HISTORY

THE ROMAN PEOPLE

CHARLES SEIGNOBOS

f "

OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS

TRANSLATION EDITED BY

WILLIAM FAIRLEY. Ph.D.

NEW YORK

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1912

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HENRY HOLT & CO.

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EDITOR'S PREFACE.

The history here presented has preeminently the charm,
so characteristic of French historical writing, of graphic pres-
entation. This quality in it will be found not the least
among its reasons for claiming a place among the many
Roman histories now in the field.

The task of the American editor has been a simple one.
His aim has been to fit the French work to American class-
room use. The judgments of M. Seignobos have not been
altered in the text. A divergent view has occasionally been
alluded to in a note by the editor.

Some slight additions have been made. These, in the
body of the text are indicated by an asterisk, and in the notes
by brackets. The original work was carried only through
the reign of Theodosius I. As the requirements of our
American schools call for a treatment of the period from that
time to Charlemagne, such an addition will be found in Chap-
ters XXVIII-XXXII. In these chapters there is no claim to
originality, even of presentation, owing to the extreme con-
ciseness necessary.

Some omissions have been made from the French work.
The wealth of anecdotal material was very great, and some
of this has been dropped ; not a little of the detail of military
movements has also been left out.

To each chapter has been appended a short list of sources
in English, so far as such are available, and of suggestions
for parallel reading. In drawing up the latter regard has

313770

IV EDITOR'S PREFACE.

been had to the topical method of study, so that where mem-
bers of a class are using different books, it will be easy from
these lists to find the same topic in the various books in com-
mon use. The best known treatises and text-books have been
indicated simply by authors' names. In Appendix F will be
found a complete list of books referred to.

Legends and anecdotes are printed in small type.

W. F.

New York, June, 1902.

CONTENTS

PAGE

List of Maps and Plans vii

List of Illustrations viii

Chap. I. The Ancient Populations of Italy i

II. The Kings of Rome 15

III. The Abolition of Royalty 27

IV. The Roman Religion 36

V. The Establishment of Legal Equality 45

VI. The Conquest of Italy 56

VII. The Roman Army 74

Vm. The First Punic War 86

IX. The Second Punic War 99

X. Conquest of the Basin of the Mediterranean 120

XI. The Results of Conquest 144

XII. Social and Political Transformation 160

XIII. The Gracchi 177

XIV. The Period of Marius and Sulla 189

XV. PoMPEY , 214

XVI. Ci^SAR AND THE CONQUEST OF THE GaULS 230

XVII. End of the Republic 244

XVIII. The Empire 263

XIX. Literature, the Arts, and Trade 280

XX. Emperors of the Augustan Family 289

XXI. The Flavians 310

XXII. The Antonines 326

XXIII. Arts, Letters, and Social Conditions 345

XXIV. Christianity 362

XXV. The Decline of the Empire , 373

XXVI. Constantine and the Christian Religion 393

XXVII. The Downfall of Paganism 410

XXVIII. The Barbarian Invasion 421

XXIX. The Teutonic Kingdoms 440

XXX. The Eastern Empire 449

XXXI. Christianity and Mohammedanism 458

XXXII. Charles the Great and the New Empire 476

VI CONTENTS.

PAG8

Appendix A. The Roman Assemblies 487

B. Roman Provinces 491

C. Family of Augustus *,.... 493

D. List of Emperors 494

E. Chronological Table 497

F. List of Books 508

INDEX . 515

LIST OF MAPS.

COLORED MAPS.

PAGB

Italy before the Roman Conquest 9

Colonies and Military Roads of Italy 139

The Growth of the Roman Dominion to the Time of the

Gracchi 179

Italy before the Social War 195

The Growth of the Roman Dominion from the Gracchi

to the Death of Augustus 265

The Roman Empire at its Greatest Extent 334

The Roman Empire of the Fourth Century 404

Europe in the Reign of Theodoric 443

Europe in the Time of Charles the Great 477

MAPS AND PLANS IN TEXT.

The City of the Early Kings ; the Three Tribes 16

The City of the Later Kings 28

Roman Dominion at End of Royal Period 29

Battle of Lake Trasimine 106

Battle of Cann^ 108

Hannibal's Route in Spain 117

" " "Italy 118

Rome in the Time of the Empire 287

Harbors of Claudius and Trajan at Ostia 301

Roman Britain 378

vii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Interior of Sancta Sophia Frontispiece

Etruscan Sarcophagus 1 1

Cinerary Urns 13

Bronze Wolf of the Capitol 17

Cloaca Maxima 25

Curule Chair and Fasces 30

A Sacrifice 39

As, Half Size 50

A Samnite Warrior 65

Tomb of L. Cornelius Scipio Barbatus 68

Legion in Order of Battle 78

Encampment 80

A Trireme , 89

Roman Soldiers Using ''Crow" in Boarding 90

The Column of Duilius 91

BiREME (full page) 94

Carthaginian Helmet Found at Cann^ 109

PuBLius Cornelius Scipio Africanus 115

Soldiers Storming a .Town 119

Ballista 132

Dying Gaul 141

Female Dress 146

Altar 149

A Roman Play 152

Animal Fight in the Circus 155

A Slave Scourged 164

A Writer and his Implements 165

Citizens Registering 168

The Suovetaurilia 169

Voting 172

Milestone of Popilius L^enas 183

viii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. IX

PACK

Orator on Rostra and Judge. , 185

Roman Milestone 186

Marius 193

Sulla 200

Coin of Mithridates 201

POMPEY 215

Gladiators 217

Greek Pirate Vessel 223

Cicero 226

The Tullianum 227

Julius C^sar 230

Gallic Prisoners and Trophy 236

C/ESAR as Perpetual Dictator 249

Tomb of Cestius , 251

Augustus ; 264

Pr^torians 269

Common Soldier 27 1

Arches from Theatre of Marcellus 283

Roman Column and Entablature 284

The Pantheon 285

Coin of Augustus 286

Tiberius 290

Roman Boots (Calig/e) 295

Caligula and Drusilla 297

Claudius 299

Coin of Nero 303

Vespasian 314

Golden Gateway of the The Temple at Jerusalem 316

Golden Candlestick of the Jews, from Arch of Titus 319

The Flavian Amphitheatre or Colosseum 321

Arch of Titus * 322

The Decebalus Submitting 328

Burning a Town . . , . 329

The Fortress of Troesmis on the Danube 332

Antoninus 336

Marcus Aurelius 338

Parthians Rendering Homage to Marcus Aurelius 339

Mo. Aurelius Antoninus, Bronze Medallion 344

Column of Trajan 346

Mausoleum of Hadrian 347

X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Ruin of Roman Aqueduct 348

Aqueduct at NTmes 349

House of Pansa, in Pompeii 35 1

Ground-plan of House of Pansa ... 352

School Punishment 356

Christian Lamp 366

Catacomb of St. Calixtus 371

Painting from Cemetery of SS. Nereus and Achilleus 372

Commodus as Hercules 374

Coin of Pertinax . . 376

Caracalla 380

Alexander Severus 383

vSapor's Capture of Valerian 388

Chariot of Prefect of the City 391

constantine 396

Arch of Constantine 398

The Labarum 399

Coin of Constantine 405

Julian 412

Theodosius 417

Roman Consul of Age of Honorius 422

Galla Placidia and Valentinian III 425

Porta Nigra at Treves 428

Bronze Lamp and Implements 431

Consular Costume of Later Empire 437

Church of S. Apollinare in Classe 445

Tomb of Theodoric 446

Justinian and his Court ._ 451

A Page from the Pandects 455

Interior of Church of S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna . . . 461

Seal of Mohammed 469

Charlemagne 479

The Cathedral at Aachen 480

Monogram of Charlemagne 482

St. Matthew, from Evangeliarium of Charlemagne 484

HISTORY OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

CHAPTER I.
THE ANCIENT POPULATIONS OF ITALY.

Italy. — Italy ^ is a broad peninsula which stretches out
into the Mediterranean Sea, beginning at the eastern limit
of the French coast and extending in the direction of Greece.
The two coast-lines are almost parallel, the width of the
peninsula being almost uniform throughout, until it divides
into two parts; it has thus very much the form of a boot,
with the heel towards Greece and the toe touching Sicily.

Throughout its whole extent the interior of Italy consists
of a massive range of gray, rocky mountains, the Apennines,
which reach at their highest point an elevation of 9500 feet.
Their sharpest decline is towards the east, where they descend
to the Adriatic Sea. This side shows only short, narrow
valleys separated by precipitous walls of rock. On the
west, towards the Tyrrhenian Sea, the mountains sink into a
country of hills and fertile plains. The sea came originally
to the foot of the mountains and formed gulfs there, but the
volcanoes have filled the gulfs with lava, slag, and ashes, thus

1 The name Italy did not mean the same to the ancient Romans that
it does to us. We include under this name all the territory south of
the Alps ; not simply the peninsula, but the valleys of the Po and the
Adige and the coast of the Gulf of Genoa. Up to the first century the
ancients called the peninsula alone Italy. The name was gradually
extended after that time.

2 ' . , V tf^^> ROMAN PEOPLE.

forihin^ u^V^and/ * Tji.the westward, therefore, flow all the
chief rivers; and there lie' the fertile sections (Tuscany,
Latium, Campania) where were developed the great peoples
of ancient Italy.

On the south the mountains fall abruptly. The two
points in which Italy terminates, called by the ancients the
two "horns," are not part of the Apennines. The point
which turns toward Greece, to the east of Tarentum, is a low
plateau, gray and barren, dusty and dreary, scorched by the
sun. The point which turns towards Sicily is formed by two
solid masses of granite. The first, the Sila range, separated
from the Apennines by a broad plain, is covered with forests
throughout its vast extent; attaining at its highest point an
elevation of over 6000 feet, it descends on three sides with
the abruptness of a wall, through whose narrow gorges rush-
ing torrents force their way. This region has always been
the resort of brigands (Calabria). The other range, joined
to Sila by a narrow ridge of low, rounded hills, is a plateau
commanded by peaks 6500 feet in height. The forests
which cover it furnished the ancients with timber for houses
and ships, and a famous brand of pitch.

Climate. — Italy has a mild, damp climate. The winter
is short. For some weeks the Aquilo blows, a north wind,
cold and clear, which drives away the mists. But it rarely
freezes in the plains, and snow is seen only on the moun-
tains. February brings a mild, soft wind from the west,
called by the ancients Favonius, the favorable. Then the
swallows return, the almond-trees blossom, and spring is
begun.

Spring, too, is a short season, at least in southern Italy.
With May comes a dry and burning summer which scorches
all vegetation that is not watered constantly. As in Greece,
this drought lasts almost four months. After the end of
March in the northern and central plains the prevailing wind
is from the south (Auster, the burning). It brings an
oppressive heat, a suffocating vapor which affects the trans-

ANCIENT ITALY. 3

parency of the air, and at times brings violent storms with
thunder and hail.

This trying and unwholesome summer lasts until Septem-
ber. Then autumn begins, the season of heavy rains, lasting
until November. The precipitation is greater in Italy in
these three months than in a whole year in Germany.

Streams. — This water, falling in torrents on the steep
mountain-sides, is swiftly borne down by rushing torrents,
loaded with earth and pebbles which they either deposit as
they go or carry along to the sea. During the dry summer
season these torrents are reduced to a narrow stream of water
running through a wide bed of dry stones.

The calcareous Apennine rocks, full as they are of crevices
and gaps, do not throw off all the rain and melted snow on
the surface, but receive it into the interior of the mountain,
whence it issues in great springs at the base. The waters
thus stored finally emerge to feed the rivers during the dry
season.

Coast. — The coasts of Italy are straight, only slightly
indented and almost without natural harbors, while the
debris brought by the mountain torrents forms sand-bars
across the mouths of the rivers.

On the Adriatic the shore is lined with lagoons and
sand-bars which forbid the approach of ships. The sea
is disturbed, especially in winter, by violent northerly
storms.

On the Ionian Sea there was really only one good harbor,
Tarentum, and this is to-day blocked with sand.

The western coast is more favorable, although natural
harbors are infrequent. Only in two places, in Tuscany and
in the Bay of Naples, do we find islands, and deep water
near the shore. Here the ancients had their chief ports.

Italy is not, like Greece, a country fitted by nature for
maritime enterprise. The ancient peoples of Italy were not
sailors; they were farmers in the lowlands, shepherds in the
mountains.

4 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

Umbrians. — In the heart of the Apennines, surrounded
by the highest peaks, lies a country of narrow valleys and
low mountains, crossed by a wide fertile valley which falls
toward the western coast.

Here dwelt the Umbrians, a race of shepherds and tillers
of the soil. They lived in, small fortified towns built on the
hills which guard the valleys. It is said that they were once
a great people settled throughout the whole of Tuscany and
the Po valley, and that they were driven back into the
mountains by new peoples. They did not form a united
nation, each city being a small state in itself. They all,
however, spoke the same language, resembling Latin some-
what as French resembles Italian.

Sabines. — South of Umbria rises a huge mass of wild
mountains surrounded on all sides by rocky walls which
form a sort of natural fortress. These are to-day called the
Abruzzi, now a region of brigands. Farther to the westward
extends a long range of lower and more sloping mountains,
intersected by the valley of the Anio. These are the Sabin .
Mountains.

This was formerly the country of the Sabines, a race of
warlike peasants, with the reputation of sober, honest, hard-
working farmers. They tilled with the spade the stony and
arid soil of their mountains, and dwelt in huts grouped in
open villages. Their language was much like Latin.

Sabellians. — From this Sabine country are said to have
issued most of the mountain peoples of Italy. They were
called Sabellians (the same name as Sabines), and their origin
is explained only by legends.

We are told that the Sabines, in times of misfortune, believ-
ing the gods angry, sought to appease them by a grand sacrifice.
They vowed, or rather consecrated, to their god all that should
be born to them within the ensuing year. This was called a
Sacred Spring. All children born within the year belonged to
the god. As soon as they were full grown they went away to
settle wherever they might. Thus several bands broke away
from the Sabines at different intervals. Each had followed a

ANCIENT ITALY. 5

sacred animal, a wolf, a bull, or a woodpecker, as a messenger
from the god ; where the animal rested, there the band estab-
lished itself and became a people.

Many peoples derived their names from this custom : the
Picentines, the people of the woodpecker (pi'cus); the
Hirpini, or people of the wolf {hirpus). Others took the
name of a god, such as the Marsi and the Vestini.

These Sabellians had peopled all the mountains of Italy,
They held the great central ranges. They occupied the
Adriatic slope. They inhabited the mountain chains border-
ing the- plains (the Hernici and /Equi), Finally they even
came down into the plains and settled among the hills along
the coast (Volsci).

Isolated as they were in their mountain homes, they
remained uncivilized and quarrelsome, and devoted them-
selves to raising cattle and cultivating their bits of land.
Almost without exception they lived in the country and built
no cities. On some of the steep mountain-tops they built
fortresses where in time of war they sheltered their families
and their herds. They grouped themselves in small clans
under chiefs who led them in war, but each people formed
an independent state. y

Samnites. — Of all the Sabellians, the most powerful were
the Samnites. These were a confederation of four peoples
established in the heart of the Apennines, in a country of
rugged barren mountains, difficult of access, and broken by
narrow gorges — a land whose pastures were better adapted
to sheep and goats than to cattle.

The Samnites became a fighting people. The young
men, too numerous to make a living in this poor country,
went as soldiers into the service of the rich cities of the
plains. They came home with rich armor, silver shields,
gold collars, and jewels.

Towards the sixth century b.c. many bands of Samnite
soldiers settled in these foreign districts, overcame the
inhabitants, and formed new peoples, the Lucanians, Brut-

6 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

tians, and Campanians.^ For a hundred years these moun-
taineers controlled southern Italy.

Magna Graecia. — Southern Italy, composed of low plains
and hills, turns towards Greece. From the farthest point
one may, on a clear day, see the mountains on the islands
of the opposite coast.

The former inhabitants of this country, the lapygians,
probably came from the other side of the Adriatic, from the
region which the ancients called Illyria. Their language
was similar to the lUyrian.

Then at the end of the eighth century B.C. Greek colonies
arrived. They settled in the most fertile plains and on the
neighboring coasts wherever ships might land. They built
fortified towns; each formed a " city " {civitas, n6\iZ), that
is to say, an independent state governing itself and making
war on the others. There was the same life as in Greece,
but richer; each city had a large extent of territory covered
with fields of grain, pastures for horses, vineyards and
olive-trees.

The most powerful of these cities were Sybaris, famous
for its luxury; Croton, the warlike city which destroyed
Sybaris; and Tarentum, the great port of southern Italy.

These Greeks had occupied only a part of the country.
The former inhabitants remained side by side with them, but
were neither so rich, so powerful, nor so highly civilized.
Slowly they, adopted the language and customs of the
Greeks. All southern Italy became a Greek country, known
as Magna Gr^cia.

Greeks of Campania.- -On the other side of Italy, border-
ing on the Tyrrhenian Sea, were other Greek colonies, of very
ancient origin.

The oldest of these, Cumae, was built on a volcanic rock,
328 feet in height, descending sharply on three sides to the
sea. Ships anchored below in the Bay of Baiae. To the

^ The Romans called this new people by the same name as the inhabi-
tants of the country — Oscans.

ANCIENT ITALY. 7

southward lay Campania, a volcanic plain, celebrated for its
fertility. The Cumaean merchants sold grain to the Greeks,
and Greek vases to the inhabitants of the country. The
Cumaean sailors became famous pirates; their ships of war
fought with the Etruscans and vanquished the Carthaginians.

Farther south, around the gulf where the best ports lie,
Cumae sent colonists who founded new Greek cities. Naples
(Neapolis, new city) was one of these.

The Greeks in Campania were too few to transform the
population. The old inhabitants, the Ausonians and Opici,
settled in small inland cities, retained their language and
customs until the Etruscans from the north, followed by the
Samnites from the mountains, came to conquer them and
change their mode of life.

Etruria. — In the northwestern part of the peninsula of
Italy, between the Apennines and the sea, lies a strange
country. Sombre mountains, old extinct volcanoes scattered
here and there in disorder, surround small cultivated plains.
The waters, unable to flow forth, gather in swamps on the
plains or in deep lakes at the foot of the mountains. Some
of these lakes, the smallest and deepest, fill the bowls of
former craters. This is the land the ancients called Etruria.^

Formed in part of debris from volcanoes, this country is
fertile; plains, valleys, and hills formerly yielded rich har-
vests of grain. The mass of wooded mountains in the centre
formed the Ciminian forest, gloomy and deserted. It was
not to be crossed without danger and, as it cut Etruria in
two, made communication difficult. The southern region,
which was smaller and lower, extended as far as the
Tiber.

The coast of our day is sandy and bordered by a great
plain dotted over with malarial marshes (the Maremma).
In ancient times it was doubtless less obstructed and
unwholesome. Ports were there which have now dis-

* Etruria is now called Tuscany. Tuscany, however, extends farther
to the north, beyond the Arno.

8 THE ROM/tN PEOPLE.

appeared; the most important of these were opposite the
island of Elba.

Etruscans. — The people that inhabited this country were
unlike any of their neighbors. The Greeks called them
Tuscans or Tyrrhenians, the Romans Etruscans, which is the
same name differently pronounced. They spoke a language
very unlike any of the other languages in Italy. We know
a few words of it from inscriptions, but no scholar has yet
been able to explain them in full.

The Etruscans were said to be foreigners, but it is not
known just where they came from. They may have come
down from the Rhaetian Alps on the north (the Tyrol).

In this fertile country the Etruscans grew rich and power-
ful. Their cities, built on the mountains and surrounded
by walls of enormous stone blocks, were the largest in Italy.
Each had its own territory and formed an independent state.
In these little states, the nobles (Jucumons) held all the lands
and wealth. They went to war in costly armor, and exacted
obedience from all the other inhabitants.

In several cities there was a chief superior to the other
nobles, a sort of king. He wore a robe bordered with
purple, sat on an ivory chair, and was accompanied by
lictors bearing rods and axes.

The twelve leading Etrurian cities celebrated a festival in
the sanctuary of a goddess worshipped by all the Etruscans.
The chiefs of all the cities held an assembly there, but there
was no political confederation and each state made its own
wars independent of the rest.

The Etruscan seaports had ships which navigated the
whole coast as far as Sicily. Their commerce was chiefly
with the Carthaginians who brought them the products of
the East, ivory, purple stuffs, and Egyptian jewels. One of
these cities, Caere, dealt even with the Greeks. The Greeks
called it by a Phoenician name, Agylla (the round), and
praised its inhabitants, the only Etruscans, they said, who
were not pirates. The sailors of this period were ordinarily

ANCIENT ITALY, 9

armed; if they had a chance they pillaged ships and even the
villages on the coast, carrying away the women and children
to sell into slavery, and destroying their goods. The
Etruscan sailors waged a pirate war on the Greek sailors,
their rivals. The Greek poets called them the savage
Tyrrhenians and told how the god Apollo, captured by
Etruscan pirates, had punished them by changing them into
dolphins.

There were also Etruscan cities in the valley of the Po, on
the Adriatic coast : Bologna, Mantua, Ravenna, the date of
whose foundation is unknown. They were taken from the
Etruscans by the Gauls.

The Etruscans, advancing southward, overcame the lesser
peoples of Latium and conquered the cities of Campania,
where they introduced their modes of living. The most
important of these cities was Capua.

Etruscan Religion. — The Etruscans believed in protect-
ing divinities, of whom we know only the names, and that
they were worshipped three together, one god and two
goddesses. They worshipped also the souls of the dead, as
powerful spirits that might do them evil. Even human
victims were offered up to them. This was the beginning
of the famous custom of gladiatorial contests.

Many Etruscan tombs have been discovered, some sur-
mounted by a stone monument in the form of a dome.
Within were chambers constructed as if to be occupied by
the dead. The bodies were laid on beds of state, and sur-
rounded by furniture, clothing, emblems, jewels — collars,
rings, brooches, and bracelets — and great painted vases.
The walls were often covered with pictures, representing
chiefly sports, the massacre of captives, and banquets.

The Etruscans also believed in subterranean demons who
conducted souls under the earth to the abode of the dead ;
Mantus, king of Hades, is represented in their pictures as a
winged demon, a crown on his head and a torch in his hand ;
Charon, a hideous, ferocious old man, with long ears and

lo THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

armed with a heavy mallet; other demons holding serpents
in their hands with which they threaten their victims; and
the horrible Tuculcha, a monster with an eagle's beak, ass's
ears, and hair of serpents.

Soothsayers. — :The Etruscan soothsayers had various ways
of predicting the future. When an animal was brought to
be sacrificed, they looked at its entrails, the form and posi-
tion of its liver, heart, and lungs, and from that read the
future according to certain rules of interpretation.

They also drew prognostications from thunder. Their
usual method, however, was to watch the flight of birds.
The soothsayer stood facing north, and with his bent staff in
his right hand traced an imaginary square in the sky. In
this space he watched the passing birds. If they passed to
the right, it was a favorable sign; if to the left, an unfavor-
able sign. An eagle was a good sign, an owl a bad one.
The laws of soothsaying were finally drawn up in a number
of sacred books: on the flight of birds, on thunder, on
ceremonies appropriate to public acts.

One day, says an Etruscan legend, while men were laboring
in a field near Tarquinii, there sprang up from the ground a
tiny man with the form of a child and the gray beard of a patri-
arch. It was the divinity Tages. He began to repeat the
sacred rules of divination and ceremonies. The people gathered
to hear him, and the king had his words written down. Imme-
diately after Tages died.

The soothsayers predicted that the Etruscan people would
endure for ten centuries. What they called a century was
not exactly one hundred years, but the length of a human
life. The soothsayers knew the end of a century by certain
signs. In the year 44 b.c. a comet appeared. An Etruscan
soothsayer declared in Rome that it announced the end of
the ninth century and the beginning of the tenth and last of
the Etruscan people.

Etruscan Arts. — The Etruscans practised the principal
arts of the civilized peoples of their time; they had learned
them from the Carthaginians and the Greeks.

/iNClEhIT ITALY, II

They extracted copper from the mountains of Etruria, and
from the mountains of the island of Elba iron ore which they
ground to extract the metal. The Etruscans did most of
their work in metal. Of jewels, gold, and silver they made
rings, collars, and clasps; they also made furniture, mirrors

ETRUSCAN SARCOFHAGUS.

of polished bronze surrounded with ornaments, and cups
adorned with carving.

The famous Etruscan vases ^ were of baked clay, black,
with designs in red, usually representing scenes in which the
gods or the Greek heroes figure. Many came from Greek
cities, but the Etruscans had learned to imitate them.

The Etruscan cities were built regularly with walls of cut
stone and arched gates, broad, straight streets, paved with
flags, and the houses separated by gutters. The Etruscans
built underground drains supported by arches to draw off
the water from the cities and from the swampy plains.

The Etruscans had adopted the ancient Greek alphabet.

* Peoples of the North. — In the northern part of Italy in
the great basin of the Po, enclosed between the Alps and

^ There are fiiousands of them in the museums, found in the tombs.

12 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

the Apennines, were found three other peoples. On the
west, in the territory about^the modern Genoa, lived the
Ligurians, a people probably of non-Aryan stock, who until
subdued were to make much trouble for Rome. On the
east were the Veneti, akin to the Illyrians. Between these,
and eventually dominating that entire end of Italy, the Gauls,
a people of Celtic stock, thrust themselves in the sixth
century b.c. The whole region became known as Gallia
Cisalpina. ^

Latium. — From the heart of the Apennines descends a
small swift stream, the Tiber, which flows out through a
narrow plain. After the rains it becomes very yellow with
the earth washed away from the mountains, and overflows
its banks.

South of the Tiber we find Latium, a volcanic country.
The Alban Mount, a great extinct volcano commanding the
whole region, covered it in former times with slag, ashes,
and lava. This mass of debris has mingled with the sand
and clay to form a sort of soft stone, tufa, which is easily
cut and is used for heavy construction. In this soft tufa
the rains and torrents have cut narrow gorges, so that the
country is now a chaos of sharp hills separated by deep
ravines.

It is a very damp region, subject to heavy rains in winter
and thunder-storms in summer. The water does not all
flow down in the torrents or into the small lakes at the foot
of the mountains; a part sinks into the earth. The porous
soil retains the water like a sponge, until the burning heat
of summer evaporates it. The air, thus charged with
moisture, is heavy and unwholesome. In the lower parts
of the valleys, especially near the sea, the water, unable to
escape, forms swamps which spread fevers far and wide.
This is the famous malaria (bad air). The district has always
bred fever. The ancient inhabitants in several localities

' In Chapter VI will be found the story of the way in which these
Gauls came near destroying Rome.

ANCIENT ITALY.

worshipped the goddess Fever. ^ < They wore woolen gar-
ments, built fires in the open air, and built their houses close
together on the heights, all of which seem to have been pre-
cautions against fever. The country, however, was not
then, as it is to-day, an uninhabitable desert. Cultivation
had rendered it dry and wholesome, while small underground
drains drew off the water from the interior of the hills.

The Latins. — The inhabitants of Latium, the Latins,
were of the same race as the Sabines of the mountains ; they
resembled them in language, religion, and mode of life.
Like the mountaineers they were a race of peasants and
shepherds. But, being neighbors of the Etruscans and the
Cumaean Greeks, they had become a little more civilized.
They used the Greek alphabet 2; they had, like the Greeks,

CINERAkY URNS IN TERRA COTTA,

showing forms of primitive Latin huts.

olive* and fig-trees. They understood the art of working in
metals, and they learned to build after the Etruscan model.
They lived in small fortified towns on the hill-tops. Each
town had its own little territory. The inhabitants of the
town formed a people with an independent government
which they called res publica (property of the people) or
civitas {city). These small peoples often made war on one
another.

[' The Italian physicians have had the honor of demonstrating within
the last two years that the mosquitoes of such a district are the real car-
riers of malarial germs.]

''■ Roman letters are simply ancient Greek letters, shghtly changed.

14 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

On the Alban Mount there was a sanctuary consecrated
to the Latin god Jupiter {Latiaris), common to all the
Latins. Every year the Latin cities (said to be thirty in all)
sent delegates who met in a sacred wood on the mountain
and sacrificed a bull to the Latin Jupiter.

Italy was thus inhabited by very different peoples, without
a common name. Even those whom to-day we recognize
as one race, the Umbrians, Sabines, Sabellians, and Latins,
were ignorant of their common origin. They could not
converse together readily, for their languages, although alike
at the beginning, had becDme different with time.

The most civilized of all, the Greeks in the south and the
Etruscans in the north, were foreigners., The Latins, living
near the coast, absorbed the civilization of these strangers
and, going far ahead of the mountain peoples, ended by
becoming masters of all Italy.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy Introduction.

Mommsen Bk. i, cc. i-iii, viii-K.

Botsford c. i.

How and Leigh cc. i, ii.

Morey Introduction.

Myers c. i.

Shuckburgh cc. ii, iii.

Freeman Historical Geography of Europe, pp. 7-9,

43-49-

Tozer Classical Geography, cc. ix, x.

Ihne Early Rome, c. i, for Causes of the Great-
ness of Rome.

Shuckburgh c. i, for Divisions of Romi^n History.

Dennis The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria.

Fergusson History of Architecture, Bk. iv, c. i, for

Etruscan Architecture.

CHAPTER II.
THE KINGS OF ROME

Foundation of Rome. — On the northern frontier o^
Latium, close to Etruria, is the site of Rome, a plain inter-
sected by hills. The countr)' about, drained by the Tiber,
which overflows every year, was marshy and unhealthy.
Even to-day it is almost impossible to avoid fever there.
The hills are low, the highest being only i68 feet in height;
some, however, are very steep and rise from the plain like
natural fortresses.

On the Palatine, near the Tiber and the highest of all
these hills, was built the first city of Rome. It was but a
small town (hardly 6000 feet around), built almost in the
form of a square; it was indeed called Square Rome [Roma
Quadrata). The city was strong, surrounded by a ditch
which ran all around the hill, and by a stone wall inside the
ditch. Some remains of this wall have been found. It had
four gates, one on each side.

The Romans caid that Rome had been founded on April
21, 753; that is, on that day the wall had been marked out
with a religious ceremony. They described the ceremony
thus:

The founder, clothed in a white robe, had yoked a bull and
a heifer of spotless white to a plough with a bronze share.
Then, all around the spot where he wished to build his city he
drove the plough, turning a furrow to mark the site of the wall.

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Where he wished the gates to stand he lifted the plough and
carried it (hence the 'LsXin porta, gate, from po^ /are, to carry) so
that it should not touch the earth ; for the furrow traced by his
plough was sacred and religion forbade its being crossed. The
furrow therefore had to be interrupted where space was left to
go in and out.

On April 21 of each year the Romans celebrated the anni-
versary of the foundation. A procession marched around

SCALE OF FEET

2000 3000

THE CITY OF THE EARLY KINGS — THE THREE TRIBES.

A, Roma Quadrata; B, Arx, or Citadel.

Temples, altars, etc.: i, Jupiter Capitolinus; 2, Janus; 3, Quirinus; 4, Vesta;
5, Tarpeian Rock.

the old wall long after it had disappeared and a priest drove
a nail in a temple.

Legend of Romulus. — The Romans had no certain
knowledge of the history of their city during the centuries
immediately after its foundation. They treasured, however,
many legends of these ancient times which they accepted as
true. These legends furnished them an explanation of the
monuments they saw and the customs they practised.

THE KINGS OF ROME, IJ

I'hey called the founder of Rome Romulus and told this
legend of him :

On one of the mountains of Latium stood a city called Alba,
whose kings were said to be descended from the Trojan hero
^neas, who had fled to Italy after the burning oi Troy.
Amulius, twelfth king of Alba, had dispossessed his brother
Numitor and was reigning in his place. Numitor had a daugh-
ter, Rhea Sylvia, whom her uncle forced to become a priestess
of the goddess Vesta. The god Mars fell in love with her and
she bore him two sons, Ronmlus and Remus. The king, to
rid himself of them, had them put in a cradle and thrown into
the overflowing Tiber. The current bore the cradle into the
flooded valley and to the foot of the Palatine, where it stopped

BRONZE WOI.F OF THE CAPITOL.

near a fig-tree. There a wolf came and suckled the two chil-
dren,* while birds hovered over the cradle to keep insects
away. A shepherd found them and took them home to his
wife, who brought them up.

Romulus and Remus grew to be brave men and made war on
wild beasts and robbers. One day they were fighting against
Numitor's shepherds who threatened to pasture their herds on
the Aventine hill. Remus was seized and taken before Numi-
tor, to whom he related his story. Numitor remembered his
grandsons, whom he had long thought dead, and sent for
Romulus. The two brothers killed Amulius and restored Alba
to their grandfather, Numitor.

The king sent them with a body of men to found a city in the
neighborhood where they had been brought up. Each of the
two watched the heavens for a favorable sign from the gods,
Romulus from Mount Palatine, Remus from Mount Aventine.
Remus saw six vultures, Romulus twelve. Their companions

' A bronze group in the Capitol represented two children suckled by a
wolf.

1 8 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

decided in favor of Romulus, and it was he that drove the
sacred plough around the Palatine hill. Remus defied him and
leaped the furrow. r<omulas killed him and cried: "Thus
perish all who dare cross this wall ! "

On a neighboring hill stood a forest of sacred oaks. In order to
increase his people, Romulus made of this forest a refuge, within
whose bounds every fugitive was safe. Exiles, runaway slaves,
and criminals came here from all countries. Romulus governed
both his Alban companions on the Palatine hill and the exiles
in his shelter.

These first Romans had no wives. Romulus therefore asked
them of the people round about. They mocked him, saying :
" Open an asylum for women also." Romulus invited them to
the festival of the god Consus. The Sabines came with their
families. In the midst of the festivities, Romulus gave a signal,
whereupon each Roman seized a young girl, carried her of! and
married her. Thus the Romans procured wives through the
" Rape of the Sabines."^

The Sabines swore vengeance and came in arms to attack
Rome. On the steep hill of the Capitol opposite the Palatine
Romulus had built a fort and stationed a garrison. A young
girl named Tarpeia offered to betray the fortress to the Sabines
in return for what they bore on their left arms, meaning of
course their golden bracelets. They promised, and she let them
in. Once in possession of the Capitol they threw their shields
upon her and crushed her. They kept their promise, for they
carried the shield on the left arm, and Tarpeia was punished for
her treachery.

The Sabines and the Romans met in the valley between the
two hills. The Romans w^ere giving up the battle and turning
to flee, when Romulus prayed Jupiter to check the rout and
promised to build him a temple.' Immediately the Romans
stood their ground. At the same moment the young Sabine
women, now the wives of the Romans who had stolen them,
ran to throw themselves between their husbands and their
fathers, weeping and praying. The warriors heard their suppli-
cation and ceased to fight.' The two kings soon concluded a
treaty and the two peoples were henceforth one. Romulus,

[* This myth probably rose as an attempted explanation of the primi-
tive custom of marriage by seizure of the bride.]

* There was at Rome a temple consecrated to Jupiter Stator {vfYio
checks).

^ In commemoration of the service rendered by the Sabine women in
separating the combatants, the women of Rome went every year on
March 1 1 to place wreaths of flowers in the temple of the goddess Juno
and spent the rest of the day in their houses in festal attire.

THE KINGS OF ROME. 19

settled on the Palatine, reigned in common with Tatius, king of
the Sabines, on the Capiiol.

Romulus ou; lived Tatius and vanquished many of the neigh-
boring peoples. One day the Romans had all assembled for a
review in the Field of Mars, when a violent thunder-storm burst
upon them. The terrified people scattered in all directions.
When the storm was over, Romulus was nowhere to be seen.
Some days later, a senator swore that he had seen the king
drawn up to heaven in a chariot in the midst of the thunder
and lightning. The Romans inferred from this that Romulus
had gone to join the gods, and they worshipped him under the
name of Quirinus.

Legend of Numa. — Numa, the second king, is credited
with the organization of the Roman religion.

After the deatii of Romulus, the two united peoples, Romans
and Sabines, were for a year without a king ; they finally chose
a Sabine, Numa Pompilius. He was wise and just, a lover of
peace, a devoted worshipper of the gods, and beloved by them.
At night he went to the sacred wood of the Camenae on the
Coelian Hill to a place where an inexhaustible stream flowed
down through a rocky cavern. There Numa met a goddess,
the nymph Egeria, who gave him her counsel.

Thanks to this divine counsel, he regulated the ceremonies
in the way most pleasing to the gods. He created pontiffs,
omens, and vestals : he forbade the sacrifice of blood. He
built the temple of Saturn and the temple of Janus, the latter
to stand open as long as Rome should be at war. Numa, being
a peaceful ruler, kept it closed. After him, however, it had to
be left open for several centuries.

Legend of TuUus and the Horatii. — The third king,
Tullus, was represented as a warrior and friend of the poor.
The combat between the Horatii and the Curiatii is credited
to his reign.

Tullus Hostilius was said to be the grandson of a Latin. He
established himself on the Coelian Hill, among the poor, and
gave land to citizens who had none. His reign was devoted to
war.

Alba Longa, built on a mountain and the most powerful city
in the country, had for a long time been at war with Rome.
At length the two peoples determined to end the war by a
duel. Three champions on each side met in the presence of
the two armies ; the people whose champions should conquer
was to be master of the other. Rome chose three young

20 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

brothers, the Horatii ; Alba, the three young Curiatii. They
fought in a plain between the two armies.

In the first engagement two of the Horatii were killed, while
all three Curiatii were wounded. The Albans thought they
were already victorious and shouted for joy. The third Hora-
tius, still unwounded, made as if to flee. The wounded Curiatii
pursued him and in the pursuit were separated. Horatius, see-
ing them widely separated, turned, attacked them one by one,
killed all three,' and seized their armor. In his way back to
Rome, laden with his trophies, Horatius met his sister, who
had been betrothed to one of the dead Curiatii. Recognizing
her lover's arms, she began to weep and call for him. Horatius
was enraged and pierced her with his spear, crying, " Thus
perish every Roman who weeps at the death of an enemy ! "
He was seized and condemned to death. His father begged the
people not to take his last remaining child, and they pardoned
him. To expiate his crime, his father erected a yoke'* in the
middle of the road and made him pass under it with veiled
head.

The Albans were now obliged to follow the Romans in all
their wars. In one battle Mettius Fuffetins, the Alban chief,
instead of fighting, held his men aside, awaiting the outcome
before joining the stronger side. The Romans won the day,
and after the battle Tullus had Mettius bound by his hands and
feet to two chariots, which were then driven in opposite direc-
tions, tearing the traitor's body in two. A troop of horsemen
then hastened to Alba, destroyed the city, and led its people to
Rome, where they were established on the Ccelian Hill.

One day Tullus was trying to make thunder descend on the
altar, when by some mistake the thunderbolt came down on
him, burned him to death, and set fire to his palace.

Legend of Ancus Martius. — This is the legend of the

fourth king of Rome.

Ancus Martius, grandson of Numa, was chosen by the Ro-
mans. He made war on the Latins, took a number of their
cities and brought their inhabitants to live in Rome on the
Aventine Hill. He extended the territory of Rome to the sea,
and established the port of Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber.
He built a wooden bridge over the Tiber and, on the other
side of the river, the fortress of Mount Janiculum.

* There were near Rome three tombs close together called the Tombs
of the Curiatii, and near by a single tomb in which it is said the two
Horatii were buried together.

' There was in Rome a yoke known as the Sister's Beam.

THE KINGS OF ROME. 2\

Legend of Tarquinius the Elder. — Legend represents the
following kings as foreigners from Etruria and calls the head
of this Etruscan family Tarquinius the Elder.

Tarquin was the son of a Greek noble belonging to Corinth,
who, driven from his country by a revolution, had settled at
Tarquinii in Etruria. His wife, Tanaquil, vvho had the power
of reading the future, advised him to go to Rome with his
property and his household.

As they came to Janiculum, an eagle slowly descended upon
Tarquin, plucked off his cap, hovered for a moment above the
chariot with wild cries, then replaced the cap. Tanaquil em-
braced her husband and explained to him the meaning of the
omen — that Tarquin should be king.

Ancus, king of Rome, took Tarquin for his friend, and on his
death confided his son to his care. Tarquin had won the love
of the people, and they elected him king. He beautified Rome,
built a circus for festivals, and an underground drain for the
lower part of the city. He adopted the royal emblems of the
Etruscans, the purple robe, the crown, the sceptre surmounted
by the eagle, and the ivory throne.

Legend of Servius Tulliu» — Servius Tullius, the sixth
king, was an organizer.

Son of a slave or of a prince killed in war (here the legend
varies), he was brought up in the palace. Tanaquil gave him
her daughter in marriage, then had him declared king.

It was he that divided the people into tribes, organized the
army into centuries, and built a new wall, the wall of Servius.

He married his two daughters to the two sons of Tarquin.
One of these, Tullla, a wicked and ambitious woman, poisoned
her husband and married her brother-in-law, Lucius. He also
was ambitious, and conspired against his father-in-law. One
day he came to the senate chamber in the royal robes, seized
Servius and threw him down the stone stairway. Tullia came
to greet the new king, driving her chariot over the bleeding
body of her father.'

The Roman People. — It is certain that the Roman people
was for a long time very small and constantly at war with
the other small peoples in the neighborhood.

The Roman territory was small, composed in part of
barren hills. Each family had ordinarily a small field of

* There was a street in Rome called the Via Scelerata, so called, it is
said, on account of Tullia' s crime.

2 2 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

two acres, a sort of garden, where they raised grain and
various vegetables, peas, beans, and cabbages. The rich
were those who had a herd of sheep or oxen.

Money was not yet in use. In making a purchase, a
certain number of oxen or sheep were given, or else a bit of
bronze weighed in the balance. A fine consisted in handing
over to the state so many sheep ox oxen. The word pecunia^
meaning fortune, comes from pecus, meaning cattle.

Patricians and Clients. — The Romans were farmers and
shepherds. These peasants were not equal. Certain families
possessed almost all the lands and herds. These families
were not, like ours, composed simply of father, mother, and
children. The gens, as this sort of family was called,
included all the men descended from a common ancestor,
so that a single gens often comprised many families (the gens
Fabia, for instance, is said to have included more than three
hundred warriors). Each gens obeyed a common chief, the
pater (father) and had a common sanctuary where the
members came at certain times to worship the souls of their
dead ancestors and celebrate religious ceremonies. There
were said to be three hundred of these gentes. Those
belonging to them were called patricians (sons of the paler).
They alone could govern, command, or seek justice of the
tribunal. All the rest of the people respected them as
superiors.

Side by side with the patricians lived the free men, poorer
and of less importance; these were called clients. Each had
a patrician iox patron; the client owed his patron obedience,
labor on his estate, and service in time of war. The
patrician, in return, protected the client, gave him a living,
and represented him before the tribunal, where the client
could not appear himself.

The Plebeians. — The patricians and their clients formed
the populus, that is to say, the body of citizens. They alone
might appear in the assembly of the people and at religious
ceremonies.

THE KINGS OF ROME, 23

But there was a constantly increasing class of men who
were obedient to the Roman government and fought in the
Roman army, without having the right to take part in either
assemblies or ceremonies. These were known as the plebs
(or common herd), as distinguished from i\\e people. " May
this be favorable to the people and thQ plebs of Rome," ran
an ancient prayer.^

The King and the Senate. — The king controlled the
government. He levied taxes, exercised justice, convoked
the assembly, ordered the people to war, and made disposi-
tion of the spoils of war.

Commonly, before deciding a question, he called together
the chiefs of every ge?is in council and asked their advice.
This council was called the Patres (Fathers) or the Senate
(the Elders).^

The Comitia Curiata. — When the question was of general
interest, the king assembled the whole people, each man
with his own gens. A number oi gentes together formed a
curia (of which there were thirty in all). Each curia had its
chapel and its own curio or priest; first came a sacrifice,
followed by deliberation and a vote. The vote of the
majority of the curiae was the vote of the people. After this
manner were the laws made.^

[^ The account here given of the probable origin of clients and plebei-
ans, and of the rights and duties of these two classes in such matters as
taking part in the popular assembly and bearing arms, may well be
supplemented by the views of other writers. The whole subject is
obscure by reason of the scanty material on which conclusions must be
based. Hence exact statements as to the different classes are mainly
conjecture. Compare the treatment of the subject in some of the works
named at the end of the chapter.]

['■^ This senate, according to later tradition, consisted at first of one
hundred, later of two hundred (as a second tribe was added. Cf. note 3),
and finally of three hundred members. But Plutarch (Poplicola)
reckons only a hundred and thirty- six senators at the close of the regal
period. ]

P The thirty curiae were grouped in three tribes, a second and third
being added to the original group as new peoples were added to the

24 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Growth of Rome. — All through this period, Rome was
growing fast. It had begun as a little city on the Palatine.
There were the most ancient memorials of Rome; the
Palatium (royal palace), Romulus' little dwelling, a little
grotto shaded by a fig-tree where the wolf is said to have
suckled Romulus, a marvellous dogberry-tree said to have
sprung from a javelin thrown by Romulus, and the mundus,
a little hole in which, on the day the city was founded, were
thrown objects of good omen to bring prosperity to the new
city.

The city began to spread. Houses were built on the
other hills and in the valleys, while at different times these
new settlements were enclosed within an ever-increasing wall.

The last and greatest wall, known as the wall of Servius
Tullius, was a rampart of earth reinforced on both sides by
a wall of cut stone, without mortar; some of which has been
found buried under the ruins. This wall, thirteen feet thick
and fifty feet high, surrounded all the space covered by the
seven hills and on both sides stretched to the '^I'iber, which
served as defence on the west.

Within this new wall, opposite the Palatine, rises the
Capitoline hill, over 140 feet in height, with a sharp declivity
at the rear, known as the Tarpeian rock, from which con-
demned prisoners were sometimes thrown. At the summit
stood the citadel, where the treasure and the archives were
kept, and beside it the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, the
protecting deity of Rome,

Outside the wall, in the bend of the Tiber, lies a little
plain called the Campus Martins (Field of Mars), where
fighting was forbidden. The only bridge over the Tiber was
of wood, and made so that it could be lifted in case an
enemy should attack the city.

primitive Romans. The three tribes are known as Ramnes, Tities, and
Luceres. From this threefold division may have come the term tribe
[tribus]. The tribal arrangements of Servius and of later times were on
a different basis. ]

THE KINGS OF ROME.

The low valley at the foot of these hills, where the Foruro
(market-place) stood, was swampy. An underground drain

CLOACA MAXIMA.

2600 feet in length was constructed, covered by an arch built
of great blocks of cut stone without cement. This drain,

26 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

the Cloaca Maxima, empties into the Tiber. It is still in
existence, though partly in ruins. In old times it was so
large that a boat could enter it.

SOURCES.

Livy Bk. I, §§ 1-48.

Cicero Republic, Bk. 11, §§ 1-23.

Plutarch Romulus, Numa.

Eutropius Bk. i, §§ 1-7.

Florus Bk. I, cc. i-vi.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. i, ii.

Ihne Bk. I, cc. ii-viii, xiii ; Early Rome, cc. iii,

V, vii-ix.

Mommsen Bk. i, cc. iv-vii.

Abbott Ro7naii Political Institutions, cc. i, ii.

Botsford c. ii.

Greenidge Roman Public Life, c. i.

How and Leigh.... cc. iii, iv.

Morey cc. ii-v.

Myers cc. ii, iv.

Pelham Bk. i, cc. i, iii.

Shuckburgh cc. iv, v.

CHAPTER III.
ABOLITION OF ROYALTY.

Legend of the Expulsion of the Tarquins, — At the end

of the sixth century B.C. there were no more kings in Rome.
The change is explained thus:

Lucius Tarquinius, called Superbus (the proud), after killing
Servius, had forced the senate to accept him as king. He
governed as a despot, regardless of law, killing those that dis-
pleased him and confiscating their possessions. A guard of
mercenaries supported him in oppressing his subjects. He was
rich and powerful, conquered the cities of Latium and built
great structures in Rome.

While Tarquin was besieging the city of Ardea, Sextus, one
of his sons, left the camp and, coming by night to the house of
his cousin, Tarquinius Collatinus, dishonored Lucretia, his wife.
The next day Lucretia sent for her husband and Lucretius, her
father, told them her story, made them swear vengeance on the
guilty man, and then plunged a knife into her heart.

Collatinus had brought with him his friend Brutus, nephew
of the king. Brutus swore to punish the race of the Tarquins
and put down the kings. Collatinus and Lucretius came to
Rome with Lucretia's bleeding body and called the senate
together. The senate convoked the assembly, Tarquin was
declared dethroned and his family exiled. Brutus went to the
camp before Ardea, roused the soldiers, and forced Tarquin to
flee into Etruria. Brutus and Collatinus were given charge
of the government. This revolution took place in 510 B.C.

Some time later, a number of Etruscan envoys came to Rome
under pretext of demanding restitution of Tarquin's possessions.
They conspired with some of the young men of the leading
families to restore the banished king ; among the conspirators
were the two sons of Brutus. A slave overheard their dis-
cussion and denounced them. They were condemned and
executed, Brutus himself passing judgment on them. Tarquin's
lands, on the shore of the Tiber, were consecrated to the god

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Mars ; the cultivation of this tract was forbidden and it became
the Campus Martins.

Tarquin came back with an Etruscan army, and they fought
the Romans for a whole day. Brutus and the son of Tarquin

SCALE OF FEET

1000 2000 3000

THE CITY OF THE LATER KINGS — WALLS OF SBRVIUS.

The four Servian regions: I, Suburana; II, Palatina; III, Esquilina; IV,
Collina.

The chief gates of Rome : a, Collina; <5, Viminalis; f, Esquilina; </, Querque-
tulana; /, Capena; /, Ratumena.

The chief buildings, etc.: i, Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus; 2, Janus; 3, Quiri-
nus; 4, Vesta; 5, Saturn; 6, Diana; 7, Circus Maximus; 8, Cloaca Maxima;
9, Vicus Tuscus.

were both mortally, wounded. Night ended the battle, and
neither side had won. At midnight a voice came from the
forest crying, " Rome has lost one man less than the Etruscans."
The Etruscans were terrified and fled. A statue of Brutus,
sword in hand, was erected on the Capitol.

The Consulate. — At first no change was made in the
government at Rome, except that, in place of a king chosen
for life, there were now two magistrates elected for a year
only. These were called praetors, later consuls.

/iBOLITION OF ROYALTY.

The Roman people elected them for a year and gave its
power into their hands. Each governed in turn, with abso-
lute power (called in Latin imperiuni). He commanded the

army; he held the tribunal and pronounced judgment; he
convoked and presided over all assemblies. He had the
right to arrest and to imprison, the right to fine and even
condemn to death.

As the sign of his power the consul had the former royal

3°

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

insignia, the ivory or curule chair, ^ the robe of purple or
bordered with purple {^prcetextd). He was accompanied by
twelve lictors, each of whom carried on the left shoulder a
bunch of rods [fasces) with an axe in the middle, as a sign

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CURULH CHAIR AND FASCES.

that the consul had the right to have any citizen beaten with
the rods or executed with the axe.

The Romans said that the consul had the same power as
the king, but this power was brief and divided. The consul
governed but one year, and he had a colleague (consul prob-
ably means colleague) whose power was equal to his own
and who could oppose his actions.

The Dictatorship. — In times of special moment, as in the
event of invasion or of tumult among the people, it was
customary to replace the two consuls by a single chief who
should assume command as the king did formerly. One of
the consuls appointed him by night in silence. He was

' A folding seat without arms or back.

ylBOLITION OF ROYALTY. 31

called ** master of the people " or ** dictator. " He retained
all twenty-four lictors and had no colleague to limit his
power. He himself chose his lieutenant, the ** master of
the horse/' having six lictors.^

Ihe danger past, the dictator abdicated. His term of
power could in no case exceed six months.

Assembly of the People. — The consuls had the supreme
command, but the Roman people alone had the right to
make laws, to decide questions of peace and war, and to
elect the consuls. The people must therefore hold meetings.
Their assemblies were called comitia. These were of differ-
ent kinds; the Comitia Curiata, the most ancient, early lost
its political powers, and retained only certain religious and
perfunctory duties. It continued to bestow the imperium on
the consuls chosen by the comitia centuriata, and to ratify
adoption into a patrician family. But these formal duties
were commonly carried out by a small commission of the
whole body.

The chief assembly, the comitia centuriata, consisted of the
citizens under arms. This assembly voted the laws and
treaties and elected the magistrates. It was convoked by a
magistrate, ordinarily one of the consuls, who summoned all
the citizens to appear in arms on a set day: this was called
** mustering the army. " »

On the night before the muster, at midnight, the consul
went to the place where the assembly was to be held. There
he took the auspices, that is to say, asked the gods whether
the assembly had their favor. For this purpose one of the
augurs traced a square, the templum; the consul prayed, then
sat down and silently watched the signs that the gods should
send; these were given through birds, or sacred chickens.
If the signs appeared unfavorable, the consul could postpone

[* The lictors of the consuls were obliged to remove the axes from their
fasces when in the city, in token that the consular power of life and death
existed only outside the city. But the lictors of the dictator carried the
axes everywhere.]

32 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

the assembly to another day. If, however, the consul found
the signs favorable, he gave the final order for the assembly
by pronouncing, without leaving the templum, the formula:
"Quirites, I order you to assemble." Thereupon, while it
was still dark, trumpets were blown from the wall and in the
citadel to notify the citizens.

At break of day the whole army gathered outside the town
on the Campus Martins, for their religion forbade them to
bear arms within the sacred wall. Under the orders of the
consul the public crier declared the assembly in session.

The first proceeding was a religious ceremony: a sacrifice
was offered, and prayer was made to the gods that they
" would turn to the profit of the Roman people that which
should be resolved." And then the magistrate explained
the object of the meeting. He could at will allow anybody
to speak, but nobody could speak without his permission.
If the meeting was for an election, he gave the names of those
that he would allow to be elected, and no others could be
chosen. It sometimes happened that a consul proposed
only as many names as there were places to be filled, — in
which case the assembly could vote on these names alone.

After having stated the object of the meeting, the consul
said: "I command you to assemble in comitia by cen-
turies." The citizens proceeded to arrange themselves, each
in his century, behind their standards. Then in each century
a polling officer (rogaior) took the votes. Each citizen voted
orally. In this way the vote of the century was ascertained,
and the votes of the majority of the centuries constituted the
vote of the assembly. For, in the Roman assemblies, the
vote was the vote of groups and ^ot of individuals.

Since the organization attributed to Servius Tullius, the
Roman army was divided into eighteen centuries of horsemen
and five classes of foot-soldiers.

The citizens were distributed among these classes accord-
ing to their wealth (the richest in the first class) and each
class was divided into centuries, as follows :

ABOLITION OF ROYALTY. 33

Class I. Eighty centuries.

Class II. Twenty centuries.

Class III. Twenty centuries.

Class IV. Twenty centuries.

Class V. Thirty centuries.

Besides these there were two centuries of laborers, two of
musicians, and one century to which were assigned all who
were too poor to belong to the classes. In all there were
one hundred and ninety-three centuries.

The horsemen were the first to vote and their votes were
proclaimed; then the centuries of class I, and so on in
order. As soon as a majority was obtained, the decision of
the assembly was announced, so that the citizens of the later
classes, the poorer men, were commonly not called to vote.
Under this arrangement if the ninety-eight centuries of the
knights and the first class were agreed, the matter was already
settled, for they were a majority.

When the voting was finished, the magistrate proclaimed
the result and ordered the assembly to disperse. The busi-
ness had to be finished before sunset. If, while the assembly
was sitting, an unfavorable omen were observed, if, for
example, it thundered, or some one had an epileptic fit, the
magistrate adjourned the assembly to another day, and the
whole business had to be done over again.

The Senate. — The senate retained the functions it had in
the time of the kings. It had been the council of the king,
it became the council of the consuls. The consul called
it together when he wished its advice. The senate had no
independent power; but, as it was composed of all the
former magistrates, the heads of noble families, the consuls
usually consulted it on all serious matters and followed its
advice. In this way the senate came to direct the govern-
ment.^

* Credibility of the Early History. — In the foregoing

^ In Chapter XII will be found a description of a meeting of the senate
in the second century.

34 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

story of primitive Rome much has_ been set down as mere
legend. Part of it may be true; part must be romance.
Other portions of this early history are taken as substantial
fact. The reasons which govern this acceptance or rejection
may be briefly summarized.

The history of all primitive peoples begins in the same
way, with the ballad or epic, the myth and the legend of
uncritical times. Even so sober and prosaic a history as that
of America has already developed a necessity for the sifting
out from it of the legendary. From history thus handed
down criticism rejects at once the impossible and manifestly
absurd. It also looks askance at the improbable and feels
room for doubt when it finds a tale repeated under differing
guises or told with variations by different peoples. But
institutions, political and religious, especially among a
people tenacious of forms as the Romans were, endure per-
sistently. Material monuments also may be trusted. And
so, piece by piece, comparing the known with the unknown,
and depending upon what is certain, and accepting what
seems reasonable and probable, a satisfactory account is
made up. But within such limits there is wide room for
diversity of opinion. Hence arise many of the differing
views held of the institutions of early Rome.

The written sources of Roman history begin only at a time
centuries later than the monarchy, and when the republic
had long been venerable. We depend mainly upon Livy
(B.C. 59-A.D. 17) and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who wrote
in Rome between 29 B.C. and 19 a.d. These and minor
authorities drew on earlier writers, the names of several of
whom are known. Marcus Porcius Cato (b.c. 231-149) had
carefully compiled a history. Polybius wrote in Greek
between b.c. 167 and 151 a Universal History. Quintus
Fabius Pictor, a senator during the Second Punic War,
wrote, probably in Greek, the story of his city. Timaeus,
a Sicilian Greek, composed about 300 B.C. an account of
early Rome.

ABOLITION OF ROYALTY, 35

Written history can thus be traced back only to somewhere
near 300 b.c. — a time further from the foundation of the
city than our own age from that of Columbus, and as distant
from the first days of the republic as the present time from
that of Queen Anne. Small wonder that writers of so late
a date after the events they describe should not be given full
credence.

The sack of Rome by the Gauls in 390 B.C. probably
destroyed many ancient records, public and private, and also
rnany monuments of the elder time. The Capitol, however,
was saved and in it may have been stored many of the
archives of the city. Such were the Annales Maximi, or
annual records of the Pontifex Maxim us, and the Commen-
taries of the college of pontiffs on civil and religious
formalities. Magistrates recorded their deeds in so-called
libri lintei. There were also private memorials, such as the
laudaiiones or funeral eulogies of the dead, and inscriptions
on tombs, which must have been rich in historic material.

Thus it is evident that the history of the monarchy and
the 'early republic must be very cautiously received in its
details, while its main outlines may be regarded as reason-
ably certain.

SOURCES.

Livy Bk. i, §^ 49-60.

Eutropius Bk. I, ^§ 8-10.

Cicero Republic, Bk. Ii, §§ 24-32.

Florus Bk. I, cc. vii-ix.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy c. vi.

Ihne Bk. i, c. viii; Bk. II, c. i; Early Rome,

cc. x-xii.
Mommsen. ....... Bk. 11, c. i.

Botsford c. ii.

How and Leigh . . . c. v.

Moray c. vi.

Myers c. v.

Pelham Bk. 11, c. i.

Abbott c. iii.

Taylor Constitutional and Political History of

Rome, c- »-

CHAPTER IV.
THE ROMAN RELIGION. '

Roman Gods. — The Romans, like all the ancient peoples,
believed that there were in the world invisible beings whose
power was much greater than man's; these they called gods.
They believed that each god dwelt in a certain locality and
had power over a certain class of phenomena.

These were the principal Roman gods:

Jupiter, god of light and of storms, the god that hurled
thunder; he was considered the most powerful of all. The
largest temple in Rome, built on the Capitol, was conse-
crated to Jupiter Maximus, who was the special protector of
the Roman people. Oaths were taken in his name.

Juno, goddess of light, watched over the Roman women.
She was the goddess of marriage and was herself later repre-
sented as the wife of Jupiter.

Mars, god of war, father of the Roman people; the wolf
was his sacred animal. The Sabines called him Quirinus-
(a Quirinus was also worshipped at Rome).

Vesta, goddess of the hearth.

Janus, who was represented with two faces.

Saturn, god of the Latins.

Minerva, goddess of wisdom.

Vulcan, god of the forge, protector of smiths.

Neptune, god of the sea.

Venus, goddess of gardens.

Ceres, goddess of wheat-fields.

Diai^a, goddess of forests and of the chase.

THE ROMAN RELIGION. Zl

Liber, god of the vineyard.

Mercury, god of travellers and merchants.

Orcus, god of the lower world, the abode of departed
souls.

The Earth, the Sun, and the Moon were also gods.

There were spirits hidden in the trees, springs, and rocks:
sylvan gods and Fauns in the woods; Nymphs and Camenae
(Muses) about the springs. There were protecting divinities
for cattle, one for oxen called Bubona, one for horses called
Equina, and one for sheep called Pales.

Each house had its protecting spirit, the Lar, and each
man his accompanying genius. There was even a special
divinity for each part of the house, Forculus for the door,
Linientinus for the threshold, Cardea for the hinges; one
for each act in life: thus when a child -was weaned, Educa
and Potina taught it to drink, Cuba to put itself to bed,
Statanus to stand upright, Abeona and Adeona to walk,
Fabulinus to speak; when it went to school, Iterduca led
it, Domiduca brought it home.

Even abstract qualities were personified as divinities:
Peace, Victory, Faith, Hope, Harmony, Piety. The most
venerated was Fortuna, goddess of success; temples were
erected to the welfare (Fortune) of the state, the welfare of
woman, the welfare of the army.

The Romans did not attempt to give form to their gods;
for a long time they did not even have idols. They wor-
shipped Mars in the form of a sword, Quirinus in the form
of a lance, Jupiter in the form of a stone. Perhaps they did
not imagine them as having human form; they did not
imagine them marrying or even meeting among themselves,
as the Greeks did; they knew no stories to tell of them.
They called them numen (manifestation), and it was enough
for them that these gods sometimes made themselves mani-
fest as powerful beings, that they were capable of great evil
or of great good, and that, therefore, it was wise to win their
favor.

38 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Religion. — The religion of the Romans rested on this
idea. It was an exchange of services. Man brought gifts
to the god, and expected the god to render him a service in
return.

Articles of food were the usual form of offering; milk and
wine were thrown on the ground, fruit and cakes placed on
the altar. The most acceptable offering was believed to be
in the shape of animals, especially sheep, swine, and oxen.
The animal was killed with a form of ceremony; and this
was called sacrifice.

The Romans believed that the gods were much attached
to ancient forms and that a change in them would incur their
wrath. They were therefore most careful to observe the rites
exactly.

The animal to be sacrificed must be faultless, a white ox
for Jupiter, a black sheep for a divinity of the lower world.
It was brought before the altar, which was a mound of earth
in the open air. Its head was bound with cloths, a bowl of
salt and flour sprinkled over it, and it was struck with an
axe or a knife according to circumstance. The bones and
fat were then placed on the altar and burned.

The sacrifice was accompanied by a prayer, asking aid of
the god. The votary stood, clad in spotless garments, his
head covered by a veil, and opened his prayer by calling
upon the god.

The Romans believed that the gods had a secret name
unknown to man. "No one," it was said, "knows the
true nam^s of the gods." In calling upon a god, the cus-
tomary name had to be used, but with some such precaution
as this: " O Jupiter, most great, most good, or if thou dost
prefer another name." Then followed what was desired of
the god, expressed in very clear terms. Great care was
taken always to address the god that was believed capable
of rendering the desired service; Ceres, for example, for a
good harvest, Neptune for a safe passage on the sea. Varro
said : "It is as useful to know what god can aid us in various

THE ROMAN RELIGION,

circumstances as to know where our carpenter or baker
lives."

Men offered sacrifices and prayers for the success of their
private affairs. The Roman government offered them for
the success of public enterprises. Religious ceremonies
were at least of equal importance with assemblies and
tribunals. No man dared undertake anything of any conse-
quence without a ceremony to ask a successful issue of the
gods.

A SACRIFICB.

Every year, at certain fixed seasons, festivals were cele-
brated, designed to please some god and win his favor. In
the spring came the feast of Pales, god of herds. On this
day the people purified their houses, built a fire of straw
and leaped over it thrice, sacrificed sheep to Pales and ate
them.

Priests. — There were at Rome persons charged with the
performance of certain ceremonies in the name of the state;
these were the priests or sacer dotes. They were arranged in
groups, each with its particular function.

The fifteen flamens (lighters) lighted the fire on the altar
and made the sacrifice. The chief lighters were the fiamen

40 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

of Jupiter, the flamen of Quirinus, and the flamen of Mars
who each year sacrificed a horse to Mars.

The twelve Salii ^ of the Palatine watched over a shield
consecrated to Mars. This shield, it was said, had fallen
from heaven one day, and was venerated like a god. Eleven
shiejds had betn made exactly like it so that it could not be
stolen. Every year the Salii conducted a ceremony in its
honor; they brought out the twelve shields, each taking
one, and executed a war-dance, singing a hymn in honor of
Mamurius.

The Arval Brothers met once a year in a sacred wood, two
miles from Rome, and danced and sang a hymn to the
goddess Dea Dia, praying her to send a good harvest.

The Lupercales celebrated the Lupercalia each year in
honor of Faunus; half naked, covered only with goat-skins
held by thongs, they ran around the ancient wall of the
Palatine, striking the women that they met.

The Fetiales were employed only in dealings with foreign
peoples. To declare war, they went to the enemy's frontier
and threw a javelin over the border. To sign a treaty, their
leader came with the sacred herb from the Capitol, a sceptre,
and the sacred stone from the temple of Jupiter Feretrius;
on this stone (which was regarded as a god) he swore in the
name of the people to observe the treaty. He then killed a
hog. 2

The Vestal Virgins, young daughters of the great Roman
families, guarded the fire on the sacred hearth of Vesta.
They lived in the sanctuary and watched the fire so that it
should never go out. The Vestal who let the fire go out
was whipped. The Vestals had the place of honor in the
theatre; in the streets every one, even the consul, had to
give place to them.

1 There were twelve Salii Agonales who performed a similar ceremony
in honor of Quirinus.

2 Foedus icere (to kill the hog) has thus come to mean to conclude a
treaty.

THE ROMAN RELIGION. 4i

The most important college was that of the Pontiffs, whose
duty was to control religious affairs. They regulated the
calendar, that is to say, they indicated at the beginning of
each year when the various festivals should be held, when
the courts and the assemblies should sit, the fast-days, and
the unhallowed days, when any sort of public act was for-
bidden by religion.

They arranged ceremonies and directed the celebration of
festivals in the name of the Roman people. When the
magistrate or the senate had promised a temple to a god or
a festival for the good of the people, the pontiffs received the
promise in the name of the god. When an accident gave
rise to the idea that some god was vexed with the Roman
people the pontiffs decided what ceremonies should be cele-
brated, what victims should be sacrificed, that the god might
be appeased.

The Pontifex Maximus, the chief of the pontiffs, was one
of the first men in Rome, " judge and arbiter of affairs divine
and human." He even watched over individuals that they
should not neglect the celebration of ceremonies, for the
state was believed to be interested in the proper observance
of the claims of the gods.

Hearth Gods and the Lares. — In each house there was a
sacred hearth at which the family worshipped. Before
beginning a meal a prayer must be offered and a little wine
(libation) poured on it. A protecting divinity, the lar
familiaris, was believed to dwell near the hearth, and food
was brought to him. Near the hearth stood the penates, the
little household gods.

Rome also had her sacred hearth in the sanctuary of
Vesta, and in this same sanctuary her idol, the Palladium.

Departed Souls. — The Romans believed the souls of the
dead to be powerful spirits. They called them manes (the
good gods), and believed that these souls needed attention
from the living.

When a man died, his body was laid in a sanctuary (the

THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

tomb) according to consecrated form; food and drink were
then brought to him. Wine or milk was thrown on the
ground, cakes left in the vases, animals were killed and their
flesh roasted. This ceremony was repeated every year by
descendants of the dead.

If souls were neglected, they became evil spirits and came
back to frighten and torment the living. They were called
Lemures or Larvce. In May of each year, black beans were
thrown by night to these spirits.

Augurs and Haruspices. — The Romans believed that
signs or presages came from the gods to indicate their will,

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and that the future might be divined by the interpretation
of these signs. Before undertaking a matter of any impor-
tance, the first thing was to consult the gods. The magistrate
before convoking an assembly, the general before engaging in
battle or crossing a river, sought to read these signs; this was
called taking the auspices {avis and specio).

There were various ways of doing this: some men watched

THE ROMAN RELIGION. 43

the birds that passed overhead ; some {haruspices) sacrificed
an animal and examined its entrails; some brought food to
the sacred chickens belonging to the state, whose refusal to
eat indicated clearly that the gods disapproved the enterprise.

An unasked-for sign was supposed to be sent by the gods
as a warning to discontinue an enterprise. Unfavorable
signs were such as a trembling of the earth, a storm, a flash
of lighting, or a rat running across the road.

Rome had a special body, the "public augurs of the
Roman people," whose duty it was to interpret presages.
The augurs decided if a mistake had been made in celebrat-
ing a ceremony; in this case it had to be begun over again.
The magistrate was accompanied by an augur who told him
whether a sign was favorable or not.

Greek Rites. — The Romans from earliest times have bor-
rowed beliefs and customs from their neighbors, the Etruscans
and the Greeks, especially the Greeks of Cumae.

They began to worship certain of the Greek gods, Apollo,
Latona, Heracles, whom they called Hercules, Castor and
Pollux. They worshipped them according to Greek rites,
with head uncovered and crowned with laurel.

They guarded carefully a Greek collection of sacred verse,

the Sibylline Books, supposed to be the work of the Sibyl of

Cumae. This Sibyl, a priestess of Apollo, gave oracles in a

cave near Cumae.

The Sibyl, it was said, had come one day to King Tarquin,
bringing nine sacred books which she offered him for a certain
price. The king demurred, thinkin<r the price too high. The
Sibyl threw three books into the fire and doubled the price for
the remaining six. The king refused, and said she was making
fun of him. The Sibyl then threw three more books into the
fire and again doubled the price for the three that were left.
The king reflected and finally bought the three books at the
price the Sibyl asked.

A body of priests, first two, then ten, and finally fifteen,
were made guardians of the Sibylline Books. Only in time
of danger were the books consulted, by order of the senate,
and the guardians declared what must be done

44 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

When the Gauls marched on Rome, the senate had the
Sibylline Books consulted. In them was found the prophecy
that the Gauls would take possession of the soil of tjie city.
Consequently, that the prophecy might be fulfilled, the
guardians declared that the Romans must bury alive in the
market-place two Gauls, a man and a woman; and this was
done.

* The Roman priests of the various colleges never formed
a distinct religious caste. A man might hold one of these
sacred offices as he might a political office, and for a limited
time. Indeed the ministries of religion were state functions.
Least of all was any idea of special sanctity attached to the
priests.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. iv, v.

Mommsen. . . . Bk. I, c. xii.

Coulanges The Ancient City.

Guerber Myths of Greece and Rome,

Cicero On the Nature of the Gods ; On Divination,

CHAPTER V.
ESTABLISHMENT OF LEGAL EQUALITY.

The Plebeians. — The inequality between patrician and
plebeian persisted under the consuls as under the kings.
The patricians, descended from the old families that had
always governed Rome, preserved the right of being elected
magistrates or chosen senators; they knew the ancient forms
that were employed in the tribunals; they alone could marry
according to their own peculiar rites. The reason was that
they alone could practise the old ceremonies of the Roman
religion, take the necessary auspices before holding an
assembly, pronouncing judgment, or celebrating a marriage.

The plebeians, not having the right to take part in these
ceremonies, found themselves treated as outsiders on this
account, excluded from the senate and its functions, unable
to marry into the patrician families, or even to obtain justice.

It is probable that almost all the plebeians were of foreign
descent; Rome, as fast as she subjugated the neighboring
towns, seized their territory and annexed their inhabitants.
But, in becoming citizens of Rome, they did not become
patricians; they became plebeians, and plebeians their
descendants remained, inferior to the descendants of the
primitive Romans.

Among these plebeians there were poor people who, in
hard times, borrowed of the wealthy patricians; they bound
themselves to pay the sum with exorbitant interest (from
twelve to twenty-five per cent). When a man could not
pay, the creditor had a hold on his persons (nexus) ; he could

46 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

arrest the debtor, imprison him, bind him with chains, and
make him work for him.

There were, on the other hand, plebeians who owned
extensive lands and wealth, and were organized in gentes;
these were people whose ancestors had been governors of
some Latin city. Thus the gens Caecilia, of which the
wealthy family of Metellus was a branch, claimed descent
from Caeculus, founder and king of Praeneste. These
plebeians served in the Roman army at their own expense,
and lived on their estates, like patricians. The only differ-
ence was that the patricians were descended from an old
Roman family, and the plebeians from an old family of
another city.

These plebeians, dissatisfied with their inferior position,
demanded the same rights as the patricians. The patricians
were much fewer in number, but being in control of the
government they refused to change the laws. The plebeians
gradually forced them to yield and to grant them one by one
the same rights; but it required nearly two hundred years
(c. 500-300 B.C.) before they gained complete equality.

The Romans related many legends of the struggles during
these two centuries, but nothing is known definitely more
than the names of the magistrates and some dates.

The Secession. — The legend tells the beginning of the
struggle as follows:

Rome was making war on the Volsci. The consul, Appius
Claudius, a hard and insolent man, was calling the roll of those
who were to serve in the army, when suddenly a man appeared
in the public square, emaciated and covered with wounds. He
related his story to the assembled people : " he had been a
warrior all his life, had taken part in twenty-eight battles, and
attained the rank of centurion. His enemies had burned his
house, destroyed his crops, and driven off his cattle ; he had
borrowed and had not been able to repay, his creditor had had
him placed in chains and beaten. This was how the defenders
of the country were rewarded." Tlie plebeians were indignant
and refused to be enrolled. The other consul promised to
investigate their grievances and persuaded them to go to the
war. But, the campaign safely over, the senate refused to

ESTABLISHMENT OF LEGAL EQUALITY. 47

listen to the plebeians, and the consuls led the people on an
expedition.

Once out of the city tliC plebeians broke away from the patri-
cians, and went up on a mountain,' where they fortified them-
selves and declared that they would never enter Rome again.
Hot cakes were brought to them there every morning by a god-
dess, Anna Perenna.

The senate was disturbed at the sight of the abandoned city,
and sent a deputation of ten former consuls to ask the plebeians
to return. One of the envoys, Menenius Agrippa, related to
them the following fable : " Once upon a time the Members
refused to work any longer for the Belly, which led a lazy life
and grew fat upon their toils. But receiving no longer any
nourishment from the Belly they soon began to pine away, and
found it was to the Belly that they owed their life and strength."
The plebeians were won by tliis argument, made peace with the
patricians, and came back to Rome. The senate permitted
them to have leaders to defend them (494 B.C.).

The Tribunes of the People. — New magistrates were
created at this time (493 b.c), the tribunes of the people
(of the pieSs, or lower order) ; two at first, later four, and
finally ten. They were plebeians, elected for one year,
whose duty it was to protect plebeians against the magis-
trates. They had the right of intervention. If ony one, even
a consul, wished to arrest a plebeian, the tribune might
simply plate himself before the threatened man, and no one
dared oppose his defence. The tribune was not supported
by armed lictors, like the consul; a single attendant walked
before him to clear the way. His position was sustained by
religion and so he did not need force. Whoever dared to
resist a tribune of the people was sacrificed to the gods of
the lower world, that is, put to death and his goods confis-
cated.

A tribune could not leave Rome and had to keep his
house open day and night so that no one should come to
him in vain. His rights did not extend beyond the city
walls; outside the city the consuls remained supreme.

The tribunes increased their power gradually. They could
keep the senate or the magistrates from adopting measures

* Some authorities say on the Aventine hill, others on the Sacred hill.

48 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

they thought unwise, by simply saying 'FeiOy I forbid. A
tribune's veto put a stop to any action. They later acquired
the right to sit in the senate and take part in its deliberations.
They finally gained the power of convoking the people in
assembly, to address them, and even to call for a vote. ^
They became as powerful in Rome as the consuls.

Legend of Coriolanus The tribunes of the people began

to struggle against the consuls and the leading patricians.
In twenty-six years they are said to have accused seven
consuls before the people. To this same period belongs the
legend of Coriolanus.

Marcius, a patrician and the bravest warrior in Rome, sur-
named Coriolanus because he had taken the city of Corioli
from the Volsci, was strongly opposed to the tribunes and the
plebeians. There was a famine in Rome and the senate bought
wheat to distribute among the people. Coriolanus declared
that this opportunity must be seized to abolish the tribunate.
" No wheat or no tribunes." The tribune accused Coriolanus
before the people, and he was condemned to exile.

Coriolanus went to the Volsci, whom he had conquered, and
offered to lead them against Rome. The Volsci gave him an
army. He conquered the Romans, encamped near the city,
and ravaged the lands of the plebeians. The frightened Romans
sent to him first the consuls, then the priests, to beg him to
spare his country. He refused to listen to them.

The women of Rome sought out his mother, Veturia, and all
together marched to the enemy's camp. Coriolanus saw the
procession coming, led by his mother and his wife leading his
two children by the hand. He went to meet them, and ordered
the fasces lowered as a mark of respect. His wife wept; his
mother simply said: "Am I speaking to my son or to an
enemy .^" Coriolanus, much moved, withdrew with the Vol-
scian army and died in exile, some say by execution, some by his
own hand.

About this time the people adopted a number of laws.
One law ^ deprived the consul of the right to sentence citizens
to death v/ithout trial and gave the accused the right to
appeal to the people; the consul might still impose a fine,

\} See Appendix A for a discussion of the nature of these plebeian as-
semblies.]

[2 In the first year of the republic, 509 B.C.]

ESTABLISHMENT OF LEGAL EQUALITY. 49

however. Another law hmited fines to thirty oxen and two
sheep. ^ Another forbade interrupting a tribune while he
was speaking in the assembly.

The Decemvirs. — Hitherto Roman judges had dealt with
cases according to custom, there being no written laws.
Now the judges were patricians; ihey alone knew the
customs and could apply them as they wished. The tribunes
proposed formulation of the laws, that every citizen might
be acquainted with them. The patricians resisted at first;
it is said that they even came to blows and that a foreigner,
a Latin named Herdonius, took advantage of the opportunity
offered by this dissension, entered Rome with a troop of
slaves and seized the citadel on the Capitoline hill (460 B.C.),
whence he was driven only through the aid of the dictator
of another Latin city (Tusculum).

The senate finally accepted the proposition, and sent three
men into foreign countries to study the laws best suited to
Rome. It then appointed ten patricians who were called
decemvirs (ten men). They were charged with a double duty :
to prepare the new laws and to govern the city; all other
powers, consuls, and tribunes were suppressed. The decem-
virs governed in turn, each for a day, and accompanied for
that day by twelve lictors (451 B.C.).

At the end of a year, the work being still incomplete, new
decemvirs were elected.

Laws of the Twelve Tables. — The laws prepared by the
decemvirs were written on twelve tables of stone; they were
set up in the public square that all might become acquainted
with them, and then placed in the Capitol. These laws were
applied for centuries and were, says Cicero, "the source of
all Roman law." They were written in short, crisp, im-
perious sentences.-^ The old Roman customs in all their
crudity were set down in law.

The father of the family, during his lifetime, had the

[^ Some authorities say two oxen and thirty sheep. ^
' We know only a few lines of them.

50 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

power of life and death over his children. He might cause
them to be abandoned at birth ; he might sell them three
times over. His wife was completely in his power; he might
cast her off or put her to death. A woman was never free;
as a girl she belonged to her father and must take the
husband he chose for her; as a wife she belonged to her

AS, HALF SIZE,

(Primitive Roman Coin.)

nusband ; should she become a widow, she must obey her
husband's heir.

The law condemned to death whosoever should, by magic
words, cause his neighbor's crops to come to his own fields;
for the Romans believed in sorcery.

ESTABLISHMENT OF LEGAL EQUALITY. 51

The insolvent debtor was to be thus treated: ** He shall
be bound with thongs and chains weighing not more than
fifteen pounds.^ ... At the end of sixteen days he shall be
sold beyond the Tiber. If he has many creditors, he shall
be cut in pieces."

The new feature of these laws was that they were known
to all and that they were the same for all citizens, patrician
or plebeian.

Fall of the Decemvirs. — The decemvirs changed their
policy the second year. They followed the most violent one
among them, Appius Claudius. Each had twelve lictors, so
that their combined forces were one hundred and twenty.
Their insolence made them hated by all, and when they had
completed the laws they refused to retire from office. They
were finally driven out (449 b.c.) by a revolution concerning
which we have only a legend.

Appius Claudius had noticed a beautiful young girl named
Virginia, daughter of Virginius and betrothed to Icilius, both
plebeians of l)igh standing. He sent one of his clients to de-
mand her as his slave. The client took the case to the courts.
Virginia wept ; her lover protested ; but Claudius, who was
acting as judge, gave the girl provisionally into the custody of
his client and postponed a decision lill the next day.

Virginius was away from Rome with the army ; a messenger
hurried to him, and the next morning he presented himself at
the tribunal. Claudius refused to hear him, declared Virginia
to be the client's slave, and gave orders to seize her. Virginius
led his daughter to a butcher's stall and plunged a knife into
her breast. Hastening back to the camp he told his story to
his comrades, roused their indignation, and led them back to
Rome. The decemvirs were alarmed and abdicated.

Appius Claudius killed himself in prison ; the other decemvirs
were exiled cind their goods confiscated.'

^ The Roman pound was lighter than ours.

[' The view that makes Appius Claudius a haughty and cruel tyrant
is not universally accepted. Some historians see in him rather a sincere
patriot who desired to harmonize the interests of both orders. He suc-
ceeded in pleasing neither, and died a martyr to a lofty purpose. The
legend of Virginia is, in this view of his work, treated as a patrician
attempt to blacken his character. Compare the parallel readings sug-
gested at the end of the chapter.]

52 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Marriage Law. — Plebeians could not contract marriages
with patricians, and the decemvirs had inscribed this prohibi-
tion in the last of their tables.

A tribune of the people, Canuleius by name, proposed a
law permitting marriages between patricians and plebeians
and had it adopted (445 B.C.). Legendary accounts tell us
that the senate was strongly opposed to it and that the
plebeians forced its acceptance by resorting to the Janiculum
again.

Military Tribunes with Consular Power. — The tribunes
also demanded that plebeians should be eligible as consuls.
Religion forbade it; for, before electing a consul, the gods
must be consulted by taking the auspices, that is to say, by
watching the flight of birds. Now religion forbade taking
auspices in the name of a plebeian, and so the patricians said
that the gods would have none but a patrician for consul.
As a compromise the election of consuls was then suspended
and in their place new officers were elected for one year
without taking the auspices. They were called " military
tribunes with consular power, " and their number varied from
three to six. They commanded the army, while a " prefect
of the city" governed Rome. Occasionally the consuls
were restored. These tribunes were all patricians until
400 B.C., when four plebeians were elected.

The Censors. — In this same year (445 B.C.) two new
magistrates were created; these were the censors, elected
once in four years to take the census, that is, to make a list
of all the citizens, and to farm out the lands and revenues
of the state. Patricians only could be censors.^

The Plebeian Consuls. — Many years passed before
plebeians were admitted to the consulate. Finally it was
decided that one consul should always be a plebeian
(366 B.C.). The silly legend runs as follows:

A patrician, Fabius Ambustus, had given his two daughters
in marriage, the elder to Sulpicius, a patrician, the younger to

1 See Chapter XII for the work of the censors in the second century.

ESTABLISHMENT OF LEGAL EQUALITY. 53

Licinius, a plebeian. One day when the two sisters were
together in the house of Sulpicius, a knock came at the door.
The younger sister was frightened and asked who was there.
The elder sister began to laui;h. Her husband, Sulpicius, being
a magistrate, a lictor always announced his arrival by striking
the door with his fasces. The younger sister, having married a
plebeian, was ignorant of this custom. She was greatly humili-
ated and saddened to think she wculd never see her husband
escorted by a lictor. She told her grief to her father, and he
promised her the same dignities that her sister enjoyed. He
then consulted with his son-iti-law, Licinius, who was a tribune
of the people. The latter proposed a law providing that in
future one of the two consuls should be a plebeian (376). The
senate refused, and for ten years Licinius and his friend Sextius
were reelected tribunes. Finally the patricians yielded ; the
law was passed and Sextius wa.; elected consul.

After this, at least one of the consuls was always a plebeian
and sometimes both.^

The Praetorship. — At the same time that one of the con-
sulships was granted to the plebeians, a new magistrate was
created, the praetor. He was charged with the administra-
tion of justice. In the absence of the consuls, he was also
empowered to convoke the senate or the assembly, and even
to command an army. He was at first alone in office, but
later shared his duties with another; both were necessarily
patricians.

The Assembly of Tribes and the Plebiscite. — While
these struggles were going on, the tribunes of the people had
set up a new form of assembly, the assembly of tribes, or
comitia tributa. It was not necessary to take the auspices
before convoking it; the tribune simply announced the day
on which it should meet.

It met in the Forum (the market-place) on a market-day
when the peasants were all in town. The tribune addressed
the people, then asked their advice. The citizens voted by
grouping in tribes. The territory of Rome was divided into

^ Some Roman historians tell us of the laws of Licinius on the consul-
ate and the division of the land. It is not certain that these laws ever
existed.

54 THE ROMAhl PEOPLE,

tribes, or communities, similar to the cantons of modern
France; in this way each man voted with his neighbor. The
decision given by this assembly was called the plebiscite
(decision of the plebs).

The patricians were at length obliged to accept these
decisions. It was settled ^ that a plebiscite voted by the
people assembled in tribes was as binding as a law passed by
the old assembly. There was no longer any difference
between plebiscite and law.^

Establishment of Political Equality. — Little by little all
the patrician privileges were done away wi;;h. The plebeians
were given the right to be elected censors (338 B.C.), praetors
(337 B.C.), pontiffs and augurs (300 B.C.), and finally
pontifex maximus. They were eligible to all but certain old
religious offices which religion permitted only patricians to
perform.

Debtors were no longer obliged to pledge their persons;
they risked only imprisonment and sale by their credi-
tors.

All citizens were from this time of equal political rights.
The remaining distinctions were not those of patrician and
plebeian but of rich and poor, of office-holder and private
individual.

SOURCES.

Gicero On the Com monwealth, Bk. il.

§§ 33-44.

Livy Bks. ii-iv.

Eutropius Bk. I, §§ 18, 23.

Plutarch Coriolanus.

Florus Bk. i, cc. xxii-xxvi.

* The Romans recognized three laws that had given the force of
law to the plebiscite, the laws of 449, 339, and 287 B.C.; it is possible
that the first of these had not been applied.

2 [See Appendix . . . for a statement of the relation of this assembly or
concilium plebis to the various comitia.

ESTABLISHMENT OF LEGAL EQUALITY. 55

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. vi-ix.

Ihne Bk. ii, cc. ii, vii-xiii ; Early Rome,

cc. xiii-xiv, xviii, xix.

Monimsen Bk. ii, cc. i-iii.

Abbott Rotnan PoUtical Institutions, c. iv.

Botsford c. iv.

Green idge Roman Public Ltje, c. ii.

How and Leigh.... c. vi.

Morey cc. vii-ix.

Myers c. v.

Felhani. Bk. II, c. i.

Sliuckburgh c viii.

':hapter VI.

CONQUEST OF ITALY.

Rome and Italy. — In the eighth century before Christ,
the Roman people possessed only the city on the Palatine
and some square miles of the surrounding territory. In
266 B.C. Rome was mistress of all Italy, ^ from the Apennines
on the north to Sicily on the south, and had become one of
the greatest cities of the world.

This change had taken place in five centuries. The
Romans had attacked the peoples of Italy one by one;
sometimes defeated, they finally overcame and subdued all
rivals.

During these five centuries Rome had been continually at
war. The temple of Janus, whose door was closed in time
of peace, had been always open. But of the history of these
wars we know very little; the Romans themselves knew little
of the conquest of Italy beyond a few facts, mingled with
many legends.

Conquest of Latium. — The Romans had begun by sub-
jugating their nearest neighbors, the peoples of Latium. A
legend runs thus:

After Tarquin had been expelled from Rome the Latins took
up his cause and fought a great battle with the Romans near
Lake Regillus (496 B.C.). During the battle, two warriors on
white horses were seen fighting at the head of the Romans ;
they were the first to reach the camp of the enemy. The
Romans, aroused by their example, put the Latins to flight.

The general wished to reward the two heroes, but no one

1 What we call northern Italy was then Cisalpine Gaul; the Italy of
the ancients reached only to the Apennines.

CONQUEST OF ITALY. 57

could find them. At Rome on the evening of the battle, people
saw two warriors covered with blood and dust washing their
arms in Juno's fountain. The strangers announced the Roman
victory. They were the demi-gods Castor and Pollux, the two
horsemen who had fought for the Romans. The Roman peo-
ple, to show their gratitude, built them a temple. On a rock in
the battle-field was found the hoof-print of a gigantic horse.

An old treaty between the Romans and the Latins, graven
on a pillar of bronze, said: " There shall be peace between
Rome and the Latins as long as the heavens shall be above
the earth and the earth under the heavens. They shall not
take up arms against one another; the one shall not allow
an enemy of the other to pass through its territory. Each
shall aid the other with all its might " (493 b.c).

All booty and conquests were to be equally divided
between the Romans and the Latins.

Legend of Porsenna. — About the same time Porsenna,
king of the Etruscan city of Clusium, defeated the Romans
in battle and laid siege to Rome; but accounts differ as to
the manner in which this war was brought to a close.

According to some historians Porsenna took Rome and
brought the Romans into subjection. The senate sent him the
symbols of royal power, ivory throne, sceptre, and crown. The
Romans lost all the territory they had north of the Tiber, and
Porsenna forbade them to have any implements of iron except
farming tools (507 B.C.).

According to another story Porsenna, having come to restore
the Tarquins, was stopped in front of Rome. A brave warrior,
Horatius Codes (the one-eyed), fought single-handed against
the Etruscan army on the wooden bridge across the Tiber, until
the Romans had time to cut the bridge behind him ; then
threw himself into the water with his armor on and swam safely
back to the city. The grateful people erected a statue in his
honor.

Porsenna laid siege to Rome. Mucins, a young Roman, re-
solved one day to sacrifice himself to save his country. He
went out of the city with a dagger hidden in his clothes and
joined the crowd that surrounaed Porsenna. A secretary sit-
ting at the kind's side was busy paying the Etruscan soldiers
their wages. Mucins, taking him for the king, slew him with a
blow of his dagger. He was arrested and brought before King
Porsenna. " It was you 1 meant to slay," said he; " 1 made a
mistake ; but there are left three hundred young men in Rome

58 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

who have sworn to do the same as I." Then, to show him that
a Roman fears neither death nor pain, he put his right hand in
a fire that had been lighted for a sacrifice and let it burn there
without showing any consciousness of pain. Porsenna was im-
pressed and alarmed ; released Mucius, who ever after bore the
name of Scaevola (the left-handed), and offered peace to the
Romans.

Wars against the Volscians, .^quians, and Veientines.

— Rome had as neighbors: on the east the ^quians, who
lived in the mountains; on the south the Volscians, divided
into several small communities, inhabiting a fertile plain;
on the northwest the Etruscan people of Veii, living near the
Tiber. Rome made war on these neighbors for nearly two
centuries, usually with the help of her allies, the Latins.

The Romans preserved but little history of these wars, but
they told stories of several famous warriors. We have already
noted (see page 48) the legend of Coriolanus. Here is the
legend of Cincinnatus:

Quintius Cincinnatus was so beloved that he was called the
father of his soldiers. He had conquered the ^quians, taken
Antium, rescued a Roman army that was surrounded by the
^quians, and recovered the Capitol from bandits who had
taken it by surprise. He was several times consul and even
dictator ; he was the leading man in Rome.

One day there came tidings to Rome that the army fighting
the iEquians had been surrounded in a mountain-pass and was
about to be captured. Quintius alone was able to extricate it.
The senate sent for him. The messengers found him in his
field near the Tiber digging a ditch, wearing only his tunic and
leaning on his spade. In order to receive the messengers of the
senate fittingly he washed himself and put on his toga,^ which
his wife brought to him. The messengers then greeted him as
" master of the people" and urged him to come with all speed.
He jumped into a boat and was soon in the city.

The next morning at dawn he went down to the square,
closed all the shops, and ordered all the citizens to appear on tiie
Campus Martins in the evening, each with his arms, five stakes,
and five days' rations. He set out the same evening, covered
the six leagues in four hours, and all around the enemy's camp
dug a ditch and made a palisade. The ^quians thus shut in
were forced to surrender. Quintius then returned with the

^ The toga was the dress worn in public.

CONQUEST OF ITALY. 59

Roman army which he had rescued. At the end of a fortnight
he resigned his office and returned to his farm (458 B.C.).

This is the legend of The Fabii :

The Fabian family governed Rome for several years; ' at last
the people thought them too powerful and drove them from
Rome. At that time the Romans were at war with the people
of Veii. The Fabii resolved to sacrifice themselves in their
country's cause against Veii. Taking with them their clients,
they encamped over against Veii on a steep hill near the river
Cremera. From this fortified position they ravaged the
country of the enemy. They numbered three hundred and six
patricians and more than six thousand clients. One day they
were surprised by the enemy, and at the end of a day's fighting^
were all slain. Of the whole family there remained but a child'
who had been left at Rome on account of his extreme youth
(477 B.C.).

Capture of Veii. — The Veientines had been among the
most powerful enemies of Rome. Their capital, Veii, built
on a steep rock and surrounded by a thick wall, was only four
leagues from Rome. The people of Veii had only to cross
the Tiber in order to ravage the lands of the Romans. Once
they had even taken the Janiculum.

For more than a half -century there had been no war
between the two states. When war again broke out between
them (405 B.C.) it was a war of extermination. The Roman
army encamped before Veii. Up to that time Roman
soldiers had served at their own cost and had always returned
to their homes in winter. The government now decided to
pay soldiers wages and to keep them in camp through the
winter in order to push the war. The siege is said to have
lasted ten years. The men of Veii called on the other
Etruscan peoples to come to their help; but these declared
their alliance at an end and stayed at home. Veii was taken,
its people massacred or sold; their territory was divided and
the city itself was left desolate.

Legend of Camillus. — As to the capture of Veii and the
general who captured it, many stories are told.

- For seven years all the consuls were Fabii.

6o THE ROMAN PEpPLE.

The Romans besieged Veil ten years without being able to
take it. Camillus, a patrician, famed for his courage, was chosen
dictator and entrusted with the direction of the siege. He
secretly caused a passage to be dug underground, passing under
the wall of Veii and ending beneath the citadel at the spot
where stood the temple of Juno, the protecting goddess of Veii.
When the work was done he ordered his army to attack the
wall, and while the besieged were engaged in meeting the assault
a detachment of Romans went through the passage and came
beneath Juno's temple. At that moment the king of Veii had
just offered a sacrifice. The Romans heard the soothsayer de-
clare, after having surveyed the entrails of the animal : " The
gods will give victory to him who shall offer these entrails."
Then the Romans rushed from the passage shouting and beat-
ing their arms, drove off the men of Veii, seized the entrails and
carried them to Camillus, who completed the sacrifice. So was
the city taken.

Camillus had promised to build for Juno, the goddess of Veii,
a temple on the Aventine. But nobody dared touch the image
of the goddess. Camillus caused some young nobles to come
from Rome robed as for a festival, and, placing his hand on the
image, asked the goddess whether she was willing to leave Veii
and take up her abode at Rome. Then the image was heard to
say, "I am willing," and. of her own accord she followed the
Romans.

Camillus entered Rome as a victor on a chariot drawn by four
white horses, a thing that ought to have been reserved for the
god Jupiter himself. He had promised to give the god Apollo
a tenth part of the booty taken at Veii, and as a result every
soldier had to give up a tenth of his share. For this Camillus
was compelled to pay a fine, and he left Rome. As he was
going away he prayed the gods, if his fellow citizens had con-
demned him unjustly, to make them repent of their injustice.

Invasion of the Gauls. — About this time the wars against
the Gauls began. Long before this Gauls had settled in the
north of Italy. Their ancestors had come from the country
that is to-day France.^ They had crossed the Alps and
conquered the great valley of the Po, whicK thenceforward
bore the name of Gaul. They then had advanced to the
shores of the Adriatic as far as Ancona. They spoke the
same language as the Gauls of France, a Celtic speech like

* The Romans gave to France the name of Gallia Transalpina (beyond
the Alps). They called the region of the Po where the Gallic invaders
had settled Gallia Cisalpina (this side of the Alps).

CONQUEST OF ITALY, 6i

that of the Irish and the Bretons. Their tribes bore the
same names as some of the tribes in what is now France.
One of these Gallic tribes, the Senones,* living in the moun-
tains near the Adriatic, attacked Clusium, an Etruscan town.
The Romans took the part of Clusium and this brought on
war. The legendary account of the affair runs thus :

Thirty thousand Senones came to Clusium asking for lands
whereon to settle. The people of Clusium refused, and called
on the Romans for help. Rome sent three Fabii to warn the
Gauls against breaking the peace. The Gallic chief answered
them : " Although this is the first time that we have heard of the
Romans, we believe that they are brave men, since the people
of Clusium have asked help of them. We shall be glad to keep
peace on condition that the people of Clusium, who have too
much land, give a part of it to us. If they refuse, we shall fight,
and the envoys can tell Rome how much the Gauls are braver
than other men." One of the envoys, Fabius Ambustus, asked :
" By what right do ye attack Clusium.^" The Gaul replied:
" Our right we carry on the point of our swords. Everything
belongs to the brave."

There was a battle. The three Fabii fought in the army of
Clusium; Fabius Ambustus slew a Gallic chiet and took his
armor. The Gauls asked Rome to punish the Fabii because,
having come to them as ambassadors, they ought not to have
fought against them. The people refused, and even chose the
three Fabii as commanders. The Gauls tiien came down along
the banks of the Tiber without attacking or plundering any of
the territory through which they passed, saying that their only
quarrel was with the Romans.

Battle of the AUia. — The Gauls met the Roman army
eleven miles from Rome at the bank of the little river Allia.
The Romans were disastrously defeated.

Siege of the Capitol (390 b.c). — They retreated, and
made no attempt to defend their city, but confined their
efforts to defending the citadel of the Capitol, which was built
on a steep rock and was easy to defend. The senate, the
magistrates, and the priests took refuge there. The inhab-
itants fled to the neighboring towns. The Gauls burned

* There was also in France a tribe called the Senones, whose chiei
town was Sens,

62 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Rome and laid siege to the Capitol. The following account
is given of the siege :

Two days after the battle, towards night, the Gauls arrived
before Rome. They found the walls deserted and the gates
open. Fearing some trick, they waited for day before attacking.
On the morrow they went into the city, and found that the
inhabitants had fled, taking their goods with them. The Gauls
heard no sound, nor saw anybody ; they spread themselves about
the city for plunder. In the vestibules in some of the houses
they found old men clothed in white robes fringed with purple,
with ivory staves in their hands, sitting in ivory chairs, motion-
less and silent.^ These were former magistrates who had re-
solved to sacrifice themselves in order to draw the wrath of the
gods on the enemy. The Gauls were at first too much aston-
ished to do them any harm, but one of them venturing to stroke
the beard of one of these patriarchs, Papirius by name, the old
man smote him on the head with his ivory staff. The Gauls
were enraged and slew them all. Then they burned the city.

They tried to storm the Capitol ; they were repulsed and
established a blockade. One day a Roman, clad in priestly
robes, bearing religious symbols, slowly descended the hill and
passed through the enemy's camp, climbed the Quirinal hill,
where he offered a sacrifice, and slowly returned to the Capitol
by the same path. It was one of the Fabii going to perform a
religious ceremony which was a yearly duty of his family. The
enemy allowed him to pass through.

The Gauls remained encamped at the base of the Capitoline
Hill for a long time. The rainy season had begun, and having
neither shelter nor provisions, they suffered from hunger and
disease. The Romans who had taken refuge at Veil had re-
called Camillus from exile, taken him for their leader, and
appointed him dictator. Camillus began to plan for the deliv-
erance of the Capitol. A young man undertook to notify the
defenders. Crossing the Tiber in a skiff, he reached the foot of
the Capitol on a very precipitous side which the enemy had
thought it unnecessary to guard, and, aided by the shrubs and
brambles, climbed to the citadel.

The Gauls discovered the tracks left by the messenger. On a
dark night they climbed up by the same path, and reached the
top without being discovered, this side of the hill being left
unguarded. But the sacred geese in Juno's temple heard them,
and cackled and beat their wings in alarm. The Romans were
roused by the noise. Manlius,^ who lived near by and was the

* According to another account they were all seated in the Forum.
2 Manlius was a patrician and resided on the Capitol. He was famed
also for his death, which legend tells us happened in this way. He had

CONQUEST OF ITALY, 63

first on the scene, struck the Gallic leader on the head with his
shield, and sent the whole party crashing down among the
rocks. Thus the Capitol was saved by Manlius Capitohuus.

When the garrison had exhausted its provisions it was forced
to capitulate. The Gauls consented to leave Rome ; the Romans
in return promised to pay tliem one thousand pounds of gold
and furnish them with provisions and the means of transpor-
tation. But the Gauls brought false weights to measure the
gold, and the Romans demanded it back. Then the Gallic chief
threw his sword into the scale, saying, '*Vcb victis!" (Woe to
the vanquished !)

The legend adds that the Gauls did not succeed in taking the
gold home with them. According to some authorities Camillus,
on his arrival, sent away the gold, saymg that "the land must
not be delivered by gold " but by steel , and a battle ensued in
the ruined city. Camillus overcame the Gauls, and ordered the
allied cities to close their gates to the fugitives, so that all the
Gauls that had come to Rome were exterminated.

According to others the ransom was not regained until a
century later.

Polybius, the best informed of the ancient historians, says
that the Gauls withdrew peaceably with their spoils in order
to meet an attack by the Venetians on their northern border.

Except for the unscathed Capitol, Rome was in ruins.
The Romans rebuilt their city hastily — in a year, it is said,
— with houses of brick and wood, and very irregular streets.

Further Wars against the Gauls. — The Gauls who had
settled in the Apennines were for a long time formidable foes
to Rome. They allied themselves with the cities that were
hostile to Rome.

become jealous of Camillus, and, to make a party for himself, he redeemed
the enslaved debtors from their creditors. The patricians wished to be
rid of him, and accused him of wishing to make himself king. He was
imprisoned and led before the people assembled in the Forum. But he
pointed to the Capitol and asked it they would be so ungrateful as to con-
demn the savior of their country. The assembly refused to condemn
him. The patricians convoked the people again, but now in a part
of the city from which the Capitol could not be seen, and this time Man-
lius was condemned and thrown from the top of the Tarpeian rock. This
gave rise to the proverb: "The Tarpeian rock is near the Capitol."
Manlius' house was torn down, and it was forbidden to build any house
on the Capitol in the future.

64 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

They came one day to the base of the wall, by the Colline
Gate; they then made a camp by enclosing a space with
their chariots, and thither they retired after laying waste the
country.

Several times they ravaged the country about Rome. Then
the whole body of Roman citizens were called on to fight
against them ; laying all business aside, each citizen had to
procure arms and hold himself always ready for a campaign.

These wars with the Gauls lasted nearly a half-century.
Beyond the legendary stories Httle is known concerning them.

Submission of the Latins. — Meanwhile Rome had finally
completed the subjugation of the Volscians who lived in the
plain in the southern part of Latium. The Volscian cities
were in ruins and the country had become a deserted, fever-
laden morass, the famous Pontine Marshes. Then the
Romans began to conquer Campania.

The Latins, Rome's allies, revolted and a terrible war
ensued (340 b.c.). Once more we are reduced to legendary
accounts.

The Latins had sent two magistrates to Rome to demand
complete equality with the Romans. The senate received them
in the Capitol. The envoys demanded that one consul and
half the senators should be Latins. When this proposition was
made Manlius cried : " Hear this blasphemy, O Jupiter !" and
swore to slay the first Latin who should enter ihe senate. The
Latin Annius replied by insulting Juj)iter Capitolinus. A flash
of lightning followed and a clap of thunder, and Annius, who
was descending the Capitoline by the stairway of one hundred
steps, rolled to the bottom and was killed.

The two armies met at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. The left
wing of the Romans began to weaken. Decius, one of the
consuls, called the pontifex maximus arid told him that he was
going to consecrate himself in order to win the victory for his
people. He placed a javelin beneath his feet, veiled his head,
and, standing, repeated the sacred formula: " }anus, Jupiter,
Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, Lares, Novensiles, Indigetes, gods who
have us and our enemies in your power, and you, Manes, I pray
you of your grace to send strength and victory to the Roman
people and strike with terror, destruction, and death the ene-
mies of the Roman people. By the tormula I have uttered, for
the good of the state, the army, and the allies of the Roman

CONQUEST OF ITALY. 65

people, I devote, together with myself, the army and allies of
the enemy to the Manes and the Earth." He laid aside his
toga, armed himself, mounted a horse, and threw himself into
the midst of the enemy.

He was killed. But the Romans won the day, thanks to the
devotion of Decius.

Rome subdued the Latins and broke up their alliance.
She forbade the Latin cities to make war or to hold assem-
blies among themselves. The Latins were to fight only by
order of Roman generals.

Antium had a fleet of war-vessels. The Romans sub-
jugated her territory and seized her fleet (338 B.C.).

The Samnite War. — The Samnites, the mountain warriors
of the Abruzzi, had joined Rome against the Gauls. They

A SAMNITE WARRIOR.

had also shared with Rome in the partition of the Volscian
lands. The alliance was broken up over the question of
Campania. Campania was a very fertile plain, whose capital,
Capua, was famed for its wealth. The people of Capua had

66 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

asked to be governed by Rome and had become Roman
citizens.

We are told that the Samnites had already made war on
Rome through jealousy (343-341 B.C.).

Other Campanian cities took the Samnite warriors into
their service. The Greeks of Palaeopolis made so bold as to
ravage the territory occupied by the Romans, and a Roman
army came to besiege Palaeopolis. The Samnites defended
the city. This was the beginning of a war which lasted more
than twenty years (326-304 B.C.), and was for a long time
indecisive. Rome never forgot the disaster of the FurculcB
Caudince (The Caudine Forks), and this is how it was
described :

It was during the first years of the war that the Roman army,
under command of the two consuls, while crossing the moun-
tains on its way to Luceria, imprudently engaged in battle in
the defile known as the Forks of Caudium. The Samnites had
barred the road ahead with trees and rocks, and they now cut
off retreat in the rear. The Romans found themselves caught
between two steep wooded precipices in the middle of a pass of
which the enemy held both ends. They had hardly room to
encamp.

Pontius, chief of the Samnites, asked advice of his father
Herennius, who said to him : " You must choose between two
courses, either win the Romans by clemency, or seize the op-
portunity to crush them by exterminating their army." Pontius
did neither. He consented to let the Romans go, but on con-
dition that the consuls, in the name of the Roman people,
should promise to withdraw the Roman garrisons from Sam-
nium. The consuls swore and left with the Samnites as host-
ages six thousand horsemen, sons of noble families.

It was the custom among the peoples of Italy, when an army
capitulated, to make the vanquished pass under the yoke be-
fore dismissing them. A lance was placed across the top of
two lances and stuck in the ground, and under this the defeated
army must file with bowed heads. The Romans issued from
their camp unarmed and clad each in a single garment, and
passed under the yoke. Their arms and outfit, including every-
thing in the camp, belonged by custom to the victor (321 B.C.).

The Roman people themselves had the sole right to make a
treaty. Must they now consider themselves bound by the oath
of the consuls } The senate declared that the consuls had ex-

CONQUEST OF ITALY. ^1

ceeded their powers and that the treaty was void. Postumius,
himself one of the consuls, suggested a way of salving their
consciences while breaking their agreement.

ThG/gtiaies, who had the function of declaring war, led the
consuls who had signed this trea|:y to the camp of the Samnites
and handed them over naked and in chains, saying : " Since these
men, without authority from the Roman people, promised to
make a treaty with you and thus wronged you, we hand them
over to you." Thereupon Postumius gave the herald a blow
with his knee, saying, *' I am now a Samnite, and by striking the
herald, contrary to the law of nations, I have given Rome the
right to make war on the Samnites." Pontius paid no atten-
tion to this buffoonery and demanded the fulfilment of the
treaty. But the Romans resumed the war and were in the end
victorious.

The Samnites made a long resistance; there were battles
in Latium, Campania, and Apulia. The Etruscans joined
the Samnites (311 b c), but the Romans compelled them to
withdraw from the war.

The Romans then entered the Samnite country, took the
fortress of Bovianum, which held a large quantity of silver,
and met the Samnites in a great battle. The Samnites were
defeated and decided to ask for peace.

Rome proceeded to bring into her alliance, either by per-
suasion or by force, the cities of Campania and the small
mountain peoples.

Conquest of the Samnites. — Before many years had
passed the Samnites renewed the war (298 b.c. ), this time
having as allies the Etruscans, Lucanians, Umbrians, and
Sabines.

The Romans had with them the Latins and the Cam-
panians. They invaded the Samnite territory and spent five
months in laying it waste. Their camping-grounds were
afterwards recognized by the^ruin and desolation surrounding
them.

But Rome was still threatened by a great danger. She
had to meet the force that was marching against her, —
Samnites, Etruscans, and Umbrians, aided by an army of
Senonese (Gauls). Rome sent out five armies, which

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

destroyed the army of Samnites and Gauls in the plain of
Sentinum (295 b.c).

li'iiiillllilii:iiiiiiiiiiiii|iliiiii'ii;i;iiiiiiiiiiliiiii^iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirj;i;iM!iinii.ii:i^^

TOMB OF L. CORNELIUS SCIPIO BARBATUS.

(A general in the Samnite War.)

The Samnites gave up the fight in 290 b.c. They retained
their government, but swore never to make war again except
by Rome's command. Twenty thousand Roman farmers
were sent to settle in Venusia, in order to keep a watch over
them.

Conquest of Central Italy. — About the same time Rome
conquered the Sabines of the mountams (290 b.c.) and took
from them a part of their land, which was then given to
Roman citizens. The Romans reached the Adriatic, where
they established a colony, Hadria. The Etruscans had
several times attacked the Romans during the Samnite wars,
but each of their towns had a government of its own and they
never acted together; and each time, by ravaging their lands,
the Romans forced them to sue for peace.

Once more the Senonese Gauls, crossmg the mountains,
invaded Etruria and laid siege to Arretium, an Etruscan
town allied with Rome. The Roman army sent to help
Arretium v/as destroyed. The Romans in revenge invaded
the territory of the Senonese, and slew or expelled the inhab-

CONQUEST OF ITALY. O9

itants. They then sent thither a colony, Sena GalHca
(284 B.C.). The Boii, another tribe of Gauls living south
of the Po, joined the remnant of the Senonese, invaded
Etruria and marched on Rome. There was a battle near
Lake Vadimon, in which the Gauls were slaughtered, redden-
ing the Tiber with their blood. The Boii then made peace
(283 B.C.).

Soon after the Etruscans made their submission and
became allies of the Romans.

Thus Rome became supreme over all Italy, except the
part in the south held by the Greeks.

War with Pyrrhus. — The largest Greek city in Italy was
at that time Tarentum. This city had a good harbor, the
only good one on that coast; through it passed the com-
merce of the mountain region behind. The Tarentines
bought wools of the mountaineers, which they manufactured
into colored fabrics. They made also large vases of red clay
which were used for keeping wine and oil. They were very
wealthy, wore fine clothes, and were fond of banquets and
shows. This is the story of their embroilment with the
Romans :

Thurii, a Greek town being besieged by the mountaineers of
Lucania and Bruttium, asked the Romans for help. Fabricius
led some Roman soldiers to its aid, but found his force too
small to attack the besiegers. Suddenly they saw a young man
of enormous stature placing a ladder against the wall of the
enemy's camp and climbing to the assault; the Romans fol-
lowed him and captured the camp. The warrior to whom they
owed the victory was nowhere to be found, but they remem-
bered that his helmet bore a plume like that of the statue of
Mars, and Fabricius decreed a service of thanksgiving to the god
Mars. The Romans maintained a garrison at Thurii.

Ten Roman ships were sent thither along the coast and
passed in front of Tarentum. Now the Romans were under
treaty engagement to Tarentum not to sail beyond Cape Laci-
nium. The Tarentines attacked the ten ships and sank four of
them Later they drove the Romans out of Thurii and sacked
the town.

The senate sent ambassadors to Tarentum to demand repa-
ration. The Tarentines assembled in the theatre, according to

70 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Greek custom, to receive the Roman ambassadors ; but when
these sought to speak, the crowd began to laugh and hiss.
One, more impudent than the rest, threw mud on the toga of
Postumius. head of the embassy, who said : "You may laugh
now, but this robe shall l.e washed in your blood."

Rome declared war against Tarentum (281 b.c). The
I'arentines, accustomed to peace, had no inclination fcr
fighting. They took into their service Pyrrhus, king of
Epirus, who was at the head of a warrior nation of moun-
taineers on the other side of the Adriatic.

Pyrrhus was already famed as a general. He claimed
descent from Achilles. He had conquered Macedonia and
had fought in Asia. He was said to dream of conquering
Sicily and Italy and then the whole west as far as the ocean.
The Tarentines are said to have promised him three hundred
and fifty thousand foot-soldiers and twenty thousand horse-
men.

He crossed the sea with his army of twenty thousand foot-
soldiers, two thousand archers, three thousand Thessalian
horsemen, and twenty elephants.

The Romans were at first troubled. Their religious
scruple forbade them to fight an enemy before declaring war
on him according to ancient form : the herald should go to
the enemy's frontier and hurl a javelin on his land. How
should they declare war on Pyrrhus, whose land lay beyond
the sea ? They hit upon an expedient. An ' Epirote, a
deserter from the army of Pyrrhus, bought a farm. They
held that this farm had thereby become Epirote territory.
The herald went to it, hurled his javelin, and declared
war.

The Roman army advanced upon Pyrrhus and met him in
a plain near Heraclea (280 B.C.). The two sides were very
evenly matched. Pyrrhus, like Alexander before him, led
the charge at the head of his cavalry, while the phalanx stood
motionless, presenting to the enemy a hedge of pikes. At
length the elephants charged; the Romans, never having
seen these enormous creatures before, were panic-stricken,

CONQUEST OF ITALY. It

and fled, abandoning their camp. The Epirotes had, how-
ever, sustained heavy loss of life.

It was said that, the day after the battle, Pyrrhus visited the
field and noticed that all the Roman corpses had been smitten
in front, showing that none had fled. He then remarked :
" Another victory like this would send me back alone to Epi-
rus." This gave rise to the expression "a Pyrrhic victory," to
indicate a victory purchased at great cost.

There was also a report that Pyrrhus proposed taking the
Roman prisoners into his service, and that none would accept
liberty at this price.

After this victory Pyrrhus summoned the Samnites and
Lucanians who had revolted against Rome, and marched
with them on Latium. On his way, however, he stopped
and spent the winter negotiating with Rome. The negotia-
tion was carried on by his friend Cineas, a Thessalian Greek,
who is famed in legend.

Cineas was said to have tried to turn Pyrrhus aside from his
expedition. He came to Rome with gifts for the senators and
rich stuffs for their wives, but none would accept them. The
day that he made proposals of peace to the senate. Appius
Claudius, aged and blind, had himself carried into the hall and
passionately denounced the idea of peace. " Let Pyrrhus first
leave Italy," he said ; " then we will talk of peace." The senate
ordered Cineas to leave Rome the same night.

Cineas, on returning to Pyrrhus, said : " After a sight of the
senate I feel as though I had looked upon an assembly of kings.
Fighting the Romans is like fighting Hydra, for their number,
like their courage, is boundless."

Pyrrhus offered to release the prisoners and to become an
ally of Rome if Rome would give up her claim to Apulia.
The Romans refused.

In the following spring, Pyrrhus besieged Asculum. The
consuls came against him with seventy thousand men. They
arranged with Pyrrhus the time and place for a battle.

Pyrrhus placed in the centre and on the right the Greeks,
the South Italians, and the Tarentines, armed with white
shields, on the left the Samnites, and on the two flanks his
horsemen, archers, and elephants. At a given signal the

72 THE ROMAhl PEOPLE.

Greeks began to sing the paean and the cavalry, urging their
horses, galloped around the Roman squadrons, then wheeled
about, and charged again. The infantry on the right were
forcing the Romans back, but those in the centre began to
give way. Pyrrhus advanced his elephants. The Romans,
to meet this move, had prepared three hundred chariots
armed with scythes and long poles, on the end of each of
which was a bunch of tow dipped, in pitch; they trusted to
the smoke and the smell to cause a stampede among the
elephants. But on each elephant's back rode an archer,
under shelter; these archers shot down the drivers of the
chariots. The soldiers, slipping in among the chariots, cut
the traces and rendered them useless.

While the fighting was in progress, a troop of Italian
warriors who were with the Roman army climbed to an
elevation behind the almost unguarded camp of the Epirotes,
took possession of it without fighting, pillaged it, and set it
on fire. The Epirote horsemen, hastily summoned by the
news, found the camp already in flames.

At nightfall the fighting ceased and both sides retired, the
Romans crossing to their camp on the other side of the river
(279 B.C.).

Pyrrhus had had enough of this war. The Sicilians asked
him for help against the Carthaginians, and he went to Sicily
and remained there two years.

The physician in attendance on Pyrrhus had offered the
Roman consul Fabricius to poison his master. Fabricius
declined to take advantage of so dishonorable an offer. In-
stead he sent to warn Pyrrhus and, in return for his friendly act,
received back all his prisoners without ransom.

Conquest of Tarentum. — As soon as Pyrrhus had gone,
the Romans subdued all the peoples of the south and ravaged
the Samnite country.

When the two years were past Pyrrhus returned to Italy.
While crossing the straits, his fleet and his military chest
were seized by the Carthaginians; being in need of money,

CONQUEST OF ITALY. 73

he took the treasure from the temple of Proserpina, at Cumae.
From that time he was pursued by ill fortune, which he
attributed to the wrath of the goddess.

The Romans withdrew into Samnium. Pyrrhus followed
and attacked them near Beneventum. The Romans had at
last learned how to fight the elephants and met them with a
storm of heated arrows; they defeated Pyrrhus and took his
camp (275 B.C.). Pyrrhus returned to Epirus with a poor
remnant of eight thousand men.

Two years later he was killed by a tile thrown by an old
woman during the attack on Argos, in Greece.

He had left a garrison in Tarentum, but after his death
his general handed the city over to the Romans. The walls
of the city were then destroyed and the inhabitants deprived
of their arms.

A number of wars were fought alter this with the moun-
taineers and with an Etruscan city called Volsinii, which was
destroyed. Rome was then mistress of the whole of Italy
(266 B.C ).

SOURCES.

Appian Foreign PVars, Bks. II-IV.

Eutropius Bk. i', § 11 -11, § 18.

Livy Bk. ii-x.

Plutarch Lamillus, Pyrrhus.

Polybius c. i, § 7 ; c. ii, §§ 18-21.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. vii, x, xi, xiv-xvii.

Ihne Bk. 11, cc. iii-xviii ; Early Rome ^ cc. xx^

xxi.

Mommsen Bk. 11, cc. iv-vii.

Botsford. c. iii.

How and Leigh cc. x, xi, xii-xvi.

Morey. cc. x-xiii.

Myers c. vi.

Pelham Bk. 11, c. ii.

Shuckburgh cc. vi, vii, ix-xv.

CHAPTER VII.
THE ROMAN ARMY.

War. — The temple of Janus was kept open whenever the
Roman people were at war. In five centuries it had been
closed but once and then only for a few years. The Romans
were constantly at war, and in the end subjugated all the
other peoples of the Mediterranean basin.

In order to understand the secret of their success, it is
necessary to know how the Roman state was organized for
war.

The Primitive Roman Army. — In the early days the
Roman army was like that of the other Latin and Greek
peoples. When war broke out, the king, later the consuls,
assembled the fighting men. All the citizens were liable for
service: they came armed and equipped at their own
expense. Each man's place in the army depended on his
wealth; the richest served as horsemen, celeres (later equiies).
These were divided into squadrons of thirty men each.
The poorest, being unable to buy an equipment, fought
outside the army by throwing javelins or stones, and were
called velites.

Those who could furnish an outfit formed the regular
infantry, called the legion (the levy). There was at first but
one legion, later two, still later two for each consul, making
four in all. In battle the legion was drawn up as a phalanx
in the Greek manner; the men were arranged in very com-
pact fashion with their pikes in front, forming a solid

THE ROMAN ARMY. 75

mass. The main object was to thrust back the opposing
phalanx.

The Romans arranged themselves in six ranks, so their
phalanx was i-ix men in depth, the width depending on the
number of men in the legion. All the legionaries were
armed alike with pike and sword, but they had not the same
defensive armor. The men who had the best armor were
placed in front, and those who were less well armed assigned
to the rear ranks.

The reform of Servius Tullius divided the foot-soldiers into
five classes, according to their wealth. The first class had
a complete outfit: a full suit of armor, a helmet, and a great
shield. The second class carried no shields, the third
neither helmet nor greaves. The fourth and fifth classes
fought outside the legion as velites.

The proletarians were not called on for service; they had
not the honor of belonging to the Roman army.

This organization was altered during the Gallic and
Samnite wars, but just at what time or by whom not even
the Romans could say (some said by Camillus). We have
no real acquaintance with the Roman army prior to the end
of the second century, when Polybius, a Greek historian,
wrote a description of it.

Enrollment. — Paupers were still excluded from the army,
but class distinction was done away with. The state paid a
wage and furnished the arms, making soldiers independent
of their private means. Every citizen belonging to one of
the classes owed military service to the state.

He must serve through twenty campaigns as foot-soldier
or ten as horseman. Until this term was completed he was
at the disposal of the general, who had the right to enroll
him between the ages of seventeen and forty-six.

When soldiers were needed the consul summoned to the
Capitol all citizens of eligible age. The superior officers,
of which each legion had six (military tribunes, elected by
the people), stood near the consul. From each tribe was

70 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

chosen a man for each legion; in this way each of the
thirty-five tribes provided the same number, and the process
was repeated until the legions were filled. There were also
many volunteers; but the tribunes had the right to choose
any one they pleased, and every citizen must answer to his
name.

After this operation, known as the dilectus (choosing), all
took the oath, the officers leading. Then a soldier, chosen
from among the bravest, pronounced the sacred formula:
** I swear to follow the general and obey his orders "; and
declared that, should he fail to keep his promise, the wrath
of the gods might descend upon him. Each soldier then
repeated: "The same for me." Thus all were bound to
their general by religious ties, and none could leave the
army unless discharged.

The Legions. — The legion varied from forty-two hundred
to six thousand men. It was at first accompanied by a
small troop of cavalry composed of wealthy young men;
later the generals adopted the custom of keeping the young
men as guards near their own persons, and the Roman
cavalry went out of existence.

The smallest Roman army could not be less than one
legion. A consul had always at least two legions.
/ Allies. — The legions formed a bare half of the Roman
army, for Rome, in subjugating the neighboring peoples, had
compelled them to put their troops at her service. These
; were the allies {socii^. They formed separate corps under
their own standards; the allied people supplied the requisite
number of men, paid them their wages, and appointed the
lower officers. All were, however, subject to the Roman
general; he selected the place where these troops should
present themselves, and placed Roman citizens at their head.
There were always at least as many allies as there were
'legionaries in a Romian army, and usually more. The horse-
men were almost all from the allies.

After the third century, Rome hired soldiers from outside

THE ROMAN ARMY. 77

of Italy; these were called auxiliaries (auxilia), and had
their own arms and companies. They were chiefly horsemen
(Gauls, Numidians, and ]\Ioors), archers, and slingers.

Armament and Order of Battle. — The Roman army was
an army of foot-soldiers. They were of two classes:

The velites were lightly armed, protected only by a leather
helmet and a small round shield, and carrying a sword and
javelins to be thrown from a distance. They fought apart
from the legion, cither in front or on the sides.

The legionaries were the regular soldiers. Every man was
fully armed: a sleeveless cuirass {loricd) which covered the
body as far as the thigh, a steel helmet (galea), and a shield
(sculum) of wood and leather, bound with iron.

In battle the legion no longer fought in a solid mass, but
divided in three lines, with a wide space between. The
soldiers of the first [haslaii) and second {principes) lines
carried a sword ^ and a \\t.di.\\ pilum; the pilum is a heavy
javelin with an iron point and a wooden handle, the whole
over six feet in length. Those of the third line [friar ii) bore
a sword and a pike {hasla).

The three lines were each divided into ten companies,
called maniples, because each had a bunch of hay (nianipttlum)
on its standard as a distinguishing mark. On the battle-field
these maniples were arranged in groups six men deep, the
distance between the maniples being at least as great as the
width of their front. The maniples of the second line
formed groups of the same size and took their position just
behind the gaps left by the first line. The third line did
likewise, so that the thirty maniples of the legion formed a
quincunx.

The maniples of the first line opened the battle. The
soldiers threw their javelins, then marched on the enemy
and fought with the sword. Should they be repulsed they

* During the Punic wars the Romans adopted the short, pointed
Spanish sword (two feet in length) which they carried at the right side,
suspended from a belt. On the left they carried a dagger.

78 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

dropped back into the spaces left in the second line, and the
second line marched forward to the attack. If they too
failed, they fell back into the third line, and the third line,
a reserve of picked men armed with pikes, made the decisive
effort of the battle.

The allies fought on both sides of the legions, forming the
wings.

This mode of battle gave the Romans the advantage of
being able to keep account of their losses; instead of an

LBGION IN ORDER OF BATTLE.

A, Ten maniples of hnstati, 20 men in front by 6 deep.
B " " '"'' principes " " " " '* 6 "

C " " '* triarii " " " " " 3 "

D " " " velites " " " " " 2 "

unwieldy mass their army was made up of movable squadrons
ready to march quickly to any part of the field where they
might be needed.

The horsemen wore complete armor and carried a long
spear and a long sword; but as they rode stirrupless on very
small horses they were not sufficiently firm to charge in a
group; each therefore fought independently or among the
velites. Roman victories were not often due to the cavalry.

Order of March. — During a campaign, the army usually
marched in a column in the following order:

I. At the head, the picked soldiers chosen from among
the allies.

II. The allies belonging to one of the two wings.

III. A legion, followed by its equipment.

THE ROMAN ARMY. 79

IV. Another legion, followed by its equipment.
V. The other wing of allies.

The two legions and the two wings changed places daily.

If there was danger of an attack, they marched in a
square; the camp outfits were put in the middle with one
legion in front and the other behind, and a wing on either
side.

The soldier carried his arms and his bowl, an axe, a saw,
a stake, and seventeen days' rations; this was a heavy load
— sixty Roman pounds.

The pack-animals carried the tents, one for every ten
men. The army, not being encumbered by chariots, moved
more rapidly than the other armies of ancient times.

The Camp. — When the Roman army came to a halt, it
did not expose itself to a surprise by an enemy; the soldiers
built an improvised fortress, the camp {castra ^).

They worked in accordance with rules fixed by religion.
A priest first drew two straight lines intersecting each other
at right angles. At the point of intersection they set up a
pole with a white flag; this was where the general's tent was
to be, the prceioriuvi, the centre of the camp. In an open
space about it were to be the sacrificial altar, military court,
military chest, business oflfice, and the market-place (Forum)
where the general called his men together.

Then an officer traced the outside line of the camp in the
form of a square. The soldiers, as soon as they came to the
spot, fell to work without a pause. They took out their
spades and on the four sides of the square they dug a broad
deep trench, throwing the earth inwards so as to form a
bank (agger). At the top of this bank they drove a line of
pickets and fastened them together. The camp was now
surrounded by a picket fence on top of a rampart and
guarded by a trench. At the middle of each side there was
a gate.

* Castra signifies fortified enclosure.

THE ROM/IN PEOPLE.

The enclosed space was divided in two halves by a passage
one hundred feet wide {\\\^ via principalis). The half con-
taining the general's tent was the one towards the enemy;
on the same side were the tents of the higher officers, the
picked soldiers, and the auxiliaries. The other half was

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occupied by the two Roman legions and the two wings of
the allies, separated by a passage. The tents were placed
in straight lines, two by two and back to back, each open-
ing on one of the alleys crossing the main passage at right
angles. Each tent sheltered ten men.

Each soldier had always the same relative position in the
camp. He therefore knew in advance exactly where he was

THE ROMAN ARMY 8l

to place his tent and might place it there without waiting
for orders. It was as if the army carried its barracks with
it.

Between the tents and the rampart they left a space of
fifty yards; and here they placed the horses and pack-
animals.

Outside of the entrenchment and near to each gate they
posted sentinels on guard, taken from imong the velites.
The night was divided into watches; the end of each watch
was announced by sounding a trumpet; sentinels were then
changed. Horsemen went around from post to post to see
that the sentinels did not sleep.

Pay and Booty. — The soldier received wages, and for
rations wheat and barley (about a bushel a month). To this
he added whatever he could pick up on the way. The
Romans, like other nations of antiquity, made a practice of
plundering the enemy's country, carrying off the cattle and
even the inhabitants. Whatever was found on the field of
battle, in the camp of a conquered enemy, or in a town
taken by assault, belonged to the conquerors. This was the
customary practice of the period. But the Romans went at
it in a systematic way, and organized parties of soldiers whose
work it was to plunder and to bring everything they found to
the camp. Thus all booty was public property: arms, sol-
diers' baggage, money, utensils, cattle, and even the enemies
themselves, their wives and children. Money and metals
were set aside; everything else was sold to the highest bidder.
Men, women, and children were sold as slaves. The
product of the sale belonged to the Roman people, and had
to be turned into the public treasury. The general, how-
ever, retained a part to make offering to the gods and to
distribute as rewards to the officers and soldiers. A war
against a rich people would fill the Roman treasury and
sometimes even make rich men of the soldiers who shared in
the booty.

Discipline. — The Roman army was subject to a more

82 The ROMAN PEOPLE.

severe discipline than any other army of antiquity. From
the moment of leaving Rome the soldiers owed absolute
obedience to their general. The general had over all the
absolute command or "power of life and death/' the
so-called impei'ium.

The sentinel who slept at his station, the soldier who
deserted his post in battle, or disobeyed the order of the
general, was punished with death. There were two ways of
executing the condemned. Either a lictor tied him to a
stake, scourged him with rods, and cut off his head with his
axe; or he was compelled to pass between two ranks of
sodiers who beat him to death. When a whole company
was condemned, for example for mutiny, as they could not
all be put to death, the general divided the guilty men into
groups of ten each ; in each group lots were drawn and the
unlucky one was put to death. This was the process of
decimating [decimus, the tenth).

The Roman army punished even the soldier who escaped
from a rout or was taken prisoner by the enemy. When
Pyrrhus restored the Roman soldiers he had taken captive
the senate ordered them degraded and forbade them to pitch
their tents within the camp walls. ^

Many legends are told of the severity of the generals of an-
tiquity.

In the war against the Latins, the consul Manlius had for-
bidden the soldiers to fight outside of the ranks. A horseman
from Tusculum came to challenge the Romans. The son of
Manlius accepted the challenge, killed the horseman and took
his arms, returning to his father filled with joy. The consul
sounded the trumpet to call the army together; he then had
his son bound lo the stake and executed for disobedience.

In the Samnite war, the dictator Papirius, being obliged to
leave his army and return to Rome, had left Fabius, the master
of the horse, to command, forbidding him to fight in his
absence : the omens were bad ; the sacred chickens had refused
to eat. Nevertheless Fabius, finding a good opportunity, at-
tacked and defeated the enemy. Papirius immediately rejoined

^ See on page ill another example of severity during the second
Punic war.

THE ROMAN ARMY. S3

his army, had Fabius brought before him and condemned him
to death. The whole army murmured against this action ;
Fabius escaped to Rome and convoked the senate. Papirius
followed him and ordered him seized. The senate and the peo-
ple entreated liim so earnestly that he decided to pardon
Fabius, but he dismissed him from office for having won a
battle contrary to orders.

Military Exercises. — The Romans were in the habit of
practising the arts of war even in time of peace. Those who
lived at Rome used the Campus Marti us for their manoeuvres.
The young men came there for their exercise — running,
leaping, throwing the javelin, and swordsmanship; then,
covered with sweat and dust, they jumped into the Tiber and
swam across it.

In the field it was the rule to drill once a day. The men
also practised military marches with arms and equipment,
and manoeuvres accu.stoming them to take and to change
position on the battle-field. The soldiers learned the use of
pick and spade in the construction of camps, and were often
employed in building roads, bridges, and aqueducts.

Triumph. — The greatest honor for a victorious Roman
general was to be authorized by the senate to celebrate a
triumph, that is, to march in a military procession to the
temple on the Capitol.

The general waited with his army at the gates of Rome,
being forbidden by religion to enter the city armed. The
senate investigated his claims to a triumph; the ordinary
demand was a great victory in which at least five thousand
of the enemy had perished. When permission was granted,
the procession was drawn up as follows :

At the head marched the magistrates and the senators;
then came the wagons loaded with booty, and the captives
in chains. The procession lasted sometimes more than a
day. Next came the triumphal chariot, in the form of a
gilded tower, drawn by four horses. In this chariot sat the
victorious general on an ivory throne, wearing a purple toga
embroidered in gold, bracelets on his arms, a crown of laurel

84 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

on his head, and his face painted red (as it was customary to
represent the gods). Behind his chariot came the soldiers,
with laurel branches in their hands and singing a hymn, lo
Trioniphe !

The procession crossed the city, passing through the
Forum, and mounted the Capitoline hill. There the general
laid his crown on the knees of the statue of Jupiter and
thanked him for granting him the victory. Meanwhile. the
prisoners who had just appeared in the procession were
strangled in the underground prison of the Capitol.

Colonies. — In the countries which Rome had subjugated,
and which needed still to be watched, the senate was accus-
tomed to establish permanent garrisons of Roman soldier
farmers. These were called colonies.

The colonists came in a body with their standard. Their
leader went through the foundation ceremony described on
page 15; with a plough drawn by a bull and a heifer he
traced the sacred furrow around the site of the colony.
Surveyors then laid out the territory in rectangular sections,
one of which was given to each colonist.

The colonists remained citizens of Rome; they still owed
military service and had the right to vote in the assemblies
at Rome. Colonies which retained their full rights of
Roman citizenship were called Roman colonies. They were
situated for the most part on the coast.

But there was another class called Latin colonies. The
Roman citizens v/ho formed these had accepted as colonists
the Latin rights, instead of the Roman. They were self-
governing, but had no longer the right to vote at Rome.
Such colonies were to be found along the great military
roads.

Military Roads. — The Romans needed good roads for
the long marches their armies had to make. They built
causeways of stone and cement (they said in Latin *' build a
road "); they also built arched bridges.

From the city of Rome great military roads led in all the

THE ROMAN ARMY. 85

principal directions. Usually they formed a straight line;
even in the mountain districts they held their course, instead
of winding to diminish the steepness.

The Appian Way was the most frequented of these roads;
it led across the Pontine Marshes into Campania.

SOURCES.

Polybius Bk. VI. §§ 19^42.

Velleius Paterculus Bk. i, §§ 14, 15.

PARALLEL READING,

Duruy c. xviii, § 3.

Mommsen Bk. 1 1, c. viii.

How and Leigh c. xvii, pp. 135-142.

Morey ... c. xiii, pp. 94-97.

Shuckburgh c. xvi, pp. 214-218.

CHAPTER VIIT.
THH FIRST PUNIC WAR.

Carthage. — .Since the fifth century Carthage had been the
greatest power on the Mediterranean. Founded by colonists
from Tyre, Carthage had become the richest of the Phoenician
colonies. It had a fine harbor for commerce and a good
harbor for war, at the northern extremity of Africa, in a
country which yielded excellent harvests of wheat, and was
within easy reach of Sicily, one of the richest countries of
antiquity.

Tyre, exhausted by wars, could no longer defend her
colonies against the Greeks in Sicily. The Carthaginians,
however, offered them protection and established themselves
thus for the first time in the western part of Sicily. Then
they conquered the coast of Sardinia, and made alliance with
all the Phoenician towns on the African coast as far as the
ocean, finally establishing themselves on the south coast of
Spain. In the sixth century they had made alliance with
the Etruscans, thereby gaining the commerce of northern
Italy.

The Carthaginians retained their Phoenician language,
customs, and religion. They called their god Baal and their
goddess Tanith, and they worshipped after the manner of
the Phoenicians. A bronze giant with the arms extended
downward represented Baal Moloch; human victims were
placed in his hands and immediately slipped down into a
glowing furnace inside the giant. Sometimes, on occasion

THE FIRST PUNIC IV^R. 87

of great danger, the leading citizens of Carthage sacrificed
their own children to appease Baal.

The Carthaginians supported themselves chiefly by com-
merce. They went to Phoenicia for cargoes of Oriental
products, to Spain and Sardinia for silver from the mines.
They sold oil and wheat from their own estates in Africa,
and jewels, arms, and idols made by their workmen. In
order to monopolize the benefits of commerce, they forbade
the other African cities to receive a foreign ship into their
harbors.

Carthage was governed by two chiefs {suffetes) appointed
for one year, and by the senate, a council of one hundred
members, comprising the richest merchants of the city.
The rest of the people had no power; the senate, like that
at Rome, was the real master, and governed in the interest
of the merchants.

The Carthaginian Army. — The Carthaginians did not
fight their own battles; they hired foreign soldiers. The fol-
lowing legend explains this custom.

The Carthaginian army was formerly composed of the citizens
of Carthage. It was defeated in Sicily, and the general was
exiled. He returned, however, at the head of his troops,
stormed the city and put to death ten members of the senate.
Later he was himself executed. Mago, who was charged with
the formation of a new army, decided to admit no more citi-
zens, and filled the ranks with foreign soldiers.

A Carthaginian army was an assemblage of bands of
different peoples, commonly barbarians; each kept to their
own language and national dress, and fought with their own
arms. The African Libyans, a race of black men, were
armed with pikes. The Numidians rode without saddles
on small but fleet horses; they were clad in the skin of a
lion, which served also as a bed, and they carried lances and
bows. They shot their arrows while in full gallop, charged
at the enemy, and then withdrew to charge again.

The Iberians of Spain, clad in red and white, were armed
with a pointed sword. The Gauls, naked to the waist, pro-

88 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

tected themselves with a broad shield and fought with a
great sword which they wielded with both hands. The
Ligurians served as archers.

The people of the Balearic Isles had slings, with which
they threw pebbles or balls of lead; the sling was their
national weapon. From infancy they practised the use of
it; the child's bread was hung up outside the door and he
must shoot it down with his sling or go hungry.

All these foreigners served only for the pay. The general
and all the officers were Carthaginians. The government at
Carthage distrusted them and sent senators with them always
to keep watch on them, and when they met with defeat,
condemned them to crucifixion.

The Romans in Sicily. — Carthage and Rome had always
lived in peace, having even concluded several treaties of
friendship; the Carthaginians promised not to attack the
coasts of Latium, the Romans not to navigate the African
coast. During the war with Pyrrhus, Carthage sent a fleet
to the aid of the Romans.

The two peoples disagreed in regard to Sicily. Carthage
had succeeded in conquering the whole of Sicily except the
eastern coast, where a Greek colony, Syracuse, had hitherto
resisted her. A Greek general, Hiero, had become king of
Syracuse, ruling over a kingdom which covered the whole
southeastern part of the island.

At the northeastern point of the island, on the strait which
separates Sicily from Italy, a band of Italian soldiers in the
employ of the Greeks of Messina had massacred the inhabit-
ants and established themselves in Messina under the name
of Mamertines (people of Mars). Hiero marched against
them. The Mamertines sought allies, but could not agree
together on the subject ; some asked help of Carthage and
introduced a Carthaginian garrison into the citadel; others
sent to Rome. The senate hesitated, but the assembly of
the people decided in favor of war (264 b.c).

The Mamertines made alliance with Rome. Carthage joined

THE FIRST PUNIC IVAR.

Hiero, and their united armies besieged the Mamertines in
Messina. A Roman army, entering Sicily, suddenly attacked
Hicro's army and scattered it, invaded his kingdom, and
camped before Syracuse. Hiero sued for peace, and Rome
restored his kingdom on payment of two hundred talents
and the promise of alliance with Rome (263 b.c).

The Roman army, having conquered the eastern part of
Sicily, marched westward, and besieged Agrigentum; the
city was in ruins, but behind the walls was sheltered a
Carthaginian army; the Romans instituted a blockade and
cut off all supplies. A second Carthaginian army then landed
on the island with sixty elephants. After a great battle it
was put to rout, but while the Romans were in pursuit, the
beleaguered army took advantage of a dark night to escape
from Agrigentum. The inhabitants of Agrigentum, left
alone, asked permission to surrender, but the Romans
refused, broke open the gates, pillaged the city, and sold
the inhabitants into slavery (262 b.c).

Naval Victory of the Romans. — Rome had no war-
vessels, having used the ships of her allies, the Greeks of
Italy. Carthage was mistress of the sea and sent a fleet to
ravage the coasts of Italy.

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

We are told that at the beginning of the war the government
at Carthage had said : " Without our permission Rome cannot
even wasli her hands in tiie sea."

The senate at Rome issued orders to build a fleet of war-
vessels. The ships of this period were long and narrow ^ and
propelled by oars; speed could be secured only by a great
number of rowers. A ship the size of a modern gunboat,
carrying a crew of thirty or forty men, required more than
two hundred rowers; a ship of five hundred tons needed
almost four hundred.

The Romans had only ships with two or three banks of
oars, — too small to cope with the Carthaginian ships, which
had five banks {(juinqueremes^ and were much higher. They
therefore decided to build quinqueremes. It is said that
they used as a model a Carthaginian ship which had been
wrecked on the shore of Bruttium. In two months they
had built one hundred and thirty ships.

Their rowers, who were not accustomed to propelling such

ROMAN SOLDIERS USING THE " CROW " IN BOARDING, (CONJECTURAL)

large ships, had been practising on shore while the ships
were being built. Mounted on scaffoldings they learned to

^ Eight times as long as they were wide.

THE FIRST PUNIC IVAR.

manipulate their oars in the air, meanwhile continuing to
practise on the ships anchored in the harbors.

These vessels, hastily constructed of green wood and
manned by inexperienced sailors, could not be easily
handled. A small squadron was sent to the Lipariae Isles;
on the arrival of some Carthaginian ships the rowers rushed
ashore and the squadron was taken. The consul Duilius
then conceived the idea of making the Carthaginian sailors
helpless by preventing their manoeuvring. On each Roman
ship was placed a machine called a "crow." This was a
platform about thirty-six feet long and four feet wide, hinged
loosely at its inner end to the
foot of a short mast and swung
and lowered in any desired di-
rection by a tackle leading from
the top of the mast. The outer
end of the affair was armed with
a huge spike or grappling-iron
which pierced and stuck fast in
the enemy's bulwark or deck
when it was let fall upon it.
The Roman soldiers were thus
able to rush aboard the enemy's
ship and the naval combat be-
came much the same as a land
combat, being decided rather
by soldiers than by sailors.

Thus equipped, the Roman
fleet sailed to Mylae. The
Carthaginians came out to meet
them, and their ships one by
one were grappled by the
Roman ships. The two com-
batants fought hand to hand.
The Romans were victorious

0-jpi^^x^

COLUMN OF

and took thirty of the enemy's ships (260 B.C.).

THE COLUMN OF DUU II S.

92 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

In Rome a bronze column was erected in the Forum
in memory of this victory. Duilius, the conqueror, was given
the right to be escorted in the evening by torch-bearers and
a flute-player. The Roman army proceeded to take the
Sicilian cities; a Roman fleet took Corsica from the Cartha-
ginians.

Expedition of Regulus into Africa. — Fhe Romans now
prepared to attack the city of Carthage itself. The ex-
pedition is said to have included three hundred and thirty
quinquereme galleys, each manned by three hundred rowers;
the fleet carried, in addition, forty thousand soldiers. Car-
thage had, it is said, three hundred and fifty galleys and
fifty thousand soldiers (256 b.c).

The two fleets met off the promontory of Ecnomus. The
Carthaginians were defeated and retired. The Roman fleet,
finding the way open, landed its army on the African shore,
in a fertile country covered with gardens and mansions.
The army ravaged the country, and carried off the cattle and
the inhabitants.

When the winter came the fleet returned to Italy with a
part of the army. The consul Regulus remained in Africa
with the greater part of the army, taking the towns one by
one. The native Africans who had been subjugated by
Carthage against their will, began to join Rome. Carthage
was crowded with people driven from the surrounding
country by the Romans. The Carthaginians became alarmed
and sued for peace. Regulus refused and laid siege to
Carthage.

Then a Spartan general named Xanthippus came to offer
his services to the Carthaginians, filling them with renewed
confidence. He trained the soldiers to fight in a phalanx
like the Macedonians, and showed them how to make use
of elephants. He then led forth his army and drew it up in
line of battle: in the centre, fourteen thousand infantry; on
the wings, four thousand cavalry; in front of the infantry,
one hundred elephants. The Romans are said to have had

THE FIRST PUNIC IV A R, 9S

thirty thousand men; they attacked the infantry, but were
put to rout by the elephants and the cavalry, and all were
slain. Regulus was taken prisoner (255 b.c).

The Roman garrison which had remained in Clupea was
besieged; a Roman fleet had to be sent to deliver it and
carry it away. The Romans evacuated Africa. On their
return their fleet was destroyed by a storm. The Cartha-
ginians punished the natives for their desertion by hanging
their chiefs and making them pay a heavy fine.

Naval Battles. — Both sides now prepared new expeditions
to conquer Sicily. In three months Rome had gathered
together a fleet of two hundred and twenty ships, and suc-
ceeded in taking Panormus, the most important Carthaginian
port (254 B.C.). Another fleet ravaged the coast of Africa;
on its return it was destroyed in a storm (253 b.c).

The Roman army, besieged in Panormus, made a sudden
sally and, taking the Carthaginians by surprise, drove them
to the water's edge and slew them (250 b.c). Metellus,
the victorious general, returned to Rome with one hundred
and four elephants to take part in his triumph; afterwards
they were taken to the circus and slaughtered to amuse the
people.

Little by little the Carthaginians had been driven into the
northwest comer of Sicily. Regulus was still a prisoner
when Carthage sent him to Rome to ask for peace or an
exchange of prisoners; Rome refused. This embassy gave
rise to the legend of Regulus.

Regulus, it was said, himself advised the senate to refuse the
exchange of prisoners ; he thus sacrificed his life in the interest
of his country. On his departure from Carthage he took an
oath to return to his captivity if unsuccessful in his mission.
He came back. The Carthaginians were infuriated by the
failure of their envoy, and took a cruel revenge ; they cut off
his eyelids, then put him in a cask lined with spikes and rolled
him down a hill. His family, to avenge this cruelty, were al-
lowed to torture to death two Carthaginian generals who had
been taken prisoner.

Rome sent an army to besiege Lilybaeum, but the siege

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

THE FIRST PUNIC IVAR. 95

failed. The following year, a new fleet came with the
consul P. Claudius, who planned to surprise the Carthaginian
ships in the harbor of Drepana. But the Carthaginians,
aware of his scheme, left the harbor just before he entered
it, and then turned the surprise upon the Romans. Their
ships, in haste to escape from the harbor, were jammed
together. In this disorder the Carthaginians attacked them
and drove them ashore, where they were either sunk or taken
(249 B.C.).

The Romans regarded this defeat at Drepana as a punish-
ment from the gods.

Claudius, accordin<j: to custom, had brought along the cage
containing the s.icred chickens. Before the attack began he
was notified that the sacred chickens refused to eat; this was a
sign that the gods did not approve of the combat. Claudius
answered: "Very well; if they will not eat, let them drink,"
and had the chickens thrown into the sea.

Another Roman fleet was surprised by the Carthaginian
fleet off the southern coast of Sicily and ran aground. A
storm arose and the ships were shattered. Junius, who
commanded the fleet, was accused, on his return to Rome,
of having, like Claudius, ignored the warnings of the
auguries; he committed suicide.

Hamilcar in Sicily. — Carthage then placed (247 b.c.) her
army in Sicily under command of an able general named
Hamilcar, surnamed Barca (thunder). He found the
soldiers in revolt, subdued them, and led them off to pillage
the southern part of Italy. He then established himself in
the northwestern extremity of Sicily, on a very steep moun-
tain called Eryx, and fortified himself there (244 b.c). The
only approach on the land side was by two steep paths; on
the water side there was a bay in which ships could anchor.
The defenders received their provisions by sea from Drepana.
Entrenched in this natural citadel Hamilcar for three years
threatened the Roman armies encamped before the two ports
remaining to the Carthaginians, Lilybaeum and Drepana.

Rome at length equipped another fleet of two hundred

96 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

quinqueremes and sent it to blockade the two ports by sea.
A battle took place off the ^Egatian Islands, in which the
Carthaginian fleet was scattered (241 b.c).

Carthage had now exhausted her resources and com-
missioned Hamilcar to make peace. The Carthaginians
promised to withdraw from Sicily and to pay three thousand
two hundred talents (nearly $4,000,000) within ten years
(241 B.C.).

The first Punic war had given Sicily to Rome. It became
the first Roman province.

The Truceless War. — At the close of her first great
struggle with Rome Carthage found a further difficulty
staring her in the face. The composite and mercenary
character of her army has already been shown. This host
of hirelings she found herself unable to pay. They soon
revolted and attacked their masters, and Carthage with scarce
any citizen soldiers was hard put to it to defend herself from
her own servants. The war between the insurgent troops
and the native forces was characterized by such bitterness
and cruelty on both sides that it received the name of " The
Truceless War." After four years it resulted in the practical
extermination of the revolted mercenaries.

Sardinia and Corsica. — Rome had taken advantage of
the struggle in Sardinia to interfere while Carthage seemed
helpless, and when Carthage protested, declared war once
more upon her, and settled the dispute only by forcing from
her rival a further tribute of twelve hundred talents
($1,500,000), and the cession of Sardinia and Corsica

(239 B.C.).

Conquest of Cisalpine Gaul. — The Gauls still occupied
all the region of the Po between the Apennmes and the
Alps, called by the Romans Cisalpine Gaul (this side of the
Alps). Rome had decided to establish colonies south of the
Po, and the consul made a distribution of lands taken from
the Boii, the Gallic people nearest to Roman Italy. The
Boii were indignant and made alliance with the Insubres,

THE FIRST PUNIC IV A R, 97

whose capital was Mediolanum (Milan); they also took into
their service Gallic soldiers from the other side of the Alps,
the Gesates, and all together invaded Italy (225 B.C.).

Rome sent out two armies, one eastward to the Adriatic,
the other westward into Etruria. The Gauls overcame the
first and advanced as far as Clusium; before the second,
however, they were obliged to retreat.

While they were retreating along the coast of Etruria, they
found themselves caught between the pursuing army and
another Roman force which was returning from Corsica and
had landed by chance at that very juncture at Pisa. The
Gauls divided into two bodies, and, forming a double front,
fought the two armies at once near Cape Telamon. The
Gauls led the attack with their fearful war-cry. The
Gesates, tall men with blue eyes and red hair, won honor by
exposing themselves to danger; they discarded their shields
and fought naked. The Gauls were marvellously brave, but
their swords were unpointed and of inferior quality, wound-
ing only by cutting, not by thrusting, and so heavy that they
required the use of both hands; swords so poor that they
bent in striking. While the Gaul placed his sword under
his foot to straighten it he was defenceless, and exposed to
the blows of the enemy.

The victorious Romans repulsed the Gauls and then
attacked them in their own country. They subdued first
the Boii (224 b.c), then — not, however, without great diffi-
culty — the Insubres (223-222 b.c). They finally seized the
capital and made the Gauls give hostages.

In order to keep their hold on the Gauls, Rome estab-
lished among them three great colonies, Mutina, Placentia,
and Cremona (218 b.c).

SOURCES.

Appian Bk. x, cc. i, ii.

Polybius Bk. I, §§ 10-88 ; Bk. il, §§ 14-35.

Plutarch Marcellus.

98 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. xix-xxi.

Ihne Bk. iv, cc. i, iii.

Mommsen Bk. ill, cc. i, ii.

Botsford c. V, pp. 95-104.

How and Leigh. ... cc. xviii, xix.

Morey c. xiv.

Myers c. vii.

Pelham Bk. ill, Introd. c. i to p. 122.

Shuckburgh cc. xvii-xix.

Smith, R. B. Carthage a7id the Carthaginians and Rome

and Carthage (Epochs Series).
Church, A. J The Story of Carthage (Stories of the

Nations).
Mahan, A. T The Infiuetice of Sea Power on History,

pp. 14-21.

CHAPTER IX.
THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.

Hannibal. — After subduing the rebels Hamilcar had been
sent to take command of the Carthaginian forces in Spain
(237 B.C.). This army was composed of mercenaries, most
of them Iberians, a brave and warlike Spanish people.
Hamilcar remained there nine years, and won the devotion
of his soldiers.

When he died (229 b.c), his soldiers, without waiting for
orders from Carthage, chose for their general his son-in-law,
Hasdrubal ; the home government approved their choice and
Hasdrubal became commander of the Spanish army. He
concluded alliances with the native peoples, and founded on
the seacoast the city of Carthagena (New Carthage), which
became the centre of the Carthaginian government in Spain.

Hasdrubal was succeeded by Hannibal, the son of Hamil-
car (221 B.C.), then a young man. Reared among soldiers,
and knowing no fatherland but his army, Hannibal's mind
was filled with thoughts of war. He led the life of a soldier,
eating sparingly, sleeping in his tent, and speaking familiarly
with his soldiers. Like his father, Hannibal detested Rome.
In his old age he explained to King Antiochus the origin of
his hatred. "When my father set sail for Spain with his
army," he said, "I was only nine years old; the day he
made the sacrifice I stood near the altar. After the cere-
mony, Hamilcar ordered his servants to withdraw, called me
to his side and, caressing me, asked if I would not like to
follow him to Spain. Eagerly I begged him to take me with

loo THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

him. Taking me by the hand, he led me to the altar and,
standing over the bodies of the victims, he said : ' Swear by
these victims that you will always be an enemy to Rome.' "

Capture of Saguntum. — Hannibal began by taking a
number of towns and appropriating their money; he paid his
soldiers well and promised them bounties. He lived among
them, denying himself every luxury, and quickly won their
esteem. He subdued tiie whole country as far as the Ebro.
Thither Roman envoys came to warn him not to advance
further, for Hasdrubal, by a treaty with Rome, had promised
not to pass the Ebro. They also forbade him to attack the
people of Saguntum (a town on his side of the river), who,
they said, were allies of Rome. Hannibal declared that he
had the right to deal with Saguntum as he pleased, and the
envoys proceeded to Carthage.

Hannibal encamped before Saguntum; this was a rich
city, lying in a fertile plain near the sea, and inhabited by a
warlike people, who were skilled in the art of defence. The
siege lasted eight months, at the end of which time the city
was finally taken by assault. The booty was large. Hanni-
bal despatched the movables to Carthage, gave the inhabitants
to his soldiers to sell as slaves, and kept the money for the
use of his army (219 B.C.). .

On hearing of the siege of Saguntum, Rome had sent two
senators to Carthage to demand reparation. The envoys
were received in the senate chamber at Carthage; they
demanded that Hannibal should be delivered to the Romans
for punishment for violation of the treaty. The Carthaginians
replied that at the time the treaty was made Saguntum was
not yet an ally of Rome. Then one of the two Roman
envoys, holding up a fold of his toga, said: " I bring you
here in this fold peace and war. Choose which you will."
" Give us which you will," was the answer. *' Then take
war. ' '

This was the beginning of the second Punic war (218 b.c).
Hannibal in Gaul. — Rome gathered together two armies.

THE SECOND PUNIC H^AR.' lol

one in Sicily to invade Africa, the otHerna Itiily to attaick
Spain. Hannibal, however, did riot give them time to
attack.

He sent to Africa for Libyan foot-soldiers and Numidian
horsemen, and, leaving his brother Hasdrubal with a fleet
and a small army to defend the country south of the Ebro,
he left Carthagena in the spring (218 B.C.), crossed the Ebro
and marched rapidly to the Pyrenees, defeating the peoples
that tried to oppose his progress. From the Pyrenees he
sent back a part of his Spanish soldiers, left his equipment
under guard of a small force with Hanno in command, and
crossed the mountains. He had with him fifty thousand
African and Iberian foot-soldiers, five thousand horsemen,
and twenty-one elephants.

Entering Gaul, he marched rapidly toward the Rhone.
A barbarian army encamped on the left bank of the river
attempted to check his advance. Hannibal halted on the
right bank, bought boats and lumber and constructed rafts.
He sent a detachment by night some miles up the river, to
cross on the rafts and conceal themselves near the camp of
the barbarians.

The next day the bulk of the army crossed the river in
boats, the horses, held by the bridle, swimming alongside.
The barbarians issued from the camp and prepared to fight.
At this moment the Carthaginian detachment which was
concealed on the left bank came out, set fire to the camp,
attacked the barbarians in the rear, and put them to flight.
Hannibal's army crossed the Rhone and camped on the left
bank.

The elephants crossed the river with difficulty. Great
rafts had been built and covered with earth and grass, so
that the elephants could not distinguish them from the solid
ground. On these rafts the elephants were then towed to
the opposite shore. The elephants were at first frightened
by the washing about their feet ; some of them ev^n fell off
into the river and crossed with only their trunks above water.

I02 ' *' > " THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

'ftie Roman ge*nfefai, Pulitius Scipio, who had been sent
to meet Hannibal in Gaul, had followed the coast. Learn-
ing, on his arrival at the Rhone, that Hannibal had already
escaped him, he returned into Italy.

While Hannibal was advancing towards Italy, the Romans
were busy fighting the Cisalpine Gauls; the Boii and
Insubres had renewed hostilities and defeated a Roman
artny. Hannibal planned that they should all march
together upon Rome. A Gallic chief from the Po valley
addressed the soldiers, and described Cisalpine Gaul as a rich
country, inhabited by warlike peoples, all ready to join the
Carthaginians.

Hannibal Crosses the Alps. — Hannibal led his army up
the Rhone, then, turning eastward towards the Alps,
marched for eight days over steep mountain paths. The
mountaineers attacked them a number of times; once they
blocked the way, but withdrew when night came on.
Hannibal seized the chance to send his best soldiers to take
the position; the rest of the army followed. The moun
taineers attacked the rear-guard, which was encumbered by
the horses; Hannibal was obliged to return to their relief.
On the ninth day the army reached the summit and rested
for two days. They were joined there by the stragglers and
many horses that had strayed or fallen from the path and
were given up for lost.

They now had to descend the Italian slope, by far the
more difficult side, by a narrow path, along high precipices.
The autumn was nearly at an end, and the new-fallen snow
impeded their progress. The soldiers slipped, and in falling
pushed against their comrades and threw them over the
precipices; the horses lost their footing and fell. The army
came to a defile so narrow and steep that the elephants
could not proceed; at one point the snow and ice were so
deep that the horses could not pass. Hannibal made his
army camp while he had the snow cleared away and a road
cut in the rock. The pack-animals crossed first, then, after

THE SECOND PUNIC IV A R. I03

the Numidians had worked three days more at widening the
path, the elephants passed safely over.

It was told long after that Hannibal softened the rock by
heating it with great fires and then pouring on vinegar.

Late in October, five and a half months after leaving
Carthagena, Hannibal reached the land of the Insubres in
the valley of the Po. He had left only twelve thousand
Africans, eight thousand Spaniards, and six thousand horse-
men, both men and horses worn with travel, and the troops
looking more like savages than soldiers.

The Cisalpine Gauls furnished them with supplies, cloth-
ing, and arms. The army reorganized and began its march
southward.

Hannibal's Victories in Cisalpine Gaul (218 b.c). —
Publius Scipio had led his army back from Gaul and camped
on the bank of the Ticinus, a broad river. The horsemen
and velites, ^ who had been sent on ahead, suddenly encoun-
tered Hannibal's cavalry. The velites let fly their javelins,
then fled in fear; the Roman cavalry dismounted and fought
on foot. The Numidian cavalry attacked them from the
rear and put them to rout. This was the battle of the
Ticinus.

Scipio, who had himself been wounded, withdrew with
his army across the Po and destroyed the bridge, leaving five
hundred of his soldiers on the other side. Hannibal made
them prisoners, crossed the Po on a bridge of boats, and
marched eastward.

Scipio meanwhile nursed his wound in a fortified camp
near Placentia, unwilling to risk another battle. His Gallic
contingent (two thousand infantry, twelve hundred cavalry),
however, left the camp, and, surprising the Roman soldiers
in the open, killed them and carried their heads to Hannibal.
The Boii, one of the Gallic peoples, then decided to join the
Carthaginians.

* Light-armed foot-soldiers. See p. 77,

104 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Scipio, disturbed by the idea of being in a hostile country,
broke camp, crossed the Trebia, and camped on a hill to
await the coming of the second Roman army, which was
now crossing Italy on its return from Sicily. Hannibal fol-
lowed and camped six miles away.

The second Roman army arrived. Sempronius, the
consul in command, favored an immediate attack, but
Scipio advised him to wait. Sempronius, however, insisted;
the year was drawing to a close, and the consul's term nearly
over. If they should wait, the honor of defeating Hannibal
would fall to the new consuls. Scipio yielded to this argu-
ment and gave orders for the battle.

Between the two camps lay a smooth plain, cut by the
bed of a river whose banks were covered with brambles; in
this depression Hannibal concealed a thousand picked foot-
soldiers and a thousand horsemen. The following day, the
Numidian horse galloped across the plain up to the Roman
camp. Sempronius sent his cavalry against them, then his
archers; finally he came forth with his whole army. Snow
had fallen and the day was cold; the Romans had had
nothing to eat; they waded up to their armpits in the icy
current of the Trebia. Hannibal's men had just eaten,
rubbed themselves with oil and rested before their fires.
They moved forward, led by the archers and the Balearic
slingers (eight thousand men); in the rear, the twenty thou-
sand foot-soldiers in line; on the wings, the ten thousand
horsemen and the elephants.

The battle was soon over. The Romans, wet, tired, and
hungry, and half disarmed, having thrown all their javelins
against the Numidians, were attacked in front by the ele-
phants, on the flanks by the cavalry, and in the rear by the
Numidians, who had come out of their ambuscade by the
river. Some succeeded in breaking through Hannibal's
infantry and returned toPlacentia; the rest were forced back
into the Trebia. The Carthaginians made no attempt to
cross the river. The vanquished Romans abandoned their

THE SECOND PUNIC IV AR. 105

camp to the enemy. The Gauls, one and all, joined the
Carthaginians (218 b.c).

Hannibal hoped to win the Italian peoples away from
Rome. He retained only such prisoners as were Romans;
the allies he sent home without ransom, saying he had not
come to make war on them but to deliver them from Rome.

Hannibal spent the winter in this country. The Africans,
being accustomed to a warmer climate, suffered intensely,
some of them dying from cold. All but one of the elephants
perished.

Trasumenus (217 b.c). — In the spring of 217, Hannibal
resumed his campaign. The new consul, Flaminius, had
stationed his army in Etruria. To attack him it was neces-
sary to cross the mountains. Hannibal avoided the easy
road, knowing that the enemy would expect him to come
that way, and chose instead tno shorter load, across the
marshes where it was thought impossible for an army to
go, especially after the winter rains. At the head marched
the Spaniards and Africans, with the baggage; then the
Gauls; the cavalry formed the rear-guard. The soldiers
spent four days and three nights with their feet in water and
without sleep; they could not lie down on the ground and
they could not sleep anywhere but on the camp baggage.
The pack-animals died, the horses lost their shoes in the
bog; Hannibal, who rode on the last remaining elephant,
fell sick and lost the sight of one eye.

The marshes were passed at last and the Carthaginians
were close to the Romans while the latter believed them still
far away. Hannibal's army appeared before the Roman
camp, and ravaged the country, setting fire to the houses.
Flaminius, seeing the smoke, became angry: ** What will
they say at Rome, " he said, ** when they hear that we allowed
this devastation to go on ? "

Hannibal proceeded towards Rome. Flaminius broke
camp and followed him. Hannibal came to Lake
Trasumenus, a tiny sheet of water lying in a valley and shut

io6

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

in by hills commanding it on all sides; the valley was
reached by a narrow path between the mountain and the
lake. Hannibal led his army into the valley and encamped
on the surrounding hills. Flaminius came up in the eve-
ning, and, ignorant of the enemy's proximity, encamped at
the entrance to the valley.

SCALE OF MILES

PLAN OF BATTLE OF LAKE TRASUMBNUS.

The next morning the Roman army was on the road by
the edge of the lake, amid a fog that concealed the enemy
from view. Suddenly Hannibal gave a signal and from all
sides his soldiers charged. The Romans, taken by surprise,
had not even time to form in line, and were either slaugh-
tered, or drowned in the lake. Fifteen thousand of them
perished ; a body of six thousand marched through the valley
and ascended a hill at the lower end of it. The fog lifted
and from the hill the Romans saw the wreck of their army,
and hurried to make their own escape. But Maharbal, with
his horsemen and archers, overtook, surrounded, and captured
them. Hannibal took fifteen thousand prisoners and shared
them among his soldiers. Then, crossing the Apennines
again, he reached the Adriatic; along his line of march he
spared the allies, but massacred all Romans capable of bear-
ing arms. His army being in need of rest, he paused to give
his wounded time to recover, and obtain fresh horses. Then
he resumed his march southward to Apulia, whence, enter-

THE SECOND PUNIC iVAR. 107

ing the mountains of Samnium and crossing Italy again,
he established himself in the rich plain of Campania.

Fabius Cunctator. — At Rome the senate was alarmed and
had chosen a dictator, Fabius, surnamed Cunctator (" the
delayer"); his plan was not to risk a great battle against
Hannibal, but to gain time to mature his soldiers. It was
chiefly the Numidian cavalry that terrified the Romans.
Fabius therefore shunned plains where cavalry could operate;
he led his army along the foot of the mountains. In this
way he accustomed his soldiers to the sight of the enemy and
cut off Carthaginian horsemen who went out on foraging
parties. Fabius constantly balked Hannibal in his move-
ments. One day he nearly captured him. Hannibal had
established his camp in a narrow valley. Fabius seized the
hills overlooking it, and also the outlets. He made ready
to attack on the following morning. Hannibal, seeing
himself surrounded, devised a trick. He had in his camp
cattle taken by. his soldiers; he chose two thousand bullocks
and fastened fagots to their horns. When night came he
set fire to the fagots, and his soldiers, lightly armed, drove
the bullocks towards the hills, running and shouting.
Meanwhile Hannibal silently marched with his army towards
the outlets. A troop of Romans had been guarding these
passages, but, on hearing the shouts and seeing the lights
from the fagots moving on the hills, they had concluded that
the enemy was attacking and left their post to go towards
the bullocks. Fabius, not in the least understanding all the
noise, did not venture to leave his camp, so Hannibal suc-
ceeded in escaping. He returned to the other side of Italy
and spent the winter in Apulia.

Rome raised eight legions of five thousand men each.

Hannibal resumed the campaign, and after harvest took
possession of Cannae, whence the Roman army drew its sup-
plies. The Roman generals informed their government that
it would not be possible to sustain their soldiers in that
devastated region, and that the allies were beginning to show
signs of revolt. The senate ordered an immediate battle.

io8

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Battle of Cannae. — In the spring of 216 b.c. the two
consuls joined the army, six miles from Hannibal's camp, in
the valley of the Aufidus (Ofanto), near Cannae. One of the
consuls, y^milius Paulus, was unwilling to risk a battle in
the open plain and wished to entice the enemy to a spot less
favorable to the Numidian horsemen ; the other consul,
Varro, advised an immediate attack. They had divided the
army between them, and each had his own camp; each held
command only on alternate days.

At daybreak Varro crossed the Aufidus and drew up his
army in line of battle on the plain. In front he placed the

PLAN OF THE
BATTLE OF CANNAE

LESSER
ROMAN CAMP

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BATTLE OF CANNyE.

velites, on the wings the cavalry, and in the centre the
legionaries (Romans on the right, allies on the left); in all,
eighty thousand foot-soldiers and six thousand horsemen.

Hannibal placed at the head of his army the slingers and
archers, on the left wing Hasdrubal with the Spanish and
Gallic horsemen, on the right wing Hanno with the
Numidian horsemen, and in the centre the foot-soldiers.
The Spaniards, with their tunics of linen embroidered with

THE SECOND PUNIC IVAR.

lOQ

purple, and their pointed swords, the Gauls, half-naked and
armed with their heavy swords, were in the middle; on either
side the Africans armed after the Roman fashion with arms
taken from the Romans; in all forty thousand foot-soldiers
and ten thousand horsemen, — slightly more than half as
many as the Romans, but with two years' experience in the
art of war.

At first the light-armed soldiers fought on both sides with-
out result. Then the Spanish and Gallic horsemen on the
left attacked the Roman horsemen. The Romans could not
fight on horseback, so they dismounted and fought on foot,
and were all slain.

The Roman legionaries now advanced upon Hannibal's
centre, composed of the Spanish and Gallic infantry; by a

CARTHAGINIAN HELMET FOUND AT CANN^.

bold and difficult manoeuvre this infantry retired slowly back,
still fighting; the legionaries followed close upon them, until
they were in the very heart of Hannibal's army. All at once
the African foot-soldiers on either side closed in and attacked
the Romans on both flanks, putting them to rout. Has-
drubal's horsemen, who had just put the Roman cavalry to

no THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

flight, came to join\ the Numidians. They hastened in
pursuit of the fleeing Romans and slew them.

Seventy thousand Romans were killed, only three thou-
sand foot-soldiers and three hundred and seventy horsemen
escaping. The Gauls lost four thousand men, the Spaniards
and Africans but fifteen hundred.

The Romans had left a guard of ten thousand men in
their camp ; these were surrounded by the enemy and forced
to surrender.

Rome had never suffered such a defeat as the Cannae
disaster, ^milius had been killed, and with him a number
of the young nobles. Every wealthy Roman wore a gold
ring; so many were left on the battle-field that Hannibal sent
a bushel of these rings back to Carthage.

War in Southern Italy. — Rome was at first wild with
consternation, expecting every day to see Hannibal attack
the city. Roman courage was not daunted, however; the
city's defences were strengthened and new legions raised.
When Varro, the consul defeated at Cannae, returned to
the city, the people went out in a body to meet him and
the senate tendered him a vote of thanks for not having
despaired of the Republic.

Hannibal did not attempt to march on Rome, finding

doubtless that his army was too weary or too weak to attack

such a great city. This caused great surprise and gave rise

to the following story:

In the evening after the battle of Cannae Maharbal, one of
the leaders of the cavalry, said to Hannibal : " Give orders to
march and in three days yon will dine at the Capitol." Hanni-
bal refused. Maharbal thereupon cried : " You know how to
gain a victory, Hannibal, but you do not know how to take ad-
vantage of it ! "

Hannibal proposed to the senate to send back the soldiers
taken in the Roman camp at a very low price (less than sixty
cents a head). He sent on this mission ten prisoners on
parole to return. The senate heard their request; they
explained that they had not been taken in flight or through

THE SECOND PUNIC IV AR. ill

any fault of their own, but in the camp where their general
had left them. Rome \\as in great need of soldiers. The
senate, however, declared that a Roman's salvation lay only
in victory, and refused to pay the ransom.

The soldiers who had escaped slaughter at Cannae were
punished by the senate for not having died at their post.
They were sent to Sicily, where they were allowed no food
but barley and were obliged to live outside of the camp.
• The peoples of southern Italy, who were subject to Rome
only through force, joined Carthage on hearing of Rome's
defeat. The Samnites, the Lucanians, and the wealthy city
of Capua, all made alliance with Hannibal. The Romans
retained only the Greek cities on the seacoast.

Hannibal established himself in southern Italy and
remained there thirteen years, trying to subjugate or win
away the allies of Rome. The winter following the battle
at Cannae his army passed in Capua, a city of luxury and
pleasures, famous at this period for its games, banquets, and
shows. According to the popular saying of the day,
Hannibal's soldiers plunged into the dissipations of Capua ^
and lost their strenuous quality. They won no more great
victories, and Rome gradually regained her superiority.

In 211 B.C. the Romans laid siege to Capua. Hannibal,
in order to force them to raise the siege, marched suddenly
towards Rome; but the army around Capua did not move.
Rome was too well fortified to be taken by assault, and
Hannibal withdrew.

The Capuans were starved into surrender. The leader of
the party opposed to the Romans invited his frifends to a
last feast; at the end of the banquet he had brought to him
a cup full of a violent poison, and took from it the first sip;
each of the guests then drank from it in turn. Five hundred
of the wealthiest inhabitants of Capua were taken .to Rome,
where they were scourged and beheaded.

Taking of Syracuse. — The Carthaginians had tried to
regain the lower part of Sicily. In Syracuse, hitherto allied

112 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

with Rome, a general of the party opposed to Rome took
command after a civil war.

Rome sent an army to besiege Syracuse by land, and a
fleet to besiege her by sea.

Archimedes, the most famous mathematician of antiquity,
lived in Syracuse. He had invented new war-machines
which wrought havoc among the besiegers. Catapults placed
on the city walls hurled great rocks at the ships and crushed
them. Iron teeth worked by machinery seized the enemy's
soldiers and threw them high in the air.

The Romans thought they could reach the top of the city
wall from the sea. They brought two ships to the foot of
the wall and fastened them together; then they leaned
against the wall a huge ladder topped by a platform which
was on a level with the wall; the soldiers on the platform
were to lower a drawbridge and pass over it to the wall.
But a Syracusan machine wielding an iron hand seized the
ship by the prow, turned it upside down and then either
sank it in the sea or broke it to pieces on the rocks.

The besieging army at length grew so afraid of these
inventions of Archimedes that the mere sight of a rope or a
stake put them to flight.

Marcellus, the Roman general, gave up the idea of taking
Syracuse by assault and decided to blockade it. The fol-
lowing year Syracuse was taken and pillaged and Archimedes
killed (212 B.C.).

The following story is one of those told concerning his

death :

A Rorrian soldier was sent by Marcellus to find Archimedes.
He found him so absorbed in a problem that he had not even
heard the enemy enter the city; he begged the soldier to spare
his life until he should discover the solution. The soldier was
exasperated and killed him at once, thereby incurring the dis-
pleasure of Marcellus.

Defeat and Death of Hasdrubal. — While Hannibal was
fighting in Italy his brother Hasdrubal, who had remained
in Spain, was engaged in a bitter struggle against a Roman

THE SECOND PUNIC IV AR. 113

army. In 217 b.c. the Romans, after their victory, had
established themselves at Tarragona; they then drove back
the Carthaginians towards the south, regained Saguntum
(214 B.C.), and finally took Carthagena. In the latter city
they found the wives and children of the principal native
chiefs, who were kept by the Carthaginians as hostages
(210 B.C.).

Hasdrubal resolved to abandon Spain and join his brother
in Italy. With a small army of Spaniards he eluded the
Romans and crossed the Pyrenees into Gaul ; the following
year he reached Cisalpine Gaul. The Gauls, ever hostile to
Rome, joined him, and he advanced to the shore of the
Adriatic.

Rome now had to meet the two brothers at once. One
army, commanded by Claudius, one of the consuls, was
engaged against Hannibal in the south of Italy; the other,
under Livius, the other consul, went to meet Hasdrubal in
the north. Hasdrubal sent a messenger to his brother to
inform him of his arrival, but his messenger was taken by
the Romans.

Claudius, on learning of Hasdrubal's plans, left a part of
his toops in his camp, opposite Hannibal, and hurriedly
marched with the bulk of his army to join his colleague
Livius. One day Hasdrubal heard the sound of trumpets in
the Roman camp announcing the presence of the two con-
suls, and found himself face to face with the two Roman
armies.

He was anxious to avoid a battle, but his guides deserted
him, and he was attacked by the Roman cavalry while
marching near the Metaurus, a mountain torrent. The
Spanish soldiers were overwhelmed by the superior numbers,
the Gauls broke ranks and all were slaughtered. Hasdrubal
was killed {20J b.c). The victorious Romans returned to
confront Hannibal, and flung into his camp the head of
Hasdrubal. Hannibal withdrew into Bruttium, the southern
extremity of Italy.

114 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

HannibaPs Departure. — In Spain the Romans forced the
Carthaginians to evacuate every one of their strongholds.
Mago, the last Carthaginian general in Spain, finally deserted
his only remaining post, the city of Gades (Cadiz), which
had joined the Romans (206 b.c).

This Spanish war won fame for a young Roman general
named Scipio (Publius Cornelius Scipio). He was elected
consul in 205 b.c. and sent to Sicily. With the aid of the
Sicilians he fitted out a fleet and carried his army to Africa
(204 B.C.). A Numidian prince, Massinissa by name, had
just become embroiled with Carthage, and made alliance
with the Romans. Scipio thus brought the war back into
Africa.

He remained there two years, wintering his army near
Carthage. At the end of the second year the Carthaginians,
twice defeated, sued for peace. Scipio would grant only a
truce, and that only on condition that Carthage should
withdraw all her troops from Italy [20'^ b.c).

Hannibal received orders to come home. He set sail with
his soldiers and all those Italian allies who were willing to
follow him to Africa. Those who refused to leave Italy were
massacred.

The Romans said that Hannibal wept with rage at abandoning
Italy, where he had won so many great victories and which he
had hoped to conquer.

Battle of Zama. — Hannibal landed at Leptis, some dis-
tance south of Carthage, and marched against Scipio. He
came up with the Roman army near Zama, five days' march
from Carthage. Before the battle he asked for an interview
with Scipio. The interview took place, but nothing came
of it.

The next day both armies drew up in line of battle on the
plain. Scipio placed in the centre his legions in three lines,
according to Roman custom; on the left wing the Italian
cavalry, in command of his friend Laelius; on the right
Massinissa's Numidian cavalry: in all, twenty-two thousand

THE SECOND PUNIC 1VAR.

IIS

men. Hannibal placed in advance his eighty elephants; on
the left wing his Numidian horsemen; on the right wing his
Carthaginian horsemen. The infantry formed the centre,
arranged in three lines, one behind the other: first, the
European mercenaries; second, the Africans; third, the
picked soldiers, the old Italian compaigners: in all, fifty
thousand men.

The eltphants opened the attack; but some of them,
alarmed by the noise of the Roman trumpets, fell back upon
the Numidians and broke up their ranks; the others had to
be withdrawn. The Carthaginian cavalry on the right was
attacked by the Roman cavalry and thrown into confusion.

Hannibal's infantry now
advanced stt'p by step; the
legionaries on one side,
on the other the first line
of the Carthaginians. The
Romans were shouting
and beating upon their
shields, while the Car-
thaginian mercenaries
shouted their war-cry,
each in his own timgue.
The second Roman line
joined the battle. They
fought at close quarters.
Hannibal's second line,
the Africans, instead of
supporting the first line,
stood motionless. The
mercenaries were infuria-
ted; they fell upon the
Africans and began to
kill them. In the midst
of this disorder they were themselves attacked and routed by
the third line of the Romans.

SCIHIO AFRICANUS (viSCONTi).

Bust at Naples.

Il6 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

The panic-stricken Carthaginians fled for aid to the third
line, the veterans whom Hannibal was keeping in reserve.
Hannibal, wishing to preserve order in his third line, com-
manded his veterans to present the point of their pikes.
The fleeing Carthaginians, thus repulsed, turned to the
wings. The battle-field was strewn with dead and wounded.
Scipio had his wounded carried to the rear; he then
sounded a retreat, collected all his legionaries, and drove
them in a mass upon the enemy. The veterans met the
shock bravely and made a long resistance. Finally the
cavalry of Laelius and Massinissa, having routed that of
Carthage, made a rear attack on the veterans and forced
them to flee. Scipio pursued them and took Hannibal's
camp (202 B.C.).

End of the War. — Carthage could offer no further resist-
ance. She sued for peace and accepted all the conditions
Scipio offered : Carthage must return all prisoners, deliver
up all deserters, and surrender all her elephants and all but
ten of her war-vessels; she bound herself to pay two hundred
talents yearly for fifty years, ^ to restore to Massinissa, the allj
of Rome, all the lands that had belonged to him, and to
enter into no war without the consent of the Roman people.
Carthage thus ceased to be a great power and became
dependent on Rome. As a guarantee of good faith, Scipio
reserved the right to choose one hundred Carthaginians
between the ages of fourteen and thirty, and hold them as
hostages. Hannibal himself urged Carthage to accept, the
treaty (201 b.c).

It was reported that, hearing a member of the senate at
Carthage speak against the treaty, Hannibal picked him up and
threw him out of his seat. He then apologized to the senate.
After thirty-six years' absence, he said, he had forgotten the
proper way to act, and he had been unable to repress his indig-
nation at seeing a Carthaginian who did not thank fortune that
peace had been granted on such favorable terms ; he suggested

P This was $250,000 a year, or $12,500,000 in all. Some authorities
add that a lump sum of 4000 talents ($5,000,000) in cash was exacted.]

THE SECOND PUNIC IVAR.

117

that, on the contrary, prayers should be offered to the gods to
make the Roman people ratify the treaty.

Rome was henceforth the sole great power in the West.
She revenged herself on the peoples of southern Italy who
had supported Hannibal.

SPAIN — HANNIBAL S ROUTE.

The Cisalpine Gauls were not yet subdued. They still
made war against Rome, led, it is said, by two Carthaginian
generals, Mago and Hamilcar. This time the three principal
Gallic peoples united against the Roman colonies. They
took Placentia and destroyed it, then laid siege to Cremona.
The war lasted several years and was very disastrous. Rome
sent out both her consuls at once, and the Gauls called for
a general uprising.

Finally the Cenomani, the eastern Gauls, espoused the
cause of Rome. The two other Gallic peoples were van-
quished; the Insubres (Milan district) surrendered; the
Boii, rather than submit to Rome, emigrated to the Danube.

ii8

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Rome filled their country with strong colonics, Bologna,
Modena, and Parma. A military road, the Via Emilia, was

built across the coun-
try to Placentia.

The Romans, being now
in undisputed possession
Spain, took control of the s
mines and the Mediterranean coast
that had belonged to the Cartha-
ginians.

The second Punic war had destroyed the
power of Carthage and given to Rome hannibal's route.
Cisalpine Gaul and Spain.

SOURCES.

Appian Foreign Wars, Bks. VI, §§ 1-38. vii, viii,

Part I.

Eutropius Bk. iii, §§ 3-1 3.

Livy Bks. xxi-xxx.

Nepos Life of Hannibal,

Plutarch Fabius Maxiinus, Marcellus.

Polybius Bks. \\-y^N , passitn.

SeCOND PUNIC WAR-

THE SECOND PUNIC IVAR.

119

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. xxii-xxv.

Ihne Bk. 1 v, cc. viii, ix,

Mommsen Bk. iii, cc. iv-vii.

Botsford '. . . c. iv, pp. 104-1 16.

How and Leigh cc. xx-xxii.

Morey c. xv.

Myers c. ix.

Pelham Bk. in, c. i, pp. 122-134.

Shiickburgh cc. xx-xxii.

Morris, W. O.. . Hannibal (Heroes).

Dodge, T. A Hafinibal (Great Captains).

Creasy, E. S. ...... Decisive Battles, c. iv.

Arnold, T History of Rome, cc. xliii-xlvii.

.^ililMI'iijJJllMttlimiiik^ttliJiliK

•...ru"«rliiiillUiM%ii)))#

SOLDIERS STORMING A TOWN.

CHAPTER X.
CONQUEST OF THE BASIN OF THE MEDITERRANEAN.

War against Philip, King of Macedonia. — There were
in the East three great kingdoms governed by Greek kings,
descended from the successors of Alexander, — Macedonia,
Syria, and Egypt.

The king of Macedonia was Rome's nearest neighbor.
He was the first to go to war with her.

The Romans had begun to settle on the other side of the
Adriatic, in the country then known as Illyria. They had
come first in 229 b.c. to put down the pirates who were
destroying shipping on the Adriatic, and ever since they had
had the alliance of the Greek colonies on the coast of Epirus,
who lived by commerce with the interior (Corcyra, Apol-
lonia, Epidamnus).

In 215 B.C., while Hannibal was making war in Italy,
King Philip made alliance with him against Rome. Almost
all the Greeks, however, detested Philip, and they joined
the Romans. After nine years of fruitless warfare, Philip
made peace with Rome (205 b.c).

He continued to make war on the Greeks. He got
together a fleet of war-vessels and began to conquer the coast
of Asia. The people of Rhodes and Athens became alarmed
and called on Rome for aid.

Now that the Punic war was at an end, the senate advised
the renewal of war against the king of Macedonia. The
consul, according to custom, convoked the assembly of the
people; the citizens, exhausted and impoverished by twenty

^ 120

CONQUEST OF THE MEDITERR/INEAN BASIN. T2I

years of war, voted against the senate. At the senate's
request the consul called the assembly together once more
and addressed it. This time the people voted as the senate
wished (200 b.c).

Rome had a number of allies in this war: Massinissa sent
his Numidian horsemen; Carthage furnished wheat; Rhodes
and Pergamum, Greek cities in Asia, gave ships; the
i^tolians, the best fighters in Greece, sent their cavalry to
ravage Thessaly; the Barbarians of lllyria and Thrace
invaded Macedonia from the north and northwest.

Philip, in addition to his own kingdom, had the support
of Thessaly, Euboea, Bceotia, and the Greek cities on the
coast of Thrace.

At first the Romans mismanaged the^war badly. After
two years the Roman army, leaving the coast of lllyria,
vainly endeavored to enter Thessaly. The soldiers became
discontented with the lack of booty, and demanded their
discharge.

At length Quintius Flamininus, a new consul only
thirty-two years of age, took command of the army and
encamped in Epirus opposite Philip. Shepherds offered
their services as guides, and led four thousand picked
soldiers across the mountains, hiding through the day and
marching all night by moonlight ; in two nights they reached
Philip's camp. They attacked the Macedonians from both
sides at once and put them to flight. The Romans entered
Thessaly, thus cutting communication between Philip and
hxS Greek allies, and forcing the latter to submit to Rome

(198 B.C.).

Philip was now alone with his army. He had increased
his force to twenty-five thousand by enlisting the services of
all subjects over sixteen years of age.

Battle of Cynoscephalae. — The Roman army was operat-
ing in Thessaly in a plain cut by trees, hedges, and gardens
which they ravaged on their way. Philip was manoeuvring
on the other side of a chain of hills which crossed this plain.

122 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

For two days the two armies marched side by side, separated
only by an elevation in the land, each unconscious of the
other's proximity; neither had scouts, a piece of carelessness
very common at the time.

The third day, following a damp night, was dark and
foggy. Philip sent a body of troops to occupy the heights
which separated him from the enemy (these rounded hills
were called the CynoscephalcB, dogs' heads).

Flamininus from his side sent towards the hills a body of
horsemen and velites who, to their surprise, fell in with a
party of Macedonians. They began to fight, both sides
sending for reinforcements.

Flamininus sent the ^tolians, Philip his Thessalian and
Macedonian cavalry. The Romans were already driven from
the hills, but the ^tolian cavalry checked their retreat. A
messenger came to tell Philip that the barbarians were in
flight and that he must seize the opportunity to attack them.
The spot was ill chosen for the Macedonians. Their
phalanx, a great mass of sixteen thousand foot-soldiers
armed with long lances, needed an open space to manoeuvre
without breaking ranks. Philip, however, could not let the
chance escape him ; he advanced the right wing to take its
position on the hills. .

Then Flamininus, leaving his right wing at rest behind
the elephants, led the left wing to the combat. The
Macedonians advanced on the Romans with their pikes held
low; war-cries were heard on every side. The Romans at
first yielded to the force of the charge. The left wing of the
phalanx, which had been left behind, had now nearly reached
the top of the hill. The Remans' right wing advanced, led
by the elephants.

The Macedonians could not hold their rank on such a
battle-field; they could not hear their orders, and the
elephants' charge was forcing them to give way. At this
critical moment a Roman officer suddenly realized how
favorable this ground was to the manoeuvres of the small

CONQUEST OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN. 123

units of which the Roman army was composed. Taking
twenty maniples from the right wing, he led them to the
assistance of the left wing and attacked the Macedonians
from the rear.

The troops in phalanx, packed close together and encum-
bered by their long pikes, could neither turn nor defend
themselves individually; they cast away their now useless
pikes and fled. The Romans hurried in pursuit. Meeting
a band of Macedonians with pikes uplifted in token of
surrender, the Romans, ignorant of this custom, slew them
until stopped by Flamininus. Eight thousand Macedonians
were killed and five thousand taken prisoner. The Romans
lost seven hundred men (197 b.c).

Philip sued for peace and Rome granted it, on these con-
ditions: Philip must surrender his fleet and all his possessions
in Greece, and promise to make Rome's friepds and enemies
his own in the future.

Flamininus then proceeded to Corinth to announce to the
Greek peoples that Rome had delivered them from the king
of Macedonia (196 b.c).

War against Antiochus. — At this time the king of Syria,
Antiochus II., surnamed the Great, was endeavoring to
establish a great empire. He had made an expedition into
India, whence he was said to have brought back one hundred
and fifty elephants. Little by little he took possession of
the coast of Asia Minor, then passed the Hellespont and
began to take the cities on the coast of Thrace.

Eumenes, king of the little Greek kingdom of Pergamum,
asked Rome for aid against his overpowerful neighbor: The
senate called upon Antiochus to leave Europe and confine
himself to Asia. Antiochus replied that he had never inter-
fered in the Romans' affairs in Italy and did not recognize
their right to interfere in his affairs in the East.

It was about this time that Hannibal arrived at the court
of Antiochus. After the close of the second Punic war he
had governed Carthage, and labored constantly to restore its

124 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

power and to reorganize the army. The Roman senate
became alarmed and ordered Carthage to deliver Hannibal
to Rome. The old soldier was expecting this and kept a
ship ready to sail at any time; he proceeded to Asia, and
offered his services to Antiochus.

It was said that Hannibal offered to take an army into Italy
and begin the war; but that Antiochus refused through jeal-
ousy of Hannibal.

The iEtolians, who had just been fighting with Rome
against Philip, were greatly dissatisfied. Their hope of
retaining Thessaly had been frustrated by the Romans.
Thoas, one of their chiefs, went to Antiochus and persuaded
him to accept their alliance in order to drive the Romans
out of Greece.

Rome did not take the offensive, being too busy fighting
the Cisalpine Gauls and the Spaniards. But before Antiochus
had his army ready, these Roman wars were finished. Philip
of Macedonia, who was still Rome's ally, was irritated by
this delay.

Antiochus landed in Greece with a small army (ten
thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry) and without
money (192 b.c). The summer he wasted in Thessaly, the
winter in celebrating his marriage.

Rome sent out a small army which regained Thessaly.
Antiochus withdrew to Thermopylas and entrenched himself
there, while a body of ^tolians guarded the mountain-paths
(the same through which the Persians had once surprised
Leonidas). The guard was easily taken unawares and put
to rout, and the royal army fled almost without resistance
(191 B.C.).

Antiochus abandoned Greece to the single-handed resist-
ance of the yEtolians and went to attack Pergamum in Asia,
the capital of Eumenes, who was an ally of Rome. The
Roman army followed him; Lucius Scipio, the general in
command, had brought with him his brother Publius, the
hero of Zama. The army passed through Macedonia, then

CONQUEST OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN. 125

Thrace. Antiochus had fortified the peninsula at the
entrance to Asia, but made no attempt to defend it and sued
for peace. He found the Romans' conditions too severe,
however, and refused them.

The Roman army advanced into Asia Minor as far as
Magnesia at the foot of Mount Sipylus. There Antiochus
offered battle. The Romans had four legions, their allies
from Macedonia, Pergamum, and Achaia, and their mer-
cenaries from Crete, Illyria, and Thrace, thirty thousand
men in all; and sixteen elephants from Africa. Antiochus
is said to have had seventy thousand men, including twelve
thousand horsemen and sixteen thousand hoplites (heavy
infantry) arranged in a phalanx, after the Macedonian
custom. In front of the phalanx he placed his Asiatics, his
Galatian and Cappadocian mercenaries, his chariots fitted
with scythes, and his Arabs, armed with bow and sword and
mounted on camels; on the wings, his elephants and his
guard with their silver shields.

Antiochus, with his guard, came up to the Roman camp;
there he was stopped. Meanwhile the Roman allies drove
the chariots and elephants back on the phalanx; the army
of Antiochus was panic-stricken and broke up. When the
king saw from afar the rout of his army, he fled. His
soldiers took refuge in their camp, but were driven out and
massacred. Antiochus lost fifty thousand men, the Romans
three hundred.

Antiochus sued for peace. He promised to surrender all
his elephants and his fleet, to pay fifteen thousand talents
within twelve years, and never again to attack the Greek
Islands or to cross the Taurus. He gave twenty hostages
and promised to deliver to the Romans Hannibal, Thoas,
and three of his advisers who were hostile to Rome
(189 B.C.).

Hannibal heard the terms in time to escape to the protec-
tion of the king of Bithynia.

Antioclius, in order to procure the money promised to the

126 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Romans, prepared an expedition in which he himself was killed
It was said that his subjects stoned him to death for stealing
treasure from the temples.

Antiochus was the last powerful king in Syria.

War with Perseus. — Rome, having conquered the two
greatest kings of the time, was now the most powerful state
in the world, and the senate began to interfere in Eastern
affairs.

Prusias, king of Bithynia, made war on the king of Pcr-
gamum; with the assistance of Hannibal, who had taken
refuge with him, he was victorious. The senate ordered
Prusias to deliver Hannibal to Rome. Flamininus went to
find him. There were seven secret entrances to the house
in which Hannibal was living; Flamininus had them all
guarded. When Hannibal saw that he could not escape, he
swallowed a poison which he carried always with him, and
cried, "Let us deliver the Romans from their terror"

(183B.C.).

The Greeks complained that Philip, king of Macedonia,
wanted to subjugate them; the senate sustained their com-
plaint. Philip was vexed and labored to prepare his kingdom
for war. He reopened his gold-mines, founded a new city,
Philippopolis, and made alliance with a savage people, the
Bastarnae.

After the death of Philip in 179 b.c, his son Perseus
became king of Macedonia. He was a man of fine appear-
ance, gallant, affable, generous, and beloved by his people.

He devoted himself to amassing wealth, collecting arms
and ammunition for three armies, and ten years' rations; he
equipped forty- five thousand men. He made numerous
allies, — the mountaineers of Epirus, a king of Illyria, and a
king of Thrace; in Greece, the Boeotians; in Asia, his
brother-in-law, Prusias, king of Syria, and Seleucus, his
father-in-law. Even the great Greek city of Rhodes, the
former ally of Rome, negotiated with him. It was said that
Perseus met the Asiatic and Carthaginian envoys in the island

CONQUEST OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN, 127

of Samothrace, and interviewed them secretly. When he
felt himself strong enough he led his army into Greece to the
temple of Delphi.

His enemy, Eumenes. king of Pergamum, went to Rome
to denounce him. The senate, as a sign of honor, sent
Eumenes a curule chair and an ivory staff. On his return
to Asia, Eumenes passed near Delphi; on the mountain road
he was attacked by brigands, who were concealed behind an
old house, and fell in a swoon. Perseus was accused of
having caused the attack.

The Romans declared war on Perseus in 171 b.c. An
army was easily made up, for there was no lack of volunteers
to fight in a country reputed so rich, where booty would be
abundant. Nevertheless, Perseus made a successful resist-
ance for two years.

The Roman army landed at Apollonia, crossed the moun-
tains, and invaded Thessaly, where it was defeated. Perseus,
hoMevcr, was anxious for peace; he offered to restore his
conquests and even to pay an indemnity. The consul,
however, insisted on unconditional surrender.

His successor lo>t his whole year (170 b.c) in attempting
to force a passage thrt)ugh Macedonia; his lieutenant was
defeated in Iliyria.

Rome raised a new army. Marcius, the consul, succeeded
in getting it through the gorges and forests of Mount
Olympus, with the cavalry, baggage, and elephants at the
head. The army reached Macedonia and went into winter
quarters (169 b.c).

Battle of Pydna. — The new consul, ^Emilius Paulus,
pitched his camp directly opposite that of Perseus, near
Pydna; and here, in a plain between the mountains and the
sea, was fought the decisive battle.

It was evening. Perseus had just offered a sacrifice and
no one was expecting a battle. The men of the advance
guards were leading their horses to water when they met the
Romans and began to fight. Both sides sent for help. The

128 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

phalanx presented a hedge of pikes, which the Romans tried
to cut with their swords or seize with their hands; but the
phalanx permitted no encroachment.

Finally in advancing the phalanx came upon uneven
ground and broke apart. Then the Romans hurled them-
selves by platoons into the vacant spaces and attacked the
Macedonians from all sides. The long pikes were an
encumbrance to the Macedonians and their small shields but
a poor defence; the phalanx once broken, they could expect
only slaughter. They lost twenty thousand men killed and
eleven thousand prisoners. The Romans lost only one
hundred (169 B.C.).

End of the Kingdom of Macedonia. — Perseus fled with
his treasure, but his subjects no longer dared to defend him.
The inhabitants of Amphipolis implored him to go away, so
he set sail with his treasure for the island of Samothrace and
took refuge in a temple. Hence he wrote to ^milius
Paulus, suing for peace; in the letter he gave himself the
title of king, and y^milius Paulus refused to receive it.
Perseus wrote a second letter without claiming any title, and
^milius replied that he must surrender unconditionally.
The Roman fleet surrounded the island, but religion forbade
seizing Perseus in a temple, but he was betrayed and gave
himself up.

^milius Paulus summoned to Amphipolis delegates from
all the Macedonian cities, and read to them the decision of
the senate. There was no longer a kingdom of Macedonia;
the country was divided into four provinces, between which
there must be no communication; they must pay to Rome
one half of the tax they were in the habit of paying to
Perseus; they were forbidden to bear arms. All supporters
of Perseus, governors of fortified places, and captains, were
transported to Italy with their families, and only the peasantry
remained in Macedonia (167 b.c).

The Roman soldiers were discontented because they had
not had a chance to pillage the country. As compensation,

CONQUEST OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN. 129

iEmilius Paulus ordered each city in Epirus to gather
together all its gold and silver. On an appointed day the
soldiers entered all the cities (said to be seventy in number)
at once, under pretext of seeking the gold and silver, and
sacked them. The inhabitants (one hundred and fifty
thousand in number) were sold as slaves and the price
divided among the soldiers.

Triumph of -^milius Paulus. — On returning to Rome,
iEmilius Paulus celebrated the most brilliant triumph ever
seen. The procession occupied three days, so many objects
had he to exhibit.

The first day was taken up by two hundred and fifty
chariots laden with statuary and pictures. The second day,
chariots laden with arms, — helmets, shields, cuirasses,
quivers, bits and bridles, pikes and swords. Behind these
came seven hundred and fifty vases filled with pieces of
silver, each borne by four men; drinking vases, cups, and
flagons. The third day, led by trumpeters sounding the
charge, marched one hundred and twenty bullocks adorned
for the sacrifice with garlands and with their horns gilded;
following them came young men richly dressed and carrying
vases of gold and silver, then seventy-seven vases filled with
gold pieces, a whole table-service of gold plate belonging to
Perseus, and a great golden vase (weighing 575 pounds)
studded with precious stones, then the empty chariot of
Perseus with his arms and his diadem. Next came the two
sons and the daughter of Perseus with their tutors, and
Perseus, robed in black and followed by his courtiers, all in
tears. Then came four hundred golden crowns sent to
iEmilius Paulus by the Greek cities in honor of his victory.

Finally, on the triumphal chariot, ^milius Paulus
appeared, wearing a robe of purple embroidered with gold
and carrying an olive branch in his right hand. His soldiers,
arranged in companies, followed him singing.

In this manner he ascended the Capitol and offered the
usual sacrifice to Jupiter. He filled the Roman treasury so

13© THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

full that the government ceased to exact the tributum, or war
tax, from Roman citizens. ^

Perseus was thrown into prison and, it is said, perished
from hunger.

Roman Supremacy in the East. — The eastern princes
were intimidated by the fall of Perseus, and endeavored to
keep peace with Rome.

Prusias, king of Bithynia, came to Rome. He said to the
envoys from the senate: " You see before you one of those
you have set free, ready to do whatever may please you."
He went to the senate chamber with shaved head and a free-
man's cap, and, prostrating himself before the door, kissed
the threshold, and cried: " Gods of salvation, I salute you."

Eumenes, king of Pergamum, also came to Rome. But
the senate did not want all the kings coming to Italy; a
quaestor intercepted Eumenes as he was landing at Brun-
dusium, and ordered him to return to his own country.

Antiochus IV , king of Syria, determined to conquer Egypt
and marched on Pelusium. Popilius La^nas was sent by the
senate to stop him.

Popilius came to the king's camp, where Antiochus
greeted him and offered his hand. Popilius, without return-
ing the greeting, handed him the tablets bearing the senate's
message; it was an order to stop the war. The king read it
and replied that he would consider it. Popilius, with a
small stick he had in his hand, drew a circle in the sand
around the king and said: '* You shall not pass this circle
until you have given your answer." Antiochus was fright-
ened and said he would obey the senate. Then Popilius
took his hand and gave him greeting.

Popilius hurried to Alexandria and decided who should
be king in Egypt.

In iEtolia the leader of the Roman party brought
together all the chief partisans of Perseus and had them
massacred by the Roman soldiers.

[1 This tax was not exacted again until the year 43 B.C.]

CONQUEST OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN. 13^

Rhodes had driven out all supporters of Perseus; but the
senate, being displeased with Rhodes, gave her envoys an
ungracious reception and threatened war. Cato spoke in
their behalf and calmed the senate, so that it was content
with depriving Rhodes of her. Asiatic possessions.

The Achaeans had supported Rome and sent their soldiers
against Perseus. The leader of the Roman party, however,
pointed out one thousand of the chief citizens as hostile to
Rome, and the senate transported them to Italy; among
them was Polybius, the historian, who became the friend of
Scipio. These men were kept in Italy for almost twenty
years. At length Scipio begged the senate to release them,
and a lively discussion followed. Cato decided the affair
by saying: '* Have we then nothing better to do than to
dispute as to whether a lot of decrepit Greeks shall be buried
by our grave-diggers or by their own ? " They were allowed
to return to their native land, but of the thousand only three
hundred were left.

Destruction of Carthage. — Carthage had ceased to be a
great power but remained a rich city, and the Romans con-
tinued to hate her. Massinissa, the Numidian king and
Roman ally, was a neighbor to Carthage; he attacked her
several times, and each time Carthage asked permission of
Rome to make war on him. Each time Rome refused and
obliged Carthage to grant what was demanded.

On one of these occasions Cato, sent to Carthage by the
senate, was impressed by the richness of the country and was
filled with envy. On his return he showed some enormous
figs he had brought from Africa, and said: '* See these figs.
The land that produced these is only three days' journey
from Rome." From this time, whenever his opinion was
asked on any question whatever, he invariably concluded his
answer with these words: "And besides this, it is my
opinion that Carthage must be destroyed."

Those Carthaginians who wanted war with Rome finally
formed a party. This party came into power, drove out the

132

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

partisans of Massinissa, and began to negotiate with the
enemies of Rome in Macedonia and Greece. The Cartha-
ginians were alarmed, exiled the war party and sent an
apology to Rome. The senate answered the envoys with
these words: "Give us satisfaction." — "What satisfaction
do you ask?" — "Of that you are well aware," was the
reply.

A Roman army (eighty thousand men) landed in Africa;
the city of Utica made alliance with Rome. The Caitha-
ginians had not the strength for defence and sent word to
the consuls that they would surrender at discretion. The
consuls promised to leave them their liberty and their laws,
and ordered them to send three hundred hostages to Sicily.
Then they ordered that all arms should be given up ; Carthage
sent her ships, two hundred thousand stands of arms, and
three thousand engines of war. The Carthaginians being
now completely disarmed, the consuls made known their
last condition: the Carthaginians must leave their city and

CONQUEST OF THE MEDlTERP[AhlEAN BASIN. I33

go back ten miles into the country, which meant living like
peasants away from the sea and resigning commerce, the
source of their wealth.

When the Carthaginians realized how they had been
duped, they were infuriated and massacred all the partisans
of Rome, closed the city gates and began to manufacture
arms in great haste; the temples were converted into work-
shops.

They had not, it is said, enough rope for the engines of war,
so the Carthaginian women sacrificed their hair.

The Roman army made an attack and was driven back.

The Third Punic War (149 b.c). — Thus began the last
struggle of the doomed city. Carthage occupied a tongue
of land lying between the sea and the Lake of Tunis, joined
to the continent by a narrow isthmus. On the shore toward
the sea was the citadel (Byrsa), built on the hills, and sur-
rounded by a thick wall which rendered it an independent
stronghold. A second wall surrounded the city, which was
built on a tongue of land and blocked the entrance to the
isthmus; there was, however, a space between the foot of
this wall and the Lake of Tunis. On this space the Roman
army encamped, and enlarged it by filling up the edge of the
lake, which is shallow. They then constructed two towers
which were mounted on wheels and so enormous that it
required six thousand men to push one of them ; with these
the Romans battered down a part of the wall. The besieged
army came out, however, and destroyed the machines; they
also repulsed an attack by the Romans. The latter, camped
on the shore of the sea and the lake, fell ill. The consuls
gave up the siege, and tried to conquer the surrounding
country. They were driven back by the two cities.

A new consul, Scipio, the adopted grandson of the man
who conquered Hannibal, came to take command of the
army. He found it disorganized, drove out the merchants
who infested the camp, restored discipline, compelled his
soldiers to drill, and then renewed the siege (147 b.c).

134 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

He attacked the city on the side towards the isthmus,
entered by night through a gate opened to him by a traitor,
and established himself in the suburb of Megara. Then he
evacuated the city, burned his camp, and cut the isthmus
by a ditch and two walls, so as to isolate Carthage by land.
The Carthaginian general, Hasdrubal, had entered Carthage
with his army; against the wish of the senate he immediately
took charge and had the Roman prisoners massacred.

Carthage was still receiving her provisions by sea. Scipio,
wishing to starve her into submission, tried to cut off her
communication by water. Carthage had two harbors, one
behind the other; the outer harbor was for commerce and
opened toward the southeast; the inner harbor was for time
of war, and was smaller and more sheltered, with a little
round island in the middle and accommodations for two
hundred and twenty ships. Scipio had a stone pier built
across the entrance to the harbor. But by the time he had
finished closing up the harbor, the Carthaginians had dug a
canal across the tongue of land and sent their ships out
through it on the north shore.

Scipio kept up the siege until winter, hoping to gain pos-
session of the quay. In the spring of 146 b.c. the Cartha-
ginians were suffering from hunger; they were reduced to
eating the bodies of the dead, and many of them surrendered.
The Romans finally assaulted the city and succeeded in
reaching the market-place. In the steep and narrow streets
which led to the citadel they fought for six days and six
nights, until Scipio set fire to that quarter of the city. On
the seventh day the besieged surrendered. Scipio promised
to spare their lives and sold them into slavery.

Hasdrubal had taken refuge in a temple with a thousand
Roman deserters who could hope for no mercy. Hasdrubal
gave himself up, but the deserters set fire to the temple and
all perished. Scipio spared Hasdrubal and a number of
notables to march in his triumphal procession.

We are told that Hasdrubal's wife was indignant at his

CON'QUEST OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN. 135

cowardice. She led her children up to the burning temple and
cried to him : " Go then and adorn the triumph of the con-
queror ! " Then she killed her two children and threw herself
into the fire.

The fire lasted seventeen days. Then the senate gave
orders to destroy Carthage. The walls and buildings were
torn down, and the ground ploughed up, and a priest pro-
nounced a curse on whosoever should occupy the soil
(146 B.C.).

Rome retained the territory that had belonged to Carthage
and made of it the province of Africa.

Conquest of Macedonia and Greece. — A certain Andriscus
appeared in Macedonia with a small Thracian army, and
declared himself to be Philip, son of Perseus, escaped from
the Romans. He roused the Macedonians to his support,
and a war ensued which lasted two years. One Roman army
was defeated, but the second overcame Andriscus and took
him prisoner (148 b.c). The senate kept Macedonia and
made it a Roman province (146 b.c).

In Greece the Achaean general excited the democratic
party of Corinth against Rome and gathered a small army.
The Roman governor of Macedonia put it to rout. The
Corinthians tried to defend the isthmus. The consul
Mummius scattered them and, entering Corinth without
resistance, sold the inhabitants into slavery, sacked the city,
and destroyed it (146 b.c).

Corinth, the richest city in Greece, was filled with statuary
and pictures; her vases of carved metal were said to be the
most beautiful in the world. All these works of art were
sent to Rome.

It was said that the rough and ignorant Roman soldiers
used as gambling-boards the pictures of the famous artist,
Apelles, without suspecting their value.

It was also said that Mummius, the consul, when handing
over these masterpieces to the people who were to take them
to Rome, bade them be very careful, adding that should any
harm come to them, they would be obliged to replace them.

The governor of Macedonia was henceforth charged with

13^ THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

supervision of the Greeks. In all the Greek cities Rome
gave the government offices to the rich, who favored Roman
rule.

Wars against the Ligurians. — The mountains about the
Gulf of Genoa were inhabited by the Ligurians, a race of
poor shepherds and warriors. Assisted by their neighbors,
the Cisalpine Gauls, they resisted Rome for half" a century.
More than one Roman army had great difficulty in escaping
from a surrounding band of Ligurians. Several times Rome
sent against them both consuls with four legions. To make
an end of the trouble, Rome transported forty thousand
Ligurians into Samnium, gave them land and made them
settle there.

The Romans were not fond of the open sea. The ships
which bore their troops to Spain, instead of cutting across
the Mediterranean, followed the coast along past Liguria
and Gaul ; otherwise the troops went all the way by land.
Often the Ligurians attacked them on their way and pillaged
their baggage. The Romans therefore felt the necessity of
controlling the road along the coast. They began by driving
the Ligurians back into the mountains. Then, little by
little, they conquered their country back to the Alps.

Spanish Wars. — In Spain the Romans had at first assured
the people that they came only to deliver them from the
Carthaginians; Scipio had given them hostages who were
kept as prisoners in Carthagena, and had concluded treaties
of alliance (210 b.c).

When the war was over Rome left in Spain two governors,
each with an army, one in the northeast, the other in the
southwest; they occupied the coast of the plain of Guadiana
(Baetica), which was inhabited by peaceful people. The
interior remained independent, divided among small moun-
tain peoples, the Iberians. The women worked and tilled
the soil, while the men went to war; they were brave, sober,
and very proud; those who were captured killed themselves
rather than become slaves.

CONQUEST OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN. I37

The Roman governors, who were appointed for only one
year, tried to employ that year in making some expedition
that would either bring them great booty or give them a
chance to ask for a triumphal procession. Often, without
any other motive, they attacked one of the Roman allies and
Rome found herself involved in a war. It was not easy to
find soldiers for these wars, for the Italians were unwilling
to fight in this mountain country, where campaigning was
full of privations and hardships and booty rare, the generals
usually keeping the money and slaves for themselves.

These Spanish wars lasted for more than seventy years.
In the early years the Romans were on the point of being
driven out and they lost a number of armies.

Their most stubborn enemies were the Celtiberians, a race
combining Iberians and Celts (Gauls), settled on the plateau
above the cliffs which descended into the Mediterranean.
They fought chiefly on foot with a heavy, two-edged sword,
arranging themselves in the form of a wedge. It was im-
possible to tell where to expect them, as they had no towns.

In 179 B.C. Sempronius restored peace by inspiring con-
fidence in the Celtiberians; they made terms with him,
promising to recognize the supremacy of the Roman people;
this meant that they should not make war on Rome, that
they should furnish warriors to serve as auxiliaries and even
pay a contribution. Rome, on her part, promised to defend
them and to let them govern themselves.

The successors of Sempronius violated this treaty, and the
Celtiberians made a complaint. The senate ordered an
investigation, and two of the magistrates disappeared into
exile.

At last, in 154 b.c, a number of tribes revolted at once.
The war, which lasted twenty years, began in the northeast.
The Arevaci, one of the Celtiberian peoples, were building
a wall, when the consul ordered them to stop; they refused,
and he attacked them. A neighboring people came to their
assistance; the consul was taken by surprise and lost six

138 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

thousand men. Three Roman armies were defeated one
after the other. No one would enlist in the Roman army,
not even as an officer.

Viriathus. — At the Same time the Lusitanians, in the
mountains of the northwest (the Portugal of to-day), revolted,
massacred two Roman armies, and sent their standards to the
Celtiberians. After two years of war, a Roman general
named Galba offered to give them lands; they accepted the
offer. Galba divided them into three bodies, and persuaded
them to lay down their arms; he then surrounded and
massacred them (150 b.c).

Viriathus, a mountaineer who escaped slaughter, became
chief, and won fame by his victories. He was, it is said, a
shepherd, accustomed to mountain-climbing, daring, an
agile horseman, and born to command. For six years he
defeated the Romans.

One day he, with his horsemen, saved a Lusitanian army,
trapped the Roman army in a mountain-pass and massacred
both soldiers and general. He also destroyed an army sent
by the Spanish allies of Rome.

After two more victories he set up on a mountain, as a
trophy, the mantles of the Roman generals and the fasces of
their lictors. Rome sent a consul against him with two
legions. Viriathus again carried the day (143 b.c).
Another time he surprised an army with elephants, killed
three thousand men, and besieged the rest in the Roman
camp (142 B.C.).

He worked his way into a besieged fortress, from which
he made a sortie, drove the Roman soldiers back among the
rocks, seized them and then, after signing a treaty with the
general, released them. This treaty declared the Lusitanians
independent and Viriathus the friend of the Roman people
(141 B.C.).

The Romans immediately resumed the war, this time
calling on the friends of Viriathus to assassinate him.
Viriathus was on his guard, sleeping little and always armed;

COLONIES

ANJ>
MItlTAKY ROADS

ITALY

o Roman Colony • Latin Colony

The numbers are the dates
B.C. of founding.

Greenwich 1,6

CONQUEST OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN. 139

but some friends came under pretext of negotiating with him
and stabbed him in his tent.

The Lusitanians were conquered, driven into the moun-
tains, and disarmed (139 b.c).

Numantian War. — In the north of Spain war broke out
again after ten years of peace. The Arevaci, a small Celti-
berian tribe, for ten years held all the Roman armies in
check. They had but one small city, Numantia, protected
only by a moat, a palisade, and an army of a few thousand
men. They asked for nothing but peace; they even offered
an indemnity and hostages. The Roman general, Metellus,
demanded the surrender of their arms, and this they refused
(141 B.C.).

The Roman soldiers were suffering not only from cold
but from hunger, for they had laid waste the surrounding
country, and the enemy captured all their convoys of provi-
sions. A new general, Pompeius, offered to make peace.
The Numantians retuined their prisoners, and also all
Roman deserters and hostages; they were assured possession
of their arms (140 b.c).

A third general, the consul Popilius, declared the treaty
void, attacked the Numantians and was defeated (139

B.C.).

A new general, Mancinus, was even more unfortunate.
His soldiers, believing that two neighboring peoples were
coming to aid Numantia, took fright, escaped from their
camp, and took refuge in an old abandoned camp. Here
the enemy surrounded them and they surrendered. The
Numantians let them go, but made Mancinus and his officers
swear to accept a treaty recognizing the independence of
Numantia (137 b.c). The senate refused to accept the
treaty and voted to deliver Mancinus to the Numantians.
Mancinus, naked and manacled, was accordingly led to
Numantia; the Numantians refused to accept him, and the
,next day he returned to the Roman camp.

Rome finally sent against Numantia her most famous

I40 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

general, Scipio,^ the destroyer of Carthage. He began by
reorganizing the Roman army. He drove out the camp-
followers, merchants, and soothsayers who encumbered the
camp; he took away the soldiers' pack-animals, chariots,
beds, all their furniture, leaving each only a copper vessel,
a spit, and a drinking-horn, and making them sleep on the
ground as he did. He made them work; dig ditches and
fill them up again, build walls and tear them down again,
and make long marches on foot, carrying their arms and
baggage.

In this way he spent a whole summer. Then he took his
position before Numantia, in two camps. He had an army
of sixty thousand men, but he did not want to risk a battle;
he preferred to starve the enemy into submission.

Numantia was situated on a cliff overlooking the Douro,
which at this point had not yet reached its full breadth.
Provisions and news were brought to the -besieged city by
"divers. Scipio blocked the river with booms armed with
blades of swords and points of lances. On the land side he
built a thick wall, enforced by a double ditch. Then he
waited.

One dark night messengers succeeded in leaving Numantia
to seek aid from the neighboring tribes. The young men of
one city prepared to answer the appeal, but Scipio suddenly
appeared with his soldiers, seized four hundred of their
notables, and cut off their hands.

The Numantians, entrapped and starving, asked for a
battle; Scipio refused. They were reduced to eating the
bodies of the dead. At length, rather than surrender, they
killed one another, so that Scipio found only fifty to adorn
his triumphal procession. Without waiting for orders, he
razed the city, leaving no trace to show where it had stood
(133 B.C.).

This was the last war of subjugation in Spain.

^ He had been surnamed the African (Scipio Africanus Minor), as his
adopted grandfather had, been called Africanus.

CONQUEST OF THE MEDITERR/iNEAN BASIN. 141

Conquest in Gaul. — The Greek city of Massilia (Mar-
seilles), which had long been the ally of Rome, had to
defend her coast colonies against the Alpine mountaineers.
It became necessary for the Romans, on their way to Spain,
to control the road along the coast. Rome and Massilia
formed an alliance.

The Romans aided Massilia in her wars, defeated the
peoples who occupied the neighboring shores (154-122 B.C.),
and forbade them to come within fifteen hundred paces of a
harbor or within one thousand paces of the shore. In the
conquered territory they founded a colony, Aquae Sextiae
(Aix), the most ancient Roman city in Gaul (122 b.c).

DYING GAUL (CAl'ITOL).

A chief belonging to the conquered tribes took refuge with
the Allobroges, an important Gallic people inhabiting the
Alps (the modern DaupHine). The Roman consul tried to
make them give him up, but they refused. The consul
attacked them near the Rhone and killed twenty thousand
of them (121 B.C.). The Allobroges called on their allies,
the Arverni, who inhabited the Cevennes (the modern
Auvergne).

The king of the Arvemi, Bituitus, descended to the Rhone
with his army. He gave battle to the Romans near the

142 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

junction of the Isere and the Rhone. His soldiers were

either slain or drowned in the river; he himself escaped, but

was captured as a traitor and led to Rome in chains

(120 B.C.).

This Bituitus was said to be of gigantic stature; he fought on
a silver chariot, surrounded by a pack of ferocious dogs, and
leading an army of one hunared and twenty thousand men.
When he saw the small size of the Roman army, he cried :
" There are only enough there to make a meal for my dogs."

The senate now made the country of the Allobroges a
province, reaching from Lake Leman to the sea. Later it
was extended across the Rhone to the Pyrenees; and on this
side the Romans founded another colony, Narbonensis
(118 B.C.). Thus was established the province of Gallia
Narbonensis, the modern Provence.

* The Slave Revolt in Sicily. — While Rome was thus
cementing her power in the west, there had arisen a grave
danger nearer home. The land swarmed with slaves,
y^milius Paulus had taken captive and sold one hundred and
fifty thousand of them. Fifty thousand Carthaginians had
been similarly treated. The condition and treatment of such
slaves is described in Chapter XIL

At last two hundred thousand of them in Sicily revolted,
and under a leader named Eunus were able to withstand the
armies of Rome for three years. The rebellion was finally
quelled in 132 b.c. Thousands of slaves were crucified,
much to the disgust of their masters, who objected to the loss
of so much valuable property.

* The Province of Asia. — Meantime there had been
another and peaceful acquisition of territory. The last king
of Pergamum, in the northwest of Asia Minor, left his king-
dom by will to the Roman people. There was but slight
resistance to the transfer, and the country was organized as
the province of Asia. This province, of small extent, must
be carefully distinguished from Asia as a geographic division ^
(B.C. 133).

^ «* Asia" as used in the New Testament, Acts xvi. 6; xix. 10, 22. 26,
refers to this province.

CONQUEST OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN, I43

SOURCES.

Appian Foreign Wars, Bks. x-xil, c. i.

Florus Bk. ii, cc. viii-xx.

Livy Bks. xxxi-XLV, Eptl. xlvi-lvi, lix-lxi,

LXIX.

Plutarch ^milius Pauliis, Caio, Flamininus, Philo-

poemon.
Polybius Bks. ii, xvi, xviii, xx, xxv, xxvii-

XXXIII, XXXV-XXXlX,/i25J/W.

Paterculus Bk. i, cc. ix-xiii ; Bk. ii, c. i.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy. ... cc. xxvi-xxxiii.

Ihne * Bk. iv, cc. vi, vii ; Bk. v, cc. i-viii.

Mommsen Bk. 1 1 1, cc. vii-x.

Botsford c. V, pp. 1 16-128.

How and Leigh cc. xxiii-xx\di.

Morey cc. xvi, xvii.^

Myers cc. x, xi.

Pelham Bk. 111, c. ii.

Shuckburgh cc. xxvii-xxxiv.

Mahaffy, J . P The Geeek World under Roman Sway, c. lio

Freeman, E. A History of Federal Government, cc. v-ix.

CHAPTER XI.
THE RESULTS OF CONQUEST.

NEW MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

Hellenism at Rome. — Up to the third century before
Christ, the Romans were a race of peasants, merchants, and
soldiers. All, even the we^lhy, were occupied simply with
farming, commerce, or war. They read almost nothing,
and knew neither literature, science, art, nor philosophy.

After conquering the eastern countries inhabited by the
Greeks, their life underwent a great change. Thousands of
Greeks, brought as slaves or who had come to seek their
fortune, — physicians, actors, professors, soothsayers, — settled
at Rome and mingled with the Romans. Thousands of
Roman soldiers and merchants lived for years in the East
among strangers.

In this way the Romans became acquainted vith new
customs and ideas and gradually gave up their old ways to
adopt those of the Greeks. This we call the introduction
into Rome of Hellenism (imitation of the Hellenes).

TRANSFORMATION IN MODE OF LIVING.

Dwellings. — The old Roman house was low, having but
one story, and consisted of a single building between the
street and the court behind; the foundations were built of
stone, the walls of unbaked brick with a coating of clay and
straw. Inside, the rooms were divided by partitions of laths,
and paved with pebbles, clay, and bits of pottery.

144

THE RESULTS OF CONQUEST. 145

There were two doors, one opening on the street, the
other on the court. The great door, that on the street, led
into a vestibule, thence into the atriuvi^ or main hall; in the
middle of the atrium, between four wooden pillars, was the
compiuviuvi, a square opening framed in the ceiling to let in
the light, with a basin to catch the rain.

All around the atrium were built little rooms, whitewashed
and unfurnished. In one corner stood the hearth, sacred to
X\iQ penates, the hr (house-god), and the conjugal bed.

The family spent most of their time in the atrium ; the
master of the house had his armchair there, the mistress her
loom, and the household cupboard and chest. Here the
Roman family ate its meals and received its guests.

The second century before Christ saw the hearth relegated
to a special room. The nobles and the rich merchants even
began to build Greek houses, with a dining-hall, library,
bath-room, and apartments reserved for the women. They
had more elegant furniture, bronze beds, silver dishes, and
carpets (see on page 350 the description of a Greek
house).

Dress. — The ancient Romans wore ordinarily but one
garment, the tunic, which was of wool, sewed together, and
without fastenings. The men's tunic, held in place by a
girdle about the hips, reached to the knee; the women's
tunic, fastened about the breast, fell to the ground.

On ceremonious occasions a Roman wore over his tunic
a toga, a long garment of white wool, draped about the body
and reaching to the ground. In the country, men worked
without a tunic, wearing simply a linen girdle with an apron
reaching to the knees. The Roman also wore a felt hat,
leather sandals, and an iron ring on his left hand.

After the conquest, the Romans gradually adopted a more
complicated dress; they imported finer materials, of linen,
cotton, and wool, from the Greeks and Orientals, and had
their garments richly trimmed. The women began to wear
the Greek robe, the Greek girdle, the Greek mantle, the

146

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

wide-sleeved tunic, the fillet, and the Greek hood; the men

borrowed the boots and
the shoes.

Food. — The ancient Ro-
mans ate but little and
always coarse food. They
had but one real meal,
which they ate at midday
[coena), consisting of por~
ridge (after the fifth cen-
tury, bread) and either
fresh or pickled fruit. They
ate sitting down, either
with a spoon or with their
fingers, the food spread on
a bare wooden table. For
company a plate of meat
was added, or perhaps fish,
eggs, beans, or onions, and
a sort of dessert made of
fruits and pastry; also a
jug of spiced wine or must
and water to drink. The
women never drank wine.
Meat was rarely eaten ex-
cept after a sacrifice on
feast-days.

In the morning, whether
at home or at work, the
Roman breakfast (jentacu-
lum) consisted of bread and
cheese. The evening meal
was unleavened bread, with
nuts, fruit, and a little
wine.

FEMALE DRESS.

After the conquest, the Romans, at least the wealthy.

THE RESULTS OF CONQUEST. 147

adopted a more varied and choice diet. They began to eat
two meals, prandium, at about eleven o'clock in the morning,
carta in the afternoon, and to make these meals more
elaborate. They had meat at every one, fresh fish, oysters,
and game; also rich wines, either Falernian from Campania
or of Greek importation. They adopted another Greek
custom, that of spending the evening — often the night —
drinking at their friends' houses.

Women and children continued to sit while eating. But
for the men, in wealthy houses, there were couches, after the
Greek fashion ; on each bed lay three guests, who, when they
raised themselves to eat, rested their elbows on a square
table placed before them. The couches occupied three sides
of the table, the fourth side being left for the service.

Sometimes guests were crowned with a wreath of leaves,
as in Greece, while musicians and dancers were provided for
their entertainment.

Occupations. — The ancient Roman led a very monotonous
existence. He rose very early, in winter before drawn.
After washing, he made his prayer to the god of the morn-
ing (Maiutinus), then went to his work and worked all day
except for the noo.i meal hour. The men spent the day in
the fields; the women stayed in the house, weaving the
woolen thread which their servants spun.

The country people went to the city only for the market,
which was held every nine days. They took their grain,
fruits, and cattle to sell, and bought little but articles of
metal or clay and pottery. Every farmer manufactured his
own flour, bread, farming implements, wagons, baskets,
rope, and even his house; the women wove cloth and made
the clothing.

Amusements were very rare; two or three great games
were held every year at Rome, — that is to say, a procession
followed by a horse- or chariot-race; no dancing, except once
or twice a year, in honor of a divinity; no pleasure-trips, for
they had no vehicles but farm- wagons. All travelling was

148 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

done either on foot (or, in case of sickness, in a litter) over
narrow, rough streets, paved with small stones; or, by water,
on extremely slow barges.

After the conquest of the east life became more varied, at
least for the rich. They moved from the country into the
city, and indulged in the Greek forms of entertainment :
banquets, shows, games, and even travelling. It became
the custom to go to the seacoast during the hot season,
especially to Baiae, on the Bay of Naples.

TRANSFORMATION OF RELIGION.

Greek Religion. — The Romans had from early times
learned to follow many of the beliefs and rites of the Greeks
in Italy (see page 43). They worshipped several of the
Greek divinities, Apollo, Hercules, Castor and Pollux,
Proserpina, and ^sculapius.

This is how the worship of ^Esculapius was introduced:
Rome was suffering from a plague. The Sibylline books were
consulted, and said that, in order to put an end to the pestilence,
the god ^sculapius must be brought to Rome from the sanc-
tuary of Epidaurus in Greece.

The senate sent ten envoys in a galley. Arriving at Epidau-
rus they asked permission of the inhabitants to take away their
god; the council of the city in repjly said "they would be per-
mitted to receive whatever the god should grant them." The
envoys accordingly went and prayed in the temple of .^scu-
lapius. A huge serpent issued from the temple, passed through
the city streets and, swimming to the galley, took possession of
the cabin occupied by the envoys. The Romans, recognizing
in this serpent the god they had come to find, set sail with him
for Rome.

On the return voyage the ship was overtaken by a storm,
and took refuge in the harbor of Antium. The serpent swam
ashore to the temple of Apollo (Apollo was the father of
^sculapius), and remained there three days, his body wound
about a palm-tree in the court ; when the storm was over he
returned to the ship. The ship passed up the Tiber to Rome ;
there the serpent plunged into the river and established him-
self on a small island. On this island was built the temple of
iEsculapius.

After the conquest, the Romans finally merged their own

THE RESULTS OF CONQUEST.

149

gods with the Greek gods. In each of the Roman gods they
seemed to recognize a Greek god; they gave him the figure
of this Greek god and credited him with the same history.
This confusion was easy, because the Roman gods had had
no history and no exact form.

iX^i

Jupiter was confounded with Zeus, Juno with Hera,
Minerva with Pallas Athene, Diana with Artemis, Vulcan
with Hephaestus, Mercury with Hermes, Liber with Bacchus,
Mars with Ares, Ceres with Demeter, Venus with Aphrodite.
Thus the Latin 'gods were transformed into Greek gods, and
it became the custom to designate the Greek gods by the
Latin names; we still call Zeus Jupiter, Hera Juno, and
soon.

150 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Eastern Religions. — The Romans also began to practise
some of the Eastern forms of religion. As early as 220 b.c,
worshippers of the Egyptian god Serapis had a sanctuary in
Rome. The senate ordered it to be torn down, but not a
workman dared touch it; the consul himself at length struck
the first blows of the axe on the door.

In 204, towards the end of the second Punic war, the
senate, in obedience to an oracle, sent an embassy into Asia
Minor in search of the Great Mother, the goddess of
Pessinus, called by the Greeks Cybele, and represented by a
black stone. The envoys brought her back with great cere-
mony and installed her in a temple at Rome. Her priests
established themselves there, retaining their Oriental costume
and their custom of marching through the streets with fifes
and cymbals.

Later the senate adopted a Cappadocian goddess and
built her a temple. She was worshipped under the name of
an ancient Latin goddess, Bellona. Her devotees, however,
preserved the custom, totally foreign to the Romans, of
celebrating her festivals by mangling the face and body with
a knife.

Many Chaldaean sorcerers and soothsayers came to Rome
and practised the art of reading the future. In 140 b.c the
Chaldaean astrologers were expelled, but they invariably
came back.

Weakness of Roman Beliefs. — Educated Greeks had
ceased to believe in their old religion. Euhemerus, a Greek,
had written a book declaring that the gods were simply men
who were worshipped after death ; he pretended to have seer
an inscription which told the history of Zeus, the most
powerful of the gods. Zeus, he said, was simply an ancient
king of Crete. The book was a great success, and was
translated into Latin by the poet Ennius.

The prominent men at Rome learned from associating
wifli Greeks to scoff at the old religion. They continued to
practise its rites, but repudiated its beliefs. Even the

THE RESULTS OF CONQUEST. 151

Pontifex Maximus, Aurelius Cotta, said: "It is not easy to
deny the gods in public, but it may be done in private."
Later Lucretius wrote his famous poem on Nature to free
men from the fear of the gods and to " deliver the soul from
the bonds of superstition."

INTELLECTUAL TRANSFORMATION.

Literature and the Theatre. — The ancient Romans had
neither books nor theatres. Some of the leading Romans
who had fought in Greece became acquainted with Greek
philosophy and letters, and acquired intellectual tastes.
They began to speak Greek, at that time the language of all
educated people. The first history of Rome was written in
Greek by a Roman nobleman, Fabius Pictor. The perfect
knowledge of Greek displayed by Flamininus in the war
against Macedonia astounded the Greeks, who had expected
to see ignorant barbarians. It soon became the fashion to
speak Greek even in Rome. The Scipios sui rounded them-
selves with philosophers, ^milius Paulus set the fashion
of having a library of Greek books in the house. (He had
taken his from King Perseus.)

It was during this period that Livius Andronicus, a freed-
man of Greek origin, began to translate Greek works,
especially plays, into Latin. His example was quickly fol-
lowed by others, and thus were laid the foundations of Latin
literature. Greek plays were given in Latin in the public
shows at Rome on feast-days. Two of these translators were
Plautus and Terence.

The Romans were still too uncultivated to find much
enjoyment in so refined a pleasure. When Hecyra, one of
Terence's comedies, was produced, the spectators would not
wait for the end, so eager were they to see the wild beasts in
the circus. Little by little, however, the people grew accus-
tomed to literary spectacles. * ^'

The audience had been obliged to stand, but the censors

152

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

built a stone theatre with graded seats. The senators
ordered it torn down, to show, they said, ** that the Romans
had enough energy to stand even through their entertain-
ments. "

A ROMAN PLAY.

Arts. — In accordance with the Roman custom, the
Roman generals brought back what they found of most value
in vanquished Greece, — statues, pictures, and bronzes. The
first of these treasures were brought to Rome by Marcellus
after the taking of Syracuse.

The Roman nobles, seeing the value the Greeks set on
these masterpieces, began to prize them, either through
honest admiration or through vanity. They wanted to
appear connoisseurs, and it became the fashion to collect
pictures, statues, or Corinthian bronzes. Rome was soon
filled with works of art. The Roman also adopted the
fashion of having his house decorated with paintings, or a
statue or bust of himself, dressed in the costume of a
divinity, after the Greek fashion. It was also the custom
to have Greek musicians perform during festivals, ceremonies,
and banquets.

The Romans did not quickly become painters, sculptors,
or even architects; the artists at work in Italy were all

THE RESULTS OF CONQUEST. I53

Greeks. After a long time Roman artists arose, especially
in the field of architecture.

Education. — The Roman boys of antiquity were taught
physical exercise, outdoor work, cultivation of the land, and
religious ceremonies; the sons of great families learned, in
addition, their letters and figures. All that a girl needed to
know was sewing and spinning.

But after the conquest this education seemed very insuffi-
cient. A number of Greeks opened schools in Rome and
taught the children to read, write on tablets, and calculate
according to the abacus, the Greek form of reckoning ; later
came grammar and music. The rich gave their children
Greek slaves for tutors.

Teachers of philosophy and rhetoric also came to Rome
to instruct the young men. This troubled the senate, and
the philosophers and Latin rhetoricians were driven out.
Later on a censor forbade the teaching of Latin rhetoric in
Rome. However, it soon became the fashion, especially in
noble families, to send young men to study in the great
Greek schools at Rhodes and Athens. Greek philosophy
and rhetoric were thus introduced among the educated
classes.

The Romans retained a prejudice against music and
dancing, which they regarded as fitted only for comedians,
and not for sons of noble families. Scipio ^milianus, who
nevertheless loved the Greeks, said of a dancing school :
" When it was told me I could not believe that nobles would
have such things taught their children." Sallust said later
of a Roman lady: "She plays the lyre and dances better
than becomes an honest woman."

MORAL TRANSFORMATION.

Ancient Customs. — The ancient Roman modelled his
whole conduct on one principle: to act according to the
custom of his ancestors, to do as his fathers did before him.

154 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

His life was spent in working, fighting, and economizing,
— a hard, sad, monotonous life. The qualities he most
admired were sobriety, economy, and a dignified bearing
(gravitas). His ideal was a severe general and a solemn
magistrate leading the life of a peasant. The following is
an admiring description of the ancients written many years
later :

Curius Dentatus, after defeating the Samnites, received their
envoys at his small estate in the Sabine country, seated on a
wooden bench and eating boiled turnips from a wooden bowl.
They offered him gold, but he refused it, saying, " I would
rather command those who have gold than have it myself."

Fabricius, w^ho conquered Pyrrhus, had no dishes but a silver
salt-cellar and a cup. When the Epirote envoy offered him
money he passed his hands over his body from his eyes to his
waist and said, "While this remains to me I need no other
wealth." When he died he left his daughters so poor that the
senate had to provide them with a dowry.

Growth of Luxury. — After the conquest the Romans
began to find the "customs of their ancestors" painfully
dull, and they longed for a life more rich and varied.

This was the beginning of luxury. The generals brought
back to Rome a part of the gold, silver, jewels, and other
treasures from the Greek countries. The Orientals were in
the habit of living like kings, in the midst of costly furniture,
golden vessels, precious stones, and numberless servants.
The Romans brought home with them similar tastes.

It was natural that the Romans, suddenly enriched by the
conquest of the richest countries of the time, should yield
to the temptation of luxurious indulgence. They began to
display their wealth in rich clothing, embroidered carpets,
silver plate, and costly banquets. Those whose office
obliged them to give public feasts added at their own expense
shows of very harmful character.

The Romans had already adopted the Etruscan custom of
gladiatorial contests, and later the Greek custom of acting
comedies. For the public entertainment, wild beasts were
brought from foreign lands and let loose in the circus, where

THE RESULTS OF CONQUEST,

155

trained hunters were employed to kill them. This was

called a hunt and was first introduced in 186 B.C., with

lions and panthers for game. In 108 b.c. sixty-three
panthers were killed in a single hunt.

ANIMAL FIGHT IN THB CIRCUS. (BAUMKISTEK.)

Change in Condition of Women. — The Roman women of
antiquity, even the rich, spent all their time within doors,
busy with their servants. The most flattering thing that
could be said of a woman was summed up in this famous
epitaph: " She stayed at home and wove her wool." The
husband had complete power over his wife; he could judge
her and even condemn her to death. He also had the right
to repudiate her, but this right was not supported by custom.

After the conquest the Roman women changed all this.
They came out of their houses, and used chariots; they went

156 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

to the circus and the theatre, and began to dine in public.
They began to practise foreign religions, especially the
mysteries of Isis, the goddess of Egypt, or the ceremonies of
Cybele. They remained ignorant and idle, but they became
more free. A new form of marriage was instituted, whereby
a woman was no longer made subject to the absolute control
of her husband. She was also given the right to leave her
husband. A marriage might be dissolved on complaint of
either husband or wife. Divorce became more and more
frequent, at least among the rich. In the first century mar-
riage came to be regarded a merely temporary union: Sylla
had five wives, Pompey five, Caesar four; Hortensius divorced
his m\{^ to marry her to one of his friends.

Cato the Censor. — One man named Cato made himself
famous by trying to compel the Romans to preserve the
ancestral customs.

Cato was born about 2^,2 b.c, at Tusculum, a small town
in Latium; his family were peasant proprietors, and he had
begun life as a farmer. According to custom he became a
soldier at the age of seventeen and fought against Hannibal.
He was a red-haired man, and blue-eyed, strong, brave, and
eloquent. In the army he won esteem by his courage and
his austerity. He went alv/ays on foot, carrying his arms,
and drank no wine. In battle he stood firm at his post,
striking vigorous blows and shouting, inspiring the enemy
with terror.

When at home he lived as a peasant; he worked in the
field, in winter wearing only a tunic, in summer without any
outer garment, and ate with his slaves. Being something of
an orator, he undertook to plead his neighbor's cases at
Rome.

Valerius, a man of influence living near Cato's farm,
became interested in him, and persuaded him to settle in
Rome, where he helped him to become known.

Cato was elected tribune of fhe soldiers; then he was made
quaestor and sent as paymaster with Scipio to Africa. He

THE RESULTS OF CONQUEST, 157

found that his general was giving too much money to the
soldiers, and showed him how he was encouraging them in
expenses which were contrary to ancient customs. Scipio
told him that ** he had no need of so scrupulous a quaestor. "
Cato did not forget this rebuff, and on their return to Rome
reported Scipio's extravagance and accused him of wasting
money and losing time in frivolity.

Cato was elected praetor and sent as governor to Sardinia.
It was customary for the governor to ask what he pleased of
the inhabitants; wherever he went he was accompanied by a
great troop of friends and servants, who must all be liberally
provided for. Cato asked for none of these things ; he made
his journeys on foot, followed by one servant carrying his
toga and his sacrificial utensils.

He was elected consul. A proposal was made in the
assembly to repeal the law forbidding women to wear jewels
or to ride in carriages. The Roman ladies came themselves
to urge their friends to vote for the repeal. Cato insisted
that the law should be retained, and made a famous speech
against the women. ** All other men," he said, '* rule their
wives; we Romans can rule men, but our wives rule us."
The law was repealed, however, in spite of him.

Cato went to command the army in Spain. He captured
and demolished four hundred fortresses. He divided the
booty among his soldiers and kept none for himself. He
even sold his horse before coming home in order to save the
government the cost of transportation.

He was not fond of the Greeks. ** When this race shall
have invaded us through its literature," he said, "Rome
will be lost." He was familiar with Greek, but throughout
his expedition into Greece he refused to speak anything but
Latin.

The Athenians, having an affair of importance to settle in
Rome (155 B.C.), planned* to send as envoys the heads of
three of the leading schools of philosophy. While awaiting
the decision of the senate, Cameades, the head of the School

153 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

of Plato (the Academy) and the most famous of these men,
gave a series of public lectures, which were crowded by
young Romans. His subject was justice and injustice; he
said, if the Roman people had never been guilty of injustice,
they would not have become masters of the world. Cato
said to the senate: *' We must decide the matter at once and
get rid of these smooth-tongued men who can make us
believe anything they will. Let them go and teach the
Greek children. We will teach ours respect for the laws and
the magistrates." The senate decided to dismiss the Greek
orators.

On his return from Spain, Cato had been authorized to
celebrate a triumph. This was the greatest honor that could
be granted to a Roman, and usually a general who had been
so honored would not consent to serve under the orders of
another. Cato, however, took a subordinate command in
the army sent against Antiochus.

Ten years after his election as consul, Cato was chosen
censor, against the will of the nobles; the people desired
him because of his severity.* His censorship was famous,
and won him the surname of " the Censor." He struck a
number of names from the list of senators as a punishment
for luxury; he even degraded Lucius, brother of the great
Scipio, and himself the conqueror of Antiochus. He
assessed at ten times their value women's ornaments, gar-
ments, and carriages. He toie down all houses jutting out
over the street, and cut the conduits bringing water from the
public fountains into private houses. He farmed out the
taxes at the highest possible price. The people showed their
gratitude to Cato by erecting in his honor a statue with this
inscription: " For having during his censorship strengthened
the Roman Republic, which the change in customs and
manners was hurrying to its ruin," He made many
enemies, especially among the nobles, whom he accused of
appropriating the public money and setting the example of

THE RESULTS OF CONQUEST. I59

luxury. He was himself impeached (forty-four times, it is
said) before the people, but was always acquitted.

Cato was devoted to his wife and son ; he made a point of
being with his wife when she washed and dressed the child.
He undertook to educate the boy himself, teaching him
grammar and law as well as riding, fighting, and swimming.
He wrote for him an account of the exploits of the ancient
Romans and a treatise on agriculture. He considered the
acquisition of wealth a duty. " A widow," he said, *' may
decrease her fortune, but a man must increase his." He
bought only low-priced slaves, and sold them when they
were growing old, that he might not have to care for them.
" It is a good plan," he said, " to sell old cattle, old junk,
and old slaves. A good housekeeper is a seller, not a
buyer." In his old age he found that agriculture was not a
satisfactory investment and began to put his money into
merchant- vessels.

Cato was the type of the ancient Roman, a good farmer,
a good soldier, hard toward himself and toward others alike,
honest and avaricious.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. xxxv, xxxvii.

Ihne Bk. vi, cc. xii-xv.

Mommsen Bk. ill. cc. xii-xiv.

Botsford c. vi, pp 143- 1 50.

How and Leigh cc. xxviii, xxx.

Morey . . cc. xviii, pp. 148-152.

Pelham Bk. in, c. iii, pp. 192-198.

Shuckburgh c. xxvi.

Guhl and Koner. . . . T/ie Life of the Greeks and Romans.

Taylor Constitutional and Political History of

Rome, cc. vii, viii.

Crutwell, C. T History of Roman Literature, c. i.

CHAPTER XII.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION.

The Nobility. — There was no longer any difference
between patrician and plebeian, but all Roman citizens were
not equal. Roman society remained aristocratic.

At the head were the nobles. To be a noble a man must
be descended from a magistrate, at the least. The magistracy
at Rome was not merely a power, it was an honor. When
his term of office expired the magistrate laid aside his power,
but the honor he preserved and handed down to his
descendants.

Every magistrate, a^dile, praetor, or consul had a purple-
bordered toga [prcBtexta), an ivory chair (curule chair), and
the right to have his image made. These images were
statues of wax, later of silver, invested with the emblems of
magistracy. The image was placed in a niche near the
hearth and the household gods, like an idol. When a
member of a family died, the images of the dead man and of
his ancestors, if noble, mounted on a chariot, led the funeral
procession. The procession marched through the city to the
public square and there, before the assembled multitude, a
relative of the departed pronounced his eulogy, and reviewed
the exploits and honors of the whole family. An image in
the family was a badge of nobility, and the rank of a family
increased in proportion to the number of its images. The
common phrase was, " noble by one image," " noble by so
many images."

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION. i6i

Ordinarily the people chose their magistrates from among
the nobility, so that the images accumulated in the same
families. There were not three hundred noble families in
Rome, but they alone formed the senate and exercised all
the powers. In the theatre the nobles took first place.

The Equestrian Order. — The second class was called the
equestrian order, or class of knights.

To serve as a horseman in the Roman army had always
been a privilege reserved for the wealthy; the horsemen
formed a class by themselves. After the second century
Roman citizens were no longer to be found in the cavalry
(the horsemen being all Italian allies or foreigners), but the
term knight {eques) continued to be applied to all those
whose fortune exceeded the limit formerly set for admission
to the mounted service; this was 400,000 serterces ($20,000).

The ancient Romans had had but little money and few
ways of making it. The conquest opened to them, in the
second century before Christ, the opportunity of rapidly ac-
quiring fortunes.

Silver and gold taken from the conquered countries were
brought to Rome either for the public treasury or for the
nobles. Money became very plentiful in Rome, and could
be borrowed at four or five per cent; in the conquered
countries it was scarce and could not be borrowed under
twelve per cent. It became a lucrative business to borrow
money in Rome and lend it among the Greeks in the East,
especially to the kings and the municipalities. There were
money-changers in Rome who had stalls in the public
squares; they became bankers and grew rich by speculation.

In the conquered countries the Romans reserved the con-
trol of the silver-mines, the customs duties, the ports, and
the public lands (see page 179). But they had no authorized
agents. They farmed out the collection of the public
revenues to men known as publicans. The rights in each
sort of business in each country were sold to a syndicate of
wealthy citizens, also the right to work the mines, to collect

1 62 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

the customs in the ports, to levy taxes in a province. The
publicans made enormous profits.

Commerce also had become a profitable business, com-
merce by sea in particular. Ships were fitted out and sent
in search of cargoes of grain, lumber, or slaves to bring to
Italy.

Senators were forbidden by law to take part in tax-farm-
ing, banking, or commerce. The knights were the men of
business; they had no part in the government, but they
accumulated large fortunes. In the theatre fourteen rows
of seats behind the senators were reserved for them.

When a knight was elected to a magistracy he ceased to
be a knight, and became a senator. The nobles called him
a " new man " and his son was noble (by a single image).

Plebs. — The plebs included all those citizens who were
neither nobles nor knights. There was still in Latium and
in the Sabine country a peasant class, descended from the
Latins and Sabines who had been early conquered by Rome
and admitted to her citizenship. The number of peasants
was, however, steadily decreasing (see page 178).

On the other hand, Rome as she developed into a great
city, had been filled by a new population, the urban plebs.
These were descendants of the peasants who had left the
country and settled in the city. Others were descendants
of foreigners, who, brought to Rome as slaves, had been
freed by their masters and become citizens.

These people, for the most part, lived in great poverty,
having no means of making a living. The lucrative positions
belonged to the knights, and the lower ranks were filled by
slaves and foreigners.

These wretches were nevertheless a privileged class, for
they were Roman citizens. They had the right to protection
by Roman law, to contract a marriage giving absolute con-
trol of wife and children, and to acquire property. After
454 B.C. they could not be beaten with rods or condemned
to death without appeal by any magistrate. They could

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION, 163

enlist ih the legions, vote in the assembly of the people, and
take part in festivals and public shows. The sign of their
privilege was the toga, the robe of white wool which only
citizens could wear.

Slaves. — Before the conquest every Roman worked in his
own field; great landowners had their farms cultivated by
clients rather than by slaves.

As Rome subjugated new peoples, slaves became more
numerous. All persons taken in war, not only the prisoners
of war, but the inhabitants of captured cities, men, women,
and children, belonged to the conqueror; this was the custom
among the ancients, and the Romans enforced it rigorously.
The captives were a part of the booty and were sold to
slave-dealers. These merchants also dealt in stolen children
and men taken by pirates or even brigands.

The slaves were almost all foreigners, — Greeks and
Orientals, or western barbarians, Gauls, Iberians, and
Sardinians. Rome had a market for slaves as well as for
cattle. The slaves to be sold, men and women alike, were
exposed on a platform; attached to the neck was a statement
of age, race, good and bad qualities. The purchaser became
their master; he might sell them again or bequeath them to
his heirs. Children born of a slave woman were slaves like
their mother.

The slave belonged to his master, like a piece of furniture
or a lower animal. He had no rights; he could not call
anything his own, nor enjoy the privileges of husband and
father. He must obey his master; whatever he was com-
manded he was bound to do, and must satisfy every whim,
even to the commission of a crime. It was the Roman
theory that a slave had no soul and no duty but obedience.
The master had absolute control over his slave; he sent him
wherever he pleased, made him work as long as he pleased,
even beyond his powers, fed him as he pleased, and might
beat him, imprison him, torture him, or kill him, as he
wished, without being responsible to any one. Should the

164

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

'■^■^y/'

A SLAVE SCOURCiED.

slave resist or run away, the state aided the master to subdue

or capture him, and the
freeman who sheltered a
fugitive slave was held as
guilty of theft as if he
had appropriated a stolen
horse.

Labor in the fields was
performed by ** country
slaves ' ' : farm hands,
shepherds, vine-dressers,
and gardeners. Every
owner of a great estate
had it cultivated by a
band of slaves, under an
overseer who was com-
monly himself a slave.
The country slaves were the most badly treated and ill fed
of all. Many worked with irons on their feet. At night
they were shut up in an underground prison, the ergastula,
lighted by high, narrow windows. When a master wanted
to punish a slave he sent him into the country.

Still more awful than the country was the mill. The
ancients had not learned to employ the force of wind or
water, and all their grain had to be ground by hand-mills;
this was a deadening form of labor, like that in the French
galleys or the English treadmill. The comic poet Plautus
writes thus of the mill: "There wept the unhappy ill-
fed slaves, amid the noise of whips and the clanking of
chains."

The " city slaves" were those employed in the master's
personal service. The Romans, following the Oriental
fashion, took pride in surrounding themselves with a host of
servants. In rich houses there were sometimes hundreds of
them, each detailed to his special service; slaves of the
wardrobe and personal attendants; slave cooks and waiters,

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION. 165

and slaves in charge of the silver plate; slaves to take care
of the furniture; slaves of the bath; a personal escort of
slaves for the master and the mistress; litter-bearers; coach-
men and grooms; readers and secretaries; slave musicians
and actors ; slave physicians and surgeons. The nurses and
tutors were also slaves.

A WRITER AND HIS IMPLEMENTS.

The city slaves included also the slave tailors, shoemakers,
masons, carpenters, and artisans of all sorts, who supplied
the wants of their master, his family and his slaves; for
among the great Roman families almost everything was made
in the house: bread, clothing, and shoes. Some masters

1 66 The ROMAN PEOPLE.

even had their slaves manufacture articles and gave them to
their merchant slaves to sell. Others sent their slaves out
for hire as masons, sailors, copyists, actors, hair dressers,
and cooks.

The treatment of slaves depended on the character of their
master. Wise and humane masters took good care of their
slaves, allowed them to have a humible household of their
own, to amass a little fortune, even to possess other slaves.
Capricious and ill-natured masters treated their slaves like
animals, beating and mutilating them, and killing them
without cause. A freedman of Augustus had some fish in a
pond; one of his slaves being so unfortunate as to break a
vase, he had him thrown in the pond to feed the fishes.
The modes of punishment were very severe. If a slave
committed a petty theft, he was suspended by the neck from
a fork. If he ran away, his face was branded with hot irons.
If he committed a crime, he was crucified.

Under this system of terror, excessive labor, or enforced
idleness the slaves became either taciturn and ferocious or
cowardly and humble. Many killed themselves. The rest
were finally reduced to an animal existence. Cato said that
he loved to see a slave sleep. " The slave must either work
or sleep.

This life stifled all feelings of pride and courage. The
word servile (pertaining to a slave) thus came to mean con-
temptible.

The master had the right to free his slave. The freed
slave still owed obedience to his master, but he became a
Roman citizen. There was a distinction between the freed-
man and the born citizen; the former could not receive
honors or enter the army. Even his children- were not
admitted to the full privileges of citizenship, though in the
course of time the distinction faded quite away.

The Census. — Every five years the Romans undertook the
great work of taking the census, in order to fix the rank of
each citizen. The work was in charge of two censors,

SOCiAL AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION, 167

chosen from among the former consuls; this office was
regarded as the most honorable of all.^ ^

The censor first convoked all the citizens on the Campus \
Martins and announced to them his mode of procedure.
The citizens must then come in person before the censor;
only the sick and aged were excused. The censor stood in
the open air with his registers, on the Campus Martins.
Each citizen presented himself in his turn and, swearing to
tell the truth, gave his name, age, country, tribe, father's
name, and the number of years he had served in the army;
he stated the amount of his fortune, valued in silver. All
this the censor entered on his register. He had the right to
raise the valuation given, if he believed it understated. He
might also insert a note if he believed the citizen was not
conducting himself as he should. He made a note of any
citizen who had been cowardly in war, or insolent, or too
brutal towards his wife and children; who neglected the
cultivation of his land, or did not celebrate the religious
festvals with regularity, or spent too much on his table.
The censor's note dishonored the name against which it wasy
written. ^

In this way the censor drew up the list of citizens and
divided them into thirty-five tribes. Usually he placed each
citizen in the tribe he already belonged to, but he had the
right to change him into another tribe and thus change the
value of his vote and even to omit his name from all of them
as a form of degradation which deprived him of the rights of
a citizen.

The censor drew up a list of knights, with power to

P The censorship was established in 443 B.C. After 351 one censor
might be a plebeian, and a little later one must be and both might be.
Censors were elected in the centuriate comitia at intervals of four or five
years and were required to complete their work within eighteen months.
Consuls and praetors could not revise their action, and a tribune rarely
vetoed it. The censor was entitled to the curule chair and the purple
toga, but, not having the imperium, was not attended by lictors ; nor
could he convoke the senate or the comitia.]

168 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

degrade a knight by omitting his name. The censor also
made a list of the senators. He took the list of the preced-
ing census, and added to it the names of those who had since
been elected magistrates, often finishing off the list with the

CITIZENS REGISTERING.

names of certain other persons, always nobles. He had also
the right to strike the name of any senator from the list.
One senator was degraded because he possessed ten pounds
of silver plate, another for repudiating his wife, another for
neglecting the tombs of his ancestors.

This right of degrading any citizen gave the censors
mastery over the honor of every individual, no matter how
exalted. The censors were thereby enabled to preserve
ancient customs; their government was called the government
of customs.

The census completed, the censors called together all the
people for the great religious ceremony of purification
{lustratio). On the appointed day all the citizens assembled
on the Campus Martius, each in his rank. The three
expiatory victims, a bull, a sheep, and a hog (the suove-
taurilid), were led three times around the assemblage, and
then sacrificed to Mars, the protecting deity of Rome; this
ceremony was believed to purify the city. After promising

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION. 169

to Mars a similar sacrifice on the occasion of the next
lustratio, the censor led the people to the city gates and there
dismissed them. He then drove a nail into the temple in
memory of the ceremony, deposited there the census lists,
and resigned his power.

THK SUOVETAURILIA. (BAUMBISTER.)

A Session of the Senate. — The senate was composed of
all those who had previously been magistrates, which meant
the wealthiest and most noble in Rome. It had grown to
be the real head of the government without, however,
departing from ancient forms: it could not call itself together
nor give an order, being in principle but the advisory council
of the magistrates.

When a magistrate wished to consult the senate he con-
voked it by crier. Before the senators assembled he made a
sacrifice to assure himself of the favor of the gods. The
senators met in a temple, usually the Curia Hostilia in the
Forum, a very plain whitewashed building with wooden
benches. The senate was forbidden by religion to meet in
any but a sacred place. The magistrates sat on their curule
chairs, the senators on the wooden benches. The hall was
left open, but the public was not permitted to enter.

The presiding magistrate opened the meeting with an

I70 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

address, in which he made the desired communications to
the senate, beginning with religious matters; he read letters
from the generals or the governors, then gave audience to
foreign envoys, and to magistrates or senators who had
reports to make.

He then brought up the question on which he wished to
consult the senate, beginning with these words; ** In the
interest of the Roman people, conscript fathers, we submit
this matter to you," and ending with these: *' What is to
be done about this ? "

The presiding officer questioned the senators one by one,
in the order of official seniority (consuls, praetors, sediles,
tribunes, quaestors). The form of question was: " Speak,
so and so." Each, answering from his place, either rose
and explained the reasons for his opinion, or remained
seated, saying that he seconded the advice of a certain col-
league. Ordinarily only those first called on spoke, the
others merely advocating an opinion already given. A
quicker plan was finally adopted: the magistrate said, '* Let
those who are of this opinion stand on the right." (The
hall was cut in two by a passage.) The senators divided
and were counted. The senators of the lowest rank, those
who had not been magistrates, never spoke; they simply
took their places on one side or the other; they were called
pedant (or pedarii, those who vote with the feet). The
magistrate dismissed the senate by saying: "Conscript
fathers, we will detain you no longer."

In later days the decree of the senate \senatus consuliuni)
had to be drawn up in the presence of two senators.

The Forum. — The political life of Rome was centred in
the Forum, the market-place between the Palatine and
Capitoline hills. It was a small place for so large a city and
was still further reduced by the encroachment of monuments.
On the east stood the Curia Hostilia, where the sittings of
the senate were held ; on the south, the little round temple
of Vesta which sheltered the sacred hearth of the city (see

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION, 171

page 4c), and the temple of Castor and Pollux, built near
the spring where the two gods were said to have been seen
washing their arms (see page 56); on the west, a row of
shops; on the north, the rostrum and the column built in
honor of Duilius; not to mention the statues all over the
square.

Here the assembly of tribes, or comitia tribute, usually
met, on market days, when the peasants came to town. A
magistrate, commonly a tribune of the plebs, presided. He
addressed the citizens, who were assembled in a confused
multitude; he explained the question on which they were to
vote, and asked for an opinion. The orator stood on the
rostrum, a. square space consecrated by auspices and raised
a little above the level of the market-place. It was called
the rostrum because the front of it was decorated with the
beaks {rosird) of the Antiate ships.

To make himself heard by the assembly, which was often
very noisy, the orator spoke in loud tones and gesticulated
violently; he sometimes walked about on the platform while
speaking.

Elections. — A man who wished to be elected to a magis-
tracy had to make a declaration. Then, on each market
day, he must come and stand on an elevated platform so
that every one might see him; he wore a white toga called
the Candida, whence came the name "candidate." He
spoke with the market people, shook hands, called them by
name, and asked them to vote for him.

The P'orum having become too small for the elections, the
assemblies, even the assemblies by tribes, voted on the
Campus JNIartius. In the ancient assemblies by centuries
all the centuries voted at once, except one century chosen
by lot to vote first.

In the morning of an election day the citizens assembled
on the Campus Martins. Here there was a great open space
surrounded by a wooden fence like a sheepfold; this was
called the ovile. The citizens entered this space and

172

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

arranged themselves in tribes and centuries. Each was given
a wooden tablet on which he wrote the names of his candi-
dates. One by one they filed across a narrow bridge,

dropping their tablets into an urn as they passed. This
system had been established only in 139 b.c. ; prior to that
date the citizen, as he passed, declared in a loud tone the
name of the candidate for whom he voted. (See Appendix A. )

Career of Honors. — At Rome a magistracy was termed an
honor, not a profession. The magistrate received no salary;
on the contrary, he had to spend money to win the election.
Even after his election he had to spend a good deal, being
obliged to give feasts to the people at his own expense.

The magistrates were always rich men and usually nobles.
The nobles supported one another and easily made them-
selves known to the voters. The limit of age for candidacy
to each office, and the order in which the offices might be
sought, had \)een definitely fixed. Every candidate must
first have served ten campaigns in the army.

At the age of twenty-five he could be elected quaestor, or

SOCML AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION. I73

paymaster; then tribune of the people, having the right to
call the people together; or aedile, director of police and
commissariat in Rome; next praetor, administrator of justice,
or governor of a province; then consul, or governor of the
republic and commander of the army; finally censor (at the
minimum age of fifty), in charge of the list of citizens and
the celebration of the lustratio.

Thus the same man was in turn paymaster, administrator,
judge, general, and statesman. This series of offices was
called the "career of honors." Each office was of one
year's tenure, and each progressive step required a new elec-
tion.

Provincial Administration. — The original Roman gov-
ernment had been designed only for the city and its bit of
outlying territory. A new system was necessary for the
countries the Romans had conquered.

In Italy, when the Romans had subjugated a people, they
did not take the trouble to administer it, but were content
with demanding soldiers and sometimes money and leaving
to each people its own government and laws. These peoples
were of various descriptions, colonies whose inhabitants were
Roman citizens, Latin colonies, allied cities, and free cities.
Rome did not need to send out officials; the Roman magis-
trates were sufficient to govern all Italy.

When Rome made conquests outside of Italy, she began
by sending to each country a special magistrate, a praetor,
who was to assume the government. A country subject to
such a governor was called a province. The oldest of the
provinces were the countries taken from Carthage: Sicily,
Sardinia, and the two Spanish provinces. As the number of
provinces increased, in order to avoid creating new magis-
trates it became the custom to send out a magistrate,
consul, or praetor, as soon as he completed his term of office
in Rome. His power was thus prolonged, but only in his
province, for he was no longer consul (or praetor) but pro-
consul (or propraetor).

T74 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

At the expiration of his term as consul, the proconsul left
Rome. Wearing a martial cloak and accompanied by a
military escort, he marched directly to his province by a road
designated in advance. Once in his province his power was
absolute (the imperiuni) like that of the early Roman kings,
and he exercised it at will, being the only magistrate (the
quaestor, usually a young man who accompanied him as
paymaster, was his inferior). The proconsul had in his
province neither colleagues to dispute his power, nor
tribunes to check him, nor senate to keep watch over him.
He was sole commander of all the troops of the province,
led them to fight where he pleased, and cantoned them
where he pleased. He held his court or praetorium, going
from city to city to render his decrees; he had power to fine,
imprison, and execute.

On reaching his province he drew up an ordinance, the
edict, setting forth his system of jurisprudence, and this edict
had the force of law. He issued commands to the inhab-
itants to arm themselves and fight under his orders or to
furnish him with supplies, arms, beasts of burden, as many
as he chose to ask. In a word, he was a sovereign, for he
represented in his single person the whole Roman people.

The Romans, having subjugated the province, endeavored
to further their own interests there instead of those of the
province. " The provinces," said Cicero, "are the estates
of the Roman people." The inhabitants of a conquered
country became subjects of Rome, not citizens, and
remained foreigners [peregrini). They had to render a
proportion of their harvest, a tribute in silver, and a tax for
each family. They were obliged to obey all orders from
Rome, in the person of their governor.

This governor, whom no one could resist, often ruled as
a despot, imprisoning, whipping, and executing those who
displeased him. The following instance was given by a
Roman orator: ** A consul was recently sent to Teanum (in
Campania); his wife took a fancy to bathe in the men's

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION. I7S

bath. The men who were bathing were sent away, but the
consul's wife complained of the delay and said the baths
were not well kept. The consul sent for the chief magis-
trate of the city, M. Marius; the lictor bound him to a stake
in the public square, stripped him and beat him with rods."

Ordinarily the proconsul regarded his province as a source
of personal wealth. He robbed the temples of their treasure
and forced the cities and the rich inhabitants to give him
money, art treasures, and valuable garments. Nothing
could have been easier. As he was able to quarter his
troops wherever he wished, the cities paid him to keep his
army away; as he could condemn to death at will, individ-
uals paid him to spare their lives; whatever he asked none
dared refuse.

The governor made haste to acquire wealth, having a
term of only one year in which to make his fortune. Then
he returned to Rome, his place was taken by another, and
the whole process began again. There was a law forbidding
a governor to accept a present, and a court had been created
to prosecute the crime of extortion. But this court, com-
posed of nobles, was loath to condemn a noble simply for
the sake of doing justice to his subjects. If by chance a
governor was condemned, he was exiled from the province,
and retired to some Italian city to enjoy his ill-gotten for-
tune. Condemnation was not even a punishment and did
no good whatever; on the contrary the inhabitants, by
accusing their former governor, exposed themselves to the
hatred of his successor. The name proconsul finally became
synonymous with despot (see the story of Verres, page 218).

The governor was not the only robber. He had always a
staff of friends, officers, and lawyers who one and all followed
his example. In addition to these there were the publicans
(see page 161) who had bought from the Roman people the
right to collect the taxes, customs duties, and land rents.
Each of these had in the province his staff of clerks and col-
lectors, who regarded the people as their subjects; they

176 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

made them pay more than was their due, abused and im-
prisoned them, and even sold them as slaves. The name
publican thus came to mean robber.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. xxxiv, xxxvi.

liine Bk. vi, cc. i-xi.

Mommsen Bk. in, cc. xi-xii.

Botsford c. vi, pp. 129-143.

How and Leigh c. xxxviii, pp. 293-301, c. xxix.

Morey c. xviii, pp. 143-148.

Pehiam Bk. iii, c. iii, pp. 1 58-192.

Stiuckburgh c. xxvi.

Abbott cc. V, viii-xi.

Greenidge cc. iv-viii.

Arnold, W. T Roman System of Provincial Administra

Hon,

CHAPTER XIII.
THE GRACCHI

Beginning of the Revolutions. — The old constitution of
Rome had endured as long as the Romans preserved their
old customs. When the customs were changed the consti-
tution was no longer respected.

The nobles, who monopolized the senate and the public
offices, had ceased to govern honestly in the interests of the
state. They had to have money to live in luxury, and they
devoted their power to their own enrichment.

The people gave up country life and moved to the city,
where, having lost their means of livelihood, they lived on
what they could get for their votes.

The soldiers no longer fought for the love of their country :
they enlisted for the wages and booty, and recognized no
authority but that of their general.

The senatorial government had now become impracticable
and a series of revolutions began which lasted for a century.
For a hundred years the Romans and their subjects lived in
the midst of riot and civil war.

Tiberius Gracchus. — The first attempt to alter the old
constitution was made by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus.

He came of a very noble family. His father had been
censor. His mother, the famous Cornelia, was a daughter
of the great Scipio. His father had died while he was still
very young, and he had been brought up by his mother,
together with his brother Caius, his junior by nine years.

Cornelia was said to be the most virtuous woman in Rome.
The king of Egypt asked her hand in marriage, but was refused.

177

17^ THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

She lived simply and without luxury. One day she was in a
gathering of Roman ladies ; each had shown her jewels, and
they called on her to show hers. She sent for her two sons and
said : " Here are my jewels."

Tiberius was educated by two Greek philosophers, Blossius
of Cumae and Diophanes of Mitylene; he became a learned
man and an eloquent speaker. His disposition was amiable;
in his public speeches he was calm and sedate. He lived in;
great simplicity, like the ancient Romans.

He quickly won the esteem and affection of the people.
They elected him quaestor and he went into Spain with the
consul Mancinus, who was captured by the Numantians.
On his return to Rome he was made tribune of the people
and began to agitate for reform.

Ruin of the Peasantry. — The Roman plebs was formerly
composed -of small landowners w^ho cultivated their own
land. These peasant proprietors formed both the assembly
of the people and the army. Now, in 133 B.C., the class
had disappeared. During the period of foreign wars the
peasant could not come home every year to cultivate his
land. Many perished in these wars, others remained in the
conquered countries. Those who did return could no
longer sell their grain at a living price, because Rome was
now importing grain as tribute from Sicily and Africa.

The nobles and other men of wealth bought the peasants'
land; uniting the small farms they formed large estates, and
used them as meadows, vineyards, or pastures. Slaves were
employed for the breeding and care of cattle. In time these
great proprietors and their bands of slaves occupied the
whole country. Pliny said later: '* The great estates have
ruined Italy.'*

On the other hand the city of Rome had been overrun by
a population which had no property and could not maintain
itself.

Tiberius, while passing through Etruria, was much im-
pressed when he saw so fertile a country almost a desert and

Longitude

East

THE GROWTH

of the

ROMAN DOMINION

To the time of the Gracchi.

SCALE OF MILES
1 I I 1 I I

100 200 300 400 500 (

Roman Power in 264. B. C.
Acquired 241-21S B. C.
Acquired 201-133 B. C.
3 Allies of Rome in 133 B. C.
Carthaginian Posessions 264

40 Greenwich

EN&RAVED BY BORMAY & CO., N.Y.

THE CkACCHL 179

inhabited only by slaves. He was also disturbed by seeing
that there were no longer enough citizens to recruit the army.

When he became tribune he attempted to revive the
peasant population. In a public speech he said: "The
wild beasts of Italy have at least their dens, but the men who
shed their blood for Italy have only the light and the air they
breathe; they wander houseless, homeless, with their wives
and children. The generals lie when they urge them to
fight for their firesides and the tombs of their ancestors.
Among all these Romans is there one who still possesses a
fireside of his own or the tomb of his fathers ? They fight
and die only that others may live in luxury. They are called
the masters of the earth, but they own nothing themselves,
not even a handful of earth."

Agrarian Laws. — This was the reform measure Gracchus
wished to adopt :

Rome possessed very extensive public lands, which she
had acquired in the following manner. When a conquered
people sued for peace, Rome forced them to yield her their
territory. The ancient formula pronounced by the envoys
was: ** We yield to you our people, our city, our lands, our
waters, and all our goods; everything which belongs to gods
and men we deliver into the power of the Roman people."
In this way all the land became the property of the Roman
people as public lands.

Ordinarily it was divided into three parts:

I. One was given to the inhabitants, on payment of a
certain amount of grain and money as rent.

II. Ploughed lands and pastures were farmed out to com-
panies of contractors (publicans) who sublet them or levied
a tax on each head of cattle.

III. The rest was turned into waste land on which any
Roman citizen might settle and take possession of a bit of
it for farm or pasture land.

The Roman people remained proprietors of the land,
reserving the right to resume possession of it at will.

i8o THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

Tiberius proposed to the people an agrarian law ^ which
would dispose of a part of this land {ager publicus). The
occupants of public lands were to give them up (with the
provision that each might reserve five hundred acres). The
state resumed possession of these lands and distributed them
to poor citizens, a thirty-acre lot in Italy for each family.

This law was not intended to dispossess the owner of
land. No Roman would have entertained a thought of this,
for private property was guaranteed by religion; the boun-
daries of each estate were guarded by gods, the gods
Termini, and no one dared move them. It related only to
public property and left the people the right to resume pos-
session at will. Still the plan did not work very easily.

Almost all the territory of the Mediterranean basin
belonged to the Roman people. Some of it had been in
peaceful possession of certain families for centuries, and had
come to be regarded by every one as their rightful property ;
such lands might be leased, bought, or sold. The resump-
tion of them meant the sudden ruin of a large number of
people, not only Roman nobles hut Italians, and even
peasants.

Further, as the Romans had no property register, it was
often very difficult to determine whether a certain piece of
land was public or private property. Tiberius suggested the
appointment of three commissioners, " charged with the
distribution of the land," whose business it should be to
decide the ownership of each piece of land. This was to
give them control of the fortune of every citizen.

The agrarian law pleased the people, but filled the senators
and the rich with consternation. Octavius, a tribune of the
people, took the part of the latter and declared himself
opposed to the law. Now religion forbade disregard of a

' We are told that there had already been agrarian laws, and even
that Licinius had secured the passage of one ahnost exactly like this of
Tiberius, as early as 366 B.C. The Romans had, however, no certain
knowledge of agrarian laws earlier than those of the Gracchi.

THE GRACCHI. i8i

tribune's veto (see page 47)- Tiberius begged his colleague
to withdraw his veto, but Octavius refused. Tiberius tried
to force him by declaring that he would let nothing else
come up until the law had been voted on; he closed the
treasury and the courts. The nobles threatened him with
assassination; he adopted the habit of carrying a dagger
under his toga. He called the people together to vote; the
nobles carried away the urns.

He finally decided to ask the people to pass a law remov-
ing Octavius from office. Such a law had never been
proposed before. The people assembled. One by one the
tribes voted; when the seventeenth had voted (eighteen
being necessary for a majority), Tiberius, it is said, embraced
Octavius and implored him to retract his veto. Octavius
wept but said nothing. ** Let the will of the people be
done," said Tiberius. The assembly voted the expulsion.
Octavius refused to withdraw from office and Tiberius had
him ejected by force. The mob tried to kill him and a
fight ensued; a slave belonging to Octavius had his eyes torn
out. The agrarian law was then passed and Tiberius, his
father-in-law Appius, and his brother Caius were appointed
commissioners to enforce it. Tiberius governed Rome till
the end of the year (133 b.c).

Death of Tiberius. — When the year of his tribunate was
at an end, Tiberius tried to secure his reelection for another
year. His enemies threatened him, however, and he called
on the people to defend him. His partisans mounted .guard
over his house by night to prevent assassination. In the
morning Tiberius went up to the Capitol where the people
had assembled to vote. The voting began, but the crowd was
dense and the people grew excited. A senator, a friend of
Tiberius, came to tell him that the nobles had prepared a
troop of armed slaves to kill him. Tiberius conveyed the
news to those nearest him, and they broke apart the lictors'
fasces to use as weapons. To those who were too far away
to hear his voice, Tiberius raised his hand to his head as a

l82 THE ROMA>] PEOPLE.

sign that his enemies desired his head. Some of those who
saw this sign ran to tell the senators, who had assembled at
the foot of the hill, that Tiberius had pointed to his forehead
as a request for a diadem, and that he was going to proclaim
himself king. A noble, Scipio Nasica, urged the consul to
go and " kill the tyrant." The consul refused to kill any
citizen without due judgment. Nasica jumped up and
cried: "Since the consul is a traitor to the republic, let
those who wish to defend it follow me! " He ascended the
hill, followed by the senators, each with his arm wrapped in
his toga. They armed themselves on the way with debris
from the benches broken by the scattered multitude. They
had with them a band of slaves armed with clubs. Tiberius
and his party tried to escape. Tiberius fell, struck down by
the leg of a bench in the hand of a senator. Three hundred
of his supporters were killed with sticks or stones, and their
bodies thrown into the Tiber. The body of Tiberius was
refused burial, and his friends massacred or exiled (133 B.C.).

Scipio .ffimilianus. — The agrarian law was not repealed;
the commissioners continued to distribute lands, and Nasica,
looked upon as guilty of murder, tyranny, and sacrilege, was
obliged to leave Italy. The senate, however, resumed its
control.

The most powerful man in Rome at this time was Scipio
iEmilianus, the destroyer of Carthage and Numantia. He
had returned from Spain and declared his opposition to the
agrarian law.

We are told that when, before Numantia, he heard of the
murder of Tiberius, he quoted this line from Homer:

" So perish all who follow him ! "

He carried a law depriving the commissioners of the right
to decide whether or not a piece of land was public property,
While he was speaking he was constantly interrupted by the
assembled crowd. He cried : ' ' Silence, false sons of Italy !
You will have your labor for your pains: those whom I

THE GRACCHI. 183

brought to Rome in chains I do not fear, even now that they
are free. ' '

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MILESTONE OF POPILIUS L^NAS * (aBOUT I30 B.C.).

The Latins complained that their lands were taken from
them to be given to poor Romans, and they came in a body
to Rome. Scipio took their part. One morning (129 b.c.)
he was found dead in his bed, doubtless from natural causes;
he was fifty-six years old and in poor health. Later, how-
ever, his enemies were accused of killing him.

Gaius Gracchus. — Gains Gracchus, brother of Tiberius,
was twenty-one years old at the time of his brother's death.
He immediately took up his brother's plans. He was a
more daring and more eloquent man, and won instant
applause from the people.

\} Summarized translation : / have built the road from Capua to
Rhegiwu, and have placed upon it all the bridges, milestones, and des-
patch-bearers. From Capua to Rhegium is three hundred and twenty -one
{Roman) miles. As prat or in Sicily I have conquered and returned to
their masters nine hundred and seventeeti fugitives. I also have first
caused the shepherds to yield the ptibl'.c lands to cultivators. I have built
a forum and public temples.'\

184 THE ROMAhl PEOPLE.

He was elected quaestor and sent to Sardinia in 126 B.C.
The winter was severe and the soldiers had not warm enough
clothes. Gains went from city to city to ask clothing of the
inhabitants. When his term of office was at an end, the
senate ordered him to remain in his province, but Gaius
returned to Rome. The censors wishing to punish him for
this, Gaius said to them: "The law demanded of me ten
campaigns, I have made twelve; the law installed me for
but one year, I remained three. I have seen no festivities.
I have received no gifts. I have spent none of the people's
money. The purse I took with me I have brought back
empty. Others have taken out casks of wine and brought
them back full of gold."

In 123 B.C. he was elected tribune of the people, and had
at once the support of all. Never yet had so eloquent an
orator been heard in Rome. He spoke with energy, gesticu-
lating and walking about, and often raising his voice to a
shout. All previous orators, speaking from the rostrum in
the public square, had faced the senate chamber; Gaius faced
the people as a sign that he considered the assembly to be
the real sovereign.

Measures of Gaius Gracchus (123 b.c). — Gains carried
a number of laws which transformed Roman society:

I. An agrarian law ordered the resumption of public lands
in the most fertile regions, in order to distribute them among
poor citizens.

II. A corn law decreed that the state should buy grain
and sell it at a reduced price to the poor citizens of Rome.

III. A third law ordained that the price of clothing sup-
plied to the soldiers should no longer be deducted from their
pay.

In these ways the poorer citizens were to share the wealth
of the state, which the rich had heretofore kept for them-
selves: lands for those who were willing to go away from the
city, grain for those who stayed at home, and clothing for
those who served in the army.

THE GRACCHI.

185

o z

o
n

1 86

THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

IV. A fourth law transformed the criminal courts.
Hitherto all the judges were senators, and therefore, of
course, nobles, which made it very difficult to convict a
noble. Gains secured the appointment of knights as judges.^
He said to the senate: *' With this stroke I have broken the
pride and power of the nobles." " Even if you kill me,
can you pluck from your side the sword which I have planted
there ? "

He also undertook the construction of great roads, built
in a straight line, paved with huge flagstones, with posts to
mark the miles, and mounting-stones for horsemen.

At the expiration of his term he again presented himself
as a candidate ar.d was unanimously reelected. He had
other projects in mind. He proposed
that all the Italians, or at least the
Latins, should be made Roman citi-
zens, in order to increase the num-
ber of citizens. He secured the
foundation of colonies at Capua and
Tarentum in Italy, and, in Africa, on
the old site of Carthage.

The senate was anxious to turn the
people against him, and arranged with
another tribune, Livius, for the intro-
duction of even more popular meas-
ures. Gaius asked for two colonies..
Livius proposed twelve. The consul
Fannius spoke against the idea of
granting citizenship to the Latins.
He said to the people: " When the
Latins become citizens, do you think
that you will have the same place in
the assemblies, games, and festivals ?
Do you not see that these people will crowd you out of
everything ? "

^ The system was changed seven times within fifty-three years.

ROMAN MILESTONE.

THE GRACCHI. 187

Gaius was sent to Africa to found the colony of Junonia
at Carthage. At the end of three months he returned
to find his party weakened and his personal enemy, Opimius,
elected consul. Gaius presented himself as a candidate for
the tribunate, but failed of election (122 b.c. ).

Death of Gaius Gracchus. — Opimius convoked the
assembly on the Capitoline hill to repeal the laws of Gaius.
The two parties found themselves together and began to
fight; they were obliged to stop on account of rain, but not
before a lictor had been killed.

On the following day Opimius called the senate together
and had the body of the dead lictor brought to the door of
the senate chamber. The senators went out and looked at
it, then came back and voted " that the consuls should be
empowered to save the Republic." Opimius commanded
the nobles and knights to come around the next day. In
the night he sent a force to occupy the Capitol.

The next morning Gaius, with three thousand of his sup-
porters, withdrew to the Aventine Mount. The consul came
to attack them with the nobles, their slaves, and the Cretan
archers. Gaius was unwilling to fight. He took refuge in
the temple of Diana, where he attempted suicide, and was
prevented by his friends. He tried to flee in the direction
of the Tiber, but was overtaken by the enemy near the
wooden bridge. Two of his friends lost their lives while
defending the bridge, but they gave him time to escape to a
sacred grove, whure he had his slave kill him. Three
thousand of his party were killed; their bodies were thrown
into the Tiber, their goods confiscated, and their wives for-
bidden to wear mourning (121 B.C.).

A story is told that, before the battle, the consul had offered
its weight in gold fur the head of Gaius Gracchus. The man
who brought it removed the brain and filled the cavity with
molten lead.

The consul had the laws of Gaius Gracchus repealed, and
the senate was once more master of the government. But

1 88 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

the Roman people remained divided in two hostile parties,
that of the nobles and senate {optunates), and that of the
people {^populares).

SOURCES.

Appian Civil Wars, Bk. i, cc. i-iii.

Florus Bk. iii, cc. xiii-xv.

Livy Epit., lviii-lx.

Plutarch Tiberius and Gains Gracchus.

Paterculus Bk. ii, §§ 1-4, 6, 7.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy c. xxxviii.

Ihne Bk. vi, c. xvi ; Bk. vii, cc. i-vi.

Mommsen Bk. iv, cc. i-iii.

Abbott c. vi, §§ 85-87.

Botsford c. vii, pp. 1 51-160.

Greenidge c. ix, pp. 331-333.

How and Leigh cc. xxxiii, xxxiv.

Morey c. xix.

Myers c. xii, pp. 206-222.

Pelham Bk. iv, c. i, pp. 201-214.

Shuckburgh c. xxxv.

Merivale Fall of the Koman Kepublic, c. i,

pp. 1-31.

Long Decline of the Roman Kepicblic.

Ramsay and Lanciani. . . . Manual of Komaji Antiquities, c. vii.

Beesly, A. H The Gracchi, Marius and Sulla.

(Epochs.)

CHAPTER XIV.
THE PERIOD OF MARIUS AND SULLA.

Marius. — Two years after the death of Gaius Gracchus
Marius was elected tribune of the people (119 B.C.). He
was not a noble; he came from Arpinum, a small town in
Latium, and had, like the ancient Romans, lived the life of
a peasant and a soldier; he had never learned to read and
had no acquaintance with Greek. The great family of
Metellus favored him and secured his election.

Marius was opposed to the nobles. It was the custom
for candidates to stand on the bridges across which the voters
passed and watch them deposit their ballots. Marius pro-
posed a law making these bridges narrower. The consul
ordered him to come to the senate chamber; Marius obeyed
the summons, and threatened to have the consul arrested.
The law was passed.

When Marius presented himself for election as aedile, the
nobles prevented his election. He was elected praetor, being
last on the list, but was prosecuted for buying votes, and
acquitted only on a tied vote. After the expiration of his
praetorship he was sent to Spain. He then made peace with
the nobles, and Metellus, who had become consul, took him
with him to make war in Africa.

War against Jugurtha. — West of the African province
lay the land of the Numidians, a race of horsemen, hunters,
and shepherds. They had won fame in the Punic wars by
their agility in using the bow and spear on horseback. The
king of the Numidians was allied with Rome. His nephew

189

190 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Jugurtha served in the army which besieged Numantia, and
Scipio had been struck with his bravery.

When the king died he divided his kingdom among his
two sons and his nephew Jugurtha (118 b.c). The three
princes quarrelled, and Jugurtha had one of them assassinated
(117 B.C.). The senate divided the kingdom between
Jugurtha and the other one. War soon broke out between
them, and the senate sent a deputation commanding Jugurtha
to cease fighting. Jugurtha had the king, his cousin, put
to death. A consul came from Rome with an army;
Jugurtha offered him no resistance, but made terms with him.

At Rome a report spread about that the nobles had
received money from Jugurtha. Memmius, a tribune, spoke
against the nobles, and the people ordered Jugurtha to come
to Rome and explain the matter. He appeared before the
assembly, but another tribune, probably paid by him, for-
bade him to speak. There was another Numidian prince in
Rome at the time, a grandson of Massinissa; the Roman
people wished to give the kingdom to him, but Jugurtha
heard of the plan and had him assassinated. The senate
then ordered Jugurtha to leave the city, and Rome declared
war against him (no b.c).

It was said that from the time that he fought in the Roman
army in Spain, Jugurtha had recognized the venality of the
nobles. " At Rome," he said, "everything is for sale."— There
was also a story that on quitting Rome he cried : '* Ah, venal
city, thou wouldst sell thyself if thou but found a purchaser! "

The army sent against Jugurtha was surprised and sur-
rounded in its camp and forced to surrender. Jugurtha,
after making the soldiers pass under the yoke, released them
on condition that they should leave his kingdom within ten
days.

The senate broke this treaty and sent Metellus, the con-
sul, to command an army in Africa. He e^te^ed Numidia
and began to ravage the country (109 b.c). At the end of
a year, Jugurtha sued for peace. Metellus promised to

THE PERIOD OF MARIUS ^ND SULLA, 191

grant it, but demanded the surrender of his elephants,
horses, arms, and Roman deserters, and the payment of two
hundred thousand pounds of silver. Jugurtha complied in
every particular. Then JMetellus demanded the surrender of
his person, but rather than this Jugurtha preferred to renew
the war.

The campaign which followed was a severe one. The
army marched across deserts of burning sand, subjected to
sudden attacks by the Numidian cavalry. Marius made
himself popular with his soldiers by sharing their hardships;
he slept on the ground and assisted in the work of construct-
ing entrenchments and palisades.

When the election period was drawing near, Marius asked
Metellus to let him go to Rome and offer himself as a
candidate lor the consulship, but he at first refused. Twelve
days before the elections he succeeded in getting permission
to leave. He reached Rome just in time to be elected, and
the people gave him command of the war against Jugurtha
(107 B.C.).

Marius now introduced a new policy. Hitherto no man
coiild enlist in a legion unless he possessed a small amount
of property. Marius accepted all who offered themselves,
even actual paupers. After this fighting became a profession,
with a usual term of twenty-five years' service.

The war lasted over a year. Jugurtha withdrew into the
territory of his father-in-law and neighbor, Bocchus, king of
Mauritania, who returned with him into Numidia. The
Roman army again narrowly escaped capture. Bocchus
preferred to treat with the Romans; he proposed a peace,
offering to deliver up Jugurtha if Rome would give him
favorable terms.

Marius sent his quaestor Sulla, a young noble, to negotiate
with Bocchus. Under pretext of treating with the Romans
they tricked Jugurtha into coming to a certain hill; Mauri-
tanian warriors then jumped from ambush and captured him
alive (106 B.C.).

192 THE ROM^N PEOPLE.

When Marius celebrated his triumph at Rome a year later,

Jugurtha figured in the procession. He was then taken to

an underground prison and left naked to die of cold and

hunger (104 B.C.).

It is said that the lictors who escorted him to the prison tore
off his robe and lacerated his ears in taking the ornaments from
them. We are also told that Jugurtha, who had become insane
during the triumphal march, thought himself at the baths and
said, " How cold your hot rooms are ! "

Invasion by the Cimbri and Teutons. — The war with
Jugurtha was scarcely over when Rome had to face a new
and great danger. Two peoples, the Cimbri and the Teutons,
had left the north of Germany and were marching across
Europe in search of a place in which to settle. They were
bringing with them all their possessions, their wives,
children, and slaves, their cattle and dogs, with their house-
hold goods in leather-covered wagons drawn by oxen. They
were large men, with light hair and blue eyes, and their food
was raw beef.

A Roman general was sent into Noricum, an allied terri-
tory south of the Danube, to turn them back. He was
defeated, however, and his army destroyed.

Still the barbarians made no attempt to attack Italy, but
invaded Gaul, which for four years they ravaged and pillaged.
They finally reached the Rhone. One Roman army was
defeated in 109 b.c. ; another was defeated and surrounded
in 107 B.C., and forced to pass under the yoke. Still a third
was defeated and its general taken prisoner. At length, near
Orange, two Roman armies, which were occupying separate
camps because of trouble between their generals, were
exterminated one after the other (105 b.c). Eighty thousand
soldiers are said to have perished. Five Roman armies had
been destroyed.

Rome now believed that the barbarians would march
directly into Italy, and the alarmed people, feeling they
could trust no one but Marius, elected him consul (104 b.c).
Marius returned from Africa and led an army to the defence

THE PERIOD OF MARIUS AND SULLA.

193

of Gaul. But the Cimbri and Teutons, instead of attacking
Italy, entered Spain, and stayed there two years.

During these two years Marius remained at the head of
the army ; contrary to law, the people elected him consul for
three successive years. This gave him time to drill his men.
He made them take long marches, carrying their arms and
the rest of their equipment ; he accustomed them to prepar-
ing their own food ; he had them learn swordsmanship as it
was taught in the gladiatorial schools, a valuable exercise in
close combat. The jave-
lin used by the legion-
aries, the pilum, was
impracticable, because
the enemy might pick it
up and use it against the
Romans. Marius sub-
stituted a wooden pin
for one of the iron pins
which fastened the point
to the handle; when the
pilum struck the enemy
this pin broke and ren-
dered the weapon useless
until repaired.

Defeat of the Teutons
(102 B.C.). — At last the
barbarians left Spain.
The Cimbri went around
by the Danube to enter
Italy from the north.
The Teutons and Am-
brones followed the
shore of the Mediter-

, T-u 1 MARIUS.

ranean to enter Italy

from the west. The latter arrived a whole year before the

Cimbri.

194 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

The soldiers of Marius in their camp near Aquae Sextiae
were surprised to find themselves face to face with an army
of tall, wild-looking warriors, who, with an. unfamiliar war-
cry, provoked them to battle.

Marius was unwilling to risk a battle until his soldiers
should become accustomed to the fearful aspect of the
barbarians.

The Teutons, failing to entice the Romans from their
camp, decided to leave them and march across the Alps.
Marius followed them cautiously until near Aquae Sextiae
(Aix) he found himself in an advantageous position. Here
was fought a terrific battle which resulted in the practical
annihilation of the Teutons (102 B.C.).

They say that so many bodies were left on the field that the
soil was enriched and yielded greater harvests, and that for
years the inhabitants fenced in their vineyards with the bom s
of the dead.

Marius had the arms and spoils of the barbarians collected
in a heap; then, robing himself in purple and crowning his
soldiers with laurel, he set fire to the mass.

Defeart-^of the Cimbri (loi b.c). — The Cimbri had
crossed the Alps on the north and came down into Italy
through the valley of the Adige. The consul Catulus was
sent to stop them. Marius, elected consul for the fifth time,
came to join Catulus,- and they united their armies. The
Cimbri awaited the arrival of the Teutons before making an
attack.

It is said that they sent to ask Marius for lands for themselves
and their brothers. Marius asked what brothers they meant.
The envoys replied, " Our Teuton brothers." Then Marius
laughed and said, " Trouble no longer about your brothers, for
we have already granted them land which they will keep for-
ever." The envoys were angry at this and told him that he
would be punished first by them, then by the Teutons when
they should arrive. " They are already here," replied Marius,
"and you may greet them." Whereupon the Teuton chiefs
were led out in chains.

A great battle followed near Vercellse in which the Cimbri

Longitude 12 East from 14

ITALY

Before the Social WaP36
B. C. 90

(After Beloch) '
I I Ager Romanus
I I Cnlnnien
I , -I Allied States

SCALE OF MILES
JO
nvich__](

THE PERIOD OF MARIUS AND SULLA. 195

met a similar fate to that which had befallen the Teutons
(loi B.C.). The entire people was either massacred or taken
prisoner.

Disturbances in Rome. — Marius was now regarded as the
savior of Italy; he received from the people the title of
third founder of Rome and was elected consul for the sixth
time. He had become master of the government, together
with two democratic leaders [populares) who had aided him
and were elected at the same time: Saturninus, tribune of the
people, and Glaucia, praetor.

They revived the reforms of Gains Gracchus and proposed
a number of laws : first, a law providing for the resumption
of the territory just ravaged by the Cimbri, and the distribu-
tion of it to citizens and Italians; second, a law ordaining
the sale to each citizen of a certain quantity of grain at a
very low price, much less than its worth; third, a law creat-
ing colonies for veteran soldiers who had served under
Marius, each of whom received one hundred acres of land.

The nobles opposed these measures. One of the tribunes
declared himself opposed to them, but Saturninus carried
them in spite of his veto. There was fighting in the assem-
bly. The party supporting the senate broke the voting-urns,
but the veterans of Marius drove them from the assembly and
the laws were passed. It was decided that the magistrates
and senators must swear allegiance to these laws within five
days. Marius promised the senate that he would not swear,
but was the first to take the oath the next day. The senate
followed his example, with the exception of Metellus, the
conqueror of Jugurtha, who refused to take the oath and
was condemned to exile.

Saturninus and Glaucia were now masters of Rome; they
bent the assembly to their will by the use of armed force.
They had a candidate for office struck down in the open
street because he did not please them.

The people were indignant and turned against them.
The senate charged Marius with the work of putting them

196 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

down. Marius, not daring to refuse, attacked them.
Saturninus and Glaucia established themselves on the
Capitoline hill, but the water-conduits were cut and they
had to surrender. Glaucia was killed. Saturninus had been
shut up in the senate chamber; the mob climbed on the
roof and, pulling off the tiles, stoned him to death. His
head was borne off on the point of a pike (100 b.c).

The laws were repealed, Metellus recalled from exile, and
the senate once more resumed control.
. The Revolt of the Italians. — The people living in and
around Rome were still the only Roman citizens. Rome had
not created a new tribe since 241 b.c. The Italians were still
allies, that is to say, subjects obliged to fight under Roman
command. For two centuries they had served in Roman
armies at their own expense, unable to become superior
officers, to be elected magistrates, or even to vote in the
assemblies; they were still subject to Roman magistrates,
who could have them beaten or executed without a trial.
They shared the dangers and expenses but none of the
honors or powers. Like the plebeians of former times, they
began to claim equality with the Romans.

Gains Gracchus had attempted to gain citizenship for
them; after his fall his party still proposed reforms of this
kind. The senatorial party, however, always opposed them,
even carrying a law forbidding allies to settle in Rome, and
finally ordering an investigation to discover any that might
be trying to pass for citizens (95 b.c).

At the same time the senators and knights were disputing
over the right to furnish judges for the criminal courts.
Drusus, a young tribune supported by the senate, presented
a set of laws which should satisfy all parties. He also con-
sulted with the allies and proposed a law declaring them
Roman citizens.

We are told that a troop of ten thousand allies (Marsi) armed
with hidden weapons marched on Rome by a circuitous route.
They were met by Domitius, a former consul, who asked their

THE PERIOD OF MARIUS AND SULLA. 197

leader where they were going. " We are going to Rome,
whither the tribune has summoned us," was the reply. Domi-
tius told them that the senate had decided to grant them the
right of citizenship, and persuaded them to return to their own
country.

The consul attempted to oppose the law, but it was
passed. Drusus died suddenly; it was thought that he was
assassinated. The senate declared his laws void and began
to proceed against the allies for having supported him.

The allies were armed, many of them having just fought
under Marius. As the Romans refused them citizenship,
they resolved to win it by force. This was the beginning of
the Social War, so called because it was fought between
Rome and her socii or allies.

The rebels were the Apennine mountaineers, brave and
warlike, and simple in their mode of life; in the south the
Samnites, who had never become reconciled to Rome; in
the north the Marsi, whose well-known courage had given
rise to the proverb: " Who can triumph over the Marsi or
without the Marsi .? "

They made their plans together, exchanging hostages in
token of mutual obligation. A Roman proconsul, learning
that the city of Asculum had given hostages to another city,
went to Asculum on a public feast-day, and threatened the
assembled people; the inhabitants killed him, together with
all the Roman citizens in the town. Immediately after this
the allies sent to Rome to demand the rights of citizenship.
The senate refused and passed a law providing for trial of
the Romans who were accused of inciting the revolt.

The allies then severed their connection with Rome, and
organized an independent government on the Roman model :
two consuls, two praetors, and a senate of five hundred
members. They chose for their capital the city of Corfinium
and named it Italia. The Samnites issued a coinage,
inscribed in the Oscan tongue. One of these pieces repre-
sented a bull, the Samnite emblem, mangling a wolf, the
emblem of Rome.

198 THE ROMAIC PEOPLE.

Rome was greatly disturbed. Sentinels were posted at the
gates and on the city wall, and all the citizens wore their
war-cloaks. Rome was supported by all the provinces and
a part of Italy, the Greeks in the south and the Umbrians
and Etruscans in the north.

The war broke out in two quarters; in each a Roman
consul held chief command, assisted by five legates or Roman
praetors; opposing him was an Italian consul, with six
praetors. Each of these chiefs had an army. In the north
the commander-in-chief, a Marsian named Pompaedius Silo,
held the mountains against the forces of Rome. In the
south the commander-in-chief, a Samnite named Papius
Mutilus, attacked Campania.

For the first year (90 b.c.) the allies had the upper hand.
They repulsed the Romans in the north, while the Samnites
conquered Campania in the south. Rome had not enough
soldiers left to defend Latium, and, contrary to all custom,
enlisted freedmen as legionaries.

Right of Citizenship Extended to the Italians. — The
Etruscans and Umbrians, the northern allies, had so far
remained faithful to Rome; they now began to show signs
of agitation. Reports were heard of insurrection in Spain,
Gaul, and Asia. The Romans were alarmed and made up
their minds to give in.

A law was passed granting the right of citizenship to all
Rome's allies in Italy who had not revolted, on condition
that they should adopt the Roman laws (90 b.c).

Rome continued the war with her rebellious allies until
she conquered them. Her armies forced their way into the
mountains, defeated the Marsi, and besieged Asculum.

The consul took Asculum, executed the chief inhabitants,
and drove the others naked from the town. Pompaedius
Silo was killed in battle. All the rebels surrendered, with
the exception of one Samnite army which continued the war
in the mountains.

The Romans then passed a law extending the freedom of

THE PERIOD OF MARIUS AND SULLA. 199

i -,
the city to all Italians (89 b.c. ). They granted after victory
what they had refused before. But this unnecessary war had
destroyed the flower of the Roman army and ended in the {
destruction of the free population of Italy. /

Marius had commanded an army in this war, but, being
old and sick, he distinguished himself only by his lack of
energy. He ceased to be regarded as the greatest general in
Rome.

* Results of the Social War. — This war had cost Rome
and Italy probably three hundred thousand lives. It had
taught Rome that her own municipal government was
unfitted to administer the whole peninsula, and that those
who bore the burdens of the staie must share in its citizen-
ship and its honors, as well as its obligations. But the
relief granted to the Italians was more apparent than real.
Their citizenship was of no political advantage to them
unless they went to Rome to vote. This of course the vast
majority of them could not do. It was a great thing, how-
ever, for the mother city to have once conceded the principle
that others than residents in or near Rome must be taken
into account, and that a mere local city government could
not control a nation. Such an idea as that of a representa-
tive system had not yet dawned upon the world. It might
have prevented many of the troubles which speedily followed.
For the corrupt senatorial party was still bound to rule or
ruin. It succeeded only in ruining, as we shall presently
see. ' ^

The incorporation of the Italians raised the registry of /
citizens from 394,336 to 900,000.

Sulla. — Marius was succeeded by Sulla, who belonged to
the famous patrician family of the Cornelii, though of a
decayed branch. His youth was passed in the company of
comedians. He was a violent man, with a red face covered
with white spots, bright eyes, and a terrible expression when
roused to anger.

He first distinguished himself as quaestor with Marius in

200

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

the Numidian war; he had a seal made representing himself
in the act of receiving the captive Jugurtha. He was one
of the chief officers in the army that defeated the Cimbri.
Later he was sent to Cappadocia as pro-
praetor, whence he returned with a fortune
and was so lucky as to escape the charge
of peculation.

In the Social War he commanded the
army which won Campania back from the
Samnites, and earned the reputation of a
great general. He tried to win the hearts
of his soldiers, and he succeeded by
methods unknown to the Roman generals
of antiquity; he let his men do what they
pleased.

SULLA. After the war Sulla was elected consul

and given command of the war against Mithridates in
Asia.

Mithridates. — On the shores of the Black Sea (Euxine
Sea) a new state had grown up, the kingdom of Pontus.
Its kings claimed descent from Persian princes of the family
of Darius, although their subjects were barbarians. They
still worshipped the Persian god, but their soldiers and
ministers were Greeks, and Greek was the language of the
court. Established first on the mountains, they had
descended to the coast and settled in a Greek city, Sinope.
They really became half Greek.

One of these kings, Mithridates, was Rome's last adversary
in the East. He lost his father in his early youth, and his
mother, a Greek princess of Syria, and his tutors, who
governed in his name, tried to put an end to him. He
perceived their intention, and, at the age of fourteen, with-
drew into the mountains.

At the age of twenty he returned to Sinope, assumed the
royal power and imprisoned his mother. His first object
was to increase his kingdom. Greek officers came to drill

THE PERIOD OF MARIUS AND SULLA, 201

his soldiers in the Greek fashion, and formed a phalanx of
six thousand men.

At this time the Crimean peninsula on the opposite coast
of the Black Sea was occupied by Greek cities; these cities
had formerly won wealth by trr.ding in grain, but were long
since impoverished by the tribute exacted by their neighbors,
the barbaric Scythians. These Greeks asked help of Mithri-
dates, who sent an expedition which repulsed the bar-
barians, and Mithridates became king of the Greek countries
on the north of the Black Sea.

COIN OF MnHRIDATES.

Mithridates next conquered Colchis, which consisted of a
fertile plain and wooded mountains, lying at the foot of the
Caucasus, at the extremity of the Black Sea; then Lesser
Armenia, a region of steep mountains, commanding the
Black Sea on the southeast. His kingdom was now com-
posed of three separate bits of territory around the Black
Sea, unable to communicate except by sea. Crimea fur-
nished him grain, Colchis wood, and tar for his ships.

The Sarmatae and Bastarnae, the savage peoples occupying
the great plains between the Don and the Danube, were his
allies and furnished him great strong soldiers.

Revolt of Asia. — The old Hellenic kingdom of Pergamum
belonged to Rome, the last king having bequeathed it to the
Roman people in 133 b.c. ; it had become the province
known as Asia (see page 142). It was a rich country, and
the Romans drained all its resources. They exacted from

202 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

the inhabitants a tenth part of their harvest, control of their
pasture-lands, and customs duties. The publicans who
bought the right to collect the customs exacted more than
their due, and if a man refused to pay, sold him into slavery.
Often a city was obliged to borrow money at an exorbitant
rate of interest (sometimes more than 24 per cent) in order
to pay its taxes; her creditors were Roman knights who
might imprison or torture the officials of the city. The
proconsul confiscated inheritances, sold judgments, imposed
enormous fines, and shared with the publicans in pillaging
the province. Rutilius, a quaestor, undertook to defend the
inhabitants. Returning to Rome the publicans accused
him, and the court, composed of knights who were in league
with the publicans, condemned him to exile. There were,
it was said, one hundred thousand Italians in the province,
employed by the bankers, publicans, merchants, usurers,
and slave-dealers.

The rest of Asia Minor was divided between petty kings
ruling over small barbaric peoples, and the Greek coast
cities. Mithridates spent a number of years enlarging his
kingdom by subjugating these peoples. The senate ordered
him to surrender his conquests, and he stopped for a time,
but took advantage of the Social War to make a sudden
attack on these weak neighbors.

He dispersed the armies of the kings. Aquilius, the

senate's onvoy, a man hated for his avarice, had attacked his

territory, but was defeated and took refuge in the Greek city

of Mitylene, whose inhabitants gave him up. Mithridates

sent him from one city to another, bound on a donkey,

beaten all the while with rods and calling his name aloud.

He then had him executed.

A story is told of molten gold being poured down his throat
that he might be " satiated with it."

The victorious Mithridates came to an agreement with the
Greeks in Asia, who were exasperated against the publicans.
All at once they rose and massacred all Latin-speaking

THE PERIOD OF MARIUS AND SULLA. 203

persons (who, we are told, were eighty thousand in number);
they left their bodies unburied and confiscated their goods.

Mithridates was now master of the province. He abolished
all taxes for five years and established himself in Pergamum.

The Athenians, who had hitherto been allies of Rome,
joined Mithridates. Archelaos, commander of the fleet of
Mithridates, cruised among the islands of the ^gean Sea;
attacking Delos, a trading port of Italian merchants, he took
possession of it, massacred the men (twenty thousand, it is
said), and sold the women and children.

War in Rome. — Sulla was given charge of the war against
Mithridates. His army was already assembled in Campania.
Marius tried to take the command from him. At this time
Sulpicius, the tribune, controlled the assembly by force; he
was supported by a band of armed men and six hundred
knights, whom he called his anti-senate, and he secured the
passage of the laws he wanted. Marius came to an under-
standing with him, and a law was passed transferring com-
mand of the war from Sulla to Marius, although the latter
was not a magistrate. Sulla was obliged to leave Rome, and
his son-in-law was killed in a riot.

The soldiers wanted Sulla as their gt:nera], however, and
they killed two officers who were sent to them by Marius.
Six legions then marched on Rome and entered the city
armed. This was the first time that an army broke the
hallowed rule against entering the city. It marks the
beginning of the time when the soldiers of Rome were to
become her masters instead of her servants. In this intru-
sion was the germ of the empire afid also of its ruin.
Militarism was to grow more and more dominant until the
end.

The followers of Marius attempted to defend themselves
by throwing down stones and tiles from the roofs. Sulla
ordered the houses set on fire, and the combat ceased

(87 B.C.).

The senate declared Marius and some others to be public

204 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

enemies, and Sulpicius was killed. Marius succeeded in
escaping to Africa, after the many adventures related below:

Marius fled to Ostia and there embarked with his servants.
Stormy weather obliged them to land again on the coast of
Latium ; they wandered about without food, fearing capture at
every moment. In the evening they ran across some cow-
herds who recognized Marius and warned him that they had
just seen horsemen going by in pursuit of him ; they could not,
however, give him anything to eat. Marius and his men hid
in a wood and there spent the night.

The next day they set out to walk along the shore. When
near Minturnae, they saw horsemen approaching and threw
themselves into the sea ; they succeeded in reaching two boats
which were near by and got aboard of them. Marius was sup-
ported by two slaves, for he was too fat and helpless to move.
The horsemen cried to the boatmen to come ashore or else
throw Marius into the sea. The sailors were frightened and
landed near a swamp, where they put Marius ashore, promising
to return for him when he should be rested ; then they went
away.

Marius, alone and discouraged, started to cross the swamp,
which was covered with mud-holes. He reached a small hut,
where an old man took pity on him and offered to conceal him
in a safe place ; he led him to a hollow near the river and cov-
ered him up with roses. The horsemen arrived and told the
old man that they were seeking an enemy of the Roman people.
Marius heard them and threw off his clothes that he might hide
himself still further in the water. This movement disclosed
his presence.

Naked and covered with mud he was taken to Minturnae and
handed over to the magistrates of the city, who deliberated
long over his case. They finally resolved to kill him, but none
of the inhabitants were willing to undertake the work. A Cim-
brian agreed to do it. Sword in hand he entered the prisoner's
chamber. Out of the darkness the Cimbrian heard a voice cry:
'•Wretch, darest thou kill Caius Marius } " He fled in a panic,
dropping his sword and crying, " I cannot kill Caius Marius."

The people of Minturnae decided to spare Marius; they led
him to the shore and put him on a ship.

Marius escaped capture once more in Sicily and landed at
Carthage. The governor of Africa sent a lictor to forbid his
landing in the province. For a moment he stood silent. The
lictor asked what word he should carry back to the governor.
" Tell him," he said, "that you have seen Marius, sitting among
the ruins of Carthage."

First War against Mithridates. — Sulla now turned his
attention towards Greece. He landed in Epirus with thirty

THE PERIOD OF MARIUS AND SULLA. 205

thousand legionaries and a small number of horsemen.
Mithridates, with his army, had come from Asia through
Thrace and Macedonia, and was occupying Bceotia. At
Athens the anti-Roman party had chosen as their leader a
professor of oratory, Aristion, executed the supporters of
Rome, and admitted a garrison sent by Mithridates at their
request.

Sulla besieged Athens and the Piraeus at once (87 b.c). He
blockaded Athens and tried to storm the Piraeus, which was
guarded by a stone wall fifty-six feet high and sixteen feet
thick, surrounding both the port and the hill. He procured
money by forcing the loan of the treasure in the Greek
temples, and wood by cutting down the famous trees about
Athens, the grove of Lycaeus, and the sacred plane-trees of
the Academia. He had a mound of earth constructed, and
covered with stones, on which to mount his engines and
wooden towers.

They fought for six months until the winter came on, and
the rains prevented Sulla from storming the city. When the
winter was over he resumed the attack, and finally succeeded
in breaking down a part of the wall with a small mine made
of oakum, sulphur, and pitch. He forced an entrance
through the breach, but was stopped by the besieged, and
the next morning the Romans found an improvised wall
facing them. Sulla turned his attention once more to
Athens.

The Athenians, who had been blockaded for a year, were
out of provisions; they had eaten their pack-animals, and
were living on shoes and leather bottles, roots, and the
bodies of the dead.

Sulla learned through his spies that some Athenians had
been heard to complain that one side of the wall was poorly
guarded. He surprised that side and broke down a bit of
it, and through this breach, at midnight, his army entered.
Sulla desired vengeance on the Athenians because they had
jeered from the top of the wall at him and his wife (calling

2o6 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

him a floured mulberry). He scattered his soldiers through
the city with orders to kill every one they saw. Half the
inhabitants were massacred, so that blood is said to have
flowed from the public square to the outskirts of the city,

Sulla now returned to the Piraeus, stormed it and burned
the arsenal. Then he marched into Boeotia and pitched his
camp face to face with the army of Mi thri dates, which,
though three times his number, was composed of Asiatics
and fifteen thousand slaves who had been freed to make up
a phalanx. He attacked them suddenly near Chasronea and
routed them. The fugitives ran towards their camp; the
Romans followed and slew them. Sulla declared his loss to
be only fourteen men, while he had killed or taken prisoner
fifty thousand of the enemy (86 b.c).

Another army of Mithridates, which had been sent by sea,
joined the remnant of the defeated army, entered Boeotia and
camped in the plain of Orchomenus, near a swamp. This
army having an excellent body of cavalry, Sulla had deep
ditches dug to impede its movements. The enemy's cavalry
attacked the Romans at work, and they were on the point of
flight when Sulla, jumping from his horse, ran to them and
cried, "When you are asked where you deserted your
general you may say at Orchomenus." The Romans pulled
themselves together and drove the enemy back to their
camp, almost to the swamp.

The next day they dug a trench so as to shut in the enemy,
and then attacked them. The Asiatics were caught between
the Romans and the swamp and were either killed or
drowned.

Sulla was now master of all Greece. Having no fleet with
which to cross into Asia, he passed the winter in Thessaly.

Supremacy of Marius at Rome. — Sulla had taken care
to secure the election of his own partisans before he left
Rome. The two consuls did not agree, however. One of
them, Cinna, joined the supporters of Marius; driven from
Rome by his colleague, he placed himself at the head of the

THE PERIOD OF MARIUS AND SULLA. 207

army which was gathered in Campania, recalled Marius from
Africa and together they marched on Rome. After a battle
they entered the city and massacred the leading senators.
Sulla was declared a public enemy and Marius elected con-
sul (87 B.C.).

Marius died the next year, leaving Cinna master of Rome.
Cinna secured the passage of a law giving command of the
war against Mithridates to a man of his own party, the
consul Valerius Flaccus.

Flaccus left Italy with an army, and crossing Macedonia
and Thrace arrived in Asia. Sulla was now threatened by a
Roman army and by Mithridates at the same time. He
accepted the proposals made by Mithridates, and went to
Asia to negotiate with him. They concluded a peace by
which Mithridates renounced Greece, the province of Asia,
and the kingdoms he had conquered; he also promised to
pay two thousand talents and to furnish seventy ships fully
equipped and provisioned (84 b.c).

The preceding winter Flaccus had passed at Byzantium,
leaving his army to camp outside the walls. The soldiers
complained of cold, forced their way into the city, massacred
the inhabitants, and took possession of their houses. Flaccus
had a disagreement with Fimbria, his lieutenant, and dis-
missed him. Fimbria went to the camp, addressed the
soldiers and assumed command. Flaccus fled, but was
captured and killed.' Fimbria marched against Mithridates.

Sulla brought his army near Fimbria's camp and set his
men to digging ditches. Numbers of Fimbria's men came
out in their tunics to help in the work. Fimbria called his
soldiers together and addressed them, trying to make them
swear to obey his orders. He began to call the roll, but
the first officer called on refused to take the oath. The
army then joined Sulla.

Fimbria was overcome by this desertion and committed
suicide. Sulla, who was now sole commander of the Roman
armies, spent the winter in the province of Asia, quartering

2o8 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

his soldiers on the inhabitants. The householder had to
furnish each legionary with six drachmae a day and feed all the
guests he might invite to the house. Sulla called the
notables of the province together and announced through
them his thanks to the province, at the same time demand-
ing the payment of twenty thousand talents. To raise this
sum the cities had to mortgage their theatres, gymnasiums,
and harbors. Asia was ruined.

SuUa^s Return to Rome. — Sulla, having won the hearts
of his soldiers by permitting them to pillage Asia, brought
them back to Rome. He had with him forty thousand men,
while against him were the Roman government and the
Italians; but his soldiers were so devoted to him that they
even offered him their money. He landed at Brundisium,
crossed Italy, and entered Campania (fi'^ b.c).

His enemies raised six armies with which to meet him,
but the soldiers were not willing to fight against Sulla.
Cinna's army had already killed its general for trying to force
them into it (84 b.c). The army of Norbanus was defeated
near Capua, this being the first time that two Roman armies
had fought against one another.

Sulla next encountered the army of the consul Scipio.
He offered to make terms; while the discussion was going
on his soldiers talked with those of Scipio and induced them
to join Sulla. Some days later Sulla marched on Scipio's
camp and was joined by the whole army; Scipio, left alone,
was taken prisoner; Sulla let him go.

In the following spring an army commanded by the son
of Marius was put to flight near Sacriportus; the young
Marius fled and shut himself up in Praeneste.

The partisans of Marius left Rome after again massacring
a number of the senators. Sulla entered the city unmolested.

There was still another Roman army in Etruria under the
consul Carbo; advancing to meet Sulla, it resisted him for
some time, but broke up on being attacked by an army
which Metellus was bringing from the north.

THE PERIOD OF MARIUS AND SULLA. 209

Then Pontius Telesinus, with an army of Samnites,
Rome's former enemies, and collecting on his way the frag-
ments of the defeated armies, attempted to blockade
Praeneste; finding himself surrounded, he marched rapidly
on Rome.

It was said that he wished to destroy Rome. " Let us de-
stroy," he said, "these wolves who devour the liberty of Italy.
We must cut down the forest in which they lurk."

The Samnites arrived before the city and camped near the
Colline Gate. Early in the day they repulsed the young
nobles who had come out of the city on horseback. In the
afternoon Sulla arrived, and without waiting to rest his
army, drew it up in line of battle and attacked the Samnites.
This was the most savage battle of the whole war. Sulla's
left wing was driven back to the foot of the wall. Night
ended the fighting. The other wing had meanwhile put the
enemy to rout. The Samnite resistance was broken ; they
tried to withdraw, and were captured while in retreat. Sulla
had them all massacred on the Campus Martius, even those
who had surrendered.

The defenders of Praeneste, which had been blockaded for
eight months, were now without food. Four attempts had
been made to raise the blockade. The besieging party
finally showed them the heads of the conquered chiefs, and
after the defeat of the Samnites they surrendered. Marius
the younger killed himself. Sulla had the senators and
officers executed, together with all the Samnites and men of
Praeneste.

Proscriptions. — Sulla called together the assembly of the
people at Rome, and declared his intention of restoring the
constitution and punishing all those who had fought against
him. His soldiers began a general massacre.

After some days of this one of his supporters suggested
that Sulla should designate those whom he wished to see put
to death, in order to regulate the massacre somewhat. Sulla
accordingly published a list of names. Every man on the

210 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

list was abandoned to the slayers and his goods confiscated.
Whosoever delivered him up or disclosed his whereabouts
was entitled to a share, while any man who helped to con-
ceal him ran the risk of punishment. This list was not final;
Sulla soon published a second, then a third.

Soldiers went in all directions in search of the proscribed,
bringing their heads to Sulla's house, then exposing them
near the Forum. Among those proscribed were the leaders
of the populares, both senators and knights, personal enemies
of Sulla, and even some of his favorites; men of wealth were
sacrificed for their fortunes.

A wealthy Roman, a non-partisan, went to the public square to
read the list of the proscribed. Finding his own«name he cried :
*' Woe is me ! It is my Alban villa that has ruined me." He
was immediately killed.

Ninety senators and twenty-six hundred knights who had
supported Marius were killed. A praetor, a relation of Marius,
was led to the tomb of Catulus, whose death was to be avenged.
There he was fearfully mutilated and tortured to death.

Sulla had the houses and goods of the proscribed sold at
auction. They brought him three hundred and fifty million
sesterces (175,000,00 dollars). His favorites were enabled
to purchase at a low price, and made money for themselves.

Cornelian Laws. — Sulla was absolute master of Rome.
He had himself elected consul, then secured a new power
and a new title: *' dictator charged with the drafting of laws
and organization of the state " (82 b.c). For two years he
promulgated laws without limit of time. They were called
by his name, the Cornelian ^ laws.

Sulla wished to reward his veterans by giving them land.
He had just practically destroyed two Italian peoples who
had assisted his adversaries, the Samnites and Etruscans; he
took away their lands and used them to create military
colonies peopled by his veterans. He thus settled one
hundred and twenty thousand of these veterans. Etruria

* His full name was Lucius Cornelius Sulla.

THB PERIOD OF MARIVS AND SULLA. 211

became a Latin country and the Etruscan language ceased
to be spoken.

Sulla freed all slaves belonging to the proscribed and made
them citizens, giving them his own name. These Cornelii,
ten thousand in number, formed his body-guard. He also
decreed that descendants of the proscribed should never be
eligible to any office.

Sulla now devoted himself to the reorganization of the
government. His plan was to restore to the senate and
nobles that power of which they had gradually been deprived
by the assembly and the tribunes of the people. These were
the details of his plan :

I. The tribunes were deprived of the right to propose laws
to the people.

n. The people could no longer pass a law unless pre-
viously approved by the senate.

HI. No man who had held the office of tribune could
advance to a higher office; this was. designed to keep men
of any importance out of the tribunate.

IV. Sulla filled up the vacancies in the senate, greatly
reduced by the proscriptions, by appointing three hundred
new members from among the knights.

V. He restored to the senators the right of serving as
judges in criminal cases.

VI. He suppressed the censorship. In the future every
magistrate in retiring from office became senator by right.

Death of Sulla. — Sulla celebrated his triumph over
Mithridates, followed by the nobles crowned with flowers
and lauding him as their savior. He attributed his success
less to his own talents than to the favor of the gods (the
ancients regarded Fortune as a divinity). He took the sur-
name Felix (Happy), called in Greek Epaphroditui, favored
of Aphrodite, goddess of happiness. He named his children
Faustus and Fausta (Favored). He established festivals in
honor of Victory; consecrated to Hercules a tenth of his
fortune, and gave to the people banquets where they were

212 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

served with very old wine and food in such abundance that
they could not eat it all, and great quantities were thrown
into the Tiber.

After giving the government once more into the hands of
the senate, Sulla resigned the dictatorship and retired to his
country-seat, where he entertained himself with musicians
and actors. He was well guarded always by hig veterans
and his Cornelii, but he died within a very short time, — ^^in
a fit of rage, it is said (79 B.C.).

His body was brought to Rome and buried on the
Campus Martins. All Italy came to join in his funeral
ceremonies.

* In the dictatorship of Sulla can be seen the essence of
the empire. It was one-man power. If he had had the
constructive genius of a Julius Caesar or the caution and
craft of an Augustus, the principate would have come a
generation earlier than it did.

The old constitution had proved unworkable. But
another generation was to pass before the new system could
come; a period filled with further civil wars.

SOURCES.

Appian Foreign Wars, Bk. II, cc. ii-ix ; Ctvt'l

Wars, Bk. I, cc. iv-xii.

Eutropius Bk. iv, cc. xxvi, xxvii.

Florus Bk. ill, cc. i, iii, v.

Justin Bks. xxxvii. xxxviii.

Livy Epzt. LXii-xc.

Plutarch Marius, Sulla.

Sal lust Jugur thine War.

Paterculus Bk. 11, §§ 1 1 -24.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. xxxix-xlvii.

Ihne Bk. vii, cc. vii-xxiii.

Mommsen Bk. iv, cc. iv-xiii ; Kk. v, cc. i, ii.

Abbott .^.- . . . c. vi, §§ 88-97.

Botsford T7t c. vii, pp. 160-174.

How and Leigh cc. xxxi-xlv.

THE PERIOD OF MARIUS AND SULLA. 213

Morey c. xx.

Myers c. xii, p. 223-c. xiii.

Pelham Bk. iv, c. i, p. 214-c. ii, p. 240 ; c. iii.

Shuckburgli cc. xxxvi-xl.

Beesiy The Gracchi, Marius and Sulla.

Taylor Constitutional and Political History of

Rome, cc. ix-xi.

Long Decline of the Roman Republic.

Menvale General History of Rome, c. xxxii.

Freeman Historical Essays, 2d Ser., Sulla.

CHAPTER XV.
POMPEY.

Pompey. — After Sulla's death, the most important man
in Rome was Gnaeus Pompeius, one of his generals. Pompey
was a noble, son of a consul, and possessed extensive estates
in Picenum. When only twenty-three years of age Pompey
had recruited an army among his own tenants and led them
to Sulla. He fought for Sulla in Italy, then in Sicily and
in Africa.

Sulla became attached to Pompey. He permitted him to
celebrate a triumph, although this was contrary to custom,
Pompey not being old enough to be a magistrate. He also
surnamed him the Great. Pompey became second to Sulla
in Rome.

His figure was fine, like that of Alexander, and his bearing
noble; he lived in great simplicity for a man of such wealth.
He had many followers, especially among the nobles and the
soldiers.

As soon as Sulla was dead, the consul Lepidus began to
attack his work. He proposed to restore the confiscated
lands of the Italians, the political rights of the sons of the
proscribed, and the distribution of grain to the poor citizens
of Rome (which Sulla had stopped). The senate sent him
to Cisalpine Gaul to rid itself of him. Lepidus gathered an
army in his province and tried to force a reelection as
consul. This was the beginning of civil war {yS B.C.).

The senate gave the command of the army to Pompey
although he had not yet become a magistrate. Pompey

214

POMPEY.

215

went to subdue Cisalpine Gaul. Lepidus brought his army
to Rome, but after a battle on the Campus Martius (77 b.c.)
he fled, and died soon after.

War against Sertorius. — ^The civil war was continued in
Spain. Sertorius, formerly an officer under Marius, a man
who haJ risen from the ranks to the point of being elected
consul, had left Rome after Sulla's victory with a number
of companions and taken refuge in Spain, first among the
Moors and later in Lusitania (Portugal).

He won the confidence of the people about him by his
justice and courage. With a small army of seven thousand

2i6 THE ROMAhl PEOPLE.

men he attacked the Roman generals, defeating four of
them, and advanced little by little to the Ebro. He formed
an army of Spanish barbarians, armed and disciplined like
the Roman soldiers and commanded by Roman officers.
He composed a Roman senate of proscribed nobles who
had escaped from Rome and taken refuge in Spain. The
remnant of the army of Lepidus came and joined him. The
chiefs of the Spanish peoples entrusted their sons to his care;
he brought them all to one city and had them brought up
under Roman teachers.

Thus there grew up in Spain a party hostile to the senate.
The senate sent its best generals against it. The first to go
\vas Metellus, who was old and worn, and, being accustomed
to regular warfare, was unable to cope with the ambuscade
attacks made by Sertorius. Pompey was sent to his relief.
Pompey was wounded, but escaped while his enemies were
busy dividing the trappings of his horse. He was saved from
defeat only by the arrival of Metellus (76-74 b.c).

Sertorius said : " If that old woman (meaning Metellus) had
not arrived, I would have sent this child (Pompey) back to
Rome with a good whipping."

Metellus decided to place a price on the head of Seriorius,
and promised one hundred talents (more than 100,000
dollars) to any man that would kill him. Some of his
Roman officers conspired against him, invited him to a
banquet and stabbed him (72 b.c). After his death his
army was dispersed.

War against Spartacus. — There had already been in
Sicily two revolts of ill-treated slaves against their masters
(135 and 103 B.C.). In each case a Roman army had to be
sent to put down the movement.

In 73 B.C. a slave revolt began in Italy. There was at
Capua a gladiatorial school (see page 354) where slaves were
held and trained for the public amusement. Gauls and
Thracians were prepared for this training, because reputed
the bravest of the barbarians.

POMPEY,

217

A band of these gladiators succeeded in escaping. Enter-
ing a cook-shop, they armed themselves with spits and
chopping-knives and left the city, They met on their way
chariots loaded with gladiators' arms; these they seized and
entrenched themselves on a steep, vine-covered mountain.
For their leader they chose a Thracian named Spartacus,
who proved himself an excellent captain.

A small Roman army came and surrounded their moun-

GLADIATORS.

tain. Using the vines as ladders they descended the sharp
peaks, made a sudden attack on the besieging army and put
it to rout. The slave herdsmen of the neighborhood joined
them, and they were soon an army.

Spartacus defeated three small Roman armies and led his
men towards the Alps, where he intended to dismiss them,
some to Thrace, the rest to Gaul. One after the other he
met the armies of the two consuls and repulsed them.

The senate then gave command of the army to Crassus,
one of Sulla's generals and the richest man in Rome,

2i8 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

The army of Spartacus was divided by nations: Germans,
Gauls, and Thracians, all in their separate camps. Spartacus
attempted to go to Sicily to incite an insurrection among
the slaves, but the pirates who had promised to transport his
men left them on the shore. Crassus attacked the bands of
rebels one by one and exterminated them. Spartacus was
killed in a battle (71 B.C.).

Pompey was returning from Spain with his troops, when
he met by chance a band of fugitives and killed them. He
wrote the senate that " Crassus had defeated the slaves, but
that it remained for me to stamp out the war. ' '

Pompey and Crassus, each with his army, arrived before
Rome and arranged together that both should be elected
consuls. Heretofore they had supported the senate, but on
becoming consuls they returned to the popular es, and had
Sulla's chief laws repealed. The censorship was reestablished
and the powers of the tribunes restored (70 b.c).

Verres. — Since Sulla had given criminal jurisdiction back
into the hands of the senators, it had become impossible to
convict a governor of a province; no matter what his crime,
he was always acquitted.

A tribune publicly denounced the governor of Sicily,
Verres, and a young orator named Cicero, undertook to
accuse him before the tribunal (70 b.c).

Verres had been governor of Sicily for three years and had
been guilty of endless abuses, some of which follow:

He sold judgments and offices; no one could be elected
to any city council without making a payment to him. In
this way he extorted from a rich Sicilian over a million
sesterces ($50,000), his finest horses, silver plate, and
carpets. He pronounced judgments regardless of forms.

. He levied exorbitant taxes. From one city he extorted
three hundred thousand bushels of grain beyond what was
due, from another four hundred thousand. One city made
bold to ask that the surplus be returned; the envoys were
scourged and an additional four hundred thousand bushels

POMPEY. 219

exacted. Verres had received from the Roman treasury
thirty-seven million sesterces (nearly $2,000,000) to buy
grain; he kept the money and sent to Rome the grain he
had stolen.

He had a great love for art treasures and took possession
of them wherever he found them. From Messina he took
the statue of Love by Praxiteles, from Agrigentum a beauti-
ful vase, from Segesta the image of Diana, and from Enna
the image of Ceres. When the king of Syria passed through
his province with a collection of treasures to offer at the
Capitol in Rome, Verres took them all from him.

When war broke out against the pirates Verres seized the
opportunity to make the cities furnish ships, supplies, and
sailors; he sold provisions, furloughs, and exemptions. His
fleet, left without soldiers or sailors, was defeated, and the
captains beheaded.

He imprisoned a Roman citizen who was in business at
Syracuse. The citizen escaped to Messina; there Verres
caught him and had him beaten by all his lictors at once
and crucified with his face towards Italy. The victim kept
repeating, ** I am a Roman citizen." Both beating and
putting a citizen to death were forbidden by law.

Verres did not deny these facts; he said, however, that
he had used a third of his extortions to buy his judges.
The most famous lawyer in Rome, Hortensius, was employed
in his defence, and his successor in Sicily tried to prevent
the collection of evidence against him. Cicero's charge was,
however, so convincing that Hortensius could make no
reply. Verres, feeling that there was no further hope for
him, went into exile. This was all his punishment, but the
affair raised so much scandal that the people passed a law
altering the composition of the courts. Senators alone were
no longer allowed to sit as judices (practically jurors), but
knights and tribunes of the treasury were added in equal
numbers by the Aurelian Law,

2 20 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Second War against Mithridates. — Mithridates had
meanwhile resumed the war. With the aid of a general sent
by Sertorius, he once more conquered the little kingdoms
of Asia Minor and attacked the province of Asia, promising
the inhabitants that he would do away with the taxes.

He had reorganized his army, giving up his Greek
phalanx, and drilling it after the Roman model. His
cavalry, mounted on swift horses, were trained to manoeuvre
in small squadrons, feigning flight and suddenly returning
to the charge.

Rome sent Lucullus against Mithridates. He found in
Asia the two legions that had deserted Fimbria for Sulla,
and with great difficulty restored discipline among them
(74 B.C.). His first movement was to take possession of the
Greek city of Cyzicus and destroy Mithridates' fleet
{y^ B.C.). He then entered the kingdoms conquered by
Mithridates, passed through the ravaged country accom-
panied by thirty thousand natives carrying flour, and wintered
in Mithridates' own kingdom (72 B.C.). His soldiers pillaged
the kingdom and found booty so plentiful that an ox
brought only one drachma (twenty cents) and a slave four;
the rest of the booty could not find a purchaser at any price.

The next year Lucullus drove Mithridates back into the
mountains, attacked his camp and captured it. Mithridates
took refuge with his father-in-law, the king of Armenia,
leaving word with his wives and sisters to kill themselves to
avoid capture.

Lucullus spent two years in recovering the Greek cities
from the kingdom of Pontus, which resisted him stubbornly,
and in restoring order in the province of Asia. The Roman
publicans and bankers were tormenting the people to wring
from them the twenty thousand talents exacted by Sulla.
The people were forced to sell their sons and daughters or
submit to torture, — exposure to the sun in summer, to the
cold in winter. Lucullus came to their assistance, and fixed
the interest on their debt at twelve per cent.

POMPEY. 221

War against Tigranes. — Tigranes, father-in-law of Mith-
ridates, ruled over a kingdom which was at the time the
largest in Asia. From the mountains of Armenia he had
conquered the whole country from Media to the Taurus,
even Syria. He had established a new capital, Tigranocerta,
with a wall seventy-seven feet thick; he had dragged the
inhabitants of several Greek cities here by force to make up
a population. He called himself King of Kings; four kings
formed his escort; when he seated himself on his throne they
remained standing on the steps hand in hand, and when he
rode out they ran before him.

At first he refused to receive Mithridates, placed him in a
strong fortress and left him there for almost two years.
When Lucullus sent to him to demand the surrender of
Mithridates, he was offended by the proposal, and also by
the fact that Lucullus addressed him simply as king, instead
of king of kings. He sent for Mithridates and decided to
attack the Romans.

Lucullus took the offensive, crosse I the Euphrates and
opened the attack. Tigranes was taken by surprise and fled
with his treasure and his wives.

Tigranes had let himself be persuaded by his courtiers that
Lucullus would not dare resist so great a king and would flee
at the sight of him. When a messenger came to announce the
arrival of Lucullus he had him put to death. After this no one
dared warn him, and he therefore took no measures to defend
himself.

The Romans laid siege to Tigranocerta. Tigranes came
to relieve the city.

Lucullus led twelve thousand foot-soldiers and three
thousand horsemen across the Tigris in the presence of the
opposing army, and without giving the archers time to let
fly their arrows, mounted the hill with his infantry. Reach-
ing the summit he cried, ** Victory! " attacked the fleeing
Armenian cavalry, and hurled himself upon the infantry.
The Romans had nothing further to do but slaughter at will.

According to the account given by Lucullus, Tigranes

2 22 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

had fifty-five thousand horsemen, one hundred and fifty
thousand foot-soldiers, twenty thousand archers and slingers,
and thirty-five thousand pioneers. The Romans lost but
five killed and one hundred wounded (69 B.C.).

It is said that, before the battle, Tigranes, seeing the small
number of Romans, said : " For an embassy they are many, but
for an army very few."

Lucullus took Tigranocerta and sent home the Greeks and
barbarians that Tigranes had brought there. He seized
Tigranes' treasure, amounting to eight thousand talents,
and from the rest of the booty gave eight hundred drachmas
($160) to each soldier. His army was, however, too small,
and his soldiers did not pay much attention to his orders.
They thought him too proud, and reproached him for
making them live in camp instead of letting them sack the
rich cities, accusing him also of keeping all the money for
himself and of employing them only as escort for his spoil-
laden chariots and camels. They refused to fight and
allowed Mithridates to return in arms to the borders of his
kingdom (6^ B.C.). Then Pompey came to assume com-
mand, and Lucullus was left with only sixteen hundred men
(66 B.C.).

War against the Pirates. — The ports of Cilicia had long
been infested with pirates, who made a business of capturing
men and selling them as slaves. Rome had already sent her
generals against them and even created a province of Cilicia
with a proconsul and an army. It was not easy to destroy
them, however, for, when pursued, they fled to the inacces-
sible mountains of the Taurus.

While Rome was occupied with her wars, the pirates were
steadily increasing in number; they lent assistance to Mithri-
dates and Tigranes, and finally formed an actual state with
officers, strongholds, arsenals, and a fleet of war- vessels
(numbering one thousand, it is said). They did not confine
their operations to the Asiatic coast, but penetrated the
Adriatic Sea and sailed around the coasts of Sicily and

POMPEY. 223

western Italy. They not only attacked ships, but ravaged
the coast, attacked cities (taking four hundred of them) and
carried off members of rich families to get ransom for them.
In this way they bore away from Italy two Roman praetors,

GREEK PIKAIE VESSHL.

with their escort and lictors, and stole the daughter of a
Roman dignitary on her way into the country.

Their ships were magnificent, with gilded stern, silver oars,
and purple carpet covering the deck ; they had banquets on
board, with musicians to entertain them. They had grown to
despise even the Romans. When a prisoner said he was a
Roman, they amused themselves by pretending to be overcome
with respect, threw themselves on their knees, begged pardon
for their mistake, and brought him a toga so that in future his
high position should not be mistaken. After this they brought
a ladder, and, placing its foot in the sea, invited him to descend
and return to his home in peace. If he refused, they threw him
into the sea.

It was no longer safe to sail on the Mediterranean, and
Rome could not obtain a sufficient supply of grain. The
Roman people demanded energetic action, and passed a law
giving Pompey special powers. He received the right for
three years to command the entire coast fifteen miles back
from the water, to raise one hundred and twenty thousand

2 24 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

soldiers, and equip five hundred galleys. All magistrates
must obey him; twenty-four generals were subject to his
orders. The people had vested Pompey with almost royal
power, against the wish of the senate.

In six weeks Pompey drove the pirates from the waters of
Italy and Sicily, and returned to Rome. In fifty days he
drove them from the Grecian seas, pursued them to Cilicia,
destroyed their fleet and forced them to surrender their
capital. He spared all who gave themselves up and settled
them in some eastern cities that he was repopulating

(67 B.C.).

Pompey in Asia ; Third Mithridatic War. — By passing
another law the people added to Pompey's powers command
of the war against Mithridates and the government of all the
Asiatic provinces. Pompey proceeded to assume command
of the army of Lucullus (66 b.c).

It is said that when the two generals met they began by ex-
changing compliments on their exploits, but ended by upbraiding
one another, Lucullus reproaching Pompey for his ambition,
Pompey reproaching Lucullus for his greed. Their friends
separated them with difficulty.

This war was an easy one, Lucullus having destroyed the
power of the two kings. Pompey pursued the small army
of Mithridates and routed him. Mithridates escaped with
one of his wives. He tried to take refuge with Tigranes, but
Tigranes repulsed him and put a price on his head, while
he himself went to the Roman camp and sued for peace.
Pompey left him in possession of his kingdom, but made him
pay an indemnity of six thousand talents. The Romans
then attacked the Caucasus mountaineers, and advanced
almost to the Caspian Sea (65 e.g.).

Pompey returned to reorganize the conquered countries.
He made of Pontus and Bithynia a Roman province; the
rest of Asia Minor he restored to the petty kings, who were
Rome's allies. Syria, which Tigranes had taken from
Antiochus, was not restored to its former king; Pompey

POMPEY. 225

made it a Roman province, without waiting for orders from
the senate. The Jews attempting resistance, he took
Jerusalem and the Temple (63 b.c).

Meanwhile Mithridates, who had taken refuge north of
the Black Sea, was preparing to resume the war in Europe.
His plan was to lead his allies, the barbarians of the Danube
region, up the valley of the Danube, enlisting the warlike
peoples on his way, and to invade Italy from the Alps. But
his son, who was anxious to supplant him, rebelled and
declared himself the ally of Rome. Mithridates killed him-
self to avoid being captured (63 b.c).

Cicero and Catiline. — Rome was exposed to a great
danger while Pompey was in the east.

Italy was full of discontent. There were the Italians
whose land Sulla had taken to give to his veterans, and
those veterans who had already sold their land; the descend-
ants of the proscribed persons whose possessions Sulla had
confiscated, and men who had been Sulla's followers and
were discontented now that there were no more spoils for
them.

Lucius Sergius Catilina, one of the nobles that had done
Sulla's butchering (he w^as said to have placed his brother's
name on the list in order to get his fortune), was now ruined
and in debt; he tried to unite the malcontents and incite
them to revolution. He had won support among the dissi-
pated and ruined young nobles in Rome by lending them
money and furnishing them hunting dogs and horses. He
arranged with them to assassinate both the consuls on their
way to the Capitol, but the consuls were warned and the
scheme fell through (63 B.C.).

Catiline continued his conspiracies. The anti-senatorial
party supported him secretly. He offered himself for the
consulship, but Cicero was elected over him (65 b.c).

Marcus Tullius Cicero, the most famous of Roman
orators, was only a knight and of moderate fortune. It was
through his eloquence that he won fame and election to every

226

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

office, even the consulship, to which only nobles were
ordinarily eligible. He had studied at Athens and Rhodes,
and also in Asia, with the Greek orators and philosophers;
he spoke easily, and with grace and spirit. He had pleaded
a number of famous cases, and made a number of speeches
in favor of Pompey.

Cicero devoted the year of his consulship to the suppres-
sion of Catiline, who meant to seize the power by force.
Sulla's veterans, who had settled in Etruria, were to march
on Rome, while Roman conspirators were to assassinate
Cicero and the senators and set fire to the city. Cicero was
warned beforehand and began to wear a coat of mail under
his toga, and to walk always with an escort of knights. He
tired to prevent Catiline's election as consul for the coming

year, and succeeded by sup-
porting two candidates who
were friends of Crassus. He
was, however, very nervous
at times. He had no army
with which to meet the con-
spirators, the legions being
with Pompey in the East.
The other consul, his col-
league Antonius, secretly
favored the conspirators, and
the veterans were already
assembled in arms.

Two proconsuls finally

^"^''''°- arrived with their troops.

The senate ordered the consuls to ' ' see to it that the state

suffered no harm. "^ This formula empowered Cicero to

take what measures he deemed necessary. He stationed

P The dictatorship, revived and perverted by Sulla, was no longer
trusted. This formula gave as nearly dictatorial power as was deeme'd
prudent, but divided it between the two consuls instead of assigning it
to one man. ]

POMPEY.

227

soldiers at the city gates, in the public squares, and around
the senate chamber. He then called the senate together and
pronounced his famous discourse (Oralions against Catiline^ I),
"How far, Catiline, will you provoke our patience?"

THE TULUANUM.

Addressing himself directly to Catiline, he warned him that
his plans were discovered and urged him to leave Rome.

Catiline left Rome and joined the army of veterans in
Etruria, declaring that he had taken the part of the unfor-
tunate against the rich.

His partisans in Rome were meantime making terms with
the Allobroges, a Gallic people, who promised to furnish
them with horsemen. The envoys, however, became alarmed
and denounced the conspirators. On receiving the infor-
mation Cicero sent for the five principal accomplices of
Catiline and forced them to confess. Then he asked the

2 28 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

senate what should be done with these guilty men. The
senate advised putting them to death. Cicero himself
arrested them (one of them being a praetor, only a consul
could arrest him) and took them to the Tullianum prison,
where they were strangled. On his return Cicero said to the
assembled crowds, " They have lived."

Catiline began the war in Etruria with twenty thousand
men, but only five thousand of them had been able to pro-
cure arms. Cicero sent against him his colleague Antonius
whom he distrusted, and placed a watch over him. The
rebels began to desert. Catiline, left with three or four
thousand men, attempted to cross the Apennines; driven
back by an army coming from the north, he threw himself
on Antonius. He fought bravely, but was killed, together
with all his men (63 B.C.).

Cicero, in the pride of his victory and the surname
" Father of his Country " which the senate had given him,
thought himself the first man in Rome. He composed a
piece of verse in which he said, " Let arms give place to the
toga! " But when he wrote to Pompey as to an equal,
Pompey took no notice of his letter. When, on quitting
the consulship, he asked to address the people, a tribune
forbade him to do so. ^

Cicero's only power was in his oratory, and henceforth
Rome obeyed neither orators nor magistrates, but generals
alone.

SOURCES.

Appian Civil Wars, Bk. i, cc. xiii, xiv, Bk. 11,

c. i ; Foreign Wars, Bk. xii, cc. x-

xvii.
Cicero Orations, especially For the Manilian

Law, Against Verres, and Against

Catiline ; Letters.

J Cicero nevertheless succeeded in speaking. Every magistrate, on
resigning his charge, had to swear before the assembled people that he
had observed the laws. Cicero said : **I swear that I have saved the
Republic," and the crowd applauded.

POMPEY. 229

Eutropius Bk. VI, §§ 1-16.

Florus Bk. iii, cc. v, vi.

Livy £p/^. xci-ciii.

Paterculus Bk. 11, §§ 29-40.

Plutarch Ca^o, Cicero, Crassus, Lucullus, Pompey,

Sertorius.
Sallust Conspiracy of Catiline,

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. xlviii-li.

Mommsen Bk. V, cc. iii-v.

Botsford c. viii, pp. 175-182.

How and Leigh cc. xlv-xlvii.

Morey c. xxi, pp. 180-188.

Myers c. xiv, pp. 264-283.

Pelhani Bk. iv, c. ii, pp. 240-252, c. iii, pp. 305

324.

Shuckburgh cc. xlii, xliii.

Long. Decline of the Roman Republic,

Merivale The Fall of the Roman Republic, cc. ii,

iv, viii, xi.

Boissier, G Cicero and his Friends.

Strachan-Davidson Cicero and the Fall of the Roman Re*

public (Heroes).

Forsyth Life of Cicero.

Middleton Life and Letters of Cicero.

CHAPTER XVI.

C-ffiiSAR AND THE CONQUEST OF THE GAULS.

Caesar. — At the supreme moment of Pompey's power,
Caesar began to attract public attention.

Gaius Julius Caesar came of a noble, even patrician family,

but of the anti-senatorial party;
he was a nephew of Marius, a
son in-law of Cinna. Hearing
that Sulla had talked of pro-
scribing him, he had fled to
Asia and was captured by the
Cilician pirates.

The pirates, we are told, de-
manded twenty talents for his
ransom. He sneered at their
ig^norance of their prisoner's
value and promised them fifty.
While his friends were collecting
this sum he remained with the
pirates, playing games with
them and reading poetry to
them ; when they did not show
him enough admiration, he
treated ihe'm as barbarians. He
said to them : " When I am free
you shall all hang for this."
The pirates only laughed. As
soon as his ransom was paid,
out a number of ships, surprised
the pirates, brought them in chains to Pergamum, and reported
his action to the governor of Asia. As the governor delayed
to pass sentence Caesar returned to Pergamum, and, without
waiting for orders, hanged the pirates, as he had promised to do.

• 230

JULIUS C^:SAK.

Caesar went to Miletus,

fitted

Cj^SAR and the conquest of the GAULS, 231

On his return to Rome Caesar led the life of the young
noble of the day and gained the reputation of a spendthrift.
He also attracted attention by his eloquence; when his aunt
Julia, widow of Marius, died, he pronounced her eulogy in
the Forum and made so bold as to have the images of
Marius carried in the procession (see page 160). He also
pronounced an oration over his wife, the daughter of Cinna.
He became the favorite of the people's party and was elected
quaestor in 68 b.c. and aedile in 65. Being obliged, as
aedile, to provide games, he supplied three hundred and
twenty pairs of gladiators and armed them with gilded
cuirasses. He placed in the temple of the Capitol images
of Marius together with gilded statues of Victory. He
borrowed enormous sums to meet these expenses.

He secured for himself the office of pontifex maximus.
He was suspected of favoring Catiline. When Cicero asked
the senate what should be done with the guilty, all voted
for the death-penalty. Caesar, however, proposed that they
should be imprisoned.^

Next he became praetor, and at the end of his term was
sent as governor to Spain; his debts were so large that his
creditors would not let him leave Rome. Crassus pledged
himself as security for eight hundred and fifty talents.

On reading the life of Alexander one day, Caesar is said to
have wept, and cried : " Is it not pitiable that, at the age when
Alexander had made all his conquests, I should not yet have
done anything remarkable ! "

The First Triumvirate.— About this time Pompey
returned from the East, feeling sure of finding himself master
in Rome. He landed in Italy, dismissed his soldiers, and
celebrated his triumph. The senate, however, did not seem
inclined to obey him, refusing to ratify as a whole the

[1 Caesar did not propose this as a mitigation of the penalty. Being
a disbeliever in immortality he argued that death was only a momen-
tary pang, and that life-imprisonment was much the severer penalty.
It is inconceivable that Caesar should have favored the schemes of a
debauchee like Catiline.]

232 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

arrangements Pompey had made in Asia; it also refused to
give land to his soldiers. Pompey was displeased and
became hostile to the senate, as Crassus was already.

Caesar now returned from Spain, reconciled Pompey and
Crassus and made arrangements with them to take the power
away from the senatorial party (6c B.C.). This understand-
ing between these three men was called the triumvirate.
The triumvirs were supported by the people and the soldiers
and held the mastery over Rome.

Caesar was elected consul, and, according to agreement,
proposed to the people a set of laws ratifying what Pompey
had done in Asia and giving land to twenty thousand of his
soldiers. The other consul, Bibulus, who had been elected
by the senatorial party, tried to prevent Caesar from convok-
ing the people. The assembly met in spite of him, and was
protected by bands of armed men. Bibulus entered the
assembly and declared the sky and the auspices to be
unfavorable. But when he tried to speak he was thrown
down the steps of the temple; a fight ensued and two
tribunes were wounded. The laws were passed. Bibulus
retired to his house and stayed there until the end of his
consulate. He had declared every day to be a holiday, and
ancient religion forbade the holding of assemblies on such
days. The assembly met, however, in spite of his prohibi-
tion.

The people charged Pompey with the distribution of the
lands. Caesar secured for himself the government of three
provinces with an army for five years (59 B.C.), and at the end
of his consulate departed into Gaul, where he labored to
attach the army to himself.

Gaul. — Rome had already subjugated a number of the
countries inhabited by the Gallic tribes. Of the Po valley
(the northern Italy of to-day) she had made Cisalpine Gaul;
of the Rhone valley and the coast from the Alps to the
Pyrenees she had made Gallia Narbonensis (see page 142).
Caesar had these two provinces and Illyria.

C^SAR AND THE CONQUEST OF THE GAULS. 233

All the other Gallic countries (the greater part of France)
still belonged to independent peoples. These peoples were
not a nation, having very little in common, not even a
name. They formed at least three distinct groups : in the
south, between the Pyrenees and the Garonne, the Aquitani,
a race similar to the Iberians in Spain ; in the centre, between
the Garonne and the Seine, the Celts or Gauls, akin to the
Gauls Rome had fought in Italy; on the north, between the
Seine and the Rhine, the Belgic Gauls, who were Celts with
a mixture of Germans.

It appears that the Celts and Belgic Gauls, in their fight-
ing element at least, were more like the Germans of to-day
than the French. They had great white bodies, red hair,
blue eyes, and big mustaches. They lived chiefly on meat
and drank excessively of hydromel and a si rt of beer made
of barley. They fought either without clothing or in coats
of mail, great helmets on their heads, and armed with heavy
javelins and large swords which they carried on the right
side.

They wore heavy garments, a sort of breeches, a colored
tunic, and over all a sort of cloak clasped on the shoulder;
their shoes were of wood. They lived in little round huts,
but they had already provided themselves with strongholds'
into which to retire in time of war. The protecting walls
were made of tree-trunks and stones, the wood keeping the
stones from crumbling in the rain, while the stone kept the
wall from destruction by fire.

We know very little of their religion, merely the names of
their gods being preserved. We know that the Celts had
priests whom we call druids. Every year at the waning of
the last winter moon the druids went out into the forest to
find a mistletoe growing on an oak. Then, robed in white,
they went with great ceremony to cut the mistletoe with a
golden sickle, and dipped it in water.

The country was divided among sixty small tribes, each
of which formed an independent state, governing itself and

234 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

making war on the others. Their governments differed in
form, some having a king, but the greater part were governed
by a council composed of nobles and in some cases priests.
These nobles were landowners and men of wealth. In war
they fought on horseback, accompanied by their servants;
Caesar called them the knights.

These people were still barbarians, but they were begin-
ning to trade with the Greeks in Massilia and the Romans
in Narbonese Gaul. They wrote with the Greek alphabet.
They stamped coins in imitation of those issued by the kings
of Macedonia. They manufactured collars and trappings of
silver. The inhabitants of the Bordeaux region worked iron-
mines.

The Romans, having had control of southern Gaul since
1 20 B.C., had already entered into relations with the inde-
pendent tribes and made alliance with the -^dui, who
occupied the mountains west of the Saone. The ^dui
invited the Romans into Gaul.

Wars against the Helvetii and Ariovistus (58 b.c). —
The ^dui were on hostile terms with their neighbors: the
Sequani, on their northern border (Franche-Comte), of
whom they exacted a tax for every ship that passed up the
Saone, and the Arverni on the west (Auvergne) whom they
forbade to navigate the Loire.

The Sequani, wishing to make war on the ^dui, sent
across the Rhine for a German named Ariovistus, chief of
the tribe of Suevi. He came with fifteen thousand men and
defeated the ^dui, but he established himself among the
Sequani (in the neighborhood of Alsace), and forced them
to yield to him two thirds of their territory. The Sequani
were alarmed and effected a reconciliation with the ^dui,
and an ^duan noble was sent to ask help of Rome.

The Helvetii, a Gallic tribe settled in Switzerland, then
decided to move into Gaul. Their preparations occupied
three years. When all was ready they burned their cities and
towns and set out with their wives and children, their

C/ESAR AND THE CONQUEST OF THE GAULS. 235

chariots and all their movable possessions; in all three
hundred and sixty-eight thousand people, of whom ninety-
two thousand uere warriors. They marched in bands,
arranging to meet at the Rhone and together invade the
territory of the ^Edui.

Gaul thus suffered invasion by the Suevi and Helvetii at
the same time.

Caesar at first tried to stop the Helvetii. He reached
Geneva and cut the bridge across the Rhone. When the
Helvetii found the passage closed they crossed the Jura
Mountains and descended to the Saone.

Caesar had time to return to Italy and to bring with him
five legions, and he attacked them just as they had crossed
the Saone, then followed them for two weeks. A general
battle was fought near Macon. The Romans were victorious
and drove the Helvetii back to the chariots which formed
their camp; there they met the women and children and a
great massacre followed. Those who escaped surrendered
themselves and were sent by Caesar to their old homes.

Caesar marched to the valley of ihe Rhine and established
his camp opposite that of Ariovistus. The two chiefs had
an interview, in which Ariovistus said: "This country
belongs to me; I have conquered it as Rome conquered the
Province." He added that men of high position in Rome
had offered him their friend.-hip if he would rid them of
Caesar.

Caesar routed the barbarians and pursued them to the
Rhine. Almost all of them were slain. Ariovistus himself
escaped and returned to Germany. Gaul was now rid of
barbarian invaders.

Conquest of Northern Gaul (57 b.c). — The Roman
legions, instead of returning to the Roman Province, remained
in Gaul and wintered near the Saone. The Belgic Gauls,
in the north, were displeased at the sight of these strangers
settled near them, and made alliance together to expel the
Romans in the spring.

236

THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

Caesar enlisted two new legions and made alliance with
one of the tribes, the Remi (Rheims). He passed through
their country and marched against the Belgic Gauls. Caesar
attacked their tribes one by one and forced them to make
peace and give hostages.

Caesar next attacked the Nervii (the Hainault of to-day)
and exterminated their army.

He now marched acrain.-t the allies of the Nervii, the

Aduatuci, who were said to be
descendants of the Cimbri, and
had shut themselves up in their
strong city, built on a rock.
Caesar took the city and sold
the inhabitants as slaves.

In the same year the tribes
between the Seine and the Loire
surrendered and gave hostages.

When the winter came, Caesar
left seven legions established in
Gaul north of the Loire.

Conquest of Western Gaul
(56 B.C.). — During the winter
the Gallic tribes along the ocean
allied themselves against the
Romans. They refused to fur-
nish the legions with grain, and
when the Roman envoys came
to demand it of them, held them
until Rome should restore their
hostages. The most powerful
of these tribes, the Veneti
(Vannes), had a fleet of war.
Caesar gave orders to fit out a fleet at the mouth of the
Loire and, when spring came, marched against the Veneti
with an army.

The war that ensued was a terrible one. It was impossi-

GALLIC PRISONKKS AND ThUl'

(at orange).

C/ESAR AND THE CONQUEST OF THE GAULS. 237

ble to know where the Veneti might be found, for when
attacked, they transported their forces to another point by
sea. Their ships were built of good oak and were designed
for rough weather, with a high prow so that they could not
easily be boarded, a flat bottom so that they could sail in
shallow water, anchors held by iron chains, and leather sails.
The Romans could not sink them with the beaks of their
galleys, for their oaken timbers were too solid ; they could
not hit the crew with their arrows, for even the towers of
their galleys did not reach to the prows of the enemy's ships;
neither could they pursue them into shallow water.

The Romans, seized with an idea, bound great scythes to
long poles as handles. With these they attacked the
enemy's fleet (two hundred and twenty ships) and cut the
rigging, so that the sails fell. The ships, having no other
means of motion, were rendered helpless, and were quickly
attacked and captured by the Romans.

The Veneti sued for peace, but Caesar treated them with
great severity. He put the chiefs to death and sold the rest
of the people into slavery.

In the same year, Labienus, one of Caesar's lieutenants,
with three legions fought and subdued the tribes of the
northwest (in Normandy). Another lieutenant, Crassus,
son of the triumvir, crossed the Garonne and made war on
the Aquitanian tribes.

Caesar had won the regard of his soldiers. He spoke
familiarly with them, knowing many of them by name, and
in time of peace let them amuse themselves as they v/ould
and indulge their taste for fine armor and perfumery.
" What harm is perfumery," he said, *' so long as they fight
well ?"

During the winter Caesar returned to his province of Cisal-
pine Gaul, and invited the young nobles who served as
officers under him to join him there. He received them
in richly furnished tents and entertained them with feasts
where all talked together freely. He himself took up

238 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

writing as a pastime, and prepared a Greek treatise on
grammar.

Renewal of the Triumvirate. — All this time the sup-
porters of the senate and those of the triumvirs had kept up
the struggle at Rome. Clodius, a young noble and a tribune
of the people, had at his command a troop of armed men
and was the real master of Rome; he was in alliance with
Caesar.

He wished to be rid of Cicero, and he carried a law con-
demning to exile any one who should have put a citizen to
death without trial. Cicero had had Catiline's accomplices
executed; he was therefore condemned to exile and his
house torn down (58 B.C.).

Clodius had a disagreement with Pompey. Pompey then
made a reconciliation with the party of the senate and pro-
posed a law to recall Cicero from exile. On this occasion
the senate party had employed a band of armed men, under
command of another tribune, Milo. Milo's men and those
of Clodius fought in the assembly, so that blood flowed to
the Tiber. Cicero's brother was wounded and escaped only
by hiding among the dead (57 B.C.).

This event was followed by a dearth in the land. Pompey
used the opportunity to carry a law giving him for five years
absolute control over the markets and ports of Italy. He
wanted also an army with which to conquer Egypt, but this
the senate refused; and this was the occasion of another
fight between the supporters of Pompey and the bands con-
trolled by Clodius.

Caesar, seeing Pompey and Crassus on bad terms with the
senate, suggested to them a renewal of their alliance with
him. Durmg the winter he came to the border of his
province; the others joined him at Lucca, bringing with
them two hundred senators and so many governors that their
lictors numbered one hundred and twenty.

At this conference of Lucca the triumvirs decided to
secure for each an army for five years (56 B.C.).

Cy^SAR AND THE CONQUEST OF THE GAULS. 239

Pompey and Crassus then returned to Rome to stand for
election as consuls. The senate decreed public mourning
and the senators descended to the Forum in a body; the
people began to hiss them, however, and they quickly
returned to their meeting-place. For several months the
senate observed mourning, holding no meetings and taking
no part in festivities.

Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls. Then, accord-
ing to agreement, Pompey received the provinces of Spain
and Africa, with four legions, while Crassus took the
province of Syria with the right to enroll as many soldiers
as he wished. Caesar's command was extended five years,
and he was given the right to pay his soldiers out of the
public treasury.

On the day that the people passed this law, a tribune
belonging to the senatorial party attempted to dissolve the
assembly. Being unable to reach the rostrum, he mounted
on the shoulders of his attendants and cried out that Jupiter
was thundering. (Thunder was an unlucky sign and forbade
the holding of an assembly.) The people attempted to kill
the tribune (55 b.c ).

Caesar's Campaigns on the Rhine and in Britain. —
Caesar had subjugated the Gauls and now extended his
campaign beyond their borders. There were two German
tribes that had crossed the Rhine and invaded the territory
of the Belgic Gauls. Caesar summoned deputies from the
Gallic peoples and, receiving reinforcements of horsemen
from them, marched towards the Rhine. Meeting the
Germans, he attacked them at the junction of the Rhine and
the Meuse, and slew them all, men, women, and children.

Then, to frighten the peoples of Germany, he built over
the Rhine a bridge made of tree-trunks, and completed it in
ten days; he crossed the river and ravaged the right bank,
then, returning, cut the bridge and once more entered
Gaul.

Caesar wished to intimidate the people of Britain as well.

24© THE ROM^N PEOPLE.

He departed with eighty ships and two legions, made a
landing after a battle at the water's edge, secured hostages,
and returned to Gaul.

The next year he went again to Britain, this time with
iships which he had had made for the special purpose, pro-
vided both with oars and sails, and large enough to carry
baggage and horses; he was accompanied by five legions and
two thousand horsemen. Cassivellaunus, a British chief,
blocked the Roman advance with hedges of tree-trunks.
After a number of battles Caesar crossed the Thames and,
guided by an enemy of Cassivellaunus, surrounded him and
took his stronghold, The British chief sued for peace
(54 B.C.).

Caesar returned to Gaul, with the distinction of being the
first Roman to lead an army across the Rhine and across the
English Channel.

Revolts in Gatil. — The Gallic peoples, however, were
extremely restive under Roman control, and in the years
from 54 to 51 B.C. many rebellions occurred among them.
The most formidable of these was under Ambiorix in the
north and Vercingetorix in the south. After a protracted
struggle, checkered with many reverses for the Romans, the
revolts were stamped out and punished with merciless
severity.

This was the final struggle. Caesar boasted that in eight
years he had taken eight hundred cities, subjugated three
hundred peoples, slain a million men and sold a million into
slavery. The whole of Gaul as far as the Rhine was now
Roman territory.

Caesar spent another year visiting the Gallic tribes and
organizing the government. The enemies of Rome had
perished and Caesar endeavored to attach the survivors to
him. He left them in possession of their lands and imposed
but a slight tax on them. His chief demand was for
auxiliary soldiers. The nobles followed him willingly, and
he formed a Gallic legion which was nicknamed '* the Lark. "

C/ESAR AND THE CONQUEST OF THE GAULS. 241

He could now leave Gaul, and he brought away with him the
army he had gone there to inoiild.

* Importance of the Gallic Conquest. — The immediate
result of Caesar's conquest of Gaul was to give him the mili-
tary prestige which he foresaw to be essential to his political
ambitions. It did more than to furnish him the skill and
the reputation he was anxious to gain: it also furnished
ready to his hand the tool with which to work. He had
knit his legions so firmly to himself that they were ready to
follow him into Italy in defiance of law, and to become his
personal army rather than a force at the service of the state
as a whole. This was militarism again, but was only what
had occurred in the case of Sulla, and what was being done
by Pompey. As events were to follow, it was well for Rome
and for the world that this should be so.

Of even greater value in the history of civilization was the
Romanizing of Gaul. Gaul was to be a source of strength
to the empire; not as a field for exploitation, but by the
extension oi the Latin language and ideas and mode of life.
For Gaul was thoroughly Romanized, and in the days when
Italy should have spent all her vital energy, was to be the
home of a culture and stability superior to that of the
peninsula.

This Romanizing process also put an end to the danger
of Gallic invasion from that quarter, and preserved one of
the best portions of the empire for centuries from the
Germanic inroads. While these were to be ultimately the
source of new life to a decadent world, it was well that west
of the Alps a thoroughly Latinized state should be built up.
As a result we shall see (iaul becoming France; a Romance
nation with all its possibilities for a brilliant civilization and
splendid contributions to the world's welfare. Caesar made
Clovis, and later Charlemagne, possible, with all the benefits
they were to confer uj)on the mediaeval time. The Teutonic
and the Gallo-Frankish elements were to be the two pinions
on which European life was to soar far higher than in the

242 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

best of classic days. Without the peculiar contribution of
Gaul that flight would have been but lame and low.

Death of Crassus. — While Caesar was putting down the
Gallic revolts, Crassus had gone to Syria to make war on the
Parthians (54 B.C.).

The kingdom of the Parthians included almost the same
countries that had formed the ancient kingdom of the
Persians, and the Parthians had adopted the customs of the
Persians, their luxury and their flowing robes; at the same
time they preserved their old fashion of fighting on horse-
back, bow in hand, retiring as they shot.

Crassus led his army across the Euphrates, but soon
returned to Syria and went into winter quarters.

When he returned to the country, the king of Armenia,
who was Rome's ally, offered to lead him by a safe road.
Crassus refused the offer, and crossed the Euphrates with
seven legions and four thousand cavalry. An Arabian chief
came to him with a report that the Parthians were fleeing
with their treasure and offered to guide him across the desert
in pursuit of them. Crassus followed him. This Arab was
sent by the Parthian king, and he led the Romans into a
desert of burning sand.

All at once the Parthian horsemen made an attack. Their
arrows, shot from great strong bows, pierced the shields and
helmets of the Romans; when their quivers were emptied
they galloped to the rear, where they found camels laden
with arrows, and replenished their stock.

The son of Crassus, who commanded thirteen hundred
Gallic horsemen, attempted to charge on the Parthians; the
Parthians pretended to flee, drawing on the little troop in
pursuit, then surrounded it. The young Crassus, whose
hand had been wounded by an arrow, ordered an attendant
to kill him.

Crassus saw his son's head carried on a pike; his soldiers
were too wearied and terrified to fight any more. He
decided to retreat, and left his wounded to be murdered by

C/ESAR AND THE CONQUBST OF THE GAULS. 243

the enemy. The Parthian general proposed an interview,
and on his way to the camp Crassus was killed and his head
carried before the Parthian king. His whole army was
either killed or taken prisoner, and the Roman standards fell
into the hands of the enemy (53 b.c).

The death of Crassus left only Pompey and Caesar before
the public. War was to decide which of these two should
be master,

Sources.

Appian Czvt'l M^ars, Bk IT. cc. ii-iv.

Caesar Commentaries on the Gallic War.

Cicero Orations : For Sestius, Against Vaiinius,

For Milo, On the Consular Provinces;

Letters, passim.

Eutropius Bk. vi, §§ 17, 18.

Floras Bk. 11, cc. x, xi.

Livy Epit. Civ-cvill.

Paterculus Bk. 11, §§ 41-47.

Plutarch Crassus, Ccesar.

Suetonius Julius Ccesar.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. lii-lv.

Merivale Fall of the Roman Republic^ cc. iii, v-vii

ix. X, xii.

Mommsen Bk. v, cc. vi-viii.

Botsford c. viii, pp. 183-187.

How and Leigh... cc. xlviii, xlix.

Moray c. xxi, pp. 188-194.

Myers . c. xiv, pp. 283-291.

Pelham Bk. iv, c. ii, pp. 252-258, c. iii, pp. 271-289.

Shuckburgh c. xlv.

Froude Ccesar.

Holmes. T. R Ccesar s Conquest of Gaul.

Long Decline of the Roman Republic.

Merivaie The Roman Triumvirates (Epochs).

Dodge Ccesar (Great Captains).

Greenidge c. ix,

Taylor Constitutional and Political History of

Rome, cc. xiv, xv.

CHAPTER XVII.
END OF THE REPUBLIC.

Rupture between Pompey and Caesar. — Pompey, instead
of going to Spain, had remained near Rome. He built a
new theatre with raised seats accommodating forty thousand
spectators, and inaugurated it with grand festivals in which
five hundred lions took part.

The elections were hotly contested throughout the period.
In 53 B.C. there was a seven months' deadlock. Pompey's
party proposed to make him dictator; then the candidates
made war on one another with archers and slingers.

The senate resigned itself to appeal to Pompey in order to
end the disorder. Pompey was elected consul alone, with-
out a colleague and with special powers, although, being
governor of Spain, he had not even the right to stay in
Rome.

Now that Pompey was master of Rome, he thought he had
no further need of Caesar; he refused to marry his daughter
and took for his colleague a personal enemy of Caesar's.
He carried a law prolonging his command in Spain and
Africa for five years, and then, instead of going to his
province, remained in Rome.

Caesar's command came to an end in March, 49 b.c.
The senatorial party wanted to rid itself of him by making
him return to Rome without an army and without power;
it would then be easy to have him condemned. But a law
had been passed in 52 B.C. which permitted a man to be
elected consul without presenting himself in person before

244

END OF THE REPUBLIC. 245

the voters, according to custom. The consul proposed that
the senate should order Caesar to return without awaiting
the end of his term. The tribune Curio suggested that
Caesar and Pompey should be made to abdicate at the same
time. They agreed, but each waited for the other to resign
fust.

A report now reached Rome that Caesar had been attacked
by the Gauls and was in great danger. The senate decided
to recall Caesar and send another man to succeed him.
Curio proposed that Pompey's power should also be with-
drawn, and the senate agreed by a vote of 370 to 22.
The consul Marcel 1 us was angry and dismissed the senate,
sought out Pompey and ordered him to take command of
the troops in Italy.

Caesar again offered to resign if Pompey would do like-
wise, but the senate refused to read his letter. Pompey
camped before Rome and led his troops into the city. The
senate could resist him no longer; it declared Caesar a
public enemy and gave his provinces to other governors.
The tribunes who had supported Caesar fled to place them-
selves under his protection (49 b.c).

Caesar in Italy. — Caesar was at Ravenna, on the border
of his -province, with a legion. He sent his soldiers on in
secret, while he himself the next morning cn^ssed the frontier
and joined his troops at Ariminum.

The story was told later that when on the point of crossing
the Rubicon, a small mountain torrent which marked the
boundary of Cisalpine Gaul, Caesar stopped, hesitating to break
the law which forbade him to leave his province in arms. Then
he cried, " The die is cast ! " and crossed the stream.

Caesar's army followed close after him. Pompey's army
was in Spain. Somewhat earlier Pompey, being asked how
he proposed to defend himself, replied, " Whenever I stamp
my foot on Italian soil, legions will spring up." He had
not counted on Caesar's sudden return. *' Stamp your foot
now," some one said to him; *' it is time,"

246 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Pompey had not enough troops to defend Italy. He left
Rome with the senators, but had not time to bring away the
contents of the treasury with him. Caesar soon reached
Rome, almost without resistance. He declared everywhere
that he had come "to deliver the Roman people from a
tyrannous faction and to restore the power of the tribunes."
He was carefuf to injure no one. To the soldiers whom he
captured he gave the choice of serving under him or depart-
ing in freedom, saying, " Whoever is not against me is for
me."

Pompey and his party, on the other hand, talked of
vengeance and of proscribing their adversaries. They had
no hope of defending Italy, however, and they set sail for
the opposite coast of the Adriatic.

Cafesar entered Rome and remained there a few days. He
then rejoined his troops in Gaul and led them against
Pompey's legions in Spain. In forty days he made Pompey's
two generals capitulate, and returned to force the surrender
of Massilia, which his fleet had already blockaded (49 B.C.).

Caesar*s Victory at Pharsalus. — Pompey was still master

of the whole Orient. He had a fleet in the Adriatic and an

army in Macedonia. Caesar had no fleet, but boldly brought

his army across the Adriatic, while Pompey's ships were all

in winter quarters. He landed at Epirus with fifteen

thousand foot-soldiers and sent his transports back for

reinforcements.

It was said that one day, impatient a;t seeing no reinforce-
ments arriving, Caesar disguised himself and set out in a small
boat to cross the Adriatic among the enemy's ships. A storm
arose and the pilot wished to turn back. Caesar said to him,
" Never fear ; you carry Caesar and his good luck." They were
nevertheless obliged to return.

When the reinforcements finally arrived, Caesar attempted
to surround Pompey's army, and camped near Dyrrachium
with a line of entrenchments; the work occupied four
months. But his army was only half as large as Pompey's,
and he had no fleet, no money, and no stores; his soldiers

END OF THE REPUBLIC, 247

were reduced to eating ground roots. Pompcy meanwhile
received his provisions by sea. Caesar attacked him, but
was repulsed with the loss of thirty-two standards. Labienus,
Caesar's former lieutenant, who was now fighting under
Pompey, had the prisoners massacred.

Caesar passed into Thessaly, where his soldiers found plenty
of food. Pompey followed him. He had forty -seven
thousand legionaries and seven thousand horsemen; Caesar
but twenty-two thousand foot-soldiers and one thousand
horsemen. Pompey drew up his troops on the plain of
Pharsalus, his right protected by the steep bank of a moun-
tain stream; on his left he stationed his cavalry, with which,
composed of young nobles, well mounted and armored, he
proposed to make a flank movement.

Caesar arrangv:d his men in four lines; the two first were
to attack, leaving the third,' as usual, to act as reserve.
With the fourth, composed of old soldiers, he proposed to
meet Pompey's cavalry, giving them orders to hold their
javelins like pikes until the enemy was close enough to
strike at their faces.

Caesar's first lines charged on a run and hurled their
javelins. Pompey's cavalry threw themselves on the right
wing. Caesar's veterans met them with blows on the face,
routed them, and, pursuing them, attacked Pompey's left
wing. The reserve came up and Pompey's army broke
ranks. Pompey, hearing Caesar's men attack his camp,
cried, "What! in my camp already.?" and fled on his
horse. He had been so confident of victory that he had
arranged no ral lying-ground; his whole army was therefore
scattered and taken prisoner (48 B.C.).

Pompey fled to the protection of the king of Egypt; the
king had him assassinated.

Caesar's Wars in the East, in Africa, and in Spain. —
Caesar was now alone at the head of the government. He
had still to fight two years, however, to subdue the provinces
that had belonged to Pompey.

248 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

He first went to Egypt with a small army of four thousand
men. Pompey's head was brought to him, and he buried it
with respect. He spent the winter at Alexandria, where he
was besieged by twenty thousand Egyptian soldiers, not to
mention the inhabitants of the city. After many narrow
escapes he was finally relieved by a small army which came
from Asia to help him. He gave the kingdom to Cleo-
patra.

He then gathered together some troops and marched
against Pharnaccs, son of Mithridates, who had taken
advantage of the civil war to conquer the kingdom of Pontus
and invade Asia Minor. This war lasted only five days, and
was described by Caesar in the famous phrase, *' Veni, vidi,
vici" (47 B.C.).

Returning he found that Rome had just emerged from a
state of riot with a considerable loss of life. He himself
quelled a military riot, caused by soldiers quartered in
Campania who had come to Rome to claim their discharge
and the rewards promised them. Caesar assembled the
rebels on the Campus Martins and addressed them with
severity, saying: " You are free. Go, Quirites." (Citizens
outside of the army were called Quirites.) The soldiers felt
the general's reproach keenly and begged for pardon.

There was still an army of sixty thousand men in Africa,
commanded by the senatorial party and maintained by Juba,
king of the Numidians. This army had defeated two legions
sent against it by Caesar in 49 B.C., and now threatened to
cross into Italy. Caesar decided to attack it. He left Rome
in the winter of 47 B.C., crossed the Mediterranean with five
thousand infantry and one hundred and fifty cavalry, and
without baggage; finding himself face to face with an army
of ten times his numbers, he dared not leave the protection
of his camp. At the end of two months reinforcements
came, and he besieged Thapsus. The army of Pompeians
offered battle to deliver the city, but were routed. Many

END OF THE REPUBLIC. 249

prisoners were massacred, and the chiefs killed themselves^

(46 B.C.).

Caesar returned to Rome and celebrated four triumphs at
once, commemorating his victories over Vercingetorix,
Egypt, Pharnaces, and Juba. He gave the people a banquet
of twenty-two thousand tables, each with three couches,
distributed five thousand denarii (1000 dollars) to each
soldier, and to each citizen one hundred denarii (20 dollars),
ten bushels of grain, and ten pounds of oil.

The last war took place in Spain. Pompey's son had
formed thirteen legions of the soldiers belonging to Pompey's
former Spanish legions, the remnant of the army in Africa,
and a following of adventurers and freedmen. Caesar left
for Spain in 46 b.c, arriving in Corduba (Cordova) in
twenty-seven days. The enemy evaded a battle, and Caesar
had to waste the whole winter in a campaign of skirmishes.
This was finally ended in the spring by the battle of Munda,
in which the enemies* army was routed and slaughtered.
Sextus Pompeius was captured and killed (45 b.c).
This was the end of resistance to Caesar.
Caesar *s Dictatorship, Reforms, and Projects. — In 49 b.c.
Caesar became master of Rome, and so remained for four
and a half years. He abolished none of the established
powers, but preserved the magistrates, senate,
and assembly of the people. He had, how-
ever, secured for himself the title of dictator
(with a master of the horse chosen by him-
self), first for one year, then (46 b.c.) for ten
years, and finally for life. His power was
thus superior to all others. He secured the oesar as perpet-

•L.^J-J ..• C J UAL DICTATOR.

right to decide questions of peace and war,

the power of the tribuneship, and the appointment of half

the magistrates. The people elected the other half of the

' The descendant of the old C ito killed himself at Utica, gaining
thereby the name of Cato of Utica, under which he has held a place in
history.

250 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

magistrates, but could not vote for a candidate unless he was
approved by Caesar, He secured also XSm^ prcB/eciura mormu,
the power of censorship, with the right to control the list of
senators and citizens. Many senators having perished in
the civil war, Caesar appointed others in such numbers that
the senate was increased to nine hundred members. These
new appointments included a number of provincials, notably
Gauls. The Romans made sport of these strangers. Some
one put up a placard about Rome which read: "Please do
not show the new senators the way to the Curia (senate
chamber)."

The senate decreed special honors for Caesar: a bronze
statue, the right to wear a crown of laurel, an annual public
holiday dedicated to him, a golden chair, a purple robe, and
the title of Father of the Country; in the senate he sat
between the two consuls on a curule chair raised above the
rest; his image was stamped on the coinage.

There were many people at Rome who thought that
Caesar desired the title of king. In 44 b.c, during the feast
of the Lupercalia, Caesar was seated on the rostrum before
the assembled masses in the Forum. Antony, who was
consul at the time, presented him with a diadem formerly
worn by the kings of the East. Some of the attendants
applauded, but the crowd seemed dissatisfied. Caesar raised
his hand and removed the diadem, and the crowd applauded.
Antony presented it once more, but Caesar was now sure of
the people's feelings, and he refused it, ordering it to be
placed on the statue of Jupiter on the Capitol.

Caesar's mind was occupied with his wars, and he remained
in Rome but fifteen months altogether. He made a number
of reforms.

He established his veterans (eighty thousand, it is said)
as colonists in the districts of Italy that had been depopu-
lated by the war.

He made out a defmite list of all citizens who were entitled
to the distribution of grain, reducing the number from three

END OF THE REPUBLIC.

251

hundred and twenty thousand to one hundred and fifty
thousand.

He reformed the calendar. The Roman montn was

TOMB OF CESTIUS, BtHLT IN THK TIME OF C^SAR.

calculated by the course of the moon, so that twelve months
did not make a year, but only three hundred and fifty-five
days. It was the custom to fill up the extra days from time
to time by intercalations, but f^uring the disturbances
through which Rome had just passed this had been neglected

252 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

and there was a surplus of sixty-seven days to be disposed
of. Caesar, on the advice of Egyptian astronomers, decided
that the year 45 b.c. should have four hundred and forty-five
days. This was " the last year of the confusion. " Hence-
forth the year, regulated by the course of the sun, should
have three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days. This
is the Julian Calendar.^

Caesar had many other projects in mind. He wished to
establish a library at Rome, and a port at Ostia, to pierce
the isthmus of Corinth, drain the Pontine Marshes^ and
change the course of the Tiber. He planned also to fight
the Parthians, and had already collected an army.

Murder of Caesar (44 b.c). — There was more or less dis-
content among the Roman nobles, even those who belonged
to Caesar's party and had received from him appointment
as magistrates and senators. They chafed under the control
of a master so much more powerful than they. CcCfar
seemed to them a tyrant who had destroyed the old consti-
tution and was preparing to become king.

Sixteen of these malcontents arranged to rid fhemselves
of Caesar by assassination. The chief conspirators were two
praetors, Cassius, the man who saved Syria from the Parthian
invasion, and Brutus, who claimed descent from the Brutus
that had expelled the last king of Rome. Brutus was
especially beloved by Caesar.

It was said that Brutus had been drawn into the plot as a
means of doing honor to his ancestor. Each morning brought
him anonymously some such word as this : " You sleep, Brutus,
and Rome is in chains," or : " No, this is not Brutus."

The conspirators decided to kill Caesar in the senate
chamber on the Ides of March. Cassius wanted to kill the
consul Antony also, but Brutus refused, desiring to smite
only the tyrant.

Some say that Caesar was warned; a paper was handed to him
as he left his house, with a request to rend it alone and quickly;

' The month of July took Caesar's name, Juluis; before this it had
been called Quintilis, the fifth.

END OF THE REPUBLIC. 2 53

he was disturbed, however and reached the senate without hav-
ing had time to do so. Others say his wife had a bad dream
and begged him not to leave the house that day. There is also
a story that a soothsayer had told him to beware the Ides of
March. Caesar met him that day and said to him mockingly,
" Well, the Ides of March are here," and the soothsayer replied,
" Yes, but they are not yet gone."

Caesar entered the senate on the appointed day. The

conspirators were already grouped about his seat, with

daggers hidden in their rcbes. Caesar seated himself, and

while one of the conspirators besought him for a pardon for

his brother, the rest surrounded him, drew their daggers and

killed him.

At first Caesar tried to defend himself, but when he saw his
favorite Brutus raise his hand against him hecritd, "And thou
too, Brutus!" and, covering his face with his toga, made no
further resistance. He received twenty-three wounds.

The senators fled from the hall. The conspirators ran to
the Forum and showed their bloody daggers, crying aloud
that the tyrant was dead. But the people had loved Caesar
and they pursued his slayers with threats, so that these
took refuge on the Capitol with a troop of armed men.
A number of senators joined them there. On the follow-
ing day Brutus descended to the Forum and addressed
the people. They listened to him, but when another of
the conspirators began to abuse Caesar, they drowned his
voice with their cries. The conspirators returned to the
Capitol.

Antony, the consul, and Lepidus, the master of the horse,
had hidden themselves in their first fright. They now took
courage. Lepidus left Rome and returned with a body of
Caesar's veterans. Antony assumed charge of Caesar's papers
and money (amounting to four thousand talents = 2,000,000
dollars) and the public treasury. With the soldiers and
money, Lepidus and Antony were masters of Rome and
decided to take action together against the conspirators.
Antony summoned the senate to a hall surrounded by
soldiers. The senators were at first inclined to declare

254 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Caesar a tyrant and his acts abolished; this would have
included the discharge of all officials appointed by him.
Cicero proposed and the senate agreed to vote at once for
amnesty for Caesar's murderers and ratification of his acts
(adding: for the good of the republic).

Antony had Caesar's will read to the people. He left his
fortune to his nephew, his palace and gardens to the people,
and a small sum of money to each citizen. These generous
provisions rekindled the people's wrath against the mur-
derers.

Then came the funeral ceremonies. The funeral-pyre had
been made ready on the Campus Martius, but Antony had
the body laid out on an ivory couch in the Forum and
addressed the people from the rostrum. The crowd became
excited, set fire to the senate chamber and, tearing down
the rostrum and benches, heaped up the debris together with
their javelins in an improvised pyre, and burned the body of
Caesar in the Forum.

The conspirators hastened from Rome, Cassius to Syria,
Brutus to Macedonia. Another of them, Decimus Brutus,
was already in his province. Cisalpine Gaul.

A war ensued between the two parties, the friends of
Caesar and his murderers.

Octavius. — Octavius, the son of Caesar's sister and his
heir, was a young man of nineteen, delicate, pale, and not
overbrave, but ambitious and prudent. His uncle had
already made him senator, then pontiff. He was in Epirus
at this critical time. He came back to Rome and declared
Caesar's will accepted, whereby he was adopted as heir. ^
Antony had taken possession of the money and refused to
give it up, declining to render an account to so young a
man. Octavius sold Caesar's estates and all his own posses-
sions, and borrowed enough additional money to maintain
an army of ten thousand men at his own expense His

^ Henceforth he bore his uncle's name, calling himself Gaius Julius
C«sar Octavianus,

END OF THE REPUBLIC. 255

soldiers were almost all men who had served under Caesar,
and he promised each two thousand sesterces (one hundred
dollars). Antony promised only four hundred, and two of
his legions passed over to Octavius.

Decimus Brutus, one of the conspirators, was in Cisalpine
Gaul with his army. Antony went to besiege him in Mutina
(44 B.C.).

Octavius placed himself at the service of the senate.
Cicero spoke earnestly in his favor and pronounced against
Antony a number of discourses which he called Philippics,
in memory of the orations of Demosthenes against Philip.
The senate gave Octavius the powers of a consul, and
charged him to go with the two consuls and relieve Mutina.
Antony was defeated and fled, and the two consuls were
killed (43 B.C.).

The senate, feeling no further need of Octavius, rescinded
his powers and even refused him a triumph and the money
he required to pay his soldiers.

Triumvirate of Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus. —
Octavius abandoned the senatorial party, came to Rome
with his army and was elected consul; he took from the
treasury the money he had promised his soldiers, and insti-
tuted proceedings against the murderers of Caesar.

Lepidus and the governors of Spain and Gaul had mean-
while joined Antony, together with their troops; Antony
returned to Italy with twenty-three legions. Octavius,
Lepidus, and Antony resolved to take joint action against
the conspirators. They met in a little island in the middle
of a river near Bologna, and, each first securing himself with
great care against the other, they devoted three days to
making their arrangements. They then read the plan to
their armies, and, gaining their approval, all marched
on Rome together. There they secured the consent of the
people to what they had already agreed upon among them-
selves.

They were appointed "triumvirs to organize the repub-

256 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

lie," with absolute power for five years. ^ They were allowed
to take from the treasury enough money to give each of their
soldiers five thousand denarii. A new law created eighteen
colonies of veterans in Italy; that is to say, the inhabitants
of eighteen Italian towns were forced to give up their lands
\o veterans.

The triumvirs published proscription lists. Whosesoever
name was entered there must die, and a reward was paid
for his head. Each of the triumvirs had placed on the list
the names of his personal enemies. Antony had included
Cicero, whom he detested on account of the Philippics.
Cicero had already fled, but was captured and killed; his
head was brought to Antony, who had it set up on the ros-
trum in the Forum.

We are told that Antony gazed long at the head in fits of
laughter, and that his wife Fulvia amused herself with sticking
pins into the tongue which had so lashed her husband.

The triumvirs were masters of Rome and of the west, but
the conspirators held all the east; Cassius was in Asia and
Brutus in Macedonia, each with a great army. The general
sent against Cassius had been surrounded and had killed
himself.

Antony and Octavius entered Macedonia with a force of
eighty thousand infantry and twenty thousand cavalry.
Cassius joined Brutus and they camped on the great plain of
Philippi, in communication with the sea, by which they
received their provisions. The army of the triumvirs was
short of supplies. Cassius desired to avoid a battle, hoping
that the enemy's army might die of starvation. But Brutus
was disturbed by seeing his soldiers desert to the other
army, and he decided to fight.

Two battles took place at Philippi. In the first Brutus
routed Octavius, while Antony surrounded Cassius and took
his camp. Cassius killed himself. In the second engage-

1 This was a new title; Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus did not call
themselves triumvirs ofificially.

END OF THE REPUBLIC, 257

ment the soldiers of Cassius fled, and the army of Brutus
was crushed. Brutus followed the example of Cassius
(42 B.C.) and put an end to himself.

The triumvirs shared the provinces: Lepidus took Africa;
Octavius remained in Italy to distribute the lands promised
to the yeterans; Antony went to the East to raise the money
promised to the soldiers.

This was a time of distress. The distribution of land
ruined a part of Italy. The landowners, deprived of their
property, either wandered away without means of support,
or else offered resistance. The eighteen towns sacrificed to
the veterans were, besides, not enough for all of them.
The treasury was empty; the country was ruined and could
pay no more taxes.

Rome herself was suffering from famine. During the last
wars Sextus Pompeius, a son of the former great Pompey,
who had taken refuge in Sicily, had formed a fleet. He
ruled the sea and allowed no ships to bring grain to Rome
from Sicily and Africa. Bread riots began in Rome.

Now that Antony and Octavius were rid of their common
enemies they began to quarrel with each other. Antony's
wife and brother attempted to incite a war in Italy, and
when Antony returned from the East to raise troops for the
Parthian war, Octavius wished to arrest him. But their
soldiers did not want to fight one another and the* chiefs
were forced to a reconciliation at Brundisium. Antony
married Octavia, sister of Octavius, and divided the provinces
with his brother-in-law (40 B.C.).

The Romans then obliged both of them to make peace
with Sextus Pompeius. They had an interview with him at
Misenum, on the coast, and promised him command of the
fleet and the coast, in addition to the consulship and the
government of Greece (39 b.c). This arrangement did not
last long. Antony refused to give up Greece to Pompey;
Octavius took Sardinia from him by treachery, and then
attacked him in Sicily and destroyed his fleet. Pompey fled

258 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

to Asia, but was captured and put to death in 35 b.c. His
army remained at Messina. Lepidus assumed command of
it, intending to keep Sicily for himself. When Octavius
came to the camp, all the soldiers joined him, and Lepidus,
abandoned by his soldiers, asked pardon of Octavius, and
was allowed to retain his fortune. ,

There were now only two masters, Octavius in the west,
Antony in the east.

Antony and Cleopatra. — On arriving in Asia, Antony
had fallen under the spell of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt.
She was a small woman, endowed with great beauty,
brilliancy, and fascination. She had earlier won Caesar's
heart and had by him a son named Caesarion.

She had given aid to Brutus and Cassius, and Antony
summoned her to Tarsus to give her an opportunity to
justify herself. She came, and Antony fell victim to her
charms.

Their first interview is described in this fashion : Cleopatra
arrived in a barge with purple sails, silver oars, and golden stern,
moving to the music of flutes and lyres. The queen herself, in
the guise of Venus, reclined under a gold-embroidered pavilion,
surrounded by cliildren as Cupids ; her women, attired, as
nymphs, held the tiller and the ropes. The odor of burning per-
fumes filled the air. The people who gathered to behold this
spectacle said that Venus was coming to visit Bacchus. Cleo-
patra had her barge brilliantly lighted by torches, and enter-
tained Antony at supper.

Antony was immediately fascinated by Cleopatra and fol-
lowed her to Alexandria, where they spent several months
together.

Cleopatra, it is said, never left Antony's side. She drank and
played with him, and accompanied him to the hunt and even
to his military exercises. When he sought amusement by night
in the streets of Alexandria, disguised as a servant, she followed
him in a similar disguise, both meeting with more or less rough
treatment.

They founded a society whose aim was to be as extravagant
as possible. In Antony's kitchen there were eight wild boars
on the spit at one time, so that one might always be ready when
tlie master should order dinner. Cleopatra found a method of

END OF THE REPUBLIC.

259

spending an immense sum at one meal, by dissolving in vinegar
a pearl of great price and drinking it.

Antony had to interrupt this life of pleasure to return to
Italy in search of troops, for the Parthians, aided by a
Roman general of Pompey's party, had invaded Syria. One
of Antony's lieutenants expelled the invaders (40-38 b.c).

COIN OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

Antony joined Cleopatra in Syria, where he left her again to
attack the Parthians; on his way back he was pursued by
the Parthian cavalry and lost twenty thousand men.

Antony had already forbidden his wife Octavia, sister of
Octavius, to join him in the East. He returned to Cleopatra
in Alexandria, and assumed the costume of an eastern king,
a purple robe and a diadem. He ordered a new coinage
bearing the heads of Antony and Cleopatra.

He had two golden thrones prepared, one for himself and
one for Cleopatra, and before the assembled multitude pro-
claimed Cleopatra queen of kings, and her two young sons
kings of kings. - He declared that he would give to one of
them Armenia, Media, and the kingdom of the Parthians;
to the other Syria, Cilicia, and PhcEnicia. For the first time
a Roman general was distributing Roman provinces among
foreign princes.

Battle of Actium. — Antony's conduct gave rise to such
scandal in Rome that even his own party deserted him.
Octavius, in the senate, accused him of dishonoring the
name of Roman. He obtained hold of Antony's will and
read to the senate the passages reaffirming the gift of the

26o THE ROMAN PEOPLt.

kingdoms to Cleopatra's sons, and gave orders that his body
should not be brought back to Rome, but buried at
Alexandria in the same tomb with the queen. There was a
report that Cleopatra was already talking of the day when
she should be mistress of the Capitol.

When Octavius had completed his preparations he declared
war, against, not Antony, but Cleopatra, queen of Egypt
(32 B.C.). This was a war of East against West. Antony
had ready a fleet of five hundred ships and an army of one
hundred thousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry.
He spent the winter in Greece with Cleopatra, meaning to
move against Italy in the spring. To his surprise Octavius
landed in Greece and began to attack him.

For some time the two armies remained facing each other,
near the coast of Epirus. Antony's army being larger, his
generals advised him to fight on land, but Cleopatra favored
a naval battle, and Antony yielded to her wish.

The Egyptians had five hundred galleys, mainly quin-
queremes (having five banks of rowers, although some had
seven and eight); they were high and massive, heavy and
awkward. There were not enough rowers for all, so Antony,
it is said, had one hundred and forty of them burned.
Octavius' ships were only two hundred in number and
smaller, having but two or three banks of rowers, but they
were much lighter and were manned by trained sailors.

The battle took place before the promontory of Actium
on September 2, 31 b.c. Antony's fleet advanced from the
strait to the open sea. Octavius' fleet attacked the clumsy
Egyptian vessels one by one, surrounding them and hurling
red-hot arrows and javelins at them. All at once sixty
Egyptian ships were seen to make sail and depart southward.
Cleopatra had fled from the scene of battle. Antony could
no longer live without her and he followed her to Alex-
andria.

Antony's army, abandoned by its chief, decided to join
Octavius, and the war was at an end.

END OF THE REPUBLIC. 261

Octavius followed Antony to Alexandria, but the latter,

finding his army lost, killed himself. Cleopatra was captured

in a tower where she had taken refuge. Octavius wanted

to keep her to grace his triumph, but some days later she

was found dead in her bed.

We are told that Cleopatra had tried to ensnare Octavius.
She received him in a room adorned with busts of Caesar,
.showed him letters written by Caesar, and spoke to him of the
glories of Caesar. Octavius heard her without a look or word ;
when she had finished he said, " Woman, be of good courage."
Learning that she was to be taken to Rome in a few days,
Cleopatra cried, " No ! I will never be led to Rome in triumph,"
and determined to commit suicide. She was closely watched
to prevent her killing herself, but she had a basket of figs
brought to her, in which was concealed an asp, a little poison-
ous snake, which killed her.

Octavius put Cleopatra's sons to death, and distributed
her treasure among his soldiers.

End of Republican Government. — Octavius, who was
now the only remaining general, became sole master of the
empire. His powers as triumvir had expired, but he retained
the authority without need of the title.

He returned to Rome (29 B.C.) and closed the temple of
Janus in token of peace. He was received with enthusiasm,
for every one was tired of civil war and rejoiced at the pros-
pect of peace. The price of land doubled, and interest on
money went down from twelve to four per'cent.

The senate ordered the people to' include the conqueror's
name in their prayers, and to swear allegiance to him, at the
same time giving him the right to have a crown and laurel
branches before his house. He became " prince of the
senate," an honorary title borne by the senator of highest
dignity.

Octavius took the census, which had not been done since
the year 70 b.c. He reduced the number of senators, and
struck from the list of knights all those whose fortune was
insufficient. The total number of citizens was four millions,
against four hundred and fifty thousand in 'jo; but since that

262 THE ROMAN PEOHLE,

time all the inhabitants of Gaul as far as the Alps had
become citizens.

Octavius gave his power back to the senate when the work
was done. The senate begged him to retain it, and gave
him command of all the armies and the power of a proconsul
over the provinces, with the title of Imperator. A new title
was then invented for him, Augustus, or Venerable, and this
became his name {i'] b.c. ).

The old governing bodies, magistrates, assembly, and
senate, were not suppressed, but Augustus, the emperor and
head of the army, had practically absolute authority. The
republican government of senate and people gave place to
imperial government.

SOURCES.

Appian Civil Wars, Bk. il, c. v-Bk. v, c. xiv.

Augustus Deeds of Augustus, §§ r, 2.

Caesar , Comnietitaries oft the Civil Wars.

Cicero Philippics ; Letters, passim.

Eutropius Bk. vi, §§ 19-25.

Florus Bk. i v, cc. ii-xi.

Hirtius Alexandrine, African, and Spanish Wars.

Livy Epit. cix-cxxxiii.

Paterculus Bk. 11, §§ 48-87.

Plutarch Brutus, Antony,

Suetonius Ccesar.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy. cc. Ivi-lxi, Ixiv,

Merivale cc. xiii-xxviii.

Mommsen Bk. V, cc. ix-xii.

Botsford c. viii, pp. 1 87-202.

How and Leigh ... cc. 1-lii.

Morey c. xxi, p. 195-c. xxii.

Myers c. xiv, pp. 252-31 1.

Pelham Bk. i v, c. iii, p. 324-Bk. v, c. ii.

Sbuckburgh. . . c. xiv, xlvi.

Long Decline of the Rontafi Republic.

Abbott c. vii.

Greenidge c. ix.

Taylor Constitutional and Political History of

Rome, c. xvi-xvii.

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE EMPIRE.

Augustus. — Augustus governed for forty years more, and
had time to organize the whole imperial system. His power
equalled that of an absolute king, but he was always careful
to avoid not only the title of king or even dictator, but also
the bearing of a sovereign. Doubtless he feared that if, like
Caesar, he assailed the Roman customs he would meet with
a similar fate.

He conducted himself always as a simple magistrate. At
Rome he wore only the toga, although entitled to a general's
mantle. He refused to be called "master" or "lord."
In the senate he sat and voted like a senator. He was very
ill in the year 23 b.c, and again offered to resign his power,
but consented to retain it. He used to go in person to the
assembly of the people and present his list of candidates,
urging the people to vote for them. He attended the courts
as an ordinary witness, and permitted the lawyers to speak
ill of him.

He lived simply, lodging in his home on the Palatine hill,
and wearing woolen garments woven by the women of his
house, in accordance with ancient custom; at table he ate
moderately of simple food. He attended dinners in the city
without escort. His house was without formality, like that
of a private citizen, and he gave audience to every citizen
who had a request to make of him.

To a citizen who came trembling to present a petition
Augustus said : " You act as if you were offering a piece of
money to an elephant."

263

264

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Augustus had no sons, but he was surrounded by a
family which at first was sufficiently numerous: his sister
Octavia, widow of Antony ; his wife Livia, and Tiberius and
Drusus, her two sons by a previous marriage; his daughter

Julia and his nephew Marcellus. He married his daughter
to his nephew, and made Marcellus consul and his associate
in the government. Marcellus was to have been his suc-
cessor, but he died while still in his youth (23 b c).

Agrippa, a life-long friend of Augustus, had assisted him in
governing during his triumvirate, fitted out and commanded
his fleet, supervised the new works for the adornment of the

20 Longitude 10

10 Longitude

THE GROWTH

of the

ROMAN DOMINION

from

THE GRACCHI to the Death of AUGUSTUS.

133 B. C. to 14 A. D.

- SCALE OF WILES
100 200 300 400 600 000

Roman Power in 133 B. (
I Acquired 133 B. C- 14 A
Allies of Rome, 14 A . D.

30 from 40 Greenwich 50

ENSRAVED BY SORMAY « CO., N.Y.

THE EMPIRE. 265

city, and organized the administration. Augustus gave him
his daughter in marriage and appointed him his successor.
Agrippa died in the year 12, leaving two sons, and was
buried in the tomb Augustus had had prepared for himself.

One of the stepsons, Drusus, who had already won fame
through his victories, was killed at the age of thirty by a fall
from his horse (9 B.C.). The other, Tiberius, became the
leading member of the family, and was forced by Augustus
to marry Julia, who had already been married twice and was
notorious for her infamous conduct. The succession he
wished to give to his two grandsons, Caius and Julius, the
children of Agrippa and Julia; he adopted them and had
them elected prospective consuls. Tiberius chafed at being
sacrificed for these children, and refused to remain in Rome.
When Augustus tried to persuade him to sta}' he threatened
to starve himself, and went to Rhodes, where he spent seven
years.

The two grandsons died (2 and 4 a. d. ), and having only
Tiberius left, Augustus adopted him and took him as his
colleague.

Augustus was weak and ill and had no more love for
hunting or for war. He had resigned the actual command
of the armies, confiding them ordinarily to .some member of
his family, Agrippa, Tiberius, or Drusus.

In his seventy-seventh year Augustus fell ill while journey-
ing through Campania. He sent for Tiberius and advised
him concerning the conduct of the government; then he
died (14 A,D.).

A moment before his death he asked for a mirror and ar-
ranged his hair. Then he called for his frieiids and said to
them : " The piece is ended ; have I played my part well } " add-
ing in Greek : " If you are pleased, applaud," *

His body was burned on the Campus Martins, and Livia
placed his ashes in a monument. The senate declared that

^ In the Greek comedies the actor, at the end of the piece, turned io
the audience and said, "Applaud."

^66 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

Augustus had been elevated to the rank of the gods, and
temples and priests were dedicated to the ' ' divine Augustus. "

Organization of the Imperial Government. — The govern-
ment organized by Augustus was destined to last almost
three centuries. It is known as the Principate or the High
Empire.

Under this system the absolute authority was vested in
one man, the Emperor {imperator^ he who has the imperium
or command). The emperor bore the titles of Caesar (the
family name of the first emperor had become a title for all
his successors) and Augustus (the Venerable). He was also
called t\\Q princeps, or the first.

The emperor united in himself all the powers that had
hitherto belonged to the magistrates and the people.

He had the proconsular power, the command of all the
armies and all the frontier provinces, consequently the
armed force of the empire.

He had the tribunitian power, the direction of the people
in Rome; his person was sacred and inviolable, and an
injury to him was treason to the Roman people.

He was pontifex maximus, director of all religious matters.

He had the power though not the formal office of the
censor, and the supervision of manners and customs, having
control of the list of senators, knights, and citizens, and
giving to each his social rank.

He had the right to convoke the senate and the people,
and also to regulate taxation and expenditure.

He had the right to pronounce judgment and to issue
ordinances (edicts) and rescripts which had the force of
law.

Augustus had avoided sudden changes, and had retained
the old names. The state still called itself tespublica, and
the military standards continued to bear the initials S P Q R
(Senate and People of Rome — senatus populusque Romanus).
But he had centred in himself the powers heretofore shared
among the magistrates, and instead of exercising them for a

THE EMPIRE 267

year, he held them for life. He was the sole magistrate of
the Republic, and his term was limited only by death.

He bore the old insignia of the magistrates, combined with
the religious emblems: a purple robe embroidered with gold
and a golden throne; lictors bearing fasces adorned with
laurel ; a cohort (battalion) of soldiers in his palace and a
personal escort of guards. Prayers for his welfare were
offered to the gods each year. All the citizens took the
oath of allegiance to him.

He was surrounded by a sort of court; companions who
were called the " friends of Augustus," a council which he
consulted on matters of business, and a large staff of clerks,
both slaves and freedmen, divided in three bureaux for
correspondence, petitions, and accounts.

The senate remained the same, an assembly of the richest
and most important men in the empire. Augustus had
established a rule that a senator, must possess at least one
million sesterces (50,000 dollars). If a man had not the
necessary amount, he gave him enough to complete the sum.
He retained but six hundred senators. The emperor
appointed them, and he continued the practice of choosing
them from among former magistrates.

The senate met on certain fixed days, in a temple known
as the Curia Julia. It was every senator's duty to take part
in the sittings, all being obliged to offer wine and incense
on the altar of Victory. The emperor sent messages to be
read to the senate and consulted it on affairs of state, but he
was not obliged to follow its advice, The senate remained
the highest body in the state, but was no longer head of the
government.

The comitia was not abolished, but it was no longer ccm-
voked to pass laws. Augustus continued to entrust it with
the election of magistrates, but his successor transferred this
function to the senate.

The old magistracies had not been abolished, and Augustus
had established the order in which they should be exercised :

268 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

first quaestor, then aedile or tribune of the people, praetor,
consul, and proconsul. But all these officers were subject
to the superior authority of the emperor. They were
elected, to be sure, but the emperor designated a number of
candidates who must be elected, while for the other offices
he recommended candidates, amounting in the end to the
same thing. So in fact, then, the emperor chose all the
magistrates,^

The Apotheosis. — The emperor was master throughout
his life. After his death his power was at an end and he
became for the time one of the Roman people whose repre-
sentative, the senate, had the right to examine into his acts.
The senate might "condemn his memory," in which case
his acts were declared void, his orders cancelled, his statues
destroyed, and his name effaced from the monuments.
(Inscriptions have been found from which an emperor's name
had been effaced with blows of a mallet ) But this rarely
occurred.

Ordinarily the senate ratified his acts and decreed that the
departed emperor should be numbered among the gods;
temples were erected to him and a special priest appointed
to worship him. There were accordingly fiamens of the
divine Augustus or the divine Claudius.

The custom was given a Greek name, apotheosis (deifica-
tion).

The emperor had no right to delegate his power to
another. His son, if he had one, did not become emperor
by right. The successor was appointed by the senate, but
it was usually the case that the choice fell on the man
designated by the emperor before his death.

Administration of Rome, — The distinction was still pre-
served between Roman citizens and subjects of Rome. The

[1 This outline of the imperial power must not be understood as apply-
ing in all its details to the system adopted by Augustus. Several of its
features were of slower growth. But the description holds good for the
first two centuries of the empire.]

THE EMPIRE.

269

city of Rome and Italy, whose inhabitants had become
citizens, were administered directly by the magistrates and
the senate. Augustus reduced this administration to a
regular organization.

There was a law which forbade a general to lead his
soldiers inside the city, but the emperor, the head of the
army, kept near him his military escort, the praetorian
cohorts (signifying general's battalions). The praetorians
were chosen from among the veteran soldiers and received
double pay, exclusive of gratuities [dona/ivum). With these
troops near him the emperor had nothing to fear from the
people of Rome. The praetorians themselves were the ones
to be feared (see page 299).

PKiETORIANS (bAS-RELIEF IN LOUVRe).

Augustus also established troops in the city to do police
duty (the urban cohorts), and troops to patrol the city at
night and serve as firemen.

Augustus kept up the custom of giving grain to poor
citizens. A special officer was appointed to take charge of

2 70 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

the municipal commissariat, and to draw up the lists and
oversee the distribution. On certain feast-days the emperor
had a special distribution of wine, oil, clothing, and even
money {congiariuvi). Under Augustus each man received a
total of one hundred and forty dollars in eight distributions.

There was an officer, the prefect of the city, whose duty
it was to maintain order and administer justice in and about
Rome.

Administration of the Provinces. — Augustus gave to the
senate all those provmces that had no need of an army, and
proconsuls continued to be sent to these " provinces of the
senate. ' '

Augustus reserved to himself all provinces having an army
and all frontier provinces; these were the '' provinces of
Augustus." All appointments in these provinces were
made by the emperor himself. He sent to each province a
governor, known as the legate of Augustus, and charged
him with the exercise of all his powers. This legate com-
manded the army, governed the inhabitants, and performed
the duties of a circuit judge, authorized to pronounce even
the death-sentence. A legionary legate was appointed by
the emperor for each legion.

In each of his provinces the emperor had one or more
officials to collect the taxes and return the money to his
treasury. These were the procurators of Augustus. In
small provinces having no army the procurator was at the
same time governor.^

The Imperial Army. — For the defence of his provinces
the emperor had a standing army, made up of volunteers,
ordinarily poor citizens who became soldiers to earn a living.
They enlisted for twenty years, and often engaged for a
second term. They received a wage, and, at the end of

P The imperial legates {pro pratore) held office in their provinces for
an indefinite period at the will of the emperor. The proconsular gov-
ernors of senatorial provinces continued, as under the republic, to hold
only annual appointments.]

THE EMPIRE.

271

their term of service, were discharged with a sum of money
and an allotment of land.

|p/CM.NXl-gTb(:X[-F'FC:

COMMON SOLDIER.

There were twenty-five and later thirty of these legions of
citizens, each composed of six thousand men, divided into
cohorts or battalions. In addition there were auxiliaries
organized in small bodies, cohorts of infantry, and squadrons
(wings, alcB) of cavalry. The foreigners, meaning the

2 72 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Roman subjects, preserved for the most part the costume,
arms, and methods of warfare peculiar to their own country.
Many of them became Roman citizens when discharged.

The common soldier rose to the rank of centurion, which
was equal in power but not in dignity to that of captain.
But all the high offices, like those in the government service,
were reserved for the wealthy, knights or senators. It was
necessary to be a senator to become a legate of Augustus or
a legionary legate, and the rank of knight was essential to a
procurator or commander of a cohort. There were thus
three distinct careers, the senatorial, the equestrian, and
that of the simple citizen.

Augustus created a jmliiary treasury to maintain this army.
It was made up of the revenue from new taxes: a one per
cent tax on sales, a five per cent tax on the emancipation of
slaves, and a five per cent tax on inheritances exceeding a
certain limit.

There were now four distinct treasuries: first, the original
treasury of the senate in the temple of Saturn; second, the
military treasury, maintained by the new taxes; third, the
emperor's treasury, called the " fisc, " maintained by the
revenue of the provinces, imperial domains, taxes, and
customs duties; fourth, the private fortune of the emperor.
In practice, however, the emperor used all these funds to
defray the public expenses. ^

Wars against the Barbarians. — Under the senate's rule
almost all the Roman provinces had for neighbors barbaric
tribes who were constantly in arms and ravaged their
country, pillaging the houses and carrying off the inhabitants
as slaves. Augustus devoted his lifetime to subduing these
barbarians and organizing the frontier so as to assure peace
to the inhabitants of the empire.

In northern Italy the Alpine mountaineers laid waste the
country as far as the Po valley. Augustus had them pursued

[^ For a time the emperors left the senate in control of their own
treasury.]

THE EMPIRE, 273

to the mountains. The whole of one of these small tribes,
the Salassi, was either slaughtered or sold. The Alpine
regions were now all under Roman control, and Augustus
organized three small provinces there. One may still see,
on a height near Monaco, the monument erected to
Augustus, with an inscription enumerating the petty peoples
that he subjugated.

It was necessary to protect Italy on the north against the
easy descent of the Alps. Augustus had the whole country
occupied north of the Alps as far as the Danube, and made
of it two provinces, Rhgetia (Bavaria), which remained more
or less of a desert, and Noricum (Austria), whose population
quickly became Italian.

Augustus went into Spain to direct the war against the
mountain peoples in the north, the Asturians and the
Cantabrians. After several campaigns (25-19 b.c.) he con-
quered them and brought away a number of them, leaving
three legions in the neighborhood of the mountains to hold
the rest in check.

In the mountain region east of the Adriatic Sea which the
ancients called Illyria lived a warlike people much like the
Albanians (they spoke the same language as the modern
Albanians). They were subject to Rome, and their warriors
fought in the Roman armies. They now revolted and after
three years of war (12-10 b.c) were conquered by Tiberius.

Both sides of the Danube, from the mountains to its
mouth, were inhabited by warlike peoples, the Dacians on
the north and the Thracians on the south. One Thracian
people had had a king who was friendly to Rome, and
another Thracian people had made war on him and attacked
Macedonia. The Romans occupied the plain between the
Danube and the Balkan peninsula (Bulgaria) and made of
it the province of Moesia, which separated the Thracians from
the Dacians (13-11 b.c).

In the year 8 b.c these wars were brought to an end and
Augustus closed the temple of Janus for twelve years.

474 THB kOMAN PEOPLE,

Wars against the Germans. —Caesar had conquered

Gaul, Augustus organized it. He spent some years there
with his two stepsons, Tiberius and Drusus. He divided it
into three provinces: Aquitania in the south, Lugdunensis
in the central part, and Belgica in the north. Each had a
governor, but Augustus gave them a common centre. On
a hill commanding the Saone (the present site of Fourviere)
a Roman colony, Lyons (Lugdumwi), had just been founded,
and the governor of Lugdunensis was established there. At
the foot of the hill where the Saone flows into the Rhone
an altar was erected and consecrated to Rome and Augustus.
Every year envoys from the sixty Gallic tribes met there,
assisted in the sacrificial ceremonies and formed themselves
into an assembly under the presidency of the priest who had
charge of the altar, a great Gallic personage; they had the
right to address requests to the emperor. ^

Gaul was continually threatened by the Germans, a race
of barbarians and warriors who inhabited, between the
Rhine and the Elbe, a country of forests and swamps, with-
out a city. The Sicambri, one of these peoples, seized
Roman merchants and crucified them; they crossed the
Rhine and began to pillage the property of the Gauls; they
destroyed almost a whole legion which was sent against them,
and captured the eagle which served as a standard (i6 b.c).
Later they made alliance with two other tribes to cross the
Rhine together on a pillaging expedition.

Drusus left Rome with a strong force to put an end to
these invasions (12 b.c). First he drove the barbarians back
across the Rhine, then proceeded northward. He was
assisted by the Batavians, the German peoples living on the
coast, who became Roman allies. No taxes were asked of
them, but they furnished soldiers, especiallj' cavalry, who
were well paid by the Roman government.

P This assembly, with its right of addressing the emperor, more
clearly foreshadows the modern representative system than any other
institution of either republic or empire.]

THE EMPIRE. 275

Dnisus forced his way into the midst of tlie German tribes
and conquered them, transporting forty thousand Sicambri
to the left bank of the Rhine. He penetrated as far as the
Elbe. On his way back he fell from his horse and was killed

(9 B.C.).

It was probably the wish to Augustus to keep all the
country between the Rhine and the Elbe, and make of it the
province of Germany.

In 6 A. D. Tiberius was sent into this region, where a great
revolt of the Marcomanni had arisen. By another revolt in
Illyria he was forced to patch up a peace in Germany and
march southward, where a three years' campaign was neces-
sary to subdue the disaffection (6-8 a.d.).

The rebels had served as auxiliaries in the Roman armies
and knew how to fight. At length they gave up the struggle,
and their leader, a Dalmatian named Bato, was surrounded
in his fortress of mountains, surrendered, and was sent to
Ravenna.

Tiberius asked him the cause of the rebellion. His answer
was: "Why do the Romans send wolves instead of dogs to
guard their flocks } "

There was great rejoicing at Rome at the news of the
peace (9 a.d.).

Varus. — Some days later word came of a disaster in
Germany. The governor, Varus, whose wife was a niece of
tlie emperor, had lately been governor of Syria, where he
had made a fortune for himself by pillaging the country.
He knew nothing of barbaric peoples or their methods of
warfare. The Germans were not yet accustomed to the
Roman system of government, by which the governor toured
the country to judge important cases. They were displeased
with his court, where Latin was spoken and cases were con-
ducted by foreign lawyers.

In each tribe there was one faction that favored Rome and
one that was hostile to her. The hostile faction became the
stronger, and a number of tribes decided to revolt. The

276 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

chief of the league was Arminius, a young prince of the
Cherusci. He had served as an officer in the Roman army,
and Augustus had made him a Roman citizen and even a
knight. He was thought to be devoted to the Romans.

Varus had passed the summer in the valley of the Weser.
In the autumn he was preparing to return to the Rhine
when he learned that a neighboring district was in revolt.
He went there with his army, numbering about twenty
thousand men, and was attacked in the forests of Teutoburg.
German warriors rushed on him from all sides, and
slaughtered the slender and widely scattered garrisons, then
proceeded to gather together their whole force to meet the
Roman army.

Arminius, with some of his friends, had remained near
Varus, the better to deceive him. One evening after dining
in the governor's tent he disappeared, and went to take his
place at the head of the rebels. The Roman army was
encumbered with baggage and fatigued by marching in the
rain through a trackless forest. For three days the Romans
marched under ceaseless attack by the Germans. The
cavalry deserted in an attempt to save themselves, but were
slaughtered. Varus, wounded and despairing, killed him-
self, and several of his officers followed his example. At
length the army surrendered with the eagles of the three
legions. The Germans massacred the soldiers and crucified
or buried alive the officers and the lawyers; the heads they
cut off and nailed to trees. This was in the year 9 a.d.

The Germans were enraged against the lawyers in particular.
They captured one, cut out his tongue and sewed up his mouth,
saying to him, " Now hiss if you can, viper! "

Augustus was filled with consternation. There was a
report that he was heard to cry when alone at night,
"Varus, give me back my Regions!" This was the only
army that perished.

After the death of Augustus, Germanicus, son of Drusus,
nephew and adopted son of Tiberius, made three expeditions

THE EMPIRE. 277

into Germany (14-16 a. d.). But Tiberius gave up the
subjugation of Germany and abandoned the left bank of the
Rhine. The legions numbered 17, 18, and 19, which the
Germans had destroyed, were never restored.

Frontiers of the Empire. — The frontier of the Roman
Empire was organized by Augustus. The old provinces had
been conquered without definite limitation, and had no dis-
tinct boundaries. Augustus extended his conquests in order
to gain a frontier that might more easily be defended.^

The Roman Empire was now bounded on the west by the
Ocean; on the north by the English Channel, the Rhine,
the Danube, and the Black Sea; on the east by the deserts
of the Euphrates and Arabia; on the south by the great
African deserts. It included all the countries around the
Mediterranean : Spain, France, Italy, Bavaria, Austria,
Hungary, European Turkey, the whole of Asia Minor, Syria,
Egypt, and the north of Africa. It was the greatest empire
that had ever been known. Augustus, on his death, advised
his successor not to enlarge it.

Almost all the countries were organized in provinces with
Roman governors. There were still, and especially on the
coast of Asia Minor, a number of kings of ancient dynasties,
but they were dependent on the emperor, and owed him
obedience. These little kingdoms existed only by his will,
and during the first century after Christ were all transformed
into Roman provinces.

For the defence of this vast empire Augustus had twenty-
five and later thirty legions of citizens, in addition to the
auxiliary bodies. These soldiers were not scattered through
the empire, but were stationed on the frontiers. In the
provinces of the interior there was no Roman army, but each
frontier province had its little army, and a fortified camp in
which the army spent at least all the winter. The com-
mander-in-chief in the province, who was at the same time

[^ What modern governments would call a " scientific frorrtier."]

27^ THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

the governor, held his tribunal there. Around the camp
gathered the families of the soldiers, merchants, tradesmen,
tavern-keepers, and many old soldiers who, when their term
of service was at an end, preferred to remain near their
comrades. Each camp thus became a city.

In the west, the army, comprising three legions (one only
since the second century), was established in the north of
Spain to fight the Asturian mountaineers. The camp kept
the name of the army, Legio (Leon).

In Africa, on the southern frontier, a small army of one
legion was stationed to keep in check the brigands of the
desert.

In the east there was but one enemy to fear, the great
kingdom of the Parthians. The garrison of three legions
was in the province of Syria, with its camp at Antioch. No
important war was made on Augustus in this direction.
The Parthian kings were busy fighting among themselves and
kept on terms of peace with Rome. One of them even
asked for an alliance, and sent to Augustus the standards
which the Parthians had taken from Crassus.

The danger lay on the northern border, behind which
dwelt tribes of barbarians, poor and fond of fighting, and
always ready to cross the Roman frontier for plunder; beyond
the Rhine the Germans, beyond the Danube the Germans
and Dacians. Here Rome stationed her strongest forces.

The army of the Rhine, comprising eight legions, was
divided in two parts. The garrison of upper Germany had
its camp at Vetera Castra and guarded the Rhine from its
mouth to the mountains. The garrison of lower Germany
had its camp at Moguntiacum (Mainz) and defended all the
rest of the Rhine to Lake Constance.

The frontier was later carried far beyond the Rhine and
marked by a straight line of entrenchments, more than three
hundred miles long, extending from the Rhine to the
Danube. The part towards the Rhine consisted of a ditch
and a wall flanked by towers; at certain intervals, set back

THE EMPIRE. 279

about a quarter of a mile, were erected fortresses of stone.
The part towards the Danube consisted merely of a mass of
stone without ditch or towers. The country between this
frontier and the Rhine was taken by colonists, and several
small Roman cities were founded there.

The army of the Danube was divided among four
provinces: Illyriaand Dalmatia, in the mountains; Pannonia,
in the plain of Hungary, which was defended by the main
garrison and the fleet of war- vessels; and Moesia (the modern
Bulgaria), between the Balkans and the Danube. This army,
though at first less numerous than that of the Rhine, became
the more important before the end of the first century.

SOURCES.

Augustus Deeds {Momitnentum AticyranuTn).

Eutropius Bk. vii, §§ 7-12.

Floras . Bk. iv, c. xii.

Livy Epit. cxxxix-cxL.

Paterculus Bk. 11. cc. Ixxxix-cxxiii.

Suetonius Augustus.

Tacitus Annals, Bk. I §§1-5.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. Ixiii, Ixv-lxix.

Merivale History of the Romans under the Empire,

Vol. Ill, cc. XXX, xxxi, and Vol. iv.

Mommsen Provinces of the Roman Empire.

Botsford c. ix to p. 2 1 1 .

Moray ... c. xxiii to p. 225.

Myers c. xv to p. 325.

Pelham Bk. v, c. iii.

Capes. W. W The Early Empire (Epochs Series).

Bury, J. B Student's Roman Empire, c. ii.

Taylor Constitutional and Political History of Rome,

cc. xvii-xix.

Arnold, W. T Rojnatt Provincial Adininistration, c. xii.

Abbott cc. xii, xvii-xxi.

Greenidge cc. x, xi.

Inge, W. R Society in Rome under the Ccesars.

CHAPTER XIX.
LITERATURE, THE ARTS AND TRADE.

Great Writers of the Revolution. — The Romans were not
naturally a literary people, but drew their inspiration from
the Greeks. The early Romans had begun by translating or
imitating the works of Greek writers. Plautus and Terence
translated Greek comedies.

Then came authors who composed original writings.
These were still pupils of Greece, as their ideas and forms
showed, but there was jnore or less originality in their work.

The first were orators, whom we know only by reputation,
as none of their work has been preserved. The only Roman
orator whose speeches have been preserved is Cicero. He
had studied Greek eloquence in Rhodes, and introduced
into Latin the habits of Greek orators, choosing his words
with great care and arranging them in long and well -con-
structed sentences. He delivered a large number of orations,
chiefly in cases before the courts, which he subsequently
reduced to writing. He composed also a number of philo-
sophical treatises introducing to the Romans the doctrines of
Greek philosophers. He thus created classical Latin prose.
Cicero's style became the model which all followed who
wished to write good Latin. At the same time (99-55 b.c. )
Lucretius, the most original of Latin poets, expounded in
his poem De Natura Rerum the doctrine of the Greek
philosopher Epicurus. He wished to convince his fellow
citizens of the absurdity of their religion in order to deliver

280

LITERATURE, THE ARTS AND TRADE. 281

them from their fear of the gods and of hell. Being more
concerned with ideas than forms of expression, he used many
antiquated Latin words and even Greek words.

On the other hand, Catullus, who imitated the Greek poets
of Alexandria, in his short pieces of verse (elegies, epigrams)
endeavored to write in a correct, elegant, and brilliant style.

Varro, at once a scholar and writer, wrote several exten-
sive treatises on agriculture, antiquities, and grammar. He
also wrote the Saturce MenippecB, a medley of verse and
prose, intended as a censure on the morals of his time.

It was the fashion in Rome at this time to write books on
Roman history. The majority of these books are known to
us only by reputation ; the only historical works remaining
are from the pen of Sallust, not his great Roman history but
simply two short essays, Juguriha and Catiline, whose chief
merit lies in their style. Some of the great generals adopted
the Greek custom of recording what they had seen and done.
Sulla and Lucullus both wrote Memoirs in Greek, but they
have been lost. Caesar wrote in Latin his recollections
{Commentaries) of the Gallic and civil wars. His Latin was
very pure, like that of all old Roman families, his style a
simple record of what he had seen. His book is composed
in the purest Latin, and is the best Roman history in exist-
ence.

Reading became the fashion, and developed quite a con-
siderable trade. Copyists, usually slaves, wrote on rolls of
papyrus the works of Greek and Latin authors. These
copies found a ready sale.

The Augustan Age. — During the half-century of govern-
ment by Augustus there were a number of famous writers
in Rome. Almost all were natives of the Italian cities, not
of Rome. They were not men of high station, but middle-
class citizens. The majority were poets.

Vergil, born at Mantua, came to Rome in his youth. He
won recognition from Augustus, who restored to him his
estates (this was at the time that the triumvirs had deprived

2 82 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

the citizens of Mantua of their lands to give them to the
soldiers). Vergil composed rural poems, the Bucolics, in
imitation of the Greeks; then by request of Augustus a
poem on agriculture, tiie Georgics, and lastly his great epic
poem, the ^neid.

Horace, son of a freedman, was also patronized by
Augustus. He wrote Odes in imitation of the Greeks, also
Epistles and Satires.

Propertius and Tibullus also followed Greek models; they
composed short poems, chiefly elegies.

Ovid, to whom verse was a natural mode of expression,
wrote long poems on mythology and festivals. He was for
some time the favorite of Augustus, but died in exile in a
semi-barbaric city near the mouth of the Danube.

The chief prose writer was Livy (Titus Livius, of Padua),
who wrote a complete history of Rome from its founda-
tion.

Augustus paid a great deal of attention to these writers,
giving them advice and encouragement, and sometimes
money. His life-long friend Maecenas, who remained a
knight all his life because he refused to accept an office,
loved to gather authors about him. He received them in
familiar fashion in his house, and talked with them. He
treated Horace as a fnend, although the son of a freedman.
Horace recognized his kindness by mentioning him often in
his poems, and thus made the name of Maecenas immortal.

All these poets extolled Augustus as their benefactor.
They made his name so famous that this period in literature
has come to be known as the Augustan Age.

Architecture. — Rome could not emulate Greece in paint-
ing or sculpture. Her art lay in the more practical realm of
architecture.

The Romans imitated the Greeks here as in the other arts.
They adopted the Greek idea of columns and capitals, and
began to build houses after the Greek model. They did,
however, invent a system of construction for their buildings

LITERATURE, THE ARTS AND TRADE.

2S3

that the Greeks did not employ: this was the arch. This
enabled them to build larger and higher edifices than those
of the Greeks.

1 -1.

- -hiri

■m

.-^ri.

ARCHES FROM THEATRE OF MARCELLUS. (lObKE.)

Dressed stone was used only for the arches and the outside
of their buildings. The inside walls were of rough material,
undressed stone, pebbles, and bricks held together by a very
solid mortar. These materials were to be found everywhere,
and so the Romans were able to build monumental struc-
tures throughout the empire.

Before the time of Augustus Rome had almost no
monuments but the Capitol, Pompey's theatre, and the

3^4

THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

\g.^R

^^mmmmm^^

tDDDDIlO

IDOniDl

IIOMAN COLUMN AND ENTABI^TUR^ F^OM QRAN<j«,

LITERATURE, THE ARTS AND TRADE.

285

monuments erected by Caesar around his square, the Julian
Forum.

Augustus devoted much attention to beautifying the city.
He repaired the old sanctuaries, which were falling in ruins;
he boasted of having restored eighty-two of these and built
sixteen new ones. The great theatre of Marcellus, the
Augustan Forum, and the Julian basilica, where . the
merchants met, were constructed in his reign.

The most famous of these monuments is the Pantheon,
built by Agrippa, partially rebuilt under Hadrian in the
second century, and still in existence. This is an enormous
round temple covered by a great dome (of one hundred and

f'^^^^Y^i

l i llljliil I

THE PANTHEON. (hAUSER.)

forty-five feet span) ; in the centre of the dome is an opening
forty feet in diameter which admits the light, but is so
high that not a breath of wind can come in, allowing the
rain to fall so straight that it has formed a circle on the
pavement.

286 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Augustus said of Rome: " I found a city of brick, I leave
a city of marble."

Roads. — The Romans continued to construct roads not
only in Italy but in the provinces. These were causeways
built of stone and cement, and ordinarily in a straight line.
The distances were indicated by milestones, counting from
a column in the centre of the Forum. Stations were estab'
lished along these roads, with horses and couriers to carry
government messages.

Agrippa had a sort of map made of all the roads in the
empire, indicating also the stations and the distances between
them. This itinerary was carved in stone and set up in a
public place; copies of it were made for the use of travellers.
In a mineral spring in Italy silver goblets have been found
on which was engraved the itinerary from Gades (Cadiz) to
Rome, with the names of the stations and the distances
between them.

Commerce. — These roads were constructed primarily for
military purposes, and the stations
established for the use of govern-
ment messengers. They were also
used, however, by merchants and
travellers. Arrangements were
made at the stations for relays of
horses, and accommodation of
sufficiently poor character, which,
however, served as shelter for the
night and often supplied some sort
COIN OF AUGUSTUS "BECAUSE THE of rcfrcsliment. Communication

ROADS WERE MADE." . i j- • i • ^ J

was thus greatly facilitated.

By keeping the tribes from fighting among themselves
Rome had established peace in the empire, and peace
rendered communication more assured. Thus encouraged
and protected, a great system of commerce grew up between
the different countries of the empire.

The greatest market of all was Rome, which had to supply

LITERATURE, THE ARTS AND TRADE. 287

the wants of a population of one and a half to two millions.
Further, her inhabitants were the wealthiest peonle in the
empire and demanded many articles of luxury.

Merchandise was carried mainly by sea. The ships dis-
charged their cargoes at Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber;
the cargo was then reloaded on lighters and borne up the
river to the foot of the Aventine hill, where were situated
the wharves and warehouses of Rome. Cargoes destined to

Ketones AufusU.
ULlrts et, SeraptM

ROME IN THE TIME OF THE HMPIRE

Other parts cf Italy were preferably discharged in the Bay of
Naples, at Puteoli, and forwarded to the cities of Italy either
by land or by coast and canal boats.

The Romans drew revenue from the provinces by taxes
and banking. Roman commerce was mainly importation,
for Rome and Italy bought more than they sold. The
merchants collected in a single city in each country, usually
a seaport, where vessels came to take goods to Italy. In

288 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

every large city in the empire Roman merchants directed
this export trade.

The countries of the south, Sicily, Africa, and Egypt,
yielded chiefly grain and dried fruits. These products were
shipped from Panormus (now Palermo), Carthage, and Alex-
andria,

The semi-barbaric countries of the west furnished building
lumber, skins, wool, and slaves. The centres of western
commerce were: in Spain, Gades (Cadiz), which exported
linens, wools from Bgetica, and silver ore; in Gaul, Narbo
Martins (now Narbonne) ; on the coast of Cisalpine Gaul,
Genoa; on the Adriatic coast, Aquileia.

From the northern countries came English tin, women's
hair, and later amber, which was gathered on the shores of
the Baltic and brought across Germany to the Black Sea.

The great sea trade was with the Orient. Here were
found the articles of luxury which the Romans could not
now live without. The Indian and Arabian merchants
imported the products of warm countries : the perfumes of
Arabia, spices, drugs (aloes, opium), indigo, ivory, precious
stones and pearls, fine cotton stuffs from India, and silks
from China. These came by sea and by caravan to three
great centres: to Alexandria by the Red Sea and the Nile;
to Antioch by the Persian Gulf and the Syrian deserts; to
Olbia, on the Black Sea, from the interior of Asia through
the Caspian Sea.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. Ixx.

Merivale c. xli.

Botsford c. ix, pp, 21 1-218.

Morey c. xxiii from p. 225.

Myers c. xv from p. 325,

Bury Studetifs Kornan Empire, c. ii.

Crutwell History of Roman Literature.

TeufTel History of Roman Literature.

Sim cox History of Latin Literature.

Mackail Latin Literature,

CHAPTER XX.
THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN FAMILY. ^

Early Years of the Reign of Tiberius. — Tiberius, the
adopted son of Augustus, was his successor. He was at this
time fifty-six years old and a man of experience in public
affairs. He had been governor of Gaul, had crossed the
Rhine nine times and fought difficult campaigns in the
forests, living among his soldiers and often sleeping on the
ground. He maintained his simple habits. He ate little
meat, but was extremely fond of cabbages and cucumbers.
He lived in a plain house and devoted himself to his work.

Tiberius altered nothing in the system established by
Augustus. On assuming power he convoked the senate to
consider the method of carrying on the government, and even
permitted one of the senators to propose a definite partition
of power between the emperor and the senate. He granted
the senate new rights and allowed it to judge all accusations
against the nobles.

Like Augustus, he affected an air of deference towards the
senate. He sent a quaestor to read his messages and consult
the senators, coming sometimes in person to vote and even
casting his vote with the minority.

One day a governor was accused of having plundered his
province. Tiberius was indignant and wished to speak against
him, when one of the senators said : " When will you speak }

1 Caesar was the family name of the founder of the empire. Count-
ing Caesar and Augustus there were in all only six emperors of the
family of Caesar. It is customary, however, to call the first twelve
emperors the twelve Caesars.

289

290 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN FAMILY. 291

If you speak first, you dictate our opinion ; if you let us speak
first, I shall be afraid of expressing a different opinion from
yours." Tiberius gave up the idea of speaking.

Tiberius cared nothing for public honors, a rare charac-
teristic in a Roman. He refused to have temples erected to
him as to a god. The senate offered him the title of Father
of the Country, but he refused it. He refused to be called
" lord," and forbade mention of his ** divine occupations."
The senate wished to give his name to one of the months,
as had been done in honor of Caesar (July) and of Augustus
(August), but he declined the honor. '* What will you
do," he asked, *' when you have had thirteen emperors ? "

He was a solemn man, who performed his imperial duties
conscientiously but without pleasure; he scorned flattery and
defied conspiracy.

He once said, speaking of the senators: " Oh these men,
so eager for servitude!" He also said: " You know not
what a monster the empire is." And again: "It is a wolf
which I hold by the ears."

Many of the nobles chafed under subjection to a man of
less noble birth than their own. But the senate dared not
disobey him and Tiberius was sole master, like Augustus
before him.

At the beginning of his reign the legions of the Danube
and the Rhine mutinied. The Danubian soldiers demanded
a wage of one denarius a day, and a reduction of four years
from the twenty years' term of service. Tiberius sent his son
Drusus to quell the revolt. A lucky eclipse of the moon
terrified them and they calmed down.

The Rhine legions were also clamorous for the sum which
Augustus had bequeathed to them in his will. Those of
lower Germany massacred their centurions and wished to
proclaim as emperor their general Germanicus, the nephew
and adopted son of Tiberius. Germanicus protested and in
the presence of his soldiers placed his sword to his breast,
saying that he would prefer to die. There were cries of

292 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

"Strike, then! " and a soldier offered his sword with the
words, " Take this, it is sharper." Germanicus pretended
to receive a letter from Tiberius promising the soldiers the
desired increase in wages, and paid it out of his own pocket
and those of his friends.

Tiberius later withdrew the concessions he made at the
time of the mutiny. He maintained discipline and never
again during his reign suffered a military revolt.

Germanicus commanded the army of the Rhine in Germany
for three years (see page 276), and returned to celebrate his
triumph in Rome. A. triumphal arch was erected in his
honor; he was received as a great general, and won the love
of the people and his soldiers by his affability. Tiberius
next sent him to the east to settle the affairs of Armenia, and
he died there at the age of thirty-four (19 a. d.). His friends
declared later that he had been poisoned.

A noble named Piso, a personal eremy of Germanicus, had
put poison in the hitter's food. This was proved by the fact
that Germanicus died with froth on his lips and livid spots all
over his body ; also that after the body was burned the heart
was found intact.^ It was also said that on hearing the news of
his death Tiberius and his wife Li via made no effort to conceal
their joy.

Tiberius and the Provinces. — Tiberius paid much atten-
tion to his provinces. He endeavored to give them honest
governors, and this was not easy, because he appointed only
nobles, and the Roman nobles were accustomed to look upon
a province simply as a rapid source of wealth at the expense
of the inhabitants (see page 175). Tiberius supervised the
governors, punishing all forms of pillaging, and forbidding
increase of the taxes even for the benefit of the treasury.
"A good shepherd," he said, "shears his sheep; he does
not skin them." Now the nobles did not care to leave
Rome to fill the office of conscientious administrators, so
Tiberius found few candidates for the governorships. He

^ It is hardly necessary to say that these statements prove nothinci:.

THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN FAMILY. 293

adopted the custom of leaving a governor for a long period
in the same province.

Last Years of Tiberius. — Tiberius had a son, Drusus,

. whom he destined to succeed him. But Drusus was

poisoned by his own wife. There was no one left now to

succeed the emperor but his adopted grandsons, the three

sons of Germanicus.

There had already been much trouble in the emperor's
family, between his wife, Livia, and Agrippina, the widow
of Germanicus. The Roman nobles, who were hostile to
Tiberius, began to form a party in favor of Agrippina and
her oldest son, Nero.

Tiberius became suspicious in his isolation, and instigated
many prosecutions for high treason {^lese majeste). There
was an old law, made at first for the tribunes of the people,
and later applied to the emperor, which pronounced the
penalty of death against any man who should injure the
majesty of the Roman people by offending in word or deed
its representative, the emperor. The senate, which was now
the supreme court of the empire, undertook the prosecution
of all such offenders. In the first years it endeavored to seek
out all persons guilty of speaking ill of the emperor or his
mother. Tiberius objected to this, saying, "In a free
country speech and thought must be free." He now per-
mitted the prosecution of traitors and possibly encouraged
it. The senate began to prosecute and condemn, especially
persons of high position. The goods of the condemned
were forfeit to the state. Those who had denounced the
victim received a portion of his goods, thus rendering the
business of informer {delator) a lucrative one.

Cremutius Cordus, a historian, was accused of eulogizing
Brutus in his History of the Civil Wars. He pleaded his case
before the senate, then returned to his home and starved
himself to death! In the succeeding years many nobles were
denounced and a number of them condemned; ordinarily
they received an order from the emperor to kill themselves.

294 THE ROMAN PEOFLE,

and accordingly took their lives. Their goods were forfeit
and their families left destitute. There were men who killed
themselves without waiting to be accused, that they might
be able to leave their property to their children.

Tiberius left Rome and took up his residence in the little
island of Capreae, near Naples. He left in Rome his right-
hand man, Sejanus, a mere knight, whom he had made
commander of the praetorian forces (praetorian prefect).
The praetorians were quartered by bands in the suburbs, and
Sejanus had barracks built near the city, where they could
all be together. He went often to see them, appointed their
officers, and sought to make them his friends. Sejanus
detested the family of Germanicus, Agrippina because she
had once slapped him, and Nero because he had upbraided
him for " abusing an old man's weakness." He succeeded
in persuading Tiberius that they wanted to kill him (a plot
to make Nero emperor having been discovered), and the
mother and son were banished far from Rome.

Sejanus had become the first man in the empire. He was
to marry the granddaughter of the emperor, but this was not
enough. He prepared to put an end to Tiberius and take
his place. Tiberius was informed of this. He resolved to
do away with Sejanus, and was wise enough to carry out his
plan before Sejanus could rouse the praetorians.

Drusus, the second son of Germanicus, was imprisoned
and starved to death. His mother Agrippina died of volun-
tary starvation, and the senate thanked Tiberius for not
having her body dragged to the Tiber.

Tiberius passed his last years at Capreae, Irving in sim-
plicity and occupymg himself with affairs of state, while the
senate continued its course of condemnation at Rome. He
weakened at last, and died, leaving his provinces in good
order and a full treasury {^y a.d. ).

* The Character of Tiberius. — It has been the fashion to
regard Tiberius as a monster of cruelty. But later criticism
of his history inclines to a more lenien^ judgment. His

THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN FAMILY. 295

career is known chiefly from the pages of Tacitus, a strong
partisan of the senate. It is probable that Tacitus has
exaggerated all the faults of Tiberius. A man who has
lived, like Tiberius, to the age of fifty-eight, an honorable
and unselfish life does not suddenly become a mad despot.
Circumstances made his position extremely difficult, and a
natural severity may have strengthened with advancing years.
Doubtless Sejanus was an unworthy favorite, but the verdict
of the present time is that the reign of Tiberius was, on the
whole, salutary and wise, as it certainly was efficient. The
provinces, at any rate, were better governed than ever
before, whatever the aristocratic clique in Rome may have
suffered.

Gaius, or Caligula (37-41 a.d.). — The only one left of
the sons of Germanicus was Gaius, the youngest, a man of
twenty-five. When a child with his father in Germany the
soldiers had nicknamed him Caligula (iiUle boot), because he
wore the Gallic caliga (boot), and the name had clung to
him. The i)raetorians proclaimed him emperor.

KOMAN BOOTS (CALU;>e).

He began by winning the hearts of his subjects. He
celebrated his accession by distributmg a gratuity: five
hundred denarii (one hundred dollars) to each of the
praetorians, one hundred and twenty-five to the soldiers of
the urban cohorts, and eighty-five to the legionaries; also a
gift of seventy-five denarii to each of the citizens. He
treated the senate with respect, set prisoners free, and per-

^9^ THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

mitted the circulation of books forbidden by Tiberius.
There was great rejoicing in Rome. In three months one
hundred and sixty thousand animals were sacrificed to the
gods as a thank-offering for so good an emperor.

The rejoicing did not last long. The new emperor soon
began to behave like a madman. He married his sister, and
when she died ordered the people to worship her as a
goddess. He declared himself a god and demanded worship ;
he ordered his image placed in all the temples; he went to
the Capitol to converse with Jupiter; he took his seat in the
forum between the statues of Castor and Pollux and made
the people worship him. He built a temple in Rome and
established priests there to offer up sacrifices to him. It is
even said that he made a priest of his favorite horse,
Incitatus, and wanted to make him consul.

He had the quaestors lashed and the senators tortured
without cause. During a threatening attack of illness,
human lives were consecrated to restore him to health; it
amused him afterwards to make them keep their promise and
kill themselves. He married successively three women
whom he took away from their husbands; the first two he
soon repudiated, and amused himself with saying to the
third, "A mere sign from me, and off comes this pretty
head." It was as if he was drunk with excess of power.

One of his reported speeches was • " I can do what 1 please
with everybody." One day he suddenly burst out laughing at
a banquet he was giving to the consuls. " I was laughing," he
said, " at the thought that with a single word 1 could have you
all strangled." He also said . " I wish that the Roman people
had but one head, that I might strike it off with one blow."

He ate and drank excessively. He gave suppers which
cost ten million sesterces (half a million dollars). He
invited circus-drivers, gladiators, and mimics to his palace,
which made a great scandal in Rome, for association with
this class of people was considered a disgrace. He gave
chariot-races and took part himself as a driver.

He very soon squandered the treasure amassed by Tiberius,

THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN FAMILY, 297

and began to raise money by condemning rich men to death
and confiscating their property.

One of his victims left nothing that was worth confiscating.
That man was a cheat," said the emperor; " he might just as
well have lived."

He placed a tax on all articles sold in the Roman market,
and began to impose it before it was proclaimed. Com-
plaints being made, he had his decree posted but written so
fine and placed so high that no one could read it.

At Lyons he sold the furnishing of the palace at auction;
he directed the sale himself and forced his associates to buy
at extortionate prices.

While he was in Gaul he carried an executioner with him
everywhere. Every ten days he chose from the list of tax-
payers some of the richest men and condemned them to
death; this he called " balancing iiis accounts."

He longed to win glory as a general, and crossed the
Rhine with an army to con-
quer the Germans. All at
once he heard that the enemy
was approaching — a false re-
port, as it happened; he
leaped from his chariot to a
horse and fled to the bridge
across the Rhine. He found
the bridge blocked with his
troops and, to make greater
speed, had his soldiers pass
him along from hand to
hand. He did not yet give
up hope of a triumph, how-
ever. While at dinner one
day word was brought him
of the enemy's approach; he immediately left the table and
went out into the forest, returning with German prisoners.
These were his own German guards whom he had captured

CALIGULA AND DRUSILLA.

298 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

for the fun of taking prisoners. The following year he made
an expedition against Britain and stopped at the shore of the
Channel. For these successes he had himself proclaimed
seven times imperator and celebrated his triumph, with Gauls
of high rank as sham prisoners, their hair dyed red and
wearing the German costume.

A large proportion of the people were anxious to be rid
of this madman who disgraced even the Roman armies, and
plots were made to kill him. Two of these plots failed.
A praetorian officer named Chaerea, whom Caligula had dis-
honored as a coward, had sworn to have revenge. One day
the emperor was leaving a theatre near the Palatine, and,
being in a hurry, left his German guards and went alone
through an underground passage leading to the palace; here
Chaerea surprised him and killed him. His wife and
daughter also were killed.

Claudius (41-54 a. d.). — The senate assembled and at
first favored the restoration of the former government, with-
out an emperor. Chaerea came to the consuls for a watch-
word, as a sign that the power had returned to the old
magistrates; they gave him the word " Liberty."

The soldiers, however, wanted an emperor. When the
praetorians had searched the palace they found a man who
hid himself and besought their mercy; this was Claudius,
brother of Germanicus, who was said to be half-witted.
The praetorians said to him: " Be our emperor." And as
he trembled with fear so that he could not walk, they carried
him to their camp and proclaimed him emperor. Claudius
made them an address and promised a gratuity of fifteen
thousand sesterces (750 dollars) each.

The consuls and the senate had for defence a troop of
gladiators, the soldiers of the urban cohorts, and the watch-
men, who were always jealous of the praetorians. Prepara-
tions were made for battle. But even the senatorial soldiers
demanded an emperor, and the senators disputed as to whom
the choice should fall on. The soldiers abandoned the

THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN FAMILY. 299

senate and joined the praetorians. The helpless senators
were obliged to go to the praetorian camp and recognize the
new emperor. The praetorians now held the power, and they
controlled the empire.

Claudius was a man of fifty. Tiberius had regarded him

CLAUDIUS.

as incompetent, and he had never held any office but that of
augur. He had lived in the palace and busied himself with
Etruscan antiquities; he had also invented three new letters.
When he became emperor, he desired to fulfil his duties
conscientiously. He abolished Caligula's taxes, recalled
the exiles, restored all property unjustly confiscated, and
forbade trials for high treason. He iidministrated justice in

300 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

person and earnestly endeavored to be impartial. But
unfortunately he had the appearance of a dotard, with
nodding head and trembling hands; he stammered and made
.foolish jokes. He was considered ridiculous and respected
by none. The people jeered at his edicts, in which he dis-
cussed everything from eclipses to methods of preserving
wine and remedies against the sting of vipers.

He treated the senate with deference, and stood in the
presence of a magistrate like a mere citizen. He was con-
tinually surrounded, even at table, by guards armed with
lances, so fearful was he of assassination. He allowed no
person to approach him without examination, and would
not enter the senate without a guard of armed officers. This
irritated the nobles against him.

He was passionately fond of eating, but even fonder of the
theatre, where he would often remain when everybody else
went away to dinner. The people loved this good-natured
emperor, although they made fun of him.

Being himself incapable of carrying on the government,
he left everything to his freedmen: Narcissus, his secretary;
Polybius, his reader; Pallas, the manager of his estates; and
Callista, who boasted of having saved the emperor's life.

The Roman nobles were furious at having to obey men
who had once been slaves, and at seeing Pallas amass an
immense fortune, occupy a magnificent house and entertain
his favorites royally, m short conduct himself like the
descendant of a great Roman family. They looked with
scorn upon this " reign of freedmen," as they called it.

These freedmen were either Greeks or Asiatics, of fair
abilities and education, and their administration was not
bad. The governors were supervised under Claudius as they
had been under Tiberius. They usually employed freedmen
like themselves, and left them for a long period at the same
post; they studied the affairs of the country and directed
them in the name of the governor.

The provinces increased in wealth and population under

THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN FAMILY. 301

regular government. At the end of the year 48 a.d. their
citizens aggregated nearly seven millions.

In Italy a great harbor of seventy acres was constructed at
Ostia, with two piers and a lighthouse. This enabled large
vessels to land near Rome, and premiums were paid to those

HARBORS

of CLAUDIUS and TRU4\

at Ostia

after Caiiiua et Laucieut

references:

Inland if Lighthouse

re of Trajan
g of wine
Temple of Bacchue ^
StorelwuMe of wine

6 Temple of P^rtumnu*

7 Inn of Pnmmixchiut

Storehou

who brought vessels to this harbor. An attempt was made
to drain Lake Fucinus by digging across the mountain a
tunnel three and a half miles long,^ which was to conduct
the waters of the lake to a river.

A numt5er oi new laws were passed under Claudius which
began to lessen the severity of the old Roman law: the
slave abandoned by his master for sickness was declared free;
the mother was given the right to inherit property from her
son, and the son the right to dispose of his own earnings.

Claudius allowed himself to be ruled by his wife as well
as by his freedmen. His first empress was his third wife,
Messalina (the first two having been repudiated for their evil
conduct before his accession). She condemned to death all
persons who displeased her, and at length she publicly
* This work was abandoned and not completed until 1874.

302 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

married a young noble. Claudius then decided to have her
put to death.

His freedman Pallas gave him for his fourth wife his own
niece Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus. She was a
proud and ambitious woman and insisted on sharing the
honors and power. She received the senate and the foreign
ambassadors, and, wearing a general's mantle, assisted in
the military reviews. She had a colony founded under her
name, Colonia Agrippina (Cologne). Such a woman had
never been seen before in Rome.

Claudius had a son, Britannicus, who was to succeed him.
Agrippina persuaded him to adopt Nero, her son by her
first husband, and give him his daughter Octavia in marriage.
Claudius also bestowed on him the proconsular power and
in his name distributed a gratuity to the soldiers and a gift
to the people. He finally appointed him his successor in
place of Britannicus.

When Agrippina saw her son assured of the succession she
poisoned her husband. Whether or not this i,s true, Claudius
died in 54 a.d.

Nero (54-68 A.D.). — On the death of Claudius, Nero
Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, the seventeen -year-old
son of Agrippina, became emperor. He had learned to
write verses, declaim, paint, and sing, accompanying him-
self on the lyre; he knew nothing of arms or affairs of
state.

At first his mother governed with him, writing the govern-
ment despatches, receiving the ambassadors, and reviewing
the soldiers. The law forbade a woman to sit in the senate,
so Agrippina had the senators come to the palace and, sitting
behind a curtain, took part in their discussion. When her
son went about the city she either shared his litter or made
him walk beside hers.

Nero quickly wearied of this surveillance, and wanted to
be rid of his wife Octavia besides. Agrippina upbraided him
and, it is said, threatened to proclaim Britannicus emperor.

COIN OF NERO.

THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN FAMILY. 303

Nero had his brother poisoned and dismissed his mother
from the palace.

Henceforth he governed alone, and for the first five years
succeeded in pleasing his subjects. He followed the advice
of Burrus, the praetorian pre-
fect, and Seneca, his tutor.
He treated the senate with
respect and seemed anxious to
be a good monarch. When two
death-sentences were brought
to him one day for his signature,
he exclaimed, "Would that I
could not write! "

Even at this time his amuse-
ments were of rather a singular
nature for an emperor. He
roamed the streets at night disguised as a slave, accompanied
by a band of young men, beating the passers by and breaking
open the shops. At the theatre he encouraged the people
to shout, break the benches and fight, while he threw objects
into the air and caught them.

Then he fell in love with Poppaea, the wife of one of his
companions, a coquette who, to preserve her exquisite com-
plexion, bathed in asses' milk and wore a mask in the sun-
light. He first disposed of his mother Agrippina, then of
his wife Octavia. He accused his mother of plotting against
his life, and delivered her to his soldiers to be killed. The
senate voted sacrifices to the gods for the salvation of the
emperor's life, and on his return to Rome Nero was received
with great ceremony as if returning from a victory.

But when he repudiated Octavia in order to marry
Poppaea, the people invaded the palace and overturned the
statues of Poppaea in their indignation, Nero revenged
himself by accusing Octavia of a crime of which she was
wholly innocent. She was nevertheless killed and her head
brought to Poppaea.

304 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

Burrus having died in 62 a.d., Nero appointed one of his
flatterers to be prefect in his place;. Then began a series of
prosecutions for high treason, and the government became
as merciless as in the days of Tiberius.

NeroWas vain of his powers as a singer, and began to
show himself first in a theatre built in his own gardens and
reserved for the nobles. It was not long, however, before
he determined to display his talent before the whole people,
and he sang in the public theatre of Rome in the dress of a
singer. When he had finished he followed the rule of the
profession and sank on one knee, extending his hand to the
audience in supplication. There were among the audience
groups of men who were paid to applaud. Furthermore
there were spies among the audience and no one dared
refrain from applauding. This fancy of Nero's made a great
scandal in Rome, but it was impossible to say anything
against it, and the senate offered sacrifices for the " divine
voice ' ' of the emperor.

In 64 A.D. the oil warehouses in Rome caught fire, and,
fanned by the wind, the flames spread so that in a week's
time ten of the fourteen districts of the city were burned.
Nero was absent from Rome, and returned to find his palace
in ashes. Without waiting for a guard he ran to give what
aid he could, and took all the homeless people into his
gardens. He was, however, so universally detested that he
was accused of setting fire to the city to amuse himself.^

There is a tale of Nero, clad in the costume of a singer, sit-
ting lyre in hand on the top of the Palatine hill, singing the
Destruction of Troy as he watched the city burn.

Rome was rebuilt in greater beauty, with wide, straight
streets, houses of good stone, less lofty and farther apart,
and arcades along the sides of the principal streets. Nero
had a great park laid out, with trees, lawns, ponds, and a
palace which was the most luxurious Rome had ever seen

[^ See p. 367 for the cruel persecution of the Christians which grew
out of this conflagration.]

THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN FAMILY. 305

and was called the "Golden House" on account of its
extravagant decoration; there were halls whose ceilings were
of ivory tablets made to turn and shower down a rain of
perfume or flowers; there was also a room which revolved
constantly.

Nero surrounded himself with a luxury unknown to the
Romans. He had furniture of mother-of-pearl and ivory,
garments of purple silk and wool which he wore but oncie;
he travelled with a thousand chariots. He distributed
presents, even estates, among actors, musicians, and
gladiators.

His mules were shod with silver. Poppaea had her horses
shod with gold, and was accompanied by a herd of five hundred
asses to supply milk for her bath.

Money began to run short, and Nero reduced the weight
of the coins. He robbed the Roman temples, also those of
Asia and Greece, of gold and silver and even statuary. He
made it a rule that every will should contain a bequest to
the emperor.

A number of nobles at Rome conspired against Nero's
life, intending to make Piso, a wealthy and popular senator,
emperor in his place. One of the consuls, a praetorian
prefect, and several officers, were in the plot. A senator was
appointed to stab Nero during the games at the circus.
Unfortunately for him his elaborate preparations roused the
suspicions of one of the freedmen, who denounced him to
the emperor. Nero sent word to the conspirators to kill
themselves, and they opened their veins. Seneca received
the same order because he had not revealed the plot. A
woman named Epicharis was put to the torture, but refused
to reveal anything; her limbs were so bruised that she had
to be brought on a litter to the second day's torture.
During the process she managed to pass a cord around her
neck and strangled herself (65 a.d.).

The succeeding years saw many innocent nobles put to
death. Thrasea, who was the best known of these and the

3o6 » THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

most respected member of the senate, was condemned
because he had been absent from the senate for three years
and had not sacrificed to the gods for the emperor's health
or for his " divine voice." Sentence was pronounced by
the senate and brought to the victim by a quaestor. Thrasea
dismissed his friends that they might not be compromised,
prevented the suicide of his wife, and then opened the veins
of his arm, and said to the quaestor, " Look, young man,
for you live in an age when it is well to be fortified by
examples of courage."

Nero was anxious to hear his voice admired by the Greeks,
who were considered the most artistic people of the period.
He accordingly went to Greece with a numerous escort of
actors and musicians. He went from city to city, singing
at every gathering, at Olympia, the Isthmus, and Delphi
(the Greeks had changed the date of the games to coincide
with his visit). Everywhere he received the prize. At
Corinth a singer tried to contend with him, and Nero had
him strangled. He came home enchanted with his trip.
" The Greeks are the only people who know how to listen,"
he said, and as a revvard he read before the crowd assembled
for the Olympian games a decree declaring the Greek cities
free. Returning to Italy, he travelled in a chariot drawn by
white horses; every city through which he passed he entered
by a breach in the wall, as the winner of the Olympian
games had done in old times. He crossed the city of Rome
in triumph, robed in purple, the Olympian crown on his head,
and in front of him the eighteen hunded crowns he had won
in Greece. These crowns he hung in the halls of his palace,
and began to spare his voice; he no longer addressed the
soldiers, held a napkin in front of his mouth, and had his
singing-master follow him everywhere with warnings to spare
himself.

Conquest of Britain. — After Caesar's expedition the
Britons remained independent in their island, but kept up
their relations with the Gallic tribes whose language was the

THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTA}^ FAMILY. 3^7

same as their own. On both sides of the Channel Celtic was
spoken and the druids were obeyed. The Celts of Britain
excited the Celts of Gaul against Rome and received deserters
from the Roman army.

The Roman government determined to conquer Britain.
Four legions, numbering forty thousand men, were sent
there during the reign of Claudius.

The Celts were brave, warlike, and good horsemen, but
they were broken up in small tribes and were poorly
organized. Their foot-soldiers were without helmets or
cuirasses, their shields were too small, their javelins too
short, and their spears too heavy.

The Romans landed without a battle and camped on the
bank of the Thames to wait for Claudius. On the arrival of
the emperor they crossed the river and routed the barbarians
under Caractacus, king of^Camulodunum. The other chiefs
sued for peace, and Claudius returned to Rome with the
surname Britannicus (conqueror of Britain) (44 a.d.).

The general remained four years in the country to organize
the new province of Britain. A colony of Roman veterans
founded a Roman city, Camulodunum, the seat of the
governor. The Romans began to operate the tin-mines,
Roman merchants came, and Roman cities were established.
Of these the most important was Londinium (London), near
the mouth of the Thames.

The Romans had with great difficulty subjugated the great
plain which forms the south of England. The inhabitants
of the western mountains (Wales) made a strong defence,
aided by Caractacus, who had taken refuge there. The
peoples of the west and north arranged to attack the Roman
province, but the Romans defeated them one after another.
Caractacus offered battle in a valley, but his ill-protected
soldiers were slaughtered ; he himself took refuge with the
queen of a neighboring people and was by her delivered to
the Romans.

On being brought to Rome he was astounded at the sight of

3o8 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

the structures of the great city. " How is it possible," he said,
" that you, who have such magnificent palaces, should envy us
our poor huts ? "

The conquest was not completed. The Romans never
occupied the mountain region of Wales, but confined them-
selves to establishing strongly fortified cities on their western
border to keep back the mountaineers.^ The peoples of
Britain revolted again, and were only subdued after a long
and severe war.

On the island of Mona (Anglesey) there was a sacred
forest where the druids assembled to sacrifice human victims
and decide . matters of common interest. They excited the
Britons against the invaders, and the Roman governor
determined to destroy their sanctuary. His army accord-
ingly crossed the strait which separated the island from the
mainland. The druids pronounced imprecations upon them
with their hands raised to heaven. Women dressed in black,
with dishevelled hair and torches in their hands, ran about
like the Furies, urging on the warriors. The Romans
scattered the defenders, cut down the trees, and destroyed
the altars.

The Britons were irritated against the veterans for taking
possession of the houses and lands of the inhabitants of
Camulodunum, and against the Roman merchants and
bankers for trying to extract money from a poor country.

While the army was busy at Mona, they rose suddenly,
massacred not only the soldiers but all the foreigners settled
in the country (said to number seventy thousand), and
destroyed the Roman cities. A legion which came to the
assistance of Camulodunum was almost completely exter-
minated. The revolt was led by a woman. Queen Boadicea,
who had been beaten by Roman officers, her two daughters
insulted, and her inheritance confiscated.

^ The names of several cities have preserved the memory of the forti-
fied camp, castra ; such are Cserleon {Castra Legiones) and Chester
(Castra).

THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN FAMILY. 3^9

The governor returned from Mona with only ten thousand
men, to find himself face to face with an immense army of
Britons, accompanied by their wives. Boadicea, mounted
on a chariot with her two daughters, passed before the ranks
saying, " This is a time to win or die, and 1 will lead the
way." The small Roman army succeeded in surrounding
and slaughtering this horde of barbarians (supposed to be
eighty thousand in number). Boadicea poisoned herself

(6l A.D.).

The Romans, having subjugated the south, established a
camp of two legions in the north, at Eboracum (York).
Then when they had finished the war with the mountaineers
in the west they attacked those in the north. Agricola,
father-in-law of the historian Tacitus, made war on them for
seven years (78-85 a.d.). He had provisions brought to
this barren region by a special fleet, and gradually advanced
with four legions to that part of Scotland where the two seas
approach one another to form an isthmus. The moun-
taineers of Caledonia (north of Scotland) came down to
attack them, but were driven back.

The emperors did not wish to occupy Scotland and
Ireland. They preferred to keep their frontier farther south
and defend it by a line of fortifications.

SOURCES.

Eutropius Bk. vii, §§ i i-i 5.

Paterculus . . . Bk. 11, §§ 1 23-131.

Suetonius Tiberius, Gains {Caligula), Claudius, Nero.

Tacitus Annals.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. Ixxii-lxv.

Merivale cc. xlii-lv.

Botsford c. ix, p. 218-c. x, p. 231.

Morey c. xxiv.

Myers c. xvi to p. 347.

Pelham Bk. vi, c. iv.

Capes Early Empire.

Bury . . Student's Roman Empire, cc. xii-xviii.

Taylor Constitutional and Political History of Rome,

c. xix.

CHAPTER XXI.
THE FLAVIANS.

Revolts against Nero (68 a.d.). — Nero no longer con-
cerned himself with the government. The people were stilh
attached to him because he gave them shows and made them
distributions. The soldiers, however, complained that they
were receiving no pay, and were ashamed to have a singer
for their commander.

Vindex, the governor of Lugdunese Gaul, set the example
of revolt. He gathered an army of Gauls and announced
his intention to deliver Rome from this ** evil singer.'' He
wrote to Galba, the governor of Spain, and offered him the
command. Galba had only one legion, but he raised another
and declared himself the supporter of the senate against
Nero. The governor of Lusitania, who was Otho, the former
husband of Poppaea, gave Galba his gold and silver plate to
pay his legions. The governor of Africa joined the revolt.

The people of Lyons had called on the two legions of
Germany to aid them against the Gauls. The armies met
near Vesontium (Besan^on). The Roman commander
wished to discuss the situation with Vindex, but his soldiers
threw themselves on the Gauls and killed twenty thousand
of them. Vindex committed suicide. The legions had had
enough of Nero, however, and they broke his images. The
army of the Danube did the same.

Nero had taken no steps against Vindex. At the beginning
of the trouble he was at Naples watching the wrestling-
matches; later he was absorbed in trying musical instru-

310

THE FLA y I Am, 3"

mints. When he learned of the revolt in Spain he lost his

head completely. The praetorians at Rome deserted him,

and he fled to the house of one of his frecdmen near Rome.

When he saw his own cavalry pursuing him he killed

himself.

Me is said to have hesitated long before he committed the
fatal act, weeping and exclaiming again and agam, " What an
artist will be lost to the world !"

The people would not believe that he was dead, and for a
long time his reappearance was confidently expected. In
Asia a slave impersonated the dead emperor and incited
a revolt.

Nero was the last survivor of the family of Caesar.

Galba, Otho, and Vitellius (^68-69 a. d. ). — The praetorians
proclaimed (Jalba as Nero's successor. The senate took the
oath of allegiance, and the other governors recognized him.

Galba came to Rome, a man of seventy-three years and
afflicted with gout. His policy was economy and the
restoration of discipline. He refused to give the praetorians
the money promised them in his name by the praetorian
prefect. " I enroll soldiers," he said, "I do not buy
them." He made no public distributions and was con-
sidered hard and miserly. He took for his colleague and
successor a young noble named Piso, a conscientious and
haughty man. The praetorians disliked Piso and, moreover,
the emperor promised them no gratuity on presenting him
to them.

The praetorians were displeased and began to treat with
Otho, formerly the favorite of Nero and the husband of
Poppaea; he was the man who had just been giving money
to Galba. He had won the hearts of his soldiers by treating
them all as comrades. The praetorians brought him to their
camp and proclaimed him emperor. Galba was assassinated
after a reign of seven months. Otho restored the statues of
Nero, but condemned no one (69 a.d.).

The soldiers on the frontiers were no longer willing to

312 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

accept any emperor that the praetorians might impose on
them. The army of the Rhine, which was the largest and
bravest, set up an emperor in its turn, proclaiming its own
general, Vitellius, the governor of Lower Germany. The
army then marched on Italy.

The army of Britain and the legion of Lyons declared
themselves for Vitellius. This gave him eleven legions in
all, and these l^^ons were accompanied by an equal number
of auxiliaries, mainly Germans. The most important and
the best paid of these were the Batavians, who formed the
chief corps of ca\-aln'.

This semi-German Roman army swept across Gaul like an
invasion of barbarians, leaving a trail of pillage and
massacre.

It was against Galba that the soldiers had revolted, but,
hearing on the road that the praetorians had put Otho in his
place, they continued their march and entered Italy.

Otho, having no army in Italy, gathered together what he
could find in Rome: the praetorians, the urban cohorts,
detachments from the l^ons, the recruits who had just been
enrolled, and two thousand professional gladiators. With
these he departed on foot, wearing a suit of iron armor and
living in great simplicity among his soldiers. He knew how
to make his men like him, and he imposed no discipline on
them.

Otho was advised to await the arrival of the army of the
Danube, which was marching to his assistance, but he risked
immediate battle and was utterly defeated.

Otho had remained in another camp with his guard.
When news of the rout reached him he killed himself,
having reigned only eighty-eight days.

The news of the defeat was brought by a soldier. Otho's
friends would not believe it, and one of them said, " This is a
coward who has fled from the battle." The soldier, without a
word, fell on his sword. Otho was greatly moved and cried,
" I will not expose the lives of such devoted defenders."

His soldiers urged him to continue the war. " One battle is

THE FLAVIANS. 3^3

enough," he said, and proceeded to dismiss his friends, dis-
tribuie his money, and burn his papers. He then asked for cold
water and two daggers, and lay down to sleep. At dawn he
awoke and plunged a knife into his heart.

The praetorians were disbanded. The soldiers of Vitellius
ravaged the country and fought among themselves. At
Pavia a legion massacred its own auxiliaries.

Vitellius finally reached Italy with an army of sixty
thousand soldjers and a retinue of servants, comedians, and
drivers. He was a fat man and devoted to the pleasures of
the table. When he had eaten too much he caused himself
to vomit in order that he might begin again. He paid no
attention to government and could not even maintain order;
he let his soldiers do what they please.

At Rome Vitellius made no opposition to the senate and
even allowed it to make a number of reforms, but his
gluttony disgusted everybody. He accepted invitations to
several dinners on the same day, and spent enormous sums
of money on his table; he invented a dish, " Minerva's
shield," which was made of fishes' livers, peacocks' and
pheasants' brains, eels' roe, and flamingoes' tongues.

Vespasian (69 a.d.). — There was an army in Judaea at
this time fighting the Jews, who were in a state of rebellion
(see page 3 1 7). They refused to accept the emperor created
by the army of the Rhine, and proclaimed in his stead their
general, Vespasian. The two armies in S}Tia and Eg^^pt,
who were in perpetual rivalry with the legions of Germany,
recognized Vespasian as emperor. The army of the Danube
also supported him and was the first to enter Italy.

The armies of Vitellius and Vespasian met near Cremona,
and fought all night. The morning brought news that the
SvTian legions were at hand to reinforce the troops of
Vespasian, and the Vitellians decided to surrender. The
two armies were reconciled and joined in sacking the city of
Cremona, which they then burned, and sold its inhabitants.

Vitellius at Rome arranged a settlement with the brother

314

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

of Vespasian, the prefect of the city, and publicly announced
his abdication. But the soldiers and people raised their
voices in remonstrance and forced him back to his palace.
A battle ensued at the Capitol, in which the brother of

VESPASIAN.

Vespasian was captured and killed, and the temple of the
Capitol burned.

Then the army of the Danube arrived before Rome, forced
its way into the Campus Martins, stormed the praetorian
barracks, killing all its defenders, and entered Rome. They
searched the houses for the soldiers of Vitellius and cut
their throats. (Being Germans, they were easily recognized
by their great stature. )

Vitellius was dragged from his hiding-place to the square
with his hands tied behind him and a rope around his neck.

THE FLAVUm. 3^5

His garments were destroyed and his hair torn out by the
mob; they threw mud at him, called him a drunkard, and
made fun of his red face and his fat stomach. He was
hacked to pieces with swords and his body thrown into the
Tiber.

The Revolt of Civilis. — In 69 a.d. the Batavian chieftain
and patriot organized a great revolt among his own people,
which was joined by many of the German troops of the
Roman army. He had been grossly abused by Nero and
had sworn vengeance on Rome. At first he had pretended
to be in favor of Vespasian as against Vitellius, but soon
threw off the mask and tried to set up an independent state.
This may be reckoned as the first of the long series of
struggles by the peoples of the Netherlands against foreign
domination — Roman, Spanish, and French. Nine legions
from Italy, Spain, and Britain were required before peace
could be secured.

The example of Civilis stirred up the Gauls, and Sabinus
emulated his attempt to take advantage of the troubles at
Rome, but he was subdued, captured, and executed at
Rome. The representative assembly of Gaul (see page 318)
had voted to remain faithful to Rome.

Destruction of Jerusalem. — The little kingdom of the
Jews had become a Roman province, Judaea, governed by a
procurator who occupied the king's palace. There was
still, however, a Jewish nation.

The Jews continued to regard themselves as the chosen
people, the only worshippers of the true God, and destined
to be rulers of the world. The emperors had allowed the
Jews to retain their Council of Ancients,^ which was made
up of priests and doctors of the law ; this was the real head
of the people, deciding questions of public interest, adminis-
tering justice and the affairs of the Temple.

The Temple of Jerusalem was the only spot on earth

1 This was called the Sanhedrim, a corruption of the Greek word
Synedrion.

3i6

THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

where the Jewish rites could be celebrated. Crowds gathered
there for the great feast of the Passover.

The Jewish nation did not consist only of the inhabitants
of Judaea. There were Jews settled in almost all the large
cities of the East; at Alexandria they occupied two wards.
These scattered Jews spoke Greek, but did not lose their

GOLDEN GATEWAY OF THH TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM.

national distinction. They sent their annual contribution
to the Temple, they endeavored to proselytize their neigh-
bors, and in several cities they even had a council and a
chief. They were exempt from military service. The
Roman emperors dealt considerately with the Jews. The
Jewish religion forbade the making of an image of man or
beast; the Roman money used in Judaea did not bear the
emperor's head, and the soldiers were forbidden to carry
their standards into the city of Jerusalem. One of the

THE FLAVIANS, 31?

governors set up in the palace shields consecrated to a god,
and Tiberius made him remove them. Romans were for-
bidden to enter the Temple.

Nevertheless there were a number of Jews who thought it
sacrilege to obey a foreign unbeliever and to pay him taxes.
When the Roman government ordered a new census to be
taken in Judaea, Judas of Giskala, a Jewish patriot, declared
it shameful to recognize any other master than the Lord of
hosts. He rebelled, and was captured and executed.

Caligula, who thought himself a god, ordered a statue of
himself to be placed in the Temple. The Jews declared that
they would die rather than permit such sacrilege, and the
emperor was dissuaded from the plan. The Jews were not
quieted, however. A party known as the Zealots began to
preach revolt. They armed themselves and assembled in
the desert ; after burning the homes of the inhabitants who
were resigned to Roman rule, they withdrew into the moun-
tains and began a sort of guerrilla warfare against the Roman
soldiers. Some even came to Jerusalem to make away with
all who supported the Romans; these guerrillas were called
** the assassins. " Miracles were reported and a great victory
predicted.

In 66 A.D. the revolt became general. The wealthy Jews
favored the Roman government because it maintained order.
The rest, however, accused the Roman governor of enrich-
ing himself at their expense, and caused a riot in the streets
of Jerusalem.

Foreigners had always been allowed to enter the outer
court of the Temple to pray and to sacrifice to the God of
the Jews. This was now forbidden by the new master of
ceremonies; the partisans of the Romans complained, and
there was fighting in the streets of Jerusalem for several days.

There were only a few Roman soldiers in Jerusalem. The
Zealots entered the city and drove out the rich citizens, seized
the Temple and the king's palace, and finally massacred the
Roman soldiers and the leaders of the Roman party.

3i8 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

The governor of Syria came to Jerusalem with an army,
captured one of the suburbs, but, in attempting to pass the
wall of the city, was defeated with the loss of his baggage
and engines of war. The Jews now had the mastery of all
the ancient kingdom of Judaea.

Vespasian was sent by Nero with three legions and
auxiliaries (fifty thousand men in all) to regain control of
the province. He advanced with great deliberation, taking
the fortresses one by one. The Jews had no army and
did not try to check the Roman advance; they did, how-
ever, kill themselves rather than surrender their strongholds.
Two campaigns were necessary to subdue the country around
Jerusalem. When Vespasian was proclaimed emperor he
returned with his army to Rome (69 a.d.). The war came
to a standstill and the rebels were thus for more than three
years masters of Jerusalem. During all this time they fought
among themselves.

Vespasian at length dispatched his son Titus with sixty
thousand men (70 a.d.). For five months the Romans
besieged Jerusalem. The city was very strong, surrounded
on three sides by precipices, and defended on the open side
by three walls. Inside, the Temple and the king's palace
had each a wall. The besieged were short of supplies,
having destroyed their provisions in the riots, and the city
was full of Jews who had come to the Passover. It was
therefore not long before famine set in. Many died of
hunger; others, in attempting to save themselves, were taken
by the Romans and crucified (five hundred in a single day,
it is said).

Titus was determined to force his way into the city. It
took him six weeks to make an opening in the wall, and
even then he had to take the lower city house by house.
He stormed the palace, then the Temple, and finally the
upper city. The Temple was burned. The city of Jerusalem
was destroyed.

Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that Titus had de-

THE FLAVIANS.

319

cided to spare the Temple, and that it was set on fire by a
burning brand hurled by a soldier.

All the inhabitants were either massacred or sold into

slavery. Titus reserved seven hundred prisoners to appear
in his triumph, together with the sacred objects from the
Temple: the golden table, the seven-branched candlestick,
the veil of the Temple, and the Book of the Law.

320 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Jerusalem remained in ruins. A legion was encamped
there and colonies established in the neighboring country.
The Jews' contribution to the Temple was kept up, but
given to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.

In spit^ of all this, deprived of their capital, their chiefs,
and their Temple, the Jews remained still a nation. They
preserved their religion and continued to regard themselves
as the chosen people of God. They assembled in the
synagogues to read their holy books, while the rabbis pre-
pared a new collection of the sacred rules of their religion.

The Flavian Emperors.— With Vespasian began a new
imperial dynasty, the Flavians, of whom there were three.
Flavins Vespasianus was descended from an Italian family
of petty landowners. His grandfather had been centurion,
his father collector of customs. He had followed the career
of an officer, and was now sixty years of age.

He made no attempt to deny his origin. On the contrary,
he frequently ridiculed those courtiers who traced his descent
from the god Hercules, and kept intact the peasant house
of his forefathers, in which he had spent his childhood.

He lived in great simplicity, worked late at night, left his
door always open to any that might come to speak with
him, and lent a ready ear to advice. He refused to permit
the prosecution of persons who spoke ill of him, and left the
sons of Vitellius in full possession of their property.

He restored order, reprimanding rebels and restoring dis-
cipline in the army. He paid great attention to the provinces,
and founded colonies of citizens. •

The greater number of the old Roman families had died
out and there was a scarcity of senators. Vespasian took the
census and added many new names to the list of senators.
In this way he made of the great provincial families (chiefly
of Spain and Gaul) a new nobility, which proved to be more
honest and less ambitious than the old one.

A great deal of money was needed to restore Rome to
good condition, to rebuild the Capitol, reconstruct the

THE FLAVIANS.

321

aqueducts, and build the Colosseum (see page 345), not to
mention the armies and the roads. Vespasian was very
economical, so much so that his enemies held him up to
ridicule as a miser.

In ten years he had set the empire once more on its feet
financially. He worked to the day of his death. '* An

THE FLAVIAN AMPHITHEATRE OR COLOSSEUM.

emperor," he said, " must die standing." He died in the
act of rising from his chair (79 a.d.).

Titus (79-81 A.D.). — His son Titus, who had borne the
title of Caesar, succeeded him. Titus had sworn to keep his
hands free from blood; he refused to permit prosecution for
high treason, and pardoned two nobles who were condemned
for conspiring against him. He adopted a deferential atti-
tude towards the senate, gave the people magnificent games,
and announced that the choice of shows at the theatre
belonged not to the emperor, but to the people. He made
himself beloved by all his subjects. His friends nicknamed
him '* the delight of the human race."

Having let one day pass without giving anything to any one,
he said regretfully in the evening, *' My friends, I have lost a
day."

322

THE ROM^N PEOPLE,

He died after a brief reign of two years and two months. ^

Domitian (81-96 a.d.). — Titus was succeeded by his

brother Domitian. He was tall, handsome, and vigorous,

ARCH OF TITUS,

and exceedingly temperate in his habits, eating but one
meal a day. He attended to his duties with unfailing

^ During his reign Vesuvius, which had been quiet for at least two
thousand years, broke into violent eruption. The cities of Pompeii and
Herculanseum were buried in lava (79 a.d.)

THE FLAVIAhlS. 323

regularity. He reviewed all sentences passed by the courts,
and condemned to exile all persons convicted of perjury.
He also supervised the governors of the provinces.

He followed the counsels of his father, and the regular
administration of the empire was continued.

His great fault was his vanity. He exacted the title of
Lord and even God. He had himself elected consul seven-
teen times. He was displeased with any eulogy of his
brother or any other great man. He celebrated three
triumphs and attended the sittings of the senate in triumphal
robes. He had the month of October called by his name.

He had no love for bodily exercise or active warfare, and
was always carried in a litter, even during a campaign. He
nevertheless conducted a number of wars against barbarian
encroachment in Britain (see page 309), on the Rhine, and
on the Danube. In the latter war he was defeated, and
secured peace only by promising a yearly present to the king
of the Dacians; his enemies called this buying peace by the
payment of tribute.

Domitian was always cold and egotistical. He lived
without friends alone in his palace, amusing himself, it is
said, by killing flies with a bodkin. His guests received an
ungracious reception.

There is a story that he amused himself by frightening his
quests one day. He received them in a hall draped with black,
lighted with funeral lamps, and furnished with couches such as
the dead were laid on, each with a funeral inscription bearing
the name of a guest. At each man's feet sat a slave represent-
ing the genius of the dead as he appeared on tombs. The sup-
per consisted of dishes served at funeral repasts.

When the dinner was over, unfamiliar slaves accompanied
each guest to his home, there to be met with an announcement
that a messenger had come from the emperor. Feeling sure
that he would find a sentence of death, he was surprised to see
the beautiful slave who had played the part of the genius of
death, whom the emperor had sent as a gift, together with the
funeral paraphernalia which had figured at the banquet.

In the last years of his reign Domitian's natural cruelty
was intensified by his constant fears. There was mutual

324 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

hatred between him and the senators, a number of whom
attempted to kill him. Condemnations for high treason
began again. One senator was condemned for celebrating
the anniversary of the birth of his uncle, the emperor Otho;
another for having a map of the world in his room; another
because the public crier had by mistake proclaimed him
emperor. Lucullus, the general of the army in Britain, was
executed for having permitted a new style of spear to be
called by his name; a rhetorician, for having made a speech
against tyrants. Domitian encouraged denunciation, even
from slaves. No one dared speak, even in his own house,
for fear that some word might be picked up by a slave and
interpreted as an allusion to the emperor.

Domitian needed money for his soldiers, having increased
the wages of the legionaries from two hundred and twenty-
five to three hundred denarii a year (from forty-five to sixty
dollars). He therefore condemned rich men in order to
get their property, and exacted a share of each inheri-
tance.

He became an object of loathing to his subjects, who
nicknamed him "the bald-headed Nero." The Chaldaean
soothsayers having predicted the near approach of his death,
he exiled them all and had a number executed. The
philosophers censured his conduct, and suffered execution
and exile for their rashness.

Domitian rarely appeared in public. He had the porti-
coes through which he passed faced with polished stone to
serve as mirrors, that he might observe what went on behind
him. When he went on the water he sat alone in one boat
and was towed by another, to keep the rowers at a safe dis-
tance from him. When a suspected person was brought
before him he had him chained, and held the end of the
chain in his hand.

In spite of all this precaution he was assassinated. His
wife's steward came to him to tell him of a pretended con-
spiracy, handed him a note, and struck him as he read it.

THE FLAyiAhlS. 32S

His servants hastened to the spot and killed the assassin
(96 A.D. ).

SOURCES.

Eutropius Bk. vii, §§ 16-22.

Josephus Jewish Wars, Bks. II-VII.

Plutarch Galba, Otho.

Suetonius Galba, Otho, Vttellius, Vespasian, Titus, Datni-

tian.
Tacitus. .,,..,. History, Agricola.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. Ixxvi-Ixxviii.

Merivale cc. Ivi-lx.

Botsford c. x, pp. 237-242.

Bury cc. xix-xxii.

Morey c. xxv.

Myers c. xvi, pp. 347-354.

Freeman Historical Essays (2d Ser.), The Flavian Em-
perors.

Mau, A Pompeii: its Life and Art,

Boissier, G. . . . Rome and Pompeii.

CHAPTER XXII.
THE ANTONINES.

96-180 A.D.

Nerva (96-98 a.d.). — The murderers of Domitian had
already chosen his successor, an old and decrepit senator
named Nerva. The senate elected him emperor and revenged
itself on Domitian by decreeing that his memory should be
abolished. Not only was the late emperor not declared a
god, but orders were given to tear down his statues and to
strike out his name from all inscriptions. Nerva recalled
the exiles, forbade prosecution for high treason, and restored
the powers of the senate.

The praetorians, who were on bad terms with the senate,
came in arms to the palace to demand the punishment of
the slayers of Domitian, and massacred them. Nerva had
not the strength to resist the praetorians, and chose as his
colleague a general by the name of Trajan. Soon after this
Nerva died.

Trajan and his Conquests (98-117 a.d.). — His succes-
sor, Trajan, was the first emperor who was not a native of
Italy. He was born in Italica, a Roman colony in Spain
(near Seville), and had already made his reputation as a
general.

He treated the senate with deference, consulted it on
affairs of state, and allowed it to decide cases against the
governors. He forbade denunciation of a master to be
received from his slave, condemnation of an absent citizen,
or prosecution for Use viajesie. He conducted himself not

326

THE ANTONINES. 32?

as a master, but as a magistrate. He sat with the other
senators, and, on accepting the consulate, stood while the
other consul sat and administered his oath. He allowed
eulogies to be written on citizens condemned by the
emperors, and images of Brutus and Cassius to be set up.
It was at this time the fashion to extol the partisans of the
old republic, to speak with scorn of the wicked emperors,
and to say that Rome was once more free. In spite of all
this the emperor remained the real head of the state.

Trajan was before all a general, and was absorbed in
conquest.

A new barbarian kingdom had been established on the left
bank of the Danube, between the river and the Carpathian
Mountains (the modern Transylvania). Decebalus, ^ king
of the Dacians, had organized an army on the Roman model,
employing Roman engineers and soldiers, and had invaded
the Roman province of Moesia. Domitian had paid him a
sum of money annually.

Trajan made up his mind to destroy this dangerous
neighbor. He spent the winter with the army of the Danube
preparing for war (loi a.d. ), and constructing a road along
the right bank of the river. In the spring he crossed the
Danube into the mountains and took the Dacian fortresses
one by one, returning with the Romans who had been
captured and the standards which the barbarians had taken
from the Roman soldiers. Decebalus sued for peace,
promising to surrender his engines, workmen, and Roman
deserters (102 a.d.). Trajan left a Roman garrison in the
capital city, Sarmizegethusa, and built across the Danube a
stone bridge with seventeen piers, to permit the Romans to
enter the country at will.

The king of the Dacians did not fulfil his promise; he
surrendered neither his arms nor the Reman deserters.
Trajan accordingly returned and declared war on him,

P Decebalus was a royal title, like Pharaoh or Kaiser.]

328

THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

invaded his country and entered his capital. He refused to
make peace, and insisted on the surrender of Decebalus.
The Dacian king, in despair, killed himself (io6 a.d.).

IHK DECEBALUS SUBMITTING.

{^Froni Trajan's Column.)

Trajan kept the country and made of it the new province
of Dacia. He built strongholds for its defence, drove out
the Dacian warriors, and established several Roman colonies.
These colonies operated the mines in the mountains, culti-
vated the land, and built cities. Dacia became a Roman
country, and Latin her chief language; this was the founda-
tion of the Roumanian people, which to-day speaks a tongue
derived from the Latin.

The strongest army of the first century was that of the
Rhine. Trajan transferred this honor to the army of the
Danube, to which he gave ten legions shared among five
governors.

The country south of the Danube, being no longer
exposed to barbarian ravages, increased in population and
wealth.

In memory of his conquest Trajan had the Column of

THE ANTONINES.

329

Trajan erected in Rome, with bas-reliefs in marble repre-
senting scenes of the war.

Rome had now but one enemy left, the king of the
Parthians. For a whole century she had made war on him
at various times, usually to determine who should chocs '
the king of Armenia. Trajan organized his army at Antioch,

BUKNING A TOWN.

{trom Trajan'' s Column.)

then sent for the king of Armenia, ordered him to lay down
his crown, and delivered him to the soldiers to be killed.
He then declared Armenia a Roman province, and advanced
into the kingdom of the Parthians. He had his boats dis-
mantled and carried across to the Euphrates on wagons.
Entering Babylon, he sacrificed to the spirit of Alexander,
then carried his boats overland from the Euphrates to the
Tigris, and took the great Parthian cities, Seleucia and
Ctesiphon. In the latter city he took possession of the
king'-s golden throne and sailed with it down to the ocean.
It was presumably his intention to advance as far as
Alexander, but the Parthian cities rose against him, his
health failed, and he died on the march, in 117 a.d. He

330 THE ROMAhl PEOPLE.

had made of the conquered territory three new provinces :
Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria.

Hadrian (i 17-138 a.d.). — Trajan had not had time
formally to designate his successor, but he had already
chosen a member of his own family. This was Hadrian, a
tall, handsome man, possessing a good mind and a sweet
nature. Trajan had adopted him and married him to his
grandniece.

When Hadrian was proclaimed emperor he swore never

to put a senator to death, and to allow the senate to retain

the powers granted by Trajan. When in Rome he took

part in the sittings of the senate and consulted it on affairs

of state. When the senate made him a visit he received the

members standing.

Seeing one of his slaves walking one day between two sena-
tors, Hadrian sent some one to strike the imperial slave, that
he might remember his inferior rank.

He attended conscientiously to business, administering

justice and hearing all complaints in person. He supervised

the provincial governors, and even condemned some of them

to death.

'• I wish to govern the republic," he said, " not as my prop-
erty, but as that of the people." A woman stopped him in the
street one day with a plea for justice. Hadrian told her that he
had not time to hear her. " Then why are you emperor? " was
the woman's answer. And Hadrian listened to her complaint.

He lived like a private citizen, without luxury, eating
simple meals, hunting with his friends, and visiting them
when they were ill. He had no guards to escort him in
Rome, and returned from the senate in a litter that he might
not attract attention. He was not a seeker after honors.
He never took the title of consul, refused for a long time
that of Father of his Country, and was only once proclaimed
imperator by the soldiers.

Hadrian had spent the greater part of his life in Greek
countries; he spoke Greek and had learned from the Greeks
painting and sculpture, the art of writing poetry, also

THE ANTONINES, 331

geometry, music, medicine, and astrology. His enemies
called him " the little Greek."

His first act was to abandon Trajan s eastern conquests,
the provinces about the Euphrates, feeling, like Augustus,
that the empire was large enough already. He avoided war,
preferring to maintain peace with the barbarians by making
presents to their chiefs. His plan was successful, and
during his entire reign the frontier was never attacked.

Although so careful to avoid war, he took equal pains to
have good armies. He visited all the frontier garrisons, and
made his soldiers preserve the customs of the old Roman
armies. He did away with the officers' country-seats,
banquet-halls, grottoes, and canopies. He drove out the
actors and jugglers.

He refused furloughs to the soldiers in order that the
corps might be always complete. Pic ordered at least three
military marches to be made each month. He established
a set of rules for the camp and for the baggage, and had
new engines of war made that were lighter and more easily
manoeuvred.

When in camp he lived like a common soldier, eating
bacon and cheese and drinking thin" wine. He practised
throwing the javelin, and led the military marches of
eighteen or nineteen miles on foot, bareheaded and fully
armed; he would not allow either a litter or a carriage to be
brought for him. He busied himself among his soldiers,
visiting the sick and giving promotions for bravery or long
service, which he ranked above wealth and youth. His men
were devoted to him, and throughout his reign of twenty-
one years there was never an outbreak among the soldiers.

Hadrian's Journeys. — Hadrian cared little for Rome,
and spent his time travelling about his empire.

He was proclaimed emperor in Syria, and passed through
the Danube provinces on his way back to Rome. He spent
a year in these provinces organizing the government.

He visited the south of Italy, then Rhaetia and Noricum

332

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

THE yINTONINES, 333

in the north, proceeding to Gaul and Britain. The bar-
barians of the Scotch mountains were ravaging the region
just beyond the frontier. Hadrian's Wall was built to keep
them back. This wall was more than sixty miles long and
extended across Britain from Solway Frith to the Tyne. In
front of it was a ditch forty feet wide and fifteen feet deep.
Behind it rose a wall of masonry seven feet thick and fifteen
or more feet high, guarded in front by three hundred towers
which jutted out over the wall, and behind by eighty guard-
posts. Along the full length of the wall was constructed a
military road sixty-five feet wide, defended by seventeen forts
averaging four miles apart, each placed within reach of
water. Finally, a second ditch between two lines of earth-
works protected the wall on the south. This tremendous
work was accomplished by three legions and their auxiliaries,
each cohort making a section of the wall.

Hadrian visited Spain and was present at the assembly of
deputies from the Spanish cities, which met at Tarragona to
celebrate the anniversaries of the founding of Rome and the
birth of Augustus.

Passing on to Africa, he visited the Roman camps on the
borders of the desert. At Lambesis an inscription has been
found which reproduces an order of the day from Hadrian
to his soldiers, congratulating them on the manner in which
they did their work, carried their loads, and executed
manoeuvres. Hadrian extended the road and the forts into
the mountains on the edge of the desert.

He passed through all the African provinces and entered
Syria. Here he had an interview with the king of the
Parthians; he promised to restore the king's daughter, who
had been captured by the Romans, but refused to give back
the golden throne that Trajan had carried off.

He next went through the provinces bordering on the
Black Sea. He visited the mountain from which the Ten
Thousand had had their first view of the sea, and a statue
of him was erected there, with a hand pointing towards the

334 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

sea. He had a temple and a harbor constructed at
Trebizond. He hunted wild beasts in the Bithynian Moun-
tains, and killed an enormous bear. The city of Hadrian-
otherge (Hadrian's hunts) was founded in memory of this.

Proceeding into Europe, he visited Thrace, ^ Macedonia,
Epirus, Thessaly, and Greece, and returned to Rome by
water, stopping at Sicily to see the sunrise from the top of
Mount ^tna.

Later he made a second trip to the East. This time he
made a longer stay in the Greek countries, where he was
happiest. In every city he left traces of his passage: in
Corinth the baths and an aqueduct, in Mantinea a temple
to Neptune, and in Argos a golden peacock with precious
stones to form the eyes in his tail-feathers. Athens was his
favorite city; during his long sojourn there he wore the
Greek costume, accepted the title of archon (magistrate),
presided at the games, was initiated into the Eleusinian
mysteries, and conversed with philosophers and artists. He
built a complete new city beside the ancient one, with a
gymnasium, a circus, and a library. Between the two he
erected a triumphal arch bearing two inscriptions; on the
side towards Athens was written, ** This is the city of
Theseus," and on the side towards the new city, " This is
the city of Hadrian."

He extended his visit to the Greek cities of Asia, and
built at Smyrna a temple and the most beautiful gymnasium
in Asia. Smyrna thanked him by giving him the titles of
"savior" and "founder," and establishing the Hadrianic
games. He visited the places of interest in the country,
the tomb of Tantalus and the bas-relief of Sesostris. At
Troy he restored the tomb of Ajax and composed Greek
verses in honor of the city.

He continued his journey into Syria and Judaea. At
Antioch he consulted the oracle at Daphne's spring, and

^ The largest city in this country is still Adrianople {Hadrianopolis.
the city of Hadrian).

THE ANTONINES. 335

then had the place closed. He went as far as Baalbec and
Palmyra, the desert cities which were supported by passing
caravans. He visited the Dead Sea and the strongholds of
the new province of Arabia.

Arrived at Alexandria, in Egypt, he visited the library and
the museum and argued with the scholars, with whom he
could not agree. Passing up the Nile, he met with a great
grief in the death of Antinous, a young Asiatic and his
favorite slave, who was drowned in the river. Hadrian had
him worshipped as a god, built in his honor the city of
Antinopolis near the spot where he had perished, and made
a road from this city to the Red Sea.

News of a serious nature brought him back to Judaea.
While passing through the province he had ordered a colony
of veterans to be established on the site of the ruined city of
Jerusalem; this was the colony of M\\2i Capitolina. The
Jews rose in rebellion, under command of a priest and a
bandit chief known as Bar Cocheba (son of the star), who
claimed to be sent by God to deliver the people of Israel.
The rebels gained Jerusalem and the mastery of Judaea, and
it was three years before the governor of Syria could put them
down. One by one he took their strongholds and massacred
all the men. He is said to have taken fifty fortresses and
nine hundred and eighty-five towns (132-134 a.d.), in which
campaign five hundred and eighty thousand Jews perished.

Hadrian took away the name of Judaea from the province
(calling it Palestinian Syria) and established two legions
there, although it was not a frontier province. The country
was left practically a desert. All Jews were forbidden,
under penalty of death, to come within the limits of
Jerusalem; once a year they were allowed to come and weep
at the foot of the city walL The Jews scattered through the
empire held to their religion, ' their synagogues and their
councils of elders. They would have nothing in common
with infidels, gradually ceased the use of Greek, and had
their books written only in Hebrew.

336

THE ROM/tN PEOPLE,

Hadrian returned to Rome and spent his last years there
(134-138 A.D.). He built a large villa at Tibur (Tivoli)
and reproduced there in miniature the monuments and land-
scapes he had most admired in his travels : an academy, a
lyceum, a theatre, and even a little valley of Tempe with
its rivers and mountains. The ruins of this villa have dis-
closed bas-reliefs, statues, and mosaics.

Antoninus (i 38-1 61 a.d.) and Marcus Aurelius (161-
180 A.D.). — Hadrian had adopted Antoninus, a rich senator

ANTONINUS. (NAPLES.)

from the Roman city of Nemausus (Nimes) in Gaul, who
was now recognized as emperor. Antoninus was already
fifty-two years old, and simple and economical in his habits.

THE ANTONINES. 337

He refused the money usually offered to the emperors, and
paid the soldiers' donativum out of hie own private fortune.
He lived plainly, and practised such strict economy that at
the end of twenty years he left more than a hundred million
dollars in the treasury.

Being of a mild and rather timid nature, he lived quietly
at Rome. He treated the senate with respect and attended
its meetings regularly. He voted generally for the lightest
penalties, and readily granted pardon to the condemned.
A conspiracy against liim was discovered, but he would not
allow the senate to search for the guilty persons.

He is supposed to have said on this occasion : " What good
will it do me to know which of my subjects hate me } " — The
following speech is also credited to him : " I wish to treat the
senate as I should wish to be treated if I were a senator." — His
adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, was reproached by his friends
for weeping at the emperor's deathbed. " Let him be a man,"
said Antoninus : " philosophy and the empire should not be
allowed to wither the heart."

Antoninus made no wars during his entire reign.

" It is better," he said, " to save one citizen than to kill a
thousand enemies."

Before becoming emperor he had adopted a young man
named Marcus Aurelius, who succeeded him with his
son-in-law, Lucius Verus, as his colleague (i6i a.d.).

Marcus Aurelius, from his twelfth year, wore the garb of
a philosopher and slept on the ground ;" his mother with great
difficulty persuaded him to accept a bed of sheep-skins.
When, at the age of eighteen, he was adopted by Antoninus,
he continued the study of rhetoric; later he became absorbed
in the doctrines of Stoicism (see page 358), and never ceased
to practise it even after he became emperor. He submitted
his conscience to a rigid examination every day, asking him-
self if he had fulfilled all his duties.

He wrote in his Meditations : " We must not be angry with
evil-doers, but rather bear with them in patience. Correct

338

THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

them, if possible; otherwise, remember that kindness has
been given us to use towards them."

He lived with perpetual austerity, eating little, working
hard, and having no distraction other than the writing of
his thoughts. Although his health was feeble, he con-

MAKCUS AUKELIUS.

scientiously fulfilled all his imperial duties. He attended
the sittings of the senate and remained to the end. He
often sat in judgment and gave his attention to the reforming
of the laws. He disliked the idea of war, but nevertheless
devoted years to defending the empire against her enemies.
"A spider," he wrote, "is proud if he catches a fly.

THE ^NTONINES.

339

Men boast, one of taking a hare, another a boar or a bear,
still another the Sarmatians. Are not they all brigands in
the eyes of the wise ? ' '

The Parthians attacked Syria. Verus went to fight them.

AKTHIANS RENDERING HOMAGE TO MARCUS AURBLIUS.

and conquered a small section of Mesopotamia. The
Moors attacked the Spanish coasts and were repulsed.

Rome's most dangerous enemies were the barbarians of
the Danube region. Some of the German tribes crossed the
river and asked for lands in the Roman provinces. They
were driven back, but all at once the whole nation entered
the empire, some Greece, some Aquileia, some Italy, ravag-

340 • THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

ing, plundering, and carrying off the inhabitants. A
pestilence had recently destroyed a portion of the Roman
army, a poor harvest had ruined the country, and there were
no taxes coming in. Marcus Aurelius sold the palace jewels
to raise money, and with great difficulty collected an army
in Italy, enrolling the military police, slaves whom he freed
for this service, and even gladiators. Verus died, and
Marcus Aurelius himself led the army which drove out the
invaders (167 a.d.).

This war was so terrible that it has been compared to the
war against Hannibal. Marcus Aurelius fought for several
years on the Danube, chiefly against the Marcomanni (in
Bohemia) and the Quadi (in Moravia). The barbarians
sued for peace at last; they restored the Roman captives,
promised to furnish auxiliaries to the emperor, and swore
never again to approach the Danube (176 a.d.).

Marcus Aurelius returned to the Danube and resumed the
war with the intention of destroying the barbarians. It was
his wish to make two Roman provinces of their territory,
but he died at Vindobona (Vienna) completely worn out,
at the age of sixty (180 a.d.).

Government of the Antonines. — The time of Nerva,
Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, and Marcus Aurelius is called
the period of the Antonines. It was the happiest period in
the history of the empire.

None of these emperors had sons, so that the empire was
not handed down as a heritage. The emperor chose an
adopted son and trained him for his successor, so that in
time he quietly and intelligently assumed the reins of
government.

The emperor was no longer dependent on the caprice of
the praetorians, neither did he fear the nobles of the senate.
He bore himself as the first magistrate of the republic, living
in a simplicity that had no resemblance to a court life. His
power was absolute, but he used it modestly and only for
the good of the state.

THE ANTON IN ES. 341

The senate remained tlie most honored body in the
government, and the families of its members occupied the
most exalted position in the empire The majority now
were not descendants of the ancient Roman nobles, but of
Roman colonists and the great landowners of the provinces.
They were obedient to the emperor^ and no longer
endeavored to restore the senatorial government.

Hadrian organized, as an aid to the emperor in the
government, the council, composed of senators and juris-
consults. Its duties were to prepare the edicts and investi-
gate affairs of state.

The first emperors had annoyed the nobles by taking their
freedmen for their secretaries. The Antonines, while they
could not very well drop this custom, chose knights, mem-
bers of the second grade of nobility, to supervise the work
of administration. There was one overseer at the head
of each of the four branches of the service: dispatches,
accounts, petitions, and investigations.

The system inaugurated by Augustus still prevailed in the
provinces: governors chosen from the senatorial nobility,
procurators from the equestrian nobility of the second grade.
The emperor gave them a salary and forbade them to take
anything from the inhabitants. He allowed the inhabitants
to complain against the governors, and punished the latter
severely if he found them guilty of robbery or violence. If
he was satisfied with a governor, he left him in his province
for several years. The provinces were therefore no longer
a source of revenue to the Roman nobles, but kept their
revenues and made use of them at home. The barbarian
countries, Gaul, Spain, Africa, and Illyria, grew, as Italy had
earlier, into rich and populous countries, with their share of
houses, cities, and public buildings.

Rome sent out very few officials to her provinces. In all
the countries which composed modern France there were

1 There was an abortive conspiracy of senators against Trajan and
another against Hadrian.

342 THE ROMAhl PEOPLE.

only a hundred, and not more than twelve hundred soldiers.
The emperor left his subjects to administer their own affairs,
only asking them not to make war among themselves, to pay
their taxes, which were in most cases sufficiently moderate,
and fixed since the conquest, and to appear before the
governor when he made his yearly tour to decide matters of
importance.

All other matters were decided by the petty governments
which had been in operation before the conquest. There
were a number of these in each province, ordinarily one for
each town of any importance. The surrounding country
formed the territory of the town, and the whole what was
technically known to the Romans as a city {ctvitas). Each
city was organized on the model of the Roman city, with its
senate, magistrates, and assembly of the people. The
magistrates, who were elected for one year, were divided in
colleges of two members each, one for justice and govern-
ment (like the Roman consuls), the other for police and
markets (like the aediles). The senate, which was called the
curiuy was made up of the landed proprietors. In the city,
as at Rome, the assembly was only a form, and the real
power was the curia, that is to say, the wealthy inhabitants.
The capital of the little state was a miniature Rome, with
its temples, council-chamber, theatres, baths, fountains,
aqueducts, and roads. The life of Rome was also repro-
duced on a small scale, the celebration of ceremonies, and
the distribution of gram and money.

These cities paid all their own expenses and received
nothing from Rome even towards the support of the admin-
istration, courts, or militia. The inhabitants themselves
furnished what was needed for their government, construc-
tion of buildings, and festivals. In most cases the rich
citizens subscribed the money, and in return were made
officials by the city, members of the curia, or priests in the
temples; their names, together with a eulogy, were inscribed
on the public buildings. Trajan and Hadrian granted the

THE yiNTONINES. 343

cities permission to receive gifts and legacies, and many
wealthy citizens bequeathed to them large sums of money.
The younger Pliny spent more than eleven million sesterces
(550,000 dollars) for Comum, his native town; he built a
library, a school, and a temple of Ceres with galleries for
the merchants during the fairs. An inhabitant of Massilia
gave ten million sesterces (500,000 dollars) to rebuild the
city wall.

The Roman empire from Augustus to Diocletian (300 a.d.)
has been called simply an agglomeration of these separate
municipalities, each a single, separate grain in a vast heap.
They had no organic connection with each other, the sole
source of unity being allegiance to the emperor. The
provinces were simply divisions for imperial convenience.
But two towns in the same province, as Athens and Corinth,
were no more united governmental ly than were Athens and
Lugdunum (Lyons), save that they were under the same
provincial governor representing the emperor. The excep-
tion was Gaul, which had a provincial assembly for certain
very minor purposes.

Egypt, as the great source of the grain-supply of Rome,
was kept by the emperors in special dependence. All men
of senatorial rank were forbidden to set foot in it, and it was
administered by knights as the personal estate of the
emperor. This was to preclude the possibility of a rebellion
in so vital a territory.

Rome had rendered the peoples of the provinces a service
in conquering them; she had suppressed internal wars in
the empire and established ** Roman peace." A Greek
orator thus described the condition of the world: "Every
man can go where he pleases; travellers are as safe in the
mountains as the inhabitants of a city within its walls. The
world has put off her old armor and attired herself in holiday
dress." For the first time the inhabitants of Europe could
live in tranquillity, without fear of being massacred or
enslaved by a hostile army.

344

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

SOURCES.

For this period the sources available in English are most
scanty. Of Dio Cassius, the standard historian of the period,
there is a German translation, and the Historia Augusta, con-
taining the lives of the emperors from Hadrian to Diocletian, is
easily read in the original. The chief source in English is
Eutropius Bk. viii, §§ 1-14.

PARALLEL READING.

Botsford c. xi.

Bury cc. xxiii-xxviii.

Duruy. cc. Ixxix-lxxxi.

Merivale cc. Ixi-lxviii.

Morey c. xxvi.

Myers c. xvi, §§ 225-228.

Pelham Bk. vi, c. i.

Gibbon Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire^ cc

i-iii.

Capes, W. W Age of the Antonines.

M. AUREI.TUS ANTONINUS.

(Bronze medallion of the year 222.)

CHAPTER XXIII.
ARTS, LETTERS, AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

Great Monuments at Rome and in the Provinces. —

During the first two centuries of the empire Rome increased
in size and beauty. The emperors erected a large number
of new structures.

On the Palatme hill, where Augustus had his house,
Caligula built himself a palace which was adorned with
Greek paintings and statues and extended to the Forum.
Some of the most beautiful of the antique paintings known
to us have been found near by in the ruins of a beautiful
house which is believed to have been originally the residence
of Livia, the widow of Augustus.

In the plain at the foot of the Palatine hill Nero built the
Golden House with a pond and a park. When this was
destroyed Domitian built a new palace in its place, with a
great marble hall with columns, where the emperor held his
tribunal and received envoys from foreign kings.

On the site of Nero's park Vespasian erected, in memory
of the capture of Jerusalem, the arch of Titus, with bas-
reliefs representing the prince's triumph over the Jews. On
the same site he also erected the Colosseum for the circus
games. This was the largest of all the amphitheatres, so
large and so solid that it is still standing. It is 620 feet
long, 513 feet wide, and 157 feet high. The arena is 287
feet long and 180 feet wide. The seats were arranged in
several tiers, the lowest of which was reserved for the
emperor and the nobles. There were seats for eighty-seven

345

346 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

■---------:. --^

t' thousand spectators, and standing-room
f(jr fifteen or twenty thousand more.
There were already three forums,

J. ^^^^^^^^^ :i^^^ original one and those of Csesar

I and Augustus. Trajan added another,

I the Forum of Trajan, which was the

]ii:;iiiiiiii:iiiiiii=;iMliii^Biii^::;::::i:i::::;:i.i^:ii jargcst aud most bcautiful of all. He

began by excavating between the Capi-
Wmmm^^^MMmMBE toline and Quirinal hills, and levelled
iiiilillHI^K a space six hundred and fifty feet wide,

|| to a depth which is measured by the
■i height of the Column of Trajan (about
: 140 feet). The area thus prepared was
ii^^H made the site of a group of monu-

ments : the arch of triumph, the square
with the equestrian statue of Trajan in
the middle, the basilica, the library,
iiB:H;ii:;|;fJ^^M|||||i|||| ^j-^,^ tcmplc, and the great Column of

^^^^^'"^^^"^^^■■^" '■■"■" Trajan, adorned with bas-reliefs in

jj^^ ,,,: marble representing scenes in the

Dacian war. The Forum of Trajan

was considered one of the wonders of

the world.

On the open space near the Campus
Martins the emperors constructed a
large number of porticoes and galleries
with columns under which the people
could move about and be protected
from sun and rain. Some of these
were adorned with statues and pictures
like a museum.

On the other side of the Tiber

Hadrian built a tomb, the Mausoleum

itJUHffl^^ of Hadrian (now known as the Castle

of St. Angelo), with a stone bridge.

COLUMN OF TRAJAN. Hc also Tcpaircd Agrippa's Pantheon.

js^B

ARTS, LETTERS, AND SOOAL CONDITIONS. 347

At the end of the reign of Augustus there were seven
aqueducts bringing water into Rome. Three new ones had
now been constructed, making nearly two hundred and sixty

MAUSOLEUM OF HADRIAN.

miles of conduits, twenty of which were supported by
columns and arches. Rome's water-supply was better than
that of London or Paris to-day.

34«

THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

A portion of this water was for the public baths, the
Thermo:, all of which were constructed under the emperors
i^Baths of Agrippa, Nero, Titus, Trajan, etc.). These baths.

RUINS OF ROMAN AQUEDUCT.

which were used as much for social intercourse as for bath-
ing, were enormous edifices adorned with statues, and
accommodated sixteen hundred bathers. The largest were
the Baths of Caracalla, built between 206 ani 217 a.d.

ARTS, LETTERS, AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 349

Over the vaulted chambers which served as storage- and
furnace-rooms there were, first, a great marble tank of cold
water; next, a sweating-room (164 feet by 82) with massive
granite pillars; third, a great heated hall surrounded by
small bath-rooms; fourth, two immense galleries with
columns; fifth, dressing-rooms; sixth, rubbing-rooms. All
of these were paved with mosaic and adorned with pictures
and statuary. Outside there was a large garden, shut in by
a wall of buildings, comprising a portico, libraries, gym-
nasiums, and lounging-rooms. The water was brought by

AQUEDUCT AT NIMES.

an aqueduct to a reservoir formed by sixty great vaulted
chambers.

Claudius and Trajan built the two great harbors at Ostia
to permit ships to land near Rome.

We do not know all the monuments that were erected
under the emperors. Many have disappeared; others, in
the African and Syrian deserts, have only recently been dis-
covered. Enough remain, however, to give us an idea of a
country embellished with bridges, aqueducts, circuses,
theatres, temples, basilicas, and triumphal arches.

The ruins of about eighty amphitheatres have been dis-
covered in Italy. Two of Italy's greatest seaports date

35 o THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

from this period, Centumellae (Civita Vecchia) on the west
coast and Ancona on the Adriatic; both were constructed
under Trajan.

In Spain we may still see the bridge of Alcantara over the
Tagus, sixty feet in height, built in the reign of Trajan; also
the huge aqueduct at Segovia. Gaul has preserved the
monuments constructed in the south, the theatre and
triumphal arch of Orange, the arenas at Aries and Nimes,
the temple at Nimes known as the Block-house, and the
aqueduct which Ijrought the mountain springs through the
valley of the Gard to the city.

The Roman House. — A rich man's house under the
empire was not much like the Roman house of antiquity.
It was copied from the Greek houses in the Orient, with the
front of the house facing away from the street.

Entering, one crossed an enclosed gallery which took the
place of the old vestibule, and came to the reception hall.
This was still called the atrium, though more like the Greek
aula; it w^as supported by marble columns, paved with
mosaic, and adorned with statues. The rooms opening off
the atrium no longer served as bedrooms; they were the
conversation-rooms, the dining-rooms, furnished with bronze
or possibly silver couches, the picture-gallery [pinacotheca),
library, and great reception-hall.

The old court behind the house was replaced by the
peristyle, open galleries supported by rows of columns sur-
rounding a little garden, with shrubs and baskets of flowers,
and a fountain.

Finally, beyond the garden, in the lower building were
the family bedrooms, bath-rooms, and gymnasium.

It was now the fashion to decorate the interior of the
house. The floors were paved with mosaic, the walls
adorned with pictures, marble slabs, or hangings, and the
ceiling wainscoted in some rich wood. There were tables
of valuable woods, and cupboards of bronze or silver where
the silver vessels were displayed.

352

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Country houses had the added advantage of parks, ponds,
reservoirs for breeding fish, aviaries of rare birds, and under-
ground galleries for hot weather. The adjoining buildings,

kitchens, laun-
dries, mill, oven,
spinning- and
weaving - r o o m s,
and slave-cabins,
formed in some
cases a complete
village inhabited
by hundreds of
slaves.

Shows. — It was
an old-established
custom at Rome to
celebrate festivals
in honor of the
gods with games
or shows. Each
set of games lasted
several days and
was composed of
a series of public
shows. The num-
ber of these con-
stantly increased.
Under Augustus
there were seven

GROUND-PLAN OF A ROMAN HOUSE. ,

(^House o/Pansa in Pompeii.) CaCh year, COVCr-

a. Vestibule, i. Entrance-passage. 2. Atrium. 3. • Qlf-r%o-^thAr

Apartments. 4. Alae. 5. Tablinum. 6. Fauces, 7. ^"& d-ItOgeiner

Library, 8 and 11. Exedra, (?) 9. Cavsedium (Peri- civfir civ rloTi-o Af

style). 10, Side-entrance, 12. Chambers and dormi- ^^^l-y-MX uayb. i\X

tories, 13, 14. Triclinium and side-room, 15. CEcus. +Up e'r\(\ of fhf

16, Muniment-room. 17. Passage to the garden, t8. ' "^ ^"^ ^^ "-"^

19. Kitchen and larder. 20 Stables. A-E. Rooms empire there WCrC
rented out as dwellings. F, G. Bakery and shop. H, I. ^

Pottery and shop. K, Shops, One hundred and

seventy-five days of shows (one hundred and one for the

ARTS, LETTERS, AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 353

theatres, sixty-four for the circuses, and ten for gladiatorial
combats). The ordinary shows lasted from morning to
night; the citizens enjoyed them without pay. The show
became the supreme passion of the Roman world.

The theatre had first been organized on the Greek model ;
the actors were masked, and the plays an imitation of the
Greek. The Romans cared very little for this delicate style
of entertainment, and greatly preferred the mime, a sort of
comic farce. The actors, who impersonated ridiculous char-
acters, wore a sort of clown's costume, slapped themselves,
and executed grotesque dances. Contrary to ancient custom,
the female parts were taken by women.

The pantomime also was very popular. One actor
appeared alone on the stage and, without uttering a word,
played his part by means of gestures and facial expression.
Sometimes there were ballets by professional dancers.

In some rare instances there were songs and recitations,
as in Greece. Nero appeared on the stage as a singer.
Domitian, when he established the Capitoline games, added
a chorus of singers, and built for them a special covered
theatre, the Odeon.

The Circus, designed for chariot-races, was a race-track
surrounded by rising tiers of seats. There were several
circuses at Rome; the most noted of these was the Circus
Maximus, at the foot of the Palatine hill, with accommoda-
tions for two hundred and fifty thousand spectators. At
either end of the sand-covered arena was a post of gilded
bronze, around which the chariot must pass. The course
was seven times around the arena, whose circumference was
over half a mile. The driver stood on a light chariot, drawn
commonly by four horses, with his whip in his hand and the
reins fastened to his belt, shouting all the while to excite
and encourage his horses. Often the chariot struck against
the post as it turned. The winner of the race received a
prize.

Twenty-four races were the usual number for one day.

354 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

The chariots were supplied by rival companies, each dressing
its drivers in a distinguishing color. There were four colors
altogether, white, red, blue, and green, but these were
finally reduced to two, the Blues and the Greens. The
spectators sided with one or the other, and during the race
they shouted, stamped, and waved their handkerchiefs;
sometimes they even came to blows with one another.
Chariot-racing became as popular as horse-racing is with us.
Even the women and children laid wagers and talked of the
races. When the emperors supported one color or the other,
as Caligula and Nero did the green and Vitellius the blue,
the rivalry became a political affair.

The amphitheatre was used for various sorts of shows,
chief among which were the gladiatorial combats. Men
armed with swords (the word gladiator is derived from
gladius, a sword) fought until one or both were killed, for
the amusement of the spectators. The custom was an old
one, probably of Etruscan origin, a sort of human sacrifice
in honor of a departed soul ; for these combats at first took
place only at the funeral of some noble.

Later combats became a regular form of entertainment,
and the number of combatants increased. The first gladia-
tors were barbarians captured in war, who fought in native
costume and with native weapons. After each great war
thousands of prisoners were dedicated to this purpose,
Trajan giving ten thousand Dacian warriors. Later slaves
and men condemned to death were employed. Finally it
became a profession, which men entered either as a means
of livelihood or because they enjoyed it. They were pre-
pared for the arena in a special school, where they were
closely confined and subjected to a severe discipline and
continual practice. Each bound himself by oath to " let
himself be beaten with rods, burned with hot irons, or even
killed by the chief."

On the show-day the gladiators entered the arena, salut-
ing the emperor with these words: *' Farewell, Caesar; those

^RTS, LETTERS, AhlD SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 355

who are about to die salute thee." Then at the sound of
horns and trumpets they rushed at each other and fought,
sometimes singly, sometimes in groups. The two sides w^ere
never armed alike. A half-naked retiarius, armed with a net,
contended with a myrmillo, armed with every possible
weapon; a Samnite with a small sword and a large shield,
against a Thracian with a small shield and a large sword.
When one of the two combatants fell, the spectators decided
whether he should be killed or spared. Attendants with
ropes removed the bodies that were left in the arena, and
took them to a room where they were examined. A man in
the guise of Mercury touched them with a hot iron to see if
there was still life in them. Another in the guise of Charon
dispatched with a club those who were hopelessly wounded;
the others were cared for and restored to health.

There were also combats in war-chariots or on horseback.
Even naval battles [naumach'ce) were fought in the lakes and
reservoirs. Claudius had two entire fleets contend together
on Lake Fucinus; their crews, numbering nineteen thousand
men, were condemned prisoners gathered together from all
parts of the empire; engines of war were placed along the
shores of the lake to compel them to fight.

The emperor always assisted in these massacres. Marcus
Aurelius made himself unpopular in Rome by showing his
distaste for them, preferring to spend his time in reading,
talking, and hearing the grievances of his subjects.

The amphitheatre was also used for hunts. Wild beasts,
lions, panthers, leopards, bears, boars, elephants, buffaloes,
stags, bulls, and ostriches, were let loose in the arena.
Pompey and Caesar introduced new animals, the hippo-
potamus, giraffe, and crocodile. Hunters slew these
animals with bow, javelin, or spear. During the year
1 06 A.D. almost eleven thousand of them were killed. Two
animals were also pitted against each other, a bear against a
buffalo or a bull against an elephant ; or a man with a sword or
spear, and without cuirass or shield, against a lion or a bear.

356

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Later on it proved more interesting to chain a man naked
to a post and set a wild beast on him; the pleasure consisted
in seeing him torn apart and devoured. Condemned
prisoners were used for this purpose, both men and women,
and their execution converted into public entertainment.
They were not even permitted to die in a natural manner.
One was dressed to represent Orpheus and was destroyed by
a bear; another, as Hercules, was burned on a funeral -pyre;
another crucified as the brigand Laureolus.

SCHOOL PUNISHMENT.

Not in Rome only but in all the great cities of the empire
were the people entertained by comedies, mimes, chariot-
races, gladiatorial combats, and prisoners delivered to wild
beasts.

Literature. — A number of the ancient tongues were still
spoken in the empire: Oscan and Etruscan in Italy, Celtic
in Gaul and Britain, Basque in Spain, Berberian and
Phoenician in Africa, Coptic in Egypt, Syrian in the East,
and Albanian in Illyria. Only two languages, however,
were written, Latin in the West, Greek in the East. The

ARTS, LETTERS, AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 357

subject peoples, having had no native Hterature, adopted
that of one of the great ancient races: the East produced
Greek writers; the West, Latin writers.

There were Greek schools of long standing in Athens,
Alexandria, and Rhodes, and others were founded in Gaul,
Rome, and Carthage. Under the empire some of the cities
established Latin schools for the youth of rich families, and
began to pay salaries to teachers, especially in the branches
of rhetoric and philosophy.

The most famous Latin authors of the first century were
not natives of Italy, but belonged to the Roman cities of
Gaul, and of Spain in particular. Gallus the poet, Trogus
Pompeius the historian, and Aper the orator, all known to
us only by reputation, were natives of southern Gaul.
Seneca the rhetorician, Seneca the philosopher, Lucan,
Silius Italicus, and Martial, the poets, Pomponius Mela the
geographer, Columella the agriculturist, Quintilian the
rhetorician, were all Spanish Romans.

Public readings were the fashion of the period. The
assemblies in the Forum and great political trials had been
given up and orators had no opportunity to display their
powers. Pollio, a favorite of Augustus, set the fashion of
inviting his friends to hear him read his works. It became
the custom among literary Romans to gather their friends
together and read them what they had written, poems,
panegyrics, fragments of history, even tragedies. In this
way authors secured an audience that was obliged to
applaud.

This was also a time of famous rhetoricians. Young men
learned the art of speaking in the schools, the masters teach-
ing them the rules which for two centuries the professors of
eloquence had been shaping, and giving them the material
of imaginary discourses to develop.

The second century was, after the Augustan age, the most
brilliant in the literature of the empire. Both Greek and
Latin authors appeared at this time.

35^ THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

The Latin writers lived mainly during Trajan's reign.
There was Pliny the younger, chiefly known for his letters;
Juvenal, famed for his Satires; Suetonius, the biographer of
the first twelve emperors, and the most celebrated of all;
Tacitus the historian and one of the most brilliant of Roman
writers. All these Were natives of Italy.

The Greek writers flourished mainly under Hadrian.
The best know^n are Plutarch, a Boeotian Greek, author of the
Lives of famous men ; the orator Dion Chrysostomus, and
two historians, Appian of Alexandrea, and Arrian, governor
under Hadrian; Lucian the satirist and philosopher, and
two famous scholars, Ptolemy the geographer and Galen the
physician. Marcus Aurelius composed his Meditations in
Greek.

The Stoics. — The Romans were not interested in theoret-
ical philosophy, but they adopted the doctrines of the Greek
philosophers on morality, in order to have a rule of life.
They divided at first in two sects. Stoics and Epicureans.
Horace was an Epicurean; he said that the only real good
was pleasure, and that the wise man lived in peaceful
indifference to the future.

At the close of the first century the Stoics predominated.
Their belief was that the supreme good was virtue, which
consisted in observing the laws established by the Divinity.
This world's goods, riches, honor, beauty, health, were as
nothing to the wise man; he held only to virtue.

The most famous of the Stoics was Epictetus, a Greek
belonging to the first century. He was at first a slave.
One day when his master, one of Nero's favorites, was beat-
ing him, he said, " You will break my leg." The master
continued his violence and broke the leg. Epictetus said
quietly, " I told you you would do it." He was freed from
slavery and began to preach, attracting a large number of
disciples. He died under Trajan. One of his pupils col-
lected his discourses in a Manual. Epictetus urged, as of
primary importance, the subjection of the passions and

y4RTS, LETTERS, AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 359

obedience to God. " You must shape your souls as a
carpenter does his wood. " "When Zeus (God) sent you
upon the earth, he placed on you his commands : love your
fellow man, covet not your neighbor's goods, be just and
faithful." These commands are graven on the conscience;
the wise man must overcome his egotism and the violence
of his temper; he must help his suffering fellow men by
setting them a good example: ** Like you I have neither
country, house, property, nor slaves; I have only the earth,
heaven, and my cloak." The aim of philosophy is to teach
us to despise this world and give us the perfect serenity
which nothing can disturb. It is all summed up in this
formula: ** Bear and forbear."

Stoicism was taken up by the Roman nobles in the first
century, especially by those who were opposed to the
emperor. The foremost senators often kept a philosopher
near them to direct their consciences and encourage them
when they were depressed. If they received a sentence of
death, they made it a matter of honor to take their lives
bravely. Seneca, Nero's tutor, was a Stoic, but a very
imperfect disciple of the doctrine, because he had amassed
a large fortune and justified the emperor in murdering his
mother. Seneca calmly opened his veins and dictated a
discourse to his secretaries while the blood flowed.

Philosophy now became a profession, its followers serving
as directors of the conscience, and counsellors concerning
the conduct of life; a number of the emperors had each his
philosopher. They even visited prisoners, sick persons, and
condemned criminals, to show them what Seneca called
'the saving light of truth." They sometimes addressed
the audience at the theatre. In many cases they led
abstemious lives, eating poor food, drinking only water,
sleeping on the ground, clothed only in a cloak, and letting
the beard and hair grow long. Some had no home; with
no possessions but a cloak, a wallet, and a staff, they begged
their way from place to place.

360 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

They put their pupils through certain exercises to fortify
them in virtue: prayer, meditation on a moral thought,
nightly examination of the conscience, and reading the life
of a great philosopher. They declared themselves citizens
of the universe and regarded all men as brothers, even bar-
barians and slaves. Seneca already began to recommend
milder treatment of slaves, and to condemn cruel masters
and gladiatorial combats.

Marcus Aurelius, who was a disciple of Epictetus, was
called *' the philosopher on the throne." Even in time of
war he continued to examine his conscience. It was at this
time that he wrote his Counsels to himself: '* Remember that
all men are your brothers and you will love them. What
must you do ? Honor the gods and do good to your fellow
men."

* Disturbing Elements. — Although the age of the An-
tonines has been characterized as the one when the
Mediterranean lands were possibly governed better than at
any time before or since, yet the second century was not
without its darker side.

In the reign of Marcus Aurelius a frightful pestilence was
raging in the East, and this was imported by returning
Roman soldiers into Europe, where its mortality seems to
have been comparable to that of the Black Death in the
fourteenth century. It has been estimated that half of the
population of Italy, for instance, was swept away. This
loss of population was not without serious effect upon the
resources of the empire, and especially upon its military
strength.

The Germanic peoples were beginning to press heavily
upon the frontiers. This was but the shadow, cast in
advance, of the great irruption of Germans which was in the
next two centuries to overwhelm the western half of the
empire.

One social result following the victories of Marcus
Aurelius over the Marcomanni was the transplantation to

ARTS, LETTERS, AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 361

Roman soil of great numbers of these peoples who were
settled there in a half-servile condition. They were not
prisoners of war, and yet they were under the surveillance
of Roman landowners, at first the emperor, and later private
citizens, on whose estates they were set to work. In their
relation to their masters may be seen the germs of the serf-
dom of the Middle Ages. They were called '* coloni." In
process of time many of the lower class of Roman citizens
gravitated into a similar condition of serfdom. Thus a caste
system was begun which was to spread until it had embraced
all the orders of society, and become one of the vicious
elements in the social system of the later empire.

PARALLEL READING.

Botsford ... c. xi, pp. 256-262.

Bury Students Roman Empire, cc. xxix-xxxi.

Morey c. xxvi.

Capes Age of the Antonines. ^

Farrar .... Seekers after God; Marcus Aureitus.
Gibbon cc. i-iii.

CHAPTER XXIV.
CHRISTIANITY.

The Christian Religion. — It was during the reign of
Tiberius that Christ was condemned by the Jewish Council
at Jerusalem and crucified. He left only a small number of
followers, led by the Twelve Disciples. He himself had
announced that his religion should have a humble beginning:
** The kingdom of God is like to a grain of mustard-seed,
which indeed is the least of all the seeds, but when it is
grown it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree so
that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches
thereof."

Christ had said to his disciples, " Go teach all nations."
Henceforth they were known as " apostles " (messengers),
and they went into every country to preach the Gospel, the
**glad tidings," the news that God had come upon the earth
in the form of Christ to save all who believed in him. Those
who adopted this creed called themselves Christians.

The first apostles were all Jews, and most of them remained
in Jerusalem. The first Christians were Jews also, and con-
tinued to practise the Jewish customs.

It was a new convert, a Jew of Tardus, the apostle Paul,
that carried the Gospel into the Greek cities, not only to the
Jews, but to the pagans. He said to them: ** But now in
Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ." The pagans could henceforth become
Christians without adopting the Jewish customs; the other
nations, instead of being shut out, as they were from the

362

CHRISTIANITY. 363

Jewish religion, could all come together in the religion of
Christ.

The new religion was to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, who gave his life to save mankind, to follow his
example and practise his teachings. His acts and words
were recorded in books written in Greek and called the
Gospels.

Jesus, surnamed the Christ, that is to say, the anointed
one, is the Master, the Lord, and the Saviour of men, come
to found the kingdom of God on earth. The Jews believed
that he wished to become king, and when they crucified him
they set up over his cross the mocking inscription, *' Jesus
of Nazareth, the king of the Jews." But royalty was not
what Jesus desired; he said, " My kingdom is not of this
world." The kingdom of God is the union in heaven of all
those who believe in him. To please God and make himself
worthy of his kingdom, the Christian need not offer sacrifices
and celebrate elaborate ceremonies, like the pagan and the
Jew. He must labor, however, to make himself perfect.
** They that worship God must worship him in spirit and in
truth." Christ himself gave the watchword: "Be ye also
perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect."

To be perfect, the first thing is to love. "Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, and thy neighbor
as thyself." To love others is to do good to them.

Christ never made any distinction of persons: he died to
save not a single people, but all peoples. He commanded
his disciples to " teach all nations." All men are equal
before God.

By the example of his own life he taught us not to despise
poverty, going about from place to place without possessions
of any sort.

He taught also humility. He interested himself in the
poor and sick, women and children, and all those that the
world least esteemed. His disciples were poor men: ''Be
ye meek and lowly of heart." He loved children, and said,

364 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

** Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter the
kingdom of heaven." " Suffer little children to come unto
me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of
heaven."

He preached the renunciation of all the things of this
world, wealth, honors, power, and family. " If any man
come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife,
and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own
life also, he cannot be my disciple."

The Primitive Church. — Christ and his apostles devoted
themselves preferably to the outcasts of the world. For a
long time the majority of Christians were poor people,
working men, petty employees, and slaves, all living in the
cities, where Greek was spoken. Even at Rome there were
few Christians except among the Greeks; their writings and
the inscriptions on their tombs are all in Greek.

The Christians of each city met together for religious
worship; this meeting was the church (assembly), and its
members formed one great family. They treated one another
as brothers, lending assistance in time of need, the rich
caring for the poor, the sick, and the afflicted. This com-
munity called itself the church; for example, the church of
Corinth, the church of Antioch. In the same way the whole
union of Christians throughout the world was called the
Church of Christ, or the Catholic (universal) Church.

A very simple service was celebrated at these meetings.
Prayers were offered to God, hymns sung, the Gospels or
Epistles read aloud, with an exhortation or explanation of
the Holy Word by some member of the church. The great
ceremony was the Lord's Supper, also called the Eucharist
(giving of thanks), in memory of the last time Christ ate
with his disciples. The worshippers partook of a very frugal
repast, the ** love -feast " (brotherly feast), thanked God,
and kissed one another.

The new convert who desired to join the Christians had
first to be initiated into the Christian doctrine. While he

CHRISTIANITY, 3^5

was receiving this instruction he stood at the door during
their meetings and listened to the prayer, singing, and read-
ing; but he was not yet admitted to membership in the
church, nor could he take the communion. When his
instruction was completed he was admitted to the church
by the ceremony of baptism. Clothed in a white robe, he
was plunged into the water, coming forth a neophyte (new-
born), newly born into the Christian life.

Tertullian, a Christian writer of the end of the second
century, said of these reunions: '* We assemble to offer our
prayer to God and to read the Holy Scriptures. We hear
exhortation and reprimands. . . . Each of us brings a small
offering at the beginning of the month, but this is not com-
pulsory. The money is used to feed or bury the poor, to
relieve the orphan and the sick and aged." Of the Holy
Communion: "We all sit down at the table and, after
offering a prayer to God, we eat what our hunger demands.
. . . Then we wash our hands and light our torches. Each
one is asked to sing a canticle from the Holy Scriptures or
of his own composition. . . . The feast ends, as it began,
with a prayer. ' '

In each city the church formed a little society, organized
after the model of the Greek associations of the period. It
had leaders to conduct the services, instruct converts, and
reprimand all who did wrong; these were called presbyters
(elders), and were often compared to the shepherd who
guards his flock from the wolves. There were also deacons
(attendants), whose duty it was to administer the church
funds, distribute relief to the poor, and visit the sick.

The head of the church was called the bishop (overseer) ;
he supervised the community and represented it. He was
regarded as the successor of the Apostles, invested with
supernatural power, and the guardian of the true faith.

The most venerated of all was the bishop of Rome, the
successor of Saint Peter and bishop of the imperial capital.^

[^ It is hardly necessary to say that these are the views of M. Seignobos,

366

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Persecution. — The Jews were the first to persecute the
Christians. Saint Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned to
death in the streets of Jerusalem.

The Roman government did not concern itself with the
beliefs of its subjects, but allowed every man to practise his

religion freely. How-
ever, there were certain
ceremonies in which
every Roman had to
take part : he must assist
in the public festivals in
honor of the gods; in
the courts he must sweai
by the gods; if a soldier,
he must worship the
standards, the genius of
the emperor, and the
genius of the army; if a
magistrate, he must join
in the sacrifice which
inaugurated every public
act, and himself offer incense to the god Augustus and the
goddess Rome. Now to a Christian these acts seemed to
be impious. They refused to take part in them and so
exposed themselves to condemnation, not for being Chris-
tians, but for disobeying the laws of the empire.

The inhabitants of the cities detested these people who
never showed themselves at the festivals, shows, or banquets,
who lived apart from the rest and seemed to despise them.
They often regarded the Christians as sorcerers and magicians.
The Christians held secret meetings, and the public, being
excluded, imagined that all sorts of wicked things went on,
that children were killed and eaten.

The Christians thus met with more or less persecution

from which many would dissent in part. The system here described
was not developed till well on into the second century after Christ.]

CHRISTIAN LAMP.

CHRISTIANITY. 367

from the first to the fourth century. The most violent
attacks, however, were the later ones.

After the burning of Rome Nero accused the Christians of
setting fire to the city. No evidence was found against them,
but many were condemned to death as '* enemies to the
human race." Some of these were sewed up in the skins of
wild beasts and thrown to the dogs, who devoured them;
others were crucified ; others were covered with pitch and,
fastened to long poles, set up as torches to burn in Nero's
gardens (64 a. d. ).

Trajan was the first emperor to adopt a general measure
against the Christian religion. He forbade the Christians to
meet together under pain of death, regarding them as a
dangerous secret society.

The younger Pliny, governor of Bithynia, wrote the
emperor that a number of Christians had beeri brought to
him, and that he had put the more obstinate of them to
death; he asked what was to be done with the rest. The
following report was the result of his investigation: " They
affirmed that their only fault was that they met on certain
days before sunrise, worshipped Christ as God, sang hymns
in his praise, and bound themselves not to commit crimes,
but to refrain from robbery, murder, adultery, and false
swearing; that after this they were in the habit of separat-
ing, meeting again to partake of food together. ... I felt
it necessary," Pliny added, " to seek out the truth by sub-
jecting to torture two female attendants, whom they called
deaconesses. I discovered nothing but an absurd and
exaggerated superstition. . . . This superstition has invaded
not only the cities, but the towns and the country districts
as well."

Trajan replied: " It is not at all necessary to search out
the Christians. If after they are denounced they still hold to
their faith, they must be punished. But if any declare they
are not Christians, and will prove it by offering prayers to
our gods, they shall be pardoned, no matter what they may

368 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

have done in the past. As for anonymous denunciations
. . . they must not be noticed, for they set a detestable
example and have no place in our times."

From this time on the Christians were unceasingly con-
demned to death, especially in the East. The magistrates
were in most cases unwilling to begin this persecution, but
the population of the great cities often demanded it.
Famines, epidemics, earthquakes, were all accepted as a sign
that the gods were angered by the impiety of the Christians.
The famous cry was now heard on all sides, " To the lions
with the Christians! " and the people forced the magistrates
to condemn the Christians and throw them to the beasts.

The Martyrs. — The condemned Christians were executed
according to the customs of the time. Roman citizens were
beheaded; the rest were crucified, burned, or thrown to the
beasts in the amphitheatre. Sometimes their sufferings were
aggravated by tortures.

In 177 A.D. a Christian community, composed chiefly of
Asiatic Greeks, was discovered in Gaul, in the cities of
Lyons and Vienne. These Christians were arrested and led
to prison, pelted with stones by a jeering mob. The
governor had them appear in his court and condemned all
self-avowed Christians for atheism and sacrilege. He tor-
tured them to make them confess that children were eaten
at their meetings. Blandina, a young slave, distinguished
herself by her courage. Bruised and broken by torture, she
only repeated, " I am a Christian. Nothing evil is done at
our meetings." Sanctus, a deacon, met every question
with the words, " I am a Christian." Red-hot iron blades
were applied to their bodies to make them speak, but they
maintained silence. After some days in prison, they were
again subjected to torture.

Pothinus, the bishop of Lyons, aged and infirm, was
brought before the tribunal amid a jeering rabble. To the
governor's question, '* Who is the God of the Christians ? "
he replied, ** You shall know if you are worthy." At this

CHRISTIANITY. 369

the mob attacked him and beat him so violently that he died
shortly after in prison.

Many of those condemned were delivered to the wild
beasts in the amphitheatre at Lyons. Sanctus and Maturus
were first lashed with whips, then, on the demand of the
people, placed in the red-hot iron chair. The odor of
burning flesh filled the auditorium, but being still alive at
the close of the entertainment, they were struck with a
sword. Blandina, meanwhile, was bound to a post with her
arms crossed. But the beasts refused to harm her and she
was led back to prison.

For some days after this she was brought out into the arena
to watch the other Christians tortured and devoured. Her
turn came at last. She was placed with a young Christian
boy before the altar to sacrifice to the gods. She refused
and was then whipped, placed on the red-hot chair, and
finally rolled up in a net and thrown to a bull, who tossed
her in the air on his horns. In the end the executioner had
to be called on.

The bleeding bodies of the martyrs were cut in pieces and
exposed for six days, with a guard of soldiers to keep the
Christians from burying them. The remains were finally
burned and thrown into the Rhone, where all trace of them
was lost.

The condemned Christians rejoiced in the assurance of
ascending into heaven, and called themselves, not victims,
but martyrs (witnesses) ; their trial was a martyrdom, a public
acknowledgment of Christ. They compared themselves to
athletes struggling for the prize, which was the martyr's
palm or crown. This is the reason why the saints' days are
set, not for the anniversary of their birth, but of their death.

There were times when thousands of Christians denounced
themselves and demanded condemnation, in order to win
the crown. A certain governor who had begun to persecute
some of the Christians saw all the Christians of the city
appear at his tribunal and demand prosecution. He

370 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

executed a number of them and then said to the rest: " Go
away, wretched ones. If you are so anxious to die, are
there not both ropes and precipices ? ''

More than one zealous Christian, hke Polyeuctus, won
his martyrdom by entering a temple and overturning the
statues of the gods. The church itself discountenanced this
zeal, however, and forbade its believers to seek martyrdom.

The Catacombs. — The Christians, like the Jews, buried
the bodies of their dead instead of burning them. They
buried all together as brothers equal in death. The bury-
ing-ground was called the cemetery (place of rest). It was,
as it were, the family tomb of the Christian community. In
the large cities, where land was very expensive, cemeteries
were built underground. At Rome the spongy rock was
pierced by innumerable galleries, leading to underground
chambers; the coffins were placed in niches in the walls.
In this way passages were dug out for centuries, going
always deeper and deeper, until there were five rows of
galleries one under another. An underground city of tombs
was thus formed, which was later called the Catacombs
(region of tombs). ^

These cemeteries w^ere not secret. Many had been begun
as the private tomb of a wealthy Christian family, >vho per-
mitted the bodies of fellow Christians to share it with them.
The entrance was sometimes on the public street, marked
by a sort of chapel. The Romans regarded these tombs as
sacred, so that the Christians had nothing to fear for then-
cemeteries.

Some of these underground chambers were decorated with
ornaments and paintings representing the symbols of Chris-
tianity. The usual signs are the fish, the emblem of Christ;
the dove, the emblem of the Holy Spirit; the ship and the

1 The Catacombs were abandoned in the middle ages, but opened up
again in recent years. Numerous articles have been found there, includ-
ing paintings and inscriptions, which have constituted a special science,
Christian Archaeology.

CHRISTIANITY, 371

anchor, emblems of salvation; the lyre, the lamb, and the
vine. The scenes most often represented are the Good

THE CATACOMB OF ST. CALIXTUS.

Shepherd carrying the lost sheep, a Christian believer with
arms outstretched in prayer, and, from the Old Testament,
Noah's ark, David and Goliath, and Daniel in the lions'

372 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

den. The figure of Christ was not represented in the earlier
times.

PAINTING FROM CEMETKRY OK SAINTS KEKKUS AND AtHlLLEUS. (KOLLEK.)

The bodies of the holy martyrs were buried in these
underground tombs, and visited by the faithful on the feast-
days, when a ceremony was celebrated in their honor.

It is said that during the persecutions of the third century
the Christians sometimes took refuge in the Catacombs,
either to hold their services or to escape from pursuit.

PARALLEL READING.

Botsford c. xi, pp. 262-265.

Bury Students' Roman Empire, c. xxx.

Duruy c. Ixxxvii.

Fisher, G. P. . . . History of the Christian Church.

Hardy, E. G Christianity and the Roman Government.

Hatch Organization of the Early Christian Churches

Gibbon cc. xv, xvi.

Lanciani Pagan and Christian Rome.

Lecky History of European Morals, cc. ii, iii .

Milman History of Christianity.

Moeller History of the Christian Church.

Ramsay, W. M . . The Church in the Rotnan Empire before
170 A.D.

Renan The Influence of Rome upon ChristiaJtity.

Uhlhorn, .G Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism.

The Early Persecutions (Translations and Re-
prints, Univ.. of Penna., vol. iv. No. i).

CHAPTER XXV.
THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE.

Praetorian Supremacy. — Every emperor since Nerva had
died without leaving sons and had appointed a successor.
Marcus Aurelius left a son, Commodus, who became
emperor at the age of nineteen. He was a handsome young
man, but vain, weak, and cruel.

At the age of twelve he was so enraged at finding his bath not
hot enough that he threw his bath-slave into the oven.

• As soon as he became emperor (i8o a.d.) he made peace
with the barbarians, restored their fortresses, and returned
to Rome to amuse himself with his companions. His
favorite pastime was to play the gladiator and imitate
Hercules. He fought seven hundred and fifty combats in
the public arena, but ran no real danger, ior his opponent
knew his part beforehand. He also took part in the hunts,
and slew wild animals with the bow or spear. One day he
killed one hundred bears, another day he decapitated
ostriches. The senators had been ordered to take part in
the spectacle, and filled the air with shouts of : " You are
our master! You are the first among us all! You are the
happiest of men! You are the conqueror! You shall be
conqueror.! In the memory of man you are the only con-
queror! " His nights he spent drinking with actors,
gladiators, and circus drivers. He bathed sometimes eight
times a day.

Commodus took the surname of Hercules, and posed as
Hercules, with a lion's skin and a club.

373

374

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

\/ Ke gathered together the infirm and crippled, disguised them
as monsters, with serpents for tails, armed them with sponges
to look like stones, and then slew them with arrows with per-

COMMODUS AS HERCULES.

feet safety. It is said that one day he wanted to shoot his
arrows at the spectators, as Hercules had destroyed the Stym-
phalian birds.

THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE, 375

An attempt was made against his life; the murderer raised
his knife with the words, " The senate sends you this
dagger," but was disarmed. Commodus condemned to
death many of the senators and almost all the friends of
Marcus Aurelius.

He paid no attention to his duties, but left the govern-
ment to his praetorian prefect, and squandered the contents
of the treasury. The people of Rome were suffering from
pestilence, fire, and famine all at once, and grain was no
longer distributed. A mob demanded the monster's life, and
Commodus was strangled by order of his wife and his officers.
His statues were broken by the populace (192 a.d.).

The praetorian guards were left the real masters of Rome.
Their prefect announced to them that Commodus had suc-
cumbed to a fatal malady; no one dared to speak to them
of murder, for they were devoted to Commodus on account
of his liberality to them.

Pertinax. — The prefect presented to them an old officer,
Pertinax, son of a fieedman, a charcoal-burner from the
Genoese mountains, who had acquired wealth and a pro-
consulate. He promised them a present and they proclaimed
him emperor,

Pertinax endeavored to govern in harmony with the
senate. He put a stop to the prosecutions for high treason
and recalled the exiles. He sold the gladiatorial costumes,
and the slaves and other objects necessary to Commodus'
ideas of luxury, and paid the praetorians the money he had
promised them.

He then attempted to restore the praetorians to order.
He forbade them to carry arms in the streets of Rome, or to
injure or maltreat passers-by. He said to them, *' Many
disorders have come upon us which, with your help, we
intend to overcome."

One day three hundred praetorians armed themselves and,
forming a battalion, marched from their camp to the palace.
Pertinax addressed them in the hope of calming them, but

376

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

one of them struck him with a spear, and the rest quickly
put an end to him. He had reigned eighty-seven days
(193 A.D.).

COIN OF PERTINAX,

The father-in-law of Pertinax went to the praetorian camp
to secure the succession for himself. But Didius Julianus,
a very wealthy senator, climbed the wall of the camp and
offered a higher gratuity. The empire was, so to speak,
put up at auction.

Didius made the highest bid and furthermore promised to
restore the memory of Commodus. The soldiers led him
down into their camp and proclaimed him emperor. They
elected their own prefects and presented them to the new
emperor for appointment. Then, forming in military order,
they conducted their emperor to the senate (193 a.d,).

Severus. — As after the death of Nero, the soldiers on the
frontier refused to submit to the praetorians' selection. The
three great armies each proclaimed its own general as
emperor: the army in Britain, Albinus; the army in Syria,
Pescennius Niger; the army of the Danube, Septimius
Severus, a native of Africa.

Severus had the largest army (ten legions) and, traversing
two hundred and sixty miles in seven weeks, was the first to
arrive in Rome. The praetorians dared not resist him.
Didius was now deserted, and was killed by order of the
senate.

Severus speedily overcame and killed his other rivals.

THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE. 377

Commodus had left a large personal fortune, the accumu-
lation of all the Antonines. This Severus appropriated by
declaring himself to have been adopted by Marcus Aurelius.

Severus was a hard worker. He rose at daybreak to begin
upon his duties, and later went out to walk, intently dis-
cussing affairs of state. He took his seat in the tribunal,
but rendered no judgment without consulting his advisers.
At noon he rode out on his horse, then, after a bath, sat
down to eat his midday meal, usually alone with his
children. After this a nap, from which he was awakened to
walk with literary men who talked with him in Greek or
Latin; then another bath, and supper with his friends. He
received guests only on feast-days.

Severus had no love for the senate and left it little power.
His great object was to retain the affection of his soldiers;
he increased their pay and rations and gave them the right
to wear the golden ring, an honor hitherto reserved to the
knights. He allowed them to bring their wives to live with
them in camp.

There is a story that on his deathbed he said to his two sons,
•• My children, enrich the soldier, and you may snap your fingers
at the rest. "

Like Trajan he longed to conquer Asia. He led an
expedition against the Parthians, crossed the Tigris, took
Ctesiphon and conquered the province of Mesopotamia.
He formed three new legions and called them the Parthians.

He led his two sons into Britain to make war on the
Scotch mountaineers. Here he died in 211 a.d., after a
stay of three years and the completion of a wall similar to
that built by Hadrian. His last words were: ** I received
the state in disorder; I leave it in peace, even in Britain."
He then gave the officers the watchword, " Work."

Caracalla. — The two sons of Severus, who were not on
friendly terms with one another, were declared joint
emperors. Bassianus, the elder, had his brother, Geta,
killed, and reigned alone (212 a.d.). He was given the

378

THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

ROMAN BRITAIN

SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES

25 50 100

itQHMAf <c Ca.,£.Nail'S,N.'

THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE. 379

name of Caracal la ^ (the caracalla was a sort of hooded cloak
which he distributed among the inhabitants of Rome).

Under-sized, ugly, and gruff, Caracalla tried to pass for a
man of fierce temper. He was fond of comparing himself
to Sulla, and even to Hannibal, his compatriot (Severus was
an African and had never lost his Carthaginian accent).

A noble told him one day that he had " a constant air of irri-
tation," Caracalla was so pleased that he gave him a large sum
of money.

He made fierce war on his brother's friends and servants,
all of whom he put to death, and many senators and magis-
trates as well. The best known of these was the praetorian
prefect, Papinian the jurisconsult, whom the soldiers were
ordered to assassinate.

The emperor had asked Papinian to deliver a discourse in
the senate excusing the murder of his brother Geta, and Papi-
nian replied, " It is easier to commit fratricide than to excuse
it."

Caracalla endeavored to please the soldiers before all the
rest of his subjects. He permitted them to leave their camps
in the winter and quarter themselves on the inhabitants of
the frontier towns and there amuse themselves as their fancy
dictated. He said to them, " I owe my position to you,
and what is mine is yours." To the senators he said,
*' I must have all the money, that I may give it to the
soldiers." During his Syrian campaign he wrote to the
senate: " I know that you disapprove of what I am doing,
but the arms and the soldiers are with me, and I only laugh
at your opinion."

His amusements were driving chariots, playing the
gladiator, and drinking to excess. He supplied the deficien-
cies of his treasury by levying new taxes and debasing the
coinage.

His first war was against the Germans (213 a.d.). During
this campaign he lived among his soldiers, had them call
^ His official name was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

38o

THE ROM^N PEOPLE.

him ' ' comrade, ' ' made his own bread, ate from a wooden
bowl, wore a soldier's dress, and carried his own arms and
even the standards, for he loved to show his physical
strength.

He next directed his attention to Asia, saying that the

CARACALLA.

spirit of Alexander was within him and he must follow in
his footsteps.

He went to Alexandria, where the people ridiculed him
and made him angry. When the leaders of the city came
to greet him he invited them to sit down at his table and
then had their throats cut. He turned his soldiers loose in
the city, where for several days they pillaged and massacred
at will. Caracalla wrote to the senate: " It matters little

THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE. 381

what number or what quality of persons perished, their
merits were the same."

He attacked the Parthians and led his army beyond the
Tigris. Here he was killed by his praetorian prefect (217
A.D.). Macrinus, the murderer, proclaimed himself emperor,
made peace with the Parthians and led the army back into
Syria.

The Syrian Emperors. — Julia, sumamed Domna (mis-
tress), the mother of Caracalla, was a Syrian. Her sister,
Julia Maesa, had two daughters, Soaemias and Mammaea,
both of whom were beautiful and clever. They had acquired
a great deal of money and took advantage of the soldiers'
attachment to the family of Severus to secure the empire for
their children.

Bassianus, the sixteen-year-old son of Soaemias, was a
priest of the Sun-god Elagabalus in a Syrian temple. On
its return from the Parthian war the army wintered near his
temple. The princesses made an agreement with the
soldiers whereby they brought to the camp one night
chariots laden with gold, and the young priest was pro-
claimed emperor. Macrinus was overcome, captured, and
killed (218 A.D.).

Elagabalus. — The new emperor is commonly known by
the name of his god. He was a vain and ignorant lad,
whose great delight was to dress himself in women's clothes
and paint his face in the Oriental fashion. He took no
interest in the government, and employed his power only
for amusement.

His grandmother, Julia Maesa, called the senate together
and assumed control of affairs. Rome was horrified at
seeing a woman, and a Syrian, preside over the leaders of
the empire.

The emperor remained a priest of the Sun-god, and kept
the title appertaining to this office [Sacerdos Dei Solis). He
brought to Rome the black stone which represented the
god, built a temple for it and placed the precious object

382 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

there himself. He placed in his temple the statues of the
Roman gods and all the objects sacred to Rome, even the
palladium guarded by the Vestals, which the Romans con-
sidered an act of great impiety. He committed another act
of impiety by marrying a Vestal.

He clothed himself entirely in silk, hitherto an unheard-of
luxury, and never wore a garment a second time. He had his
palace walks covered with powdered gold, and his bath per-
fumed with rose-water ; he slept on a bed of flowers. He gave
banquets at which the brains of rare birds were served.

He is said to have given a mock naval battle in a lake of
wine. On another occasion he almost suffocated his guests
by' a rain of roses falling from the ceiling.

He was obliged to adopt his cousin, Alexander, son of
Julia Mammaea, his junior by four years. He attempted to
put an end to Alexander, but the soldiers prevented him and
ordered him to -a-lter his conduct and dismiss his riotous
companions. They finally revolted, massacred Elagabalus,
his mother and his friends, and proclaimed his cousin
emperor under the name of Severus (222 a.d. ).

Alexander Severus, who was too young to govern, at
first left the government to his mother, Mammaea, and a
council of senators. Later he adopted Marcus Aurelius as
his model and set himself to govern honestly. He had
engraved on his palace this maxim: " Do unto others as
you would that they should do to you." He wrote in verse
a history of the good emperors. He had a sanctuary in his
palace to which he went to pray and worship the gods; here
he had statues placed of those whom he called the benefac-
tors of the human race: Abraham, Orpheus, Jesus Christ,
and Apollo.

His soldiers were discontented and he could not keep
them in order. At Rome the praetorians struggled against
the people for three days and ended by setting fire to the
houses. In another riot the praetorians killed their chief, '
the famous Ulpian (228 a.d.).

The empire was attacked on the east by the Parthians, and

THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE.

383

by the Germans on the Rhine. Alexander hated war, and
he went to Mainz to offer presents to the German chiefs as
an inducement towards peace. This made the soldiers angry
and they assassinated him (235 a.d.).

ALEXANDER SEVERUS

The Jurisconsults. — The most famous of the Roman
jurisconsults appeared under the African and Syrian
emperors. For a long time there had been men, chiefly
nobles, at Rome who devoted themselves to the study of
law, and it was a long-standing custom to consult them in
doubtful cases. Their answers were authoritative; Augustus
gave them the force of low,

384 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

The emperor had to decide endless questions of law. He
performed the duties of judge in his court. The governors
did the same in their provincial courts, but referred doubtful
cases to the judgment of the emperor; the emperor replied
with a rescript, which became obligatory. The emperor also
issued edicls, or ordinances. In all this work he was assisted
by the jurisconsults, whom he appointed members of his
council. The more celebrated were at the same time
praetorian prefects, and empowered to pronounce judgment
in the emperor's place. These were Papinian, prefect under
Caracalla, and Ulpian, under Alexander Severus, both of
them Syrians. There were at the same time other famous
jurisconsults, all of whom were Orientals; they wrote,
however, in Latin, and their works formed the greater part
of Roman law.

These jurisconsults, imbued with Greek philosophy,
labored to lessen the severity of ancient law. The old
Romans, who were very hard on the weak, gave the father
of the family absolute power over his wife, children, and
slaves, the right to kill them, seize their property, or
abandon them. The jurisconsults upheld very different
principles, much like those of the Stoics.

" By the laws of nature all men are born free." They
decided that the slave was entitled to justice, and that his
master should be responsible for his life. They deprived
the father of the right to disinherit his child.

This new code, later called " written reason, " was adopted
by all the Western peoples; a great part of it is still pre-
served in French law.

Edict of 212 A.D. — A great change now took place. The
inhabitants of the empire were divided in two categories,
citizens and foreigners. The emperors had little by little
given the right of citizenship to many families and even to
entire countries, but a large number of provincials were still
foreigners, having neither the same rights nor the samcj
burdens as citizens.

THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE. 3^5

In 2 12 A.D. Caracalla, being in need of money, wiped
out this old distinction by declaring all free men in the
empire to be Roman citizens. This was merely a means of
increasing the taxes, as the new citizens were subject to both
the foreigner's and citizen's tax. The measure did succeed,
however, in assimilating the legal position of all the inhab-
itants of the empire. Henceforth there was no difference
between Italians and provincials, and all were called
Romans.

Military Anarchy. — After the death of Alexander Severus
(235 A.D.) the Roman armies struggled against one another,
each trying to make its own general emperor. The emperors
spent their time opposing rival candidates, and were every
one assassinated or executed. This period of confusion is
called the military anarchy.

Maximinus, the first of these emperors, was a Thracian
shepherd, a man of gigantic height and Herculean strength ;
he could eat thirty pounds of meat and drink twenty quarts
of wine a day, draw a loaded chariot, break stones, and
break a horse's teeth with his fist.

The soldiers, after assassinating Alexander, proclaimed as
emperor Maximinus, who was at the time an officer. He
led them against the Germans and fought in person among
the forests and marshes. He then remained with his soldiers
on the Danubian frontier.

He condemned a large number of nobles to exile or death,
friends of Alexander Severus in particular, and confiscated
their goods. To pay his soldiers he melted down the statues
of the gods, and appropriated the money from the public
shows and distributions. The senate and the inhabitants of
Rome detested him, and called him Cyclops, Typhon, and
Phalaris. Maximinus was fully aware of their scorn and
hatred and kept away from the city, allowing none of the
nobles to approach him.

In Africa a troop of rebellious peasants killed the pro-
curator fiscal and, much against his will, proclaimed as

3^6 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

emperor Gordian, the governor of the province, a man of
eighty. The senate and the praetorians elected Gordian and
his son emperors (238 a.d.), out of hatred for Maximinus.
Both were quickly overcome and killed in Africa. But the
senate elected two new emperors, a general named Pupienus
and a senator named Balbinus. The praetorians added a
child, the young Gordian, for a third emperor.

Maximinus marched on Italy with the army of the Danube,
leaving a trail of massacre and pillage behind him. Pupienus
gathered recruits, sent for the army of the Rhine and waited
at Ravenna. Maximinus stopped to besiege Aquileia, but
the inhabitants held out bravely against the assault of the
semi-barbaric army. Maximinus' soldiers began to run
short of provisions, and they put an end to their em-
peror.

Some time later the praetorians surprised Balbinus and
Pupienus in the palace, dragged them through the streets,
with shouts of, " Here are the senate's emperors! " and
then massacred them (238 a.d ).

Only the child emperor, Gordian, was now left, in whose
name his stepfather governed from 238 to 244 a.d. While
he was engaged in fighting the Parthians, the army of Syria
assassinated him and proclaimed in his place Philip, an
Arab, formerly a brigand chief but now an officer in the
Roman army (244-248 a.d.).

The army of the Danube revolted, and Philip sent to
appease them Decius, who claimed descent from Trajan.
The army proclaimed Decius emperor and marched on Italy.
Philip was defeated and killed. Decius lost his life two
years later in a battle with the barbarians, who had invaded
the empire (251 a.d ).

The son of Decius, still a child, became joint emperor
with Gallus, the general of the army. Gallus shortly had
his colleague killed. Another general, ^milianus, then put
down Gallus and was in his turn slain by his soldiers.

Valerian, an old and wealthy senator, secured the succes-

THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE. 3^7

sion to himself and his son Gallienus, and governed for some
years (251-260 a.d.). He was captured by the Parthians.

Gallienus, left alone, thought of nothing but his own
amusement. Immediately new emperors were proclaimed
by the armies on all sides. Counting their sons there were
thirty in all, the so-called "thirty tyrants." Each was
recognized only in a small corner of the empire and for a
very few years. The most powerful of them were the
emperors of Gaul, especially Postumus, who reigned nearly
ten years, and Odenathus, the king of Palmyra and con-
queror of the Parthians.

Barbarian Invasions. — As soon as the frontier armies
abandoned their duties to fight among themselves, the bar-
barians began to attack the empire from three sides.

The Parthians took Mesopotamia and advanced as far as
the Euphrates.

King Sapor then entered Cappadocia and ravaged the
country. The emperor Valerian came to drive him back,
but was defeated near Odessa and taken by the Parthians
(260 A.D.). He died in captivity.

Sapor is credited with using the captive emperor as a mount-
ing-block. When Valerian died, his skin was dressed and
painted red and hung in the audience-chamber of the Parthian
king.

The Parthians invaded Syria, surprised the city of Antioch
and pillaged it. They also sacked the cities of Cilicia and
Cappadocia and led the inhabitants captives.

There is a story that they even filled a ravine with the bodies
of captives to facilitate crossing.

There was no longer an emperor in the East. A native
prince drove out the invaders. In an oasis in the desert,
between Syria and the Euphrates, a great city had been
founded. Palmyra, the halting-place for the caravans carry-
ing merchandise from Babylon to Syria. Enriched by
commerce, the people of Palmyra had built great monuments
(temples, porticoes, tombs), whose ruins are still standing in

388

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

the desert, and underground water-conduits for irrigating
the land. Palmyra was a dependency of the Roman empire,
but preserved its Syriac tongue and its government.
Odenathus, the prince of Palmyra, drove out the Parthians
and pursued them into their own kingdom, delivering the
besieged cities on his way, and pressing his victory as far as

SAPOR'S CAPTURE OF VALERIAN.

Ctesiphon. He remained a subject of the empire, with the
title of General of the East.

A change had also taken place among the Germans in the
region of the Rhine. The old-established peoples, lovers
of peace, had given place to confederations of smaller
tribes, who were ever ready for war.

The Alemanni were the first to invade the empire (213
A.D.). Caracalla drove them back, Alexander Severus
bought peace of them (235 a. d.), and Maximinus pursued
them to their forests (236 a.d.), after which nothing was
seen of them for some time.

We decline of the empire. 389

The Franks were the next to invade the empire. In
241 A.D. a band of them was slaughtered or captured near
Mainz.

The Roman soldiers, it is said, danced with joy over their
victory and sang: *' We have killed a thousand Sarmatians and
a thousand Franks. Now we want a thousand Persians."

While the Roman army under Postumus was besieging
the army of Gallienus in Cologne, the Franks crossed the
Rhine, and ravaged their way through Gaul to Spain. Some
of them even sailed over to Africa.

The Alemanni occupied the whole left bank of the Rhine,
then invaded Italy from the north, ravaging and destroying
a number of cities.

After sixty years of peace on the Danube, the barbarian
invasions began. There also appeared a new German
people, the Goths, from the country of the Vistula; they
settled on the coast of the Black Sea, near the mouth of the
Danube.

The Goths crossed the Danube and invaded the empire.
They ravaged Mcesia and Thrace, besieged Thessalonica,
took Philippopolis, and returned with a hundred thousand
captives. The emperor Decius attacked them as they were
crossing the Danube, and was himself killed. His successor
purchased a peace (251 a.d.).

The empire lost all its possessions north of the Danube.

The Goths fitted out ships with crews of Roman prisoners,
and ravaged the coasts of the Roman provinces on the Black
Sea, and even the ^gaean archipelago. They pillaged
Trebizond, Bithynia, Asia Minor, the islands, and even
Greece: Athens, Corinth, Argos.

Thus the interior of the empire, after three centuries of
peace, was devastated by bands of plunderers against which
the frontier armies were now powerless. The inhabitants
of Gaul, Spain, Italy, and Asia built great walls around
their cities. Athens restored her fortifications, which had
been left untouched since the siege of Sulla.

390 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Illyrian Emperors. — The Illyrian army of the Danube
having now become the most important, the emperors were
for some time chosen from its numbers. Claudius repulsed
the Goths. Aurelian (270-275 a. d.) vanquished the Ale-
manni, took Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, and led her in
triumphal procession at Rome, subdued Tetricus, the Gallic
pretender, restored order in the empire, and surrounded
Rome with a new wall.

Tacitus, Probus, and Cams treated the senate with
respect, and a revival of better times seemed to be in store.
But the old dual government of emperor and senate had
become an impossible anachronism. The tendency of the
time was towards absolutism, and the need was for a man of
iron will and energy to assert himself and become the
responsible organizer of despotism. Such a man was in
readiness.

These Illyrian emperors, originally peasants and soldiers,
retained their simple habits, like the ancient Roman
generals. The following story is told either of Carus or
Probus, it is not definitely known which.

Envoys arrived from the king of the Parthian s and asked to
see the king. They were brought before an old man sitting on
the ground wrapped in a shabby cloak, and eating salt pork and
peas. This was tlie emperor, who told them that he was going
to make their country as bare as his head, and removed his cap
to show them a bald crown. He added: "If you are hungry,
help yourselves; if not, begone."

The Empire Reorganized by Diocletian. — Diocletian,

son of a slave mother, aided by a comrade named Maximian
whom he made his colleague {2^6 a.d.), completed the
restoration of order in the empire.

The peasants in Gaul had rebelled against the tax-col-
lectors, and, organizing themselves into an army, had
entrenched themselves near the junction of the Marne and
the Seine. Maximian exterminated them (285 a.d.), then
repulsed the Alernanni.

THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE,

391

Diocletian made war on the Parthians, conquered them,
and forced them to make peace and give up Mesopotamia.

To facilitate the process of government, Diocletian trans-
formed the organization of the empire:

I. He did not wish to be sole emperor any longer; he
established two chief magistrates with the title of Augustus
(Diocletian and Maximian), and under them two with the
title of Caesar; all four were Illyrians. When an Augustus
died, one of the Caesars was to take his place, so that the
office of emperor was never vacant. The emperors were no
longer elected but chosen by their predecessor, and so were
independent of the senate and the army.

II. For the defence of so vast a territory the emperors
divided the government: Diocletian established himself in
the East, at Nicomedia; subject to his orders, Galerius took
charge of Illyria. Maximian went to Milan, in the West,
leaving to Constantius Chlorus the government of Gaul,
Britain, and Spain.

III. The ancient provinces seemed too large for a single
government. Already a number of them had been cut in

CHARIOT OF THE FKEKKCT OK THE CITV .

two. Diocletian divided the rest, making ninety-six, where
there had been fifty-seven. The governors no longer had
an army to command.

IV. The affairs of Italy were administered by the prefect
of the city, those of Rome by the senate. Diocletian ended

39^ THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

by depriving the senate of its power and Italy of its privi-
leges. The latter divided into provinces and made their
taxes the same as the rest of the empire.

V. Diocletian took the title of *Mord" {dominus), and
began to wear a diadem, like the Oriental kings.

When the new government was completely organized,
Diocletian, after he had reigned twenty years, abdicated and
made Maximian abdicate also. He left the power to the
two Caisars, who succeeded to the title of Augustus and
appointed two new Caesars (305 a.d.). He retired to a
country-seat at Salona, on the shore of the Adriatic, and
built himself an enormous fortress-like palace, with a hunt-
ing-park. 1

The following story is told of Diocletian : After his retire-
ment he became absorbed in the cultivation of vegetables, and
on being urged by Maximian, one day, to take the leadership of
the empire again, he replied, " If you could see the vegetables
I raise in my garden you would not ask me to return to that
life of care."

SOURCE.
Eutropius, Bk. viii, § 15-Bk. ix.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy ... cc. Ixxxviii-c.

Gibbon cc. iv-xiii.

Botsford c. xii.

Morey cc. xxvii-xxviii, § i.

Myers cc. xvii, xviii.

Pelham Bk. vi, c. ii-Bk. vii, c. i, p. 560.

Abbott cc. xvi-xxi.

Freeman Historical Essays (Third Series) ; The Jllyrian

Emperors.

Mommsen The Provi7ices, from CcBsar to Diocletian.

The best life of Diocletian is that by Th. Preuss, in German
{Leipzig, 1869).

1 The city built on the ruins of this palace is called by its name (Spa-
latro, the palace).

CHAPTER XXVI.
CONSTANTINE AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

Worship of Mithra. — During the third century the pagan
religions had become blended. The ancient Greek and
Roman gods were worshipped in company with the Egyptian
gods Isis and Osiris, the great goddess of Phrygia, the Baals
of Syria, which were confounded with Jupiter, and, in par-
ticular, the Persian god ]\Iithra, the invincible sun.

The Sun-god was the chief idol of the soluiers in the third
century. Aurelian made him a deity of the whole empire,
and built him a magnificent temple at Rome.

Struggle of the Emperors against the Christians. —
During the third century the Christians gained steadily in
numbers, especially in the East, and not only among the
poor, but in all classes.

In the second century the emperor had attempted to crush
out the new religion, but the third century witnessed far
more violent persecution.

Decius issued an edict in 250 a.d., whereby he com-
manded the governors to summon all the Christians and
compel them to perform the Roman ceremony of offering
incense on the altar of a god in honor of the emperor.
Those who refused compliance were thrown into prison and
tortured with hunger and thirst. The heads of the church
Decius condemned to execution, and several of the bishops
suffered martyrdom in consequence. A number of Christians
obeyed the emperor and renounced their faith, while others
paid enormous sums of money in bribes to secure certificates
of having complied.

393

394 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

This persecution was brought to an end by the death of
Decius in 251 a.d., only to be renewed by Valerian. An
edict of 258 A.D. ordered that all bishops, priests, and
deacons should be beheaded, the Christian women exiled,
and the men sent to labor in chains on the imperial estates.
Sixtus, the bishop of Rome, was captured in the Catacombs
and executed there, while his deacon, Laurentius, was
burned to death.

The Christians were now left undisturbed for nearly forty
years. Aurelian died just as he had made up his mind to
persecute them. Under Diocletian there were Christians in
the army and about the court, and even Christian governors,
all of whom practised their religion openly.

Some of the Christians, in Africa particularly, thought it
a sin to serve in a pagan army. A centurion named
Marcellus threw down his arms, his sword-belt, and staff of
command with these words: *' I will not serve your emperors;
I despise their gods of wood and stone." He was put to
death.

Diocletian commanded all the soldiers to sacrifice to the
gods, whereupon many Christian soldiers left the army. He
finally issued a number of edicts ordering all Christian
churches, cemeteries, and books to be destroyed. Christian
employees discharged, and the clergy arrested and forced to
sacrifice to the gods. The first edict posted was destroyed
by a Christian, immediately after which the palace twice
narrowly escaped burning. The Christians were accused of
setting fire to the palace, and the emperor in his anger
beheaded the bishop of Nicomedia.

All Christians were now summoned to sacrifice to the
gods. If any refused, they were tortured to make them offer
incense or pour a libation. Some died, but many yielded.

Finally, in 304 a.d., an edict ordered all Christians to
come to the sacrifices, with the alternative of death.

Constantius, the Caesar in the West, was friendly to the
Christians and neglected to enforce the edicts. But in the

CONSTANTINE AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 395

east Galerius, first as Caesar and later as Augustus, was the
most vigorous enemy the church had to face. In Palestine
alone nine bishops and eighty other Christians were put to
death. IVIany voluntary martyrs offered themselves, but they
were not all killed, some being sent to work in the mines,
often with an eye dug out or a sinew of the foot seared.

At length Galerius, feeling the approach of death, gave
up the struggle and in 311 a.d. published an edict of tolera-
tion. " For the common welfare of our subjects and the
preservation of the empire we have decided,'' he said, " to
restore the discipline of our ancestors. We hoped to lead
back to better sentiments the Christians who have had the
temerity to oppose themselves to established practices."
But, as they "persisted in their folly," he granted them
permission to celebrate their religion and hold their meet-
ings, asking them in return to intercede with their God in
behalf of the emperor.

This was the end of the last great period of persecution.

Constantius.— When Diocletian abdicated, he had left
the power to two Augusti, Galerius in the East and Con-
stantius in the West, aided by tw«) Caesars, Severus in Italy
and Maximinus Daza in the East. All four were Illyrians
and formerly officers in the army. But this system, organ-
ized by Diocletian, did not endure.

Constantius (surnamed Chlorus, the yellow, on account
of his complexion) soon found himself afflicted with a fatal
disease. His son Constantine joined his father at Boulogne
and accompanied him to Britain. Constantius died at
Eboracum (York) in 306 a.d., and his soldiers proclaimed
Constantine Augustus in spite of the rule established by
Diocletian. Rather than risk a war, Galerius agreed to
recognize Constantine as emperor, but with the inferior title
of Caesar. Severus was accordingly promoted from Caesar
to Augustus. •

All Rome, people, senate, and praetorians, were discon-
tented with having no resident emperor. When Galerius

39^ THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

sent orders to have a new valuation of property made, the
people rebelled and killed the prefect of the city. The

CONSTANTINE.

praetorians proclaimed a new emperor, Maximian, formerly
Augustus with Diocletian, who issued from retirement to
become emperor once more (306 a.d.).

CONSTANTINE AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 397

Now began the wars between the emperors, of which
there were five in sixteen years.

I. Severus entered Italy to attack Maxentius and Maximian.
Abandoned by his army, he surrendered himself and was
taken to Rome and put to death.

Galerius appointed m his place Licinius, an Illyrian, the
son of a peasant, and gave him the title of Augustus. The
other emperors were no longer content with the title of
Caesar and called themselves Augustus also, making in al)
six Augusti, Galerius, Licinius, Constantme, Maximinus
Daza, Maxentius, and Maximian {'^oj a d.).

Maximian was forced to abdicate, and died soon after.

While Constantine v/as making war in the neighborhood
of the Rhine and driving the Franks out of Gaul, Maxentius
in Rome made himself unpopular with the people by
quarrelling with Constantine. Constantine crossed the Alps
with his army, descended into Italy and arrived before
Rome. Maxentius led his army across the Tiber on a
bridge of boats beside the Milvian bridge, and a battle was
fought in the plain on the right bank of the Tiber. The
army of Maxentius broke ranks, and the praetorians were
fighting alone when they were routed by a charge of Gallic
cavalry and fled towards the Milvian bridge. The bridge
gave way and Maxentius was drowned (312 a.d.).

Constantine entered Rome in triumph, dismissed the
praetorians, demolished the fortifications around their camp,
and executed all friends of Maxentius. He promised to
consult the senate, and instituted public games to celebrate
his victory. The senate decided to erect a triumphal arch
in his honor. He went to Milan to see his colleague
Licinius, and gave him his daughter in marriage.

Licinius had allied himself with Constantine against
Maximinus Daza, the other eastern emperor and the ally
of Maxentius. Daza protected the priests and magicians
and persecuted the Christians. He entered Europe with an
army and marched against Licinius. He was defeated at

398

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Adrianople; he fled and was killed (313 a.d.). His wife,
son, and daughter were massacred ; then the son of Galerius,
the son of Severus, and the wife and daughter of Diocletian.
Only two emperors now remained, Constantine in the west
and Licinius in the east (313 a.d ).

Trouble soon arose between these two. Crossing the

AKCH OF CONSTANTINE.

Alps, Constantine defeated Licinius in two battles and forced
him to give up all his European provinces (314 a.d.).

After some years of peace Constantine again led his army
eastward. Licinius, defeated at Adrianople and then in
Asia (323 A.D.), surrendered himself to Constantine. His
victorious rival promised to spare his life, but sent him to
Thessalonica and had him put to death. Constantine now
reigned alone over the empire (324 a.d.).

The Edict of Milan. — Constantine's mother, Helena, was
a Christian. He himself, like his father, willingly granted

CONSTANTINE AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 399

toleration to Christianity without being a Christian. His
enemies, Maxentius and Daza, were supported by the
adherents of the ancient Roman religion, while he, on his
part, was supported by the Christians.

Eusebius, the Christian historian, tells the following story
of Constantine :

The night before the battle of the Milvian bridge, in which
Maxentius lost his life, Constantine saw in the sky, over the
setting sun, a shining cross with the inscription, " By this sign
thou shalt conquer." in the night Christ appeared to him,
showed him the same sign and ordered him to place it on his
standard. In gratitude for his victory, Constantine obeyed
Christ, to whom he owed it ; he had a standard made in the
form of a cross with the initial letters of the name of Christ.

According to another Christian writer Constantine, in obedi-
ence to a dream, had the sacred monogram placed on every
soldier's shield.

It is an actual fact that later Constantine wore a cross on
his helmet and that his army had a standard, known as the
labarum, formed by a straight pike inter-
sected by a transverse beam. This beam
was draped with a purple veil embroidered
in gold, to represent the image of the ^

emperor. The whole was surmounted by
a golden crown encircling the initial
letter of the name of Christ. The soldiers
regarded this standard as possessed of
miraculous power to keep them from
injury.

Constantine was not content with
tolerating the Christian religion. By the
Edict of Milan (313 a.d.) he and Licinius
declared it equal with the ancient religion :
** Let every man embrace the religion
which pleases him, and celebrate its rites
freely. In divine things none should be
forbidden to follow the way that seems to him best." The
property taken from the Christian Church during the period

THE LABARUM.

400 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

of persecution was restored. Religious liberty was estab-
lished.

In the succeeding years Constantine adopted various
measures in favor of the churches. He closed the courts on
Sunday, which was kept holy by the Christians as the day
of Christ's resurrection and by the sun-worshippers as the
day of the sun.

The Christians being supporters of Constantine, Licinius,
in the east, became their enemy. He forbade the bishops
to meet, closed the churches, discharged Christian employees
from their places, and even imprisoned some of their number.
After his victory Constantine extended to the east the privi-
leges enjoyed by the Christians in the west. Christianity
became the established religion of the empire.

The Council of Nicaea (325 a.d.). — For some years the
Christian Church had been troubled by doubts as to the
nature of Christ. Arius, a priest of Alexandria, had put
forth the doctrine that God the Son, having been created by
the will of God the Father, was His inferior. An assembly
of Egyptian bishops declared him a heretic and excommuni-
cated him, but other bishops in the east supported him and
the dispute took very active form.

Constantine did not understand exactly what the trouble
was about, but he was anxious to maintain peace. He wrote
therefore to the clergy of Alexandria: " I desire to reduce
to a single formula the opinion of all the peoples concerning
the divinity, as agreement on this point would greatly facili-
tate public administration. Is it right that you should
battle about vain words, brother against brother?" This
letter did not check the dispute.

Constantine then summoned all the bishops to determine
true Christian doctrine and to restore order in the church.
This resulted in the Council of Nicaea, the first Ecumenical
Council (that is to say, of the world).

Here assembled three hundred and eighteen bishops,
principally Greeks, acompanied by priests, deacons, and

CONSTANTINE AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 401

attendants. Constantine had given them permission to
make use of the imperial post service and to have supplies
furnished them like officials of the state.

They met in the great hall of the palace of Nicaea; Con-
stantine entered in ceremonial robes, and seated himself on
a throne of gold. The bishop at his right rose and addressed
him. Constantine thanked him, declaring himself happy to
see the representatives of the church around him, and urged
them earnestly to maintain peace as befitted servants of God.
He then left the bishops to their discussion.

The council condemned the Arian doctrine by a large
majority and adopted the confession of faith proposed by the
bishop of Corduba (Cordova in Spain), a friend of the
emperor, and Athanasius, a young priest of Alexandria.
This was the Nicene Creed. In it the Son is declared to be
of the same substance with the Father (o/vooucrzos).

Constantine treated the decisions of the council as binding
upon all Christians. He exiled Arius and his followers and
burned their books.

Organization of the Church. — The Christian religion,
thus recognized by the emperor, had become the religion of
the majority of his subjects, especially in the east. The
bishops proceeded to organize the church.

They organized it on the model of the empire in the form
which it has always preserved. In each municipality there
was a bishop who resided in the city and ruled over the
faithful within his territory, called the diocese; he was
appointed for life and consecrated by the other bishops of
his province in the presence of the clergy and people of the
community, that is to say, the priests and assembly of
believers who approved the election. The number of
bishops was the same as the number of municipalities.
This is why there are many bishops in the east and in Italy,
where the cities were then very numerous, and the dioceses
small, while in France, where, except in the south, cities
were rare, the bishops are few and the dioceses large.

402 THE ROM^N PEOPLE.

Each province became an ecclesiastical province; the
bishop of the capital of the province (metropolis) was called
the metropolitan (later archbishop), and was superior to the
other bishops. ^

Over all was the bishop of Rome, the Pope, successor to
Saint Peter.2

The bishops met together to settle the affairs of the
church. Their assemblies (in Latin, councils; in Greek,
synods) were made up of the bishops of a single province or
of a whole country. The assembly of all the bishops of the
world was called the Ecuvienical Council.

The council decided what the Christians might do and
what they should believe. When a doctrine appeared con-
trary to the faith of the church, the council condemned it
and branded it a heresy (individual opinion), declaring
excommunicated any person who should continue to profess
it. The doctrine of the church was called orthodoxy, the
true belief. The only Christians recognized by the church
were the orthodox. Heretics were excluded from the fold.

The churches began to acquire property. They no longer
possessed only their cemeteries and meeting-places, but
many had domains; Constantine allowed them to inherit
money and lands, and even made them gifts himself. The
clergy administered this property, and used the greater part
of its income to defray the expenses of the church and dis-
tribute alms to the poor, sick, and widowed.

^ The bishops of the principal cities of the empire, Milan, Treves,
Carthage, and especially Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and
Jerusalem (where they were later c2X^q^ patriarchs), were often consid-
ered superior to the other metropolitans.

\^ The title "pope" was not yet definitely applied to the bishop of
Rome. Nor was his headship over even the Western church recognized
as a settled thing in the fourth century. A certain spiritual primacy
was claimed and conceded, but hardly more than this. It was necessary
that Rome's political importance should pass away before her chief
ecclesiastic could emerge from the shadow of the temporal power, and
appear as the chief man in Rome. This was not to be until the fifth
century. ]

CONSTANTINE AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 403

Their services were held in basilicas, great halls adorned
with columns and originally designed as court-rooms. The
bishop and priests stood at the end of the hall, near the
communion-table. The worshippers occupied the nave of
the basilica, men on one side, women on the other. The
catechumens, those who were not yet admitted to the com-
munion, took part in only a portion of the service, the
sermon, and were dismissed before the Eucharist. The
penitents, those who had sinned and were not yet pardoned,
stood about the door. Outside was the baptistery, with the
pool in which the catechumens were baptized.

Founding of Constantinople. — In 326 a.d. Constantine
took part in the review of the knights at Rome; the knights,
in accordance with the ancient pagan custom, went up to
the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, but the emperor did
not follow them. The people of Rome, who were still
pagans, murmured against this.

Constantine now made up his mind to establish a new
capital to take the place of Rome. ^ He fixed his choice on
Byzantium, an ancient city on the Bosphorus, the strait
connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora. It
occupied an exceptional position on a promontory easily
defended from the land side, separated from Asia only by
a narrow channel, and enjoying a beautiful climate in a
region covered with vineyards, orchards, and rich harvests.
The harbor, the Golden Horn, was deep and wide, one of
the finest in the world; while capable of holding twelve
hundred ships, it could be closed against an enemy with a
chain eight hundred feet in length. On the site of Byzan-

[' It would be wrong to think that Constantine removed the seat of
empire from Rome simply out of pique against the Roman populace.
There were far deeper reasons than this. It is true that he may have
deemed it wise, at a time when all the old institutions were giving way
before the methods of Oriental despotism, to remove the seat of govern-
ment away from the old scenes and associations of republican times ;
but geographical reasons also prompted such a change. Constantinople
was far nearer the centre of population than Rome.]

404 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

tium Constantine built his new city and called it by his
name, Constantinople. He surrounded it by a wall fifteen
miles in circumference, and built a palace, a circus, aque-
ducts, baths, two squares surrounded by porticoes, temples,
and the Christian Church of the Holy Apostles. New
military quarters were also constructed.

Constantine brought famous statues from Greece and
Rome for the adornment of his city: a Pallas, the Zeus of
Dodona, the Muses from Helicon, and the Delphic tripod.

To make up a population Constantinople had the inhab-
itants of neighboring cities brought thither by force. He
established there, as at Rome, distributions of grain, wine,
and oil, and numerous public shows. He created a senate ^
like that at Rome. He distributed estates and palaces to
nobles who settled there, and obliged the landed proprietors
of neighboring provinces to have a house at Constantinople.

The work was begun in 326 a.d., and in less than four
years (330 a.d.) the inauguration took place.

End of the Reign of Constantine. — Constantine was sole

ruler of the empire for thirteen years. Crispus, his son by

his first wife, was accused of conspiring against him, and he

had him put to death together with a number of his friends

(326 A.D.). He also executed Licinianus, a boy of twelve,

the son of his sister and the emperor Licinius. His second

wife, Fausta, and his mother, Helena, were bitter enemies up

to the time of Fausta's death.

It is said that Constantine took his mother's part and had
his wife placed in an overheated bath, in which she was suf-
focated.

[1 At this time the Roman senate had sunk almost to the level of a
mere city council. The new senate at Constantinople was even below it
in dignity, as it did not draw its members from a long-established
ruling class, nor for a long time after its foundation take any share in
imperial affairs.

It became the rule that one of the two consuls should be appointed at
Constantinople, the other at Rome. The chief importance of the con-
suls under the later empire was that tiie years were still named after
them, as under the republic]

Longitude 10 East

30 Greenwich 50

(NMAVEO BY BORMAY fc CO.,

CONST ANTINE AhlD THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 4^5

Constantine had not entirely deserted the ancient reHgion.
He retained the title of Pontifex Maximus and the pagan
inscriptions on the coins [''To the Spirit 0/ the Emperor, To
the God Mars"). The foundation ceremony of Constan-
tinople was placed on a day when \he sun entered the con-
stellation of Sagittarius (November 4, 326 a.d.), and an
astrologer watched the sky to see if the hour was favorable.
A column of porphyry was erected in the new city, bearing
a bronze Apollo; under the column was buried a reproduc-
tion of the Palladium, the protecting idol of Rome. A
statue of Fortune was placed in the senate-house. The
majority of government officials and soldiers still worshipped
the ancient gods or the Sun-god; the soldiers recited a
prayer to the divinity for the welfare of the emperor and
empire.

COIN OF CONSTANTINE.

Constantine, however, was inclining more and more
towards Christianity. He built several Christian churches;
he destroyed the Mount of Calvary on which Christ was said
to have been crucified at Jerusalem ; he built the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre near the spot where Christ's body was
entombed,^ and the Church of the Nativity on the site of His
birthplace. His mother, Helena, went herself to see his
work, and by so doing gave rise to thie tradition of the Dis-
covery of the Holy Cross,

[1 The correctness of the identification of many of these scenes of
sacred history is disputed by archaeologists. There is every reason to
doubt that the locations of Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre are where
tradition places them. Both are within the walls of the ancient city,
which would have been impossible for places either of execution or of
burial.]

4o6 THE ROMAh! PEOttE.

The story goes that the empress Helena had come to Jerusa-
lem in search of the true cross, on which Christ was crucified.
The bishop of Jerusalem was ignorant of its whereabouts.
Calvary was searched, houses torn down and the ground dug
up, until finally, under a temple of Venus, a grotto was discov-
ered containing three crosses, that of Christ and tliose of the
two thieves who were crucified with him.

In order to determine which was the cross of Christ, the
bishop brought a dying woman to pray there with the empress,
asking God to grant a miracle. The woman, after touching the
true cross, arose healed.

Constantine died in 337 a.d. During his last illness he
was baptized, and was buried in the Christian church of
Constantinople.

New Organization of the Empire. — The new organization
of the empire which Diocletian had instituted continued
through the reign of Constantine and was completed under
his successors.

The former emperors, living in Rome or with the army,
had maintained the simple life of Roman magistrates and
generals. The emperors in the east (from Diocletian
onward) adopted the habits of Oriental kings. Instead of
being content with the toga, the badge of citizenship, they
wore the diadem, a pearl-studded crown, the emblem of
royalty, and magnificent flowing robes of silk and gold.
Instead of appearing about the city, they shut themselves
up in the palace, allowing themselves to be seen only on
feast-days, seated on a golden throne, surrounded by a host
of attendants, armed guards, and courtiers. Instead of
receiving friends and eating with them familiarly, they held
aloof from the rest of mankind as if they were gods. A man
admitted to the emperor's presence bowed his head to the
floor in token of adoration. The emperor was called
Master, Majesty, and the citizens became the subjects (in
Greek, slaves) of the emperor. The emperor was divine
and everything belonging to him ** sacred": the " sacred
palaoe," "sacred chamber," "sacred council," "sacred
treasury." The emperor's palace became like the rourt of

CONSTANTINE AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 407

the king of Persia. This was the system known as the
Lower Empire.

The emperor was surrounded by a complete court : several
companies of body-guards, both foot and horse, a small
army to guard his palace, a troop of chamberlains to wait
on him, a troop of officials to attend to his affairs, a council
of state to aid in the government, ushers, pages, and a large
staff of secretaries divided into four bureaus.

The emperor did not hold direct communication with all
of these. He gave his orders to the ministers, each of whom
controlled a special branch of the imperial service. The
principal of these functionaries were (at a somewhat later
date when the system was fully developed):

1. The master of soldiery in the presence;

2. The provost of the sacred bedchamber;

3. The master of the offices, controlling

a. The bureau of memorials, under a master;

b. The bureau of correspondence, under a master;

c. The bureau of requests, under a master;

d. The bureau of Greek versions, under a master;
also the arsenals and the secret police;

4. The quaestor, whose duty it was to put all official
documents in legal form;

5. The count of the sacred bounties, or secretary of the
treasury ;

6. The coun-t of the private domains.

In the times when there were two emperors, as under
Arcadius and Honorius, this staff was duplicated, one court
being fully constituted at Constantinople, the other at Rome
(or Milan).

The empire was divided into one hundred and seventeen
provinces, each with its governor, known as a consular, or
a corrector.^ Several provinces were united in one diocese
under a vicar (for instance, Gaul, Spain, and Britain).

[* Only three governors bore the ancient title of proconsul — those of
Asia, Achaia, and Africa.]

4o8 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Finally, several dioceses were again united under one
praetorian prefect, of whom there were four^ for the whole
empire. None of these officials had now any power over
the soldiers.

The armies were divided in smaller legions than formerly
and commanded by counts and dukes, ^ who were established
in the frontier provinces. The two chief in command were
the master of the horse and the master of the foot-soliders.

All these functionaries and officers were divided in various
categories denoting their degree of dignity; each, according
to his rank, received a hereditary title from the emperor.
These were the several degrees of nobility, beginning with
the highest :

The nobilissimi (most noble), princes of the imperial
family;

The illusires (illustrious), the chiefs of the imperial service,
praetorian prefects, and masters of the soldiers;

The spectabiles (Avorshipful), vicars, counts, and dukes;

The clarissime (right honorable), also called senators, the
governors ;

The perfectissimi (honorable), the lowest grade of govern-
ors;

The egregii (esquires), who corresponded very nearly to
the former knights.

Every person of importance had thus his office, his title,
and his rank.

A larger amount of money was now necessary to maintain
this staff of courtiers and employees.^ The empire was im-
poverished by wars and invasions, and the taxes had to be
increased. The principal new taxes were: the tax on land,

[1 Of the East, of lUyricum, of Italy, of the Gauls.]

[2 The count was higher than the duke, contrary to the precedence
among modern nobles.]

p The count of the sacred bounties had a staff of 224 officials and 610
supernumeraries ; the proconsul of Africa had 400 officials. These
were all highly paid, the slaves not being included in this number.]

CONSTANTINE AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 409

for which a new valuation was made every fifteen years
{itCdiction) ; the poll-tax ; also the taxes on industry and com-
merce, payable every five years.

Collection of the taxes became more difficult every year.
In each municipality the council (curia) had charge of the
work, and its members, the curiales, were responsible for the
money, being obliged to make good any deficit. The office
of curialis (town councillor), hitherto sought as an honor,
came to be considered in the fourth century a ruinous
charge, which was to be avoided if possible. The emperors
passed laws to enforce the acceptance of the office, and every
landed proprietor, whether he wished it or not, was obliged
to become a member of the curia. Many preferred to
renounce their lands, and fled the country to become
employees, soldiers, or priests. The emperors ordered them
to be found and brought back by force. This strugsfle
between the emperor and the curiales lasted for over a
century and a half.

SOURCES.

Eusebius Ecclesiastical History.

Eutropius Bk. x to § 8.

Lactantius On the Deaths of the Persecutors.

The Early Christian Persecutions; Vol.
IV, No. I, Translations and Reprints,
Sources of European History, Univ. of
Penna.
Notitia Dignitatum, or Pe^ister of Dig-
nitaries; ibid.. Vol. VI, No. 4.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy c. ci-civ.

Gibbon cc. xiv-xviii, xx.

Botsford.. c. xii.

Morey.. c. xxviii, § 2.

Myers c, xix,

Milman History of Christianity, Bk. 11, c. ix, Bk.

Ill, cc. i-iv.

Bury Later Povian Empire, cc. i, ii, v.

Stanley, A. P Lectures on the History of the Eastern

Church, Lectures ii-vi.

Newman, J. H The Arians of the Fourth Century .

Seeley, J. R Poinan Imperialism; The Later Empire,

Oman, C. W. C The Byzantine Empire {^2iX\ons), pp. 13-30.

CHAPTER XXVII.
THE DOWNFALL OF PAGANISM.

* The Growth of Monarchy. — The last stage in the
development of absolutism had thus been reached. It is
possible to discriminate with some degree of exactness the
stages in this process.

Under Augustus, the real organizer of the empire (for
Julius did not live long enough to carry out his schemes)
the system was one of dual control. The imperator (our
modern word emperor carries with it altogether too much
of the royal idea) posed simply as first citizen, and professed
to divide the sovereignty with the senate. This system has
received the name dyarchy.

In the second century there was a more franK expression
of the fact that the imperator was the real head of the
government. But the senate was still allowed a certain
degree of power. The period of the Antonines may be
called one of limited monarchy.

With Septimius Severus, at the opening of the third
century, the senate is still more disregarded, and the founda-
tions of absolute monarchy are laid. But this monarchy is
still Roman, and the imperator is a Roman soldier.

Diocletian and Constantine transmute the absolute
monarchy into Oriental despotism.

The Imperial Succession. — There had never been any
fixed method of providing a successor on the death of an
emperor. There was a theory that it was the right of the
senate to nominate, and of the Roman people to ratify the

410

THE DOIVNFALL OF PAGANISM. 4"

nomination of, each emperor. But this proceeding was a
mere form. Some of the best emperors, as the Antonines,
had secured the succession to a worthy follower by adopting
and associating with themselves the men whom they thought
fit for the weighty office. Diocletian thought he had found
a remedy for confusion and scandal in his system of associate
Augusti and Caesars, of whom the two Augusti were to
abdicate, as he himself did, after twenty years, and the two
Caesars to take their places; these in turn naming two new
Caesars.

But we have seen how this worked at the close of
Diocletian's career. It was too artificial to be practical.
And now Constantine, with all his political genius, was
unable to devise a scheme of succession which should be
satisfactory. This lack of system was one of the greatest
weaknesses of the empire.

The Sons of Constantine. — Constantine left three sons:
Constantine II., to whom were given the Gauls and north-
western Africa; Constantius took the east, and Constans the
lands lying between these, viz., Italy, Illyria, and the
remainder of Africa. Each of these was entitled Augustus.
Two nephews of the great emperor were also given smaller
shares in the government. The inevitable result followed.
Bitter quarrels broke out, and of the three brothers Con-
stantius alone was left after 350 a.d.

Constantius took a conspicuous part in the religious
movements of his time. He began to persecute the pagans,
particularly in the west, but was unable to enforce his
prohibitions of the old worship. He also took the opposite
course from his father with regard to the divisions among
the Christians, for while Constantine had favored the
orthodox party, the son took the side of the Arians.
Bishops who had been banished were now restored, and the
orthodox leaders were forced into exile. The contentions
were so bitter that Ammianus Marcellinus, the great pagan
historian of the time, writes: " There are no wild beasts so

412

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

hostile to man as most of these Christians are to one
another."

Julian the Apostate. — Constant! us left but one relative,
his nephew Julian, who had escaped from the general
slaughter of his family in 338 a.d. because he was but six
years of age at the time. He had been brought up as a
semi-prisoner in Cappadocia, where his training had been

of the severely Christian
kind. Religious exercises,
pilgrimages, and the like,
filled his days. Later he
was allowed to study
Greek philosophy at Nico-
media. He became

enamored of its teachings
and secretly abjured Chris-
tianity.

While Constantius was
living Julian distinguished
himself by conquering the
Alemanni who had in-
vaded Gaul. He made
his headquarters at Lu-
tetia, the modern Paris,
where, in the Hotel de
Cluny, a museum contains many relics of him and his time.
At the death of Constantius in 361 a.d., Julian succeeded
him, by wish of his army. He at once devoted himself to
destroying Christianity and reestablishing the ancient
religion. He restored the sacrifices, reinstated the priests
of the ancient gods in the enjoyment of their honors and
domains, and ordered the Christians to restore the temples
which had been converted into churches and to rebuild
those that had been destroyed.

He deprived the Christian clergy of their privileges. He
forbade Christians to teach philosophy or literature, and

JULIAN.

THE DOlVhIFALL OF PAGANISM. 4^3

thus compelled Christian teachers to resign from the schools.
Julian was not willing that books containing allusions to the
gods should be explained by men who did not believe in
those gods. ** It is not right," he said, ** to pierce us with
our own arrows and fight us with our own books."

He wrote a treatise against the Christians.

He recommended that no offices should be given to
Christians, but he did not discharge Christians already in
office.

He gave orders to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. But
the workmen were frightened by seeing flames spring from
the ground, and the work was stopped.

Julian attempted to organize the ancient religion on the
model of Christianity. He ordered the priests to read
religious books (Pythagoras, Plato, and the Stoics), to hold
family worship every day, to avoid the theatre and the
public-house, and to wear a purple robe when preaching to
the people. He advocated the introduction of music and
singing into the ceremonies.

All these endeavors came to nothing because Julian had
not time to carry them through. Like Alexander, he led
an army against the Parthians, defeated them, and crossed
the Tigris, but in a succeeding battle was mortally wounded
by an arrow. Before his death he called for his two
philosophers and talked with them concerning the immor-
tality of the soul {7,6^ A.D.).

Later it was reported that when the arrow struck him, he
cried (addressing Christ), "Thou hast conquered, Galilean!"

Jovian, the commander of the guards, was proclaimed em-
peror by the soldiers. He made peace with the Parthians
by restoring the territory Diocletian had won from them, and
was leading his army homeward when he died, in Asia.

Valentinian and Valens. — The army chose for his suc-
cessor Valentinian, an Illyrian officer who spoke Latin and
had a slight knowledge of Greek (364 a.d.). For the sake

414 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

of a second donaiivum the soldiers insisted on having
another emperor, and Valentinian secured the appointment
for his brother Valens. Valentinian left Valens at Con-
stantinople and established himself in the west, at
Milan.

Valentinian was essentially a warrior, brave, harsh, and
violent. He has been credited with more or less ferocity.

He had a servant beaten to death for being too qiiick in
releasing a dog on his game. A workman bent a cuirass slightly
in engraving it ; the emperor had him executed. He had a
driver burned alive for an unguarded speech. An office-holder
requested a change. " He wants to be removed," was the em-
peror's answer; " remove his head." Near his chamber he kept
two fierce bears to which he caused condemned persons to be
thrown. He had a young noble executed for having copied out
a collection of formulas in magic.

He increased the taxes and adopted severe measures to
enforce their collection. In each of a number of cities
which had fallen short of the required subscription he
ordered the execution of three curiales. The praetorian
prefect asked him : " What shall we do in cities where there
are not as many as three curiales ? Shall we wait until there
are three ? ' ' The answer was * ' Yes. ' '

Valentinian was a Christian. He restored the privileges
of the Catholic churches, but allowed freedom in the practice
of all creeds, even the ceremonies of the Greek mysteries.

The barbarians that invaded the empire along the Danube,
in Britain, and on the Rhine were all repulsed. Valentinian
spent almost his whole reign in Gaul directing the war
against the Alemanni; he drove them back across the Rhine
and reestablished the old boundary. He died in an expedi-
tion to the Danube (375 a.d.).

His elder son, Gratian, a boy of sixteen, succeeded him
as emperor of the west ; the younger, Valentinian H. , aged
four, was also proclaimed Augustus.

Valens was meantime making himself hated in the east
because of his cruelty. He had a great fear of magic, and

THE DOIVNFALL OF PAGANISM, 415

ordered all books on the subject to be collected and burned,
together with the persons in whose possession they were
found.

He too was a Christian, but an Arian, and he persecuted
the orthodox Catholics.

Valens was not a soldier and knew nothing of defending
the empire, neither could he keep an army in condition.
The frontier provinces were ravaged by plundering bands
and the Roman soldiers refused to come out of their com-
fortable fortresses to fight them.

Invasion of the Visigoths. — The Goths, a German people
occupying the plains north of the Danube, were attacked by
the Huns, an Asiatic people, yellow, short, thickset, and
beardless, with small shifting eyes, who were always on their
• horses' backs, and lived on roots and raw flesh which they
allowed to mortify hanging at their saddles. They fought
with the spear, bow, and lasso, charging with wild cries,
then wheeling about to charge again.

The Goths were unable to resist them. A portion of the
nation, the Visigoths (western Goths), decided to emigrate.
One of their chiefs, Fritigern, who was a Christian, sent the
bishop of the Goths, to ask the emperor to establish his
people in the empire. Valens assented. The Goths were
to surrender their arms and give their children as hostages;
the emperor, on his part, agreed to furnish them with pro-
visions (375 A.D.).

The Visigoths, numbering in all three hundred thousand,
crossed the Danube and were established in the plain. The
Roman agents, however, did not furnish them the promised
supplies, and they were obliged to sell their slaves and even
their wives and children to save themselves from starvation
(376 A.D.).

Some of them had kept their arms and now began to
pillage the country. Valens and Gratian sent troops against
them. But the Visigoths were reenforced by other Gothic
tribes, the Ostrogoths or eastern Goths, and barbarian

41 6 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

peasants and miners. They made a fort of their chariots,
and attacked the Roman camp near the mouth of the
Danube in an indecisive battle ['^jj a.d.).

The Visigoth army, increased by barbarian warriors from
the other side of the Danube, crossed the Balkans, and laid
waste the whole country as far as Constantinople. Gratian,
attacked at the same time by the Alemanni on the Rhine,
had recalled his troops. He vanquished the Alemanni and
drove them back into the mountains beyond the Rhine, then
sent word to Valens that he was coming to his assistance,
Valens was at Constantinople with his army, and his generals
begged him to wait; but he was anxious to avoid sharing
the glory, and gave orders to march against the Visigoths

(378 A.D.).

The Romans, hungry and thirsty and wearied with march-
ing in the dust and heat, arrived in disorder before the
enemy's camp. Out came the Gothic horsemen, charged
on the Romans and routed them completely. Valens was
wounded by an arrow and carried into a hut, where his
companions tried unsuccessfully to defend him. The bar-
barians set fire to the hut and the emperor perished, in all
probability burned to death.

The next day the Goths attempted to take Adrianople,
failing in which they spread out over all the Illyrian
provinces and laid them waste.

/ Theodosius. — Gratian, feeling himself too young to
undertake the defence of the empire alone, fixed his choice
on a young Spanish general of twenty-three, Theodosius,
and, summoning him from Spain, proclaimed him Augustus
and entrusted him with the government of Illyria and the
east (379 A.D.).

Theodosius went to Thessalonica and proceeded to
reorganize the army and restore it to discipline; he became
popular with his men by treating them politely and sharing
their exertions and fatigue. When the army was ready he
opened his campaign against the Goths, His object was

THE DOIVNFALL OF PAGANISM,

417

not to destroy them, but rather to induce them to surrender.
He received their king,

made him presents
treated him as a friend.

Finally, after a fresh
vasion of barbarians in
A.D., he effected a peace,
ceded to the Visigoths
provinces south of
Danube, and there

and

in-
381
Ht
th-

the

they
settled with their own chiefs
as allies {/oederaii), not sub-
jects, of the empire. They
engaged to fight for the em-
peror for a wage, and collars
and bracelets of gold ; Theo-
dosius enrolled forty thousand
of them in the Roman army
under these conditions,

Gratian was not liked in
the west. He was reproached
with being too fond of hunt-
ing, of associating with bar-
barians and dressing like
them, of neglecting his army,
and allowing his courtiers to . thbodosius.

sell offices and judgments. The army in Britain revolted
and proclaimed emperor its general Maximus, a Spaniard.
Maximus crossed to Gaul, and a battle was fought near Paris.
Gratian was abandoned by his soldiers and took to flight,
but was overtaken and killed near Lyons {'^^'^ a.d.).

Theodosius recognized Maximus as emperor. Young
Valentinian II. at Milan retained Italy and Africa.

Maximus invaded Italy with an army of German bar-
barians (387 A.D.). Valentinian fled to Theodosius, who
promised him assistance and took his sister in marriage.

4i8 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

With an army composed mainly of Gothic barbarians
Theodosius marched on Italy, defeated Maximus and had
him beheaded.

Theodosius remained in Italy three years, during which
period occurred the famous incident of his penance.
Theodosius had placed Gothic ofHcers and soldiers in his
eastern garrisons, and these Goths now formed the most
solid portion of the Roman army. The inhabitants of the
large cities were constantly quarrelling with these barbarians,
and Theodosius ordinarily took the part of his soldiers. In
390 A.D. there was such a violent outbreak in Thessalonica
that a number of Gothic officers lost their lives. In a
passion of rage Theodosius ordered the population of
Thessalonica exterminated. Accordingly, one day when the
inhabitants were assembled in the circus for the games, the
Gothic soldiers surrounded the building and in three hours
killed every man, woman, and child.

Theodosius was in Milan when the news of the massacre
reached Italy. When he next entered the church he was
stopped at the door by Ambrose, who forbade him to enter
because, by shedding innocent blood, he had made himself
unworthy to enter the sanctuary. Theodosius, shut out
from communion with the faithful, accepted the bishop's
sentence. For eight months he did not enter a church,
until, having done penance for his crime, he returned for the
Christmas festival.

For the first time an emperor had recognized a power
superior to his own, that of the Christian clergy.

The Franks had just invaded Gaul. Theodosius sent
Valentinian II. against them with a Frankish barbarian
named Arbogast for his general. Arbogast drove the Franks
across the Rhine and governed in Valentinian 's name, the
latter being too young and inexperienced to fulfil his duties.
Valentinian w^as jealous and, having made up his mind to
be rid of him, sent him a letter of dismissal. Arbogast
threw the letter down, saying that power entrusted by

THE DOIVJ^FALL OF PAGANISM. 419

Theodosius could not be revoked by any one else. Valen-
tinian seized a sword and rushed at Arbogast They were
separated, and some time later Valentinian was found hang-
ing to a tree (392 a d,).

Arbogast, not being a Roman, could not proclaim himself
emperor, so chose Eugenius, a former rhetorician. He was
anxious to remain on peaceful terms with Theodosius, but
Theodosius refused to recognize him, and he and Arbogast
speedily were defeated and put to death.

Theodosius reigned alone for one year, then died, at the
age of fifty (395 a.d.).

Official Suppression of Paganism. — Since the time of
Constantine Christianity had been spreading in the empire.
The ancient gods were worshipped only by the inhabitants
of Rome, the soldiers, and the country people. These
began to be called pagans {paganus, a peasant).

The early Christian emperors lett the pagans free to prac-
tise their religion, and even preserved the title of pontifex
maximus, until Gratian refused to bear the title or wear the
robe. He declined to support any religion but Christianity.
He removed from the senate chamber at Rome the statue
and altar of Victory to which sacrifices were made.

Theodosius did more. He forbade the offering of sacri-
fices to the gods, then ordered the praetorian prefect to close
the temples and suppress paganism throughout the east.
The soldiers, aided by the monks, proceeded to demolish
the temples, overturn the altars, and break or mutilate
the idols (394-396 a.d.). Marcellus, a bishop of Syria,
with a band of soldiers went through the country destroying
pagan sanctuaries; he was killed by the peasants and
venerated as a martyr.

In 391 A.D. Theodosius forbade any subject of the empire
to enter the temple of a heathen god. In 392 a.d. he made
the worship of idols punishable with death. 'J "he Serapeum at
Alexandria, the tomb of the sacred bulls of Apis, was closed.
The stone coffin of the last ADis was afterwards found in the

42 o THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

gallery, not enough time having been given to put it in
place.

The Roman senators refused to give up the old religion,
about which clung all the memories of Roman history.
They asked permission of Theodosius to replace the statue
of Victory in their hall, but were refused; they then appealed
with better success to Eugenius, although he too was a
Christian. Arbogast, who favored the pagans, placed the
image of Hercules on the standards, and the praetorian
prefect at Rome ordered a pagan festival for the purifying
of the city.

After the defeat of Eugenius Theodosius dealt the last
blow to paganism. The statue of ^Victory was decisively
withdrawn from the senate chamber. The sacred fire on the
Roman hearth, guarded so long by the Vestals (see page
40), was extinguished. The Olympian games in Greece
were celebrated for the last time (394 a.d.).

Paganism nevertheless survived another century and more.

SOURCES.

Ammianus Marcellinus. Roman History.
Eutropius Bk. x, from § 10.

PARALLEL READING.

Duruy cc. cv-cix.

Gibbon cc. xix, xxi-xxviii.

Botsford ^ c. xiii to p. 298.

Moray c. xxviii, § 3.

Myers cc. xxi-xxii, § 267.

Milman Vol. 11, Bk. iii,c.vi: Vol. in, Bk. iii, c.vi.

Hodgkin Italy and her Invaders, Bk. I, cc. i-xii

Gardner, Alice Julian (Heroes).

Bradley The Goths (Stories of the Nations).

CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS.

Arcadius and Honorius. — Theodosius, on his death in
395 A.D., left his empire to his two young sons, Arcadius
and Honorius. The former was to rule at Constantinople,
the latter in the west. There was no thought of a division
of the empire by such an arrangement. The brothers were
to be joint emperors of a common dominion. But the fault
of such an arrangement is obvious. Either the country is
too large to be governed from one centre, or this system is
weak from its lack of centralization and unity. Yet in this
partition (for such it really came to be) is to be found the
germ of a great advantage. For within a century of the time
of Theodosius the western half of the empire crumbled and
dissolved, but the very fact that the eastern half was semi-
independent before this happened enabled it to live on and
to maintain its organization and life, and to be for centuries
the barrier which protected Europe from Mohammedan
invasion on its eastern side.

The Visigoths and Alaric. — The reigns of the two
brothers were marked by renewed troubles with the Ger-
manic peoples. Their presence north of the empire had first
disclosed itself as a serious menace five hundred years before,
but Marius had been able to avert that threat for a time by
his defeat of the Cimbri and the Teutons (see page T93).
Caesar's conquest of Gaul had interposed a temporary barrier
against the Germans on the northwest. But the growing
power of the barbarians and the increasing weakness of the

421

422

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

empire together made it inevitable that the Germanic hordes
should overflow from central into southern Europe.
. There was pressure upon these people and temptation
before them. That pressure was of the increasing popula-
tion of their own sections.
Their mode of life re-
quired extensive terri-
tory; for their methods
of agriculture and herd
ing were very primitive.
Moreover, the pressure
had been aggravated, as
we have seen in the case
of the Visigoths, by the
appearance of the Huns
(see page 415). The
temptation was that
spread before these people
by the happier climate,
the wealth, and the many
attractions of the empire.
The resultant of this pres-
sure from the rear and
this attraction from the
front was a vast irruption
of Germanic peoples into
the confines of the empire,
which resulted in the fifth
century in their becoming
masters of its western
half.

ROMAN Consul of aoh uf honorius.^^ The story of that irrup-

tion becomes vivid in the time of Arcadius and Honorius.
Their father, the great Theodosius, had been able to hold
1 The banner bears the legend: <* In the name of Christ may you be
ever victorious."

THE BARBARIAN INl^ASIONS, 423

the Visigoths in check. But they had become restive under
misrule comparable to that of the American Indians by the
agents of the United States government, and were moreover
a body large enough to be very powerful. A young and
ambitious chieftain had lately come to the front among
them, Alaric by name. Under his lead the Visigoths broke
loose from all restraint, and poured from Moesia and Thrace
into Greece, which they plundered at will. But in the
service of Honorius was an able general, himself of
Germanic origin, a Vandal. Under his leadership the
Roman armies were able to force Alaric out of Greece. He
turned into Italy, followed by Stilicho, and in two great
battles at Pollentia and Verona, 402 and 403 a.d., the Goths
were defeated with tremendous slaughter. In honor of
these victories a magnificent triumph was celebrated at
Rome, in which Stilicho rode side by side with his imperial
master. This triumph of 404 a.d. is notable as being the
last one of the long line of similar celebrations which Rome
was ever to witness or for which she was to have occasion.

Noteworthy is also the fact that it is to a German general
that the defeat of the Germanic invaders was due. And his
army, moreover, was doubtless predominatingly of German
blood. Rome had no longer the strength nor the skill to
fight her own battles.

Radagaisus. — Hardly was this Visigothic danger for the
time averted, when a new peril threatened. Another
agglomeration of barbarians — Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians,
and others — swarmed over the Alps. This time the danger
was more terrible than before. Alaric and his people were
at least nominal Christians, for they had been within the
empire for years, and had felt its civilizing touch; but
Radagaisus and his hordes were heathen still. Again it was
Stilicho to the rescue, and in Tuscany a mighty battle
brought deliverance once more to Rome (406 a.d.).

But the weakling emperor could not tolerate that his
servant Stilicho should win such honors and prove himself

424 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

so mighty a factor in the welfare of the state, and the
princeling caused the soldier to be slain. Terrible was the
German revenge upon Rome for the death of her great
Germanic defender.

The Ransom and the Capture of Rome. — Alaric had
again recruited his forces. The Roman government by acts
of cruelty such as are characteristic of weak and foolish
statesmanship had turned against itself many of its Gothic
mercenaries; these joined Alaric. The result was a fresh
invasion of Italy. Rome was besieged, and was forced by
the horrors of famine to ask for terms. Never since the
days of Hannibal, six hundred years before, had Rome seen
hostile soldiers at her gates. Finally terms of ransom were
agreed upon and the Goths departed.

At first the conqueror demanded ;is the price of his with-
drawal : " All the gold and silver in the city, whether public or
private property ; all portable property of value; and all slaves
of barbarian origin." The Romans asked, " What will be left
us.'* " "Your lives," was the answer.

The Gothic chief was finally induced to accept five thousand
pounds of gold, thirty thousand of silver, four thousand silken
robes, three thousand pieces of scarlet cloth, and three thou-
sand pounds of pepper. The last item suggests the scarcity of
the latter article, and the esteem in which it was held. To
raise the whole ransom required the most strenuous exertions
on the part of the city.

Alaric was again treated unwisely by the emperor, and the
blow fell upon Rome. The ransom had been effected in
409 A.D. Now in 410, just eight hundred years since the
Gauls under Brennus had sacked the eternal city, it was given
over once more to plunder. Alaric, as a Christian, bade
spare the churches and the lives of the people. But the
wealth of the city was stripped from it, and for six days and
nights the plunder, with its inevitable deeds of horror, went
on.

From Rome Alaric led his hosts southward, planning to sub-
due Sicily and to seek an empire in Africa. But death cut
short his plans (410 A.D.).

His followers made their slaves turn aside the stream of the

THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS.

425

Busentinus, in southern Italy. In the bed of the river the body
of the chieftain was buried, and the stream restored to its course.

GALLA PLACIDIA AND HEK SON VALENTINIAN III. (aBOUT 425 A,D.).

The slaves who had done the work were then killed, that no
enemy might know the burial-place of the great leader.

The Barbarians in the Provinces. — The capture and the
sack of Rome was but an incident in a great process going

426 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

on throughout all the western Roman empire. The hordes
of Alaric, joined by others, moved out of Italy, and under
the leadership of Ataulf (Adolphus) crossed into Gaul,
where they set up what is called the Visigothic kingdom.
They soon took parts of Spain also.

Meanwhile another tribe, the Vandals from Pannonia,
moving in the same general direction, settled for a while in
Spain, where the district of Andalusia (Vandalusia) bears
historic witness to their sojourn, and thence passed into
Africa, where they wrested the control from the Romans and
set up their own Vandal kingdom.

In southeastern France another name. Burgundy, tells the
story of still another Gothic people, who, as part of the same
great movement, took possession of that section.

Destined to endure longer than any of these kingdoms
already named, the Frankish kingdom had its origin in this
same period, even earlier.

But no province suffered so severely from the barbarian
irruption as did Britain. Britain had been quite thoroughly
Romanized. And the native British stock, after centuries
of subjection, had become unable to care for themselves.
So when in 407 a.d. Stilicho had recalled the last of the
Roman legionaries from Britain for the war against the
Goths, the Britons had been left in pitiable condition. For
the fierce savages from Caledonia, beyond the Roman walls,
now broke in, and the British were in danger of destruction.
They wrote pitiful letters to the consul at Rome begging for
aid, which was necessarily withheld.

They wrote: "To Aetius the consul, the groans of the Brit-
ons. The barbarians drive us to the sea, the sea drives us back
to the barbarians; between them we are either slain or drowned."

The helpless Britons appealed to Saxon rovers, whose
incursions had long been only less dreadful than the
Caledonian inroads, to help them against the latter. In the
middle of the fifth century these people came — Angles,
Jutes, Saxons — in ever-increasing numbers, at first to help

THE BARB A RUN INVASIONS. • 427

the Britons, and soon to settle as their masters. Their
kinsmen who had taken possession of Africa, Spain, and
Gaul had been at least half-civilized and nominally Christian.
But these' Germans of the north were still worshippers of
Thor and Wodin, and their fierce brutality went far to
efface from Britain any traces of the Roman occupation.
In the other parts of the empire the Teutons adopted from
the conquered, institutions, language, and laws in large
mtiasure. In Britain they were ruthless destroyers. In this
fact is to be found explanation of the radical difference
existing to-day between France and England. The former
is built upon a Latin basis; the latter upon one almost
wholly Anglo-Saxon. At the time this complete subversion
of most that was Roman looked like an unmitigated
calamity. In the course of history it has come to be con-
sidered as the very foundation of all that is peculiarly
English.

Attila and the Huns. — A worse fate than had befallen
Britain threatened Rome herself for a time. We have already
caught a glimpse of the fierce, nomadic Huns, whose impact
had driven the Goths across the Danube under Valens (see
page 415). Another generation of these dreadful pirates of
the land, under Attila, the so-called "Scourge of God,"
had terrorized the emperor of Constantinople into payment
of tribute, and then surged westward into Gaul. But here
the civilized elements, Visigoths, Franks, Burgundians, and
Roman provincials under their governor Aetius, joined in a
final desperate effort. On the fateful field of Chalons (451
A.D. ) it is said that from one to three hundred thousand of
the seven hundred thousand followers of Attila were slain.

But in spite of this defeat the Huns were not completely
crushed. The following year they were able to enter Italy
and to ravage all the northern portion and to plunder the
principal cities. It seemed as if Rome herself must undergo
a repetition of the experience she had had with Alaric a
generation before. But Leo, the great bishop of Rome, took

428

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

upon himself the part of intercessor for his city and people.
He pleaded with the Hunnish chieftain, and this, with the
addition of a payment in money from the emperor, induced
him to withdraw. The next year he died and his people
ceased to be a menace.

POKTA NIGRA AT TREVES, THE ROMAN CAPITAL OF GAUL,

Venice owes her foundation to the terror inspired by
Attila. For it was fugitives from the cities laid waste by
him who settled in the lonely marshes at the upper end of
the Adriatic. There, on a site too wretched to be worth
plundering, they began, as a refuge from the Scourge of God,

THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 429

the humble town which was destined to become the Queen
of the Adriatic (452 a,d.).

Gaiseric and the Vandals. — Rome had hardly time to
recover from the shock of the Hunnish invasion when she
was again menaced. This time the peril was not from the
north, but from the south. Yet it was of northern origin.
For the Vandals, a Germanic race whom we have seen
moving through Spain and settling in Roman Africa, had
built up there a strong maritime power. But they played
the part of pirates rather than of traders. The divisions and
the consequent weakness of Rome marked her as a prey for
these marauders, and in the year 455 a.d. a Vandal fleet,
led by their king Gaiseric, sailed up the Tiber and moored
at the Roman piers. Again the Christian bishop Leo tried
his persuasions, and with better hopes than in the case of
Attila, for Gaiseric was a Christian, although an Arian. But
the Vandals were not thus to be balked. They did indeed*
spare the lives of the Romans, but the possessions of the
metropolis were their prey. And laden with these their
vessels sailed away.

Among the articles seized was the golden candlestick that
had once adorned the temple at Jerusalem, and which Titus had
brought to Rome as one of his principal trophies (seepage 319).
A century later Justinian recaptured it when he overthrew the
Vandal power, and carried it to Constantinople. Justinian then
transferred it to Jerusalem. Its later history is unknown.
Probably it was destroyed by Moslem fanaticism.

The Last Emperor in Rome. — Province after province had
thus been stripped from the empire and had become the
seat of a barbarian kingdom. The capital itself had been
at the mercy of Goth, of Hun, and of Vandal. The
sovereignty now remaining to the once proud city was but a
name. That name even was fated to pass away. But it is
noteworthy that when the climax of her dissolution came
and the empire in the west ceased to be, it was with no
dying agony and spasm that the feeble life went out, but so
quietly as hardly to attract notice at the time, and it was

430 THE ROMy^N PEOPLE.

only long after that dissolution that men began to speak
of the '* Fall of Rome.'' That so-called fall came on this
wise.

Italy was overrun by tribe after tribe of barbarians. The
relation of the masters of these people to the imperial power
was singular. They treated it with apparent respect, and
seemed to consider themselves not as conquerors, but as
settlers or immigrants, with a very vital interest indeed in
affairs of state, but not yet presuming to take the govern-
ment absolutely into their own hands. From 456 to 472
A.D. a chieftain of the Suevi, named Ricimer, was the power
behind the throne. And like Warwick, the ** king-maker "
in England, he set up emperors at will. After him a
Pannonian, Orestes, made his child of six, who bore the
significant name of Romulus Augustulus, the wearer of the
.purple. Orestes was the commander-in-chief of the armies.
His act was the last instance of the Roman forces making
their nominee emperor of Rome, and Augustulus was the
last emperor in the west.

Odoacer, or Odovakar, the leader of the Heruli, one of
many tribes found in Italy at this time, finding Orestes and
his son not disposed to grant all the demands of his people,
made up his mind to put an end to the farce. He accord-
ingly killed Orestes and dethroned the boy emperor. Yet
he himself, so far from assuming the vacant place, refrained
even from the use of the purple and the diadem to which
his position as king among his own people entitled him.
Romulus resigned to the senate of Rome, and that body
wrote to the emperor at Constantinople the following
message: they ** disclaim the necessity, or even the wish, of
continuing any longer the imperial succession in Italy;
since, in their opinion, the majesty of a sole monarch is
sufficient to pervade and protect at the same time both the
east and the west. In their own name, and in the name of
the people, they consent that the seat of universal empire
shall be transferred from Rome to Constantinople; and they

THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS.

431

renounce the right of choosing their own master. The
republic might safely confide in the civil and military virtues
of Odoacer; and they humbly request that the emperor
would invest him with the title of Patrician and the admin-
istration of the diocese of Italy."

BRONZE LAMP AND IMPLEMENTS FOR TRIMMING.

Such language as this shows only too clearly how little
vitality was left in the empire on its Roman side; and with
equal clearness it discloses the view which both Roman and
barbarian took of the change in conditions. Neither party

432 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

thought of the Roman empire as broken up, or as in any
sense ceasing to exist in the west. The barbarians were
modest enough to recognize their inferiority to the Romans
in culture; and while they could not fail to recognize that
Italy was effete politically, they still looked with a deep
reverence upon the majesty of the Roman name and tradi-
tion, and were not at once ready to disclaim all political
subjection to the great organism which for half a millennium
had been able to keep the barbarian world under its control.
Moreover, the empire to them seemed one, and although the
western half had abjectly surrendered to them, they still saw
in Constantinople the depositary of that, power before which
their fathers for centuries had trembled. Therefore for the
time, at least, they regarded themselves, certainly in Italy,
rather as new citizens requiring so ne modifications of the
old system than as conquerors who were to sweep that
system entirely out of existence.

Causes of the Disintegration. — It is easy to assign many
reasons for the decay of the western empire. The deteriora-
tion from the great days of republican simplicity and civic
pride and patriotism, and from the administrative ability of
the empire at its best, is perfectly obvious. The sources of
this deterioration are also many of them perfectly obvious.
At the same time we are faced by the perplexing problem,
Why did not the same causes produce a similar disintegration
in the eastern section of the empire, where, to all appearance,
they were equally operative .? To this we can only answer
that they happened to accumulate in just such a way and at
just such a time in the west as to produce their full logical
•result, while in the east some happy accidents contributed
to prevent their full force being felt at any one period. And
so the Byzantine empire was spared for a thousand years to
subserve a highly important mission to civilization. But it
is well to review certain of the recognized causes which did
underlie the complete disintegration of the western half of
the empire.

THE BARB/iRlAN INVASIONS. 433

Political Causes. — The republic fell because it failed to
govern justly. And the root of the injustice lay in the fact
that the theory was tacitly accepted that the government
existed for the sake of the governing class and not for the
sake of the governed. Such a mistake is always radical and
fatal. It killed the republic.

Under Julius and Augustus, as under the Antonines, a
better view prevailed. Hence, as has been said, probably
the Mediterranean world was never better governed than in
the second century after Christ. But these conditions did
not last. The empire became the spoil and the prey of
militarism. And the rule of the soldiery elevated to power
merely a series of temporary victors, and not men of wise
and unselfish statesmanship. That a man can subdue his
rivals or even the enemies of the state gives no assurance
that he can lead a people in the paths of peaceful prosperity.
And so a line of tyrants and weaklings (the terms are often
convertible) sat in the palace of the Caesars and worked
their fatal mischief.

The recent story of the empire has shown us that these
tyrant weaklings were often jealous of their best soldiers and
administrators. Honorius's execution of Stilicho is a strik-
ing example. Thus the best ability of the people was kept
out of power, and the worst element ruled.

The total lack of a representative system, and the principle
of centralization in government, was another fault. It is
true that representation was yet far in the future, but some
measure of home rule might have served to strengthen the
outlying portions of the state, and to knit the whole body
politic into a contented whole which could have absorbed
and assimilated the barbarians without convulsive change.
It is true that the municipalities of the empire had home
government; but no province had it, all the provinces being
directly administered from the capital, just as France was
governed under the Bourbons.

Another cause that may be assigned a place under this

434 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

head is the want of unity between the east and the west.
There had come to be a Greek half and a Latin half of the
empire, and the one was unable to reinforce the other.
They were nominally one, yet the racial difference was so
great that it served to prevent community of interest and
feeling.

Among the barbarians, also, there was a development
which may be called a political cause of the catastrophe we
are studying. That is the advance of the Germans them-
selves in organization. At an earlier stage they had had
little more organization than our rudest American Indians.
Now they had become united into much larger aggregations,
and had developed among themselves leaders of considerable
ability. And among these semi-nationalized units there'had
grown up great confederations. We speak of these people
as barbarians. But it needs to be steadily held in mind
that by the fifth century they were well along the road to
civilization. They had borrowed most of its simpler ele-
ments from the Romans themselves. They were not
heathen, moreover, most of them, but Christianized before
they entered the empire. When to their advanced condi-
tion is added the force of their numbers, it will be seen that
the empire had no mean foe to contend with.

Social and Economic Causes. — It is difficult to separate
these two sets of causes.

First may be placed the serious decline in population.
Augustus had felt the peril of this and had vainly exerted
himself against it. But the evil became far more serious
after his time. Not only was the reluctance to marry on
the part of the Romans a continuing factor, but it was
increased by the spirit of Christian asceticism, which put a
premium upon celibacy. In the second century after Christ
the great series of pestilences began to decimate the popula-
tion. And when to these causes is added the constant toll
upon numbers demanded by the god of war, and the effect
of increasing difficulty in making a living, one can under-

THE BARBARtAhl INVASIONS. 435

stand why the population so steadily declined. While this
was true on the Roman side, the opposite was the case with
the Teutonic peoples. Their respect and love for family
life, their freedom from the gross vices of cities, the fact that
they were continually advancing in the scale of living, all
contributed to their increase. And from the vast reservoir
of central and eastern Europe there was always a fresh
supply of them to add to the numbers already on the
frontiers, or within the borders of the empire.

Another cause of weakness to the Romans was their caste
system, which destroyed the ambition of the individual, and
made life monotonous and hopeless, somewhat as in India
to-day, for the average man. What a man was born, that
he must continue to be; if his father was sailor or carpenter,
he must be the same.

Very prominent among these economic causes must be
placed slavery. Slavery then was quite different from the
recent slavery of America. Here it was the holding in
bondage of a race inferior to the masters and of another
color. The American slave could not be mistaken for one
of the dominant race. The slavery of the empire degraded
men of the same race and the same natural ability as the
masters. . And degrading the servant, it degraded the master
too, all the more when by nature they were so much alike.
And when in the slave class were to be found, as we have
seen, many if not most of the skilled artisans, and even of
what we to-day count professional men, it will readily be
perceived that a badge of disgrace was set upon nearly every
form of honest and remunerative toil, and thus there was
inevitably developed among the freemen a class that must
have corresponded closely to our " poor whites." Slavery
also is the most expensive form of labor that can be
employed. It seems cheap, but is in reality of ruinous cost.
For the slave will in the nature of things work lethargically
and live wastefully.

It is almost needless to remark upon the entire lack

436 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

among the Romans of any adequate industrial life and
organization.

Taxation might have been included among the political
causes. But it has place here as well. Lactantius, writing
in the fourth century, says, probably with much exaggeration,
that there were more persons to collect than to pay the taxes.
Absolutely they did not amount to so much as many
modern states collect per capita. But in comparison with
diminishing resources they constituted a crushing burden,
and the struggling swimmer in the rough waves of those
times could never get his head fairly above water and draw
a generous breath, before the weight of taxation about his
neck forced him under once more and all but strangled him.
Progress under such conditions was impossible.

Aggravating the financial distress was the scarcity and the
debasement of the coinage.

Military Causes. — From what has been already said it is
easy to perceive what must have been the military difficulties
of the empire. Her own resources, both of men and of
money, were steadily declining. Recruiting was done
almost entirely from among the very barbarian peoples who
were to be the chief enemies of the empire. A Goth would
serve his term in the imperial armies, and then go back to
his own people, knowing all the military resources and
methods of the Romans. Consequently the Germanic forces
were in no wise inferior to the imperial in training, equip-
ment, and least of all in numbers. It has been pointed out
that while in modern times there is constant improvement
in weapons, and thus the higher peoples can always keep in
advance of the less civilized, in the times we are studying
there was no improvement from century to century, and the
Romans therefore were not one whit ahead of their dangerous
foes in the construction or use of weapons.

Moral and Religious Causes. — Volumes have been
written upon the moral degeneracy of the later empire.
But a people are never degenerate as a whole. Undoubtedly

THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS.

437

'VINI^COM" DOMESTIC EQV 1'
ETCONS

there was much corruption, especially in the capital, but the
history of the fourth century shows us, especially in the
provinces and among the pagans, a wholesome morality and
a delightful family life that does not fit in at all with the
commonly received views of the universal degradation. The
mother city herself was
the chief sufferer from
immorality, but this can-
not account for the
downfall of half the em-
pire, any more than the
fact that the Roman
populace received free
bread and free shows can
be accepted as a degrad-
ing fact affecting the
empire as a whole. Such
degradation and such
immorality were largely
local. The city of Rome
was not the empire any
more than Paris is
France, or New York the
United States.

As to religion, there
are two things to be
thought of. Paganism
was of course on the
decline. And many who
were not yet ready to
accept Christianity had
lost all real faith in their old doctrines. And a nation
without positive religious beliefs is never a virile nation.
Rome was weak, then, at this point. The influence of
Christianity was both positive and negative. Negatively it
frowned upon much that was considered of the essence of

CONSULAR COSTUME OF THE LATER EMPIRE.

43^ THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

patriotism. It has been asserted that it kept men out of the
army, but this ought to have been as operative among the
barbarians as among the Romans, and can be neglected.
Positively Christianity must have been a salutary influence.

On the whole, then, it would seem that moral and religious
questions had less to do with the disintegration of the
western empire than had the political, social, and economic
causes.

Christianity in the Fifth Century. — The one region of
life where there was vitality and growth in this dismal time
was the Christian Church. The fifth century was the time
when it emerged into prominence as a powerful force in the
body politic. A group of great men make the annals of the
Church glorious. In Constantinople was the great preacher
John Chrysostom, or the " golden mouth," whose profound
piety and fiery oratory made him the arbiter of morals in a
court that sorely needed supervision. (Died 407 a.d.)

A generation later came Augustine. First a teacher of
rhetoric, and dissolute in life, he then embraced a heretical
form of Christianity, but subsequently became an orthodox
Christian, and was made bishop of Hippo in Africa. The
troubles of the empire with Goth and Vandal led to the
writing of his immortal work, The City 0/ God, in which he
pointed out that while earthly capitals may be devastated
there is a heavenly city which is eternal. He also became
the great constructive theologian of the Latin Church, and
his thought still controls Roman Catholic theology, and
much of Protestant thinking as well.

Leo, the great bishop of Rome, has already appeared in
this story. What a Roman emperor could not do the
Roman bishop did. Attila and Gaiseric, heathen and
heretic, both bowed in reverence to his entreaties.

The political misfortunes of the state therefore were in a
sense the fortune of the Church, and especially of the papacy.
It is hardly correct yet to speak of a papacy at this period,
for such an idea was still in the future. But the germs of

THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 439

the enormous power of the Roman bishops were already
sprouting. And while Rome declined politically, she rose
as a religious centre. The removal of the emperor's
residence from Rome to Milan or Ravenna, and finally the
cessation of the imperial office in the west altogether, led to
the bishop of Rome becoming the leading citizen in the old
capital. And there has always been a glamour about the
name of Rome. A mystic power has seemed to be in and
of her. And even the barbarians, while they nO longer saw
in Capitol and Forum the seat of majesty, yet reverenced
the Eternal City, and Roman provincial and Gothic conqueror
came to look upon the bishop of Rome rather than the
emperor of Rome as the centre of unity for the west.

PARALLEL READING.

Gibbon cc. xxix-xxxvi.

Hodgkin Italy and her Invaders, Vols. I and il ; The

Dynasty of T/iendosius.
Emerton, E Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages,

cc. ii, iii.
Adams, G. B Civilization during the Middle Ages, c. iv.

cc. xxi.

Seeley, J. R I\oma?t Imperialism, Lect. II.

Dill, S Roman Society in the Last Century of the

Westerfi Empire.

Millman History of Christianity, Vol. III.

Curteis, A. M History of the Koman Empire fro7n Theo-

dosius to Charlemagne, cc. vi-ix.
Freeman, E. A Three Chief Periods of European History,

Lect. III.

CHAPTER XXIX.
THE TEUTONIC KINGDOMS.

The New Factor in Roman Life. — While the story of tljs
empire in the west is commonly regarded as ending with the
year 476 a.d., that of the so-called fall of Rome, yet the
eastern section of the empire remained and regarded itself,
and was regarded in the west, as preserving all the sov-
ereignty and majesty of the undivided empire. So the story
is not yet over for a thousand years.

In the western sections, moreover, though the Teutons
had wrenched large regions from the integrity of the empire,
it is doubtful whether they were more in number than the
provincial Romans of the conquered districts. Most likely
they were much fewer. Thus, though the history of the
Roman empire in the west is broken here, yet the life of the
Roman people goes on. The Latin language, the Roman
law, the whole civilization which had developed under
centuries of Roman rule goes on. There is a change of
masters indeed; but often it is a change for the better. And
the Teutonic ruler brings the peace and consequent pros-
perity which the Roman office-holder had not given for
many a long year. At first the Roman lives under Roman
law and the Teuton under his Germanic law. It is long
before the two systems blend; just as it is long before the
Latin and the language of the invaders blend to form a new
tongue compounded of both.

In all southwestern Europe the Roman populace, the

440

THE TEUTONIC KINGDOMS. 441

Roman institutions, form the base; the Teutonic is the
admixture. These Germans bring with them, in addition
to their physical presence and prowess, many institutions
which are to blend with and be a helpful addition to the
older.

The Germania of Tacitus gives us our best notion of what
the German of the first century was. By the fifth century,
most of them had made considerable progress from that
primitive state, notably in the matter of religion. For many
of them were now Christians, even though in the heretical
and Arian form. But they had retained and they gave to
their new surroundings certain marked qualities and customs
which were of priceless value.

They had their vices, notably drinking and gaming, but
compared with the conquered Romans certain virtues were
theirs also which count for much in the formation of com-
munities. They were especially worthy on the side of the
family life and the love of home, while in this regard the
Romans had been lamentably lacking. We have already
noticed this as one element of Rome's weakness.

On the political side the German has much to contribute,
and it is his offering that is about to furnish the germ out
of which is to grow the advanced constitutional development
of western Europe. With the Roman, as with the Greek,
the individual had been subordinated to the state. With
the German the individual is first. The state exists for him,
not he for the state. Not for long is it possible for despotism
to flourish where there is a large strain of Germanic blood.
Again, the German brings with him a monarchy indeed, but
it is far from absolute. The elective principle controls.
The king is chosen because of his ability. '* The king is
the man who can." The elective principle had totally dis-
appeared under the system of Diocletian and Constantine.
The Germans bring it back. And a third political contribu-
tion of theirs is the germ of the representative system found
in their puoiic assemblies, national and local.

442 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

With these preliminary remarks about the Germanic
peoples in general, and remembering that we are still going
on to study the development of the Roman people — with
the Germanic addition, indeed — until the time when the
effort is made to reconstitute the western empire under
Charlemagne, it will be in place to note the organization
and early progress of the different kingdoms which were
organized by Germanic peoples among the ruins of the
western empire.

The Vandals. — Starting from the same mysterious centre
beyond the Danube from which so many kindred tribes
came forth, these people in the first decade of the fifth cen-
tury crossed the Rhine. We have already traced their slow
progress through Spain, and their settlement in northern
Africa. From this as their base they had terrorized the
Mediterranean, and even taken Rome itself. They seemed
less susceptible of taking on the refinements of their subjects
than did the other Germanic peoples. They were Arians
and bitter persecutors of the orthodox. And by this mad-
ness of theirs they wrought their own undoing. For the
great Justinian, emperor at Constantinople from 527 a.d.,
in response to the frantic appeals of the orthodox Africans
sent Belisarius to their aid, and completely overthrew the
Vandal power. Once more Africa was within the unity of
the empire. But a worse thing than Vandal Arianism was
in store for it. A century later the Moslem hordes swept
over it, and Arian and orthodox alike were overwhelmed
before the new faith, and a new empire took the place of
the Roman.

The Visigoths. — These people, after the death of Alaric,
passed westward, and took possession of much of Gaul and
Spain. Here under Euric (476-485 a.d.), who had the
sanction of Odoacer, they became strong and celebrated.
But the same fate befell them as had overtaken the Vandals.
In 711 A.D. the vanguard of the Mohammedan forces crossed
the Strait of Gibraltar, and within a few years the Visigothic

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THE TEUTONIC KINGDOMS. 443

name had perished, and not until 1492 a.d. were the
Moslems driven from power in that quarter of Europe.

The Burgundians. — Less than a century tells the story
of the independent existence of the early Burgundian nation
(443-534 A.D.). For they were finally absorbed by the great
Frankish monarchy, the one government which was destined
to endure among all these Teutonic nations.

The Franks. — Soon after 300 a.d. a group of Teutons
who called themselves Franks had taken possession of parts
of Gaul. They had been constantly growing in power, and
the Salian branch had secured the preeminence. One of the
chieftains of this branch, Clovis (Chlodwig, modern Louis),
became the first great king among them, and distinguished
himself by successive conquets. He first conceived the idea
of displacing the Roman power in Gaul, and in 486 a.d.
defeated the Roman governor Syagrius in the great battle
of Soissons.

After this battle there was to be a division of the booty.
Clovis wished to retain from the common distribution a beau-
tiful vase for himself, but an indignant warrior, with charac-
teristic German spirit, dashed it into fragments with his battle-
axe rather than let the king take so rich a share as royal
prerogative. Some time later the king at a review, finding fault
with this independent subject, cleft his head, saying, " Thus
didst thou to the vase at Soissons."

War with the Alemanni followed. Theee were a kindred
people to the Franks and jealous rivals. Not far from
Cologne the decisive battle was fought which made the
Franks the victors. And this battle is noteworthy also for
another weighty reason. It was reputed to be the occasion
of the conversion of Clovis. A pagan hitherto, on the field
of battle, when hard pressed by the Alemanni, he vowed to
the God of the Christians that if victory were only his, he
would become a Christian. He won the battle, and kept
his vow. His wife was already a Christian, and an orthodox
Christian. Clovis naturally followed her leading, and thus
it came about that the great Frankish people embraced

444 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

orthodox Christianity rather than the Arian form which had
been adopted by most of their race. This orthodoxy of the
Frankish people and monarchy was productive of the most
important consequences, as we shall see, in the future rela-
tions of that monarchy and the Roman Church.

Subsequent campaigns gave him control over Burgundy
and over nearly all of the Visigothic possessions in Gaul.
To him, therefore, are to be definitely traced the foundations
of Frankish greatness. But it must not be forgotten, when
thinking of the origins of the French people, how much is
owing to the fine Gallo-Roman civilization which Clovis and
his ancestors found. For at the time of the extinction of
the western empire Gaul was probably more truly represen-
tative of the better parts of the old Roman culture than was
Italy itself. On these foundations, though unable for many
centuries to use them in all their length and breadth, the
Franks built their structure.

The royal house of Clovis is known as the Merovingian,
from a mythical ancestor, Merovaeus or Merowig. It held
the Frankish throne for a century and more after Clovis's
death, and then fades out of sight in a way that will be told
later on.

The Ostrogoths (493-554 a.d.). — Our last glance at Italy
showed us the patrician Odoacer, a leader of the Heruli, as
the arbiter of affairs. But a greater than he, and greater folk
than the Heruli, now appear upon the scene and take
control.

The Ostrogoths tarried in eastern Europe nearly a century
longer than the Visigoths. They were the dread and yet the
dependence of the eastern empire. For they served the
court of Constantinople as mercenaries who were always
ready to revolt.

One of their kings, named Theodoric, had been educated
at Constantinople, and there absorbed many of the ideas and
refinements of the capital. But his tastes were rude and
warlike, and he was glad to join his people once more, and

THE TEUTONIC KINGDOMS.

445

by doughty deeds to win renown among them. He was
commissioned by the emperor Zeno to defend for him the
Danubian lands, and was given the title of patrician and
consul. The fatal folly of the empire allowed him to be
treated with neglect. Rebellion, then reconciliation fol-
lowed. Finally he was, at his own request, entrusted with

CHURCH OF S. APOLLINARE IN CLASSK, RAVENNA.

(Built by Theodoric.)

the project of reconquering Italy for the empire. This he
undertook in 493 a.d. For a time he pretended to share
with Odoacer the sovereignty of the peninsula, but presently
slew his colleague. From this time onwards he ruled Italy
better than she had been ruled for generations. His relation
to the emperor was ill defined. But he treated him prac-
tically as an equal, and considered himself as within the
empire. His sway extended for a time from Illyricum to
the Atlantic Ocean. In many ways the western empire
seemed to be restored again. He was very anxious to retain,
at least among his Roman subjects, as much of the ancient
life as possible. His court was like that of the later
emperors of Rome. He respected and adapted to his own
uses the Roman law. Himself an Arian, he treated his

446

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

orthodox subjects with far more toleration than they had
reason to expect from a heretic. Taken altogether his reign
seems in many respects a reflection or afterglow of some of
the best periods of the empire. But its close was gloomy.
For he grew jealous and cruel. After his death in 527 a.d.,
his kingdom, which had been built mainly upon his personal
good qualities, fell into unworthy hands, and in 554 a.d. was
recovered by Belisarius, the conqueror of the Vandals, for
his master Justinian, the eastern emperor.

TOMB OF TTHKODORIC, RAVENNA.

The Lombards (568-774 a.d.). — But the cup of trouble
had not yet been drained by wretched Italy. The land
which in bygone centuries had sent her conquering legions
into all quarters of the world seemed destined to be harried
in turn by conquerors from almost as many regions. Hun,

THE TEUTONIC KINGDOMS. 447

Goth, Vandal, and Greek had humiliated her. Still another
foe was at hand. From central Europe once more the
invaders came. This time, only eleven years after the con-
quest of Belisarius, it was the Lombards who took their turn
at invasion, and their share of plunder. At first their Arian
heresy, more hostile than that of Theodoric, made trouble
for the Catholic Church, but toward the opening of the
seventh century they accepted orthodoxy, and from that time
on their difficulties with the popes were rather political than
ecclesiastical. Their kingdom lasted until it was overthrown
in 774 A.D. by Charlemagne. Their name remains in the
geographical designation of northern Italy, Lombardy, and
their blood still makes itself manifest as one finds in that
region the light hair and the blue eyes which bespeak the
strong Teutonic influence.

Other Teutonic Tribes. — We have seen that Britain was
the first of the Roman provinces to be shorn away from the
empire. And as it never henceforth, even nominally, is
restored to that empire, and inasmuch as the Anglo-Saxons
so thoroughly rid themselves of all Roman influence in the
island, it ceases to fall directly within the scope of this work.
While this is true politically, it will be found later that the
circle of religious unity which had its centre at Rome, and
which in many ways was a resultant of the older political
unity, still includes Britain. It is sufficient here to remark
that the various Saxon tribes divide the island between them,
until Egbert, the political pupil of Charlemagne, succeeds
in making himself the first king of England as a whole
(802 A.D.).

Outside the northern limits of the empire there were still
countless hosts of Teutonic peoples who never came into
any close touch with the empire either in its grandeur or in
its dissolution. At the period we are now treating these
ancestors of the present Germans and Scandinavians were
still semi-barbarous and wholly heathen.

The point to be remembered in connection with this
I-

448 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

chapter is that it was kinsmen of these that had been able
to break up the western half of the empire and to appro-
priate it to themselves. We speak sometimes of the Latin
peoples. But there is no such people. Those who are
nearest the old Roman stock, still must have in them to-day
a large proportion of Teutonic blood, and the name
Romance peoples, indicative of iheir composite origin, at
bottom Latin, but largely modified, is a more fitting desig-
nation. And another noteworthy thing is the way in which
these all-conquering Germans manifested their aptitude to
take up the higher civilization of their Latin subjects. For
the capacity of the German for new ideas was the great hope
of the age that was to follow. Had he been, like the Turk
of the Middle Ages, a conqueror, whose advent meant the
destruction of most that was old, and the refusal to accept
the new in any form, all Europe to-day might be what
Turkey is. But in the Teuton lay the hope and not the
despair of the world.

SOURCES.

Cassiodorus T/ie Letters of Cassiodorus (tr. by Hodg-

kin).
Boethius Consolation of Philosophy.

PARALLEL READING.

Gibbon c. xxxviii.

Myers c. xxviii.

Hodgkin Italy and her Invaders: Theodoric the

Ostrogoth.

Church, A. J Early Britain (Nations).

Church, R. W The Bej^ inning of the Midale Ages

(Epochs).

Emerton Introduction to the Middle Ages.

Adams Civilization during the Middle Ages, c. v.

Thatcher and Schwill Europe in the Middle Age, cc. iii-v.

Gummere, F. B Germanic Origins.

Oman, C I^he Dark Ages, cc. i, ii, iv, vii, viii, x, xi.

Kitchin, G. W History of I ranee. Vol. I.

Green, J. R The Making of England and Short His-
tory of the English People, c. i.

CHAPTER XXX.
THE EASTERN EMPIRE.

The Empire Survives. — It has been already remarked
that the people of the closing quarter of the fifth century
would have wondered what was meant if they had heard of
the " fall of Rome." For the mere fact that there was no
longer an emperor in the city of the Caesars was nothing new
or unnatural to them. Ever since the days of Constantine
they had been used to that. To their minds the continuity
of the empire lay not in the importance of the city on the
Tiber, but in the fact that there was a regular succession of
emperors — whether eastern, western, or both, made little
difference; that consuls were named from year to year; that
the machinery of government worked, more or less smoothly,
in the ways to which the system of Diocletian and Constan-
tine had accustomed them. All these conditions were ful-
filled as completely after Odoacer's revolution as before it.

Attention, therefore, is transferred for a time from Rome
to Constantinople. This capital becomes the centre of
actions that are extremely important in their bearing on the
history of Europe. It has been the fashion until recently to
speak contemptuously of the eastern, Byzantine, or Greek
empire, as living only in a base and servile fashion after the
fall of Rome and until. its extinction by the Turks in 1453.
But the more careful study and reflection of later historians
has resulted in a revival of esteem for the existence and the
work of that empire. And a more generous recognition is
being given to that work. If it was largely of a negative

449

450 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

character, still to have stood for a thousand years as a
bulwark against the incursion of non-Aryan and non -Christian
hordes into Europe is to have rendered a great service.

In discussing the causes of the successes of the Teutonic
peoples against the western half of the empire it was hinted
that tMe reason they were not similarly successful in dis-
membering the eastern half was to be found in a happy
conjunction of accidents. That is but partially true, unless
great men are to be classed as accidents. In the period
which falls within the scope of this work there sat on the
Byzantine throne two great men. One of these men was
surrounded with able helpers. He used them for the most
part skilfully, and was able thus to do great things for his
empire. Another reason for the survival and the service of
the eastern empire is to be found in the fact that its rulers,
when confronted by thronging barbarians, were able in
several instances to play one tribe or nation against another,
or by diplomacy to win what they were not strong enough
to accomplish by arms.

Justinian. — The first of these two great emperors was
Justinian, who ruled from 527 to 565 a.d., thus appearing
on the scene almost at the moment when the great Theod-
oric is passing off. Justin, his uncle, a rough Illyrian, like
so many of the ablest wearers of the imperial purple, had
forced his way to the throne of Constantinople by his mili-
tary ability. The nephew was himself no general, but found
ready at command a military genius of whom more will be
said presently.

Into his reign are crowded a series of events which vividly
illustrate the changes which had taken place since the times
of Augustus. His life is told in the pages of Procopius, his
minister and biographer. He wrote a complete account of
the wars of Justinian, a work on his great building opera-
tions, and after Justinian's death there appeared a book of
anecdotes about the emperor and his wife which it wouIq
not have been wise to publish during their lives. From

THE EASTERN EMPIRE.

45^

these sources we get a better idea of the times than of any
era for some distance on either side of it.

JUSTINIAN AND HIS COURT.

(Mosaic.)

Theodora. — Justinian married a woman of exceeding
beauty and brilliancy. She was of lowly origin, and had
been an actress in the public shows of the eastern capital.
She had been as low in many of her practices as a woman
could well be, and was notorious for her beautiful wicked-
ness. That an emperor could marry such a woman is a
commentary on the moral conditions of the time. But it is
fair to say that from the time of her marriage she seemed to
rise to her position, and deported herself as an empress
ought. Justinian made her not merely consort, but actually
associated her with him in the government, and her woman's
wit and address served him many a good turn.

The Factions of the Circus. — It will be remembered that
the citizens of old Rome sunk so low as to be mainly a mere
rabble clamoring to the authorities for * ' bread and circus-
tickets. " The same vicious system had been extended to
the new capital on the Bosphorus. As it must imitate the

452 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

glories of old Rome, so it must borrow her shame. A
populace so pampered had little better to do than to give
their energy to the excitement of witnessing the great races
of the hippodrome. Rival factions of racers and their
partisans became fixed features of metropolitan life. The
quarrels of these factions took the place held by political
animosities in our own times. The two principal racing
factions were the ' ' greens ' ' and the ' ' blues. ' ' On one
occasion both of these factions became incensed against the
government, with the result that their combined rioting was
not suppressed until thirty-five thousand of them had been
slain by the soldiers. A poor enough cause for such excite-
ment and such slaughter, and one which marks only too
well the degradation of a people who considered themselves
imperial.

The Vandal War. — One of the chief glories of the reign
of Justinian is that won for him by his great general,
Belisarius, in a series of successful wars. Belisarius, like his
master, was of barbarian origin. But his youth had been
rudely nurtured, and he had fought his way by sheer ability
to high command. His first great opportunity came when
Justinian interfered in the Vandal kingdom of north Africa.
Trouble between the orthodox inhabitants whose ancestors
had once been citizens of the empire, and the Arian Vandals,
led to Justinian undertaking the conquest of the latter.
The political bearing of the intervention is also to be noted.
For surely Justinian might be glad of an excuse to restore
to his empire so goodly a region. After an arduous cam-
paign the Vandal capital, a new Carthage, was captured, and
the Vandal kingdom came to an end (533 a.d.).

The Winning of Italy. — The next exploit of the great
commander was the recovery of Italy to imperial rule and
the expulsion of the Ostrogoths. But this task was by no
means so easily accomplished as had been the reduction of
Africa. From 535 to 553 a.d. the contest was protracted,
and the fortunes of war were first with Goth and then with

THE EASTERN EMPIRE. 453

Roman. At one time the Ostrogoths besieged an imperial
army in Rome itself. Finally Belisarius fell under the sus-
picions of his master and was recalled. And another general
named Narses undertook the war. It was at last brought to
a successful conclusion, and Italy was definitely annexed to
the empire once more. The peninsula w-as governed by an
exarch whose capital was fixed at Ravenna. The province
was known as the Exarchate of Ravenna. A preceding
sketch of the Lombards has already shown \\o% they broke
up this exarchate within a few years. The rift between east
and west might be temporarily patched up by military force,
but the two halves of the empire must inevitably fall apart
in the end.

Silk-culture. — These conquests by the great soldiers
Belisarius and Narses seemed brilliant, but could not pro-
duce permanent results. The time was gone by when the
world could be governed from one centre. Its interests had
become too diverse. But there were several solid achieve-
ments in the reign of Justinian. And not the least of these
was the introduction of the silkworm into Europe. In the
third century a pound of silk was worth, in Italy, twelve
ounces of gold. The soft and lustrous fabric, at first con-
demned as wantonly luxurious, had become almost indispen-
sable, especially since the court and the emperors themselves
had adopted it. But to import it from China entailed vast
expense in those days of difficult and dangerous transit.
At length two Persian monks who had been missionaries in
China succeeded in concealing some of the eggs of the silk-
worm in the tops of their canes, and thus cheating the jealous
eyes of the Chinese, they brought the valuable germs safely
away with them, and taught the Greeks to rear the insects
and ^ to manufacture the fabric. Gibbon remarks that if,
instead of stealing from th,e Chinese the secret of a jnere
luxury, they had borrowed the art of printing, they would
have rendered a far greater service to civilization. That
may be so; at the same time it is true that the addition of

454 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

silk-culture to the industries of Europe was a substantial
gain in that it afforded a new field of labor for thousands
who sorely needed a means of livelihood. For times were
hard and bitter then for the average man. Wars and forays,
seditions and revolutions, scourges of famine and pestilence
were frequent and their results dire. In such times it is
cheering to know of any progress, however humble, being
made along industrial lines.

Justinian^s Buildings; St. Sophia. — One of the causes
of the heavy taxation which distressed the subjects of
Justinian was his extravagance in building. But just as to
the similar extravagance and oppression of Henry III.
England owes Westminster Abbey, so to Justinian the world
owes one of its grandest churches, that of the Holy Wisdom,
or Sancta Sophia, at Constantinople. That it is now a
Mohammedan mosque does not detract from its architectural
grandeur and significance as an exponent of what could be
designed and executed in the sixth century.

The Code of Justinian. — The thing by which the great
emperor is best and most deservedly known is his codifica-
tion of Roman law.

Theodosius II., a hundred years before, had made a collec-
tion of imperial edicts; but this was imperfect. And the
Roman law in its entirety must contain not merely these but
the opinions of the great lawyers as well, since the emperors
had given to these precedents a legal force. Justinian
entrusted the ablest jurists of his age with the task of reduc-
ing to writing and harmonizing the vast mass of floating
material which composed the law of the time. All the
imperial edicts were collected and arranged in the great
Code; the precedents found in the decisions of jurists were
collected in the Digest, or Pandects; and four books of
Institutes, or Elements, were arranged for students of the
law. This gigantic task was of service not alone to that
age, but on this well-ordered foundation is based the law of
half of modern Europe. For in the earliest dawn of the

THE EASTERN EMPIRE. 455

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456 . THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Renaissance this code, long neglected, was taken up and
studied with energy, and helped to transform the newly
forming nations from feudal to modern conditions. Another
instance is thus afforded of the way in which our modern
world owes a vast debt to the Roman civilization and
notably to the Roman political and legal genius. In the
United States is to be found a survival of this Roman law.
For the legal system of the state of Louisiana, French in
origin, is based upon the old French law, and that upon the
Roman. Elsewhere in the English-speaking world the
Roman law has not been so deeply formative, because of
the early and entire separation of Britain from the empire.

Heraclius (610-641 a.d.). — The annals of the eastern
empire are inglorious for a time, until the second of the two
great emperors alluded to early in the chapter appears. The
great service of Heraclius (610-641 a.d.) was in his subju-
gation of the great Persian power which began at this time
to threaten Europe. If it had not been for him and his
empire; if there had been the same disorganization in the
east as in the west at that time, it is possible that the
Persians might have overrun Europe, and the result of this
would possibly have been to make the way of the Moham-
medans into Europe all the easier. But the deed of
Heraclius averted this danger.

The method he employed is one of the most daring in
military annals. While Chosroes, the Persian king, was
carrying his victorious armies through Syria, Egypt, and
Asia Minor, Heraclius took a very small but carefully
selected force, and boldly pushed his way into the heart of
the enemy's country. The great battle of Nineveh, 627
A.D., decided that the Persians were to stay in their own
country and leave the empire alone.

Later Byzantine History. — The further story of this half
of the empire is beyond our scope. For our purpose enough
has been said. It held its place largely by force of inertia
for eight centuries more, until its mission had been accom-

THE EASTERN EMPIRE. 457

plished, and the tide of Turkish barbarism had been held
back long enough to enable the western nations to stand
upon their feet and work out their own superior civilization.

SOURCE.
Justinian The Institutes (tr. by Moyle) .

PARALLEL READING.

Gibbon cc.^xl-xliv.

Myers c. xxx.

Hodgkin Italy ami her Invaders, Vol. iv

Bury The Later Roman Empire.

Oman, C The Byzantine Empire (Nations), cc. iv-xi.

Harrison, F Byzantine History in the Early Middle A^es.

Finlay, G History of Greece, Vol. i.

Moray Outlines of Roman Law.

Hadley Introduction to Roman Law.

CHAPTER XXXI.
CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM.

The New Factor in Life. — Out of the wreck of old Rome
there is to be slowly built up a new world. Into the new
system of things will enter as component parts most of what
we have been considering. The Roman civilization, with
its language, its literature, its art and science, its law and
philosophy, its general traditions of life: this is the founda-
tion. To this has been added the Germanic element. Here
are to be considered as factors the vast mass of the German
peoples, with their language, their traditions, their personal
characteristics as we have already seen them; their political
notions — of art, literature, and science, of course, they had
none. Still they are a hugely determining factor in the
problem of the Middle Ages.

To these two factors — the Roman and the German — is to
be added an important third, viz., Christianity. In the
period we are now considering, that of the break-up of the
western part of the empire, Christianity comes to the front
and takes possession, religiously, of Europe. Henceforth
religion is a force in history as it has never been before.
One faith, sternly exclusive of all others, with an ideal
morality, and a motive power unknown before, becomes the
unifying element of a life otherwise chaotic and disorganized.

The Progress of Christianity. — Under Constantine Chris-
tianity had first won for itself toleration. Within another
century it had ousted paganism from its chartered rights,
and made of it a proscribed thing. By the middle of the

458

CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM, 459

fifth century the word pagan, ** a villager, " had taken on
the meaning of a rustic, who has not yet heard of or has not
accepted the prevalent Christianity of the towns and of the
cultivated class.

But Christianity was no longer the simple creed and life
that it had been in the first two centuries of our era. Pros-
perity and popularity could not be without their effect upon
it, as upon all things human. Its creed of primitive sim-
plicity had become sophisticated with Greek philosophy.
Sometimes this had produced sects, and notably Gnosticism,
which was a compound of Christianity and Neoplatonism.
But even when the church resisted such admixtures, her
* dogma was inevitably modified by the current philosophy
and life. And in the west it is the fact that her theology
was largely affected by political conditions. To Augustine,
the great Latin theologian of the fifth century, God was a
sort of emperor, and the relation of sonship and fatherhood
which Christ had taught was largely forgotten in a new legal
relationship akin to that of the subject to his ruler.

Christianity was affected also by the paganism about it,
both Roman and German. In the matter of worship
especially, it is probable that rites and forms were accom-
modated to the less spiritual conceptions of the Roman and
the rude ideas of the German. This may not have been
intentional : it was an inevitable reaction.

Moreover, the fact that Christianity had now become
fashionable was not without results affecting its moral
purity. Persecution is a great guardian of sincerity. In a
persecuted church there are not likely to be found many but
convinced and zealous adherents. When things turn the
other way, and it is no longer considered quite proper to be
outside of the church, then 'the temptation to insincerity
becomes strong. When wealth and fashion come there is
no longer the stern purity of the hunted in the catacombs.

But while these reactions of its environment upon Chris-
tianity were bound to come, still the Christian faith took its

46o THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

mighty grip upon European life for good. Some phases of
its story remain to be traced.

The Growth of the Papacy. — One of the most stupendous
institutions in history has been the Papacy. Throughout
the Middle Ages it dominated western Europe. To-day its
power is different from what it was in 1200 a.d., but who
shall say it is less } This papacy has been in many senses
the legatee of the dying empire of the west. The pope in
the chair of Peter is to a large extent the successor of the
emperor on the seat of Augustus or the throne of Constan-
tine. To trace the progress of this mighty spiritual empire
from its faint beginnings is an interesting process.

Causes of Papal Greatness. — Several causes can be
readily named for the special power attained by the bishops
of Rome.

A. The church had early developed a system of govern-
ment by bishops. This has been already traced in Chapter
XXVI. The carrying out of this system to a higher and
higher degree, in imitation, probably, of the graduated system
of officials in the imperial government, had brought into
special prominence and power the so-called patriarchs of
Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome, the chief
cities of the empire. To complete the analogy it was only
needed that one of these should liken himself in the church
to the emperor in the state. What more natural than that
the bishop of Rome should seek such a position ? Aside
from such an analogy was the fact that while these other
patriarchal cities were near each other, and so circumscribed
the possible jurisdiction of each, Rome was the only great
city of western Europe. Her bishop then had the whole
western empire for his patriarchate. This one fact gave him
a great advantage in position. *

B. Not only was Rome the only great city of the west :
she was the capital as well, and the source of all the great
dominating ideas and tendencies of the time. The emperor
might indeed reside elsewhere, but still he was the Roman

INTERIOR OF CHURCH OF SANT' APOLLINARE NUOVO,

(Built by Theodoric.)

462 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

emperor, ruling the Roman world. A mystic veneration
had long clung, still clings, about the very name and site of
the Eternal City. The Roman bishop was the beneficiary of
this notion. Nor did the political decadence of the capital
detract from the importance of its bishop. It rather
increased it. For the very structure of the thought of the
western world required some great name and office, some
great centre of unity at Rome. When the emperors aban-
doned Rome the bishop became the subject of this esteem
and reverence.

C. Spiritual tradition also helped confirm the Roman
claims. For it was said that Christ had given the primacy
in his church to St. Peter. And had not Peter preached
and suffered death at Rome ? And was not the Roman
bishop then his natural successor, and so the appointed head
of the church on earth ? Modern scholars are greatly divided
over the question whether Peter ever came to Rome at all.
The fact makes but little difference in the history. For it
was firmly believed that he had worked and died there, and
the Church of Rome was to the men of the period we study
the church of Peter.

D. In the fifth century it had been well established in the
west that appeals in ecclesiastical causes should lie to Rome,
and that the opinion of the Roman bishop in matters of
doctrine should be of gravest weight. The great Council of
Chalcedon in 451 a.d. had taken a letter of Leo, the
Roman bishop, as the solution of a most vexed point of doc-
trine. Added to all this is the fact that there rose up in
Rome now and then bishops of the highest order of talent.
Notable among such was the Leo just named. Not only
was he great as a theologian, but we have already seen
him taming the wrath of an Attila and the ferocity of a
Gaiseric.

A century and a half later came Gregory I., who has a
twofold title to remembrance. Under him it was that the
first Roman mission was sent to England. He is noterl also

f CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM, 463

for a controversy with the patriarch of Constantinople, which
shows that even as late as 600 a.d. the bishop of Rome
was far from esteeming himself lord of all the church. The
bishop of Constantinople, in virtue of his office in the city
which was the seat of the only remaining emperor, ventured
to style himself " Universal Bishop." Gregory vehemently
resented such a claim, not because he wished it for himself:
on the contrary, he declared himself '* servant of the servants
of God." But in real influence he was by all odds the
greatest man of his times in the church.

E. The Roman Church was a gieat missionary church,
and this contributed greatly to extending the power of the
Roman bishop. We shall trace under another heading the
conversion of the Germanic peoples.

All these causes combined to make the Roman bishop
undeniably the supreme ecclesiastical power in the west. It
can hardly be said that he ever exercised any real authority
within the limits of the eastern empire, and in the eighth
century there came a serious religious quarrel between the
east and the west, which was the beginning of an enduring
schism between the Roman and the Greek churches.

The Iconoclastic Controversy. — The veneration of images
of the Saviotir and the saints had early taken strong root in
the church. But a party in the Greek world at length rose
who condemned such worship. The bishop of Rome made
himself the champion of the use of images. A bitter con-
troversy thus arose, which was intensified by a point of
doctrinal divergence. The western church at a Council of
Toledo in 589 a.d. had added a clause to the Nicene Creed
(the comnion creed of east and west), which asserted that
the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as from the
Father. This the Greeks would never accept, and it con-
stitutes to-day a ground of separation between the Greek and
the Roman churches, although they have long since ceased
to quarrel over the use of artistic representations of the
saints.

464 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

Conversion of the Barbarians. — It has been already indi-
cated that the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths were Christians
before their admission into the empire in the closing years
of the fourth century. The conversion of the latter is
attributed to Ulfilas, probably the descendant of some
Christian captive. He became missionary bishop among
these people in 343 a.d., and to him belongs the honor of
inventing the first alphabet ever adapted to a Germanic
tongue. This he did, and taught his people its use that he
might translate into it the Bible. Such is the beginning of
literature among the Germanic peoples.

It is said that he purposely left out the Books of the Kinjiys
from his translation on account of the stories of battle, saying
that his people were warlike enough already without learning
any sanction for their ferocity from the chosen people.

All these early converts were Arians, probably because the
Arian heresy was in the ascendant at the time of their con-
version, but this heresy gradually gave place to the orthodox
faith.

Those peoples who were converted after the fall of Rome
were brought at once into the orthodox Catholic Church.
Amongst these the Franks were of prime importance. In
the story of Clovis we have already seen how he was con-
verted on the field of battle. Our next chapter will show
how, partly because of his orthodox belief, his successors
became the champions of the pope against the heretical
Lombards, and thus led to an exchange of services between
popes and Frankish kings which was of supreme importance
to both.

The Anglo-Saxons. — Roman Britain had been Chris-
tianized in some way which is unknown. But this earlier
Christianity had been largely uprooted by the Saxon con-
querors of the fifth century. They had not exterminated it
from the west and the north of the island, but they had not
themselves accepted it. It was owing to Gregory, the pope
who has lately been mentioned, that their conversion was due.

CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 4^5

f Before he became pope it is said that he one day saw some
'fair-haired slaves exposed for sale at Rome. Struck by their
difference from the Italians, he asked who they, were. " Angles,"
he was told. " Not Angles, but angels, ' was his reply {Non
Angli, sed angelt). He thereupon determined that if ever the
opportunity came he would seek to evangelize so attractive a
people.

i In 596 A.D. he sent Augustine with forty monks to
evangelize Britain. Their way had been prepared by Bertha,
the Frankish wife of the king of Kent, she being, like her
people, a Christian. Augustine's mission was successful,
and his location at Canterbury accounts for the fact that
that quiet country town is to-day the seat of the primacy of
England. This new Roman organization soon came face to
face with the old Celtic church, which was doing missionary
work among the Saxon conquerors. For a time there were
disputes between Roman and Celt on what would seem to
us very non-essentiaf points, but which seemed mountainous
to them. Fortunately for England the Roman side pre-
vailed, and though no political tie ever again united England
to Rome, yet she came into religious unity with her, and
drew from Rome a share of the many advantages which the
Roman Church undoubtedly had to bestow in the Middle
Aglbs.

The Saxons. — The patron saint of Germany is Boniface.
Boniface was an English monk who in the first half of the
eighth century gave his life to the conversion of the Saxons.
Through his zealous efforts these people were won not only
to Christianity, but to a strong devotion to the Roman see.
As we have already noticed, in this missionary zeal for Rome
is to be found one cause of the universal acceptance of the
pope's supremacy in the west.

Monasticism. — Besides the papacy another institution was
destined to be of immense service to the church and to
civilization. That was monasticism.

The notion that retirement from the world, a life of
celibacy, and devotion to spiritual exercises is a road to

466 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

special sanctity, is not peculiar to Christianity. It is found
in a number of eastern religions, notably Buddhism. But
it early found its way into the church. At first it took the
form of the solitary life. Men and women went and lived
alone in desolate places. Somewhat later, about the close
of the third century, the cenobitic, or common, life for
monks became popular.

In the dark days of the declining empire the monkish life
possessed strong attractions for men weary of the wickedness
or disappointments of the world. Monasticism received a
lasting impetus for good from Benedict, an Italian (480-543
A.D.), who framed a new Rule for those who chose to follow
him. One of the great glories of his rule was that it taught
the monk the duty of labor as well as of prayer. It made
of him not a mere spiritual loafer, depending upon filth of
body for purity of soul; but it insisted that he be orderly as
well as devout; that he read as well as pray; and work for
his living instead of depending on the chance charity of the
pious. The rule of Benedict spread rapidly in favor, and as
the world sank into the gloom and anarchy of what are
sometimes called the Dark Ages, each of thousands of
Benedictine monasteries became a point of light in the
darkness.

With our multiplied agencies for philanthropic, educa-
tional, religious, and literary work it is difficult for us to
reproduce in imagination the way in which all these func-
tions were served by the monasteries for many centuries from
500 A.D. onwards.

Most of the churches, especially among the newly con-
verted people, were those attached to the abbeys. In con-
nection with these were the scanty libraries of the time.
Here were the only schools. The passing traveller might
always find shelter in the guest-room of the abbey if he were
a person of quality, and even if he were penniless some
resting-place would be found for him. The criminal might
seek asylum with the kindly monks; for the church was

CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 4^7

sanctuary, and none might disturb him within its precincts.
The monastery lands were much less liable than those of the
layman to be harried by ruthless soldiers, for they respected
and feared the church. Of literature there was but little in
this age, but the meagre chronicles of the time are almost
without exception of monastic origin.

Thus it will readily be seen how varied were the services
rendered by the monks, and how important a factor their
houses were in the vast change which was passing upon the
people who had once been the subjects of Rome.

A New and Rival Religion. — Christianity was thus mak-
ing itself mistress of the civilized world, and solidifying its
conquests by the methods just indicated: by the institutions
of the papacy and the monastic system. But in the seventh
century there arose a new religion which was to be the only
great rival of Christianity in the Mediterranean world.

There were other great historic religions. In India the
hoary faith of the Hindoos and the only less venerable
mysticism taught by Buddha, in China the practical morality
of Confucianism, and in Persia the fire-worship of the
Zoroastrians might easily have been looked upon as becom-
ing, under certain circumstances, rivals of the Christian
faith. But there was in none of these old-world religions,
firm as their hold was in the region of their origin, any mis-
sionary force whatsoever that could bring them into contact
and rivalry with Christianity. And the last thing that was
to be looked for was that in such a quarter of the world as
Arabia there should arise a faith which should have a con-
quering power sufficient to make it the one great religious
foe of Christianity; the only one which has seriously
threatened the empire of the latter over the best portions of
the world and the greatest races of mankind. But so it was
to be. Out of the desert was to come a great prophet.

Arabia. — This arid and sterile region between the Red
Sea and the Indian Ocean had never been conquered by any
of the great powers that had successively ruled the world.

468 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

This may have been partly owing to the fact that it was
hardly worth conquering. But the Arabs have always main-
tained that it was unconquerable. Be that as it may, there
was little in its confines to tempt the greed of the conqueror.
Unknown and undreaded it had lain for years. But human
genius knows no limits. In the deserts of Arabia it may
spring into view as readily as in the shadow of an Acropolis
ora Capitoline. Arabia produced Mohammed. Mohr amed
has had a profound effect upon the history of all that was
ever within the Roman world. Large portions of what was
formerly the western empire fell into the hands of his early
followers very soon after that empire dissolved. The eastern
empire fell at last before another section of those followers.
In Europe, in Asia, and in Africa the conflict has been long
and bitter between the followers of the cross and those
whose symbol is the crescent. And the fight, it may be, is
not over yet.

Mohammed. — In this forgotten corner of the world,
somewhere about the year 572 a.d., was born Mohammed.
His people were not a force among the nations. For the
most part nomads, only those on the coast had some slight
commerce with the civilized, world. They were sunk in
superstition, ignorance, and vice. Hundreds of gods were
worshipped among them, and their chief divinity was repre-
sented by a black stone, the Kaaba, sacredly guarded at
Mecca. It is true that for purposes of trade many devotees
of better faiths had dwelt in the cities of Arabia. But that
was an age when both Christianity and Judaism were as
likely to be known in impure and unworthy forms as in their
better guise. Such appears to have been the case in Arabia.
Mohammed undoubtedly knew something of both, as his
writings show. But neither faith commended itself to him
unchanged. He was born of goodly lineage, being of the
family of the Koreishites, or guardians of the Kaaba. But
he was poor and, like most of his countrymen, uneducated.
He had, however, the advantage of a good presence and a

CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM.

469

commanding address. His youth was passed as a shepherd.
Later he was raised to a position of comfort by marrying a
well-to-do widow, Kadijah.

He appears to have been of a serious and earnest nature,
and the idolatry of his countrymen weighed upon his spirit.
Neither the Christianity nor the Judaism which he saw
around him attracted him, possibly, as has been hinted,
because of their imperfect exhibition both in garbled holy
books and unworthy lives. The one fact that seemed borne
in upon his soul was that of the unity of God, in opposition
to all forms of polytheism, and to this might be added a
sense of the foolishness of all but spiritual worship. His
system opened up no place for a priestly caste.

At length Mohammed reported to his friends that in a
cave where he retired yearly for meditation and prayer the
Almighty, through the angel Gabriel, had communicated to
him the fact of God's own oneness, and of Mohammed's
mission as the prophet of that truth. For years friend and
neighbor laughed at his claims. At length the gcod Kadijah
accepted them, then one and another, till at the end of three
years he had forty followers. His townsmen at Mecca
derided him, and in 622 a. d. he was forced to flee to the
more northern city of Medina. This flight of his, the
Hegira, has become the date-mark
for Mohammedans, and our year
622 is their year i.

Up to this time his propaganda
had been a peaceful one, but
when the men of Medina ac-
cepted him, and popularity made
him strong, he developed the idea
of forcing people to accept his
faith. At root it was but the later
allegedly Christian principle of the
Inquisition. Mecca was subdued, and by the time of the
prophet's death in 632 a.d. his faith and his conquests had

SEAL OF MOHAMMED.

47° THE ROMAhl PEOPLE.

spread over Arabia, and even into Syria, where the conclu-
sion of arms had been tried with the soldiers of the Roman
empire.

The Koran. — Before he died Mohammed had embodied
the principles of his faith in the Koran. The cardinal
principle has been already stated, viz., that of the unity of
God, and the mission of the prophet. God was conceived
of, not, as by the Jew, mainly as the exponent of righteous-
ness; nor, as by the Christian, as a loving Father. The
Koran teaches its votaries to adore and reverence one who
is chiefly distinguished by his stern unalterableness. Of
course he is represented as righteous; but the Mohammedan
sees in God first and foremost a distant potentate who has
ordered things to be as they shall, and who is the imper-
sonation of fate. This God is worshipped through no
mediator, human or superhuman, nor is he propitiated by
any sacrifices. Those who believe in him, and especially
those who fulfil the precepts of the Koran, and most of all
those who die for their faith, will be rewarded by a paradise
which is painted in the most gorgeous way, and which
appeals to man on the sensual side of his nature. The
sinner, if a believer, will reach this paradise at last after
years of purgatorial suffering. For the unbeliever there is
no hope.

The practical duties set forth in the Koran are chiefly
four:

A. The obligation to pray five times a day with face
turned toward Mecca;

B. To keep the sacred month of Ramadan as a fast, by
abstaining totally from food between sunrise and sunset;

C. To give in charity one tenth of the income;

D. To make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

To these are to be added some minor duties, such as
abstinence from swine's flesh and from alcohol. Polygamy,
to the extent of four wives for the faithful, is allowed, and
slavery is permitted.

CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 47 1

Such a faith, while it may not appeal to us either in pre-
cept or in practice, was a great advance for the Arabs. We
look askance at its polygamy, but it was really in the nature
of a restraint upon brutal license. Its slavery was only on
a par with that of the Old Testament. Its theological prin-
ciple, while it seems sterile to us, was a mighty force as over
against the prevalent polytheism, and sent forth the Arabs
on their wonderful career of conquest.

Contrast with Christianity. — On the other hand, to
understand the fanaticism which made Arab zeal burn
against Christianity like a consuming fire, we must remem-
ber what that Christianity was. The Arab had been taught
that God was one, and that he would tolerate no represen-
tation of himself or of any created thing. He heard the
heated quarrels of the Christians over their questions of the
Trinity, three persons in one Godhead. This outraged him.
He could not tolerate it. He entered the churches. There
he found pictures and images in profusion, and the people
prostrate before them. His simple mind could not appre-
ciate the distinction between using these as " aids to devo-
tion " and pure idolatry. To him it was an abomination.

Add to this theological antagonism, the lust of conquest
already begotten for the first time in the Arab mind by the
triumphs of the new faith on its native soil, and the weak
and declining condition of the nearest provinces of the
empire, and we have ready to hand the causes for the start-
ing of the great wave of Mohammedan conquest which was
to astonish and well-nigh subdue the world.

Mohammedan Conquests. — Syria was the first theatre of
conquest. By 637 a.d. it had been torn from the empire,
and the most holy shrines of the Christian faith were in
infidel hands. There is this to be said for the Moslem faith :
while it rejected simple Judaism, and developed Christianity,
nevertheless its founder was familiar with both the Old and
the New Testament, and ranked Moses and David and
Jesus as true and honored prophets of the one God, though

472 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

of lesser note than Mohammed. Jerusalem was, in a sense,
a holy city to the Moslem, and as such he has held it from
the seventh century till the present day, with the exception
of the few years when the crusading zeal of Europe won it
from him in the Middle Ages.

Persia, which had recently been subdued by Heraclius,
was next attacked, and fell an easy prey (632-641 a.d.).

Thence the path of conquest turned westward, and Egypt
was reduced by the year 640 a.d. This was a serious loss
to the empire. For Egypt was important not only com-
mercially, but, as the home of great refinement and high
culture, was one of the strongholds of civilization.

The story is told of the soldier Amrou writing to Omar the
caliph, or successor of Mohammed, and asking instructions as
to what he should do with the wonderful Alexandrian library with
its hundreds of thousands of volumes. Omar answered : " If
these volumes agree with the Koran, they are unnecessary ; if
they disagree, they are pernicious. Let all be burned." But
the story appears only long after the alleged event, and contem-
poraries tell nothing of it. Indeed it is known that the library
was in use long after the conquest.

Westward still the fire of conquest swept, and North Africa
was destined to another political and religious transforma-
tion. Carthage had swayed it in the dawn of history, and
had surrendered to pagan Rome; Rome had become first
imperial and then Christian; next had come the Arian
Vandals; once again the orthodox empire had triumphed;
the last turn of the kaleidoscope placed the Saracens in
power, and so completely does Christianity vanish that no
part of the world is to-day more thoroughly Moslem than
North Africa. This had been accomplished by 689 a.d.

The Conquest of Spain. — Asia and Africa were not suffi-
cient. The fair fields of Spain tempted the conquerors
across the Strait of Gibraltar. In 711 a.d. the transit was
made, and gradually the kingdom of the Visigoths was sub-
dued, to be held until the year of the discovery of the new
world by Columbus.

CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 473

The Battle of Tours. — Farther north the intruders swept.
The Pyrenees were passed, and it seemed as if the Frank
might share the fate of the Visigoth. So he might, if it
liad lain with the decadent line of Merovingian kings to
prevent it. But in the year 732 a.d. Karl, the prime
minister of the Frankish king, met the Saracens near Tours,
and after one of the fiercest battles of history turned them
back forever from France. Who shall say how different
might have been the complexion of history to-day if Saracen
instead of Frank had won ? We shall hear, in the later story,
of this soldier who won for himself by that day's victory the
title of Martcl, the Hammer.

Rival Caliphates. — Islam, the religion of Mohammed,
has suffered the common fate of all great religions. Every
faith that lives seems to propagate division. Buddhism has
numberless sects. Christianity is divided into Greek,
Roman, Coptic, and a hundred Protestant branches. So
rival claims to the successorship of the prophet speedily and
inevitably rose. And in Bagdad on the Tigris, in Cairo, and
in Cordova three caliphs each professed to be the legitimate
head of the faithful. In this disunion was a solace for
Christianity. For, undivided, the hosts of Islam might have
been able to work far worse mischief than they did upon the
Christian world.

As it was, the eastern empire through all the remainder of
its life had for its chief task the defence of its borders, and
finally of its very capital, against the Moslem.

Services of Islam. — It is hardly within the scope of this
history to trace certain benefits which began to be manifest
only much later than our period, but some allusion to them
may not be out of place. The career of Mohammedan con-
quest, and the presence of the Saracens in Spain, were not an
unmixed evil. For dark times were come upon the old
Roman world. It had taken in a vast mass of the Germanic
peoples. These people were indeed to be the renovators
and the saviors of society, by virtue of certain qualities of

474 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

theirs which we have recently traced. But it took the older
world a long time to assimilate them; or better, it took
them a long time to assimilate what they found in southern
Europe. The work to be done was much the same as if
among the seventy millions of the United States there were
injected a hundred million Chinese as conquerors. They
might try to carry on things in our old way, but would fail
of course. So in Europe after the fifth century there fol-
lowed five hundred years when the invaders were getting
used to their new surroundings, when languages were form-
ing, when institutions compounded of the old and the new
were crystallizing. It was an age first of fermentation and
later of clarifying. Naturally we must not look for much
origination and advance. In these ages art is dead. Sculp-
ture is unknown, painting is confined to illumination of a
few books of devotion, architecture is dormant; poetry is
doggerel, oratory finds no forum, and history is monkish
chronicle; while science is abandoned. A few great thinkers
testify from age to age that human genius is not dead.
But the era is a winter of the human mind in western
Europe. Everywhere but in Spain. Here the Saracens,
borrowing from the Greeks whom they had known in the
east, carry forward mathematics and physical science to a
height beyond what the Greeks had known, and in material
civilization possessed refinement undreamed of in Italy,
France, Germany, or Britain. They were fairly tolerant
too, and willing to share their knowledge with the Christian.
So the latter sat at the feet of the Moslem intruder, and
learned his precious secrets. And thus the lamp of learning
was kept alight, ready to kindle the larger flame when the
Christians were ready for the blaze.

A host of words, scientific terms and names of products, tes-
tify the debt of the western world to the intruders or their core-
ligionists of the east. Alchemy, alcohol, almanac, algebra, alem-
bic, alkali, chemistry, the names of a thousand stars, are here
included. Muslin gets its name from Mosul, damask and the
damson plum from Damascus, gauze from Gaza, and so on.

CHRISTIANITY AND MOHAMMEDANISM. 475

And the Moslems, moreover, by lopping off from the
eastern empire its outlying parts, which were less purely
Greek, possibly did it a good service. For what was left
was Greek and homogeneous, and better able to fight the
battle for life, and to maintain its own faith and its own
culture in the troublous years from the seventh century to
the fifteenth.

SOURCES.

Bede Ecclesiastical History, Bk. I, cc. xxiii-

xxv; Bk. II, cc. i, iii; Bk. iii, cc. iii, xxv.
Life of St. Columban (Translations and

Reprints, University of Pennsylvania,

Vol. II, No. 7).
Henderson Select Historical Documents, Rule of St.

Benedict, and The Donation of Con-

stantine.
The Koran Palmer's Translation (Sacred Books of

the East).
Lane-Poole, Stanley. Speeches and Table-talk of the Prophet

Mohammed.

PARALLEL READING.

Gibbon. cc. xlix-lii.

Myers cc. xxviii, xxxi.

Miiman History of Latin Christianity, Bk. in, c.

ii ; Vol. II, Bk. iv, cc. i, ii.

Stanley, A. P Christian Institutions.

SchafT History of the Christian Church, Vol.

Ill, c. v; V9I. IV, pp. 17-233.

Emerton Introduction to the Middle Ages, c. ix.

Montalembert The Monks of the West.

Wishart, A. W A Short History of Monks and Monas-
teries.

Lecky History of European Morals, Vol. Il, c. iv.

Adams Civilization during the Middle Ages, cc.

iii, vi.
Muir, W .... The Cordn; Life of Mohammed ; Annals

of the Early Caliphate; The Rise and

Decline of Islam.

Irving, W Mohammed and his Successors.

Carlyle Heroes and Hero-worship, Lecture on

The Hero as Prophet.

Freeman, E. A History and Conquests of the Saracens.

Gilman, A The Saracens (Nations).

CHAPTER XXXIl.
CHARLES THE GREAT AND THE NEW EMPIRE.

Conditions in the Eighth Century. — The process of
amalgamation of the invading Teutons and the older citizens
of the empire went on apace after the establishment of the
several new kingdoms, but with many hindrances. The
times were unsettled. Governments were weak. Foes were
many. The Moslem threat, particularly, was always present.
In Africa and Spain it had proved more than a threat. The
Vandal kingdom had utterly perished. The Christians of
Spain were forced into the mountain retreats or to accept a
position of tributary dependence upon the caliphs. In Italy
there was a threefold contest going on. The Lombards held
their duchies at various points in the peninsula. Part of it
was still subject to the eastern emperors, and administered
by the exarch at Ravenna. The pope was looked upon by
many as the leading character in Italy, although he was
nominally subject to the emperor. There was continued
friction among these three powers.

Some progress of course was being made even in Italy, as
well as in Gaul and Spain. German and Roman were
coming to understand one another better; to borrow from
each other's speech and law and custom. The Christian
Church was acting as the great solvent and compounder of
the diverse elements of society. Slowly were being formed
what we now call the Romance peoples and the Romance
languages. The one need of the times was law and order.
Let settled conditions come, and society was bound to

476

EUKOPE

IN THE TIME OF

CHARLES THE GREAT
814

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CHARLES THE GREAT AND THE hlEl^' EMPIRE. 4 77

progress. For the soil was good, and the seed, which haid
long been sown, was full of vitality.

The Prankish Kingdom. — The one exception among the
new kingdoms was the Prankish. We do not say France,
because the limits of France to-day are quite different from
those of the kingdom we are studying. It must steadily be
borne in mind that it was rather German than French in any
modern sense.

These Franks were almost the only one of the barbarian
peoples who since their advent to power had been able to
hold their own and more. For one thing, they were very
numerous. Many tribes were in more or less real subjection
to the Frankish king. Their territory was immense, extend-
ing from far into what is now central Germany to the Bay
of Biscay. They were far enough from Constantinople to
be out of the reach of interference and intrigue from that
source. Unfortunate Spain was a barrier for them against
the Moslems. Only once had the hordes of Islam seriously
threatened them. The story of the battle of Tours has been
told. There was also in the Franks a native energy and
capacity for progress that marked them out as the people
who, under the favoring circumstances just named, were
bound to make rapid progress. What was needed just at
this epoch was the advent of some man of wide view and
great organizing power. Events were shaping toward the
production of just such a man.

The Mayors of the Palace. — Clovis had been every inch
a king. But the expected had happened in his house, and
his successors were unable to sustain his royal tradition.
Weaker and weaker grew the Merovingians, until in the
early eighth century we find them but shadows. The title
of les rois faineants, the do-nothing kings, has been bestowed
upon them. But when such weaklings occupy and degrade
a throne, the real power necessarily falls into abler hands,
or else anarchy comes. That it did not come among the
Franks was due to certain able administrators. These men

478 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

bore the title of ** mayors of the palace." The office finally,
like that of the king, had become hereditary. Its occupants
became more and more powerful. Charles, who came to it
in succession to his father Pippin, won for himself the name
of Martel, the Hammer, by his repulse of the Moslems at
Tours (732 A.D.). His son Pippin won for himself not only
the royal power, but the royal name as well.

Pippin becomes King. — It will be remembered that from
their first conversion the Franks had been orthodox Catho-
lics, and not Arians as were most of the Germanic invaders.
On this fact hung mighty issues. It served to link the
Franks and the papacy in very close union during the times
when the church was troubled by Arian hatred and opposi-
tion. And at the period now under review the papacy was
in sore straits. For the Lombards, who seem to have been
the least tractable of the invading nations, were harrying the
pope, not so much with their heresies, as by trespassing
upon the territories which he deemed his own. The popes
at this time, too, were at least the nominal subjects of the
emperors at Constantinople. But the iconoclastic warfare
had broken out, and there was bad blood between the
secular and the spiritual capitals. Finally the pope excom-
municated the emperor. At this juncture the Lombard king
attacked the pope, and the latter, in despair, turned toward
his faithful Franks for aid. Just as the peril becomes acute,
Pippin, son and successor of Charles Martel, asks the pope
a question: " Who should be king; he who possesses only
the name or he who has the power?" The answer is
simple. The pope gives consent to the deposition of the
last Merovingian sovereign, and Pippin by Prankish election
and Roman anointing becomes king of the Franks. His
dynasty is known as the Carolingian, from the name of his
great son, Charles. King Pippin speedily rewards his
spiritual father by hastening to his aid against the Lombards.
The territory of which he despoils them he does not keep
for himself, but bestows it upon the pope. In all probability

CHARLES THE GREAT AND THE NEIV EMPIRE. 479

this is the real beginning of the temporal power of the pope;
that is, his claim to rule not merely as spiritual lord over the
church, but as secular ruler over a definite territory as well.
About this time, also, the fiction was published and believed
that Constantine when he abandoned Rome as his capital
gave the territory thereabouts to Pope Sylvester in return for
a wonderful cure wrought by the latter.

Charles the Great.— King Pippin died in 768 a.d. His
son Charles soon came into
undivided possession of his
sovereignty. And he it is whom
we shall now find closing one
great age of the history of the
Roman empire and beginning
another.

Charles was cast in a large
mold, both physically and men-
tally. He would probably have
added spiritually as well. For
he considered himself, like Con-
stantine and Theodoric and
Clovis, a pillar of the church.
Yet, as in the case of his great predecessors, his Christianity
was more a matter of outward form than of inward convic-
tion; for the lives of all these great men were stained by
deeds of ferocious cruelty. Nevertheless Charles posed as
the reformer of the church and the special protector of the
papacy.

His activity was many-sided. He was soldier, statesman,
and law-giver, as well as churchman. His long reign was
filled with military campaigns. On his northeastern frontier
the Saxons were to be subdued, and to this task, which the
Romans had never been able to accomplish, he bent his
energies, and after many years of fighting he reduced these
peoples to subjection and to a nominal acceptance of
Christianity.

^^^^s^

CHAKLEMAGNH.

48o

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

The presence of the Mohammedans to the south was
another irritation, and he turned his arms against them. He
succeeded in freeing Spain as far south as the Ebro from
their control. In this section is to be found to-day the
most progressive part of Spain. And some historians have
seen in its early deliverance by Charles from the Moslem

THE CATHEDRAL AT AACHEN,

yoke one of the secrets of its advance beyond the rest ot
Spain.

A third enemy who challenged him was the Lombard in
Italy. Into this war the hereditary connection of his house
with the popes drew him. For again the Lombards were
harassing the pope. And once again the appeal came to the
faithful Franks. Charles responded and completely subdued
the Lombard king, seizing the famous iron crown of Lom-

* The domed octagon ib the only part attributed to Charlemagne.

CHARLES THE GREAT AND THE NEW EMPIRE. 481

bardy, made from a nail of the cross, and placing it upon
his own head. As an incident of this war the donation of
Pippin to the pope was confirmed.

The Imperial Crown. — Once more Charlemagne was
called to Rome to help the pope in a time of disturbance,
^nd while he was worshipping in the great basilica of
St. Peter on Christmas Day, 800 a.d., the pope suddenly
placed upon the head of the man who was already king of
the Franks and of Lombardy a new diadem, one which
marked him as Roman emperor. The title by which he was
proclaimed was " Charles Augustus crowned by God, great
and pacific emperor." Later he assumed the title ** Charles
the most serene Augustus, Pious, Fortunate, governing the
Roman empire, and also by the mercy of God king of the
Franks and the Lombards."

It has been much discussed whether Charles knew before-
hand that he was to be crowned that day, and by such a
title. It would hardly seem possible that the pope could
do such a thing without having some quite definite idea of
what the feelings of the great man were. But a plausible
explanation seems to be that Charles was meditating some
such assumption of imperial dignity, and that the pope at
most anticipated what was sure to come.

The Theory of the New Empire. — What the idea of pope
and emperor was can best be understood by a review of the
situation as regards the Roman empire of that time.

The authority of Constantinople had for some time been
extinct in Italy. Its emperor had failed to protect the pope
against the Lombards. The Frank had shown himself able
and willing to afford such protection. Moreover, the eastern
empire had become entirely Greek in language and mode of
thought. Its theological tone was different from that of
western Europe. The iconoclastic controversy had inserted
another wedge between east and west. And last of all, a
grave scandal had caused western Christendom to look with
very angry countenance upon the court at Constantinople.

482

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Irene, the mother of the emperor Constantine VI., had
deposed and blinded her son, and now was reigning in her
own name as empress. Such a proceeding was on the one
side criminal, and on the other a political innovation.

The west therefore had cause to feel that the empire was
vacant and needed to be reconstituted. It must be born^
in mind all through that the controlling idea was that the

a|i<lar(rt)i <:jM8.r»cy Vujk^ua;

MONOGRAM OF CHARLEMAGNE.

empire was indivisible.^ In theory the whole west owed
allegiance to the sole emperor. It is even asserted that
Charlemagne's idea was to reunite east and west by a mar-
riage with Irene. Certain it is that after his coronation he
sought from the Byzantine court a recognition of his claims.
This was never accorded, though in later times the court at

* In speaking of the empire since its partition in 395 a.d. the terms
" eastern " and "western " empire have been freely used. Technically
this is wrong. Such a distinction was unknown till after the time of
CharJemagne. But it was a practical one, and it seems unavoidable to
make use of it.

CHARLES THE GREAT AND THE NEIV EMPIRE. 483

Byzantium, in dealing with the Roman emperors, for diplo-
matic reasons did condescend to address them as such on
a very few occasions.

There was another reason which controlled the church in
the part it played. The idea of one undivided church had
taken solid shape under the growing papacy. And the
necessary accompaniment of such a church was a secular
government to correspond. The Byzantine end of the
empire had failed to show itself the harmonious counterpart
of the one Catholic Church. The hope was that in the
revived empire of Charles there should be found such a
fitting counterpart. Church and state were to work hand
in hand for the wise control of the Christian world. That
such an idea was a dream the future history of the empire
and the papacy was to demonstrate. But the idea was a
potent one at the time.

The Work of Charlemagne, — The method of the great
monarch's government belongs to a new phase of history
which lies beyond our scope. For while in a large sense
the work of Augustus and Constantine was revived under
him, yet in detail, as in spirit, the new administration was
conceived and carried out along Germanic rather than
Roman lines. Charles has been alluded to as soldier, states-
man, and churchman. He made his influence strongly felt
in all three provinces.

As churchman he w^as master rather than servant of the
church. Even the pope was subject to him. He convened
synods and councils. Under his direction many reforms
were instituted, especially in the monastic life, which had
grown somewhat lax in the general looseness of the times.

As statesman he governed carefully and strongly. Laws
were issued and enforced by the careful inspection of royal
commissioners sent out two and two, a churchman and a
count, into every district. These inspectors were called
missi dominici.

Education was a great concern with him. He summoned

^484 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

to his aid Alcuin, archbishop of York in England, who had
made his mark as one of the foremost men of his age.

ST. MATTHEW, FROM HVANGKl.IARIUM FOUND IN TOMB OF CHARLEMAGNE

Under him a system of schools was devised to remedy the.
pitiable ignorance of the times. Charles was specially

CHARLES THE GREAT AND THE NEIV EMPIRE. 4^5

solicitous about the ignorance of the clergy, and caused
sermons to be prepared for their use.

Charles was not French, but German. It is typical of the
new era that the legacy of the Caesars had fallen at last to
one of another race and speech — the German.

His fame extended far. Stories are told of his friendship
and interchange of courtesies with Haroun al Raschid, the
caliph of Bagdad. He is without doubt the one colossal
figure of the earlier Middle Ages. His impress is wide and
deep upon subsequent history, though many of his peculiar
institutions were evanescent, and his dynasty soon passed
away. But he did enough to give new life to the imperial
system, and to teach men that the ideal was a united
Christendom, politically and ecclesiastically.

The great king died in 814 a.d., and was buried in the
minster he himself had founded at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle),
his German capital. He was left sitting upon a throne,
with the crown upon his head, his sword in his hand, and
open in his lap a copy of the Holy Scriptures: symbolizing
his mighty work as conqueror, lawgiver, and chief servant
of the church.

SOURCES.

Einhard Lzye of the Emperor Karl the Great.

Capitulary and Inventory of Charles the
Great, in Vol. ii, No 2, Translations
and Reprints, University of Pennsyl-
vania.
Laws of Charles the Great, ibid., Vol. vi.
No. 5.

Henderson Select Historical Documents, Capitulary

of Charlemagiie.

PARALLEL READING.

Gibbon c. xl ix.

Myers c. xxxii.

Botsford c. xiv.

Bryce T/ie Holy Roman Empire, cc. iv, v, xxi.

Adams Civilization during the Middle Ages,

c. vii.

486 THE ROMAN PEOPLE

Hodgkin Charles the Great (Foieign Statesmen) ;

Italy and her Invaders.

Mombert, J. I A History of Charles the Great,

Davis, H. W. C Charlemagne (Heroes)

Freeman, E. A The Chief Periods of European History,

Lectures in, iv.
Thatcher and Schwill . Europe and the Middle Age, c. v.
Emerton Introduction to the Middle Ages, cc. xii-

XIV.

Sergeant, L Thi Franks (Nalions).

APPENDIX A.

THE ROMAN ASSEMBLIES.

I. The Comitia Curiata.

a. It was the oldest assembly, dating from the royal times.

b. It was presided over by the king ; later by the consul or
magistrate of high rank. The auspices must be taken before
its meeting.

c. It was made up of all citizens, voting by head in each of
thirty curiae, and thus determining the vote of the curia. A
majority of the tliirty curiae decided the question.

d. (i) Its chief function was to pass the lex de imperzo, giving
to a magistrate already elected the wtperzutu, or power of life
and death. *

(2) It dealt also with other questions chiefly relating to matters
of transfer from one gens to another, with wills, adoptions, and
the like.

In the time of Cicero the meetings of this body were fre-
quently attended only by thirty lictors representing the thirty
curiae and by three augurs.

II. The Comitia Centuriata.

(7. Originating as a military organization under Servius, it was
natural that it should assume political power very rapidly in the
later monarchy and earlier republic.

/;. It met in the Campus Martins ; was presided over by the
consul or some magistrate possessing the imperium. It required
the taking of the auspices.

c. It was made up of all citizens. They voted at first accord-

487

488 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

ing to the arrangement of Servius, in 193 centuries, of whom
the knights made up the first 18, and the centuries of the wealthy
first class the next 80, giving to the knights and first class, if
they agreed, a majority, so that there was no occasion for the
lower classes to vote.

About 241 B.C. a reform was instituted, which gave the organ-
ization of this body more relation to the tribes. Under the new
arrangement the members of the 35 tribes were divided into 10
centuries, 5 each of juniors and seniors, making 350. To these
were added, as under the old arrangement, 18 centuries of
knights, 4 of artificers, and i of the proletarii, making 373 in
all. Wealth thus had no longer the same power as of old, since
the knights and the 70 new centuries of the first class could
muster but 88 votes out of the total 373. The only advantage
wealth had lay in the fact that the centuries of the upper classes
were smaller than those of the lower. But the number of cen-
turies in each class was now equal.

Within the century the voting was by head.

d. (i) It elected the magistrates who had the imperium : con-
suls, praetors; also the censors and decemvirs and consular
tribunes when the two latter classes were in existence.

(2) Appeal lay to it from all capital sentences affecting a citizen.

(3) It passed laws {leges). In the later republic laws were for
the most part passed either in the comitia tributa or in the
consiliuin piebis.

(4) It declared offensive war and ratified featies. After 287
B.C. the consent of the senate was no longer necessary to the
validity of its enactments.

The empire transferred to the princeps the war and treaty
powers of this assembly. Tiberius took from it the power of elec-
tion, giving it to ihe senate, and leaving to the assembly simply
a formal act of ratification. This formality is found down to the
times just before Diocletian, in the case of imperial elections.

III. The Concilium Piebis.

a. This body originated with the election of the first tribunes
of the people, 494 B.C. It rapidly increased in power and soon
came to be coordinate with the comitia centuriatain legislation.

APPENDIX A. 489

b. It could be summoned only by a plebeian official, tribune,
or aedile. Its common meeting-place was the Forum. No aus-
pices were necessary until a law of the year 155 B.C. required
them.

c. Only plebeian citizens could vote. This tliey did at first
by curiae, but after 472 B.C. by tribes.

d. (i) It elected the tribunes and plebeian aediles.

(2) Appeals lay to it from fines imposed by these officials. In
the later republic its judicial power was considerably increased,
until finally the same cause which took away the criminal juris
diction of the centuriate comitia also took away that of the
plebeian council. This was the institution of the qucestiones
PerpetucE.

(3) By the year 287 B.C. it had been accepted that the resolu-
tions of the concilium plebis had the same force as laws {leges)
passed in the centuriate a-sembly From that time on the con-
silium and comitia tributa became tiic favorite organs of legisla-
tion.

IV. The Comitia Tributa.

a. That there was any such organization different from the
foregoing concilium plebis is strenuously denied, but the great
authority of Mommsen pronounces for the fact of its existence.
Its origin cannot be traced to any definite legal act or political
crisis. It seems to have come into being as a consequence of
the organization of the plebeians. Their gatherings, at first
tribal, were found so convenient that the v^hoXe populus, includ-
ing the patricians, were anxious for a similar organization.
Hence its beginning is traced to the middle of the fifth century

B.C.

b. It was presided over by the consul, praetor, or curule aedile.
The meeting-place was the Forum. Auspices were taken.

c. All citizens could vote. Voting was first of all within the
tribes and by head ; the majority of the tribes decided ; there
were 21 tribes in 471 B.C., and after that time 35.

d. (i) It elected curule aediles, quaestors, and 24 tribunes of
the soldiers.

(2) Appeals lay to it from sentences of curule aediles or the
pontifex maximus.

490 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

(3) It enacted most laws proposed by praetors, and after 200
B.C. a majority of those introduced by the consuls.

The consent of the senate was not necessary to the validity
of its enactments after 287 B.C.

A peculiar function of this body was that 17 tribes, chosen by
lot, elected the pontifex maxim us, and after 104 B.C. the pon-
tiffs, augurs, and several other priestly colleges were elected in
the same manner.

J- '97

APPENDIX B.

ROMAN PROVINCES IN ORDER OF THEIR ACQUI-
SITION OR ORGANIZATION.'

I Under the Republic.

1. Silicia B.C. 241

2. Sardinia and Corsica 231

3. Hispania Citerior

4. " Ulterior

5. Illyricum 167-45

6. Macedonia and Achaia 146

7. Africa 146

S.Asia 133

9. Gallia Narbonensis 1 20

10. Gallia Cisalpina 81?

1 1 . Bithynia 74

^^ j Cyrene 74

* ) Creta 67

( Cilicia 64

^^1 Cyprus 58

14. Syria 64

II. Under the Empire.

1 5. iEgyptus 30

16. Moesia 29?

1 7. Lusitania (by subdivision) 27 .?

18. Achaia (by subdivision) 27

19. Galatia 25

20. Cyprus (by subdivision) 22

' From Bouch^-Leclercq's Manutl des Institutions Romaines.

49X

29- Germania Superior

30. " Inferior \

492 THE ROMAN PEOPLE,

21. Aquitania )

22. Lugdunensis >• 16

23. Belgica )

24. Rhaetia )

25. Noricum j '5

26. Alpes Maritimac 14

27. Pannonia a.d. 10

28. Cappadocia 17

(

31. Mauretania Tingitana )

32. " Caesariensis )

33. Pamphylia and Lycia ... 43

34. Britannia 43

35. Thracia 46

36. Alpes Cottiae under Nero

37. Epirus (by subdivision) " Vespasian

38. Arabia 105

39. Dacia 107

40. Armenia J

41. Mesopotamia >• 115

42. Assyria )

43. Alpes Penninae (by subdivision) 2d century

44. Numidia (by subdivision). . . 193-21 1

C/5

< s

C cn

■II

< i

S 6

-a

4-)

c)) rt

APPENDIX D.

TABLE OF THE EMPERORS.

49-44 B.C. Caesar (Caius Julius Caesar).

27 B.C. — 14 A.D. Augustus.

14. Tiberius (Tiberius Claudius Nero).

37. Caligula (Caius Caesar).

41. Claudius (Tiberius Claudius).

54. Nero (Nero Claudius).

68. Galba (Servius Sulpicius Galba).

69. Otho (Marcus Salvius Otho).
69. Vitellius.

69. Vespasian (Titus Flavius Vespasianus).

79. Titus.

81. Domitian (Titus Flavius Domitianus).

96. Nerva.

98. Trajan.

117. Hadrian.

138. Antoninus.

161. Marcus Aurelius.

180. Commodus.

193. Pertinax (Publius Helvius Pertinax).

193. Didius (Julianus).

193. Septimius Severus.

211. Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus).

217. Macrinus

2tfi. Heliogabalus.

494

APPENDIX D. 495

222. Alexander Severus.
235. Maximian.

238. Gordian (I.) and his son (II.).
238. Pupienus and Balbinus.
^83. Gordian the Younger (III.).
244. Philip the Arabian.
249. Decius.
251. Gallus.
253. .^milianus.
253. Valerian and Gallienus.

260. Gallienus. Period of Usurpers (T^/^/y/y Tyrants).
268. Claudius.
• 270. Aurelian (Lucius Domitius).

275. Tacitus.

276. Florianus.
276. Probus.

282. Carus (Marcus Aurelius Carus).
284. Diocletian.

286. Diocletian Atigusius and Maximian Augustus abdicated
together.

305. Galerius Augustus and Constantius Chlorus Augustus.

306. Galerius Augustus and Severus Augustus,

{ 306-311. Galerius.
306-313. Maximian Daza.

All Augustt

306-337. Constantine.

in 307.

306-312. Maxentius.

306-310. Maximian.

. 307-324. Licinius.

306. Constantine (Flavius Constantinus)

( 337-340. Constantine II.

\ 337-350. Constans.

( 337-361. Constantius.

360-363. Julian.

363. Jovian.

364. Valentinian }

364. Valen. }«>g«'her.

367. Gratian / ^ .
379. Valentinian li. r"^"''^'-

379. Theod

osius.

496

THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Western Emperors.

Eastern Emperors.

395. Honorius.

395-

Arca;dius.

423. Theodosius II.

408.

Theodosius.

425. Valentiniati.

450.

Marcian.

455. Petronius Maximus.

457.

Leo I.

455. Avitus.

474.

Leo 11.

457. Majorian.

474-

Leno.

461-465. Libius Severus.

491.

Anastasius I.

467. Anthemius.

5.8.

Justin I.

472. Olybrius.

527.

Justinian.

473. Glycerius.

565.

Justin II.

474. Julius Nepos.

578.

Tiberius II.

475. Romulus Augustulus.

582.

Mauricius.

602.

Phocas.

800-814. Charles the Great.

610.

Heraclius.

641.

Constantine 1 1 Lor Herac-
lius II.

641.

Heracleonas.

641.

Constans II.

668.

Constantine IV. Pogo-

•■ -'

natus.

685.

Justinian 11.

695.

Leontius.

698.

Tiberius Absimarus.

704.

Justinian II. (again).

711.

Philippicus.

713.

Anastasius IL

716.

Theodosius III.

717.

Leo III., the I saurian.

741.

Constantinus V. or VI.

775-

Leo IV.

780.

Constantine VL or VII.

797.

Irene.

802.

Nicephorus.

811.

Stauracius.

811-

813. Michael L Rhangabe.

APPENDIX E.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF IMPORTANT
EVENTS.'

Up to the third century the majority of dates in Roman his-
tory are uncertain, or at least vary by a number of years, accord-
ing to the method employed in calculation.

I have followed the chronology of Varro, who places the
founding of Rome in 753 B.C.

About the tenth century the Etruscans settled in Etruria, and
Greek colonists founded the city of Cumae.

753 (?) B.C. Rome was founded on the Palatine Hill.

753-756. Romulus. 616-578. Tarquinius.

715-672. Numa. 578-534. Servius Tullius.

672-640. Tullus Hostilius. 534-510. Tarquinius Superbus.

640-616. Ancus Martins.

In the sixth century the Gauls settled in the valley of the Po.

510 (.?). The king was replaced by two consuls.

509. The consuls consecrated the temple of Jupiter Capito-
linus.

507 (?). Porsenna laid siege to Rome.

498. Creation of first dictator.

496 (?). The Romans defeated the Latins near the Lake of
Regillus.

494 (?). The plebeians retired to the Sacred Mount.

493. Rome concluded a perpetual alliance with the Latins.
Creation of tribunes of the plebs.

488 (?). Coriolanus came to attack Rome with a Volscian
army.

1 The dates given for the reign of each king are legendary.

497

49^ THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

477 (?). The 306 Fabii were surprised and massacred.

458 (?). Cincinnatus conquared the ^qui.

450. The Decemvirs drew up the Laws of the Twelve Tables.

449. Expulsion of the Decemvirs.

445. Pa-sage of a law permitting marriage between patrician
and plebeian. Creation of " tribunes of the soldiers with con-
sular power."

443. Censorship established.

405. Rome began war against Veii (405-396). Currency
established.

396. Veii taken and destroyed.

390. The Gauls put the Roman army to flight near the Allia,
took Rome, besieged the Capitol, and withdrew on payment of
a ransom.

367. The Gauls plundered the outskirts of Rome.

367 or 366. The Licinian law provided that one consul should
be a plebeian.

343-341 {}). First war, possibly legendary, against the Sam-
nites.

340. The Latins revolted and were defeated near Vesuvius.

338. Rome destroyed the Latin Confederation.

326. Rome made war on the Samnites (326-304).

321. The Roman army, entrapped in the Forks of Caudium,
capitulated and passed under the yoke.

310 (J). The Etruscans entered upon war with Rome and
were defeated.

304. The vanquished Samnites made peace.

298 (?). Renewal of Samnite war (298-290).

295. Defeat of Samnites and Gauls at Sentinum.

290. The Samnites were overcome and surrendered. Curius
Dentatus subdued the Sabines.

284. Rome conquered the territory of the Senonese Gauls.

283. Defeat of Etruscans and Boii (Gauls) at Lake Vadinio.

282- Rome subjugated the Etruscans.

281. Tarentum made war on Rome (281-272).

280. Pyrrhus, called to aid Tarentum, defeated the Romans
at Heraclea.

279. Pyrrhus, victorious at Asculum, concluded a truce.

275. Pyrrhus was defeated at Beneventum.

APPENDIX E. 499

272. Rome took Tarentum and subjugated the peoples of
central Italy.

266. Rome completed the subjugation of Italy.

264. Rome began the first Punic war in Sicily (264-241).

263. Hiero, king of Syracuse, was forced into alliance with
Rome.

262. The Roman army took Agrigentum.

260. Rome scored her first naval victory at Mylae.

256. Regulus, after conquering the Carthaginian fleet, landed
in Africa and laid siege to Carthage.

255. Regulus was defeated and taken prisoner.

250. The Romans, by the victory of Panormus, gained the
mastery of almost the whole of Sicily.

249. Two Roman fleets were defeated and destroyed.

247. Hamilcar assumed command of the Carthaginians in
Sicily.

244. Hamilcar entrenched himself on Mount Eryx.

241. Carthage, defeated in the iEgatian Isles, made peace and
gave up Sicily.

240. The mercenary revolts against Carthage began the
Truceless War (240-238).

238. Rome took Sardinia from Carthage.

237. Hamilcar began to subjugate Spain to Carthage.

228. Hasdrubal founded Carthagena. The Romans settled
in Illyria.

225. The Gauls invaded Etruria and were defeated at Cape
Telamon.

222. Rome subjugated the Cisalpine Gauls.

219. Hannibal took Saguntum.

218. Rome began the second Punic war (218-201). Hannibal
crossed the Pyrenees, the Rhone, the Alps, defeated the Romans
at the Ticinus (Tesino) and at Trebia.

217. Hannibal destroyed a Roman army near Lake Trasimenus.
216. Hannibal destroyed a Roman army at Cannes and
wintered at Capua.

215. Hannibal made alliance with Philip, king of Macedonia.
War against Philip (215-205).
212. Marcellus took Syracuse.

500 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

211. The Romans, in spite of Hannibal, succeeded in taking
Capua.

210, The Romans defeated Carthage in Spain and took Car-
Lhagena.

207. Asdrubal, coming from Spain into Italy, was defeated
and killed at the Metaurus. Hannibal withdrew into Bruttium.

206. Rome completed the expulsion of the Carthaginians
from Spain.

204. Scipio landed in Africa.

203i Carthage, in her distress, recalled Hannibal.

202. Scipio defeated Hannibal at Zama.

201. Carthage sued for peace. End of the second Punic war.

200. Rome declared war against Philip of Macedonia (200-
196).

197. Philip was defeated at Cynoscephalae.

192. Antiochus, king of Syria, made war on Rome (192-189^.

191. Antiochus, defeated at Thermopylae, was driven from
Greece.

189. Antiochus, defeated at Magnesia in Asia, made peace.

171. Rome declared war against Perseus (171-167).

168. Perseus was defeated at Pydna and taken prisoner.

150. Viriathus began war in Lusitania (150-140).

149. Rome began the third Punic war (149-146).

146. Scipio took Carthage and destroyed it. Mummius cap-
tured and destroyed Corinth.

143. The Numantian war began in Spain (143-133).

133. Scipio captured and destroyed Numantia. Tiberius
Gracchus, tribune, carried an agrarian law. He was assassinated.

125. Rome, on the appeal of Massilia, began war in Trans-
alpine Gaul.

123. Gains Gracchus, tribune, carried a number of agrarian
laws.

121. Gains Gracchus was assassinated.

122-118. Rome defeated the Allobroges and Arverni, subju-
gated the Provzncia, and founded Aix and Narbonne.

113. The Cimbri and Teutons appear in the neighborhood of
the Alps.

112. Rome began the Numidian war against Jugurtha (112-
106).

APPEUDIX E.

501

107. Marius was elected consul and defeated Jugurtha.

()6. Jugurtha was delivered to Marius.

105. The Cimbri and Teutons, in a fourth victory over the
nans, destroyed two Roman armies near Orange.
102. Marius destroyed the Teutons near Aix.
101. Marius destroyed the Cimbri near Vercellae.
100. Saturninus and Glaucia carried laws against the will of
e senate and took the Capitol. They were both killed.
91. The discontented allies began the Social War (91-98).
90. Rome was at first defeated, and granted the right of citi-
nship to all allies that had remained faithful.
89. Rome after her victory extended the right to the whole

1 taly.

88. The Greeks in Asia, oppressed by the Romans, rose and
lassacred them. Mithri dates conquered Asia and attacked
n^ece.

87, First civil war in Rome between Marius and Sulla. First
ar against Mithridates (88-84).

86. Sulla took Athens and drove the army of Mithridates

)iTi Greece.

83. Sulla returned to Italy with his army. Second civil war
^3-82).

82. Sulla was victorious and was made dictator ; proscrip-
Cornelian laws.

Abdication and death of Sulla.

Sertorius began war in Spain against the senate (78-72).
Last war against Mithridates (74-63). Lucullus victorious

Cyzicus.

73. War against Spartacus (73-71).

70. War against Tigranes, king of Armenia (70-66). Pompey

li Crassus joined against the senatorial party and repealed

t' laws carried by Sulla.

69. Lucullus defeated Tigranes and took Tigranocerta.

67, Pompey, given command J&f the war against the pirates,

ms ;
79.

74.

stored the safety of the seasr.

60. Pompey, given command of the War against Mithridates ^

icfed the latter to flee. ' "^^'

63. Mithridates killed himself.
ia. Cicero put down Catiline's

Pompey
:onspiracy.

settled affairs

502

THE RdMAN PEOPLE.

60. Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar formed a triumvirate.

58. Caesar began the Gallic wars (58-50), driving the Heh
tians and Ariovistus from Gaul.

57. Caesar subjugated the Belgic Gauls.

56. Caesar subjugated the Gauls of the south and west.

55. Caesar crossed the Rhine and also landed in Britain

54. Revolt of the Gauls of the north.

53. Caesar subjugated the Gauls. Crassus was defeated a
killed by the Parthians.

52. The Gauls revolted, led by Vercingetorix. Caesar, dri\
from Gergovia, besieged and took Vercingetorix in Alei
Pompey, elected sole consul, became Caesar's enemy.

49. Civil war between Caesar and Pompey. Caesar, after
victory in Spain, was made dictator.

48. Pompey was defeated and killed at Pharsalus.

46. Caesar, after conquering the Pompeians in Africa
Thapsus, was made dictator for ten years.

45. Caesar, after conquering the Pompeians in Spain
Munda, was made dictator for life and emperor.

44. Caesar was killed. The Mutina (Modena) war betw
Antony and the conspirators.

43. Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus caused themselves tc
appointed triumvirs; proscriptions; death of Cicero.

42. Brutus and Cassius, defeated at Philippi, killed the
selves. The triumvirs divided the empire among themselve

39. The triumvirs made peace with Sextus Pompey.

36. Octavius defeated S. Pompey and Lepidus and remai
sole master in the west.

31. Octavius defeated Antony at Actium and reigned alor

27. Octavius, becoming Augustus, began to organize
empire.

25. War against the mountaineers in Spain (25-19).

12. Drusus made war on the Germans (12-9). Tiberius m
\ war on the Pannonians (12-9).

Birth of Christ. Beginning of the Christian Era.
Ips.
D 4-6 A.D. Expeditions into Germany under Tiberius, ^

'an war against Marbod, king of the Marcomanni.

9. General revolt of Pannonians put down by Tiberius.

"The Germans destroyed the army of Varus.

APPENDIX B. "5^3

11-16. Expeditions into Germany under Germanicus.

14. Death of Augustus. Accession of Tiberius. Uprising
of the legions of Pannonia and Germany.

23. Sejanus gathered the praetorians together in a camp near
Rome.

31. Sejanus was put to death.

37. Caligula emperor.

41. Caligula was killed, and the praetorians proclaimed Clau-
dius as his successor.

43. The Romans began tiie conquest of Britain.

54. Nero was proclaimed emperor.

55. Nero caused Britannicus to be put to death.

60-61. The Britains revolted and massacred the Romans;
they were conquered and subjugated.
62. Death of Burrus.

64. Burning of Rome. Persecution of Christians by Nero.

65. The Piso conspiracy. Death of Seneca.

66. Revolt of the Jews. War in Judaea (66-70).

68. The armies rebelled against Nero. Nero killed himself.
Galba recognized emperor. The praetorians killed Galba and
proclaimed Otho emperor. The army in Germany proclaimed
Vitellius.

69. War between the praetorians and the army in Germany.
Otho was defeated and killed himself. War between the army
in Germany and the armies in the east. Vitellius was de-
feated and killed. Vespasian emperor. Civilis incited an in-
surrection among the Batavians. Revolt in Gaul.

70. Subjugation of Batavians. Jerusalem taken and de-
stroyed.

79. Eruption of Vesuvius.

78-85. Wars of Agricola in Britain.

96. Domitian was killed. The senate proclaimed Nerva his
successor.

101-102. Trajan conquered the Dacians.

105-106. Trajan subjugated Dacia and made of it a Roman
province.

114_117. Victories of Trajan over the Parthians.

120-134. Journeys of Emperor Hadiian about the Empire.

132-135. Jewish insurrection.

504 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

161. Death of Antoninus. Joint succession of Marcus Au-
relius and Lucius Verus.

162-166 (?). War against the Parthians.

167-175. Barbarians from the Danube threatened to invade
Italy and were repulsed.

177. Martyrdom of Christians in Vienne and Lyon.

178-180. Marcus Aurelius conquered the Danube barbarians.

193. The praetorians assassinated Pertinax and sold the
empire to the highest bidder. The armies of Syria, Britain, and
the Danube each proclaimed an emperor.

194. Septimius Severus was recognized emperor in Rome.
Pescennius Niger was overcome and killed in the east.

197. Albinus was overcome and killed in Gaul.
208-211. Expeditions of Septimius Severus into Britain.

212. Caracalla killed his brother Geta. An edict declared
citizens all inhabitants of the empire.

213. First attack of Alemanni on the empire.

217. Caracalla was killed by Macrinus.

218, The army in Syria revolted against Macrinus and pro-
claimed Heliogabalus emperor.

222. Heliogabalus was assassinated by the soldiers.
226. In the kingdom of the Parthians the dynasty of the
Arsacidae was replaced by that of the Sassanidae.
233. The Parthians invaded the Roman Empire.

235. Alexander Severus was assassinated by army of Ger-
many and succeeded by Maximian the Thracian.

236. Wars between Maximian and the emperors recognized
by the senate ; Maximian was killed by his soldiers ; the prae-
torians killed the senatorial emperors.

241. Victory over the Parthians.

244. Gordian was killed by Philip the Arabian.

249. Philip was overcome and killed. Decius succeeded him,

250. Decius persecuted the Christians. Invasions of Goths.

251. Decius was killed fighting the Goths.

253. Wars between the armies. The Parthians invaded
Syria, the Germans Gaul and Italy, the Franks Gaul and Spain,
the Goths Asia and Greece.

260. Valerian was overcome and captured by the Parthians.

260-268. Revolt of the generals (Thirty Tyrants).

APPENDIX E, 505

268. Claudius defeated and subjugated the Goths.

270. Aurelian repulsed the Alemanni. A battle was fought
about Rome on the wall of Aurelian.

272. Aurelian defeated Zenobia and regained control of the
east.

274. Aurelian defeated Tetricus and regained control of
Gaul.

275. Aurelian was assassinated ; the soldiers charged the
senate with the election of an emperor.

277. Emperor Probus drove the Germans from Gaul and
fortified the frontier.

282. Probus was assassinated by the soldiers.

284. Carus, after defeating the Parthians, was killed. Dio-
cletian began to reorganize the empire.

285. Maximian defeated the Bagaudae in Gaul.

286. Diocletian gave the title of Au^us/us to Maximian.
292. Diocletian divided the empire between the two Augusti

and the two Caesars.

303-311. Persecution of the Christians.

306. Constantine was proclaimed emperor by the army in
Britain, Maxentius by the praetorians in Rome.

307. First civil war. Severus was taken and killed. Six
Augusti.

312. Second civil war. Maxentius was defeated by Constan-
tine at the Milvian Bridge and was drowned.

313. Third civil war. Maxentius was defeated by Licinius
and killed himself. Edict of Milan.

314. Fourth civil war. Licinius, defeated by Constantine,
yielded Illyria to him.

323. Fifth civil war. Constantine, after defeating Licinius,
reigned alone.

325. First oecumenical council at Nicaea.

326. Constantine founded Constantinople.

337. Constantine's three sons succeeded him as joint em-
perors ; the soldiers massacred the rest of his family.

340. Constantine IL, after defeating his brother Constans,
was killed.

350i Constans was killed and succeeded by Magnentius.

5o6 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

351. Constantius defeated Magnentius and was left sole
emperor.

355. Julian was sent into Gaul against the Alemanni.
357. Julian defeated the Alemanni near Argentoratum.

360. Julian was proclaimed emperor at Paris.

361. Julian, as sole emperor, persecuted the Christian Church.

363. Julian defeated the Parthians, but was killed in battle.

364. Valentinian divided the empire with his brother Valens
and drove out the Germans.

376. The Goths, who had taken refuge within the empire,
began war against Valens.

378. Valens was defeated and killed at Adrianople ; the
Goths invaded the empire.

379-382. Theodosius subdued the Gauls and established
them on the Danube.

383. Gratian was assassinated and Maximian proclaimed
emperor.

388. Theodosius defeated and killed Maximian.

392. Arbogastes killed Valentinian II. and proclaimed Eu-
genius emperor. Theodosius forbade the worship of idols
under penalty of death.

394. Eugenius was defeated and killed.

395. Theodosius divided the empire between his two sons
and died. Arcadius took the east ; Honorius the west.

402. Alaric invaded Italy ; battle of Pollentia.

406. Vandals, Suevi, and Burgundians invaded Gaul.

408. Theodosius II., emperor in the east. Death of Stilicho.
Alaric invaded Italy.

410. Alaric captured Rome. Vandals and Suevi settled in
Spain.

415. Visigoths settled in Gaul and Spain.

429. The Vandals crossed to Africa.

439. Carthage was captured by the Vandals.

449. Anglo-Saxons settled in Britain.

451. The Huns were defeated at Chalons.

452. Attila invaded Italy.

453. Attila died.

455. The Vandals under Gaiseric sack Rome.

456. Patrician Ricimer made Marjorian emperor.

APPENDIX E. 507

461. Patrician Ricimer made Severus emperor in the west.
467. " " " Anthemius emperor.

472. " " " Olybrius emperor.

475. Orestes made his son Romulus Augustulus emperor in
the west.

476. Romulus was deposed by Odoacer, who became pa-
trician.

486. Clovis defeated the Romans at Soissons.
489-493. Theodoric conquered Odoacer.
496. Clovis accepted Christianity.

526. Theodoric died.

527. Justinian became emperor at Constantinople.
533-4. Belisarius overthrew the Vandals.

534. The Franks conquered Burgundy.

535-540. Belisarius conquered Italy.

565. Justinian died.

568. The Lombards invaded Italy.

590. Gregory the Great became pope.

597. St. Augustine reached England.

610. Heraclius became emperor.

622. Mohammed fled to Medina; tlie Hegira.

711. The Moslems invaded Spain.

732. Charles Martel defeated the Moslems at Tours.

751. Pippin supplanted the last Merovingian, and became
king of the Franks.

756. Pippin made his " Donation " to the pope. Caliphate
of Cordova founded.

768. Charles the Great became king of the Franks with his
brother Carloman.

771. Charles became sole king.

774. Donation of Charles the Great to the pope.

780. Constantine VI. became emperor at Constantinople.

800. Charles the Great was crowned emperor at Rome.

814. Death of Charles the Great.

APPENDIX F.

A LIST OF SOURCES AVAILABLE IN ENCxLISH
AND OF USEFUL BOOKS FOR PARALLEL
READING.

SOURCES.

Ammianus Marcellinus Roman History, tr. by Yonge (Bohn).

Appian Roman History, tr. by White (Mac-

millan).

Augustus Monumentum Ancyranum, tr. by Fair-
ley (Vol. V, No. I, Translations
and Reprints, Univ. of Penn.).

Bede Ecclesiastical History, ed. by Giles

(Bohn).

Benedict Rule^ of St. Benedict, in Henderson's

Select. Historical Documents.

Boethius Consolation of Philosophy, tr. by Fox

(Bohn).

Caesar Commentaries (Bohn).

Cassiodorus Letters, tr. by Hodgkin.

Cicero Orations, tr. by Yonge (Bohn).

'' Letters, tr. by Shuckburgh (Bohn).

*' The Republic, tr. by Hardingham

(Quaritch).

Einhard Life of the Emperor Karl the Great,

tr. by Glaister.

Eusebius Ecclesiastical History and Life of

Constantine, tr. by McGififert (Chris-
tian Lit. Co.).

Eutropius Abridgement of Roman History, tr.

by Watson (Bohn).

508

APPENDIX F. 509

Florus Epitome of Roman History, tr. by

, Watson (Bohn).

Josephus Jewish Wars, tr, by Whiston.

Justin History of the World, tr. by Watson

(Bohn).

Justinian. Institutes, tr. by Moyle.

Lactantius On the Deaths of the Persecutors, tr. by

Fletcher (Christian Lit. Co.).

Livy History of Rome, tr. by Spillan (Bohn).

Mohammed The Koran, tr. by Palmer (Sacred

Books of the East).
Nepos Lives of Eminent Commanders, tr. by

Watson (Bohn).
Paterculus Compendium of the History of Rome,

tr. by Watson (Bohn).

Plutarch Lives, tr. by Stewart and Long (Bohn).

Polybius Histories, tr. by Shuckburgh ' Mac-

millan).
Sallust The Jugurthine War, and Conspiracy

of Catiline, tr. by Watson (Bohn)
Suetonius The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, h".

by Thomson (Bohn).
Tacitus The Annals, History and Germania

(Bohn).

GENERAL HISTORIES OF ROME.

Arnold, T History of Rome, 3 vols.

Duruy, V History of Rome and the Roman

People, 8 vols.
Gibbon, E The Decline and Fall of the Roman

Empire, ed. by J. B. Bury, 6 vols.

Ihne, W History of Rome, 5 vols.

Mommsen, T History of Rome, 4 vols.

HANDBOOKS OF ROMAN HISTORY.

Botsford, G. W A History of Rome Macmillan).

How, W. W. and Leigh, H. D.. .A History of Rome to the Death of

Caesar (Macmillan).

Morey Outlines of Roman History (American

Book Company).
Myers, P. V. N Rome; Its Rise and Fall (Ginn & Co.).

5IO THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Pelham, H. F Outlines of Roman History (G. P.

Putnam's Sons).
Shuckburgh, E. S A History of Rome Macmillan).

WORKS ON SPECIAL PERIODS AND TOPICS.

Abbott, F. F Roman Political Institutions.

Adams, G. B Civilization during the Middle Ages.

Arnold, W. T Roman System of Provincial Admin-
istration.
Beesly, A. H The Gracchi, Marius and Sulla

(Epochs).

Boissier, G Cicero and His Friends, tr. by Fisher.

♦' Rome and Pompeii.

Bradley .The Goths (Nations).

Bryce, J The Holy Roman Empire.

Bury, J. B .^ The Student's Roman Empire, to

i8o A.D.

<* The Later Roman Empire.

Capes, W. W The Early Empire and The Age of

the Antonines (Epochs).

Carlyle, T Heroes and Hero Worship.

Church, A. J Carthage.

' ' Early Britain (Nations).

Church, R. W The Beginning of the Middle Ages

(Epochs).

Coulange, F. de The Ancient City.

Creasy, E. S Fifteen Decisive Battles.

Crutwell, C. T History of Roman Literature.

Curteis, A. M History of the Roman Empire from

Theodosius to Charlemagne.

Davis, H. W. C Charlemagne (Heroes).

Dennis, G The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria.

Dill, S Roman Society in the Last Century

of the Western Empire.

Dodge, T. A. Hannibal and C3esar(Great Captains).

Emerton, E .* Litroduction to the Study of the

Middle Ages.

Farrar, F. W Seekers after God.

Fergusson, J . History of Architect!^ re.

Finlay, G History of Greece.

APPENDIX F. 511

Fisher, G. P History of the Christian Church.

Forsyth Life of Cicero.

Freeman, E. A. Historical Geography of Europe.

" History of Federal Government.

** Historical Essays, 3 series.

" Three Chief Periods of European

History.
" History and Conquests of the Sara-

cens.

Froude, J. A Caesar.

Gardner, Alice Julian (Heroes .

Gilman, A The Saracens (Nations).

Green, J. R The Making of England.

" . . . A Short History of the English People.

Greenidge, A. H. J Roman Public Life.

Guerber, H, A Myths of Greece and Rome.

Guhl and Koner The Life of the Greeks and Romans.

Hadley, J Introduction to Roman Law.

Hardy, E. G . ■ . .Christianity and the Roman Govern-
ment.

Harrison, F -. Byzantine History in the Early

Mitldle Ages.

Hatch Organization of the Early Christian

Churches.

Hodgkin, T Italy and her Invaders.

** The Dynasty of Theodosius.

<* Theodoric the Ostrogoth.

" 4. . . . .Charles the Great.

Holmes, T. R Caesar's Conquest of Gaul.

Ihne, W Early Rome.

Inge, W. R Society in Rome under the Caesars.

Irving, W Mohammed and his Successors.

Kitchin, G. W History of France.

Lane-Poole, Stanley Speeches and Table-talk of the

Prophet Mohammed.

Lanciani, R Pagan and Christian Rome.

<< Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent

Discoveries.

Lecky History of European Morals.

Long, G Decline and Fall of the Roman Re-
public.

512 THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

Mackail, J. W Latin Literature.

Mahaffy, J. P The Greek World under Roman

Sway.

Mahan, A. T The Influence of Sea power upon

History.

Mau, A Pompeii, its Life and Art.

Merivale, C General History of Rome.

'' A History of the Romans under the

Empire.

** Roman Triumvirates (Epochs).

** Conversion of the Roman Empire.

Middleton, C Life and Letters of Cicero.

Milman, H. H History of Christianity.

" History of Latin Christianity.

Mommsen, T Provinces of the Roman Empire.

Montalembert, Count de The Monks of the West.

Morris, W. Hannibal (Heroes).

Morey, W. C Outlines of Roman Law.

Muir, W The Koran.

** . Life of Mohammed.

** Annals of the Early Caliphate.

** Rise and Decline of Islam.

Newman, J. H.. Arians of the Fourth Century.

Oman, C. W. C The Byzantine Empire (Nations).

<• The Dark Ages.

Ramsay and Lanciani Manual of Roman Antiquities.

Ramsay, W. M . . .The Church in the Roman Empire

before 170 a.d.
Renan, E The Influence of Rome upon Chris-
tianity.

Sargeant, T The Franks (Nations).

SchafE, P History of the Christian Church.

Seeley, J. R Roman Imperialism.

Simcox, G. A History of Latin Literature.

Smith, R. B Carthage and the Carthaginians

(Epochs).

'* Rome and Carthage (Epochs).

Stanley, A. P Lectures on the History of the East-
ern Church.
** Christian Institutions,

APPENDIX F. 513

Strachan-Davidson, J. L Cicero and the Fall of the Roman

Republic (Heroes).

Taylor, T. M Constitutional and Political History

of Rome.

Teuffel, W. S History of Roman Literature.

Thatcher and Schwill Europe in the Middle Ages.

Tozer, H. F . . .Classical Geography.

Uhlhorn, G Conflict of Christianity with Heathen-
ism.

Wishart, A. W A Short History of Moiiks and Monas-
teries.

INDEX

Aachen, 485

Achce'an League, 131

Acha'ia, province, 135

Ac'tium. battle of, 259

Adriano'ple, 334: battle at, 397

.■Ediles, curule. duties, 473; elec-
tion, 489; plebeian, election, 489

.■E'dui, 234

/Ega'tian Islands, naval battle
near, 96 »

--Emilia'nus, see Scipio

-rEmilius, see Faulus

y^ne'as, legend of, 17

.^ne'id, see Vergil iv I;

.Equians, 5; war with, 58

Ae'tius, 426

y^to'lians, 123, 126

Africa, province of, 135

Ager public'us, see Public lands
and Agrarian laivs

Agrarian laws, of Tiberius Grac-
chus, 179; of Gaius Gracchus,
184

Agri'cola, general in Britain, 309

Agrigentum, 89

Agrippa, Mcnenius, 47

Agrippa, friend of Augustus, 264

Agrippi'na, mother of Nero, 293,

303

Aix-la-Chapelle, see Aachen

Al'aric, first invasion. 423; col-
lects ransom from Rome, sacks
Rome, death, 424

Alba Longa, 17, 19 ■

xVlban Mount, 12

Albinus, 376

Alemanni, 388

Alexandria, library at, 472

Allia, battle of the, 61

Allies, 76

Allo'broges, 141, 227

Alphabet, Greek, in Italy, 13; Ro.
man, 13, n. 2

Am'brose, bishop of Milan, 418

Ambustus Fabius, M. Consul, 52

Amphitheatre, shows in, 353, 355;
Flavian, 321

x\mu'lius, 17

Ancus Martius, king of Rome, 20

Andalusia, named from Vandals,
426

Andriscus, 13^

Androni'cus, Livius, poet, 151

Angles, or Anglo-Saxons, invasion
of Britain, 426; conversion of,
464

Annales Maximi, 35

Antioch, seat of patriarchiate, 402,
n. I

Anti'ochus the Great, war with
Rome, 123; defeated at Magne-
sia, 125

Antiochus IV., 130

Antium, subdued, 65

Antonines, the, 326 ; government
of, 340

Antoni'nus Pius, emperor, 336

Antony, Mark, offers crown to
Caesar, 250; funeral oration over
Caesar, 254; in Second Trium-
virate, 255; kills Cicero, 256;
governs the east, 258 : joins
Cleopatra, 258; invades Parthia,
259 ; at Actium, 260; death of,
261

Ap'ennines, the, i

Apollo, 43

Apotheosis of emperor, 268

515

5i6

INDEX.

Appeal, citizens' right of, 48
Appian, 358

Appius Claudius, consul, 46; de-
cemvir, 51 ; character of, 51, n. i
Aquae Sextiae, colony, 141; battle

at, 194
Aqueducts, 347
Arabia, 467
Arbogast, 418
Arcadius, emperor, 421
Arch, in Roman building, 282 ; of

Titus, 345 ; of Constantine, 398
Architecture, Roman, 282
Archime'des defends Syracuse, 112;

death of, 112
Arianism, condemned at Nic3ea,400
Ariovis'tus, 234
Arius, heretic, 400
Armenia, province, acquired, 330;

abandoned, 331
Arminius, defeats Varus, 275
Army, primitive. 74 ; under Ser-

vius, 75 ; Polybius, description

of, 75; Imperial, 270; in later

empire, 408 ; weakness of, 436
Arre'tium, 68

Art, dependent character of, 152
Arval Brothers, 40
Arver'ni, 141, 234
As'culum, 197, 198
Asia, province of, 142 ; revolt of,

201
Assemblies, see Comitia centuriaia,

curiata, tributa, consilium plebis
Assyria, province, won, 330; lost,

331
Ataulf, 426
Athana'sius, defender of orthodoxy,

401
Athens, taken by Sulla, 205
At'talus, king of Pergamum, leaves

kingdom to Romans, 142
At'tila, king of the Huns, defeated

at Chalons, 427; invades Italy,

death of, 428
Au'fidus River, 108
Augurs, 42
Augustan Age, 281
Augustine, bishop of Hippo, 438
Augustine, mission of to the British,

465

Augustus, see Octavius; as title,

266
Aurelian, emperor, 390
Aure'lius, Marcus, emperor, reign,

337; writings, 358, 360
Auso'nians, 7
Aus'pices, 31, 42
AuxiHa, 77
Av'entine Hill, 17

Baal Moloch, Carthaginian god, 87

Bae'tica, province in Spain, 136

Bagdad, 473

Barbarians, German or Teutonic,
early movements of, 360; invade
empire, 387; influence of, 440;
conversion of, 463

Barca, see Hamilcar

Batavians, 276

Baths, 348

Belisa'rius, general, conquers Van-
dals, 452; conquers Italy, 452;
recall of, 453

Benedict, Benedictine Monks, 466

Bithynia, 126, 224

Bitu'itus, Gallic chief, 141

Boadice'a, 308

Boii, Gallic tribe, 69, 96, 117

Bologna(bolon'ya), 9; colony, 118

Bosphorus, 403

Bovia'num, 67

Brennus, Gallic leader, 63

Britain, Caesar invades, 239; con-
quest of, under Claudius, 307,
Agricola in,309 ; wall of Hadrian,
332; legions leave, 426; ravaged
by barbarians, 427; Angles and
Saxons in, 427; conversion of, 465

Bruttians, early, 6

Brutus, Lucius Junius,* first consul
27

Brutus, Marcus, conspires againsi
Caesar, 252, flees, 254; death o"
257

Burgundians, settle in Gaul, 426^
conquered by Franks, 443

Burrhus, 303.

Byzantium, 403

Cae're, 8

Caesar Augustus, see Octavius %

INDEX.

517

Csesar, Gaius, see Caligula

Caesar, Gaius Julius, early life,
230; in First Triumvirate, 23 1;
consul; 232; goes to Gaul, 232;
Gallic wars of, 234; in Britain.
239; opposed to Pompey, 244;
crosses Rubicon, 245; war with
Pompey, 245; in the east, 247.
rule of, 249; killed, 252

Cala'bria, 2

Caledo'nia, 309

Calendar, Julian, 251

Calig'ula, emperor, 295

Caliphates, 473

Camenae, nymphs, 19

Camil'lus, legend of, 59

Camp, Roman, 79

Campa'nia, 2

Campanians, 6

Campus Martins, 24

Camulodunum, 307

Cannae, battle of, 107

Canule'ius, tribune, law of, 52

Capitol, siege of the, 61

Capitoline Hill, 24

Ca'prese, Tiberius at, 294

Capua, 9; Hannibal at, iii; fall
of, III

Caracal'la, emperor, 377 ; extends
citizenship, 384 ; baths of, 348

Carac'tacus, British chief, 307

Carbo, Gnseus Papirius, consul,
208

Career of Honors, 172

Carthage, empire of, 86; religion
and government, 86, 87 ; army
of, 87; in Punic Wars, se& Funic
Wars; destruction of, 135 ; col-
ony at, 186 ; taken by Saracens,
472

Carthage, New, or Carthagena,

136
Carus, emperor, 390
Cassius, Gaius, conspirator against

Caesar, 252 ; death, 256
Cassivellaunus, 240
Castor and Pollux, 43 ; at Lake

Regillus, 57
Catacombs, 370
Cat'iline, plot of, 225
Cato, Marcus Porcius, the censor,

131 ; as historian, 34, 156; urges
destruction of Carthage, 131 ;
his austerity, 158

Catullus, poet, 281

Catulus, Q. Lutatius, consul, 194

Caudine Forks, Romans humbled
at, 66

Celtiberians, 137

Celts, Christianity among, 465

Censors, office created, 52 ; duties,
167 ; suppressed by Sulla,
211

Census, when taken, 166 ; descrip-
tion of, 167

Centuries of Servius, 32 ; later,
488

Ceres, 36

Chaerone'a, battle, 206

Chaldaean soothsayers, 150, 324

Chalons battle, 427

Chariot races, 353

Charlemagne, see Charles the
Great

Charles the Great, 479 ; restores
empire in west, 481 ; govern-
ment of, 483

Charles Martel, 473, 478

Charon, Etruscan god, 9

Chlodovic, see Clovis

Chos'roes, king of Persia, 456

Christ, see Jesus Christ

Christianity, origin of, 362; prim-
itive organization, 364; tolera-
tion of, 395, 398; later organi-
zation of, 401; as a factor in
history, 458

Christians, persecution of, under
Nero, 367; under Trajan, 367;
under Marcus Aurelius, 377;
under Diocletian, 394; under
Galerius, 395; under Julian,

413

Chrys'ostom, church father, 4.38
Cicero, Marcus Tullius, prosecutes

Verres, 218; suppresses Catiline,

225; death of, 256; works of,

290
Cili'cia, rendezvous of pirates,

222
Cimbri, defeat of, 194
Ciminian Forest, 7

5i8

INDEX.

Cincinna'tus, Lucius Quintius,

legend of, 58
Ci'neas, 71
Cinna, 206
Circus, shows of, 353; Maximus,

353

Cisalpine Gaul, see Gallia Cisal-
pina

Citizenship, of plebeians, 54; ex-
tended to the Italians, 198; to
provincials, 384

Civi'lis, Claudius, 315

Civil as, 6, 13

Clan, see Gens

Classes, five Servian, 32

Claudius, emperor, 298; reign,
299 ; in Britain, 307; death,
302

Claudius, Appius, see Appius

Claudius, Publius, consul, 95

Cleopatra, and Caesar, 248; meets
Antony, 258; at Actium, 260;
death, 261

Clients, 22

Cloa'ca Maxima, 25

Clovis, reign, 443

Clupea, 93

Clusium, 61

Code, of Justinian, 454

Coelian Hill, 19, 20

CoUati'nus Tarquinius, consul, 27

Colleges, sacred, 39

Colline Gate, battle at, 209

Coloni, 361

Colonies, Greek, of eighth century
B. C, 61; Latin, 84: Roman, 84

Colosseum, 321, 345

Comitia, centuriata, 31, 487; under
Augustus, 267

Comitia curiata, early, 23, 31, 487

Comitia tributa, 53, 171, 488

Commerce, of republic, 162; of
empire, 286

Com'modus, emperor, 373

Consilimu plebis, 488

Constans, emperor, 411

Constantine the Great, 395 ; defeats
Maxentius, 397 ; accepts cross as
standard, 399; grants toleration
to Christians, 399; calls council
of Nicsea, 400; founds Con-

stantinople, 403 ; government of,

406-409; Donation of, 479
Constantine II., 41 1
Constantine VI., 482
Constantinoplcfouiided, 403; court

of, 407
Constantius, Ch'orus, 391, 395
Constantius II.. 411
Consuls, origii\ of office, 28;

powers, 29; plebeian, 52; in later

empire, 404, n, i
Cor'dova, caliphate of, 473
Corfin'ium, 197
Corinth, 135

Coriola'nus, legend of, 48
Cori'oli, 48

Cornelia, mother of Gracchi, 177
Cornelian Laws, 210
Cornelii, 211

Corn Laws, Gracchan, 179, 184
Corpus Juris Civilis, see Code of

Justinian
Corsica, taken by Romans, 92;

annexed, 96
Council, see Consiliuvi plebis.
Crassus, Marcus Licinius, defeats

gladiators, 217 ; consul, 239;

riches of, as triumvir, 232, 238;

invades Parthia, 242; death, 242
Credibility of early Roman history,

33
Cremera, River, 59
Cremo'na, colony, 118
Crime'a, the, 201
Croton, Greek colony, 6
Ctesiphon, 329
Cumae, 6

Curia, 23 ; city council, 342
Curia Hostilia, 169
Curia'tii, legend of, 19
Curio, 23

Curius Dentatus, simplicity of, 154
Curule offices, 160
Cyb'ele, goddess, 150
Cynosceph'alae, battle of, 121

Dacia, under Trajan, 327
Debtor, treatment of, 45, 51, 54
Decebalus, 327

Decemvirs, work of, 49; misrule
and overthrow, 49

INDEX.

519

Decius, emperor, 386

Decius Mus, Pub'ius, consul, devo-
tion of. 64

Delators, 293

Dentatus. Manius Curius, 154

Uia'na, 36

Dictator, 30

Dictatorship, 30; disused, 226, n.
I; of Sulla, 212; of Csesar, 249

Dioceses, religious, 401 ; civil, 407

Diocle'tian, emptror, 390; abdica-
tion of, 392

Diony'sius of Halicarnassus, his-
torian, 34

Divorce, frequency of, 156

Dominus, title of later emperors,
392

Domitian, emperor, 322

Donation of Constantine, 479

Drama, 15 1, 280, 353

Dre'pana, naval battle near, 95

Dress, Roman, 145

Druids, of Gaul, 233; of Britain,
308

Drusus, step-son of Augustus, 264,
265 ; death of, 275

Drusus, Marcus Livius, tribune,
helps Italians, 196; assassinated,
197

Duilius, Gains, consul, victor at
Mylse, 91

Dyarchy, 411

Eastern Empire, worth of, 449

Ecno'mus. battle near, 92

Edict, of provincial governor, 174;

of emperor, 266, 384
Education, 153
Egbert, king of England, 447
Ege'ria, nymph, 19
Egypt, 343 ; taken by Moslems,

472
Elagab'alus, emperor, 381
Elections, 171
Elephants in war, 70, 72, 89, 92,

115, 122
Emperor, power of, 266
Empire, see Rofnan Empire
Ennius, poet, 150
Epictetus, the Stoic, 358
Epicureans, 358

Equestrian order, 161 ; see Knighls

Equites, 74 ; see Knights

Ergastula, 164

Eryx, Mt., 95

Etruria, 7

Etruscans, early civilization, 8-1 1 ;

wars with Rome, 59; in Social

War, 198
Euge'nius, emperor, 419
Euhemerus, 150
Eume'nes, king of Pergamum, 123.

127, 130
Eu'nus, leader of slave revolt, 142
Euric, Visigoth king, 442

P'abii, legend of, 59

Fabius, Ambustus, 61

Fabius Maximus, "Cunctator,"

107 .
Fabricius, simplicity of, 154
Fall of Rome, 430* causes of, 432-

439
Fasces, 30
Fetiales, 40
Fever, goddess, 13
Fimbria, 207

f ire at Rome under Nero, 304
Flamens, 39

Flaminius, Gains, general, 105
Flamininus, L. Quintus, consul,

121, 151
Flavians, the, 320
Food, of the Romans, 146
Forum, site of, 25 ; of Caesar, of

Augustus, of Trajan, 346
Franks, first settlement in Gaul,

389? 443 ; conversion of, 443 ;

importance of, 477
Freedmen, in administration, 300
Fulvia, 256
Funeral customs, 160
Furius, Camillus, dictator, takes

Veii, 59 ; ransoms Rome by the

sword, 63

Gai'seric, 429

Gains, grandson of Augustus, 265
Gains Caesar, see Caligula
Galba, emperor, 310, 311
Galba, general, in Spain, 138
Galen, 358

520

INDEX.

Gale'rius, emperor, 391, 397

(jallia Cisalpina, 12; conquered.
96

Gallia Narbonensis, 142

Gallus, emperor, 386

Gallus, poet, 357

Gaul, subdued by Coesar, 233-242;
Romanization of, 242; assembly
of, at Lugdunum, 274

Gauls, "n northern Italy, 11 \ be-
siege Clusium, 61 ; victory at
AUia, 61 ; besiege Capitol, 61 ;
war with, in third century B.C.,
63; in time of Caesar, 232

Gens, 22; plebeian, 46

Germanicus, nephew of Tiberius,
276

Germans, see Barbarians

Gladiators, revolt of, 216; exhibi-
tions of, 354

Glaucia, 195

Gods of Rome, 36

Golden House, 305

Gordian, 386

Goths, 389; eastern, see Ostro-
goths; western, see Visigoths

Gracchan constitution, 184

Gracchus, Gains, birth, character,
183; work, 184; death, 185

Gracchus, Tiberius, 177; death of,
181

Grain, distribution of, 184, 195,
250, 269

Gratian, emporor, 414

Greece, conquest of, 135

Greek, language, use of, 151 ; re-
ligion at Rome, 148

Greeks in South Italy, 6; in Social
War, 198

Gregory, pope, 464

Hadria, colony, 68

Hadrian, emperor, 330; abandons
Trajan's conquests, 331; mauso-
leum of, 346

Hamilcar, Barca, Carthaginian
general, 95, 99

Hannibal, youth, 99; attacks Sa-
guntum, loo; crosses Rhone,
loi; crosses Alps, 102; in Italy,
103; at Cannae, 107; at Zama,

114; at court of Antiochus, 123;
with Perseus, 126; death of,
126

Hanno, Carthaginian general, 108

Harus'pices, 42

Has'drubal, brother of Hannibal,
loi, id8; death of, 1 12

Has'drubal, son-in-law of Hamil-
car, 99

Hasdrubal, in Third Punic War,

134 .

I J as tat I, 77

Hegira (he'jira), the flight of Mo-
hammed, 469

Hellenism at Rome, 144

Helvetians, 234

Heracle'a, battle of, 70

Her'acles, see Hercules

Her'a'clius, eastern emperor. 456

Pleralds, college of, see J" ft tales

Hercula'neum, destroyed, 322

Hercules, 43

Hernicans, 5

Heruli, German tribe, 430

Hi'ero, king of Syracuse, 88

Hippodrome, of Constantinople,
riot in, 451

Hirpi'ni, 5

Hono'ri'us, emperor, 421

Horace, poet, 282

Hora'tii, legend of, 19

Horatius Codes, legend of, 57

Hortensius. orator, defends Verres,
219

Hostilius, Tullus, king, 19

House, Roman, 144; later, 350.

Huns, attack Goths, 415 ; defeated
at Chalons, 427; invade Italy,
427

lapyg'ians, 6

Iberians, 136

Iconoclastic controversy, 463, 478

Illyria, 6

Illyrian pirates, 120

Images, of those who held office,

160
J??iperator, 262, 266
Imperiuni, 29, 31, 173
Institutes of Justinian, 454
Insubres, Gallic tribe, 96, 117

INDEX.

521

Intermarriage of patricians and
plebeians, 52

Intervention, 48

Ionian Sea, 3

Irene, empress, 482

Islam, see Mohanmiedanism

Italia, or Italy, meaning of, i; de-
scription of, I -3

Italian, allies, before Social War,
q. v., 196; revolt of, 196

Ital'ica, see Corfinium

Janic'ulum, 20

Janus, deity, 36; temple of, 19

Jerusalem, taken by Pompey, 225 ;
by Titus, 318; colony at, 335;
Julian attempts to restore tem-
ple, 413 ; taken by Mohammed-
an, 471

Jesus Christ, 362

Jews, revolt of, 315

Jovian, emperor, 413

Jugur'tha, war with, 189; death of,
192

Julia, daughter of Augustus, 264

Julian, the Apostate, reign, 412

Julia'nus, Didius, buys empire, 376

Junius Pullus, L., consul, 95

Juno, 36

Jupiter, Latiaris, 14; Stator, 18;
Capitolinus, 24; Maximus, 36

Jurists, 383

Justinian, emperor, 450; recovers
Africa, 452; recovers Italy, 452;
code of, 454

Juvenal, poet, 358

Kaaba, at Mecca, 468

Kings, Roman, early power of, 23

Knights, in early army, 74; as

collectors, 162; in courts, 184;

in administration, 341
Koran, the, 470

Labarum, Christian standard, of

Constantine, 399
Lacinium, promontory, 69
Lae'lius, Gaius, 114
Liber, 37
Lands, public, monopolization of,

178; see Agrarian Laws

Lares, cult of, 37, 41

Latin colonies, see Colonies

Latin P'estival, 14

Latin League, 14

Latin rights, 84

Latins, 13; submissitm of, 64

Latium, 12; conquest of, 56

Lato'na, 43

Laiidationes 35

Law, Twelve Tables, 49 ; under
Justinian, 454; Canuleian, 52 ;
Licinian, 53

Legion, 74, 76

Leo the Great, pope, turns back
Attila, 427; intercedes with Gai-
seric, 428

Lepidus, Marcus ^milius, revolt,
214

Lepidus, Marcus ^milius, trium-
vir, 253

Liber, 37

Libri Lintei, 35

Libyans, 87

Licinian laws, 52

Licinius, emperor, 397

Licinius Gaius, tribune, 53

Lictors, Etruscan, 8; of consuls, 30;
of dictator, 31

Liguria, Ligurians, 12, 87; con-
quest of, 136

Lipariae Islands, 91

Literature, early, 151; Augustan,
280; of first and second centuries
AD., 356

Livy, historian, 34, 282

Lombards, enter Italy, 446; con-
quered by Pranks, 447, 480

London, 307

Lucan. poet, 357

Lucanians, early, 5 ; join Hanni-
bal, m

Luceres, early Roman tribe, 23,

n- 3

Lucius, grandson of Augustus, 265

Lucretia, legend of, 27

Lucre'tius, legend of, 27

Lucretius, poet, 280

Lucullus, Lucius Licinus, lieuten-
ant of Sulla, 220, 221

Lucumons, Etruscan nobles, 8

Luperca'lia, 40

522

INDEX.

Lupercals, 40
Lusitania, 216
Lusitanians, 138
Lustraiio, 168
Luxury, Roman, 154

Macedonia, 120; end of kingdom,
128

Macedonian War, First, 120; Sec-
ond, 121; Third, 127

Macrinus, emperor, 381

Maece'nas, patron of literature, 282

Magistrates, 160 ; order of holding
office, 172; under empire, 267

Magna Groecia, 6

Magnesia, battle of, 125

Mago, 114

Mahar'bal, Carthaginian general,

105

Mamertine dungeon, see Tulha-
num

Mamertines, 88

Manci'nus, general, in Spain, 139

Manes, 41

Manilian Law, 223

Maniple, 77

Manlius, Marcus, defender of Cap-
itol, 62; death of, 63

Manlius, Titus, consul, 82

Mantua, 9

Mantus, Etruscan god, 9

Marcel'lus, Marcus Claudius, gen-
eral, 112

Marcoman'ni, 275 ; in time of M.
Aurelius, 3/0, 360

Maremma, 7'

Marius, Gains, 189; in Jugurthine
War, 189; destroys Cimbri, 194;
and Teutons, 193; reorganizes
army, 193; in Social War, 199;
rival of Sulla, 203; exile, 204;
seventh consulship, 207; death,
207

Marriage, intermarriage of patri-
cians and plebeians, legalized,
52; change in form of, 156

Mars, 36

Marsians, 5; in Social War, 196

Martial, poet, 357

Massinis'sa, king of Numidij, 114

Massilia, ally of Rome, 141

Master of the horse, 31

Maxentius, 397

Maximian, emperor, 391, 396, 397

Maximinus, emperor, 385

Mayors of the Palace, 477

Mecca, 468, 469

Medi'na, 469

Mediola'num, 96

Memmius, tribune, I90

Merovingians, kings of Franks,

444, 477
Mesopota mia, 330
Messi'na, in Punic War, 88
Mercury., 37

Metau'rus River, battle of, 115
Metel'Ius, L. Csecilius, consul, 93
Metellus, Quintus Caecilius, 139
Metellus, Quintus Caecilius Numi-

dicus, 190
Metellus, Quintus Caecilius Pius,

general, 216
Mettius Fuffetius, 20
Migration of German tribes, 421
Milan, 97
Military roads, 84
Milo, tribune, 238
Milvian Bridge, battle at, 397. 399
Minerva, 36
Mithra, worship of, 393
Mithridates, king of Pontus, 200 ;

massacres Italians, 203; see

Mithridatic Wars
Mithridatic Wars, First, 204;

Second, 220; Third, 224
Mo'dena, colony, 118
Moe'sia, province, 273
Mohammed, 468
Mohammedanism, 467; teaching,

470 ; progress of, 47 1 ; good of,

473

Monasticism, 465

Money, early Roman, 22; later,
circulation, 161

Mosquitoes, as carriers of malaria,
13, n. I

Mummius, Lucius, destroys Co-
rinth, 135

Munda, battle of. 249

Municipal system,under empire,342

Mus, see Dechis

Mylae, naval battle near, 91

INDEX.

523

Naples, 7

Narlxjnen'sis, see Gallia

Narcissus, freedman of Claudiuc,
300

Narses, general, 453

Nasica, see Scipio

Neapolis, see Naples

Neptune, 36

Nero, emperor, 293, 302, 306;
reign, death, 31 1; Golden House
of, 345 ; persecution by, 365

Nerva, emperor, 326

Nervii, 236

Next4s, 45

Nicaea, Council of, 400

Nimes, Roman remains at, 349,

350
Nobility, Roman, 160
Noricum, Cimbri in, 192, 273
Numa, king of Rome, 19
Numan'tia, 139
Numantian War, 139
Nu mitor, 17

Octaviiis, Gaius, heir of Julius
Caesar; 254; in Second Triumvi-
rate, 255; governs the west, 258;
at Actium, 260; in sole con-
trol, 261 ; government of, 263;
death of, 265, buildings of, 285

Octavius Marcus, tribune, 180

Odenathus, 387

Odoa'cer, 430

Op'ici, 7

Optima tes, 188

Orcho'menus, 206

Orcus, 37

Ores'tes, 430

Ostia, harbor, 20, 349

Ostrogoths, in Italy, 444; con-
quered by Belisarius, 446

Otho, emperor, 310, 311

Ovid, poet, 282

Paganism, restored by Julian, 412;

abolished at Rome, 419
Pal'atine Hill, 15
Palaeopolis, 66
Palladium, 41

Pallas, freedman of Claudius, 300
Palmyra, 387, 390

Panormus, battle of, 93

Pantheon, 285

Pantomime, 353

Papacy, ribe of, 402 ; growth of,
460; temporal power of, 479

Papin'ian, jurist, 384

Papir'ius, dictator, 82

Papius Mutilus, 198

Parma, colony, 118

Parthians, defeat Crassus, 242;
attacked by Trajan, 329; by
Verus, 337; take Valerian, 387

Paterfamilias, power of, 49

Patres, heads of gentes, 22; sena-
tors, 23

Patria potestas, power of father, 49

Patricians, early, 22

Patron, 22

Paul, apostle, 364

Paulus, Lucius ^milius, consul,
108

Paulus, Lucius ^milius, victor at
Pydna, 127; triumph of, 129;
library of, 151

Peasantry, ruin of, 178

Pedani, 1 70

Peirse'us, siege of, by Sulla, 205

Penates, household gods, 145

Pergamum kingdom of, 123

Persecution, see Christianity

Perseus, king of Macedonia, 126;
war with, 127

Persian empire, new, 456

Per'tinax, emperor, 375

Pescennius Niger, 376

Pestilence, in time of Marcus Au-
relius, 360

Peter, apostle, at Rome, 365, 462

Phar'naces, defeated by Caesar, 248

Pharsalus, battle of, 246

Philip, emperor, 386

Philip, of Macedonia, allied with
Hannibal, 120; first Macedo-
nian war, 120 ; second Macedo-
nian war, 121

Philip'pi, battle at, 256

Philosophy, 358

Picen'tines, 5

Pictor, Fabius, historian, 34, 251

Pippin, king of Franks, 478; do-
nation of, 479

524

INDEX.

Piracy, 222

Pirates of Mediterranean, put down
by Pompey, 222

Placen'tia, colony, 119

Plautus, dramatist, 151

Plebeian assembly, see Consilium
plebis

Plebeians, origin, 23; early status,
45; secession of, 46; permitted
to marry patricians, 51; ad-
mitted to consulship, 52; full
citizenship granted to, 54; in
later republic, 162; urban, 162

Plebiscita, 34

Plebs see Plebeians

Pliny the Younger, letter to Tra-
jan, 358, 367

Plutarch, historian, 358

Po River, valley of, i, n. i; Etrus-
can cities in valley of, 9; Gauls
in, 12, 60

Pollen'tia, battle at, 423

Polyb'ius, historian, 34; at Rome,

131

Pompe'dius Silo, 198
Pompe'ii, destruction of. 322
Pompeius, general in Numantian

War, 139
Pompey, or Pompeius, Gnaeus,

joins Sulla, 214; in Spain, 216;

suppresses gladiators, 218; in

First Triumvirate, 231; conquers

Syria, 224; suppresses pirates,

222; fights Mithridates, 224;

civil war virith Caesar, 224;

death, 247
Pompey, Gnseus, son of preceding,

249
Pompey, Sextus, 257
Pons sublicius. wooden bridge over

Tiber, 20, 24
Pontifex maximus,4i
Pontiffs, 41
Pontius Gavius, Samnite general,

66
Pontus, 224
Popes, see Papacy
Popilius Laenas, 130, 139
Poplicola, see Publius Valerius
Poppaea, wife of Nero, 303
Popular es^ 195, 2io, 218

Population, decline of, in later em-
pire, 434

Populus^ 22

Porsen'na, Etruscan king, 57

Praenes'te, 209

Prtetexla, colored toga of a magis-
trate, 160

Praetorian guard, origin, 269;
power of, 299; control empire,

373
Praetors, first name of consuls, 28;

origin of office, 53
Prefect, of city, 270, 391 ; praetorian,

294
Prefectures, 408
Priests, 39; colleges of, 40, 41 ;

173
Propertius, poet, 282
Propraetors, as provincial magis-

trates, 173
Proscriptions, of Sulla, 209; of

triumvirs, 256
Provinces, first Roman, 96, 171 ;

government of, 173; lists of

imperial, 270 ; senatorial, 270 ;

under the Antonines, 341 ; under

Diocletian, 391 ; under Constan-

tine, 407
Provincial system, 173
Pru'sias, 126, 130
Ptolemy, geographer, 358
Public Assemblies, see Comitia
Public lands, 161 ; at time of

Gracchi, 179
Publicans, 161; exactions of, in

Asia, 201, 220
Punic Wars, First, 86-98; Second,

99-120; Third, 133-135
Pydna, battle of, 127
Pyrrhus, assists Tarentum, 69;

war with, 70; defeat of, 72

Quaestors, 172

Quinqueremes, built by Romans,

90
Quintilian, rhetorician, 357

INDEX.

525

Quirinus, name of Romulus, 19
Quirites, 32

Radagai'sus, 423

Ram'nes, 23, n. 3

Raven'na, 9; exarchate of, 453

Regil'lus, Lake, battle at, 56

Regulus, Atilius, general, 92; at
Carthage, 93; death, 93

Religion, Roman, early, 36-44;
chief deities, 36; character of,
38; priests, 39; Greek rites in,
43; eastern, in Rome, 150; weak-
ness of, 150

Remus, 17, 18

Representation, hints of, in Gallic
assembly, 274

Rescript. 384

Res publica, early use of term, 13

Rhaetia, province, 273

Rhea Sylvia, 17

Rhodes, 120, 126; loses possessions,

131

Ric'imer, 430

Roads, military, 84, 286

Roga'tor, 32

Roma quadra ta, 15

Roman colonies, see Colonies

Roman Empire, organized by
Augustus, 263; limits of, under
him, 277; extent under Trajan,
327; sale of, by prsetorians, 376;
division of, 421; fall of western
empire, 429; eastern empire con-
tinues, 449

Roman people, primitive, 21

Romance languages and peoples,
476

Rome, foundation of, 15; early
society and government, 21,
under kings, 15-27; growth, 24;
three tribes of, 23, n. 3 ; sacked
by Gauls, 62; rebuilt, 63; admin-
istration, under empire, 268;
ransom from Alaric, 424; sacked
by Alaric, 424; by Vandals, 429;
effect of fall, 439

Romulus, king of Rome, legend of,
16

Romulus Augustulus, last emperor
of west, 430

Rostrum, origin of name, 171
Roumania, 328
Rubicon River, 245

Sabellians, 4

Sabines, country of, 4; rape of, 18;
union of, with Rome, 18

Sacred colleges, 39

Sacred Mount, secession to, 46

Sacred Spring, 4

Sacrifices, 38

Saguntum, taken by Hannibal, 100

Sa'lii, 40

Sallust, historian, 281

Salona, 392

Samnite War, First, 66; Second.
66; Third, 67

Samnites, early, 5; join Hannibal,
III; in Social War, 197; attack
Rome, 209

Samnium, 5

Sapor, king of Persia, 387

Sardinia, province, 96

Saturn, 36

Satuminus, 195

Saxons, conversion of, 465; con-
quest of, by Charles the Great,

479
Scae'vola, Mucius, legend of, 57
Scandinavians, 447
Schools, 357
Scipio, I^ucius Cornelius, Barbatus,

68
Scipio, Lucius Cornelius, (Asiati-

cus), 124
Scpio, Publius Cornelius, fights

Hannibal, 102-104
Scipio, Publius Cornelius (Africa-

nus Major) in Spain, 114; at

Zama, 114, 115
Scipio, Publius Cornelius ^milia-

nus (Africanus Minor), at Car-
thage, 133; at Numantia, 140;

opposes Gracchus, 182
Scipio, Publius Cornelius, Nasica,

182
Seja'nus, prefect, 294
Seleucia, 329
Sella curulis, Etruscan origin of,

21; seat of consul, 30; of other

magistrates, 160

526

INDEX.

Sempronius, 104

Sempronius Tiberius, 137

Sena Gallica, colony, 69

Senate, Roman^ under kings, 23;
growing power of, 33; in sea^nd
century, 169; under the empire,
267, 341. 404, n. I

Senate of Constantinople, 404

Senatus consulhtm, 170

Sen'eca, moralist, 357

Seneca, rhetorician. 357

Sen'ones, Gallic tribe, 61

Senti'num, battle of, 68

Sequani, 234

Sertorius, Quintus, revolt of, in
Spain, 215

Servian reforms, 32

Servile War, First, 142; Second,
218

Servius TuUius, king of Rome, 21;
reforms of, 21

Seve'rus, Alexander, emperor, 382

Severus Septimius, emperor, 376

Sib'ylline books, 43

Sicily, at time of First Punic War,
88; first province, 96; slave re-
volt in, 142; Verres in, 218

Silius, poet, 357

Silk culture, introduction of, 453

Slaves, first revolt of, 142; in later
republic, 163; second revolt of,
218

Social War, causes of, 196; results
of, 199

Socii, 76, 196

Soissons, battle of, 443

Soldiers, enlistment, 75; pay. and
booty, 81 ; discipline of, 81 ; in-
creased pay, 324

Soothsayers, Etruscan, 10

Spain, Hannibal in, 100 ; conquests
in, 136; Numantian War, 139;
Vandals in, 426; Visigoths in,
442; conquered by Saracens,
472; Charles the Great in, 480

Spalatro, 392, n. i.

Spar'tacus, gladiator, 216

Stil'icho, Vandal general, defeats
Goths, 423

Stoicism, 358

Sueto'nius, 358

Suevi, 423 ' '

vSul'fetes, magistrates at Carthage,

Sulla, L. Cornelius, in Jugurthine
War, 191; in Social War, 199;
war with Mithridates, 203; at-
tacks Rome, 203; campaigns,
207; returns to Italy, 208; war
with Marius, 208; proscriptions,
209, dictator, 210; constitution,
211; abdication and death, 212

Suovetatiriiia, 168

Syagrius, governor, 443

Syb'aris, Grcvrk colony, 6

Syracuse, Greek colony, 88; ally
of Carthage, 89; fall, iii

Syria. 120, 123

Tacitus, emperor, 390

Tacitus, historian, 358

Tages, Etruscan god, 10

Tan'aquil, wife of Tarquin, 21

Taren'tum, Greek colony, 6; cap-
ture of, 72

Tarpe'ia, 18

Tarpeian Rock, 16

Tarquin'ii, Etruscan city, 21

Tarquinius Collatinus, 21

Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome,
21

Tarquinius Superbus, Lucius, king
of Rome, 21, 27; expelled, 27

Tatius, Sabine king, 19

Taxation, 161, 174; increase in
later empire, 408, 414, 436

Temple, of Jupiter Capitolinus, 16,
24, 36; Janus, 16, 19; Quirinus,
16; Vesta, 16; Jupiter Stator, 18;
Saturn, 19, at Jerusalem, 225

Terence, dramatist, 151

Tertullian, church father, 365

Teutons, see Barbarians; Marius
crushes, 193

Thapsus, battle of, 248

Theatres, Roman, 353

Theodora, wife of Justiiiian, 451

Theo'doric, king of the Ostrogoths,

444
Theodosius, L, the Great, emperor,
416; reduces Goths. 417; orders
massacre at Thessalonica, 418;

INDEX.

527

penance of, 418; suppresses pa-
ganism, 419; divides empire,
421

ThermcE^ see Baths

Thessaly, 121

Thessaloni'ca, massacre at, 418

Thirty Tyrants, 387

Tiber River, 12

Tiberius, emperor, early life, 264;
in Germany, 275; rule of, 289;
provinces under, 292; last years
of, 293; character of, 294

Tibul'lus, poet, 282

Tibur, 336

Tici'nus, battle of the, 103

Tigra'nes, war against, 221

Timse'us, historian, 34

Tities, tribe of early Rome, 23, n. 3

Titus, emperor, 321 ; siege of Jeru-
salem, 318; arch of, 345

Tivoli, see Tibur

Toga, the, 145

Tours, battle near, 473

Trajan, emperor, reign, 326; cam-
paigns in Dacia, 327; in Par-
thia, 329; treatment of Chris-
tians, 365 ; column of, 328

Trasumenus, Lake, battle at, 105

Treason, law of majestas^ under
Titerius, 293

Treasuries, under empire, 272

Tre'bia, battle of, 104

Triarii^ 77

Tribes, early, 23, n. 3; under Ser-
vius, 21

Tribunes, military, 75

Tribunes, military, with consular
power, 52

Tribunes, plebeian, creation of
office, 47; number, 47; powers,
47; inviolability, 47; extension
of powers, 48; admitted to sen-
ate, 48; power reduced by Sulla,
209

Tribuntian power of emperor, 266

Tributum, war tax, abolished at
Rome, 130

Triumph, description of, 83; last
at Rome, 423

Triumvirate, First, 231; Second,
255

Trogus Pompeius, historian, 357
Truceless War, 96
Tuculcha, Etruscan god, 10
Tullia, daughter of Servius Tullius,

21
TuUianum. 227
TuUus Hostilius, king of Rome,

19
Tuscans, 8

Twelve Tables, laws of, 49
Tyrol, 8
Tyrrhenians, 8

Ulpian, jurist, 384
Umbria, Umbrians, 4; in Social
War, 198

Vadimon Lake, 69

Valens, emperor, 413; receives
Visigoths into empire, 415;
death, 416

Valentinian, emperor, 413

Valerian, emperor, 387

Valerian Law, 48

Valerius, Flaccus, Lucius, consul,
207

Vandals, 424; in Spain, 426; in
Africa, 442; sack Rc^me, 429;
put down by Justinian, 452

Varro, writer, 281

Varro, Gains Terentius, consul, at
Cannae, 108

Varus, Quintilius, defeat of, by
Germans, 275

Veii, Etruscan city, taken by Ro-
mans, 59

Veli'tes, 74, 77

Ven'eti, 12, 236

Venice, l>eginnings of, 428

Venus, 36

Verceriee. battle at, 194

Vercinget'orix. 240

Vergil, poet, 271

Vero'na, battle at, 423

Verres, 218

Verus, Lucius, colleague of Mar-
cus Aurelius. 337

Vespasian, Flavius. emperor, 313,
320

Vesta, 36; temple of, 170

Vestals, 40

528

INDEX.

Vesti'ni, 5

Vesuvius, eruption of, 322

Veto, of tribunes, 48

Via ALmilia, 118

Via Appia, 85

Via Sceierata, 21, n. I

"N^ctory, statue of, removed, 419

Vindex, 310

Virginia, legend of, 51

Viria'thus, Spanish chief, 138

Visigoths, cross Danube, 415 ; re-
volt, subdued by Theodosius,
416; invade Italy, 423; in Spain,
426, 442

Vitellius, emperor, 312

Volscians, war with, 58; subdued,
64

Volsin'ii, Etruscan city, 73
Voting, manner of, 17 1
Vulcan, 36, 149

Woman, position of, in Rome, 155

Xanthip'pus, aids Carthage, 92

York, 309

Zama, battle of, 114
Zenobia, 390
Zeus, 149

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