UC-NRLF Z03 $B SD3 ass Hstorg Iprimcrs. £ditedfy].R. greets. HISTORY OF ROME. REV. M. CREIGHTON, M.A., FELLOW AND TUTOR OF MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD, W/TN MAPS. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON & COMPANY^ 549 & 551 BROADWAY. 1877. • * • • • .:* » ^ • • « •*••«• ••♦•» (h 7 0' CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION, 5 CHAP. I. — HOW ROME BECAME A CITY, ... 6 CHAP. II. HOW ROME BECAME MISTRESS OF ITALY, 19 r:HAP. III. ROME'S WARS WITH CARTHAGE, . 35 CHAP. IV. — HOW ROME CONQUERED THE EAST, . 47 "7 ^ CHAP. V. HOW THE ROMANS BEHAVED AS CON- QUERORS, . . . . -51 $ 7 CHAP. VI. ATTEMPTS AT REFORM BY THE GRACCHI, 57 £f 5 CHAP. VII. TIME OF MISGOVERNMENT AT ROME, . 60 /6^'CHAP. VIII. THE CIVIL WARS OF ROME, . . 66 / /■ . CHAP. IX. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE EMPIRE, . 8^ jfj- CHAP. X. THE FLAVIAN EMPERORS, . . .96 jyCUAV. XL EMPERORS ELECTED BY THE SOLDIERS, IO3 ft^CnXP. XII. CHANGES MADE BY DIOCLETIAN AND ^ CONSTANTINE, . . . . I09 /"^CHAP. XIII. — SETTLEMENTS OF THE BARBARIANS IN THE EMPIRE, . . . . I18 TABLE SHOWING THE DESCENT OF THE JULIAN EMPERQRS, . . . . 94 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 1 25 LIST OF MAPS. 1. The Roman Empire. Frontispiece. 2. Italy at the Time of Rome's founding, .... 7 3. The Races of Italy, so 4. The Peoples around Rome, . . . . . . .21 5. Rome and the Samnites, 27 6. Rome and South Italy, . 3^ 7. The Roman Roads in/^flvo r: ^v /-» 34 8. Rome and Carthage, y*^^/ be, if the votes so fell out. So you see that the patricians, by trying too hard to keep everything to themselves, really lost in the long run. This long struggle between the patricians and ple- beians is very wonderful. You must remember that both parties lived in the same city, and were always meeting one another in the streets. But there were very seldom mobs or riots or bloodshed. In their struggles they always used means which the laws allowed, and the plebeians obeyed the laws, even though they wished to alter them. Both sides fought hard, yet kept their temper : they were not in a hurry, for they knew the strongest side would win at last. No country, except England, has ever been so wise and moderate in settling its disputes. CHAPTER II. HOW ROME BECAME MISTRESS OF ITALY. / I. The Peoples of Italy. — During the time of this struggle between the patricians and plebeians, Rome could not become a very great nation. Still, k ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. she was making herself feared in Italy, and it was partly because the plebeians fought so well against Rome's enemies that the patricians gave way to them at last. „f,TAWHllrt Ciesides.-th€ -^quians, especi- ally the Greek cities south of Rome, in the district called Campania. These cities were so weak, and also so wealthy, that, when the Gauls were gone, they were attacked by a hardy - Italian tribe, called the Samnites, who lived among the Apennine mountains, which ran down the centre of Italy. The Samnites so distressed one of these cities, Capua, that she called on the Romans to help her, in the year 343. This was the beginning of the Samnite wars, which lasted for more than 50 years, tii^t is, to the year 290. 5. Rome and the Samnites. This time of the Samnite wars was a most important 2 8 ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. time for Rome; it settled whether Rome was to govern Italy or not. The Samnites were the stoutest and bravest enemies Rome had yet met with : they were as stubborn, and almost as strong as the Romans themselves. The first Samnite war was soon over, and had not much result : both sides were willing to make peace, especially Rome, for she was just then afraid of her allies, the Latins. 12. The Latin War.-r-The Latins, now that the Gauls were gone, did not wish to be subject to the Romans any more. In 340 they sent to the Romans and asked to be made equal with them. They were willing that Rome should still be the capital of the alliance, but its Senate must be doubled, and there must be two Latin as well as two Roman Consuls every year. The Romans would not agree to this, so the great Latin war arose, which was to settle which of these two powers, the Romans or the Latins, should rule the other. It lasted three years (340-338) and was very severe. The greatest battle of the war was fought at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, and victory was for a long time doubtful. But the Roman consul, Publius Decius Mus, had heard that that side should conquer whose general gave himself up to death. So he covered his head with his cloak, and rushing among the enemy, was killed. Then the victory went slowly in favour of the Romans. 13. The doom of Manlius. — You may judge how stern the Romans were by a story told of the other consul, Titus Manlius. He had given orders that no one should fight a single combat with any of the foe. One day, however, his own son, being ^challenged by an enemy, fought with him and killed him, and brought back his spoils. His father ordered him to be be- headed for disobedience, and stood by to see it done. And though all men were struck with horror, yet they said that the doom of Manlius was just. 14. How Rome governed the Latins. — The Latins, then, were conquered, and Rome took all their II.] HOW ROME BECAME MISTRESS OF ITALY. 29 towns, and gave them different privileges, and taught them all to look up to Rome herself, and to care more for her than they had done for one another. You see Rome could not look upon the Latins as strangers, for they had long been her allies. Romans. and Latins had fought side by side, used the same arms, and been almost brothers. So when Rome conquered, she did not treat the Latins hardly, but she took care that they should not rise against her again. So she would not allow the Latin cities to trade with one another, but made them all trade with Rome, so that Rome became their capital. Also she gave them all hopes of being made citizens of Rome if they remained faithful. So the Latins began to forget that they had been conquered, and were proud of being ruled by Rome. Rome learned in this way how to bind to herself the people she conquered, so that they seldom tried to rebel. You must remember that later on she always did the same things after a war : she separated the towns she had won from one another, and made them all hope that she would reward them if they were jijij6-*rue to her. 15. ^econd Samnite War. — It was well for Rome that she had made the Latins contented^ for in 327 began the second Samnite war, which lasted till 305, for twenty-two years. It was a war in which both sides fought hard, for they knew that the people which won would be the chief state in Italy. The Samnites had a very brave general, called Gftrcs^" Pontius, who once very nearly destroyed the Roman army. He made his army pretend to run away, and the Romans followed him by the shortest way, till they were shut up in a valley, with the Samnites all around them, and could not get out. They had to surrender to Pontius, and he made peace with them, and let them go free. \ But the Romans at home would not hear of -tho yeace ; they said that no peace was rightly made except by the Senate, and they sent' back as prisoners to Pontiu^ the 30 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. consuls who had made the peace. Pontius said he might have killed all the army, if he had chosen, and then he could have forced them to make peace : now, if they would not have peace, let them put their army back again in the pass of 'Caudium. But the Romans refused, saying they had sent him the consuls who had done the wrong, and that was all they were bound to do. Pontius sent the consuls back, and the war went on. The Romans did not act fairly in this, but they were always a people who thought they had a^ their duty if they kept the letter of the law. ls the war went on, the Etruscans became frightened Jlome's power, and helped the Samnites, but they too were beaten. At last, in 304, the Samnites were obliged to lay down their armsA f''^i6. Third Samnite W^— But peace did not last long, for in 300 began the third Samnite war. All the peoples of Italy, who up to this time had been fighting agains^.on^ another, were now drawn together by a commonvl^^^^^ipf Rome, and so this war was a desperate struggle of Samnites, Etruscans, and Gauls to shake off the power of Rome. A great battle was fought in 295 at Sentinum, in which the Romans beat them all. Two years afterwards the brave leader of the Samnites, Caius Pontius, was taken prisoner by the Romans, who had no pity for him, but put him to death. The Romans always showed themselves with- out mercy for those who rose against them, and this ras another reason why the towns they conquered did ot often rise again. \ \ ' 17. Wars WttTl Ae Greek cities.-!— jstqw, the last Samnite war had settled that Rome was to be mistress of all southern Italy. She had subdued the Samnites and Etruscans, and had driven back the Gauls, and there were only some Greek cities in the south to stand against her. These cities had once been very powerful, and were still very rich, in fact so rich that they did not care about fighting for themselves. One of the most important of these cities was n.'\ HOW ROME BECAME MISTRESS OF ITALY, 31 Tarentum, on the ^"eat gulf of Tarentum, which is in the south of Italy. The Romans had been helping some of the other cities near Tarentum against their enemies, and the people of Tarentum were very ^rKsrsssTiSoartSrtsrcsmar- i a 6. Rome and South Italy. jealous of Rome's power. One day the people were all sitting in the theatre, which was in the open air, and had its seats looking towards the sea. They were listening to one of those plays of which the Greeks were so fond, when suddenly they saw ten Roman ships sail close to the harbour of Tarentum. In a rage they rushed to their ships, attacked the Romans, and destroyed half of them. So the war ^ began in the year 282. ' - |C«.«STAII>..L0»I.O>L, 7. The Roman Roads in Italy. 22. Character of the old Romans. — In this way, then, Rome governed Italy. And these days of lier wars with the Samnites and with Pyrrhus were her most flourishing days. For the Romans still had to work hard, and had not yet grown rich : so they were honest and brave and noble.. Many stories are told showing how simply the old Romans lived. Their great generals and statesmen were no grander than II. ] ROME 'S WARS WITH CARTHA GE. 3 5 Other people, and when presents were sent them, they used to refuse to take them. Thus, the Sam- nites sent a present of gold to a great Roman general, Manius Curius. The messengers found, him at his farm* cooking his own dinner, which was a turnip roasted in the ashes of his fire : and he had only a wooden dish to eat it on. When the Samnites brought out their gold, Curius refused to take it, saying, "It is more glorious not to have gold, but to have power over those who have it." But the time was soon to come when the Romans were to grow rich in foreign wars, and their simple life would last no lonsrer. CHAPTER III. [^ ROME'S WARS WITH CARTHAGE. Only eleven years after Pyrrhus had gone, the Roman-, were engaged in a^nother war with foreigners, with the Carthaginians. I. Origin of Carthage. — Carthage, as you will see on the map, was a town on the north coast of Africa, at the point where the African coast is nearest to Sicily. Carthage itself was a colony of the Phoe- nicians, who lived on the coast of Syria just above Palestine, and whose great towns were Tyre and Sidon. These Phoenicians were the same people as the Canaanites who had been driven out by the Israelites from Palestine. They spoke Hebrew, and so belonged to the same great Semitic race to which the Jews also belonged. In old times they had been great traders ; their ships are said to have sailed as far as Gaul, and got tin overland from Britain. Carthage is said to have been founded as a colony of Tyre about 100 years before the foundation of Rome, but it grew into power sooner than Rome did, because it was engaged in trade. Carthage was like Rome in not being ruled by a king, but it was 4 36 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. ruled by its nobles, who were very rich from the money they gained in trade. All the western half of the north coast of Africa had been conquered by Carthage, but the conquered people were not treated by them so well as the Italians were by Rome. You will see how important this was in the great war that was now coming on. A F H ■ow^o«o-s laoei.. t»T.«L. VBnt,om. 8. Rome and Carthage. 2. Carthaginians in Sicily. — It was in Sicily thai the Romans and Carthaginians first met one another : it was very natural that they should do so, as the island of Sicily lies between Italy and Carthage. The Sicels, who gave their name to Sicily, were an Italian people, very like the Latins at first. But the Greeks planted colonies in Sicily as early as 735, and the Sicels learned to be like the Greeks. These Greeks were great traders as well as the Carthaginians, so the two were always fighting, especially as the Carthaginians settled on the west coast of Sicily and tried to drive p III.] ROME'S WARS WITH CARTHAGE. 37 out the Greeks. Thus, while Rome was carrying on her early wars in Italy, there was constant fighting in Sicily between the Carthaginians and the Greeks, under the tyrants or kings of Syracuse. 3. First Punic War. — The cause of these Phoe- 7tidan, or Funic wars, as the wars with Carthage are called, was this. Some Italian pirates had settled in Messana, the nearest city in Sicily to Italy. Both the Greeks and Carthaginians wished to drive them out, so the pirates called to Rome for help, and Rome, not wishing the Carthaginians to take Messana, sent help ; so a war began which was to last for twenty-two years (264-241). The Romans had no ships, while the Carthaginians, as being great traders, had a large fleet. But the Romans had a better army on land, as every Roman was a soldier, and the ItaUans who were in Rome's army fought willingly for Rome. The Carthaginians sent generals only of their own with an army hired from the peoples under their rule, who cared for nothing but their pay. 0/ 4. Growth of Rome's Navy. — At first, when the war was carried on in Sicily, the Romans drove back the Carthaginians, and compelled the Greek king of Syra- cuse to make peace, and ally himself with them instead of with Carthage. But the Carthaginian ships did so much harm to the Italian coast that the Romans saw they could do nothing till they also had a fleet. It happened that a Carthaginian ship was wrecked on the shore of Italy. So the Romans took it as a model, and began to build ships like it. And at the same time that they were building the ships, they began to train rowers. Ships in those days were rowed by men arranged in rows one above the other:- and in large ships of war there were five such rows, — so that it required some practice before the ships could be used. In 260 the new fleet put to sea. The Romans knew they could conquer if they could only have a chance of close fighting : so they had long wooden bridges 38 ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. fastened to their masts, with a spike at the end. When their ships came near enough to the Carthaginian ships, the bridge was let fall, and the spike fixed it in the deck of the ship on which it fell. Then the Roman soldiers ran on board the Carthaguiian ship, and easily took it. By this means the Romans, though they were not good seamen, won two great battles at sea in the next four years. \j 5. Regulus in Africa (256). — Made bold by this, ^ the Roman consul, Marcius Regulus, sailed to Africa, and plundered all the country. The Carthaginians were very frightened, and offered to make peace, but Regulus would have nothing but entire submission. Then the Carthaginians gathered an army, and fell upon the Romans and defeated them, and took Regulus prisoner. Still the war went on as before in Sicily, and in 250 the Romans won a battle, and took prisoners some Carthaginian nobles. , The Cartha- ginians, wishing to get them back, sent Regulus to Rome, and made him promise that, if he did not make an exchange of prisoners, he would come back to Carthage. Regulus thought that the Romans would lose by the exchange, and he boldly said so, and ad- vised the Senate not to make it. So they refused, and Regulus nobly kept his word, and left his wife and children and friends in Rome, and went back to die in ^prison at Carthage. vL^. End of the First Punic War.-— The war dragged on till 241, when the Romans won a great victory at sea. The Carthaginians were tired, and wished for peace : there had arisen also amongst them a great general, Hamilcar, surnamed Barca, or Light- nings who saw that Carthage must have some time of quiet, in which she might train soldiers who could fight the Romans on land. So the Carthaginians made peace, and agreed to pay Rome a large sum of money, and to leave her Sicily. Peace was therefore made, but neither side meant that it should last long : both wanted time to get ready for a new war. III.] ROME'S WARS WITH CARTHAGE. 39 7. Rome*s first Province. — Rome had now gained her first possession outside Italy, that is, Sicily. A few years afterwards she forced the Carthaginians to give up to her the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. She did not treat the people of Sicily in the same way as she had treated the people of Italy. But she made Sicily what was called a province^ which meant, a country governed by a Roman magistrate. The people of Sicily, then, had no share in the govern- ment of Rome, nor had they any hope of ever having any : they were not the allies of Rome, but her subjects. They were governed by magistrates sent every year from Rome, and they had to pay tribute to Rome, that is, a sort of rent for their land. This way of governing Sicily was afterwards used by Rome for all the peoples she conquered : so you must remember it carefully. Rome governed the Latins in one way, the Italians in another, and the people of the provinces in a third. 8. Carthaginians in Spain. — We saw that the first war with Carthage came to an end because both sides were tired, and because Hamilcar wanted to get an army ready, with which he might fight the Romans. He got the Carthaginians to send him to Spain, and there he taught his soldiers how to fight hard : for Spain was full of tribes of poor and brave men, who fought very hard before they were conquered. Before Hamilcar left Carthage he offered a great sacrifice to the gods ; and as he was offering, he called his young son Hannibal, who was only nine years old, and asked him if he would like to go to the war. Hanni- bal said " Yes." " Then," said his father, '* swear on this altar that you will never be the friend of the Roman people." And the boy swore it, and went with his father, and you will see how he never forgot his promise. Hamilcar fought in Spain till he died, and con- quered for Carthage all Spain up to the river Tagus. When he died his son-in-law Hasdrubal went on with 40 ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. his conquests, till he was killed in 221, and Hannibal became general of the army at the age of twenty-six. Th^ Romans meanwhile had not been idle : they had had a great war with the Gauls in the north, and had driven them back to the great river of north Italy, the Padus, or Po. They had also made a treaty with Carthage, that she should not conquer in Spain north of the river Iberus, which is now called \ Ebro. -~^ ^ 9. How the Second Punic War began. — In the year 219 Hannibal thought he was fit to fight the Romans, and he began his great war with them, which lasted for seventeen years (21 9-202). The way in which he begun it was this. There was a city on the east coast of Spain, called Saguntum, which was a colony of the Greeks. Saguntum was afraid of the power of Carthage, and had made a treaty with Rome, that she should be Rome's ally. But Hannibal quarrelled with Saguntum, and besieged it, and the people fought hard against him. At last, after a siege of eight months, the chief men of the city, seeing they could hold out no longer, lit a great fire, and threw into it all their treasures, and last of all threw themselves in as well. So Saguntum was taken. Then the Romans sent to Carthage to complain, and one of their ambas- sadors came before the Carthaginian senate holding his cloak together as if he were carrying something in it : and he said, " I bring you peace or war ; take which you like." The Carthaginians said, " Give us which you will." Then he shook his cloak open and said, *' I give you war." And the Carthaginians shouted and said, "So let it be." 10. Hannibal's plans. — Now, Hannibal did not mean to fight this war by sea, but he meant to march his army at once into Italy, and attack the Romans in their own country. He thought that the Gauls, who had so lately been conquered by Rome, would dislike her very much, and would be ready to rise up against her. He thought also that if he beat the Romans in' one 01 III.] ROME'S WARS WITH CARTHAGE. \x two battles, all the Italians would come to his side, and so Rome would have to give in. /i[i. Hannibal's difficulties. — It was hard, how- /ever, to get into Italy at all, for he had first to go across I the Pyrenees mountains to get out of Spain ; then he had to cross the great river Rhodanus (Rhone), which was not easy to do, as the river is very swift, and the Gaulish tribes on this side of the Alps, who did not like Hannibal to march through their country, tried to prevent him. Then he had to fight his way through these Gauls till he • came to the Alps ; and then he had to go with his army through the cold, and snow, and ice, and all the dangers which there are in crossing those high mountains. All this had to be done before he could reach the country of the Cisalpine Gauls, which we now call Lombardy, and the Romans also were sure to try and prevent him. It is because he had all these difficulties to get over that Hannibal's march to Italy is so very famous. The Romans might have attacked him while he was among the Gauls, who dwell west of the AIjds, and so he would never have got into Italy at all. But he was too quick for them, and got on so much faster than the Romans thought he would, that they always came too late. Thus, the Roman army came to the Rhodanus just three days after Hannibal had crossed it, so they had to go away and wait for him in Cisalpine Gaul, or Lombardy. ^_y 12. Hannibal's march to Italy. — Hannibal crossed the Rhodanus very quickly; in two days he got together all the boats he wanted to take his soldiers across. The Gauls were on the opposite shore to pre- vent him from landing. So he sent some soldiers by night to go farther up the river, and cross where the Gauls did not see them. Then he moored all his large boats so as to break the force of the stream, and put his men in smaller boats, with the horses swimming by the side. So Hannibal waited till he saw some smoke rising behind the Gauls, for this was the sign that his soldiers CK. III.] ROME'S WARS WITH CARTHAGE. 43 who had been sent before had got across. Then he told all his men to row hard at their boats : as they got to the shore the Gauls rushed on them, but they heard a shout behind, and saw their tents on fire, and the soldiers of Hannibal coming against them where they did not expect it. They were afraid, and ran away, so the soldiers landed easily. It was a much harder thing for Hannibal to march up the Alps, for the people of the mountains rolled down great stones upon his troops, and attacked them from behind when they were not expecting. But even this was not so bad as the cold, and the dangers of the snow and ice. These were most felt on the way down into Cisalpine Gaul ; the paths, being only made of ice, broke away, and men slipped down the steep sides of the mountain and were killed. You may think how hard a march this was, when you know that Hannibal had 59,000 men when he crossed the Rhodanus, and when he got , to the bottom of the Alps he had only 26,000 men. | 13. Hannibal defeats the Romans. — You may suppose the Romans wanted to stop him as soon as possible, for the Cisalpine Gauls, who lived along the valleys of the Padus or Po, as Hannibal had hoped, began to join his army. The first battle was fought (218) on the river Ticinus, which runs into the Padus from the north. The Romans were driven back, and Hannibal passed the Padus. Meanwhile another Roman army had come up, and its general, the consul, Tiberius Sempronius Longus, wanted to fight at once. The little river of the Trebbia lay between the two armies, and on a cold morning the Roman general marched his soldiers through the water against Han- nibal. The Romans were entirely beaten, and driven out of Gaul. All northern Italy had thus passed under Hannibal's power, and its people were his friends ; so next year, 217, Hannibal went into Etruria, and marched south towards Rome itself, plundering as he went. The Roman consul, Caius Flaminius Nepos, went to meet 44 ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. him, and a battle was fought on the shores of the Lake Trasimenus. It was a misty day, and the Romans, who were marchmg after Hannibal, were surrounded by him and taken by surprise : they were entirely beaten, and the consul was killed m battle. Then the Romans were in great distress, and elected a dictator, Quintus Fabius Maximus. He saw that it was no use to fight battles with Hannibal, so he followed him about, and watched him, and did little things against him when he could : so he was called Cunciator, or the Delayer. 14. Battle of Cannae. — But, although this plan of waiting was very useful, the Romans did not like it, for Hannibal was left to plunder as he thought fit, and there was always danger that the other Italians would join him against Rome. So next year, 216, the Romans made a great attempt to get rid of him. They sent both the consuls with an army twice as large as Hannibal's, but again they were defeated at Cannae. They lost 70,000 men, while Hannibal only lost 6,000 : all their best soldiers were killed, and it seemed as /though they had no hope left. ^"'^ 15. Rome's strength in the war. — But nations ^^ are not conquered only by the loss of battles. Hanni- bal hoped, after the battle of Cannae, that the Italians would all come to his side, and leave Rome. Some did so, but all the Latin cities, and all the Roman colonies held by Rome. So long as this was the case, Rome was not yet conquered. Hannibal could win battles very quickly, but it would take him a long time to besiege all the cities that still held to Rome, and for that he must have a larger army. But he could not get more soldiers, — the Romans had sent an army into Spain, and Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal, was busy fighting the Romans there, and could not send any troops to Italy. The Carthaginians also would not send any, for they were becoming afraid of Hannibal, and they did not know anything about Italy. So they answered his letters, asking for more men, by saying, III.] ROME'S WARS WITH CARTHAGE. 45 that if he had won such great battles, he ought not to want any more troops. At Cannse, then, Hannibal had struck his greatest '* blow : he could do no more. The Romans had learned to wait, and be careful : so they fought no more great battles, but every year they grew stronger and Hannibal grew weaker. The chief town that liad gone over to Hannibal's side was Capua, but in 211 the Romans took it again, and Hannibal was not strong enough to prevent them. The chief men of Capua were so afraid of falling into the hands of the Romans that they all poisoned themselves. After this all the Italians cities that had joined Han- ^nibal began to leave him again. (<^ 16. Defeat of Hasdrubal. — At last, in 207, Has- drubal managed to leave Spain and march across the Alps, bringing help to his brother. He marched along the east coast of Italy to join Hannibal in the south. But his messengers to tell his brother that he was coming fell into the hands of the Romans : and the consul, Caius Claudius Nero, who was watching Hannibal in the south, marched up secretly to join the other consul in the north. Then Hasdrubal was defeated and killed on the banks of the river Metaurus, and Nero marched back again and threw Hasdrubal's head into Hannibal's camp. It was the first news he had had that his brother was in Italy, and it told him that now he could never hope to conquer Rome. 17. Rise of Scipio. — Still Hannibal did not leave Italy, nor did the Romans try to drive him out, but they carried on the war elsewhere, and at last found a general who was a match for Hannibal. In 209 Publius Cornelius Scipio, whose father and grand- father had been Roman generals, was sent to Spain : there he won over the people, by his kindness, from the side of Carthage to that of Rome. After Hasdrubal's death the Romans grew still stronger in Spain, and in 206 the Carthaginians were entirely driven out by Scipio. 46 ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. 1 8. Battle of Zama. — ^When Scipio came back to Rome he had made a plan for mvadmg Africa, so he got himself made consul, and landed in Africa in 204. He destroyed the Carthaginian army, by setting fire ' to their tents by night, and killing' them as they tried to run away. After this loss the Carthaginians were forced to send for Hannibal out of Italy. In 202 a great battle was fought between him and Scipio at Zama. The battle was long and bloody, but Scipio had better cavalry, and they drove away Hannibal's cavalry, and then fell upon his infantry in the rear. This was nearly all cut to pieces, and Hannibal's army was destroyed. (V_ 19. End of Hannibal. — After this, of course,. Car- "thage had to make peace ; she had to pay great sums of money to Rome, and promised never again to make war without asking leave from Rome. Hannibal still tried to help his country, but the Romans were afraid of him ; so he was forced to flee from Carthage, and then went from one king to another till he died. All the kings were afraid to have him in their land, for they knew the Romans would not like it. So he was hunted about, and at last took poison, that he might not fall into the hands of the Romans (183). 20. Effects of the war. — This war between the Romans and Hannibal was one of the greatest wars the world has ever seen. It was a war between a great man and a great nation. ^The Romans won because they were strong enough to live through the war. Hannibal thought that the Italians would all be on his side, but when he found that the best of them held by the Romans, he began to lose in strength. Though the Romans had the enemy for sixteen years in Italy, they could still send armies elsewhere : but the Carthaginians soon had to give way when the enemy landed in their country. This war had two important effects on Rome : (i.) It made her the chief state of all the states along the Mediterranean Sea. She had begun the war to [II.] HOW ROME CONQUERED THE EAST. 47 defend herself, but at its close she had conquered Carthage and had won Spain. She became, too, a great naval state, and was mistress by her ships of the Mediterranean, which was henceforth to be her road to conquest. (2.) When Hannibal had left Italy Rome was very cruel to the Italian cities which had joined him. She no longer treated them kindly, but made them her subjects. All except the Latins were hardly treated, and even the Latins soon had complaints to make against Rome. This fierce war had made the Romans more cruel. Also it had driven the people who lived on their farms in the country into the towns, and never afterwards do you find so many farmers in Italy. We shall see how bad this was as we go on. CHAPTER IV. fe^ HOW ROME CONQUERED THE EAST. ^. State of the East.— The end of the war with Hannibal left Rome the greatest state in the west : fifty years after that time she was the greatest state in the east also. The east had been conquered (334-323) by Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia in the north of Greece. He had conquered and ruled over Asia Minor, Persia, Syria, Egypt, and even parts of India. When he died, all these countries were divided amongst his generals, and when the Romans first had anything to do with the east, there were three great king- doms : (i.) Macedonia, which ruled over the greater part of Greece. (2.) Syria, which ruled over Asia Minor, though there was there a number of small states. (3.) Egypt, which was very rich, and traded a great deal from its capital, Alexandria. 2. Conquest of Macedonia and Syria. — ^The first of these with whom Rome went to war was Macedonia. When the Romans had conquered Hanni- bal, they found that Philip, king of Macedonia, was 48 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. becoming too powerful, so when Athens asked for help against him, Rome began the second Mace- donian war (200). In 197 the Roman general Titus Quinctius Flamininus conquered Philip at Cynos- cephalae, and made Greece free, as he called it; but this really meant that the Greek towns came under the power of Rome, instead of being under that of Philip. It was not long before the second of these great eastern powers, Syria, was conquered by the Romans. Antiochus, king of Syria, was obliged in 190 to give up Asia Minor, and all the kingdoms of Asia Minor looked up to Rome as their head. gTAH»ORD'i CtOeW. t^TAai„kOriBPN_ 10. Italy and the East. ^ 3^ How Rome ruled the East. — By these \\^rs Rome had conquered the kings of Macedonia and Syria, and had taken away from them Greece and Asia Minor, but she had not taken Greece or Asia under her own rule. Rome was never in a hurry to govern the countries she conquered. She left weak kings instead of strong ones, and many little kingdoms IV.] HOW ROME CONQUERED THE EAST, 49 instead of one large one, and then these small kings had to do what Rome told them to do. One king went to war against another, till at last Rome put an end to them all without any trouble, and governed these countries herself. The next years, from 190 to 133, show us Rome following this plan, and finishing the conquests she had begun. Macedonia was made a Roman province in 148. In Asia Minor also the Romans favoured the kingdom of Pergamus, which grew larger, and its king did what the Romans wanted. At last, in 133, King Attains III. died, and left Per- gamus to the Roman people by his will. So the Romans made Asia into a Roman province, and governed it themselves. -4 — 4. Conquest of Spain. — In some countries, how- ' . ever, the Romans found it hard to conquer the people /H entirely. Spain gave them a great deal of trouble. Amongst the Lusitani, who lived in what we now call Portugal, there rose a hero, called Viriathus, who led his countrymen against the Romans. He was only a shepherd when he began, but he won battle after battle, and the Lusitani made him their king. For many years he fought against the Romans, and even forced them to make peace with him. But this did not last long, and in the end the Roman general, Quintus Coepio, bribed three of the friends of Viri- athus to murder him while he was asleep. So, too, in the north of Spain the city of Numantia refused to open its gates to the Romans, and fought against them for many years (141-133). At last the Romans had to send their greatest general, Scipio ^milianus : and he could only take the city by digging a ditch all round it, so that no one could go in or come out, till at last the Numantines almost died of hunger. Before they surrendered, the chief men killed them- selves, and when the gates were opened a few only came out, and they were nearly starved to death, Numantia was taken in 123, and after this Spain was made into Roman provinces. 50 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. 5. Destruction of Carthage. — But the country that Rome treated most hardly was Carthage. Rome was still afraid of Carthage, and so tried to find a reason for attacking her. After the second Punic war, Rome had taken under her protection 'Massinissa., king of Numidia, which was the country next to Carthage. Mas- sinissa went to war with Carthage, and the Romans took his part, in 149. The Carthaginians knew they could not fight with Rome, so they offered to give up everything. First Rome asked for three hundred boys of the noblest parents, who were to be kept at Rome, to make sure of their fathers' obedience. Then the Romans asked for all the arms of the Cartha- ginians, and these also were given up. Last of all the Roman consul said that the Carthaginians must pull their city down, and build it again ten miles from the sea coast. This was of course ruin to a trading city, so in fury the Carthaginians refused : they made haste to mend their walls, and made new arms : the women cut off their hair to make bow-strings, and the city was made ready for a siege. The siege lasted for three years (149-146), and the fighting was severe on both sides. The general who took the city was Publius Scipio ^milianus. He first built a stone wall across the harbour of Carthage so as to shut in their ships, but the Carthaginians dug a canal on the other side and sailed out. However, Scipio tried again, and built a great wall as high as the wall of the city, so as to shut out the Carthaginians from the harbour. Then they began to give way, and the Romans forced an entrance into the city; but still every house had to be taken by storm ; the Romans entered one house from another, by knocking down the walls, and there were desperate fights in the rooms. At last only a tenth part of the population was left to sur- render; all the rest had been killed. Carthage was set on fire, and burned almost to the ground, and the land of Carthage was made a Roman province under the name of Africa. v.] ROME AS CONQUEROR, 51 6. Rome's position in B.C. 133. — Thus you see that in the year 133 Rome, besides ruling Italy, was ruler also of Macedonia, Greece, Asia, Spain and Africa, in fact all the countries round the Medi- terranean Sea, which thus became a Roman lake. Also these were all the countries which at that time were civilised^ that is, had made themselves into regular ' states, whose citizens lived together for their common good, and built cities, and made and obeyed laws. You see, then, how important was the position of Rome after these wars : she was the head of the civilized world. Some of the countries which Rome conquered were made into provinces, and so were ruled by Roman governors : others were still ruled over by their own kings or governors, but had to do whatever Rome told them, and were really worse off than if .(they had been subjects. ^"^ 7. Rome's Wars after B.C. 133. — The wars Rome carried on after this time were against tmcivilised peoples, that is, against peoples who did not yet live in cities, but were small tribes, who only helped one another when they were afraid of a great common danger, and who had no laws in common. Against these people Rome fought as a civilising power : when she conquered them, she taught them to live together and obey laws. In this way the history of the nations of northern Europe begins with the account of their conquest by Rome. CHAPTER V. HOW THE ROMANS BEHAVED AS v>; CONQUERORS. vAf" I. Change in the Character of the Romans. — The Romans themselves were greatly changed by making all these conquests. Their great men were no longer simple farmers who left the plough to fight for their country, and went back again when the ^^ 52 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. enemy had been driven away. The Roman generals were now very rich men, and spent all their time in war or in the business of the state. They were no longer simple men doing their duty to their country, but they became proud, and desired honours, and wanted to be rich. No longer were the presents of foreign kings refused at Rome, but Roman generals asked for money wherever they went. 2. Influence of the Greeks. — Of course when the Romans conquered Greece and the East, they saw a great many things which they had never seen before : and they began to care more about eating and drinking and building fine houses. ' , The Greeks were much cleverer than the Romans, or indeed than any people of the time, for all the best books and statues and pictures of the old world had been made by the Greek writers and artists. So the Romans not only learned many new things from the Greeks, but gave up a great many of their own early beUefs. They thought less of their own Roman gods, and altogether they were not so simple or so good as they had been before. 3. Publius Scipio Africanus. — The man who was most fond of the Greeks, and lived most like them, was Publius Scipio Africanus, — for he was called Africanus after he had defeated Hannibal in Africa. Men in Rome were not fond of Publius Scipio, though he was a great general. They said he thought too much of himself, and wished to do as he liked, and did not behave like a Roman. His great enemy was Marcus Cato, who was a rough old man who did not like the new Greek fashions. At last a charge was brought against Lucius Scipio Asiati- cus, who was the brother of Publius, and had defeated Antiochus in Asia. He was accused of having taken for himself, as general, some money that belonged to the Roman people. Then Publius rose to speak for his brother, and took the account-books and tore them hi pieces before the people, and said " To-day fourteen years ago I defeated Hannibal at Zama ; let us go and v.] ROME AS CONQUEROR. 53 give thanks to the gods for saving the state." Then he and all the people went up to the Capitol, and his accusers were left alone. But after this he left Rome, and died in exile, and the words " Ungrateful country " were written on his grave. 4. Marcus Cato. — His enemy, Marcus Cato, tried to keep up the old Roman manners. He lived very - simply, and spent very little money. He took great pains in educating his children, and making them strong in body. He always spoke against the bad habits which the Romans were learning, and when he w^as made censor, he punished many great men for things they had done. But though the Roman people listened to him, and laughed at his sharp sayings, and found much truth in them, still they did not try to make themselves any better. 5. The Roman Nobles. — Let us try and see how the Roman people changed, now that they had become so great a nation. • You will remember that in the year 300 the old quarrels of the patricians and plebeians came to an end, and all were equal in the state. But very soon a new difference grew up amongst them. The rich plebeians and the chief patricians were the only people who were elected consuls. So a few families, whose members were generally elected magistrates, gradually separated themselves off from the other families, and were called optimates^ or nobles. These families thought ' themselves much better than the rest because they were richer, and because they held the offices of state ; and thus you see a new nobility, which was founded on money, grew up in Rome. Only rich men ever got into the Senate, and all the magistrates were chosen out of these noble families. These nobles agreed amongst themselves, and as they made up the Senate, they governed Rome as they pleased. ^^-^ 6. New government of the Roman State. — a In former times the consuls had governed Rome with ^^ the help of the Senate ; but now the Senate governed, 54 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. and the consuls had to do what the Senate told them to do. At first the Senate governed very well, especi- ally during the war with Hannibal ; but after the wars in Asia every one wanted to grow rich, and then the Senate tried to get money rather than to govern well. So all sorts of evils arose in Rome, and no one could prevent them. Though Rome was very powerful, still her greatest men were afraid. Cato asked sadly, " What will become of Rome when she has no longer any state to fear ? " Scipio ^milianus, who took Carthage, instead of praying, as the magistrates always did, that the gods would increase the state, could only pray that the gods would preserve it. You must see what these dangers were of which these great men were afraid. Perhaps this may be done most easily if you see what the government of the i. Senate did for Rome, for Italy, and for the Provinces. \ 7. What the new state of things did for J Rome. — Rome, you must remember, was a city, and ^ so, when Rome grew great, the people of one city had to govern almost all the world. The people of the city were divided into the rich nobles and senators, the knights, and the common people. The nobles and senators took care of the government, as we have seen, but laws had to be made before the Assemblies of the people, and so the Senate had to please the people if it wanted to have its own way. The knights were the rich traders : they were called knights because in the old army of Rome all the richest men had to fight on horseba,ck. Of course, in the new state of things these knights vqtj seldom went to the wars, but stayed at Rome and did their business, and the Senate let them gather the taxes in the provinces, so that they gi'ew richer and richer. The common people also had to be fed and amused by the nobles, that they might be kept quiet and contented. The magis- trates in the provinces used to send presents of corn to Rome, which were divided amongst the people, without their paying for it. Also every man before he v.] ROME AS CONQUEROR, 55 was elected a magistrate had to give great games for the people's amusement in the circus. The Romans were always a cruel people, and their games were cruel too. They had of course horse races and foot races : but they also liked to see strange animals, such as lions and tigers, brought to Rome, and hunted to death in their presence. The sport, however, of which they were most fond were the gladiatorial fights, when men fought with one another, and killed one another to make amusement for the people. Often these gladiators were prisoners taken in war, but there was a number of men regularly trained to this as a trade. Now, all these games were paid for by the rich, so as to please the people, and the games and gifts of corn together drew more and more people to Rome, and so its poor people ceased to be really Romans, and became more and more a mob of idle and worthless folk. But all the rule of the world was still in their hands. Thus you see in Rome itself the Senate wanted to keep all the power to itself; the knights wanted to grow rich, and would^ do. anything to get money; the people were lazy, and only wanted to be fed and amused, without doing anything. 8. What the new state of things did for Italy. — Italy had been ravaged by the war with Hannibal, and afterwards by the Romans when they punished those who had taken Hannibal's side. The little farms had been ruined, and men went to live in towns instead of living in the country. Every Roman when he grew rich Avanted to have a great deal of land; so land grew too dear for the small farmer to buy, and large farms took the place of small ones. This land, which the Roman nobles thus got, was not generally let out for a rent, as it is with us, but was tilled by slaves. The Romans in their wars had made a great number of slaves ; so to buy and use slaves w^as cheaper than to hire free labourers, and slaves were almost always used in Italy. A poor man could very seldom get work to do as a farm 56 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. labourer, but had to go and live idly in a town, or else become a soldier. Bands of slaves, chained together, did all the work in the fields. You see, then, that the class of soldiers who had fought Rome's battles so well in lier early days, the Ismail farmers, had been ruined by the grow^th of wealth. Rome might become richer, but would never be so strong again. Another thing w^as that Rome, after driving Hannibal out of Italy, treated the Italians much more harshly than before. The Italians were looked upon as subjects, almost as much as the foreign peoples which Rome had been conquering. Even the Latins, who had been so faithful to Rome, were not rewarded ; Rome no longer treated them as equals, but took from them by her harshness all the hopes they had had before of being some day made Roman citizens. So Rome's government was not much liked in Italy , Jtself J- 9. Condition of the Provinces. — The pro- ^ vinces w^ere governed by magistrates sent every year from Rome by the Senate. The custom was that after a man had been consul in Rome, he should go and rule a province for a year. A man only became consul after he had held other magistracies, and to all of these he was elected by the people. He had, then, to make sure of his elections by giving very splendid games to the people, and these cost him a great deal of money. The governor of a Roman province gener- ally left Rome very much in debt. He had during his year of office to make three large fortunes, one to pay his debts, one for himself to live upon, and one to bribe his judges if he were brought to trial. Of course this money had to be gotten from the poor people whom he governed. If he did anything WTong, and the people of the province complained to the Senate, the governor was brought to trial, but he was almost always acquitted. He bribed his judges, and the senators all hoped to go as governors of provinces VI. ] A TTEMFTS A T REFORM, 5 7 some day, and so they would not be hard upon one another. So the people of the provinces were sadly oppressed by this government of the Senate. CHAPTER VI. ATTEMPTS AT REFORM BY THE GRACCHI. I. Dangers of the Roman State. — You see how Vxiany dangers there were in the Roman state, and you see why Cato and Scipio feared about the future of Rome. Before trying to see how these evils were to be got rid of, let us clearly say what they were : — (i). The Roman people was becoming a rabble, at the head of which was a small body of rich and selfish nobles, who fed and amused this rabble to make it do as they told it. (2). Slave labour had taken the place of free labour in Italy, and the number of freemen was becoming smaller and smaller. (3). Rome was treating the Italians hardly, and the Latins proudly, because the rabble of Rome did not want to give anyone else the privileges which they had themselves. (4). The people of the provinces were everywhere F pressed. , 2. Plans of Tiberius Gracchus for reform. — V ^^ow, in the year 133 an attempt was made in Rome to mend some of these evils. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman noble, who had seen the sad state of Italy, and who had been at the wars in Spain, and knew how badly the Romans treated the Spaniards, and how weak the Roman army really was. So he came back to Rome, to see if he could not make things better. He got himself elected tribune of the plebs in 134, and at once proposed an Agrarian Law. The public land of Rome was now very large, 58 ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. and it was used by the nobles, who paid no rent to the state for it. Tiberius Gracchus wanted to take this land and divide it into small farms for the poor people. Of course the rich men did not like this, and as there were ten tribunes, they, got one of the other tribunes to object to the law which Tiberius Gracchus brought forward. Now no law could pass w^hich a tribune objected to. But Tiberius Gracchus proposed to the people to turn this tribune out of his office, and so carry the law. The people agreed to do this, and the law was passed, but you see that the old laws of the state were broken to pass it. This was not a very good sign for the future ; for if changes could not be made in Rome without breaking the laws, it seemed likely that the changes would do more harm than good. Tiberius Gracchus soon found that this was the case. His law was very hard to carry out, and did not do much for the poor people at once. The nobles hated him for it, and he knew that if he were not made tribune next year, the nobles would kill him. So he tried very hard to be made tribune, and the nobles tried to prevent him, and so there was a riot, in which Tiberius Gracchus and three hundred of his followers were killed. This was in the year i2i'h-> ^^^ was the beginning of a time of Y-revolution in Rome, that is, a time in which neither I side cared for the old laws, but both sides were ready to carry what they wanted by force and bloodshed if they could not do it in any other way. ^ 3. Reforms of Caius Gracchus. — Ten years V after the death of Tiberius Gracchus, his younger brother, Caius Sempronius Gracchus, tried to carry out the same plans (123). It was in vain that his mother strove to prevent him. She had been very proud of her sons when they were boys, and once when a Roman lady was showing her all sorts of fine jewels, Cornelia (for that was her name) called for her sons, and when they came she put her arms round them and said, "These are my jewels." Now one of them had been VI.] A TTEMPTS A T REFORM, 5 9 killed as a rebel, and she was afraid that the other might soon be killed also. Caius Gracchus went much farther than his brother. He seems to have wished to break up the government altogether. He was tribune, and carried laws by going to the people at once, without paying any attention to the consuls or Senate. He wanted to upset the government of the nobles, and make a government of the people, with himself at its head. First he won over the people by passing a law that they should always have corn sold them at a very low price. Then he won over the knights to side with him against the nobles by giving them greater chances of making money in the provinces, and also by ordering that the jurymen for the future should be chosen from the knights and not from the Senate. In this way the knights had all the power of the law-courts on their side, and now were quite equal to the Senate. The rich men had before this joined with the nobles, but now the rich men and the nobles were opposed to one another. Caius Gracchus said that he had thrown down a dagger for the enemies of the people to stab one ^another with. — ^ ^i--^. How Caius Gracchus failed. — When Caius v^ Gracchus had thus got the people and the knights on his side, he passed an Agrarian Law, and founded many colonies for the poor people, both in Italy and outside Italy. So long as he only tried to do good to the people of Rome, they were very pleased at all he did. But in his second tribunate (122), he proposed to make all the Latins citizens of Rome, and to give all the Italians the rights which the Latins then had. The Romans, however, did not like this ; they thought that it was better to keep to themselves their high position, which meant their cheap bread and their games, so they would not have this law of Gracchus. It was a great pity that they would not have it, as it would have done a great deal of good to the Roman state. For it was impossible for the people of one city 6o ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. to govern the whole Avorld, unless they were ready to take hito their city every one who was fit to obey their laws. Now the Latins were alniost the same people as the Romans, and had always been their allies, and had obeyed Rome's laws, and fought bravely for her. If the city of Rome was to grow larger it could not have any new citizens better than *the Latins. If the city of Rome was not to grow larger it would have to govern all its subjects by force, and it would be impossible for the few people of one city to govern the world by force only. You will see how this difficulty came back again, and the Romans had to give way at last ; but it would have saved them much misery if they had been wise enough to take the Latins into the state of their own accord, as Caius Gracchus wanted them to do. Next year, 121, Caius Gracchus was not made tribune. He tried to live quietly in Rome, but there was soon a riot, in which the nobles attacked him and his followers. Many were killed, and Caius Gracchus amongst them. You see from this what a bad condition Rome was in, and how different it was now from the old times of the struggles between the patricians and plebeians. Then the Romans held by the laws, and did not kill one another, but now the laws were thought very little of, and force and selfishness seemed to do everything. CHAPTER VII. TIME OF MISGOVERNMENT AT ROME. I. Slave War in Sicily. — After the death of Caius Gracchus the nobles did what they pleased in Rome. They paid no more attention to the Agrarian Law, and the state of Italy grew worse and worse. The slaves were so many that it was very hard to keep them in order. In Sicily there was a great war carried on by runaway slaves, who made themselves into an army, and for five years resisted the Romans (104-99). i Vil] time of MISGOVERNMENT at ROME. 6i 2. War with Jugurtha. — The nobles cared nothing for Rome's honour, but only for their own pockets. . They governed badly, and took bribes from foreign kings, who were allowed to do what they liked if they could pay enough. This was especially seen in a war that took place in Africa. After Carthage had been destroyed, the. greatest state in Africa was Nu- midia. The King of Numidia was a friend of the Roman people, and had fought with them against Car- thage. So Rome had a good deal to do with Numidia, and the Numidians often helped Rome in her wars. In ii8 a king of Numidia died, and left the kmgdom to his two sons and an adopted son named Jugurtha. Jugurtha determined to have the kingdom all to him- self, so he murdered one of the sons and made war upon the other, who applied to Rome for help. The Senate was bribed by Jugurtha, and did all it could to please him ; at last, however, Jugurtha besieged his brother in Cirta, and when he took the city put him and all his army to death (112). After this the Romans thought they must interfere, but the Senate for more money were willing to let Jugurtha off very easily. He came to Rome to excuse himself before the people, and whilst he was there he had a Numid- ian prince, of whom he was afraid, murdered in Rome itself But his bribes were stronger than the laws, and when he left Rome he looked back upon it, and said, " Oh city, where everything is sold, you would sell yourself if you could only find a buyer." The Romans declared war against Jugurtha, but he bribed the generals, and for three years very little was done against him. At last, in 108, a good general, who would not take bribes, Quintus Metellus, went against him and defeated him. Metellus would have finished the war, but in 106 the command was taken from him by Caius Marius the consul. 3. Rise of Caius Marius. — This Caius Marius was a man of low birth, but a good soldier. He had risen in war by his bravery, and had held magistracies 62 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. in Rome. He was an officer in the army of Metellus, and was very much Hked by the common soldiers, for he was a rough man Hke themselves, and talked with them, and lived as they did. It is said that Metellus laughed at him for his low birth, ^nd so Marius dis- liked him. Also in Africa a soothsayer told Marius that he would become a very great man, greater than he ever had hoped to be. So Marius left Africa and went to Rome to try and be made consul in 1 06. He found fault with Metellus before the people, and said that he could carry on the war better him- celf. So the people made him consul, and more than that, they said that he should be general in Africa instead of Metellus.' Before this time the Senate always said what the consuls should do : but since the time of the Gracchi the assemblies of the people had done more and more in the business of the state. Marius finished the war in Africa, and brought Jugurtha in triumph to Italy in 104. But you see this war ought never to have taken place if the Senate had governed honestly ; and, when it did take place, it ought to have been finished much sooner if the generals had carried it on honestly. However, when it was over, Marius was the most powerful man in Rome. He was the leader of the popular party, and also the general of the army. 4. Power of the Army at Rome. — The army had greatly changed since the time of Hannibal. The Roman soldiers were no longer citizens who fought when their country wanted them, and then went back to their work. But as wars were now constantly going on, and going on too in distant countries, this could no longer be the case, and the army was full of men who took to a soldier's life as a trade. Marius was the favourite of these soldiers : he was a soldier by trade himself, and had risen in consequence to power in the state. Notice, then, that when Marius was made consul, it was a sign that the government for the future VII.] TIME OF MISGOVERNMENT AT ROME, 63 was to be carried on by the army, as well as by the people and the nobles. 5. Wars against the Teutones and Cimbri. — >vlarius was soon wanted to carry on another war. Two great tribes of barbarians from the north had entered Gaul west of the Alps, and threatened to drive out the Romans, and even attack Italy. They came with their wives and children, like a wandering people looking for a home. They seemed very strange to the Romans, these people with blue eyes and flaxen hair. They fought bravely in battle, rushing upon their enemy with fury. At first these Cimbri defeated the Roman generals in southern Gaul, where the Romans had conquered the country along the Rhone, and made it a province, which is still called the province, or Froi'ence. The Romans, after this de- feat, were afraid of another burning of their city by barbarians, so Marius was made consul again, and for the next five years he was elected again and again. This was against the custom, and had never been done to any one before. It shows how great the fear of the Romans must have been, and how powerful Marius had become. In the year 102 the Teutones and the Cimbri marched to attack Italy, but Marius defeated them in two great battles. Afterwards when he went back to Rome in triumph he was so powerful that he could have done what he chose in the state. The people were very grateful to him, the soldiers were very fond of him, and the nobles were very much afraid of him. 6. Marius in Rome. — But Marius did not think much of the good of the state : he thought much more of his own greatness, and how he might become a still greater man. So, first, he joined the party of the people, and one of the tribunes, Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, brought forward some laws like those of Caius Grac- chus, and Marius helped him. But there were riots in consequence, and the Senate begged Marius to help them in putting down the riots. For a time Marius 64 ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. doubted what to do, but at last he armed the people, and Saturninus was killed (99). But now neither side liked Marius, for he was true to neither, and did only what he thought would make himself most powerful. So for the future Marius was not likely to be of much use in the troubles of the Roman state. 7. Marcus Livius Drusus. — These troubles began very greatly to increase ; for the Italians were growing more and more angry at the way in which Rome treated them. The Latins also had been ordered to leave Rome, where many of them used to live, because some of the nobles thought they voted against them in the Assemblies of the people. To prevent these grievances from breaking out into war, Marcus Livius Drusus, a tribune, proposed in 91 that the citizenship of Rome should be given to all the Italians, and so all the Italians would be made equal with the people who lived in Rome. But both nobles and people were very angry with Drusus for bringing forward this law, and on the day on which it was to have been voted upon Drusus was murdered. He was stabbed as he was going into his house, and died saying, " When will the state have another citizen like myself" 8. War with the Italians. — The news of this murder stirred up the Italians at once to rebel : they saw that Rome would never of her own accord give them any rights : so they tried to get them by force. The chief of the rebel peoples were the Samnites. In the year 90 began a war, in which Italy was divided into two parts, and one fought against the other. At the end of the first year's war the Romans felt that they must give way. But they gave way little by little : at first they gave the Roman citizenship to all the Italians who had not yet revolted : then to all who should lay down their arms in two months. In this way Rome won back all who were not very hostile to her, and so could go against Samnium, which had shown again all the old vigour of the Samnite wars. VII. ] TIME OF MISGO VERNMENT A T ROME. 65 In this war there arose a new general amongst the Romans, Lucius Cornelius Sulla. He was a noble, who had first learned war under Marius when he fought against Jugurtha. But he had not shown him- self very desirous of holding office in the state, and had not put himself forward. In the year 89 he was commanding against the Samnites and defeated them. 9. Results of the Social War. — ^At the end of the year 89 all the peoples of Italy except the Samnites and Lucanians had submitted to Rome, and had re- ceived the Roman citizenship. This war, which is called the Social War, or war against the allies^ was almost over. Rome had had to give way, and had been forced to go back to her old plan of making other people equal with herself, and always from time to time taking in fresh citizens into the state. This plan had for a time been laid aside by the nobles, and Rome had run in consequence into great danger. This war had destroyed houses and wasted fields in Italy almost as much as the war with Hannibal had done. It made' the number of farms in Italy smaller than it had been before, and drove more men who before would have been farmers to become soldiers. 10. Causes of the Civil Wars. — You find, then, Rome's armies growing larger and larger, and the men who went to be soldiers were better than the men who stayed at Rome and idled, and were fed by the Senate, and spent all their time in baths and sports in the circus. You see, then, that the army was becoming more important than the people, and the generals of the army were becoming more powerful than the magistrates of the state. When this was the case, it was plain that questions about govern- ment would no longer be agreed about, but be fought about. This was what happened : the government could not do anything against the generals of the army. For the next fifty years we have a period of Civil War. 66 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. CHAPTER VIII. THE CIVIL WARS OF ROME. 1. War with Mithradates. — This Social War was not the only difficulty which the Senate had before them. During the last twenty years a great power had been forming in the east under Mithradates, king of Pontus. Pontus is in the north-east of Asia Minor, next to Armenia. Mithradates for some time went on con- quering the people in his neighbourhood, and when the Romans interfered he stopped for a little while, and then went on again. At last war broke out with Rome in the year 88, when Lucius Cornelius Sulla was one of the consuls. He was appointed by the Senate to carry on the war. 2. Marius and Sulla. — But Marius, though old, wanted the command for himself, so he joined with one of the tribunes, P. Sulpicius Rufus, who brought before the people a number of laws which went against the Senate, and amongst them a law that Marius should be appointed general in the East instead of Sulla. When Sulla's army heard this they were very angr}% and marched against Rome, and drove out Marius, and put Sulpicius to death. It was the first time that Rome had been taken by her own army, but it was not to be the last. From this time the chief l)ower in Rome had to be fought for, and Rome had to pay those who fought. Sulla did not stay long in Rome, but he passed some laws to make the Senate stronger and the tribunes weaker. Then, hoping things would remain quiet at home, he went off to the war against Mithradates. 3. Sulla in the East. — It was quite time that he did so, as Mithradates had entered Asia Minor, and had ordered all the Italians there to be put to death : 150,000 are said to have been killed. He had also sent troops into Greece, which had rebelled against the Romans and had joined him. So when Sulla landed in Greece f viiL] T//£ CIVIL WARS OF ROME, dj in 87 he had quite enough to do. He managed, how- ever, to win back Greece, and meanwhile Mithiadates made himself unpopular in Asia Minor ; so that when another army was sent from Rome, which landed in Asia, Mithradates was obliged to ask for peace in 84. Sulla made peace because he wanted to go back to Italy, where things again were in confusion. 4. Marius in Exile. — ^After Sulla had left Rome the two consuls began to quarrel, one being on the side of Sulla, the other on the side of Marius. At last L. Cornelius Cinna, who was Marius' consul, gathered an army and brought Marius back. Marius had had many troubles in trying to escape from Italy. The sailors of a ship on which he Trashed to go to Africa persuaded him to land near Mintumae, and then sailed away and left him. He was pursued and taken prisoner, though he had tried to hide himself by standing up to the chin in a marsh. He was put in prison at Mintumae, and the magistrates sent a Gaulish slave to put him to death in prison : but when the slave came to Marius the old man's eyes flashed so terribly through the dark prison as he said, " Fellow, darest thou kill Caius Marius ? " that the man dropped his sword and ran away. Then the magistrates were ashamed, and let Marius go. He crossed over to Africa, but had no sooner landed than he was warned by the magistrates to go away. Those who were sent to tell him to go found him sitting among the ruins of Carthage, and when they had given their message he said, "Say you have seen Caius Marius among the ruins of Carthage." 5. Cinna and Sulla. — Now that his troubles were over, Marius came back to Rome very savage after all that he had suffered. He and Cinna put to death all the chief people who w^ere opposed to thenL For five days the gates of Rome were shut, and Marius went through the streets with a body of soldiers, who put to death any one he pointed out In the year 86 Marius was made consul for the seventh time, but 68 ROMAN HISTOR V. [chap. he did not live long to enjoy his power. He died, over the age of seventy, hated by all for his cmelty. Cinna continued to hold the chief power at Rome till 84, when Sulla, who had finished the war with Mithradates for the present, prepared to cross to Italy. Cinna thought it better to go and meet him in the East, — but he was murdered at Ancona by his troops as he was on the point of setting out. When Sulla landed in Italy he had only 40,000 men, while the consuls had 100,000. He could not therefore march to Rome at once, so he remained in south Italy, and won over the people by kindness, defeating the armies sent against him. 6. Sulla's Victory. — In the year 82 the struggle became more important. The Samnites, who had not yet been subdued after the Social War, joined with the old party of Marius. Sulla was making good his position on every side, and at last in despair the Samnites and Marians retreated to Rome, and would have destroyed it. But Sulla followed them, and a great battle was fought just outside the walls of Rome. The Samnites were with difficulty defeated, and Rome was saved. So Sulla was now master of Rome, and could do there what he Hked. You see how in all these last five years the power had been in the hands of one man, and the Senate and all the old ways of governing had been set aside. Now Sulla decided to do all that could be done to bring back these old w^ays, and to set up the government of the nobility again. 7. Sulla's Government. — Sulla showed quite as much cruelty as Marius had done. He seems to have wished to make his government quiet and peaceable by putting to death everybody who was opposed to it. Lists were put out every day of men who were outlawed, and whom any one might put to death without trial, and also get pay for doing it. It is said that 4,700 of the chief people in Rome were killed in this way, and all their property was sold viii.] THE CIVIL WARS OF ROME, 69 for the good of the state. This was a terrible way of bringing in peaceful government, and was hardly likely to succeed. You may think how bad an effect it had on the morals of those who lived through it. Many men suddenly became rich, many more hoped that they would gain something for themselves by killing others. Every one was made anxious and un- quiet for a long while to come. Then, when Sulla had got rid of all his enemies, he went on to put the government in order. He was made dictator, and as such passed a number of laws to make the Senate stronger. When he had done this he had himself elected consul (80) to show how a consul ought to govern. He gave most magnificent games, and fed all the people of Rome for many days. Then he retired from Rome and from its politics to a house in the country, where he died in 78, and was honoured with the grandest funeral that had ever been seen in Rome. 'j^8. Troubles after Sulla's Death. — It might have * seemed that Rome would now go on quietly, but the old evils soon broke out again. The Social War, and the Civil Wi : which followed, had wasted Italy, and made its population still less than before. It is true that Sulla, when his wars were over, had given his soldiers farms in Italy, by founding what were called military colonies. But these soldiers were restless, and soon sold their land and went to live in the towns, and so Italy again went back to large farms tilled by slaves. Again, the Senate and the nobility, on being restored to power by Sulla, looked upon the state as something tiiey had a right to use for their own purposes. They were more bent upon making money than ever, and many of them made larger fortunes than ever. Their government was selfish at home and weak abroad, so it pleased nobody, and soon found troubles on pvery side. tv^Q. War with Sertorius in Spain. — First, in Spain, there was a rebellion against Rome set on foot 70 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap.1 by a Roman, Quintus Sertorius. He had been a general on the side of Marius, and fled to Spain when Sulla con- quered. There he gathered the Spaniards round him, and also a large number of Romans who had fled like himself. He had very greatly the power of getting barbarous people to obey him, 'and so he lived amongst the Spaniards, and taught them all the virtues of Rome. For many years the Romans could do nothing against him : they sent their best general, Cnseus Pompeius, but he did not do very much. At last the Spaniards became tired of the long war and the misery it brought. Many deserted Sertorius, and he became suspicious of the rest. Then some of his officers made a plot against him, and murdered him in his tent at supper (72). After his death the rebellion was put down, . aind Spain again was obedient. yj^ 10. Troubles in the East. — But there were other ^ troubles quite as great for the Romans. The Medi- terranean Sea swarmed with - pirates, who disturbed all the Roman trade. Mithradates, too, in Pontus, had only been waiting to gather his forces together, and in the year 74 he again went to war with . the Romans. At first he was beaten by the Roman general, Lucullus, and driven from his kingdom, but he got help from the King of Armenia, and in the year 67 Lucullus was defeated, and Mithradates re- turned to Pontus. So far the Romans had gained nothing by the war. At the same time, also, the Roman fleet had failed in its attempts against the pirates in the Mediterranean. v^Vii. Rebellion of the Gladiators. — All these things showed how unable the Senate was to carry on the government in matters abroad. Their weakness at home was shown, at the same time, by a dreadful war which again laid waste Italy. This was the Gladia- torial^ d.x which broke out in 73. The gladiators were men who were trained to fight with one another and kill one another to amuse the Roman people at their games. These men were regularly taught their horrible VIII.] THE CIVIL WARS OF ROME, yi trade, and there were schools of gladiators in different parts of Italy. Many of them were prisoners who had been taken in battle against the Romans, and were now being taught how to amuse their conquerors by their death. A number of these gladiators made their escape from a prison at Capua, under a brave leader called Spartacus. Their numbers grew very quickly, for slaves and gladiators escaped on every side, and the army of Spartacus soon reached 40,000 men. The Roman generals were defeated by them, and Rome was in great danger of an attack. Spartacus himself was a great man, and wished to lead his followers over the Alps back to their native land* of Gaul or Germany. But they found they could rob as they pleased in Italy, so they stayed there and did almost what they liked ; but they soon began to quarrel amongst themselves, and at last, in the year 71, were defeated by the Roman general Marcus Crassus. At the same time Cnseus Pompeius, who had been sent for from Spain, after the death of Sertorius, fell upon the rest of the slave amy and almost entirely destroyed them. 12. Power of Cnseus Pompeius. — Many people now expected that Pompeius would behave like Sulla, and enter Rome with his army, and so put himself at the head of the government. But he came back quietly, and he and Crassus were made consuls for the year 70. From this time Pompeius was the most important man in Rome. He tried to please both the party of the nobles and the party of the people. It seemed to the people that he was the only man who could put an end to the wars in which they were engaged : so, in 67, he was made general against the pirates by a special decree of the people. In three months he cleared the Mediterranean Sea of pirates, pursued them to Cilicia, and destroyed their strong- holds. ^ 13. Pompeius in the East. — Meanwhile Mith- radates had been making held in Asia, and the general 7 7 2 ROMAN HISTOR Y. [chak sent by the Senate had shown himself quite useless. So, at the proposal of one of the tribunes, the com- mand in Asia was given to Pompeius. The Senate opposed this, but in vaui. The people were too strong for them, and the Senate found, that the favourite of the people could do anything he pleased. Pompeius, therefore, went against Mithradates in 66. He drove him out of his kingdom of Pontus, and followed him into Armenia, whither he fled. For a time Mithradates still tried to resist, but at last his own son rebelled against him, and Mithradates in the year 63 killed himself, that he might not be given over to* the Romans. After this Pompeius went on to Syria, which he brought under the rule of Rome. From Syria he passed to Judaea, which for a time resisted, and even after Jerusalem had submitted a few Jews still held out on the Temple rock : but they w^ere at last surprised upon the Sabbath, since they did not think it right to fight on that day. Pompeius entered the Temple, and wondered much at seeing no idol or statue in it, for the Romans did not understand the religion of the Jews. After this Pontus, Cilicia, Syria, and Crete were all made provinces of Rome, and in the year 61 Pompeius came back to Rome again a successful conqueror. 14. Troubles in Rome. — But while Pompeius had been establishing order abroad the government of the Senate had become still weaker in Rome itself. Ever since the time of the Gracchi there had been a party of the people opposed to the nobles and the Senate. We saw how little good this party had got from the help of Marius and his troops : Sulla had put it down for a time, and had given the power back again to- the Senate. But in these last few years the Senate had been growing weaker, and the party of the people had been growing stronger. Pompeius had been a friend of Sulla's, and so belonged to the nobles'-party, but the nobles were rather afraid of him, and he did not trust them. VIII.] THE CIVIL WARS OF ROME. 73 15. Chief men in Rome. — The best man amongst the nobles was Marcus Porcius Cato, who kept to the old Roman virtues, and wished to keep also to the old Roman government. Another man of great con- sequence in Rome was Marcus Licinius Crassus, who had made a very large fortune, which he was always increasing : he tried to please both parties, and so get everything he could for himself Marcus Tullius Cicero also, was a great man in Rome : he was not of old family or very rich, but he rose by his own talents, and especially by his great power of speaking to men so as to persuade them. He was one of the greatest orators^ or public speakers^ that there has ever been, and we still have many of his speeches to the Roman people, which tell us a great deal about these times. He was a moderate man, who wished to keep Rome at peace, and also to put an end to the chief abuses which he saw. He wished to reform the old plan of government by the Senate, but he did not wish to change it. The great leader of the popular party was Caius Julius Caesar; he was of a noble family, but Marius had married his aunt, and he him- self had married Cinna's daughter, so he was very much liked by the people. He was resolved to destroy the government of the Senate, and then rule Rome himself in the name of the people. But as yet he had no army, so he was waiting in Rome to see how he could get one in due time. -1, 16. Conspiracy of Catilina. — How dangerous the state of things was in Rome may be seen from the conspiracy of Lucius Sergius Catilina. He was a noble, and had been a friend of Sulla's, but had run into debt, and was now the leader of a band of young nobles who were all ruined, and who hoped to get more money if they could violently upset the govern- ment. Catilina joined the party of the people, and tried to be elected consul while Pompeius was away : > ^ut ^ the year d^ ^^ was not elected, while Cicero was. ^ Catilma is said by Cicero to have intended to murder 74 ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. him, and then to rise and burn the city and rob as he and his followers pleased. Though the Senate believed this, yet they were afraid to take Catilina prisoner. He left Rome and raised an army, where- upon his friends in Rome were put to death by Cicero's orders. Next year Catilina was killed in a battle against the Senate's army, and his troops were all scattered. You see how little feeling there was in Rome for law and order, when a man was suspected of standing for the consulship that he might use his office as a means of plundering Rome. People did not know whether Catilina's plans were lawful or not lawful. And afterwards Cicero was exiled for putting Catilina's followers to death without trial. This shows you how hard it was for a magistrate to know what to do in Rome, and how party feeling decided everything, and there was very little care for the good of the state. 17. Pompeius, Caesar, and Crassus. — This was the state of things when Pompeius returned in 61. It was again thought that he would bring his army into Rome, and so rule the Senate. But he did not, and came back to Rome as a simple citizen (61). He found, however, that when the first gratitude was over he was not so powerful as he expected to be. Gradually he quarrelled about many little matters with the Senate. Caesar saw this, and took advantage of it. He agreed with Pompeius and Crassus that they should all three work together to get what they each wanted. In the year 59 Caesar was made consul, and as such passed an Agrarian Law^, which was to give lands to Pompeius' old soldiers. Then a law was passed by the people making Caesar the governor of Gaul for five years, and putting him at the head of a large army. Caesar had now got what he w^anted : he had- got the opportunity of showing himself to be a great general, and so of gaining popularity with the Roman people. He could now make himself the equal of VIII.] THE CIVIL WARS OF ROME, 75 Pompeius, and hoped soon to become a greater man than he was. Above all, he could train up an army attached to hmi and ready to do whatever he told it. 18. Csesar in Gaul. — So in the year 58 Caesar went oif to Gaul, where he soon found plenty to do. In the next seven years he succeeded in entirely con- quering all the land north of the Pyrenees and west of the Rhine. He even crossed over to Britain (54), and, though he did not stay to conquer it, he first brought the Romans into the land where the English live now, though the British alone lived there then. In Gaul Caesar showed what a very great man he was. He was busy in conquering Gaul, but he never lost sight of things in Rome at the same time. He was a skilful general, and also a great writer as well, and has left us his own account of his wars in Gaul, where he was beloved both by the Roman soldiers and also by the natives of Gaul. He was kind to those that he conquered, yet he always took care that they should be thoroughly beaten. Csesar made roads in Gaul, and brought in Roman ideas and Roman customs, and also taught all his officers to deal kindly with the Gauls. In this way he succeeded in making those of the Gauls, who were not killed or made slaves, quite content to be ruled by the Romans. Though he was only there ten years altogether, and when he left he took his army with him, still the Gauls did not rebel against Rome. This conquest of Gaul by Csesar is the greatest instance in Roman history of the way in which Rome could not only • conquer, but could bind the conquered countries to herself. It was also most important for the future . ,^ of Rome herself You have seen how greatly the -j^ people of Italy were declining in numbers and xxi^^^ energy. The Gauls became children of Rome, and you will soon see that many of Rome's greatest men came from Gaul. Also this conquest of Gaul by Csesar first brought the power of Rome into those parts of P2urope wliich our own history has most to 7 6 ROMAN HISTOR V, [chap. do with. Caesar's invasion of Britain is the first great tact that we have related to us about the land in which our fathers afterwards came to hve. 19. Caesar's influence in Rome. — But Caesar had to keep a close watch all this -while on things that were going on in Rome. He had been sent to Gaul first for five years. But he wanted to stay there longer to get more money, and become more known to his soldiers; also, the hordes of slaves he got made him rich enough to pay his debts in Rome, and to buy over to his side many men who were powerful with the people. He could only stay in Gaul if Pompeius and Crassus would help him, or at all events would not prevent it. In Rome itself there was great con- fusion. Every year the election to the consulship caused a war of parties. There were constant riots in the streets, and every one was discontented. Pom- peius found that he was becoming less and less power- ful with the Senate, and also with the people, v^ 20. Plans of Caesar, Pompeius, and Crassus. " ^— Men looked to C^sar for advice, and in the year 56 Pompeius and Crassus went to meet him at Luca. There they agreed to unite again, and get by their united influence all that each of them wanted. So in the next year, 55, Pompeius and Crassus were elected consuls, by the help of soldiers whom Caesar sent from his army in Gaul to vote in the assembly at Rome. As soon as they became consuls they pro- posed to extend Caesar's command in Gaul for five years more. Then a tribune proposed to the people that the province of Syria should be given for five years to Crassus, and the province of Spain for five years to Pompeius. So these three men, Caesar, Pompeius, and Crassus, divided all the power in Rome. The Senate could do nothing against them. The old Roman Republic was beginning to fall, and the power of the nobles, as a body, had given way before the wealth and in- fluence of individuals. VIII.] THE CIVIL WARS OF ROME. 77 21. Death of Crassus. — Crassus went away to Syria at once, where he was killed in battle against the Parthians, in the year 53. These Parthians were the great enemies of Rome in the East for some time to come ; they lived among the deserts, where the Romans found it hard to follow them. This defeat of Crassus at Charrae was a severe blow to the Roman power in the East. But, more than this, the death of Crassus broke the bond of union between Caesar and Pompeius: there were now only two men, and not three, to share the power in Rome, and so Caesar and Pompeius became rivals, with no one to stand between them. 22. Rivalry of Pompeius and Caesar. — Pom- peius had not gone to his province in Spain : he waited in Rome, which was not customary for the magistrate of a province. Also, he got the Senate to give him the province of Spain for five years more. By this means he became superior to Caesar, for when Cassar gave up liis province of Gaul, and also his army, as he would have to do in the year 48, Pompeius would still be governor of Spain, and would have an army at his command. Caesar would have to come to Rome and live as a private noble, while Pompeius would have all the power, as being general of an army. But mean- while the constant riots in Rome gave more and more power to Pompeius. The Senate could do very little to keep order, and Pompeius hoped that, if he waited, things would become so bad that he would be called in to keep order, and so would get all the power for himself Caesar's friends of course did not like this, and Caesar was afraid that when he came back to Rome as a private man he would be brought to trial on some charge or another before the people, and then would be condemned by the votes of Pompeius' soldiers. There was no certainty what might happen, and Caesar was determined to carry out his own plans, and to alter the government of Rome. The Senate was more afi-aid of him than of Pompeius, who made himself 7 8 ROMAN HISTOR Y. [chap the head of the party of the nobles and those who held by the existmg form of government. Caesar, on the other hand, was the leader of the people, and of those who wished for a reform in the govern- ment. It w^as soon very clear ta every one that the questions in dispute would never be settled peaceably, but that there would be a great civil war. i^ 23. Quarrel of Pompeius and Caesar. — This was the question about which the war broke out : Caesar demanded that either both he and Pompeius should give up their provinces at the same time, or he should be allowed to stand for the consulship while absent in Gaul, so that he might come to Rome as consul, and be as strong as Pompeius in the state. Caesar was at the head of an army, and had many friends in Rome, but the Senate did not know how strong he was, so they refused his proposals, and when two of the tribunes took Caesar's side they were threatened with loss of their office. They fled to Caesar, who now had a cause for war, and who advanced into Roman ground, passing the little river Rubico, which separates Gaul from Italy : he said he came to defend the tribunes of the people against the Senate. In January, 49, the great war broke out. 24. Civil War of Pompeius and Caesar. — Pompeius was taken by surprise when Caesar actually came against him, and when he found that troops did not gather round him he left Rome, with the consuls and Senate, and sailed to Greece. In sixty days Caesar had gained possession of Italy : but he only spent a few days in Rome, and then hurried to Spain to fight Pompeius' army there. In the battle of Ilerda he defeated Pompeius' generals, and broke up their army. Then he came back to Rome, and by his kindness and justice won over all those who did not care much how Rome was governed, but only wanted to live peaceably. 25. Defeat of Pompeius. — Next year (48) he crossed over to Greece, where Pompeius had gathered VIII.] THE CIVIL WARS OF ROME. 79 a large army, and the great battle that was to decide the fate of Rome was fought on the Pharsalian plain. Pom- peius' army was twice as large as Caesar's, but Caesar's troops had fought with him in Gaul, and he knew he could trust them. It is said that he gave an order to his men before the battle to strike at the enemies faces, for he knew that a wound in the face would frighten the Roman nobles. After a long battle, Caesar was victorious. Pompeius did not stay to fight again, but fled to Egypt, where he was murdered in a boat as he was landing : Caesar, who followed after him, wept when Pompeius' head was brought him. He used his victory very mercifully, and did not put any one to death, for he did not only want to conquer, he wanted his conquest to last, and he knew that he could only establish his own power on justice and mercy. 26. Caesar in the East. — When Caesar followed Pompeius to Egypt, he found there a quarrel going on about the kingdom, between Ptolomaeus XII, a boy of fourteen, and his sister Cleopatra. Caesar took the side of Cleopatra, and made her queen after Ptolomaeus had been killed in battle. Then he passed to Asia, where he defeated a rebel king at Zela, and wrote his famous letter to the Roman Senate " Veni, vidi, vici," (I came, I saw, I conquered.) He had no sooner reached Rome than he set off again to Africa, where many of Pompeius' party had assembled, and were gathering troops among the Africans. They were defeated with great slaughter at Thapsus (46). 27. Caesar in Rome. — Still Caesar could not rest, for the sons of Pompeius had raised an army in Spain, where they were beaten by Caesar after a desperate battle at Munda (45). After that Caesar came back to Rome as master of the Roman world. The Senate made him dictator for life, and gave him every pos- sible honour that could be found. But Caesar wished to establish his pov^er entirely, ?.nd to hand it on to others after him; so he wanted to be made king 8o ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. at once, and change the whole form of the Roman government from a Republic to a Monarchy — but a Monarchy restmg on the people. He wanted to take in amongst the number of the Roman citizens the people of the provinces, as soon as they showed themselves ready for it. He wanted also to make the Senate a council of advisers to the king, and he wanted to bring into it not only Roman nobles, but also the chief men of the provinces. 28. Murder of Csesar. — Now, many of the Ro- mans disliked these changes, and disliked Caesar. So, just as he was beginning to settle down in Rome to live quietly, after all his hard work, a plot was made against him. He was murdered in the Senate-house (March 15, 44) by a band of men, amongst whom M. Junius Brutus and C. Cassius Longinus were the chief. They were all men to whom Csesar had shown great kind- ness, but they thought it was their duty to maintain the Roman state, instead of submitting to a single master : so they murdered Csesar in the name of liberty. Csesar died at the age of fifty-six, and is perhaps the greatest man in all history, when we consider both the greatness of the things he did, and the wonder- ful powers of mind and body which he showed. He is not only a great general, but also a great statesman and a great writer. He had many faults, for the times in which he lived were full of wickedness; but the poor people liked him, and his soldiers were entirely devoted to him. -\- 29. Antonius and Octavianus. — The murder of Caisar, however, did not restore the old government of the Senate, as Brutus and Cassius thought it would do. It only brought on new disturbances and civil war for the next thirteen years. Caesar had left as his heir Caius Octavius, his great-nephew, the son of his sister's daughter, but he was only a boy of the age of eighteen at the time of Cxsar's death, and was being educated in Greece. Wx (/ii^^sar's will he was adopted as his son, and so changed his name viii.] THE CIVIL WARS OF ROME. 8l to Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus. In Rome, how- ever, was one of Caesar's generals, Marcus Antonius, who stirred up the people against Brutus and Cassius, so that they had to leave Rome. Then Caesar's old soldiers gathered round Antonius and asked to avenge their leader's death. Antonius hoped by means of this army to make himsdf master of Rome, as Caesar had done. But Octavianus, young as he was, was wise and cautious. He came to Rome, and made himself popular to every one. Many of Caesar's old soldiers came round him, and he soon became powerful. When war broke out between the Senate and Antonius he sided with the Senate, till Antonius was defeated in the battle of Mutina (43), where also the two consuls who were commanding for the Senate were killed. Then Octavianus came to Rome with his troops, and forced his own election as consul. Then, having got a position of real power, he made peace with Anton- ius, and with Marcus Lepidus, who, as governor of part of Spain and Gaul, had an army at his command. 30. Second Triumvirate. — Thus was formed (43) what is known as the second trhmivtrate, or board of three men. Just as, twelve years before, the affairs of Rome had been settled by three men, Pompeius, Caesar, and Crassus, so now were they settled by three men who found themselves at the head of armies, Octavianus, Antonius, and Lepidus. The first thing they did was to secure themselves by putting every one to death of whom any of the three was afraid, just as Sulla had done before. One of the people who was killed at this time was the great orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero. He had stood firmly by the Senate, and had spoken very fiercely against Antonius in some very celebrated speeches, so he was killed, at the age of sixty-four. When they had thus settled matters in Rome, they had to face Brutus and Cassius, who had gathered together a large army in Macedonia : while Sextus Pompeius, the son of Cnaeus Pompeius, had collected a fleet, and was in possession of Sicily. But Brutus 8 2 ROMAN HIS TOR K [chap. and Cassius were not good generals, and despaired too soon of their cause. In two battles fought at Philippi they were defeated (42) : in the first battle Cassius committed suicide, and in the second Brutus did the same. 31. Octavianus in Italy. — After this battle An- tonius went to the East, where he met Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, and became so fond of her that he stayed with her in Egypt. Octavianus went back to Italy, where he tried to establish order. It was at last agreed that Antonius should rule the East, Octavianus the West, and Lepidus Africa. Octavianus had the hardest work, as he had no ships, and Sextus Pompeius, who had a large fleet, could prevent the corn-ships from sailing to Rome, and so could produce famine. Octavianus, therefore, had to get together a fleet of his own, and also to try and keep the Romans quiet. At first his ships were defeated, and he was in great difficulties, but at last, in 36, he succeeded in over- coming Pompeius, who was, however, joined by Lepi- dus, through fear of Octavianus growing too power- ful. Lepidus was defeated and deprived of his power, and Sextus Pompeius was driven to take refuge m the East, where he was put to death by Antonius. 32. Civil War of Octavianus and Antonius. — It was now Antonius' turn to be afraid of the power of Octavianus, who was master of Italy, which he had saved from great distress, and where he had quietly and moderately introduced law and order. All Caesar's old soldiers followed him, and he was the head of all the old political party of Marius. Antonius, on the other hand, became more and more disliked at Rome. He lived entirely in the East, where he was altogether under the influence of Cleopatra, and followed eastern habits and customs, which the Romans heard of with disgust. So, gradually, a war came about between Octavianus and Antonius, which was settled by the battle of Actium, in the year 31. This battle was fought at sea, off the west coast of Greece, and was VIII.] BEGINNINGS OF THE EMPIRE. ^^^ decided by the flight of Cleopatra's ship in the middle of the battle. Antonius was so distressed at this that he followed her ; and then all his ships, seeing their general run away, turned and fled likewise. Antonius was pursued to Egypt, where he attempted to commit suicide on hearing Cleopatra was dead : but she was not dead, and he lived just long enough to see her, but died in time to escape falling into the hands of Octavianus. Cleopatra was taken prisoner, but com- mitted suicide by the sting of an asp, or poisonous serpent, which she contrived to have sent to her in a basket of fruit. She was the last queen of Egypt : after her death it was made a Roman province. CHAPTER IX. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE EMPIRE. I. Why the Romans took one man as ruler. — So now again the Roman world was under the rule of one man. The murder of Julius Caesar had only led to thirteen years of confusion, and at the end of that time Caesar's adopted son stood in much the same position as his father had done. Every one was now tired of these civil wars, which had lasted since the times of Marius and Sulla, for more than fifty years. Very few people were alive who had seen these wars begin. Very few had ever known what it was to live under a settled government. So men had lost much of their love for the old government of Rome, and were contented with any government that would give them quiet and peace, and would bring back law and order. Almost all the chief Roman nobles had been killed in these late wars. There was no family left which could claim to be as great as the Julian family. Octavianus was by far the most powerful man in the state, and there was no means of getting rid of him, or governing without him. After the battle of Actium, when Octavianus returned to Rome, the power 84 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. of the state passed entirely into his hands, and Rome's government slowly changed, in reality though not in name, from being a Republic to being a Monarchy^ -J or the ride of o?ie man, 2. How the Empire was founded. — Octavi- anus, however, had learned from the fate of Julius how dangerous it was to try to change the form of govern- ment openly : he had learned that it must be done slowly and quietly. So he never wanted the title of " king," nor did he wish for any extraordinary powers. But he slowly took to himself all the old magistracies, or at least the power of the old magistrates. You remember that w^ien Rome drove out her kings and became a Republic, she did not make any violent change, but at first appointed one yearly magistrate, and then two, who bore the kingly power. Then little by little this power was split up, and pieces of it given to new magistrates. Well, Octavianus took to himself all these scattered powers one by one, and so became a king again, though he avoided the name of king. He took the title, Lnperator^ which means the holder of a military command from the people. It is this title which has been shortened into Emperor^ and which we now use as the chief title of Octavianus and his successors. By this power of Imperator he was head of the army, and the use of this title more than others shows what the new rule was really founded upon. Then he took the authority of Censor, by which he could control the appointments to the Senate. He also was made princeps, or chief man of the Senate, who always spoke first on every question ; from this again comes our title Prince. By these powers of censor and princeps he became also head of the Senate. Next he received the tribunician power for life, and as such became head of the people. Then he took the consular power for life, and so was the chief magistrate of Rome. Lastly, he became Q\\\t{ pivitifcx, or priest^ and so was head of the Roman religion. IX.] BEGINAIiVGS OF THE EMPIRE. g^ Thus he had gathered into his own hands the control over every part of the old government, and also held his powers for life. He also had the title conferred upon himself of Augustus, or the Majestic, just as we say *'Her Majesty." It is by this name of Augustus that Octavianus is always known in his later life. 3. Rule of Augustus. — Augustus lived quite simply at Rome, without any show of grandeur. He kept watch over everything, and always had his own way. He accustomed the Senate and the people to look to him for orders what to do about everything. Sometimes he offered to resign his powers, that they might see that they could not do without him. Once he went away from Rome, and at the next elections there was a riot, which only his presence could put down. It was by these means of trying not to give offence to any one, and of doing everything under the old names, and so not seeming to make any change, that Augustus established the Empire in Rome. 4. Roman Writers under Augustus. — He ruled the Roman world from B.C. 30 to a.d. 14, and the Romans were happy under his rule after all their wars. His reign was the time in which the great Roman writers flourished, and their works are full of mentions of him. It was in his honour that Publius Virgilius Maro wrote his poem of the ^neid, to tell the great deeds of ^neas, who founded Alba, and from whom the Julian family, to which Julius Caesar had belonged, was said to have sprung. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, and Publius Ovidius Varo, also wrote poems at this time : and Titus Livius wrote his great history of Rome. Augustus was fond of having literary men about him, and used to encourage them to write. Hence it is customary to talk about the Augustan age of literature as being that in which there were the best writers, and they were the most / highly esteemed. "^~r" 5. Effects of the Empire on the Provinces, 86 ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. — But the chief thing that Augustus did was the general arrangement of the government. You see that Rome's government, up to the time of the Empire, had been the government of the people of the city of Rome over all the peoples they had conquered. After the Social War all the Italians had been made Roman citizens, but they could only vote at Rome itself, and of course every man in Italy could not go to Rome and vote every time there was an Assembly. The chief power in Rome was simply that of the rabble of Rome, who came and voted just as they were led by some one popular for the time. The Senate had been always trying to keep this " Roman people " quiet and obedient to itself, but had failed to do so. When the Empire was once established this difficulty was settled : both Senate and people had to obey the Emperor. The pow^r of governing the provinces was no longer left to the Roman people, but went either directly or in- directly to the Emperor. Thus, under the Empire, the Italians gradually lost their freedom, and the provincials gradually gained equality with them. 6. Extent of the Roman Empire. — If you look at the map at the beginning of the book, you will see how large was the extent of Rome's dominions under Augustus. After a great defeat in North Germany, he thought that Rome had con- quered far enough, and that it was only necessary for her to get good strong frontiers. His wars were mostly carried on against the Germans, and he at last succeeded in making the two great rivers of the Rhine and the Danube the • boundaries of the Roman terri- tory. Thus you see Rome's dominions were bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean ; on the north by the English Channel, the Rhine, the Danube, the Black Sea, and the mountains of Caucasus ; on the east by the Armenian mountains, the Tigris, and they Arabian desert ; and on the south by the African deserts. Along all this frontier there were only two weak points : one was towards the Germans, and the IX.] BEGINNINGS OF THE EMPIRE, gy Other on the east side towards the Parthians. These two peoples, the Germans and the Parthians, were the enemies whom Rome had chiefly to fear. When Augustus died he left directions to his successors not to increase these dominions : and up to the end of the Roman Empire only two other countries were added. One was Britain, which had already been in- vaded by Julius Csesar, but which the Emperor Claudius conquered in a.d. 51 ; the other was Dacia, which was added by the Emperor Trajan in a.d. 106. f 7. New Government of the Provinces. — These provinces had been governed, you remember, by those who had been magistrates at Rome, and who were purely Roman governors, settling everything in the interests of the Senate. So the provinces had been oppressed and ill treated by many Romans who wanted to make money out of them. Augustus took many of these provinces under his own care, and appointed his own governor, who was under his control. Even in the other provinces, which still were under the care of the Senate, Augustus had officers who kept watch over the governors of the Senate. He was always ready also to hear the complaints of the people of the provinces, and used to see that justice was done to them. In this way the provinces were delivered by the Emperor from the oppression of the Roman nobles. The pro- vinces before had been looked upon as estates of the Roman people, which they might deal with as they chose, and out of which they made as much money as they could. But now the provinces began to be equal with Italy, and both alike were parts of a great system of government, at the head of which was the Emperor. Instead of being the mistress of all the peoples she had conquered, Rome became only their capital city. f 8. Equality between Rome and the Pro- vinces. — This, then, was the result of the change which was brought about when the Roman Republic began to have an Emperor at its head. You see that 88 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. in this point the emperors went back to the old plan which Rome had followed at first ; they did not want to keep the conquered people outside the state, and give them no share in it, but they gradually gave the provinces Roman citizenship, and so made them all equal to Italy herself. It was because the nobles of the Senate had not followed this plan that they had failed to govern. However, this gift of Roman citizen- ship did not do much good by itself, as Roman citizens could only vote at Rome itself, and of course men living away from Rome could not go there to vote, however important the matter might be. When the emperors gave Roman citizenship to cities or districts they did not give any real power in the state, for there was no real power except what they had themselves, but they gave the rights of the Roman law and an equal position to that of the Romans who were scattered about as officials through the provinces. So you see the city of Rome first conquered the civilised world, and then gradually made all people of the world citizens of Rome, and all these citizens were equal with one another, but all had to obey the Emperor who, however, though he ruled them all, was only a Roman citizen himself This was a very curious result of the Empire, and was one that came about slowly : but there was this result at once, that the provinces were better governed. The people were very grateful to Augustus for this. We are told that one day, as he was sailing in his yacht in the Bay of Baiae, a Greek ship which was sailing past saw him. The sailors at once stopped the ship, and, coming to his yacht clad in white robes, they sacrificed to him as to a god, saying " You have given us happiness, you have secured to us our lives and our goods." 9. Wars of Augustus. — Though Augustus was "or the most part busy with arranging the provinces, he also carried on some wars. The most important of these was with the Germans, whom Augustus wished to con- k IX.] BEGINNINGS OF THE EMPIRE. 89 quer. At one time the Romans had won all the country between the Rhine and the Elbe, where our forefathers the English and Saxons were living, but a German chieftain, Arminius, as the Romans called him, attacked the Roman general, Varus, and destroyed all - his troops (a.d. 9). Augustus never recovered from grief at this loss : it is said he used to call out in his sleep, " Varus, Varus, give me back my legions." At all events Germany, north of the Rhine and Danube, was safe from the Romans, and although wars were made afterwards, they were not wars for conquest, but rather wars to keep down the Germans and prevent them from crossing the Rhine. V 10. Death of Augustus. — Augustus died in the year a.d. 14, at the age of seventy-six. He was a very clever man, who had always known how to use everything for his own advantage. He liked to act gently rather than violently; but he shrunk from nothing that might help him to get what he wanted. He was not happy in his private life; his daughter vexed him greatly, and at last he had chosen to succeed him his step-son, -Tiberius Claudius Nero, who was not of the Julian house by birth, but was the son of Augustus' second wife, Livia, by a former marriage, and had been adopted by Augustus as his son. "^ii. Accession of Tiberius. — Tiberius (14-27) had been greatly employed by Augustus in state affairs, and had for tl^e last two years shared Augustus' power. So the Senate, when Augustus was dead, gave him the same honours as Augustus had held, and he be- came Emperor in the same way. But Tiberius was not so pleasant and kindly as Augustus had been : he was rather stern and sullen, and was fifty-five years old when he came to power, and so was too old to change his ways of li^e. He did not keep up all the old forms of the Republic as Augustus had done. He did away altogether with the Assemblies of the People for the purpose of making laws : and we must 90 ROMAN HI^ 1 VR V. [chap. own that the people who could give up their right so easily did not deserve to have it. The Senate ^ also felt itself to be entirely under his power, and some of the feeling of the old Roman nobles again awoke. For the first nine years Tiberius did a great deal of Avork : he saw that the provinces were rightly governed and that the laws were obeyed. But he felt that he was not liked, and he became jealous of his nephew, Germanicus, who w^as very popular with all classes. So he grew suspicious and tyrannical, and, unhappily, the state of things in Rome allowed him to be as cruel as he pleased. "^12. Evils of the Government of the Em- perors. — We have seen what was the good side of this new government of Emperors, — the provinces were freed from oppression, and men became more equal. But we must now look at the bad side of it, of which Tiberius and his successors show us only too much. The people who lived in Rome were very diiferent from what they had been in the days when the Roman people ruled for themselves. The old Roman nobles had died out, and in their places had grown up a large body of men, who owed their riches to the Emperor, who had not been born in Rome at all, and who cared very little about the old customs. The upper classes in Rome were very rich, very luxurious, and very lazy. The lower classes in Rome were no longer the farmers in Italy, but were a mob of people who had come together from every side to live at Rome, because it was cheap to live there, and there were plenty of amusements. 'A great part of them had come to Rome as slaves, and had managed to be set free. Now this mob cared about nothing except how they could get bread without doing any work, and amusements without paying for them. So long as the emperor took care that they had these, they did not trouble themselves about what he did. Of course the emperor's power really rested on the army : so long as the army obeyed him he could do IX,] BEGINNINGS OF THE EMPIRE. 91 what he pleased, and he had a guard, known as the Prcetorian Guard, of about 6,000 men in Rome itself, i 13. Rise of a class of Informers. — In this state of things the Senate lost its sense of freedom ; it had very little to do, and yet its members wanted to have something to make speeches about. So they took to accusing one another of different crimes against the emperor, and they showed their cleverness in finding out new sorts of crimes that might be done against him. Thus, one man was brought to trial because he had melted down a silver image of the emperor to make plate for his own table. At first Tiberius would not allow trials to go on for such charges, but, when he had grown suspicious, he used this temper of the Senate for his own purposes. Those whom he was afraid of were got rid of in this way. There grew up a class of men who started the trade of informers, who got up these charges against any one whom they thought the emperor would like to see put to death, and who made large fortunes by getting a share of the property of the condemned man. In this way almost all that remained of the Roman nobles were put to death. The rich and distinguished men lived in constant fear that they would be accused. Even Tiberius himself was fright- ened : he left Rome and went to the little island of Capreae, where he lived, amongst astrologers, a gloomy and wicked life. 14. End of the Reign of Tiberius. — But, though Tiberius had left Rome, he was still regarded as its chief ruler, and this shows you how great a change had already come over Roman ideas. The govern- ment of Rome had now become a power belonging to a person, and not to the state, Tiberius gave his power to others to exercise for him, and Rome was governed by the captain of the Praetorian Guard, ^Elius Sejanus, who was very cruel, and w^ho hoped to succeed Tiberius. He killed almost all the emperor's relations, till at last Tiberius was afraid of a con- 92 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap, spiracy against himself, and sent a letter to the Senate, ordering them to make Sejanus prisoner. The letter was a long one, and was read aloud in the Senate while Sejanus was there, expecting that it contained the news of some new honour for himself At the end of the letter was the order to arrest him : Sejanus was instantly seized ; all who had been his friends before left him at once; and on the w^ay to prison he saw the people pulling down his statues, which had been put up in the streets. He was put to death at once in prison. This will show you how the Romans, when once they had lost their freedom, lost also all their nobleness of character, and became mean and slavish and unfeeling. Tiberius .died, being gloomy and wretched to the last, at the age of seventy- eight, and every one at Rome was glad when he died. 15. Caius Caligula. — But the next emperor, Caius (37-41), was quite as bad, and shows still more the bad results of letting one man have such great power as the emperors had. He was the grandson, by adoption, of Tiberius, and was the son of Germanicus, whom the Romans had loved so much. He is gener- ally called Caligula, which means a " little boot," and was a nickname given him by his father's soldiers. Caius became mad when he was emperor. He was always weak-headed, and could sleep only very little, and so his weakness and restlessness, when he had the great power of emperor, led him to give way to the wildest fancies. He had all the ships of Rome put together on the sea across the Bay of Baiae, and then covered with planks, on which was laid earth, and trees were planted. Then he rode along this in solemn procession, that he might say he hafrom them. But in Spain and Gaul and Italy the people who settled began to talk Latin, and to behave like the Romans. Arid this is why the people of Spain and France and Italy at the present day talk what are called Romance languages, that is, languages which began from the Roman, but have been changed XIII.] SETTLEMENTS OF THE BARBARIANS, 121 from the old Latin, because these peoples were care- less, and tried to make it easier for themselves as they went on. 6. Reign of Justinian. — So, while the Western Empire was being split up, the Eastern Empire kept together, and managed to keep back the Huns and Persians, who were its chief enemies. Under the Emperor 'Justinianus or Justinian (527-65), there was even an attempt made to win back from the barbar- ians the provinces which they had taken from the Empire. The great general Belisarius showed a wonderful power of making his soldiers love him and follow him, however rash he might seem to be. He first defeated the Persians ; then he crossed over to Africa and defeated the Vandals, and again made Africa a province of the . Empire. He then conquered Sicily, and drove the Goths out of Italy. So that Justinian was real ruler both of Rome and of Constantinople. But this did not last long, for in 568 another German people, the Lombards, invaded Italy and conquered all the northern part of it. The Persians, too, had become more powerful than ever in the East, and another people like the Huns, called the Avars, settled along the Danube. Still the Empire had great men to help her when she was in trouble. The Emperor Heraclius (610-41) was one of the greatest generals ever known, almost as great as Hannibal. He went with his army into the country of the Persians, and for four years defeated every army they could send against him. The power of the Persians was entirely destroyed ; at the same time, too, the Avars had grown weaker, and it would seem that the Empire might have peace. 7. Conquests of the Arabs. — But a more serious enemy was soon to rise against them. Mohammed, an Arabian, taught the people of Arabia a purer religion than they had known before. The scattered tribes gathered themselves together round him and £22 ROMAN HISTORY. [chap. his teaching, and the Arabs went out to conquer as the Huns had done before. There was, however, this great difference : the Huns only followed a great leader, and fell in pieces when he was dead : the Arabs believed what their leader taught them, and so held together while they won a great empire. Syria, Egypt, and Africa were conquered by them, and were never won back by the Roman Empire. One great reason of this was, that the Greek-speaking Chris- tians differed very much about questions concerning religion, and when they differed they called one an- other heretics, and quarrelled a great deal. Thus it came about that many were willing to submit to the Arabs rather than give up their religious opinions. The Arabs passed over into Spain and threatened the West, but were driven out of Gaul by the leader of the Franks, Charles Martel, in 732. After these losses, which took place between 633 and 692, the Roman Empire only ruled over Greece, the provinces below the Danube, Asia Minor, and part of Italy. It soon lost almost the whole of what it still held in Italy, because the Emperor Leo III (717-41) quarrelled with the Pope, or Bishop of Rome, about the worshipping of images. 8. Rome again sets up an Emperor. — All this time the emperors had done nothing for Italy; the Lombards had become more powerful in the north, and the Popes had made themselves chief magistrates of the city of Rome, as there was no one else. Now, when the Pope and Emperor quarrelled, the connexion between Italy and the emperors at Constantinople was more and more broken off The Pope looked to the kings of the Franks, who were the most powerful of the German peoples, and had settled in Gaul, to help him against the Lombards. And at last, in the year 800, Charles the Great, king of the Franks, was crowned Roman Emperor by the Pope at Rome. 9. The Division of the Empire. — At this time, then, there were two Emperors, one at Rome and the XIII.] SETTLEMENTS OF THE BARBARIANS. 123 Other at Constantinople, who both claimed to be the rulers of the whole Roman world, as the early Em- perors had been. But really the West obeyed the one, and the East the other; and so men came to speak of an Eastern and a Western Empire. For some time these Empires did not have much to do with one another, and at last they became open enemies. 10. Fall of the Western Empire. — The Western Empire was called at a later time the Holy Roman Empire, and its emperor was also the German king. He claimed to have authority over all the people of the West, but his authority grew less and less, as nations formed themselves in Europe. For you have seen that the Roman Empire grew up because Rome brought all the ancient nations under her rule. Then, when the Roman Empire was split up by the settlements of barbarians within it, at first people still all kept together in a sort of way. But the barbarians and the Romans mixed together differently in different places : some- times there were more Romans, sometimes more bar- barians. This made great differences, so people gathered together into groups according to these differences, and out of these groups sprung up what we now call nations. As fast, then, as the nations grew up the Empire fell in pieces, and after the Refor- mation the title Holy Roman Empire meant hardly anything at all. 11. Fall of the Eastern Empire. — ^The Eastern Empire went on fighting very bravely against the various tribes of Turks in the East, and against the different tribes of barbarians who attacked the provinces along the Danube. It grew smaller and smaller, and be- came only a Greek kingdom. It was at last destroyed by the Turks, who took Constantinople in 1453, and made it the capital of a Turkish Empire, which still remains. 12. Influence of the Roman Empire. — You see, however, how long the old laws and ideas of Rome 124 ROMAN HISTORY, [chap. went on. Modern Europe was founded on the destruc- tion of the Roman Empire, and the modern nations grew up under its shadow. The power of Rome was so great that it was not destroyed all at once, but died away gradually. So you see it is hard to say where Roman history comes to an end. Every nation in Europe owes something to Rome. Some, as we have said, are called Romance peoples, and still speak languages which come from the Latin. Of course, together with Rome's language, they also have many ideas about government and other things that come from Rome. The German races, on the other hand, of which we are one, speak German and not a Latin language. So we do not owe so much to Rome as do the Italians, or the French, or Spaniards, but still we have learned something from Rome, "and Roman history must always have a great deal of interest for us, and must teach us to understand all that has happened in Europe a great deal better than we other- wise should. One great instance of this influence of Rome, even up to our own days, may be seen in the Papacy. When the power of the city of Rome became smaller in governing the State, it began to grow larger in governing the Church. Men had so long been ac- customed to look to the city of Rome for laws and government that, wdien the Emperors no longer lived there, and the Bishop of Rome had become the chief man in the city, men looked to the Bishop of Rome for laws and government in matters of religion. When Rome ceased to be the head of the old Pagan Empire of the world, she became the head of the new Christian Empire of the world ; and the notion of the Holy Roman Empire was that the Pope and the Emperor were closely united, and were together to direct the affairs of Christendom. Long after nations had formed for themselves their own civil government, it was thought that in religious matters all nations must obey the government of the Roman Church. You know that XIII.] CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 125 what is called the Reformation is the time in which most of the German peoples, the English amongst the rest, threw off the rule of the Bishop of Rome. But the Romance peoples still obey the Pope, and though the Roman Empire has passed away in political matters, traces of it still remain in the high position given in religious matters to the Bishop of Rome. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. Rome Founded, The Romans drove out their Kings, . The Plebeians first had Tribunes, The Decemvirs published the Laws at Rome, The Romans took Veil from the Etruscans, The Gauls took Rome, .... The Laws of Licinius and Sextius made the Patricians and Plebians equal in Rome, The Romans conquered the Latins, . The Romans, having conquered the Samnites, bC' came the chief people in Italy, The Romans drove Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, out of Italy, First War with Carthage, . . . • War with Hannibal, The Romans conquered the East, • • The Romans conquered Spain, . . Destruction of Carthage, .... Tiberius Gracchus tried to reform the Roman State, Caius Gracchus tried to reform the Roman State. War with Jugurtha in Numidia,* . Caius Marius drove back the Teutones and Cimbri from Italy, .... The Italians forced Rome to make them Roman citizens, Civil War between Sulla and Marius, . Cnaeus Pompeius overcame Rome's rebels, , Caius Julius Caesar conquered the Gauls, , B.C. 753 509 494 451 396 389 366 338 290 275 264-241 219-202 200-160 150 146 133 123-121 111-106 102 91-89 88-82 74-61 58-49 1 2 6 ROMAN HIST OR Y. BX. Caius Julius Caesar invaded Britain, ... 54 Civil War between Pompeius and Caesar, in which Caesar was conqueror at the Battle of Phar- salia, 49-48 Caius Julius Caesar put himself at the head of the Government of Rome, ... . . 48-44 Caius Julius Caesar was murdered, ... 44 Marcus Antonius, Caius Octavianus, and Marcus Lepidus gained the chief power in the Roman State, 43 Octavianus defeated Antonius at Actium, and be- came the chief man in Rome, ... 31 Octavianus, known as Augustus Caesar, governed the Roman Republic as Emperor, B.C. 30-14 a.d. A.D. Tiberius Emperor, ..,•,. 14-37 Caius Caesar (Caligula) Emperor, . . • 37-41 Tiberius Claudius Caesar Emperor, , . . 41-54 Nero Claudius Caesar Emperor, . . . 54-68 Disturbances in the Empire after the fall of the Julian family, 69 Titus Flavins Vespasianus, known as Vespasian, Emperor, 69-79 Destruction of Jerusalem, 70 Titus Flavins Vespasianus, known as Titus, Em- peror, . 79-81 Lucius Flavins Domitianus, known as Domitian, Emperor, 81-96 Ulpius Trajanus Emperor, . ^ . . . . 98-117 Publius ^lius Hadrianus Emperor, . . . 117-138 Titus yElius Antoninus, known as Antoninus Pius, Emperor, 138-161 Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, — the first Emperor who had to spend his time in fighting against barbarian invaders, 161-180 The Emperors were elected by the soldiers, and barbarian tribes invaded the frontiers, . . 192-268 The Emperor Caracalla made all men who were governed by Rome citizens of Rome, . . 215 A series of Emperors chosen from Illyria drove back the invaders, 268-284 The Emperor Diocletian made great changes in the Roman Empire, 284-305 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 127 A.D. Flavius Valerius Constantinus, known as Con- stantine the Great, made the Empire Christian, and built Constantinople as its new capital, 323-337 The Emperor Valens was killed by the Goths in battle, 378 The Emperor Theodosius drove back the Goths, 379-395 The Empire was divided between two Caesars, one in the East and one in the West, . . 395 The Goths settled in South Gaul and Spain, . 415 The Vandals settled in Africa, .... 429 The Huns, under their King, Attila, invaded Europe, 433-453 The Franks were settling in Gaul and the English in Britain, . 450-500 The Empire was again united under the Emperor at Constantinople, and a German King governed Italy as his deputy, . . . 476 The Emperor Justinian made the Empire power- ful for a time, 527-565 The Arabs, united by the teaching of Mahomet, began a career of conquest in Syria, Egypt, and Africa, 636 The Pope, representing the people of Rome, crowned Charles, King of the Franks, as Emperor of Rome, 80D The Turks captured Constantinople, and brought the Eastern Empire to an end, . . . 1453 Francis II abdicated the Holy Roman Empire, . x8o6 692556 I UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY / PHYSICS; PHYSICAL Gl GEOI^OGY: Profess^ F^HYSIOLOGY: Br* M| ASTRONOMTt J. Nor| BOTANY t Dr. ]. D, Ho ibtoru? EUeOPE; E, A, Freeman, B,CJ ENGl^ANDf }\ R< Green, Mc A. riHEKOK: C. A. Fyffe, M,A. HOME. M. Ci^mGHTOs, M. A. ,-^"ri A.NCE: CHuax>TTE M VoNGE^^ O COG B APH Y '; CsoRGE Gr<3 ^itiatur^. j^NOLiSH GRAMMARi Bi^, 'K. ;-.]-. C.^^ISH LITERATUREt KhTIN Llj^^^B^RE^ Rev« Dr, Fc W, f aI l^''Hr: BlmS^^^^^^RoYK, Esq. D. A N & CO.