatic war returned to Italy with his vic- torious army. His progress was disputed by the remains of the Marian party and the Samnites, who had not laid down their arms since the social war (p. 243). SuUa, however, swept aside their forces, and soon aU Italy was prostrate before him. It was now the turn for the plebeians and the friends of Marius to fear. As Sulla met the senate, cries were heard in the neighboring circus. The senators sprang from then* seats in alarm. SuUa bade them be quiet, remark- turnae. One day a Cimltriau slave entered his cell to put him to death. The old man turned upon him with tlasliiug eye, and shouted, "Barest thou kill Caius Marius!" The Gaul, ti'ightened at the voice of his nation's destroyer, dropped his sword and fled. Marius was soon sot free by the sympathizing people, whereupon he crossed into Africa. Receiving there an order from the prtetor to leave the province, he sent back the well-known reply, " Tell Sextilius that you have seen Caiua Marius sitting in exile among the ruins of Carthage." 82 b. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 245 ing, " It is only some wretches undergoing the punishment they deserve." The "wretches" were six thousand of the Marian party, who were butchered in cold blood. "The porch of Sulla's house/' says Collier, "was soon full of heads." Daily proscription-lists were made out of those doomed to die, and the assassins were rewarded from the property of their victims. Wealth became a crime when murder was gain. " Alas ! " exclaimed one, " my villa is my destruction." In all the disaffected Itahan cities the same bloody work went on. Wliole districts were confiscated to make room for colonies of SuUa's legions. He had himsdf declared perpetual dictator, — an office idle since the Punic wars (p. 232). He deprived the tribunes of the right to pro- pose laws, and sought to restore the " good old times " when the patricians held power, thus undoing the reforms of cen- turies. To the surprise of all, however, he suddenly retii-ed to private life, and gave himself up to luxurious ease. The civil wars of Marius and SuUa had cost Italy the lives of one hundred and fifty thousand citizens. Sertorius, one of the Marian party, betook liimseK to Spain, gained the respect and confidence of the Lusitanians, established among them a miniature Roman republic, and for seven years defeated every army sent against liim. Even Pompey the Great was held in check. Treachery at last freed Rome from its enemy, Sertorius being slain at a banquet. Gladiatorial War (73-71 b. c). — A party of gladiators under Spartacus, having escaped from a training-school at Capua, took refuge in the crater of Vesuvius. Thither flocked slaves, peasants, and pirates. Soon they were strong enough to defeat consular armies, and for three years to rav- age Italy from the Alps to the peninsula. Crassus finally, in a desperate battle, killed the rebel leader, and put his fol- 246 ROME. [71 B.C. lowers to flight. A body of five thousand, trying to escape into Gaul, fell in with Pompey the Great as he was retm-ning from Spain, and were cut to pieces.^ Pirates in these troublous times infested the Mediter- ranean, so as to interfere with trade and stop the supply of provisions at Rome. The whole coast of Italy was in con- tinual alarm. Parties of robbers landing dragged rich pro- prietors from their villas, and seized high officials, to hold them for ransom. Pompey, in a brilliant campaign of ninety days, cleared the seas of these buccaneers. Great Mithridatic War (74-63 b. c.).— During Sulla's life the Roman governor in Asia causelessly attacked Mithri- dates, but being defeated, and Sulla peremptorily ordering him to desist, this Second Mithridatic War soon ceased. The Third or Great War broke out after the dictator's death. The king of Bithynia having bequeathed his pos- sessions to the Romans, Mithridates justly dreaded this ad- vance of his enemies toward his own boundaries, and took up arms to prevent it. The Roman consul, Lucullus, de- feated the Pontic king, and drove him to the com*t of his son-in-law Tigranes, king of Armenia, who espoused his cause. Lucullus next overcame the allied monarchs. Mean- while this wise general sought to reconcile the Asiatics to the Roman government by legislative reforms, by a mild and just rule, and especially by checking the oppressive taxation. The soldiers of his own army, intent on plunder, and the equites at Rome deprived of their profits, were incensed, and secm-ed his recall. Pompe}^ was now granted the power of a dictator in the East.2 He made an alliance with the king of Parthia, thus 1 "Crassus," said Pompey, "defeated the eueruy in battle, bxit I cut up tlie war by its roots." 2 Cicero advocated this measure in the familiar oration, JPro Lege Manilla. .. 65 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 247 threatening Mitliridates by an enemy in the rear. Then, forcing the Pontic monarch into a battle, he defeated liim^ and at last di-ove him beyond the Cancasns. I^)mpey, re- tnrning, reduced Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. The spirit of Mithridates was unbroken, in spite of the loss of his kingdom. He was meditating a march around the Euxine, and an invasion of Italy from the northeast, when, alarmed at the treachery of his son, he took poison,' and died a victim of ingi-atitude. By his genius and courage he had maintained the struggle with the Romans for twenty- five years.i On reaching Rome, Ponipey received a two-days' triumph. Before his chariot walked three hundi^ed and twenty-f oui' captive princes ; and twenty thousand talents were deposited in the treasury as the spoils of conquest. Pompey was now at the height of his popularity, and might have usurped supreme power, but he lacked the energy and determination. Catiline's Conspiracy (63 b. c.).— Dm-ing Pompey's absence at the East, Catiline, an abandoned young noble- man, had formed a mdespread plot to miu-der the consuls, fire the city, and overthrow the government. Cicero, the orator, exposed the conspiracy 5 2 whereupon Catiline 'fled, and was soon after slain, fighting at the head of a band of desperadoes. The Chief Men of Rome now were Pompey, Crassus, .iivjr/™.r ^■'",^'\fi"«'^ "le gigantic frame of Mithriaates excited the wonder alike of Asiatic and Italian. As a runner, lie overtook the fleetest deer; as a rider he broke the wildest steed; as a charioteer, he drove sixteen-in-hand ; and as a hunter, he hi t his game with his horse at full gallop. He kept Greek poets, historians, drinker, but t., the n.ernest Jester and the best singer. He ruled the twenty-two and son;; "t T 1 "'?""' '"" "'' '" •'^" '"*«n>reter. He experimented on poisons, and sought to harden his system to their effect. One day he disappeared from the inlnZ Tlr" TT' '"'■ """""''• ''" '''' '■"'•"■"• '' '''••l'^^«'-«<^ '''^' ^'« ^^ad wandered incognito througli Asia Minor, studying the people and country. 2 The orations which Cicero prono.inced at this time against Catiline are master- pieces of impassioned rhetoric, and are still stu.lied by every Latin scholar. 248 ROME. [60 B. c. Caesar,^ Cicero, and Cato the Stoic, — a great-grand- son of the Censor. The first three formed a league, known as the Trmmvirate (60 B. c). To cement this union, Pompey married Julia, Cesar's only daugh- ter. The triumvirs had everything their own way. Cassar was head manager ; he obtained the eonsul- r-AT.Tc T,TrT„« r .n-c*,, shlp, aud aftcrward an CAIUS JULIUS C^SAK. ^' appointment as governor of Gaul; Cicero was banished, and Cato sent to Cyprus. 1 Caesar was born 100 B. c. (according to Mommsen, 102 u. c). A patrician, he waa yet a friend of the people. His aunt was married to Marius ; his wife Cornelia was the daughter of Cinna. During Sulla's proscription, he refused to divorce his wife at the bidding of the dictator, and only tlie intercession of powerful friends saved his life. Sulla detected the character of this youth of eighteen years, and declared, "There is more than one Marius hid in him." While on his way to Rhodes to study oratory, he was taken prisoner by pirates, but he acted more like tlieir leader than captive, and, on being ransomed, headed a party wliich crucitied them all. Having been elected pontiff during his absence at the East, he returned to Rome. He now became in succession quaestor, sedile, and pontif ex maximus. His affable manners and boundless generosity won all liearts. As jedile, a part of his duty was to furnish amusement to the people, and he exhibited three hundred and twenty pairs of glailiators, clad in silver armor. His debts became enormous, the lieaviest creditor being the rich Crassua, to w]u)m half the senators are said to have owed mimey. Securing an appointment as praetor, at the termination of tliat office, according to the custom, he obtained a province. Selecting Spain, he there recruited his wasted fortune, and gained some military prominence. He then came back to Rome, relinquishing a triumph in order to enter the city and stand for the consulship. This gained, his next step was to secure a field where he could train an army, by whose help he might become master of Rome. It is a strange sight, indeed, to witness this spendthrift, pale aud worn with the excesses of the capital, lighting at the head of his legions, swimming rivers, plunging through morasses, aud climbing mountains,— the hardiestof the hardy, and thebravest of tlie brave. But it is stranger still to think of this great general and statesman as a literary man. Even when riding in his litter or resting, he was still reading or writ- ing, and often at the same time dictating to from four to seven amanuenses. Besides his famous Commentaries, published in the very midst of his eventful career, he composed works on rhetoric and grammar, as well as tragedies, lyrics, etc. His style Is pure and natural, aud the polished smoothness of his sentences gives no hint of the stormy scenes amid which they were formed. 58 B. c] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 249 C^SAH remained in Ganl about nine years. He re- duced the entire country; crossed tlie llliiiie, carrying the Boman arms into Ger- many for the first time; and twice invaded Britain, —an island until Iheu un- known in Ital3' except by name. Not (mly were tlie three liundred tribes of Transalpine Gaul tliorough- 13'- subdued, but they were made content with Csesar's rule. He became their civ- ilizer,— building roads and introducing Konian laws, institutions, manners, and customs. Moreover, he trained an army that knew no mind or will except that of its great general. Mean- while, Cajsar's friends in Kome,witli the Gallic spoils which he freely sent them, bribed and dazzled and in- trigued to sustain their master's power, and secure hira the ntsxt consulship. Ckassus was chosen joint consul with Pompey (56 ]i. c); he secured the province of Syria. Eager to obtain the boundless treasures of the East, he set out upon an expedition against Parthia. On the way he plundered the tem- ple at Jerusalem. While crossing the scorching plains beyond the Eu- phrates, not far from Car- rlue (the llarran of the Bible), he was suddenly surrounded by clouds of Parthian horsemen. Bo- man valor was of no avail in that ceaseless storm of arrows. During the retreat, Crassus was slain. His head was carried to the Parthian king, who, in de- rision, ordered it to be filled with molten gold. The dt^ath of Crassus ended the Tiiumvirate. Pompey, after a time, was clecte(t joint consul with Crassus, and,lator,8ole consul ; he obtained the province of Spain.Avliich ho governed by legates. He now ruled Bome, and was bent on ruling the empire. The death of his wife had severed the link which bound him to the conqueror of Gaul. Ho accordingly joined with the nobles, who were also alarmed by Ca'sar's brilliant victories, and the strength his suc- cess gave the popular party. A law was therefore passed ordering Cajsar to resign his office and disband his army before he appeared to sue for the consulsliip. The tribunes,— Antony and Cassius, — who .supported Caesar, were driven from the senate. They fled to Ciesar's camp, and de- manded protection. Civil War between Caesar and Pompey (49 b. c). — Caesar at once marched upon Rome. Pompey had boasted that he had only to stamp his foot, and an army would spring from the ground; bnt he now fled to Greece with- out striking a blow. In sixty days Caesar was master of Italy. The decisive struggle between the two rivals took place on the plain of PliarsaUa (48 B. c). Pom23ey was beaten. He sought refuge in Egypt, where he was treach- erously slain. His head being brought to Caesar, the con- queror wept at the fate of his former friend. Caesar now placed the beautiful Cleopatra on the throne of the Ptolemies, and, marcliing into Syria, humbled Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, so quickly that he could write home this laconic dispatch, Yeni, Yidi, Yici (I came, I saw, I conquered). Cato and other Pompeian 250 ROME. [46 B.C. leaders had assembled a great force in Africa, whereupon Caesar hurried his conquering legions thither, and at Thap- siis broke down all opposition (46 b. c). Cato, in despair of the republic, fell upon his sword. Caesar now returned to Rome to celebrate his triumphs. The sands of the arena were reddened with the blood of wild beasts and gladiators ; every citizen received a present, and a pubhc banquet was spread on twenty-two thousand tables. The adulation of the senate surpassed all bounds. Caesar was created dictator for ten years and censor for three, and his statue was placed in the Capitol, opposite to that of Jupiter. Meantime the sons of Pompey had rallied an army in Spain, whither Caesar hastened, and, in a desper- ate conflict at Munda (45 B. c), blotted theu' party out of ex- istence. He then returned to new honors and a campaign of civil reforms. Caesar's Government. — At Caesar's magic touch, order and justice sprang into new life. The provinces rejoiced in an honest administration. The Cauls obtained seats in the senate, and it was Caesar's design to have all the provinces represented in that body by their chief men. The calendar was revised.^ The distress among the poor was relieved by sending eighty thousand colonists to rebuild Corinth and Carthage. The number of claimants upon the public dis- tribution of grain was reduced over one half. A plan was formed to dig a new channel for the Tiber and to drain the Pontine marshes. Nothing was too vast or too small for the comprehensive mind of this mighty statesman. He could guard the boundaries of his vast empire along the Rhine, Danube, and Euphrates ; look after the paving of the 1 Tlie Romau j'ear contained only three hundred and fifty-five days, and the mid- summer and tlie midwinter mouths tlien came in the spring and the fall. Julius Caesar introduced the extra day of leap year, and July was named after him (see Steele's New Astronomy, p. 269). 44 B. C] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 251 Roman streets; and listen to the recitation of pieces for prizes at the theaters, bestowing the wTcath upon the victor mth extenij)oro verse. Caesar's Assassination (44 b. c.)-— Ciesar, now dictator for hfe, was desirous of being king in name, as in fact. Wliile passing through the streets one day, he was liailed king; as the crowd murmured, he cried out, '' I am not king, but CtBsar." Still, when Mark Antony, the consul and his intimate friend, at a festival, offered him a crown, Cassar seemed to thrust it aside reluctantly. The u-e of zealous republicans was excited, and, under the guise of a love of liberty and old Roman virtue, those who were jealous of Coesar or who hated him formed a conspiracy for his assassi- nation. Brutus and C^assius, the leaders, chose the fifteenth of the ensuing March for the execution of the deed. As the day approached, the aii' was thick with rumors of approach- ing disaster. A famous augm- warned Caesar to beware of the Ides^ of March. The night before, his wife, Calpiu^nia, was distiu-bed by an ominous dream. On the way to the senate-house he was handed a scroll containing the de- tails of the plot, but in the press he had no chance to read it. When the con- spirators crowded about him, no alarm was caused, as they were men who owed their lives to his leniency, and their fortunes to his favor. 1 Tn tlio Roman calendar tlie months wore divided liitotliree vavis^,— Calends, Ides, SL\\i\ Kones. Tlio Calends commenced on the first of each month, and were reckoned hackward into the preceding montli to the Ides. The Nones fell on the seventh of March, May, Jnly, and October, and on tlio fifth of the other months. The Ides came on the thirteenth of all months except these four, when they were the fifteenth. 2 S. P. Q. R.,— Senatus Populusque Romanua (the Senate and Roman People). TllK IJOiMAN K.MHLKM. 252 ROME. [44 b. c. Suddenly swords gleamed on every hand. For a moment the great soldier defended himself with the sharp point of his iron pen. Then, catching sight of the loved and trusted Brutus, he exclaimed, '' Et tu, Brute ! " (And thou, too, Brutus ! ) and, wrapping his mantle about his face, sank dead at the foot of Pompey's statue.^ The Result was very different from what the assassins had expected. The senate rushed out horror-stricken at the deed. The reading of Csesar's will, in which he gave every citizen three hundred sesterces (over ten dollars), and threw open his splendid gardens across the Tiber as a pubhc park, roused the popular fury. "When Antony pronounced the funeral eulogy, and finally held up Caesar's rent and bloody toga, the mob broke through every restraint, and ran with torches to burn the houses of the murderers. Brutus and Cassius fled to save their lives. Second Triumvirate (43 b. c). — Antony was fast get- ting power into his hand, when there arrived at Rome Octavius, Caesar's great-nephew and heir. He received the support of the senate and of Cicero, who denounced Antony in fiery orations. Antony was forced into exile, and then, twice defeated in battle, took refuge with 1 Cjesar's brief public life— for ouly five stirring years elapsed from his entrance into Italy to his assassination— was full of dramatic scenes. Before marching upon Rome,it is said (though research stamps itasdoubtful) that he stopped atthe Rubicon, the boundary between his i)rovince of Cisalpine Gaul and Italj', and hesitated long. To pass it was to make war upon the republic. At last he shouted, "The die is cast!" and plunged into the stream.— When he had crossed into Greece in pursuit of Pompey, he became impatient at Antony's delay in bringing over the rest of tlie army, and, disguising himself, attempted to return across tlie Adriatic in a small boat. The sea ran high, and the crew determined to put back, when Cfesar shouted, "Go on boldly, fear nothing, thou bearest Caesar and his fortune ! "—At the battle of Phar- salia, he ordered his men to aim at the faces of Pompey's cavalr5\ The Roman knights, dismayed at this attack on their beauty, quickly fled ; after the victory Cfesar rode over the field, calling upon the men to spare the Roman citizens, and on rcacJiing Pompey's tent put his letters in the fire unread.— When Csesar learned of the death of Cato, he lamented the tragic fate of such high integrity and virtue, and ex- claimed, "Cato, I envy thee thy death, since thou enviest me the glory of saving tliy life ! " 43 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 253 Lepidus, governor of a part of Spain and Gaul. Octavius retiu-ned to Rome, won the favor of the peo2)le, and, though a youth of only nineteen, was chosen consul. A triumvi- rate, similar to the one seventeen years before, was now formed between Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus. The bar- gain was sealed by a proscription more horrible than that of Sulla. Lepidus sacrificed his brother, Antony his uncle, and Octavius his warm supporter, Cicero. The orator's head having been brought to Rome, Fulvia thrust her golden bodkin through the tongue that had pronounced the Philip- pics against her husband Antony. Battle of Philippi (42 b. c). — Brutus and Cassius, who had gone to the East, raised an army to resist this new coalition. The triumvirs pursued them, and the issue was decided on the field of FMlippi. Brutus ^ and Cassius were defeated, and in despair committed suicide. Octavius and Antony divided the empire between them, the former taking the West, and the latter the East. Lepidus received Africa, but was soon stripped of his share and sent back to Rome. Antony and Cleopatra. — ^Antony now went to Tarsus to look after his new possessions. Here Cleopatra was summoned to answer for having supported Cassius against the triumvirs. She came, captivated Antony by her charms,^ 1 Brutus, before this battle, was disheartened. The triumvirs had proved worse tyrants than he could ever have feared Cajsar would become. He and Cassius quar- reled bitterlj'. His wife, Portia, had died (according to some authorities) broken- hearted at the calamities which had befallen lier country. One night, as he was sitting alone in his tent, musing over the troubled state of affairs, he suddenly perceived a gigantic figure standing before him. He was startled, but exclaimed, " What art thou, and for what purpose art thou come?"—" I am thine evil genius," replied the phantom ; " we shall m€et again at Philippi ! " 2 Cleopatra ascended the Cydnus in a galley with purple sails. The oars, inlaid witli silver, moved to the soft music of flute and pipe. She reclined under a gold- spangled canopy, attired as Venus, and attended by nymphs, cupids, and graces. The air was redolent with perfumes. As she approached Tarsus, the whole city flocked to witness the magnificent sight, leaving Antony sitting alone in the tribunal. 254 ROME. [41 B.C. and carried him to Egypt. They passed the winter in the wildest extravagance. Breaking away for a time from the silken chains of Cleopatra^ Antony, upon tlie death of Fulvia, married the beautiful and noble Oetavia, sister of Octavius. But at the first opportunity he went back again to Alexan- dria, where he laid aside the dignity of a Roman citizen and assumed the dress of an Egjrptian monarch.^ Cleopatra was presented with several provinces, and became the real ruler of the East. Civil War between Octavius and Antony (31 b. c). — The senate at last declared war against Cleopatra. There- upon Antony divorced Octavia and prepared to invade Italy. The rival fleets met off the promontory of Ac'tium. Cleo- patra fled with her ships early in the day. Antony, basely deserting those who were dying for his cause, followed her. Wlien Octavius entered Egypt (30 B. c), there was no resist- ance. Antony, in despair, stabbed himself. Cleopatra in vain tried her arts of fascination upon the conqueror. Finally, to avoid gracing his triumph at Rome, she put an end to her life, according to the common story, by the bite of an asp, brought her in a basket of figs. Thus died the last of the Ptolemies. Result. — Egypt now became a province of Rome. With the battle of Actiuni ended the Roman republic. Csesar Octavius was the undisputed master of the civilized world. After his retm-n to Italy, he received the title of Augustus, by which name he is known in history. The civil wars were over. 1 The follios and wasteful extravagance of their mad revels at Alexandria almost surpass helief. One day, in Antony's kitchen, tliere are said to have been eight wild boars roasting whole, so arranged as to be ready at different times, that his' dinner might be served In perfection whenever lie should see fit to order it. On another occasion he and the queen vied as to which could serve the more expensive banquet. Removing a magnificent pearl from her ear, slie dissolved it in vinegar, and swal- lowed the priceless draught. 31 B.C.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 255 IMPERIAL HOME. Establishment of the Empire. — After the clamor of a hundred years, a sweet silence seemed to fall npon the eai'th. The Tem])le of Janns was closed for the second time I.WELLS, DEL. RUSSELL 4 STRU.THERS, ENGS, N.Y since the pions Numa. Warned by the fate of Jidius, Augustns did not take the name of king, nor startle the Roman prejudices by any sudden seizure of authority. He 256 ROME. [31 B.C. kejDt lip all the forms of the republic. Every ten years he went tlirough the farce of laying down his rank as chief of the army, or imperator, — a word since contracted to emperor. He professed himself the humble servant of the senate, while he really exercised absolute power. Gradually all the offices of trust were centered in him. He became at once proconsul, consul, censor, tribune, and high priest.^ Massacre of Varus (9 a. d.). — Germany, under the vigorous rule of Drusus and Tiberius, step-sons of Augustus, now seemed liliely to become as thoroughly Romanized as Gaul had been (Brief Hist. France, p. 11). Varus, gov- ernor of the province, thinking the conquest complete, at- tempted to introduce the Latin language and laws. There- upon Arminius, a noble, freedom-loving German, aroused his countrymen, and in the wilds of the Teutoburg Forest took a terrible revenge for the wrongs they had suffered. Varus and his entire army perished.^ Dii'e was the dismay at Rome when news came of this disaster. For days Augustus wandered tlirough his palace, beating his head against the waU, and crying, "Varus, give me back my legions ! " Six years later the whitened bones of these hap- less warriors were buried by Germanicus, the gifted son of Drusus, who in vain endeavored to restore the Roman au- thority in Germany. The Augustan Age (31 b. c.-14 a. d.) was, however, one of general peace and prosperity. The emperor hved unos- 1 As consul, lie became chief magistrate ; as censor, he could decide who were to be senators; as tribune, he heard appeals, and his person was sacred; as imperator, he commanded the army ; and as poutifex maximus, or chief priest, he was the head of the national religion. These were powers originally belonging to the king, but which, during the republic, from a fear of centralization, had been distributed among different persons. Now the emperor gathered them up again. 2 Creasy reckons this among the fifteen decisive battles of the world. "Had Ar- minius been defeated," says Arnold, " our German ancestors would have been en. slaved or exterminated, and the great English nation would have been struck out of existence." 14A.D.J THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 257 tentatiously in his house, not in a palace, and his toga was woven by his wife Livia and lier maidens. He revived the worshij^ of the gods. His chosen friends were men of letters. He beautified Rome, so that he could truly boast that he "found the city of brick, and left it of marble." There was now no fear of pirates or hostile fleets, and grain came in plenty from Egypt. The people were amused and fed ; hence they were contented. The provinces were well governed,^ and many gained Roman citizenship. A single language became a universal bond of intercoui'se, and Rome began her work of civilization and education. Wars having so nearly ceased, and interest in politics having diminished, men turned their thoughts more toward literature, art, and religion. The Birth of Christ, the central figure in all history, occurred during the widespread peace of this reign. The Empire was, in general, bounded by the Euphrates on the east, the Danube and the Rhine on the north, the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and the deserts of Africa on the south. It comprised about a hundi-ed millions of people, of perhaps a hundred different nations, each speaking its own language and worshiping its own gods. An army of three hundred and fifty thousand men held the provinces in check, while the Prnetorian Guard of ten thousand protected the person of the emperor. The Mediterranean, which the Romans proudly called '' om* own sea," served as a natural highway between the widely sundered parts of this vast region, while the Roman roads, straight as an eagle's flight, bound every portion of the empii-e to its center. Every- where the emperor's will was law. His smile or frown was 1 One day wlieu Augustus was sailing in tlie Baj^ of Baiix?, a Greek sliip was pass- ing. The sailors, perceiving the emperor, stopped their vessel, arrayed tliemselves in white robes, and, going on board his yacht, offered sacrifice to him as a god, saying, " You have given to us liappiness. You have secured to us our lives and our goods." 258 ROME. lIst cent. a. d. the fortune or ruin of a man, a city, or a province. His character determined the prosperity of the empire. He hved to be seventy-six years old, having reigned forty- four years. At his death ^ the senate decreed that divine honors should be given him, and temples were erected for his worship. From him the month August was named. Henceforth the history of Rome is not that of the people, but of its emperors. Of these, forty-two were murdered, three committed suicide, and two were forced to abdicate the throne.2 None of the early emperors was followed by his own son, but, according to the Roman law of adoption, they all counted as Caesars. Nero was the last of them at all connected with Augustus, even by adoption, though the emperors called themselves Caesar and Augustus to the last. After the death of Augustus, COIN OF TIBERIUS C^SAR. Tiberius (14 a. d.), his step-son, secured the empire by a decree of the senate. The army on the Rhine would have 1 The domestic life of Augustus was not altogetlier happy. He suffered greatly from the imperious disposition of Livia,— his fourth wife,— whom, however, he loved too dearly to coerce ; from his step-son Tiherius, whose turbulence he was forced to clieck hy sending him in exile to Rhodes; and still more keenly from the immoral conduct of his daughter Julia, whom, with her mother, Scribonia, he was also com- pelled to banish. 2 In the following pages a brief account is given of the principal monarchs only; a full list of the emperors may be found on p. 311. 14A.D.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 259 gladly given the throne to the noble Germanieus, but he declined the honor. Jealous of this kinsman, Tiberius, it is thought, afterward removed him by poison. The new emperor ruled for a time with much ability, yet soon proved to be a gloomy tyrant,^ and finally retired to the Island of Caprea3, to practice in secret his infamous orgies. His favorite, the cruel and ambitious Seja'nus, prefect of the Praetorian Guard, remained at Rome as the real ruler, but, having conspired against his master, he was thrown into the Mamertine Prison, and there strangled. Many of the best citizens fell victims to the emperoi^'s suspicious disposition, and all, even the surviving members of his own . family, breathed easier when news came of his sudden death. The great event of this reign was the crucifixion of Christ ^ at Jerusalem, under Pilate, Roman procurator of Judea. Caligula^ (37 a. d.) inherited some of his father's virtues, but he was weak-minded, and his history records only a madman's freaks. He made his favorite horse a consul, and provided him a golden manger. Any one at whom the emperor nodded his head or pointed his finger was at once executed. " Would," said he, ^' that all the people at Rome had but one neck, so I could cut it off at a single blow." Nero (54 a. d.) assassinated his mother and wife. In the midst of a great fire which destroyed a larger part of Rome, he chanted a poem to the music of his lyre, while he watched the flames. To secure himself against the charge of having at least spread the fire, he ascribed the confla- 1 His character resembled that of Louis XI. (see Brief Hist. France, p. 94). 2 Over liis cross was an inscription in three languages, significant of the tliree best developments then known of tlie human race,— ROMAN law, Greek mind, and Hebuew faith. 3 Caius, son of Germanicus, and great-grandson of Augustus, received from the soldier.s the nickname of Caligula, by which ho is always known, because he wore little boots {caligulce) while with his father in camp on the Rhine. 260 ROME. [1st cent. a. d. gration to the Clii'istiaus. These were cruelly persecuted/ St. Paul and St. Peter, according to traditiou, being mar- tyi-ed at this time. In rebuilding the city, Nero substi- tuted broad streets for the winding lanes in the hollow between the Seven Hills, and, in place of the unsightly piles of brick and wood, erected handsome stone buildings^ each block surrounded by a colonnade. COIN OF NERO. Vespasian (69 a. d.) was made emperor by his army in Judea. An old-fashioned Roman, he sought to revive the ancient virtues of honesty and frugality. His son Titus, after capturing Jerusalem (pp. 85, 284), shared the throne with his father, and finally succeeded to the empire. His generosity and kindness won him the name of the Delight of ManMnd. He refused to sign a death-warrant, and pro- nounced any day lost in which he had not done some one a favor. During this happy period, Agricola conquered nearly all Britain, making it a Roman province; the famous Colosseum at Rome was finished ; but Pompeii and 1 Some were crucified. Some were covered with the slfins of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs. Some were thrown to the tigers and lions in the Amphi- theater. Gray-haired men were forced to fight with trained gladiators. Worst of all, one night Nero's gardens were lighted by Christians, who, their clothes having been smeared with i)itch and ignited, were placed as blazing torches along the course on which the emperor, heedless of their agony, drove his chariot in the races. 79A.D.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 261 Herciilaueuni were destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius.^ Domitian^ (81 a. d.) was a second Nero or Caligula. His chief amusement was in spearing flies with a pin; yet he styled himself " Lord and God," and received divine honors. He banished the philosophers, and renewed the persecution of the Christians. At this time St. John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos. The Five Good Emperors (9G-180 a. d.) now brought in the palmiest days of Rome. Nerva, a quiet, honest old man, distributed lands among the plebs, and taught them to work for a living. Trajan, a great Spanish general, con- quered the Dacians and many Eastern peoples; founded public libraries and schools in Italy; and tried to restore freedom of speech and simplicity of life.^ Hadrian traveled almost incessantly over his vast empu^e, overseeing the gov- ernment of the provinces, and erecting splendid buildings. Antmiinus Fins was a second Numa ; by his love of justice and religion, he diffused the blessings of peace and order over the civilized world. Marcus AureMus^ was a philosopher, and loved quiet. But the time of peace had passed. The Germans, pressed by Russian Slavs, fled before them, and crossed the Roman frontiers as in the time of Marius. The emperor was forced to take the field in person, and died during the eighth winter campaign. Decline of the Empire. — The most virtuous of men was succeeded by a weak, vicious boy, his son Commodus. 1 The forgotten site of Pompeii was accidentally discovered in 1748 (see p. 300). 2 Domitian is said to have once called together the senate to decide how a fish should be cooked for his dinner. 3 Two centuries afterward, at the accession of each emperor, the senate wished that he might be " more fortiinate than Augustus, more virtuous than Trajan." 4 Marcus Aurelius took the name of his adoptive father, Antoninus, so that this period is known as the Age of the Antoninea. 262 ROME. [180 A. D. An era of military despotism followed. Miu'der became domesticated in the palace of tlie Caesars. The Praetorian Guards put up the imperial power at auction, and sold it to the highest bidder. The armies in the provinces declared for their favorite officers, and the throne became the stake of battle. Few of the long list of emperors who succeeded to the throne are worthy of mention. Septim'ius Seve'rus (193 a. d.), a general in Germany, after defeating his rivals, ruled vigorously, though often cruelly. His triumphs in Parthia and Britain renewed the glory of the Roman arms. Car'acarius (211 a. d.) would be remembered only for his ferocity, but that he gave the right of Roman citizenship to all the provinces, in order to tax them for the benefit of his soldiers. This event marked an era in the history of the empire, and greatly lessened the importance of Rome. Alexander Seve'rus (222 a. d.) delighted in the society of the wise and good. He favored the Christians, and over the door of his palace were inscribed the words, " Do unto others that which you would they should do unto you." He won victories against the Germans and Persians (Sassanidae, p. 156), but, attempting to estabUsh discipUne in the army, was slain by his mutinous troops in the bloom of youth. The Barbarian Goths, Germans, and Persians, who had so long threatened the empire, invaded it on every side. The emperor Decius was killed in battle by the Goths. Oalliis bought peace by an annual tribute. Valerian was taken prisoner by the Persian king, who carried him about in chains, and used him as a footstool in mounting his horse. The temple at Ephesus was burned at this time by the Goths. Dming the general confusion, so many usurpers sprang up over the empire and established short-lived kingdoms, that this is known as the Era of the Tlm-ty Tyrants. 268 a. D.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 263 The lUyrian Emperors (2G8-284 a. d.), howevcir, rolled back the tide of invasion. Claudius vanquished the Goths in a contest which recalled the days of Marius and the Gauls. Aurelian drove the Germans into their native wilds, and de- feated Zenobia, the beautiful and heroic queen of Palmyra, bringing her to Rome in chains of gold to grace his triumph. Frobus triumphed at the East and the West, and, turning to the arts of peace, introduced the vine into Germany, and taught the legions to work in vineyard and field. Diocle'tian began a new method of government. To meet the swarm- ing enemies of the empire, he associated with himself his comrade-in-arms, Maxim kin; each emperor took the title of Augustus, and appointed, under the name of Caesar, a brave general as his successor. War raged at once in Persia, Egypt, Britain, and Germany, but the four rulers vigilantly w^atched over theii* respective provinces, and the Roman eagles conquered every foe. In the year 303 a. d. the joint emperors celebrated the last triumph ever held at Rome. During the same year, also, began the last and most bitter persecution of the Christians,^ so that this reign is called the Era of the Martyrs. Spread of Christianity. — The rehgion founded by Jesus of Nazareth, and preached duiing the 1st century by Paul and the other Apostles (see Acts of the Apostles), had now spread over the Western Empire. It was largely, how- ever, confined to the cities, as is curiously shown in the fact that the word '^ pagan " originally meant only a countryman. Though the Romans tolerated the rehgious belief of every nation which they conquered, they cruelly persecuted Chris- tians. This wais because the latter opposed the national 1 In 305 A. I), both emperors resigned tlie purple. Diocletian amused liimself by working lu his garden, and when Maxiniian sought to diaw liim out of his letire- nient he wrote: "If you could see the cabbages I have planted with my own hand, you would never ask me to remount the throne." 264 ROME. [4th CENT. A. D. religion of the empire, and refused to offer sacrifice to its gods, and to worship its emperors. Moreover, the Christians absented themselves from the games and feasts, and were accustomed to hold their meetings at night, and often in secret. They were therefore looked upon as enemies of the state, and were persecuted by even the best rulers, as Trajan and Diocletian, This opposition, however, served only to strengthen the rising faith. The heroism of the martyi's extorted the admiration of their enemies. Thus, when Poly- carp was hurried before the tribunal and urged to curse Christ, he exclaimed, " Eighty-six years have I served Him, and He has done me nothing but good ; how could I curse Him, my Lord and Saviour ? " And when the flames rose around him he thanked God that he was deemed worthy of such a death. With the decaying empire. Heathenism grew weaker, while Christianity gained strength. As early as the reign of Septimius Severus, Tertullian declared that if the Christians were forced to emigrate, the empire would become a desert. Loss of Roman Prestige. — Men no longer looked to Rome for their citizenship. The army consisted principally of Gauls, Germans, and Britons, who were now as good Ro- mans as any. The emperors were of provincial birth. The wars kept them on the frontiers, and Diocletian, it is said, had never seen Rome until he came there in the twentieth year of his reign to celebrate his triumph. His gorgeous Asiatic court, with its pompous ceremonies and its king wearing the hated crown, was so ridiculed in Rome by song and lampoon that the monarch never returned. His headquarters were kept at Nicomedia (Bithynia) in Asia Minor, and Maximian's at Milan. Constantine, the Cfesar in Britain, having been pro- claimed Augustus by his troops, overthrew five rivals who 324 a. D.] THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 265 contested the throne, and became sole ruler (324 a. d.). His reign marked an era in tlie world's history. It was char- acterized by three changes: 1. Christianity became, in a sense, the state religion.^ 2. The capital was removed to Byzantium, a Greek city, afterward known as Constantinople (Constautine's city). 3. The monarchy was made an abso- lute despotism, the power of the army weakened, and a court established, whose nobles, receiving their honors directly from the emperor, took rank with, if not the place of, the former consul, senator, or patrician. The First General ((Ecumenical) Council of the Church was lield at Nica^a (325 a. d.), to consider the teach- ings of A)'ii(s, a priest of ^Uexandria, who denied the divinity of Christ. Arianism was denounced, and the opposing doctrines of another Alexandrian priest, Athana'sius, were adopted as the Nicene Creed. Christianity soon conquered the empire. The emperor Julimiy the Apostate, an excellent man though a Pagan philosopher, sought to restore the old religion, but in vain. The best intellects, repelled from political discussion by the tyi'anny of the government, turned to the consideration of theological questions. This was especially true of tlie East- ern Church, where the Greek mind, so fond of metaphysical subtleties, was predominant. Barbarian Invasions. — In the latter part of the 4th century, a host of Scivage Huns,^ bursting into Europe, drove 1 Ai:c(»t(liug to the legend, when Constantinc was marchin.? ajrninst Maxentius, the rival Augustus at Rome, he saw in the sky at mid-day a tlanimg cross, and beneath it the words, " IN this conquer ! " Constantino accepted tlie new faith, and assumed the standard of the cross, wliich was henceforth borne by the Christian emperors. 2 The Huns were a Turanian race from Asia. They were short, thick-set, with flat noses, deep-sunk eyes, and a yeUow complexion. Their faces were hideously scarred with shishes to prevent the gru'vih of the beard. An historian of the time com- pares their ugliness to the grinning lieads carved on the posts of bridges. Tliey dressed in skins, wliich were worn until they rotted off, and lived ou horseback, carrying theii- families and all their possessions in huge wagons. 266 ROMTi]. [378 A. D. tlie Teutons in terror before them. The frightened Goths ^ obtained permission to cross the Danube for an asylum, and soon a million of these wild warriors stood, sword in hand, on the Roman territory. They were assigned lands in Thrace ; but the ill treatment of the Roman officials drove them to arms. They defeated the emperor Valens in a terrible battle near Adrianople, the monarch himself being burned to death in a peasant's cottage, where he had been carried wounded. The victorious Goths pressed forward to the very gates of Constantinople. Theodosius the Great, a Spaniard, raised from a farm to the throne, stayed for a few years tlie inevitable prog- ress of events. He pacified tlu^ Goths, and enlisted forty thousand of tlieir warriors under the eagles of Rome. He I'orbade the worship of the old gods, and tried to put down the Arian heresy, so prevalent at Constantinople. At his death (395 a. d.) the empire was divided between his two sons. Henceforth the histories of the Eastern or Byzantine and the Western Empire are separate. The former is to go on at Constantinople for one thousand years, while Rome is soon to pass into the hands of the barbarians. The 5 th Century is known as the Era of the Or eat Migrations. During this j^eriod, Europe was turbulent with the movements of the restless Germans. Pressed by the Huns, the different tribes — the East and West Goths, Franks, Alans, Vandals, Burgundians, Longobards (Lombards), Alle- manns. Angles, Saxons — poured south and west with irre- 1 Tlie Goths were already somewhat advanced in civilization through their inter- course with the Romans, and we read of Gothic leadei's who were "judges of Homer, and carried well-chosen books with them on their travels." Under the teacliiugs of their good bishop, Ul'philas, many accepted Christianity, and the Bible was tran.slated into their language. They, however, became Ariaus, and so a new element of discord was introduced, as they hated the Catholic Christians of Home (see Brief Hist. France, p. 14). THE POLITICAL HISTORY. 267 sistible fiiry, arms in hand, seeking new homes in the crumbling Roman Empire. It was nearly two centuries before the turmoil sul^sided enough to note the changes which had taken place. Three Great Barbaric Leaders, Al'aric the Goth, At'tila the Hun, and Uen'scric the Vandal, were conspicuous in the grand catastroplie. 1. Alaric having l)een chosen prince of the Goths, after the death of Theodosius, passed the defile of Thermopylae, and devastated Greece, destroying the precious monuments of its former glory. Sparta and Athens, once so brave, made no defense. He was finally driven back by Stilicho, a Van- dal, but the only great Roman general. Alari(i next moved upon Italy, l)ut was repeatedly repulsed l)y the watchful Stilicho. The Roman emperor Honoiius, jealous of his successful general, (jrdei'ed his execution. When Alaric came again, there was no one to opi)ose his progress. All the barbarian Germans, of every name, joined his victorious arms. Rome ' bought a 1 )i'ief respite with a ransom of " gold, sUver, silk, scarh^t (jlotli, and pepper;" but Tlie Eternal City, which had not seen an enemy 1)efore its walls since the day when it defied Hannibal, soon fell without a blow (410 A. D.). No Ploratius was there to hold the bridge in this hour of peril. The gates were thrown open, and at midnight the Gothic trumpet awoke the inhabitants. For six days the barbcirians held high revel, and then their climisy 1 " Rome, at this time, contained probablj-^ a million of inhabitants, and its wealtli might well attract the cupidity of the barbarous invader. The palaces of the senators were lilled with gold and silver ornaments,— the piize of many a bloody campaign. The churches were rich with the contributions of pious worshipers. On the en- trance of the (4oths, a fearful scene of pillage ensued. Houses were fired to light the stieets. Great numbers of citizens wero driven off to be sold as slaves ; while others fled to Africa, or the islands of the Mediterranean. Alaric, being an Arian, tried to save the churches, as well as the city, from destruction. But now began that swift decay which soon leduced Rome to heaps of luius, and rendered the title 'The Kternal City' a sad mockery."—