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AUTHOR: MYERS, PHILIP VAN NESS TITLE: ROME: ITS RISE AND FALL; A TEXT-BOOK PLACE: BOSTON DA TE : 1900 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARHFT Master Negative # Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record Restrictions on Use: 874 'M992 ^r:,;^3P|?.,..^fK*^Tis* U_.^ ly i j. i .H j WtW iP ^W ! ,jip [ /^JJim^iiHl ii|i n.p i |j i |j.i ..J ii iwiij Myers, Philip Van Ness, 1846-1937. Eome: its rise and fall; a text-book for high schools'^ and colleges. By Philip Van Ness Mvers ... Boston. Ginn & CO., 1900. • * ' xii, 554 p. front., illus., maps. 19*^™. 1. Rome— Hist. ■ « Library of Congress ( )■ ' Aug. 30, 1900-38 DG210.M99 Copyright y TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SlZE:__J_^_rjim_ REDUCTION RATIO: IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA diA/ IB IID ' DATE FILMED: ZrZS^lZ.?-^ INITIALS ^A HLMEDBY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS, INC WOODBRIDGE. Ct " T. '^♦'.■-r:'~**'*'Trr»''*i •^Hnka.' r Association for information and Image IManagement 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 12 3 4 llllllllllllHllll|ljll|llll|llll | llllll I >^ Inches 1 6 7 il|iiil|iiil ilii 8 I 1.0 I.I 1.25 i 3 9 10 n ! i„„l.. ■ I TTT 141 2.8 25 ■^ , y. 32 2.2 1^ — It i^ 2.0 bb i- u ttiUU 1,8 1.4 1.6 12 13 14 I ' ! ' I • I I ' I I'l' l ' l ' l 15 mm MfiNUFflCTURED TO flllM STflNDfiRDS BY fiPPLIED IMPGE. INC. Columbia (Knibersiitp inttjeCitpofBetoforb LIBRARY GIVEN BY Charles D- Ha.xen 1< tM It Mv !■ ' • ll< .lit t* ■ .;.» a \JuJ^ .^^-^ftC^^^ 75-tC?^_<2^ »» •» Ml' 1 ROME: ITS RISE AND FALL A TEXr-HCOK FOR HIGH SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES P.Y PHILIP VAN NESS MYERS, L.H.D. Author of "A History of Greece," " Medi.*:vau ano Mc^dkrn History," "A General History," etc. BOSTON, U.S.A. GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 1900 V • .• ^Ji >-\ PREFACE. V jt^oi^i C0PYRIGHT/19OO, BY PHILIP VAN NESS MYERS ALL Rir.HTS RESF.KVEl) GIVEN BY CHARLES DOWNER HAZE\ JULY 1937 g T 4 1 This book has been written in response to requests from many teachers that the author should expand his little text- book on Roman history into a more extended account of Roman afifairs. Although the entire narrative has been laid on the lines drawn in the earlier book, still the present volume is practically a new work. The development of the Roman constitution during republican times has been traced carefully step by step ; while special emphasis has been laid upon the causes that undermined the institutions of the republic, and which later brought about the fall of the empire. A somewhat larger space than usual has been given to the decay of paganism and to the rise and progress of Christianity in the empire. Three chapters at the end of the volume are devoted to an account of Roman civiliza- tion. The whole work is bound toge'ther with numerous cross-references from paragraph to paragraph, and the text supplemented by maps, illustrations, chronological tables, lists of colonies and provinces, census rolls and tabulated Statements, which, it is believed, will be found especially serviceable to both teachers and students. The title of the work has designedly been given a form calculated to make prominent the unity of the history of ill PREFACE. • IV Rome, son.eth.ng that is apt to be obscured by the way in wh.ch the transUion from the republic to the emp.re .s often represented. It is worth while, we think, to u.press upon the mind of the student that the empire simply carried to completion the work begun by the republic - the mak- in. of the whole world Roman ; and that the essence of the history of Rome, as is so admirably shown by Thierry m his Tableau dc r Empire Remain^ is the uninterrupted story of how she acted upon the world about her and how that world reacted upon her. From the preface of the original work I transfer tO this place my acknowledgment of special indebtedness m the preparation of the earlier slight sketch, which forms the nucleus of the present volume, to the following authors and works: Arnold's, Mommsen's, Niebuhr's, Merivale's, Lid- dell's. Gibbon's, and Leighton's histories of Rome ; Long's Decline and Fall of the Roman Republic; Smith's Rome and Carthage; Froude's Ccesar ; Guhl and Koner's Life of the Greeks and Romans ; Hadley's Introduction to Roman La7V ; Dunlop's and C'ruttwell's works on Roman literature; and Lanciani's admirable work. Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries. The works that I have used in the present revision and expansion are mentioned in the reference lists which follow the chapters throughout the book. In the case of impor- tant works that have appeared in different editions, as, for instance, Gibbon's and Mommsen's, the editions used have been indicated in connection with the first mention of these publications, and as a further aid to the searcher after the PREFACE. V passages recommended for parallel reading, the references have been made to chapter and subject as well as to page. The maps and illustrations that enriched the earlier volume were, in the main, selected from various sources by the late Prof. William F. Allen, my associate in the prepa- ration of Allen and Myers' Anciefit History, for his part of that work. It was through the kind permission of his repre- sentatives that they afterward reappeared in my little his- tory of Rome. In the present volume a large part of the illustrative material is new ; in cases where the old cuts and maps have been retained, they have in almost every instance been re-drawn and reengraved. A considerable number of the maps in color are based on the charts accompanying Freeman's Historical Geography of Europe. A fair propor- tion of the cuts are from photographs ; the remainder are chiefly a selection from Baumeister's Detikmaeler dcs klassis- chen Altertu??is, Oscar Jaeger's Weltgeschichte, and Schreiber's Atlas of Classical Antiquities. It remains for me to express to my friends Dr. E. W. Coy, Principal of Hughes High School, Cincinnati, Dr. George B. Wakeinan, Instructor-elect in History in the University of California, and Mr. Joseph E. White, of the Franklin School, Cincinnati, my grateful appreciation of the kindly interest they have taken in the progress of this work and the generous aid they have given me in its preparation. P. V. N. M. College Hill, Ohio, June, 1900. TABLE OF CONTENTS. •<>» PAGE Prepack "i List of Illustrations ix List of Maps • • • • ^^ Tables and Chronolooical Summaries xii PART I. ROME AS A KINGDOM. (753 ?-S09 ^C-) CHAPTER I. Italy and its Early Inhabitants i II. The Society and Government of Early Rome ii HI. The Roman Religion 25 IV. Rome under the Kings 39 I i PART II. - ROME AS A REPUBLIC. (509-31 BC) V. The Pearly Republic ; Plebeians become Citizens with Eull Rights. (509-367 B c.) 62 VI. The Conquest of Italy. (367-264 B.C.) m VIL The First Punic War. (264-241 B.C.) ijQ VIII. Rome and Carthage between the First and the Second Punic War. (241-218 B.C.) 154 Section I. — Rome i54 Section II. — Carthage 158 IX. The Second Punic War. (218-201 B.C.) 162 X. Kvents between the Second and the Third Punic War: Conquest of the East by Rome. (201-146 B.C.) . . 181 Xr. The Third Punic and Numantine Wars 200 Section I. — The Third Punic War. (149-146 b.c.) 200 Section II. — The Numantine War. (143-133 «-^) ~^S • • Vll TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vlll CHAPTER 1^ ^^ cR V,C\ . ■ • ' ' -°7 VTT The Period of the Revolution (i33-9» «-^-^ , o ^« « r ^ 2^^ XII. The I er o ^^-^j, IContiniu'i/)- (9^-78 «-^-) ^35 Kill. The Period of the Kevoiuuuii y XIV. The Period of the Revolution (C.«.A-/-/)- (7« 3^ ^ PART III. - ROME AS AN EMPIRE. (jl B.C.-A.D. 476-) , ,. u f r^f the Emoire and the Reign of XV The Establishment of the tmpir •^ ^ /-.T K r -A D. 14) • • • • ■ ^ -^ Augustus Caesar. (31 ^•^- ^■^- '"^^ XVII. The Empire under Commodus and The perors." (A.D. 180-284) ■■'''' 38, Will The Reign of Uiocktian. (a.d. 284-305) ■■ ■ ' • V.X ReL. of Constantine the Great and Kstabhshment ot ■^'''- ' Christianity as the Favored Religion of .he Em- ^^^ pire. (A.D. 306-337) • • ' ' * XX. Julian the Apostate and the Pagan Restoration. (a.i>. ^^^ XXPTheLa^^eiryo^^ ^,^ XXII. SuniJrrofttVcaus:softheFalloftheK^^^^^ • • 445 PART lY. - ARCHITECTURB, LITERATURE. LAW. AND SOCIAL LIFE. 4S6 XXIII. Architecture . ^^^ XXIV. Literature, Philosophy, and Law . . • ' ^^^ XXV. Social Life 527 Index and Pronouncing Vocabulary LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. After photographs and from cuts taken from Baumeister's r>enkf?taeler- ties klassischett Altertums, Oscar Jaeger's Weltgeschkhte, .Schreiber's Atlas of Classical Antiqjtities, and other reliable sources. PAGE 10 I I 12 »3 14 '5 The Roman F'orum I^'rontisp lece 5 7 8 9 27 Scene on the Tiber An Ancient Etruscan Tomb Wall- Pain ting of an Etruscan Banquet Ruined Temples at Paestum Sacrificial Victims ^ Head of Janus 29 Vestal Virgin 30 Divining by Means of the Appearance of the Entrails of a Sacrificial Victim 31 The Site of Tibur, the Modern Tivoli 40 An Ancient Roman Coin bearing the I*ro%v of a Ship . . . 46 A Section of the Servian Wall 47 The Cloaca Maxima 48 View of the Capitoline 49 Roman Soldier 53 16. The Capitoline Wolf 58 17. Lictors 63 Samnite Warrior 116 View on the Appian Way 1 24 The Prow of a Roman War-Ship 14 c The Column of Duillius 147 Augur's Birds i^i Hannibal 162 Philip V. of Macedonia' 17c 18 »9 20 21 23 24 * From a photograph secured at Rome by Miss Lucy RL Blanchard, the author's for- mer pupil, and kindly loaned by her for reproduction. ix X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIOJVS. TAGK 25. Publius Cornelius Scipio (Africanus Major) |79 26. Coin of Antiochus the (Jreat '7 ^7 Perseus of Macedonia . ... 2^2 28. Manns 29. Coin of the Italian Confederacy 240 70. Mithradates the Oreat ^^7 31. Pompey the Great "^ \i. Roman Trading Vessel -7 '>QQ 33. Julius Caesar "^^ 34. Marcus Brutus 3^ 33. Mark Antony 3^3 36. Octavius as a Youth 3^5 37. Cicero -5° 38. Augustus 3 39. Mxcenas 3- 40. The Pantheon (Exterior) 3^9 41. Tiberius 334 42. Galba 346 43. Vespasian 347 44. "Judaea Capta" 348 45. Triumphal Procession from the Arch of Titus 349 46. The Colosseum (Exterior) 35° 47. A Street in Pompeii 35 ^ 48. Trajan 355 49. Bridge over the Danube, built by Trajan 356 50. Trajan's Column 357 51. Battle Scene from Trajan's Column 358 52. Pesieging a Daclan City 359 53. The Roman Wall in Northern Britain 361 54. Hadrian 303 55. Roman Soldiers attacking a German Fortress 367 56. Commodus (as Hercules) 371 57. Caracalla 375 58. Triumph of Sapor over Valerian 378 59. Diocletian 381 60. Arch of Constantine, as it appears to-day 393 61. Julian the Apostate 407 62. Germans crossing the Rhine 416 63. Roman Signal-Towers, Sentries, and Storehouse on the Danube 418 64. The Pantheon (Interior) 457 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Xl PAGB 65. Ruins of Theatre at Aspendos 439 66. The Colosseum (Interior) 461 67. Grotto of Fosilipo 464 68. The Pont du Card, near Nimes 465 69. The Claudian Aqueduct 467 70. (ireat Hall of the Baths of Diocletian 469 7E Bathing Chair 470 72. I'eristyle of a Pompeian House 47' 73. Ruins of the Palace of the Caesars 472 74. Mausoleum of Hadrian 47^ 75. Vergil 48S 76. The Orator Quintus Hortensius 495 77. Seneca 501 78. Chariot- Racing 517 79. Gladiators 519 80. Semicircular Dining-Couch 521 81. Roman Lamentation for the Dead 523 LIST OF COLORED MAPS. 1. Italy before the Growth of the Roman Power .... after 2 2. The Mediterranean Lands at the Beginning of the Second Punic War, 218 B.c 140 3. The Roman Dominions at the Lad of the Mithradatic War, 64 B.C 280 4. The Roman Empire at the Death of Augustus, a.d. 14 . . . 320 5. The Roman Empire under Trajan, a.d. 117 - - . .♦ . . . 360 6. The Roman Empire divided into I'refectures 400 7. Barbarian Inroads on the Fall of the Roman Empire. . . . 434 8. General Reference Map of the Roman Empire at its (Greatest Extent 444 LIST OF SKETCH MAPS. 1. The Mountain System of Italy 1 2. Rome under the Kings 50 3. The Ager Romanus (B.C. 450) 70 Xll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE 4. The Ager Romanus (B.C. 338) "^ 5. Route of Hannibal *"3 6. Central Italy at the Time of the Second Punic War .... 167 7. Plan of the Battle of Cannae I?© 8. Roman Britain 353 9. Rome under the Empire Jl^ TABLES AND CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARIES. 1. The Senate, the Assemblies, and the Magistrates of the Re- public ^°7 2. Table of Latin Colonies in Italy ^Zl 3. Table of Civic [Roman] Colonies in Italy 13'"^ 4. Chronological Summary of Roman History to the End of the Republic 312 5. List of Roman Provinces chronologically arranged . . . . 313 I. — Provinces Organized under the Republic 313 II. — Provinces Organized under the Empire 314 6. Table showing the Number of Roman Citizens at Different Periods of the Republic and the Empire 333 7. Table of Roman Kmperors from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius 368 8. Table of Roman Emperors from Commodus to Romulus Augustus 444 9. Final Partition of the Roman Empire , . . 444 ROME: ITS RISE AND FALL. -00^:0:^00- Part I.— Rome as a Kingdom. (753 ^-509 B.C.) CHAPTER I. ITAEY AND ITS EAREY INHABITANTS. I. Divisions of the Italian Peninsula. — Before Rome rose to greatness, the name Italia was limited to a small district in the southwestern part of modern Italy. By the begin- ning of the Christian era, however, it had come to embrace the whole of the peninsula from the Alps to the Sicilian straits. We shall, from the outset, use the name in its latest and widest application. As a matter of convenience, the Italian peninsula is generally conceived as consisting of three sections, — Northern, Central, and Southern Italy. The first com- prises the great basin of the river Po {Padus), lying between the Alps and the Apennines. In ancient times this part of Italy included three districts, namely, Liguria, Gallia Cisalpina, and Venetia. Liguria embraced the southwest- ern and Venetia the northeastern part of Northern Italy. Gallia Cisalpina lay between these two districts, occupying 2 ROME AS A KINGDOM. the finest portion of the valley of the ro. It received Us name which means "Gaul on this (the Italian s.de of the C" 1 the Gallic tribes that abont the hfth century .11 our era found their way over the mountains and settled upon these rich lands. . The countries o£ Central Italy were Etrur.a, Lat.um, . , • ,up Western or Tyrrhenian bea; and Campania, facing the Western, or > Umbria and Picenum, looking out over the *'-'-"'- Adriatic Sea ; and Samnium and the country of the Sab.nes, occupying the rough mountain districts of *'- AP-"'"-- Southern Italy comprised the districts of -M-J'^^; -^X^^;, „ia, Calabria, and liruttium. Calabria > formed the hee^ and Bruttium the "toe," of the boot-like penmsula^ the coast region of Southern Italy ^vas called Magna Gncna, or "Great Greece," on account of the nuntber and impor- tance o£ the Greek cities that during the period of Hel- lenic supremacy were established on these shores. 2 Islands. -The large island of Sicily, lying 3"st off the mainland on the south, may be regarded simply as a detached fragment of Italy, so intimately has its history been connected with that of the peninsula. In ancient times it was the meeting-place and battle-ground of the Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans. This island had some such influence upon Roman history as the islands of the -Kgean Sea exerted upon the history of Greece. As the islands which stud that sea Were, in effect, stepping-stones that drew the inhabitants of conti- nental Greece to the shores of Asia Minor and thus made ' During the Middle Ages this name was transferred to the south- waste™ part of Italy, that is, to the toe of the peninsula, and this forms the Calahria of to-day. ^ ITALY AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS. those lands a part of the Greek world, so was Sicily a Stepping-stone that, as we shall learn (par. %%\ enticed the Romans to the African shore, and thus started them on a career of foreign conquest which did not end until their armies had made not only North Africa but all the Other Mediterranean lands a part of the empire of Rome. IV Lo ngitud e 13 Ea st from 14 Grpt-nwich -.v-jr^' The great islands of Corsica and Sardinia, lying to the west of Italy, were early taken possession of by the Romans (par. 97), yet they exerted no special influence, as Sicily did, upon the course of their fortunes. 3. Mountains and Rivers. — Italy, like the other two peninsulas of Southern Europe, Greece and Spain, has a high mountain barrier, the 'Alps, along its northern frontier. Cicero once said that the gods had raised this wall to pro- tect the peninsula from the northern barbarians. If such (• ROME AS A KINGDOM. 4 was the purpose of the celestial --"^^^^^"^^^^^^'^ "" a strange oversight OH their part that they Should have left a great gap in the Eastern, or Julian Alps . for her .s a low pass through which the barbarians, as we shall learn, often poured like devastating floods into Italy. Corresponding to the Pindus range in Greece, the Apen- nines run as a great central ridge through Italy. East- ward of the ancient Latium they spread out into broad uplands, which in early times nourished a race of hardy mountaineers, ;vho incessantly harried the territories of the more civiUzed lowlanders of Latium and Campania. 1 hus the physical conformation of this part of the peninsula shaped large sections of Roman history (par. 76), just as in the case of Scotland the physical contrast between the north and the south was reflected for centuries in the antagonisms of highlanders and lowlanders. Italy has only one really great river, the Po, which drains the large northern valley, already mentioned, lying between the Alps and the Apennines. The streams run- ning down the eastern slope of the Apennines are short and of little volume. Among them the Aufidus, the Metaurus, and the Rubicon are connected with great matters of history. On the banks of the Aufidus was fought the great battle of Cannne (par. in); upon the Metaurus, Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, was defeated in the Second Punic War (par. ii8); and into the Rubicon it was that Csesar plunged when he cast the die for the empire of the world (par. 195). Among the rivers draining the western slopes of the Apennines, the one possessing the greatest historic interest is the Tiber, on the banks of which Rome arose. North ITALY AArn ITS EARLY IJVUABITAATTS. $ of this Stream is the Arno {Arnus)^ which watered a part of the old Etruria ; and south of it, the Liris, one of the chief rivers of Campania. 4. The Front and the Back of the Land. — The physical structure of a country, that is, the position and the trend of its mountain chains, the course of its rivers, the slope of Scene on the Tiber. (After an old engraving.) its plains and valleys, "and the distribution of its seaports, determines which side shall be the front and which the back of the country — a matter often of very great importance. Now Northern Italy fronts the east. This circumstance brought it about that the field of mercantile and political enterprise of the great city of Venice, which in mediaeval times grew up near the- mouth of the Po, should be the countries of the P>astern Mediterranean. But Middle and Southern Italy, on the other hand, front ROME AS A A'/JVCnOM. ITALY AJVn ITS EARLY UVUABTTAiVTS. the west. The Apennines here hug the eastern shore of the peninsula, and thus render that coast precipitous, w.th few good havens for ships. On the west, however, the mountains recede from the sea, and several wide and rich plains stretch from their feet to the waters of the Tyrrhe- nian Sea. On this side also are several fine harbors, the most celebrated of which is that of Naples {Neapolls). Thus, as we have said, this part of the peninsula turns its face westward. What makes it important for us to notice this circumstance is the fact that Greece faces the east, and that thus these two peninsulas, as the historian Mommsen expresses it, turn their backs tO each Other.'"' This brought it about that Rome and the cities of Greece had almost no dealings with one another for many centuries. Had the two lands faced each other, their fortunes might early have been united, and thus the whole COUrse of the history of antiquity might have been changed. 5. Early Inhabitants of Italy. — There were in early times three chief races in Italy: the Italians, the Etruscans, and the Greets.^ The Italians, a branch of the Aryan family, embraced two principal stocks, — the Latin and the Iniibro- Sabellian (Umbrians, Sabines, Samnites, Lucanians, etc.), — the various tribes or nations of which occupied nearly 2 u -While the regions on which the historical development of Greece has been mainly dependent — Attica and Macedonia — look to the east, Etruria, Latium, and Campania look to the west. In this way the two peninsulas, so close neighbors and almost sisters, stand as it were averted from each other." — MoMxMSEN, History of Rome, vol. i. p. 27. 3 Besides these principal races there were the lapygians in Calabria, and the Venetians and the Ligurians in the "north of the peninsula. The Ligurians were of non-Aryan race, but the others were seemingly of Aryan relationsliip. all Central, and a considerable part of Southern, Italy." Most important of all the Italian peoples were the Latins, who dwelt in Latium, between the Tiber and the Liris. These people, like all the Italians, were near kin- dred of the Greeks, and brought with them into Italy those customs, manners, beliefs, and institutions that formed the An Ancient P^trhscan Tomb. (This is the so-called " Tomb of Reliefs," at Cervetri, the ancient Casre, in Etruria. The walls and pillars are decorated ■with arms and utensils in painted relief, doubtless intended as a substitute for the articles themselves. — Schkeibek, Atlas of Classicnl A-ntiquities .) common possession of the various branches of the great Aryan race. Their life was for the most part that of shepherds and farmers. The leading representatives of * Notice carefully the large area covered by the Italian color on the accompanying map (p. 2). The Italian race formed the best part of the material out of which the real Roman nation was formed. g ROME AS A KINGDOM. this branch of the Italians were the Romans, of whose focial and reUgious life and poHtica. arrangements we shall come to speak in subsequent chapters. Ion. the Umbro-Sabellian folk, the Samnites are of special interest to the student of Roman history for the reason that they were one of the most formidable of the enemies of early Rome, and were conquered by the Romans only after long and stubborn fighting. The Ktruscans, a wealthy, cultured, and sea-fanng people of uncertain race and origin, dwelt in F.truna, now called Tuscany after them. They here formed a league of twelve cities, prominent among which were Volsinii, Tarquinii, Veii, Ca.re, Clusium, and Arretium. Before the rise of the Roman people they were the lead- I Wall-Painting of an Etruscan Banquet. (From an Etruscan tomb of the fifth centur>- b.c. This cut illustrates, among other things, the State of art among the Etruscans at that early date. Banqueting scenes are favorite representations on Etruscan tombs, sarcophagi and funeral urns. The participators " were represented in the height of social enjoyment to symbolize the bliss on which their spirits had entered." — Dennis, Ctttes and Cemeteries of Etruria, vol. i. p. 445-) ing race in the peninsula. Numerous art remains, rock- cut tombs, fragments of walls, massive dikes to keep back the sea, and long drainage tunnels piercing the sides of I ITALY AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS. Q hills, show the advance in civilization that they had made at a very remote date. Certain elements in their culture, as for instance the alphabet they used, lead us to believe '> .:-^ /-' ^ J .(. ir- iffc^s? Rl;inki> Tfmpi.ks at P^stum. (P;e.4um was the Greek Posidonia. in Lucania. These ruins form the most note- worthy existing monuments of the early (Jreek occupation of Southern Italy.) that they had learned much from the Greek cities in South- ern Italy. The Etruscans in their turn became the teachers of the early Romans and imparted to them at least some minor elements of civilization, including hints in the art of building and various religious ideas and rites (par. 23). Some five hundred years before our era, the Gauls came over the Alps, pressed the Etruscans out of Northern Italy, in which quarter this people had in very early times formed a confederacy like that they established in Etruria, and settling in those regions, became the most formidable enemies of the infant republic of Rome (par. 68). m lO ROME AS A KINGDOM. The Cireeks began their settlement in lower Italy during the .^^e of Greek colonial expansion, that is to say, towards the end of the eighth century B.C. Among the cities that they founded here was Tarentum (Taras), which at one time had a severe fight with Rome (par. 82 ). The Greeks also established many colonies in the eastern portion of Sicily Of the cities here, Syracuse was the one of most importance for Roman history (par. 114). Through the medium of these various Greek cities the Romans were taught the use of letters and given valuable suggestions in matters of law and constitutional government. Rfferencks. - [The books that at the ends of the different chapters have been suggested for parallel reading, are, of course, only a selection out of a vast literature. With very few exceptions, the references have been restricted to ^vorks in English. The particular books and chapters which it has been thought would prove most helpful and Stimulating to young readers have been indicated by asterisks. The most of the books thus marked, aside from the extended histories of Mommsen, Ihne, Merivale, and Gibbon, are monographs or one- volume works on special subjects, and consequently can, at small expense, be added to the school library, should it happen that they have not already found a place there. For further references, and for valuable hints and suggestions in regard to courses of study and read- ing in Roman history, the student should consult the latest edition of C.K.Adams' Manual of Historical Literature.'] Mom M SEN (T.), * History of Rome (trans, by W. 1'. Dickson), vol. i. chaps, i. and ii. Freeman (E. A.), T/ie Historical Geography of Europe, vol. i. (text) pp. 7-9, 43-49- ToZER (II. F.), Clusual GeOSraphy (Lit- erature Frimers, edited by John Richard Green), chaps, ix. and x. Merivale (C), History of the Romans tinder the Empire, vol. iv. pp. 414-416; for some interesting observations on the evidence afforded by ancient geographical names of the wooded character in early times of the districts al)out Rome. Dknms ((Iko.), The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, vol. i. " Introduction." The author probably exaggerates the debt which the early civilization of Rome owed to the preceding culture of Etruria. CHAPTER II. TIIK SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT OF EARLY ROME. 6. The Roman Family. — One great difference between modern and ancient society is that modern society is made up of individuals, while ancient society was made up of groups of individuals. Thus in early Rome — and Rome in this respect is representative of all the primitive cities of (Ireece and Italy of which we possess any knowledge — we find composing the community various groups, bodies, or associations of persons. First, at the bottom as it were of Roman society and forming its ultimate unit, was the family ; a group, how- ever, quite different in its composition, and in the rules and usages determining the mutual duties and relations of its members, from the group that among us bears the same name. The typical Roman family consisted of the father {pater- familias) and mother, the sons, together with their wives and sons, and the unmarried daughters. When a daughter married she became a member of the family to which her husband belonged. Marriage in early times was usually solemnized by a sacred religious ceremony,'' for the reason, 7 Marriage, however, assumed different forms among the Romans, and was hrought about by different ceremonies. The most formal and sacred rite was that known as confarreatio, from the cake of meal {farreus pauis) that constituted the offering. In later times marriage lost its sacredness and the marital tie became very lax (par. 312). II J 2 ROME AS A KINGDOM. as .e shall see in a moment, that the family .as a group of co-worshippers, as well as a group of kinsmen and the bringing in of a new member, like the young wtfe, was a „.atter that concerned the guardian spirits of the aSSOCiatlOn. The most Important feature or dement of this fam.ly group was the authority of the father. His power over each and all of its members was legally absolute.' He was the proprietor of the family in almost the Same sense that he was the proprietor of its goods and lands. He could sell his wife or his son just as he could sell one of h>s slaves He was the sole judge of the members of the family, and could put to death without appeal even a son grown to man's estate, lor the son, though married and livin- in his own house, and holding perhaps high office in the state, remained under the power of the father durmg the father's lifetime. Late in the period of the republic a father actually put to death his son who was at the t.me a senator."* But although this power of the father was in early Rome thus wholly unlimited by the constitution and laws of the state, still it'was restricted by custom and religion, just as among ourselves many acts are legal which, however, are disapproved by conscience and public opinion. Custom required that the father in exercising his authority as judge should seek the advice of the nearest relatives of the 8 The husband's authority over his wife, however, was not absolute unless his marriage had been celebrated in one of the three ways {co7i- farmitio, mmptio, and usus) which alone could transfer the daughter out of the father's power into that of her husband. This branch of the power of the pater-famiUas was designated by the term manus; and that which concerned his children was known as the patria potestixs. 9 The son was implicated in the conspiracy of Catiline (par. i88). SOCIETY AN^D GOVERNMENT. 13 accused, although he was not bound to follow the counsel they might give. And religion and the public conscience also laid their restraints upon the father. The father who exercised his authority with flagrant injustice or tyranny was execrated by his fellow-citizens and was regarded as accursed. The father was the high priest of the family ; for the family, as we have said, had a common worship. This was the cult of its dead ancestors. The spirits of these were believed to linger near the old hearth. If provided with frequent offerings of meat and drink, they would, it was thought, watch over the living members of the family and aid and prosper them in their daily work and in all their undertakings. If they were neglected, however, these spirits became restless and suffered pain, and in their anger would bring trouble in some form upon their undutiful kinsmen. It was this worship of ancestors that, as we have inti- mated, made the Roman family a religious body, and which caused it to be so exclusive and to close its doors against all strangers ; for the spirits of its dead members could be served only by their own kith and kin. It was sacrilege for a stranger to sacrifice at a family altar not his own. But by a certain religious ceremony such a per- son could be adopted into a family, and thus could acquire the same rights as its members by birth or by marriage to participate in its worship and festivals. When the father died, the sons became free, and each in his own household now came to exercise the full authority that the father had held. The mother and unmarried daughters became the wards of their nearest male rela- M ROME AS A KINGDOM. SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT. 15 tives, so that frequently the mother came under the tutelage of her sons, and the daughter under that of her brothers. 7. Dependents of the Family : Clients and Slaves. — Besides those members constituting the family proper, there were attached to it usually a number of dependents. These were the clients and slaves. The client was a person stand- ing to the head of the family, who was called his patron, in a relation which, in some respects, was like that of the mediaeval serf to his lord, and in others like that of the feudal vassal to his suzerain. He held a 'position between the slave and the son. The class of clients was probably made up of homeless refugees or strangers from other cities, or of manumitted slaves, dwelling in their former master's house. They were looked upon as members of the family to the extent that they were allowed to participate in its worship and its festivals. They were free to engage in busi- ness at Rome, and to accumulate property, though whatever they gathered was legally the property of the patron. The duty of the patron was in general to look after the interests of his client, especially to represent him before the legal tribunals. The duty of the client, on the other hand, was faithfulness to his patron, and the making of con- tributions of money to aid him in meeting unusual expenses. The clients, as we shall see, were an influential class in early Rome, while the usage or principle of clientage con- stituted at all periods of Roman history a most Important feature of Roman life and society. A large clientage was regarded as the crown and glory of a patrician house.^" 1*^ There were also clients of the gens and of the state. But gener- ally the clients are represented as dependents of special patrician fam- iUes. Clientship disappeared very early as a legal system, but lived on as a social institution. The slaves were simply adjuncts of the family. They constituted merely a part of its property. There were only a few slaves in the early Roman family, and these were held for service chiefly within the home and not in the fields. They relieved the mother and daughters of the family of the coarser work of the household. It was not until later times, when luxury crept into Rome, that the number of domestic slaves became excessively great (par. 318). 8. The Place of the Family in Roman History. — Such in briefest outline was the early Roman family. It would be difficult to overestimate the influence of this group upon the history and destiny of Rome. It was the cradle of at least some of those splendid virtues of the early Romans that contributed so much to the strength and greatness of Rome, and that helped to give her the dominion of the world. It was in the atmosphere of the family that were nour- ished in the Roman youth the virtues of obedience and of deference to authority. When the youth became a citizen, obedience to magistrates and respect for law was with him an instinct and indeed almost a religion. And, on the other hand, the exercise of the parental authority in the family taught the Roman how to command as well as how to obey — how to exercise authority with wisdom, moderation, and justice. 9. The Clan or Gens. — Having gained some idea of the Roman family, we may pass with briefer notice the other groups or bodies in the Roman community, for the reason that each of these larger associations seems to have been modelled upon the family, and. consequently repeated many of its characteristic features. First above the family stood the clan or gens. This was i6 KOME AS A KINGDOM. probably in the earliest times simply the expanded family, the members of which had OUtgrown the remembrance of their exact relationship. Vet they all believed themselves to have had a common ancestor and called themselves by his name -as, for instance, in the case of the Fabii, the Claudii, the Julii, and so on. The gens, like the family, had a head or chief, though he did not possess the exten- sive authority of the pater-familias ; and its members par- ticipated in a common worship. As the family circle could be enlarged by the adoption of individuals into the group, so could the clan be augmented by the adoption, in a similar way, of families. Even en- tire clans could be, and often were, formed artificially, the natural clan of kinsmen being taken as a model. In such a case the ancestor worshipped by the clansmen was of course a factitious personage. 10. The Curia. — The family and the gens of which we have been speaking were simply, at the time when Rome first appears before us as a city, social and religious groups, and not political divisions of the state. If they ever had been political units or bodies, they had now lost all politi- cal significance. But it was different with the next highest group or division of the community, namely, the curia, which has been compared to the ward of the modern city. This was the most important political division of the people, as the family was the most important social group. So important was it that according to some authorities it gave a special name to the Romans — Quiritcs, that is, "men of the curies." ^ ^ Mommsen, however, derives this name from (pdris or curis, •' lance," and ire. Ifistory of Rome, vol. i. p. 107. SOCIEJY AND GOVERNMENT. 17 We do not know whether the members of a curia looked upon themselves as kinsmen, as did the members of the family and of the gens. They had, in any event, a com- mon worship, held common festivals, and possessed priests who in the name of the association offered sacrifices on the common altars. What made the curia so important a division of the community was the fact that the levies for the army were made by curies, and that the voting in the primitive assembly of the people, as we shall explain presently (par. 15), was done by these same bodies. There were thirty curies in the original Rome. 11. The Tribe. — Above the curies was the tribe, the largest subdivision or subgroup of the community. It had, so far as our knowledge goes, neither magistrates nor assemblies of its own. In early Rome there were three tribes, each composed of ten curies. 12. The City. — These various groups or organizations, — the families, the gentes, the curies, the tribes, — forming successive strata, as we have indicated, of the social and political structure, made up the community of early Rome. This city, like all the cities of ancient Greece and Italy, was a "city-state," that is, an independent sovereign body like a modern nation. As such it possessed a constitution and government which bound all the different groups or bodies which we have been describing into an organic whole, directed and controlled their common activities, and brought the many-membered community into inter- national relations with the similar communities by which it was surrounded. Of this constitution and government we will now pro- i8 ROME AS A KINGDOM. ceed, In the paragraphs immediately following, to give a short account. 13. The King. — At the head of the early Roman state stood a king, the father of his people, holding essentially the same relations to them that the father of a family held to his household. He was at once ruler of the nation, commander of the army, and judge and high priest of his people. In theory his power was absolute. He was pre- ceded by servants called lictors, each bearing a bundle of rods (the>^w) with an ax bound therein, the symbol of his power to punish by Hogging and by putting to death (par. 45). 14. The Senate. — Next to the king stood the senate, or "council of the old men," composed of the ''fathers" or heads of the families of the community. It consisted of three hundred members, a number corresponding to the traditional number of gentes composing the early city. This number remained unchanged until the later period of the republic (par. 178). The senators were appointed by the king and held their position for life. One special duty of the senate was the election of a king in cases where the king died without having named a successor. This was done in the following way: One of the senators \v is chosen as a " between-klng " or " king for an interval" {interrex). On or before the expiration of five days this temporary king chose another of his colleagues as Interrex. And thus the kingly office con- tinued to be Tilled by this system of rotation until the permanent king was named. Another very important function of the senate was its right and duty, acting rather in a judicial than in a legisla- tive capacity, to examine carefully every law or resolution SOCIETY AA^n GOVERA^MEATT. 19 passed in the public assembly (par. 15), and if it was found to violate the constitution of the state, or any treaty Rome had entered into with another city, or the rights of any citizen, to nullify it by refusing to give to the measure the vote of ratification required to render it legal and binding. A third function of the senate was to give counsel to the king whenever he desired it. Especially was the opinion of the senators sought by the king on resolutions which he was proposing to lay before the assembly of citizens. The king thus learned beforehand whether they were likely to ratify the proposal after its approval by the people. 15. The Popular Assembly. — The popular assembly {lomitia cnridfd) comprised all the citizens of Rome; that is, all the members of the patrician families (par. 16) old enough to bear arms. It was this body that, acting upon proposals laid before it by the king, enacted the laws of the state, determined upon offensive war, and also elected the king, or at least ratified the king's nomination of his successor.'^ It also confirmed the wills of citizens and sanctioned the adoption of a stranger by a family, or the admission of a new clan among the clans of a tribe (pars. 6 and 9). Every resolution or measure of this assembly, however, as has already been explained (par. 14), required for its validity the confirming vote of the senate. The manner of taking a vote in this assembly should be noticed, for the usage here was followed in all the later legislative bodies of the republican period. The voting 2 Mommsen supposes that the assembly simply concurred in the nomination made by the ruling king, who before his death thus pro- vided for the succession. 20 ROME AS A AVJVGnOM. was not by individuals, but by curies ; that is, each curia had one vote, and the measure before the body was carried or lost according as a majority of the curies voted for or against it. It should be further noticed that this assembly was not a representative body, like a modern legislature, but a primary assembly, that is, a meeting composed of all the citizens of Rome, each being present in his own person as a member of the community, and not as a delegate repre- senting some division, or some class, of the state. All of the later assemblies at Rome were like this primitive assembly of patricians. The Romans never learned, or at least never employed, the principle of representation, which constitutes the very basis of modern democratic government, and without which device government by the people in the great states of the present day would be impossible. How important the bearing of this was upon the political fortunes of Rome, we shall learn later (par. 166). 16. The Patricians and the Rights of the Roman Citizen. — The heads of the families at Rome were called patres^ or "fathers"; from this it came that all the members of these families were called patricians, that is, '* children of the fathers." These patricians formed the Q^x\y populus Ro?nanus, "the Roman people." By virtue of his place in the family group, each patri- cian was also a member of a gens, of a curia, and of a tribe. His membership in the family also made him a full citizen of Rome, with all the rights and privileges of the city. And here we must acquaint ourselves with what the SOCIETY AATD COVER ATMK ATT. 21 rights and privileges of full Roman citizenship embraced. The rights of the Roman citizen were divided, first, into private rights and public rights. The chief private rights were two, namely, the right of trade i^jus commercii) and the right of marriage [jus con- ?ii{l)ii). The right of trade or commerce was the right to acquire, to hold, and to bequeath property (both personal and landed) according to the forms of the Roman law. This in the ancient city, where business and property both tended towards a monopoly in the hands of the citizens, was an Important right and privilege.^ The right of marriage was the "right of contracting a full and religious marriage." Such a marriage could take place only between patricians. Marriage between clans- men and non-clansmen was contrary to the law of the ancient city ; and it was only after a long struggle, as we shall learn (par. 63), that the non-clansmen at Rome acquired this important right of intermarriage with the members of the exclusive social and religious organiza- tions which we have described in the earlier part of this chapter. The three chief public or political rights of the Roman citizen were the right of voting in the public assemblies {Jus suffragii), the right to hold office {jus honor wm)^ and the right of appeal from the decision of a magistrate to the people {^jus provocationis^. These rights taken together constituted the most highly valued rights and prerogatives of the Roman citizen. What « 3 In some modern states aliens are not allowed to acquire landed property; in Roman terms there is withheld from them a part of the JUS commercii 22 ROME AS A KINGnOM. we should particularly notice is that the Romans adopted the practice of bestowing these rights in instalments, so to speak. For instance, the inhabitants of one vanquished city would be given a part of the private rights of citizen- ship, those of another perhaps all of this class of rights, while upon the inhabitants of a third place would be bestowed all the rights, both private and public. This usac^e created many different classes of citizens in the Roman state; and this, as will appear later, was one of the most important matters connected with the internal history of Rome. Now in primitive Rome the patricians alone, that is, the clansmen, possessed all these rights of citizenship. Some of the private rights they shared with an inferior class in the state, as will appear in the following para- graph, but the political rights they jealously guarded as the sacred patrimony of their own order. 17. The Plebeians or the Non-Citizens. — When Rome first appears in history, we notice a large class of non- citizens among her inhabitants. We cannot be quite cer- tain as to how this class of residents was first formed, but it seems to have embraced (i) refugees from various quarters, (2) the inhabitants of subjugated Latin towns and other places, (3) immigrant traders from other cities who had taken up their permanent residence at Rome and entered into business there, and (4) freedmen and other clients^ (P^^r. 7). 4 This latter class seem only gradually to have detached themselves from the interests of the patrician order, and to have cast in their for- tunes with the other plebeians. At any event, in historical times, they formed a most important element of the lower order. SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT. 23 The greater number of the plebeians were petty land- owners, holding and tilling with their own hands farms of a few acres in extent in the near neighborhood of Rome. From what has already been said of them, it will be seen that these plebeians possessed one of the most im- portant rights of Roman citizenship, namely, the private right of engaging in trade. But from the other rights and privileges of the citizen as enumerated in the preceding paragraph, they were wholly shut out. They could not contract a legal marriage w^ith one of the patrician order. Thev were wholly without political rights, being allowed neither to vote nor to hold office, nor to appeal from the decision of a magistrate. They were practically strangers and aliens in Rome, holding some such position in the community as unnaturalized immigrants, like the Chinese, hold in our own states. A large part of the early history of Rome is made up of the struggles of these plebeians to secure for themselv^es social and political equality with the patricians.'^ ^ The student who consults different authorities is apt to be con- fused by the fact that some writers, like the historian Ihne, refer to the plebeians of early Rome as citizens, while others, like Mommsen, call them non-burgesses or " tolerated aliens." This is simply a mat- ter of definition. All that is necessary on the part of the student in order to avoid mental confusion is to bear in mind what is said in par. 16 about the rights of Roman citizenship being bestowed in instal- ments, and the creation thereby of many different grades of citizens. Whether the bestowal upon any class of one of these several rights, as, for instance, the jus cotJimcrcii^ which the plebeians possessed, shall be allowed to constitute them citizens, though of course citizens with only partial rights, is, as we have said, a mere matter of definition. 24 ROME AS A KINGDOM. References. — MuMMSEN (T.), History of Rome, vol. i. chap. V. pp. 88-122, "The Original Constitution of Rome." TiGHE (A), ** The Development of the Roman Constitution, chaps, ii. and iii. pp. 28-58. This little book gives a rapid but admirable survey of the growth of the constitution up to the time of the empire. The student would do well to read it carefully before taking up Mommsen's history or Ihne's larger work. CouLANGES (FusTEL I)e), * The Ancient City (from the French), bk. ii. chap, i., " Religion was the Constituent Principle of the Ancient Family"; and chap, x., "The Gens at Rome and in Greece." Ihne (W.), *Early Rome (Epoch Series), chaps, vii. viii. and ix. pp. 104-106. Fowler (W. W.), The City-State, chaps, ii. and iii. ; deals suggestively with the genesis and nature of the city-state in Greece as well as in Italy. MoKEY (\Vm. C), **Oiitlincs of Koman Laiv, chap, i., "The Organization of Early Roman Society." CHAPTER III. THE ROMAN RELIGION. 18. The Place of Religion in Roman History. — In Rome, as in all the ancient cities of Italy and Greece, religion and the state were not separated, as they are in some of the most advanced nations to-day, as, for example, in our own country. Religion was a part of the constitution of the city. And this part of the constitution was not worked by a special class of persons. There was no priesthood at Rome,^ such as we find in Egypt, India, and most other oriental lands. The ordinary magistrates of the city pos- sessed a sort of sacerdotal or priestly character. So wise and prudent did this union of civic and religious functions in the same persons seem to Cicero that he declared that the fathers who arranged it thus must have been inspired by the gods. Since almost every magisterial act was connected in some way with the rites of the temple or the sacrifices of the attar, it happens that the political or secular history 6 T\\Q Jlamines (" kindlers" ?), or priests appointed to maintain the cult of particular deities, and the members of the sacred colleges (par. 24) cannot be regarded as forming such a caste. They were chosen from the body of citizens, and were simply the religious servants of the state. " The Romans, notwithstanding all their zeal for religion, adhered with unbending strictness to the principle that the priest ought to remain completely powerless in. the state, and, excluded from all command, ought like any other burgess to render obedience to the humblest magistrate." — MoMMSEN, History of Rome, vol. i. p. 232. 25 26 ROME AS A KINGDOM. of the Romans is 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. 19. The Nature of the Roman Gods. — The Roman idea of the gods was very different from the (ireek conception. The Greeks possessed a lively imagination, and pictured to themselves the divinities of Olympus under clear-cut human form and figure. So vivid was this picturing that often the shining forms of the gods appeared to the pious Greek in his dreams — and sometimes in his waking hours. So real were they, and so like men in all their feelings and passions, that the Greeks invented a thousand stories about their loves and hates, their occupations and adventures. Hence the beautiful mythology, and art too, of the Greeks. Now the Romans possessed little or none of this vivid Greek imagination. Their gods were simply vague per- sonifications of the parts, powers, and processes of nature, and of every thought, act, and relation of men. The early Roman temples are said to have contained no images or Statues of the gods, but merely some symbol of divinity, as, for instance, "a stone for Jupiter, the holy lance for Mars, the fire for Vesta."' The Romans first learned to represent their gods under human form from the Greeks, either directly or through the medium of the Etruscans. But this dim world of spirits formed nevertheless a very positive factor in the life of the ancient Roman. He con- ceived the two worlds, this visible world of men and that invisible world of spirits, to be very closely related. He ' Leighton, History of Rome, p. 37. THE ROMAN RELIGION, 27 thought of the gods as watchful of the conduct of their worshippers, and as interested in their affairs. Hence the Roman was in his way very religious, and exceedingly scru- pulous in rendering to the divinities the worship due them. 20. The Utilitarian Character of the Religion. —The Roman did not, however, serve his gods for naught ; he expected Animals for thk Sacrifice: Sus-Ovis-Taurus. from them a full equivalent for the sacrificial victims that he offered them, for the incense that he burned upon their altars, for the gifts he hung up in their temples, and for 8 The animals here shown — a swine, a sheep, and a bull — were offered as a lustratory sacrifice which ended the Ambarvallan festivals (par 23 n. 3), in which the fields were purified and blessed. This interesting piece of relief-sculpture was recently discovered in the great forum at Rome. 28 A'OAf^ AS A A'lJVGnOM, THE ROMAN RELIGION. 29 the costly games and spectacles he provided for their entertainment in the circus and the amphitheatre. And the gods, on their part, were ready to meet this expectation. They gave counsel and help to their faithful followers, and secured them good harvests and a successful issue of their undertakings. On the other hand, neglect angered the gods and caused them to bring upon their unfaithful worshippers all kinds of troubles and calam- ities — dissensions within the state, defeat of their armies in the field, drought, fire and flood, pestilence and famine. But their anger could be turned aside or appeased by expiatory sacrifices and offerings. "The profound and fearful idea of substitution also meets us here : when the gods of the community were angry and nobody could be laid hold of as definitely guilty, they might be appeased by one who voluntarily gave himself up (devorcrc SC) : noxious chasms in the ground were closed,** and battles half lost were converted into victories, when a brave burgess threw himself as an expiatory offering into the abyss or upon the foe. " *° 21. The Legal Character of .the Religion. — Another note- worthy feature of the Roman religion was its legal char- acter ; for the Roman religion was a sort of contract between the gods and their worshippers. If the wor- shippers performed their part of this contract, then the gods were bound to fulfil theirs. 9 The reference is to the legend of Marcus CurtiUS. In ttlC year 359 BC., a great chasm having opened in the forum, this heroic youth, mounting his horse, plunged into the gulf, and through such self-sacri- fice appeased the gods, and closed the crevice. See Livy vii 6 - Mommsen, ///./..^ .y AW.., vol. i. pp. .32, 233. For instances of commanders voluntarily devoting themselves to death, see pars. Jj and 8 1 But the Roman was ever ready to take advantage of a flaw in a contract and to overreach in a bargain, and making his gods like unto himself, he imagined that they would act in a like manner. If the worshipper through itrnorance, inadvertence or accident had failed to carry out his part of the contract in every particular and to the very letter, the gods were supposed to be ready and dis- posed to take advantage of this in order to avoid carrying out their part of the engagement. Hence the anxious care with which the Romans performed all the prescribed reli- o-ious rites and ceremonies. If there was any mistake made in the recital of the given formulas, or any inter- ruption of the sacred ceremony, then the whole must be repeated in order to insure that there be no flaw in the pro- ceedings which might be taken advantage of by the gods. 22. The Chief Roman Deities ; the Lares and Penates. At the head of the Roman pantheon stood Jupiter, iden- tical in all essential attributes with the Hellenic Zeus. He was the special protector of the Roman people. To him, together with Juno and Minerva, was consecrated a magnificent temple upon the summit of the Capitoline hill, overlooking the forum and the city. Mars, the god of war, stand- ing next in rank, was the. favorite deity and the fabled father of the Roman race, who were fond of calling themselves the " Children of Heafi of Janus. (From a Roman coin.) I 30 ROME AS A KINGDOM, Mars." They proved themselves worthy offspring of the war-god. Martial games and festivals were celebrated in his honor during the first month of the Roman year, which bore, and still y^;.;:.r^:.:: bears, in his honor, the name of March. Janus was a double- faced deity, " the god of the beginning and the end of e very- thin or n &• The month ^;-N%., of January was sacred to him, as were also all gates and doors. ■' ' f Vestal Virgin. The gates of his tem- ple were always kept open in time of war and shut in time of peace. The fire upon the household hearth was regarded as the sym- bol of the goddess vesta, Her worship was a favorite one with the Romans. The nation, too, as a single great family, had a common nafonal hearth, in the Temple of Vesta, where the sacred hres were kept burning from generation to generation by ^'^^ Virgins, daughters of the Roman state.' Vesfall, ZoXtZ^T" "' *"" ^^™^'"' "' "•« "-'- °f 'he ^'^"' "J ^'"I't Viscmeriis, chap. vi. THE A'OMAN KKLIGION. y The Lares and Penates were household gods. Their images were set in the entrance of the dwelling. The Lares were the spirits of ancestors, which were thought to linger about the home as its guardians. This worship of ancestors was one of the most important elements in the religion of the ancient Romans. It was this religion of the domestic hearth that helped greatly to Divining by Means ok THK APPEARANCE OK THE ENTRAILS OF A Sacrificial Victim. (This was with the Romans a usual way of foretelling future events.^ make the Roman family what It was, that gave the father his priestly authority (par. 6), and that organized many of the institutions of the Roman state.'^ The student should bear this feature of the early Roman religion care- fully in mind, for the reason that It formed to the very kst the most vital element in it, and for the further reason that it was the germ out of which later grew important •^ Read Coulanges, The Ancient City. 32 ROME AS A KINGDOM. religious developments, as, for instance, the strange cult of the Caesars (par. 216). 23. Oracles and Divination. — The Romans, like the Greeks, thougKt that the will of the gods was communicated to men by means of oracles, and by strange sights, unusual events, or singular coincidences. There were no true ora- cles at Rome. The Romans, therefore, often had recourse to those among tlie Greeks. Particularly in great emer- gencies did they seek advice from the celebrated oracle of Apollo at Delphi. From Etruria was introduced the art of the haruspices, or soothsayers, which consisted in discovering the will of the gods by the appearance of the entrails of victims slain for the sacrifices. 24. The Sacred Colleges. —The four chief sacred colleges, or societies, 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 (par. 39) and offered to sell him, but at an extravagant price, nine volumes. As the king declined to pay the sum demanded, the woman departed, destroyed three of the books, and then returning, ^ Among the minor colleges or priesthoods there were two companies or guilds of the Salii, or Reapers," and two of the Luperci, or "wolves." The duplication of these guilds arose probably through the union of primitive communities. In the month of March, the Sahi " performed a war-dance in honor of Mars, and accompanied it by a song." The Luperci celebrated each year a festival known as the z«/.r.a/.., xn honor of the god Faunus, the Roman Counterpart of the Greek god Pan. The Frafres Ar^>ales, or " field brothers," twelve in number, constituted a guild or company whose duty it was to celebrate certain festivals known as the Ambarvalia THE ROMAN RELIGION. 33 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 „.ore 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 myste- rious 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 m a stone chest, and kept in a vault beneath the Capitohne 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 appearances, particularly the flight of birds, by Which means it was believed that Jupiter made known his win. Great skiU was required in the "takir^g of the auspices," as it was called. No business of importance, public or private, was entered upon without the auspices being first consulted, to ascertain whether they were favor- able. The public assembly, for illustration, must not con- vene, to elect officers or to enact laws, unless the auspices had been taken and found propitious. Should a peal of thunder occur while the people were holding a meeting, that was considered aa unfavorable omen, and the assembly must instantly disperse. It is easy to see how the power of the augurs might be 34 ROME AS A KINGDOM. THE ROMAN RELIGION. 35 used corruptly for political ends. At first all the members of the college were patricians, and very frequently they would prevent the plebeians from holding a meeting by giving out that the auspices were not favorable ; and some- times, when matters were not taking 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 augurs 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 con- tended for by the plebeians was admission to this college, that they might assist in watching the omens, and that thus this important matter might 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 of Piles over the Tiber.'' This guild was the most important of all the religious institutions of the Romans ; for to the pontiffs belonged the superintendence of all religious matters. In their keeping, too, was the calendar, and they could lengthen or shorten the year, which power they sometimes used to extend the term of office of a favorite, or to cut short that of one who had incurred their displeas- ure. The head of the college was called rontifex Maximus, or "Chief Bridge-builder," which title was assumed by the fortified hill that formed the Ron.an outpost against the Etruscans In the.r side Of the Tiber. It is possible, according to Mommsen, that y^...ong.naiiy signified not "bridge," but "way" generally, and that tontifex therefore meant "constructor of ways." Roman emperors, and after them by the Christian bishops of Rome ; and thus the name has come down to our times. The College of Heralds {Ictiaks) had the care of all public matter^ pertaining to foreign nations. Its members were the keepers of the treaties which Rome had made with other peoples, and the interpreters of international law If the Roman people had suffered any 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. 25. Sacred Games and Festivals. — The Romans had many religious games and festivals. Prominent among these were the so-called Circensian Games, or Games of the Circus, which were very similar to the sacred games of the Greeks. They consisted, in the main, of chariot- racing, wrestling, foot-racing, and various other athletic contests. These festivals, as in the case of those of the Greeks, had their origin in the belief that the gods delighted in the exhibition of feats of skill, strength, or endurance ; that their anger might be appeased by such spectacles ; or that they might be persuaded by the promise of games to lend aid to mortals in great emergencies.^ At the opening of the year it was customary for the Roman magistrate, in 5 " The games were an entertainment offered to the guests [the gods, who were " the guests of honor " ], which were as certainly believed to be gratifying to their sight as a review of troops or a deer hunt to a modem European sovereign." — Wheeler, Diouysos and Immortality, p. n. 3^ J^OMJ£ AS A JCIJVGnOM. 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 vowg 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 brutal shows given by ambitious leaders for the purpose of winning popularity. The Satimialia were a festival held in December in honor of Saturn, the god of sowing. It was an occasion on which all classes, including the slaves, who were allowed their freedom during the celebration, gave themselves up to riotous amusements ; hence the significance we attach to the word satiinialian. The well-known Roman Carnival of to-day is a survival of the ancient Saturnalia. 26. Defects of the Religious System. -What we have already said has revealed some of the most serious defects of the Roman religion ; but an additional observation or two at this point respecting these will help us all the better to understand some facts in the rdigious life Of the Romans which will later come under our notice. First, the character of the Roman divinities and their relation to their worshippers were such that the system did not awaken or nourish devotional feeling, aS did, for instance, the religion of the ancient Hebrews. There is nothing in the remains of Roman literature Corresponding to the devotional Psalms of the Bible. « For the festivals of the Lupercali, and Ambarvalia, see par. 24, n. 3. THE ROMAN RELIGION, 37 A^ain, in this religion, so legal and formal (par. 21), there was an almost entire separation of morality and worship. The state of the heart of the worshipper was a matter of no concern, if only the prescribed acts were performed, and the prescribed words pronounced, precisely in accordance with the given formulas. Such a religious belief could, of course, afford but feeble support to true morality, or do little in the way of awakening and foster- ing the sentiments of love, gratitude, and reverence towards the gods. These, together with other defects of their religious system, such as its vague and unsatisfactory teachings in regard to the future life, caused the Romans, at an early period, to begin to supplement it by borrowings from the reli"-ious systems of the various peoples with whom they came in contact. To meet the lack of companionable gods, they borrowed the attractive divinities of Greece, or transferred the attributes of these to their own gods. To supply those emotional elements that were so conspicu- ously wanting in their own system, the Romans introduced into it the venerable, mysterious, and awe-inspiring cults of the Orient, such as the worship of the Great Mother (Cybele) of Phrygia, of Isis of Egypt, and of Mithra of Persia. To supply the lacking moral element tKere waS a late effort made to borrow the morality of Christianity (par. 256). But none of these additions or borrowings changed fun- damentally the system as It stood at first. There came a time when it no longer satisfied the religious wants and cravings of men, and it gave place to another religion which had been worked out by Judoea, and which taught 38 ROME AS A KINGDOM. new views of God and his relations to man, and new con- ceptions of duty and of the future life. References. — Mommsen (T.), History of Rome, vol. i. bk. i. chap, xii. pp. 218-245. Ihne (W.), ** Early Rome (Epoch Series), chap. vi. pp. 92-104, "Religious Institutions in the Time of the Kings." Ince (W. R.), Society in Rome under the Casars^ chap. i. pp. 1-8 ; deals with the religion of the early Romans. Coulanoes (Flistel de), *T/ie Ancient City, bk. i. chaps. l.-Iv., " Ancient Beliefs." CHAPTKR IV. ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 27. Latium before Rome. — What was the origin of the city of Rome ? What was the genesis of that remarkable social and political constitution with which it first appears in history, and which we have endeavored to describe m a preceding chapter ? ' We shall best find answers to these questions by first noticing what the condition of Latium was before Rome arose. W^th the aid of tradition and the science of primi- tive culture, or comparative ethnology, we can form some sort of a picture of the land and its people in prehistoric times — a picture which, though somewhat dim and blurred in its details, we may rely upon with a gOod degree of Cer- tainty as corresponding, in its broad outlines, very nearly with actual fact. In very early times Latium, the "flat country," as the name probably signifies, lying south of the lower course of the Tiber, was dotted with settlements of the Latin people. These settlements were merely groups of clans (par. 9), or village communities, to which has been given the name of cantons. The villages constituting any given canton were generally, it would seem, scattered over the little cantonal territory, in order that the villagers, who were petty farmers " Chap. ii. 39 40 ROME AS A KIA'CnOM. an d shepherds, might be near the land they cultivated or the common pastures out upon which they drove their sheep and cattle ; but sometimes the villages appear to have been huddled together on some eligible spot, such as a low hill might afford. Whether or not the clans form- ing a canton were united by blood or descent is unknown ; but at any rate they had a common worship, and thus were closely united by the tie of religion, if not by that of relationship. The Site of Tibur, the Modern Tivoli. (After an old engraving. To the left, the ruins of an ancient temple of Vesta.) Each canton had a central stronghold, which SCrvCd aS a refuge for the villagers in times of danger, and as a common meeting-place for their markets and religious fes- tivals. The site chosen for this canton-centre was, when- ever practicable, some easily defended rock or hill, of which the situation of Tibur, built on a spur of the Apennines ROM J-: UNDER THE KINGS. 41 jutting out Into the Campagna, and that of Alba Longa, on the isolated Alban Mount, are good illustrations.*^ According to tradition there were in all Latium in pre- historic times thirty of these clan-clusters, or embryo-cities, as we, with our eye upon their future, may designate them. Each formed a sovereign, independent state, with power to wage war against its neighbors or to make treaties with them. Before the dawn of history these cantons had formed an alliance among themselves known as the Latin League. The leadership in this confederacy was held at first by Alba Longa, just referred to, the "Long White City," which received its name from the circum- stance that the buildings of the place stretched along the summit of a white ridge of the Alban Hills. The confederated cantons possessed a common god, Jupi- ter Latiaris, who had a sanctuary on the Alban Hills, whence he kept watch and ward over the Latian plain. On the mount was celebrated each year what w^as known as the "Latin Festival." 28. The Beginnings of Rome. — It was in the midst of such an environment as that which we have described in the pre- ceding paragraph that Rome arose and grew into greatness. Among the cantons or embryo-cities of early Latium was one formed by the Ramnes, — whence the name Romans, — a community of the Latin stock. The canton embraced three clans or villages, the dwellings of which were upon the slopes or at the foot of the Palatine mount, one of a cluster of low hills on the left or south bank of the Tiber, about fifteen miles from the sea. On the sum- mit of the hill was the citadel or stronghold of the settle- ^ See map opposite page 78. 'f 42 ROME AS A KINGDOM. ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 43 ment. Modern excavations have revealed portions of the foundations of the ancient walls, together with remains of two of the gates, rhe enclosure seems to have been large enough to allow at least many of the villagers to reside within its walls." This little Palatine settlement was called Roma Quadrata, or ''Square Rome." This little fortress-town we may regard as the nucleus around which grew up the Rome of history. It was intended doubtless to serve as an outpost to protect the northern frontier of Latium against the Etruscans, — the most powerful and aggressive neighbors of the Latin people, — and thus its inhabitants early became inured to military discipline and learned those military virtues which made them preeminent among their neighbors in the art of war even in a warlike age. 29. How Greater Rome was formed. — In the neighbor- hood of the Uttle Palatine settlement were two other canton-communities. One of these seems to have been a settlement established on the Quirinal, a hill close to the Palatine, by the Sabines, a sturdy people of near kin to the Latins. Respecting the exact location of the other community, we know nothing, nor are we informed as to their relationship to the Ramnes, but we may con- jecture that they were of the Latin stock. In times before history there took place between these three cantons something which, so far as our knowledge goes, never occurred in the case of any others of the clan- clusters of Latium. After hostile relations had been long maintained and much hard fighting had taken place between the rival communities, — for in this way we may ^ See chart on page 50. summarize the legend of these prehistoric times,'" — they accommodated their differences, united on equal terms to form a single nation, and learned to call themselves by the same name. The Capitoline hill was chosen for the location of the stronghold of the new and enlarged city. Each of the old cantons constituted a tribe (trilms) or division of the new state. Each tribe was composed of ten curies. There were thus in the new city three tribes, known as the Ka7n?ics.^ the T^ifies^ and the Luceres.,^^ thirty curies, and, if we are to follow the numbers given by tra- dition, three hundred gentes or clans. The cults and other institutions of the uniting communities were com- mingled and gradually modified to meet the needs of the new nation. fhus came into existence the Rome of the kings, with those social features and those political arrangements that we have alreadv described.^ 30. Importance of this Prehistoric Union. — This confed- eration of the three little communities by the Tiber, by whatsoever means effected, was one of the most important matters, not only in the history of Rome, but in the ^^ See pars. 40-44, in which are summarized the accounts which the Romans themselves gave of these matters. ^1 Some modern historians are of the opinion that the tribe bearing the name of Titles was confederated with the Ramnes in the way related in par. 41, and the Luceres in the manner set out in par. 42. Others, however, conceive both the Sabines and the Albans to have been incorporated with the Roman state subsequent to the formation of the threefold community by an original confederation effected in the earliest times, and of which even tradition had lost all remembrance. ^ See chap. ii. In the new enlarged city, the earlier clans and can- tons of course at once or gradually lost their political significance, and sank to the position of mere divisions of the larger aggregate, or lost all connection whatsoever with the political life of the new state, and retained their old organization for social or religious purposes alone. m 44 /^OAfE AS A KINGDOM. history of civilization. It laid the basis of the greatness of Rome, and foreshadowed her marvellous political for- tunes, just as the union of the thirteen English colonies on the Atlantic seaboard, now over one hundred years ago, laid the basis of our greatness as a nation, and deter- mined what should be the political fortunes of the American people. Vox in each case it was not the mere fact of the creation of the wider union that w^as significant, but rather the nature of that union and the mode of its formation. In each instance what should be the principle of national expansion or growth in all after time was established. In the case of early Rome the principle of national expansion adopted was what we may call the principle of incorporation. Now the ancient city was a very exclusive association. On religious and other grounds it closed its gates against strangers. The rights and privileges of the citizens were not shared with aliens. The vanquished were made subjects or tributaries. But Rome at the very outset of her career adopted a more liberal policy than that adopted by any other ancient city-state. And for seven hundred years and more the Romans followed, more or less steadily and consistently, this good precedent set them in prehistoric times, and bestowed the freedom of their city, that is, the rights and privileges of Roman citizenship, upon the peoples they successively conquered, until at last the roll of Roman citizens had increased from a few thousand to several million names.^ The way in which they did this, the reluctance at times with which they granted the boon to the vanquished, — this makes up a very large part of the internal history of Rome, and 2 See the table of the census lists on page 333. ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 45 constitutes also a chief element of its interest and instruc- tiveness.^ 31. The Influence of Geography upon the Early History of Rome. — It was, without doubt, close neighborhoodship that brought about the union of the cantons which called the Rome of history into existence, — that forced upon the city at the very outset of her career that policy of expansion through incorporation under which the city never ceased to grow, or the list of her citizens to increase, until " Rome was the whole world and all the world was Rome." This is the ground of the declaration made by the his- torian Freeman to the effect that "the course of all history has been determined by the geological fact that certain hills by the Tiber were lower and nearer together than the other hills of Latium.'"* The thought in the mind of the historian Ihne is the same when he assigns as a chief cause of Rome's greatness " the proximity of the Seven Hills to each other." ^ 32. Influence of Commerce upon the Growth of Early Rome. — Besides the primary cause given in preceding para- graphs of the remarkable fortunes of Rome, various secondary causes contributed without doubt to the early and rapid growth of the city. Among these a prominent place must be given to the advantages in the way of trade and commerce afforded by the fortunate situation of the city upon the Tiber. Its distance from the sea protected it against the depredations of the pirates who in early times swarmed in the Mediterranean • 3 Consult particularly chap. v. and pars. TJ-, 164, 219, and 233. 4 Chief JPeriods of History, p. 41. ^ Early Rovic^ p. 6. 46 ROME AS A KINGDOM. and swept away the cattle and the CropS frOlll thC fidds Of the coast settlements, while its location on the chief Stream of Central Italy naturally made it the centre of the lucra- tive trade of a wide reach of inland territory bordering upon the Tiber and its tribu- taries. The early founding by the city of the seaport of Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber, and the adoption for its early coinage of the device of a ship's prow, are cited as evidences of the important place that commerce held in the early life of the Romans." Without doubt, it was this commercial element in the (From the use of this symbol on the city's jjj^ ^j ^^ inhabitants of carly money we may assume that commerce held an important place in the life of Rome that helped tO form early Rome.) ^^^ tcmpcr and bcHt of the Roman mind, and that contributed to give the city that place of influence and authority it held among the towns of Latium when first it appears in the light of history. 33. The Legendary Kings. — For nearly two and a half centuries after the legendary founding of Rome (from 753 to 509 B.C.) the government was a monarchy. To span this period, the legends of the Romans tell of the reigns of seven kings, — Romulus, the founder of Rome \ Numa, the lawgiver ; TuUus Hostilius and Ancus Martius, conquerors both \ Tar- 6 " Rome was in fact a commercial city, which was indebted for the commencement of its importance to international commerce." — MoMMSEN, History of Rome ^ vol. i. p. 128. An Ancient Roman Coin IJEARINli THE PROW OF A SHH' ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 47 quinius Priscus, the great builder ; Servius Tullius, the reor- ganizer of the government and second founder of the state ; and Tarquinius Superbus, the haughty tyrant whose oppres- sions led to the abolition by the people of the office of king. The traditions of the doings of these monarchs and of what happened to them blend hopelessly fact and fable. We cannot be quite sure even as to their names. Respect- ing Roman affairs, however, under the last three rulers (the 1 f . A Section of the Servian Wall. (Present condition ) Farqulns), who were of Etruscan origin, some important things are related, the substantial truth of which we may rely upon with a fair degree of certainty ; and these matters we shall notice in the following paragraphs. * 34. Growth of Rome under the Tarqulns. — The Tarquins extended their authority over the whole of Latium. The 48 ROME AS A KINGDOM. position of supremacy thus given Rome was naturally attended by the rapid growth of the city in population and importance. The original walls soon became too strait for the increasing multitudes ; new ramparts were built - tradition says under the direction of the king ServiuS Tullius — which, with a great circuit of seven miles, swept around the entire cluster of seven hills on -^ .^ 'I T'f The Cloaca Maxima. the south bank of the Tiber, whence the name that Rome acquired of "the City of the Seven Hills." A large tract of marshy ground between the Palatine and Capitoline hills was drained by means of the Cloaca Alnxifna^ the "Great Sewer," which was so admirably con- structed that it has been preserved to the present day. It still discharges its waters through a great arch into the Tiber.'' The land thus reclaimed became the Foriun^ the "^ " There is no doubt that the work is simply wonderful. An immense sewer, built twenty-five centuries ago, on unstable ground under enor- ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 49 assembling-place of the people. At one angle of this public square, as we should term it, was the Coviitium^ a large platform, where the assemblies of the patricians were held. Standing upon this platform, so placed that the speaker could command with his voice both the plebeians in the forum and the patricians in the comitium, was the Rostra^^ or desk, from which the Roman orators delivered their addresses. ViKW GV THK CaI'ITOI.INE. (A Reconstruction.) This assembling-place in later times was enlarged and decorated with various monuments and surrounded with splendid buildings and porticoes. It was the centre of mous practical difficulties, which still answers well its purpose, is a work to be classed among the great triumphs of engineering." — Lanciani, Anciefti Rome In the Light of Recent Dtseo7>eries, p. 54. 8 So called because decorated with the beaks {rostra) of war-galleys taken from enemies (see par. 77). so ROME AS A KINGDOM. ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 51 the political, the religious, and the business life of Rome. 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 facing this on the opposite side were the Temple of Vesta Rome under the Kings. 1. •' Square Rome" (Roma Quadrata), the City of Romulus. 2. The Comitium. 3. The Sabine City. 4. The Wall of Servius Tullius. and the palace of the king. Overlooking all from the summit of the Capitoline was the famous sanctuary called the Capitol, or the Capitoline 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 Ha Sacra^ or ^< Sacred Way," which traversed the forum and led up the Capitoline hiU to the temple of Jupiter. This was the street along which passed the triumphal processions of the Roman conquerors. 35, The Reforms of Servius Tullius : the Five Classes and the Four New Tribes. — It was the second king of the Ktruscan house, Servius Tullius by name, to whom tradi- tion attributes a most important change in the constitution of the Roman state.'' He made property instead of birth, or membership in the patrician clans (par. 9), the basis of the constitution. Up to this time service in the army had been the duty and the privilege of the patricians,^ each of the three tribes { par. 11) furnishing to the army one thousand foot sol- diers and one hundred horsemen. But the growing state had come to need a larger military force than the patrician order alone could maintain. Servius Tullius increased the army by requiring all landowners, whether patricians or plebeians, between seventeen and sixty years of age, to assume a place in the ranks. The whole body of persons thus made liable to military service was divided into five classes, according to the amount of land each possessed. The largest landowners were enrolled in the first three classes, and were required 9 The reform itself is an historical fact, but it is possible that it was not effected by the efforts of any particular king. It may have been the result of a long period of slow constitutional development. 52 ROME AS A KIJVGDOM. ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 53 to provide themselves with complete armor ; the smaller pro- prietors, who made up the remaining two classes, were called upon to furnish themselves with only a light equipment. For the purpose of facilitating the levy or conscrip- tion of the army, Servlus Tulllus cllvlded the City and its territory into four districts, which were like our wards and townships.^*' All of the landowners residing in any one of these regions formed a tribe. There were thus created four new tribes, made up of freeholders. These tribes superseded the three original patrician tribes (par. ii). Though they bore the same name, still they were very different in character. Membership in one of the old tribes was determined by birth or relationship, while membership in one of the new tribes was determined by residence in a particular district, although after a person had once been enrolled in a certain tribe he remained a member of that tribe, notwithstanding he changed his dwelling-place.^^ Once a member of a tribe, always a member, was the rule in both cases. The formation of these new tribes was a matter of very great importance for the internal history of Rome. Such a grouping of the patrician and the plebeian landowners tended of course to break down the wall of separation between the two orders and to unite them in a single body. These tribal divisions, too, as we shall learn, because they became voting units in the later legislative assemblies of the people, acquired great political importance. As fresh 10 These regions bore the following names: the Palatine, the Siib- uran, the Esgnilme, and the Collinc. Each district embraced not only a portion of the city proper, but also lands outside the city walls. " This was not the rule at the very first, but it soon came to be the law. territory was acquired by the Romans through conquest, new tribes were created, until there were finally thirty-five, which number was never exceeded. 36. The Army; the Legion. — The unit of the military organization was the century, probably containing at this time, as the name (^centuna) indicates, one hundred men.^ Forty-two centuries were united to form the legion, which thus at this period probably numbered four thousand two hundred men, its normal strength. The tactical forma- tion of the legion was the old Grecian phalanx, which seems to have been borrowed from the Dorian cities of Magna Groecia. This legion-phalanx had probably a front of five hundred men, and a depth of six ranks. The heavy-equipped citizens made up the front, the light -equipped the rear, ranks. Attached to the legion, yet without constituting an organic part of it, was a considerable body of carpenters, musicians, and common workmen, made up of non-freeholders. There were at the period of the Servian reform four legions. Two, composed of the younger men, were for service in the field ; the remaining two, made up of the older citizens, formed a sort of home guard.'- Besides the 1 Later the number of the body was increased so that the term century lost all numerical significance. 2 The first class, known as the juntores^ comprised all persons between Roman Soldier. 54 ROME AS A KINGDOM. four legions there was a cavalry force of eighteen hundred men (eighteen centuries), made up of the richest land- owners. This brought the total strength of the army up to about twenty thousand men. 37. The Comitia Centuriata. — The assembling-place of those liable to military service, thus organized into cen- turies and classes, was on a large plain just outside the city walls, called the Campus Martins, or *' Field of Mars." TKe meeting of these military orders was called the comiini centuriata, or the "assembly of hundreds."^ This body, which of course was made up of patricians and plebeians, came in the course of time to absorb the most of the powers of the earlier patrician assembly (comitia curiata). As the voting in the comitia curiata was by curies (par. 15), so was the voting in the comitia centuriata by centuries. Since out of the total number of one hundred and ninety- three centuries eighty were embraced in the first class and eighteen in the cavalry, this manner of voting threw the preponderance of power in the assembly into the hands of the wealthy citizens. 38. Importance of the Servian Reforms. — The reforms of Servius Tullius were an important step towards the estab- lishment of social and political equality between the two great orders of the state — the patricians and plebeians. The new constitution, indeed, as Mommsen says, assigned to the plebeians duties only, and not rights: but being called to discharge the duties of citizens, it was not long the ages of seventeen and forty-six ; the second class, known as the seniores, embraced the remaining persons liable to military duty. ^This assembly was not organized by Servius Tullius, but it grew out of the military organization he created. ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 55 before they demanded the rights of citizens ; and as the bearers of arms, they were able to enforce their demands. Indeed, so changed was their position in the state by these Servian reforms, that from this time on we shall in refer- ring to them call them citizens, though of course they were as yet only passive citizens, or persons in the way to acquire the rights of full and active citizenship. Viewed from another standpoint, the standpoint of the sociological student, the reforms attributed to Servius Tullius mark simply one step in the transition of Roman society from the clan-stage of organization to the terri- torial. That is to say, they mark the transition from that primitive form of society in which the unit is a group of kinsmen (par. 6) and the political status of the individual is determined by the fact of his membership or lack of membership in such a group, to that form of society in which the individual is the unit, and the possession of a certain amount of property, or more generally residence alone, determines his status and his public rights and duties. This reform movement at Rome was part of a revolution which was participated in by all the peoples of Greece and Italy who had reached the city stage of development. Thus, for instance, at just about the time that tradition represents Servius Tullius as effecting his reform at Rome, Solon, the great Athenian legislator, was instituting a similar reform in the constitution of Athens. There, also, the rule that no one could be a citizen unless he was a member of one of the ancient clans of the city was abro- gated, and the new and more democratic rule, which made the ownership of a certain amount of property and not 56 ROME AS A KINGDOM. birth in some family or clan the ground of participation in the rights and duties of citizenship, was established. 39. The Expulsion of the Kings. — The legends make Tarqulnius Superbus, or ''Tarquln 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 the Roman annalists, 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 they all, it is said, 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 mon- archy, he should be considered a public enemy, and be put to death. * From the situation existing immediately after the establishment of the republic we must, despite what tradition says of the matter, regard the revolution as having been effected by the patricians and in the interest of their own order exclusively. ^ 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 monarchy 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, hut likewise 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." ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 57 LEGENDARY TALES PERTAINING TO THE EARLY HISTORY OF ROME.6 40. ^neas and his Trojan Companions arrive in Italy.— After Troy had been taken by the d reeks, /llneas, 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 /Eneas, the son of Anchises by Venus, made a league of friend- ship with the strangers, and gave his daughter Lavinia in marriage to the Trojan hero, ^neas built a town which lie called Lavlnium, 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 yl^^neas. In the batde that followed, the Rutulians were defeated, but Kin*; Latinus was Killec! ; and thenceforth ^neas was king:, not only of the Trojans, but also of the people over whom Latinus had ruled. To both nations be gave the common name of Latins. /Eneas was followed in the government by his son Ascanius, who, finding Lavinium too strait for its inhabitants, left that town, and built a new city on the Albaii 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 possession of the kingdom by dethron- ing his brother Numitor, putting to death his male offspring, and making his daughter, Rhea Sylvia, a vestal, in order that she should remain unmarried. But Rhea brou^dit forth twins, of whom the g^od 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 retiring flood. Attracted by the cries of the chil- dren, 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 Faustulus found them, and carried them home to his wife, to be reared with his own children. When the boys had grown to be men, they put to death the usurper Amulius, and restored the throne to their grandfather Numitor. Numitor now reigned at Alba; but Romulus and Remus — for so the brothers w^ere named had a strong desire 6 From Livy's History of Rome, i. and ii. In this connection read Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Kotne. As to the credibility of these legends, see par. 301. 'Italian. 58 jeOMJ^ AS A K'/JVCnOM. to build a city on the spot where they had been exposed and res- cued. A shameful contest, however, arose between the brothers as to which of the two should giv^e name to the new city. It was determined that the matter should be decided by augury (par. 24). Romulus chose the Palatine and Remus the Aventine hill, from which to watch for the omens. To Remus first appeared six ?-, The Capitoline Wolf. vultures ; afterwards twelve appeared to Romulus. Hereupon each was proclaimed king by his followers, — Remus, on the ground that the birds had shown themselves to him first ; Romu- lus, on the ground that the greater number had appeared to him. A quarrel ensuing, Remus was killed. Another account, however, says that Remus, when the walls of the new citv had been raised to only a litde height, leaped over them in derision ; whereupon Romulus In anger slew him, at the same time uttering these words: "So perish everyone that shall hereafter leap over my wall/' The city was at length built, and was called Rome, from the name of its founder. 41. 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 surround- ing States, soon became very populous, and more powerful than either Lavinium or Alba Longa. But there were few women among its inhabitants. Romulus therefore sent embassies to the neighboring cities to ask that his people might take wives from among them. But the adjoining nations were averse tO entering ROM£ UATDEJ^ TIIJ^ JsTIJVGS. 59 into marriage alliances with the men of the new city. Thereupon the Roman youth determined to secure by violence what they could not obtain by other means. Romulus appointed a great festival, and invited to the celebration all the surrounding peoples. The Sabines especially came in great numbers with their wives and daughters. In the midst of the games, the Roman youth, at a preconcerted signal, rushed among the spectators, and seized and carried off to their homes the daughters of their guests. This violation of the laws of hospitality led to a war on the part of the mjurea Sabmes 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 remov- ing to one of the Seven Hills. Each people, however, retained its own king ; but upon the death of the Sabine king, Titus Tatius, Romulus ruled over both the Romans and the Sabines. During a thunderstorm Romulus was caught up to the skies, and Numa I'ompilius ruled in his stead. 42. The Combat between the Horatii and the Curiatii. — In process of time a war broke out between Rome and Alba Longa. It might be called a civil war, for the Romans and Albans were alike descendants of the Trojan exiles. The two armies were ready to engage in battle when it was proposed that the contro- versy should be decided by a combat between three Alban brothers named the Curiatii, and three Roman brothers known as the Horatii. The nation whose champions gained the victory was to rule over the Other. On the signal being given, the combat began. Two ol the Romans soon fell lifeless, and the three Curiatii were wounded. The remaining Roman, who was unhurt, was now surrounded by the three Albans. To avoid their united attack, he turned and fled, thinking that they, being wounded, would almost certainly become separated in following him. This did actually happen; and when Horatius, looking back as he fled, saw the Curiatii to be following him at different intervals, he turned himself about and fell upon his pursuers, one after the other, and despatched them. ^ So in accordance with the terms of the treaty which the two cities had made, conditioned on the issue of the fight between the champions, Rome held dominion over Alba Longa. But the league between the Romans and the Albans was soon broken, and then the Romans, demolishing the houses of Alba Longa, carried off all the inhabitants to Rome, and incorporated them with the Roman state.^ ^ For the sequel of this story, see Livy, i. 26. 6o ROME AS A KINGDOM. 43. The Exploit of Horatius Cocles. — After the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome, they besought Porsenna, king of Clu- sium, a powerful city of Etruria, to espouse their cause, and help them to regain the kingly power at Rome. Forsenna lent a favorable ear to their solicitations, and made war upon the Roman state. As his army drew near to Rome, all the people from the surrounding country hastened within the city gates. The bravery of a single man, Horatius Cocles, alone prevented the enemy from effecting an entrance into the city. This man was posted as a guard on the Sublician Bridge, which led across the Tiber from the citadel of the Janiculum. The Janiculum having been taken by the enemy, its defenders were retreating in great dis- order across the bridge, and the victors following closer after. Horatius Cocles cahed 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 bravery he had saved Rome. His grateful countrymen erected a statue to liis honor in the comitlum, and voted him a plot of land as large as he could plough in a single day. 44. The Fortitude of Mucins Scaevola. — 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 deliver the city from the presence of the besiegers by going into the camp of the enemy and killing Porsenna. Through a mistake, however, 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 bv 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 unflinchinglv until it was consumed. Porsenna was so impressed by the fortitude of the youth, that he dismissed him without punishment. From the loss ^^^!^^^ /'^'^^^ ^^^"^' Mucius received the surname of Sccevola, "The Left-handed." The sequel of the story is that Porsenna, having learned from Mucins 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 of peace with the Romans and withdrew his armv from before their city. ^ ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 61 References. — Plutarch, Lives of Romulus and Numa. (Stew- art and Long's translation, 4 vols., is recommended). In the case of these particular lives, the student will of course bear in mind that he is reading Roman folklore ; but it is worth while for the Student of Roman history to know what the Romans of later times themselves believed respecting their early kings. LiVY (Bohn), i. For a word in regard to the way in which Livy's account of the affairs of the eady Romans should be read, see par. 301. MoMMSEN (T.), History of Rome, vol. i. bk. i. chaps, vi. and vii. pp. 123-159. IHNE (W.), **AW/j/ Rome (Epoch Series), chaps, i.-v. pp. 1-91, and chaps, vii.-ix. pp. 104-116; and the same author's History of Rome {y^n^\^\\ edition), vol. i. bk. i. chap. xiii. pp. 108-124, "The Roman People in the Times of the Kings." Macaulay (T.), Z^z/j- of Ancient Rome. Part II. — Romh as a Rhpublic. (509-31 B.C.) chapti:r v. THE EARLY KEPUP.LIC ; PLEBEIANS BECOME CITIZENS WITH FULL RIGHTS. (509-367 B.C.) 45. Republican Magistrates ; the Ccisuls and the Dictator. — With the monarchy overthrown and the last king and his house banished from Rome (par. 39), the people set to work to reorganize the government. In place of the king, there were elected (509 b.c.), by the comitia centuriata, in which assembly the plebeians had a vote, two patrician magistrates, called at fvxsi pmtors, or "leaders," but later, consuls, or "colleagues." These magistrates were chosen for one year, and were invested with all the powers, save some priestly functions,' that had been exercised by the king during the regal period. In public each consul was attended, as the king had been, by twelve lictors, each bearing the "dread fasces" (pan 13). Each consul had the power of obstructing the acts or vetoing the commands of the other. This was called the "right of intercession." This division of authority w^ak- » These were devolved upon a magistrate known as rex sacrorum, or "king of the sacrifices." 63 TUB EARLY R^rUBLIC. ^3 ened the executive, so that in times of great public danger it was necessary to supersede the consuls by the appoint- ment of a special officer bearing the title of Jirh/or, whose Lictors. term of office was limited to six months, but whose power during this time was as unlimited as that of the kin IV 66 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. 47. Tarquinius tries to reenter Rome by Force (508- 496 B.C.). — The conspiracy having miscarried, Tarquinius sought to reinstate himself in Rome by open war. He had various Etruscan allies and helpers, and particularly Lars Forsenna, king of Clusium. It is the annals of this war that the Romans embellished with the stories of Horatius Codes and Mucius ScjEvola (pars. 43 and 44). Taking advantage of the distress of the Romans, the Latin towns, which during the regal period had been forced to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome (par. 34), rose in revolt, with the result that almost all the con- quests that had been made under the kings were lost. The situation grew so serious that the Romans placed their affairs in the hands of a dictator (par. 45), Aulus Postumius by name, the first, according to some of our authorities, of a long line of such commanders, for the mili- tary or the political situation at Rome often became critical. Tradition tells of a great battle fought at Lake Regillus in 496 H.c, in which the Romans gained a decisive victory over both the Ktruscans and the Latins. This victory ended the war and secured the future of Rome. 48. The Right of Appeal secured by the Lex Valeria (509 B.C.). — We have seen that virtually all the authority exer- cised by the king was transferred in undiminished measure to the consuls (par. 45). But the very year of the over- throw of the regal power, the authority of the consuls was restricted in a most important respect. The consul Publius Valerius, moved doubtless by a desire to concil- iate the plebeians, secured the passage of a law concern- ing appeals known as the Valerian law,i which forbade any ^ Lex Valeria de provocatione. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 67 magistrate, save a dictator, to put any Roman citizen to death without the concurrence on appeal of the people in the centuriate assembly. This law, however, did not bind the consuls when they were at the head of the army out- side the city. P>om this time on, the consular lictors, when accompanying the consuls within the city, removed the axe from the fasces (par. 13), as a s^mibol that the power to execute there the death sentence upon any citizen had been taken away. I his right of appeal from the sentence of a magistrate in cases involving life and death was afterwards extended to cases of flogging, and thus it became a very great security to the citizen against unjust and cruel treatment at the hands of arbitrary magistrates. The law securing this right has been well called "the Habeas Corpus Act of the Romans."^ More than five hundred years after the enact- ment of this law Paul the Apostle, having been flogged by his jailer, caused him to fall into great fear by sending him word that he had beaten openly and uncondemned a Roman citizen.^ Valerius carried other laws in the interests of the people. Because of his devotion to the popular cause he was given the surname of Poplicola, or ''the friend of the people." 49. First Secession of the Plebeians (494 rc.).— Troubles without brought troubles within. The poor plebeians, dur- ing this period of disorder and war, fell in debt to the 2 The Habeas Corpus Act was a statute passed by the English Pariiament in the reign of Chades II., and was designed to protect the citizen against illegal imprisonment. 3 Acts, xxii. 25-29. It was also under this same law, as revised later, that Paul, accused before Festus, appealed unto Cajsar : Acts, XV. II. 6S ROME AS A REPUBLIC. wealthy class, 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. Livy draws the following picture of the condition of the poor debtor. One day an old man, pale and ema- ciated, 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 Sabine war, the crops on his little farm had been destroyed by the enemy, his house burnt, and his cattle driven off. To pay his taxes, he had been forced to run in debt ; this debt, growing continually by usury, had consumed first his farm, a paternal inheritance, then the rest of his substance, and at length had laid hold of his own person. He had been thrown into prison and beaten with stripes. He then showed the bystanders the marks of scourging upon his body, and at the same time displayed the scars of the wounds he had received in battle. Thereupon a great tumult arose, and the people, filled with indignation, ran together from all sides into the forum.-* The situation was intolerable. The plebeians resolved to secede from Rome, and build a new city for themselves on a neighboring eminence, known afterwards as the Sacred Mount. Having been called to arms under the pretext that the .4^.quians — a hostile people, dwelling east of Rome, who were constantly making forays into the Roman territory — were threatening the land, they refused to march out against the enemy, but instead marched away in a body from Rome to the spot selected before- U. 27. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 69 hand, and began to make preparations for erecting new homes (494 b.c). 50. The Covenant and the Tribunes. — The patricians saw clearly that such a division would prove ruinous to the state, and that the plebeians must be persuaded to give up their enterprise and come back to Rome. The consul Valerius was sent to treat with the insurgents. The ple- beians were at first obstinate, but at last were persuaded to yield to the entreaties of the embassy to return, being won to this mind, so It Is said, by one of the wise senators, who made use of the well-known fable of the Body and the Members. The following covenant was entered into, and bound by the most solemn oaths and vows before the gods : The debts of the poor plebeians were to be cancelled, and those debtors held in slavery set free ; and two plebeian magis- trates (the number was soon increased to ten), called tribunes, whose duty it should be to watch over the ple- beians, and protect them against the injustice, harshness, and partiality of the patrician magistrates, were to be chosen in an assembly of the plebeians.^ That the tribunes might be the protectors of the ple- beians in something more than name, they were invested with an extraordinary power known as the jus auxilii, "the right of aid"; that is, they were given the right, should any patrician magistrate attempt to deal wrongfully with a plebeian, to annul his act or stop his proceeding.^ 5 This was an assembly voting by curies. It was soon reorganized, and became the historically important concilium trilmtum plehis (par. 58). « A tribune, however, had no authority over a consul when he was at the head of the army away from Rome, but under aU other circum- stances he could for disobedience even arrest and imprison him. 70 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. The persons of the tribunes were made sacrosanct, that is, inviolable, like the persons of heralds or ambassadors of a foreign state. Any one interrupting a tribune in the discharge of his duties, or doing him any violence, was declared an outlaw, whom any one might kill. That the tribunes might be always easily found, they were not allowed to go more than one mile beyond the city walls. Their houses were to be open night and day, that any plebeian unjustly dealt with might flee thither for protec- tion and refuge. The tribunes were attended and aided by servants called (cdiles, who were elected from the plebeian order, and, like the tribunes, invested with a sacrosanct character.' Among their duties was the care of the streets and markets and of the public archives. We cannot overestimate the importance of the change effected in the Roman constitution by the creation of the plebeian tribunate. Under the protection and leadership of their inviolable tribunes, the plebeians carried on a struggle for a share in the offices and dignities of the state that never ceased until the Roman government, as yet republican only in name, became in fact a real democracy, in which patrician and plebeian shared equally in all emoluments and privileo-es. There were, however, germs of mischief in this office, as we shall learn.« It in effect created a State within the •^ It would seem, however, that they did not possess this inviolability until after the passage of the Valerio-Horatian laws (par. 6l) «The tribune's original and simple right of intercession on behalf of oppressed l^ebeians was in time greatly extended, and he clain^ed and exercised the authority to block any administrative or judicial act of the magistrates of the city. Consult par. 151. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 71 slate, for the plebeians, organized as they now were with their own assembly presided over by officers whose inviola- bility had been recognized by a solemn compact, stood over against the patricians almost as one nation stands to another. 51. The Reestablishment of the Latin League (493 B.C.). The year following the creation of the plebeian tribunate marks a most important transaction in the external history of the young republic. We have seen how the Latin can- tons, or towns, improving the opportunity afiforded by the overthrow of the monarchy at Rome, had recovered their lost independence (par. 47). In the year 493 h.c, the Roman consul Spurius Cassius renewed with them the ancient alliance (par. 27), which was a defensive league of the Latin communities against the numerous enemies which surrounded Latium on almost every side. A little later the alliance was joined by the Hernicans, a hill people on the eastern frontier of Latium. The formation of this triple alliance was a matter of great moment to Rome. It brought her good allies at a critical period of her development, and establishing a belt of friendly fortresses all along the southern and eastern borders of her own territory, left only her northern frontier directly exposed to the incursions of an enemy.^ 52. The Public Lands. — As we have already learned (par. 49), there was even at this early period in the history of Rome a large number of persons in the city included in the class of the wretchedly poor. A chief cause of this state of things was the unfair management of the public land {ager publicus). As the contention over this land 9 Consult map opposite page 78. 72 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. was almost constant throughout the period of the republic, we must endeavor here, at the outset of our study, to understand the matter. According to the rules of war in antiquity, the property, the liberty, and even the lives of the vanquished were at the free disposal of the conqueror. But the Romans, actuated probably by considerations of policy rather than by motives of humanity, did not usually exercise all these harsh rights of the victor. They generally left the con- quered peoples not only life and liberty, but also a large part of their lands. The remainder, amounting to a third or more, they confiscated, and added to the public lands of the Roman state. This government land was disposed of in the following ways: (i) A part was granted in small holdings, under what we should term homestead laws, to discharged vet- erans or poor citizens, who went out as soldier-settlers or colonists to the new territory ; (2) another part of the land was offered at public sale, and was purchased by the patricians or the rich plebeians ; (3) still another portion was leased at a fixed rental to be paid in money. Lands allotted or sold became of course private property ; with these, as well as with the regularly, leased lands, the agrarian disputes had little or nothing to do. But these several methods of disposing of the public land left still remaining in the hands of the state large unsurveyed tracts, usuaUy the more remote and wilder portions of the confiscated territories. Now respecting these, custom or the law permitted persons to enter upon and cultivate them, or to turn their flocks and cattle out upon them. In return for such use of the public land the THE EARLY REJ'UBLIC. 73 occupier paid the state usually a fifth or a tenth of the yearly produce. Persons who availed themselves of this privilege were called possessors or occupiers ; ^" we should call them ''squatters," or ''tenants at will." Now what created the earliest agrarian troubles at Rome was this: The patricians claimed for themselves the exclusive right to occupy the unsold or unleased pub- lic lands. Through this monopoly many of them acquired great riches. The plebeians naturally complained because of their exclusion from these common lands, since it was their sacrifices and their blood that had helped to win them. What gave the plebeians further ground for complaint was the notorious fact that the patrician qua^^stors, whose business it was to collect the rents due the state from the occupiers of the public lands, favoring their own order, were very slack in making these collections. Moreover, these occupiers of the common lands were coming to employ slaves instead of freemen, for the reason that the work of the slaves was not liable to be interrupted by their being called upon for military service. What has now been said will enable the reader to under- stand the quarrels between the patricians and the plebeians, the rich and the poor, which from the fifth century for- ward were almost constantly agitating the Roman state. The land question was the eternal question at Rome, and the failure of the Romans to settle it equitably was one cause, as we shall learn, of the downfall of the republic and of the final ruin of the empire. 53. Spurius Cassius and the First Agrarian Law (486 b.c). — Spurius Cassius has been called the first of the '* social 1^ The Latin term for this kind of tenure \S2J& possessio. 74 ROMI^ AS A I^^rUBLIC. reformers " of Rome. He was a patrician, and a man held in great distinction on account of his eminent public serv- ices. He had reestablished the alliance between Rome and the Latin towns (par. 51), and through territories acquired in successful wars had added largely to the com- mon lands of the Roman state. This patrician, with a view to relieving the distress of the poor plebeians, now brought forward as consul the fol- lowing proposals: (i) That the lands recently acquired in war, instead of being sold or leased, be allotted in small holdings to needy Romans and to the Latins ; (2) that the amount of land for such distribution be increased by tak- ing away from the rich patricians those public lands which they were occupying as tenants at will (par. 52). These proposals stirred up a fierce debate. The patri- cians very naturally denounced the proposal touching the common lands they were occupying as downright robbery. They had occupied these lands so long, — in some cases they had probably inherited them, —and had spent so much money in improving them, that they now looked upon them as their own. The rich plebeians whom the patricians had admitted to the enjoyment of their privileges sided with them. Many of the poorer plebeians w^ere also lukewarm in their support of the measures, for the reason that the Latins were to be given a share in the allotted lands. The proposals, notwithstanding the opposition, were finally carried. But the provisions of the law were never carried into effect. The law, however, served as the inspi- ration and the model of later agrarian measures, and for this reason it constitutes a great landmark in the history of the land problem at Rome. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 75 Spurius Cassius suffered the fate of many of the other social reformers who arose after him at Rome. Upon the expiration of his term as consul (par. 45), he was brought to trial by his patrician enemies on the charge of endeavor- ing to make himself king through purchasing with dona- tions of land the favor of the people. He was declared guilty and was put to death. We may regard Spurius Cassius as a martyr to the cause of the Roman poor ; for we are not at liberty to accept the interpretation of his enemies as to what were his real motives in espousing the cause of the plebeians. We may no more impugn the motives of the social reformers of Rome than those of the social reformers of our own day. rhe best of the Romans were quite as capable as ourselves of disinterested and unselfish service, not only for the state, but for the poor and the disinherited class of citizens within its borders. 54. Border Wars and Border Tales. — The chief enemies of Rome and her Latin allies were the Volscians, the .4^:quians, the Sabines, and the Etruscans.^ For more than a hundred years after the founding of the republic, Rome, either alone or in connection with her confederates, was almost constantly fighting one or another or all of these peoples. But these operations cannot be regarded as real wars. They were, on the side of both parties, for the most part, mere plundering forays or cattle-raising expedi- tions into the enemy's territories. We shall probably not get a wrong idea of their real character if we liken them to the early so-called border wars between England and Scotland. Like the Scottish wars, they were embellished 1 For the location of these peoples, see map opposite page 78. 76 ROME AS A KErUBLIC by the Roman story-tellers with the most extravagant and picturesque tales. Three of the best known of these are those of Coriolanus, the Fabii, and Cincinnatus. In the following paragraphs we shall repeat these stories after Livy, but the reader must bear in mind that they are not to be regarded, in their details, as historically true, although there is doubtless a nucleus of fact in each. Nev^ertheless they are historically valuable as casting a strong side light upon the situation of things at Rome dur- ing a troublous period in the history of the young republic, and as further bringing out in strong relief certain admi- rable qualities of the Roman character. 55. The Legend of Coriolanus. — The tale of Coriolanus is connected not only with the Volscian border wars but also with the matter of the establishment of the plebeian tribunate. According to the tradition, during the prevalence of a severe famine at Rome," Gelon, king of Syracuse, sent a large quantity of grain to the capital for distribution among the suffering poor. A certain patrician, Corio- lanus'' by name, made a proposal that none of the grain should be given to the plebeians save on condition that they gave up their tribunes. These officials straightway summoned hnn before the plebeian assembly, on the charge of having broken the solemn covenant of the Sacred Mount (par. 50), and so bitter was the feeling against him that he was obliged to flee from Rome. 2 In the year 492 B.C. 3 This was his surname. His full name was Gains Marcius Corio- lanus. He received his surname, to speak in modern military phrase, for conspicuous bravery in the storming of the Volscian city of Corioli. TUB £AKLY RBrUBLIC. 77 He now allied himself with the Volscians, enemies of Rome, and even led their armies against his native city. An embassy from the senate was sent to him, to sue for peace. But the spirit of Coriolanus was bitter and resent- ful, and he would listen to none of their proposals. Then the priests of the city, clothed in the sacred vestments of their office, appeared as intercessors before him, but their supplications he also rejected. Then came to him at last his mother and his wife w^th her two sons and a band of Roman matrons. Coriolanus, amazed and disturbed, has- tened to embrace his motlier. But she repelled him, and addressed him with words at once of entreaty and com- plaint : " Do you come as my son or as an enemy of Rome to meet me? Does not the sight of your native city remind you that there ir your family altar, and there your mother, your wife, and your children ? Alas, that I were ever a mother ; had I never borne a son, then Rome would not now be held in siege ! " The mother's entreaties, and the tears and prayers of the wife and children finally prevailed. Embracing his mother, Coriolanus exclaimed : " Mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son." He then withdrew his army from the Roman soil. According to one account he soon after this perished at the hands of the Volscians."* 56. The Legend of the Fabii. — This tradition connects itself with the incursions into Roman territory of the Etruscans, who from the first were the most troublesome enemies of Rome. Just at this time^ it was the city of * Livy, ii. 33, 34, 39, and 40 — the last two chapters for the main part of the story ; also Plutarch, Life of Coj-iolanus. ^ The enterprise of the Fabii with which the tradition deals belongs to about the years 477-475 B.C. 78 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. Veil that was fitting out these marauding expeditions, and thereby keeping the Romans in a state of constant uneasi- ness and preventing them from using their full strength against their other enemies. It was under these circum- stances that, according to the tradition, the Fabian gens*^ at Rome made to the senate the following proposal : That they would undertake to carry on the war against the Veientians with their own men and at their ow^n expense, thus leaving the state free to throw its whole remaining streno^th against the Volscians and the other enemies of the city. This patriotic action of the Fabii aroused the greatest enthusiasm throughout the city, and caused the members of the clan to be overwhelmed by their fellow-citizens with expressions of admiration and gratitude. The very next day after this offer had been accepted by the senate, all the men of the Fabian gens able to bear arms, — three hundred and six in number, and every man capable of taking the supreme command of an army, — to2:ether with the three or four thousand 'clients of the gens, marched in proud array, and amidst the prayers of the people for the success of their undertaking, out through one of the city gates, and proceeded to the neighborhood of Veil. On the little stream of the Cremera they built a fort, and by constant forays for two years kept the Veien- tians busily employed in defending their own territory. In all encounters in the open field the Fabii were invariably the victors. At last, however, the Veientians ensnared their enemies. They drove some cattle into a field, some distance from the fort, yet in full view from its 6 This legend is a good commentary on par. 9. li II I 7 8o ROME AS A REPUBLIC. walls. Seeing the cattle, and perceiving no one of the enemy between them and the fort, the Fabii set out on a full run to capture the herd. While they were engaged in rounding up the affrighted cattle, the Veientians, who were lying in ambush, sprang up and, surrounding them, slew them to a man. The only representative of the clan remaining alive was a boy, who on account of his tender years had been left behind in the city. From him the Fabian race sprang up anew, and in later generations fur- nished the Roman state with many counsellors and com- manders, men who worthily sustained the honor and fame that their ancestors had won for the Fabian house/ 57. The Legend of Cincinnatus. — The third and best known tale, that of Cincinnatus," brings before us the .Fquians, who equally with the Volscians, the Sabines, and the Etruscans were disturbers of the peace of Rome and of her allies. In the year 456 r.c. the .t.quians, while one of the con- suls was away fighting the Sabines, defeated the forces of the other, and shut them up in a narrow valley, near Mount Algidus, a spur of the Alban Hilb, whence escape seemed impossible. There was great terror in Rome when news of the situation of the army was brought to the city. The senate immediately appointed Cincinnatus, a grand old patrician, dictator. The commissioners who carried to him the message from the senate found him upon his little farm across the Tiber, at work ploughing. When he learned that his callers bore him some official communica- ' Livy, ii. 48 and 49. 8 As in the case of Corlolanus we have here simply a surname. 1 ii6 full name was Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. The legend belongs to the year 456 B.C. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 81 tion, he called to his wife to bring him his toga, and wip- ing the sweat from his face, he put on the garment, that he might receive in befitting dress the deputies' message. He was then informed of the perilous situation of the army of the consul, and of the action of the senate in naming him dictator. Cincinnatus at once accepted the office and hurried across the river to Rome. Having appointed a master of the horse, he ordered every citizen liable to military duty to repair to the Campus Martins before the setting of the sun, with a five days' supply of provisions, and twelve stakes. All promptly and eagerly responded to the call, and in a few hours the whole array was on the march to the relief of the beleaguered army. By midnight they were in front of the enemy's camp. Raising a great shout to let the imprisoned army of the consul know that relief w^as at hand, the soldiers under Cincinnatus, with the Stakes they had brought with them, began to construct a trench and palisade around the enemy. Meantime the troops of the consul began to attack the enemy from within. During the night the palisade was drawn in a circle about the hostile camp. In the morning the .^>quians, seeing that they were surrounded and escape was impossible, surren- dered. Cincinnatus sent them all beneath the yoke.^ He then led his army back to Rome in triumph, laid down his office, having held it only sixteen days, and sought again the retirement of his farm.^*^ 9 THis was formed of two spears thrust firmly into the ground and crossed a few feet from the earth by a third spear. Prisoners of war were forced to pass beneath this yoke as a symbol of submission. 1'^ Livy, iii. 26-28. m 82 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. 58 Creation of the Plebeian Assembly of Tribes by the Pub- lilian Law (471 B.C.). -Wliile these petty border wars were furnishing the material for these tales of adventure and heroism, the contest between the patricians and plebeians was going on unceasingly in the very heart of the com- munity itself. As a consequence of this struggle, there was called into existence a new legislative body which was destined to exert a great intiuence upon the history of the city. This constitutional change came about in this way. After the creation of the tribunate office (par. 45), the tribunes, as the leaders and patrons of the plebeians, often called them together in meetings of the curies (par. lo), for the purpose of addressing them or of holding elections. In these assemblies the patricians were able to intiuence the proceedings through their clients, who as plebeian members of the curies had a place in the meetings. The tribune Volero Publilius resolved to put an end to this state of things. He brought forward a proposal to the effect that the voting in the plebeian assembly should be by tribes instead of by curies. Now it will be recalled that in the tribes only freeholders had a place (par. 35). The proposed arrangement then of votin"- by tribes instead of by curies would throw out of the assembly most of the freedmen and clients, since not many of these were landowners.' Thus the Influence of the patricians in the meetings of the assembly would be destroyed. The proposal was carried after much opposition on the part of the patricians ; and thus came into existence, as an 1 They were clerks, merchants, etc. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 83 outgrowth of the original plebeian assembly of the curies, the plebeian assembly of the tribes {concilitan tribuium plc- bis), made up exclusively of plebeian freeholders. Mommsen pronounces the law that created this special plebeian assembly " one of the most important in its consequences with which Roman history has to deal."^ At this same time the number of tribes was raised to twenty-one by the addition of a new tribe.' This addition was made probably merely for the purpose of creating an odd number of tribes and thus preventing a deadlock in the voting in the new tribal assembly."* 59. The Decemvirs and the Twelve Tables of Laws (451- 450 I5.C.;. — The next phase of the struggle between the orders constitutes a great landmark in the history of the Roman people. It consisted in the revision and reduction to writing of the customs and laws of the state. Written laws are always a great safeguard against Oppres- sion. iTntil what shall constitute a crime and what shall be its penalty are clearly written down and well known and understood by all, judges may render unfair decisions, or inflict unjust punishment, and yet run little risk — unless they go altogether too far — of being called to an account ; for no one but themselves knows what either the law or the penalty really is. Hence, in all struggles of the inaSSeS 2 History of Rome, vol. i. p. 361. 3 The number had been increased to twenty probably about 495 k.c, but possibly at an earlier date. The sixteen new tribes were formed out of the country districts of the incorporated lands of the city, while the four Servian tribes (par. 35) wera restricted to the city proper and the lands in the immediate neighborhood of the walls. These latter were henceforth known as the city tribes, and the former as the rural tribes. * Mommsen, History 0/ Romcy vol. i. pp. 361, 362. 84 ROME AS A RErUBLIC. against the tyranny of a ruling class, the demand for written laws is one of the first measures taken by the peo- ple for the protection of their persons and property. 1 huS the commons at Athens, early in their struggle with the nobles, demanded and obtained 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 patrician magistrates, in the administration of justice, 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, so tradition says, was sent to the Greek cities of Southern Italy 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 decem- virs, was appointed to frame a code of laws (451 RC). These officers, while engaged in this work, were also to administer the entire government, and so were invested with the supreme power of the state. The patricians gave up their consuls, and the plebeians their tribunes. At the end of the first year, the task of the board was quite far from being finished, so a new decemvirate w^as 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 ^ Draco in 621 B.C. and Solon in 594 n.c. revised and published the laws of Athens, in some such way as the Roman commission codified and made public the laws of Rome. 6 The so-called Terentilian Rogation, proposed by the tribune Gaius Terentilius Harsa, in 461 B.C., marks the beginning of the struggle. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 85 rostra, or orator's platform in the forum, where they might be seen and read by all. Only a very few fragments of these celebrated laws have been preserved, but the substance of a considerable part of the code is known to us through the indirect quotations from it or allusions to it occurring in the works of later writers and jurists. The following quotations will convey some idea of the general character of this primitive legis- lation. The provisions regarding interest and the treatment of debtors are noteworthy. The law provided that interest should not exceed one-twelfth part of the principal per annum'' ( = eight and one-third per cent), and that, after the lapse of a certain number of days of grace, the creditor of a delinquent debtor might either put him in the stocks or in chains (but the weight of the chains must not exceed fifteen pounds), sell him to any stranger resident beyond the Tiber, or put him to death.** In case of there being several creditors the law provided as follows: "After the third market day his [the debtor's] body may be divided. Any one taking more than his just share shall be held guiltless."^ We are informed by later Roman writers that this savage provision of the law was, as a matter of fact, never carried into effect. A special provision touching the power of the father ■^ The quotations that follow are from Ortolan's History of the Roman Law (trans, by Prichard and Nasmith), p. 106 et scq. ^ This part of the law of debt is known to us only through the indirect notices of later \vriters. ^ Here the actual text has been preserved to us, and reads as fol- lows : Tertius nundinis partis secanto: si plus minusve securer iut, ne plusfraude csto. 86 ROME AS A REPUnLTC. over his sons provided that ''during their whole life he shall have the right to imprison, scourge, keep to rustic labor in chains, to sell or to slay, even though they may be in the enjoyment of high state offices."^" If the son sold into slavery were made a freeman by his master, the father could sell him again, but after the third sale and third enfranchisement, the son escaped forever from his father's control." Another of the laws had for its aim to set a check to useless and extravagant expenditures on funerals. This regulation enacts as follows : *' The dead are not to be buried nor burned in more than three fillets of purple ; nor shall the funeral be attended by more than ten flute players." The prevalence of popular superstitions is revealed by one of the laws which provides for the punishment of any one who by enchantments should blight the crops of another. The two following provisions show what minor regula- tions w^ere thought worthy a place in the code, and fur- ther illustrate how nearly in these particular matters the Roman sense of what is permissible and reasonable corre- sponded with our own: "Any one committing a robbery by night may be lawfully killed."'^ " A proprietor may go on to adjoining land to pick up the fruit that has fallen from his tree." These *' Laws of the Twelve Tables " were to Roman 1*^ See par. 6. 11 Mere again the text of the code has come down to us. It runs thus: Si pater filiiim ter venum ditit^ Jilius a fatrc liber csto. '^ Si nox fitrtit/n facfuni sit, si im occisit, jure (usiis esto. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 87 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 schoolboy 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 etface the legal 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 relations of the plebeians to the patricians, notwithstanding the reforms of Servius Tullius, had been rather those of foreigners than of fellow-citizens. 6o. Misrule and Overthrow of the Decemvirs; Second Se- cession of the Plebeians (450 b.c. ). — The first decemvirs used the great power lodged in their hands with justice and prudence ; but the second board, under the leadership of Appius Claudius, instituted a most infamous and tyran- nical 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 author- ity 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 hi*s own hand. Then, drawing the weapon from her breast, he hastened to the army, which was resisting a united invasion of the Sabines and 88 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. iflquians, and, exhibiting the bloody knife, told the story of the outrage/ The soldiers rose as a single man and hurried to the city. The excitement resulted in a great body of the Romans, probably chiefly plebeians, seceding from the state, and marching away to the Sacred Hill. This procedure, which once before had proved so effectual in securing justice to the oppressed (par. 49), 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 li.c). 61. The Valerio-Horatian Laws; ** the Roman Magna Charta ** (449 ^'•^•)' — The consuls chosen were Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius, who secured the passage of certain laws, known as the Valerio-Horatian laws, which are of such constitutional importance that they have been called "the Magna Charta of Rome." Like the great English charter, their purpose was not so much the creation of new safeguards of liberty as the reaffirming and strengthening of the old securities of the rights and privileges of the humbler citizens of Rome. Among the provisions of the laws the following were the most impor- tant: I- That the resolutions (^plehiscita) passed by the plebeian assembly of tribes ^ should in the future have the force of laws and should bind the whole people the same as the ^ Livy, iii. 44-50. This tale is possibly mythical, but it at least gives a vivid, and doubtless truthful, picture of the times. 2 Concilium tributum plebis. See par. 58. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 89 resolutions of the tomii'm cmtnmia. Hitherto these reso- lutions had possessed no force save as expressions of opinion, like the resolutions of a mass meeting among ourselves. 2. That the law of appeal (par. 48) be revived and extended in its operations to all magistrates.*" A chief aim of this provision was to prevent the setting up again of such a tyranny as that of the decemvirs just over- thrown. 3. That the law ^ which made sacred and inviolable the person of the tribunes be reaffirmed and its operation extended to the plebeian a^diles (par. 50), and that he who did injury to any of these plebeian magistrates be accursed and his property dedicated to the service of the gods. 4. That two additional quaestors ^ be chosen who should have charge of the army chest. As the consuls hitherto had had charge of the military finances, this provision effected another important limitation of their prerogatives. 5. That the tribunes be permitted to sit as listeners before the door of the senate house. This was an impor- tant concession, on account of what it led to ; for very soon the tribunes secured the right, first to sit within the senate hall itself, and then to put a stop to any proceeding of the senate by the use of the veto. The mere reading of these laws impresses one with their ^ The authorities are divided as to whether the law applied to the dictator. According to some, the dictator was not obhged to allow appeals from his sentences until a much later time. ^ The so-called lex sacrata. ^ There were already two quaestors, who acted as assistants of the consuls. ii 90 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. great significance for the plebeians. We may summarize their effects by saying that they made the tribunes and the other plebeian magistrates, as well as the plebeian assembly, a recognized part of the constitutional arrange- ments of the Roman commonwealth. I'hey mark a long step taken towards the equalization and union of the two orders within the state. 62. The New Patricio-Plebeian Assembly (Comitia Tributa). In connection with the election of the military qua^^stors mentioned in the fourth of the Valerio-Horatlan laws (par. 61), we have brought to our notice for the first ~time a fourth legislative body made up of the entire people, patricians and plebeians, in which voting took place by tribes (the comitia tributa). Our authorities tell us nothing about its origin ; but from this time (449 B.C.) on it con- stituted one of the most important legislative bodies of the state. It was presided over by consuls and praetors, and its resolutions had the same binding force upon the whole people as those of the other two chief legislatures.*' 63. Marriages between Patricians and Plebeians made Legal (445 B.C.). — Up to this time the plebeians had not been allowed to contract legal marriages with the patricians^ (par. 17). But only three or four years after the passing of the Valerio-Horatian laws, the tribune Gains Canuleius carried in the comitia tributa a resolution known as the Canuleian law, whereby marriages between the plebeians and the patricians were legalized. ^ The comitia centuriata and the concilium tribiitum plebis. Consult pars. 37 and ^8. " The laws of the Twelve Tables (par. 59), confirnning the ancient custom, prohibited marriages between the two orders. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 91 This law established social equality between the two orders. The plebeians were now in a more advantageous position for continuing their struggle for additional civil rights and for perfect political equality with the patricians. 64. Military Tribunes with Consular Power ^ (444 rc). — This same tribune Canuleius also brought forward another proposal, which provided that plebeians might be chosen as consuls. This suggestion led to a violent contention between the two orders. The issue of the matter was a compromise. It was agreed that, in place of the two patrician consuls, the people might elect from either order magistrates that should be known as " military tribunes with consular powers." These officers, whose number varied, differed from consuls more in name than in functions or authority. In fact, the plebeians had gained the consular office, but not the consular name. The patricians were especially unwilling that any ple- beian should bear the title of consul, for the reason that an ex-consul enjoyed certain dignities and honors, such as the right to wear a particular kind of dress and to set up in his house images of his ancestors {jus iiuat^ijium). These honorary distinctions the higher order wished to retain exclusively for themselves. Owing to the great influence of the patricians in the elections, it was not until about 400 B.C. that a plebeian was chosen to the new office. 65. The Censors (444 rc). — No sooner had the plebeians secured the right of admission to the military tribunate with consular powers, than the jealous and exclusive patri- cians began scheming to rob them of the truit of the victory they had gained. They effected this by taking ^ Tribiiui niilitum consulari potestate. 92 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. 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, which were gradually extended as time passed, were many and important. They took the census of the citizens and their property,' and thus assigned to every man his position in the different classes. They could, for immorality or any improper con- duct, degrade a knight from his rank, expel a member from the senate, or deprive any citizen of his vote by striking his name from the roll of the tribes. It was their duty to rebuke ostentation and extravagance in living, and in par- ticular to watch over the morals of the young. Thus we are told of their reproving the Roman youths for wearing tunics with long sleeves, — an oriental and effeminate cus- tom, — and for neglecting to marry upon arriving at a proper age. From the name of these Roman officers comes our word mmrwiis, meaning fault-finding.'" The first censors were elected probably in the year 444 B.C. ; about one hundred years afterwards, in 351 k.c, the plebeians secured the right of holding this office also. 9 The census was taken every five years, and from the circumstance that at the end of the enumeration the whole body of citizens under- went a certain ceremony of purification or lustration, the period of five years came to be called a lustrum. 1'^ The existence at Rome of this censorship and the wide range of authority wnicn the censor exercised over the private life of the citizen show how much less of individual freedom there was among the Romans than among ourselves. This was so because in antiquity a man was regarded as belonging primarily to the state, and not to him- self. For the state he lived, and if need be died. It was this view as to what was the chief end of the citizen that made the assumption by the state of such authority over him appear perfectly reasonable. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 93 66. Siege and Capture of Veil (405-396 i^.c). — We must now turn our attention once more to the fortunes of Rome in war. Almost from the founding of the city, we find its warlike citizens carrying on a fierce contest with their powerful Etruscan neighbors on the north. Fldenrt^i was first taken and destroyed, and then the war gathered around Veii, the largest and richest of the cities of Etruria. According to the tradition, the Romans, like the Greeks at Troy, laid siege to this city for ten years. The Roman writers embelli^ihed their account of this long siege with many wonderful tales. Although the things related in these stories cannot be accepted as literally true, still these tales, like the legends of Coriolanus, the Fabli, and Cincinnatus, which we have already related,'' have an historical value as illustrating the beliefs and habits of thought of the generations that listened to the recital of them as a true account of the doings and expe- riences of their fathers. Livy tells how during the investment the waters in the neighboring Alban Lake sw^elled mysteriously and over- flowed the surrounding country. This great marvel awak- ened the. fears of the Romans, and they sent an embassy to Delphi to learn from the oracle there the meaning of the portent (par. 23). They were told that the gods were offended because of the neglect of their festivals; that these must be more carefully observed in the future, and that the lake must be drained before Veil could be taken. In obedience to the oracle the Romans renewed the neglected festivals, and drained the lake by driving a tunnel 11 See map, p. 79. This was an Etruscan stronghold on the Roman side of the Tiber. '' See pars. 55-57. 94 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. through the side of the mountain in the extinct crater of which it lay. These things being done, the siege was pressed with renewed energy and in a spirit of confident hopefulness. The city was finally taken by means of an engineering device — suggested possibly by the experience Of the Romans in cutting the Alban emissary. A tunnel was dug that, running beneath the city walls, terminated directly under the citadel within. Through this subterra- nean passage the Romans effected an entrance into the city, and the place was taken. That part of the legend which deals with the circum- stances attending the sack of the city, tells how the Romans, acting under the belief of those times that the possession of the statue of a god secured to the possessor the favor and protection of the god himself, carried off to Rome the image of Juno, the chief deity of Veii. It is related that while the victors were preparing, in reverent mood, to remove the statue, one of them asked the e^od- o dess, " Wilt thou go to Rome ? " and that a voice from the statue gave assent. The image was taken to Rome and there placed in a temple erected expressly for it on one of the sev^en hills. Ven was the most opulent city that the Romans had up to this time captured, and the spoils, which were divided among the soldiers, were immense. The dictator Marcus l^UnuS Camillus, to whose genius was due the happy issue of the war, enjoyed a splendid triumph, in which he rode in a chariot drawn by four white horses. 67. Effects of the Long Siege of Veii upon the Roman Mili- tary System ; the Romanlzation of Etmrla. _ The siege of THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 95 Veii forms a sort of landmark in the military history of Rome, for the reason that the circumstances of the invest- ment led to some important innovations in the military system of the Romans. Thus the length of the siege, and the necessity of maintaining a force permanently in the field, winter and summer alike, led to the establishment of a paid standing army ; for hitherto the comnion soldier' had not only equipped hiinself, but had served without pay. Thus was called into existence the professional soldier as distinguished from the citizen-soldier, and thus was laid the foundation of that military power based on martial clientage (par. 7) which, after effecting the conquest of the world, was destined, in the hands of ambitious generals, to overthrow the republic itself. It is this transformation in the Roman army that the historian Merivale has in mind when he makes the declaration that the ** siege of Veii fore- shadowed the fall of the republic."^ The capture of Veii was followed by that of many other Etruscan towns. Rome was enriched by their spoils, and became the centre of a large and lucrative trade. All that was lost by the revolution that overthrew the monarchy 1 The knights were allowed a certain sum from the public treasury for the purchase and the maintenance of a horse. -2 History of Rome, p. 86. About this time a change was made In the formation of the legion. We have seen how at the outset the citizens were grouped in classes and centuries according to their wealth, and were formed in the order of the old Dorian phalanx (par. 36). Prob- ably it was mountain campaigning that had revealed to the Romans the defects of this unwieldy formation. The number of ranks was now reduced to three, and the space between the men increased so as to give each soldier ample room for" the use of his weapons. Moreover, the place of the men in the lines was no longer determined by their wealth, but by length of service and soldierly emciency. 96 JiOM£: AS A J^IZri/BI^IC. (par. 47) had now been regained, and much besides had been won. These conquests resulted in the addition of the southern portion of Etruria to the Roman domain.^ This new territory was divided into four tribes, which increased the whole number to twenty-five (par. 58). By this act of incorporation all the Etruscan freemen living in these regions and possessing the legal property qualifi- cation^ were made citizens of Rome, and were invested with that measure of the rights and privileges of Roman citizenship that up to this time had been secured by the plebeians. Into this rich and inviting region thus opened up to Roman enterprise, Roman immigrants now crowded in great numbers, and soon all this part of Etruria became Roman in manners, customs, and speech. The Romani- zation of Italy was now fairly begun. At this moment there broke upon the city a storm from the north which all but cut short the story we are nar- rating, 68. Sack of Rome by the Gauls (390 b.c.). — We have already mentioned how, in very remote times, tribes from Gaul crossed the Alps and established themselves in Northern Italy (par. 5). While the Romans were con- quering the towns of p:truria, these barbarian hordes were moving southward, and overrunning and devastating the countries of Central Italy. In the year 390 B.C. they laid ^ Trace the gradual growth of the Roman domam k^.^ nofnanus\ by a comparative study of the sketch-maps OR pp. 79 and II8. * It win be recaned that at the outset only landowners were enrolled in the tribes (par. 35) ; this was still the rule. It was not until the year 312 K.c. that all freemen, without regard to whether they were freeholders or not, were given a place in the tribes. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 97 siege to the city of Clusium in Etruria. The inhabitants of the place sent an embassy to Rome to ask aid. The senate sent to the Gauls three ambassadors, chosen from the Fabian gens (par. 56), who informed them that if they did not cease molesting the Clusians, the Romans would intervene. The Gauls, who it is said had never before heard of the Romans, replied that the Clusians must give up to them a part of their lands, and that if they did not do so, they would take what they wanted by force of arms. All things, they declared, belonged to the brave. So the siege went on. In an engagement beneath the walls of the city the Roman ambassadors, forgetting in what capacity they were present in the place, took part in the fray, and one of them, Quintus Fabius by name, killed a Gallic chieftain and stripped him of his arms in sight of the army. The Gauls were furious, and sent ambassadors to Rome to demand that the Fabii be surrendered into their hands for punishment. The senate referred the matter to the people, who, instead of yielding to the demands of the Gauhs, made themselves participators in the guilt of the Fabii by electing them as military tribunes for the following year. When the Gauls learned that the Fabii, instead of having been punished by the Romans, had been rewarded by them for their gross violation of the law of nations, they raised the siege of Clusium and marched upon Rome.^ A Roman army met them on the banks of the Allia, eleven miles from the capital. But an unaccountable panic seized the Romans, and they fled from the field without exchanging blows with the enemy. The greater part of s ijvy, V. 35-37. 98 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. them hastened across the Tiber and sought safety behind the walls of Veil, which were still standing. The Gauls followed the fugitives closely, and slaughtered great num- bers of them at the river bank. The remainder of the Roman army retreated in great disorder to Rome. Reach- ing there, they crowded through the gates, and without stopping to shut them, hurried to the citadel as the only place of refuge. It would be impossible to picture the consternation and despair that seized the Inhabitants of the city as the intel- ligence of the terrible disaster spread among them. It was never forgotten, and the day of the flight of the army from the Allia was ever after a black day in the Roman calendar. Tlie vestal virgins, liastily burying such of the sacred things as they could not carry away, fled with the remainder into Etruria, and found a kind reception at the hands of the people of Ca^re. A large part of the popu- lation of Rome followed them across the river and threw themselves into such places of safety as they could find. No attempt was made to defend any portion of the city save the citadel. When the Gauls entered the city they found everything abandoned to them. The aged senators, so the Romans afterwards proudly related, thinking it unworthy of their office to seek safety in flight, resolved to meet death in a befitting way. Arrayed in their splendid robes of office, each with his ivory-headed wand in his hand, they seated themselves in their chairs of state at the doorways of their palaces on and near the forum, and there sat like statues while the barbarians were carrying on their work of sack and pUlage about them. The rude Gauls, arrested by the T/II£ IlAKLV RErUBEIC. 99 venerable aspect of the white-haired senators, gazed in awe upon them and offered them no violence. But finally one of the barbarians laid his hand upon the beard of the venerable Papirius, to stroke it, probably 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, slew them to a man.'^ The little garrison within the Tapltol, under the com- mand of the hero Marcus 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 citadel, the defenders were awakened by the cackling of some geese, w^hich the piety of the famishing soldiers had spared, because these birds were sacred to Juno. News was now brought the (Liuls that the Venetians were overrunning their possessions in Northern Italy. This led them to open negotiations with the Romans. For one thousand pounds of gold the Gauls agreed to retire from the city. As the story runs, while the gold was being weighed out in the forum, the Romans com- plained that the weights were false, when Brennus, the Gallic leader, threw his sword also into the scales, exclaim- ing, ''Vie victis!'" ''Woe to the vanquished!" Just at this moment, so the tale continues, Camillus, the brave patrician general, who had been appointed dictator, appeared upon the scene with a Roman army that had ^ Livy, V. 41. lOO ROME AS A REPUBLIC. been gathered from the fugitives. As he scattered the barbarians with heavy blows, he exclaimed : '' Rome is ransomed with steel, and not with gold." According to one account, Brennus himself was taken prisoner ; but another tradition says that he escaped, carrying with him not only the ransom, but a vast booty besides. Camillas was hailed as a second Romulus/ 69. The Rebuilding of Rome. — When the fugitives re- turned to Rome after the withdrawal of the Gauls, they found the city a heap of ruins. Some of the poorer classes, shrinking from the labor of rebuilding their old homes, and incited by their tribunes, proposed to abandon the site and make Veii their new capital. Camillus, who still held the dictatorship, resisted the proposal. The gods, he declared, had allowed disaster to befall the city because the Romans had violated the sacred law of nations (par. 68), and had been inattentive to the divine omens. But when the Romans, notwith- standing that their own affairs were in ruins and they themselves were seemingly deserted by the gods, had piously cared for the sacred things of the temples (par. 68), then the righteous wrath of the gods was appeased, and through their gracious aid it was that had come the happy turn in the atfairs of the Romans which had restored to them their city. Camillus then demanded of the people why they had redeemed the city by the sword if they intended to aban- don it. He recalled to their minds that the city had been founded under the auspices of the patron gods with omens that promised to it the headship of the world, and that ^ Livy, V. 38-49. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. lOI there was no spot within its walls that was not conse- crated by the presence of some deity, or by the observance of some sacred rite or festival. He asked them to remem- ber that the ceremonies of their religion could be performed only on the consecrated soil of the city ; that the sacred fires of Vesta could burn nowhere else without profanation ; and that the assemblies of the people could be held only in the places designated by the heavenly auspices. "Shall we become Veientians," he asked, ^^ Instead of Romans ) " The very proposal w^ere impious, he declared. Far better it were for the citizens to live in the most wretched hovels, like their forefathers in the time of Romulus, the founder of the city, than for the Roman state to go into exile. The words and arguments of Camillus would seemingly have proved unavailing to prevent the threatened calamity, had not a timely omen appeared to lend force to what he had said. While the senate was dellherating on the mat- ter, some cohorts of soldiers chanced to march into the forum. As they entered the place, a centurion called out to them to fix their standard where they were, adding in a loud voice, '' It is best that we should stay here." The senators heard the words, accepted at once the omen, and the people approved their resolution. And so the city remained where the auspices of the immortal gods had first fixed it. The people now, with most admirable courage, set themselves to the task of rebuilding their ruined homes. The lines of the old streets having been effaced by the fire, every one was allowed to build his home on any spot he might select, and also to get stone and timber wherever he could find them.'' « Livy, V. 50-55. I02 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. The city was quickly restored, and very soon was enjoy- ing its old position of supremacy among the surround- ing states. There were some things, however, which even Roman resolution and energy could not restore. 1 nese were the ancient records and documents, through whose irreparable loss the early history of Rome is involved in great obscurity and uncertainty. 70. Social Reform again ; Condemnation of Marcus Manlius Capitolinus (384 B.C.). — ^For nearly half a century after the great misfortune of 390 B.C., the most important matters in the history of Rome are connected with the efforts of the distressed plebeians to secure (i) reforms in the law 01 debt and in the management of the public land, and (2) to gain admission to the consulate and other offices from which they were excluded by the jealousy of the patri- cians. First a word in regard to the efforts of Marcus Manlius to aid the plebeian debtors. The ravages of the Gauls had left the poor plebeians in a most pitiable condition. In order to rebuild their dwell- ings and restock their farms, they had been obliged to borrow money of the rich patricians, and consequently had soon come again to experience the insult and oppression that were ever incident to the condition of the debtor class at Rome. The patrician Marcus Manlius, the hero of the brave defence of the Capitol (par. 68), now came forward as the champion of the plebeians. He sold the larger part of his estate, and devoted the proceeds to the relief of the debtor class. It was believed that in thus undertaking: the cause of the commons he had personal aims and ambitions. The patricians determined to crush him. He was finally THE EARLY REPUBLIC. \0X brought to trial in an assembly of the people, on the charge of conspiring to restore the office of king. From the forum, where the people w^ere gathered, the Capitol, which Manlius had so bravely defended against the barbarians, was in full sight. Pointing to the temples he had saved, he appealed to the gods and to the gratitude of the Roman people. The people responded to the appeal in a way altogether natural. They refused to condemn him. But brought to trial a second time, and now in a place whence the citadel could not be seen, he was sentenced to death, and was thrown from the Tarpeian Rock.'* This event occurred j8.^ b.c. We may regard Marcus Manlius as the second of the inartyrs at Rome in the cause of social reform (par. 53). 71. The Licinian Laws (367 h.c. ); the Final ** Equaliza- tion of the Orders.'* — A very great amelioration in the social condition of the plebeians and a long advance towards their political equality with the patricians were effected through the passage of the Licinian laws, so called from one of their proposers, the tribune Gaius Licinius. These laws provided : 1. That interest already paid on debts should be deducted from the principal, and that the remainder should be paid in three annual instalments. 2. That the plebeians should enjoy with the patricians the right to occupy the public lands ; but that no person should hold inore than five hundred jugera ^ (p^^- S^)- ^ The Tarpeian Rock was the name given to the cliff v hich the Capi- toline hill formed on one of its sides. It received its name from Tarpeia, a daughter of one of the legendary keepers of the citadel. Statecriminals were frequently executed by being thrown from this rock. ^ A jugera was about half an acre. I04 kdMn A^ A k'EPUl^LJC. 3. That the office of military tribune with consular power (par. 64) should be abolished, that two consuls should be cho:3en yearly as at first, and that one of these should be a plebeian. 4. That in place of the two keepers of the Sibylline Books (par. 24) there should in the future be ten, and that five of these should be plebeians. The importance of these proposals is obvious with- out comment. For ten years the patricians resisted the demands of the commons. But the plebeians each year reelected the same tribunes, and under their leadership carried on the struggle. Finally, when the patricians saw that it would be impossible longer to resist the popular demand, they had recourse to the old device. They less- ened the powers of the consulship by taking away from the consuls their iudicial functions and devolvins: them upon a new patrician magistrate bearing the name pnctor. The pretext for this was that the plebeians had no knowl- edge of the sacred formulas of the law.- The senate then approved the rogations ^ and they became laws (367 h.c.). The son of a peasant might now rise to the highest office in the state. The equalization of the two orders was now practically effected. The plebeians gained with comparative ease admission to the remaining offices, from which the jealousy of the patricians still excluded them.'* 2 A little later (in 365 h.c), there was created what was known as the curule xcllleship, to distinguish it from the plebeian ajdileship, which had been created earlier (par. 50). ^ Proposed laws, before passed by the people, were so called, from rogare, " to ask." 4 They secured admission to the dictatorship in the person of the TUR EAkL V MPL'L'LJL'. 10? As a symbol and a memorial of the happy ending of the long contention between the two orders in the state, which had lasted now almost a century and a half, Camillas, the year following the passage of the Licinian laws, caused to be erected, near the comitium, a temple dedi- cated to the goddess Concord. f2. The Import of the Admission of the Plebeians to Full Citizenship. The incorporation of the plebeians with the body of Roman citizens ^vith full rights was, like the earlier union of the patrician clans of the little hill cantons (par. 30), a matter of immense import for the future of Rome. The strength of the state was thereby practically doubled, and the city was advanced a long way towards the goal of its destiny, — the making of all the world Roman. The wise and prudent policy of incorporation had, indeed, all along been stubbornly resisted by the priv- ileged order ; yet the patricians in their opposition had never as a body resorted to force. The spirit of concession, of moderation, of reasonableness, on the part of both of the orders, had marked in a inost conspicuous manner the whole of the long contention. The triumph of the plebs irieant of course the end of the old gentile or clan aristocracy, that is, the aristocracy of birth and relationship, which we found in absolute control of the affairs of the state at the dawn of history (par. 16). This privileged body was indeed soon replaced by a new one of wealth, made up both of patricians and plebeian C. Marcius Rutilius in 356 H.C; to the censorship in 351 U.C; to the praetorship in ^^y m.c. The curule asdileship was opened to them almost as soon as established, which was in 365 B.C. See Mommsen, History of Rome., vol. i. bk. ii. chap. iii. p. 385. io6 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. plebeians ; and this new aristocracy, as we shall learn, becoming corrupt, luxurious, and unpatriotic, contributed greatly to the undoing of the republic. But during the m century of foreign wars and conquests now immediately before us, there was such a degree of unity and concord in the body of Roman citizens as to insure the triumph of the arms and the policies of the city, and to give it first the sovereignty of Italy, and then of the whole Mediter- ranean world. References. — Plutarch, Lives of Foplicola, and 67//// j- Marcius Coriolamis. *LiVY, ii. ^t^, 34, 39, and 40, for the story of Coriolanus ; 11. 48 and 49, for the legend of the Fabii ; and Hi. 26-2S, for that of Cincinnatus (from other writers we get some details omitted by Livy) ; ^' 35~49' ^" ^he taking of Rome by the Gauls ; v. 5Q-54, on the debate among the Romans in regard to removing to Veii. The last reference is particularly valuable since the passage here conveys an idea of the feelings of the ancients respecting the sacredness of the city and the relations to it of its patron gods. MoMMSEN (T.), History of Rome, vol. i. bk. ii. chaps, i.-iii. pp. 319-412. Tk.he (A.), ** T/w Develop- ment of the Roman Constitution, pp. 63-76. Ihne (W.), **£ar/y Rome (Kpoch Series). The later chapters of this volume are practi- cally a criticism of the'account which the Roman annalij^t^ give of the affairs of the early republic. Wilson (WoooruVV^, *T/ie StatC^ pp. 04- 104. A suggestive summary. Stkphenson (A.), rnbtic Lands and Agrarian Laws of the Roman Repnblie (Johns Hopkins University Studies) ; for all questions relating to the agcr publicus and the reform proposals of Spurius Cassius and others. THE EARLY REPUBLIC. 107 THE SENATE, THE ASSEMBLIES, AND THE MACIS- TKATKS OK THE KKrUBLIC. THK SENATE. This liofly dates from the time of the kings (par. 14). It comprised three hundred members. These were at first named by the king, then by the consuls. After 444 li.c. the roll of the body was revised by the censors (par. 65). From about the middle of the fourth century B.C. the usual entrance to the senate was through the magistracies of the city ; that is, at this time was conferred on tlie higher magistrates, and at a somewhat later time upon the lower magistrates also, the right, at tlie end of their term of office, to take a seat in the body. During the period of the Punic wars the senate was the chief power in the State. The number of senators was raised by Sulla to six hundred (par. i/^'^). The following succinct account regarding the coinpetence of the senate, and of its relations at different periods to the popular assemblies and to the tribunes, will be found of special interest and value : "The power of the senate seems to have been differ- ent at different times. At first its legislative action was limited to tilt: right, asserted from the most remote times, to grant or refuse its approbation to laws voted by the people. Uuring the republic the supreme power belono^ea to the people ; but they seldom passed acts without the authority of the senate. In weighty affairs it was common for the senate to deliberate and decree, and for the people to interpose their sanction. Btit there were many tilings wliich tlie senate determined by its own authoritv, even during the free republic, if not by express law, at least by the custom of its ancestors. When the popular cause gained ground, the tribunes assumed the right of putting a nega- tive on the decrees of the senate which rendered them of no effect, and on the other hand, acts were passed in the assembly of the tribes, which did not require the concurrence or approba- tion of the senate. Under the empire, when the comitia had disappeared, the senate had, for a time, undoubted authority to make decrees which had the force of law, but subject to the veto of the emperor under his tribunitian power." — Mackenzie, Rofnan LattJ^ pp. 9 and 10. 108 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. THE ASSEMIJLIPIS. The assemblies of tlie Romans were all primary l)odics, that is, they were non-representative in character (par. 15). The meit- ino^s, which were summoned and presided over by certain of the magistrates, were opened with sacrifices and prayer. The voting was always by groups, either by curies, or by centuries, or by tribes. The members of the groups voted sometimes orally, some- times by ballot, and again by count as they filed past a given point. The functions of the assembhes were at the outset electoral, le.iris- hxtive, and judicial. Alany of their judicial duties, however, were gradually devolved upon jury courts. After the third century n.c. all the assemblies became scarcely more than the pliant instru- ments of their presiding magistrates, acting in their own interest, or in the interest of some clique or demagogue. The four ass;^ml)lies under the repubhc were the following : I. Cof/iitia Curiata^ or the Curtate Assefnbly. — This was the most ancient of all the assemblies (par. 15). It was originally a purely patrician body, but later the plebeians gained admission to it. Its meeting-place was commonly the comitium. The voting was by curies. The assembly was in the very earliest times superseded by the Comitia Centuriata (par. 37). During the historical period, it was scarcely more tlian a survival. 2. Coffiitia Centii?-uita, or the Asset/ibly o/ the Centuries. This was at first an asseml)lyof the people organized as an army. It was an outcome of the reforms of Servius TuUius (par. 37). It was made up of both patricians and plebeians, and was presided over by the consuls. The meeting-place of the body was com- monly the Campus Martins. The signial for a meeting was a red flag hoisted on the Janiculum. The voting was by centuries. The assembly constituted a court of appeal in cases involving sentences of death, fiogging, and banishment. The body was reorganized between the First and the Second Punic War in such a way as to take the power out of the hands of the wealthy Classes, where it was at first lodged. 3. Concilhun Tributiitn Plebis, or the J^tebe/an Assembly of Tnhes. — This was an assemblv of the plebs, votinij bv tribes. Its meeting-place was generally ia th^ great forum. It was called together^ and presided over by the plebeian tribunes and ecdiles. \\y the Valerio-Horatian laws (par. 61 ) it was ^iven power, without the concurrences of the senate (?), to make laws that should bind the whole people. It became in time the chief law-making body in the state. 4. Comitia Tributa, or the Patricio-Phbcian Assembly of WE EARLY REPUBLIC. 100 Tribes. — This was a body made up of both patricians and ple- beians. The vote was taken by tribes. It first appears in 449 15. c. (par. 62). It was presided over by consuls and prietors. Its usual meetin<^-place was the forum. THE MAGISTRATES. T/w Consuls. — These were the two ordinary supreme execu- tive magistrates of the republic. They were invested with their authority for one year only. The first consuls were elected 509 H.c. (par. 45). They possessed at the outset practically all the powers that had been wielded by the kings. Each consul could block the action of his colleague. Tlie consulship was opened to the plebeians by the Licinian laws, 367 B.C. (par. 71). The age of eligibility to the consulship was forty. The at first extensive powers of the consuls were gradually broken up and a large part of them distributed among or absorbed by the various magistrates named below. The Dictator. — The dictator was an officer appointed usually to meet ijn emergency in the affairs of the state (p^r. 43). lie was chosen for a period of six months and was invested with practically irresponsible and unlimited power. His assistant was called A/aa^i'stcr Eiptituni., " Master of the Horse." The plebeians gained admission to the dictatorship in 356 w.c. (par. 7r, n. 4). Aft.T the Second Punic War tlie office fell into disus?, until it was revived in the last century of the republic (par. 188, n. C). yy/6' I^lebeian Tribunes. — - The first tribunes of the people were elected in 494 i;.c. as an outcome of the first plebeian secession (par. 50). Therj were only two orii^inally, then five, and finally ten (after 457 r>.c.). They were inviolable, like ambassadors. They called together and presided over the plebeian assembly of the tribes. Their orijjinal duty was to protect the plebeians from arbitrary treatment at the hands of patrician maj^istrates, but they gradually enhanced their authority and prerogatives until by the second century B.C. they had become the most powerful magis- trates of the city (par. i 78). The Prcetors. — The pra^-torship was created by the Licinian laws, 367 B.C. (par. 71). At first there was but one prxtor, but before the end of the republican period the number had been raised to sixteen. These officers were charged witli the adminis- tration of the civil law. Under the later republic the ex-pnetors were sent out, under the name of proprietors, as governors of the provinces. no ROME AS A REPUBLIC. The /Ediles. — There were two acdiles chosen from tlie plebs, and two known as curule aediles, chosen from the upper order. The plebeian aedileship was created at the time of the establish- ment of the plebeian tribunate, 496 B.C. '(pai"- 5^)- The curule aedileship was created in 365 B.C. (par. 71, n. 2). Amonir the duties of these officers were the superintendence of the public games, the charge of the public archives, and the care of the streets and markets of the city. The QucEstors. — Originally there were only two quaestors (par. 61, n. 5), but before the end of the repubhc the number had been increased to forty. Their chief duties were of a financial nature. They acted as treasurers of the state and as assistants and paymasters of generals and superior macjistrates. The Censors. — The number of these officers was two. The first censors were elected about 444 B.C. (par. Gz,^. One of the duties of these magistrates was to take the census of the citizens and their property. They were also the guardians of the public morals. They further acted as overseers of the work on the mili- tary roads, the aqueducts, and the public buildings, seeing to it that all contracts were faithfully performed. The consuls, the praetors, the patrician aediles, and the censors were rwi:izi^.jnagistrates, that is, magistrates entitled to use an officiaTstool called the curule chair. A curule office conferred nobility upon the holder of it and all his descendants. For some- thing respecting the fortune of all these assemblies and magis- tracies under the empire, see pars. 208, 217, and 239. CHAPTER YI. THE CONQUEST OF ITAFV. (367-264 B.C.) 73. The Creation of a New Class of Citizens ; Caeritan Rights (353 i^-c). — It will be fitting if we begin the present chapter, in which we shall, amidst the recitals of wars ot conquest, have much to say respecting the matter of Roman citizenship, with a notice of the creation by the city of a new class of citizens. We have seen how, after the taking of Veii, the Romans incorporated with the territory of their state a great part of Southern Etruria (par. 67). The Romanlzation of these lands, and the threatening advance of the Roman power in these regions, caused an uprising of the Etruscan cities of Tarquinii, Ca^re, and F'alerii. The movement was suppressed. The Tarqulnlans, who during the war had sacrificed to their gods over three hun- dred Roman prisoners, were harshly dealt with, several hundred of their most distinguished citizens being taken to Rome and first flogged and then beheaded in the forum (351 B.C.). But the Ca^ritans, because they, at the time Rome was destroyed by the Gauls, had given an asylum to the vestal virgins and the sacred things of the Roman gods (par. 68), were shown more consideration. Their political independence was, indeed, taken aw^ay from them, but they were left in control of their own local affairs, and III I 12 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. were given all the private rights of Roman citizens {civiias sine suffragio). This was probably the first instance in which Rome had conferred these rights upon the inhabitants of a conquered city. The special instalment of rights here bestowed came to be known as the Qcritan franchise, and was after- wards granted to other communities. Cities thus deprived Of sovereignty and incorporated as self-governing town.^ with the Roman state were called municipia.'' The gov- ernment of such towns was modeled as nearly as possible on that of the capital city Rome. 74. The Beginning of the Roman Municipal System. — J]ut the Roman statesmen in determining the relations Of Crere to Rome had done something more than to create a new chiss or grade of Roman citizens. They had consciously or unconsciously created a new system of government. For Rome had never before, save perhaps in one instance " 5 The Roman writers used this term with little precision, and modern historians have given it widely different applications. In order to avoid confusion, we shall apply the term exclusively to dtles or com- munities actually incorporated with the Roman state, yet enjoying at least some measure of local self-government. Whenever we use the term in a sense different from this, we shall state carefully with just what significance we are employing it. Thus we shall speak of tlie Eoman colonies (par. 84) as muuicipia ; but we Shall not apply the name either to Z,a/'/,i colonies (par. 84) or to prefectures (par. i6j, n. .S), tor the reason that an essential element of the municipal system was lacking in each instance. Thus in the case of the Latin colony the community did not form a part of the Roman state proper, hut ^vas simply an allied community; and in the case of the prefecture, the essential feature of local self-government was wanting. Some writers, however, classify prefectures as vimiidpia of the second gmcL-. « Some authorities maintain that Tusculum, which was suhjected in some way to Rome in 381 h.c, was the most ancient of Roman muni- THE CONQUEST OE ITALY 113 dealt with a conquered city in the way that she dealt with Caere. When Alba Longa was taken, in the times of the kings, the city, according to the tradition, was destroyed, and its inhabitants transported in a body to Rome and incorporated with the Roman people (par. 42). When Veii was taken, in the year 396 u.c. (par. 66), the greater part of the inhabitants were killed or sold as slaves, and the vanquished community was thus wholly broken up and, as it were, wiped out of existence. Now Rome admittedly could not attain to greatness by- following either of these two policies. But in dealing with Caere, she happily hit upon a new governmental device which enabled her to incorporate in her growing dominions one conquered city after another until she had absorbed the whole world. This device was what is known as the municipal system, for the reason that, as we have seen (par. 73), the Romans gave to a city having the status of Caere the name 7?iiinicipiiim. We shall best secure a good understanding of the essen- tial feature of this municipal system, if we glance at the system as it exists among ourselves to-day ; for our so-called municipal system, in its underlying principle, is an inher- itance from Rome. A municipality or municipal town in our system of government Is a city which, acting under a charter granted by the state In whose territory it Is situated and of which it forms a part, elects its own magistrates, and manages, with more or less supervision on the part of the state, its own local affairs. The essential principle Involved In the cipia. The question of precedence here raised has, however, only an antiquarian interest. 114 ROMB AS A RBPUBL/C. arrangement is local self-government, carried on under the paramount authority of the state. The city, without its local political life having been stifled, has been made a constituent part of a larger political organism. It is only when the cities in a state sustain this relation to the superior government that we have what may properly be called the municipal system. Now, as we have said, when Rome incorporated Crtre into her territory and made the inhabitants of the place Roman citizens — although citizens possessing as yet only a part of the rights of the city — she laid the corner stone of this municipal system which rendered possible her own greatness, and which, transmitted by her to Liter times as a principle of government, was to form the very basis of the structure of the modern free state. We must not think that the problem here solved by Rome was one easy of solution, and that consequently no great measure of credit need be given the Romans for having solved it. Fhe difficulties met and overcome by them in working out this system were very much like those met and overcome by our statesmen of a century and more ago, when they devised the federal system, and determined what should be the relations of the States of our union to the general government at Washington. Indeed, this whole federal system is nothing more than the application to states of the principles of government that Rome applied to cities. The federal system existed in germ in the municipal system of Rome. How this form of government fostered among the Italians, at one and the same time, local patriotism and national patriotism, love for one's native city and interest THE CONQUEST OF ITALY. 115 and pride in the affairs of the greater commonwealth of which that city was only a part, is well illtistrated by these memorable words once used by Cicero : " Every burgher of a corporate town," he says, ^as, I take it, two fatherlands, that of which he is a native, and that of which he is a citizen. I will never deny allegiance to my native town, only I will never forget that Rome is my greater Fatherland, and that Arpinum^ is but a portion of Rome." ^ What we have now said will convey some idea of the important place which the mu nicipal systern of Rome holds in the development of free self-government among men. This was Rome's great, and almost Jier only, contribution to political history, and after her law system her best gift to civilization (par. 310). 75. The Fall of the Etruscan Power. — The suppression of the Etruscan uprising, and the incorporation of the city of Caere wdth the Roman state, marks a turning point in the fortunes of the Etruscan race. In the words of the historian Mommsen, "Their season of power and aspira- tion had passed away." We shall find them in arms against Rome again and again after this, but their attacks were no longer formidable. Their power had been broken, not alone by the blows they had received from the Romans, but also by the attacks of the Gauls from the North, and of the Greek cities of the South by the way of the sea. Furthermore, great inequality in wealth had arisen among them, and luxury had crept into their cities, as later it entered Rome, and society had become effeminate and " Cicero's birthplace. 8 r>e Legibus, ii. 2, 5 ; as quoted by Strachan-Davidson, Cicero^ p. 6. Ii6 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. What elements there were remaining: in the race corrupt. of vitality and strength were gradually absorbed by Rome, and the Etruscan people and the Etruscan civilization as distinct factors in history disappeared from the world. 76. The First Sam- nite War (343-341 B.C.). — The power of ^S^':M the Etruscans having been broken, the most formidable competitors of the Romans for suprem- acy in Italy were the Samnites, rough and warlike mountaineers who held the Apen- nines to the south- east of Latium. They were worthy rivals of the "Children of Mars." The succes- sive struggles between these martial races are known as the First, Second, and Third Samnite wars. They extended over a period of half a century, and in their course involved almost all the states of Italy. The beginning of the struggle was brought about in this way. The Samnites were troubling the people of Cam- pania. The Campanians applied to Rome for help against Samnite Warrior. (From a vase.) THE CONQUEST OF ITALY 11/ the mountain raiders. The appeal was favorably received by the Romans, and thus the great duel began. Of the first of this series of Samnite wars we know very little, although Livy wrote a long, but palpably unreliable, account of it. 77. The Revolt of the Latin Cities (340-338 rc). — In the midst of the Samnite struggle, Rome was confronted by a dangerous revolt of her Latin allies (par. 51). Leav- ing the war unfinished, she turned her forces against the insurgents. The strife between the Romans and their Latin allies was simply, in principle, the old contest within the walls of the capital betwee n the, patricians and th e plebeians trans- ferred to a larger arena. As the patricians, before" the equalization of the orders, had claimed for themselves alone the right to manage the affairs of the state, so now did the united orders claim for Rome alone the riirht to manage the affairs of all Latium. The Latins were obliged to obey the commands of Rome, and to follow her lead in war. But they were now growing very dissatisfied with their position in the unequal alliance, and resolved that Rome should give up the sovereignty she was practically exercising. Accordingly they sent an embassy to Rome, demanding that the association should be made one of perfect equality. Vo this end the ambassadors proposed \ that in the future one of the consuls should be a Latin, and that one-half of the senate should be chosen from the Latin nation. Rome was to be the common fatherland, and all were to bear the Roman name.^ These demands of the ambassadors were listened to ^ Livy, viii. 5. L.L.Poate9. Kugr.,N.T. THE AGER ROMANUS AFTER THE LATIX WAR B.C. 338 5 SCALE OF MILES 20 ^ The Ager RoiiiHiius The dates annexnl to towns are thuse of theii annezatloe ?iy^ Latin Colonies The datos arc those of their fuundation THE CONQUEST OF ITALY. 119 by the Roman senators with amazement and indio-nation. One of the consuls, Titus Manlius by name, voiced their anger in declaring that, should Latins by any chance gain admission to the senate house, he would enter there with his sword and put them all to death with his own hand. Then turning, and addressing the statue of Jupiter, he exclaimed : <' O Jupiter, canst thou endure to behold in thy own sacred temple, strangers as consuls and as senators ? " The demands of the Latin allies were refused, and war followed, a war in which the Romans were fighting their former comrades of the camp and the held. The Cam- panians lent aid to the Latins, while the Samnites helped the Romans against the common enemy. The following tale of the war given us by Livy is of value as exhibiting the quality of sternness in the Roman character. In one of the early campaigns of the war the consul Titus Manlius had given strict orders that no one should engage in single combat with any of the enemy. The consul's own son Titus, impelled by the ardor of youth, disobeyed his father's command, and accepted a challenge from one of the foe. He slew his antagonist and brought the spoils stripped from the body to his father's tent. The father turned from his son in an^er, and ordered the lictors to lay hold of him, to bind him to the stake, and to strike his head from his body. This was done, the consul standing by and looking on. Through such sacrifice of parental feeling did Titus Manlius maintain military discipline, teach a needed lesson in obedience, and cause his orders, as Livy says, *' to be transmitted as a model of austerity to all after times." ^^ ^•^ Livy, vii. 7. Compare par. 46. I20 ROME AS A Jy^EPUBEJC. There is also preserved to us from this war the following legend of the consul Fublius Decius Mus. A dream hav- ing revealed to him and his colleague that victory would rest with the army whose leader should otfer himself as a victim to the gods of the underworld, they agreed that the one whose soldiers hrst showed signs of wavering in the light should devote himself for the army and the Roman people (par. 20). The troops of Decius Mus were the first to yield ground to the enemy. Thereupon, Decius, repeating the formula used on such occasions, flung himself into the midst of the enemy, and fell pierced with darts. The Romans, now cer- tain of victory, renewed the battle with fresh ardor and courage, and soon put the enemy to flight. After about three years' hard fighting, the rebellion was subdued. The Latin League a;3 a political body was no .V dissolved, the organization being retained merely for religious pur- poses. Four of the towns, Tibar, Prcxneste, Cora, and Laurentum,!^ retained their independence ; the others with their territories were made a part of the Roman domain,'" and beca me m.u;ijc//>i a of different grades (par. 73, n. 5). The inhabitants'^^Sr-som^ of these municipalities WCrC admitted at once to full Roman citizenship, while those of others were given only a part of the rights and privileges of citizens, the political rights of voting and holding office being withheld. 11 The student should not fail to locate these places on the man opposite page 119. ^-^ Compare the maps on pages 79 and iiS, anJ note carefully how the a^^er Romanus was extended at this time. 71/Zi C'OA'Qiy/:S7^ O/'^ I7AI.Y. I 2 I To prevent any further combination among the cities against Rome, intermarriage and trade ^'^ between them were forbidden. Each city was forced to conclude a sepa- rate treaty with Rome. In this way each community was completely isolated_^^i all the others and cooperation among them effectually^evented. Part of the lands which were actually Incorporated with the Roman domain were added to tribes already existing; out of the remainder two new tribes were formed, which brought the whole number up to twenty-nine'^ (332 b.c). One noted trophy of the war set up at Rome was the beaks {rostra) of the ships of the Volscian city of Antium, which were attached to the orator's platform in the great forum, and hence the name Rostra, by which this stand was ever afterwards known (par. ^4). 78. The Second Samnite War (326-304 rc.) ; the Humili- ation of the Romans at the Caudine Forks.— In a few years after the close of the Latin contest, the Romans were at war again with their old rivals, the Samnites. The most memorable event of this struggle was the cipture and humiliation of the Roman army at the celebrated Caudine Forks. The circumstances were these. It was the year 331 rc. S. Postumius and T. Veturius were consuls. Word was brought to them that the Samnites were besieo-ino- the Apulian city of Luceria, which was under the protection of Rome. Now there were two routes leading to the belea- ^^ Conimercium and connubiiivi (par. i6). " Two new tribes had been formed in 358 }{.c. from lands in the Pomptine region. This increased the number from twenty-five, where it stood after the reconstruction of Southern Etruria (pr\r. d-j), to twenty- seven. 122 ROME AS A REPUBLIC, guered place, one long but safe, the other short but dan- gerous. The consuls, in their anxiety to carry help to their allies before it should be too late, unwisely chose the shorter route. At a point called the Caudine Forks, this road led the Roman forces through a narrow mountain- walled valley, entrance to which was gained by a deep cleft in the rocks and exit by a similar difficult ravine. The consuls carelessly led their troops into this pent-up valley, only to discover when it was too late that they were in a trap, with the enemy, who had planned an ambush here, hemming them in. To attempt to extricate them- selves would have been Idle, and consequently the Romans were forced to capitulate. The leader of the Samnites, Gavius Pontius, is said to have sent messengers to his aged father for advice as to what he should do with his prisoners. The father is reported to have counselled his son either to let them all go back to Rome uninjured, and thereby make the Romans eternal friends of the Samnites, or to slay every man of them, and thus render the Romans for a long time at least incapable of doing harm to anybody. Pontius adopted a middle course. He forced the consuls to agree to a treaty of peace the terms of which were that the Romans should give up all the territory they had taken from the Samnites, and withdraw their colonies from the same. This treaty was secured by the oaths of the consuls and of all the chief officers of the Roman army, and further by six hundred Roman knights given as hostages. The terms of the treaty having been arranged, the Romans were deprived of their arms, and then all were sent beneath the yoke (par. 57, n. 9), which was the deepest THE CONQUEST OF ITALY. 123 humiliation that could be inflicted upon a vanquished enemy. The disgraced consuls and legions made their way back to Rome. To escape the observation of the citizens, they slipped into the city after nightfall, and con- cealed themselves in their homes for days before venturing to show their faces upon the streets or in the forum.^ The consuls had exceeded their powers in concluding such a treaty as they had agreed to. The senate refused to confirm it, and thought to meet all the requirements of honor by sending back to the Samnites the consuls who had made it. Pontius, however, refused to receive these men, and insisted that the Romans, if they had any regard for honor or any fear of the oath-witnessing gods, should either ratify what their consuls had done, or put back the released army in the Caudine valley in exactly the same position it occupied before the treaty was made. This the senate refused to do. From the day of this memorable transaction at the Caudine Forks it has been a matter of debate whether Or not in this affair the Roman senate did all that fairness and honor demanded. The war went on. Soon the tide of fortune turned in favor of the Romans. The consul Lucius Papirius Cursor retook the city of Luceria, which earlier in the war had been captured by the Samnites, and recovered all the spoils taken by the enemy at Caudium, together with the hostages given by the Romans at that time. In requital for the humiliation which the Samnites had inflicted upon the Romans, Papirius sent all his prisoners, seven thousand in number, under the yoke (319 b.c). ^ Livy, ix. 7. 12. ROME AS A REPUBLIC, Later in the struggle the Etruscans appeared In the field as allies of the Samnites, who now had ranged on their side many of the other Italian peoples. But the Etruscans suffered a decisive defeat - at the hands of the able Roman general I'abius Maximus Rullianus, which forced them to withdraw from the war ; and a few years later (in 305 b.c.) View on the Appian Way. (The construction of this " Queen of Roman Roads " was bejun in the year 312 b.c. by the censor Appius Claudius.) the Romans captured Bovianum, the capital city of the Samnites, and thus brought the war to an end. The Samnites gave up all the conquests they had made and the old treaty relations with Rome were reestablished. The war had lasted twenty-two years. During its course Rome had added extensive territories to her domain, and - At the battle of Vadimonian Lake (310 i;.c.). THE CQNilUL^T Ob' ITALY, 125 had made her hold of these secure by means of colonies, ^^lil^^^^^-^^^^Ljiiiiii^^^ it was at this tiil^Thiu Rome began the constructi^T^Ttliose remarkable high- ways that formed one of the most impressive features of her later empire (par. 292). The hrst of these roads was begun in the year 312 b.c. under the direction of the censor Appius Claudius, and called after him the Via Appia, It ran from Rome to Capua, and thus brought all Campania close to the capital. 79. Alexander the Great and the Roman Generals Compared. — It was in the midst of this second Samnlte war that Alexander the Great, after having conquered a great part of Asia, died at Babylon (323 p..c.). The mutual isolation, at this comparatively late period in the history of antiquity, of the nations of the East and of the West is revealed by the doubt expressed by Livy as to a rumor of the fame of Alexander having ever reached the ears of the Romans 'of this time. Rut the contemporaneousness of the events of the Samnite war and the conquests of Alexander, leads LlVy to reflect whether, had Alexander lived longer and attempted to carry out the design which he is said "to have formed of adding Europe to his vast empire, he would have been likely to succeed in the undertaking. The historian arrives at the patriotic conclusion that Alexander would have found his equal in any one of the great Roman commanders of this time, as, for instance, Titus Manlius, or Lucius Papirius Cursor, or Eabius Maximus Rullianus; and had he delayed the enterprise until he was an old man, it Would have been the same. He would have found out that a Roman consul was not a Darius. Besides, in Italy Alexander would have had 126 romj: as a republic. men to fight ; in Asia he had been fighting women. And in addition to the commanders and the soldiers, there was the Roman military system, a system that had been worked out and improved by the Romans during five cen- turies of constant experience in war. In the matter of discipline, in the handling of troops, in the forming of the battle line, in the construction of entrenched camps, the Roman generals were unsurpassed masters of their art. Furthermore, Carthage and Rome would have joined forces against the Macedonians as against a common enemy. And so, had Alexander come, the issue could not have been doubtful, — especially since the invaders would have had but one Alexander while the Romans had many, so that if the accidents of war had carried off one, that would have had no material effect upon the final outcome of the contest. Alexander owed his fame to having died young, before fickle fortune had had time to ruin his prosperous affairs — as they would have been ruined in Italy.^ 80. Two New Tribes Created (299 B.C.). —Shortly after the close of the Second Samnite War (in 299 lu'.), the .^quians having again become troublesome, Rome took away from them some of their territory, and made it a part of the Roman domain. The inhabitants settled in the districts were formed into two new tribes and thus admitted to the Roman franchise.* 81. The Third Samnite War (298-290 B.C.). — Although the Samnites were so thoroughly defeated in their second ^ Livy, ix. 17-19. ' The number of tribes was now thirty-three. Two tribes had been formed about 330 B.C. out of Volscian territory, which brought the number up to thirty-one. THE CON-QUEST OF ITALY. 127 contest with Rome, still it was only four years before they were again in arms and engaged in their third struggle with her for supremacy in Italy. This tim^ they succeeded in forming against their old enemy a powerful coalltJon which embraced the Etruscans, the Umbrlans, the Gauls, and other nations. It was easy for them to accomplish this, for the rapid advance of the powder of Rome had caused all the peoples of the peninsula fully to realize that unless her encroachments were speedily checked their independence would be lost forever. The danger that threatened Rome from the league against her was great ; but Roman courage rose In propor- tion to the threatening peril. Two consular armies met the combined forces of the Samnites and their allies at Sentinum in Etruria (295 b.c). In the midst of the fight, the consul Decius Mus, seeing his soldiers yielding ground to the enemy, resolved to follow the example of his father in the Latin war (par. 77) and offer himself as an expia- tory sacrifice for the Roman army and the Roman people. Accordingly, having devoted himself and the army of the enemy with solemn imprecations to the infernal gods, he plunged into the hostile ranks and there found death. His soldiers, seeing what he had done, turned again with more than human courage upon the enemy, and soon the victory rested with them.^ This battle broke the power of the coalition against Rome. One after another the states and tribes that had joined the alliance were chastised, and the Samnitcs Were forced to give up the struggle. Rome left them their independence, ''but stripped them of all their conquests. The brave Samnite ^ Livy, X. 28, 29. If 4 128 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. general, Gavius Pontius, who sent the Roman army beneath the yoke at the Caudine Forks (par. 78), after having been led in tlie triumphal procession of the consul Fabius Maximus Gurges, was ungenerously cast into the dungeon beneath the Capitoline hill and there beheaded. 82. The War with Tarentum and Pyrrhus (282—272 B.C.). — The period of eight years which followed the end of Rome's struggle with the Samnites and the beginning of her memorable war with Tarentum and Pyrrhus, was filled by the Romans in petty wars with the Ftruscans, the Gauls, the Lucanians, and various Greek cities of Mas-na Graicia ; and in the founding of colonies, the building of fortresses, and the extension of her military roads.*' Before the end of this period, almost all the Greek cities of Southern Italy, save Tarentum, had fallen under the growing jzower of the imperil! city. Tarentum wis one of the most no ed of the cities of Magna Grx-cia. It was a seaport on the Calabrian coast, and had grown opulent through the extended trade of its merchants. Its inhabitants were luxurious in their habits, Idle and frivolous, entering into and breaking engagements with careless levity. They spent the most of their time in feasting and drinking, in lounging in the baths, in attending the theatre, and in idle talk on the streets. Between Tarentum and Rome there existed a treaty, 6 The chief matter of constitutional importance during this period was the passage of the Hortensian law, probably in 286 b.c. This law was the outcome of a secession of the plebeians, the third (?) and last, to the Janiculum hill. Its most important provision, namely, that which made the decrees of the plebeian assembly binding on all the citizens, appears to have been simply a reenactment of a similar provi- sion of the eadier Valerio-TIoratian laws. Compare par. 61. I THE CONQUEST OF ITALY. 129 according to the terms of which the Romans were bound not to pass with their war-galleys beyond the promontory of Lacinium. In violation of this treaty, a squadron of Roman war-ships, on its way to the Adriatic," ran into the harbor of Tarentum. The Tarentines straightway manned their galleys, and attacking the Roman fleet, destroyed several of the ships, and made prisoners of the crews of Others. These captives they rashly killed or sold as slaves. The Romans promptly sent an embassy to Tarentum to demand amends. In the theatre, in the presence of a great assembly, one of the ambassadors was grossly insulted, his toga being befouled by a clownish fellow amidst the approving plaudits of the giddy crowd. The ambassador, raising the soiled garment, said sternly: ^' Laugh now; but you will weep when this toga is cleansed with blood."' Kome at once declared war. The Tarentines turned to Greece for aid. Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, and a 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 mercenaries and twenty war elephants. He organized and drilled the effeminate Tarentines, and soon felt prepared to face the Komans. 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 forminc^ o " The extension of the Roman territory across Italy to the Adriatic, and the necessity of opening up communication by sea with the eastern Shore of the peninsula, doubtless seemed to the Romans sufficient justi- fication for the violation of the terms of the treaty. 130 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. their lines of battle, he exclaimed in admiration : '* In war, at least, these men are not barbarians." The battle was won for Fyrrhus by his war elephants, the sight of which, being new to the Romans, caused them to flee from the field in dismay. But Pyrrhus had lost thousands of his bravest troops. 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 battlefield he is said to have turned to his companions and remarked : " Another such victory and I shall be ruined." He noticed also, and not without appreciating its significance, that the wounds of the Roman soldiers kiUed in the action were all in front. "Had I such soldiers," he said admiringly, "I should soon be master of the world." The prudence of the victorious Pyrrhus led him to send to the Romans proposals of peace. The embassy was headed by his chief minister, Cineas, of whom Pyrrhus himself often said: *'The eloquence of Cineas wins me more vic- tories than my sword." When the senate hesitated, its reso- lution w^as fixed by the eloquence of the now^ old and blind Appius Claudius : '* Rome," he exclaimed, '* shall never treat with a victorious foe." The ambassadors were sent back to Pyrrhus with the reply that if he wanted peace he must first quit the soil of Italy. It was at this time that Cineas, in answer to some inquiries of his master respect- ing 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 the Lenean Hydra. Pyrrhus, according to the Roman story-tellers, who most lavishly embellished this chapter of their history, was not more successful in attempts at bribery than in the arts of TH£ COA'QUEST O/^ ITALV. 13^ negotiation. Attempting by rich presents to win the cele- brated Statesman Fabricius, who had been intrusted by the senate with an important embassy, the sterling old Roman replied : " If I am dishonest, I am not worth a bribe ; if honest, you must know I will not take one." Another story relates how, when the physician of Pyrrhus went to Fabricius and offered to poison his enemy, Fa- bricius instantly put the perfidious man in chains, and sent him back to his master for punishment. The sequel of this story is that Pyrrhus conceived such an exalted opin- ion 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 (the battle of Asculum, 279 rc), as disastrous as his first, Pyrrhus crossed over into Sicily' to aid the Greeks there, who at this time were being hard pressed by the Carthaginians. At first he was every- where successful ; but finally fortune turned against him, and he was glad to escape from the island. Recrossing the straits into Italy, he once more engaged the Romans ; but at the battle of Beneventum he suffered a disastrous and final defeat at the hands of the consul Curius Dentatus (275 B.C.). Leaving a sufficient force to garrison Tarentum, Pyrrhus now set sail for Epirus. He had scarcely embarked before Tarentum surrendered to the Romans (272 B.C.). The surrender of Tarentum ended the struggle for the mastery of Italy. Rome was now mistress of all the peninsula south of the Arnus and the Rubicon.*" 8 For the influence of the conquered cities of Magna Gr^cia upon Roman life and culture, see par. 302. 132 kOMK AS A REPUBLIC. 83. United Italy. — " For the first time Italy was now united into one state under the sovereignty of the Roman community." ^ We cannot make out with perfect clearness just what rights and powers Rome exercised over the various cities, tribes, and nations which she had brought under her rule.^ This much, however, is clear. Rome took away from all these hitherto independent states the right of making war, and thus put a stop to the bloody contentions which from time immemorial had raged between the tribes and cities of the peninsula. She thus gave Italy what, after she had impressed her restraining authority upon all the peo- ples of the Mediterranean lands, came to be called "the Roman Peace." ^ She did for Italy what in these later times Kngland has done for India, Russia for Central Asia, and different European powers have done for Africa.** But this political union of Italy would possess no his- torical significance were it not for the fact that it paved the way for the social and racial unification of the penin- sula. The greatest marvel of all history is how Rome, embracing at first merely a handful of peasants, could have made so much of the ancient world like unto herself 1 Mommsen, History of Rome ^ vol. i. p. 534. 2 We refer here, not to those territories and communities which Rome had actually incorporated with the Roman domain (see mai>, p. 1 18), but to those communities to which was given the name of Italian allies, socii, or civitaks fa'dcratce (par. 163). ^ F'ax Romana. ^ A symbol of the Roman sovereignty thus established in Italy was the silver money of Rome, which now became current throughout the peninsula. The subjected states were no longer allowed to exercise the sovereign right of coining money. — MoMM SEN, ///.r/(;;j (t/" AVw^, vol. i. p. 535. THE CONQUEST OF ITALY. 133 in blood, in speech, in custom, in manners, in tempera- ment, and in character. That she did so, that she did t hus Romanize a large part of the peoples of antiquity, is one of the rrios^Jm22Ii^^ mntters ig^the history of the hiT man rac( Rome accomplished this great feat in large measure by means of her system of colonization, which was, in some respects, unlike that of any other people in ancient or in modern times. We must make ourselv^es familiar with some of the main features of this unique colonial system. 84. Roman Colonies and Latin Colonies. — The colonies that Rome established in conquered territories fall into • . • two classes, known as Roman colonies and Latin colonies?" Roman colonies were made up of emigrants who retained in the new settlement all the rights and privileges, both private and public, of Roman citizens, though of course some of these rights, as for instance that of voting in the public assemblies at Rome, could be exercised by the colonist only through his return to the capital. Up to the present time colonies of this type had been established only along the coasts of Etruria, Latium, and Campania, but later they were founded at strategic points inland.-* They were in effect perm anent mi litary camps intended to guard or to hold in subjection conquered ter- ritories. Usually it was some conquered city that was occupied by the Roman colonists, the old inhabitants either being expelled in whole or in part or reduced to s See table on page 13S for the names and the number of Roman colonies established prior to the year ii8 B.C. Notice, also, the number of colonists — usually three hundred — sent to the different places. •rr^yx 134 /^0M£ AS A REPUBLIC, a subject condition, like that of the plebeians at Rome before the revolt and secession of the year 494 (par. 49). The colonists in their new homes organized a govern- ment which was almost an exact imitation of that of Rome, and through their own assemblies and their ow^n magis- trates managed all their local affairs. These colonies were, in a word, viewed as to the political status of the settlers, simply sub urbs of the mother city. They were in effect just so many miniature Romes — centres from which radiated Roman culture into all the regions round about them. The Latin colonies w^ere so called, not because they were founded by Latin settlers, — for the later colonies of this type were made up almost exclusively of citizens of Rome w^ho had given up their political rights at the capital for the sake of improving in the new settlement their economic condition, — but because their inhabitants possessed sub- stantially the same rights as the old Latin towns enjoyed that had retained their independence at the end of the great Latin war (par. 77). The Latin colonist possessed some of the most valuable of the private rights of RomaiLiitkens^ together with the capacity to acquire the suffrage by migrating to the capital and taking up a permanent residence there, provided he left behind in the town whence he came sons to take his place."^ « He possessed the commercium and probably the commbium (par. 16). ^ ' After the year 268 B.C., Rome in founding new Latin colonies curtailed the privileges which had been conferred upon this class of colonists up to that time, and thus created different grades of Latin THE CONQUEST OE ITALY. 135 There is an analogy between the status of a settler in an ancient Latin colony and of a settler in a territory of our Union. When a citizen of any State migrates tO a terri- tory he loses his right of voting in a federal election, justi as a Roman citizen in becoming a Latin colonist lost his right of voting in the assemblies at Rome. Then agaid the resident of a territory has the privilege of changing his residence and settling in a State, thereby acquiring the federal suffrage, just as the inhabitant of a Latin colon) could migrate to Rome, and thus acquire the right tO VOte in the public assemblies there. I The Latin colonies numbered about twenty at the time of the Second Punic War. They were scattered every- where throughout Italy, and formed, in the words of the historian Mommsen, ** the real buttress of the Roman rule." They were, even to a much greater degree than the Roman colonies, active and powerful agents in the dissemination of the Roman language, law, and culture. They supple- mented admirably the work of the Roman legions in the field, and were Rome's chief auxiliary in h^r great task of making all the world Roman. All these colonies were kept in close touch with the capital by means of splendid military roads, the con- struction of which, as we have seen, was begun during the Second Samnite War (par. 78). rights. This diminution of rights consisted in the withdrawal of the earlier right to coin money, also of the conmibium, and in restricting the privilege of acquiring political rights at Rome to those members of the Latin communities who had held, public magistracies in the col- onies from which they came. This shut out from the freedom of the \ capital all save the most influential of the Latins. Arimin urn, founded ) in 268 B.C., was the first Latin colony whose rights were thus restricted. L 136 A'OAf£ AS A KZlJ^UBI^/C. References. — Livy, vii. 29-42, and viiUx. Livy's account of the Samnite wars is broken off abruptly at the year 292 B.C. by the loss of ten of the books of his history. The gap extends to the beginning of the Second Punic War. Plutarch, *Lifc of Pyrr/iits, from c. xxiii. on to the end. Mommsex (T.), ^J/istory of Rome, vol. i. bk. il. chaps, iv.-ix. pp. 413-612. TiGHE (A.), **T/ic Development of the Roman Constitittion, chap. v. FREEMAN (E. A.), The Story of Sicily (Story of the Nations), chap. xiii. pp. 265-271,' " Pyrrhus in Italy." BouCH^- LeCLERCQ, Manuel ties Insithdions Romaines, pp. 171-186. An excellent account of the Roman municipal system. Ihne (W.), History of Jy^oine, vol. i. bk. Hi. chap, xviii. pp. 552-575, " Condition of the Roman People before the Beginning of the Wars with Carthage." I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ^3 14 15 16 17 18 »9 20 21 22 23 24 26 2S 29 30 32 34 35 yi 38 39 TlfE COXqUEST OF ITALY. 137 Table of Latin Colon ie.s in Italy. ^ Colonies. Signia . . . Cerceii . . Suessa I'onietia £2a Velitraj Antiuni . Ardea . . Satricuni Nepete . .'■^etTa . . Cales . . Fregelhc uceri I . Suessa . Pontix' ; ^aticuhi .' .' ; Interamn.i Lirinas Sora . . , Alba. . . Narnia . Carseola Venusia . Ilatria Cosa . . P.X'stuni jiniinuiii Beneventuin • •ill Fir mum . . yF2sernia . . liriir idisiyni mil Copia . , Valentia Bononia A quileiaJj-, Location. Latin 111 Latiuni Latiuni Latium Lat 1 u ni Latiuni . . . . Latium . . . . Latium . . . . Latium . . . . Ltruria . . . . Etruria . . . . Latium .... Campania . . Latium . . . . Apulia . . . . Latium .... Isle of Latiuiri ^^anmiuin . . . Latium Latium Latium Tmbria Latium .Apulia , Picenum Campania Lucania . ."^amniuni Bicenum Saninium Calabria . Ciiibria . (Jallia Cis. Cialiia Cis. Lucania . . . Hruttii . . . Gallia Cis. . Gallia 'IVans. 15. c. No. OF Colonists. p ? ? ? 494 .192 467 442 3^5 fl 383 382 328 314 312 303 299 298 291 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 4000 6000 300 4000 100 289 300 ^11 1000 273 300 208 300 268 300 264 300 263 300 244 300 241 300 218 6000 218 Oooo »93 300 192 189 3000 iSi 4500 T 1' ^h" ?^P';?iison's Public Lnmhand A^mrmn lam oj fhe Roman RehMic Johns Hopkins University Studies, Ninth Series, vii-viii i\(rnPUC. - No Latin colonies were founded after the year 180 B.C. Thenceforth all colonies were of the civic or Roman type, the settlers possessing the riglus of fall citfzcnshVn ^' 138 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. Table of Civic [Roman] Colonies in Italy.^ * % 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 lO II 12 M 15 i6 »7 l8 '9 20 21 23 -4 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 33 34 Colonies. Location Ostia Latium Labici Latium Antium j Latium Anxur i Latium Minturnae Campania Sinuessa Campania Sena Gallica Umbria Castrum Novum ... J Ficenum v^sium . . Alsium . . Fregena . Pyrgi . . . Puteoli . . Liturnum . Salernum . Buxentuni Sipontum . Tempsa . . Q roton . . Potentia . Pisaurum . Parma. . . Mutina . . SaturiTia- . GravisciX . Luna . . . Auximum Fabrateria Minervia . Umbria Etruria Etruria Etruria Campania Campania Campania Campania Lucania Apulia Bruttii Kruttii Ficenum Umbria (iallia Cis Gallia Cis Etruria Fitruria Etruria Picenum I^atium Bruttii Neptunia lapygia Hertona Llguria , ,00 Eporeclia Gallia Trans ! loo Narbo Martius Gallia Narbo ' ii8 T K ^""^T Jtephenson's /'«^//c- Lands and Agrarian Laws of the Rotnan Republic Johns Hopkins University Studies, Ninth Series, vii-viu. i^o^nan i^epuoiic CHAPTER VII. THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. (264-241 B.C.) 85. Carthage and the Carthaginian Empire. — Foremost among the cities founded by the Phc^nicians upon the dif- ferent 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 favor- able location of the colony upon one of the best harbors of the African coast gave the city a vast and lucrative commerce. At the period which we have now reached it had grown into an imperial city, covering, with its gardens and suburbs, a district twenty-three miles in circuit. It is said to have contained 700,000 inhabitants. A com- mercial enterprise like that of its mother-city Tyre, and exactions from hundreds of subject cities and tribes, had rendered 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, Carthage held sway, through peaceful colonization or by force of arms, over the northern coast of Africa from the Greater Syrtis to the Pillars of Hercules, and pos- sessed the larger part of Sicily as well as Sardinia. She also *39 (f 140 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. collected tribute from the natives of Corsica and of Southern Spain. With all its shores dotted with her colonies and fortresses, and swept in every direction by her war-galleys, the Western Mediterranean had become a "Phoenician lake," in which, as the Carthaginians boasted, no one dared wash his hands without their permission. 86. Carthaginian Government and Religion. — The Govern- ment of Carthage was republican in form, but oligarchical m fact. Corresponding to the Roman consuls, two magis- trates, called "suffetes," stood at the head of the state. The senate was composed of the heads of the leading fam- ilies ; its duties and powers were very like those of the Koman senate. The religion of the Carthaginians was the old Canaani- tish worship of Baal, or the Sun. To Moloch, another name for the fire-god, they olTered human sacrifices. 87. Rome and Carthage compared. — 'I'hese 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. In material power and resources the two rival cities seemed well matched as antagonists; yet Rome had imma- terial elements of strength, hidden in the character of her citizens and embodied in the principles of her government, which Carthage did not possess. First, the Carthaginian territories, though of great extent, were widely scattered, embracing remote coasts and isolated islands, while the Roman domains were • 1^ 1 1 I riiK F/Ksr j'Uivic ivak. 141 compact and confined to a single and easily defended peninsula. Again, the subject peoples of Carthage's empire were in race, language, and religion mostly alien to their Phcttnician conquerors, and so were ready, upon the first disaster to the ruling city, to fall away from their allegiance. On the other hand, the Latin allies and the Italian confederates of Rome were close kin to her, and so throup^h natural Impulse they for the most part — although not all were satisfied with their position in the state — remained loyal to her during even the darkest periods of her struggle with her rival. But the greatest contrast between the two states ap- peared in the principles upon which they were respectively based. Carthage was a despotic oligarchy. The many different races of the Carthaginian empire were held in an artificial union by force alone, for the Carthaginians had none of the genius of the Romans for political organiza- tion and state-building. The Roman state, on the other hand, as we have learned, was the most wonderful political organism that the world had ever seen. It was not yet a nation, but it was rapidly growing into one. Every free man within its limits was either a citizen of Rome, or was on the way to becoming a citizen. Rome was already the common fatherland of more than a quarter of a million of men.*^ The Roman armies were, in large part, armies of citizen-soldiers, like those Athenian warriors that foutrht * The census of the year 265 B.C. gave the number of the citizens of Rome liable to the levy as 292,224. This included those possessing the Caeritan franchise (par. -^i), but not those having Latin rights (par. 84). 142 ROME AS A KErUBLIC. at Marathon and at Salamis ; the armies of Carthage were armies of mercenaries like those that Xerxes led against the Greek cities. And then the Romans, in their long contests with the different races of Italy for the mastery of the peninsula, had secured such a training in war as perhaps no other people before them ever had. As to the naval resources of the two states there existed at the beginning of the struggle no basis for a comparison. The Romans were almost destitute of anything that could be called a war navy,^ and were practically without experi- ence in naval warfare ; while the Carthaginians possessed the largest, the best manned, and the most splendidly equipped fleet that had ever patrolled the waters of the Mediterranean. And in another respect Carthage had a.n immense advan- tage over Rome. She had Hannibal. Rome had some great commanders, but she had none like him. 88. The Beginning of the War. — Lying between Italy and the coast of Africa is the large island of Sicily. It is m 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 Syracuse. The Greeks and the Carthaginians had carried on an almost uninterrupted struggle through two centuries for the con- trol of the island. 9 Polybius, i. 20, says that they did not have a single galley when they first crossed over to Sicily (par. 88). He says they ferried their army across in boats borrowed from the Greek cities of Southern Italy. 1 From ro^ni, Latin for Phoenicians, and hence applied by the Romans to the Carthaginians, as they were Phcenician colonists. THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. 143 A faint echo of this long conflict reaches us from the battlefield of Himer a - and mingles with a like echo from the straits of Salamis. A later phase of the struggle we have just had called to our attention while following the career of Pyrrhus (par, 82). But the Romans had not yet set foot upon the island. It was destined, however, to become the scene of the most terrible encounters between the armaments of Rome and Carthage. Pyrrhus had foreseen it all. As he withdrew from the island, he remarked, " What a fine battlefield we are leaving for the Romans and Carthaginians." In the year 264 B.C., on a flimsy pretext of giving pro- tection to some friends,^ the Romans crossed over to the island. That act committed them to a career of foreie:n conquest destined to continue till their armies had made the circuit of the Mediterranean lands. - The battle of Himera, between the Sicilian Greeks and the Car- thaginians, is said to have been fought not only in the same year (480 B.C.) but also on the very same day as the naval battle of Salamis between the eastern Greeks and the Persians. 3 During the war with Pyrrhus (par. 82), 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 called themselves, — appealed to the Romans for aid, basing their claims to as- sistance uponthe 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 channel. For them to turn about now and lend aid to the ^iciliaivband would be the greatest incon- sistency. But in case they did not give the assistance asked, it was certain that the Mamertines would look to the Carthaginians for succor ; and so Messana would come into the hands of their rivals. '44 KOME AS A REPUBLIC. THE FIRST rUNIC WAR. 145 i The Syracusans and Carthaginians, old enemies and rivals though they had been, joined their forces against the new-comers. The allies were completely defeated in the first battle, and the Roman army obtained a sure foot- hold in 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 to Carthage, and became allies of Rome. Hiero, king of Syracuse, seeing that he was upon the losing side, forsook the Carthaginians, formed an alliance with the Romans, and ever after remained their firm friend. 89. The Romans build their First Fleet of Quinqueremes. — Their experience during the past campaigns had shown the Romans that if they were to cope successfully with the Carthaginians they must be able to meet them upon the sea as well as upon the land. Not only did the Cartha- ginian ships annoy the Sicilian coast towns which were already in the hands of the Romans, but they even made descents upon 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 war-§hip§. Their Greek and Ktru5can allies were, indeed, maritime peoples, and pos- sessed considerable fleets, which were at the disposal of the Romans. But these vessels were merely triremes, that is galleys with three banks of oars ; while the Carthaginian ships were quinqueremes, or vessels with five rows of oars. The former were worthless to cope with the latter, such an advantage did these have in their greater weight and height. So the Romans resolved to build a fleet of quinqueremes. Now it so happened that, a little while before this, a Carthaginian galley had been wrecked upon the shore of Southern Italy. This served as a pattern. It is said that within the almost incredibly short space of sixty days a Thk Prow of a Roman War-Ship. (From an ancient relief. The representation shows the arrangement of the tiers of oars in a two-banked ship. In just what w^ay the lines of rowers in triremes and ciuiiKiuercnies were an-anged is unknown.) growing forest was converted into a fleet of one hundred and twenty war-galleys. While the ships were in process of building, the Roman soldiers were being trained in the duties of sailors by practice in rowing, while sitting in lines on tiers of benches builf upon the land. With the shore ringing with the sounds of the hurried work upon the galleys, and crowded with the groups of ''make- 146 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. believe rowers," the scene must have been a somewhat animated as well as ludicrous one. Yet it all meant very serious business. 00. The Romans pin their First Naval Victory (260 b.c.). — The consul Gaius Duillius was intrusted with the com- mand of the fleet. He met the Carthaginian squadron near the city and promontory of Myla^, on the northern coast of Sicily. A single precaution gave the victory to the Romans. Distrusting their ability to match the skill of their enemies in manoeuvring their ships, the Romans had provided each galley with a drawbridge, over thirty feet in length and wide enough for two persons to pass over it abreast. This bridge was raised and lowered by means of pulleys attached to a mast. The Carthaginians bore down swiftly with their galleys 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 approach- ing galley. 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 — there 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 great naval victory. 147 Duillius was honored with a majinifi- o The joy at Rome was unbounded. It inspired, in the more sanguine, splendid visions of maritime command and glory. The Mediterranean should speedily become a Roman lake, in which no vessel might float without the consent of Rome, cent triumph, and the senate or- dained 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 enabled him to capture." 91. The Romans carry the War into Africa. — The results of the naval engagement at Mylae en- couraged the Romans to push the war with redoubled energy. They resolved to carry it into Africa. For this purpose they gathered .r„^ ^. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 1 HE Column of Duillius. an immense fleet of three hundred and thirty ships, carrying nearly a hundred and forty thousand men.'* The Carthaginians disputed the passage of the Romans with a fleet of equal strength, bearing a hundred ana fifty thousand men. With Polyblus we view with astonishment these enormous armaments, the most power- * Polybius, i. 26. The historian estimates an average of 420 men to each ship, — 300 rowers and 1 20 soldiers. (A restoration. The column was decorated with the prows of captured ships.) I 148 JWME AS A REPUBLIC. ful certainly that had ever contended for the mastery of the sea."' The hostile fleets met near the Sicilian promontory of Ecnomiis. The Carthaginians suffered a severe defeat, near one hundred of their ships being sunk or captured (256 B.C.). The Romans now continued their voyage to the African coast, and dih;embarked near Carthage. At first the Romans were successful in all their operations, so much so that the consul, Atilius Regulus, who through the recall of his col- league had been left in sole command of the expedition of invasion, sent word to Rome that he had " sealed up the gates of C^arthage with terror." Finally, however, Regulus suffered a crushing defeat and was made prisoner.*' A fleet which was sent to bear away the remnants of the shattered army was wrecked in a ter- rific storm off the coast of Sicily, and the shores of the island were strewn with the wreckage of between two and three hundred ships and with the bodies of almost a hun- dred thousand men. Undismayed at the terrible disaster that had overtaken the 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 ^ Polybius, i. Gt,. ^ The Carthaginians were at this time commanded by an able Spart general, Xanthippus, who, with a small Init well-disciplined band of C;reek mercenaries, had entered their service. an THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. 149 the Romans by the splendid victories of Mylie and Ecnomus were thus suddenly dispelled by these two successive and appalling disasters that had overtaken their armaments. 92. The Battle of Panormus (251 r,.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 continued, although with but little spirit on either side, until the arrival in the island of the Cartha- ginian general Hasdrubal (251 B.C.). He brought with him one hundred and forty elephants trained in w-ar. Of all the instruments of death which the Roman soldiers were accustomed to face, none in the history of the legion- aries inspired them with such uncontrollable terror as these "wild beasts," as they termed them. The furious rage with which these monsters, themselves almost invul- nerable to the darts of the enemy, swept down the oppos- ing ranks with their trunks, and tossed and trampled to pieces the bodies of their victims, was indeed well calcu- lated to inspire a most exaggerated dread. Beneath the walls of Panormus, the consul Metellus drew Hasdrubal into an engagement. He checked the terrific charge of the elephants by discharges of arrows dipped in flaming pitch, which caused the frightened ani- mals to rush back upon and crush through the disordered ranks of the Carthaginians. The result was a complete victory for the Romans. After the battle the Romans induced the drivers of the elephants, which were roaming over the field in a sort of panic, to capture and quiet the creatures. Once in captivity, tliey were ferried across the Sicilian straits on huge rafts, and to the number of twenty were caused to grace the triumphal procession of Metellus. ii \ ' I50 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. After having been led through the forum and along the Via Sacra, they were conducted to the Circus, and there slain in the presence of the assembled multitudes. 93. Regulus 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 commissioners was Regulus, who since his capture, five years before (par. 91), 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 supposed he would counsel peace, or at least urge an exchange of prisoners. But It is related that, upon arrival at Rome, he counselled 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 proposals of the embassy ; and Regulus, in spite of the tears and entreaties of his wife and friends, turned away from Rome, and set out for Carthage, to meet whatever fate the Carthaginians, in their disappointment and anger, might plan for him. The tradition goes on to tell how, upon the arrival of Regulus 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 discredited, and the finest touches of the other portions are supposed to have been added by the story-tellers. THE FIRST TUNIC WAR. 151 94. Loss of Two More Roman Fleets. — After the failure of the Carthaginian embassy, the war went on for several years by land and by sea with many vicissitudes. At last, on the coast of Sicily, one of the consuls, Claudius, met with an overwhelming defeat." Almost a hundred vessels of his fleet were lost. The disaster caused the greatest alarm at Roine. Super- stition increased the fears of the people. It was reported that just before the battle, when the auspices were being taken and the sacred chickens would not eat, Claudius had given orders to have them thrown into the sea, irreverently remarking, " At any rate, they shall drink." Imagination Augur's I^irds. (After a drawing based on an ancient relief. The knowledge sought was gained by observing the birds' manner of taking their food. Their re- fusal to eat was an unlucky omen.) was free to depict what further evils the offend- ed gods might inflict upon the Roman state. The gloomiest forebodings might have found justifica- tion in subsequent events. The other consul just now met with a great disaster. He was proceeding along the south- ern coast of Sicily with a squadron of eight hundred mer- chantmen and over one hundred war-gaHeys, the former loaded with grain for the Roman army on the island. A "^ In a sea fight at Drepana, 249 B.C. 15^ ^OME AS A REFUBLIC. severe storm arising, the squadron was beaten to pieces upon the rocks. Not a single ship escaped. The coast for miles was strewn with corpses and wreckage, and ridged with vast windrows of grain cast up by the waves. 95. Close of the First Punic War (241 b.c). — The war had now lasted for fifteen years. Four Roman fleets ha'd 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.*^ Only one hundred of these had fallen into the hands of the enemy ; the remainder were a sacrifice 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 dominion of the sea. It was Impossible during 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 the Carthaginian forces, and for several years conducted the war with great ability on the island of Sicily, even making Rome tremble for the safety of her Italian possessions. Once more the Romans determined to commit their fortune to the element that had been so unfriendly to them. A fleet of two hundred vessels was built and equipped, but entirely by private 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 8 Polybius, i. 63. This authority gives the number of quinqueremes lost by the Carthaginians as five hundred. THE FIRSl^ PUNIC WAR. 153 insatiable Neptune. This people's squadron, as we may call it, was intrusted to the command of the consul Catulus. He met the Carthaginian fleet under the command of the admiral Hanno, near the .^^:gatian Islands, and inflicted upon it a crushing defeat (241 «.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 pay an indemnity of ^200 talents (about $4,000,000), one-third of which was to be paid down, and the balance in ten yearly payments. Thus ended (241 b.c), after a continuance of twenty-four years, the first great struggle between Carthage and Rome. One important result of the war was the crippling of the sea-power of the Phtenician race, which from time im- memorial had been a most prominent factor in the history of the Mediterranean lands, and the giving practically of the control of the sea into the hands of the Romans. References. — **roLYBn:s (Shuckburgh's translation), i. 10-63. Polybius, partly because he adheres rigidly to the chronological order of events, is in general somewhat confusing to young readers ; but since what he says about the First Punic War is in the nature of an introduction to his main work, which begins with the 140th Olympiad (220-217 u.c), it assumes the form of a continuous narrative and pos- sesses on that account a very special interest. In about si.xty pages the historian gives us the very best account of the war that we possess. In the sixth hook of Polyhius, chaps. 51-56, a comparison is drawn between Rome and Carthage, which should be read in the present connection. Ihne (W.), History of Rome, vol. ii. bk. iv. chaps, i.-iii. pp. 3-1 1 5. MoMMSEN (T.), History of Rome, vol. ii. bk. iii. chaps, i. and ii. pp. 9-76. Smith (R. B.), Carthage and the Carthaginians, and *A'^w^ and Carthage (Epoch Series). CHURCH (A. J.), The Story of Carthage (Story of the Nations). CHAPTER VIII. ROMK AND CARTHAGE BETWEEN' THE EIRST AND THE SECOND PUNIC WAPi. (241-218 B.C.) Sfxtion I. — Rome. 96. The First Roman Province and the Beginning of the Provincial System (241 h.c). — For the twenty-three years that followed the close of the first struggle between Rome and C\irthage, the two rivals strained every power and taxed every resource in preparation for a renewal of the contest. The Romans settled the affairs of Sicily, organizing all of it, save the lands in the eastern part belonging to Syracuse, as a province of the republic. This was the first territory beyond the limits of Italy that Rome had con- quered, and the Sicilian the first of Roman provinces. But as the imperial city extended her conquests, her pro- vincial possessions increased in number and size until they formed at last a perfect cordon about the Mediterranean. Each province was governed by a magistrate, at first one of the prnetors^ (par. 71 ), sent out from the capital. This officer exercised both civil and military authority. Each province also paid an annual tribute, or tax, to Rome, some- thing that had never been exacted of the Italian allies. ^ After the Third Punic War, instead of pastor., proprX'tOFS and proconsuls were sent out. /^OAfE A ATI? CA/^T/fAGE. 155 We have here the beginning of the Roman provincial system. It presented a sharp contrast to that liberal sys- tem of federation and incorporation that formed the very corner stone of the Roman power in Italy. There Rome had made all, or substantially all, of the conquered peoples either citizens or close confederates. Against the pro- vincials she not only closed the gates of the city, but denied to them the rank and soothing title of allies. She made them her subjects, and administered their affairs, not in their Interest, but in that of her own. This illiberal imperial policy contributed largely, as we shall learn, to the undoing of the Roman republic. 97. Rome acquires Sardinia and Corsica ; the Second Province. (227 B.C.). — The first acquisition by the Romans of lands beyond the peninsula seems to have created in them an insatiable ambition for foreign conquests. They soon found a pretext for seizing the island of Sardinia, the most ancient, and, after Sicily, the most prized of the pos- sessions of the Carthaginians. An insurrection breaking out upon the island, the Carthaginians were moving to suppress it, when the Romans commanded them not only to desist from their military preparations (pretending that they believed them a threat against Rome), but to sur- render Sardinia, and, moreover, to pay a fine of 1200 talents (about $1,500,000). Carthage, exhausted as she was, could do nothing but comply with these demands, unjust though they were, fhe ungenerous and dishonor- able conduct 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 connec- tion with Corsica, which was also seized, was formed into 156 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. ROME AND CARTHAGE. a Roman province (227 B.C.). With her hailds Upon these islands, the authority of Rome in the Western or Tyrrhenian Sea was supreme. 98. The Illyrian Corsairs are punished. — In a more legiti- mate way the Romans extended their infiuence 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 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 coast. These cities welcomed Rome as a protector, for they had been greatly troubled by the northern pirates. As a mark of their gratitude they gave the Romans permission to take part in certain of their religious mysteries ' and to send contestants to the Isthmian games.^ Rome thus acquired a foothold on the eastern shore of the Adriatic. She had taken the first step in the path that was to lead her to absolute supremacy in Greece and throughout all the East. gg. War with the Gauls. _ In the north, during this same period, Roman authority was extended from the Apennines and the Rubicon to the foot of the Alps. Alarmed at the advance of the Romans, who were pushing northward their ^ The Eleusinian mysteries, celebrated at Eleusis near Athens Cxames celebrated in honor of Poseidon on the isthmus of Corinth. 157 great military road, called the Flamlnlan Way, and also settling with discharged soldiers 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. Intelligence of this movement among the northern tribes threw all Italy into a fever of excitement. At Rome the terror was great; for not yet had died out of memory what the city had once suffered at the hands of the ances- tors of these same barbarians that were now again gather- ing their hordes for sack and pillage (par. 68). An ancient prediction, found in the Sibylline books, declared that a portion of Roman territory must needs be occupied by Gauls. Hoping sufficiently to fulfil the prophecy and satisfy fate, the Roman senate caused two Gauls to be buried alive in one of the public squares of the capital This was an extraordinary proceeding for the Romans. They must have been in a great panic to have so far yielded to the promptings of what they in their calmer moments regarded as a cruel superstition. 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. Forty thousand are said to have been killed and sixty thousand taken prisoners (225 B.C.). The Romans, tak- ing advantage of this victory, pushed on into the plains of the Po, captured the city which is now known as Milan, 158 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. ROME AND CARTHAGE. 159 and extended their authority to the foothills of the Alps. To guard the new territory, two military colonies, Placentia and Cremona, were established upon the opposite banks of the Po, while the Via Flaminia was carried across the Apennines and extended to Ariminum, on the Adriatic." The Gauls, thus reduced to subjection, were of course restless and resentful, and, as we shall see, were very ready to embrace the cause of Hannibal when a few years after this he descended from the Alps and appeared among them as a deliverer (par. 107). SkcHON- II. — Carthage. 100. The Truceless War. —Scarcely had peace been con- cluded with Rome at the end of the First Punic War, before Carthage was plunged into a still deadlier struggle, which for a time threatened her very existence. Her mercenarv troops, upon their return from Sicily, revolted, on account Of not receiving their pay. Their appeal to the native tribes of Africa was answered by a general uprising throughout the dependencies of Carthage. The extent of the revolt shows how hateful and hated was the rule of the great capital over her subject states. The war was unspeakably bitter and cruel. It is known >n history as "The Truceless War." At one time Car- thage was the only city remaining in the hands of the gov- ernment, liut the genius of the great Carthaginian genera., Ham,lcar Barca, at last triumphed, and the authority of tarthage was everywhere restored. This road, under the name of J^f\i ^^«,// ,- , (in .87 B.c.) extended to Placentia, LThl;^,' " ^ """= '"" loi. 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 commanding genius to organizing the different Iberian tribes into a compact state, and to developing the rich gold and silver mines of the southern part of the peninsula. He fell in battle 228 B.C. Hamilcar Barca was the greatest general that up to this time the Carthaginian race had produced. As a rule, genius is not transmitted ; but in the Barcine family the rule was broken, and the rare genius of Hamilcar reappeared in his sons, whoin he himself, it is said, was fond of calling the ** lion's brood." Hannibal, the oldest, w^as only nineteen at the time of his father's death, and being thus too young to assume command, Hasdrubal,"* the son-in-law of Hamil- car, 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 territory. The native tribes were con- ciliated rather than conquered. The Barcine fainily knew how to rule as well as how to fight. 102. Hannibal's Vow. — Upon the death of Hasdrubal, which occurred 221 b.c, Hannibal, now twenty-six years of age, was by the unanimous voice of the army called to be 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 bo'y had sworn eternal hatred * Not to be confounded with Ilannilial's own brother, Hasdrubal. See par. i 17. i6o ROME AS A REPUBLfC. ROME AA^D CARTHAGE. I6l :f t If i ! to the Roman race. He was driven on to his gi<^antic 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. 103. Hannibal attacks Saguntum. —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 watch in- CC ' ' 1 ' ^ attairs 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 protection. Hannibal, although he well knew that an attack upon this place would precipitate hostilities with Rome, laid siege to it in the spring of 219 m.c. He was eager for the ren'Iwal Of the old contest. The Roman senate sent messengers to him forbidding him to make war upon a city that was an ally of the Roman people: but Hannibal, 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 give up Hannibll to them, and by so doing repudiate the act of their general. The Carthaginians hesitated. Then Quintus Fabius, chief of the embassy, gathering up his toga, said, " I carry here peace and war ; choose, men of Carthage, which ye win have." " Give 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 oi any time." ^ ^ Smith's Carthage and Rome, p. 1 14. Rkferences. — Poi.YBius, i. 65— 88. Appian (translated from the Greek by Horace White), vol. i. Foreign Wars, hk. x. chaps, i. and ii. * MoMMSEN (T.), History of Rome^ vol. ii. bk. iii. chaps, ii. and iii. pp. 38—102. Ihne (W.), History of Rome, vol. ii. bk. iv. chaps, iv.-vii. pp. 1 16-142. Arnold (W. T.),**7y/^ Roman System of Pro7)incial Administration, chap, i., " What a province was. How acquired. Use of ' client princes.' How secured and organized. Moral aspect of the Roman ride." ^^jlJjT^ itu. vJA^A-k^u- -^ \ jticXiWa CHAPTER IX. THE .SECOND PUKIC WAR. (218-201 B.C.) 104. Hannibal begins his March. —The Cartha-.ini,n empire was now all astir with preparations for the inLnd- ing struggle. Hannibal w.is the life and soul of every movement. He planned and executed. The Carthaginian senate tardily confirmed his acts. His bold „,.,„ was to cross the Pyrenees and the Alps and descend upon Ron,e from the north. He secured the provinces in .Spain and Afr.ca by placing garrisons of Iberians in Africa and of Libyans in the peninsuha. Am- b.assadors were sent among the Oallic 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 com- pleted, Hannibal left XewCarth.age early in the spring of 218 n.c., with an army numbering about a hundred thousand men, and in- cluding thirty-seven war elephants. , . , , „ ^ 'hostile country lay between ' sTst'd , ?"""• '''™"«"'^ '''' ''^'^^^ tribes that res.sted h.s advance he forced his Way tO the foot of the 162 H.\NNri;.\L THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 163 mountains that guard the noi thern frontier of Spain. More than twenty thousand of his soldiers were lost in this part of his march. 105. Passage of the Pyrenees and the Rhone. — I^eaving a strong force to garrison the newly conquered lands, and discharging ten thousand 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 ROUTE OF > HANMBAL the valley of the Rhone. The Gauls attempted to dispute the passage of the river, but they were routed, and the ariTiy was ferried across the stream in native boats and on rudely constructed rafts. 106. Passage of the Alps. — Hannibal now followed up the course of the Rhone, and then one of its eastern tribu- taries, the Isere (Isar), until he reached the foothuls of the Alps, probably under the pass known to-day as the Little St. Bernard. Nature and man joined to oppose the passage. The season was already far advanced, — it was 164 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. October, -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 possession of the heights above. At last the summit was gained, and the shivering array looked down into the warm haze of the Italian plains The sight, together with encouraging words from Hannibal somewhat revived the drooping spirits Of the Soldiers' The.r descent of the mountains was accomplished Only after severe toil and losses. At length the thinned Columns .ssued from the deHles of the foothills upon the plains of the l.o. Of the fifty thousand men and more with whom Hann.bal had set out, barely twenty thousand had survived the hardships and perils of the iiiarch, and these "looked more like phantoms than men." Yet this was the pitiable force with which Hannibal pro- posed to attack the Roman state - a state that at this time had on tts levy lists over seven hundred thousand foot soldiers and seventy thousand horse." 107. 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, thc SChatC had Sent one of the consul., Tiberius Sempronius, with an annv intO Afrtca by the way of Sicily; while the other, Publius fornelius Sc,p.o they had directed to lead another army into Spain. While the senate were watching the movements of these expedtfons, they were startled by the intelligence that THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, 165 Hannibal, Instead of being in Spain, had crossed the Pyre- nees and was among the Gauls upon the Rhone. Sempro- nius 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, hurried 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 rc.) the united armies of the two consuls were drawn into an ambuscade and almost annihilated. The refugees that escaped from the held 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. Hie spring following the victory at the Trebia, Hannibal led his army, now recruited by many Gauls, across the Apennines, and moved southward. At Lake Trasimenus he entrapped the Romans under the consul Gaius T laminius in a mountain defile, where, bewildered by a fog that filled the valley, the greater part of the army wms slaughtered, and the consul himself was slain (217 B.C.). 108. Hannibal's Policy. — The way to Rome was now open. Believing that Hannibal would march directly upon the capital, the senate caused the bridges that spanned the Tiber to be destroyed, and appointed Fabius Maximus dictator. But Hannibal did not deem it wise to throw his 1 66 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. troops against the walls of Rome. Crossing the Apennines, he pressed eastward to the Adriatic Sea, whence he sent messages to Carthage of his wonderful achievements. Here he rested his army after a march that has fcw paral- lels in the annals of war. In one respect only had events disappointed Hannibal's expectations. He had thought that the Italian allies, like the Gauls, were ready at the first opportunity to revolt from Rome ; and to induce them to do so, he had treated with the greatest consideration those Italians who chanced to fall into his hands as prisoners. But thus far not a single city or tribe of the Umbro-Sabellian folk (par. 5) had prOVed unfaithful to Rome. 109. 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, everything would be lost. He determined to adopt a more prudent policy -to follow and annoy the Carthaginian army, but to refuse all proffers of battle. Thus time would be gained for raising a new army and perfecting measures for the public 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 treachery to the cause of Rome. But nothing moved him from the Steady pursuit of the policy which he clearlv saw was the only prudent one to follow. 1 68 ROUE AS A KEPUBLIC. Hannibal now marched through Samnium, desolating the country as he went, and then descended UpOD the rich plains of Campania. Fabius followed him CloSCly. FrOm the mountains, which they were not allowed to leave, the Roman soldiers were obliged to watch, with such patience as they might command, 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 fampania 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 a stratagem to draw the guards away from the mountain path. To the horns Of two thousand oxen burning torches one night were fastened, and then these animals were driven 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 i^traightway the guardians of the pass left their position, in order to intercept the fleeing enemy. While they were pur- suing the cattle, Hannibal marched quietly with all his booty through the unguarded dehle, and escaped into oamnium. 1 10. The Policy of Fabius vindicated. _ The escape of the Carthaginian army caused the smothered discontent with Fabius and his policy to break out into open opposition. THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 169 both among the citizens at the capital and the soldiers In the camp. Minucius, commander 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 people 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. Minu- cius at once acknowledged 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." III. The Battle of Cannae (216 B.C.). — The time gained by Fabius had enabled the Romans to raise and discipline an army that might hope to engage successfully the Car- thaginian forces. Early in the summer of the year 216 ac, these new levies, numbering eighty thousand men, under the command of the recently chosen consuls Paulus and Varro," confronted the army of Hannibal, amounting to 7 The dictatorship of Fabius Maximus had expired. The patrician consul's full name was Lucius yEmilius Paulus ; the plebeian's, Gaius Terentius Varro. They were divided in counsel, and it was the rashness of Varro, a man wholly without experience in military affairs, that pre- cipitated the battle. When his day for command came for according to an absurd custom each consul held the supreme command on alter- nate days — he imprudently, and against the earnest protest of his col- league, began the battle on ill-cho§en ground. The yearly change of their chief magistrates was a source of weakness and loss to the Romans m time of war. The popular vote frequently failed to secure experi- enced generals. Demagogues often controlled the election, as at Athens in the times of Cleon and Alcibiades. ill lyo ROME AS A REPUBLIC. THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. not more than half that number, at Caniicxs in Apulia. It was the largest army the Romans had ever gathered on any battlefield. But it had been collected only to meet the most overwhelming defeat that ever befell the forces of the republic. Through the skilful man^tiuvres of Hannibal, the Romans were completely surrounded, and huddled together in a helpless mass upon the field ; then they were PLAN OF THE BATTI.E OF CA>>.E Al-TEK STKACHANDAVIDSON. ..^^^^s^^^ %?'^^.^ ' '*'^«/C, ^^alW •*\ AFHir AN cut down by the Numidlan cavalry.*^ From forty to seventy thousand are said to have been slain ; '^ a few thousand were taken prisoners; only the merest handful escaped, including the consul Varro. The slaughter was so great that, according to Livy, when Mago, a brother of Hannibal, carried the news of the victory to Carthage, he, in confirma- 8 The Romans were weak in cavalrjr ■ thejr had only OOOO, the Car- thaginians 10,000. ^ PolybiuS, iii. 117, places the killed at 70,000 and the prisoners at 10,000 J Livy, xxii. 49, puts the number of the slain at 42,700. 171 tion of the Intelligence, poured out on the floor of the senate-house nearly a peck of gold rings taken from the fingers of the Roman knlghts.^^ 112. Events after the Battle of Cannae. — The awful news flew to Rome. Consternation and despair seized the peo- ple. The city would have been emptied of its population had not the senate ordered the gates to be closed. Never did the senators display greater calmness, wisdom, prudence, and resolution. They publicly thanked the consul Varro, although he was the bitter enemy of their body, and the one whose incompetency and rashness had caused the terri- ble disaster, because he had not despaired of the republic. Little by little the panic was allayed. Measures were concerted for the defence of the capital, as It was expected that Hannibal would immediately march upon the city. Swift horsemen were sent out along the Appian Way to gather information of the conqueror's movements, and to learn, as Livy expresses it, "if the immortal gods, out of pity to the empire, had left any remnant of the Roman name." The leader of the Numldian cavalry, Maharbal, urged Hannibal to follow up his victory closely. " Let me ad- vance with the horse," he said, "and in five days you shall banquet in Rome." But Hannibal refused to adopt the counsel of his impetuous general. Maharbal turned away, and with mingled reproach and impatience exclaimed, "Alas! you know how to gain a victory, but not how to use one." The great commander, while he knew he was !'> Among the slain were one consul, two cjuacstors, twenty-one mil- itary tribunes, and eighty senators, or persons eligible to seats in the senate. — Livy, xxii. 49. 1/2 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. invincible in the open field, did not think it prudent tO fight the Romans behind their walls. Hannibal now sent an embassy to Rome to offer terms of peace. The senate, true to the Appian policy never tO treat with a victorious enemy (par. 82), would not even permit the ambassadors to enter the gates. Hardly less disappointed was Hannibal in the temper of the Roman confederates. All the allies of the Latin name (par. 163) adhered to the cause of Rome through all these trying- times with unshaken loyalty. Some tribes in the south of Italy, however, among which were the Lucanians, the Apulians, and the Bruttians, now went over to the Carthaginians. The important city of Capua also seceded from Rome and entered into an alliance with Hannibal. A little later Syracuse was lost to Rome ; for it so happened that, shortly after the battle of Canrnx Hiero, the king of the SyracTJsans, who loved to call him- self the friend and ally of the Roman people, had died, and the government had fallen into the hands of a party unfriendly to the republic. This party now entered into an alliance with Carthage, and thus Syracuse, with a large part of Sicily, was carried over to the side of the enemies of Rome. Furthermore, Philip V. of Macedonia, who, apprehensive of the growing power of Rome, had been watching with friendly interest the successes of Hannibal in Italy, now formed an alliance with him and promised him help. Had Philip acted energetically and brought promptly to Hanni- bal the relief promised and expected, the war might have taken a very different turn from what it did, and the whole course of the world's history have been chano-ed. THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, 73 113. Hannibal in Winter Quarters at Capua. — After the battle of Canncxs Hannibal marched into Campania and quartered his army for the winter in the luxurious city of Capua, which, as we have noticed (par. 112), had opened its gates to him. Here he allowed his soldiers to rest and to recover from the fatigue of the most arduous campaign that any army had endured since the marches and cam- paigns of Alexander the Great in Asia. But there is always danger in relaxation after excessive toil. Hannibal's soldiers, according to Livy, were fatally enervated both in body and mind by the influences of this Sybarite capital. The winter was spent by them in a round of feasting, drinking, bathing, and indulgences of all kinds, so that almost every trace of martial vigor and discipline was lost. It is the opinion of persons versed in the art of war, adds the historian, that Hannibal, in tak- ing up his winter quarters in Capua, committed a greater error than when he neglected to march upon Rome after the battle of Cannai.^ 114. The Fall Of Syracuse (212 RC.).- While Hannibal was resting and awaiting reinforcements, Rome was putting forth every etfort and straining every resource in raising and equipping new levies to take the place of the legions lost at C^annct, The first task to be undertaken was the chastisement of Syracuse for its desertion of the Roman alliance (par. 112). The distinguished Roman general, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, called "the Sword of Rome," was intrusted with this commission. In the year 214 B.C., he laid siege tO the city. ^ xxiii. 18. 174 ROME AS A REPUBLIC, Syracuse was at this time one of the largest and richest cities of the Grecian world. Its walls were strong, and enclosed an area eighteen miles in circuit. P'or three years it held out against the Roman forces. It is said that Archimedes, the great mathematician, rendered valuable aid to the besieged with curious and powerful engines con- trived by his genius. But the city fell at last, and was given over to sack and pillage (2 i 2 w.^:.). Rome was adorned with the masterpieces of Grecian art that for centuries had been accumulating in the city, one of the oldest and most renowned of the colonies of ancient Hellas. Syracuse never recovered from the blow inflicted upon it at this time by the relentless Romans. 115. The Fall of Capua (211 i;.c.). — Capua- must next be punished for opening its gates and extending its hos- pitalities to the enemies of Rome. A line of circumvalla- tion was drawn about the city, and two Roman armies held it in close siege. Hannibal, ever faithful to his allies and friends, hastened to the relief of the Capuans. Unable to break the enemy's lines, he marched directly upon Rome, as if to make an attack upon that city, hoping thus to draw off the legions about Capua to the defence of the capital. The *' dread Hannibal " himself rode alongside the walls of the hated city, and, tradition says, even hurled a defiant lance against one of the gates. The Romans certainly were trembling with fear; yet Livy tells how they mani- fested their confidence in their affairs by selling at public auction the land upon which Hannibal was encamped. He in turn, in the same manner, disposed of the shops fronting 2 Before its defection, Capua was one of those cities which enjoyed Casritan rights (par. 73). THE SECOND PUNIC WAP. 175 the forum. The story is that there were eager purchasers in both cases. Failing to draw the legions from Capua as he had hoped Hann.bai now retired from before Rome, and, retreating into the southern part of Italy, abandoned C'apua tO its fate. It soon feU, and paid the penalty that Rome never failed to inflict upon an unfaithful ally. The chief men of the city were put to death, and a large part of the inhab- itants sold as slaves (211 b.c.). The privilege of local self- government was taken away from the community, and the whole Capuan district reduced practically tO the servlIe condition of a province beyond the seas. 116. The First Macedonian War (215-206 B.C.).— At the same time that the Romans were meting out punishment to Syracuse and to Capua for their disloyalty, they were cajry- ing on operations against Philip, king of Macedonia, who, after his alliance with Hannibal (par. 112), had attacked the cities either belonging to the Roman state or under its protection on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. They easily persuaded the yJ^:tolians (par. 127) to aid them ; but after they had once got them enlisted in the enterprise, they left them to prosecute It with their own resources. The Romans, indeed, were too much engaged in watching Hannibal and in prosecuting their mditary operations at home to give much attention to outside affairs. Consequently, the ^:toHans, becoming weary of the Struggle, concluded a peace with Philip in the year 206 B.C., and the following year the Roman senate also entered Philip V. op MaCED(JNIA. 1/6 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. into a treaty with him. The contest thus ended without any practical results, save that of deterring Philip from openly taking any further part in the Hannibaiic war. 117. Hasdrubal in Spain. — During all the years Hannibal was waging war in Italy, his brother Hasdrubal was carrying on a desperate struggle with the Romans in Spain. His plan was to gather and lead an army into Italy to the aid of his brother. This the Romans made every effort to prevent. Hence, even while Hannibal was threatening Rome itself, we find the senate sending its best legions and generals across the sea into Spain. But Hasdrubal possessed much of the martial genius of his brother, and proved more than a match for the Scipios who commanded the Roman levies. Yet the fortunes of war were more fickle here than in Italy. At one time the Cartha<^inians were almost driven out of the peninsula ; and then the whole was regained by the genius of Has- drubal, and the two Scipios^ were slain. Another Roman army, under the command of l^iblius Cornelius Scipio, was sent to retrieve these disasters and to keep Hasdrubal engaged. The war was renewed, but without decisive results on either side, and Hasdrubal determined to leave its conduct to others, and go to the relief of his brother, who was sadly in need of aid, for the calamities of war were constantly thinning his ranks. Like Pyrrhus, he had been brought to realize that even constant victories won by the loss of soldiers that could not be replaced meant final defeat (par. 82). 118. Battle of the Metaurus (207 p..c.). — Hasdrubal fol- 8 Publius and (Inzeus Scipio, brothers. Publius Cornelius Scipio, men- tioned just below, was the son of Publius Scipio. THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 177 lowed the same route that had been taken by his brother Hannibal, and in the year 207 b.c. descended from the Alps upon the plains of Northern Italy. Thence he advanced southward, while Hannibal moved northward from Bruttium to meet him. Rome made a last effort to ward off the double danger. One hundred and forty thousand men were put into the field. One of the consuls, Oaius Claudius Nero, was to obstruct Hannibal's march ; while the other, Marcus I^ivius, was to oppose Hasdrubal in the north. The great effort of the Roman generals was to prevent the junction of the armies of the two brothers. Hasdrubal pressed on southward and crossed the Metau- rus. From here he sent a message to Hannibal, appoint- in^^ a meeting-place only two days' march from Rome. The messenger fell into the hands of the consul Nero. In a moment Nero's plan was formed. With seven thousand picked soldiers he hastened northward, to join the other consul and, with their united forces, to crush Hasdrubal before his brother should know of the movement. In a few days Nero reached the camp of his colleague Livius, in front of which lay the Carthaginian army. As the soldiers of Nero entered the camp of his associate in the night, Hasdrubal knew nothing of their arrival until the next morning, when he observed that the trumpet sounded twice from the enemy's camp. Fearing to risk a battle, he attempted to fall back across the Metaurus. Misled by his guides, he was forced to turn and give battle to the pursuing Romans. His army was entirely destroyed, and he himself was slain (207 B.C.). Nero now hurried back to face Hannibal, bearing with 178 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. him the head of Hasdrubal. This bloody trophy he caused to be hurled into the Carthaginian camp. Upon recog- nizing the features of his brother, Hannibal, it is said, exclaimed sadly, "Carthage, I behold thy doom!" 119. The Romans carry the War into Africa; Battle of Zama (202 B.C.). — The defeat and death of Hasdrubal gave a different aspect to the war. Hannibal now drew back into the rocky peninsula of Bruttium, the southernmost point of Italy. There he faced the Romans like a lion at bay. No one dared attack him. It was resolved to carry the war into Africa, in hopes that the C^arthaginians would be forced to call their great commander out of Italy to the defence of Carthage. Publius Cornelius Scipio, who after the departure of Hasdrubal from Spain (par. 117) had quickly brought the peninsula under the power of Rome,"* led the army of invasion. He had not been long in Africa before the Carthaginian senate sent for Hannibal to con- duct the war. At Zama, not far from Carthage, the hostile armies met. Fortune had deserted Hannibal ; he was fight- ing against fate. He here suffered his first and final defeat. His army, in which were many of the veterans that had served through all his Italian campaigns, was almost anni- hilated (202 B.C.). 120. The Close of the War (201 b.c.). — Carthage was now completely exhausted, and sued for peace. Even Han- nibal himself could no longer counsel war. The terms of the treaty were much severer than those imposed upon the * A few years later, in 197 B.C., the country was made into two prov- inces which bore the names of //is/>ania Citerior, or " Nearer Spain," and Hispania Ulterior, or " Farther Spain." The number of pra;tors (par. 7 1 ) was at the same time raised to six. THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, 179 city at the end of the First Punic War (par. 95). She was required to give up all claims to Spain and the islands of the Mediterranean ; to surrender her war elephants, and all her ships of war save ten galleys ; to pay an indemnity of four thousand talents ^ at once,and two hundred talents annually for fifty years ; and notjunder any circumstances, to make war upon an ally of Rome. Five hundred of the costly Phoenician war-galleys were towed out of the harbor of Carthage and burned in full sight of the citizens. Such was the end of the Hannibalic War, as called by the Romans, the most des- perate struggle ever main- tained by rival powers for empire. Scipio was accorded a grand triumph at Rome, and in honor of his achieve- ments given the surname Africanus. 121. Effects of the War on Italy. — Italy never entirely recovered from the calamitous effects of the Hannibalic War. During its long continuance the Roman state was almost drained of its young men of military age. Three hundred thousand Roman citizens are said to have been slain in battle, and four hundred towns and hamlets actu- ally swept out of existence. *As a punishment for joining 5 About $5,000,000. Our authorities differ as to the exact amount of this indemnity. Publius Cornelius Scipio (Africanus). (From a bust in the Museum at Najiles.) 1 80 KOMt: AS A KErCTBLIC. tj^aaA ; c the invaders, Rome herself had destroyed many cities be- lonsrin^ to her allies and turned their territories into waste land. Agriculture in some districts was almost ruined. The peasantry had been torn from the soil and driven within the walled towns. The slave class had increased, and the estates of the great landowners had constantly grown in size, and absorbed the little holdings of the ruined peasants. In thus destroying the Italian peasantry, Hannibal's invasion and long occupancy of the peninsula did very much to aggravate all those economic evils which even before this time were at work undermining the earlier sound industrial life of the Romans, and filling Italy with a numerous and dangerous class of homeless and discon- tented men. References. — White's Appian, vol. i., /'orei^n Wars, bk. vii. chaps, i.-ix., for operations in Italy ; bk. viii. chaps, ii.— ix , for operations in Africa; and bk. vi. chaps, ii.-vii., for operations in Spain. PLUTARCH, Lives of ** Fabiiis Maxim us and ** Marcclliis. Li v Y, xxi-xxx. Poly b- lUS : the references are numerous ; the student should consult Index in Shuckburgh's edition. Ihne (W.), History of Konie, vol. ii. bk. iv. chaps, viii.-lx. pp. 143-484. MoMMSEN (T.), History of Rome, vol. ii. bk. ill. chaps, iv.-vi. pp. 103-229. Arnold (T.), ** History of Rom c^ haps, xliii.-xlvii. These chapters are generally regarded as the best account ever written of the Second Punic War. The death of the \ author broke off the narrative just three years before the battle of Zama. ^loRRis (W. O.), Hannibal (Heroes of the Nations). Dudge (T. A.), '^Hannibal ((ireat Captains), chap, xliii. pp. 613-641, "The Man and the Soldier"; and chap. xliv. pp. 642, 653, " Hannibal and Alexander." Smith (R. B.), Carthage and the Carthaginians, and Rome and Carthage. Mahan (A. T.), The Influence of Sea Power upon History, x^"^. 14-21. Creasy (E. S.), ** Decisive Battles _^ tjie World s chap, iv., "The Battle of the Metaurus, 207 B.C." CHAPTER X. EVENTS BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THE THIRD PUNIC WAR: COKQUKST OF THE EAST BY ROME. (201-146 B.C.) 122. Introductory. — The termsMmposed upon Carthage at the end of the Second Punic War left Rome mistress of the Western Mediterranean. During the eventful half century that elapsed between the close of that struggle and the breaking out of the last Funic war, her authority became supreme also in the Kastem seas. In another connection," while narrating the fortunes of the most important states into which the great empire of Alexander was broken at his death, we followed their several histories until one after another they fell beneath the arms of Rome, and were successively absorbed into her growing domin- ions. We shall therefore in this place speak of these states only in the briefest manner, simply indicating the connec- tion of their affairs with the series of events which mark the advance of Rome to universal empire. 123. General Condition of the East at the Beginning of the Second Century B.C. — In the year 323 B.C. Alexander the Great, after having, through a series of unparalleled cam- paigns, established an empire that stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus, died at Babylon at the premature ^ IMory of Greece^ chap, xxvii. pj). 436-469. iSi l82 HOME AS A REPUBLIC. age of thirty-two years, and left his immense dominions to become the prey of rival aspirants for his place. For our present purpose we need not follow the century and more of wars and intrigues, of divisions and redivisions of territories, that followed. It will be sufficient if we notice what was the situation of things at the period, say about 200 P..C., to which we have now brought our account of the affairs of the Western Mediterranean. At this time there were in the East three monarchical states, Macedonia, Syria, and Kgypt, and three leagues of Greek cities or tribes, whose histories were destined soon to become merged with the history of Rome. 124. Macedonia. — The first of the monarchical states, Macedonia, had already had relations with Rome (par. 116). It possessed at this period about the limits it had when Alexander the Great came to the throne, and before he had made it the nucleus of a world empire. Its kings claimed and exercised suzerainty over a great part of the cities of continental Greece. Their garrisons held the chief strategic positions in the land. The throne was now filled by Philip V., — the same who after the battle of Cannae formed an alliance with Carthage (par. 112), — an am- bitious and able, but unscrupulous, man. The people over whom he ruled still retained that love of war and aptitude for it which had distinguished them in the days of ThHip II. and Alexander. So far as their soldierly qualities went, they were the Romans of the East. But neither they nor their rulers had any capacity for civil affairs. 125. Syria or Asia. — Syria or Asia, the dominion of the Seleucidai," was, in the words of the historian Mommsen, ' So called from Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander's generals, and the founder of the dynasty (312 i?.c.). CONQUEST OF THE EAST BY ROME. 183 "nothing but Persia superftcially remodelled and Hellen- ized." Its kings claimed that their dominion represented the Graico-Fersian empire of Alexander, and the more energetic and ambitious among them were stirred by the memories and traditions of that empire to put forth efforts for its restoration. This will find illustration in the his- tory of the reign of Antiochus the Great, who at this time held the throne, and whose ambitious plans of conquest it was that brought the monarchy, as we shall see, in fatal collision with Rome. 12O. Egypt. — The third monarchical state was Kgypt. Its ruler at this time was rtolemy V. (205-181 b.c). its capital, Alexandria, was the intellectual centre of the Hel- lenistic East. But what made Egypt an important factor in the political complications of the Mediterranean world, and its affairs a matter of serious concern to Rome, was the fact that now, as in the days of the Pharaohs, it was one of the chief corn-producing countries of the East, and the centre as well of great general commercial and trading interests. 127. Leagues of Greek Cities. ^ — The three leagues of Greek tribes and cities which were at this period exer- cising an important influence upon the Hellenistic East, were the .^^tolian, the Achaean, and the Rhodian. These leagues had been called into existence among the Greek cities by the common dangers to which they were all sub- jected by the monarchical states, particularly Macedonia and Syria, which, hemming them in on every side, cramped their energies and encroached upon their independence. The .Etolian league was formed about 280 b.c. It was made up for the most part of the half-civilized, predatory I 84 ROM£: AS A K^irC/BLIC. CONQUEST OF THE EAST BV ROME. 185 tribes of Central Greece. It was animated by an intense hatred of Macedonia. The Achaan league had sprung into importance only after the great days of Greece were already past. It was the most promising of all the attempts ever made among the Greek cities to form a true federal union. It came in time to embrace all the cities within the PelopOniieSUS aS well as some outside its limits. It was, at the time which we have now reached, dependent upon Macedonia, and Macedonian garrisons were established in all the chief cities of the confederacy. The third league, the Rhodian, was formed by a large number of the Greek islands and coast cities of the Pro- pontis and the .^.gean, — a union of cities that Mommsen likens to the Hanseatic league of the Middle Ages. At its head stood Rhodes, whose leadership rested not so much upon her military or naval strength as upon her wealth and her wide commercial relations, for she had in her hands a chief part of the carrying trade of the Eastern Mediter- ranean. Rhodes was also something more than a great trade emporium. After Alexandria, the city was the most important centre of culture in the Hellenistic world. Her schools of rhetoric and oratory were already celebrated, and the lecture rooms of her teachers were soon to be crowded with the youth of the leading families of Rome. 128. Minor States. — Besides these great states and leagues there were a number of smaller states — and among them particularly Fergamus, Bithynia, and Pontus — which had arisen out of the break-up of the Persian-Alexandrian empire, and which were destined to play more or less important parts in the drama now opening ; but respecting these countries and their rulers it will be best for us to defer notice until the moment when they severaUy come into contact or definite relations with Rome. What has been said will give the reader some idea at least of the condition, at the beginning of the second century b.c., of that Hellen- istic world, on the threshold of which the Roman legions were now standing. It was a fine field for Roman diplo- macy and Roman arms. 129. The Second Macedonian War (200-197 B.C.) ; the Battle of Cynoscephalae (197 b.c). ^ Rome came first into collision with the Macedonian power. There were various causes which led Rome to renew her earlier war with Philip (par. 116). Chief among these was the alliance which he had formed with Antiochus of Syria, for the partition of the possessions of the king of Egypt. The success of this partitioning enterprise meant the actual possession, or at least the control, by Philip, of all the Greek commercial cities of the .^^^gean Sea and on the adjacent Asian shore, together with Cyrene, and the substitution of Macedonia for Egypt in the vast trading and mercantile affairs of the Eastern Mediterranean. But Rome was vitally concerned in the grain trade of Egypt and that of the Black Sea, now largely in the hands of the shippers and merchants of Rhodes, and so could not look on listlessly while Philip was prosecuting schemes the success of which must necessarily injure the Italian trade, and place Italy, as to a large part of her food supply, at the mercy of an enemy. It was the situation thus created which made war between Rome and Macedonia inevitable. The immediate cause of the war was Philip's attack, in pursuance of the plan formed with Antiochus, upon the 1 86 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. Greek cities. In the course of his aggressions, he found a pretext for attacking Athens. Now Athens was under the protection of Rome. The Romans straightway declared war.^ This, in the judgment of the historian Mommsen, was "one of the most righteous wars which the city ever waged." ^ An army under Flamininus was sent into Greece, and on the plains of Cynoscephala?, in Thessaly, the Roman legion demonstrated its superiority over the unwieldy Macedonian phalanx by subjecting Philip to a most disastrous defeat (197 iJ.c). The king was forced to give up all his con- quests, and the Greek cities that had been brought into subjection to Macedonia were declared free. Flamininus read the edict of emancipation to the Greeks assembled at Corinth for the celebration of the Isthmian o-ames. The decree was received with the greatest enthusi- asm and rejoicing, and Flamininus was called by the grate- ful Greeks the Restorer of Greek liberties. Unfortunately the Greeks had lost all capacity for freedom and self-gov- ernment, and the anarchy into which their affairs soon fell afforded the Romans an excuse for extending their rule overall Greece (par. 135). 130. War against Antiochus III. of Syria (192-189 B.C.) ; the Battle of Magnesia (190 B.C.). — Antiochus the Great, of Syria, had at this time not only made important conquests in Asia Minor, but had even carried his arms into Europe. s The Romans had still other grounds of complaint against Philip. He had attacked Attalus, king of Pergamxxs, who since the first Mace- donian war had stood in the relation of friend and ally to the Roman people, rhilip was further believed to have secreUy given the Cartha- ginians aid at the battle of Zama (par. 119). 9 Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. ii. p. 272. CONQUEST OF THE EAST BY ROME. 187 He was at this moment in Greece. The object of his pres- ence in these regions, he declared, was to give liberty to the Greek cities. But the Greeks, as Plutarch remarks, were In no need of a liberator, since they had just been delivered from the Macedonians by the Romans (par. 129). Coin of Antiochus the Grkat. Just as soon as intelligence was carried to Italy that the Syrian king was in Greece, at the head of an army, the legions of the republic were set in motion. Some reverses caused Antiochus to retreat in haste across the Hellespont into Asia, whither he was followed by the Romans, led by Sclpio, a brother of Afrlcanus. At Magnesia, Antiochus was overthrown, and a large part of Asia Minor fell into the hands of the Romans (190 i?.c.). Not yet prepared to maintain provinces so remote from the Tiber, the senate conferred the new terri- tory, with the exception of Lycia and Caria, which were given to the Rhodians, upon their friend and ally, Eumenes, king of Pergamus. This "Kingdom of Asia," as it was called, was really nothing more than a dependency of Rome, and its nominal ruler only a puppet king in the hands of the Roman senate. Scipio enjoyed a magnificent triumph at Rome, and, in I88 ROME AS A RJLrUBLIC. COJVQC//£ST O/^^ T///-: Z^AST BY KOxMH. 189 accordance with a custom that had now become popular with successful generals, erected a memorial of his deeds in his name by assuming the title of Asiaticus. 131. The Thirdi Macedonian War (i 71-168 B.C.) ; the Battle of Pydna (168 B.C.). — In a few years Macedonia, under the leadership of Perseus, son of Philip V., was again in arms and offering defiance to Rome ; but In the year 168 B.C. the Roman consul, .-Emilius Paulus, crushed the Macedonian power forever upon the memorable tield of Pydna. Twenty-two years later (in 146 B.C.), the country was organized as a Roman province. The great part which Macedonia as an independent state had played In history was ended. It became tributary to Rome, and so large was the stream of tribute that now began to pour into the treasury of the city from this and other subjugated countries that the land tax, hitherto paid by Roman citizens, was done away with (167 B.C.), and was not resorted to again until the evil days which marked the approaching end of the republic. But the battle of Pydna constitutes a great landmark not simply in the history of Macedonia; it forms a land- mark in universal history as well. It was one of the deci- sive battles fought by the Romans in their struggle for the dominion of the world, l^he last great power in the East was here broken.' The Roman senate was henceforth 1 For the Second Macedonian War, see par. i 29. 2 Mithradates the Clreat had not yet appeared to dispute with Rome the sovereignty of the Orient (par. 168). Perseus of Macedonia. recognized by the whole civilized w^orld as the source and fountain of supreme political wisdom and authority. We shall have yet to record many campaigns of the Roman legions ; but these, if we except the campaigns against the Pontic king Mithradates the Great, were efforts to sup- press revolt among dependent or semi-vassal states, or were expeditions aimed at barbarian tribes that skirted the Roman dominions. 132. The Fate of Hannibal and of Scipio. — Among the many events that crowded the brief period we are review- ing, we must not fail to notice the fate of the two great actors in the Hannibalic war. Soon after the battle of Zama, and the treaty between Carthage and Rome (par. 119), Hannibal was chosen to the chief magistracy of the former city. In this position he introduced much-needed reform into every department of the government, and secured to the capital a period of prosperity and rapid growth. But his measures stirred up not only enmity at home, but jealousy at Rome. The Roman senate, fearing Hannibal as a statesman as much as they dreaded him as a general, demanded of the Carthaginians his surrender. While they were deliberating whether to give up their great commander, Hannibal fled across the sea, and found an asylum at the court of Antiochus the Great, who gave him a command in his army. Upon the defeat of Antiochus at Magnesia (par. 130), the Romans demanded that Hannibal should be given up to them. Again the exile fled from his implacable foes, and at last found a refuge with the prince of Bithynia. Yet even there Roman hatred pursued him. It seemed as though there was no spot in all the world where the arm of 190 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. Rome did not reach. His new friend could not shield him ; and, determined not to fall Into the hands of hlS enemies, Hannibal took his own life by means of poison, and died faithful to his vow of eternal hatred to the Roman race (about 183 B.C.). Almost equally bitter was the cup which the ungrateful Romans pressed to the lips of the conqueror of Hannibal. After the battle of Zama, Scipio Africanus turned to poli- tics, but soon raised about himself a perfect storm of unmerited abuse and persecution. Leaving Rome, he went into a sort of voluntary exile at his country seat near Liter- num, in Campania. He died about the same time that witnessed the death of Hannibal. Upon his tomb was placed this inscription, which he himself had dictated: "Ungrateful country, thou shalt not possess even my ashes." 133. The Achaean War and the Destruction of Corinth (146* B.C.). — During the third war between Rome and Mace- donia, which ended with the battle of Fydna (par. 131), the cities of the Achaean league, had shown themselves luke- warm in their friendship for Rome. Consequently, after that battle the Romans collected a thousand of the chief citizens of these confederated cities and transported them to Italy, where they were held for seventeen years as hos- ta"-e prisoners for the good conduct of their countrymen at home. Among these exiles was the celebrated historian Polybius, who wrote an account of all these events which we are now narrating, and which mark the advance of Rome to the sovereignty of the world. At the end of the period named, the Roman senate, in an indulgent mood, gave the survivors permission to return CONQUEST OF THE EAST BY ROME. 191 home. They went back inflamed by hatred towards Rome, and became active in the cities of the league in stirring up feeling against her. In Corinth particularly the people displayed the most unreasonable and vehement hostility towards the Romans. They refused to listen to the envoys that the senate had sent to reason with them, and in a tumultuous assembly endorsed with assenting plaudits one of their speakers when he declared that the Greeks wanted *' the Romans as friends but not as masters." The league even went so far as to make war on Sparta, in spite of the protest of a Roman embassy. There could be but one issue of this foolish conduct, and that was war with Rome. This came in the year 147 n.c. The management of the campaign soon fell to the consul Lucius Mummius. He inflicted upon the Achaean army a decisive defeat just outside the walls of Corinth. The city feh into his hands without further resistance. In obedience to the commands of the Roman senate, Mummius destroyed the place utterly. The men were killed, and the women and children sold Into slavery. The city was sacked, and the booty, much of it, sold on the spot at public auction. Numerous works of art, invalu- able statues and paintings, with which the city was crowded, were laid aside to be transported to Rome. But a large part of the rich art treasures of the city must have been destroyed by the rude and unappreclative soldiers- Polyb- ius, who was an eyewitness of the sack of the city, himself saw groups of soldiers using priceless paintings as boards on which to play their games of dice.^ ^xxxix. 13. 192 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. It is further told of Mummius, as illustrating how far behind the Greeks their conquerors were in all matters per- taining to the finer side of life, that in the contracts which he made for the transportation of the statues and paintings to Italy, he inserted a clause to the effect that if any of the pieces were lost at sea, they should be replaced.^ The city, emptied of its inhabitants, despoiled of its riches, and denuded of its works of art, was given up to the flames, its walls were levelled, and the very ground on which the city had stood was accursed. Thus fell the brilliant city of Corinth, "the eye of Hellas," as Cicero called it, the " last precious ornament of the Grecian land once so rich in cities." The consul Mummius enjoyed a splendid triumph. "Never before nor after," says the historian Long, " waS such a display of Grecian art carried in triumphal proces- sion through the streets of Rome." 134. Why Corinth was destroyed. — Corinth was dealt with in this harsh way — harsh and cruel even for the times in which these things were done — not simply because the Corinthian mob had insulted a Roman embassy. A new spirit was beginning to rule the Roman senate and to dictate the policies of Rome — a mercantile spirit, a spirit narrow, selfish, and jealous. The Roman merchants, trad- ers, and speculators were coming to be the power behind the throne at the capital — as is often the case in modern senates. Corinth was the commercial rival of Rome. It was this that at least contributed to her ruin. Delos in * Momnisen thinks that this may all be true, but yet that the clause in question was simply the formal contract-provision covering all the articles consigned to the carriers. COJVQUEST OF THE EAST BY ROME. 193 the ^gean became the heir of her trade and prosperity and grew into a place of great commercial importance. 135. How " Ruin averted Ruin " from Greece. — After the destruction of Corinth, Greece, under the name of Ac/midy was reduced to the status of a province and joined to Macedonia. Rome carried out here her usual policy of " divide and rule '*'' {jirrii/c ct itnpera). The Acha-an and other Greek confederacies were dissolved, and the cities were taught to lean upon Rome and not upon each other. Their democratic constitutions were set aside, and coun- cils were appointed which were made up of members chosen from the aristocratic and wealthy class. Each city was required to pay a certain tribute into the Roman treasury. Under the Roman rule a moderate degree of prosperity seems for a time to have returned to the Grecian land ; for before the coming of the Romans the Greeks, through their interminable feuds and wars, had fallen into a most pitiable condition and reduced their country almost to a desert. They had become utterly unfit for self-government. Public and private virtue had almost disappeared. The land was filled with bandits, even the cities, as cities, turned robbers and plundered each other. The population daily grew less, and the land seemed in danger of becom- ing wholly empty of inhabitants. The historian Tolybius seems at a loss to find words to express his indignation at the foolish and wicked conduct of his fellow-countrymen, and evidently is in utter despair of their ever coming to behave in a reasonable manner and to make a rational use of liberty. This will explain what he means by quoting the proverb, '* Had we not perished quickly we had not 194 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. ■-! = been saved/" The Romans, he means, had saved his countrymen from themselves. And yet the salvation which the Romans brought to the Greeks does not seem to have been a very great salvation. Public and private life, which had already sunk so low, declined to a still lower level. Greece never became more than a shadow of her former self. Her great days, like those of Macedonia, had passed away forever. When the celebrated traveller Pausanias, in the second century of our era, made a tour of Greece, he found everywhere unroofed temples, neglected shrines, and the ruins of once larcre and flourishing cities. Evidently ruin had averted ruin only for a time. 136. The General Effect upon Rome of her Conquest of the East. — In entering Greece the Romans had entered the homeland of Greek culture, with which they had first come in close contact in Magna Gni^cia a century earlier (par. ^2). This culture was, in many respects, vastly superior to their own, and for this reason it exerted a profound influence upon life and thought at Rome. Many among the Romans seemed to have conceived a sudden contempt for everything Roman, as something provincial and old- fashioned, and as suddenly to have become infatuated with everything Greek. Greek manners and customs, Greek modes of education, and Greek literature and philosophy became the fashion at Rome, so that Roman society Seemed 5 xxxix. 2. This proverb has ])een attributed to the Athenian The- mistocles, who, having been exiled, found life as a Persian courtier so pleasant that he on one occasion felicitated himself and his friends in these words : " How much we should have lost had we not been ruined ! " CONQUEST OF THE EAST BY ROME. 195 in a fair way of becoming Hellenized. And to a certain degree this did take place : Greece captive led enthralled her captor. So many and so important were the elements of Greek culture which in the process of time were taken up and absorbed by the Romans, that there ceased to be such a thing in the world as a pure Latin civilization. We recognize this intimate blending of the cultures of the two great peoples of classical antiquity by always speaking of the civilization of the later Roman empire as Gra^co- Roman. But along wdth the many helpful elements of culture which the Romans received from the Hellenized lands of the Kast which their arms had opened up, they received also many germs of great social and moral evils. Life in Greece and the Orient had become degenerate and corrupt. Close communication with this society, in union with other influences which we shall notice later, corrupted life at Rome. The simplicity and frugality of the earlier times were replaced by oriental extravagance, luxury, and dissoluteness. Evidences of this decline in the moral life of the Romans, the presage of the downfall of the republic, will inultiply as we advance in the history of the years following the destruction of Corinth. 137. Cato the Censor. — One of the most noted of all the Romans was Marcus Porcius Cato (232-147 B.C.), sur- named the Censor. His active life covered the whole of the long period the important events of which we have just been narrating, and which makes up the interval between the Second and the Third Punic War. Indeed, Cato as a young man fought in the Hannibalic war, and as an old counsellor did more than any other one to bring on the 196 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. third war, which resulted in the destruction of (^arthage. His life is a sort of mirror in which is reflected the life of three generations at Rome. Cato was born the son of a peasant at Tusculum, in Latium. From his father he received as an inheritance a scanty farm in the Sabine country. Near by were the cot- ta<^e and farm of the celebrated Roman commander Manius Curius Dentatus, one of the popular heroes of the Samnite wars, of whom tradition related that, when the Samnites on one occasion sought to bribe him, they found him cook- ing turnips, and wanting nothing that they could give him. This worthy old Roman Cato took as his model. Cato's house was small, with the rooms unwhitewashed. His dress was the plainest possible, his diet was simple, and his expenditures were frugal. He arose before it was light and worked along with his servants in the fields, and afterwards ate with them their slender meal. This simplicity of the home life of Cato, as in the case of so many other typical Romans of the earlier times, attracts and interests us for the reason that it forms the background of a public life of great force, prominence, and influence. Life at Rome, as in all the other great cities of Italy and Greece, was many-sided. Men were not special- ists then as they are now. A great man was almost sure to be great in many fields— as a soldier, as a statesman, and as a man of letters. Cato was no exception to this rule. His military record was a brilliant one. As a young man of seventeen he served, as we have already noticed, in the Second Punic War ; he commanded with ability an army in Spain ; and in the war with Antiochus the Great (par. 130) he rendered at the battle of Thermopylae services CONQUEST or THE EAST BY ROME. 197 that his superior declared could never be properly rewarded by the Roman people. In civil life Cato was the most noted of all the Romans of his times. He served the state in the very highest mag- istracies. He was consul for the year 193 p,.c., and in the year 184 the people, notwithstanding the bitter opposition of those who had reason to fear him in the censorship, elected him censor. It was what he did in this capacity that perhaps gave him the best title to the grateful remem- brance of his countrymen. Cato came to this office at a time when life at Rome was losing its earlier simplicity, and was becoming etTeminate and corrupt. He strove to stem the rising tide of luxury by causing to be taxed heavily carriages, personal ornaments, and furniture which exceeded w^hat he deemed a reasonable value. He watched closely the public contracts for the erection of buildings and the prosecution of other state works. He expelled from the senate Lucius Quintius Flamininus, brother of the famous victor at CynoscephaLx (par. 129), for having caused a man — one, however, who had forfeited his life — to be beheaded at a banquet, just to please a favorite boy who was lamenting because he had never seen a man killed in the gladiatorial games. He also expelled another sena- tor for kissing his wife in the presence of his daughter. As we have seen (par. 136), at just this time Greek ideas and customs were being introduced at Rome. Cato set his face like a flint against all these innovations. He did everything in his power to cast discredit and contempt upon everything Greek. He visited Athens and made a speech to the people; but instead of addressing the Athe- nians in their own language, which he could speak well 198 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. enough, he talked to them in Latin, simply in order, Plu- tarch says, to rebuke those of his countrymen who affected to regard the Greek language as better than the Roman. He told the Romans that Greek education and Greek liter- ature and philosophy would bring their country to ruin. He refused to allow his little son to be taught by a Greek slave, as was coming to be the custom in the leading Roman families, but he himself attended carefully to the education of the boy. Cato spent much of his time in the courts, for he was a good pleader. Most of the cases in which he was interested were cases that concerned his friends and clients. But Cato had many cases of his own, for he was constantly prosecuting somebody or being prosecuted. He is said to have been brought into court fifty times for alleged misuse of authority or on other charges, suggested usually by per- sonal resentment. In every case he was acquitted. One of the most unattractive, and, indeed, to us, repel- lent, sides of Cato's character is revealed in his treatment of his slaves. He looked upon them precisely as so much live stock, raising them and disposing of them just as though ^ they were cattle. When a slave became old or worn-out he sold him, and recommended such a course to others on the ground of its economy. But notwithstanding all of Cato's faults and shortcom- ings— for he was narrow, parsimonious, litigious, irritable, resentful, and in some relations unfeeling — still his char- acter was, according to Roman ideals, noble and admirable, and his life and services, especially those which he rendered the state as censor, were approved and appreciated by his feUow-citizens, who set up in his honor a statue in the COATQUEST OE THE EAST BY ROME. 199 temple of Health {Hygeia) with this inscription: "This statue was erected to Cato because when Censor, finding the state of Rome corrupt and degenerate, he, by introdu- cing wise regulations and virtuous discipline, restored it."^ Rkferences. — White's Aitian, vol. i., Foreign Wars, bk. xi. chaps, i.-vii., for the war with Antiochus the Great. Plutarch, Lives of Titus Flamininus^ Aimilius^ and Marcus Cato. Ihne (W.), History of Rome, vol. iii. bk. v. chaps, i.-iv. pp. 3-319. Polybius, xxxviii. 3-1 1 ; xxxix. 7-17. MoMMSEN (T.), ** History of Rome ^ vol. ii. chap. viii. pp. 254-265 ; on the condition of the Hellenistic East at the beginning of the Second Macedonian War. Mahaffy (J. P.), ** The Greek World under Roman Sway, chap, ii., " The Immediate Effects of the Roman Conquest upon Hellenism." Ibid., Greek Life and lyiought from the Age of Alexander to the Roman Conquest. Read chap, xxii., " Polybius and his Age." Gardner (P.), New Chapters in Greek History, chap, xv., " The Successors of Alexander and Greek Civilization in the East," for a study of the life and culture of the Hellenistic world that is soon to becomt; a part of the Roman empire. Frp:eman (E. A.), History of Federal Go7'ernment (new edition, 1893), chaps, v.-ix. ; for the history of the Achaean and ^^tolian Leagues. Also the same author's Three Chief Periods of European History, Lee. I. pp. 1-38, ^' Europe before the Roman Power." Myers (P. V. N.), History of Greece, chap, xxvii. pp. 456—469, ♦' The Graeco-Oriental Wodd from the Death of Alexander to the Conquest of Greece ])y the Romans." 6 Plutarch, Life of Cato, c. 29. CHAPTER XL THE THIRD PUNIC AND NUMANTINE WARS. Section L— The Third Punic War (149-146 I'-^O' 138. *' Carthage should be destroyed.** — The same year that Rome destroyed Corinth (par. 133), she also blotted her crreat rival Carthage from the face of the earth. It will be recalled that one of the conditions imposed upon the last-named city at the close of the Second Punic War was that she should, under no circumstances, engage in war with an ally of Rome (par. 120). Taking advantage of the helpless condition of Carthage, Masinissa, king of Numidia and an ally of Rome, began to make depredations upon her territories. Carthage appealed to Rome for pro- tection. The envoys sent to Africa by the senate to settle the dispute, unfairly adjudged every point in favor of the robber Masinissa. In this way Carthage was deprived of her lands and towns. Chief of one of the embassies sent out was Marcus Cato, the C:ensor. When he saw the prosperity of Carthage, — her immense trade, which crowded her harbor with ships, and the country for miles back of the city a beautiful land- scape of gardens and villas, — he was amazed at the grow- ing power and wealth of the city, and returned home convinced that the safety of Rome demanded the destruc- tion of her rival. At the conclusion of his report to the senate, he is said, as an object lesson to the senators, to 200 rilIRD PUNIC AND NUMANTINE WARS. 201 have emptied out on the floor of the chamber a quantity of large and beautiful figs, with these words : " The country where this fruit grows is only three days' sail from Rome." All of his addresses after this — no matter on what subject — he is said invariably to have closed with the declaration : " Moreover, I am of the opinion that Carthage should be destroyed." "^ 139. Roman Perfidy. — A pretext for the accomplishment of the hateful work was not long wanting. In 150 B.C. the Carthaginians, when Masinissa made another attack upon their territory, instead of calling upon Rome, from which source their experience in the past had convinced them they could hope for neither aid nor justice, gathered an army, with the resolution of defending themselves. Their forces, however, were defeated by the Numidians, and sent beneath the yoke. In entering upon this war Carthage had broken the con- ditions of the last treaty. The Carthaginian senate, in great anxiety, now sent an embassy to Italy to offer any reparation the Romans might demand. They were told that if they would give three hundred hostages, members of the noblest Carthaginian families, the independence of their city should be respected. They eagerly complied with this demand. But no sooner were these persons in the hands of the Romans than the consular armies, num- bering eighty thousand men and secured against attack by the hostages so perfidiously drawn from the Carthaginians, crossed from Sicily into Africa, and disembarked at Utica, only ten miles from Carthage. The Carthaginians were now commanded to give up all ■^ F'rcctet'ea censeo Cartha^ineni esse delendatn. 202 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. their arms. Still hoping to win their enemy to clemency, they complied with this demand also. Then the consuls made known the final decree of the Roman senate, — *'That Carthage must be destroyed, but that the inhabitants might build a new city, provided it were located ten miles from the coast." When this resolution of the senate was announced to the Carthaginians, and they realized the baseness and perfidy of their enemy, a cry of indignation and despair burst from the betrayed city. 140. The Carthaginians prepare to defend their City. — It was resolved to resist to the bitter end the execution of the cruel decree. The gates of the city were closed. Men, women, and children set to work and labored day and night manufacturing arms. The entire city vvas converted into one great workshop. The utensils of the home and the sacred vessels of the temples, statues, and vases were melted down for weapons. Material was torn from the buildings of the city for the construction of military engines. The women cut off their hair and braided it into strings for the catapults. By such labor, and through such sacrifices, the city was soon put in a state to withstand a siege. When the Romans advanced to take possession of the place, they were astonished to find the people they had just treacherously disarmed, with weapons in their hands, manning the walls of their capital, and ready to bid them defiance. 141. The Destruction of Carthage (146 b.c.). — It is im- possible for us here to give the circumstances of the siege of Carthage. For four years the city held out against the THIRD PUNIC AND NUMANTINE WARS. 203 Roman army. At length the consul Scipio ^milianus** succeeded in taking it by storm. When resistance ceased, only fifty thousand men, women, and children, out of a population of seven hundred thousand, remained to be made prisoners. The city was fired, and for seventeen days the space within the walls was a sea of flames. Every trace of building which fire could not destroy was levelled, a plough was driven over the site, and a dreadful curse invoked upon any one who should dare attempt to rebuild the city. Such was the hard fate of Carthage. Polyblus, who was an eyewitness of the destruction of the city, records the emotions of Scipio in these words: *'At the sight of the city utterly perishing amidst the flames, Scipio burst into tears, and stood long reflecting on the inevitable change which awaits cities, nations, and dynasties, one and all, as it does every one of us men. This, he thought, had befallen Ilium, once a powerful city, and the once mighty empires of the Assyrians, Medes, Persians, and that of Macedonia, lately so splendid. And unintentionally or purposely he quoted, — the words perhaps escaping him unconsciously, — 'The day shall be when holy Troy shall fall And Priam, lord of spears, and Priam's folk.'"' And on my asking him boldly (for I had been his tutor) what he meant by these words, he did not name Rome dis- tinctly, but was evidently fearing for her, from this sight of the mutability of human affairs." ^** The Carthaginian territory in Africa was made into a 8 Publius Cornelius Scipio ^Kntilianus, grandson by adoption of Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal. After his conquest of Carthage, he was known as Africanus Minor. ^ Homer, //. vi. 44S. ^^ Polybius, x.xxix. 5 [Shuckburgh's Trans.]. 204 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. Roman province, with Utica as the leading city ; and by means of traders and settlers Roman civilization was spread rapidly throughout the regions that lie between the ranges of the Atlas and the sea. 142. The Significance of Rome's Triumph over Carthage. — The triumph of Rome over Carthage may perhaps be rightly given as prominent a place in history as the triumph, more than three centuries before, of Greece over Persia. In each case Europe was saved from the threatened danger of becoming a mere dependency or extension of Asia. The Semitic Carthaginians had not the political aptitude and moral energy that characterized the Italians and the other Aryan races of Europe. Their civilization was as lacking as the Persian in potential forces of growth and expansion. Had this civilization been spread by conquest throughout Europe, the germs of political, literary, artistic, and religious life among the Aryan races of the continent might have been smothered, and the history of these peoples have been rendered as barren in political and intellectual interests as the history of the races of Eastern lands. It is these considerations which justify the giving of the battle of the Metaurus (par. 118), which marks the real turning point in the long struggle between Rome and Carthage, a place along with the battle of Marathon in the short list of the really decisive battles of the world — bat- tles which have seemingly decided the fate of races, of continents, and of civilizations.^ 1 S^ee Creasy's Decisive Battles. THIRD PUNIC AND NUMANTINE WARS. 205 Section II. — The Numantine War (143-133 b.c). 143. The Numantine War (143-133 b.c). — It is fitting that the same chapter which narrates the blotting out of Carthage in Africa should tell also the story of the destruc- tion, at the hands of the Romans, of Numantia in Spain, This was the sequel of the so-called Numantine War. The expulsion of the Carthaginians from the Spanish peninsula (par. 119) really gave Rome the control of only a small part of that country. The warlike native tribes — the Celtiberians and Lusitanians — of the North and the West were ready stubbornly to dispute with the newcomers the possession of the soil. The treachery of the Roman generals inflamed the natives to a desperate revolt under Viriathus, a Lusitanian chief, who has been compared in his character and deeds to Wallace of Scotland. Finally Scipio yEmilianus, the destroyer of Carthage, was given the chief command. He began by reforming the army, which had become shamefully dissolute. The crowds of merchants were driv^en out of the camps ; the wagons in which the effeminate soldiers were accustomed to ride were sold, and once more the Roman legions marched, instead of riding, to battle. 144. The Capture and Destruction of Numantia (133 B.C.). — With the army in proper discipline for service, Scipio reinvested Numantia, which had already withstood nine years of siege. The brave defenders numbered barely eight thousand men, while the lines of circumvallation that hedged them in were kept by sixty thousand soldiers. Famine at last gave the place into the hands of Scipio, 206 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. after almost all the inhabitants had met death either in defence of the walls or by deliberate suicide. The miser- able remnant which the ravages of battle, famine, pestilence, and despair had left alive were sold into slavery, and the city was levelled to the ground (133 b.c). The capture of Numantia was considered quite as great an achievement as the taking of Carthage. Scipio cele- brated another triumph at Rome, and to his surname ^-//>'/- canus added that of JVumantinus. 145. Spain becomes Romanized. — Though ever since the Second Punic War Spain had been regarded as forming a part of the Roman empire, still now for the first time it really became a Roman possession. Roman merchants and traders crowded into the country, and many colonies were established in different parts of the peninsula. As a result of this great influx of Italians, the laws, manners, customs, language, and religion of the con- querors were introduced everywhere, and the peninsula became in time thoroughly Romanized. Thus was laid the basis of two of the Romance nations of modern times — the Spanish and the Portuguese. References. — ** Polykius, xxxviii. i, 2 ; xxxix. 3-5. It should be remembered that Polybius here writes as an eyewitness of the scenes that he describes. Mommskn (T.), I/istory oj" Rome, vol. iii. pp. 39—57. Smith (R. B.), Carthage and the Carthaginians and Rome and Carthage. **Ihne (W.), History of Rome., vol. iii. bk. v. chap. v. pp. 320-366, for the third war with Carthage ; and chap. vi. pp. 367-407, for the Numan- tine War. CHAPTER XII. THE TERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. {133-98 B.C.) 146. Introductory. — We have now traced in broad out- lines the development of the government and institutions of republican Rome, and have told briefly the story of that wonderful career of conquest which made the little Palatine city first the mistress of Latium, then of Italy, and finally of the greater part of the Mediterranean world. It is now our less pleasant task to follow the declining fortunes of the republic through the last century of its existence. This was a period of transition and revolution. During this time many agencies were at work undermining the institutions of the republic and paving the way for the empire. What these agencies were will best be made apparent by a simple narration of the events and transac- tions that crowd this memorable period of Roman history. This narrative of the failure of popular government at Rome we shall now proceed to give in the three following chapters. It is one of the most melancholy and yet instructive passages in the records of the ancient peoples. 147. The First Servile War in Sicily (134-132 B.C.). — With the opening of this period we find a terrible struggle going on in Sicily between masters and slaves — what is known as "The First Servile War." The condition of affairs in that island was the legitimate result of the Roman 207 208 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 209 system of slavery, which was itself a chief cause of the economic and social decline of republican Rome. The captives that the Romans took in war they usually sold into servitude. The great number of prisoners furnished by their numerous conquests, and particularly by their sub- jugation of the East, had caused slaves to become a drug in the slave markets of tlie Mediterranean world. They were so cheap that masters found it more profitable to wear their slaves out by a few years of unmercifully hard labor, and then to buy others, than to preserve their lives for a longer period by more humane treatment. In case of sickness, they w^ere left to die without attention, as the expense of nursing ex- ceeded the cost of new purchases. Some Sicilian estates were worked by as many as twenty thousand slaves. That each owner might know his own, the poor creatures were branded like cattle. What makes all this the more revolting is the fact that many of these slaves were in every way the peers of their owners, and often were their superiors. The fortunes of war alone had made the one servant and the other master. A considerable portion of the estates in Sicily were simply grazing farms, their proprietors finding the raising of wool for the clothing of the Roman legions more profit- able than the cultivation of grain. The slaves that tended the flocks on these farms received from their masters neither pay, food, nor clothing. They were expected to supply their needs from the herds they tended, and by rob- bing travellers on the highways and plundering the dwell- ings of the peasants. They were well armed, and were always accompanied by fierce dogs. The magistrates dared not punish them for their misdeeds, through fear of their masters, who were all-powerful at Rome. The wretched condition of these slaves and the cruelty of their masters at last drove them to revolt. Their leader was a Syrian slave, Eunous by name, who employed gross imposture to persuade his followers of the genuineness of his call to be their deliverer. He held himself out as a prophet, and, after the way of a magician, blew lire from his mouth, and performed a variety of similar wonderful tricks. He styled himself King Antiochus, and surrounded himself with a sort of court, formed upon an oriental model. The insurrection spread throughout the island, until two hundred thousmd slaves were in arms, — if axes, reaping- hooks, staves, and roasting spits may be called arms, — and in possession of many of the strongholds of the coun- try. They defeated four Roman armies sent against them, and for three years defied the power of Rome. The revolt was finally crushed by the consul P. Rupilius, in the year 132 B.C. The slaves, well knowing that they could expect no mercy at the hands of their masters, held out in their mountain strongholds to the bitter end. Mad- dened by hunger, they killed their women and children for food. At the last extremity many committed suicide. Those that survived to be made prisoners were tortured, flung over precipices, or crucified — crucifixion being a favorite form of punishment meted out by the Romans to rebellious slaves. Twenty thousand of the unhappy slaves are said to have been lifted up on crosses. Eunous himself perished miserably in prison. Sicily was thus pacified, and remained quiet for nearly a generation. 148. The Public Lands. — In Italy itself affairs were in a scarcely less wretched condition than in Sicily. At the bottom of a large part of the social and economic troubles I 2IO ROME AS A REPUBLIC. here, was the public land system, to which we have had occasion already to refer as the cause of unrest and bitter complaint on the part of the poorer classes at the beginning of the first century of the republic (par. 52). Since that time matters, instead of mending, had con- stantly grown worse. The wide conquests of the Romans and the accompanying confiscation of large tracts of the lands of the subjugated peoples had increased enormously the public domains of the Roman state. But these fresh acquisitions of land benefited, for the most part, only the rich class at Rome. They alone had the capital necessary to stock with cattle and slaves the new lands, and hence they were the sole " occupiers " of them. The small farm- ers everywhere, too, were being ruined by the unfair com- petition of slave labor, as in our Southern States before the Civil War, and their little holdings were passing by pur- chase, and often by fraud or bare-faced robbery, into the hands of the great proprietors. The Licinian laws (par. 71) indeed made it illegal for any person to occupy more than a prescribed amount of the public lands; but this law had long since become a dead letter. The greater part of the lands of Italy, about the beginning of the first century H.c, are said to have been held by not more than two thousand persons. These great landowners found stock-raising more profitable than work- ing the soil. Hence Italy had been made Into a great sheep pasture. The dispossessed peasants, left without home or employment, crowded into the cities, congregating especially at Rome, where they lived in vicious indolence. Thus, largely through the workings of the public land system, the Roman people had become divided into two THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 21 I great classes, which are variously designated as the Rich and the Poor, the Possessors and the Non-Fossessors, the Optimates, the "Best," and the Fopulares, the "People." We hear nothing more of patricians and plebeians. The clan-aristocracy of the earlier state (par. 16) had given place to a w^ealth-aristocracy, or rather had been absorbed by it. This later aristocracy was, in some respects, partic- ularly in the elements that composed it, like the English aristocracy of the present day. 149. Tiberius Gracchus. — As the wretched condition of the poor in earlier times had called out noble champions of their cause in a Spurius Cassius and a Marcus Manlius,*-^ SO now did the same condition of affairs call out two men of like spirit and temper as champions of the cause of the common people. These were the celebrated brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, sons of Cornelia, the daugh- ter of Scipio Africanus, the destroyer of Carthage. They were thus of noble birth, as w^ere most of the social reform- ers that appeared at Rome. They were carefully nurtured by a mother noted not alone for her acquaintance with the new Greek learning, but also for the nobility of the native qualities of her mind and heart. It was Tiberius, the elder of the brothers, w^ho first undertook the cause of reform. He was an orator of great force and persuasiveness, his manner of speaking being deliberate and impressive. He w^as a brave soldier, having been one of the first, it was said, to mount the walls of Carthage when that city was taken and destroyed. By the time he had reached his thirtieth year he had held many offices, civil and military, and in them all had acquitted 2 See pars. 53 and 70. i 212 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. himself in such a way as to have acquired great distinction and won general admiration. The resolution to consecrate his life to the alleviation of the distress among the poor and disinherited citizens of Rome, is said to have been taken by him while travelling through Etruria, where he saw the mischief and distress caused by the usurpation of the soil by the great land- owners, and the displacement of the peasant farmers by swarms of barbarian slaves. 150. Tiberius* Agrarian Law. — In the year 133 h.c. the people elected Tiberius to the tribuneship. As tribune he brought forward a proposal in regard to the public lands which was in its essence a reenactment of the Licinian law, for that law, as we have seen, had long been a dead letter (par. 14S). This proposal took away from the great proprietors all the public lands they were occupy- ing over and above the amount named in that old enact- ment. The lands thus resumed by the state were to be allotted in small holdings to poor citizens. To prevent these holdings from passing by any process into the hands of the rich, they were made inalienable, that is, the right to sell the land was taken away from the one who received it. The aim of Tiberius was to put the people into posses- sion of their own. As the barbarian slaves had displaced the free cultivators of the soil, so now he would displace these slaves by free peasant proprietors, and thus restore the earlier order of things. Tiberius brought to the support of his proposal all the resources of his eloquence. Plutarch gives us the following as an illustration of the manner in which he addressed the people: ^*The wild beasts of Italy," he would say, <'had THE jPERIOD OE the RE l^OLUTIOJV. 2 I their dens and holes and hiding-places, while the men who fought and died in defence of Italy enjoyed, indeed, the air and the light, but nothing else: houseless and without a spot of ground to rest upon, they wander about with their wives and children, while their commanders, with a lie in their mouth, exhort the soldiers in battle to defend their tombs and temples against the enemy, for out of so many Romans not one has a family altar or ancestral tomb, but they tight to maintain the luxury and wealth of others, and they die with the title of lords of the earth, without pos- sessing a single clod to call their own." ^ As was natural, the senatorial party, who represented the wealthy landowners, bitterly opposed the measures that Tiberius had brought forward. To them these measures appeared very much as Henry George's proposal that the state shall confiscate all property in land, appears to landholders to-day. They denounced them as downright robbery. As we have seen, the possessors of these government lands had been left so. long in undisturbed enjoyment of them that they had come to look upon them as absolutely their own. In many cases, feeling secure through great lapse of time, — the lands having been handed down through many generations, — the owners had expended large sums in their improvement, and now resisted as very unjust every effort to dispossess them of their hereditary estates. Money-lenders, too, had, in many instances, made loans upon these lands, and they naturally sided with the owners in their opposition to all efforts to disturb the titles. ^ Plutarch, Life of Tiberius Gracchus, c. 9. 214 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. 151. Tiberius carries his Law by Unconstitutional Means; the Beginning of the End. — The senatorial party in their opposition resorted to an old device for thwarting a tribune whose proposals were obnoxious to them. They persuaded one of the colleagues of Tiberius, the tribune Octavius, to interpose his veto. Octavius did this, and thus prevented the proposals from being brought to a vote in the popular assembly.* Tiberius met these tactics of his enemy by putting a stop, through the exercise of his veto power, '^ to all public business whatsoever. He forbade the magistrates to exer- cise any of the functions of their several offices, and even sealed up the doors of the treasury. Thus all business was brought to a standstill. The deadlock was broken by Tiberius, and in this way. Through the votes of his partisans in an assembly of the people he deposed his colleague Octavius. Eut Octavius refused to acknowledge the validity of such a vote ; then Tiberius caused him to be dragged by freedmen from the rostra. Tiberius had acted unconstitutionally. Never before since the first year of the republic had the Romans deposed one of their magistrates in this way from the office to which they had elected him. The sanctity of the constitution, the inviolability of which had been the safe- guard of the state for a period of almost four centuries, was destroyed. It was the beginning of the end. **This ^ Each member of tlie hoard of tribunes had the right thus to veto the act of any or of all of his colleagues, just as one of the consuls could obstruct the act of his colleague (par. 45). ^ Compare par. 50, n. 8. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 215 was the first direct step towards the overthrow of the Roman state.'"' Tiberius in a speech to the people defended his action in deposing his colleague. As to the charge that he had violated the sacred character of a tribune, he maintained that the person of a tribune was inviolable only so long as he faithfully discharged the duties of his office ; that wiien he used the power given him by the people to wrong them, he by such wrongful act deposed himself and ceased to be a tribune. Discussing the power and right of the people to depose a magistrate, he exclaimed, *' Shall the people have the power to inake a magistrate, and not the power to unmake him when he misuses the authority with which they have invested him "i " 'Farquin, he said, was deposed, and justly, by the people. And the vestal virgin, than whom there was no one more sacred in the Roinan state, if unfaithful to her vow, lost her sanctity and was rightly punished.' But Tiberius, with all his arguments, could not persuade even all of his own party that an unconstitutional act had not been committed, and luany of his friends and the friends of the republic were filled with forebodings for the future. After the deposition of Octavius, a client of Tiberius was chosen to fill his place. Tiberius' proposal was now made a law, and a board of commissioners was appointed to carry out its provisions and to prevent the law from becom- ing a dead letter, as had happened in the case of the earlier law of Licinius. The commissioners chosen were Tiberius ® I^ong, Decline of the Rotnan Republic., vol. i. p. 1S6. " Plutarch, Life of Tiberius Gracchus, c. 15. 2l6 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. THE PERIOD OE THE REVOLUTION. 217 Gracchus himself, Appius Claudius, his father-in-law, and Gaius Gracchus, his brother. 152. The Violent Death of Tiberius (133 b.c). — Upon the expiration of his year as tribune Tiberius became a candi- date for a second term. This was unconstitutional, for at this time a tribune could not hold his office for two consec- utive years. In order to retain his hold upon the people, Tiberius promised, if again made tribune, to carry various reforms, both of a civil and a military character. Naturally the enemies of Tiberius opposed his reelection. Rome was in a seething tumult. A crowd numbering from three to four thousand is said to have accompanied Tibe- rius as he moved about the city from place to place. When the election day came, the voting had hardly begun before it was violently interrupted by the senatorial party, who declared that the whole proceeding was unconstitutional. The election was postponed until the following day. That night the partisans of Tiberius watched before his house, for they feared that an attempt would be made to assassinate their champion. In the meantime there were many unpropitious omens. The sacred fowls would not eat ; Tiberius in going out of his house stumbled over the threshold ; and on his way to the Capitoline, where the voting was to take place, some crows fighting on a roof caused a loosened tile to fall just at his feet. Disregrardino;, however, all these sinister omens, Tiberius insisted on going to the voting-place. It would seem that Tiberius had resolved to meet the violence of his enemies with violence. It is impossible, however, to follow the exact course of events, and to divide the blame for what followed, by any just measure, between I the opposing parties. Suffice it to say that rioting began. The partisans of Tiberius drove his eneinies from the vot- ing-place. Word was carried to the senate, which was sitting in a near-by temple, that Tiberius was asking the people to crown him king. He had been seen to move his hand towards his head, which was interpreted to mean that he wished a crown placed there. The senators, led by the pontifex maximus, P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, rushed out, and arming themselves with sticks and the legs of the benches that had been over- turned and broken by the surging crowd, fell upon the fol- lowers of Tiberius and drove them from the open space. Tiberius in attempting to escape stumbled over some bodies, and was then set upon by his pursuers and killed, one of his own colleagues striking the first blow. Three hundred of his followers perished with him. 1'he bodies of all, including that of Tiberius, were thrown into the Tiber. Thus perished one of the best beloved and most greatly trusted of all the popular leaders at Rome. This was the first time since the creation of the plebeian tribunate (par. 50) that the contention of parties in Rome had led to an appeal to open force, the first time that the city had witnessed such a scene of violence and blood. But such scenes were very soon to become common enough. 153. Good Effects of Tiberius' Land Law. — The land law of Tiberius, carried into effect by the commission to which the matter had been intrusted (par. 151), effected a great amelioration of the distress among the poor, great numbers of whom were allotted small farms carved out of the public lands now reclaimed by the state. Districts that had been almost depopulated, again became covered with the cot- 2l8 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. tages of sturdy peasants. Italy seemed in a fair way of being redeemed from the blight that slavery, and the monopolization of the soil by the rich, had brought upon it. But such a reform as this could not be carried out with- out many vested interests being interfered with, and many hardships inflicted upon a large class. There was conse- quently great opposition to the whole movement, and finally it was checked, and the law of Tiberius made practically a dead letter by the transference of the duties of the com- mission to the consuls. This was the work of the senatorial party, and it meant of course the end of the reform. 154- Gaius Gracchus : his Motives and Aims. — Gaius Gracchus now came forward to assume the position made vacant by the death of his brother Tiberius. He was actu- ated by two motives: a burning desire to avenge upon the senatorial party the murder of his brother, and to carry out the reforms that the latter had begun. How he brooded over his brother's fate is shown by the story that tells how he had a dream in which the spirit of Tiberius seemed to address him thus : ^^ Gaius, why do you delay ? There is no escape ; the same life for both of us, and the same death in defence of the people, is our destiny." In the year 124 b.c. Gaius was elected tribune. As quaestor in Sardinia he had proved that he was of a differ- ent mold from the ordinary Roman magistrate. He had "left Rome," as Plutarch puts it, ''with his purse full of money and had brought it back empty ; others had taken out jars full of wine and had brought them back full of money." Once in the tribuneship, Gaius entered straightway with marvellous energy and resourcefulness upon the work of THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 219 reform. His aim was to destroy the government of the senate, now hopelessly incapable and corrupt, and to set up in its place a new government with himself at its head. In aims as well as in capacity, Gaius was a Coesar before CjEsar. But in the lofty disinterestedness of his motives he was infinitely the superior of his more fortunate suc- cessor in the role of reformer and revolutionist. 155. The Reform Measures of Gaius Gracchus (i 23-1 21 B.C.). — If we bear in mind the aims of Gaius, all of his measures become self-explanatory. He first secured the passage of a law by the people which made it constitutional for a tribune to hold his office two years in succession, if such a continuance in office was necessary to enable him to carry into full execution his plans.^ This meant of course the virtual transformation of the tribuneship into a possible life-tenure office, or, in other words, the revival of the monarchy. Gaius next won the affection of the poor of the city by carrying a law '^ which provided that every Roman citizen, on personal application, should be given corn from the public granaries at half or less than half the market price. Gaius could not have foreseen all the evils to which this law, which was in eflfect what we know as a poor law, was destined to lead. It led eventually to the free distribu- tion of corn to all citizens who made application for it. Very soon a large proportion of the population of Rome was living in vicious indolence and feeding at the public crib (par. 214). 1 According to a law passed in i8o B.t\, no citizen could be reelected to any magistracy until after an interval of ten years. 2 The lex fritnientaria. 220 ROME AS A KEPUBLIC. By his next law,^ Gaius won the favor of the equestrian order. At this time the rich class of Roman citizens was divided into two orders : '^ (i ) The senators, whose property was largely in land, and who held almost exactly the posi- tion in the Roman state that the peers of the House of Lords hold in the society and government of England ; and (2) the knights {cgiiitcs), the rich merchants, bankers, and speculators who were liable to service in the' cavalry. This equestrian order is represented in English society by the wealthy mercantile and trading class. Between the sen- atorial and the equestrian order there was much jealousy and ill-will. Now Gaius, by the law just mentioned, provided that in the future the judges constituting the court before which provincial magistrates accused of extortion or other wrong- doing were tried, should be chosen only from the equestrian order. This meant the transference of this branch of the administration of justice from the hands of the senators into the hands of the knights. This was a matter of very grave concern for the senatorial order, for it meant that henceforth the accused of this class were to be tried before judges selected not from their own but from a rival order. Presumably these judges would not be likely to let any guilty man escape. These two measures of Gaius raised up for him friends and supporters among both the poor and the rich. His next measure was an agrarian law, which was simply a revival of the law of Tiberius, which had been made of no effect by the senatorial party (par. 153). ^ Lex jiisticiaria. * Mommsen, History of Romc^ vol. iii. p. 141. Ti/K r£:R/on of- ti/i^ kevoluivoat. 2,2.1 As a further measure of relief for the poor, Gaius estab- lished new colonies in Italy, and sent six thousand settlers, comprising Italians as well as Roman citizens, to the site of Carthage, and founded there a colony called Junonia. This w^as the first citizen-colony ^established by the Romans outside of Italy. Another measure now proposed by Gaius alienated a large section of his followers, and paved the way for his downfall. This proposal was that all the Latins should be made full Roman citizens, and that the Italian allies should be given the rights and privileges then enjoyed by the Latins (par. 163). Gaius was in this matter out of touch with his times. The Romans were unwilling to confer the rights of the city upon those still without them, for the reason that citizenship now, since the whole world was paying tribute in one form or another to the ruling class in the Roman state, w^as something valuable.'"' The proposal was defeated, and the popularity of Gaius visibly declined. The activity of Gaius covered other fields than those we have named. He caused roads to be built and public store-houses for grain to be erected. He further projected reforms in the army, but these were never carried out. 1 56. The Downfall and Death of Gaius Gracchus (121 rc). — The senatorial party now resorted to a very old political device in order to undermine wholly the already waning popularity of Gaius. They sought to detach the people from him by promising to do more for them than Gaius ^ For the different types of colonies, consult par. 84. ® The religious scruples of the early times against admitting strangers to the freedom of the city (par. "]"]) had scarcely any place among the motives of those that now opposed the enfranchisement of aliens (con- sult par. 163). 222 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. himself had done. Their tool in carrying out this scheme was the tribune Marcus Livlus Drusus. This man, backed by the senators, outbid Gaius in every matter. The ungrateful and hckle multitude turned from their old and tried friend to the new and untried one. They might well have feared their old enemies the nobles bringing gifts. The end was now drawing near. When Gaius (in 121 B.C.) stood the third time for reelection as tribune he was defeated. Without the protection of his office (par. 45), his life was in danger. His friends rallied around him. righting took place in the streets between the contending factions, and the partisans of Gaius entrenched themselves on the Aventine. Yielding to the importunity of his friends, Gaius made an effort to escape from the city. He fled across the Tiber, and there in a sacred grove a faithful slave killed him with a friendly thrust, and then slew himself. The consul Lucius Opimius had offered for the head of Gaius and that of o.ne of his partisans their weight in gold. The persons who brought in the heads appear to have received the promised reward. "This is the first instance in Roman history of head money being offered and paid, but it was not the last.'"" The followers of Gaius were hunted everywhere to the death. Three thousand are said to have been strang-led in prison. When the wretched business was over, the consul Opimius, who was largely responsible for the infamy of it "^ Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, vol. i. p. 286. Some author- ities say that in the case of Gaius, the money was never paid, because the man who brought in the head happened to be a person of no dis- tinction. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 223 all, erected in the forum, in commemoration of the triumph of his party, a temple dedicated to Concord. The common people ever regarded the Gracchi as mar- tyrs to their cause, and their memory was preserved, in later times, by statues in the public square. To Cornelia, their mother, a monument was erected, bearing the simple inscription, "The Mother of the Gracchi." 157. Restoration of the Senatorial Party: Land-Grabbing Act. — The removal of Gaius made the power of the nobles, that is of the senate, supreme. They at once set themselves at work to undo all that Gaius and his brother Tiberivis had done which tended to undermine their authority or to interfere with their wealth-getting. The Gracchan agrarian law, which forbade those receiving allotments of land to sell the same (par. 150), was repealed. Straightway the absorp- tion of the land by the rich began anew. The small farms disappeared in the great latifundia^ *Mike drops of water in the ocean." Slave-gangs increased, and the free peasantry that had begun to fill the land under the workings of the Grac- chan law disappeared. Amidst the rapidly growing wealth of the few, the poverty and misery of the masses increased. Extravagance and luxury grew apace. Thus was the gulf between the rich and the poor, which the Gracchi had died to close, made wider and deeper, and Italy pushed on towards ruin. But the crowning piece of legislation of the selfish and greedy aristocrats was a law, the celebrated Lex Thoria, which converted all the public lands in the possession of the rich into the private property of those occupying it, free of rent to the state. THis was a measure somewhat like that of the great landowners of England when, after '^ Large farms or landed estates. 224 ROMJS AS A RErLTBLIC. the Restoration of the Stuart king Charles the Second (in f66o), they, by act of Parliament, relieved their lands of the feudal burdens which up to that time had rested upon them, and thereby converted what were actually semi- public lands into private property, free from all rents, feudal dues, or services to the English crown. As this measure of the English landlords gave a great part of the soil of England permanently into the hands of a comparatively few families, so did the Lex T/ioria give vast tracts of Italy for many centuries — until the down- fall of the empire — into the hands of a few hundred over- grown proprietors. Italy, like our Southern States before the Civil War, was blocked out into immense slave-estates. It required a revolution that overturned society from the very bottom to regain the soil for the people. The corn law of Gaius was allowed to remain in force, because the nobles could not afford to offend the Roman rabble in an attempt to repeal it. Besides, the annulling of this law would not have advanced in any way the inter- est of the aristocrats, and that was reason enough why they should let it alone. 158. The War with Jugurtha (111-106 b.c). — After the death of the Gracchi there seemed no one left to resist the heartless oppressions and to denounce the scandalous extravagances of the aristocratic party. The votes of sena- tors and the decisions of judges, the offices at Rome and the places in the provinces — everything pertaining to the gov- ernment had its price, and was bought and sold like mer- chandise. Affairs in Africa at this time illustrate how Roman virtue and integrity had declined since Fabricius indignantly refused the gold of Pyrrhus (par. 82). TFfE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 2.2.^ Jugurtha, king of Numidia, had seized all that country, having put to death the rightful rulers of different provinces of the same, who had been confirmed in their possessions by the Romans at the close of the Punic wars. Commis- sioners sent from Rome to look into the matter were bribed by Jugurtha. Finally, the Numidian robber, in carrying out some of his high-handed measures, put to death some Italian merchants. War was immediately declared by the Roman senate, and the consul L. Calpurnius Bestia was sent into Africa with an army to punish the insolent usurper. Bestia sold himself to Jugurtha, and instead of chastising him confirmed him in his stolen possessions. We should naturally suppose that the senate would have meted out proper punishment to the mercenary consul upon his return. But the prudent general had taken along with him the president of that body, and had divided with him the spoils. The indignation of the people, wiio had good reason to suspect the real state of affairs, was great. They demanded that Jugurtha, with the promise of immunity to himself, should be invited to Rome, and encouraged to disclose the whole transaction, in order that those who had betrayed the state for money might be punished. Jugurtha came ; but the gold of the consul and president bribed one of the tribunes to prohibit the king from giving his testimony. Now it so happened that there was in Rome at this time a rival claimant of the Numidian throne, who at this very moment was urging his claims before the senate. Jugurtha caused this rival to be assassinated. As he himself was under a safe-conduct, the senate could do nothing to pun- ish the audacious deed and to resent the insult to the state, 226 ROjtiE AS A REPUBLIC. save by ordering the king to leave Rome at once. As he passed the gates, it is said that he looked scornfully back upon the capital, and exclaimed, ^'0 venal city! thou wouldst sell thyself if thou couldst find a purchaser ! " Upon the renewal of the war another Roman army was sent into Africa, but was defeated and sent beneath the yoke. Finally, in the year io6 h.c., the war was brought to a close by Gaius Marius, a man who had risen to the con- sulship from the lowest ranks of the people. Under him fought a young nobleman named Sulla, of whom we shall hear much hereafter. Marius celebrated a grand triumph at Rome. Jugurtha, after having graced the triumphal procession, in which he walked with his hands bound with chains, was thrown into the Mamertine dungeon beneath the Capitoline hill, where he died of starvation. The war had wholly discredited the government of the senate, by revealing its hopeless incapacity, and by showing into what depths of infamy and corruption the entire oli- garchical party — senators, judges, and generals — had sunk. 159. Invasion of the Cimbri and Teutones (113-101 p..c. ). — The war was not yet encjed in Africa before terrible tidings came to Rome from the north. Two mighty nations of "horrible barbarians," three hundred thousand strong in fighting-men, coining whence no one could tell, had invaded and were now desolating the Roman province of Gaul, and might any moment cross the Alps and sweep down into Italy. The mysterious invaders proved to be two Germanic tribes, the Teutones and Cimbri, the vanguard of that great German migration which was destined to change the face THE PERIOD OE THE REVOLUTION. 227 and history of Europe. These intruders were seeking new homes, and were driven on, it would almost seem, by a blind and instinctive impulse. They carried with them in rude wagons all their property, their wives, and their children. The Celtic tribes of Gaul were no match for the newcomers, and fled before them as they advanced. Several Roman armies beyond the Alps were cut to pieces. In one battle more than one hundred thousand Romans are said to have been slaughtered. The terror at Rome was only equalled by that occasioned by the invasion of the Gauls three centuries before (par. 08). The Gauls were terrible enough ; but now the conquerors of the Gauls were coming. Marius, the conqueror of Jugurtha, was looked to by all as the only man who could save the state in this crisis. He was reelected to the consulship, and intrusted with the command of the armies. Accompanied by Sulla as one of his most skilful lieutenants, Marius hastened into Northern Italy. The barbarians had divided into two bands. The Cimbri were to cross the Eastern Alps, and join in the valley of the Po the Teutones, who were to force the defiles of the Western, or Maritime, Alps. Marius determined to prevent the union of the barbarians, and to crush each band separately. Anticipating the march of the Teutones, Marius hurried into Southern Gaul, and, at the junction of the Rhone and the Isar, sat down in a fortified camp to watch the move- ments of the barbarians. Unable to storm the Roman position, the Teutones resolved'to leave their enemy in their rear and push on into Italy. For six days and nights the endless train of men and wagons rolled past the camp of 228 ROMB AS A RBrUBLlC. Marius. The barbarians jeered at the Roman soldiers, and asked them if they had any messages they wished to send to their wives; if so, they would bear them, as they would be in Rome shortly. Marius allowed them to pass by, and then, breaking camp, followed closely after. Fall- ing upon them at a favorable moment, he almost annihi- lated the entire host.^ Two hundred thousand barbarians are said to have been slain. Marius heaped together and burned the spoils of the battlefield. While engaged in this work, the news was brought to him of his reelection as consul for the fifth time. This was illegal ; - but the people felt that Marius must be kept in the field. Marius now recrossed the Alps, and, after visiting Rome, hastened to meet the C'inibri, who were entering the north- eastern corner of Italy. He was not a day too soon. Already the barbarians had defeated the Roman armv under the patrician Catulus, and were ravaging the rich plains of the Po. The Cimbri, uninformed as to the fate of the Teutones, now sent an embassy to Marius to demand that they and their kinsmen be given lands in Italy. Marius sent back in reply, "The Teutones have got all the land they need on the other side of the Alps." The devoted Cimbri were soon to have all they needed on this side. A terrible battle almost immediately followed at Vercellae (loi B.C.). The barbarians were drawn up in an enormous hollow square, the men forming the outer ranks being fas- tened together with ropes, to prevent their lines from being broken. This proved their ruin. More than one hundred thousand were killed, and sixty thousand taken prisoners to ^ In the battle of Aquae Sextiae, fought 102 B.C. 2 Consult par. 155, n. i. ti/f: r£:R/on or 7^1^ e rei^olutioist. 229 be sold as slaves in the Roman slave-markets. Marius was hailed as the "Savior of his Country." The fate of these two nations that were wandering over the face of the earth in search of homes forms one of the most pathetic tales in all history. The almost innumerable host of wanderers, men, women, and children, now '' rested beneath the sod, or toiled under the yoke of slavery : the forlorn hope of the German migration had performed its duty; the homeless people of the Cimbri and their comrades were no more."^ Their kinsmen yet behind the Danube and the Rhine were destined to exact a terrible revenge for their slaughter. We must here notice a certain thing that Marius did after the battle at Vercellai, since it illustrates admirably that spirit of disregard for the laws which was beginning to manifest itself among the Romans of all classes. When the battle was over, Marius conferred Roman citizenship upon two cohorts of Italian allies as a reward for conspicuous bravery. When taken to task later for this unconstitutional proceeding, Marius replied, by way of excuse, that amidst the din of arms he could not hear the voice of the laws. 160. Changes in the Army. — Unfortunately at just this time there was introduced, by Marius himself, a new prac- tice in the army which made it, in the hands of a deaf commander, a wonderfully effective weapon against the republic. Up to this period, a property qualification had been required of the legionary. Only in times of great public peril had propertyless citizens been cahed upon for military service. Foreign mercenaries, it is true, had found a place in the army, but not in the legions. Marius now 3 Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. iii. p. 235. 230 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. gave permission to citizens without property to enlist. From this time on, the ranks of the Roman armies were filled almost entirely, as in the case of our own standing army, by voluntary enlistments/ This tended, of course, to create a class of poor professional soldiers, who became in effect the clients of their general, looked to him to secure them w^ar-booty, and, at the expiration of their term of enlistment, grants of public lands ; and who were ready to follow him in all kinds of undertakings, even in undertak- ings against the commonw^ealth. i6i. Second Servile War in Sicily (103-99 ^"^O- — I" ^^e earlier part of this chapter we gave an account of an insur- rection of the slaves in Sicily, which took place about a generation before the tiine at which we have now arrived (par. 147). Since the suppression of that outbreak, the condition of things in the island instead of growing better had rather grown worse. The country had become so filled with barbarian slaves that it had reverted almost to a state of savagery. Throughout large sections of the island society had fallen back from the agricultural and coiumer- cial stage of culture into the pastoral. Among the crowd of slaves were many free-born men who had been kidnapped in the various regions of the East that had come under Roman supremacy. When an attempt was made to restore these men to freedom, their owners made a great outcry, and the magistrates before whom their cases had been brought were obliged to give up all efforts in their * There were introduced about this time, it is thought by Marius himself, changes in the formation of the legion, the equipment of the soldier, and the tactical arrangement of the cohorts. But these mat- ters are of too technical a character to be given a place in the text. See Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. iii. pp. 241-247. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 231 behalf. The government was too weak, too completely under the influence of the men who were profiting by out- rage and wrong, to give protection and justice to any class, free or bond, that these inhuman creatures had selected as their victims. The disappointment created among the slaves by the miscarriasfe of this movement in their behalf led to an out- break, which spread until a large part of the bondsmen in the island were in arms against their masters. The story of the struggle that followed is simply a repe- tition of that of the first servile war in the island. It took the RoiTian armies five years to suppress the revolt, which was finally brought to an end by the consul Manius Aquillius. The favorite punishment meted out to the cap- tives in the first war had been crucifixion (par. 147) ; the prisoners taken at this time were carried to Rome that they ''might make a holiday " for the Romans by fighting with wild beasts in the amphitheatre. But the slaves disap- pointed their captors by committing wholesale suicide before the time for the spectacles arrived. 162. Gains Marius attempts Revolution (100 p,.c.). — Before the slave trouble in Sicily was over there was trouble of a different sort in Rome itself. Marius, so recently hailed by all as the savior of the state (par. 159), and now through the favor of the people enjoying his sixth consul- ship, — a thing unknown before in the history of Rome, — had entered into an alliance and conspiracy with two dem- agogues, Glaucla and Saturninus ^ by name, whose aim was the overthrow of the senatorial* government and the estab- lishment of a new order of things. 6 C. Servilius Glaucia and I.. Appuleius Saturninus. 232 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. Marius, by joining the conspiracy, evidently hoped to get in his hands the supreme power. His head had been turned by his military successes and his civic triumphs. He likened his victorious marches in Africa and Europe to the triumphal processions of Bacchus, and had a drinking- cup made for his use like the cup fable represented the jovial god as wont to use. He was not only willing that the people should take him and make him king, but he was ready to aid in his own crowning. Saturninus, having reached the tribunate through violence and assassination, managed affairs in the interest of the clique. In order to please the mob, a new corn law was carried, which re- duced the price of corn to Roman citizens to a merelv nominal sum (From a bust in the Uffizi (par. 1 55). There was also carried Gallery.) 1 • 1 ■ a measure which gave the veterans of Marius allotments of land in Sicily, Macedonia, and Greece. These gifts of land were henceforth one of the usual means employed by successful generals to attach their soldiers to their persons and their interests. These corn and land allotment laws met, of course, with opposition, and were carried in the assemblies only by violence. Indeed, rioting and murder were becoming the usual accompaniment of every assembly of the people, either for the purpose of an election or for legislation. The spirit and temper in which Saturninus presided as Marius. THE PERIOD OE THE REVOLUTION. 233 tribune is shown by the following story. On one occasion the nobles, aiming to break up an assembly of the people, caused word to be conveyed to the tribunes that Jupiter was thundering (par. 24). Saturninus paid no heed to the messenger, save to charge him with a message to the sena- tors to the effect that if Jupiter was really thundering they would do w^ell to look out for themselves, as the thunder might be followed by hail. The story, even though it be a fiction, is truthful. The old faith in the gods — and in their priests — was gone, and irreverence marked the con- duct of magistrate and private citizen alike. The elections of the year 99 b.c. were attended by bribery, violence, and murder. The better class of citizens became frightened, and, fearing a reign of anarchy, rallied to the support of the government. Marius, as consul, was called upon by the senate to suppress the disorder, which he himself was largely responsible for having created. For a moment Marius seemed to waver, and then, betraying his friends, he led an armed force against the followers of Saturninus. A pitched battle took place in the forum. The people's party was defeated, and Saturninus and Glaucia were murdered by the nobles. ''Without trial or sentence," in the words of Mommsen, "there died on this day four magistrates of the Roman people — a praetor, a qux'Stor, and two tribunes." Marius was ruined — for the time being. He had played a double part, and shown himself an untrustworthy friend and ally. He was despised by both parties. There was no one who thought it worth while to court him or to do him reverence. Under pretence of fulfilling a vow, he went to Asia, and thus got away from Rome for a while. It was 234 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. destined that another turn of the wheel of fortune should again bring him to the top. References. — White's Appian, vol. ii., The Civil IVars, bk. i. chaps, i.-iv. Plutarch, Lives of *Tibcritts Gracchus, *Caius Gracchus, and 'X'Caius Mariits. Beesly (A. H.), The Gracchi, Mariiis and Sulla (Epoch Series), chaps, i. ii. and iii. pp. 1-65. Merivale (C), *The Fall of the Roman Republic, chap. i. pp. 1-31, "The Gracchi." Frek- MAN (E. A.), The story of Sicily (Story of the Nations), chap, xvi., "Sicily a Roman Province "; first part of the chapter, on the Servile War. Long (G.), The Decline of the Roman Republic, 5 vols. ; for consultation and reference. Ihne (W.), History of Rome, vol. iv. The greater part of the volume is devoted to an account of " the constitu- tion, laws, religion and magistrates of the Roman people." CHAT^TKR XIII. THE PERIOD OK THE REVOLUTION {Continued). (98-78 B.C.) 163. Roman Citizens, Latins, and Italian Allies. — The next important act in the history of Rome had for its stage, not the Roman forum, but all Italy. The matter to which we refer was a struggle on the part of the Italian allies of Rome for admission to the city as citizens. At this time all the free inhabitants of Italy were divided into three classes, — Ro?Jtafi citizcjis^ Latins^ and Itaiian allies. The Roman citizens included the inhabitants of the capital, of the towns called municipia (par. 73), and of the Roman colonies planted in different parts of the peninsula (par. 84), besides the dwellers on isolated farms and the inhabitants of villages scattered everywhere throughout Italy.'' The census for the year 115 B.C. gives the number of citizens capable of bearing arms as 394,336. The second class, the Latins, was made up of the inhab- itants of the Latin colonies (par. 84), and of some of the ancient and now quite thoroughly Romanized towns of Latium,^ The name had by this time lost all racial mean- ing, and denoted merely the political status of those bear- ing it. What instalment of the rights of the city this class ^ Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. i. p. 536. In this enumeration, prefectures are included in the municipia. See par. -jt^, n. 5. '^ Tibur, Prxneste, and some other places of less importance. 236 ROM£ AS A KKPUBL/C enjoyed we have already learned (par. 84). We need here simply recall to mind that they possessed some of the most valuable of the private rights of the city, and had a special capacity, through meeting certain conditions, of acquiring full Roman citizenship. It should be carefully remembered that they were non-citizens, although their status was preferable to that of the lowest grade of those bearing that coveted title.^ They were called allies, — "allies of the Latin name," — and were not included in the census lists. As individuals they were not liable to ser- vice in the legions, but as communities they were obliged to send contingents to the Roman army when called upon. The third class, the Italian allies,^ was made up of those conquered peoples whom Rome had excluded wholly from the rights of the city. The relations to Rome of the differ- ent cities and tribes of this class were not exactly the same in all cases, since these were determined by the provisions of the special treaty that Rome had made with each com- munity. If we should say that these so-called "allies" were the subjects of the Roman burgess body, we should describe in a word very nearly their actual status. They were obliged to furnish contingents to the Roman army when- ever called upon to do so ; but although thus forced to bear ^ These were the inhabitants of the so-called prefectures, which were cities or communities from which self-government had been taken away, and whose local affairs were administered by magistrates, commonly bearing the name of prefects, sent out from Rome. Such communities were, in a word, proi'iiices within the limits of Italy. Capua was the largest of the cities that the Romans reduced to this condition (par. 1 1 5). Many districts in Lucania, Samnium, and Cisalpine Gaul were also treated by them in a similar way. ^ Sociiy or civitates foederata. TI/E PERIOD OF TUB RRVOLUTIOAT. ^37 a great part of the burden of the wars that Rome saw fit to wage, when there came an allotment of conquered lands they were given no share whatsoever in the distribution. But the most hateful and irritating distinctions between the Italian allies and the citizens of Rome were those that concerned what we may call the rights of person. Roman citizenship lent, as it were, a certain inviolability to the person of the citizen. Thus a Roman, in all cases involv- ing the penalty of death or of flogging, had the right of appeal from the sentence of a magistrate to the people (par. 48); an Italian had no such right. Hence the mem- bers of the Italian communities, and those of the Latin colonies as well, were liable to be mishandled by Roman officials, or even by private Roman citizens. The fohowing accounts of typical outrages of this sort have been preserved. The consul Marcus Marius, on a tour through Cam- pania, came to an allied town. His wife, expressing a desire to enter the bath intended for men, the consul ordered the highest magistrate of the place to have it vacated and prepared for her use. The wife complained to her husband that she had been compelled to wait for the bath, and that things had not been put in a proper condi- tion. Thereupon the consul caused the magistrate of the town to be seized, bound to a stake in the forum, and scourged. A second typical case is this: A young Roman aristocrat, travelling in the territory of the Latin town of Venusia, was being carried along the highway in a litter. A passer-by, an Italian, in jest asked the men who were bearing the litter if they had a corpse inside. The occupant of the Utter chanced to overhear the remark. He had the fellow 238 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. seized and beaten to death upon the spot with straps taken from the litter. 164. The Italians demand the Rights of the City ; Drusus becomes their Champion. — Naturally the Italians complained bitterly of having to fight for the maintenance of an empire in the management of which they had no voice, and under the laws of which they could find no protection. They now demanded the Roman franchise, and all the immunities and privileges of Roman citizens. Their demand was stubbornly resisted by both the arlstocratical and the popular party at Rome. Roman citizenship had now become a valuable thing, and it was bestowed upon outsiders very grudgingly by those already enjoying it. The liberal policy of earlier times, when entire clans or communities had been admitted to the franchise, had given way to a narrow, selfish policy of exclusion. In the year 126 B.C., and again four years later, the senate had expelled from Rome all non-citizens. In the year 95 h.c. the consuls carried a law which made it a penal offence for any non-burgess to lay claim to the Roman suffrage. It was the passage of this law, revealing as it did to the Ital- ians the hopelessness of their claims even being generously considered by the body of Roman burgesses, that did much to push the state on towards the brink of civil war. At this juncture of affairs there arose at Rome, from the ranks of the aristocrats themselves, a champion of the Ital- ian cause. This was Marcus Livius Drusus. Though a nobleman by birth and association, still he was open-minded and generous, and was able to recognize the element of justice in the claims of the Italians. Animated by the motives of the patriot rather than by THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 239 those of the partisan, Drusus brought forward, in the year 91 B.C., being then tribune, proposals looking towards the reform of the equestrian law courts,^ and providing for further distributions of corn, fresh assignments of land, and the founding of new colonies. The aim of Drusus in these proposals was to conciliate the different classes of Roman citizens, and get them to work together harmoniously for the common interests of the state.^ But the plans of Drusus reached beyond the burgess body and embraced the great non-privileged order in Italy, namely, the Italians. In order to avert the civil war which he saw to be impending, he proposed that the full Roman franchise should be bestowed upon all the Italian allies. This proposal aroused bitter opposition at Rome among all classes of citizens, the popular party being almost or quite as unwilling as the aristocratic party to share any of their privileges with outsiders.'^ Drusus was accused of being in treasonable communication with the Italians. One day, while in his own house surrounded by his friends, he 1 These courts were in the hands of the knights (par. 155), that is, of the mercantile class, and were being corruptly used to favor this class and to injure and undermine the senatorial party. It was impossible for a member of the senatorial party to secure justice in these tribunals. '-^ These proposals were enacted into a law, but this was declared invalid by the senate, because in conflict with an earlier law which for- bade the mingling of different matters in a single proposal. ^ It should be carefully noted that the opposition to the admission of strangers to the rights of the city was no longer based on religious grounds, as was the case in the very earliest days of patrician Rome (par. TJ^. The opposition now arose simply from the selfish determina- tion of a privileged cla.ss in the Roman state to retain its monopoly rights and immunities. 240 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. was struck down by an assassin. His dying words were : "When will the republic have another citizen like me ? " Drusus was a very different man from either Saturninus or Glaucia (par. 162). He was the successor of Spurius Cassius and the Gracchi.^ He was a statesman and a patriot, a true social reformer. He saw what was fair and just, tried to persuade the Romans to do it, — and died a martyr for the cause of right and justice that he had espoused. 165. The Social or Marsic^ War (91-89 B.C.). —The mur- der of their champion Drusus dashed the last hope of the Italian allies of securing, through an appeal to the Roman sense of justice, a recognition of their claims. Accordingly they now flew to arms. The Marsians and the Samnites, the latter the ancient and stubborn enemies of Rome, were foremost in the revolt. The confederates determined upon the establishment of a rival state. A town called Corfinium, among the Apen- nines, was chosen as the capital of the new republic, and its name changed to Italica. The government of the new state was modelled after that at Rome. Two consuls were placed at the head of the republic, and a senate of five hundred members was formed. Thus in a single day a large part of Italy south of the Rubicon was lost to Rome. The Etrurians and the Umbrians continued loyal. The Latin colonies or Coin of the Italian Con- federacy. (The Sabellian Bull goring the Roman Wolf.) * See pars. 53, 149, and 154. 5 So called on account of the prominent part taken in the insurrec- tion by the warlike Marsians. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION, 241 towns, some forty in number/ together with the most of the Greek cities of Southern Italy, also remained faithful. The greatness of the danger aroused all the old Roman courage and patriotism. Aristocrats and democrats hushed their quarrels; Sulla and Marius forgot rising animosities, and fought bravely side by side for the endangered life of the republic. An- army of one hundred thousand men was raised to face a force equal in number and discipline that had been gathered by the new confederacy. The war lasted three years, and was waged in almost every part of Italy, since the towns and communities that had rebelled were scattered throughout the peninsula. The war was finally brought to an end rather by prudent concessions on the part of Rome than by fighting. In the year 90 b.c, alarmed by signs of disaffection in certain of the communities that up to this time had remained faithful, Rome granted ' the franchise of the city to all Italian com- munities that had not declared war against her or had already laid down their arms. The following year a new law' granted the full rights of the city to all Italians who should within two months appear before a Roman magis- trate and express a wish for the franchise. This tardy concession to the just demands of the Italians virtually ended the war. Those states that still persisted in carrying on the struggle, resolved on absolute independence, were soon obliged to yield to the Roman arms. After the close of the war and as an immediate conse- 6 It was these strong places, in connection with the thirty-two Roman colonies scattered throughout Italy and occupying generally strategic points, that saved Rome. " By the lex Julia. « The lex Plautia Papiria, 89 B.C. 242 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. quence of it, the rights that had up to this time been enjoyed by the Latin towns were conferred upon all the cities between the Po and the Alps.^ 166. Comments on the Results of the Social War. — The struggle had been extremely disastrous to the republic. It is estimated that three hundred thousand men in the vigor of life had been slain. Many towns had been destroyed and wide districts made desolate by those ravages that never fail to characterize civil contentions. The chief political outcome of the war has already been noticed. Practically all the freemen throughout Italy proper were made equal in civil and political rights. This was a matter of great significance, *' The enrollment of the Italians among her own citizens deserves to be regarded," declares the historian Merivale, "as the great- est stroke of policy in the whole history of the republic."'*' This wholesale enfranchisement of Latin and Italian allies more than doubled the number of Roman burgesses. The census for the year 70 h.c. gives the number of citizens as 900,000, as against 394,336 about a generation before the war.^^ This equalization of the different classes of the Italian peninsula was simply a later phase of that movement in early Rome which resulted in the equalization of the two orders of the patricians and plebeians (chap. v.). But the purely political results of the earlier and those of the later revolution were very different. At the earlier time those who demanded and received the franchise were persons ^ By the lex F'otnpcia^ 89 R.c. ^^ Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 98. ^^ Consult Table on page 333. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 243 living either in Rome or in its immediate vicinity, and con- sequently able to exercise the acquired right to vote and to hold office. But now it was very different. These new-made citizens were living in towns and villages or on farms scattered all over Italy, and of course very few of them could ever go to Rome, either to participate in the elections there, to vote on proposed legislation, or to become candidates for the Roman magistracies. Hence the rights they had acquired were, after all, politically barren. But no one was to blame for this state of things. Rome had simply outgrown her city constitution, and her system of primary assemblies (par. 15). She needed for her widening empire a repre- sentative system like ours ; but representation was a politi- cal device far away from the thoughts of the men of those times. As a result of the impossibility of the Roman citizens outside of Rome taking part, as a general thing, in the meetings of the popular assemblies at the capital, the offices of the State fell into the hands of those actually living in Rome or settled in its immediate neighborhood. Since the free, or practically free, distribution of corn, and the public shows were drawing to the capital from all quarters crowds of the poor, the idle, and the vicious, these assemblies were rapidly becoming simply mobs, controlled by noisy demagogues and unscrupulous military leaders aiming at the supreme power in the state. This situation brought about a serious division in the body of Roman citizens. Those of the capital came to regard themselves as the real rulers of the empire, as they actually were, and looked with disdain upon those living in 244 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. the other cities and the remoter districts of the peninsula. They alone reaped the fruits of the conquered world. At the same time the mass of outside passive citizens, as we may call them, came to look with jealousy upon this body of pampered aristocrats, rich speculators, and ragged, dis- solute clients and hangers-on at Rome. Fhey became quite reconciled to the thought of power passing out of the hands of such a crowd and into the hands of a single man. The feelings of men everywhere were being prepared for the revolution that was to overthrow the republic and bring in the empire.^^ 167. Effects of the Revolution upon the Municipal System. — In earlier paragraphs we explained the origin of the so-called miinicipia and of the municipal system.^ The incorporation with the Roman state of all the Latin and the Italian allied cities increased vastly the number of miinicipia,, for while the free members of these communities were given full Roman citizenship, they were allowed to retain as heretofore 12 The value of the gift of the Roman franchise to the Italians was Still further diminished by all the new citizens being enrolled in only eight or ten of the thirty-five tribes, whose votes were to be taken after the Others had voted. Through this arrangement the old citizens were able practically, even though a great occasion brought crowds of the new citizens to Rome, to control the assemblies. A word respecting the number of tribes. The number had reached thirty-three in 299 B.C. (par. 80). At the close of the First Punic War (241 B.C.), the number had been raised to thirty-five by the creation of two new tribes out of a part of the Sabine lands. This number was probably never afterwards increased, although some of our authorities maintain that the Italians were formed into eight or ten new tribes, instead of being distributed among tribes already existing. So far as their voting privileges were concerned it made practically very little difference how they were enrolled. ^ See pars. 73 and 74. THE PERIOD OE THE REVOLUTION. 245 the management of their own local concerns. This con- verted them into municipalities of the most favored class. The distinctions between Latin colonies, Italian allied towns, prefectures, and cities with the Caeritan franchise, now all disappear in the eye of the law^^ All are placed on the same footing, and from this on the term municipium^ may be properly applied to each city of any or all of those various classes and grades of civic communities that the prudence or the policy of Roman statesmen had gradually called into existence. Of the extension of this municipal system into the provinces, of its regulation by Julius Caesar, and of the hard fortune of the municipal towns under the later empire, we shall come to speak in other connections.^ 168. The Political and Economic Condition of Asia ; Mith- radates the Great. — While the Social War was still in progress In Italy a formidable enemy of Rome appeared in the East. Mithradates VI., king of Pontus, taking advantage of the distracted state of the republic, had practically destroyed the Roman power throughout the Orient and made himself master of Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece. In order to render intelligible this amazing and swift revolution in the affairs of the East, we must here give a short account 2 For the status of Latin colonies, see par. 84 ; for that of Italian allies, par. 163 ; for that of prefectures, par. 163, n. S; for that of com- munities with the Caeritan franchise, par. 73. ^ It should be further noticed that, while up to this time there had been different grades of municipia, namely, those whose inhabitants possessed only an imperfect Roman citizenship, and those whose inhab- itants enjoyed the full Roman franchise, henceforth there was only one grade made up of towns whose inhabitants possessed in their fulness all the rights of the capital city. * See pars. 192, n. 3, 200, 239, and 240. 246 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 247 of the condition of things in that part of the Mediterranean world before the appearance upon the stage of Mithradates. We have already seen how Rome extended her authority over Macedonia and Greece (chap. x.). In the year 133 B.C. King Attalus III. of Pergamus, a state in Western Asia Minor (par. 130), died, having willed his kingdom to the Roman people. The Romans accepted the bequest, and made the territory into a province under the name of Asia. This province of Asia embraced probably the richest region, as it was certainly one of the oldest in its civiliza- tion, that Rome had thus far acquired. The Greek cities of the country had histories reaching back into prehistoric times. Their tribute had swollen the fabulous wealth of the Lydian Croesus. This exceptional prosperity of the earlier time had now indeed passed away, but the wealth and trade of the region w^ere still great and important, so that the province presented an attractive field for the oper- ations of Italian traders, speculators, and money-lenders. The country became crowded with these immigrant classes, who plundered the natives,"* and carried their ill-gotten booty to Rome to spend it there in gross and ostentatious living. The Roman magistrates of the province were, as a rule, men who were willing to accept a share of the plunder and ^ This plundering went on largely in connection with the collection of the taxes and public rents. The natives paid a tenth in kind of the produce of the tilled land, and a rent for the use of the public pastures. There were also custom duties on imports. Under a law of Gains Gracchus (lex Sicmpronia, 123 U.c), the collection of these rents or taxes was farmed out, the censors every five years selling the privileges at public auction. in return to connive at the wickedness going on all around them. Of course there were among the Italian residents many honorable merchants ; but the dishonesty, extortion, and cruelty of the majority were so odious and so galling that they all alike became the objects of the utmost hatred and detestation of the natives. Bearing in mind this feeling of the natives towards the Italians, we shall understand how it was possible for Mith- radates to effect such an overturning of things so quickly as he did. Mithradates VI. Eupator, surnamed the Great, came to the throne of the little kingdom of I'ontus in the year 120 B.C. His extraordinary career impressed deeply the imagi- nation of his times, and his deeds and fame have come down to us disguised and distorted by legend. His bodily frame and strength were immense, and his activity untiring. He could carry on conversation, it is said, in twenty-two of the differ- ent languages of his subjects. But Mithradates, notwithstanding the fact that his mother wms a Syrian Greek and he himself was familiar with Greek culture, was, in his instincts and impulses, a typical oriental barbarian. In the course of a few years, Mithradates by virtue of his resourcefulness and marvellous activity had pushed out, by conquest and negotiations, the boundaries of his little hereditary kingdom until it almost encircled the Euxine, which became practically a Pontic sea. He now audaciously encroached upon the Roman possessions in Mithradates the Great. 248 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. Asia Minor, took prisoner a Roman magistrate, and sub- jected him to the most ignominious treatment. The natives of the Roman province of Asia, including the Greek cities, hailed him as their deliverer. 169. Mithradates orders a General Massacre of Italians in Asia (88 B.C.). — Avyrare that a Roman army would soon be in Asia, Mithradates now took the resolve to destroy at a single blow all the Italians in the country, so that the Romans should not have their aid in the struggle that he foresaw to be near at hand. He accordingly sent orders to the magistrates throughout the country that on a certain day every Italian, without distinction of age or sex, should be put to death and their bodies thrown out without burial. Slaves were enjoined and encouraged through promised rewards to kill their masters, and those In debt to slay their debtors. This savage order was almost everywhere carried out to the letter. Men, women, and children, all of the Italian name, were massacred. The number of victims of the wholesale slaughter is variously estimated at from eighty thousand to a hundred and fifty thousand. The hatred which the oppressions of the Roman magistrates, and the robberies of the Italian publicans and usurers, had Inspired in the native population explains, though without extenuating, the awful crime. 170. Mithradates in Europe. — Mithradates now turned his attention to Europe and sent his army into Greece. Athens, hoping for the revival of her old empire, and the most of the other Greek cities, renounced the authority of Rome and hailed Mithradates as the protector of Hellenism against the barbarian Romans. THE rEK/On OE THE REVOLUT/OJV. 249 Thus in the space of a few months was the power of the Romans destroyed throughout all the East, and the bound- aries of their empire pushed back virtually to the Adriatic. The European Greek cities, in turning as they did to an Asiatic despot as their ally and protector against Rome, showed themselves wholly blind to the real historical sig- nificance of the wars, as interpreted by a great modern historian, which were now opening between the Pontic king and the Romans. ** They [these wars] formed — after a long truce — a new passage in the huge duel between the West and the East, which has been transmitted from the struggle of Marathon to the present generation, and will, perhaps, reckon its future by thousands of years, as it has reckoned its past."*' The Greeks of Europe should have realized, however hard and humiliating might be the position that had been assigned them among the different races and classes of the Roman empire, that they could not hope permanently to ameliorate their situation by opening the gates of the con- tinent to Asiatic barbarians. They should have recalled certain passages in their own noble history, and reflected on the meaning of Marathon and Thermopylae. 171. Marius and Sulla contend for the Command in the War against Mithradates. — The Roman senate at last bestirred itself. Its preoccupation with affairs in Italy had kept it from giving that attention to the proceedings of Mithra- dates that the gravity of the situation he was creating demanded. Every exertion was now made to raise and equip an army for the recovery of the East. But the Marsic struggle ^ Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. 111. p. 336. ' 250 ROME AS A KKPUBLIC. had drained the treasury and impoverished all Italy (par. 165). The money needed for equipping the expedition could be raised only by the extraordinary measure of selling at public auction some land belonging to the state within the city limits. A contest straightway arose between Marius and Sulla for the command of the forces. The former was now an old man of seventy years, while the latter was but forty- nine. Marius could not endure the thought of being pushed aside by his former lieutenant. The veteran general joined with the young men in the games and exercises of the gymnasium, to show that his frame was still animated by the strength and agility of youth. The senate, however, conferred the command upon Sulla, who at that time was consul. Marius was furious at the success of his rival. In con- nection with the tribune Publius Sulpicius Rufus, he suc- ceeded, by means of violence, in carrying a measure in an assembly of the people, whereby the command of the army intended for the East was taken away from Sulla and given to himself. Two tribunes were sent to demand of Sulla, who was still in Italy, the transfer of the command of the legions to Marius ; but the messengers were killed by the soldiers, who were devotedly attached to their commander. Sulla now saw that the sword must settle the dispute. He marched at the head of his legions upon Rome, entered the gates, and *'for the first time in the annals of the city a Roman army encamped within the walls." The party of Marius was defeated, and he and ten of his companions were proscribed. Marius escaped and fled to Africa. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 251 Sulla, after making some changes in the constitution in the interest of the oligarchy, among which was a provision which prevented the popular assemblies considering any measure unless it had been first approved by the senate, embarked with the legions to meet Mithradates in the East (88 B.C.). 172. The Wanderings of Marius. — Leaving Sulla to carry on the Mithradatic War, we must first follow the fortunes of the exiled Marius. The ship in which he fled from Italy was driven ashore at Circeii. Here Marius and the com- panions of his flight wandered about, sustained by the hope inspired by the good omen of the seven eaglets. As the story runs, Marius, when a boy, had captured an eagle's nest with seven young, and the augurs had said that this signified that he should be seven times consul. He had already held the office six times, and he firmly believed that the prophecy would be fulfilled as to the seventh term. The pursuers of Marius at last found him hiding in a marsh, buried up to his neck in mud and water. He was dragged before the authorities of the town of Minturna?. The magistrates, in obedience to the commands that had been sent everywhere, determined to put him to death. A Cimbrian slave was sent to despatch him. The cell where Marius lay was dark, and the eyes of the old soldier "seemed to flash fire." As the slave advanced, Marius shouted, ''Man, do you dare kill Gaius Marius.^" The frightened slave dropped his sword, and fled from the chamber, half dead with fear. A better feeling now took* possession of the men of Minturnai, and they resolved that the blood of the *' Savior of Italy " should not be upon their hands. Phey put him 252 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. aboard a vessel, which bore him and his friends to an island just off the coast of Africa. When he attempted to set foot upon the mainland near Carthage, Sextus, the Roman gov- ernor of the province, sent a messenger to forbid him to land. The legend says that the old general, almost choking with indignation, simply replied: *'Go, tell your master that you have seen Marius, a fugitive, sitting amidst the ruins of Carthage." 173. The Return of Marius to Italy. — The exile at length found a temporary refuge on the island of Cercina, off the coast of Tunis. Here news was brought to him that his party, under the lead of the consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna, was in successful revolt against the optimates, and that he was needed. He immediately set sail for Italy, and land- ing in Etruria, joined Cinna. Together they hoped to crush and exterminate the opposing faction. Rome was cut off from her food supplies and starved into submission. Marius now took a terrible revenge upon his enemies. The consul Gnaius Octavius, who represented the aristocrats, was assassinated, and his head set up in front of the rostra. Never before had such a thing been seen at Rome — a consul's head exposed to the public gaze. The senators, equestrians, and leaders of the aristocratical party fled from the capital. For five days and nights a merciless slaughter was kept up. The life of every man in the capital w^as in the hands of the revengeful Marius. If he refused to return the greeting of any citizen, that sealed his fate ; he was instantly despatched by the soldiers who awaited their master's nod. The bodies of the victims lay unburied in the streets. Sulla's house was torn down, and he himself declared a public enemy. During the tumult THE PERIOD OE THE REVOLUTIOIV. 253 the slaves had armed themselves, and, imitating the exam- ple set before them, were rioting in murder and pillage. Marius, finding it impossible to restrain their maddened fury, turned his soldiers loose upon them, and they were massacred to a man. As a fitting sequel to all this violence, Marius and Cinna were, in an entirely illegal way, declared consuls. The prophecy of the eaglets was fulfilled (par. 172): Marius was consul for the seventh time. But rumors were now spread about that Sulla, having overthrown Mithradates, was about to set out on his return with his victorious legions. He w^ould surely exact speedy and terrible venge- ance. Marius, now old and enfeebled by the hardships of many campaigns, seemed to shrink from facing again his hated rival. He plunged into dissipation to drown his remorse and gloomy forebodings, and died in his seventy- first year (86 b.c. ), after having held his seventh consulship only thirteen days. "He had lived too long for his fame." 174. Sulla and the First Mithradatic War (88-84 R-^-)- — When Sulla left Italy with his legions for the East he knew ver}^ well that his enemies would have their own way in Italy during his absence; but he also knew that, if success- ful in his campaign against Mithradates, he could easily regain Italy and wrest the government from the hands of the Marian party. Sulla landed with his army of thirty thousand men in Epirus, and then marched south into Attica, where he laid siege to Athens and the Peira^us, the Athenians having, as we have seen (par. 170), with great enthusiasm and immoderate hopes, joined the general uprising against Rome. To meet the expenses of the protracted sieges 254 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. of these places, Sulla robbed the ancient temples at Delphi and Olympia. After a long siege, Athens at length was taken (86 r..c.)- Massacre and pillage followed. To certain Athenians entreating that the city be spared, Sulla, who with the Acropolis before him could not be insensible to the spell of Athens' great past, replied that he would spare the living for the sake of the dead. After the reduction of Athens, Sulla drove the forces of Mithradates first out of Greece, and then out of Macedonia back into Asia, not, however, without some hard fighting.' In the year 85 b.c. he crossed the Hellespont, and by the following year had forced Mithradates to sue for peace. The king gave up all his conquests and paid a heavy war indemnity (84 p,.c.). Sulla now meted out punishment to those cities that had taken part In the war or had been concerned in the great massacre (par. 169). Some of these cities were destroyed and their inhabitants sold into slavery, and on those remaining Sulla laid an enormous fine of twenty thou- sand talents (about $25,000,000). Leaving to his lieu- tenant, Lucius Licinius Lucullus, the task of collecting this fine, Sulla set out on his return to Italy. The war had been a most destructive one in lives and in property. Many large cities had been utterly wiped OUt of existence, and half a, million of lives sacrificed. 175. Civil War between Sulla and the Marian Party (84- 82 B.C.). — With the Mithradatic War ended, Sulla wrote to the senate, saying that he was now coming to take 7 The battles of Chxronea (86 u.c.) and Orchomenus (85 k.c.) resulted in decisive victories for the Romans. THE PERIOD OE THE REVOLUTION. 255 vengeance upon the Marian party — his own and the republic's foes. The terror and consternation produced at Rome by this letter were increased by the accidental burning of the Capitol. The Sibylline books (par. 24), which held the secrets of the fate of Rome, were consumed. This accident awakened the most gloomy apprehensions. Such an event, it was believed, could only foreshadow the most direful calamities to the state. Sulla landed at Brundisium in Italy (83 B.C.). He was straightway joined by many young volunteers of distinction, among whom was a youth of whom we shall later hear a great deal — Gnx'us Pompey. Many engagements between the army of Sulla and the forces of the consul Gna^us Papirius Carbo and the younger Marius now followed. Sulla passed the winter of 82 b.c. in Capua. Later in this year the war was virtually ended by a desperate battle in front of the Colline Gate of the capital, between Sulla's troops and the Samnites, who had thrown themselves into the struggle on the Marian side, but only, of course, to get an opportunity to avenge themselves on Rome. Sulla caused between three and four thousand Samnite prisoners taken here to be slaughtered to a man on the Campus Martins. 176. The Proscriptions of Sulla. — When Sulla entered Rome, he entered the city in a ferocious mood, which boded ill for his enemies. The leaders of the Marian party were proscribed, rewards were offered for their heads, and their property was confiscated. Sulla was implored to make out a list of those he designed to put to death, that those he intended to spare might be relieved of the terrible 256 ROME AS A KEPUBLIC. suspense in which all were now held. He made out a list of eighty, which was attached to the rostra. The people murmured at the length of the roll. In a few days it was ex- tended to over three hundred, and then grew rapidly until it included the names of thousands of the best citizens of Italy. Hundreds were mvirdered simply because some favorites of Sulla coveted their estates. A wealthy noble, coming into the forum and reading his own name in the list of the pro- scribed, exclaimed: "Alas! my villa has proved my ruin." The infamous Catiline (par. 188), by having the name of a brother placed upon the fatal roll, secured his property. Julius Caisar, at this time a mere boy of eighteen, was pro- scribed on account of his relationship to Marius ; but, upon the intercession of friends, Sulla spared him ; as he did so, however, he said warningly, and, as the event proved, prophetically, ''There is in that boy many a Marius." The number of victims of these proscriptions has been handed down as forty-seven hundred. Almost all of these must have been men of wealth or of special distinction on account of their activity in public affairs. Even the dead did not escape. The tomb of Marius was broken open and the ashes thrown into the Anio. Senators, knights, and wealthy landowners were formally proscribed by their names being placed on the fatal lists ; but the poor Italians who had sided with the Marian party were without any such formality simply slaughtered by tens of thousands. Samnium was practically emptied of inhabitants. Nor did the provinces escape. In Sicily, Spain, and Africa, the enemies of Sulla were hunted down and exterminated like noxious animals. The property of the proscribed was confiscated and sold THE rElR/OO OE THE EEVOEUTIOJV. 257 at public auction, or virtually given away by Sulla to his friends and favorites. Estates were purchased in some instances for a hundredth and even a thousandth part of their real value. Yet even under these circumstances the proceeds of the sales amounted to nearly $20,000,000, which is evidence of the sweeping nature of the confiscations. The basis of some of the most colossal fortunes that we hear of a little after this was laid during these times of proscription and robbery (par. 189, n. 7). Much of the confiscated land of the proscribed, together with the territories taken from numerous cities arid com- munities on account of their having sided with the Marian party, w^as allotted to the veterans of Sulla. A hundred and twenty thousand such assignments are said to have been made. These settlements were particularly numerous in Samnium, which region, as we have seen, had been swept almost clear of its native inhabitants. Ten thousand slaves of the proscribed were made full Roman citizens, and became known as the Cornelians.^ They could be depended upon to support the new order of things, and to obey the commands of him *to w^hom they owed their civic life. This reign of terror bequeathed to later times a terrible "legacy of hatred and fear." Its awful scenes haunted the Romans for generations, and at every crisis in the affairs of the commonwealth the public mind was thrown into a state of painful apprehension lest there should be a repe- tition of these frightful days of Sulla. Nor did Italy ever recover from the economic blight that this civil war and the mutual proscriptions of the contend- 8 So called after Sulla, whose full name was Lucius Cornelius Sulla. v^ 258 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. ing parties brought upon vast regions of the peninsula. In the wasted districts the great slave farms grew in size, and everywhere brigandage increased. As we proceed in our narrative, we shall have frequent occasion to call attention to the traces, both on the face of the land and in the minds of the people, of the terribly desolating and demoralizing effects of the wild carnival of crime of which we have been the witnesses. 177. Sulla made Dictator, with Power to remodel the Consti- tution (82 B.C.). — The senate now passed a decree which approved and confirmed all that Sulla had done, and made him dictator during his own good pleasure. This was the first time a dictator had been appointed since the war with Hannibal, and the first time the dictatorial authority had ever been conferred for a longer period than six months. The decree further gave Sulla the power of life and death without the right of appeal over every person in the state, and further invested him with authority to make laws and to remodel the constitution in any way that might seem to him necessary and best. The power here given Sulla was like that with which the Decemvirs had been clothed nearly four centuries before this time (par. 59). 178. The Sullan Constitution.^ — The chief political aim of the Gracchan reforms (par. 154) had been the dimin- ishing of the power of the senate and the placing of all authority, legislative and administrative, in the assemblies of the people, led and controlled by the college of tribunes. The reforms which Sulla, invested with the full power of the state, now effected had for their chief aim the restora- tion of the authority of the senate, w^hich recent revolutions 1 Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. iii. pp. 431-449. f THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 259 and circumstances had reduced almost to a nullity ; and the lessening of the power of the tribunate, which office during the centuries since its establishment had gradually absorbed one function after another, until it was now the most important of all the magistracies of the state. Among the changes wrought in the constitution by Sulla were the following : 1. The senate, whose ranks had been greatly thinned by the proscriptions of the civil war, was strengthened by the addition of three hundred new members,' taken from the order of knights. 2. In the future, election to the quntstorship was to confer the right upon the person so chosen, at the end of his term of office, to a seat in the senate. As the number of qua.^s- tors was raised to twenty, "^ and citizens were eligible to this office at the age of thirty, this arrangement qualified a large number of persons for the senatorial dignity. As a matter of fact, the number of senators was about doubled, and the senate from this time on appears to have embraced between five and six hundred members. 3. The number of criminal courts was increased, and that criminal jurisdiction which up to this time had been exercised by the popular assemblies was transferred to these new tribunals. The judges or jurymen of these courts were in the future to be chosen from the senators instead of from the knights. This placed again the administra- tion of criminar^JTr^lice in the hands of the senatorial party (par. 155). 2 Chosen by the comitia tributa. ^ At the same time the number of praetors was raised from six to eight. 26o ROME AS A REPUBLIC. 4. The censorship, which had been such an important office hitherto, and one of the most unique of all the Roman magistracies, was practically abolished. This came about largely through the provision made for the automatic tilling of the seats in the senate by ex-quntstors. The roll of the senate had hitherto been made up at the end of every lustrum by the censors (par. 65), and this was one of their most important duties. The taking away from them of this function made it possible to dispense with the office altogether. 5. No measure was to be presented by a tribune to any popular assembly w^ithout the approval of the senate hav- ing been secured beforehand.^ This gave the senate the initiative in all legislation, together with complete control of all administrative affairs, and at the same time stripped the tribunician office of an acquired privilege which had enabled demagogues like Saturninus and Sulpicius (pars. 162, 171) to bring before the popular assemblies all kinds of proposals and policies having to do with purely execu- tive and administrative matters, with which the people ought not to have intermeddled. 6. The power of the college of tribunes was still further diminished by the imposition of a heavy fine for the abuse by a tribune of the right of intercession. Great abuses had grown up, as we have seen, in connection with this intercessory power of the tribune. The veto had been originally given, it will be remembered, simply for the pur- pose of enabling the tribunes to protect the plebeians against the arbitrary and unjust acts of the patrician mag- ^ This was simply a reenactment of the law which Sulla had secured in 88 B.C. (par. 171). THE PERIOD OE THE REVOLUTIOJV. 261 istrates (par. 50); but it had gradually been given a wider and wider application, until the tribunes claimed and exer- cised the right to bring the whole government to a stand- still (par. 151). Worse than all, it had been often perverted into a work-tool of personal ambition and party intrigue. It was high time that restrictions should be placed upon this mischief-making function of the tribune. By another enact- ment the office of tribune was shorn of all attractiveness to ambitious and able citizens. It was decreed that the acceptance of the tribunate should disqualify a person for ever holding any curule^ magistracy. 7. The election of members of the sacred colleges was taken away from the people, and vacancies were in the future to be filled by the colleges themselves.*" 8. It was decreed that no person should hold the consul- ship for two successive years, which was designed to prevent such a protracted consulship as Marius'; and further that no one should have the right to stand for the consulship who had not previously held the affices of qua.*stor and pra^tor.^ This last provision was designed to close the consular office against incapable and inexperienced men. The philosophy of the restriction was embodied in Sulla's remark to the effect that "one should be rower before taking the helm." These changes and reforms were, almost all of them, wise and reasonable, and this whole work of reconstructing the old clumsy, worn-out, broken-down constitution marks s See page no. 6 That is, by cooptation. " These offices could henceforth be entered only in this order — quaestorship, pra^torship, consulship. — Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. iii. p. 437. The ages of eligibility to these several offices was, for the quaestorship, 30 ; for the prxtorship, 40; and for the consulship, 43. 262 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. Sulla as a man of great ability and of statesmanlike views and aims. It is difficult for us to believe the Sulla of the days of proscription and the Sulla of these days of consti- tution-making to be one and the same man. Yet Sulla's constitution, wisely as it had been conceived, broke down utterly in almost every part within ten years. But the fault was not with the constitution, but with the men intrusted with the working of it. Mr. James Bryce, in his commentary on our institutions, has said of the Ameri- can people that they would make any sort of a constitution work well. Just the opposite was true of the senatorial oligarchical party at Rome who were intrusted with the working of the Sullan constitution. They were intellectually unable and morally unfit to work any kind of a constitution. We need not then be surprised at the quick breakdown of the constitution which Sulla placed in their hands. 179. The Abdication and Death of Sulla. — ^ After having exercised the unlimited power of his office for three years, Sulla, to the surprise of everybody, suddenly resigned the dictatorship, and retired to his villa at Puteoli. Here, after a few months passed in the society of congenial com- panions and filled with the grossest dissipations, he was visited by a loathsome malady, and died the year following his abdication (78 k.c). The soldiers w^ho had fought under the old general crowded to his funeral from all parts of Italy. The body was burned upon a huge funeral pyre raised in the Campus Martins. The monument erected to his memory bore this inscription, which he himself had composed : '* None of my friends ever did me a kindness, and none of my enemies ever did me a wrong, without being fully requited." THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 263 One important result of the reign of Sulla as an absolute dictator was the accustoming of the people to the idea of the rule of a single man. His short dictatorship was the prelude to the reign of the permanent Imperator. The parts of the old actors in the drama were now all played to the end. But the plot deepens, and new men appear upon the stage to carry on the new, which are really the old, parts. Rkferknces. — White's Appian, vol. ii., 7^/ie Ci-z'il IVa^s, bk. i. chaps, v.-xii., for the Social War and the Civil Wars of Marius and Sulla; bk. xii. chaps, i.-ix., for the First Mithradatic War. Plutarch, Lives of Sulla 3.nd Afar i us. Beesi.y (A. II.), * T/ie Gracchi, Alarius and Sulla (Epoch Series), chaps, iv. pp. 65-81, *' The Jugurthine War"; chap. V. pp. 81-95, "The Cimbri and Teutones " ; chap. viii. pp. 112- 128, "The Social War." Merivale {C), *T/ie Fall of the Roman Republic, chaps, ii.-v. pp. 32-165. Ihne (W.), History 0/ RoT?ie, vol. v.; later chapters. Long (G.), The Decline of the Roman Republic, 5 vols.; general reference work. Freeman (E. A.), Historical Essays (Second Series), essay entitled " Lucius Cornelius Sulla." THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 265 CHAPTER XIV. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION {Concluded). (78-31 B.C.) 180. The Insurrection of Lepidus (78-77 b.c). — It is a difficult thing to establish peace by violence. The wise Samnite counsellor understood this when he advised his son, victor over the Romans at the Caudine Forks, either to allow all his prisoners to return home unharmed, or to kill them to the last man (par. 78). Sulla's proscriptions and murders had created many more enemies of the oli- garchy than they had destroyed. The provinces were swarming with exiled Marians, and Italy itself w^as filled with their friends and sympathizers. Hardly were the embers of the funeral pyre of Sulla quenched, before an insurrection broke out against the government of the rees- tablished oligarchy. The leader of the movement was a deserter from the oligarchical party — Marcus .'Emilius Lepidus, a man with neither ability nor character. The aim of the insurrection was "the overthrow of the Sullan constitution, the revival of the distributions of corn, the reinstating of the tribunes of the people in their former position, the recall of those w^ho were banished contrary to law, [and] the restoration of the confiscated lands."'* ^ Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. iv. p. 36. 264 The circumstances under which Lepidus betrayed his party are a valuable commentary upon the situation of affairs at the capital. Lepidus was chosen consul for the year 78 b.c. His colleague was Q. Lutatius Catulus. Just at this time the dispossessed proprietors of Etruria rose in revolt against the new order of things there, and strove by force of arms to regain possession of their lands. The senate sent the consuls into the region to suppress the uprising, inducing them, however, before they set out, to take an oath that they would not quarrel and turn their arms against each other. While Lepidus was yet in Etruria, the consular year expired, and he, in utter disregard of the Sullan constitu- tion,'' demanded his reelection as consul. The demand being refused, Lepidus marched from Etruria upon Rome and seemed about to tread in the footsteps of Sulla. On the Campus Martius, however, his army was met and routed by the forces of the other consul, Catulus. Lepidus escaped to Sardinia, but died soon after landing (77 b.c). With his death the insurrection fell to pieces. Many who had taken part in it fled to Spain. We shall meet them there directly. 181. Sertorius in Spain ; the War against him (80-72 b.c), — Spain had become a sort of refuge for the exiled Marians. The situation there now was this. The Lusitanians, the martial people of the province of Farther Spain, had asserted their independence and were in arms against Rome. They had invited the Marian exile, Quintus Ser- torius, a soldier whose martial deeds in Africa had excited ® The new constitution made it illegal for one to hold the office of consul for two consecutive years. 266 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. TH£: riLRion of- the revoi^utioat. 267 HI their admiration, to come to their help.^ The invitation had been accepted, and Sertorius was at this moment their leader. Sertorius was a man of positive genius, one of the few men of great parts that the savage proscriptions of the contending parties at Rome had left alive. The attractive force of a strong personality drew to him the chivalric warriors of Lusitania, and gave him a bodyguard of thousands of devoted and oath-bound companions. He did not hesitate to strengthen his hold upon his wild adherents by taking advantage of their superstitions. He pretended that a tame white fawn, which he kept always by his side, made known to him secret things which were a revelation from Uiana. Sertorius was surrounded by hundreds of Roman refu- gees, for his camp was a sort of Adullam's cave,^ where was collected a great crowd of the outlawed adherents of the Marian party and men dissatisfied with the new order of things at Rome. Out of these Sertorius formed a senate ; for, while fighting the armies of the government of the oligarchy, he held himself out as the Roman general and governor of Spain, and the true representative of the Roman state. He further established a school for the children of the native chieftains, and caused them to be taught Latin and Greek and all the studies that formed a part of the instruction to the children of the best families in Rome. The plans of Sertorius reached beyond Spain. Acting 1 Sertorius had been sent into the peninsula by the Marian govern- ment as propraetor of Farther Spain (S3 B.C.). He had been driven out of the country to Africa by the lieutenants of Sulla. 2 See Old Testament, I. Sam. xxii. i, 2. as though he were the real head of the Roman government, he formed an alliance with Mithradates (par. 168) and negotiated with him respecting the Roman client states in the East. He further formed a league with the pirates of the Mediterranean (par. 185) and gave them stations on the Spanish coasts, and stirred up the tribes of Gaul against the authority in the North of the Roman senate. His activity, his talent for military affairs, and the reach of his plans, together with the fact that he had lost an eye in battle, caused him to be called the "new Hannibal."^ Indeed, there were those at Rome who feared that he would play the part of the Carthaginian, and leaving Spain, descend from the Alps upon Rome. There probably was at no time any great danger of his attempting this, but the existence of the apprehension shows the panic- stricken state of the public mind since the Sullan rei^n of terror. In any event fortune never opened the way for Sertorius to lead his followers to the gates of the capital. The general of the senate, Quintus Metellus Pius, who had been sent into Spain before Sulla's death, having fought without success against Sertorius, in the year 76 b.c. Gnaeus Pom- pey, the rising young general of the oligarchy (i^ar. 175), upon whom the title of " Great " had already been con- ferred as a reward for crushing the Marian party in Sicily and Africa, was sent out to Spain to perform a similar service there. For several years the war was carried on with varying 8 Hannibal lost an eye from ophthalmia while in Italy. Plutarch calls Philip of Macedon, Antigonus (Alexander's general), Hannibal, and Sertorius " the one-eyed commanders." 268 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. fortunes. At times the power of Rome in the peninsula seemed on the verge of utter extinction. Finally the brave Sertorius, a price having been placed on his head by Metellus, was treacherously set upon at a banquet by a number of his Roman officers and stabbed to death. " So ended one of the greatest men, if not the very greatest man, that Rome had hitherto produced, — a man who under more favorable circumstances would perhaps have become the regenerator of his country, — by the treason of the wretched band of emigrants whom he was condemned to lead against his native land. History loves not the Corio- lani ; ^ nor has she made any exception even in the case of this the most magnanimous, most gifted, most deserving to be regretted of them all." ^ After the removal of Sertorius the insurrection that he had organized and headed was speedily crushed, and both the Spanish provinces were regained for the government of the oligarchy. Pompey settled the affairs of the country. Throughout the conquered regions he established military colonies and reorganized the local governments, putting in power those who would be not only friends and allies of the Roman state, but also his own personal adherents. How he used these men as instruments of his ambition, we shall learn a little later. At the very summit of the Pyrenees, where crossed by the trail leading into Gaul, Pompey erected a commemora- tive column upon which a boastful inscription told how he had forced the gates of more than eight hundred towns in Spain and Southern Gaul. * See par. 55. ^ Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. iv. p. 50. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 269 182. Spartacus; War of the Gladiators (73-71 B.C.). — While Pompey was subduing the Marian faction in Spain, a new danger broke out in the midst of Italy. Gladiatorial combats had become at this time the favorite sport of the amphitheatre. At Capua was a sort of training-school, from which skilled fighters were hired out for public or private entertainments. In this seminary was a Thracian slave, known by the name of Spartacus, who incited his companions to revolt. The insurgents fled to the crater of Vesuvius and made that their stronghold. There they were joined by gladiators from other schools, and by slaves and discontented men from every quarter. Some slight suc- cesses enabled them to arm themselves with the weapons of their enemies. Their number at length increased to a hundred and fifty thousand men. For three years they defied the power of Rome, and even gained control of the larger part of Southern Italy. Four Roman armies sent against them were cut to pieces. But Spartacus, who was a man of real ability and dis- cernment, foresaw that a protracted contest with Rome must inevitably issue in the triumph of the government. He therefore counselled his followers to fight their way over the Alps, and then to disperse to their various homes in Gaul, Spain, and Thrace. But, elated with the successes already achieved, they imagined that they could capture Rome and have all Italy for a spoil. Their camp was already filled with plunder, which the insurgents sold to speculators. They took in exchange for these spoils only brass and iron, which their forges quickly converted into weapons. At length the praetor Marcus Licinius Crassus succeeded 2/0 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. in crowding the insurgents down into Rhegium, where Hannibal had stood so long at bay. Spartacus now re- solved to pass over into Sicily and stir up the embers of the old servile wars upon that island (pars. 147, 161). He bargained with the pirates that infested the neighboring seas to convey his forces across the straits ; but as soon as they had received the stipulated price they treacherously sailed away and left Spartacus and his followers to their fate. Crassus threw up a wall across the isthmus, to pre- vent the escape of the insurgents ; but Spartacus broke through the Roman line by night and hastened northward with his army. P'ollowing in hot pursuit, Crassus overtook the fugitives at the Silarus, and there subjected them to a decisive defeat. Spartacus himself was slain ; but five thousand of the insurgents escaped and fled towards the Alps. This flying band was met and annihilated by Pom- pey, who was returning from Spain. The slaves that had taken part in the revolt were hunted through the mountains and forests and exterminated like dangerous beasts. The Appian Way was lined with six thousand crosses bearing aloft as many bodies, — a terrible warning of the fate awaiting slaves who should dare to strike for freedom. 183. The Consulship of Pompey and the Overthrow of the SuUan Constitution (70 B.C.). - — In recognition of his services in the Spanish and the Gladiatorial war, Pompey was made consul for the year 70 B.C. Crassus, the conqueror of Spartacus, was chosen as his colleague. Pompey did not owe the consulate to the senatorial party, to which he nominally belonged, for they were jeal- ous of his growing popularity and threw every obstacle THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION, 271 they could in the way of his advance. He owed his elec- tion to the popular party, with the leaders of which he had entered into a political bargain, the terms of which were that in return for the consulate, a triumph, and lands for Pompey the Great. (From bust in the Spada Palace.) his veterans, he should aid the people in repealing the Sullan laws and restoring the essential features of the Gracchan constitution.*^ The Sullan constitution had been in force now for nine years, but during all this time its enemies had labored to ^ For the main proposals embraced by the people's program, ^ee par. 180. 2/2 ROME AS A REPUBLrC. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION, 273 overthrow it by force of arms in the field and by the tactics of the demagogue in the forum. Already the oligarchical party had been forced to yield some ground. At the time of the agitation started by Lepidus (par. 180), the largesses of corn, which Sulla had forbidden, were again authorized (78 B.C.). No sooner was Pompey installed in office than he pro- ceeded to make good his promises to the democrats. He carried first a law which restored to the tribunes the time- honored prerogatives of which Sulla had stripped them. The Sullan arrangements in regard to the law courts were next swept away. Sulla, it will be recalled, had taken away from the knights the control of the jury courts and placed them in the hands of the senate by decreeing that all jurymen should be chosen from the senators. These courts were now reconstituted ' in such a way as to give the knights the virtual control of them. This change in the judicial system was made easy of accomplishment through the exposure at just this time — in connection with the prosecution of the infamous Verres, of whom we shall say something presently (par. 184) — of the scandal- ous corruption of the senatorial courts. Sulla had practically abolished the office of censor. This was now restored, and censors were again elected with the old prerogative, of course, of revising the roll of the senate. The first act of the newly elected censors was to ^ By the lex Aiird'nh proposed by the praetor L. Aurelius Cotta, which provided that in the future only one-third of the jurymen should be taken from the senators, and the remaining two-thirds from the equestrian order and the class of citizens rating in property next below them. purge the senate by casting out of that body sixty-four of the most incapable and corrupt of its members. The Sullan constitution was thus in all its main parts abolished, and the Gracchan virtually reestablished. It would be idle to follow further any changes in the Roman constitution under the republic. From this on to the establishment of the empire, there was in reality no constitutional law at Rome, but only the will or caprice of the successful leader of the legions. Consuls and tribunes alike were henceforth hardly more than work-tools in the hands of ambitious and unscrupulous commanders who were aiming at the supreme power in the state. In the midst of the bargainings and intrigues of the deinagogues and the military chieftains, no one paid any attention to the rules of the constitution, save to use them to further personal ambition or to gain some party end. Chief among those who thus disregarded the forms of the constitution and constantly and arrogantly broke through its restraints, and thereby contributed largely to bring all laws and customs into contempt, was Pompey himself. Thus, for instance, his becoming a candidate for the con- sulship was a most flagrant violation of every rule and custom, for he had not yet held a single one of the inferior offices through which alone the consulate could at this time legally be entered (par. 178, n. 7). 184. The Abuses and the Prosecution of Verres (70 B.C.). — In the preceding paragraph we said that the taking away from the senate of the control of the jury courts was a reform made necessary and urgent by the shameless cor- ruption of the senatorial juries. It was in connection with the administration of the 274 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. affairs of the provinces that the most flagrant abuses arose. At first the rule of the Roman governors in the provinces, though severe, was honest and prudent. But during the period of profligacy and corruption upon which we have now entered, the administration of these foreign possessions had become shamefully dishonest and incredibly cruel and rapacious. The prosecution of Verres, the propraetor of Sicily, exposed the scandalous rule of the oligarchy, into whose hands the government had fallen. For three years Verres plundered and ravaged that island with impunity. He sold all the offices and all his decisions as judge. He demanded of the farmers the greater part of their crops, which he sold to swell his already enormous fortune. Agriculture was thus ruined, and the farms were abandoned. Verres had a taste for art, and when on his tours through the island confiscated gems, vases, statues, paintings, and other things that struck his fancy, whether in temples or in private dwellings. Verres could not be called to account while in office; and it was doubtful whether, after the end of his term, he could be convicted, so corrupt and venal had become the mem- bers of the senate, before whom all such offenders must be tried. Indeed, Verres himself openly boasted that he intended two-thirds of his gains for his' judges and law- yers ; the reiTiaining one-third would satisfy himself. At length, after Sicily had come to look as though it had been ravaged by barbarian conquerors, the infamous robber was impeached. The prosecutor was Marcus TuUius Cicero, the brilliant orator, who was at this time just rising into prominence at Rome. The storm of indignation raised by the developments of the trial caused Verres to flee into THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 275 exile to Massilia, whither he took with him much of his ill- gotten wealth. 185. War with the Mediterranean Pirates (78-66 b.c). — Another most shameful commentary on the utter incapacity of the government of the aristocrats was the growth of piracy in the Mediterranean waters during their rule. It is true that this was an evil which had been growing for a long time. The Romans through their conquest of the countries fringing the Mediterranean had destroyed not only the governments that had maintained order on the land, but at the same time had destroyed the fleets, as in the case of Carthage, which, since the days when the rising Greek cities suppressed piracy in the .^-'gean Sea, had policed the Mediterranean and kept its ship routes clear of corsairs. In the more vigorous days of the republic the sea had been well watched bv Roman fleets, but after the close of the wars with Carthage the Romans had allowed their war navy to fall into decay. The Mediterranean, thus left practically without patrol, was swarming with pirates; for the Roman conquests in Africa, Spain, and especially in Greece and Asia Minor, had caused thousands of adventurous spirits in those maritime countries to take to their ships, and seek a liveli- hood by preying upon the commerce of the seas. The cruelty and extortion of the Roman governors In the vari- ous provinces, the civil war of Sulla and Marius, the pro- scriptions and confiscations of the days of terror at Rome, the impoverishment and dispossession of the peasant farmers everywhere through the growth of great slave-estates, — all these things, filling as they did the Mediterranean lands with homeless and desperate men, had also driven large 2^6 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 277 |: numbers of hitherto honest and industrious persons to the same course of life. These "ruined men of all nations," now turned pirates, had banded themselves together in a sort of government. They had as places of refuge numerous strong fortresses — four hundred it is said — among the inaccessible mountains of the coast lands they frequented. They had a fleet of a thousand sails, with dockyards and naval arsenals. "They were," in the words of Mommsen, " no longer a gang of robbers who had flocked together, but a compact soldier- state in which the free-masonry of exile and crime took the place of national- ity."" This state made treaties with the Greek maritime cities, and formed leagues of friend- ship with the kings and princes of the East. The history of this pirate-state is as interesting as a pirate's tale. Its swift ships, sailing in lleets and squad- rons, scoured the waters of the Mediterranean, so that no merchantman could spread her sails in safety. Nor were these buccaneers content with what spoils the sea might yield them 5 like the vikings of the Northern seas in later 8 Mommsen, History of Rome, vcl. iv. p. 57. Roman Trading Vessel. times, they made descents upon every coast, plundered villas and towns, and sweeping ofT the inhabitants sold them openly as slaves in the slave markets of the East. They robbed the venerated temple of Delos, and carried off all the inhabitants of the sacred island into slavery. They exacted from many cities an annual tribute as the price of immunity from their visits. In some regions the inhabit- ants, as in early times, were compelled to remove for safety from the coast and rebufld their homes farther inland. The pirates even ravaged the shores of Italy itself. They destroyed a Roman fleet lying in the harbor of Ostia. They carried off merchants and travellers from the Appian Way, among them two praetors with their magisterial fasces, and held them for ransom. At last they began to intercept the grain ships of Sicily and Africa, and thereby threatened Rome with starvation. Corn rose to famine prices. The Romans now bestirred themselves. In the year 67 H.c, the war against the pirates having now been carried on in an inefficient and intermittent w^ay for ten years or more, the tribune A. Gabinius brought before the people a proposal -^ that some consular person, to be named by the senate,^^ should be invested with dictatorial power for three years over the Mediterranean and all its coasts for fifty miles inland. The senators knew that if the law passed, Pompey would be the person they inust name, and accordingly they threw every obstacle that they dared in the way of the passage of ^ The lex Gabinia. i'^ It was not proposed to give the senate any real choice in the mat- ter. It was perfectly weU understood that Pompey was the man the people wanted appointed, and the only one whom the senate would dare designate. 278 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 279 the measure. But the people were never more in earnest than they were in regard to this Gabinian law. It was finally carried in the patrician-plebeian assembly of the tribes " amidst unexampled enthusiasm. While the voting of the tribes was proceeding, "the multitude stood densely packed in the forum ; all the buildings, whence the rostra could be seen, were covered even on the roofs with men."^^ The senators did not venture, after such a demonstration, to attempt to thwart the popular will. The law having been passed, the senators invested Pompey with the extraor- dinary command. He was given an army of a hundred and twenty thousand men, and an armament of over two hundred ships. All the treasures of the state were put at his disposal, and all magistrates and all the rulers of client states were ordered to give him such aid in men and money as he might demand. Pompey acted with unwonted energy. Within forty days he had swept the pirates from the Western Mediter- ranean, and in forty-nine more hunted them from all the waters east of Italy, captured their strongholds in Cilicia, and settled the twenty thousand prisoners that fell into his hands in various colonies in Asia Minor and Greece. Pompey's vigorous and successful conduct of this cam- paign against the pirates gained him great honor and reputation. 186. Pompey brings to an End the Third ^ Mithradatic War (74—64 B.C.). Pompey had not yet ended the war with the ^^ The comitia tribzita. 12 Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. iv. p. 136. 1 The so-called Second Mithradatic War (83-82 B.C.) was a short conflict between the Romans and Mithradates that arose just after the close of the First (par. 174). pirates before he was given, by a vote of the people,^ charge of the war against Mithradates, who now for several years had been in arms against Rome. This war was simply a continuation of the last contest between Mithra- dates and the Romans, which, as Plutarch puts it, was not ended but merely " stopped for a time." The circumstances leading to the present contest were these: Nicomedes III., king of Bithynia, had died 74 b.c, and, in imitation of Attalus III. of Pergamus fpar. 168), had willed his kingdom to the Roman people, who had at once made it into a province. Mithradates, whose power in the Euxine region was threatened by the appearance of the Romans there, had straightway invaded the new Roman territory with a large army. Thus the intermitted war was renewed. The chief conduct of the war on the Roman side was in the hands of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, who had served ably under Sulla in the First Mithradatic War. For eight years Lucullus carried on the war prosperously, even driving Mithradates out of his own kingdom of Pontus. 7^hen the tide of fortune turned against him, and he lost to the enemy almost everything he had gained. The causes of the reverses of Lucullus are worthy a moment's notice, since they, like the circumstances of the trial of Verres (par. 184), cast a strong light on the scandal- ous management of the affairs of the provinces. It will be recalled that at the end of the first war against Mithrada- tes, Sulla imposed upon the cities and communities that had taken part in that contest 'against Rome a heavy fine (par. 174). The payment of this indemnity had impover- ished the people and forced them to borrow money at 2 By the Manilian law, 66 B.C. !j % i 28o ROMB AS A KBrUBI^IC. frightfully high rates of interest from the Roman money- lenders. Many poor debtors had been forced to sell their children into slavery, and the cities to strip the temples of their treasures. Plutarch says that after the people had paid twice the amount of the original tine of 20,000 talents, they found themselves still owing, on account of the usuri- ous interest they were paying, 120,000 talents.^ LucuUus tried to put a stop to this robbery. He limited the rate of interest, and instituted other measures of relief. Of course the usurers, speculators, and farmers of the taxes were highly indignant at this interference with their busi- ness, and through their friends at Rome began a campaign of misrepresentation and slander against Lucullus with the purpose of bringing about his recall. The clamor raised at Rome against Lucullus reached the ears of his soldiers and aroused in them a rebellious spirit, which, when news finally came that he had been superseded in his command by Pompey, broke out in open mutiny. It was this state of things that had helped to paralyze the arm of Lucullus, and had robbed him of the fruit of eight years' tedious yet successful campaigning. Such was the situation of affairs when Pompey, fresh from his triumphs over the pirates, appeared upon the scene. In a great battle 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, found an asylum beyond the Caucasiis Mountains, whose bleak barriers interposed their friendly shield be- tween him and his pursuers. Desisting from the pursuit, Pompey turned south and conquered Syria, Phoenicia, and 8 Plutarch, Lucullus^ c. 120. THE PBRIOn OJr tHJ£ A' £ 1^01,(7 TIOJV. 281 Cale-Syria, which countries he erected into a Roman province under the name of Syria (64 rc). Still pushing southward, the conqueror entered Palestine, and after a short siege of Jerusalem, by taking advantage of the scruples of the Jews in regard to fighting on the Sabbath day, captured the city (63 rc). it was at this time that Tompey insisted, in spite of the protestations of the high priest, upon entering the Holy of Holies of the Hebrew temple. Pushing aside the curtain in front of 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) con- taining some sacred relics. The Romans here for the first time came in direct con- tact with a people whose ideas of God and of life they were wholly incapable of understanding, but who nevertheless were destined to exert a vast influence upon the empire they were constructing. While Pompey was thus engaged, Mithradates was strain- ing 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 Fharnaces 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 formi- dable enemies that Rome had ever encountered. Hamilcar, Hannibal, and Mithradates were the three great names that the Romans always pronounced with rcspcct and dfcad. * Some authorities, however, say that he was murdered by his son. 282 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. 187. 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 enjoved such a triumph as never before had been seen since Rome became a city. The spoils of all the East were borne in the procession ; three hundred and twenty-two princes walked as captives before the triumphal chariot of the conqueror; legends upon the banners proclaimed that he had conquered twenty-one kings, captured one thousand strongholds, nine hundred towns, and eight hundred ships, and subjugated more than twelve millions of people ; and that he had put into the treasury more than <;25,ooo,ooo, besides doubling the regular revenues of the state. He boasted that three times he had triumphed, and each time for the conquest of a continent, — first for Africa, then for Europe, and now for Asia, which completed the conquest of the world. 188. The Conspiracy of Catiline (64-62 r.c.). — While the legions were absent from Italy with Pompey in the East, a most daring conspiracy against the government was formed at Rome. Lucius Sergius Catilina, 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 conspirators. They depended upon receiving ^ Bithynia, which had been in Roman hands since 74 B.C., was enlarged by the addition of a part of Pontus, and given a permanent provincial constitution (65 B.C.). Cilicia also was extended and its government regularly organized (64 B.C.). THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 283 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 criininals. The proscriptions of Sulla (par. 176) were to be renewed, and all debts were to be cancelled. Fortunately, all the plans of the conspirators were re- vealed 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, he was slain with many of his follow- ers (62 B.C.). His head was borne as a trophy to Rome. Cicero was hailed as the " Savior of his Country." 189. Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey. — Although the con- spiracy of Catiline had failed, still it was very easy to foresee that the downfall of the Roman republic was near at hand. ® Videant consules ne quid respubjica detruneiiti capiat. There had been no dictator appointed except Sulla (par. 177) since the Second Punic War, although the power conferred upon Pompey at the time of the war with the pirates (par. 185) amounted practically to making him dictator. 284 ROMB AS A REPUBLIC. Indeed, from this time on, only the name remained. The basis of the institutions of the republic — the old Roman 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 con- quests and robberies in which the Roman people had been engaged. The days of liberty at Rome were over. From this time forward the government was really in the hands of ambitious and popular leaders, or of corrupt combina- tions 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. Gains Julius (^a^sar was born in the year 100 ac. Although de- scended from an old patrician family, still his sympathies, and an early marriage to the daughter of Cinna, one of the adherents, it will be recalled, of Marius (par. 173), had led him to identify himself with the Marian, or democratic party. In every way Caesar courted public favor. He lav- ished enormous sums upon public games and tables. His debts are said to have amounted to 25,000,000 sesterces (about J^i, 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 aristocratic party. He owed his influence to his enormous wealth, being one of the richest men in the Roman world. His property was estimated at 7100 talents (about ^8,875,000).' ■^ "The greatest part of this, if one must tell the truth, though it be a scandalous story, he got together [from war and from fires], making the Tii£ ri£R/on OjF Tiiif: rhv^olutio/st. 285 With Gnoius Pompey and his achievements w^e are al- ready 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 recon- struct 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 (par. \%\). 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. 190. The First Triumvirate (60 p..c.). — What Is known as the First Triumvirate rested on the genius of Cajsar, 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. Coisar was the man- ager 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. public misfortunes the source of his wealth ; for, when Sulla took the city, and sold the property of those whom he put to death, considering it and calling it spoil, and wishing to attach the infamy of the deed to as many of the most powerful men as he could, Crassus \sas never tired of receiving or buying [par. 176]. Besides this, observing the accidents that were indigenous and familiar at Rome, — conflagrations, and tumbling down of houses owing to their weight and crowded state, — he bought slaves who were architects and l:)uilders. Having got these slaves to the number of more than five hundred, it was his practice to buy up houses on fire; for the owners, owing to fear and uncertainty, would sell them at a low price. [Then the slaves would se't to work and extinguish the fire, and Crassus at a small cost would repair the damage.] And thus the greatest part of Rome fell into the hands of Crassus." — Plutarch, Life of Crassus, c. 2 [Long's Trans.]. 286 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. 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 sen- atorial party. Everything fell out as the triumvirs had planned : Ca'sar got the consulship, and Pompey received the lands for his soldiers. The two ablest senatorial leaders, Cato ^ and Cicero, whose incorruptible 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 (par. i88), was banished from the capital, his mansion on the Palatine was razed to the ground, and the remainder of his property confiscated. 191. Caesar's Conquests in Gaul and Britain (58-51 h.c). — At the end of his consulship, (^a:sar had assigned him, as proconsul, the administration of the provinces of C'isal- pine and Transalpine, or Narbonese, Gaul, together with Illyricum. 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, 8 This was Marcus Porcius Cato the Younger, a great-grandson of Marcus Porcius Cato the Censor (par. 137). He has been charac- terized as " the purest and noblest of all the Romans." THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTIOA'. 287 he might hope easily to attain that position at the head of affairs towards which his ambition w^as ur^in^ him. In the spring of 58 B.C. alarming intelligence from beyond the Alps caused Cx^sar to hasten from Rome into Transalpine Gaul. Now began a series of eight brilliant campaigns directed against the various tribes of Gaul, Germany, and Britain. In his admirable Commentaries Caesar himself has left us a faithful and graphic account of all the memorable marches, battles, and sieges that filled the years between 58 and 51 b.c. Cesar'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 between the Alps and the Jura ranges, had resolved to seek broader fields in the extreme western part of Gaul. Disregarding the commands of Caesar, the entire nation, numbering with their allies 368,000 souls, left their old homes and began their westward march. In a great battle Caesar, with the aid of the .^:duans, good allies of the Romans, completely defeated the barbarians, and forced them back into their old home between the moun- tains, now quite large enough for the survivors, as barely a third of those that had set out returned. Caesar next defeated the Suevi, a German tribe that, under their great chieftain Ariovistus, had crossed the Rhine and were seeking settlements in Gaul. These people he forced back over the Rhine into their native forests. The two years following this campaign Nvere 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 2SS ROME AS A REPUBLIC. the first historic naval battle upon the waters of the Atlantic. The year 55 k.c. marked two great achievements. Early in the spring of this year Cii^sar 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 mainland from liritain, 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 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 (par. 219). 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 inde- pendence. Vercingetorix, 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 eighty thousand of his warriors were shut up in Alesia, and were finally starved into submission. All Gaul was now quickly reconquered and pacified. Great enthusiasm was aroused at Rome by Caesar's victo- ries over the Gauls. "Let the Alps sink," exclaimed Cicero; ''the gods raised them to shelter Italy from the barbarians; they are now no longer needed." 192. Results of the Gallic Wars. One good result of THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 289 Caesar's conquest of Gaul was the establishment through- out this region of the Roman Peace. ^ Before the Romans entered the country, it was divided among a great number of tribes that were constantly at war with one another. In throwing her authority over them all, Rome caused their intertribal contentions to cease, and thus established a condition of things that first made possible the rapid and steady development ainong the people of the arts of peace. A second result of the Gallic wars of Caesar was the Romanizing of Gaul. The country, which was in time formed into three new provinces,^ 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 the municipalities,"'^ and the Roman franchise granted to prominent and influential natives. This Romanization of Gaul meant much both for Roman history and for the general history of Europe. The Roman stock in Italy was failing. It was this new Romanized people that in the times of the empire gave to the Roman state many of its best commanders, statesmen, emperors, orators, poets, and historians. In this way Gaul rendered ^ I^ax J^otnana (par. 83). 2 Aquitania, Ln^dtuicitsis, and Belg-ica. 3 The native tribes, of which there seem to have been sixty, were formed into municipalities, and as such were allowed to manage their own local affairs. Thus the settlement of Gaul by the Romans was in some respects like our recent settlement of the affairs of Cuba. We have begun the work of reorganization there by forming municipal governments in the different cities and giving the people as large a measure of local self-government as possible. We should bear in mind that this admirable municipal system is a gift to us from Rome. See par. 74. 290 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. the Roman state some such service as Ireland has rendered the British empire. The Romanization of Gaul meant, further, the adding of another to the number of Latin nations that were to arise from the break-up of the Roman empire. There can be little doubt that if Ceesar had not conquered Gaul it would have been overrun by the Germans, and would ultimately have become simply an extension of Germany. There would then have been no great Latin nation north of the Alps and the Pyrenees. It is difficult to imagine what European history would be like if the French nation, with its semi- Italian temperament, instincts, and traditions, had never come into existence. A final result of Casar's campaigns in Gaul and against the intruding German tribes was the check given to the migratory movements of these peoples.^ Had this check not been given, it is possible that what we call the Great Migration of the German peoples (chap. xxi. ) might have taken place in the first century before, instead of in the fifth century after, the coming of Christ, and Rome's great work of enriching civilization and establishing it every- where throughout the Mediterranean world might have been interrupted while yet only fairly begun. 193. Crassus' Campaign in the East against the Parthians (53 B.C.). — In the year 56 B.C., while Caesar was in the midst of his Gallic wars, he found time to meet Pompey, Crassus, and two hundred senators and magistrates who cooperated with the triumvirs, at Lucca, in Etruria, where in a sort of convention arrangements were made for ^ Caesar's campaigns were, in effect, a continuation of those of Marius (see par. 159)- THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 291 another term of five years.^ It was agreed that Caesar's cominand 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 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 to the East, hoping to rival there the brilliant conquests of Caesar in the VV^est. At this time the great Parthian empire occupied the immense reach of terri- tory 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 w^ar of conquest and booty. In the midst of the Mesopo- tamian 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 Cx^sar, before his consulship, had received a command in Spain,and the immense sums he owed at Rome were embarrassing him and prevent- ing his departure, Crassus had come forward and generously paid more than a million dollars of his friend's debts. 5 A nomination by this " ring " of politicians and generals was equiva- lent to an election. 292 ROME AS A REPUBLIC, 194. Rivalry between Caesar and Pompey. — After the death of Crassus the world belonged to Caesar and Pom- pey. That the insatiable ambition of these two rivals should sooner or later bring them into collision was inevi- table. Their alliance in the triumvirate was simply one of selfish convenience, not of friendship. While Ccesar was carrying on his brilliant campaigns in Gaul, Pompey was at Rome watching jealously the growing reputation of his great rival. He strove by princely liberality to win the affections of the common people. On the Field of Mars he erected an immense theatre with seats for forty thousand spectators. He gave magnificent games and set public tables ; ana, wKen the mterest of tlie people in tlie sports of the Circus flagged, he entertained them with gladiatorial combats. In a similar manner Caesar strengthened himself with the people for the struggle which he plainly foresaw. He sought in every way to ingratiate himself with the Gauls ; he increased the pay of his soldiers, conferred the privileges of Roman citizenship upon the inhabitants of different cities, and sent to Rome enormous sums of gold to be expended in the erection 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 ambition 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 mainte- nance of the republic. Pompey was appointed as sole con- THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION, 293 sul 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 anarchy will impose upon us." The "tyrant" in his and in every- body's mind was Caesar. Pompey now broke with C^tesar, 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 CiKsar, severed the bonds of relationship at the same moment that those of ostensible friendship were broken. 195. Caesar crosses the Rubicon (49 B.C.). — Caesar 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, acting under the instigation of these same enemies, issued a 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 hody 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 ! " 196. The Civil War between Caesar and Pompey (49-48 B.C.). — The bold movement of Cnesar produced great con- sternation 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 294 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. and a great part of the senators hastened from Rome to Brundisium, and thence, with about twenty-five thousand soldiers, fled across the Adriatic into Greece. The exiled senators reconvened at Thessalonica in Macedonia, and made that city the seat of the government. Within sixty days CoiTsar made himself undisputed master of all Italy. Pompey and Caesar now controlled the Roman world. It w^as 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. Caisar held Italy, Illyricum, 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. Caesar'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 reenacted. 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 wliicK CamiUus had saved by his timely appearance (par. 68). It was esteemed 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 Cresar 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 T/f£ PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION, '95 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 Caesar's legate, Curlo,^ out of Sicily. In Africa, however, Curio sustained a severe defeat, and the Pompeians held their ground there until the close of the war. Caesar, meanwhile, had subjugated Spain. The entire peninsula was brought under his authority in forty days. Massilla 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. 197. The Battle of Pharsalus (48 b.c.). — From Brundis- ium 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 effected a landing upon the shores of Greece. His legions mustered barely twenty thousand men. Pompey's forces were double this number. Ca^^sar having failed in an attempt to capture the camp of his rival at Dyrrachium, he slowly retired into Thessaly, and drew up his army upon the plains of Pharsalus. Hither he was followed by Pompey. The adherents of the latter were so confident of an easy victory that they were already disputing 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. Pompey's 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, ^ G. Scribonius Curio. 296 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. now an officer at the Egyptian court. The reigning Ptolemy had ordered Pompey's assassination in hopes of pleasing Caesar. *' If we receive him," he said, "we shall make Csesar 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. But it was no longer the head of his rival, but of his old associate and son-in-law. Turning from the sight with generous tears, he ordered that the assassins be executed, and that fitting obsequies be performed over the mutilated body. 198. Close of the Civil War ; Battle of Thapsus (46 B.C.).— Caisar 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 Phar- naces, son of Mithradates the Great, was inciting a revolt among the peoples of that region. Coesar met the Pontic king at Zela, defeated him, and in five days put an end to the war (47 B.C.). His laconic message to the senate, announcing his victory, is famous. It ran thus : " Veiii, vidi, i^ci^' ^^^\ came, I saw, I conquered." Caesar now hurried back to Italy, and thence proceeded to Africa, which the friends of the old republic had made their last chief rallying place. At the great battle of Thapsus (46 F,.c.) they were crushed. Fifty thousand lay dead upon the field. Cato, who had been the very life and soul of the army, refusing to outlive the republic, took his own life. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 297 199. Caesar as an Uncrowned King ; his Triumph. — Caesar was now virtually lord of the Roman world.^ He refrained from taking the title of king, but he assumed the purple robe, the Insignia of royalty, and caused his effigy tO be stamped, after the manner of sovereigns, on the public coins. His statue was significantly given a place along with those of the seven kings of early Rome. He was in- vested with all the offices and dignities of the state. The senate made him perpetual dictator (44 B.C.), and conferred upon him the powers of censor, consul, and tribune, with the titles of pontifex maximus and imperator. Thus, though not a king in name, Caesar's actual position at the head of the state was that of an absolute ruler. No oriental monarch was ever possessed of fuller authority, nor sur- rounded by more abject flatterers and sycophants. Caesar's triumph celebrating his many victories far eclipsed in magnificence anything that Rome had before witnessed.^ In the procession were led captive princes from all parts of the world. Beneath his standards marched soldiers gathered out of almost every country under the heavens. Seventy-five million dollars of treasure were dis- played. Splendid games and tables attested the liberality of the conqueror. Sixty thousand couches were set for the multitudes. The shows of the theatre and the combats of the arena followed one another in an endless round. "Above ■^ The sons of Pompey — Gnaeus and Sextus — stiU held Spain. Csesar overthrew their power a little later in the decisive battle of Munda, 45 B.C. 8 The triumph was only for his 'victories over foreign enemies, not for those over his rivals in the civil war. It was not yet thought fitting for one citizen to triumph over another. Later, these scruples of patriot- ism were lost. 298 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. the combats of the amphitheatre floated for the first time the awning of silk, the immense velarium of a thousand colors, woven from the rarest and richest products of the East, to protect the people from the sun " (Gibbonj. 200. Caesar as a Statesman. — Caesar was great as a gen- eral, yet greater, if possible, as a statesman."^ He had great plans which embraced the whole world that Rome had con- quered. A chief aim of his was to establish between the different classes of the empire equality of rights, to place Italy and the provinces on the same footing, to blend the various races and peoples into a real nationality with com- munity of interests and sympathies ; in a word, to carry to completion that great work of making all the world Roman ^ " From early youth, accordingly, Caesar was a statesman in the deep- est sense of the term, and his aim was the highest which man is allowed to propose to himself — the political, military, intellectual, and moral regeneration of his own deeply decayed nation, and of the still more deeply decayed Hellenic nation intimately akin to his own. ... He was, no doubt, a great orator, author, and general, but he became each of these merely because he was a consummate statesman. The soldier more especially played in him altogether an accessory part, and it is one of the principal peculiarities by which he is distinguished from Alex- ander, Hannibal, and Napoleon, that he began his political activity not as an officer, but as a demagogue. According to his original plan he had purposed to reach his object, like Pericles and Gaius Gracchus, without force of arms, and throughout eighteen years he had as leader of the popular party moved exclusively amid political plans and intrigues, until, reluctantly convinced of the necessity for a military support, he, when already forty years of age, headed an army. It was natural that he should ever afterwards remain still more statesman than general — just like Cromwell, who also transformed himself into a military chief and democratic king, and who in general, little as the Puritan hero seems to resemble the dissolute Roman, is yet in his development as well as in the objects which he aimed at and the results which he achieved of all statesmen perhaps the most akin to Caesar." — Mommsen, History of Komcy vol. iv. pp. 541-543. THE PERIOD OE THE REVOLUTION. 299 which had been begun in the earliest times (par. 30). To this end he established numerous colonies in the provinces, and settled in them one hundred thousand of the poorer citizens of the capital. With a liberality that astonished and offended many, he admitted to the senate sons of freedmen, and particularly representa- tive men from among the Oauls, and conferred upon individual provin- cials, and upon entire classes and cominunities in the provinces, the partial or full rights of the city.^** His action here marks an epoch in the history of Rome. The immunities and priv- ileges of the city had never hitherto been con- ferred, save in exceptional cases, upon any peoples other than those of the Italian race. Caesar threw the gates of the city wide open to the non- Italian peoples of the provinces. Thus was foreshadowed the day w ken all tree men throughout the whole empire should be Roman in name and privilege (par. 233). One of the most important of all Caesar's laws was that known as the Lex Julia Milnicipalis (45 B.C.), whose aim 1" Caesar's most sweeping measure of enfranchisement was the admis- .sion to the city of all the inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul. Julius C.i^sak. (From a bust in the Museum at Naples.) 300 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. was to bring order and uniformity into the municipal sys- tem (par. 167), and to develop a more vigorous civic life in the municipal towns of Italy. The law draws a distinct line between the matters that shall be left in the hands of the local authorities and those that shall be retained by the general government. All the municipal governments organized after this, whether in towns in Italy or in the provinces, conformed to the principles embodied in this important constitutional measure. As pontifex maximus, Caesar reformed the calendar so as to bring the festivals once more in their proper seasons, and provided against further confusion by making the year consist of 36^ days, with an added day for every fourth or leap year. This is what is called the Julian Calendar.^^ Besides these achievements, Caesar projected many vast undertakings which the abrupt termination of his life pre- vented his carrying into execution. He ordered a survey of the enormous domains of the state ; he proposed to make a code or digest of the Roman laws — which work was left to be performed by the Kmperor Justinian six centuries later (par. 310) ; he also planned many public works and improvements at Rome, among which were schemes for draining the Pontine marshes and for changing the course of the Tiber. He further proposed to cut a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth, to construct roads over the Apen- nines, and to form a library to take the place of the great "This calendar was in general use in Europe until the year 1582, when it was reformed by Pope Gregory XIII., and became what is known as the Gregorian Calendar. This in time came in vogue in all Christian countries, save Russia, where the Julian Calendar is still fol- lowed. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION. 301 Alexandrian collection, which had been partly destroyed during his campaign in Egypt. But all his plans were brought to a sudden end by the daggers of assassins. 201. The Death of Caesar (44 b.c). — Caesar had his bitter personal enemies, who never ceased to plot his downfall. There were, too, sincere lovers of the old republic who longed to see restored the liberty which the conqueror had overthrown. The impression began to prevail that Caesar was aiming to make himself king. A crown was several times offered him in public by the consul Mark Antony;^ but seeing the manifest displeasure of the people, he each time pushed it aside. Yet there is no doubt that secretly he desired it. It was reported that he proposed to rebuild the walls of Troy, the fabled cradle of the Roman race (par. 40), and make that ancient capital the seat of the new Roman empire. Others professed to believe that the arts and charms of the Egyptian Cleopatra, who had borne him a son at Rome, would entice him to make Alexandria the centre of the proposed kingdom. So, many, out of love for Rome and the old republic, were led to enter into a con- spiracy against the life of CiEsar with those w^ho sought to rid themselves of the dictator for other and personal reasons. The Ides (the 15th day) of March, 44 b.c, upon which day the senate convened, witnessed the assassination. Seventy or eighty conspirators, headed by Gains Cassius and Marcus Brutus, were concerned in the plot. The soothsayers must have had some knowledge of the plans of the conspirators, for tliey hacl warned Caesar to ^' beware 1 Marcus Antonius, the grandson of the celebrated orator of the same name (par. 306). 302 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. of the Ides of March." On his way to the senate meeting that day, which was held in a hall forming part of Pompey's great stone theatre (par. 291), a paper warning him of his danger was thrust into his hand ; but, not sur- mising its urgent nature, he did not open it. As he entered the assembly chamber he observed the astrologer Spurinna, and remarked carelessly to him, referring to his pre- diction : "The Ides of M a re h have c o m e. " "Yes," replied Spurinna, " but not gone." No sooner had Caesar taken his seat than the conspirators crowded about him as if to pre- sent a petition. Upon a signal from one of their number their daggers were drawn. For a moment Ca.*sar defended himself; but seeing Brutus, upon whom he had lavished gifts and favors, among the conspirators, he is said to have exclaimed reproachfully, ''Et tii, Bnite!'' — ^^T\m\, too, Brutus ! " then to have drawn his mantle over his face, and to have received unresistingly their further thrusts. Pierced with twenty-three wounds, he sank dead at the foot of Pompey's statue. The Romans had killed many of their best men and cut short their work ; but never had they killed such a man as Marcus Brutus. T///^ PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTIOiV. 303 Cn^^sar. He was the greatest man their race had yet pro- duced or was destined ever to produce. Caesar's work was left all incomplete. What lends to it such great historical importance is the fact that in his reforms and policies Uassar drew the broad lines which his successors followed, and indicated the principles on which the government of the future must be based. 202. Funeral Oration by Mark Antony. — The conspirators, or "liberators," as they called themselves, had thought that the senate would contirm, and the people applaud, their act. But both people and senators, struck with con- sternation, w^ere silent. Men's faces grew pale as they recalled the proscrip- tions of Sulla (par. 176), and saw in the assassination of Ca-sar the first act in a simi- lar reign of terror. As the conspirators issued from the assembly hall, and entered the forum, holding aloft their bloody daggers, in- stead of being received, as they expected, with acclamations they were met by an omi- nous silence. The liberators hastened for safety to the temple of Jupiter C'api- tolinus, going thither ostensibly for the purpose of giving thanks for the death of the tyrant. Mark Antony 304 ROME AS A REPUBLIC. Upon the day set for the funeral ceremonies, Mark Antony, the trusted friend and secretary of Citsar, mounted the rostra in the forum to deliver the usual funeral oration. He recounted the great deeds of Cxsar, the glory he had conferred upon the Roman name, dwelt upon his liberality and his munificent bequests to the peo- ple even to some who were now his murderers ; and when he had wrought the feelings of the multitude to the highest tension, he held up the robe of Cresar, and showed the rents made by the daggers of the assassins. Csesar had always been beloved by the people and idol- ized by his soldiers. They were now driven almost to frenzy with grief and indignation. Seizing weapons and torches, they rushed through the streets, vowing vengeance upon the conspirators. The liberators, however, escaped from the fury of the mob and fled from Rome, Brutus and Cassius seeking refuge in Greece. 203. The Second Triumvirate (43 b.c). — Antony had gained possession of the will and papers of Caesar, and now, under color of carrying out the testament of the dic- tator, according to a decree of the senate, entered upon a course of high-handed usurpation. He was aided in his desi 5. Illyricum (I)almalia) 167-45 6. Macedonia and Achaia (pars. 131 and 135) I46 7. Africa (par. 141) M^ 8. Asia (par. r68) ^33 9. Ciallia Xarbonensis ^ -O 10. Galha Cisalpina c>l . IL Bithynia (par. 187, n. 5) 74 \ Cyrene 74 '^•icreta. .' 67 ( Cilicia (par. 1S7, n. 5) 64 ^^ 1 Cyprus • • • 58 14. Syria (par. 186) ^4 1 From A. Bouche-Eeclercq's Manuel des Institutions Romanes^ p. 208. This table represents the grouping of the provinces during the first two centuries of the empire. Where the circumstances under which a province was created are explained in the present text, reference is made to tlie proi:>er paragraph. W. T. Arnold's The Roman System of Provincial Administration will be found the very best short account of the provinces under both the republic and the empire. 314 /^OAIIt AS A KBrUBL/C. II. I'ROVINCKS ()KOANIZKI) UNI^KR THK EMPIRE. B.C. 15. /l^^gyptus (par. 207) 3^ 16. Moesia (par. 210) 29.^ 17. [Lusitania]! (par. 210, n. 8) 27? 18. [Achaia] (par. 135) 27 19. Galatia 25 20. [Cyprus] 22 21. Aquitanla (par. 192, n. 2) y 22. Lugdvinensis (par. 192, n. 2) r 16? 23. Belgica (par. 210, n. 10) ) 24. Raetia (par. 210) ^IC 25. Noricum (par. 210) > 26. Alpes Maritime 14 A.D. 27. Pannonia (par. 210) 10 28. Cappadocia ^7 29. Germania Superior ^-17 30. Germania Inferior ) 31. Mauretania Tingitana f ^^ 32. Mauretania Caesariensis y T.-^. Pamphylia and I.ycia 43 34. Britannia (par. 219) 43 35. Thracia 4" 36. Alpes Cottia.- "nder Nero t;]. [Epirus] under Vespasian 38. Arabia (par. 226) I05 39. Dacia (par. 226) ^07 40. Armenia (par. 226) \ 41. Mesopotamia (par. 236) ^^'S 42. Assyria (par. 226) . * 43. [Alpes Pennince] in the second century 44. [Numidia] between 193 and 211 1 The names placed between brackets indicate provinces formed by subdivision of older provinces. Part III. — Rome as an Empire (31 B.C.-A.D. 476.) CHAPTER XV. THE KSTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE AND THE REIGN OF AUCiUSTUS C/ESAR. (31 B.C.-A.D. 14.) 208. The Character of the Imperial Government. — The hundred years of strife which ended with the battle of Actium left the Roman republic, exhausted and helpless, in the hands of one wise enough and strong enough to remold its crumbling fragments in such a manner that the state, which seemed ready to fall to pieces, might prolong its existence for another five hundred years. It was a great work thus to create anew, as it were, out of anarchy and chaos, a political fabric that should exhibit such elements of perpetuity and strength. "The establishment of the Roman empire," says Merivale, 'Svas, after all, the great- est political work that any human being ever wrought. The achievements of Alexander, of Cctsar, of Charlemagne, of Napoleon are not to be compared with it for a moment." The governm ent which Oct ayius establisked was a mon- arc hy in fact, but a republic in form. Mindful of^ the fate -abso- of Julius Caisar, Octayius_carefu]J lute pow er unde r_thejprms of theold republican state. He did jiottake the l iLk-ot te^ — Me -k^e^Uiow 4iateful 3^5 3i6 romb: as an empire. to the people that name had been since the expulsion of the Tarquins, and was mindful how many of the best men Augustus. (Vatican Museum). of Rome, including the great Julius, had perished because they gave the people reason to think that they were aiming ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 1^1 at the regal power. Nor did he take the title of dictator, a name that since the time of Sulla had been almost as intolerable to the people as that of king. But he accepted at the hands of the senate the title of Imj>eraior, — whence the name Emperor, — a title which, although it carried with it the absolute authority of the commander of the legions, still had clinging to it no odious memories. He also re- ceived from the senate the honorary surname of Augustus, a title that hitherto had been sacred to the gods, and hence was free from all sinister associations. A monument of this act was erected in the year. It was decreed by the senate that the sixth month of the Roman calendar should be called Augustus (whence our August) in commemoration of the imperator, an act in imitation of that by which the preceding month had been given the name of Julius (whence our July) in honor of Julius Caesar. The senate also bestowed upon Octavius the further title of rrinccps, which, like that of Augustus, was only a title of dignity, and pointed out him who bore it as simply the "first citizen '' of a free republic. And as Octavius was careful not to wound the sensibili- ties of the lovers of the old republic by assuming any title that in any way suggested regal authority and prerogative, SO was he careful not to arouse their opposition by abolish- ing any of the republican offices or assemblies. Hejilkm^ed all the old magistra cies to exist as h eretofor^j^but he him- «;p 1f^riTsr)rT7ea'iriKrexercis ed their £ hie f pow.^ ia-aild func- pontife x maximu s. ' J^l^tljg;;^ej3i^M T€ai^ wer e 2 These prerogatives? were conferred upon Octavius at different times and for different periods. The powers of the pontifex maximus were granted last, in 12 B.C. 3iX ROME AS dN EMPIRE. elected as usual ; ' but they were simply the nominees and creatures of the emperor. They were the effigies and hgure- heads to delude the people into believing that the repubhc still existed. Never did a people seem more content With the shadow after the loss of the substance. Likewise all the popular assemblies remained, and were convened as usual to hold elections and to vote on meas^- UreS laid before them. But Octavius, having teen invested With both the consular and the tribunician power, had the riaht to summon them, to place in nomination persons or th^e various offices, and to initiate legislation. The titular consuls and tribunes also. It Is true, had this fight ; bUt they did not dare to exercise it without the concurrence ot the new master of the state. Consequently the delibera- tions and ballotings of all these bodies were idle forms. The senate also still existed, tut It waS sKom Of ill ItW power and independence, since Octavius, having been armed with the censorial powers, could revise its list at will And he exercised these powers by reducing the num- ber of senators, which had been raised by Aiitony to one thousand, to six hundred, and by striking from ,tS rolls the names of unworthy members and of obstinate republic- ans He wounded, too, its old aristocratic spirit by intro- ducing into the body many new mfiH frOIKl tllB PrOVlIlCeS. The body being thus made up wholly of persons whO OWCd their place and dignity to Octavius, it was of course ready to Obey his every behest. So completely subjected were its members to the Influence of the iiTiperator that the chief 3 The consuls were generally nominated by Augustus, and in order that a large number of his friends and favorites might be amused wuh the dignity, the term of office was shortened to two or three month.. ESTABL/SHAfEA^T OF THE EMPIRE. 319 functions it actually exercised were the Conferring of honors and titles and the heaping of abject flatteries upon its creator and master. We may summarize the effects of all these changes by saying that the monarchy abolished live hundred vears before this had been restored. This was what had practi- cally taken place ; for the powers and prerogatives of the ancient king, which during the republican period had been gradually broken up and lodged in the hands Of a Frcat number of magistrates, colleges, and assemblics were now once more gathered up in the hands of a single man. 209. The Government of the Provinces. _ W'e have seen how corrupt and oppressive was the government of the provinces under the rule of the senatorial Oligarch)' of the later republic.^ The revolution that brought in the empire effected a great improvement in the condition of the provincials. The government of all those provinces that Were in an unsettled state and that needed the presence of a large military force, Augustus^ withdrew from the senate, and took the management of their affairs in his own hands. These were known as imperia/ provinces. Instead of thcSC countries being ruled by practically irresponsible proconsuls and propra^^tors, they were henceforth ruled by legates of fhe emperor, wlio were removable at his will and answer- able to him for the faithful and honest discharge of the duties of their offices. Salaries were attached to their posi- tions, and thus the scandalous abuses which had grown up in connection with the earlier system of self-payment * See pars. 168 and 184. ^ From this on we shall refer to Octavius by this his honorary surname. 320 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. through fees, requisitions, and like devices were swept away. These provinces were given, as we should say, a pure and able civil service. The more tranquil provinces were still left under the con- trol of the senate, and were known as senatorial provinces. These also profited by the change, since the emperor extended his care and watch to them, and, as the judge of last appeal, righted wrongs and punished flagrant offenders against right and justice. It was not the aim of Augustus in these measures to place the inhabitants of Italy and those of the provinces on the same footing 5 vet the tendency of all he did was in that direction, and the outcome of the imperial regime which he established was, as we shall see, to bring about an equalization in all respects of Italians and provincials, such an equalization in duties and privileges as in the time of the early republic had been effected between patricians and plebeians. In the course of time all the provinces, together with Italy, came under the direct rule of the emperor, and all the free inhabitants of the empire were at last reduced to the same condition ; they became subject- citizens — subjects of the emperor and citizens of Rome. 210. Augustus rounds out the Empire. — Augustus was one of the first to try to moderate the ambition of the Romans, and to counsel them not to attempt to conquer any more of the w^orld, but rather to devote their energies to the work of consolidating the domains already acquired. He saw the dangers that would attend any further exten- sion of the boundaries of the state. Yet he saw with equal clearness the need of finding for the empire what we should call scientific frontiers, that is, easily defended marches. L-LPoatea, Engr., N.Y. ESTABLISHMENT OE THE EMPIRE. 321 % On the south, the sands of the great African desert were the boundaries set by nature to Roman domination in that direction. The rounding out o£ the empire on this side required the absorption of the dependent state of Maure- tania.** But the addition of this to the dominions of Rome was secured, not by Augustus, but by one of his successors/ On the east, the wastes of Arabia and the Upper Euphra- tes gave the empire its natural boundaries. Between the Upper Euphrates and the Euxine there was debatable land. The fixing of the frontiers of the Roman dominions in this region was also left by Augustus to a later time. Towards the west there was still lacking to the actual rounding out of the empire the acquisition of the north- western part of the Iberian peninsula, for the native tribes of these regions were still maintaining their independence. Augustus forced these hardy mountaineers to bow their necks to the yoke of Rome,'' and made the coast of the ocean the boundary of the Roman dominions from the Pillars of Hercules to the mouth of the Elbe.'*^ The con- quest of Britain he did not attempt. On the north, the frontiers of the state at the beginning of Augustus' reign were wholly unsettled. In the valleys of the Alps, on their northern slopes, and in the long reach of lands lying between these mountain ranges and the Upper Rhine and the Danube, there were many still hostile , ^ f->ee map after p. 320. ^ Consult table of provinces, p. 314. 8 The Spanish possessions were at this time reorganized. Instead of the two provinces of Hither and Farther Spain, we have now three provinces, bearing the following names : Tarraconensis, Lusitania, and Baetica. ^ Mommsen, Provhices of the Roman Einpire, vol. i. p. 71. # 322 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. tribes which were a constant threat to the peace of Italy. Augustus reduced to submission all the hitherto unsubdued tribes in these regions, and, as a bulwark of Italian civili- zation on this side, erected a line of well-organized prov- inces,— Raetia, Noricum, Pannonia, and Moesia,— which, in connection with the district of Belgica, stretched entirely across the continent from the North Sea to the Euxine.^*^ Backed by the broad streams of the Rhine and the Danube, these provinces constituted a strong line of defence for the empire against the northern barbarians. 211. The Defeat of Varus by the Germans under Arminius (a.d. 9). — The adoption of the Rhine as a permanent frontier was forced upon Augustus by one of the most terrible disasters that ever befell the Roman legions. It was at first the purpose of Augustus to make the Elbe, and not the Rhine, the division line between civilization and barbarism. The security of Italy as well as that of Gaul seemed to require the subjugation of the warlike tribes between these streams. Consequently, during a large part of the reign of Augustus his Stepsons Drusus and Tiberius were campaigning in this region. The Roman eagles were carried to the Elbe, and for a time it looked as though that stream would become a frontier river. But suddenly the whole aspect of affairs in this region was changed. The Roman general Quintilius Varus, who had made the mistake of supposing that he could rule the '^^ See map opposite p. 320. Belgica was not created by Augustus, but simply enlarged and its affairs readjusted and regulated. It was at this time simply an administrative division of the empire, and not a regularly organized province. ESTABLISHMENT OE THE EMPIRE. 323 freedom-loving Germans just as he had governed the servile Asiatics of the Eastern provinces, and had thereby stirred them to determined revolt against the Roman authority, while leading an army of three legions, numbering altogether about twenty thousand men, through the almost pathless depths of the Teutoburg Wood, was surprised by the barbarians, led by their brave chieftain, Hermann, — called Arminius by the Romans, — and his army destroyed (a.d. 9). Only a few escaped. Thousands of the legionaries lay dead and unburied where they fell in the impassable woods and morasses. *' The captives, especially the officers and the advocates, were fastened to the cross, or buried alive, or bled under the sacrificial knife of the German priests. The heads cut off were nailed as a token of victory to the trees of the sacred grove." ^ The disaster caused great consternation at Rome ; for it was feared that the German tribes would now cross the Rhine, effect an alliance with the Gauls, and then that these united hordes would pour over the Alps into Italy. Augustus, wearied and worn already with advancing age, the cares of empire, and domestic affliction, was inconsol- able. He paced his palace in agony, and kept exclaiming, " O Varus ! Varus ! give me back my legions ! give me back my legions ! " But Tiberius so carefully guarded the Rhine that the Germans did not attempt the passage, and Italy was saved from the threatened invasion. The victory of Arminius over the Roman legions was an ^ Mommsen, Provinces of the Roman Empire^ vol. i. p. 53. The exact locality of the battle is not kfiown. The great number of Roman coins dug up in tKe district 01 Venne, between the Weser and the Rhine, seems, however, to indicate that as the place where the legionaries perished. 3^4 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 325 event of the greatest significance in the history of European civilization. Germany was almost overrun by the Roman army. The Teutonic tribes were on the point of being completely subjugated and put in the way of being Roman- ized, as the Celts of Gaul had already been. Had this occurred, the entire history of Europe would have been changed ; for the Germanic element is the one that has given shape and color to the important events of the last fifteen hundred years. Among these barbarians, too, were our ancestors. Had Rome succeeded in exterminating or enslaving them, Britain, as Creasy says, might never have received the name of England, and the great English nation naight never have had an existence.^ 212. The Extent and the Resources of th« Empire. — The wide reach of the domains over which Augustus held sway has been revealed in what we have just said respecting his efforts to fix the frontier lines of the state. The empire stretched from east to west about three thousand miles. Its average width from north to south was equal to one- third its length. The army that defended the long frontier lines of the empire against outside barbarians and maintained order in the many provinces numbered three hundred and forty thousand men, a mere fraction of the number that is required to secure the domestic and international peace of the same lands to-day. 2 " We stand here at a turning-point in national destinies. History, too, has its flow and its ebb ; here, after the tide of Roman sway over the world has attained its height, the ebb sets in. Northward of Italy the Roman rule had for a few years reached as far as the Elhe ; after the battle of Varus its bounds were the Rhine and the Danube." — Momm- SEN, Provinces of the Roman Empire^ vol. i. p. 65. The wealth and the trade of this Roman world are roughly indicated by the revenues of the state. These are estimated to have amounted to a sum equivalent to between $80,000,000 and $100,000,000 in our money. This sum was made up from the tribute of the provinces, from custom duties, from tolls on roads and bridges, and taxes on lega- cies, windows, porch pillars, and various other things that modern assessors generally overlook. This vast revenue was practically at the disposal of the emperor. Hence the way in which it was expended was determined, in many reigns, not so much by the necessities of the state as by the caprice of the ruling Caesar. The better emperors used it with prudence and wisdom in the maintenance of the army, the navy, and the civil service ; in the construction and the repair of the great military roads of the empire ; in the building of bridges, the adorn- ment of the capital and other cities with temples, theatres, baths, porticoes, and other public buildings ; and in pro- viding free corn and shows for the Roman populace, — for these last were regarded, even by the best emperors, as legitimate and necessary objects of public expenditure. 213. Literature and the Arts under Augustus. — The reign of Augustus lasted forty-four years, from 31 b.c. to a.d. 14. Although the government of Augustus, as we have learned, was disturbed by some troubles upon the frontiers, still never before, perhaps, had the civili2ed world enjoyed so long a period of general rest from the turmoil of war. Three times during this auspicious reign the gates of the Temple of Janus at Rome (.par. 22), which were open in time of war and closed in time of peace, were shut. Only twice before during the entire history of the city had they 326 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. been closed, so constantly had the Roman people been engaged in war. This long repose from the strife that had filled all the preceding centuries was favorable to the upspringing of literature and art. Under the patronage of the emperor, and that of his favorite mlnlstGr, Mrtcenas, poets and writers flourished and made this the *' golden age " of Latin literature. During this reign Vergil composed his immortal epic of the Mm'ul and M ^^CKNAS. Horace his famous odes, while Livy wrote his inimi- table history, and Ovid his fancy-in- spiring Me tarn or- J^ hoses .^ 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 political intrigues against his government. Augustus was also a munificent patron of architecture and art. He adorned the capital with many splendid Structures, including temples, theatres, porticoes, baths, and 3 For further notice of the works of these writers, see pars. 304 and 307 . ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 327 aqueducts. He said proudly, '< I found Rome a city of brick ; I left it a city of marble." The population of the city at this time was probably about one million.* Two other cities of the empire, Antioch and Alexandria, are thought to have had each about this same number of citi- zens. Inese cities, too, were made magniAcent with arcKl- tectural and art embellishments. 214. Social Life at Rome under Augustus. — One of the most remarkable features of life at the capital during the reign of Augustus was the vast number of Roman citizens who were recipients of the state doles of corn. There were at least two hundred thousand male beneficiaries of this public charity,^ which means that upwards of half a million of persons in the capital were unable or unwilling to earn their daily bread. The purchase of the immense quantities of corn needed for these free distributions was one of the heaviest drains upon the imperial treasury. Another striking feature of life at Rome at this time was the growing infatuation of the people for the bloody spec- tacles of the amphitheatre. Prudent as Augustus generally was in the matter of public expenditures, in the providing of these shows he lavished money without measure or stint. The emperor himself gives the following account of the spectacles that he presented : "Three times in my own name, and five times in that * Merivale estimates the population in the time of Augustus of the city proper and its suburhs at 700,000 {^History of the Romans under the Empire, vol. v. chap. xl. p. 53). Gibbon, apparently also including the suburbs, places it in the reign- of Honorius at 1,200,000 {Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire^ chap. xxxi). " 1 he number had risen as high as 320,000, but Augustus purged the lists of unworthy claimants. 328 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. of my sons or grandsons, I have given gladiatorial exhi- bitions ; in tkese exKititions atout ten thousand men have fought. Twice in my own name, and three times in that of my grandsons, I have offered the people the spectacles of athletes gathered from all quarters. . . . Twenty-six times in my own name, or in that of my sons or grand- sons, I have given hunts of African wild beasts in the circus, the forum, the amphitheatres, and about thirty- five hundred beasts have been killed. " I gave the people the spectacle of a naval battle beyond the Tiber, where now is the grove of the Caesars. For this purpose an excavation w^as made eighteen hundred feet long and twelve hundred wide. In this contest thirty beaked ships, triremes or biremes, were engaged, besides more of smaller size. About three thousand men fought in these vessels in addition to the rowers."^ Still another phase of social life at Rome which arrests our attention was the loosening of the family ties. Divorces had multiplied, and the family seemed about to be dissolved, as had been the larger groups of the tribe and the gens. Augustus strove to arrest this downward tendency by edicts and laws in encouragement of marriage and in restraint of divorces. But the trouble was too deep-seated in the failing moral and religious life of the times to be reached and rem- edied by any measures of state.'' 215. The Religious Life.— The decay of religious faith ® Alomtmentzim Ancvfanum, cc. 22, 23, edited by William Fairley, Ph. D. : Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of Euro- pean History, published by the Department of History of the University of Pennsylvania. See "References," p. 331. ^ For other phases of social life at Rome under the Czesars, see chap. XXV. ESTABLISIIMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 329 had been going on for a long time. Augustus did all in his power to arrest the process. He restored the temples and shrines that had fallen into decay, renewed the ancient sacrifices,'^ and erected new temples, not only at Rome, but in every part of the empire. The unauthorized foreign cults, particularly those from the Ori- ent, which had been introduced at the capital, ne drove out, and strove to awaken in the peo- ple a fresh venera- tion for the ances- tral deities of Rome. The Greek Apollo, however, was ex- cepted from the list of proscribed alien gods. In honor of this deity, whom Augustus believed had secured him the victory at Actlum (par. 206), the emperor erected a splendid temple at Rome, and caused to be transported from Egypt and set up in the capital an immense obelisk, the emblem in Egyptian theology of the sun-god. Thb Pantheon, built at Romk during the reign of augustus. (Present condition.) * The sacrificial victims became so numerous that an epigram came into existence which represents the cattle as saluting the emperor in these words : " Long live Caesar: yet long life to Caesar means that we must perish." 330 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. 331 216. The Death and Apotheosis of Augustus. — The domestic life of Augustus was clouded by trouble and bereavement. His daughter Julia brought grief to him through her immoral conduct, and he was finally forced to banish her from Rome. His beloved nephew Marcellus (par. 304), and his two grandsons Gaius and Lucius, whom he purposed to make his heirs, were all removed by death. After the death of these favorites Augustus made his adopted stepson Tiberius (par. 211) his successor. In the year a.d. 14, Augustus died, having reached the seventy-sixth year of his age. His last words to the friends gathered about his bedside were, " If I have acted well my part in life's drama, greet my departure with your applause." It was believed that the soul of Augustus ascended visibly amidst the flames of his funeral pyre. By decree of the senate divine worship was accorded to him, and temples were erected in his honor. At first blush this worship of the dead Caesar seems to us strange and impious. But it will not seem so if we put ourselves at the point of view of the old Roman. It was the natural and logical outcome of ancestor worship, which, as we have learned, w^as a favorite cult among the Romans (par. 22). The sentiment and belief which prompted the offerings of gifts and prayers to the guardian spirits of the family, would naturally lead to similar offerings to the spirit of the departed Caesar, father of the Roman state. But ancestor w^orship was not the only root which nour- ished this cult of the emperor. In the Orient the king was very generally regarded as partaking, in some degree at least, of the divine nature. Thus in Kgypt the Pharaoh was believed to be of the race of the gods. It was natural, y then, that the subjects of Rome in the eastern provinces should look upon the head of the empire as one lifted above ordinary mortals and possessed of divine qualities. This way of thinking caused the provincials of the Orient to become sincere and zealous worshippers in the temples and before the altars of the ''divine Caesar." This cult of the emperor — it developed into a cult of the living as well as of the dead Cssar — became a favorite worship of the masses everywhere. Its establishment had far-reaching consequences, as we shall see ; since at the very time that the polytheistic religion of the Gra^co-Roman world was taking on this form, there was springing up in a remote corner of the empire a new yet old religion with which this imperial cult must necessarily come into violent conflict. For it was in the midst of the happy reign of Augustus, when profound peace prevailed throughout the civilized world, — the doors of the temple of Janus having been closed (par. 22), — that Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judaea. The event w^as unheralded at Rome ; yet it was, as we have intimated, filled with profound significance not only for the Roman empire but for the world. Of the relation of Christianity to paganism, and particularly to the new cult of the Roman emperor, we shall speak later (par. 228). References. — **MonictncTitnm Ancyrajium (Res Gestae Divi Au- gust! — "The Deeds of Augustus"), vol. v., No. 7, of the Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, pub- lished by the Department of History of the University of Pennsylvania. This forms one o£ the most important of the original sources for the reign of Augustus. It is a long bilingual inscription (Latin and Greek) discovered in 1595 on the walls of a ruined temple at Ancyra (whence 332 ROME AS AAT EMPIRE. the name). In Asia Minor. The inscription is a copy of a tablet which was set up in front of the Mausoleum of Augustus at Rome (par. 297). Inge ( W. R.), * Society in Rome tinder the Ccesars, chap, i., " Religion," deals with the decay of Roman religion and the establishment at the capital of oriental cults. Creasy (E. S.), *^ Decisive Battles of the World, chap, v., " Victory of Armlnlus over the Roman Legions under Varus, A.D. 9." Capes (W. W.), The Early Empire (Epoch Series), chap. i. pp. 1-44, " Augustus." Thierry (Am6dee), ** Tableau de V Empire Romain. Teachers and mature students will find this work very suggestive. The book might be entitled Rome's Place in Universal History. MILMAN (II. H.), Tin Ihdory oj ChrlsHamiy, vol. 1. (first part). Merivale (C), History of the Romans under the Empire, 7 vols. This work covers the first two centuries of the imperial period. For the reign of Augustus, see vol. iii. chaps, xxx. and xxxi. and vol. iv. ESTABLISHMENT OE THE EMPIRE. 333 Table showing the Numuer of Roman Citizens at Different Periods of the Republic and the Empire. [These figures embody what is perhaps the most important matter in Roman history, namely, the gradual admission of aliens to the rights of the city until every freeman in the civilized world had become a citizen of Rome. This movement we have endeavored to trace in the text. Consult particularly pars. 29, 30, 35, 38, 50, 67, 71, 72, ^i,, -jy, So, 165, 166, 200, 219, and 233.] NuMBKR OF Citi- zens OF Mili- tary Age. Under the later kings (Mommsen's estimate) 20,000 32>^ '5.C 165,0001 293 " 262,323 251 " 279,797 220 " 270,213 204 " 214,0002 I^>1 " 327,022 ''5 " 1%]]^ 70 " 900,000.^ -7 " 4,063,000 ^ ^ " 4*233,000 u ^-^ 4,937,000 47 A.D. (under Claudius) 6,944,000 1 These figures do not include the inhabitants of the Latin colonies nor of the allied states, but probably do embrace those of the prefectures (par. 163, n. 8) and of the towns enjoying Cicritan rights (par. 73). 2 xhe falling off from the number of the preceding census of 220 B.C. was a result of the Hannibalian War. ^ These figures and those of the enumerations for A.i>. 8 and 13 are from the Afomimcntum Ancyramttn (par. 214, n. 6). The increased number given by the census of 70 B.C. over that of 115 b.c. registers the result of the admission to the city of the ItaUans, at the end of the Social War (par. 165). The tremen- at)us leap upwards of the figures between 69 and 27 b.c. is probably to be explained not wholly by the admission during this period of aliens to the franchise, but also, possibly, by the failure of the censors of the republican period to include in their enumerations the Roman citizens living in places remote from the capital. CHAPTER XVI. FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS. (A.D. 14-180.) 217. Reign of Tiberius (a.d. 14-37). — Tiberius suc- ceeded to an unlimited sovereignty. The senate con- ferred upon him ali the titles that had been worn by Augustus. One of the first acts of Tiberius was to take away from the popular assemblies the right which they Still nominally possessed of electing the yearly magis- trates, and to be- stow the same upon the senate, ■which, however, must elect from TiRFRIUS. (From a bust in the Capitoline Museum.) candidates presented by the emperor. As the senate was the creation of the emperor, who by virtue of the censorial 334 FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS aukbi^ius. 335 powers with which he was invested made up the list of its members, he was now of course the source and fountain of all patronage. During the first years of his reign, Tiberius used his practically unrestrained authority with moderation and justice, being seemingly desirous of promoting the best interests of all classes in his vast empire. The beginning of Tiberius' rule was marked by revolts among the legions, the most serious discontent manifesting itself among those guarding the Rhine, who wished to raise to the throne their favorite general Germanicus, nephew of Tiberius. But Germanicus sternly refused tO take part In such an act of treachery, reproved his soldiers, and then drew their attention from such thoughts of disloyalty by leading them across the Rhine to recover the lost standards of Varus (par. 211). He was so far successful in this bold enterprise as to retake the lost eagles, and capture the wife of Arminius.i But at this moment, when Germani- cus seemed on the point of laying the Roman yoke upon the tribes of Germany, Tiberius, moved, it is conjectured, by jealousy,^ recaUed him from the Khcnish frontier, and sent him into the Eastern provinces, where he soon after died, having been poisoned, as was charged, by an agent of the jealous emperor. Despotic power is a dangerous possession, likely to prove 1 These campaigns of Germanicus against the German tribes cover the years a.d. 14-16. ^ 2 Other motives doubtless concurred. " They [Augustus and Tibe- rius] recognized the plans pursued by them for twenty years for the changing of the boundary to the north as incapable of execution, and the subjugation and mastery of the region between the Rhine and the Elbe appeared to them to transcend the resources of the empire." MoMMSEN, Provinces of the Roman Empire^ vol. i. p. 62. 336 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. terribly harmful to him who wields it, as well as to those over whom it is exercised. Very few natures can withstand the seductive temptations, the corrupting influences, of unlimited and irresponsible authority.^ Hence the long series of excesses and crimes which we shall now find mak- ing up a large part of the annals of the Roman emperors. Whatever may have been the intentions with which Tiberius began his reign, he soon yielded tO th^ pfOmpt- ings of a naturally cruel, suspicious, and jealous nature, and entered upon a course of the most high-handed tyranny. He enforced oppressively an old law, known as the Latu of Majestas, which made it a capital offence for any one to speak a careless word, or even to entertam an unfriendly thought, respecting the emperor. "-It was dangerous to speak, and equally dangerous to keep silent," says Lelghton, '' for sllence 6V6n might be COnStfUeCl llltO discontent." Rewards were offered to Informers, and hence sprang up a class of persons called -delators" {delatores), who a'^cted as spies upon society. Often false charges were made, to gratify personal enmity ; and many, especially of the wealthy class, were accused and put to death that their property might be confiscated. 8 "Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero," writes the historian Hodgkin, - [were] men wkose names burnt tKemSfilveS fofevef llltO the memory of the race. All these men, in different ways, illustrated the terrible efficacy of absolute world-dominion to poison the character and even to unhinge the intellect of him who wielded it. Standing as it were on the Mount of Temptation, and seeing all the kingdoms of the world and all the glory of them stretched at an immeasurable distance below their feet, they were seized with a dizziness of soul, and, professing themselves to be gods, did deeds at the instigation of their wild hearts and whirling brains such as men still shudder to think of." FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AU RE LI US. m Tiberius appointed, as his chief minister and as com- mander of the praetorian guard,^ one Sejanus, a man of the lowest and most corrupt life. This officer actually persuaded Tiberius to retire to the little island of Caprea^, in the Bay of Naples, and leave to him the management of affairs at Rome (a.d. 27). The emperor built several villas in different parts of the beautiful islet, and having gathered about him a band of congenial companions, passed in this pleasant retreat the later years of his reign. Both Tacitus the historian and Suetonius the biographer tell many stories of the scandalous profligacy of the emperor's life on the island.^ Meanwhile, Sejanus was ruling at Rome very much according to his own wilL He murdered the most promi- nent citizens, and caused first Drusus, the son of Tiberius, and then other possible heirs to the throne to be put out of the way, in order that Tiberius might be constrained to name him as his successor. He even grew so bold as to plan the assassination of the emperor himself. His designs, however, became known to Tiberius ; and the infamous and disloyal minister was arrested and put to death. After the execution of his minister, Tiberius ruled more despotically than before. Multitudes sou^^ht refuse from ^ This was a corps of chosen soldiers which had been created by Augustus, and which was designed for a sort of bodyguard to the emperor. It numbered about ten thousand men, and was given a permanent camp alongside the city walls and near one of the gates. It soon became a formidable power in the state, and made and unmade emperors at will. ^ It should be borne in mind that these tales of the orgies of Tiberius were given currency by the bitter enemies of the emperor, and that they were probably colored and exaggerated by dislike and hatred. There must, however, be in them a large element of truth. 338 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. his tyranny in suicide. " I care not that the people hate me," he is represented as saying, " if only they respect me." In addition to this distress caused the people by the conduct of their emperor, there was during this reign a great deal of misery produced by a series ot calamities for which Tiberius was in no way responsible. In Asia earth- quakes destroyed several large cities. At FidencX, not far from Rome, an immense wooden amphitheatre, which had been flimsily constructed by an unfaithful or incompetent contractor, fell beneath the weight of spectators who had crowded its benches, and buried in its ruins a vast number of persons variously estimated from twenty to lifty thou- sand. In Rome Itself tbere occurreJ a conflagration that destroyed a considerable part of the city. It is worthy of note that all these public calamities awakened at Rome widespread sympathy and called forth crenerous contributions of money and service for the unfor- tunate sufferers. Ancient society — even the very society that delighted in the gladiatorial spectacles, paradoxical as it may seem — was not incapable of being touched by human suffering, and was at timss moved by genuine senti- ments of sympathy and compassion. Tiberius died in the year a.d. 37. His end was probably hastened by his attendants, who are believed to have smothered him in his bed, as he lay dying. His name lives in history as the synonym of cruelty, tyranny, and scandalous debauchery. It was in the midst of the reign of Tiberius that, in a remote province of the Roman empire, the Saviour was crucified. Animated by an unparalleled missionary spirit, his followers traversed the length and breadth of the FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS, 339 f \ empire, preaching everywhere the ''glad tidings." Men's loss of faith in the gods of the old mythologies, the soften- ing and liberalizing influence of Greek culture, the unifica- tion of the whole civilized world under a single government, the widespread suffering and the Inexpressible weariness of the oppressed and servile classes, — all these things had prepared the soil for the seed of the new doctrines. In less than three centuries the pagan empire had become Christian not only in name, but also very largely in fact. This conversion of Rome is one of the most important events in all history. A new element is here introduced into civilization, an element which has given color and character to the history of all the succeeding centuries. 218. Reign of Caligula (a.ix 37-41). — Oaius Ccxsar, better known as Caligula, son of the commander Germani- cus, was only twenty-five years of age when the death of Tiberius called him to the throne. His surname Cali-ula was given him by the German legions, because, when a little boy, he was kept by his father in the camp, and to please the men, dressed like a little soldier with military buskins {ailmy Hig career was very similar to that of Tiberius. After a few months spent in arduous application to the affairs of the empire, during which time his many acts of kindness and piety won for him the affection of all classes, the mind of the young emperor became unsettled. His rest was feverish ; and often he paced the halls of his palace the night through with wild and incoherent ravings. He soon gave himself up to the mosf detestable dissipations. The cruel sports of the amphitheatre possessed for him a strange fascination. When animals failed, he ordered spectators 340 ROME AS AAT EMPIRE. to be seized indiscriminately and thrown to the beasts. He even entered the lists himself, and fought as a gladiator upon the arena. Stories without number are told illustrating his insanities and extravagances. He is said to have caused persons to be tortured at his banquets, that their cries and groans might add to the enjoyment of the meal. He lamented that no great calamity marked his reign, such as that which had occurred in the reign of Tiberius, when twenty thou- sand or more persons lost their lives in the fall of the amphi- theatre at ridena^ (par. 217). In a sanguinary mood, he wished "that the people of Rome had but one neck." He built a bridge from his palace on the Palatine to the temple on the Capitoline hill, that he might be " next neighbor " to Jupiter. In order to rival the Hellespontine bridges of Xerxes, he constructed a bridge over the bay at Baiie. The structure broke beneath the triumphal procession on the day of dedication ; and Caligula, delighted with the spectacle of the struggling victims, forbade any one to attempt to save the drowning. It is said that he emulated the example of Cleopatra by dissolving costly gems and drinking them at a draught. A single dinner cost ^400,000. As an insult to the official aristocracy he gave out that he proposed to make his favor- ite horse, Incitatus, consul, and frequently invited the Steed from his ivory stable to eat gilded grain at the impe- rial board. He personated in turn all the gods and god- desses, arraying himself at one time as Hercules or Bacchus, and again as Juno or Venus. He declared himself divine, set up his statue for worship, and even removed the heads of Jupiter's statues and put his own in their place. FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS. 34 1 During his reign he set out on an expedition against Britain ; but on reaching the sea he set his soldiers to work collecting shells along the beach, which -spoils of the ocean" he then sent back to Rome as the trophies of his enterprise. A campaign against the Germans ended at the Rhenish frontier with not captives enough in his hands for a triumph ; accordingly, he hired, so the story runs, a great number of Gauls to personate German pris- oners, and thus supplied the embarrassing deficiency. After four years the insane career of Caligula was brought to a close by some of the officers of the praetorian guard, whom he had wantonly insulted. 219. Reign of Claudius (a.d. 41-54). _ Claudius, who succeeded Caligula, made his reign a sort of landmark in the constitutional history of Rome, by the admission of the Gallic nobles to the Roman senate and the magistracies of the city. Tacitus has given us a paraphrase of a speech which the emperor made before the senate, in answer to the objections which were urged against such a course. The emperor touched first upon the fact that his own most ancient ancestor, although of Sabine origin, had been received into the city and made a member of the patrician order. This liberal policy of the fathers ought, he thought, to be followed by himself in his conduct of public affairs. Men of special talent, wherever found, should be trans- ferred to Rome. ^'Nor am I unmindful of the fact," he continued, "that the Julii came to Rome from Alba, the Coruncanii from Camerium, the Porcii from Tusculum; and, not to lay too much stress upon very ancient matters, that from Etruria and Lucania and all Italy, persons have been received into the Roman senate. Finally, the city was 342 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. extended to the Alps, so that not single individuals, but entire provinces and tribes were given the Roman name. Is it a matter of regret to us that the Balbi came to us from Spain ? That men not less distinguished migrated to Rome from Gallia Narbonensis ? The descendants of these immi- grants remain among us, nor do they yield to us in their devotion to the fatherland. What other cause was there of the downfall of Sparta and of Athens, states once pow- erful in arms, save this — that they closed their gates against the conquered as aliens ? Our founder Romulus, however, following a wiser policy, saw many people on one and the same day his enemies and citizens of Rome/' . . . But it is said that the Senones' waged war against us. And did the Volscians and the /t:quians never turn their swords against our state ) I admit, the Cauls onCG Cap- tured our city ; but were we not obliged to give hostages to the Etruscans, and was not our army once sent by the Samnites beneath the yoke ? . . . All those institutions, conscript fathers, which now are held as sacred because they are old, were once new. The plebeian magistrates came after the patricians, the Latin magistrates after the plebeian, and those of the other peoples of Italy after the Latin. This Innovation [tke admlsslon of the Gauls into the senate] will also grow old ; and a measure which to-day we defend by precedents, will in the future come to be a precedent."** The generous policy here defended was acted upon, at least as to a part of the Gallic nobility. 6 See par. 41. ' The Gallic tribe that under the lead of Brennus sacked Rome (par. 68). 8 Tacitus, Annals, xi. 23. Compare this speech of Claudius with tkat of Titus Manlius (par. 77). F'ROM TIB£:KILrS TO MARCUS AURflLILrS. 343 In the field of military enterprise the reign of Claudius was signalized by the conquest of Britain. Nearly a cen- tury had now passed since the invasion of the island by Julius Caesar, who, as has been seen, simply made a recon- noissance of the island and then withdrew (par. 191). Claudius, through his generals Plautius and Vespasian, subjugated the southern part of the island and made it into a Roman provmce under the name of JBritan?iia (43 B.C.). Many colonies were founded here, which in time became important centres of Roman trade and cul- ture, and some of which were the beginnings of great English towns of to-day. The leader of the Britons was Caractacus. He was taken captive and carried to Rome. Gazing in astonishment upon the magnificence of the imperial city, he exclaimed, "How can people possessed of such splendor at home envy Caractacus his humble cottage in Britain ? " The present reign was further distinguished by the exe- cution of many important works of a utilitarian character. At the mouth of the Tiber, Claudius constructed a mag- nificent harbor, called the Portus Ro7naniis. The Claudian Aqueduct, which he completed, was a stupendous work, bringing water to the city from a distance of forty-hve miles. The delight of the people in gladiatorial shows had at this time become almost an insane frenzy. Claudius determined to give an entertainment that should render insignificant all similar efforts. Upon a large lake, whose sloping banks afforded seats for the vast multitude of spec- tators, he exhibited a naval battle, in which two opposing fleets, bearing nineteen thousand gladiators, fought as 344 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. though in real battle, till the water was reddened with blood and littered with the wreckage of the broken ships. Throughout his life Claudius was ruled by intriguing favorites and unworthy wives. For his fourth wife he married the ''wicked Agrippina," who secured his death by means of a dish of poisoned mushrooms, in order to make place for the succession of her son Nero. 220. Reign of Nero (a.d. 54-68). — Nero was fortunate in having for his preceptor the great philosopher and moralist Seneca ; but never was teacher more unfortunate in his pupil. For five years Nero, under the influence of Seneca and Burrhus, the latter the commander of the praetorians, ruled with moderation and equity. But his own mother, Agrippina, intrigued against him in favor of a younger son ; and Nero, after failing in an attempt to drown her while she was crossing the bay at Baia,', secured her death by the hand of an assassin. He now broke away from the guidance of his tutor Seneca, and entered upon a career nlled with crimes of almost incredible enormity. The dagger and poison were in constant demand. The use of the latter had become a " fine art " in the hands of a regular profession. Like Caligula, Nero degraded the imperial purple by contending in the gladiatorial combats of the arena and in the games of the circus, appearing at one time as a charioteer, and then again as an actor and a singer of his own verses. It was in the tenfK year of lils reign (a.d. ^4) that the so-called Great Fire laid more than half of Rome in ashes. Temples, monuments, and buildings of every description were swept away by the flames that for six days and nights surged like a sea through the valleys and about the FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS A UR ELI US. 345 base of the hills covered by the city. The people, in the dismay of the moment, were ready to catch up any ruiHOr respecting the origin of the fire. It was reported that Nero had ordered the conflagration to be lighted in order to clear the ground so that he could rebuild the city on a more magnificent plan, and that from the roof of his palace he had enjoyed the spectacle and amused himself by sing- ing a poem of his own composition, entitled the ''Sack of Troy." Nero did everything in his power to discredit the rumor. He went in person amidst the sufferers and distributed money with his own hand. Fo further turn attention from himself, he accused the Christians of having conspired to destroy the city, in order to help out their prophecies. The doctrine which was taught by some of the new sect respecting the second coming of Christ and the destruction of the world by fire, lent color to the charge. The perse- cution that followed was one of the most cruel recorded in tile history of the C hurch. Many victims were covered with pitch and burned at night, to serve as torches in the imperial gardens. Tradition preserves the names of the apostles Peter and Paul as victims of this Neronian persecution. As to Rome, the conflagration was a blessing in dis- guise. Requisitions of money and material were made upon all the Roman world for the rebuilding of the burnt districts. The city rose from its ashes as quickly as Athens from her ruins at the close of the Persian wars. The new buildings were made fireproof ; and the narrow, crooked streets '-^ reappeared 'as broad and beautiful ave- ^ The lack of regularity in the streets is said to have been due to the nasty rebuilding of the city after its sack by the Gauls. See par. 68. 34^ ROAl£ AS AJV £:AII^II^£:. nues. A large part of the burnt region was appropriated by Nero for tiie buildings and grounds of an immense palace, called the Golden House. As the emperor en- sconced himself in its luxurious apartments, he is said to have remarked, " Now I am housed as a man ought to be." The emperor secured money for his enormous expendi- tures by {resh murders and confiscations. No one of wealth knew but that his turn might come next. A conspiracy was formed to relieve the state of the monster. The plot was dis- covered, and again " the city was filled with funer- als." Liican the poet, and Seneca, the preceptor of Nero, both fell victims to the tyrant's rage. Nero now made a tour through the East, and there plunged deeper and deeper into sensuality and crime. The tyranny and the disgrace were no longer endurable. The legions in several of the provinces revolted. The senate declared the emperor a public enemy, and con- demned him to death by scourging, to avoid which, aided by a servant, he took his own life. His last words were, " What an artist the world loses in my death ! " Nero was the sixth and last of the Julian line. The family of the Great Caesar was now extinct ; but the name remainedj and was adopted by all the succeeding emperors, 'Galea. 1 FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS. 347 221. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius (a.d. 68-69). — These three names are usually grouped together, as their reigns were all short and uneventful. 11ie succession, upon the death of Nero and the extinction in him of the Julian line, was in dispute, and the legions in different quarters sup- ported the claims of their favorite leaders. One after another the three aspirants named were killed in bloody struggles for the imperial purple. The last, Vitellius, was hurled from the throne by the soldiers of Vespasian, the old and beloved commander of the legions in Palestine, which were at this time engaged in war with the Jews. 222. Reign of Vespasian (a.d. 69-79). — The accession of Flavins Vespasian marks the beginning of a period, embracing three reigns, known as the Flavian Age (a.o. 6g — 9O;. Vespasian's reign was signalized both by important military achievements abroad and by stupendous public works undertaken at Rome. After one of the most harass- ing sieges recorded in history, Jerusalem was taken by Titus, son of Vespasian. The Temple was destroyed, and more than a million Jews that were crowded in the city are believed to have perished. Great multitudes suffered death by crucifixion. The miserable remnants of the nation were scattered everywhere over the world. Josephus, the great historian, accompanied the conqueror to P.ome. In imi- VtSPASIAN, (From a bust in the Museum at Naples.) 34S ROME AS AN EMPIRE. " Judaea Capta.' (Coin of Vespasian.) tation of Nebuchadnezzar, Titus robbed the Temple of its sacred utensils, and bore them away as trophies. Upon the triumphal arch at Rome that bears his name, may be seen at the present day the sculp- tured representation of the golden candlestick, which was one of the memorials of the war. At this same time, in the opposite corner of the empire, there broke out a dangerous revolt of the Bata- vians under their celebrated leader Claudius Civilis. The Batavians were joined by many Germans beyond the Rhine, by a large part of the tribes of Gaul, and by several of the Roman legions in those parts. For- tune for a time attended Civilis ; the Roman armies were repeatedly defeated, and the authority of Rome destroyed in the whole llhenisk region and throughout a great part of Gaul. It looked for a moment as though a Gallo-Cierman empire was to be raised on the ruins of the Roman power north of the Alps. But dissension arose among the con- federates, which weakened the movement and aided Ves- pasian's general Cerialis In crushing the insurrection and restoring the Roman authority. Vespasian rebuilt the Capitoline temple, which had been burned during the etrugirle between k;§ solJlers and the adherents of Vitellius ; he constructed a new forum, which bore his own name ^ and also began the erection of the Cel- ebrated Flavian amphitheatre, which was completed by his successor. After a most prosperous reign of ten years, Vespasian died a.d. 79, the first emperor after Augustus FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS. 349 who had not met with a violent death. At the last moment he requested his attendants to raise him upon his feet that he might "die standing," as befitted a Roman emperor. 223. Reign of Titus (a.d. 79-81). — In a short reign of two years Titus won the title of " the Friend and the Delight i^i. '- / ■ ^^ ^^f r*r-!^ ■^•y^'^L^^- ■■- jl^lfe Triumi'Hal Prucession from the Arch ok Titus. (Showing the Seven-branched Candlestick and other trophies from the Temple at Jerusalem. From a photograph.) of Mankind." He was unwearied in acts of benevolence and In bestowal of favors. Having let a day §lip by With- out some act o£ kindness performed, he is said to have exclaimed reproachfully, "I have lost a day." Titus completed and dedicated the great Flavian amphi- theatre begun by his father, Vespasian. This vast struc- ture, which accommodated more than eighty thousand i 350 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. spectators, is better known as the Colosseum a name given it either because of its gigantic proportions, or on account of a colossal statue of Nero which happened to stand near it (par. 291). Ihe reign of Titus, though so short, was signalized by two great disasters. The first was a conflagration at Rome, which was almost as calamitous as the Great Fire in the TliK (JuLUbiJtUM. (Krom a photograph.) reign of Nero (par. 220). The second was the destruction, by an eruption of Vesuvius, of the (\ampanian cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The cities were buried beneath showers of cinders, ashes, and streams of volcanic mud. Pliny the Elder, the great naturalist, venturing too near the mountain, to investigate the phenomenon, lost his life.» 1 In the year i 7 1 3, sixteen centuries after the destruction Of thC CitiCS the ruins were discovered by some persons engaged in digging a Well' and since then extensive excavations have been made, which have i FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS A UR ELI US. 35 I 224. Domitian — Last of the Twelve Caesars (a.d. 81-96). Domitian, the brother of I'itus, was the last of the line of emperors known as "the Twelve Caesars." The title, however, was assumed by, and is applied to, all the suc- ceeding: emperors ^ the sole reason that the first twelve A Street in Pompeii. (From a photograph.) princes are grouped together is because the Roman biog- rapher Suetonius completed the lives of that number only. The greater part of Domitian's reign was an exact con- trast to that of his brother Titus. It was, after the first uncovered a large part of Pompeii, and reVGalfid to US tllfi StrGGt^, llOmeS, theatres, baths, shops, temples, and varioui; monuments of the ancient city — all of which presents to us a very vivid picture of Roman life during the imperial period, eighteen hundred years ago. 352 ROAfE AS AN EMPIRE. few years, one succession of extravagances, tyrannies, confiscations, murders, and persecutions. During the reign, however, transactions of interest and importance were taking place on the northern frontier- lines. In Britain the able commander Agricola, the father- in-law of the historian Tacitus, pushed the conquests of Rome to the utmost limits that they ever reached. He either subjected or crowded back the warlike tribes until he had extended the frontiers of the empire far into what i§ now Scotland. Then, as a protection against the incursions of the Caledonians, the ancestors of the Scottish highland- ers, he constructed a line of fortresses from the Frith of Forth to the Frith of Clyde (par. 227). Behind this shelter Roman civilization developed securely and rapidly in the new-formed province. On the Danubian frontier the Roman arms were less successful than in Britain. Here the Dacians, dwellintr north of the Danube, were distressing the province of Moesia by plundering raids across the river. Unable to reduce the marauding tribes to submission, Domitian nego- tiated a peace with them by the terms of which the Romans were to pay them a yearly tribute on condition that they refrain from invading the territory of Rome. This was the first time that Rome purchased peace of an enemy with gold instead of with steel. The practice became common enough later. Under this emperor took place what is known in church history as '* the second persecution of the Christians." This class, as well as the Jews, were the special objects of Domitian's hatred, because they refused to burn incense before the statues of himself which he had set up (par. Roman Britain, 354 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. 2i6). The name of his niece Domitilla has been preserved as one of the victims of this persecution. This is signifi- cant, since it shows that the new faith was thus early finding adherents among the higher classes, even in the royal household itself. The last of the Twelve Caesars perished in his own palace, and by the hands of members of hiso\vn household. The senate ordered his infamous name to be erased from the public monuments and to be blotted from the records of the Roman state. 225. The Five Good Emperors; Reign of Nerva (a.d. 96- 98). — The five emperors — Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines — who succeeded Domitian were elected 03^ the senate, which during this period assumed something of its former weight and influence in the affairs of the empire. The wise and beneficent administration of the government by these rulers secured for them the enviable distinction of being called " the five good emperors." Nerva, who was an aged senator and an ex-consul, ruled paternally. He lightened the taxes, which had grown oppressive; abolished the infamous law of treason (par. . 317) under which go many innocent persons of prominence, influence, and wealth had become the victims of imperial suspicion, jealousy, and cupidity ; and brought back those citizens whom former emperors had sent into exile. Nerva died after a short reign of sixteen months, and the sceptre passed into the stronger hands of the able commander Trajan, whom Nerva had previously made his associate in the government. 226. Reip of Trajan (a.d. 08-117). -Trajan was a native of Spain, and a soldier by profession and talent. FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS. 355 He was the first provincial to sit in the seat of the Caesars. From this time forward provincials were to play a part of ever-increasing importance in the affairs of the empire. Trajan's ambition to achieve military re- nown led him to under- take distant and im- portant conquests. It was the policy of Augustus — a policy adopted by most of his successors — to make the Danube in Europe and the Kuphrates in Asia the limits of acians, tribes that, as we have seen, had often disturbed the peace of the Moesian prov- ince. The trouble at this time was caused by Trajan Trajan. (From a statue in the Museum at Naples.) 35^ ROME AS AN EMPIRE. refusing to make good the agreement of Domitian with these tribes to pay them tribute (par. iik\ In his second campaign Trajan facilitated his operations by constructing across the Danube a bridge, some of the piers of which may still be seen. This expedition resulted in the complete subjugation of the troublesome enemy. Dacia was now made into a province. Roman emigrants poured in crowds into the region, great cities sprang up, ^ ,^ r^n\ Bridok over thk Danubk, built by Trajan. (From relief on Trajan's Column.) and the arts and culture of Rome took deep and permanent root. The modern name Roumania is a monument of this Roman conquest and colonization beyond the Danube. The Roumanians to-day speak a language that in its main elements is largely of Latin origin.^ - The Romanic-speaking peoples of Roumania and the neighboring regions number about ten millions. It seems probable that during medi- aeval times there was a large immigration into the present Roumania of Latin-speaking people from the districts south of the Danube, — Thrace, Macedonia, and Epirus,— which had been pretty thoroughly Romanized during the imperial period. EROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS A UR ELI US. 357 As a permanent memorial of his achievements, the emperor erected, in what came to be known as rrajan's Forum, a splendid marble shaft called Trajan's Column. The great pillar is almost as perfect to-day as when reared, eighteen centuries ago. It is one hundred and forty-seven feet high, and is wound from base to summit with a spiral band of sculptures, containing more than twenty-five thousand human figures. Its pictured sides are the best, and almost the only, record we now possess of the Dacian wars of the emperor. In the latter years of his reign (a.o. 114—116^ Trajan led his legions to the East, crossed the Kuphrates, reduced Armenia, and wrested from the Parthians most of the territory which once formed the heart of the Assyrian monarchy. Constructing an im- mense flotilla of boats on the Upper Kuphrates, he floated with his army down that stream to where it draws near the 71- gris, opposite the city of Ctesi- phon. At this point the boats were pulled from the water, dragged overland to the Tigris, and relaunched. From Trajan's Column, (^Froni a photograph.) 3SS ROME AS AN EMPIRE. FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS. 359 Ctesiphon the fleet floated down the Tigris and on into the Persian Gulf. Here the sight of an Indian merchantman is said to have awakened in Trajan ambitious longings to emulate the achievements of Alexander the Great. " Were I yet young," he exclaimed, " I would not stop till I had reached the limits of the Macedonian conquest." Out of the territories he had conquered, Trajan made Battle Scene from Trajan's Column. (On the left, Panhian horsemen in armor, fleeing before Roman riders.) three new provinces, which bore the ancient names of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria. To Trajan belongs the distinction of having extended the boundaries of the empire to the most distant points to which Roman ambition and prowess were ever able to push them. But in passing beyond the line of the Euphra- tes, Trajan had overstepped the limits of moderation, and unwisely disregarded the maxim of Augustus. His con- quests In these regions w^ere prudently abandoned by his successor. A more permanent acquisition made by Trajan in these eastern regions was Arabia-Petraia, which was made a province in the year a.d. 106. But Trajan was something more than a mere soldier ; he had a taste for literature. Juvenal, Plutarch, and the younger Pliny wrote under his patronage, and under his direction was founded the so-called Ulpian Library, which grew into one of the most valuable collections of books in Besieging a Dacian City. (From Trajan's Column.) Rome. Moreover, as is true of almost all great conquer- ors, Trajan had a perfect passion for building. We have already mentioned the forum which he laid out and em- bellished, and which bore his name, and noticed also the wonderful marble column commemorating his Dacian vic- tories. And not alone in the capital but also in various other cities of the empire were to be seen many monuments of his munificence. Respecting the rapid spread of Christianity at this time, the character of the early professors of the new faith, and 36o ROME AS AN EMPIRE. the light in which they were viewed by tlie rulers of the Roman world, we have very important evidence in a cer- tain 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. 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, llOWever, beCaUSG tllG 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. 227. Reign of Hadrian (a.d. i 17-138). — Hadrian, a Iclnsman o{ Trajan, gucceeded him in the imperial office. He possessed great ability, and displayed admirable mod- eration and prudence in the administration of the gov- ernment. He abandoned the three provinces, Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, that had been acquired by Trajan beyond the Euphrates, and made that stream once more the eastern boundary of the empire. He saw plainly that Rome could not safely extend any farther, in that direction, the frontiers of her dominions. More than fifteen years of his reign were spent by Hadrian in making tours of inspection through all the different provinces of the empire. He visited Britain, and secured the Roman possessions there against the Picts and Scots by erecting a continuous wall across the island from the Tyne to the Solway Firth. This rampart was con- 1 1 I LL-Poatea, Engr., N Y. FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS aurklius. 361 structed some distance to the south of the line of fortified stations that had been established by Agricola (par. 224). But the guards were not withdrawn from the more northern wall, and the strip of territory between the two walls was not abandoned by the Roman colonists who had already — ?►.-'>/"'/* ^ '^(,1// "^ THE Roman Wai.i. in Northern Britain. (From Gardiner's Stiuients" History 0/ England) settled there. Under later emperors this Hadrian bulwark was strengthened by two additional ramparts, one con- structed of earth and the other built solidly of stone, and both running parallel to the earlier line of earthworks.' .The second line of earthworks, which was but a few yards distant fron, .he first, w.s probably thrown up by the emperor Sep--- «--- (An .9,-2..); the stone rampart. Merivale thmks, was bmlt clunng e last'Ltu! of the empire. Some of the best portions of .he .va are found near the modern Carlisle. The student-traveller n, those 362 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. In places the triple line of ramparts, broken at intervals by the remains of the old guard-towers and fortified camps, can still be traced through the valleys and over the low hills of the Kngllsh moorlands. There exist nowhere in the lands that once formed the provinces of the empire of Rome any more impressive memorials of her world-wide dominion than these ramparts, along which for three hun- dred years and more her sentinels kept watch and ward for civilization against the barbarian marauders of Caledonia/ After his visit to Britain Hadrian returned to Gaul, and then inspected in different tours all the remaining provinces of tne empire. Many of flie cities wliicK lie visited he adorned with temples, theatres, and other buildings. Upon Athens, particularly, he lavished large sums in art embel- lishments, reviving in a measure the fading glories of the Periclean Age. In the year 132 the Jews in Palestine, who had in a meas- ure recovered from the blow Titus had given their nation parts should not fail to examine these interesting memorials of the Roman occupation of }>iitain. * " We know from written records that the troops by which these strongholds were occupied represented from twenty to thirty distinct nations. Along this line of mutual communication Gauls and Germans, Thracians and Iberians, Moors and Syrians held the frontiers of the Ro- man empire against the Caledonian Britons. Here some thirty languages resounded from as many camps ; but the sonorous speech of Latium, not much degraded from the tone still preserved on its native soil, ever main- tained its supremacy as the language of command and of every official and public document. On this narrow strip of land we may read an epitome of the history of the Romans under the empire ; for myself, 1 feel that all I have read and written on this wide and varied subject is condensed, as it were, in the picture I realize, from a few stones and earthworks, of their occupation of our northern marches." — Merivale, History of the Romans under the Empire^ vol. viii. p. 210. FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS A UR ELI US. 363 (par. 222), 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 are said to have perished in the hopeless struggle, and the most of the sur- viv^ors were driven into exile — the last disper- sion of the race (a.d. 135). The latter years of his reign Hadrian passed at Rome. It was here that this princely builder erected his most splen- did structures. Amon^>- these were a magnificent temple consecrated to the o^oddeSSeS Venus and (From a bust in the CapitoUne Museum.) Roma, and a vast mausoleum erected on the banks of the Tiber, and designed as a tomb for himself (par. 297).*^ With all his virtues, Hadrian was foolishly vain of his accomplishments, impatient of contradiction, and often most unreasonable and imperious. It is related that he put to death the architect Apollodorus for venturing to criticise the royal taste in some architectural matter. l^avorinus, the rhetorician, was evidently more judicious, for when asked " why he suffered the emperor to silence ^ ^lia Capitolina. ^ For a description of the celebrated villa which Hadrian constructed at Tibur, the modern Tivoli, see par. 295. Hadrian. 3^4 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. him in an argument on a point of grammar, he replied, *It is ill disputing with the master of thirty legions.' " 228. The Antonines (a.d. 138-180). — Aurelius Antoninus, surnamed Pius, the adopted son of Hadrian, and his suc- cessor, 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 or tne emperors who devoted himself to the task of governinent 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 admirably the oft-repeated epigram, " Happy is that people whose annals are brief." Antoninus, early in his reign, had united with himself in the government his adopted son Marcus Aurelius, and upon the death of the former (a.d. 161) the latter succeeded quietly to his place and work. Aurelius' studious habits won for him the title of "Philosopher." He belonged to the school of the Stoics, and was a most thoughtful writer. His Meditations breathe the tenderest sentiments of devotion and benevolence, and make the nearest approach to the spirit of (^hristianity of all the writings of pagan antiquity. He established an institution or home for orphan girls, and, finding the poorer classes throughout Italy burdened by their taxes and greatly in arrears in paying them, he caused all the tax claims to be heaped in the forum and burned. The tastes and sympathies of Aurelius would have led him to choose a life passed in retirement and study at the FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS. 365 capital ; but hostile movements of the Parthians, and espe- cially 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 a part of Mesopotamia again fell under Roman authority (Ad). 165). 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. The empire never wholly recovered from the effects of this pestilence. 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 against them, during which the celebrated Christian fathers, Justin Martyr at Rome and the aged Polycarp at Smyrna, suffered death. The latter, when urged to save his life by reviling Christ, made this memorable reply : " Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never did me wrong ; and how can I now blaspheme my king who has saved me .'' " It should be noted that the persecution of the Christians vinder the pagan emperors sprung from political and social rather than religious motives, 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 careful performance of the rites of the national worship; and hence, while the Roman rulers were usually very tolerant, allowing all forms 366 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. 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 services 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 a main reason of their persecution by the pagan emperors. But there was also what we may call the social motive of persecution. The Christians were accused of being unsocial, and, from the Roman point ui view, not without reason ; for the conscience of the Christians stood in the way of their performing many of the duties required of citizens, since these acts were often connected in some way with the pagan sacrifices or worship. Again, the teachings of their religion would not allow them to be spec- tators at the inhuinan gladiatorial games, nor frequenters of the theatre, because of the immorality of the stage. Now, to the Romans who did not share the beliefs and convictions of the Christians their conduct appeared unreasonable as well as unsocial and unpatriotic. Hence the term "obstinacy" which was applied to them, and the vehemence of the popular hatred of the new sect. But pestilence and persecution were both forgotten amidst the imperative calls for immediate help that now came from the north. The barbarians were pushing in the Roman outposts, and pouring over the frontiers. A tribe known as the Marcomani even crossed the Alps and laid siege to Aquileia. Not since the invasion of the Cimbri and Teutones (par. 159) had the inhabitants of any city of Italy seen the barbarians before their gates. FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS A UR ELI US. 367 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 the Roman army was completely surrounded, and the soldiers were dying of thirst, when a violent thunder- ROMAN SoLDlKRS ATTACKING A GERMAN FoKTRESS. (From the Column of Trajan ) storm not only relieved their sutferings, but also struck such terror into the barbarians as to scatter them in flight. The Christians that made up the twelfth legion maintained that God had sent the rain in answer to their prayers 5 but the pagan Romans interpreted the event as an intervention by Jupiter Tonans on their behalf. Upon the column of 368 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. 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." Aurelius checked the inroads of the barbarians, but he could not subdue them, so weakened was the empire by the ravages of the pestilence, and so exhausted was the treasury from the heavy and constant drains upon it. At last his weak body gave way beneath the hardships of his numer- ous campaigns, and he died in his camp at VindoDona (now^ Vienna), in the nineteenth year of his reign (a.d. i8o). The united voice of the senate and people pronounced him a god, and divine worship was accorded to his statue. Never was Monarchy so justified of her children as in the lives and works of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. As Merivale, in dwelling upon their virtues, very justly re- marks, "The blameless career of these illustrious princes has furnished the best excuse for Caisarism in all after-ages. ROMAN EMPERORS FROM AUGUSTUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS. (From 31 K.C. to A.D. 180.) Augustus reigns 31 B.C. to a.d. 14 Tiberius .... a.d. 14-37 Caligula 37-4' Claudius 4^-54 Nero 54-6S Galba 6S-69 Otho 69 Vitellius 69 Vespasian 69-79 Titus a.d. 79-81 Domitian 81-96 Xerva 96-98 Trajan 98-117 Hadrian 117— 13S Antoninus Plus . . . 138— 1 61 Marcus Aurelius . 161 — 180 Verus associated with Aurelius .... 161-169 The first eleven, in connection with Julius C.xsar, are called the Twelve Csesars. The last five (excluding Verus) are known as the Five Good Emperors. , FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS. 369 References. — Tacitus, A?tnals ; IItsto7y ; and ** JLife of Agric- ola. Plutarch, Lives of Galba and Otho. Oibbon (K.), 77ic JJccline and Fall of the Roman IHntpirey chap, ii., " Of the Union and Internal Trosperity of the Roman Empire in the Age of the Antonines " ; and chap, iii., "Of the Constitution of the Empire in the Age of the Anto- nines." Merivale (C), History of the Romans tinder the Empire^ 7 vols. For general reference. Milman (H. H.), The History of Chris- tianity, vol. ii. bk. ii. chaps, iv.-vii. Ramsay (W. M.), * The Chureh in the Roman Empire before A. D. lyo., chap. x. pp. 196-225, " Pliny's Report and Trajan's Rescript"; chap, xi., "The Action of Nero towards the CKrlstians " ; chap, xv., " Causes and Kxtent of Persecu- tions." Frekman (E. a.), Historical Essays (Second Series), " The Flavian Emperors." BoissiER (G.), Rome and Pompeii, chap. vi. pp. 335-435, ♦' Pompeii." Dyer (T. H.), Pompeii, its History, Building and Antiquity. Mai: (\), * Potnpeii : its Life and Art. Translated into Ilnglish by F. W. Kelsey. Watson (P. B.), Marcus Aurelius Anto- /linus, cha.p. vii. pp. 257-308, " The Attitude of Aurelius towards Chris- tianity." Capes (W. W.), The Age of the Antonines, and * The Early Empire (Epoch Series). In this latter work read chap, xii., "The Position of the Emperor"; chap, xviii., "The Moral Standard of the Age" 5 chap, xix., "The Revival of Religious Sentiment." The survey in these chapters embraces the first century only of the empire. Hardy (K. O.), Christianity and the Rot?ian Go2Jerfif?ietit. A valuable study of the relations of the Christians to the imperial government dur- ing the first two centuries of the empire. Morrison (\V. D.), The fcws under Roman Rule (Story of the Nations), chap, vii., " The Final Conflicts." Ren AN (E.), Lectures on the Influence of the Institutions, Thought and Culture of Rome on Christianity and the Development of the Catholic Church (Ilibbert Lectures, 18S0), Lee. IL pp. 70-100; on the Neronian persecution. ** The Early Christian Persecutions. (Translations and Reprints, University of Pennsylvania, vol. iv., Xo. I). Read Pliny's letter to Trajan and Trajan's reply. La>xiani (K.), Pagan and Christian Rome, chap, vii., " Christian Cemeteries " ; for the story of the Catacombs. Thomas (E.), * Roman Life under the Ccesars (from the French), chap, i., " At Pompeii " ; chap iii. § 2, pp. 70-86, "The Imperial Regime." lil"^ ROME AS A/V EMPIRE. 1. Colosseum. 15. 2. Arch of Constantine. 16. 3. Arch of Titus. 17. 4. Via Sacra. 18. 5. Via Nova. 19. 6. Vicus Tuscus. 20. 7. Vicus Jugarius. 21. 8. Arch of Septimius Severus. 22. 9. Clivus Capitolinus. 23. 10. Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. 24. II. Arch. 25. 12. Column of Trajan. 26. 13. Column of Antonine. 27. 14. Baths of Agrippa. 28. Pantheon. Theatre of Pompey. Portico of Pompey. Circus Flaminius. Theatre of Marcellus. Forum Ilolitorium. Forum IJoarium. Mausoleum of Augustus. Mausoleum of Hadrian. Baths of Constantine. Baths of Diocletian. Baths of Titus. Baths of Caracalla. Amphitheatrum Castrense. I CHAPTER XVII. THE EMPIRE UNDER COMMODUS AND "THE BARRACK EMPERORS." (A.D. 180-284.) 229. Reign of Commodus (a.d. 180-192). — Under the wise and able administration of the preceding five good emperors, the Roman empire had reached its culmination in power and prosperity ; now, under the enfee- bling influences of vice and corruption within, and the heavy blows of the barbarians without, it begins to decline rapidly to its fall. Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius, and the last of the Anto- nines, was a most un- worthy successor of his illustrious father. For three years, however, surrounded by the able generals and wise counsellors istration of the preceding emperors had drawn to the head of affairs, Commodus ruled with fairness and lenity, 371 ^^ «>;:■•> Commodus (as Hercules). (From bust found in the Horti Lamiani, Rome.) tkat the prudent admin- 372 ROME AS AN EMPIRE, when an unsuccessful conspiracy against his life seemed suddenly to kindle all the slumbering passions of a Nero. He secured the favor of the rabble with the shows of the amphitheatre, and purchased the support of the praetorians with bribes and flatteries. Thus he was enabled for ten years to retain the throne, while perpetrating all manner of cruelties, and staining the imperial purple with the most detestable debaucheries and crimes. Commodus had a passion for gladiatorial combats. He even descended into the arena himself. Attired in a lion's skin, and armed with the club of Hercules, he valiantly set upon and slew antagonists arrayed to represent mythologi- cal monsters, and armed with great sponges for rocks. The senate, so obsequiously servile had that body become, con- ferred upon him the title of the Roman Hercules, voted him the additional surnames of Pius and Felix, and even pro- posed to change the name of Rome and call it Colonia Commodiana. The empire was finally relieved of the insane tyrant by some members of the royal household, who anticipated his designs against themselves by putting him to death. 230. **The Barrack Emperors." — For nearly a century after the death of Commodus (from a.d. 192 to 284), the emperors were elected by the army, and hence the rulers for this period have been called " the Barrack Fmperors." The character of the period is revealed by the fact that of the twenty-five emperors who mounted the throne during this time, aU except four came to their deaths by violence. To internal disorders were added the terror of barbarian invasions. On every side savage hordes were breaking into the empire to rob, to murder, and to burn. THE EMPIRE UNDER COMMODUS. 373 351. The Public Sale of the Empire (a.d. 103). — I'he beginning of these troublous times was marked by a shameful proceeding on the part of the praetorians. Upon the death of Commodus, Fertinax, a distinguished senator, was placed on the throne; but his efforts to enforce disci- pline among the praetorians aroused their anger, and he was slain by them after a short reign of only three months. These soldiers then gave out notice that they would sell the empire to the highest bidder. It was accordingly set up for sale at the praetorian camp, and struck off to Didius Juli- anus, a wealthy senator, who proinised twenty-five hundred sesterces to each of the twelve thousand soldiers at this time composing the guard. So the price of the empire was about thirty million sesterces.^ But these turbulent and insolent soldiers at the capital of the empire were not to have things entirely their own way. As soon as the news of the disgraceful transaction reached the legions on the frontiers, they rose as a single man in indignant revolt. Each of the three armies that held the Euphrates, the Rhine, and the Danube proclaimed its favorite commander emperor. The leader of the Danubian troops was Septimius Severus, a man of great energy and force of character. He knew that there were other com- petitors for the throne, and that the prize would be his who first seized it. Instantly he set his veterans in motion and was soon at Rome. The pra^^torians were no match for the trained legionaries of the frontiers, and did not even attempt to defend their emperor, who was taken prisoner and put to death after a reign of sixty-five days. 232. Reign of Septimius Severus (a.d. 193-2 ii). — One 8 About $12,000,000. 374 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. of the first acts of Severus was to organize a new body- guard of fifty thousand legionaries, to take the place of the unworthy praetorians, whom, as a punishment for the insult they had ofifered to the Roman state, he disbanded, and banished from the capital, and forbade to approach within a hundred mUes of its walls. He next crushed his two rival competitors, and was then undisputed master of the empire. He put to death forty senators for having favored his late rivals, and completely destroyed the power of that body. Committing to the prefect of the new praetorian guard the management of affairs at the capital, Severus passed the greater part of his long and prosperous reign upon the frontiers. At one time he was chastising the Parthians beyond the Euphrates, and at another, pushing back the Caledonian tribes from the Hadrian wall in the opposite corner of his dominions. Finally, in Britain, in his camp at York, death overtook him. 233. Reign of Caracalla (a.d. 21 1-2 17). — Severus con- ferred the empire upon his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. Caracalla murdered his brother, and then ordered Papinian, the celebrated jurist, to make a public argument in vindi- cation of the fratricide. When that great lawyer refused, saying that "it was easier to commit such a crime than to justify it," he put him to death. Thousands feU victims to the tyrant's senseless rage. Driven by remorse and fear, he fled from the capital and wandered about the most distant provinces. At Alexandria, on account of some uncompli- mentary remarks made by the citizens upon his personal appearance, he ordered a general massacre of the inhab- itants. Finally, after a reign of six years, the monster was slain in a remote corner of Syria. THE EMPIRE UNDER COM MODUS. 375 Caracalla's sole political act of real importance was the bestowal of citizenship upon all the free inhabitants of the empire ; and this he did, not to give them a just privilege, but that he might coUect from them certain special taxes which only Roman citizens had to pay. Before the reign of Caracalla it was only particular classes of the provin- cials, or the inhabitants of some particular city or province, ./n^ .!;V, J" '■^k^'-^ '^. % v^- .J^^ P^i^ Caracalla. (From bust in the Museum at Naples.) that, as a mark of special favor, had from time to time been admitted to the rights of citizenship. But by this whole- sale act of Caracalla, the entire free population of the empire outside of Italy that did not already possess the rights of the city, was made Roman, at least in name and nominal privilege. In the words of Merivale, " The city had become the world, or, viewed from the other side, the world had become the city." That vast work, the 376 J^OME AS AN EMPIRE. THE EMPIRE UNDER COM MO BUS. 377 beginnings of which we saw in the twilight of Roman his- tory (par. 30), was now completed. It must not be supposed, however, that the edict of Caracalla did much more than register an already accom- plished fact. It seems probable that by this time a great part of the freemen of the empire were already enjoying the Roman franchise. It will be recalled that Julius Caesar was a zealous champion of a liberal policy as regards the granting of Roman citizenship to the provincials (par. 200). He freely bestowed the Roman franchise upon individuals and communities outside of Italy. His spirit had, in gen- eral, inspired the statesmen of the empire. The emperor Claudius, as we have seen, even threw open the sacred pre- cincts of the Roman senate to the Gallic nobles as a class (par. 210). Vespasian granted Latin rights to all those cities of Spain that did not already possess the Roman franchise, and Hadrian is thought to have given these same communities the full rights of the city. And thus for two centuries and more the great work had gone on steadily in the provinces of the empire, so that when Caracalla issued his edict it is probable, as we have said, that a great part of the provincials already possessed the coveted prize of Roman citizenship.^ 234. Reign of Elagabalus (a.d. 218—222). — Upon the death of Caracalla the purple was assumed by Macrinus, the officer who had instigated the murder of the emperor. He remained in the East, where the severity of his disci- pline caused the soldiers who had raised him to power to 9 A census taken by Claudius in the year a.d. 47 gave the number of citizens of mihtary age, thus eady in the imperial period, as 6,944,000. Consult census table, p. 'i,'}^'^^. revolt. The garrison at Emesa set up as emperor Elagaba- lus, a beautiful boy who in that place officiated as high priest in the temple of the Syrian sun-god, and whom the soldiers were led to believe was the son of the murdered Caracalla. The legions that adhered to Macrinus were quickly crushed, 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 emperor. He carried to Italy all his Eastern notions and manners, and there entered upon a short reign of four years, characterized by all those extravagances and cruelties that are 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, amusements, and etiquette. The praetorians, at length tiring of their priest-emperor, put him to death, threw his body into the Tiber, and set up in his place Alexander Severus, a kinsman of the murdered prince. 235. Reign of Alexander Severus (a.d. 222-235). —Severus restored the virtues of the Age of the Antonines. His administration w^as pure and energetic ; but he strove in vain to resist the corrupt and downward tendencies of the times. He was assassinated, after a reign of fourteen years, by his seditious soldiers, who were angered by his efforts to reduce thein 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 great strength of 378 ROME AS AN EMPIRE, limbs. Rome had now sunk to the lowest possible degra- dation. We may pass rapidly over the next fifty years of the empire. 236. The Thirty Tyrants (a.d. 251—268). Maxlmln was followed swiftly by Gordian, Philip, and Decius, and then came what is 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 Triumph of Sap is law. The first type gives us the free republic, the second the absolute monarchy. The Asiatic peoples from the earliest times have lived under governments of the monar- chical type ; the cities of ancient Greece and Italy early developed republican constitutions. It was the adoption by them of popular government which we think was one chief cause of their superiority to the Asiatic peoples. We have followed the career of the Romans through the four centuries and more when they were a self-governing people ; and we have watched the transformation of their republican government into one of the Asiatic type. But we have also noticed how up to the time we have now reached the really monarchical character of the government was more or less carefully concealed under the forms and names of the old republic. This, as we already have said, was a concession made by the emperors to the feelings and senti- ments of the Roman people (par. 208) ; for a people who have once governed themselves cling very tenaciously to the forms, at least, of their free institutions. But nearly three centuries of imperial rule had accustomed the Roman people to monarchical forms of government ; while the intolerable anarchy and distress of the last cen- tury had prepared all to welcome any change that seemed to guarantee peace and order and security. Diocletian acted in accordance with the real facts. Realizing that republican government among the Romans had passed away forever, and that its forms were now absolutely meaningless, he cast aside all the masks with which Augustus had concealed his actually unlimited power and which fear or policy had led his successors, with greater or less consistency, to retain, and let the government stand forth naked in its true character as an absolute Asiatic monarchy. In contrasting the policy of Augustus with that of Dio- cletian, Gibbon says: "It was the aim of the one to dis- guise, and the object of the other to display, the unbounded powers which the emperors possessed over the Roman world." So now the forms of the old classical type of government, which symbolized free popular debates, elections, votings, decisions by majorities, — all these things with all that they represented were swept away forever in the Grajco- Roman world, and the governmental principles and ideals of Asia became dominant in that empire which the opposite prin- ciples and ideals had called into existence. The significant change effected in the character of the government was marked by Diocletian's assumption of the titles of Asiatic royalty, and his adoption of the court ceremonials and etiquette of the East. He took the title of Dominus, "Lord," which now for the first time became the designation of a ruler of the Roman people. That this could be safely done, that It m fact strengthened Diocle- tian's position, shows what a vast change had come over the Roman people since the time when the prudent Augus- tus insisted that he should be regarded only as the "first citizen" of the commonwealth (par. 208). Diocletian also placed upon his head the diadem of the East. Neither did this call forth any popular protest, which further illustrates the inner revolution that had found place in the populace since th'e time when the great Julius, through fear, pushed aside the crown offered him by Mark Antony (par. 201^. , 3^4 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. THE REIGN OE DIOCLETIAN 385 Along wltk tlie adoption of tKese symbols of Asiatic monarchy, Diocletian introduced the court etiquette of the East. He clothed himself in magnificent robes of silk and gold. All who approached him, whether of low or of high rank, were required to prostrate themselves tO the grOUnd, a form of oriental and servile adoration which the free races of the West had hitherto, with manly disdain, refused to render to their magistrates and rulers. The imperial household, ako, now assumed a distinctively oriental character. Ostentation and extravagance marked all the appointments of the palace. Its apartments were crowded with retinues of servants and officers of every rank, and the person of the emperor was hedged around with all the ''pomp and majesty of oriental monarchy." The incoming of the absolute monarchy meant, of course, the last blow to local, municipal freedom (par. 167). The little liberty that still survived in the cities or municipalities of the empire was virtually swept away. There was no place under the new government for any degree of genuine local independence and self-direction. Italy was now also reduced to a level in servitude with the provinces, and was taxed and ruled like the other parts of the empire. 240. Changes in the Administrative System. — The century of anarchy which preceded the accession of Diocletian, and the death, during this period, by assassination, of ten of the twenty-live wearers of the imperial purple,^ had made manifest the need of a system which would discourage assassination, and provide a regular mode of succession to the throne. Diocletian devised a system, the aim of which 5 This enumeration does not include the so-caUed " Thirty Tyrants," of whom many met death by violence. was to compass both these ends. First, he chose as a col- league a companion ruler, Maximian, who, like himself, bore the title of Augustus. Then each of the co-emperors asso- ciated with himself an assistant, who took the title of Caisar, and was considered the son and heir of the emperor. There were thus two August! and two Ca^sars.*^ Milan, in Italy, became the capital and residence of Max- imian ; while Nicomedia, in Asia Minor, became the seat of the court of Diocletian. The Aagustl took charge of the countries near their respective capitals, while the younger and more active Cajsars, Galerius and Constantius, were assigned the government of the more distant and turbulent provinces.^ The vigorous administration of the government in every quarter of the empire was thus secured. A most serious drawback to this system was the heavy expense involved in the maintenance of four courts with their endless retinues of officers and dependents. It was complained that the number of those who received the revenues of the state was greater than that of those who contributed to them. The burden of taxation grew unen- durable. Husbandry in some regions ceased, and great numbers were reduced to beggary or driven into brigand- age. The magistrates of the cities** and towns were made responsible for the payment of the taxes due the govern- ment from their respective communities, and hence office- ^ From the number of rulers, this government has received the name of tetrarchy. ~ The division of the provinces among the co-rulers was as follows : Diocletian administered the affairs of Thrace, Asia, and Egypt; Max- imian ruled Italy and Africa ; Constantius held Gaul, Spain, and Britain ; and Galerius governed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Greece. ^ The decuriales and duumviri. 386 ROME AS AN EMPIRE, holding became not an honor to be coveted, but a burden to be evaded. It was this vicious system of taxation which more than any other one cause, after slavery, con- tributed to the depopulation, impoverishment, and final downfall of the empire. 241. The Revolt of the Peasants in Gaul. — The misery caused by the crushing burden of taxes and rents led to an insurrection of the peasants (Bagaudae) in Gaul. We should notice that this was not an uprising of slaves, such as that in Sicily towards the end of the republic (par. I47)» but a revolt of semi-servile peasants. What it is important to notice is that already Roman slavery was passing into serfdom, a system of servitude which characterized the mediaeval centuries of European history. This insurrection of the Gallic peasantry we may thus look upon as the first of those endless revolts which characterize the history of the serfs of the Middle Ages. The uprising was finally suppressed, but the cause of the wretchedness of the peasants was not removed, and their unrest and dissatisfaction was one thing which made easy the seizure of the Gallic provinces by the German invaders a century and a half later. The poor semi-serfs looked upon the barbarians as deliverers. 242. Persecution of the Christians. — Some writers have supposed that the Bagaudae were Christians and that they were stirred to revolt, not only by fiscal oppression, but also by the persecution to which they were subjected by the government because of their religion. There is no certain evidence that this was so ; but it is nevertheless true that towards the end of his reign Diocletian inaugu- rated against the Christians a persecution which contin- THE REIGN OF DIOCLETIAA\ 387 ued long after his abdication, and which was the severest, as it was the last, waged against the church by the pagan emperors.^ We have already mentioned some of the main causes of these constantly recurring persecutions of the Christians (par. 228). To these various grounds of dislike and hatred of the new converts on the part of the Roman rulers there was added in the case of Diocletian another of a somewhat different nature. It was the aim and ambition of this emperor, as we have seen, to restore the unity of the empire, and, in place of the prevailing anarchy, division, and discord, to establish order, union, and harmony. To Diocletian it seemed that this end could be attained only by the restoration of the ancient cults ; for like many statesmen of to-day, he was convinced that religion must form the basis of any permanent system of government. Accordingly Diocletian labored to revive in the masses faith in their ancestral gods, and to lead them to renew, in reverent spirit, the neglected sacrifices of the altar and the services of the temple. Now the Christians obstinately refused to take any part in this revival movement, lliey would not sacrifice to the national gods, or burn Incense before the statues of the emperor. Furthermore, they had now come to form a compact, well-organized society, that was animated by a wonderful spirit of unity and brotherhood. This Chris- tian society thus assumed the appearance of ''a state within the state," and rendered impossible of attainment that unity of ideas, customs, and spirit which was the aim 1 This Diocletian persecution is known as the " Tenth " persecution of the Christians. 388 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. THE REIGN OF DIOCLETIAN. 389 of Diocletian's measures of political and religious reform. ^ But Diocletian was averse to using force to secure the unity at which he aimed, and it is not probable that he would have resorted to persecution in order to attain it had he not been urged to this course by the fanatical Galerius, and particularly by the priests of the pagan cults, who perceived that their influence was being undermined through the spread of the new religion, and by those craftsmen who, like the silversmiths of Ephesus in the time of the Apostles," saw their gains endangered. Insti- gated by these partisans of the ancient worship, Diocletian in the year a.d. 303 issued the first of a series of edicts against the Christian sect. The Christians at this time were not numerous. It is estimated that they did not include more than one-twelfth of the population in the eastern provinces of the empire, and one-hfteenth of that in the western.* But because of their close association, and because of the spirit which animated them, they formed by far the most influential party in the Roman state. The imperial decrees ordered that the churches of the Christians should be torn down ; that the property of the new societies should be confiscated ; that the sacred writ- ings of the sect should be burned ; and that the Christians 2 " With the organization of the Catholic Church began the real strug- gle between the empire and Christianity, which could have only one of two issues — the suppression of the religious organization, or its accept- ance by and incorporation in the empire." — Hardy, Christianity and the Roman Government, p. 165. ^ Acts, xix. 24-28. * Uhlhorn, Confiict of Heathenism and Christianity, p. 402. The estimate is probably too low. themselves, unless they should join in the sacrifices to the gods of the state, should be pursued to death as outlaws. For ten years, which, however, were broken by short periods of respite, the Christians were subjected to the fierce flames of persecution." They were cast into dun- geons, thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre, burned over a slow tire, and put to death by every other mode of torture that ingenious cruelty could devise. But nothing could shake their constancy. They courted the death that secured them, as they firmly believed, imme- diate entrance upon an existence of unending happiness. The exhibition of devotion and steadfastness shown by the martyrs won multitudes to the persecuted faith. The persecution, as we have already said, continued after the abdication of Diocletian. It was finally brought to an end in the year a.d. 311 by an edict issued by Galerius. He was then on his deathbed, and in his decree asked the Christians to beseech their god in prayer on his behalf. This decree marks the beginning of the end of the perse- cution of the Church by the pagan government of Rome. It was during this and the various other persecutions that vexed the Church in the second and third centuries that the Christians sought refuge in the Catacombs, those vast subterranean galleries and chambers under the city of Rome. Here the Christians lived and buried tkeh* dead, and on the walls of the chambers sketched rude symbols of their hope and faith. It was in the darkness of these subterranean abodes that Christian art had its beginnings. 243. The Abdication of Diocletian (a.d. 304). — After a ^ Constantius refused to join in the persecution, and, accordingly, the Christians of Gaul remained unmolested. 390 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. prosperous reign of twenty years, becoming weary of the cares of state, Diocletian abdicated the throne, — the first recorded instance, it is affirmed, of a monarch voluntarily Stepping down from the seat of authority,^ — and forced or induced his colleague Maximian also to lay down Lis author- ity on the same day. Galerius and Constantius were, by this act, advanced to the purple and made Augusti ; and two new associates were appointed as Caesars. Diocletian, having thus enjoyed the extreme satisfaction of seeing the imperial authority quietly and successfully transmitted by his system, without the dictation of the insolent prx^torians or the interference of the turbulent legionaries, now retired to his country seat at Salona, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic, and there devoted him- self to rural pursuits. It is related that, when Maximian wrote him urging him to endeavor, with him, to regain the power they had laid aside, he replied, '•'■ Were you but to come to Salona and see the cabbages which I raise in my garden with my own hands, you would no longer talk to me of empire." References. — ** jyafisiations and /^ef>rtnts, vol. iv., No. i. (Uni- versity of Pennsylvania). Read " Kdicts of Diocletian " and " Kdict of Toleration by Galerius." Mason (A. J.), T'he Persecution of JDiocletiaUy chap, iii., " Motives of the Persecution." Milman (H. H.), The History of Christianity, vol. ii. bk. ii. chap, ix., " The Persecution under Dio- cletian." Gibbon (E.), The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xiii. Uhluorn (G.), ** Conflict of Christianity ivith Heathenism (translated from the German by E. C. Smyth and C. J. H. Ropes), bk. iii. chap. i. pp. 385-419. Boissier (G.), Rome and Pompeii, chap. iii. pp. 139-213, "The Catacombs." ® "Diocletian acquired the glory of giving to the world the first exam- ple of a resignation, which has not been very frequently imitated by suc- ceeding monarchs." — Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. i. p. 471. CHAPTER XIX. REIGN OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND ESTABLISH- MENT OF CHRISTIANITY AS THE FAVORED RELIGION OF THE EMPIRE. (A.D. 306-337.) 244. Renewal of Troubles respecting the Succession. — As we have just seen, Diocletian's device of the tetrarchy did secure for once the orderly transfer o£ the reins of government from the hands of one set of rulers to those of another (par. 243). But the system was too complicated to be worked by any hand less strong and skilful than that of the one who devised it. As the historian Gibbon says, *' It required such a fortunate mixture of different tempers and abilities as could scarcely be found or even expected a second time ; two emperors without jealousy, two Caesars without ambition, and tne same general inter- ests invariably pursued by four independent princes." "* Galerius and Constantius, who, it will be remembered, had become Augusti on the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, had reigned together only one year when the latter died at York, in Britain. His soldiers, disregarding the rule of succession as determined by the system of Dio- cletian, proclaimed his son Constantine emperor. Six competitors for tke tkrone arose m different quarters. For eighteen years Constantine fought to gain the supremacy. "^ The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. i. p. 451. 391 392 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. 245. The Battle of the Mllvian Bridge (a.d. 312): ^* In this Sign conquer."*^ — One of the most important of the battles that took place between the contending rivals for the imperial purple was the battle of the Milvian Bridge, in which Maxentius, who was holding Italy and Africa, was defeated by Constantine. The circumstances attend- ing: this historic battle were these. Constantine, who was in the North, venturously crossed the Alps with an army of forty thousanJ men. Defeating the fofces of Maxentius in the battle of Turin, he marched southward, and finally engaged his rival in a decisive combat at the Milvian Bridge on the Tiber, only four miles from Rome. Constantine's standard on this celebrated battlefield was the Christian Cross. He had been led to adopt this emblem through the appearance, as once he prayed to the sun-god, of a cross above the setting sun, with this inscription upon it ! '' By this sign conquer."^ Obedient unto the celestial vision, Constantine had at once made the Cross his ban- ner, ^*^ and it was beneath this emblem that his soldiers marched to victory at the battle of the Milvian Bridge. Whatever may have been the circumstances or the motives which led Constantine to make the Cross his standard, this act of his constitutes a turning point in the history of the Roman empire, and especially in that of the Christian Church. Christianity had come into the world ^ In hoc signo vinces. 9 In Greek, iv Toxm^ vlKa. 1*^ The new standard was called the Labarum (from the Celtic lavar, meaning command). It consisted of a banner inscribed with the Greek letters XP, the first being a symbol of the Cross, and both form- ing a monogram of the word Christ. The letters are the initials of the Greek Christos. reigjV op constantine the great. 393 as a religion of peace and good will. The Master had commanded his disciples to put up the sword, and had forbidden its use by them either in the spread or in the defence of the new faith. For three centuries now his fol- lowers had obeyed literally this injunction of the Founder Arch ok Constantine, as rr appears To-day. (Erected by the Roman Senate in commemoration of Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge.) of the Church, so that a Quaker, non-military spirit had up to this time characterized the new sect. By many of the early Christians the profession of arms had been declared to be incompatible with the Christian life. Now in a moment all this was changed. The most sacred emblem of the new faith was made a battle-standard, 394 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. and into the new religion was infused the military spirit of the imperial government that had made that emblem the ensign of the state. From the day of the battle at the Milvian Bridge, a martial spirit has animated the religion of the Prince of Peace. Since then, Christian warriors have often made the Cross their battle-standard. This infusion into the Church of the military spirit of Rome was one of the most important consequences of the espousal of the Christian cause by the emperor Constantine. 246. The Battles of Adrianople and Chalcedon (a.d. 323). — The defeat of Maxentius left Constantine but one remain- ing rival — Licinius, who was holding the East. The ten years immediately following the battle at the Milvian Bridge witnessed two wars between the co-regents of the empire. The last great battles of the rivals were fought at Adrianople and Chalcedon (a.d. 323). On the first field Constantine with an army of a hundred and fifty thousand men met his adversary with a force of a hundred and sixty-five thousand. The battle-cry of the soldiers of Con- stantine was, '^God our Saviour," that of the enemy, " On our side are many gods, on theirs only one." Llclnlus was defeated, with a loss in killed of thirty-four thousand men. He himself escaped from the field, raised another army in Asia Minor, and tried once more the for- tunes of battle at Chalcedon. Here he suffered another crushing defeat, and soon afterwards was captured and put to death. Constantinewas now the sole ruler of the Roman world. 247. Constantine makes Christianity the Religion of the Court. — By a decree issued at Milan in A.D. 513, the year after the battle at the Milvian Bridge, Constantine placed REIGAT OF COJVSTAJVTIJVE THE GREAT. 395 Christianity on an equal footing with the other religions of the empire. The language of this famous edict of tol- eration, the Magna Charta, as it has been called, of the Church, was as follows: "We grant to Christians and to all Others full liberty of following that religion which each may choose." ^ But by subsequent edicts Constantine made Christianity in effect the state religion and extended to it a patronage which he withheld from the old pagan worship. By the year a.d. 321 he had granted the Christian societies the right to receive gifts and legacies, and he himself enriched the Church with donations of money and grants of land. This marks the beginning of the great possessions of the Church, and with these the entrance into it of a w^orldly spirit. From this moment can be traced the decay of its primitive simplicity, and a decline from its early high moral standard. It is these deplorable results of the imperial patronage that Dante laments in his well-known lines : Ah, Constantine ! of how much ill was mother, Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower Wliicli the first wealthy Father took from thee ! ^ Another of Constantine's acts touching the new religion is of special historical interest and importance. He rec- ognized the Christian Sunday, "the day of the sun," as a day of rest, forbidding ordinary work on that day, and ordering that Christian soldiers be then permitted to attend the services of their church. This recognition by the civil ^ Daremus et Christianis et omnibus liberam potestatem sequendi reli- giofteni quani qtttsque -voluisset. 2 Inferno^ xix. 115-117 [Longfellow's Trans.]. 39^ ROME AS AN EMPIRE. RE/GN OE COA'STANTINE THE GREAT. 397 authority of the Christian Sabbath meant much for the slave. Now, for the first time In the history of the Aryan peoples,^ the slave had one day of rest in each week. It was a good augury of the happier time coming when all the days should be his own. 248. The Church Council of Nicaea (a.d. 325). — With the view of harmonizing the different sects that had sprung up among the Christians, and to settle the controversy between the Arians and the Athanasians^ respecting the nature of Clirisi:, — the former Jeniea kis equality witn God the Father, — Constantine called the first ^Ecumenical, or General Council of the Church, at Nicaea, a town of Asia Minor, a.d. 325. Arianism was denounced, and a formula of Christian faith adopted, which is known as the Nicene Creed. 249. Constantine founds Constantinople, the New Rome, on the Bosporus (a.d. 330). — After the recognition of Chris- tianity, the most important act of Constantine was the selection of Byzantium, on the Bosporus, as the new capital of the empire. Constantine was not the hrst to entertain the idea of seeking in the East a new centre for the Roman world. The anger of the Italians was stirred against the first Caesar by the mere report that he intended to restore ancient Ilium, the fabled cradle of the Roman race, and make that the capital of the empire (par. 201). ^ In the Semitic world we meet with the institution of a rest-day among the early Babylonians. Among the ancient Hebrews, this rest- day acquired a prominent place in the religious system, and was by them bequeathed to Christianity. * The Arians were the followers of Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria, in Egypt ; the Athanasians, of Athanasius, archdeacon and later bishop of the same city. Mark Antony was also believed to have had in mind the transfer of the seat of government from the West to the East (par. 206). There were no sufficient grounds, however, at the time of the establishment of the empire for shifting the location of the capital ; but since then the situation of things had wholly changed, and now there were many and weighty reasons urging Constantine to establish a new capital in the East.^ There were urgent military reasons for making the change. The most dangerous enemies of the empire now were the barbarians behind the Danube, and the kings of the recently restored Persian monarchy (par. 253, n. 2). This condition of things rendered almost necessary the establish- ment in the P2ast of a new and permanent basis for military operations, and pointed to Byzantium, with its admirable strategic position, as the site, above all others, adapted to the needs of the imperilled, empire. There were also commercial reasons for the transfer of the capital. Rome had long before this ceased to be in any sense the commercial centre of the state, as it was in early times. Through the Roman conquest of Greece and Asia, the centre of the population, wealth, and commerce of the empire had shifted eastward. Now, of all the cities in the East, Byzantium was the one most favorably situated to become the commercial metropolis of the enlarged state. The trade advantages offered by the site had been recog- ^ It seems to have been Constajitine's purpose simply to found a new centre for the eastern half of the empire; the old Rome was still to serve as the capital of the western^provinces. But the actual effect of what he did was to depose Rome from her imperial position, and to transfer the real centre of the empire from the West to the East. 398 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. REIGN OF CONSTA^rTIJVE THE GREAT. 599 nized by the early Greeks, and in their age of colonization they had established a colony there. The popular desig- nation, Golden Horn^ applied to the harbor, is significant ; the curving shore of the bay suggested the term "Horn," while "the epithet 'Golden' was expressive of the riches which every wind wafted into the secure and capacious harbor." 6 Added to these military and commercial reasons for the removal of the capital from the Tiber to the Bosporus, were religious motives. Constantine had resolved to make Christianity the basis of his government. But the religious associations clinging to the temples, and attached to every spot of the consecrated soil of the old capital, stood as rooted obstacles In the way of his carrying out this resolve, so long as Rome remained the seat of the imperial court. The priests of the pagan shrines particularly resented the action of Constantine in espousing the new and hated religion, and regarded him as an apostate. It was the existence of these sentiments and feelings among the inhabitants of Rome, which, for one thing, led Constantine to seek elsewhere a new centre and seat for his court and government. But far outweighing all these military, commercial, and religious reasons for the removal of the capital were the political motives. Constantine, like Diocletian, wished to estabUsh a system of government modelled upon the des- potic monarchy of the East. Now, the traditions, the feel- ings, the temper of the population of Rome constituted the very worst basis conceivable for such a political system. The Romans could not forget — never did forget — that 6 Gibbon, The DecHne and Fall of the Roman Emj>ire, chap. xvii. they had once been masters and rulers of the world. Even after they had become wholly unfit to rule themselves, let alone the ruling of others, they still retained the temper and used the language of masters. Constantine w^isely determined to seek in the submissive and servile populations of the East, always accustomed to the rendering of obse- quious homage to their rulers, a firm basis for the structure of that absolute monarchy, the foundations of which had been laid by his predecessor Diocletian. The site for the new capital having been determined upon, the artistic and material resources of the whole Grajco- Roman world were called into requisition to create upon the spot a city worthy its predestined fortunes. Outer walls of vast compass were constructed. The city itself reproduced all the characteristic features of Old Rome. Even like the city of the Tiber, it was built on seven hills. On every side arose theatres, baths, porticoes, aqueducts, fountains, and monumental columns. An immense hippo- drome constructed within the walls represented the Circus Maximus at Rome. A new senate was organized, and the people, as in Old Rome, were divided into curies and tribes. For the embellishment of the new capital, the cities of Greece and of Asia were despoiled of their art treasures, many of which were memorials of the great age of Pheidias. The imperial invitation, and the attractions of the court, induced multitudes to crowd into the new capital, so that almost in a day the old Byzantium grew into a great city. In honor of the emperor the name was changed to Con- stantinople, the "City of Constantine." The Old Rome on the Tiber, emptied of its leading inhabitants, soon sank to the obscure position of a provincial municipality. 400 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. 250. The Reorganization of the Government. — Another of Constantine's important acts was the reorganization of the government. In this great reform he seems to have fol- lowed, in the main, the broad lines drawn by Diocletian, so that his work may be regarded as a continuation of that of his predecessor. To aid in the administration of the government, Constan- tine laid out the empire into four great divisions, called prefectures,^ which were subdivided into thirteen dioceses, and these again into one hundred and sixteen provinces. The purpose that Constantine had in view in laying the empire out in so many and such small provinces was to diminish the power of the provincial governors, and thus make it impossible for them to raise successfully the standard of revolt.*^ The records of the empire show that during the one hundred and fifty years immediately pre- ceding the accession of C'onstantine, almost one hundred governors of provinces had ventured to rebel against the imperial authority. With an aim similar to that which he had in vlew^ in subdividing the provinces, Constantine also reduced the size of the legion (par. 36) to fifteen hundred men, and dis- tributed the legionaries in such a way throughout the provinces and along the frontiers as to lessen the chances of successful conspiracy and revolt. To give still further security to the throne, Constantine divided the civil and military powers, appointing two "^ See accompanying map. These prefectural divisions \\ere essen- tially a perpetuation of the fourfold division of the empire that had been made by Diocletian (par. 240, n. 7). ^ This policy had been initiated by Diocletian. Under him the num ber of provinces was about one hundred. RBIG2V OI^^ CO/VSTAI^TINE THE GREAT. 40 1 different sets of persons in each of the larger and smaller divisions of the state, the one set to represent the civH and the other the military authority.!^ At the head of each prefecture was placed a pni^torlan prefect; at the head of each diocese a vicar or vice-prefect ; and at the head of each province a magistrate bearing usually the title of president. These were civil officers, who were charged with the collection of the revenues and the administration of justice in their respective districts. Alongside these civil magistrates, and forming a similar carefully graded hierarchy, were placed military officers, charged of course simply with the management and con- trol of military affairs. ^ This separation of the civil and the military authority reatly strengthened the position of the sovereign, since the division of power between the two orders, and their resulting mutual jealousies, reduced to a minimum the danger of treachery and revolution. But this dual administrative system had its drawbacks. In the first place, this division of authority and responsi- bility was not conducive to the prompt, energetic, and harmonious conduct of the public business; and in the second place, the great number of officials needed to man and work the complicated system increased greatly the expenses of the government, and made necessary the lay- ing of still heavier burdens of taxation upon the already overburdened people. From the introduction of this Sys- tem on to the end, the chief function of the ever-needy government seemed to be to "devise ways and means of wringing money from the impoverished taxpayers. « Some authorities attribute this reform to Diocletian. to 402 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. 251. The Imperial Court. — Perhaps we cannot better indicate the new relation to the empire into which the head of the Roman state was brought by the innovations of Diocletian and Constantine, than by saying that the en^pire now tec.m. th^ pfivate ^^\M of thc sovcreign and was managed just as any great Roman proprietor managed his domain. The imperial household and the entire civil service of the government were simply such a proprietor's domestic establishment drawn on a large scale, and given an oriental cast through the influence of the courts of Asia. This imperial court or establishment was, next after the body of the Roman law aixl the municipal system, the most important historical product that the old Roman world transmitted to the later nations of Europe. It became the model of the court of Charlemagne and the later emperors of the so-called Holy Roman Empire ; and in the form that it reappeared here was copied by all the sovereigns of modern Europe. The court of Louis XIV. of France, and indeed his whole scheme of government, were a reproduction of this court and government of Constantinople.^ 1 " We have thus almost complete in the system of government per- fected by Constantine that machinery of household officers, military counts, and provincial lieutenants which was to serve as a model throughout the Middle Ages wherever empire should arise and need organization. The 'Companions' ^comites) of the Teutonic leaders held a much more honorable position than did the domestic servants of the Roman Emperor, and their dignity they transmitted to the house- hold officers of the Teutonic kingdoms; but the organization effected by Constantine anticipated tUt .y.tem of gOVemmGnt VVlUCh llHS glVeU us our provincial governors and Our administrative cabinets."- Wood- row Wilson, The State, p. 136, new ed., 1898. REIGN OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 4O3 252. The Character of Constantine. — Constantine was greatly eulogized by contemporary Christian writers, while the partisans of the old pagan religion that he had renounced attributed to him every personal vice and the worst of motives for almost every act of ki§ life, because of these different portraitures it is very difficult to form an unbiased estimate of his character and to judge how sin- cere were the motives under which he acted. But prob- ably we shall not be far wrong if we conclude that he was not always the same. During all the earlier, strenuous years of his life, up to the time when he became undisputed lord of the Roman world, he exhibited, for the most part, only qualities of character calculated to win affection and to stir admiration. After that turn in his affairs, his character appears to have undergone a change for the worse, such a change as we have observed in many another wearer of the imperial purple. Respecting his conversion to Christianity, it is probable that he embraced the new religion not entirely from con- viction, but partly at least from political motives. As the historian Hodgkin puts it, '' fie was half convinced of the truth of Christianity, and wholly convinced of the policy of embracing it." If his course was dictated by considera- tions of policy, events abundantly justified his forecast. Christianity was the most vital element in the empire, and the government, through the alliance formed with the Church, had imparted to it new vitality and strength. In any event Constantine's personal religion was a strange mixture of the old and the new. On his medals the Christian Cross is upheld by the pagan deity Victory ; and on the head of the great statue of the sun-god 404 ROME AS AJV EMPIRE. Apollo, which he set up in his new capital, and which was probably intended to represent himself, there rested a crown the rays of which were formed of the nails of the sacred Cross. Bearing these things in mind, it need not seem strange to us that Constantine should have desired that he should be worshipped after death, nor incongruous that succeeding Christian emperors should have gratified his wish in allowing the people to offer sacrifices to his Statue along with those of the pagan emperors. Rkferknces. FiNLAV (O.), I/istory of Greece, vol. 1. chap. 11., " From the Conquest of Greece to the Establishment of Constantinople as Capital of the Roman Empire (B.C. 146-A.D. 330)." GiBBON (E.), The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap, xv., " The Progress of the Christian Religion, and the Sentiments, Numbers, and Condition of the Primitive Christians " ; and chap. xvii. on the founding of Con- stantinople and the form of the government. MlLMAN (H. H.), The History of Christianity, vol. ii. bk. iii. chaps, i.-iv. STANLEY (A. P.), * Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church, Lees. II., III., IV., and v., for the history of the Council of NiCcTa, 325 K.c; and Lee. VI., for events concerning the Church during the reign of the Emperor Constantine. SEELEY (J. K.), ** Koman imperialism, Eec. III. pp. 65-95, "The Later Empire." Oman (C. W. C), The Story of the Byzantine Empire (Story of the Nations), pp. 13-30, " The Foundation of Constantinople." CARR (A.), The Church and the Roman Empire (Epochs of Church History), chap. iv. pp. 27-40, "Constantine"; and chap. V. pp. 40-47, "The Council of Nicaea — Athanasius." Lanciani (R.), Pagan and Christian Rome, chap. i. Newman (J. IE), The Arians of the Fourth Century, chap. iii. pp. 236-270, " The Ecumenical Council of Nicaea." CHAPTER XX. JULIAN THE APOSTATE AND THE PAGAN RES7T)RATI0N. (A.D. 361-363.) 253. Events betAveen the Death of Constantine and the Accession of Julian (a.d. 337-361). — Constantine transmitted his authority to his three sons, Constans, Constantius, and Constantine. This parcelling out of the empire led to strife and wars, which at the end of sixteen years left Constantius master of the whole. He reigned as sole emperor for about eight years, engaged in ceaseless warfare with German tribes \\\ the West ana with the Persians ^ in the East. Constan- tius was followed by his cousin Julian, called the Apostate, because he abandoned Christianity and labored to restore the pagan faith. 254. The State of the Church at Julianas Accession. — When Julian came to the throne, in the year a.d. 361, Chris- tianity had enjoyed for about half a century the favor of the imperial court, while during the same time the practice of the heathen cults had been discouraged, and towards the end of the period positively prohibited. In many districts 2 The great Parthian empire .which had been such a formidable antagonist of Rome was, after an existence of five centuries, over- thrown by a revolt of the Persians (a.d. 226), and the New Persian or Sassanlan monarchy established. This empire lasted till the country was overrun by the Saracens in the seventh century a.d. 405 4o6 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. JULIAN THE APOSTATE. 407 the temples had been abandoned and had fallen into decay, or had been turned into Christian churches. But the imperial patronage, to which without doubt must be attributed, in part at least, this quick religious revolu- tion, had not been an unmixed blessing to the Church. The moment the mere profession of the new faith became a passport to the emperor's favor and to office, that moment hypocrisy and selfishness took the place of that sincerity and self-devotion which had marked the primitive and per- secuted Christians, and which had made them so powerful a factor in the society of the earlier centuries of the empire. Consequently, beneath the surface of the apparently Chris- tianized society of the empire, there was a great unchanged mass of heathenisin. Multitudes who called themselves Christians were heathen at heart. The change in name had had no effect whatever upon their disposition or conduct. The imperial court, in everything save its professed creed, was in no way different from the immemorially licentious courts of Asia after which it had modelled itself. Through- out the West, the majority of the people still clung to their old pagan cults. The Roman senate was still a stronghold of the ancestral religion. Very few of the senators were even professed follow^ers of the new faith. The Church was also at this time greatly weakened by internal troubles. Heresy and schism had destroyed the primitive unity of the body of believers, and m all the great cities of the empire the various sectaries were persecuting one another with incredible and disgraceful rancor. Such was the religious condition of the empire when the death of Constantius left kis rival Julian sole ruler of me Roman w^orld. 255. Julianas Religion. — In his earlier years Julian was carefully nurtured in the doctrines of the new^ religion; but later, in the schools of Athens and of other cities where he pursued his studies, he came under the influence of pagan teachers and his faith in Christian doctrines was undermined, while at the same time he conceived a great enthusiasm for the teachings of the Neoplatonists, and an unbounded admi- ration for the culture of ancient Hellas. For ten years, however, he dissembled his real religious feelings and opinions, and in his outer and public conduct conformed himself unto all the requirements of the Church. But we must not make the mis- take of supposing that the religion which the young prince professed to himself at this time was the old official Roinan religion. It was the renovated religion of Greece, in the attractive form which it had assumed in the hands of the Neoplatonists. At the head of this renovated pagan system there was placed a supreme god, the source and fountain of all things. Beneath this supreme being was a hierarchy of intelligences — the lesser gods, daemons, heroes, and men. It was the spirits intermediate between the supreme god and the race of men with whom these came into relation through sacrifices and the various rites of the temple. The bright forms of these gods, Julian believed, often appeared to him in his dreams. This religious system seemed to Julian to afford a much Julian the Apostate. \ 4 .1 4o8 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. JULIAN THE APOSTATE. 409 more reasonable view of the world of spirits than that pre- sented by Christian theology. Besides, this whole system rooted itself deep In the past, and was vitally connected with the Hterature, the philosophy, and the art of the great days of Greece. Christianity had broken with this brilliant past, and had created a vast rift in the life of the Graeco- Roman world. It had destroyed the historic unity of the empire as well as the unity of existing society. It was this last unity which Julian labored to restore, by leading the people back to the purified religion of their ancestors.^ 256. The Means adopted by Julian to effect the Pagan Restoration. — JuUan, in his efforts to restore paganism, did not resort to direct persecution. Several things stood in the way of his doing this. First, his own philosophic and humane disposition forbade him in such a controversy to employ force as a means of persuasion. Second, the number of the Christians was now so great that measures of coercion could not be employed without creatinn dan- gerous disorder and disaffection. Third, resort could not be had to the old means of persuasion, — " the sword, the fire, the lions," — for the reason that, under the softening influences of the very faith Julian sought to extirpate, the Roman world had already become imbued with a gentleness and humanity that rendered morally impossible the renewal of the Neronian and Diocletian persecutions. Julian's first act in the pursuit of his plans was to annul all laws which prohibited, or which placed at a disadvan- 3 Ahhough it was the Hellenic and not the Roman religion that Julian endeavored to revive, still the Roman worship ^-as to find a place in the system, which in its essential elements was the religion of the whole pagan world. M tage, the old cults, and to publish an edict granting equal toleration to all religions. This restored the situation that existed under Constantine, save that now paganism instead of Christianity was the religion of the emperor, and conse- quently the favored worship of the empire. The people were enjoined to restore the temples that had been vio- lently destroyed, turned into places of Christian worship, or allowed through neglect to fall into decay. Christians had been given precedence in the filling of the various magistracies and offices. Pagans were now pre- ferred in all the imperial appointments. The soldiers were not required to apostatize, but they must now march beneath the restored pagan standards in place of the Labarum (par. 245) ; and m order to qualify themselves for receiving the customary imperial gratuities, they were required to cast a grain of incense into the fire on the altar. Most did this, but some refused to purchase the donation by such an act of disloyalty to their faith. Julian further discriminated against the Christians in connection with the schools. At this time throughout the empire the higher education of the youth was a matter of public concern, and was in the hands of teachers who were appointed and maintained at least in part by the state, and who constituted a privileged class in the community (par. 311). Julian forbade Christians to give instruction in these public schools. The reason assigned for this prohibition was that it was unseemly that men who derided the divinities of Greece should be the commentators of the works of the poets and thinkers who under the inspiration of these very gods had made the past of Hellas so great. The Christians, instead 4IO ROME AS AAT BMriRE. of insisting upon wrongly interpreting to the youth the masterpieces of paganism, should confine themselves to their own writings, — the Hebrew Bible and the gospels. Julian's real purpose in excluding the Christians as instructors from the schools — the Christian youth might Still, if they desired, attend the classes of the pagan teachers — was, by depriving them of the means of culture afforded by classical studies, to render them narrow, provincial, and inefficient as teachers ; for Julian well knew that the great and powerful advocates of the Church in the past were men whose minds had been broadened, and whose logical skill and acumen had been acquired by the study of this very philosophy and literature which they condemned as pagan and immoral. Julian was resolved that the champions of the Church should no longer draw their weapons from the armory of paganism itself. As a last means of effecting the revival of paganism, Julian labored for the moral renovation of the ancient religion. He endeavored to make it what no pagan cult had ever been before, namely, a means of instruction and of moral quicken- ing to the people. He here borrowed openly from Chris- tianity. He enjoined the pagan priests to imitate the Christian clergy, to become preachers and pastors. They were to teach the people the existence of the gods, the reality of their superintending providence, and the great truth of immortality. They were further, in their own lives, to set before the people patterns of pure and devout and holy living. They should not attend the theatre or the circus, nor frequent the taverns. They should have no immoral books in their libraries. They were not only to teach but to practise charity and benevolence. They were, JULIA 2^ THE APOSTATE. 411 like the Christians, to found hospitals and to care for the needy and to succor the distressed. The Christians were not to be allowed to boast a monopoly of these virtues. As we have just intimated, what Julian here attempted to do, to effect a union of the temple cult and morality, had never been achieved by paganism. The business of the heathen priest had been to see that all the temple rites and ceremonies were observed in accordance with the traditional and sacred formulas. He had never been the instructor of the people in sacred things, nor the preacher of individual and social righteousness. Julian, in endeavoring to make him such, was trying to effect a revolution opposed not only to all the traditions of paganism, but opposed also to the very genius of the most of heathen cults. These had little or nothing to do with right conduct. And so this part of Julian's reform was foredoomed to failure. 257* Julian's Relations to the Jews : Attempt to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. — Julian's hostility to Christianity did not include the Jews. On the contrary, he was kindly dis- posed towards this sect, and favored them in every way. One bond of union betw^een the emperor and the Jews was a common hatred of Christianity. But the real ground of Julian's favorable disposition towards this people was the fact that their religion, as he understood it, was simply a national religion, and hence stood on the same footing as the other cults of the empire. Consequently he was as ready to restore the temple of the Jews at Jerusalem as that of any other local or national god. But Julian had one very special reason for rebuilding, at Jerusalem, the temple that his pagan predecessors had destroyed (par. 227^. He wished to cast discredit upon the 412 ROME AS AX EMPIRE. JULIA AT THE APOSTATE. 413 % k predictions of the Scriptures ; for the Christians contended that the temple could never be restored because of the prophecies against it. Julian invited the Jews dispersed throughout the empire to return to Jerusalem and to aid in rebuilding the ancient shrine. They responded to the invi- tation with great enthusiasm. The emperor furthered the enterprise by gifts of money from the public treasury. Excavations were actually begun, but the workmen were driven in great panic from the spot by terrific explosions and bursts of flame. The Christians regarded the occurrence as miraculous 5 and Julian himself, it is certain, was so dis- maved bv it that he desisted from the undertaking.'* 258. Julian's Campaigns against the Persians. — At the same time that Julian was busied with his religious reforms, he was engaged in making extensive preparations for a cam- paign against the Persians. He was ambitious of the honor of inflicting upon this formidable enemy a crushing blow, and thereby relieving the empire of the constant threat of attack on its eastern frontier. He was, furthermore, prompted to this undertaking by a burning desire to emulate the deeds of Alexander the Great, and perhaps to rival his achieve- ments in the lands of the remote East. Antioch was made the place of the emperor's residence while the preparations for the Persian expedition w^ere in progress. It was in this city that the followers of the new faith had first been called Christians.^ At the time of * The explosions which so terrified the workmen of Julian are sup- posed to have been caused by accumulations of gases — similar to those that so frequently occasion accidents in mines — in the subterranean chambers of the Temple foundations. ^ Acts, XI. 26. Julian's visit, there seem to have been remaining only a very few zealous adherents of the pagan worship. On the occasion of a certain heathen festival at one of the most famous of the ancient temples, Julian w^as shocked to find that the sacrifices, which formerly embraced hecatombs of victims, had dwindled to the offering of a single goose. The inhabitants of Antioch treated their emperor, on account of his opposition to Christianity, with great rudeness. Julian, forgetting the dignity of the imperial office, avenged himself upon the Antiochians by wTiting a satire entitled the Misopo^on' in which he ridiculed their habits and their odious vices. The winter having been spent in these literary diversions and military preparations, with the opening of the spring of the year 363, Julian set out at the head of a large army on his memorable Persian expedition. A long march through Mesopotamia brought him to the well-defended Persian capital of Ctesiphon, on the Tigris. Julian seems to have been minded, leaving this strong place in the hands of the enemy, to push on eastward ; but his soldiers, like those of Alexander in India, became mutinous, and he was forced to lead them in retreat towards the north. 259. The Death of Julian and the Restoration of the Chris- tian Worship. — The Roman troops were now daily harassed by the pursuing enemy. In an encounter with the Persian cavalry, Julian received a fatal wound in his side from a flying javelin. His last hours he spent, after the example of Socrates, in edifying and philosophic conversation with his friends (a.d. 363). ^ " The beard-hater." The people had made contemptuous remarks about Julian's unkempt beard. 414 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. Thus deprived of their commander and sovereign, the army at once elected one of their generals, Jovian by name, as emperor. Jovian, after several hard-fought battles with the enemy, concluded with the Persian king Sapor an humiliating treaty, by the terms of which the Romans gave up their possessions east of the Tigris. Jovian was a Christian, and his short reign (A,D. ^6^-^64) was marked by the removal of many of the disabilities under which Julian had placed the professors of the new worship. In the army the old pagan standards were replaced by the Labarum, and Christianity was again made the religion of the imperial court. References. — * Gardner (A.), fuiian the Philosopher, and the Last Struggle of Paganism against Christianity (Heroes of the Nations). MiLMAN (H. H.), The History of Christianity^ vol. 11. bk. Ill Chap, VL, and vol. iii. bk. iii. chap. vi. (continued). GiBBON (E.), The decline and F'all of the Roman ^mpirey chaps, xix. and xxii.-xxiv. Uhlhorn (G.), ** Conjlict 0/ Christianity -with Ileathenism, pp. 445-447. Meri- VALE (C), General History of Pome, chap. Ixxiii. pp. 600-609. Ali.ard (P.), **Z^ Christianisme et V Empire Pomain. The best short account or the pagan reaction. CHAPTER XXI. THE LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST. (A.D. 376-476.) 260. Introductory. — Thus far in the history of the em- pire we have made, for the most part, the reigns of the emperors the framework of our narrative. We shall no longer follow this plan, for during the last century o£ the imperial period very few of the occupants of the throne were men of sufficient character or force to exert any influence upon the movement of events. To subdivide the period according to the length of their reigns would be an arbitrary and meaningless proceeding. It will be more instructive for us to turn our eyes away from the imperial throne, and to notice what were the actual forces that were giving the events of the period their shape and course. These were the German barbarians and Chris- tianity. These were the two most vital elements in the Graico- Roman world of the fifth century. They had, centuries before this, as we have seen, come into certain relations to the Roman government and to Roman life ; but during the period lying immediately before us they assumed an altogether new historical interest and importance. The two main matters, then, which will claim Our attention during the century yet remaining for our study, will be (i) the struggle between the dying empire and the young Ger- man races of the North and the gradual overrunning of the 415 4i6 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. Roman provinces by these barbarians ; and (2) the final triumph of Christianity, through the aid of the temporal power, over expiring paganism, 261. The Movements of the Barbarians. — The reigns of the co-emperors Valentinian I. and Valens^ were signalized Germans crossing thk Rhine. (After a drawing by Alphonse de Neuville.) by threatening movements of the barbarian tribes, that now, almost at the same moment, began to press with redoubled energy against all the barriers of the empire. " Upon the death of Jovian (a.d. J64), Valentinian, the Commander of the imperial guard, was elected emperor by a council of the generals of the army and the ministers of the court. He appointed his brother Valens (a.d. 364-37CS) as his associate in office, and assigned to him the Eastern provinces, while reserving for himself the Western. He set up his own court at Milan, while his brother established his residence at Constantinople. THE LAST CBN^TURY OF THB EMPIRE. 417 The Alemanni (Germans) made forays across the Rhine into the Galhc provinces, — sometimes swarming over the river on the winter ice, — and, before pursuit could be made, recrossed the river and escaped with their booty into the depths of the German forests. The Saxons, pirates of the northern seas, who issued from the mouth of the Elbe, ravaged the coasts of Gaul and I]ritain, even pushing their light skiffs far up the rivers and creeks of those coun- tries, and carrying away spoils from the inland cities. In Britain, the Picts broke through the Hadrian Wall, and wrested almost the entire island from the hands of the Romans. In Africa, the Moorish and other tribes, issuing from the ravines of the Atlas Mountains and swarming from the deserts of the south, threatened to obliterate the last trace of Roman civilization occupying the narrow belt of fertile territory skirting the sea.^ The barbarian tide of invasion seemed thus on the point of overwhelmingj the empire in the West ; but for twelve years Valentinian defended with signal ability and energy, not only his own territories, but aided with arms and counsel his weaker brother Valens in the defence of his. Upon the death of Valentinian, his son Gratian succeeded to his authority (a.d. 375). 262. The Goths cross the Danube (a.d. 376). — The year * The frequent inroads of the barbarians into the provinces caused the Uoman towns to assume a new aspect. \\\ tke time of tKe Anto- nines (par. 228) they were in many ca.ses without walls, and presented a straggling and country-like appearance; now they are surrounded with strong walls, and the houses necessarily are crowded together on narrow, ill-ventilated streets. These are the prototypes of the mediaeval towns. See Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire y p. 147. 4i8 ROAIJS AS AJV EMriRE. following the death of Valentinian, an event of the greatest importance occurred in the East. The Visigoths (Western Goths) dwelling north of the Lower Danube, who had often in hostile bands crossed that river to war against the Roman emperors, now appeared as suppliants in vaSt multitUdCS upon its banks. They said that a terrible race, whom they were powerless to withstand, had invaded their territories, and spared neither their homes nor their lives. They begged Roman Sional-Toweks, Sentries and Storehouse on THE Dan i; HE. (Relief on Trajan's Column.) permission of the Romans to cross the river and settle in Thrace, and promised, should this request be granted, ever to remain the grateful and firm allies of the Roman state. Valens, it Is said, consented to grant their petition on condition that they should surrender their arms, give up their children as hostages, and all be baptized in the Christian faith.^ Their terror and despair led them to ^ It is somewhat doubtful whether this last condition was really a part of the agreement. THE LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE. 419 assent to these conditions. So the entire nation, number- ing about one million souls, — counting men, women, and children, — were allowed to cross the river. Several days and nights were consumed in the transport of the vast mul- titudes. The wnter5 of the times liken the passage to that of the Hellespont by the hosts of Xerxes. The enemy that had so terrified the Goths were the Huns, a monstrous race of fierce nomadic horsemen, that two centuries and more before the Christian era were roving the deserts north of the Great Wall of China." Migrating from that region, they moved slowly to the West, across the great plains of Central Asia, and, after wandering several centuries, appeared in Europe. They belonged to a dif- ferent 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 bar- barous Goths called them "barbarians." Scarcely had the fugitive Visigoths 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 ^ 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 and other nomadic tribes. 420 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. 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 relinquishment of their arms. The barba- rians had bribed those intrusted with the duty of transport- ing them across the river, and purchased the privilege of retaining their weapons. The persons, too, detailed to pro- vide the multitude with food till they could 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 our own Indian agents.) As was natural, the injured nation rose in indignant revolt. Joining their kinsmen that were just now forcing the passage of the Danube, they coinmenced, under the lead of the great Fritigern, 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 the limits or the empire. Meanwhile, he rallied all his forces, and, with- out awaiting the arrival of the Western legions, imprudently risked a battle with the barbarians near Adrianople. The Roman army was almost annihilatea. 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 over- ran Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace, ravaging the country to the very walls of Constantinople. THE LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE. 421 Gratian was hurrying to the help of his colleague Valens when new^s of his defeat and death at the hands of the bar- barians was brought to him. He at once appointed as his associate Theodosius (a.d. 379-395), known afterwards as the Great, and intrusted him with the government of the Eastern provinces. Theodosius, by wise and vigorous meas- ures, quickly reduced the Goths to submission. Vast multi- tudes 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 Ooths became allies of the emperor of the East, and inore than forty thousand of these warlike barbarians, who were destined to be the sub- verters of the empire, were enlisted in the imperial legions. 263. The Removal of the Statue of Victory from the Senate Chamber (a.d. 382). — The conflict between the empire and the German barbarians, which marked the reigns of Gratian and Theodosius, was a matter of great significance in the history not only of the Roman empire Duf also or civuiza- tion. Of even greater import, if not for Rome itself, yet certainly for the general progress of mankind, was the Struggle going on during this same period between the now Christian government of the empire and paganism. Both Gratian and Theodosius were zealous champions of the orthodox Church, and a large portion of the edicts issued during their joint reign had for aim the uprooting of Keresy or the suppression of tke pagan worship. Cratian's first act upon his succession (a.d. 375) was significant. He refused — being the first of the emperors to do so — to receive the vestments and insignia of the office of poniifex maximus, saying that it was not becoming in a Christian ruler to have anything to do with these symbols of paganism. 422 J?OM£ AS A AT £MriR£. An act of greater importance was Gratian's removal (a.d. 382) from the chamber of the Roman senate of the statue and altar of the pagan goddess Victory.^ This statue, since the struggle between Christianity and the heathen cults had become serious, had been looked upon as the sym- bol of the pagan empire and as a sort of palladium of the ancient religion, and hence had naturally become a special object of pagan veneration and patriotism. The majority of the senate were probably still adherents of the pagan faith ; and a little while after the removal of the statue — Gratian having fallen in battle — they peti- tioned the ruling emperor (Valentinian 11.) for the restora- tion of the sacred memorial. The leader of the pagan party was the celebrated 5ymmachu5, and he became their spokes- man before the emperor. His address is noteworthy as being " the last formal and public protest " made by the votaries of the ancient cults against the restriction of their worship. " Each nation," so the address runs, " has its own gods and peculiar rites. The Great Mystery cannot be approached by one avenue alone. But use and wont count for much in giving authority to a religion. Leave us the symbol on which our oaths of allesriance have been sworn for so many generations. Leave us the system which has so long given prosperity to the state. A religion should be judged by its utility to the men who hold it. Years of famine have been the punishment of sacrilege. The treasury should not be replenished by the wealth of the sacred col- leges, but by the spoils of the enemy.'"* 3 They had been removed before this by the emperor Constantine, but had been replaced by Julian. * Dill, Homatt Society in the Z,ast Century o^ the IVestern £mi)ire^ p. 26. THE LAST CEATTURY OE THE KM^IRE. 423 264. The Disestablishment of the Sacred Colleges ; the Sep- aration of State and Temple. — The allusion at the end of the foregoing speech is to the act of Gratian whereby at his accession he had taken away from the sacred colleges at Rome (par. 24) their endowments and caused to cease the payment of salaries to the members of these bodies. As places in these associations were held by the senators, the confiscation of the property of the colleges dealt paganism a heavy blow by bringing it about that the pagan party in the senate should no longer have a personal and material interest in maintaining the ancient religion. This disestablishhient of these ancient colleges marked the separation of State and Temple, which from the very first had been united at Rome, as everywhere else in an- tiquity. The twelve centuries that had passed since the founding of Rome under the auspices of the gods had witnessed a vast revolution in the feelings and beliefs of men to render possible such a separation of the things of Caesar and the things of God. 265. The Prohibition of the Pagan Cults. — Speaking gen- erally, from the accession of Constantine down to the time which we have now reached, the pagans had been allowed full toleration of worship. There was, during this period, what we call religious liberty, but not perfect religious equality ; for some of the Christian emperors favored their own faith in their legislation and in their appointments to office. Occasionally, however, there were laws issued against the practice of pagan rites. Thus, in the year A.D. 341, the sons of Constantine — Constans and Constan- tius — had promulgated an edict which declared that "the heathen superstition must cease, the madness of offering 424 ROME AS AN- EMPIRE. sacrifices must be extirpated."* But such laws were cer- tainly not long in force. Although placed at a disadvan- tage in the state, still the pagans were generally protected in the right of the public exercise of their religion. Eut before the end of the reign of Theodosius, their position in the state was wholly changed. Paganism, from being a tolerated, became a proscribed, religion. It was Theodosius the Great who, by his effective meas- ures against heathenism, earned the title of "the Destroyer of Paganism." At lirst he simply placed the pagans under many disabilities \ then he forbade them to practise the art of divining through the examination of the entrails of sacrificial victims (par. 23); and, finally, he prohibited sac- rifices altogether, and made it a crime for any one to prac- tise any pagan cult, or even to enter a temple. In the year A.D. 392 even the private worship of the Lares and Penates was prohibited. Interdiction of the heathen worship was accompanied by the destruction or the confiscation of the ancient temples and their endowments. Paganism did not yield without a struggle. The pagan party set up as emperor Eugenius, and attempted to restore the old faith. Theodosius defeated Eugenius in the battle of Aquileia (a.d. 394) and then secured the official abolish- ment of the pagan worship by a vote of the Roman senate itself.*^ The struggle between Christianity and heathenism was now virtually ended." And the "Galileans" had conquered. 5 6 U hi horn, Conjlict of Christianity with Heathenism, p. 452. Allard, Le Christianisme et T Empire Remain, p. 277. ■^ The debate between the Christian Fathers and the pagan philoso- phers as to the respective claims of the rival religions still went on. iSee par. 274. THE LAST CENTURY OE THE EMPIRE. 425 A quarter of a century later (in a.d. 423) Theodosius II. in one of his edicts says that he believes there are no longer any pagans. But " there were pagans still, although there was no paganism."^ The pagan rites were practised secretly long after this. Especially did the old home cults of the Lares and Jenates linger on in the country districts, from which circumstances the term "pagan " {ix. 390-391). — A memorable incident, illustrative Of the influence of the new religion that was now fast taking the place of paganism, marks the reign of Theodosius the Great. In a sedition caused by the arrest and imprisonment of a favorite charioteer, the people of Thessalonica, in Mace- donia, had murdered the general and several officers of the imperial garrison in that place (a.d. 390). When intelli- gence of the event reached Theodosius, who was at Milan, his hasty temper broke through aU restraint, and, moved by a spirit of savage vengeance, he ordered an indiscrimi- nate slaughter of the inhabitants of Thessalonica. In obedience to the imperial commands, the people were unsuspectingly summoned, as though to attend the usual games, to the great circus, and there were set upon by the barbarian Gothic soldiers and cut down without regard to age or sex. At least seven thousand persons perished. Shortly after the massacre, the emperor, as he was enter- ing the door of the cathedral at Milan, where he was wont to worship, was met at the threshold by the pious bishop Ambrose, who, in the name of the God of justice 8 AUard, le Christianisnie et l^Emj^ire Romain, p. 286. 426 ROME AS AN EMriRE. and mercy, forbade him to enter the sacred place until he had done public penance for his awful crime. The com- mander of all the Roman legions was constrained to obey the unarmed pastor. In penitential garb and attitude Theodosius made public confession of his sin and humbly underwent the penance imposed by the Church. This passage of history is noteworthy as marking a sta- dium in the moral progress of humanity. It made manifest how with Christianity a new moral force had entered the world, how a sort of new and universal tribunician authority had arisen in society to interpose, in the name of justice and humanity, between the weak and the defenceless and their self-willed and arbitrary rulers. 2C7. Final Division ot the Empire (a.u. 395)' —'^^^ Roman world was united for the last time under Theodosius the Great. From a.d. 392 to 395 he ruled as sole emperor.'' 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 govern- ment 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 extended dominions to break apart. The separate histories of the East and the West now begin. The story of the fortunes of the Empire in the East need not detain us long at thi.> point of our history. This monarchy lasted over a thousand years — from the acces- sion to power of Arcadius, a.d. ^c^j, to the capture of Con- 9 The insurrection under Eu^enius (par. 265) can hardly be regarded as effecting a division of the imperial authority. THE LAST CSNTURV OF^ THE EMPIRE. ^2 J stantinopie 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 of the West, the sovereigns of the East were engaged almost incessantly in suppressing upri5ing5 Of thCir GOthiC alliCS OF mercenaries, or in repelling invasions of the Huns, Vandals, and other barbarian tribes. Frequently during 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. 268. First Invasion of Italy by Alaric. — Only a few years had elapsed after the death of the great Theodosius, before the barbarians were trooping in vast hordCS thlOUgh all parts of the empire. 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 5 but being driven from that country by Stilicho, the renowned Vandal general of Ho- norius, they crossed the Julian Alps, and spread terror throughout all Italy. Stilicho followed the barbarians cautiously, and, attacking them at a favorable momeut, inflicted a terrible and double defeat upon them at Pollentia and Verona (a.d. 402-403 ). The captured camp was found tilled with the spoils of Thebes, Corinth, and Sparta. Gather- ing the remnants of his shattered army, Alaric forced his way with difficulty through the defiles of the Alps, and escaped. ^ Hodgkin makes the following suggestive comparison : '' Stilicho [and others like him] were tke prototypes of tke German and Engllsk Officers who in our own day have reorganized the armies or commanded the fleets of the Sultan, and led the expeditions of the Khedive." 428 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. 269. Last Triumph at Rome (a.d. 404)- — A terrible danger had been averted. All Italy burst forth In expres- sions of gratitude and joy. The days of the Cimbri and Teutones were recalled, and the name of Stilicho was pro- nounced along with that of Marius (par. 159). A mag- nificent triumph at Rome celebrated the victory and the deliverance. 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 procession of her victo- rious generals, celebrating conquests in all quarters of the world. 270. 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 philoso- phers usually regarded them with indifference, often with favor. Thus Pliny commends a friend for giving a gladia- torial 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 soldiers to the sights of the battlefield. Hence gladiatorial games were sometimes 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, THE LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE. 429 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 excom- municated. At length, in a.d. 325, the first imperial edict against them was issued by Constantine. This decree appears to have been very little regarded ; nevertheless, from this time forward the exhibitions were under some- thing 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 his interruption of their sports. The people, however, 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 amphitheatre." 271. Invasion of Italy by Various German Tribes under Radagaisus (a.d. 405-406). — While Italy was celebrating her triumph over the Goths, another and more formidable inva- sion was preparing in the North. The tribes beyond 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 C^er- many, and, breaking through the barriers of the Alps, over- spread the plains of Italy. The alarm caused by them 430 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. among the Italians was even greater than that inspired by the Gothic invasion ; for Alaric was a Christian, while Rada- £raisu5, 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 two hundred to four hundred thousand men — and starved them into a surrender. Their chief, Rada- gaisus, was put to death, and great numbers of the barba- rians that the sword and famine had spared were sold as slaves (a.d. 406). 272. The Ransom of Rome (a.d. 409). — Shortly after the victory of Stilicho over the German barbarians, he came under the suspicion 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 counsel of his unworthy advisers, Honorius provoked to revolt the thirty thousand Gothic mercenaries in the Roman legions by a massacre 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 wav, led his hosts to the very gates of Rome. Not since the time of the dread Hannibal (par. 115) — more than six T//£ LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE. 43 I hundred years before this — 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 unbe- coming 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 Alarlc's derisive reply. The barbarian chief- tain 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 "five thousand pounds of gold, thirty thousand of silver, four thousand silken robes, three thousand pieces of scarlet cloth, and three thousand pounds of pepper." The last-named article was much used in Roman cookery, and was very expensive, being imported from India. Merivale, 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 milliards of francs) demanded of 432 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. France by the Prussians in 187 i. Small as it comparatively 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. 273. 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 chieftain now demanded for his followers lands of Honorius, who, with his court, was safe behind the marshes of Ra- venna; but the emperor treated all the proposals of the barbarian with foolish insolence. Rome paid the penalty. Alaric turned upon the city, resolved upon its sack and plunder. The barbarians broke Into the capital by night, ^' and the inhabitants were awak- ened by the tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet." Precisely eight hundred years had passed since its sack by the Gauls (par. 68). 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 people, and to leave untouched the treasures of the Chris- tian churches ; but the wealth of the citizens he permitted 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 wagons were heaped with the costly furniture, the rich plate, and the silken garments THE LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE, 433 stripped from the palace of the Caesars and the residences of the wealthy patricians. Amidst the license of the sack, the barbarian instincts of the robbers broke loose from all restraint, and the streets of the city were wet with blood, while the nights were lighted by burning buildings. 274. Effects of the Disaster upon Paganism. — The over- whelming disaster that had befallen the Imperial City produced a profound Impression upon both pagans and Christians throughout the Roman world. The pagans asserted that these unutterable calamities had overtaken the Roman people because of their abandonment of the worship of the gods of their forefathers, under whose protec- tion 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 of their Scrip- tures against the Babylon of tlie Apocalypse. It was this interpretation of the appalling calamity that gained credit amidst the panic and despair of the times. " Henceforth," says the historian Merivale, ''the power of paganism was entirely broken, and the indications which occasionally meet us of its continued existence are rare and trifling. Chris- tianity stepped into its deserted inheritance." 275. The Death of Alaric. —After withdrawing his war- riors from Rome, Alaric led them southward. As they moved slowly on, they piled still higher the wagons of their long trains with the rich spoils of the cities and villas of Campania and other districts of Southern Italy. In the villas of the Roman nobles the barbarians spread rare ban- quets from the stores of their well-filled cellars, and drank from jewelled cups the famed Falernian wine. Alaric led his soldiers to the extreme southern point of 434 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. 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. 410. 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. ^ 276. The Disintegration of the Empire and the Beginnings of the Barbarian Kingdoms (a.d. 410-451).^— We must now turn our eyes from Rome and Italy in order to watch the movement of events in the western provinces of the empire. During the forty years following the sack of Rome by Alaric, the German tribes seized the greater part of these provinces and established in them what are known as the " Barbarian Kingdoms." The Goths who had pillaged Rome and Italy, after the death of their great chieftain Alaric (par. 275), under the lead of his successors, Ataulf ' and Wallia, recrossed the Alps, and establishing their camps In the south of Gaul and the north of Spain, set up finally in those regions what Is known as the Kingdom of the Visigoths or West Goths (see accompanying map). 2 For later movements of the Visigoths, see par. 276. 3 We choose these dates for the reason that they set off the interval between two great events, namely, the sack of Rome by Alaric (par. 273) and the battle of Chalons (par. 277). 4 Adolf, Adolphiis, are other forms of the name. THE LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE. 435 . While the Goths were making these migrations and set- tlements, a kindred but less civilized tribe, the Vandals, moving from their seat in Pannonia, traversed Gaul, crossed the Pyrenees into Spain, and there occupied for a time a large tract of country, which in its present name of An- dalusia preserves the memory of its barbarian settlers. Through the treachery of Count Boniface, the Roman gov- ernor of Africa, that land was opened to their conquests. They crossed the straits of Gibraltar, overthrew the Roman authority in all Northern Africa, and made Carthage the seat of a short-lived but dreaded Corsair empire^ (a.d. 439). About this same time the Burgundians, who, like the Vandals, were close kin of the Goths, partly by negotiations with the Romans and partly by force of arms, established themselves in Southeastern Gaul and laid there the basis of what is called the Kingdom of the Burgundians.^ A por- tion of the region occupied by these German settlers still retains from them the name of Burgmuiy. Meanwhile the Franks, who about a century before the sack of Rome by Alaric had made their first settlement in Roman territory west of the Rhine, were increasing in numbers and in authority, and were laying the basis of what after the fall of Rome was to become known as the King- dom of the Franks — the beginning of the French nation of to-day."^ But the most important of all the settlements of the bar- barians was being made in the remote province of Britain. ^ See par. 279. 6 They began their settlements within the empire about A.D. 443. "^ The first great king of the Franks was Clovis (A.D. 486-511), but his reign lies beyond the limit we have set for the present work. Tl 436 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. THE LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE. 437 In his efforts to defend Italy against her barbarian invaders, Stilicho (par. 271) had withdrawn the last legion from Brit- ain, and had thus left unguarded the Hadrian Wall in the North (par. 227) and the long coast-line facing the continent. The Picts of Caledonia, taking advantage of the withdrawal of the guardians of the province, swarmed over the unsenti- nelled rampart and pillaged the fields and towns of the South. The half- Romanized and effeminate provincials — no match for their hardy kinsmen who had never bowed their necks to the yoke of Rome — were driven to despair by the rav- ao-es of their relentless enemies, and, in their helplessness, invited to their aid the Angles and Saxons from the shores of the North Sea. These people came 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. 277. Invasion of the Huns; Battle of Chalons (a.d. 451). The barbarians that were thus overrunning and parceRing out the inheritance of the dying empire were now, in turn, pressed upon and terrified by a foe more hideous and dread- ful 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 (par. 262). At this time their leader was Attila, whom the affrighted inhabitants of Europe caHed 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 westward, and, at the head of a host numbering. it is asserted, seven hundred thousand warriors, crossed the Rhine into Gaul, purposing first to ravage that province, and then to traverse Italy with fire and sword, in order to destroy the last vestige of the Roman power. The Romans and their German conquerors laid aside their mutual animosities, and made common cause against a com- mon enemy. The Visigoths were rallied by their king, Theodoric ; the Italians, the Franks, the Burgundians flocked to the standard of the able 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 ter- rible. Theodoric was slain; but at last fortune turned against the barbarians. The loss of the Huns is variously estimated at from one hundred to three hundred thousand 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 German folk, and not the pagan Scythic Huns, should inherit the domin- ions of the expiring Roman empire and control the destinies of Europe. 278. The Death of Attila (a.d. 453 ?). — The year after his defeat at Chalons, Attila crossed the Alps, and burned or plundered all the important cities of Northern Italy. The Veneti tied for safety to the morasses at the head of the Adriatic (a.d. 452). Upon .the islets where they built their * Aetius has been called " the last of the Romans." For twenty years previous to this time he had been the upholder of the imperial authority in Gaul. 43^ ROME AS AAT EMPIRE. 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 how death had overtaken the impious Alaric ' soon after he had given the Imperial City as a spoil to his warriors, and warned him not to call down upon himself the like judgment of Heaven (par. 275). To these admonitions 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. His followers gradually withdrew from Europe into the wilds of their native Scythia, or were absorbed by the peoples they had conquered.^ 279. Sack of Rome by the Vandals (a.d. 455). — Rome had been saved a visitation from the spoiler of the North, ^ 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 after- wards joined the Huns of Arpad in their career of conquest. It i.s certain that Attila made Hungary the seat of his empire." — Oecisi-ve Battles. THE LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE. 439 but a new destruction was about to burst upon it by way of the sea from the South. Africa sent out another enemy whose greed for plunder proved more fatal to Rome than the eternal hate of Hannibal. The kings of the Vandal empire in Northern Africa (par. 276) had acquired as per- fect a supremacy in the Western Mediterranean as Carthage ever enjoyed in the days of her commercial pride. Vandal corsairs swept the seas and harassed the coasts of Sicily and Italy, and even plundered the maritime towns of the provinces of the Roman empire in the East. In the year 455 a Vandal fleet, led by the dread Geiseric (Genseric), sailed up the Tiber. These barbarians had been exhorted by the Roman empress Eudoxia to come and avenge the murder of her husband Valentinian 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 pro- nounced with terror throughout the world Again the great Leo, who had once before saved his flock from the fury of an Attila (par. 278), went forth to Intercede in the name of Christ for the Imperial City. Geiseric granted to the pious bishop the lives of the citizens, but said that the movable property of the capital belonged to his warriors. For four- teen 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 (par. 273), with the rich and weighty spoils of the capital. Palaces were stripped of their ornaments and furniture, and the 440 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. walls of tke temples denuded 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 (par. 222). The greed of the barbarians was sated at last, and they were ready to withdraw. The Vandal lieet sailed for Car- thage,^ bearing, besides the plunder of the city, more than thirty thousand of the inhabitants as slaves. Carthage, through her own barbarian conquerors, was at last avenged upon her hated rival. The mournful presentiment of Scipio had fallen true (par. 141). The cruel fate of Carthage might have been read again in the pillaged city that the Vandals left behind them. 280. Fall of the Roman Empire in the West (a.d. 476). — Only the shadow of the Empire in the West now remained. All the provinces — lUyricum, Gaul, Britain, Spain, and Africa — were in the hands of the Goths, the Vandals, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Angles and Saxons, and vari- ous other intruding tribes. Italy, as well as Rome herself, had become again and again the spoil of the barbarians. The story of the twenty years following the sack of the capital by Geiseric affords only a repetition of the events we have been narrating. 1 It would seem that, in some instances at least, after the closing of the temples to the pagan worship, many of the sacred things, such as war trophies, were left undisturbed in the edifices where they had been placed during pagan times. 2 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 Constantinople by Justinian, and by him replaced, from superstitious motives, in Jerusalem. From that time its history is lost." — Merivale. THE LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE. 44 1 Dunng the years from a.d. 45^ to 472, the real ruler In Italy was a Sueve, called Count Ricimer. He set up four emperors. Upon his death a Pannonian by the name of Orestes deposed the emperor then on the throne and placed the imperial crown upon the head of his own son, a child of only six years. By what has been called a freak of fortune this boy- sovereign bore the name of Romulus Augustus, thus uniting in the nanie of the last Roman emperor of the West the names of the founder of Rome and the establisher of the empire. Not so much on account of his youth as from con- tempt 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 Odovaker (Odoacer), the leader of the Heruli, a small but formidable German tribe, having demanded one-third of the lands of Italy to divide among his followers for services rendered the empire, and having been refused, put Orestes to death and dethroned the chlld-emperor. The Roman senate now sent an embassy to Constanti- nople, with the royal vestments and the insignia of the imperial office, to represent to the Eastern emperor Zeno that the West was willing to give up its claims to an emperor of its own, and to request that the German chief, with the title of "patrician," might rule Italy as his viceroy. This was granted; and Italy now became in effect a province of the Empire in the East (a.d. 476). 281. The Import of the Fall of Rome. — The destruction of the Roman empire in the West by the German barba- rians is one of the most momentous events in history. It marks a turning point in the fortunes of mankind. 442 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. The revolution brought it about that for a long time the lamp of culture burned with lessened light. It brought in the so-called Dark Ages. During this period the new race were slowly lifting tliemselves^to the level of culture that the Greeks and Romans had attained. But the revolution meant much besides disaster and loss. It meant the enrichment of civilization through the incoming of a new and splendidly endowed race. Within the empire during several centuries three of the most vital elements of civilization, the Greek, the Roman, and the Hebrew-Christian, had been gradually blending. Now was added a fourth factor, the Germanic. It is this element which has had very much to do in making modern civilization richer, more myriad-sided, and more progressive than any preceding one. The downfall of the Roman imperial government in the West was, further, an event of immense significance in the political world, for the reason that it rendered possible the growth in Western Europe of several nations or states in place of the single empire. This was a revolution of as great import for the history of Europe as the impending break-up of the Chinese empire and the distribution of its territories among the European powers promises to be for the history of Eastern Asia. Another consequence of the fall of the Roman power in the West was the development of the Papacy. In Dante's phrase — used in connection with the removal by Constan- tine of the imperial government to the Bosporus — it "gave the Pastor* room." In the absence of an emperor in the West the popes rapidly gained influence and power, and 3 The Roman bishop. r\ -L CHAPTER XXII. -Nummary of the causes of the fale of THE empire. 282. Introductory. — The preceding narrative of the his- tory of the Roman empire during the last two centuries of its existence cannot have failed to reveal to the reader at least the main causes of its decline and fall ; but a review and summary of these agencies will serve to impress more deeply upon the mind the essential phases of this memorable revolution. The agencies actively concerned in effecting the dissolu- tion of the society and government of imperial Rome may be conveniently enumerated as economic, military, political or social, religious and moral. 283. Economic Causes. — Foremost among the economic causes of the fall of Rome must be placed the institution of slavery. It is indeed true that before the end of the empire the hard lot of the slave had been greatly bettered by the influences of the stoical philosophy and of Christianity, and that in wide districts of the empire the system had been transformed, or was being transformed, into the milder ser- vitude of serfdom. But notwithstanding these changes in the system, it was still, as in the later days of the republic, the source of many of the evils that afflicted society. It prevented the normal increase of population. It degraded labor, and thus made impossible the development of a 445 446 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. healthy industrial life. It also reacted disastrously upon the morals of both master and slave, indurating the feehngs of the one, and destroying the manhood of the other. In aU these ways the slave system tended to undermine the very foundations of the state. A second economic cause of the decline of Roman society was the monopolization of the land by a comparatively few persons. All the efforts that had been made by the states- men of the later republic and by the emperors to remedy this evil and to create in the various provinces of the empire a body of free peasant proprietors, had effected very little. In the fifth century after Christ, as in the time of the Gracchi (par. 148), the great masses who turned the soil had not a clod that they could call their own. This condition of things foreboded disaster to the state. Any society in which the soil, nature's free and equal gift to all, is allowed to become the possession of a few and thereby the means of enslaving the many, must inevitably decay and perish. A third economic cause of the failure of the empire was fiscal oppression. We have seen what a crushing burden the imperial taxes laid upon the people (par. 240). The condition of France just before the Revolution of 1789, or that of the Turkish empire at the present time, affords an illustration of the wretched condition to which the Roman world had been reduced by the exactions and the oppres- sion of the imperial government. StiU another economic cause of the fall of the empire was the decline in population. The historian Seeley says that the empire perished for lack of men.^ This failure in popu- * Roman Imperialism ^ P- 54- CAUSES OF THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE. 447 lation resulted in part from slavery, crushing taxation, and the practice of celibacy, and in part from the waste of life caused by constant wars, by plagues, and by the mere con- tact of civilization with barbarism.^ No other industrial system depletes population so rapidly as does slavery. It undermines the family, and at the same time wears out men with a rapidity and ruthlessness not exceeded even by the military system in times of war. In these direct, and in many other indirect ways, slavery helped to thin the population of the empire, and to lay it open to the invasions of the barbarians. After slavery, the intolerable burden of imperial taxation was perhaps the most prominent cause of the depopulation of the empire. Thousands of the oppressed provincials tied across the frontiers and sought an asylum among the bar- barians. Life outside the pale of civilization had become preferable to life within. Another cause of the decline in population was the singu- lar aversion that the better class of the Romans evinced to marriage. We meet during the period of the empire with a crowd of imperial edicts dealing with this subject. Penalties and bounties, deprivations and privileges, entreaties and expostulations are in turn resorted to by the perplexed emperors, in order to discourage celibacy and to foster a pure and healthy family life. But all was in vain. The marriage state continued to be held in great disesteem (par. 313). And Christianity instead of correcting the evil, rather made matters worse; for just now the teachings of the monks were persuading vast multitudes of the supe- rior sanctity of the solitary or the monastic life, and thereby 6 Ibid., p. 58. 448 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. filling the deserts of Egypt and the monasteries of all lands with men who believed that they could best live the higher life by freeing themselves of all family and social cares and duties. To these various agencies of depopulation must be added that of domestic and foreign wars. The many bloody struggles between the numerous aspirants for the imperial dignity, and the constant fighting of the legions in the de- fence of the frontiers, had an exhausting effect upon the empire. The flower of the Roman race was swept away by the accidents of war, and the gaps in the ranks of the legions could be filled only by recruits from among the barbarians. Furthermore, during the later centuries of the empire, plagues of extraordinary virulence desolated its provinces. These visitations can be compared to nothing in the follow- ing centuries save the terrible pestilence of the Black Death, which in the fourteenth century destroyed from a third to a half of the population of Europe. What made these earlier visitations so much more fatal to society was the fact that the springs of recuperation had then been fatally impaired. What part In this process of depopulation may be ?.s- signed to the last of the causes we have enumerated, namely, the contact of civilization with barbarism, it would be difficult to say. It is a fact that there are races to-day, like the American Indians and the South Sea Islanders, that are melting away from mere contact with a civiliza- tion which they cannot or will not assimilate. In the same way, Seeley maintains, in Spain, in Gaul, in Britain, and in the Danubian provinces of the empire, the barbarian races CAUSBS O/'^ THK I^ALL OF TH£ KMPIRE. 449 wasted away in the presence of the superior Roman culture which they could not at once make their own. The signs of the growing depopulation of the empire were to be seen on every side in the ruin-strewn sites of once populous and flourishing cities like Carthage, Corinth, Megalopolis, the Bceotian Thebes and Palmyra. Vast ter- ritories formerly astir with life and carefully tilled had reverted to a condition of primitive wildness. The policies of the emperors, such as bounties on mar- riage, irifts of land in waste districts to men of families, the wholesale settlement of barbarian tribes in the empty prov- inces, and similar measures, bear pathetic testimony to the alarming condition of the empire and the unremitting efforts of the emperors to arrest the downward movement of society. 284. Military Causes. — An empire acquired by the sword must be maintained by the sword. But even before the frontiers of the Roman empire had been pushed out to their greatest extent, the military spirit that animated the early Romans had become extinct, and all enthusiasm for the military life and the military virtues had been lost. Under the later empire, service in the army grew so unpopular and even odious that many cut off the fingers of the right hand in order to escape military duty, ^rhe government was forced to impose severe penalties for such acts. In some cases it even punished such conduct by the infliction of death by burning. Christianity with its Quaker teachings coming in at just this time contributed also to render more general the disesteem in which the military life was coming to be held. In the earlier period of the empire, any Christian who voluntarily entered the army was cut off li 450 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. from the Church. If any were compelled to enter the legions, such were enjoined to " fight backwardly." ^ The result of this decline in the military spirit among tke Romans was, as we have seen, that the recruiting ground of the legions became the barbarian lands outside the empire. The ranks of the army were filled with barba- rians ; and able men from among them, like Stllicho and Ricimer," usurped as commanders the places once held by the Fabii and the Scipios. This loss of the military spirit in a military age, and this transformation in the armies of Rome could of course nave no other outcome than such as we have seen to be the issue of it all — the entrance into the army of a non-Roman spirit, and the final overthrow of the imperial government by the revolt of the mutinous legions. 285. Political or Social Causes. — Chief among the causes contributory to the fall of the empire that may be gathered under this head, is the lack of unity in the state. Modern statesmen predict the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy for the reason that it is formed of such a mixture of races. Now the old Roman empire was in this respect like this modern state. There was one very distinct line of cleavage which divided the empire into an Eastern and a Western half. We may very properly characterize the empire as Graico-Roman. Rome had Romanized the West, and a large part of it remains Latin to this day ; but she could not Romanize the East. It remained essentially Greek to the last. The building of 6 The government generally allowed the Christians to provide substi- tutes or to pay a sum of money in lieu of personal service. "^ See pars. 268 and 280. \ CAUSES OF THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE. 45 1 the new Rome by Constantine on the Bosporus, and the final division of the empire by Theodosius the Great (par. 267), were, viewed from one side, simply formal recogni- tions of the fact that the two halves of the empire could not be made alike. Besides this great rift in the empire separating the Latin West from the Hellenic East, there were other lines of cleavage which followed, in the main, the old boundaries of the tribes or nations that Rome had subjugated. It was the still unsubdued national spirit in Spain and Gaul and Britain, and among the Germans and the Jews, that, for one thing, made necessary the change of the republic into the military empire. This national spirit was not so strong in the later days of the empire as it was in the earlier ; yet it was by no means everywhere dead. Even where it had practically died out, there had not yet sprung up to take its place a feeling of attachment for the empire. Thus, for instance, as the historian Stephens says, *'Gaul ceased to be a nation without becoming in sentiment or spirit an integral member of the empire. . . . Gaul therefore fell an easy prey to her German invaders."^ As it was with the larger territorial divisions of the empire, so was it with the cities. The empire was made up of hundreds of cities ; but the citizens of these towns, with very few exceptions, took neither pride nor interest in imperial affairs. We may say that Rome destroyed city patriotism In antiquity, hut without calhng into existence any broader sentiment or. feeling. Men were no longer willing to die or to live either for their city or for the empire. It was this lack of spiritual ties, binding in a vital ® Lectures on the History of France, p. 680. 452 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. union the cities and communities of the empire, that the statesman-historian Guizot maintains was a chief cause of its dissolution.'-^ With the tirst blows of the barbarians it fell to pieces. Besides all these divisions in the empire, resulting from the great number of different races and primitive city- states which, during centuries of conquest, Rome had brousrht under her dominion, there were those divisions of the population into orders or classes, — the rich and the poor, the free and the bond, the titled and the untitled, — which destroyed the homogeneousness of society, and ren- dered impossible the establishment of a strong unified state. The great majority of the people living under the Roman government had no interest whatsoever In helping to defend and uphold it. The oppressed classes in the provinces everywhere welcomed the barbarians as deliverers. Finally, among the political causes'of the fall of Rome must be named the lack of a rule or principle of succession to the throne. The imperial crown, during the five centu- ries with which we have had to do, never became hereditary or regularly elective. Almost from first to last, as we have seen, the emperor generally reached the throne by irregular and violent means. The strength of the empire was wasted in constantly recurring wars of succession. Could a dynasty have been established in the first century, and had there grown up among the people a feeling of loyalty towards the imperial family, like that, for instance, of the Scotch to the House of Stuart, this sentiment would have given security and stability to the throne, and the history of the empire might have been wholly different from what it was. 9 History of Civilization in Europe, Lee. II. CAUSES OF- THE EALL OE 7^HE EMPIRE. 453 286. Religious and Moral Causes. — No state has ever yet existed without religion as a basis. The decay of the old Roman religion, then, on which the ancient city constitu- tion rested, must be assigned as one of the causes of the failure and fall of the Roman empire. Diocletian and Julian, as we have seen, both recognized the necessity of basing the government on religion, and both strove to bring about a pagan revival. But it was impossible to reawaken a real, vital faith in the ancestral gods and the ancient worship. There was promise in Stoicism, for the Stoics gave a prominent place to the civic virtues, and exalted patriotism ; but their doctrines were too cold and abstract to become the creed of the multitude. Christianity did not at once fill the place made vacant by the decay of polytheism, for the reason that it at first drew the attention of men away from earthly matters, and caused an undue absorption of their thoughts in the con- cerns of the unseen world. " Nothing is more foreign to us," declared Tertullian, speaking for the Christians, <' than public affairs." We have already seen how the early Christians refused to serve in the legions (par. 284). Monasticism, moreover, drew away into the desert, or within the doors of the cloisters, a considerable part of the talent and the moral earnestness of the times. And thus Christianity, as has been truly observed, hastened, though at the same time it softened, the fall of the empire. Especially did religious discord and the persecution of one sect of Christians by another, after the time of Con- stantine, paralyze the energies of the state, waste its strength, and open the gates of the empire to the invasions of the 454 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. nortkern tarbarlans, just aS tke Same CaUSeS, tWO CentUHeS later, facilitated the conquests of the Mohammedan Arabs. How greatly the decay of the old Roman virtues and the general decline in the standard of morality in the later empire contributed to the final catastrophe has been made plain by our narrative of the transactions and revolutions of the imperial period. As in the time of the later republic, so now, the universal moral decadence formed a sort of quicksand that refused support to social institutions of every kind, and rendered futile all efforts to stay the downward tendency of things. 287. The Advance of the German Tribes in Political Organi- zation and Military Discipline. — rhe real causes of the fail- ure of the Roman empire must of course be sought within the empire itself. Fhe saying of Emerson is ever true, that a thing cannot be crushed by a blow from without until ready to perish from decay within. Though we may not, therefore, look for the primary causes of the fall of Rome anywhere outside the empire, still we may look for secondary causes of the disaster in the condition of the German barbarian world. Notwithstanding the fact that the failing civilization of the Mediterranean world was surrounded on all sides by barbarian enemies, still, as the event proved, the only reaiiy dangerous area of barbarism in the fifth century lay on the northern frontiers of the empire. Here were the German folk. Since the campaigns of Julius Caesar (par. 191), these people had gained much in political experience, and had formed powerful confederacies. By the Romans, too, they CAUSES OF THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE. 455 had been taught the art of war. Thus ancient civilization armed barbarism against itself.^ What part these northern tribes played in the closing scenes of the drama of the fall of the empire, we have already seen. They were the immediate or proximate cause of the break-up of the imperial government in the West. / References. — Hodgkin (T.), The Invaders of Italy, vol. ii. pp. 532-613, "Causes of the Fall of the Western Empire." Seeiey . (J. K.), ** Roman Imperialism, Lee. II. pp. 37-64, "The Proximate V^ Causes of the FaU of the Roman Empire." Bury (J. B.), ^* A History 0/ the Later Koman Empire, vol. i. chap. iii. pp. 25-36, " Elements of Disintegration in the Roman E^mpire." The author makes slavery, oppressive taxation, the importation of barbarians, and Christianity the four chief causes of the weakness and failure of the empire. Fowler (W. W.), * The City-State, chap. xi. pp. 306—332, "Dissolution of the City-State: the Roman Empire." Merivale (C), History of the Romans under the Empire, vol. vii., last few pages. MoNTE.SQUlEU, The Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans, chap. xix. Andrews (E. R.), Institutes 0/ General History, pp. 99— iii. Sheppard (J. G.), The Fall of Rome and the Rise of the A'eiv Nationalities, Lee. II. pp. 61-106. FiNLAY (G.), History of Greece, vol. i. chap. ii. J^ 10, on " Declin- ing Condition of the Greek Population in the European Provinces of the Eastern Empire." ^Modern civilization has done the same thing; but fortunately not any of the really barbarian and war-loving races that we have armed and taught the art of modern warfare are formidable in numbers. A R CHI TE C 7 URE. 457 Part IV.— Architecture, Literature, Law, and Social Life. CHAPTER XXIII. ARCHITECTURE. 288. Introductory. — We purpose in the present chapter to say something further respecting the great architectural works of the ancient KomanS; 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 I'yoNtis^iece^. 280. Greek Origin of Roman Architecture ; the Arch. — The architecture of the Romans was, in the main, an imi- tation of Greek models. But the Romans were not mere servile imitators. They not only modified the architec- tural forms they borrowed, but they gave their structures a distinct character by the prominent use of the arch, which the Greek and the oriental builders seldom employed, though they were acquainted with its properties. By means of it the Roman builders vaulted the roofs of the largest build- ings, carried stupendous aqueducts across the deepest val- 456 leys, and spanned the broadest streams with bridges that have resisted all the assaults of time and flood to the present day. 290. Sacred Edifices. — The temples of the Romans were in general so like those of the Oreeks that we need not here take time and space to enter into a particular descrip- 1 HE Pantukon, Interior. (From an old engraving.) tion of them."^ Mention, however, should be made of their circular vaulted temples, as this was a style of building ^ 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 — $20,000,000 according to some authorities. The brazen doors pf the temple were also adorned with solid plates of gold. The interior decorations were of marble and Sliver. 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 Vandals (par. 279). 458 ARCHITECTURE. LITERATURE. LAW. almost exclusively Italian. The best representative of tKiS class Of sacred edifices is the Pantheon « at Rome, which has come down to our own times in a state of wonderful preservation. This structure is about one hundred and forty feet in diameter. The immense 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 shfine (par. 215). The doors were of bronze, and still remain m place. It was built about 25 b.c. by the consul M. Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus. The edifice is now a Christian sanctuary. 291. Circuses, Theatres, and Amphitheatres. — The cir- cuses of the Romans were what we should call race courses. There were several at Rome, the most celebrated being the Circs Ma.i^us, which was first laid Out in the time of tlie Tarquins (par. 34), and afterwards enlarged as the popula- tion Of the capital increased, until finally, at the time of Constantine the Great, who made the last e.xtension, it was capable of holding probably two or three hundred thousand spectators.* It was oblong in shape, being about eighteen hundred feet long and six hundred feet wide. From the course, or track, the seats rose in tiers, the same as m a theatre. Prom the uppermost tOW Of SCatS 1056 high buildings with several stories of balconies, like the bOXeS overhanging the modern stage. The sloping sides of a convenient valley were taken advantage of in the forma- 3 From two Greeks words, pan, all. and th.ion, divine (or th,<.s a god). 4 Authorities differ, ranging from .50,000 to 380.000. Pl.ny says 250,000. ARCHITECTURE. 459 tion of the seats. The only remaining trace of this stupendous structure Is the terraced appearance of the low encircling hills. The Romans borrowed the plan of their theatres from the Greeks. The form was that of a semicircle, with ris- ing tiers of seats. The Greeks, in the construction of their theatres, usually took advantage of some hillside ; but the Romans, when they set themselves to theatre-building, erected the entire structure upon level ground, raising a great supporting wall or framework in place of the hill with its favoring slopes. All of the theatres built at Rome previous to the year 55 RC. were of wood. In that year Pompey the Great re- turned from his cam- paigns 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 forty thousand 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 outgrowth of the rivalry between Pompey and CcTsar (par. 194). The liberality of the former in the erection of his stone theatre had so won for him the affections of the peo- pie that the latter saw he must do something to surpass his rival, or see himself entirely distanced in the race for popular favor. Caisar was at this time away in Gaul, RlITNS OF TllHATRE AT A.Sl'ENDOS. 460 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. 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 in his hands, a structure that should cast Pompey's into the shade. Fliny 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 repre- sentations that had been given, all was ready for the master-stroke that was to win the applause of the giddy multitude. At a given signal, one of the theatres, which had been constructed so as to admit of such a movement, was swung round 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 exhi- bitions, the seats rose in receding tiers on every side. The first stone amphitheatre was erected during the reign of Augustus. But the one which threw all other edifices of this kind far into the background, and which in some respects surpasses any other monument ever reared by man^ was the structure commenced bv Flavius Vespasian, and often caUed, after him, the Flavian Amphitheatre, but better known as the Colosseum. The edifice is five hun- dred and seventy-four feet in its greatest diameter, and was capable of seating eighty-seven thousand spectators. The encircling wall rises in four stories to the height of one hundred and fifty-six feet. Within, the seats rose from the arena in retreating steps to the magnificent por- tico that crowned the upper circle. Beneath the arena and seats were large chambers which served as dens for the \vild animals needed in the shows. Sockets in the upper stone- ARCHITECTURE. 461 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 at advantageous points, relieved the i^^^i^m'isw*' THK CoLOSStUM. (From a photograph.) 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 made a quarry by the builders of Rome for a thousand 462 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. 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 impres- sive because of these marks that it bears of violence and of age. 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, w^hich was nearly as large as the Flavian structure. 292. Military Roads. — Foremost among the works of Utility executed by the Romans, and the most expressive of the practical genius of the people, were their military roads. Radiating from the capital, they lengthened with the growing empire, until all the countries about the Medi- terranean 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 connected Rome with Capua. As we have already seen (par. 78), it was built by Appius Claudius at the close of the second Samnite war (312 B.C.). Afterwards it was carried from Capua across the peninsula to Brundi- sium, an important seaport on the coast of Calabria, whence ARCHITECTURE. 463 expeditions were embarked for operations in the East. The great Flaminian Way ran from the capital to Ariminum on the Adriatic, and thence was extended, under another name, northward into the valley of the Po (par. 99, n. 3). Several other roads, reaching out from Rome in different directions, completed the communication of the capital with the various cities and regions of the peninsula. As the limits of the Roman authority extended, new roads were built in the conquered provinces in Sicily, in Northern Africa, in Spain, over the Alps, along the Rhine and the Danube, throughout Gaul, Britain, Greece, and all the East. These military roads, with characteristic Roman energy and disregard of obstacles, were carried forward, as nearly as possible, in straight lines and on a level, mountains being pierced with tunnels,^ and valleys crossed by means S In boring tunnels, the Roman engineers worked simultaneously from both sides of the mountain, in the same way that modern engi- neers do. In i860 an inscription was discovered which contains a curi- ous report of an engineer who had in charge the construction of an aqueduct tunnel for the town of Saklae, 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. \Yhat could I have done better .^ I began by surveying and taking the levels of the mountain ; T marked most carefully the axis of the tunnel across the ridge ; T drew plans and sections of the whole work, which plans I handed over to Petronius Celer, then governor of Mauritania ; and to take extra precaution, I summoned the contractor and his workmen, and began the excavation in their presence. . . . Well, during the four 464 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. of massive viaducts. Near Naples may be seen one of these old tunnels still in use, called the Grotto of Posilipo, which is nearly half a mile in length. It leads the ancient Appian Way through a promontory that at this point opposes an obstacle to its course. The usual width of the roadway was from four to five yards, though in some instances this breadth was greatly exceeded. The bed was formed of cement and broken rock, upon which was sometimes laid, as in the case of the Via Appia, a solid pavement of stone. Foot- paths often ran along the sides of the main roadway ; nileposts told the distance from the capital; and upon the best appointed roads seats were found disposed at proper intervals for the convenience Grotto of Posilipo. (Drawn from an old engraving.) years I \%-as absent at I.ambjese, ex- pecting every day to hear the good tidings of the arrival of the waters at Saldce, the contractor and the assistant had committed blunder upon blunder ; in each section of the tunnel they had diverged from the straight line, each towards his right, and, had I \vaited a little longer before coming, Saldae would Have possessed two tunnels Instead of one." — Lanciani's Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries^ p. 6l. ARCHITECTURE. 465 of travellers. In the great forum at Rome was a gilded post, from which distances on all the roads of the peninsula were measured. 293. Aqueducts. — To secure for a great city an abundant supply of wholesome water is a matter of no less difficulty than importance. The waterworks of the great cities of modern times are among the most expensive of their under- -^ B ^ iv. — -tJ:^ /- 1 HK PoNT DIJ GaRD, NEAR Ni.mes« (Present condition.) ^ rom Schreiber's Atlas 0/ Classical Antiquities, which gives the fol- lowing description of the structure : « A bridge which carries the aque- fhict of Nimes across the river Garden. The height above the water of the lowest row of arches is 65 feet, of the middle row 130, and of the top 158 feet. The middle one has been repaired to carry a carriage [Oad. The Channd (s/^eeu^) of the aqueduct was in the top row. It ^rought the water a distance of twenty-one miles." This aqueduct was built by the emperor Antoninus Pius. 466 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. takings. The aqueducts of Rome must be placed among ' the most stupendous constructions of the Roman builders. 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 subterranean channel eleven miles in length. From the spoils obtained in the war with Pyrrhus (par. 82) was built the Anio Aqueduct, so named because it brought water from the Anio River. A second aqueduct running from the same stream, and called the Anio Nova^ to distinguish it from the older conduit, was about tifty-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 depressions of the Campagna into the capital. In places this aqueduct was held up more than a hundred feet above the plain. During the republic four aqueducts wxre completed ^ under the emperors the number was increased to fourteen. Several of these are in use at the present day. The Romans carried their aqueducts across depressions and valleys on high arches of masonry, not because they were ignorant of the principle that water seeks a level, but for the reason that they could not make large pipes strong enough to resist the very great pressure to which they would be subiected." In some instances the principle of the inverted siphon was put in practice, and pipes (usually lead or 7 " 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 substitute metal pipes for channels of masonry, because the Romans did not know cast-iron, and no pipe except of cast-iron could have sup- ported such enormous pressure." — Lanciani's Ancient Rome in tin Light of Recent Discoveries, p. 60. ARCHITECTURE. 467 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 usually to the adoption of the other method, 'llie lofty arches of the ruined aqueducts that run in long broken lines over the Thk Ct.audian Aqiikduct. (Drawn from a photograph.) plains beyond the walls of Rome are described by all visit- ors to the old capital as the most striking feature of the desolate Campagna. 294. 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 ^ 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 468 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. Romans, bathing, regarded at first simply as a troublesome necessity, became in time a luxurious art. During the republic, bathing-houses were erected in considerable num- bers, the use of which could be purchased by a small entrance fee equivalent to about one cent ot 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 mag- nificent structures to which the name Thermce properly attaches were erected. Nero, Titus, Trajan, Commodus, Caracalla, Declus, Consfantine, 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 elabo- rate and expensive of the imperial works. They contained chambers for cold, tepid, hot, sudatory, and swimming bath^ ; dressing-rooms and gymnasia ; museums and libr:i- rles ; 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 mosaics. The *' Thermae of of the world in any age. M. Agrippa, the builder of the Pantheon, is credited with having set up one hundred and five, and his example found many imitators. ® I^anciani calls these imperial thermae "gigantic clubhouses, whithi the voluptuary and the elegant youth repaired for pastime and enjoy ment." A R CHITE C TURE. 469 Diocletian " contained over three thousand of these stone pictures. " Caracalla's Baths " had over sixteen hundred marble seats ; granite pillars from Egypt decorated the colonnades ; green marble panellings, cut in Numidia, lined many of the channbers j the fixtures of the baths were plated, and in some of the rooms were of solid silver. (iREAT Hall of the Baths of Diocletian. (Now used as a church.) (From an old engraving.) 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 cele- brated Pantheon, which it* resembled in form. It was not the inhabitants of the capital alone that had converted bathing into a luxury and an art. There was no town of any considerable size anywhere within the limits 470 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. of the empire that was not provided with its thermre ; 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 became the great sum- mer haunt of the Germans. Baice, near Naples, on account of its warm sulphur springs and the beauty of its sur- roundings, 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 shameless indulgence. The Roman therma.', after suffer- ing repeated spoliation at the hands of successive robbers, have, for the most part, sunk into heaps of rub- bish. Many of their beautiful marbles were carried off by different Greek emperors to Gonstan- tinople. Charlemagne decorated his palace at Aix-la- Chapelle with columns torn from these imperial structures, which were then falling into dilapidation. The popes built others into .St. Peter's Cathedral ; and the masons of Rome, like the brick-hunters of Babylon 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 excavators have recovered from the mounds of rubbish some of the most famous of the sculptures that enrich the museums of Europe. Baihinc, Chair. (Louvre.) ARCHITECTURE. 471 295. Palaces and Villas. — The residences of the wealthy Romans when built within the city walls were called man- sions or palaces, but when located in the country were usually designated as villas. The Palatine was the aristo- cratic quarter of Rome, being occupied by the homes of the wealthy class. After the Great Fire, Nero erected here Fkristyle of a Pompeian House. (From a photograph.) his Golden House (par. 220), whose various buildings, courts, gardens, vineyards, fish ponds, and other innumer- able appendages spread over much of the burnt district. It was "the most stupendoa.is dwelling-place ever built for a mortal man." The central building upon the Palatine, shorn of its extensive grounds and useless adjuncts, be- came the residence of most of the emperors who held the 472 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. throne after the death of Nero. The palaces of the wealthy citizens vied in costly magnificence with those of the CcEsars. "Never, perhaps," says the historian Inge, "ex- cept in the palaces of the Incas, has gold been so freely 1 ^;^'t ^ --'-n I /-^/ -*--k„,; /^o"^-A-« .-;;, , .-i^.^^i^'^S^R*^ Ruins of the Palace of the C.esars. (From an old drawing.) used in the decoration of walls and ceilings as at Rome : never, certainly, have marbles and ivory been so lavishly employed." ^ Among the sumptuous villas mentioned by the old writers are those of Metellus, Lucullus, Cicero, Hortensius, Pliny 1 Society in Rome under the Ccesars, p. 253. ARCHITECTURE. 473 the Younger, Horace, Vergil, Hadrian, and Diocletian. But to attempt enumeration would be misleading. Every wealthy Roman possessed his villa, and many affected to keep up several in different parts of Italy, l^hese country residences, while retaining all the conveniences of the city palace, such as baths, museums, and libraries, added to these such adjuncts as were denied a place by the restricted room of the capital, — extensive gardens, aviaries, fish ponds, vineyards, olive 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 representation of the world — both the upper and the lower. In one part of the grounds were repro- duced the Thessalian Vale of Tempe and other celebrated bits of scenery. Subterranean labyrinths enabled the vis- itor to descend into Hades and to behold the fabled scenes of that dolorous region.^ The ruined enclosure of the villa of Diocletian — the emperor who gave up imperial cares to raise vegetables at Salona, on the Adriatic (par. 243) — affords space for the buildings of the modern village of Spalato. 296. Triumphal Columns and Arches. — The first histor- ical commemorative column raised by the Romans was erected in the year 260 B.C. as a memorial of their first naval victory, gained by Duillius over the Carthaginian fleet. Of this monument, as well as of Trajan's Column, built to cominemorate the IJ)acian victories of the emperor whose name it bears, we have already spoken (pars. 90, 226). The triumphal arches of the Romans were modelled after Guhl and Koner, Life of the Greeks and Romans, p. 372. 474 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW, 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 histor- ical 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 Jerusalem by Titus as the spoils of the war against the Jews (par. 222). The Arch of Constantine was Intended to commem- orate the victory of that emperor over Maxentius, which event established Christianity as the favored religion ol the empire (par. 245). 297. Sepulchral Monuments. — The komans in the ear- liest times seem usually to have disposed of their dead by burial ; but towards the close of the republican period cremation, or burning, became common. When Christian- ity took possession of the empire, the doctrine which it taught of the resurrection of the body caused inhumation, or burying, again to become the prevalent mode. The favorite burying place among the Romans was along the highways ; *'for the dead were thought of as ever turn- inestrz*ctioft oj' Ancient J^ome, earlier chapters. Inge (\V. R.), ** Social Life in Rome under the Ccrsars, chap. v. pp. 103— 118. Thomas (E.), Roman Life tinder the Ccesars, chap. iii. § i , pp- 63— 69, " The Palatine"; § 3, " Country houses." Guhl (E.) and Koner (W.), The Life of the Greeks and Romans. (Translated from the Ger- man.) Consult Index. On the military roads of the Romans, the stu- dent will find in The N'ation for September 14, 1S99, p. 204 (vol. Ixix. No. 1785), a fresh and scholarly article entitled "Roman Roads and Milestones in Asia Minor," by J. R. S. Sterrett. CHAITER XXIY. LITERATURE, FHILOSOPHY, ANi:> EAW. 298. Literature among the Romans. — The literary or purely intellectual life of the Romans was in every way far inferior to that of the Greeks. The old conquerors of the world were too practical 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. Their very amusements tended to the same end as did their more serious employ- ments. The real tragedies of the amphitheatre rendered tame the mock tragedies of the stage. The inspiration and encouragement of popular appreciation and applause, which helped to raise the tragic drama to such lofty excellence at Athens, were almost wholly wanting at Rome. Therefore, in the brief examination which we now pur- pose to make of Latin literature, we must not expect to discover such worth and genius as distinguish the intellec- tual productions of the Hellenic race ; still we shall find the literary memorials of the Roman people possessing 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. 299. The Period of Literary Activity. — It was only the last two centuries of the republic and the first of the empire 477 478 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. that were marked by the literary activity and productive- ness of the Latin intellect. The first five centuries of Roman history are almost barren of literary monuments. But in the third century B.C., under the fostering influences of the republic, literature began to spring up and to flour- ish, and, by the time of the establishment of the empire, had reached its fullest development ; then, upon the fall of the republic, it soon began to languish, and survived the death of freedom barely a single century. The last four hundred years of the imperial era produced very few writers or 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 intel- lectual 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. 300. Relation of Roman to Greek Literature. — Latin liter- ature was almost wholly imitative or borrowed, beino- 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 in/luence, we must bear in mind that the spread of the Latin speech, as a literary language, was coextensive with the conquests of Rome. In those countries where the subjected peoples were inferior in civilization to the Romans, — which was LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY AND LAW. 479 the condition of all the nations In the West, — -the language of the conquerors came to be the dominant speech. Italy, Spain, Gaul, and Northern Africa became so thoroughly Romanized before the overthrow of the empire that the Latin tongue, much changed, of course, from the classical forms of the capital, came into general use among all classes. It was different in the East, where the Hellenic language and culture had been spread. The speech of Rome never succeeded 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 provinces the Roman tongue became the speech of the riding 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 historians were read everywhere within the limits of the Roman empire, and that is equivalent to saving that they circulated throughout the civilized world. And wher- ever Latin literature found its way, there were scattered broadcast the seeds of Greek culture, science, and phi- losophy. The relation of Rome to Greece was exactly the same as that of Phoenicia to Egypt, as expressed by Lenor- mant : Greece was the mother of modern civilization ; Rome was its missionary. 301. Lays and Ballads of the Legendary Age. The period embraced between the eighth and fourth centuries b.c. may properly be called the Heroic Age of Rome. It corre- sponds exactly, in its literary products, to the similarly designated period In Grecian history. During this early 480 ARCIIlTECTLrJ^f:, JLIT^ER^ Tl/RE, I. A IV. 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 which 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 combat of the Horatii and Curiatii, the pride of Tarquln, the misfortunes and dedth of LuCretla, thC CStab- lishment of liberty by the elder Brutus, the wonderful war with Porsenna, the steadfastness of Scaevola, the banish- ment 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 inter- cession of his mother — these and the like circumstances, if they be examined from the proper point of view, cannot kil to be considered 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 historical purposes, but only in the same way that the poems of Homer are used. The refer- ences 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 the first part of our book, we tried to form of the early Roman state. 302. The Roman Dramatists.— From the earliest times * Schlegel, in Lectures on Literature, as quoted by Dunlop, History o/Rman Literature, vol. i. p. 4i' z,z2-z^/^A T-c^A'z-, r/iiJLosorHY^ AND LAW. 481 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 Creeks. The Romans now be-an to study with much appreciation, and not without profit, the rich stores of Greek literature opened to them. Amono" the leading families of Rome it became the fashion to commit the education of children to Greek slaves. The conqueror bowed at the feet of the conquered. The debt incurred by the Romans in all intellectual and literarv matters to the Greeks has been declared to be but faintly paralleled by that incurred by the KnglisK in theology, philosophy, and music to Germany.^ ^' Their [the Romans'] genms, 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 with- out enthusiasm or imitated without advantage." ^ It was the dramatic productions of the Greeks which were first copied and studied by the Romans. Transla- tions 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 to 78 H.c, dramatic literature was almost the only form of composition 'cultivated at Rome. During tins epoch appeared all the great dramatists ever produced ^ Cruttwell, History of Roman Literatitrc, p. ^Jo. ^ Dunlop, History of Roman Litmitur^, vol. i. p. 55. 482 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. \ by the Latin-speaking race. Of these we may name, for trief mention, Livlus AnJronicus, Nrt'Vmf^, EnniuS, PkutuS, and Terence. All of these writers were close imitators of Greek authors, and most of their works were simply adap- tations or translations of the masterpieces of the Greek dramatists. Livius Andronicus, who lived about the middle of the third century B.C., was probably a Greek prisoner carried to Rome from some city of Magna Gn^cia. He was the father of the Roman drama. He transformed the mimic dances, which had been introduced at Rome by Etruscan actors about a century before his time (in 364 v,.c), into a real dramatic representation, by adding to the performance dialogues to be recited by the actors. He was the per- former of his own pieces, and was so often recalled by his admirers that he overtaxed and lost his voice. After this misfortune 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 representa- tion, 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 accom- panying them with the appropriate gestures. Na^vius, who wrote about the close of the third century B.C., was the first native-born Roman poet of eminence. His plays were chiefly translations from various Greek dramatists. He imitated Aristophanes ; and as the latter lashed the corrupt politicians of Athens, so did the former LITERATURE, rillLOSOPHY, AND LAW. 483 expose to ridicule and contempt different 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 Carthage (about 204 n.c). Naivius 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 Na^vius, was an epic as well as a dramatic writer. The greatest work from his prolific pen was the Anm^h, an epic poem recounting In graceful and vigorous verse the story of Rome from the times of the kings to his own day. Had Vergil never lived, Ennius must always have been named as the greatest epic poet produced by the Roman race. 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. Vergil acknowl- edged 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 (about 254-184 B.C.) and Terence (about 196-161 H.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 corrupt life of the r^ast, whose debasing Influences were at this time begin- ning to effect a lowering of the tone of society at Rome. 484 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. Terence wrote more for the cultured classes, and did not stoop to employ those means by which Plautus secured the applause of his audiences. 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 modern writers of comedy — Italian, French, and English — drawn freely from these their great Roman predecessors.^ 303. Poets of the Later Republican 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 Gra:;cia more than one hundred years before was now intensified and strengthened. But with the introduction of the learning and refinement of the conquered peoples came also the luxuries and vices " "'The earliest writers,' as has jusUy been remarked, 'took posses- sion 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' \Rasselas'}^. The great author from whom these reflections arc- 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 intention, he would have found the notion he entertained fully confirmed by the history both of dra- matic and romantic fiction ; he would have perceived the 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 coml)inations ; he would ha\>' found that while Plautus ana Terence servilely copied from the dree!^ dramatists, even Ariosto scarcely diverged in his comedies from the paths of Flautus." — UUNLOP, History of Roman Literature, Preface, p. xi.x LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 485 of the East. Just at this time, evoked, it would seem, by the shameless extravagances and corruptions that invited rebuke, appeared Lucilius (born about 148 b.c), one of the greatest of Roman satirists. The later satirists of the cor- rupt imperial era were the imitators of the republican poet. Besides Lucilius, there appeared during the later repub- lican era only two other poets of distinguished merit, Lucretius and Catullus. Both were born early in the last century f,.c. Lucretius studied at Athens, where he became deeply imbued with the doctrines of the Epicu- rean philosophy, which at that time was in the ascendant at the Attic capital. He left behind him but a sinL^le work, entitled Dt Kcrim Miturn -^ ('' On the Nature of Things"). Lucretius was a thorough evolutionist, and in his great poem we find anticipated many of the conclu- sions of modern scientists. He pictures Chaos with more than Miltonic power ; tells how the worlds were formed by a "fortuitous concourse of atoms " ; relates how the genera- tions of life were evolved from the teeming earth ; ridicules the superstitions of his countrymen, declaring that the gods do not trouble themselves about earthly affairs, but that storms, lightning, volcanoes, and pestilences are pro- duced by natural causes, and not by the anger of the celes- tials ; and finally reaches the conclusion that death ends all for the human soul. Lucretius is studied more by mod- ern scholars, whose discoveries and theories he so marvel- lously anticipated, than he was by the Romans of his own time. Catullus was a lyric poet the beauty and sweetness of whose verses are winning to their study at the present day many ardent admirers. He was born about 87 B.C., and I 486 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. 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 Burns, 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 republican period of the Golden Age. 30^. Poets of the Augustan Age. — Three poets have cast an unfading lustre over the period covered by the reign of Augustus, — Vergil, Horace, and Ovid. So distinguished have these writers rendered the age in w^hich they lived, that any period in a people's literature signalized by excep- tional literary taste and refinement is called, in allusion to the Roman era, an Augustan Age. After the terrific com- motion 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. In narrating the political history of this period, we spoke of the effect of the fall of the republic upon the develop- ment of Latin literature (par. 213). Many who, if the republican institutions had continued, \vould 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. His minister Maicenas, in whose veins flowed royal Etrus can blood, vied with his master in the bestowal of munifi- LITERATURE, rillLOSOPIIY, AND LAW. 487 cent 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 dis- tinguishes this period. rhe 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 works of Vergil, 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 Cireek 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, originalitv, 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, Shakespearean 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 repre- sentatives of the poetry of the Augustan period, Vergil doubtless has been the most widely read and admired. He was born 70 B.C. in the little village of Andes, not far from Mantua, in the district of the Po. Upon his father's farm he learned to love nature and the freedom of a country life. Through the diligent study of the philosophy and literature of Greece, he came to feel the inspiration of the great poets 488 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. of Hellas. During the disorders of the Second Triumvirate the Mantuan farm was confiscated and allotted to one of the veterans of the triumvirs. It was afterwards restored to the poet by the young Octavius. Vergil was laboring upon his greatest work, the y^neid, when death came to him, in the fifty-second year of his age. VhQ three great works of Vergil are his Ech\^iics, the G corgtis, and the .Aificid. The ILi/ogiies are a series of pastorals,which are very close imitations r the poems of the Sici- Vek(;il. (From an old engraving ) Han Theocritus. Vergil, 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 so many admirers. In the Gcorgics Vergil extols and dignifies the husband- man 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 Vergil follows very closely the Works and Days of the LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 489 Greek poet Hesiod. The poet treats of all the labors and cares of the farm — gives valuable precepts respecting the keeping of bees and cattle, 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 philo- sophical truth, or teaching some moral lesson. Without the Gcorgics we should never have had the Seasons of Thomson; for this work of the English poet is in a large measure a direct translation of the verses of Vercril. The ^rieid stands next to the Iliad as the greatest epic poem of all literatures. It tells the story of the wander- ings of .'Eneas with his companions up and down the Medi- terranean 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, Vergil doubtless intends to represent and compli- ment his patron Augustus. In this, his greatest work, Vergil was a close student of the Iliad and the Olyssey, 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 Knnius is he also Indebted for many a verse. Homer was Vergil's superior in energy and originality, and in the martial grandeur of his lines; while the latter surpassed his master in the grace, melody, elegance, and harmony of his versification. Vergil enjoyed for his work that reward which many another great poet has been denied — the appreciation of his genius during his own lifetime. The poet, in accord- ance with a custom that in his day was common, read or 490 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. recited his poems in the presence of select friends, and also in public. On one occasion he repeated the sixth book of his ifjicid 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 (par. 216). In the part of the poem rehearsed by Vergil occurs the well-known passage that mourns with the tenderest pathos the too early death of the favorite prince. The closing lines run thus: '• Ah, dear lamented boy, canst thou but break The Stern decrees of fate, then wih thou be Our own Marcellus ! — Give me liUes, 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 '' s It is said that as Vergil read these verses Octavia was so overcome by her feelings that she fainted, and that the poet was afterwards 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 Vergil, whom he outlived by about a single decade. He studied at Athens, fought with* the repubUcans at Philippi, gained no glory — for he tells us himself 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 Vergil he secured the favor of Maecenas and gained an introduction to Augustus, and thenceforth led 8 Aineidy bk. vi. [C ranch's Trans.J. I LITERATURE, PniLOSOri/y, A.Vn /.A IV. 491 the life of a courtier, dividing his time between the pleas- ures of the capital and the scenes of his pleasant farm near the village of Tibur. The latter years of hi§ life were shadowed by the deaths of his poet-friends Vergil and Tibullus, and that of his generous patron Maicenas, whom he survived only a few weeks. Horace's Oths, Sat- ires, and Epistles have all helped win for him his wide- spread fame; but the first best exhibit his genius and his subtle grace of expression. Ovid (43 B.c.-A.i). 18) is the third name in the trium- virate 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, banished 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. Fortu- nately some friend had previously made a copy of the work, and thus this literary treasure was saved to the world. The poem opens with the sublime description of Chaos and the creation- of the world; then tells of the production of monstrous creatures by the prolific earth, and of the changing races of men and giants ; after which the poet proceeds to describe, through fifteen books, be- 49: ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. tween two and three hundred metamorphoses, or transforma- tions — 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 Vergil 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 brilliant coterie of poets that have rendered the reign of Augustus ever memorable in the literary history of the world. 305. Satire and Satirists. — Satire thrives best in the reeking soil and tainted atmosphere of an age of selfish- ness, immorality, and vice. Such an age was that which followea the Augustan Era at Home. The throne was held by such imperial monsters as Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, and Domitian. The profligacy of fashionable life at the capi- tal and the various watering-places of the empire was open and shameless. The degradation of the court ; the cor- rupt 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 ; the utter loss of the simplicity and virtue of the early Roman fathers ; and the almost com- plete degradation of the intellect, — all this gave venom and point to the shafts of those who were goaded by the spectacle into attacking the immoralities and vices which were silently yet rapidly sapping the foundations of both society and state. Hence arose a succession of writers LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 493 whose mastery of sharp and stinging satire haS CaUSCd their productions to become the models of all subsequent attempts in the same species of literature. Three names stand out in special prominence, — Persius, Juvenal, and Martial,-' — all of whom lived and wrote dur- ing 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 por- tion 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 survived by many cen- turies the destruction of the political life of Oreece, the Latin intellect sank into decrepitude centuries before the final fall of the empire. The political fabric — so admi- rably consolidated had it become through the growth of many centuries — remained standlnsr, Hke an as-ed oak long after its heart had been eaten away. But the stem put forth no new shoots. After the death of Juvenal (about A.I). 120) the Roman world produced not a single poet of preeminent merit. ^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 '^ot be passed unmentioned, - Lucan (a.d. 38-65) and Statins (about A.I). 61-95). Lucan's only extant work is his Pharsalia, an epic poem on the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. Statins wrote two epics, the Thebaid and the Achilleid, the latter being left incomplete. 494 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. 306. Oratory among the Romans. — " Public oratory," as has been truly said, '' is the child of political freedom, and cannot exist without it." 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 that the miost famous orators of the era should appear as statesmen or as advocates. Theology, science, and belles- lettres did not then, as they have come to do among our- selves, suggest inviting and popular themes for the best efforts of the public speaker. Roman oratory was senatorial, popular, and judicial. These different styles of eloquence were represented by the grave and dignified debates of the senate, the impas- sioned 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, Gains and Tiberius Gracchus, Gains La^lius, Marcus Antonius, Lucius Licinius Crassus, Servius Sulpicius, Hortensius, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony,' and Cicero are some of the most prominent names that have made the rostra of the Roman forum and the assembly chamber of the Roman senate famous in the records of oratory and eloquence. Among all these orators, Horten- sius and Cicero stand preeminent. Hortensius (114-50 h.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 immense fortune. His easy circumstances 1 Grandson of Marcus Antonius. LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LA IV. ^495 and the lack of a rival to spur him to his best seem to have caused him, for a time, to lead a self-indulgent life and to neglect his art. His friend Cicero refers to this in the following interesting passage: '^\fter his consulship (I suppose because he saw that he was beyond comparison the first speaker among the consulars, and took no count of those who had not attained that dignity), Hortensius re- laxed the efforts which he had exerted from his boyhood up, and being well off in every way chose to pass his time more agreeably, as he thought, or at any rate less laboriously. Just as the brilliancy fades from the coloring of an old picture, so the first, the second, and the third year each robbed him of something not noticeable by a casual observer, but which an educated and discerning critic could detect. As time went on, he continued to deteriorate in his delivery, especially in readiness and sustained flow of utterance, until he became every day more unlike his old self. ... By the time that I was made consul, six years after his own consulship, Hortensius had almost effaced himself. Then he began again to take pains ; for The Orator Quinxus Hortknsius. (From a bust in the Villa Albani.) 496 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. now that he and I were equals in rank, he wished us to be equals in everything. Thus for the twelve years following my consulship we two were engaged in the most important cases with unbroken friendliness. I always considered him superior to myself; he put me first." -^ The world has confirmed the judgment of Hortensius. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 b.c.) is easily the first of Roman orators, " the most eloquent of all the SOnS Ot Romulus."^ As a youth he enjoyed every advantage that wealth and parental ambition could confer or suggest. His teachers were the poet Archias and the orator Crassus. Like many others of the Roman patrician youth of his time, he was sent to Greece to finish his education in the schools of Athens. Returning to Italy, he soon assumed a position of commanding influence at the Roman capital. nls prosecution of Verres shows hi§ hatred of the officidl corruption and venality that disgraced his times (par. 184) ; his orations against Catiline illustrate his patriotism (par. 188) ; his essays exhibit the wide range of his thoughts and the depth of his philosophical reflections. All his produc tions evince the most scrupulous care in their prepara- tion. 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 wa^ hi§ overweening vanity. which appears in all he ever wrote, as well as in almost every act of his life. But the times in which Cicero lived, rather than the orator himself, are responsible for this. 2 Quoted by Strachan-Uavidson, Cicero, pp. 62, 63. 3 Catullus, quoted by Strachan-Davidson, Cicero, p. i. Some critics, however, are unwilling to accord much praise to Cicero. Mommsen declares that he was nothing but a "dexterous stylist." LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW, 497 The ancient Romans possessed scarcely a trace of that sense of propriety which has grown up among us, and which forbids a person's celebrating his own virtues. Cicero was a most delightful letter-writer. His letters to his friend Atticus are among the most charming speci- mens of that species of composition. 307. Latin Historians. — Ancient Rome produced four . writers ot history whose worlcs have won for them a per- I manent fame — C'aesar, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. SuetO- nius may also be mentioned in this place, although his writings were rather biographical than historical.'* Of Caesar and his Commentaries on the GallU IVa?- we have learned in a previous chapter (par. 191). 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 divination, a treatise on astron- omy, and, besides, composed some poems that are not with- out merit. But Caesar was a man of affairs rather than a man of letters. Yet his Commentaries 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 * A fuller list of Roman histoj-ical authors would have to admit the name of Fabius Fictor, who lived in the age of Naevius, and was the first historian of the Latin-speaking race ; that of Cato the Censor, of whose Antiquities we possess the merest fragments; and that of Cornelius Nepos, who wrote in the first century B.c. 498 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATUKE, LAW. extensive and beautiful gardens, which became one of the favorite resorts of the literary characters of the capital. The two works upon which kls fame rssts are the O/w^r- acy of Catiline and the /u^urthine War. Both of these pro- ductions are reckoned among the best specimens of prose writing in the entire range of Latin literature, and are found in the hands of every classical Student in tlic Univer- sities of Europe and America. Livy (59 B.c.-'v.D. 17) was one of the brightest ornaments of the Augustan Age. In popular esteem he holds the first place among Latin historical authofs. Herodotus aniohg the ancient, and Macaulay among the modern, writers of historical narrative are the names with which his is often- est compared. His greatest work is his Anmih, a history of Rome from the earliest times to the year 9 B.C. Uufor tunately, all save thirty-five of the one hundred and forty- two books of this admirable production perished durmg the disturbed period that followed the overthrow of the empire. Many have been the hmeiits ovef " the lost book^ of Livy." The books which remain have been universally read and admired for the inimitable grace and ease of the flowing narrative. Livy loved a story equally well with Herodotus. Like the Greek historian, he was over-credu lous, and relates with charming ingenuousness, usually without the least questioning of their credibility, all the legends and myths that were extant in his day respecting the early affairs of Rome. Modem criticism has shown that aU the first portion of his history is entirely unreliable as a chronicle of actual events. However, It is a mo>t entertaining account of what the Romans themselves thought and believed respecting the origin of the.r race. LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 499 the founding of their city, and the deeds and virtues of their forefathers. The works of Tacitus are his Cermania, a treatise on the manners and customs of the Germans j the I.ife of Asricola his History and his Annals. All of these are most admi- rable productions, polished and graceful narratives, full of entertainment and instruction. His Gennania, 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 Ger- mans, 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 (par. 224). The History and Annals cover the reigns of some of the best and of 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 Tiberius, a Nero, and a Domitian has caused his name to be frequently placed with those of Persius, Juvenal, and the other Roman satirists. * Suetonius ^born about A.r>. yo") was the biographer of the hrst Twelve Cccsars. It is to him that we are indebted for very many of the details of the lives of these early emperors. 500 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. 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. 308. Science, Ethics, and Philosophy. — Under this head may be grouped the names of Varro, Seneca, Fliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, Marcus Aurelius, l>pictetus, Quintilian, and Fha^drus. Varro (116-27 ^•^•) 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 Cx^sar, of Octavius and Antony. He himself was among the proscribed in the lists of the cruel Antony, and his magnihcent vulas — for he had im- mense 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 those 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 i^ said to have written between five and six hundred books. His most valuable production, however, was a work on agriculture, a sort of handbook for the Italian farmer. Seneca (about a.d. 1-65), moralist and philosopher, has already come to our notice as the tutor of Nero (par. 220). The act of his life which has been most severely con- demned was the defence which he made of his master before the senate for the tyrant's murder of his mother, % LJTERATUJ^E, PI/ILOSOrilY, A/^n law, 501 Agrippina. Nero requited but poorly the infamous serv- ice. Seneca possessed an enormous fortune, estimated at 300,000,000 sesterces, which the ever-needy emperor cov- eted ; he accordingly accused him of taking part in a con- spiracy against his life, ordered him to commit suicide, and confiscated his estates. The phi- losopher met his fate calmly. Upon receiving the de- cree of his master, heopened the veins of his body, and died in the warm bath, whither he had retired in order that the flow of the blood might be accelerated, for it had become Senfxa, (From the double bust of Seneca and Socrates ill the Berlin Museum.) sluggish from age. As a philosopher Seneca belonged to the school of the Stoics. He wrote many essays and letters, the latter in- tended for publication, 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 pop- ular religion of his countrymen, and entertained concep- tions of God and his moral government not very different from the doctrines of Socrates. His ethical teachings are 502 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. SO lofty and admirable that it has been maintained he came under the influences of Christianity; and several let- ters addressed apparently by the philosopher to the apostle Paul, which are still extant, were formerly referred tO as proof of this fact ; but these have been shown to be spuri- ous. Besides his ethical and philosophical writings, Seneca composed ten tragedies, designed rather for reading than for the stage. Seneca's name will ever be remembered as that of a great teacher of virtue and morality to a corrupt age, whose influence upon himself all his philosophy could not wholly resist. Pliny the Elder (a.o. 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, tliat 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 in command of the Roman fleet at Misenum when occurred the eruption of Vesuvius which resulted in the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum (par. 223). 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 philoso- pher ordered his sailors to put him ashore; but unfortil nately he ventured too near the volcano, and was over come and suffocated by the sulphurous exhalations. LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 503 The only work of Pliny that has been spared to us is his Natural History, embracing thirty-seven volumes. It is a monument of untiring industry and extensive research. It contains twenty thousand citations from more than two thousand volumes of various authors. It was the Roman Encyclopc-edia, containing all that the world then knew respecting astronomy, geography, botany, zoology, medi- cine, 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 sup- ported he knows not, in vacant space. In connection with the name of Pliny the Elder must be mentioned 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 fllled with the most fulsome praise. The large number of his epistles, poems, histories, and tragedies indicate his indus- try and his devotion to letters.^ Marcus Aurelius the emperor and Epictetus the slave hold the first place among the ethical teachers of Rome. The former wrote his Meditations (par. 228) ; but the lat- ter, like Socrates, committed nothing to writing, so that we know of the character of his teachings only through one of his pupils, Arrian by name. Epictetus was for many years a slave at the -capital, but, securing in some way his freedom, he became a teacher of philosophy. I^omitian having ordered all philosophers to leave Rome, ^ Compare par. 226, last part. 504 AKCHITECTUKE^ LITERATURE^ LAW, Epictetus fled to Epirus, where he established a school in which he taught the doctrines 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 emi- nent representatives and expositors of the philosophy of the Stoics. In them Stoicism bore its consummate flower and fruit. The doctrines of the Oalilean were even then fast taking possession of the Roman world ; for, giving larger place to the affections and all the natural instincts, they readily won the hearts of men from the cold, unsym- pathetic abstractions of the Grecian sage. Quintilian (about a.d. 40-118) was the one great gram- marian and rhetorician that the Roman race produced. For about a quarter of a century he was the most noted lecturer at Rome on educational and literary subjects. One 01 tne booksellers of the capital, after much persuasion, finally prevailed upon the teacher to publish his lectures. They were received with great favor, and Quintilian's lustitutcs have never ceased to be studied and copied by all succeed- ing writers on education and rhetoric.^ 6 The allusions which we have made to the publishing trade suggest a word respecting ancient publishers and books. There were in Rome several publishing houses, which, in their day, enjoyed a •wide reputa- tion 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 contained nothing like the amount of matter held by an ordinary modern volume. Thus Caesar's Gallic Wars, which makes a single volume of moderate LITERATURE, rillLOSOTHY, AND LAW, 505 During the reign of Tiberius, Phsedrus, '* the Roman ^sop," wrote his fables, which were, for the most part, translations or imitations of the productions of his Greek master. A little later, in the reign of Titus, Trontinus wrote a valuable work on military strategy and a still more interesting book on the Roman aqueducts. This latter work gives us much interesting information respectin-"- Thus was symbolized the ^q^ality of the citizens. 514 ARCHITKCTURE, LITBRATURE, LAW. later and more degenerate times her position became less honored, and divorce grew to be very common. The hus- band had the right to divorce his wife for the slightest cause, or for no cause at all. In this disregard of the sanctity of the family relation may doubtless be found one cause of the degeneracy and failure of the Roman stock. 313. Legacy Hunting. — The decay of family life at Rome in the last century of the republic and the first of the empire gave birth to a vice so characteristic of the society of those times that we must not pass it in entire silence. This was what is known as legacy hunting. The disesteem in which family life had come to be held by the upper classes gave rise to the presence in society of a large number of heirless persons. This state o£ things called into existence a despicable class, who by every means tried to insinuate themselves into the favor of the rich but childless person, in order to induce him to name them as his heirs. The practices resorted to by these legacy hunters were as shameless as they were ingenious. Thc} became the obsequious clients of the one whose wealth they coveted. They made him gifts and showered upon hin, attentions of every kind. Ttiey offered prayers and sacri- fices for his recovery when he was sick, although they were hoping for his speedy death. They sat on the foremost benches when he read verses of his own composition, and though almost dead with weariness applauded loudl . They were diligent in attendance upon his lectures. Cas- ually they showed him their own wills, drawn in his favir. If any of his houses chanced to burn down, they were t!ie first to subscribe to a fund to maUe good KIs loss. And SOCIAL LIFE. 5'5 thus It came about that the childless and heirless person held in society a most envied place. " The n,an who has he.rs," says a writer of the times, "is never invited to any fesfve gathering, but is left to associate with the dre-^s of hitherto childless. StraightW.ay h. kca.e friendless and Without influence.^ Seneca in a letter to a mother who had lost her only child consoles her with the thought th.at now She will enjoy a social position which she could not have secured had her heir lived. But there was another side to the matter. The deceivers were often deceived. In order that they might be the recipients of the attentions and the gifts bestowed by these legac). hunters upon the heirless rich, many made false |)retensions to the possession of great wealth. I>uring life such persons enjoyed great consideration, and dying, left many indignant mourners. 314. Public Amusements. -The entertainments of the theatre, the games of the circus, and the combats of the amphitheatre were the three principal public amusements of the Romans. These entertainments, in general, increased .n popularity, as liberty declined, thc great feStiUG g.ath.r ">gs at the various places of amusement taking the place of the political assemblies of the republic. The public e-vh.bitions under the empire were, in a certain sense, •l>e compensation which the emperors otfered the people ^M'etronius, quoted by Inge, So.i.,,i„ ^v,«. uu^er ,„c Crsars, u.e work have been spared to us. 5l6 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE. LAW. for their surrender of tke rlgkt of partlCipitiOIl IR PUl]" lie affairs; and the people were content to accept the exchange. Tragedy was never held in high esteem at Rome ; the people saw too much real tragedy in the exhibitions of the amphitheatre to care much for the make-helieve trage- dies of the stage. The entertainments of the theatres usu- ally took the form of comedies, farces, and pantomimes. Tke last were particularly popular, both because the vast size of the theatres made it quite impossible for the actor to make his voice heard throughout the structure, and for the reason that the language of signs was the only language that could be readily understood by an audience made up of so many different nationalities as composed a Roman assemblage. Almost from the beginning the Roman stage was gross and immoral. It was one of the main agencies to which must be attributed the undermining of the originaUy sound moral life of Roman society. So absorbed did the people become in the indecent representations of the stage that they lost all thou-ht and care of the affairs of real life. And the evil was not conUned to the capital. In all the great cities of the provinces the theatre held the same place of bad preeminence in the social life of the inhabitants. The people of Carthage ^vere shouting and applauding in the theatre at the very moment when the Vandals were bursting open the city gates. "The Roman world died laughing." More important and more popular than the entertain ments of the theatre were the various games, especiaUy tiu chariot races, of the circus. But surpassing in their terribic SOCIAL LIFE. 517 iascinahon all other public amusements were the animal baitings and the gladiatorial combats of the arena. The beasts required for the baitings were secured in dif- ferent parts of the world, and transported to Rome and the Other cities of the empire at enormous expense. The wildernesses of Northern Europc fumished bears and wolves; Scotland sent fierce dogs; Africa contributed Chariot-Racing. (Pompeian wall-painting.) lions, crocodiles, and leopards ; Asia, elephants and tigers. These creatures were pitted against one another in every conceivable way. Often a promiscuous multitude would be turned loose in the arena at once. But even the terrific scene that then ensued became at last too tame to stir the bi<>^d Of the Roman populace. Hence a new speeieg of entertainments was introduced, and grew rapidly into favor with the spectators of the amphitheatre. This was the gladiatorial combat. 315. The Gladiatorial Combats. — Gladiatorial shows seem to have had their origin in Etruria, whence they were brought to Rome. It was a custom among the early 5i8 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. Etruscans to slay prisoners upon the warrior's ^'rave, it being thought that the manes of the dead delighted in the blood of such victims. In later times the prisoners were allowed to fight and kill one another, this being deemed more humane than their cold-blooded slaughter. Thus it happened that sentiments of humanity gave rise to an institution which, afterwards perverted, became the most inhuman of any that ever existed among a civilized people. The first gladiatorial spectacle at Rome was presented by two sons at the funeral of their father, in the year 264 B.C. This exhibition was arranged in one of the forums, as there were at that time no amphitheatres in existence. From this time the public taste for this species of enter- tainment grew rapidly, and by the beginning of the imperial period had become a perfect Infatuation. It was now no longer the manes of the dead, but the spirits of the living, that the spectacles were intended to appease. At first the combatants were slaves, captives, or condemned criminals ; but at last knights, senators, and even women descended voluntarily into the arena. l>aining-schools were estab- lished at Rome, C^apua, Ravenna, and other cities. Free citizens often sold themselves to the keepers of these semi- naries ; and to them flocked desperate men of all classes, and ruined spendthrifts of the noblest patrician houses. Slaves and criminals were encouraged to become proficient in the art by the promise of freedom if they survived the combats beyond a certain number of years. Sometimes the gladiators fought in pairs ; again, great companies engaged at once in the deadly fray. They fought in chariots, on horseback, on foot — in ah the ways that soldiers were accustomed to fight in actual battle. SOCIAL LIFE. 519 The contestants were armed with knees, swords, daggers, tridents, and every manner of weapon. Some were pro- vided with nets and lassos, with which they entangled their adversaries, and then slew them. The life of a wounded gladiator Wa.^, m ordinary cases, m the hands of the audience. If in response to his appeal for mercy, which was made by outstretching the forefino-er the spectators waved their handkerchiefs or reached out their hands with thumbs ex- tended, that in- dicated that his prayer had been heard • but if they extended their hands with thumbs turned in, that was the signal for the victOr tO givC him the death stroke. Sometimes the dying were aroused and forced to resume the fight, by being burned with a hot iron. The dead bodies were dragged from the arena with hooks, like the carcasses of animals, and the pools of blood soaked up with dry sand. These shows increased to such an extent that they entirely overshadowed the entertainments of the circus and the theatre. Ambitious officials and commanders arranged siuch spectacles in order to curry favor with the masses ; magistrates were expected to give them in connection with Gladiators. (Pompeian wall-painting.) 520 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. the public festivab ; the heads of aspiring families exhibited them " in order to acquire social position " ; wealthy citi- zens prepared them as an indispensable feature of a fash- ionable banquet; the children caught the spirit of their elders and imitated them in their plays. The demand for gladiators was met by the training-schools ; the managers of these hired out bands of trained men, that travelled through the country like opera troupes among us, and gave e^'ihibitions in private houses or in the provincial amphitheatres. The rivalries between ambitious leaders during the later years of the republic tended greatly to increase the number of gladiatorial shows, as liberality in arranging these spec- tacles was a sure passport to popular favor. It was reserved for the emperors, however, to exhibit them on a truly imperial scale. Titus, upon the dedication of the Flavian Amphitheatre (|par. 222\ provided games, mostly gladiatorial combats, that lasted one hundred days. Trajan celebrated his victories with shows that continued still longer, in the progress of which ten thousand gladiators fought upon the arena, and more than ten thousand wild beasts were slain.* 316. Luxury. — By luxury, as we shall use the word, we mean extravagant and self-indulgent living. This vice seems to have been almost unknown in early Rome. The primitive Romans were men of frugal habits, who, like Fabricius (par. 82), found contentment in poverty and dis- dained riches. A great change, however, as we have seen, passed over Roman society after the conquest of the East and the 5 For the suppression of the gladiatorial games, see par. 270. SOCIAL LIFE. 521 development of the COrrupt provincial syst.m of the late. republic. The colossal fortunes quickly and dishonestly amassed by the ruling class marked the incoming at Rome of such a reign of luxury as perhaps no other capital of the world ever witnessed. This luxury was at its height In the last century of the republic and the first of the empire. Never has great wealth been more grossly misused than during this period at Rome. The establishment of the empire, however, ind Skmicircii.ar I^inincj-Couch. (From a Pompeian wall-painting.) the accompanying reform of the administration of the provinces, gradually destroyed those sources whence had been drawn many, at least, of the ill-gotten and rapidly accumulated fortunes of the earlier period. There was still, of course, a wealthy class ; but the fortunes of these had generally come to them through inheritance. There were fewer '^new men." This later aristocracy was more like the English landed aristocracy of to-day. In such a society there will be found less foolish ostentation and gross living than in a society like that of the days of the failing republic of Rome. 522 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. The character of the expenditures of this later Roman aristocracy was determined very largely by the circum- stances of the times. Among ourselves the greater part of the income of the wealthy classes is employed in industrial enterprises. At Rome it was not so. There were not so many opportunities then as there are now for the profitable and safe use of capital. The fortunate possessor of a large income was shut up to expending it in adding new fields to his estate, in multiplying, enlarging or beautifying his palaces and villas, or in the maintenance of an expensive domestic establishment. Most of the large private incomes of the imperial period — and there were many great land- owners who enjoyed incomes ranging from $100,000 to $800,000 in our money were expended in one or in all ot these ways, which were forms of expenditure that seemed to ffood citizens legitimate and reasonable, and which offended neither the good taste nor the conscience of the time. ''The real canker at the root of that society was not gross vice, but class-pride, want of public spirit, absorp- tion in the vanities of a sterile culture, cultivated selfish- ness."^ But the most of these faults are faults which have charac- terized every aristocracy of wealth that the world has ever seen. During the last four centuries of the empire the luxury of the Roman aristocracy was perhaps little more extravagant or selfish than that of any of the aristocracies that since the fall of Roman civilization have absorbed and expended so large a part of the wealth of the different European countries. 6 Dill, Roman Society in the I^ast Century of the Roman EmJ>ire, p. 176. SOCIAL LIFE. 523 317. State Distribution of Corn. - The free distribution of corn at Rome has been characterized as the - leading fact of Roman life." It will be recalled that this pernicious prac- tice had its beginnings in the legislation of Gains Gracchus (par. 155). Just before the establishment of the empire over three hundred thousand Roman citizens were recipi- ents of this state bounty. In the time of the Antonines the number is asserted to have been even larger. The corn for this enormous distribution was derived, in large part, from a grain tribute exacted of the African and other corn- producing provinces. In the third century, to the lar- gesses of corn were added doles of oil, wine, and pork. The evils that resulted from this misdirected state chanty can hardly be overstated. Idleness and all its accompanying vices were fostered to such a degree that we probably shall not be wrong in enumerating the prac- tice as one of the chief causes of the demoralization of society at Uome under the emperors. 318. Slavery The number of slaves In the Roman State under the later republic and the earlier empire was probably as great as, or even greater than, the number of rreemen. .^ome large proprietors owned as many as twenty thousand. The love of ostentation led to the multiplica- tion of offices in the households of the wealthy, and the employment of a special slave for every different kind of work. Thus there was the slave called the sanJa/io, whose sole duty it was to care for his master's sandals; and another, called the nomendator, whose exclusive business It was to accompany his master when he went upon the Street, and gW^ kim tke names of such persons as he ought to recognize. The price of slaves varied from a few dol- 524 ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW. lars to ten or twenty thousand dollars — these last figures teing 6f course exceptional. Greek slaves were the most valuable, as their lively intelligence rendered them service- able in positions calling for special talent. The slave class was chiefly recruited, as in Greece, by war, and by the practice of kidnapping. Some of the out- lying provinces in Asia and Africa were almost depopulated by the slave hunters. Delinquent taxpayers were often sold as slaves, and frequently poor persons sold themselves into servitude. The feeling entertained towards this unfortunate class in the later republican period is illustrated by Varro's classi- fication of slaves as "vocal agricultural implements," and again by Cato the Censor's recommendation to masters to sell their old and decrepit slaves, In order to save the expense of caring for them (par. 137). Sick and hope- lessly infirm slaves were taken to an island in the Tiber and left there to die of starvation and exposure, in many cases, as a measure of precaution, the slaves were forced to work in chains, and to sleep in subterranean prisons. Their bitter hatred towards their masters, engendered by harsh treatment, is witnessed by the well-known proverb, "As many enemies as slaves," and by the servile revolts and wars of the republican period. Slaves were treated better under the empire than under the later republic — a change to be attributed doubtless to the influence of Stoicism and Christianity. From the first century of the empire forward there is observable a growing sentiment of humanity towards the bondsman. Imperial edicts take away from the master the right to kill his slave, or to seU him to the trader in gladiators, or even SOCIAL LIFE. 525 to treat him with undue severity. This marks the begin- ning of a slow reform which in the CQUrSC Of tCn Of tWClve centuries resulted in the complete, or almost complete, abolition of slavery in Christian Europe. Roman J.amentatiun fur the Dead. (From an ancient marble relief.) References. — Inge (\V. R.), '^^ Society in Rome under the Cccsars ; a prize essay on the social life of Rome in the first century of our era. Morality, eduiatioii, daily life, amusements, and luxury are some fea- tares of this life that are touched upon. I.kcky (W. E. II.), History of European Morals frotn Au^^nstus to Charlemagne, i vols. A book of first importance. The student is recommended to read vol. i. chap. ii. GUHL (E.) and Koner (W.), The Life of the Greeks and Romans. (From the German.) Dill (S.), ** Roman Society in the Last Century of the iVestern Empire. Kead bk. v. pp. 321-376, on "Characteristics of Roman Education and Culture in the Fifth Century." Preston (II. W.) and Dodge (L.), The Private Life of the Rotnans (The Stu- dents' Series of Latin Classics). Thomas (E.), * Roman Life under the Ccesars. Oilman (A.), The Story of Rome (Story of the Nations), chap, xvill. pp. 271-291, " v^ome Manners and Customs of the Roman People." Frif-DL-^NI^KR (I-), Dat'stellungcn aus der Sittcfigeschichte Roms, 3 vols. Fling (F. M.), Studies in European History ((^ireek and Roman Civilization), second edition, 1S99, chap. x. pp. 146-163, " Roman Law," INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. Note. — In the case of words whose correct pronunciation has not seemed to be clearly indicated by their accentuation and syllabication, the sounds of the letters have been denoted thus : a, like a in ^rdy ; a, like a, only less prolonged ; a, like a in /idve ; a, like a \\\ far ; e, like ee in meet ; e, like e in end ; € and ch, like /• ; 9, like s ; g, like g in get ; g, like y; o, like o in note ; o, like o in for ; s, like z ; ri, like ng in song. A-€hae'an league, how formed, 184 ; hostages in Italy, 190; war with Rome, 190; dissolu- tion, 19^. A-cha'i-a, province, lo^. Ae'ti-um, battle of, 309. Adolf. See Ataulf. A'dri-an-o"ple, battle of (a.d. 323), 394; battle near (a.d. 378), 420. Adriatic Sea, 2. yEdUes (e'dlls), plebeian, duties, 70; made sacrosanct, 89; tabu- lated facts respecting, no. yEduans, 287. yE-ga'tian Islands, naval battle near, 153. -rKmilianus. See Scipio. ^-ne''as, legend of, 57. /E-nc'id, the, 489. .(^'qui-ans, early enemies of Rome, 00, 81 ; territory incorporated in Roman domain, 126. Ae'ti-us, Roman general, 437. .^tolian league, formation of, 183 ; ally of Rome in First Macedonian War, 175; dis- solved, 193. A'ger puhlicus. See Public lands and Agrarian laws. Ager Komanns, 90 anJ n. 3. Agrarian laws : of Spurius Cassius, 73-75 ;lawof 1 iberiusCJracchus, 212 ; its effect, 217. A-gric'o-la, in Britain, 352. A-grip'pa, M., 458, 467, n. 8. Ag'rip-pi"na, 344. Aix-la-Chapelle (aks-la-sha-per), 470. Alaric, his first invasion of Italy, 427 J wrings ransom from Rome, 430; sacks the city, 432; his death, 433. Alba Longa, its situation, 41 ; tra- ditional founding, 57 ; destroyed by the Romans, 59. Alban IIills, 41. Alban Lake, 93; emissary at, 93, 94. •AT^i-bi^'a-des, 169, n. 7. ATe-man'^ni, 417. 52? 528 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. A-le'si-a, 288. Alexander the Great, compared with Roman generals, 125. Algeria, 463, n. 5. Al'gi-dus, Mount, 80. Arii-a, battle of the, 97. Alphabet, gift to the Romans from the Greeks, 10. Alps, Julian, 4 ; Maritime, 227. Am-bdr-vd'li-d, 32, n. 3. Ambrose, bishop, 425. Amphitheatres, spectacles of, ar- ranged by Augustus, 32/ ; the Flavian, 460-462 ; shows of, 517. A-mu'li-us, king of Rome, 57. Ancestor worship among the Romans, 13; most important element in their religion, 31 ; culminates in cult of the em- peror, 330. An-chi'ses, 57. An'cus Mar'ti-us, king of Rome, 46. Andalusia (an-da-lu'she-a or, in Spanish, an-da-loo-tKe'a), origin of the name, 435- Andes, 487. An'dro-ni''cus, Livius, poet, 4S2. Angles invade Britain, 436. A'ni-0 River, 256. An-tig'o-nus, general of Alexander, 267, n. 3. Antioch, population at time of Augustus, 327. An-tro-€hu5 the Oreat, king of Syria, forms an alliance with Philip V. of Macedonia, 185 ; war with Rome, 186 ; defeated at Magnesium, 187. An'ti-um, 121. An'to-ni"nus Pi'us, emperor, 364. Antony, Mark, the triumvir, offers crown to Caisar, 301 ; delivers funeral oration over Laesar s body, 304 ; plays the tyrant, 304 ; opposed by Octavius, 305 ; enters the Second Triumvirate, 305 ; receives the government of the East, 306; his revels with Cleopatra, 308 ; his expedition against the Parthians, 309; at the battle of Actium, 310 ; his death, 310. Ap'en-nines, the, 4, 5. Apollo, temple at Rome, 329; statue of, set up by Constantine, 403, 404. A-pol'lo-do^rus, architect, 363. Appeal, right of, secured by the Lex Valeria^ 66 ; law revived, 89. Appian Way. See Via Appia. Appius Claudius. See Claudius. Ap'pu-le''i-us Saturninus, 231, 232 ; his death, 233. Apulia, 2. Apulians join Hannibal, 172. A'quae Sex'ti-ae, battle of, 22S, n. i. Aqueducts, Roman, general de- scription of, 465-467- Aq'ui-le''i-a, besieged by the Mar- comani, 366 ; battle at, between Theodosius and Eugenius, 424. Aq'ui-ta''ni-a, 2S9, n. 2. Arabia-Petraea, province, jj^. Ar-ca'di-us, emperor of the East, 426. Arch, use of, by Roman builders, 456- Ar'chi-as, poet, 496. Ar''€hi-me''''des, 174. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 529 Architecture, Roman, Greek origin of, 456; use of the arcli, 45^. Ai'e-thu"sa, 492. Arianism, denounced by the Coun- cil of Nica^a, 396. A-rim'i-num, Latin colony, 134, n. 7, 138. A'ri-o-vis"tus, 287. A'ri-us, 396, n. 4. Armenia, province, acquired, 358 ; abandoned, 360. Ar-min'i-us defeats Varus at the Teutoburg W^ood, 322-324. Army, Roman, the, before Servian reforms, 5 1 ; after Servian re- forms, 53; strength in time of kings, 54; changes effected in, by Marius, 229. Ar'no River, 5 ; Roman dominions carried to, 131. Ar'nus. See Arno. Ar-pi'num, 115. Ar-re'ti-um, 8. Ar-ver'ni, 288. As-ca'ni-us, 57. As'cu-lum, battle of, 131. Asia, political and economic con- dition of, before Mithradatic wars, 245-247; province of, 246; massacre of Italians in, 248. As-pen'dos, theatre at, 459. Assemblies, public, tabulated facts respecting nature, number, and competence, 108 ; effect upon, of enfranchisement of the Ital-' lans, 243 ; judicial functions transferred to jury court, 259; legislative powers lessened, 260 ; functions under Augustus, 318 ; deprived of the right to elect magistrates, 334. See Comitia and Concilium triimtnm plebis. Assyria, province, acquired, 358; abandoned, 360. At'aulf, Gothic chieftain, 434. Ath'a.na''si-us, jgri, n. 4. Athens, joins Mithradates against the Romans, 248; taken by Sulla, 254. At'ta-lus, T., king of Pergamus,i86, "'8; HI., bequeaths his king- dom to the Roman people, 246. At'ti-la, leader of the Huns, 436; his defeat at Chalons, 437 ; in- vades Italy, 437 ; death, 438. Au'fi-dus River, 4. Augurs, college of, t^t^, 34. Augustan Age, 486. Au'gus-tine, Aurelius, Church Father, 506. Au-gus'tu-lus. See Romulus Au- gustus. Augustus Caesar. See Octazfitis. Aurelian, emperor, 379. Au-re'li-us, Marcus, emperor, reign, 364-368 ; his persecutions of the Christians, 365; the Marco- manic War, 366 ; death, 36S ; his Meditations, 503 ; as a repre- sentative of Stoicism, 504. Auspices (as'-pi-sez), taking of the, Jji taken bj means of .sacred fowls, 151. Austro-Hungarian monarchy, 450. Av'en-tine (-tin) hill, 51. Ba'den-Ba'den, 470. Baet'i-ca, 321, n. 8. Bagaudae, the, 386. 530 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. Baiae (ba'ye), 344^ 470- Balbi, the, 342. Barbarians, German, movements in the last century of the em- pire, 416; effects of invasions, 417, n. 8; the so-called "Bar- barian Kingdoms," 434-436 i advance in civilization, 454; the proximate cause of the fall of the Roman empire in the West, 455- Barca. See Ham Hear. Barrack emperors, 372. Ba'sil, Church Father, 505. Batavians, 348. Baths. See Thermce. Bel'gi-ca, 289, n. 2, 322, n. 10. Ben'e-ven'^tum, battle ol, 131. Be-ry'tus, 510. Bes'ti-a, Lu'ci-us Cal-pur'ni-us, con- sul, 225. Bib'u-lus, admiral, 295. BUhyn'i-a given provincial consti- tution, 282, n. 5. Bo'i-i, Gallic tribe, 157. r.ologna (bo-16n'ya), 510. Bon'i-face, Count, 435. Books, Roman, 504? ^' 6* Kos'po-rus, 396. Bo'vi-a''num taken by the Romans, 124. Bren'nus, Gallic leader, 99, 100. Britain, invaded by Caesar, 288; conquest of, in reign of Clau- dius, 343 ; Agricola in, 352 ; the Hadrian WaU, 360-362, and notes; legions withdrawn from, 436 ; ravaged by Picts and Saxons, 43^ •. Angles and Saxons settle in, 436. Bri-tan'ni-a, Roman province, 343. Brun-di'si-uni, 294. Bruttians join Hannibal, 172. Brut'ti-um, 2. Brutus, Lucius Junius, consul, 64; condemns sons to death, 65. Brutus, Marcus, joi ; heads con- spiracy against Caesar, 301, 302 ; seeks refuge in Greece, 304 : death at Philippi, 308. Burgundians establish kingdom in Southeastern Gaul, 435. Burgundy, 435. Bur'rhus, 344. Bu'sen-ti^'nus River, 434. By-zan'ti-um, 396. C^^G, 8 ; gives asylum to Roman vestals, 98 ; made a fnunicipiiim, 112. Cxritan franchise, iii, 112. C^sar, Augustus. See Octavius. Ciesar, Gaius. See Calipila. Csesar, Gaius Julius, in the Sullan proscription, 256; his early life, 284; consul, 286; assigned as proconsul Gallic provinces, 286 ; campaigns in Gaul, 286-288 ; invades Britain, 2S8 ; results of his Gallic wars, 288-290 ; rivalry with Pompey, 292; crosses the Rubicon, 293 ; civil war between him and Pompey, 293-295; in Egypt, 296; defeats Pharnaces. 296 ; as an uncrowned king, 297 ; his triumph, 297; as a statesman, 298; reforms the calendar, 300; unfinished projects, 300; his assassination, 301 ; his literary works, 497. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 531 Caes'a-re'^a, 510. Caesarion (se-za''re-on), 310. Ca-la'bri-a, 2, n. 1. Caledonia, 362, 436. Calendar, Julian, 300 ; Gregorian, 300, n, 1 1 . Ca-lig'u-la, reign, 5:59-341- Cam'e-ri"um, 341. Ca-mirius. See Purius. Campagna (kam-pan'ya), 466. Campania, 2. Campanians, mercenaries seize town of Messana, 143, n. 3. Cam'pus Mar'ti-us, 54. Can'nae, battle of, 1 69-1 71 ; events after, 171. Cantons of earljr Latium, 30-41. Canuleian law, 90. Can'u-le"i-us, Gaius, tribune, 90, 91. Cap'i-tol-Tne hill, 43. Capitoline temple, location, 50 ; burned, 255; rebuilt, 348; robbed of trophies by Vandals, 440; description, 457, n. 2. Ca'pre-ae, island, ^yj. Cap'u-a, revolts from Rome, 172; Hannibal's winter quarters, 173; fall of, 174; as a prefecture, 236, n. 8. Car'a-cal'la, emperor, reign, 374- 376; confers citizenship upon all free men of the empire, 375. Ca-rac'ta-cus, 343. Carbo, Gnaeus Papirius, consul, 255. Carthage, location, 142; empire of' '39; government and reli- gion, 1 40 ; compared w-ith Rome, 140-142; navy at beginning of Punic wars, 142; Truceless War, 158; prosperous condition just before Third Punic War, 200; destruction, 203-204 ; Gaius Gracchus founds colony on site, 221 ; becomes capital of Van- dal empire, 435. Carthage, New, 159. Carthaginians, their empire in Spain, 159; unpromising char- acter of their civilization, 204. Ca'rus, emperor, 379. Cas'si-us, Gaius, conspirator, 301 ; death, 308. Cassius, Spu'ri-us, renews the Latin alliance, 71 ; his agrarian law, 73-75 ; his martyrdom, y,. Catacombs, 389. CaCi-li"na, Lu'ci-us Ser'gi-us, in the Sullan proscription, 256; con- spiracy of, 282 ; his death, 283. Catiline. See Catilina. Cato, Marcus Porcius, the Censor, 195-199; military record, 196; civil life, 197 ; attitude toward Greek culture, 197; advice touching slaves, 198; counsels the destruction of Carthage, 200. Cato, Marcus Porcius, the Younger, exiled, 286 ; his suicide, 296. Ca-turius, poet, 485. Cat'u-lus, C. Lutatius, consul, 153; Q. Lutatius, consul, 265. Cau'dine Forks, humiliation of Romans at, 121. Cau'di-um. See Caudine Porks. Ce'ler, Petronius, ^6j, n. 5, Celt'i-be"ri-ans, 205. Censors, creation of office, 91, 92 ; 532 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY functions and duties, 92 ; wide range of authority, 92, n. lO; tabulated facts respecting, no; powers absorbed by Augustus, 317* 318. Censorship, office practically abol- ished by Sulla, 260. Census, how often taken, 92, n. 9 ; of the year 265 li.c, 141, n. 8; table, 333. Century, unit of military organiza- tion, 53. Cer-ci'na, island, 252. Ce'ri-a^lis, Roman general, 348. Cervetri (cher-va'tree). See dere. -Ghair'o-ne''a, battle at, 254, n. 7. Charce-don, battle of, 394. Chalons (sha'loiV), battle of, 436. Chinese WaU, the, 419, n. 2. Christ, birth, 331 ; crucifixion, 338. Christianity, first preached, 338; gains adkerents from the higher classes, 354 ; under Trajan, 359 ; martial spirit enters the Church, 392-394; made in effect state religion by Constantine, 394 ; effects upon, of imperial patron- age, 395, 406; as an element of strength in the imperial govern- ment, 403; State of the Church at Julian's accession, 405 ; de- stroyed the unity of the Graeco- Roman world, 408 ; its morality borrowed by Julian, 410; one of the most vital elements in the empire, 415; heresy and idolatry suppressed by Theodosius and Gratlan, 421-424; its triumpK under Theodosius and Gratian, 423-425 ; represents a new moral force, 426; influence in suppress- ing the gladiatorial combats, 428 ; effects of monasticism upon the population of the empire, 447 ; effects of doctrines on the military spirit, 449; on the civic virtues, 453 ; effects of sectarian quarrels on the fortunes of the empire, 453. See Christians. Christians, the persecution of, under Nero, 345; under Domi- tlan,352; underMarcus AurellUS, 365 ; motives of these persecu- tions, 365 ; the Christian legion, 367 ; persecutions under Diocle- tian, 386-389 ; number at this time, 3S8; status under Julian, 408-410; teachers excluded from the schools, 409; name first applied to converts at Antioch, 412. Chrys'os-tom, Church Father, 505. Cicero, Marcus TuUius, his prose- cution of Verres, 274 ; First Oration against Catiline, 283 ; banished from Rome, 286; pro- scribed, 306 ; death, 307 ; as an orator, 496; his letters, 497. Ci-lic'i-a, rendezvous of pirates, 278 ; government organized, 282, n. 5. Cim'bri, the, 226-229. Cln'oln-na'^tus, Lucius QumC tl-US, legend of, 80. Cin'e-as, minister of Pyrrhus, 1 30. Cinna. See Cornelius. Cir-ce'i-i (cir-se'ye), 251. Circus, games of the, 3S. 5i6. Cir'cus Max'i-mus, location, 5 1 ; description, 458. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 533 Cisalpine Gaul, inhabitants, ad- mitted to the city, 299, n. 10. Citizenship, Roman, privileges of, 2 1 ; rights bestowed in instal- ments, 22, 23, n. 5 ; definition of, 23, n. 5; Rome's liberal policy in conferring upon aliens, 44 ; citi- zens enjoying Caeritan rights III, 112; dual citizenship of the burghers of municipia, 115 ; Gaius Gracchus proposes that Latins be made citizens, 221 ; status of citizens as compared with aliens, 235; demanded by the Italians, 238 ; secured by them as result of the Social War, 241 ; conferred upon Latin towns of Transpadane Gaul, 241, 242 ; given inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul, 299, n. 10 ; Caesar's liberality in conferring upon provincials, 299; conferred by Caracalla upon all free inhab- itants of the empire, 375. City-state, Rome as a, 17. Ci-vi'lis, Claudius, 348. Civitates faderatce. See Italian allies. Clan. See Gens. Classes, the five Servian, 51. Claudius, emperor, reign, 341-344 ; admits GaUic nobUity to Roman senate, 34 T; conquest of Britain, 343 ; Claudian aqueduct, 343 j his death, 344. Claudius, Appius, father-in-law of Tiberius Gracchus, 216. Claudius, Appius. Caecus, 125: counsels Romans not to treat with victorious foe, 130. Claudms. Appius, decemvir, 84 ; his misconduct, 87 ; suicide, 88. Claudius, Publius, consul, 151. Clement of Alexandria, Church Father, 505. Clement of Rome, Church Father. 505. Cleon, Athenian demagogue, 169, n. 7. Cleopatra, Caesar secures for her the throne of Egypt, 296; mCCtS Mark Antony, 308 ; at the battle of Actium, 309; her death, 311. Clients, of the family, 1 4 ; of the gens and the state, 14, n. 10 ; members of the plebeian order, 22, n. 4 ; of the plebeian assembly, 82. -Clo-a'ca Max'i-ma, 48 and n. 7. Clovis, king of the Franks, 433, n. 7. Clusium, 8 ; besieged by Gauls, 97. Clyde, Frith of, 352. Code, the, of Justinian, 509. -Go'cles, Ho-ra'ti-us, legend of, 60. Coemption 12, n. 8. Coria-ti"nus, Tar-quin'i-us, consul, 64. Colleges, sacred, y., Colline, city district, 52, n. 10. Colline Gate, battle at, 255. Colonies, Latin, why so caHed, 134; rights of colonists, 134; curtailment of privileges, i]i, n. 7 ; status of settlers in, com- pared to that of settlers in a territory of the United States, 135; number at time of Second Punic War, 135 ; influence in spreading Roman culture, 135; list of, 137; in the Social War, 240, 241. 534 II^DKX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. Colonies, Roman, rights and privi- leges, 133 and n. 5; taWe ot, 138; in the Social War, 241, n. 6. Co'los-se^'um, origin of name, 350 ; description, 460. -Co-mtti-a centuriata^ outgrowth of Servian reforms, 54 and n. % \ manner of voting in, 54 ; tabu- lated facts respecting, loS. curiata, functions of, 19; a non-representative body, 20 ; tabulated facts respecting, io8. trihuta, patricio-plebeian as- sembly, first appearance, 90; tabulated facts respecting, 108. Co-mVti-iimy the, 49. Commerce of early Rome, 4J, 46. Com mere turn. See /us com me ret i. Com'mo-dus, emperor, reign, 371. Con-cil'i-nm tributum plebis, ori- gin, 82 ; its resolutions given the force of law, 88 ; tabulated facts concerning, 108. Concord, temple of, 105, 223. Confarreatio, ii, n. 7. Conmibhim. ^ee Jus conftubii. Constans, emperor, 405. Constantlne tKe Great, reign, ^(^\- 404 ; defeats Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge, 392 ; makes the cross his standard, 392 ; defeats Licinius at Adrianople and Chal- cedon, 394; grants toleration to Christians, 394; recognizes Sabbath as a rest-day, 395; summons council of Nicaea, 396; founds Constantinople, 396 ; reasons for transfer of the capital, 397-399 ; reorganizes the government, 400 ; separates civil and military powers, 400, 401 ; court, 402 ; character, 403 ; sacrifices offered before his Statues, 404. Constantine, son of preceding, 405. Constanrinople, founded, 396 ; advantages of situation, 39J- 399 ; captured by the Turks, 426. Constantius I., as Caesar, 3S5 ; as emperor, 390, 391 ; II., 405- Consuls, first chosen, 62 ; original powers, 62; immunity from pros- ecution, 64 ; authority restricted hyXh^Lex Valeria, 66; tabulated facts respecting, 109; clothed with dictatorial powers, 283 and n. 6 ; term of office shortened by Augustus, 318, n. 3. Consulship, made illegal to hold successive years, 261 ; Sulla pro- vides that entrance to, shall be through quaestorsKip and prse- torship, 261 ; age of eligibility to, 261, n. 7. Cora, 120. Cor-fin'i-um, 240. Corinth, defies Rome, igi; its destruction, 191 ; why destroyed, 192. Co'ri-o-la"nus, Gaius Marcius, legend of, 76. Co-ri'o-H, Volscian city, 76, n. 3. Corn, free distribution of, 272 ; in time of Augustus, 327; Augustus restricts the number receiving the dole, 327, n. 5; evils of the practice, 523. See Corn laws. Cor-ne'll-a, mother of the U^accni, 211; her monument, 223 /NBEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 535 Cornelians, the, 257. Cornelius CInna, Lucius, consul, 252. Corn laws, the Gracchan, 219. Cor' pus Ju'ris Ct-vi'lis, 509-511 ; its influence, 510. Corsica, island, relation to Italy. 3; province, 155. Cor'un-ca^'ni-i, the, 341. Cotta, L. Aurelius, praetor, 272, n. 7. Council, first, of church, 396. Crassus, Marcus Licinius, defeats the gladiators, 269, 270 ; elected consul, 270; his great wealth, how gained, 284, n. 7; enters the First Triumvirate, 28 ^j his Parthian campaign, 290 ; death, 291. Crem'e-ra River, -j^. Cre-mo'na Colony, 158. Croesus, king of Lydia, 246. Ctes'i-pKon, t^^j , 413. Curia, 16; number of curies in early Rome, 17, 43. "Gu'ri-a''ti-i, 59. ■CuM-o, G. Scribonius, 295. Currency of Rome, ij2, n. 4. Curtius, Marcus, legend of, 28, n. 9. Curule (ku'rul) offices, no. Cyb'e-Ie, goddess, yj. Cyn'os-ceph^'a-la;, battle of, 186. Dacia reduced to a province by Trajan, 355, 356. Dacians exact promise of tribute from Rome, 352. Danube, the, bridged by Trajan, 356; crossed by the Ooths, 417. Debtor, Livy's picture of, 68; • provisions regarding, in Twelve Tables, 85. De-cem'virs, first board, 83-87 ; second, 87; their misrule and overthrow, ^-j, ^'^. Decius, emperor, 37S. Deems Mus, Publius, consul, de- votes himself for his army, 120. Decius Mus, son of preceding, devotes himself, 127. Decuriales, the, 385, n. 8. Delatores. See Delatoys. De-la^'tors, ■t^^,'^. Delos, sacked by pirates, 277 ; inherits the trade of Corinth, 192, 193. I democracy supersedes monarchy in Grasco-Roman world, 56, n. 5. Den-ta'tus, Manius Curius, 131, 196. Dictator, his powers, 63; how- nominated, d^, 64, n. 10; appeals from his decisions, 89, n. 3 ; tabulated facts respecting office, 109; term first made indefinite in Sulla's case, 258; consuls clothed with dictatorial powers, 283 and n. 6. Dioceses, 400, 401. Di'o-cle"ti-an, emperor, reign, 381- 390 ; governmental reforms, 381-384; administrative system, 384-386; persecution of the Christians, 3S6-389 ; his abdi- cation, 389; his villa at Salona, 473- Divination, 32. Divorce, freouency of, ^28. iJominus, title assumed by Dio- cletian, 383. 536 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. Domitian, emperor, reign, 351- 354- Do'mi-tir'la, 354- Uraco, 84, n. 5. Drama, Roman, 480-4S4. Drep'a-na, sea fight at, 151, n. 7. Drusus, son of Tiberius, 337. Drusus, stepson of Augustus, 322. Drusus, Marcus Livius, tribune, 222 ; becomes champion of the Italians, 238 ; his assassination, 23QJ his character, 2^0. Du-il'lius, Gaius, consul, gains victory at Mylae, 146, I47- Du-um'vi-ri, 385, n. 8. Dy-ra'chi-um, 295. E'bro River, 160. Ec-no'mus, naval battle near prom- ontory of, 148. E-des'sa, 378, n. i. Education, under Julian, 409; statement respecting, amOHg the Romans, 512; exemptions of teachers, 512; Roman youth in schools of Greece, 513. Egypt, condition about 200 B.C., 183; its grain trade, 185; made a Roman province, 311. El'a-gab^a-lus, emperor, 376. Elbe (elb) River, 321, 322. Elephants, use in war, 149. Er6U-§in''i-an mysteries, ij6, n. i. E-leu'sis, 156, n. i. En'ni-us, poet, 483. Ep'ic-te''tus, the Stoic, 503. Eq'u i-tes (ek'wi-tez) . See Knights. Esquiline, city district, 52, n. 10. E-truM-a, location, 2 ; sOutKem part Romanized, 96. E-trus'cans, their early civilization, 8 ; decline of their power, 1 1 s ; suffer defeat at Vadimonian Lake, 124 and n. 2. Eu-dox'i-a, empress, 439. Eu-ge'ni-us, emperor, 424. Eu'me-nes, king of Pergamus, 187. Eu'no-us, leader of slaves in Serv- ile War, 209. Eu-se'bi-us, Church Father, 505. Fa'bi-i, the, legend of, 77-80. Fabius Maxlmus, '* the Delayer,'' 165-169. Fabius Maximus Gur'ges, 128. Fabius Maximus Rul'li-a^'nus, 1 24 ; compared with Alexander the Great, 1 2 5. Fabius, Quintus, ambassador to the Gauls, 97. Fabius, Quintus, ambassador to the Carthaginians, 160. Fa-bricl-us, Roman statesman, 131- Fa-le'ri-i, Etruscan city. III. Family, the Roman, 11-14; i*** place in Roman history, 15. Fasces (fas'sez), the, 18; signifi- cance of the removal of the axe from, 67. Fav'o-ri"nus, rhetorician, 363. Festivals. See Sacred Games. Fetiales. See Heralds. Fl-de'nse, Etruscan stronghold, 93; fall of amphitheatre at, 338. Flam'i-nesy 25, n. 6. Flaminian Way. See Via Fla- minia. Flam'i-ni''nus, Roman general, 186. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 537 Flamininus, L, Quintius, senator, 197. Fla-min'i-us, Gaius, Roman gen- eral, 165. Flavian Age, 347. Forth, Frith of, 352. Forum, the Roman, in time of the kings, 48-50. Franks, the, form first settlement in Gaul, 435. Fr aires A males, 32, n. 3. Frit'i-gern, Visigothic leader, 420. Fron-ti'nus, 505. Fulvia, wife of Mark Antony, 307. Funeral, provisions of Twelve Tables respecting, 86. Furius Camillus, Marcus, dictator, takes city of Veil, 04 ; ransoms Rome with steel, <^c^ ; dissuades the Romans from abandoning their city, 100; dedicates temple to Concord, 105. Gabinian law. See I.ex Gabinia. Ga-bin'i-us, A., tribune, 277. Gaius, grandson of Augustus, 330. Gaius, jurist, 508. Gaius Caesar (Caligula), emperor, ^e'S"» 339-341- Galba, emperor, 347. Ga-le'ri-us, Caesar, -^Z, 389 ; em- peror, 390, 391. Garii-a Cis'al-pi"na, geographical situation, I ; origin of name, 2. Garii-a Nar'bo-nen^sis, 2S6. Gaul, conquest of, by Caesar, 286- 288 ; results of the Gallic wars, 288 ; Romanization of, 289 ; native tribes formed into munici- palities, 289, n. 3. See Gauls. Gauls, early settlement in North Italy, 2, 9; sack Rome, 96-100 ; besiege Clusium, 97 ; victory over the Romans near the AHia, 97 ; besiege the Capitol, 99 ; Rome's war with, between First and Second Punic Wars, 156- 158; join Hannibal, 165. Geiseric, Vandal leader, 439. Ge'lon, king of Syracuse, 76. Gens, 15, 16; number of gentes in early Rome, 41. Gen'ser-ic. See Geiseric. Geography, influence upon the fortunes of Rome, 45. Ger-man'i-cus, nephew of the em- peror Tiberius, retakes eagles lost by Varus, 335. Ge'ta, emperor, 374. Gladiatorial combats, given by Augustus, 327 ; naval spectacle in reign of Claudius, 343 ; Nero descends into the arena, 544; Commodus as a gladiator, 372 ; their suppression, 428 ; attitude of Christians towards, 429 ; gen- eral description of the shows, 57-5-0- Gladiators, war of the, 269. Glaucia. See Serz'ilizis. Golden Horn, 398. Golden House, Nero's, 346, 471. Gordian, emperor, 378. Goths, Eastern. See Ostrogoths. Western. See Visigoths. Gracchan constitution, essentials of, restored by Pompey, 271-273. See Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. Grac'clius, Gaius, his noble birth, 211; motives and aims, 218 j 53^ INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. reform measures, 219; downfall and death, 221, 222. Gracchus, Tiberius, early life, 21 1 ; his agrarian law, 212; resorts to unconstitutional means, 214; defends his action, 215; his vio- lent death, 2i6j effects of his land law, 217. Gratian, emperor, 417; associates Theodosius with himself in the government, 421 ; refuses to receive the insignia of the office of Pontifex Alaximus, 4~^ y ^^' moves the statue of Victory from senate chamber, 422 ; dis- establishes the sacred colleges, 423- Great Fire at Rome In Nero's reign, 344. Greece, looks towards the east, 6 ; Rome's first intervention in its affairs, 156; becomes a Ro- man province, 193; how "ruin averted ruin," 193; reaction up- on Rome, 194 ; enthralls her cap- tor, 195; effects of conquest by Rome on Roman literature, 484. Greeks, settlement in South Italy, 10, 89 ; contend with Carthagini- ans for mastery of Sicily, 142; liberty of Greek cities restored by Flamininus, 186 ; join Mithra- dates, 248. Habeas Corpus Act, 67, n. 2. Hadrian, emperor, reign, 360-364; villa at Tibur, 473 ; Mausoleum, 475- Hadrian Wall in Britain, 360-362; left unguarded, 436. Ha-mircar Barca, Carthaginian general, 132; in Spain, 1 59. Hannibal, as a youth, 159; attacks Saguntum, 160; marches from Spain, 162 ; passage of the Pyre- nees, 163 ; passage of the Rhone, 163; passage of the Alps, 163; in Italy, 164-178 ; his stratagem, 168; winters in Capua, 173; before Rome, 174; at bay in • Bruttium, 178; defeat at Zama, 178; as a statesman, 189; exile and death, 1 89, IQO. Hanno, Carthaginian general, 153. Ha-rus'pi-ces, art of the, 32. Has'dru-bal, brother of Hannibal, in Spain, 1 59 ; at the Metaunis, 176-178. Hasdrubal, son-in-law of Hamilcar, 159. Helvetians, 287. Her'a-cle"a, battle of, 1 29. Heralds, college of, 32, 35. Her'cu-la"ne-um, 350. Hercules, Pillars of, 139. Hermann. See Armim'us. Hernicans form alliance with Rome and the Latin towns, 71. Her''u-U, the, 441. Hi'e-ro, King of Syracuse, 144, 172. Him'er-a, battle of, 143, n. 2. Hip^po-drome at Constantinople, 300- His-pa'nl-a, Citerior, 178, n. 4 ; Ul- terior, 178, n. 4. Ho-no'ri-us, emperor, 426; sup- presses gladiatorial games, 429. Horace, poet, 326, 490. Ho-ra'ti-i, combat with Curiatii, 59- INDEX AND PRONOUNCIATG VOCABULARY. 539 Horatius, Marcus, consul, 88. Hortensian law, 128, n. 6. Hor-ten'si-us, jurist, 494. Hos-tiri-us, Tullus, king of Rome, 46. Hungary, Huns of Attila settle in, 438, n. 9. Huns, drive Ooths across the Danube, 419; defeated at Cha- lons, 437 ; part taken by, in founding the Hungarian state, 438, n. 9. Hy-ge'i-a, temple of, 199. I'a-pyg''i-ans, 6, n. 3. Ilium, 203. Illyrian corsairs punished by Rome, 156. Tl-lyr'i-cum, 286. If?if>erator, the title, 317. Im-pe'ri-unty 63, Institutes of Justinian, 509. Intercession, consular rights of, 62. Intermarriage between patricians and plebeians, 21. I titer rex, 18. Psar River, 163. Isere (e-zar^). See Isar. Isis, 37. I-ta'ii-a, application of the name, i. Italian allies, status before the Social War, 236, 237 ; how en- rolled in the tribes, 244, n. 12. See Social Wat-. Italians, chief states, 6. I-taPi-ca. See Corjitiium. Italy, divisions, 2 ; geography, 1-6 ; mountain system, 3; rivers, 4; the front of the land, 5 ; geo- graphical relation to Greece, 5, 6 and n. 2 ; its early inhabitants;, 6-10 ; united under Rome, 132; becomes a province of the East- ern empire, 441. Ja-nic'u-lum, the, 34, n. 4. Ja'nus, Roman deity, 30 ; doors of temple closed in reign of Augustus, 325, 331. Jerome, Church Father, 506. Jerusalem, taken by Pompey, 281 ; by Titus, 347 ; made site of Roman colony, 363; Julian's attempt to restore temple at, 411. Jews, revolt of in reign of Hadrian, 302, 303 ; hnal dispersion of, 3^3 ; Julian's relations to, 411. See /erusalem. Josephus, historian, 347. Jovian, emperor, concludes treaty with Persian king, 414; restores Christianity, 414. Ju'ge-ra, 103, n. i. Ju-gur'tha, w^ar with Rome, 224- 226. Julia, daughter of Augustus, 310. Julian Alps, 4. Julian line of emperors, 346. Julian the Apostate, reign, 405- 414; state of Church at his accession, 405 ; his religion, 407 ; means used to effect the pagan restoration, 408 ; attempts to re- build temple at Jerusalem, 411 ; campaign against the Persians, 412; death, 413. Ju-li-a'nus, Didl-us, 373. Ju'Ii-i, 341. 540 INDEX AJVn PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. Juno, Roman goddess, 29 ; Etrus- can, 94. Ju-no'ni-a, burgess colony, 221. Jupiter Latiaris, 41. Jupiter Tonans, 367. Jura Mountains, 287. Jury courts, in hands of knights, 220 ; Sulla provides that judges shall be selected from senators, 259; reconstituted by Pompey, 272 and n. 7. Jus auxilii, of the plebeian tribune, ^9; iommercu, JefineQ, 1\ \ GI\- joyed by plebeians in early Rome, 23; ft?// «z/^//, defined, 21 ; with- drawn from Latin colonies, 1 34, n. 7 ; honorum, defined, 21 ; imasinmu defined, 91 ; frm- cationis, defined, 21 ; suffragii, defined, 21. Justin Martyr, 365. Justinian, emperor, his code, 50S. Juvenal, satirist, 493. Khedive (ka'dev")» 427. n. i. Kings, the Roman, their early power, i8; names transmitted by legend, 46; expelled from Rome, 56. See Tarquins. Knights, 95, n. i ; character of the order, 220 ; administration of criminal courts placed in their hands, 220; pervert justice in t the jury courts, 239, n. I ; in control of these courts, 272 and n. 7. Lab'a-rum, 392, n. 10; removed from the army, 409; restored, 414. La-cin'i-um, promontory of, 129. Lae'li-us, Gaius, orator, 494. Lands, public, management of, 71— 73 J monopolization by a few families, 446. See Ager fubliais and Agrarian laws. Lares, cult, 31 ; worship interdicted, 424; secretly practised, 425. Lat-i-fiiu'di-a,, growth, 223. Latin colonies. See Colonies. Latin Festival, 41. Latin League, in earliest times, 411 reestablished by Spurius Cassius, 71; dissolution, 120. See Latins. Latin rights, in what these con- sisted, 133; conferred by Ves- pasian upon Spanish cities. See Colonies. Latins, early institutions, 7; ethnic relationship, 7; throw off the Roman yoke, 66; revolt of Latin towns in 340 B.C., 117; how treated by Rome after the Latin War, 120 ; political status of, 235. La'ti-um, 2 ; before the rise of Rome, 39. Lau-ren'tum, 20. La-vin'i-a, legendary princess, 57. La-vin'i-um, 57. I^aw. See Jus and Roman Law. Legacy hunting, 514. Legion, its normal strength and tactical formation in early times, 53 ; changes in formation, 95, n. 2 ; citizens without property enrolled, 229; changes in, made by Marius, 230, n. 4 ; size re- duced by Constantine, 400. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 54 1 Lenormant (leh-nor'moh'') quoted, 479- Leo the Great, bishop, turns Attila back, 438; intercedes for Rome with Geiseric, 439. Lep'i-dus, Marcus /L-miri-us, his revolt, 264 ; his death, 265. Lepldus, Marcus ^.milius, son of preceding, the triumvir, aids Antony in his usurpation, 304 ; enters the Second Triumvirate, 305 ; receives the government of Africa, joO. Lex, Aureiia, 272, n. 7; Jrumen- taria, 219, n. 2; Gabinia, 277, n. 9, and 278; Jiilia, 241, n. 7; Julia municipalis, 2()()', Justicia- ria, 220, n. 3; Phuitia Papiria, 241, n. 8; Pompcta, 242, n. 9; Sempronia, 246, n. 5 ; Thoria, 223, 224; Valeria, 66. Library, Alexandrian, burned, 300, 301. Till , Licmian laws, 103-105. Licinius, competitor for the impe- rial throne, 394. Li-cin'i-us, Gaius, tribune, 103. Lictors, attendants of the king, 18; consular, 62. Li-gu'ri-a, i. Ligurians, 6, n. 3. Li'ris, the, 5. Literature, Roman, under Augus- tus, 325 j relation to Greek models, 477, 478. Li-ter'num, 190. Liv'i-us, Marcus, consul, 177. Livy, historian, mentioned, 326; his history, 498. Lon-gi'nus, rhetorician, 379. Lu'can, poet, put to death by Nero, 34^ i ^^^ ^^^^^^>^t?//(^, 493, n. 10. I-u-ca'ni-a, 2. Lucanians, mentioned, 6; join Hannibal, 172. I^ucca, 290. Lu'ce-res, tribe in early Rome, 43, n. 1 1. I^u-ce'ri-a, Apulian town, 121. Lu-cil'i-us, poet, 485. Lucius, grandson of Augustus, 330. Lu-cre'ti-us. poet, 485. Lu-cul'lus, Lucius Licinius, Sulla's lieutenant, 254; in Third Mith- radatic War, 279, 280; super- seded by Pompey, 280. Lug-du-nen'sis, 289, n. 2. Lu'per-ccl"li-a, the, 32, n. 3. Lu-per'cl, guilds of the, 32, n. 3. Lu'si-ta"ni-a, province, 321, n. 8. Lusitanians, 205; invite Sertorius from Africa, 26';. Lusf7-ti7n, c)2, n. g. Luxury, Roman, 520-522. Lyc'i-a given to the king of Per- gamus, 1 87. Maceaonia, condition about 200 B.C., 182 i organized as a prov- ince, 188. Macedonian War, First, 175 ; Second, 185; Third, 188. Ma-cri'nus, emperor, '^j^k Mas-ce'nas, patron of literature, 326, 486. Magistrates, Roman, immunity from prosecution while in office, 64 and n. 11 j tabulated facts re- specting, 109, 1 10; order in which 542 ijvn^ix Ajvn rRoivocrjvc/A^G vocabulary. different offices were entered, 261, n. 7 ; ages of eligibility, 261, n. 7 ; under Augustus, Magna Charta, the Roman, 88. Magna Graecia, origin of name, 2 ; effects of conquest by the Romans upon Roman literature, 481. Mag-ne'si-a, battle of, 187. Ma'go, brother of Hannibal, 170. Magyars (mod'yors), 438, n. 9. Ma-har'bal, Carthaginian general, 171. Mamertine dungeon, 226. Mam'er-tines, 143, n. 3. Manilian law, 279, n. 2. Manlius, Marcus, defends the capi- tal, 99 ; champion of the ple- beians, 102 ; condemnation and death, 102, 103. Manlius, Titus, consul, opposes demands of the Latins, 119; inflicts death penalty upon his son, 119; compared with Alex- ander the Great, 125. Ma'nus, 12, n. 8. Mar-ceHus, Marcus Claudius, Roman general, I73« Mar'co-man"i, 366. Ma'ri-us, Gains, in Jugurthine War, 226 ; destroys the Cimbri and Teutones, 227-229; fifth consulship, 228; confers Roman citizenship upon allies, 229; makes changes in the army, 229; attempts revolution, 231 ; sup- presses disorder in Rome, 233; votive journey to Asia, 233 ; in the Social War, 24 1 ; contends with Sulla for command against Mithradates, 249 ; is proscribed, 250: his wanderings, 251; re- turns to Italy, 252 ; his proscrip- tion, 252; his seventh consulship, 253; his death, 253. Marriage, forms among the Ro- man?, II, H. 7 j intermarriage of patricians and plebeians pro- hibited by law of Twelve Tables, 90, n. 7; made legal by Canu- leian law, 90 ; held in disesteem in later times, 447. Mars, god of war, 29. Marsians in the Social War, 240. Marsic War. See Social War. Martial, poet, 493. Mas^i-nis'^sa, king of Numidia, 200, 201. Massilia, 295. Master of the horse, 64. Mau'ri-ta"ni-a, 321. Max-en'ti-us, competitor for the imperial throne, 392. Max-im'i-an, emperor, 3S5 ; abdi- cation, 390. Max'i-mln, emperor, 377. Maximus, emperor, 439. Mesopotamia, province, accjuired, 358 ; abandoned, 360. Mes-sa'na, town, 143, n. 3. Metamorphoses, the, of Ovid, 491. i Metaurus River, 4. Metaurus, battle of the, 177 ; a turning point in history, 204. MeteUus, L. Caecilius, consul, 149. Metellus, Quintus Caecilius, trib- une, 294. Metellus, Quintus Cx-cilius, Pius, Roman general, 267, 26X. INnRX AJVn PROJVOUJVC/JVG VOCABULARY. 543 Migration of the German tribes checked by Caesar, 290. Military roads, construction begun, 125 ; description, 462-465. Military spirit, decline of, among the Romans, 449. Military system, Roman, modified by long siege of Veii, c/^, 5c. See Ar-my. Milvian Bridge, battle at, 392. Minerva, goddess, 29. Min-tur'nze, 251. Mi-nu'ci-us, master of horse, 169. Mi-ge'num, 502. Misopogon, the, satire by the Emperor Julian, 413. Mith'ra, worship of, y]. Mith'ra-da^'tes VI., Eupator, the Great, king of Fontus. his char- acter, 247 ; orders massacre of Italians in Asia, 248 ; invades Europe, 24S ; first war against Rome, 253 ; sues for peace, 254 ; second war against Rome, 278, n. I ; third war, 278-281; his death, 281. Mithradatic War, First, 253 ; Sec- ond, 278, n. I ; Third, 27S- 281. Moesia, province, 322 ; Dacians make inroads into, 352. Mo'loch, Carthaginian deity, 140. Monasticism, effects upon the empire, 447, 453. Money, coining forbidden to sub- ject states, 132, n. 4; right to coin taken from Latin colonists, 134. n- 7- Moftuvientuvi Ancyranum, 328, n. 0, and 3ji. Morality in early Rome, 1 5 ; state of morals in the later empire, 454. Mulvian Bridge. See Milvian. Mum'mi-us, Lucius, consul, de- stroys Corinth, 191 ; story of, 192 ; his triumph, 192. Mun\la, battle of, 297, n. 7. Municipal system, nature and be- ginnings, 1 1 2-1 1 5 ; effects upon, of the enfranchisement of the Italians, 244, 245 ; introduced into Gaul, 289, n. 3; the Lex Julia mitnicipalis, 299. JSee Municipia. Mu-ni-cip'i-a, meaning and use of the term, 112 and n. 5; number increased as an outcome of the social War, 244 ; diiYerent grades reduced to one, 245, n. 3 ; lose self-government under later em- perors, 384. See Alunicipal System. Mus. See Decius, My'l«, naval battle near promon- tory of, 146. Nas'vi-us, poet, 482. Naples, harbor, 6. Narbonensis. See Gallia. Na-si'ca. See Scipio. Ne-ap'o-lis. See A^aples. Neoplatonists, 407. Ne'pos, Cornelius, 497, n. 4. Nero, emperor, reign, 344-3465 persecution of the Christians, 345; death, 346. Nero, Gaius Claudius, consul, 177. Nerva, emperor, reign, 354. -Cae'a, church council at, 396. 544 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 545 Nic'o-me'Mes III., king of Bithynia, wills kls kingdom to Roman people, 279. Nimes (nem), 465, n. 6. No'nien-cld'tor, 523. Nor'i-cum, province, 322. Nmlh the, of Justinian, 509. Nu'ma, king of Rome, 46. Nu-man'ti-a, destruction of, 205, 206. Numantine War, 205. Nu'mi-tor, king of Rome, 57. Octavia, sister of Augustus, 490. Octavius, Gains, opposes Antony, 305 ; enters the Second Trium- virate, 305 ; receives the govern- ment of tKe West, 306; gives up to the assassins his friend Cicero, 306; at the battle of Actium, 310 ; sole master of the Roman world, 310 ; his reign, 31^555; character of his gov- ernment, 315; reforms the ad- ministration of the provinces, 319 ; rounds out the empire, 320; population of the empire under him, 324; its resources, 325; literature and the arts during his reign, 325 ; social life, 328 ; re- ligious life, 328 ; his death and apotheosis, 330 ; his tomb, 474 ; his patronage of literature, 486. Octavius, Gnaeus, consul, 252. Octavius, Marcus^ tribune, 214. Od'e-na^'tus, prince of Palmyra,379. Odoacer. See Odoz'aker. OdVva''ker, leader of the Ileruli, 441 ; rules in Italy as ''Patrician," 441. O-pim'i-us, Lucius, consul, 222. Optimates, term defined, 211. Oracles, none at Rome, 32 ; the Delphian, 32 ; Romans consult the Delphian, during siege of Veil, 93. Oratory, Roman, 494-497. Or-€hom'e-nus, battle at, 254, n. 7. O-res'tes, the Pannonian, places his son on the imperial throne, 441 ; put to death, 441. Orient, condition of, about 200 B.C., 181— 185. Or'i-gen, Church Father, 505. Ostia, founding of, 46 ; pirates in the harbor of, 277. Ostrogoths, cross the Danube, 410; reduced to obedience by Theodosius, 421. O'tho, emperor, 347. Ov'id, poet, 326, 491. ra'dus. Sceft^. l*aes'tum. See Posidonia. Paganism, ancient cults restored by Augustus, 329; relation of pagan cults to morality, 410, 411; restoration of, under Ju- lian, 40S-41 I ; removal of statue of Victory from senate cham- ber, 421 ; prohibition of pagan cults, 422 ; abolished by Roman senate, 424 ; " no longer any pa- gans," 425 ; effect upon, of sack of Rome by the barbarians, 433. Paganus, how the term acquired religious significance, 425. Palaces on the Palatine, 471 ; Nero's Golden House, 471. PaPa-tlne (tin) Kill, 42. Palmyra, fall of, 379. f (indicts, the, 5og. Pan-no'nia, province, 322. Pa-nor'mus, battle of, 149. Pantheon, the, 458. Papacy, effects upon, of the fall of Rome, 442. Pa-pin'i-an, jurist, 374, 508. Papirius, senator, 99. Papirius Cursor, Lucius, consul, 123. Parthians, defeat Crassus, 290, 291 ; their empire overthrown, 405, n. 2. Pa'ter-fa-mil"i-as, ri ; power of, 12. Patres, 20. Pd'tri-a po-tes'tas, 12, n. 8; provi- sion touching, in Twelve Tables, 85, ^6. Patricians, term explained, 20 ; in early Rome, 22. Paul the Apostle, 67 and n. 3 ; victim of the Neronian persecu- tion, 345. Paulus, jurist, 508. Pau'lus, Lu'cius ^-miPi-us, con- sul, 169, n. 7. Paulus, Lucius .^milius, son of preceding, victor at Pydna, 188. Pausanias, the traveller, 194. Pax Romana. See Roman Peace. Pei-rae'us, besieged by Sulla, 253. Pe-na'tes, household gods, 31 ; wor- ship interdicted, 424 ; secretly practised, 425. Per'ga-mus, kingdom of, 187. Per'seus, king of Macedonia, 188. Persian Empire, New, established, 405. n. 2; Julian's campaign against, 412. Per'si-us, poet, 493. Per'ti-iiax, empQror, j!?^. Pestilence, effects on the popula- tion of the empire, 44S. Peter the Apostle, martyr at Rome, 345- Petronius, 313, n. 3. Ph^e'drus, 505. Phar'na-ces, 281 ; defeated by Caisar, 296. Phar-sa'li-a, the, of Lucan, 493, n. 10. Phar'sa-lus, battle of, 295. Philip, emperor, yj%. Philip v., king of Macedonia, forms alliance with Hannibal, 172; in First Macedonian War, 175; in Second, 185, 186. Phi-lip'pi, battle of, 307. Pi-ce'num, 2. Pictor, Fabius, 497, n. 4. Picts ravage province of Britain, 417. Piracy in early times, 45, 46. Pirates, in the Mediterranean, 275-278 ; punished by Pompey, 278. Pis-to'ri-a, battle at, 283. Placentia, colony, 158. Plau^ti-us, Roman general, 343. Plautus, dramatist, 4S3. Plebeian assembly. See Concilium tributiim plebis. Plebeians (ple-be'yans), origin of the order, 22 ; their status in early Rome, 23 ; when properly called citizens, 23, n. 5 ; signifi- cance to them of the Servian reforms, 54; become passive citizens, 55 ; first secession, (>"]— 546 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. INDEX ANn rROIVOUNCING VOCABULARY. 547 69; marriage with patricians made legal, 90; secure admis- sion to the consulship, 104; to the dictatorship and other offices, 104, n. 4 ; import of admission to full citizenship, 105; third secession, 1 28, n. 6. fleb-is-fl'tu, 88. Pliny the Elder, his life and work, 502, 503; his death, 350. Pliny the Younger, letter to Trajan, 360 ; literary notice, 503. Po River, 4. Pce'ni, 142, n. i. Pol-len'ti-a, battle at, 427- Po-lyb'i-us, the historian, his ac- count of the First Punic War, m: at the sack of Corinth, 191 ; his opinion of his country- ^ men, 193 ; on the destruction of Carthage, 203. PoPy-carp, Church Father, 365. Pompeii (pom-pe'yi or pom-pa'yee) destroyed, 350 5 excavations at, 350, n. 1. Pompey, Gnae'us, the Great, joms Sulla as a volunteer, 255; sent into Spain against Sertorius, 267 ; settles the affairs of Spam, 26S ; annihilates band of gladi- ators, 270 ; elected consul, 270 ; restores the Gracchan constitu- tion, 271-273; his violation of Constitutional fule, 273 ; given command against the pirates, 277 ; chastises them, 278 ; given charge of war against Mithra- dates, 280 ; conquers Syria, 280 ; takes Jenisalem, 281 j his tri- umph, 282 ; how he increased his patronage, 285; enters the First Triumvirate, 285 ; receives the government or the tWO Spains, 291 ; rivalry between him and Caesar, 292 ; civil war, 293-295 ; his death, 295. Pompey, Gnaeus, son of the pre- ceding, 507, n. 7. Pompey, Sextus, 297, n. 7. Fom-po'ni-us, 508. Pons Su-blic'i-iis, 34» n. 4. Pontifex Maxim us, 34 ; powers of, conferred upon Augustus, 317. Pontiffs, college of, 32, 34. Pon'tine (or pon'tin) marshes, 300. Pontius Gavius, Samnite general, entraps Roman army at Cau- dium, 122; put to death, 128. Pop-lic'o-la. ^QG Pu/>iius Valerius. Population of Rome, under Augus- tus and in the reign of Hono- rius, 327, n. 4 ; decline of, in later empire, 446 ; cause of the decline, 447-449- Pop'u-lus Ro-ma'ftus, 20. Por'ci-i, the, 341- Por-sen'na, Lars, king of Clusium, 60, 66. Poriui Ro-nufnm, m- Po-sei'don, Greek god, 156, n. 2. Pos'i-do"ni-a, 9. Posilipo (po-sfc-le'-po), grotto of, 464. Possession form of land tenure, 73 and n. 10. Pos-tu'mi-us, Aulus, dictator, 66. Postumius, S., consul, 121. Prae-nes'te, 120, 235, n. 7. Praetorian guard, corps created by Augustus, 337, n. 4 ; these sol- diers sell the empire, 2)7^) ; dis- banded by S. Severus, 374. Prae'tors, original title of the con- suls, 62 ; creation of the office 104 ; tabulated facts respecting, 109; as provincial magistrates, 154; number raised to six, 178, »• 4 J number raised to eight, 259. n. 3. Pre'fect, praetorian, 401. Pre'fec-tures, the government of, under the republic, 236, n. 8 ; the subdivisions of the later empire, 400. Priam, 203. Princeps^ the title, 317. Probus, emperor, 379. Proconsuls, or governors of prov- mces, I 54, n. 9. Pro-per'ti-us, poet, 492. Pro-pon'tis, 1S4. Pro-prae'tors as provincial magis- trates, 154, n. 9. Proscriptions, of Sulla, 355 ; of the triumvirs, 306. Provinces, first Roman province, 154; misgovern men t of, 279, 2S0 ; list of provinces organized under the republic, 313; under the empire, 314; imperial prov- inces, 319; senatorial provinces, 320 ; government of, reformed by Augustus, 319; number in- creased by Diocletian, 400; by Constantine, 400. Provincial system, Roman, its be- ginnings, 155; status of provin- cials, 155 ; how a province was governed, 154. See Prov- uices. Public assemblies. See Coinitia. Public lands at the time of the ^iracchi, 200—211. Pub-lin-us, Volero, tribune, 82. Punic War, First, 142-152. Second, 162-180. Third, 200-204. Pu-t^'o-li, 563. Pyd'na, battle of, 188. Pyr'rhus, takes command of the Tarentines, 129; campaigns in Italy, 129, 130; in Sicily, 131 ; defeated at Beneventum, 131 ; returns to Epirus, 131. Qunes'tors (kwes'tors), number raised from two to four by Valerio-Horatian laws, 80 j tab- ulated facts resjjecting, no; number raised to twenty, 259; ex-qusestors given seats in the senate, 259. Quinqueremes (kwm'kwe-rems), first fleet of, built by the Romans, 144 J number lost by Romans and Carthaginians in First Punic War, 152 and n. S. Quin-tiPi-an, 504. Quirinal hill, 42. Quirites (kwl-ri'-tez), i6. Rad'a-gai"sus, 429. Rae'ti-a, province, 322. Ram'nes, the, 41, 4^. Re-gir-lus, Lake, battle at, 66. Reg'u-lus, A-tiPi-us, Roman gen- eral, made prisoner by Cartha- ginians, 148; as an ambassador, 150; legend of his death, 150. Religion, Roman, 25-38 ; no priest- 548 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY, hood at Rome, 25 and n.6 ; place in the history of Rome, 25 ; Roman gods contrasted with Greek divinities, 26 ; utilitarian character of the religion, 27 ; ! expiatory sacrifices, 28 ; legal character of the religion, 28 ; chief deities, 29, 30; defects of ihe system, 36-38. Re'mus, 57. Representation, principle of, un- known to the Romans, 20. Rex sacrortwi, 62, n. 9. Rhe'a f^Uvla, vestal, 57- Rhe'gi-um, 143, n. 3. Rhe'nus River, 305. Rhodes, head of Rhodian League, 184; centre of Hellenistic cul- ture, 184. Rhodian League, formation of, 184. Ri9'i-mer, Count, 441. Ro-ga'tions, meaning of term, 104, n.j. Roma, temple of, 363. Roma Quadrata, 42. Roman citizens, number after Social War, 242; division in body of, after Social War, 243. See C'lttzenshtP. Roman colonies. See Colonies. Roman empire, definitively estab- lished by Augustus, 315; fron- tiers established by him, 320; greabet extent uiidef Trajan, 358; public sale of, 373; its final division, 426 ; the Eastern, 426; FaU of the, in the West, 440 ; import of its downfall, 441 ; lack of unity in, 450-452 ; sum- mary of the causes of its fall, 445-455- Roman government becomes an undisguised monarchy under Diocletian, 381. Roman law, 507-511. Roman Peace {Pax Romano), 132 and n. 3 ; established in (iaul, 289. Romance nations, OriglH, 306. Romanization, of Southern Ktru- ria, 96; of Italy, 132, 133; of Gaul, 289. Rome, early society and govern- ment, 11-2]; under the Kings, 39-60; its beginnings, 41 ; first enlargement, 42 ; three tribes in early city, 43; causes of early growth, 45 ; early commerce, 45, 46 ; early coinage, 46 ; growth of, under the Tarquins, 47-56} why caUed " City of the Seven Hills," 48; legendary account of its foundation, 57» 5^ ; sacked by the Oauls, 96-100; its re- building, 100-102; compared with Carthage, 140-142; effect upon, of conquest of the East, 194; destroyed by the great fire, 344 ; rebuilt by Nero, 345 ; effects upon, of the founding of Constantinople, 397, "- 5! last triumph at, 428 ; ransom of, by Alaric, 430-43^ ; sacked by Alaric,432 ; by the Vandals, 438; impoUQlHs fall, 441. Rom'u-lus, king of Rome, 46, 57, 59- Romulus Augustus, last emperor of the West, 441. Ros'tra, 49 and n. 8 ; origin of name, 121. INDEX AA^D PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 549 Rou-ma'ni-a, 356 and n. 2. Rubicon River, 4; crossed by Csesar, 203. Ru-pil'i-us, P., consul, 209. Ru-tiri-us, C. Marcius, first plebe- ian dictator, 104, n. 4. Rutulians, prehistoric folk, 57. Sabbath, adopted as day of rest by Constantine, 39^ j Babylonian institution, 396, n. 3. Sabines, country of the, 2 ; settle- ment on Quirinal, 42 j Roman youth seize Sabine women, 58 ; union of Sabine and Roman community, 59. Sacred colleges, election of mem- bers taken away from the people, 361. See Colleges. Sacred games among the Romans. 35' 36. Sacred Mount, first withdrawal to, of plebeians, 68 ; second, 88 ; third, 128, n.6. Sa-gun'tum, taken by Hannibal, 160. St. Angelo, Castle of, 475. St. Bernard, hittle, pass, 163. SaKa-mis, battle of, 143, n. 2. Sa'li-i^ guilds of, 32, n. 3. Sallust, historian, 497. Sa-lo'na, 390. Samnite War, First, 116; Second. 1 21-125; Third, 126-128. .Samnites, place in Roman history, 8 ; their part in the Social War, 240. Sam'ni-um, 2; depopulated by Sul- lan proscriptions, 256; settlement in, of adherents of Sulla, 256, 257. Sa'por, King of Persia, yj^, n. i, 414. Sardmia, relation to Italy, 3 ; with Corsica, made a Roman prov- ince, 155. Saf iir-na" li-a, 36. Sat'ur-ni'^nus. See Apuleius. Saxons, 417, 436. Scaev'o-la, Mucins, 60. Scacvola, Quintus Mucius, jurist, 508. Scipio, Gnasus Cornelius, in Spain, 176 and n. j, Scipio, Lucius Cornelius (Asiati- cus), 1 87. Scipio, Publius Cornelius, engages Hannibal, 164, 165 ; in Spain, 176 and n. 3. Scipio, Publius Cornelius (Africa- nus Major), in Spain, 176 and n. 3 ; defeats Hannibal at Zama, 178 ; his death, 190. Scipio, Publius Cornelius .Emilia- nUS (Africanus Minor), at siege of Carthage, 203 ; at siege of Numantia, 205. Scipio, Publius Cornelius, Nasica, pontifex maxim us, 217. Se-ja'nus, i^i^^. Se-leu'ci-dae, origin of, dynasty, 1S2, n. 7. Se-leu'cus Ni-ca'tor, 182, n. 7. Sem-pro'ni-us, Tiberius, 164, 165. Senate, Roman, under the kings, iS ; tabulated facts respecting number of members, compe- tence, etc., 107; senators com- pared to English peers, 220 ; power restored by Sulla, 258; ex-quaestors given seats in. 259 ; 550 !NDEX AND rHONOUNClNG VOCABULARY, number of members increased to about six hundred, 259; given by Sulla the initiative in legisla- tion, 260 ; number of members raised to one thousand by An- tony, 318 ; reduced to six hun- dred by Augustus, 318 ; shorn of all real power by him, 318; provincials given seats in, by Augustus, 318 ; Tiberius confers upon, right to elect magistrates, 334 ; admission to, of Gauls, 341 ; stronghold of the pagan cults, 422. Senate-house in regal Rome, 50. Sen'e-ca, moralist, Nero's tutor, 344 ; his teachings, 501 ; letter to a mother, 515 ; death, 501. Sen'o-nes, Gallic tribe, 342. Sen-trnum, battle of, 127. Sepulchral monuments, 474. Se-re'-nus, Sam-mon^i-cus, 504, n. 6. Ser-to'ri-us, Quintus, propraetor of Farther Spain, 266, n. i ; his character, 265, 266 ; wide scope of plans, 26O ; his assassination, 268. Servian reforms, 54-56. Servile War, First, 207 ; Second, 230. Ser-viri-us Glaucia, 231 and n. 5; his death, 2^,^ Servius TuUius, builds walls of Rome, 48; his reforms, 51-56; five classes of, 51 ; four new tribes created by, li. Seven Hills, the, 45. Se-ve'rus, Alexander, emperor, 377- Severus, Septimius, reign, 373 ; disbands the praetorian guard, 374- vSextus, Roman governor, 252. Shiraz (she'raz), 378, n. i. Sib'yl-line books, 33 ; number of keepers raised to ten, 104 ; prophecy in, 157 ; burned, 255. Sicily, relation to Roman history, 2 ; at the beginning of the First Punic War, 142; Wtlefielcl of the nations, 143; conquest of, by the Romans, 144 ; becomes a Roman province, 1 54 ; First Servile War in, 207 ; Second, 230. Sira-rus, defeat of gladiators at. 270. Slavery, in early Rome, 15; con- dition of slaves in Sicily, 207- 209 ] merges into serfdom, j86, 445, 524; disastrous effects of, upon Roman society and govern- ment, 445; effects on popula- tion, 447; general statements respecting, 523-525. Social War, 240—242 ; comments upon, 242 ; effects upon the municipal system, 244. So'ci-i. See Italian allies. Solon, his reforms at Athens, 55. .^olway FirtK, 360. Spain becomes Romanized, 206. Spa-la'to, 473. Spar'ta-cus, leader of gladiators, 269 ; his death, 270. ^pu-rin'na, astrologer, 302. Statius, poet, 493. "• 10- Stiri-cho, Vandal general, drives (;oths from Greece, 427; defeats them at Pollentia, 427; his tri- INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULdRW 55 1 umph, 428 ; withdraws legions from Britian, 436; death, 430. Stoicism, relation to civic virtues, 453; represented by M. Aure- lius and Epictetus, 504. Su-bu'ran, city district, 52, n. 10. Sue-to'ni-us, biographer, 499. Sue'vi, 287. Suf'fe-tes, Carthaginian magis- trates, 140. Sulla, Lucius Cornelius, in Jugur- thine war., 226; in Social War, 241 ; given command against Mithradates, 250; marches upon Rome, 250; embarks for the East, 251 ; campaign against Mithradates, 253; exacts indem- nity from cities of Asia, 254; returns to Italy, 254; war between him and the Marian party, 254; massacres Samnite prisoners, 255; his proscriptions, 2 5 5-2 58; effects of these, 257; made dictator, 258; his consti- tution, 258-262 ; its breakdown, 1^1 ; hie abdication and death, 262 ; results of his dictatorship, 263. Sullan constitution, 258-262; its overthrow, 270-273. i'iul-pic'i-iis Riifus, I'ublius, tiib- une, 250. Sulpicius, Servius, orator, 494. Sym'ma-chus, 422. Syracuse, early Cireek colony, ro; its possessions at beginning of First Funic War, 142; forms alliance with Carthage, 172; fall of, 173, 174. Syria, dominion of the Seleucida;, 182; made a Roman province, 281. Syrtis, Greater, 139. Tacitus, emperor, 379. Tacitus, historian, 499. Taras. See Tarentum. Tarentum, Greek colony, 10; war with Rome, 128-131 ; character of inhabitants, \i%. Tar-pe'i-a (-ya), 103, n. 9. Tarpeian Rock, 103, n. 9. Tar-quin'i-i, Ftruscan city, 8, 1 1 1 . Tar-quin'i-us Priscus, king of Rome, 46. Tarquinius Superbus, king of Rome, 47; his expulsion, ^6 ; attempts to reinstate himself in Rome, 64-66. Tar'ra-co-nen^'sis, province, 321, n. 8. Ta'ti-us. Sabine king, 59. Taxation, Roman, land tax abol- ished, 1 88 ; made more oppres- sive by Constan tine's adminis- trative reform, 401 ; in the later empire, 446; effects on popula- tion, 447. Td'a-mon, battle at, 157. Te-lem'a-chus, monk, 429. Ter'ence, dramatist, 4S4. Terentilian rogation, 84, n. 6. Ter'en-til"i-us Harsa, Gains, 84, n. 6. Ter-tuKli-an (-yan). Church Father, 453- Tetrarchy (tet'rark-y), 385, n. 6. Teutoburg Wood (toi''to-borg), scene of defeat of Varus, 323; location of, 323, n. i. 552 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. Teu'to-nes, 226-229. '^I nap sus, oattle or, 290. Theatres, Roman, construction, 459; entertainments of, 516; immorality of the stage, 516. The-mis'to-cles, 194, n. 5. Theodoric, King of the Visigoths, killed at Chalons, 437. Theodosius I., the Great, emperor, reduces Goths to submission, 421 ; zeal for the Church, 421 ; the "Destroyer of Paganism," 424; defeats Eugenius, 424; orders massacre at Thessalo- nica, 425; bows to Bishop Am- brose, 425, 426; sole emperor, 426 J divides the empire, ^26. Theodosius II., emperor, 425. Ther'mae, Roman, description of, 467—470 ; baths of Diocletian, 469 ; of Caracalla, 469. Thes'sa-lo-ni^'ca, massacre at, 425. Thirty Tyrants, tne, 378. Tiber River, 4. Tiberius, emperor, reign, 334-339. Tiberius, stepson of Augustus, in Germany, 322, 323. Ti-buHus, poet, 403. Ti'bur, situation, 40 ; in Latin war, 120. Ti-ci'nus, battle of the, 165. Titles, tribe in early Rome, 43, n. 1 1 . Titus, emperor, at siege of Jeru- salem, 347 ; reign, 349, 350. Tiv'o-li. See Tibur. Toga, the, 513 and n. 2. Tragedy, little esteemed at Rome, 516. Trajan, emperor, reign, 354-360; his Dacian campaigns, 355; ex- pedition against the Parthians, 357, 358 ; Kis patronage of tKe arts, 359; his letter from Pliny the Younger respecting the Christians, 360; death, 360. Tras'i-me'^nus Lake, battle at, 165. Treason, the Lm of Majistiu under Tiberius, 336; the law abolished, 354- Tre'bi-a, battle of the, 165. Tribes, as divisions of the Roman community, 17 ; the three origi- nal, in early Rome, 17, 43; the four Servian, 52 and n. 10; made up at first of freeholders, 52 ; number raised to twenty, 83, n. 3 J number raised to twenty-one, 8^; distinction be- tween city and rural tribes, 83, n. 3 ; non-landowners enrolled, 96, n. 4 ; number increased to twenty-seven, 121, n. 14; num- ber brougnt up to twenty-nine, 121 ; to thirty-one, 126, n. 4; to thirty-three, 126 and n. 4; brought up to thirty-five, the maximum number, 244, n. 12. Tri-bo'ni-an, jurist, ;oo. Tribunes, military, with consular power, creation of office, 91 ; abolished, 104. Tribunes, plebeian, first, 69 ; num- ber, 69; duties, 69; their right of aid, 69 ; sacrosanct character, 70 ; importance of the creation of the tribunate, 70 ; germs of mischief in the office, 70 ; ac- quire the right to sit within the senate hall, 89 ; tabulated facts respecting, 109; their right of INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. 553 veto, 214, n. 4; Gracchan law makes legal reelection without an interval, 219; power lessened by Sulla, 259, 260; penalty im- posed for abuse of right of in- tercession, 260 ; disqualified for nolding curule offices, 261 ; pre- rogatives restored by Pompey, 272; powers absorbed by Au- gustus, 317. Triumph, last at Rome, 428. Triumvirate, First, 285 ; Second, 304-307- Truceless War, the, 158. Turn us. King of Rutulians, 57. Tusculum a municipiiim, 1 12, n. 6; Cato's birthplace, ig6. Twelve Tables, the, 83-S7 ; influ- ence of, 87. Tyne (tin), the, 360. Tyr-rhe'ni-an Sea, 2. Ul'pi-an, jurist, 508. Ulpian Lil^rary, 359. Um'bri-a, 2. Umbro-Sabellians, 6-8. U'sus., Roman form of marriage, 12, n. §. Utica, becomes leading city in Africa, 204. Vadimonian Lake, 124, n. 2. Valens, emperor, 416, n. 7 ; admits Visigoths within the emplrvi, j'l .> ; refuses to admit the Ostrogoths,, 419; his death, 420. Varen-tin''i-an I., emperor, 416, n. 7i his death, 417. j Va-le'ri-an, emperor, 378, n. i. Valerio-Horatian laws, 88-90. Va-le'ri-us, Lu'ci-us, consul, 88. I Valerius, Publius, consul, secures j passage of the Lex Valeria, 66 ; I treats with insurgent plebeians, 69. i Vandals, in Tannonia, i-xy in ; Spain, 435 ; in Africa, 435 ; sack Rome, 438. Varro, the writer, 500. Varro,GaiusTerentius,consul,i69, n. 7; at Cannas, 170; thanked by senate, 171. Varus, Quintilius, defeated by Ar- minius, 322. Veientians ensnare the Fabii,78-8o. Veii (ve'yi), Etruscan city, 8; siege and capture, 93-96. Ven'e-ti, the, 2S7. Ve-ne'ti-a, i. Venetians, 6, n. 3. Venice, mentioned, 5 ; its begin- "i"g'S 43/' 438- Venus, temple of, at Rome, 363. Ve-nu'si-a, Latin town, 237. Ver-cel'lcx, battle at, 228. Ver-cin'get'^o-rix, 288. Vergil, mentioned, 326; life, 487, 488 ; works, 4S8— 490. Ve-ro'na, battle at, 427. "^/"er'rcs, proprae'-or, his scandalous misgoveinment of Sicily, 273, 274 ; his prosecution by Cicero, 274 Ve'spHslaii (\es-pT.'zhi-an), Flavius, emperor, reign, 347-349. Vesta, worship o*^, 30; temple of, 30, ;o. YeMs,the,3o; house of, 30,11.1. Vesuvius, eruption of, destroys Pompeii, 350. 554 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY. Veturius, T., consul, 121. Vl^a JE-mirU, l^S, n. 1\ AppU, construction begun, 125; tombs along, 474 ; Fla-min'i-a, construc- tion of, 1 57 ; its course, 463 ; Sacra, 51. Victory, statue of, removed from senate hall, 421. Villas, when palaces are so desig- nated, 471 ; description, 473. Vin'do-bo''na, 368. Virginia, plebeian maiden, 87. Vir'i-a"thus, Lusitanian chief, 205. Visigoths, cross the Danube, 417— 421 ; revolt under Fritigern, 420 ; reduced to submission by Theo- dosius, 421 ; invade Italy, 427 ; second invasion, 430-433; es- tablish kingdom in Southern Gaul and in Spain, 434 ; at Chalons, 437. See A lark. Vi-terii-us, emperor, 347. Volscians, border wars witli Krime, 75' 76, 77- Volsinii, Ktruscan city, 8. Voting, manner of, in Roman as- semblies, 19. Wallia, king of the (ioths, 434. Woman, social status of the Ro- man wife, 513; divorce, 513. Xan-thip'pus, Spartan general in Carthaginian service, 148, n. 6. Yoke, symbol of submission, 81 and n. 9. Za'ma, battle at, 178. Ze''la, battle at, 296. Zeno, emperor of the ?2ast, 441. Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, 379. ADVERTISEMENTS TEXT-BOOKS ON HISTORY FOB HIGHER SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES By PHILIP VAN NESS MYERS Pfojessor- q/ Htsiory and Poliilcal Economy in the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, AND WILLIAM F. ALLEN, Late Professor of History in the University of Wisconsin. riyers's General History. 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