\yAP. f§fe ^"^O ^=S^>^ Columbia ^nthcfjsftp t«tl)e€itj>rf2fttagorfe LIBRARY ^Si MANUAL OF ANCIENT HISTOHY. Ji.d. MANU A L It ' ■> -> ANCIENT HISTORY, FliOM THE llEMOTEST TIMES Td THE OVEIiTHUOW OF TiiE WESTEilX EMI'Iin-., A.ii. IM. DI?. LEONHARD SGHMIT Z, F.R.S.E.. ^ RF.CTOR OF TIIK IllCfll SCHOOL UF KDINEUHCH. Vy'iTH COPIOUS CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. EDINBURGH: ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK. LUXDUN: LONiniAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. MDCCCLV. c c c c c Cbinburgb : Irintfb bi) '§. (& g. €IarL PEEFACE, The object of the present work is to fiirnisli a brief but complete summary of the history of antiquity, from the remotest times down to the overthrow of the Roman Empire in the West, in a.b. 476. The history of Greece and Rome is taught in all schools professing to give a liberal education, but this is often done to the entire exclusion of the other nations of antiquity, which, though they did not exercise an equally powerful influ- ence either upon their contemporaries or upon posterity, yet ought not to be passed over by any one desirous to obtain a complete view, and form a correct estimate, of the ancient world. The present manual, therefore, embracing the history of all the nations of antiquity, is designed to present to the student, besides the histories of Greece and Rome, an outline of that of the non- classical nations, and to devote to each of them as much attention as their historical unportance may seem to demand. The history of the Jewish nation does not form part of this manual, because it is felt that the historv of .cc3 c Uvj 1 VI PREFACE. that memorable people, in order to be in any way satis- factory, cannot be treated with the same brevity as that of other ancient nations ; it must further be assumed, that the history of the Jews is known to every Cliristian student from his Bible and the religious instruction he has received ; the sacred history, moreover, is of that peculiar kind that it ought not to be placed on a level with that of less favoured nations, it being essentially of a religious character, and every one ought to learn it from the Holy Scriptures themselves, rather than from any summary abridgment. In order, however, to assist the biblical student, a brief chronology of Jewish history, from the Creation down to the destruction of Jerusalem, has been added to the Chronological Table at the end of the work. The whole manual is divided into three books, which may be regarded as three distinct courses of history ; the first comprising the Asiatic nations and Egyptians ; the second, the Greeks. ^Macedonians, and the kingdoms that were formed out of the empire of Alexander the Great; and the third, the Romans, Carthaginians, and the nations of south-western Europe. L. SCHMITZ. Edinbdrgii, April 1855. CONTENTS Page I>-TUODUCTIOX 1 BOOK I. ASIATIC NATIONS. CHAPTER I. Geogi'aphical Sketch of Asia — The Earliest Social and Political Forms among Asiatic Nations 9 CHAPTER II. China 17 CHAPTER III. India 24 CHAPTER IV. Iran (Bactria, Media, and Persia) 49 CHAPTER Y. Assyria and Babylonia 70 CHAPTER YI. Phoenicia . . ' 83 CHAPTER YII. Lydia 93 CHAPTER YIII. Egypt 96 VIU CONTENTS. BOOK 11. HISTORY OF GREECE, MACEDONIA, AND THE GRAECO-MACEDONIAN KINGDO:\IS. CHAPTER I. p.^^„ Geogi-aphical Sketch of Greece 127 CHAPTER II. The ]\Iythical Period of Greek History ....... 134 CHAPTER III. History of the Doric States, from the Return of tlie Heracleids down to the End of the Second Messenian \Y'ar 1.37 CHAPTER IV. National Institutions of the Greeks, and History of Attica down to the Persian Wars 17.5 CHAPTER y. Greek Colonies, and the Progress of Art and Literature, from the Homeric Age to the Persian Wars 198 CHAPTER VI. The Persian Wars down to the Establishment of the Supremacy of Athens 212 CHAPTER VIE The Supremacy of Athens do-mi to the Commencement of tlie Pelo- ponnesian War 240 CHAPTER VIII. The Peloponnesian War 2.53 CPIAPTER IX. Erom the Close of the Peloponnesian War to the Peace of Antalcidas . 287 CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER X. Pg„g From the Peace of Autalcidas to the Battle of Chaeroneia . . . 300 CHAPTER XI. The Reign of Alexander the Great 321 CHAPTER XII. The Successors of Alexander until the Time of the Achaean League . 338 CHAPTER XIII. Macedonia and Greece down to their Conquest by the Romans . . 347 CHAPTER XIV. Asia and Egypt, under the Successors of Alexander the Great . . 303 BOOK III. HISTORY OF ROME, CARTHAGE, AND THE NATIONS OF WESTERN EUROPE. CHAPTER I. Italy and its Inhabitants 373 CHAPTER II. The Beginnings of Roman History down to the Establishment of the RepubUc 379 CHAPTER III. From the Establishment of the Republic until the Decemviral Legis- lation 395 CHAPTER IV. From the Decemviral Legislation down to the Final Subjugation of Latium 405 X CONTENT?. CHAPTER V. p,^^ From the Suhj ligation of Latium to that of all Italy . . . .418 CHAPTER YI. Carthage and Sicily 429 CHAPTER YII. The First Punic "War down to the Outbreak of the Second . . . 436 CHAPTER Yin. The Second Punic War, the First and Second Macedonian A\'ars, and the War against Antiochms 4i<) CHATTER IX. From the Third War against Macedonia do-\m to the Time of the Gracchi 4,')H CHAPTER X. From the Time of the Gracchi dov.'n to the First War against ^lithridates 409 CHAPTER XI. From the First War against 3Iithridates dovm to the Death of Sulla . 482 CHAPTER XII. From the Death of Sulla to the Outbreak of the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey . 480 CHAPTER XIII. Tlie Civil War between Pompey and Caesar, and the Subsequent Events, down to the Battle of Actium 50o CHAPTER XI Y. The Reign of Augustus 518 CHAPTER XY. The Successors of A.ugnstus down to the Deatii of Xero . . . 'y2o CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XVI. Page From the Death of Nero to that of Domitian 535 CHAPTER XVII. From the Accession of Nerva to the Death of jNI. Aiirelius . . . 542 CHAPTER XVIII. From the Accession of Commodus to that of Diocletian . . , 550 CHAPTER XIX. From the Accession of Diocletian to tlie Division of the Empire , . 566 CHAPTER XX. P'rom the Division of tlie Empire to the Overthrow of the V\^eslern Empire 5S,'; ("lIIvONOI.OGlCAL TaULK ... oDO J.NDKX fi25 HISTORY • ■' • OP THE NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY. INTRODUCTION. The name antiquity in its most general acceptation is commonly understood to comprise tlie whole period from the creation down to the overthrow of the western empire in a.d. 476, and the history of that vast expanse of time is termed the " History of Antiquity," or " Ancient History." But neither the beginning nor the end of this history is the same for all the nations of antiquity. As to the beginning of the human race in general, it is obvious that, unless assisted by revelation, man could have possessed but very little or no knowledge at all, and after the creation of man many centuries must have passed away before those communities could be formed in the primitive seats of our race, which we term states or nations, and which alone form the subjects of general history. But even the beginnings of these national or political associations, to whatever period they belong, do not yet constitute the begin- ning of real history, for the accounts of the formation of states and the foundation of cities are generally transmitted to later ages by mere oral tradition, which is ever changing and expand- ing, until in the end it is impossible to separate its nucleus of truth from what has grown upon and around it. Eeal history B 2 ANCIENT , HISTO R Y . does not, c,o';i:?m>3nGe until tne time when contemporary records of S9m,e,kird or anotlier are drawn np to assist the memory of man 'An -preserving ibr posterity the memorials of a nation's life. We do not mep.r to asGcrt that absolutely nothing can be known of Ihose periods about which we have no contem- porary records, for tradition also may hand down, and has handed down, a vast amount of information concerning past ages, but such information can never be as perfect and free from error as the accounts drawn up by contemporaries, or by persons living so near the events themselves, as to be able, with a reasonable amount of judgment and discernment, to ascertain the truth. Written records fix for ever that which would otherwise be subject to a perpetual process of change and modification. The possibility of drawing up records of a nation's history depends upon a variety of circumstances, and, above all, upon the art of writing. As this art did not become known to all the ancient nations at once, but was gradually imparted by one to another, it follows that contemporary records were made in some countries at a much earlier period than in others, and it must be observed in general, that the Asiatic nations and the Egyptians practised the art of writing many centuries before it was introduced into Europe. Hence we possess authentic and trustworthy accounts of some Asiatic nations at a period when the history of Europe is still buried in utter darkness. Asia is the cradle of the human race, in Asia the first states were formed, and it is from Asia that Europe and Africa received their inhabitants. Hence the traditions and history of the Asiatic nations go back to more remote periods than those of any nation in Europe. While thus the nations claiming our attention in antiquity widely differ in regard to the points at which their respective histories and traditions commence, the point at which antiquity terminates is no less different with different nations. The INTRODUCTION. 3 epoch generally assumed as the line of demarcation between antiquity and the middle ages, is the overthrow of the western empire of Eome, and, so far as the south-west of Europe is concerned, that event marks, in a sufficiently striking manner, the transition to an entirely new state of things : — all that was peculiar to the ancient world had then ceased, and a new order of things had sprung up ; the ancient empire was broken to pieces, new kingdoms were built up on its ruins, and civilisation, which had before reached a certain culmi- nating point, now began a new career, struggling through many centuries of ignorance and barbarism, until in the end it rose to that height which constitutes the glory of our own age. But upon the eastern world that event exercised little or no influence, for the Greek empire continued its wretched existence for nearly a thousand years longer, and the Asiatic nations also preserved their previous forms and institutions without any material change, until the establishment of Mahommedanism revolutionised nearly the whole of western Asia and the north of Africa. The nations of central and eastern Asia, lastly, were not affected at all by the event which so completely changed the aspect of western Europe. But notwithstanding this discrepancy, it is convenient, at least for Europeans, to regard the fall of the western empire of Rome as the termination of antiquity, and as the commence- ment of a new era in history. Down to this event, therefore, it is our intention in this manual to carry the history of the ancient nations. It must not be inferred from the foregoing remarks that the history of the human race is altogether involved in im- penetrable darkness during those remote periods, about which neither traditions nor written records have come down to us, for there are other sources from which a certain amount of historical knowledge can be obtained, concerning man as well as concerning the globe he inhabits. The earth, and 4 ANCIENT HISTORY. the mighty revolutions it has undergone since the days of its creation, and before it became the fit abode for man, are not, properly speaking, subjects of a history which is concerned about man alone ; but being the scene of his joys and sorrows, its history, as revealed by the science of geology, and its description furnished by that of geography, are inter- esting, nay, indispensable handmaids to the history of man. Geology, though less necessary to a full understanding of the history of mankind, affords us some insight into the otherwise mysterious revolutions through which the earth has passed before assuming its present form and character. What geology is to the history of the earth, comparative philology has proved to be to the history of man. Ages about which all traditions and all histories are silent, would be like sealed books to us, were it not for comparative philology, a child of the nineteenth century ; for the analysis and comparison of languages allow us every now and then to catch a glimpse of the relations subsisting among nations often separated, during the historical times, by thousands of miles ; of the state of their civilisation, and of their migrations, before they reached the countries in which ultimately they took up their perma- nent abode. One example may suffice to show the flood of light which comparative philology in our days has thrown upon the history of mankind : it is now established as a fact beyond all doubt, that the nations on the banks of the Ganges and the Indus, as well as the ancient Persians, spoke a lan- guage radically identical with those spoken in Europe from the earliest times, including both Latin and Greek, and perhaps even the Etruscan. This great fact has dispelled a mass of false notions formerly entertained in regard to the ancient population of southern Europe. The radical identity of all these languages shows incontrovertibly that there must have existed at one time a close connection among the nations which speak them, and that in fact all these nations must have INTRODUCTION. sprung from one common stock. Of this fact, neither tradition nor history has preserved the slightest trace. The primitive seats of man were in all probability in the north-west of India, or the highlands of Armenia ; thence the branches spread in all directions, until the ocean set a limit to their migrations. It has thus been established that most of the races of men, from the Ganges in the east, to the Atlantic in the west, belong to one great family, and it is probable that further investigations will show that all the two thousand languages spoken by man are traceable to one common parent, and will thus confirm the record of Genesis, that all mankind is descended from one com- mon father and one common mother. The study of language will then dispel the idea of several originally distinct races, which physiologists have assumed for the purpose of explaining the physical differences which present themselves among the inhabitants of the several parts of our globe. There can be no doubt that, for practical purposes, it is useful to divide mankind, as it at present exists, into three or even six different races, each presenting peculiar characteristics, which neither climate nor mode of living apparently ever produces ; but though this is true of the present age of the world, who will undertake to prove that it was so from the beginning ? Is it not possible that for many generations after his first creation man was more plastic and more easily affected by climate and the other influences which at present are nearly inoperative in deter- mining our physical and mental constitution ? If a man by living in central Africa does not now become a negro, it does not follow that it was always so ; and hence we conceive that the strongly marked differences between existing races afford no ground for assuming, as many have done, that these differences have existed from the day of creation, or that God created not one, but several pairs of human beings. Another means of furnishing us with some idea of the 6 ANCIENT HTSTOEY. history of a nation, in the absence of literary memorials, is to be found in its architectural remains ; for even if they bear no inscriptions, or such inscriptions as cannot be deciphered and understood, the mere forms and structure of their houses, temples, tombs, and other edifices, often reveal to us at least some parts of a nation's life and history, and that too some- times in a more vivid manner than written records would have done. Hence the mode of life of the Egyptians, and their ordinary pursuits, were known to the world from their sculptured monuments, long before the clue to the reading of the hieroglyphics had been discovered ; and the same may still be asserted of the Etruscans, whose inscribed monuments have not yet been deciphered. It must not, however, be supposed that ancient history becomes authentic and continuous from the moment the art of writing is discovered and applied to the recording of events, for the earliest records are lost to us in almost every instance ; and even if they were extant, they would scarcely furnish more than the skeleton of history. We are therefore dependent upon later writers, who drew up their accounts by the aid of legends and traditions. The value of such accounts depends upon a variety of circumstances, and the historian is obliged to proceed with the utmost caution and wariness in examining, weighing, and discriminating the authenticity of the sources from which he derives his information. As a great many of the historical writings of the ancients have perished, he is often reduced to the necessity of filling up gaps by combination and conjecture, or from analogy. Even at periods about which his sources of information flow more copiously, he has to contend with difficulties that are unknown to the historian of modern times. Such, for instance, is the imsettled state of ancient chronology. There was no chronolo- gical era common to all the nations of antiquity ; every people had its own system ; and while some reckoned by lunar years, INTRODUCTION. others computed time by solar ones ; with one nation, more- over, the year commenced at one season, while with another its beginning belonged to one quite different. To reduce all these discrepancies to one uniform system of chronology is a matter of extreme difficulty, and we must often be satisfied, after all, with results only approximating to the truth. We cannot pretend in this work to enter into a critical examination of this and other knotty points connected with ancient history, but our object will be to give those results of modern inquiries which in our judgment appear to be best entitled to our acceptance. According to the principle that man, and more especially those political associations of men which we call states, are the proper subjects of history, all the nations that ever existed during the vast period of antiquity come within the compass of ancient history ; but the claim they have upon our atten- tion varies according to the degree of civilisation they attained, and the influence they exercised upon their contemporaries or upon posterity. In a work designed for the instruction of the young, moreover, it would be out of place to record all that is known of every state and tribe we meet with in ancient times. A selection therefore has to be made, and a nation deserves a more or less prominent place in history in the pro- portion in which it has either promoted or retarded the pro- gress of mankind in civilisation. In this view ancient history becomes considerably narrowed ; it must not, however, be imagined that the less important nations will be passed over altogether ; they will receive their due share of attention, whenever they emerge from their obscurity and come in contact with other more influential branches of the human family. The sacred history of the Jews, however, or the account of the direct interference of God in the affairs of the Jewish nation, will be excluded from the present work, partly because it is, or ought to be, familiar to every one, and partly 8 ANCIENT HISTORY. because it appears to lis to be more adapted for religious than for historical instruction, being altogether distinct from ordi- nary political history. There is yet another method by which the domain of ancient history is sometimes reduced. For there are his- torians who confine themselves to the consideration of those nations whose history has been transmitted to us by the writers of the two classical nations of antiquity, the Greeks and Eomans, and pass over all others whose history has become known to us during the middle ages and in modern times, partly from native records, and partly through travellers and missionaries. It will be our endeavour in the present work to set no such limits to our undertaking, but to pass in review all the great nations of antiquity, from what- ever sources- our information regarding them may be derived, and thus to exhibit before the young student, in broad out- lines, as complete a picture of the ancient world as can be produced by the extended knowledge of the present age. Much that it would be interesting to know and to understand more thoroughly, will still remain obscure, being seen only through the mist of the many centuries which separate us from the events presented to our contemplation. As the development of the human race has, on the whole, followed the daily course of the sun, we shall begin with the nations of eastern Asia, and thence proceed westward till we reach the shores of the Atlantic, beyond which ancient history does not extend. BOOK I. ASIATIC NATIONS, CHAPTER I. GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ASIA. — THE EARLIEST SOCIAL AND POLITICAL FORMS AMONG ASIATIC NATIONS. 1. Asia is traversed by an immense plateau or high table- land, intercepted by numerous elevations and depressions of the ground, and occupying nearly one-half of the continent. This extends from the Black sea in the West, to the sea of Corea in the East of China, and consists of two main parts, which may be termed the eastern (the larger) and the western highlands of Asia. The former did not become known to the classical nations of antiquity until a very late period, and the ancients call it Scythia, beyond mount Imaus. This eastern highland bears throughout an almost uniform character, though its chains of mountains have many breaks and inter- ruptions. It is surrounded on all sides by lofty ranges of mountains, either in such a manner that the enclosed table- land sinks down towards its centre, from which the mountains gradually rise on all sides, or the surrounding mountains rise directly from the edge of the table-land. The former is the case in the north, where mount Altai forms a kind of circum- vallation, while the latter form appears more in the south, about the Himalayan mountains, the northern foot of which rises from the very edge of the table-land. These mountains and high- 10 ASIATIC NATIONS. lands were regarded by the earliest inhabitants of the East as the centre of the earth's surface, as the habitation of the gods and of the blessed, where peace, and light, and splendour reigned for ever, and where war and death were unknown. It is true all the countries of Asia are gi'ouped around those highlands as around a mighty citadel ; but the notion that they were the abode of happiness appears to have arisen only from the sublime grandeur of the mountains, for in reality the life of the tribes inhabiting them was poor and wretched, when compared with that of the nations occupying the plains, abound- ing in the most luxurious vegetation and in all the richest gifts of nature ; for the former were for the most part nomades, that is, tribes wandering with their flocks and herds over the extensive steppes, sometimes overrunning as conquerors the more fertile countries around their high lands. Their mode of life, without any towns or fixed habitations, with few wants, and these easily satisfied, remained the same for ages, and it was impossible for them to make any considerable progress in civilisation. Hence they remained far behind the surrounding nations that lived under more favourable circumstances. From the central table-land the countries sink down to- wards the seas in the most different forms : mijhty rivers with numerous tributaries form extensive water-systems, which are at the same time the great high roads along which the nations have migrated. The northern part of Asia, sloping down from the central highlands, the modern Siberia, does not come into consideration in ancient history, but the eastern, southern, and western slopes are the scenes of the manifold struggles and developments of the Asiatic nations, which will engage our attention. In many of these countries, history, even in the remotest times, meets with regularly organized states, sometimes even displaying a splendour and magnifi- cence bordering upon the fabulous. Wealthy cities with superb temples and palaces form the centres of civilisation GENERAL REMARKS. 11 and refinement, and an extensive commerce supplies them witli the comforts and luxuries, for which the East has at all times been proverbial. But the very bounties of nature, which almost dispensed with the labour of man, at the same time rendered him incapable of vigorous exertion, and checked his progress, or caused him to sink into listless indolence. 2. All the nations we meet with in ancient history — with the exception, perhaps, of the Chinese and a few others — belong to one of two great races, the Indo-Germanic and the Semitic. The languages of these two races, notwithstanding their almost endless varieties, prove incontestably that each of them must have descended from one common root. The Semitic race embraces not only those nations which, according to the Mosaic account, are descended from Shem, that is, the Hebrews and Arabs, but all the tribes from the Tigris to the Mediterranean and the Red sea. It is accordingly encircled by the far more extensive territories inhabited by branches of the Indo-Germanic race, which comprises, in Asia, the Indians and Persians, and in Europe, the Greeks, Eomans, Celts, Germans, Slavonians, and Lithuanians. . It is owing to this greater extension of the Indo-Germanic race that the languages spoken by its different branches differ more widely from one another than those of the Semitic. For thousands of years these two races have been the great promoters of civilisation, sometimes the one rising higher in the scale and sometimes the other. Their characters diverged at a very early period, but they have nevertheless exercised a considerable influence upon each other, and at times have contended with each other for the sovereignty of the world. The most striking differences between them may be briefly stated thus : The Semites are distinguished for their quick and keen perception, for their bold and restless spirit of enterprise, for their obstinate perseverance in the pursuit of their objects, for their spirit of exclusiveness in the possession of what they have gained, for 12 ASIATIC NATIONS. their strong passions and sensual propensities, and, above all, for their strong desire to comprehend the will of the deity, and their lofty aspirations in religion. It is owing to this last circumstance that the religious systems recognising the existence of only one true God, have originated among Semitic nations. The Indo- Germanic race, embracing a multitude of nations of different degrees of civilisation and of different capabilities, is not so easily characterised ; but still the more prominent among its branches possess greater clearness and calmness of mind, and greater powers of reflection, than the Semites ; they exhibit great genius for organisation, and a wonderful capability for developing the various circumstances in which they are placed, as well as for literature and the arts, in the last of which the Semites have always been far behind them. Their minds being very docile and plastic, they have in later times not only adopted the religious systems of the Semites, but advanced and developed them so much, that at present they far surpass their original instructors. They have, in fact, developed all that is great and noble in man to such a degree, as to outstrip all other races. 3. Many Asiatic nations have, or pretend to have, tra- ditions about their existence as states, which go back many thousands of years before the commencement of the Christian era. It need hardly be remarked that such traditions are of no historical value ; the account now universally adopted in Christendom, and at the same time the most plausible in itself, is that contained in the Scriptures, according to which the first pair of human beings was created about four thousand years before the birth of Christ. It is impossible to determine the part of Asia where our first parents were placed by their creator, nor can we trace with any accuracy the gradual increase and extension of our race. All we know is, that in the course of time men spread from Asia over the two other ancient conti- nents of Africa and Europe. The Mosaic account divides all GENERAL REMARKS. 13 tlie nations of the earth according to their descent from the three sons of Noah, viz., Shem, Ham, and Japhet — Shem being described as the ancestor of the Semitic race. Ham as the father of the Eg5q)tians and Africans, and Japhet as the progenitor of the inhabitants of Asia Minor and Europe. But we have already observed that language is the only safe criterion in classifying the different branches of the human family, and the study, of languages, as it advances, points more and more distinctly to one common stock of human beings — all physiological differences of races being, in all pro- bability, the result of accident and of outward circumstances. 4. The character and the institutions, social and political, of the Asiatic nations have, on the whole, undergone very few changes, and their present condition is not very different from what it was thousands of years ago. All of them reached a certain degree of civilisation, and it cannot be denied that in some instances very great progress was made, but none of them ever advanced beyond a certain point, at which they either remained stationary, or from which they sank back into a state of semi-barbarism. The causes of this phenome- non are found partly in the climate of southern Asia, where the luxurious productiveness of nature supports man without much exertion on his part, and where the easy mode of life allowed him to sink into a state of indolence and apathy, which proved to be the greatest obstacle to a steady and progres- sive development. Other causes may be found in the social and political relations of the eastern nations, some of which may be traced again to climatic influences. 5. Ever since the beginning of the human race, or at least so far as we can trace its history, the strong has always subdued the weak, the rich has oppressed the poor, and the cunning has cheated the simple. He who had the power, claimed the right to rule over the weaker as his subjects or his slaves ; and this state of inequality descended from father to 14 ASIATIC NATIONS. son, and from generation to generation ; it was regarded even by great philosophers as the natural and legitimate state of things. Women, being the weaker sex, were treated in Asia only as the means of gratifying the passions, and promoting the comforts of men ; the wife, in her relation to her husband, was no more than a servant ; and the natural consequence was, that a man took to himself as many such servants as he was able to maintain. Polygamy was the natural off- shoot of such a degraded view of the matrimonial relation, in which the husband considered himself to have many rights, but no duties. This evil, which has existed in Asia from time immemorial, and still degrades both sexes in eastern countries, renders a family life similar to that of Europe an impossibi- lity ; it destroys the natural relation between parent and child, and causes that between husband and wife to be almost the same as between a master and his slave, which debases both. 6. As a state is only an extended family, it is but natural to expect, in the larger community, vices and virtues ana- logous to those prevailing in the family. Despotism, there- fore, is the form of government which we have to look for in the East ; and it may be asserted in general, that the des- potism exercised by the head of a state is of a more unmiti- gated character than that practised by the head of a family ; for in the latter the members come into closer and more fre- quent contact, both with one another and with the head, and the obedience and kind offices of the one party cannot fail to draw forth gratitude and affection from the other. In the state, the despot, living in haughty seclusion from his subjects, stands to them in no relation that might develop his better feelings. Despotism, which, during the historical periods ol Eastern history, is the established form of government, seems nevertheless not to have been the original one, which must rather have contained elements of both liberty and servitude. FORMS OF GOVERNMEiNT. 15 The earliest form of government in Asia appears to have been the patriarchal, in which the head of a family, or of an aggre- gate of families, that is, a tribe, exercised the sovereign power. Such a community, proud of its real or imaginary ancestor or founder, of its deeds of valour, and other distinctions, might be either extremely exclusive, or might admit strangers to the same rights and privileges as those enjoyed by the men boast- ing one common origin. This form of government is gene- rally preserved longest among a nomadic people. Such a people at first scarcely shows any distinction among the parts of which it is composed. A priestly class may, in some instances, begin to separate itself from the rest ; but the head and centre of the whole nation is always the chief who has succeeded to those rights and distinctions which, in the be- lief of all, belonged to their first progenitor by the law of nature. Their wandering mode of life renders it necessary for the nation to be always ready for war, either to repel ag- gi'ession, or to conquer new pastures for their herds and flocks. The personal contact of the patriarchal ruler with his subjects softens his relation to them in a similar manner as that sub- sisting in a family between the head and the members. A change takes place, when different tribes join together under one chief, and this change is most striking when a nomadic tribe succeeds in subduing an agricultural people with fixed habitations. In this case the conquered are treated at first in a very different way from the conquerors : the chief treats them as slaves belonging to him by the right of conquest. If the nomadic tribe settle in the conquered country, and amalgamate with the original inhabitants, the chief, in the course of time, assumes the same power and authority over them as over the subject people ; both become slaves, and despotism is complete. As the possession of unlimited power, pride, and self-indulgence, are little calculated to improve and ennoble man, despotism generally proceeds from bad to worse. 16 ASIATIC NATIONS. The Asiatic nations have never risen to the idea of political freedom : the man who is a despot in his domestic circle submits with abject servility to the commands and caprices of those whom circumstances have placed above him. 7. Among all the more important nations of the East, we find a more or less complete system of castes, whereby the descendants are bound to follow the same pursuits as their parents. States based upon the system of castes, are pro- bably of later origin than patriarchal states, for it may be as- sumed that the establishment of castes is always the result of conquest. The classes distinguished for their knowledge, for their military prowess, or for wealth, subduing others, natu- rally assume higher powers, and contrive to preserve them for their descendants. Knowledge and valour naturally gain the ascendancy over a nation in its first stage of development, and hence the castes of priests and warriors everywhere ap- pear as the first and most powerful. Wisdom and knowledge are regarded as gifts vouchsafed by the Deity to his ministers alone ; and priests accordingly are the teachers and advisers not only of the people, but also of the rulers, over whom their influence is often so great as to eclipse the power of the mili- tary chief — his claims being based on no higher authority than that of the sword. The military caste, from which the ruler is generally taken, forms a kind of nobility, which, like the knights of the middle ages, keeps the rest of the population in subjection by the constant practice and exercise in arms ; they secure to their descendants the same rights and privileges by early training and habit. The other castes are always found subordinate to these two, though among them also there is a gradation of rank and dignity. It may appear strange and unnatural to us to compel a son to follow the same trade or profession as his father, as talent and in- clination seem indispensable to success ; but we must not over- look the important influence of early training and habit, which, CHINA. 17 even in our own age and country, generally induce the sons of agriculturists to follow the occupation of their fathers. . In the early ages of the world, the institution of castes may even have been very beneficial ; but when it becomes an obstacle to the free development of individual energy, its influence is of a paralysing nature ; and if it remains unreformed, the state itself decays, or continues a monotonous existence, with- out progress and without improvement. Even while in its highest prosperity, the form of government in such a state is despotic — either the priests exercising an undue influence, or the military chief ruling unchecked, or at least controlled only by priestly authority. Such are the principal forms of government we meet with in the south and east of Asia, and it is only in the western parts, as we approach nearer to Europe, that we find any mo- difications forming a kind of transition to the freer institu- tions of European life. CHAPTER 11. CHINA. 1. China, which forms a vast empire in the east of Asia, consists of the slopes or terraces from the central highlands of Asia, and of extensive and fertile lowlands traversed by large rivers and intersected by an immense number of canals. Its inhabitants, belonging to the Mongol race, differ from Eui-opeans more widely than any other civilised nation. They are the only branch of the Mongols that has attained any con- siderable degree of civilisation, but their progress appears to have been checked thousands of years ago, and ever since that time the nation has been stationary, so that it can scarcely be B 2 18 ASIATIC NATIONS. said to have any history at all. Even the repeated conquests of the country by foreign invaders from the highlands of Asia have produced no changes, for the conquerors being less civilised than the conquered, generally adopted the manners, laws, and language of the conquered Chinese. This stationary charac- ter of the nation is regarded in China as the only true basis of happiness and civil order, and is for this reason enforced by its rulers. What has once been established must for ever remain unaltered, and all education consists in a mere mecha- nical training to move within certain fixed forms ; and to do nothing but what somebody else has done before, is considered as a sign of the most consummate wisdom. The mariner's compass, gunpowder, and even a kind of printing, were in- vented by the Chinese at a remote period ; but while in Euro- pean countries these things have been the means of gigantic progress and reforms, the Chinese have never employed them to any great practical purpose, nor have they carried them beyond certain rude and clumsy beginnings. The future destiny of China, therefore, must be a continuance of its stag- nation, unless the nation be shaken by violent convulsions out of its lethargic condition. 2. The language of the Chinese is as peculiar as the people themselves. Its whole vocabulary consists of about four hundred and fifty monosyllabic words, which, being pronounced with dif- ferent intonations or accents, produce about one thousand two hundred and three different words. The consequence of this poverty of the language is, that many words, though pronounced in the same way, have very different meanings, w^hich, in some instances, are not fewer than thirty or forty. The inconveniences and misunderstandings arising from such a language may easily be imagined. The Chinese language has in reality no gram- mar at all, for declensions and conjugations, and all the variety of other changes, and the numberless prefixes and suffixes by which, in other languages so many relations are expressed, are CHINA. 19 entirely unknown, and the relations of words to one another are indicated by their position alone. The writing of the Chinese is not alphabetic, but consists of compound and strangely formed characters or signs representing words, and their vast number forms a singular contrast with the poverty of the spoken language, for the Chinese dictionaries contain between three and four thousand different signs or symbols of this kind. There can be no doubt that originally these signs were of a hieroglyphic or pictorial character, and that in the course of time they were so much altered as to become in the end mere conventional symbols. Only very few of these signs represent sounds or syllables. 3. This stiffness and want of elasticity in their language have produced corresponding effects upon the minds of the Chinese, and have also stamped their character upon their philosophy and religion. The ancient religion of the Chinese — we are not speaking here of Buddhism, which was imported at a later period from abroad — was extremely poor and meagre, and it is said that their language does not even contain a word or symbol for a spiritual or divine being. Confucius (properly Kong-fu-tse), their celebrated philosopher, who lived about the year b. c. 500, as well as his disciples and followers, never alluded to the existence of a spiritual being as the creator and ruler of the universe, whence Confu- cianism is little belter than Atheism. In his time, it is said, all the relations of social and civil order were in a state of utter dissolution, and he, by inculcating a strict and pure system of ethics, endeavoured to restore the morality and hap- piness of former ages. To this great object he devoted all the energies of his life ; but he did not live to see the fruits of his labours, for it was not till after his death that his coun- trymen, appreciating his doctrines, really commenced the work of reform, and made his ethical system the soul of their social and political life. This tradition seems to be perfectly 20 ASIATIC NATIONS. correct, and is borne out even by the present condition of the Chinese people. The moral code of Confucius teaches the most absolute submission of children to the will of their parents, of wives to that of their husbands, and of the whole nation to that of its rulers. The idea of freedom or of a self- determin- ing will is not recognised at all. 4. But notwithstanding this total absence of freedom and the paralysing influence of the immutable adherence to established forms and doctrines, there has been, within a limited sphere, a considerable amount of intellectual activity. The literature of the Chinese is rich, and the industry of their learned men and scholars ought not to be undervalued, although the intellectual interests of their country have not been much advanced by them. Poetry in particular, in which the feelings of men have found an outlet even among nations far less favourably circumstanced than the Chinese, has been cultivated to a considerable extent. The novels produced by the Chinese are distinguished by a certain refinement, but are only pictures of their own life, which strictly moves in certain prescribed forms. Their lyric poetry is freer and more natural. A collection of the best literary productions is ascribed to Confucius ; it is related that when he com- menced the work of reforming his countrymen, he collected in six books every thing that had been written in earlier ages, and seemed to him suited to assist him in his endea- vours. One of these books, which bear the name of Kings, is lost, but the remaining five are to this day regarded by the Chinese as the canonical and sacred books of their literature. One of them, called Y-king, contains a kind of symbolic phi- losophy ; the Chu-king and Tcheu-tsieou treat of historical and political subjects ; the Li-king of customs and ceremonies, and the Chi-king, lastly, forms a collection of three hundred and eleven national songs, which Confucius is said to have selected out of three thousand. In the third century before Christ CHINA. 21 nearly all the literary treasures of the Chinese were destroyed by fire, whence the authenticity of those hooks may fairly he questioned, though the Chi-king seems to he genuine, as lyric poems can be most easily retained and propagated by oral tradition. These poems, in the opinion of those conversant with the Chinese language, are full of grace and beauty, and are mostly expressive of grief and sorrow, as if they had been composed at a time when the natural feelings of the nation began to perceive the artificial restraint that was beginning to be imposed upon them. 5. The historical literature of China, so far as antiquity is concerned, is extremely meagre, and cannot be regarded as con- taining trustworthy records. The Greek and Eoman writers furnish us with no information whatever, unless we suppose, as some have done, that the Seres, the silk merchants of the ancient world, are the Chinese. Whatever we know, therefore, about ancient China is derived from native sources, and from the reports of missionaries and travellers — the former of which can scarcely be called authentic, while the latter are often scanty and incom- plete ; for the Chinese have at all times been extremely vigilant in excluding from their country all foreigners, who might have gathered information, and communicated it to Europeans. The Chinese traditions, tracing the history of the empire back many thousands of years before the Christian era, state that their ancestors came into the country from the mountains in the north-west, and, finding it occupied by barbarous tribes, gradually extirpated or subdued them ; and those whose lives were spared adopted the customs and language of the con- querors, and united with them as one nation. But it is admitted on all hands that the earliest periods of Chinese history are quite fabulous ; and the most ancient dynasty of Chinese sovereigns that may be looked upon as historical, is that of Hia, which ascended the throne about the year b. c. 2207. As the art of writing is unquestionably very ancient 22 ASIATIC NATIONS. in China, it is not impossible that written records of that remote period may have been preserved ; but, in consequence of the general destruction of Chinese literature, which, as already mentioned, took place in the third century before Christ, the historical annals of China which have come down to our time cannot be accepted as trustworthy records. The account of this general catastrophe of Chinese literature runs as follows : — Under the third dynasty, called Cheu, the great chiefs in the various parts of the empire made themselves almost independent ; they recognised the supremacy of the emperor scarcely more than nominally, and threw the empire into a complete state of anarchy by the incessant wars among themselves. One of the chiefs, of the house of Zin, put an end to this state of things by subduing all his rivals, and usurping the imperial throne itself. The most powerful ruler of this (the fourth) dynasty was Shi-hoang-ti, who, in order to crush all attempts of the conquered chiefs to recover their dominions, and to deprive them of all documentary evidence by which they might establish their claims, ordered all literary productions of the preceding dynasties to be burned. After the death of Shi-hoang-ti, however, about b. c. 200, the house of Zin perished as rapidly as it had risen, and was succeeded by the dynasty of Han, which, not deeming a knowledge of the past dangerous to its own existence, ordered the books to be restored. Careful inquiries were made after any remains which might have escaped destruction, and a number of frag- ments were brought together. But the most important source is said to have been the memory of an old man, who pretended to know by heart all the ancient annals of the empire, and from whose dictation they were restored. Now, even admitting that originally the written records went back as far as the twenty-third century b. c, we can hardly conceive that a nation's history restored in this manner should be authentic and complete. Hence the most competent Chinese historians CHINA. 23 assert that the commencement of really trustwortliy accounts cannot be dated farther back than the eighth century before the Christian era. But, even subsequent to this latter epoch, Chinese history is by no means like what we call history in western Asia or Europe, for we have absolutely nothing but records of external events, consisting of rebellions, usurpations, and changes of dynasties, the people itself being treated as an inert mass, which never comes into consideration. Such a his- tory, which scarcely deserves the name, presents nothing that is either pleasing or instructive ; and those who wish to study it must be referred to the works specially devoted to the elu- cidation of Chinese history. 6. The stationary character of the Chinese nation is mainly owing to three causes : — 1. The obstinacy with which the people cling to their ancient habits and customs, and repel every attempt at change or reform ; 2. The fact that the empire is separated from the rest of the world by mountains and seas — a separation which the Chinese themselves have strengthened by the construction of the celebrated wall, which runs for about fifteen hundred miles along the northern frontier of China. It extends over mountains, some of which are five thousand feet in height, and runs across rivers and valleys. Its average height is twenty feet, and its breadth at the base twenty-five, and at the top fifteen. The object of this immense rampart was to protect the empire against the incursions of the Tar- tars. This end, however, was not always attained, and even the imperial family at present reigning in China is of Man- choo Tartar origin, and has been on the throne for upwards of two centuries. 3. The absolute power of the emperor, who is regarded as the representative of God upon earth, and is styled " the Son of Heaven." He and his aris- tocracy of learned men, called Mandarins, treat the great body of the people as imbecile children, and by every means prevent their becoming acquainted with the events that are 24 ASIATIC NATIONS. going on in the world around them. The experiences of foreign nations, therefore, are shut out from the Chinese, and notwithstanding their astonishing skill in some of the mecha- nical arts and manufactures, they have in general always been far behind the w^estern nations. Their form of government is a kind of patriarchal despotism. Agriculture, the most ancient and most honoured occupation, is under the special patronage of the emperor, who at a stated period in every year performs the ceremony of ploughing a few furrows ; and the empress encourages the manufacture of silk, by planting every year with her own hands a few mulberry trees. Events are going on at this moment within the celestial empire, which may pos- sibly break the fetters that have compelled the Chinese for thousands of years to walk like children in leading strings, and throw down the barriers which have so long isolated their country from the rest of the world, and prevented it from accepting a healthier civilisation. CHAPTER III. INDIA. 1. India, the easternmost country of Asia known to the ancients, is bounded on the north by the gigantic chain of the Himalaya mountains, on the south of which it extends in the form of two peninsulas. The western is now called Hin- dostan, and the eastern Further India, or sometimes India beyond the Ganges. The western peninsula is divided into two almost equal parts by a range of mountains running from east to west. The part on the north of these mountains is the real continental Hindostan, and that on the south was formerly called Deccan. The central part of the northern INDIA. 25 division contains extensive low lands, whicli are richly watered by the great rivers Indus and Ganges, and their numerous tributaries. The eastern coast of the peninsula is mostly flat, while the northern and western parts are mountainous, and in some districts form high table-lands. This great variety in the aspects of the country, in its elevations and depressions, produces the greatest climatic differences ; for while the plains and valleys are in every respect tropical countries, and while the mountainous parts are during the greater portion of the year free from excessive heat, the highest mountains display the phenomena of the polar regions, and the lower parts have all the characteristics of the temperate zones. Hence India within its whole extent, from the Himalaya mountains to its southernmost points, presents a variety of climate and produc- tions, such as no other country in the world can boast of. 2. The variety of the inhabitants of India is almost equally great. We call the people of India Indians or Hindoos — a name which the Greeks derived from the Persians, and which has thence passed into modern languages ; but the ancient native appellation was Arya, that is " honourable men," the name assumed by the three higher castes of Indians, to dis- tinguish themselves, as the observers of the sacred laws, from the Mlekha, that is, barbarians, or despisers of the law. Al- though the complexion of the higher Indian castes is darker than that of their northern neighbours, still they belong to the same Caucasian race, and form the easternmost branch of the great Indo-Germanic family of nations. Their neighbours in the north-west are nearest akin to the Arya in language, and in fact called themselves by the same name. This strong re- semblance between the two nations may be either purely geographical, as they inhabit contiguous countries, or it is a proof that their separation from each other is more recent than that of the other branches of the same stock. As all of them must have had one common origin and country, the question c 26 ASIATIC NATIONS. presents itself, whether Hindostan itself can have been that country. It seems clear that their common home must have been a country from which they could spread in different directions, for which Hindostan was ill suited ; but it is both intimated by tradition, and also highly probable in itself, that the original country of the Indo-Germanic race was the moun- tainous district in the north and north-west of India. From that district the Indians seem to have migrated southward through the Punjaub, and thus to have spread over the penin- sula, while other branches moved to the north and west. These immigrants, no doubt, found an earlier race established in India, and remnants of such a race may still be traced in the southern parts. The physiogmomy of these latter resembles that of the Caucasian race, but their complexion is darker, and their language is altogether different. Hence it may be assumed that they belong to another stock of nations ; they possess some features resembling those of the negroes of Africa. 3. This invading race of the Arya, being possessed of great natural talents and a fine mental organisation, has developed a very remarkable and peculiar civilisation, which, long before Greece reached its intellectual supremacy, displayed a variety, extent, and refinement, never attained, either before or after, by any other Asiatic nation. Their intellectual activity was not limited in its effects and influences to India itself, but even China, otherwise so impatient and jealous of foreign influence, received the religion of the majority of its inhabitants from India. The Indians never appear as conquerors, nor do we hear of any great emigrations, by which Indian civilisation might have been diffused over other countries ; but there are nevertheless traces of Indian colonies in the eastern parts of Asia, and Indian settlers are said to have introduced into the island of Java their religion, their laws, manners, arts, and sciences. Notwithstanding all this, it must be owned that COMMEECE OF INDIA. 27 the iDflaence exercised by India upon the other Asiatic nations has been comparatively small. In regard to commerce, how- ever, India occupies the foremost rank among the eastern nations — not that Indian merchants travelled much to foreign countries to dispose of their goods, but, as a general rule, the merchants from western Asia fetched the products of India, and sold them among their own countrymen, or among Europeans. The commerce of the Indians consisted almost exclusively in exporting the treasures in which their country abounded, or which their own industry produced. The wealth and productiveness of the country allowed very little scope for importation from abroad. What w^as obtained from India was not so much a supply of the actual necessaries of life, as of objects of splendour and luxury, such as pearls, precious stones, ivory, cotton and silk stuffs, spices, and incense. As regards silk, the general opinion is that it was only woven in India, the material itself being imported from China ; but there are good reasons for assuming that the breeding of the silk- worm is very ancient in India, and that it was introduced there from China at a very remote period. Our accounts of the ancient commerce of India are very fragmentary and obscure, because the goods exported from it had to pass through many hands before they reached the nations of western Asia and Europe ; and the most extravagant notions became current in western countries of the extraordi- nary wealth of India. Our present knowledge of the ancient language of India has somewhat dispelled these notions, and furnished more correct information about Indian commerce. Goods exported from a country generally carry their native appellations with them, and the names of very many articles, originally brought from India, still retain their Indian names, which have been adopted into the languages of Europe, for instance, tin, pepper, opal, emerald, and many others. 4. Formerly our information about ancient India was de- rived solely from the Greeks, who, although the country was 28 ASIATIC NATIONS. not unknown to them before, and was even connected mth some of their mythical legends, yet did not possess any au- thentic information about it until the time of Alexander the Great, who conquered a portion of it, and made his coun- trymen and the inquisitive Greeks acquainted with the land, about which, until then, only vague and fabulous reports had been current in the west. But as the occupation of India by the Gr£eco-Macedonians was not of long duration, the infor- mation derivable from Greek writers is very scanty and de- fective, when compared with that which has been gained within the last sixty or seventy years from the study of the native literature of India, and from a comparison of its language with those of the principal nations of Europe, the radical identity of which was unknown until, towards the end of last century, the English, and especially Sir W. Jones, directed the attention of the learned to it. The language, poetry, and philosophy of the ancient Indians have since that time been subjects of deep and extensive study, and have laid open to us treasures of an intellectual activity in India, of which previously no one had any idea. In addition to these literary remains, temples, sculptures, ruins of cities, inscriptions, coins, and other monuments of very ancient date, enable us to form tolerably correct notions of what ancient India once was. A comparison of what we know of modern India with what has been transmitted to us by the ancient Greeks, seems to show, that in the days of Alexander the Great, it was nearly in the same condition in which it was found in modern times by the first Europeans who visited the country. Hence it is clear that the Indians, though superior in intellect and in the variety and depth of their culture, yet, like other Asiatic nations, were checked in their career at a certain point, beyond which, on the whole, they did not advance. 5. But the historical infonnation derived from the writ- HISTORICAL AUTHORITIES. 29 ings of the Indians themselves is likewise very unsatisfactory ; for they had scarcely any historical literature at all, and in regard to chronology there are scarcely even two or three points in their ancient history that can be fixed with any pre- cision. Their traditions were embodied in epic poems, which, though we must suppose them to have some historical basis, yet are so full of fanciful and fantastic occurrences, that it is far more difficult to discover the historical kernel than in the epic poetry of any other nation. Those poems, moreover, have not come down to us in their original form, but with nume- rous alterations and interpolations. The period of epic poetry was not followed in India, as it was in Greece, by one of plain historical narrative, which in fact appears to have had no interest for the imaginative and fanciful Indian. All the historical information transmitted to us by the Indians themselves is limited to a few dry lists of kings, and even these are anything but authentic. They carry us back as far as the fourteenth century before Christ, whence we may assume, that that time forms a kind of beginning of the historical period. The appearance of Alexander in India is interesting, for his historians mention the names of Indian rulers whose chronology is thereby fixed beyond all doubt. About B.C. 5Q, we hear of a mighty Indian king called Viera- maditya, whose victory over the Sacae forms an era which was adopted by the Indians themselves. But these few events neither throw any great light upon the internal relations of India, nor serve as a thread for the subsequent history. The introduction of Buddhism fortunately forms another chronological era, about which there is no doubt; but we must defer our account of it until we come to discuss the religion of the Indians. Under these circumstances, our his- torical knowledge is, on the whole, limited to the social, poli- tical, and religious condition of the country, though even here we have no guides to show us the modes of development. 30 ASIATIC NATIONS. All we can say is, that, in the time of Alexander, Indian civilisation had reached a high state of perfection, that this development had commenced about a thousand years before him, and that it continued to bear good fruit for about a thou- sand years longer, but that then it began to decay. 6. In the time of Alexander the Great, we find India broken up into a number of larger and smaller principalities, which were quite independent of one another ; and it appears that, previously to its conquest by foreign invaders, it was never united as one empire. The system of castes has at all times been the foundation of all the political and social insti- tutions of India, and nowhere is it so deeply rooted in the minds of the people, and nowhere, perhaps, has it been so fully developed ; for the Indians not only regard the separa- tion into castes as the grand distinction between themselves and the Mlekhas, but trace its origin to the very creation of the human race. The institution itself is founded in India, as everywhere else, upon conquest. Throughout India the three higher castes are distinguished to this day from the lower ones by a lighter complexion and handsomer features, and these higher castes are none other than the Arya, who, as we have already mentioned, at a remote period invaded and conquered India from the north. The four chief castes of the Indians are — 1. The priests or Brahmins; 2. The warriors or Kshatriyas ; 3. The tradesmen or Vaisyas ; and 4. The servants or Sudras. Mythology describes the Brahmins as proceeding from the mouth of the supreme god Brahma, the warriors as having sprung from his arms, the tradesmen as having arisen out of his loins, and the servants from his feet. 7. The Brahmins have always been the first and most influential caste, and were not only the founders of the intel- lectual culture and peculiarities of the Indians, but always concentrated in their own body all the intellectual life of the nation. Whatever was opposed to them and their institutions THE INDIAN CASTES. 31 was cast out, or, if successful in maintaining itself, contri- buted to the decay of the national character. The law al- ways demanded of the Brahmins to lead a pure and holy life,, often to pray and fast, to kill no living being, to take no ani- mal food except what came from sacrifices, to devote them- selves to the service of the gods, scrupulously to observe a vast number of ceremonies, to study the sacred books, and to expound their contents to the members of the second and third castes. In compensation for these numerous and weari- some duties, they enjoyed many and great privileges, and the other castes were enjoined to show them the profoundest reve- rence and submission. The person of a Brahmin was regarded as sacred and inviolable, and even if he were convicted of a great crime, he could not be put to death, and all that the king would be entitled to do in such a case would be to banish him from his dominions. The lands of the Brahmins were exempt from taxes. Their priestly character alone would have secured to them a high position in the state ; but as they were at the same time regarded as the sole depositaries of all human wisdom, they were also the recognised teachers, physicians, and lawyers of the nation, and the advisers and ministers of the kings. 8. The kings were and still are chosen solely from the military caste or the Kshatriyas, and although they were re- garded as the chiefs of the nation, yet they ranked below the Brahmins, who would have thought it degrading to them- selves to give a daughter in marriage to a king, or even to dine with him at the same table. The Brahmins being the framers of the law, prescribed to the kings their duties, and the manner in which they had to govern their dominions, en- joining them to take their highest officers and councillors from among the Brahmins. The king is directed to select from this caste the wisest man, to entrust to him the most im- portant state business, and to employ him in carrying into 32 ASIATIC NATIONS. effect all measures of consequence. These regulations show that the fundamental prmciple of the Indian state was of a theocratic nature. Eulers of great energy and power would sometimes break through these priestly restraints, but they never produced any permanent change, and Brahminism has for thousands of years been the foundation of all the political institutions of India. The power of the kings, however, was nevertheless very great, for they were regarded as the sole proprietors of the soil, and the cultivators occupied the land only as tenants, who had to pay a certain proportion of the produce to the king. But his government interfered very little in local matters, so that each town or village formed to some extent an independent community. 9. The two castes of priests and soldiers were indeed separated from the lower ones by a great interval, but the first three are nevertheless treated as belonging to one another, and as far superior to the fourth. The first three were styled " the regenerate, " and in consequence of this the Sudras, or fourth caste, were forbidden to read the sacred books, or to be present when their contents were expounded. These four castes themselves, however, were subdivided into a great variety of classes, differing in dignity, rights, and privileges, which were transmitted by a father to his children, only by means of his marrying a woman of the same caste to which he himself belonged ; and as polygamy is established in India as in other Asiatic countries, the degrading position of woman is somewhat diminished by the fact of her sharing in the rights of her husband. But mixed marriages were never- theless of frequent occurrence, and as the offspring of such marriages were always regarded as deteriorated in some way or another, a number of mixed castes were gradually formed, which are said to amount to thirty-six, and to each of which a special trade or occupation is assigned. The lowest and most despised of all the castes were the Chandalas, who arQ THE INDIAN CASTES. 33 best known in our days under the name of Pariahs. They were not allowed to live in towns or villages, or even in their vicinity ; whatever they had touched was regarded as unclean, and even to see them was thought to have a polluting effect. When they were seen on the high roads while a Brahmin or merely his suite was passing, they were hunted and killed like wild beasts. The consequence of this was that the Pariahs were a sort of wild and filthy race, living by rob- bery and plunder. They, like some of the other despised castes of India, seem in fact to be a distinct race, rather than a mere caste, and their condition probably originated in conquest, like that of the Helots in Laconia. The moral effects of this system of castes, which in modern times has lost somewhat of its ancient rigour, are of a most deplor- able kind ; it has been said that the very idea of humanity does not exist among the Indians, and that they know of no other duties than those of their castes. But still no fetters can be so strong as to prevent the true feeling of humanity from bursting forth occasionally, and Indian poetry in particular often presents to us the noblest feelings of human nature in all their beauty and loveliness. Even the separation of castes was not always observed in practical life with the strictness enjoined by law ; for if, for example, a Brahmin was unable to gain the means of living by the discharge of his proper duties, he might serve as a soldier, and carry on agriculture or commerce without losing his dignity as a Brahmin. Cases of this kind still frequently occur. 10. Although it is manifest that such institutions as these must exercise a paralysing influence upon the development of the human mind, still it cannot be denied that there must have been a time in Indian history when those institutions tended to raise and elevate, if not the whole nation, at least certain classes of it. This is most strikingly obvious in the literature, the language, and science of the Hindoos. The 34 ASIATIC NATIONS. Sanscrit, their ancient and sacred language, in wbicli their greatest works are written, is one of the richest, the most euphonious, and the most generally perfect that have ever been spoken by man. The most ancient works written in this language are the Vedas and the laws of Manu, in which, at the same time, we find the earliest form of the Indian religion. In them we meet with the idea of one uncreated supreme being, existing from all eternity and of himself, comprehending and pervading the universe as its soul. From him, who is him- self incomprehensible and invisible, all visible things have emanated ; hence the universe is nothing but the unfolding of the divine being, who is reflected in the whole as well as in every individual creature. This original and simple notion of one supreme being was changed in the course of time into poly- theism, of which in fact traces appear even in the Vedas them- selves. The stars, the elements, and all the powers of nature were conceived as different divine beings that had emanated from the one supreme God. Even in the work of creation a plurality of gods was believed to have been engaged. Brahma, himself created by the first invisible cause, and assisted by the Pradshapatis (the lords of creation), called into being all the various living creatures. Nature after its creation is con- ceived to be under the special guardianship of eight spirits or gods of secondary rank, among whom Yaruna presides over the sea, Pavana over the winds, Yama over justice, Loca- palas over the world, Indra over the atmosphere, and Surya over the sun. Numberless spirits of an inferior order are subject to these, and are diffused throughout nature, while the divme substance pervades all living beings from Brahma down to the lowest animals and plants. Within this endless variety of beings the souls of men were believed to migrate, entering after the death of man either into beings of a higher or a lower order, according to the degree in which they had become purified in passing through their previous state of ANCIENT BRAHMINISM, 35 existence. This doctrine of the migration of souls, which we meet with in other countries also, probably originated in India, where it was carried out to its full extent. By way of illustration we may state that, according to the common belief, the soul of a disciple of a Brahmin blaming his master, passed, after his death, into the body of an ass ; if he calum- niated his master, into that of a dog ; if he robbed him, into that of a little worm, and if he envied him, into an insect. This belief led the Indians carefully to avoid killing or injuring any living being ; while, on the other hand, they did not scruple to treat a Pariah with inhuman cruelty, because his very condition was regarded as a well-deserved punish- ment for his transgressions during a previous existence. It must however not be forgotten that this belief acted as a powerful stimulus to strive after moral purity and goodness, inasmuch as it created the notion that by self denial, self control, a knowledge of the sacred books, and a conscientious observance of the rules contained therein, the soul of man might return to God, and become worthy of his presence. In all these things, however, the object was to make man conform to certain mechanical rules, rather than to make him strive after real purity of heart. 11. A somewhat different phasis of the Indian religion appears in the national epics, in which the gods are described as having descended to earth, and as taking part in the concerns of men. At this stage the gods appear as real personifications with definite forms ; their images are set up in temples and worshipped, and the pure idea of one supreme and invisible god reappears under the name of Brahma (of the neuter-gender), who manifests himself in three divine capacities, bearing the names Brahma (masculine), the creator and lord of the universe ; Vishnu, the preserver, and Siva, the destroyer. Vishnu is said to have come into the world in a variety of forms to save it from the influence of evil 36 ASIATIC NATIONS. powers, to punisli vice, and to maintain order and justice. These numerous incarnations of the god furnish rich materials for a strange and fantastic mythology. Siva is conceived as destroying all finite things ; but as death is only a transition to a new form of life, he was also worshipped as the god of creative power, whence he is the representative of ever decay- ing and reviving nature. The number of subordinate divini- ties also increases, and they assume more definite forms. The earth itself is conceived as inhabited by hosts of spirits dwell- ing in mountains, rivers, brooks, and groves ; animals and plants even are worshipped as embodiments of divine powers and properties. This vast mythology, which subsequently became the popular religion of India, may be gathered from the works called Puranas, which occupy a middle character between epic and didactic poetry. They seem to be a compi- lation from earlier poems, and to have been made at the time when the Indians began to be divided into sects, that is, at the time when the gods of the Trimurti began to be no longer regarded as subordinate to the one great original god, called Para- Brahma, but when one of the three was himself wor- shipped as the supreme god. For the sectarian divisions consisted in this, that some portion of the people worshipped one of the three gods — the Trimurti — more particularly as the supreme being, while the two others enjoyed less honour j and the priests, with their votaries of one member of the Trimurti, persecuted the worshippers of either of the other two members with obstinacy and relentless fury. At first Brahma seems to have had his separate worshippers, though no temples or images were erected to him, for idolatry was then still unknown. Afterwards there followed the separate worship of Vishnn, and last that of Siva and other gods. In the end, the worshippers of Vishnu and Siva gained the upper hand, and pure Brahminism was suppressed. ORIGIN OF BUDDHISM. 37 12. In the sixtli century before Christ* a new religion arose in India in the midst of Brahminism. It was and still is called Buddhism, from Buddha its founder, who came for- ward as the reformer of Brahminism. The changes which he effected, and the struggles to which they gave rise, form a most important epoch in the affairs of India. The history of this remarkable religious reformer is involved in great obscurity, partly because it was written by his disciples in a legendary form, with additions and embellishments, and partly because, until recently, it was known only from the works of non-Indian followers of Buddha, such as the Tibetans, Chinese, and Mongols, while the most authentic or Sanscrit authorities have scarcely yet been thoroughly examined. These Sanscrit works are considerable in number, and are divided into three classes, the first of which consists of discourses and conversa- tions of Buddha ; the second of rules of discipline ; and the third of metaphysical speculations. According to the com- mon legends about the origin of Buddha, his real name was Sakyamuni or Gautama. He was the son of a power- ful prince, and the most handsome of all men. Even at his birth he was surrounded by spirits, who continued to watch over him throughout his life. The fourfold miseries of man- kind, viz., the pains of child-birth, disease, old age, and death, affected and saddened him so much, that he resolved to re- nounce all the pomp and luxury of his high station, and to lead the life of a humble hermit. After having spent a period of six years in this way, he returned among men, and began to preach to them the necessity of despising the plea- sures of this world, and of subduing every selfish feeling. He himself practised these virtues to such a degree, that he be- came a superior being — Buddha, that is, an immortal. As * The Cingalese chronology assigns the origin of Buddhism to the year b. c. 525, and others to b. c. 543, while the Chinese place it in B. c. 950. 38 ASIATIC NATIONS. such, he was believed, after his earthly death, to rule over the world for a period of five thousand years, at the expiration of which he was to be succeeded by another Buddha, as he him- self had been preceded by four or six other Buddhas. The saints who by their merits ranked nearest to Buddha himself, and who might become his successors, were called Bodhisattvas. According to this doctrine, then, the highest power in the spiritual, as well as the material world, belongs to deified men, and most of the Buddhists (for this religion is likewise divided into several sects) do not recognise one eternal divine creator and ruler of the world, but believe that all things have come, and are still coming into existence, by some in- scrutable law of necessity, and by an unceasing process of change. Only one of these sects worships one supreme god, under the name of Adi-Buddha. But the non-existence of such a being had been asserted even before the time of Saky- amuni by certain Indian philosophers, from whom he appears to have borrowed the idea. He did not indeed impugn the existence of Brahma and the numerous other divinities, but he taught that the power of Buddha was greater than theirs. In other respects he retained the doctrines of Brahminism, as, for instance, that about the migration of souls. Eewards and punishments, according to him, were not eternal ; but he taught that the man raised by his virtues to the rank of a god, as well as the condemned, was subject to an immutable law of change, and that both must return to this earth to pass through fresh trials and a fresh succession of changes. The highest happiness, in his opinion, was to escape from this eternal change of coming into being and dying ; whence he held out to the faithful and the good the hope that in the end they would become a Nirwana, that is, that they would enter a state of almost entire annihilation. This state of supreme happiness is conceived differently by the different sects of Buddhists, but in the main idea all agree. DEVELOPMENT OF BUDDHISM. 39 13. The objects which Sakyamuni himself had in view were far removed from those metaphysical speculations on which, at a later time, his followers became divided into sects. His own doctrines, though intimately connected with his philosophical views, were essentially practical, for he main- tained that there were six cardinal virtues, by means of which man might attain the condition of Nirwana, viz., alms- giving, pure morality, knowledge, energy in action, patience, and goodwill towards his fellow-men. The fundamental principle of Buddhism, therefore, is essentially of an ethical nature, and the advantages which such a system, notwith- standing its atheistical character, seemed to afford, were so great, that it could not but attract great attention at a time when Brahminism, though still intellectually at its height, had sunk very low in a moral point of view. Eeligion, in the hands of the Brahmins, had become a mere mechanical observance of ill-understood ceremonies, for which Sakyamuni wished to substitute a truly pious life ; at the same time he endeavoured to put an end to the haughty and domineering spirit of the priests. He accordingly denied the unconditional authority of the Vedas, and it was formerly believed that he had even condemned the whole system of castes ; but although this latter belief is erroneous, still it is evident that, a pious and virtuous life being made the sole condition of eternal happiness, virtually the division into castes was not recognised, though they continued to exist as corporations of different occupations and trades, or as political bodies. The Brahmins alone, as a privileged class, were not only not recognised, but vehemently opposed. This open rupture between the old and new religion, however, was not produced at once, for Sakyamuni himself did not aim at destroying what he found, but only wanted to bring about a peaceful reform within the established religion, and to inculcate the necessity of a really pious life. His own personal influence, his discourses, and his austerity produced a 40 ASIATIC NATIONS. great effect, and disciples gathered around him from all classes, even from the Brahminical caste. Afterwards, how- ever, the Brahmins began to persecute the ascetic Buddhists, at first from envy and jealousy, and afterwards from a fear lest the new sect should ultimately overthrow all the reli- gious and political institutions of the country. But the greater the opposition, the greater was the success of the new reli- gion; the lower castes in particular, feeling themselves elevate'd by the new doctrines, seized with eagerness the opportunity of getting rid of fetters which had hitherto constrained them ; and the teaching, addressed as it w^as to all the people without distinction, produced astonishing effects. The Sudras felt called upon to embrace the new doctrines, and to be- come members of the community of saints ; and even many of the Kshatriyas, impatient of the priestly arrogance of the Brahmins, adopted them. In the end, kings also joined the reformers, and gave a character to the new religion. About the middle of the third century before Christ, we meet with a king A9oka, a grandson of Chandragupta, who ruled over nearly the whole of India, and was devotedly attached to the doctrines of Buddhism, without, however, persecuting the still numerous adherents of Brahminism. He not only erected numerous Buddha temples, but strove himself to live entirely in accordance with the ethical precepts of the new religion, practising the virtues of general benevolence and kind- ness to all men. He abolished capital punishment throughout his extensive empire, erected everywhere hospitals for the sick, and made roads shaded by trees and provided with wells at certain intervals. He not only established and extended Buddhism in his own dominions, but even sent missionaries into foreign countries. The progress of the new religion was thus immense, but very little is known about the struggles it had to maintain in India with its great and powerful rival. All we know is, that the Brahmins continued to exert them- EXTENSION OF BUDDHISM. 41 selves in maintaining their own religion, and that, after a few centuries, a mighty reaction took place, in which the exas- perated Brahmins succeeded in rousing their followers to a desperate and bloody contest with their opponents. These struggles, which appear to have lasted from the third to the seventh century of our era, terminated in the defeat of Bud- dhism, which was almost entirely exterminated in the western peninsula. After the expulsion of the Buddhists, however, a sect of them called Yainas still maintained itself, rejecting the authority of the Vedas, and worshipping deified men. But Buddhism had long before spread beyond the borders of western India, and had been adopted by numerous other Asiatic nations. In the third century before Christ, it was introduced into Ceylon, whence it spread over nearly all the Indian islands, and over a great part of further India, Tibet, and China, in the last of which countries it took root as early as the first century after Christ, under the name of the religion of Fo or Foe, which is the Chinese name for Buddha. It was especially the lower classes among the Chinese that eagerly took up the new religion, and to this day Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the Chinese people. Alto- gether, this religion is the most widely-spread in the world, extending from the Indus to Japan, and counting about two hundred millions of adherents. 14. The astonishing success of so singular a religious system is certainly one of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of Asiatic civilisation. It has undergone various changes in the countries into which it was introduced, but its most essential points everywhere are traceable to its Indian origin. Buddhism had at first combated the existence of a privileged class of priests, but in its turn it was obliged itself, for the purpose of self-preservation, to institute an order of priesthood. The elements of it lay in the nature of Bud- dhism itself, which regarded an ascetic life as the holiest that c 2 42 ASIATIC NATIONS. a man could lead. Sakyamuni himself had raised those of his followers who chose an ascetic life, by a kind of consecra- tion, to the rank of Sramanas, which we may interpret by the term "mendicant friars," for they were obliged to vow to spend their lives in celibacy, and to support themselves solely by alms. These Sramanas formed the retinue of Sakyamuni as long as he was alive, and even those who lived in the wilds and solitudes sometimes gathered around him to listen to his discourses. These monks, in the course of time, began to congregate in separate buildings, and thus formed convents, which, by the liberality of their adherents, acquired great wealth, and were placed under strict regulations regarding dress, food, the mode of admission, and the like. These priests differed essentially from the Brahmins by their ascetic mode of life in convents, and by their celibacy. The worship of this new religion was at first very simple. Bloody sacri- fices were unknown, because it was unlawful to kill any living being, and because the religion recognised no god to whom sa- crifices might be offered. Buddha alone was worshipped, and that in two ways, divine honours being paid to his images and to the remains of his body, the latter of which were preserved in eight metal boxes, deposited in as many sacred buildings or temples. Buildings containing remains of Buddha himself or of distinguished persons who had supported his doctrines, were afterwards greatly multiplied. The Brahmins, in a similar manner, raised vast monuments over the remains of illustrious men, but never paid them any divine honours. Such Bud- dhist mausoleums are found in great numbers in those coun- tries where this religion is or once was established, especially in Ceylon, where they are called Dagops. In Afghanistan, on the north-west of the Indus, many such monuments of great interest have been discovered in modern times, and are popularly known under the name of Topes. They are all built in the form of cupolas with a few small chambers in DEGENERACY OF BUDDHISM. 43 the interior. Many of tliem have been opened, and a great number of objects of value, offered by pilgrims, have been found in them. 15. Buddhism, though originating in an opposition to the abuses of Brahminism, degenerated in the course of time into something which is probably far worse than Brahminism. Its dogmas have become wild and fantastic, its form of wor- ship is an empty system of pomps and ceremonies, and its ascetic priests are described as forming a most domineering hierarchy, so that in all Buddhist countries there exists a most marked distinction between the priests and the laity. The priests still live in convents, which are at the same time the schools for the young, and the greatest veneration is paid to them by the people ; but they are at the same time bound to strict obedience towards their ecclesiastical superiors. No- where is the Buddhist hierarchy so fully and so perfectly organised as in Tibet, where nearly half the population con- sists of priests, who, together with all the rest of the people, recognise a sort of Pope, styled Dalai Lama, as their head. He is regarded as the living embodiment of a Bodhisattva, whose soul, at the death of the individual in whom it has existed, always migi'ates into the body of his successor. Many of the institutions and ceremonies of Buddhism have so strik- ing a resemblance with those of the Eoman Catholic religion, that it was at one time believed that Christianity had exer- cised great influence upon Buddhism ; but subsequent inves- tigations have shown that the eastern institutions are more ancient than Christianity, and that in all probability Bud- dhism and Eoman Catholicism have arrived at the same results independently of each other. Under such circumstances, the expulsion of Buddhism from India has not been a misfortune, for its purer ethics gave way at an early period to a pompous and wearisome ceremonial, and its influence upon intellectual and literary culture was any thing but beneficial. In India, 44 ASIATIC NATIONS. all intellectual pursuits have ever been connected with Brah- minism, as is clear from the development of its literature. The Buddhists had indeed a literature, but it was subservient only to the transmission of its doctrines, whereas the national or Brahminical literature embraces all the relations and manifesta- tions of human life, and is deserving of the most careful study. 16. The Vedas, as was remarked above, are the most ancient monuments of the Sanscrit or Brahminical literature, and were, according to tradition, communicated to men by Brahma himself. They were then handed down by oral tra- dition, until a wise man of the name of Vyasa (the collector) put them together in their present order, and divided them into four great parts, each of which is subdivided into two sections, of which the first contains prayers, hymns, and invo- cations, and the second rules about religious duties and theo- logico-philosophical doctrines. Some few of the pieces con- stituting the Vedas are evidently later interpolations, but the genuine parts cannot belong to a more recent date than the tenth century before Christ. In Sakyamuni's time, they were revered as ancient works, and there can be little doubt that the most ancient parts were composed as early as the year b. c. 1400. The book next in importance consists of the laws of Manu, which was likewise believed to be divinely inspired ; for Brahma was said to have communicated them to his grandson, Manu, the first mortal. The laws contained in this book are intended as a basis for all the political, reli- gious, and social relations of life. It begins with the creation of the world, and treats of education, marriage, domestic and religious duties, of government, the civil and penal law, of castes, repentance, the migration of souls, and the blessings of the future life. The age of this work is in all probability much more recent than that of the Vedas, notwithstanding the tradition, and much also is traceable to subsequent com- pilers; but although despotism and priestly rule, as well SANSCRIT LITERATURE. 45 as a great number of petty and childish ceremonies, form the main substance of the work yet the whole is pervaded by a spirit of profound piety and benevolence towards man and all living creatures. The great epic poems, the Eamayana and Mahabharata, are likewise believed to be of divine origin ; they celebrate the heroes who lived and acted at the time when the gods used to come down upon earth and take a part ii the affairs of men. The Eamayana describes the deeds md exploits of Eama, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, and its historical substratum is, perhaps, the first attempt of the Arya to extend their dominion in the south. The main subject of the Mahabharata is the struggle between Panda va and Kaurava, two royal and heroic families ; gods, heroes, and giants here appear in arms against one another ; all the members of the two princely houses perish in a frightful man- ner, with the exception of one of the Pandava, who is miracu- lously recalled to life. This poem holds a middle place between real mythology and historical tradition. Both these poems are of more recent date than the Yedas, but it is generally supposed that they are more ancient than the institu- tion of Buddhism. Their authors were Brahmins, and although they were composed chiefly for the edification of the warrior- caste, yet the lower caste of the Sudras were not only not excluded from reading them, but were even encouraged to study them as a means of ennobling and improving them- selves. The cultivation of dramatic poetry belongs to a much later period, and the most celebrated dramatic poet was Kalidasa, who is said to have lived at the court of King Vi- kramaditya, a great patron of men of talent and genius, who appears to have reigned about the time of the birth of Christ. Kalidasa's drama, entitled Sakontala, was the first that was made known in Europe towards the end of last century, when its novelty, beauty, and singular character created general ad- miration. What is most striking in this and other poetical pro- 46 ASIATIC NATIONS. ductions of India, is the delicacy of feeling and the relations of man to nature, which are of the tenderest and most loving kind ; but they nevertheless cannot be measured by the European standard, for the Indians have little taste for the reality of things and for simple beauty, whence their heroes and heroines have no definite forms, but are evanescent and surrounded by a fantastic mistiness. And this is probably the reason why the Indians are little fitted for historical composition. 17. There can scarcely be a doubt that speculative phi- losophy was cultivated by the Indians before all other nations, and with them, as with some others, it first appears in the garb of poetry. The epic Mahabharata contains a very remarkable episode called Bhagavad Gita, in which the hero Ardshuna and the god Krishna enter into a speculative con- versation which may be said to contain the elements of a complete system of philosophy. But in India we meet with the same phenomenon as in other countries, in which specu- lative philosophy has been pursued with vigour ; different systems of philosophy, starting from different premises, were developed, and combated one another. Some of them were regarded as orthodox, because their doctrines agreed with those of the Vedas ; others were treated as heretical, because they were irreconcilable with the teaching of the Vedas, or had an atheistic tendency. It was one of these latter systems that was adopted by Sakyamuni, when he rejected the autho- rity of the Vedas, and promulgated his atheistic views. In practical philosophy the Indians did not make the same progress as in their metaphysical speculations ; but still they did not entirely neglect it. The invention of the decimal system in numbers, so important in mathematics and in the affairs of ordinary life, which has been generally ascribed to the Arabs, is now well known to have been made by the Indians ; the Arabs only imported it into Europe, and thereby have acquired the reputation of being its inventors. ARTS OF THE INDIANS. 47 18. The arts, as well as the poetry and philosophy of the Indians, were intimately connected with their religion, and were cultivated chiefly in its service. Architecture, in par- ticular, has produced the greatest and most astonishing works in the form of temples, in which the art of building is seen to proceed from nature, for those temples are grottoes in rocks widened and extended by the hand of man into mighty edifices. In some instances the interior only is carefully worked out, but in others the outer parts are finished with equal care, though all is wrought in the living rock. India is very rich in gigantic structures of this kind ; European travellers first saw and admired those in the islands of Salsetta and Elephanta, near Bombay ; and others were subsequently discovered in the interior of the western peninsula, near the village of Elora. Grottoes, temples, and human habitations, are there cut in a chain of rocks forming a crescent of about four miles in length ; and they present such an abundance of sculptures and ornamental carvings of a most difScult kind, that they cannot have been made otherwise than by many thousand hands employed for an immense number of years. These works of Elora far surpass all others of the same class, both in design and execution. Some of these temples are Brahminical, and others are evidently destined for Buddhist worship ; but all must have been constructed at a very remote period of Indian history, and all of them were no doubt ori- ginally Brahminical temples. The forms of these architectural works are heavy, overloaded with ornaments, and vague, and they present the greatest variety of straight lines and curves ; their chief defect is in regard to simplicity and artistic freedom. The Dagops and Stupas of the Buddhists form the transition to the later temples, which were built of blocks of stone and bricks. Europeans generally call these pagodas, (a corruption of Bhagavati, i. e., a sacred house.) Several of them excite by their vastness no less astonishment than the rock temples 48 ASIATIC NATIONS. of Elora. These pagodas are generally built in the form of pyramids, consisting of several parts with vertical sides, the whole being surmounted by a cupola. They are covered with such a profusion of ornaments that the sight is perfectly bewildering. 19. Sculptures, especially high reliefs in stone, occur in great abundance both in the grotto temples and in the pago- das. Most of the figures are remarkable for great softness, which displays itself particularly in the swelling roundness of the forms, in which bones and muscles are quite concealed. Many of the figures are not only of colossal size, but form most grotesque combinations of human bodies with heads of animals, and often with more than two arms to indicate superhuman strength, while others with several heads are in- tended to represent superhuman wisdom. These and many other peculiarities show that art in India had not yet come to see that high bodily and mental powers must be expressed by features, forms, proportions, and symmetry, and by a faith- ful adherence to nature. Indian art thus shows the same peculiarities as Indian poetry ; both delight in the expression of softness, combined with what is fantastic and grotesque. The civilisation of India, if viewed by itself and in its seclu- sion from the rest of the world, is far greater and more im- portant, than if regarded in its connection with that of other nations. India is indeed closely connected with other parts of the w^orld by its language and the literature which mirrors forth the intellectual life of the better part of the nation ; but that connection is lost in a period of such remote antiquity, that history, as such, knows nothing of it. Some ideas and inventions no doubt did originate in India, which were after- wards imported into Europe ; but their historical recollection has faded away so much, that the threads can be discovered only by laborious and learned inquiries. It cannot therefore be asserted that India has at any time exercised any consider- IRAN. 49 aLle influence upon the civilisation of the western world. As to itself, it shares the fate of all eastern countries : it has reached a certain point beyond which it has been unable to advance, and has lost the power of regenerating itself, oi renev/ing its intellectual life, and of opening new paths for itself, by which it might recover and maintain a manly- independence. CHAPTER lY. IRAN (bACTRIA, media, AND PERSIA). 1. We here use the name Iran in its modern acceptation, comprising the Bactrians, Medes, and Persians proper, for these three nations constitute one great branch of the Indo- Germanic race, and are now generally called Iranians, and their country Iran.* The people themselves being nearest akin to the Arya of India, called themselves by the same honourable name.-i" Greeks and Eomans apply the names Bactrians, Medes, or Persians, to the whole race, according as any of the three branches acquired the supremacy over the others, and thereby threw them into the background. Iran, or the country of the Iranians, is the western highland of Asia, which is much smaller than the eastern highlands ; the two are connected by a range of mountains which the historians of Alexander call the Indian Caucasus, and which now bears the name of the Hindoo Kush. The interior of Iran consists of an exten- ^ This name occurs in ancient times only on some coins of the Sas- aanidae. f The name is also spelt Airya, whence Iran. Arii, and Ariana, are the names by which the ancients actually designated the greater part of ancient Persia, D 50 ASIATIC NATIONS. sive table-land, the greater part of whicli has all the charac- teristics of a desert, especially wanting water and trees, and being of a cold temperature. This table-land, like that on the east of it, is surrounded by mountains which give to the whole country the character of an immense fortress, there being only a few passes by which an entrance can be effected, and these passes run along the most dangerous precipices, or are so narrow that they can be closed by means of gates. Nearly all the more important towns of Iran are built in the vicinity of these passes. The declivities of the mountains on the frontiers form transition countries, some of which are re- markable for their high temperature and their luxurious vege- tation ; but even these have few rivers, and require artificial irrigation to assist agricultural operations. 2. In the history of China and India, no inconsiderable assistance is to be derived from observing the actual state of the countries and of their inhabitants, who have been stationary for many centuries. Such is not the case in Iran, for here great changes and revolutions have thoroughly shaken and altered the ancient condition of both the country and its inhabitants. But, on the other hand, the sources from which information may be obtained regarding its ancient history are more accessible and more generally known ; the classical nations of antiquity having frequently come into contact with the Persians, their writers are far better ac- quainted with them, and throw much more light upon their history than upon that of India. Besides this information furnished by foreigners, we have the native literature of the Persians, written in the sacred Zend language, which was probably once spoken in the eastern parts of Iran, while the ancient Persic, properly so called, was spoken in the western parts, though both are only dialects of the same branch of the Indo-Germanic stock. The sacred writings in the Zend language, called Zend-Avesta, were unknown in Europe, I IRAN. 51 until, about the middle of last century, a Frenchman of the name of Anquetil du Perron brought them to France, and published a translation of them. These books excited great interest at the time, because they revealed one of the most remarkable of religious systems, which until then had been very imperfectly known. The authenticity of the works, which was at first questioned, has since been established beyond all doubt by oriental scholars. Neither the value, however, nor the antiquity of all the books forming the Zend-Avesta is the same ; the most ancient ones must have been composed before the conquest of Alexander the Great, which opened Iran to the influence of Greek civilisation ; for the legends and religious views they contain appear, if not in their original freshness and purity, yet at least free from foreign admixture. 3. The Zend-Avesta contains a very remarkable tradition about the immigration of the Arya into Iran. Once, it is said, the winter in Airyanem-Vaego, the original abode of the people, lasted for ten months, and its severity induced their king Djemshid to emigrate with his people into warmer and more southern countries, which had been blessed by Or- muzd. Djemshid had a golden dagger, a present from Ormuzd, with which he cleft the earth wherever he went ; blessings thus spread everywhere, and the countries became filled with tame and wild beasts, with birds, and men, and red shining fires, which had never before been seen there. This tradition evidently describes the immigration of the Arya from their ori- ginal homes, in the extreme north-east of Iran, about the sources of the Oxus and Jaxartes ; the migration from the north-east to the south-west was followed by the spread of agriculture, and all the advantages that flo-^v from it as its natural consequences. 4. It is one of the fundamental doctrines with all the Iranians, that originally all things, both moral and physical, were divided into good and evil. Each of these two divisions 52 ASIATIC NATIONS. was presided over by a divine being, the good by Ormnzd, and the evil by Ahriman. Neither of these beings was regarded as eternal, but as produced by Zervane Akerene, that is, uncreated Time, who, after the creation of Ormnzd and Ahri- man entirely disappears, leaving the creation and government of the world, and of all that is contained in it, to those two mighty and divine beings. Ormuzd was from the beginning in a region of light, the symbol of all that is good, while Ahri- man dwelt in darkness, the symbol of evil, and the two were perpetually at war with each other. Ormuzd began and com- pleted the creation, which was a creation of light ; and Ahri- man, though conceived as the destroyer, was nevertheless regarded as a creator ; but his creation was the empire of death, and darkness, and evil, which he constituted in such a manner as to oppose to every creature of Ormuzd one created by himself, with similar qualities, but perverted into evil; thus he created the wolf as the counterpart to the useful dog ; and in general all beasts of prey, which shun the light, or crawl on the earth ; and all troublesome and destruc- tive insects were regarded as creatures of Ahriman. In this manner the whole of the physical world was divided between light and darkness, and all the moral world between good and evil ; and the two worlds were conceived as engaged in a per- petual struggle with each other — the evil trying to destroy the good, while the good, in its turn, is bent upon overpowering the evil. It was believed, however, that in the end the prin- ciple of good would gain the Aactory ; and, according to some, even Ahriman and his followers were then to be purified and admitted among the blessed. In both these empires, there existed intermediate beings between the supreme rulers and the race of mortals ; they consisted of spirits of different grades and ranks. The throne of Ormuzd was surrounded by six arch-spirits, called Amshaspands. Next to them in rank were Ihe Izeds, who stood to the Amshaspands in the same rela- IRAN. 53 tion as the latter did to Ormuzd. The hosts of other inferior spirits, called Fervers, were innumerable, and pervaded all nature, for every living creature had its Ferver dwelling in it, imparting to it life and motion, and conferring physical and spiritual blessings on those who addressed it in pious and humble prayer. The spirits in the empire of Ahriman were called Devs, six of whom answered to the AmshasjDands, and they were the authors of every misfortune, and of all sins. This religious system, notwithstanding its singular dualism, is yet far more spiritual than any of the other polytheistic religions of Asia. It seems to have originated in the worship of the heavenly bodies which shed their light upon the earth, for this worship prevailed in a very large part of Asia, where the cloudless sky, TN^th its transparent blue, clothes all nature with a peculiar brilliancy. Light there naturally appeared as the vivifying principle, diffusing joy and happiness over all creation, while darkness seemed to remove and destroy all that owed its origin and life to light. Hence fire also was worshipped, as the element containing and diffusing light, and in special places a perpetual fire was kept up, with certain purifications and ceremonies. This material worship of light and fire was raised in the religion of Ormuzd to a spiritual character, for in it light is no longer a merely physical, but a moral good, and the symbol of higher spiritual powers. For a long time, worship was paid simply to the light and fire as they appeared in nature ; the imagination of the Iranians neither conceived the objects of their worship in definite forms, nor invented any mythological stories about them. Sacrifices were offered in the open air and on hills, and He- rodotus expressly states that the Persians in his time had neither statues, nor temples, nor altars. But religion did not remain in this condition ; for, as we shall see hereafter, ido- latry was introduced as early as the time of the Persian em- pire. At a still later period, idolatry again disappeared, and 54 ASIATIC NATIONS. its place was supplied by the material worsliip of fire, and at this stage the religion of Ormuzd has continued to the present day ; for the few surviving remnants of the ancient Ira- nians, called Parsi, still cling to the worship of their ances- tors, notwithstanding the furious persecutions of the Mahom- medans. They are found in some of the eastern parts of Iran, especially in S urate in western India, where Anquetil du Per- ron found copies of their ancient sacred hooks, which were preserved by the priests with great care, and even danger to themselves. But the preservation of these books had not been able to preserve the spiritual element of religion, which has become a coarse, mechanical, and superstitious fire worship, detested and abhorred by the Mahommedan popu- lation. 5. According to the ancient and genuine doctrine of the Zend-Avesta, man became mortal through the sin of his first parents, and for the same reason he was placed in the middle between the world of Ormuzd and that of Ahriman. Being free in his choice, but weak, he would sink under the dominion of Ahriman and his agents, who watch him night and day, and endeavour to draw him into the region of darkness, were it not that Ormuzd had revealed to him the law of light. Under the guidance of this law man is able to escape from the pursuit of Ahriman and his Devs, and to arrive at a state of bliss, which was the object of Ormuzd in revealing his law. The sum and substance of this law is, that man must be pure in his thoughts, words, and actions ; and the pure man must shun the contact of everything proceeding from Ahriman, the source of all that is impure. If he has been unable to avoid coming into contact with the impure, he is obliged to undergo a process of purification, consisting of a variety of ceremonies. The worship of the sacred fire, sacrifices, prayers, and the reading of the sacred books, constitute the chief religious observances. Contact with dead bodies of IRAN. 55 animals or men was regarded as particularly polluting, whence the people were neither allowed to bury nor to burn their dead ; by the former the earth would have become polluted, and by the latter the fire. Accordingly, there remained nothing but to expose the dead bodies in a place where they did not come into contact with the earth, until the birds of prey or wild beasts had consumed the flesh, after which the bones were collected and preserved. In all this, moral and physical purity are blended and confounded. But one part of the law tells men what to do to induce the earth to yield them her blessings : they are enjoined to build towns, where priests, herds and flocks, women and children, might congregate in purity ; to cultivate waste lands and improve them by irrigation, and, lastly, to take care of the cattle and all domestic animals. This part of the law is evidently intended to promote and preserve civilisation, and, while Ormuzd thus presides over civilisation, Ahriman rejoices in wildness and savageness, and everything that is opposed to a well- organized social system. Hence the Iranians, con- sidering their own country to be under the special protection of Ormuzd, believed that the country in the north-east, beyond the river Oxus, was under the direct influence of Ahriman, because it was inhabited by rude nomadic tribes which were hostile to them ; and they distinguished that country from their own by giving it the name Turan. Their aversion to the Turanians, however, arose not from the mere fact of their being nomades, but because they were hostile to them and all their social and religious institutions, for some of the Iranian tribes themselves led a nomadic life. 6. The religion of Ormuzd, by impressing upon its ad- herents the necessity of subduing nature, and of combating with all their might the influence of the empire of Ahriman, could not fail to rouse them to a life full of vigorous activity, and it must have exercised a very considerable influence upon 56 ASIATIC NATIONS. the social and political condition of the people ; but we pos- sess, unfortunately, only very little historical information about the earliest times. The Zend-Avesta mentions a divi- sion of the people into four classes or castes, viz., priests or magi, warriors, agriculturists, and tradesmen. The king and the judges belonged to the first or priestly caste, the warriors seem to have formed a sort of nobility, and the whole classi- fication must have been based on differences of descent, but it was never so strictly enforced and observed as in India, nor does it seem ever to have embraced the whole nation, as the nomadic tribes, which cannot have been classed with the agriculturists, are not included in the list of castes. 7. The most ancient, and at the same time the only native records of the history of Iran, are contained in the Zend- Avesta ; but they are so entirely mythical that it would be useless to attempt to deduce any history from them. In the middle ages, the Persian poet Firdusi incorporated in a great epic the extant traditions about the ancient exploits of his countrymen ; but these traditions are so thoroughly le- gendary, and so much embellished in the oriental fashion, that they cannot be regarded as a real basis for history. It is only by applying more than ordinary violence that some of them can be made to harmonise with the accounts trans- mitted to us by the Greeks. We are therefore obliged to take these last as our guides in drawing up our sketch of the history of Persia. But even they do not go very far back, leaving us entirely in ignorance in regard to the most ancient periods. Hence the age of Zerdusht, com- monly called Zoroaster, the famous religious lawgiver of the Persians, is buried in utter obscurity. Some Greek authors state that he flourished about five thousand years before the Trojan war, according to which he would be a purely mythi- cal being. Firdusi relates that he lived in the reign of King Gushtasb, who adopted his doctrines, ordered his subjects to BACTRIA. 57 establish the worship of fire, and diffused the Zend-Avesta throughout his dominions. Some critics, identifying this Gushtasb with Darius the son of Hystaspes, believe that Zoroaster must have lived in the sixth century before the Christian era. But there appears to be no good reason for regarding the Gushtasb of Firdusi, and Darius son of Hys- taspes, as the same person ; and moreover, if such a man had lived at that time, the Greeks could hardly have left him unnoticed. The probability is, that Zoroaster flourished somewhere about the year 1000 b.c. Shortly after the time of Darius, the Persians began to lose their original character, which it must have taken centuries to develope under the law of Ormuzd. The Zend-Avesta does not describe Zoroaster as the original author of fire worship, but only as a prophet who developed and completed the whole system. Hence he cannot be regarded either as a purely mythical personage, nor be assigned to so late a date as that of Darius. 8. The most ancient Iranian empire, about which Greek writers furnish any information, is Bactria or Bactriana, with its capital of Bactra or Zariaspa. It formed the north-eastern part of Iran, bordering upon Turan. Most of the accounts we have of Bactria refer to its invasions and conquests by foreign enemies. Thus w^e are told that Ninus (about b. c. 1230) marched with a vast army into the country and besieged Bactra, which, however, he was unable to take, until Semi- ramis came to his assistance. Afterwards the Bactrians are said to have submitted to Cyrus, king of Persia, (about b. c. 540) who appointed one of his sons satrap of Bactria and some adjacent countries. Thenceforth the country continued to form part of the Persian empire, to which it was tributary, but repeated attempts were made to shake off the yoke. Alexander the Great (b. c. 329) conquered Bactria, like the other parts of the kingdom of Persia, and appointed satraps as its governors; but about the year b. c. 256, the governor Antio- 58 ASIATIC NATIONS. clius Theus threw off the yoke of Alexander's successors, and proclaimed himself independent king of Bactria. He was succeeded by several kings whose names are known only from coins, found in modern times at Balkh and Bokhara, and bear- ing Greek legends. The reign of Eucratidas, who ascended the throne about b. c. 181 , appears to have been long and pros- perous, for he is said to have ruled over a thousand cities, and to have annexed even a part of India to his dominions. Several of his successors, again, are known only from their coins, which continue to bear Greek legends, until in the end the dominion of the Greek rulers was overthrown by Scythian tribes, which, about B. c. 100, extended their sway as far as the mouths of the river Indus. The coins of the new rulers, who were evidently barbarians, continue to bear Greek inscriptions, but they gradually become so corrupt, that it is clear they were made by people who were not familiar with the Greek language. These Scythian rulers were succeeded by a race commonly called Indo- Scythians, whose chief seat appears to have been on the river Kabul, for their coins are discovered in great numbers between Kabul and Jelalabad. The time when these Indo -Scythians succeeded in gaining the ascend- ency is unknown ; the legends of their coins are still in Greek characters, but we frequently meet with Indian words. When the Sassanidae (a. d. 226) restored the Persian em- pire, Bactria again became a province of it, and in this con- dition it remained, until, in the eighth century after Christ, the country was conquered by Mahommedan invaders. A kind of Greek civilisation, the result of Alexander's con- quests, had thus maintained itself for several centuries in the distant East, until in the end it was extinguished by barbarians ; and were it not for the numerous coins with Greek inscriptions found in those parts, we should hardly know anything of the existence of a Greek empire in the north-east of Iran. MEDIA. 59 9. The history of Media has been transmitted to us in a more complete and satisfactory form. This country, situated in the west of Iran, was regarded by the ancients as one of the most important parts of Asia, on account of its extent, its favourable situation, the number of its warlike inhabitants, its excellent breed of horses, and its great fertility, especially in the warm plains. At present these advantages no longer exist, for both the population and civilisation have sunk very low, and the artificial irrigation which the country requires has been almost entirely neglected. The history of Media previous to the thirteenth century b. c. is unknown to us ; but about that time they were subdued by the Assyrians, whose yoke the Medes bore for a period of about five hundred years. But they then took courage, and freeing themselves from foreign dominion, restored their country to independence. Under what form of government they lived after their liberation, we have no means of ascertaining, but we are told that the increasing state of lawlessness and anarchy filled the people with fear lest they should be compelled to quit their native country, and that, in consequence, they resolved to appoint a king. They accordingly elected from among themselves Deioces, a man who had already acquired great reputation as a judge in his own district, and was ambitious of gaining the sovereign power among his countrymen. He reigned from B. c. 709 till 656, and from the first surrounded himself with a strong body-guard, and built the capital of Ecbatana, which he fortified with a sevenfold wall. The innermost of these walls enclosed the royal palace and the treasury. At present there are but few remains of Ecbatana, in the neighbourhood of Hamadan. The monarchy which he established was here- ditary, and a kind of military despotism. His successor Phraortes, from b. c. 656 to 634, commenced a great war against the Assyrian empire, but lost his life in a decisive battle. In the reign of his son Cyaxares, from b. c. 634 to 594, 60 ASIATIC NATIONS. the kingdom was invaded by Scythian hordes from the conn- tries about mount Caucasus, and was kept in subjection by them for a period of twenty-eight years, at the end of which, Cyaxares and his Medes not only expelled the foreign invaders, but resumed the war against the Assyrians, to avenge the defeat of his father. For this purpose, he allied himself with Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, and succeeded in taking and destroying the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, and subduing the empire. When he died, after a reign of forty years, he was succeeded by his son Astyages. The Median empire which was thus restored by Cyaxares, embraced, besides Media, also Assyria, and was further extended by the subju- gati(m of Persia proper and Bactria. It was bounded on the west by the river Halys. Astyages who reigned from b. c. 594 till 559, was the last king of Media, for in his reign the subject Persians rose against the Medes, and having overthrown their power, subdued the whole of the Median empire. Ac- cording to Herodotus, the daughter of Astyages married a Persian noble, whose son Cyrus usurped the throne of Media, and thus became the founder of the Persian empire in b. c. 559. 10. The history of Cyrus* — setting aside the romance related by Xenophon in his Cyropaedia — has been transmitted to us in a legendary form by Herodotus. According to this, Jiis grandfather Astyages, having been frightened by a dream, gave orders that the son born of his daughter should be killed ; but the child was saved and reared by a she-dog in the mountains of Persia. He grew up, and became the most distinguished archer and horseman among the warlike Persians. He must have been one of those mighty characters whose mere appearance exercises a peculiar charm upon those coming in contact with them, and who, when successful in great undertakings, are regarded by their contemporaries as direct instruments in the hands of the deity. In regard to his * Properly Koresh or Kurshid, that is, the Sun. PERSIA. 61 early history, all that can be said with certainty is, that he roused the Persians to an insurrection against the ruling Medes, who were defeated in a pitched battle ; all Media then fell into the hands of Cyrus, in consequence of which, the sovereignty passed into the hands of the Persians. The Medes afterwards made several attempts to recover their lost power, but were unsuccessful. The main advantage gained by the Persians was that henceforth they had no longer to pay the heavy land-tax which had hitherto been imposed upon them by the Medes, the latter having now to fulfil the same obligation to them. On the other hand, how- ever, the Persians, who had hitherto enjoyed comparative freedom in their own country, were gradually brought under the same despotism as those nations which had been subdued by their chief. All the countries which had been subject to Media now naturally owned the sway of the new rulers. But that empire did not satisfy Cyrus : in the course of his thirty years' reign (from b. c. 559 to 531) he extended it from the Hellespont, the ^gean, and the frontiers of Egypt, in the West, to the Oxus in the East. Soon after his ascension, he became involved in a war with Croesus, king of Lydia. This king, it is said, had been an ally of Astyages, and now resolved to avenge him on the usurper ; but it was probably the fear of being attacked by the successful conqueror that in- duced Croesus to anticipate the plans of the enemy. He accor- dingly made war upon Cyrus, but in a battle on the east of the river Halys, the Lydians were defeated, and obliged to make a hasty retreat to their own country. Cyrus, with unexpected rapidity, pursued the enemy through Cappadocia and Phrygia, and appeared before Sardes the capital of Lydia, before Croesus was able to assemble a new army. In a short time the city and its citadel fell into the hands of Cyrus, and Croesus him- self was taken prisoner. This important event occurred in the year b. c. 546. Cyrus is said to have ordered the conquered 62 ASIATIC NATIONS. king to be burnt alive, but wliile standing on the pile, the unfortunate man, remembering a wise saying of Solon, who had once visited him, and refused to own that Croesus, in spite < of his immense wealth, deserved to be called happy, exclaimed Solon, Solon ! Cyrus surprised at this, asked what it meant, and upon being informed, ordered Croesus to be brought down from the pile, and to accompany him to the court of Persia. This beautiful story, unfortunately, is irreconcilable v/ith chronology, for Croesus did not ascend the throne of Lydia till b. c. 560, and Solon himself died in that same year or the one following. Certain it is, however, that Croesus for many a year afterwards lived at the court of Persia, enjoy- ing the respect and esteem of both Cyrus and his son Cambyses. The conquest of Lydia was accompanied by that of other nations in Asia Minor ; the Mysians, Phrygians, and Paphla- gonians, submitted without a blow ; but the Greek colonies in Asia, many of which had been subject to Croesus, and the Carians and Lycians, the last of whom had not belonged to the Lydian empire, were resolved to defend their freedom against the new conqueror. But they were unable to main- tain themselves, for one Greek city after another, though they defended themselves with true heroism, was obliged to sub- mit, and some of them experienced all the horrors of cities taken by the sword. The inhabitants of Phocaea emigrated, and founded Velia (Elea) in southern Italy. The other Greek cities, after the withdrawal of Cyrus, retained their own republican constitutions, but were obliged to pay tribute to the Persians ; they remained wealthy and flourishing, but their free spirit as Greeks gradually disappeared under the Persian rule. Lycia and Caria also were overpowered by Cyrus, and the ruler of Cilicia recognised the supremacy of the conqueror. All Asia Minor was thus reduced. The Lydians afterwards endeavoured to shake off the foreign dominion, but were unsuc- cessful, and the yoke only became harder and heavier : their PERSIA. * 63 arms were taken from them, and they were compelled to live in the enjoyment of the wealth they possessed, in consequence of which they became demoralised and effeminate. Babylon had not been subject to the Medes, and had therefore to be conquered by force of arms. This conquest was not accomplished by Cyrus without great efforts, but when effected, added vast territories to the Persian empire, for all Syria, together with Phoenicia and Palestine, seem at that period to have been subject to Babylon. The con- quest of Babylon, which took place in b. c. 538, is related in different ways. According to the native tradition, Na- bonnedus, king of Babylon, met the enemy in the open field, but being defeated in a pitched battle, he retreated to Bor- sippa, the city of the Chaldaeans, where he was besieged, and afterwards capitulated. His life, however, like that of Croesus, was spared, and he spent the remainder of his days in a small principality in Carmania. According to Herodotus, Cyrus took the city of Babylon by turning the course of the river Euphrates, the city being built on both sides of it, so that he was enabled to march into the very heart of the place as soon as the ordinary bed of the river was dried up. By this conquest Cyrus at once became the sovereign of all the countries which had been subject to Babylon. The last undertaking of Cyrus was, according to Hero- dotus, an expedition against the Massagetae, which Ctesias assigns to an earlier period, and accordingly makes Cyrus return victorious ; whereas Herodotus states that he lost his life in a battle against the Massagetae. This nation was probably of the Mongol or Tartar race, living chiefly by the chase and on the produce of their herds and flocks. They occupied the country about the Caspian sea, or the steppes to the north of the river Oxus, and were at this time governed by a queen, Tomyris. Cyrus commenced the war against them, and entrapped them by a stratagem : he left his camp and 64 ASIATIC NA'nONS. a o-reat quantity of wine, and when the Massagetae took the camp, they indulged so much in drinking as to become intoxicated, whereupon Cyrus returned and captured a great number of them, and among them the queen's son, who was so mortified at the disaster that, although he had obtained his freedom from the conqueror, he made away with himself. The queen then, filled with grief and revenge, collected a fresh army, and in a terrible battle avenged the loss of her son, and of so many of her people. The body of Cyrus was treated with insult by Tomyris, for she cut off the head, and, throwing it into a bag filled with blood, exclaimed, " Now sate thyself with blood, of which during thy life thou wast so thirsty." This account, preserved in Herodotus, is, like many of his eastern stories, only a popular tradition, though the war against the Massagetae itself cannot be doubted. Certain it is also, that Cyrus died in the year b. c. 531, that his body was buried at Persepolis, and that he was succeeded by his son Cambyses, in b. c. 530, who was recog- nised throughout the whole empire without any opposition. 11. Cambyses inherited indeed the warlike disposition of his father, but he was violent and tyrannical, whence his reign, which lasted until b. c. 522, was as unfortunate for those whom he subdued as for his own empire. Its two most remarkable events are the conquest of Egypt, and the murder of his brother, which led to the usurpation of the Magi, so that the government for a time passed into the hands of the Medes ; until the Persians, recovering their courage, threw off the yoke. From Herodotus it would seem as if Cam- byses had set out on the Egyptian expedition immediately after his accession, but this is impossible, for the conquest of Egypt is known to belong to the year b. c. 526. The attack upon Egypt was made without any provocation, and arose simply from his consciousness that he was strong enough to conquer the country he coveted. The story that his anger was roused PERSIA. 65 against the Egyptians by an Egyptian woman, is probably a mere fiction. Egypt was then governed by king Psammeni- tus. Cambyses, assisted by a treacherous Greek, Phanes of Halicarnassns, invaded Egypt by land and by sea, being supplied with a fleet by the Phoenicians, and the maritime towns of Asia Minor. The land army marched into Egypt through the desert, but the Egyptians met the invaders on the frontier, and a decisive battle was fought in the neigh- bourhood of Pelusium, in which the Egyptians were com- pletely defeated. After this victory the Persians advanced towards Memphis, then the capital of Egypt, where the people, in consequence of the national antipathy subsisting between the Persians and Egyptians, offered an obstinate and almost fanatical resistance. At length, however, famine compelled them to surrender, and they were treated with fearful cruelty by the conqueror. The Persians being them- selves worshippers of light and fire, thoroughly despised the religion of the Egyptians, and Cambyses and his soldiery insulted and maltreated their conquered enemies in every way and on every occasion. According to Herodotus, Cam- byses spent the remainder of his life in Egypt, being occupied with designs of fresh conquests, for he wished to carry his arms as far into Africa as his father had carried them into Asia; but nature opposed him. He first sent an army against the Ethiopians, but it perished in the desert under whirlwinds of sand. An expedition to the oasis of Siwah (Ammonium) experienced a similar fate, and these failures only increased the despot's cruelty towards the Egyptians. Another expedition was proposed against Carthage, but Cam- byses could not undertake this without the fleet of the Phoenicians, and as they refused to aid their ruler in the subjugation of their otnti colony, the plan was given up. Cambyses abandoned himself in Egypt to habits of in- toxication, and to the gratification of every whim and passion ; D 2 66 ASIATIC NATIONS. whicli hurt the feelings of his own Persians no less than those of the Egyptians. Being taunted by the son of a noble Persian with being too much given to drinking, he shot the young man with an arrow through his heart; and the father of the youth, who witnessed the deed, when asked by Cam- byses whether he now believed him to be drunk, servilely answered, that a god himself could not have aimed more cor- rectly. On another occasion, he ordered twelve Persian nobles to be buried up to their necks in the earth. Among other atrocities, he ordered, in consequence of a dream, his own brother Smerdis to be put to death, and the deed was done by the very man whose son Cambyses had shot. After this murder a pretender arose, who with great bold- ness and address possessed a remarkable resemblance to the murdered prince, and came forward at Ecbatana under his name to claim the throne. This Smerdis was a Mede, and his brother had been intrusted with the administration of the empire during the absence of Cambyses. Supported by this brother, Smerdis at once took possession of the treasures and the throne of Persia, and the peoi)le, tired of the tyranny of Cambyses, without hesitation recognised him as their ruler. In order to secure their favour, he adopted a policy opposed to that of the detested tyrant. When Cambyses heard of all this, he set out against the usurper with his army ; but his career was cut short, before he had an opportunity of meeting his enemy in battle. He accidentally wounded himself with his own sword, and died in consequence, mortification having taken place in the wound, b. c. 522. As he left no children, the army readily recognised the Pseudo- Smerdis as their king, for as Cambyses had never made the death of his brother publicly known, he was generally believed to be the real Smerdis. 12. This is the view taken by Herodotus, according to whom the empire was governed by a Mede, while every one believed him to be a Persian : but the whole affair seems to PERSIA. C7 have been a revolution, by which the Medes endeavoured to recover their lost power, and for a time were successful. But, before a year had pasvsed away, seven of the noblest Persians led on their countrymen against the usurper, and overpowered and slew him in his palace. Upon this there arose a general insurrection against the Medes and their Magi, of whom the Persians slew as many as they could find ; and a festival was then instituted to commemorate the event, under the name of the Magophonia. When the Medes were completely van- quished, the Persians raised one of their own grandees, Darius, the son of Hystaspes, to the throne, b. c. 521. He reigned until b. c. 486, and this long period was no less im- portant in the history of Persia than the reign of Cyrus him- self had been ; for Cyrus and Cambyses had enlarged the empire by conquests, but Darius organised and consolidated the unwieldy mass. He divided his vast kingdom into twenty satrapies or provinces, the administration of each of which was intrusted to- a satrap or governor, whose duties were not indeed clearly defined ; but without some such arrangement the empire could not have been kept together ; and under the circumstances, his institutions must have been as good as any that could have been devised, for they lasted till the end of the Persian empire. In addition to these internal regulations, Darius also, like his predecessors, extended his empire in all directions. He subdued not only the border countries of India, but the whole valley of the Indus became part of his empire, so that Persian ships sailed up the river as far as it was navigable. He also made the Arabs tribu- tary, though their country remained free and was not changed into a province. Cyrene in Africa, and Thrace and Mace- donia in Europe, together with the Greek islands near the Asiatic coast, had to pay homage and tribute to him. It appears to have been his ambition also to subdue the coim- tries around the Euxine, and to unite the continent of Greece 68 ASIATIC NATIONS. with his empire. But in these last undertakings he was not successful. The Scythian nomades on the lower Danube withdrew with their tents and herds, leaving their deserted and barren country to the enemy, who, from want of provi- sions, were brought to the very brink of destruction, and would on their return have perished on the banks of the Danube, if the Greeks who had been commissioned to guard the bridge on that river had agreed to break it down, as Miltiades advised. Darius was more successful in quelling the insurrections which broke out in the interior of his empire. Babylon, which made an attempt to shake off the Persian yoke, was re-conquered through the treachery of Zopyrus, a Persian noble, who is said to have mutilated himself in order to win the confidence of the enemy. Miletus and the Greek cities in Asia likewise revolted, and, although at first successful, had in the end to pay dearly for their thoughtless attempt. But we shall after- wards have occasion to recur to these events, and must now turn our attention to the reforms which Darius introduced in his own empire. 13. Darius himself and his successors belonged to the noble family of the Achaemenidae, besides which there were six other great families, from which the generals and great officers of state were chosen by the king. The Persians proper, as the ruling people, were exempt from all taxes ; at home they were free and governed themselves, but as soon as they went abroad or to the court, they were slaves like all the other subjects of the king. In all the other parts of the empire a uniform system of administration and taxation was introduced. The administration was facilitated by the division of the empire into satrapies. The military affairs in each province were managed by the satrap, but besides him, there was a royal scribe in every province, who was quite independent of the satrap, and whose business it was to levy the tribute and taxes. Every satrap himself kept a court in his province, and lived in royal splendour, deriving his income PERSIA. 69 from all parts of his province partly in money and partly in produce of the land. As the satraps were generally relations of the king, and were possessed of great power, the provinces were without any redress against their extortions ; for if the gover- nors only took care that the tribute to the king was punctually paid, they were allowed to rule according to their own plea- sure, and satisfy their avarice in any manner they pleased. Sometimes they even went so far as to defy the commands of their king, and to wage war among one another. On the whole, it may be said that, with the organisation it possessed, the Persian empire was a mere accumulation of heterogeneous masses, kept together only by mechanical means, without any internal bond of union, except fear. No attempts were made to destroy the national character of the provin- cials, and the Persian government generally left to conquered nations their institutions, laws, and customs, and sometimes even their rulers, if they otherwise obeyed the king's com- mands and paid their tribute. But notwithstanding this, the provinces generally sank into a state of barbarism, for no laws protected them against the arbitrary and despotic conduct of their governors, the taxation was extremely heavy, and the loss of political independence gradually extinguished that manly spirit without which no nation can rise to greatness. The Persian army was very numerous, every man capable of bearing arms being obliged to serve, and in time of need they were called to arms to their various rallying places. The soldiers served in their national costumes and armour, which gave to a Persian army a very motley appearance. The religion of the Persians was the system of the Mede Zoroaster, though it was modified in some points. Fire and the sun were objects of worship, and formed the chief points of the Persian religion. The Magi or priests of the Medes were adopted by the Persians, together with their religion, and were at first a very powerful class of men ; but under the military despotism they gradually lost their former power and 70 ASIATIC NATIONS. importance. In science and literature the Persians have left no great name in history ; but the noble ruins of Persepolis, consisting of the remains of temples, palaces, porticoes, reliefs, and other sculptures, and walls covered with inscriptions, show that in architecture and sculpture they were by no means behind other Asiatic nations. The king of Persia, also called the Great King, was a most perfect despot. As in other Asiatic countries, he was regarded as the sole proprietor of the land. In their relation to the king, all his subjects were only slaves, and the king was master over the lives of all his people. Whoever was ad- mitted into his presence had to prostrate himself and kiss the earth. As the throne of Ormuzd was surrounded by spirits of light, so the Persian king, his representative on earth, was surrounded by the noblest Persians and a most brilliant court, which resided in winter at Babylon, in the spring at Susa, and in the summer at Ecbatana. The king's palaces were surrounded with splendid parks, called paradises, and well stocked with fruit-trees and game, and every thing that luxury could devise. The harem of such a Persian sultan was most expensive, being maintained sometimes by the revenues from whole cities or provinces. The influence exer- cised upon the court and the princes by the intriguing wives of the kings was often of the most pernicious kind, and in- volved one part of the empire in war with another. CHAPTER V. ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA. 1. Assyria in its narrower sense was situated on the east of the river Tigris, and was consequently a part of Iran ; in ASSYRIA. 71 a wider sense it also includes Babylonia and Mesopotamia, and comprises the countries about the Euphrates and Tigris, which latter river forms the boundary between the countries of Iran and those of the Semitic race. The banks of these rivers were at different times inviting to princes who appeared there as rulers or conquerors, to build their capitals on them. The northern part of the country, which is inclosed between the two rivers, and bears the name of Mesopotamia, is a desert, or rather a steppe, well adapted for nomadic tribes ; but the southern plains of Babylonia, which were intersected by in- numerable canals for purposes of irrigation, w^ere a country of extraordinary fertility and productiveness, and Herodotus praises it above all other countries known to him. At present those blessed districts have becom.e almost a desert under the rude and destructive government of the Mahommedans ; but the ancient ruins of mighty cities and frontier walls, the canals and other means devised for irrigating the country, still attest the high prosperity once enjoyed by their inhabitants. 2. There was a time when the Assyrian empire was re- garded as the most ancient conquering power in the world ; but of its history, as well as of that of Babylon, only frag- ments have been preserved to us by Greek writers and in the Old Testament ; and it is sometimes a matter of extreme difficulty to make the profane and sacred authorities agree with each other. According to the Mosaic account, Babel or Babylon, the capital of the powerful Nimrod, was the head of a more ancient empire ; and Assur, proceeding from Baby- lon, founded Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, which would accordingly be a colony of Babylon. Greek authorities state the very reverse of this, for they represent Nineveh as the more ancient city. But the origin of the Assyrian empire is related by them only in mythical legends, which have acquired great celebrity, though they can hardly be said to embody the ideas which the Assyrians entertained respecting their own 72 ASIATIC NATIONS. early history. According to these acconiits, the founder of the Assyrian empire was Ninns, who built Niuus or Nineveh, and subdued a great part of Asia. His history is connected with tliat of the fabulous (pieen Scmiramis, who was miraculously saved when only a child, and was possessed of extraordinary beauty and mental powers. At the time when Ninus marched against Bactra she was in the Assyrian army ; and when that city bafllcd all his eflTorts, it was conquered by her prudence and valour. The king was thereupon seized with such admi- ration of the heroine that he made her his wife, in consequence of which her previous husband made away with himself. After the death of Ninus, Somiramis governed the empire, and among other cities built Babylon with extraordinary splendour and magnificence, and undertook vast expeditions to extend her dominions by conquest. She subdued Egypt and a large portion of Ethi()j)ia ; but a war undci'taken against India with an army of more than tlircc millions of men proved unsuc- cessful. After this she resigned the government to her son Ninyas, and disappeared from the earth, taking up her abode among the gods. Ninyas, the very opposite of his parents, never quitted the city, and spent his whole life in the midst of women and eunuchs, and in constant amusements. 8. Such is the story of the fotnidation of the Assyrian empire, as transmitted by the classical writers of antiquity. It is quite clear that we are here in the domain of fable and not of history. Ninus is only the personification of Nineveh, as Komulus in the case of Rome. Semiramis is a Syrian divinity, and perhaps identical with Astarte. There can, more- over, bo no doubt that Nineveh was of more recent origin than l^abylon ; but how and when it was founded, and how it acquired the dominion of a large part of Asia, are questions to which no certain answer can be given. It is equally im- possible to say how far the Assyrian empire really extended. The vast conquests mentioned in the story are beyond all APSYUIA. 73 qnc'slion f^ro.itly cxag«^(' rated ; but tlicrc can be no doubt that Babylon, Media, and Persia were subject to it, and that it extended even inio Asia Minor. Diodorus of Sicily, a writer derivin*^ liis information from the work of Ctesias, a Greek physician who lived at the court of Persia, gives the subsequent history of Assyria in a form no less fabidous than its begiiniing. According lo him the empire was ruled, for thirty generations after Ninyas, by his descendants, who spent their lives in idleness and volup- tuousness lik(! Ninyas, until Sardanapalns, the last of them, even dressed himself as a woman, and acted in a most effeminate and unworthy manner, in coiisccpience of which his subject nations rose in arms against him, headed by the governor of Media. Sardanapalns, at length rousing himself, defeated the rebels in several engagements ; but in the end he was overpowered, and being unable to defend Nineveh, he caused a large pile to be erected, on which he burnt himself, with all his treasures, wives, and eunuchs. Nineveh thus fell into the hands of the conquerors, that is the Medes, after the Assyrians from Ninus to Sardanapalns had ruled for a period of 1360 years. 4. This account of the Assyrian empire and its thirty effeminate kings is as fabulous as the story about its founda- tion, and the only real historical fact in this tradition seems to be, that the end of the empire was as inglorious as its beginning had been glorious. The duration of upwards of tliirteen hiuidred years assigned to the Assyrian empire is likewise more than doubtful, for it is not only opposed to all analogy, but to the express statement of Herodotus, according to whom the Assyrians had been ruling over Asia for a period of five hundred and twenty years at the time when the Medes revolted. This latter statement, probable in itself, is con- firmed by the Armenian translation of Eusebins, in which it is stated that Assyrian kings ruled over Babylon five hundred E 74 ASIATIC NATIONS. and twenty- six years, and we know tliat Babylon shook off tlie Assyrian yoke at the same time as the Medes, in the eighth century b. c, and both nations had evidently been subject to Assyria during the same period. According to this view the foundation of the Assyrian empire belongs to the thirteenth century b/c, and its final overthrow by the Mede Cyaxares, as we have already observed, to the year b. c. 605, which is about three centuries later than the date assigned to its desti'uction by Ctesias. The story about the thirty effeminate kings, and the time in which they are said to have reigned, is moreover opposed to the historical statements of the Old Testament, for here we read of Assyrian kings in the eighth century, who extended their empire, attacked and subdued Babylonia, Syria, Israel, and Phoenicia, and made repeated attempts to conquer Egypt. First we hear of king Phul (about b. c. 770), who extended his empire westward, and approached the kingdom of Israel, which was so terrified that it purchased its freedom for a large sum of money. His successor, Tiglath-pileser (about B. c. 740), conquered the splendid city of Damascus, laid a heavy tribute upon the kingdom of Judah, and transplanted many of the conquered people beyond the Euphrates. He was succeeded by Salmanassar (about b. c. 720), who invaded Israel, and took Samaria after a siege of several years. He led the greater part of the Jewish tribes into the interior, and took all the important towns of Phoenicia, with the exception of Tyre, which baffled his efforts by means of its navy. His successor Sanherib or Sennacherib (about b. c. 712) threatened Judah and attacked Egypt; but sudden misfortunes compelled him to return without having effected his purpose. After his and Assarhaddon's reign (from b. c. 675 to 626), the Assyrian empire sank more and more, in consequence of which Cyaxares, king of Media, allied with Nabopolassar of Babylon, formed the plan to attack and ASSYRIA. 75 subdue it. ^\^ith a great force they advanced against Nineveh, and after several reverses against Sardanapalus, the last Assyi'ian king, they succeeded in taking and destroying Nineveh, b. c. 605, and thus putting an end to the Assyrian empire. As this destruction of Nineveh happened nearly three centuries later than the time assigned to it by Ctesias, some writers have assumed two Assyrian empires, and supposed that after the first destruction a new empire was formed at Nineveh, which lasted until its conquest by Cyaxares. But this supposition is without any foundation : there never was more than one Assyrian empire, and Nineveh was destroyed only once. 5. The destruction of Nineveh by Cyaxares was no doubt complete ; and the town of the same name mentioned in later times can have been nothing but a small and insig- nificant place built upon tlie ruins of ancient Nineveh. This last city, situated on the east bank of the Tigris, is spoken of by all writers as a place of such vast extent, that modem London, with all its suburbs, would occupy no more than half its space. This may indeed be exaggerated, or the result of misunderstanding ; but Nineveh must, at all events, have been the largest and most important city of western Asia, and its inhabitants must have possessed immense wealth, in consequence of the extensive commerce carried on by them. Kiiins of this gigantic city were unknown until very recently, though travellers had observed the high mounds covering its site, and suggested that excavations might lead to interesting and important discoveries. But in our own days, excavations have been made by Botta, the French consul at Mosul, and still more extensively by Mr. Layard, on the north of the bridge over the Tigris, near the modern Mosul. Walls, palaces, and buildings have been laid open, which, with their numberless sculptures, reveal to us at once the mode of life and warfare of that ancient people. 76 ASIATIC NATIONS. The inscriptions with which these ancient buildings and sculptures are literally covered, may one day help to clear up all that is yet mysterious in the history of Assyria and Babylonia. The sculptures, many of which are now safely lodged in the British Museum, consist of representations of different kinds, as festive processions with the king, his courtiers, eunuchs, priests, and warriors ; but especially war- like scenes, representing battles, sieges, war-chariots, and the like. The conquerors and the conquered are generally dis- tinguished by their features and dress, and the latter seem almost in every case to belong to the Semitic race. Both men and animals are drawn in these sculptures, not indeed without faults, but, on the whole, very correctly, and very expressive in their attitudes and movements. They display a state of the arts in Assyria, at a period which cannot be more recent than the eighth or seventh century b. c, such as we his^^vd scarcely have expected to find in Asia ; for they surpass v^verything else that is known in the history of Asiatic art. The inscriptions on these monuments are all of the kind called cuneiform, and when one day they shall be deciphered, much new and unexpected light may be thrown upon the traditions that have come down to us about the Assyrians. The people seem to have been akin to the Arya, but their religion was different, for they worshipped idols similar to those of the Babylonians, of which we shall have occasion to speak presently. 6. The history of Babylon is closely connected with that of Assyria, and the legends of the Greeks, as we have seen, carry this connection to the very origin of the two states. But the splendour and celebrity of Babylon are undoubtedly much more ancient. According to Genesis, it existed even before the dispersion of mankind. This view of the great antiquity of Babylon is supported by the calculations of the Babylonian priests, which were based upon astronomical ob- BABYLONIA. 77 servations — observations wliicli went buck as far as 1903 years before the time of Alexander the Great. Berosus, a Babylonian priest who lived shortly after the time of Alex- ander, and wrote a history of his country in Greek, also derived his information from native records ; but unfor- tunately we possess only a few extracts from this work. He began with the cosmogony, which in many respects is extremely remarkable, and gave a fabulous account of Baby- lonian history even during the period before the flood. But his later history appears to be thoroughly authentic, and from it we see that Babylon was conquered and governed by foreigners even before it was subdued by the Assyrians in the thirteenth century. Babylon was no doubt one of the greatest and most ancient cities on earth. It acknowledged, as we have seen, the supremacy of Assyria for a period of upwards of five hundred years, after which, about the middle of the eighth century b. c, it shook off the yoke. At a somewhat later time, it again became subject to Assyria, but only for a short period, for its king Nabopolassar assisted Cyaxares the Mede in conquering and destroying the Assyrian empire for ever, b. c. 605. Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar, who reigned from B.C. 604 till 561, and is well known from the Old Testament, is distinguished in history as a great conqueror, who raised the Babylonian empire to the summit of its glory. He was engaged in a war against the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho, whom he defeated in a great battle near Circesium (Carchemish), when he received the news of his father's death, which obliged him to return to Babylon. Afterwards, he conquered the kingdom of Judah, and led many of the most illustrious men to Babylon as captives or hostages, among whom was the prophet Daniel. The Jews repeatedly revolted, but were reduced each time with unrelenting cruelty, and their country was almost drained of its inhabitants. 78 ASIATIC NATIONS. In the end, Jerusalem was laid waste, and the bulk of the nation led into captivity. Nebuchadnezzar then directed his arms against Phoenicia, which he completely subdued, and invaded Egypt, where he plundered the lower valley of the Nile. After his death, the kingdom of Babylon began to decay ; his successors could no longer think of making con- quests, but only how they could defend themselves against the ever-increasing power of the Medes. But it was in vain that Queen Nitocris, the mother of the last king, Nabonedus or Labynetus, endeavoured to render the country and city inaccessible, by making canals, bridges, and lakes ; for it was only twenty-three years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, B. c. 538, that Babylon was taken by Cyrus. Considering this brief duration of the independent existence of the kingdom of Babylon, it could scarcely have attained its celebrity, were it not for its connection with Biblical history, and the splen- dour of its capital Babylon. 7. Babylon was situated on both sides of the river Euphrates, which flowed through the centre. Like most other great Asiatic cities, it was built in the form of a large square, and the streets intersected each other at right angles. Herodotus calls it the most magnificent of all cities known to him, and describes its circumference as amounting to about sixty English miles ; and indeed, modern investigations of the site shew that it cannot have been less ; but we must not suppose that the houses were built close together in rows, as in modern cities ; on the contrary, there must have been many and large districts inclosed within the walls, which were not covered with buildings, but were used as gardens, groves, and fields. The splendour of the city, the wonder of ancient historians, probably did not exist previous to the last period of independence, but arose in and after the reign of Nabopolassar, when it was the capital of a large empire, and had stepped into the place of Nineveh. BABYLONIA. 79 The city was surrouDded by a wall of burnt bricks, two liimdred cubits in height, and fifty in thickness. The royal palace was situated on both sides of the river, and the two parts were connected by a bridge. Near it were artificial terraces, of considerable height and extent, and covered with plants and trees of the most various kinds. These were what are commonly called the hanging gardens of Semiramis, but they were constructed by Nebuchadnezzar, who ordered them to be laid out to please his wife Amuhia, a daughter of Cyaxares, who could not forget the wood-clad hills of her native country. Still more magnificent was the temple of Baal or Beliis, built in the form of a square tower of at least three hundred feet in height. It consisted of eight storeys, the upper ones being smaller than the lower ones, whereby the whole acquired the appearance of a pyramid. Babylon sank more through the decline of its industry and population, than in consequence of its subjugation by foreign rulers, and in the end all its magnificence became one mass of ruins. Even in the fourth century of our era, its site is described as the haunt of wild beasts, as the prophet had predicted; and such is still the case. The extensive mounds of ruins and rubbish bear no traces of the ancient magnificence of the place. The districts between the several mounts are covered with bricks and fragments of pottery. The walls of the city have disappeared, but the mounds of ruins have for more than two thousand years been used by the neighbouring people as quarries, from which they obtained bricks to build their habitations ; nay, whole ship-loads of them have been carried down the river Euphrates. The largest and most important of the ruins of ancient Babylon is situated on the western bank of the river, and is called by the Arabs the tower or palace (Birs) of Nimrod, and by the Jews the prison of Nebuchadnezzar. At its base it is upwards of two thousand feet in circumference, and as there are several indications of 80 ASIATIC NATIONS. the pyramidal form of the tower of Belus, modern travellers have identified it with that edifice. 8. Babylon continued for centuries to be visited, admired, and described by travellers, while Nineveh was lying in ruins ; and this is probably the main reason why so little mformation has oome down to us about the Assyrians, whereas the man- ners and peculiarities of the Babylonians are often alluded to by the ancients, The language of the Babylonians was the Aramaic, a branch of the Semitic ; but it is generally called Chaldaeic, a name by which the Babylonians as a people, also are designated,* though it is more commonly limited to that portion of the people inhabiting the district of Chaldaea on the Persian gulf. These Chaldaeans were undoubtedly a foreign tribe, which had immigrated into Babylonia from the north ; in their new country they formed a powerful caste, like the Brahmins in India, and most of the Babylonian priests appear to have belonged to it. The mention of such a priestly caste in Babylonia suggests the probability that at one time other castes also may have existed ; but during the last genera- tions before the Persian conquest, regarding which we have authentic accounts, the ancient institutions seem to have fallen into decay, and the form of government then was a most com- plete despotism, as we may see from the descriptions of the prophet Daniel. The Babylonians were then slaves, as Asiatics have generally been during periods of great prosperity ; but they forgot their servile condition in their pomp and luxury, in their voluptuousness and sensual enjoyments, of which the profane as well as the sacred writers draw the most revolting pictures. It may safely be asserted that no city ever was more notorious than Babylon for immorality and licentious- ness, and the women were in this respect far worse than the men. The causes of this demoralisation, which has made * In the Scriptures, the name is Chasdim, which is ctymologically the same as Chaldaeans. BABYLONIA. 81 Babylon proverbial, were, on the one luind, the unmitigated despotism of its rulers, and on the other, the great wealth of the people, which was so excessive, that Babylon, as a province of Persia, alone furnished one-third of the entire revenues of the empire. The sources of this wealth consisted in the extraordinary fertility of the soil, and the extensive commerce of the people, for which the situation of the city on the Euphrates was particularly favourable. That river connected the city with the Persian gulf, while roads to the west and north put it in communication with the Mediterranean and the Black sea. Babylon was the main transit- town of the precious merchandise which was brought from India to the west, and was chiefly conveyed by sea to the mouth of the Euphrates. But besides this, Babylon itself was celebrated for the productions of its own industry, consisting of cotton and silk stuffs, costly carpets, and tapestry rich in colours and workmanship, which were higlily prized even by the Romans in the distant west. 9. The Babylonians, or rather the Chaldaeans, were equally celebrated as diviriers ; it was especially by means of astrology that they pretended to obtain a knowledge of the future ; and as this knowledge was believed to be hereditary in the caste of the Clialdaeans, their predictions were thought to be infallible, and were consequently looked upon wdth great respect. This art of foretelling the future by observing the stars, was reduced by the Chaldaeans to a regular system, which was called by both Greeks and Ptomans a Chaldaean science ; nay, astrologers in general ultimately came to be called Chaldaeans in the south of Europe. The belief in the possibility of such astrological prophecies arose among the Chaldaeans, from their notion of the divine powers possessed by the stars — a notion of which indications occur even in the religion of Ormuzd. The sun and the moon, being the most prominent among the heavenly bodies, were regarded by the 82 ASIATIC NATIONS. Babylonians as the princii^al divinities, next to whom came the planets, or the twelve signs of the zodiac. But these divinities were conceived in human forms, and in this anthro- pomorphism, Baal or Belus, the sun-god, was the supreme divinity, whence western nations identified him with the Greek Zeus, and the Koman Jupiter or Saturn. Belus was further regarded as the founder of the state and city of Baby- lon, and as the progenitor of the Babylonian kings. As Belus was the supreme male divinity, so Mylitta, or the moon-goddess, was the highest female divinity. Being also the symbol of productive nature, she is often mentioned by Greek and Koman writers under the name of Aphrodite or Venus. Her worship was connected with, most revolting obscenity, and seems to have contributed not a little to the demoralisation of the Babylonian people. 10. The five planets were the stars from which, in parti- cular, the Chaldaeans pretended to obtain their knowledge of the future ; with them, as with all subsequent astrologers, Jupiter and Venus were beneficent powers. Mars and Saturn hostile, while Mercury was either the one or the other, accord- ing to its position. As the priests, by their astrological occu- pations, were led to observe the stars and their revolutions, which, in the plains of Babylonia, with their bright and trans- parent atmosphere, was easier than elsewhere, they gradually acquired real astronomical knowledge, which enabled them to calculate with astonishing accuracy the returns of eclipses of the sun and moon. In their chronological calculations they had lunar cycles as their basis, but they devised means for bringing the lunar and solar years into harmony. They knew and employed the division of the day into twelve hours, to determine which they used a sort of water-clock or clepsydra, which was subsequently adopted by Greek astronomers. This occupation with mathematical calculations also led them to other branches of natural philosophy, such as mechanics ; and PHOENICIA. 83 in western Asia the Babylonians were the first people that had a regular system of weights and measures, which was afterwards adopted by the Syrians and Greeks. CHAPTER VI. PHOENICIA. 1 . Phoenicia is the narrow strip of land in the north and west of Palestine, extending from the town of Dora in the south, to Marathos in the north. On the west it is bounded by the Mediterranean, and on the east by mount Lebanon, which furnished the Phoenicians with excellent timber for ship-build- ing. Their coast country nowhere extended more than a few miles inland, yet their importance as a commercial people is not surpassed by any other nation of antiquity. The question as to who the Phoenicians originally were can- not be answered with certainty, though it is a well-known fact that their language was Semitic, and that their whole civili- sation bore the Semitic character. The Canaanites, for this is the name under which the Phoenicians are spoken of in the Old Testament, were, according to the Mosaic account, sons of Ham, and not of Shem ; whence they would belong to the same race as the Egyptians and other southern nations. Greek historians also relate that the Phoenicians were a foreign people, which had originally dwelt on the Erythraean sea, or the Persian gulf. We cannot here enter into an examination of this question ; but certain it is, that, though they were foreign immigrants, they became so completely assimilated to the neighbouring tribes, that they cannot be regarded in any other light than that of a Semitic people. 84 ASIATIC NATIONS. 2. The very nature and extent of the country they inha- bited obliged them to devote themselves to commerce ; and the dominion which they were unable to found by extending their own country, they established by their numerous colonies in nearly all parts of the Mediterranean. Under these circum- stances, the Phoenicians, though numerically a small people, became, by perseverance and energy, the first commercial nation in the ancient world, and that, too, at a time when Greek civilisation had scarcely commenced its development. Commerce and navigation were the only means by which they could secure their existence, and the coast they inhabited offered the best opportunities, on account of its excellent harbours, most of which are now completely destroyed by the accumulation of sand. Along their coast they built a number of cities, and numerous smaller towns, with which the coast was literally studded. Of all the enormous commercial activity which must once have reigned in those parts, only few traces exist at the present day. Cities and splendid buildings have crumbled away, and vast quantities of ruins and numberless pillars of granite, porphyry, marble, and glass, have in the course of centuries been carried away, or have been used as building materials for other edifices. The most ancient among the Phoenician cities was Sidon, which was built at a time of which history knows nothing. It was the metropolis of most other Phoenician towns, and for a long period remained the most important and powerful among them, until it was eclipsed by Tyre, one of its own colonies. The time of the foundation of Tyre is very doubtful, but it certainly cannot have been later than the twelfth century b. c. The Tyrians themselves afterwards spoke of their own city as more ancient even than Sidon ; but though this undoubtedly arose from an excessive partiality for their own native place, yet it cannot be denied that in later times it occupied by far the most pro- minent position among the Phoenician cities, and threw Sidou PHOENICIA. 85 into the sliade. In this proud position Tyre maintained itself, until, in the altered circumstances of the world, it lost its independence, in consequence of which its wealth and glory vanished. 3. The sea opened up to Phoenician enterprise the conti- nents of Africa and Europe, and all the islands of the Medi- terranean, while the country was connected by roads and rivers with the great eastern empires, so that the commerce of the Phoenicians was not confined to any one part of the world, but extended over nearly the whole of it. In connection with the Jews, we are told that they sailed down the Eed sea to a country called Ophir, whence, among other valuable products, they brought a particularly fine species of gold. It is doubtful wliat country we are to understand by Ophir, some believing it to be the south of Arabia, and others India, but the latter seems to be the more probable. It cannot be said against this supposition that a voyage to so distant a country was too bold an enterprise for the Phoenicians at so early a period, for a story related by Herodotus proves as clearly as possible that in the reign of the Egyptian King Necho (b. c. 617-601) they circumnavigated Africa, and thus anticipated, by more than two thousand years, the discovery of the Portuguese. King Necho, Herodotus says, was the first to prove that Libya (Africa) is surrounded by the sea, except the part where it is connected with Asia. For he sent out Phoenician sailors and ships, ordering them to return by the pillars of Hercules to the Mediterranean and Egypt. These Phoeni- cians accordingly sailed down the Eed sea into the southern ocean. Each autumn they landed on the coast of Libya, which happened to be near ; they then sowed corn and waited for the harvest ; after reaping the corn they again embarked and continued their voyage. In this manner they returned in the third year to Egypt by way of the pillars of Hercules. They related, that while sailing round Libya, they had had the 86 ASIATIC NATIONS. Sim on their right hand. All the objections which modern critics have made for the purpose of showing that this narra- tive is undeserving of credit, are of no weight, and the last sentence of the report contains the most irrefragable evidence of its truth, for as soon as the sailors had passed the equator, the sun must have appeared to them in the north or on their right-hand side. But unfortunately this great discovery was neglected after it had once been made, and no further advan- tages were derived from it. The ancient nations that were powerful at sea did not consider it degrading to increase by piracy the profits they made by trading, and hence we find the Phoenicians also indulging in this practice, not only at sea, but also on land, for they would sometimes avail them- selves of a favourable opportunity, and, making a descent upon a foreign coast, carry off beautiful women and boys, whom they afterwards sold as slaves. This traffic of the Phoeni- cians in slaves is attested by several passages of ancient writers, and also by the Jewish prophets, who complain of Sidon and Tyre having sold the sons of Judah as slaves to the Greeks. 4. No undertaking appears to have been too arduous for the Phoenicians, for not only did they navigate the seas in the south of Asia, but the pillars of Hercules were no bounds to their enterprise. On the west of Gibraltar they founded in early times the colony of Gadeira or Gades (Cadix), and from it they sailed in the Atlantic ocean as far as the islands called Cassiterides (the Scilly islands, on the south-west coast of England), whence they brought tin, which was not found in any other part of the ancient world, and was indispensable as an alloy in founding brass. On these same voyages they probably also obtained amber, which was highly valued and used in a variety of ornaments. The country where amber was and still is found- in great abundance, is the Prussian coast of the Baltic : but it is doubtful whether the Phoeni- PHOENICIA. 87 cians themselves fetched amber from those parts, or whether it was brought to them by other merchants : the latter is the more probable supposition, for we know that amber was conveyed by land to the south of Europe. The Phoeni- cians were more than ordinarily jealous of competition in their commercial enterprises, and endeavoured by all means to secure to themselves a monopoly in their dealings wdth distant countries. For this purpose they invented and spread abroad numerous tales about the dangers and terrors to which their seamen were exposed in sailing through the Atlantic ocean. Once, it is said, a Roman merchant-ship followed a Phoenician in the Atlantic, for the purpose of discovering its secret. But the Phoenicians thwarted the attempt by allow- ing their own ship to be wrecked in order to draw the Eoman into the same disaster. The Phoenician captain saved his life, and, on his return home, he received from the public coffers an indemnification for the loss he had sustained in protecting the trade of his own country against foreign competition. 5. Nations distinguished for commercial enterprise are rarely behind hand in manufactures and other industrial pur- suits, and this rule holds good also with the Phoenicians. Even in the Homeric poems the Sidonians are mentioned as the authors of works of art and skill, and many productions of Phoenician industry, as their textile fabrics and the purple dyes, remained celebrated in antiquity down to the latest times. In the art of weaving, the Phoenicians eclipsed most of their neighbours, and they were believed to be the inven- tors of purple dyeing, which was afterwards carried on also in other maritime towns of the Mediterranean, as at Tarentum. The purple was not one particular colour, but the name em- braced a great variety of shades, from bright scarlet to black. The dye was obtained from a shell fish, which was found in abundance in several parts of the Mediterranean and also in the Atlantic. The purple of Tyre, however, was regarded as 88 ASIATIC NATIONS. tlie best, and the cloths dyed in it produced changing colours. A^egetable dyes of great beauty and variety were likewise produced in Phoenicia. The manufacture of glass is said to have been discovered by the Phoenicians through the accidental melting of saltpetre mixed with sand. This manufacture was for a long time kept secret, to secure the monopoly to the Phoenicians. Glass was at first used only as an article of ornament, or made into vessels, pillars, and similar things, which were very much valued, and formed a most lucrative article of commerce. The glass manufactures of Tyre, in particular, were very celebrated, and continued to flourish even beyond the period of antiquity. This commerce and these manufactures account for the immense wealth that was accumulated in the cities of Phoenicia. The Hebrew prophets give the most graphic descriptions of this state of things, but at the same time inveigh against the pride and insolence to which the great wealth gave rise. An invention more important than all these which some of the ancients ascribe to the Phoenicians, is that of the art of alphabetic writing. The question, however, as to whether this honour really belongs to them, has been much discussed, and the result is, that although the Phoenicians cannot be looked upon as the real inventors, they undeniably had the merit of introducing alphabetic writing into Greece, where the most extensive and beneficial use was made of the art, and whereby they conferred an inestimable advantage upon all the nations of Europe. But we shall have occasion to return to this sub- ject hereafter. 6. We possess scarcely any means of forming a correct notion of the civilisation attained by the Phoenicians. Few Greeks and Eomans thought it worth their while to study oriental languages, and those who did so, did not enter suffi- ciently deeply into the study to furnish accurate pictures of the life of nations so entirely foreign to them. The literary pro- PHOENICIA. 89 ductions of the Plioenicians tliemselves are all lost, nor are there any architectural remains that might throw light upon their state of civilisation. From some descriptions we learn that they were fond of displaying great splendour and magnificence in the construction of their temples, which were chiefly built of wood and metal. Their introduction of the art of writing into Greece, however, shows that they exerted some influence upon the nations with which they came in contact, though they were not able to stamp their whole character upon any one of them. But they themselves did not escape the influence of other nations, and even their religion and^ mythology show the effects of their commercial inter- course with others ; for while they transplanted their own gods and religious ideas to their colonies and other cities and countries with which they were connected, they experienced in return a similar influence of others. It is owing to this sys- tem of exchanging gods and ideas regarding them, that so great a confusion has arisen in the accounts of the religions of the ancients ; and hence also the facility with which the Greeks and Komans identified their own gods with those of foreign nations. 7. The basis of the Phoenician religion, like that of all the pagan branches of the Semitic race, was the worship of the heavenly bodies ; but this worship became coarse and degene- rate in consequence of the notion which was gradually formed, that the stars were persons with all the passions of human nature. The gi-eat god of the Semitic race, Baal, was called by the Phoenicians Moloch ; he was the demon of fire, to whom, for the -purpose of appeasing his wrath, men, and espe- cially children, were sacrificed in a most cruel and revolting manner. The statue of the god was made of brass, and when sacrifices were offered, the idol was made red-hot, and the wretched victims were placed in its arms to be slowly roasted to death. Their mothers, who were compelled to be present, e2 90 ASIATIC NATIONS. did not venture, from fear, to give utterance to their feelings. Such sacrifices of children were ofiered every year on a certain day, at the commencement of great undertakings, and during any misfortune by which the country was visited. However, the progress of civilisation and the government of Persia, to which Phoenicia ultimately became subject, forbade the perpetration of such horrors. During the siege of Tyre by Alexander the Great, some persons, in despair, proposed to return to the practice which had long been abolished, but the magis- trates prohibited it. It is uncertain whether Melkarth also may be regarded as identical with Baal or Moloch. His chief temple was at Tyre, but he was worshipped in the colonies also. The Greeks partially identified him with their own Heracles, from whom, however, they sometimes distinguish him by the attribute of " the Tyrian." Among the female divinities, Astarte occupied the first rank ; she was the tute- lary goddess of the Sidonians, and was identified by the Greeks and Komans sometimes with Aphrodite or Venus, and sometimes with Hera or Juno. 8. While in their religious views the Phoenicians were complete Asiatics, their political institutions appear to have been more free and elastic than those of other eastern nations, and thus form the transition from Asiatic despo- tism to European freedom. The country of Phoenicia, small as it was, never formed one connected or united state, but each city was independent, and was governed by hereditary kings, whose authority was probably limited by a council, consisting of the noblest among the citizens. In matters affecting the interests of the whole country, however, the cities seem to have acted as a confederation, and one of them took the lead — an arrangement which sometimes may have led to the permanent supremacy of one city over the rest. But we possess no satisfactory information on these subjects, for not only have we no remains of Phoenician literatm-e, but PHOENICIA. 91 the works of the Greeks who wrote on Phoenician affairs are lost. Even the relations subsisting between Phoenicia and the empires on the east of it, whose rulers extended their conquests to the Mediterranean and coveted the cities and fleets of the wealthy merchants, are scarcely known to us. About B.C. 730, when King Salmanassar of Assyria invaded and subdued Phoenicia, New Tyre alone, which was then at the heiglit of its power, resisted the aggressor ; this city had existed for a long time on an island not far from Old Tyre ; it had risen to extraordinary prosperity, and seems at that time to have exercised a hateful supremacy over the other toM'ns, whence these latter even furnished Salmanassar with ships to reduce the only place that was fighting for the independence of Phoenicia. Even Old Tyre joined the enemy. The island city was besieged by Salmanassar for a period of five years, but he was unable to take it. At a later period, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, who sent the captive Phoenicians and Jews into his own kingdom, was likewise unable to take New Tyre, although he besieged it for thirteen years after he had reduced all the rest of the country. But this last blow seems to have exhausted the strength and resources of the place, for soon after, when the Persians appeared as conquerors in Western Asia, Tyre, as well as the rest of Phoenicia, was forced to submit, and the country became a Persian satrapy. In this condition, Phoe- nicia, like other satrapies, had only to perform certain duties, as to pay tribute, and especially to furnish the Persian kings with ships for their maritime undertakings, but otherwise the cities were governed as before by their own kings or judges (suffetes). But their ancient prosperity and splendour were gone, and never again became what they had been. During this period the commerce of the Phoenicians was more and more confined to the eastern parts of the Mediterranean, — the Carthaginians and Greeks taking their place in the 92 ASIATIC NATIONS. western parts. Once, in the reign of Ochus, the oppression of the Persian governor goaded the Phoenicians into a rebellion, Y/hich was headed by Sidon ; but the attempt failed, and as the king ordered the noblest citizens to be put to death, the inhabitants of Tyre set their city on fire, and burnt themselves with all their treasures. Tyre, however, continued to exist much longer ; but when Alexander the Great overthrew the Persian monarchy, and Tyre, from the proud feeling of its former greatness, attempted to defy the conqueror, he laid siege to it, and after seven months took and destroyed the city, B. c. 332. It never recovered from this blow, and, after the building of Alexandria in Egypt, its commercial importance was completely gone, though it continued in a tolerably pros- perous condition until a late period of the middle ages. 9. The colonies which the Phoenicians established in nearly all parts of the Mediterranean, and by which they not only extended their commerce but diffused their know- ledge, their language, and their religion, are so numerous that it is impossible to suppose that all the colonists proceeded from Phoenicia alone ; they must have been joined in these enter- prises by large bodies of Canaanites. We find Phoenician colonies in Cyprus, in Crete, in many of the Greek islands as far as the coast of Thrace, in Greece itself, in Sicily, Sar- dinia, the Balearic islands, and especially on the coasts of Spain and Africa. The former of these countries attracted them by the richness and variety of its natural productions. At a time when the west of Europe was known to the Greeks only from vague reports, which were worked up by the fancy of their poets, the Phoenicians had already discovered the valuable metals, especially silver, in which Spain abounded. Its inhabitants are said to have been so little acquainted with their value, that they gave to the Phoenicians quantities of silver for mere toys and baubles. Their most ancient settle- ment in Spain was Gades or Gadeira (Cadiz), founded about LYDIA. 93 the year b. c. 1100, with a famous temple of tlie Tyrian Her- cules. Gades continued, even under the dominion of the Romans, to be one of the most prosperous and populous cities in the ancient world. But Gades was not their only colony in Spain : Turdetania, the western part of modern Andalusia, was once entirely under their dominion, and this is probably the district called by the ancients Tartessus, which has been the subject of so much discussion. Utica in Africa was founded about the same time as Gades, but all their colonies in Africa were eclipsed by Carthage, founded about B.C. 814 by emigrant Tyrians. The history of this important city will engage our attention in a later part of the work. CHAPTER VII. LYDIA. 1. At the time when Cyrus conquered the kingdom of Lydia, it embraced nearly the whole of the peninsula of Asia Minor, for Lycia and Cilicia appear to have been the only parts of it which maintained their independence. The central portion of Asia Minor consists of an extensive table-land, which affords excellent pasturage for sheep. The southern part is occupied by the chain of mount Taurus, which sinks down towards the Mediterranean, just as the mountains in the west slope down towards the ^Egean, and in the north towards the Black sea. The delightful climate, the rich vegetation, and the great fertility of the valleys and coasts, make Asia Minor one of the most beautiful and naturally blessed countries in the world. In addition to this, its coasts abound in excel- lent harbours, enabling the peninsula to become a most 94 ASIATIC NATIONS. prosperous commercial country. But, notwithstanding all these advantages, Asia Minor has never occupied that posi- tion in history to which it might seem entitled. Its civilisa- tion was an exotic plant rather than the product of native growth and development, and after the overthrow of the Lydian empire, it was almost always a part of some other empire, either Asiatic or European. One reason of this may have been the great variety of nations by which it was peopled ; for the east was occupied by tribes belonging to the Semitic race, while the western parts, even before their colo- nisation by the Greeks, were peopled by a race belonging to the Indo-European family ; and many of the smaller tribes in the interior, the north and the south, were of unknown origin. 2. The small district in the west of Asia Minor, forming the kingdom of Lydia, appears to have been originally in- habited by Meonians, a branch of the wide-spread Pelasgians, who themselves unquestionably belonged to the Indo-Euro- pean family of nations. At a later period, about which his- tory furnishes no information, the Meonians were overpowered by the Lydians, after whom the country was thenceforth called Lydia, for in the Homeric poems this name does not occur. These Lydians invaded the country from some other part of Asia Minor, and appear to have belonged to the same race as the Carians and Mysians. Their manners and civilisation were not very different from those of the Greeks, and in the arts of life they were as far advanced as their Greek neigh- bours. But we know nothing of their language, which must have been superseded by the Greek at an early period. 3. The kingdom of Lydia was governed by two successive dynasties, that of the Heracleids, and that of the Mermnadae — the former commencing with Agron (about b. c. 1200) and ending with Candaules, while that of the Mermnadae begins with Gyges. The earlier dynasty is said to have been gene- alogically connected with Ninus, the mythical founder of the LYDIA. 95 Assyrian empire, and to have occupied tlie throne of Lydia for a period of five hundred and five years. Its last king, Can- daules, fell in an insurrection of Gyges about b. c. 716. This change of dynasty is related by Herodotus in a very romantic and poetical story, according to which the wife of Candaules compelled G-yges to kill her own husband, and then to marry her. It is possible, however, that this change of dynasty may have been connected with the ascendancy of the Lydians over the Meonians. Gyges, the first i\Iermnad king, who is said to have reigned from n. c. 71G to 678, appears, like his successors, as a conqueror, who subdued Colophon and all the Ionian and ^olian colonies of the Greeks along the western coast of Asia Minor. Sardes, with its strong citadel, was the capital of the Lydians. The successors of Gyges were Ardys (b. c. 678-629j, Sadyattes (b. c. 629-617), Alyattes (b. c. 617- 560), and Croesus (b. c. 560-546), under whom the Lydian empire was conquered by Cyrus. The history of these kings is remarkable, inasmuch as they continued the conquest of the Greek cities, and extended their empire also in the east. But they themselves also were attacked by repeated inroads of the Cimmerians and Treres, nomadic hordes from the north of Asia, who ever since the time of Ardys traversed the country in all directions, and established themselves in various parts, until they were overpowered and expelled in the reign of Alyattes. This king appears to have extended his dominion eastward as far as the river Halys, where he came into conflict with Cyaxares of Media. His successor Croesus ruled over the whole peninsula, with the exception of Lycia and Cilicia, and appears in the traditions as a wise, mild, and beneficent prince ; he was beloved even by the Greeks who owned his rule, for they were left undisturbed in the internal affairs of their cities. He was liberal also towards the Greeks in Europe, whose temples he adorned with rich presents, for his 96 ASIATIC NATIONS. wealth was believed to be so immense, that it became pro- verbial. He was well aware of the danger which threatened him from the east, and did all he could to avert it ; but cir- cumstances were unfavourable to him, and his kingdom was overpowered by the Persians in b. c. 54.6. The whole of it then became a part of the Persian empire, and the greater portion of it remained in that condition until the conquests of Alexander the Great. CHAPTER VIII. EGYPT. 1. We close our history of the Asiatic nations with a sketch of the history of Egypt, partly because the ancients regarded that country as a part of Asia, and partly because its institutions and its whole civilisation are essentially of an oriental character. Egypt, in its proper sense, is the valley of the Nile from the islands of Philae and Elephantine in the south, to the Mediterranean in the north. The inhabi- tants themselves called their country Chemi, and in the Scrip- tures it sometimes bears the name Mizraim. The Nile, which traverses it from south to north, is the only river the country possesses, and gives a peculiar character not only to the country, but also to its inhabitants, wIjo were and are still dependent upon it for all that the land produces. The long and narrow valley of the river, which is nowhere broader than about eleven miles, is bounded on both sides by barren ranges of mountains, and terminates in a deep bay, which, in the course of time, has been filled up with deposits, and at the head of which the river divides itself into several branches. The island, thus formed in what was once a deep bay, was EGYPT. 97 called by the Greeks the Delta, from its resemblance to the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. The valley of the river itself is the only part of the country capable of cultivation and fit for building towns. The Nile is not only the great high road of the country, but also its great fertiliser, by its annual inundations of the whole valley, which commence about the time of the summer solstice, reach their greatest height about the middle of September, and then gradually subside. These inundations supply the place of rain during the hottest season of the year, and from the rich deposit which the waters leave behind, produce a fertility which in ancient times en- titled Egypt to the appellation of one of the granaries of the Eoman empire. During the period of inundation the whole valley was under water, and those parts into which the waters had no natural access, were irrigated by means of canals. The cause of these periodical risings of the river is the tro- pical rains in the mountains of Abyssinia and the interior of Ethiopia. This phenomenon, which has no complete parallel on the whole face of the earth, could not but exercise a powerful influence upon the Egyptians, and their whole mode of life ; for they had to protect their habitations against the ravages of the waters, as well as against the constant en- croachments of the sand that was blown by the winds into their country from the west. The activity with which the ancient Egyptians had thus to labour for the preservation of that upon which their lives depended, slackened in the course of time, and modern Egypt is indebted for its fertile soil, to a great extent, to the immense works executed by its ancient inhabitants. The mountains on the east of the valley of the Nile contained the principal mineral wealth of the country, and furnished the materials for its numerous and gigantic monuments in stone. 2. The peculiarities of Egypt and its inhabitants have at all times had a great charm for foreign travellers, and in F 98 ASIATIC NATIONS. ancient times especially for the inquisitive Greeks, whose earliest historian visited Egypt about the middle of the fifth century b. c. The national peculiarities of the Egyptians consisted not only in externals, but also in their whole mode of thinking and acting, which presented features not met with anywhere else, although we find much also that agrees with what is known of other countries. These peculi- arities must have arisen partly from the nature of the country and its climate, and partly from the national character of the people. In regard to the last of these points we are very much in the dark ; the Egyptians, like most ancient nations, looking upon themselves as autochthones — that is, as sprung from their own soil. Their language, and the innu- merable representations of Egyptians in all their social rela- tions and occupations, are our only guides in determining to what race of mankind they belonged. All the essentials of their language are preserved in the Coptic, the language of the Christian population of Egypt, who regard themselves as the living representatives of the ancient Egyptians. The Coptic has indeed long ceased to be a living speech, and is used by the Copts only as their sacred language, just as Latin is employed in the Church of Eome ; but the language exists, and has been examined by modern scholars. This much seems certain, that it has no connection with the languages of the Indo-European stock, but some affinity with those of the Semitic. Still, however, the resemblance is so slight, that it would be hazardous to infer from it that the Egyptians were a Semitic race. But if we take into consideration the descriptions we have of the ancient Egyptians, and the still more authentic infor- mation which we derive from their mummies, and the repre- sentations on their monuments, we cannot help coming to the conclusion that the ancient Egyptians were a mixed race, consisting of different nations. This view is confirmed by the EGYPT. 99 simple fact tliat they were divided into castes. The higher castes in Egypt, as in India, were descended from a race en- dowed with greater intellectual powers, as well as with a hand- somer physical conformation ; they belonged, in fact, to the Caucasian race, while the lower castes consisted of men form- ing a kind of transition from the Caucasian race to that of the negroes. The higher castes, which are also distinguished for their less dark complexion, were no doubt immigrants who subdued the native population, though we have no historical traces of such an immigration. The mere fact, however, that the higher castes consisted of members of the Caucasian race, suggests that the invaders came from Asia. There are, more- over, great resemblances between the institutions and the civi- lisation of Egypt, and those of some eastern countries, which justify the conclusion, that at one time or another the East must have exercised a certain influence upon Egypt — an influ- ence which, according to some, proceeded from Babylon, and according to others, from India. 3. The country in the south of Egypt is often called by the ancients Ethiopia, but is not conceived as a territory with definite frontiers either in the south or west. The same name, however, is sometimes applied to the empire of Meroe, a coun- try above Egypt, enclosed by two arms of the Nile, whence it is called an island. This empire of Meroe was, in the strictest sense, a priestly state, for nowhere was the priesthood ever so powerful, and nowhere was it so perfectly organised as in Meroe. The priests chose the king from among them- selves ; and, when he incurred their displeasure, he was forced to make away with himself. The state, however, was essen- tially a commercial one, and the commerce was conducted and protected by the priests, for its principal emporia were in the neighbourhood of temples. Meroe was the country through which the productions of the distant lands of the south were conveyed to the north of Africa, either by caravans, or 100 ASIATIC NATIONS. by boats on tbe Nile. This commerce was also carried on with Arabia, and through Arabia perhaps with India. There are traces leading to the belief, that in very remote times Arabia was a connecting link between India and the east of Africa, and these have led some historians to consider Meroe as the place to which, in the first instance, Caucasian Asiatics migrated, and whence they proceeded northward into Egypt. The Ethiopians themselves, also, had a tradition, that the in- habitants and civilisation of Egypt were of Ethiopian origin ; and according to another tradition, the ancient Ammonium in the Libyan desert, containing the celebrated oracle of Am- mon, whom the Greeks identified with their own Zeus, was partially at least a colony of Ethiopians. It may further be observed, that, even at the present day, the country called Ethiopia by the ancients, abounds in monuments strongly re- sembling those of Egypt, and apparently the prototypes of the latter. If, lastly, we bear in mind that the civilisation of Egypt itself gradually proceeded from south to north along the course of the river, it seems natural to suppose that its beginnings must have come from a point beyond the southern boundary of Egypt. We must not, however, forget that we are here dealing with mere probabilities, and that there is no convincing evidence either one way or the other. 4. The life and history of the ancient Egyptians are known to us, not through native historians or poets, but through the works of Greeks, through the Scriptures of the Old Testa- ment, and more especially through the sculptured and archi- tectural works of the people themselves ; for those works having withstood the ravages of thousands of years, and the destructive hand of man, still remain, and bear witness to the greatness of the ancient Egyptians, to their skill, their arts, and their mode of life. No nation has ever so fully por- trayed itself in all its pursuits, religious, social, and mili- tary, as the Egyptians. But Egypt, with all its wonders, EGYPT. 101 was comparatively little known until the end of last cen- tury, when a new impulse was given to the study of its history and its antiquities, by the expedition of Napoleon. The most ancient and most remarkable of these monuments are those at Thebes, in the upper valley of the Nile. The city of Thebes, the most ancient capital of Egypt, was situated on both banks of the Nile, and its site is at present occupied by several vil- lages, from which the ruins derive their names. Travellers are inexhaustible in their admiration of the gigantic masses of ruins, of the temples, avenues of columns, obelisks, colossuses and catacombs, in which the district abounds. The temple- palace of Karnak, like some others of these vast structures, probably consisted partially of temples, and partially of re- sidences of the Egyptian kings. This stupendous ruin is con- nected with another in the village of Luxor by an avenue of colossal sphinxes, no less than six thousand feet in length — the sphinxes standing at intervals of ten feet from one an- other, but most of them now covered with earth. The portico of the temple at Karnak, to which the avenue of sphinxes forms the approach, is generally regarded as the grandest specimen of Egyptian architecture : one hundred and thirty-four co- lumns support the edifice; the twelve central ones are of gigantic dimensions, measuring thirty -four feet in circum- ference, and fifty -six in height, with capitals so large, that one hundred men can comfortably stand together upon them. The walls of the apartments and chambers here, as in all the other temples and palaces, are decorated with statues and figures in relief, painted over with brilliant co- lours. All these monuments are of the greatest interest, not only because they display the state of the arts at a most re- mote period, but because the sculptures and paintings repre- sent historical occurrences connected with the founders of the monuments. The buildings on the western bank of the river, though not equal to those of Karnak and Luxor, are yet among 102 ASIATIC NATIONS. the finest Egyptian monuments. We there meet with the palace and temple of Medinet-Habn, and a structure in the vicinity called the Memnonium. A plain, not far from it, bears the name of the ' region of the colossuses,' from the num- ber of colossal statues with w*hich it is covered, partly stand- ing upright, partly overturned, and partly broken to pieces. The two largest of them are fifty-six feet high, one of these being the celebrated statue of Memnon, which was believed in ancient times to give forth a shrill sound every morning at sunrise. Not far from these colossal figures, remnants of a building are seen, which has sufiered much from the destruc- tive hand of man, and is generally believed to be the tomb of Osymandias, mentioned by Diodorus. Most of the tombs, however, are under ground, and the necropolis of Thebes, extending from Medinet-Habu for a distance of about five miles in the Libyan hills, is scarcely less remarkable than the temples and palaces of the city itself. The many subter- ranean chambers and passages form a real labyrinth. The walls of these chambers are likewise covered with figures in relief, and fresco paintings, in many of which the colours are still as fresh as if they were of yesterday. They represent the judgment of the dead, their history and occupations, and are therefore of great interest to the inquirer into the social and domestic customs of the ancient Egyptians. These cham- bers, moreover, are full of a great variety of utensils and orna- ments, and rolls of papyrus, recording things connected with the history of those buried, or rather preserved as mummies in the catacombs. The inhabitants of the village of Gurma, at the entrance of the necropolis, have for many years carried on a lucrative traffic in the articles found in the necropolis. Among the treasures brought to light thence, we may men- tion some invaluable MSS. of Greek authors, with whose works we should otherwise be unacquainted. These catacombs, destined for all classes of the people, are EGYPT. 103 far surpassed in magnitude and splendour by the tombs of the kings, which are situated in a separate and dismal place, well fitted to be conceived as the abode of the dead. Many of them have been opened and ransacked. These, and a hundred other remains, furnish us with the means of forming some idea of the ancient magnificence of that capital of Egypt, and no historian or poet could do this more effectually or strikingly. The execution of these works required an amount of skill and taste which no one would expect at so remote a period ; for it is an indubitable fiict that the greatest and most important of them must have been built long before the year 1000 b. c. ; and as Egyptian art was then at its height, we must date the beginning of its cultivation many centuries earlier. 5: It is a matter of the highest interest to determine the time when those stupendous structures were erected, for it is only when that time is known that we can set the proper value upon its productions. This was formerly a matter of impossibility, but by a most fortunate and ingenious discovery of the present century, the key has been found for deciphering and reading the hieroglyphics, or sacred symbols, with which many of the Egyptian monuments are literally covered. These symbols consist of figures of the most various kinds, as hea- venly bodies, plants, animals, men, members of the human body, utensils, implements, geometrical figures, and fantastic forms. About nine hundred symbols of this kind have been enumerated, the import of which, with very few exceptions, was formerly unknown, although there was no want of in- genious attempts to decipher and explain them. At length the savants of the French expedition found at Eosetta a stone (at present in the British Museum), containing a threefold inscription, one in hieroglyphics, the second in the enchorian or popular characters of the Egyptians, and the third in Greek. The stone belongs to the beginning of the second century b. c. The Greek inscription, a translation of the hieroglyphic, and 104 ASIATIC NATIONS. especially the occurrence of the name of Ptolemy in it, led Dr. Young to the discovery as to the nature of hieroglyphic writing, which is partly symbolic and partly phonetic. The discovery was carried out to its full extent by Champollion, a Frenchman. The expectations entertained by scholars in regard to this discovery, however, have been greatly disap- pointed, for the inscriptions contain no historical records nor philosophical or religious doctrines, but are generally only pompous dedications referring to the royal founders of the monuments. Still these very names of princes, the repre- sentations of their exploits, and the chronological information we derive from them, are results which should not be under- valued. 6. All the civil institutions of the ancient Egyptians were based on the system of castes, which was fully developed and strictly adhered to among them. The detail of the arrangement, however, is very uncertain, as our chief authorities, Herodotus, Diodorus, and Strabo, do not agree with one another ; but still they are unanii^ous in stating that the priests and warriors were the two highest and most honoured castes. Strabo regards all the remaining people as one mass, while Herodotus divides them into five castes, herdsmen, swineherds, tradesmen, interpreters, and sailors ; and Diodorus mentions only three, shepherds, agriculturists, and artizans. The most important feature, however, in which all agree, is, that the priests and warriors were the ruling castes, and that the rest were subor- dinate to them. The priests, moreover, ranked above the soldiers, so that the intellectual part of the nation was placed above that representing the power of the sword. It will be remembered that the arrangement in India was of the same character. The kings, bearing the title of Pharaohs, were hereditary, and when a dynasty became extinct, a new king was chosen either from among the priestly or the military caste ; and in the latter case, he was at the same time solemnly EGYPT. 105 raised to the rank of a priest by a kind of consecration, whereby he was empowered to perform priestly functions. The king's authority was very great, and he was profoundly reverenced by the people ; but he was bound by a series of very minute rules and regulations relating to his official functions, his recreations, and even the food which appeared on his table. These regulations were framed by the priests, who being at the same time the king's councillors and advisers, watched over their observance. Such an arrangement could not fail to lead to collisions, and to excite evil passions both in the breasts of the priests and in those of ambitious kings. 7. The caste of priests was divided into several ranks; they were either high or low, and were also distinguished according to the divinities with whose service they were con- nected, as well as according to the temples to which they were attached. Those belonging to the great temples formed different corporations. As the priests were the sole deposi- taries of all knowledge, human and divine, they might also be distinguished according to their professions as politicians, lawyers, scholars, physicians, architects, &c. They were required to be abstemious in their food and drink, and forbidden to marry more than one wife ; but on the other hand they were all-powerful in the state, their lands were exempt from taxes, and they themselves were maintained at the public expense. The soldiers, amounting, according to Herodotus, to four hundred and ten thousand men, were distributed over the different parts of the country, where they possessed estates that were likewise exempted from taxes. All the soil of ancient Egypt w^as in reality in the hands of the king and the two highest castes, though the citizens of some of the towms also seem to have possessed lands within their respective territories. Within the caste of artisans or tradesmen, there w^re, no doubt, various subdivisions according to the different trades and occu- pations. 106 ASIATIC NATIONS. 8. The art of war was liiglily developed among the Egyptians, for some of its early kings are described as miglity conquerors, and Egypt itself had often to defend its frontiers against foreign invaders. The armour and mode of fighting of the Egyptians are represented on many of their monuments, where the scenes often remind us of the Homeric descriptions of the war at Troy. The art of besieging also had made much progress, even in the time of the most ancient monu- ments. The administration of the law was in the hands of the priests, who are said to have conducted all trials in writ- ing. The laws, though some kings had made additions, were on the whole very ancient, and were believed to have been revealed by the gods themselves. Capital punishment was inflicted on murderers (even of slaves), perjurers, false informers, and those who carried on any unlawful traffic. Cowards and deserters were regarded as dishonoured men. The wealth and intelligence of the Egyptians naturally led them to commercial pursuits, but their trade was carried on by land, by means of caravans, more than by sea, although the mouths of the Nile were then more fit for navigation than they are at present. Their commerce is attested by the fact, that in some of the most ancient tombs at Thebes a number of Chinese vessels with Chinese inscriptions have been found. It is, liowever, more than probable that the commerce was carried on by foreigners visiting Egypt, rather than by the Egyptians themselves going abroad, for they shunned coming in contact with other nations, for which they entertained generally a thorough contempt. Their own peculiar institu- tions, laws, and customs, naturally tended to keep them sechided from the rest of the world. All the occupations of their domestic life are better known to us than those of any other ancient nation, from the numerous paintings and representations in their catacombs ; and if, along with these representations, we had a national literature of the EGYPT. 107 Egyptians, ^\e should understand that nation more perfectly than any other. We see them engaged in all the agricultural operations, from ploughing to reaping, in cultivating the vine and fruit-trees, in tending their herds and flocks of sheep and geese, and in pursuing game and wild beasts with bows, arrows, slings, dogs, and even lions, which they were in the habit of taming. Bird- catching and fishing seem to have been among their favourite out-door pursuits. In other representa- tions we see them engaged in the pursuits of town life, some of which are necessary to support existence, while others supply the means of gratifying the love of ease, luxury, or taste. We see them working in wood, cutting and removing stones, weaving, painting, sculpturing, working in gold, jewellery, and the like. Their linens and cottons were excellent, as we still see from the cloth in which their mummies are WTapped. Glass also was manufactured at an early period. A reed, called papyrus, which formerly grew in abundance in the marshy districts of the Nile, was one of the most useful productions of the country, its root being used as fuel, and the leaves wrought into covers, dresses, canvas, and especially paper (named from papyrus), which was celebrated in all antiquity, and remained a common writing material until the time of the middle ages. There can be no doubt that the Eg}^ptians were also acquainted with various chemical processes, and in purple dyeing it would seem that they surpassed even the Phoenicians. Kepresentations of domestic and social scenes are equally frequent. The kitchen, as well as the drawing-room, and all that is going on in them, are brought vividly before us. From these scenes it is pretty evident that the Egyptians were not quite so gloomy a people as has sometimes been asserted. The halls of the great and wealthy are neither without comforts nor elegance, the furniture appears to be rich and costly, and some articles are beautiful and in exquisite taste. Games, amusements of various kinds, and even bull-fights are figured 108 ASIATIC NATIONS. on their monuments. The feasts and social entertainments seem to be very sumptuous, and the guests are anointed and waited upon by slaves. Women also took part in these social entertainments, which is a proof that in Egypt they enjoyed a higher degree of freedom than in other eastern countries. It is evident that the Egyptians cannot lay any particular claim to temperate habits, for we often see them in situations which are by no means pleasing. The enjoyment of social meetings is often enhanced by dancers and singers. Hence it is not improbable that showing the figure of a dead person at banquets may have been intended as much to encourage enjoyment as to remind the guests of the transient nature of all earthly delights. 9. But notwithstanding their inclination to enjoy life, the Egyptians were a serious and meditative people, and in one way or another religion was connected with all their thoughts and customs. Their religion seems originally to have been a kind of pantheism, or a worship of God in all his manifestations in nature. This view appears to account nfore satisfactorily for their worship of animals than the explanations of the Greeks, according to Avhom it arose out of gratitude towards certain animals on account of their use- fulness ; for it was useful animals alone that they worshipped. The coarse animal-worship of later times was probably only a degenerate and corrupt form of what was in its origin a noble, though erroneous, idea ; and the Egyptians, like some other nations, had come to confound the substance with the symbol. In Osiris and Isis, they worshipped the fertilizing powers of nature, under the names of a male and a female divinity. Kneph or Neph was conceived as the spirit of God pervading the universe at the creation, while Phtah was regarded as the real creator, and Ammon or Amun as the king of the gods. The power of evil seems to have been personified in Typhon, who in many respects resembles the Persian Ahriman. Among EGYPT. 109 the animals receiving divine honours in Egypt, we may men- tion the ox, the dog, the cat, the ibis, the hawk, and some fishes, all of which were worshipped in all parts of Egypt ; others enjoyed only a local veneration, while in some places they were regarded as unclean, or were even objects of persecution. Thus the sheep was worshipped only in the district of Thebes and Sais, the goat at Mendes, the wolf at Lycopolis, the lion at Leontopolis, the eagle at Thebes, the shrewmouse at Athribis, and others elsewhere. Whoever killed a sacrefl animal intentionally was punished with death ; if uninten- tionally, he might escape by paying a fine. Sometimes even bloody wars are said to have broken out between neighbouring districts, because an animal had been killed in the one, which was worshipped in the other. This strange superstition and fanaticism maintained themselves among the natives even during the time when the country was governed by Greeks and Romans. The prophets of the Old Testament denounced the absurd worship of animals, the Persians despised it, and to the witty Greeks and Eomans it was an object of ridicule. And who can wonder, when we are told that, when a cat died a natural death, all the inmates of the house shaved their eyebrows, and w^hen a dog died, they cut away the hair from all parts of their bodies ! These sacred animals, after their death, were embalmed, and deposited as mummies in the sepulchres of men. In some instances the worship did not extend to whole classes or species of animals, but to one particular animal, distinguished from the rest by certain signs. An animal of this kind was attended to with the greatest care, and the priests charged with it were held in the highest respect. The most celebrated among such animals was the bull Apis, which was kept at Memphis. The animal was always black, with a triangular white spot on the fore- head, and the figure of an eagle on its neck. It was believed to confer upon boys attending upon it the power of prophecy. 110 ASIATIC NATIONS. If it reached the age of twenty-five years, it was killed, but otherwise it was allowed to die a natural death. Such an event produced general mourning and lamentation, and its burial was accompanied by all imaginable pomp and cere- mony. But the general grief gave way to the most unbounded joy as soon as the priest had discovered (or prepared) a calf with the requisite signs, and produced the new god. The ancients expressly state that Apis was only the symbol of Osiris, whose soul was believed to be in the bull, and to migrate after its death into the body of the successor. 10. This last notion is connected with the belief, which the Egyptians shared with the Indians, that the soul, after the death of the body, migrated into another. The doctrine itself, however, was differently developed by the two nations, for, according to Herodotus, the Egyptians believed that the soul of a man, after his death, had to pass through bodies of all the animals of the land and of the sea, and even through those of the birds of the air ; and that then, after the lapse of three thousand years, it returned into the body of a human being. When, notwithstanding this theory of the migration of souls, we hear of the belief of the Egyptians in the existence of a kingdom of the dead, called Amenthes or Amenti, the sojourn of the souls in it cannot have been conceived as per- manent, and it was probably regarded only as a transition state in which the mode of migration was determined by Osiris, the judge in the kingdom of the dead. His judgment- seat is often represented in Egyptian paintings, and we there see the actions of the departed regularly weighed in a pair of scales. A similar judgment is said to have taken place in Egypt whenever a person had died. On such an occasion, any one might come forward with accusations against the deceased, and when the charges were proved, the burial of the body was forbidden. Even deceased kings had to undergo such an ordeal. The priests, it is said, eulogised him, but EGYPT. Ill the assembled people either agreed or expressed their dissent by a tumultuous noise, and if the latter prevailed, the king was deprived of the customary magnificent burial. This regulation, together with the priestly control over the govern- ment, was probably the reason why few of the Egyptian kings made any gross abuse of their power. 11. To be debarred from honourable burial could not but make the deepest impression in a country where the greatest care and large sums of money were bestowed upon the burial and preservation of the bodies, which were embalmed and deposited in the chambers of the catacombs. These mum- mies, as they are called, were embalmed in a more or less expensive way, according to the circumstances of the deceased and his relatives. The body was wrapped up in fine linen or cotton, decorated with various ornaments, and covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and finally placed in a coffin or sar- cophagus. Such extraordinary care bestowed upon the pre- servation of the body seems to be irreconcilable with the doc- trine of the migration of souls, as well as with that of a kingdom of the dead, unless we assume that the preservation of the body was believed to be indispensable to the immor- tality of the soul. There can be no doubt that the religion of the priests differed in many essential points from that of the great mass of the people. We have little information about the extent and amount of knowledge possessed by the Egyptian priests, simply because the country had no national literature. The god Thoth was regarded as the author of all knowledge, and believed to have invented arith- metic, geometry, astronomy, and the art of writing. Geo- metry and astronomy were cultivated by the Egyptians as a matter of necessity, in consequence of the annual inunda- tions, by which the limits of the different lands and estates were swept away. The year of the Egyptians consisted of twelve months of thirty days each, and five intercalary days ; 112 ASIATIC NATIONS. sucli a year was by nearly a quarter of a day less than the ordinary solar year, and in the course of fourteen hundred and sixty years of this kind, the difference between it and the Julian year amounts to a whole year. This fact was well known to the Egyptians, who called that period the dogstar period. Whether this astronomical knowledge had been gained by the priests themselves, or whether it was imported from Babylonia, cannot be determined ; but certain it is that the science made no progress in Egypt, but for many centuries remained stationary at the point at which we first meet with it. Such was the case with all the sciences and the arts of the Egyptians, among whom everything continued to move within certain fixed limits established by custom and lawgivers ; nay, a physician who adopted a new mode of treatment was liable to a capital prosecution, if his patient died under it. The belief that the god Thoth had invented the art of writing, has received some illustration from the discovery of the nature of hieroglyphics, some of which are really phonetic, or a kind of alphabetic writing, and there can be no doubt that the alphabets of the Semitic tribes in Western Asia, such as the Hebrew and Phoenician, were only a farther develop- ment of the foundation which had been laid in Egypt. But here too the stationary and immovable character of the Egyptians did not allow them to complete what they them- selves had invented, so that, in the end, they had to adopt the alphabet of their neighbours, who had learned the rudi- ments from them. The probability is, that the Phoenicians were the first who evolved a complete system of alphabetic writing from the rude beginnings they had learned from the Egyptians. Among the latter people, the want of a convenient alphabet no doubt contributed towards preventing the for- mation of a national literature, but their peculiar mode of thinking was probably a still more serious obstacle. What- EGYPT. 113 ever literary productions the Egyptians possessed, may reason- ably be supposed to have been nothing but dry records of facts and doctrines. Oratory and poetry, in particular, appear to have been quite foreign to them. The great number of musical instruments seen on their monuments leads us to suppose that they possessed very considerable technical skill ; but the state of music among all oriental nations does not allow us to assume that they ever advanced beyond the simplest melodies. 12. The arts in which they were greatest, and which will secure to them the admiration of all ages, were archi- tecture and sculpture. The character of the former is mas- sive, grand, and earnest, and this character, combined with the gigantic dimensions of the temples at Thebes, produces an effect of sublimity which it is difficult to describe in words. The impression of solidity is enhanced by the fact that the outer walls rise slantingly instead of perpendicularly, while the roofs are completely flat. But all these temples are wanting in the unity of design which distinguishes the temples of the Greeks. The interior of the Egyptian temples is gene- rally supported by numerous columns, whose capitals are of the greatest variety — the ornaments consisting mainly of productions of the vegetable kingdom. The uniformity of the strong walls is sometimes relieved by sculptures and paintings. In middle Egypt, in the neighbourhood of Memphis, we meet with the celebrated pyramids, which do not occur in upper Egypt, and which were formerly regarded as among the greatest wonders of the world. They are structures of the simplest form, generally rising from a broad square base, and, gradually diminishing, end at the top in a point or a small square surface. Their interior is almost a solid mass, being traversed only by a few narrow passages and chambers. They are found in groups on the elevated plains of the F 2 114 ASIATIC NATIONS. - Libyan hills, and the highest occur in the group of Gizeh. The loftiest among these, which is about four hundred and fifty feet high (each side at the base is about seven hundred and sixteen feet), is called the pyramid of Cheops — it being believed to be the one whose construction is ascribed by Herodotus to King Cheops. The height is about the same as that of the highest steeples in Europe, but in mas- siveness the pyramids are far more imposing. Originally the outer sides were covered with polished stones of different colours, but these coatings have been taken away by the Arabs, and at present not a vestige of decoration is left. Innume- rable conjectures have been formed as to the purpose for which these structures were raised; but the general opinion at present is, that they were sepulchral monuments of kings, for they stand in the Necropolis of Memphis, and are surrounded by numerous other tombs ; and in every one of the pyramids which have been explored by Europeans, a sarcophagus has been found. The date of the foundation of these singular mausoleums is probably more recent than that of the Theban tombs, which are entirely different. 13. Sculpture and painting are inseparably connected with the architecture of Egypt. The mechanical skill which the Egyptian artists possessed is really astonishing, for their statues and reliefs are all made of the hardest granite and porphyry, and wrought with a neatness and exactness which prove them to have been perfect masters. The forms of the bodies are strong and massive, and on the whole in accord- ance with nature^ but the anatomy is not correct, and gene- rally made according to a fixed type. The faces present a sort of transition from the Caucasian to the negro race, and some are by no means unhandsome ; but they are stiff, without life or warmth, and generally likewise of a fixed type. The statues in a sitting or striding attitude are likewise stiff, and nearly always the same. The historical reliefs and paintings have more life and animation, and in some of them national EGYPT. 115 peculiarities are well expressed. The same may be said of the domestic scenes ; but the highest objects of art appear not to have been aimed at. The Egyptian artists were more successful in their statues and reliefs of animals than in their representations of the human form, and this arose probably from the fact that in the former they were less constrained by types and conventionalities. The gods are represented as beings with human bodies, but with the heads of animals, such as those of rams, hawks, ibises, and bulls. The sphinxes, on the other hand, have the body of a lion, with a human head. This combination was probably intended to indicate great strength, which in other cases was expressed by the superhuman size of the figure. The character of Egyptian art is, on the whole, monu- mental — that is, its main object is to fix that which is conceived as a fact, and to transmit it to posterity. The true idea of art is neither aimed at nor attained ; but the great mechanical and artistic skill, which might so easily have led to higher developments, remained stationary, like all other branches of Egyptian civilisation. 14. The principal Greek writers on Egyptian history are Herodotus and Diodorus, both of whom visited Egypt them- selves, and collected their information from the priests ; but their accounts, though agreeing in many points, diverge in others so widely, that they almost appear like histories of two different countries. In the first half of the third century b. c, Manetho, an Egyptian priest of Heliopolis, at the request of king Ptolemy Philadelphus, wrote a history of Egypt in Greek. As he had no difficulty in gaining access to the records kept by the priests, and was also in a position to read and understand those documents for the explanation of which foreigners were dependent upon others, his work, if it had come down to us, would be a far more important and trustworthy source of information. But unfortunately the work is lost, with the exception of a few extracts, containing lists of thirty 116 ASIATIC NATIONS. dynasties of kings with the years of their reigns ; and even these extracts are so carelessly made, that in some cases they present almost insurmountable difficulties. The most authen- tic of all the records are the hieroglyphic inscriptions, which furnish us with many names and surnames of kings, their titles, the periods of their reigns, and their relation to the gods. The reading of these hieroglyphic records, in very many instances, confirms the statements of Manetho, and thus proves this historian to have derived his information from authentic sources. The statements of Herodotus and Diodorus, on the other hand, can scarcely be reconciled at all with the docu- mentary history, and seem in most cases to furnish only a kind of popular traditions which those travellers heard in Egypt. Another very important source of information is the books of the Old Testament. The chronology of Egyptian history has often been the subject of learned discussions. According to the chrono- logy of Manetho, the foundation of the kingdom of Egypt belongs to the year b. c. 3892, and its founder, no doubt a mythical personage, was Menes. But it is impossible to take the early dynasties as historical. 15. The history of ancient Egypt is conveniently divided into four periods, — 1. The Pharaonic period, during which the country was governed by native princes ; it extends from the beginning to the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses in e. c. 526; 2. The Persian period, from B.C. 526 to the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in b. c. 332 ; 3. The Macedonian or Greek period, from the foundation of Alexandria in B. c. 332, to the death of Cleopatra and the conquest by Augustus in b. c. 30 ; and, 4. The Eoman period, from b. c. 30 to the capture of Alexandria by Khalif Omar in a. d. 640. The Pharaonic period may again be divided into the periods of the old, the middle, and the new monarchy. The first extends from the beginning to the invasion of the Hycsos, EGYPT. 117 the second is the period during which the Hyesos reigned in Egypt, and the third from the expulsion of the Hyesos until the conquest of the country by Cambyses. 16. The unhistorical character of the old and middle Pharaonic periods is sufficiently indicated by the circumstance that Egypt is said to have been first governed by gods, spirits, demigods, and the souls of the departed. After these there follow thirty dynasties of mortal kings, the first of whom was Menes. The number of these kings, according to some, was three hundred, and according to others five hundred. The earliest dynasties present in many respects as yet insur- mountable difficulties, for it is uncertain whether they are to be taken as a series, or whether at least some of them were contemporary kings, ruling in different parts of Egypt. But the names found in hieroglyphic inscriptions, and identi- fied with names of kings occurring as early as the fourth dynasty, seem to prove that the lists of the earliest human dynasties ought not to be rejected as altogether fabulous. The twelfth dynasty in Manetho, containing seven kings of Diospolis, seems to bear strong marks of historical authenti- city ; in it occurs the celebrated Sesostris or Sesortasen, who is said to have subdued all Asia and Europe as far as Thrace, and to have built the Labyrinth. But this dynasty has not yet been confirmed by any monuments, and Sesostris pro- bably belongs to a much later period. The fifteenth, six- teenth, and seventeenth dynasties are those of the Hyesos or Shepherd kings, who are said to have ruled over Egypt for a period of five hundred and eleven years. From Manetho, as quoted by Josephus, we derive tolerably satisfactory informa- tion about these Hyesos. In the reign of an Egyptian king Timaus, he says, a foreign people (probably nomadic Arabs) invaded Egypt from the east, subdued the country without difficulty, killed or enslaved its inhabitants, and burnt cities and temples. In the Sethroite nome or district they built 118 ASIATIC NATIONS. an immense earth-camp called Abaris, and their capital was Memphis. In the end, however, the Egyptians recovered their independence : the Hycsos were besieged at Abaris, and obtained a free departure from the country, whereupon they retired into Palestine. These Hycsos were no doubt a Semitic people, and akin to the Israelites ; they must have been a warlike nation, which at first destroyed the traces of civilisa- tion in Egypt, until afterwards they accommodated themselves to some extent to the manners and customs of the conquered people. It was, in all likelihood, during their reign that Joseph came to Egypt, and the reception which his people met with in Egypt is accounted for by the fact that the Hycsos were a kindred race. The new king who " knew not Joseph," and oppressed the Israelites was probably the first prince of the native dynasty after the expulsion of the Hycsos. The foreign rulers themselves have left behind no monuments in Egypt, but the struggles between them and the Egyptians are represented on several monuments, in Avhich the Hycsos appear as defeated and fugitive barbarians. It was probably owing to the vanity of the Egyptians, who did not like to own that their country was ever subject to foreign rulers, that the priests gave no information about these occurrences to Herodotus and Diodorus. 17. The new monarchy extends from the expulsion of the Hycsos or the accession of the eighteenth dynasty down to the thirtieth or last, and there can be no doubt that this whole period is in all essential points historical. The expul- sion of the foreign invaders was the commencement of the most brilliant period of Egyptian history. The eighteenth dynasty, which, like the nineteenth, had Thebes for its capi- tal, was the period when Egyptian art reached its highest point. The names of its kings appear on many monuments at Luxor and Karnak, and also on the tablets of Abydos and Karnak. The great Rameses of the eighteenth dynasty was EGYPT. 119 a conqueror who extendecl his dominions far and wide, and received the tribute of many subject nations. In the south, Egypt was extended to the second cataract of the Nile, in the west to the negro tribes of the interior of Africa, and the east was guarded by strong fortresses. Eameses is further said to have traversed Syria and Asia Minor as a mighty conqueror, and to have advanced as far as the frontiers of Persia and the shores of the Caspian sea. Such conquests required fleets, and Egypt itself must at that time have acquired a naval power, or else have compelled the tribes on the Syrian coast to furnish it. The conquests of Eameses in Asia can probably not be doubted, but appear not to have been lasting, as afterwards we hear nothing of a dominion of Egyptian kings in those parts. The struggles against the Hycsos seem to have braced the nation, and enabled it not only to crush its oppressors, but to plant its yoke upon the necks of others. The great Rameses is probably the same king as the Sesostris or Sesortasen of Herodotus and Dio- dorus. The period during which the eighteenth dynasty possessed the sovereignty of Egypt extended from b. c. 1655 to 1326. The history of the nineteenth dynasty, which ruled from B.C. 1326 to 1183, is very confused; but Egypt still continued to enjoy a high degree of prosperity. Herodotus places the kings who built the pyramids, Cheops, Chephren, and Myari- nus, several generations after Rameses (Sesostris) ; but al- though the names, as recent discoveries have shewn, are his- torical, yet the historian was deceived in the time he assigns to them, for they belonged to the fourth dynasty. 18. After the nineteenth dynasty, the power and pros- perity of Egypt appear to have gradually decayed, and at the close of the twenty-fourth the country was subjugated by the Ethiopians, who furnish the twenty-fifth dynasty, consisting of three kings. Herodotus knows only the first of them, Sabaco 120 ASIATIC NATIONS. or Sebichos, who, according to that historian, reigned over Egypt for fifty years and then quitted it of his own accord, whereupon the previous king Anysis, having concealed himself all that time, again came forward and occupied the throne. After him Sethos, a priest of Pthah (Hephaestus), usurped the sovereignty, and, as might be expected, reduced the power of the military caste to the advantage of that of the priests. The cause or occasion of this revolution is not mentioned any- where, but must probably be looked for in the altered circum- stances of the country, for it had to some extent become a maritime power, and the commercial part of the population may have supported the priestly against the military caste. It was in the reign of Sethos, that the Assyrian conqueror Sennacherib (about b.c. 712) threatened to invade Egypt with a large army. As the warrior caste bore the king no good will, he was in great difficulty in consequence of their refusal to serve against the invader. Trusting to a dream, it is said, he formed an army of merchants, artizans, and the populace, and went out against the enemy. But during the night a host of mice injured their bows, arrows, and shields so much, as to oblige them the next morning to take to flight. These occurrences, though apparently fabulous, must have some historical foundation ; for we know from the Scrip- tures that, about the same time, Hezekiah, being hard pressed by Sennacherib, sought the assistance of Egypt, and that the Assyrian army perished before it was able to take Jerusalem. The Scriptures speak of an Ethiopian king Thirhaka, who marched out against the Assyrians, and this king is, accord- ing to Manetho, the third and last king of the Ethiopian dynasty, and identical with the one whose name appears in the Egyptian monuments as Tahraka. As Manetho does not mention either Sethos or Anysis, it is possible that these princes may have maintained themselves only in lower Egypt, while the upper part was in the hands of the Ethiopians. EGYPT. 121 19. If there be any truth in the story about a priest taking possession of the sovereign power in Egypt, it is evident that the ancient constitution of the kingdom must have been seriously shaken. The same truth is implied in the story of the dodecarchy, which, according to Herodotus, succeeded Setlios, and maintained the ascendancy for a period of thirty years, from b. c. 700 to 670. This dodecarchy was the governiaent of twelve contemporaneous kings, whom the Egyptians themselves are said to have appointed ; they formed connections with one another, and maintained justice in their administration of the affairs of the country. These twelve rulers are said to have built the Labyrinth, a little above lake Moeris, which was intended to be their common place of burial. The remains of this gigantic building, which have recently been discovered, show that Herodotus' account of its three thousand chambers is by no means exaggerated. But he seems to be mistaken in ascribing to the dodecarchy a structure which can scarcely be of a later date than the time of the eighteenth dynasty. The dodecarchy is not mentioned by Manetho ; but it would be hasty to infer from this, that our account of it is altogether a mere fable. The manner however in which Herodotus describes the end of the dodecarchy, clearly shows that he is relating only a popular legend. The twelve, he says, had received an oracle at the beginning of their reign, that the sovereignty of the country should in the end belong to him who should offer a libation in the temple of Hephaestus from a brazen vessel. Once the priest, instead of the usual twelve golden vessels, brought only eleven ; Psammetichus, the ruler of Sais, then took off his helmet and offered the libation out of it. The other eleven princes, alarmed by what they saw, for they suddenly remembered the oracle, attacked Psammetichus and drove him into the marshy districts of lower Egypt. The banished prince, desirous to avenge himself on his colleagues, consulted the oracle of Buto, which returned the answer, that G 122 ' ASIATIC NATION.^. he should be avenged by brazen men coming from the sea. After a time, Ionian and Carian pirates were obliged during a storm to land on the coast of Egypt, and Psammetichus seeing their brazen armour concluded that they were the men promised by the oracle. He accordingly induced them by liberal promises to join him, and with their assistance he overthrew his enemies, and made himself sole king of Egypt, which he governed from b. c. 670 to 617. 20. The mere fact that a dynasty of princes acquired possession of the sovereignty by means of foreign support, opens a new period in the history of Egypt, which had hitherto shut itself jealously against all foreign influence. During this period, however, Egypt once more displayed, at least partially, its ancient power and greatness; but this revival was of short duration, for the nationality of the Egyptians had grown inflexible in its ancient forms, and was unable to as- similate the new elements introduced by Psammetichus. His object appears to have been the regeneration of Egypt by means of Greek civilisation, for to the lonians and Carians who had assisted him he assigned lands on the Pelu- siac branch of the Nile, and intrusted to them Egyptian boys to be instructed in the manners and language of the Greeks. He further intended to raise and strengthen his kingdom by encouraging the intercourse between it and foreign countries, by opening the ports to foreign merchants, and by extending commerce over the whole country. The native militia was superseded by regular Greek soldiers, and a portion of the military caste, offended at these and other measures, emi- grated into Ethiopia. He also formed a caste of inter- preters or dragomans, to assist the natives in their intercourse with foreigners. The opposition which these measures called forth did not deter him from pursuing the path he had once struck into ; and both he and his successors, who followed the same line of policy, were supported by their foreign mer- EGYPT. 123 cenaries, who formed the real strength of the Egyptian armies. Neither Psammetichus, however, nor his successors, interfered with the religion of their subjects ; we find them, on the contrary, as zealous in their religious observances and in maintaining and completing the ancient temples, as any of their predecessors. 21. Psammetichus was succeeded by his son Necho, or, as Herodotus calls him, Necos, who reigned from b. c. 617 to 601. We have already related that this king employed Phoenician sailors to circumnavigate Africa.* In his reign, Egypt came into conflict with Babylonia, which was then rising on the ruins of the Assyrian empire. Judah was at the time in alliance with Babylon, and its king Josiah, who opposed the army of Necho, was defeated in a great battle at Megiddo in B. c. 608. Necho then took Jerusalem, and having ap- pointed Eliakim king of the country, and imposed an annual tribute upon it, he returned to his ow^n kingdom ; but four years later, when the w^ar with Babylon w^as continued, and Necho had advanced as far as the Euphrates, he was com- pletely defeated by Nebuchadnezzar in the battle of Carche- mish or Circesium, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, b. c. 604. This catastrophe put an end to Necho's scheme of conquer- ing Syria, which had already been partially carried into effect by Psammetichus. Both rulers had not only been attracted by the wealth and prosperity of the Phoenician cities, but were guided also by the conviction that Syria and Egypt were of the greatest importance to each other for mutual protection. Necho also knew that the two countries could not be main- tained without a fleet, and accordingly had caused numerous ships to be built, both on the Mediterranean and on the Eed sea. In this he must have been supported by the Phoeni- cians, with whom he seems to have kept up a good under- * See p. 85. 124: ASIATIC NATIONS. Standing. It was in consequence of tliese schemes that he attempted to connect the Mediterranean and the Eed sea by a canal, which undertaking he is said to have left unfinished, because one hundred and twenty thousand men lost their lives while engaged in the work ; but we know for certain, that in the reign of Darius, the canal was open for large vessels, and traces of it may be seen at the present day. It has now been neglected for upwards of a thousand years. 22. Necho was succeeded by his son Psammis, who reigned only six years, from b. c. 601-595, and Psammis by his son Apries (the Uaphris of the monuments, and Hophra of the Old Testament). The latter reigned from b. c. 595 to 570. Pursuing the same policy as his predecessors, he made war upon the Phoenicians, and subdued Tyre, Sidon, and Cyprus ; but these acquisitions were not lasting, being snatched away by the Babylonian conquerors. In his reign, Egypt was for the first time assailed by its neighbours in the west, and the Greeks of Cyrene completely annihilated his army in a battle at Irasa. This defeat and the cruelties to which it gave rise, created great discontent among his subjects, especially the soldiers, who rose against him in arms. Amasis or Amosis, who was despatched by the king to pacify the malcontents, was raised by them to the throne, and then led the troops against his former master, who, being supported only by his brave Ionian and Carian mercenaries, while the native troops sided with Amasis, was defeated in battle, and afterwards murdered by the populace. Amasis reigned from b. c. 570 till 526. He was a man of low origin, and his previous conduct was not of a kind to recommend him to the higher castes, for he is said to have been several times convicted of theft. But he possessed the affection of the soldiers and the people, and was thus enabled to disregard nearly all the rules and ceremonies of the priests. He displayed during his reign great shrewdness and EGYPT. 125 prudence, and though he had dethroned the race of Psamme- tichus, he did not break off his connection with the Greeks, but, on the contrary, continued to confer considerable privileges upon them. His friendship with Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, is well known. In his reign Egypt enjoyed a prosperity such as it never after experienced under any of its native rulers. He died just in time, for his son Psammenitns had scarcely been six months in possession of the throne, when Egypt was invaded and conquered by the Persians under Cambyses, the son of the great Cyrus, b. c. 526. 23. Egypt thus became a satrapy or province of the Per- sian empire, though its internal affairs continued to be managed by native kings of the twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty- ninth, and thirtieth dynasties. The natural and religious aversion subsisting between the Persians and Egyptians, fre- quently caused the latter to rebel against their foreign oppres- sors, and this spirit of resistance was fomented by the numerous Greek and Jewish settlers in the country. The first great revolt broke out in b, c. 487, in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, who was thereby obliged to postpone his intended invasion of Greece for a period of three years. The rebellion, however, was suppressed by his successor Xerxes in b. c. 484. A second revolt, under Inarus, in which the Egyptians were aided by the Athenians, also proved unsuccessful, after ha\TLng lasted from B. c. 460 till 455. Under Amyrtaeus, the only king of the twenty-eighth dynasty, Egypt, from circumstances that are .not known to us, regained its independence. His sarco- phagus, after many vicissitudes, is now deposited in the British Museum. The last revolt occurred during the thirtieth dynasty, in the reign of Nectanebus II. ; but in b. c. 350, Egypt was reconquered by the Persians, and the last king of that dynasty withdrew as an exile into Ethiopia. The coun- try now remained subject to Persia, until in b. c. 332 it was conquered by Alexander the Great ; after whose death, it 126 ASIATIC NATIONS. again became an independent kingdom under the dynasty of the Ptolemies, until in b. c. 30 it was conquered by the Eomans. But of its history under the Ptolemies and the Romans we shall have occasion to speak in a subsequent part of this work. BOOK 11. HISTORY OF GREECE, MACEDONIA, AND THE GRAECO-MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. CHAPTER L GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GREECE. 1. In passing from Asia into Europe, we first meet, in the south-eastern peninsula of the latter continent, with the Greeks, or, as they were called by their native name, Hellenes. The civilisation of this small but illustrious people spread its mild and beneficent influence, more or less, over the whole of the ancient world, and in many respects has never been surpassed either by ancient or modern nations. Its literature and its arts are generally distinguished by the epithet classical — a term which also comprises the civilisation of the Romans, both Greeks and Romans being, so to speak, plants growing out of the same root, and belonging to the same sphere of intellectual development, though the Greeks reached a great and decided pre-eminence ; for the civilisation of Greece was the model of that of Rome, and incomparably more refined and varied. In Greece we find man endowed with rare gifts and noble impulses, which are either wholly denied to oriental nations, or accorded to them only in an inferior degree. The Greeks were distinguished by a happy physical organisation, by extra- ordinary acuteness, flexibility, and versatility of mind, and by the power of developing within their own nationality a 128 HISTORY OF GREECE. vast variety of specific forms ; tliey felt the need, and possessed the ability ever to cast off that which had become obsolete and antiquated, and to assimilate to themselves that which was new and full of life ; they had the full consciousness of the value of political liberty and independence, and were ever striving to obtain and preserve this blessing. Their outward eyes were no less keen in observing the forms and beauties of external nature, than their mental vision in tracing the rela- tions subsisting between man and man, between man and nature, and between God and man. But as nothing human is quite perfect, we must be prepared to meet, in the character even of this gifted people, with features which cast a shade over their brilliant qualities, and fill our hearts w^ith sadness, in the contemplation of human infirmities. First of all, the Greeks were pagans, and thereby deprived of that blessed feeling afforded by the belief in one God, who embraces all his creatures with love and care ; they were agitated by strong passions and desires, which found vent in the disputes among political parties, and among the numerous small states and independent communities into which the country w^as divided. This w^ant of union brought about the downfall of their national independence much earlier than might have been expected from their intellectual superiority. But not- withstanding these and other drawbacks, the history of the Greeks presents so much that is ennobling, elevating, and instructive, that we may easily forget the darker sides of the picture, and lovingly dwell upon its bright and wonderful phenomena. 2. The name Hellas, by which Greece w^as called by its own inhabitants, was originally confined to a small district of Thessaly, whence, in the course of time, it was extended to all the countries inhabited by Hellenes, both in Greece proper and in the numerous colonies all around the Mediterranean. In a more restricted sense, however, Hellas signified the country GREECE. 129 north of the isthmus of Corinth, extending northward as far as the Ambracian gnlf in the west, and the month of the river Peneins in the east. These boundaries of Hellas proper, as it is sometimes called, however, do not mark the exact lines by which the Greeks or Hellenes were separated from the non-Greek or barbarous tribes; for both Acarnania and ^tolia were inhabited by peoples which are expressly said not to have been Hellenes, while, on the other hand, some writers even excluded Thessaly from Hellas, extending its boundary in the north-east only as far as the Maliac gulf. In the restricted sense here described, the southern peninsula of Greece, called Peloponnesus, formed no part of Hellas, but being inhabited by Hellenes, it was of course as much a part of Hellas, in its wider sense, as Attica or Boeotia. The Komans, for reasons not clearly ascertained, called Hellas Graecia, and its inhabi- tants Gfraeci, and from these Koman names the modern Greece and Greeks are derived. 3. Hellas, then, is the southern portion of the easternmost of the three great peninsulas which form the southern extre- mities of Europe, and among these three Hellas possesses the same advantages that make Europe superior to the other continents ; for although the country itself is but small, in fact scarcely so large as the little kingdom of Portugal, it has an enormous extent of coast, on account of its numerous bays, gulfs, and creeks. In the north Hellas was protected by a range of mountains running from west to east, under the name of the Cambunian mountains, the eastern part of wliich was the celebrated Olympus. In the west of Thessaly, which itself forms a large basin, mount Pindus, the highest in Greece, runs from north to south, and near its southern extremity branches off, forming the chains of Othrys and Q^ta. The heights of Phocis, Doris, Boeotia, and Attica, also belong to the system of Pindus, which even extends to some of the islands of the ^gean. Thessaly is separated in the south from the 130 HISTORY OF GREECE. rest of Greece by mount (Eta, wliicli at the same time was a protection to tlie southern countries, so long as the few passes of the mountains were well guarded. The most celebrated of these passes is that of Thermopylae, consisting of a road lead- ing between the steep side of mount (Eta and the sea. This pass, about five miles in length, was of the highest importance, as it formed the only road into the southern part of Greece for armies coming from the north, and, being in some parts extremely narrow, could easily be defended. At present the coast has been extended by deposits from the sea ; but the district can be easily recognised, and the hot spring, from which the pass derived its name, still sends forth its warm sulphu- reous water. The largest rivers in all Greece are the Peneius in Thessaly, with its romantic valley near the mouth, between mounts OljTupus and Ossa, and the Achelous in the west, between ^Etolia and Acarnania. In the south of Thessaly the peculiar conformation of Hellas is most obvious and striking in the extraordinary variety of rugged and romantic mountains, some of which are bare, while others are clad with rich vegetation. Nature herself here seems to render uniformity and the union of several tribes into one state impossible. It may be said that this part of Hellas, between mount (Eta and the Corinthian gulf, is the country of the most striking contrasts, for not only do sea and land, mountains and valleys, rugged rocks and fertile plains alter- nate with one another in richest variety, but two adjoining plains are sometimes so different, that in the one the little rivers and streams are always filled with water, while in the other they are nearly always dry. During the hot season of the year, almost all are dried up, but the abundant dew makes up for the want of water. The courses of the rivers are very short, the country itself being narrow, and surrounded nearly on all sides by the sea, which in many places enters deeply into the land, and forms large bays. The very form of the GREECE. 131 country, witli its indentations, mountains, and valleys, appears to have stamped its character upon the inhabitants, for it pre- vented their falling into sloth and effeminacy, while it braced them, and ke[)t them in a state of activity and watchfulness. The climate of this part of Greece produced an equally salutary effect ; for while the fertility of the country produced everything that was necessary to sustain life and to afford pleasure, yet the exertion of man could nowhere be dispensed with, so that the love of enjoyment could not be gratified without labour, the real condiment of all pleasure. The heat, which during the summer season would be oppressive, is tempered by the breezes from thd sea and the mountains, some of which are, during a great part of the year, covered with snow. The transparency of the atmosphere and the brilliancy of the sun present all the objects of nature to the eye in a much purer and brighter light than in the northern parts of Europe, and even more so than in Italy. The country produced \n most parts abundance of grain, wine, olives, and figs; but as it yielded nothing without labour, nature herself pre- vented the Greeks from falling into that state of listlessness and indolence which in many Asiatic countries has so materially checked the progress of civilisation. 4. Such is the general character of Hellas proper, and its different parts or provinces either combine all these features, or exhibit some of them more prominently than others. In proceeding from the south of Thessaly, through the pass of Thermopylae, we enter the maritime country of the Opuntian Locrians, and thence on the south-west we reach Phocis, with its renowned Parnassus, on the southern slope of which was situated Delphi, celebrated for its ancient oracle of Apollo, and regarded by the Hellenes as the centre not only of their own country, but of the whole earth. On the west of Phocis was the little country of Doris and the Ozolian Locrians. Further \\ est we have the rugged country 132 HISTORY OF GREECE. of iEtolia, which impressed its own character upon its inha- bitants, and Acarnania, which, separated from ^tolia by the river Achelous, is washed by the Ionian sea, and forms the last Greek country in the west. On turning from Phocis eastward, we enter Boeotia, which is divided by mount Helicon and its ramifications into two great valleys. The northern one is a deep hollow shut in by mountains, which is partly filled up by the lake Copais ; this lake, however, is more like a large swamp, especially in summer, for it is only towards the end of winter that it really assumes the appearance of a lake. It has outlets in the east towards the sea by means of subterraneous passages called catabathra. Ancient Orchomenos was situated on the border of this lake, which sometimes overflowed the country far and wide, and was believed to have in very remote times swallowed up entire cities. The second or south-eastern division of Boeotia formed a fertile plain with its capital Thebes, whose inhabi- tants were notorious for their fondness of good living. The atmosphere of Boeotia was thick and heavy, and the Boeo- tians were believed to be dull and unintellectual. Boeotia is bounded in the south by the mountains Cithaeron and Fames, on the other side of which we have Attica, the most memorable region in regard to the intellectual life of the Greeks, though its soil is by no means as fertile and productive as many other parts of Hellas. Its extent of coast is greater than that of any other province of Greece proper, and was there- fore particularly calculated to direct the attention of its inha- bitants to a maritime life. On its western side, where the sea forms the Saronic gulf, we have its capital Athens with the port- town of Piraeus. Attica is separated from Pelo- ponnesus by the sea and by the small country of Megaris. 5. The great peninsula of Greece terminates in a smaller one, Peloponnesus, which, however, is an island rather than a peninsula, being connected with central Greece only by the GREECE. 133 narrow isthmus of Corinth. Nearly the whole of Pelopon- nesus is, like the rest of Greece, a mountainous country, and some of its mountains are of considerable height. Arcadia the central part, is a high, uneven, and rough table-land, but contains excellent pasture, whence its inhabitants devoted themselves almost £ntirely to the feeding of flocks. The rough climate and their mode of life kept the Arcadians throughout the history of Greece in a more primitive state than any of the other Greeks. The plateau of Arcadia, is surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains, which send their ramifications into the eastern and southern parts of the peninsula. All the mountains of Peloponnesus bear strong marks of great convulsions that have taken place in their formation, in some parts masses of rocks being piled upon one another, while others are distinguished by deep and wild ravines. The other countries or provinces of Peloponnesus are grouped around the central heights of Arcadia. The northern coast land comprises Achaia, Sicyon, and Corinth ; in the east Argolis consists of a peninsula. In the south of Arcadia mount Taygetus extends southward as far as cape Taenaron, and divides Messenia from Laconia ; while an eastern branch, mount Parnon, runs almost parallel, and terminates in cape Malea. Sparta, the capital of Laconia, was situated in the broad valley of the river Eurotas, at a considerable distance from the sea. The greater part of Laconia, being a rough mountainous country, admitted of little cultivation, though the valley of the Eurotas contained some very fertile districts. Messenia, on the other hand, which has many rich plains, was among the most fertile parts of Greece. On the western coast, between Messenia and Achaia, we have Elis with its fruitful plains and its mild delicious climate. Olympia, on the banks of the Alpheius, though it was not a city but only a mass of groves, altars, temples, a race-course, and other buildings erected for 134 HISTORY OF GREECE. the convenience of the Hellenes assembling tliere every four years for the celebration of the Olympic games, was a place of far more importance than the capital, which bore the same name as the country. 6. The numerous islands by which Greece is surrounded belong to it in all essential points, for they are of the same physical and geological structure, and were at one time, no doubt, parts of the continent of Greece, from which they have been torn by volcanic or other agencies. The fertile island of Euboea stretches along Phocis, Boeotia, and Attica ; it is traversed by high mountains belonging to the chain of Pindus. The same chain is continued in the islands on the south-east of Euboea and Attica, and extends as far as Astypalaea ; but Cos and the other islands in the north and south of it belong to Asia. The ancients called the European group of these islands the Cyclades (lying in a circle), and the Asiatic Sporades (the scattered). The ^gean sea, in which all these islands are situated, is closed in the south by Crete, the largest of all the Greek isles. As the navigation of the ancients consisted chiefly in coasting or sailing across narrow channels, these islands were of the greatest convenience to the Greeks in their intercourse with Asia, Africa, Italy, and Sicily, all of which countries accordingly were colonised by them at an early period. CHAPTER 11. THE MYTHICAL PERIOD OF GREEK HISTORY. 1. The history of Greece from its earliest dawn down to the migration of the Dorians, about b. c. 1100, is thoroughly THE MYTHICAL AGE. 135 mytliical, for all the actions of individual men, as well as of whole communities, are described as influenced by and inter- fered with by an imaginary world of gods and beings of a higher order. But this very period, which in history is the most obscure, has been surrounded by the poetic and imagina- tive genius of the Greeks with a lustre quite unequalled in the legendary history of any other nation. It was to them the period of the great and mighty heroes whom they looked upon as their glorious ancestors ; who were guided in their exploits by the gods, or struggled against their oppression and persecution ; it was the period of which the events were immortalised by poets and artists, and in later times believed with the same firmness as the occurrences of well authenticated history. It would however be a serious mistake if we were to assume that the mythical lays of the ancient heroes had no other foundation tlian the fancy and imagina- tion of the poets. Poets did not invent the substance of the lays, but derived it from the legends current among the people ; and it was for this reason that the well-known stories, when clothed in poetic language, had such a charm, and exercised such an influence upon the Greeks, who derived from them their chief mental food and sustenance. Their faith in those legends was for a long time very intense, and the recol- lection of the heroes was kept alive not only in poetry, but by relics shown in different places, by their tombs, and temples scattered over various parts of Hellas. We must further not be supposed to assert that after the Doric migration mythical legends all at once give way to history, for real history does not begin until the time of which we have contemporary records, and that time commences in Greece at a much later period than among the Asiatic nations which had a historical literature. Historians do not appear in Greece until about five centuries after the Doric migration, and during this inter- vening period between the mythical and truly historical ages 136 HISTORY OF GREECE. the tendency to form myths was by no means extinct ; on the contraiy, the events handed down by oral tradition acquired more of a mythical than of a really historical character ; but the mythical tendency no longer metamorphosed events in the same way as before ; poets did not, until a very late period, take their subjects from that intermediate epoch, and conse- quently no deep interest in the occurrences of that period was felt or created. When, therefore, historians afterwards arose, the events of that period were either little known or known only as popular traditions. 2. It is the business of the historian to endeavour to discover that which constitutes the real groundwork of these rich and numerous legends and traditions about the early Greeks ; but this task is beset with insurmountable difficulties. The immense variety of Greek legends so singularly inter- woven with one another, and often contradictory, present at first sight an inextricable chaos, from which it seems impos- sible to extract anything of historical value. The stories about the heroes form the principal part of the mythical his- tory, but some of them are so much interwoven with fables about the gods, that it is impossible to separate the one set from the other. So long as the legends about the gods were implicitly believed, no inquiries were made, but as soon as the faith in the gods disappeared among the better educated classes of the Greeks, several modes of explanation were de- based. Some considered the myths to be mere allegories or symbols, embodying certain physical, ethical, or religious truths ; others imagined that the gods had originally been great men, as kings and heroes, to whom their fellow-men paid divine honours for the benefits conferred upon their race. This latter view, though the most foolish and super- ficial of all, was adopted by some of the most eminent authors of antiquity, and has maintained its ground with many even in modern times. THE MYTHICAL AGE. 137 3. Myths are never tlie result of au arbitrary or fanciful operation of the human mind, but are formed, in the early periods of a nation's history, instinctively and necessarily, in consequence of the manner in which men look at nature and the phenomena by which they are surrounded. The laws according to which this process took place among the Greeks can still be ascertained with tolerable accuracy, from the numerous instances which speak for themselves, and from the rich literature which reveals to us the peculiar views and modes of thinking of that gifted people. Ancient institutions and customs, of which no satisfactory explanation could be given, were accounted for by mythical stories, in which their origin was ascribed to certain occurrences ; facts connected with the worship of the gods were metamorphosed into legends about their apparitions and interferences in human affairs ; emigrants, taking with them from their former homes the worship of a particular divinity, would naturally form the belief, in the course of time, that the god himself had com- manded them to quit their country, and had guided them to their new homes. Legends, moreover, w^hich the settlers found established in foreign lands, were eagerly caught up and combined with those which they brought with them. These, and innumerable other circumstances, were the natural sources of mythical legends ; but it is nevertheless often a matter of extreme difficulty in any given case to find the right key to the explanation of a myth ; this will be easily understood if we remember that a simple legend has often been greatly modified and embellished by poets, so that we are required not only to divest the legend from these poetical additions, but to discover the true foundation of the simple legend itself. After the time of Alexander the Great, when the creative genius of the Greeks had died away, they them- selves undertook the task of collecting the mythical legends of their nation ; and the rich stores of information accessible g2 138 HISTORY OF GRKECE. to them enabled them to reduce the whole mass to something resembling a continuous history ; but they were ignorant in their notions about the nature of mythical legends, whence we cannot always place full confidence in their statements, nor can we distinguish the original materials which they collected, from the additions which they themselves devised as connecting links. 4. Thus, if we inquire after the primitive inhabitants of Greece, we meet with statements which have proved the greatest puzzle to all historians that have endeavoured to throw light upon the question. The Hellenes, the name which subsequently belonged to the whole nation, appear in the earliest traditions as inhabiting only a part of Thessaly, whence they are said to have spread over the whole of continental Greece, and the islands surrounding it. But while they were yet confined to a portion of Thessaly, they were surrounded on all sides by a great race commonly called Pelasgians. Who these Pelasgians were, is a question which the ancients themselves were unable to solve, and which modern writers have answered in the most different ways. This much is certain, that in the remotest ages they occupied the north-western coasts of Asia Minor, and nearly the whole of Greece and Italy, and that in the historical ages they had vanished everywhere, except in a few isolated places, where they maintained themselves and continued to speak their ancient language. It was this early disappearance of the Pelasgians that gave rise to the differences and contradictions in the traditions about them, for while some called them auto- chthones, that is, sprung from the earth itself, others state that they had immigrated from abroad, and had led a wan- dering life. The notion that they were autochthones implies no more than that they had inhabited the south-east of Europe from time immemorial, that is, probably from about the nineteenth century before Christ. The wandering charac- ter ascribed to them can scarcely be referred to the migrations PELASGIANS AND HELLENES. 139 that led them into Europe, but probably arose from the fact that, during the subsequent commotions in the countries occupied by them, they were expelled, and obliged to seek new homes in foreign countries, as, for example, during the changes which took place in Greece in and after the Trojan times. The most recent ethnological and philological inquiries have yielded the following results in regard to this intricate question, and we have no doubt as to their substantial correctness. The population of Europe immigrated from the East at a time which lies beyond all history. The first great body of immigrants was in all probability that which peopled the larger part of the south-east of Europe, and which we may call Pelasgians, for the name is of no consequence. They probably crossed the Hellespont, and occupied the countries to the south of mount Haemus and the Alps — one branch occupying the eastern peninsula of Greece, and the other the peninsula of Italy, in which countries they gradually proceeded from north to south. Some of these Pelasgians, however, appear to have remained in the north-west of Asia Minor, extending from the Hellespont to the river Maeander in the south. It is self-evident that many of the islands of the -^gean were likewise occupied by them. Some few parts of Greece appear about the same time to have been inhabited by tribes foreign to the Pelasgians. The races which at subsequent periods successively immigi*ated into Europe, and occupied the countries north of mount Haemus, were the Celts, Germans, and Slavonians, all of which must have proceeded from the same great parent stock, as their languages testify ; but the affinity among the different tribes of the Pelasgians who took possession of Greece and Italy was much greater. 5. The Hellenes in Thessaly were probably only a dis- tinct branch of the great Pelasgian race ; at least we have every reason to believe that in language they differed no more than the Goths and Saxons, two tribes of the Germanic stock. 140 HISTORY OF GREiXE. This close affinity between Hellenes and Pelasgians also ac- counts for the fact, which would otherwise be inexplicable, that during the extension and conquests of the former, the latter so completely amalgamated and united with them, that afterwards nearly all traces of the original differences disap- peared — a result which could scarcely have followed, had the two races been quite distinct. As to the state of civilisation among the Pelasgians previous to their subjugation by, or amalgamation with the Hellenes, it has been asserted that they were little better than savages ; but we have the strongest possible evidence that the whole race, even before the separation which led one branch into Greece and the other into Italy, had attained possession of at least the elements of civilisation. Many words referring to agricul- ture, the breeding of cattle, and human habitations, are com- mon to the Sanscrit, Greek, and Latin, and thus prove that the things designated by such words must have been known to the nations before their separation and dispersion. The same fact is implied in various traditions, as, for example, that the first town on earth was built by a son of Pelasgus, that the most ancient towns and institutions in general are referred to the Pelasgians — that they invented a number of things required in agriculture, and lastly, that they were the first to make use of the alphabet which was introduced among the Greeks by the Phoenicians. Other evidences of the pro- gress made in the arts of civilised life by those earliest inha- bitants of Greece, exist at this day in many parts of Greece and Italy, in the gigantic remains of architectural structures, such as royal palaces, treasure-houses, and walls built of large square or polygon blocks. These we find in Italy, and in Arcadia, Argolis, and Epirus. Even large tunnels and dikes are ascribed to them. 6. Their religion consisted, no doubt, mainly in the w^or- ship of the powers of nature, many traces of which are visible PELASGIANS AND HELLENES. 141 also in the religion of the Hellenes, though they are more numerous in the purer religion of the Italians. Their prin- cipal god was Zeus, whose most ancient seat of worship was at Dodona in Epirus. He there also had an oracle which retained its celebrity for a very long period, until in the end it was eclipsed hy that of Delphi. This male divinity had his counterpart in the female Dione, who was his wife, and the mother of Aphrodite, the goddess representing love and fertility. In some parts, such as the islands of Samothrace, Imbros, and Lemnos, in the north of the ^gean, a certain mysterious Pelasgic worship continued to exist down to a late period. The most remarkable branch of the Pelasgians were the Pierian Thracians, who inhabited the coast district of Macedonia north of mount Olympus, for mythology tells us that there the first poets flourished, such as Orpheus, Musaeus, Thamyris, Eumolpus, and Linus, all mythical personages who probably never existed ; but the legends about them show that, according to the notions of the Greeks, poetry had been widely and enthusiastically cultivated by the Pelasgian Pierians, and had been employed by them for the exaltation and embellishment of their religious worship. 7. The civilisation thus commenced by the Pelasgians entered upon a new stage of development at the time when the Hellenes began to spread over central and southern Greece. The origin of the Hellenes is connected in the fabulous legends with the earliest period of the mythical ages, and their ancestral hero is called Hellen, a son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, the pair saved from the great flood. Hellen had three sons, Dorus, Xuthus, and JEolus, all of whom emigrated and took possession of the greater part of Greece. Xuthus, from whom no tribe derived its name, had two sons, Ion and Achaeus, to whom this honour was assigned. In this manner Greek mythology traced the four tribes into which the Greek nation was divided, viz., the Dorians, lonians. 142 HISTORY OF GREECE. Achaeans, and ^olians, to four descendants of Hellen. These heroes, like Hellen himself, and their stories, are neither historically nor poetically true ; the heroes are nothing but ethnic symbols and artless personifications to represent the whole nation and the branches into which it was divided ; and the story about them in all probability is one of those in w^hich the later Greeks embodied their notions regarding the ancient state of things in their country, whence it cannot be regarded as a genuine ancient tradition. Other more ancient and more genuine traditions, as those in the Homeric poems, confine Hellen and the Hellenes to a part of Tliessaly, and do not represent them as opposed to or distinct from the Pelasgians, but partially connect them, as, for example, when Poseidon is called the father of Achaeus and Pelasgus. Herodotus, so far from regarding Hellenes and Pelasgians as races opposed to each other, calls the Dorians a Hellenic and the lonians a Pelasgian people, so that the Pelasgians are drawn into the circle of the Hellenes. The ^olians also are called Pelasgians. All this justifies the conclusion that not till several centuries after the Trojan times, when the Greeks had become conscious of their national unity, did the idea of deriving their origin from one common hero, and the several branches from his sons and grandsons, present itself to their minds. The reason why the Hellenes were privileged to give their name to the whole of Greece, is a subject on which we can only form conjectures. 8. At a time considerably more remote than the Trojan war, in which w'e find the Hellenes in the north, and the Achaeans in the south, the Hellenes, perhaps pressed on by neighbouring barbarians, quitted their Thessalian homes, and gradually spread over the w^hole of Greece, subduing, by their superiority in arms, the unwarlike tribes of the Pelasgians and others with whom they came in contact. If we view the state of the country about the time of the Trojan war, we find in a part of Thessaly the ^olians, and along with them the PELASGIANS AND HELLENES. 143 Boeotians and Minyans, who were likewise ^olians ; in an- other part of Thessaly, we find the Achaean Myrmidons or Hellenes, while other Achaeans occur in the east and south of Peloponnesus. The two races of the Achaeans and Cohans are the most prominent during the mythical period, while in the historical ages the Dorians and lonians stand forth as the most conspicuous branches of the Hellenic race. The Dorians, during the legendary period, inhabited the small country of Doris, between mount (Eta and Parnassus, while the lonians were in possession of Attica, Euboea, and the north coast of Peloponnesus, which bore the name of ^gialeia. The manner in which the Hellenes became the masters of Greece w^as not the same in all parts ; in some instances the conquered Pelasgians were reduced to a state of servitude, in others, the conquerors and the conquered became completely united ; and it may be assumed that in these latter cases, the old Pelasgian population was numerically far superior to the conquering Hellenes. This would account for the lonians and ^olians being called Pelasgians, while the Dorians remained Hellenes. The civilisation which grew out of the Hellenisation of Greece was by no means a new one, but rather a continuation of that already commenced by the Pelasgians ; a fresh impulse only was given by the Hellenes, themselves a branch of the Pelasgian stock, but " containing its best and purest blood, and destined to unfold the noblest faculties implanted in its constitution, and to raise the life of the nation to the highest stage which it was capable of reaching." 9. Such ^vere the native elements constituting the nation of the Greeks. But there are also traditions stating that foreigners from distant countries immigrated into Greece, made its inhabitants acquainted with various arts and insti- tutions of civilised life, and gave their names to cities and countries. The most celebrated amona: these alleged immi- 144 HISTORY OF GREECE. grants are Cecrops, reported to have come from Egypt, and built the Acropolis of Athens ; Cadmns, the son of a Phoeni- cian king, Agenor, who, when seeking his sister Europa, came to Boeotia, and there founded the Cadmea, tlie Acropolis of Thebes (he was also said to have introduced among the Greeks the arts of writing and of melting and using metals) ; Danaus, who, with his fifty daughters, is reported to have come from Egypt, fleeing from his brother ^gyptus ; and Pelops, lastly, a Phrygian or Lydian, a son of Tantalus, acquired dominion over a large part of Peloponnesus, and gave his name to the- peninsula. Both the ancients and the moderns, until recent times, believed that these traditions were sub- stantially correct, and that Greece received colonists and some important religious and social institutions from the east and from Egypt. But in our own days, very few men adhere to this antiquated belief. According to tiie genuine Attic tra- dition, Cecrops, the mythical founder of the Athenian state, was no foreigner at all, but an Attic autochthon, and the notion of his being an Egyptian did not become current until the fifth century b. c. It originated in the vanity of the Egyptian priests, who were anxious to impress upon the Greeks that their institutions were all more or less derived from Egypt. The story about Cadmus seems to have a better foundation, not that a person of the name of Cadmus ever lived, or did what tradition ascribes to him ; but it can- not be denied that in the earliest times there existed com- mercial relations between the Greeks and Phoenicians, and it is an undoubted fact that the Greeks derived their alpha- bet from the Phoenicians. The story of Danaus can be shewn to be of genuine Greek origin, and had originally nothing to do with Egypt; it may be traced to the same source as the legend about Cecrops. The traditions about Pelops are very contradictory, for Homer speaks of him not as a foreign immigrant, but as a native prince, and others FOREIGN IMMIGRANTS. 145 describe him as an Achaean. The whole legend seems to be founded upon some vague recollection of an ancient connec- tion between Greece and a part of Asia Minor. 10. But though we must reject these stories in the form in which they have been transmitted to us, we need not on this account deny that at some remote period adventurers, either singly or in bands, immigrated into Greece and took up their permanent abode there ; we must, however, decidedly reject the idea that such adventurers or exiles from foreign countries exercised any appreciable influence upon the religious, social, or political institutions of the Greeks. An original connection between the east and the earliest inhabitants of Greece is an established fjict, proved by ethnology and philo- logy ; but the Greek language does not contain a trace of any influence exercised by a Semitic people or by the Egyptians. In most of the traditions about foreign settlements in Greece, it is assumed that its inhabitants lived in a state of wildness, and that they received the first elements of civilisation from the foreign colonists ; but we have seen that these elements must have been known to the inhabitants of Greece even before their separation from their kinsmen in India and Italy. In matters of religion, on the other hand, it is equally certain that the Greeks were much indebted to eastern nations, but it is impossible to say how much of what they possessed in later times was originally the common property of all the nations belonging to the same stock, and how much was imported at a subsequent period, when the Pelasgians and Hellenes were already established in Greece. Whatever we may think of these and similar matters, certain it is that both the ideas and institutions which the Pelasgians brought with them from Asia, as well as those which were subsequently imported to them from the same quarter, were in Greece so much modified, and so changed in character, as to become something quite different. Greek civilisation H 146 HISTORY OF GREECE. forms altogether a striking contrast to that of oriental nations, by its freedom from priestly thraldom, and by its active intel- lectual development in all social and political relations. 11. If we follow the genealogies of the princely houses in the Greek legends, we find that the period from the sons of Hellen down to the fall of Troy embraces about six gene- rations, or two hundred years, from b. c. 1400 to 1200, which form what may be properly termed the heroic age of Greece. This period is filled with accounts of the exploits of the heroes for the protection of the helpless and oppressed, against robbers, wild beasts, and monsters ; it abounds in stories about adventures to satisfy ambition and the desire to possess what was deemed most precious. To ransack and destroy inoffensive towns, to roam about the sea for plunder, and carry away from the coast- districts cattle and men, and sell the latter as slaves, were not regarded as dis- reputable pursuits. But a right feeling of humanity, and a sense of awe for the gods, the avengers of all crimes, softened and subdued the violent passions of the Greeks of those days, who, during that period of chivalrous enterprise, strengthened their courage and were prevented by restless activity from sinking into barbarism and stolid insensibility. To refuse protection and support to a suppliant or beggar, to abuse the law of hospitality, was regarded as a grave offence against Zeus, the father of gods and men. Such were a few of the more prominelit features of the Hellenes during the heroic period, which exhibit them in a light not unlike that of the chivalrous ages in the later history of Europe. Throughout that period the Hellenes appear as the ruling class, while the ancient conquered population was held in different degrees of subjection in the several parts of Greece. 12. None of the heroic families is more celebrated than that of Danaus in Argos, whose great grand-daughter Danae became, by Zeus, the mother of Perseus ; from this latter was HERACLES AND THESEUS. 147 descended Heracles, tlie most illustrious of all the Greek heroes, a son of Zeus and Alcmena, the grand-daughter of Perseus. The numerous and gigantic exploits ascribed to him in the legends cannot have been performed by one man, or even by one generation of men. They may be divided into two classes, the first embodying all the labours and toils which mankind in its infancy has to sustain against nature ; such are, for example, the stories of his having cleft rocks, turned the course of rivers, opened or stopped the subterraneous outlets of lakes, and cleared the land of noxious wild beasts. The second class of his exploits represents a state of society which is the natural result of the preceding one, when the different tribes have settled in fixed abodes, and are strug- gling with one another for possession and dominion. The hero accordingly appears as the protector of the weak and helpless, and as the chastiser of cruel tyrants. In all these rich and varied traditions, Heracles represents and embodies the history of two distinct phases in human progress. The exploits ascribed to him, especially those performed in foreign lands, are probably of foreign, especially Phoenician origin, for the Heracles of that nation was worshipped in all their settle- ments round the Mediterranean, and the stories of his wan- derings and exploits were incorporated by the Greeks with those of their own national hero. 13. Attica had its own hero in the person of Theseus, to whom, likewise, exploits are ascribed which can only have been the work of ages. His history, though rich and varied in detail, is as fabulous as that of the kings who are said to have preceded him. He is described as a son of ^geus and iEthra, the daughter of a king of Troezen. To him are ascribed similar adventures and exploits as those related of Heracles, and which must therefore be viewed in the same light. But he is especially celebrated in Attic story as the hero who united the independent towns, or political com- 148 HISTORY OF GREECE. mnnities of the country, into one state, who divided tLe people into three classes, and who laid the foundation of the political constitution of Athens. His story is closely connected with that of another hero, Minos, King of Crete, who ruled over the sea by his mighty fleets, and levied a heavy tribute upon Athens, from which Theseus delivered his country by slaying the monster Minotaums. Minos is, like Theseus, described as a wise, political legislator, though the laws commonly ascribed to him belong to a much later period, being the work of Dorian settlers in Crete, who did not establish themselves in the island until the period between the fall of Troy and the occupation of Peloponnesus by the same race. 14. We might here enumerate a great many other heroes and their exploits, such as the tragic fate of the royal house of Thebes, and the story of the Cahdonian hunt ; but we must confine ourselves to a notice of two celebrated expeditions to foreign lands, which were conducted by confederate chieftains and their followers — we mean the expedition of the Argonauts, and that against Troy. The form in which the story of the former is usually related rims as follows : — Shortly before the outbreak of the Trojan war, Jason, a Thessalian prince, ex- cited the jealousy of his kinsman, Pelias of lolcos, who per- suaded the prince to embark in a maritime expedition full of danger, in the hope that he might perish abroad. He was to sail to Colchis, on the eastern shore of the Black sea, thence to fetch the golden fleece there preserved. A vessel was built of unusual size, and, accompanied by a band of the most illustrious heroes from various parts of Greece, Jason set sail. After many adventures they reached Colchis, and not only gained their end, but Jason carried off ]\Tedea,the daughter of the Colchian king ^etes, through whose assistance he had obtained the golden fleece. The return of the heroes was connected with as many adventures as their voyage to Colchis. The story of THE ARGONAUTS THE TROJAN WAR. 149 which this is an outline, seems to be almost wholly a poetical invention : the adventure is incomprehensible in its design, astonishing in its execution, connected with no conceivable cause, and is attended with no sensible effect. It is impossible to conceive whence the Greeks at that age could have acquired a knowledge of Colchis, and still more that at that early period they should have ventured on a maritime expedition to so dis- tant a region. The object of the undertaking is still more mysterious, and can be explained only by conjectures. The story about the fleece itself was, that Phrixus, having been rescued from his father's vengeance, had been transported by a ram across the sea to Colchis, and that on his arrival there he had sacrificed the ram to Zeus, and nailed the fleece to an oak in the grove of Ares, where it was carefully kept and guarded. The story about the Argonauts does not appear to have any historical foundation, nor to be connected with commerce, piracy, or discovery, unless it be that a series of maritime enterjprises- have been combined, extended, and embellished by the poets, for an audience always ready to listen to accounts of distant travels and voyages. It is also possible that the whole story merely indicates the beginnings of an intercourse between the northern Greeks and the inhabitants of the opposite coast of Asia ; and it was perhaps not without reason that some of the ancients stated that the expedition of the Argonauts gave rise to the second of the above-mentioned expeditions, that against Troy. 15. The Trojan war is the noblest and most celebrated of all the enterprises of the heroic age, and this renown it owes to the immortal poem of the Iliad, the work of Homer. The story is briefly this : — Aphrodite, the goddess of love, had promised to Paris, the son of king Priam of Troy, the most beautiful wife, because he had adjudged to her the prize of beauty. This wife was no other than Helen, the daughter of Zeus and Leda, who was then married to Menelaus, king 150 HISTORY OF GREECE. of Sparta, and brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Paris, when on a visit to Menelaiis, violated the laws of hospitality by carrying off Helen with many treasures ; and the Trojans, when called upon to surrender her, refused to comply with the request. Such conduct called for revenge ; all the chiefs of Greece, looking upon the outrage as com- mitted against them, united, imder the supreme command of Agamemnon, for a common expedition against Troy. Al- though Agamemnon was the king of kings, swift-footed Achilles, the son of the goddess Thetis, surpassed him and all others in heroic courage and valour. In nearly twelve hundred ships the heroes and their followers sailed across to the coast of Asia, and besieged the city for a period of ten years. The Trojans, among whom Hector, a son of Priam, was the chief champion, defended themselves manfully, and sometimes threatened the Greeks with destruction. This happened during the time when Achilles took no part in the contest, because he thought himself wronged by Agamemnon. The Trojans were assisted by auxiliaries from various parts of Asia Minor, and even from the far-distant east. The great gods also took part in the war, some favouring the Greeks and others the Trojans. But in the tenth year of th^ contest, Troy fell through the well-known stratagem of the wooden horse, according to the common belief, in the year b. c. 1184. The story of the war of Troy and its conquest cannot be without some historical foundation, although its cause and the details related by the poet may be all fictitious. The Trojan war, as a general fact, cannot be denied. Attacks may have been repeatedly made upon Asia by the Hellenes for plunder, or more probably for the purpose of obtaining permanent settle- ments on the coasts, and it is not impossible that such expe- ditions may have given rise to a war which assumed, in the hands of poets, the form in which it has been handed down THE TEOJAN WAR. 151 to US. Although Troy is said to have been destroyed at the end of the war, a Trojan state survived the fall of its capital, which was probably rebuilt, for we hear that it was destroyed a second time by the Phrygians, a Thracian people who entered Asia after the Trojan war. 16. The return of the heroes from Troy formed a distinct circle of epic poetry, of which the Odyssey forms only a small part, and which was full of tragic and marvellous adventures. The consequences of the war were no less disastrous to the conquering heroes than to the vanquished, for the former found their thrones occupied by usurpers, or their kingdoms in a state of anarchy, and many perished on their way home- ward. In short, all the heroes disappear shortly after the Trojan war, and the heroic age comes to its close ; we have arrived at the point which forms the transition from one period to another entirely new and different. A second consequence of the war was no doubt the acquisition by the Greeks of a more perfect knowledge of the eastern coasts and of the islands of the ^gean. It is not impossible that the iEolian colonies in Asia ]\Iinor, which are commonly said to have been planted about one or two generations after the Trojan war, consisted to a great extent of Greeks, who never returned home from the Trojan expedition, for those colonies claimed Agamemnon as their ancestor. Certain, however, it is, that the foundation of the ^olian colonies, on the north-western coast of Asia Minor, was the natural result of the Trojan war, and of the knowledge which the Greeks had acquired of those countries during the progress of the war. 17. We have already spoken in general terms of the more prominent characteristic features of the heroic age. We shall now endeavour to see what more we can learn from the Homeric poems about the government, social condition, reli- gion, and arts during the same period; for it must be re- 152 HISTORY OF GREECE. membered that on these subjects the Iliad and Odyssey contak information as trustworthy as if they were historical documents. Slavery existed in most parts of Greece ; slaves were chiefly employed in domestic service about their masters and mis- tresses, in gardening, and attending to the flocks and cattle. They were nearly in all cases persons taken prisoners in war or bought of pirates, or the children of such persons born and bred in the house of their master. We never hear of a whole population having been reduced to slavery by conquerors. Husbandry was carried on by freemen who served the wealthy landowners for hire. These latter formed a higher order, distinguished by birth, and generally by valour, wisdom, and a love of adventure. They were the nobles or the chiefs of the nation — one among whom was the head of all, and bore the title of king, for the kingly form of government was universally established in Greece during the heroic period ; but the king was only the first among his equals, who assisted him with their counsel. The people in every Greek state were divided into gene or clans, which were bound together by certain religious observances. Laws, in our sense of the term, did not exist — all rights and duties being fixed by ancient usage, and confirmed by successive precedents. The whole nation consisted of several tribes and numerous little independent states, and the legend of the Tro- jan war presents to us the first instance of a united national enterprise. The name Hellenes does not yet occur as a general designation of all the Greeks, who are generally called Achaei, Danai, or Argives. 18. The social relations in the heroic age were extremely simple. The conduct of women was under less restraint than at a later period, and maidens of the highest rank had to per- form the ordinary domestic duties, down to fetching watei? and washing. A father had the absolute right of disposing of his daugliter's hand, and at the marriage both parties made SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 153 presents to each other. Many of the female cliaracters in the Homeric poems command our respect and admiration, and are among the noblest conceptions of the poet, though we can hardly imagine that they are types of the whole sex at the time. The food of the Greeks, as at all sub- sequent times, was of the simplest kind, but singing and dancing were among the favourite amusements and ornaments of their social gatherings. Excessive drinking is hardly ever mentioned. Towards their inferiors the Greeks were kind and amiable, and their severity towards slaves was never wanton. In war, however, quarter was not given, unless it were to obtain a large ransom, and acts of ferocious cruelty were often indulged in. Great care, however, was taken to secure an honourable burial for the slain. Conquered cities were generally treated with merciless cruelty, the men being put to death, and women and children distributed among the conquerors as slaves. 19. The religion of the heroic age was only a further development of that of the Pelasgians, and not essentially different from that which we find established during the historical ages. The Greek strongly sympathised with the outward world, and in all the objects around him he found life, or imparted it to them from the fulness of his own imagi- nation. Every part of nature roused in him a distinct sen- timent of religious awe, and everywhere he found divine powers to worship. The complicated system of mythology which arose out of this simple worship of the powers of nature, was formed partly by a process of personification, and partly by raising the local divinities of certain tribes to the rank of national gods by connecting and uniting them into one great family. These processes were the work of the na- tional mind of the Greeks, strengthened and guided by the poets. Each tribe and city, however, continued to worship one or more deities as its special patrons or protectors. All 154 HISTORY OF GREECE. the gods were conceived as beings with human forms, and as subject to the same passions and frailties as mortals ; but they were nevertheless believed to punish men for their offences, both in this world and in their future state. Prayers and sa- crifices were employed to obtain their favour, and the more precious the offering was, the more pleasing it was thought to be to the deity. Hence the sacrifice of human life was the highest oblation. The gods were represented in statues and symbols, but we must not believe that these statues or sym- bols themselves were worshipped as the divine beings; such gross idolatry seems to have arisen only in later times, when the symbol was confounded with the power symbolised. The functions of the priests, both male and female, who were generally connected with the worship of some particular divinity, consisted mainly in offering sacrifices, though the kings and fathers of families might do the same on behalf of those whom they represented. The most important branch, however, of a priest's duties consisted in his ascertaining the will of the gods and those occurrences of the future which the faculties of man were unable to divine. The belief in the possibility of obtaining such knowledge gave rise to oracular places, the most renowned of which were Dodona and Delphi; but many other methods also were resorted to, to discover the will of the gods or the decrees of destiny. The awe and reve- rence for departed great men gradually led to hero-worship, which, common as it was in later times, is never alluded to in the Homeric poems. 20. In regard to the knowledge possessed by the Greeks during the heroic age, and the arts they cultivated, we find that their geographical information was almost confined to Greece, the islands of the ^gean, and the north-western parts of Asia Minor ; all the rest of the ancient world was known only from vague rumours and reports, whence the poet's descriptions of foreign lands are full of most marvellous STATE OP THE ARTS. 155 circumstances. The whole earth is conceived as a plane sur- face, surrounded by the river Oceanus ; the Mediterranean was only a depression of the earth's surface, the central point of which was Delphi. A vast pit in the earth, called Hades, was the receptacle of the departed spirits, and far below the earth lay the still more dismal pit of Tartarus. Mount Olympus in Thessaly was regarded as the highest mountain on earth, and as the habitation of the gods ; and the vault of heaven was considered to be a solid vault of metal, sup- ported by Atlas, who kept asunder heaven and earth. Navigation was still in its infancy, and consisted mainly in coasting or sailing from island to island. The largest ships which sailed against Troy, are said to have carried one hundred and twenty men, though probably they did not really contain more than fifty. Engagements at sea are never mentioned. Astronomy as a science can hardly be said to have existed. All the Greeks, down to the time of Solon, divided the year into twelve lunar months, the defects of which were remedied by occasional intercalations. Commerce was indeed carried on, but was not held in great esteem by a nation which regarded the pursuit of war as more honourable, and piracy as more lucrative. Money is not mentioned by the poet, so that all commerce must have been carried on by barter. The wealthy heroes appear to have lived not only in rude plenty, but in a high degree of luxury and splendour; but we must remember that the poet, in descriptions of this kind, was not obliged always to adhere strictly to the real state of things. The arts amongst the Greeks, if compared with those of eastern nations, can scarcely be said to have advanced beyond a state of infancy. The art of war was in a similar condition. In the Iliad we hear much of the combats of chiefs, but little or nothing of engagements of the masses ; and the contests are decided by the valour of individual heroes, or by the interposition of 156 HISTORY OF GREECE. the gods. The art of besieging a town seems to have been utterly unknown. 21. Although the poems bearing the name of Homer are the most ancient in European literature, yet they are by no means the first attempts that were made in poetry. The Homeric poems themselves furnish evidence of its having been cultivated before the Iliad and Odyssey were composed. The poet or minstrel in the heroic age was held in the highest honour by the chiefs and heroes ; his presence was welcomed at all their feasts as that of a divinely inspired personage, for it w^as the poet who exalted and embellished the exploits of the heroes, whose deeds formed his principal themes. Another kind of poetry consisted of religious hymns to sooth the anger or win the favour of the gods. Music was always, and dancing occa- sionally, united with the recital of poetry. In connection with this early poetry, we must consider the art of writing which had been introduced among the Greeks at an early period by the Phoenicians. Homer himself does not distinctly allude to it in any part of his poems, though it ought not to be inferred from this that it was unknown in his time. As to whether the Homeric poems were originally composed in writing, is a question which has been much discussed in modern times, though it is highly probable that at first they were not committed to writing, but composed by the poet, and retained in his memory, and that for a considerable time they were propagated only by oral tradition. No one now doubts that the Iliad is substantially the work of one genius, but it is more doubtful as to whether both the Iliad and the Odyssey are the productions of the same poet. The time in which Homer himself is believed to have lived is separated by several generations from the Trojan war. Hesiod, some of whose productions have come down to our time, is a poet of a somew^hat later period than Homer. 157 CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF THE DORIC STATES FROM THE RETURN OF THE HERACLEIDS, DOWN TO THE END OF THE SECOND MESSE- NIAN WAR. 1 . About sixty years after the fall of Troy, during which period no change is recorded in the history of Greece, great commotions arose in the country in consequence of immigra- tions from the north. The first of these is the immigration of the Thessalians from Epirus into the country afterwards called Thessaly, in consequence of which the original inhabi- tants, as the Boeotians and Achaeans, were partly reduced to a state of servitude, and partly compelled to emigrate. The Boeotians took forcible possession of the country, subsequently called after them Boeotia. Here again the Cadmeans and Minyans being driven from their homes, and joined by Achaeans from Peloponnesus, are said to have crossed the JEgean, and established in the north-west of Asia Minor the settlements known under the name of the ^olian colonies. But it has already been remarked* that these colonies pro- bably were in a closer connection with the expedition against Troy than this tradition seems to indicate. A much more important movement was that occasioned by the migration of the Dorians from their little country on the north of mount Parnassus to Peloponnesus, of which they conquered the fairest provinces. The fact of this migration, which is generally assigned to the year b. c. 1104, cannot be doubted, although there are questions connected with it which cannot be answered in a satisfactory manner. First of all, it is hardly conceivable that the little country afterwards known by the name of Doris should have sent forth bands conquering nearly the whole of Peloponnesus, although we may admit * P. 151. 158 HISTORY OF GREECE. that the conquerors in this, as in many other cases, were far less numerous than the conquered. Secondly, the manner in which the descendants of Heracles are mixed up with the migration is altogether fabulous. The consequence of this migration however was, that the population of the peninsula changed its character; the hardy Dorians either crushed the ori- ginal inhabitants and reduced them to a state of servitude, or expelled them and forced them to seek new homes in foreign lands. The mountainous country of Arcadia, inhabited from time immemorial by Pelasgians, remained free, though its population, being surrounded on all sides by Dorian Hellenes, gradually lost their primitive character, and became Hellenes. The cause of the migration was intimately connected in the tradition with the story about the descendants of Heracles. They had, it is said, a legitimate claim to the succession to the throne of Argos, and made repeated attempts by force of arms to gain possession of it, until at length the three brothers Aristodemus, Temenus, and Cresphontes, supported by Dorians, ^tolians, and Locrians, crossed the entrance of the Corinthian gulf at Naupactus, and having conquered TisamenuSj a grandson of Agamemnon, divided the best por- tions of Peloponnesus among themselves. 2. Oxylus, an ^tolian chief who had guided the in- vaders, claimed and obtained as his share in the conquest the fertile country of Elis, which he is said to have governed wisely and mildly, taking only a portion of the land for his followers, and leaving the remainder in the hands of the original inhabi- tants. Tisamenus, with many of his Achaean followers, at- tempted to obtain peaceful settlements among the lonians on the north coast of Peloponnesus, but failing in this, he over- came them in a battle, and forced them to quit their country. Ionia henceforth bore the name of Achaia, and the exiled lonians found refuge among their kinsmen in Attica ; but as that country was too small, the lonians, ac- PELOPONNESUS CONQUERED BY THE DORIANS. 159 companied by numerous other adventurers, emigrated to the western coast of Asia Minor, where they founded what are called the Ionian colonies. In the meantime the Heracleid chiefs were engaged in dividing the conquest among them- selves. Eurysthenes and Procles, the twin-sons of Aristode- mus, obtained Laconia, Temenus Argos, and Cresphontes Messenia. The conquest thus described in the traditions cannot possibly have been accomplished at once, or even within a short period. It is well known that Argos was not conquered until after a long protracted war. Pylos, in Mes- senia, even after the conquest of the rest of the country, was for centuries ruled by the descendants of its ancient king Neleus. In Laconia the Dorian conquerors are said to have met with little resistance. Eurj^sthenes and Procles, who fixed their residence at Sparta, are reported to have allowed the conquered Achaeans the same rights as the conquering Dorians ; but Agis, the successor of Eurysthenes, reduced the Achaeans to the condition of subjects, and all yielded except the inhabitants of the town of Helos, who, however, were compelled to submit, and lost not only their political inde- pendence, but their personal liberty, giving rise and name to the class of serfs called Helots. In this story also the vanity of the conquerors is but too apparent, and we know on very good authority that Amyclae, which is said to have capitu- lated at once, remained an independent little state in Laconia for a period of nearly three hundred years. Helos seems to have maintained its independence even later, and it is in short more than probable that the Dorians in Laconia as well as elsewhere had to struggle for a long period before they were complete masters of the countries once occupied by the Achaeans. A little later than the invasion of Peloponnesus, Corinth also was conquered by a Heracleid of the name of Aletes accompanied by Dorian adventurers, and the race of Sisyphus was dethroned. This event brought the conquering .160 HISTORY OF GREECE. Dorians into conflict with Attica, which was then governed by Codrus, a son of Melanthus. The Dorians, in consequence of the wars and their devastations, it is said, suffering from scarcity in their newly conquered countries, resolved upon in- vading Attica, under the leadership of Aletes of Corinth. Accordingly they encamped in Attica, and the oracle of Delphi had promised them success, provided they spared the life of the Athenian king. This oracle had become known to the Athenians, and their king resolved to sacrifice himself for his country. Disguised in a woodman's garb, he went among the Dorians and killed one with his bill, whereupon he himself was slain by another. When the Dorians dis- covered what had taken place, they despaired of success, and withdrew their forces from Attica. 3. About the same time Megara, which had until then belonged to Attica, was separated from it, being occupied by a Dorian colony from Corinth, by which it was afterwards held in subjection, ^gina was likcMise seized by Dorians from Epidaurus. But by far the most important Dorian colo- nies were those established in Crete during the third genera- lion after the conquest of Peloponnesus. These colonies were founded by Dorians from Sparta and Argos, who during the broils and conflicts in Peloponnesus were induced to seek new homes elsewhere. Some of these emigrants, who cannot have been very numerous, established themselves in Ehodes, which henceforth became a Dorian island. The conquest of Crete is said to have been a matter of little difficulty, as the island had been desolated by pestilence and famine, but it must nevertheless have taken some time before the Dorians be- came complete masters of it. The political institutions of Crete, greatly resembling those of Sparta, are said by some to have been introduced into the latter city from the island, while others maintain that the Cretan towns derived them from Sparta. The real tmth however seems to be that INSTITUTIONS OF THE DORIANS. 161 neither place derived them from the other, but that they were the common institutions of the Doric race, which carried them with it wherever it formed settlements, though we do not deny that some of those institutions may have existed in Crete ever since the time of king Minos, to whom the Dorians of Crete were inclined to trace them for the purpose of making them appear more ancient and venerable. All the inhabitants of Crete were divided into three classes, freemen, slaves, and perioeci, the last of whom probably were the ancient proprietors of the soil, but were compelled to live in open towns and villages, and had to pay a certain tax to their Doric rulers, though they were personally free. The government, the administration, and the making of the laws, were in the hands of the Doric freemen, who also reserved other rights and privileges for themselves, though their rule does not appear to have been very oppressive. The slaves were either persons who had forcibly resisted the invaders, or such as had been slaves before. The land was partly left to its former owners, and partly taken possession of by the new colonists, but besides these portions, each state set apart a domain for itself which was cultivated by public slaves. All the land was tilled by the perioeci and slaves, while the Dorians knew no other pursuits but those of war, and lived by the toil of their subjects and slaves. The form of government was nearly the same in all the Doric colonies of Crete, which shows that it had a national character, and was not the result of accident. Kings are not mentioned, but their place was supplied by ten annual magistrates bearing the title of cosmoi, who were elected from among the most illustrious families by the body of free citizens. At the end of theii' year of office the cosmoi might be elected into the senate, called geronia or bule, of which they remained members for life. The number of senators in each state seems to have been thirty. This constitution was evidently thoroughly aristocratic. The assembly of the people, H 2 162 HISTORY OF GREECE. consisting of the free Doric citizens, might be convened by the magistrates whenever they thought it advisable, but its members seem to have had little power beyond giving their assent to the measures brought before them. 4. The most striking feature in the Cretan mode of life, though this too they had in common with most other Doric states, was the custom according to which all the citizens, old and young, took their meals together at public tables and at the expense of the state. These public meals, which were elsewhere called syssitia, bore in Crete the name of andreia or andria. They kept up among the ruling class a feeling of unity and of superiority over their subjects, and bound together the citizens by close intimacy, while the young had opportunities of listening to the opinions and views of the older men. Besides this, however, the conduct of boys and youths was strictly watched by persons appointed for the purpose. Their training and education were conducted with the same severity and harshness as at Sparta. Institutions like these occur more or less in all the Doric states of Greece, a fact which shows incontrovertibly that they were not the work of any particular lawgiver, but the natural results of the character of the Doric race. 5. Although the history of the Doric states of Pelopon- nesus during the first centuries after their formation is ex- tremely obscure, yet it is evident that Sparta was the chief among them, and that the Doric institutions there were more fully developed than in any other state. These circum- stances, and the conquest of Messenia by Sparta, raised her in the course of time to the supremacy not only of Pelopon- nesus but of Greece, and the greatness and glory she thus acquired have shed a lustre over her whole history which in many respects is not well deserved. The constitution of Sparta is generally ascribed to Lycurgus, who is believed either to have devised it, or at least to have introduced LYCURGUS. 163 it among his countrymen. But if we look to the nature of the Spartan institutions, and compare them with those of other Doric states, it becomes highly probable that they cannot have been the work of one particular mind, but that the ground-work at least was common to all the Dorians, so that Lycurgus, if he ever existed, cannot have done much more than systematise and supplement that which he already found in operation. The mythical character of the history of this renowned lawgiver is further confirmed by the different statements about his descent and the time when he flourished, for while some regard him as a contemporary of the Heracleid conquerors, others place him more than two hundred years later, that is, about b.c. 884. Sparta was governed by two kings descended from Aristodemus, whose two sons, Eurys- thenes and Procles, ruled the kingdom in common, and Lycurgus was generally believed to have been connected with one of these royal houses. By an act of justice and generosity he secured the succession to a posthumous sou of his brother; and as this involved him in unpleasantries with the infant's mother, who wished to marry him, he left his country and spent the best part of his life in foreign lands, though his countrymen often invited him to return. He is said to have gathered information in the most distant countries, and on his return he found Lacedaemou in a state of anarchy and political dissolution. The need of reform was generally felt, and having secured the favour of a large body of the leading men at Sparta, and been declared by the Delphic oracle to be wiser than ordinary mortals, he succes- sively procured the enactment of a series of ordinances, by which the civil and military constitution of the state, the distribution of property, the education of the citizens, and the regulation of their daily life and intercourse, were fixed as on a sacred and immutable basis. Having accomplished his great work in spite of violent opposition, he went to Delphi, 164 HISTORY OF GREECE. having previously bound bis fellow citizens by a solemn oath to make no change in his laws until his return. The law- giver himself, however, never returned, and an oracle was transmitted to Sparta declaring that she should flourish as long as she observed his laws. When, where, and how he died was never known, but the Spartans honoured him as a god with a temple and annual sacrifices. 6. This story about the famous Spartan lawgiver was believed by nearly all the ancients, and one fact seems to be clear from their concurrent testimony, that the legislation, which is described as the work of Lycurgus, delivered Sparta from anarchy and the evils of misrule, and that it formed the commencement of a long period of tranquillity and order. The reforms which were introduced affected the whole country of Laconia, and the private as well as the public life of its inhabitants. The great object of the legislator seems to have been to maintain the sovereignty of Sparta over the rest of Laconia, and to unite the Spartans among themselves by the closest ties. The ancient usages and customs now assumed the character of strict law, sanctioned and hallowed by religion. In order to gain a basis for his new regulations, the lawgiver is said to have made an entirely new division of all the landed property in Laconia, thus removing the causes of discord, and facilitating the reform of abuses, which feuds and quarrels among the Doric rulers themselves seem to have produced. 7. Lycurgus, then, is said first of all to have divided Laconia, so far as it was then subject to Sparta, into thirty- nine thousand lots, of which nine thousand were assigned to Spartan families, and thirty thousand to the free Laconian subjects. As it is scarcely possible to conceive the existence of so many Spartan and Laconian families, we are perhaps justified in preferring another account, which speaks of only four thousand lots assigned to the Spartans by Lycurgus, and LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS 165 mentions that this number was doubled after the conquest of Messenia. There can be no doubt that in this distribution the ruling Spartans selected for themselves the most fertile and valuable portions of the country, to maintain their families and their numerous slaves. Some parts of the land, however, remained the property of the state, being its domain, while others continued, as before, to be the property of temples. How far these agrarian regulations were new, and how far the legislator only fixed by law what had been long esta- blished by custom, cannot be ascertained. 8. All the inhabitants of Laconia were divided into three ranks or classes — 1. The Dorians of Sparta; 2. The serfs or Helots ; and 3. The subject people of Laconia. The last were chiefly Achaeans, that is, the ancient inhabitants of the country, intermixed with strangers that had accompanied the Dorians at the time of the invasion. For the purpose of weakening them, the Spartans dispersed them over the country in open towns and villages. The ruling Dorians of Sparta always looked upon them with jealousy and a degree of fear. These Laconians had no political rights, but had to bear the heaviest public burdens, and to fight the battles, the main object of which was to gratify the pride and ambition of their rulers. Personally, however, they were free, and enjoyed the undi- vided possession of the trade and manufactures of the country ; for the higher as well as the lower arts were looked upon as degrading to a Spartan. The Helots or serfs were pro- bably the descendants of those Achaeans who, in conse- quence of their obstinate resistance to the invading Dorians, had been reduced to slavery. Their condition was most wretched ; they were always feared and suspected by their masters, and atrocious violence was often resorted to, to reduce their strength or break their spirit. They w^ere bound to the soil, and could not be torn from it, or sold into another country ; some were employed in domestic, and others in 166 HISTORY OF GREECE. public works ; by zeal and industry, however, tbey might obtain their freedom. "When a Spartan went out as a soldier in time of war, he was always attended by a number of Helots, who then had an opportunity of enriching themselves by the spoil. These advantages, however, which the Spartan slaves had in common with those of all other ancient nations, were more than counterbalanced by the inhuman cruelty with which they were treated by their masters ; and on one occasion two thousand of them were murdered for no other reason than because they were brave men. It would seem also that in later times the condition of the Helots became worse than it had been originally. No wonder, therefore, that their masters lived in perpetual fear of them. The Spartans, that is, the ruling body of Heracleid and Doric conquerors, were entirely dependent upon their slaves, who cultivated their lands, and attended on them in time of war and during their stay at home ; the Helot had to work and toil for his master, without ever enjoying the results of his labours. The ruling body of the Spartans had all equal rights, and formed a class like the Roman patricians, resembling, in many points, a modern aris- tocracy. They were the only real citizens of the state, all the rest being subjects and slaves. The Dorians at Sparta, as everywhere else, were divided into three tribes, just as the lonians always formed four; their names at Sparta were Hylleans, Dymanes, and Pamphylians, and these three tribes were subdivided into thirty obae. It is not known whether the Hylleans, who claimed to be descended from Heracles, and to whom the royal families belonged, had any privileges not shared by the two other tribes. 9. As all free Spartans, except the two kings, had equal rights, their constitution may be called a democracy, with two hereditary magistrates at its head ; but in relation to the Laconians scattered over the country, it was a rigid aristocracy, which clung to the ancient forms of the constitu- SPARTAN CONSTITUTION. 167 tion even at a time when its spirit liaci completely departed. The sph'it of the Spartans was eminently conservative, so that in later times their constitution was in constant antagonism to the spirit of the age, which required reforms and improvements. The men who saw the evil and attempted reforms fell victims to their endeavours. The sovereign power at Sparta, as in all other ancient republics, resided in the assembly of the citizens, which was convened by the magistrates at stated periods, but could only accept or reject the measures brought before it — all discussion as well as the proposing of amend- ments being confined to persons in office. Such assemblies were no part of the legislation of Lycurgus, any more than the existence of a senate or council of elders, called gerusia, but had existed from time immemorial, and probably all that the lawgiver did, was to regulate and organise that which had existed as an ancient usage. The senate con- sisted of twenty-eight members, or, including the two kings, thirty, each representing one of the thirty obae. They were elected by the kings, without regard to anything except age and personal merit, and no one could become a member of the gerusia before he had completed his sixtieth year ; but then they held their office for life. They had to prepare the measures that were brought before the assembly of the citizens, and in early times their authority must have been more extensive than afterwards, for the two kings had in the gerusia no more power than any other senator ; but in later times, when part of their functions were assumed by the ephors, who bear some resemblance to the Koman tribunes of the plebs, the influence of both the senate and the kings was reduced to comparative insignificance. 10. It is remarkable that while the kingly dignity was abolished in all other parts of Greece, it was maintained at Sparta almost as long as it formed an independent state. Its powers, however, were in the course of time considerably 168 HISTORY OF GREECE. reduced by the institution of the ephorate. The chief func- tions of the kings were to command the armies, of which they seem originally to have had the uncontrolled direc- tion ; besides this, they were the high priests of the nation, more especially priests of Zeus, and had a kind of jurisdiction which was afterwards greatly limited. However, although the power of the kings was not very great, the honours attached to their station were by no means insignificant, for they were revered as the chief magistrates and as connected with the gods by their descent ; and besides possessing exten- sive demesnes in various parts of the country, they received certain payments in kind, which enabled them to maintain their household and to exercise great hospitality. The time when ephors were appointed is uncertain, some assigning the institution to Lycurgus and others to a later period, though the probability is that they too were an ancient Doric magis- tracy which had existed long before the time of the lawgiver. They were five in number, and were elected annually. They exercised from the first a kind of superintendence and juris- diction over the civil affairs of the Spartans ; but their poli- tical importance belongs to a later period. 11. The principle pervading the whole Spartan constitu- tion was that a citizen was born and lived only for the state, that his substance, time, strength, faculties, and affections, were to be dedicated to its service, and that its welfare and glory should be his happiness and honour ; and this prin- ciple was the necessary result of the circumstances under which a handful of Dorians had become masters of a country with a population far more numerous than themselves. As the Spartans w^ere a close aristocracy, their numbers con- tinually decreased, and as their property could not be sold, but always descended to the eldest son, or in default of a male heir to the eldest daughter, the landed estates in the end accumulated in the hands of a few immensely wealthy SPARTAN INSTITUTIONS. 169 proprietors, while a great many persons lived in extreme poverty. Money was not coined at Sparta even at the time when all the other Greek states had long adopted it as a conveni- ence ; the possession of precious metals was forbidden as dan- gerous, and bars or pieces of iron continued to be the only legal currency at Sparta down to the latest times. This pro- hibition of the precious metals, however, applied to the Spar- tans only, the Laconians not being affected by it, for they were free in their commercial dealings with other states. A regulation like this is always sure to defeat its own ends, and the Spartans in later times were notorious above all other Greeks for their avarice. The women, the mothers of the brave warriors, were much more respected and honoured at Sparta than in other parts of Greece, and some of them have acquired a renown in history which is scarcely inferior to that of the noblest Koman matrons. The education of young men for the service of the state was conducted with particular care. Its sphere was very narrow, for all that was aimed at was to train men who were to live in the midst of difficulty and danger, and who should be equally ready to command and to obey ; the cultivation of the intellect and the feelings was totally neglected. Sickly or deformed infants were exposed in a glen of mount Taygetus. Warlike poetry and music, however, were much enjoyed by the Spartans, whence the Iliad became very popular among them at an early period, and Tyrtaeus was held in high honour. The other amuse- ments of the Spartans, young and old, were the palaestra or gymnastic exercises and the chase. They were soldiers from the age of maturity down to their sixtieth year. 12. All the institutions of Sparta were of a one-sided character, and the unlimited admiration bestowed upon them by both ancient and modern writers has in our time given way to a more correct estimate. In all their movements the Spartans were cautious and slow ; war was their element, and this I 170 HISTORY OF GREECE. spirit was maintained by their ancient system of tactics. The main strength of the army consisted in its heavy-armed in- fantry, the only mode of service which was thought worthy of a free Spartan. The cavalry never acquired any great efficiency at Sparta. The Helots formed the light infantry. Sparta, moreover, was never distinguished for its navy ; its great strength always lay in its land force. 13. It was not till about a century after the time in which Lycurgus is commonly said to have lived, that all Laconia was subdued by its Dorian conquerors, and in the enjoyment of a period of repose. The institutions of Lycur- gus made the Spartans strong and united, and having for centuries been accustomed to war with the ancient Achaean population of the country, they seem now to have been impa- tient for fresh enterprises. Jealousy appears to have sprung up between Argos and Sparta about the possession of the eastern coast of Laconia, which had originally belonged to Argos. Of this district the Spartans made themselves masters ; and the result was a series of hostilities, in the course of which attempts were also made to conquer Tegea in Arcadia ; they were often renewed, but always failed. 14. An easier and more inviting conquest offered itself in the west. It w^as probably not without jealousy and envy that the Dorians of Laconia observed that Messenia was a much fairer and more fertile country than their own, and a pretext for war was easily found. The Dorians in Messenia, moreover, had acted very differently towards the Achaean population,, which, having submitted to the invaders without much resist- ance, had been treated with moderation and mildness by the conquerors. The first Dorian king Cresphontes is even said to have formed plans for uniting the Dorians and Achaeans into one people. The jealousy of his Dorian subjects indeed thwarted this scheme, but it was taken up again by his son w^pytus and carried. His successors followed the same FIRST MESSENIAN WAR. 171 policy, and the country prospered and the arts of peace flour- ished under it. The arts of war were probably not so much cultivated there as at Sparta, and this may have been another reason why the Spartans thought it an easy matter to con- quer their neighbours. Such temptations rendered it easy for them to find a pretext for war. 15. Irritations and provocations are said to have occurred at different times, but the event which finally led to the out- break of war was a private wrong committed by a Spartan against a Messenian. The result was, that in b. c. 743 the Spartans bound themselves by an oath not to cease warring against Messenia until the country should be made theirs by the right of conquest ; and soon afterwards they invaded it, massacred the defenceless inhabitants, and established themselves in the fortified town of Amphea. Thus com- menced the first Messenian war, which lasted from b. c, 743 to 724. The accounts which we have of it, as well as those of the second war, are little more than poetical lays or popular traditions. After the lapse of several years, during which the Spartans had constantly made ravaging excursions from Amphea, and the Messenians had suffered severely, the latter fortified themselves in the stronghold on mount Ithome. Vic- tory was promised by an oracle to the Messenians on condition of a pure virgin being sacrificed to the infernal gods, and when it became known to the Spartans that the sacrifice had been made, they were discouraged, until after several years their king Theopompus again led an army into the country and fought a battle. The Messenian king was slain, and was succeeded by Aristodemus, whose daughter had been sacrificed for her country. He won the hearts of the people, governed them wisely, and formed an alliance with the Arcadians. The war continued in the form of petty inroads and ravages, which were renewed every year at the harvest season, and it was not till the fifth year of the reign of Aristodemus that a 172 HISTORY OF GREECE. pitched battle was fonglit at the foot of mount Ithome, in which the Spartans and their allies were defeated. But various oracles and successful stratagems of the Spartans in the end reduced Aristodemus to despair, in which he made away with himself. The Messenians upon this untoward event lost their hopes, but not their courage. Damis, their com- mander, once more made a vigorous sally from Ithome ; but when the bravest leaders had fallen, the people fled from the fortress, leaving their rich fields in the possession of the conquerors, and the war was at an end. 16. After this catastrophe the main body of the Messenians dispersed from Ithome to their own homes, but many took refuge in foreign lands. Ithome was razed to the ground, and the Spartans, after taking all the other Llessenian towns, disposed of the country at their pleasure. The Messenians who remained in their native land were reduced to the condition of serfs, and, like the Helots, had to pay to their mastei^ half the produce of their fields; and the remaining portions of the land were distributed among the Spartans, or perhaps to the offspring of mixed marriages between Spartans and Laconians, who did not enjoy the full franchise, and were for this reason induced in B.C. 708 to quit Greece, and found a new home for themselves at Tarentum in the south of Italy. It would seem that to this period also belongs the exten- sion of the powers of the ephors, who are commonly said to have been instituted by king Theopompus. Their superinten- dence of the execution of the laws must have brought them into frequent collision with the kings ; and a dexterous and enterprising ephor might by this means easily raise his power above that of the kings themselves. In later times the ephors also had the power of convoking the assembly of the people, of laying measures before it, and of acting in its name. By this means they easily rose above all other magis- SECOND MESSENIAN WAR. 173 trates, and exercised a power at Sparta not unlike that of the plebeian tribunes at Kome. 17. Daring the first Messenian war, Argos, probably under its distinguished king Pheidon, had recovered the eastern coast of Laconia as far as cape Malea, and even con- quered the island of Cythera. It seems at that time to have been a great power, but after Pheidon 's death all was lost again, and Sparta ruled over the south of Peloponnesus from sea to sea. Caranus, a brother of Pheidon, is said to have emigrated, and to have founded the dynasty of the kingdom of Macedonia in the north. Sparta, however, was not to enjoy her conquests undisturbed. The subjugated Messe- nians, and still more their exiled countrymen, burned with indignation against their oppressors. Aristomenes, a Messe- nian of noble descent and surpassing valour, cheered on his countrymen and roused them into action ; alliances also were formed with Argos, Arcadia, and even with Elis, and in b.c. 685 the Messenians took up arms to shake off the yoke. The accounts of this war, which lasted till b.c. 668, are still more mythical or fabulous than those of the first, though the fact of the war itself is beyond all doubt. Aristomenes, it is said, rallied his countrymen in the mountainous districts. A great battle was fought before any assistance could come from Sparta ; the victory was not decisive, but the Spartans were terror-struck by the unexpected insurrection, and the Messenians conceived fresh hopes. Aristomenes, who refused the proffered crown, is reported one night to have boldly entered the city of Sparta, and to have dedicated a trophy in the temple of Athena. The Spartans were advised by the god of Delphi to seek an Athenian counsellor ; and the Attic town of Aphidnae sent Tyrtaeus, a martial poet, to their aid. They also received auxiliaries from Corinth and other places, while the Messenians were supported by their exiled countrymen, and cheered on by the soothsayer Theocles. 174 HISTORY OF GREECE. Near Stenycleros a great battle was fouglit, in which the Spartans were routed, so that for a time Messenia was freed from her enemies. After a while, however, Aristomenes again took up the offensive, ravaged the towns and villages of Laconia, and was stopped in his progress only by an acci- dental wound. In the third year Sparta again prepared for battle, in which, assisted by the treachery of the Arca- dians, she gained a victory. Aristomenes, nothing daunted, assembled his countrymen on mount Eira, where they fortified themselves, and were besieged by the enemy. Aristomenes maintained himself by frequent sallies, and the Spartans, in order to prevent his obtaining supplies for his men, laid waste the surrounding country. 18. But all was in vain, for one night Aristomenes went as far as Amyclae, and returned laden with booty. In a second expedition of a similar kind, however, he was unsuccessful, and, with his companions, fell into the hands of his enemies, who, treating their captives like vile malefactors, threw them into a deep pit called the Ceadas. The life of Aristomenes is said to have been saved in a marvellous manner, and he soon again joined his men at Eira. But after many most extra- ordinary adventures and successes which the legend ascribes to him, he incurred the anger of the gods, who now turned against his country. The siege of Eira had lasted eleven years, when the fall of Messenia was brought about by treachery, b. c. 668. Guided by a herdsman who had learned the real condition of the enemy while concealed in the house of a Messenian, the Spartans attacked Eira, and, notwithstanding a most heroic defence of the besieged, which lasted for three days and three nights, there was no hope of success. Aristomenes, with a small band, forced his way through the besieging army, and went to Arcadia, where he was hospitably received. He afterwards made a last expedition into Laconia, where, with fifty of his companions in exile, he died sword in hand. NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 175 19. After this war, which had lasted for seventeen years, all the Messenians who remained in their country were reduced to the condition of Helots ; but most of the peoj^le probably emigrated. Guided by sons of Aristomenes, a band of Mes- senians sailed to Rhegium in southern Italy, to join some of their kinsmen who had already settled there at the end of the first war. Afterwards they made themselves masters of the town of Zancle, on the opposite coast of Sicily, and called it Messene (Messina). The Spartan yoke was now fixed on the neck of Messenia for ever, and Sparta rapidly rose towards the supremacy in Greece. Tegea, the possession of which had been long coveted, was conquered about the middle of the sixth century b, c. Sparta, in many instances, interfered in the affairs of the other Greek states, and assumed a command- ing tone, to which they were obliged to submit. The fame of the most powerful state in Greece spread so far, that even Croesus, the king of Lydia, sent ambassadors to court its friendship. CHAPTER IV. NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF THE GREEKS, AND HISTORY OF ATTICA DOWN TO THE PERSIAN WARS. 1. Independently of the colonies established abroad in consequence of the migrations and conquests described in the preceding chapter, Greece herself also experienced many changes in her ancient national institutions. The Greeks at all times had no other bond of union but that of their common language and religion ; in the expedition against Troy alone, they are said to have been also united under one military com- 176 HISTORY OF GREECE. mander ; but tins union was only transitory, and produced no lasting effects. Greece remained divided into almost as many little states as it contained cities. There existed, however, from early times, certain associations for religious, and partly also for political purposes, some of which, in the course of time, assumed at least the appearance of national confederations. The most important among them were those called Amphic- tionies, or Amphictyonies, that is, unions among a number of places or tribes, with a common centre, which was always a religious one, such as a temple, at which tbe periodical meetings were held. One Amphictiony of this kind met at Onchestos in Boeotia, another in Calaureia,asmall island of the Saronic gulf, and a third in Delos ; but the most important and best known is that which held its meetings in the spring at Delphi, and in the autumn at Thermopylae. It was originally formed by twelve tribes, all of which belonged to the part of Greece north of the Corinthian isthmus ; but afterwards, the Dorians of Peloponnesus also joined the association, so that its influence extended over the whole of Greece. But it never- theless at no time assumed a really national character. The ordinary duties of the congress of deputies were chiefly con- nected with religion, and its main functions were to guard the temple of Delphi, and to restrain mutual violence among the states belonging to the league. This last object, how- ever, was not always attended to ; for we sometimes find mem- bers of the Amphictiony inflicting the worst evils of war upon one another, without any attempt being made to check them. The league was, in fact, powerless for good, and active only for unimportant or pernicious purposes ; and it may be truly said, that one of the chief objects for which the league appears to have been originally formed, was afterwards completely disregarded. The only cases in which we find the confede- racy actively interfering, are those in which the honour and interests of the Delphic temple were concerned, as, for example, NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 177 in the Crissaean or first sacred war, in b. c. 594. The inha- bitants of Crissa were charged with extortion and violence towards strangers proceeding through their territory to Delphi. The Amphictions accordingly commenced a war against the town, which lasted for ten years, until b. c. 585. At the end of this period, Crissa was taken and razed to the ground^ its harbour choked up, and its fertile plain changed into a wil- derness. This war, the termination of which was a flagrant violation of one of the fundamental rules of the Amphictionic league, is said to have been brought to a close by a stratagem devised by Solon, the Athenian lawgiver. 2. Another class of national institutions consisted of the festive games celebrated at certain places, and at fixed inter- vals of time, and open to all true Greeks. The most impor- tant of these festivals was that celebrated every four years at Olympia in Elis. The foundation of these Olympic games is extremely obscure ; but after they had b'feen neglected for a long period during the disturbances created by the Doric con- quest of Peloponnesus, they were revived by Iphitus in concert with Lycurgus, but it was not till b. c. 776 that they were finally and permanently established, whence that year was employed as a chronological era. The Eleans presided at the games, and during their celebration there was a general suspen- sion of hostilities, to enable the Greeks from all parts to go to Olympia without danger or hindrance. The contests at these games in honour of the Olympian Zeus consisted of exhibitions displaying almost every mode of bodily activity ; they included races on foot, and with horses and chariots ; contests in leaping, throwing, wrestling, and boxing, and some in which several of these exercises were combined, but no combats with any kind of weapon. Towns and families regarded it as the highest honour for one of their members to gain a victory in any of the contests at Olympia. The prize consisted of a simple garland of the leaves of the wild olive. Athens and Sparta 178 HISTORY OF GREECE. showered honours upon any of their fellow-citizens who had obtained a prize. The celebrity of these games led to the institution of several others of a similar nature, such as the Pythian, which were celebrated in the third year of every Olympiad — the Nemean and Isthmian, which were celebrated each twice in every Olympiad. These four contests were distinguished from all others chiefly by the nature of the prize, which was in all cases a simple garland. In regard to national unity, these contests had little influence, for they never induced the Greeks to merge their little local patriotism in the more comprehensive sentiment of a common country and nationality. The arts of poetry and sculpture, on the other hand, received strong nourishment at these exhibitions, for a victory gained often inspired the poet to the most sublime effusions of the lyric muse, and statues of the victors not only adorned Olympia but their native places, not to mention that literary productions were sometimes read by their authors to the assembled Greeks. 3. The form of government universally prevailing in the Greek states in the Homeric age was a monarchy limited by ancient custom as well as by the powerful chiefs, of whom the king was only the first, whence we may call it an aris- tocracy with a hereditary prince at its head. But owing to various causes w^hich operated during the first centuries after the Trojan war, the title of royalty was abolished in nearly every part of Greece, and in all cases the power of the nobles increased at the expense of that of the kings. In our tradi- tional history the causes of this change are often quite fabu- lous, but the truth is, that it mainly arose out of the energy and versatility of the Greek mind, which prevented it from ever becoming stagnating like that of the Orientals, or from stopping short in any career which it had once opened, before it had passed through every stage. Royalty, however, was scarcely ever overthrown by violent revolutions; its title CHANGES OF GOVERNMENT. 179 often long survived the substance, and the transition from monarchy to republicanism was generally brought about by a succession of reforms. The government substituted for monarchy was generally aristocratic or oligarchic — that is, the supreme power was assumed by the nobles, who had subdued the original inhabitants of the country and distributed iheir landed property among themselves. In the course of time the commonalty, or the free subjects of the nobles, ever in- creasing in number and wealth, while the exclusive nobles became more reduced in numbers, put forward new claims, and became formidable opponents of the oligarchs, especially in large towns. Various means were devised by the nobles to check this progress of the commonalty, but to no purpose ; and it often became necessary to make a compromise between the two parties, as for example in those cases where property was made the standard, instead of birth, to measure a citizen's rights and duties. Where the property standard was made low, the government at once became democratic instead of aristocratic. During the feuds between these two contend- ing parties, it was sometimes found necessary to entrust un- limited powers to some individual who possessed the confidence of both, for the purpose of restoring order and tranquillity. 4. But the Greek oligarchies were sometimes also over- thrown by a disastrous war, or by revolutions and dissensions within their own body ; and it most commonly happened in such a case that one of the nobles by skill and prudence con- ciliated the commonalty, and with its aid raised himself above his brother nobles. Such a usurper was designated by the name of tyrant, and his rule generally did not last long, or if he did succeed in maintaining his power until his death, his sons generally lost it by their own recklessness or cruelty, which called forth a conspiracy or insurrection. It is worthy of remark that the Spartans were always ready to assist in overthrowing the power of a tyrant, though probably more I 180 HISTORY OF GREECE. from a desire to extend tlieir influence over the Greeks, than from any desire to free them from a usurper ; and this inter- ference of theirs in the affairs of other states greatly contributed to establish the so-called Spartan supremacy in Greece. The immediate object of the Spartans generally was, if possible, to introduce their own oligarchic form of government in the place of the one they helped to overthrow. But in this attempt they were frequently thwarted. The process which has here been described in general will be illustrated in detail in the history of Attica, and what happened there, was more or less the same as what occurred in other states of Greece. 5. The early history of Attica is much less interesting than that of the Doric states, and it is in fact not till a com- paratively late period that Athens begins to act a prominent part in Grecian history, though after it had once come forward, it soon eclipsed all the other states. The country of Attica is said to have been originally divided into a number of small independent states, governed by kings. The mythical king Cecrops is said to have united these states, and to have divided the country into twelve districts, or founded twelve towns. Athens, then called Cecropia, was at the head of this confederacy. The division of the country into twelve parts seems to have been only a multiple of four, a number which we find in Attica no less than in other Ionian countries. Accordingly we hear of a division of the people of Attica into four tribes, which changed their names under several successive kings ; the last set of names, which was traced to Ion, the founder of the Ionian race, continued to be used until a very late period, and is the most important of all. These names, Teleontes, Hopletes, jEgicores, and Argades, are descriptive of certain occupations, the second and third evidently signify- ing warriors and shepherds respectively ; Argades probably referred to husbandmen, and the Teleontes were perhaps the nobles, who alone were entitled to hold the highest magistra- EARLY HISTORY OF ATTICA. 181 cies. These four divisions ought not to be regarded as castes, like those of India or Egypt ; and to whatever circumstances they may have originally owed their names, the closer union among the people of Attica, and their intercourse with one another, in the course of time obliterated such primitive distinc- tions. The gradual union of these four tribes was promoted by their affinity of blood and language, and by the need of mutual assistance ; and all were naturally disposed to look up to the people of Athens as their natural head and centre. The legends, however, describe this as the work of Theseus, who is said to have consolidated the national unity, and laid the foundation of the greatness of Athens, by collecting the scattered inhabitants of Attica into one city, and putting an end to the perpetual discord among them. All that can be meant by this tradition is, that Attica became united as one state, of which Athens was the centre and seat of govern- ment, for it is inconceivable that all the population of Attica should have been collected into one city. In later times several religious institutions, such as the Panathenaea, were believed to have been established to commemorate this union of Attica. Athens itself is said to have been enlarged on that occasion, and the lower city to have been added to the one existing on the Cecropian rock. The additional accommoda- tion was probably required for the noble families which removed from the country to the seat of government. 6. In later times Theseus was regarded as the founder of all the great political institutions of Athens, which probably arose from a desire to represent those things that were endeared to all as venerable also by their antiquity. In the constitution which he was believed to have framed, all the nobles, called eupatridae, had an equal share in the govern- ment ; they possessed all the offices of the state, with the power of regulating the affairs of religion, and of interpreting the laws, human and divine. The great body of the subject 182 HISTORY OF GREECE. people consisted of liusbandmen and artizans, who formed the commonalty, and were governed by the nobles and the king, whose rank, as in the Homeric poems, was only that of the first among his equals ; but still the union of the commonalty in the one great state must have strengthened it so far as to resist any excessive harshness on the part of the eupatridae. In all the states of antiquity, the tribes were subdivided ; in Attica each of the four tribes was divided into three j^hratriae or fraternities, and each phratria into thirty gene, gentes, or clans. It need hardly be observed that these political arrange- ments, though ascribed to Theseus, were the natural results of circumstances, and that it probably required a long period before they attained that development which the legend represents as the work of one man. 7. Notwithstanding, however, the absolute power exer- cised by the king and his officers, there existed at Athens, as in most ancient states, an assembly of the people, that is, an assembly of the burghers or nobles, for the commonalty had as yet no right to appear and vote in it. The power of the assembly was at first probably as limited as it was at Sparta. Hence the first contests of the nobles were not waged with the commonalty, but with the king. The legends about the kings of Athens cannot be accepted as history, but still even these legends represent the kings as conspired against by the nobles ; and certain it is, that after the death of Codrus, the nobles, taking advantage of the disputes be- tween his sons about the succession, abolished the title of king, and substituted for it the simple and less venerable one of archon or ruler. The office, however, still remained here- ditary in the house of Codrus and was held for life. Medon, a son of Codrus, was the first archon for life, and on his demise the nobles elected a successor from his family. This power exercised by the nobles, however, did not satisfy their ambition, for what they aimed at was a complete and equal CONSTITUTIONAL CliANGES. 183 l^articipation in the sovereignty. Accordingly, after twelve arclionsliips, ending with that of Alcmaeon, in b. c. 752, the duration of the office was limited to ten years, though it still continued to be held by the descendants of Medon. This change was followed in c. c. 683 by another, in which the term of the archonship was reduced to a single year, and at the same time the different powers which had until then been possessed by one, were distributed among nine archons. This reform is said to have been introduced in consequence of the misconduct of Hippomenes, the fourth of the decennial archons, and through it a large number of nobles obtained a chance of receiving at least a share in the sovereign power. The first of these nine magistrates bore the title of the archon, and by his name the year was marked ; the second had the title of king-archon, the name king being retained from religious scruples, as he had to perform the priestly functions which had formerly belonged to the king. The third archon was styled polemarch, and had the command of the Athenian army, until the time of the Persian wars, after which this duty was transferred to others, while the polemarch only retained a special kind of jurisdiction. The remaining six archons had the common title of thesmothetae, that is, legis- lators, or rather expounders of the law\ 8. These successive changes are almost the only events that occur in the history of Athens from the time of Codrus down to the deposition of Hippomenes. The condition of the people of Attica, however, appears to have been anything but happy under the rule of their nobles, who seem to have abused their power as much as the Eoman patricians, when freed from the control of the king. Their oppression was felt more especially in the administration of the law, of which they were the sole makers and expounders, and in regard to which they might indulge the greatest license, because there were no written laws. This circumstance led in b. c. 624 184 HISTORY OF GREECE. to the appointment of Draco for the purpose of drawing up a code of laws. We do not know what was the cause of the extraordinary severity to which his laws owe their celebrity, but as they were written, they necessarily limited the powers of the nobles, and hence we may infer that they had been compelled to make this concession to the growing discontent of the commonalty. The laws frained by Draco were so stern that they were said to be written in blood. All offences were in his eyes equally deserving of death as their punishment ; and it is possible that it was owing to the unpopularity of his laws that Draco was obliged to quit his native city and go to ^gina, where he died. 9. The discontent of the commonalty, instead of being allayed, now rose to such a pitch, that the people would readily have yielded to the rule of a tyrant in order to get rid of that of the nobles. In b. c. 612, Cylon, one of the nobles, formed a conspiracy to overthrow the government and make himself master of Athens. In this enterprise he relied upon the assistance of Theagenes, tyrant of Megara, and more especially on the general dissatisfaction of the people ; but before entering upon it he consulted the Delphic oracle, the obscure answer of which led him to commence his operations at a wrong period. With the aid of a body of foreign troops furnished by Theagenes, he made himself master of the Acropolis ; but his auxiliaries deprived him of the confidence and support of the Athenian people. His brother nobles called in the forces from all parts of the country and besieged him. During the blockade Cylon and his brother made their escape, but their followers were in the end compelled to surrender to the archon Megacles, son of Alcmaeon, on condition that their lives should be spared. The archons, however, broke their promise, and not only slew their prisoners, but even killed some of them at the altars of the Eumenides or Furies, at which they had taken SOLON. 185 refuge. As this crime was committed with the sanction of Megacles, he and all his house were henceforth looked upon as accursed persons, whose lives were forfeited to the gods, and the surviving partisans of Cylon did not fail to foster the belief that all the disasters which came upon Athens were the result of the divine wrath provoked by the sacrilege of Megacles. These superstitious alarms only increased the political ferment which was already going on, and it was evident that some extraordinary measure must be resorted to to prevent civil war, or even the ruin of the whole state. 10. The man who was thought by all parties the most fit to undertake the regeneration of his country, and who by his wisdom and moderation was likely to satisfy the reasonable demands of all, was Solon, son of Execestides, and a descen- dant of the house of Codrus. He had been long absent from his country on foreign travel, during which he had amassed treasures of knowledge and had formed friendships with the most illustrious men of his age. He returned soon after the suppression of the Cylonian conspiracy, and found his country in a most deplorable condition, and so weak as to be unable even to resist the Megarians, who had taken possession of the island of Salamis. The repeated vain attempts to recover it had completely broken the spirit of the Athenians ; but Solon by a ruse once more stirred up their enthusiasm. He himself was appointed commander of the expedition, and in a single campaign drove the Megarians from the island, in B. c. 604. This success raised his fame still higher. With the assistance of the moderate nobles he prevailed upon Megacles and his party to submit their case to the decision of a court of three hundred men of their own order. The court declared them all guilty, and in b. c. 597 all the Alcmaeonids were sent into exile, and even the remains of the dead were removed beyond the frontiers of Attica. In order to propitiate the gods completely, it was necessary to 186 KISTOEY OF GREECE. purify tlie city, and for this purpose Solon invited Epimenides of Crete, one generally regarded as a sage of superhuman wisdom, who had enjoyed personal intercourse with the gods. On his arrival he performed certain rites which pacified the superstitious minds of the Athenians, and having made some religious arrangements, he returned home with tokens of the warmest gratitude. 11. Their minds being now freed from religious fears, the Athenians were in a more suitable condition to consider their political affairs with calmness. Many of the agricul- tural population had been reduced to a state of absolute dependence ; their political rights, if they had any,^ were merely nominal, and many when unable to pay their debts had been sold by their creditors as slaves into foreign countries ; for the Athenian law of debt was as severe as that of Rome, empowering a creditor to seize his insolvent debtor and to sell him abroad as a slave. Those who groaned under such tyranny were eager only for a change, unconcerned about the means of effecting it. The eupatrids, being the owners of the fertile plains of the country, wished to keep things as they were. The inhabitants of the hilly districts, mostly shepherds and poor peasants, though less exposed to the rapa- city and cruelty of the nobles than the lowland peasantry, were anxious for reforms which should secure them the same rights as those possessed by their lords. The men of the coast, chiefly merchants and traders, were averse to violent measures, but nevertheless joined with the rest in demanding reforms which should put an end to all reasonable complaints. Under these circumstances Solon was chosen, with the consent of all parties, to mediate between them, and under the title of archon he was invested, in b. c. 594, with full authority to frame a new constitution and a code of laws. His task consisted of two parts : the first and most pressing business was to relieve the present distress of the commonalty, and the second to LEGISLATION OF SOLON. 187 prevent the recurrence of the same or similar evils, by regu- lating the rights and duties of the citizens on principles of justice and fairness. His first measure accordingly was a disburdening ordinance, which relieved the debtor without causing any great loss to the creditor. He then released the pledged lands and restored them to their owners, and, lastly, he abolished that part of the law of debt which authorised a creditor to seize and sell the person of his debtor. 12. When these most urgent affairs were settled, Solon entered upon his second task by abolishing the laws of Draco, except those referring to murder ; it would seem that by this measure, a number of exiles, and among them the family of Megacles, were restored to their country. Many foreigners also who had settled in Attica with their families, and had given up all connection with their own countries, were admitted as Athenian citizens. But the greatest change which he introduced, and which altogether changed the character of the Athenian constitution, was the substitution of property for birth, as the standard for determining the rights and duties of the citizens, although at first this change may have produced little effect, the nobles being naturally the wealthiest citizens ; but the principle was changed, and the highest rights were placed within the reach of all. Ac- cording to their property, then, Solon divided all Athenians, both the nobles and the commonalty, into four classes. The first consisted of persons whose estates yielded a net yearly income or rent of five hundred medimni (a medimnus is about six pints more than a bushel) of dry or liquid produce ; the second of those whose income amounted to three hundred medimni, and who were called Knights, being able to keep a war-horse; the third of those whose annual revenue amounted to two hundred, or more probably one hundred and fifty medimni, and who were termed Zeugitae (yoke-men), from their supposed ability to keep a yoke of oxen for the plough ; 188 HISTORY or GREECE. the fourtli class, called thetes, comprised all those whose incomes fell below that of the thh'd, and consisted mainly o free hired labourers. The highest offices of the state werv accessible only to members of the first class, but minor office were no doubt left open to members of the second and third. The duties of the citizens were determined by the classes t( which they belonged ; thus the members of the second formeo the cavalry, the third the heavy armed infantry, and the foiu-tb being excluded from all offices, served only as a light armei, infantry, and were employed in later times in manning the fleets. In the popular assembly, the citizens of all the classes met on a footing of perfect equality, and its power from the first does not seem to have been limited to adopting or re- jecting the measui^es laid before it by the senate, but the assembly might modify or amend the proposals at its discre- tion. The magistrates retained, in the constitution of Solon, their ancient powers, but became responsible for their exercise to the whole body of citizens. Their judicial functions also remained the same, but an appeal was left open against their verdicts to popular courts numerously composed of citizens of all classes indiscriminately. The democratic principle had thus acquired considerable streng-th even as early as the time of Solon, but the legislator had endeavoured to check its power by t^o great councils, the senate of Four Hundred, and the Areopagus. 13. The senate of Four Hundred, called bule, is uniformly regarded by the ancients as an institution of Solon ; at all events, it must be admitted that he fixed its number at four hundred, and that he gave it a more popular constitution by making it the representative of the classes, though the fourth was excluded. The qualifications for being elected a member of the bule were a certain amount of property and a certain age, no one under thirty years being eligible. They held their dignity for only one year, after which they were liable LEGISLATION OF SOLON. 189 to be taken to account for their conduct. The principal part of their business was to prepare the measures which were to be brought before the assembly of the people, and to preside at its deliberations. But the senate also had extensive powers connected with the finances and other subjects of administra- tion. The second council, the Areopagus, is likewise called an institution of Solon, though according to the Attic legends it had existed from time immemorial. The functions of the Areopagus are involved in great obscurity ; but we know that it took cognisance of cases of wilful murder, maiming, poison- ing, and arson, and that besides these judicial functions, it also had political powers. The ordinary assemblies of the people (ecclesiae) seem to have been held at most once in every month ; the votes were taken by show of hands, and without any distinction of classes, so that the vote of the humblest Athenian was as weighty as that of the wealthiest, and every voter was allowed to speak. The right to take part in the business of the assembly began at the age of twenty, but those who had passed the age of fifty were called upon to speak first. The popular courts above alluded to consisted of a body of six thousand citizens, called the Heliaea, which was created every year by lot to form a supreme court. Every citizen, after attaining the age of thirty, might become a member of it. Solon's object seems to have been to make this court the DTiiardian of the constitution rather than the minister of o the laws. Hence we find it generally engaged in proceedings againsi. illegal or unconstitutional measures, even when they had been sanctioned by the popular assembly. 1 4. Being convinced that no constitution, however wisely framed, could remain in force at all times and under altered circumstances, he made provision for periodical revisions and improvements of the laws; and this task was left to the citizens, for a class of men making the law a special 190 HISTORY OF GREECE. object of their study did not exist at Athens. His legisla- tion, like that of most ancient lawgivers, interfered with the affairs of private and social life much more than the laws of modern states, but still Solon did not in this respect go so far as Lycurgus had gone. Up to the age of sixteen the educa- tion of youths was left entirely to their parents or guardians; during the next two years they were trained in gymnastic exercises under public teachers, who kept them under severe discipline. At the age of eighteen they entered upon their apprenticeship in arms, during which they had to perform several duties for the protection of their country. At the end of these two years they were admitted to all the rights of a citizen, for which the law did not prescribe a more advanced age ; and until the age of sixty they were liable to be called upon to perform military services. The regulations regarding the female sex were very stringent, and prevented their appearance in public as much as possible ; their educa- tion was discouraged rather than otherwise, whence in later times they were generally ill suited to make agreeable and useful companions to their husbands. 15. Solon was the first to perceive the advantageous position of Athens for becoming a maritime state, and it was he who laid the foundation of the Attic navy, by enacting that each of the forty-eight divisions called naucrariae, into which the four tribes were subdivided, should equip a galley ; he also encouraged commerce and manufactures by inducing foreigners to settle in Attica, and granting them protection and certain privileges. These resident aliens (called metoeci), however, had to pay a small alien-tax, and to place themselves under the protection of an Athenian citizen, who acted as their patron. The condition of the slaves remained on the whole what it had been before, and although in Attica they were in better circumstances than in other parts of Greece, the law yet sanctioned certain things which are revolting to human PISISTRATUS. 191 nature ; and Solon in this respect did not rise above the prejudices of his age and country. 16. The laws of Solon were inscribed on wooden tablets, and were at first kept in the Acropolis, but afterwards for greater convenience they were set up in the Prytaneum, the residence of the committee of the senate. After the comple- tion of his legislation, Solon is said to have travelled for ten years; and during his peregrinations to have become ac- quainted with Croesus, king of Lydia, and Amasis, the ruler of Egypt, but these statements are irreconcilable with chro- nology. On his return to Athens, about b.c. 562, he found that faction had been busily engaged in attempting to pervert and undo his work. The three parties, of the plain, the highlands, and the coast, had revived their ancient feuds. The first was now headed by Lycurgus, the second by Mega- cles, an Alcmaeonid, and the third by Pisistratus, a kinsman and friend of Solon. The attempts of Solon to restore peace and union were of no avail ; and Pisistratus, a man of great eloquence and liberality, had resolved to renew the attempt of Cylon. One day he pretended to have been attacked by his enemies : exhibiting his wounds to the people, and representing that they were the fruit of his attachment to the popular cause, he easily prevailed upon the multitude to grant him a body-guard for his personal safety. With this force he made himself master of the Acropolis, and Megacles and his friends quitted the city. Solon after having in vain made every effort against the tyrant, withdrew from public life, and Lycurgus and his party seem to have quietly submitted to the authority of Pisistratus, whose tyrannis commenced in b. c. 560. He avoided all display of power, being satisfied with the sub- stance of it, and conducted himself outwardly as a simple citizen. Sohm, whose advice the tyrant occasionally asked, died soon after, B.C. 559. But Lycurgus, who had only 192 HISTORY OF GREECE. waited for an opportunity, formed a coalition with Megacles, and their united efforts compelled Pisistratus to quit Athens, his tyrannis having probably lasted not much more than one year. 17. The people do not appear to have been much pleased v*dth their new rulers, and as each of the two was only thinking how he could get rid of his rival, Megacles, who was parti- cularly disappointed in his expectations, entered into nego- tiations with Pisistratus, gave him his daughter in marriage, and promised to assist him in recovering his lost position. Pisistratus entered into the scheme, and was conveyed back to Athens in a manner which even struck the historian Hero- dotus by its childish simplicity. When Pisistratus was re- stored he offended Megacles by not treating his daughter as a wife. Her father and his friends, indignant at the insult, once more made conmion cause with Lycurgus, and drove Pisistratus from the city. The exiled tyrant now went to Eretria in Euboea, and is said to have been inclined to give up all further attempts to recover what he had lost ; but his eldest son Hippias urged him on not to despair. Accordingly he made preparations, and formed connections with powerful tyrants in other parts of Greece. Ten years were spent in these preliminaries, and at the end of this period he landed with an army of mercenaries at Marathon. The government of his adversaries had not been popular during his long absence; they assembled their forces, but want of care and circumspec- tion brought about their defeat on the road from Athens to Marathon. Pisistratus immediately proclaimed an amnesty, on condition of his enemies quietly dispersing to their homes. This act disarmed his opponents, and Pisistratus once more v/as undisputed master of Athens. 18. He now endeavoured permanently to secure the pos- session of what he had so hardly won ; and with this view he surrounded himself with a body of foreign mercenaries, PISISTRATUS. 193 and sent as hostages to Naxos the children of the nobles who had opposed him. At the same time he did all he could, by embellishing the city and extending its maritime power, to gain popularity among the Athenians ; and his success was so complete, that he maintained his position without any further interruption for a period of fourteen years, until his death, in b. c. 527. The increased naval power of Athens is evident from the fact that Pisistratus raised his friend Lygdamis to the tyrannis in Naxos, and recovered for Athens the town of Sigeum on the Hellespont, which was then in the hands of the Mytileneans, with whom the Athenians had been at war about it for many years. Pisis- tratus entrusted the keeping of Sigeum to a natural son, Hegesistratus, and thus secured for himself a place of refuge, if fortune should ever again turn against him. At home he maintained the laws of Solon, and gained popularity by his munificence towards the poorer classes, while he removed some of them from the city, and obliged them to engage in rural occupations. He adorned Athens with many useful and ornamental works, such as a temple of Apollo, and one dedi- cated to the Olympian Zeus, of which however he had only laid the foundations when he died, and which was completed many centuries later by the emperor Hadrian, Among the monuments combining splendour and usefulness, were the Lyceum, a park at some distance from Athens, where stately buildings for exercises of the Athenian youth rose among shady groves ; and the fountain Callirrhoe. The expenses of these and other works were defrayed out of the revived tithe on the produce of the land, which accordingly was a tax levied on the rich for the purpose of giving employment to the poor. There is also a tradition that Pisistratus first collected the Homeric poems, which were until then scattered in unconnected rhapsodies ; at all events he certainly had a taste for litera- ture, for he was the first Greek that formed a library for the 194 HISTORY OF GREECE. good of those who wished to avail themselves of it. On the whole, it must be owned that Pisistratiis made most excellent use of his usurped power, and Athens has had few citizens to whom she owed a greater debt of gratitude than to Pisistratus. He died at an advanced age, thirty -three years after his first usurpation. 19. The Athenians had become so accustomed to the mild rule of Pisistratus, that his sons Hippias, Hipparchus, and Thessalus, succeeded him without opposition. Hippias, the eldest, was at the head of affairs, but the three brothers appear to have acted with great unanimity. At Hret they followed in the footsteps of their father, and Hipparchus, in particular, seems to have inherited his father's literary taste, though they seem not to have been very scrupulous about the means of getting rid of persons who had incurred their hatred or jealousy. But still the country was happy and prosperous under them, and the Pisistratids might have governed Athens for many generations, had not an event occurred which led to their overthrow and a complete change in the government. Harmodius, a young Athenian, had been grossly insulted by Hipparchus, and, instigated by his friend Aristogeiton, he meditated revenge. The two friends resolved to overthrow the ruling dynasty, and they and their comrades fixed on the festival of the Panathenaea as the time for execut- ing their design. Hipparchus was killed during the procession, but Harmodius also fell in the fray. Aristogeiton was taken, and all those who were found to carry daggers were arrested. This happened in b. c. 514. Aristogeiton was tried and put to death, but took revenge by denouncing the most intimate friends of Hippias as conspirators. Henceforth fear and sus- picion gained the ascendancy in the tyrant's mind, and he became stern and cruel. Executions were now things of common occurrence, and the taxes were increased, not for the public service, but to fill the tyrant's own coffers ; and THE PISISTRATIDS. 195 seeing that he was hated and detested at home, he endeavoured to strengthen himself by foreign alliances. Thus he gave his daughter in marriage to the son of the tyrant of Lampsa- cos, a protege of Darius, king of Persia. But all this could not avert the storm which he was daily conjuring up against himself. 20. The exiled Alcmaeonids, perceiving the unpopularity of Hippias, and being abundantly supplied with money, resolved once more to try to effect their return and over- throw their rivals. Cleisthenes, who was then at their liead, secured the favour of the Delphic oracle by extraor- dinary liberality, and hence, whenever after this the Spartans consulted the oracle, they received but one answer bid- ding them restore Athens to freedom, until at length they resolved to send an army into Attica to expel Hippias with his family. On their first landing at Phaleron they M'ere defeated by the Thessalian auxiliaries of Hippias ; but in a second expedition under Cleomenes, the Thessalians were routed, and Hippias alarmed sent his children out of the country. They fell, however, into the hands of the Spartans, who restored them to their father only on condition of his quit- ting Attica. Accordingly Hippias, in b. c. 510, left Athens, and for a time took up his residence at Sigeum. After his departure his friends and adherents were treated with great severity. A sentence of perpetual banishment was pronounced against the Pisistratids, and Harmodius and Aristogeiton received almost heroic honours. 21. After these events, Cleisthenes, following in the foot- steps of Pisistratus, attached himself to the popular party in opposition to the nobles, and planned a great change in the constitution, which should for ever break the power of the aris- tocracy. Having gained the confidence of the commonalty, and the sanction of the Delphic oracle, he abolished the four ancient tribes, and made a new geographical division of 196 HISTORY OF GREECE. Attica into ten tribes, each of whicli was subdivided into a number of districts called demi, each containing some town or village as its centre. Each of these townships was governed by a local magistrate called demarch, and every Athenian citizen was obliged to be enrolled as a member of some demos. At the same time Cleisthenes admitted many aliens and even slaves to the franchise, whereby he increased the strength of his own party. These reforms changed the commonalty into a new body, furnished with new organs, and breathing a new spirit, which had shaken off all control of the old nobility. In accordance with the number of ten tribes, the senate was increased from four hundred to five hundred, fifty being taken from each tribe. The popular assembly henceforth was convened regularly four times in every month ; the Heliaea was subdivided into ten lesser courts, but the number of the archons remained unchanged. Cleisthenes is also said to have instituted the famous process of ostracism, by which the people were enabled to get rid of any citizen who had made himself formidable or suspected, and that without any proof or even imputation of guilt. 22. The party of the nobles naturally detested the revo- lutionary proceedings of Cleisthenes as much as their author, and, urged on by their leader Isagoras, they contrived to win the Spartans over to their side. Cleomenes, the king of Sparta, accordingly demanded of the Athenians to banish the accursed race of the Alcmaeonids. Cleisthenes, either dreading the cry which had so often been disastrous to his family, or unwilling to expose his country to a hostile invasion, withdrew from Athens. The Spartan king, however, not satisfied with this, but bent upon raising his friend Isagoras to the tyrannis, invaded Attica with an army, and, acting as if he were sole master of the country, banished seven hundred families marked out by Isagoras, and then took steps to change the government of Athens into an oligarchy. But this attempt CLEISTHENES. 197 roused the spirit of the people, who besieged him and Is?.goras in the Acropolis. After a few days they were obliged to capitulate ; the Sjjartans and Isagoras were permitted to depart, but all their Athenian adherents were put to death, and Cleisthenes, with the seven hundred exiled families, triumphantly returned to Athens in b. c. 508. 23. Cleomenes having secured the alliance of the Corin- thians, Boeotians, ajid Chalcidians, determined to wipe off the disgrace of the defeat he had sustained, by another invasion of Attica, which was now attacked on several sides ; but some of his allies Ijegan to feel ashamed of what they were doing, and returned home, and as the two Spartan kings also could not agree as to their plan of operation, the enterprise was abandoned. In this distress, Athens had sent envoys to Sardis, to seek the protection of Persia, but the embassy had no effect, and is interesting only as the first occasion on which a Greek state had any dealings with Persia. After the Spartans had withdrawn, the Athenians set out to chastise the Boeotians, whom they defeated, and of whom they took seven hundred prisoners ; they then crossed over into Euboea, where they were equally successful ; they deprived the rich Chalcidian landownei's of their estates, and distributed them among four thousand Attic colonists who settled there, but retained their franchise. Athens, thus freed from internal as well as external enemies, became strong and powerful in the enjoy- ment of political liberty. So long as she had been ruled by her nobles, she had at times scarcely been able to cope with the weakest among her neighbours, but now she advanced far ahead of them all. And this is the best proof of the wisdom of Cleisthenes, who, no doubt, well understood the temper and character of his countrymen. 24. But the foreign enemies of Athens were only hushed for a time, and were secretly plotting against her. The Boeotians, burning to avenge their defeat, allied themselves 198 HISTORY OF GREECE. with the ^ginetans, ancient enemies of Athens ; and while they invaded Attica from the north, the -<3Eginetans, with their powerful navy, ravaged the coasts. This war, in which Athens learnt the necessity of increasing her fleet, lasted, with various interruptions, for about fifty years, and terminated in b. c. 456, in the subjugation of ^gina, and the destruction of its navy. The Spartans, in the meantime, had discovered that they had been imposed upon by the Delphic priestess who had led them to assist in the expulsion of the Pisistratids. This, and the fear of the growing power of Athens, led them to invite Hippias to return to Athens. He was to be supported by Sparta and all her allies, and a congress of them was convened to consider the measures to be adopted. At this congress the Corinthian deputy, Sosicles, strongly objected to the scheme of setting up a tyrant among a free people, and, encouraged by his eloquence, all the other deputies, with one accord, declared against the proposal of the Spartans. The design was accordingly abandoned, and Hippias soon afterwards pro- ceeded to the court of Darius, where he did his best to stimu- late the barbarians to a war against his own country. CHAPTER V. GREEK COLONIES, AND THE PROGRESS OF ART AND LITERATURE FROM THE HOMERIC AGE TO THE PERSIAN WARS. I. A migratory disposition, and a certain degree of restless- ness, often induced bodies of Greeks to quit their native land, and to open for themselves new fields of enterprise in foreign countries. All the shores of the Mediterranean and Black sea were covered with theii' colonies in such numbers, that GREEK COLONIES. 199 even about tlie year b. c. 600 they are said to have amounted to two hundred and fifty. But while they thus established themselves in all parts round the basins of those two seas, they at the same time possessed the talent of maintaining and preserving their national character wherever they went, and by this means they diffused the Greek language and civilisation in all countries where they formed settlements. The causes of their migrations were sometimes war and con- quest, sometimes discord and party strife at home, sometimes over-population and poverty, and in later times, also, com- mercial interests. On quitting their native city, they took with them the sacred fire from the public hearth, for colonies continued at all times to maintain towards the mother city a relation similar to that of a daughter towards a parent ; they retained the customs, institutions, and religious observ- ances of the mother city, showed it their respect on certain solemn occasions, and never carried on war against it, unless compelled by dire necessity. They did not, however, enter into a relation of dependence on the mother state, but were entirely free in their internal administration and government, though, when visited by misfortunes from domestic or foreign enemies, a colony naturally looked to the mother city for aid and protection. 2. We have already spoken* of the earliest or u3Eolian colonies, which were founded immediately, or soon after the Trojan war. The main body of the emigrants is said to have first landed at Lesbos, where they founded six towns. Other detachments occupied the opposite coasts of Asia Minor, from mount Ida to the mouth of the river Hermus. This part of the coast was until then in the hands of Pelasgian tribes, which easily amalgamated with the new settlers into one people. Cuma was the principal of the eleven ^olian cities which thus sprang up on the Asiatic coast ; and Cuma and * See pp. 151, 157. 200 HISTORY OF GREECE. Lesbos foimded thirty others in the territory called Troas. It is not certain whether these ^olian colonies were united by any religious or political bond like those by which the Ionian and Dorian colonies on the same coast were kept together. The coast country south of ^olis, from the river Hermus to the Maeander, was occupied by the Ionian colonies, consisting chiefly of the lonians who had been dislodged by the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians.* On their passage across the ^gean, many formed settlements in the Cyclades and other islands, and in the course of time the little island of Delos came to be considered as the common centre of tlie Ionian race. The Asiatic coast occupied by these emigrants was inhabited by Pelasgians, Carians, and Leleges, the last two of which tribes were expelled or exterminated. Twelve cities or states were formed, of which Miletus occupied the first rank ; all claimed sons or kinsmen of Codrns, king of Athens, for their ancestral heroes. Ten of the twelve Ionian cities had existed before the arrival of the new settlers, but Clazomenae and Phocaea were founded by the lonians themselves. Chios and Samos were likewise occupied by lonians, and Smyrna was added to the confederacy at a later time, in the place of Melite, which was destroyed by the other members of the league. 3. The south-western comer of Asia Minor and the adja- cent islands were occupied about the same time by colonists of the Doric race ; for some of the Dorian conquerors them- selves were drawn into the tide of migration, and led bands of their own race and of the conquered Achaeans to the coast of Asia Minor. The most celebrated of these expeditions was that of Althaemenes of Argos, who led colonists to Crete and Ehodes. Halicarnassus was founded by Dorians from Troezen, and Cnidus by others from Laconia, and a third band from Epidaurus took possession of the island of Cos. These six Dorian cities formed an association, and after the exclusion of * Comp. pp. 158-9. GREEK COLONIES. 201 Halicarnassus, they constituted what is called the Dorian pen- tapolis. There existed, however, many other Dorian towns, both on the coast and far inland, but they formed no part of this confederation. When the tide of these migrations had passed, and the affairs of Greece had become settled, a long period elapsed before fresh colonies were established in distant regions. The countries which next attracted the attention of the enterprising Greeks were the south of Italy (Magna Graecia) and the island of Sicily. The colonies founded on these western shores, like those in the east, were partly ^olian or Achaean, partly Dorian, and partly Ionian ; but the lonians of Chalcis in Euboea were the first who gained a permanent footing in the west, for the Ionian Cuma in Campania was by common consent the most ancient Greek settlement in those parts. It had existed, however, a long time before other adventurers followed in the same track, and it was not till b. c, 735 that Theocles, an Athenian, led a colony of Chalcidians from Euboea and Naxos to Sicily, and established the town of Naxos. After this commencement, a number of other Chal- cidian colonies followed in rapid succession, such as Leontini, Catana, Messene, and Rhegium, on the opposite coast of Italy. 8. But the most powerful colonies of Sicily were of Doric origin. Of these, Syracuse was founded in b. c. 734 by Corin- thians, who also established themselves in Corcyra, and in many other parts of the coast of the Adriatic. Syracuse, in its turn, became the metropolis of many other Sicilian towns, among which Camarina was the most important. Megara planted her most flourishing colonies on the coasts of the Propontis and the Bosporus, where, in b. c. 658, she founded Byzantium ; but Megarian emigrants also founded Hybla in Sicily, which, in b. c. 629, became the parent of Selinus. Gela was founded in b. c. 690 by a body of Cretans and Rho- dians, and in b. c. 582 sent out a band of settlers, who founded Agrigentum on the Acragas. Himera, on the north coast. 202 HISTORY OF GREECE. was founded by colonists from Messene, and Dorians who had been banished from Syracuse. Within half a century after the first Greek settlements in Sicily, most of the great cities in southern Italy were founded. Sybaris, Croton, Locri, Tarentum, and Metapontum, extended and secured the domi- nion of the Greeks in Italy by a number of new colonies, among which we need only mention Posidonia (Paestum), the ruins of which still attest its former greatness. The country of Gyrene, on the north coast of Africa, pos- sessed of inexhaustible wealth and a delightful climate, was colonised by the island of Thera, and the city of Gyrene itself founded four other towns in the same district. The Libyans of those parts seem to have yielded to the invaders without much opposition ; and when at a later time they began to be alarmed about the growing power of the Greeks, they were defeated with terrible slaughter, and the dominion of the Greeks was firmly established in that part of Africa. Gyrene was governed for a time by kings, like the mother country ; but about B.C. 637 there came an influx of additional settlers, and this seems to have made the people dissatisfied with their institutions. Demonax of Mantinea being invited to frame a new constitution, divided the people into three tribes, the first consisting of the descendants of the original settlers ; the king was stripped of all his substantial powers ; but afterwards a counter-revolution having been brought about, the government became a tyrannis. 4. The two groups of Greek colonies in Asia, the Ionian and the Dorian, formed each a kind of confederacy, though it was very loose, and far from uniting them into two compact political bodies. Each group had its periodical meetings for tlie celebration of festivals in honour of a tutelary divinity, but these meetings, at most, afforded an opportunity of discussing political matters in case of need. The meetings of Ionian s were held at the foot of mount Mycale, on a spot called Panio- GREEK COLONIES. 203 nium, and sacred to Poseidon ; and those of the Dorians near a temple of Apollo, on the Triopian headland. None of the Greeks in Asia ever rose to the idea of a real political confederacy, like that subsisting among the Lycian towns, although the fact of their being exposed to the attacks of Asiatic barbarians ought to have induced them to strengthen themselves by union. Had they done so, their own history, and even that of the mother country, might have been very different from what it was. But this want of unity did not affect the prosperity of the several cities ; on the contrary, in many respects their progress was so rapid that they outstripped the mother country itself. About the same time when the Greek states in Europe abolished royalty and established republican institutions, the same took place in the colonies of Asia. Miletus became a most powerful maritime state, and the parent of numerous colonies in Asia and on the coasts of the Euxine, which extended the empire of the Greeks to most distant regions. In comparison with the active and enterpris- ing spirit of the lonians, the -^olians and Dorians remained stationary. But it was not only commerce and wealth that had charms for the lonians ; they also took the lead in the cultivation of the fine arts and of literature. The Euxine lost its terrors, when opened by the Milesians, while other lonians turned their attention to the west. The Phocaeans founded Emporiae in Spain, and about b. c. 600 Massilia in Gaul, where they spread civilisation and the use of the Greek alphabet among the Celts. The Rhodians, who form an excep- tion to the general character of the Doric colonies in Asia, also founded settlements in Spain and Gaul. We have already had occasion to mention that about the year b. c. 650 Psam- metichus, king of Egypt, induced Greeks to go to his dominions, and allowed them to settle there.* This brief survey at once shows that there was not a country round the basin of the * See p. 122. 204 HISTORY OF GREECE. Mediterranean, that was not more or less influenced and benefited by the mild genius of Greek culture and civilisation. 5. While the Asiatic Greeks were flourishing in freedom, commerce, wealth, arts, and arms, the kingdom of Lydia gi-adually encroached upon their territory, and in the end crushed their independence. Gyges, the first Lydian king of the Mermnad dynasty, took Colophon, and invaded the terri- tories of Smyrna and Miletus. Under his successor Ardys, Priene was subdued, while Sadyattes and Alyattes waged war against Miletus for many years, until in b. c. 612 a peace and alliance were concluded between Lydia and Miletus. Croesus conquered Ephesus, but treated it leniently ; and in a short time all the Greek towns of the continent were compelled to acknowledge him as their master. Croesus, being an admirer of the Greeks, and a lover of their culture, treated them in such a manner that they felt his rule scarcely in anything else than the necessity of paying tribute to him, for they were per- mitted to regulate their own internal affairs as they pleased. He is also said to have contemplated the subjugation of the neighbouring islands, but was cautioned against it, and con- fined himself to extending his kingdom towards the east. In this he succeeded so far as to make himself master of the whole of Asia Minor to the river Halys — Lycia and Cilicia alone maintaining their independence. The fame of Croesus resounded throughout Greece, and his liberality towards the Greeks was unbounded. 1l the end he became involved in a contest with Cyrus, who made Croesus his captive, and himself master of the kingdom of Lydia, including the Greek colonies, B. c. 546.* The Lydians were deprived of their arms, and compelled by their conquerors to devote themselves to the arts of peace and luxury, in consequence of which they lost their warlike character, and sunk into effeminacy. As Cyrus him- self was obliged to return to his eastern provinces, he left the * Comp. pp. 61 and 95. HISTORY OF THE ASIATIC GREEKS. 205 task of completing the conquest of the Greek colonies to his lieutenants. The Greeks were willing to submit to the Persians on the same terms which had been granted to them by Croesus ; but as unconditional surrender was demanded, they prepared for resistance. Envoys were sent to Sparta for assistance, but in vain, and Mazares, a Median general of Cyrus, took the towns of Priene and Magnesia. Harpagus, the successor of Mazares, vigorously pressed the Ionian cities. The inhabitants of Phocaea, finding that resistance was hope- less, emigrated to the western parts of the Mediterranean, where they had already planted some colonies. They first sailed to Alalia in Corsica, but being attacked there by the Carthaginians and Etruscans, some sailed to their countrymen in Massilia, and others to Rhegium in southern Italy, where they founded Elea. The example of Phocaea was followed by Teos, whose inhabitants sailed to the coast of Thrace, where they founded the city of Abdera. In this manner all the Ionian cities were conquered by Harpagus, and even some of the islands endeavoured to avert greater calamities by voluntary submission. 6. After the conquest of the ^olian and Ionian cities, Harpagus advanced southward. The Carians submitted without a struggle ; but Lycia determined to defend its ancient liberty. The men of Xanthus, when besieged by the Persians, burnt their city with their wives and children, and then sallying forth died sword in hand. Other towns followed the same example, but whatever did not bend to the will of the conqueror, was broken and ground to dust, so that after a short time the whole of Asia Minor was obliged to acknowledge the sove- reignty of Persia. The Persian rule was perhaps not much more oppressive than that of Croesus had been ; but the mis- fortune was, that the Asiatic Greeks might be compelled by their new masters to fight against their kinsmen in Europe. However, during the reign of Cambyses, they remained quiet, 206 HISTORY OF GREECE. and the islands which had at first submitted were almost quite free, as the Persians had no fleet to enforce their com- mands. Samos was then governed by the powerful tyrant Polycrates, and possessed a fleet of one hundred galleys. He became involved in a war with Miletus which brought him into conflict with Persia. In order to avoid this, and at the same time to gain a powerful ally in Cambyses against secret enemies at home, he assisted the Persian monarch with a portion of his fleet against Egypt, taking care to embark those men whom he had most reason to fear. But as the design was discovered, the fleet turned against him, and being un- successful, the men solicited aid from Sparta against the tyrant. The Spartan auxiliaries, though strengthened by a band of Corinthians, were unable to efiect anything, and the exiled Samians, after ranging for some time as pirates in the ^Egean, finally established themselves at Cydonia in Crete. Polycrates, now stronger than ever, resumed his old plan of extending his dominion by the aid of Persia ; but being treacherously enticed to go to Sardes, he was seized and hung upon a cross, B. c. 522. The Samians who had accompanied him were dismissed, and the satrap made an attempt to gain possession of Samos. The Greek cities of Asia continued, without much molestation from Persia, to live in peace and prosperity, until, in the reign of Darius, they allowed themselves to be enticed by an unprincipled adventurer into open rebellion against their rulers. 7. The cultivation of the arts kept pace with the advance of public and private prosperity, especially among the Tonians in Asia, who made more rapid progress even than the Greeks in the mother country. The same spirit which led the lonians to commercial enterprises in distant lands, found employment at home in the cultivation of the arts which cheered and adorned their public and private life. Corinth and a few other Doric cities also could boast of early schools of art, but the lonians surpassed them all, while Athens had as yet not ART AND LITERATURE. 207 emerged from its obscurity as a seat of art and literature. In Ionia and Samos temples of great splendour were erected at an early period, and the art of casting metal statues is said to have been invented in Samos. The progress which this and the sister arts made was extremely rapid. Sculpture in marble came into extensive use in consequence of its con- nection with architecture, the temples being sumptuously adorned with statues and figures in high relief. Statues intended for worship in the temples were generally of a typical character, and the artists were not allowed much freedom in their execution ; but the case became different when sculptures were employed as ornaments for the outside of temples and other public buildings. The custom of honouring the victors in the public games with statues contributed still more towards the rapid development of the art — an art in which the Greeks have never been equalled, much less surpassed. 8. The same spirit which in art gradually brought about the union of truth and beauty also gave birth to new branches and forms of poetry. The first period of Greek literature is marked by the names of Homer and Hesiod, the former repre- senting its beginning, and the latter its close ; but we must not imagine that these poets were the only ones that adorned the first dawn of Greek literature ; we have every reason to believe that the compositions and names of many others are lost, whose fame was eclipsed only by that of their great con- temporaries. Hesiod was, like Homer, the head of a poetical school, and among the works which have come down under his name, some are undoubtedly the productions of others. He was a native of Ascra in Boeotia, but the time at which he lived is as uncertain as that of Homer, though it is gene- rally assumed that he flourished after Homer, about b. c. 850. As Homer had been the poet of a conquering race of warriors, so Hesiod was the poet of the peaceful peasantry of Boeotia, for in this character he appears in his " Works and Days," 208 HISTORY OF GREECE. the only composition which has always been regarded as genuine. 9. Epic poetry, however, continued to flourish for two centuries after the beginning of the Olympiads, and the poets of this latter period are usually called the cyclic poets, because the subjects of their poems embraced a definite cycle or period of time. No subject, however, was excluded, from the origin of the world down to the close of the heroic age ; but as the poetical interest in these compositions was subor- dinate to the desire to represent the events in their natural order of succession, these poems were the forerunners of his- tory. We have no specimens of Greek lyric poetry as ancient as Homer, though we have no reason for believing that it was not cultivated at a very remote period ; but it reached the summit of perfection at the time when epic poetry was dying away. Unfortunately, however, all the works of the Greek lyrists have perished, with the exception of the epinician odes of Pindar. The few fragments of the other great lyric poets, how- ever, are suflicient to justify the admiration of the ancients, and to show us how much we have to lament the loss of those masterpieces of the Greek muse. Lyric poetry was cultivated especially by the Dorians and ^olians, and with the former the themes were chiefly religious, martial, or poli- tical, while with the others they were more of a sentimental character. The grand choral poetry, which was peculiar to the Dorians, was brought to perfection by Arion and Stesi- chorus, and formed the element out of which afterwards the Athenian Thespis developed the Attic tragedy by the intro- duction of recitation by a performer. The most illustrious among the ^olian and Ionian lyrists are Archilochus, Hippo- nax, Alcaeus, on the one hand, and Anacreon, Ibycus, Mim- nermus, and Sappho, on the other. 10. Prose was cultivated in Greece, as in all other coun- tries, at a much later period than poetry, and Pherecydes of PHILOSOPHY. 209 Syros, who lived about b. c. 550, is said to have been the iSrst prose writer in Greece, and Cadmus of Miletus to have first applied prose to historical subjects. The first attempts in historical composition were mythological, and probably consisted of paraphrases in prose of portions of the epic cycle. Writers of this class could have no higher aim than to amuse and to gratify patriotic vanity, or the popular taste for the marvellous. A certain spirit of philosophical inquiry manifests itself among the Greeks from the very earliest times, as their poetry and religion amply testify ; but philosophy as a dis- tinct branch of study does not appear until the middle of the sixth century b. c. That time was the period of the Seven Sages, all practical men, and actively engaged as statesmen, magistrates, or legislators. Their wisdom accordingly was derived from their intercourse with the world, rather than from deep meditation or speculation. But at the same time a few of the bolder spirits were led by the contemplation of the universe to inquire after a first cause of all the visible pheno- mena. The most ancient school of philosophy was founded by Thales of Miletus, a contemporary of Solon. He maintained that water or some liquid was the origin of all things. Half a century later, Anaximenes, likewise a Milesian, taught that air was the universal source of life, and Heraclitus of Ephesus attributed the same power to fire or heat. The mighty problem which those infant philosophers set themselves to solve cannot but fill us with wonder and amazement, and, however defective their solutions were, they gradually led to the recognition of one supreme mind, distinct from the visible world, to which it imparted motion, form, and order. Nearly simultaneously with the Ionic school of philo- sophy, another sprang up at Elea or Velia, a Phocaean colony in the south of Italy. Its founder Xenophanes had emigrated from Colophon to Elea about b. c. 536. His system was K 2 210 HISTORY OF GREECE. based on the assumption of a supreme intelligence, which was identical with the world. His disciple Parmenides pursued his inquiries in the same direction, but set out from the idea of being, not from that of deity. His followers, Zeno and Melissus, were chiefly engaged in combating the opinions of other philosophers and of the vulgar. It is not known whether Thales wrote an exposition of his doctrines, but his disciple Anaximander did so in a prose work, and his example was followed by all the philosophers of the Ionic school. Xenophanes and Parmenides, on the other hand, explained their systems in verse, a mode which was also adopted by Empedocles of Agrigentum. The re- mains of these works breathe a strain of oracular solemnity and obscurity. 11. The most celebrated of the western schools of philo- sophy was founded by Pythagoras of Samos, about b. c. 570. His history is very obscure, and partly mythical. It seems, however, certain that he gathered much information by travelling in foreign countries, such as Egypt. He is said to have been the first to assume the title of philosopher, that is, lover of wisdom. His mind appears to have been chiefly of a mathematical turn, and several discoveries in mathematics and astronomy are attributed to him. His fundamental doctrine was, that numbers represented the essence and pro- perties of all things. He also taught the immortality of the soul in the form of a transmigration, similar to that maintained by the Brahmins and Egyptians. On his return from his travels he went to the continent of Greece, being unable to endure the tyrannis of Polycrates, and then proceeded to Italy, fixing his residence at Croton. This city was distracted by the feuds between the nobles and the commonalty, but the influence of the former predominated, and Pythagoras proved a useful ally to them. He formed an order or society consisting of three hundred of the noblest SYBARIS AND CROTON. 211 young men collected from the Greek cities in Itah\ through whom he hoped to exercise an influence upon all his country- men in the west. This society seems to have been at once a philosophical school, a religious brotherhood, and a political association of an aristocratic or oligarchic character. All the proceedings of this body were enveloped in great mystery. Neither Pythagoras himself nor his disciples appear to have intended to come forward as reformers or lawgivers, but rather to exercise a quiet and gradual influence on their countrymen by doctrine and example ; but he became involved in a poli- tical contest in which he exerted himself to give support to the aristocracy. The popular party, roused by jealousy of the influence of the Pythagoraean fraternity, brought several charges against it. At Sybaris the democrats compelled five hundred nobles to quit the city. They took refuge at Croton, and when their surrender was demanded by the people of Sybaris, the senate of Croton, by the advice of Pythagoras, refused to comply with the request, and prepared to repel force by force. A war between the two cities was the result, and the Crotoniats, commanded by Milo, a disciple of Pythagoras, were victorious. Sybaris was destroyed and swept from the face of the earth, the river Crathis being turned thpugh its ruins, b. c. 510. The aristocratic party at Croton wished to secure for themselves all the advantages of this victory, but the commonalty, indignant at such selfish- ness, rose against them, and more especially against the Pythagoraean s. The house in which the latter were assembled was set on fire, b. c. 504 ; many of them perished, and the rest found safety only in exile. Pythagoras himself is said to have died soon after at Metapontum. The fall of the Pytha- goraeans strengthened the commonalty not only at Croton, but in all the cities of southern Italy ; but party feuds con- tinued to disturb their peace and prosperity for many years to come. 212 CHAPTER VI. THE PERSIAN WARS DOWN TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SUPREMACY OF ATHENS. 1. Darius, who ascended tlie throne of Persia in b. c. 521, came in contact with the Greeks through his conquest of Thrace and Macedonia, which he reduced during his great expedition against the Scythians ; but even before that event, he had had to interfere in the affairs of Samos, v/hich after the death of Polycrates was governed by the tyrant Maeandrius. Syloson, a brother of Polycrates, claiming the succession for himself, sought and obtained the assistance of Persia. An army under Otanes came across and succeeded indeed in restoring Syloson, but not until nearly the whole population was massacred, so that Syloson became the ruler of a deserted island. The cause as well as the progress of Darius' expedition against the Scythians, who then occupied the plains between the Danube and the Don, is involved in great obscurity ; and scarcely any fact connected with it is quite certain, except that it was conducted by Darias in person, and that it failed (about B. c. 507). An enormous army of nearly a .million of men, it is said, was led by him across the Thracian Bosporus ; and a fleet of six hundred sail, furnished by his Greek sub- jects, and commanded by their tyrants, was to sail up the Danube to a certain point, where it was to meet the land force. The king with his army, without meeting much opposition, crossed the Danube, and then ordered the bridge, which had been constructed over the river, to be broken down. But being reminded that it might be wanted on his return, he ordered it to be left standing for sixty days. He then pro- ceeded against the Scythians. The subsequent part of this enterprise is full of impossibilities and inconsistencies ; and / CONQUESTS OF DAPJUS IN EUROPE. 213 It is impossible to say more, than that the pursuit of the Per- sians was in the end changed into a retreat, in which they were obliged to abandon their baggage and the sick. "When the sixty days had elapsed, and the bridge over the Danube was to be broken down, Miltiades, the Athenian, tried to persuade the Greeks to take it down and thus at once to deliver them- selves from the yoke of Persia, but, on the advice of Histiaeus, tyrant of Miletus, it was allowed to stand. Soon after Darius returned, and his army was still large enough to enable him to leave eighty thousand men in Europe under Megabazus to complete the conquest of Thrace and the Greek cities on the Hellespont. Darius, on returning to Asia, rewarded Histiaeus for his services with a district on the river Strymon, the tyrannis of Histiaeus over Miletus being intrusted to his cousin Aristagoras. 2. Megabazus reduced Perinthos, and having subdued all the Thracian tribes which had not yet submitted to his master, he made an expedition against the Paeonians, whom Darius wished to be transported into Asia. The great body of this people dispersed, but some of them were by the king's command located in Phrygia. When this matter was accom- plished, Megabazus demanded of Amyntas, king of Macedonia, earth and water, the usual symbols of submission. Macedonia at this time was only a small kingdom, of which the ruling- dynasty was believed to be of Hellenic origin, and descended from Heracles ; bat the people were a mixture of Illyrians and'Pelasgians, and were always looked upon by the Greeks as barbarians. King Amyntas consented to become the vassal of Darius, and a banquet was given to the Persian envoys ; but their indecent and outrageous conduct roused the indignation of Alexander, the king's son, to such a degree, that he caused them all to be murdered in the banquet hall. No notice was ever taken of this occurrence either by Mega- bazus or by Darius. 214 HISTORY OF GREECE. 3. In tlie meantime Histiaeus founded in his Thracian principality a town called Myrciniis, and was collecting the elements of a power which roused the suspicion of Megabazus. The latter communicated his apprehensions to Darius, who at once resolved to make Histiaeus harmless, and, pretending that he wished to consult him, invited him to come to Sardes, where he was then residing. When he arrived, the king professed great friendship for him, declaring that he coi^d not live without him, and took him to Susa, where he was to share his table and counsels. Histiaeus accordingly was kept in splendid captivity. The generals of Darius meanwhile completed the subjugation of the Greek cities in the north of the uiEgean, and the islands of Imbros and Lemnos, so that about the year b. c. 505 all the nations fronj the banks of the Indus to the borders of Thessaly were subject to the #king of Persia. Meantime events were occurring in Naxos which w^ere destined to become the source of a conflict between the colossal empire of Persia and the little states of Greece. The aristocratic party of the island of Naxos, being driven into exile by the democrats, solicited the aid of Arista- goras, tyrant of Miletus, and he, considering this a favour- able opportunity for making himself master of the island, applied for assistance to Artaphernes, who had been appointed satrap of western Asia. Aristagoras represented the conquest of Naxos as an easy matter, and promised to defray all the expenses. A fleet of two hundred ships, commanded by a Persian admiral, was placed at his disposal, and having taken on board his own Ionian army, he sailed out. But a quarrel soon arose between Aristagoras and the admiral, and the latter, determined to thwart the Greek tyrant, warned the Naxians of their danger. The Naxians accord- ingly made most vigorous preparations to defend themselves, so that when they were besieged, the enemy w^as unable INSURRECTION OF THE lONIANS. 215 to make any progress. His means were soon exhausted, and in b. c. 501 he was obliged to return to Miletus without having effected anything. As he was unable to make good his promise to the Persian satrap, he was a ruined man, and saw no help for himself except in revolution. While pondering over this, he received a secret message from Histiaeus, who likewise saw no means of escaping from his captivity except by an insurrection of his countrymen. Aristagoras now assembled his most trustworthy friends whom he knew to be discontented with the rule of the barbarians, to deliberate upon a plan of action. Hecataeus, the historian, dissuaded them from it, but war was resolved upon, though the conspi- rators did not possess the means of carrying it on. In order to win the favour of the popular party, Aristagoras not only resigned his own tyrannis, but seized the other tyrants of the Asiatic cities who were stationed with the Persian fleet off% Myus, B. c. 500. 4. Aristagoras now resolved also to apply to the Greeks in Europe to support their kinsmen in their attempt to shake off the Persian yoke. He first went to Sparta, with a map of the world engraven on a brass plate, to persuade king Cleomenes of the feasibility of his scheme. The money which he promised as the price for the assistance, was on the point of producing the desired effect, when the king, warned by his little daughter, declined to have anything to do with the matter. Aristagoras then proceeded to Athens, where his solicitations on behalf of oppressed Greeks were not made in vain, for they already knew that the Persian monarch had it in contemplation to re-impose upon them their exiled tyrant Hippias. A decree accordingly was readily passed by the people of Athens to send a squadron of twenty ships to sup- port the insurrection of their Ionian kinsmen in Asia. This squadron sailed in B.C. 499, accompanied by five galleys from Eretria in Euboea. After landing at Ephesus, the Athenians, 216 HISTORY OF GREECE. strengthened by a large number of lonians, straightway marched against Sardes. The Persian satrap took refiige in the strong citadel, and the lower city was plundered and set on fire. Satisfied with this achievement, and unable to take the citadel, the Greeks returned to Ephesus. But being pursued by the whole force which the Persian satrap had been able to muster, they were overtaken and beaten in a battle near Ephesus. The lonians then dispersed, and the Athenians and Eretrians returned home. 5. When Darius was informed of these things, his rage knew no bounds ; but he was more indignant at the obscure strangers who had dared to attack his dominions than at the lonians themselves, and he charged one of his attendants daily to remind him of the Athenians. His first care, however, was to quell the insurrection of the lonians, which was spreading farther and farther. The cunning Histiaeus ob- tained leave to go to Ionia, under the promise that he would soon put down the rebels. The lonians in the meantime induced Byzantium and the other Greek cities in the north to assert their independence, and Caria and the island oi Cyprus followed their example. The Persian generals were no less active in crushing the revolt. The cities on the Propontis and in Caria were reduced by Daurises, and Cyprus was overpowered by a Phoenician fleet. When this was accomplished, the Persians directed all their forces against the Ionian and ^Eolian cities. When Clazomenae and Cuma had fallen, Aristagoras, having lost all hope of success, went to Myrcinus in Thrace, where soon after his reckless career was cut short while he was besieging a Thracian town with a band of lonians. Meanwhile Histiaeus arrived at Sardes, and it being hinted to him by the satrap Artaphernes, that he had had a hand in the revolt, he thought it advisable to make his escape to Chios. He would gladly have put him- self at the head of the Greeks, but he was generally suspected REDUCTION OF THE ASIATIC GREEKS. 217 and distrusted. He found himself a homeless adventurer, and withdrew to Lesbos, where he was more successful ; he collected a small fleet, with which he sailed to Bj'-zantium, and seized all the merchant-vessels of the cities which refused to recognise him as the sovereign of Ionia. 6. The insurrection of Ionia was in the meantime draw- ing to a crisis. Every effort was made against Miletus. A large fleet was brought together, consisting of six hundred ships. The fleet of the lonians, amounting to three hundred and fifty-three triremes, was stationed near the little island of Lade, for the confederates had resolved to leave Miletus to defend itself. The Persians, notwithstanding their superiority in numbers, did not venture to attack the lonians at sea, and had recourse to some unsuccessful stratagems. The lonians, however, were careless, and this irritated some of those who saw the necessity of maintaining better discipline, to such a degree, that they made secret overtures to the enemy. "When, therefore, the Persians at last made the attack, the Samians first withdrew from the fight, and their example was followed by others. Some of the Greeks, however, fought to the last, but their defeat was complete. This happened in b. c. 494, and the disaster was soon followed by the fall of Miletus ; in the fol- lowing year the other Ionian cities, and those in the north of the ^gean, likewise succumbed, and were treated with the utmost rigour. The terror which preceded the Persians everywhere induced the inhabitants of Byzantium and Chalcedon to quit their homes and found a new one at Mesembria, on the coast of the Euxine. Miltiades, who had been living on his large estates in the Thracian Chersonesus ever since the return of Darius from Scythia, also felt unsafe, and returned to Athens. 7. After the reduction of the G-reek cities, they were made to feel the Persian yoke much more severely than before, and all traces of independence were effaced. Order and peace were restored at the expense of liberty ; but still 218 HISTORY OF GKEECE. the cities in that happy climate soon revived and recovered from their calamities. Mardonins, the king's son-in-law, on being sent to succeed Artaphernes, allayed the discontent of the Greeks by deposing the tyrants who had been set up by his predecessor, and by restoring the democratic form of government. But at the same time he was accompanied by a larg-e armament to chastise Athens and Eretria for their presumption, and to spread the terror of the king's name in Europe. A large fleet was to sweep the i3Egean, while Mar- donins himself led an army by land through Thrace into Greece. The fleet was overtaken by a violent storm off mount Athos, and no less than three hundred ships and twenty thousand men are said to have been lost on that occasion. The land army was not much more fortunate, for one night the camp was attacked by a Thracian tribe, and the loss sustained was so great that Mardonius thought it prudent to return to Asia, b. c. 492. 8. But the determination of Darius was not shaken by these disasters ; he renewed his preparations, and sent heralds to the principal cities of Greece to demand the customary signs of submission. Both at Athens and at Sparta these envoys were put to death, but many other cities, and vEgina with the other islands, complied with the demand of the barbarians. The Athenians, still hostile to the jEginetans, sent ambassadors to Sparta to charge ^gina with high treason against the cause of Greece. Cleomenes, king of Sparta, advanced with a force against the ^ginetans, who, being frightened, delivered up to him ten of their leading men, who were sent as hostages to Athens. The iEginetans retaliated, and a succession of acts of hostility continued to be committed from time to time by both states, while the Persians were making their preparations for invading Europe. In b. c. 490 a fleet of six hundred galleys with transports was assembled in Cilicia under the command of BATTLE OF MARATHON. 219 Datis and Artapliernes, ready to take the army on board. The fleet crossed the ^gean, subdued Naxos and the other Cyclades, and then sailed towards Euboea, taking in reinforce- ments from the islands during its progress. Eretria sent to Athens for succour against the impending danger, and the four thousand Athenians settled in Euboea were charged to defend that city ; but as the Eretrians themselves were not agreed as to how to act, the Athenians returned to Attica. After the fall of Carystus, which had refused to admit the enemy, Eretria was besieged. Some traitors in the city opened the gates to the Persians, who plundered the temples, and then set fire to the place. The inhabitants were made prisoners, and afterwards transported to Asia as slaves. After this the whole fleet sailed towards the coast of Attica. 9. Guided by the exiled tyrant Hippias, who had urged the Persians to this expedition against his own country, the army landed on the plain of Marathon, which is about five miles in length, and two in breadth. No sooner did the Athenians hear of the enemy's arrival, than they marched out to meet them, all serviceable citizens, and even slaves will- ing to earn their liberty, being armed. The Plataeans, the brothers and allies of the Athenians, obeyed the sum- mons of Athens without delay. At the same time a mes- senger was despatched to Sparta in all haste, to give information of the danger, and request assistance. But the Spartans, not being themselves exposed to immediate peril, and having moreover some religious scruples as to setting out about the time of the new moon, dismissed the messenger with promises of future succour. The Athenians, however, undismayed by this want of ready sympathy on the part of the leading state of Greece, resolved to attack the invaders. They were commanded, as usual, by ten generals, one of whom was Miltiades, who had recently returned from Ghersonesus, but Callimachus as polemarch was at their head. 220 HISTORY OF GREECE. The generals were divided in their opinions as to whether battle should be given to the Persians at once, or whether they should wait for the arrival of the Lacedaemonians. Miltiades, seeing the danger of delay, and fearing treachery, as Hippias had still some friends in the city, urged the necessity of attacking the enemy at once, and his colleagues gave way to his arguments. Accordingly, when the command came round to Miltiades, he drew up the little army in order of battle on a rising ground. At the signal of attack, they rushed on the enemy, who received them with scorn and con- tempt, as men hurrying to certain destruction. But before they were aware of it, the Persians found themselves engaged in close combat, and, owing to the skilful management of Miltiades, they were completely defeated. In the greatest confusion and disorder the barbarians rushed to their ships, but many perished in the marshes on the coast, and in their attempts to embark. The Persian fleet with the sur- vivors then steered towards Sunion, to attack Attica on the opposite side, but they were prevented by the prompt move- ments of the Athenians, who arrived on the western coast before the Persians, and the latter, seeing that they had mis- calculated, returned to Asia, without making any further attempts against the Greeks. So ended the great day of Marathon, in August b. c. 490. ] 0. The battle of Marathon was always looked upon by the Athenians as their most glorious achievement, and well might they be proud of it ; for a small band of patriots had routed and defeated a countless host of barbarians, and thereby secured the independence of Greece and Europe. But what they had actually accomplished, was so much mag- nified in their heated imaginations, that in the subsequent reports about it, it became something altogether incredible and impossible. Athens, however, to whom the glory of this victory belonged almost exclusively, now for the first time MILTIADES. 221 became awcire of her own strength. The Persian forces are said to have amounted to six hundred thousand men, while those of the Athenians and Plataeans are estimated at ten thousand ; upwards of six thousand of the enemy lay on the field of battle, while the Athenians had lost only one hundred and ninety two, but among them was Callimachus, the pole- march. The place where this glorious battle was fought is still marked by a tumulus, under which the Athenians are said to have been buried. The absence of the Spartans on the day of the battle was an event of incalculable moment. They arrived after the battle was over with a force of only two thousand men, and having inspected the field strewed with the dead, they returned home, apparently feeling them- selves that they had not done their duty towards their country. 11. Very soon after the battle of Marathon, Miltiades, somewhat elated by his success, requested a fleet of seventy sail, promising his fellow-citizens to increase their dominions. With this force, which was readily granted, he first sailed to Paros, where he had a private enemy. But the Panans repelled his attacks, and having received a wound in his knee, he returned to Athens without having accomplished anything. Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, brought an action against him for having led the people into useless ex- penses, and as public feeling was against him, he was sentenced to pay a fine of fifty talents. Being unable to raise this sum at once, he was thrown into prison, and soon after died of his wound. This verdict against their great commander has brought much censure upon the Athenians, but there are indications which seem to show that he had acted with dis- regard or even contempt of the laws of his country ; and if so, the sentence pronounced against him, though severe, was not unjust. 12. The battle of Marathon ought to have taught the Per- 222 HISTORY OF GREECE. sians a lesson which tliey stood mncli in need of; but instead of this, their anger was doubly inflamed, and thinking that his forces had been insufficient, Darius resolved to make the Athenians feel the whole weight of his arm. For three years preparations were made throughout his empire, and everything was furnished in abundance ; but in the fourth an insurrection broke out in Egypt, and before he had made the necessary- arrangements for its suppression, he died, b. c. 486. He was succeeded by Xerxes (b. c. 485-465), the favourite son of his favourite wife, who was urged by his friends and advisers to renew the enterprise, which, he was told, had failed only through mischance, and not through the inability of the Persians. Mardonius was foremost among these advisers, and he was eagerly supported by treacherous Greeks, who had gone to Susa for the purpose of accomplishing their selfish ends. A fresh invasion of Greece accordingly was resolved upon ; but before doing so, Xerxes had to reduce Egypt, which was effected in the second year of his reign. After this, the whole of Asia was ransacked for a period of four years, and all available resources of his empire Avere collected to be turned against Greece. To facilitate the progress of the army and fleet, a bridge of boats was thrown across the Hellespont, and a canal dug through the low isthmus which connects mount Athos with the mainland, in order to avoid the dangerous doubling of that promontory, where the fleet of ]\Iardonius had been destroyed. 13. When all this was completed, Xerxes in the spring of B. c. 480 set out from Sardes wath an army consisting of nations of all colours, costumes, arms, and languages. When they had crossed the Hellespont at Abvdos, they proceeded from Sestos up the Chersonesus towards Doriscos, where the whole motley host was reviewed ; it is said to have consisted of one million seven hundred thousand foot and eighty thousand horse. The fleet, which had arrived off the coast of the same THEMISTOCLES AND ARTSTIDES. 223 place, numbered one thousand two hundred and seven triremes and three thousand smaller vessels. From Doriscos the army, accompanied by the fleet, marched along the coast through Thrace and Macedonia towards the south. The Greeks had at first been slow in making preparations for the common danger, but when it became known what Xerxes was doing, the leading states and those breathing the same spirit of independence began to feel that their safety depended upon union. But unanimity was a thing difficult to attain in Greece. The people of Thessaly were obliged by the ruling family of the Aleuadae to yield when the Persians demanded of them earth and water, and their example was followed by all the tribes between them and mount (Eta. The Phocians refused compliance with the demand, but the Dorians and Boeotians yielded ; Thespiae and Plataeae alone remained faithful to the cause of Greece. Selfishness and pusillanimity thus prevented a coalition among the northern Greeks. The Peloponnesians, so far as the influence of Sparta reached, were unanimous, but Argos and Achaia, from enmity towards Sparta, resolved to remain neutral. Athens and Sparta, however, exerted all their power to meet the impending danger. The leading man at Athens, and the soul of all her counsels, was Themistocles, whose object was to make Athens great and powerful, that he himself might move and command in a large sphere. He was most distinguished for extraordinary quick- ness of perception as to what was the real state of affairs at any given time, and Mdiat was required therein to ensure a definite end. But by his side stood Aristides, a man some- what older than he, and who had already reached the height of popularity by his extraordinary honesty and disinterested- ness, which procured him the honourable surname of the Just. He, like Themistocles, to whom he was inferior in abilities, had the welfare of his country at heart, but simply and singly, not as a means, but as an end. Men like these 224 HISTORY OF GREFXE. could not but come into frequent collision, and by the con- trivance of Themistocles Aristides was sent by ostracism into honourable exile, b. c. 483. By the removal of his rival, Themistocles was left in the undivided possession of the popular favour. He saw the necessity for Athens to enlarge her naval force, and prevailed upon the people to devote the profits they had hitherto derived from the silver mines of Laurion to the increase of their navy. The Athenians thus raised their fleet to the number of two hundred ships, and became a maritime people, for which nature had in fact destined them by the situation of their city. 14. Even before Xerxes had left Asia, the Greek states favourable to the cause of independence had held a congress on the isthmus of Corinth, with the view of bringing about a union ; but they met with little or no success. Envoys were even sent to Gelo, tyrant of Syracuse, who promised his support, if the Greeks would intrust to him the command of all their forces. This embassy had probably been sent, because it was known that Xerxes had instigated the Car- thaginians, through his Phoenician subjects, to attack the Greek cities in Sicily. The proposal of Gelo, however, was rejected. Meanwhile Themistocles did all he could, not only to allay animosity and silence disputes among the Greeks, but also to brace the energy of his fellow-citizens. The enthusiasm thus infused into the friends of liberty is clear from the fact that the Greeks assembled at Corinth, bound themselves by an oath to consecrate to the god at Delphi a tenth of the substance of every Greek people, which had sur- rendered to the Persians without being compelled by necessity. It was also resolved at the congress that the progress of the Persians should be opposed at the pass of Thermopylae, whither a small body of Peloponnesians was sent at once ; and that the fleet should guard the northern entrance of the Euboean channel. The whole fleet consisted of two hundred BATTLE OF AKTEM1>: lUM. 225 and seventy-one triremes, of -which Athens furnished by far the greater part. The Spartan Eurybiades had the com- mand of the fleet. 15. When the Persian armada in its course southward came near cape Sepias, it was overtaken by a storm, which burst upon it with irresistible fury, and histed for three days and three nights. The coast for many miles was covered with wrecks and corpses ; four hundred ships and innumerable lives were lost, and the remainder of the fleet took shelter in the gulf of Pagasae. The Greeks, rejoiced at this disaster of the enem}^, returned to their station at Artemisium, which during the first alarm they had abandoned, and at once captured fifteen of the enemy's ships, which had been detained. But when it became known that the loss of the Persians, great as it was, was scarcely felt by them, the Greeks again began to despond, and Themistocles had great difficulty in keeping the fleet together. At length, however, -when the Persians had sustained another loss from a storm, the Greeks took courage and boldly sailed out to attack the enemy. A small squadron of Cilician vessels was taken and destroyed. This led to a general engagement, in which the unwieldy armament of the Persians w^as thrown into confusion and sustained great loss. But one half of the ships of the Greeks were likewise disabled, and they now resolved to retreat, partly on this account, and partly on account of tidings which had just reached them from Thermopylae. 16. The small band of Peloponnesians w^hich had been sent to bar the progress of the Persians in the pass of Ther- mopylae was commanded by the Spartan king Leonidas. It consisted of three hundred Spartans, five hundred Tegeatans, and about two thousand from other Peloponnesian cities ; and these had been joined by one thousand Phocians and seven hundred Thespians. It was believed that this force was sufficient to prevent the enemy from making his way through 228 HISTORY OF GREECE. the pass — it being unknown that there was a path across the mountain by which the pass could be evaded. But wlien its existence was discovered, Leonidas sent the Phocians to occupy the heights. When the Greeks became aware of the countless hosts by wdiich their small force w^as to be assailed, Leonidas could scarcely keep his men together, and he sent envoys to the south to ask for speedy reinforcements. Xerxes, who had hoped to scare them by his mere presence, was astonished when he heard that they were awaiting his attack in all composure. After a few days he ordered his men to bri»g the Greeks captive before him ; but attack after attack proved fruitless, and the slaughter on the side of the bar- barians was great. Xerxes began to despair of success, when the path across the mountain was betrayed to him by a base Greek of the name of Ephialtes. A detachment of the king's troops accordingly followed the infamous traitor up the moun- tain. The Phocians, unable to drive the enemy back, retreated, and the barbarians, unconcerned about them, pursued their course. When the Greeks in the pass heard what had happened, Leonidas declared for himself and his Spartans the determination to defend his post to the last, but allowed those of his allies wdio wished to save themselves to withdraw. All availed themselves of this permission except the Thespians and four hundred Thebans. When the detachment guided by Ephialtes arrived at the southern entrance of the pass, the Spartans were at once attacked on both sides. Leonidas, knowing his hopeless condition, sallied forth, determined to sell his life and those of his countrymen as dearly as possible. Four times the Persians were driven back, until at length the Spartans being surrounded on a hillock, were all slain. Leonidas had fallen at an early part of the day ; all were subsequently buried on the spot where they had fallen, and an inscription on their tomb bade the passenger go to Sparta and tell their countrvmen that tliev had fallen in obedience BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE. 227 to the laws of their country. The battle of Thermopylae was fought in the summer of b. c. 480, and the Persians are said to have lost there no less than twenty thousand men. 17. Xerxes having now gained the entrance into Greece, advanced through Doris against Phocis, whose inhabitants took refuge in the mountains. The Persians poured undis- tinguishing ruin upon everything that came in their way. The main body of their army proceeded through Boeotia against Attica, while a small detachment was sent to strip the temple of Delphi of its treasures. The Delphians had left their city to the protection of Apollo, who in the hour of danger did not forsake it. For when the barbarians advanced, a fearful thunderstorm is said to have burst upon them, and huge rocks falling from the precipices of Parnassus to have crushed many ; and the Persians, terror-stricken, retraced their steps, and were pursued by the Delphians with unre- sisted slaughter. The Athenians had hoped that the Pelo- ponnesians would throw an army into Boeotia for the protec- tion of Attica, but it soon became evident that they were bent upon defending only the entrance to Peloponnesus, and leav- ing Attica to its fate. The Athenians asked- the Delphic god for advice, and the priestess, probably at the suggestion of Themistocles, told them that they must defend themselves behind their wooden walls. Themistocles, of course, had no difficulty in explaining the mysterious import of the oracle, and convinced them that they must rely for safety upon their navy. This being approved of, the Athenians begged their allies to sail with them from Artemisium to Salamis, there to provide for the safety of their wives and children, and deli- berate upon their mode of action. 18. Meanwhile the Persians advanced through Boeotia towards Athens, Thespiae and Plataeae being reduced to ashes, while all the other Boeotian towns admitted Persian garrisons. The Athenians, by the advice of Themistocles, 228 HISTORY OF GREECE. abandoned their city to the protection of its tutelary divinity, and transported their families and movable property to Sala- rais, Mg'mn, and Troezen, where they were received with great kindness. A few men only remained in the Acropolis. The Greek fleet, assembled at Salamis with its recent rein- forcements, amounted to three hundred and eighty ships. In their council of war the Greeks were almost unanimous that the fleet should quit Salamis, and move nearer the isthmus, where it might co-operate with the Peloponnesian army. While these consultations were going on, it was announced that Xerxes had ovemm Attica, and that he was spreading desolation over the whole country. The lower city was taken and destroyed, and the small band in the Acropolis was overpowered by surprise. The temples were then plundered, and the whole Acropolis set on fire. These terrible occurrences greatly alarmed the commanders of the Greek fleet, and there seemed little prospect of their remaining united at Salamis ; but The- mistocles was now more than ever convinced that the only hope of safety consisted in their receiving the hostile fleet in the straits of Salamis. As his arguments had no effect, he had recourse to threats, declaring that if the allies persisted in their design, the Athenians would sail away with their families and all their property, and seek a new home in Italy. These words produced the desired effect. 19. But as there was still danger lest the Peloponnesians should change their minds, Themistocles, assuming the mask of a traitor to his country, sent a trusty slave to the Persian admiral with the message that the Greeks were on the point of fleeing and dispersing, and that, if he attacked j;hem at once, this would ensure a complete and easy victory, whereas, if he allowed them to disperse, he would have to fight against them one by one. This advice, agreeing as it did with the wishes of the Persians themselves, was followed at once. In the night the Persian fleet blocked up the narrow channels BATTLE OF SALAMIS. 229 by which Salamis is separated from Attica and Megara. When the morning dawned, the whole sea was seen covered with the enemy's ships, and the Attic coast lined "uitli troops, while Xerxes himself intended to view the great naval engagement from a lofty throne erected on a height. As soon as the gigantic fleet had entered the narrow channels, and was pent up in such a manner that movements and evolutions were utterly impossible, the Greeks attacked them. The damage done by the Persian ships to one another during the confusion which soon ensued was almost as great as that inflicted by the valiant Greeks with their nimble triremes. The event of the battle was in reality decided at the first onset ; but the fight continued all day, until towards evening the remainder of the hostile fleet with- drew towards Phaleron, whither the Greeks did not pursue them. This glorious victory was completed by Aristides, who though in exile had joined the fleet of his country in the hour of danger. The barbarians are said to have lost on that day five hundred ships, and the Greeks only forty. Xerxes, though he still had a sufficient force to renew the contest, felt that such another defeat would expose him to the greatest danger, and at once resolved to retreat. In this resolution he was confirmed by Mardonius, who told him that the land army was still unconquered, and asked for three hundred thousand men, with whom he promised to subjugate the whole of Greece. Xerxes, satisfied with the proposal, made preparations for his return across the Hellespont. 20. As the hostile fleet quitted the Saronic gulf, and sailed northward, many of the Greeks burned with the desire of pursuing the enemy ; but Eury blades thought this dangerous, and even Themistocles gave way to his remonstrances. As the enemy's fleet had already advanced as far as the Cyclades, the Greeks contented themselves with chastising those islanders who had supported the Persians. It is even said that Themisto- 230 HISTORY OF GREECE. cles biuTied the king's fliglit, by sending a messenger to inform him that the Greeks meditated breaking down the bridge which had been constructed across the Hellespont ; and that Xerxes, terrified by this information, made with all possible speed for the Hellespont. Mardonius accompanied his master as far as Thessaly, where he himself intended to take up his winter quarters. The sufferings which the king's army had to endure during this retreat were terrible, and when he arrived at Sestos, he found the bridge destroyed by the waves, but the fleet was in readiness to carry him and the wreck of his army across to Abydos. Several of the Greek towns in the north of the ^gean now shook off the Persian yoke, though the king's generals made every effort to prevent it. The- mistocles continued his proceedings among the Cyclades, where he tarnished his fame by accepting large bribes, with which some of the islanders purchased their impunity. But the praise of his wisdom and prudence, nevertheless, now resounded through all Greece, and even the Spartans bestowed on him the same honours as upon their own admiral Eury- biades. At the same time when the battle of Salamis was fought, the Sicilian Greeks gained a most memorable victory over the Carthaginians at Himera, where they fought against an army of three himdred thousand men, commanded by Hamilcar. 21. Shortly after the battle of Salamis the Athenians returned to Attica to rebuild their homes and cultivate their fields, and in the following spring they made active preparations, for they knew that Mardonius was in Thessaly, and a Persian fleet of three hundred sail was still in the ^gean to watch the movements of the lonians, whom the Persians could not trust. Mardonius, who had by this time become convinced of his difficulties, formed the plan of detaching Athens from the interest of the other Greeks, and BATTLE OF PLATAEAE. 231 engaged Alexander of Macedonia to negotiate a peace and alliance between Athens and Persia. But the manly answer of the Athenians, that, so long as the sun held on its course, Athens would never become the ally of Persia, at once destroyed the hopes of Mardonius and the fears of the other Greeks. Mardonius now set out without delay to make him- self master of Athens, and the treacherous Thessalians and Boeotians displayed great zeal in the service of the barbarians. When he arrived at Athens, he found nothing but the deserted walls, for the inhabitants seeing that no aid could be expected from the Peloponnesians, notwithstanding their many promises, had withdrawn with their families to Salamis, B. c. 479. Mardonius now renewed his proposals of peace, but with no better success than before. The Spartans were in the meantime only busied about protecting themselves iii their peninsula, by fortifying the isthmus of Corinth. Com- plaints and even threats were resorted to by the Athenians, Megarians, and Plataeans, when at length the ephors ordered Pausanias, the guardian of the young king Pleistarchus, to lead an army of five thousand Spartans, each attended by seven Helots, into Boeotia. Mardonius, not being inclined to fight a battle in Attica, threw himself into Boeotia, where he hoped to be supported by the Thebans and other Boeotians ; but before leaving Attica he destroyed everything which had been left untouched during the previous invasion. He pitched his camp in Boeotia, between Erythrae and the river Asopu^, expecting that Pausanias would give him battle there. 22. Pausanias on his march northwards was strengthened by reinforcements from the Peloponnesians, and an army of the Athenians commanded by Aristides. The whole force, amount- ing, it is said, to one hundred and ten thousand men, encamped near Erythrae, at the foot of mount Cythaeron. In a first engagement the Greeks were successful against the cavalry of the Persians, but for the sake of greater safety Pausanias 232 iiisrouY of gkeece. dc'scoiidcid into the territory of Plataeae, which still lay in ruins. Mardonius advanced against him with all his forces, but for ten days the armies faced each other without coming to any engagement, the signs in the sacrifices being unfavour- able, when at length Mardonius resolved to wait no longer. In the night before the battle, Alexander of Macedonia rode up to the Athenians, informed them of the determination of the enemy, and exhorted them to keep their ground. Pausa- nias made his arrangements accordingly. Mardonius, mistak- ing the enemy's movements for signs of fear, attacked them with great vehemence, and the Greeks were thrown into an unfavourable position. In the following night, therefore, they moved off towards a more convenient place, close to Plataeae. Mardonius again imagining that his opponents liad taken to flight, attacked them without delay. He and his Persians fought bravely ; but he was mortally wounded, and his fall decided the issue of the battle. The Persians and all the other barbarians gave way at once, Artabazus, who com- manded foriy thousand men, now came up to reinforce the Persian army, but finding that it was too late, he returned through Phocis hoping to reach the Hellespont. The Greek auxiliaries of the Persians immediately dispersed, the Thebans alone continuing the fight against the Athenians, while the survivors of the barbarians shut themselves up vrithin their camp. The Athenians were the first to break into it, and the Asiatics, having lost all hope of defending themselves success- full}^, allowed themselves to be slaughtered without a struggle, like sheep in a fold. Out of the whole multitude of barbarians only three thousand are said to have escaped from the carnage. The booty and the treasures found in the camp were immense, and Pausanias ordered the Helots to collect them, that both gods and men might receive their due share. A tenth part was dedicated in the form of tripods and statues to Apollo, Zeus, Poseidon, and Athena ; and a magnificent present was BATTLE OF MYCALE. 233 selected for Pausaiiias, to whom the glory of the victory of Plataeae was justly ascribed. 23. Artabazus, after the loss of many men from famine and through the attacks of the Thracians, reached Asia in safety ; and Alexander of Macedonia was rewarded for his services with the Athenian franchise. Greece was now com- pletely and finally delivered from the Persian invaders. The Greeks before quitting Boeotia, endeavoured, under the direc- tion of Aristides, to secure for the future unity among their countrymen against foreign aggression, and resolved upon carrying out the threat against those Greeks who had sup- ported the Persians. The Thebans had forfeited every claim to leniency, but it was nevertheless agreed to punish only the guilty few and not the whole population. The army accord- ingly appeared before the gates of Thebes, demanding the surrender of the traitors to their country. As the demand was refused, the city was blockaded for twenty days, after which the offenders themselves consented to be delivered up. Most of them were carried off by Pausanias, and put to death by him without any trial. 24. On the same day on which the Persians were defeated at Plataeae, they also suffered a severe blow on the coast of Asia. The Greek fleet, commanded by the Spartan king Leotychides, was stationed at Delos watching the move- ments of the enemy, when envoys from Samos solicited its aid against their (jwn tyrant, who was a zealous supporter of Persia. Leotychides accordingly sailed to Samos. The Persian fleet, instead of protecting the tyrant, withdrew towards the mainland to seek the assistance of the land army of sixty thousand men, which was stationed near mount Mycale to keep Ionia in subjection. The Persian ships accord- ingly were drawn up on the beach, and protected as well as they could be in the hurry. The Greeks, seeing the fear of their enemies, resolved to cross over from Samos, give them l2 23 i HISTORY OF GREECE. Lattle, and issue a proclamation to the lonians, calling upon them to remember their liberty. At the same time a rumour reached the Greeks of a victory gained by their countrymen in Boeotia over Mardonius, and this report at once roused their courage and confidence. The Persians were drawn up at the foot of mount Mycale. The Athenians and Spartans made the attack and drove the enemy into the enclosure surround- ing their ships ; but when the barbarians found that the pur- suers had entered the enclosure with them, they betook themselves to the mountain passes, and the Persians them- selves, after maintaining the contest for a while, were com- pletely routed. The Samians and the other lonians joined the Greeks as soon as they were able, and the carnage among the Asiatics was fearful. A few only escaped to Sardes, where Xerxes was still watching the course of events, and the Greeks, after collecting the booty and burning the ships of the enemy, returned to Samos. 25. As Europe and the islands of the ^gean were now safe, it only remained to be decided in what way the lonians should be permanently protected against their oppressors ; it was resolved to return to Europe, and to leave the lonians to make the best terms they could witli Persia for themselves. Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, however, wished to recover the principality of Miltiades in Chersonesus, and as the Spartans had no interest in this matter, it was left to the Athenians alone, while Leotychides and the Pelopcm- nesians sailed home. Xanthippus and the Athenians laid siege to Sestos, where many Persians of rank had sought refuge. The fortress was very strong, but Xanthippus would not give up the enterprise, and blockaded the place during the winter, until in the spring of B.C. 478 famine induced the Persians to try to make their escape by night. Many of them, how- ever, were overtaken and put to death, and the Greek inha- RESTORATION OF ATHENS. 235 bitants of Sestos opened their gates to the Athenians. After this Xanthippus and his fleet also sailed home. 26. On their arrival, the Athenians found their country a wasted land, and their city a heap of ruins. The restoration of the private dwellings was left to their owners, who rebuilt them as well as they could under the circumstances, and with- out any system or plan ; the rebuilding of the temples was left for another season, the thoughts of Themistocles and Aristides being engaged in providing for the immediate security and permanent strength of the city. The walls of Athens were restored and extended ; but this was viewed by her allies with fear and jealousy, for they seem to have forgotten what she had suffered and what she had done for their common liberty. Envoys, accordingly, were sent from Sparta, who, under the disguise of friendship, advised them not to fortify their city, as it would only strengthen any invading enemy, adding that Peloponnesus would always be a sufficient refuge for all Greeks. Themistocles, who saw through their selfish and jealous scheme, deceived the Spartans, and carried on the work of fortification with increased a(;tivity ; and when at length the city was sufficiently strong, Themistocles, who had himself gone to Sparta, bade them in future treat the Athe- nians as reasonable men, who knew what was due to their own safety as well as to Greece. The Spartans, with their usual skill, disguised their vexation, and the fortifications of Athens were quietly completed. When this was done, Themistocles, who thoroughly understood the vocation of Athens, proposed to fortify its three harbours of Phaleron, Munychia, and Piraeus, by a double range of walls, for hitherto Athens had used only Phaleron as its port. At the same time, a plan was formed of making Piraeus a port town ; the success was complete, and Piraeus became the seat of numerous merchants and tradesmen of every description, 236 HISTORY OF Greece. especially aliens who settled there under the protection of Athens. 27. Athens was now strong, and conscious of her position and power. In the spring of b. c. 477, the allied fleet, com- manded by Pausanias, again put to sea, the contingent of the Athenians being under the command of Aristides and Cimon, the son of Miltiades. They first sailed to Cyprus, which they wrested from the hands of the Persians ; then, having pro- ceeded to the north, they laid siege to Byzantium, which was still occupied by the Persians, but was soon taken. The mind of Pausanias seems to have become perverted by the victories Ire had gained, for he now adopted the manners of the barbarians, and began to treat his allies with a haughti- ness as if they were his subjects ; his ambition was unbounded, and he was blind to the dangers to which he exposed himself. In this state of mind he formed the scheme of betraying Greece into the hands of the Persians, in the hope that he might be made the ruler of his country, as a vassal of the great king. He accordingly made overtures to this effect to Xerxes, asking for his reward the hand of the king's daughter. Xerxes eagerly caught at the proposal, and Pau- sanias, on discovering this, no longer dissembled his inten- tions, but at once assumed the pomp and state of a Persian satrap. The lonians soon found that the treatment they experienced from him was no better than from the Persians. The conduct of the Athenian generals, on the other hand, was all the more winning, from its contrast to that of the Spartans ; and hence the allies began to consider how much happier they would be under the command of Aristides and Cimon. The wish gradually ripened into a resolution, and all the allies, with the exception of those from Pelo- ponnesus and j3Egina, offered to Athens the supremacy in all their common affairs. Aristides, to whose wise conduct his country owed her present proud position, now undertook \ SUPREMACY OF ATHENS. 237 the task of regulating tlie laws of the confederaey, and of its relation to Athens as its head. The great object was to pro- tect the Greeks against the barbarians, and to weaken and humble the latter as much as possible. All were to contri- bute towards this common end, and Athens, as the organ of the public will, was to collect and direct their forces. Each separate state, however, was to remain perfectly independent in its own affairs. A common fund was established from annual contributions, Delos was chosen as the treasury of the confederates, and in its temple of Apollo the deputies of the several states were to hold their meetings. 28. Through the folly and treachery of one man, Sparta had lost a position which it had maintained for centuries. Pausanias was recalled, but it was too late, and the new generals who were sent out had to be content with a subor- dinate rank. Sparta, unable to brook this, withdrew from tlie scene of action, leaving her rival triumphant. She still remained, however, the head of her Peloponnesian allies, who now rallied all the more closely around her, so that henceforth Greece is divided between two great confederacies. The supremacy of Athens lasted until the end of the Peloponnesian war, B. c. 404. But before proceeding to describe the glori- ous career upon which she now entered so honoumbly, we shall briefly notice the later occurrences in the lives of the men who had brought about this great change. 29. Aristides, whose last and noblest work was the regu- lation of the Athenian confederacy, was also the author of some important reforms in the political constitution of his native country, for he is said to have opened the archcnship ai'd the council of the Areopagus to all Athenian citizens, irre"bi>:'ctive of any property qualification. Such a change had become necessary by the course of events. Aristides died in the full enjoyment of the confidence which his country- men had placed in him throughout his life. 238 HISTORY OF GREECE. Paiisanias, after liis recall to Sparta, was subjected to a severe inquiry, but as no satisfactory evidence of his treacherous designs was produced, the accusation was dropped. Without leave from the ephors he went to Byzantium, and there renewed his criminal intrigues so openly, that they reached the ears of the authorities at home. He was summoned to return, and, though tried again, he could not be convicted, and was restored to liberty. He now planned an insurrection of the Helots, hoping, with the aid of Persia, to rise to the head of the state ; at the same time he continued his corres- pondence with Persia, until one of the messengers entrusted with a letter, found that he, like all his predecessors, was to be put to death in Asia to prevent his divulging the scheme. His fear and resentment were roused, and he revealed the whole affair to the ephors ; but they, not satisfied even with this, contrived, by a cunning device, to hear the truth from Pausanias' own lips. The ephors then tried to arrest him ; but he fled into a temple of Athena, and as they feared to pollute the sanctuary with his blood, the roof was taken off and the entrance V\-alled up. In this condition he was left until he was on the point of expiring. He was then carried out of the temple, and expired as soon as he had crossed the bounds of the sacred ground. But although he had not died in the temple, still the minds of the Spartans were often disturbed by religious scruples. 30. The fate of Pausanias involved that of Themistocles. He too had become proud and indiscreet, but never acted the part of a traitor to his country. When his selfishness and avarice became known, numerous enemies rose against him at home, and he was gradually supplanted in the popular favour by younger men. Under these circumstances it was not dijBficult to persuade the Athenians that his presence was dangerous to the liberty of the state, and he was exiled by ostracism. He withdrew to Argos, where he was residing EXILE OF THEMISTOCLES. 230 in B.C. 471, wben Paiisanias was convicted. The Spartans had never forgiven Themistocles for the manner in which he had eluded their scheme of preventing the fortification of Athens ; it was now said that the inquiry into the crime of Pausanias had led to discoveries showing that Themistocles also had been implicated in the plot ; and it was demanded that the Athenians should punish him as the accomplice of the Spartan. Although no evidence whatever was then, or ever after, produced of his guilt, his enemies at Athens rejoiced at the opportunity, and officers were forthwith sent out to arrest him. Themistocles, foreseeing this, had fled to Corcyra, and thence to Epirns, where he was protected in the house of king Admetus. Being supplied with all necessaries by his host, he proceeded to Pydna, and there embarked for Ephesus, which he reached not without danger. Very soon after his arrival in Asia Xerxes died, b. c. 465, and was suc- ceeded by Artaxerxes. Themistocles went to the king's court, and in a letter endeavoured to persuade him that he had claims upon his gratitude, and that his present misfor- tunes were the consequence of his zeal for the interest of Persia. This scheme succeeded, and Themistocles won the favour of Artaxerxes to such a degree, that even the courtiers are said to have envied him. After some time the king sent him to Asia Minor, assigning to him three flourishing towns for his maintenance. Magnesia having to provide him with bread, Myus with viands, and Lampsacos with wine. He thus spent the latter part of his life at Magnesia in princely splen- dour. He is generally said to have made away with himself, because he had promised the king more than he was able to perform ; but this account is at least doubtful. 240 CHAPTER VII. THE SUPREMACY OF ATHENS DOWN TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 1. As all fear of Greece being again invaded by the Persians was now removed, the Greeks, who had hitherto acted mainly on the defensive, resolved to assume the offensive ; and the situation of their colonies in Asia offered a fair pretext for this. Cimon of Athens, the son of Miltiades, was foremost in directing the attention of his countrymen to that quarter. He had no particular talent as an orator or statesman, but had given early proofs of ability on the field of battle. He moreover belonged to the aristo- cratic party, though he did not disdain to employ the means of a demagogue for the purpose of gaining popularity. He first distinguished himself in the battle of Salamis, and many then began to look upon him as a worthy rival of Themis- tocles. While the popularity of the latter was on the decline, Cimon was rapidly rising in popular favour in consequence of several successful enterprises, such as the capture of Eion ou the Strymon, in b. c. 476, the reduction of Scyros for the Amphictions, and that of Carystos in Euboea. But the conquest of Naxos, in b. c. 460, was a far more important event. That island began to repent of its alliance with Athens, and the latter then exacted by force what was no longer cheerfully given. The Naxians were reduced by Cimon after a hard siege, and having become the subjects of Athens instead of its allies, they were treated with a severity which they could scarcely have expected from Persia. But their example did not deter others from attempting to get rid of the Athenian alliance ; one state revolted after another, and all were punished with the loss of their independence. Many THIRD MESSENIAN WAR. 241 also commuted their personal services in the endless expeditions for stated payments in money, and by this means lost their warlike spirit, while Athens acquired more and more power over those who were nominally her free allies. But their feeling of discontent arose from their notion that the time of danger was passed, and that they needed no further protection. 2. In the year b. c. 465, a large Persian fleet of about three hundred and fifty sail was assembled at the mouth of the river Enrymedon, in Pamphylia, Cimon, who had increased the number of his ships to two hundred and fifty, provoked the enemy to an engagement, and gained a complete victory. Having sunk two hundred of the enemy's vessels, he sailed up the river, and also defeated the Persian land-army. On his return he met a squadron of eighty galleys which was intended to strengthen the Persian fleet, but was utterly destroyed by him. After this treble victory, he sailed north- ward, where he expelled the remnants of the Persian forces in the Thracian Chersonesus. About b. c. 464, the Athenians became involved in a contest with the island of Thasos, regard- ing the gold mines in Thrace, which were claimed by Athens. The Thasians were first defeated at sea, and then closely besieged by Cimon. In this distress they applied to Sparta for assistance ; and the Spartans delighted at the opportunity, were making preparations for invading Attica, when suddenly, in B. c. 464, the whole of Laconia was shaken by an earth- quake, during which immense blocks of stone rolled down from mount Taj^getus, spreading terror and destruction all around. At Sparta itself only five houses were left standing, and upwards of twenty thousand persons were killed. Helots from all parts hastened to the city to take advantage of the misfortune of their masters, and it was only owing to the presence of mind of king Archidamus that the citizens were saved from the hand of revengeful slaves. But this was not all, for the Messenians also rose against their detested ii 242 HISTORY OF GREECE. rulers, and fortified tliemselves at Ithome. The Thasians, who were thus left to themselves, became subjects of Athens, and the Spartans, being unable to reduce the revolted Mes- senians, did not blush to send for assistance to the Athenians, against whom they had just been planning an expedition. But the aristocratic party, with Cimon at its head, happened just then to be all powerful at Athens, and as that party was at all times favourable to Sparta, Cimon himself was sent with a large force ta besiege Ithome. But when the Athe- nians made no greater progress than the Spartans had made before, the latter, judging of others by themselves, began to suspect Cimon, and dismissed, him and his army. The Athenians, understanding the real motive, were exasperated in the highest degree, and all connection with Sparta being broken off, an alliance was entered into with Argos, her ancient rival and enemy. The Messenian war was in the meantime carried on until b. c. 455, when the brave defenders of their liberty surrendered, on condition of leaving Pelo- ponnesus with their families for ever. The Athenians kindly gave to the unfortunate Messenians the town of Naupactus, where they settled, waiting for a day of retribution. 3. The democratic party at Athens was then headed by a most promising young man, Pericles, the son of Xanthip- pus, and a descendant of Cleisthenes. He had from his earliest days devoted himself to intellectual pursuits, and enjoyed the intimacy of the first men of the age ; he had enriched his mind with all the stores at his command, that they might become instruments for managing the aifairs of his country. During the period that Cimon was engaged in his military expeditions, Pericles had taken a prominent part in the discussions of the popular assembly, where his majestic appear- ance and his powerful eloquence, combined with his great wisdom and prudence, made him the acknowledged leader of the democracy and the most formidable opponent of Cimon. CIMON AND PERICLES. 243 The Icatler had made munificent use of his wealth, and though opposed to the popular interest, he did everything which his ample means enabled him to do, to win the favour of the people, that he might nse them as a means for his ends ; for he and his brother nobles were bent upon retaining the few privileges they yet possessed, and of putting a stop to the progress of popular liberty. Pericles was not able to rival Cimon in his reckless liberality, and probably would have disdained it if he had had the means. He conceived that it was more honourable for the poorer classes to be supplied with the means of enjoyment out of their own, that is, the public funds, than to depend upon the liberality of wealthy individuals. With this view he carried a series of measures, partly himself and partly through his friends, the most prominent among whom was Ephialtes, a man of rigid integrity, earnestness, and fearlessness. Pericles' own conduct also was such that though he courted the people, he yet, from never descending to low means, always retained the respect of the citizens, though they might differ from him in their political views. 4. The struggle between the aristocratic and democratic parties had been going on for some time, and on one occasion Cimon was in danger of being exiled ; but the contest came to a head when Pericles and Ephialtes extended their reforms even to the Areopagus, the ancient stronghold of the aristo- cracy. The object of Pericles and his friends was to narrow the functions of the Areopagus so much as to leave it nothing but its venerable name. The aristocracy left no means untried to thwart their opponents ; but it fortunately happened that at this very time the Athenians were slighted by the Spartans for their want of success against Ithome, and this made Cimon and the whole aristocracy extremely unpopular. Under these circumstances, Ephialtes without much difficulty carried a decree by which the Areopagus seems to have been shorn of 244 HISTORY OF GREECE. all its political power. Soon after this, Cimon was exiled by ostracism, probably for the purpose of preventing any popular outbreak in the city. 5. About this time, B.C. 460, Inarus, kingof some Liby- an tribes in the west of Egypt, revolted against the Persians, and his authority was acknowledged in his own countr}^ and in the greater part of Egypt, which joined him. Artaxerxes sent a large army commanded by his own brother against the rebels. An Athenian fleet of two hundred sail happened at the time to be lying off Cyprus, and Inarus sent for its assist- ance. The armament immediately sailed southwards and enabled Inarus to defeat the Persians. The Athenian fleet then sailed up the Nile as far as Memphis, which was be- sieged, as a portion of the city was in the hands of the Per- sians. This siege lasted more than five years ; and the Athenians, being in the end pressed by a very numerous army, were not only obliged to raise the siege, but were themselves surrounded by the enemy on an island in the Nile. All of them perished except a few who escaped to Cyrene and thence returned home. Inarus himself fell into the hands of the Persians, and was put to death b. c. 455. 6. Owing to the rupture with Sparta, Athens lost the friendship of the Corinthians, but for this she was indemnified in some measure by gaining possession of Megara. This, however, roused the enmity not only of Corinth, but of ^gina and the maritime towns of Argolis, and war was declared in b. c. 457, while the Athenian armament was still in Egypt. But the Athenians with most undaunted courage attacked their enemies and defeated them in several engage- ments. Myronides was then at the head of the Athenian forces, and gained a most complete victory, in which every Corinthian soldier perished. During this war between Corinth and Athens, Artaxerxes sent an envoy to Sparta, endeavouring to induce the Spartans by bribes to attack the Athenians, in CIMON AND PERICLES. 245 order to compel them to withdraw their forces from Egypt. Sparta was then still engaged against Ithome, and could not comply with the king's request, but Pericles, apprehensive of danger, completed the long walls connecting Athens with its port-town, which had been commenced some time before. He well knew that there was a party in the city ready at any moment to sacrifice their country, if thereby they hoped to recover any of their lost privileges. This became evident during an expedition of the Spartans against the Phocians, when the former were preparing to strike a blow at Athens, and the oligarchical faction in the city promised them their co-operation. But the scheme was suspected and thwarted, though in the battle which was fought near Tanagra in Boeotia, b. c. 457, the Athenians were defeated in conse- quence of the treacherous conduct of the Thessalians, who were allied with them. This defeat was keenly felt by the Athenians, and hence in the following year, e. c. 456, they took the field again under the command of Myronides, who at that time was the soul of all their military under- takings. This time their arms were successful, and at (Eno- phyta they gained a complete victory over the Boeotians, and razed the walls of Tanagra to the ground. Henceforth their influence predominated both in Phocis and in Boeotia, and soon after ^gina also capitulated, and became subject to Athens. 7. The news of the disaster of the Athenians in Egypt does not seem in the least to have discouraged their fellow- citizens at home, who continued the war against Sparta and her allies as vigorously as before. Landings and ravages were made on the coasts of Peloponnesus, both in b. c. 455 and 454, though no great advantages were gained. In the year B.C. 453 Cimon was recalled from exile, on the proposal of Pericles himself, who had probably become convinced of the necessity for all good citizens to co-operate against the schemes of the unprincipled oligarchical faction, which would 246 HISTORY OF GREECE. have delivered Athens into the hands of a foreign enemy in preference to seeing the democratic party prosperous. About that time the honest Ephialtes was assassinated by aristocratic emissaries ; and it was this and similar occurrences that sug- gested to Pericles the desirableness of forming a coalition with Gimon. The result was as had been anticipated, for during the three years after Cimon's return Greece was in the enjoyment of peace ; and this pause was followed by a truce of five years, during which Cimon undertook his last expedi- tion against the Persians. 8. In Egypt, another pretender, Amyrtaeus, had arisen in the meantime, and, like his predecessor, solicited aid from Athens. The Athenians complied with the request, and Cimon, with a fleet of two hundred galleys, sailed to Cyprus. Thence he sent a squadron to Amyrtaeus, while he himself laid siege to Citium. He died there in b. c. 449, and his army was soon after compelled to raise the siege from want of provisions. On their return home, the Athenians fell in with a large fleet of Phoenician and Cilician galleys, and having completely defeated them, they followed up this victory by another which they gained on shore. Soon after this, they were joined by the squadron from Egypt, which had accomplished its main object there, and all sailed home. In later times, it was generally believed that, during his last campaign, Cimon had compelled the king of Persia to accept a peace, which obliged him to abandon the military occu- pation of Asia Minor to the distance of three days' journey from the western coast. But subsequent events show that such an arrangement did not exist, and the whole story about the peace of Cimon is probably a fabrication originating in the vanity of the later Greeks. 9. The peace of Greece was again disturbed in the year after Cimon's death, b. c. 448, by a quarrel between the Delphian s and Phocians about the guardianship of the Delphic TIIIRTY YEARS TRUCE. 247 temple and its treasures, which was wrested by tlie Pbocians from their opponents, to whom it had belonged from time immemorial. A Spartan army recovered for the Delphians what they had lost, and several privileges were conferred at Delphi on the Spartans. But no sooner had the Spartan forces withdrawn, than Pericles advanced with an Athenian army, and undid their work. In the year following, the ascendancy of the Athenians in Boeotia was broken by a revolution, in which the party hostile to Athens completely gained the upper hand. The consequences of this soon became manifest on every side, for in b. c. 445, when the five years' truce expired, Euboea revolted ; and no sooner had Pericles crossed over to quell the insurrection, than he was informed that another had broken out at Megara, and that most of the soldiers of the Athenian garrison had been put to death ; at the same time, he learned that a Peloponnesian army was on its march against Attica. Pericles, therefore, returned, and found the Peloponnesians already ravaging the plains of his country ; but, by means of bribes, he prevailed upon the Spartan commanders to give up their undertaking. Having thus got rid of this enemy, he returned with a large force to Euboea, and soon overpow^ered all resistance. But notwith- standing this success, the people of Athens were disposed to make peace. The Spartans also did not feel inclined to continue the war ; and accordingly, a truce was concluded for thirty years, in b. c. 445, by which the Athenians were required to give up all their possessions in Peloponnesus — that is, Troezen, the ports of Pegae and Nisaea — and their connection with Achaia. After these concessions, Athens still remained mistress of the sea, and her maritime empire was untouched. The aristocracy, now headed by Thucydides, had opposed this truce, but Pericles bore down all opposi- tion, for his influence at Athens was now greater than ever, and remained so till the last dav of his life. 248 HISTORY OF GREECE. 10. During this time, Pericles was enabled to carry out his views into action. Throughout his life he had mainly two objects; first, to extend and strengthen the Athenian empire ; and secondly, to raise the confidence and self-respect of his countrymen to a level with their lofty position. The Athenian confederacy had undergone considerable changes since its regulation by Aristides ; and even in his lifetime the treasury had been transferred from Delos to Athens. Cimon had afterwards reduced the weaker states of the leag-ue to a defenceless condition, so that little remained to be done to change the confederacy into an empire, over which Athens ruled with almost despotic power. Pericles raised the annual tribute from four hundred and sixty to six hundred talents. All the subject states had a democratic form of government imposed upon them, whether they liked it or not ; but what was worse than all, was the fact that all important trials were transferred from the cognizance of the local courts to the tribunals at Athens, which caused to the allies the greatest inconvenience and annoyance. 11. In B. c. 440, an event occurred which seemed likely to interrupt the truce, but in reality consolidated the Athenian empire, and gave Pericles an opportunity of displaying his brilliant qualities as a military commander. The island of Samos had an aristocratic form of government, which the popular party were anxious to overthrow with the aid of Athens. Pericles was sent with a squadron of forty galleys to assist the popular party. On his arrival, he established a democratic form of government, and took one hundred members of the aristocracy, who were sent to Lemnos as hostages. Leaving only a small garrison behind, he returned home. During his absence, some of the nobles entered into negotiation with the Persians, and with an army of mercen- aries overpowered the Athenian garrison, restored the old form of government, and having also rescued the hostages, REDUCTION OF SAMOS. 249 they openly renounced their connection with Athens. Sparta and her allies were applied to for assistance, but to no purpose, for they were not inclined to break the truce. As soon as these proceedings became known at Athens, Pericles again set out with his fleet ; he soon drove the Samians into their town, and surrounded it with entrenchments. As he ex- pected the approach of a Phoenician fleet which was said to be on its way, he sailed out to meet it ; but it did not make its appearance. During his absence, the Samians gained con- siderable advantages, but his return changed the aspect of things. They were obliged to confine themselves to the defensive; and after the war had lasted for nine months, they were compelled by famine to capitulate, and become sub- jects of Athens. Byzantium, which had sided with Samos, was soon afterwards reduced to the same condition. 12. Pericles on his return was received at Athens with extraordinary honours, and the whole success was ascribed to him. The conquest of Samos completed and consolidated the Athenian empire, over which Athens henceforth ruled without opposition and without restraint. The Athenians were now in a condition, by means of colonies in places where they seemed to be useful, both to strengthen themselves and to provide for the poorer classes. Settlers accordingly were sent to Oreos in Euboea, to Naxos, and Andros, and colonies were established at Amphipolis and Thurii. To this last colony, which was founded in b. c. 443, the Athenians invited foreigners from all parts of Greece, and among them were the historian Herodotus and the orator Lysias. Every Athenian citizen at this time must have felt his position raised, and Pericles endeavoured to enhance the value of the franchise, by rigor- ously excluding all those who were not entitled to its exer- cise ; at the same time he took care to provide useful employ- ment for those who had little or no means of subsistence, partly by sending out every year a squadron of sixty galleys, 250 HISTORY OF GREECE. in which the men were trained, and partly by the great architectural works which he planned for the defence and embellishment of the city. Among these works we may mention a third wall connecting the city with Piraeus, which ran between the two already completed ; the temples which crowned the Acropolis, the most magnificent of which were the Parthenon or Virgin's temple, adorned by the sculptures of Phidias, and the splendid approach to it called Propylaea. These and many other works gave employment to the genius of the artist as well as to the skill of the artizan, and during that period of extraordinary activity, there must have been a comparative scarcity of hands at Athens. 13. But not only upon architectural works and their embellishment did Pericles spend the public treasures ; he also devoted a considerable portion to spectacles and amuse- ments of the people. A taste for them had always existed, and Pericles made them accessible to all, poor as well as rich. In this way the poorer classes were provided out of the public funds with the means of attending the theatre, and taking part in other public festivals. In like manner he introduced the practice of paying the jurors for their attendance in the courts of justice. These regulations, at first quite harmless, and perhaps no more than fair and just, afterwards became very detrimental to the welfare of the state, especially when the payments were increased to twice or thrice the original amount. Pericles is also said, though erroneously, to have introduced the payment for attendance in the popular assembly, which we afterwards find established. 14. The period during which Pericles guided the Athenians is justly called after him the age of Pericles, and forms the most brilliant epoch in Athenian history. Down to the time of the Persian wars Athens did less for the intellectual and artistic progress of Greece than many other cities both in Europe and Asia ; but her peaceful glories quickly followed ^SCHYLUS AND SOPHOCLES. 251 and outshoTie those of her victories and conquests. Literature and the arts were now cultivated there with greater success and rewarded with more distinguished honours than anywhere else. Architecture and sculpture rose to the highest perfec- tion, and Athens enriched literature with the drama, the highest and noblest of all poetical compositions. The drama grew out of the Doric choral poetry, whence the chorus con- tinued for a long time to form a very prominent part in it. At the time when it reached its highest point, lyric poetry was gradually dying away, and Simonides of Cos, Bacchy- lides, and Pindar, were the last, and at the same time the greatest among the lyric poets of Greece. The greatest dra- matists, at least in tragedy, belonged to the age of Pericles. Phrynichus, the first, whose works have perished, is highly praised by the ancients ; and even ^schylus spoke of him as a worthy rival. But the way in which ^schylus developed and displayed the capabilities of the art, entitles him to be regarded as the father of Attic tragedy. He introduced the dialogue, and thereby raised the really dramatic portion of the composition to the principal rank, w^hile the choral part became subordinate to it. He always exhibited three tra- gedies together, which were indeed distinct, but in reality constituted only one great drama, called a trilogy. Out of seventy pieces ascribed to him, seven only have been pre- served, and among them there is only one complete trilogy, the Oresteia. 15. Sophocles, a younger contemporary of ^schylus, sur- passed him in the general harmony of his conceptions, in the equal distribution of grace and vigour, and in the unsurpassed charm of his language ; though in some respects ^schylus was perhaps a genius of a higher order. He was held in the greatest estimation by the Athenians, and the Antigone, one of his seven extant dramas, filled them with such admiration, that they appointed him in b. c. 440, one of the generals who 252 HISTORY OF GREECE. accompanied Pericles in tlie war against Samos. He him- self, however, experienced the mutability of popular taste, when he saw himself supplanted by Euripides, a poet of a much lower order. Attic tragedy in the hands of these three great masters of the art was not an idle amusement, but a means employed for religious, moral, and sometimes even for political purposes ; this however was the case more especially with comedy, for while tragedy took its subjects from the mythical history of Greece, the sphere of comedy lay within the walks of daily life, and its main business was with the immediate present, whence it supplied in. some respects the place which is occupied in modern times by a free press. All theatrical performances were connected with the celebration of the festivals of Dionysus, under whose protection the comic poets enjoyed unbounded freedom and license. With this power the comic poets assailed every kind of vice and folly, if it was sufficiently notorious to render their ridicule intelli- gible, and men in the highest positions did not escape this kind of castigation. Comedy was raised to its highest per- fection during the period of the Peloponnesian war by the genius of Aristophanes. 16. The mere fact of Pericles possessing unbounded influ- ence with the people, and being their acknowledged leader, could not fail to call forth envy, jealousy, and hatred ; and suspicions were raised and circulated not only regarding his private life, which indeed presented some vulnerable points, but also in reference to his public actions. The first attacks, however, were not made directly against himself, but against his friends, through whom his enemies hoped to wound him. First of all, Phidias was charged with having embezzled a portion of the gold destined to be employed in his magnificent statue of Athena in the Parthenon. Fortunately the gold had been applied in such a manner that it could be taken down and weighed, and this circumstance silenced the accusers. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 253 when called upon to prove their assertion. Another attack upon the artist for having introduced his own portrait among the figures on the shield of the goddess, was more successful. Phidias was thrown into prison for impiety, and died there. Having gained their object in this matter, the enemies of Pericles began their manoeuvres against Aspasia, the most beautiful and accomplished woman at Athens, in whose safety the great statesman felt as much concern as in his own. His most intimate friends were the most illustrious philosophers of the time, whose creed certainly was very different from the superstition of the multitude. These and other circum- stances furnished materials for a prosecution against Pericles. But all machinations failed, and their failure at length in- duced his enemies to drop their proceedings. Pericles, with one brief interruption, never again saw himself assailed in his high position, which he maintained down to the end of his life. We cannot indeed wonder that both ancient and modern historians have brought charges against him ; but a closer examination shows that they are based upon nothing but vulgar gossip and scandal, which are always ready and glad to detract from real and genuine greatness. CHAPTER VIII. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 1. The prosperity of Athens, and her ever-increasing power and glory, could not but excite the hatred and alarm of the other Greek states, and especially of Sparta, which saw itself humbled in proportion as Athens rose. While the former and her allies were united in their jealousy of Athens, the Athenian confederacy could not be entirely relied upon, for 254 HISTOKY OF GREECE. many of the allies submitted only with great reluctance to their mistress, who seemed, and in many instances actually was, more concerned about her own aggrandisement than about the welfare of those whom she professed to protect. But there were other ingredients which increased the hostile feelings between Athens and Sparta : Athens was the representative of the Ionian race, and everywhere introduced or supported a democratic form of government, while Sparta, the repre- sentative of the Dorians, favoured aristocratic or oligarchic institutions. These feelings and animosities were the real causes of the Peloponnesian war, which for twenty-seven years disturbed the peace of the whole Greek world, and ter- minated in the downfall of Athens. Both parties seem to have been aware of what such a war would lead to, and avoided its outbreak as long as they could, until at length several circumstances concurred which made the continuance of peace a matter of impossibility. 2. Epidamnus, a colony of Corcyra, on the coast of Illy- ricum, was at that time distracted by internal feuds, during which the aristocratic party was expelled from the city. With the assistance of the neighbouring barbarians, the exiled nobles pressed the town closely. The Epidamnians applied for succour to their mother city of Corcyra, and as the Corcy- raeans did not listen to the request, the Epidamnians addressed themselves to Corinth, the mother-city of Corcyra, which had likewise taken a part in the establishment of the colony of Epidamnus. Corinth gladly seized the occasion, because it afforded her an opportunity of curbing the spirit of Corcyra, which had become very powerful, and neglected the performance of the ordinary duties of a colony towards the mother-city. A Corinthian army accordingly proceeded by land to Epidamnus, and the Corcyraeans on being informed of this went with a fleet to Epidamnus, demanding of its citizens to restore the exiles and to dismiss the Corinthian AFFAIRS OF CORCYRA. 255 garrison. When this Avas refused, the Corcyraeans, joined by the exiles and others, blockaded Epidamnus by land and by sea. The Corinthians then sent out a large force to raise the siege of Epidamnus, and at the same time declared war against Corcyra. A naval engagement took place between the Corinthian and Corcyraean fleets near the mouth of the Ambracian gulf, in which the Corcyraeans gained a complete victory. On the same day, Epidamnus was obliged to sur- render to the besiegers, who sold all its inhabitants as slaves, while the Corinthians were kept in captivity. This happened in B. c. 434. 3. After this defeat, the Corinthians made gi*eat efforts to protect their own colonies on the Ionian sea, and to strengthen themselves for the continuation of the war, while the Corcyraeans, on the other hand, applied for assistance to Athens. Corinth also sent envoys to Athens to counteract their influence. The Athenians took the afi'air into serious consideration, and were at first inclined to side with Corinth, but afterwards concluded a defensive alliance with Corcyra for the protection of their respective territories. But at the same time they did not declare war against Corinth. In accordance with this treaty of alliance, Athens sent ten galleys to Corcyra, with orders not to engage in any contest, unless Corcyra should be attacked. The Corinthian fleet of one hundred and fifty ships soon after fell in, near Sybota, with that of the Corcyraeans, which consisted of one hundred and ten, the Corcyraean land army being drawn up on the coast. In the ensuing sea fight, neither party gained a decisive victory. The ten Athenian galleys, however, seeing their allies hard pressed, took part in the contest. In the meantime, twenty more ships had come from Athens, and when they in conjunction with the Corcyraeans again offered battle, the Corinthians withdrew, merely charging the Athe- nians, through the mouth of a herald, with having violated 256 HISTOEY OF GREECE. the peace. These occurrences belong to the year b. c. 432, and are the first acts of open hostility between Athens and Corinth. 4. At the same time the Athenians were involved in a war with Perdiccas, king of Macedonia, who tried to ally himself with Sparta and Corinth, and did all he could to induce the cities in the north of the ^gean to shake off their alliance with Athens. Potidaea, one of those towns, was a colony of Corinth, and the Athenians, in order to be before- hand, ordered the Potidaeans to destroy their fortifications, to give hostages, and to dismiss the Corinthian magistrates. As Sparta had openly declared its determination to protect the Potidaeans, they were emboldened to assert their independence of Athens, and other towns in those parts followed their example. Meantime an Athenian fleet arrived to enforce the orders of the sovereign city ; but the admiral Archestratus finding his armament too small to carry on the war against the revolted cities, sailed to the coast of Macedonia, and com- menced hostilities against Perdiccas. The Corinthians now also sent one thousand men to support Potidaea, and the Athenians despatched a second squadron, under the command of Callias, who, finding Archestratus engaged in the siege of Pydna, prevailed on him to make peace with Perdiccas, that they might be able to direct all their forces against the Corinthians and their friends. Accordingly they proceeded by land to Potidaea. On the isthmus near Olynthos they encountered their enemies and defeated them, notwithstanding the treacherous desertion of Perdiccas, b. c. 432. The Pelo- ponnesians and Corinthians, however, succeeded in throwing themselves into the town of Potidaea, which the Athenians forthwith began to besiege both by land and by sea. 5. As it was evident that these disputes could not be easily settled, a congress of the Peloponnesian allies was summoned to Sparta, and all states which believed themselves to be BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 257 wronged by Athens were invited to send deputies to the meet- ing. Many complaints were brought forward by ^gina and Megara, but above all by Corinth. Athenian envoys, who happened to be at Sparta on other business, manfully defended the conduct of their city. But war was decreed, notwithstand- ing the cautious advice of the Spartan king Archidamus, who wished to settle the disputes by negotiation. This declaration of war belongs to b. c. 432, but the Spartans, with their usual slowness and caution, did not proceed to action at once, and a whole year passed away before they were ready to take the field. In the meantime, however, they did all they could to justify the war in the eyes of Greece, and to show that its declaration was a matter of necessity rather than choice. Nay, Sparta went so far as to declare that she wished for peace, and was prepared to keep it, if the Athenians would raise the siege of Potidaea, and make iEgina and iMegara independent. The Athenians, guided by Pericles, declared themselves willing to refer their differences to impartial judges, but added that they would always be ready to repel any attack. After this no further negotiation was attempted. 6. Before the general war commenced, an outrage was committed by the Thebans upon Plataeae, the ally of Athens, which, in the spring of e. c. 431, they surprised by night. But nearly all the invaders were taken prisoners by the Pla- taeans, and one hundred and eighty were put to death. Athens provided Plataeae with a military force to defend itself, and with supplies, at the same time inviting those who were unfit for service during the siege which was anticipated, to come to Athens. In the meantime, active preparations were made both by Sparta and Athens. The sympathies of most of the states of continental Greece were in favour of the Spartans, who declared themselves the champions of the liberty and indepen- dence of all the Greeks. But still all Greece looked forward with sad forebodings to the real outbreak of the war. The allies M 2 258 HISTORY OF GREECE. of Sparta included all the Peloponnesians except tlie Argives, who remained neutral ; beyond the Isthmus she was supported by Megara, Phocis, Locris, Boeotia, and the cities of Ambracia, Leucas, and Anactorium ; Sparta further courted the friendship of Persia, and called upon the Dorian colonies in Sicily and Italy for assistance. The allies of the Athenians, on the other hand, were Chios, Lesbos, Plataeae, the Messenians at Nau- pactns, the greater part of Acarnania, Zacynthos, and Corcyra, while they received tribute from the following towns and countries which were subject to them : — Caria, the Dorian cities in Asia Minor, Ionia, the cities on the Hellespont, the coast of Thrace, all the islands between Peloponnesus and Crete, and the Cyclades, with the exception of Melos and Thera. All Greece was thus divided into two great hostile camps, only few states maintaining a position of neutrality. 7. When all preparations were completed, king Archidamus assembled the Peloponnesian allies on the isthmus of Corinth, and in the summer of b. c. 431 invaded Attica. He confined himself, however, to the north about the town of (Enoe, so that the Athenians, who maintained the defensive, had time to gather their movable property within the fortifications of the city. Archidamus then made attacks upon several country towns, and ravaged the fields, for his object was to draw the Athenians out to battle. But Pericles was immovable, and with the greatest firmness adhered to the plan of operation he had once adopted. Archidamus, finding at last that he could not tempt his enemy, returned home and disbanded his army. In the meantime, an Athenian fleet of one hundred galleys had been retaliating upon Peloponnesus, the coasts of which they ravaged; another squadron devastated the coast of Locris; the ^ginetans were driven with their wives and children from their island, and the Athenian fleet in the western seas continued its operations against the confederates of Sparta. The alliance which the Athenians in this year formed with the Thracian PLAGUE AT ATHENS. 259 chief Sitalces, was of great service to them in the war against the Chalcidian towns and Macedonia. Late in the autumn of the same year the Athenians, commanded by Pericles himself, made a ravaging incursion into Megara, which was afterwards repeated year after year, just as the Peloponnesians, during the first five years of the war, repeated their invasion of Attica, neither party being apparently inclined to bring the war to a close by a decisive battle. The war, however, was carried on during that period in several parts of Greece ; and on the whole, the Athenians had generally the advantage over their enemies. 8. In the second year of the war, just when Archidamus had entered Attica early in the summer, Athens was visited by a fearful pestilence, which, with few interruptions, continued to rage for two years, and carried off four thousand four hundred citizens, and no less than ten thousand slaves. The city was at the time overcrowded with country people and their cattle from all parts of Attica, and this state of things naturally aggravated the evil. The loss of lives was perhaps a minor calamity, compared with the moral effects produced by the plague ; for the people in their despair became reckless, and regardless of all laws, human and divine, thinking that, after all, their life was not safe for a single hour. The Lacedaemo- nians, notwithstanding this, ravaged Attica both in the north and in the south for a period of forty days, and then returned home. The Athenian fleet, as in the first year, made its ravaging tour round Peloponnesus ; another squadron destined for Potidaea was obliged to return, in consequence of the plague having broken out among the crew. Potidaea continued to be besieged until about the end of the second year of the war, when the inhabitants were compelled to surrender by famine. The fearful and deadly hatred which had already sprung up among the belligerents was displayed by the merciless cruelty shown by the Spartans against inoffensive merchants, who were inva- 260 HISTORY OF GREECE. riably killed, unless they declared themselves in favour of Sparta ; and Athens retaliated by murdering some Pelopon- nesian ambassadors who had been intercepted. The most memorable event of the third year of the war, B. c. 429, was the death of Pericles by the plague, which had previously bereft him of his children and dearest friends. The loss of Pericles at this time was irreparable, and the Athenians, to their cost, soon found out what he had been to them. His successors were men swayed by ambition, avarice, and envy. Pericles had ruled the democracy with a gentle, yet mighty hand ; but those who succeeded him courted the favour of the people by humouring its evil^ passions, and thus leading it to acts which, both morally and materially, under- mined its power. Another remarkable event of the same year is the heroic and almost miraculous defence of the little town of Plataeae against the united efforts of the Pelopon- nesians, for this year Archidamus, instead of invading Attica, directed all his forces against Plataeae. In the end of the summer, he returned to Peloponnesus, but the siege of Plataeae lasted until b. c. 427, when, after the loss of half its defenders, the survivors were obliged to capitulate. By the desire of the Thebans, the most inveterate enemies of the Plataeans, they were butchered one by one, and all the women were made slaves. The town itself was afterwards razed to the ground. It is not known, though it may easily be conjectured, what circumstances prevented the Athenians from sending active support to their ancient and faithful allies. In the year in which Pericles died, no exploit of any consequence was performed on land, but Phormio, the commander of the fleet in the western sea, gained a complete victory over the Lacedaemonians, who had advanced to support the Ambracians in an attempt to conquer Acarnania. In a subsequent engagement near Naupactus, he was equally successful, and the Peloponnesian fleet retreated to Corinth. But, on the REVOLT OF LESBOS, 261 whole, the Athenians were unable, during this year, to make any great efforts abroad, in consequence of the loss of their great leader, and the continued ravages of the plague. 9. The fourth year of the war, b. c. 428, began with the usual invasion of Attica by king Archidamus. The Athenians, also, still adhered to their former tactics, only preventing, by their cavalry, the enemy from approaching too near the city. The most important event of this year was the revolt of Lesbos, a wealthy and powerful island. There, as in other allied states, the aristocratic party was favourable to Sparta, while the popular party clung to the alliance with Athens. The city of Mytilene, which took the lead in the revolutionary movement, had sometime before made overtures to Sparta, which had been rejected. Information of the design, however, was carried to Athens, and the Mytileneans were thus driven into open rebellion before they were sufficiently prepared. The Athenians at first endeavoured, by persuasion, to induce the islanders to remain faithful to them ; but as they failed, a fleet was dispatched against them, and hostilities were commenced. As the Mytileneans did not feel strong enough to engage in the contest, they, for the purpose of gaining time, concluded a truce with the Athenian admirals, but at the same time sent envoys to solicit the support of Sparta. The people of Athens, however, refusing to negotiate with the rebels, ordered hostilities to be recommenced. The Spartans in the meantime admitted the Lesbians into the Peloponnesian league, and promised to protect them, for it was believed that Athens had fallen into a helpless condition. But they miscalculated, for Athens in that year had a more powerful navy than ever before, and took the greatest precau- tions in guarding Attica, Salamis, and Euboea. The Spartans had resolved to attack Athens, both by land and by sea ; but the promptness of the Athenians, whose fleet even threatened the safety of Sparta itself, compelled the enemy to relinquish 262 HISTORY OF GREECE. their undertaking. It was, however, decreed that a fleet should be sent to the relief of Lesbos. In the meantime, the Athenians, under Paches, invested Mytilene both by land and by sea, and the promised fleet from Peloponnesus did not make its appearance until the year following, b. c. 427. In the beginning of this year, the Peloponnesians, commanded by Cleomenes, again invaded Attica, and ravaged the country in all directions. Their stay was prolonged, in the expectation of receiving favourable tidings from Lesbos. But the Myti- leneans had been forced to surrender before the Peloponnesian fleet arrived. Paches then became master of the island, and many of those who had favoured the revolt were first sent to Tenedos and then to Athens. The Peloponnesian fleet, after having made a descent upon the coast of Ionia, returned home, but was dispersed by a storm before it reached the coast of Peloponnesus. Paches remained in Lesbos for the purpose of regulating its affairs ; but it was for the people at home to decide what punishment was to be inflicted upon the Mytileneans. On the advice of the bloodthirsty Cleon, a leather-merchant, who was then the most popular man at Athens, it was decreed that all the men should be put to death, and the women and children sold as slaves. Orders to this effect were immediately sent to Paches. But on the following day, the Athenian people, repenting of the bloody decree, reversed their previous resolution, and, on the proposal of Diodotus, it was decreed that only the most guilty among the rebels should be put to death. A second ship was accordingly sent off" to prevent the execution of the first order, and it arrived just in time to save the unfortunate Mytileneans. One thousand of the leaders in the insurrection, however, were put to death, and Mytilene lost its ships and walls. Lesbos, instead of a free ally, now became subject to Athens. This year is also marked by a civil war between the aristocratic and democratic parties in the island of Corcyra, which in cruelty and ferocity LAST INVASION OF ATTICA. 263 is scarcely equalled by any similar occurrence in ancient history, and in which the Corcyraeans destroyed their own prosperity for ever. 10. The same epidemic which in Greece set Dorians against lonians, and the nobles against the demos, had in the meantime also spread to Sicily, where Syracuse headed the Doric cities, while the Chalcidian or Ionian towns supported Leontini, which was at war with Syracuse. The Leontine envoy Gorgias prevailed upon the Athenians to send a fleet to Sicily, which was intended partly to prevent supplies being conveyed from Sicily to Peloponnesus, and partly to try to reduce Sicily to a state of dependence upon Athens. This squadron was sent in b. c. 427, and took its station at Khegium in the south of Italy, from which point it made some ravaging expeditions. 11. In the beginning of the year 426 a Peloponnesian army again assembled on the Isthmus, but a succession of earthquakes terrified the Spartans so much that they abstained from entering Attica, and the Athenians being thus unmolested at home, were enabled to take the offensive in several success- ful enterprises in Boeotia, Locris, and ^tolia. In Sicily, too, the Athenians made some progress, for they compelled the towns of Mylae and Messene to surrender, and gained pos- session of a fortified place on the river Halex in southern Italy. In the following year, b. c. 425, the war between the Syracusans and the allies of Athens was continued, though the Athenians themselves took no active part in it. In Greece itself the campaign of this year was again opened by an inva- sion of Attica under King Agis, but bad tidings from Pelo- ponnesus obliged him to quit Attica, after a stay of only fifteen days. This invasion, the fifth, was the last that Sparta attempted. The news by which Agis was induced to return was, that Demosthenes, a distinguished general of the Athenians, had gained a firm footing at Pylos in Messenia. 264 HISTORY OF GREECE. Demosthenes had accompanied in a private capacity the fleet sailing to Corcyra, under the command of Sophocles and Eurymedon, but had permission to land on the coasts of Pelo- ponnesus and harass the enemy. Pylos was then a deserted place, but Demosthenes, perceiving the advantages of the position, resolved to fortify it and to establish himself in it. With the assistance of the fleet, which was obliged by stress of weather to take shelter in the excellent harbour of Pylos, the object was soon attained. The Spartans, who had at first looked on with indifference, became alarmed ; the army was recalled from Attica, and attacks were made upon Pylos, but to no purpose ; for Demosthenes acted with great prudence, and was reinforced by runaway Helots and Messenians, as well as by a squadron of Athenian galleys. The Spartans then took possession of the uninhabited island of S})hacteria, situated in front of the harbour, with a body of heavy-armed men commanded by Epitadas, with a view to block up the harbour. All attacks of the Lacedaemonians were repelled, and the Athenians then blockaded the Spartans shut up in Sphacteria, who would have been starved to death had they not been supplied with pro\dsions by the desperate daring of some Helots, who thereby hoped to win their liberty. Under these circumstances Sparta would gladly have come to an understanding with Athens ; but ui the latter ^ity Cleon had the popular ear, and the terms proposed were of such a nature that Sparta could not accept them. In the meantime the Athenians, who were besieged in the fortress of Pylos, like- wise began to suffer from want of provisions, and the pro- tracted siege in the end made the people at Athens repent of not having accepted the offers of Sparta. Cleon, however, with his usual energy and boastfulness, went so far as to intimate, that if he had the command he would bring the Spartans from Sphacteria captive to Athens. Upon this the people, half in joke and half in earnest, appointed him com- SUCCESS OF THE ATHENIANS. 265 mander. Cleon accordingly embarked, and on his arrival Demosthenes' skilful management and other circumstances had just brought the state of matters to a crisis. An attack was made upon the island on all sides, and with the aid of Messenians acquainted with the locality, and favoured by the accidental conflagration of a forest which had shortly before covered the island with ashes, the Athenians drove the Spartans into a fort in a corner of Sphacteria, and then forced them to surrender at discretion. Of the original num- ber of four hundred and twenty Spartans two hundred and ninety still survived and were carried as prisoners to Athens. What Cleon had rashly promised was thus made good by accident. 12. Pylos remained in the hands of the Athenians, who were joined by many Messenians and Helots, and proved a source of great annoyance to Sparta. The Spartans made several attempts to recover their prisoners by negotiation, but the Athenians, elated with their success, made too exorbitant demands, and in the end declared that they would put all the prisoners to death, if the Peloponnesians again invaded Attica. During the same year the Athenians were victorious also in other parts, especially in an undertaking conducted by Nicias against Corinth. In B.C. 424 they reached the highest point of their good fortune, and nothing seemed to check their unbounded spirit of enterprise. Among other conquests, they made themselves masters of the island of Cythera, a point of the greatest importance to Laconia. These events were extremely discouraging to the Spartans, and in their despond- ency they confined themselves to defending the most important places, leaving the Athenians to continue their ravaging expeditions. While the Athenians were thus flushed with success and victory at home, the commanders of their fleet in Sicily concluded peace with the Sicilians without having made any conquest in those quarters. The Sicilians, under N 266 HISTORY OF GREECE. the wise guidance of Hermocrates, had come to the convic- tion that by fighting against one another, they were only weakening themselves and paving the way for foreign conquerors. A peace was accordingly concluded at a congress held in Gela, and the allies of the Athenians dismissed their friends because they no longer needed their assistance. The people at Athens were so ill satisfied with this that I hey punished some of the generals, on the alleged ground that they had been induced by bribes to quit Sicily. 13. There had latterly been rising at Sparta a man not only distinguished for his valour, but possessed of qualities which few Spartans ever displayed, either in public or in private life — genuine kindness and affability. This was Brasidas ; he had already signalised himself during the siege of Pylos and elsewhere. He now checked the undertakings of the Athenians against Megara, compelled them to give up that city, and confine themselves to the port-town of Nisaea, whereupon an oligarchy was established at Megara. But this loss was insignificant in comparison with those which were to be inflicted on Athens by the same hand in the north of the uEgean, whither he was then proceeding. Before he exerted his influence there, however, the Athenians suffered a serious defeat in Boeotia, whither they had been invited by a party favourably disposed to them. The battle of Delium, a sanc- tuary of Apollo, cost the Athenians a loss of one thousand heavy-armed men, besides a large number of light-troops and others. This defeat was the most serious and the most bloody that the Athenians sustained during the first fourteen years of the war, but it was only the beginning of greater disasters. The Spartans resolved to transfer the seat of the war to Chalcidice and the coast of Thrace, hoping thereby to compel the Athenians to abandon Pylos and Cythera ; and Brasidas was the man chosen to conduct the operations in that quarter. He proceeded to the north by land, and on BRASIDAS IN THE NORTH. 267 reacbiiig Macedonia he was joined at once by the fickle king Perdiccas. After spending some time in endeavouring to settle a dispute between the king and Arrhibaeus, king of the Lyncestians, he advanced to Chalcidice, and proclaimed him- self the deliverer of the Greek towns from the yoke of the Athenians. His kindness and frankness won all hearts ; the name of the Lacedaemonians through him became popu- lar among the Athenian allies, and many of them wished to become connected with Sparta. Acanthos and Stagiros at once revolted from Athens, and admitted Lacedaemonian garrisons. During the ensuing winter he induced Amphipolis on the Strymon to surrender, but the historian Thucydides saved Eion at the mouth of the river for the Athenians. The surrender of Amphipolis was followed by that of several smaller towns. Brasidas, though ill supported by Sparta, was thus making rapid progress, while the Athenians under- took scarcely anything worthy of notice, so that the advan- tages they had gained in and about Peloponnesus were now counterbalanced by the conquests of Brasidas in the north. The Lacedaemonians, however, never lost sight of their fellow- citizens who were kept in captivity at Athens ; both parties in fact were anxious to come to terms, and a truce was con- cluded at the beginning of the ninth year, B.C. 423. During this truce, which was to last for one year, negotiations for a permanent peace were to be conducted. 14. When the terms of the peace were on the point of being settled, an event occurred in Chalcidice, which induced the Athenians to break off all negotiation, and commence hostilities against the revolted towns in that district. Brasidas, on his return from Macedonia, whither he had gone to assist Perdiccas a second time, found the Athenians engaged in active hostilities, and the truce was evidently broken in the north, though in Greece proper it continued to be observed, probably from the general desire for peace. While 268 HISTOKY OF GREECE. the Athenians were besieging Scione, Perdiccas again allied himself with them, and prevented the passage of reinforce- ments which were on their way to Brasidas. In the begin- ning of B. c. 422, when the truce expired, Cleon undertook the command of the Athenian forces in the north, and pro- ceeded to Scione, which was still besieged. He at once suc- ceeded in taking Torone during the absence of Brasidas, and then sailed towards Amphipolis. There he was met by the Spartan commander, who had in the meantime received considerable reinforcements. As soon as Cleon saw that the enemy was ready to engage in a battle, he began to retreat ; but Brasidas perceiving this fell upon the Athenians and soon routed them. Brasidas himself received a mortal wound while rushing against the enemy, and was carried from the field by his soldiers. Cleon had from the first thought of nothing but flight, and being overtaken by a common soldier he was slain, while the Athenians made a long and brave resist- ance, until in the end they were put to flight. They lost six hundred men, while the Lacedaemonians had only seven dead, and those who had escaped returned home. The memory of Brasidas was honoured at Amphipolis, where he died, with annual games and a festival called the Brasideia. 15. The plans which had been formed by the great Brasidas were not carried out by his countrymen, who were bent upon making peace and obtaining the liberation of their prisoners. The pride and arrogance of the Athenians had been considerably lowered by their recent losses, and Cleon, the principal advocate of the war, was no more. Nicias, who now guided the councils of the Athenians, though a brave and able general, was in favour of peace. Negotiations, accordingly, were commenced, and continued during the ensu- ing winter. At length, in the spring of B.C. 421 the basis of a peace was settled, and it was agreed that each of the belligerent parties should restore what they had conquered THE PEACE OF NICIAS. 269 diu'ing the war. This peace was agreed toby Athens and Sparta and their respective allies, with the exception of the Boeotians, Corinthians, Eleans, and Megarians. All the Athenian and Lacedaemonian prisoners were, of course, returned without ransom. This peace, commonly called the peace of Nicias, was concluded for a period of fifty years. The Spartans were to commence carrying the terms of the peace into eifect, and the Athenians to follow. Early in the same year in which this peace was concluded, the Spartans entered into an offen- sive and defensive alliance with Athens, in which it was stipulated that each should be entitled to increase or diminish the number of its allies. This plan had been devised by Sparta, because her thirty years' peace with Argos had just expired, and she wished to strengthen herself for the event of a war with that state. But the measure at once roused the fear and opposition of the smaller states, and it was evident from the first that the peace could not be of long duration. 16. For nearly seven years after the conclusion of the peace of Nicias, the Spartans and Lacedaemonians indeed abstained from invading each other's territories, but Greece was nevertheless not in the enjoyment of peace, for neither Athens nor Sparta strictly adhered to the terms agreed upon and each was anxious to increase the circle of its allies. Meantime Argos put itself at the head of a new confederacy, which might embrace all the Greeks except the Athenians and Spartans, and was joined by the Mantineans, Eleans, Corin- thians, and Chalcidians, while others M'ere only wavering. Sparta came to a separate understanding with Boeotia, and Argos declared itself in favour of Athens. Amid these difii- cult complications, the warlike dispositions of the Athenians were fanned by Alcibiades, who was still a young man, but was honoured by the people on account of his ancestors. He was an extraordinary man, and perhaps the most perfect image of the Athenian people themselves. The consciousness 270 HISTORY OF GREECE. of his powers, and his reckless ambition, impelled him on all occasions to claim the foremost place ; he was naturally of an aristocratic temperament, and whenever he appeared as a popular leader, it was for the purpose of gaining some per- sonal object. It was this man who brought about the con- clusion of an alliance between Athens, Argos, Elis, and Mantineia; it was to be both offensive and defensive, and to last for one hundred years. The Corinthians soon after returned to their alliance with Sparta. All this occurred in B. c. 420, and in the following year symptoms of a great and general struggle appeared in Peloponnesus, for a war between Argos and Epidaurus furnished opportunities to the Athe- nians of annoying Sparta. But peace was formally still main- tained. In B. c. 41(S, however, the Argives, stimulated by Alcibiades, went so far in their provocations, that Sparta could endure it no longer. The Lacedaemonians with a con- siderable force entered the territory of Mantineia, and in a battle fought against the Argives gained a decisive victory. This battle of Mantineia at once restored the military glory of Sparta, which was further strengthened by the fact that a party at Argos, hostile to its democratic constitution, brought about a peace with Sparta, in spite of the efforts made by Alcibiades to thwart it. Argos renounced her former allies, and discontinued her hostilities against Epidaurus. Argos and Sparta then endeavoured to draw into their alliance as many states as possible, and Sparta in particular was busily engaged in establishing oligarchic forms of government wher- ever her influence enabled her to do so. 17. But in B. c. 417, the democratic party at Argos re- covered its former position, and the aid sent by Sparta to support the oligarchy came too late. The victorious party formed connections with Athens, and provided for the safety of the city in case of an attack. In b. c. 416, Alcibiades sailed with a squadron of twenty galleys to Argos, where he CONQUEST OF MELOS. 271 took on board three hundred of the leading oligarchs, and then deposited them in the neighbouring islands, where they were guarded as prisoners by the Athenians. The Doric isle of Melos was the only island that did not belong to the Athenian confederacy ; attempts had previously been made to gain it over, but without effect. The Athenians now thought circumstances favourable, and sent out a fleet under Cleomedes to reduce Melos. Negotiations were first tried, -but the Melians rejected them, and all they w^ere ready to agree to was to remain neutral. The Athenians accordingly began to besiege the town. The courage and perseverance of the Melians protracted the siege until the following winter, when, finding resistance no longer possible, they surrendered at discretion. The ravages of the Athenians reduced the island to a wilderness, which was peopled again by five hundred settlers sent by the conquerors. The Spartans, still adhering to existing treaties, had sent no assistance to their Melian kinsmen ; but still a number of otherwise trifling oc- currences foreboded more important events. 18. The desire to establish themselves in the western seas, and to gain possession of Sicily, had long since been awakened in the Athenian people and its demagogic leaders after the death of Pericles. The first attempt to realise this desire had been made some years before, during the war between Leontini and Syracuse ; but the peace of Gela had checked their designs for a time. The Athenians were now in a state of mind when anything grand and adventurous had a particular charm for them, and not being willing to be the first to break the peace with Sparta, they eagerly listened to the advice of Alcibiades and other men of the w^ar party. Their opponents w^ere as anxious to maintain peace at any price. Under these circumstances, ambassadors from Egesta in Sicily appeared at Athens, b. c. 416, soliciting aid against the neighbouring town of Selinus, and promising to 272 HISTORY OF GREECE. support the Athenians with large sums of money against theii' enemies, especially the Syracusans. Athenian envoys were forthwith sent to Sicily to look into the state of affairs there. On their return in the spring of b. c. 415, they brought with them sixty talents, and gave the most rapturous description of the wealth of Egesta. The Athenians forthwith decreed to send out a fleet under the command of Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus, the first of whom thus saw the realisation of his most ardent wishes. Nicias was in his heart opposed to the undertaking, but his warnings were not listened to. Every effort was made to send out an expedition worthy of the name of Athens, and as the peace party were unable to prevent the undertaking, they devised a scheme by which they intended to ruin Alcibiades ; but in doing this they deprived themselves of the only man capable of conducting the enter- prise to a glorious end, and brought the greatest calamity upon their country. 19. When the fleet was in the port ready to sail, it happened that one morning nearly all the numerous busts of Hermes which adorned the streets of Athens were found mutilated. This act of wantonness on so large a scale filled the minds of the Athenians with alarm ; it was believed that it was the w^ork of a conspiracy against the constitution, and great rewards were offered to any one who could give infor- mation about the perpetrators. Informers of all ranks came forward, and those who were denounced thought it safest during the general excitement to take to flight ; but they were sentenced to death, and their property confiscated. No ancient writer has given an explanation of this mysterious affair, but it seems probable that it was a scheme devised by the peace party, in conjunction with the personal enemies and rivals of Alcibiades, for the purpose of getting rid of him. His name however was not mentioned by any of the informers, until the expedition had actually sailed. The splendid armament THE SICILIAN EXPEDITIONS. 273 which left the port of Piraeus consisted of one hundred and thirty-four galleys, five thousand one hundred heavy -armed men, four hundred and eighty bowmen, and seven hundred slingers ; and the fleet was accompanied by thirty transports and one hundred boats. Upon this magnificent force Athens rested her boldest hopes. It first sailed to ^gina and thence to Corcyra, where it was to meet the contingents of the allies. 20. The fleet sailed from Corcyra to the south of Italy, and halted at Khegium, while three ships sailed to Egesta to reconnoitre. When these ships returned, they brought the discouraging news that thirty talents was all the money they had been able to obtain, and that Egesta was far from being the wealthy town which it had been represented to be. But Alcibiades and Lamachus were nevertheless determined to proceed, and not only to assist the Egestaeans, but to gain as many allies as possible, and make a vigorous attack upon Syracuse. This plan being finally adopted, several Sicilian towns were taken, and the fleet appeared before Syracuse. At this moment an Athenian state-vessel arrived to recall Alcibiades from the command of the army, and to take him back to Athens to defend himself against the charges which his enemies had in the meantime brought forward. Alci- biades departed without remonstrance from Sicily in his own galley, accompanied by the Athenian state-vessel. But when he approached Thurii, he landed and made his escape. Soon afterwards he crossed over to Peloponnesus ; but the Athenians not only condemned him to death, but confiscated his property, and pronounced an awful curse against him. When Alci- biades was gone, the soul of the Sicilian expedition was lost ; the war was carried on in a slow and tedious manner, and the Syracusans seeing the enemy engaged in distant parts of the island soon recovered from their first fright. Thus things went on until the winter set in, and then the Athenians resolved upon besieging Syracuse. Guided by a treacherous 274 HISTORY OF GREECE. Syracusan, they effected a landing at a point called Olympium on the south-west side of the city, where they pitched their camp in a very favourable position. The Syracusans came out, and a battle was fought at once, in which they were saved only by their cavalry. As, however, it was winter, the Athenians, without making any further attempts, with- drew to Catana, which had joined their alliance. 21. Hermocrates, still the soul of the councils at Syracuse, did all he could to train and cheer his fellow-citizens for the contest, and sent envoys to Sparta and Corinth for succours. The Athenian armament also was expecting reinforcements from Athens. The Syracusans extended their city for the purpose of rendering a blockade difficult, and endeavoured to increase the number of their allies. Their example was followed by the Athenians, who sent round envoys to the towns of Sicily, and even to Carthage and the Tyrrhenians. The Greek towns in Sicily were lukewarm in their support of Syracuse, but assistance came from a quarter from which they had least expected it. Alcibiades had gone to Sparta, where he was received with great honours. While he was staying there, the Syracusan envoys, accompanied by others from Connth, arrived, for the Corinthians were quite willing to support their kinsmen in Sicily. Alcibiades strongly advised the Spartans to send a large force and an able general to Syracuse, and establish themselves at the same time at Decelea in Attica ; and his advice was at once acted upon. Gylippus, (me of their ablest men, was sent with a small force to Syracuse, and further assistance was promised. 22. In the spring of b. c. 414, the Athenians renewed the siege of Syracuse, but a long time elapsed before the city could be invested. The first conflict occurred at the heights called Epipolae, where the Syracusans were defeated. The Athenians then advanced against the quarter of the city called Tyche, and besfan the work of circumvallation. Vari- SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 275 ous engagements took place in which the Syracusaus were worsted, but in one of them Lamachus was killed, and this somewhat encouraged them. The Athenian fleet in the meantime had entered the great harbour of Syracuse, and the whole army of the besieged threw itself into the city, which was now wholly blockaded. The despondency in Syra- cuse was so great, that the people began to think of peace, and deposed Hermocrates, their best and most patriotic adviser. The Athenians, on the other hand, were now joined by many of the Sicilian towns, and even by some of the Tyrrhenians ; the army, now commanded by Nicias alone, was filled with hopes of victory. Under these circumstances Gylippus arrived and landed near Himera, on the north coast of Sicily. His mere arrival inspired the Dorian towns with fresh confidence and the hope of a vigorous support from Sparta, and numbers flocked to his standard. The Syracusans also felt their spirits reviving, and banished all thoughts of peace from their minds. Gylippus succeeded in gaining the heights of Epipolae, and being joined by the Syracusans, attacked the fortifications of the Athenians, which were nearly completed. 23. The arrival of Gylippus completely changed the aspect of affairs. The Athenians were not only prevented from completing their fortifications, but lost their stores, and it was evident that their operations by land would not lead to the desired issue. Gylippus devoted all his attention to the safety of the city and the training of his troops. The suc- cess which he met with in this respect, and in some skirmishes with the Athenians, induced both the natives of Sicily and the Greek towns to embrace the cause of Syracuse, while the Athenians had scarcely any allies except Naxos and Catana. Syracuse, moreover, had received reinforcements from Greece, and w^as expecting more. Nicias was in a most difficult and dangerous position, for instead of besieging Syracuse, he him- self was besieged. He accordingly wrote to Athens for rein- 276 HISTORY OF GREECE. forcements, and desired to be recalled on the ground of his ill health. This last request was refused, but Demosthenes and Eurymedon, being appointed his colleagues, were sent with fresh troops to Sicily. The report of these prepar- ations induced the Lacedaemonians, in the beginning of b. c. 413, to invade Attica under the command of Agis, for the peace had been openly broken in Hreece the year before, when Athens, to assist Argos, ravaged some liaconian towns. After laying waste some parts of Attica, Agis, as Alcibiades had advised, fortified himself at Decelea, whence he was enabled to annoy the Athenians by devastating their fields, and thus to become a most troublesome enemy. Athens now had to carry on war in two quarters ; her expenditure was increased, while her revenues were diminished, and outward misfortunes could not fail to call forth discontent and a revo- lutionary spirit at home. 24. Gylippus and Hermocrates prevailed upon the Syra- cusans to attack the Athenians by sea, before the new com- manders with their additional forces arrived, and a battle was fought at the entrance of the great harbour of Syracuse, in which the Athenians were victorious, but when they returned to their station on the coast, they found it already occupied by the land-army of Gylippus. This emboldened the Syra- cusans to harass the enemy, who from want of provisions became more and more reduced, in every possible way, and they even fought a second naval battle, which lasted for several days, and in which the Athenians were obliged to retreat. This at once destroyed the prestige of the Athenian name, for they had until then been believed to be invincible at sea. At this critical juncture Demosthenes and Eurymedon arrived with strong reinforcements. They were larger than the Syracusans had anticipated, and created great alarm among them, while the hopes of the Athenians revived. Demosthenes, impatient of delay, resolved to recover Epipolae, and in a nocturnal and LOSSi:S OF THE ATHENIANS. 277 unexpected attack, he was at first very successful ; but various circumstances then combined to throw the Athenian forces into confusion, and they were completely defeated ; great numbers were cut to pieces in the darkness of the night, and the rest escaped to the camp. The Athenian generals were disheartened by this misfortune, which was aggravated by disease among the troops. Demosthenes even went so far as to propose to give up Sicily altogether. Nicias had the same feeling, but he was also aware of the dangers connected with a withdrawal. At length, however, he gave way, and it was agreed that the Atlienian forces should withdraw in secret, without the knowledge of the enemy. But an eclipse of the moon made so strong an impression upon their excited and superstitious minds, that the departure was deferred. In the meantime the Syracusans, having received reinforcements and information about the design of the Athenians, advanced at once with seventy- six galleys against the naval station of the Athenians, whilst the land army marched against their fortificcitions. The Athenian fleet, consisting of eighty-seven ships, was completely defeated, Eurymedon's retreat was cut off, and he himself was slain. The ships which made their escape gallantly resisted a subsequent attack of Gylippus and repelled the enemy. But the loss of the Athenians was very great, and the spirits of the Syracusans were raised to such a pitch that they aimed at nothing short of annihilating the army of their opponents. 25. Meantime they made preparations for another great sea-fight ; the Athenians knowing that the decisive moment w'as approaching, made their arrangements accordingly. All the fleet, amounting to one hundred and ten vessels, was soon made ready for the contest, but Gylippus, who knew all the enemy's plans, contrived to neutralise them. Nicias remained with the land-army, which was drawn up on the coast. When the naval engagement commenced, the contest was 278 HISTORY OF GREECE. carried on with the greatest exasperation on both sides. At length the Athenians retreated towards the coast, and the land army broke up in utter confusion, and most of the men fled in terror. Nearly half their fleet was destroyed ; everything was neglected, and all they thought of was flight. The fleet was abandoned, and it was agreed to retreat by land to some place of safety. The Syracusans, on being informed of this, occupied all the roads and passes. The Athenian army, when commencing its retreat, still amounted to forty thousand men. The sick, the wounded, and the dying .were left behind. Nicias commanded the van, and Demosthenes the rear. Throughout their march they were harassed by the Syracusans, who after some days forced them to prepare for battle in a narrow position. When the fight had lasted for some time, Demosthenes and his troops were summoned to surrender their arms, on condi- tion that none should suffer a violent death. The demand was complied with by all, six thousand in number. On the following day Nicias also was overtaken by Gylippus, and heard of the fate of his colleague ; but not believing it, he refused to listen to any proposals, and continued his march amid the most extraordinary difficulties, until in the end he was obliged to surrender at discretion. The Athenian army had by this time been greatly reduced; the captives, amounting to seven thousand, were sent into the quarries near Syracuse, and their treatment was inhumanly cruel, for they lived crowded together in a pestilential atmosphere, and their scanty food only increased their torments. After spending seventy days in that fearful dungeon, in the midst of the corpses of their fellow- soldiers, the survivors, except the Athenians and the Sicilian and Italian Greeks, were sold as slaves. Nicias and Demosthenes, notA^ithstanding the promises of Gylippus, were put to death. Thus ended an undertaking which, in the opinion of Thucy- dides, was the greatest, not only in the Peloponnesian war, GREAT DISASTER IN SICILY. 279 but ill any war that had ever been carried on. The loss of the Athenians was fearful, and far greater than any they had yet sustained. The heartless cruelty displayed by the Syra- cusans on that occasion must ever be held in the greatest detestation. 26. The blow which Athens had received was fatal, and forms the beginning of her gradual decline. The news on reach- ing Athens w^as at first disbelieved, but when at length it was found to be but too true, the people became desponding and disheartened, and vented their feelings against those who had induced them to send out the expedition. But the depression did not last ; the Athenians soon roused themselves, and resolved to continue the war, and preserve the power they still possessed. The Spartans, by a bold stroke, might have put an end to the war ; but the moment for action was neglected, and the war continued nine years longer — a period commonly called the Decelean war, because the Spartans retained pos- session of Decelea in the very heart of Attica, though the principal seats of the war w^ere the sea and the coast of Asia Minor ; for through the Sicilian expedition Sparta had become a maritime power, which rose to its height under the command of Lysander. The allies of Athens, now thinking her too weak to make any great effort, commenced negotiations with Agis about their revolt. The first that came forward were Euboea and Lesbos ; the Persian satraps of Western Asia also sent envoys to Sparta, to gain her over to the interests of Persia, and to deprive Athens of her possessions in Asia Minor and on the Hellespont. The Spartans were ready with their promises, but it was not till b. c. 412 that anything was done. Alcibiades, who had urged the Spartans on, was then sent with five ships, commanded by Chalcideus, to Chios, and induced the people to renounce the alliance with Athens. Erythrae and Clazomenae soon followed the example. The Athenians sent out two squadrons to pursue the Lacedaemo- 2,80 HISTORY OF GREECE. nians, and prevent the spreading of tlie revolt ; but they were unable to check the skilful management of Alcibiades ; and while he was pursuing his successful undertaking, a treaty- was concluded between the king of Persia and Sparta, in which the Greek towns in Asia were delivered up to the barbarians. 27. The Chians, though put to flight by an Athenian fleet, tried to induce as many as possible to join the revolt, but the Athenians having gradually assembled a large force in those parts, compelled most of the revolted towns to return to their allegiance, and the Spartan admiral, Chalcideus, was slain near Miletus. Chios was laid waste, and the islanders were beaten in several engagements. Late in the summer of b. c. 412, a large Athenian reinforcement, commanded by Phryni- chus and others, arrived at Samos, and forthwith proceeded to attack Miletus. A battle was fought, in which Tissaphernes and Alcibiades took part, but no decisive victory was gained by either party, when suddenly an auxiliary fleet arrived from Syracuse. Phrynichus, therefore, wisely retreated to Samos, and his allies, the Argives, being dissatisfied with this move- ment, returned home. The Spartans thus remained in possession of Miletus, and also gained over some other places ; but at sea the Athenians remained, on the whole, in the ascendancy. Tissaphernes became dissatisfied with the conduct of the Spartans, and Alcibiades, who had for some time been suspected by the Spartans, and hated by their king Agis, now went over to him, and persuaded him to reduce the support which till then he had given to the Spartans, showing him that it was for the interest of Persia to allow Sparta and Athens to weaken each other. The advice was adopted by Tissaphernes, and caused no small loss to the Spartans. 28. But Alcibiades had not intended to benefit the king of Persia more than Athens and himself, for he had only wished to weaken his countrymen so far as to induce them REVOLUTION AT ATHENS. 281 to recal him from exile. At the same time be had thrown out several hints to the Athenians at Samos, such as, that he would gain over Tissaphernes to their side ; that he was willing to return to Athens if an oligarchical government were instituted, and the like. The Athenians at Samos, and especially the nobles, were taken with the scheme. Phryni- chus alone set himself against it ; but it was without avail. Pisander went to Athens with the proposals of Alcibiades, and Tissaphernes was induced at once to side with the Athenians. Pisander met a stronger opposition at Athens than he had anticipated ; but he persevered, and at last the people yielded. Pisander and ten envoys were then sent to Alcibiades and Tissaphernes. Immediately on their arrival, they made Cos their head-quarters for the negotiation. But the demands of Alcibiades were so exorbitant, that the Athenian commissioners broke off all negotiation, and returned to Samos. At Athens, however, the promoters of the scheme had been very active, and at the beginning of b. c. 411, the oligarchical government was established. In many of the allied states the same change was successfully accomplished. The leaders of the revolution at Athens, with Pisander at their head, prevailed upon the people to elect ten men with unlimited power, who M'ere to prepare a series of new laws. A body of four hundred men was then elected, and the franchise limited to five thousand citizens, all others being deprived of it. The council of Four Himdred had almost unlimited power. The chief promoters of this oligarchical scheme were Pisander, the orator Antiphon, and Theramenes. All the thoughts of the new^ government were directed towards a speedy conclusion of peace with Sparta. At the same time deputies were sent to Samos to gain over the army to the new order of things. But the popular party in Samos itself, and the Athenian generals, among whom was Thrasybulus, defended the rights of the people. The Samian oligarchs were overpowered by N 2 282 HISTORY OF GREECE. the people, and when the Athenian army was informed of the tyrannical and cruel proceedings of the oligarchs at home, botli the fleet and the army bound themselves by an oath to main- tain the old democratic constitution, and, in case of need, even, to renounce Athens, and seek a new home elsewhere. 29. During the time of these disturbances in Samos and at Athens, the Peloponnesians remained inactive and wasted their time, and the support they had expected from Persia did not come. But still the Athenians sustained many losses, for Abydos, Lampsacos, Thasos, Byzantium, and many other towns revolted, and even Euboea, which was of the greatest importance to Athens, was lost. Things, however, were pre- paring which were to be ample compensation for these reverses. For Thrasybulus had at length prevailed upon the army in Samos to recal Alcibiades. When he arrived, he made a great display of his patriotism and his influence with Tissa- phernes, and the soldiers elected him their commander along with Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus. He now tried to inspire Tissaphernes with the most exaggerated notions of his new position and power, for the satrap had not yet made up his mind openly to support the Athenians and break with the Spartans, whose fleet was now commanded by Mindarus. In the meantime envoys from Athens arrived at Samos and endea- voured to exculpate and justify the oligarchic rulers of Athens. But the soldiers would not listen to them, and had it not been for the moderation of Alcibiades they would have returned home at once to re-establish the democratic form of govern- ment. This change, however, was not brought about by the army, but by the quarrels and disputes among the leaders of the oligarchy itself; and it was more particularly Theramenes who placed himself at the head of a counter-revolution. But many other Athenians also suspected that the oligarchs were secretly plotting with the Spartans ; and when a Lacedaemo- nian fleet actually appeared off the coast of Attica, the people SUCCESSES OF ALCIBIADES. 283 rushed to their ships and fought a battle in which they lost twenty-two galleys, and Euboea was taken by the enemy. P^)r a moment this loss filled the people with despair, but they soon recovered, and in the assembly which was immediately summoned, the Four Hundred were deposed, and many other useful measures were carried with great moderation. Envoys were forthwith despatched to Samos to recal Alcibiades. Pis- ander and some of his friends took refuge among the Tiacedae- monians at Decelea. 30. Mindarus, the Spartan admiral, growing at length tired of wailing in vain for reinforcements from Tissaphernes, contrived to elude the vigilance of the Athenians and sailed to the Hellespont, where he hoped to succeed better with Pharnabazus. But the Athenian fleet followed the enemy, and near Cynossema they gained a great victory, which, though dearly purchased, roused their courage and confidence. A second great naval battle was fought near Abydos, in which the appearance of Alcibiades decided the victory. Tissaphernes had by this time come to the Hellespont, and as Alcibiades was trying finally to win him over to the side of Athens, the satrap seized him and sent him as a prisoner to Sardes, on the ground that the king wished to continue the war against Athens. About a month later, however, Alcibiades made his escape and returning to the fleet, he determined to fight a decisive battle against Mindarus. He accordingly sailed to Cyzicus, and coming unexpectedly upon the enemy he drove them on shore and an engagement ensued on land in which Mindarus fell. The army fled, and the entire fleet became the prize of the Athenians. These events occurred in B. c. 410. The condition of the Peloponnesians after this defeat was quite hopeless, while the Athenians advanced unchecked in their victorious career, and recovered all that was lost on the Hellespont. In Attica also the Athenians successfully repelled an attack made by Agis from Decelea, 284 HISTORY OF GREECE. in which he sustained great loss. Thrasyllus, who had gained this victory easily, obtained large reinforcements with which he sailed towards the west coast of Asia, and finally joined the fleet at Sestos, which cor. tinned the contest against Pharnabazus. 31. In the beginning of b. c. 409, Alcibiades besieged Chalcedon and compelled it to surrender. Byzantium was delivered up to the Athenians by traitors, and Pharnabazus concluded a treaty with them, in which he promised them twenty talents. This treaty, however, was never ratified by the king, who continued to side with Sparta, and sent his son Cyrus as commander of his forces in Asia Minor, with orders to support the cause of the Peloponnesians. These things happened in the beginning of the year b. c. 408, and the time had now come for Alcibiades to return to his country as the victorious and admired conqueror of its enemies. His reception at Athens was enthusiastic — every charge which had been brought against him was forgotten, and for a time he was the darling of the people. He had been in Athens scarcely three months, when he was made commander of a fleet of one hun- dred galleys, and sailed against Andros which had revolted from Athens. But he was unable to reduce the island, and this furnished his enemies with a fresh handle against him, for the people of Athens had such an exalted opinion of him as to believe that he could accomplish every thing, and conse- quently to regard any failure as owing to his want of good will. 32. The Peloponnesians too were now commanded by a great general, Lysander, the successor of Mindarus, and a worthy adversary of Alcibiades. He was then waiting at Ephesus for the arrival of Cyrus, who was a zealous friend of the Spartans, partly from hatred of Tissapliernes, and partly from a hope to be assisted by the land forces of the Spartans in his own undertakings. Lysander' s fleet had been increased to ninety ships, and Antiochus, one of the officers of Alcibiades, BATTLE OF ARGINUSAE. 285 although forbidden by his commander to attack Lysander, sailed into the harbour of Ephesus to challenge the enemy. The general engagement which arose out of this, ended unfortu- nately for the Athenians, who lost seventeen ships. Alcibiades was unable to repair the loss, and returned to Samos. There the army, ascribing the discomfiture to his carelessness, was so indignant as todepose him, and appoint ten generals hi his stead, B. c. 407. Alcibiades, knowing the fickleness of his country- men, went as a voluntary exile to Chersonesus, and never saw his country again. Three years later he showed that his patriotism was undiminished ; after the downf^xU of Athens he went to the satrap Pharnabazus, who abandoned him to the implacable hatred of the Spartans. Conon, the ablest among the successors of Alcibiades, remained at the head of his forces about Samos. In b. c. 4.06, Lysander was succeeded by Callicratidas, a young hero of a disposition similar to that of Brasidas ; he took Methymna in Lesbos by storm, put Conon to flight, and compelled him to engage in a fight in which the Athenians lost thirty ships. The Athenians, on hearing of this and other reverses, equipped with the utmost speed a fleet of one hundred and ten sail, which was increased at Samos to one hundred and fifty. Near the group of islands called Arginusae, this armament was attacked by Callicratidas. The young Spartan hero fell in the battle, and the victory >-j^'as gained by the Athenians. The Lacedaemonians lost upwards c^ seventy ships. Immediately after the battle a storm arose whicL rendered it impossible for the Athenian generals to collect the ,Tvecks, the shipwrecked, and the corpses. This apparent neglecu was seized upon at Athens by their enemies, and the generals weic summoned to return and take their trial. Six of them obeyed the command, and went to their own destruction, for the people, goaded on by its democratic leaders, condemned them all to death. Theramenes, who was one of the generals, acted the part 286 HISTORY OF GREECE. of an accuser of his colleagues to save himself, and Socrates was one of the few who condemned the proceedings as unjust. But the eyes of the people were soon after opened, and its evil advisers had to pay for their crime with their lives. 33. After the death of Callicratidas, Lysander was again placed at the head of the Peloponnesian forces, and in B. c. 405 he joined the fleet at Ephesus, with reinforcements and subsidies from various quarters, especially from young Cyrus, who was then plotting against his brother Artaxerxes. Soon afterwards Lysander sailed towards the Hellespont and took Lampsacos. He was followed by the Athenian fleet, which took its station at ^gospotami, opposite to Lampsacos, in a position where the men had to leave their ships in order to obtain provisions. Alcibiades, who was living in the neighbourhood, cautioned his countrymen, but his advice was scorned. After some days, when the Athenians had been lulled into security, and were as usual scattered on the shore, Lysander attacked them. Conon, seeing the impossibility of gathering his forces, fled with a few ships ; all the remainder were captured, and the crews were cut to pieces on shore or taken prisoners. Conon escaped to Evagoras in Cyprus, but two of his colleagues were put to death at Lamp- sacos. Lysander now proceeded to subdue the allies of Athens one after another, but sent the garrisons of the cities to Athens, where he hoped by this means to create want and famine. At the same time all the Peloponnesian land forces assembled in Attica, and encamped close to the gates of the city ; and Lysander, who aj^proachcd with his fleet, ravaged Salamis, and appeared before Piraeus. Athens was thus attacked by land and by sea ; but although the people were without means of defending themselves, they yet refused to surrender at once, for they knew the fate that was awaiting fhem. When at length famine had reached a fearful height, END OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 287 they offered to treat with the Spartans, if they would promise to spare the city and the long walls. They were referred to the ephors at Sparta, but finding that nogotiation was im- possible with the exasperated enemy, they were obliged to submit on the following terms : — that the long walls and the fortifications of Piraeus should be pulled down ; that all ships, with the exception of twelve, should be delivered up ; that all the exiles of the oligarchical party should be recalled ; that henceforth Athens and Sparta should have the same friends and the same enemies ; and lastly, that Athens should recog- nise the supremacy of Sparta both by land and by sea, and that all her allies should be restored to independence. Thera- menes, who had acted a very equivocal part in obtaining this peace, advised the desponding people to accept it. All the terms were at once complied with, and Lysander, having entered Piraeus, commenced the work of demolition, b. c. 404. Thus ended the Peloponnesian war, which had lasted for twenty-seven years, and in which more Hellenic blood had been shed than in all the previous wars together. CHAPTER IX. FROM THE CLOSE OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR TO THE PEACE OF ANTALCIDAS. 1. As soon as the fortifications were demolished, the people of Athens, by command of Lysander, elected thirty men, commonly called the Thirty Tyrants, who were to rule the state according to a constitution to be newly framed. The most conspicuous among them was Critias, but Thera- menes also was one of the Thirty. When the election was 288 HISTORY OF GREECE. completed, tlie Peloponnesian army and fleet departed. But Lysander, before disbanding his fleet, sailed to Samos, where he likewise instituted an oligarchy, and then returned home with immense booty and the tribute he had levied on the former allies of Athens. The Thirty at first directed their rigour chiefly against the leading demagogues ; this nile, however, was soon forgotten, or made a mere pretext for get- ting rid of the noblest and wealthiest men, to satisfy the avarice and cupidity of the tyrants. But the number of exiles was greater than that of those who were put to death. The reckless cruelty of the tyrants kncAV no bounds. They were assisted in their deeds of blood by a band of mercenaries sent by Lysander. From among the citizens three thousand were selected, who alone were to have the franchise, and to be permitted to bear arms. All the rest were placed beyond the protection of the law, and their lives depended upon the pleasure of the Thirty. About one thousand four hundred Athenians fell victims to the blood-thirsty oligarchs during that fearful year, called in Greek history the year of anarchy, and five thousand emigrated, leaving behind all that they possessed. The rule of terror was so great, that even cities hostile to Athens took pity upon the unfortunate exiles. Theramenes in the end also began to feel that he could not co-operate with his colleagues, and remonstrated with Critias, in return for which Critias charged him wdth treasim, effaced his name from the list of citizens, and thereby declared him an outlaw. He was thrown into prison, and had to drink the deadly hemlock. He submitted cheerfully to his fate, and thus in a measure atoned for the offences of his more than equivocal life. 9,. But the more reckless the tyrants became, the more they accelerated the day of tribution. One of the exiles was Thrasybulus, who had so often signalised himself during the war. He had at first gone to Thebes, but being joined RESTORATION OF THE CONSTITUTJOK. 289 by a band of seventy fellow-exiles, he bad taken possession of the small fort of Phyle, in the north of Attica. The Thirty, unable to dislodge him, ' stationed a small corps in the neighbourhood to watch his proceedings. The number of exiles flocking to him soon increased to seven hundred, with whom he put the enemy to flight, and then proceeded to Piraeus. The Thirty, feeling unsafe at Athens, murdered three hundred horsemen whom they suspected of favouring the exiles. A battle was then fought in the streets of Piraeus, in which the exiles gained the victory. Critias himself fell, and many of his followers. The conquerors behaved with exem- plary moderation, and the vanquished retreated to the city, from which the survivors of the Thirty withdrew to Eleusis. Their partizans at Athens endeavoured to make a compro- mise ; but failing in this, both they and the Thirty sent to Sparta for assistance. I^ysander accordingly came with an army, and his brother blockaded Piraeus with a fleet. The Spartan king Pausanias, however, being jealous of the exploits of Lysander, advanced with another army, but was anxious to save Athens, and to restore peace. An understanding was easily come to, and a general amnesty was proclaimed by Thrasybulus, from which the Thirty and their official tools alone were exempted. Thrasybulus then marched up into the city, advising his fellow- citizens to maintain peace and union, and to return to their old constitution. The advice was strictly followed ; but when it became known that the Thirty at Eleusis were making preparations for a fresh struggle, the people marched out in a body, and inflicted summary punishment upon them. Their followers, however, and even their children, were pardoned and allowed to avail themselves of the general amnesty. Such was the end of the tyranny of the Thirty in b. c. 403. The ancient constitution was restored, and a commission of five hundred men appointed to revise the laws and put them together in the form of a code. 290 HISTORY OF GREECE. 3. Alliens, wliich at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war had been at the head of a powerful empire, had now, according to all appearance, sunk down to the rank of a second-rate state, but nevertheless, as throughout the war it had been the place in which the greatest interest was centred, so it remained, even after its great reverses, a state possessing more vitality than any other. Its intellectual vigour and activity were progressing as actively as if the late calamities had passed by without any disastrous effect, and during the period which now followed, Athens was so rich in the productions of art and literature, that in some respects she rose higher even than in earlier and happier times, though it must be owned that fancy and imagination gradually gave way to thought and reflection, and that, accordingly, poetry was supplanted by learning. The loss of the supremacy of Athens and the change in her constitution were only transitory ; but the changes which were produced by the war on Sparta were of a more serious character. Sparta had become a maritime power, which was incompatible with the character of its ancient laws and institutions, whose object was to make it a powerful continental state. One of the consequences of this change was, that foreign manners, luxuries, and effeminacy, easily found their way into Sparta, although the ancient forms continued to be observed most scrupulously ; the spirit of the constitution and the altered circumstances formed a most glaring contrast. In the course of the war, the power of the ephors had risen to such a point, that the executive was mainly in their hands, and the perpetual quarrels between the two kings contributed not a little towards making the ephorate a despotic power in the state. The extended intercourse with foreign countries rendered the introduction of money among the Spartans necessary, and Sparta soon became the richest among the Greek states, that is, Spartan citizens were richer than those of any other state ; but the wealth was accumulated in CONDITION OF ATHENS AND SPARTA. 291 a few families, which were thus enahlecl to exercise an undue influence on all public matters. The number of nine thousand Spartan citizens mentioned in the tradition about the legis- lation of Lyciirgus was now reduced to seven hundred ; of these only one hundred were in the enjoyment of all the civic rights, and these few lived in proud and haughty seclusion from the rest of the population. 4. Athens came forth from the long struggle outwardly humbled, but not internally broken ; and the Athenians then, as at all other times, displayed a high degree of skill in accommodating themselves to new circumstances, or, in case of need, returning to their ancient institutions. The number of Athenian citizens was not materially diminished, notwith- standing all the calamities of the war and the pestilence, for they were liberal in bestowing the franchise upon aliens and slaves who benefited the state by their commerce and industry. The Athenian people were often led by unprincipled dema- gogues into acts of injustice and cruelty, and were prevailed upon by them to squander, on pleasures and amusements, the money from the public treasury which ought to have been devoted to the public service. Large sums were thus spent for the purpose of enabling the poorer citizens to take part in the popular courts and the assembly, and to spend a holiday in the theatre, or amuse themselves on other festive occasions. Such measures, again, created an inordinate love of pleasure and idleness. But notwithstanding all this, the mass of the people on all occasions displayed a peculiarly noble character ; were always more honest, virtuous, and merciful than the oli- garchical party, which could not sate itself with blood when- ever circumstances raised it into power. The misfortunes which the war and their own party spirit had brought upon the Athenians led them, under the wise guidance of Thrasy- bulus, to reform their constitution, and make it a moderate democracy, which was again placed, as of old, under the 292 HISTORY OF GREECE. superintendence of tlie Areopagus. For one generation at least, the Athenians lived happy under their new, or rather their ancient, constitution, and it was not till the time of Philip of Macedonia that party animosities appeared again to disturb that happiness. 5. The golden age of Attic art and literature extends from the beginning of the Persian wars to the death of Alex- ander, and accordingly lasted for a period of about two hun- dred years. During the first of these two centuries poetry and art were cultivated with care and enthusiasm, and the drama, the highest and most complicated of all poetical productions, reached the highest degree of perfection and popularity. The latter century is the period in which Attic prose, in oratory and philosophy, attained its full development. The time of the Peloponnesian war was the most flourishing season of the long golden age, for to it belong Sophocles and Euripides, Aristophanes, Thucydides, and Socrates. The last of these great men, though he did not write any work himself, has been immortalised by his disciples Plato and Xenophon. He is truly said to have drawn down philosophy from heaven, and to have introduced it into the habitations of men ; for before his time outward nature alone had been the object of speculation and observation with philosophers, whereas he directed atten- tion to the moral nature of man and his duties to his fellow- men. But he had to pay the penalty which almost all the great authors of new ideas have to pay. He was accused of disregarding the publicly recognised gods, of introducing new divinities, and of corrupting the young. He defended himself manfully, but disdained to employ any illegal means to obtain his acquittal, and when he was condemned to death, he cheer- fully drank the fatal cup, in b. c. 399, after a long and useful life of seventy years. 6. Ever since the wars with Greece, Persia had become weaker and weaker ; and its history consists of a succession of revolts in Egypt and other provinces, of court intrigues and CYRUS THE YOUNGER. 293 cruel punishments. Xerxes was murdered in b. c. 465 by Artabanus, who occupied the throne only for a period of seven months, and was succeeded by Artaxerxes I., surnamed Lon- gimanus, from b. c. 465 to 425. His successors, Xerxes II., reigned only two months, and Sogdianus seven. The throne was then occupied by Darius II., surnamed Nothus, who died in B. c. 405, leaving behind him two sons, Cyrus and Arta- xerxes, surnamed Mnemon, who, being the elder, naturally succeeded his father on the throne. Cyrus, as we have already seen, had been appointed by his father governor of the maritime districts of Asia Minor, and having formed the plan of placing himself on the throne, with the aid of his mother Parysatis, he had formed connections with Sparta, and enlisted in his service malcontents and exiles from all parts of Greece ; for matters had now come to this, that Greeks lent their swords and arms for money even to the arch-enemy of their own country. Strengthened by such Greeks, and being plentifully provided with money, he undertook an expedition against his brother, who had already for some years occupied his throne ; but only his most intimate friends knew the object of the expedition — Cyrus making the army believe that he was marching against the rebellious Pisidians. In the summer of b. c. 401 he set out from Sardes, At Thapsacus, on the Euphrates, the army was informed that they were marching against the king of Persia, and the reluctance of the soldiers was overcome only by increased pay and liberal promises. In the battle of Cunaxa, where Artaxerxes himself commanded an army of one million two hundred thousand men, Cyrus was slain and the king wounded. The Greek mercenaries, however, were unconquered, and offered the command to Ariaeus, a friend of Cyrus, who afterwards faithlessly deserted them. As they refused to surrender, they were under various pretexts drawn into the interior of the enemy's country, where their commanders were put to death. 294 HISTORY OF GREECE. Xenoplaon, to wlioni we are indebted for a detailed account of this memorable enterprise, restored their sinking courage, and exhorted them to return home under all circumstances. The retreat was then commenced — the Spartan Cheirisophus com- manding the van and Xenophon the rear. They proceeded northward through unknown mountainous countries, and after encountering the most untoward difficulties, being pursued by Tissaphernes, the Persian satrap, and attacked by the fierce and warlike Carduchi, they at length reached the Greek city of Trapezus. Their number, which had originally amounted to nearly thirteen thousand, was then reduced to eight thousand. From Trapezus they proceeded partly along the coast and partly by sea to the western coast of the Euxine. Five thousand of them there engaged in the service of a Thracian prince, but were afterwards recalled to Asia, where hostilities had in the meantime broken out between the Spartans and Tissaphernes. This retreat of the Greeks is one of the most memorable in all military history, and shows the superiority of a small band of well disciplined soldiers over hosts of untrained barbarians. The whole expedition lasted no more than fifteen months, ending in the autumn of b. c. 400. 7. The death of Cyrus had changed the relation subsisting between Sparta and the king of Persia. Tissaphernes, who had remained faithful to his master during the insurrection of Cyrus, was rewarded with the satrapy of Asia Minor ; but on his return the Greek cities refused to obey him. Many of them had during the late war in Greece become subject to Persia, and those which were yet free now invoked the assis- tance of Sparta. Thimbron accordingly was sent with a large force into Asia ; but though reinforced by the Athenians, as M^ell as by the Asiatic cities, he effected little, and his successor Dercyllidas, being personally hostile to Pharnabazus, entered into negotiations with Tissaphernes, b. c. 399. By this means he gained over many of the JSolian cities, and then went to AGESILAUS. 295 Chersonesns to protect the Greek towns tliere against the in- roads of the Thracians. The liberation of the Greek cities in Asia was carried on vigorously, but at the same time Pharna- bazus and Tissaphernes became reconciled, and their united forces met the Greeks on the north of the Maeander. No battle, however, was fought, and a truce was concluded in b. c. 397, to enable both parties to consider the terms of peace proposed by Dercyllidas, who demanded the independence of the Greek towns. The satraps consented to this, on condition that the Greek armies and governors should be withdrawn from them. 8. While Thimbron and Dercyllidas were engaged on the coasts of Asia, the Spartan king Agis was carrying on a war against Elis, which lasted for two years, b. c. 399 and 398, and at the end of which Elis was compelled to demolish its fortifications, to recognise the independence of the towns in Triphylia, and to enter into an alliance with Sparta. Soon after the conclusion of this peace Agis died, and was succeeded by his brother Agesilaus, the most intelligent ruler in the whole history of Sparta, b. c. 398. In the very beginning of his reign a conspiracy of the poor, headed by one Cinadon, was formed against the few wealthy Spartans. It v»^as thwarted solely by the prudence and circumspection of Agesilaus, but the causes which had led to it were not removed, and the evil continued to increase. Soon after this, information was received at Sparta of fresh preparations of Persia against the Greeks, and Agesilaus, accompanied by Lysander, set out with a large force for Asia, and arrived at Ephesus. Tissaphernes, not yet feeling sufficiently prepared, concluded a truce with Agesilaus, promising to ask for the king's sanction to the independence of the Greek cities ; but his real object was to gain time and to collect his forces. Lysander, whose ambition became offensive to Agesilaus, was sent to the Hellespont. When at length Tissaphernes threw aside the mask, Agesilaus also obtained reinforcements and marched into Phrygia, a por- 296 HISTORY OF GREECE. tion of which he laid waste ; but nothing of importance was achieved. Duiing a second invasion, a battle was fought in the neighbourhood of Sardes, in which Agesilaus gained a complete victory. In consequence of this, Tissaphernes was deposed, and his successor Tithraustes put him to death. The new satrap then concluded a truce with the Spartan king, and by a large bribe induced him to direct his arms against Pharnabazus. Agesilaus was also commander-in-chief of the Spartan navy, which was furnished by the Asiatic cities, and amounted to one hundred and twenty galleys, but he transferred this office to Pisander, his wife's brother, a bold but inexperienced man, b. c. 395. Agesilaus was very suc- cessful in his operations against Pharnabazus, and advanced so far into the interior, that he began making preparations for an expedition into the heart of the Persian empire. But this plan was not carried into effect, for in the midst of his preparations he was summoned to return to Greece, b. c. 394. 9. During the successful enterprises of Agesilaus in Asia, Tithraustes had contrived, by means of Persian gold, to stir up the Greeks against Sparta, in the hope that this might be the means of getting rid of so dangerous an enemy as Agesilaus. The plan succeeded, and Thebes, Corinth, Argos, and Athens, formed a league against Sparta, which had rendered itself odious to all the Greeks, because its harmosts, or governors of cities, everywhere acted like tyrants, although the Spartans boasted of being the deliverers of Greece from the tyranny of Athens. Hostilities were commenced between the Locrians and the Phocians, the former of w^hom were supported by Thebes, while the latter applied to Sparta for assistance. A Spartan army, commanded by Lysander, proceeded to the scene of the war, and on its passage through Boeotia made an attack upon Haliartos, b. c. 395. The Thebans came to the rescue of the town, and Lysander was slain. This was the first battle in the war commonly called THE COEINTIIIAN WAR. 297 the Boeotian or Corinthian war. Soon after the battle, the Spartan king Pausanias also arrived, but on finding what had happened, he retreated — a step which brought upon him a capital charge, and obliged him to spend the remainder of his life in exile at Tegea. The confederates now held a congress at Corinth to deliberate about the future manage- ment of the war ; and the alliance was readily joined by the Euboeans, Leucadians, Acarnanians, Ambracians, and Chal- cidians. Several important places were wrested from Sparta, or induced to revolt. While the power of Sparta was thus sinking in Greece, the king of Persia intrusted Conon, an able Athenian exile, with unlimited power to equip a fleet against her. It was at this moment that Agesilaus was ordered to return home from Asia. He obeyed with a heavy heart, and in thirty days reached Greece by the same road which Xerxes had once traversed. Before his arrival in Boeotia the war had already broken out. The Corinthians and their allies, preventing the Spartan army from march- ing northward, were assembled at Nemea, and a battle was fought there in which the Spartans gained the victory. Agesilaus, having received information of it at Amphipolis, continued his march southward amidst great difficulties. Late in the summer of b. c. 394 he reached Boeotia, and there was met by the distressing news of the entire defeat of the fleet, and the death of Pisander. This defeat had been sustained off Cnidos, and its consequences were of immense advantage to the reviving power of Athens. A few days later a battle was fought between Agesilaus and the con- federates on the banks of the Cephissus, in the plain of Coroneia. The contest was carried on with rage and hatred, each party being bent upon destroying the other ; but in the end Agesilaus was victorious, and having dedicated to the Delphic god one hundred talents of the booty made in Asia, he went home and disbanded his army. 10. After this the war was continued by means of ravag- 298 HISTORY OF GHEECE. ing incursions into the territory of Corinth, where the exasper- ation rose to such a pitch that all who were known to wish for peace were massacred. But a few who had escaped opened the gates of Lechaeon, the Corinthian port-town, to the Lacedae- monians, who forthwith demolished a part of its walls, b. c. 393. The war continued to be carried on in the Corinthian territory, but Corinth, with the aid of the Athenian Iphicrates and his pel- tasts, maintained itself successfully against the Spartans under Agesilaus, and even recovered several pi aces which had been lost. In the meantime, the Greek cities in Asia Minor were delivered from their Spartan governors, and joined Pharnabazus and Conon, both of whom in the spring of R. c. 393 sailed with a fleet to the coast of Laconia, spreading devastation wherever they landed, and making themselves masters of Cythera. Pharnabazus supplied the Greeks with subsidies against Sparta, and even consented to Conon's plan to rebuild the walls of Athens. The work of restoration was carried on with such vigour, that in the spring of b. c. 392 it was com- pleted. The maritime power of Sparta was at an end, and Athens was fast recovering her former supremacy. But the Spartans resolved to neutralize the influence of Conon, or, if possible, to ruin him by intrigues. The crafty Antalcidas accordingly was sent to propose terms of peace to Tiribazus, a Persian satrap, by which the Asiatic cities were to be sacri- ficed to the king of Persia ; but the islands and the cities in Greece were to be free and independent. The satrap was pleased with the scheme, though it was opposed by Conon and other envoys, who had likewise gone to Asia. In order to enable the Spartans to compel the other Greek states to yield, Tiribazus advanced them money to build a fleet, and Conon was taken prisoner by the Persians. He made his escape soon after, but took no further part in the war, and died in Cyprus. But after a short time quarrels among the Persian satraps induced them to change their policy, so that Sparta PEACE OF ANTALCIDAS. 299 had to continue the war against the Persians, while Athens was favoured by them. 11. Meanwhile, the Spartans gained some advantages in Acarnania, which country they compelled to enter into an alli- ance with tliem, b. c. 390; and the Spartan Teleutias was suc- cessful in preventing the Athenians from reaping benefit from a revolution which had taken place in the island of Rhodes, and in which the popular party had gained the upper hand. These circumstances alarmed the Athenians not a little, and they once more sent out the aged Thrasybulus with a fleet. He first gained considerable advantages on the coast of Thrace and in the ^gean, and then proceeded to Rhodes, but was taken by surprise in his camp at Aspendos and killed. Owing to the fall of this brave man, whose place was supplied by the reckless and effeminate Agyrrhius, the Spartans recovered their losses on the coasts of the Hellespont, until they were defeated in b. c. 389 by Iphicrates at Abydos. In the year following they made themselves masters of u3Sgina, and harassed the Attic territory. While these things were occurring in Greece, Antalcidas again went to Asia, determined to conclude a peace with Persia, in spite of all opposition. At the same time he increased the naval power of Sparta, and did much injury to the commerce between Athens and the Euxine. These circumstances led the Athenians also to turn their thoughts to peace, and their allies, the Argives and Corinthians, being tired of the war, likewise sent envoys to Tiribazus. With the consent of these ambassadors a peace was concluded on the following terms : — That the cities in Asia and the islands of Clazomenae and Cyprus should belong to the king of Persia; but that all other Greek towns, large and small, should be independent, with the exception of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros, which should, as of old, belong to the Athenians. This peace, called the peace "of Antalcidas, was concluded in b. c. 387. The Thebans and Argives were not inclined to comply with 300 HISTORY OF GREECE. its terms, according to which they ought to have set free the towns in their respective territories, over which they had hitherto exercised the supremacy. But they were compelled by threats to yield. Sparta, however, which ought to have been foremost in emancipating the towns of Laconia and Mes- senia, retained its sovereignty over them, while it sacrificed the independence of the Asiatic Greeks, to secure which so many battles had been fought against the barbarians during the last hundred years. CHAPTER X. FROM THE PEACE OF ANTALCIDAS TO THE BATTLE OP CHAERONEIA. 1. The object of the peace of Antalcidas was to divide all Greece into a large number of small independent states ; but that object was never completely attained. Sparta itself not only refused to resign its supremacy over Laconia and Mes- senia, but openly aimed at the sovereignty of all Greece. The small towns, moreover, in the course of a short time were naturally subjugated by their more powerful neighbours. In the quarrels which thus arose, Sparta took a dishonest part, and fostering dissension, turned it to its own advantage by subduing both small and great. In this manner the Man- tineans became subject to S]3arta. The city was destroyed and its inhabitants were distributed among four open villages, B. c. 385. In B. c. 384, Phlius experienced a similar fate, and Sparta by violence established her supremacy in Pelopon- nesus, Argos alone maintaining its independence. But not satis- fied with this she assumed the right of interfering in the afiairs of the most distant parts of Greece. A coalition was then form- ing in the north, of which Olynthos was the head ; and a report THE OLYNTHIAN WAR. 301 that Athens and Boeotia purposed to join it, induced the Spartans at once to send out Eudamidas with two thousand men, who took possession of Potidaea. The war, of which this was the commencement, is called the Olynthian, and lasted from B. c. 383 to 379. Soon after the departure of Eudamidas, the great army of the Peloponnesian allies followed under Phoebidas. On his arrival in Boeotia, the oligarchical party of Thebes betrayed the city into the hands of Phoebidas, and Ismenias, the leader of the popular party, was arrested. Sparta sanctioned this act of base treason, and Ismenias was put to death. But about three hundred men of the popular party escaped to Athens, one of whom was Pelopidas, the future deliverer of his country. Epaminondas, the friend of Pelopidas, though belonging to the same party, was left unmolested, because he had neither wealth nor rank to make him formidable. 2. The war against Olynthos was at first unsuccessful, until in B. c. 381, Agesipolis, with a fresh army and numerous rein- forcements, gave a different turn to the state of affairs, and compelled the Olynthians to confine themselves within their walls. But Agesipolis died the year after, and was succeeded in the command by Polybiades, who continued the siege, and in the end forced the Olynthians by famine to sue for peace. A treaty was accordingly concluded, in which the supremacy of Sparta was recognised, b. c. 379. Sparta had now reached the height of her power ; all opposition was crushed, and Argos and Corinth w'ere as yet too exhausted to venture upon a fresh war. But this year of Sparta's greatest prosperity was at the same time the beginning of her downfall. 3. Pelopidas in his exile had been forming plans of deli- vering his country, and with a small number of fellow- exiles he entered Thebes by night in disguise ; and being there joined by Charon, they proceeded to the houses of the leaders of the oligarchy and put them to death. The citizens w^ere 302 HISTORY OF GREECE. then called out to assert their freedom. At daybreak all the Thebans assembled in arms, and an Athenian army, which had been waiting on the frontier, hastened to Thebes to assist the popular party. The Spartan harmost withdrew to the Cad- mea, but was soon obliged to capitulate ; he and his garrison were allowed to depart unhurt, but those Thebans who had been instrumental in betraying the city into the hands of the enemy were put to death. The Spartans on hearing the tidings of these events, resolved to reduce Thebes by force of arms, and thus commenced the Theban war, which lasted for many years, from b. c. 378 to 362. During this war, in which all Greece took part, Thebes recovered the supremacy of Boeotia, and under Epaminondas even gained that of all Greece ; while Athens recovered her maritime ascendancy. By this war, too, Greece weakened herself so much, that sub- sequently she became an easy prey to the Macedonians. 4. In the beginning of b. c. 378, Cleombrotus invaded Boeotia, but committed no act of hostility against Thebes ; and the Athenians, who from fear began to think of renouncing their alliance with Thebes, were induced only by a stratagem to remain faithful. They then earnestly prepared for war against Sparta, and concluded alliances not only with the Boeo- tians, but with the most powerful maritime towns, such as Chios, Byzantium, Khodes, Mytilene, and a large number of others. Athens was at the head of this new confederacy, and had the supreme command in the war ; but every allied state had a separate vote. The Athenian navy was gradually increased to three hundred sail, and the moderation and wisdom displayed by the Athenians in their new position secured to them the confidence of the confederates. During the first two years of the war, the Lacedaemonians invaded and ravaged Boeotia, but nothing of any consequence was effected, for the Thebans remained behind their fortifications ; in the third year the Lacedaemonians were repulsed by the Athenians in attempt- THEBAN WAR. 303 ing to marcli througli the passes of Cithaeron. Meanwhile, Pelopidas had formed and trained an excellent army at Thebes, the most illustrious part of which, the sacred hand, consisted of a body of the most patriotic young men. The Spartans, after being baffled by the Athenians, built a fleet partly to operate against Athens, and partly to transport their troops into Boeotia, but it was destroyed off Naxos by the Athenian Chabrias in b. c. 376 ; and to prevent the Peloponnesians from sending forces against Boeotia, the Athenians, sending Timotheus with a fleet round Peloponnesus, gained possession of Cythera, and induced Cephallenia, Acarnania, and several Epirot tribes to join the Athenian confederacy. By this means Boeotia escaped being again harassed and ravaged by the Lace- daemonians, and Thebes established her supremacy over the Boeotian towns, which was completed in b. c. 375, when the influence of Sparta was broken in a battle near Orchomenos. 5. The success of Thebes excited fears and alarm at Athens, and led to a peace between Athens and Sparta, on the understanding that the terms of the peace of Antalcidas should be carried into effect. Thebes, guided by Pelopidas and Epaminondas, refused to become a party to this peace, and the Boeotian towns which still asserted their independ- ence, such as Plataeae, Thespiae, and Orchomenos, were razed to the ground. The peace between Athens and Sparta did not indeed last long, but Athens pursued an independent course, leaving Sparta to continue the war against Thebes. In the other parts of Greece the intestine struggles between oligarchy and democracy were continued or recommenced with the same fierceness as during the Peloponnesian war, and as the oligarchs were no longer supported by Sparta, the demo- cratic party almost everywhere gained the upper hand. At Zacynthos, where the popular party was aided by Timotheus, the Spartans were unsuccessful in attempting to support the oligarchs ; they were at the same time besieging Corcyra 304 HISTORY OF GREECE. likewise in aid of their partizans, and before Iphicrates, who succeeded Timotheus, could reach the island, the Spar- tans had been defeated, and their fleet, from fear of the Athenians, had retreated to Leucas, b. c. 373. But Iphi- crates nevertheless continued the war with great success, and was on the point of beginning operations against Pelopon- nesus, when negotiations for peace were again commenced. The terms proposed by the king of Persia, who now acted the part of a mediator among the Greeks, were again those of Antalcidas, and were accepted by both Athens and Sparta, but Thebes was excluded because it refused to set the Boeo- tian towns free. 6. Immediately after the conclusion of this peace, the Spartan king Cleombrotus marched into Boeotia, and in b. c. 371 the Thebans, without any allies, fought the great battle of Leuctra against an army far more numerous than their own. But they were commanded by Pelopidas and Epaminondas, and gained a brilliant victory, for Cleombrotus was killed, and with him four hundred Spartans and upwards of three thousand Laconians. The victory was owing to the pru- dence and courage of Epaminondas, who on that day gave the first signal proof of his skill as a military commander. Sparta in this battle lost her military glory and her power ; her supremacy in Peloponnesus was gone, and the Arcadians were the first that began to assert their independence. Mantineia was rebuilt ; all the Arcadian states united themselves into one, and it was resolved to found a capital, which was forthwith com- menced, and received the name of Megalopolis. The Spartans indeed endeavoured to check the growth of this new state, but to no purpose. The Arcadians expected support from Thebes, which strengthened itself by alliances with the Pho- cians, Euboeans, Locrians, Acarnanians, and others, and then invaded Peloponnesus, in b. c. 369, under the command of Pelopidas and Epaminondas. In Peloponnesus they were THE TIIEBAN WAR. 305 joined by the Arcadians, Argives, and Eleans, and an army of seven tliousand men marched against Sparta. Never had an enemy been so near the gates of the city, and in their alarm the Spartans would even have enlisted their slaves, had they not been afraid of them. As the first attack on the city pro- duced no effect, Epaminondas proceeded southward as far as Helos and Gythion, which he set on fire. Large numbers of Helots and Spartan subjects flocked to his standard. But the severest blow he inflicted upon his enemies consisted in the restoration of the independence of Messenia. He invited the Messenians from all parts of Greece to return to their ancient homes, and began building the capital of Messene at the foot of Ithome, which became its citadel. All this was accomplished in less than three months, after which Epaminondas returned to Boeotia, in the autumn of b. c. 369. 7. Sparta in her distress applied to Athens for assistance, and the Athenians, with their wonted generosity, sent Iphi- crates into Peloponnesus ; a treaty was at the same time concluded between the two cities, according to which the supreme command should belong to each alternately. But Iphicrates was not able to cut off the return of Epaminondas from Peloponnesus, as he had hoped. In the year b. c. 368 Epaminondas made a second expedition against Sparta. The Isthmus was occupied by Athenian and Peloponnesian forces, but Epaminondas defeated them and forced his way into the peninsula, where, being joined by his allies, he ravaged the terri- tories of several towns attached to Sparta, and compelled others to surrender. In the meantime Sparta received succour from Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily; and Arcadia, in consequence of its ambition or arrogance, found itself forsaken by Thebes. While the condition of Sparta was thus somewhat improved, proposals of peace arrived from the king of Persia ; but they were not listened to, and Thebes peremptorily declared that she would not give up her supremacy over Boeotia. The war 2 306 HISTORY OF GREECE. therfore continued, althougli another enemy had arisen in the north, against whom Thebes had to direct a part of her forces. Jason of Pherae in Thessaly, being commander-in-chief of the Thessalian towns, and seeing the distracted state of Greece, formed the scheme of raising himself to the supremacy of all the Greek states. With this view he interfered in the war between Thebes and Sparta; but soon after the battle of Leuctra, in b. c. 370, he was assassinated. His two successors were likewise murdered in rapid succession. Alexander, who then succeeded to the tyrannis of Pherae and to the command of the Thessalian towns, attacked Macedonia, and concluded a treaty with king Alexander, whose brother Philip he received as a hostage. In B.C. 368 Pelopidas invaded Thessaly, but was made pri- soner. It was in vain that the Thebans sent an army into Thessaly to obtain his liberation, for Alexander of Pherae was assisted by the Athenians ; but Epaminondas in a second campaign gained his end. Some years later, Pelopidas again entered Thessaly to assist the towns against their cruel tyrant, but he fell in a bloody battle at Cynoscephalae ; the Thebans, however, gained the victory, and compelled the tyrant to restore independence to the Thessalian towns, and to enter into an alliance with Thebes, b. c. 364. 8. Meanwhile the Arcadian state had come to an untimely end ; it had carried on the war against Sparta single-handed ; but the Spartans, with the reinforcements from Syracuse, defeated the Arcadians in b. c. 367, in a battle in which ten thousand Arcadians are said to have fallen, while the Spartans did not lose a single man. In the year after this battle, b. c. 366, Epaminondas invaded Peloponnesus for the third time ; but the few advantages he gained were soon lost again. In the year following the Arcadians, at the suggestion of their brave leader, entered into an alliance with Athens against Thebes, and this led several of the minor states to think about peace, but a war, which broke out in b. c. 365, between Arcadia BATTLE OF MANTINEA. 307 and Elis, destroyed all hopes of it. The Arcadians invaded and ravaged the country of Elis ; but Sparta then allied her- self with Elis, and in the next year, when the Arcadians renewed their inroad, the Lacedaemonians appeared with an auxiliary force. The Arcadians, by their superiority in numbers, defeated both hostile armies, and even took posses- sion of Olympia. The treasures of its temple, however, soon led the Arcadians to quarrel among themselves, some wishing to employ them in paying the armies, while others were un- willing to give them up. But both parties appeared to be will- ing to come to an understanding and arrange matters amicably, when suddenly the Theban commander, who was present, arrested a number of the most distinguished persons who had supported the opinion, that the treasures should be spent upon the army. Mantineia, which had been at the head of that party, keenly felt the insult, and called on all the Pelopon- nesians to assert their independence of Thebes. But Epami- nondas was already approaching with an army. He was accompanied by the Euboeans and Thessalians, and in Pelo- ponnesus he was joined by the Messenians, Argives, and the inhabitants of several Arcadian towns. The army of the Lacedaemonians and their allies was encamped at Mantineia. After several petty and unsuccessful skirmishes, Epaminondas resolved to venture upon a decisive battle, which was fought in the summer of b. c. 362 in the neighbourhood of Mantineia. His attack was so vehement that the enemy was overpowered at the first onset, and put to flight. But Epaminondas him- self was mortally wounded, a spear having pierced his breast : he would not allow the weapon to be extracted from the wound, until he was assured that the victory was won. After this was done he expired. The consequence of this battle, one of the greatest in Greek history, was that Thebes sank from the lofty position she had for some time occupied, for her greatness had been owing solely to Pelopidas and Epami- 308 HISTORY OF GKEECE. nondas ; but the power of Sparta was likewise broken. Both parties were weakened and exhausted, and remained quiet for a time ; but peace was not concluded until the year follow- ing, B.C. 361, when independence was secured to the Mes- senians. Sparta alone could not bring herself to be a party to it. In the same year she was deprived of her great hero Agesilaus. He had gone with an army to Egypt to support a rebellion against the king of Persia, and on his return, laden with booty, he died at a place on the Libyan coast. 9. During the period which had just elapsed, a great change had taken place in the affairs of Greece. Formerly the citizens of every little state had joyfully tendered their service whenever their country stood in need of it, but it had now become a regular custom to engage mercenaries to fight the battles, while the citizens remained at home and enjoyed the pleasures and luxuries of life. This new system was accom- panied by all the evils that usually follow in its train, espe- cially when a state is poor, as was then the case with nearly all the Greek republics. Athens, however, although in many respects she was not better than other states, still retained a vitality, and at times displayed an energy which are truly astonishing, and show that her citizens had not become quite unworthy of those ancestors who fought the battles of Marathon and Salamis. But though we must admit this, it cannot be denied, on the other hand, that the ancient feeling of national honour had disappeared at Athens, for the demagogues be- trayed and sold their country, fully knowing what they were doing, and the people looked on with indifference, being bent only on pleasure and amusement. While all the states of Greece were more or less in this condition, a power was rising in the north and emerging from a state of barbarism, which in the end crushed the liberty of Greece. That power was Macedonia. 10. Ancient Macedonia, about the time of Philip, extended MACEDONI.\. 309 in the south as far as mount Olympus and the Cambunian range of mountains, in the east to the river Strymon ; in the north and west the boundary line cannot be accurately marked ; but Philip, the father of Alexander, greatly ex- tended his kingdom. The country forms a plain somewhat resembling an amphitheatre, surrounded on three sides by high mountains, but intersected by lower ranges of hills, which form wide valleys stretching from the sea-coast to a considerable distance in the interior. These valleys were as fertile as the best parts of Greece ; the heights were richly wooded, and well adapted for pasture land ; and several of them were rich in metals of every description. It has already been remarked, that the great body of the people were in all probability Pelasgians, mixed with Illyrians, and that the Greeks usually called them barbarians. The ruling dynasty, however, claimed to be of Hellenic origin, and traced their descent to Caranus, a brother of the Heracleid king Pheidon of Argos. The kingly dignity was never abolished in Mace- donia, but maintained itself from the earliest to the latest times. The history of the kingdom, from its foundation down to the accession of Archelaus in b. c. 413, is almost buried in obscu- rity. The country appears to have been governed by several princes who were frequently at war with one another. Arche- laus, who reigned from b. c. 413 to 399, laid the foundation of the greatness of Macedonia, by building fortresses, making roads, and increasing the armies. He was also a great admirer of art and literature, and did much to introduce Hellenic culture among his subjects. He appears to have been murdered by his own friend Craterus, and was succeeded by his son Orestes, who being a minor, was under the guardian- ship of Aeropus. During the first four years Aeropus was faithful to his ward, but during the last two he reigned alone, and was succeeded in b. c. 394 by his son Pausanias, who was assassinated the very year of his accession by Amyntas 310 HISTORY OF GREECE. II. This last occupied tlie throne for a period of twenty- four years, from b. c. 393 to 369. Amyntas sided with the Spartans in their war against Olynthos and its con- federacy. He also connected himself with Jason, the tyrant of Pherae, and cultivated the friendship of the Athenians, with whom he sympathised in their hatred of Olynthos and of Thebes. Under him the seat of government seems to have been transferred from the ancient capital of ^geae (Edessa) to Pella. He died at an advanced age in b. c. 369, leaving behind him three legitimate sons, Alexander, Perdic- cas, and the great Philip. Alexander, the eldest, seems to have reigned for two years ; and while he was engaged in a war against Alexander of Pherae, a usurper of the name of Ptolemy Alorites arose. Pelopidas the Theban being called upon to mediate between them, left Alexander on the throne, but took several hostages with him to Thebes. One of these hostages is said to have been the king's youngest brother Philip. But no sooner had Pelopidas left Macedonia than Alexander was murdered, b. c. 367. Ptolemy Alorites now took possession of the supreme power ; but Pausanias, a new pretender, brought him into great difficulties, from which he was rescued by the intervention of Iphicrates, who established Perdiccas, the second son of Amyntas, on the throne, while Ptolemy retained the substance of power under the title of regent. The partizans of the late king again invoked the interference of Pelopidas against him, but he maintained himself in his position, and concluding a treaty with Thebes, he gave up the alliance with Athens. He continued in the exercise of his power until b. c. 364, when he was assassinated by the young king Perdiccas, who now reigned in his own name until b. c. 359. The history of this latter period of his reign is very obscure, and we only know that he was engaged in hostilities against Athens on account of Amphipolis, and that he patronized and invited to his court the most eminent PHILIP OF MACEDONIA. 311 Greek philosophers cand men of letters. He was killed in a war against the Illyrians. 11. Philip, his brother, who was living at Thebes as a hostage, now made his escape to Macedonia, to esta- blish his claims to the throne. The kingdom was in a most perilous condition : it was threatened by the victorious Illyrians, who had destroyed a great part of the Macedonian army, and by other neighbouring tribes. In addition to this, Philip was opposed by two pretenders, Pausanias and Argaeus, the former of whom was supported by the Thracians, and the latter by the Athenians. Pausanias was induced by Philip's liberality to give up his claims, and Argaeus with his allies was defeated near Methone. The towns on the Thracian coast were the cause of the first conflict between him and the Athenians, who had been endeavouring to maintain or increase their maritime power. But their successful days were gone ; their fleet under Leosthenes was defeated by Alexander of Pherae, and they were unable to prevent their ancient colony of Amphipolis from falling into the hands of the Olynthians, B. c. 359. This was what Philip had wished, for his object was to drive the Athenians from the coast of Thrace, and to add it to his own empire. The year after this he also subdued the Paeonians, and all the country as far as Lake Lychnitis. During his residence at Thebes, Philip had become acquainted with the civilisation of the Greeks ; and although he preserved the manners and customs of his own country, he always favoured and cherished Greek culture. With the prudence, cunning, and adroitness of an expert politician, he combined the talents of a general, the energy and perseverance of a soldier, and the generosity and liber- ality of a king. He did not interfere with the customs and institutions of the nations he conquered, whence they felt the loss of their political freedom less painfully. His army, con- sisting of heavy-armed infantry, well-trained cavalry, and his 312 HISTORY OF GREECE. brave body-guard, was far superior to the mercenary troops employed at that time by the Greek states, and fought for the honour and glory of their own nation. His heavy-armed soldiers formed the phalanx, which, though somewhat awk- ward, was irresistible. Being in possession of great wealth, he practised the art of bribery as successfully as that of arms. Promises and oaths were no obstacle to him, if by their violation he could gain his own ends. Unfortunately for Greece, Philip had at his command the forces of a united and compact kingdom, while Greece was torn to pieces by party spirit, weakened by the want of unity against the common enemy, and betrayed by unprincipled demagogues and orators. 12. At the time when Philip was extending the frontiers of his kingdom in the west and in the east, Athens was unable to check his victorious progress, for she was already engaged in what is called the Social War, against her revolted allies, from B. c. 357 to 355. The allies were headed by Chios, and with a fleet of one hundred galleys they ravaged Imbros, Lem- nos, and Samos. Athens had able commanders in Timotheus and Iphicrates, but the enmity and short-sightedness of Chares, a man less able than either of them, drove them into exile, and the command passed into his hands. Owing to the negotia- tions he had entered into with a revolted Persian satrap, king Artaxerxes II. threatened to support the allies with a large fleet. Athens therefore ordered Chares to suspend hostilities, and concluded a peace, in which she lost her most powerful allies, and with them the best part of her revenue. While these things were going on Philip of Macedonia had interfered in the affairs of Thessaly, where his assistance had been requested against the tyrant Lycophron of Pherae, the mur- derer and successor of Alexander. Philip acted with energy, and recovered freedom and independence for all the Thessalian towns, in consequence of which, they supported him in his schemes for a loner time. But he did not abolish the tvrannis THE SACRED WAR. 313 at Pherae, as he saw that the tyrants also might be useful to him ; and it was his connection with Pherae that opened to him the road to Greece, as Pherae supported the Phocians in the war in which they were soon afterwards engaged, and which is commonly called the Sacred, though it was in reality only a continuation of the Theban war. It lasted for ten years, from b. c. 355 to 346, and was carried on with unparalleled exasperation on both sides. 13. The Thebans had resolved to avail themselves of the position they still occupied among the Greek states for the purpose of conquering the Phocians. The ancient and obsolete council of the Amphictions was thought a fit instrument to accomplish this end, and an accusation was brought before it against the Phocians for having taken into cultivation a tract of land which had been regarded as an accursed district, and had until then been a waste. The council of the Amphic- tions, according to the wishes of the Thebans, declared the Phocians guilty, and, demanding an exorbitant fine, ordered them to destroy the work of their own hands. As the Pho- cians refused to obey the command, the Amphictionic states forthwith commenced hostilities against them. The Phocians, however, who had foreseen -what now ha2)pened, had taken possession of the Delphic temple and its treasures. The Thebans and Locrians were the first to commence the war to vindicate the honour of Apollo. The brave Philomelus was the soul of all the undertakings of the Phocians, and it was by his advice that they seized the treasures of the Delphic temple, and coined the enormous sum of ten thousand talents to defray the expenses of the war. For a time Philomelus and his mercenaries were successful, but in the end he was defeated in a bloody battle near Neon, b. c. 353, whereupon his brother Onomarchus undertook the command, for the Phocians were resolved to fight to the last. Onomarchus scrupled at nothing, and the sacred treasures were lavishly p 314 HISTORY OF GREECE. employed ia bribing as well in meeting tlie necessary expen- diture. He subdued several Locrian towns, and even entered Boeotia, where he conquered Orcliomenos. 14. Lycopbron of Pberae bad been gained over by the bribes of Onomarcbus, and in the struggles between the Tbessalians and tbeir tyrant, the Pbocians bad sent an auxi- liary force to support Lycopbron, but bad been defeated by Philip. Onomarcbus, however, soon after followed in person and routed Philip and the Tbessalians in two battles. Philip then returned to Macedonia to collect a fresh army, with which shortly after he re-appeared in Thessaly. Onomarcbus again went to the assistance of Lycopbron with a large army. A bloody battle v/as fought near Magnesia, in which the Macedonians proclaimed themselves the champions of Apollo and gained the victory. Athens and Sparta were allied with the Pbocians, and Onomarcbus perished in attempting to reach the Athenian fleet which was stationed near Thermo- pylae. He was succeeded by his brother Phayllus, whom Lycopbron, when obliged to give up Pberae, joined with a large band of mercenaries. Philip attempted to pene- trate into Greece by Thermopylae, but being prevented by the Athenian fleet, remrned to Macedonia. He had, how- ever, gained a right to interfere in the affairs of Greece, and the great Athenian orator Demosthenes, who already saw through the king's schemes, directed the attention of his countrymen to them in his first Philippic speech, which he delivered in b. c. 352. Meanwhile Phayllus continued the war with great vigour ; but he was repeatedly beaten in Boeotia, and at last, in b. c. 351, an illness terminated his life. Phalaecus, his successor, was at first likewise unsuccessful ; but Boeotia suffered fearfully from the repeated inroads and devastations of the Pbocians, and notwithstanding the Persian subsidies which Thebes received, the Pbocians in the end defeated the Boeotians in a great battle at Coroneia, b. c. 346, in THE SACRED WAR. 315 consequence of wliich many Boeotian towns fell into the hands of the enemy. 15. In this distress the Thebans sought the assistance of Philip, who rejoiced at the opportunity thus offered to him. As early as the year b. c. 353, the Olynthians and the other Chalcidian towns had concluded an alliance with Athens, to protect themselves against the encroachments of Philip, who shortly after his return from Thermopylae, thinking the Athenians sufficiently careless aLout their allies, marched with a large army against Olynthos. The terrified Olynthians sent three successive embassies to Athens, and the eloquence of Demosthenes roused his countrymen to send auxiliary forces, and even to attempt the formation of a confederacy of all the Greeks against Macedonia. However, nothing was able to check the king's progress. The Chalcidian towns were conquered one after another, and Olynthos itself was treacherously delivered up into his hands, and like many other places razed to the ground, B. c. 347. To lull Athens into security, Philip carried on negotiations for peace, while at the same time he continued his conquests on the coasts of Thrace. Demosthenes exerted himself in vain to open the eyes of the Athenians to the designs of Philip, and even the great orator himself was deceived in the end. It was at this juncture that the Thebans invited Philip to bring the Sacred War to a close. The Athenians, who were likewise tired of the war, and unable to sustain any further losses, sent ambassadors to Philip to con- clude a peace with him. The king excluded the Phocians from the negotiations, in order not to offend the Thebans, and also retained possession of the Athenian colony of Amphipolis. The peace was accepted at Athens, and another embassy went to Pella to obtain the king's signature. But the ambassadors were purposely detained while Philip continued his conquests in Thrace and made fresh military prepara- tions. At length, however, he signed the peace at Pherae, 316 HISTORY OF GREECE. whither the ambassadors had followed him. But as soon as they left him, he passed through Thermopylae without meet- ing with any opposition. Phalaecus now despaired of his country's cause, and, concluding peace with Philip, took his departure for Peloponnesus. The Phocians, thus forsaken by their leader, surrendered, on the understanding that Philip would exercise his influence with the Amphictions in their behalf; but they were bitterly disappointed, and the verdict aofainst them was most merciless : the Phocians were for ever excluded from the league, their arms had to be delivered up, their towns were destroyed, and the people were to live in open villages and to pay annually sixty talents to the temple of Delphi, until the god should be indemnified. This sentence was carried into execution by Theban and Macedonian soldiers, and ten thousand Phocians were transported to colonies which Philip had established in Thrace. Many Boeotian towns which were hostile to Thebes were given over to that city, and deprived of their walls, while a great number of their inhabitants were reduced to slavery. 16. Philip had now gained one important step towards the supremacy of Greece, which was the object of his ambition, for he stepped into the place of the Phocians in the Amphic- tionic league, and obtained the superintendence of the Delphic temple with the presidency at the Pythian games. The terrible fate of the Phocians alarmed the Athenians in the highest degree, but their fears were allayed by the fair inten- tions which the bribed ^Eschines ascribed to Philip, and as Athens was not in a condition to commence hostilities, even Demosthenes, in the end, advised his countrymen to keep peace, and give in their adhesion to the decree of the Amphic- tions. During the whole period of the Sacred War, Sparta had been engaged in a contest in the hope of recovering her supremacy in Peloponnesus. With this view she waged war against Megalopolis and Argos ; and against the latter city, CONQUESTS OF PHILIP. 317 which was supported by Thebes, she was very successful. xVt the close of the Sacred War, in b. c. 346, hostilities were still going on ; Philip's gold had found its way even into Peloponnesus, where a Macedonian party was formed in several cities, and Sparta apprehended an invasion of the peninsula. Athens, also dreading this, endeavoured to deprive the king of every pretext for interfering by bringing about a peace among the Peloponnesian states. In the meantime Demosthenes convinced the Athenians that Philip had never honestly wished for peace, and that all his pretensions were mere blinds, his object being to crush the democratic consti- tution of Athens and to make himself master of Greece. As the king had his agents scattered over all parts of the country, he was enabled for a time to turn his attention to other matters, and not only established colonies, embellished his capital, and vigorously worked the mines in Macedonia and Thrace, but subdued Illyricum and Thessaly. He then made himself master of Ambracia, but was prevented from advancing further south in that quarter by the precautions of Athens. He con- tinued however his conquests on the coast of Thrace, where again he came into conflict with the Athenians, but nothing was able to rouse them to vigorous action against the intriguing Macedonian, who, while professing to be concerned about the maintenance of peace, was doing all he could to stir up a war in Greece in order that he might have an oppor- tunity of interfering. 17. Meanwhile Phocion was counteracting the influence of Philip in Euboea and Megara, and even recovered Euboea for Athens. The events on the coast of Thrace at length began to rouse the slumbering energies of Athens, though not until even the king of Persia had shown symptoms of alarm. When Philip in b. c. 340 laid siege to Perinthos and Byzan- tium, the Athenians prevailed upon Cos, Rhodes, and Chios to support Byzantium, and the Persian king also sent an 318 HISTORY OF GREECE. auxiliary force. Athens in vain endeavoured to bring about a general coalition among the Greek states against the ag- gressor. Phocion, who now undertook the command, suc- ceeded in repelling him, and the Athenians in their new ardour annihilated, in b. c. 339, all traces of peace and friendship with Macedonia. In the same year Philip made an unsuc- cessful expedition against a Scythian tribe about the mouths of the Danube, and on his return he was met by envoys from the council of the Amphictions, who informed him that he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Amphictionic army in a war against the Locrians of Amphissa, who were charged with having taken into cultivation the plain of Cirrha which was sacred to Apollo. Philip himself had through his agents and hirelings stirred up this Sacred War. He of course readily accepted the new office, and at once proceeded southward with an army much larger than was required against the single town of Amphissa. At the same time he tried to thwart the attempts of the Athenians to bring about a coalition against him, and stirred up the ancient animosity between Thebes and Athens. Amphissa was soon reduced, but as he never- theless remained with his army in Locris, and at the beginning of the following year suddenly took possession of Elateia and Cytinion, the astonished Greeks at once per- ceived his real object. Demosthenes' prophecies were now seen to be true, and under his guidance Athens concluded an alliance with Thebes. The Athenians were ready to do any thing and to make any sacrifice to secure the independence of Greece. They were reinforced by a considerable number of troops from other states, which were at length roused to a sense of duty. The army of the Greeks was about equal in number to that of the Macedonians. The Greeks at first were successful, and Philip being defeated in two battles, began to despair, but in the autumn of b. c. 338 a decisive battle was fought in the plain of Chaeroneia. The Greek commanders BATTLE OF CHAERONEIA. 319 were not men of any great abilities, while the Macedonians, independently of Philip himself, were commanded by the experienced Antipater and the bold young Alexander, Philip's son. The issue of the battle was for a long time undecided, but in the end the Macedonians gained the victory. One thousand Athenians lay dead on the field of battle, and two thousand were taken prisoners ; the Thebans also sustained great loss. IS. The battle of Chaeroneia decided the fate of Greece. On the whole, Philip sliowed great moderation, for he treated the prisoners humanely, and restored them to liberty without ransom. He refused to inflict any severe punishment on Athens, and even offered peace on conditions which did not interfere with their political constitution. But the Athenians, when recovering from the first consternation, refused to listen to any proposals of peace, and were resolved to continue the struggle. Demosthenes and other patriots fanned the flame. But on cool reflection, it was found that their enthusiasm lacked the means of giving it effect ; and an embassy was sent to Philip to accept and ratify the peace on the terms proposed by him. The Athenians had to give up Samos, for which they received Oropos, and promised to send deputies to a congress which was to meet at Corinth in the spring of b. c. 337. It was Demos- thenes who had urged his countrymen to the last struggle ; but though it had been undertaken in vain, the people of Athens honoured his patriotic zeal, by commissioning him to deliver the funeral oration on those who had fallen in the battle. The king of Macedonia henceforth was the real master of Greece ; but the administration of Athens was, during the unfortunate period which now followed, in the hands of men like Phocion, Demosthenes, and Lycurgus, who by their honesty and patriotic zeal kept Athens at the head of the Greek states, and raised her, comparatively speaking, to a high degree of prosperity. The Thebans were severely chastised for having abandoned the alliance with Philip ; the 320 HISTORY OF GREECE. Cadmea was occupied by a Macedonian garrison, and Thebes lost her supremacy over the Boeotian towns. In Pelopon- nesus, the Corinthians, Achaeans, Eleans, and the towns of Argolis submitted to him as their acknowledged sovereign. Even Sparta yielded, for she was weak and helpless. 19. In the spring of b. c. 337, the congi'ess of the depu- ties from all the Greek states met at Corinth by command of Philip. Sparta alone kept aloof. There the king announced the final object of his undertakings to be the subjugation of Persia, and he himself was appointed commander-in-chief for the national war with unlimited power. The contingents to be furnished by the Greek states were fixed, and Philip made preparations on the largest scale. Some detachments of troops under Attains and Parmenio were sent at once into Asia ; but Philip himself was yet detained in Europe to settle some family disputes, and to quell an insurrection in Illyricum. His wife Olympias, the mother of Alexander, had spent some time away from the court, and when a reconciliation was effected, Philip endeavoured to strengthen it by giving his favourite daughter Cleopatra in marriage to Alexander of Epirus, a brother of Olympias. In the autumn of b. c. 336, brilliant festivals were celebrated at ^geae in honour of this marriage. In the midst of these festivities Philip was murdered at the entrance of the theatre by one Pausanias, who had a private grudge against him. His son Alexander was only twenty years old, but the people and the army demanded his succes- sion. He had already distinguished himself on several occa- sions ; and his energy and genius peculiarly qualified him to rescue the kingdom from its perilous condition, for Greece was in commotion to assert its independence, the barbarous nations in the north and west were trying to shake off the recently imposed yoke, and at the court itself there were conspirators aiming at the life of the young king. His genius, however, overcame all dangers and difficulties. 321 CHAPTER XL THE EEIGN OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 1. Philip's son Alexander, surnamed the Great, had received the most careful education under the superinten- dence of Aristotle, the greatest of all ancient philosophers. Under his training the young prince had become a perfect Greek, and a lover and admirer of Greek art and litera- ture. When the news of his father's death and his own accession reached Athens, the patriots, among whom Demos- thenes was foremost, exerted themselves once more, and a decree was forthwith passed, to honour the king's murderer with a crown, and to protest against his son's assuming the supremacy in Greece, for it was imagined that the young king might easily be kept at bay ; but they knew not his energy and his spirit. His first care was to get rid of those who were inclined to dispute his succession. Attains, who had already been sent into Asia, and claimed the throne of Macedonia for a son of Philip's second wife Cleopatra, was despatched by an assassin ; and when Alexander had secured himself against all pretenders, he marched into Thessaly to assert his supremacy over Greece sword in hand. The Thessalians after some slight resistance gave way, and recog- nising his claims at once promised to furnish their contin- gents whenever he should require them. With unexampled rapidity he proceeded southward, where no one expected him. At Thermopylae the Amphictions did homage to him, but as deputies from Thebes, Athens, and Sparta did not appear there, he marched into Boeotia, and encamped before the gates of Thebes. This at once convinced the Athenians that they had judged him wrongly, and an embassy was forthwith sent 322 HISTORY OF GREECE. to sue for pardon, which was granted on condition of Athens sending deputies to the congress at Corinth, whither Alexander himself went from Euboea. There all the Greek states, with the exception of Sparta, accepted the king's " peace and alliance." He himself was appointed, in the place of his father, commander-in-chief of the Greeks against Persia, and all the states promised their contingents. The congress of Corinth, which had the superintendence of all the national affairs of Greece, remained assembled until Alexander's death. 2. The submission of Greece being thus secured, the young king returned in b. c. 335 to Macedonia, and imme- diately proceeded, with the most extraordinary rapidity and energy, against the northern and western barbarians, who threatened his kingdom. He humbled the Triballi between mount Haemus and the Danube, and even crossed that river to strike terror into the Getae who dwelt on its eastern banks. On his return thence he directed his arms against the Illyrians, in whose mountainous country his army was often in most perilous positions; but his quickness and personal bravery overcame all difficulties, and the conquered chiefs were com- pelled to do homage to him. He was, however, detained in Illyricum longer than had been anticipated, and reports were spread in Greece of his being defeated and killed. These rumours were eagerly caught up by the parties hostile to Macedonia in the different states of Greece, and a large sum of money which the king of Persia caused to be distributed among them produced the desired effect. Several states at once rose in arms, but Athens and Thebes distinguished themselves above all others by their zeal. Demosthenes and Lycurgus induced the Greeks to decree war against Macedonia and defend their independence. At Thebes the Macedonian garrison was besieged in the Cadmea and two officers were put to death. Suddenly, while the siege was still going on, ALEXANDER DESTROYS THEBES. 323 Alexander appeared in Boeotia with an army of twenty-three thousand men, with whom he had come from Illyricum in an incrediLly short period. Every offer of reconciliation was rejected by the Thebans, and, after a brave defence, the city was taken by Alexander. Fearful vengeance was now inflicted upon the place ; the Cadmea was saved, but the city, with the exception of the temples and the house of the poet Pindar, was razed to the ground ; the inhabitants, with the excepticm of the priests, were sold as slaves ; their number amounted to twenty thousand, while six thousand had fallen in battle. This fearful fate of Thebes was not wholly undeserved, for she had at times acted with the same merciless cruelty towards her weaker neighbours. 3. The fall of Thebes made a deep impression upon all the Greeks, and the Athenians, being again the first to change their minds, sent ambassadors to implore the king's mercy. The request was granted on condition that they should deliver up to him the leaders of the party hostile to him, especially Demosthenes and Lycurgus. This demand, however, was not insisted upon, for Alexander, being anxious to win the affec- tions of the Athenians, even condescended to flatter them. It may be said in general that he was desirous by kindness and benevolence to secure tranquillity among the Greeks dur- ing his Asiatic expedition, upon which his mind was bent. In the autumn he quitted Greece, and during the ensuing win- ter made his preparations against Persia. In the spring of b. c. 334, he set out with an army of thirty thousand foot and five thousand horse for Amphipolis and thence proceeded to Sestos, where a fleet was in readiness to transport his forces into Asia. Although his army was small, he felt sure of victory, for he knew the value of the myriads which the king of Persia had to oppose to him. Antipater was left behind as regent of Macedonia during his absence. His army consisted chiefly of Macedonians and other subject nations, for the Greek states 324 HISTORY OF GREECE. are said to liave furnished only about seven thousand men. But a far larger number of Greeks, unable to bear the Mace- donian yoke, had left their country to serve under the king of Persia, and among them were some men of great military talent, such as Memnon the Ehodian, who commanded all the naval forces of Persia, and kept up connections with the Greeks in Europe. His death in b. c. 333 was a great relief to Alexander. 4. The Persian empire, which was at this time governed by Darius, surnamed Codomannus, had been in a state of decay ever since the time of Artaxerxes II., who reigned from B. c. 405 to 359. The voluptuous and licentious court, with its intrigues of women and its cruelties, presents a revolting picture of oriental baseness. In the interior of the empire we find the unbridled despotism of the ruler, along with anarchy and insubordination in the provinces, which produced revolts and bloody oppression. Some provinces made themselves independent, and the great king at Susa did not possess the power to reduce them to obedience ; in others, the satraps ruled at their own discretion, and oppressed their subjects with impunity, if they did but pay their tribute to the sovereign. The w^hole empire became like a rotten building which only required a strong shock from without to crumble into ruins. When Artaxerxes II. was despatched by poison he was succeeded by his son Ochus, from b. c. 359 to 338, under whom the eunuch Bagoas, a monster in human form, had all the power in his own hands. Under his administration the empire would have broken to pieces, had not the bloodthirsty king and his terrible eunuch, by means of hosts of mercenaries, crushed the insurrections that broke out in various parts of his empire. Phoenicia threw off the Persian yoke, and, restoring its ancient federal constitution, made Tripolis its capital, b. c. 350 ; but the fall of Sidon, when forty thousand men killed themselves, that they might LAST KINGS OF PERSIA. 325 not be tortured to death by tlie Persians, and the city was reduced to a heap of ashes, made the other cities yield, and the Persian rule was once more established in the countries about mount Lebanon. In Egypt matters took a similar turn; for Nectanebos, after several successful contests, was defeated by the superior tactics of the Persian mercenaries in B.C. 347, and was obliged to fly into Ethiopia, whereupon Ochus and Bagoas raged with even greater fury and cruelty than (Jambyses had done at the first conquest of the country. After a reign of twenty-two years, Ochus and his whole house were murdered by Bagoas, and after an interval of two years the throne was ascended by Darius Codomannus, B.C. 336, a man of mild and affectionate character, but unfit to govern such an empire as Persia then was. As his life was not safe against the attacks of Bagoas, he got rid of the eunuch by poison, and afterwards displayed as much moderation and justice as was possible under the deplorable circumstances of the empire ; but Darius had to pay the penalty for the crimes of his predecessors. 5. When Alexander, in the spring of b. c. 334, crossed the Hellespont, he was accompanied by poets, historians, and philosophers, who were to immortalise his deeds, as those of Achilles had been immortalised by Homer ; but in this antici- pation he was disappointed, for among all those who have written about Alexander there is none that approaches the ancient bard of Greece. His generals, Cleitus, Parmenio, Hephaestion, Craterus, Ptolemy, Antigonus, and others, were the first of the time, and two of them, Ptolemy and Aristo- bulus, subsequently wrote accounts of their master's expedition, but their works are lost. On his arrival in Troy, Alexander celebrated games and offered up sacrifices in honour of the heroes of the Trojan war, among whom Achilles was the ideal which he is said to have striven to imitate. He delighted the Greeks by his love and admiration for their great heroes. 326 HISTORY OF GREECE. while lie cheered on the Macedonians by his chivalrous courage, liis valour, and his adroitness. What such an army under such a leader was capable of effecting, became manifest in the very first encounter with the enemy on the little river Granicus, b.c. 334, where the Persians were defeated, although their numbers far surpassed those of the young Macedonian. The result of this victory was the submission of nearly all Asia Minor, as far as mount Taurus. Halicarnassus, which was bravely and skilfully defended by Greek mercenaries, was taken by assault, and the other Greek cities, submitting for the most part of their own accord, welcomed the hero who boasted of being a Greek like themselves, and promised to restore their ancient democratic constitutions. The most important islands of the ^gean fell into his hands, at the time when the enterprising Memnon of Ehodes, who had stirred up Sparta and other Greek states with Persian gold, suddenly died. In consequence of this, the Lydians, Carians, and Pamphylians likewise acknowledged his supremacy, and retained their ancient institutions. At Gordium Alexander cut with his sword the famous knot at the ancient royal car- riage, the untying of which was connected by an oracle with the dominion of all Asia. After this he marched through the dangerous mountain country of Cilicia, where, by bathing in the icy waters of the river Cydnus, he brought on a serious illness, from which he was saved only by the skill of his Greek physician Philip, and by his own faith in human virtue ; for he had been cautioned in an anonymous letter against Philip, who was said to have been bribed by the Persians to poison him ; but without giving way to suspicion, Alex- ander took the draught prepared by Philip, and, while drink- ing it, handed the anonymous letter to him. 6. Darius, who had hitherto remained unconcerned in his capital of Susa, and had neglected to guard the mountain passes, now advanced with a large anny to meet the enemy SIEGE OF TYRE. 327 near the passes leading from Cilicia into Syria, but was com- pletely defeated, in b. c. 333, in a great battle near Issus. The unfortunate king fled with the remains of his cowardly army into the interior, while Alexander made preparations for subjugating Palestine and Phoenicia, for he could not with safety leave these countries unsubdued in his rear. His general, Parmenio, in the meantime conquered the wealthy city of Damascus with its royal treasures. The booty which Alex- ander made at Issus was immense, and among his numerous prisoners were the mother, wife, and two daughters of Darius, whom the conqueror treated with kindness and generosity. Palestine and Phoenicia offered no resistance, but the city of Tyre iu its proud feeling of greatness and of its insular security, haughtily spurned the demand to surrender. Alexan- der now undertook the memorable siege of Tyre, w^hich detained him seven months. He constructed a causeway fortified with towers from the mainland to the island ; from it his soldiers attacked the city with all the means which the military art could then devise, while his fleet, which had been increased by those of Khodes and Cyprus, blockaded the city by sea. But the Tyrians thwarted all his plans by skilful counter- opera- tions, and offered a most desperate resistance. At length, however, they had to succumb, tind experienced the same merciless fate as Thebes, for all the inhabitants who were unable to escape, were massacred or sold into slavery, and the city was razed to the ground, b. c. 332. The commerce of which Tyre had until then been the centre, was afterwards transferred to Alexandria, which Alexander, after his conquest of Egypt, caused to be built at the mouth of the Nile, in the most convenient situation for connecting the eastern with the western world. Gaza, a well fortified and bravely defended frontier town, experienced a fate similar to that of Tyre. Egypt, on the other hand, where the Persians were hated and detested, welcomed the Macedonians as its deliverers, and 328 HISTORY OF GREECE. Alexander treated their national and religious feelings and peculiarities with a consideration which the Persians had never shown them. From Egypt he marched to the famous Oasis Ox Siwah with its celebrated oracle of Ammon, the priests of which declared him a son of the god, this, with the superstitious and imaginative nations of the East, greatly increased his authority, and made him appear in their eyes as a being of a higher order. 7. While Alexander was engaged in Egypt, Darius had time to assemble fresh forces and prepare for a great strug- gle, which was to decide the fate of his empire. But before venturing upon this final step, he endeavoured, by certain concessions, to make peace with Alexander. The Mace- donian's mind, however, was not set upon peace, and quit- ting Egypt with his army, which had been increased by fresh reinforcements, he advanced towards the Euphrates and Tigris, which he crossed, and in the plains of Gauga- mela, he defeated, in b. c. 331, the hosts of the Persians which had assembled from the eastern parts of the empire, and are said to have been twenty times as numerous as the army of Alexander. The consequence of this great victory was, that the Macedonians became masters of Babylon and its fertile territory, and of the ancient capitals of Susa, Persepolis, and Ecbatana, with their vast treasures. Persepolis was reck lessly destroyed by fire, but its ruins, with their sculptures and inscriptions, still attest the greatness and magnificence of the ancient residence of the kings of Persia. Darius, after his defeat, fled from Ecbatana into the mountainous country of Bactria, where he was killed by the treacherous hand of his own satrap Bessus, who now assumed the title of king of Persia ; but soon afterwards, the traitor was overtaken and captured by the Macedonians, who nailed him to a cross. 8. During the years b. c. 329 and 328, Alexander, by the boldest marches through the snow-covered mountains of the ALEXANDER IN INDIA. 329 Indian Caucasus, where his soldiers almost perished with hunger and fatigue, succeeded in making himself master of the countries on the south-east of the Caspian, and about the rivers Oxus and Jaxartes (Aria, Hyrcania, Bactria, Sogdiana, and others), which were inhabited by hardy and warlike tribes. At this stage of his progress, he appears to have aimed not merely at making conquests, but civilising the wild and barbarous tribes of Asia, for four new towns, all bearing the name of Alexandria, were founded by him in the distant East, as centres of Greek civilisation and of commerce. Some of these cities, as Herat and Candahar, exist even at the present day under altered names. At Bactra, Alexander, in B. c. 328, solemnized his marriage with Koxana, the daughter of a Bactrian chief, "the pearl of the East," who had fallen into his hands during the conquest of a strong mountain fortress, into which the natives had carried their women and treasures. As he still continued to advance eastward, the Macedonians repeatedly expressed their dis- content with the insatiable ambition of their king; but he nevertheless pushed onward, for the wondrous country beyond the Indus, about which so many marvellous tales were current, seems to have had irresistible attractions for him. He crossed the Indus in b. c. 327, not far from the modern town of Attok. But the warlike inhabitants of the Punjaub, excited by their priests, offered a more vigorous resistance than the cowardly subjects of the king of Persia had done, and Alexander was more than once in immi- nent danger, as he was always foremost in the assaults upon the fortified strongholds of the natives. But the mutual jea- lousy of the petty chiefs facilitated the conquest of the country by the Macedonians. Several, and among them Taxiles, whose dominion was situated on the east of the Indus, allied themselves with Alexander against Porus, the most powerful of the Indian princes on the east of the Hydaspes. The p2 330 HISTORY OF GREECE. passage of this river, under the very eyes of the enemy, and the subsequent battle, in which the brave Porus was w^ounded and taken prisoner, while twenty thousand Indians covered the field of battle, are among the greatest military feats in all ancient history. Two newly founded cities, Bucephala, so called in honour of Alexander's charger Bucephalus, and Nicaea, were intended to spread Greek civilisation even in India. Alexander then continued his march to the river Hyphasis, on the fron- tiers of the Punjaub, and was making preparations for pene- trating into the country of the Ganges, which he intended to add to his empire. But now the discontent of the Macedo^ nians was expressed so loudly and unreservedly, that Alexander, though with great reluctance, resolved to return. Twelve stone altars which he erected on the banks of the river, were erected to mark the eastern boundary of his gigantic empire. He restored to Porus and the other princes who had entered into alliance with him their territories, on condition of their recognising his supremacy ; and after having undertaken a bold expedition against the Malli, and founded a town, Alex- andria, at the junction of the Hydaspes with the Indus, he sailed down with a fleet built on the Hydaspes, in order to examine the mouth of the Indus and the ocean. 9. The result of this voyage of discovery was, that Alex- ander's admiral, Nearchus, was ordered to sail with the fleet along the coast of the modem Beloochistan, while the king himself with his army returned through the fearful Gedrosian desert, where the burning heat of the sun, and the want of water in a sea of dust and sand, combined with hunger and fatigue, in the course of two months, b. c. 326, destroyed three-fourths of his army. The warriors who in so many battles had braved all dangers, there died a miserable death in the desert. Alex- ander, it is true, shared all hardships and dangers with the meanest of his soldiers, and cheered the survivors with pre- sents and festivals when they had escaped from the desert ; but Alexander's measures in Persia. 331 the undertaking had nevertheless been reckless in the highest degree, and the excess in which his men indulged after their escape, was almost as fatal as had been their previous want. 10. When Alexander reached Persia, b. c. 325, he dismissed the Macedonian veterans who had become unfit for further ser- vice, with rich presents, under the command of Craterus, who led them back to Europe. Many of the men whom he had appointed satraps before going to India had committed various acts of oppression, in the belief that Alexander ^ ould never return ; but all these were now taken to account and punished, and the king set about the task of uniting the conquered nations with the conquerors into one great nation, to be kept together by the bond of Greek civilisation. With this object in view, it is said, he did not treat the Persians as a conquered people, but endeavoured to win them by mild treat- ment, and by respecting their national customs and ideas. It may, however, be doubted whether the means he adopted were calculated to produce the desired effect, and whether his object was not rather to change his Macedonians and Greeks into obedient and servile Asiatics. At all events, his adopting the style and pomp of an eastern monarch, his sur- rounding himself with Persian attendants, and his exacting from the Macedonians the prostration and adoration which eastern nations were, and still are in the habit of showing to their rulers, can scarcely be called a means of hellenizing the Orientals. The union between the East and the West was consolidated by intermarriages. Alexander himself set the example, by taking a second wife, Barsine, the eldest daugh- ter of Darius ; about eighty of his generals received Asiatic wives, assigned to them by their king, and ten thousand other Macedonians chose Persian women for their wives, with whom they received rich dowries from the king. The solemnities of these marriages occupied five days, and were accompanied by the most brilliant festivities and amusements. But these 332 HISTORY OF GREECE. measures, while no doubt they pleased some, at the same time offended the feelings of many Macedonians and Greeks, who could not brook the idea of the conquered barbarians being raised to an equality with themselves. A mutiny broke out in B. c. 324, during a review of the troops at Opis ; but the king quelled the rebellion, partly by severity and partly by prudence. Philotas, the head of the malcontents, was put to death, and his aged father Parmenio was murdered at Ecbatana. 11. Whatever may have been Alexander's motives when he first adopted the Persian court ceremonial, certain it is, that afterwards he retained it because it gratified his personal feelings to see himself w^orshipped as a demigod, and to be approached with servile prostration. In these feelings he was confirmed by base flatterers and sophists, while more honest men, such as the philosopher Callisthenes, who openly rebuked the king for his conduct, were treated with revolting cruelty. His court at Babylon, which he chose as the capital of his empire, in b. c. 324, was of the most brilliant kind, and ambassadors appeared before him from the remotest parts of the world to do homage to the conqueror of Asia. Among other nations of western Europe, the Eomans also are said to have honoured him with an embassy. His name must at that time have been familiar to all nations, from the borders of China to the shores of the Atlantic. Banquets and drunken riots followed one another in rapid succession, and under such exciting influences the king sometimes committed acts of which he afterwards bitterly repented, such as the murder of his brave general Cleitus, who had saved his life in the battle on the river Granicus, but had now provoked the king's anger during a banquet, by ridicule and scorn. Alexander did not intend to rest satisfied with the conquests he had already made ; he was engaged at Babylon with vast schemes for fresh enterprises, as well as with the establishment of use- ful institutions in various parts of his enormous empire. He INFLUENCE OF ALEXANDER. 333 contemplated thie conquest of Arabia, Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Spain. But his body sank under the excitements and exertions required for the superintendence of his great prepa- rations. About the middle of the year b. c. 323, he was attacked by a fever, which terminated his life in the course of eleven days, at the early age of thirty- two years. He died without having appointed a successor, but is said to have given his seal-ring to Perdiccas, and when asked to whom he left his empire, to have replied, " to the most worthy." His body was embalmed, and in b. c. 321, it was conveyed to Alexandria in Egypt, the greatest and most important of all his colonies. 12. Alexander does not belong to the history of Mace- donia or Greece only ; from China to the British islands, his name appears in the history or early poetry of every country. In the East he is still the hero of ancient times, and the tales of the exploits of Iscander are still listened to with delight by the people of Asia. Upon that country in par- ticular his conquests made a lasting impression ; for although his empire was dismembered after his death, the Greek colo- nies he had founded there long survived him ; and from the ruins of his empire, kingdoms were formed as far as India, which maintained themselves for centuries. New fields were opened to science and discovery, and it is mainly due to him <"hat eastern Asia became accessible to European enterprise. Asia Minor, and Egypt in particular, became the centres of all intellectual and literary life, as well as of commerce and industry. Geography and ethnology were extended and corrected ; the military art was improved by the assist- ance of mathematical science, though the use of elephants iri, war, which was imported into Europe from the East, w rather a step backward towards the clumsy method of eastiiad warfare. Thepracticalsciences, especially mathematics, me dis- nics and natural history, upon the extension of which i^ence ander had spent large sums, received new forms and a broonia, 334 HISTORY OF GREECE. basis. The fine arts and literature, on the other hand, sank more and more ; the age was one of reflection rather than production, and the influence of the East soon became mani- fest in the colossal and fantastic productions of art. 1 3. While Alexander was engaged in the conquest of Asia, Agis III., king of Sparta, in b. c. 333, put himself at the head of a Peloponnesian confederacy, to throw ofl'the Macedonian yoke, and connections were formed with the satraps Pharnabazus and Autophradates, the successors of Memnon, who famished the Greeks with ships and money. The Athenians also resolved to support the insurgent Greeks with a fleet of one hun- dred galleys ; but the decree was cancelled, on the suggestion of Demades, because the money was wanted for the amusement of the people. Athens accordingly remained quiet, and Alex- ander on several occasions showed his respect to the Athenians by sending them reports of his victories, presents of suits of Per- sian armour, and the statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, which had been carried away from Athens by the Persians. Agis gained a victory in b. c. 331 over the Megalopolitans, who had refused to join the confederacy, and this gave fresh courage to the Greeks. But Antipater, the regent of Mace- donia, who had in the meantime received large sums of money from Asia, invaded Peloponnesus with an army of forty thou- sand men. A great and decisive battle was fought near ^gae, not far from Megalopolis, in which the Spartans, not- withstanding their great valour, were overpowered and lost not only their king, but upwards of five thousand brave soldiers. Sparta, thus humbled, sued for peace and pardon ; and the con- oi^ress of Corinth, to which her requests were referred, decreed angat she should join the Greek confederacy, and pay one hun- did d and twenty talents as an indemnification to Megalopolis. alreaGl4. Greece now remained quiet for some years, until the for frs of Alexander's death was the signal for fresh struggles fnl indl parts of the empire. Shortly before his death, in HARPALU3. 335 B. c. 324, Alexander himself had thrown a firebrand into Greece, by a proclamation which he caused to be made at the Olympic games, ordering that all the exiles should be restored to their respective homes in Greece. The Thebans alone were excepted from this apparent amnesty — the real object of which, however, was to strengthen the Macedonian party in those states of Greece, the fidelity of which could not be trusted. The property of the twenty thousand exiles to whom the proclamation referred, had in the meantime passed into other hands, and the message accordingly created great exasperation and opposition. An embassy sent to Babylon to remonstrate with the king produced no efiect, and open resistance was thought of. This feeling was fostered by Har- palus, Alexander's treasurer, who a little before had secretly quitted Asia with a large sum of money, thirty ships, and six thousand mercenaries. Leaving the greater part of his treasures at Taenaron in Laconia, he proceeded to Athens, where many were found willing to avail themselves of his money against Macedonia. But as Antipater demanded his surrender, Har- palus made his escape, and taking with him his treasures from Taenaron, he went to Crete, where he was slain by a Lace- daemonian, who fled with his money to Gyrene. The Athe- nians, alarmed by the threats of Antipater, instituted inquiries to discover who had accepted money from Harpalus. Many men of note became implicated, and among them was Demos- thenes, who was sentenced to pay a fine of fifty talents, and, being unable to raise that sum, fled to ^gina, and thence to Troezen, where he remained in exile until, soon after, he was recalled by his fellow-citizens, but he never ceased to exert himself for the independence of Greece. 15. When at length the news arrived that Alexander had died at Babylon, the Athenian people in their delight dis- regarded the warnings and admonitions of men of experience and property who were, on the whole, favourable to Macedonia, 336 HISTORY OF GREECE. because peace was maintained under its supremacy, and peace at any price seems to have been their motto. Just at this time Leosthenes, an Athenian of great military renown, hap- pened to arrive from Asia with a body of eight thousand mercenaries, and by the request of the Athenians retained them, until the necessary preparations for open war could be completed. The friends of Macedonia were expelled, and on the recommendation of the orator Hyperides and a few other enthusiastic patriots, the Athenians resolved to equip a large fleet, and all Greeks were called upon to assert their indepen- dence. Many refused to join from jealousy of Athens, but an army was nevertheless raised, amounting to thirty thousand men, to which Athens and the ^tolians furnished the largest ' contingents. Leosthenes was appointed commander of the allied troops, and after having forced his passage through Boeotia, he took possession of the pass of Thermopylae. Antipater was in a difficult position, for the Illyrians and Thracians were likewise rising against Macedonia; but he quickly invaded Thessaly, and at the same time sent to Asia for reinforcements. When the hostile armies met near the Tra- chinian Heracleia, the Thessalian cavalry went over to Leos- thenes, and Antipater was obliged to retreat. He threw himself into the town of Lamia, and being besieged by Leos- thenes, made proposals of peace. The Athenians flushed with their success demanded the unconditional surrender of the regent. This, however, was refused, and events imme- diately occurred which changed the aspect of affairs. The ^tolians left the allied army, because they had to look after their own affairs at home, and Leosthenes died in consequence of a wound he had received at Lamia. He was succeeded in the command by the youthful Antiphilus. Meantime Leon- natus having arrived with a large force from Asia, and entered Thessaly, Antiphilus raised the siege of Lamia and fought a pitched battle against the troops of Leonnatus, who THE LA MIAN WAR. (^37 was himself slain. Antipater escaping from Lamia, rallied his troops in Thessaly, and being joined by Craterus, who had likewise arrived from Asia, he fought a great battle near Crannon, B.C. 322. The Macedonians gained the day, and the Athenian army was twice defeated by that of Macedonia. The towns of Thessaly surrendered at once, the allied forces dispersed, and each state concluded peace for itself. The ^tolians and Athenians alone remained in arms. 16. Antipater now advanced into Boeotia, demanding of the Athenians to surrender the enemies of Macedonia. Demosthenes, Hyperides, and other patriots took to flight. Several embassies were sent to Antipater to obtain favourable terms, but the conqueror insisted upon Athens surrendering at discretion, delivering up the leaders of tlie anti-Macedonian party, paying the expenses of the war, and receiving a Mace- donian garrison in Munychia. The Athenians were obliged to submit, and after the garrison had entered Munychia, their democratic form of government was changed into a timocracy, in which only nine thousand citizens retained the franchise. Many thousands quitted the city and went into exile. The patriots who had taken to flight were in their absence sentenced to death. Demosthenes, the noblest and purest of them, had taken refuge in the temple of Poseidon, in the island of Calaureia, where, on discovering that he was no longer safe, he took poison which he had for some time been carrying about with him. The war which was thus brought to a close is generally called the Lamian ; in it Athens lost her freedom and her constitution. After having humbled Athens, Antipater and Craterus set out against the ^tolians ; but before they could effect anything, they were obliged to give up the undertaking, in consequence of the disturbances which had broken out in Asia. 338 CHAPTER XII. THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER, UNTIL THE TIME OF THE ACHAEAN LEAGUE. 1. As Alexander had left no lieir capable of filling the throne, there being only his weak-minded brother Arrhidaeus, and two infant sons, the youngest of whom w^as not born till after the king's death, his vast empire broke to pieces more rapidly than it had been conquered. After many and bloody wars, in the course of which the whole family of Alexander w^as extirpated, and the most sacred ties of nature rent asunder and trodden under foot, his generals took possession of the separate countries of w^hich the empire was composed, and raised them to the rank of independent kingdoms. At first Perdiccas, to whom Alexander is said to have given his seal ring, enjoyed the highest authority, and undertook the office of regent of the whole empire for Arrhidaeus. But wdien, in conjunction with the brave and prudent Eumenes, he made war upon Ptolemy, the governor of Egypt, he was murdered by his own soldiers at Memphis in b.c. 321. After this, Antigonus, a warlike and very talented general, acquired the greatest power in Asia Minor, and undertook a new division of the empire, while the rough but honest Antipater, and his domineering son Cassander, kept Macedonia and Greece in their hands. Antipater died in b. c. 318, having appointed the aged Polysperchon, an Epirot prince, his successor and guardian of the royal family, who were kept at Pella in a sort of splendid captivity. But Cassander, Antipater's son, in B. c. 315, deprived Polysperchon of his position, and caused Alexander's mother Olympias, who had in b. c. 317 murdered Arrhidaeus and his wife Eurydice, to be stoned to death ; STRUGGLES AMONG THE SUCCESSORS. 339 some years later, b. c. 311, he put to death Roxana with her young son Alexander, and in b. c. 309, caused Heracles, a son of Alexander by Barsine, to be strangled during a banquet. Thus every member of the family of the great conqueror died a violent death, and the fate of some was truly tragic. 2. Meanwhile, the armies of Antigonus were fighting in Asia against Eumenes, and the power of the former was still on the increase, when Eumenes, after a fierce struggle of several years, in which the chivalrous Craterus also had fallen, was taken prisoner by him, and died in a dungeon, b. c. 316. Antigonus now took possession of the treasures at Susa, and increased the number of his mercenaries so much, that he was able to bid defiance to all the other generals, and compel them to acknowledge him as regent of the empire, and as their master. But as it soon became evident that he aimed at nothing short of the empire of Alexander, and as he deprived his ally Seleucus of the governorship of Babylonia, the four most powerful generals, Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus (who had put himself in possession of Thrace), and Cassander, allied themselves against Antigonus and his son Demetrius, who afterwards obtained the surname of Poliorcetes. This led to a general and long protracted war against Antigonus, b. c. 315, which was carried on with varying success in Asia and Europe, and terminated in b. c. 311. Towards the close of it, in B. c. 312, Seleucus, after a victory over Demetrius at Gaza, succeeded in establishing himself in Babylonia and the east- ern provinces, and this year accordingly is the first of what is called the era of the Seleucidae, who governed the Syrian empire until b. c. 65. In the peace concluded in b. c. 311, the whole empire of Alexander was parcelled out among the competitors. Some years later, a fresh war broke out, in which Ptolemy suffered a great defeat near Salamis in Cyprus, B. c 306, whereupon Antigonus and Demetrius assumed the title of king in their dominions. Their opponents. 340 HISTORY OF GREECE. Cassander, Ptolemy, and Lysimachiis did the same. But an unsuccessful attack made by Antigonus upon Egypt, and the heroic defence of Rhodes against Demetrius, who, though a master in all the arts of besieging, was unable to conquer the city, kept matters for some years in a state of uncertainty, until, in b. c. 301, the great battle of Ipsus in Phrygia decided the case in favour of the three adversaries of Antigonus, who himself fell at the advanced age of 80, while his son Deme- trius was obliged to take to flight. In the peace which was then concluded, Macedonia, Thrace, Syria, and Egypt, were recognised as four independent kingdoms. 3. During these wars among the successors of Alexander, Greece was not in the enjoyment of peace, and Athens in particular experienced several times a change of masters. During the quarrel between Polysperchon and Cassander, the former, in order to attach the Greeks to himself, proclaimed the freedom of the Greek states, the restoration of democracy, and the recall of the exiles. Nicanor, who had been appointed by Cassander commander of the Macedonian garrison at Muny- chia, refused to evacuate the place, and was supported by the aristocratic party at Athens, who were favourable to Macedo- nia. Phocion also assisted him. Polysperchon at length sent his own son Alexander with an army against Nicanor, but without effect. The democratic party at Athens natu- rally favoured Polysperchon, and its leaders accused Phocion and his friends of high treason, in consequence of which he was sentenced to death, and in b. c. 317 cheerfully drank the fatal hemlock. Soon afterwards, Cassander, who had in the meantime collected money, ships, and mercenaries in Asia, entered Piraeus. Polysperchon also appeared, but, leaving his son Alexander to carry on the operations against Cassander, he marched into Peloponnesus with an army of twenty thousand men, and conquered the whole of the peninsula, with the excep- tion of Megalopolis. The Athenians being pressed by two FATE OF GREECE DURING THE STRUGGLES. 341 hostile armies, concluded peace with Cassander, in which their independence was secured, and their franchise extended. At the same time, however, Cassander appointed Demetrius of Phaleron, a celebrated and popular orator, governor of Athens. His administration lasted from b. c. 318 till 307, during which period the prosperity of Athens visibly revived. The popu- larity and admiration which he at first enjoyed, is manifest from the fact, that the people erected three hundred and sixty statues to him ; but his subsequent extravagance made him more odious even than a tyrant. 4. During the struggles among the generals of Alexander, Greece was always the bone of contention. Antigonus, like Polysperchon, was anxious to win the favour of the Greeks, and with this view declared himself the champion of the independence of Greece, and of the members of the royal family; in b. c. 314, Ptolemy also declared the Greeks to be free. But such proclamations were mere words, as none had the power of giving effect to them. Cassander, however, by order- ing, in B. c. 315, Thebes to be rebuilt, gained more popularity than the others did by their high-sounding but empty pro- clamations. He also reconciled himself with Polysperchon, after the death of his son Alexander, by assigning to him the supreme military command in Peloponnesus, where the Mace- donian power was weakened by Antigonus. While the struggle was thus going on in Peloponnesus, Ptolemy appeared in Greece, b. c. 312, and took Euboea, Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris from Cassander, who was thus obliged to abandon Greece, and return to Macedonia. In the general peace of B.C. 311, the independence of Greece had been guaranteed; but the terms of that peace were kept only so long as it suited the interest of the contracting parties. Cassander, however, being ruler of Macedonia, possessed great influence in the affairs of Greece, until, in b. c. 308, he came to an arrangement with Ptolemy, in which it was agreed that both parties should 342 HISTORY OF GREECE. remain in tlie undisturbed possession of those parts of Greece wliicli they had conquered. 5. When Demetrius of Phaleron had governed Athens for about ten years in the name of Cassander, and had by his reckless conduct become as detested as he had before been admired, Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, suddenly appeared with a large fleet before Piraeus, proclaiming himself the champion of freedom, and promising to restore to the Athenians their democratic form of government, b. c. 307. He was received with great enthusiasm, and Demetrius of Phaleron, who was allowed to depart in safety, went to Thebes, and afterwards to Ptolemy, in Egypt. Munychia, however, had to be conquered by force of arms. Demetrius now restored to the Athenians their ancient democratic constitution, and caused vast quantities of corn to be distributed among the people. The grateful Athenians overwhelmed both father and son with the most extravagant honours, and even wor- shipped them as gods. But this joyous enthusiasm did not last long ; Demetrius soon after quitted Athens, the scene of his great triumph, and, hurrying from one enterprise to another, was in the end taken prisoner, and died as an exile in Syria. When Athens had recovered her popular govern- ment, the democratic and Macedonian parties immediately renewed their struggles. The popular or patriotic party was headed by Demochares, a son of the sister of Demosthenes, a sincere and honest lover of his country and its constitu- tion. Severe measures were adopted to protect the liberty of the people against unpatriotic influences, but it was to no purpose : the dream of freedom soon vanished. While Deme- trius Poliorcetes was engaged in the East, the Macedonians recovered their ascendancy in Greece. Polysperchon, who had been kept employed in Peloponnesus by Cassander, conquered the greater part of the peninsula, and Cassander invading Attica, laid siege to Athens. The city was ably defended by DEMETRIUS POLIORCETES. 343 the noble Demochares ; but in the meantime, Demetrius Poliorcetes, after conchiding peace with the Rhodians, arrived with a large fleet at Aulis, and by a rapid succession of victo- ries, put an end to the government of Cassander in Greece. The towns thus delivered from the Macedonian yoke vied with one another in showering honours upon Demetrius, and at a congress held in Corinth he received the supreme com- mand over all Greece. But he had by this time become an insolent and voluptuous tyrant, and his short stay at Athens, during wdiich he exiled the patriotic Demochares, was not calculated to regain for him the affections of the people. 6. Just at the time when Demetrius was proceeding north- ward against Cassander, he w^as recalled to Asia by his father Antigonus, against whom, as has been already noticed, a coalition had been formed by Cassander, Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus. The result of this was the decisive battle of Ipsus, B. c. 301, in which Antigonus lost his life, and his kingdom was divided between Lysimachus and Seleucus. Demetrius fled to Greece, where he hoped to establish a new kingdom for himself; but as the Athenians refused to admit him within their walls, and as nearly all Peloponnesus had declared in favour of Cassander, he went to Thrace, where he took the Chersonesus from Lysimachus, and allied him- self with Seleucus of Syria, by whose aid he gained several advantages in Asia. In the meantime Leochares, supported by Cassander, had set himself up as tyrant at Athens, and w^as conducting himself with unexampled fury and cruelty. When Demetrius was informed of this, he quickly hastened to Athens, and took the city by storm. Ptolemy, who had come to assist the tyrant, was obliged to retreat. This happened in b. c. 295 ; and Demetrius, on entering the city, to the great astonishment of all, pardoned their past con- duct, and distributed one hundred thousand bushels of grain among the famishing people. But to secure himself for 344 HISTORY OF GREECE. the future, he placed strong garrisons at Munychia and Piraeus, and fortified the hill of the Museum. He then marched into Peloponnesus, and appeared before the gates of Sparta, when again he was suddenly obliged to turn his atten- tion in a different direction. Cassander of Macedonia died in B. c. 296, and was succeeded by his son, Philip IV., who, how- ever, died the year after, leaving the succession disputed by his two brothers, Antipater and Alexander. Antipater, the elder, killed his mother Thessalonice, a daughter of king Philip, because he believed her to favour his brother. Here- upon Alexander applied for assistance to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, and to Demetrius. In the meantime, Antipater, who had fled to Lysimachus for support, was murdered, and Alexander, finding the presence of Demetrius in Macedonia inconvenient, tried to get rid of him. But Demetrius anti- cipated him ; he slew him, and ascended the throne of Macedonia himself, b. c. 294. He then drove Pyrrhus back into his own kingdom, and reigned for a period of seven years, during which nearly all Greece paid homage to him and his son Antigonus Gonatas. Not satisfied with his empire, he formed the plan of reconquering what he and his father had lost in Asia. Pyrrhus was induced to make war against him by the princes wdiose dominions were threatened by Demetrius ; and when the armies met, the troops of Demetrius went over to Pyrrhus, who was extremely popular in Macedonia. Pyrrhus now took possession of the throne, b. c. 287 ; but after the lapse of seven months, he too was expelled by Lysimachus, who then ruled over Macedonia for five years, from B.C. 286 to 281. Demetrius never returned to Macedonia ; but after various misfortunes, he died as a prisoner of Seleucus in Syria, B.C. 283. 7. At the time when Pyrrhus was raised to the throne of Macedonia, Athens again rose to assert her freedom. The Museum was stormed, the garrisons were expelled from the port-towns, and the Macedonians w^ere defeated near Eleusis. LYSIMACHUS. 345 Pyrrhns, who was well disposed towards the Athenians, allowed them the enjoyment of their ancient freedom. Demo- chares, returning from exile, managed the affairs of his country till about b. c. 280 in the most admirable manner, and for a time Athens once more enjoyed the happiness of former and better days. Lysinyichus concluded a treaty of friendship with her, and did not interfere with her adminis- tration, in which law and order had been restored. After expelling Pyrrhiis, he united Macedonia with his dominions in Thrace and Asia, but domestic misfortunes brought about his downfall. At the instigation of his second wife Arsinoe, he put to death his excellent son Agathocles, whose wife Lysandra fled to Seleucus imploring him to avenge the death of her husband. In the ensuing war, a decisive battle was fought, in B. c. 281, at Cyrupedion near Sardes, in which Lysimachus was defeated and killed. Seleucus was now anxious to gain possession of Macedonia and Thrace, but was assassinated near Lysimachia on the Hellespont by Ptolemy Ceraunus, a son of Ptolemy Soter, who had been deprived of the succession in -Egypt by the intrigues of his mother Bere- nice. Ptolemy Ceraunus now ascended the throne of Mace- donia, compelled the widow of Lysimachus to marry him, and caused her children to be murdered before her own eyes. But he did not enjoy his bloody tyranny more than two years. 8. This was the time of a great migration of the Celts, some of whom came down upon the plains of Lombardy, while others descended into the peninsula south of mount Haemus. In b. c. 280 a swarm of them invaded Macedonia, and in an engagement with them Ptolemy Ceraunus lost his life ; but Sosthenes, the brave Macedonian general, checked their victorious progress. Another army, however, of the same race of barbarians marched southward with the intention of plundering the temple of Delphi, while one detach- ment marched into ^tolia. The Greeks were resolved to 346 HISTORY OF GREECE. defend themselves against the invading hordes. When the barbarians approached Delphi, in B.C. 279, they are said to have been terror-struck by the same miraculous phenomena which had saved that city during the invasion of Xerxes. They suffered immensely, their king Brennus fell, and the remaining hosts dispersed, some settling on the Danube, others in Thrace, and others again crossing over into Asia Minor, where in after times they were known by the name of the Galatians. 9. After the fall of Ptolemy Ceraunus, in b. c. 280, Antigonus Gonatas ascended the throne of Macedonia, of which he maintained possession until his death in b. c. 239, with the interruption of a period of two years (b. c. 274-272), during which Pyrrhus, after his return from Italy, occupied it ; but when Pyrrhus had fallen at Argos, Antigonus remained the acknowledged ruler of the kingdom and of Greece, though in the latter country his authority had to be established by force of arms, and even this succeeded only partially. As soon as peace and order were restored in Macedonia, he had to undertake a war against Athens, which had recovered its independence during the first reign of Pyrrhus. The war broke out in b. c. 269, apparently because the Athenians refused to admit a Macedonian garrison. Although they were supported by Sparta and the king of Egypt, they were com- pelled, in B. c. 262, after a siege of seven years, to surrender, and Macedonian garrisons again entered Munychia, Piraeus, and the Museum. But Antigonus treated the city with com- parative mildness, for he did not interfere with its democratic constitution, and soon afterwards even evacuated the Museum. The presence of the garrisons hi the port-towns, however, daily reminded the Athenians of their real condition. This state of things lasted until b. c. 229, when Aratus, then at the head of the Achaean league, prevailed upon the Macedonian commander, by means of a bribe, to evacuate the port-towns. SPARTA. 347 Athens then, though free, was politically too weak to join the Achaean league, as Aratus wished. But she nevertheless remained the intellectual centre of Greece, and it was owing in a great measure to her influence that Rhodes, Alexandria, Antioch, and Pergamus began to foster and cherish the arts and literature of Greece. CHAPTER XIII. MACEDONIA AND GREECE, DOWN TO THEIR CONQUEST BY THE ROMANS. 1. After her struggle with Antigonus Gonatas, Athens withdrew from the scene of great political events ; but Sparta had still to pass through a succession of violent changes and revolutions, which both darken and brighten the last period of her history. The ancient constitution of Lycurgus was still preserved, but its observance was a mere matter of form ; its spirit had long ceased to exercise any influence upon the Spartans. The ephors had become the highest authority in the state, and the kings, who were little more than the representatives of two ancient families, some- times w^ent out as commanders of bands of adventurers, and sold their services to foreign states. The number of Spartan citizens had become enormously reduced, and all the w^ealth of the country was possessed by a few families, and in some instances had fallen into the hands of women, who, as wealthy heiresses, attracted more attention and exercised more influence than was compatible with the good of the state. Although, throughout the Macedonian period, Sparta had with a considerable degree of firmness resisted the demands of the Macedonian rulers, still she did nothing for 34i< HISTORY OF GREECE. the liberation of Greece, and in the time of Demetrius, she escaped being conquered by him only by an accident. Sparta was then surrounded by walls, which alone shews that the ancient spirit of its citizens was gone. Once only, during the invasion of Peloponnesus by Pyrrhus, the Spartans showed that their ancient valour had not quite vanished. 2. This wretched condition of the state induced king Agis IV. (b.c. 244-241) to attempt a thorough reform of the constitution. Supported by the ephor Lycurgus and the younger generation of the Spartans, he carried several laws to relieve the poor, who were overwhelmed with debt ; a fresh division of the land was to be made ; four thousand five hundred lots were to be set apart for the Spartans, whose numbers were to be supplemented by Laconians, and fifteen thousand for the Laconians. This and other measures were meant to revive the spirit of the ancient constitution. His colleague Leonidas, who opposed the reforms, was deposed and sent across the frontier, and all obstacles seemed to be removed. But during an expedition which Agis undertook against the Achaeans, Leonidas was recalled by a party at Sparta, and Agis on his return was treacherously seized and put to death, together with his mother and grandmother. His wife Agiatis, who was as enthusiastic for reforms as her husband had been, afterwards married Cleomenes IIL (b.c. 236-220), the last Heracleid king. Cleomenes now completed by force the work commenced by Agis. He began by causing the ephors to be murdered, and then carried the cancelling of debts and the distributicm of the land without opposition. Everything went on successfully and promised the return of a happy age, when a war with the Achaean league brought about the downfall of Cleomenes and of Sparta. 3. Throughout the historical period of Greece, the Achaeans had acted a subordinate part ; but at the time of the Macedonian domination they appear to have conceived the THE ACHAEAN LEAGUE. 349 idea that union alone could save Greece, and prevent the country from becoming a mere province of Macedonia. Twelve towns of Achaia had from early times formed a sort of loose confederacy ; but in b.c. 280 four of them drew more closely together for the express purpose of driving the Mace- donians from Peloponnesus. In b.c. 275 other towns joined the league, the importance of which continued to increase, until it reached its most flourishing point in b.c. 251, when Aratus became its strategus, and united his native city of Sicyon wdth the confederacy. According to the constitution of the league, all the members formed one state, at the head of which was a strategus, the central government being at ^gion. The cities composing the league, both large and small, had one vote each, and sent their deputies annually. The strategus, who had the executive and the supreme com- mand in war, was assisted by two other officers, the hipparchus and the secretary, and by a senate, in which each town was represented by one deputy. This league and its constitution, though it was not free from serious defects, and the conduct of the best of its strategi, continued for a comparatively long period to enjoy the respect of foreign powers as well as of the Greeks themselves. 4. A similar league was formed among the ^Etolians about the same time ; but its objects were not so patriotic, for the .^Etolians did not look beyond the promotion of their own interests. The ^tolians were distinguished for their bra- very and energy ; but had remained behind in the career of Greek civilisation, and were in fact semi-barbarians. The constitution of their league resembled that of the Achaeans, and was essentially democratic ; its annual meetings were held at Thermos. The power of this league rose very rapidly, for Phocis, the Ozolian Locrians, the Cephallenian islands, and portions of Acarnania, Thessaly, and Peloponnesus, belonged to it. The ^tolians, like the Achaeans, pretended indeed to fight 350 HISTORY OF GREECE. against foreign influence and on behalf of tlie independence of Greece, but tliey were rude, quarrelsome, faithless, and, above all, bent upon plunder and rapine. 5. From the year b. c. '251, Aratus was the soul of the Achaean league, even when he was not invested with the office of strategQS, to which he was elected twelve times. The object which he steadily pursued was to destroy the power of the tyrants who, during that period, set themselves up in nearly all the Greek cities under the protection of Macedonia, and to unite all Peloponnesus under one democratic constitu- tion. He effected much as a statesman by his prudence and eloquence, but he was wanting in resolution and personal courage. In b. c. 243, when he was strategus for the second time, he expelled the Macedonian garrison from Acrocorinthus, and prevailed upon the Corinthians, and soon afterwards upon the Megarians, to join the Achaean confederacy. About the year b. c. 226, when Aratus was strategus for the eleventh time, the league had gained, besides, the towns of Troezen, Epidaurus, Phlius, Hermione, and Argos. Three years before, he had delivered Athens from its Macedonian garrison, though that city was not able to join the confederacy. During this period the ^tolians evinced a spirit hostile to the Achaeans, and even went so far as to conclude a treaty with Antigonus Gonatas about a division of Achaia. In the meantime the reforms of Cleomenes not only strengthened Sparta internally, but increased her power and influence among the neighbour- ing states of Peloponnesus. Argos and Mantineia were sub- dued, and Cleomenes strove to recover for Sparta her ancient supremacy in the peninsula. Sparta thus aimed at the same object as Aratus, and a conflict was unavoidable. Neither party was willing to give way, and in b. c. 224 the Achaeans not only resolved upon visn against Sparta, but Aratus so far forgot the objects of the Achaean league as to solicit the aid of Macedonia. ANTIGOXUS DOSON. 6i>l 6. Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedonia, had died in B. c. 239, and had been succeeded by his son Demetrius, who reigned until b. c. 229. At his death, his son Philip was still under age, and the guardianship was undertaken by Antigonus Doson, who faithfully discharged his duties as regent and guardian until b. c. 220, when Philip ascended the throne. Aratus had been in negotiation with Antigonus Doson even before war was declared against Sparta, and the king had readily promised his assistance. When the war broke out, Cleomeneswas eminently successful, and defeated the Achaeans in three battles. Many towns fell into his hands, and he then laid siege to Acrocorinthus. He neglected no opportunity of offering to enter into negotiations for peace; but Aratus was short-sighted enough to surrender Acrocorinthus to Antigonus Doson, who demanded that fortress as a pledge and as a point from which he might carry on his military operations. As the iEtolians were in the possession of the pass of Thermo- pylae, Antigonus had to take a circuitous route, but when he arrived on the Isthmus, his presence changed the whole aspect of things. Cleomenes offered a brave resistance, but was obliged to return to Sparta in consequence of his wife's death. In the spring of the following year, b. c. 223, Antigonus set out for Arcadia, and being joined by the Achaeans he took possession of several important towns with- out Cleomenes being able to prevent it. In the following winter, however, the Spartan king gained some advantages, and in the spring of b. c. 222, he advanced up to the very gates of Argos. But soon after, Antigonus invaded Laconia with an army of thirty thousand men. Cleomenes had pitched his camp at Sellasia, north of Sparta, and here a great battle was fought, B.C. 221, in which Philopoemen of Megalopolis, then serving in the army of the Achaeans, decided the victory. Cleomenes escaped with only a few horsemen to Sparta, but not feeling safe, he sailed to his friend, king 352 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ptolemy III. at Alexandria, by Avhom he expected to be sup- ported in continuing the war ; but Ptolemy died soon after, and his successor, a voluptuous libertine, kept Cleomenes like a prisoner. An attempt to excite the people of Alexandria against their contemptible ruler failed, and Cleomenes and his friends in despair made away with themselves, b. c. 220. His mother and children, who had followed him to Alexandria, were put to death, and died in a manner worthy of Sparta. After the victory of Sellasia, Antigonus took Sparta without resistance. Respect for its past glory induced the conqueror to treat it with moderation. The ancient constitution was restored, and the ephoralty revived ; but the line of Heracleid kings had become extinct, and Sparta had to keep a Macedonian garrison. Immediately after this Antigonus was recalled to Macedonia, which had in his absence been attacked by the Illyrians. 7. The battle of Sellasia had indeed broken the power of Sparta, but the independence of the Achaean league was like- wise gone, for Acrocorinthus, one of the three fetters of Greece, remained in the hands of the Macedonians, and the Achaeans could undertake nothing without their sanction — and all this was the work of the short-sighted policy of Aratus. Anti- gonus Doson died in b. c. 220, and the throne was then occupied by Philip V., the son of Demetrius, who was only seventeen years old. He was a quick and enterprising young man, who, in the course of his long reign, from b. c. 220 to 179, displayed great military abilities. The beginning of his reign is marked by the outbreak of what is called the Social War, which was occasioned by Sparta. Lycurgus obtained by purchase from the ephors the dignity of king, and after having got rid of the last member of the Heracleid family, and constituted himself sole king of Sparta, he entered into an alliance with the ^tolians against the Achaeans and Macedonians. Aratus took the field ao-ainst the iEtolians, THE SOCIAL AVAK. 353 who had ah-eady invaded Arcadia, but was defeated, and the ^tolians meeting with no further opposition returned across the Isthmus, ravaging the country as they advanced. This happened in b. c. 220, and was the beginning of the Social War, in which the Achaeans, supported by Philip, the Boeo- tians, Phocians, Epirots, Acarnanians, and Messenians, fought against the iEtolians, Spartans, and Eleans, for a period of three years. In b. c. 219 Philip himself entered ^toliawith an army, and ravaged the country as far as the mouth of the Achelous. In the following winter he invaded Elis and Arcadia, where he destroyed the strongholds of the ^tolians, while they made inroads into Epirus and Achaia. In the spring of B.C. 218 Philip again entered ^tolia, and having taken Thermos, its capital, traversed Peloponnesus to its southernmost point. But when he left the peninsula, the iEtolians reduced tlie Achaeans to great straits ; and in addi- tion to this, Philip, whose attention was attracted by the Hannibalian war in Italy, was anxious to get rid of the petty disputes among the Greeks, and concluded, in b. c. 217, a peace with the ^tolians, who were to surrender to him Acar- nania, but retained the undisturbed possession of all other places they had conquered. The Achaeans, who were thus abandoned to their fate, were naturally displeased with the king's measure. Aratus remonstrated with him for his con- duct, but was' soon after silenced for ever by being poisoned by Philip's orders, b. c. 213. 8. Philip's warlike disposition was stimulated by Demetrius of Pharos, who, considering himself wronged by the Romans, had gone to the court of Macedonia. After the battle of Cannae, in b. c. 216, Philip concluded a treaty with Hannibal, in consequence of which a Roman fleet was stationed at Taren- tum, to protect Italy against an invasion from Macedonia. In the following year the Romans gained possession of several towns of Illyricum, though the country still remained subject q2 354 HISTORY OF GREECE. to Macedonia. The Eomans being too much occupied at home to make any great exertions against Philip, stirred up an ene- my against him in Greece, by concluding a treaty with the ^to- lians, B. c. 211. In this new alliance they were joined by the Eleans, Messenians, Lacedaemonians, and by the kings of Illy- ricum, Thrace, and Pergamus, while Philip was supported by the Achaeans, Boeotians, Thessalians, Acarnanians, Epirots, Euboeans, Phocians, Locrians, and by king Prusias of Bithynia. Greeks were thus once more arrayed against Greeks, and fight- ing for the interests of foreigners, who took part in the war only when it suited their convenience. This was the work of the Eomans, who gained several advantages for the ^tolians, and urged them on to continue the war, so that the attempts of the Athenians, Ehodians, and others to bring about a peace led to no results. After the year B.C. 206, the Eomans themselves ceased to take part in the war ; and the consequence was that the ^tolians found themselves obliged to conclude peace with Philip on his own terms, b. c. 205. At length, b. c. 204, a peace was also brought about between Philip and the Eomans, who received some portions of Illyricum, and it was stipulated that neither party should attack the allies of the other. 9. While this war was going on in the north, hostilities had also been continued in Peloponnesus. In b. c. 208 Philopoemen was strategus of the Achaeans ; he was distin- guished both as a statesman and as a general, and acquired extraordinary influence over the Achaeans, who were be- coming weary and indifferent. His first operations were directed against Sparta, where, after the death of the usurper Lycurgus, in b. c. 211, Machanidas had set himself up as tyrant ; he had from the first indulged in hostilities against the Achaeans, but in b. c. 207 Philopoemen defeated him in a great battle near Mantineia. In the same year, Nabis, a bloodthirsty monster, usurped the tyrannis at Sparta, and SECOND WAR BETWEEN MACEDONIA AND ROME. 355 made the city feel all the horrors for which the tyrants of that period are notorious in Greek history. 10. The peace which Philip had concluded with the Romans does not appear to have been made by him with the intention of keeping its terms ; for he deprived the young Egyptian king Ptolemy Epiphanes of his possessions in the north of the ^gean, although he was under the protection of Rome, and not long afterwards he laid siege to Athens, in consequence of the following circumstances : — Two Acarnanian youths, who were staying at Athens, and were believed to have profaned the Eleusinian mysteries, were murdered during the religious excitement of the people. The Acarnanians thereupon, supported by Macedonia, invaded Attica, and ravaged the country. The Athenians, being allied with Attains, king of Pergamus, and with the Rhodians, declared war against Philip, who forthwith proceeded with a fleet to blockade Athens. Assisted by a Roman squadron, the Athe- nians succeeded in repelling him, in revenge for v/hich he destroyed everything he could reach in Attica. The aid of Rome, when formally solicited by the Athenians, was not withheld, and in b. c. 200 the consul Sulpicius Galba com- menced the second war of the Romans against Macedonia. The two belligerent parties had the same allies as before. During the first years the Romans carried on the war without energy, but in b. c. 198 T. Qninctius Flamininus undertaking the command, at once succeeded in gaining over the Achae- ans, so that now both the ^tolians and Achaeans fought on the same side. Flamininus advanced from Epirus into Thessaly, while Philip withdrew into Macedonia. Negotiations were commenced, but as they led to no results, the great battle of Cynoscephalae was fought in b. c. 197, which ended in the total defeat of Philip — a result mainly owing to the valour displayed by the ^tolians during the engagement. Peace was then concluded and sanctioned by the Roman 356 HISTORY OF GREECE. senate, in b. c. 196, on condition that Philip should withdraw all his garrisons from the Greek cities, the most important of which, Acrocorinthus, Demetrias, and Chalcis, were to be occu- pied by the Komans. The Athenians received the islands of Paros, Imbros, Delos, and Scyros, but ^gina was given to Attalus. The ^Etolians made no secret of their dissatisfaction with these arrangements, but openly declared that the fine promises of Flamininus about the freedom of Greece were without meaning so long as the Eomans kept garrisons in the three most important fortresses. 11. In B.C. 196 the Isthmian games happened to be celebrated, and Flamininus on that occasion solemnly pro- claimed before the assembled Greeks the freedom and inde- pendence of their country. The announcement was received with the most extravagant joy and enthusiasm. Flamininus, however, remained in Greece, for Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, being stirred up by Hannibal, was making great preparations for war, and Nabis, the tyrant of Sparta, refused to give up Argos. Flamininus, in conjunction with the Achaeans, soon succeeded in liberating Argos, and even attacked Sparta, while the Khodian and Pergamenian fleets took possession of the maritime towns of Laconia. These losses obliged Nabis to submit to a peace, dictated by Flami- ninus, B. c. 195. He was deprived of the maritime towns, which were declared free, and had to pay a heavy sum of money, but he nevertheless remained tyrant. As he was always hostile to the Achaeans, who had assisted in conquer- ing him, they complained of the leniency of Flamininus towards him, and in this sentiment they were joined by the ^tolians. In b. c. 194 the Komans indeed evacuated the three fortresses, but the ^tolians nevertheless urged Nabis on to recover the maritime towns which had been ceded to the Achaeans. A war thus arose between the tyrant and the Achaeans, and the latter being commanded by Philopoemen, THE J5T0LIAN LEAGUE BROKEN. 357 blockaded their enemy in the city of Sparta. The ^tolians, who ostensibly came to his succour, murdered him, and took possession of the citadel ; but the Spartans recovered it by storm, and nearly all the ^Etolians were cut to pieces. During the confusion Philopocraen made himself master of the city and of Laconia, and in B.C. 192 added both to the Achaean league, which now embraced the whole of Peloponnesus. J 2. The ^tolians entertaining an implacable hatred against the Komans, invited An tiochus, king of Syria, to come to Greece, the conquest of which they represented to him as a matter of no great diHiculty. In b. c. 192 Antiochus arrived, and many of the Greeks at once joined him ; but he was not provided with a sufficient army, nor did he act with sufficient quickness and de- cision. In the spring of B.C. 191 he was defeated by the consul M.'Acilius Glabrio at Thermopylae, and immediately returned to Chalcis, whence he crossed over into Asia. But the Romans did not allow his invasion of Greece to pass with impunity, as we shall see in the history of Rome. Another victory was soon gained over the ^tolians, who were thus compelled to sue for peace. A truce was at length, b.c. 190, granted to them for six months ; and when at the expiration of it they recommenced hostilities, the Romans at last, in b. c. 189, compelled them to accept the following terms: — To recognise the supremacy of Rome, to conclude an offensive and defensive alliance, to dismiss from their confederacy all the towns out of ^tolia, and to pay a heavy sum of money to defray the expenses of the war. The power of the ^tolian confederacy was thus for ever annihilated, though the league continued a weak and helpless existence for a long time afterwards. 13. In B. c. 188, a few years after the capture of Sparta by Philopoemen, a fresh war broke out between the Achaeans and Spartans, because the latter had taken forcible possession of one of the coast towns. Both parties referred the case to Rome, 358 HISTORY OF GREECE. bnt received equivocal answers, until in the end Pliilopoemen restored a number of persons who had been exiled by Nabis, / put the leaders of the anti-Achaean party to death, and made several violent reforms, going even so far as to compel the Spartans to abolish the ancient constitution of Lycurgus, and establish a democracy. The Spartans bore these wanton insults with deep but suppressed indignation, as they were unable to offer resistance, or to obtain aid from the Eomans. In B. c. 183, the Messenians revolted against the Achaeans. Philopoemen marched against them ; but on his way he was surprised and overpowered by some Messenian horse- men, who conveyed him in a dying state to Messene. The enraged Messenians ordered him to be put to death, and he drained the poison-cup with calmness and intrepidity. He was succeeded in the office of strategus by Lycortas, father of the historian Polybius, under whom the Achaeans recon- quered Messene, and took revenge for the murder of Philo- poemen, by putting to death the most conspicuous among the Messenians. But peace and order were not restored by such measures, and the time was fast approaching when the mighty hand of Eome was to silence all disputes, by depriving the several states of all power of action. 14. Philip of Macedonia had for a time quietly submitted to the humiliating peace dictated to him by the Romans ; but towards the end of his life he resolved once more to try the fortune of war, and made active preparations. He was, how- ever, prevented from taking decisive steps by a quarrel between his two sons, Demetrius and Perseus. The latter persuaded his father that Demetrius was conspiring against him, and the king was induced to consent to Demetrius being put to death. When the king discovered the deceit which had been prac- tised upon him, he was seized with the deepest grief, and died shortly after, b. c. 179, leaving the kingdom to his only sur- viving son Perseus. The new monarch continued the prepara- DOWNFALL OF MACEDONIA. 359 tions which had already been commenced, for he hated the Romans even more intensely than his father ; but seven years elapsed before hostilities were actually begun. Perseus was a man of considerable talent, but trusted too much to himself, and could not be prevailed upon to part with his money when it was required, and these circumstances brought about the final over- throw of his kingdom. He had formed connections with the kings of Illyricum, Thrace, Syria, Bithynia, with the princes and towns of Epirus and Thessaly, and even with Carthage and the Celtic tribes on the Danube. His plans were admirable. The Greeks, except the Boeotian towns, had not the courage to join the alliance against Rome. The first three years of the war which broke out in B.C. 171, passed away without any great advantage being gained by either party, though fortune seemed to favour Perseus. This circumstanc ', and the fact that the war was protracted so long, at last excited among the Greeks a general feeling in favour of Macedonia ; but his niggardliness deprived him of his most valuable allies, and obliged him to fight single-handed. In b. c. 168, L. ^milius Paullus defeated Perseus with great loss in the decisive battle of Pydna. The vanquished king fled with his treasures to the island of Samothrace, but was overtaken and surrendered. Paullus treated him mildly, but afterwards took him to Italy, where he adorned the triumph of his conqueror, and spent the remainder of his life in honourable captivity. Macedonia was now divided into four independent districts for the pur- pose of weakening the country ; the people had to pay tribute, but their form of government Avas democratic. 15. During this last Macedonian war, the Achaeans, though reluctantly, had fought on the side of the Romans. But the miserable party spirit among them induced some of their number to denounce a great many as having openly or secretly favoured Perseus. These denunciations led to a regular inquisition in the Achaean towns, and upwards of one 360 HISTORY OP GREECE. thousand Acliaeans, one of whom was Polybius, the historian, were sent to Rome to answer for their conduct. But instead of being tried they were kept as hostages in Italy, until in B. c. 151 the surviving three hundred were allowed to return to their country. The ^tolians, who were likewise suspected of having favoured Macedonia, were treated with still greater severity, for five hundred and fifty of the most distinguished were put to death, and many more were carried away into captivity. 16. The final decision of the fate of Greece was brought about by Athens. From mere want and poverty, the Athenians plundered Oropos, a town in their own territory. A complaint against them was brought before the Eoman senate, which appointed a commission of Sicyonians to inquire into the matter. As the Athenians refused to appear before the commissioners they were sentenced to pay a fine of five hundred talents. Being unable to raise this heavy sum they sent ambassadors to Rome petitioning the senate to cancel the sentence ; and the fine was actually reduced to one hundred talents. This hap- pened in B.C. 155. Soon afterwards the Athenians renewed their outrage on Oropos, which now applied for redress to the Achaeans. A threatening decree passed against Athens by the Achaeans at length secured Oropos from further attacks of the Athenians. About the same time the possession of the town of Belmina became the cause of fresh hostilities between the Achaeans and Lacedaemonians. The Spartans would have sustained serious losses had it not been for the treachery of the Achaean strategus Democritus, who was succeeded bj'- Diaeus, a most implacable enemy of the Romans. In e. c. 149, Andriscus, a Thracian of low origin, came forward as a pretender to the throne of Macedonia, assuming the name of Philip, and declaring himself to be a son of the late king Perseus. The man succeeded in making the Macedonians believe his story, and, tired of the Roman yoke, they flocked around his standard. At first he was successful against the DESTRUCTION OF CORINTH. 861 Romans ; but in b. c. 148 he was conquered by Caecilius Me- tellus, whose triumph he afterwards adorned at Rome. Mace- donia was now constituted a Roman province. While this war against the Pseudo-Philip was going on, the Greeks continued their petty but bitter hostilities ; and Metellus, who wished them well, desired them to keep peace, and promised that their affairs should be inquired into by a Roman commissioner. But when the Roman ambassadors appeared before the assembled Achaeans at Corinth, their demand was received with scorn and insolence. A second embassy sent by Metellus fared no better, and the thoughtless Achaeans declared war against the Romans. Metellus, in b. c. 147, after the reduction of Mace- donia and Thessaly, marched with his army into Boeotia. The Achaean strategus Critolaus had intended to occupy Ther- mopylae, but arrived too late, and was routed near Heracleia. He rallied again in Locris, but was defeated a second time, and perished in endeavouring to escape. 17. The Achaeans were in despair ; but the time had now come wdien they had to atone for their rash and inconsiderate mode of acting. While Metellus was advancing from the north, a Roman fleet landed a force in Peloponnesus, which laid waste the country. Diaeus assembled the last forces of the Achaean league in the neighbourhood of Corinth, and even armed a body of twelve thousand slaves. Metellus remained some time in Boeotia, where he punished the Thebans for having taken part in the war, by destroying their city. He then adv^anced towards Megara, and once more tried what peaceful means would do. But the infatuated Diaeus rejected all proposals. During this interval the command of Metellus passed into the hftnds of L. Mummius, a rude soldier who had no sympathy with the Greeks. He at once, in B.C. 146, occupied the Isthmus with an army of twenty-three thousand foot and three thousand five hundred horse ; and in the battle of Leucopetra, in the neighbourhood of Corinth, the 362 HISTORY OF GREECE. fate of Greece was decided for ever. When Diaeus, wlio had fought with the courage of despair, found that all w^as lost, he fled with a small band to his native city of Megalo- polis, where he killed his wife, took poison, and then set fire to his house. Three days after the battle, Mummius entered the city of Corinth, which he ordered to be sacked and destroyed by fire ; all the male inhabitants were massacred, and the rest of the population sold as slaves. The Roman commissioners declared the Achaean and all other confedera- cies in Greece to be dissolved, and the territory of Corinth became domain land of the Eoman republic. The ravages and devastation caused by the Roman soldiers in Pelopon- nesus after the fall of Corinth were fearful, and many a town shared its fate. Greece, however, was not at once con- stituted a Roman province ; indeed this step does not seem to have been taken until the time of Sulla. Many of the severe measures w^hich were adopted at first were afterwards relaxed, and a number of Greek cities enjoyed a kind of freedom even under the supremacy of Rome. The political life of Greece, however, was now extinguished, and whatever advantages it continued to enjoy, w^ere owing to the reve- rence with which civilised nations viewed it, and to its pre- eminence in arts and literature, which to some extent continued to flourish in the country in which they had first reached their highest perfection. 363 CHAPTER XIV. ASIA AND EGYPT UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 1. After the battle of Ipsus, in b.c. 301, the whole of the vast empire of Alexander the Great was finally broken up into four great monarchies : Macedonia, of which we have already given the history ; Syria under Seleiicus and his successors ; Egypt under the Ptolemies ; and Thrace under Lysimachus ; while in Asia Minor there were formed a few less important kingdoms or principalities, such as Pontus, Perga- mus, Bithynia, and Cappadocia. The Thracian kingdom of Ijysimachus, as we have seen, was of very brief duration, while the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt continued their independent existence longest, until, with the rest of the ancient world, they were swallowed up by the all-absorbing power of Rome. 2. The founder of the Syrian dynasty was Seleucus, surnamed Nicator ; its era is commonly dated from the year b.c. 312, when Seleucus recovered Babylon. After long and successful wars, he succeeded in uniting under his sceptre all the countries from the Indus to the Hellespont. The ancient country of Syria, however, was the seat of the government ; he there built the magnificent capital of Anti- och on the river Orontes, which was rivalled in splendour only by Seleucia on the Tigris. These and about forty other cities founded by Seleucus and his successors tended to spread and establish Greek civilisation in the East. We have already seen* that when attempting to make himself master of Macedonia, he was assassinated in b.c. 280, by * P. 345. 364 HISTORY OF GREECE. Ptolemy Cerauniis, at Lysimachia. He was succeeded by his son Antiochus Soter (b.c. 280-261), under whom we already meet with the usual horrors of an eastern court, which continued ever after to disgrace these Hellenistic rulers of Asia. The immense wealth accumulated in Syria from the wealthy pro- vinces of the East, also created oriental luxury and effeminacy, which again fostered an abject and servile spirit among the people, manifesting itself in the basest flatteries towards their degenerate rulers, who were addicted to all the vices of eastern despots. Acts of bloody cruelty, the dominion of women and favourites, general moral corruption, together with disastrous wars against Egypt and the nations of Asia Minor, form the main topics of the history of the Syrian empire. Antiochus Soter fell in a battle against the Celts of Asia Minor, and was succeeded by his son Antiochus Theos (the god), who reigned from b. c. 261 till 246, carried on a war against Egypt, and was murdered by his own wife. In his reign, about b.c. 250, Arsaces founded the Parthian empire, and Bactria also became an independent kingdom, whereby the Syrian monarchy was considerably reduced. Antiochus was succeeded by Seleucus II., surnamed Callinicus, from b. c. 246 till 226, who began his reign by murdering his step- mother and her infant son. This involved him in a war with Ptolemy Euergetes of Egypt, who not only made himself master of all Syria, but carried his arms beyond the Tigris. Ptolemy however was obliged to return to his own kingdom, and this enabled Seleucus to recover the greater part of what he had lost. His brother Antiochus Hierax attempted to establish an independent kingdom for himself in Asia Minor ; this led to a war between the brothers, in which Antiochus was defeated. Seleucus then endeavoured to subdue Parthia and Bactria, but was unsuccessful, and those kingdoms after- wards dated their independence from this time. Attains of Pergamus, in the meantime, likewise extended his principality ANTIOCHUS THE GEEAT. 365 at the expense of Syria. Seleucus died by an accidental fall from his horse, and was succeeded by Seleucus III. (Cerau- nus), from b. c. 226 to 223, who was an imbecile both in body and mind, and was murdered by two of his own officers. 3. The Syrian throne was now occupied by a brother of Seleucus III., Antiochus III., surnamed the Great, who reigned from b. c. 223 till 187. He is the only one among the Seleucidae who was not quite unworthy of the throne he filled. As he was only fifteen years old at his accession, attempts were made in various parts of his empii'e to throw off the yoke and gain independence. His first undertakings were directed against the revolted satraps, who were sub- dued ; but an attempt to wrest Phoenicia and Palestine from Egypt was unsuccessful, and he had to give up those countries in consequence of his defeat at Gaza, in b. c. 217. In Asia Minor he had to combat Achaeus, who had for a time maintained himself as an independent ruler, but was finally conquered by Antiochus, B.C. 214. His most important undertaking, however, was a seven years' war, from B. c. 212 to 205, in which he endeavoured to recover the revolted provinces of eastern Asia. He met indeed with great success, but found it impossible to subjugate the Parthian and Bactrian kingdoms, and accordingly concluded a peace witli them, in which their independence was finally recognised. On his return he renewed the war with Egypt, and this time he was more successful, for he conquered Coele- Syria and Palestine. In b. c. 196 he crossed over into Europe and made himself master of the Thracian Chersonesus. The Romans indeed demanded of him to restore this conquest to Macedonia ; but Antiochus, being urged on by Hannibal, who in B. c. 195 arrived at his court, refused, and began to think of attacking the Romans themselves. The execution of this plan, however, was delayed until b. c. 192, when, on the invitation of the .^tolians he again crossed over into Europe. 386 HISTORY OF Greece. However great he may have been in his eastern campaigns, it is certain that during his invasion of Greece, from which he was driven by a defeat at Thermopylae in B.C. 191, and the whole of the remainder of his reign, we are not informed of any action that could raise him above the ordinary range of eastern despots. His fleet also suffered two defeats, and he himself was finally conquered by the two Scipios, in b. c. 190, in a battle near Magnesia, at the foot of mount Sipylus. This battle broke the power of the Syrian empire for ever, for the king had to give up all his dominions west of mount Taurus, to surrender his elephants and ships of war, and to pay the heavy sum of fifteen thousand talents. He was killed a few years later during his attempt to rob a wealthy temple of its treasures, and was succeeded by his son Seleucus IV., sur- named Philopator, who reigned from b. c. 187 to 175. 4. The Syrian empire, thus reduced within narrow limits, continued to exist for more than a century under a long suc- cession of contemptible rulers, whose history is full of atro- cious crimes, and who continued from time to time to be involved in wars with Egypt about the possession of Phoenicia and Palestine, the eternal bone of contention between Egypt and Syria. After the time of Antiochus the Great the power and influence of Rome in the affairs of the kingdom increased from year to year, until in b. c. 65 Pompey made the kingdom a Eoman province, and deposed its last king Antiochus XIII. , surnamed Asiaticus. The kingdom, composed as it was of most heterogeneous elements, without any internal bond of union, could be kept together by the sword alone, and as the warlike character of the Syrian rulers began to disappear soon after the foundation of the empire, its fate could not possibly have been other than that which history reveals to us ; the provinces which felt strong enough, asserted and maintained their independence as distinct states, and the remainder fell an easy prey to the Romans. KINGDOMS IN ASIA MINOR. 367 5. Independently of the eastern kingdoms of Partliia and Bactria, wliich were formed out of provinces of the Syrian empire, some minor states sprang up in Asia Minor. The greater part of that vast peninsula had been united by Lysi- machus with his kingdom of Thrace ; but during the wars in which he was involved during the later years of his life, a large portion of it fell into the hands of Seleucus, while in other parts independent principalities arose, such as — (1.) The state of the Galatians, formed by bands of Celtic tribes, which, after ravaging Macedonia and Greece, had migrated into Asia Minor, and established themselves there by their victory over Seleucus near Ancyra, in b. c. 280. (2.) The kingdom of Pergamus ; its first rulers, Attains and Eumenes, were wise and brave, and extended their dominion in all directions. The Pergamenian court was on a small scale what the Alexandrian was on a large scale. The kings watched over the material interests of their subjects, and patronised the arts and literature by a liberal application of the public money. The library of Per- gamus was, next to that of Alexandria, the most celebrated in the ancient world. The kingdom was allied with Eome at an early period, and its last two kings. Attains III. and IV., stooped to the lowest flatteries towards the Romans, who obliged the last king to bequeath his kingdom to them. (3.) The kingdom of Bithynia was formed about the same time as that of Pergamus, and continued its existence until b. c. 74, when Nicomedes III. bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans. (4.) Armenia became an independent kingdom during the later years of Antiochus the Great. Pontus and Cappadocia had been formed at an earlier period, out of hereditary satra- pies of the Persian empire, and 1?lieir dynasties were connected with the family of the kings of Persia. 6. Egypt had been assigned as a province to Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, surnamed Soter, in b. c. 323. After the murder 368 HISTORY OF GREECE. of Perdiccas, he enlarged his dominions by the conquest of Coele- Syria and Phoenicia. In his defeat by Demetrius off Salamis in Cyprus, Ptolemy lost that important island ; but notwithstanding this reverse, he following the example of Antigonus and Demetrius, assumed the title of king of Egypt, B. c. 306, and this kingdom ever afterwards remained heredi- tary in the dynasty of which he was the founder. After the battle of Ipsus, in which he seems not to have taken a pro- minent part, he devoted himself almost entirely to promoting the internal prosperity of his kingdom, and the cultivation of the arts and sciences, objects which were pursued with equal zeal by his two successors. He made Egypt a great military and maritime state. His capital Alexandria became the great centre of commerce and Greek culture for the eastern and the western world. His most celebrated institution was the Museum, which was connected with the royal palace, and contained the well-known Alexandrian library, and resi- dences for scholars, philosophers, and poets. But he and his two successors, who thus nobly exerted themselves, were, after all, foreigners to the country ; and the men whom they employed to carry out their designs were likewise foreigners — Greeks and Jews. The native Egyptians, though they must to some extent have become hellenized, continued to cherish their inflexible and stubborn hatred of foreigners and foreign institutions, and bore their yoke in sullen seclusion. The splendour of the court of the Ptolemies therefore was, and always remained, an exotic plant, wdiich could not take root in the foreign soil ; and consequently it cannot much surprise us to find that the later Ptolemies abandoned the high objects aimed at by the founders of their dynasty, and employed the treasures of their kingdom in satisfying their sensual pleasures and passions, until in the end the Alexandrian court became as notorious for its immoralities and its horrors, as it was distinguished for its wealth and splendour. THE PTOLEMIES. 369 7. In B. c. 285, Ptolemy Soter abdicated in favour of his youngest son Ptolemy Philadelphus, who reigned from b. c. 285 to 247, to the exclusion of his two elder brothers, Ptolemy Ceraunus and Meleager. His father died in b. c. 283. The long reign of Philadelphus was marked by few events of importance, except the usual hostilities with Syria, and the conclusion of a treaty with the Eomans. His chief care was directed to the internal administration of his kingdom, and to the patronage of literature and the arts. The institutions founded by his father attained, under his fostering care, the highest prosperity. Natural history, in particular, was studied at Alexandria with great ardour, and many important works on science were produced. In his reign the Egyptian priest Manetho wrote a history of Egypt in Greek ; and it is said to have been by the king's command that the sacred writings of the Jews were translated into Greek (the Septuagint). Under him the power of Egypt rose to its greatest height, for his dominions comprised, besides Egypt itself and portions of Ethiopia, Arabia, and Libya, the important provinces of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Cyprus, Lycia, Caria, and the Cyclades ; and in most of these countries he established numerous colonies. Cyrene also became united with his kingdom through a marriage. In his private character, however, Philadelphus does not appear in a favourable light, and his court already exhibited many scenes which show that he and those who surrounded him were becoming demo- ralised and degraded orientals. 8. He was succeeded by his eldest son Ptolemy Euergetes, from B. c. 247 to 222. This king was successful in his wars against Syria ; and the Asiatic provinces of that empire, as far as Bactria and India, submitted to him. From this great expedition he was recalled by news of an insurrection in Egypt. At the same time, his fleet was actively and success- fully engaged in the eastern parts of the Mediterranean. His 370 HISTORY OF GREECE. eastern conquests, however, appear to have again fallen into the hands of Selencns of Syria, and he retained only the maritime parts. Like his father, he maintained friendly relations with Eome, and largely added to the treasures of the Alexandrian library. He was sncceeded by his son Ptolemy Philopator, from b. c. 222 to 205, whose reign was the commencement of the decline of the Egyptian empire. Its very beginning is stained with crimes of the darkest hue. The monarch gave himself up to indolence and luxury, leaving the whole administration in the hands of his ministers. The kingdom rapidly decayed, and Antiochus the Great of Syria, not slow to profit by this state of things, for a time made himself master of Phoenicia and Coele- Syria; but in the end he was defeated and obliged to conclude peace with Egypt. After this Ptolemy, without any restraint, indulged in every vice and debauchery, and his mistresses and favourites were allowed to manage the affairs of the state in whatever way they pleased. But he still continued to some extent to patronise letters, and supported the Eomans with supplies of grain during their second war with Carthage. Philopator was succeeded by his son Ptolemy Epiphanes, from b. c. 205 to 181, who was only five years old at the time of his father's death. The kings of Syria and Macedonia, availing themselves of this opportunity, wrested from Egypt Coele-Syria, the Cyclades, and its possessions in Thrace. The ministers of the young king solicited the intervention of Eome in behalf of their master. The Eomans demanded of the conquerors to restore to Egypt its possessions, but the demand was evaded by private arrangements among the different courts, and in b. c. 193 king Ptolemy married Cleopatra, a Syrian princess. So long as he was under the guidance of wise men things went on pretty fairly, but he soon became tired of such advisers, and having removed them by poison, followed the example set him by his father, until he himself too w^as cut off by poison. THE LATER GREEKS. 371 9. At his death he was succeeded by his infant son Ptolemy Philometor, who reigned till b. c. 146. His mother Cleopatra undertook the regency, and maintained order and tranquillity in the kingdom ; but after her death in b. c. 173, the administratioji was left to unworthy and unprincipled favourites. Henceforth the history of Egypt, whose kings were under the almost absolute control of Rome, consists of a succession of disgusting details, and it may safely be asserted that a more contemptible set of rulers never disgraced a throne than the later Ptolemies. Under their wretched rule the state continued its miserable existence until the year B. c. 30, when the dissolute Cleopatra made away M'ith her- self, and Egypt became a Roman province. 10. After the overthrow of the independence of Greece in the reign of Philip, the father of Alexander, a great change gradually took place in the minds of the Greeks. Their stern notions about the sovereignty of the people, and the position of the citizens, had to undergo considerable modifications. Until then a citizen had been not so much a free individual agent, as a member of a political community, in which the person was absorbed, while every stranger not belonging to the same community was regarded as a being beyond the protection of the law, or even as an enemy. But under the Macedonian and Roman supremacy, the individuality of every man became more important in proportion as his character of citizen lost in value and dignity. With this feeling the undivided interest in the welfare of the state and the all-powerful patriotism of former days likewise disappeared. The narrow democratic communities of single cities were broken up, and enlarged into confederacies; these and the great monarchies which were formed out of the empire of Alexander, and with which many of the scattered Greeks were incorporated, gradually accustomed them to live at peace with their neighbours, to regard themselves as mem- 372 HISTORY OF GREECE. bers of one large state, and to sacrifice the right of govern- ing themselves in petty and turbulent states to the idea of larger political bodies. Even the national feeling of the Greeks, and the strong contrasts between hellenism and bar- barism, were softened down by the amalgamation of the Greeks and Orientals in the monarchies of the successors of Alexander, whence the exclusive Greeks of former times now became to some extent cosmopolites. 11. Their notions about religion had experienced a similar change. The undoubting and child-like faith of the early times, when the gods were conceived as beings that took an interest in the joys and sorrows of mortals, had long since vanished among the higher and educated classes, and was despised as superstitious. The philosophical inquiries, from the time of Socrates downwards, had shaken polytheism to its foundations. Governments attempted to interfere, declaring themselves the defenders and upholders of the ancient national religion, and some philosophers were even punished or banished on the ground of atheism. But it was of no avail ; ancient polytheism could not maintain its ground, and was gradually making way for a purer and holier religion, which was intended to extend its blessings over all mankind, and teach them that they are all governed by one God, whose loving -kindness towards all knows no bounds. BOOK III. HISTORY OF ROME, CARTHAGE, AND THE NATIONS OF WESTERN EUROPE. CHAPTER I. ITALY AND ITS INHABITANTS. 1. Italy is tlie middle one of the three peninsulas in which southern Europe terminates ; it extends from the foot of the Alps to the straits of Sicily, which island itself seems at one time to have formed its southernmost part. The whole penin- sula is traversed by the chain of the Apennines, which, com- mencing at the western extremity of the Alps, run in a south- eastern direction, in such a manner as to constitute as it were the spine of Italy. These mountains, however, do not form a mere ridge rising between the two sides of the peninsula, but form broad plateaus connected by passes. The broad low lands in the north between the Alps and the Apennines, however, do not, either geographically or historically, belong to ancient Italy. The eastern part of the peninsula which sinks down towards the basin of the Adriatic has few and unimportant rivers, and few harbours ; the western part, on the other hand, has many navigable rivers, and is a hilly country with many harbours and bays, which sinks down towards the west and south, to the point where the fertile plain of Campania begins. The Italian peninsula has, on the whole, the same temperate and genial climate as Greece ; it 374 HISTORY OF ROME. is healthy in the hills, and, generally speaking, also in the plains ; but the coasts of Italy are not so richly articulated as those of Greece ; and the sea around it is not studded with those numerous islands, which made the Greeks a mari- time nation. Italy, on the other hand, has superior advan- tages in its rich broad valleys traversed by rivers, and in the fertile slopes of its hills, which are fitted both for agriculture and for pasture. The vast plain in the north between the Apennines and the Alps, which was not regarded as a part of Italy until a very late period, is watered by the river Po and its numerous tributaries. 2. It has already been observed that, when at some remote period of which history furnishes no information, the nations of the Indo-Germanic family migrated into Europe, one branch of it descended from the north upon Italy, and continued its migration southward so long as nature set no insuperable barrier to their progress. The tribes therefore which occupied Italy were akin to those which settled in Greece. This assumption is fully borne out by the languages of the Greeks and Italians, the roots and inflections of which are so much alike, that their original identity cannot be mistaken. This original identity of the nations of Italy and Greece is perhaps most appropriately expressed by the name of Pelasgians, which is given to most of the primitive inhabitants of both Greece and Italy, and may be viewed as the appellation com- mon to all the tribes of the Indo-Germanic stock which ultimately fixed their abodes on the coasts of Asia Minor, the islands of the ^gean, Greece, and Italy. The time when the immigration into the Italian peninsula took place belongs to so remote a period, that not even a tradition about it has been preserved ; and the Italian nations, like most other ancient peoples, regarded themselves as autochthons or earthborn. 3. But although all the original inhabitants of Italy belonged to the same stock, yet in the course of time the THE NATIONS OF ITALY. 375 languages, the chief criterion of nationality, of the different tribes, underwent changes and modifications so great that to the untrained mind they assume the appearance of different languages, while in reality they are only different dialects of the same primitive tongue. So far as our knowledge at present goes, we are enabled to distinguish three original Italian languages, the lapygian, the Etruscan, and the Italian proper, as we may call it, the last of which embraces the dialects of the Latins, Umbrians, Marsians, Volscians, and Sabellians. The languages spoken by all these tribes are but dialects of one and the same branch of the Indo-Germanic stock. That which presents the greatest peculiarities is the lapygian in the extreme south-east of Italy ; it exists in numerous inscriptions which have not yet been deciphered, though it is evident that the language is Indo-Germanic, which also accounts for the facility -svith which the people in that part of Italy afterwards became hellenized. The lapy- gians were no doubt the most ancient inhabitants of Italy, and had been pushed into the south-eastern corner by other immigrants pressing upon them from the north. The central part of the peninsula was inhabited by those nations whose history determines that of the whole, and which may there- fore be termed the Italians. They are divided into two main branches, the Latins and Umbrians, to the latter of which belong the Marsians and all the Samnite or Sabellian tribes. The languages spoken by these tribes formed one distinct group of the Indo-Germanic family, and it was at a compa- ratively late period that it branched out into the different dialects, which we now know partly from inscriptions and partly from the literature of the Eomans. 4. The Etruscans, Tuscans, or Tyrrhenians form the strongest possible contrast to the Latin and Sabellian tribes as well as to the Greeks, and all we know of their manners and customs leads us to infer that they were widely different 376 HISTORY OF ROME. from all the brandies of that' family which we have called Pelasgian. This is more particularly striking in their reli- gion, which was of a gloomy and fantastic character, delight- ing in mysteries, and wild and savage notions and rites. The same striking peculiarities are exhibited in the language of the Etruscans, the numerous remnants of which in inscrip- tions stand so isolated, that as yet no one has been able to decipher them, or to assign to the language, with any degree of certainty, the place which it occupies in the classifi- cation of languages. It is equally impossible to determine from what quarter the Etruscans migrated into Italy, though it is highly probable that they came from the valleys of the Kaetian Alps, the native name of the Etruscans being Easena, which may possibly be connected with Eaetia. That they immigrated from the north, not by sea, is rendered further probable by the fact that all their great towns were built in the interior of the country. There was, however, a tradition in antiquity, according to which the Etruscans were Lydians, who had migrated into Italy from Lydia. But even ancient critics saw the absurdity of this tradition, inasmuch as the religion, the laws, the manners, and the language of the Etruscans did not bear the slightest resemblance to those of the Lydians. It is possible that some band of Asiatic adven- turers landing in Italy may have given rise to the story, but it is more probable that the whole is based upon some mis- take or some etymological speculation, for there existed in Lydia a town called Tyrrha and a tribe called Torrebi. But before the Etruscans immigrated into the country which to this day bears their name, it was probably inhabited by a race more closely akin to the Latins and Sabellians, that is, a people belonging to what we have called the Pelasgian race. 5. It is historically certain, that previously to the great Celtic immigration into Italy, the Etruscans oc- cupied the country north of the river Po, and extended THE NATIONS OF ITALY. 377 eastward as far as the Adige. The country south of the Po was occupied by Umbrians. When the Celtic hordes poured down from the Alps upon the fertile plains of Lom- bardy, the Etruscans being pushed forward pressed upon the Umbrians, and finally settled in Etruria on the south-west of the Apennines. There they completely subdued the pre- viously established race or races, and maintained their own nationality, in spite of the influence of their southern neigh- bours, down to the time of the Roman emperors. In the south the river Tiber separated the Etruscans from Rome, though they are said at different times to have advanced beyond that river, and even into Campania. Bodies of Etrus- cans also are said to have received settlements at Rome, and it can hardly be doubted that the dynasty of the Tarquins, to which the last kings of Rome belonged, was of Etruscan origin ; though it is singular, that during the regal period Etruria exercised no important influence upon either the lan- guage or the customs of the Romans. The Etruscans from very early times applied themselves to navigation, commerce, and industry, in consequence of which their cities rose to a high degree of prosperity and independence ; and this was probably the reason why they were less warlike than the Romans and Sabellians, and began at an early period to avail themselves of the services of mercenaries. The earliest con- stitution of the Etruscan cities seems to have been, on the whole, like that of Rome. Twelve cities, each governed by a lucumo or king, formed a confederacy, which, however, appears to have been very loose ; and in each city the nobles and the commonalty were as fiercely opposed to each other as at Rome. 6. The last immigration into Italy from the north is that of the Celts or Gauls, who, expelling the Etruscans and Um- brians, took possession of the extensive country between the Alps and Apennines, and advanced southward as far as Pice- R 2 378 HISTORY OF ROME. num. The country thus occupied by them bore the name of Gallia Cisalpina, to distinguish it from Gaul beyond the Alps. The time when the Gauls made their first appearance in Italy is not quite certain, though it was probably about the period of the Tarquins. They did not, however, rest satisfied with the country on the north and east of the Apennines, but made frequent attempts upon Etruria and Kome itself, which was once conquered and destroyed by them ; but they never succeeded in permanently establishing themselves on the south or west of the Apennines. 7. The coasts of southern Italy were occupied at an early period by Greek colonies, whence that coimtry is generally designated by the name of Magna Graecia or Great Greece. In the Homeric poems Italy seems to be unknown to the Greeks ; but at the time when the Theogony of Hesiod was composed, they appear to have been well acquainted with the coasts of Italy, and it was probably not long after that the Greeks commenced to establish their colonies there. The most ancient of these settlements was Cumae in Campania, founded by Asiatic merchants as a commercial factory. It is said to have been three hundred years older than Sybaris, which was founded in b. c. 723. But the earliest Greek colony in Italy of which the date is known, is Ehegium, which was founded in b. c. 746 ; this is the most ancient fact in the history of Italy that is chronologically certain. But the founda- tion of these colonies was followed in rapid succession by that of many others; and during the same period the coasts of Sicily also were occupied by Greek settlements. The influ- ence exercised by these colonies upon the civilisation of Italy was immense, and the whole of the south of Italy in particular became completely hellenized, in consequence of the facility with which the Greek language and Greek customs were adopted by the natives. 379 CHAPTER II. THE BEGINNINGS OP ROMAN HISTORY, DOWN TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC. 1. The Latin branch of the Italian nations probably occu- pied at one time the western coast of Italy, from the Tiber to the straits of Sicily, and even a portion of Sicily itself. They appear in history under different names, such as Siculi, Latini, Ausones, and Opici. In the southern parts, as well as in Sicily, their nationality was overpowered by the Greek colonies, in consequence of which they were completely hellenized ; in Campania they were early conquered and subdued by a branch of the Sabellian nation, which established itself in the country, and in conjunction with the Greek colonists modified the national character of the original inhabitants. Hence the Siculi, Ausones, and other southern branches of the Latin race, cannot be expected to act any prominent part in the history of Italy. But in Latium the ease was different ; there no Greek colonies were founded, and the Latins, after hard struggles with their northern and eastern neighbours, the Etruscans, and Sabines (the Sabellians), succeeded in main- taining their independence. Thirty of the towns of Latium formed a political confederacy, of which Alba Longa was the head. The confederates, called populi Albenses^ annually celebrated a common festival in honour of Jupiter Latiaris. Another similar confederacy was that which held its meetings in the grove of Diana at Aricia. In later times the Latins, who had formed these ancient confederacies, called themselves Prisci Latini^ the ancient Latins, to distinguish themselves from the Latin colonies established out of Latium, in different parts of Italy. Rome itself was in all probability originally 380 HISTORY OF ROME. no more than one of tlie tliirty Latin towns belonging to Alba, for wbicli reason it is sometimes called a colony of Alba. 2. The most ancient part of the city of Kome was situated on the Palatine, one of the many hills which rise on both banks of the Tiber, at a distance of about twenty English miles from its mouth. The time of its foundation is unknown, though it was in antiquity, and still is generally assumed, for the sake of convenience, that it was built in the year b.c. 753. But there can be no doubt that Kome as a Latin town had existed long before that time. According to a story which arose in Italy at an early period, and probably owed its origin to the mere fact that the Eomans ethnologically belonged to the same race as the Trojans, the founders of Eome were descended from the Trojan ^neas, who, after the destruction of Troy, had landed with a few followers on the coast of Latium. Numitor, king of Alba Longa, and a descendant of ^neas, says the story, was deprived by his brother Amulius of his throne, and his daughter Rhea Silvia was made a priestess of Vesta, to remove all apprehensions for the future, since, as a vestal, she was not allowed to marry. But the uncle's design was thwarted, for Rhea Silvia became by Mars the mother of twins, Romulus and Remus. Amulius endeavoured to get rid of the infants by exposing them in a basket on the banks of the Tiber, which happened to have over- flowed the country ; but the basket was thrown on dry land, and the babes were suckled by a she-wolf, and afterwards brought up by a shepherd. When they had grown up to manhood, they became through an accident acquainted with their history, and the injustice done to their grandfather. With the aid of their comrades they restored Numitor to the throne of Alba Longa, and built the town of Rome on the Palatine hill, on the left bank of the river Tiber. In a dispute about the name to be given to the new town Romulus slew his brother Remus. This legend is evidently a pure fiction, and ROMULUS. 381 Romulus himself a mere invention to account for the name of Rome, like those we meet with, in innumerable instances, both in Greece and in Italy. 3. The history of Rome, from its foundation to the esta- blishment of the republic, and in many respects down to its destruction by the Gauls, is so much mixed up with poetical and other legends, that it is impossible to say what is historical and what not. The few facts which can be gleaned are derived partly from ancient monuments, and partly from the institutions of later times, which occasionally allow us to catch a glimpse of what must have been the original state of things. We are told that Rome was governed by seven kings before the abolition of royalty ; each king has a fixed number of years assigned to his reign, and certain political, social, and religious institutions are ascribed to him ; but historical criti- cism has shewn that not the slightest reliance can be placed upon these details, for almost everything is arranged symme- trically, whence it is evident that the early history was in later times made up artificially from slender and vague tra- ditions. For, during the Gallic conflagration, about b. c. 390, nearly all the historical monuments perished. This being the case, it would hardly be necessary here to repeat the stories of the several kings, some of whom are purely mythical, were it not that these stories are so often alluded to by writers of all ages and countries. For this reason we shall give a brief outline of them all, accompanying each with a few critical observations to show how much of truth may be con- tained in it. 4. When the little town on the Palatine hill was built, and surrounded by a ditch and a rampart, Romulus, as the story runs, opened an asylum for people of every description, in order to increase the number of inhabitants. Everybody found a welcome reception ; but as few or no women were to be found in the new town, the population would have died out after a 382 HISTORY OF ROME. short time. Eomulns made applications to the neighbouring communities to obtain wives for his subjects, but his pro- posals being treated with contempt, he resolved to obtain by stratagem what was refused to his honourable request. He invited the neighbouring Sabines and Latins to come to Kome to witness certain festive games; and when they were assembled his Eomans fell upon the daughters of their guests, and carried them off by force. In consequence of this, Rome became involved in a war with the Sabines, which, however, was brought to an amicable conclusion by the intervention of the women, who threw themselves between the two armies, and declared themselves willing to share the fate of their new husbands. Peace was then concluded, in which it was agreed that the Romans and Sabines should be united in one state, on condition, however, that each nation should have a king of its own. The Sabines, under their king Titus Tatius, then built a new town for themselves on the Capitoline and Quiri- nal hills, T. Tatius dwelling on the Capitoline, and Romulus on the Palatine. This happy union, however, did not last long, for after some years T. Tatius was slain at Laurentum, and Romulus thenceforth ruled as sole king of Rome, over both the Romans and Sabines. 5. After this Romulus is said to have waged successful wars against Fidenae and the Etruscan town of Veil, the latter of which he compelled to give up a portion of its territory. His reign extended over a period of thirty-eight years, from b. c. 753 to 716, and his death was as marvellous as his birth, for while he was reviewing his people, his father Mars descended in a tempest, and bore him up to heaven. It was afterwards believed that he himself had become a god like his divine father, and that, under the name of Quirinus, he watched over the interests of the state he had founded. The Romans of later times naturally entertained the opinion that Romulus," the founder of their state, was the author of the ground- work NUMA POMPILIUS. 383 of their political constitution. Hence he is said to have divided the whole people into three tribes, the Ramnes, Tides, and Luceres, each tribe into ten curiae, and each curia into a number of gentes. The original senate of one hundred members is said to have been increased to two hundred at the time when the Sabines united with the Romans in one state. The Ramnes in this division are the original Romans (Ramnes being in fact identical with Romani), the Titles are the Sabines, so called from their king T. Tatius. But who the Luceres were is uncertain, nor do we know the exact time when they became incorporated with the other two tribes. Besides the people contained in the three tribes and their sub-divisions, who constituted the sovereign people, v/e hear in the very earliest times of clients and slaves. The clients may be regarded as retainers of certain families or gentes, and the person to whom a client was attached was called his patron (from pafevj a father) — a name which seems to indicate that the relation subsisting between a patron and his client resem- bled that between a father and his son. The plebeians, or the commons of Rome, did not exist in the earliest times, unless we regard the clients as plebeians. 6. After the ascension of Romulus, a whole year is said to have passed away without a successor being elected, until at length the Romans chose, from among the Sabines, the wise and pious Numa Pompilius, who did for religion and the wor- ship of the gods what Romulus had done for the political orga- nisation of the state. His long reign of forty-three years, from B.C. 715 to 672, is described as a period of uninterrupted peace, during which the king was chiefly occupied in esta- blishing the priesthood and the ceremonies connected with the worship of the gods. He first regulated the calendar by the institution of a lunar year of twelve months or three hundred and fifty-five days, of which some were set apart for religious pur- poses; and then instituted the various orders or colleges of priests, 384 HISTORY OF HOME. as the flamines, or priests of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus ; the vestal virgins, the salii of Mars, the pontiffs, who possessed the most extensive powers in all matters connected with religion; and lastly, the college of augurs, whose business it was to ascertain the will of the gods by observing the flight of birds in the air and their manner of feeding. Numerous temples and altars also were built to the gods, and in all these matters Numa is said to have been guided by the counsels of a divine being, the nymph Egeria, who favoured him with her presence in a sacred grove. Amid these pious operations his reign glided away in profound peace, and the temple of Janus, which was built by Numa Pompilius, remained closed throughout the king's reign — a sign tliat Kome was not at war with any nation. There can be no doubt that many of the institutions ascribed in the legend to Numa, had existed from time immemorial among the Latins and Sabines ; his history seems, in fact, to be scarcely less mythical than that of his predecessor. The religion of the Komans, which is almost described as a device of Numa, was in all essential points the same as that of the Greeks — a worship of nature and her various powers personified, but with this difference, that the Greeks, being a more poetical nation, clothed their concep- tions and ideas in the form of numberless stories, of which the Roman religion, in its ancient and pure state, is perfectly free. 7. After the death of Numa Pompilius, the Romans chose TuUus Hostilius for their king from among the Ramnes. His reign, extending from b. c. 672 to 640, was totally opposed in character to that of his predecessor, for he is said to have neglected the worship of the gods, and to have carried on serious w^ars with his neighbours. The first war was that with Alba Longa, the alleged mother-city of Rome. The two little states had indulged in mutual acts of violence, and as repara- tion was refused, arms were resorted to. The contest was for a long time doubtful, till at length the commanders on TULLUS HOSTILIUS. 385 both sides agreed that the dispute should be decided by a combat of three brothers who were serving in the Roman army, and bore the name of Horatii, with three brothers, called Curiatii, in the army of the Albans ; and it was further agreed, that the victorious party should rule over the van- quished. The three champions now came forward on both sides ; and two of the Horatii were soon slain, but the remain- ing one was unhurt, while the three Curiatii were wounded. Horatius then took to flight, and the three Albans pursued him at intervals from one another. Horatius, who had fore- seen this, turned round and slew them one after another. When the Romans were returning home in triumph, Horatius met his sister, who burst into tears when she saw her brother carrying among the spoils a garment she had woven with her own hands for one of the Curiatii, to whom she had been betrothed. Horatius, enraged at her conduct on such an occasion, ran her through with his sword. For this outrage he was tried and sentenced to death ; but he obtained his acquittal by an appeal to the people, who were moved by the thought of what he had gained for his country, and by the entreaties of his father. This beautiful story, so much cherished by the Romans of all ages, is unquestionably no more than a popular tradition or poetical fiction, though the fact of Alba being overpowered by the Romans need not on this account be doubted. 8. Alba was bound by the terms agi'eed upon to recog- nise the supremacy of Rome, but the yoke was borne with reluctance. During a war between Rome and Fidenae, in which the Albans ought to have assisted the Romans, they formed a treacherous design. When this was discovered by Tullus Hostilius, he, after the enemy was defeated, ordered the commander of the Albans to be put to death, and their city to be razed to the ground. His orders were immediately carried into execution. The people of Alba are said to have 386 HISTORY OF ROME. been transferred to Eome, where the Caelian hill was assigned to them as their habitation ; some of the noble Alban families obtained the full Eoman franchise, while the great body of the people entered into a relation which was neither that of full citizens nor of clients, bnt was designated by the name of plebs as opposed to the patreSj patricii or populus Romanus, by which names the old citizens were henceforth designated. The strength of Eome was thus doubled by the fall of Alba, which may be regarded as an historical fact, though it is not likely to have taken place under the circumstances related in the legend. After the destruction of Alba, the Eoman king waged war against the Sabines and Latins, over the latter of whom he claimed the same authority as that formerly exercised by Alba. Towards the end of his reign, the dis- pleasure of the gods at the neglect of their worship mani- fested itself in various ways, and in the end Tullus Hostilius and his whole house were destroyed by Jupiter with a flash of lightning. 9. After his death the Eomans elected Ancus Marcius, a Sabine, from among the Titles, to the throne (b. c. 640-616). He was a relation of Numa, in whose footsteps he followed, though he did not give himself up wholly to religious duties, for when occasion required, he displayed as much valour in the field as piety at home. The Latins, who had concluded a peace with his predecessor, now rose in arms to assert their independence of Eome ; but in vain : many of their towns were taken, and the whole body of them was defeated in a pitched battle. Many thousands of them were transferred to Eome, where, being settled between the Aventine and Palatine, they entered into the same relation as that of the conquered people of Alba, that is, they became plebeians, whose number now probably far surpassed that of the old citizens or patricians. We must not, however, suppose that all or even the greater number of the Latins were transferred to Eome, for the ANGUS MARCIUS. 387 majority must no doubt be conceived to have remained in their towns and on their farms or estates. Ancus Marcius extended the dominion of Rome as far as the mouth of the Tiber, where he built Ostia, the port-town of Rome, and established salt-works. 10. The reigns of Tullus Hostilius and Ancus Marcius are most remarkable, because they form the period during which Rome obtained its commonalty, henceforth the most interesting part of its population, on account of its perse- vering struggles to remove the wrongs under which it suffered, and to obtain as much power as was necessary to protect itself against the oppressive tyranny of the patricians. These plebeians were personally free, but, being excluded from the political organisation of the patricians, they had no political rights, but only duties. The law, moreover, declared marriages between patricians and plebeians illegal. The plebeians formed, in fact, an irregular mass wdthout any organisation among themselves, except that they were divided, like the other Italians, into gentes or clans. It is further remarkable that the legends represent the first four kings of Rome as alternately belonging to the Ramnes and Titles, that is, to the Latin and Sabine tribes — no king of the Luceres being mentioned. As to the remaining kings, Tarquinius Prisons and Tarquinius Super- bus, the legends point to Etruria as the country from which they came, though they are not described as Etruscans, but as descendants of a Corinthian Demaratus, who is said to have settled at Tarquinii in Etruria. Servius Tullius, the sixth king, who in some traditions is described as an Etruscan, is said by others to have been a Latin, which latter supposition is more in accordance with the political reforms that are ascribed to him. It further deserves to be noticed that the Roman state, which, in the reign of Ancus Marcius, is described as comprising only a small portion of Latium, suddenly appears under his successor as a powerful monarchy, under which 388 HISTORY OF ROME. architectural works were constructed, cliallenging in grandeur and durability a comparison with the immortal structures of the Egyptians. 11. The fifth king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, who is said to have reigned from b. c. 616 till 578, is represented in all the traditions as a foreigner, who by his wealth and wis- dom gained the favour of Ancus Marcius, and after his death was elected king of Rome. After a successful war against the Sabines he began the building of the great Capitoline temple, which was dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, and was not completed until the reign of the seventh king. After peace had been concluded with the Sabines, he carried on a war with the Latins, whose towns he conquered one after another, so that the whole country became subject to him. From some traditions it would seem that in the reign of Tar- quinius Priscus the sovereignty of Rome was acknowledged by all the Latins, the Sabines, and the Etruscans. But what makes his reign still more illustrious than these conquests, is the great and useful architectural works which he is said to have executed, such as the great sewer [cloaca maxima)^ by means of which the Forum and other low grounds were drained and secured against inundations of the river ; and the great race -course for horses and chariots [circus maximus). The religion of the Romans, which had before been of a simple and rustic character, is said through his influence to have become more pompous and showy ; the gods were then first represented in human forms. He is also said to have increased the number of senators from two hundred to three hundred, which seems to suggest that the third tribe, the Luceres, were then incorporated with the Roman state. Tar- quinius Priscus is reported to have intended to give to the plebeians some kind of organisation, and to surround his ex- tended city with a stone wall ; but he was prevented from executing these plans, which were reserved for his successor. TARQUINIUS PRISCUS SERVIUS TULLIUS. 389 Tarquiniiis was murdered by the sons of his predecessor, who looked upon him as a usurper that had interfered with their legal claims to the succession. 12. Tarquinius Priscus was succeeded by Servius Tullius, who reigned from b. c. 578 to 534. He is described as a foreigner who was niarried to a daughter of Tarquinius, but his origin is uncertain. His reign is celebrated in history for three great measures ; first, for the organisation he gave to the plebeians ; secondly, for his political reforms ; and thirdly, for the fact that he surrounded the city with a stone wall in those parts where it needed such protection. He divided the whole body of the plebeians into thirty local divisions, four of which belonged to the city, and the remaining twenty-six to the country around it. Each of these di\dsions, called tribus, was headed by its own magistrate, and all the thirty tribes might meet for discussion in assemblies called comitia tributa, as dis- tinguished from the meetings of the patricians, the comitia curiata. His political reform consisted in his making pro- perty instead of birth the standard by which the rights and duties of the citizens were to be determined. For this pur- pose he instituted a census, and divided all the people into five property classes, and these again into one hundred and ninety- three centuries or votes, which, however, were distributed in such a manner that all political power was virtually vested in the wealthy classes, so that for the moment the change was probably not a very violent one. A sixth class, consisting of the proletarians, or capite censi, had no political rights, but were at the same time exempt from military service. The assembly of the one hundred and ninety-three centuries [comitia centuriata) embracing both patricians and plebeians, henceforth truly represented the whole body of the Eoman people, and to it were transferred all the more important functions which until then had belonged to the assemblies of the patricians in their curiae. This reform, which was 390 HISTORY OF ROME. intended to place the plebeians on a footing of equality with the patricians, and to establish the king's power on the broad basis of the whole people, drew upon Servius Tullius the hatred of the patricians, who, headed by Tarquinius, his own son-in-law, created a revolution, in which the aged Servius was murdered, and Tarquinius ascended the throne. 13. Tradition represents this revolution in the following tragic story. In order to propitiate the sons of his predeces- sor, Servius had given his two daughters in marriage to the two sons of Tarquinius, Lucius and Aruns. The former, a man capable of criminal actions, though not naturally disposed to crime, was married to a mild and virtuous woman, while the wife of his gentle brother Aruns was the very essence of wicked- ness. Enraged at the long life of her father, and at the indif- ference of her husband, who seemed to be willing to leave the succession to his more ambitious brother, she planned destruc- tion for both. An agreement was entered into between her and Lucius, that he should kill his wife, and she her husband, and that then she and Lucius should be united in marriage. When these crimes were accomplished, Lucius, stimulated by his fiendish wife, entered into a conspiracy with discontented patricians, with the view of destroying the aged king Servius. About the harvest season, when many of the people were engaged in the fields, Lucius Tarquinius appeared in the senate with the ensigns of royalty, and a band of armed fol- lowers. The king, when informed of these proceedings, hastened to the curia, and called Tarquinius a usurper. The latter, then seizing the king, threw him down the stone steps. He was picked up, bleeding and bruised, by his faith- ful adherents, who endeavoured to carry him home ; but before reaching the palace, they were overtaken by the emis- saries of L. Tarquinius. The king was murdered, and his body left lying in the street. Meantime Tullia, the wife of Tarquinius, impatient to receive the news of her husband's TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS. 391 success, hastened to the senate, and saluted him as king. This unnatural conduct was too much even for L. Tarquinius, who bade her return home. When on her way back, the chariot drove through the street in which her father's body was lying ; the mules on approaching it reared, and the driver stopped ; but Tullia ordered him to go on, and the chariot passed over the king's body, the blood of which stained the garments of the unnatural daughter. The street in which this happened bore ever after the name of vicus sceleratus, or the accursed street. 14. L. Tarquinius, surnamed Superbus, now ascended the throne, on which he maintained himself from b. c. 534 to 510. The constitutional reforms of Servius Tullius were abolished at once, and the labours of that king seemed to have been spent in vain. The acts of oppression ascribed to Tarquinius are almost incredible ; but it cannot be denied that he was a man of great military skill, for he enlarged his kingdom more than any of his predecessors, and embellished the city with great and useful architectural structures. The Latin towns were compelled to conclude a treaty with him, in which Eome was recognised as the head of them all ; he conquered Suessa Pometia, the wealthy town of the Volscians, and strengthened and extended the dominion of Eome by the establishment of colonies, such as Signia and Circeii, thus laying the founda- tion of Eome's dominion, for it was through such colonies, both Eoman and Latin, that the power of Eome was established, and her language and civilisation were diffused over all parts of the peninsula. But in spite of his military achievements, even the patricians began to show symptoms of discontent, for it was but too evident that he was aiming at doing away with the senate, and establish himself as an absolute ruler. His acts of oppression towards the senate and the patricians, the heavy taxes and task-work demanded of the plebeians, called forth feelings among his subjects which could not be 392 HISTORY OF KOME. mistaken. The king, it is said, was harassed by dreams and threatening prodigies ; in this distress he sent two of his sons, Titus-and Aruns, to consult the oracle of Delphi. To amuse them on their journey, he sent along with them a cousin, L, Junius Brutus, who had assumed the character of an idiot to escape being put to death by the king. When the princes had executed their orders at Delphi, their curiosity prompted them to consult the god abont themselves also, and the answer given was that the throne of Eome should belong to him who, on returning home, should be the first to kiss bis mother. Upon this it was agreed that the brothers should kiss their mother simultaneously, and that thus they should reign in common. But on their landing in Italy, Brutus, as if falling by accident, without being observed, kissed the earth, the mother of all. 15. Some time after this the Komans were besieging Ardea, the fortified town of the Kutulians. As the siege was protracted, it one day happened that while the king's sons and their cousin Tarquinius Collatinus were discussing in their tent the virtues of their wives, it was agreed that the three should return home by night to surpnse them, and see how they were spending their time. At Rome the princesses were found revelling at a luxurious banquet, but on coming to Collatia, they found Lucretia, the wife of Tar- quinius Collatinus, engaged with her maids in spinning. In this occupation she appeared so beautiful and lovely, that one of the princes, Sextus Tarquinius, a few days later, returned to Collatia, where as a kinsman he was hospitably received. But in the dead of night he entered her chamber, and threatened to kill her, to lay a dead slave by her side, and to declare that he had detected her in adulterous intercourse with him, if she would not consent to gratify his lust. By the combination of these terrors he gained his end. But on the following morning she sent for her father and her husband. ABOLITION OF ROYALTY. 393 Both came, accompanied by P. Valerius and L. Junius Brutus. The disconsolate Lucretia related to them what had happened, and having called on them to avenge the wrong, plunged a dagger into her breast. The moment had now come for Brutus to throw off the mask : he drew the dagger from her breast and vowed destruction to the royal house of the Tarquins. In this vow he was cordially joined by his friends who stood round the body of Lucretia, which was then carried into the market-place of Collatia. The people there at once took up arms, and promised to obey the com- mands of the liberators. Brutus then proceeded to Rome, where the sad tale produced the same effect as at Collatia. Brutus, who held the ofSce of trihunus celerum (commander of the cavalry), summoned a meeting of the people in the Forum, and it was unanimously decreed that king Tar- quin should be deposed and banished, with all his family. Lucretia's father remained behind as commander of the gar- rison at Rome, while Brutus set out for Ardea to attack the king. When he arrived in the camp, the soldiers con- firmed the decree of the people, and the king, who had gone to Rome by a different road, finding the gates closed against him, took refuge at Caere in Etruria. 16. Such is the legendary story of a revolution which for ever put an end to the kingly government at Rome. How much there is of real history in it cannot be ascertained, though it scarcely admits of a doubt that Tarquinius Super- bus was the last king of Rome, and that his rule had been very tyrannical, whatever allowances we may make for exag- geration. But whether the revolution was accomplished in the quiet and rapid way in which the legend describes it, is more than doubtful. During the period which is closed by it, Rome was an elective monarchy, and it is only under the later kings that we hear of sons claiming the right to succeed their fathers on the throne. The king, elected by and from among the 394 HISTORY OF ROME. patricians, was tlie supreme magistrate, and as sucli commander of the armies, supreme judge, and the high priest of the nation. His power was not absolute, for he had to consult the senate, or council of elders, which existed at Eome as in most ancient states. Its members were indeed chosen by the king him- self, but their number, three hundred, seems to suggest that the senators were the representatives of the three tribes and the thirty curiae ; at all events the king was obliged, by custom, to listen to the advice of the senate, at whose meetings either he himself or his representative (the praefectus urli) presided. Independently of the senate, tlie king's power was limited by the assembly of the people, that is, the old citizens or patri- cians in their comitia curiata^ until, b}'' the reforms of Servius Tullius, the great national assembly, the comitia centuriata, stepped into the place of the former. All matters which had to be brought before the assembly of the people, such as those connected with peace and war, the election of magistrates and proposals of new laws, were first discussed and prepared in the senate, and if sanctioned by that body, were then laid before the people, who might either adopt or reject them. 17. As to the state of civilisation among the Komans during the regal period, we have every reason to believe that they were not very far behind our own ancestors during the mid- dle ages; for they had a regularly organised form of government, lived in towns surrounded by fortifications, had regular armies, and above all, lOved and cherished agriculture, and constructed architectural works, which still attract the admiration of travel- lers. The legends contain many traits revealing to us the ways of living among the early Eomans. The art of writing, which was, no doubt, introduced among the Eomans by the Greeks set- tled in southern Italy, was known during the regal period, but was not employed for literary purposes. King Servius Tullius is said to have coined the first brass, and to have marked it with the figm-e of some animal, whence the n&me pecunia for money. 395 CHAPTER III. FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC UNTIL THE DECEMVIRAL LEGISLATION. 1. After the expulsion of the Tarquins, b. c. 509, the people assembled in the comitia abolished the kingly dignity for ever, restored the laws of Servius Tulliiis, and elected two magis- trates from among the patricians, L. Junius Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus, who, under the title of praetors (after- wards consuls) were to conduct the government for one year. These magistrates had the same power and the same insignia as the kings, except that the priestly functions of the king were transferred to a new dignitary, called rex sacrorum. The power of the patricians was virtually increased, inasmuch as two of their order might every year be raised to the highest magistracy. The senate and the comitia cen- luriata retained the powers assigned to them by Servius Tullius. The plebeians, being completely under the dominion of the patricians, were probably in a worse condition than they had been under the monarchy, as the king would naturally favour the great body of the plebs, to have in them a counter- poise to the arrogant and ambitious nobles. The plebeians were excluded from all the public offices and from the right of contracting legal marriages with patricians. In the great national assembly the patricians carried every measure by the overwhelming numbers of their votes, so that the plebeians exercised scarcely any influence upon the elections and the passing of laws. The administration of justice, moreover, was completely in the hands of the patricians. Under such circumstances a conflict between the two orders could not be far distant. 396 HISTORY OF ROME. 2. The young republic had from the first to maintain very serious struggles against both domestic and foreign enemies. Even under the very first consuls a number of young patricians formed a conspiracy, the object of which was to restore the exiled king. When it was discovered, Brutus, with a stern- ness peculiarly characteristic of a Eoman, ordered the guilty parties, and among them his own two sons, to be put to death. But the greatest danger came from Etruria, where Tarquinius, the exiled king, had solicited and obtained the aid of Porsenna, lars or lord of Clusium. The Etruscan chief marched against Kome and established himself on the hill Janiculum, on the right bank of the Tiber. The war with this powerful enemy was afterwards greatly embellished by tradition and popular lays, in which the glory and valour of the republican Eomans appear in most brilliant colours. Once, it is said, the Romans crossed the Tiber for the purpose of driving the invader from his stronghold, but were repulsed and obliged to return to the city. The enemy would have followed them across the river, had not Horatius Codes, a valiant and powerful Roman, who v/as intrusted with the guarding of the wooden bridge [pons sublicius), with two comrades kept the whole hostile army at bay, while the Romans were engaged in breaking down the bridge. Soon he even dismissed his two companions and alone resisted the attacks of the foe, until the crashing of the timber and the shouts of his fellow citizens announced to him that the work of demolition was completed. He then prayed to Father Tiber to receive him and his arms in his sacred stream, and leaping into the river safely swam across amid showers of darts sent after him by the Etruscans. His grateful country- men rewarded him with a statue in the comitium and with as much land as he could plough round in a day. A similar re- ward was given to Mucins Scaevola ; for when during the protracted siege Rome was suffering from famine, that heroic youth, with the sanction of the senate, undertook to deliver WAR WITH THE LATINS. 397 the city by murdering the chief of the EtruFcans. He sccretlv made his way into the enemy's camp, and being acquainted with the Etruscan language contrived to reach the tent of Porsenna. But by a mistake he killed the king's scribe instead of the king himself. He was seized, and as the king was endeavouring by threats to extort his confession. Mucins thmst his right hand into the fire which was burning on an altar close by, to show that he dreaded neither death nor torture. From this circumstance be derived the surname of Scaevola, that is, left handed. 3. But however fascinating the stories are in which the Romans have clothed the first struggles of their republic for freedom and independence, we know on good authority that Porsenna made himself master of Rome, and obliged the Romans to purchase his departure by giving him hostages, and ceding to him one-third of their territory, that is, ten out of their thirty local tribes. It deserves to be noticed, that throughout this war, which is said to have been undertaken on behalf of the exiled Tarquinius, he himself is never once mentioned as taking part in it. After the war, Porsenna also disappears, and is no more heard of. About the same time, B. c. 505, the Romans had to carry on war against the Sabines, and some revolted towns of the Auruncans, against both of whom their arms were successful. A more formidable war, however, broke out in b. c. 501 with the Latins, whom Tar- quinius, through the influence of a kiifsman, is said to have stirred up against Rome. Thirty Latin towns conspired against Rome, and, under these alarming circumstances, the Romans, thinking it safer to place the supreme power in the hands of one man, appointed, in b. c. 498, T. Larcius dictator, an office which existed in several Latin towns. This step kept the enemy in awe, and the plebeians at home in quiet submission. The war lasted for several years, until it was brought to a close in b. c. 496, by the famous battle of lake 398 HISTORY OF ROME. Regillus, on the road from Kome to Praeneste. The victory was gained by the Eomans, in whose ranks the gods Castor and Pollux were seen fighting. The whole account of this battle, which forms the close of the mythical period in Koman history, is thoroughly fabulous ; the victory over the Latins cannot be true, as three years later, b, c. 493, they concluded a treaty with Rome, under Spurius Cassius, in which they were placed on a footing of equality with her, without any previous dispute or feud being mentioned. King Tarquinius is said to have been wounded in the battle, and to have withdrawn to the Greek tyrant of Cumae, where he soon after died in n. c. 495. 4. As long as Tarquinius was alive, and Rome was threat- ened by foreign enemies, the patricians did their best to keep the plebeians in good humour, as they required their aid iu the battles, for the main body of the Roman armies consisted of plebeians, and without them it would have been impos- sible for the republic to maintain itself. But no sooner had the dangers passed away, than the patricians, disregarding everything but their own interests and privileges, gave the rein to their avarice and domineering spirit. The ple- beians were free landed proprietors, without possessing the franchise ; but they were obliged to pay the tributum or land-tax, and serve in the armies without pay. During the time of their military service, their fields, if they were not overrun or taken by the enemy, were at all events neglected. The harvest time generally manifested the deplo- rable consequences of this state of things, and the small landed proprietors, to escape from momentary distress, had to borrow of their wealthy neighbours, who were generally patricians, at an exorbitant rate of interest of from ten to twelve per cent. The law of debt at Rome, as in many other ancient states, was extremely severe, and if the debtor did not pay back the borrowed money at the stipulated time, his person and estate were forfeited to the creditor, who might seize SECESSION OF THE PLEBS. 399 and employ him as if he were his slave, while his family sank deeper and deeper into misery. The patricians, who alone were entitled to occupy the public or domain land conquered in war, and had it cultivated by their clients, who did not serve in the armies, were to a great extent exempted from the mis- fortunes which might befal the plebeians, and which appear to have become more serious every year from the time of their incorporation with the Koman state. The oppression exer- cised by the patricians became in the end unbearable, and as the law was all in favour of the hard-hearted creditors, the plebeians in b. c. 495 rose in open rebellion, and in the fol- lowing year seceded in arms to a hill a few miles distant from Rome, where they encamped, fully resolved not to return until they should obtain redress of their grievances. But Menenius Agrippa, who was sent to them as deputy by the senate, pre- vailed upon them, by the well-known fable of the Belly and the Members, to abandon their useless scheme, and promised that the evils under which they suffered should be remedied. A compact was then concluded between the two estates, that all who had lost their freedom through debt should be restored, and that five tribunes of the plebs should be appointed, whose business it should be to protect the plebeians against any abuse of the authority of a magistrate, and whose persons were to be sacred and inviolate. At the same time two plebeian aediles were appointed, who had the superintendence of public build- ings, and exercised a control over usurers and merchants, to prevent unnecessary dearth of provisions. After the conclu- sion of this solemn compact the plebeians quitted the hill, which, from these transactions, was ever after called the Sacred Mount. 5. The contest between the two orders had now com- menced, and some important advantages had been gained by the plebeians. Throughout the noble struggles which succeeded, the patricians acted more or less the part of an 400 HISTORY OF ROME. exclusive caste, while the plebeians represented what we may call the people. The stubbornness, tenacity, and selfishness with which the former clung to their rights and privileges, formed the strongest impediment to the steady and progressive development of the institutions of the state. If they, with their clients, had succeeded in maintaining their exclusive rights of citizenship, Eome would have become a rigid oli- garchy, its place in the history of the world would not have risen above that of many other petty republics, and in the end it would have miserably perished from mere want of vitality. This latter principle rested with the plebeians, and in their struggles against aristocratic exclusiveness, it bore the noblest fruit, and made Eome the mistress of the world. 6. Shortly after the secession of the plebs, during which the cultivation of the fields had been almost entirely neglected, Eome suffered from dearth and famine, and when at length ships laden with corn arrived from Sicily, the insolent patri- cian C. Marcius Coriolanus, proposed that none of it should be given to the plebeians unless they consented to renounce the advantages they had gained by their secession to the Sacred Mount. At this the plebeians were so exasperated, that they outlawed him and obliged him, in B.C. 491, to take refuge among the Volscians, whom he persuaded to make an inroad into the Eoman territory, promising that he would lead them as their commander. Under his guidance they advanced within five miles of the city, and nothing could induce him to abandon his hostile undertaking against his own country, until he was at length prevailed upon by the tears and entreaties of his mother and his wife to retreat. He is said to have died soon after overwhelmed with grief and shame. The Volscians, however, retained possession of some of the Latin towns which they had conquered. In the year b. c. 486, the same Spurius Cassius, who had brought about the equal alliance with the Latin towns, concluded one on the same SP. CASSIUS. 401 terms with the Hernicans. By this union of the Homans, liatins, and Hernicans, fresh strength was gained against tlie ^quians and Yolscians. This same year, in which Cassius concluded the league with the Hernicans, is also remarkable as the one in which an agrarian law was first mentioned at Rome. The Eoman state possessed very exten- sive domains of land conquered in war, which were not the property of any individual, but the use of which was given up to the patricians on condition of their paying to the trea- sury a small sum as an acknowledgment. This domain land {ager piiblicus) however, came gradually to be regarded by its occupants as their private property, which they had cultivated by their clients and slaves, and for which they did not always think it necessary to pay the rent to the state, for they themselves and they alone constituted the state. The plebeians from time to time demanded likewise to be permitted to occupy portions of the public land ; but when- ever such an agrarian bill {lex agraria) was brought forward, it was met by the most determined opposition on the part of the patricians. Sp. Cassius was the first Roman that is known to have proposed and carried an agrarian law, ordaining that a certain portion of the public land should be distributed among those plebeians who did not possess any landed property. The noble efforts of this man to prevent the growth of pau- perism and to transform the poor into industrious husbandmen, who at all times constituted the mainstay of the Roman republic, were ill requited, for in the year after his consulship, b. c. 485, he was sentenced to death by the patricians and beheaded. The house in which he had lived was levelled with the ground, and the spot itself was declared accursed. Although the law had been passed in due form, the patricians prevented its being carried into effect by every means in their power. Many years afterwards, b. c. 473, a tribune Genucius arraigned the consuls before the commonalty for not allowing the law to be put in s 2 402 HISTORY OF ROME. operation, but on tlie morning of the day before the trial the tribune was found murdered in his own house. These acts of violence and injustice for a time intimidated the friends of the plebeians ; but their perseverance did not abate, and ulti- mately compelled the pride of the patricians to succumb. 7. By these internal feuds and disputes, Eome was so much weakened that the Etruscans and ^quians were enabled to conquer one town after another; and when at length, in b. c. 477, the whole clan of the Fabii, amounting to three hundred and six men, marched out against them, they were all slain by the Etruscans on the banks of the river Cremera ; one only had remained in Eome, and he became the ancestor of the Fabii, whom we meet with in later times. Not long before this event, the Fabii had been proud and haughty champions of their order against the plebeians, but afterwards siding with the oppressed, they brought upon themselves the hatred of the patricians. This seems to have called forth in them a desire to emigrate ; they proposed to the senate to carry on a long protracted war against Veii at their own expense. The request was readily granted, and amid the good wishes of the people they marched against the enemy. They ravaged the country, and were successful in many an enterprise ; but their success diminished their caution, and being drawn into an ambuscade by their desire to capture a herd of cattle which had been sent out on purpose, they were surrounded by the enemy, and cut to pieces to a man. This story of the Fabii is only a popular legend, though not without an historical foundation. 8. In the south and west the --Equians and Volscians con- tinued their inroads into the Eoman territory. The former, so the story runs, had concluded peace with Eome, but their commander Gracchus Cloelius nevertheless led his troops to mount Algidus, and thence they renewed their inroads every year. A Eoman embassy appearing in his camp was scorn- L. QUINCTIUS CINCINNATUS. 403 fully received, and the Roman consul L. Minucius was defeated by the ^quians and besieged in his own camp. Five horsemen, who had escaped before the lines were closed around the camp, brought the disastrous news to Rome, and the senate appointed L. Quinctius Cincinnatus dictator, b. c. 458. The news of his elevation was brought to him on his farm, which consisted of four jugera or acres, and which he cul- tivated with his own hands. The next day at dawn the dic- tator appeared in the Forum, and nominated L. Tarquitius his master of the horse. All men capable of bearing arms were called upon to enlist, and in three days he marched with his army to mount Algidus. He surrounded the ^quians, and the Romans in the camp having received a signal that suc- cour had arrived, broke through the surrounding enemy. A desperate fight then commenced ; it lasted a long time, and when in the end the ^quians found that they were surrounded, they implored the dictator to spare them. Gracchus Cloelius and the other commanders were put in chains, and the rest were obliged to lay down their arms and pass under the yoke. The town of Corbio and the ^quian camp fell into the hands of the victors. Cincinnatus then returned to Rome in triumph, and was rewarded with a golden crown. After having been invested with the dictatorship for no more than sixteen days, he l.iid down his office and returned to his farm. This is said to have happened in b. c. 458, but the whole story, as related by Livy, seems to be only a beautiful poetical legend about the historical fact that Minucius was rescued by succour sent to him from Rome. The ^quians were indeed defeated, but the war against them was continued with varying success, until b. c. 446, when in the battle of Corbio they were so much weakened that for a time they were unable again to take up arms against Rome. 9. There existed in ancient Rome no code of written laws; the administration of justice, based upon hereditary 404 HISTORY OF ROME. usage, was altogetlier in the liands of the patricians, who were often guilty of acts of the most flagrant injustice. With the view to prevent their arbitrary proceedings, and to acquire a knowledge of the law and its forms, the plebeians began to demand that a code of laws should be drawn up. The patricians, regarding this as an encroachment upon their prerogatives, offered a long and violent opposition to the demand. During these disputes, party animosity reached the highest pitch. In b. c. 471, the tribune Publilius Volero, amid the most fearful opposition, carried several laws, which enacted that the plebeian magistrates (tribunes and aediles) should be elected by the plebeian comitia of the tribes, and that these same comitia should have the power of passing resolutions (plebiscita) on matters affecting the interest of the whole state. The excitement produced by these measures divided Rome into two hostile camps, and this feeling, together with a terrible epidemic which carried off large numbers of all ranks, weakened Rome so much, that the -^quians and Yolscians dared to advance on their predatory excursions, which have already been noticed, as far as the very gates of Rome ; and Herdonius, a Sabine adventurer, with a band of runaway slaves and exiles, who had actually taken possession of the Capitol, was expelled only with great difficulty. The first formal demand for a written code of laws was made in b. c. 462 by the tribune C. Terentillus Arsa, and although it was violently opposed, the idea could not be crushed ; similar demands were afterwards repeated, and the plebeians were determined to carry their point. In b. c. 457, the number of tribunes was increased from five to ten, it having probably been found that the previous number was insufficient to afford protection in all cases. Three years later, the bill of Terentillus Arsa was taken up again, and it was at last agreed that the laws should be revised ; it was further resolved as a preliminary step, that three senators should be sent to Athens to study the laws and THE DECEMYIRATE. 405 constitution of that republic and of other Greek states, and to bring back a report of such laws and institutions as it might seem desirable to adopt at Kome. CHAPTER IV. FROM THE DECEMVIRAL LEGISLATION DOWN TO THE FINAL SUBJUGATION OF LATIUM. 1 . After the return of the ambassadors from Greece, both orders agreed that a commission of ten patricians should be appointed to draw up a code of laws, that they should have full power to act as they thought fit, and that for the time all other magistrates, perhaps with the exception of the tribunes, should have their powers suspended. The decemvirs who entered upon their office in b. c. 451, performed the duty intrusted to them honestly and satisfactorily ; but as at the end of the year their task was not completed, they were unhesitatingly permitted to continue their office and their labours for another year. The expectations of the people, however, were now fearfully disappointed, and every kind of cruelty was resorted to in punishing those plebeians who ventured to express an opinion upon the proceedings of the Ten ; nay, an aged and brave plebeian whose opposition they feared most, and who was serving against the enemies of Rome, was drawn into an ambuscade and assassinated by his own countrymen. At the close of the second year, when the legislation was completed and the laws were engraven upon twelve tables, the decemvirs still persisted in retaining their office, and would perhaps have succeeded in their usurpation, had not the haughty Appius Claudius, the most influential among them, by his brutal lust and injustice called forth a fearful outbreak of 406 HISTORY OF ROME. the smothered discontent. He had conceived a desire to possess Virginia, the beautiful daughter of the plebeian Vir- ginius, who was already betrothed to another. In order to gain this object, he prevailed upon one of his clients to declare the maiden to be a runaway slave of his own, and to claim her as his property before the tribunal of the decemvir. A large concourse of people assembled in the Forum to witness the trial. Claudius assigned the maiden to his client ; but her father having obtained permission to take leave of her, plunged a knife into her heart to save his child from dishonour. 2. The excitement in the city was immense : the authority of the decemvirs was set at defiance by the people, and the army, which was engaged against the Sabines, on learning what had happened, quitted the camp and took possession of the Aventine, resolved to leave Kome and seek a new home elsewhere. The plebeians with their families then proceeded to the Sacred Mount. Valerius and Horatius, two of the most popular among the patricians, were despatched to the plebeians to treat with them on any terras they might think fit. The plebeians demanded the right of appeal against any magistrate, an amnesty for themselves, and that the decem- virs should be deposed. All was granted and sanctioned by the senate, and the plebeians returned to Eome. Appius Claudius was thrown into prison and died by his own hand ; one of his colleagues perished in the same manner, and the remaining eight went into exile. The laws of the Twelve Tables, however, remained in force, and ever after formed the basis of the Koman law. The only constitutional change which they seem to have introduced was that the patricians became members of the local tribes which had previously consisted of the plebeians alone. But this was for the present no great advantage, for the assembly of the tribes did not as yet possess any legislative power ; the plebeians were still excluded from the highest COKNUBIUM CENSORSHIP. 407 magistracy and from a share in the public land, and mar- riages could not be legally contracted between patricians and plebeians. The mere fact, however, of the laws being now fixed was a great gain, inasmuch as the plebeians were no longer exposed to the arbitrary proceedings of the patricians. 3. After the recent reconciliation, the patricians still con- tinued to annoy the plebeians in a variety of ways, and the hotter spirits among the latter were inclined to retaliate, but as a body the plebeians were moderate, though firm, and it was evident that they were aiming at nothing short of a per- fect equality of rights with the patricians. In b. c. 445 the tribune Canuleius brought forward a bill demanding for the plebeians the right of contracting legal marriages with patri- cians fconnubiumj, and the bill was passed amid the fiercest opposition. Another bill proposed that one of the consuls should always be a plebeian ; but after long and violent discussions of this question, it was agreed that, instead of consuls, military tribunes with consular power should some- times be elected, who should be taken indiscriminately from the plebeians as well as from the patricians. The senate, however, retained the power of determining in each year whether consuls or consular tribunes should be elected. The ancient and venerable dignity of the consulship was thus saved for the patricians, who in most cases also contrived to keep the military tribuneship in their own hands ; and in order that the plebeians might never enjoy the full powers of the consulship, two censors were appointed in b. c. 443, whose functions had previously belonged to the consuls. This new office was accessible to patricians only, and was filled anew every five years, which period was called a lustrum, though the censors had to perform their duties within the term of eighteen months. They had to make up and keep lists of all the Komans, in which senators, equites, and the rest of the citizens, were classed according to their rank and property ; 408 HISTORY OF ROME. they collected tlie rent for the domain land, superintended the building of temples, and the making of roads and bridges, and exercised a severe control over the moral conduct of citizens, offences against which they were empowered to punish by depriving a person of his civil rights or of his rank and station in society. 4. The establishment of the cojinubiu?n, or right of con- tracting legal marriages between the two orders, seems to have somewhat softened their animosity ; but patrician malice and intrigue nevertheless did not easily allow an opportunity to pass, where the plebeians could be humbled. In b. c. 440 Eome was visited by a famine, and all endeavours of the government to mitigate the evil were of no avail. A wealthy plebeian, Spurius Maelius, generously purchased large quantities of grain, and sold it at a moderate price to the famishing people. The popularity he thus acquired alarmed the patricians ; they feared treacherous plots and conspiracies, and charged him with aiming at regal power. The aged Quinctius Cin- cinnatuS; who was appointed dictator in e. c. 439, summoned Maelius before his tribunal ; and as Maelius prepared to defend himself, Servilius Ahala. the dictator's master of the horse, slew him in broad daylight in the midst of the Forum. 5. During these internal struggles, the Koman armies, in which the plebeians manfully and bravely defended their country, fought many successful battles against foreign enemies. Allied with and strengthened by the Latins and Hernicans, they repeatedly defeated the Yolscians and ^quians, and reduced their territories. The town of Fidenae, which had been colonised by the Romans at an early period, but had committed many outrages, was destroyed in b. c. 426, notwithstanding the assistance it obtained from the Etruscan city of Veil. This led to a desperate war with Veii, against which Eome directed all her forces, and which was taken, in b. c. 396, by Camillus, after a CAMILLUS — THE GAULS. 409 siege of ten years. The acconnt of the manner in which Veii was captured is nothing but a beautiful lay, in which that city acts a similar part to that of Troy in the Trojan legends ; but there can be no doubt that its inhabitants were partly slain, and partly sold as slaves. During the protracted war against Veii, the senate of its own accord decreed that in future pay should be given to the soldiers from the public treasury, for until then they had had to equip and maintain themselves. This measure enabled the government to keep its armies longer in uninterrupted service than would other- wise have been possible, and the men became no doubt more willing to serve than they had been before. Camillns, the proud conqueror of Veii, celebrated a magnificent triumph but as his soldiers considered themselves robbed by him of their legitimate share in the booty, and as he opposed the proposal to distribute the territory of Veii among the plebeians, he drew upon himself the hatred of the people. In b. c. 391, he was charged with having secreted a portion of the spoil taken at Veii ; and in order to escape condemnation, he went into exile, at a time when Rome needed her great commander more than ever. 6. She was now on the eve of a conflict with a branch of one of the most widely spread nations of Europe, the Celts or Gauls, who are said to have crossed the Alps as early as the reign of Tarquinius Priscus. Soon after their arrival in Italy they drove the Etruscans from the plains in the north and east of the Apennines, and for a time those mountains seem to have formed the barrier between them and the Etruscans; but in b. c. 391, swarms of them crossed the Apennines, and under the command of their chief Brennus, laid siege to the Etruscan town of Clusium. The Clusines solicited the assistance of the Eomans, the most powerful neighbours of the Etruscans, and the Romans at first sent only ambassadors to the Gauls to induce them not to 410 HISTORY OF ROME. molest the Etruscans ; but as their envoys did not succeed, a battle ensued between the Gauls and Etruscans, in which the Koman ambassadors took part and slew one of the Gallic chiefs. This violation of the law of nations enraged the barbarians, and as the Romans haughtily refused to surrender the offenders, the Gauls at once abandoned Clusium and set out against Rome. On the banks of the little river Allia, about eleven miles from the city, they met the Roman army, and defeated it so completely that only a few escaped by flight to Veil and Rome, b. c. 390 ; Rome itself, from which the women and children had withdrawn, was in a defence- less state, and fell into the hands of the barbarians. The city became a prey to the flames, and eighty old men of high rank, who had sat down in the Forum to devote themselves as a propitiatory sacrifice to the gods, were massacred. The Capitol alone, to which many of the most valuable treasures had been carried, was occupied and defended by the Romans. Its garrison, commanded by the brave Manlius Capitolinus, offered a gallant resistance, while the Gauls like true barbarians, intoxicated with their recent victory, abandoned themselves to every kind of excess, in consequence of which their ranks were considerably thinned during the siege, which lasted seven months. This is said to have induced Brennus at length to accept one thousand pounds of gold, and to qrat the territory of Rome ; but the haughty Gaul increased the gold by throw- ing his sword into the scale. At this moment Camillus, who had been recalled from his exile by the army assembled at Veii, arrived at the gates of Rome, and defeated the Gauls in a battle in which all of them were slain, and all the booty carried off was recovered. This is the famous story of the sacking of Rome by the Gauls in b. c. 390, the latter part of which is fictitious, for we know that the Gauls left Rome unmolested, because their own country in the north was invaded by another enemy. REBUILDING OF ROME. 411 7. After the departure of the Gauls, the Eoman people were so much disheartened, that they were unwilling to rebuild their ruined houses, and proposed to migrate to Veil and establish themselves in that deserted city. The patricians, however, feeling a stronger attachment to the place with which all their ancient associations were connected, by great exer- tion prevailed upon the people to give up this scheme ; and in order that such a thought might never be conceived again, the people were allowed to demolish the houses still standing at Veil, and use the materials in rebuilding their own homes at Rome. Scarcely had Rome been hastily rebuilt, with crooked and narrow streets and small houses, when the patri- cians again began to enforce their ancient privileges, and above all, to carry into execution, with the utmost rigour upon the impoverished people, the severe laws of debt, which had been retained in the Twelve Tables. The plebeians having already suffered severely during the Gallic invasion and the rebuilding of their houses, excited the sympathy of Manlius Capitolinus, the gallant defender of the Capitol, who now came forward as their champion, proposing a reduction of the debts, and distribution of public land. This so much incensed his brother patricians against him, that, under the futile pretext of his aiming at kingly power, they procured his condemnation. The saviour of the Capitol was hurled down from the Tarpeian rock, his house was razed to the ground, and his name was treated as that of an accursed per- son. This disgraceful deed was perpetrated in b. c. 384. 8. During the humiliation of Rome, the Hernicans and many of the Latin towns renounced their alliance with her, and the Volscians, JEquians, and Etruscans also took arms again. The last three nations were successively humbled by Camillus, who was the soul of all Roman undertakings during this period, and the towns of Sutrium and Nepete in Etruria received Roman colonists. Some of the Latin towns also 412 HISTOKY OF ROME. were subdued, and it may be said on the whole, that Rome was rapidly recovering from the wounds of the Gallic conquest, and the evils that followed in its train. But the distress of the poor was ever on the increase, although in b. c. 383 the senate had assigned to the plebeians the Pomptine district. The murder of Manlius also contributed once more to rouse the plebeians to action against their insolent oppressors. Id B.C. 376, C. Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius, two bold and energetic tribunes, took upon themselves the task of stopping the state in its downward career. They brought forward three rogations or bills — 1st. That consuls should again be elected as of old, but that one of them should always be a plebeian ; 2d. That no man should be allowed to occupy of the public land more than five hundred jugera, and that after a due measurement, the surplus should be taken from the former occupants, and assigned to the plebeians as their full property ; and, 3d. That the interest already paid upon debts should be deducted from the principal, and that the remainder should be paid off in three annual instalments. The patri- cians, for a period of nearly ten years, contrived to thwart these proposals, and left no means untried to render them abortive ; but all their efforts, and even the elevation of Camillus to the dictatorship, were of no avail against the firm- -ness and perseverance of the tribunes, who continued to pre- vent both the election of magistrates and the levies for the armies ; for it must be understood that the tribuneship — chiefly through the power of the Veto, that is, of prohibiting public acts — had become a much more influential office than at its first institution. At length, in b. c. 367, after a long period of strife and anarchy, the patricians were obliged to yield ; the proposals of the tribunes became law, and in b. c. 366, L. Sextius was the first plebeian consul. But in order to reserve for themselves as much as possible, the patricians contrived to strip the consulship of the power of jurisdiction in civil cases, WARS AGAINST THE GAULS. 413 which was now assigned to the praetor, an officer who was to be taken from the patricians exclusively. These precautions, however, were of no avail, for the year b. c. 356 saw the first plebeian dictator, 351 the first plebeian censor, 337 the first plebeian praetor ; and in b. c. 300 the priestly offices of pon- tiff and augur were opened to the plebeians. By these succes- sive measures, the equalisation of the two orders was gradually accomplished, and Kome, internally united and strong, was in a condition to enter upon the great career marked out for her by Providence. 9. The reconciliation of the tw^o orders, after the passing of the Licinian laws, was celebrated by the dedication of a temple to Concord by the aged Camillus, who soon after died of the plague wdiich raged at Eome for several years. The good results of the unity and harmony thus restored soon became manifest in the contests of the republic with her foreign enemies, especially in the conflicts with the hordes of Gauls who wandered through Italy, laying waste the country, and supporting the enemies of Rome. It was in the course of these Gallic wars that the first plebeian dictator was appointed, B. c. 356, and that Manlius Torquatus and Valerius Corvus gained their immortal ffime by deeds of heroism which were celebrated in Eoman song. In B. c. 358, when the Gauls had pitched their camp on the banks of the river Allia, a Gaul of gigantic stature stepped upon the bridge which separated the two armies, and challenged any Roman to fight with him. Titus Manlius, a noble young Roman, after having obtained the consul's permission, accepted the challenge. Lightly armed he advanced against the boastful Gaul, and approached so closely, that the barbarian was unable to make use of his anus ; he then pierced him through the side and belly, and when the enemy thus lay prostrate, stripped him of his gold chain ftorquesj and put it round his own neck. From this 414 HISTORY OF ROME. circumstance he was ever after called T. Manlius Torqnatus. Eight years later, b. c. 350, when another host of Gauls had advanced to the very neighbourhood of Rome, a powerful Gaul, according to the usual practice of his nation, challenged the bravest of the Romans to single combat. M. Valerius, a young tribune of the soldiers, accepted the challenge. When the combat began, a raven which had settled upon the helmet of the Roman flew at each onset into the face of the Gaul, who being unable to see, was slain by Valerius; the young Roman received from this miraculous ally the surname of Corvus. The successes gained by the Romans in these wars with the Gauls were in a great measure owing to the improve- ments in their armour and tactics which had been introduced by Camillus ; and the same progress in the military art, together with the renewed alliance with Latium, enabled the Romans to engage in a contest with the Samnites, a powerful nation, not inferior to them either in valour or love of liberty. 10. The Samnites, the principal nation of the Sabellian race, occupied a country far more extensive than that of the Romans and Latins put together ; they were more powerful than the Romans and Latins, together with whom they formed the great stock of nations which we have called specially Italian. In the earlier times they had colonised Capua and the plains of Campania and Lucania, but in the course of time these colonies had become estranged from the mother country. What the Samnites needed to make them successful against their foreign enemies, was union among themselves, for they consisted of four cantons which were but loosely connected. At the time when they came into conflict with Rome, they had been in alliance with her for ten years, and the cause of the hostility between them is related as follows. The Samnites were involved in a war against the Sidicines, who being too weak applied for assistance to Capua. The Campanians, one of the most efieminate and luxurious peoples FIRST SAMNITE WAR. 415 of Italy, willingly granted the request, but were defeated by the Samnites in two battles. The Campanians then applied to Eome for assistance ; but as the Romans scrupled to sup- port strangers against their own allies, the Campanians, it is said, offered to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome, if she would but comply with their request. The scruple being thus removed, Rome at once resolved to succour them. From this account we might expect hereafter to find the Campanians in the relation of subjects to Rome, but such is not the case ; the fact is, that Rome in supporting them evidently violated the treaty with Samnium; and the above mentioned story was devised only to disguise her unjust con- duct. In this light it was viewed by the Samnites, and the war between the two nations broke out in b. c. 343, and lasted until 341. The series of wars, of which this was only the first, was destined to decide which of the two nations was to have the supremacy in Italy, and through it that of the whole of the ancient world. In the first campaign, the Romans under M. Valerius Corvus gained a great victory on mount Gaurus. The second consular army which was destined to invade Sam- nium, came through the carelessness of the consul into a position among the mountains where it certainly would have been destroyed, but for the boldness and skill of Decius Mus, who contrived to get possession of an eminence overhanging the enemy, and thus enabled his countrymen to pass safely through the defile. During the second year of the war, nothing of any importance was achieved, partly in consequence of disturbances at Rome arising from the severity of the law of debt, and partly on account of the disaffection of the Latins. The Romans, therefore, thought it prudent to conclude a peace with the Samnites, in which the old alliance with them was renewed, and fair terms were granted. 11. The Campanians, now forsaken by the Romans, saw no other means of safety e:xcept in an alliance with Latium, in 416 HISTORY OF ROME. consequence of whicli Rome, in b. c. 340, at once began hos- tile operations against the Latins. The Latins, however, would have liked to avoid active hostilities, and to come to an ami- cable understanding with Rome, which, though allied with them on equal terms, had always contrived to domineer over its con- federates. The Latins, therefore, now demanded that Eome and Latium should be really united as one state, that one of the consuls should be taken from the Latins, and that one- half of the senators should always be Latins. This demand, reasonable as it was, exasperated all classes of the Romans to such a degree that war was declared at once. During the first campaign the Latins transferred the war to Campania, and at the foot of Mount Vesuvius a great battle was fought, in which one of the consuls, P. Decius, for the purpose of secur- ing the victory to his own countrymen, caused himself to be devoted to death by a priest, and then rushed among the Latins like a spirit of destruction, until he himself was slain. During the same campaign, Manlius Torquatus, the other consul, exhibited an example of Roman severity which was revolting even to his own countrymen. Orders had been given that no man should engage in fighting out of his own line. The consul's son Manlius, on being taunted and provoked by a haughty Latin from Tusculum, was unable to control his anger, and slew the Tusculan. Delighted with his victory, he brought the spoils of his enemy before his father, but the latter ordered the lictur to carry his threat into effe(;t, by putting his son to death. The comrades of young Manlius honoured him with splendid fimeral ceremonies, and the unnatural father was ever after shunned and scorned on account of this act. 12. After the first defeat, the Latins were deserted by the Campanians, who obtained favourable terms from the Romans. The Latins, however, continued the war two years longer, and at first made the most desperate efforts to maintain their inde- pendence. But another defeat in the second campaign led SUBJUGATION OF LATIUM. 417 to the dissolution of the Latin confederacy, after which most of tlie towns surrendered one after another. Their example was followed by their allies the Volscians, so that, in n. c. 338, the subjugation of the country of the Latins and Volscians was completed. The conquered people, however, were treated with moderation ; some obtained the full Roman franchise, such as the towns of Aricia, Lanuvium, Xomentum, and Pedum, while others received the franchise without the suffrage ; others again became Roman municipia, that is, had an internal administration independent of Rome. Some of the more impor- tant towns, liowever, were humbled and weakened by their noble families being sent into exile, or by being deprived of portioas of their territory. Each Latin town, moreover, was isolated as much as possible from the others, that is to say, the commercium and connuhium among the several towns were abolished. The question as to whether Rome should be only one in the con- federacy of the Latin towns, or rule over them as their mis- tress, was now decided for ever, and she secured her power in the newly conquered countries by the means already men- tioned, and still more by the establishment of Roman and Latin colonies, which were in reality military garrisons sta- tioned in the conquered places, and generally received one- third of the landed property of the original inhabitants. 13. During the period of the wars against the Samnites and Latins, several important measures were adopted at Rome, partly to prevent the law of debt from weighing too heavily upon the plebeians, and partly to check abuses of the powers of the magistrates. In the year b. c. 339, the dictator Q. Publilius Philo enacted three important laws, the first of which abo- lished the veto of the patrician curiae on legal enactments passed by the comitia centuriata ; the second gave to plebi- scita the full power of laws binding on the whole nation ; and the third ordained that one of the censors should always be a plebeian. The last vestiges of the patricians, as a privileged 418 HISTORY OF ROME. order, thus gradually disappeared one after another, without any great effort being made on the part of the patricians to maintain their once exclusive rights. The Roman republic now consisted of the Eoman citizens, both patrician and ple- beian, the Latins, and the allies as they were termed, though in reality they were the subjects of Rome, who provided the greater part of her armies in the w^ars against her more distant enemies. CHAPTER V. FROM THE SUBJUGATION OF LATIUM TO THAT OF ALL ITALY. 1. The success of the Romans seems to have awakened the jealousy of the Samnites, and the Romans observing this feeling endeavoured to strengthen themselves, partly by concluding treaties of alliance, but more especially by esta- blishing colonies, that is, military garrisons on or near the frontiers of Samnium. Such a colony W'as founded in b. ( . 328, at Fregellae, a Volscian town, which had been con- quered and destroyed by the Samnites, to whom, accord- ingly, the territory belonged. This led to disputes and even threats on the part of the Samnites ; but war was not declared until b. c. 326, when the Samnites had sent reinforcements to Neapolis in Campania, which was then at war with Rome. Neapolis soon after concluded peace, but the Samnites were indemnified for the loss of this ally by Lucania renouncing its alliance with Rome. The Tarentines also supported Samnium. In the first campaign a Roman army marched into Apulia, part of which was allied with the Samnites, and where with great difficulty the Romans made themselves masters of some towns, but afterwards gained SECOND SAMNITE WAR. 419 a great victory. The Samnites then obtained a truce for one year, after the expiration of which a body of them entered Latium and gained over some of the Latin towns, while the Roman army was in great danger in Apulia. Rome, however, was saved by the Latin towns returning to their duty, and thus enabling her to drive the enemy from Latium. Meanwhile, in b. c. 322, her arms in Apulia also were successful ; Luceria and many smaller towns both in Apulia and in Samnium were conquered, and Fregellae was evacuated by the Samnites. The latter now offered to treat for peace, but the demands made by the Romans were of such a nature that the Samnites could not accept them. 2. After this unsuccessful attempt at negotiation, the Samnites made every effort to maintain their independence. Luceria was closely besieged by them, and in b. c. 321, the Romans, by the imprudent conduct of their consuls, Veturius and Postumius, lost nearly all the advantages they had gained in their previous campaigns ; for the army being surrounded on all sides in the mountain pass of Caudium, and defeated in a fearful battle, was obliged to surrender. The survivors had to give up their arms and pass under the yoke, a symbolical act by which an array acknowledged itself to be vanquished. Pontius, the noble and modest commander of the Samnites, again offered fiur terms of peace ; these were accepted by the Roman commanders, and the army was then allowed to return home. But the senate not only refused to ratify the peace, but decreed that those who had concluded it should be given up in chains to the enemy, as persons that had deceived them. Pontius refused to accept them, and the war was continued by the Romans with redoubled vigour, to wipe off the disgrace of Caudium. Great victories are henceforth ascribed to the Romans to make up for the great defeat. The first important advan- 420 HISTORY OF ROME. tages were gained in Apulia, where Papirius Cursor dis- tinguished himself; but Fabius Maximus was defeated in a great battle at Lautulae, in consequence of which many towns revolted from Eome. The sufferings of the Samnites, however, were great, and their strength gradually sank. In B. c. 314 they were defeated in several engagements; in the following year Fregellae was recovered, together with several other towns, and the submission of Campania and Apulia was secured by various means. Rome had in fact the fairest prospects of speedily and thoroughly humbling her enemies, had not other events in different quarters prevented this consummation for a time. 3. The Etruscans, who had long been apprehensive of Rome's growing power, took up arms against her in b. c. 311, and thus obliged her to divide her forces. The Romans accordingly not being able to direct all their strength against the Samnites, suffered a great defeat near Allifae, and the legions in Samnium were in great distress. Under these circumstances Papirius Cursor, being appointed dictator, in b. c. 309, hastened to their assistance, and so completely defeated the Samnites, that they took to flight, leaving their camp in the hands of the enemy. But the Samnites were then joined by the Marsians, Pelignians, and Umbrians. The last of these were indeed soon brought to submission by Fabius Maximus ; but a great coalition was forming against Rome, in which the Hernicans and ^quians also took part, and which gave the Samnites fresh hopes. Notwithstanding all this, however, Rome's power was irresistible ; the war against Etruria was near its end, the Hernicans were easily overpowered, and the consuls Q. Marcius and P. Cornelius, directing their united forces against the Samnites, put them to flight in all directions, b. c. 306. The coalition on which they had relied being broken up, and their armies being defeated, they concluded a short truce in the hope of obtain- HERNICANS, ^QUIANS, ETRUSCANS DEFEATED. 421 ing peace on tolerable terms. When hostilities were recom- menced, the Romans ravaged Samnium far and wide, until the Samnites, after another defeat at Bovianum in b. c. 305, were completely crushed. Negotiations for peace accordingly were commenced, and the Samnites were obliged to accept the terms dictated by Rome, to give up their supremacy over Lucania, as well as tlieir alliance with the Marsians, Pelig- nians, Marrucinians, and Frentanians, while Rome reserved to herself the right to interfere in all the external relations of Samnium. This peace, hard as it was, was acquiesced in because the Samnites were so much reduced that they could not continue the war. Thus ended the second Samnite war, which had lasted from b. c. 326 to 304. 4. The f-dte of the Hernicans after their reduction in b. c. 306, was on the whole the same as that of the Latins. The iEquians, who all along had supported the Samnites, rose in a body at the time when the Samnites had already concluded peace with Rome. The consequence of this thoughtless insurrec- tion was that their towns in a short period were conquered one after another, and most of them were destroyed. About this same time the Romans concluded a treaty with Tarentum, in which it was stipulated that no Roman ships should sail beyond cape Lacinium. The Etruscan war above referred to broke out in b. c. 311, when the Etruscans, encouraged by the defeat of the Romans at Lautulae, hoped to be able to recover their ancient independence. Their country was no longer harassed by the wandering Celts, who had quietly settled down in the plains on the north and east of the Apennines. But the Etruscans began the war against Rome too late, and after it had lasted for some years, their cities began, in b. c. 308, to conclude peace with Rome each for itself for a fixed number of years. The interval between the second and third Samnite wars is marked only by the revolt of the ^quians already mentioned, and by the inva- 422 HISTORY OF ROME. sion of the Roman territory hj a host of Celts who had just come across the Alps. But the barbarians did not stay long, and having collected vast quantities of booty returned to the north. o. The peace concluded with the Samnites lasted only six years, of which period the Eomans availed themselves for firmly establishing their power in the countries they had recently con- quered. The Samnites were only waiting for a favourable opportunity to recommence hostilities, and being led to think that the Romans were afraid of entering upon afresh war, they resolved to try to recover the supremacy of Lucania, which was torn to pieces by factions. The Lucanian nobles, however, placed themselves under the protection of Rome, whereupon the Romans demanded of the Samnites to evacuate Lucania. This demand irritated them so much that war was declared at once, b. c. 298. At the same time the Etruscans again rose in arms, allied themselves with the Umbrians, and even called in the aid of Gallic mercenaries. In the first two years of the third Samnite war, the Samnites were defeated in Lucania, at Bovianum, and at Maleventum in Samnium itself, which was fearfully ravaged. In the third year all Lucania was recovered by the Romans. The Etruscans were not more fortunate than the Samnites, and the latter sent out an army to their assistance ; but all was to no purpose ; the Roman arms were victorious everywhere, and a defeat of the Samnites in Campania delivered Rome from the fear of a revolt among her allies. But what alarmed her, nevertheless, was a report that the Gauls were marching southward, and were allied with and supported by the Etruscans and Umbrians. In b. c. 295, under the consuls Q. Fabius and P. Decius, the Romans made incredible efforts to meet the threatening storm. In Etruria they had suffered some severe reverses, but Fabius' arrival soon produced a favourable change, and in the great battle of Sentinum in THIKD SAMNITE WAR. 423 Umbria, which was nearly lost, the self sacrifice of Decius, who caused himself and the hostile army to be devoted to the infernal gods, gained for the Eomans a signal vietory. The Samnite army which had been sent into Etniria was cut to pieces, and twenty-five thousand Gauls and Samnites covered the field of battle, while eight thousand were made prisoners. From Umbria Fabius returned to Etruria, where he gained a victory over the Etruscans near Perusia. 6. While these things were going on in the north, where the enemies of Rome had endeavoured to unite their forces, another Samnite army had been engaged in fearfully ravaging part of Campania, but there too they are said to have been beaten with great loss by the Roman army returning from Sentinum. In the two following years, the Romans continued to be successful both in Etruria, where most of the towns thought it advisable to conclude peace with Rome, and in Samnium. The people of the latter country now exerted all their strength, and having enlisted all their men capable of bearing arms, invaded Campania. But an invasion of Sam- nium by the Romans obliged them to return, and the Romans having gained a great and decisive victory, carried off an im- mense quantity of booty. No sooner, however, had they with- drawn from Samnium than the Samnites, under the command of the noble-minded Pontius, again invaded Campania. At first, the Romans who met the enemy were defeated, and had it not been for the excessive caution of the Samnites, the Roman army would have been completely annihilated. But soon after this, in b. c. 292, the agedQ. Fabius Maximus undertaking the command, a fierce battle was fought, which decided the contest between Rome and Samnium. Twenty thousand Sam- nites were killed, and four thousand made prisoners, among whom was the brave Pontius. The issue of the war was now decided, although the submission of Samnium was delayed for two years longer. Pontius was led to Rome in chains, and 424 HISTORY OF ROMF. then beheaded — a savage treatment of a man to whose gene- rous forbearance it had been owing that the whole Eoman army was not destroyed after the defeat of Caudium. The Samnites do not appear after this to have ventured again to meet their enemies in the field ; and in b. c. 290 they sued for peace, whish was granted on condition that Samnium should acknowledge the supremacy of Rome. The same soon after- wards became the fate of the Umbrians, Etruscans, and the Celtic tribes of the Senones and Boians. Numerous colonies were established to secure the submission of these countries, and Rome, having now acquired the dominion of all central Italy, enjoyed a few years of peace. 7. Notwithstanding a few occasional attempts of the patri- cians to deprive the plebeians of the rights guaranteed to them by solemn laws, the two orders were placed upon a complete footing of equality during the period of the second and third Samnite wars. In b. c. 312, the censor Appius Claudius made the famous Appian road from Rome to Capua (which was afterwards continued to Brundisium), and the first aqne- duct which supplied the city of Rome with water. In the same year a calendar was set up in public for the convenience of the people, that they might know on what days it was lawful to meet in the assembly and administer justice. A constitu- tional change appears to have been made about the same time, in consequence of which the comitia centuriata were engrafted upon the comitia tributa, though the latter still continued to be convened separately as before. The last great change, by which the equalisation of the two orders was completed, was effected by the Ogulnian law, b. c. 300, by which the number of pontiffs and augurs was increased, and at the same time it was enacted that one-half of these priestly colleges should be filled with plebeians. All public offices with which political power was connected, were now equally divided between patri- cians and plebeians, and the differences between the two estates TARENTUM. 425 were soon so far forgotten, that the question as to whether a man was a patrician or a plebeian was entirely lost sight of. The Licinian agrarian law, however, appears to have been constantly violated with impunity. The distribution of the public land among the poor citizens, though not absolutely refused, was but rarely resorted to ; and the long wars carried on at a great distance from home continued to reduce to poverty many who shed their blood for their country. But notwithstanding these drawbacks, Eome was now enjoying, in some measure, the blessings of the legislation of Liciniiis, and the period of the Samnite wars may be regarded as the beginning of the golden age of Roman history. 8. The peace which Rome enjoyed after the termination of the third Samnite war was interrupted only by fresh attacks of the Gauls and Etruscans, who are said to have been stirred up by the Tarentines. This war, beginning in b. c. 285, ended in the total subjugation of the Senones and Boii in b. c. 282 ; but that against the Etruscans lasted for two years longer, when the Romans, on account of a defeat they sus- tained in southern Italy, granted them a most favourable peace. After this, the Etruscans made no further attempts to recover their independence, and seem to have enjoyed a high degree of prosperity under the supremacy of Rome. 9. Tarentum, a colony of Sparta, which had been founded in B. c. 708, and had attained a very considerable degree of pros- perity as a commercial and manufacturing city, was looking with alarm upon the spread of the power of the Romans in southern Italy ; but being unwilling itself to engage in a con- test with Rome, it stirred up the other nations of southern Italy to combine against their common enemy. This scheme succeeded so far as to induce even the Samnites to join the coalition in the hope of recovering their former independence. The first act of hostility consisted in the Lucanians besieg- ing Thurii, but C. Fabricius, after great difficulties, succeeded, T 2 426 HISTORY OF ROME. E. c. 282, in relieving the place and gaining several victories over the allies. The necessity of communicating with Thiirii by sea led the Eomans to violate the treaty subsisting between them and the Tarentines, and ten Eoman ships steered towards the harbour of Tarentum. The Tarentines immediately sailed out to attack them ; and only five Eoman ships escaped. Tliurii being then attacked by the Tarentines was obliged to throw open its gates to them. Upon these proceedings the Eoman senate sent an embassy to Tarentum to demand repa- ration ; but the Tarentines not only refused to do this, but insulted the ambassadors in a most indecent manner. War was thus unavoidable. The Tarentines had, in the meantime, been joined by the Messapians ; but as their hopes of a general coalition of the nations of Italy against Eome were disappointed, they invited Pyrrhus of Epirus to come to their assistance. 10. Pyrrhus, the adventurous and chivalrous king of Epirus, with whom we have already become acquainted,* gladly seized the opportunity, in the hope of being able to establish for himself a great kingdom, consisting of Epirus, Magna Graecia, and Sicily. He arrived in Italy in b. c. 281, and immediately took possession of Tarentum, whose inhabi- tants had to submit to severe military discipline. In the year following, the Eomans, after concluding peace with Etruria, sent out armies against the Samnites and Tarentines. On the banks of the Siris, near Heracleia, the hostile armies met, and Pyrrhus, partly by means of his Macedonian phalanx, and partly by the terror of his elephants, with which the Eomans w^ere unacquainted, gained a decisive victory over the Eomans, though they fought with the most admirable valour. In con- sequence of this victory many Italians, such as the Apulians, liOcrians, and many separate towns, openly joined Pyrrhus. But as he himself had sustained great losses in the battle, he sent his friend Cineas to Eome to offer peace. The senate, * P. 344, &c. PYKRIIUS. 427 however, refused to listen to any proposals until the king should consent to quit Italy. Pyrrhus then advanced to the very neigh- bourhood of Rome, but finding that peace had been concluded with Etniria, he returned to Tarentum. In the year b. c. 279, the Roman consuls met the enemy again in the neighbourhood of Asculum, where Pyrrhus gained another hard-won victory. Notwithstanding this, however, he seems to have despaired of success, and in speaking of the Romans is reported to have said, '' with such soldiers the world would be mine," while he described his own victory by saying, " one more such victory, and I shall be ruined." 1 ] . After these disasters the Roman senate felt inclined to come to some understanding with Pyrrhus ; but Appius Claudius the Blind strenuously opposed the scheme so long as Pyrrhus refused to quit Italy. Pyrrhus had lost his con- fidence in his Italian allies, while the Romans filled his soul with admiration and respect ; and well it might be so when he compared their conduct with that of the degenerate Greeks, with whom alone he had hitherto had dealings. Under these circumstances, he gladly availed himself of an invitation sent to him by the Sicilian Greeks, who hoped with his assistance to drive the Carthaginians out of the island. A truce seems to have been concluded with Rome in b. c. 278, and Pyrrhus sailed over into Sicily. But he found his Sici- lian allies even worse than those in Italy ; their faithless and treacherous disposition thwarted nearly all his imdertakings, though, if they had followed and obeyed him, he would, no doubt, have rescued Sicily from the hands of the Carthagi- nians. After a stay of three years in the island, he returned to Italy at the urgent request of his Italian allies, who were hard pressed by the Romans. During his absence the latter had punished their revolted allies or subjects, and victories had been gained over the Lucanians, Bruttians, Tarentines, and Samnites. On his arrival in Italy, Pyrrhus recovered 428 HISTORY OF ROME. some of the towns wliicli had fallen into the hands of the Komans. The consul M.'Ciirius Dentatus was encamped near Beneventum, and thither Pyrrhiis repaired to offer battle. But his army, now mainly composed of effeminate and fickle Greeks, was no longer what it had been in his former cam- paigns. He was so completely defeated, b. c. 275, that he escaped with only a few horsemen to Tarentum. Finding that his Italian allies in other quarters were not more success- ful, and that he could not expect any reinforcements from the kings of Macedonia and Syria, he at once resolved to quit Italy, leaving small garrisons at Tarentum and Khegium. Two years after his return to Epirus, he was killed at Argos in a battle against Antigonus Gonatas. 12. After the departure of Pyrrhus, the Tarentines con- cluded peace with the Eomans, who now resolved to crush the inhabitants of southern Italy for ever ; and this was accomplished in b. c. 272, when the Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians did homage to the majesty of the great republic ; but Khegium was not recovered till the year after. Rome now was the virtual mistress of all Italy, from the northern frontier of Etruria to the straits of Sicily. There was, however, one nation, which, though often conquered and humbled, could not resign itself to its fate. This was the Samnites, and in b. c. 268 the fourth and last Samnite war broke out ; but it was brought to a close in the very first campaign. The conquered nations of Italy were treated differently, according to the degree of hostility they had shown during the war, and according to the manner in which they had succumbed to the Romans. All, however, had to recognise the supremacy of Rome, which as usual secured its dominion in the newly con- quered districts by the establishment of colonies or military garrisons. The vanquished nations lost the right of carrying on war on their own account, and of concluding treaties with foreign nations. The ships of the maritime cities enabled the CARTHAGE. 429 Romans, in case of need, to form a fleet against any trans- marine enemy with whom they might come in contact. At this time the fame of Rome's conquests had reached the ears of the princes in the distant East, and Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt, in b. c. 273, sent an embassy to conckide a treaty of friendship, which was willingly granted. Rome had now become one of the states of the first rank in ancient history, and well would it have been for her, had circumstances allowed her to limit herself to Italy, and develop a system of free institutions over the peninsula, so as to unite the whole in one compact state. CHAPTER VI. CARTHAGE AND SICILY. 1. Carthage, a colony of Tyre, on the north coast of Africa, is said to have been founded by Dido, a Tyrian prin- cess, about the year b. c. 814. Its inhabitants therefore belonged to the Phoenicians, a branch of the Semitic race. Carthage was not the only Phoenician colony on that coast, nor even the most ancient, for Utica and Tunis boasted a much higher antiquity ; but Carthage soon rose to great power and prosperity, in consequence partly of its favourable situa- tion, and partly of the decline of the commercial greatness of the mother city. From these and other circumstances, it exercised a sort of supremacy over the other Phoenician settlements on the same coast, though formally their inde- pendence was always recognised, and Utica in particular remained an independent political community down to the latest times. For a long period, down to the reign of Darius Hystaspis, the Carthaginians had to pay a tribute 430 HISTORY OF ROME. to the Libyans, that is, the natives among whom they had estabhshed themselves. But in the course of time they not only ceased to pay this tribute, but reduced the Libyans to complete subjection. These were then treated by their new masters with cruel avarice ; they had to till the land for them, and furnish them with armies, for the Carthaginian soldiers mentioned in history are always either Libyans or mercenaries, the purse-proud merchants of Carthage disdaining to serve their country in person. In the country round Car- thage, the mixture of the Phoenician settlers with the native Libyans produced a race called the Libyphoenicians, who seem to have occupied and cultivated the rich lands about Carthage and the valley of the river Bagradas. The territory which the Carthaginian state acquired probably never reached fur- ther south than lake Triton, or further west than Hippo Regius. Its influence, however, was extended both in the west and in the east by a large number of colonies or factories, for they were all established for commercial purposes. Hence Carthage exercised her authority over the north coast of Africa, more or less, from the pillars of Hercules to the head of the great Syrtis. 2. The character of the Carthaginians as a commercial nation obliged them to make themselves masters of the islands nearest to Africa. About the middle of the sixth century b. c, Malchus, a Carthaginian general who had distinguished him- self in the wars in Africa, is said to have undertaken a successful expedition against Sicily ; but an attempt upon Sardinia failed, in consequence of which he was punished with exile. Instead of submitting to his fate, he proceeded with his army against Carthage, and made himself master of it. In the end, howevoi", he was put to death, because he was accused of aiming at regal power. The work of conquest begim by him was continued by Mago, who also gave a better organisa- tion to the military resources of his country. Shortly after CARTHAGINIANS IN SICILY. 431 tliis, the refusal to pay the customary tribute to the Libyans led to a war with them, in which Carthage was defeated, and had to purchase peace. The conquests in Sardinia and Sicily, however, were continued, and Sardinia became the first foreign province of Carthage, a condition in which that island appears as early as the first year of the Roman republic. Corsica was likewise occupied by them at an early period, though its pos- session was disputed for a long time by the Tyrrhenians. 3. Sicily, to which the attention of the Carthaginians was directed from the very first, was never entirely con- quered V)y them. The island was inhabited by two peoples, the Sicani and Sicoli, and its southern and eastern coasts were occupied by Greek colonists, called Siceliotae, whose steady advance displaced several of the Phoenician settlements, which had existed there from early times, until the Phoe- nicians retained their footing only on the western coast. These Phoenician colonies were first taken possession of by the Carthaginians, who with this firm footing in the island, endeavoured to extend their empire there by fomenting dis- sensions among the Greeks until they were prepared to strike a great blow. Even before the invasion of Greece by the Persians, they had been involved in war with Gelo, the tyrant of Syracuse ; and when they found that the Greeks of the mother country were fully engaged against the Persians, who may even have urged on the Cartliaginians, they resolved to make a great effort against the Sicilian Greeks. An oppor- tunity easily presented itself, and the Carthaginians, to sup- port their friend Terillus, the exiled tyrant of Himera, invaded the island in b. c. 480 with a fleet of three thousand ships, and an army of three hundred thousand men, which was commanded by Hamilcar. But this grand armament was utterly defeated and its commander slain, it is said, on the very day on which the Greeks of the mother country fought the glorious battle of Salamis. The loss of this battle at once 432 HISTORY OF ROME. decided the fate of the Carthaginians in Sicily ; they were driven back to their ancient positions in the west of the island, and, for a time at least, seem to have given up all thoughts of extending their dominion in Sicily, for no fresh attempts were made until the year b. c. 410, from which time they continued their wars with the Sicilian Greeks, until the Romans interfered in the contest. 4. Among the other foreign possessions of Carthage, we may notice the Balearic islands, and parts of the south and west coast of Spain. The first time that Carthage had any dealings with Rome was the year after the expulsion of the Tarquins, B.C. 509, when the two republics concluded a commercial treaty, which is preserved in Polybiiis, and is of extreme importance in determining the relations then subsisting be- tween Rome and Carthage. In a second treaty of a similar nature, concluded in b. c. 348, the Roman merchants were excluded from Corsica and Libya. During this period, the relations between Rome and Carthage were of an amicable nature, as is attested by several occurrences, and also by the fact, that in b. c. 306 the ancient treaty was renewed. But the progress made by the Romans in southern Italy aroused jealousy and alarm in the minds of the Carthaginians ; during the war against Pyrrhus, however, in b. c. 279, Carthage and Rome, being drawn together by the same interests, concluded a defensive alliance, which was directed against Pyrrhus, their common enemy. In consequence of this, a Carthaginian fleet of one hundred sail appeared at Ostia to assist the Romans, but it was dismissed with thanks, without being used. The fears entertained by Carthage in regard to Pyrrhus were realised by his crossing over into Sicily with the avowed purpose of driving the Carthaginians from it. But owing to the miserable conduct of his Greek allies, he was obliged to give up his enterprise. Throughout the war against Pyrrhus, both in Italy and Sicily, each of the two republics SYRACUSE. 433 fought \\ithout being assisted by the other, which probably arose from mistrust which they had couceived of each other after the conclusion of the last treaty, and the march of events soon brought them into violent collision. 5. The political constitution of Carthage was strictly oli- garchical, and a few wealthy, ancient, and powerful families divided among themselves all the power and all the great offices of the state. The executive was in the hands of two chief magistrates called suffetes or judges, who appear to have been elected annually. We also hear of a senate of three hundred members, forming a sort of great council, out of which several smaller bodies or committees were chosen. The assembled people were sometimes consulted in cases where the suffetes and the council could not agree ; but this popular assembly appears otherwise to have had little power, the wealthy families generally having everything their own way, for money seems to have been all-powerful at Carthage. The arts and sciences were cultivated only so far as they con- tributed to the comforts of life, or aff'orded the means of acquiring wealth. The religion of the Carthaginians was the same as that of the Phoenicians, and was occasionally stained by the offering of human sacrifices to their gods. 6. The most powerful among the Greek colonies in Sicily was Syracuse, and it was chiefly this city that had from the first disputed the sovereignty of the island with Carthage. Civil dissensions induced and enabled enterprising men at an early period to set themselves up as tyrants of Syracuse. After the great victory of Gelo over the Carthaginians at Himera, in B. c. 480, Sicily for a time was not again invaded by the Carthaginians, but about a century later the elder Diony- sius, who was tyrant of Syracuse from b. c. 405 to 368, had to purchase peace from Carthage by giving up Agrigentum and other Greek towns. The Corinthian hero Timoleon afterwards, having delivered Syracuse from the tyranny of the u 434 HISTORY OF ROME. younger Dionysius (who ruled from b. c. 368 to 345), for a time checked the encroachments of the Carthaginians ; but under Agathocles, who had raised himself from the lowest rank to that of tyrant of Syracuse, b. c. 317, the hostilities recommenced, and continued with such varying success, that at one and the same time, B.C. 310, Carthage was besieged by the army of Agathocles, and Syracuse by that of the Carthaginians ; for as the Carthaginians who had been in- vited by the enemies of Agathocles were carrying on their siege operations somewhat carelessly, he seized a favourable moment, and sailed through the midst of the enemy's fleet to Carthage. After having landed on the coast, he ordered his fleet to be burnt, that his soldiers might have no choice between victory or death, and in a short time made himself, by his desperate courage, master of the whole territory of Carthage. The Carthaginian general Hamilcar in the mean- time was defeated at Syracuse, and died in captivity. Aga- thocles then, with brilliant promises, invited Ophelias, the governor of Cyrene, to come to his assistance, b. c. 308. But when he arrived with an army of twenty thousand men, the cunning Syracusan, alleging that the Cyrenean was meditat- ing treason, unexpectedly attacked and slew him, and then compelled his men to enter into his own service. In the height of his pride he fancied himself already master of the whole of northern Africa, and assumed the title of king. But matters soon assumed a difierent aspect, for being defeated in a battle by the Carthaginians, he secretly made his escape to Sicily to secure his position at Syracuse, leaving his army to perish in a foreign land. The soldiers, enraged at such con- duct, murdered the son of the tyrant, who had been left behind, and then entered the service of Carthage. By mur- ders and acts of the most wanton cruelty, Agathocles now endeavoured to establish himself securely at Syracuse, and extended his dominion over the greater part of the island ; THE MAMERTIXES. 435 but in the end a slow poison was administered to bim, which induced bim to order himself to be burned. He bad been tyrant of Syracuse from b. c. 317 to 289. 7. After the death of this bold but unscrupulous adventurer, the whole island fell into a state of the wildest anarchy. His Campanian mercenaries, called Mamertines, on their return home took forcible possession of the town of Messene or Messana, b, c. 281 ; they murdered or expelled the male population, and then distributed their property as well as their wives and children among- themselves. From Messana, they made predatory excursions in all directions, and thereby produced in the island a feeling of uneasiness and insecurity, which the Carthaginians were not slow to turn to their own advantage. Pyrrhus was invited from Italy to assist the Sicilian Greeks against both the Carthaginians and Mamer- tines. He went across, as we have seen,* but the Sicilian Greeks, who probably knew that he was really aiming at making himself master of the island, behaved towards him in such a manner, that after a stay of three years be was glad to return to Italy. The island now fell again into its former state of anarchy, and the Mamertines, like a horde of robbers, ransacked the country, and secured their plunder behind the strong walls of Messana. At this time, B. c. 275, the Syracusans elected Hiero, a descendant of Gelo, as their general, and five years later he obtained the title of king. With a strong army he marched against Messana, defeated the Mamertines, and by besieging the town re- duced them to such straits, that they were obliged to look about for foreign assistance. Some were of opinion that they should throw themselves into the arms of the Carthaginians, who, from hatred of Hiero and the Syracusans, had already ofiered their assistance, and soon after took possession of the acropolis of Messana ; but the majority resolved to invoke the aid of the Romans. * P. 427. 436 CHAPTER VIJ. THE FIRST PUNIC WAR, DOWN TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE - SECOND. 1. At the time when the Mamertines solicited the assist- ance of Eome, scarcely six years had elapsed since the Eomans had inflicted the severest punishment upon a body of Campa- nians who had acted at Khegium in the same manner as the Mamertines had done at Messana. The Eoman senate, or at least the better part of it, felt that common decency forbade their entertaining the proposal ; and accordingly referred it to the assembly of the people, with whom the love of war and con- quest seems, at that time at least, to have stifled every other feeling. An alliance with the Mamertines was concluded in B. c. 264. As the Carthaginians were in possession of the citadel, Hiero, finding that he could effect nothing against the town, concluded peace with the Mamertines. This cut off at once every pretext for Eoman interference ; but the opportunity of commencing war against the Carthaginians was too tempt- ing, and a fleet, furnished by the Greek maritime towns, and au army at once assembled at Ehegium. A proclamation was sent to Messana, to announce to the Mamertines that the Eomans were ready to deliver them from the yoke of the Carthagi- nians. The fleet then sailed across, and the Carthaginian general was treacherously induced to surrender the citadel of Messana to the Eomans. The Carthaginians demanded of the Eomans to quit Sicily, and as this was disregarded, a fresh army, in conjunction with king Hiero, laid siege to Messana. The consul Appius Claudius, who had in the meantime come across with his legions, defeated Hiero before his allies could come to his assistance. Hiero retreated to Syracuse, and the FIRST PUNIC WAR. 437 Carthaginians, being likewise defeated, dispersed among their subject towns in the island. In the year after, b. c. 263, Hiero and his Syracusans, tired of the war, concluded peace with Rome, and remained her most faithful allies for many years. 2. In the meantime, other Roman armies had landed in Sicily, and sixty-seven towns are said to have surrendered to them. The Carthaginians did not make their appearance in the field, and the conquest of the island at that time seemed a matter of no great difficulty. In u. c. 262, the Romans besieged Agrigentum, which was held by a numerous garrison of the Carthaginians. After a siege of seven months, the city was compelled to surrender ; the garrison escaped, but the place experienced all the horrors of a town conquered by the sword. As Carthage was mistress of the sea, the Roman senate ordered a fleet to be built in all haste, after the model of a Carthaginian quinquereme which had been thrown on the coast of Bruttium. In b. c. 260, C. Duilius undertook the command of the fleet, and in the ensuing engage- ment with the Carthaginians off Mylae, he changed, by means of boarding bridges, the naval battle into a land fight. This was the first battle fought by the Romans at sea, and their victory was so complete, that the enemy, after the loss of about ten thousand in killed and wounded, took to flight. The grateful Romans honoured their admiral with a column, adorned with the beaks of the captured ships (columna rostrata\ and with an inscription recording the details of his victory. After this success, the Romans were so emboldened that they resolved to drive the Carthaginians from all their insular pos- sessions, and expeditions were undertaken at the same time against Sardinia and Corsica. The operations in Sicily were in the meantime carried on with less vigour, and the Carthaginians gained some advantages ; but the ascendancy of the Romans was restored in b. c. 258 by the consul Atiiius Calatinus. 438 HISTORY OF ROME. Myttistratum, whicli had been besieged by the Eomans for some time, was abandoned by the Carthaginian garrison, and fell into the hands of the Eomans. Camarina and many other towns were either taken or surrendered. 3. But notwithstanding these and other successful enter- prizes, one half of Sicily was still in the hands of the Car- thaginians, and the Romans had only recovered what they had previously lost. In b. c. 256, however, the Romans made immense exertions, and a large fleet of three hundred and thirty sail was got ready, intended to cross over into Africa under the command of the consuls L. Manlius and M. Atilius Regulus. But the fleet was met by a larger one of the Cartha- ginians near Ecnomus, and a decisive and destructive battle ensued, in which the Carthaginians were completely defeated. Offers of peace on the part of the Carthaginians were rejected, and the Roman fleet sailed to Africa. It landed near Clupea, and as the place was found deserted by its inhabitants, the Romans made it their head quarters, and in all directions ravaged the country, which was cultivated like a garden and studded with factories and country houses of the wealthy. At the close of the year ]\Ianlius returned to Italy with a portion of the forces and a vast number of prisoners. Regu- lus, remaining behind with his diminished forces, began the campaign of b. c. 255 by laying siege to the town of Adis. But owing to the inexperience of the enemy, Regulus, it is said, had the satisfaction of seeing a large number of towns submitting to him. The Carthaginians were so much reduced as to be obliged to seek shelter behind the walls of their o^ti city. In this distress they sent to Regulus to sue for peace ; but he, who might now have concluded the war in an honour- able manner, proposed such humiliating terms, that the Car- thaginians could not accept them, and resolved to perish sword in hand rather than submit to the insolence of their enemy. FITIST PUNIC WAR. 439 4. This would probably have been the result in a short time, had the Carthaginians not availed themselves of the services of the able Spartan Xanthippus, to whom they entrusted the supreme command of their forces. He increased the army, and by an improved discipline revived the spirit and confidence of the soldiers. When the army was sufficiently trained, he marched out to meet Eegulus, and in the battle that ensued the whole Roman army was routed and dispersed. Regulus himself was taken prisoner with five hundred men, and only two thousand escaped to Clupea. The Roman consuls immediately sailed to Africa with a large fleet to rescue the men at Clupea, who defended themselves bravely ; near cape Hermaeum it was attacked by the Carthaginians, but gained a brilliant victory over them, and continued its course to Clupea, where the Carthaginians were again defeated, and the two thousand Romans taken on board. But on its return to Sicily, the fleet was overtaken by a storm, during which most of the ships perished, all the coast from Camarina to Pachynus being covered with wrecks and corpses. The Carthaginians, emboldened by their own success and the reverses of their enemies, re-commenced their operations in Sicily and made new conquests. The news of the destruction of the fleet, however, acted upon the Romans only .as an incen- tive to greater exertions, and in b. c. 254, a new armada of two hundred and twenty ships sailed to Sicily, and took Panormus. This conquest was followed by the surrender of several towns which until then had been faithful to Car- thage. As the progress of the Romans was slow, the fleet in B. c. 252 once more sailed to Africa, and laid waste its coast districts. But the dangers of the Syrtes induced the Romans to return, and when the fleet came within sight of cape Pali- nui-us, a storm burst forth in which one hundred and fifty ships were wrecked. This second great disaster at sea dis- couraged the Romans, and it was resolved not to restore the 440 HISTORY OF ROME. fleet beyond what was necessary to protect Italy and convey troops to Sicily. 5. During the following years the Eomans nevertheless continued to make progress ; they confined the Carthagi- nians to the western corner of the island, and in b. c. 250 the consul Caecilius defeated them in a great battle in the neighbourhood of Panormus. This Avas the third gi*eat battle fought during the whole period of the war, and it was at the same time the last. The Carthaginians had now lost all the towns in Sicily with the exception of the fortresses of Lilybaeum and Drepana, and anxious to obtain peace or at least an exchange of prisoners, they are said to have sent Eegulus, who was still in captivity, to Eome, to prevail on his countrymen to grant either the one or the other. But Eegulus persuaded the Eoman senate to enter into no negotiations and to continue the war. A new fleet of two hundred sail was built, and the Eomans began to besiege Lilybaeum, which was veiy strongly fortified. The siege lasted for a long time, until at length the Eomans con- fined themselves to blockading the place. In b. c. 249 the fool-hardy and haughty Appius Claudius, who had gone to Sicily with a supplementary army, was defeated near Drepana both by land and by sea. This disaster of their enemy gave fresh courage to the Carthaginians, who followed up their victory with great vigour. But still more serious misfortunes befel the Eomans, for a vast number of transports were destroyed during a storm, and their remaining ships of war were captured or sunk by the enemy. These things led them a second time to renounce the sea, of which the Carthaginians were now the undisputed masters. But their resources were exhausted, and their attempt to raise money by a loan was unsuccessful. In these circumstances, the great Hamilcar, the father of Hannibal, undertook the command of the forces in Sicily, b. c. 247. He first made some predatory FIRST PUNIC WAR. 441 descents upon the coiists of Italy, and on his return took up a strong position on mount Hercte, where for a period of three years he watched the proceedings of the Eomans, and did them incalculable injury by his sallies. Afterwards he took up a similar position on mount Eryx, where he was besieged by the Eomans, but continued to harass them as before, although he was surrounded by great difficulties and had only mercenaries for his soldiers. 6. In this manner the war was protracted without any- thing decisive being effected by either party. The Romans at length, seeing that it could not be brought to a close without some great effort, resolved, in b. c. 242, to build another fleet. The funds were contributed by wealthy and patriotic citizens, and an armament of two hundred ships, commanded by C. Lutatius Catulus, was soon under sail. He first made an attack upon Drepana, but being unsuccessful, resolved at once to offer battle to the Carthaginian fleet, which contained a large number of transports. The victory of the Romans was easy and complete : sixty-three of the enemy's ships were taken, one hundred and twenty were sunk, and the number of the slain and prisoners was immense. This great victory was gained in n. c. 241 off the ^galian islands, and Eryx soon after fell into the hands of the Romans. The Carthaginians now sued for peace, which w^as granted on condition of their evacuating Sicily and the islands between it and Carthage, abstaining from war against Hiero and his allies, restoring the Roman prisoners without ransom, and paying tw^o thousand three hundred talents in ten yearly instalments. 7. The first Punic war, which had lasted twenty-three years, and had been carried on with incredible efforts and losses on both sides, was now terminated, and in Sicily Rome made her first foreign conquest. Sicily, as a country out of Italy, on coming into the hands of the Romans received a constitution different from that of the conquered countries of Italy — it 442 HISTORY OF ROME. became a province, that is, a country governed by a Roman praetor or proconsul, wbo was sent out every year with supreme civil and military power, and was assisted by a quaestor or treasurer. The revenues derived from a province by the Roman republic were of various kinds, such as taxes consisting of a tithe of all the produce of the soil, and the rent of the public or domain land. These revenues fvecti- galia) were not levied by officers of the government, but were farmed by wealthy individuals fpuhlicani) or companies of them. All the towns of a province, moreover, were not in the same relation to Rome, their condition generally depend- ing on the manner in which they had behaved during the war preceding the conquest. In Sicily, for example, the little kingdom of Hiero and several other places remained perfectly free and independent. It was a maxim with the Romans that provincials should serve Rome only with money, and not with soldiers, whence they were not allowed to enlist in the Roman armies. It is a remarkable fact, that during the long period of the first war with Carthage, the Italian nations remained quiet, and did not attempt to shake off the yoke of Rome — a proof of the moderation with which she treated them. 8. When the Carthaginians evacuated Sicily and their mercenaries returned to Africa, the government was unable to give them the pay that was due to them. They accordingly rose in arms against their employers, b. c. 241, and were urged on by Italian deserters who were afraid of being delivered up to the Romans. This war between Carthage and her mercenaries was carried on with the utmost cruelty by both parties, and Carthage itself was brought to the brink of destruction, the whole of the surrounding country being at times in the hands of its enemies, for the insurgents were joined by the Libyans and even by other Phoenician colonies on the coast. The great Hamilcar at length, after the war had ILLYPJAN WAR. 443 raged up-wards of three years, succeeded in putting an end to it, B. c. 238. The fact that Carthage was enabled to crush the rebellious mercenaries, was partly owing to the generous conduct of the Eomans, who not only refused to aid the rebels, but protected the transports destined for Carthage. During this African war, the mercenaries in Sardinia likewise revolted ; but the natives drove them from the island. The mercena- ries then threw themselves into the arms of the Eomans, who gladly availed themselves of the opportunity of seizing the island, in b. c. 238. When Carthage remonstrated with them for this act of aggression, the Eomans treated them as if they were the offenders, and not only took possession of Sardinia and Corsica, but demanded of Carthage the additional sum of twelve hundred talents. The African republic being in too exhausted a condition to offer any resistance, was obliged to yield ; but its indignation and revenge were treasured up for a more convenient time ; and Carthage, under the guidance of Hamilcar, at once began to make preparations to indemnify herself in another quarter for what she had lost. 9. The Eomans had indeed gained possession of the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, but they had to carry on a long and tedious war with the natives, who were less patient of the Eoman yoke than they had been of the Carthagi- nian. About the same time the Eomans were involved in an equally tedious war with the Ligurians and Boians, and while these wars were still going on, another struggle was commenced in b. c. 229 against the semi-barbarous pirates of Illyricum, who were then governed by a queen Teuta, and did great injury to the maritime cities of Greece. The barbarians were easily conquered, and the Greek towns which had formerly been plundered by the Illyrians, such as Corc}Ta, Epidamnus (Dyrrhachium), ApoUonia, placed themselves under the protection of Eome. In this manner the Eomans gained a footing on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, and a certain 444 HISTORY OF rome. influence upon the affairs of Greece ; that influence, however, was beneficial, for the Illyrians were humbled and obliged to give up their piracy. At the same time Corinth and Athens conferred certain marks of honourable distinction upon the Komans. 10. But all these wars were trifling compared with that which now burst upon the Romans. In b. c. 229, C. Fla- minius, by an agrarian law, had distributed the lands on the north-east of the Apennines, which had been taken from the Gauls. For some years the Boians had been strengthen- ing themselves by alliances with other Celtic tribes in the north of Italy, and even beyond the Alps. In b. c. 226 swaims of Celts came across the Alps, and as their formidable hosts moved southward, the Romans were seized with the greatest alarm. The Gauls, devastating everything by fire and sword, advanced as far as Clusium in Etruria. There the Roman army met them, determined to rescue Italy from their devastations. At first the Romans were nearly sur- rounded and annihilated, but in the neighbourhood of Telamon, on the coast of Etruria, they gained a decisive victory, the Gauls losing forty thousand in killed and ten thousand in prisoners. This memorable battle was fought in b. c. 225, and the year after the Romans compelled the Boians to submit, and for the first time crossed the river Po, where in b. c. 223 the consul C. Flaminius gained a great victory over the Insubrians. In the year following, the war against the Gauls was brought to a close by M. Claudius Marcellus in the battle of Clastidium, where he slew the Gallic chief Virido- marus with his own hand. In the peace which was then concluded, the Gauls recognised the supremacy of Rome, which thus became the mistress of the wide plains of Lom- bardy, known by the ancient name of Gallia Cisalpina ; and she secured these conquests by the establishment of the colonies of Cremona and Placentia, CARTHAGINIANS IN SPAIN. 445 11. In the meantime the Illyrians, and especially ilie Illyrian prince, Demetrius of Pharos, had renewed their piratical practices ; but they were effectually put an end to, in B. c. 219, by the consul L. ^milius Paulus, who subdued the whole of Illyricum ; but Demetrius escaped to the court of Philip of Macedonia, wliose attention had no doubt already been attracted by the progress made by the Romans on the east of the Adriatic. 12. After the loss of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, the Carthaginians, guided by the wise counsels of Hamilcar, had endeavoured to indemnify themselves by making conquests and establishing a new empire in Spain. That country was inhabited by Iberians and Celts, who lived partly in separate districts, and partly mixed togetlier under the name of Celti- berians. In some of the coast districts the Phoenicians and Greeks had already formed settlements. By a wise modera- tion and kind treatment Hamilcar succeeded in attaching the natives to himself, though he neglected no precaution to insure their permanent fidelity. In b. c. 229 he fell in a bloody battle against the natives, leaving the command to his son-in-law Hasdrubal, who successfully pursued the same policy as his predecessor, and founded the town of New Carthage (Carthagena). The Romans, somewhat alarmed at the progress made by the Carthaginians in Spain, con- cluded a treaty with Hasdrubal, in which it was stipulated that they should not carry their conquests beyond the river Iberus. In b. c. 221 Hasdrubal was assassinated and suc- ceeded by the great Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar, who had accompanied his father to Spain at the age of nine years, and had grown up in the camp under the eyes of his illus- trious father, and in the midst of the greatest hardships. 13. Hannibal is one of the greatest generals of all ages and countries, and ought not to be judged of by the partial and prejudiced account which Livy gives of him. Immediately 446 HISTORY OF ROME. after his accession lie engaged in war with some tribes, and succeeded in conquering Spain as far as the Iberus, except the town of Saguntum, which is said to have been alHed with the Romans. Availing himself of some dispute between it and a neighbouring tribe, he at once proceeded in b. c. 219 to lay siege to the town. Eoman ambassadors in vain called on him to abstain from hostilities ; he referred them to the senate at Carthage. Q. Fabius, the spokesman of the embassy, met with no better success at Carthage, for although the aristocratic party, headed by Hanno, was thoroughly opposed to a war with Rome, the friends of Hannibal and the popular party refused to take their victorious general to account, or to recall him. Fabius, at length, making a fold of his toga, said, " Here I bring you peace and war; take whichever you please." When the answer was, " Give us whichever you please," he, unfolding his toga, replied, " Well, then, I offer you war." War was thus declared. The inhabitants of Saguntum main- tained themselves with the greatest fortitude against the besiegers, but after eight months of a most heroic defence, the town was taken and reduced to a heap of ruins. The inhabitants were partly buried under the ruins of their houses, and partly killed themselves by rushing into the fire which they had kindled in the market-place to destroy their remaining property ; the survivors were put to the sword. CHAPTER VIII. THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, THE FIRST AND SECOND MACEDONIAN WARS, AND THE WAR AGAINST ANTIOCHUS. 1. At the time when war was declared against Carthage, the Romans were still engaged in Illyricum, and the war against the Gauls had only just been brought to a close, whence we HANNIBAL CROSSES THE ALPS. 447 cannot be mncli surprised at finding that they did not at once act with the energy and quickness which they usually mani- fested on such occasions. Hannibal, on the other hand, assembling his troops at New Carthage, intrusted the supreme command in Spain to his brother Hasdrubal, while he himself, in the beginning of the summer of r. c. 218, crossed the Iberus with an army of ninety thousand foot, twelve thousand horse, and thirty-seven elepliants ; but before crossing the Pyrenees, he allowed all those who were unwilling to accompany him on his gigantic expedition, to return. By this means his forces were reduced to fifty thousand foot, and nine thousand horse. On his passage through Gaul he met with no opposition until he reached the river Rhone, the passage of which he had to force against hosts of Gauls drawn up against him on the eastern bank. He then began his ever memorable march across the Alps, by the Little St. Bernard, during which he and his army had to struggle with indescribable difficulties. When at length he arrived on the southern side of the Alps in the valley of Aosta, his forces were reduced to twenty thousand foot and six thousand horse ; but though worn out, they were all soldiers on whom the great general could place full reliance. The passage of the Alps had been effected in fifteen days, and his arrival in Italy was hailed by the Gauls, who implored his protection against Rome. 2. When the Romans received intelligence of Hannibal's design to cross the Alps, they sent the consul P. Cornelius Scipio with an army and fleet to Gaul, and his colleague Sem- pronius Longus with another army to Sicily. Scipio arrived in Gaul when Hannibal had already crossed the Rhone. With- out, therefore, effecting anything of consequence, he slowly returned to Italy, and did not arrive on the banks of the Po until Hannibal had already descended from the Alps. The hostile armies met first on the banks of the Ticinus, and after- wards on those of the Trebia, and in each of these engage- 448 HISTORY OF llOMK. ments the Romans were defeated, and Scipio himself received a severe wound in that on the Ticinus. Hannibal spent the winter in Lombardy, and in the beginning of B.C. 217 he with incredible difficulty crossed the Apennines into Etmria. On the banks of lake Trasimenus, the consul C. Flaminius, anxious to defend the road to Rome, met the Carthaginian army, and on a foggy morning a fearful battle was fought, in which no less than fifteen thousand Romans perished. Flami- nius himself was among the slain, and the rest escaped to an Etruscan village. Another detachment which had been sent to assist the c(msul was likewise cut to pieces or taken prisoners. Hannibal's policy from the first was by kind treatment of the Italians to win their attachment, and induce them to throw off the yoke of Rome ; but, as we shall see hereafter, he had miscalculated : the Italian allies, and more especially the Roman and Latin colonies throughout Italy, remained faith- ful. This he experienced immediately after the battle of lake Trasimenus, for when he attacked Spoletium, the town offered a brave defence, and Hannibal, abandoning the place, marched along the eastern coast of Italy, through the countries inhabited by Sabellian tribes, towards Apulia, in the hope of arousing the nations of southern Italy against their rulers. 3. The news of the battle of lake Trasimenus had thrown Rome into the greatest consternation. Q. Fabius Maximus, honourably surnamed the Slack (Cunctator), was immediately appointed dictator, for it was expected tliat Hannibal would march straightway against Rome. But finding that he had taken a different road, Fabius followed him at every step, but cautiously avoided giving battle, though he endeavoured to gain every possible advantage when opportunities offered. Near Casilinum, the prudence of Fabius, and a mistake on the part of Hannibal's guide, placed the latter in so difficult a position, that he extricated himself only by a stratagem, causing bundles of wood to be fastened to the horns of two thousand oxen, which BATTLE OF CANNAE. 449 were then driven in the night with the faggots blazing towards the Eomans. The latter, terrified by the sight, quitted their favourable position, and thereby enabled the enemy to escape. Hannibal spent the winter in Apulia, and was greatly disappointed at finding that he was not yet joined by any of the Italian nations. The Romans began to be dissatisfied with the excessive caution of Fabius, and for the year b. c. 216, appointed C. Terentius Varro, a man of a directly opposite character, to the consulship, along with L. ^milius Paulus. They were expected to put an end to the war at one blow ; they entered Apulia with an army of eighty thousand foot and six thousand horse, and pitched their camp near the little tovm of Cannae. The terrible defeat which the Eomans sus- tained there at once showed them how wise had been the policy of Fabius. Forty-seven thousand Romans covered the field of battle ; the consul ^milius Paulus and eighty sena- tors were among the slain. Varro escaped with only a few horsemen to Venusia. This day of Cannae was marked in the Roman calendar as a day equally disastrous as with that on which they had been defeated by the Gauls on the Allia. 4. But although Rome was humbled, her spirit was not broken ; and proposals for ransoming the prisoners, or con- cluding a peace, were indignantly rejected. Hannibal, after his victory, moved towards Capua, and at once reaped the fruits of his success in being joined by a number of Italians. Capua, next to Rome the greatest and wealthiest city of Italy, likewise openly declared for him, though its relation to Rome had been extremely favourable. He took up his winter quar- ters among his new allies at Capua, and his stay there forms the turning point in his career, which had hitherto been so glorious, and that too notwithstanding the numerous allies he had gained, and the reinforcements he had received from Carthage. The Romans made incredible efforts, and even enlisted a body of eight thousand slaves. In b. c. 215, Hanni- u2 450 HISTORY OF ROME. bal sustained considerable loss in an attack upon the fortified camp of M. Claudius Marcellus at Nola, and another great advantage was gained by Tib. Sempronius Gracchus near Beneventum. The confidence of the Romans was revived by these successes, and they now laid siege to Capua, which was forsaken by Hannibal, who lingered in Apulia and Lucania. At length, however, he advanced to the relief of Capua, but as the Romans declined a battle, he proceeded towards Rome, and pitched his camp near its very gates. A detachment from the besieging army at Capua was recalled, and battle was offered to Hannibal, but he, satisfied with having ravaged the country, returned to Capua which was still blockaded, and thence to Rhegium. 5. In the year of the battle of Cannae, Hiero, the faithful ally of the Romans, had died ; and his successor Hierony- mus, ceasing to fear Rome after her defeat, negotiated with Hannibal, who gladly accepted the proposal of an alliance. But Hieronymus was murdered by his own subjects, and two usurpers, who assumed the supreme power, treated Rome in the same way as their predecessor. The consequence was, that in B. c. 214, an army under M. Claudius Marcellus sailed across to Sicily, and laid siege to Syracuse, which siege continued until B.C. 212, when the Romans became masters of the place by treachery. The Syracusans, assisted by the mathe- matical and mechanical skill of Archimedes, defended them- selves bravely, and for this they had to pay dearly in the cruel treatment they experienced at the hands of their conquerors. The greatness and splendour of Syracuse were destroyed for ever, and the great mathematician was murdered while pur- suing his scientific studies. All Sicily now again fell into the hands of the Romans. Hannibal tried to make up for this loss by the conquest of Tarentum and some other places in southern Italy. But it was all of no avail ; the genius of Rome was in the ascendant, and in the year after, B.C. 211, THE ROMANS IN SPAIN. 451 Capua was taken. Its inhabitants were treated with true Koman cruelty, and twenty-seven senators made away with themselves, while others killed their wives and children to save them from inhuman treatment by the Romans. Two years after this, b. c. 209, Tarentum was recovered by Fabius Maximus. This and the cruel treatment inflicted on Syracuse and Capua intimidated most of the Greek towns in Italy so much, that they abandoned the cause of Hannibal. The Carthaginian now set his only hope on the succours which he expected from his brother Hasdrubal in Spain. 6. At the very beginning of the war in b. c. 218, Cn. Cornelius Scipio had been sent to Spain to oppose Hasdrubal, and had soon after been joined by his brother Publius. The two Scipios remained in Spain for a number of years, ever harassing and checking the Carthaginians. They not only prevented Hasdrubal from sending reinforcements to Hanni- bal, but even defeated him in several battles. At the same time they formed connections with an African chief Syphax, who then attacked Carthage. But in the year b. c. 212, the two Scipios were slain in battle within thirty days of each other, and their armies were nearly annihilated. The Romans lost all their possessions in Spain on the south-east of the Iberus, and Hasdrubal made preparations to join his brother in Italy. At Rome, no one was bold enough to undertake the command of a new army ia Spain, till young P. Cor- nelius Scipio, the son of P. Cornelius Scipio who had lately been slain in Spain, offered to do so, though he was only twenty-four years old. This young man, in every respect a most remarkable person, was scarcely inferior as a general to Hannibal himself, and afterwards gained the imperishable glory of putting an end to the war. Immediately on his arrival in Spain, b. c. 211, things took a different turn, and in his second campaign, he took New Carthage, the most important possession of the Carthaginians. By mild- 452 HISTORY OF HOME. ness and kindness he secured the attachment of many of the Spanish chiefs, and his authority and influence became so great that he quite eclipsed Hasdrubal, who was defeated by him in b.c. 209, in a great battle near Baecula. But notwith- standing this discomfiture, Hasdrubal ventured at length to carry out his scheme of joining Hannibal in Italy. In b. c. 207, he arrived on the southern side of the Alps, and after some delay in Lombardy, marched through eastern Italy to join his brother in Apulia, but he was opposed by the consul C. Claudius Nero. Hasdrubal, while attempting to cross the river Metaurus in Umbria, was attacked by the Eomans by night. He himself was killed, and his army, unacquainted with the locality, was entirely cut to pieces before Hannibal even knew of his arrival, for all letters had been intercepted. A Koman cut off the head of Hasdrubal, and on the return of the army to Apulia, flung it into the camp of Hannibal. This was the first intelligence which Hannibal received of his brother's misfortune, and in it he read his own fate. 7. After these occurrences, Hannibal confined himself to a defensive attitude in the country of the Bruttians, w^ho still remained faithful to him. In this isolated and de- serted condition, without assistance from home, and without allies in Italy, he displayed the greatest heroism ; he main- tained himself for several years, and whoever attacked him had to pay dearly for it. After the departure of Hasdrubal from Spain, the Carthaginians still had two armies there ; but their commanders were not able to cope with Scipio, who gradually drove them out of Spain, and made himself master of the whole of the southern part of the peninsula. Scipio remained in Spain for several years, partly engaged in chastising the rebellious tribes, and partly in organising the administration of the conquered country. He also re- newed the connection with Syphax, and concluded a treaty with him. After this, he went to Rome, where, notwith- BATTLE OF ZAMA. 453 standing his youth, he was elected consul for the year b. c. 205. He had, however, many powerful enemies, and the cautious senate did not approve of his proposal to make a descent upon Africa. Sicily was assigned to him as his province, and he obtained permission to sail to Africa, if he thought it advantageous for the republic. The means placed at his disposal were very scanty, but the enthusiasm of the people in all Italy was so gi'eat, that he was plentifully provided with everything by their voluntary contributions. He established himself at Syracuse, and took Locri in southern Italy 8. When all preparations had been made, Scipio in b. c. 204 crossed over into Africa. Syphax, from jealousy of the Numidian king Masinissa, had joined the Carthaginians, while Masinissa went over to the Komans. With his assistance Scipio, not far from Utica, set fire to the camp of Syphax and the Carthaginians, which consisted of tents made of straw and dry branches ; and great havoc was made among the enemies. Syphax fled to his own kingdom, but was pursued and taken prisoner. His wife Sophonisbe, who had caused the jealousy between him and Masinissa, was now given to the latter; but afterwards when Scipio, who did not trust her, demanded her surrender, Masinissa poisoned her. The last hope of Carthage now rested upon Hannibal, and a message was forth- with sent to summon him to return to Carthage. He obeyed the call without hesitation, but with a heavy heart, b. c. 202. Soon after his arrival he had an interview with Scipio, and both commanders were willing to come to terms ; but the Carthaginian people, elated by the mere presence of their great general, resolved once more to try the fortune of arms. The battle of Zama, in b. c. 202, decided between the two nations. The Carthaginians fought with the courage of despair ; but the day was lost, and the greater part of their army cut to pieces. Hannibal himself escaped with only a 454 HISTORY OF ROME. few companions, and advised his countrymen to submit to necessity and accept the terms of peace offered by Scipio. Carthage was obliged to surrender all Eoman deserters and prisoners without ransom, to give up its whole fleet with the exception of ten ships ; to promise to abstain from war with foreign states without the sanction of Eome, to indemnify Masinissa for his losses, and to pay the enormous sum of ten thousand talents by fifty yearly instalments. This peace was ratified at Eome in b. c. 201 ; Scipio then returned to Eome in triumph, and was henceforth distinguished by the honourable surname of Africanus. 9. After the peace Hannibal showed that he was not less great as a statesman and politician than as a general ; for he did all he could to heal up the wounds of his country by wise reforms in the administration. But not only did the Eomans exert their influence to undermine his authority, but his owTi countrymen began to distrust him, so that the greatest man of his age was at last obliged to quit his country as an exile, ij. c. 196, and seek protection at the court of an eastern despot, Antiochus the Great, king of Syria. His hatred of the Eomans, however, remained as unquenchable as his love of his own country. The Eoman republic, notwithstanding the fear- ful losses it had sustained, and notwithstanding the enormous devastations which Italy had experienced during the long war, came forth from the struggle more powerful than ever. She had conquered Spain, and Carthage and Numidia were \drtually in a state of dependence on her. Their non-Italian possessions now obliged the Eomans to keep a fleet ; their name was known far and wide, and foreign states and princes eagerly sought their friendship and alliance. 10. During the time of the second Punic war, Macedonia was governed by the young and talented, but faithless and licentious king Philip. His fears of the Eomans had been already excited by the influence they had acquired in the east of the SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR. 455 Adriatic after the Illyrian wars, and these feelings were fostered by Demetrius of Pharos. After the battle of Cannae, when the power of Rome seemed to be broken, he concluded a treaty with Hannibal, in which all the countries on the east of the Adriatic were secured to Philip, while Carthage was to rule over the west. But the document containing the treaty fell into the hands of the Romans, who at once adopted energetic measures to prevent the Macedonian king from sending succour to Hannibal. Philip, on the other hand, instead of trying to support his great ally, spent his time in useless struggles with the friends of the Romans in Asia Minor and Greece. A petty war was thus carried on for a period of ten years, from b.c. 215 to 205, during which neither party gained any great advantage. A peace was then concluded, in which neither the Romans nor the Macedonians had any honest intentions, for Rome having to make every effort against the Carthaginians could not afford at the same time to continue the war against Macedonia with vigour, and wished to postpone more active measures until the close of the Hannibalian war. The second war against Mace- donia broke out in b.c. 200, because Philip had ravaged Attica, which was allied with Rome. This war was at first carried on with little energy on the part of the Romans, and Philip, supported by the Achaean league and other Greek states, was successful for a time, but when T. Qiiinctius Flamininus in b.c. 198 undertook the command, and with extraordinary boldness attacked the enemy in his own country, things assumed a different aspect. In the battle of Cynoscephalae the Romans gained a complete victory over Philip, who was now obliged to conclude a peace, in which he recognised the independence of Greece, gave up a great part of his fleet, paid a large sum of money, and gave hostages as security for his future conduct. This peace was concluded in b. c. 197, and the year after Flamininus solemnly proclaimed the liberty and independence of Greece at the Isthmian games. 456 HISTORY OF ROME. 11. The rejoicing of the Greeks knew no bounds, but it soon became evident that they had only made a change of masters, the Romans having stepped into the place of the Macedonians. The enthusiasm for their liberators gra- dually subsided, and the rude ^tolians, being hostile to the Romans, partly because they did not consider themselves sufficiently rewarded for their services, and partly because they hated Nabis, the tyrant of Sparta, who had been too gently treated by the Eomans, stirred up Antiochus the Great to a war against Rome. In this attempt they were supported by Hannibal, who was then staying at the king's court. The king himself, moreover, had been offended by the Romans, who demanded that he should restore the Greek states in Asia Minor to independence, and renounce his pos- sessions in Thrace. Accordingly, in b. c. 192, on the invi- tation of the ^tolians, Antiochus crossed over into Europe ; but instead of following the advice of Hannibal, to ally him- self with Philip of Macedonia and attack the Romans in Italy, he wasted his time in festivities and amusements in Euboea, and offended Philip, while the Romans rapidly advanced into Thessaly. In b. c. 191 Antiochus and the ^tolians were met at Thermopylae by the Romans under M.'Acilius Glabrio, and were put to flight without any great struggle. The iEtolians now sued for and obtained peace, for the Romans were desirous to continue the war against Antiochus in Asia, whither he had fled after his defeat. 12. In B. c. 190, a Roman army, under the command of C. Laelius and L. Cornelius Scipio (who was accompanied by his brother P. Scipio Africanus), crossed over into Asia with an army of twenty thousand men. As the haughty king still refused to accept the terms offered by the Romans, a great battle was fought near Magnesia, at the foot of mount Sipylus, in which the hosts of the Syrians were unable to resist the Roman legions. After the loss of this battle DEATH OF HANNIBAL. 457 Antiocliiis fled to Syria and sued for peace, wliicli was granted to him on condition that he should renounce all his posses- sions in Asia west of mount Taurus, give up all his ships of war, and pay a large sum of money. He was, moreover, required not to interfere in the affairs of the allies of Eome, and to deliver up Hannibal. This peace was not ratified at Rome until b. c. 188. The countries in Asia ceded by the Syrian king (including Galatia, which was conquered soon after), were, for the present, distributed among the allies of Rome, such as the Rhodians and Eumenes of Pergamus, for the time had not yet come when it was thought desirable to constitute them as a Roman pro\dnce. Hannibal finding that his life was not safe in Syria, sought and found pro- tection with Prusias, king of Bithynia ; but when this prince also was unable to protect him against the r<}6tless perse- cution of the Romans, the unhappy Carthaginian poisoned himself b. c. 183. His conqueror Scipio Africanus died about the same time ; he too spent the last years of his life in a kind of exile, into which he had been driven by the envy and jealousy of his enemies, though he had in some measure to blame his own overbearing haughtiness. 13. While the Romans were thus engaged in making vast conquests in the East, the peace had been disturbed in the north of Italy by the Ligurians, Insubrians, and Boians, who commenced hostilities in b. c. 200, and continued them until B.C. 181. In the course of this war, during which many a bloody battle was fought, these nations were com- pelled to submit to Rome, and the Boians seem to have been completely extirpated. In Spain, too, the Romans were obliged to maintain their dominion sword in hand, for, after the departure of Scipio, the cruelty and faithlessness of the Romans often drove the Spaniards into rebellion and insurrection. A great war broke out there in b. c. 181, and continued to rage until b. c. 179, when Tib. Sempronius X 458 HISTORY OF ROME. Gracclius, the father of the two celebrated tribunes, concluded a fair and honourable peace, which was long and gratefully remembered by the Spaniards. CHAPTER IX. FROM THE THIRD WAR AGAINST MACEDONIA DOWN TO THE TIME OF THE GRACCHI. 1. Though Philip of Macedonia had assisted the Komans in the war against Antiochus, still he cherished an implacable hatred of them, and when in b. c. 179 he died, he bequeathed the same feelings to his successor Perseus, who, being an ille- gitimate son, had by intrigues and calumnies induced his father to put to death his lawful son Demetrius. No sooner had Perseus ascended the throne than he began to form new alliances, and make preparations for a conflict with Eome, for which his father had left him ample means. But the un- willingness he felt to part with his treasures, and his ill-judged measures, after some momentary advantages, brought about his downfall. When defeated by ^milius Paulus at Pydna in B. c. 168, he fell into the hands of the Romans, and, together with his children, treasures, and friends, was led in triumph through the streets of Rome. Macedonia was now divided into four independent districts, with republican insti- tutions, and made tributary to Rome.* By this dismember- ment the unity, and with it the strength of the country was broken. 2. Greece, too, distracted as it was by treachery, intrigues, and party feuds, was hastening towards its final dissolution. Shortly after the battle of Pydna, one thousand of the most * Compare p. 358, foU. SUBJUGATION OF GREECE. 459 illustrious Achaeans, charged with having secretly supported Perseus, were sent to Italy to be tried. Among them was the great historian Polybius. But instead of being allowed to account for their conduct, they were kept as hostages and prisoners. After seventeen years, b. c. 151, when death had reduced their number to three hundred, they were permitted to return to their country. A similar charge was brought agakist the wealthy and powerful island of Rhodes, which, in conse- quence, lost its Asiatic possessions, and was obliged to recognise the supremacy of Rome. About nineteen years after the battle of Pydna, b. c. 149, Andriscus, a runaway slave, came for- ward, and, pretending to be a son of the late king Perseus, claimed the throne 6f Macedonia. Many Macedonians flocked around his standard, being encouraged by the outbreak of a third war against Carthage, in which it was hoped that Rome would be defeated. But the praetor Q. Caecilius Metellus crushed the pretender and his followers, in b. c. 148, in a battle near Pydna. Some years after this, Macedonia was constituted as a Roman province. 3. Metellus was still engaged in Macedonia when the Romans called upon the Achaeans to dismiss Lacedaemon and several other cities from their confederacy ; the Achaeans assembled at Corinth treated the Roman ambassadors, who communicated this demand, with insult and violence. This act led to a war* and in b. c. 147, Metellus, after set- tling the affairs of Macedonia, advanced southward, and defeated the Achaeans in two battles, at Thermopylae, and at Scarpheia in Locris. But he was obliged to leave the honour of bringing the war to a close to the rude L. Mummius, who, after a victory at Leucopetra on the Isth- mus, took and destroyed the wealthy city of Corinth b. c. 146, and then traversed Greece, but especially Peloponnesus, spreading desolation wherever he appeared. The inhabitants * Compare p. 361, foil. 460 HISTORY OF ROME. of Corintb and other places were partly put to the sword, and partly sold as slaves ; the treasures of art were ruthlessly destroyed, or carried away to Kome, to adorn the palaces and villas of the nobles. Greece, however, does not appear to have been made a Eoman province, under the name of Achaia, till many years later. Under the oppressive adminis- tration of the Romans, the prosperity of the once flourishing little states gradually died away, and scarcely a trace was left of the ancient patriotism and love of liberty. The Spar- tans continued to indulge their warlike propensities by serv- ing as mercenaries in the armies of foreign powers, while the Athenians continued to be valued by the Romans as scholars, artists, poets, actors, and dancers, who contributed to the entertainment and amusement of their haughty conquerors, though they rarely succeeded in gaining their esteem and respect. As a seat of learning, however, Athens continued to maintain its rank as one of the principal places in the ancient world, to which men, fond of ease and letters, flocked from all parts, as to a great university. 4. The peace which Carthage had concluded with Rome in B. c. 201, lasted for more than half a century, during which period the Carthaginians, by industry, commerce, and agricul- ture, to some extent recovered their former prosperity. But this prosperity only gave fresh fuel to the national hatred of the Romans, and excited their jealousy and fear. Masinissa, the neighbour of Carthage, who enjoyed the favour of the Romans, and seems even to have been instigated by them, neglected no opportunity of harassing and annoying the reviving state. The Roman Cato, who was infatuated by a blind hatred of Carthage, partly perhaps .because the Cartha- ginians had rejected his proffered mediation between them and Masinissa, and partly from a real, though unfounded fear of the growing power of Carthage, urged in every speech he made in the senate the necessity of crushing the African THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. 461 republic. Masinissa, who well knew the feelings of the party at Kome hostile to Carthage, and was sure not only of impunity, but of support and protection, increased his own dominion at the expense of Carthage, and by constant disputes and vexations drove the Carthaginians to the neces- sity of defending their rights by force of arms, because Rome, when appealed to, either delayed pronouncing sentence, or decided in favour of the aggressor. The Eomans, gladly seizing the opportunity, charged the Carthaginians with having broken the peace. The people of Carthage implored their mercy ; and to assure them that they had no hostile intentions, they not only sent three hundred of their noblest citizens as hostages to Rome, but delivered up all their ships and arms. This happened in b. c. 149 ; and when all this was done, the Romans further demanded that Car- thage should be razed to the gi'ound, and that the inhabitants should build a new town for themselves at a distance of many miles from the sea. The treacherous and insolent nature of this demand drove the people to despair and madness ; they resolved to perish under the ruins of their own houses rather than yield to such insolence. A bold patriotic spirit seized all ranks and all ages, and the women cheerfully sacrificed all their finery upon the altar of their country. The whole city was at once changed into a military camp, temples were transformed into manufactories of arms, and nothing was spared that could serve to deliver the country from its im- pending doom. Such a spirit was too much even for the Roman legions, accustomed as they were to conquest and vie ■ tory. Several times they were repulsed, and thrown into such a perilous condition, that at last the Romans found it necessary to appoint P. Cornelius Scipio ^milianus, the son of ^milius Paulus, who had been adopted into the family of the Scipios, to the consulship for b. c. 147. He had not yet attained the age to qualify him for the consulship, but he had already 462 HISTORY OF ROME. given proofs of the highest military talent. Even he, how- ever, was not able to take the city, which offered a most desperate resistance, nntil the inhabitants were reduced by the most fearful famine, and even then he had to conquer every inch of ground, during a murderous fight in the streets of Carthage, which lasted for six days, b. c. 146. The fury of the enraged soldiers, and a conflagration which continued without interruption for seventeen days, changed the once proud mistress of the Mediterranean into a heap of ruins. A small number of determined Carthaginians, who had man- fully defended the temple of ^sculapius, the highest point in the city, when they saw that all was hopeless, set fire to the temple, and found their death in the flames. Fifty thousand inhabitants, who escaped from the carnage, are said to have been sold into slavery by Scipio, who, from this conquest, like his great namesake, obtained the surname Africanus. The territory of Carthage was changed into the Eoman pro- vince of Africa, and a cnrse was pronounced upon the site of the ancient city, that it might never be rebuilt. 5. Rome had now become virtually the mistress of all the countries round the basin of the Mediterranean, for the few states, such as Numidia, Egypt, and Pergamus, wliich still enjoyed a nominal independence, were destined at no distant period to lose even this appearance of freedom, for Rome had become conscious that she must rule the world. This des- tiny of Rome, however, was not the efiect of any settled plan of her rulers or statesmen ; it was rather the result of cir- cumstances, and she was forced, often very reluctantly, for the sake of her own peace and safety, to continue her conquests at an inconvenient distance. We have seen that newly con- quered countries wei'e sometimes not even retained, but given to those who had assisted Rome in conquering them. But great as was the prosperity abroad, at home the cancer of poverty was eating deeply into the vital parts of the state, while the INTERNAL CONDITION OF ROME. 463 npper classes indulged in every kind of foreign luxury. The political constitution had been finally fixed long ago, and the difference between patricians and plebeians was no longer thought of. But although not recognised by law, a new aris- tocracy (nohiles, optimates) had arisen Avhich based its claims upon wealth, and more especially upon family honours ; that Ls, those who could boast of a long list of ancestors who had been invested with the great offices of the republic looked upon themselves as being entitled to the same honours, whereas those who had no such ancestors to refer to were virtually almost excluded, and stigmatised by the name of obscure persons [obscuri) ; and if any such person succeeded in raising himself to the highest dignity, he was styled an upstart {novus homo). Henceforth, therefore, the struggle in the republic was between the rich and the poor, between those who were in possession of all the material and political powers, and those who possessed neither, but were anxious to secure, at least, the means of living. 6. Ever since the Romans had formed connections with the Greeks in southern Italy, and still more after the Illyrian and Macedonian wars, the intellectual superi- ority of the Greeks had manifested its influence in all the departments of public and private life. Greek gods and Greek forms of worship were adopted at a very early period, and threw many parts of the ancient national or Italian religion so much into the shade, that they became mere matters of anti- quarian curiosity, whose meaning and import were forgotten. Greek education and an acquaintance with Greek arts and literature were regarded as necessary by the best among the Iioman families, and no one can say to what this hellenizing spirit might have led, had it not been checked by a party which still clung tenaciously to the ancient and simple ways of their ancestors. This party was headed by M. Porcius Cato, who in his censorship manfully struggled against the 464 HISTORY OF ROME. prevailing fashion, and made his name proverbial as Cato censorius. The foreign influence which he combated shewed itself not only in education and in literature, which was at first little more than translation and adaptation from the Greek, but extended over the wdiole life of the Romans, and was seen in the luxuries of dress and of the table, in the affectation of polished manners, and in sensual enjoyments; for along with the riches of the East the conquerors also im- ported its follies and vices. In b. c. 155 Cato carried a decree ordering the three Greek philosophers, Carneades, Diogenes, and Critolaus, who had been sent to Rome as ambas- sadors from Athens, and attracted crowds of young men to their lectures, to quit the city. Long before this time it had been found necessary to prohibit the celebration of the Bacchic festivals [Bacchanalia)^ which had been introduced from southern Italy and formed a focus for every vice and licentiousness. Cato endeavoured to counteract the evil tendency not only by legal enactments, but by literary pro- ductions, such as his works on agriculture, the foundation of Rome's greatness, and on the Italian nations, whose history formed as strong a contrast to that of Rome in his time, as his own frugal and simple mode of life, and his old-fashioned cheerfulness in his social circles, did to the lavish extravagance and fashionable refinement of his opponents. But still the very example of Cato, who himself commenced the study of Greek in his old age, shows that obstinate partiality for what is old and established must ultimately give w^ay to the onward movement which nothing can completely stop. 7. The wealth carried to Italy after the Punic, Mace- donian, and Syrian wars was immense, and exercised the greatest influence upon the manners and morality of the Romans. The families from whom the highest magistrates and generals were taken, accumulated such enormous riches, as to be able to live more like princes than plain citizens of INTERNAL CONDITION OF ROME. 465 the republic. Their humble dwellings were exchanged for stcately villas surrounded by parks and filled with the most costly furniture and the most precious works of art, of which they had stripped the conquered countries and cities. In the acquisition of these treasures they were not very scrupulous as to the means employed, whence the constant complaints about bribery, avarice, and oppression in the provinces. The ladies especially, who possessed much more influence at Rome than in Greece, indulged in extravagant luxuries and dress, against which the laws proved powerless. The immorality and degeneracy of the wealthy were but too soon communicated to the great body of the people. The ancient and frugal mode of life, as well as the laborious pursuit of agriculture, was more and more abandoned. The young men preferred mili- tary service abroad, where their toil was rewarded with wealth and enjoyment, to the peaceful employments at home ; the soldiers always liked best to serve under a commander who was willing to allow them the greatest license, and as his elevation depended upon their votes in the assembly, the men aspiring to high offices neglected no means of gaining popularity, however immoral or illegal they might be. This hunting after popularity was, and remained, one of the most fatal disorders of the Roman republic. The wealthy vied with one another to win the favour of the multitude by splendid games and exhibitions, of which the Romans were always passionately fond ; and by this means the people were demoralised and corrupted. Their sense of honour was stifled, and with it the source of virtue dried up. The public games exhibited at Rome for the amusement of the multitude show that the influence of Greek culture had affected only the surface of the great body of the Romans ; for while in Greece the national games were a stimulus to great and noble efforts in war and in peace, the gladiatorial and animal fights of the Roman circus produced and could 4 Go HISTORY OF ROME. produce no other effect than that of fostering a delight in cruelty and bloodshed, and of familiarising the people with scenes that ought to have filled them with disgust and horror. 8. Eeckless extravagance was indulged in not only by the wealthy but also by the poorer classes, so that Kome has not unfitly been called " an abyss which no treasures were able to fill up." The natural consequence was poverty and distress, with all the evils that generally accompany them. Usurers filled their coffers from the misery of thousands, who, notwithstanding their wretched condition, looked upon them- selves as the lords of the earth, and treated with contempt those unfortunate foreigners whom war had reduced to slavery. A most lucrative trade was at this time carried on in slaves, and some of the best among the Eomans did not disdain to enrich themselves by the odious traffic. The rude and half- isavage natives of Sardinia and Corsica (probably Ligurians mixed with Iberians), Avho were employed for coarse labour, were sold at a very low price, while the more educated and refined Greeks and Asiatics, who served as secretaries, readers, teachers, tutors, and domestic servants, often fetched very high prices in the market. But notwithstanding all these symptoms of internal decay, Eomu's outward prosperity was ever increasing, and the great public works, highroads, canals, and aqueducts, are sufficient attestations of the lofty spirit and persevering energy of this wonderful people. 9. The optimates, amassing their wealth chiefly in the provinces, were ever eager for fresh wars and conquests. When appointed governors of foreign provinces under the title of proconsul or praetor, they generally looked more to their own interests than to the welfare of the provincials. As the Koman government did not itself levy the taxes in the provinces, but left this duty to wealthy capitalists [puhli- cani],\\\\o paid to the state a stipulated sum, and then obtained the right either themselves or through their agents to collect WAR AGAINST VIRIATHUS. 467 the taxes and duties, a wide field for extortion and cruel oppression was left open, and the most enormous sums were carried to Italy from the provinces. What was left by the publicani was speedily absorbed by hungry usurers and money-lenders, ^vho usually inundated a country, as soon as it became a Koman province ; hence a few years were often sufficient to ruin the prosperity of a whole country. There existed, it is true, laws against extortion [de repetundis) in the provinces, and provincials might seek redress from the Roman senate ; but as the judges were taken from the sena- tors, who either hud been guilty of the same crime, or were looking forward to similar opportunities of enriching them- selves, the accused generally escaped unpunished, or were sentenced, for the sake of appearance, to pay a small fine. 10. Sometimes the misrule of the governors and the extor- tion of the publicani drove the provincials into despair and rebellion. The first instances of this kind occurred in Lusi- tania in Spain, where Ser. Sulpicius Galba, after having suf- fered a severe defeat, by his avarice and cruelty called forth a general insurrection, Galba treacherously causing the people to appear before him without arms, ordered them all to be massacred. Viriathus, a common Lusitanian, but a brave and patriotic soldier, who escaped on that fearful day, rallied round him as many of his countrymen as he could, and for a period of eight years, from b. c. 148 to 140, carried on a war which was most disastrous to the Romans. In b. c. 141 a peace was concluded with him, in which the Romans were obliged to recognise him as their friend and ally ; but regard- ing this as an intolerable humiliation, they renewed the war in the year following, and got rid of their enemy only by niring assassins, who murdered him in his own tent. The Lusitanians continued the war for a few years longer, but were in the end obliged to submit, b. c. 137. 11. Even before this war was brought to a close, another 468 HISTORY OF ROME. had broken out with the Celtiberians in b. c. 143. Their capital was Numantia, a city renowned in the history of Spain for the brave and noble resistance it offered to the valour of the Koman legions. It was situated on a lofty emi- nence on the upper Durius, and held out against the besieging and blockading armies for a period of five years. In b. c. 137 theNumantines put the consul C. Hostilius Mancinus in a situa- tion so perilous, that he was obliged to conclude a peace with them, in which their independence was recognised. But the senate again resorted to the miserable expedient which had been adopted after the defeat of Caudium : Mancinus was to be delivered up to the Numantiues, and the war to be resumed with renewed vigour. The brave mountaineers remained undis- mayed, and for P. Cornelius Scipio, the destroyer of Carthage, was reserved the unenviable task of torturing to death the heroic citizens of Numantia. When he received the command of the Eoman army he conducted the siege with the utmost vigour. The besieged suffered from the most frightful famine, and for some time fed upon the corpses of their fellow citizens. At last, in b. c. 133, they were obliged to surrender, and having first killed their wives and children, they threw open the gates. Their number was very small, and in conse- quence of their long sufferings, their features hardly resembled those of human beings. Scipio then destroyed the mountain fortress, the ruins of which, not far from Soria, are still a monument of the noble struggle for freedom and independ- ence. Spain now became a Roman province, and being exhausted, remained quiet for more than thirty years, but fresh acts of oppression afterwards gave rise to new wars. 12. In the same year in which Numantia fell, Attalus, king of Pergamus, died, and in his will bequeathed his king- dom to the Roman people, probably in compliance with an express demand of the senate. Soon afterwards, b. c. 131, Aristonicus, a relation of the late king, came forward to THE OPTIMATES. 469 claim the kingdom as his lawful inheritance. Finding many- supporters, he placed himself at the head of a general insur- rection of the Lydians and lonians. The war, in which the Romans sustained serious losses, was continued into the year B. c. 130, when M. Perperna brought it to a close. Aris- tonicus was taken prisoner and carried to Eome in triumph. The kingdom of Pergamus, with the exception of Phrygia, which was given to Mithridates V., king of Pontus, as a reward for his assistance, was now constituted as a Roman province under the name of Asia. CHAPTER X. FROM THE TIME OF THE GRACCHI DOWN TO THE FIRST WAR AGAINST MITHRIDATES. 1. The new aristocracy of the optimates, which had gradually been formed after the two ancient estates of the patricians and plebeians had been placed upon a footing of political equality, not only endeavoured to exclude all novi homines from the great offices of the republic, but also maintained themselves, like the patricians of old, in the exclusive possession of the ager publicus, which in fact they regarded as their private property, neither heeding the limitation jBxed by the Licinian law, nor particularly scrupulous about paying the rent to the treasury. The number of these optimates was comparatively small, but they held in their hands the administration of the republic and the provinces, and they alone earned glory, wealth, and triumphs by foreign wars, while the great body of 470 HISTORY OF ROME. the people were oppressed by the constant necessity of serving in the armies, and were suffering from want, for the booty taken in war generally passed into the hands of the generals and other optimates. Nay, it would appear that in some instances the wealthy landed proprietor by fraud or violence deprived his weaker neighbour of his small patrimony, and reduced him and his family to beggary. In this manner the optimates amassed enormous riches, while multitudes were pining in abject poverty. The class of small landed proprietors, who once had constituted the strength of the republic, had almost entirely disappeared, and instead of them there had arisen a body of citizens without property, spending their life in idleness, and ready to sell their political birthright for miserable bribes. Their number had, moreover, been increased by the admission of strangers and freedmen to the fnmchise. So long as the wealthy landed proprietors had cultivated their princely estates (latifundia) by free peasants or clients, no alarming symptoms showed themselves, because the impoverished hus- bandman might support himself and his family at least by working as an agricultural labourer ; but when the avarice of the nobles led them to employ hordes of slaves on their estates instead of free labourers, who were now abandoned as homeless wanderers in their own country, a few of the nobler natures among the Eomans began to feel uneasy, and were prompted by a feeling of humanity to devise a remedy for the ever increasing evil. 2. Formerly the people in the comitia had voted openly, but in B. c. 139 the Gabinian law introduced the vote by ballot in the election of magistrates, and two years later the same practice was extended by the Cassian law to the popular courts of law. By these measures the influence of the opti- mates over the poor became only more pernicious ; the multi- tude became more venal, and the nobles had the best oppor- tunities, by bribing or purchasing votes, and by manumitting TIB. SEMPRONIUS GRACCHUS. 471 tlieir slaves, to carry the elections according to their own wishes and interests. These evils might have been remedied by creating an independent middle class, either by distributing the public land, of which the state possessed a vast amount, among the poor, or by conferring the full franchise upon the Latins. The latter of these remedies was unpalatable to the pride and ambition of the ruling people, and the former to the avarice and selfishness of the Koman nobility. The fears of the humane and truly patriotic citizens must have been increased by what was just happening in Sicily, where a war of the slaves, commanded by Eunus, one of their number, broke out in b. c. 134 against the free popu- lation, and was carried on with the horrors common in wars of slaves who break their chains. It raged for more than two years, and upwards of twenty thousand slaves are said to have been killed. 3. Occurrences like these, which showed to what disas- trous consequences the present system, if persevered in, might ultimately lead, emboldened the noble and patriotic tribune, Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, a son of Cornelia, the daughter of the elder Scipio Africanus, in b. c. 133, to come forward as the friend and champion of the poor. He proposed the re-enactment of the Licinian law, which had, in fact, never been repealed, but had in the course of time become a dead letter. No one, accordingly, was to be allowed to possess more than five hundred jugera of public land ; the surplus was to be taken from the actual possessors, and distributed in small lots as full property among poor citizens. A com- mission of three men was to be appointed to superintend the measurement and distribution ; and at the same time it was proposed that the property which had just been bequeathed to the Eoman people by king Attains of Pergamus, should be distributed among the poor to enable them to purchase stock and the necessary agricultural implements. The optimates, 472 HISTORY OF ROME. headed by the violent and stubborn Scipio Nasica, opposed the bill with all their might, and by intrigues induced another tribune, Octavius, to put his veto on the proposal of his colleague, in which scheme they succeeded the more easily, because Octavius, too, possessed more of the public land than the law allowed. Gracchus left no means untried to induce his colleague to give up his opposition ; but all was in vain ; avarice and the instigations of the optimates prevailed. Grac- chus thus found himself under the necessity of either giving up his noble and patriotic scheme, or depriving his colleague of his powers. He adopted the latter course, and in the assembly of the people, which was numerously attended by men from the country, he proposed the deposition of Octavius. This plan succeeded ; Octavius was stripped of his office, and a new tribune being elected in his stead, the bill of Gracchus was passed. This procedure, which was contrary to esta- blished usage, gave his opponents a handle against him, and they now endeavoured to persuade the people that Gracchus aimed at subverting the constitution, and even spread the malicious report that his object was to make himself king ot Eome. The people in their ignorance allowed themselves to be misguided, and notwithstanding the purity of his inten- tions, Gracchus found that his popularity was decreasing. When at the approaching election of the tribunes for the next year he again presented himself as a candidate, the opti- mates and their followers created a tumult, in which the illustrious tribune Avas slain, together with three hundred of his friends and followers. These scenes of bloodshed were followed by every kind of persecution, in which the nobles took bloody revenge for the fears they had endured of being deprived of their illegal possessions. During the night after the murder, Caius, the brother of Tiberius Gracchus, wished to have the body of his brother removed and decently buried, but was prevented ; and before daybreak, it was C. SEMPRONIUS GRACCHUS. 473 thrown into the Tiber, together with those of all the others who had fallen during the tumult. 4. The aristocracy had gained a complete triumph, and made bloody use of it ; but the tribunes also had become aware of their power, and the years which now follow are marked by several popular enactments. The triumvirs were to superintend the carrying into effect of the agrarian law, but the optimates continued to obstruct their working in every possible way, and contrived, by appointments abroad, to re- move from the city those men whose spirit and energy they had most reason to dread. But all their machinations did not prevent C. Sempronius Gracchus, the younger and more talented brother of Tiberius Gracchus, after the lapse of ten years, from offering himself for the tribuneship. He was elected to the office for the year b. c. 123, in the course of which he carried a great many laws, all intended to improve the condition of the poor and to weaken the power of the senate and the nobles. One of them was a re-enactment of his brother's agrarian law. The popularity he thus acquired secured his re-election for the next year. He commenced his operations of the second year by an enactment, transferring the trial of political offences from the courts composed of senators to courts consisting of equites or wealthy capitalists. By this means, the offenders, generally senators, ceased to be tried by their peers, but became subject to courts composed of quite a different class of men, who seemed less likely to screen offenders or make justice a purchaseable article. This law remained in force until the time of Sulla. Gracchus' great eloquence and noble nature created for him a numerous and powerful party of supporters among the poorer classes, whose momentary wants he endeavoured to relieve by employing them in making public roads and constructing public buildings. His labours proceeded as satisfactorily as could be expected ; but when, urged on by his somewhat vehement friend, Fulvius Flaccus, he proposed that X 2 474 HISTORY OF ROME. the Eoman francliise should be conferred upon the Italian allies, or at least, upon the Latins and Latin colonies, the optimates were seized with the greatest alarm, and resorted to an expedient which had been tried and found useful before. ]\1T Livius Drusus, one of the tribunes, was gained over by the aristocrats and prevailed upon to outbid Gracchus in popular measures. He accordingly promised the people other and greater advantages, and by this means undermined the popu- larity of Gracchus ; the aristocracy succeeded in preventing his re-election to the tribune-ship for the third year, and even made preparations for a proposal to abolish all his enactments. As Gracchus was now divested of the sacred character of tribune, his opponents were less scrupulous. During the disturbances which arose, the consul L. Opimins, a personal enemy of Gracchus, was invested with dictatorial power, to save the republic, as the cry was, from impending ruin. A battle was fought in the streets of Rome, and Gracchus and Fulvius Flaccus with their followers were overpowered. Flaccus and three thousand of his party were slain, and their bodies thrown into the Tiber. Gracchus escaped across the river into the grove of the Furies, where, at his own request, he was killed by a faithful slave. Exile, execution, and imprisonment then completed the work which had been left undone by the sword, and the aristocratic party, when satiated with blood, erected a temple to Concord ! But peace was not restored, and the triumph achieved by the optimates was not of long duration: the measure of their misdeeds was not yet full. 5. The exertions and sacrifices made by the noble brothers were productive of no permanent good to the republic, and things went on much in the same way as they had done before. The optimates disgraced the victory they had won by insatiable avarice, acts of injustice, and the most barefaced bribery. But events were taking place destined soon to bring the evil to a head. The audacious and crafty Jugurtha, the adopted son of THE JUGURTHINE WAR. 475 Masinissa, king of Numidia, knew the venal character of the Komans, and relying on their moral depravity, and feeling sure of impunity, murdered the two sons of Masinissa and took possession of their dominions. The Romans during these proceedings acted the part of mere lookers on, or allowed themselves by large bribes to be induced to connive at the crimes of Jugurtha. At length, however, the tribune C. Mem- mius gave vent to his indignation at the conduct of the nobles, and by exposing their conduct induced the senate in b.c. Ill to declare war against the Numidian usurper. An army was accord- ingly sent to Africa, but the commanders soon found out that they could derive greater personal advantages from negotiation and treating with Jugurtha, than from vigorously carrying out the decree of the senate. When these things became known at Rome, the honest and talented Memmius again came forward, and fearlessly exposed the shameless conduct of the Roman commanders in Africa. Jugurtha was summoned to Rome, but even now he might have escaped ^vith impunity, had he not had the audacity to murder young Massiva, a grandson of Masinissa. The war was indeed continued, but it w^as con- ducted in a careless and slovenly manner, until at length, in B.C. 109, the senate endeavoured to allay the threatening storm, by giving the command against Jugurtha to the honest and brave, but proud Q. Caecilius Metellus. He managed the war for a period of two years in a highly creditable manner, and restored the honour of the Roman arms. But the people of Rome had lost confidence in their noble commanders. 6. When Metellus went to Africa, he took with him C. Marius as one of his lieutenants. This man was of humble parentage, but of unbounded ambition, and full of hatred of the aristocracy, as well as of their polished manners and learning, of which it was his boast to be profoundly ignorant. Even before he went to Africa, he had attracted public atten- tion by the vigorous manner in which he tried to secure the 476 HISTORY OF ROME. rights of the poorer classes against the encroachments of the optimates. His personal valour, and his talent as a military commander, were also generally known and acknowledged, and it was to him that the people of Eome seem to have been' looking as the man who alone could and would bring the war against Jugurtha to a close. In b. c. 108 he formed the design of offering himself as a candidate for the consulship, and the insolent manner in which the proud Metellus received the announcement only fired his ambition; he therefore proceeded to Eome, where the popular party received him with the greatest enthusiasm. He obtained the consulship for B.C. 107, and the commission to proceed to Africa, as the successor of Me- tellus, and bring the war against Jugurtha to a termination. Marius, in forming his army, enlisted large numbers of the poorer classes and even freedmen, and having trained them well, his skill, bravery, and straight-forwardness, were more than a match for the crafty Numidian. He was eminently successful, and reduced the enemy to such straits, that he was obliged to apply to Bocchus, his father-in-law, king of Mauritania, in the hope of stirring him up to a war against Kome. But L. Cornelius Sulla, a young noble, who was serving in the army of Marius as quaestor, induced Bocchus treacherously to deliver up his own son-in-law. Jugurtha was accordingly surrendered to Sulla, who forthwith delivered him up to the consul Marius. The war was thus terminated in B. c. 106, and Jugurtha, after adorning the triumph of Marius, died of starvation in a Roman dungeon. 7. Nothing could have been more fortunate for Rome, than this timely conclusion of the Numidian war, for Italy was threatened with an invasion of barbarians more terrible than any it had yet experienced. The Cimbri, a Celtic host, who had been pressed forward towards the west by commo- tions among the Sarmatians in the east, appeared in Noricum on the banks of the Danube, where they were joined by an CIMBUI AND TEUTONES. 477 equally numerous host of Teutones or Germans. This had happened in b. c. 113. The Cimbri, wandering about with their women and children, sought a new home in the western parts of Europe, and promised to commit no act of hostility against either the Romans or their friends. They kept their promise ; but being nevertheless treacherously attacked in the neighbourhood of Noreia, they completely defeated the Roman army, B.C. 113. After this, instead of invading Italy, they threw themselves into Gaul, being joined in Helvetia by other tribes. Gaul was fearfully ravaged, and scarcely any part of the country was able to resist the invaders. In the course of four years, five consular armies were defeated l)y the barbarians on the Rhone and on the banks of the lake of Geneva. All Italy trembled as in the days of Hannibal , no one was anxious to obtain the consulship, and Marius was the only man to whom all looked with confidence. He had not yet returned from Numidia, but in his absence he was elected consul for the year b. c. 104, and the same dignity was con- ferred upon him in the four following years. Fortunately the Cimbri, after their victories over the Romans, invaded Spain, which they ravaged in the same manner as Gaul, but in B, c. 102 they returned to Gaul, where in the meantime the Teutones also had arrived. 8. Ever since his second consulship, Marius had exerted himself to train and discipline his army for the coming struggle, by accustoming the men to every kind of hardship. When the Cimbri arrived, Marius was with his army in Gaul, and fought a decisive battle in b. c. 102 near Aquae Sextiae (Aix), against the Teutones. After this defeat, the barbarians retreated to their waggons, but being unable to maintain themselves the whole body was annihilated. Half the danger was now overcome ; but the Cimbri were at the same time descending from the Raetian Alps into Italy, and the Roman army which was to oppose them under Q. 478 HISTORY OF ROME. Liitatius Catulus, was obliged to retreat before the invaders to the southern bank of the river Po. Marius, on being informed of this, hastened to the relief of his colleague and in a place called the Campi Eaudii, near Vercellae, he defeated in b. c. 101 the Cimbri as completely as he had the year before defeated the Teutones. Only a very small band escaped, who seem to have settled on the banks of the Meuse, where they were afterwards found by Julius Caesar. Marius was the deliverer of Italy and the pride of the popular party ; his sixth consulship, in b. c. 100, was the reward of his glorious victories, and under his auspices the demo- cratic or popular party gained the upper hand. 9. The optimates, apprehensive of the growing power of their opponents, and of losing what they considered their rights, united under the leadership of Sulla, who was as ambi- tious as Marius, but combined in his person all the good and all the bad qualities of the Roman aristocracy. His connection with Marius in the Numidian war, and his success, had only increased the hatred of the popular leader against him. Marius, who had become giddy by his victories, acted in many respects as if he were the master of the republic. The lawless conduct of the infamous tribune L. Appuleius Saturninus, who, was sup- ported by Marius, lorded it over the popular assembly by a band of followers, and endeavoured to increase the number of his own friends and party by a series of legislative enactments which were carried by force and violence. One of these enactments ordained that the lands conquered by Marius in Gaul and Africa should be distributed among his veterans. The high-minded Q. Caecilius Metellus, who refused to be a party to the revolu- tionary schemes of Saturninus, was sent into exile; and Satur- ninus succeeded in raising himself twice to the tribuneship by causing his competitors to be murdered in broad daylight. At length, wishing to gain the consulship for Servilius Glaucia, one of his associates, he caused his competitor, the noble C. SATURNIXUS LIVIUS DRUSUS. 479 Memmius, to be murdered, b. c. 100. This and many other atro- cious acts at length induced Marius to renounce his connection with Saturninus. Even his own party Leg'an to detest the monster, and when Marius called upon his fellow-citizens, they readily took up arms in the defence of the republic. Saturninus, (jrlaucia, and their followers, withdrew to the Capitol, where they were besieged ; but want of water soon compelled them to surrender, and nearly all of them were put to death by command of Marius. After these horrible scenes, Marius himself for a time withdrew from public life, and the party strife seemed to subside. But the causes of discontent and disease were not removed, and every one capable of discerning the signs of the times must have looked forward with terror to the explosion which could not be far distant. 10. Sulla neglected no opportunity of wounding the already exasperated feelings of Marius. He was anxious to show that the honour of having brought the Numidian war to a close belonged to him alone, and that Marius had no share in it. But this and similar things were of minor impor- tance. Far weightier matters were agitating the minds of thinking men. The reform introduced by Gracchus in the composition of the courts of justice had proved a complete failure, as the equites were found to be as accessible to bribes as the senators had been; the number of the poor and helpless was increasing every year in a most alarming ratio, which enabled the wealthy, by their money, to nde the state ; and, lastly, the Latins and Italian allies of Kome had for some time been demanding the full franchise. It required a man of unusual boldness to grapple with these questions, but it was impossible to devise means satisfactory to all parties. At length, in b. c. 91, the eloquent and talented tribune M. Livius Drusus undertook the task. He first -endeavoured to remedy the scandalous mal-administration of justice by a law in which the judicial power was divided 480 HISTORY OF ROME. between the senatoi'S and equites. He contemplated checking the growth of pauperism by agrarian laws, the establish- ment of colonies, and regular distributions of corn among the poorer classes. His third measure demanded the franchise for all the Italians, but before this could be carried, Drusus was murdered in his own house, and the Italians, seeing from this occurrence that it was hopeless to endeavour to gain their rights in a constitutional and peaceful way, took up arms to conquer by force whjit had been so obstinately refused to their petitions and demands. This was the beginning of the Social or Marsic war, which broke out in b. c. 90, and blazed forth at once in all parts of Italy. 11. In the earliest times Eome had from time to time conferred the franchise upon the neighbouring districts, as they were successively incorporated with the state. The number of such districts, or tribes as they were called, had been increased to thirty -five about the end of the first Punic war, the city of Rome forming four tribes, and the surround- ing country thirty-one ; but after that time the franchise was not extended. The rights enjoyed by the Latins and Latin colonies approached nearest the Roman franchise,- and it was evident that in any political reform they must be the first to obtain it. The Italian allies had for a long time demanded to be emancipated and placed on a footing of equality with the Romans ; but whenever the question had been mooted, tliey were treated with haughtiness and contempt. They had set their last hope upon the efforts of Livius Drusus, and this time they were prepared to gain their point either by per- suasion or by force. All the Sabellian nations, with the Mar- sians and Samnites at their head, had formed themselves into a confederacy, and, after the murder of Drusus, renounced their obedience to Rome. Their object was to establish an Italian republic governed by two consuls, and with the town of Corfinium, henceforth to be called Italica, as its capital. THE SOCIAL WAR. 481 Ai-mies well trained in arms, and a well supplied common fund, seemed to promise the best results. Fortunately for Kome, the Latins all over Italy, with the Etruscans and Umbrians, had not joined the insurgents, and the Eomans, in order to prevent such a contingency, at once conferred the franchise upon the Latins by a law proposed by the consul L. Julius Caesar, b.c. 90. The war was carried on simultaneously in several parts of Italy, and many a bloody battle was fought. In B. c. 88, when the Etruscans and Umbrians were on the point of joining the Italians, Eome wisely propitiated them also by granting them the franchise. By these concessions the strength and still more the hopes of the allies were broken, and as Rome was threatened by a war with Mithridates in Asia, and was anxious to restore the peace in Italy, she promised the franchise to all those Italians who should lay down their arms. This measure produced the desired effect, and the Social War, in which Italy had lost three hundred thousand of her sons, terminated in b. c. 88. But the Samnites still held out with the same vigour and determination which they had displayed in their former conflicts with Rome, and after- wards, during the civil war between Marius and Sulla, they joined the former. The new citizens thus admitted to the franchise, however, were not put on a complete footing of equality with the old ones, and this arrangement contained of course the seeds of future discord and disturbances. 482 CHAPTER XI. FROM THE FIRST WAR AGAINST MITHRIDATES, DOWN TO THE DEATH OF SULLA. 1. The kingdom of Pontus, in the north-east of Asia Minor, had originally been a province subject to Persia, but in B. c. 3G3 Ariobarzanes, satrap of Phrygia, made himself independent, and constituted Pontus as a separate kingdom. Under his successor, Mithridates, who reigned from b. c. 337 to 302, the kingdom became consolidated and powerful. Mith- ridates V. (b. c. 156-120) assisted the Romans in their war against Aristonicus, for which they rewarded him by adding Phrygia to his kingdom. But after his death, when his son and successor Mithridates VI. was still very young, they took Phrygia from him. The young king was at the time unable to resent this aggression, but strengthened himself and ex- tended his kingdom as far as he could without coming into contact with the Romans. Mithridates was a man of great courage and enterprise, and possessed of all the advantages that Greek culture and civilisation could afford. When he was sufficiently prepared, he did not hesitate to interfere in the affairs of Cappadocia and Bithynia, and when opposed by the Romans, his well disciplined troops had no difficulty in defeating them. He then advanced westward, and his arrival was hailed by the lightheaded Greeks, who looked upon him as their deliverer from the Roman yoke. In b. c. 88, no less than eighty thousand Romans residing in various parts of Asia Minor are said to have been put to death by his orders. Having made himself master of the whole of Asia Minor, he sent his general Archelaus with a large army into Greece, where the principal cities, and among them Athens and Thebes, threw their gates open to him as their deliverer. FIRST WAR AGAINST MITHRIDATES. 483 2. The outrage committed by Mitliridates, and his in- vasion of Greece, by which the safety of Italy itself was endangered, called for immediate and energetic measures, and the Roman senate conferred the supreme command in the war upon Sulla, who had greatly distinguished himself during the Social War, and was honoured with the consul- ship for the year b. c. 88. He still was the leader of the aristocratic party, and was at the time stationed with an army at Nola, conducting' the war against the Samnites. Marius felt greatly hurt at finding himself in his old age superseded by his rival, who was now appointed to the command in a war, in which glory and wealth were sure to be the reward of success. Smarting under the feeling of jealousy, and wounded at being passed over on such an occasion, he formed a connection with the bold tribune P. Sulpicius, who, partly by a cunning distribution of the new citizens among the ancient thirty-five tribes, which secured to them the full and unlimited franchise, and partly by violence, carried a law depriving Sulla of the command against Mithridates, and conferring it upon Marius. When these news were brought to Sulla at Nola, he forthwith marched with his army against Rome, which, being taken by surprise, was easily forced to admit him and his soldiers. Notwithstanding the furious resistance offered to him in the streets of Rome, Sulla succeeded in putting his enemies to flight ; he used his victory with mode- ration, and outlawed only Marius himself, and eleven of the most conspicuous ringleaders. Marius with great difficulty escaped to Minturnae, and thence crossed over to Africa, where he watched the course of events. 3. Sulla after his victory remained at Rome for a short time, to make such arrangements as might insure the peace and tranquillity of the city during his absence in the East. He restored the power of the senate, and limited the rights of the new citizens; his apparent moderation went so far that he even 484 HlSTuilY OF ROME. allowed L. Cornelius Ciniia, a leader of the democratic party, to be elected to the consulship for b. c. 87, together with his aristocratic friend Cn. Octavius. Soon after these new con- suls had entered upon their office, Sulla went with his army to Greece, leaving Pompeius Hufus to continue the war against the Samnites, On his arrival in Greece, Boeotia and Thebes submitted to him at once ; but Athens had to do fearful penance for its revolt. The Pontian general Archelaus, after two bloody battles at Chaeroneia and Orchomenos, was obliged to take to flight, and Athens was taken and plundered in B. c. 86, after a long siege, during which the people had suffered from the most terrible famine. Sulla's conduct at Athens, notwithstanding his Greek culture, was marked by such barbarity as to make his name the terror and dread of all the Greeks. The fortifications, and even the ancient temples, were destroyed or pillaged, and a vast number of the treasures of art were carried away ; among them was the library of Apellico, which is said to have contained the only complete copy of the works of Aristotle. When Archelaus, notwithstanding the reinforcements he had received, was obliged to quit Europe, Mithridates, being himself hard pressed in Asia by Fimbria, ordered Archelaus to commence negotiations for peace. While these transactions were going on, Sulla proceeded to the north, chastising those Greeks who had allied themselves with the Pontian king. Peace was not finally concluded until b. c. 84, when Sulla had a personal interview with the king in Asia. Mithridates had to sur- render his whole fleet, pay all the expenses of the war, and give up all his conquests, so that his empire was limited to the original kingdom of Pontus. The revolted cities and provinces of Asia had to pay enormous sums to the conquerors ; and the inhabitants, being reduced by these extortions to poverty, became an easy prey to the Roman usurers, who like vultures flocked into the unhappy provinces. Fimbria, who MARIL'S AND CINNA AT ROME. 485 belonged to the party of Marius, was, notwithstanding bis vic- tories over Mithridates, treated as an enemy by Sulla, and being deserted by his own soldiers, committed snicide. 4. While Sulla was engaged in Greece and Asia, Rome was again the scene of civil bloodshed, for no sooner had Sulla left, than Cinna attempted to abolish his regulations, to recall those who had been outlawed, and to distribute the new citizens among the thirty-five tribes. But the aris- tocratic party, in a fierce struggle, drove him out of the city and deprived him of the consulship. He then proceeded to the army at Nola, and rallying around him as many malcon- tents from all parts of Italy as he could, invited his friend Marius to return from Africa. The latter unhesitatingly obeyed the call, and landing in Etruria, collected an army consisting of hardened peasants, daring robbers, freedmen, and new citizens, and in conjunction with Cinna attacked and blockaded the city of Rome, which was compelled by hunger and internal discord to surrender. Marius now abandoned himself without restraint to taking vengeance upon his political opponents. Bands of savage soldiers, murdering and robbing, marched through the streets of tlie city, and the leading men of the aristocratic party, consulars and senators, such as Catulus, the consul Cn. Octavius, the orator M. Antonius, and many others, were killed, their houses plundered and devastated, their property confiscated, and their bodies left in the streets. For five days and five nights Rome experienced all the horrors of a city taken by the sword. 5. After these sanguinary proceedings, Marius caused himself to be elected to his seventh consulship for the year B. c. 86 ; but the terrible excitement of the time, and the debaucheries in which he indulged, during the short period of his power, together with the fear of Sulla's return and revenge, caused his death about the middle of January. In the meantime peace had been concluded with the Samnites, 486 HISTORY OF ROME. and the franchise had been conferred upon them. All Italy was now in the hands of Cinna, and the aristocracy repeatedly urged Sulla to return from the East, to save his friends and his party ; but he refused to do so, until he should have discharged his duty to the republic. At the begin- ning of B. c. 83, he at length landed in Italy, and proceeded to Campania. Cinna, who had been invested with the con- sulship for four successive years, was murdered by his own soldiers. By this act the Marian party was deprived of the last able man among them; for Carbo, Marius the younger, and Norbanus, who were now at their head, did not possess the talent and energy required by their situation. Sulla in several battles defeated the armies opposed to him, and induced the soldiers belonging to them to serve under his own standard. In b. c. 82 he drove young Marius to Praeneste, where he was closely besieged, and in despair killed him- self. Sulla then entered Eome, where the democrats had perpetrated the greatest horrors against those who were sus- pected of favouring their opponents. At this moment an army commanded by the Samnite Pontius Telesinus marched against Rome, which he hoped to take by surprise ; but Sulla met the enemy at the Colline gate, and a bloody and murderous battle was fought, in which the democratic party was so completely defeated, that in his despair, Pontius Tele- sinus made away with himself. 6. This battle was the death-blow of the Marian party, and Sulla was now undisputed master of Italy, from which all his enemies fled. A few days after the battle, eight thousand prisoners were butchered in the Circus, while Sulla had assembled the senate in the adjoining temple of Bellona, where the cries and shrieks of the unfortunate victims could be distinctly heard. The senators, terrified by these scenes, readily obeyed the commands of the conqueror. More than one hundred thousand lives had already been sacrificed during SULLA DICTATOR. 487 the civil war ; but Sulla, not yet satisfied, devised a new and unprecedented measure for punishing those whom he sus- pected. He set on foot a proscription, that is, he drew up a list of all those whom he chose to regard as his enemies, and set it up in public. Any one might kill a person whose name was there registered, and rewards were given for the heads of the slain. Their estates were confiscated, and their descendants for ever deprived of the franchise. This measure, one of the most fearful on record, tore asunder every tie of blood, friend- ship, and hospitality ; sons were armed against their fathers, and slaves against their masters ; for those who concealed or protected a proscribed person, were punished in the same way as the proscribed themselves. No less than one thousand six hundred equites were thus murdered, and among the mon- sters who distinguished themselves during those days of terror, we find Catiline, who some years later planned the destruction of the city of Kome. 7. After having thus cleared Rome and Italy of all oppo- nents, Sulla caused himself to be appointed dictator for an indefinite period, to enable him to reform the constitution and the law. He entered upon this office towards the end of b. c. 82. The first thing he did was to reward those soldiers through whose services he had gained his present position. Twenty- three legions had colonies assigned to them, consisting mainly of the towns which had supported his enemies. In these military colonies, the soldiers constituted the ruling body, and being scattered over all Italy, they afforded him the means of keeping the country in submission ; ten thousand slaves were manumitted and formed his body guard under the name of the Cornelii ; the number of senators was increased by persons ready to do anything for the dictator, however low or vulgar their origin might be. After these preliminary measures, by which he secured his power, he proceeded to reform the constitution. His object being to 488 HISTORY OF ROME. restore the ancient constitution of Eome, he first reduced the powers of the tribunes to what they had been originally, and by the same act he deprived the comitia tributa of all their legislative functions. His second measure consisted in restor- ing the courts for trying offences against the republic to the senators, to whom they Lad belonged before the time of the Gracchi. Lastly, Sulla increased the number of public officers, that of the praetors to eight, that of the quaestors to twenty, and the members of the colleges of pontiffs and augurs to fifteen. These and some regulations relating to the administration ol the provinces were his chief political reforms, and they show that he was one of those shortsighted men who fancy that by restoring ancient forms they can restore the spirit of bygone times. The creation of Sulla was a mere body without a soul, and could not last. He was more successful in his reforms of the criminal law, which he was the first to place on a permanent basis. After having made these arrangements, Sulla, to the surprise of every one, in b. c. 79, laid down his dictatorship, and with- drew to Puteoli, where he lived as a private person, until, in B. c. 78, he died of a most disgusting disease which had pro- bably been brought on by his voluptuousness and debauchery. Vice seems to have been his delight, and mimes, buffoons, and prostitutes were his favourite companions in his leisure hours, and during his luxurious meals. At the time of his death he was engaged in writing his memoirs in Greek ; but the part he bad finished has not come down to us. 8. During the time of Sulla's dictatorship, the few rem- nants of the Marian party were dispersed in Sicily, Africa, and Spain, where they maintained themselves and increased their numbers by malcontents from Italy. Cn. Pompey, who had gained his first laurels during the Social War, was sent by Sulla to Sicily and Africa, and annihilated the Marians in those countries, by causing Carbo to be assassinated in Sicily, and by defeating in Africa Domitius Ahenobarbus and his SECOND WAK AGAINST MITHRIDATES. 489 Numidian supporter Hiarbus. On his return Pompey was honoured by Sulla with the surname of the Great, and obtained a triumph, although he was only an eques and no more than twenty-four years old. During the same period the Romans were engaged in a second war against Mithridates, from b. c. 83 till 81. Soon after Sulla's departure from Asia, the king- repented of the terms of peace, and as it had not received the sanction of the Roman senate, he refused to give up Cappa- docia to Ariobarzanes, as he had promised to do. Archelaus then deserted to the Romans, and persuaded L. Murena, the commander of the Roman forces in Asia, to attack the king at once, and not to wait until he should commence hostilities. This advice was adopted. Murena proceeded into Cappadocia and plundered the wealthy temple at Comana ; in consequence of this aggression Milhridates attacked Murena in the vicinity of Sinope, and defeated him. Peace, however, was concluded in B.C. 81, and Mithridates remained in possession of a part of Cappadocia. CHAPTER XII. FROM THE DEATH OF SULLA TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR BETWEEN CAESAR AND POMPEY. 1. In the very year of Sulla's death an attempt was made by M. ^milius Lepidus to abolish his ill-judged constitution but he was defeated by the party of Sulla. The attempt, however, did not remain without its effects, for the tribunes and others henceforth, year after year, endeavoured to demolish one part after another of the edifice reared by Sulla, until at length, in b. c. 70, Cn. Pompey, in his consulship, carried a 490 HISTORY OF ROME. law by which the power of the tribunes was restored to what it had been before the reforms of Sulla ; and the praetor L. Aurelius Cotta enacted a law by which the courts of justice remodelled by Sulla were henceforth to be composed of senators, equites, and tribuni aerarii. Pompey, though a partizan of Sulla, carried or supported these measures, because he was anxious to obtain popularity at any cost. He gained his end most completely, for although there were among his contemporaries men of far greater abilities, yet, partly by his singular good fortune, partly by his kindly and sometimes chivalrous conduct, he succeeded in winning the confidence and admiration of the citizens as well as of the soldiers, and at this time no Eoman enjoyed greater popularity than he. 2. In B. c. 82, when Sulla entered Rome, Q. Sertorius, the noblest and ablest among the democratic leaders, having become disgusted with the proceedings of his party, went with an army to Spain, in the hope of being able there to maintain the interests of the popular cause. Here he was joined by the exiled and persecuted remnants of the Marian party, and by his prudence and kindness, as well as by his honesty and military ability, he succeeded in winning the confidence of the Spaniards, and founded an independent republic of Spain, consisting of Romans and Spaniards, and defended by an excellently trained army. The new republic was to be governed by a senate of three hundred, and two consuls, the Spaniards being eligible to the great offices as well as the Romans. In the town of Osca he established a great school, in which the sons of the Spanish nobles were to receive a Roman education. His plans succeeded admirably, and Sertorius was the darling of the Spaniards and the Romans. War was commenced against him in B.C. 79, but neither Q. Metellus nor Pompey was able to gain any advantages over him. In b. c. 74 Sertorius formed an alliance with Mithri- dates of Pontus, hoping thereby to place Rome between two SERVILE •VVAR. 491 fires ; but disunion among the Spaniards brought about a change which saved Rome from this dangerous enemy. In B. c. 72, Perperna, whose ambition had been thwarted by the great captain, formed a conspiracy against him, and murdered him during a banquet at Osca. Perperna then placed himself at the head of the army, but in his first encounter with Pompey his whole army was cut to pieces, and he himself fell into the hands of his enemy and was put to death. The Spanish republic was overturned, and the last remnant of the Marian party was now annihilated. 3. The number of slaves that had been carried into Italy from all the countries round the Mediterranean, and the cruel manner in which they were occasionally treated, could not fail to give rise to insurrections. In Sicily a second servile war had been carried on from b. c. 102 to 99, in which thousands were killed on both sides. A similar insurrection broke out in b. c. 73 at Capua in Campania, where about seventy slaves trained as gladiators, headed by the Thracian Spartacus, broke loose. Opening by force the prisons of other slaves in southern Italy, and calling on them to assert their freedom, they soon increased their number to ten thousand, all of whom were provided with arms. Spartacus seems at first to have intended only to restore the liberated slaves to their respective homes, or to find a country where they might be free ; but having defeated several consular armies which attempted to prevent the escape of the slaves, he formed the plan of destroying the power of Rome, and of taking revenge on the oppressors of mankind. The free population of southern Italy had already been very much thinned during the Social War, and the sad effects of this now became visible during the conflict with the slaves, who murdered without mercy and destroyed everything that came in their way. What saved Rome and Italy was the want of military disci- pline among the slaves and their irregular movements through 492 HISTORY OF ROME. the country. It was these circumstances that enabled the praetor M. Licinius Crassus, who in b. c. 71 overtook the army of slaves in Lucania on the river Silarus, to gain a complete victory over them. Spartacus himself was killed, and this loss deprived the slaves of all hope. Thousands were slain, and their bodies were partly impaled along the high roads, and partly left unburied, to strike terror into their fellows. A body of about five thousand made their escape to the north of Italy, endeavouring to seek safety in Gaul ; but they fell in with Pompey, who was just returning from Spain, and were completely cut to pieces. 4. On his return to Kome, Pompey was rewarded for his victories by the consulship for the year B.C. 70, during which, for the sake of increasing his popularity, he displayed the greatest liberality towards the people, and assisted in abolishing the reforms of Sulla. After the expiration of his consulship he lived for a few years in retirement, enjoying his reputation and his wealth, until a new opportunity offered itself. For several years past all parts of the Mediterranean had been so much infested by pirates that it was scarcely safe for mer- chant vessels to sail from port to port. The pirates plundered the maritime towns, and even ventured to land in the very vicinity of Rome and destroy ships in the port of Ostia. They consisted chiefly of people that had become homeless in conse- quence of the Roman conquests in the East, and were driven to piracy by sheer misery and poverty ; they had their strong- holds and warehouses to deposit their plunder principally in Cilicia, on the south coast of Asia Minor. The Romans had been warring against them ever since the year B.C. 78, but no impression had been made on them ; and Rome itself was in constant danger of famine, as the necessary supplies could not be imported with safety. Under these circumstances, the tri- bune Aulus Gabinius, in b.c. 67, proposed that Pompey should be invested for three years with the command of all the coasts THIRD WAR AGAINST MITHRIDATES. 493 of tlie IMecliterranean to a considerable distance from the sea, and that he should be liberally provided with everything necessary to put an end to the war against the pirates. This measure v»^as a dangerous one, and met with strong opposition, but the people readily consented to invest their favourite with all the powers and means demanded for him. His success more than justified their confidence, and the war which he now commenced, and which he gloriously terminated in about three months, is the most brilliant exploit of Pompey's whole life. He completely swept the Mediterranean from west to east, and drove the pirates into the Cilician sea, where he defeated them in a great battle ; many of them were killed or taken prisoners, and the rest surrendered. He then took and destroyed their fortified places in Cilicia, and assigned settle- ments to the survivors, that they might be able to earn their livelihood without falling back upon their dangerous practices. 5. After the termination of this war, Pompey did not return to Italy, but remained in Asia Minor, probably in the hope of being appointed, in his absence, commander in the third war against Mithridates of Pontus, in which Rome had already been engaged for some years ; for he well knew that his friends at Rome would do anything to gratify him. In B. c. 74, Mithridates had been tempted by Sertorius to commence fresh hostilities against Rome. King Nicomedes of Bithynia had just died, and bef|ueathed his kingdom to the Romans. Mithridates refused to recognise this bequest, and at once invaded Bithynia, while his fleet sailed out against that of the Romans. Having gained a victory at sea, the king laid siege to the wealthy and populous town of Cyzicus, which was in alliance wath Rome. While this siege was going on, L. Lucullus arrived with an army in Asia, and suc- ceeded in cutting off the king from all supplies of provisions, B. c. 73. This and some other losses which he sustained for the moment deprived Mithridates of all hope, and in his 494 HISTORY OF ROME. despair lie fled to his son-in-law Tigranes, king of Armenia, while Lucullus entered the kingdom of Pontus and compelled the towns to surrender one after another. After the conquest of Pontus, Lucullus spent some time in Asia to regulate the affairs of the conquered countries, which were inundated by greedy usurers and Eoman officials. When at length Tigranes refused to surrender Mithridates, Lucullus, in b. c. 69, advanced against Tigranocerta, the capital of the Armenian king, near which he overpowered a vast army of Asiatics. Both kings took to flight, but Tigranes, who made an attempt to defend himself, was defeated a second time near Artaxata. Lucullus now made preparations to subdue the whole of Arme- nia, when a mutiny broke out in his army, which was headed by the notorious P. Clodius. Lucullus succeeded, indeed, in quelling the revolt, but j\Iithridates, availing himself of the favourable opportunity, effected his return to his own kingdom. Lucullus pursued him, but owing to the mutinous spirit of his soldiers, he was scarcely able to finish the campaign in which he was engaged. Just at this time, b. c. 67, M.'Acilius Glabrio was sent from Kome as successor to Lucullus, who was obliged to give up the command to him. This man did absolutely nothing, but allowed all the advantages gained by Lucullus to slip out of his hands, while Mithridates re-esta- blished himself in Pontus and Cappadocia. Lucullus, who was possessed of enormous wealth, returned to Italy, where his numerous palaces, villas, and parks formed rallying points for men of refined taste in art and literature. He is said to have introduced into Italy the cherry tree from Cerasus, a town of Colchis. 6. The inactivity of the Roman commander and the increasing power of Mithridates, afforded a welcome oppor- tunity to the friends of Pompey who was still in Asia, of getting the command transferred to him. Accordingly, in B. c. 66, the tribune Manilius brought forward a bill to this CN. POMPEY IN ASIA. 495 effect. It was supported by Julius Caesar and Cicero, and Fompey was intrusted with additional powers in Asia Minor to enable him to bring the Mithridatic war to a close. Pom- pey, having received large reinforcements and concluded an alliance with the Parthians, fought a battle by night against Mithridates on the banks of the Euphrates, in which the king was defeated and put to flight. Tigranes became a vassal of the Koman republic, and Mithridates escaped into Colchis. After having founded the town of Nicopolis, Pompey, in b. c. 65, pursued the king, and victoriously traversed Albania and Iberia, about mount Caucasus ; but owing to the difficulties he had to contend with in those wild and remote countries, he gave up the pursuit of the enemy. The latter, still undis- mayed, formed the gigantic scheme of entering into alliances with the Scythians and invading Italy from the north-east. But his own son Pharnaces headed an insurrection of the soldiers against his father at Panticapaeum in the Crimea. Mith- ridates, knowing that his life was not safe, took poison which for some time he had been carrying about with him, b. c. 63. Pompey, to whom the body was sent, ordered it to be buried with regal magnificence, but gave to the unnatural son of his great enemy, the sovereignty over the countries about the Cimmerian Bosporus. 7. After having concluded peace with the Albanians and Iberians, Pompey went to Syria, where he unceremo- niously deposed king Antiochus XIII., and put an end to that effete kingdom, changing it, with Phoenicia, into the Roman province of Syria. In Asia Minor, Bithynia, with a part of Pontus, was likewise constituted as a province ; but Armenia Magna, the northern part of Pontus, Paphlagonia, Galatia, and other countries, were given to tributary kings, who recognised the supremacy of Eome. The same was done in Judaea, where, after taking the temple of Jerusalem, he appointed Hyrcanus tetrarch, taking his brother Aristobulus, 496 HISTORY OF rome. who had bravely defended himself, with his children, to Rome. Many Jews in their despair made away with them- selves, throwing themselves down from the walls, or setting fire to their houses. The real ruler of Judaea, however, was the Idumaean Antipater, the father of Herod, and a cun- ning supporter of the Roman interest. When all these arrangem'ents were made, Pompey, in b. c. 62, quitted Asia and returned to Italy, but did not arrive at Rome until the beginning of b. c. 61. He celebrated a most splendid triumph, and the sums which he handed over to the treasury were enormous. His popularity was immense, and he took the greatest care to impress the people with the notion that he was happy in the condition of a simple Roman citizen. His great ambition was to induce the senate to sanction the arrangements he had made in Asia ; and his vanity, there- fore, was not a little wounded, when he found this desire opposed by men of the greatest influence. He felt so mortified that he resolved to abandon the optimates, and join the popular party, a step which ultimately led to his own ruin. 8. Some time before Pompey 's return to Italy, M. Tul- lius Cicero had been honoured by his fellow-citizens with the name of father of his country. Cicero, born at Arpinum in B. c. 106, was the son of very respectable parents, and by his talent, industry, and irreproachable conduct, had so much distinguished himself, that although a novus homo, he obtained in due time most of the great offices of the republic, and was in the end even raised to the consulship. He had studied at Athens and Rhodes, and had devoted himself with such zeal to his pursuits, especially those of oratory and philoso- phy, that as an orator he was surpassed by none, and was the first who successfully endeavoured to popularise the philoso- phical speculations of the Greeks among his countrymen. As a statesman he was less great, because his friendship for Pompey and Caesar led him often to act the part of a media- M. TULLIUS CICERO. 497 tor between them, which led him into inconsistencies and con- tradictions. But his patriotism, his strong sense of justice, and his general virtues as a citizen, are acknowledged by all, and ought to make us judge leniently of his vanity and other foibles. In his consulship, b. c. 63, Catiline, a partizan of Sulla, and a man of patrician origin, but of most profligate character, and, like many others of his class, overwhelmed with debts, formed a conspiracy, which was joined by some reck- less nobles of the highest rank, whose circumstances were so desperate that they saw no hope for themselves except in a revolution. Catiline had attempted similar things before, but had been thwarted by the vigilance of patriotic men, and by his own impatience. He and his associates now determined to murder Cicero, to set Rome on fire, to overthrow the con- stitution, and in the midst of the confusion to usurp the reins of government and, probably, to establish a military despotism. But the watchfulness of Cicero, whose four speeches against Catiline, distinguished alike for manly courage and spirited eloquence, we still possess, prevented the infamous scheme. Catiline, in spite of his cunning and power of dissimulation, was unmasked by the consul, and obliged to quit the city. The senate, on the proposal of Cicero and Cato, condemned Catiline and some of his associates who had remained at Rome. His accomplices were strangled in the Capitoline prison ; but Catiline himself, who with the rest of his fol- lowers had escaped to the north of Etruria, was killed in the battle of Pistoria, where he and all his friends fought with a bravery and courage worthy of a better cause. Cicero's joy at having saved his country and his fellow citizens from dire destruction did not last long, for many of the secret friends and supporters of Catiline remained at Rome longing for an opportunity of taking vengeance upon the man who had so nobly defended his country's cause. 9. Ever since the time of Marius and Sulla, the leading Y 2 498 iiisTorvY or rome. men at Eome made all possible efforts and sacrifices to gain popularity ; tins popularity, liowever, was not sought after for the purpose of enabling them to serve the interests of their country, but to satisfy their own avarice and ambi- tion, whence the history of that period down to the establish- ment of the empire is scarcely more than the personal history of the men who endeavoured to eclipse one another. By far the most eminent and the most gifted among the men of this time was C. Julius Caesar, born in B.C. 100; he was fast rising in popular favour, while Pompey was reposing on his laurels, and enjoying the fruits of his previous vic- tories. Caesar, though unscrupulous in the application of the means to gain his ends, had a thoroughly cultivated mind, and was indefatigable in his activity ; he was no less great as an orator and an author than as a general and statesman. Julia, an aunt of his, had been married to C. Marius, for whom he always entertained great affection, whence in the time of Sulla his very life was threatened. In B. c. 65 he came forward as the avowed leader of the remnants of the Marian or popular party. His liberality was unbounded, and he became overwhelmed with debts, but a campaign against the revolted Lusitanians in Spain in b. c. 61 enabled him to satisfy his creditors as ^\ell as his OAvn extravagant wants. He obtained the consulship for b. c. 59, and ip that year strengthened himself by a close alliance with Pompey, who had then renounced the party of the optimates, and by effecting a reconciliation between Pompey and Crassus. These three men, forming what is commonly called the first triumvirate, agreed that no political measures should be adopted which were displeasing to any one of them. Being at the head of the democratic party, they held the fate of the republic in their own hands. A number of popular measures were passed, such as an agrarian law, by which twenty thousand citizens received assignments of land. Caesar also prevailed upon the p. cLODius. 499 senate to sanction the arrangements made by Pompey in Asia- Having thus formed a powerful party for himself, he caused the provinces of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul with Illyri- cum to be assigned to himself. 10. After the expiration of his consulship, however, he did not proceed to his province at once, but remained in the neigh- bourhood of Kome with his army to support the unprincipled P. Clodius in his machinations against Cicero, who had offended Caesar. In b. c. 61 Clodius had committed some sacrilegious act for which he was brought to trial. Cicero then spoke against him, and provoked him on several other occasions. Clodius vowed vengeance, and after having caused himself to be adopted into a plebeian family, obtained, by the aid of Caesar, the tribuneship for b. c. 58. He first secured the favour of the multitude by several popular measures, and then carried a law that every one who had put to death a Roman citizen without a formal trial should be outlawed. This law was aimed at Cicero, who, on the authority of a mere decree of the senate, had caused some of the associates of Catiline to be strangled in prison. Cicero was abandoned by the triumvirs, who alone had it in their power to save him, and in order to escape condemnation went into exile. After this he was formally declared an outlaw, his house was burnt down, and two of his villas were destroyed. This measure was followed by others of an equally atrocious character. In order to get rid of a troublesome critic at Rome, Clodius sent Cato to Cyprus with orders to expel the king of the island, who was a brother of the king of Egypt, and to make Cyprus a Roman province. But no sooner had Clodius' tribuneship expired, than a reaction took place in the public mind, in consequence of which Cicero was recalled from exile, b. c. 57. Caesar had not departed for Gaul until the end of April b. c. 58, when Clodius had gained his end. 11. While Caesar was engaged in Gaul, which had been 500 HISTORY OF ROME. assigned to him for five years, things at Eome became worse and worse. In b. c. 55 Pompey and Crassus obtained the consulship, and a law was carried by which Caesar's governor- ship of Gaul was prolonged for other five years, while Pom- pey obtained Spain, and Crassus Syria. Pompey did not go to his province, but allowed it to be governed by his legates, while he himself remained at Eome, where he exercised a sort of dictatorial power ; but Crassus, though advanced in years, could not resist the temptation to go to Syria himself, where he hoped to be able to satisfy his insatiable avarice. He robbed and plundered wherever he appeared, and in b. c. 54 undertook an expedition against the Parthians, who had formed a powerful empire on the east of the Euphrates, and regarded themselves as the successors of the ancient Persians. They were governed by the dynasty of the Arsacidae, and their king at this time was Orodes or Arsaces XIY., who had assembled a powerful army in Mesopotamia to oppose the Komans. Crassus, guided by a treacherous Arab, boldly crossed the Euphrates, but in a sandy desert near Carrhae he was defeated, taken prisoner, and killed, after his son had been put to death before his own eyes. The Koman army was nearly annihilated, and the whole camp and all the standards fell into the hands of the conquerors. The war against the Parthians, however, was continued for several years, after the remnants of the army of Crassus had been led back to Syria by the brave legate C. Cassiiis. 12. At the time when Caesar undertook the conquest' of Gaul, the whole country between the Rhine and the Atlantic was inhabited by a number of Celtic tribes, the south-western part, called Aquitania, alone being occupied by Iberians. On the eastern frontier the Germans had already commenced making encroachments. The southern part of Gaul, that is, the country about the mouth of the Rhone, had been conquered by the Romans as early as b. c. 126, and a few years later GAUL. 501 the towns of Aquae Sextiae (Aix) and Narbo Marciiis (Nar- bonne) were fourided. This part of Gaul was constituted a Roman province (whence its modern name Provence), and the Greek colony of Massilia was the means of spreading civili- sation not only over the coast districts, but over the whole of Gaul. Among the numerous Celtic tribes, one, such as the Arverni, Sequani, and ^dui, appears always to have exer- cised a kind of supremacy over the rest, though this did not produce any political union among them. Their common characteristics, however, were, that they were governed by a chivalrous kind of nobility, and by a powerful priesthood called Druids, while the great body of the nation were little, better than serfs. The people were skilled in several of the arts of civilised life, and in many parts lived together in towns ; but they were fierce and warlike, and, urged on by their priests and bards, rushed into battle with great vehemence, though they were wanting in perseverance. Caesar undertook the conquest of the whole country, for which its invasion by the Germans and a migration of the Helvetii, likewise a Celtic people, afforded a welcome pretext. 13. The Helvetii had just at that time been tempted to quit their own poor and unproductive country, and seek new homes in the south-western parts of Gaul. Caesar, appre- hending great danger to the Roman province from this migra- tion, attacked and defeated first one numerous clan of the nation, and soon after the remainder in a great battle near Bibracte. Tliese disasters obliged the Helvetii to return to their own devastated country, on quitting which they had burnt and destroyed everything. About fourteen years before this time the Germans under Ariovistus had crossed the Rhine, having been invited by the Sequani to assist them against the ^dui. Ariovistus had repeatedly defeated the Ji^]dui, and had com- pelled even the Sequani to give up to him one-third of their country ; in consequence of which large numbers of Germans i'i02 HISTORY OF ROME. Lad taken up tlieir abode in Gaul. At the request of the iEdui, Caesar now attacked the Germans, and having com- pletely defeated them in a pitched battle near Vesontio, he compelled Ariovistus with the remainder of his army to retrace his steps across the Ehine. In b. c. 57 Caesar was successful against the Belgae in the north of Gaul, who had formed themselves into a confederacy, and now took up arms against the Roman invaders. He managed to prevent their union, and defeated the several tribes one after another. In the following year he subdued the people in the north-west of Gaul. 14. By these repeated losses, the strength of Gaul was nearly broken, and Caesar now turned against two German tribes, the Usipetes and Tenchteri, who had crossed the Rhine, near its mouth, with the intention of settling in Gaul. The unfortunate barbarians, trusting to the honesty of the Roman proconsul, were treacherously attacked and butchered, while the negotiations for peace were going on. After this Caesar returned southward, and crossed the Rhine, by a wooden bridge of his own construction, in the neighbourhood of Neuwied; his object was probably to strike terror into the Germans ; for after having ravaged their country, which was thickly covered with forests, he returned to Gaul, and broke down the bridge. In the same summer, b. c. 55, he also made an expedition into Britain, which, like Gaul, was inhabited by Celts. He landed, after a vigorous resistance, on the coast of Kent, and some of the British tribes offered to submit to him, but on being informed of his fleet having sustained a great loss at sea, they took up arms to repel the invader. Being defeated, hoAvever, they were obliged to submit to Caesar, who, immediately after his victory, was compelled by the late season of the year, to return to Gaul. In B. c. 54 he invaded Britain a second time ; the natives, under their chief Cassivelaunus, fought bravely, but were defeated f'AF.SAR IN GAUL. 503 several times, and Caesar conquered the greater part of Essex and Middlesex. Pei.ce was then concluded, and the Britons having promised to pay a fixed annual tribute, and given hostages, Caesar returned to Gaul. But as he could not afford to leave any troops behind in the island, these promises were soon forgotten and neglected. 15. In B. c. 53, several of the Gallic tribes formed a con- federacy to recover their independence, and were supported by some Germans who had come across the Rhine. But the insurgents were subdued, and Caesar pursued the Germans across the Rhine, where they found shelter in their forests and marshes, into which Caesar could not follow them with safety. The cruelty with which Caesar treated the leaders of the Gallic tribes which had risen in arms, at length set the whole of Gaul in a blaze. Even the ^dui, who had hitherto been the steady friends of the Romans, joined the insurrection, and the Arvernian Vercingetorix was the soul of the whole undertaking. The war in Gaul now assumed a more for- midable aspect than ever. After various enterprises, Vercin- getorix retreated to Alesia in Burgimdy. Caesar laid siege to the town, which was believed to be impregnable ; he himself was surrounded by swarms of Gauls, and his position was perilous in the highest degree, but his genius overcame every obstacle, and, in b. c. 52, Alesia was compelled by famine to surrender. The fall of this town virtually decided the fate of Gaul, though some tribes still continued in arms- They were reduced, however, in the course of b. c. 51, when the Belgae also began to stir ; but it was now too late. Caesar, having subdued the Belgae, all Gaul, and the Helvetii, returned in b. c. 50 to Cisalpine Gaul, leaving his army in the country beyond the Alps. His men were attached to him in the highest degree, and his extraordinary exploits in Gaul had excited universal admiration of his genius and skill. 16. While Caesar was engaged in Gaul, Pompeyhad en- 504 HISTORY OF ROME. deavoured, by every means, to increase his popularity ; Ins marriage with Caesar's daughter Julia for a time served as a bond of union between the two ambitious men ; but her death, in B. c. 54, rent asunder the tie, and the fall of Crassus in Mesopotamia in b. c. 53 left the Eoman empire the bone of contention between Caesar and Pompey. Caesar had kept up an active correspondence with his friends at Eome, and con- siderable apprehensions prevailed in the city in consequence of the turbulent and riotous proceedings of his partizans, such as Clodius, C. Curio, and others, who received enormous bribes from Gaul. In b. c. 52, Pompey was for a time sole consul, until he chose Metellus Scipio, his father- in-law, for his colleague. The aristocracy again began to look upon Pompey as their only safeguard against the machinations of Caesar. In b. c. 51, Claudius Marcellus, one of the leading optimates, proposed that Caesar should be recalled from Gaul, and a successor appointed ; no opportunity was, in fact, overlooked for hurting or insulting him. In b. c. 50 the consulship was in the hands of two aristocrats; but Caesar by his bribes succeeded in gaining over some of the leading men. The time had now come when the optimates thought it right to resort to energetic measures, and although the proconsulship of Caesar had not yet expired, the senate, on the proposal of Metellus Scipio, passed a decree peremptorily demanding of him to disband his army by a certain day, and declaring him a public enemy, in case he should refuse compliance. Two tribunes, M. Antonius and Q. Cassius, who had in vain opposed the decree, and de- manded that Pompey should likewise resign his power and disband his armies, fled to Caesar, who was stationed at Ravenna in Cisalpine Gaul with only a small part of his forces ; they called upon him to come to Rome as the avenger of the tribunician power, which had been trodden under foot by his adversaries. Pompey was fnll of confidence that he CAESAR CROSSES THE RUBICON. 505 would be successful in the ensuing struggle, and the optimates entertained the same feelings, so that even the most necessary precautions were neglected. But recklessness and foolish conceit found out too soon that they had miscalculated. CHAPTER XIII. THE CIVIL WAR BETWEEN POMPEY AND CAESAR, AND THE SUB- SEQUENT EVENTS DOWN TO THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM. 1. The arrival of the tribunes before Caesar at Eavenna, in B.C. 49, was a decisive moment, and after a short hesitation as to whether he should cross the little stream Rubicon, which separated Cisalpine Gaul from Italy, he called out, " The die is cast !" and crossed the river with a small force, having sent orders to Gaul for the other legions to follow him. Accompanied by his faithful veterans, he hastened rapidly through Umbria and the Sabellian districts, to prevent his adversaries completing their preparations before his arrival. His renown went before him, his kindness and affability won the hearts of all, and the gates of the towns on his route were thrown open to him. Pompey, who had been roused too late from his feeling of security, did not venture to await the enemy's arrival at Rome, but with newly enlisted and untrained recruits, a few trustworthy soldiers, and a large number of senators and optimates, fled to Brundusium ; and when Caesar approached that port, Pompey and his retinue sailed across to Epirus. His vaunting boast, that he need only stamp upon the ground with his foot to call forth legions, had all its emptiness now fully proved. After his departure, all Italy joined Caesar, who now returned to Rome, where he acted with great mildness, though showing in every thing z 506 HISTORY OF ROME. that lie regarded himself as the real sovereign of the state. He took possession of the treasury, and, leaving Pompey for the present to his fate, imroediately set out for Spain against Pompey's lieutenants and armies. By his surpassing talent as a commander, and the astonishing rapidity of his move- ments, he drove them into such straits that, after most of their troops had deserted, they were compelled to surrender. Afranius and Petreius, the legates, were dismissed unhurt, and the remnant of the army was disbanded. On his return from Spain, Caesar had to compel Massilia, which desired to remain neutral, to side with him ; the city was taken, but treated with great mildness. In the meantime, C. Curio had taken possession of Sicily, the Pompeian party having evacu ated it, but in an attempt also to conquer Africa, he was killed. 2. While yet engaged at Massilia Caesar was made dic- tator; as such he returned to Rome, but in order not to alarm the republicans too much, he caused himself to be elected consul for b. c. 48, and laid down the dictator- ship. He then passed several measures to restore order and tranquillity in the city ; he extended the franchise to Cisalpine Gaul, reduced debts, and restored exiles and the children of those who had been proscribed by Sulla. His stay at Rome was very brief ; and as soon as the necessary preparations were made, he crossed the Adriatic from Brundusium in pur- suit of Pompey, b. c. 48. Pompey had not been inactive, but had collected troops, ships, and supplies from all parts of the East, so that in point of numbers he had the advantage over Caesar. The latter besieged his enemy at Dyrrhachium, but with so little success that he almost despaired ; instead, however, of giving way to this feeling, he boldly marched from the coast towards Thessaly, where every inch of ground bad to be conquered. Pompey's former confidence now returned, and imagining that his enemy had taken to flight, he followed him with all speed, hoping to annihilate him at one blow. RATTLE OF PHARSALUS. 507 Caesar pitclied his camp near Pbarsalus, and Pompey, being urged on by the inexperienced nobles, fought the decisive battle of Pharsalus on the 9th of August, b. c. 48. His army was completely defeated, though it was twice as nume- rous as that of his opponent, and the camp, filled with treasures and luxuries of every kind, fell into the hands of the con- querors. Pompey, having now lost all hope, fled to Lesbos, and thence to Egypt, where he had reason to expect a hospitable reception ; but young Ptolemy Dionysus, the king of Egypt, in the hope of securing the favour of Caesar, ordered him to be murdered even before he reached the shore, and his body was left unburied on the beach. 3. A few days after this tragic end of Pompey, Caesar arrived with a small force in Egypt, and the sad fate of his rival is said to have brought tears into his eyes. The author of the murder did not receive the expected reward, and being called upon to act as mediator between the young king and his sister Cleopatra, who by their father's request ought to have reigned in common, Caesar decided in ftivour of the beautiful and fascinating Cleopatra. This decision involved him in a war with the young king and the people of Alex- andria ; for a time he was exposed to very great danger, as he had only few troops with him. With wonderful skill and adroitness he defended himself in the royal palace against the infuriated and demoralised populace, and when the palace was set on fire, he escaped by swimming to a ship lying at anchor. But when his reinforcements arrived he compelled Alexandria to surrender, and as the young king had been drowned in the Nile during the disturbances, he restored Cleopatra to the throne, and spent nine months with her, during which time he appears to have forgotten everything in the luxuries of the Alexandrian court. At length he received information that Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, had availed himself of the civil war among the Romans for 508, HISTORY OF ROME. the purpose of extending his kingdom, and that one of the Eoman legates had been defeated by him. Accordingly, in the spring of b. c. 47, he marched through Syria into Pontus, and defeated the Asiatics in a decisive battle near Zela. This victory is celebrated on account of the laconic despatch which Caesar sent to Rome regarding it, " I came, saw, conquered" {venij vidi, vici). Pharnaces lost all his conquests, and was soon afterwards mui-dered by one of his own subjects. 4. Soon after this he was informed of disturbances at Ivome, in consequence of which he hastened back. He arrived in the city in the autumn of b. c. 47. After the battle of Pharsalus, the enthusiasm of the senate and people at Rome vv as so great that the most extraordinary honours and powers were conferred upon him, which in reality made him the sole ruler of the republic. This was in some measure the result of his unexpected mildness towards his conquered enemies. During his absence in the East, the partizans of Pompey had been active in collecting their scattered forces in Africa, where they were supported by Juba, king of Numidia. In Rome quarrels had broken out between his own friends M. Antony and Dolabella, a profligate young man, and bloody riots had taken place in consequence. Caesar being anxious to bring the war against the Pompeians to a close, confined himself at Rome to conciliatory measures, rewarding his friends by increasing the number of praetors, quaestors, aediles, and of the members of the priestly colleges, by making liberal pro- mises to the soldiers, and stirring up their military ambition. When all these matters were settled, he set out at the end of B. c. 47 for Africa, and very soon afterwards the bloody battle of Thapsus, in b. c. 46, decided the fate of the Pompeian party for a time ; fifty thousand dead covered the field of battle, and many of the survivors made away with themselves ; among these latter were Pompey 's own father-in-law Metellus Scipio, the Nnmidian king Juba, whose kingdom became a Roman BATTLE OF xMUNDA. 509 province, the warlike Petreiiis, and the stem Cato, who with stoic calmness put an end to his own life at Utica. But the two sons of Pompey, Cneius and Sextus, escaped to Spain, where somewhat later they stirred up a fresh war. 5. Caesar was now the sole master of the Koman world, and on his return to Eome silenced all fears and appre- hensions by proclaiming a general amnesty, and assuring the senate and people that his great object was the restoration of peace and order. He celebrated at once four triumphs, care- fully avoiding hurting any one's feelings, and amused both soldiers and citizens with every kind of public amusements. During his stay at Rome, b. c. 46, Caesar, in his capacity of pontifex maxim us, introduced his celebrated reform of the calendar, which, owing to the ignorance or caprice of the pon- tiffs, had fallen into such disorder, that it was three months in advance of the real time. Caesar remedied the actual evil, and made regulations to prevent its recurrence, which were observed until, in a. d. 1582, Pope Gregory XIII. introduced another reform. While Caesar was thus peace- fully and usefully employed at Eome, he was informed that the sons of Pompey had collected a fresh army in Spain, and that the whole of the southern part of that country was in a state of insurrection. Towards the end of b. c. 46, he set out for Spain, to face his enemies in their last and desperate struggle. His difficulties were very great, and it was only his undaunted courage and perseverance that enabled him to overcome them. The fearful battle of IMunda, in the spring of B.C. 45, decided the fate of the Pompeian party for ever. Cneius, one of the two brothers, was killed after the fight while attempting to make his escape ; but Sextus was more fortunate, and for some years after this led the life of a robber and pirate chief. 6. On his return to Rome Caesar celebrated a triumph over the Pompeians, and was received by the senate with the most 510 HISTORY OF ROME. abject flattery and servility. Distinctions of every kind were literally showered upon him ; he was called " father of his country ; " the month of Quintilis, in which he was bom, was called after him Julius (July) ; the powers which he had gradually received were conferred on him for life ; he received the permanent title of imperator, the consulship for the next ten years, and the offices of dictator and praefectus morum for life. These and many other powers and distinctions virtu- ally made Caesar the acknowledged ruler of the Koman world, and nothing but the outward signs of absolute sovereignty were wanting. But however much he endeavoured, by observ- ing the ancient forms, to allay the fears of the republicans, and however much he tried to pacify the wealthy and noble by increasing the number of senators, and to satisfy the soldiers by the distribution of lands — however much he did to improve the laws and their administration, to raise commerce and agriculture, to embellish the city with temples and theatres, and to benefit Italy by making roads, canals, and har- bours, he could not make the people forget that they had been free ; it was evident to them that he was not satisfied with the substance of sovereign power, but also aimed at the outward marks and distinctions of a monarch. There still existed many deluded enthusiasts who imagined that it was possible to maintain the republic, and that, by preserving the ancient forms, the spirit of freedom might be revived. Besides these there were many, also, who, although they had received from Caesar posts of honour and distinction, yet thought themselves slighted and neglected, and secretly plot- ted against him. The increasing pride of the dictator, and his too obvious desire to obtain the title of king, at length induced the republicans to make common cause with his per- sonal enemies. A conspiracy was formed against his life in the beginning of B.C. 44 ; it was headed by M. Junius Bru- tus, a genuine though deluded republican, and C. Cassius, MURDER OF CAESAR. 511 Avho bore a personal grndge against Caesar. Both had been partizans of Pompey, but had nevertheless been raised by Caesar to the praetorship, and had been treated by him witli kindness and confidence ; but all considerations of a private nature were set aside under the specious pretext that the liberty of their country had higher claims upon them. The plan for the murder of Caesar was formed with the greatest caution and secrecy. On the ides (the 15th) of March b.c. 44, Caesar convened a meeting of the senate in the curia of Pom- pey, for the purpose of receiving the title of king out of Italy, to enable him, under this designation, to undertake a war against the Parthians. That day was fixed upon by the conspirators for carrying out their design. He was attacked at the meeting of the senate, and sank overwhelmed by the daggers of his assailants. At first he made an attempt to defend himself, but perceiving Brutus among his murderers, he exclaimed, "You, too, Brutus?" wrapped himself up in his toga, and sank at the base of Pompey's statue. Thus fell the only man that was then both able and willing to save Rome from internal war and bloodshed, and whose reign might have become the beginning of a happy and prosperous era in Roman history. But the cup of suffering for Rome was not yet full. 7. The conspirators soon found to their own cost, that it is more easy to destroy than to build up ; of the latter, they had in fact scarcely thought, and were not a little alarmed by the discovery, that the slight enthusiasm produced by the murder gave way to hatred and detestation, when the crafty M. Antony in his funeral oration over the body of Caesar, set forth his great merits and his many excellent qualities, and mentioned the liberal bequests and donations which he had made in his will to the people. The multitude became in- furiated, and the murderers were obliged to take to flight. Decimus Brutus went to his province of Cisalpine Gaul, and 512 HISTORY OF ROME. M. Brutus and Cassius proceeded to the East, where provinces had previously been assigned to them. After they had gone, Antony caused Cisalpine Gaul to be transferred to himself, and proceeded at once with an army to Mutina to expel D. Brutus, who had taken up his position in that city. The senate, being in the meantime stirred up by Cicero, invested C. Julius Caesar Octavianus, the adopted son and heir of Caesar, who was only nineteen years old, and had come over from Apollonia, with the powers of a praetor ; and as many of the veterans of Antony joined the young avenger of Caesar, Octavianus was sent along with the consuls of b. c. 43, A. Hirtius and Vibius Pansa, to the north of Italy to prevent Antony, who had in the meantime been declared a public enemy, from gaining his object. Antony, being defeated in this war by the armies of his opponents, fled across the Alps into Gaul, where he was favourably received by the governor Lepidus. As the two consuls had been killed in the war, and the senate conferred the command of its armies on D. Brutus, Octavianus, exasperated at the slight, compelled the senate to allow him to be elected to the consulship in spite of his youth. A law was passed, declaring all the murderers of Caesar outlaws, and Octavianus then marched with his army to the north. D. Brutus took to flight, and was murdered at Aquileia, while Lepidus and Antony, against whom the decree of outlawry was repealed, returned to Italy. 8. A conference then took place between Octavianus, Antony, and Lepidus, in the neighbourhood of Bononia, at which the three assumed the title of triumvirs for regulating the aff'airs of the republic [triumviri rei puhlicae constituendae), and distributed the provinces among themselves. Octavianus received Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia, Antony Gaul, and Lepidus Spain, and Antony and Lepidus undertook to carry on the war against Brutus and Cassius in the East. The triumvirs then, to rid themselves of all their enemies and opponents, adopted BRUTUS AND CASSIUS. 513 the plan of Sulla, and drew up a proscription list, in which each entered the names of those specially obnoxious to himself. This proscription, ostensibly directed against their political opponents, was, in point of fact, a legalised wholesale murder of wealthy persons, whose property was in many instances the sole reason why their names appeared among the pro- scribed. The triumvirs entered Kome at the head of their armies, com|3elled the people to sanction their arrangements, and then let loose the soldiery upon the devoted victims. The most illustrious and patriotic men fell under the strokes of the rapacious and reckless soldiers ; all the ties of blood and of friendship were rent asunder, nothing was sacred, and murder was the order of the day. Two thousand equites and three hundred senators were massacred, and those who could make their escape fled to Brutus and Cassius, or to Sextus Pompeius, who had returned from Spain and made himself master of Sicily. The great orator Cicero, who had looked upon Octavianus as the champion of the republic and supported him on all occasions, was one of the many victims who fell during this time : he was murdered on the 7 th of December b. c. 43, and Antony's wife Fulvia feasted her eyes on the dead features when his head was brought to her. 9. When the triumvirs had sufficiently punished Italy by murder, confiscation, and extortion, Octavianus and Antony sailed over to Greece to make war against Brutus and Cas- sius. Shortly after quitting Italy, Brutus had gone to his province of Macedonia, where he was recognised as the rightful governor, and where in a short time he was amply provided with everything necessary to carry on a war against his enemies. Cassius had in the meantime displayed great vigour in Syria and Asia Minor ; the two republican chiefs were in point of fact masters of all the countries to the east of the Adriatic, and at a meeting in Sardes they agreed to operate together against their common enemies. But while they were 514 HISTORY OF ROMK. preparing themselves, Octavianus and Antony had ah'eady made themselves masters of Greece, and taken np their quarters at Amphipolis. The republicans pitched their camp in the neighbourhood of Philippi, and in the first battle Cassius was obliged to retreat before A ntony, while Brutus succeeded in repelling the legions of Octavianus, who is said to have been ill on the occasion. Soon after, Cassius, deceived by erroneous information, threw himself on his own sword, and when, twenty days after the first battle, the triumvirs renewed the contest with fresh vigour, Brutus was also defeated, and made away with himself. Many other republicans followed his example ; but most of the soldiers surrendered to the trium- virs, while others fled to Sext. Pompeius in Sicily. The battles of Philippi, which were fought in the autumn of b. c. 42, were the death-blow of the republic, and Brutus and Cassius have often been called " the last of the Komans." 10. The conquerors now again divided the empire among themselves ; Lepidus obtained Africa, and Antony the eastern provinces, while Octavianus returned to Italy to satisfy his greedy and rapacious soldiers by the distribution of lands and the establishment of military colonies. Antony, intoxicated by the incense of the Greeks and the luxuries of Asia, began a senseless and voluptuous career in the East. The sums he extorted in Asia were lavished upon the coquettish and dissolute Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. His wife Fulvia, who loved him with all the passion of her passionate nature, scrupled at nothing which seemed to her likely to effect his return and secure to him the possession of the western world. The misery and wretchedness into which thousands of Italians were thrown in consequence of the establishment of military colonies, afforded a fair pretext for Fulvia and L. Antonius, her husband's brother, to come forward as the protectors of the suffering and oppressed. L. Antonius was consul in e. c. 41, and proclaiming himself the friend of the poor and distressed, SEXT. PO-MPKIUS. 515 he, with Fiilvia and others, established themselves at Perusia in Etruria, where large numbers of malcontents gathered around them. Towards the end of b. c. 41, Octavianus proceeded to blockade the rebels with three armies ; and when at length the besieged began to suffer from famine and found it impos- sible to escape, L. Antonius capitulated, and Fulvia was set free on condition of her quitting Italy ; but all the senators of Perusia were put to death, and upwards of three hundred of its most illustrious citizens were sacrificed on the loth of March b. c. 40 at the altar of Julius Caesar. The ancient town of Perusia itself was reduced to a heap of ashes. Fulvia went to Greece, where she met Antony, but soon after died at Sicyon. 11. The war of Perusia nearly produced a struggle between Antony and Octavianus, for the former actually advanced with his fleet to Brundusiura and prevailed on Sext. Pompeius to co-operate with him ; but a reconciliation was brought about, and Sext. Pompeius, betrayed by Antony, was declared the common enemy of the triumvirs. Pompeius now continued his former piratical practices, infesting the coasts of Italy and preventing supplies of grain from being imported from abroad, in consequence of which Rome was often suffering from scarcity of provisions. The people there- fore complained loudly, demanding of the triumvirs to come to some understanding with him. A peace accordingly was concluded at Misenum in b. c. 39, in which Pompeius obtained proconsular power over Sicily and several other provinces. Antony, who ever since the treaty of Brundusium had been at Rome, now married the noble Octavia, sister of Octavianus, and then went to Greece, where for a time he lived as a private person. Pompeius, who felt himself wronged by Antony, did not altogether abstain from piracy, and this afforded Octavianus a welcome pretext for undertaking a war against him. It was commenced in b. c. 38, and at first the 516 HISTORY OF ROME. triumvir was not very successful ; but in b. c. 36 he appointed his friend Agrippa commander-in-chief of the whole fleet. The island was then surrounded, but although Agrippa was sup- ported by the fleets of Antony and Lepidus, no decisive impression was made until the great battle of Mylae, in which Pompeius v/as completely defeated. His land army sur- rendered, and he himself escaped with a few ships to Asia, where soon after he was murdered. Lepidus now claimed Sicily for himself, but as he was not a man of much influence or spirit, Octavianus unceremoniously commanded his soldiers to join him, and Lepidus was sent to Rome, where he enjoyed the empty honour of chief pontiff until his death in b. c. 12. 1 2. Even before the treaty of Brundusium, in b. c. 40, a war had broken out with the Parthians, who had made inroads into Syria. At first the war against them was conducted success- fully by Antony's lieutenants ; in b. c. 37, Octavia returned to Italy, and Antony hastened to Syria to undertake the com- mand against the Parthians in person. He had a large army, and was allied with Artavasdes, king of Armenia. But his plans were ill laid, and the Parthian king Phraates, attacking him in Media, nearly annihilated his legions, and obtained posf^ession of all his ammunition and provisions. Antony himself narrowly escaped the fate of Crassus. After having brought this disgrace upon himself and the Roman arms, he returned to Alexandria, where he forgot himself and everything else in the sensual pleasures of the court. He gave to Cleopatra Coele- Syria, Judaea and Cyprus, to which in B.C. 34 he added Armenia, whose king was taken prisoner. He even forgot himself so far as to celebrate a triumph at Alexandria, and soon after divorced the noble Octavia, who had acted with the greatest forbearance towards him, and had often prevented a rupture between her brother and her hus- band. Octavianus and his sister were now in the position of the injured party, and all became ashamed of Antony's con- BATTLE OF ACTIUM. 517 duct in the East. At last, in b. c. 32, war was declared against the queen of Egypt, and in the spring of the following year, the fleet of Octavianus, nnder the able command of Agrippa, spread over the whole of the Adriatic, while Octavianus him- self with his legions landed in Epirus. 13. Antony, accompanied by Cleopatra, sailed leisurely to Corcyra, where his forces were assembled. On the 2d of September b. c. 31 the memorable sea-fight off the pro- montory of Actium in Acarnania took place : its issue was at first doubtful, but Cleopatra soon losing courage took to flight ; Antony followed her, and both together returned to Alexandria, leaving their fleet and army to their fate. The fleet was soon destroyed by Agrippa, and when the land forces found that their commander had abandoned them, they surrendered to Octavianus. The town of Nicopolis opposite Actium was afterwards built to commemorate this victory, and the moderation displayed by Octavianus towards the vanquished excited general admiration. Soon after his victory Octavianus followed his conquered enemies to Alexandria. Cleopatra made an attempt to see whether she could not charm her conqueror as she had charmed Caesar and Antony; but it was all in vain. Antony being prematurely informed of the death of his mistress, threw himself upon his sword, b. c. 30, and Cleopatra soon after made away with herself by putting a viper to her breast, that she might not be com- pelled to adorn as a captive the triumph of her conqueror. Egypt, where the race of the Ptolemies was now extinct, was made a Eoman province. In the spring of b. c. 29 Octavianus returned to Rome, where the temple of Janus was closed, as a sign that peace was restored throughout the empire, of which Octavianus was now the sole master. 518 CHAPTER XIV. THE REIGN OF AUGUSTUS. 1. If we consider the state of political and social morality of the Komans at the time, and the fearfnl convulsions through which they had passed ever since the days of Sulla, it must be owned that it was a real blessing for the empire to have fallen at length under the sway of one who, though neither so great nor so noble-minded as Caesar, yet had the desire to restore order, peace, and prosperity to his country. On the whole it seems that the greater part of the Komans, and many even of those who had fought under the banner of the republic, had arrived at the conviction that the republic was irrecoverably gone, and that its restoration was not even desirable. Octavianus, however, was very careful in pre- serving the ancient repubhcan forms, such as the meetings of the comitia and of the senate, while, on the other hand, he avoided with equal care such titles as " king," which had always been detested by the Komans, and " dictator," which had been abolished for ever after the murder of Caesar. As far as outward appearance was concerned, Octavianus, not- withstanding the extraordinary powers conferred upon him, was no more than a republican magistrate. The Koman populace had come to regard republican freedom with indif- ference, and were satisfied if plentifully provided with bread and amusements [panis et circenses). 2. On the return of Octavianus from the East, b. c. 29, he was overwhelmed by the adulation and servility of both the senate and people. Two years later he received the novel title of " Augustus," that is, " the Venerable," which was afterwards assumed by all the Koman emperors. To it REIGN OF AUGUSTUS. 519 was added the title of " Imperator," or emperor, for ten years, by virtue of which he had the supreme command over all the armies, and which was subsequently renewed from time to time. In b. c. 23 he was invested wuth the tribunician power for life, whereby his person became sacred and invio- lable ; at the same time he obtained the tribunician veto, as well as the right to convene the senate whenever he pleased. In like manner he acquired the office of censor, and proconsular power in all the provinces. In the course of a few years he thus concentrated in his own person all the powers which had formerly belonged to the several republican magistrates ; but the consulship and the other magistracies were nominally left to others, and continued to be looked upon as high honours down to the overthrow of the empire. In his capacity of censor Augustus directed his attention first to the purification of the senate by excluding unworthy members, and reducing its number to six hundred. The senate gradually became a sort of state council and supreme court of justice for all cases in which the majesty of the emperor was violated. Augustus had no ministers of state in our sense of the term, but he was assisted and supported by a number of able friends, such as Agrippa, Maecenas, Valerius Messalla, and Asinius Pollio. 3. In regard to the internal administration, Augustus be- stowed particular care upon the safety of life and property in the city of Kome, which had before been little better than a den of robbers. With this view he divided the city and its suburbs into fourteen regions, and the whole of Italy into a number of districts or provinces. For himself he established a nume- rous body-guard of ten praetorian cohorts ; three of which were stationed in the city, and the rest in different parts of Italy, until, in the reign of Tiberius, they were all collected in a fortified camp near Rome, called the castra praetoria. Augustus also made several useful and necessary regulations concerning the administration of the provinces, the number of 520 HISTORY OF ROME. which then amounted to twenty-five. In b. c. 27, they were divided between himself and the senate, that is, into pro- vinciae senatoriae or popuU, and provinciae Caesareae — the emperor reserving for himself those which were not completely subdued, and required the presence of a military force, and for these the emperor himself appointed the governors. Under the control of Augustus the administration of the provinces was conducted much more fairly and honourably than had been the case during the last century of the republic. The two classes of the provinces also rendered necessary a division of the revenues derived from them ; the revenues of the senato- rial provinces went into the aerarium or state treasury, while those obtained from the imperial provinces went into the treasury of the emperor, called the fiscus. 4. Augustus also bestowed great attention upon the moral and social improvement of his people, by encouraging mar- riage and punishing adultery, and nothing was neglected which tended to increase the material prosperity of his sub- jects. He hoped much, also, from a revival of the ancient piety and religious worship of the Komans ; but these and many other things are of such a nature that laws, however well meant, must remain inefficient so long as the spirit of the people is not improved ; and this can be the work only of time and long perseverance. Notwithstanding the mildness with which Augustus ruled, and the anxiety he displayed to conceal the fact that he was the real sovereign, conspiracies against his life broke out from time to time ; and these evidences of secret enemies intimidated him so much, that during the latter part of his reign he always took precaution against any sudden attack. 5. Augustus, throughout his long reign, was more con- cerned about securing the frontiers of his vast empire than about making additional conquests. In b. c. 27, he him- self went through Gaul to the north of Spain, for the pur- WARS UNDER AUGUSTUS. 521 pose of subduing the Astures and Cantabri, and making the Atlantic the boundary of the empire in the west. For three years he carried on war against them, and when at length, in B. c. 24, those brave tribes submitted, and gave hostages, he returned to Rome ; but soon after the Cantabri again revolted, and were finally subdued by Agrippa, in b. c. 19. About the same time .cElius Gallus, the first governor of Egypt, made an unsuccessful expedition into Arabia ; but in Africa the frontier was secured by victories over the Ethiopians and Gararaantes. In b. c. 20 the Parthians, who had until then been the most formidable enemies of Rome in the East, thought it advisable to return to Augustus the standards which had fallen into their hands during the wars of Crassus and Antony. This event filled every Roman with joy. The existence of numerous independent tribes in the Raetian and Graian Alps, and in Vindelicia and Noricum, was thought to be incompatible with the safety and peace of Italy ; war accordingly was waged against them in b. c. 25, and was continued for many years, until the Alpine tribes were completely subdued in b. c. 13. But the war against them stirred up commotions in Gaul and in the south of Germany. Some German tribes even crossed the Rhine and invaded Gaul, an event which created so much alarm at liome, that Augustus himself, in b. c. 16, went to Gaul for the purpose of securing its eastern frontier. But after an absence of three years, he returned, leaving the com- mand of the troops on the Rhine to his step-son Drusus, who with his brother Tiberius had till then been conducting the war against the Alpine tribes. 6. The appointment of Drusus marks the commencement of a series of dangerous wars with the Germans on the east of the Rhine, the object of which was not so much to gain a permanent footing in Germany as to crush that nation, which was thought to be a most dangerous neighbour of Gaul. z 2 522. HISTORY OF ROME. Germany itself was for the most part a wild and uncultivated country, covered with immense forests and marshes, and hold- ing out little or no temptation to a conqueror. The southern parts about the Danube, perhaps as far as the Maine, were inhabited by Celtic nations ; the rest, with the exception of some portions in the north-east, was inhabited by a vast number of German tribes, which led a free and roving life, and were unable to bear the yoke of foreign rulers. But their great misfortune then, as ever after, was their incessant quarrels and wars with one another, which greatly facili- tated the work of conquest. Drusus, when he undertook the command in b. c. 12, at once resolved to conquer the part of Germany between the Rhine and the Elbe. From Mayence he made several successful expeditions against the Sigambri, Usipetes, Bructeri, Chatti, and others, and by the establish- ment of the fortress of Aliso near the sources of the Lippe, he endeavoured to secure his conquests. In b. c. 9 he advanced as far as the Elbe ; but want of provisions obliged him to return ; on his journey he fell from his horse, and died thirty days later in consequence of the injury he received. 7. His brother Tiberius, who until then had been conduct- ing a war in Dalmatia and Pannonia, succeeded to the command of his forces, and in b. c. 8 crossed the Rhine to complete what his brother had commenced. For two years he continued the war with great skill and valour, though not always with that honesty which becomes a great general ; but he was unable completely to subdue the west of Germany. In b. c. 6 he returned to Rome, and was succeeded by Domitius Aheno- barbus, a bold but at the same time a prudent man, who endeavoured to push his conquests even beyond the Elbe. x\fter various undertakings, none of which was crowned with permanent success, Tiberius, in a. d. 4, resumed the command of the legions on the Rhine, and by victories on the field of battle, as well as by prudent negotiations, succeeded in DEFEAT OF VARUS. 523 subduing the country between the Rhine and the Weser, which in a. d. 5 was constituted as a Roman province. Peace being thus restored in that part of Germany, he medi- tated a war against Maroboduus, a powerful king of the Mar- comanni, in the south-east of Germany ; but the tidings of a great insurrection which had broken out in Pannonia and Dalmatia, obliged him to conclude peace with the king and direct bis forces against the rebels. This war lasted for two years, and obliged the Romans, who were at first unsuccessful, to make the greatest efforts. At length in a. d. 9 the fall of the fortress of Anderion decided the fate of the insurgents, who now again submitted to Rome ; but their country, between the Danube and the Adriatic, had been fearfully ravaged during the war. 8. In the meantime the work of Romanising western Ger- many was commencing : many Germans served in the Roman armies, and young nobles delighted in the distinctions with which they were honoured by their conquerors ; but the ava- rice and rapacity of the Roman governor Quintilius Varus, combined with his haughty and insolent manners, roused the aversion and hatred of the barbarians. A conspiracy accord- ingly was formed against him by Arminius, a young Cheruscan chief, who had served among the Romans, and was well acquainted with their mode of warfare. The Cheruscans were joined by several other tribes. Segestes, the father-in- law of Arminius, who bore him a grudge, informed Varus of the dangerous plot ; but in vain : in a. d. 9, the Roman governor set out against some rebels whose only object was to draw him into a snare. He marched heedlessly with three legions, many auxiliaries, and a quantity of baggage, through the forest of Teutoburg, and in a battle during three very stormy days, he suffered so complete a defeat that the ground far and wide was covered with the dead bodies of the Romans ; all those who fell into the hands of the conquerors were made 524 HISTORY OF ROME. slaves ; the Eoman standards were lost, and Varus, in despair, put an end to his own life. The Germans had been com- manded by Arminins, who was looked npon in after times as the great deliverer of his country from the yoke of the Eomans. Augustus, on receiving intelligence of this disaster, is said to have been seized with rage and despair. As the fortress of Aliso had been taken and destroyed by the barba- rians, the Eomans found it impossible to maintain themselves on the eastern bank of the Ehine, and henceforth confined themselves to protecting the left bank and compelling the Germans to keep to their own side of the river. 9. In this manner the reign of Augustus came to its close. The most eventful occurrence which marks it is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ at Bethlehem in Judaea. His birth is the beginning of the Christian era, and the date of the present year marks the number supposed to have elapsed since his birth ; but more accurate chronological calculations have shown that the birth of Christ must be dated four or five years before the commencement of the vulgar era. The age of Augustus, or, more correctly, the period from the death of Sulla to that of Augustus, must be regarded as the golden age of Eoman literature. The Latin language had then reached its highest development, and the greatest poets, orators, and historians that Eome produced belong to that memorable period, the study of which is of the highest inte- rest also, because in it was first formed and consolidated that system of government and administration which has in a great measure determined the character of our modern civilisation. 10. The happiness of Augustus was greatly disturbed during his later years by domestic misfortunes and afflictions. His promising grandsons, Caius and Lucius Caesar, the sons of his daughter Julia by his friend Agrippa, died prematurely in their youth, not without a suspicion of their having been poisoned by his ambitious wife Livia, who was anxious to KEIGN OF TIBERIUS. 525 secure the succession to Tiberius, lier own son by her former husband. Augustus' daughter Julia, herself, a talented but licentious woman, caused her father so much grief by her dissolute life, that in the end he found it necessary to banish her. A posthumcms son of Agrippa by the same Julia, Agrippa Postumus, died by the hand of a hired assassin in a distant island, to which he had been banished in order that he might not put forward any claims against Tiberius. This murder was perpetrated immediately after the death of Augustus, which took place on the 19th of August a. d. 14, at Nolain Campania, whither he had gone to restore his enfeebled liealth. He was succeeded without any difficulty by Tiberius, his step-son, who owed his elevation to the cunning contrivances of his mother Livia. The imperial dignity remained in the same family until Nero, who was the last of the line, for after his time the imperial throne was generally filled by the choice of the soldiery. CHAPTER XY. THE SUCCESSORS OF AUGUSTUS DOWN TO THE DEATH OF NERO. 1. In his earlier days Tiberius had acquired great renown for the ability with which he had conducted the various wars in the East, in Pannonia and on the Khine ; but his temper had been soured, and after his accession he seemed to have become quite a different man. He was a great proficient in dissimu- lation, and at first succeeded for a time in concealing the viciousness of his character and disposition ; but after the year a. d. 20, when his friend ^lius Seianus gained para- mount influence over him, the despot committed a series of most revoltinof atrocities. It was on the advice of Seianus that 526 HISTORY OF ROME. in A. D. 23 the praetorian cohorts received their stationary camp near Eome, whereby the government was at once changed into a military despotism, for those praetorians became the ever ready tools of tyranny, and in the course of time usurped the power of electing and deposing emperors at their pleasure. Augustus had allowed the people to assemble in their comitia, and even to pass laws in the ancient form, but Tiberius abolished this last shadow of republican freedom, and trans- ferred the functions of the assembled people to the senate, which degraded itself by its servile flattery, and readiness to do or sanction deeds which the despot himself shrunk from attempting. The trial of cases of high treason against the person of the emperor became one of the duties of the senate, which was thus obliged to inflict punishment on persons whom Tiberius himself could scarcely have ventured to condemn. Every one was declared guilty of high treason who either by speech, deed, or writing, should offend the emperor. This measure called into existence a host of well-paid crafty spies and informers, who crushed and stifled every honest expres- sion of opinion, and extinguished the last spark of freedom and independence, while, on the other hand, they increased the tyrant's fears and cruelty. Seianus, whose character very much resembled that of his master, had the executive in his own hands, while Tiberius abandoned himself to the basest sensual lusts ; and in order to be able to indulge them more freely and unrestrainedly, he withdrew in a. d. 26 from Rome, and finally took up his abode in the island of Capreae, in the bay of Naples. There he gave himself up to the grossest sensuality, and took a delight in torturing the unfortunate victims of his lust. This period of his absence from Rome was the most frightful of his frightful reign, for Seianus now ruled without restraint, endeavouring to ex- terminate the family of his sovereign, and thus to secure the succession to himself. He had already despatched by REIGN OF TIHERIUS. 527 poison Drnsus, the only son of Tiberius. This had happened in A. D. 23 ; six years later several other members of the imperial family, and among them Agrippina and her three sons, were got rid of by being sent into exile, and were after- wards killed by starvation or otherwise ; Caius (afterwards the emperor Caligula), the youngest of the sons of Agrippina and Germanicns, was the only one that escaped. At length, when all obstacles were removed, Seianus sued for the hand of the widow of Drusus, whom he himself had poisoned. When, notwithstanding his great precaution, this was reported to Tiberius, the emperor addressed a letter to the senate, in which he accused his minister of high treason, and demanded his execution. The order was immediately and joyfully* obeyed, a. d. 31, and Tiberius now took vengeance on all the friends and relations of Seianus. Macro, the successor of Seianus, was scarcely better than his predecessor ; and Tiberius, by his experience of the past, became still more distrustful and cruel than before. His debauches had destroyed his health, and he appears to have felt his end approaching. But carefully concealing his condition, he resolved to return to Rome. In the meantime Macro, in conjunction with Caius (Ca- ligula), had formed the design of getting rid of the aged tyrant. At a villa near Misenum, Tiberius fell into a deathlike state of lethargy, which induced some persons of his suite to pro- claim Caligula, who happened to be with his uncle, as his successor. But Tiberius recovered, and as both Macro and Caligula had reason to fear his vengeance, they caused him to be suffocated between beds and pillows, a. d, 37, when he had attained his seventy-eighth year. 2. The most memorable event in the external history of the reign of Tiberius is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, according to the common chronology, in a. d. 33. We may also mention a fearful earthquake, by which many flourishing cities in Asia were reduced to heaps of ruins ; and the great catastrophe at 528 HISTORY OF ROME. Fidenae, where a temporary wooden ampbit"heatre fell during a show of gladiators, which had drawn together vast multitudes from Rome and other neighbouring towns ; no less than fifty thousand persons were killed or seriously hurt on that occasion. The last great event we shall here notice, the war against the Germans, was in point of time the first, for in the very year in which Tiberius obtained the imperial dignity, a. d. 14, a great insurrection broke out among the legions on the Rhine and in Pannonia. Germanicus, the noble son of Drusus, commanding on the Rhine, was generous enough to quiet the soldiers, who demanded that he should assume the imperial dignity instead of Tiberius. The revolt in Pannonia was quelled by prudent concessions on the part of Tiberius. Germanicus after appeasing his troops, crossed the Rhine to wipe off the stain cast on the Roman name under the bad management of Varus ; he penetrated into, and ravaged, the country of the Chatti, buried the remains of the Romans he found in the Teutoburg forest, and made Thusnelda, Arminius' wife, his captive, she having been betrayed into his hands by her own father Segestes, who had always been well disposed towards the Romans. In consequence of this, Arminius exerted all his energy to rouse the Cheruscans and the neighbouring tribes to a vigorous resistance against the common enemy. A. Caecina, the legate of Germanicus, was brought into im- minent danger ; but owing to the superior tactics of the Romans and the prudence of Germanicus, the Germans were defeated in two battles. Nevertheless, however, the dominion of Rome could not be firmly and permanently re-established on the eastern bank of the Rhine. For when, in a. d. 16, Ger- manicus was recalled by Tiberius, who looked with jealousy upon his success and popularity, the Germans were for a time left without any further molestation. Germanicus was sent to the East, and died at Antioch in a. d, 19, having probably been poisoned by Piso, the governor of Syria. About this CALIGULA. 529 time Tiberius, or rather his son Driisus, undertook an expe- dition against Maroboduus, king of the Marcomanni. But to facilitate the undertaking, another German tribe was induced to attack Maroboduus in another quarter. As the king's capital was taken by the enemy, he sought the assistance of the Eomans, whom he did not suspect of hostile intentions ; but Tiberius ordered him to renounce his kingdom, and spend the remainder of his life at Kavenna. Catualda, the conqueror of Maroboduus, soon after experienced the same fate, for being driven from his kingdom, he sought refuge with the Romans, and was ordered to take up his residence at Forum Julium, in the south of Gaul. Arminius, the deliverer of Germany, was afterwards murdered by his own ungrateful countrymen. These occurrences and insurrections in Gaul and Africa, which were quelled without much difficulty, are the only important events in the Roman empire during the reign of Tiberius. 3. Tiberius, as we have already noticed, was succeeded by Caius, commonly called Caligula, who reigned from a. d. 37 till 41. He was the son of the noble-minded Germanicus by Agrippina, and as he resembled his father in appearance, every one hoped that he had also inherited his father's virtues. During the first eight months, these hopes seemed to be realised, when he was suddenly taken ill. He did indeed recover his bodily health, but in his conduct he was completely altered. The vicious disposition, which until then had been carefully concealed, now burst forth without scruple or restraint, and there can be little doubt that he was labouring under insanity. Without entering into the disgusting details of his reign, we shall briefly sum up the most prominent features of his character. He w^as a blood- thirsty tyrant, who took a delight in signing death-warrants and witnessing the agonies of his victims; a senseless squanderer of the public treasures, which he spent upon the gratification of 2 a 530 HISTORY OF KOME. his lusts aud the erection of absm*d Luildiugs ; a vain boaster, who celebrated triumphs over the Germans and Britons, whom he had never encountered on the field of battle, and ordered himself to be worshipped as a god ; a glutton, who by his . excesses drained the provinces as well as the treasury; and a low and vulgar sensualist, whose favourite companions were actors, gladiators, and prostitutes. A conspiracy was formed against this monster as early as b. c. 39, but it was discovered and its authors were put to death ; soon after another was formed by some ofiicers of the praetorian guards, and in a. d. 41 he was murdered in his own palace while attending the rehearsal of some actors. His wife and daughters were likewise put to death. During the tumult the murderers dragged forth Tiberius Claudius, who from fear had concealed himself, and proclaimed him emperor. 4. Claudius was a brother of Germanicus, and a son of Drusus and Antonia. His life had been spared during the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula, merely because he was despised and looked upon as an idiot, who was not likely ever to claim the succession. When he ascended the throne, he had reached the age of fifty-one years. The manner in which he had been treated by his own family had intimidated him and made him cowardly. His favourite pursuits had been history and anti- quities, and he himself wrote a history of his own times, memoirs of his own life, and, in the Greek language, histories of Carthage and Etruria. While he occupied himself with these pursuits, his freedmen and favourites, Narcissus Pallas, Callistus, and others governed the empire, exercising unlimited influence over him, and his dissolute wife Messa- lina scorned every law of decency and morality. At the suggestion of these unworthy advisers, Claudius put to death the noblest men of the time, aud the licentiousness of the court destroyed the last vestiges of virtue among the higher classes, especially among females. Messalina went so far REIGN OF CLAUDIUS. 531 in her sbamelessness, as publicly to solemnise her marriage with a handsome young Roman, although she was lawfully married to Claudius. This step at length opened the eyes of the infatuated emperor, and, terrified by the prospect of greater dangers, he ordered Messalina to be put to death, and married his niece, the beautiful and talented, but licen- tious and ambitious Agrippina. She was anxious to get rid of his children by his former wife, and to secure the suc- cession to Nero her own son, by her former husband, Domitius Ahenobarbus. When her schemes were discovered, and the voluptuous emperor was on the point of thwarting her, she anticipated him by causing him to be poisoned, in the montli of October, a. d. 54. The reign of Claudius, so far as he was not under the influence of women and freedmen, was mild and popular. He was very fond of building, and undertook and completed some very important works : he deepened and fortified the port of Ostia, and drained the Fucine lake by constructing an immense tunnel, at which thirty thou- sand men are said to have been at work for eleven years, and which led the waters of the lake into the river Liris. In spite of the moral degeneracy of the times, the Roman arms were victorious abroad under Claudius and his successors. In A. D. 50, a successful war was commenced against the Parthians, who attempted to conquer Armenia. In Germany, quarrels arose after the death of Arminius, which led to Claudius appointing Italicus, a nephew of Arminius, king of the Che- ruscans, and considerably weakened the German tribes, so that the whole of western Germany might again have become a Roman province, had not Claudius recalled his victorious general Corbulo, and ordered him to confine himself to defending the western banks of the Rhine. The reign of Claudius is also remarkable as the period in which the Romans first made permanent conquests in Britain. On the invita- tion of an exiled British chief, a Roman armv. in a. d. 43, 532 HISTORY OF ROSfE. invaded tlie island. Claudius Mmself visited it for a short time, but left the management of the ^ar to his lieutenants, who continued it for nine years. Vespasian and his son Titus acquired their first military laurels in this war, and the south- eastern part of Britain, which was finally conquered in a. d. 51, was constituted a Eoman province. 5. Agrippina succeeded in her plan of securing the succes- sion to her son Nero, and soon after the murder of Claudius, the young man, only seventeen years old, was proclaimed emperor. He had been educated by the philosopher Seneca, and Bun-us, an of&cer of the praetorian guards, and was possessed of con- siderable talent, but the influence of the corrupt and licentious court, the obsequiousness of the senate, and the servility of the people, could not but ultimately produce their effects. During the first five years of his reign, however, Seneca and Burrus so far succeeded in controlling his vicious propensities, that this period, compared with that which followed, appeared to. the Komans as a most happy time. Things assumed a diffe- rent aspect, when Nero began to quarrel with his ambitious mother, who interfered in the government, and even threatened to raise Britannicus, the son of Claudius, to the throne. He now in rapid succession murdered Britannicus and his own mother, whom he intended to drown by means of a boat constructed in such a manner that it went to pieces when on the waters ; but as she saved herself by swimming, he ordered her to be assassinated, and this deed was not disapproved of by Seneca and Burrus. His mistresses Acte and Poppaea Sabina led him from one crime to another, and when Burrus was re- moved from the court, b. c. 62, Nero threw off all restraint : he banished his wife Octavia to the island of Pandataria, where she was soon afterwards murdered, and then married the adulterous Poppaea Sabina. Two years later, a fearful conflagration broke out at Eome, which lasted for six days, and during which the greater part of the city was reduced to REIGN OF NERO. 533 aslies. It is said that this fire was the work of Nero, who was anxious to have a vivid representation of the burning of Troy. The emperor, however, charged the Christians, who as yet formed an obscure sect, with having caused the con- flagration, and instituted a cruel persecution against them, in which the apostles Peter and Paul are said to have perished. The magnificent restoration of the city, and the building of Nero's golden house on the Palatine hill increased the oppres- sive character of his rule, though the populace was kept in good humour by being fed and amused with the plunder and spoils of the provinces. 6. In B. c. 65, a formidable conspiracy was formed by Calpurnius Piso, but it was discovered, and Piso himself, the poet Lucan, and a great many others, had to pay for the attempt with their lives. Seneca, who was also suspected of having been an accomplice, died by opening his own veins. His next victims were his own wife Poppaea Sabina, whom he killed in a brutal fit of passion, and Antonia, a daughter of Claudius, whom he murdered because she refused to marry him. Virtue in whatever form it appeared now became an object of the tyrant's fear and hatred. In a. d. 67, Nero went to Greece to take part as a player on the lyre in the great games at Olympia and on the Isthmus, and signalised himself by the grossest follies and cruelties. In the following year, soon after his return, an insurrection, headed by Julius Vindex, broke out in Gaul, on account of the fearful oppression to which that country had been subjected. Vindex offered the sovereignty to Servius Galba, governor of Spain, who was at once proclaimed emperor by his soldiers. But Eufus, the governor of southern Germany, marched into Gaul against Vindex, and although the two appear to have come to an amicable arrangement, Vindex by some mistake was murdered. The praetorians at Eome were soon induced likewise to proclaim Servius Galba, whereupon Nero, abandoned by 534 niSTORY OF kome. every one, took to flight, and on being discovered, inflicted a wound on himself, in consequence of which he died, in June A. D. 68. With him the house of the Claudii or of Angustiis "became extinct, and henceforth the praetorian guards, and sometimes the legions in the provinces, assumed the right of electing the emperor, who generally obtained the sanction of the senate, which, however, was a mere matter of form. 7. In the meantime the Parthians in the East had suc- ceeded in making themselves masters of Armenia. In a. d. 54, Domitius Corbulo, one of the ablest generals of the time, was sent against them, and in a long protracted war recovered the whole of Armenia ; his successor, howevr, was unable to maintain his ground, and Tiridates, a brother of the Parthian king, in a. d. 66 again ascended the throne of Armenia. Germany was tolerably quiet during the reign of Nero, but in Britain an alarming insurrection broke out in a. d. 61, in consequence of the fearful rapacity of the Eoman governor. During his absence on an expedition against the island of Mona, the Britons under their queen Boadicea took up arms, and succeeded in destroying a whole Eoman legion and several colonies. But the governor Paulinus speedily returned and defeated them in a great battle, in which eighty thousand of them are said to have been slain. Boadicea put an end to her own life, and peace was concluded with the Britons. During Nero's stay in Greece, the Jews also rose in open rebellion against their oppressors, and after the first defeat of the Roman army by them, the emperor gave the command to Vespasian, who had already greatly distin- guished himself by extending the Roman dominion in Britain. 535 CHAPTER XVL FROM THE DEATH OF NERO TO THAT OF DOMITIAN. 1. On learning that he had been proclaimed by the prae- torians, and that the choice was sanctioned by the senate, Servins Galba hastened to Rome, accompanied by Salvius Otho, the governor of Lnsitania. He was the first emperor that was raised to the throne by the soldiery, and they expected that he would be particularly liberal towards them. In this hope they were disappointed, and as, moreover, he attempted to restore disci})] ine among them, and was also guilty of some arbitrary proceedings, to which he was led by his freedmen, who had entire control over him, Salvius Otho formed a conspiracy against him, and Galba was murdered while crossing the Forum, in January a. d. 69, at the advanced age of seventy- three, and after a reign of scarcely eight months. His adopted son Piso Licinianus, who was to have been his successor, and whose adoption had offended Otho, was likewise murdered. 2. The praetorians now proclaimed Otho emperor, and the servile senate sanctioned their choice. Otho had been the contemptible husband of Poppaea Sabina before her mar- riage with Nero ; but he commenced his reign by taking to account some of the persons who had been most conspicuous under Nero. He had, however, scarcely entered on his duties, when he received tidings that the legions stationed on the Rhine had proclaimed Vitellius, their own commander, emperor. The latter immediately sent an aimy across the Alps, and in a great battle near Bedriacum gained a decisive victory over Otho, who a few days later made away with himself in despair, in April a. d. 69. Otho's army surren- 536 HISTORY OF ROME. dered to VitellinSj who was now the undisputed sovereign of the empire. He was a vulgar glutton, who had spent all his life in coarse sensual pleasures. He took no interest in the duties of his station, allowed the praetorians to act as they pleased with impunity, and distinguished himself only by extorting money to satisfy his low appetites. This con- duct aroused general indignation against him, and the legions in Syria, Moesia, and Pannonia, renounced their allegiance ; during these insurrections Flavins Vespasianus, who was successfully carrying on the war against the Jews, was pro- claimed emperor. Being supported by the governors of several other provinces, and leaving the continuation of the siege of Jerusalem to his son Titus, he at once prepared for war against Vitellius. The hostile armies met in the north of Italy, and Antonius Primus, a staunch supporter of Vespasian, who had come with an army across the Alps, defeated Vitellius near Bedriacum, and the town of Cremona was completely ravaged for its attachment to him. Vitellius was now forsaken by all parties except the praetorians and the Eoman populace. When the hostile army arrived at Kome a frightful massacre took place in the streets of the city. Sabinus, a brother of Vespasian, who had thrown himself into the Capitol, was taken and murdered by the partizans of Vitellius, and the magnificent Capitoline temple was destroyed by fire. At length the praetorian camp in which Vitellius had taken refuge fell into the hands of the enemy, and the emperor being dragged forth was cruelly murdered in December a. d. 69, after a reign of scarcely eight months. 3. While these things were going on in Italy, Vespasian was still at Alexandria in Egypt, and the affairs at Eome were managed by his son Domitian, and Mucianus, the late governor of Syria. The new emperor himself did not arrive in Kome until a.d. 70, when he found the praetorians com- REIGN OF VESPASIAN. 537 pletely subdued. All the successors of Augustus had been cruel tyrants or contemptible imbeciles. Vespasian was a man of quite a different character, and the very ruler whom Rome required at the time ; he may be called the true renovator of the state. Immediately after his arrival at Rome he set about restoring discipline among the troops and the praetorians, excluded unworthy men from the senate, watched over the administration of justice, suppressed the detestable class of informers, stopped the trials for high treason against the person of the emperor, and economised the finances of the empire by a wise regulation of the taxes and tolls, though he was not niggardly when the public good or the embellish- ment of the city required it. He spent enormous sums upon the rebuilding of the Capitoline temple, upon the construc- tion of the great amphitheatre called the Colosseum, which even in its present dilapidated state excites the wonder and admiration of all travellers, and upon the building of the temple of Peace. By his own example he endeavoured to put an end to the profligacy of the higher orders, and gave to the empire a greater degree of unity and compactness than it had hitherto possessed, by raising the most illustrious men from the provinces to the places which became vacant in the senate, so that Italy virtually ceased to be the exclusive mistress of the world. Vespasian was what we may call a plain, practical man ; he had a great aversion not only to every kind of luxury, but also to the numerous philosophers and astrologers who then resided at Rome, and whom in a.d. 74 he expelled from the city. He hated the Christians and republicans ; the former he confounded with the Jews, and the latter, who were found principally among the Stoic philo- sophers, he regarded as foolish and audacious speculators. Hence the noble Helvidius Prisons, who, like his father- in-law Paetus Thrasea, was a great Stoic and republican, and had often been troublesome to the emperor by his 538 HISTORY OF ROME. opposition in the senate, was first exiled and then put to death. 4. Among the most remarkable occurrences in the history of the empire during Vespasian's reign is the capture of Jeru- salem by his son Titus in a.d. 70. Judaea had for many years been governed by Roman procuratoi^es^ who not only oppressed the people, but by their insolence and scorn wounded their deepest feelings. Gessius Florus, who had been appointed procurator by Nero, combining cruelty with the ordinary qualities of a Eoman governor, drove the Jews, who were also urged on by a strong national party, into open rebellion, and the Romans were compelled to evacuate Jerusalem. But the victorious party now established a reign of terror in the city, during which many of the moderate party and the Roman prisoners were murdered. Vespasian then, A. D. 67, undertook the war against the Jews with a powerfid army. Being misguided by their own leaders, distracted by internal dissensions, and mortally hated by the Romans, they fought with the courage of despair against the legions. After the fall of the strong fortress of Jota- pat a, and a fearful defeat in which forty thousand Jews are said to have been killed, they were obliged to confine themselves to the defence of their city of Jerusalem, which, after Vespasian's elevation to the sovereignty of the empire, was besieged by his son Titus. The city being over- crowded \\dth men from all parts, suffered severely from famine, and the distress was increased by epidemic diseases and furious party feudr.. It was in vain that Titus offered to spare the Jews, if they would lay down their arms ; rage against their enemies and a blind confidence in the speedy help of Jehovah goaded them on to the last extremity. When at length the city was taken, the Jews defended them- selves in the Temple, until that magnificent and venerable building, too, became a prey to the flames on the 2d of Septem- REIGN OF VESPASIAN AND TITUS. 539 ber A.D. 70. The city was then destroyed, and upwards of n million of Jews are said to have perished. They lost their independence for ever, and being forbidden to rebuild their city, scattered over the whole of the Eoman empire, where they were subject to the payment of an annual tax. The triumphal arch, afterwards erected by Titus at Rome, still bears witness to tliat memorable event. 5. Even before Vespasian's arrival at Rome, a great insurrection, headed by Claudius Civilis, had broken out among the Batavi, whose example was speedily followed by the Frisians and some Gallic tribes ; but owing to the energy of Petilius Cerealis, they were defeated one after another, and compelled to sue for peace, a. d. 70. In the following year Cerealis obtained the administration of Britain, and was accompanied thither by Agricola, the father-in-law of the great historian Tacitus, by whom we have a life of him. In A. D. 77 Agricola was himself appointed governor of Britain, a post which he filled until a. d. 85, to his own honour and that of his countrymen. During this period he conquered not only all England but the south of Scotland as far as the Firths of Clyde and Forth. He carried his victories even to the Highlands, and explored the coasts of the country, though he was unable to establish the Roman dominion beyond the Forth. 6. The reign of Vespasian was extremely beneficial to the empire, although he did things which cannot be called other- wise than cruel. Towards the end of his life a conspiracy ^^ as formed against him ; but it was discovered and its authors were put to death. Soon afterwards he was taken ill, and having died on the 23d of June a. d. 79, at the age of seventy, was succeeded by his son Titus, who had latterly governed the empire in conjunction with his father. His short reign lasted only till the middle of September a. d. 81, and at first considerable apprehension prevailed at Rome, as he had been 540 HISTORY OF ROME. previously guilty of several acts of cruelty. But after his accession he showed himself so kind and benevolent as to obtain and deserve the title of " the love and delight of man- kind." The calamities which visited several parts of the empire during his brief reign afforded him excellent oppor- tunities for displaying his kindly benevolence. In the month of August A. D. 79, a fearful eruption of mount Vesuvius, the first recorded in history, destroyed and buried under burning lava and ashes the towns of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabiae. Pliny the elder, who ventured too near to satisfy his curiosity, lost his life ; the whole eruption has been minutely described by his nephew, the younger Pliny, in two letters addressed to Tacitus the historian. Portions of these buried towns which have been laid open in modern times, furnish the most interesting information on antiquities and ancient art. It is said that the emperor Titus spent nearly his whole property in relieving the sufferers who survived the terrible catastrophe. In a. d. 80 a fire broke out at Kome, which raged for three days, destroying the finest parts of the city ; and no sooner had this misfortune passed away, than a fearful pestilence came, which carried off thousands of people in all parts of Italy. The last year of Titus' reign is marked by the inauguration of the Colosseum, which had been commenced by his father, and by the building of the Thermae, which bear his name. He died in the same villa in which Vespasian had breathed his last, in the country of the Sabines ; and all the Eomans mourned over his death as over that of a father. During his reign the frontiers of the empire were not disturbed by any aggressions, and Agricola was engaged in the conquest of Britain, which he secured by fortifications between the Clyde and Forth. 7, Titus was succeeded by his brother Domitian, a man who had already given numerous proofs of his cruel and tyrannical disposition, and was even believed to have made KEIGN OF DOMITIAN. 541 attempts upon the lives of his father and brother. At first, however, his conduct led his subjects to believe that he was better than his reputation, but afterwards he displayed his real character, and became one of the darkest and most detestable tyrants that ever disgraced a throne. Hosts of informers again arose as in the worst days of his predecessors. He increased the pay of the soldiers to make himself popu- lar with them, and in order to obtain the means necessary for this and other extravagances, he had recourse to confisca- tions, and wealthy persons were treated as criminals merely to enable the despot to gain possession of their property. His only delights were the gladiatorial exhibitions, and the torturing of his victims. He was by no means devoid of talent, but his occupation with poetry and literature did not improve his savage nature. In a. d. 83 he undertook an expedition against the Chatti, and built a frontier wall between the free Germans and those who were subject to the empire. In the year following Agricola gained a great vic- tory over the Caledonians, who were commanded by their chief Galgacus, at the foot of the Grampians ; but as Domitian was jealous of the success of his general, he recalled him to Eome. Two years later, a. d. 86, the warlike nation of the Dacians crossed the Danube and defeated the Eoman army in Moesia. Domitian himself took the field, but was unable to repel them. The Marcomanni and other tribes which were allied with Rome, refused to support the emperor, and thus obliged him to purchase a disgraceful peace from the Dacian king Dece- balus, A.D. 90. Notwithstanding this ignominy, Domitian did not blush to celebrate a triumph over the Dacians, and assume the name of Dacicus ; but as he nevertheless felt his humilia- tion keenly, he became still more ferocious, and went so far in his madness as to order himself to be worshipped as " Lord and Grod." The noblest men were put to death for opinions they ventured to express; the philosophers, one of whom 542 HISTORY OF ROME. was the great Epictetus, were expelled, and the Christians, whose number had been steadily increasing at Eome, were murdered and persecuted without mercy. In the end, how- ever, his own wife Domitia, whom he intended to put to death, formed a conspiracy against him, and the tyrant was stabbed in his bed-room by one of her freedmen, on the 18th of September a. d. 96. CHAPTER XVII. FROM THE ACCESSION OF NERVA, TO THE DEATH OF M. AURELIUS. 1. Hitherto all the Koman emperors had been natives of Italy ; but henceforth we frequently find provincials raised to the imperial dignity, and it was fortunate for the empire that it was so, for the moral corruption and degTadation of Eome and Italy had not yet spread over all the provinces, and the five emperors who followed after Domitian form so noble a contrast with their unworthy predecessors (always excepting Vespasian and Titus), that the period of their reign from A. D. 96 to A. D. 180, is regarded as the happiest in the whole history of the Roman emperors. Immediately after the murder of Domitian, the people and soldiers proclaimed Nerva, a venerable senator of mild disposition. He was, however, not the man whom the praetorians wished to see at the head of affairs, and was therefore obliged to be cau- tious, both in punishing offenders and in restoring those who had been exiled by Domitian. But the insolence of the praetorians knew no bounds, and in order to strengthen himself, he adopted Ulpius Trajan, a man of unblemished character, who at the time had the command of the legions EEIGN OF TRAJAN. 543 in Germany. But tliree months after he had taken this step he died of a fever on the 27th of January a. d. 98. If he had lived longer, he would unquestionably have wrought a great moral change among his subjects. 2. Trajan was a native of Italica in Spain, and arrived at Kome in the year a. d. 99. His administration of the internal affairs of the empire gained for him the surname of " the Best," while his military undertakings shewed him to be a man of great military talent. He first of all got rid of the infamous class of informers, many of whom were exiled, and punished the most turbulent among the praetorians. He restored to the senate its power, and founded an institution for the education of poor children of both sexes ; he facilitated trade and commerce by making new roads, canals, bridges, and by extending the port of Civita Vecchia; he adorned Jiome, Italy, and the provinces with triumphal arches, porticoes, temples, and Eome in particular with the institution of a public library, and the building of a new Forum, in the centre of which rose the celebrated column of Trajan with its bas-relief sculptures representing his own exploits against the Dacians. He honoured men of intellectual culture, and loved their society, as we see from the relation subsisting between him and the historian Tacitus and the younger Pliny. Trajan's own mode of life was simple and without any pomp or ostentation. His wife Plotina and his sister Marciana are among the most estimable female characters in Eoman history, and contributed by their example not a little towards the improvement in the conduct of Eoman ladies, which hence- forth is not disgraced by that licentiousness which forms so deplorable a feature in their character during the first century of the empire. 3. Trajan deeply felt the humiliation of paying to the Dacians the tribute with which Domitian had purchased peace, and in a. d. 100, he set out with a large army against Dacia, 544 HISTORY OF ROME. which was still governed by king Decebalus. Trajan took his capital Zarmizegethusa, defeated him in several battles, and compelled him, in a. d. 103, to sue for peace, which was granted to him on condition of his ceding a portion of his dominions to the empire. This peace, however, did not last long, for in a. d. 104 the Dacians rose again. Trajan then caused a stone bridge to be built over the Danube to facilitate his operations, and marching into Dacia, pressed the enemy so hard, that Decebahis in despair made away with himself, A. D. 106. Dacia [i. e. Moldavia, Wallachia, and Tran- sylvania) then became a Koman province, and received numerous colonies, which in a short time firmly established Roman culture and civilisation among the Dacians. Trajan, on his return to Eome, erected the above-mentioned column, which is still one of the most interesting remains of ancient Rome. In a. d, 114, the Parthians again menaced the eastern frontiers of the empire, for their king, deposing the king of Armenia, raised his own brother to the throne. Trajan immediately took the field against them. The Arme- nians received him with open arms, and their country was made a Roman province, a. d. 115; Nisibis then fell into his hands, and with it the whole of Mesopotamia. The emperor even crossed the Tigris, subdued Assyria, and took the towns of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthians, who were obliged to accept Parthamaspates as their king. When the afiairs of the Parthians were thus settled, Trajan entered Arabia, where some of his lieutenants had made conquests before, but being taken ill, he left his legate Hadrian in the command of his forces, and hastened to return to Rome ; death, however, overtook him at Selinus in Cilicia, on the 9th of August A. D. 117. His remains were carried to Rome and deposited under the column which he had erected in his Forum. 4. After the death of Trajan, his wife Plotina spread a REIGN OF HADRIAN. 545 report that during bis illness he had adopted Hadrian, who accordingly undertook the sovereignty at Antioch, where he was then staying, and where he was proclaimed. Hadrian was a native of Picenum, and his father had been married to a relation of Trajan. His disposition was less warlike than that of his predecessor, and seeing that the maintenance of the conquests made by him would involve the empire in perpetual wars, he made the Euphrates the boundary in the East, restoring Assyria and ]\resopotamia to the Parthians, and Armenia to the rank of an independent kingdom. Having thus settled the affairs in the East, he returned to Eome, a. d. 118, and then marched into Moesia, which had been invaded by Sarmatian tribes. As he did not wish to make conquests, but only to protect the frontiers of the empire, he concluded peace with the Roxolani. In the meantime, a plot was formed against him by a num- ber of his personal enemies ; but the scheme w^as discovered, and as his severity in punishing the leaders created ill feeling both in the army and at Eome, Hadrian, fearing serious con- j^equences, returned to Rome, where he did everything in his power to conciliate the senate and people, while the war against the Sarmatians w-as continued by his legates. 5. When the frontiers of the empire had been secured, Hadrian, in A. d. 120, undertook a journey through all the provinces of the empire, a great part of which he made on foot, accompanied by only a small retinue. He visited Gaul, Germany, Britain, the northern part of which he secured against the invasions of the Scots by the famous wall extend- ing from the mouth of the Tyne to the Solway ; Greece, Asia, and Egypt, where his favourite Antinolis was drowned in the Nile. These journeys were undertaken partly on account of a certain restlessness in his disposition, partly to satisfy his curiosity, and partly to make himself personally acquainted with the wants of the provinces, and discover the means for improving their condition. Everywhere he left 2 A 2 546 HISTORY OF ROME. memorials of his visits, which were designed either to defend and strengthen towns and provinces, or to embellish them, for he was a man of high intellectual culture, and capable of noble feelings, though vanity and conceit rendered him easily accessible to flattery, and towards the end of his life, mistrust and weariness of life often led him to harshness and cruelty. Athens, where he loved to dwell, was embellished by him with extraordinary splendour. His taste for the arts, not to mention the aqueducts, bridges, and temples, with which he adorned Rome, Athens, Nemausus, and other places, was displayed especially in his villa below Tibur, which is still a real mine of valuable antiquities, and his magnificent mau- soleum at Rome (Castle St. Angelo). Hadrian was also a munificent patron of literature and science, though in this respect, as well as in his cultivation of the arts, he was very capricious, and much given to astrology and other super- stitious pursuits. The philosophers and rhetoricians who were his friends, and lived at his conrt, such as Plutarch, Herodes Atticus, and Fronto, were men skilled in the use of courtly and tinkling phrases, but deficient in manly spirit and independence. 6. Shortly after Hadrian's return from his travels, a.d. 131, a fearful insurrection broke out among the Jews. Jerusalem had been made a Roman colony under the name of ^lia Capitolina, pagan worship had been introduced, and the religious rites of the Jews rudely interfered with. In con- sequence of these things they now rose in arms, and carried on a desperate war for many years ; but in the end they were crushed by Julius Severus, who was summoned from Britain to conduct the war against them. The Jews henceforth were forbidden to live at Jerusalem or in its immediate vicinity, and thousands were sold into slavery. Hadrian, in the mean- time, lived in retirement ; the fatigues he had undergone had impaired his health, and he was so tired of life that he made REIGN OF ANTONINUS PIUS. 547 several attempts at suicide ; but be died at Baiae on the 10th of July A. D. 138. As he had no children, he adopted during his illness Arrius Antoninus (Antoninus Pius), ^hom he obliged to adopt Annius Verus (M. Aurelius). During the last three years of his life, Hadrian, in consequence of the state of his health, had committed many acts which rendered him unpopular ; but Antoninus, with true filial affection for him, did all he could to prevent an outbreak of popular indig- nation, and hence deserved the surname of Pius. 7. Antoninus Pius, who was descended from a family belonging to Nemausus in Gaul, owed his adoption by Hadrian solely to his virtues. He had already distinguished himself by his wisdom and mildness in various high offices with which he had been invested. His reign, from a. d. 138 to a. d. 161, forms the happiest period of the Roman empire. He strictly adhered to the principles of his predecessor, and used to say, that he would rather save the life of one citizen than slay a thousand enemies. He was a real ornament of the imperial throne, and was beloved throughout the empire perhaps more than any sovereign has ever been beloved either before or since. His whole care was devoted to the advancement of the arts of peace and the happiness of his people. These objects he endea- voured to attain by the proper administration of justice, and by educational and charitable institutions for the poor and for orphan children. The peace which prevailed during his reign, and his own fervent piety, gained for him the name of a second Numa. The Christians, who then existed in large numbers both at Eome and in the provinces, were not disturbed in their religious observances. He died on the 7 th of March a.d. 161, in one of his villas where he loved to reside in rural retirement. The Roman empire was so situated that it could not be safe for any length of time without war, and as the troops had been inactive throughout his reign, they had become idle and unwarlike, and when dangers burst in upon 548 HISTORY OF ROME. the empire under his successor, it was found that the armies were no longer what they had been. 8. As the two sons of Antoninus had died before their father, he was succeeded, according to the established custom, by his adopted son M. Aurelius, snrnamed the Philosopher, a native of Eome. He had been educated with the greatest care, and had from his earliest days shown an extreme love of truth and thirst for knowledge. The doctrines of the Stoic philosophy had a peculiar charm for him, and he continued his favourite pursuit even after he had ascended the throne, though he did not neglect his duties as a ruler when the empire was in danger. As, however, he was of a weakly constitution, he admitted his adopted brother L. Verus, a young and active man, to a full participation of the sovereign power; Verus, however, was addicted to debauchery and voluptuousness, which dispositions he had until then carefully concealed from M. Aurelius ; but he indulged in them without restraint as soon as he found himself abroad at the head of the armies. The Parthians, who had been restrained by the remonstrances of Antoninus, ^jow began making inroads into the Eoman provinces, and L. Verus set out against them in a. d. 162. On arriving in Syria, he at once abandoned himself to his voluptuous propensities, leaving the command of the forces to his lieutenants, one of whom invaded Mesopotamia and destroyed Seleucia and Ctesiphon, while another made himself master of Armenia. Peace was at last concluded with the Parthian king, in which ■ he was obliged to cede Mesopotamia to the Komans, a. d. 166. 9. But still more serious dangers were threatening the empire in the north-east, for a number of German and Sar- matian tribes, such as the Marcomanni and Quadi, were on the point of invading Italy, and had already advanced as far as Aquileia. Soon after Verus' return from Syria, the two emperors marched out together against the barbarians, and REIGN OF M. xiURELIUS. 549 displayed sucli overwhelming power that the enemies retreated before them. Id a. d. 1 69 L. Verus died of a fit of apoplexy, and M. Aurelius, now sole emperor, continued the war with great vigour. On one occasion a great battle was fought on the frozen Danube. In A. d. 174 the whole of the Koman army was surrounded, and was saved from destruction only by a violent storm. This sudden and unexpected success of the Romans struck the barbarians with awe, and they sought and obtained peace, on condition of their withdrawing beyond the Danube, a. d. 175. After the pacification of the Danubian frontier, M. Aurelius was called to the East by an insurrection of Avidius Cassius, who had been instigated by the emperor's own wife Faustina, the unworthy daughter of Antoninus Pius. While he was engaged in quelling the insurrection with a moderation and mildness to which history scarcely presents a parallel, the Marcomanni and their allies renewed the war. In a. d. 178 he therefore once more set out against the Germans and Sarmatians, and fought several successful battles ; but before the war was brought to a close he died at Sirmium, on the 17th of March a. d. 180. His son Commodus, v/ho had accompanied him, now made haste to purchase peace of the barbarians, and thereby revealed to them the weakness of the empire, or rather his own. M. Aurelius had been a philosopher on the throne, in the noblest sense of the term. Notwithstanding the almost uninterrupted wars of his reign, he found leisure to compose his celebrated " Meditations," in which he has portrayed himself with all his amiable, affectionate, and benevolent sentiments. His reign closes the series of really good emperors. His son Commodus, who succeeded him, was one of the most contemptible and insane tyrants known in history. 550 CHAPTER XVIIT. FROM THE ACCESSION OF COMMODUS TO THAT OF DIOCLETIAN. 1. Tlie accession of Commodus forms the beginning of the decline of the empire, both internally and externally. The best age of Roman literature and the arts had come to a close even before the death of Augustus ; the subsequent period, though much inferior in many respects, yet produced a Tacitus and a Juvenal ; the arts also revived under Hadrian ; but all is now over, and everything tends downwards. The praetorian guards henceforth exercised a most frightful military despotism ; and as the troops stationed in the provinces did not always acquiesce in the choice of the praetorians, sometimes two or even more emperors were proclaimed at once in diffe- rent parts of the empire. From the time of Commodus there is an irregular succession of emperors, who, with very few exceptions, are distinguished only for tyranny and baseness, or impotence and weakness. 2. After having purchased peace of the Marcomanni, Commodus, not yet twenty years old, hastened to Italy to indulge in all the pleasures and licentiousness of the capital, for the excellent education he had received, and the noble example of his father were lost upon him. During the first two years of his reign there was not much to complain of, and the best hopes were entertained of him ; but a conspiracy formed against him in a. d. 183 by his own sister changed everything, and the whole remaining period of his life was an uninterrupted series of sanguinary and disgusting excesses. The friends and advisers of his father were put to death, and the business of the state was left to the lowest creatures. COMMODUS — PERTINAX. 551 while Commoclus abandoned himself publicly and without shame to the grossest vices and most brutal debaucheries. His greatest ambition was to shine as a gladiator in the circus, both against wild beasts and human beings, and his athletic strength led him to regard himself as a second Hercules. In A. D. 185 he was forced by his troops in Britain to recall their commander Perennis, whose tyranny was unbearable to the men ; but at the same time he appointed his favourite freedman, Oleander, prefect of the praetorian guards. The exasperation against the unworthy favourite soon rose to such a pitch that he was literally torn to pieces by the populace. At the same time Italy was suffering from plague and famine, while the emperor amused himself with his concubines, and with butchering the noblest among the senators. At length he formed the design of entering the senate-house on the 1st of January a. d. 193 with a band of gladiators, and of murdering the consuls and many other persons of eminence. The list of the victims fell into the hands of his mistress Marcia, and finding her own name among them, she, in conjunction with others, caused the tyrant to be strangled in his bed, on the 31st of December 192. During his whole reign he had never troubled himself about the safety of the empire, but its integrity was never- theless maintained by the valour of his generals. Britain was disturbed by invasions of the Caledonians, who defeated the Roman legions, and spread devastation far and wide ; but Ulpius Marcellus drove them back into their own country, and terminated the w^ar against them in a. d. 184. 3. The death of Commodus spread joy throughout Rome, and the senate cursed his memory; the praetorians alone were dissatisfied, for upon them he had most lavishly squan- dered the treasures of the empire. His murderers proclaimed Pertinax, the prefect of the city, emperor, and he accepted the proffered dignity not without great reluctance. In order to replenish the empty treasury, he sold all the costly and 552 HISTORY OF ROME. luxurious furniture, the mistresses and favourite boys of Coin- modus, and commenced a series of useful reforms. But the praetorians, vexed at the attempts to curb their licentious- ness, which had been connived at by Commodus, rose in open rebellion, and Pertinax was murdered before the end of March, after a reign of scarcely three months. This murder was the commencement of a state of perfect anarchy. The praetorians, who now amounted to sixteen thousand men, ascended the walls of their fortified barracks, and offered the sovereignty to the man who would give them the largest donative. All competitors were outbidden by the wealthy glutton Didius Julianus, who promised to give to every praetorian about one hundred and eighty pounds, and was accordingly pro- claimed emperor. The senate, however, detested him, and the people refusing to recognise him, took up arms. The praetorians also grew lukewarm in his defence, as he did not at once give them the promised sum of money. At the same time the army in Syria proclaimed Pescennius Niger, and the legions of Illyricum raised Septimius Severus to the imperial dignity. The latter, wiser than his competitor, advanced with his army into Italy; Didius Julianus, who in vain offered to share the government with him, was put to death by order of the senate on the 1st of July, and Severus was recognised as emperor. 4. Septimius Severus, after being raised to the throne, determined to maintain himself by inexorable severity. Dis- banding the praetorian guards, he selected others four times more numerous, and instituted a complete military despotism. He then marched to the East against Pescennius Niger ; three battles were fought, and it was only in the third, in the neighbourhood of Issus, a. d. 194, that Niger was completely defeated ; he w^as afterwards killed while endea- vouring to escape by flight. The city of Byzantium, which was in the hands of the partizans of Niger, was defended for SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS. 558 two years by the valour of its garrison and its strong forlifiea- tions ; but when in tlie end it was compelled by famine to surrender, Severus took fearful vengeance, and ordered its fortifications to be demolished, whereby he unwisely deprived the euipire of one of its strong frontier fortresses. Clodius Albinus, the governor of Britain, who had openly declared himself against Didius Julianus and Niger, was rewarded by Severus with the title of Caesar, ^^hich conferred upon him the right of succession ; but afterwards discovering that Seve- rus had formed a plan for procuring his assassination, he took up arms against him, and found many followers among those who were displeased with the emperor's severity. The latter accordingly was obliged to hasten from the East to Gaul, where a schoolmaster had already collected an army for him. Clodius Albinus was defeated in a. d. 197 near Lyons in Gaul, he himself perished, and all his friends and relations were put to death with cruel tortures. On his return to Eome the emperor behaved with equal sternness. In a. d. 198 he made a suc- cessful expedition against the Parthians, whom he deprived of the province of Mesopotamia together with the towns of Dara and Nisibis ; but Atra in Arabia was besieged in vain. He also paid a visit to Egypt, where some new regulations were made. When at length he had got rid of all his com- petitors and felt himself safe in the possession of the sovereignty, he endeavoured to improve the laws and through them public morality ; in these endeavours he was assisted by the great jurists Papinian and Ulpian, who may be termed his ministers of justice. At the same time he took upon himself the whole administration of the empire, — its finances, and its stores, depriving the senate of nearly all its powers. In a. d. 208 the Caledonians repeated their invasion of the north of England, in consequence of which he proceeded to Britain, taking with him his two sons Antoninus Caj'acalla and Sep- timius Geta. He penetrated indeed far into the northern part 2 B 554 HISTORY or ROME. of Britain, but sustained severe losses, until in a. d. 210 lie succeeded in compelling the Caledonians to submit, and completed the fortification which had been erected between the Solway and Tyne. While engaged in this manner he was taken ill ; grief at the faithless conduct of his son Caracalla aggravated his illness, and he died at York on the 4th of February a. d. 211. 5. The two brothers Caracalla and Geta, who had both been destined by their father to succeed him, concluded a treaty with the Caledonians, who had again revolted, and then returned to Kome. The hatred which they had cherished against each other from their boyhood now burst forth with greater animosity, and it was in vain that their mother Julia Domna attempted to bring about a reconciliation : Caracalla, the more cruel of the two, caused his brother to be murdered in the very arms of his mother, and then declared him to be a god, A. D. 212. No one, however, was allowed to mention the name of Geta, and all his friends were put to death. Among these victims w^as Caracalla's own instructor, the great jurist Papinian, who refused to justify the fratricide. Besides these, thousands of others were murdered in order that the tyrant might gain possession of their property. AVhen these means no longer sufficed to provide him with what he wanted to gratify his lusts, he deteriorated the coinage, and in order to be able to increase the taxes, conferred the Koman fran- chise upon all free-born subjects of the empire. But all these things made his name so odious at Eome, that he felt uneasy, and resolved to travel through the various countries of the empire, all of which were now equally robbed and plundered, and deprived of their best inhabitants. Thus he devastated Gaul in a. d. 213, and in the year following, he was obliged to purchase peace of the Germans, notwithstand- ing which he assumed the title Germanicus. After this he traversed Macedonia, aping Alexander the Great in his dress, CARACALLA MACRINUS ELAGABALUS. 555 gestures, and the inclination of the head ; thence he proceeded to Asia Minor, where he imitated Achilles. Osrhoene was made by him a Roman province, but an attempt upon Armenia failed. At last he arrived in Alexandria, where some pas- quinades upon him had been circulated. For this offence he now punished the city, in a. d. 215, by ordering the greater part of its inhabitants to be butchered by his soldiers. The place is said to have been literally deluged with blood. After this atrocity he proceeded to Antioch, being desirous to obtain the surname Parthicus. He gained his object, without fight- ing a battle, by treacherously causing Artabanes, the king of the Parthians, to be put to death. But on his return he himself was murdered, on the 8th of April, a. d. 217, near Edessa by his own soldiers, headed by Macrinus, the prefect of the praetorians. His memory was cursed and his name effaced from all public monuments. 6. Macrinus, the murderer, was then proclaimed emperor by the soldiers, and continued tlie war against the Parthians, but without success, and was obliged to purchase peace of them with an enormous sum of money. The Roman senate disliked Macrinus, because, being himself a Mauritanian of low origin, he raised vulgar persons to rank and station, and with the soldiers he was unpopular, on account of his harsh- ness. Maesa, a sister of Julia Doinna, the wife of Septimius Severus, accordingly had no difficulty in exciting the soldiers against him, and persuading them to confer the imperial dignity upon her own grandson Elagabalus, a priest of the Sun at Emesa. This happened on the 8th of June a. d. 218. In the ensuing struggle between the two emperors, Macrinus and his son Diadumenianus were murdered at Chal- cedon. The mad and brutal lusts, and the fearful extrava- gance of Elagabalus, however, soon created universal disgust. It would almost seem that at times he was actually labouring under insanity ; he raised his grandmother to the rank of a 556 HISTORY OF ROME. senator, and instituted a senate of ladies, to honour his mother, and to determine the fashions and ceremonies. He also introduced at Kome the Syrian worship of the Sun, by which he destroyed the last traces of the ancient Koman discipline and morality. As Maesa perceived that the Romans would not tolerate the young and cruel voluptuary much longer, she persuaded him to raise Alexander Severus, another grandson of hers, to the rank of Caesar ; Elagabalus complied with the request, but finding that the Caesar daily rose in popularity, he attempted to murder him ; at length the prae- torians, utterly disgusted with him, put him and his mother to death on the 11th of March A. d. 222. 7. Alexander Severus was only in his seventeenth year when he ascended the throne ; he was a simple-hearted man of good moral principles, who made many useful regulations, and followed the advice of his intelligent mother Mammaea, who was well disposed towards the Christians ; but he did not possess the strength of character required by the exigencies of the times. Assisted in the government by his mother and a council of sixteen senators, he endeavoured to restrain within proper bounds the lascivious manners of his subjects, exiled useless servants and faithless governors of provinces, promoted commerce, and reduced oppressive taxes. Notwithstanding all this, attempts were made to dethrone him, and the prae- torians, exasperated at the severity of the great jurist Ulpian, murdered him with impunity before the emperor's own eyes, A. x>. 228. Alexander Severus had not only to contend with enemies at home, but the frontiers of the empire were threatened by foreign foes. In a.d. 226, the Persians under Artaxerxes (Ardishir) overturned the kingdom of the Parthians, andfounded the dynasty of the Sassanidae, so called from Artaxerxes being a son of Sassan. The object of the new rulers was to restore the ancient Persian empire in its whole extent, and accordingly they invaded Mesopotamia and Syria. The feeble garrisons SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER SEVERUS. 557 were unable to offer any effective resistance, and some even went over to the enemy. In a, d. 231 Alexander Severus himself proceeded to the East, and, having restored discipline among the troops, commenced a war against Artaxerxes, in which, according to some authorities, he was very successful against the proud Persian. At all events, the Persians for some time after this remained quiet or made conquests in other quarters. Severus returned to Rome in triumph a. d. 233, and soon after, being informed that German tribes were harassing Gaul, lie hastened to the aid of the threatened province. But before he had an opportunity of fighting a battle, he and his mother were murdered in the camp near Mayence on the 10th of February a. d. 235, by his soldiers, who wanted a more valiant and liberal ruler. 8. Maximinus, a rude Thracian, but a man of great bodily strength and experience in war, was then proclaimed emperor by the soldiers. He was an enemy to the Christian religion, and immediately on his accession, he showed the rudeness of his character, by causing many of his own benefactors to be put to death, and dispatching all those who showed the slightest symptoms of attachment to others. He was, however, successful against the Germans, whose country he devastated far and wide. His elevation, which was not approved of by the Roman senate, threw the empire into such confusion, that within twenty years no less than twelve emperors were set up and deposed. In a. d. 238, the legions stationed in Africa, with the consent of the senate, proclaimed Gordian emperor, who being already at the advanced age of eighty, assumed his son as his colleague. This happened in the month of Febraary, but in March of the same year, Capelianus, Maximinus' perfect of Mauritania, defeated and slew the younger Gordian in a battle, and drove the aged father to kill himself in despair. Terrified by this ne^^'s, the senate raised two eminent senators, Maximus 558 HISTORY OF ROME. and Balbinus, to tlie imperial dignity, and by the demand of the people, Gordian, a boy of thirteeen years, and a grand- son of the elder Gordian, was raised to the rank of Caesar. In A. D. 238 Maximiniis advanced with his army from Germany into Italy. Terror preceded him everywhere, and the citizens leaving their nnprotected homes took refuge in the fortresses, which the invader did not find it easy to take. While besieging Aquileia, the soldiers suffering from want, and seeing that the whole empire was opposed to Maximinus, put him and his son to death in the month of April, and joined the army of Maximus, who was encamped in the neighbour- hood of Kavenna. 9. In the meantime the praetorian guards at Kome being dissatisfied with the emperors Maximus and Balbinus, who had been appointed by the senate, murdered them in the month of July during the Capitoline games, and proclaimed young Gordian emperor. This boy, who was thus raised to the throne, was at first misled and deceived by dishonest advisers ; but from a. d. 241, in which he married a daughter of Misitheus, he allowed himself to be guided by the prudent and disinterested advice of his father-in-law. In the same year the Persians renewed the war with greater vehemence than ever under their king Sapor I., and Gordian, accom- panied by Misitheus, set out for the East, and drove the enemy from Syria and Mesopotamia, which had been ravaged by them. Unfortunately Misitheus died two years later, and Philippus, an Arab by birth, who was appointed his successor as prefect of the praetorians, stirred up a mutinous spirit among the soldiers. By this means he com- pelled Gordian to make him his colleague in the empire, and afterwards, in the month of April a. d. 244, caused the young prince to be murdered near Circesium on the confines of Assyria. Philippus then concluded peace with the Persians and returned to Kome, where he favoured the GOllDIAN III. PlIlLIPrUS — DECIUS. 559 Christians, and carried on the government not Avithout wisdom and moderation ; but these very circumstances comLined with his eastern origin made him unpopular, and it was in vain that, in a. d. 247, he entertained the people with magnificent ludi saeculares to commemorate the thousand years' existence of Kome. In a. d. 249 the legions stationed in Moesia com- pelled Decius against his will to assume the imperial dignity. He informed Philippus by letter that he would resign his power as soon as he arrived at Rome, but Philippus, distrusting him, marched with an army to the north of Italy, where he was defeated and killed in a battle near Verona. 10. Decius ascended the throne about the middle of a. d. 249, and after quelling some disturbances in Gaul, returned to Rome, where he commenced a fearful persecution of the Chris- tians throughout the empire, and endeavoured by the re\'ival of ancient institutions to check the downward course of the empire. But it was in vain, and the more the state suffered from internal decay and dissolution, the more did the bar- barians on the frontiers, especially the Germans, become emboldened. The Goths, a numerous German tribe, who first appear in history as inhabitants of the banks of the Vistula, had advanced southward to the frontiers of Dacia as early as the time of Caracalla. In alliance with many other German tribes, and commanded by their own kings, they first attacked the provinces about the Danube. In a. d. 250, the Goth Cniva, with an army of seventy thousand men, crossed the Danube, and advanced as far as Philippopolis in Thrace ; Decius marched into Thrace, and succeeded in driving the barbarians back across the Danube, but owing to the treachery of his own general Gallus Trebonianus, he was killed with his son during an engagement in a marshy district of Moesia, A. d. 251. Gallus, who was then proclaimed emperor by the legions, made Hostilianus, a son of the brave Decius, his colleague in the empire, and his own son Volusianus was raised to the rank 560 HISTORY OF ROME. of Caesar. A pestilence was then beginning to rage in all parts of the empire, and continuing for the long period of fifteen years, carried off a vast multitude of men. Hosti- lianus was one of its victims in a. d. 252. Throughout this time, Gallus remained inactive at Eome, while the Goths and other tribes again invaded Moesia and Pannonia. But his brave general ^milius -Trhus, and becomes king of INIacedonia. Demetrius Poliorcetes dies as a prisoner of Seleucus. Lysimachus slain in battle against Seleucus. Ptolemy Ceraunus. Invasion of Macedonia by the Celts. Antigonus Gonatas. Pyrrhus again king of Macedonia. Antigonus Gonatas again king of Macedonia. War against Athens, which in the end sun-enders, and receives a Macedonian garrison. Demetrius II. Antigonus Dosou reigns as guardian of Philip, the son of De- metrius. Antigonus Doson, called to the assistance of the Achaeans against Sparta, enters Peloponnesus. Battle of Sellasia. Antigonus takes Sparta. Death of Antigonus Doson. Philip V. Social Avar in Greece, in which Philip supports the Achaeans against the Jitolians. Philip concludes a treaty with Hannibal against Rome. First War with Kome carelessly conducted. Peace between Philip and the -^"tolians. Second War with Rome. Philip defeated by Flamininus in the battle of Cynoscephalae, Peace betvreen Rome and Macedonia ratified, and Greece declared free. Perseus, last king of Macedonia. Third War with Kome. Battle of Pydna, in which Perseus is defeated by L. ^milius Paullus. Andriscus, a pretender under the name of Philip, raises himself to the throne of Macedonia. Andriscus defeated by Caecilius Metellus. Macedonia a Roman province. CHROKOLOGICAL TABLE. 611 B.C. 312-280 280 280-261 261-246 250 226-223 223-187 217 214 212-205 196 195 192 191 190 187-175 175-164 164-162 162-150 150-146 146-137 137-128 125 125-95 95-83 83-69 69-65 65 SYRIA. Seleucus Nicator, founder of the Syrian empire, assassinated at Lysimachia. State of Galatia formed. Antiochus Soter, is killed in a battle against the Celts in Asia Minor. Antiochus Theos. War against Egj'pt. Is murdered by his wife. Foundation of the Parthian empire by Arsaces. Bactria also makes itself independent. Seleucus Callinicus. A part of his kingdom conquered by Ptolemy Euergetes of Egypt.- War against his brother Antiochus Hierax, who is defeated. Seleucus dies in con- sequence of a fall. Seleucus Ceraunus, an imbecile ruler, murdered by his own officers. Antiochus III., the Great. Antiochus is defeated at Gaza, and Phoenicia and Palestine are ceded to Egypt. The usurper Achaeus defeated. Wars Avith Parthia and Bactria, the independence of which is finally recognised. Antiochus crosses over into Europe, and conquers the Thracian Chersonesus. Hannibal goes to Antiochus. Antiochus invades Greece by the desire of the ^tolians. Antiochus, defeated in the battle of Thermopylae, quits Europe. Antiochus defeated by the Scipios in the battle of Magnesia. All Asia west of Mount Taurus is lost, and the power of Syria broken. Seleucus Philopator, The decay of the empire continues. Antiochus Epiphanes, is forced by the Eomans to abandon Egj^pt, Antiochus Eupator. Demetrius Soter. Alexander Bala. Demetrius Nicator (Antiochus Trypho). Antiochus Sidetes (Demetrius Nicator, again). Seleucus V. Antiochus Grypus (Antiochus Cyzicenus). Seleucus VI. (Antiochus Eusebes, Philip, Demetrius Eucaerus, Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus Dionysxis). Tigranes, king of Armenia. Antiochus Asiaticus. Syria becomes a Roman province. B.C. 814 734 550 609 480 CARTHAGE AND SICILY. Foundation of Carthage. Syracuse founded by the Corinthian Archias. Malchus conquers jpart of Sicily, but is unsuccessful against Sardinia. Treaty of commerce between Carthage and Eome. Sardinia a Carthaginian province. The Carthaginians defeated at Himera by the Greeks. 12 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. B.C. 410 348 306 279 405-368 368-345 345-337 317-289 310 281 278 275 270 264 I 264-241 ! 264 ; 241 241-238 238 229 221 219 218-202 216 215 212 183 149-146 146 134-132 102-99 Renewed atternpts of the Carthaginians upon Sicily. Renewal of the commercial treaty between Eome and Car- thage. Second renewal of the ancient commercial treaty with Rome. Defensive alliance between Rome and Carthage. Dionysius the elder, t^nrant of Syracuse. The war with Car- thage is renewed, and Carthage is in the end successful. Dionysius the younger is hard pressed by the Carthaginians towards the end of his rule. Timoleon checks the Carthaginians. After him Syracuse an oligarchy, until the time of Agathocles. Agathocles, t^Tant of Syracuse. The Carthaginians besiege Syracuse, while Agathocles attacks Carthage. Agathocles invites Ophelias of Cyrene to join him against Car- thage. The Mamertines take possession of Messene. Pyrrhus arrives in Sicily to assist the Greeks against the Carthaginians and Mamertines. Hiero elected general by the Syracusans. Hiero obtains the title of king. The Mamertines ally themselves with the Romans. First war of Carthage against Rome. Hiero concludes peace with Rome. Sicily, evacuated by the Carthaginians, becomes the first Roman province. War of Carthage against her revolted mercenaries. Carthage loses Sardinia and Corsica. Hamilcar dies in Spain. Hasdrubal is assassinated in Spain, and succeeded by the great Hannibal. Hannibal besieges and destroys Saguntum. Second war of Carthage against Rome. Death of Hiero, who is succeeded by Hieron%Tnus. Murder of Hiei'onymus, after Avhich Hippocrates and Epicydes join the Carthaginians. Capture of Syracuse by M. Marcellus. The eastern portion of Sicily also becomes part of the Roman province. Death of Haimibal. Third and last war between Carthage and Rome. Carthage taken and destroyed. Its territory a Roman province. First servile war in Sicily. Second servile war in Sicily. ROME. B.C. 753 763-716 715-672 672-640 640-616 616-578 578-534 Foundation of Rome. Romulus. Political institutions. Numa Pompilius. Religious institutions. Tullus Hostilius. War against Alba. The Horatii and Curiatii. Alba Longa destroyed. Beginnings of the plebs. Ancus Marcius. Formation of the plebeian order by the con- quest of the Latins. Ostia built. Tarquinius Priscus, attempts reforms, but is thwarted. Servius Tullius. Organisation of the plebs, and i-eforms of the constitution. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 613 534-510 509 505 601 498 496 495 494 493 491 486 485 477 473 471 4G2 458 457 454 451 450 449 445 443 440 439 438 426 396 391 390 384 383 376 367 358 356 351 350 343-341 340-338 339 338 337 328 326-304 322 Tarquinius Superbus. Establishment of the republic. First consuls. Conspiracy at Rome. War with Porsenna. "War against the Sabines. War -with the Latins. T. Larcins, first dictator. Battle of Lake Eegillus, in which the Latins are defeated. Deatli of Tarquinius Superbus. Insurrection of the plebs. Secession of the plebs to the Mous iiactr. Appointment of the tribunes of the plebs. The ^Ediles. League of Sp. Cassius with the Latins. Coriolanus stirs up the Volscians against Rome. League of Sp. Cassius with the Hernicans. First attempt at an agrarian law. Sp. Cassius put to death, and liis agrarian law is disregarded. Defeat of the Fabii on tlie Cremera. Tlie tribune Genucius murdered. The tribime Publilius Yolero carries several laws to protect tlie plebs. The tribune C. Terentillus Arsa demands a revision of the laws. The dictator L. Quinctius Cincinnatus defeats tb.e .^quians. The number of tribunes of the plel)S is increased to ten. The bill of Terentillus Arsa is at length carried. The first decemvirate. The second decemvirate. Laws of the Twelve Tables. Secession of the plebs to the Mans Sacer. Deposition of the decemvirs. Laws of Valerius and Haratius. The tribune Canuleius carries a law establisliing the connubium between patricians and plebeians. Institution of the censorship. Famine at Rome. Sp. ^Nlaelius assists the poor. Sp. Maclius murdered by Servilius Ahala. The first military tribunes instead of consuls. Fidenae destroyed. Capture of Veii by Camillus after a siege of ten years. Camillus goes into exile. The Gauls besiege Clusium. Battle of the Allia. Rome taken and destroyed by the Gauls. M. ]Manlius Capitolinus condemned to death. The Pomptine district assigned to the plebeians. C. Licinius Stolo and L. Sextius bring forward their rogations. The Licinian rogations are passed after a struggle of nearly ten years. L. Sextius, the first plebeian consul. Fhst appointment of a praetor. T. ManUus Torquatus defeats a gigantic Gaul on the AUia. The first plebeian dictator, C. Marcius PvUtilus. The first plebeian censor. M. Valerius Cor\'us slays a Gallic chief by the aid of a raveu. First war against the Samnites. War against the Latins. Self-sacrifice of P. Decius. The laws of Q. Publilitis Philo. Final subjugation of Latium. The first plebeian praetor. Foimdation of the colony of Fregellae. Second war against the Samnites. Luceria in Apulia conquered by tlie Romans. 614 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. B.C. 321 i Defeat of the Romans at Caudium. Afterwards they gain I several victories. 315 War declared against Rome by the Etruscans. 314 Great success of the Romans agahist Samnium. 312 I Tiie Appian road made. 311 I War with the Etruscans breaks out. 309 The dictator L. Papirius Cursor defeats the Saranites. 308 The Etruscan towns conclude peace. 306 The Saninites defeated m all directions. Subjugation of the Hernicans. 305 The Samnites, defeated at Bovianum, sue for peace. The ^quians i rise, but are completely crushed, 300 The colleges of augurs and pontiffs thrown open to the plebeians by the Ogulnian law. 298-290 Third war against the Samnites. The Etruscans and Um- brians also rise again. 295 The Romans i-ecover all Lucania. Victory of the Romans at Sentmum in Umbria. Decius Mus. 292 The Samnites totally defeated ; their commander Pontius taken. 290 I Samnium, and soon after Etrm-ia and Umbria, recognise the { supremacy of Rome. 285-282 I War against the Gauls. Subjugation of the Senones and ' Boii, 282 I The Romans relieve Thm-ii, which is besieged by the Lucanians. 281 I Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, lands in Italy. 280 ' The Romans defeated by Pyrrhus near Heracleia. 279 1 The Romans again defeated by Pyrrhus at A senium. 278 Truce between the Romans and Pyrrhus, who goes to Sicily. 276 Pyrrhus returns to Italy. 275 Pyrrhus, defeated at Beneventum, abandons Italy. 273 Embassy of Ptolemy Philadelphus to Rome. 272 All southern Italy submits to Rome. 271 Rhegium also is recovered by the Romans. 268 Fourth and last war against the Samnites, lasts only one year. 264 The Romans ally themselves with the Mamertines of Messene. I Peace with Hiero. 264-241 The first Punic war. 262 Agrigentum besieged and taken by the Romans. 260 C. Duilius defeatsthe Carthaginians off Mylae. 258 Atilius Calatinus carries on the war in Sicily. 256 The Carthaginians defeated off Ecnoraus by M. Atilius Regidus, who sails with his fleet to Africa. 255 Success of Regulus in Africa, but he is afterwards defeated by Xanthippus and taken prisoner. Wreck of the Roman fleet on the coast of Sicily. 254 A new fleet is equipped, and Panomius taken. 252 The Roman fleet sails to Africa, but is Avi-ecked on its return. 250 The Carthaginians defeated near Panormus. Regulus sent as ambassador to Rome. Siege of Lilybaeum. 249 Defeat of Appius Claudius by land and sea. 247 Hamilcar imdertakes the command of the Carthaginians. 242 The Romans build a new fleet. 241 C. Lutatius Catulus defeats the Carthaginians off the Agates insulae. Peace with Carthage. Sicily the first Roman province. 238 Sardinia and Corsica are taken ft-om Carthage. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 615 B.C. 229 War against the Illyrian pirates. Agrarian law of C. Ilaminius. Death of Hamilcar in Spain: he is succeeded by Hasdrubal. 228 Peace with the llljTians. 22G The Gauls invade Etruria. 225 The Gauls defeated in the battle of Telamon. 224 Reduction of the Boii. 223 C. Flaminius conquers the Insubrians. 222 M. Claudius Marceflus, in the battle of Clastidium, bring.s the I Gallic war to a close. Cremona and Placentia founded. 221 I Assassination of Hasdrubal, Avho is succeeded by Hannibal. 219 Second war against the lllyrians, Avho are conquered by L. ^milius Paulus. Capture of Saguntum. 218-202 The second Punic or the Hannibalian war. 218 The Romans defeated on the Ticinus and the Trebia. Cn. Cornelius Scipio goes to Spain. 217 Defeat of the Romans on Lake Trasimenus. 216 The Romans defeated at Cannae. 215 j Losses of Hannibal at Nola and Beneventum. Sp'acuse revolts I from Rome. Treaty of Hannibal with Philip of Macedonia. 215-205 ' First v/ar against Macedonia. 214-212 i Siege and capture of Syracuse by M. Claudius Marcellus. 212 The two Scipios slain in battle in Spain. 211 j The Romans conquer Capua. P. Cornelius Scipio goes to j Spain. 210 Scipio takes Carthago Nova in Spain, 209 Tarentum recovered by the Romans. Hasdrubal defeated at Baecula. 207 [ Hasdrubal goes to Italy, but is defeated and slain on the Me- I taurus. 205 P. Cornelius Scipio, consul, goes to Sicily. 204 < Scipio crosses over into Africa. 203 S}i5hax taken prisoner. 202 Hannibal, recalled to Africa, is defeated in the battle of Zama. 201 Peace Avith Carthage ratified at Rome. 200-197 Second war against Macedonia. 200-181 War against the Ligurians, Insubrians, and Boians. 198 T. Quinctius Flamininus undertakes the war against Macedonia. 197 I Philip defeated in the battle of Cynoscephalae. Peace between ! Macedonia and Rome. 196 Flamininus proclaims the independence of Greece. 192 ' Antiochus, invited by the ^Etolians, crosses over into Europe. 191 Antiochus and the /Etolians defeated at Thermopylae. 190 L. Cornelius Scipio crosses over into Asia, and defeats Antiochus in the battle of Magnesia. Peace concluded. 188 Peace with Antiochus ratified at Rome. 183 ; Death of Hannibal. 181-179 War in Spain brought to a close by Tib. Sempronius Gracchus. 171-168 Third and last Macedonian war. 168 j Battle of Pydna, in which Perseus is defeated. One thousand Achaeans sent to Italy. 155 ' Greek philosophers expelled from Rome. 151 The sm-viving Achaeans retm-n to Greece. 149 Andriscus, a pretender to the throne of Macedonia. 149-146 The third and last Punic war. 148 Andriscus is defeated and slam by Q. Caecilius Metellus. 148-140 War in Spain. Viriathus. 147-146 War against the Achaeans. 61G CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. B.C. 146 143-133 141 140 139 137 134-132 133 131-1.30 12G 123 122 121 113 111-106 109 loy 106 104 102 102-99 101 100 91 80-88 90 88-84 87 84 83 83-81 82 79 79-72 78 74-64 74 Destruction of Corinth, and subjugation of Greece. Capture and destructicn of Carthag-e. War against the Celtiberians in Spain. Siege of Numantia. Peace with Viriathus. Viriathus murdered by hired assassins. The Gabinian law, ordaining vote by ballot at the elections. Final subjugation of the Lusitanians. C. Hostilius Mancinu3 concludes peace with the T^umantines. The Cassian law, ordaining vote by ballot in the courts of law. Servile war in Sicily. Niunantia taken and destroyed. Attains of Pergamus dies, be- queathing his kingdom to the Roman people. Tribuneship of Tib. Sempronius Gracchus : is murdered. Wa r agamst Aristonicus, who claimed the ki'.igdom of Per^ First conquests of the Romans in Gaul. Tribuneship of C. Sempronius Gracchus. Second tribuneship of C. Sempronius Gracchus. Murder of C. Gracchus, and civil bloodshed at Rome. The Cimbri and Teutones begin their migration westward. The Ju^urthine war. Q. Caecilius Metellus undertakes the command against Jugurtha. C. Marius. First consulship of C. Marius, who succeeds Metellus in Africa. Jugvu-tha taken prisoner by L. Cornelius Sulla. Birth of Cicero. Marius consul, and appointed to conduct the Avar against the Cimbri and Teutones. The Cimbri return from Spain, and are joined in Gaul by the Teutones. Battle of Aquae Sextiae, in Avhich the Teutones are defeated. Second servile war in Sicily. The Cimbri defeated in the Campi Raudii. C. Marius consul for the sixth time. The seditious tribime, L, Appuleius Saturninus, and his party besieged in the Capitol, and afterwards put to death. The tribune, M. Livius Drusus, attempts to confer the franchise upon the Italian allies, but is murdered. The Social or Marsic war. The Lex Julia confers the franchise on the Latins. The Etruscans and Umbrians obtain the franchise. End of the Social War. First war against Mithridates. Ci\Tl war between Marius and Sulla. j\larius flees to Africa. Marius returns to Rome. Scenes of horror at Rome. Siege and capture of Athens by Sulla. Marius dies in his seventh considship. Peace concluded with Mithridates. Sulla returns to Itah', and is successful agamst his opponents. Second war against Mithridates. Capture of Praeneste. Young Marius kills himself. Battle at the Colline gate. Q. Sertorius goes to Spain. Sulla enters Rome. First proscription. Sulla dictator. Political and legal reforms. Sulla lays down his dictatorship, and withdraws to Puteoli. War against Sertorius. Death of Sulla. Commencement of the war against the pirates. Third war against Mithridates. Sertorius allies himself with Mithridates of Pontus. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 617 B.c, 73-71 73 72 71 70 69 67 65 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38-36 36 34 32 31 30 29 27 25-13 ! Senile war in Italy. Spartacus, I Lucullus defeats Mithridates. I jMurder of Sertorius at Osca. j The slaves defeated by M. Licinius Crassvts. I Cn. Pompey consul. ' The political refoi-ms of Sulla abolished. i Lncidlus defeats Tigranes and Mithridates at Tigranocerta. Cn. Pompey undertakes the war against the pirates. Lu- cullus recalled. Cn. Pompey obtains the command against Mithridates. Cn. Pompey pursues ^Mithridates into Albania and Iberia. J. Caesar is curule aedile, and puts himself at the head of the popular party. IMithridates, being conspired against by his own son, takes poison. Consulship of Cicero. Catalinarian conspiracy. Cu. Pompey retiuns to Italy. Caesar as propraetor in Spain. P. Clodius. J. Caesar consul. P. Clodius tribune. Cicero goes into exile. Caesar proceeds t<> Gaul. Cicero recalled. Caesar receives the administration of Gaid for five years more. He crosses the Rhine, and invades Britain. Caesar invades Britain a second time. Death of Jidia, Caesar's daughter. Caesar again crosses the Rhine. Crassus defeated in Syria. General insurrection in Gaiil. Fall of Alesia. Pompey for a time sole consul. Caesar retm-ns to Cisalpine Gaul. Claudius Marcellus proposes measures against Caesar. Caesar is called upon to disband his army. Caesar crosses the Rubicon. Pompey and his party flee from Italy. Caesar in Spain. On his return he is made dictator. Caesar consul. Battle of Pharsalus. Caesar defeats Pharnaces of Pontus : crosses over into Afi-ica. Battle of Thapsus, in which the Pompeians in Africa are defeated Caesar reforms the calendar, and goes to Spain against the sons of Pompey. Battle of Munda : the Pompeians defeated. Caesar murdered. "War of Mutina. The triumvirate between Octavanius, Antony, and Lepidus. Proscription. Death of Cicero. Battles of Philippi. War of Perusia. Capture and destruction of Perusia. "War with the Parthians begins. Peace of Misenmn with Sext. Pompeius. War against Sext. Pompeius. Sext. Pompeius defeated in the battle of Mylae. Lepidus deposed. Antony sustains great loss against the Parthians. Antony conquers Armenia, and gives it to Cleopatra, "War declared against the queen of Egypt. Battle of Actium. Death of Antony and Cleopatra. Octavianus returns to Rome. Octavianus receives the title of Augustus and Imperator. Di- vision of the provinces. Augustus goes to Spain. War against the Alpine tribes. 2 D 2 618 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. B.C. 24 23 20 19 16-13 12 12-9 8-6 6 5 or 4 A.D. 4 5 6-9 9 14 14-37 14 16 19 20 26 31 33 37 37-41 39 41 41-54 43 50 51 64-68 54 61 62 64 65 66 67 68-69 69-79 70 71 74 77-85 79-81 79 80 81-96 Augustus returns from Spciin. Augustus obtains the tribuniciau power for life. The Parthians send back the Eoman standards. The Cantabri finally subdued by Agrippa. Augustus in Gaul, to protect its eastern frontiers. Death of Lepidus and Agrippa. Drusus has the command against the Germans. Tiberius succeeds Drusus against the Germans. Domitius Ahenobarbus takes the command against the Germans. Birth of Jesus Christ. Tiberius resumes the war against the Germans. Western Germany a Roman province. War against the revolted Dalmatians and Pannonians. Defeat of Varus. Death of Augustus. Reign of Tiberius. Revolt of the legions in Germany and Pannonia. Germanicus recalled from Germany. Germanicus dies in Syria. ^lius Seianus guides the counsels of Tiberius. The castra praet( rin established near Rome. Drusus, son of Tiberius, poisoned. Tiberius withdraws to Capreae. Execution of yEHus Seianus. Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Tiberius murdered by suffocation. Reign of Caligula. A conspiracy formed against Caligula. Caligula murdered. Reign of Claudius. Commencement of permanent conquests in Britain. Successful war against the Parthians. The south-eastern part of Britain a Roman province. Reign of Nero. Corbulo drives the Parthians from Armenia. Insurrection in Britain under Boadicea. Nero banishes Octavia. Biu-rus put to death. Great fire at Rome. Seneca the philosopher and Lucan the poet put to death. Tiridates recognised as king of Armenia. Nero goes to Greece. Insurrection of the Jews. Vespasian con- ducts the war against them. Servius Galha, is murdered. Salvius Otho, defeated at Bedriacum, kills himself. Vitellius, is murdered in the praetorian camp. Vespasian. The siege of Jerusalem is left to Titus. Vespasian arrives at Rome. Capture and destruction of Jeru- salem. Insurrection of Claudius Civilis and the Batavi. Petilius Cerealis, governor of Britain, is accompanied by Agricola. Philosophers expelled from Rome. Agricola governor of Britain. Reign of Titus. First recorded eruption of Vesuvius, and destruction of Hercu- laneum, Pompeii, and Stabiae. Great fire at Rome. Completion of the Colosseum. Reign of Domitian. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 619 A.D. 83 i 84 86 90 96-98! 98-117 100 103 104-106 114 115 117-138 118 120-131 131-136 138-161 161-180 162 166 167 169 175 178 180-192 180 183 184 185 193 193 193-211 194 197 198 208 210 211-212 212 212-217 213 214 215 217-218 218-222 226 228 231 233 234 235-288 Domitian undertakes an expedition against the Chatti. Agricola defeats the Caledonians under Galgacus. Tlie Dacians make war against the Romans. Domitian purchases peace of the Dacians. Reign of Nerva. Reign of Trajan. Trajan sets out against the Dacians. Peace Avitli the Dacians. Second Dacian war, at the end of which Dacia becomes a Roman province. War against the Parthians. Armenia a Roman province. Reign of Hadrian ; he makes the Euphrates the boundary in the East. Hadrian returns to Rome from the East. "War against the Sar- matians. A conspiracy against him suppressed. Hadrian travels through the provinces of the empire. War against tlie Jews. Reign of Antoninus Pius. Peace throughout the empire. Keign of M. Aurelius. L. Verus goes to the East against the Parthians. Peace concluded with the Parthians. War against the Marcomanni and Quadi. Death of L. Verus. Peace ^v•ith the Marcomanni concluded. Revolt of Avidius Cassius in the East. Renewal of the Avar against the Marcomanni. Reign of Commodus. Commodus pm-chases peace of the Marcomanni. Conspiracy against Commodus, headed by his sister Lueilla. War against the Caledonians terminated. Perennis recalled from Britain, and put to death. Reign of Pertinax lasts only three months. Reign of Didius Julianus. ' Purchases the imperial dignity-, but reigns only two months. Reign of Septimius Se verus. Pescennius Niger, who had been proclaimed in Syria, is defeated. The rebel Clodius Albinus defeated in Gaul. Severus carries on a successful war against the Parthians. Severus goes to Britain.Avhich had been invaded by the Caledonians. The wall between the Tyne and Solway completed. Reign of Caracalla and Geta. Geta mmxlered by Caracalla. Caracalla reigns alone. Caracalla visits Gaul, He invades Germany, but purchases peace. Massacre at Alexanclria in Egypt. Reign of Macrinus. Purchases peace of the Parthians. Reign of Eiagabalus. Reign of Alexander Severus. Foundation of the new Persian empire of the Sassanidae on the ruins of that of I'arthia. Ulpian the jurist murdered by the soldiers. Alexander Severus makes war upon the Persians. He returns to Rome, and triumphs. He proceeds to Gaul, to protect it against the Germans. Reign of Maximinus : is successful against the Germane. 620 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. A.D. 238 238 238-244 241 244-249 248 249-251 250 251-253 252 253 253-268 256 258 260 260-268 261 262 264 267 268-270 269 270 270-276 272 273 274 275 275-276 276 276-282 279 282 282-283 283 284-305 286 287-293 292 293 295 296 Gordian and his son proclaimed emperors bj' the senate. Maximus and Balbinus made emperors by the senate. Yoimg Gordian raised to the rank of Caesar. Reign of Gordian III. Gordian marries the daughter of Misitheus, and sets out against Sapor I., king of Persia. Reign of Philippus. Slakes peace with the Persians. Ludi Saeculares at Rome. Reign of Decius. The Goths cross the Danube and invade Thrace. Reign of Gallus Trebonianus. Death of Hostilianus by the plague, which rages for fifteen years, .ffimilianus proclaimed emperor in Moesia, but is murdered after a reign of four months. Valerian and Gallienus empei-ors. The barbarians invade the empire on all sides. Successful war against the Franks. Valerian sets out against the Persians. Postumus sets himself up as emperor in Gaul. Valerian taken prisoner by the Persians. Gallienus sole emperor. Period of the Thirty TjTants. jNIacrianus assumes the purple. Aureolus proclaimed in Raetia. Odenathus of Palmyra recognised as an independent sovereign. Odenathus is slain, and succeeded by his wife Zenobia. Tetricus sets himself up as emperor in Gaul. Claudius II., surnamed Gothicus, emperor. Defeats the Ale- manni. Claudius sets out against the Goths, who are defeated. Claudius dies at Sirmium. Reign of Aurelian; he concludes peace with the Goths. Aurelian proceeds to the East against Zenobia, who had invaded Egypt. Zenobia besieged at Palmyra and taken prisoner. Tetricus in Gavd submits to Aurelian. ! Aurelian murdered. Interreign of six months. Claudius Tacitus emperor, successful in the East. ' Annius Florianus emperor for scarcely three months. Probus defeats the barbarians in Gaul, and secures the German frontier. Probus reduces the Isaurians and Blemmyae. Probus murdered by his soldiers at Sirmium. Carus emperor. ' Carus with his son Numerianus sets out against the Persians, but dies at Ctesiphon. Numerianus and Macrinus recognised as emperors, but the former is murdered and the latter de- feated by Diocletian. Reign of Diocletian ; he assumes Maximian as his colleague. Maximian defeats the Bagaudae in Gaul, and drives the Ale- manni across the Rhine. The Saxons. Carausius assumes the imperial dignity in Britain. Diocletian at Nicomedeia nominates Constantius, Chlorus, and Galerius Caesars. The empire divided among the four rulers. Carausius slain by Alectus, who maintains himself for a period of three years. Galerius defeats the Carpi. Constantius defeats Alectus and recovers Britain. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 621 A.D. 298 301 303 305 305 306 306-337 307 310 311 312 313 314 323 325 325-334 332 334 337 340 350 351 353 354 355 356 357 360 361 361-363 363 363-364 364-375 365 366 367 368 370 Galerius compels the Persians to conclude peace. Constantius defeats the Alemanni. The four sovereigns meet at Rome to devise means against Chris- tianity, which they attempt to suppress. Diocletian abdicates and retires to Salonae. Maximian follows his example. Constantius and Galerius succeed as emperors, but the former dies the year after. Constantine assumes the rank of Caesar in Britain, Eeign of Constantine. Severus, one of the Caesars, put to death at Ravenna. Licinius raised to the imperial dignity by Galerius. Maximian connnits suicide. Death of Galerius. War between Maxentius and Constantine. The fonner is de- feated, flees, and perishes in the Tiber. Maximinus defeated at Adrianople. Death of Diocletian. Con- stantine and Licinius the only surviving sovereigns. Edict in favour of the Christians. War between Constantine and Licinius, in which the latter, on being defeated, makes concessions to his conqueror. War between Constantine and Licinius, in which the latter is completely defeated, and Constantine remains sole emperor. The council of Nicaea. Orthodoxy defined. Extension and fortification of Constantinople. War against the Goths. A large body of Sarmatians receive settlements in the empire. Death, of Constantine near Nicomedeia. Constantine II., Constantius, and Constans, divide the empire. Constantius commences war against Persia. War between Constantine IL and Constans, in which the former is defeated and killed. Constans sole emperor of the West. Magnentius assumes the purple at Autim in Gaid. Death of Constans. War between Magnentius and Constantius, in which the former is defeated. Magnentius kills himself. Constantius sole emperor. Galius is recalled from the East, and murdered at Pola. Silvanus assumes the purple in Gaul, but is slain, Julian ap- pointed to the command in Gaul. Successful campaign of Julian against the Germans. Julian clears the eastern frontier of Gaid from enemies. Julian proclaimed emperor at Paris. Death of Constantius. Reign of Julian the Apostate, Julian attempts to have the temple of Jerusalem rebuilt. Sets out from Antioch against the Persians, Gains a victory near Ctesiphon. Is slain. Jovian emperor. Concludes peace with the Persians, who recover their lost provinces. Valentinian emperor. Associates his brother Valens with him- self in the empire. War between Valens and the usurper Procopius, The Alemanni repulsed in Gaul, Procopius defeated by Valens. Gratian, son of Valentinian, declared Augustus. The Alemanni again defeated. Peace concluded with the Goths. G22 CHRONOLOGICAL TAP.LE. A.I>. 371 375 376 377 378 S79 383 387 392 394 39& 397 398 402 403 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 414 415 431 423 425 426 430 432 433 435 438 Saxon pirates cut to pieces. Valentinian takes the tield against the Quadi and Sannatians. Death of Yaleutinian. The Huns cross the Volga, and throw themselves upon the Goths. Valentinian II. made Augustus, though only four years old. A portion of the Goths are allowed by Valens to settle in IMoesia and Thrace. The Goths rise against the Romans. The Goths defeat Valens with immense slaughter at Adrianople. Death of Valens. Gratian defeats the Alemanni. Gratian raises Theodcsius I. to the rank of Augustus, Avho defeats the Goths. Eevolt of Maximus in Britain. Death of Gratian. Maximus expels Valentinian II. from Italy. Theodosius sets out against ^Maximus, who is put to death. Arbogastes guardian of Valentinian. Valentinian murdered in Gaul. Arbogastes proclaims Eugenius emperor. Theodosius defeats both Arbogastes and Eugenius near Aquileia. Death of Theodosius at IMilan. He is succeeded by his sons Arcadius and Honorius, the foimer emperor of the East, and the latter of the West. Stilicho, guardian of Honorius, causes the murder of Rufinus, the guardian of Arcadius. Stilicho sets out against the Goths who are devastating Greece. Revolt of (Jildo in Afi-ica. Gildo defeated and killed. Alaric and his Goths invade Italy, but are induced to return. Alaric plunders the north of Italy. Battle of Pollentia. Peace with Alaric. The Goth Radagaisus with a numerous horde invades Italy ; but is defeated and slain by Stilicho. The Vandals enter Gaul. Ravages in Gaul continued. Constantine in Britain usurps the imperial title, and crosses over into Gaul. Alaric again appears in Italy. Stilicho murdered. Alaric lays siege to Rome, which in the end capitulates. Death of Arcadius. Alaric again appears before Rome. Attalus proclaimed emperor instead of Honorius. The Vandals establish themselves in Spain. Alaric besieges and takes l>ome the third time. Death of Alaric. The usurpei'Constantine taken and killed. Jovinus assumes the purple at INIayence. Peace between Adolphus and Honorius. Adolphus is murdered in Spain, and succeeded by WaUia, the founder of the empire of the Visigoths in bpain. The Bur- gundians and Franks become independent. Constantius made Augustus by Ilonorius. Death of Honorius. Joannes assumes the purple. Joannes is defeated. Valentinian III. emperor. The last Roman gai'risons are witlidrawn from Britain. Bonifacius invites the Vandals under their king Genseric to come to Africa. Bonifacius defeated by the Vandals at Hippo. War between Bonifacius and Aetius. Restoration of Aetius. Peace with Genseric, to whom a part of Africa is ceded. The Codex Theodosianus published. CHBONOLOGICAL TABLE. 623 A.D. 439 441 442 447 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457-461 460 461 465 467-472 468 472 473 474 475 476 Carthage taken by Genseric. The Huns under Attila cross the Danube. New peace Avith Genseric, in which further concessions are made to him. Attila invades Thrace and Thessaly. Death of Theodosius II,, who is succeeded by Marcianus. Attila crosses the Rhine and invades Gaul. Battle of Chalons, in which the Huns are defeated. Attila invades Italy. Death of Attila. Aetius murdered by Valentinian. Valentinian slain by conspirators. Maximns, one of them, assmnes the purple, but is killed by the soldiers. The Van- dals enter Rome, which they plunder and sack. Avitus proclaimed emperor in Gaul. Avitus is obliged to abdicate. Interregnmn of more than a year. Ricimer has all the power m his hands. Majorian. Majorian goes to Spain, intending to cross over into Africa against the Vandals. Majorian deposed and put to death. Severus proclaimed, but Ricimer reigns in his name. Death of Severus, after wliich Kicimer rules imtil 467. Anthemius emperor. A great undertaking against the Vandals fails through the mis- conduct of Basiliscus. Civil war between Anthemius and Ricimer. The former is killed, and Ricimer having captured Rome, proclaims Olybrius emperor. Death of Hicimer and Olybrius. Gly ceriu s proclaimed emperor. Julius Nepos made emperor. Deposes Glycerins. Nepos is dethroned by Orestes, who causes his son Romulus Augustulus to be proclaimed. Orestes defeated and slain at Placentia by the German troops under Odoacer. Romulus resigns his dignity. Odoacer, king of Italy. End of the Western Empire. OBEX Abdkra, 205. Abydos, 222, 299. Acantlios, 267. Acarnania, 129, 299, 303. Acamanians, 355. Achaean League, 348, 348, &c. Achaeans, 142, &c., 158, 200, 348 &c., 459. Achaemenidae, 68. Achaeus, 365. Aciiaia, 133. Achiiles, 568. A^oka, 40. Acte, 532. Actium, 517. Adis, 438. Adnietus, 239. Adolphus, 587, 588. Adrianople, 570, 571, 581. iEgatian Islands, 441. iEgeac, 320. .(Egicores, 180. ^gidius, 593, 595. iEgiiia, 198, 218, 228, 245. iEgion, 349. .^gospotaim, 286. iEmilius iEmilianus, 560. •iEneas, 380. JEoUan Colonies, 151, 157, 191. ^olians, 142, &c., 151. iEqnians, 401, &c., 411, 420, 421. Aeropus, 309. iEschines, 316, &c. yEsdivlus, 251. Aetius, 590, &c. ^tolia, 129. jEtolians, 336, 349, 352, kc.^ 360. Afranius, 506. Agathocles, 345; (II.) 434. Agesilaus, 295, 297, &c., 308. AgesipoUs, 301. Agiatis, 348. Agisl.,263; (11.) 276, 279, 280, 283, (III.) 334 ; (IV.) 348. Agrarian laws, 401, 471, 472, Sec, 498. Agricola, 539, &c. Agrigentum, 201, 433, 437. Agrippa, 516, 519, 521, 524. Agrippa Postumus, 525. Agi-ippina, 527; (II.) 531, 532. Agron, 94. 295; Agyrrhius, 299. Alani, 564, 580. Alaric, 585, &c. Alba Longa, 379, 384, gic. Albinus, Clodius, 553. Alcaeus, 208. Alcibiades, 269, &c. Alcmaeon, 183. Alcmaeonids, 185, 191, 195, 196. Alectus, 567. Aleraanni, 560, &c., 567, 568, 576, 578. Alesia, 503. Aleuadae, 223. Alexander, 213, 231, 232; (II.) 306; (III). 306, 310, 311 ; (IV.) 310 ; (V.) 320 ; (VI.) 339 ; (VII.) 340, 341 ; (VIII.) 344. Alexander the Great, 28, 29, 57, 90, 31\ 320, &c. Alexandria, .327, 329, 368, 516, 555. Aliso, 522, 524. AlHa, 410, 413. Allilae, 420. Altai, 9. Althaemenes, 200. Alyattes, 95, 204. Amasis, 124, 125. Ambracia, 317. Ambrose, 583. Ammianus Marcellinus, 576. Amnion, 328. Araphictionies, 176, 313, 318, 321. AmphipoHs, 267, 311, 315. Amphissa, 318. Amuhia, 79. Amnlius, 380. Amyntas, 213. Amyrtaeus, 125 ; (II.) 246. Ana'creon, 208. Anaximander, 210. Auaximenes, 209. Ancus Martins, 386, &c. Ancyra, 367. Anderion, 523. Andria, 162. Andriscus, 360, 459. Andi-os, 284. Antalcidas, 298, 299. Anthemius, 589 ; (II.) 595, 596. Antigomis, 325, &c., 338, &c. Antigonus Doson, 351. Antigonus Gonatas, 344, 346, 350, 351. B 626 INDEX. Antinous, 545. Antioch, 3G3, 528, 545, 555, 560, 561. Antiochus, 284. Antiochus tlie Great, 356, &c., 365, &.C., 370, 457. Antiocbus Hierax, 364. Antiochus Soter, 364. Antioclms Theus, 57, 58, 364. Antiochus XIII., 366, 495. Antipater, 319, 323,334, &c., 338; ai-) 344. Antipater the Iduniaean, 493. Antiphilus, 336. Antiphon, 281. Antonia, 533. Antoninus Pius, 547, 548. Antonius, Lucius, 514. Antonius, ^Marcus, 504. Antonius Primus, 536. Antony, Mark, 508, 511, &c. Anysis, 120. Aosta, 447. Apellico, 484. Appius Clamlius, 405, &c. ; (11.) 424, (111.; 436, 440. Appius Claudius the Blind, 427. Apries, 124. Apulia, 418, &c Aquae Sextiae, 477, 501. Aquileia, 548, 558, 575, 582, 589, 592. Aquitania, 50O. Araric, 574. Aratus, 346, 349, &c., 353. Arbo?astes, 582. Arcadia, 1.33. Arcadians, 133^ 304, 308, fee, 353. Arcadius, 582, &c., 589. Archelaus, 3«J9 ; (II.) 482, 484, 489. Archestratus, 256. Arcliidanius, 241, 257, &c Archilochus, 208. Archimedes, 450. Archons, 182, 237. Ardea, 392, 393. Ardishir, 556. Ardys, 95, 204. Arebpagiis. 188, 189, 237, 243, &c., 292. Argades, 180. Ajgaeus, 311. Argolis, 133. Argon mts, 148. Argos, 173, 2G9, 3 . 6, 346, 350, 356. Ariaeus, 293. Aricia, 379, 417. Arion, 208. Ariovistus, 501, 502. Aristagoras, 213, &c. Aristides, 223, &c. Aristobulus, 325. &c. Aristobulus (of Judaea), 495. Aristodemus, 171. Aristogeiton, 194, 195, 334. Aristomenes, 173, 174. Aristonicus, 468, 469, 482. Aristophanes, 25 -', 292. Aristotle, 321, 484. Armenia, 367, 534, 545. Arminius, 523, 524, o-JS, 529. Arrhibaeus, 287. Ai-rliidaeus, 338. Arsaces, 364. Arsacidae, 5(X). Arsinoe, 345. Ai-tabanes, 555. Artabanus, 293. Artabazus, 232, 233. Artaphernes, 214, 219. Artavasdes, 516. Artaxata, 494. Artaxerxes, 239, 244, 286, 293, 312, 324. Artemisiuni, 225. Arya, 25, &c., 51. Ascra, 207. Asculum, 427. Asia, 9, &c. Aspasia, 253. Aspendos, 299. AssjTians, 59, 60, 70, &c., 544. Astarte, 72. Astures, 521. Astyages, 60. Athanaric. 579, &c. Athenian Senate, 188, 189, 196. Athens, 132, 180, &c., 218, 228, 235, 253, &c., 259, 281, 290, 337, 342, 344, 346, 355, 360, 460, 484, 546, 576, 585. Athos, 222. Atilius Calatinus, 437. Attalus, 320,321; (II.) 355, 356, 364,468; (111.) 587. Attica, 132, 180, &c., 219, 222, 253, S.c. AttUa, 591, 592. Attok, 329. Augurs, 384. .\usrustin, 590. Augustulus. 596, 597. Augustus, 518, &c. Aulis. 343. Aixrehan, 563. Aurelius, 547, 8ec. Aureolus, 562. Ausonius, 579. Autophradates, 334. Aventine, 406. Avidius Cassius, 549. AAitus. 594. Baal, or Belus, 79, 82. Babel, or Babylon, 71, &c., 328, 332, 363. Bacelivlides, 251. Bactria, or Bactriana, 57, 58, 328, 329, 364. Baecula, 452. Bagaudae, 567, 586. Bagoas, 324, 325. Baiae, 547. Balbinus, 558. Balearic Islands, 432. Bahsta, 561. Barsine, 831, 339. Basiliscus, 595 Batavi, 539. Bedriacum, 535, 536. Belmina, 360. Benacus, 562. Beneventum, 428. INDEX. 627 Berenice, 345. Berosus, 77. Bessus, 32S. Bibracte, 501. Bitliynia, 367, 403, 495. Blemmyae, 565. Boadicea. 534. Boccbus, 476. Boeotia, 132. Boeotians, 223. Boians, 424, 425, 444, 457. Bonifacius, 590. Bovianum, 421, 422. Brahniins, 30, 31, 33. Brasidas, 26G, &c. Brasideia, 268. Breimus, 346 ; ai.) 409, 410. Britain, 502, 531, 532, 534, 551, 578, 583, 5S9. Britanniciis, 532. l^rundusiiim, 5i>5, 516. Bruttians, 452. Brutus, 392 ; (M. Junius), 510, &c. ; (Deci- mus), 511. Bucephala, 330. Buddhism, 29, 37, &c. Burgundians, 583, 591. BiuTus, 532. Bvzantium, 201, 217, 236, 249, 284, 317, ' 552, 571, 572. Cadmus, 144 ; (of Miletus), 209. Caecilius, 440. Caecina, 528. Caelian HiU, 386. Caere, 393. Caesar, Julius, 481, 495, 498; (Caius and Lucius), 524. Caledonians, 541, 551, 553. Caligula, 527, 529, 530. Callias, 256. Callicratidas, 285. Callimaclms, 219. Callistlienes, 332. Callistus, 530. Camarina, 438. Canib3'ses, 62, 64, &c. Camillus, 408, &c. Canipanians, 414, &c. ; 422, 423. 436, .593. Campi Raudii, 478. Candaliar, 329. Candaules, 94, 95. Cannae, 449. Cantabri, 521. Canuleius, 4C»7. Capelianus, 557. Capitol, 388, 404, 410, 536 Capitoline Hill, 382. Cappadocia, 367. Capreae, 526. Capua, 414, 449, 451, 491, 59.3. Caracalla, 553. Caranuis, 309. Cai-ausius, 567. Carbo, 486, 488. Carinus, 565. Cuniciules, 464. Carrhae, 500. Carthage, 93, 274, 427, 429, &c., 460, 590. Carus, 565. Casilinum, 448. Cassander, 338, &c., 344. Cassian Law, 470. Cassius (Caius), 500, 510 ; (Qmntus), 504. Cassivelaunus, 502. Castes, 16, 17, 30, 104, &c. Castor, 398. Catana, 274, 275. Catiline, 487, 497, &c. Cato (the Censor), 460, 464, &c. ; (of Utica), 499, 509. Catulus, 478, 485. Catualda, 529. Caucasians, 99. Caudiimi, 419. Cecrops, 144, 180. Celtiberians, 445, 468. Celts, 345, 364, 376, &c., 409, 422, 444, 445. Censors, 407, &c. Cephallenia, 303. Cephissus, 297. Cerasus, 494. Chabrias, 303. Chaeroneia, 318, 484. Chalcedon, 284, 555, 571. Cliakideus, 279, 280. Chaldaeans, 63, 80, &c. Chalons, 591. Chares, 312. Charon, 301. Cheii-isophus, 294, Chemi, 96. Chersonesus, 285. Chians, 280, 312. China, 17, &c. Chinese Wall, 23. Christ, 524, 527. Christians, 533, 537, 542, 547, 557, 559, 566, 568, 571, &c., 597. Cibalae, 570. Cicero, 495, 496, &c , 513. Cilicia, 492. Cimbri, 476. Cimon, 236, &c., 240, &c. Cinadon, 295. Cinciunatus, 403, 408. Cineas, 426. China, 484. Clrcesium, 558, Cirta, 590. Cithaeron, 393. Civita Vecchia, 5-43. Clastidium, 444. Claudian, 586. Claudius (the Emperor), 530, &c. ; (Civilis), 539 ; (Gothicus), 562. Clazomenae, 279, 299. Cleander, 551. Cleisthenes, 195, &c. Cleitus, 325, &c., 332. Cleombrotus, 302, 304. Cleoniedes, 271. Cleomenes, 195, &c., 215. 218; (11.) 262- (IIL) 348, &c. 628 INDEX. aeon, 262, &c. Cleopatra, 320 ; (II.) 370; (III.) 371 ; (Queen of Egvpt), 507, 516. Clients, 383. Clodius. 494, 499. Clovis, 594. Cliipea, 438, 439. Clusium, 409, 410, 444. Cnidus, 297. Cniva, 559. Codrus, 160, 182, 200. Collatia, 392, 393. Collatinus, 892, 395. Colline gate, 486. Coiuitia, 389, 394, 424, 470. Commodus, 549, &c. Confucius. 19, 20. Conon, 285, 286, 297, &c. Constans, 574, 575 ; (II.) 588. Constantine (the Great), 569, &c.; (II.) 574, 575; (HI.) 586, 588. Consuls, 395. Constantius (Chlo/us), 567, Sec. ; (II.) 574. &c. ; (III.) 588 Constantinople, 571. Copts, 98. Corbio, 403. Corbulo, 531. Corcyi;a, 254, 262, 303. Corfinium. 480. Corinth, 254, 319, 320, 322, 343, 350, 361, 459. Coriolauus, 400, &c. Corneha, 471. Cornelius, 420. Coroneia, 297, 314. Corsica, 431, 437, 443, 466. Cos, 281. Cosenza, 587. Cosmoi, 162. Cotta, 490. Crannon, 337. Crassus, .M. Liciuius, 492, 498, 500. Craterus, 309; (II.) 325, &c., 331, 337, 339. Cremera, 402. Cremona, 414, 536. Cresphontes, 170. Crete, 134, 160. Crissaean War, 177. Critiafl, 287, &c. Critolaus, 361 ; (H.) 464. Croesus, 61, 62,95,204. Croton, 210, 211. Ctesias, 63, 73. Ctesiphon, 544, 548, 577. Cumae, 199 ; in Itdy, 201, 378. Cunaxa, 293. Curiatii, 385. Curio, 506. Cvaxares, 59, 60, 74, 75, 79. Cjclades, 134. CycUc poets, 208. Cydnus, 326. Cylon, 184. Cynoscephalae, 306, 355. Cynosscma, 283. Cyprus, 299, 499. Cyrene, 202, .369. Cyrupedion, 345. Cyrus, King of Persia, 57, 60, &c., 204 ; (II.) 284, 286, 293, &c. Cythera, 265, 298, 313. Cytinion, 318. Cyzicus, 283, 493. Dacians, 541, 543, 544, 563. Dadastana, 578. Dalmatia, 523, 595. Dalmatius, 574. Damascus, 327. Danaus, 144, 146. Danube, 549. Darius, 67, &c., 125, 212, 218, 222; (Codo- mannus), 324, &c. ; (Nothus), 293. Datis, 219. Daurises, 216. Decebalus, 541, 544. Decelea, 274, 276, 279. Decem\Txs, 404. Decius, Piiblius, 416, 422 ; (Mus), 415 ; (the Emperor), 559. Deioces, 59. Delium, 266. Delos, 200. Delphi, 131, 227, 246, 313, 316, 346. Delta, 97. Demades, 334. Demetrius Phalereus, 341, 342 ; (Poliorcetes), 339, &c., 342, &c. ; (UI.)351 ; (IV.) 353, 445 ; (V.) 358. Demi, 196. Demochares, 342, 345. Democritus, 360. Demonax, 202. Demosthenes {the general), 263, &c., 276, 277. Demosthenes (the orator), 314, &c., 322, 335, Dentatus, 428. Dercyllidas, 294. Diadumenianus, 555. Diaeus, 360, &c. Dido, 429. Diocletian, 566, &c. Diodorus Siculus, 73, 115. Diogenes, 464. Dionysius (the elder), 433 ; (the younger), 305, 434. Dolabella, 508. Domitia, 542. ' Domitian, 536, 540, &c. Domitius Ahenobarbus, 523 ; (Corbulo), 534, Dorian Colonies, 200. Dorian Pentapolis, 201 Dorians, 134, 141, &c., 157, 223. Doris, 131. Draco, 184. Drepana, 440. Druids, 501. Drusus, 521, 522 ; (son of Tiberius), 527. Duilius, 437. Dymanes, 166. Dyrrhacliiuni, 506. INDEX. 629 ECBATANA, 59, 86. Ecclesiae, 189, 196, Ecnomus, 438. Edessa, 555, 561. Egeria, 384. Egesta. 271. &c. Egypt, 96, &c., 325, 337, 363, 367, S:c., 462, 562. Elagahalus, 555. Elateia, 318. Elea, 205, 209. Eleusis, 344. Elis, 133. Emesa, .555. Erapedocles, 210. Epaminondas, 301, &c. Ephesus, 215, 216. Ephialtes, 226 ; (II.) 243, &c, Ephors, 167, 172, 290, 347, 348, 352. Epictetus, 542. Epidamnus, 254. Epidaurus, 270. Epimenides, 186. Epitadas, 264. Eqiiites, 473. Eretria, 279. Erytlirae, 219. Er}TC, 441. Etruscans, 375, 376, 377, 396, 402, 411, 420, 8cc., 425. Euboea, 279, 317. Euclierius, 586, Eucratidas, 58. Eudaniidas, 301. Eudoxia, 593. Eiigenius, 582. Eumenes, 338, &c. ; (of Pcrganius), 457, Eunus, 471. Euric, 595. Eurybiades, 225. 229. Euiymedon, 276, 277 ; (in Pampliylia), 241. Euripedes, 252, 292. Eusebia, 576. Eiisebius, 574. Eutropius, 585. Fabii, 402. Eabius Maximus, 420, 423, (II.) 448. 451. Fabius, Quintus, 422, 446. Fabricius, 425, &c. Faesulae, 586. Faustina, 54P. Fidenae, 382, 385, 408, 528. Fimbria, 484. I'irdusi, 56. Flaccus, 473, 474. Flamens, 384. Flamininus, 355, &c. Flaminius, Caius, 444, 448. Florianus, 564. Fo, 41. Franks, 560, 561, 576, 588. Fregellae, 418, &c. Fritigem, 581. Fronto, 546. Fucine Lake, 531. Fuh-ia, 513, 514. Gabinian Law, 470. Gabinius, 492. Gainas, 585. Galatians, 346, 367. Galba, Servius Sulpicius, 4G7 ; (the Em- peror), 533, 535. Galerius, 567, 568. Galgacus, 541. Galla, 582. GaUa Placidia, 587, &c. Gallia Cisalpina, 444, 457. Gallienus, 560, 561. GaUus, 575, 576. Gallus, ^lius, 521. Gallus Trcbonianus, 559, 560. Gaugamela, 328. Gaul, 499, &c. Gauls, 409, &c., 425, 444, 447. Gaurus, 415. Gaza, 365. Gedrosia, 330. Gela, 201, 266. Gelo, 224, 431. Genseric, 590, 591, 593. &c. Genucius, 401. Germanicus, 527, 528. Germans, 521, &c., 528, 531, 549, 557, 559, 565, 597. Gessius Florus, 538. Geta, 554. Getae, 322. Gildo, 585. Glabrio, 357 ; (M.'Acilius), 494. Glaucia, 478, 479. Glvcerius, 596. Gdrdian, 557 ; (II.) 558. Gordium, 326. Goths, 5.59, &c., 574, 579, &c., 586. Gracchus (Caius), 472, &c. ; (Cloelius), 402, 403; (Tiberius), 450, 457, 471, &c. Granicus, 326. Gratian, 578, 579, 581, 582. Greece, 127, &c. Gundobald, 596. Gyges, 94, 95, 204. Gylippus, 274, kc. Gythium, 305. Hadrian, 193, 544, &c. Haliartos, 296. Halicarnassus, 200, 326. HamiJcar, 431, 434; (II.) 440, &,c., 442, &c, 445. Hannibal, 353, 356, 445, &c., 457. Hannibalianus, 574. Hanno, 446. Harmodius, 194, 195, 334. Harmosts, 296. Harpagus, 205. Harpalus, 335. Hasdrubal, 445 ; (11.) 447, 451, 4.52. Hecataeus, 215. Hegesistratus, 193. Heliaea, 189, 196. Hellas, 128, &c. Hellenes, 127, &c., 138, &c. Hellespont, 222. 630 INDEX. Helos, 305. Helots, 159, 165, 166, 170, 172. Helvetii, 501. HeMdius Priscus, 537. Hephaestion, 325, &c. Heracleia, 336, 361. Heracleids, 9-4. Heracles (the Hero). 147 ; (the son of Alex- ander the Great;, 339. Heraclitus, 209. Herat, 329. Hercudaneum, 540. Herdonius, 404. Hermaeuui (Cape), 439. Hermes, 272. Hermocrates, 266, 274, kc. Hernicans, 420, 421. Herod, 496. Herodes Atticus, 546. Herodotus, 60, 63, 64, 115, 259. Hesiod, 156, 207, 378. Hiero, 435, &c., 450. Hieronymus, 450. Himera, 201, 230, 275, 431, 433. Hindoo Mythology, 34, &c. Hindoos, 25, &c. Hipparchus, 194, &c. Hippias, 194, &c., 215, 219. Hippomenes, 183. Hipponax, 208. Hippo Regius, 430, 590. Hirtius, 512. Histiaeus, 213, &c. Homer, 156, 207. Homeric poems, 149, &c., 193, 378. Honoria, 592. Honorius, 582, &c. Hopletes, 180. Horatii, 305. Horatius Codes, 396. Hostilianus, 559. Huns, 580. Hycsos, 116, &c. Hylleans, 166. Hyperides, 336, 337. Hyrcanus, 495. Iapygtan L.^xglage, 375. Iberians, 445. Ibvcus, 208. lllyricum, 317, 320, 322, 336, 352, 353, 443, 445, 499. Inarus, 244. India, 24, &c. Indo-Germanic Race, 11, 12. lusubrians, 444, 457. Ionian Colonies, 200, &c. lonians, 141, &c . 158. &c., 469. Ipliicrates, 298, 299, 304, 30.5, 310, 312. Ipsus, 340. Iran, 49, &c. Isagoras, 196, 197. Isauri, 561. Iscander, 333. Ismenias, 301. Issus, 327, 552. Isthmian games, 178. 356. Italica, 543. ItaUcus, 531. Italy, 373, &c. Ithome, 171, 172, 242, 30.7, Janus, 384, 517. Jason (of Pherae"!, 306. Jerusalem, 536, 538, 546. Jews, 534, 538, 546. Joannes, 589. Jotapata, 538. Jovian, 578. JoA-inus, 588. Juba, 508. Jugurtha, 474, &c. Julia, 524, 525 ; (Domna\ 554. Julian the Apostate, 575, &c. Juhan, 568 ; (Didius), Sb2. Julius Nepos, 596. Justina, 582. Juvenal, 550, Kalidasa, 45. Kshatriyas, 31. Laconia, 133. Lamachus, 272, &c. Lamia, 336. Lamian War, 336, 837. Lampsacos, 239, 286. Laxcius, 397. Latins, 375, 379, 386. .397, 416, 417. 419, 481. ... Latium, 379, 415. Lautulae, 420. Lechaeou, 298. Leo I. (the Pope), 592 ; (the Emperor;, 595, 597. Leochares, 343. Leonidas, 225 ; (II.) 348. Leonnatus, 336. Leontini, 263. Leosthenes, 311, 336. Leotychides, 233. Lepidus, 489 ; (the Triumvir), 512, &c. Lesbos, 199, 279. Leucopetra, 361. Leuctra, 304. Libius Severus, 595. Libyans, 430, 442. Licuiian Law, 412, 425, 471. Licinius Stolo, 412 ; (the Enipcror^ 569, kc. Ligm-ians, 443, 457, 466. Lilybaeum, 440. Liris, 531. Livia, 524. Livius Drusus, 474, 479, 480. Locrians, 318. Lucan, 533. Lucania, 418, 421, 422, 425. Luceres, 383, 388. Luceria, 419. Lucretia, 392, 393. Lucullus, 493. Lucumons, 377. Lusitania, 467, 498. Lutatius Catulus, 441. 631 Lyceum, 193. Lycia, 20-4, 205. Lycophron, 312, 314. Lycortas, 358. Lycui-.^s, the Spartan lawgiver, 162, &r. ; (II.) 191, 192; (III.) 319, 322; (the Ephor), 348 ; (V.) 3.52, 354. Lydia, 93, &c., 204, 469. Lygdamis, 193. Lysander, 279, 284, &c., 295. Lysandra, 345. Lysias, 249. Lysimachia, 345. Lysimachus, 339, 343, &.c. Mackdoni.\, 308, &c., 359, 361, 458, &c. Machanidas, 3.54. Macrianus, 562. Macrinus, 555. Macro, 527. Maeaiidrius, 212. Maecenas, 519. Maesa, 555 Magi, 64. 67, 69. Magna Graecia, 201, 378. Magnentius, 575. Magnesia (in Asia), 205. 239 ; (in Thessaly), 314, 3G6. Mago, 430. Majorian, 594. Malchus. 430. Maleventnui, 422. MaUi, .330. Mamertines, 435, 43G. Mammaea, 556. Mancinus, 468, Manetho, 115, 116, 369. Manilius, 494. Manlius (CapitoUnus\ 410, See; (Lucius), 438; (Torquatus, 413, 416. Mantineia, 270, 300, 304, 307, 350, 354. Maiathon, 219. 220, 222. Marcelhnus, 595. Marcellus, 444, 450; (II.) 504. Marcia, 551. Marciana, 543. Marcianus, 593. Marciiis. 420. Marcomanui, 523, 529, 541, 548. Maxdonius, 218, 229, &c. Marius, (the elder), 475, &c., 498; rthe younger), 486. iTarnlioduus, 523, 529. Marsic War, 480. Marsians, 420. 480. Masinissa, 453, &c., 460, &c., 475. Massagetae, 63. Massiiia, 203, 501, 506. Massiva, 475. Maxeutius, 569, 570. Maximian, 567, &c. Maximinus, 557, .5.58 ; (Daza), 569, 570. Maximus, 557 ; (II.) 582 ; (III.) 593. Mazares, 205. Media. 59, &c. Medon, 182. Megabazus, 213. Megacles, 184, 185; (II. i 191, 192. Megalopolis, 304, 316, 334, 340, 351, 362. Megara, 266, 350. Megaris, 132. Meleager, 369. }klehssus, 210. Melos, 271. Memmius, 475, 479. Memnon, 324, 326. Memphis, 33S. Menenius Agrippa, 399. Meonians, 94. Merranadae, 94. Meroe, 99, 100. Mesopotamia, 544. Messalla, 519. MessaUna, 530. Messana, 435, 436. Messapians, 426. Messenia, 133, 170, 242, 365, 308, 358. Metaurus, 452. MeteUus, 361, 4.59; (II.) 475, &c., 478; (Scipio), 504, 508. Milan, 562, 566. Miletus, 200, 203, 217, 280. Milo, 211. Miltiades. 213, 217, &c. Minmermus, 208. Mindarus, 282, 283. Minos, 148, 161. Mintumae, 483. Minucius, 403. Misitlieus, 558. MithiidatesV.,469, 482; (Vi) 482. Sic,,489 493. Mizraim, 96. Moesia, 541, 545, 559, 580, 581. Mona, 534. Mongols, 17. Mutianus, 536. Mucius Scaevola, 396, 397. iNlummius, 361, 362, 459. Munda, 509. Munvchia, 235, 337, 342, 344. Murena, 489. Mursa, 575. Mutina, 512. Mvcale. 233. Mylae, 437, 516. Myronides, 245, &c. Mvtileneans, 193, 261, &c. Myttistratum, 438. Myus, 239. Nabis, 354, 356. I Kabonucdus, 63. ! Nabopolassar, 60, 74. I Naissus, 562. I Narbo Marcius, 501. Narcissus, 530. Narses, 565. Naxos. 214, 219, 240, 275, 303. Keapohs, 418. iS'earchus, 330. Nebuchadnezzar, 77, 79, 91. Necho, 77, 85, 123, 124. Nectanebos, 325. 632 INDEX. Nemausus, 546, 547. Neiuea, 297. Nemeau Games, 178 Neon, 313. Nero, 525, 531, &c. IS^erva, 542. New Cartilage, 445, 417, 451. Nicaea, 330. Nicanor, 340. Niceue Council, 572. Nicias, 265, &c. Nicomedeia, 566, 567, 574. Niconiedes III., 367, 493. Nicopolis, 495 ; (II.) 517. Nineveh, 60, 71. Ninus, 57, 72. Ninyas, 72. Nisibis, 544, 578. Nitocris, 78. Nola, 450, 483, 525, 593. Norbanus, 486. Noreia, 477. Numantia, 468. Numa Pompilius, 383. Numerianus, 585. Nnmidia, 462. Numitor, 380. Oasis of Siwah, 328. Ochus, 324, 325. Octananus, 512, 8:c. Octavius, 472 ; (II.) 484, 4S5. Odenathus, 561, 562. Odoacer, 596, 597. (Enopliyta, 245. Ogulnian Law, 424. Olybrius, 596. Olynipia, 133, 307. OljTupias, 320, 338. Olympic Games, 134, 177. Olympus, 129. Olynthos, 256, 300, 315. Onomarclius, 313, 314. Opbellas, 434. Opimius, 474. Orcliomcnos, 303, 314, 484. Orestes, 309 ; (II.) 596. Orodes, 500. Oropos, 319, 360. Osca, 490. Ostia, 387, 492, 531, 587. Ostracism, 196. Otbo, 535. Oxylus, 158. Paches, 262. Paetus Thrasea, 537. Pagans, 583. Pagodas, 47, 48. Palatine Hill, 380. Palestine, 365, 366. Palinurus, Cape, 439. PaUns, 530. Palmyra, 661, 562. Pampliilians, a Spartan tribe, 166. Panatbenaea, 181. Fandutoria, 532. Panionium, 202. Pannonia, 523, 528. Panormus, 439. Pansa, 512. Papinian, 553, 554. Papii-ius Cursor, 420. Pariahs, 33. Parmenides, 210. Parmenio, 320, &c., 325, &c., 332. Parnassus, 131. Farsi, 54. Partlmmaspatcs, 544. Parthenon, 250. Parthia, 364, 500, 516, 521, 531, 534, 514, 548, 553, 555. Parysatis, 293. Patricians, 386, 387, 390, 394, 395, 398, 404, &c., 412, 417, 424. Paul, 533. Paulinus, 534. Paullus, 359, 445, 449. Pausanias, 231, &c., 236, &c., 297; (II.) 289, &c. ; (III.) 309 ; (IV.) 310, 311 ; (V.) 320. Pav-ia, 598. Pelasgiaus, 94, 138, 374. Pclignians, 420. PeUa, 310. Pelopidas, 301, &c. Peloponnesus, 29, 132, &c. Peloponnesian War, 253, &c. Pelops, 144. Perdiccas, 256, 267 ; (II.) 310, &c., 333, 338. Perennis, 551. Pergamos, 367, 462, 468, &c. Pericles, 242, &c. Perinthos, 317. Perperna, 469 ; (II.) 491. Persepolis, 328. Perseus, 146; (II.) 3.58, &c., 458. Persians, 49, &c., 91, 197, 292, 323, &C., 556, 558, 560, 577. Pertinax, 551, 552. Perusia, 423, 515. Pescennius Mger, 552. Petihus Cereahs, 539. Peter, 533. Petreius, 506, 509. Phalaecus, 314, 316. Phaleron, 235. Pharaohs, 104, 105. Pharnabazus, 283, 284, 294, &,c. ; (II.) 334. Phai-naces, 495, 507, 506. Pharsalus, 507. Phayllus, 314. Pheidoa, 173, 309. Pherae, 315. Pherecydes, 208. Phidias, 250, 252. Philip, king of Macedonia, 306, 309, &c. ; (II.) 326 ; (IV.) 344 ; (V.) 351, 352 ; &c. ; (VI.) 558, 559. Philippi, 514. Philomelus, 313. Philopoemen, 351, 354, &c. Philotas, 332. Phhus, 300. Phocaea, 203, 205. INDEX. 633 Phocians, 223, 313, &c. Pliocion, 317, &c., 3-10. Plincis, 131. Phoebidas, 301. Phoenicia, 83, &c., 324. Phorniio, 260. Phraates, 516. Phraortea, 59. Phrynichus, 251, 280, &c. Phul, 74. Phyle, 289. Piceniim, 545. Pindar, 208, 251, 323. Piraeus, 235, 289, 344. Pisander, 296, 297; (II.) 281, 283. Pisistratus, 191, &c. Piso, 528 ; (Calpurnius), 533 -, (Liciniamis), 535. Pistoria, 497. Placentia, 444, 594, 596. Plague at Alliens, 259. Plataeans, 219, 223, 227, 232, 257, 260, 303. Plato, 292. Plebeians, 383, 386, 387, 389, 395. 396, 404, &c., 412, 413, 417, 424. Pleistarchus, 231. Pliny, the elder, 540; the younger, 510. Plotina, 543, 544. Plutarch, 546. PoUentia, 585. Pollio, 519. Pollux, 398. Polvbiades. 301. Polybius, 358, 360, 432, 459. Polycrates, 206, 210. Polysperchon, 338, 340, 342. Pompeii, 540. Pompeius Rufus, 484. Ponipey, 366, 488, 494, &e., 507, Cneius and Sextus, 509, 515. Pontiffs, 384. Pontius, 419, 423 ; Telesinus, 486. Pontus, 367, 482, &c. Poppaea Sabina. 532, 533. Porsenna, 396, Stc. Porto, 593. Porus, 329, 330. Posidonia, Paestum, 202. Postuuiius, 419. Postumus, 560, 561. Potidaea. 256. &c., 301. Praetor, 413. Priene, 204, 205. Probiis,563, 534. Procopius, 579. Frudentius, 586. Prusias, 354, 457. Pi-ytaneura, 191. Psammenitus, 65, 125. Psamnietichus, 121, &c. Psammis. 124. Pseudo-Philip, 360, 361. Ptolemy Alorites, 310; (Ceraiinus), 345, 369 ; (Dionysus), 507 ; (Euergetes), 364, 369, &c. ; (Epiphanes), 355, 370; (Phila- delphus), 369, 429 ; (Pliilometor), 371 ; (Philopator), 370 ; (Soter), 325, &e., 338, kc, 341, 367, Stc. PubliUus Philo, 417 ; (Volero), 404. Pulcheria, 592. Punic Wars. 436, kc, 446, &c., 460, &c. Punjaub, 329. Pydna, 359, 459. Pylos, 263, kc. Pn-amids, 113, 114. Pvrrhus, 344, 346, 426, &c., 432. Pythagoras, 210, &c. Pj'thian Games, 178, 316. QCINTILLUS, 563. Quinnal Hill, 382. Quii-inus, 382. Radagaisus, 586. Raetia, 562. Rameses, 118, 119. Ramnes, 383. Rando, 578. Rasena, 376. Ravenna, 504, 505, 529, 585, 589, 595. Regillus, Lake, 398. Regulus, 438, &c. Remus, 380. Rhea Silvia, 380. Rhesium, 273, 378. 428, 436. Rhodes, 299, 459. Rhone, 447. Ricimer, 594, Sec. Romans, 332, 353, &c., 436, &c. Rome, 379, &c., 410, 411, 587, 596. Romulus, 380, &c. Rosetta Stone, 103. Roxana, 329, 339. Rubicon, 505. Rufinus. 584, 585. Rufus, 533. Sabaco, 119. SabeUians, 375, 379, 414, 480. Sabines, 382, 397. Sabinus, 536. Sacred Mount, 399. Sacred Wars. 313, 316, 318. Sadyattes, 95, 204. Saguntum, 446. Salamis, 227, 229, 286 ; (in CA-prus), 339. Salii, 384. Salmanassar, 74, 91. Samnites, 375. 414, &c., 418. kc, 428, 480. Samos, 206, 207, 233, 248, 281, 319. Sanscrit, 34. Sappho, 208. Sapor I., 558. Sardanapalus, 73, 75. Sardes, 216. 296. Sardinia, 431, 437, 443, 466. Sarmatians, 545, 549, 565, 574, 579. Sassanidae, 58, 5.56. Saturninus, 478, 479. Saxons, 567, 579, 589. Scarpheia, 459. Scione, 268. Scipio Nasica, 472. Scipios, 366, 447, &c., 451, &c.. 457, 461, 468. Scythia, 9. 2 E 2 G34 INDEX. Segestes, 523, 528. Seianus, 525, &c. Seleucia, 363, 544, .548. Seleucus I., 339, 343, 363 ; fll.) 364, 365 ; (III.) 365 ; (IV.) 366. Selinus, 271, 544. SeUasia, 351. Semiramis, 57, 72. Semitic Race, 11, 12. Sempronius Longus, 447. Senate ^of Rome). 383, 388, 394, 519. Seneca, 5.32, 533. Sennacherib, 120. Senones, 424. 425. Sentinum, 422. Sepias (Cape), 225. Septuagint, 369. Sertorius, 490. Servile War, 491. Servilius Aliala, 408. Seriius Tullius, 387, 389, 394. Sesostris, 117, 119. Sestos, 234, 323. Sethos, 120, 121. Severus, 546 ; (Alexander), 556, 557 ; - Sep- timius), 552 ; (Valerius), 569. Seven Sages, 209. Sextius (Lucius), 412. Sicily, 201, 427, 429, &c., 471. Sicyon, 349, 360. Sidicines, 414. Sidon, 84, &c., 324. Silarus, 492. Silvanus, 576. Simonides ("of Cosj, 251. Sinope, 4S9. Siris, 426. Sirmium, 549, 562, 566. Sitalces, 259. Smerdis, 66. Social Wars. 312, 3.52, 480. Socrates, 286, 292. Sogdianus, 293. Soissons, 594. Solon, 62, 177, 1&5, &c Sophocles, 251, 292. Sophonisbe, 453. Sosicles, 198. Sosthenes, 345. Spain, 445, &c., 4.57, &c., 467, &c., 490, 506, 588. Sparta, 162, &c., 218, 241, 253, &c., 290, 344, 347, &c., 354, 357, &c. Spartacus. 491, 492. Spartans, 195, &c., 219, 221, 460. Sphacteria, 264. Spoletium, 448, 500. Sporades, 134. Spurius Cassius, 398, 400, &c. ; (Maelius), 408. Stabiae, 540. Stageiros, 267. Stesichorus, 208. Stilicho, 581, &c. Strasslmrsr. 576. Suffetes, 433. Sulla, 362, 476, 478, &c. I Sulpicius Galba, 355 : (^Publius). 483. I Susa, 339. • Syagrius, 594. I Sybaris, 211, 378. I Syloson, 212. Symmaclius, 579. Sjrphax, 451, 453. Syracuse, 201, 263, 273, &c., 4.33, ike, 450. S\Tia. 363, 495, 562. Syssitia, 162. Tacitus, 539 ; (Claudius), 564. Taenarou, 335. Tanagra, 245. Tarentum, 421, 425, &c., 450, 451 Taipeian Rock, 411. Tarquins, 377, 387, 388, 390, &c., 396, &c. Tarsus, 564, 570. Tatius (Titus), 382. Taxiles, 329. Telamon, 444. Teleontes, 180. Teleutias, 299. Terentillus Arsa, 404. Teiillus, 431. Tetricus, 562, 563. Tcuta, 443. Teutones, 477. Tbales, 209, 210, Tliapsus, 508. Thebes (in Egypt), 101, 118; (in Greece), 132, 301, &c., 319, 321, &c., 341, 361. Theagenes, 184. Themistocles, 223, &c Theocles, 201. Theodoric I. 591 ; (II.) 594 ; (III.) 597. Theodosius I. 581, &c. ; (II.) 589, 591, 592. Theraraenes, 281, 282, 285, 287. Thermopylae, 130, 224, Sec, 321, 336, 357, 366, 459. Thermos, 349, 353. Theseus, 147, 181. Thespiae, 223, 227, 303. Tliespis, 208. ThessaKans, 157, 317, 321. Thessalonice, 344. Thessaly, 129, &c. Thimbron, 294. Thirhaka, 120. Thirty Tyrants, 287, &c., 561. Thrace, 363. Thrasybulus, 281. 282, 288, &c., 291, 299. Thrasyllus, 282, 284. Thucydides, 247 ; (the histoiian), 267, 292. Thui-ii, 249, 273, 425, 426. Thusnelda, 528. Tiberius, 521, 522, 525, &.C. Tibet, 43. Ticinus, 447. Tiglath-pileser, 74. Tigranes, 494. Tigranocerta, 494. Timoleon, 433. Timotheus, 303, 312. Tiribazus, 298, 299. Tiridates, 534. Tiaamenus. 156. INDEX. 635 Tissaphernes. 280, &c., 294, Sec Tithraustes, 296, &c. Tities, 383. Titus, 536, 538, 539, Sec. Tomyris, 63. Torismund, 591. Torone, 268. Toulouse, 588. Trajan, 542, &c. Trasimeue Lake, 448. Trebia, 447. Treves, 566, 579. Triballi, 322. Tribes (in Rome), 389. Tribunes of the plebs, 399, 404, 412. Tripolis, 324. Ti-iton (Lake), 430. TriumWrate, (1st) 498 ; (2d) 512. Troezen, 228, 335. Trojan War, 149. 325. Tullia. 390. Tullus Hostilius, 381, &c. Tunis, 429. Tyre, 84, &c., 327. TjTrhenians, 274. Tyrtaeus, 173. Twelve Tables, 405. Ulphilas, 579. Ulpian, 553, 556. Ulpius MiirceUus, 551. Umbrians, 375, 377, 420, 424. Ursicinus, 576. Utica, 429. Valens, 578, &c. Valentinian I., 578, 579 ; II , 582 ; III., jS9, 591, 592. Valerian, 560, 561. Valerius, 393 ; (Corvusi, 413, &c Vandals, 590, 595. Varro, 449. Varas, 523, 524. Vedas, 44. Veii, 382, 402, 408, &c. Venice, 592. Vercingetorix, 503. Verona, 559. Verus, 548, 549. Vesontio, 502. Vespasian, 534, 536, 537, &c. Vestal Vii-gins, 384. Vesuvius, 416, 540. Vetranio, 575. Veturius, 419. Vicramaditya, 29, 45. Vindex, JuUus, 533. Virginia, 406. Virginius, 406. Vtriatlius, 467. Viridomai-us, 444. ViteUius, 535, 536. Volscians, 400, 402, 411, 417. Volusianus, 559, 560. Wallia, 588. Xanthippus, 221, 234 ; (U.) 439. Xantbus, 205. Xenopbaues, 209, 210. Xenophon, 292, 294. Xerxes I., 125, 222, &c., 293; (U..) 29 ■ Zactnthos, 303. Zama, 453. Zarmizegetliusa, 544. Zeia, 508. Zend-Avesta, 50, 8cc. Zeno, 210 ; fll.) 597. Zenobia, 562, 563. Zopyrus, 68. Zoroaster, 56, 57. EDINBURGH : FEINTED BY R. AND H. CLAKK. l^ i COLUMBIA UNIVERSTm^BRAR^ 0068368720 BRITTLE DO NOT PHOTOCOPY N*' '^is, '*^ '^^M4t' >'ii. ;.4;..r^|{)(i >>^^:?M^ iMi m