MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 92-80687 MICROFILMED 1993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or other reproduction is not to be *'used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of *'fair use,'* that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. A UTHOR : MYERS, PHILIP VAN NESS TITLE: ANCIENT HISTORY FOR COLLEGES AND HIGH ... PLACE: BOSTON DA TE : 1890 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOHR APHIC MTCRnpORM TARHFT Master Negative # Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record i 374 M9923 Restrictions on Use: Myers, Philip Van Ness, 1846-1937. Ancient history for colleges and high schools. By P V vlli p., Part I, apiMfudix was to be by AV. F. 1890, but vLsIou of 1882. 1 1., 230 p. front., lllus. (Incl. port.) maps. 10i«» the corresponding ,«rt of Myers' Outlines of nncleit hi4?y: 1. Home — Hist. I.lliriiry of C(ini;r<>NM ,' JWU.M007 1800 (20dl| 3— "(KMJ TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SIZE: S^^22/^ REDUCTION RATIO- IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA/lfo IB IIB ■ ' DATE FILMED: Z^Jl2LLlCl^_ INITIALS A) >^ HLMEDBY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS INC WOOnnRmnF ?^ y/>^ r Association for information and Image Management 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 iiiiliiiiliMiliiiiiMiiiii i|l|m|i| iilmiliiiiljiu^ m Inches 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.0 |a|2.8 lA 1.4 1 ^'^ 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 I.I 1.25 71 I M I I I T 5 15 mm iiiiil T MfiNUFflCTURED TO HUM STRNOflRDS BY fiPPLIED IMRGE, INC. ^.^'ti^-'. •■' ,- ^1 A HI STORY OF ROME - ^K^ 1=^*^*5 '^""M?^ 2iA »-5\?- '* -*i:VMr9. m' ^3^^ - i'C'^-ii^^: .m'^- hz : -- , -(^ S ,, ■-m t^ # ;- ^'Js' .w:t: rfis-a';' '-SXmW^- ^ -*» ^J/i**^ M^^' vi"* r> «,-, 5^ ^ *" imf i.ll"» aNl^' '-ji^'K -y t . 0'^Miif ;m -#1 "^&jtfi '4.;-. S,»fe^«i>"?l?-i4i '■■t'. '1-1 rr» i'^ J '^ *^-' ^ ^f/J/* %;*' -"^.«*- 'i" ^:- »»**• ^tj* MYERS -'•>'^^M0&^ «-%.- -*"^^T ..^,T ^M] i-"5>&. -*$■ »^ ' if -I li'^i 1* -J-, ^ «.Jt*e ' ^i' olitical connection w ith the neighboring communities that held possession of the hills immediately about them. The early circumstances of the national life would thus seem to have given a certain legal and political bias to that Roman genius which was destined to give laws to the world. original walls soon became too strait for the increasing multitudes ; new ramparts were built — tradition says under the direction of the king Servius Tullius — which, with a great circuit of seven miles, swept around the entire cluster of the Seven Hills. A large tract of marshy ground between the Palatine and Capitoline hiHs was drained by means of the Cloaca Maxima, the '' (Jreat Sewer," wliich was so admirably constructed that it has been i)rcserved to ilie present day. It still discharges its waters through a great arch into the Tiber. The land thus reclaimed became the lu)rum, VIEW OF THE CAPITOLINE, WITH THE CLOACA MAXIMA. (A Reconstruction.) e assembling-place of the people. At one angle of this public iiiare, as we should term it, was the Comitium, a large platform, iiere the assemblies of the patricians were held. Standing upon is platform, so placed that the speaker could command with his 'ice both the plebeians in the Forum and the patricians in tlie )niitium, was the rostrum,^ or desk, from which tlie Roman ' Called by the Romans the Rostra. Tt was so named because decorated '^h the beaks {rostra) of war-galleys taken from enemies. 8 THE ROM.iy^ KINGDOM. CONSTITUTION OF SERVIUS TULLIUS, orators delivered their addresses. This assembling-place in later times was enlarged and decorated with various monuments and surrounded with splendid buildmgs and porticoes. Here more was said, resolved upon, and done, than upon any other spot in the ancient world. The Senate-house occupied one side of the Forum ; and facmg this on the opposite side were the Temple of Vesta and the palace ^^ I, ROMA OUADRATA THC CITY or ROK^LUS 2.THE SABINE CITY ,,„,., 3.THEC0MITIUM ...|,«.v^^ \ "s£RviUSTULUU8 ,V»i'*'«^i^ % CoeutiS TvAi^^w ft / iiitm- 770 ME oNoe/f rnc KINGS. of the king. Overlooking all from the summit of the Capitolme was the famous sanctuary called the Capitol, or the Capitolme Temple, where beneath the same roof were the shrines of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, the three great national deities. Upon the level ground between the Aventine and the Palatine was located the Circus Maximus, the " Great Circle," where were celebrated the Roman games. The most noted of the streets of Rome was the Via Sacra, or " Sacred Way," which traversed the P^onim and led up the Capitoline Hill to the temple of Jupiter. This was the street along which passed the triumphal processions oi the Roman conquerors. New Constitution of Servius Tullius. — The second king of the Etruscan house, Servius Tullius by name, effected a most impor- tant change in the constitution of the Roman state. He did here at Rome just what Solon at about this time did at Athens.^ He made property instead of birth the basis of the constitution. The entire population was divided into five classes, the first of which included all citizens, whether patricians or plebeians, who owned twenty >^^^;'d! (about twelve acres) of land ; the fifth and lowest embraced all that could show title to even two jugera. The army was made up of the members of the five classes ; as it was tliought right and proper that the public defence should be the care of those who, on account of their possessions, were most in- terested in the maintenance of order and in the protection of the frontiers of the state. The assembling-place of the military classes thus organized was oil a large plain just outside the city walls, called the Campus Martius, or " Field of Mars." The meeting of these military orders was called the comitia centuriata, or the "assembly of hundreds." - This body, which of course was made up of patri- cians and plebeians, gradually absorbed the powers of the earlier patrician assembly {cotfiitia curiaid). The reforms of Servius Tullius were an important step towards the establishment of social and political equality between the two great orders of the state. The new constitution indeed, as Momm- ^cn says, assigned to the plebeians duties only, and not rights : '•ut being called to discharge the duties of citizens, it was not iong before they demanded the rights of citizens; and as the i)earers of arras, they were able to enforce their demands. ^ See Eastern Nations and Greece, p. 203. - This assembly was not organized by Servius Tullius, but it grew out of the ^'lilitary organization he created. THE FOMAN KINGDOM. THE CHIEF ROMAN DEITIES. 11 The Expulsion of the Kings. — The legends make Tarquinius Superbus, or Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome. He is represented as a monstrous tyrant, whose arbitrary acts caused both patricians and plebeians to unite and drive him and all his house into exile. This event, according to tradition, occurred in the year 509 B.C., only one year later than the expulsion of the tyrants from Athens.^ So bitterly did the people hate the tyranny they had abolished that it is said they all, the nobles as well as the commons, bound themselves by most solemn oaths never again to tolerate a king, enacting that should any one so much as express a wish for the restoration of the monarchy, he should be considered a public enemy, and be put to death. We shall hereafter see how well this vow was kept for nearly five hundred years. The Roman Religion. Influence upon Political Affairs. — To the early Romans the gods were very real. Hence religion had a great influence upon the course of public events at Rome during the first centuries of her existence. Later, when the learned had lost faith in and fear of the gods, religion was used corruptly for political purposes. Thus it happens that the political history of the Roman people 1 See Eastern Nations and Greece^ p. 205. The sixth and fifth centuries B.C. in ancient history correspond politically to the eighteenth and nineteenth in modern history. As the later period is characterized, in the political sphere, by the substitution of democracy for monarchy, so was the earlier era marked by the decay of monarchical and the growth of popular forms of government. Speaking of the abolition of mon- archy at Rome, Mommsen says : " How necessarily this was the result of the natural development of things is strikingly demonstrated by the fact that the same change of constitution took place in an analogous manner through the whole circuit of the Italo-Grecian world. Not only in Rome, but like- wise among the other Latins as well as among the Sabellians, Etruscans, and Apulians, —in fact, in all the Italian communities, just as in those of Greece,— we find the rulers for life of an earlier epoch superseded in after times by annual magistrates." becomes closely interwoven with their religion. Therefore, in order to understand the transactions of the period upon which we are about to enter, we must first acquaint ourselves with at least the prominent features of the religious institutions and beliefs of the Romans. The Chief Roman Deities. — The basis of the Roman religious system was the same as that of the Grecian : the germs of its in- stitutions were brought from the same early Aryan home. At the head of the Pantheon stood Jupiter, identical in all essential HEAD OF JANUS. (From a Roman Coin.) attributes with the Hellenic Zeus. He was the special protector of the Roman people. To him, together with Juno and Minerva, was consecrated, as we have already noticed, a magnificent temple upon the summit of the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the Forum and the city. Mars, the god of war, standing next in rank, was the favorite deity and the fabled father of the Roman race, who were fond of calling themselves the " Children of Mars." They jToved themselves worthy offsi)ring of the war-god. Martial games 12 THE ROMAN KINGDOM. THE SACRED COLLEGES. 13 and festivals were celebrated in his honor during the first month of the Roman year, which bore, and still bears, in his honor, the name of March. Janus was a double-faced deity, " the god of the begin- ning and the end of everything." The month of January was sacred to him, as were also all gates and doors. The gates of his temple were always kept open in time of war and shut in time of peace. The fire upon the household hearth was regarded as the symbol of the goddess Vesta. Her worship was a fa- vorite one with the Ro- mans. The nation, too, as a single great family, had a common national hearth, in the Temple of Vesta, where the sa- cred fires were kept burning from genera- tion to generation by six virgins, daughters of the Roman state. ^ The Lares and Penates were household gods. Their images were set in the entrance of the dwell- ing. The Lares were the spirits of ancestors, which were thought to linger about the home as its guardians. Oracles and Divination. — The Romans, like the Greeks, thought that the will of the gods was communicated to men by means of oracles, and by strange sights, unusual events, or smgu- 1 For an interesting account of the remains of the House of the Vestals, brought to light by recent excavations, see Lanciani's Ancient Rome in the Li^ of Recent Discoveries. VESTAL VIRGIN. lar coincidences. There were no true oracles at Rome. The Romans, therefore, often had recourse to those in Magna Grgecia, even sending for advice, in great emergencies, to the Delphian shrine. From Etruria was introduced the art of the haruspices, or soothsayers, which consisted in discovering the will of the gods by the appearance of victims slain for the sacrifices. The Sacred Colleges. — The four chief sacred colleges, or soci- eties, were the Keepers of the Sibylline Books, the College of Augurs, the College of Pontiffs, and the College of the Heralds. A curious legend is told of the Sibylline Books. An old woman came to Tarquinius Superbus and offered to sell him, for an ex- travagant price, nine volumes. As the king declined to pay the sum demanded, the woman departed, destroyed three of the books, and then, returning, offered the remainder at the very same sum' that she had wanted for the complete number. The king still refused to purchase, so the sibyl went away and destroyed three more of the volumes, and bringing back the remaining three, asked the same price as before. Tarquin was by this time so curious respecting the contents of the mysterious books that he purchased the remaining volumes. It was found upon examination that they were filled with prophecies respecting the future of the Roman people. The books, which were written in Greek, were placed in a stone chest, and kept in a vault beneath the Capitoline temple ; and special custodians were appointed to take charge of them and interpret them. The number of keepers, throughout the most important period of Roman history, was fifteen. The books were consulted only in times of extreme danger. The duty of the members of the College of Augurs was to interpret the omens, or auspices, which were casual sights or ap- pearances, by which means it was believed that Jupiter made known his will. Great skill was required in the " taking of the auspices," •^s it was called. No business of importance, public or private, HMS entered upon without first consulting the auspices, to ascertain whether they were favorable. The public assembly, for illustra- tion, must not convene, to elect officers or to enact laws, unless 12 THE I^OMAN' KINGDOM, and festivals were celebrated ill Ills honor during the first month of the Roman year, which bore, and still bears, in his honor, the name of March. Janus was a double-taced deity, '' the god of the begin- ning and the cud of everything." The month of January was sacred to him, as were also all gates and doors. 'I'he gates of his temi)le were always kept open in time of war and shul m time of peace, l^he fire upon the liousehold hearth was regarded as the symbol of the godtless Vesta. Her worship was a fii- vorite one with the Ro- mans. The nation, too, as a single great family, had a common national hearth, in the Temple of Vesta, where the sa- Cfed iies were kept btitliing from genera- tion to generation by six virgins, daughters of the Roman state.^ The Lares and Penates were houseiiold gods. Their images were set in the entrance of the dwell- ing. The Lares were the s])irits of ancestors, which were thought to hnger about the home VESTAL VIRGIN. ? .. as Its guardians. Oracles and Divination. — The Romans, like the Greeks, thought that the will of the gods was communicated to men by means of oracles, and by strange sights, unusual events, or smgu- 1 For an interesting tCCOllflt ©f tie remains of the House of the Vestals, brought to lij^ht l)y recent excavations, see Landani^s Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries. THE SACRED COLLEGES. 13 lar coincidences. There were no true oracles at Rome. I1ie Romans, therefore, often had recourse to those in Magna Gn-ecia, even sending for advice, in great emergencies, to the Deli)hian shrine. From Ivtniria was introchu ed the art of the haruspices, or soothsayers, which consisted in discovering the will of the gods by the api)earance of victims slain for the sacrifices. The Sacred Colleges.— The four chief sacred colleges, or soci- eties, were the Keepers of the Sibylline IJooks, the'^College of •Augurs, the College of Pontiffs, and the C^jllege of the Heralds. A curious legend is told of the Sibylline Dooks. An old woman came to Tarquinius Superbus and offered to sell him, for an ex- travagant price, nine volumes. As the king declined to i)ay the sum demanded, the woman departed, destroyed three of the books, and then, returning, offered the remainder at the very same suni that she had wanted for the complete number. The king still refused to purchase, so the sibyl went away and destroyed three more of the volumes, and bringing back the remaining three, asked the same price as before. Tarcpiin was by this time so curious respecting the contents of the mysterious books that he i)urchased the remaining volumes. It was found upon examination that they were filled with prophecies respecting the future of the Roman people. The books, which were written in Oeck, were placed in a stone chest, and kept in a vault beneath the Capitoline temple ; and special custodians were ai)pointed to take charge of them and interpret them. The mnnber of keepers, throughout the most important period of Roman history, was fifteen. Hie books were 'onsulted only in times of extreme danger. The duty of the members of the College of Augurs was to interpret the omens, or auspices, which were casual sights or ap- I'earances, by which means it was believed that Jupiter made known 'lis will. Great skill was required in the "taking of the auspices," "* it was called. No business of importance, public or private, vas entered upon without first consulting the auspices, to ascertain H-hether they were favorable. The public assembly, for illustra- !on, must not convene, to elect officers or to enact laws, unless 14 THE ROMAN KINGDOM, SACRED GAMES. 15 the auspices had been taken and found propitious. Should a peal of thunder occur while the people were holding a meeting, that was considered an unfavorable omen, and the assembly must instantly disperse. It is easy to see how the power of the augurs might be used corruptly for political ends. At first all the members of the col- lege were patricians, and very frequently they would prevent the plebeians from holding an assembly by giving out that the auspices were not favorable ; and sometimes, when matters were not tak- ing such a course in the popular assembly as suited the nobles and some measure obnoxious to their order was on the point of being carried, they would secure an announcement from the au- gurs that Jupiter was thundering, or manifesting his displeasure in some other way; and the people were obliged to break up their meeting on the instant. One of the privileges contended for by the plebeians was admission to this college, that they might assist in watching the omens, and thus this important matter not be left entirely in the hands of their enemies. The College of Pontiffs was so called probably because one of the duties of its members was to keep in repair the Bridge {pons) of Piles over the Tiber.^ This was the most important of all the religious institutions of the Romans ; for to the pontiffs belonged the superintendence of all religious matters. In their keepmg, too, was the calendar, and they could lengthen or shorten the year which power they sometimes used to extend the office of a favorite or to cut short that of one who had incurred their dis- pleasure. The head of the college was called Pontifex Maximus, or the Chief Bridge-builder, which title was assumed by the Ro- man emperors, and after them by the Christian bishops of Rome ; and thus the name has come down to our times. The College of Heralds had the care of all public matters per- taining to foreign nations. If the Roman people had suffered any 1 See p 20 It is possible that pons originally signified not "bridge." but "way" generally, ^xm\ pontifex therefore meant "constructor of ways." - MOMMSEN. wrong from another state, it was the duty of the heralds to demand satisfaction. If this was denied, and war determined upon, then a herald proceeded to the frontier of the enemy's country and hurled over the boundary a spear dipped in blood. This was a declaration of war. The Romans were very careful in the observance of this ceremony. Sacred Gaines. — The Romans had many religious games and festivals. Prominent among these were the so-called Circensian SUOVETAURILIA. (A lustratory sacrifice of a bull, a sheep, and a swine, which ended a festival known a« the Ambarvalia, in which the fields were purified and blessed.) (James, or Games of the Circus, which were very similar to the sacred games of the Greeks.^ They consisted, in the main, of ' hariot-racing, wrestling, foot-racing, and various other athletic 'ontests. These festivals, as in the case of those of the Greeks, had their * See Eastern Natiom and Greece^ p. i8i. 16 THE ROM.IX JCfNGDOM. LEGENDARY TALES. 17 \ I f origin in the belief that the gods deHghted in the exhibition ot feats of skill, strength, or endurance ; that their anger might be appeased by such spectacles ; or that they might be persuaded by the promise of games to lend aid to mortals in great emergen- cies. At the opening of the year it was customary for the Roman magistrate, in behalf of the people, to promise to the gods games and festivals, provided good crops, protection from pestilence, and victory were granted the Romans during the year. So, too, a general in great straits in the field might, in the name of the state, vow plays to the gods, and the people were sacredly bound to fulfil the promise. Plays given in fulfilment of vows thus made were called votive games.^ Towards the close of the republic these games lost much of their religious character, and at last became degraded into mere bnital shows given by ambitious leaders for the purpose of wmmng popularity. 1 The Saturnalia was a festival held in December in honor of Saturn, the god of sowing. It was an occasion on which all classes, including the slaves, who were allowed their freedom during the celebration, gave themselves up to riotous amusements; hence the significance we attach to the word satuniahan. The well-known Roman Carnival of to-day is a survival of the ancient Satur- nalia. LEGENDARY TALES PERTAINING TO THE EARLY HIS- TORY OF ROME.i \ ^^EAS AND HIS Trojan Companions arrive in Italy. After Troy had been taken by the Greeks, yEneas, led by the Fates, came in search of a new home to the Laurentian ^ shores. King Latinus' when he learned that the leader of the band was ^neas, the son of Anchises by Venus, made a league of friendship with the strangers, and gave his daughter Lavinia in marriage to the Trojan hero, ^neas built a town which he called Lavinium, after the name of his wife. The Trojans and the people of Latium were soon engaged in war with Turnus, king of the Rutulians, to whom Lavinia had been affianced before the coming of .^neas. In the battle that followed, the Rutulians were defeated, but King Latinus was killed ; and thenceforth ^neas was king, not only of the Trojans, but also of the people over whom Lathuis had ruled. To both nations he gave the common name of Latins. ^neas was followed in the government by his son Ascanius, who, hndmg Lavinium too strait for its inhabitants, left that town, and built a new city on the Alban Mount, to which was given the name of Alba Longa. In this city ruled Ascanius and a long line of his descendants. At length, by force and violence, ruled Amulius. He had gained pos- session of the kingdom by dethroning his brother Numitor, putting to death his male olTspring, and making his daughter, Rhea Sylvia, a vestal, in order that she should remain unmarried. But Rhea brought forth twins, of whom the god Mars was declared to be the father. The cruel king ordered the children to be thrown into the Tiber.' Now it so happened that the river had overflowed its banks, and the cradle in which the children were borne was finally left on dry ground by the rctn-ing flood. Attracted by the cries of the children, a she-wolf directed her course to them, and with the greatest tenderness fondled and nursed them. There, in the care of the wolf, a shepherd named Kiustulus found them, and carried them home to his wife, to be reared with his own children. 1 From Livy's History of Rome, I. and II. In this connection read Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome, As to the credibility of these legends, see further on last chapter, paragraph headed " Lays and Ballads of the Legendary Age " 2 Italian. 18 THE ROMAN KINGDOM. LEGENDARY TALES. 19 When the boys had grown t(^be men, they put to death the usurper Amulius, and restored the throne to their grandfather Numitor. Numi- tor now reigned at Alba ; but Romulus and Remus — for so the brothers were named — had a strong desire to build a city on the spot where they had been exposed and rescued. A shameful contest, however, arose between the brothers, as to which of the two should give name to the new city. It was determined that the matter should be decided by augury (see p. 13). Romulus chose the Palatine and Remus the Aventine Hill, from which to watch for the omens. To Remus first appeared six vultures ; afterwards twelve appeared to Romulus. Here- upon each was proclaimed king by his followers, - Remus, on the ground that the birds had shown themselves to him first; Romulus, on the ground that the greater number had appeared to him. A quarrel ensuing, Remus was killed. Another account, however, says that Remust when the walls of the new city had been raised to only a little height, leaped over them in derision; whereupon Romulus in anger slew him, at the same time uttering these words : "So perish every one that shall hereafter leap over my wall." The city was at length built, and was called Rome, from the name of its founder. ( The Romans capture the Sabine Women for Wives. The new city, having been made by Romulus a sort of asylum or refuge for the discontented and the outlawed of all the surrounding states, soon became very populous, and more powerful than either Lavinium or Alba Longa. But there were few women among its in- habitants. Romulus therefore sent embassies to the neighboring cities to ask that his people might take wives from among them. But the adjoining nations were averse to entering into marriage alliances with the men of the new city. Thereupon the Roman youth determined to secure by violence what they could not obtain by other means. Rom- ulus appointed a great festival, and invited to the celebration all the surrounding peoples. The Sabines especially came in great numbers with their wives and daughters. In the midst of the games, the Roman youth, at a preconcerted signal, rushed among the spectators, and seized and carried off to their homes the daughters of their guests. This violation of the laws of hospitality led to a war on the part of the injured Sabines against the Romans. Peace, however, was made between the combatants by the young women themselves, who, as the wives of their captors, had become reconciled to their lot. The two nations were now combined into one, the Sabines removing to one of the Seven Hills. Each people, however, retained its own kin- • but upon the death of the Sabine king, Titus Tatius, Romulus ruled'over both the Romans and the Sabines. During a thunder-storm Romulus was caught up to the skies, and Numa Pompilius ruled in his stead. The Combat between the Horatii and the Curiatil In process of time a war broke out between Rome and Alba Lon-a It might be called a civil war, for the Romans and Albans were alfke descendants of the Trojans. The two armies were ready to en-a-e in battle when it was proposed that the controversy should be decfdSi by ;. combat between three Alban brothers named the Curiatii, and three Roman brothers known as the Horatii. The nation whose champions gamed the victory was to rule over the other. On the signal bein- given, the combat began. Two of the Romans soon fell lifeless and the three Curiatii were wounded. The remaining Roman, whj was unhurt, was now surrounded by the three Albans. To avoid their united attack, he turned and fled, thinking that they, being wounded, would almost certainly become separated in following him. This did actually happen ; and when Horatius, looking back as he fled saw the Cunatii to be following him at diflbrent intervals, he turned himself about and fell upon his pursuers, one after the other, and despatched them. ^ So in accordance with the terms of the treaty which the two cities had made conditioned on the issue of the fight between the champions, Rome held dominion over Alba Longa. But the league between the Komans and the Albans was soon broken, and then the Romans de- 'nohshing the houses of Alba Longa, carried off" all the inhabitants to Kome, and incorporated them with the Roman state.i The Exploit of Horatius Cocles. After the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome, they besought Por- ^nna, king of Clusium, a powerful city of Etruria, to espouse their use, and help them to regain the kingly power at Rome. Porsenna nt a favorable ear to their solicitations, and made war upon the 'Oman state. As his army drew near to Rome, all the people from 1 For the sequel of this story, see Livy, I. 26. 1 1 20 THE ROMAN KINGDOM. the surrounding country hastened within the city gates. The bravery of a single man, Horatius Codes, alone prevented the enemy from effecting an entrance into the city. This man was posted as a guard on the Sublician Bridge (that is, -bridge of piles"), which led across the Tiber from the citadel of the Janiculum. The Janiculum having been taken by the enemy, its defenders were retreating in great disorder across the bridge, and the victors following close after. Horatius Codes called after his fleeing companions to break down the bridge, while he held the pursuers at bay. Taking his stand at the farther entrance of the bridge, he, with the help of two comrades, held the enemy in check, while the structure was being destroyed. As the bridge fell with a crash into the stream. Codes leaped into the water, and amidst a shower of darts swam in safety to the Roman side. Through his brav- ery he had saved Rome. His grateful countrymen erected a statue to his honor in the Comitium, and voted him a plot of land as large as he could plow in a single day. The Fortitude of Mucius SCvEvola. Failing to take Rome by assault, Porsenna endeavored to reduce it by a regular siege. After the investment had been maintained for a considerable time, a Roman youth. Gains Mucius by name, resolved to ddiver the city from the presence of the besiegers by going into the camp of the enemy and killing Porsenna. Through a mistake, how- ever, he slew the secretary of the king instead of the king himself. He was seized and brought into the presence of Porsenna, who threatened him with punishment by fire unless he made a full disclosure of the Roman plots. Mucius, to show the king how little he could be moved by threats, thrust his right hand into a flame that was near, and held it there unflinchingly until it was consumed. Porsenna was so impressed by the fortitude of the youth, that he dismissed him without punisli- ment. From the loss of his right hand, Mucius received the surnanu of Scsevola ; that is. The Left-handed. The sequel of the story is that Porsenna, having learned from Mudus that three hundred Roman youth had entered into a vow to sacrifice themselves, if need be, in order to compass his death, made a treaty ol peace with the Romans and withdrew his army from before their city. THE FIRST CONSULS, 21 CHAPTER II. THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC: CONQUEST OF ITALY. (509-264 B.C.) The First Consuls.— With the monarchy overthrown and the last king and his house banished from Rome, the people set to u'ork to reorganize the government. In place of the king, there were elected (by the comitia ce?ituriata, in which assembly the plebeians had a place) two patrician magistrates, called consuls,^ u'ho were chosen for one year, and were invested with almost all the powers, save some priestly functions, that had been held by the monarch during the regal period. In public each consul was attended by twelve servants, called hctors, each of whom bore an axe bound in a bundle of rods U^sces), the symbols of the authority of the consul to flog and to put to death. Within the limits of the city, however, the axe must be removed from the fasces, by which was indicated that no Roman citizen could be put to death by the consuls without the consent of the public assembly.^ Lucius Junius Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus were the first ronsuls under the new constitution. But it is said that the very name of Tarquinius was so intolerable to the people that he was torced to resign the consulship, and that he and all his house were 1 That is, colleagues. Each consul had the power of obstructing the acts or vetoing the commands of the other. In times of great public danger the con- suls were superseded by a special officer called a dictator, whose term of office was limited to six months, but whose power during this time was as unlimited as that of the kings had been. 2 Each consul also had an assistant who bore the name of quastor The 'luties of the quaestor were at first chiefly of a judicial character, but later they i>ecame in the main of a financial nature. 22 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. THE COVENANT AND THE TRIBUNES. 23 driven out of Rorae.^ Another consul, Publius Valerius, was chosen in his stead. First Secession of the Plebeians (494 b.c.). — Taking advan- II I I" I LICTORS. tage of the disorders that followed the political revolution, the Latin towns which had been forced to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome rose in revolt, and the result was that almost all the con- 1 The truth is, he was related to the exiled royal family, and the people were distrustful of his loyalty to the republic. quests that had been made under the kings were lost. For a long time the litde repubhc had to struggle hard for bare existence.* Troubles without brought troubles within. The poor plebeians, during this period of disorder and war, fell in debt to the wealthy class, — for the Roman soldier went to war at his own charge, equipping and feeding himself, •— and payment was exacted with heartless severity. A debtor became the absolute property of his creditor, who might sell him as a slave to pay the debt, and in some cases even put him to death.^ AH this was intolerable. The plebeians determined to secede from Rome and build a new city for themselves on a neighboring eminence, called afterwards the Sacred Hill. They marched away in a body from Rome to the chosen spot, and began making preparations for erecting new homes (494 b.c). The Covenant and the Tribunes. —The patricians saw clearly that such a division must prove niinous to the state, and that the plebeians must be persuaded to give up their enterprise and come back to Rome. The consul Valerius was sent to treat with the 1 The Romans had to fight both the Latins and the Etruscans. A great victory gained by the Romans at Lake Regillus, 496 B.C.. ended the war, and secured the future of Rome. 2 Livy draws the following picture to show the condition of the poor debtor. One day an old man, pale and emaciated, and clothed in rags tottered into the Forum. To those that crowded about him to inquire the cause of his misery, he related this tale : While he had been away serving in the Sabme war, the crops on his little farm had been destroyed by the enemy IMS house burnt, and his cattle driven off. To pay his taxes, he had been t-rced to run in debt; this debt, growing continually by usury, had consumed ' rst his farm, a paternal inheritance, then the rest of his substance, and at ^ ngth had laid hold of his own person. He had been thrown into prison and >caten with stripes. He then showed the bystanders the marks of scourging •pon his body, and at the same time displayed the scars of the wounds he had • ceived in battle. Thereupon a great tumult arose, and the people, filled with ' 'lignation, ran together from all sides into the Forum. H. 23. Compare the condition of the Roman debtors with that of the same class ^t Athens before the reforms of Solon. See Eastern Nations and Greece \'- 203. j^gajEt TffM EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. THE COVENANT AND THE TRIBUNES. 23 firivcM out of Rome.^ Another consul, Publi us Valerius, was chosen ill' his stead. First Secession of the Pleheians (494 b.c.). — Taking advan- '^y^. 'ittf*^* LICTORS. tage existence another tril,al assembly, which was composed of patricians and - beians, and presided over by consuls or praetors. Some authorities are in- "cd to regard these two assemblies as one and the same body; but others, long whom is Mommsen, with probably better reason, look upon them as ' > distinct organizations. - For the location of the Volscians, the ^quians, and the other enemies of :ne during this period, see map, p. 29. i' 26 THE EARL Y ROMAN REPUBLIC, THE DECEMVIRS. 27 liJ sage from the Senate found him upon his little farm near the Tiber, at work behind the plough. Accepting the office at once, he hastily gathered an army, marched to the relief of the consul, captured the entire army of the ^quians, and sent them beneath the yoke.^ Cincinnatus then led his army back to Rome in triumph, laid down his office, and sought again the retirement of his farm. The Decemvirs and the Tables of Laws. — Written laws are always a great safeguard against oppression. Until what shall constitute a crime and what shall be its penalty are clearly written down, and well known and understood by all, judges may render unfair decisions, or inflict unjust punishment, and yet run lit- tle risk — unless they go altogether too far — of being called to an account; for no one but themselves knows what the law or the penalty really is. Hence in all struggles of the people against the tyranny of the ruling class, the demand for written laws is one of the first measures taken by the people for the protection of their persons and property. Thus we have seen the people of Athens, early in their stniggle with the nobles, demanding and obtaining a code of written laws.^ The same thing now took place at Rome. The plebeians demanded that a code of laws be drawn up, in accordance with which the consuls, who exercised judicial powers, should render their decisions. The patricians offered a stubborn resistance to their wishes, but finally were forced to yield to the popular clamor. A commission was sent to the Greek cities of Southern Italv and to Athens to study the Grecian laws and customs. Upon the return of this embassy, a commission of ten magistrates, who were known as decemvirs, was appointed to frame a code of laws (451 B.C.). These officers, while engaged in this work, were also to administer the entire government, and so were invested with the supreme power of the state. The patricians gave up their ^ This was formed of two spears thrust firmly into the ground and crossed a few feet from the earth by a third. Prisoners of war were forced to pass beneath this yoke as a symbol of submission. ^ See Eastern Nations and Greece^ pp. 201, 203. consuls and the plebeians their tribunes. At the end of the first year, the task of the board was quite far from being finished, so a new decemvirate was elected to complete the work. Appius Claudius was the only member of the old board that was returned to the new. The code was soon finished, and the laws were written on twelve tablets of bronze, which were fastened to the Rostra, or orator's platform in the Forum, where they might be seen and read by all. These " Laws of the Twelve Tables " were to Roman jurisprudence what the good laws of Solon ^ were to the Athenian constitution. They formed the basis of all new legislation for many centuries, and constituted a part of the education of the Roman youth — every school-boy being required to learn them by heart. Especially influential were the Laws of the Twelve Tables in helping to establish social and civil equality between the patricians and plebeians. They tended to efface the social distinctions that had hitherto existed between the two orders, and helped to draw them together into a single people ; for up to this time the rela- tions of the plebeians to the patricians, notwithstanding the reforms of Servius Tullius, had been rather those of foreigners than of fellow-citizens.^ ' ^ See Eastern Nations and Greece^ p. 203. 2 For illustration, up to this time the plebeians had not been allowed to intermarry with the patricians. This was in strict accord with the general rule among the ancients, that the citizens of one city should have no social dealings with those of another. Only a few years, however, after the drawing up of the mIc, and owing in part at least to its influence, a law known, from the tribune f Gaius Canuleius) who secured its passage, as the Canuleian Law, gave the i lebeians the right to intermarry with the patricians. There was now civil and social equality established between the two orders. The plebeians next engaged I a struggle for political rights and political equality (see p. 34). These long - ntests carried on by the plebeians for civil, social, and political rights, and t'leir gradual admission to the privileges from which they had been excluded, •:uy be well illustrated by the case of the freedmen among us, who, by the 'fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to our Constitution, were admitted first ! the civil and then to the political rights and privileges of American citizens. 28 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC, ft Misrule and Overtlirow of the Becemvirs. —The first decem- virs used the great power lodged in their hands with justice and prudence ; but the second board, under the leadership of Appius Claudius, instituted a most infamous and tyrannical rule. No man*s life was safe, be he patrician or plebeian. An ex-tribune daring to denounce the course of the decemvirs, was caused by them to be assassinated. Another act, even more outrageous than this, filled to the brim the cup of their iniquities. Virginia was the beautiful daughter of a plebeian, and Appius Claudius, desiring to gain possession of her, made use of his authority as a judge to pronounce her a slave. The father of the maiden, preferring the death of his daughter to her dishonor, killed her with his own hand. Then, drawing the weapon from her breast, he hastened to the army, which was resisting a united invasion of the Sabines and ^quians, and, exhibiting the bloody knife, told the story of the outrage.^ The soldiers rose as a single man and hurried to the city. The excitement resulted in a great body of the Romans, soldiers and citizens, probably chiefly plebeians, seceding from the state, and marching away to the Sacred Hill. This procedure, which once before had proved so effectual in securing justice to the oppressed, had a similar issue now. The situation was so critical that the decemvirs were forced to resign. The consulate and the tribunate were restored. Eight of the decemvirs were forced to go into exile; Appius Claudius and one other, having been imprisoned, committed suicide (450 b.c). Consular, or Military Tribunes. —The overthrow of the decem- virate was followed by a bitter struggle between the nobles and the commons, which was an effort on the part of the latter to gain admission to the consulship ; for up to this time only a patrician could hold that office. The contention resulted in a compromise. It was agreed that, in place of the two consuls, the people might elect from either order magistrates that should be known as » Livy. m. 44-50. This tale is possibly mythical, but it at least gives a ▼ivid, and doubtless truthful, picture of the times. THE AGER ROMATHIS AND THE LATIN CONFEDERACY In the time of the early Republic, about B.C. 450. f SCALE OF MILES 3: 10 Tht Agtr RomanvM, The Latin Confederacy. The original domain qf the city of Rome. 90 1. The Paaa Qf Algidua. 2. The Alban Mount, 8» Mount Soracte, 30 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VEIL 31 II " military tribunes with consular powers." These officers, whose number varied, differed from consuls more in name than in func- tions or authority. In fact, the plebeians had gained the office, but not the name^ (444 b.c). The Censors. — No sooner had the plebeians secured the right of admission to the tribunate with consular powers, than the jeal- ous and exclusive patricians began scheming to rob them of the fniit of the victory they had gained. They effected this by taking from the consulate some of its most distinctive duties and powers, and conferring them upon two new patrician officers called censors. The functions of these magistrates were many and important. They took the census, and thus assigned to every man his position in the different classes of the citizens ; and they could, for immo- rality or any improper conduct, not only degrade a man from his rank, but deprive him of his vote. It was their duty to watch the public morals and in case of necessity to administer wholesome advice. Thus we are told of their reproving the Roman youths for wearing tunics with long sleeves — an Oriental and effeminate custom — and for neglecting to marry upon arriving at a proper age. From the name of these Roman officers coires our word censorious^ meaning fault-finding. The first censors were elected probably in the year 444 B.C. : about one hundred years afterwards, in 351 n.c, the plebeians secured the right of holding this office also. Siege and Capture of Veil. — We must now turn our attention to the fortunes of Rome in war. Almost from the founding of the city, we find its warlike citizens carrying on a fierce contest with their powerful Etruscan neighbors on the north. Veii was one of the 1 The patricians were especially unwilling that the plebeians should receive the name, for the reason that an ex-consul enjoyed certain dignities and hon- ors, such as the right to wear a particular kind of dress and to set up in his house images of his ancestors. These honorary distinctions the higher order were jealous of retaining exclusively for themselves. Owing to the great influ- ence of the patricians in the elections, it was not until about 400 B.C. that a plebeian was chosen to the new office. largest and richest of the cities of Etruria. Around this the war gathered. The Romans, like the Grecians at Troy, attacked its walls for ten years. The length of the siege, and the necessity of maintaining a force permanently in the field, led to the establishment of a paid standing army ; for hitherto the soldier had not only equipped himself, but had served without pay. Thus was laid the basis of that mili- tary power which was destined to effect the conquest of the world, and then, in the hands (jf ambitious and favorite generals, to over- throw the republic itself. The capture of Veii by the dictator Ca- millus (396 B.C.) was followed by that of many other Etruscan towns. Rome was etruscan archer enriched by their spoils, and became the centre of a large and lucrative trade. The frontiers of the republic were pushed out even beyond the utmost limits of the kingdom before its overthrow.^ All that was lost by the revolution had been now regained, and much besides had been won. At this moment there broke upon the city a storm from the north, which all but cut short the story we are narrating. Sack of Rome by the Gauls (390 B.C.) . — We have already mentioned 1 Trace the gradual growth of the Roman ■^ domain {Ager Romanus) by a comparative ^ study of the sketch-maps on pp. 29, 36, 57. Note, also, the increase in the number of Latin colonies between the dissolution of the Latin Confederacy (see p. 38) and the Second ROMAN SOLDIER. Punic War, as shown by the last two maps. 32 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. THE SACKING OF ROME. 33 i 1 1 how, in very remote times, the tribes of Gaul crossed the Alps and established themselves in Northern Italy (see p. 3). While the Romans were conquering the towns of Etruria, these barbarian hordes were moving southward, and overrunning and devastating the countries of Central Italy. News was brought to Rome that they were advancing upon that city. A Roman army met them on the banks of the river Allia, eleven miles from the capital. The Romans were driven in great panic from the field. It would be impossible to picture the con- sternation and despair that reigned at Rome when the fugitives brought to the city intelligence of the terrible disaster. It was never forgotten, and the day of the battle of the Allia was ever after a black day in the Roman calendar. The sacred vessels of the temples were buried ; the eternal fires of Vesta were hur- riedly borne by their virgin keepers to a place of safety in Etruria ; and a large part of the population fled in dismay across the Tiber. No attempt was made to defend any portion of the city save the citadel. When the Gauls entered the city they found ever)'thing abandoned to them. The aged senators, so the Romans after- wards proudly related, thinking it unworthy of their office to seek safety in flight, resolved to meet death in a befitting way. Arrayed in their robes of office, each with his ivory-headed wand in his hand, they seated themselves in the Forum, in their chairs of state, and there sat, " silent and motionless as statues," while the barbarians were carrying on their work of sack and pillage about them. The rude Gauls, arrested by the venerable aspect of the white-haired senators, gazed in awe upon them, and ofl'ered them no violence. But finally one of the barbarians laid his hand upon the beard of the venerable Papirius, to stroke it under an impulse of childlike reverence. The aged senator, interpreting the movement as an insult, struck the Gaul with his sceptre. The spell was instantly broken. The enraged barbarians struck Papirius from his seat, and then falling upon the other senators massacred them all The little garrison within the Capitol, under the command of the hero Manlius, for seven months resisted all the efforts of the Gauls to dislodge them. A tradition tells how, when the barbarians, under cover of the darkness of night, had climbed the steep rock, and had almost effected an entrance to the ( itadel, the defenders were awakened by the cackling of some ^^eese, which the piety of the famishing soldiers had spared, because these birds were sacred to Juno. News was now brought the Gauls that the Venetians were over- running their possessions in Northern Italy. This led them to open negotiations with the Romans. For one thousand pounds of j(ol(l, according to the historian Livy, the Gauls agreed to retire from the city. As the story runs, while the gold was being weighed out in the Forum, the Romans complained that the weights were false, when Brennus, the Gallic leader, threw his sword also into the scales, exclaiming, "T.^ r/V//V/""Woe to the vanquished." just at this moment, so the tale continues, Camillus, a brave patri- nan general, appeared upon the scene with a Roman army that had been gathered from the fugitives ; and, as he scattered the barbarians with heavy blows, he exclaimed, "Rome is ransomed u ith steel, and not with gold." According to one account Brennus Inmself was taken prisoner; but another tradition says that he escaped, carrying with him not only the ransom, but a vast booty i csides. The Rebuilding of Rome. — When the fugitives returned to :eians transferred to a larger arena. As the no- I'les had oppressed the commons, so now both 'iiese orders united in the ' ppression of the Latins ; the i)lebeians in their ' itered circumstances ' 'getting the lessons of ersity. The Latin al- ei SAMNITE WARRIOR. (From a Vase.) a--: 1 demanded a share in the government, and that the lands mred by conquest should be distributed among them as well miong Roman citizens. The Romans refused. All Latium m revolt against the injustice and tyranny of the oppressor. \fter about three years' hard fighting, the rebellion was sub- 'ggM^ ^^ 38 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. WAR WITH PYRRHUS, 39 dued. The Latin League was now broken up. Four of the towns * retained their independence ; the others, however, were made a part of the Roman domain. The inhabitants of some of these latter cities were admitted to full Roman citizenship, but those of the remainder were reduced virtually to the condition of subjects.- Rome, in a word, had converted the confederacy into an empire, just as Athens a hundred years earlier converted the Delian League into an imperial domain.^ Second and Third Samnite Wars (326-290 p..c.). — In a few years after the close of the Latin contest, the Romans were at war again with their old rivals, the Samnites. Notwithstanding the latter were thoroughly defeated in this second contest, still it was not long before they were again in arms and engaged in their third struggle with Rome. This time they had formed a powerful co- alition which embraced the Etmscans, the Umbrians, the Gauls, and other nations. Roman courage rose with the danger. The united armies of the league met with a most disastrous defeat (at Sentinum, 295 EX.), and the power of the coalition was broken. One after an- other the states that had joined the alliance were chastised. The Gauls were routed, the Etruscans were cnished, and the Samnites were forced to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome. A few years later, almost all of the Greek cities of Southern Italy, save Tarentum, also came under the growing power of the imperial city. War with Pyrrhus (282-272 ii.c-.). — Tarentum was one of the most noted of the Hellenic cities of Magna Grrecia. It was a ^ Tibur, Prneneste, Cora, and Laurentum. Compare maps on pp. 29 and 36. 2 They retained, however, the right of managing their own local affairs. "A town annexed to Rome on these terms, losing its sovereignty and becom- ing a part of the Roman state, hut retaining self-government in local concerns, was called a municipiiim. This device, the mituicipality^ for combining local self-government with imperial relations, is the most important contribution made by Rome to political science." — Allen's Short History of the Roman People^ p. 82. 3 See Eastern Xaiions and Greece^ p. 230. seaport on the Calabrian coast, and had grown opulent through the extended trade of its merchants. The capture of some Roman vessels, and an insult offered to an envoy of the republic by the Tarentines, led to a declaration of war against them by the Roman Senate. The Tarentines turned to Greece for aid. Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, cousin of Alexander the Great, who had an ambition to build up such an empire in the West as his famous kinsman had established in the East, responded to their entreaties, and crossed over into Italy with a small army of Greek merce- naries and twenty war elephants. He organized and drilled the effeminate Tarentines, and soon felt prepared to face the Romans. The hostile armies met at Heraclea (280 b.c). It is said that when Pyrrhus, who had underestimated his foe, observed the skill which the Romans evinced in forming their lines of battle, he exclaimed, in admiration, "In war, at least, these men are 'not barbarians." The battle was won for Pyrrhus by his war ele- phants, the sight of which, being new to the Romans, caused them to flee from the field in dismay. But Pyrrhus had lost thousands of his bravest troops. Victories gained by such losses in a country where he could not recruit his army, he saw clearly, meant final defeat. As he looked over the battle-field he is said to have turned to his companions and remarked, '\ Another such victory and I must return to Epinis alone." He noticed also, :md not without appreciating its significance, that the wounds of the Roman soldiers killed in the action were all in front. " Had f such soldiers," said he, "I should soon be master of the world." ^ The prudence of the victorious Pyrrhus led him to send to tiie Romans proposals of peace. The embassy was headed by f '^'s chief minister, Cineas, of whom Pyrrhus himself often said, • rhe eloquence of Cineas wins me more victories than my sword." ^ Beneath the spoils which he hung as an oflFering in the Temple of Jupiter ' arentum he placed this inscription : — " Those that had never been vanquished yet, Great Father of Olympus, Those have I vanquished in the fight, and they have vanquished me." 40 THE EARL V ROMAN REPUBLIC. WAR WITH PYRRHUS. 41 When the Senate hesitated, its resolution was fixed by the elo- quence of the aged Appius Claudius : " Rome/' exclaimed he, "shall never treat with a victorious foe." The ambassadors were obliged to return to Pyrrhus unsuccessful in their mission. It was at this time that Cineas, in answer to some inquiries of his master respecting the Romans, drew the celebrated parallels that likened their Senate to an assembly of kings, and war against such a people to an attack upon another Hydra. Pyrrhus, according to the Roman story-tellers, who most lav- ishly embellished this chapter of their history, was not more successful in attempts at bribery than in the arts of negotiation. Attempting by large offers of gold to win Fabricius, who had been intrusted by the Senate with an important embassy, the sturdy old Roman replied, " Poverty, with an honest name, is more to be desired than wealth." Another story relates how, when the physician of Pyrrhus went to Fabricius and offered to poison his enemy, Fabricius instantly put the perfidious man in chains, and sent him back to his master for punishment. The sequel of this story is that Pyrrhus con- ceived such an exalted opinion of the Roman sense of honor that he permitted the prisoners in his hands to go to the capital to attend a festival, with no other security for their return than their simple promise, and that not a single man broke his word. After a second victory, as disastrous as his first, Pyrrhus crossed over into Sicily, to aid the Grecians there in their struggle with the Carthaginians. At first he was everywhere successful; but finally fortune turned against him, and he was glad to escape from the island. Recrossing the straits into Italy, he once more en- gaged the Romans, but at the battle of Beneventum suffered a disastrous and final defeat at the hands of the consul Curius Den- tatus (274 B.C.). Leaving a sufficient force to garrison Tarentum, the baffled and disappointed king set sail for Epirus. He had scarcely embarked before Tarentum surrendered to the Romans (272 B.C.). This ended the struggle for the mastery of Italy. Rome was now mistress of all the peninsula south of the Arnus and the Rubicon. It was now her care to consoUdate these possessions, and to fasten her hold upon them by means of a perfect network of colonies ^ and military roads. 1 " Colonies were not all of the same character. They must be distinguished into two classes, — the colonies of Roman citizens and the Latin colonies. The colonies of Roman citizens consisted usually of three hundred men of approved military experience, who went forth with their families to occupy conquered cities of no great magnitude, but which were important as military positions, being usually on the sea-coast. These three hundred families formed a sort of patrician caste, while the old inhabitants sank into the condition formerly occupied by the plebeians at Rome. The heads of these families retained all their rights as Roman citizens, and might repair to Rome to vote in the popu- lar assemblies." — Liddell's History of Rome. The Latin colonies numbered about twenty at the time of the Second Punic War. A few of these were colonies that had l)een founded by the old Latin Confederacy; but the most were towns that had been established by Rome subsequent to the dissolution of the league (see p. 38). The term Latin was applied to these later colonies of purely Roman origin, for the reason that they enjoyed the same rights as the Latin towns that had retained their indepen- dence. Thus the inhal)itants of a Latin colony possessed some of the most valuable of the private rights of Roman citizens, but they had no political rights at the capital. 42 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR, GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION, 43 CHAPTER III. THE FIRST rUNIC WAR. (264-241 B.C.) Carthage and the Carthaginian Empire. — Foremost among the cities founded by the Phoenicians upon the different shores of the Mediterranean was Carthage, upon the northern coast of Africa. The city is thought to have had its beginnings in a small trading-post, established late in the ninth century B.C., about one hundred years before the legendary date of the founding of Rome. The favorable location of the colony, upon one of the best harbors of the African coast, gave the city a vast and lucrative commerce. At the period which we have now reached it had grown into an imperial city, covering, with its gardens and suburbs, a district twenty-three miles in citcuit. It could not have contained less than 1,000,000 inhabitants. A commercial enterprise like that of the mother city, Tyre, and exactions from subject cities and states — for three hundred Libyan cities acknowledged the suze- rainty of Carthage and paid tribute into its treasury — had ren- dered it enormously wealthy. In the third century before our era it was probably the richest city in the world. By the time Rome had extended her authority over Italy, Car- thage held sway, through peaceful colonization or by force ot arms, over all the northern coast of Africa from the Greater Syrti.s to the Pillars of Hercules, and possessed the larger part of Sicily as well as Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic Isles, Southern Spain and scores of little islands scattered here and there in the neigh boring seas. With all its shores dotted with her colonies anc fortresses, and swept in every direction by the Carthaginian war galleys, the Western Mediterranean had become a "Phoenicia] lake," in which, as the Carthaginians boasted, no one dared wash his hands without their permission. Carthaginian Government and Religion. — The government of Carthage, like that of Rome, was republican in form. Corre- sponding to the Roman consuls, two magistrates, called " suffetes," stood at the head of the state. The Senate was composed of the heads of the leading families ; its duties and powers were very like those of the Roman Senate. So well-balanced was the constitu- tion, and so prudent was its administration, that six hundred years of Carthaginian history exhibited not a single revolution. The religion of the Carthaginians was the old Canaanitish wor- ship of Baal, or the Sun. To Moloch, — another name for the fire-god, -—" who rejoiced in human victims and in parents' tears," they offered human sacrifices. Rome and Carthage compared. — These two great republics, which for more than five centuries had been slowly extending their limits and maturing their powers upon the opposite shores of the Mediterranean, were now about to begin one of the most memorable struggles of all antiquity — a duel that was to last, with every vicissitude of fortune, for over one hundred years. As was the case in the contest between Athens and Sparta, so now the tv.'o rival cities, with their allies and dependencies, were very nearly matched in strength and resources. The Romans, it is true, were almost destitute of a navy ; while the Carthaginians had the largest and most splendidly equipped fleet that ever jatrolled the waters of the Mediterranean. But although the ^ arthaginians were superior to the Romans in naval warfare, they were greatly their inferiors in land encounters. The Carthaginian territory, moreover, was widely scattered, embracing extended - )asts and isolated islands; while the Roman possessions were ' nnpact, and confined to a single and easily defended peninsula. Agam, the Carthaginian armies were formed chiefly of mercenaries, lile those of Rome were recruited very largely from the ranks of e Roman people. And then the subject states of Carthage were ^*;ostly of another race, lan^iage, and religion from their Phoeni- 44 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. THE ROMANS BUILD A FLEET. 45 cian conquerors, and were ready, upon the first disaster to the ruling city, to drop away from their allegiance ; while the Latin allies and Italian dependencies of Rome were close kindred to her in race and religion, and so, through natural impulse, for the most part remained loyal to her during even the darkest periods of her struggle with her rival. "^ • The Beginning of the War. — Lying between Italy and the coast of Africa is the large island of Sicily. It is in easy sight of the former, and its southernmost point is only ninety miles from the latter. At the commencement of the First Punic ^ War, the Carthaginians held possession of all the island save a strip of the eastern coast, which was under the sway of the Greek city of Syra- cuse. The Greeks and Carthaginians had carried on an almost uninterrupted struggle through two centuries for the control of the island. The Romans had not yet set foot upon it. But it was destined to become the scene of the most terrible encounters be- tween the armaments of the two rivals. Pyrrhus had foreseen it all. As he withdrew from the island, he remarked, " What a fine battle-field we are leaving for the Romans and the Carthaginians." In the year 264 B.C., on a flimsy pretext of giving protection to some friends,- the Romans crossed over to the island. That act ^ From Poeni^ I^tin for Phoenicians, and hence applied hy the Romans to the Carthaginians, as they were Phoenician colonists. 2 During the war with Pyrrhus, some Campanians, who had been serving as mercenaries in the army of the king of Syracuse, while returning to Italy, conceived the project of seizing the town of Messana, on the Sicilian Straits. They killed the citizens, intrenched themselves in the place, and commenced to annoy the surrounding country with their marauding bands. Hiero, king of Syracuse, besieged the ruffians in their stronghold. The Mamertines, or •* Sons of Mars," — for thus they termed themselves, — appealed to the Romans for aid, basing their claims to assistance upon the alleged fact of common descent from the war-god. Now the Romans had just punished a similar band of Campanian robbers who had seized Rhegium, on the Italian side of the chan- nel. To turn about now and lend aid to the Sicilian band would be the great- est inconsistency. But in case they did not give the assistance asked, it wa^ certain that the Mamertines would look to the Carthaginians for succor; and so Messana would come into the hands of their rivals. committed them to a career of foreign conquest destined to con- tinue till their arms had made the circuit of the Mediterranean. The Syracusans and Carthaginians, old enemies and rivals though they had been, joined their forces against the insolent new-comers. The allies were completely defeated in the first batde, and the Roman army obtained a sure foothold upon the island. In the following year both consuls were placed at the head of formidable armies for the conquest of Sicily. A large portion of the island was quickly overrun, and many of the cities threw off their allegiance to Syracuse and Carthage, and became allies of Rome. Hiero, king of Syracuse, seeing that he was upon the losing side, deserted the cause of the Carthaginians, and formed an alliance with the Romans, and ever after remained their firm friend. The Romans build their First Fleet.— Their experience dur- ing the past campaigns had shown the Romans that if they were to cope successfully with the Carthaginians they must be able to meet them upon the sea as well as upon the land. Not only did the Carthaginian ships annoy the Sicilian coast towns which were already in the hands of the Romans, but they even made descents ui)on the shores of Italy, ravaged the fields and villages, and sailed away with their booty before pursuit was possible. To guard their shores and ward off these attacks, the Romans had no fleet. Their Greek and Etruscan allies were, indeed, maritime peoples, and pos- sessed considerable fleets, which were at the disposal of the Romans. iJiit these vessels were merely triremes, galleys with three banks of oars ; while the Carthaginian ships were quinqueremes, or vessels with five rows of oars. The former were worthless to cope with the latter, such an advantage did these have in their greater weight and height. So the Romans determined to build a fleet of quin- queremes. Now it so happened that, a little while before, a Carthaginian g illey had been wrecked upon the shore of Southern Italy. This •^^Tved as a pattern. It is said that within the almost incredibly 46 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. THE WAR CARRIED INTO AFRICA. 47 short space of sixty days a growing forest was converted into a fleet of one hundred and twenty war-galleys. While the ships were building, the Roman soldiers were being trained in the duties of sailors by practising in rowing, while sitting in lines on tiers of benches built on the land. With the shore ringing with the sounds of the hurried work upon the galleys, and crowded with the groups of" make-beUeve rowers," the scene must have been a somewhat animated as well as ludicrous one. Yet it all meant very serious business. The Eomans gain their First Naval Victory (260 b.c). — The consul C. Duillius was intrusted with the command of the fleet. He met the Carthaginian squadron near the city and prom- ontory of Mylae, on the northern coast of Sicily. A single pre- caution gave the victory to the Romans. Distrusting their abiUty to match the skill of their enemies in manoeuvring their ships, they had provided each with a drawbridge, over thirty feet in length, and wide enough for two persons to pass over it abreast. It was raised and lowered by means of pulleys attached to the mast. The Carthaginian galleys bore down swiftly upon the Roman ships, thinking to pierce and sink with their brazen beaks the clumsy- looking structures. The bridges alone saved the Roman fleet from destruction. As soon as a Carthaginian ship came near enough to a Roman vessel, the gangway was allowed to fall upon the approaching galley ; and the long spike with which the end was armed, piercing the deck, instantly pinned the vessels together. The Roman soldiers, rushing along the bridge, were soon engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict with their enemies, in which species of encounter the former were sure of an easy victory. Fifty of the Carthaginian galleys were captured ; the remainder — t'n '^re were one hundred and thirty ships in the fleet — wisely refusing to rush into the terrible and fatal embrace in which they had seen their companions locked, turned their prows in flight. The Romans had gained their first naval victory. The jo at Rome was unbounded. It inspired, in the more sanguint splendid visions of maritime command and glory. The Med terranean should speedily become a Roman lake, in which no vessel might float without the consent of Rome. Duillius was honored with a magnificent triumph, and the Senate ordained that, in passing through the city to his home at night, he should always be escorted with torches and music. In the Forum was raised a splendid memorial column, "adorned with the brazen beaks of the vessels which his wise ignorance and his clumsy skill had en- abled him to capture." The Eomans carry the War into Africa. — The results of the naval en- gagement at Mylae encouraged the Romans to push the war with re- doubled energy. They resolved to carry it into Africa. An immense Cartha- ginian fleet that disputed the passage of the Roman squadron was almost annihilated,^ and the Romans disem- barked near Carthage. Atilius Regu- liis, one of the consuls who led the army of invasion, sent word to Rome that he had "sealed up the gates of f'arthage with terror." Finally, how- ever, Regulus sufi*ered a crushing defeat md was made prisoner.^ A fleet which ^vas sent to bear away the remnants r the shattered army was wrecked in a terrific storm off" the oast of Sicily, and the shores of the island were strewn with the A reckage of between two and three hundred ships and with the 'dies of 100,000 men. Undismayed at the terrible disaster that had overtaken the ^ Near the Sicilian promontory of Ecnomus, 256 B.C. • The Carthaginians were at this time commanded by an able Spartan gen- "', Xanthippus, who, with a small but disciplined band of Greek mercenaries, ; entered their service. THE COLUMN OF DUILLIUS. (A Restoration.) 48 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR, REGULUS. 49 transport fleet, the Romans set to work to build another, and made a second descent upon the African coast. The expedition, however, accomplished nothing of importance ; and the fleet on its return voyage was almost destroyed, just off" the coast of Italy, by a tremendous storm. The visions of naval supremacy awakened among the Romans by the splendid victories of Mylae and Ecnomus were thus suddenly dispelled by these two successive and appalling disasters that had overtaken their armaments,^ The Battle of Panormus (251 b.c). — For a few years the Romans refrained from tempting again the hostile powers of the sea. Sicily became the battle-ground where the war was con- tinued, although with but little spirit on either side, until the arrival in the island of the Carthaginian general Hasdnibal (251 b.c). He brought with him one huntlred and forty elephants trained in war. Of all the instnmients of death which the Roman soldiers were accustomed to face, none in the history of the legionaries inspired them with such uncontrollable terror as these "wild beasts," as they termed them. The furious rage with which these monsters, themselves almost invulnerable to the darts of the enemv, swept down the opposing ranks with their trunks, and tossed and trampled to pieces the bodies of their victims, was indeed well calculated to inspire a most exaggerated dread. Beneath the walls of Panormus, the consul Metellus drew Hasdrubal into an engagement. He checked the terrific chargt of the war elephants by discharges of arrows dipped in flaming pitch, which caused the frightened animals to rush back upon and cnish through the disordered ranks of the Carthaginians. The result was a complete victory for the Romans. After the battk the Romans induced the drivers of the elephants, which wen roaming over the field in a sort of i)anic, to capture and quiet the creatures. Once in captivity, they were floated across th( Sicilian Straits on huge rafts, and to the number of twenty gracetl the triumphal procession of Metellus. After having been led through the Forum and along the Via Siicra, they were conducted to the Circus, and there slain in the presence of the assembled multitudes. Regulns and the Carthaginian Embassy. — The result of the battle of Panormus dispirited the Carthaginians. They sent an embassy to Rome, to negotiate for peace, or, if that could not be reached, to effect an exchange of prisoners. Among the com- missioners was Regulus, who since his capture, five years before, had been held a prisoner in Africa. Before setting out from Carthage he had promised to return if the embassy were unsuc- cessful. For the sake of his own release, the Carthaginians sup- l)osed he would counsel peace, or at least urge an exchange of prisoners. But it is related, that upon arrival at Rome, he coun- selled war instead of peace, at the same time revealing to the Senate the enfeebled condition of Carthage. As to the exchange of prisoners, he said, '* Let those who have surrendered when they ought to have died, die in the land which has witnessed their disgrace." The Roman Senate, following his counsel, rejected all the pro- posals of the embassy ; and Regulus, in spite of the tears and en- treaties of his wife and friends, turned away from Rome, and set out for Carthage to bear such fate as he well knew the Carthagin- ians, in their disappointment and anger, would be sure to visit upon him. The tradition goes on to tell how, upon his arrival at Carthage, he was confined in a cask driven full of spikes, and then left to die of starvation and pain. This part of the tale has been dis- credited, and the finest touches of the other portions are supposed lo have been added by the story-tellers. Loss of Two More Roman Fleets. —After the failure of the arthaginian embassy, the war went on for several years by land fid sea with many vicissitudes. At last, on the coast of Sicily, i'C of the consuls, Claudius, met with an overwhelming defeat.^ 'most a hundred vessels of his fleet were lost. The disaster used the greatest alarm at Rome. Superstition increased the Jars of the people. It was reported that just before the battle, 1 In a sea-fight at Drepana, 249 u.c. 50 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR, CLOSE OF THE WAR. 51 I when the auspices were being taken, and the sacred chickens would not eat, Claudius had given orders to have them thrown into the sea, irreverently remarking, " At any rate, they shall drink." Imagination was free to depict what further evils the offended gods might inflict upon the Roman state. The gloomiest forebodings might have found justification in subsequent events. The other consul just now met with a great disaster. He was proceeding along the southern coast of Sicily with a squadron of eight hundred merchantmen and over one hundred war-galleys, the former loaded with grain for the Roman army on the island. A severe storm arising, the squadron was beaten to pieces upon the rocks. Not a single ship escaped. The coast for miles was strewn with broken planks, and with bodies, and heaped with vast windrows of grain cast up by the waves. Close of the First Punic War. — The war had now lasted for fifteen years. Four Roman fleets had been destroyed, three of which had been sunk or broken to pieces by storms. Of the fourteen hundred vessels which had been lost, seven hundred were war-galleys, — all large and costly quinqueremes, that is, vessels with five banks of oars. Only one hundred of these had fallen into the hands of the enemy ; the remainder were a sacrificie to the malign and hostile power of the waves. Such successive blows from an invisible hand were enough to blanch the faces even of the sturdy Romans. Neptune manifestly denied to the " Children of Mars " the realm of the sea. It was impossible for the six years following the last disaster to infuse any spirit into the struggle. In 247 B.C., Hamilcar Barca. the father of the great Hannibal, assumed the command of tht Carthaginian forces, and for several years conducted the war wit! great ability on the island of Sicily, even making Rome trembl for the safety of her Italian possessions. Once more the Romans determined to commit their cause t( the element that had been so unfriendly to them. A fleet of tw( hundred vessels was built and equipped, but entirely by private t subscription ; for the Senate feared that public sentiment would not sustain them in levying a tax for fitting up another costly armament as an offering to the insatiable Neptune. This people's s(iuadron, as we may call it, was intrusted to the command of the consul Catulus. He met the Carthaginian fleet under the com- mand of the admiral Hanno, near the ^gatian Islands, and inflicted upon it a cmshing defeat (241 b.c). The Carthaginians now sued for peace. A treaty was at length arranged, the terms of which required that Carthage should give up all claims to the island of Sicily, surrender all her prisoners, and l)ay an indemnity of 3200 talents (about $4,000,000), one-third of which was to be paid down, and the balance in ten yearly pay- ments. Thus ended (241 b.c), after a continuance of twenty- four years, the first great struggle between Carthage and Rome. 52 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, CHAPTER IV. THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. ■ I;'' (218-201 B.C.) Rome between the First and the Second Punic War. The First Roman Province. — For the twenty-three years that followed the close of the first struggle between Rome and Car- thage, the two rivals strained every power and taxed every resource in preparation for a renewal of the contest. The Romans settled the affairs of Sicily, organizing all of it, save the lands belonging to Syracuse, as a province of the republic. This was the first territory beyond the limits of Italy that Rome had conquered, and the Sicilian the first of Roman provinces. But as the imperial city extended her conquests, her provincial possessions increased in number and size until thcv formed at last a perfect cordon about the Mediterranean. Earli province was governed by a magistrate sent out from the capital, and paid an annual tribute, or tax, to Rome. Rome acquires Sardinia and Corsica. — The first acquisition by the Romans of lands beyond the peninsula seems to have created in them an insatiable ambition for foreign conquest^. They soon found a pretext for seizing the island of Sardinia, the most ancient, and, after Sicily, the most prized of the pos- sessions of the Carthaginians. An insurrection breaking out upon the island, the Carthaginians were moving to supprt- it, when the Romans insolently commanded them not only to desist from their military preparations (pretending that thty believed them a threat against Rome), but to surrender Sardini 1, and, moreover, to pay a fine of 1200 talents ($1,500,000). Car- thage, exhausted as she was, could do nothing but compb. THE CORSAIRS ARE PUNISHED, The meanness and perfidy of the Romans in this matter made more bitter and implacable, if that were possible, the Cartha- ginian hatred of the Roman race. Sardinia, in connection with Corsica, which was also seized, was formed into a Roman province. With her hands upon these islands, the authority of Rome in the Western, or Tuscan Sea was supreme. ^ The lUyrian Corsairs are punished. — In a more legitimate way the Romans extended their influence over the seas that wash the eastern shores of Italy. For a long time the Adriatic and Ionian waters had been infested with Illyrian pirates, who issued from the roadsteads of the northeastern coasts of the former sea. These buccaneers not only scoured the seas for merchantmen, but troubled the Hellenic towns along the shores of Greece, and were even so bold as to make descents upon the Italian coasts. The Roman fleet chased these corsairs from the Adriatic, and captured several of their strongholds. Rome now assumed a sort of protectorate over the Greek cities of the Adriatic coasts. This was her first step towards final supremacy in Macedonia and Greece. War with the Oauls. — In the north, during this same period, Roman authority was extended from the Apennines and the Ru- bicon to the foot of the Alps. Alarmed at the advance of the Romans, who were pushing northward their great military road, called the Flaminian Way, and also settling with discharged sol- diers and needy citizens the tracts of frontier land wrested some time before from the Gauls, the Boii, a tribe of that race, stirred up all the Gallic peoples already in Italy, besides their kinsmen who were yet beyond the mountains, for an assault upon Rome. In- telligence of this movement among the northern tribes threw all Italy into a fever of excitement. At Rome the terror was great ; for not yet had died out of memory what the city had once suf- fered at the hands of the ancestors of these same barbarians that were now again gathering their hordes for sack and pillage. An ancient prediction, found in the Sibylline books, declared that a portion of Roman territory must needs be occupied by Gauls. I' 54 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, Hoping sufficiently to fulfil the prophecy and satisfy fate, the Roman Senate caused two Gauls to be buried alive in one of tlie public squares of the capital. Meanwhile the barbarians had advanced into Etruria, ravaging the country as they moved southward. After gathering a large amount of booty, they were carrying this back to a place of safety, when they were surrounded by the Roman armies at Telamon, and almost annihilated (225 B.C.). The Romans, taking advantage of this victory, pushed on into the plains of the Po, captured the city which is now known as Milan, and extended their authority to the foot-hills of the Alps. To guard the new territory, two mili- tary colonies, Placentia and Cremona, were established upon the opposite banks of the Po. Carthage between the First and the Second Punic War. The Truceless War. — Scarcely had peace been concluded with Rome at the end of the First Punic War, before Carthage was plunged into a still deadlier struggle, which for a time threatened her very existence. The mercenary troops, upon their return from Sicily, revolted, on account of not receiving their pay. Their appeal to the native tribes of Africa was answered l>y a general uprising throughout the dependencies of Carthage. The extent of the revolt shows how hateful and hated was the rule of the great capital over her subject states. The war was unspeakably bitter and cruel. It is known in his- tory as "The Tmceless War." At one time Carthage was the only city remaining in the hands of the government. But the genius of the great Carthaginian general, Hamilcar Barca, at last tri- umphed, and the authority of Carthage was everywhere restored. The Carthaginians in Spain. — After the disastrous termination of the First Punic War, the Carthaginians determined to repair their losses by new conquests in Spain. Hamilcar Barca was sent over into that country, and for nine years he devoted his com- manding genius to organizing the different Iberian tribes into a HANNIBAVS VOW. 55 compact state, and to developing the rich gold and silver mines of the southern part of the peninsula. He fell in battle 228 b.c. Hamilcar Barca was the greatest general that up to this time the Carthaginian race had produced. As a rule, genius is not trans- mitted ; but in the Barcine family the rule was broken, and the rare genius of Hamilcar reappeared in his sons, whom he himself, it is said, was fond of calling the " lion's brood." Hannibal, the oldest, was only nineteen at the time of his father's death, and being thus too young to assume command, Hasdrubal;^ the son- in-law of Hamilcar, was chosen to succeed him. He carried out the unfinished plans of Hamilcar, extended and consolidated the Carthaginian power in Spain, and upon the eastern coast founded New Carthage as the centre and capital of the newly acquired ter- ritory. The native tribes were conciliated rather than conquered. The Barcine family knew how to rule as well as how to fight. Hannibal's Vow. — Upon the death of Hasdrubal, which oc- curred 221 B.C., Hannibal, now twenty-six years of age, was by the unanimous voice of the army called to be their leader. When a child of nine years he had been led by his father to the altar ; and there, with his hands upon the sacrifice, the little boy had sworn eternal hatred to the Roman race. He was driven on to his gigantic undertakings and to his hard fate, not only by the restless fires of his warlike genius, but, as he himself declared, by the sacred obligations of a vow that could not be broken. Hannibal attacks Sagontum. — In two years Hannibal extended the Carthaginian power to the Ebro. Saguntum, a Greek city upon the east coast of Spain, alone remained unsubdued. The Romans, who were jealously watching affairs in the peninsula, had entered into an alliance with this city, and taken it, with other Greek cities in that quarter of the Mediterranean, under their pro- tection. Hannibal, although he well knew that an attack upon this place would precipitate hostilities with Rome, laid siege to it 1 Not to be confounded with Hannibal's own brother, Hasdrubal. See p. 65. 56 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. in the spring of 219 B.C. He was eager for the renewal of the old contest. The Roman Senate sent messengers to him forbidding his making war upon a city which was a friend and ally of the Roman people ; but Hannibal, disregarding their remonstrances, continued the siege, and after an investment of eight months gained possession of the town. The Romans now sent commissioners to Carthage to demand of the Senate that they should give up Hannibal to them, and by so doing repudiate the act of their general. The Carthaginians hesitated. Then Quintus Fabius, chief of the embassy, gathering up his toga, said : " 1 carry here peace and war ; choose, men of Carthage, which ye will have." " (iive us whichever ye will," was the reply. "War, then," said Fabius, dropping his toga. The " die was now cast ; and the arena was cleared for the foremost, perhaps the mightiest, military genius of any race and of any time." ^ The Second Punic War. Hannibal begins his March. — The Carthaginian empire was now stirred with preparations for the impending struggle. Han- nibal was the life and soul of every movement. He planned and executed. The Carthaginian Senate acquiesced in and tardily confirmed his acts. His bold plan was to cross the Pyrenees and the Alps and descend upon Rome from the north. He secured the provinces in Spain and Africa by placing garrisons of Iberians in Africa and of Libyans in the peninsula. Ambassadors were sent among the GalHc tribes on both sides of the Alps, to invite them to be ready to join the army that would soon set out from Spain. With these preparations completed, Hannibal left New Carthage early in the spring of^2i8 b.c, with an army numbering about 100,000 men, and including thirty-seven war-elephants. A hostile country lay between him and the Pyrenees. Through the warlike tribes that resisted his march he forced his way to the foot of the ^ Smith's Carthage and Rome ^ p. 114. 58 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. mountains that guard the northern frontier of Spain. More than 20,000 of his soldiers were lost in this part of his march. Passage of the Pyrenees and the Rhone. — Leaving a strong force to garrison the newly conquered lands, and discharging 10,000 more of his men who had begun to murmur because of their hardships, he pushed on with the remainder across the Pyrenees, and led them down into the valley of the Rhone. The Gauls attempted to dispute the passage of the river, but they were routed, and the army was ferried across the stream in native boats and on rudely constructed rafts. Passage of the Alps. — Hannibal now followed up the course of the Rhone, and then one of its eastern tributaries, the Is^re, until he reached the foot-hills of the Alps, probably under the pass of the Litde St. Ber- nard. Nature and man joined to op- pose the passage. The season was already far advanced, — it was Octo- ber, — and snow was falling upon the higher portions of the trail. Day after day the army toiled painfully up the dangerous path. In places the narrow way had to be cut wider for the monstrous bodies of the elephants. Often avalanches of stone were hurled upon the trains by the hostile bands that held posses- sion of the heights above. At last the summit was gained, and the shivering army looked down into the warm haze of the Italian plains. The sight alone was enough to rouse the drooping spirits of the soldiers ; but Hannibal stirred them to enthusiasm by addressing them with these words : " You are standing upon the Acropolis of Italy; yonder lies Rome." The army began its descent, and at length, after toils and losses equalled only by those of the ascent, its thin battalions issued from the defiles of the mountains upon the plains of the Po. Of the 50,000 men and HANNIBAL BATTLES OF THE TICINUS, TREBIA, ETC, 59 more with which Hannibal had begun the passage, barely half that number had survived the march, and these "looked more like phantoms than men." Battles of the Ticinus, the Trebia, and of Lake Trasime- nus. — The Romans had not the remotest idea of Hannibal's plans. With war determined upon, the Senate had sent one of the consuls, Ti. Sempronius Longus, with an army into Africa by the way of Sicily ; while the other, Publius Cornelius Scipio, they had directed to lead another army into Spain. While the Senate were watching the movements of these expe- ditions, they were startled with the intelligence that Hannibal, instead of being in Spain, had crossed the Pyrenees and was among the Gauls upon the Rhone. Sempronius was hastily recalled from his attempt upon Africa, to the defence of Italy. Scipio, on his way to Spain, had touched at Massilia, and there learned of the movements of Hannibal. He turned back, hur- ried into Northern Italy, and took command of the levies there. The cavalry of the two armies met upon the banks of the Ticinus, a tributary of the Po. The Romans were driven from the field by the fierce onset of the Numidian horsemen. Scipio now awaited the arrival of the other consular army, which was hurrying up through Italy by forced marches. In the battle of the Trebia (218 B.C.) the united armies of the two consuls were almost annihilated. The refugees that escaped from the field sought shelter behind the walls of Placentia. The Gauls, who had been waiting to see to which side fortune would incline, now flocked to the standard of Hannibal, and hailed him as their deliverer. The spring following the victory at the Trebia, Hannibal led his army, now recruited by many Gauls, across the Apennines, and moved southward. At Lake Trasi menus he entrapped the Romans under Flaminius in a mountain defile, where, bewildered by a fog that filled the valley, the greater part of the army was slaughtered, and the consul himself was slain. Hannibal's Policy. — The way to Rome was now open. Be- 60 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, THE POLICY OF FABIUS VINDICATED, 61 \\ I lieving that Hannibal would march directly upon the capital, the Senate caused the bridges that spanned the Tiber to be destroyed, and appointed Fabius Maximus dictator. But Hannibal did not deem it wise to throw his troops against the walls of Rome. Crossing the Apennines, he touched the Adriatic at Picenum, whence he sent messages to Carthage of his wonderful achieve- ments. Here he rested his army after a march that has few parallels in the annals of war. In one respect only had events disappointed Hannibal's ex- pectations. He had thought that all the states of Italy were, like the Gauls, ready to revolt from Rome at the first opportunity that might offer itself. But not a single city had thus far proved unfaithful to Rome. The aid which Hannibal expected from the Italians, and which he invited by the kindest treatment of those who fell into his hands as prisoners, he was destined never to receive. Fabius "the Delayer." — The dictator Fabius, at the head of four new legions, started in pursuit of Hannibal, who was again on the move. The fate of Rome was in the hands of Fabius. Should he risk a battle and lose it, the destiny of the capital would be sealed. He determined to adopt a more prudent policy — to follow and annoy the Carthaginian army, but to refuse all proffers of battle. Thus time might be gained for raising a new army and perfecting measures for the public defence. In every possible way Hannibal endeavored to draw his enemy into an engagement. He ravaged the fields far and wide and fired the homesteads of the Italians, in order to force Fabius to fight in their defence. The soldiers of the dictator began to murmur. They called him Cunctator, or " the Delayer." They even accused him of treach- ery to the cause of Rome. But nothing moved him from the steady pursuit of the policy which he clearly saw was the only prudent one to follow. Hannibal marched through Samnium, desolating the country as he went, and then descended upon the rich plains of Campania. Fabius followed him closely, and from the mountains, which he would not allow his soldiers to leave, they were obliged to watch, with such calmness as they might com- mand, the devastations of the enemy going on beneath their very eyes. They besought Fabius to lead them down upon the plain, where they might at least strike a blow in defence of their homes. Fabius was unmoved by their clamor. He planned, however, to entrap Hannibal. Knowing that the enemy could not support themselves in Campania through the approaching winter, but must recross the mountains into Apulia, he placed a strong guard in the pass by which they must retreat, and then quietly awaited their movements. Hannibal, we are told, resorted to stratagem to draw away the defenders of the mountain path. To the horns of two thousand oxen he caused burning torches to be fastened, and then these animals were driven one night up among the hills that overhung the pass. These creatures, frantic with pain and fright, rushed along the ranges that bordered the pass, and led the watchers there to believe that the Carthaginians were forcing their way over the hills in a grand rush. Straightway the guardians of the pass left their position to intercept the flying enemy. While they were pursuing the cattle, Hannibal marched quietly with all his booty through the unguarded defile, and escaped into Samnium. The Policy of Fabius vindicated. — The escape of the Car- thaginian army caused the smothered discontent with Fabius and his policy to break out into open opposition, both among the citi- zens at the capital and the soldiers in the camp. Minucius, com- mander of the cavalry, disobeyed the orders of the dictator to refrain from any engagement with the enemy, and was so fortunate as to gain a slight success. This brought matters to a crisis. By a vote of the public assembly Minucius was made co-dictator with Fabius. He now sought an engagement with the Carthaginians. An opportunity soon presented itself. But fortune was against him ; and had it not been for the timely assistance of Fabius, his forces would have been cut to pieces. Minucius at once acknowl- edged the rashness of his policy, and took again his old position as a subordinate; while Fabius, by universal acclamation, was declared the " Savior of Rome." 62 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, EVENTS AFTER THE BATTLE OF CANN^. 63 •1! S|i The Battle of CannaB (216 b.c). — The time gained by Fabius had enabled the Romans to raise and discipline an army that might hope to combat successfully the Carthaginian forces. Early in the summer of the year 216 B.C., these new levies, number- ing 80,000 men, under the command of the two consuls,^ con- fronted the army of Hannibal, amounting to not more than half that number, at Cannae, in Apulia. It was the largest army the PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF CANJiE ▲rTEB STRACHKN-DAVID60K. GREATER ROMAN CAMP ^RMeb ^ ALLIES '^^Wfl^ AF«»C/^ Pompey and the Third ^ Mithradatic War (74-64 b.c.). — In the very year that Pompey suppressed the pirates, he was called upon to undertake a more difficult task. Mithradates the Great, led on by his ambition, and encouraged by the discontent created throughout the Eastern provinces by Roman rapacity and misrule, was again in arms against Rome. He had stirred almost all Asia Minor to revolt. The management of the war was at first in- trusted to the consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus, but he soon lost the confidence both of the people at home and of the soldiers in the army; so the command was taken from him and conferred upon Pompey, whose success in the war of the pirates had aroused unbounded enthusiasm for him. In a great batde in Lesser Armenia, Pompey almost annihilated the army of Mithradates. The king fled from the field and, after seeking in vain for a refuge in Asia Minor, sought an asylum beyond the Caucasus Mountains, whose bleak barriers interposed their friendly shield between him and his pursuers. Desisting from the pursuit, Pompey turned south and conquered Sy- ria, Phoenicia, and Coele-Syria, which coun- tries he erected into a Roman province. Still pushing southward, the conqueror entered Palestine, and after a short siege captured Jerusalem (63 B.C.). It was at this time that Pompey insisted, in spite of the protestations of the high priest, upon entering the Holy of Holies of the Hebrew temple. Pushing aside the curtain to the jealously guarded apartment, he was astonished to find nothing but a dark and vacant chamber, without even a statue of the god to whom the shrine was dedicated — nothing but a little chest (the Ark of the Covenant) containing some sacred relics. 1 The so-called Second Mithradatic War (83-82 B.C.) was a short conflict be- tween the Romans and Mithradates that arose just after the close of the First MITHRADATES VI. (The Great.) •I I 98 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, While Pompey was thus engaged, Mithradates was straining every energy to raise an army among the Scythian tribes with which to carry out a most daring project. He proposed to cross Europe and fall upon Italy from the north. A revolt on the part of his son Phamaces ruined all his plans and hopes; and the disappointed monarch, to avoid falling into the hands of the Romans, took his own life (63 b.c). His death removed one of the most formidable enemies that Rome had ever encountered. Hamilcar, Hannibal, and Mithradates were the three great names that the Romans always pronounced with respect and dread. Pompey's Triumph. — After regulating the affairs of the different states and provinces in the East, Pompey set out on his return to Rome, where he enjoyed such a triumph as never before had been seen since Rome had become a city. The spoils of all the East were borne in the procession; 322 princes walked as captives before the triumphal chariot of the conqueror ; legends upon the banners proclaimed that he had conquered 21 kings, captured 1000 strongholds, 900 towns, and 800 ships, and subjugated more than 1 2,000,000 people ; and that he had put into the treasury more than 1*25,000,000, besides doubHng the regular revenues of the state. He boasted that three times he had triumphed, and each time for the conquest of a continent — first for Africa, then for Europe, and now for Asia, which completed the conquest of the world. The Conspiracy of Catiline (64-62 b.c.). — While the legions were absent from Italy with Pompey in the East, a most daring conspiracy against the government was formed at Rome. Catiline, a ruined spendthrift, had gathered a large company of profligate young nobles, weighed down with debts and desperate like himself, and had deliberately planned to murder the consuls and the chief men of the state, and to plunder and burn the capital. The offices of the new government were to be divided among the conspira- tors. They depended upon receiving aid from Africa and Spain, and proposed to invite to their standard the gladiators in the various schools of Italy, as well as slaves and criminals. The CMSAR, CRASS US, AND POMPEY. 99 proscriptions of Sulla were to be renewed, and all debts were to be cancelled. Fortunately, all the plans of the conspirators were revealed to the consul Cicero, the great orator. The Senate immediately clothed the consuls with dictatorial power with the usual formula that they " should take care that the republic received no harm.'' The gladiators were secured ; the city walls were manned ; and at every point the capital and state were armed against the "invisible foe." Then in the Senate-chamber, with Catiline himself present, Cicero exposed the whole conspiracy in a famous philippic, known as "The First Oration against Catiline." The senators shrank from the conspirator, and left the seats about him empty. After a feeble effort to reply to Cicero, overwhelmed by a sense of his guilt, and the cries of " traitor " and " parricide " from the senators, Catiline fled from the chamber, and hurried out of the city to the camp of his followers in Etruria. In a desperate battle fought near Pistoria (62 b.c), he was slain with many of his followers. His head was borne as a trophy to Rome. Cicero was hailed as the " Savior of his Country." Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey. — Although the conspiracy of Catiline had failed, it was very easy to foresee that the downfall of the Roman repubhc was near at hand. Indeed, from this time on, only the name remains. The basis of the institutions of the republic— the old Roman virtue, integrity, patriotism, and faith in the gods — was gone, having been swept away by the tide of luxury, selfishness, and immorality produced by the long series of foreign conquests and robberies in which the Roman people had been engaged. The days of Hberty at Rome were over. From this time forward the government was really in the hands of ambitious and popular leaders, or of corrupt combinations and " rings." Events gather about a few great names, and the annals of the republic become biographical rather than historical. There were now in the state three men — Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey — who were destined to shape affairs. , Gaius JuHus Caesar was born in the year 100 b.c. Although descended from an old ■■■) 1 100 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, patrician family, still his sympathies, and an early marriage to the daughter of Cinna, one of the adherents of Marius, led him early to identify himself with the Marian, or democratic party. In every way Caesar courted public favor. He lavished enormous sums upon public games and tables. His debts are said to have amounted to 25,000,000 sesterces ($ 1,250,000). His popularity was unbounded. A successful campaign in Spain had already made known to himself, as well as to others, his genius as a commander. Marcus Licinius Crassus belonged to the senatorial, or aristo- cratic party. He owed his influence to his enormous wealth, being one of the richest men in the Roman world. His property was estimated at 7100 talents (about $8,875,000).^ With Gnseus Pompey and his achievements we are already familiar. His influence throughout the Roman world was great \ for, in settling and reorganizing the many countries he subdued, he had always taken care to reconstruct them in his own interest, as well as in that of the republic. The offices, as we have seen, were filled with his friends and adherents (see p. 93). This patronage had secured for him incalculable authority in the provinces. His veteran legionaries, too, were naturally devoted to the general who had led them so often to victory. ^ " The greatest part of this fortune, if we may declare the truth, to his extreme disgrace, was gleaned from war and from fires; for he made a traffic of the public calamities. When Sulla had taken Rome, and sold the estates of those whom he had put to death, which he both reputed and called the spoils of his enemies, he was desirous of involving all persons of consequence in his crime, and he found in Crassus a man who refused no kind of gift or purchase. Crassus observed also how liable the city was to fires, and how frequently houses fell down; which misfortunes were owing to the weight of the buildings, and their standing so close together. In consequence of this, he provided himself with slaves who were carpenters and masons, and went on collecting them till he had upwards of five hundred. Then he made it his business to buy houses that were on fire, and others that joined upon them; and he commonly had them at a low price by reason of the fire, and the distress the owners were in about the event. [Then the slaves would set to work and extinguish the fire, and Crassus at a smr.ll* cost would repair the damage.] Hence in time he became master of a great part of Rome." — Plutarch. THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE. 101 The First Triumvirate (60 b.c). — What is known as the First Triumvirate rested on the genius of Caesar, the wealth of Crassus, and the achievements of Pompey. It was a coalition or private arrangement entered into by these three men for the purpose of securing to themselves the control of public affairs. Each pledged himself to work for the interests of the others. Caesar was the manager of the " ring." He skilfully drew away Pompey from the aristocratical party, and effected a reconciliation between him and Crassus, for they had been at enmity. It was agreed that Crassus and Pompey should aid Caesar in securing the consulship. In return for this favor, Caesar was to secure for Pompey a confirmation of his acts in the East, and allotments of land for his veterans, concessions which thus far had been jealously withheld by the senatorial party. Everything fell out as the triumvirs had planned : Caesar got the consulship, and Pompey received the lands for his soldiers. The two ablest senatorial leaders, Cato and Cicero, whose incor- ruptible integrity threatened the plans of the triumvirs, were got out of the way. Cato was given an appointment which sent him into honorable exile to the island of Cyprus ; while Cicero, on the charge of having denied Roman citizens the right of trial in the matter of the Catiline conspirators, was banished from the capital, his mansion on the Palatine was razed to the ground, and the remainder of his property confiscated. Caesar's Conquests in Gaul and Britain (58-51 b.c). — At the end of his consulship, Caesar had assigned him the administra- tion of the provinces of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul. Already he was revolving in his mind plans for seizing supreme power. Beyond the Alps the Gallic and Germanic tribes were in restless movement. He saw there a grand field for military exploits, which should gain for him such glory and prestige as, in other fields, had been won, and were now enjoyed, by Pompey. With this achieved, and with a veteran army devoted to his interests, he might hope easily to attain that position at the head of affairs towards which his ambition was urging him. I 102 Z^^r CENTUIi Y OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, In the spring of 58 n.c. alarming intelligence from beyond the Alps caused Caesar to hasten from Rome into Transalpine Gaul. Now began a series of eight brilliant campaigns directed against the various tribes of Gaul, Germany, and Britain. In his admi- rable " Commentaries " Cjesar himself has left us a faithful and graphic account of all the memorable marches, battles, and sieges that filled the years between 58 and 51 k.c. CcTsar's first campaign after arriving in Gaul was directed against the Helvetians. These people, finding themselves too much crowded in their narrow territory, hemmed in as they were be- tween the Alps and the Jura ranges, had resolved to seek broader fields in the Roman provinces across the Rhone. Disregarding the commands of Caesar, the entire nation, numbering with their allies 368,000 souls, left their old homes, and began their west- ward march. In a great battle Caesar completely defeated the barbarians, and forced them back into their old home between the mountains, now quite large enough for the survivors, as barely a third of those that set out returned. Caesar next defeated the Suevi, a German tribe that, under the great chieftain Ariovistus, had crossed the Rhine, and were seek- ing settlements in Gaul. These people he forced back over the Rhine into their native forests. The two years following this cam- paign were consumed in subjugating the different tribes in North- ern and Western Gaul, and in composing the affairs of the country. In the war with the Veneti was fought the first historic naval battle upon the waters of the Atlantic. The year 55 b.c. marked two great achievements. Eariy in the spring of this year Caesar constructed a bridge across the Rhine, and led his legions against the Germans in their native woods and swamps. In the autumn of the same year he crossed, by means of hastily constructed ships, the channel that separates the main- land from Britain, and after maintaining a foothold upon that island for two weeks withdrew his legions into Gaul for the winter. The following season he made another invasion of Britain ; but, after some encounters with the fierce barbarians, recrossed to the RESULTS OF THE GALLIC WARS. 103 mainland, without having established any permanent garrisons in the island. Almost one hundred years passed away before the natives of Britain were again molested by the Romans (see p. 128). In the year 52 B.C., while Caesar was absent in Italy, a general revolt occurred among the Gallic tribes. It was a last desperate struggle for the recovery of their lost independence. Vercingeto- rix, chief of the Arverni, was the leader of the insurrection. For a time it seemed as though the Romans would be driven from the country. But Caesar's despatch and genius saved the province to the republic. Vercingetorix and 80,000 of his warriors were shut up in Alesia, and were finally starved into submission. All Gaul was now quickly reconquered and pacified. In his campaigns in Gaul, Caesar had subjugated 300 tribes, captured 800 cities, and slain 1,000,000 barbarians — one third of the entire population of the country. Another third he had taken prisoners. Great enthusiasm was aroused at Rome by these victo- ries. " Let the Alps sink," exclaimed Cicero : " the gods raised them to shelter Italy from the barbarians ; they are now no longer needed." Results of the Gallic Wars. — One result of the Gallic wars of Caesar was the Romanizing of Gaul. The country was opened to Roman traders and settlers, who carried with them the language, customs, and arts of Italy. Honors were conferred upon many of the Gallic chieftains, privileges were bestowed upon cities, and the franchise even granted to prominent and influential natives. As another result of the conquest of the country, Mommsen gives prominence to the checking of migratory movements of the Ger- man tribes, which gave '* the necessary interval for Itahan civiHza- tion to become established in Gaul, on the Danube, in Africa, and in Spain." Crassus in the East. — In the year 56 b.c, while Caesar was in the midst of his Gallic wars, he found time to meet Pompey, Cras- sus, and two hundred senators and magistrates who co-operated with the triumvirs, at Lucca, in Etruria, where, in a sort of conven- tion, arrangements were made for another term of five years. (A 104 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. nomination by this league or "ring" of politicians and generals was equivalent to an election.) It was agreed that Caesar's command in Gaul should be extended five years, and that Crassus and Pompey should be made consuls. All these measures were carried into effect, the elections at Rome being secured by intimidation, and by the votes of soldiers of the Gallic legions, to whom Caesar had granted furloughs for this purpose. The government of the two Spains was given to Pompey, while that of Syria was assigned to Crassus. The latter hurried tp the East, hoping to rival there the brilliant conquests of Caesar in the West. At this time the great Parthian empire occupied the immense reach of territory stretching from the valley of the Euphrates to that of the Indus. Notwithstanding that the Parthians were at peace with the Roman people, Crassus led his army across the Euphrates, and invaded their territory, intent upon a war of conquest and booty. In the midst of the Mesopotamian desert he was treacherously deserted by his guides ; and his army, suddenly attacked by the Parthian cavalry, was almost annihilated. Crassus himself was slain, and his head, so it is said, was filled by his captors with molten gold, that he might be sated with the metal which he had so coveted during life. In the death of Crassus, Caesar lost his stanchest friend, one who had never failed him, and whose wealth had been freely used for his advancement. When Caesar, before his consulship, had received a command in Spain, and the immense sums he owed at Rome were embarrassing him and preventing his departure, Cras- sus had come forward and generously paid more than a million dollars of his friend's debts. Eivalry between Caesar and Pompey. — After the death of Crassus the world belonged to Caesar and Pompey. That the in- satiable ambition of these two rivals should sooner or later bring them into collision was inevitable. Their alliance in the triumvi- rate was simply one of selfish convenience, not of friendship. While Caesar was carrying on his brilliant campaigns in Gaul, Pom- pey was at Rome watching jealously the growing reputation of his RIVALRY BETWEEN CMSAR AND POMPEY, 105 great rival. He strove, by a princely liberaHty, to win the affec- tions of the common people. On the Field of Mars he erected an immense theatre with seats for 40,000 spectators. He gave mag- nificent games and set public tables ; and when the interest of the people in the sports of the Circus flagged, he entertained them with gladiatorial combats. In a similar manner Csesar strength- ened himself with the people for the struggle which he plainly fore- saw. He sought in every way to ingratiate himself with the Gauls : he increased the pay of his soldiers, conferred the privileges of Roman citizenship upon the inhabitants of different cities, and sent to Rome enormous sums of gold to be expended in the erec- tion of temples, theatres, and other public structures, and in the celebration of games and shows that should rival in magnificence those given by Pompey. The terrible condition of affairs at the capital favored the ambi- tion of Pompey. So selfish and corrupt were the members of the Senate, so dead to all virtue and to every sentiment of patriotism were the people, that even such patriots as Cato and Cicero saw no hope for the maintenance of the republic. The former favored the appointment of Pompey as sole consul for one year, which was about the same thing as making him dictator. " It is better," said Cato, " to choose a master than to wait for the tyrant whom anar- chy will impose upon us." The " tyrant " in his and everybody's mind was Caesar. Pompey now broke with Caesar, and attached himself again to the old aristocratical party, which he had deserted for the alliance and promises of the triumvirate. The death at this time of his wife Julia, the daughter of Caesar, severed the bonds of relation- ship at the same moment that those of ostensible friendship were broken. CaBsar crosses the Rubicon (49 b.c.). — Csesar now demanded the consulship. He knew that his life would not be safe in Rome from the jealousy and hatred of his enemies without the security from impeachment and trial which that office would give. The Senate, under the manipulation of these same enemies, issued a 106 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, decree that he should resign his office, and disband his Gallic legions by a stated day. The crisis had now come. Caesar ordered his legions to hasten from Gaul into Italy. Without wait- ing for their arrival, at the head of a small body of veterans that he had with him at Ravenna, he crossed the Rubicon, a little stream that marked the boundary of his province. This was a declaration of war. As he plunged into the river, he exclaimed, " The die is cast ! " The Civil War between Caesar and Pompey (49-48 b.c.).— The bold movement of Caesar produced great consternation at Rome. Realizing the danger of delay, Caesar, without waiting for the Gallic legions to join him, marched southward. One city after another threw open its gates to him ; legion after legion went over to his standard. Pompey and a great part of the senators hastened from Rome to Brundisium, and thence with about 25,000 men fled across the Adriatic into Greece. Within sixty days Caesar made himself undisputed master of all Italy. Pompey and Caesar now controlled the Roman worid. It was large, but not large enough for both these ambitious men- As to which was likely to become sole master it were difficult for one watching events at that time to foresee. Caesar held Italy, Illyri- cum, and Gaul, with the resources of his own genius and the idolatrous attachment of his soldiers ; Pompey controlled Spain, Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Greece, and the provinces of Asia, with the prestige of his great name and the enormous resources of the East. Cesar's first care was to pacify Italy. His moderation and prudence won all classes to his side. Many had looked to see the terrible scenes of the days of Marius and Sulla re-enacted. Caesar, however, soon gave assurance that life and property should be held sacred. He needed money ; but to avoid laying a tax upon the people, he asked for the treasure kept beneath the Capitol. Legend declared that this gold was the actual ransom-money which Brennus had demanded of the Romans and which Camillus had saved by his timely appearance (see p. 33). It was esteemed THE B A TILE OF PHARSALUS, 107 sacred, and was never to be used save in case of another Gallic invasion. When Caesar attempted to get possession of the treasure, the tribune Metellus prevented him ; but Caesar impatiently brushed him aside, saying, " The fear of a Gallic invasion is over : I have subdued the Gauls." With order restored in Italy, Caesar's next movement was to gain control of the wheat-fields of Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa. A single legion brought over Sardinia without resistance to the side of Caesar. Cato, the lieutenant of Pompey, fled from before Curio out of Sicily. In Africa, however, the lieutenant of Caesar sustained a severe defeat, and the Pompeians held their ground there until the close of the war. Caesar, meanwhile, had subjugated Spain. In forty days the entire peninsula was brought under his authority. Massilia had ventured to close her gates against the conqueror ; but a brief siege forced the city to capitulate. Caesar was now free to turn his forces against Pompey in the East. The Battle of Pharsalus (48 b.c.).— From Brundisium Caesar embarked his legions for Epirus.* The passage was an enterprise attended with great danger ; for Bibulus, Pompey's admiral, swept the sea with his fleets. It was not without having sustained severe losses that Caesar eflected a landing upon the shores of Greece. His legions mustered barely 20,000 men. Pompey's forces were at least double this number. Caesar's attempt to capture the camp of his rival at Dyrrachium having failed, he slowly retired into Thessaly, and drew up his army upon the plains of Pharsalus. Here he was followed by Pompey. The adherents of the latter were so confident of an easy victory that they were already dis- puting about the offices at Rome, and were renting the most eligible houses fronting the public squares of the capital. The battle was at length joined. It proved Pompey's Waterloo. His army was cut to pieces. He himself fled from the field, and escaped to Egypt. Just as he was landing, he was stabbed by one of his former lieutenants, now an officer at the Egyptian court. The reigning Ptolemy had ordered Pompey's assassination 108 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, in hopes of pleasing Caesar. " If we receive him," said he, "we shall make Caesar our enemy and Pompey our master." The head of the great general was severed from his body ; and when Caesar, who was pressing after Pompey in hot pursuit, landed in Egypt, the bloody trophy was brought to him. He turned from the sight with generous tears. It was no longer the head of his rival, but of his old associate and son-in-law. He ordered his assassins to be executed, and directed that fitting obsequies should be performed over his body. Close of the Civil War. — Caesar was detained at Alexandria nine months in settling a dispute respecting the throne of Egypt. After a severe contest he overthrew the reigning Ptolemy, and secured the kingdom to the celebrated Cleopatra and a younger brother. Intelligence was now brought from Asia Minor that Pharnaces, son of Mithradates the Great, was inciting a revolt among the peoples of that region. Caesar met the Pontic king at Zela, defeated him, and in five days put an end to the war. His laconic message to the Senate, announcing his victory, is famous. It ran thus : "F\ Both parties made the most gigantic preparations. Octavius met the combined fleets of Antony and Cleopatra just off the promontory of Aetium, on the Grecian coast. While the issue of the battle that there took place was yet undecided, Cleopatra turned her galley in flight. The Egyptian ships, to the number of fifty, followed her example. Antony, as soon as he perceived the withdrawal of Cleopatra, forgot all else, and followed in her track with a swift galley. Overtaking the fleeing queen, the infatuated man was received aboard her vessel, and became her partner in the disgraceful flight. The abandoned fleet and army surrendered to Octavius. The conqueror was now sole master of the civilized world. From this decisive battle (31 B.C.) are usually dated the end of the republic and the beginning of the empire. Some, however, make the estab- lishment of the empire date from the year 2 7 B.C., as it was not until then that Octavius was formally invested wMth imperial powers. Deaths of Antony and Cleopatra. — Octavius pursued Antony to Egypt, where the latter, deserted by his army, and informed by a messenger from the false queen that she was dead, committed suicide. This was exactly what Cleopatra anticipated he would DEATHS OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 117 do, and hoped thus to rid herself of a now burdensome lover. When, however, the dying Antony, in accordance with his wish, was borne to her, the old love returned, and he expired in her arms. Cleopatra then sought to enslave Octavius with her charms ; but, failing in this, and becoming convinced that he proposed to take her to Rome that she might there grace his triumph, she took her own life, being in the thirty-eighth year of her age. Tradition says that she effected her purpose by applying a poison- ous asp to her arm. But it is really unknown in what way she killed herself. It is only certain that, when the chamber of the mausoleum in which she had shut herself up was one day entered by the officers of Octavius, she was found lying dead among her attendants, with no mark of injury upon her body. I Ml ^1 118 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. REIGN OF AUGUSTUS CjESAR. 119 CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. B.C. Republic established and first consuls elected 509 First secession of plebeians 494 Cincinnatus made dictator 458 Election of first decemvirs 451 First censors elected 444 Capture of Veil 396 Sack of Rome by Gauls undcf Iwilltis 390 Samnite wars 343-290 War with Pyrrhus 282-272 First Punic War 264-241 Second Punic War 218-201 Third Punic War 149-146 Destruction of Numantia 133 First Servile War 134-132 Jugurthine War 111-104 Marius defeats the Teutones and Cimbri 102-101 Civil Wars between Marius and Sulla 88-82 Pompey defeats Mediterranean pirates 66 Conspiracy of Catiline 64-62 First triumvirate formed 60 Conquests of Csesar in Gaul and Britain 58-51 Battle of Pharsalus; Pompey flees to Egypt and is murdered ... 48 Battle of Thapsus; Caesar becomes dictator of Roman world ... 46 Murder of Caesar 44 Battle of Philippi; deaths of Brutus and Cassius 42 Republic ends with battle of Actium between Octavius and Antony . 31 CHAPTER VIII. THE ROMAN EMPIRE. (From 31 B.C. to a.d. 180.) Keign of Augustus Csesar (31 b.c. to a.d. 14).— The hundred years of strife which ended with the battle of Actium left the Roman republic, exhausted and helpless, in the hands of one wise enough and strong enough to remould its crumbling fragments in such a manner that the state, which seemed ready to fall to pieces, might prolong its existence for another five hundred years. It was a great work thus to create anew, as it were, out of anarchy and chaos, a political fabric that should exhibit such elements of per- petuity and strength. " The establishment of the Roman empire," says Merivale, " was, after all, the greatest political work that any human being ever wrought. The achievements of Alexander, of C^sar, of Charlemagne, of Napoleon, are not to be compared with it for a moment." The government which Octavius estabUshed was a monarchy m fact, but a repubhc in form. Mindful of the fate of Juhus Caesar, who' fell because he gave the lovers of the republic reason to think that he coveted the title of king, Octavius carefully veiled his really absolute sovereignty under the forms of the old repub- lican state. The Senate still existed ; but so completely subjected were its members to the influence of the conqueror that the only function it really exercised was the conferring of honors and titles and abject flatteries upon its master. All the republican officials remained ; but Octavius absorbed and exercised their chief powers and functions. He had the powers of consul, tribune, censor, and Pontifex Maximus. All the republican magistrates — the consuls, the tribunes, the prsetors — were elected as usual; but they were smiply the nominees and creatures of the emperor. They were i MIMilllili 120 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. the effigies and figure-heads to delude the people into believing that the republic still existed. Never did a people seem more content with the shadow after the loss of the substance. The Sen- ate, acting under the inspiration of Octavius, withh eld f r o m him the title of king, which ever since the ex- pulsion of the Tarquins, five centuries before this time, had been intolerable to the peo- ple ; but they conferred upon him the titles of Imperator and Augustus, the latter hav- ing been hitherto sacred to the gods. The sixth month of the Roman year was called Au- gustus (whence our August) in his honor, an act in imi- tation of that by which the preceding month had been given the name of Julius in honor of Julius Caesar. The domains over which Augustus held sway were im- perial in magnitude. They stretched from the Atlantic to the Euphrates, and upon the north were hemmed by the forests of Germany and the bleak steppes of Scythia, and were bordered on the south by REIGN OF AUGUSTUS CMSAR, 121 AUGUSTUS. the sands of the African desert and the dreary wastes of Arabia, which seemed the boundaries set by nature to dominion m those directions Within these limits were crowded more than 100,000,- 000 people, embracing every conceivable condition and variety in race and culture, from the rough barbarians of Gaul to the refined voluptuary of the East. Octavius was the first to moderate the ambition of the Romans, and to counsel them not to attempt to conquer any more of the world, but rather to devote their energies to the work of consoli- dating the domains already acquired. He saw the dangers that would attend any further extension of the boundaries of the state. The reign of Augustus lasted forty-four years, from 31 B.C. to a.d. 14 It embraced the most splendid period of the annals of Rome. . Under the patronage of the emperor, and that of his favorite 1 minister Maecenas, poets and writers flourished and made this the "golden age " of Latin literature. During this reign Virgil com- posed his immortal epic of the ^neid, and Horace his famous odes • while Livy wrote his inimitable history, and Ovid his Meta- morphoses. Many who lamented the fall of the republic sought solace in the pursuit of letters ; and in this they were encouraged by Augustus, as it gave occupation to many restless spirits that would otherwise have been engaged in poUtical intrigues against his government. Augustus was also a munificent patron of architecture and art. He adorned the capital with many splendid structures. Said he proudly, " I found Rome a city of brick ; I left it a city of mar- ble " The population of the city at this time was probably about I 000,000. Two other cities of the empire, Antioch and Alexan- dria, are thought to have had each about this same number of citizens. These cities, too, were made magnificent with architec- tural and art embellishments. Although the government of Augustus was disturbed by some troubles upon the frontiers, still never before, perhaps, did the world enjoy so long a period of general rest from the preparation and turmoil of war. Three times during this auspicious reign the I % 120 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. RRTGN OF AUGUSTUS CESAR. 121 the effigies and figure-heads to dekide the people into believing that lie lepwHic still existed. Never did a people seem more content witli tie shadow after the loss of the substance. The Sen- ate, acting under the inspiration of Octavius, withheld f r o m him the title of king, which ever since the ex- pulsion of the Tarquins, five centuries before this tim^,li|id been intolerable to the peo- ple ; but they conferred upon him the titles of Imperator and Augustus, the latter hav- ing been hitherto sacred to the gods. The sixth month of the Roman year was called Au- gustus (whence our August) in his honor, «IS act in imi- tation of that by which the preceding month had been given the name of Julius in honor of Julius Caesar. The domains over which Augustus held sway were im- perial in magnitude. Uley stretched from the Atlantic to the Euphrates, and upon the north were hemmed by the forests of Ciermany and the bleak steppes of Scftiia, and we«c bordered on the south by I \ the sands of the African desert and the dreary wastes of Arabia, which seemed the boundaries set by nature to dominion m those directions. Within these limits were crowded more than 100,000,- 000 people, embracing every conceivable condition and variety 111 race and culture, from the rough barbarians of Claul to the refined voluptuary of the East. Octavius was the first to moderate the ambition of the Romans, and to counsel them not to attempt to conquer any more of the worid. but rather to devote their energies to die work of consoli- dating the domains already acquire.l. He saw the dangers that would attend any further extension of the boundaries of the state. The rei-'n of Augustus lasted forty-four years, from 31 v.x. to A.n. ,4 It embraced the most splendid period of the annals ot Rome. Under the patronage of the emperor, and that of Ins favorite minister Mscenas, poets and writers flourished and made this the "golden age" of Latin literature. During this reign Virgil com- poseresents to us a very vivid picture of Roman life during the imperial period, eighteen hundred years ago. \ r i THE FIVE GOOD EMPERORS. t I 0^ 135 known as " the Twelve Caesars." The title, however, was assumed by, and is applied to, all the succeeding emperors : the sole rea- son that the first twelve princes are grouped together is because the Roman biographer Suetonius completed the lives of that number only. Domitian's reign was an exact contrast to that of his brother Titus. It was one succession of extravagances, tyrannies, confis- cations, and murders. Under this emperor took place what is known in church history as '* the second persecution of the Chris- tians.'* This class, as well as the Jews, were the special objects of Domitian's hatred, because they refused to worship the statues of himself which he had set up. The last of the Twelve Caesars perished in his own palace, and by the hands of members of his own household. The Senate ordered his infamous name to be erased from the public monu- ments, and to be blotted from the records of the Roman state. The Five Good Emperors: Beign of Nerva (a.d. 96-98). — The five emperors — Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two An- tonines — that succeeded Domitian were elected by the Senate, which during this period assumed something of its former weight and influence in the affairs of the empire. The wise and benefi- cent administration of the government by these rulers secured for them the enviable distinction of being called " the five good emperors." Nerva died after a short reign of sixteen months, and the sceptre passed into the stronger hands of the able com- mander Trajan, whom Nerva had previously made his associate in the government. Reign of Trajan (a.d. 98-117). — Trajan was a native of Spain, and a soldier by profession and talent. His ambition to achieve military renown led him to undertake distant and important con- quests. It was the policy of Augustus — a policy adopted by most of his successors — to make the Danube in Europe and the Euphrates in Asia the limits of the Roman empire in those respec- tive quarters. But Trajan determined to push the frontiers of his dominions beyond both these rivers, scorning to permit Nature, 1 i illi ^J^ 136 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. by these barriers, to mark out the confines of Roman sovereignty. He crossed the Danube by means of a bridge, the foundations of which may still be seen, and subjugated the bold and warlike Dacian tribes lying behind that stream — tribes that had often threatened the peace of the empire. After celebrating his victories in a magnificent tri- umph at Rome, Trajan turned to the East, led his legions across the Euphrates, re- duced Armenia, and wrested from the Parthians most of the territory which anciently formed the heart of the As- syrian monarchy. To Tra- jan belongs the distinction of extending the boundaries of the empire to the most distant points to which Ro- man ambition and prowess were ever able to push them. But Trajan was something besides a soldier. He had a taste for literature : Juve- nal, Plutarch, and the younger Pliny wrote under his pat- ronage ; and, moreover, as is true of almost all great conquerors, he had a perfect passion for building. Among the great works with which he embellished the capital was the Trajan Forum. Here he erected the celebrated marble shaft known as Trajan's column. It is 147 feet high, and is wound from base to summit with a spiral band of sculptures, containing more than 25,000 human TRAJAN. REIGN OF TRAJAN. 137 I figures. The column is nearly as perfect to-day as when reared eighteen centuries ago. It was intended to commemorate the Dacian conquests of Trajan ; and its pictured sides are the best, and almost the only, record we now possess of those wars. Respecting the rapid spread of Christianity at this time, the character of the early professors of the new faith, and the light in which they were viewed by the rulers of the Roman world, we have very important evidence in a certain letter written by Pliny the Younger to the emperor in regard to the Christians of Pontus, in Asia Minor, of which remote province Pliny was governor. BESIEGING A DACIAN CITY. (From Trajan's Column.) Pliny speaks of the new creed as a " contagious superstition, that had seized not cities only, but the lesser towns also, and the open country." Yet he could find no fault in the converts to the new doctrines. Notwithstanding this, however, because the Christians steadily refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods, he ordered many to be put to death for their " inflexible obstinacy." Trajan died a.d. i i 7, after a reign of nineteen years, one of the most prosperous and fortunate that had yet befallen the lot of the Roman people. Reign of Hadrian (a.d. 117- 13 8). — Hadrian, a kinsman of Trajan, succeeded him in the imperial office. He possessed great ability, and displayed admirable moderation and prudence in the TM£ MOMAN EMPIRE, by these barriers, to mark out the confmes of Roman sovereignty. H« cfossecl the Danube by means of a bridge, the foundations ilf iflich may still be seen, and subjugated the bold and warHke Dacian tribes lying; 'feelimd that stream *-tri,be« tliat lad, oHen threatened the peace of the empire. After celebrating his victories in a magnificent tri- umph at Rome, Trajan turned In. tie'' Eail| led his legions across ^~ Euphrates, re- duced Armenia, and wrested from the I'arthians most of the territory which anciently formed the heart of the As- syrian monarchy. To Tia- jan belongs the distinction of extending the boundaries of the emi)ire to the most distant points to which Ro- man ambition alii pmifcss were ever able lopish tliera. But Trajan was something besides a soldier. He had a taste for literature: Juve- nal, I'lutarch, and the younger Pliny wrote under M% ptt- ronage ; and, moreover, as is true of almost all great conquerors, he had a perfect passion for building. Among the great woilis with #iich he embellished the capital was the Trajan Fonim. Here he erected the celebrated marble shaft known as Trajan^s column. It is 147 feet Wgh, and is wound from base to summit with a spiral band: of scalftwes, containing iilOfc tlian 25,000 human TRAJAN. REIGN OF TRAJAN. 137 i figures. The column is nearly as perfect to-day as when reared eighteen centuries ago. It was intended to commemorate the Dacian concpiests of Trajan ; and its pictured sides are the best, and almost the only, record we now possess of those wars. Respecting the rapid spread of Christianity at this time, the character of the early professors of the new faith, and the light in which they were viewed by the rulers of the Roman world, we have very important evidence in a certain letter written by Pliny the Younger to the emperor in regard to the Christians of Pontus, in Aila Minor, of which remote province Pliny was governor. BESIEGING A DACIAN CITY. (From Trajan's Column ) Pliny speaks of the new creed as a " contagious superstition, that had seized not cities only, but the lesser towns also, and the open country." Yet he could find no fault in the converts to the new doctrines. Notwithstanding this, however. l)ecause the Christians steadily refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods, he ordered many to be put to death for their " inflexible obstinacy." Trajan died a.d. 117, after a reign of nineteen years, one of the most prosperous and fortunate that had yet befallen the lot of the Roman people. Reign of Hadrian (a.d. i 17-138). — Hadrian, a kinsman of Trajan, succeeded him in the imperial office. He possessed great ability, and displayed admirable moderation and prudence in the 138 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. administration of the government. He gave up the territory con- quered by Trajan in the East, and made the Euphrates once more the boundary of the empire in that quarter. He also broke down the bridge that Trajan had built over the Danube, and made that stream the real frontier line, notwithstanding the Roman garrisons were still maintained in Dacia. Hadrian saw plainly that Rome could not safely extend any more widely the frontiers of the empire. Indeed, so active and threatening were the enemies of the empire in the East, and so dar- ing and numerous had now become its barbarian assailants of the North, that there was reason for the greatest anxiety lest they should break through even the old and strong lines of the Danube and the Euphrates, and pour their devastating hordes over the provinces. More than fifteen years of his reign were spent by Hadrian in making tours of inspection through all the different provinces of the empire. He visited Britain, and secured the Roman possessions there against the Picts and Scots by erecting a contin- uous wall across the island. Next he journeyed through Gaul and Spain, and then visited in different tours all the remaining countries bordering upon the Mediterranean. He as- cended the Nile, and, traveller-like, carved his name upon the vocal Memnon. The cities which he visited he decorated with temples, theatres, and other monu- ments. Some places, however, including Antioch, which received their emperor ungraciously, he neglected to make the recipients of his royal liberality. The atmosphere of Athens, with its HADRIAN. REIGN OF HADRIAN. 139 1 V ,J schools and scholars, was especially congenial to his inquiring spirit ; and upon that city he lavished large sums in art adorn- ments until it almost seemed as though the Periclean Age had returned to the Attic capital. In the year 131, the Jews in Palestine, who had in a measure recovered from the blow Titus had given their nation, broke out in desperate revolt, because of the planting of a Roman colony upon the almost desolate site of Jerusalem, and the placing of the statue of Jupiter in the Holy Temple. More than half a million of Jews perished in the useless struggle, and the survivors were driven into exile — the last dispersion of the race. The latter years of his reign Hadrian passed at Rome. It was here that this princely builder erected his most splendid structures. Among these was the Mole, or Mausoleum, of Hadrian, an immense structure surmounted by a gilded dome, erected on the banks of the Tiber, and designed as a tomb for himself (see p. 188). With all his virtues, Hadrian was foolishly vain of his accom- plishments, impatient of contradiction, and often most unrea- sonable and imperious. It is related that he put to death the architect Apollodorus for venturing to criticise the royal taste in some architectural matter. Favorinus, the rhetorician, was evidently more judicious; for when asked "why he suffered the emperor to silence him in an argument on a point of gram- mar, he replied, * It is ill disputing with the master of thirty legions.* " The Antonines (a.d. 138-180). — Aurelius Antoninus, sumamed Pius, the adopted son of Hadrian, and his successor, gave the Roman empire an administration singularly pure and parental. Of him it has been said that " he was the first, and, saving his colleague and successor Aurelius, the only one of the emperors who devoted himself to the task of government with a single view to the happiness of his people." Throughout his long reign of twenty-three years, the empire was in a state of profound peace. The attention of the historian is attracted by no striking events, which fact, as many have not failed to observe, illustrates 138 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. administration of the government. He gave up the territory con- quered by Trajan ie the East, and made the Euphrates once more the boundary of the empire in that quarter. He also broke down the bridge that Trajan had built over the Danube, and made that stream the real frontier line, potwithstanding the Eoman garrisons were still maintained in Dacia. Hadrian saw plainly that Rome could not safely extend any more widely the frontiers of the empire. Indeed, so active and threatening were the enemies of the empire in the East, and so dar- ing and nuneioqs had now become its barlMttiaii assailants ol the North, that there was reason for the greatest anxiety lest they should break through even the old and strong lines of the Danube and the Euphrates, and pour theif liftvplfttilif' hordes, over the provinces. More than fifteen years of his reign were spent by Hadrian in making tours of inspection through all the different ffovlfices of the empire. He visited Britain, and secured the Roman possessions there against the Picts and Scots by erecting a contin- uous wall across the island. Next he jonmeyed thfoiigh Gaul and Spain, and then visited in different tours all the remaining countries bordering upon the Mediterranean. He as- cended the Nile, and, traveller-like, carved his name upon the vocal Memnon. The cities which he visited Ie" •itecoiatei^ wi:ft^ Icrtlptes, theatres, and other monu- ments. Some place% liowever, including Antioch, which received their emperor ungraciously, he neglected to make the recipients of his royal liberality. The atmosphere of Athens, with its HADRIAN. REIGN OF HADRIAN 139 '■'»' schools and scholars, was especially congenial to his inquiring spirit ; and upon that city he lavished large sums in art adorn- ments until it almost seemed as though the Periclean Age had returned to the Attic capital. In the year 131, the Jews in Palestine, who had in a measure recovered from the blow Titus had given their nation, broke out in desperate revolt, because of the planting of a Roman colony upon the almost desolate site of Jerusalem, and the placing of tiie statue of Jupiter in the Holy Temple. More than half a million of Jews perished in the useless struggle, and the survivors were driven into exile — the last dispersion of the race. The latter years of his reign Hadrian passed at Rome. It was here that this princely builder erected his most splendid structures. Among these was the Mole, or Mausoleum, of Hadrian, an immense structure surmounted by a gilded dome, erected on the banks of the Tiber, and designed as a tomb for himself (see p. 188). With all his virtues, Hadrian was foolishly vain of his accom- plishments, impatient of contradiction, and often most unrea- sonable and imperious. It is related that he put to death the architect Apollodorus for venturing to criticise the royal taste in some architectural matter. Favorinus, the rhetorician, was evidently more judicious; for when asked "why he suffered the emperor to silence him in an argument on a point of gram- mar, he replied, 'It is ill disputing with the master of thirty legions.' " The Antonines (a.d. 138-180). — Aurelius Antoninus, surnamed Pius, the adopted son of Hadrian, and his successor, gave the Roman empire an administration singularly pure and parental. Of him it has been said that "■ he was the first, and, saving his colleague and successor AureHus, the only one of the emperors who devoted himself to the task of government with a single view to the happiness of his people." Throughout his long reign of twenty-three years, the empire was in a state of profound peace. The attention of the historian is attracted by no striking events, which fact, as many have not foiled to observe, illustrates 140 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. admirably the oft-repeated maxim, " Happy is that people whose annals are brief." Antoninus, early in his reign, united with himself in the govern- ment his adopted son Marcus Aurelius, and upon the death of the former (a.d. i6i) the latter succeeded quietly to his place and work. His studious habits won for him the title of " Philosopher." He belonged to the school of the Stoics, and was a most thoughtful writer. His Meditations breathe the tenderest sentiments of devo- tion and benevolence, and make the nearest approach to the spirit of Christianity of all the writings of Pagan antiquity. He estab- lished an institution or home for orphan girls ; and, finding the poorer classes throughout Italy burdened by their taxes and greatly in arrears in paying them, he caused all the tax-claims to be heaped in the Forum and burned. The tastes and sympathies of Aure- lius would have led him to choose a life passed in retirement and study at the capital ; but hostile movements of the Parthians, and especially invasions of the barbarians along the Rhenish and Danubian frontiers, called him from his books, and forced him to spend most of the latter years of his reign in the camp. The Parthians, who had violated their treaty with Rome, were chastised by the lieutenants of the emperor, and Mesopotamia again fell under Roman authority. This war drew after it a series of terrible calamities. The returning soldiers brought with them the Asiatic plague, which swept off vast numbers, especially in Italy, where entire cities and districts were depopulated. In the general distress and panic, the superstitious people were led to believe that it was the new sect of Christians that had called down upon the nation the anger of the gods. Aurelius permitted a fearful persecution to be instituted ANTONINUS PIUS. (From a Coin in the Berlin Museum.) THE ANTONINES. HI against them, during which the celebrated Christian fathers and bishops, Justin Martyr and Polycarp, suffered death. It should be noted that the persecution of the Christians under the Pagan emperors sprung from political rather than religious mo- tives, and that this is why we find the names of the best emperors, as well as those of the worst, in the list of persecutors. It was believed that the welfare of the state was bound up with the care- ful performance of the rites of the national worship ; and hence, while the Roman rulers were usually very tolerant, allowing all forms of worship among their subjects, still they required that men of every faith should at least recognize the Roman gods, and burn incense before their statues. This the Christians steadily refused to do. Their neglect of the service of the temple, it was believed, angered the gods, and endangered the safety of the state, bringing upon it drought, pestilence, and every disaster. This was the main reason of their persecution by the Pagan emperors. But pestilence and persecution were both forgotten amidst the imperative calls for immediate help that now came from the North. The barbarians were pushing in the Roman outposts, and pouring impetuously over the frontiers. To the panic of the plague was added this new terror. Aurelius placed himself at the head of his legions, and hurried beyond the Alps. For many years, amidst the snows of winter and the heats of summer, he strove to beat back the assailants of the empire. Once his army was completely surrounded, and his soldiers were dying of thirst, when a violent thunder-storm not only relieved their sufferings, but also struck such terror into the bar- barians as to scatter them in flight. The Romans thought that Jupiter Tonans had interfered in their behalf; but the Christians that made up the twelfth legion maintained that God had sent the rain in answer to their prayers. The Christians, it is said by some, received the title of the " Thundering Legion " ; while upon the Column of Aurelius at Rome — where it may still be seen was carved the scene in which Olympian Jove the Thunderer is repre- sented " raining and lightening out of heaven." 140 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. admirably the oft-repeated maxim, " Happy is that people whose annals are brief." Antoninus, early in Ws icign, united with himself in the govern- ment his adopted son Mjticns Aurelius, and upon the death of the former (a.d. i6i) tic latter succeeded quietly to his place and work. His studious habits won for him the title of" I'hilosopher." He belonged to the school of the Stoics, and was a most thoughtful writer. H is Meditations breathe the tenderest sentiments of devo- tion and benevolence, and male the neawsst approacli to the spirit of Christianity of all tlie wiitings of lapn antiquity. He estab- lished an institution or home for orphan girls ; and, finding the poorer classes throughout Italy burdened lif their taxes and greatly in arrears iii paying them, he caused all the tax^" Macrimis ife«: ipictty cicislied, and he himself was slain. So un- Roman had the Romans become that this Oriental priest, thus thrust forward by the Syrian legions, was at once recognized at Rome by both Senate and people as their emi)eror. He carried, W liafy all his Eastclil,. letions.. .and,, manners, and there entered upoii » "■short reign rf"iiwr yeatt,,. cliaractemed,, by all those extravagances and cmel follies that afc so apt to mark the rule of an Asiatic despot His palace was the scene of the most profligate dissipation. He even created a senate of women whose duty it was to attend to matters of dress, calls, amuse- ments, and etiqiiette*. The pnetorians, at length tiring of their piiest-emperor, put him to death, threw lis body into tie Tiber, and set up in his place Alexander Severus, a kinsman of the murdered i)rince. Reign of Alexander Severus (a.©. 212-835).— -Severus restored the virtues uf the Age of the Aiitonincs. His administration was pure and energetic; lot he strove in vain to resist the corrupt and downward tendencies of the times. He was assassinated, THE THIRTY TYRANTS, 149 after a reign of fourteen years, by his seditious soldiers, who were angered by his efforts to reduce them to discipline. They invested with the imperial purple an obscure officer named Maximin, a Thracian peasant, whose sole recommendation for this dignity was his gigantic stature and his great strength of limbs. Rom.e had now sunk to the lowest possible degradation. We may pass rap- idly over the next fifty years of the empire. The Thirty Tyrants (a.d. 251-268). — Maximin was followed swiftly by Gordian, Philip, and Decius, and then came what is TRIUMPH OF SAPOR OVER VALERIAN. called the "Age of the Thirty Tyrants." The imperial sceptre being held by weak emperors, there sprung up, in every part of the empire, competitors for the throne — several rivals frequently appearing in the field at the same time. The barbarians pressed upon all the frontiers, and thrust themselves into all the provinces. The empire seemed on the point of falHng to pieces.^ But a * It was during this period that the Emperor Valerian (a.d. 253-260), in a battle with the Persians before Kdessa, in Mesopotamia, was defeated and taken prisoner by Sapor, the Persian king. A large roek tablet (see cut above), still to be seen near the Persian town of Shiraz, is believed to com- memorate the triumph of Sapor over the unfortunate emperor. 150 THE ROMAN EMPIRE, fortunate succession of five good emperors — Claudius, Aurelian, Tacitus, Probus, and Cams (a.d. 268-284) restored for a time the ancient boundaries and again forced together into some sort of union the fragments of the shattered state. The Fall of Palmyra (a.d. 273). — The most noted of the usurpers of authority in the provinces during the period of anarchy of which we have spoken was Odenatus, Prince of Palmyra, a city occupying an oasis in the midst of the Syrian Desert, midway between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. In gratitude for the aid he had rendered the Romans against the Parthians, the Senate had bestowed upon him titles and honors. When the empire began to show signs of weakness and approaching disso- lution, Odenatus conceived the ambitious project of erecting upon its ruins in the East a great Palmyrian kingdom. Upon his death, / his wife, Zenobia, succeeded to his authority and to his ambitions. This famous princess claimed descent from Cleopatra, and it is certain that in the charms of personal beauty she was the rival of the Egyptian queen. Boldly assuming the title of "Queen of the East," she bade defiance to the emperors of Rome. Aurelian marched against her, and, defeating her armies in the open field, drove them within the walls of Palmyra. After a long siege the city was taken, and, in punishment for a second uprising, given to the flames. The adviser of the queen, the celebrated rhetorician Longinus, was put to death ; but Zenobia was spared, and carried a captive to Rome. After having been led in golden chains in the triumphal procession of Aurelian, the queen was given a beautiful villa in the vicinity of Tibur, where, surrounded by her children, she passed the remainder of her checkered life.^ The ruins of Palmyra are among the most interesting remains of Roman or Grecian civilization in the East. For a long time the site even of the city was lost to the civilized world. The Bedouins, however, knew the spot, and told strange stories of a ruined city with splendid temples and long colonnades far away 1 Read Ware's Zenobia and Aurelian. REIGN OF DIOCLETIAN. 151 in the Syrian Desert. Their accounts awakened an interest in the wonderful city, and towards the close of the seventeenth century some explorers reached the spot. The sketches they brought back of the ruins of the long-lost city produced almost as much astonishment as did the discoveries afterwards of Botta and Layard at Nineveh. Hadrian, the Antonines, and other Roman emperors aided the ambitious Palmyrians in the architectural adornment of their capital. The principal features of the ruins are the remains of the great Temple of the Sun, and of the colonnade, which was almost a mile in length. Many of the marble columns that flanked this magnificent avenue are still erect, stretching in a long line over the desert. Keign of Diocletian (a.d. 284-305). — The reign of Diocletian marks an important era in Roman history. Up to this time the imperial government had been more or less carefully concealed under the forms and names of the old republic. The government now became an unveiled and absolute monarchy. Diocletian's r e f o r m s , though radical, were salutary, and infused such fresh vitality into the frame of the dying state as to give it a new lease of life for another term of nearly two hundred years. He determined to divide the nu- merous and increasing cares of the distracted empire, so that it might be ruled from two centres — one in the East and the other in the West. In pursuance of this plan, he chose as a colleague a companion soldier, Maximian, upon whom he conferred the title of Augustus. After a few years, finding the cares of the co-sovereignty still too heavy, each sovereign associated with himself an assistant, who took the title of Caesar, and was considered the son and heir of the DIOCLETIAN. THE ROMAN EMPIRE. iirtiiliftle saccesBMH of five good emperors — Claudius, Aurelian, Tacitus, Probus, and Carus (a.d. 268-284) restored for a time tlic ancient boundaries and again forced together into some sort of union the fragments of the shattered state. The Fall of Palmyra pA t||)w — The most noted of the usurpers of authority in tit provinces during the period of anarchy 0f which we have spoken was Odenatus, Prince of Palmyra, a city occupying an oasis in the midst of the Syrian Desert, midway between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. In gratitude for the aid he had rendered the Roinaas against the Parthians, the Senate had bestowed ilpoit lltt titles and honors. When the empire began to show signs of weakness and approaching disso- lution, Odenatus conceived the ambitious project of erecting upon its ruins in the East a great Palmyrian kingdom. Upon his death, his wife, Zenobia, succeeded to his authority and to his ambitions. This famous princess claimed descent from Cleopatra, and it is certain that in the charms of personal beauty she was the rival of the Egyptian queen. Boldly assuming the title of " Queen of the East," she bade defiance to the emperors of Rome. Aurelian marched against her, and, defeating her armies in the open field, drove them within the walls of Palmyra. After a long siege the city was taken, and, in punishment for a second uprising, given to the flames. The adviser of the queen, the celebrated rhetorician Longinus, was put to death ; but Zenobia was spared, and carried a captive to Rome. Afler having been led in golden chains in the triumphal procession iff Aurelian, the queen was given a beautiful villa in the vicinity of Tibur, where, surrounded by her children, she passed the remainder of her checkered life.^ The ruins of Palmyra are among the most interesting remains of Roman or Grecian civilization in the East. For a long time the site even of the city was lost to the civilized world. The Bedouins, however, knew the spot, m8. told strange stories It is somewhat doubtful whether this last condition was really a part of the agreement. 2 A great rampart extending for about fifteen hundred miles along the northern frontier of China. It was built by the Chinese towards the end of the third century B.c. as a barrier against the forays of the Huns. THE GOTHS CROSS THE DANUBE. 159 after wandering several centuries, appeared in Europe. They belonged to a different race (the Turanian) from all the other European tribes with which we have been so far concerned Their features were hideous, their noses being flattened, and their cheeks gashed, to render their appearance more frightful as well as to prevent the growth of a beard. Even the barbarous Goths called them "barbarians." Scarcely had the fugitive Vifigoths been received within the limits of the empire before a large company of their kinsmen the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths), also driven from their homes by the same terrible Huns, crowded to the banks of the Danube and pleaded that they might be allowed, as their countrymen' had been, to place the river between themselves and their dreaded enemies. But Valens, becoming alarmed at the presence of so many barbarians within his dominions, refused their request- whereupon they, dreading the fierce and implacable foe behind more than the wrath of the Roman emperor in front, crossed the river with arms in their hands. It now came to light that the cupidity of the Roman officials had prevented the carrying out of the stipulations of the agreement between the emperor and the Visigoths respecting the relinquish- ment of their arms. The barbarians had bribed those intrusted with the duty of transporting them across the river, and purchased the privilege of retaining their weapons. The persons, too detailed to provide the multitude with food till they cou'ld be assigned lands, traded on the hunger of their wards, and doled out the vilest provisions at the most extortionate prices (We seem here to be listening to a recital of the unscrupulous conduct of Indian agents of our own frontiers.) As was natural, the injured nation rose in indignant revolt Joining their kinsmen that were just now forcing the passage of the Danube, they commenced, under the lead of the great Friti- gem, to overrun and ravage the Danubian provinces. Valens despatched swift messengers to Gratian in the West, asking for assistance against the foe he had so unfortunately admitted within 160 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. the limits of the empire. Meanwhile, he rallied all his forces, and, without awaiting the arrival of the Western legions, risked a battle with the barbarians near Adrianople. The Roman army was almost annihilated. Valens himself, being wounded, sought refuge in the cabin of a peasant ; but the building was fired by the savages, and the emperor was burned alive (a.d. 378). The Goths now rapidly overran Thrace, Macedon, and Thessaly, ravaging the country to the very walls of Constantinople. Theodosius the Great (a.d. 379-395). — Gratian was hurrying to the help of his colleague Valens, when news of his defeat and death at the hands of the barbarians was brought to him, and he at once appointed as his associate Theodosius, known afterwards as the Great, and intrusted" him with the government of the Eastern provinces. Theodosius, by wise and vigorous measures, quickly reduced the Goths to submission. Vast multitudes of the Visigoths were settled upon the waste lands of Thrace, while the Ostrogoths were scattered in various colonies in different regions of Asia Minor. The Goths became allies of the Emperor of the East, and more than 40,000 of these warlike barbarians, who were destined to be the subverters of the empire, were enlisted in the imperial legions. While Theodosius was thus composing the East, the West, through the jealous rivalries of different competitors for the con- trol of the government, had fallen into great disorder. Theodosius twice interposed to right affairs, and then took the government into his own hands. For four months he ruled as sole monarch of the empire. Final Division of the Empire (a.d. 395). — The Roman world was now united for the last time under a single master. Just before his death, Theodosius divided the empire between his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, assigning the former, who was only eighteen years of age, the government of the East, and giving the latter, a mere child of eleven, the sovereignty of the West; This was the final partition of the Roman empire — the issue of that growing tendency, which we have observed in its immoderately THE EASTERN EMPIRE. 161 extended dominions, to break apart. The separate histories of the East and the West now begin. The Eastern Empire. — The story of the fortunes of the Em- pire in the East need not detain us long at this point of our history. This monarchy lasted over a thousand years — from the accession to power of Arcadius, a.d. 395, to the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, a.d. 1453. It will thus be seen that the greater part of its history belongs to the mediaeval period. Up to the time of the overthrow of the Empire in the West, the sovereigns of the East were engaged almost incessantly in sup- pressing uprisings of their Gothic allies or mercenaries, or in repelling invasions of the Huns and the Vandals. Frequently dur- ing this period, in order to save their own territories, the Eastern emperors, by dishonorable inducements, persuaded the barbarians to direct their ravaging expeditions against the provinces of the West. Last Days of the Empire in the West. First Invasion of Italy by Alaric. — Only a few years had elapsed after the death of the great Theodosius, before the bar- barians were trooping in vast hordes through all the regions of the West. First, from Thrace and Moesia came the Visigoths, led by the great Alaric. They poured through the Pass of Thermopylae, and devastated almost the entire peninsula of Greece ; but, being driven from that country by Stilicho, the renowned Vandal gen- eral ^ of Honorius, they crossed the Julian Alps, and spread terror throughout all Italy. Stilicho followed the barbarians cautiously, and, attacking them at a favorable moment, inflicted a terrible and double defeat upon them at Pollentia and Verona (a.d. 402-403). The captured camp was found filled with the spoils of Thebes, Corinth, and Sparta. Gathering the remnants of his shattered 1 Hodgkin makes the following suggestive comparison : " Stilicho [and others like him] were the prototypes of the German and F:nglish officers who in our own day have reorganized the armies or commanded the fleets of the Sultan, and led the expeditions of the Khedive." 162 LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST, THE INVASION OF ITALY, 163 army, Alaric forced his way with difficulty through the defiles of the Alps, and escaped. last Triumph at Eome (a.d. 404). — A terrible danger had been averted. All Italy burst forth in expressions of gratitude and joy. The days of the Cimbri and Teutones were recalled, and the name of Stilicho was pronounced with that of Marius. A mag- nificent triumph at Rome celebrated the victory and the deliver- ance. The youthful Honorius and his faithful general Stilicho rode side by side in the imperial chariot. It was the last triumph that Rome ever saw. Three hundred times — such is asserted to be the number — the Imperial City had witnessed the triumphal pro- cession of her victorious generals, celebrating conquests in all quarters of the world. Last Gladiatorial Combat of the Amphitheatre. — The same year that marks the last military triumph at Rome also signalizes the last gladiatorial combat in the Roman amphitheatre. It is to Christianity that the credit of the suppression of the inhuman exhibitions of the amphitheatre is entirely, or almost entirely, due. The Pagan philosophers usually regarded them with indifference, often with favor. Thus Pliny commends a friend for giving a glad- iatorial entertainment at the funeral of his wife. And when the Pagan moralists did condemn the spectacles, it was rather for other reasons than that they regarded them as inhuman and absolutely contrary to the rules of ethics. They were defended on the ground that they fostered a martial spirit among the people and inured the soldier to the sights of the battle-field. Hence gladiatorial games were actually exhibited to the legions before they set out on their campaigns. Indeed, all classes appear to have viewed the matter in much the same light, and with exactly the same absence of moral disapprobation, that we ourselves regard the slaughter of animals for food. But the Christian fathers denounced the combats as absolutely immoral, and labored in every possible way to create a public opinion against them. The members of their own body who attended the spectacles were excommunicated. At length, in A.D. 325, the first imperial edict against them was issued by Constantine. This decree appears to have been very little re- garded ; nevertheless, from this time forward the exhibitions were under something of a ban, until their final abolition was brought about by an incident of the games that closed the triumph of Honorius. In the midst of the exhibition a Christian monk, named Telemachus, descending into the arena, rushed between the combatants, but was instantly killed by a shower of missiles thrown by the people, who were angered by this interruption of their sports. But the people soon repented of their act ; and Honorius himself, who was present, was moved by the scene. Christianity had awakened the conscience and touched the heart of Rome. The martyrdom of the monk led to an imperial edict "which abolished forever the human sacrifices of the amphi- theatre." Invasion of Italy by Various German Tribes. — While Italy was celebrating her triumph over the Goths, another and more formidable invasion was preparing in the north. The tribes be- yond the Rhine — the Vandals, the Suevi, the Burgundians, and other peoples — driven onward by some unknown cause, poured in impetuous streams from the forests and morasses of Germany, and bursting the barriers of the Alps, overspread the devoted plains of Italy. The alarm caused by them among the Italians was even greater than that inspired by the Gothic invasion ; for Alaric was a Christian, while Radagaisus, the leader of the 'new hordes, was a superstitious savage, who paid worship to gods that required the bloody sacrifice of captive enemies. By such efforts as Rome put forth in the younger and more vigorous days of the republic, when Hannibal was at her gates, an army was now equipped and placed under the command of Stilicho. Meanwhile the barbarians had advanced as far as Florence, and were now besieging that place. Stilicho here surrounded the vast host — variously estimated from 200,000 to 400,000 men and starved them into a surrender. Their chief, Radagaisus, was put 164 LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST, THE SACKING OF ROME. 165 to death, and great numbers of the barbarians that the sword and famine had spared were sold as slaves (a.d. 406). The Eansom of Eome (a.d. 409). — Shortly after the victory of Stilicho over the German barbarians, he came under the suspi- cion of the weak and jealous Honorius, and was executed. Thus fell the great general whose sword and counsel had twice saved Rome from the barbarians, and who might again have averted similar dangers that were now at hand. Listening to the rash counsels of his unworthy advisers, Honorius provoked to revolt the 30,000 Gothic mercenaries in the Roman legions by a mas- sacre of their wives and children, who were held as hostages in the different cities of Italy. The Goths beyond the Alps joined with their kinsmen to avenge the perfidious act. Alaric again crossed the mountains, and pillaging the cities in his way, led his hosts to the very gates of Rome. Not since the time of the dread Hannibal (see page 65) — more than six hundred years before — had Rome been insulted by the presence of a foreign foe beneath her walls. The barbarians by their vast number were enabled to completely surround the city, and thus cut it off from its supplies of food. Famine soon forced the Romans to sue for terms of surrender. The ambassadors of the Senate, when they came before Alaric, began, in lofty and unbecoming language, to warn him not to render the Romans desperate by hard or dishonorable terms : their fury when driven to despair, they represented, was terrible, and their number enormous. " The thicker the grass, the easier to mow it," was Alaric's derisive reply. The barbarian chieftain at length named the ransom that he would accept and spare the city : " All the gold and silver in the city, whether it were the property of individuals or of the state ; all the rich and precious movables ; and all the slaves that could prove their title to the name of barbarian." The amazed commissioners, in deprecating tones, asked, " If such, O king, are your demands, what do you intend to leave us?" "Your lives," responded the conqueror. The ransom was afterwards considerably modified and reduced. It was fixed at " 5000 pounds of gold, 30,000 of silver, 4000 silken robes, 3000 pieces of scarlet cloth, and 3000 pounds of pepper." The last-named article was much used in Roman cook- ery, and was very expensive, being imported from India. Meri- vale, in contrasting the condition of Rome at this time with her ancient wealth and grandeur, estimates that the gilding of the roof of the Capitoline temple far exceeded the entire ransom, and that it was four hundred times less than that (five miUiards of francs) demanded of France by the Prussians in 187 1. Small as it com- paratively was, the Romans were able to raise it only by the most extraordinary measures. The images of the gods were first stripped of their ornaments of gold and precious stones, and finally the statues themselves were melted down. Sack of Rome by Alaric (a.d. 410). — Upon retiring from Rome, Alaric established his camp in Etruria. Here he was • joined by great numbers of fugitive slaves, and by fresh accessions of barbarians from beyond the Alps. The Gallic king now de- manded for his followers lands of Honorius, who, with his court, was safe behind the marshes of Ravenna ; but the emperor treated all the proposals of the barbarian with foolish insolence. Rome paid the penalty. Alaric turned upon the devoted city, deter- mined upon its sack and plunder. The barbarians broke into the capital by night, " and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet." Precisely eight hun- dred years had passed since its sack by the Gauls. During that time the Imperial City had carried its victorious standards over three continents, and had gathered within the temples of its gods and the palaces of its nobles the plunder of the world. Now it was given over for a spoil to the fierce tribes from beyond the Danube. Alaric commanded his soldiers to respect the lives of the peo- ple, and to leave untouched the treasures of the Christian temples ; but the wealth of the citizens he encouraged them to make their own. For six days and nights the rough barbarians trooped through the streets of the city on their mission of pillage. Their 166 LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST. SEIZURE OF THE WESTERN PROVINCES. 167 wagons were heaped with the costly furniture, the rich plate, and the silken garments stripped from the palaces of the wealthy patricians and the temples of the gods. Amidst the license of the sack, the barbarian instincts of the robbers broke loose from all restraint, and the city was everywhere wet with blood, while the nights were lighted with burning buildings. Effects of the Disaster upon Paganism. — The overwhelming disaster that had befallen the Imperial City produced a profound impression upon both Pagans and Christians throughout the Ro- man world. The former asserted that these unutterable calamities had fallen upon the Roman state because of the abandonment by the people of the worship of the gods of their forefathers, under whose protection and favor Rome had become the mistress of the world. The Christians, on the other hand, saw in the fall of the Eternal City the fulfilment of the prophecies against the Babylon of the Apocalypse. The latter interpretation of the appalling calamity gained credit amidst the panic and despair of the times. The temples of the once popular deities were deserted by their worshippers, who had lost faith in gods that could neither save themselves nor protect their shrines from spoliation. " Hence- forth," says Merivale, "the power of paganism was entirely broken, and the indications which occasionally meet us of its continued existence are rare and trifling. Christianity stepped into its de- serted inheritance. The Christians occupied the temples, trans- forming them into churches." The Death of Alaric. — After withdrawing his warriors from Rome, Alaric led them southward. As they moved slowly on, they piled still higher the wagons of their long trains with the rich spoils of the cities and villas of Campania and other districts of Southern Italy. In the villas of the Roman nobles the rough bar- barians spread rare banquets from the stores of their well-filled cellars, and drank from jewelled cups the famed Falemian wine. Alaric led his soldiers to the extreme southern point of Italy, intending to cross the Straits of Messina into Sicily, and, after subduing that island, to carry his conquests into the provinces of Africa. His designs were frustrated by his death, which occurred A.D. 412. With religious care his followers secured the body of their hero against molestation by his enemies. The little river Busentinus, in Northern Bruttium, was turned from its course with great labor, and in the bed of the stream was constructed a tomb, in which was placed the body of the king, with his jewels and tro- phies. The river was then restored to its old channel, and, that the exact spot might never be known, the prisoners who had been forced to do the work were all put to death. The Barbarians seize the Western Provinces. — We must now turn our eyes from Rome and Italy to observe the movement of events in the provinces. In his efforts to defend Italy, StiHcho had withdrawn the last legion from Britain, and had drained the camps and fortresses of Gaul. The Hadrian Wall was left unmanned ; the passages of the Rhine were left unguarded ; and the agitated multitudes of barbarians beyond these defences were free to pour their innumerable hosts into all the fair provinces of the empire. Hordes of Suevi, Alani, Vandals, and Burgundians overspread all the plains and valleys of Gaul. The Vandals pushed on into the South of Spain, and there occupied a large tract of country, which, in its present name of Andalusia, preserves the memory of its barbarian setders. From these regions they crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, overran the Roman provinces of Northern Africa, captured Carthage (a.d. 439), and made that city the seat of the dread empire of the Vandals. The Goths, with Italy pillaged, recrossed the Alps, and establishing their camps in the south of Gaul and the north of Spain, set up in those regions what is known as the Kingdom of the Visigoths. In Britain, upon the withdrawal of the Roman legions, the Picts breaking over the wall of Hadrian, descended upon and pillaged the cities of the South. The half-Romanized and effeminate pro- vincials — no match for their hardy kinsmen who had never bowed their necks to the yoke of Rome — were driven to despair by the ravages of their relentless enemies, and, in their helplessness, in- vited to their aid the Angles and Saxons from the shores of the 168 LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST North Sea. These people came in their rude boats, drove back the invaders, and, being pleased with the soil and climate of the island, took possession of the country for themselves, and became the ancestors of the English people. Invasion of the Huns: Battle of Chalons (a.d. 451). — The barbarians that were thus overrunning and parcelling out the inher- itance of the dying empire were now, in turn, pressed upon and terrified by a foe more hideous and dreadful in their eyes than were they in the sight of the peoples among whom they had thrust themselves. These were the non- Aryan Huns, of whom we have already caught a glimpse as they drove the panic-stricken Goths across the Danube. At this time their leader was Attila, whom the affrighted inhabitants of Europe called the "Scourge of God." It was declared that the grass never grew again where once the hoof of Attila's horse had trod. Attila defeated the armies of the Eastern emperor, and exacted tribute from the court of Constantinople. Finally he turned west- ward, and, at the head of a host numbering, it is asserted, 700,000 warriors, crossed the Rhine into Gaul, purposing first to ravage that province, and then to traverse Italy with fire and sword, in order to destroy the last vestige of the Roman power. The Romans and their Gothic conquerors laid aside their ani- mosities, and made common cause against a common enemy. The Visigoths were rallied by their king, Theodoric ; the Italians, th^ Franks, the Burgimdians, flocked to the standard of the Roman general Aetius. Attila drew up his mighty hosts upon the plain of Chalons, in the north of Gaul, and there awaited the onset of the Romans and their allies. The conflict was long and terrible. Theodoric was slain; but at last fortune turned against the bar- barians. The loss of the Huns is variously estimated at from 100,000 to 300,000 warriors. Attila succeeded in escaping from the field, and retreated with his shattered hosts across the Rhine (A.D. 451). This great victory is placed among the significant events of history; for it decided that the Christian Germanic races, and DEATH OF ATTILA. 169 not the pagan Scythic Huns, should inherit the dominions of the expiring Roman Empire, and control the destinies of Europe. The Death of Attila.— The year after his defeat at Chalons, Attila again crossed the Alps, and burned or plundered all the important cities of Northern Italy. The Veneti fled for safety to the morasses at the head of the Adriatic (a.d. 452). Upon the islets where they built their rude dwellings, there grew up in time the city of Venice, the " eldest daughter of the Roman Empire," the " Carthage of the Middle Ages." The conqueror threatened Rome ; but Leo the Great, bishop of the capital, went with an embassy to the camp of Attila, and pleaded for the city. He recalled to the mind of Attila the fact that death had overtaken the impious Alaric soon after he had given the Imperial City to be sacked, and warned him not to call down upon himself the like judgment of heaven. To these ad- monitions of the Christian bishop was added the persuasion of a golden bribe from the Emperor Valentinian ; and Attila was induced to spare Southern Italy, and to lead his warriors back beyond the Alps. Shortly after he had crossed the Danube, he died suddenly in his camp, and like Alaric was buried secretly, — and " no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." His fol- lowers gradually withdrew from Europe into the wilds of their native Scythia, or were absorbed by the peoples they had con- quered.' ^ There is much uncertainty respecting the part which the warriors of Attila may have taken in the formation of the later Hungarian state in Europe. That appears to have owed its origin to another invading band of the same people, that entered Europe several centuries later. « It is at least certain," says Creasy, " that the Magyars of Arpad, who are the immediate ancestors of the bulk of the modern Hungarians, and who conquered the country which bears the name of Hungary in A.D. 889, were of the same stock of mankind as the Huns of Attila, if they did not belong to the same subdivision of that stock. Nor is there any improbability in the tradition that after Attila's death many of his warriors remained in Hungary, and that their descendants afterwards joined the Huns of Arpad in their career of conquest. It is certain that Attila made Hungary the seat of his empire." — Z>mjzz/^ Battles^ p. 157. 170 LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST. Sack of Rome by the Vandals (a.d. 455). — Rome had been saved a visitation from the spoiler of the North, but a new de- struction was about to burst upon it by way of the sea from the South. Africa sent out another enemy whose greed for plunder proved more fatal to Rome than the eternal hate of Hannibal. The kings of the Vandal Empire in Northern Africa had acquired as perfect a supremacy in the Western Mediterranean as Carthage ever enjoyed in the days of her commercial pride. Vandal cor- sairs swept the seas and harassed the coasts of Sicily and Italy, and even plundered the maritime towns of the Eastern provinces. In the year 455 a Vandal fleet, led by the dread Geiseric (Gen- seric), sailed up the Tiber. These barbarians had been exhorted by the Roman empress Eudoxia to come and avenge the murder of her husband Valen- tinian and her forced alliance with a senator named Maximus, who, being invested with the purple, had forced the widowed queen to accept the hand stained, as many believed, with the blood of her own husband. Panic seized the people ; for the name Vandal was pronounced with terror throughout the world. Again the great Leo, who had once before saved his flock from the fury of an Attila, went forth to intercede in the name of Christ for the Imperial City. Geiseric granted to the pious bishop the lives of the citizens, but said that the plunder of the capital belonged to his warriors. For fourteen days and nights the city was given over to the ruthless barbarians. The ships of the Vandals, which almost hid with their number the waters of the Tiber, were piled, as had been the wagons of the Goths before them, with the rich and weighty spoils of the capital. Palaces were stripped of their ornaments and furniture, and the walls of the temples denuded of their statues and of the trophies of a hundred Roman victories. From the Capitoline sanctuary were borne off" the golden candlestick and other sacred articles that Titus had stolen from the Temple at Jerusalem. The greed of the barbarians was sated at last, and they were ready to withdraw. The Vandal fleet sailed for Car- FALL OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 171 thage,* bearing, besides the plunder of the city, more than 30,000 of the inhabitants as slaves. Carthage, through her own barba- rian conquerors, was at last avenged upon her hated rival. The mournful presentiment of Scipio had fallen true (see p. 75). The cniel fate of Carthage might have been read again in the pillaged city that the Vandals left behind them. Fall of the Roman Empire in the West (a.d. 4 76) . — Only the shadow of the Empire in the West now remained. All the prov- inces — Illyricum, Gaul, Britain, Spain, and Africa — were in the hands of the Goths, the Vandals, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Angles and Saxons, and various other intruding tribes. Italy, as well as Rome herself, had become again and again the spoil of the insatiable barbarians. The story of the twenty years following the sack of the capital by Geiseric affords only a repetition of the events we have been narrating. During these years several pup- pet emperors were set up by the different leaders of the invading tribes. A final seditious movement placed upon the shadow- throne a child of six years, son of Orestes, the leading spirit of the new revolution. By what has been called a freak of fortune, this boy- sovereign bore the name of Romulus Augustus, thus uniting in the name of the last Roman Emperor of the West the names of the founder of Rome and of the establisher of the empire. Not so much on ac- count of his youth as from contempt excited by the imperial farce he was forced to play, this emperor became known as Augustulus — " the little Augustus." He reigned only one year, when Odo- vaker (Odoacer), the leader of the Heruli — a small but formid- able German tribe, all of whom claimed royal descent — having demanded one-third of the lands of Italy, to divide among his fol- lowers for services rendered the empire, and having been refused, ^ The fleet was overtaken by a storm and suffered some damage, but the most precious of the relics it bore escaped harm. " The golden candlestick reached the African capital, was recovered a century later, and lodged in Con- stantinople by Justinian, and by him replaced, from superstitious motives, in Jerusalem. From that time its history is lost." — Merivale. ! t rt! ill 172 LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST put Orestes to death, and dethroned the child-emperor. His life was spared, and his friends were permitted to take him into retirement in the villa of Lucullus, in Campania. The Roman Senate now sent an embassy to Constantinople, with the royal vestments and the insignia of the imperial office, to represent to the Emperor Zeno that the West was willing to give up its claims to an emperor of its own, and to request that the German chief, with the title of " Patrician," might rule Italy as his viceroy. This was granted ; and Italy now became in effect a province of the Empire in the East (a.d. 476). The Roman Empire in the West had come to an end, after an existence from the founding of Rome of 1229 years. W -*«Ni <— SARCOPHAGUS OF CORNELIUS SCIPIO BARBATUS. (Consul 298 B.C.) ROMAN EMPERORS, 173 ROMAN EMPERORS FROM COMMODUS TO ROMULUS AUGUSTUS. (A.D. 180-476.) A.D. Commodus 180-192 Pertinax 197 Didius Julianus 193 Septimius Severus .... 193-21 1 SCaracalla 211-217 Geta 211-212 Macrinus 217-218 Elagabalus 218-222 Alexander Severus .... 222-235 Maximin 235-238 Gordian III 238-244 Philip 244-249 Decius 249-251 Period of the Thirty Tyrants 251-268 Claudius 268-270 Aurelian 270-275 Tacitus 275-276 Probus ........ 276-282 Carus ........ 282-283 iCarinus 283-284 Numerian 283-284 J Diocletian . . . Maximian . . . ^ Constantius I. I Galerius . . . Constantine the Great Reigns as sole ruler Constantine II. . . Constans I. ... Constantius II. . . Reigns as sole ruler Julian the Apostate Jovian ( Valentinian I. ( Valens (in the East) Gratian .... Maximus .... Valentinian II. . . Eugenius .... Theodosius the Great Reigns as sole emperor A.D. 284-305 286-305 305-306 305-311 306-337 323-337 337-340 337-350 337-361 350-361 361-363 363-364 364-375 364-378 375-383 383-388 375-392 392-394 379-395 394-395 FINAL PARTITION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. (A.D. 395.) EMPERORS IN THE WEST. EMPERORS IN THE EAST. (From A.D. 395 to Fall of Rome.) A.D, Arcadius 395-408 Theodosius II 408-450 Marcian 450-457 Leo 1 457-474 Zeno 474-491 A.D. Honorius 395-423 Valentinian III 425-455 Maximus 455 Avitus 455-456 Count Ricimer creates and deposes emperors . . . 456-472 Romulus Augustus .... 475-476 \\\ 172 LASr MdWS m TMM^ EMPIRE IN THE WEST. put Orestes to death, and dethroned the child-emperor. His life was spared, and his friends were permitted to take him into retirement in the villa of Luculltis, in Campania. The Roman Senate now sent an embassy to Constantinople, with the royal vestments and the insignia of the imperial office, to represent to the Emperor Zeno that the West was willing to give up its claims to an emperor of its own, and to request that the German chief, with the title of " Patrician," might rule Italy as his viceroy. This was granted ; and Italy now became in effect a province of the Empire in the East (a.d. 476). The Roman Empire in the West had come to an end, after an existence from the founding of Rome of 1229 years. SARCOPHAGUS OF CORNELIUS SCIPIO BARBATUS. ((^ontut 298 B.C.) ROMAN EMPERORS. 173 ROMAN EMTERORS FROM COMMODUS TO ROMULUS AUGUSTUS. Commodus . . Pertinax . . . Didius Julianus . Septimius Severus JCaracalla . . Geta .... Macrinus . . , Elagabalus . . Alexander Severus Maximin . . . Gordian III. . . Philip .... Decius .... Period of the Thirty Claudius . . . Aurelian . . . Tacitus .... Probus .... Carus .... JCarinus . . . Numerian . . (A.D. 180-476.) Tyrants A.D. 180-192 193 193 I 93-2 I I 211-217 211-212 217-218 218-222 222-235 235-238 238-244 244-249 249-251 251-268 268-270 270-275 275-276 276-282 282-283 283-284 283-284 1 Diocletian . . . Maximian . . . ^ Constant! us I. X Galerius . . . Constantine the Great Reigns as sole ruler Constantine II. . . Constans I. . . . Constantius II. . . Reigns as sole ruler Julian the Apostate Jovian JValentinian I. . . Valens (in the East) Gratian .... Maximus .... Valentinian II. . . Eugenius .... Theodosius the Great Reigns as sole emperor A.D. 284-305 286-305 305-306 305-311 306-337 323-337 337-340 337-350 337-361 350-361 361-363 363-364 364-375 364-378 383-388 375-392 392-394 379-395 394-395 FINAL PARTITION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. (A.I). 395-) EMPERORS IN THE EAST. (From A.D. 395 to Fall of Rome.) A.D. Arcadius 395-408 Theodosius II 408-450 Marcian 450-457 I^eo 1 457-474 Zeno 474—491 EMPERORS IN THE WEST. A.D. Ilonorius 395-423 Valentinian III 425-455 Maximus 455 Avitus 455-456 Count Ricimer creates and deposes emperors . . . 456-472 Romulus Augustus .... 475-476 174 ARCHITECTURE, CHAPTER X. ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW, AND SOCIAL LIFE AMONG THE ROMANS. Architecture. Introductory. — We purpose in the present section to say something further respecting the great architectural works of the ancient Romans, any extended description of which before this time would have broken the continuity of our narrative. An examination of these as they stood before time and violence laid defacing hands upon them, or as they appear now after the decay and spoliation of many centuries, will tend to render more real, and to impress more deeply upon our minds, the story we have been following (see Frontispiece), Oreek Origm of Roman ArcMtecture : the Arch. — The architecture of the Romans was, in the main, an imitation of Greek models. But the Romans were not mere servile imitators. They not only modified the architectural forms they borrowed, but they gave their structures a distinct character by the prominent use of the arch, which the Greek and Oriental builders seldom employed, though they were acquainted with its properties. By means of it the Roman builders vaulted the roofs of the largest buildings, carried stupendous aqueducts across the deepest val- leys, and spanned the broadest streams with bridges that have resisted all the assaults of time and flood to the present day. Sacred Edifices. — The temples of the Romans were in general so like those of the Greeks that we need not here take time and space to enter into a particular description of them.^ Mention, ^ The most celebrated of Roman temples was the Capitoline, which crowned the Capitoline Hill at Rome. At the close of the Punic Wars the roof of the central portion of the building was covered with gilded tiles at an almost fabulous expense, — %2!OfiOOpoo according to some authorities. The brazen THEATRES AND AMPHITHEATRES. 175 however, should be made of their circular vaulted temples, as this was a style of building almost exclusively Italian. The best repre- sentative of this style of sacred edifices is the Pantheon ^ at Rome, which has come down to our own times in a state of wonderful preservation. This structure is about 140 feet in diameter. The great concrete dome which vaults the building is one of the boldest pieces of masonry executed by the master-builders of the world. The temple is fronted by a splendid portico, forming a thick grove of columns, through which entrance is given to the shrine. The doors were of bronze, and still remain in place. It was built about 25 B.C. by the consul M. Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus, and was consecrated to Jupiter the Avenger. The edifice is now a Christian sanctuary, being known as The Church of All the Saints. Circnses, Theatres, and Amphitheatres. — The circuses of the Romans were what we should call race-courses. There were several at Rome, the most celebrated being the Circus Maximus, which was first laid out in the time of the Tarquins, and after- wards enlarged as the population of the capital increased, until finally, at the time of Constantine, which emperor made the last extension, it was capable of holding probably two or three hun- dred thousand spectators.^ It was oblong in shape, being about 1800 feet long and 600 feet wide. From the course, or track, the seats rose in tiers the same as in a theatre. From the uppermost row of seats rose high buildings with several stories of balconies like the boxes overhanging the modem stage. The sloping sides of the valley were taken advantage of in the formation of the seats. The only remaining trace of this stupendous structure is the terraced appearance of the low encircling hills. doors of the temple were also adorned with solid plates of gold. The interior decorations were of marble and silver. The walls were crowded with the trophies of war. We have already learned of the fate of the treasures of the sanctuary at the hands of the barbarian Goths and Vandals (see pp. 165, 170). ^ From two Greek words, /aw, all, and theion^ divine (or theos^ a god). * Authorities differ, ranging from 150,000 to 380,000. Pliny says 250,000. i\ I II 176 ARCHITECTURE. THE COLOSSEUM, 177 RUINS OF THEATRE AT ASPENDOS. The Romans borrowed the plan of their theatres from the Greeks. The form was that of a semicircle, with rising tiers of seats. The Greeks, in the construction of their thea- tres, usually took advan- tage of some hillside ; but the Romans, who seemed to scorn the idea of saving labor, or of asking nature to lend aid in any work, when they set themselves to theatre-building, erected the entire structure upon level ground, raising a great support- ing wall or framework in place of the hill with its favoring slopes. All of the theatres built at Rome previous to the year 55 B.C. were of wood. In that year Pompey the Great returned from his campaigns in the East, where he had seen the Greek theatre at Mitylene, and immediately set to work to erect, in imitation of it, a stone theatre at Rome that should seat 40,000 spectators. This structure and two others, one of which was built by Augustus, were the only theatres at the capital. The first Roman amphitheatre seems to have been the out- growth of the rivalry between Pompey and Caesar. The liberality of the former in the erection of his stone theatre had so won for him the affections of the people that the latter saw he must do something to surpass his rival, or see himself entirely distanced in the race for popular favor. Caesar was at this time away in Gaul, whence he sent immense sums of money, gained by his successful wars, to his friend Curio, then tribune at Rome, who was enjoined to erect, with the means thus put into his hands, a structure that should cast Pompey's into the shade. Pliny tells us that Curio built two wooden theatres side by side, in which two separate audiences might be entertained at the same time. With things thus arranged, and with the people in good-humor from the farcical representations that had been given, all was ready for the master-stroke that w^s to win the applause of the fickle multitude. At a given signal, one of the theatres, which had been constructed so as to admit of such a movement, was swung around and brought face to face with the other, in such a way as to form a vast amphitheatre, where, from a central space called the arena and designed for the exhibitions, the seats rose in receding tiers on every side. The first stone amphitheatre was erected during the reign of Augustus. But the one that pushed all other edifices of this kind THE COLOSSEUM. (From a Photograph.) far into the background, and in some respects surpasses any other monument ever reared by man, was the structure com- menced by Flavins Vespasian, and often called, after him, the Flavian Amphitheatre, but better known as the Colosseum (see p. 133). The edifice is 574 feet in its greatest diameter, and was capable of seating 87,000 spectators. The encircling wall rises in four stories to the height of 156 feet. Within, the seats rose from in ARCmTECTURE. RUINS OF THEATRE AT ASPENDOS. The Romans borrowed the plan of their theatres from the Greeks. The form was that of a semicircle, with rising tiers of seats. The Greeks, in the constnictidn of their thea- tres, usually took advan- tage of some hillside ; but the Romans, who seemed to scorn the idea of saving labor, or of asking nature to lend aid m any work, when they set themselves to theatre-building, erected the entire stnicture upon level ground, raising a great support- ing wall or framework in place of the hill with its favoring slopes. All of the thesitres built at Rome previous lo the year 55 B.C. were of wood. In that year Pompey the Great returned from his campaigns in the East, where he had seen the Greek theatre at Mitylene, and immediately set to work to erect, in imitation of it, a stone theatre at Rome that should seat 40,000 spectators. This structure and two others, one of which was built by Augustus, were the only ttokties at the capital. The first Roman amphitheatre seems to have been the out- growth of the rivalry between Pompey and Caesar. The liberality of the former in the erection of his stone theatre had so won for him the affections of the people that the latter saw he must do something to surpass his rival, or see himself entirely distanced in the race for popular favor. Ciesar was at this time away in Gaul, whence he sent immense sums of money, gained by his successful wars, to his friend C'urio, then tribune at Rome, who was enjoined to erect, with the means thus put iiilo his hands, a structure that should cast Pompey's into the shade. Pliny tells us that Cwrio built two wooden theatres side by side, im which two separate audiences might be entertained at the same time. With things thus arranged, and with tie people in good-humor from the farcical representations that had been given, all was ready for the THE COLOSSEUM. 177 master-stroke that was to win the applause of the fickle multitude^ At a given signal, one of the theatres, which had been constructed SO as to adoiil of such a movement, was swung around and brought face to face with the other, in such a way as to form a vast amphitheatre, where, from a central space called the arena and designed for the exhibitions, the seats rose in receding tiers on every side. The first stone amphitheatre was erected during the reign of Augustus. But the one that pushed all other edifices of this kind THE COLOSSEUM. (From a Photograph.) far into the background, and in some respects surpasses any other monument ever reared by man, was the stnicture com- menced by Flavins Vespasian, and often called, after him, the Flavian Amphitheatre, but better known as the Colosseum (see p. 133)- The edifice is 574 feet in its greatest diameter, and was capable of seating 87,000 spectators. The encircling wall rises in four stories lo the height of 156 feet. Within, the seats rose from i'tl 178 ARCHITECTURE. THE APPIAN WAY, 179 the arena hi retreating steps to the magnificent portico that crowned the upper circle. Beneath the arena and seats were large chambers designed as dens for the wild animals needed in the shows. Sockets in the upper stone-work held pillars to which were fastened the ropes by means of which an immense awning was stretched over the heads of the spectators to keep out the sun and rain. Fountain jets filled the air with perftimed spray ; pieces of statuary, placed at advantageous points, relieved the monotony of the endless circle of seats ; and bright-colored silken decorations lent a festive appearance to the vast auditorium. The enormous proportions of the Colosseum have enabled it to resist all the agencies of destruction which have been at work upon it through so many centuries. The crowning colonnade was destroyed by fire; the immense walls were quarried by the builders of Rome for a thousand years, and from them was taken material for the building of a multitude of castles, towers, and palaces, erected in the capital during the Middle Ages ; and for seventeen hundred years the tooth of time has been busy upon every part of the gigantic structure. Yet, notwithstanding all these concurring agencies of ruin, the Colosseum still stands grand and impressive as at first, even more impressive because of these marks that it bears of violence and of time. It rises before us as " the embodiment of the power and splendor of the empire." Many of the most important cities of Italy and of the provinces were provided with amphitheatres, similar in all essential respects to the Colosseum at the capital, only much inferior in size, save the one at Capua, which was nearly as 'large as the Flavian structure. Military Eoads. — Foremost among the works of utility exe- cuted by the Romans, and the most expressive of the spirit of the people, were their military roads. Radiating from the capital, they grew with the growing empire, until all the countries about the Mediterranean and beyond the Alps were united to Rome and to one another by a perfect network of highways of such admirable construction that even now, in their ruined state, they excite the wonder of modern engineers. The most noted of all the Roman roads was the Via Appia, called by the ancients themselves the " Queen of Roads," which ran from Rome to Capua. It was built by Appius Claudius (312 B.C.), for whom it was named. Afterwards it was continued in a southeasterly direction, and carried across the peninsula to Brundisium, an important seaport on the coast of Calabria, whence expeditions were embarked for operations in the East! THE APPIAN WAY. (From a Photograph.) The Flaminian Way ran from the capital to Ariminum on the Adriatic, and thence was extended, under another name, north- ward into the valley of the Po. Several other roads, reaching out from Rome in different directions, completed the communication of the capital with the various cities and states of the peninsula. As the limits of the Roman authority extended, new roads were built in the conquered provinces — in Sicily, in Northern Africa, HI { 178 AKCJIITECTURE. the arena in retreating steps to the magnificent portico that crowned lie upper circle. Beneath the arena and seats were large chambers designed » ieas iir lie Wid animals needed in the shows. Sockets in the upper stone-work held pillars to which were fastened the ropes by means of which an immense awning was stretched over the heads of the spectators to keep out the sun and rain. Fountain jets filled the air with perfumed spray ; pieces of statuary, placed ill «iwpl8|«»ilS pdinis, relieved the monotony of the endless circle of seals ; «iid bright-colored silken decorations lent a festive appearance to the vast auditorium. The enormous proportions of the Colosseum have enabled it to resist all the agencies of destruction which have been at work upon it through so many centuries. The crowning colonnade was destroyed by fire; the immense wtjls were quarried by the builders of Rome for a thousand years, and from them was taken material for the building of a multitude of castles, towers, and palaces, erected in the capital during the Middle Ages ; and for seventeen hundred years the tooth of time has been busy upon every part of the gigantic structure. Yet, notwithstanding all these concurring agencies of ruin, Ihe Colosseum still stands grand and impressive as at first, even more impressive because of these marks that it bears of violence and of time. It rises before us as** lie embodiment of the power and splendor of the empire." Many of the most important cities of Italy md of the provinces were provided with amphitheatres, similar in all essential respects to the Colosseum at the capital, only much inferior in size, save the one at Capua, which was nearly as 'large as the Flavian structure. Military Roads. --JEliremost among the works of utility exe- cuted by the Romans, tiid the most expressive of the spirit of the people, were their military roads. Radiating from the capital, they grew with the growing empire, until all the countries about the Mediterranean and beyond the Alps were united to Rome and tO:...Qiie .another tiya^ftrfect iwtiwifk of highways of such admirable THE APFJAN WAY, 179 construction that even now, in their ruined state, they excite the wonder of modern engineers. The most noted of all the Roman roads was the Via Appia, called by the ancients themselves the " Queen of Roads," which ran from Rome to Capua. It was built by Appius Claudius (312 B.C.), for whom it was named. Afterwards it was continued in a southeasterly direction, and carried across the peninsula to Brundisium, an important seaport on the coast of Calabria, whence expeditions were embarked for operations in the East! THE APPIAN WAY. (From a Photograph.) The Flaminian Way ran from the capital to Ariminum on the Adriatic, and thence was extended, under another name, north- ward into the valley of the Po. Several other roads, reaching out from Rome in different directions, completed the communication of the capital with the various cities and states of the peninsula. As the limits of the Roman authority extended, new roads were built in the conquered provinces — in Sicily, in Northern Africa, 180 ARCHITECTURE, in Spain, over the Alps, along the Rhine and the Danube, through- out Gaul, Britain, Greece, and all the East. These military roads, with characteristic Roman energy and disregard of obstacles, were carried forward, as nearly as pos- sible, in straight lines and on a level, mountains being pierced with tunnels,* and valleys crossed by massive viaducts. Near Naples may be seen one of these old tunnels still in use, called the Grotto of the Posilippo, which is over half a mile in length. It led the old Appian Way through a hill that at this point crossed its course. The usual width of the roadway was about thirteen feet; the bed was formed of broken stone and cement, upon which was sometimes laid, as in the case of the Via Appia, a regular pavement formed of large blocks of the hardest stone. Foot-paths often ran along the sides of the main roadway ; mile- posts told the distance from the capital; and upon the best- 1 In boring tunnels, the Roman engineers worked simultaneously from both sides of the mountain, in the same way that modern engineers do. In i860 an inscription was discovered which contains a curious report of an engineer who had in charge the construction of an aqueduct tunnel for the town of Saldae, in Algeria. During his absence the boring went awry, and the ends of the sections could not be brought together. The engineer was sent for. His report says: "I found everybody sad and despondent; they had given up all hopes that the two opposite sections of the tunnel would meet, because each section had already been excavated beyond the middle of the mountain, and the junction had not yet been effected. As always happens in these cases, the fault was attributed to the engineer, as though he had not taken all precautions to insure the success of the work. What could I have done better? I began by surveying and taking the levels of the mountain; I marked most carefully the axis of the tunnel across the ridge; I drew plans and sections of the whole work, which plans I handed over to Petronius Celer, then governor of Mauri- tania; and to take extra precaution, I summoned the contractor and his work- men, and began the excavation in their presence . . . Well, during the four years I was absent at Lambcese, expecting every day to hear the good tidings of the arrival of the waters at Saldae, the contractor and the assistant had com- mitted blunder upon blunder; in each section of the tunnel they had diverged from the straight line, each towards his right, and, had I waited a little longer before coming, Sakte would have possessed two tunnels instead of one." — Lanciani's Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries, p. 61. THE CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT, 181 appointed roads seats were found disposed at proper intervals for the convenience of travellers. In the Forum at Rome was a gilded post, the ideal centre of the empire, and so of course of the world, from which distances on all the radiating roads were measured. Aqueducts. — To supply a great city with abundant and whole- some water is a matter of no less difficulty than importance. All the great capitals of the world, ancient and modern, have secured THE CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT. (From a Photograph.) this boon only by the most lavish expenditure of labor and money. The kings of Babylon expended immense labor in the distribution of water through the gardens and residences of their capital. Solomon's greatest work, after the Temple, was the cutting of reservoirs (still existing as Solomon's Pools) for the collecting of water, and the construction of conduits to lead the same, from a distance of several miles, within the walls of Jerusalem. But the aqueducts of ancient Rome were the most stupendous construe- III im dRCHITECTURE. in Spain, over the Alps, along the Rhine and the Danube, through- out Gaul, Britain, Greece, and all the East Tliese military roads, with characteristic Roman energy and disregard of obstacles, iw*c Ciirled forward, as nearly as pos- sible, in straight lines jpi cm a l»d, «i0iiiitaiiis being pierced with tunnels,^ and valleys crossed by massive viaducts. Near Naples may be seen one of these old tunnels still in use, called the Grotto of the Posilippo, which is over half a mile in length. It led the old Appian Way through a hill that at this point crossed its course. Tlie iisoal iriiii rf lli«: 'iDiiiWijr was about thirteen feet; the bed was formed of teokcii mm and cement, upon which was sometimes laid, as in the case of the Via Appia, a regular pavement formed of large blocks of the hardest stone. Foot-paths often ran along the sides of the main roadway ; mile- posts told the distance from lie capital; and upon the best- ' In %mmg ttltinels, tlie Rumiiii enpncers worked simultaneously from both sides of the mountain, in the same way that modern engineers (U). In i860 an inscrii>ti()n was discovered \n hich contains a curi«)us report of an engineer who had in charge the construction of an aqueduct tunnel for the town of Saldie, in Algeria. During his absence the boring went awry, and the ends of the sections could not be brought together. The engineer was sent for. His report says: "I found everybody sad and despondent; they had given up all hopes that the two opposite sections of the tunnel would meet, l)ecause each section had already been excavated l>eyond the middle of the mountain, and the junction had not yet been effected. As always happens in these cases, the fault was attributed to the engineer, as though he had not taken all precautions to insure the success of the work. What could I have done l)etter? I began by surveying and taking the levels of the mountain; I marked most carefully the axis of the tunnel across the ridge; I drew plans and sections of the whole work, which plans I handed over to Petronius Celer, then governor of Mauri- tania; and to take extra precaution, I summoned the contractor and his work- men, and l)egan the excavation in their presence . . . Well, during the four years I was absent at Lamlwse, expecting every day to hear the good tidings of the arrival of the waters at Saldac, the contractor and the assistant had com- mitted l>lunder upon blunder; in each section of the tunnel they had diverged from the straight line, each towards his right, and, had I waited a little longer before coming, Sahla- would have poisessecl two tunnels instead of one." — LwJCIAM's Ancient Eome in ike Ligki a/Mecent Discoveries, p. 61. THE CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT, 181 appointed roads seats were found disposed at proper intervals for the convenience of travellers. In the Forum at Rome was a gilded post, the ideal centre of the empire, and so of course of the world, from which distances on all the radiating roads were measured. Aqueducts. — To supply a great city with abundant and whole- some water is a matter of no less difficulty than importance. All the great capitals of the world, ancient and modern, have secured THE CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT. (From a Photograph.) this boon only by the most lavish expenditure of labor and money. The kings of Babylon expended immense labor in the distribution of water through the gardens and residences of their capital. Solomon's greatest work, after the Temple, was the cutting of reservoirs (still existing as Solomon's Pools) for the collecting of water, and the construction of conduits to lead the same, from a distance of several miles, within the walls of Jerusalem. But the aqueducts of ancient Rome were the most stupendous construe- 182 ARCHITECTURE. tions of this nature ever executed by the inhabitants of any city. That capital was probably better supplied with water than any other great city of ancient or, possibly, of modem times. The old writers compare to rivers the streams that the aqueducts poured through its streets. The water-system of Rome was commenced by Appius Claudius (about 313 B.C.), who secured the building of an aqueduct which led water into the city from the Sabine hills, through a subterra- nean channel eleven miles in length. From the spoils obtained in the war with Pyrrhus was built the Anio Aqueduct, so named because it brought water from the Anio River. A second aque- duct running from the same stream, and called the Anio Nova, to distinguish it from the older conduit, was about fifty-six miles in length. It ran beneath the ground until within about six miles of the city, when it was taken up on arches and thus carried over the low levels into the capital. In places this aqueduct was held up more than a hundred feet above the plain. During the repub- lic four aqueducts were completed ; under the emperors the num- ber was increased to fourteen.^ The Romans carried their aqueducts across depressions and valleys on high arches of masonry, not because they were igno- rant of the principle that water seeks a level, but for the reason that they could not make large pipes strong enough to resist the very great pressure to which they would be subjected.^ In some instances the principle of the siphon was put in practice, and pipes (usually lead or earthen) were laid down one side of a valley and up the opposite slope. But their liability to accident, when the pressure was heavy, as we have intimated, led to the adoption in general of the other method. The lofty arches of 1 Several of these are in use at the present day. 2 "As to the main aqueducts, which supplied Rome with a daily volume of 54,000,000 cubic feet of water, it would have been impossible to substi- tute metal pipes for channels of masonry, because the Romans did not know cast-iron, and no pipe except of cast-iron could have supported such enormous pressure." — - Lanciani's Ancient Rome in the Light 0/ Recent Discoveries, p. 60. THE R MM, OR BATHS. 183 the ruined aqueducts that run in long broken lines over the plains beyond the walls of Rome are described by all visitors to the old capital as the most striking feature of the desolate Campagna. Thermae, or Baths. — The greatest demand upon the streams of water poured into Rome by the aqueducts was made by the Thermae, or baths.^ Among the ancient Romans, bathing, regarded at first simply as a troublesome necessity, became in time a luxurious art. During the republic, batKing-houses were erected in considerable numbers, the use of which could be purchased by a small entrance fee equivalent to about one cent of our money. Towards the end of the republic, when bathing had already come to be regarded as a luxury, ambitious politicians, anxious to gain the favor of the masses, would secure a free day for them at the baths. But it was during the imperial period that those magnificent structures to which the name of Thermce properly attaches, were erected. Nero, Titus, Trajan, Commodus, Caracalla, Decius, Constantine, and Diocletian, all erected splendid thermae, which, as they were intended to exhibit the liberality of their builders, were thrown open to the public free of charge. These edifices were very different affairs from the bathing-houses of the republican era. Those raised by the emperors were among the most elaborate and expensive of the imperial works. They contained chambers for cold, tepid, hot, sudatory, and swimming baths; dressing-rooms and gymnasia; museums and hbraries ; covered colonnades for loitering and conversation; extensive grounds filled with statues and traversed by pleasant walks ; and every other adjunct that could add to the sense of luxury and relaxation.^ The pavements were frequently set with the richest ^ Vast quantities of water were also absorbed by the fountains, of which Rome is said to have had a larger number than any other city of the world in any age. M. Agrippa, the builder of the Pantheon, is credited with having set up 105, and his example found many imitators. 2 Lanciani very aptly calls these imperial thermse " gigantic club-houses, whither the voluptuary and the elegant youth repaired for pastime and enjoy- ment." 184 ARCHITECTURE. PALACES AND VILLAS, 185 mosaics. The Thermae of Diocletian contained over three thou- sand of these stone pictures. Caracalla's Baths had over sixteen hundred marble seats ; granite pillars from Egypt decorated the colonnades ; green marble panelUngs, cut in Numidia, lined many of the chambers ; the fixtures of the baths were plated, and in some of the rooms were of soUd silver. Some conception of the stupendous size of this structure may be gained from the fact that the entrance hall, or rotunda, of the building was almost as large as the celebrated Pantheon, which it resembled in form. It was not the inhabitants of the capital alone that had con- verted bathing into a luxury and an art. There was no town of any considerable size anywhere within the limits of the empire that was not provided with its thermae; and wherever springs possessing medicinal qualities broke from the ground, there arose magnificent baths, and, such spots became the favorite watering- places of the Romans. Thus Baden-Baden was a noted and luxurious resort of the wealthy Romans centuries before it be- came the great summer haunt of the Germans. Baiae, near Naples, on account of its warm sulphur springs and the beauty of its surroundings, became crowded with the pleasure-seekers of the capital. These bathing-towns, as was almost inevitable, acquired an unenviable reputation as hotbeds of vice and shame- less indulgence. All the Roman thermae, after suffering repeated spoliation at the hands of successive robbers, have sunk into great heaps of rubbish. Many of their beautiful marbles were carried off by different Greek emperors to Constantinople. Charlemagne decorated his palace at Aix-la-Chapelle with columns torn from these imperial structures, which were then falling into dilapida- tion at Rome. The popes built others into St. Peter's Cathe- dral ; and the masons of Rome, like the brick-hunters of Baby- lon and Nineveh, for centuries mined amidst the vast heaps of the ruined structures for marble blocks and statues, to be burned into lime for making cement. Modern excavations have recovered from the mounds of rubbish some of the most famous of the sculptures that are to be found in the museums of Europe. Palaces and Villas. — The residences of the wealthy Romans when built within the city walls were called mansions or pal- aces, but when located in the country were usually designated as villas. The Palatine was the aristocratic quarter of Rome, being occupied by the homes of the wealthy class. After the Great Fire, Nero erected here his Golden House, whose various buildings, courts, gardens, vineyards, fish-ponds, and other in- numerable appendages, spread over much of the burnt district. It was '*the most stupendous dwelling-place," declares Inge, "ever built for a mortal man." The central building upon the Palatine, shorn of its extensive grounds and useless adjuncts, became the residence of most of the emperors who held the throne after the death of Nero. Among the villas frequently mentioned by the old writers are those of Scipio, Metellus, Lucullus, Cicero, Hortensius, PHny, Horace, Virgil, Hadrian, and Diocletian. But to attempt enu- meration would be misleading. Every wealthy Roman possessed his villa, and many affected to keep up several in different parts of Italy. These country residences, while retaining the elegance and all the conveniences of the city palace, — baths, museums, and libraries, — added to these such adjuncts as were denied a place by the restricted room of the capital, — extensive gardens, aviaries, fish-ponds, vineyards, olive orchards, shaded walks, and well-kept drives. Perhaps the most noted of Roman villas was that of Hadrian at Tibur, now Tivoli. It was intended to be a miniature representa- tion of the world — both the upper and the lower. There were theatres, baths, and temples of rare workmanship. In one part of the grounds were reproduced the Thessalian Vale of Tempe and other celebrated bits of scenery. Subterranean labyrinths enabled the visitor to make an ^nean descent into Hades, and a journey amidst the scenes of the dolorous region.^ 1 Guhl and Koner's Life of the Greeks and Romans^ p. 372. 186 ARCHITECTURE, SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS. 187 Within the ruined enclosure of the villa of Diocletian — the em- peror who gave up imperial cares to raise vegetables at Salona, on the Adriatic — are crowded the buildings of the little modem village of Spalatro. Triumphal Colunms and Arches. —Among all peoples, what- ever be their place in the scale of civilization, we find an instinct ARCH OF CONSTANTINE. or sentiment which prompts them to endeavor to perpetuate the memory of important events in their history by means of com- memorative monuments. When Jacob, upon the spot where he had dreamed, set up a stone for a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it, he simply obeyed that universal impulse which has given to the world the grand lettered obelisks of the Pharaohs, destined, seemingly, to stand as long as the world shall endure, and the imposing sculptured columns of the Romans, to some of which seems to have been granted the immortality of the Egyptian mon- uments. The first historic column raised by the Romans was erected in the year 261 B.C., to commemorate their first naval victory, gained by DuilHus over the Carthaginian fleet. It was decorated with the brazen prows of the broken and captured ships of the enemy (see p. 47). Trajan's Column, built to commemorate the Da- cian victories of that emperor, is a remarkable work. It is still standing in an almost perfect state of preservation. It is over one hundred feet in height, and is pictured from base to summit with representations of battles and various scenes illustrative of Trajan's Dacian campaigns (see p. 136). The triumphal arches of the Romans were modelled after the city gates, being constructed with single and with triple archways. Two of the most noted monuments of this character, and the most interesting because of their historic connections, are the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Constantine, both of which are still standing. Upon the former are represented the articles brought from Jerusa- lem by Titus as the spoils of the war against the Jews (see p. 133). The Arch of Constantine was intended to commemorate the vic- tory of that emperor over Maxentius, which event established Christianity as the imperial and favored religion of the empire. Sepulchral Monuments. — The Romans in the earliest times seem to have usually buried their dead; but towards the close of the republican period cremation, or burning, became common. When Christianity took possession of the empire, the doctrine ot the resurrection of the dead which it taught caused inhumation, or burying, again to become the prevalent mode. The favorite burying-place among the Romans was along the highways ; the Appian Way was lined with sepulchral monuments for a distance of several miles from the gates of the capital (see cut on p. 1 79) . Many of these are still standing. These memorial structures were as varied in design as are the monuments in our modem cemeteries. Shafts, broken columns, altars, pyramids, and chapels were oft-recurring forms. 186 ARCHITECTURE. Within the imiiled enclosure of the villa of Diocletian — the em- peror who gave up imperial cares to raise vegetables at Salona, on the Adriatic — are crowded the buildings of the little modern village of Spalatro. Triumphal Columns and Arches. — Among all peoples, what- ever be their place in the scale of civilization, we find an instinct ARCH OF CONSTANTINE. or sentiment which prompts them to endeavor to perpetuate the memory of important events m their history by means of com- memorative monuments. When Jacob, upon the spot where he had dreamed, set up a stone for a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it, he simply obeyed that universal impulse which has given to the world the grand lettered obelisks of the Pharaohs, destined, seemingly, to stand m long as the world shall endure, and the imposing sculptured columns of the Romans, to some of which SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS. 187 seems to have been granted the immortality of the Egyptian mon- uments. The first historic column raised by the Romans was erected in the year 261 B.C., to commemorate their first naval victory, gained by Duillius over the Carthaginian fleet. It was decorated with the brazen prows of the broken and captured ships of the enemy (see p. 47). Trajan's Column, bnilt to commemorate the Da- cian victories of that emperor, is a remarkable work. It is still standing in an almost perfect state of preservation. It is over one hundred feet in height, and is pictured from base to summit with representations of battles and various scenes illustrative of Trajan's Dacian campaigns (^see p. 136). The triumphal arches of the Romans were modelled after the city gates, being constructed with single and with triple archways. Two of the most noted monuments of this character, and the most interesting because of their historic connections, are the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Constantine, both of which are still standing. Upon the former are represented the articles brought from Jerusa- lem by Titus as the spoils of the war against the Jews (see p. 133). The Arch of Constantine was intended to commemorate the vic- tory of that emperor over Maxentius, which event established Christianity as the imperial and favored religion of the empire. Sepulchral Monuments. —The Romans in the earliest times seem to have usually buried their dead; but towards the close of the republican period cremation, or burning, became common. When Christianity took possession of the empire, the doctrine ot the resurrection of the dead which it taught caused inhumation, or burying, again to become the prevalent mode. The favorite burying-place among the Romans was along the highways ; the Appian Way was lined with sepulchral monuments for a distance of several miles from the gates of the capital (see cut on p. 179). Many of these are still standing. These memorial structures were as varied in design as are the monuments in our modern cemeteries. Shafts, broken columns, altars, pyramids, and chapels were oft-recurring forms. 188 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW, THE PERIOD OF LITERARY ACTIVITY. 189 Two sepulchral edifices of the imperial era deserve special notice. One of these was raised by Augustus as a tomb and monument for himself and his successors. It stood close to the banks of the Tiber, and consisted of an enormous circular tower raised upon a massive square substructure. A century later, this sepulchre having become filled, Hadrian constructed a similar monument, which was richer, however, in marbles and sculptures, upon the opposite bank of the Tiber. This structure was called^ after the emperor, the Mole, or Mausoleum, of Hadrian. It is now used as a military fortress under the name of the Castle of St. Angelo. The massive structure, battered by many sieges and assaults and decayed through lapse of time, presents, next after the Colosseum, the most imposing appearance of any of the mon- uments of the ancient Romans. LrTERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND Law. Literature among the Eomans. — The literary or purely in- tellectual life of the Romans was in every way far inferior to that of the Greeks. The old conquerors of the world were too prac- tical a race — were too much absorbed in the business of war and government — to find much time to pay devotion to the Muses, or to pursue with much earnestness those philosophical speculations which were so congenial to the Attic intellect.^ All the national aims and pursuits of this martial race trained their ear to catch more music in the tread of legions than in the sweetest cadences of the poet's verse. Their very amusements tended to the same end as did their more serious employments. The stem real trag- edies of the amphitheatre rendered tame the mock tragedies of the stage. The inspiration and encouragement of popular appre- ciation and applause, which raised the tragic drama to such lofty excellence at Athens, were almost wholly wanting at Rome. * "The deepest and ultimate reason of the diversity between the two nations lay beyond doubt in the fact that Latium did not, and that Hellas did, during the season of growth come into contact with the East." — Mommsen. Therefore, in the brief examination which we now purpose to make of Latin literature, we must not expect to discover such worth and genius as distinguish the intellectual productions of the Hel- lenic race ; still we shall find the literary memorials of the Roman people possessing so many eminent qualities and so much merit that we shall acknowledge they are justly assigned a prominent, though not the foremost, place among the literary treasures of the world. The Period of Literary Activity. — It was only the last two centuries of the republic and the first of the empire — only three centuries in all — that were marked by the literary activity and productiveness of the Latin intellect. The first five centuries of Roman history are almost barren of ITterary monuments. But in the third century B.C., under the fostering influences of the repub- lic, literature began to spring up and to flourish, and by the time of the establishment of the empire, had reached its fullest and richest development ; then, upon the fall of the institutions of the republican era, it soon begun to languish, and survived the death of freedom barely a single century. The last four hundred years of the imperial era exhibit the name of scarcely a single writer of vigor and originality. We here learn how depressing and withering are the influences of a capricious and irresponsible despotism, which forbids all freedom and truthfulness, upon the intellectual and literary life of a people. Literature is a plant that thrives best in the free air of a republic. It is true, indeed, that some of the choicest fruit of the Latin intellect ripened during the first years of the empire ; but this had been long maturing under the influences of the republican period, and should properly be credited to that era. Besides, the evil tendencies of the unlimited monarchy had not yet manifested themselves under Augustus; still, even during the reign of that emperor, Ovid, one of the brightest minds of the period, was exiled, without any reason being assigned for the act, to the bar- barous shores of the Euxine. But the conduct of the despot Nero will better illustrate what we have affirmed. That tyrant 190 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. |i|i was on the point of burning every copy of the Iliad and of the jEneid, because, in the imperial judgment, Homer had no taste, and Virgil was without genius. Wha't shall literature do under such censorship ? Eelation of Eoman to Greek Literature. — Latin literature was almost wholly imitative or borrowed, being a reproduction of Greek models; still it performed a most important service for civilization : it was the medium for the dissemination throughout the world of the rich literary treasures of Greece. In order to realize the greatness of its work and influence, we must bear in mind that the spread of the Latin tongue was coex- tensive with the conquests of Rome. The subjugated nations, with the laws of their conquerors, received also their language. In those countries where the subjected peoples were inferior in civilization to the Romans, the language of the conquerors came into general use. Such was the condition of all the nations in the West. Italy, Spain, Gaul, and Northern Africa became so thoroughly Romanized before the overthrow of the empire that the Latin tongue, much corrupted of course from the classical forms of the capital, came into universal use among all classes. It was somewhat different in the East, where the Hellenic language and culture had been spread. The speech of Rome never suc- ceeded in crowding out the Greek language as it pushed aside and displaced the various rude and barbarous dialects of the tribes of Western Europe. Yet throughout all the Eastern prov- inces the Roman tongue became the speech of the ruling class, and was understood and very generally employed by men of education and social position. We see, then, how very extended was the audience addressed by the Roman writers. The works of the Latin poets and his- torians were read everywhere within the limits of the Roman empire, and that is equivalent to saying that they circulated throughout the civilized world. And wherever Latin literature found its way there were scattered broadcast the seeds of Grecian culture, science, and philosophy. The relation of Rome to ■ LAYS AND BALLADS OF LEGENDARY AGE. 191 Greece was exactly the same as that of Phoenicia to Egypt, as expressed by Lenormant : Greece was the mother of modern civilization ; Rome was its missionary. Lays and Ballads of the Legendary Age. — The period em- braced between the eighth and fourth centuries B.C. may properly be called the Heroic Age of Rome. It corresponds exactly, in its literary products, to the similarly designated period in Grecian history. During this early age there sprang up a great number of hymns, ballads, or lays, of which the merest fragments survived the varying fortunes of the state, and were preserved in the works of the later writers of the republic. "The fabulous birth of Romulus, the rape of the Sabine women, the most poetical com- bat of the Horatii and Curiatii, the pride of Tarquin, the misfor- tunes and death of Lucretia, the establishment of liberty by the elder Brutus, the wonderful war with Porsenna, the steadfast- ness of Scaevola, the banishment of Coriolanus, the war which he kindled against his country, the subsequent struggle of his feelings, and the final triumph of his patriotism at the all-powerful interces- sion of his mother — these and the like circumstances, if they be examined from the proper point of view, cannot fail to be consid- ered as relics and fragments of the ancient heroic traditions and heroic poems of the Romans." ^ These stories must be placed along with the Grecian tales of Cadmus and Theseus, of the Argonautic Expedition and the Trojan War. They belong to the literary, and not to the historical, annals of the Roman people. They may be made use of for his- torical purposes, but only in the same way that the poems of Homer are used. The references and allusions they contain throw light upon the manners, customs, and modes of thinking of the remote times in which they grew up. The few threads of fact that may be drawn from them have been woven into the picture which, in a previous chapter, we attempted to form of the early Roman state. 1 Schlegel, in Lectures on Literature, as quoted by Dunlop in History of Roman Literature, vol. i. p. 41. i 192 UTERATURE, PHUOSOPHY, AND LAW, ■I The Roman Dramatists. — From the earliest times Rome was under the influence of Grecian civilization, as is shown in the laws of the Twelve Tables ; but the conquest of the Hellenic cities of Southern Italy as the outcome of the war with Pyrrhus, and the acquisition of Sicily as the result of the First Punic War, brought the Romans into much closer relations than had hitherto existed with the arts and culture of the Greeks. The Romans now began to study with much appreciation, and not without profit, the rich stores of Greek literature opened to them. Among the leading famiUes of Rome, it became the fashion to commit the education of children to Greek slaves. The conqueror bows at the feet of the conquered. The intellectual sway of Athens over Rome becomes not less complete and despotic than the political sway of Rome over Athens. The debt incurred by the Romans in all intellectual and literary matters to the Greeks has been declared to be but faintly paralleled by that incurred by the English in theology, philosophy, and music to Germany.* "Their [the Romans'] genius, I believe," says Dunlop, "would have remained unproductive and cold half a century longer, had it not been kindled by contact with a warm, polished, and ani- mated nation, whose compositions could not be read without enthusiasm or imitated without advantage." ^ It was the dramatic productions of the Greeks which were first copied and studied by the Romans. Translations for the stage, particularly those of a comic character, were received with great favor, and the theatre became the popular resort of all classes. For nearly two centuries, from 240 B.C. to 78 B.C., dramatic litera- ture was almost the only form of composition cultivated at Rome. During this epoch appeared all the great dramatists ever produced by the Latin- speaking race. Of these we may name, for brief mention, Livius Andronicus, Naevius, Ennius, Plautus, and Ter- rence. All of these writers were close imitators of Greek authors, * Crutt well's History of Roman Literature ^ p. 36. ^ Dunlop's History of Roman Literaturct vol. i. p. 55. THE ROMAN DRAMATISTS, 193 and most of their works were simply adaptations or translations of the masterpieces of the Greek dramatists. Livius Andronicus, who lived about the middle of the third cen- tury B.C., was probably a Greek prisoner carried to Rome from some city of Magna Grsecia. He was the father of the Roman drama. He transformed the mimic dances, which had been in- troduced at Rome by Etruscan actors about a century before his time (in 364 B.C.), into a real dramatic representation, by adding to the performance dialogues to be recited by the actors. He was the performer of his own pieces, and was so often recalled by his admirers that he overtaxed and lost his voice. After this misfor- tune befell him, he employed a boy to declaim those parts of the dialogue which required to be rendered in a high tone, while he himself played the flute, recited the less declamatory passages, and accompanied the whole with the proper gesticulation. This mode of representation, which Livius had been constrained to adopt through accident, afterwards became the fashion in the Roman theatres ; and the plays were usually presented by two persons, one reciting the words and the other accompanying them with the appropriate gestures. Naevius, who wrote about the close of the third century B.C., was the first native-born Roman poet of eminence. His works were translations from various Greek dramatists. He imitated Aristophanes ; and as the latter lashed the corrupt politicians of Athens, so did the former expose to ridicule and contempt differ- ent members of the leading patrician families at Rome. He did not escape with impunity ; for he was once in prison, and finally died an exile at Utica or Cathage (about 204 b.c). Naevius bore part as a soldier in the First Punic War, and he found solace during the years of his exile in writing in epic verse the events of that stirring time. Ennius, a contemporary of Naevius, was an epic as well as a dramatic writer. The greatest work from his prolific pen was the Annalsy an epic poem recounting in graceful and vigorous verse the story of Rome from the times of the kings to his own day. m ill 194 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. r ^l »' '.\ < m- H Had Virgil never lived, Ennius must always have been named as the greatest epic poet produced by the Roman race ; and the fragments of his Annals which still survive would be carefully pre- served as the remains of the Roman Iliad. For two centuries, until the advent of the Augustan poets, the works of Ennius held almost supreme sway over the Roman mind. His verses were constantly rehearsed in the theatres; they were committed to memory by the Roman youth, were quoted by the orator, and borrowed by the poet. Virgil acknowledged Ennius as his master by becoming a diligent student of his works, and by transcribing word for word many of his most beautiful passages. Plautus (254-184 B.C.) and Terence (195-161 B.C.) were writers of comedy, who won a fame that has not yet perished. Plautus adapted various Greek plays to the Roman stage, corrupting all the pieces he touched with low wit and drollery, in order to catch the ear of the lower classes that thronged the theatres. His plays reproduced before the inhabitants of the capital the cornipt life of the East, whose debasing influences were at this time beginning to effect a lowering of the tone of society at Rome. Terence wrote more for the cultured classes, and did not stoop to employ those means by which Plautus secured the applause of his audi- ences. All of the six comedies which Terence wrote were either translations or adaptations from the Greek. As Plautus and Terence borrowed from the Greek stage, so have all modem writers of comedy — Italian, French, and English — drawn freely from these their great Roman predecessors.^ * •* * The earliest writers,' as has justly been remarked, * took possession of the most striking objects for description, and the most probable occurrences for fiction, and left nothing to those that followed but transcriptions of the same events, and new combinations of the same images' l^Rasscias], The great author from whom these reflections are quoted had at one time actually projected a work to show how small a quantity of invention there is in the world, and that the same images and incidents, with little variation, have served all the authors who have ever written. Had he prosecuted his inten- tion, he would have found the notion he entertained fully confirmed by the history both of dramatic and romantic fiction ; he would have perceived the POETS OF THE LATER REPUBLICAN ERA. 195 Poets of the Later Bepublican Era. — In the year 146 b.c, Corinth in Greece was destroyed, the treasures of its museums and the rolls of its libraries were carried to Italy, and Roman authority became supreme throughout Greece. The impulse that had been given to the study of Greek models by the conquest of Magna Graecia more than one hundred years before was now intensified and strengthened. But with the introduction of the learning and refinement of the conquered states came also the luxuries and vices of the East. Just at this time, evoked, it would seem, by the shameless extravagances and corruptions that invited rebuke, appeared Lucilius (born 148 B.C.), one of the greatest of Roman satirists. The later satirists of the corrupt imperial era were the imitators of the repubhcan poet. Besides Lucilius, there appeared during the later republican era only two other poets of distinguished merit, — Lucretius and Catullus. Both were born early in the last century before Christ. Lucretius studied at Athens, where he became deeply imbued with the doctrines of the Epicurean philosophy, which at that time was in the ascendant at the Attic capital. He left behind him but a single work, entitled De Re rum Natura — ("On the Nature of Things "). Lucretius was a thorough evolutionist, and in his great poem we find anticipated many of the conclusions of modern scientists. He pictures Chaos with more than Miltonic power ; tells how the worlds were formed by a " fortuitous con- course of atoms " ; relates how the generations of life were evolved by the teeming earth ; ridicules the superstitions of his countrymen, declaring that the gods do not trouble themselves with earthly affairs, but that storms, lightning, volcanoes, and pestilences are produced by natural causes, and not by the anger incapacity of the most active and fertile imagination greatly to diversify the common characters and incidents of life, which, on a superficial view, one might suppose to be susceptible of infinite combinations; he would have found that, while Plautus and Terence servilely copied from the Greek dramatists, even Ariosto scarcely diverged in his comedies from the paths of Plautus." — DuNLOP's History of Roman Literature, Preface, p. xix. 1% LITERATURE, PMILQSOFHY, AND LAW, H|:l 1(.< f lli^' of the celestials ; and finally reaches the conclusion that death ends all for the human soul. Lucretius is studied more by mod- em scholars, whose discoveries and theories he so marvellously anticipated, than he was by the Romans of his own time. Catullus was a poet the beauty and sweetness of whose verses are winning to their study at the present day many ardent admirers. He was bom 87 b.c., and died at the age of about forty. He complains of poverty; yet he kept two villas, and found means to indulge in all the expensive and licentious pleasures of the capital. He has been called the Roman Bums, as well on account of the waywardness of his life as from the sweetness of his song. The name of Catullus closes the short list of the prominent poets of the repubhcan period of the Golden Age. Poets of the Augustan Age. — Three poets have cast an unfading lustre over the period covered by the reign of Augustus, — Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. So distinguished have these writers rendered the age in which they lived, that any period in a people's literature signalized by exceptional literary taste and refinement is called, in allusion to the Roman era, an Augustan Age. After the terrific commotion that marked the decline and overthrow of the republic, the long and firm and peaceful reign of Augustus brought welcome relief and rest to the Roman world, wearied with conquests and with contentions over the spoils of war. In narrating the political history of this period, we spoke of the effect of the fall of the republic upon the development of Latin literature. Many who, if the republican institutions had continued, would have been absorbed in the affairs of the state, were led, by the change of government, to seek solace for their disappointed hopes, and employment for their enforced leisure, in the graceful labors of elegant composition. Augustus encouraged this disposition, thinking thus to turn the thoughts of ambitious minds from broodings over the lost cause. By his princely patronage of letters he opened a new and worthy field for the efforts and competitions of the active and the aspiring. i POETS OF THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 197 His minister Maecenas, in whose veins flowed royal Etruscan blood, vied with his master in the bestowal of munificent rewards upon friends, and in the extension of a helpful and inspiring patronage to literary merit, and thus did much towards creating the enthusiasm for letters that distinguishes this period. The vastness of the audience they addressed also reacted upon the writers of this era, and encouraged the greatest painstaking in all their productions. Never before had literary men spoken to so extended an audience — to so much of the world. The bound- aries of the Roman empire now touched everywhere the limits of civilization. And throughout these ample domains the Roman language had become more or less universally spread. In all the West, as we have seen, in Italy, in Gaul, in Spain, in the cities of Northern Africa, it was rapidly supplanting the barbarous dialects of the conquered tribes; while throughout all the provinces and cities of the East it was the speech of the court, of the aristocracy, of learning. The works of Virgil, of Horace, and of Ovid were read and admired in the camps of Gaul and in the capitals of Greece and Syria. Political tranquillity, elegant leisure, imperial patronage, the inspirations of Greek genius, the encouragement of appreciation and wide attention — everything conspired to create an epoch in the world of literature. And yet we must not look for vigor, strength, originality, nervous energy, in the productions of the writers of this period. These qualities belong to times of great public excitement ; to periods of activity, change, revolution ; to those eras that signalize the crises and grand struggles of a people's life. They mark creative, Shakespearian epochs in literature. Elegance, grace, refinement, polish, taste, beauty, are the characteristics of the Augustan writers. Of the three poets whom we have named as the representatives of the poetry of the Augustan period, Virgil doubtless has been the most widely read and admired. He was born 70 b.c. in the litde village of Andes, not far from Mantua. In diligent study at Naples, he formed the acquaintance of the master-minds of wn i m 'It H {I i if 198 LITERATURE, FMILOSOPHY, AND LAW, Grecian literature, and felt the inspirations of the past life of Hellas. Upon his farm at Mantua he learned to love nature and the freedom of a country life. During the disorders of the Second Triumvirate his villa was confiscated, along with the whole Mantuan district, and given to friends of Octavius and Antony. It was afterwards restored to the poet by Augustus. Virgil was laboring upon his greatest work, the ^neid^ when death came to him, in the fifty-second year of his age. The three gre^t works of Virgil are his Eclogues, the Georgics, and the ySneid. The Eclogues are a series of pastorals, which are very close imitations of the poems of the Sicilian Theocritus.* Virgil, however, never borrowed without adorning that which he appropriated by the inimitable touches of his own graceful genius. It is the rare sweetness and melody of the versification, and the Arcadian simplicity of these pieces, that have won for them such a host of admirers. In the poem of the Georgics Virgil extols and dignifies the husbandman and his labor. This work has been pronounced the most finished poem in the entire range of Latin literature. It was written at the suggestion of Maecenas, who hoped by means of the poet's verse to allure his countrymen back to that love for the art of husbandry which animated the fathers of the early Roman state. Throughout the work Virgil follows very closely the Works and Days of Hesiod.^ The poet treats of all the labors and cares of the farm — gives valuable precepts respecting the keeping of bees and catde, the sowing and tillage of crops, the dressing of vineyards and orchards, and embellishes the whole with innumerable passages containing beautiful descriptions of natural scenery, or inculcating some philosophical truth, or teach- ing some moral lesson. Without the Georgics we should never have had the Seasons of Thomson ; for this work of the English poet is in a large measure a dicea translation of the veiap§ of Virgil. ^ See Eastern Nations and Greece^ p. 325. ^ JHd., p. 309. ■^mA POETS OF THE AUGUSTAN AGE, 199 The ^neid stands next to the Iliad as the greatest epic poem of all literatures. It tells the story of the wanderings of ^Eneas and his companions up and down the Mediterranean after the downfall of Troy, his settlement in Italy, and the struggles of his descendants with the native inhabitants of the land. Through ^neas, the hero of the poem, Virgil doubtless intends to repre- sent and compliment the character of his patron, Augustus. In this, his greatest work, Virgil was a close student of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and to them he is indebted for very many of his finest metaphors, similes, and descriptive passages, as well as for the general plan and structure of the entire work. To Ennius , is he also indebted for many a verse. Homer was Virgil's superior in energy and originality, and in the martial grandeur of his lines ; while the latter surpassed his master in the grace, melody, ele- gance, and harmony of his versification. Virgil enjoyed for his work that reward which many another worthy poet has been denied — the appreciation of his genius during his own lifetime. The poet, in accordance with a custom that in his day was common, read or recited his poems in the pres- ence of select friends, and also in public. On one occasion he repeated the sixth book of his ^neid before his imperial patron Augustus and his sister Octavia, who was then mourning the recent death of her son Marcellus, the special favorite and adopted child of the emperor. In the part of the poem rehearsed by Virgil occurs the well-known passage that mourns with the tenderest pathos the too early death of the favorite prince. The closing lines, which alone reveal the name of the subject of the lament, run thus : " Ah, dear lamented boy, canst thou but break The stern decrees of fate, then wilt thou be Our own Marcellus ! — Give me lilies, brought In heaping handfuls. Let me scatter here Dead purple flowers; these offerings at least To my descendant's shade I fain would pay, Though now, alas ! an unavailing rite." ^ ^ ^neid^ book vi. (Cranch's translation). il 200 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. SATIRE AND SATIRISTS. 201 It is said that as Virgil read these verses Octavia was so carried away by her feelings that she fainted, and that the poet was after- wards presented with 10,000 sesterces (about ^400) for each of the twenty-five lines of the passage. Horace, the second great poet of the Augustan Age, was born in the year 65 B.C., only five years later than Virgil, whom he out- lived by about a single decade. He studied at Athens, fought with the republicans at Philippi, gained no glory — for he tells us him- self how he ran away from the field — but lost his paternal estate at Venusia, which was confiscated, and under the imperial govern- ment commenced life anew as a clerk at Rome. Through his friend Virgil he secured the favor of Maecenas, and gained an introduction to Augustus, and thenceforth led the life of a courtier, dividing his time between the pleasures of the capital and the scenes of his pleasant farm near the village of Tibur. The latter years of his life were shadowed by the deaths of his poet- friends Virgil and TibuUus, and that of his generous patron Maecenas, whom he survived only a few weeks. Horace's Odes, Satires, and Epistles have all helped win for him his wide-spread fame ; but the first best exhibit his rare grace and genius. Ovid (42 B.c.-A.D. 18) is the third name in the triumvirate of poets that ruled the Augustan Age. He was the most learned of the three, seeming indeed to be acquainted with the whole round of Greek and Latin literature and speculation. For some fault or misdemeanor, the precise nature of which remains a profound secret to this day, Augustus, his former friend and patron, ban- ished the poet to a small town away on the frontiers of the empire — on the bleak shores of the Euxine. There he spent the last years of his life, bewailing his hard lot in the mournful verses of his Tristia, His most celebrated work is his Metamorphoses, the preservation of which we owe to the merest good-fortune. When the emperor's decree was brought to him, he was at work revising the manuscript, which, in despair or anger, he flung into the fire. Fortunately some friend had previously made a copy of the work, and thus this literary treasure was saved to the world. The poem opens with a sublime description of Chaos and the creation of the world ; then tells of the production of monstrous life by the pro- lific earth, and of the changing races of men and giants ; after which the poet proceeds to describe, through fifteen books, be- tween two and three hundred metamorphoses, or transformations -- such as the change of the companions of Ulysses into swine, of Cadmus into a serpent, and of Arethusa into a fountain — suffered by various persons, gods, heroes, and goddesses, as related in the innumerable fables of the Greek and Roman mythologies. We have already alluded to Tibullus as the friend of Virgil and Horace. His graceful elegies entitle his name to a prominent place among the poets of the Augustan Age. Propertius, too, was another honored and beloved member of the briUiant coterie of poets that have rendered the reign of Augustus ever memorable in the literary history of the world. Satire and Satirists.— Satire thrives best in the reeking soil and tainted atmosphere of an age of selfishness, immorality, and vice. Such an age was that which followed the Augustan era at Rome. The throne was held by such imperial monsters as Tibe- rius, Caligula, Nero, and Domitian. The profligacy of fashionable life at the capital and the various watering-places of the empire was open and shameless. The degradation of the court; the corrupt and dissolute life of the upper classes ; the imbruted life of the masses, fed by largesses of corn and entertained with the bloody shows of the amphitheatre; the decay of the ancient religion, and the almost universal prevalence of unbelief and absolute atheism ; the utter loss of the simplicity and virtue of the early Roman fathers, and the almost complete degradation of the intellect, — all these gave venom and point to the shafts of those who were goaded by the spectacle into attacking the immo- ralities and vices which were silently yet rapidly sapping the foundations of both society and state. Hence arose a succession Of writers whose mastery of sharp and stinging satire has caused their productions to become the models of all subsequent attempts m the same species of literature. Three names stand out in spe- i 202 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. ORATORY AMONG THE ROMANS. 203 IN cial prominence, — Persius, Juvenal, and Martial,' — all of whom lived and wrote during the last half of the first and the beginning of the second century a.d.^ Their writings possess an historical value and interest, as it is through them that we gain an insight such as we could obtain in no other way into the venal and corrupt life of the capital during the early portion of the imperial period. The indignant protest of Persius, Juvenal, and Martial against the vice and degradation of their time is almost the last utterance of the Latin Muse. From this time forward the decay of the intellectual life of Rome was swift and certain. While the Greek intellect, as we have learned, survived by many centuries the destruction of the political life of Greece, the Latin intellect sank into decrepitude centuries before the final fall of the empire. The political fabric — so admirably consolidated had it become through the growth and labors of many centuries — remained standing, like an aged oak, long after its heart had been eaten away. But it could put forth no new shoots. After the death of Juvenal (about A.D. 1 2o) the Roman world produced not a single poet of sufficient genius to merit our attention. Oratory among the Romans. — " Public oratory," as has been truly said, "is the child of political freedom, and cannot exist without it." We have seen this illustrated in the history of repub- lican Athens. Equally well is the same truth exemplified by the records of the Roman state. All the great orators of Rome arose under the republic. As during this period almost the entire intellectual force of the nation was directed towards legal and political studies, it was natural, and indeed inevitable, that the most famous orators of the era should appear as statesmen or 1 Martial was an epigrammatist, but almost all his epigrams were pressed into the service of satire. * There are two other poets belonging to this age whose names must not be passed unmentioned, — Lucan (a.d. 38-65) and Statius (a.d. 61-95). Lucan's only extant work is his Pharsalia, an epic poem on the civil war between Caesar and Fompey. Statius wrote two epics, the Thebaid and the Achilleld, the latter being left incomplete. li advocates. Theology, science, and belles-lettres did not then, as they have come to do among ourselves, suggest inviting and popu- lar themes for the best efforts of the public speaker. Roman oratory was senatorial, popular, and judicial. These dif- ferent styles of eloquence were represented by the grave and dignified debates of the Senate, the impassioned and often noisy and inelegant harangues of the Forum, and the learned pleadings or ingenious appeals of the courts. Junius Brutus, Appius Claudius Caecus, the Scipios, Cato the Censor, Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus, Lucius Licinius, Marcus Antonius, Lucius Crassus, Sulpicius, Hortensius, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony,^ and Cicero are some of the most prominent names that have made the rostrum of the Roman Forum and the assembly-chamber of the Roman Senate f.imous in the records of oratory and eloquence. Among all these orators, Hortensius and Cicero are easily first. Hortensius (114-50 B.C.) was a famous lawyer, whose name adorns the legal profession at the capital both as the learned jurist and the eloquent advocate. His forensic talent won for him a lucrative law-practice, through which he gathered an im- mense fortune. Besides a mansion on the Palatine, he possessed several villas, which were kept up with a most profuse expenditure. The olive-trees in his gardens were sprinkled with wine, to improve the flavor of the fruit. His fish-ponds were stocked with an infi- nite variety of fresh and marine fish, the food and health of which were matters of greater concern to their master than the food and health of his slaves. It is told that he actually wept over the untimely death of a favorite lamprey. But the brightness of the fame of Hortensius is dimmed by the lustre of the name of Marcus Tullius Cicero ^ ( 106-43 B.C.) , the un- tiring student, the constant patriot, the polished orator. He has been called " the Edward Everett of antiquity." He enjoyed every advantage that wealth and parental ambition could con- ^ Grandson of Marcus Antonius. 2 Some critics, however, are unwilling to accord much praise to Cicero. Mommsen declares that he was nothing but a " dexterous stylist." 204 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW, LATIN HISTORIANS. 205 CICERO. (From a bust at Madrid.) fer or suggest. His teachers were the poet Archias and the orator Crassus. Like many others of the Roman patrician youths of his time, he was sent to Greece to finish his education in the schools of Athens. Returning to Italy, he soon assumed a position of commanding influence at the Ro- man capital. His prosecution of Verres shows his hatred of the official corruption and venality that disgraced his times ; his ora- tions against Catiline illustrate his patriotism ; his essays exhibit the wide range of his thoughts and the depth of his philosophical reflections. All his productions evince the most scnipulous care in their preparation. He was a purist in language, and is said to have sometimes spent several days hunting for a proper word or phrase. His greatest fault was his overweening vanity, which appears in all he ever wrote, as well as in every act of his life. But the times in which Cicero lived rather than the orator himself are responsible for this. The an- cient Romans possessed scarcely a trace of that sense of propriety which has grown up among us, and which forbids a person's cele- brating his own virtues. Self-laudation, when not too fulsome, did not grate on the ears of Cicero's auditors. Latin Historians. — Ancient Rome produced four writers of history whose works have won for them a permanent fame — Cse- sar, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. Suetonius may also be mentioned in this place, although his writings were rather biographical than historical* 1 A fuller list of Roman historical authors would have to admit the name of Fabius Pictor, who lived in the age of NtEvius, and was the first historian of the Latin-speaking race; that of Cato the Censor, of whose AnHquities we Of Caesar and his Commentaries on the Gallic War, we have learned in a previous chapter. This work and his Memoirs of the Civil War are the productions on which his fame as a writer depends. He also prepared a Latin grammar, a book on divina- tion, a treatise on astronomy, and, besides, composed some poems that are not without merit. But Caesar was a man of affairs rather than a man of letters. Yet his Comtnentaries will always be men- tioned along with the Anabasis of Xenophon, as a model of the narrative style of writing. Sallust (86-34 B.C.) was the contemporary and friend of Caesar. He was praetor of one of the African provinces. Following the example of the Roman officials of his time, he amassed by harsh if not unjust exactions an immense fortune, and erected at Rome a palatial residence with extensive and beautiful gardens, which became one of the favorite resorts of the literary characters of the capital. The two works upon which his fame rests are the Con- spiracy of Catiline d,xv^ iht Jiigtir thine JVar. Both of these pro- ductions are reckoned among the best specimens of prose writ- ing in the entire range of Latin literature, and are found in the hands of every classical student in the universities of Europe and America. Livy (59 B.C.-A.D.17) was one of the brightest ornaments of the Augustan Age. In popular esteem he holds the first place among Latin historical authors. Herodotus among the ancient, and Macaulay among the modern, writers of historical narrative are the names with which his is oftenest compared. His greatest work is his Annals, a history of Rome from the earliest times to the year 9 B.C. Unfortunately, all save thirty-five of the books of this admirable production — the work filled one hundred and forty- two volumes — perished during the disturbed period that followed the overthrow of the empire. Many have been the laments over " the lost books of Livy." The fragments which remain have been universally read and admired for the inimitable possess the merest fragments; and that of Cornelius Nepos, who wrote in the first century B.C. Ill i 206 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW, % grace and ease of the flowing narrative. Livy loved a story equally well with Herodotus. Like the Greek historian, he was over-credulous, and relates with charming ingenuousness, without the least questioning of their credibility, all the early legends, myths, and ballads that were extant in his day, respecting the early affairs of Rome. Modem critics, among whom are Niebuhr and Mommsen, have shown that all the first portion of his history is entirely unreliable as a chronicle of actual events. However, it is a most entertaining account of what the Romans themselves thought and believed respecting the origin of their race, the founding of their city and state, and the deeds and virtues of their forefathers. The works of Tacitus are his Germania, a treatise on the manners and customs of the Germans ; the Life of Agricola, his History, and his Annals, All of these are most admirable pro- ductions, polished and graceful narratives, full of entertainment and instruction. His Germania, written, it is thought by some, out of the fulness of knowledge derived from personal observation through service or residence on the Rhenish frontier, gives us the fullest information that we possess respecting the manners, beliefs, and social arrangements of our barbarian ancestors while they were yet living beneath their native forests. Tacitus dwells with delight upon the simple life of the uncivilized Germans, and sets their virtues in strong contrast with the immoralities of the refined and cultured Romans. His treatise on the life and campaigns of Agricola, his father-in-law, is pronounced one of the most admirable biographies in the entire round of literature. It gives a most vivid and picturesque portrayal of the conquest of Britain and the establishment of Roman authority in that remote island. The History and Annals cover the reigns of some of the best and some of the worst of the rulers of the early empire. The hot indignation of the virtuous and patriotic historian, poured out in scathing invective against a Nero and a Domitian, has caused his name to be frequently placed with those of Persius, Juvenal, and the other Roman satirists. SCIENCE, ETHICS, AND PHILOSOPHY. 207 Suetonius (a.d. 75-160) was the biographer of the Twelve Caesars. It is to him that we are indebted for very many of the details of the lives of these early emperors. The picture which he draws is painted in dark colors, yet it is doubtless in the main a fairly reliable portraiture of some of the most detestable tyrants that ever disgraced a throne. Science, Ethics, and Philosophy. — Under this head may be grouped the names of Varro, Seneca, Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Quintilian, and Phaedrus. Varro (116-26 B.C.) belongs to the later years of the republic. His almost universal knowledge has earned for him the title of "the most learned of the Romans." He witnessed the terrific scenes of the days of Sulla and Marius, of Pompey and Caesar, of Octavius and Antony. He himself was among the proscribed in the lists of the cruel Antony, and his magnificent villas — for he had immense wealth — were confiscated. Augustus gave him' back his farms, but could not restore his library, which had perished in the sack of his villas. Like many another in thosS turbulent times, when he saw the hopeless ruin of the republic and the establishment of despotism in its place, he sought solace in the pursuit of literature. Almost the entire circle of letters was adorned by his versatile pen : he is said to have written five hundred books. His most valuable production, however, was a work on agriculture, a sort of hand-book for the Italian farmer. Seneca (about a.d. 1-65), moralist and philosopher, has already come to our notice as the tutor of Nero. The act of his life which has been most severely condemed was the defence which he made of his master before the Senate for the tyrant's mur- der of his mother, Agrippina. Nero requited but poorly the infamous service. Seneca possessed an enormous fortune, esti- mated at 300,000,000 sesterces, which the ever-needy emperor coveted; he accordingly accused him of taking part in a con- spiracy against his life, ordered his death, and confiscated hi^ estates. The philosopher met his fate calmly. Upon receiv- ing the decree of his master, he opened the veins of his body, and I 208 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. SCIENCE, ETHICS, AND PHILOSOPHY. 209 died in his warm bath, whither he had retired in order that the flow of the blood might be accelerated, for it had become sluggish from age. As a philosopher Seneca belonged to the school of the Stoics. He wrote many essays and let- ters, the latter intended for pub- lication, containing lofty maxims of wisdom and virtue, which he certainly did not always follow in the conduct of his own life. He was a disbeliever in the popular religion of his countrymen, and entertained conceptions of God and his moral government not very different from the doctrines of Socrates. So admirable are his ethical teachings that it has been maintained the philosopher came under the influences of Christianity; and several letters addressed to the apostle Paul, which are still extant, were formerly referred to as proof of this fact ,' but these have been shown to be spurious. Besides his ethical and philosophical writings, Seneca composed ten tragedies, de- signed rather for reading than for the stage. Seneca's name will ever be noted as that of a great teacher of virtue and morahty to a corrupt age, whose influence upon himself all his philosophy could not wholly resist. Pliny the Elder (a.d. 23-79) is almost the only Roman who won renown as an investigator of the phenomena of nature. His life was a marvellously busy one, every moment being filled with public services, with observations, study, and writing. He seldom walked, but rode or was carried in a litter, that he might not lose a moment from his studies. At his meals and toilet he had a slave read to him. Pliny lost his life in an over-zealous pursuit of science. He was SENECA. in command of the Roman fleet at Misenum when occurred the eruption of Vesuvius which resulted in the destruction of Pom- peii and Herculaneum. Subduing the fears of his officers, who wished to flee from the scene, Pliny employed the ships of his fleet in rescuing the inhabitants of the coast. His vessels, while engaged in this work, were covered with the hot ashes that dark- ened the air and fell incessantly in heavy showers. In order to gain a better view of the mountain, the philosopher ordered his sailors to put him ashore ; but unfortunately he ventured too near the volcano, and was overcome and suffocated by the sulphurous exhalations. The only work of Pliny that has been spared to us is his Natu- ral History, embracing thirty-seven volumes. It is a monument of untiring industry and extensive research. It contains 20,000 citations from more than hvo thousand volumes of various authors. It was the Roman Encyclopaedia, containing all that the worid then knew respecting astronomy, geography, botany, zoology, medicine, and the arts of painting and statuary. In this work he defends the theory of the sphericity of the earth, and declares that it is a globe hanging, by what means supported he knows not, in vacant space. In connection with the name of Pliny the Elder must be men- tioned that of his nephew, Pliny the Younger. He succeeded to the estate, and to somewhat of the fame, of his celebrated uncle. He was a man of letters, being a graceful writer and orator, yet was not a naturalist like the first Pliny. He was a servile courtier, and wrote a eulogy upon the character of the Emperor Trajan which is filled with the most fulsome praise. The large number of his epistles, poems, histories, and tragedies indicate his industry and untiring devotion to letters. Marcus Aurelius the emperor and Epictetus the slaVe hold the first places among the ethical teachers of Rome. The former wrote his Meditations ; but the latter, like Socrates, committed nothing to writing, so that we know of the character of his teach- ings only through one of his pupils, Arrian by name. Epictetus was for many years a slave at the capital, but, securing in some I 210 UTERATURE, PHILOSOPHY^ AND LAW. way his freedom, he became a teacher of philosophy. Domitian having ordered all philosophers to leave Rome, Epictetus fled to Epirus, where he established a school in which he taught the doc- trines of Stoicism. His name is inseparably linked with that of Marcus Aurelius as a teacher of the purest system of ethics that is found outside of Christianity. Epictetus and Aurelius were the last eminent representatives and expositors of the philosophy of Zeno. They were the last of the Stoics. In them Stoicism bore its consummate flower and fruit. The doctrines of the Galilean were even then fast taking possession of the Roman world ; for, giving more place to the affections and all the natural instincts, they readily won the hearts of men from the cold, unsympathetic abstractions of the Grecian sage. Quintilian (a.d. 40-118) was the one great grammarian and rhetorician that the Roman race produced. For about a quarter of a century he was the most noted lecturer at Rome on educa- tional and literary subjects. One of the booksellers of the capital, after much persuasion, finally prevailed upon the teacher to pub- lish his lectures. They were received with great favor, and Quin- tilian's Institutes have never ceased to be studied and copied by all succeeding writers on education and rhetoric.^ i 1 The allusions which we have made to the publishing trade suggest a word respecting ancient publishers and books. There were in Rome several pub- lishing houses, which, in their day, enjoyed a wide reputation and conducted a very extended business. " Indeed, the antique book-trade," says Guhl, " was carried on on a scale hardly surpassed by modern times. . . . The place of the press in our literature was taken by the slaves." Through practice they gained surprising facility as copyists, and books were multiplied with great rapidity. And, as to the books themselves, we must bear in mind that a book in the ancient sense was simply a roll of manuscript or parchment, and con- tained nothing like the amount of matter held by an ordinary modern volume. Thus Csesar's Gallic PVars, which makes a single volume of moderate size with us, made eight Roman books. Most of the houses of the wealthy Romans contained libraries. The collection of Sammanicus Serenus, tutor of Gordian, numbered 62,cxx) books. There were twenty-nine public libraries in Rome established by the emperors. WRITERS OF THE EARLY LATIN CHURCH. 211 During the reign of Tiberius, Phaedrus, the Roman ^sop, wrote his fables, which were, for the most part, translations or imitations of the productions of his Grecian master. A little later, in the reign of Titus, Frontinus wrote a valuable work on the Roman system of engineering, and a still more interesting book on the Roman aqueducts. This latter work gives us much interesting information respecting those stupendous structures. Writers of the Early Latin Church. — The Christian authors of the first three centuries, like the writers of the New Testament, employed the Greek, that being the language of learning and culture. Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria, Justin, Origen, Eusebius, Chrysostom, and Basil are a few of the cele- brated fithers of the early Church who used in their works the language of Athens. Of these Chrysostom ("golden- mouthed"), so called on account of his persuasive oratory, was perhaps the most renowned. But, though the Greek language was first chosen as the medium for the dissemination of Christian doctrines, as the Latin tongue gradually came into more general use throughout the extended provinces of the Roman empire, the Christian authors naturally begun to use the same in the composition of their works. Hence almost all the writings of the fathers of the Church produced during the last centuries of the empire were composed in Latin. From among the many names that adorn the Church literature of this period, we shall select only two for special mention, — St. Jerome and St. Augustine. Jerome (a.d. 342-420) was a native of Pannonia. He studied at Rome an I at Constantinople, and travelled through all the provinces of the empire, from Britain to Palestine. For many years he led a monastic life at Bethlehem. He is especially held in memory by his translation of the Scriptures into Latin. This version is known as the Vulgate, and is the one still used in the Roman Catholic Church. Aurelius Augustine (a.d. 354-430) was born near Carthage, in Africa. He was the most eminent writer of the Christian Church I 'pt, 108; defeats Pharnaces, 108; crushes Pompeians at Thap- sus, io8; his triumph, 108; his genius as a statesman, 109; his death, no; literary works, 206. Cae-sa'ri-on, 116. Ca-la'bri-a, i. Ca-lig'u-la, 127. Ca-mfllus, 33. Cam-pa'ni-a, i. Can'nse, battle of, 62. Can'u-le'i-us, Ga'i-us, 27, note. Canuleian Law, 27, note. Cap'i-tol-ine hill, 9. Capitoline temple, 8, 175, note. Ca'pre-ae, island of, 126, Cap'u-a, 65. Car'a-cal'la, Roman emperor, 147. Ca-rac'ta-cus, 129. Carthage, 42; empire of, 42; com- pared with Rome, 43; destroyed by Romans, 75; rebuilt by Julius Caesar, 109; made capital of Van- dal empire, 167. Carthage, New, in Spain, 55. Cas'si-us, the liberator, 1 14. Catacombs, Roman, 152. Cat'i-line, 98, 99. Cato, M. P. Uticensis, 108. Cato, the Censor, 73. Ca-tuFlus, 197. Cat'u-lus, 84. Cel'ti-be'ri-ans, 76. Censors, Roman, 30. Cer-ci'na, island of, 89. Chaion (sha'15n'), battle of, 168. Charlemagne (shar'le-man'), 185. Chinese Wall, 158, note. Christ, birth of, 122; crucifixion of, 126. Christian Fathers, the, 212. Christians, persecutions of, 130, 137, 140, 141, 152. Christianity, under Constantine, 153, 155; under Julian the Apostate, 156; under Jovian, 157; conver- sion to, of the Goths, 158; effects upon, of the fall of Rome, 166; Christianity and the gladiatorial INDEX. 225 combats, 162; in the provinces, 137- ■Ghrys'os-tom, 212. Cicero, Marcus Tullius, 95, 99, 113; his works, 204, Cim'bri, 83. Cin'cin-na'tus, 25. Cin'e-as, 39. Cin'na, 89. Cir-ce'i-i (se'ye), 88. Cir-cen'sian games, 15. Cir'cus Max'i-mus, 8, 176. Civil war, between Caesar and Pom- pey, 106 ; between Marius and Sulla, 87. Claudian aqueduct, 183. Claudius, Roman emperor, 128. Clement, of Rome, 212. of Alexandria, 212. Cle'o-pa'tra, 108, 115, 116, 117. •Clo-a'ca Maxima, 7. -Co'cles, Ho-ra'ti-us, 19. Col'la-ti'nus, Tar-quin'i-us, 21. Colonies, Roman, 41, note. , Latin, 41, note. Col'os-se'um, 133, 178. ■Co-mi'ti-a centuriata, 9. curiata, 5. tributa, 25, note. Co-mi'ti-um, the, 7. Com'mo-dus, Roman emperor, 144. Constantine II., 155. Constantine the Great, 153-155. Constantinople, city of, 155. Con-stan'ti-us I., 153; XL, 155, 156. Consuls, Roman, first, 21. Cor-fin'i-um, 86. Corinth, destruction of, 71. ' Co'ri-o-la'nus, 24. Corn, free distribution of, at Rome, 221. Cor-ne1i-a, mother of the Gracchi, 81. Cor'pus Ju'ris Ci-vi'lis, 213-216. Cor'si-ca, 52. Council, first, of Church, 154. Cras'sus, M. L., 100, 103. Cre-mo'na, 54. Cu'ri-ae, 4. Cu'ri-a'ti-i, 19. CuM-o, 107, 177. Cyn'os-ceph'a-lae, battle of, 69. D. Decemvirs, first board, 26; second, 28. De'ci-us, Roman emperor, 149. Dictator, office of, 21, note. Di'o-cle'ti-an, Roman emperor, 151- 153- Do-mi'ti-an, Roman emperor, 134. Drama, the, among the Romans, 193- 195- Drep'a-na, defeat of Romans at, 49, n. Dru'sus, 86. Du-il'li-us, C, 46. Dyr-ra'chi-um, 107. E. Eastern Roman Empire, 161. Ec-no'mus, naval battle of, 47, note. E-des'sa, 149, note. Education among the Romans, 216. El'a-gab'a-lus, 148. En'ni-us, 194. Ep'ic-te'tus, 210. E-tru'ri-a, i. E-trus'cans, 3. Eu-dox'i-a, 170. Eu'me-nes, 71. F. Fa'bi-us Quintus, 56. Fa'bi-us, the delayer, 69. J ;l h 226 INDEX. 4ii ill Fa-bric'i-us, 40. Fas'ces, 21. Ham'i-ni'nus, consul, 69, 70. Forum, Roman, 7. Fron-ti'nus, 212. Galba, Roman emperor, 131. Ga-le'ri-us, Roman emperor, 153. Gal'li-a Cis'al-pi'na, i. Gallic wars, 10 1- 103. Gauls settle in Italy, 3; sack Rome, 31; war with, 53; conquered by- Caesar, lOI. Gen'ser-ic (Geiseric), king of the Vandals, 170. Ger-man'i-cus, 124. Ge'ta, Roman emperor, 147. Gladiatorial combats, 219; suppres- sion of, 162. Gladiators, war of the, 93. Golden house of Nero, 131, 186. Gor'dian, Roman emperor, 149. Goths, cross the Danube, 158. (See Alaric.) Grac'chi, reforms of, 80, Gracchus, Gaius, 81. Tiberius, 80. Gra'ti-an, Roman emperor, 158, 159, 160. Great fire at Rome, 130. H. HaMri-an, Roman emperor, 137-139. Hadrian's Mole, 189. Ha-mil'car, 50, 54, 55. Han'ni-bal, his vow, 55; attacks Saguntum, 55; crosses the Pyr- enees, 58; crosses the Alps. 58; his policy in Italy, 59 ; at Capua, 64; before Rome, 65; defeated at Za'ma, 68; his death, 72. Ilan'no, Carthaginian admiral, 51. Ha-rus'pi-ces, art of the, 1 3. Has'dru-bal, Hannibal's brother, 65, 66, 67. Has'dru-bal, son-in-law of Hamilcar, 55- Hel-ve'tians, 102. Her'a-cle'a, battle of, 39. Heralds, college of, at Rome, 14. Her'cu-la'ne-um, 134. Her'mann (see Arminius)^ Her'u-li, 171. Hi'e-ro, king of Syracuse, 45, 64. Ho-no'ri-us, Roman emperor, 160, 162, 164. Horace, 201. Ho-ra'ti-i, the, 19. Hor-ten'si-us, 204. Hun-ga'ri-ans, 169. Huns, 158, 168, 169. I. I'a-pyg'i-ans, 3, note. Il-lyr'i-an corsairs, 53. Italians, 3. Italy, divisions of, i ; early inhabitants of, 3- J. Ja-nic'u-lum, the, 20. Ja'nus, Temple of, 12. Jerome, 212. Jerusalem, 97, 132, 139. Jovian, Roman emperor, 157. Ju-gur'tha, war with, 81. Julian the Apostate, 156. Ju-li-a'nus, Did'i-us, 146. 1, n « INDEX. 22'/ Juno, 4. Jupiter, II. Jus-tin'i-an, emperor, 214, 215. Justin Martyr, 141. Ju've-nal, 203. L. Lab'a-rum, the, 154, note. Latin cities, revolt of, yj. colonies, note 41. language, spread of, 191 ; used by early Christian writers, 212. Latins, 3. La-ti'nus, King, 17. La'ti-um, i, 3. La-vin'i-a, 17. La-vin'i-um, 17. Lep'i-dus, 112, 113, 114. Lib'y-ans, 56. Licinian laws, 35. Li-cin'i-us, C, 35. Li-gu'ri-a, i. Ligurians, 3, note. Li'ris, river, 2. Literature, Roman, 189-216. Liv'i-us, M., consul, 66. Livy, the historian, 206. Lon-gi'nus, 150. Longus, L. Sempronius, 59. Lu'can, 203, note. Lu-ca'ni-a, i. Luc'ca, 103. Lu-cil'i-us, poet, 196. Lu-cre'ti-us, 196. Lu-cul'lus, the consul, 97. Lu'si-ta'ni-a, 93. Jl. Ma-cri'nus, Roman emperor, 148. Mag-ne'si-a, battle of, 70. Magyers (mod'yors), 169. Ma-har'bal, 63. Mam'er-tines, 44, note. Manlius, 2>2>^ 34. Mar-cel'lus, Marcus C, 64. Mar-cel'lus, nephew of Augustus, 122. Ma'ri-us, Ga'i-us, 83-85, 87-90. Mars, II. Marsic War, 85. Martial, 203. Mas'i-nis'sa, king of Numidia, 73. Max-en'ti-us, 188. Max-im'i-an, emperor, 151, 152, 153. Max'i-min, 149. Mes-sa'na, 44. Me'-tau'rus, liattle of the, 66. Military roads, Roman, 179-182. Military tribunes, 28. Minerva, II. Min-tur'nge, 88. Mi-nu'ci-us, co-dictator with Fabius, 61. Mith'ra-da'tes the Great, 87, 90, 97. Mu'ci-us Scaev'o-la, 20. Mum'mi-us, consul, 71. Mun'da, battle of, 108, note. My'lae, naval battle near, 46. N. Nae'vi-us, 194. Ne-pos, Cornelius, 206, note. Nero, C. Claudius, consul, 67. Nero, Roman emperor, 1 29-1 31: Nerva, Roman emperor, 135. Ni-^ae'a, 154. No'men-cla'tor, 221. Nu-man'ti-a, 75. Nu'ma, 6. Nu'mi-tor, 17, 18. 228 INDEX. ill it I n! I Oc-ta'vi-us, 113; enters Second Tri- umvirate, 113; divides the world with Antony, 114; defeats Antony at battle of Actium, 116; reign of, 119-123. Od'e-na'tus, 150. Od'o-va'ker, 171, 172. Op'ti-mates, 80. Oracles, 13. O-res'tes, 171. Or'i-gen, 212. Os'tro-goths, 159. O'tho, Roman emperor, 1 31. Ov'id, 201. F. Pal'a-tine (tin), 8. Palmyra, 150. Pandects, 215. Pa-nor'mus, battle of, 48. Pan'the-on, the, 1 76. Pa-pin'i-an, 147, 214. Parthians, 104. Patricians, 4, 5. Paulus, Roman jurist, 214. Paulus Lucius /E-mil'i-us, 62, note. Per'ga-mus, 71. Per'seus, king of Macedonia, 71. Per'si-us, 203. Per'ti-nax, Roman emperor, 146. Phie'drus, 212. Phar'na-ces, 98, 108. Phar'sa-lus, battle of, 107. Philip, Roman emperor, 149. Phi-Vpi, battle of, 114. Pi-ce'num, i. Pictor, Fabius, 205. Picts, 167. Pirates, defeated by Pompey, 96. Pis-to'ri-a, 99. ria-cen'ti-a, 54. riau'tus, 195. Plebeians (ple-be'yaus), 5; first se- cession of, 22; admitted to the consulship, 34. Pliny the Elder, 209: the Younger, 137- PcE'ni, 44, note. Pol'y-carp, 141. Pompeii (pom-pa'yee), 134, note. Pompey the Great, in Spain, 93; de- feats gladiators, 94; defeats pirates, 96; conducts the Mithradatic war, 97; conquers Syria, 97 ; his triumph, 98; enters the triumvirate, loi; receives the government of Spain, 104; seeks popularity, 104; flees before Ctesar into Greece, 106; defeated at Pharsalus, 107; his death, 107. Pompey, Gnce'us, 108, note. Sextus, 108, note. Pom-po'ni-us, Roman jurist, 214. Pontiffs, college of, at Rome, 13. Pon'tine marshes, 109. Por-sen'na, king of Clusium, 19, 20. Por'tus Ro-ma'nus, 129. Posilippo (pose-lep'po), grotto of the, 181. Prx-to'ri-an guard, formation of, 123; disbanded by Severus, 1 46. Pro-per'ti-us, 202. Province, first Roman, 52. Public lands in Italy, 78. Punic War, first, 42-51- second, 56-68. third, 73, 74- Pu-te'o-li, 92. Pyd'na, battle of, 71. Pyr'rhus, 38-40. INDEX. 229 Q Quaestor (kwes'tor), office of, 21, note. Quin-til'i-an, the rhetorician, 211. R. Rad-a-gai'sus, 163. Ram'nes, 4. Reg'u-lus, Atilius, 47, 49. Religion, Roman, 10-16. Re'mus, 17, 18. Rhe'a Syl'vi-a, 17. Rhe'gi-um, 44. Rhe'nus, river, 113. Roman Empire, extent of, under Au- gustus, 120; sale of, 146; final di- vision of, 160; Eastern, 161; clos- ing history of Western, 161-172. Rome, location of, 4; founding of, 4; hills of, 4; causes of rapid growth, 6, note; classes of society during regal period, 5; early government, 4; kings of, 6; sacked by the Gauls, 31; population of, 121 ; last triumph at, 162; ransom of, 164; sack of, by Alaric, 165; sack of, by the Vandals, 170. Rom'u-lus, 17, 18. Ros'trum, Roman, 7, note. Ru^bi-con, Oesar crosses, 105. Rutulians, 7. S. Sabines, 18. Sa-gun'tum, 55. Sal'lust, 206. Sa-lo'na, 153. Samnite War, first, 35. second, 38. third, 38. Sam'ni-um, i. Sa'por, king of Persia, 149, note. Sar-din'i-a, 52. Sat'ur-na'li-a, 16, note. Saxons, 157. Scipio .^'mil-i-a'nus (Africanus Mi- nor), 76. Asiaticus, 70, 71. Publius Cornelius (Africanus Major), 66, 67, 68, 72. Se-ja'nus, 126. Sen'e-ca, 131, 208. Sen-ti'num, battle at, 38. Ser-to'ri-us, 93. Servile wars in Sicily, 77, 78, note. Ser'vi-us Tul'li-us, 6, 9. Se-ve'rus, Alexander, 148. Sep-tim'i-us, 146. Shiraz (she'raz), 149, note. Sib'yl-line books, 13. Sicily, island of, 2. Sil'a-rus, defeat of gladiators at, 94. Slavery, Roman, 5, 77, 221. Social life among the Romans, 216- 223. Social war in Italy, 85. So'ci-i, relations to Roman govern- ment, 85, note. Spain, civil war in, 93. Spar'ta-cus, 93. Sta'ti-us, 203, note. Stil'i-cho, 161, 162, 163, 164. Sue-to'ni-us, 135. Sue'vi, 167. Sulla, fights under Marius in Africa, 83; secures command of Mithra- datic expedition, 87; brings war to a close, 90; return to Rome, 90 ; his proscriptions, 91; his death, 92. Sul-pic'i-us, Publius, orator, 204. Su'o-ve-tau-ril'i-a, 15. Syr'a-cuse, 64. 230 INDEX. T. Tac'i-tus, the historian, 207. Tad'mor (see Palmyra). Ta-ren'tum, 38, 40. Tar-pe'i-an Rock, 34, note. Tar-quin'i-us Pris'cus, 6. Su-per'bus, 6, 10. Tel'a-mon, battle near, 54. Te-lera'a-chus, monk, 163. Ter'ence, 195. Teu'to-nes, defeated by Marius, 83, 84. Thap'sus, battle of, 108. Theatres, Roman, 177. The-od'o-ric the Visigoth, 168. The'o-do'si-us the Great, 160. Ther'mae, Roman, 184. Thirty Tyrants, Age of the, 149. Ti-be'ri-us, Roman emperor, 123- 127. Ti-bul'lus, 202. Ti-ci'nus, battle of the, 59. Ti'tus, captures Jerusalem, 132; reign of, 133; Arch of, 188. Ti'tus Ta'ti-us, 19. Tiv'o-li, 186. Trajan, Roman emperor, 135. Tras-i-me'nus, Lake, battle of, 59. Tre'bi-a, battle of, 59. Tri-bo'ni-an, Roman jurist, 215. Tribunes, Roman, 23. Tri-um'vi-rate, First, loi; renewed, 103; Second, 112. Truceless war, 54. Tul'lus Hos-til'i-us, 6. Twelve tables of Roman law, 26. U. Ul'pi-an, 214. Um'bri-a, l. Utica, 74. V. Va'lens, Roman emperor, 157, 158, 160. Val'en-tin'i-an, Roman emperor, 157, 158. Va-le'ri-an, Roman emperor, 149, note. « Va-le'ri-us, Pub'li-us, 22. Van'dals, 167, 170. Var'ro, 208. Varro, Gains Te-ren'ti-us, consul, 62, note. Va'rus, defeated by Hermann, 122. Veii (ve'yi), siege of, 30. Ven'e-ti, 102. Ve-ne'ti-a, i. Ver-cel'lae, battle of, 85. Ver'cin-get'o-rix, 103. Ver'res, abuses of, 95. Vespasian ( ves-pa'zhi-an ), Roman emperor, 1 31-133. Ves'ta, temple of, 8; worship of, 12. Villas, Roman, 186. VinMo-bo'na, 142. Virginia, 28. Virgil, 198-201. Vir'i-a'thus, 76. Vis'i-goths, 158. Vi-tel'li-us, Roman emperor, 131. Volscians, 25. W. Women, social position of, among the Romans, 217. X. Xan-thip'pus, 47, note. Z. Za'ma, battle of, 67. Zela, battle of, 108. Ze-noHji-a, 150. I ADVERTISEMENTS I HISTORY. -•o«- The publishers feel urged by the enthusiasm of teachers to emphasize the importance of their histories, especially Myers's and Montgomery's series. These books appear to possess merits of the highest order and in a remarkable way to combine individuality with an excellence common to all. The most evident, and not the least important of their merits, is a most interesting style. Many a teacher thoroughly familiar with the subject, and even weary of it, has taken up one of the books for a cursory inspection and become so fascinated with the clear- ness, freshness, and picturesqueness of the style as to read on,— not infrequently even to the end of the volume. This attiactive- ness in works designed for beginners, is no slight recommendation. Later on, historical investigation may be inviting for its own sake. At the outset, interest requires to be developed. This quality of style introduces us to the other characteristics of the treatment. History is the drama of humanity, and it is only because the author realizes this profoundly and fully, and is thoroughly at home with the facts, that can make his story live, and bring his studies into touch with matters of present human interest. A philosophical conception of history and a broad view of its developments, accurate historical scholarship, and liberal human sympathies are the fundamental characteristics of these books. The hand of a master is shown in numberless touches that illu- minate the narrative and both stimulate and satisfy the learner's curiosity. School-room availability has been most carefully studied, and typographical distinctness and beauty, maps, tables, and other accessories have received their due of attention. HISTORY. 113 A General History. For High Schools and Colleges. By P. V. N. Myers. Professor of History, University of Cincinnati; author of Ancient History and Mediseval and Modern History. 12mo. Half leather, x + 759 pages. Mailing price, ^1.05; for introduction, rpHIS volume is based upon the author's Ancient Histo^^ and Mediceval and Modern History. In some instances tlie perspeo fci\ e and the proportions of the narrative have been changed to suit a briefer course and students of less maturity ; but in the main, the book is constructed upon the same lines as the earlier works. In a word, this history is believed to combine all the qualities that such a work should possess, — a philosophic eye for the great line of development of the life of the race, not diverted by mere incidents; candor in the treatment of all questions; a due sense of proportion ; accuracy of scholarship ; a style transparent though at the same time full of color; and the quality of teachableness. One feature of the greatest interest and practical value is this, — the author not only brings out and keeps distinct the interrela- tions of things, but he notes and sets clearly before the reader what each nation has contributed to the life and advancement of the race, — and so to our present civilization. Among tlie methods which will specially recommend themselves to teachers is the plan of cross-references which bind the branches of the learner's acquisi- tions compactly and vitally. It is only necessary to add that the book has been found to be Just about full enough, and that the text is fully supplemented by the best of maps, by illustrations, indexes, and tables- Its adoption in many leading cities and institutions after ex- tended comparison with other works and most thorough discussion, appears to indicate that this work is destined to rank as the best general history. J. W. Steams, Prof, of Pedagogy ^ University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.: Its selection of topics for treatment, Its conception of the rela- tions of parts to the whole, its grasp ol what is most vital in the history of the civilized world, together with tlie vividness and vitality of the naiw rative make it the best text-book in universal history for beginners that we are acquainted with. It is well equipped with good maps, and the numerous illustrations have been se- lected with a view to their value as elucidations and expansions of the text HISTORY. 115 The Eastern Nations and Greece. (Part I. of Myers's and of Myers and Allen's Ancient History.) By P. V. N. Myers, Professor of History, University of Cincinnati; author of Mediseval and Modern History, etc. 12mo. Cloth, ix + 3G9 pages. Mailing price, $1.10; for introduction, $1.00. rPHIS work embraces the history of the Egyptians, Assyrio- Babylonians, Hebrews, Phoenicians, Lydians, Medes and Per- sians, and Greeks. About three-fifths of the space is given to Greece. The chapters relating to the Eastern tions have been written in the light of the most recent revelations of the monuments of Egypt and Babylonia. The influence of Oriental civilization upon the later development of the Western peoples has been fully indi- cated. It is shown that before the East gave a religion to the West it had imparted many primary elements of art and general culture. This lends a sort of epic unity to series of events and historic developments too often regarded as fragmentary and un- related, and invests the history of the old civilizations of the Orient with fresh interest and instruction. In tracing the growth of Greek civ'lization, while the value erf the germs of culture which the Greeks received from the older nations of the East is strongly insisted upon, still it is admitted that the determining factor in the wonderful Greek development was the peculiar genius of the Greek race itself. The work is furnished with chronological summaries, colored maps, and numerous illustrations drawn from the most authentic som'ces. See also Myers's and Myers and Allen'' s Ancient History. Arthur Latham Perry, Emeritus Prof, of Political Economy, Williams College, Mass. : I have read every word of Myers's Eastern Nations and Greece, and wish to express my sense of the great skill and elegance with which has been condensed into a single small volume all that is really most important to be known of the early nations, in such a way that the memory can easily hold it, and that the mind is satisfied at once with the facts selected and the taste exhibited in handling them. I. T. Beckwith. Prof, of Greek, Trinity College, Hartford, Conn, : The book seems to me remarkable in its comprehensiveness, and likewise in the clearness and life with which it presents the leading facts in each great movement. I think it far more interesting and useful than any other epitome of the kind which I have seen. 116 HISTORY. A History of Rome. (Part //. of Myerses Ancient History,) By P. V. N. Myers» Professor of History in the University of Cincin- nati; author of Medixval and Modern History ^ etc. 12mo. Cloth. ix + 230 pages. Mailing price, $1.10; for introduction, $1.00. pROFESSOR MYERS'S short sketch of Roman History, which was published several years ago by Harper and Brothers merely as a library or reading book, having found its way into the schools and there met with favor, is now given out in a revised edition especially adapted to the use of the recitation room. The book has been liberally supplied with both colored and black maps, and with illustrations. These charts and cuts are, in the main, the same as those accompanying Allen's Short History of the Roman People. As to the text, the two books are nmtually supple- mentary. Professor Myers's work, dealing less with the details of constitutional and administrative matters than Professor Allen's does, will be found somewhat better adapted than the latter for classes that have time for only a short course in Roman History. The concluding chapter is a most valuable sketch of architecture, literature, law, and social life among the Romans. See also Myers's Ancient History. W.O. Sproull, Pro/. o/X«s indispensable to any student '^uu. u. morse. J ro/. of History I of the history of tlie Meaiieval Ages. Historia do Brazil. ^ia P^fesSi™ Sltf ?/'!• P^™ -";1» eseolas primarias Brazileiras. pages, inustrated.^"^-^ ^aitCeulsT^o^'^troJSon.^itnts^ ^ ^^ Xim is a histoiyof Bra.il from the earliest times to the year the i!!t w TM" *'?^P''rt"g^-e language. It is believed to be «.e best work of its kind extant, and will be found also an excel- lent reading-book for students of Portuguese. / ' {y /'. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as provided by the library rules or by special arrangement with the Librarian in charge. 8* COLUMB A UNIVERSITY 0026781832 DATE BORKOWCO Iflri €»- DATE DUE I \ L' •ttfr^«199?- DATE BORROWED mmfmtiimmm ■ li ni i ii ii C28(747; MlOO mt^mmtnitti ■««iwiiPipMPiiwii* DATE DUE 'OM vj ]a48 :i?' -^ 3!si j'#^. i*: '*-t'f.#T ^,, --ftilfsS.*-' :'^ ^-=-■1 9ii^ ^i|^^ -i. tt*' w- -&«" '<^j<-4 ■ -'' %s^3&=*:f " r»«' '^ I i* V n ti'h'-^. 'f.-^-x ,>..- ".?.; ■«r.„^'"-s-.-