LIBRARY 
 
 ^ Diversity oi California' 
 
 IRVINE,
 
 ITALY 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN S. C. ABBOTT 
 
 WITH A SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER OF RECENT EVENTS 
 
 By WILFRED C. LAY, Ph.D. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 PETER FENELON COLLIER 
 
 MDCCCXCVIIl
 
 . ' 
 
 A 3. 
 
 according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, 
 
 BY B. B. RUSSELL, 
 the Offine of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 OorrBiaKT BT DODD, MEAL), AMD COKPAKT, 1881,
 
 PEEFAOE. 
 
 TH! anaals of the world contain no other such narrative as that 
 of Italy. Legendary Rome, the frenzied strife with Carthage, the 
 wild career of Hannibal, the lifelong struggles of Pompey and Csar, 
 the culmination of the empire into universal sovereignty, the rise of 
 Christianity, the crumbling temples of Paganism, the sweep of Moslem 
 armies, the surging billows of barbaric invasion, the fall of imperial 
 Rome, the gloom and chaos of the dark ages, the struggle of the great 
 monarchies of Europe to grasp the fragments of the empire, the 
 amazing campaigns of Napoleon L, the triumph of the allies, the new 
 dismemberment of Italy, the campaigns of Magenta and Solferino, and 
 the recent re-establishment of Rome as the capital of re-united 
 Italy, all these conspire in furnishing historical records, which, in 
 interest and instruction, are without a parallel. 
 
 The materials from which to gather information upon these points 
 are inexhaustible. Those upon which the author has mainly relied 
 are the works of Niebuhr, Arnold, Schmidt, Livy, Tacitus, Plutarch, 
 Guicciardini, Sforzozi, Botta, Luigi Bosri, Sismondi, Percival, Spauld- 
 ing, Gibbon, Robertson, Thiers, Alison, Julie de Marguerites, together 
 with reviews and encyclopedias upon important characters and events. 
 The author has spared no pains to attain all possible accuracy, hav- 
 ing devoted to the most important events here recorded the studies 
 of many years. Where there has been disorepaocy of authorities, oe 
 has adopted that statement, which, after toe moft careful eonsidwra- 
 tion, has appeared to him beat authenticated. 
 
 5
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 The one great truth taught in all these annals is, that there is n 
 hope for the world but in the religion of the Bible. A change in the 
 form of government is of but little avail, so long as the people remain 
 ignorant and corrupt. Probably, in all governments, the rulers pretty 
 fairly represent the average intelligence and integrity of the people. 
 A true republic cannot exist where the people are degraded. It is 
 of but little avail to batter down an old despotism, unless there is 
 sufficient enlightenment to rear upon its ruins a better edifice. 
 
 The question, whether united Italy shall be prosperous and happy, 
 is one to be decided in the hearts of the Italian people. Italy has 
 deposed its old tyrannic rulers, and has introduced principles of civil 
 and religious liberty hitherto unknown in that fair but ill-fated land ; 
 but if there be not found among the masses of the people that intel- 
 ligence and moral worth which are essential to free institutions, then 
 the light we now behold gleaming over the Alps and the Apennines 
 will prove but the flash of the midnight storm, not the dawn of open- 
 ing day. 
 
 The men who are now doing the most for the welfare of the world 
 are those who are striving, by all the varied instrumentalities of life, 
 to make men better ; to awaken in the human heart the consciousness 
 that God is our common Father, and that all we are brethren. He 
 only is the true philanthropist who offers the unceasing prayer, with 
 corresponding exertions, " Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as 
 in heaven, so in earth." 
 
 JOHN S. C. ABBOTT, 
 
 iVia HAVKB, Cow*., fehrnuy, 1871.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 LEGENDARY ROME. 
 
 FROM 700 B. o. TO 493 B. 0. 
 
 PAM 
 
 tarn ITALIAN PENINSULA. UNCERTAIN HISTORY. LEGEND OF TKOT. TIM FLIGHT 
 OF ^NEAB. LANDING IN ITALY. WARS WITH NATIVE TRIBES. ALBA LONGA. 
 THE STOBY or BOMULUS AND BEMUS. THE FOUNDATION OF BOME. THB RAP or 
 THE SABINES. CONTINUED CONQUESTS. TRANSLATION or ROMULUS. THEHOEATII 
 AND CUBIATIL CONQUEST OF ALBA LONGA, ACCESSION OF TARQUIHIUS. SERVIUS 
 TULLIUS. His DEMOCRATIC SWAY. ACCESSION CF TARQUINIUS SUPEBBUS. TH 
 BOOKS OF THE SIBYL. THE STORY OF LUOEETIA. BAXISHMENT OF TARQUIN. 
 EEIGN OF THJC CONSULS. INSURRECTION OF THE COMMONS It 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PRETORSHIP, DECEMVIBATE, AND CONSULATE. 
 FROM 493 B. a TO 438 B. o. 
 
 STORY OF COBIOLANUS. APPOINTMENT OF A DICTATOR. ACHIEVEMENTS OF CCTOIN- 
 NATUS. WAB WITH THE JiyUlANS AND YOLSCIAN8. TuE SOLDIERS REFUSE TO 
 FIGUT. INFAMOUS CONDUCT OF THE NOBLES. APPIUS CLAUDIUS. VIRGINIA 
 CLAIMED AS A FUGITIVE SLAVE. SLAIN BY UEB FATHER. INSURRECTION or THE 
 PEOPLE. ITS SUCCESS. CONSPIRACY OF THE YOUNG NOBLES. K..&SO, SON OF Ci- 
 
 OINNATUS. ClNCINNATUS CHOSEN CONSUL. CHANGE IN HIS CHABACTEB. AVEN- 
 
 TINK HILL TAKEN BY THE COMMONS. IMPEACHMENT OF APPIUS CLAUDIUS. THB 
 POPULAR CAUSE TRIUMPHANT. THE DECEMVIRS EEJECTED AND EXPELLED. IN- 
 TRODUCTION OF THE CONSULATE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 CONFLICTS AT HOME AND WARS ABROAD 
 
 FROM 433 B. c. TO 818 B. o. 
 
 PCWSB OF AN ARISTOCRACY. DEMANDS OF THE PLEBEIANS. STRUGGLE OF THB 
 PATBICIANS AGAINST POPULAB EIGHTS. THE OFFICE OF CENSOR. ITS DESPOT- 
 ISM. INVASION OF THE GAULS. DEFEAT OF THE ROMAN ARMY. SACK OF BOMB. 
 SIEGE OF THE CAPITOL. TERMS OF PEACE. MANLITJS. His PHTLANTHBOPY AND 
 CONDEMNATION. DESPOTISM OF CAMILLUS. CONQUEST OF THE PRIVERNATIANB^ 
 WAR wrrn THE SAMNITES. DISASTKK AT THE CAUDINE FORKS MAGNANIMITY or 
 PONTIUS. CHARACTERISTIC ROMAN PRIDE ANP HEKOISM. ...
 
 2 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 BOMB, 6BEECE, AND CABTHAQB 
 
 FROM 818 B. o. TO 241 B. o 
 
 PAC 
 
 Tarn DISASTER OF THE CAUDINB FORKS AVENGED. PASTIES IN ROME. DEMOCRACY 
 OF APPIUS CLAUDIUS. IGNOBLE TREATMENT or PONTIUS. BTATB OF THB WORLD 
 AT THIS TIME. COALITION AGAINST BOMB. THE GREEKS JOIN THE COALITION. 
 PYRRHUS LANDS ON THB ITALIAN PENINSULA. PBOOBKSS OF THB WAR. EXPUL- 
 SION OF THB GREEKS. INVASION OF SICILY. WAB WITH CABTUAGE. INVASION 
 OF AFRICA. STORY OF BseuLus. VIOTOBIES AND DEFEATS. BOMB TRIUMPHANT. 
 SICILY ANNEXED TO BOMB T4 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE ALPS BY HANNIBAL. 
 
 FROM 241 B. o. TO 217 B. a 
 
 INVASION OF SPAIN BY CARTHAGE. WAR BBNEWBD BETWEEN BOMB AND CA- 
 THAGK. NEW GAULISH INVASION. ANNIHILATION OF THB GAULISH ARMY. 
 CONQUEST OF CISALPINE GAUL. HANNIBAL CROSSES THE BHONR. PASSAGE OF IBM 
 ALPS. INVASION OF ITALY. BATTLES ON THE TICINO AND THE Po. DISCOMFI- 
 TURE OF THE BOMANS. HANNIBAL BNTEBS TCSOANY. GREAT BATTLE OF THBABY- 
 MBNE. ANNIHILATION OF THE BOM AN ABM Y. COMMEMORATED BY BYBON 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OF HANNIBAL. 
 
 FROM 217 B. o. TO 204 B. o. 
 
 DEVASTATING MARCH OF HANNIBAL. COMPOSITION OF HIS ARMY. TERROR 
 BOMK. WINTER QUABTEBS IN APULIA. DISSENSIONS IN THE BOMAN ARMY. THB 
 BATTLE OF CANNJL ANNIHILATION OF TUB BOMAN ARMY. INCREASING PERIL OF 
 HANNIBAL. BETREAT FROM TIFATA. MARCH UPON BOMB. SIEGE OF CAPUA. 
 SLAVERY OF CAPTIVES. THE MARCH OF HASDEUBAL. PASSAGE OF THE ALPS. 
 NEW VICTORIES OF HANNIBAL. DEATH OF HASDBUBAL AND DESTRUCTION or 
 HIS ARMY. THE HEAD OF HASDRUBAL. EXULTATION IN BOMB. DESPAIR or 
 HASNIBAL 110 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 FOREIGN CONQUESTS AND INTERNAL FEUDB. 
 
 FROM 204 B. o. TO 121 B. o. 
 
 SOIPIO. His CHARACTER AND CAREER. TUB CONQUEST OF SPAIN. QUELLING THB 
 MUTINY. MILITARY PROWESS OF HANNIBAL. HE RETIRES FROM ITALY. SOIPIO 
 INVADES AFRICA. DESTRUCTION OF THE CARTHAGINIAN ARMY. TBUCB AND 
 HUMILIATION OF CARTHAGE. LANDING OF HANNIBAL IN AFRICA. BATTLE or 
 ZAJIA. CLOSE OF THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. CONQUEST or GREECE. INVASION or 
 SYEIA. THIBD PUNIO WAR. DESTRUCTION or CARTHAOV. THE NUMIDIAN WAB, 
 BARBARIAN INVASION. THE PLEBEIAN AND PATRICIAN CONFLICT. GRACCHUS 
 
 AHDOOTAVIUB ,
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE SOCIAL WAB. 
 
 FUOM 121 E. o. TO 82 B. o. 
 
 M 
 
 >>*BUPTION or THS NOBLES. RESTLESSNESS OF THE PEOPLE. DEM AGOOISM or 
 MAKIUB. SERVILE INSURRECTION IN SICILY. HKROISM OF EUNUS. MISERIES or 
 THE SERVILE WARS. SUMPTUARY LAWS. STRUGGLE FOB RIGHTS OF CITIZENSHIP. 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE SOCIAL WAR. CONTEMPLATED REORGANIZATION OF 
 ITALY. SYLLA. WAR WITH MITHBIDATES. INTERNAL DISSENSIONS AT BOMB. 
 CIVIL WAR IN THE STREETS. VIBRATION OF THE PENDULUM OF PARTIES. CINNA. 
 THE RALLYING OF THE PEOPLE. MABIUS RECALLED. SCENES OF ANABOHY. 
 DEATH OF MARIUS. RETURN OF SYLLA. POMPBY ENTEBS TH ARENA. BATTLES 
 AND ASSASSINATIONS 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 SYLLA AND CATILINE. 
 
 FROM 82 B. c. TO 59 B. o. 
 
 BATTLE UNDEB THE WALLS. TRIUMPH OF SYLLA. CAIUS JULIUS OSSAR DEATH 
 or MABIUS. MASSACRE AT PRJSNESTE. MISSION OF POMPEY. ABDICATION or 
 SYLLA. His DEATU. POLICY OF LEPIDUS. TRIUMPH OF THE ARISTOCRACY. 
 CJSSAR A RANSOMED SLAVE. HE ESPOUSES THE POPULAR CAUSE. CHARACTER 
 or POMPEY. SPARTACUS AND HIS BAND. His DEFEAT AND DEATH. THE SLAVB 
 TRADE. ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTE. POMPBY CRUSHES THE PIRATES. TUB CON- 
 PIRACY OF CATILINE i 118 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 C.SBAR AND POMPET 
 
 FROM 59 B. c. TO 50 a. o. 
 
 CATO. RETUBN OF POMI-EY TO ROME.- -CLODIUS AND THE MYSTIC RITES. DIVOBOB 
 OF POMPEIA. ANECDOTES OF. CAESAR. THE TRIUMVIRATE. POLICY OF CICERO. 
 POPULAR MEASURES OF CJSSAB. DIVISION OF THE SPOILS OF OFFICE. PROSECU- 
 TION OF CICERO. His BANISHMENT AND RECALL. DEMOCRATIC TRIUMPHS. DO- 
 MESTIC GRIEFS. BLOODY FRAY. TUMULT IN ROME. DICTATORSHIP OF POMPEY. 
 ORGANIZATION OF A ROMAN COURT. ANECDOTE OF CJCSAK. His AMBITIOUS 
 DESIGNS. SICKNESS OF POMPEY. POLITICAL CONTESTS IN ROME. OPEN WAB 
 BETEEAT OF POMPEY AND FLIGHT TO GREECE. 191 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 T ; B BTBUGQLE AND FALL OF POMPEY 
 
 FROM 50 B c. TO 48 B. o. 
 
 BGE or BBUNDUBIUM. FLIGHT OF POMPBY. CESAR'S MEASURES IN ROME, H 
 EXPEDITION TO SPAIN. THE WAR AND FINAL CONQUEST. C^SAR RETURNS TO 
 BBUNDUBIUM. CROSSES TO GREECE IN PURSUIT OF POMPEY. VICISSITUDES OF THB 
 WAR. POMPEY'S VICTORY AT DYRACHIUM. RETREAT OF CJSSAR. BATTLE or 
 PHARSALIA.~UTTER RUIN OF POMPEY. His FLIGHT. JOINS CORNELIA AND BIB 
 Son. MELANCHOLY VOYAGE TO EGYPT. His ASSASSINATION BY PTOLEMY 80J
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THB TEIUMPH OF CLESAB AND THE FATE OF POMPET. 
 
 FROM 48 B. a TO 44 B. a 
 
 N 
 
 OT or CJBBAB. PURSUIT OK POMPBY. THE EGYPTIAN WAR. CAESAR AJfD 
 CLEOPATRA. CAPTURE or PHAROS. POPULARITY OF CJSSAB. Loss or TUB ALEX- 
 ANDRIAN LIBRARY. BRIEF CONFLICT WTH THK KINO OF PONTUS. QUELLING THE 
 MUTINY. CATO'B EFFORTS IN AFRICA. THB AFRICAN WAR. DEFEAT AND DBATH 
 OF SCIPIO. SUICIDE OF CATO. TUB SPANISH WAR. DEATH OF POMPBY'S SON. 
 OMAR'S BETURN TO BOMB. His TRIUMPH. His ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURE* AND 
 CHAKAOTEB. CHARACTER OF CICERO ' 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ASSASSINATION OF J& S A B. 
 
 FROM 44 B. c. TO 42 B. o. 
 
 \ AND CABSIBS. THE CONSPIRACY. THB SCENE OF ASSASSINATION. CONDUOT 
 OF THE CONSPIRATORS. INDIGNATION OF THE PEOPLE. FLIGHT OF TUB COKSPIBA- 
 TOES FROM KOME. MEASURES OF MARO ANTONY. CAIUS OCTAVIUS. INTERVIEW 
 
 WITH CICERO COLLISION WITH ANTONY. KALLYINO OF THE ARISTOCRATS. Civil 
 
 WAR. FALSE POSITION OF OCTAVIUS. PHILIPPICS OF CICERO. DEFEAT or 
 ANTONY. ESCAPE BEYOND THE ALPS. OCTAVIUS CESAR'S MARCH CPOM 
 TRIUMPH OF THE PLEBEIAN CAUSE. THB NATURE OF THB CONFLICT. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 OCTAVIUS 0-(E8AB. 
 
 FROM 42 B. o. TO 82 B. o. 
 
 FATE OF DECIMUS BRUTUS. MASS ACRES IN ROME. DEATH OF CIOEEO. ANECDOTES. 
 THE TEIUMYIRATE. WAR IN MACEDONIA. BUIN OF THE PATBIOIAN CAUSE. 
 SUIOIDB OF CA88IU8 AND B".UTU8. TRIUMPH OP TUB TRIUMVIRATE. OPPRESSION 
 OF THE PEOPLE AND DISCONTENT IN BOMB. PROFLIGACY OF OCTATIUS OESAE. 
 DOWNFALL OF LEPIDUS. DRUSILLA. DIVORCE OF ANTONY'S WIFE. ANTONY AND 
 CLEOPATRA. WAR BETWEEN OCTAVIUS AND ANTONY. MUSTERING OF THE FORCES. 
 -ANTONY AND HIS BRIDAL I'AKAMOUK. . . . 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 02BSAB AUGUSTUS AND MABO ANTONY. 
 FROM 82 B. o. TO 10 B. o. 
 
 BATTLE OF AOTIUM. FLIGHT OF CLBOPATBA. ENTIRE VICTORY or OOTAVIUB. THB 
 PTBSUTT TO ALEXANDRIA. SUICIDE OF ANTONY. GUILE OF CLEOPATRA. HUB 
 ENDEAVORS TO WIN OOT A vius. DESPAIR AND SUICIDE OF CLEOPATRA. Tw- 
 UVPHANT BBTURN OF OOTAVIUS TO BOME. His WISE MEASURES. THE TITLE OF 
 AUGUSTUS CONFERRED. STATE OF THB BOMAN EMPIKE. ITALY, OAI-L, BRITAIN. 
 PAIN, AFRICA, SYWA, ASIA MINOR, GREECE. THK DEFLATIONS OF CIVIL WAK
 
 CONTENTS. Xlli 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 TIBERIUS OJ38AR, CALIGULA, AND CLAUDIUS. 
 
 FBOM 10 B. o. TO A. D. 51. 
 
 FA1 
 
 EJ*jr AL DIVISION OF WEALTH. SLAVERY. THE JEWS. TIBEKIUB C JAR. DEATH 
 OF CVSSAS AUGUSTUS. TYRANNY OP TIBERIUS. His RETREAT TO CAPR. DEATH 
 OF GERMANIOUB. EDICT AGAINST THE PLAY-ACTORS. TESTIMONY OF TACITUS. 
 TERRIBLE ACCIDENT. CALIGULA. DEATH OF TIBERIUS. CRUCIFIXION OF OUK 
 SAVIOUK. EEIGN OF CALIGULA. Ills CRUELTY AND MADNESS. ASSASSINATION 
 OF CALIGULA. ACCESSION OF CLAUDIUS. ANECDOTES. DKATH OF CLAUDIUS. 
 ACCESSION OF NERO. His CHARACTER 296 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 NERO 
 FROM A. D. 51 TO A. D. 67. 
 
 STRIFE BETWEEN NERO AND HK MOTHER. MURDER OF BRITANNIOUS. ATTEMPT TO 
 MURDER AGBIPPINA HER ESCAPE. EFFECTUAL PLAN FOR HER MURDER. RE- 
 MARK OF TACITUS. WAR IN BRITAIN. HORRIBLE LAW OF SLAVERY. ITS EXE- 
 CUTION. REPUDIATION AND DEATH OF OCTAVIA. THE FESTIVAL NERO SETS 
 
 FIRE TO ROME. THE CHRISTIANS FALSELY ACCUSED. THEIR PERSECUTION. TUB 
 INSURRECTION OF GALBA. TERROR OF NERO. HE COMMITS SUICIDE. GALBA 
 CHOSEN EMPEROR. His ASSASSINATION .- 816 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 EMPERORS, QOOD AND BAD. 
 
 FBOM A. D. 61 TO A. D. 180. 
 
 OTHO AND VITBLLUS. THB CONFLICT. THB TRIUMPH OF VESPASIAN TITUS D*. 
 TROYS JERUSALEM. His ACCESSION TO THE THRONE. SUCCESSION OF DOMITIAN. 
 ADORNMENT OF THE CAPITOL. His DEPRAVITY AND DEATH. THE CROWN CON- 
 FERRED ON NEBVA. TBAJAN, ASSOCIATE EMPEROR. REIGN OF TRAJAN KB 
 COLUMN. CORRESPONDENCE WITH PLINY. CONQUESTS OF TRAJAN. REIGN or 
 ADRIAN. ANTONINUS Pius. His NOBLE CHARACTER. MARCUS AURELTU*. 
 TBBUS, HIS COLLEAGUE. DEATH OF AUBBUUS 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE DECLINE AND FALL. 
 FROM A. D. 180 TO A. D. 2-35. 
 
 MARCUS AURELIUS. PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY. COMMODUS. His DEATH. COM- 
 MENCEMENT OF THB DECLINE AND FALL. THE PRETORIAN GUARD. ITS CHARAC- 
 TER AND INFLUENCE. THE THRONE SOLD AT AUCTION. JULIAN. THE RIVAL 
 EMFERIRS. TRIUMPH OF SEVERUS. His PERFIDY REIGN OF CARACALLA AND 
 GBTA. MURDER cr GETA. ASSASSINATION OF CARACALLA. MACRINUB. HA 
 SHORT REIGN AND DEATH. ELAGABALUS. BOTH PONTIFF AND EMPEROB. Hm 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY DEPRAVITY. ANECDOTES OF M AXIMIN ....
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 RAPID ST1D8 OF DECLINE 
 
 FBOM A. D. 286 TO A. D. 288. 
 
 tt 
 
 rHis REIGN AND DEATH. REVOLT IN AFBIOA. THB GOBDIANB. Tarn 
 TWO EMPEBORS. BALBINUS AND MAZIMUS. ANARCHY IN HOME. MUEDEB or TOi 
 EMFKROBS. PIIILIP MARINUS AND DECIUS. DESIGNATION OF CJESAR. HJCEEDI- 
 TAEY DESCENT. THE GOTHIC INVASION. VALEBIAN AND (TALLIES us. TEEEIBLB 
 FATE or VALEBIAN. ACCESSION OF CLAUDIUS. IMMENSE ARMY or THE GOTHS. 
 VICTORIES OF CLAUDIUS. CIIABAOTEB AND FATE OF ZBNOBIA. AUEELIAN. IN- 
 T*BBUM. TACITUS. His DEATH. PBOBUB.CABUB. His MAEOH TO PERSIA, 
 AND DKATB I 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 DIVISIONS OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 FROM A D. 288 TO A. D. 880. 
 
 OABINUS AND NUMKBIAN. ANECDOTE OF DIOCLETIAN. His ACCESSION SASAOIOQ, 
 ABBANGEMKNTS. THE FOUR EMPEBOES. WAES OF TUB BABBABIANS. TUB Two 
 NEW CAPITALS, MILAN AND NIOOMEDIA. DECADENCE or HOME. ABDICATION OF 
 DIOCLETIAN. His RETIREMENT AND DEATH. CONSTANTIUS AND CONSTANTINB. 
 THE OVEETHEOW OF MAXENTIUS, MAXIMIN, AND LICINIUS. CONSTANTLNB BOLE 
 EMPEROR. TEIUMPU OF CHRISTIANITY OTEB PKRSECUTION. CONSTANTINE ADOPTS 
 CHEISTIANITY. BYZANTIUM CHAHSED TO CONSTANTINOPLE. THE GBOWTH AND 
 BPLKNDOB or THE CITY 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE EMPIRE DISMEMBERED. 
 
 FBOM A. D. 880 TO A. D. 875. 
 
 OONSTANTINK TH G BEAT. DIVERSITY OF VlEWS RESPECTING HlM. THE TfiAOEDT 
 
 OF CEISPUB AND FAUBTA. DEATH OF CONSTANTINK. TBIPLK DIVISION OF THB EM- 
 PIBE. TBIUMPH OF CONSTANTIUS OVEB HIS BROTIIEES. STRUGGLE WITH MAGNEN- 
 TIUS. FATAL BATTLE OF MUESA. FATE OF GALLUS. ACCESSION AND APOSTAOY 
 OF JULIAN. His SOHOLAELY CHAEAOTKB. DEVELOPMENTS OF ENEEGY. HIB WAR 
 IN GAUL. SELECTION OF PARIS FOE HIS CAPITAL. His MELANCHOLY DEATH. 
 RETREAT OF THE ARMY. CHOICE OF VALENTINIAN. VALENB HIS ASSOCIATE. 
 ACCUMULATING WABS. DEATH OF VALENTINIAN I 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 THE DYNASTY OF THE GOTHS. 
 
 FBOM A. D. 875 TO A. D. 1085. 
 
 THB MARCH or THE HUNS. FLIGHT OF THE GOTHS TO ITALY. ENKBGY or YALKHB. 
 INGLORIOUS REIGN OF GRATJAN. THE REIGN OF THEODOSIUS. GOTHIC INVA- 
 SIONS. ALAEIO. ROMS BESIEGED. THE CONQUEST OF ROME. CAPTURE OF SICILY. 
 
 43AGAOITY OF ADOLPHUS. lilllEF DOMINION OF THE EA8TEEN EMPIRE OVEE Till 
 
 WEST. THE RAVAGES OF ATTILA. ANARCHY IN ITALY. KEPOS, ORESTES, AND 
 ODOACEB. INVASION OF THEODOBIO. JUSTINIAN AT CONSTANTINOPLE. THX CA- 
 BEEB or BELISAKIUS. CHARLEMAGNE AND His EMPIEE. THB REIGN OF THB 
 DOTES. SUBJECTION TO THEGBBMAN EMPKKOB --. i
 
 CON1 E NTS. XT 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC B. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1088 TO A, D. 128. 
 
 PAGl 
 
 D ACHSTBNTS or THE CHURCH. HILDEBRAND. HtrMiLiATiON OF THB EMPEROR 
 HENRY IV. DOMINION OF THE GERMAN EMPIBK OVER ITALY. WAR BETWEEN 
 THE EMPEROR AND LOMBARDT. SOUTHERN ITALY. OBOANIZATION OF THE KINO- 
 DOM OF NAPLES. THB NORMAN EMIGRATION. THB VENETIAN REPUBLIC. ITS 
 BIBB AKD VICISSITUDES. ITALIAN CHARACTER. THE CRUSADES. CONFLICT BE- 
 TWEEN HONORIUS III. AND FREDERIC II. ANARCHY IN ROME. CONQUEST OP THB 
 KINGDOM OF NAPLES BY CHARLES OF ANJOU. FLORENCE. ITS CONFLICTS 48 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 ITALIAN ANARCHY. 
 
 FROM A. D. 12C6 TO A. D. 1400. 
 
 Tmm GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES. TRAGIC FATE OF BONTFAZIO AND IMALDA. EX- 
 TENT OF THE PAPAL STATES. THE SICILIAN VESPERS. CONFLICT BETWEEN GENOA 
 AND PISA. RUIN OF PISA. STATE OF FLORENCE. OF SICILY. THE PAPAL COCTIT 
 REMOVED TO AVIGNON. THE ROMANCE OF ANDREW AND JOANNA. CONFLICT FOB 
 THE THRONE OF NAPLES. GENERAL VIEW OF ITALY. VENICE AND GENOA. THB 
 ANTAGONISTIC POPES. THEIR WARS. ACCESSION OF LADIBLAUS TO THB THBONB 
 or NAPLES. CRUEL FATE OF CONSTANCE 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 FRAGMENTARY ITALY 
 
 FROM A. D. 1400 TO A. D. 1600. 
 
 DAWK OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. SCHISM IN THE CHURCH. THE THREE POPES. 
 THE GREAT COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. "Gooo OLD TIMES." BEATRICE TBNDA. 
 THE DUKES OF SAVOY. THE HOUBB OF MBDICI. EUROPB MENACED BY THB 
 TURKS. THE GREAT EUROPEAN MONARCHIES. FRAGMENTARY ITALY. LEO X. 
 FRENCH CONQUESTS. SPANISH CONQUESTS. THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. MASTER 
 or ITALY. PAPAL STRUGGLES. FATB OF FLORENCE. THE DUCHY OF PARMA 
 or TUSCANY 4T1 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 ITALY AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 FBOM A. D. 1600 TO A. D. 1T96. 
 
 Tn DDOHY OF TUSCANY. VENICE. STATE OF ITALY IN THK SEVENTEENTH Cnr- 
 TtTBY. THE DUCHIES OF PARMA AND MODENA. RISE AND AGGBANDIZBMENT OF 
 THB DUKES OF SAVOY. STRUGGLES IN GENOA* WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 
 REPOSE IN ITALY. PEACE OF Aix LA CHAPELLE. NAPLES UNDER SPANISH 
 INFLUENCE. THE PAPAL POWER. ITALY AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVO- 
 LUTION. SARDINIA, TUSCANY, MODENA, GENOA, LOMBABDY, VENICE. WAB 
 AGAINST FRANCE. NAPOLEON IN ITALY. His VICTORIES AND HIS POLICY
 
 XVi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 NAPOLEON IN ITALT. 
 
 FBOH A. D. 1796 TO A. D. 1809. 
 
 ri 
 
 ITALT ra 1T96. MEASURES OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. MESSAGE TO THB POPB. THB 
 CISALPINE REPUBLIC. TROUBLES IN GENOA. STATB OF SOUTHERN ITALY. CAP- 
 TIVITY OF Pius VI. PIEDMONT ANNEXED TO FRANCE. ATROCITIES OF LORD NBL- 
 SON. NAPOLEON'S RETURN FEOH EGYPT. CAMPAIGN OF MARENGO. LETTER TO 
 IBB EllPEBOR OF AUSTRIA. LETTER TO THE KlNG feF ENGLAND. IMPERIAL FRANCE, 
 THE KINGDOM OF ITALY. THE BOURBONS OF NAPLES DETHRONED. POPE 
 Prim VIL A CAPTIVE. NAPOLEON'S DESIGNS FOR ITALY I 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 ITALY UNDER NAPOLEON, AND UNDER THE AU8TRIAN8. 
 FROM A. D. 1809 TO A. D. 1848. 
 
 KBINCB MBASUEES IN ITALY. CONDITION OF SICILY. OF SARDINIA. Or NAPLM. 
 JOSEPH BONAPARTE. MURAT. THE STATES OF THE CHURCH. THE KINGDOM or 
 ITALY. EUGSNE BEAUHARNAIS. ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA UPON NAPOLEON. 
 THE FALL OF NAPOLBON. ITS EFFECTS UPON ITALY. THE AUSTRIAN .SWAY is 
 ITALY. EXECUTION OF MURAT. INSURRECTIONS. ENERGY OF AUSTRIA. STRUG- 
 GLES OF THE YEAR 1820. REVOLUTION OF 1880. RUIN OF THE ITALIAN PATRIOTS. 
 
 ACCESSION OF Louis NAPOLEOK. REVIVAL OF THE ITALIAN STRUGGLE 
 
 CHAPTER X XX. 
 AUSTRIAN TRIUMPHS AND D I 8 O M F I T U R E. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1848 TO A. D. 1860. 
 
 CONFLICT BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND SARDINIA. AUSTRIA TRIUMPHANT. CONCENTRA- 
 TION OF THE PATRIOTS IN ROME. RUIN OF THE POPULAR PARTY iw PIEDMONT. 
 HEROISM OF GARIBALDL RENEWAL OF THE WAR BETWEEN SARDINIA AND AUS- 
 TRIA. INTERVENTION OF FRANCE. PROCLAMATIONS. BATTLES OF MONTEBELLO, 
 
 i'ALKSTRO, AND MAGENTA SARDINIA AND LOMBARDY REGAINED. PRESENT BTATB 
 
 or ITALY. 333 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 FRENCH INTERVENTION 1 . 
 
 FROM A. D. 1860 TO A. D. 1870. 
 BIRTH AKD EXIT.*- BISTORT OF THE POPE. His SPIRIT OF REFORM. ASSASSI- 
 
 INTEBVENTION OF AUSTRIA, NAPLES, AND SPAIN. RECKLESSNESS OF THE IN- 
 SURGBKTS. FREKCH IKTEHVENTION. THE MODERATE REPUBLICANS AND THB 
 KBDS. VIEWS OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT. THE CAPTOKE OF ROME. IN- 
 eURRBCTION IV F ARIS. DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT ftt
 
 CONTENTS. rvii 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 
 
 PAH 
 
 STRIKING VIEWS OF NAPOLEON I. OBJECT OP THE CONGRESS or VIENNA. THE 
 CARBONARI. LETTER TO TUB POPE. Louis NAPOLEON IN ITALY. His NAR- 
 ROW ESCAPE. LETTER FROM MR. MORSE. INSURRECTIONS QUELLED. MA- 
 GENTA AND SOLFEBINO. PEACE OF VILLAFEANCA. VENETIA NOT LIBERATED; 
 
 AND WHY. VIEWS OF M. THIERS. FIDELITY OF LOUIS NAPOLEON TO THE 
 
 ITALIANS. ADDRESS TO THE CORPS LEGISLATIF. THE PAPAL STATES. DIF- 
 FICULTY OF THE QUESTION. SPEECH OF PHINCI NAPOLEON. VIEWS OF THB 
 EMPEBOB. IMPORTANT LETTER FROM TUB EMPESOK 588 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIIL 
 THE SEIZURE OF ROME. 
 
 NICE AND SAVOY. THE DEPUTATION AND THE EMPEBOB. THE STATES OF THS 
 CHURCH. THE EMBARRASSING QUESTION. PARTIES IN ITALY. RESULTS OF 
 SEDAN. AGITATION IN ITALY. DIPLOMATIC MEASUBES. MESSAGE TO THE 
 POPE. THE REPLY. PROCLAMATION OF VICTOB EMANUEL. THE MILITARY 
 MOVEMENT. THE CAPTURE OF ROME. THE LEONINE CITY. REMONSTRANCE 
 OF THE CATHOLICS 61J 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 LATER HISTORY. 
 
 THE AUTHOR'S DEATH. NEW CHAPTER BY ANOTHER HAND. EFFORTS TO 
 CONCILIATE THE PAPACY. PERPLEXING QUESTIONS. LOYALTY OF THE 
 KING TO FREE INSTITUTIONS. PAPAL GUARANTYS. THE RELIGIOUS 
 CORPORATIONS. RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. DEATH OF VIC- 
 TOR EMANUEL, AND ACCESSION OF HUMBERT IV. DEATH OF Pius IX., 
 AND ACCESSION OF LEO XIH. ATTITUDE OF THE NKW POPE. THE SUF- 
 FRAGE QUESTION. FIRST NATIONAL EXPOSITION. GREAT RELIGIOUS 
 CHANGES. DIATH OF GARIBAI.DI
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 ITALY 
 
 Frontispiece Destruction of Pompeii 
 The Bridge and Castle of St. Angelo 
 General Giuseppe Garibaldi 
 Victor Emanuel .
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 LEGENDARY BOMB. 
 FEOM 700 B. o. TO 493 R a 
 
 THB ITALIAN PENINSULA. UNCERTAIN HISTORY. LEGEND OF TBOY. THB FLIGHT or 
 JSNEAS. LANDING IN ITALY. WARS WITH NATIVE TRIBES. ALBA LONOA. THB 
 STORY OF ROMULUS AND REMUS. THE FOUNDATION OF BOM*. THE RAPE OF TH 
 SABINES. CONTINUED CONQUESTS. TRANSLATION OF ROMULUS. TUB HORATII AND 
 CURIATII. CONQUEST OF ALBA LONGA. ACCESSION OF TARQUINIUS. SERYIUS TUL- 
 mrs. His DEMOCRATIC SWAT. ACCESSION OF TARQUINIUB SUPERBUS. THE BOOKS 
 
 OF THE SiBTL. THE &TOEY OF LuORETIA. BANUHMENT OF TARQUIH REION OF 
 
 THB CONSULS. INSURRECTION OF THE COMMONS. 
 
 fTlHE Italian peninsula extends from the foot of the Alps into 
 -*- the Mediterranean sea, about seven hundred and fifty 
 miles. Its breadth is very unequal. In the extreme north, 
 where it is bounded by the circular sweep of the Alps, which 
 separate the plains of Lombardy from Switzerland and the 
 Tyrol, the country presents a breadth of one hundred and fifty 
 miles. In the center it is but about eighty miles from the bay 
 of Naples to the Adriatic, while in Calabria the width dwindles 
 to but eighteen miles from sea to sea. The islands of Sicily, 
 Sardinia, and Corsica, with several others of minor importance, 
 have also been usually considered as a part of Italy. The area 
 of the main land, exclusive of these islands, is estimated at a 
 little over one hundred thousand square miles, being about 
 equal to all of New England and the State of New York. 
 Italy now contains twenty-five millions of inhabitants, and is 
 divided into several States, consisting of the two kingdoms 
 of Sardinia and Naples; Venetian Lombardy the Papal 
 States the hliputian republic of San Marino, and the four 
 duchies of Tuscany, Parma, Modena, and Lucca. A range of
 
 18 ITALT 
 
 mountains, the Apennines, traverses the peninsula from north 
 to south, creating rivers, plains, and valleys, which, by the 
 common consent of mankind, have been pronounced to be 
 more beautiful than can be found elsewhere on the surface of 
 the globe. The soil is fertile, the climate remarkably genial, 
 and poetic inspiration has been exhausted in extolling the 
 purity of its breezes and the splendor of its skies. 
 
 The first glimpse we catch of Italy, through the haze of 
 past ages, is exceedingly dim and shadowy. Uncounted tribes 
 spread over the mountains and valleys, either tilling the fields 
 or herding their cattle, or pursuing wild beasts hi the chase. 
 Even the tradition, recorded by the Roman historians, of the 
 origin of the Roman empire, from a colony of fugitives escap- 
 ing from the sack of Troy, is deemed utterly devoid of foun- 
 dation in historic truth. These traditions, hi which history 
 and poetry are inseparably commingled, are so confused and 
 contradictory that they are utterly rejected by sound criticism. 
 It is the verdict of the most accomplished scholars that the 
 date and origin of the eternal city are involved in impenetrable 
 obscurity. Most modern writers on Roman history, adopting 
 the statements of Varro and Cato, place the foundation of 
 Rome somewhere between the years 753 and 729 before 
 Christ. 
 
 The most ancient historians give a narrative of the rise and 
 progress of the city of Rome, which rapidly spread its con- 
 quests over all the Italian tribes and all of the then known 
 world, in which narrative truth and fiction are so intermixed 
 that they can not now be separated. As nothing whatever is 
 known of these early ages but what is contained in these le 
 gends, and as they have ever been deemed beautiful creations 
 which, like romances founded hi fact, contain much historic 
 truth, blended with fiction, and are illustrative of the habits 
 of thought and customs of the times, this legendary history be- 
 comes the appropriate and essential introduction to a narratirt 
 of the fortunes of the Italian peninsula.
 
 LEGENDARY BOMB. 19 
 
 It is recorded that upon a plateau of Asia Minor, near the 
 Mgean sea, there existed, about a thousand years before the 
 birth of our Saviour, a large city called Troy. It was besieged, 
 taken, and utterly destroyed by the Greeks. Some of the fugi- 
 tives, led by a renowned chieftain, -<Eneas, escaped, and taking 
 a ship, after encountering innumerable perils, succeeded in 
 reaching the shores of Italy. They landed near the center of 
 the western coast, upon territory occupied by a tribe called 
 Latins, whose king or chief was Latinus. The fugitives were 
 kindly greeted by the natives, and received a grant of land, 
 upon which they were permitted to establish themselves as a 
 colony. Soon, however, a quarrel arose, and the Trojans, at- 
 tacking the Lathis, defeated them, killed their king, and 
 ^Eneas, marrying the daughter of Latinus, became sovereign 
 of the conquered tribe, and assumed for all his people the name 
 of Latins. 
 
 Two neighboring tribes, the Rutulians and Etruscans, were 
 alarmed by the encroachments of the new comers, and entered 
 into an alliance for their destruction. In the war which en- 
 Bued, Turnus, king of the Rutulians, was slain, and ^Eneas also 
 perished. Ascanius, the son of ^Eneas, now assumed the com- 
 mand, and carried on the war vigorously against the Etrus- 
 cans. Ascanius was a soft-haired, beardless boy, but heroic in 
 spirit. He succeeded in one of the battles in encountering 
 Mezentius, the Etruscan king, in single combat, and slew him. 
 This conquest greatly increased the territory and the power 
 of the young colony, and Ascanius selected another site for his 
 city on the side of a mountain, where there was an extensive 
 prospect and many facilities for defense. Thirty years had 
 now passed since the first landing of the Trojans in Italy. The 
 first city, called Lavinium, was built on the low lands near the 
 shore. This second city, which Ascanius named Alba Longa, 
 was built on the side of Monte Cavo, from whose summit the 
 eye commands a prospect of wonderful extent and beauty, 
 often embracing hi the field of vision, when the atmosphere if
 
 clear, the distant islands of Sardinia and Corsica. Niebuhr 
 states that the site where Alba stretched its long street be- 
 tween the mountain and the lake is still distinctly marked. 
 At this point there is confusion in the legends which it is idle 
 to attempt to reconcile. A list of the succeeding Alban kings 
 id given, which contains a medley of names without the slight^ 
 est claims to authenticity. 
 
 Some three hundred years are supposed to have passed 
 away after the founding of Alba Longa, when, during the 
 reign of Amulius, two children, offspring of Sylvia, a niece of 
 the king, were ordered by the king, who feared their rivalry, 
 to be cast into the river Tiber. The god Mars was reported 
 to be the father of these children. There was a great inunda- 
 tion at the tune, and the infants, placed in a wicker basket, 
 floated down the stream, until the basket struck a fig-tree and 
 upset, and the children were thrown upon a mound of dry 
 land, near the foot of a hill, subsequently called the Palatine 
 hill. A she -wolf found the children and took them to her 
 cave and suckled them. At length a herdsman, who lived upon 
 the hill, chanced to discover the infants, and took them to his 
 wife. She nursed them tenderly, and named them Romulus 
 and Remus. The children growing to manhood, accidentally 
 discovered their regal descent, and, raising a party of young 
 men from the banks of the Tiber, waged war against Alba, 
 Blew the king, Amulius, and placed his elder brother, Numitor, 
 the father of their mother Sylvia, upon the throne. 
 
 Though the two brothers, Romulus and Remus, were now 
 received at court and recognized as of royal blood., still they 
 were so strongly attached to their childhood's nome, upon the 
 banks of the Tiber, that they retired from Alba to the Palatine 
 bill, and decided to build a city in that vicinity. A dispute 
 arose respecting its precise location. In a fit of anger one of 
 the chief builders struck Remus with a spade and killed him. 
 Romulus now urged forward his buildings, surrounded the 
 city, which he called Rome, with a wall, and invited all ad-
 
 tEGANDARTBOMB. 91 
 
 renturers, exiles, fugitives, and even criminals and runaway 
 slaves, to repair to the city and place themselves under his 
 protection. The population rapidly increased, and the streets 
 of Rome were soon crowded with men of the most bold and 
 desperate character. But wives were wanted, and by fair 
 means they could not be obtained. 
 
 Romulus proclaimed to the neighboring tribes that there 
 was to be a great festival celebrated at Rome with the most 
 imposing sports and games, which they were invited to attend. 
 Large numbers from the densely populated region around, with 
 their wives and children, flocked to the city. When all were 
 intently gazing upon the spectacle, a band of armed men rushed 
 upon the strangers, and, seizing the young women, bore them, 
 shrieking with terror, to appointed places of rendezvous. The 
 exasperated tribes immediately seized their arms to avenge 
 this outrage ; but not acting with sufficient concert, several of 
 them were vanquished, one after another, and their territories 
 seized by the energetic Romans. At length the king of the 
 Sabines, who was the most powerful of these adjacent tribes, 
 led an army so well appointed and numerous against Rome, 
 that Romulus, unable to resist him in the field, was compelled 
 to take refuge behind the walls of the city. Opposite the 
 Palatine hill, upon which Rome was built, there was, at some 
 distance, another eminence, then designated the Saturnian hill, 
 but since called the Capitoline. Here the Sabines entrenched 
 themselves. For some tune the conflict continued with vary- 
 ing success. At length the Sabine women, who had become 
 attached to the husbands who had wooed and won them so 
 rudely, anxious to effect a reconciliation between their hus 
 bands and their fathers, rushed between the combatants and 
 effected a peace. The two nations were now united under the 
 name of the Romans and the Quirites. The women were 
 richly rewarded for their heroism ; and, in requital to the sex, 
 laws were passed requiring every man to make way for any 
 matron whc might meet him, and punishing with death any
 
 2 ITALY. 
 
 man who should insult a woman by a wanton word or look 
 Tatius, the king of the Sabines, erected a city on the Capitol 
 ine hill, and the united senate of the two kingdoms met in the 
 valley between these eminences, and the spot was hence called 
 Comitium. At length Tatius, in a conflict with a neighboring 
 tribe, was killed, and Romulus ruled over both nations. 
 
 It is represented that Romulus, after a mild and just 
 reign of forty years, assembled the people, on a certain occa- 
 sion, for a festival, on a plain near lake Capra. Suddenly a 
 fearful storm arose, producing midnight darkness. Rain fell 
 in torrents, and the thunder and lightning were more terrible 
 than had ever before been known. In the confusion of the 
 tempest the people dispersed. After the storm had passed 
 they returned to the field, but Romulus was no where to be 
 found. They sought for him anxiously in all directions, and 
 they could only solve the mystery by supposing that the god 
 Mars, the reputed father of Romulus, had descended in this 
 tempest, and conveyed his son to heaven hi a chariot of fire. 
 This supposition was soon confirmed, for Romulus appeared 
 that night, in god-like stature and beauty, to one Proculus 
 Julius, who was coming from Alba to Rome, and said to him, 
 
 " Go and tell my people that they weep not for me any 
 more. Bid them to be brave and warlike, and so shall they 
 make my city the greatest in the earth." 
 
 Such are the outlines of the traditional history of Rome. 
 For centuries this narrative was held sacred, being commem 
 orated in poetry and repeated by successive historians. It is 
 now impossible to determine whether Romulus and Remus are 
 historical personages or not. And still these traditions revea. 
 to us all that was imagined respecting the early history of 
 Rome, when Livy wrote his renowned annals near the time of 
 the birth of our Saviour. 
 
 For a year after the translation of Romulus the senators 
 declined choosing a king, but divided themselves into commit- 
 tees of tens, each ten to exercise the supreme power for five
 
 LEGENDARY ROME. 28 
 
 days. The people murmured so loudly at this that it was 
 found to be necessary to choose a king. As the Romans and 
 the Sabines each wished to furnish the sovereign, a compro- 
 mise was made, by which it was agreed that the king should 
 be a Sabine, but that the Romans should choose him. N"uma 
 Pompilius was elected, a man distinguished for justice, wisdom 
 and piety. The reign of Numa Pompilius is represented as a 
 continued triumph. For forty years he administered the gov 
 ernment with probity and wisdom almost superhuman. The 
 most scrupulous attention was devoted to the worship of the 
 gods. A nymph Egeria, in her sacred grove, counseled the 
 favored monarch respecting all his measures, and thus Rome 
 rapidly increased in extent and riches; and peace and pros- 
 perity reigned undisturbed. At the age of four score Numa 
 peacefully died, and was buried upon the banks of the Tiber. 
 
 After the death of Numa the senate again, for a time, exer- 
 cised the supreme power, until they chose Tullus Hostilius for 
 their king. A war soon broke out between the Romans and 
 the Albans, and the latter marched to attack Rome, and en- 
 camped within five miles of the city. The leaders of the two 
 armies, to save the effusion of blood, agreed to submit the 
 question to the result of a conflict between three, to be select- 
 ed on each side. The Romans chose three twin brothers, the 
 Horatii. The Albans also chose three twin brothers, the Cu- 
 riatu. Both armies were drawn up to witness the combat. 
 Soon two of the Horatii were slain, and all three of the Cu- 
 natii were severely wounded. The last of the Horatii, who 
 was unhurt, feigned terror and flight. With tottering steps 
 the wounded Curiatii pursued him. As soon as they became 
 separated in the chase, Horatius turned, and slew each one 
 successively. 
 
 Tiie Romans returned to their city in triumph, bearing at 
 then* head Horatius decorated with the armor of his three 
 vanquished foes. As they approached the city the sister of 
 Horatius came out to meet them. She had been betrothed to
 
 24 ITALY. 
 
 one of the Cu:iatii, and a cloak, which she had embroidered! 
 for her lover with her own hands, was borne upon the shoul- 
 ders of the victor. The maiden, overwhelmed with grief, 
 burst into tears. The stern brother, intoxicated with triumph, 
 plunged his sword to the hilt in his sister's heart, exclaiming, 
 
 "So perish the Roman maiden who shall weep for the 
 enemy of her country." 
 
 For the crime he was condemned to die. From the deci- 
 sion of the court he appealed to the people. The people, in 
 consideration of the victory he had gained for them, voted a 
 pardon. But as innocent blood had been shed, which, by the 
 Roman law, required atonement, they appropriated a certain 
 sum of money to defray the expense of sacrifices which were 
 forever after to be offered to the gods by members of the 
 house of the Horatii. 
 
 The Albans were now in subjection to the Romans; but as 
 they did not honestly fulfill their pledge, Tullus, by guile, seiz- 
 ed their king, tore him to pieces between two chariots, des- 
 troyed the city of Alba, and removed all the Albans to Rome. 
 The hill Caelius was assigned as their dwelling place. But 
 Tullus, by his neglect of religion, offended the gods. A 
 plague was sent upon the people, and Tullus himself was se- 
 verely stricken. Still he did not repent, and Jupiter sent a 
 bolt of lightning upon the house of Tullus, and he was con- 
 sumed in the conflagration of his dwelling. This judgment 
 taught the Romans that they must choose a king of religious 
 aharacter if they would hope for prosperity. They chose, 
 therefore, a grandson of Numa, a young man by the name of 
 Ancus Marcius, who had established a reputation of unques- 
 tioned piety. For twenty-three years Ancus reigned in pros- 
 perity, and the Roman people, incited by his example, scrupu- 
 lously observed the ceremonies of divine worship. Such are 
 the legends, combining fact and fiction which have taken the 
 place of the lost history of Rome. 
 
 But we do not yet ecater upon the period of authentic hi*
 
 LEGENDABYBOME. 2ft 
 
 tory. We must continue, groping along guided only by the 
 bewildering light of tradition. During the reign of AJICUS 
 Marcius, a wealthy Etruscan came to Rome, to take up his 
 residence in the attractive city. He received the name of Lu- 
 cius Tarquinius. As he drew near the city in his chariot, with 
 his wife Tanaquil sitting by his side, an eagle plucked his cap 
 from his head and soared away with it into the clouds, then, 
 returning from his flight, he replaced the cap upon the head 
 of the traveler. This was deemed a good omen. Tarquinius, 
 a sagacious, energetic man, encouraged by this indication of 
 the favor of the gods, consecrated his great wealth to public 
 utility, and so won the affections of the people that, upon 
 the death of Ancus he was, with great unanimity elected king. 
 He proved equally skilled in the arts of war and of peace, en- 
 larging, by his conquests, the Roman territory, and greatly 
 promoting the internal improvements of his realms. His reign 
 was long, and almost miraculously prosperous. There was hi 
 his household a very handsome young man of remarkably at- 
 tractive character. His bearing was such that many deemed 
 him the son of a god. This young man, whose name was 
 Servius Tullius, so won the heart of the king, that he prom- 
 ised him his daughter in marriage. The sons of Ancus, 
 alarmed lest this favorite should gain the crown, hired two 
 shepherds to assassinate Tarquin, intending thus to prevent 
 him from conferring the crown upon Tullius. Effectually they 
 accomplished their work, splitting open his brain with a hatch- 
 et. 5ut, notwithstanding this assassination, through the 
 instrumentality of the king's wife, the young favorite, Servius 
 Tullius, obtained the throne, and the two sons of Ancus were 
 compelled to flee to a foreign land. 
 
 Servius Tullius proved a humane and able monarch, conse- 
 crating his energies to the promotion of the welfare of the 
 people. The arrogance of the patricians he repelled, and add- 
 ed greatly to the embellishments of Rome, and to the general 
 prosperity of the citizens. The masses of the people, conse- 
 2
 
 46 ITALY. 
 
 quently. rallied around him. The nobles, or patricians as they 
 were then called, were bitterly hostile to his democratic sway. 
 He established laws based on equal rights, and, to protect the 
 people from despotism, decreed that after his death there 
 should no longer be a king, but that the supreme executive 
 should thereafter be placed in the hands of two men to be an- 
 nually chosen by the people. 
 
 Servius had two daughters, but no son. One of these 
 daughters, Tullia, was a very famous woman, and she married 
 Lucius, one of the sons of king Tarquinius. Tullia and Lucius 
 plotted with the nobles who were eager for the overthrow of 
 the king, and taking advantage of the season of harvest, when 
 most of the common people were in the fields, they caused the 
 assassination of Servius Tullius. Lucius Tarquinius, support- 
 ed by the nobles, with blood-stained hands, ascended the 
 throne, as is generally supposed, five hundred and thirty-five 
 years before the birth of Christ. 
 
 The administration of the tyrant Tarquinius was as execra- 
 ble as were the means by which he attained his power. A 
 guard of armed men ever surrounded him, while he merci- 
 lessly plundered the pec-pie, banishing and beheading those 
 who excited his displeasure. To secure renown hi subsequent 
 ages, he built a magnificent temple upon the Capitolme hill, 
 consecrated to Jupiter. 
 
 During his reign a strange, weird woman is reported to 
 have appeared before him offering to sell, at a stipulated price, 
 nine books of prophecies, written by the Sibyl of Cumaa. 
 The king declined the purchase, and the woman threw three 
 of the books into the fire, and then demanded the same price 
 for the six which she had asked for the nine. This offer 
 being contemptuously rejected, she threw three more into the 
 fire, and then demanded the whole price for the remaining 
 three. The king, apprehensive that the sacred books might 
 thus be entirely destroyed, purchased those which were left, 
 When the woman disappeared and was seen no more. The
 
 LEGENDARY BOMB. 27 
 
 books were placed in a stone chest and deposited in a vault 
 under the capitol, where a guard of two men was stationed 
 over them by day and by night. 
 
 Under the reign of Tarquinius Superbus, as he is usuallj 
 called, the laws which Servius had enacted for the protection 
 of the common people, were abrogated. The nobles were 
 reinstated hi their exclusive privileges, and the plebeians toiled 
 in penury, hunger, and degradation. Like beasts of burden, 
 they were driven to construct the great work 1 * nf Rome, 
 rearing temples, digging canals, and forming roads. Still 
 fable is so blended with history in the narrative of his reign, 
 that it is found impossible to detach truth from fiction. It ia 
 certain, however, that under the sway of this tyrant, Rome 
 made great progress in military power and in the extent of 
 her dominions. As Tarquinius was waging war against the 
 Rutulians, and besieging the city of Ardea, which was but 
 sixteen miles from Rome, one night his eldest son, Sextus 
 Tarquinius, and Colatinus, a Roman noble, with several other 
 young men of the army, were sitting hi their tent, inflamed 
 with wine, hi midnight carousals, when a dispute arose re- 
 specting the comparative beauty and virtue of their wives. 
 To settle the question they agreed immediately to make a 
 visit in company to each of their homes. Mounting their 
 horses, they rode instantly to Rome, though the night was 
 far advanced, and sought the ladies in question. Some of 
 them were at brilliant parties, some indulging in private 
 domestic luxury, but the wife of Colatinus, whose name was 
 Lucretia, was surrounded by her maids, working at the loom. 
 Lucretia, by unanimous consent, was declared to be the 
 worthiest and most beautiful lady. 
 
 The rare loveliness of Lucretia and her modest deportment 
 inflamed Sextus Tarquinius with a guilty passion. A few> 
 days after he called at her house again. She received him 
 hospitably a the son of the king and the friend of her 
 husband, and provided him with lodgings for the night. At
 
 18 ITALT 
 
 midnight he arose, and stealthily proceeding to her chamber 
 awoke her, and with a sword presented at her breast, threat- 
 ened her with instant death if she should resist him. Prefer- 
 ring death to dishonor, the virtuous Lucretia remained inex 
 orable to his demands. He then declared that if she did not 
 yield he would first kill her, then kill one of his slaves and 
 lay him hi the bed by her side, and report that he had discov- 
 ered him there and slain them both. By this threat, which 
 would consign her name to eternal infamy, Lucretia was van- 
 quished. The next morning Sextus Tarquinius returned to 
 the camp, exulting in his brutal victory. 
 
 Lucretia, overwhelmed with anguish, sent for her husband 
 and her father, and informed them of the outrage. 
 
 "I am not guilty," said the noble woman, "yet must I 
 ehare hi the punishment of this deed, lest any should think 
 that they may be false to their husbands and live." 
 
 Then drawing a poniard from beneath her robe she 
 plunged it into her heart. A young man, Lucius Junius 
 Brutus, was present, who had accompanied Colatinus. His 
 father had been put to death by the tyrant Tarquinius. This 
 young Brutus, who was very rich, had for some time feigned 
 insanity, lest he should also share his father's fate. Brutus 
 drew the poniard from the wound, and, brandishing it hi the 
 air, exclaimed : 
 
 " Be witness, ye gods, that from this moment I proclaim 
 myself the avenger of the chaste Lucretia's cause. By this 
 blood I swear that I will visit this deed upon king Tarquinius> 
 and all his accursed race ; neither shall any man hereafter ba 
 king in Rome, lest he do the like wickedness." 
 
 Each one present, in his turn, took the bloody dagger and 
 repeated the oath. They then carried the body of Lucretia to 
 the forum, and an immense and enraged concourse collected 
 around it. The whole city was in a tumult. Tarquinius, who 
 was with his troops at the camp before Ardea, set out with 
 n armed band to quell the insurrection. But the populace
 
 LEGENDARY ROME. 99 
 
 closed \}i<s gates against him, and the senate issued a decree 
 banishing him and his family forever from the city. The 
 unanimity in the banishment of the Tarquins was so entire, 
 that it was in vain for the king to attempt any resistance. 
 Ho apparently submitted to his fate, but only sought to gain 
 tiiue that he might recover his lost power. 
 
 The people now resolved to reestablish the laws of the 
 good king Servius, and abolishing the monarchy, to choose 
 annually two men who should be intrusted with the supreme 
 power. The choice fell first upon Brutus and Colatinus, the 
 husband of Lucretia. Soon the exiled Tarquinius succeeded 
 hi forming a conspiracy, and, by bribes, secured the coopera- 
 tion of the two sons of Brutus. The two guilty young men, 
 Titus and Tiberius, were arrested and brought before the 
 tribunal of their father. With Roman sternness of justice, 
 though his heart was bleeding, he, in accordance with the 
 laws, doomed them both to be scourged and then to be 
 beheaded. The sentence was executed before the eyes of 
 Brutus, who, apparently unmoved, witnessed their punish- 
 ment. 
 
 The ancient Roman monarchy, after a continuance of two 
 hundred and forty-five years, terminated with Tarquinius 
 Superbus. A republican government, or, as it was called, the 
 Roman commonwealth, commenced under Brutus and Cola- 
 tinus. These two magistrates were called consuls. The 
 commonwealth is supposed to have commenced five hundred 
 and forty-five years before Christ. 
 
 Tarquinius, frustrated in his conspiracy, now resorted to a 
 coalition. He engaged a neighboring tribe, the Veians, to 
 assist him, and with a considerable army advanced toward 
 Rome. Brutus, at the head of the Roman cavalry, went out 
 to meet him. Aruns, a son of Tarquinius, led his father's 
 cavalry. Seeing Brutus advancing, he spurred his horse in 
 front of his ranks, defying the consul to single combat. They 
 met and both fell dead together. A bloody battle ensued, in
 
 80 ITALY. 
 
 which eleven thousand perished upon each side, but the 
 Romans remained in possession of the field. 
 
 Tarquinius, defeated but not dismayed, engaged inothei 
 tribe, the Etrurians, to espouse his cause, and shorty after 
 marched again upon Rome with a still more numerous army, 
 led by Porsenna, king of this Etrurian tribe. Publius, by the 
 death of his colleague, being left in supreme command, and 
 deeming the state in imminent danger, commenced building a 
 citadel upon the hill Velia,* which looks down upon the 
 forum. The people, jealous of their liberties, were alarmed, 
 and began to murmur, saying : 
 
 " Publius wishes to become a king. He is erecting this 
 citadel that he may dwell there with his guards and bring us 
 into subjection." 
 
 Publius complained bitterly of the injustice thus done him, 
 To remove all suspicion, he caused a law to be enacted declar- 
 ing that whosoever should attempt to make himself king 
 should become thus outlawed, and any one might lawfully 
 slay him. This satisfied the populace, and they gave him in 
 consequence the title of Poplicola, or the peopled friend. An 
 assembly of the people was soon convened, and Spurius 
 Lucretius, the father of the sainted Lucretia, was chosen 
 consul hi the place of Brutus. But the venerable old man 
 was, at the time of his election, in the decline of life, and in a 
 few days he died. Marcus Horatius was then chosen in hia 
 room. It is recorded as a worthy act of the consul Marcus r 
 that as he was dedicating to Jupiter the temple which had 
 oeen erected on the Capitoline hill, he was suddenly informed 
 that his son was dead. But so intently was the father en- 
 grossed with the religious solemnities, that he simply replied, 
 "Then let them carry him out and bury him," thus honoring 
 the gods above his son. 
 
 The banished king Tarquinius, soon marched with a vast 
 
 The visitor to Rome will find the Velian hill near the Palatine. The 
 VTa Sacra passes over it and the Arch of Titus stands upon its summit.
 
 LEGEND ART ROME. 81 
 
 Etruscan army against Rome, and drove the Romans, who 
 had advanced beyond the Tiber to meet him, back into the 
 city. The Romans destroyed the wooden bridge by which 
 they effected their retreat, and thus cut off the pursuit of the 
 Etruscans. The Etruscans commenced a vigorous siege of the 
 city. A young Roman, Caius Mucius, resolved to free his 
 country from the impending peril by the assassination of the 
 invading Etruscan king Porsenna. In disguise he penetrated 
 the hostile camp and plunged a dagger into the heart of an 
 Etruscan officer, whom he mistook for the king. He was 
 arrested and threatened with the most excruciating torture 
 unless he would answer every question. The young man 
 thrust his arm into a fire which was burning upon an altar, and 
 held it immovable iintil it was consumed by the fierce flame. 
 
 " See now," said he, " how little I care for your torments." 
 
 The lung, amazed at such fortitude, looked upon the young 
 man admiringly, and said : 
 
 " Go thy way, for thou hast injured thyself more than me. 
 Thou art a brave man, and I send thee back to Rome, unpun- 
 ished and free." 
 
 Caius replied, " For this thou shalt get more of n ty secret 
 than all thy tortures could have extorted from me. Three 
 hundred noble youths of Rome have bound themselves by 
 oath to take thy life. Mine was the first attempt. The 
 others will, each in his turn, lie in wait for thee. I warn thee, 
 therefore, to look to thyself well." 
 
 Porsenna was alarmed, and proposed peace on terms which, 
 though humiliating, were eagerly embraced by the Romans. 
 Ten noble young men and ten noble maidens were surrendered 
 to the Etruscans as a pledge that the peace should be faith, 
 fully kept. One of these maidens was named Cloelia. Sb 
 encouraged her companions to escape from the Etru&^an 
 camp, and being pursued, as they reached the Tiber, they 
 plunged into the stream and swam to the opposite shore. Bui 
 the Romans t>roud of unblemished faith, sent them all back
 
 82 ITALY. 
 
 Porsenna, marveling more than ever at the courage of the 
 Roman maidens, and the honor of the Roman Senate, gave 
 Cloelia her liberty, and not only sent her home free, but allow- 
 ed her also to choose a certain number of the young men to 
 accompany her. She selected those of the most tender age, 
 and, thus escorted, returned to Rome. Caius was rewarded, 
 by the Roman Senate, with an extensive grant of land ; and a 
 statue was erected to Cloelia on a conspicuous point of the 
 sacred way. 
 
 Tarquinius, seeing there was no hope of aid from Porsenna, 
 turned to the Latins, south of Rome, and soon succeeded hi 
 engaging thirty cities to espouse his cause. The Sabines, oc- 
 cupying the banks of the Upper Tiber, also united with the 
 Latins, and Rome was again seriously imperiled. The crisis 
 demanded energetic action, and the nobles, taking advantage 
 of it, appointed one of the consuls, Titus Larcius, Master of 
 the People, and invested him with dictatorial power. They 
 hoped, by means of this dictatorship, to regain their lost pre- 
 rogatives. The hostile Latin force was encamped on the banks 
 Lake Regillus, but a few miles south from Rome. Tarquinius 
 and his son relied upon this army as their last hope. The Ro- 
 mans and Latins had been, for many years, at peace, and inter- 
 marriages had been frequent between them. Befbre hostilities 
 commenced it was mutually agreed, between the contending 
 parties, that the Latin women, with their virgin daughters, 
 might leave their Roman homes and return to their country- 
 men, and that the Roman women, who had married Latins, 
 might leave then- Latin relatives and return to Rome if they 
 wished. But all the Latin women, excepting two, remained 
 in Rome ; and all the Roman women, without exception, took 
 their daughters and returned to the homes of their fathers. 
 
 A great battle was now fought on the banks of Lake Re- 
 gillus. Livy gives this battle the date of 499 years before 
 Christ. In reference to this battle Niebuhr says : 
 
 " It was a conflict between heroes, like those in the Iliad
 
 LEGENDARY BOMB. 36 
 
 All the heroes meet hand to hand, and by them the victory is 
 thrown now into one scale and now into another, while tlu 
 troops fight without any effect." 
 
 Two divine heroes, Castor and Pollux, in the most momen- 
 tous juncture of the bloody fray, are reported to have appear- 
 ed on milk-white steeds, and, sweeping down whole batallions 
 of the Latins, to have given a signal victory to the Romans. 
 The sun and the son-in-law of Tarquinius were both slain upon 
 that fatal field; and Tarquinius himself, hi despair, fled to 
 Cumse, a city of the Greeks, where he subsequently died. 
 
 The chronology of this period is in a state of inextricable 
 confusion. Approaches only to accuracy can be attained. 
 These poetical tories have undoubtedly a foundation in fact, 
 but how much is mere embellishment can never now be known. 
 Some of the laws enacted at this time continued for ages, and 
 were barbaric and inhuman in the extreme. A creditor, unable 
 to collect his debt, was authorized to arrest his debtor and 
 bring him before the court. If no one would be his security 
 the poor debtor was imprisoned for sixty days, with a chain 
 weighing fifteen pounds upon his person, and fed with a pound 
 of grain daily. During these sixty days of imprisonment, he 
 was brought before the court on three successive market 
 days, and the amount of his debt declared, to see if any one 
 would come forward for his release. If, on the third day, no 
 friend appeared, he was either put to death or sold into 
 slavery. If there were several creditors they might, at their 
 option, instead of selling their debtor into slavery, hew his 
 body to pieces. 
 
 ]3y the banishment of Tarquinius Superbus the Romans 
 had exchanged the monarchy for an aristocracy. But the 
 commons soon found that this aristocracy was as insupporta- 
 ble as the reign of the kings. Another revolution ensued, the 
 particulars of which are sought for in vain. The revolution 
 assumed the character of a servile insurrection, the commons 
 endeavoring in a body to escape from Rome, like the Israelites 
 2*
 
 84 ITALT. 
 
 from Egypt, and to establish a new nation for themselves 
 The patricians, alarmed by the movement, came to terms, and 
 appeased the commons by a grant of privileges which they 
 had never enjoyed before. The hill upon which these condi- 
 tions were ratified, was forever after called the sacred hill. 
 
 By the pacification, adopted on the sacred hill, it was 
 agreed that five officers called tribunes, which number was 
 subsequently increased to ten, should be chosen by the people, 
 and that they should, in addition to other privileges, have the 
 power of a veto over all the acts of the senate. This was s 
 signal popular triumph, and the commons were thus gradually 
 elevated to share with the patricians the honors and the emol- 
 uments of their common country. The conflict, however, be- 
 tween the plebeians and the patricians was continued for a 
 long time.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THB PRETORSHIP, DECBMVIRATE, A2H) CONSULATE 
 FROM 493 B. o. TO 433 B. o. 
 
 fOBT OF COBIOI.ANUB. APPOINTMENT OF A DlOTATOB ACHIEVEMENTS OF 
 
 NATUB. WAE WITH THE ^E<JUL4.N8 AND VOLSCIANi. THE SOLDIERS RBI USE TO 
 
 FIGHT. INFAMOUS CONDUCT OF THE NOBLES. APPIUS CLAUDIUS. VIBGINTA 
 CLAIMED AS A FUGITIVE SLAVE. SLAIN BY HEE FATHER. INSURRECTION OF THB 
 PEOPLE. ITS SUCCESS. CONSPIRACY OF TUB YOUNG NOBLES. K^ESO. SON OF CIN- 
 
 OIWNATUS. ClNCINNATUS CHOSEN CONSUL. CHANGE IN HIS CHARACTER. AvEN- 
 
 TINB HILL TAKEN BY THE COMMON*. IMPEACHMENT OF APPIUS CLAUDIUS. Tin 
 POPULAR CAUSE TRIUMPHANT. THE DECEMVIRS REJECTED AND EXPELLED. IN- 
 TRODUCTION OF THE CONSULATE. 
 
 rPHE dictator was appointed for six months only ; but during 
 -* that time his power was absolute. The revolt of the com- 
 mons, and the compromise into which they entered with the 
 patricians, seem to have restored affairs to their ancient order. 
 We now begin slowly to emerge from the mists of fable into 
 the clearer light of authentic history. The tribunes continued 
 the guardians of popular rights, while the senate was ever 
 vigilant to extend the prerogatives of the nobles. From this 
 time we must date the struggle between the two orders, the 
 plebeians contending for equality of rights, and the patricians 
 for aristocratic privilege. One Spurius Cassius, who was now 
 consul, or pretor, as the office was then called, formed an 
 alliance with the Latin confederacy, which was confirmed U_ 
 the most solemn rites. 
 
 The ancient annals here introduce a story which is charac- 
 teristic of the tunes, though its historical verity is not sus- 
 tained by subsequent research. It is said that there was a 
 fazB : -ne in Rome, caused by the revolt of the people, who, in
 
 36 ITALY. 
 
 their attempt to abandon their country, Lad, of course, neg- 
 lected the culture of their fields. The nobles, who had great 
 wealth, purchased large quantities of corn from Sicily, and at- 
 tempted to extort from the starving people, in exchange for 
 bread, the political rights they had gained in their revolt. 
 Caius Ooriolanus, a haughty patrician, had proposed this plan 
 to the senate. The people, exasperated, would have torn him 
 in pieces, but he fled, and repairing to the Volscians, a power- 
 ful nation south of Rome, persuaded them that Rome, in a 
 state of famine, could be easily subjugated. The Volscians 
 raised an army and placed it under the joint command of 
 Coriolanus and one of their own veteran warriors. 
 
 This army marched upon Rome, and mercilessly ravaging 
 the country without its walls, encamped before the city. 
 Coriolanus, thinking that his quarrel was with the commons 
 only, hoped for the cooperation of the nobles. Several em- 
 bassies from the city were sent in vain, imploring the clemency 
 of the victorious army. At length, in the midst of general 
 consternation, a noble lady, Valeria, who was praying in the 
 temple, seemed inspired by a sudden thought from the gods. 
 She immediately arose, collected a band of Roman matrons, 
 and proceeded to the house of Virgilia, the wife of Coriolanus. 
 In extreme dejection she was sitting with her children and 
 with her husband's aged mother. 
 
 "We have come to you," said Valeria, " of our own ac- 
 cord. Neither the senate nor the people have sent us; but 
 God, in whose temple we were worshiping, has inspired us 
 with the thought to come to you, that you may join us, women 
 with women, without the aid of men, to win for our country 
 a great deliverance, and for ourselves a name glorious above 
 all women, even above those Sabine wives of old who stopped 
 the battle between their husbands and their fathers. Come, 
 then, with us to the camp of Coriolanus, and let us plead with 
 him for mercy." 
 
 Without hesitancy, Virgilia and Volumnia, the mother of
 
 FBETOE8HIP, DBCEMVIEATB, CONSULATE. 87 
 
 Coriolanus, joined the matrons In this patriotic embassage, 
 Emerging from one of the gates of the city, in sad and solemn 
 procession, they directed their steps toward the Volscian 
 camp. The Volscian soldiers looked silently on with pity and 
 veneration. Coriolanus was found hi his tent, surrounded by 
 his generals. His mother, Volumnia, who was at the head of 
 the train, advanced hesitatingly to meet him. Coriolanus, 
 astonished at the sight of his mother, leaped from his chair 
 and ran to embrace her. She with her hand repelled him, 
 saying: 
 
 " Ere thou kiss me, let me know whether I am speaking to 
 an enemy or to my son ; whether I stand in thy camp as thy 
 prisoner or as thy mother." 
 
 Coriolanus was silent, knowing not what answer to make. 
 Volumnia, after a moment's pause, continued : 
 
 " Must it, then, be that had I never borne a son, Rome 
 never would have seen the camp of an enemy ? that had I re- 
 mained childless I should have died a free woman in a free 
 city ? But I am too old to endure much longer either thy 
 shame or my misery. Look, however, to thy wife and thy 
 children. If thou persistest in thy course, they are doomed to 
 an untimely death, or to a long life of bondage." 
 
 His wife Virgilius then approached, her eyes swollen with 
 tears, and leading her children by the hand. She threw her- 
 self upon her husband's neck, sobbing passionately, while all 
 the Roman matrons wept and wailed. Coriolanus was unman- 
 ned and conquered. 
 
 " Oh, mother," said he, " what hast thou done to me. 
 Thine is the victory, a happy victory for thee and for Rome, 
 but shame and ruin to thy son." 
 
 He then sent back the matrons to Rome, while he returned 
 with the Volscians to their own territory, where he remained 
 in exile until his death. 
 
 It was about this tune, during the pretorship of Spurius 
 Cassius, that the agrarian law was enacted, which has engross-
 
 f8 IT ALT. 
 
 ed BO much of the attention of subsequent ages. This law, 
 which divided the public lands among the people, was bitterly 
 opposed by the nobles, and, in revenge, they accused Cassiua 
 of attempting to make himself king. He was consequently 
 condemned to death, being first scourged and then beheaded 
 His house was destroyed, and the ground on which it stood 
 was cursed. 
 
 The patricians, untiring in their endeavors to keep the ple- 
 beians in subjection, succeeded in electing their own partisans 
 as pretors, and hi preventing the execution of the agrarian 
 law. In the prosecution of this conflict the commons refused 
 to serve as soldiers, as the British commons, under similar cir- 
 cumstances, have often refused to furnish money for the wars 
 which the aristocracy, to subserve their own purposes, were 
 waging. The power of the tribunes, however, was only of 
 force within the walls of the city, and the pretors, by name- 
 less outrages, compelled the farming population to enlist in the 
 army. At length they gained the important concession that 
 the patricians should choose one pretor, and the plebeians the 
 other. The conflict between the plebeians and patricians had 
 become so strong that at length, in an eventful battle, the ple- 
 beians refUsed to fight, and submitted to an ignominious de- 
 feat, rather than gain a victory which would only redound to 
 the increased influence of their aristocratic foes. For a period 
 of seven years the nobles filled their place in the pretorship 
 with some member of the Fabian family, one of the most opu- 
 lent and haughty of the ancienne noblesse of Rome ; fbr even 
 then Rome had her ancient nobility. These haughty scions of 
 patrician houses, rolling in wealth, and strong in social rank, 
 affected to look with contempt upon the pretor chosen by the 
 people, and instead of recognizing him as an equal, treated 
 him as an inferior officer, who occupied but the place of an 
 assistant. 
 
 The refusal, under the circumstances, of the people to fight, 
 and the disgraceful defeat which ensued, opened the eyes of
 
 PBETCESHIP, DECEJCVIBATB, CON8UIATB. 3ft 
 
 the nobles, and Quintus Fabius, who was their pretor, in con 
 junction with Caius Julius the pretor of the people, mad* 
 such strenuous endeavors to regain the popular favor, thai he 
 measurably succeeded in effacing that animosity which threat 
 ened even the stability of the state. In a war which soon en- 
 sued, some new territory was grasped. To please the people, 
 one of the Fabii, then pretor, proposed that it should be di- 
 vided in equal portions among the plebeians. 
 
 " It is just," said he, " the those should have the land, by 
 whose sweat and blood it has been gained." 
 
 The nobles were exasperated that Fabius should thus aban- 
 don their cause, and reviled him as an apostate and a turn-coat. 
 But the more the patricians abused, the more the plebeians ap- 
 plauded. The conflict became so bitter that the whole family 
 of Fabii, three hundred and six in number, with plebeian fol- 
 lowers amounting to four thousand, emigrated from Rome and 
 settled on the river Crimera, a small stream emptying into the 
 Tiber but a few miles from Rome. Two years had hardly 
 elapsed, after this emigration, ere the Etruscans, a powerful 
 neighboring nation, fell upon the infant settlement by surprise 
 and mercilessly massacred them all. The victorious Etruscans, 
 ravaging the adjacent country, advanced to the walls of Rome 
 and laid siege to the city. After many bloody but indecisive 
 conflicts, a truce was entered into which continued for forty 
 years. The struggle between the people and the nobles was 
 still ever living ; though with varying success, with ebbs and 
 floods, the popular cause was steadily gaining strength. 
 
 According to Italian story, in the year 458 before Christ, 
 Rome was in such peril from the allied assaults of two nations, 
 the -(Equians and the Sabines, that the senate resolved to in- 
 voke the pow r of a dictator. Rome was indeed menaced 
 with ruin. One of the pretors, Lucius Minucius, in command, 
 of the Roman army, had been lured into a narrow defile, where 
 the mountains rose around him to inaccessible heights, upon 
 evwy side except through the narrow entrance. This passage
 
 40 ITALY. 
 
 the enemy had effectually blockaded, and the destruction f 
 the army seemed sure. Should the army be destroyed Rome 
 would be left at the mercy of the conqueror. The senate met 
 in consternation to deliberate upon this danger. 
 
 " There is but one man," it was said, " who can deli ver us. 
 That man is Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus ; and him we must 
 invest with dictatorial power." 
 
 A deputation was immediately sent to inform Cincinnatus 
 who was an impoverished patrician, of his appointment. He 
 was found occupying a little cottage upon the other side of 
 the Tiber, cultivating, with his wife Racilia, a small plot of 
 ground. 
 
 " We bring thee," said they, " a message of great import- 
 ance from the senate. Put on thy cloak that thou mayest 
 receive it with becoming dignity." 
 
 Attended by his wife he went into his cottage, and changed 
 his apparel, and then presented himself again before the depu- 
 ties. 
 
 "Hail to thee, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus," said the 
 deputies. "The senate hath appointed thee master of the 
 people, and calls thee to the city. The pretor and the army, 
 in the country of the ^Equians, are in great danger." 
 
 Cincinnatus without hesitancy accepted the perilous office, 
 and tenderly bade adieu to his wife saying, " I fear, my Ra- 
 cilia, that this year our little fields must remain unsown." 
 
 A boat was in readiness to convey him across the Tiber, 
 The senate, with an immense concourse of the populace of 
 Rome, awaited him on the opposite bank. Cincinnatus imme- 
 diately ordered every man in Rome capable of bearing arms to 
 be enlisted. A poor man, from the ranks of the foot sol- 
 diers, Lucius Tarquitius, who had displayed much energy and 
 bravery, was appointed chief general under the dictator. With 
 such energy were these measures pressed forward, that before 
 sunset the whole army was assembled hi the field of Mars. 
 Every soldier took with him food for five days ; and twelve
 
 PBKTOB8HIP, DKCEMVIBATE CONSULATE. 41 
 
 stakes. The evening twilight had hardly disappeared ere this 
 force, so suddenly collected, commenced its march. Before 
 midnight they reached the outposts of the enemy. Immedi- 
 ately disincumbering themselves of their baggage they cau- 
 tiously surrounded the hostile camp, and each soldier com- 
 menced digging a ditch and planting his stakes. This \tork 
 was commenced with shouts which penetrated the camp of the 
 beleaguered Romans, filling their hearts with joy. They recog- 
 nized the voices of their friends, and exclaimed : 
 
 " Rescue is at hand, for that is the shout of the Romans." 
 Immediately sallying from their intrenchments, they made 
 BO fierce an assault that the -JSquians were not able to inter- 
 rupt the works which Cincinnatus was so effectively throwing 
 up. Through the whole night the fight and the labor lasted, 
 and with the morning's dawn the ^Equians saw, to their great 
 consternation, that they were surrounded. A successful de- 
 fense was impossible, and they asked for mercy. Cincinnatus 
 demanded the ^Equian chief and his two leading generals to 
 ^e delivered to him in chains ; and the whole of the rest of 
 the hostile army, abandoning their cloaks, their arms, and aD 
 their baggage, were compelled to pass under the yoke, which 
 consisted of two spears set upright and a third lashed across, 
 and were thus sent home in nakedness, confusion, and shame. 
 
 Cincinnatus now returned to Rome in triumph, accom- 
 panied by his own troops and by the army he had so nobly 
 rescued. The exultation in the metropolis was boundless. 
 The conqueror rode in a chariot, with the chiefs of the 
 ^Equians led in chains before him. At the door of every 
 house in the streets of Rome tables were spread with abun- 
 dant refreshments for the soldiers. This astounding victory, 
 according to the Roman legends, was the work of but a day. 
 Cincinnatus, with his army, marched out one evening and 
 returned the next. The conqueror now laid aside his dictato- 
 rial power and returned to his farm, refusing all that wealth 
 which the senate was zealous to lavish upon him. The time
 
 48 ITALT. 
 
 of this event is placed In the Roman legends about 460 yean 
 before Christ. 
 
 War soon again ensued against the ^Equians <*ud Vol- 
 scians united. The pretor, Appius Claudius, a haughty aris- 
 tocrat, hated by the people, led the Roman army. The dis- 
 contented soldiers refused to fight, and retreated before the 
 enemy, throwing away their arms and running away, hi an 
 affected panic, even at the first onset. Appius, flaming with 
 indignation, succeeded in rallying the fugitives as soon as 
 they were out of reach of the enemy, and heaped upon them 
 contemptuous reproaches. Not satisfied with this, his exas- 
 peration was so intense that, by the aid of some foreign mer- 
 cenaries, he first seized and executed every captain of one 
 hundred men who had fled ; then every standard-bearer who 
 had lost his colors was put to death ; and then he decimated 
 the whole host, executing every tenth man. Even this rigor 
 would hardly have been condemned, so scrupulous were the 
 Romans upon points of military discipline, had not Appius 
 been regarded as the inveterate foe of popular rights, and the 
 unrelenting advocate of aristocratic privilege. The tribunes, 
 accordingly, whose privilege it was to impeach, brought him 
 to trial, as the enemy of the people. His doom is not known. 
 Tradition is contradictory. Whether he killed himself in 
 prison to avoid the execution of his sentence, or whether he 
 escaped, and, after years of exile, returned to take a part in 
 public affairs, can not now be ascertained. 
 
 For many years Rome appears to have been in a very 
 deplorable state. The surrounding nations defeated her 
 armies, and repeatedly plundered all the region outside of 
 the walls of the city. A terrible pestilence again and again 
 swept the land. The woes of the whole country for a time 
 were such that there was a cessation of the hostility between 
 the patricians and plebeians. But as better times dawned 
 upon the country the old conflict was revived, and the com- 
 mons seemed disposed to demand a radical reform in the con-
 
 PBETOBSHIP, DBCEMVIBAT3C, CONSUL4TE. 48 
 
 stitution of the state, by which they should enjoy, in aL 
 respects, equal rights with the patricians. They demanded, 
 through the tribunes, that ten commissioners should be 
 chosen, five by the commons and five by the patricians, and 
 that by them a constitution should be drawn up, conferring 
 equal political rights upon all orders of the Roman people. 
 
 The nobles, as ever, were unrelenting in their opposition 
 to any encroachments upon their prerogatives. The young 
 nobles of Rome, like their predecessors, the young nobles of 
 Athens, were fond of congregating in clubs. Conscious 
 aristocracy gives self-confidence, and self-confidence givps 
 strength. These young nobles were skilled in martial exer- 
 cises, bold and domineering. By acting in a body they 
 repeatedly broke up the meetings of the commons, and drove 
 them from the forum. The son of Cincinnatus was one of the 
 leaders in these aristocratic riots. He was prosecuted by the 
 tribunes. Kaeso, as this young man was called, was proved 
 to be of grossly riotous character, and even to have caused 
 death in one of his frays. The indignation of the people was 
 so strongly roused against him that, apprehensive of con- 
 demnation, he forfeited his bail, which was very heavy, and 
 fled before his trial came on. 
 
 The young nobles from rioters became conspirators. They 
 courted the commons, speaking politely to them, paying them 
 those delicate attentions with which the rich and noble can so 
 easily win the regards of the poor and humble. Kseso, in 
 exile, held constant communication with them, and gathered 
 around him a band of adventurers from all quarters. With 
 this force it was the intention of the conspirators that 
 Kaeso should surprise Rome at night; the young nobles in 
 the city were to be prepared to rise and join the assailants ; 
 the tribunes and the most obnoxious of the commons were to 
 be massacred, and thus the old ascendency of the patricians 
 was to be restored. 
 
 Though the conspiracy was suspected, and the tribunes
 
 * ITALY. 
 
 were warned of the peri., no effectual measures of protection 
 were adopted. The assault was actually made, and the city, 
 for a few hours, was in the hands of the rioters. They were, 
 however, eventually repelled, and all were either slain or sub- 
 sequently executed. Cincinnatus was again called from the 
 plow and chosen consul by the nobles. But his character 
 appears to have undergone a great change. The death of his 
 son Kaeso, by the hands of the commons, exasperated him, 
 and his thirst for vengeance seemed insatiable. Distinctly he 
 declared to the commons that during his consulship no consti- 
 tution should be accepted granting the plebeians equal rights 
 with the patricians. 
 
 The ^Equians and the Volscians were now pressing the city, 
 and for a short tune this common danger silenced the internal 
 strife. The Sabines joined the allies against Rome, and the 
 fortunes of the commonwealth were at a low ebb ; but the 
 tribunes, taking advantage of these perils, gained a very im- 
 portant point in securing henceforth the election of ten instead 
 of five tribunes. The confused and contradictory annals of 
 those days all agree in representing the strife between the peo- 
 ple and the nobles as very bitter. The nobles boast of the use 
 they made of the dagger in silencing their enemies ; the assem- 
 oties of the people were broken up by riotous violence ; the 
 commons were ejected from the houses of the nobles, mobbed 
 in their own dwellings; their wives and daughters insulted 
 in the streets both by day and by night. The mansions of 
 the nobles were generally built upon the hills of Rome, and 
 strongly constructed like separate fortresses, which could bid 
 defiance to any sudden attacks. Victims of the malice of the 
 nobles were often secretly seized and concealed hi the dun- 
 geons of their castles where they miserably perished. At one 
 time nine eminent men who had espoused the cause of the 
 people were burned ah' ve in the circus. 
 
 The tribunes now, to secure unanimity in their action as 
 defenders of the popular cause, bound themselves by a solemn
 
 PBBTORSHIP, DBCBMVIBATE, CONSULATE. 45 
 
 oath that they would never oppose, but would with entire 
 unanimity support the decision of the majority of their num. 
 her. One of the tribunes, Lucius Icilius, then proposed a law, 
 that the Aventme hill, which was just outside the bounds of 
 the original city, should be allotted to the commons forever, 
 as their exclusive quarter and stronghold. This hill was still 
 public property, not having yet been divided. Some of the 
 nobles had built upon these lands, while other parts were still 
 overgrown with wood. The Aventine hill was one of the 
 steepest and most easily fortified of the hills of Rome, and if 
 placed in the exclusive possession of the commons, would ren- 
 der them as impregnable in their stronghold as were the pa- 
 tricians when entrenched upon the other hills of the metropolis. 
 The tribunes, very prudently, before bringing this measure to 
 the consideration of the commons, where it would be sure to 
 provoke stormy debate, submitted it to the consuls, urging 
 them to present it to the senate, and claiming the privilege of 
 supporting the measure before that patrician body, as counsel, 
 in behalf of the people. The majority of the senate, hoping, 
 it is said, thus to appease the commons and to avoid the execu- 
 tion of the Agrarian law, which required the division of the 
 public lands among the people, voted for the measure. This 
 triumph of the plebeians was deemed an achievement of so 
 much importance, that it was confirmed by the most imposing 
 religious ceremonies, and the law engraved upon a tablet of 
 brass was set up in the temple of Diana on the Aventme hill. 
 
 By this law, all of the Aventine hill was allotted to the 
 commons, to be their freehold for ever. The people immedi- 
 ately took possession of their grant, and before the year was 
 closed, the eminence, a large swell of land embracing many 
 acres, was covered with their dwellings. 
 
 The patricians now planted themselves firmly against al- 
 lowing the plebeians any share in the revision of the constitu- 
 tion. For ages this conflict between equality and privilege 
 had been raging, with only such occasional shifting of the
 
 46 ITAT.T. 
 
 ground as the progress of events introduced. The people 
 pressed the nobles so hard that they were at length compelled 
 to consent that three commissioners should be sent to Greece 
 to collect such information respecting the laws of the Greek 
 states, as might aid them hi their new modeling of the govern- 
 ment. The return of these commissioners opened the battle 
 anew. But the commons were defeated, and the revision of 
 the constitution was intrusted to ten men, all selected from 
 the patrician order. The commons, however, had the privi- 
 lege of choosing five of these men, though they could only 
 choose from the ranks of the nobles. Such was the termina- 
 tion of a conflict which had agitated Rome for ten years. It 
 conspicuously shows the strength of the aristocratic power, and 
 the slow steps by which the people beat back its encroach- 
 ments. " The laws of a nation," says Gibbon, " form the most 
 instructive portion of its history." The annals of the past 
 have no teachings more valuable than these conflicts of popu- 
 lar rights against the tyranny of wealth and rank. 
 
 The ten patricians empowered to draft a constitution 
 eagerly commenced then* work. As aids they had the unwrit- 
 ten laws of their own country, and the information which the 
 commissioners had gleaned in Greece. In the course of a few 
 months the articles they had agreed upon, were inscribed upon 
 ten tablets and set up in a conspicuous place, where all could 
 read them and suggest any amendments. The commissioners 
 listened to the suggestions thus made, adopted such amend- 
 ments as they approved, and then submitted the constitution 
 to the approval of the patricians as they were represented hi 
 the senate, and to the commons assembled in a body called 
 the centuries. Their work was accepted, and the constitution 
 thus ratified was engraved on twelve tablets of brass and set 
 up in the comitium the hall for all great public gatherings. 
 These tablets remained for centuries the foundation for all 
 Roman law, and were undoubtedly drawn up in a spirit of 
 fairness and wisdom, or they could not have been so generally
 
 PBBTOBSHIP, DECHMVIBATE, CONSULATE. 47 
 
 acceptable. From the scanty fragments alone which now re- 
 main it is impossible to form an intelligent judgment respect- 
 ing the whole code. 
 
 The ten men, or decemvirs as they were called, continued 
 in power for one year and administered the government, with 
 the law of the twelve tables as their guide, to general accept- 
 ance. The change in the executive, which the new arrange- 
 ment introduced, amounted simply to having ten consuls 
 instead of two. And though the plebeians occasionally suc- 
 ceeded in having some of their number elected among the 
 decemvirs, these few plebeian office-holders, through the influ- 
 ences of bribery and flattery, were easily secured u o support 
 the measures of the nobles. Thus the patriciaas were soon 
 again exulting in their ascendency. Though the decemvirs 
 were chosen annually, they were in all respects kings during 
 their short reign. Each one, whenever he appeared in public, 
 had his twelve lictors to walk before him, bearing the ax and 
 the rods, the emblems of sovereignty. All having bound 
 themselves by an oath to support the measures of the major- 
 ity, they were shielded effectually from all minority reports. 
 
 The patricians now became more and more oppressive and 
 insolent. The young men of that class, haughty and dissolute, 
 reveled in the utmost licentiousness of indulgence, and the 
 wives and the daughters of the plebeians suffered many out- 
 rages. An insulting law was enacted prohibiting marriages 
 oetween the patricians and plebeians. At the close of the sec- 
 ond year of the decemvirate, the decemvirs had arrogated so 
 much power that they attempted to perpetuate their reign by 
 refusing to resign their posts, or to make any preparation for 
 the election of successors. The outrages became so intolera 
 ble that many of the commons fled from Rome and took refuge 
 among the surrounding nations. At length, a signal outrage 
 roused the people. 
 
 There was in Rome a young lady of remarkable beauty, 
 named Virjapnia. <She was the daughter of an officer in the
 
 48 ITALY 
 
 army, of plebeian birth. She was betrothed to the illustrious 
 tribune, Lucius Icilius, who had secured the passage of the 
 law for assigning the Aventine hill to the commons. One of 
 the decemvirs, Appius Claudius, a patrician of very arrogant 
 character, cast his eye upon this lovely maiden, and burned 
 with the desire to possess her. As she was one day passing 
 through the streets, attended by her maid, one of the freed- 
 men of Appius seized her, declaring that she was his slave 
 Lucius Virginius, the father of the maiden, was then absent 
 with the army engaged in a war against the Sabines. 
 
 As the young lady was grasped by the kidnappers, the 
 nurse cried out for help, and a crowd of people were soon 
 gathered in the streets, eager to defend her from wrong. It 
 was a genuine case for the exercise of the fugitive slave law 
 of Rome ; and the law must take its course. The freedman 
 dragged the trembling maiden before his former master, the 
 decemvir Appius Claudius, who was to decide the case, in 
 which he himself was the infamous claimant, simply making 
 use of one of his former slaves as his agent. It was contended 
 before this tribunal that the maiden's real mother had been 
 the slave of the freedman, and that the wife of Lucius Virgin- 
 ius having no children, had adopted this child, who being the 
 child of slave parents was the property of another person. 
 
 The friends of the maiden plead for a postponement of the 
 trial, urging that her father was absent, engaged in the cause 
 of the commonwealth that they would send instantly for 
 him, and that in two days he would be in Rome. They, there- 
 fore, entreated that she might be restored to her home and 
 friends until the day of trial. " Expose not her fair fame to 
 reproach," they imploringly cried, by placing her person hi the 
 possession of a man of whose character nothing is known. 
 But Appius Claudius, eager to get possession of his victim, 
 assuming an air of candor, said : 
 
 " The law is just and good, and must be maintained. Now 
 this maiden belongs either to her father or to her master
 
 PBKTOESHIP, DECBMVIBATB, CONSULATE. 49 
 
 But as her father is not here, who but her master can have 
 any title to her. Let her, therefore, remain in the hands of 
 him who claims to be her master, till Lucius Virginius arrive. 
 She shall then be brought before my judgment-seat, and her 
 cause impartially tried." 
 
 This decision would give Appius Claudius ample time to 
 accomplish his infamous desires. At this stage of the case the 
 uncle of the maiden appeared, and also young Icilius, to whom 
 she was betrothed. They spoke so vehemently against the 
 outrage about to be perpetrated, surrendering the helpless 
 maiden to those who claimed her for purposes well under- 
 stood, that Claudius was alarmed, apprehensive of a mob, and 
 was compelled slightly to retrace his steps. 
 
 " Upon second thought," said he, " hi my great regard for 
 the rights of fathers over their children, I will let the cause 
 remain until to-morrow. But if Luaius Virginius, the reputed 
 father, does not then appear, let Icilius and his fellows dis- 
 tinctly understand that I will support the laws, and that fa- 
 natic .violence shall not prevail over justice." 
 
 Thus the unhappy Virginia was saved for the moment, and 
 her friends set off hi the greatest haste to summon her father. 
 They were, however, compelled to give heavy security that 
 she should be brought before the tribunal of Appius Claudius 
 the next day. The messenger reached the camp that evening, 
 and the father, half distracted with the news, leaped upon his 
 horse, and was instantly on his way, with the utmost speed, 
 toward Rome. But hardly had the clatter of his horse's, hoofs 
 ceased to reverberate through the camp, ere a messenger arriv- 
 ed from Claudius, urging the tribunes, in command of the 
 army, to forbid the departure of Virginius. But it was too 
 late. 
 
 In the dawn of the morning Virginius reached his home, 
 
 and, at a glance, saw the desperate state of affairs. Under 
 
 the forms of law he was to be robbed of his daughter, and she 
 
 was to be handed over, as a helpless slave, into the arms of 
 
 I
 
 50 STALT. 
 
 patrician lust. The Roman matrons gathered arounl him in 
 sympathy, as with a dejected countenance, and clothed in the 
 mean attire of a supplicant, he led his daughter to the tribunal 
 where aristocratic insolence trampled with contempt upon all 
 popular rights. Earnestly the woe-stricken father plead for 
 his child, while Icilius aided him with that fervid eloquence 
 which love inspired. The matrons, who had followed Vir- 
 ginia to the court room, listened silently and in tears. 
 
 But Claudius, fired by passion, and feeling strong in aristo- 
 cratic power, was deaf to every appeal, and remanded Vir- 
 ginia into the hands of the man who claimed her as his slave. 
 A band of armed patricians, calling themselves the friends of 
 law and order, were present to prevent any rescue by the peo- 
 ple, and to enforce the decree. Lucius Virginius, in despair, 
 begged permission of the court to speak one parting word to 
 bis child. His request was granted. Approaching the weep- 
 ing Virginia, as if to impress one last kiss upon her cheek, the 
 noble Roman drew from his bosom a poniard and plunged it 
 into her heart, exclaiming : 
 
 " This is the only way, my child, *o keep thee free." 
 
 Then turning to Appius Claudius, he brandished the crim- 
 soned weapon, saying, " On thee and on thy head be the curse 
 of this blood." 
 
 Taking advantage of the confusion the scene created, Vir- 
 ginius rushed through the crowd, though Claudius called out 
 loudly to seize him. He effected his escape, and, mounting 
 bis horse, rode rapidly to the camp to rouse the soldiers to 
 avenge his wrongs. Icilius, the lover, and Numatoris, the 
 uncle of the maiden, bore her blood-stained body into the 
 streets and exhibited it to the people. Their indignation was 
 roused to the highest pitch. A great tumult was excited, and 
 the infamous Claudius, in disguise, with difficulty escaped with 
 bis life. The whole city was in an uproar, the masses of the 
 people making common cause with Virginius. The soldiers, 
 
 ig Virginius enter the camp, his dress disordered and
 
 PBETOESHIP, DECEMVIBATE, CONSULATE. 61 
 
 stained with blood, and the gory knife in his hand, listened 
 eagerly to his story. One common feeling of rage inspired 
 their breasts. Grasping their arms and unfurling their ban? 
 ners, they commenced their march toward Rome. 
 
 As they entered the city, the populace gathered around 
 them, and the whole united body of soldiers and citizens 
 marched to the Aventine hill, where, in their own proper home, 
 they established their quarters. Here by acclamation they re- 
 pudiated the whole body of decemvirs, demanding that they 
 should immediately resign their posts, and elected ten tribunes 
 to protect the rights of the people. Another portion of the 
 army, which was under the command of Icilius, hearing the 
 story of this outrage, pursued the same course, and pressing to 
 the Aventine hill, joined their comrades, and also chose ten 
 tribunes, making twenty hi all. In the mean time the senate 
 was convened. The twenty tribunes deputed two of their 
 number to confer with the senate. The patricians, alarmed at 
 the triumph which the popular cause was gaining, struggled 
 hard to regain then* lost ascendency. 
 
 The patrician decemvirs refused to resign, and the aristo- 
 cratic senate sustained them in their refusal. The commons, 
 now united as one man, supported by the army, and animated 
 by so holy a cause, finding that nothing was to be done to 
 satisfy them, left a garrison hi charge of the Aventine hill, and 
 in military array marched unopposed through the city, and 
 passing out at the Colline gate, again established themselves 
 upon the sacred hill. Men, women, and children followed in 
 *his imposing procession, so that Rome was nearly emptied of 
 its populace. The dissolution of the commonwealth was thus 
 threatened ; for the city would now fall an easy prey to any 
 foe who should invade it. 
 
 The patricians were alarmed and yielded, and the decem- 
 virs resigned. Icilius, frantic with grief at the loss of his be- 
 trothed, demanded of the deputation, consisting of Valerius 
 and Horatius, sent by the patricians to the sacred hill, the lives
 
 58 ITALY 
 
 of the decemvirs. The patricians, to conciliate the commons, 
 had sent two of the friends of popular rights as commis- 
 sioners. 
 
 " These decemvirs," said he, " are public enemies, and we 
 will have them die the death of such. Give them up to us, 
 that they may be burnt with fire." 
 
 More moderate counsels, however, soon prevailed. The 
 vengeful demand was withdrawn, and the commons returned 
 to Rome, satisfied with the expulsion of the patrician decem- 
 virs from ofiice. Ten tribunes were now elected from among 
 the commons, and invested with enlarged powers. The form 
 of the old government was essentially again restored, and two 
 magistrates, with the title of consuls, were elected and invested 
 with supreme power. This was a new title, for before this 
 time the consuls had been called pretors, or captains-general. 
 Both of these consuls seem to have been elected by general 
 suffrage, and so much strength had the people acquired by 
 their firmness and moderation, that both of their candidates, 
 L. Valerius and M. Horatius, were elected ; and thus the gov- 
 ernment passed into the hands of those who were devoted to 
 the rights of the people, rather than to the ascendency of the 
 patricians. 
 
 A new constitution was now drafted, in which it was at- 
 tempted to unite the two conflicting orders, and place them on 
 a tooting of entire equality. The whole community meeting 
 in om general assembly of plebeians and patricians, were de- 
 5lared to be supreme, and their decree was constitutional law. 
 Still it was the privilege and at the same time the duty of the 
 senate to sanction this decree. The annals, however, of those 
 distant days are so confused that it is impossible to follow a 
 distinct line of narrative. We simply behold through all the 
 intense eagerness of the patricians to maintain their exclusive 
 privileges, and the jealousy with which the commons watched 
 over their own rights, and the firmness with which they en- 
 deavored to enforce them. Various measures were adopted
 
 PBETORSniP, DECEMVIRATE, CONSULATE. 58 
 
 without any apparent intention to break down the distinction 
 between the commons and the nobles, but simply to place the 
 two orders on terms of equality. But the very existence of 
 the two distinct orders, as recognized powers in the state, was 
 the inevitable prelude to eternal warfare. There can never be 
 harmony without the recognition of universal fraternity. Two 
 orders in the state, with a gulf between, necessarily become 
 conflicting forces. Equality of rights is the corner-stone of 
 the gospel of national harmony. The existence of an enslaved 
 class in our own land, comparatively few hi numbers as that 
 class is, who are deprived of the rights which their more for- 
 tunate brethren enjoy, is the direct or indirect cause of nearly 
 ah 1 our national troubles. Even with the new constitution the 
 dishonoring law was permitted to stand which declared the 
 marriage of a plebeian with a patrician to be unlawful base 
 and unholy amalgamation. The bloodless revolution, however, 
 which had thus taken place in behalf of the people was mani- 
 festly very great. 
 
 Appius Claudius was now singled out from the rest "f the 
 degraded decemvirs and impeached. Powerful in weaA and 
 rank, he gathered a band of armed young nobles around him, 
 and assumed an attitude of defiance. The charge brought 
 against this infamous man shows the spirit of freedom which 
 then nobly glowed in the bosoms of Roman citizens. Claudius 
 was indicted for having 
 
 " In a question of personal freedom assumed that the pre- 
 sumption was in favor of slavery ; in having adjudged Vir- 
 ginia to be regarded as a slave till she was proved free, 
 instead of regarding her as entitled to her freedom till ah 
 was proved a slave." 
 
 The guilty decemvir was thrown into jail to await his 
 
 trial. The facts were known to all, and an outraged com- 
 
 munity demanded his punishment. There was no escape, and 
 
 the wretched man anticipated justice by committing suicide.* 
 
 * Such is the account Livy gives, iii. 58 Dionysius, however, states, xl
 
 54 ITALY. 
 
 Spurius Oppius also, one of the colleagues of Clan lius in the 
 decemvirate, underwent a similar fate. His tyranny had been 
 insupportable. In a freak of passion, without any extenuating 
 cause, he had ordered an old and distinguished soldier to be 
 cruelly scourged. The other decemvirs, intimidated by this 
 severity, fled from Rome, losing all their property by confis- 
 cation. 
 
 The patricians were now prostrate, and the good-natured 
 people began to pity them. This animated the hopes of the 
 patricians, and assisted by those of the people who favored 
 their cause, they renewed the struggle which had already 
 continued through many ages. The aristocracy again devel- 
 oped unanticipated strength, and took a firm stand in the 
 attempt to prevent the new constitution from going into 
 effect. The commons retaliated by saying : 
 
 " If you patricians will not have the constitution, we will 
 at least keep matters as they now are. We have two consuls 
 whom we can implicitly trust. We have ten true and zealous 
 tribunes, the leaders of our late glorious deliverance. We 
 will retain these, and then the patricians can gain but little by 
 their opposition." 
 
 46, that it was the general opinion that Claudius was assassinated in prire 
 by order of the tri bunea
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONFLICTS AT HOME AND WARS ABROAD. 
 FROM 433 B. o. TO 318 a c. 
 
 OF AN ARISTOCRACY. DEMANDS OF THE PLEBEIANS. STRUGGLE 01 TOM PATH 
 OIANS AGAINST POPULAR RIGHTS. THE OFFICE OF CENSOR. ITS DESPOTISM. IN- 
 VASION OF THE GAULS. DEFEAT OF THE ROMAN ABMY. SACK OF ROME. SIEGB 
 OF THE CAPITOL. TERMS OF PEACE. MANLITTS. His PHILANTHROPY AND CON- 
 DEMNATION. DESPOTISM OF CAMILLUS. CONQUEST OF THE PRIVEKNATIANS. WAR 
 WTTH THE SAMNITES. DISASTER AT THE CAUDINB FORKS. MAGNANIMITY OF PON- 
 TIUS. CHARACTERISTIC EOMAN PRIDE AND HEROISM. 
 
 IT1HE inherent strength of an aristocracy, so long as it retains 
 -*- any of its pristine vigor, is ever found to be one of the 
 most formidable instruments of government, and one of the 
 most impregnable barriers to the advance of popular enlight- 
 enment. The sagacious few can only hold the many in sub- 
 jection by keeping them in ignorance. One man, who has 
 clear vision, can easily dominate over an hundred, if he can 
 but succeed in plucking out their eyes. By skill and cunning 
 the patricians succeeded in placing their own men in the con- 
 sulate, and in setting aside the popular constitution. Affairs 
 speedily returned to their old state, and the two orders of 
 patricians and plebeians were rendered more distinct and 
 antagonistic than ever before. The plebeians were again 
 exposed to violence and insult. Haughty and dissolute young 
 nobles, organized in clubs, supported one another in their 
 outrages. The commons complained bitterly, but they found 
 no man adequate to act as then- leader in breasting the encroach- 
 ments of a powerful aristocracy. The patricians ever rallied 
 with entire unanimity in support of the assumptions of their 
 party, and so great was the strength of unity of action, the
 
 56 ITALY. 
 
 pride of high birth, the power of patrician clubs, and of skill 
 in the use of martial weapons, that the commons, notwith 
 standing their great preponderance in numbers, were still 
 held in a state of humiliating subjection. The nobles were 
 large slaveholders, and in those days of darkness could easily 
 arm their slaves in their defense. No man could save himself 
 from perpetual aunoyance, and often from the grossest out- 
 rages, but by withdrawing all opposition to patrician inso- 
 lence. Thus all but the very boldest the martyr spirits-^- 
 were completely subjugated. But nobles who thus live, 
 dwell upon a volcano ever heaving. 
 
 We can not follow in detail the tedious conflict. A bold 
 man, C. Canulieus, one of the tribunes, at length nerved his 
 colleagues to demand, with him, " that the consulship should 
 be thrown open, without distinction, to the members of both 
 orders." This led to a tumult, in which the commons in a 
 body rallied, left the city, and established themselves on the 
 other side of the Tiber. The patricians, alarmed, again 
 yielded, and consented to a compromise, abrogating the 
 insulting law which prohibited marriages between the two 
 orders, and making other concessions, which were reluctantly 
 accepted as terms of peace. 
 
 We have now arrived at that period in the world's history 
 in which Thucydides, Herodotus, Pericles, and Socrates were 
 performing their immortal parts in waning Greece. A new 
 oflice was at this time organized that of the censorship. It 
 became an oflice of most formidable power. Though nomin- 
 ally the censor was but to take a register of the number of 
 citizens and their taxable property, he in reality could decide 
 the rank the citizen was to hold, could put what valuation he 
 pleased upon his property, and arbitrarily decide the rate of 
 taxation. From his decision there was no appeal. It is diffi- 
 cult to conceive of a despotism much more crushing than this. 
 He who refused to obey the censor could be degraded and 
 utterly ruined. The censors had, in addition to thes<* appall
 
 CONFLICTS AT HOME AND WABS ABROAD. 55 
 
 jog powers of despotism, the entire charge, as stewards, oi 
 the revenues of the state. 
 
 About this tune there was a great famine in Rome, and the 
 distress was so severe that large numbers of the poorer people 
 committed suicide by throwing themselves into the Tiber. A 
 wealthy commoner, Sp. Maslius, purchased quantities of grain, 
 and, by its gratuitous distribution to the starving, made him 
 self so popular that the patricians were very apprehensive that 
 he mit^ht secure his election as a plebeian consul. To avert 
 this danger they appointed the old yet energetic Cincinnatus 
 dictator. Mounting his horse, the iron-nerved old man rode 
 into the streets, surrounded by a military array of well armed 
 young nobles, and ordered the arrest of Mselius. The illustri- 
 ous plebeian, conscious that his doom was sealed, endeavored 
 to escape, but he was overtaken and cruelly murdered. Cin- 
 cinnatus defended the foul deed by saying : 
 
 " Ma3lius had aimed at making himself king. To meet this 
 danger the senate had appointed a dictator. I had purposed 
 to bring Maelius to trial ; but as he refused to obey my sum- 
 mons, he was lawfully slain." 
 
 The power of the dictatorship quelled all serious tumult. 
 It is stated in the ancient annals that during these contentions 
 many of the patricians espoused the popular cause, and thus 
 became the idols of the people. The patricians, as a body, re- 
 garded those who thus forsook their ranks as degraded, and 
 cast them out of their synagogues.* Still the commons were 
 gradually growing more rich, intelligent, and powerful. 
 
 The accounts which the ancient writers give of wars waged 
 by the Romans, during these ages, are by no means reliable 
 Many of the triumphs loudly vaunted are demonstrably fabu 
 
 * Cicero expresses some doubt respecting this alleged fraternization of 
 aristocrats with plebeians. He deems it so improbable that he thinks the 
 story must have been invented by the plebeians. But this was certainly the 
 case in the French revolution. There were no more earnest advocates of 
 popular rights taau Mirabeau and Lafayette
 
 08 ITALY. 
 
 fous. Still Neibhur, with skill and sagacity never surpassed, 
 has drawn out a general outline of the conflicts, which convey 
 all the information upon that subject which it is now possible 
 to attain. The ^Equians and Volscians had long been the most 
 formidable foes of Rome, and they often at this tune carried 
 their plundering conquests up even to the walls of the city. 
 
 The whole majestic valley of the Po, spreading out between 
 the Alps and the Apennines, constituting, in loveliness of scen- 
 ery, salubrity of climate, and fertility of soil, one of the most 
 favored regions upon the surface of our globe, was, at this 
 period, occupied by the Etruscans, Ligurians, and Umbrians, 
 wealthy, powerful, and warlike nations. Of these remote re- 
 gions of the north, Rome, struggling against her immediate 
 neighbors, knew but little. About four hundred years before 
 Christ, immense bands of wild, savage men, shaggy, and al- 
 most as brutal as bears and wolves, came pouring down from 
 France, then called Gaul,* through the passes of the Alps, and 
 with victorious arms overran the valley of the Po, and planted 
 themselves upon the banks of its beautiful waters. Gradually 
 pressing onward hi then- conquests they approached Rome, 
 menacing the city with subjugation and destruction. 
 
 These Gauls, with an army seventy thousand strong, de- 
 vastating the whole region through which they passed, were 
 rapidly descending the Italian peninsula. The Romans, in- 
 formed of their approach, in great alarm raised forty thousand 
 troops, many of whom were raw recruits, crossed the Tiber to 
 the right bank, and marched to meet the foe. But the Gauls 
 had crossed the river in its upper branches, and were moving 
 Jown the left bank. The Roman generals, when apprised of 
 this, were thrown into the greatest consternation. For many 
 miles above Rome the Tiber was not fordable, and at that time 
 there were no bridges, and boats could not be obtained for the 
 
 * According to Livy, v. 34, 35, it was 387 years before Christ that the 
 Gauls in vast numbers crossed both the Alps and the Apennines Thew 
 can. however, but little reliance be placed in these remote tradition
 
 CONFLICTS AT HOKE AND WABS ABROAD. 5C 
 
 transportation of so large a force. The Roman territory di 
 not then extend more than fifty miles from the city in any 
 direction, and in the north its limits were very narrow. 
 
 The Roman army hastened by forced marches back to the 
 city, crossed the river without a moment's delay, and had ad- 
 vanced but twelve miles from Rome up the left bank when 
 they met the Gauls, elated with success, pressing forward, 
 eager for carnage, conflagration, and plunder. Upon the pre- 
 cipitous banks of the Alia, a small stream emptying into the 
 Tiber, the Romans awaited their foes. The Gauls, hi over- 
 powering numbers, with hideous yells rushed upon them. 
 After a short conflict the Romans were everywhere routed. 
 Many, in the midst of a scene of awful carnage, plunged into 
 the Tiber, and endeavored to swim to the opposite shore. 
 But the Gauls overwhelmed them with their javelins, and 
 nearly the whole army was destroyed. A few breathless, 
 bleeding fugitives reached the city, conveying tidings of the 
 Mrfiil disaster. The city was now defenseless. This decisive 
 battle was fought the 18th of July, 390 years before Christ. 
 
 The Gauls passed the night after their victory hi cutting 
 off the heads of the slam, to convey them to their homes as 
 household ornaments and lasting memorials of their valor. 
 The next day, like wolves who had already lapped blood, they 
 came rushing upon Rome. The citizens fled hi ah* directions, 
 taking with them such of their effects as they could easily re- 
 move. A picked band of soldiers was, however, thrown into 
 the citadel to defend it to the last extremity. When the Gauls 
 forced the gates and entered the city they found the streets 
 nearly empty. They immediately spread themselves in all di- 
 rections, plundering and destroying. The mass of the Romans 
 had escaped to Veii, a city on the western bank of the Tiber, 
 some fifteen miles from Rome. A number of old men, of 
 venerable character and senatorial rank, unable to aid in the 
 defense of the citadel, and deeming it beneath their dignity to 
 geek safety in flight, met together and took a solemn oath b?
 
 <J6 ITALY. 
 
 which they devoted themselves to death for the honor of theii 
 country. Arraying themselves in their senatorial or sacerdo- 
 tal robes, gorgeously embroidered, according to the custom of 
 the times, they took their seats, each on his ivory chair of 
 magistracy, hi the gateway of his house. 
 
 The Gauls were alarmed at the aspect of these venerable 
 men, arrayed in splendor such as they had never seen, and 
 they doubted whether they beheld mortals or whether the 
 gods had descended for the defense of the city. One of the 
 barbarians cautiously drew near M. Papirius, and began rever- 
 ently to stroke his long, white beard. The Roman noble, indig- 
 nant at such familiarity, nearly cracked the skull of the Gaul 
 by a blow with his ivory scepter. The Gaul instantly cut him 
 down with his sword. This was the signal for a general mas- 
 sacre, and all the old men were speedily slain. 
 
 The barbarians now turned their attention to the citadel on 
 the Capitoline hill. The immense rock rose then from the 
 plain and the Tiber's banks in a precipitous cliff, accessible 
 but by one path. By this approach the Gauls attempted to 
 storm the fortress, but were repulsed with much slaughter. 
 They then blockaded the hill, and, while endeavoring to starve 
 the garrison to surrender, spread their devastations through 
 all the surrounding region. Thus weeks passed away, while 
 the Gauls were plundering and destroying far and wide ; ex- 
 tending their conquests even into the present territory of Na- 
 ples. 
 
 In the meantime the Romans who had taken refuge at Veil, 
 began to recover a little from their consternation and to oi> 
 ganize in preparation to attack the foe. The city of Veil was 
 on the right bank of the Tiber, some fifteen miles, as we have 
 before stated, above Rome, which city was then almost en 
 tirely on the left bank of the river. A heroic ycung man, 
 Pontius Cominius, wishing to open communication betweec 
 the garrison in Rome and the troops which were being or* 
 ganized at Veii, by night floated down the Tiber, and succeed
 
 CONFLICTS AT HOME AND WAB8 ABBOAD. 61 
 
 ed in ascending the precipitous cliff of the Capitoline hill, by 
 digging footholes in the soil and grasping the bushes which 
 sprung up here and there along the face of the ascent. He 
 was successful in this perilous adventure, and returning by the 
 way in which he came, regained Veil in safety. 
 
 In the morning the Gauls saw evidence that some one had 
 clambered up the face of the precipice, and they resolved, by 
 the same path to make an assault. The spot was not guarded, 
 for it had been deemed inaccessible. At midnight, in profound 
 silence, a picked band of the Gauls commenced climbing the 
 cliff. So noiseless was their approach that even the watch- 
 dogs in the Roman camp gave no alarm. Upon the summit 
 of the hill there were three temples reared to the guardian 
 gods of Rome Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. In the temple of 
 Juno some geese were kept, which were deemed sacred to that 
 goddess. As the story goes, these geese, by some instinct, 
 perceived the approach of danger, and began to flap their 
 wings and to cackle. A Roman officer, M. Manlius, aroused 
 by their unusual agitation, sprang up, called his comrades, and 
 ran out to ascertain the cause of the alarm. 
 
 At that moment he saw the head of a Gaul just rising 
 above the brow of the precipice. Rushing upon him he dashed 
 the rim of his shield into his face and plunged him headlong 
 down the cliff. As the savage fell, he swept down others, who 
 were behind him hi his path, and the Romans, crowding to 
 the brow of the hill and hurling down missiles of every kind, 
 easily repulsed the foe with great slaughter. For six or seven 
 months the blockade was continued, and yet there seemed to 
 be no prospect of starving out the garrison. Autumnal fevers 
 raged in the camp of the besiegers, and decimated their ranks. 
 News also arrived that the Venetians were overrunning the 
 territory in Etruria, which the Gauls had conquered, and were 
 establishing themselves in power there. The Gauls, under 
 these circumstances, were anxious for some excuse to raise the 
 siege and retire. The Romans, also humiliated and beggared.
 
 82 IT ALT. 
 
 were solicitous for peace on almost any terms. Famine was 
 Staring them in the face, for their provisions were nearly con- 
 sumed, and they knew not where to look for more 
 
 Both parties being thus eager to terminate the strife, and 
 neither being conscious of the desperate condition of the other, 
 terms of peace were easily agreed upon. The Romans offered 
 a large sum of money to the Gauls if they would retire. 
 Promptly the unexpected offer was accepted ; and the barba- 
 rians assuming an air of triumph, waved their banners, and 
 with shouts and trumpet peals prepared to raise the siege. 
 
 A thousand pounds weight of gold according to the story, 
 was to be paid. As the barbaric chieftain was weighing the 
 treasure, the Roman commissioner, Q. Sulpicius, complained 
 that the weights were not fair. The Gaul haughtily threw his 
 massive broadsword upon the heavily laden scale which the 
 gold was to lift. 
 
 " And what do you mean by that ?" inquired Sulpioius. 
 
 " VCB metis esse"* proudly answered the Gaul. 
 
 Rome was subdued, and there was no remedy but to sub- 
 mit to the wrong. Laden with plunder the Gauls returned 
 across the Apennines. The Romans were so humiliated in 
 view of this defeat, that after issuing innumerable versions of 
 the story, each of which redounded less and less to their shame, 
 they at last settled down upon the entirely apochryphal narra- 
 tive, that while the gold was being weighed out the Roman 
 army from Veii approached, under Camillus, attacked the 
 Gauls at the sword's point, recovered the ransom, and pat 
 every individual of them to death, so that not one was left 
 to carry to his countrymen the tidings of the unparalleled 
 slaughter. This is but a specimen of the boastful stories with 
 which the Romans of a more modern date, garnished the sep 
 ulchers of their fathers. 
 
 The evidence is, however, conclusive that the Gauls retired 
 with their plunder, leaving Rome, and much of the surround- 
 * Anglkse, To the victors belong the spoils."
 
 CONFLICTS AT HOME AND WARS ABROAD. 68 
 
 ing region, an entire desolation. As the fugitive Romans re- 
 turned from Veil they were so much dejected in view of the 
 smoldering ruins of their city for the torch of the Gaul 
 had consumed every thing that fire would burn that they 
 seriously contemplated abandoning the site entirely, and tak- 
 ing up their residence at Veii. After much deliberation, it 
 was decided to remain at Rome ; and vigorously the recon- 
 struction of the city was commenced. But the Romans were 
 now so weakened in power and diminished in numbers, that 
 they were incessantly attacked by marauding bands from 
 neighboring semi-barbaric tribes and nations. It was proba- 
 bly this which led them to adopt the wise policy of incorpor- 
 ating, as citizens, emigrants from every quarter, and to estab- 
 lish a very generous policy in the administration of the gov- 
 ernment, giving to every head of a family a farm of about 
 seven acres,* and allowing stone to be quarried, and timber to 
 be felled freely, from any of the public lands for purposes of 
 building. 
 
 At one time the Volscians came upon the city in such num- 
 bers that the Romans were blockaded, and, as usual in every 
 hour of peril, appointed a dictator. Camillus, who was thus 
 invested with unlimited power, ordered every man into the 
 field who was capable of bearing arms. In a midnight march 
 they emerged from the walls, fell upon the Volscians in the 
 darkness of the earliest dawn, attacked them in front and 
 rear, and cut them down in merciless carnage. The victors 
 were wiping their bloody swords when they heard that anoth- 
 er army was approaching Rome, on the right bank of the 
 river. Camillus allowed his troops not a moment for rest, bu 
 traversing the intermediate space with apparently tireless sin 
 ews, met the Etruscan foe, intoxicated and disorganized in the 
 plunder of Sutriam, a city which they had jus* captured. His 
 conquering legions swept the streets crowded with the riotous 
 bacchanals, speedily regaining the city, and the Etruscans mis- 
 
 Jugera; a piece of ground 240 feet in length by 120 feet in breadth.
 
 94 ITALY. 
 
 erably perished. Many petty wars ensued which Livy mi 
 nutely describes, but which are now unworthy of mention, 
 
 The Roman law in favor of the patrician creditor and 
 against the plebeian debtor, was, as we have before narrated, 
 atrocious in the extreme. M. Manlius, the same man who had 
 dashed the Gaul over the precipice with his shield, and had 
 thus saved the capitol, and who by this act had gamed great 
 honor and renown, was one day walking through the streets 
 of Rome, when he saw a captain who had served under him, 
 and who had been a distinguished soldier, seized by a patri- 
 cian for debt, and dragged through the forum as a slave, to 
 toil in his creditor's work-shop. Manlius indignantly protest- 
 ed against the outrage, legal though it was, and paying the 
 debt upon the spot himself, emancipated the debtor. This 
 deed greatly added to his popularity, and the masses of the 
 people began to proclaim him loudly as their protector. Man- 
 lius sold a portion of his property at auction to raise ready 
 money, and declared he would never again see a fellow-citizen 
 made a slave for debt, so long as he had the means of prevent- 
 ing it. In a short time he saved four hundred debtors from 
 slavery by advancing money, without requiring any interest. 
 
 Manlius was now enthroned in the love of the people, and 
 they called him with one voice their father. The patricians 
 were alarmed, fearing that through his popularity he might 
 attain political office and power. To arrest this peril they de- 
 clared the country to be in danger, and succeeded in inducing 
 the senate, which they controlled, to appoint a dictator. COS- 
 BUS, who had once before held the office, summoned Manlius 
 before him, and threw him into prison. He was soon brought 
 to trial under the charge of conspiring against the state, and 
 was arraigned before a court composed of plebeians and patri- 
 cians. 
 
 Conducting his own defense, he eloquently first brought 
 forward four hundred debtors whom he had rescued from 
 slavery ; then be exhibited the spoils of thirty enemies whom
 
 CONFLICTS AT HOME AND WAB8 ABROAD. 68 
 
 he had slain in single combat on the field of battle ; he then 
 presented to the court forty rewards he had received from the 
 state for his heroic exploits; among these were eight gar- 
 lands of oaken leaves, in attestation of his having saved the 
 lives of eight Roman citizens. Some of these men, whose 
 lives he had saved were also produced in court. Finally, he 
 bared his own breast and exhibited it covered with scars, from 
 wounds received in defense of his country. It is not strange 
 that the court should have refused to condemn a man who 
 could present such a defense. 
 
 But the dictator summoned another court, composed of 
 the patricians alone. By them Manlius was promptly con 
 demned as a traitor, and was hurled from the Tarpeian rock, 
 his house leveled with the ground, and disgrace attached even 
 to the name. This victory of the patricians greatly confirmed 
 their power. The commons had now lost all heart and were 
 in despair, while the patricians were becoming equally strong 
 at home and abroad. 
 
 " But freedom's battle once begun, 
 Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son. 
 Though baffled oft is ever won." 
 
 Even the tribunes, chosen expressly for the protection of 
 popular rights, abandoned their offices, which only exposed 
 them to odium, without enabling them to accomplish any 
 good. The leading commoners generally declined standing 
 candidates for a position of utter impotency. Under these 
 circumstances two young men, bold and enthusiastic, C. Li- 
 cinius and L. Sextius were elected among the ten tribunes. 
 Licmius was from one of the most opulent of the plebeian 
 families, and was emboldened by that consciousness of power 
 which great wealth ever gives. Sextius was a young man of 
 congenial spirit, and the warm personal friend of Licinius. 
 These two young tribunes came forward with the intrepid de- 
 mand that one of the two consuls should ever be chosen from 
 among the plebeians, who were far more numerous than the
 
 06 ITALY. 
 
 patricians, and whose rights it was, consequently, at least im- 
 portant to protect. The whole body of tribunes, strengthen- 
 ed by these leaders, joined in the demand. 
 
 This audacious proposal astounded the nobles and roused 
 their most ireful opposition. A scene of extraordinary anar- 
 chy and strife ensued. The commons, with ever increasing 
 enthusiasm, rallied around their fearless leaders. Licinius, 
 emboldened by the support he was receiving, added to hie 
 requisition, and demanded that the commons should be eligi- 
 ble to the sacerdotal office as well as to the consulship. It is 
 difficult now to conceive of the astonishment and indignation 
 with which the patricians listened to these requirements. 
 The popular feeling, hi favor of these measures, was, however, 
 so ardent and impetuous, that it was found impossible to resist 
 it by any ordinary procedure, and the patricians consequently" 
 resorted to their old expedient of calling hi the strong arm of 
 a dictator. 
 
 Camillus, the most unrelenting foe of the commons, was 
 invested with dictatorial power. Rome was then, as ever, at 
 war with some neighboring nation, and Camillus, pretend- 
 ing that the exigencies of the war demanded the vigorous 
 measure, ordered every man hi Rome capable of bearing 
 arms to follow him to the field. But the people, aroused and 
 exasperated, and conscious that the edict was merely aimed at 
 their own subjugation, refused to obey. So unanimous was 
 the refusal that C?millus was left powerless, and hi shame 
 resigned his office. 
 
 " There is nothing," writes Arnold, " viler than the spirit 
 wliich actuates the vulgar of an aristocracy." The whol 
 history of the conflict between aristocratic assumption an 
 popular rights, from the earliest dawn of history to the 
 present hour, does but elucidate this truth. The degrading 
 selfishness which induces pride and power to grasp at all the 
 good things of life, dooming the feeble to ignorance and 
 debasement, is worthy of all detestation. For this there is
 
 CONFLICTS AT HOME AND WARS ABROAD. 6', 
 
 no remedy but in the fraternity the gospel inculcates all men 
 are brothers. 
 
 After a long and stormy conflict, the Licinian bills were 
 carried. But when the people met for choice of consuls 
 under this law, and the plebeians chose Sextus for their 
 consul, the wrath of the humiliated patricians burst out anew. 
 But the commons stood firm, and, for a time, Rome was 
 seriously menaced with civil war. At length bth parties 
 assented to a compromise, which secured temporary peace. 
 The plebeian consul was confirmed, but the judicial power 
 was separated from the consular office and retained in the 
 hands of the patricians. Thus terminated a struggle of five 
 years' duration. But the commons had made a great gain, 
 securing eligibility both to the consulate and to the sacerdotal 
 office. It was a bloodless victory, and until the end of the 
 republic the consulship, with one or two trivial exceptions, 
 continued to be shared by the commons. Five hundred years 
 of Roman history passed away without producing a single 
 historian or philosopher. By the dim light of tradition, and 
 the glimpses we can catch from Grecian narratives, we grope 
 through these dark ages. 
 
 The Romans now, year after year, in many bloody con- 
 flicts, which it would be tedious to enumerate, pushed their 
 conquests through the southern portion of the peninsula. 
 One fierce battle, beneath the shadow of Vesuvius, secured 
 the annexation of a large portion of the present kingdom of 
 Naples to Rome. Here again was developed the grasping 
 spirit of the patricians. Of the territory thus gained, three 
 acres only were assigned to each of the plebeians, while the 
 great families of the aristocracy usurped the rest. The patri- 
 cians were slowly but perseveringly endeavoring to regain 
 their lost ascendency. 
 
 We have now reached that period in the world's history 
 when Alexander the Great was commencing his conquests, 
 His victories rapidly extended from the ^Egsean to the Indus,
 
 68 ITALY. 
 
 and from the Caspian to the Nile; and through all these 
 realms the institutions of Greece were planted. The western 
 coasts of Italy, then occupied by barbaric tribes, swarmed 
 with pirates. Complaints of their ravages had been carried 
 to Alexander. Rome had now attained such power that 
 Alexander, deeming the Romans responsible for the good 
 behavior of that portion of Italy, sent to them a remonstrance 
 against these outrages. It is said that Roman ambassadors 
 were consequently deputed to Babylon to meet the great con- 
 queror, and that he was deeply impressed with their manly 
 bearing. 
 
 In a war with the Privernatians, about this time, the 
 Romans, after besieging the capital city of their foes for two 
 years, were triumphant. Some illustrious prisoners were 
 brought to Rome, and arrayed before the senate, who were 
 to decide their doom and the doom of the nation. One of the 
 consuls asked one of the deputies : 
 
 " Of what penalty, even in your own judgment, are your 
 countrymen deserving ?" 
 
 " Of the penalty," was the intrepid reply, " due to those 
 who. assert their liberty." 
 
 " But if we spare you now," rejoined the consul, " what 
 peace may we expect to have with you for the time to 
 come ?" 
 
 " Peace true and lasting," was the answer, "if its terms 
 be good ; if otherwise, a peace which will soon be broken." 
 
 Some of the senators, enraged by replies so defiant and 
 yet so heroic, declared that this was language of rebellion, 
 which deserved the most severe punishment. But the ma- 
 jority, with a more appreciative spirit of true nobleness, said : 
 
 "These men, whose whole hearts are set upon liberty, 
 deserve to become Romans." 
 
 It was, therefore, proposed to the people, and carried by 
 acclaim, that the Privernatians should be incorporated with 
 the Romany and admitted to the rights of Roman citizens-
 
 CONFLICTS AT HOME A X D WARS ABROAD. 69 
 
 To consolidate their conquests the Romans, who were now 
 rapidly making acquisitions of territory throughout the south- 
 ern portion of the Italian peninsula, while they were making 
 no progress in the north, established a colony of three hun 
 dred emigrants at Anxur, the present town of Tarracina, on 
 the frontiers of what is now the kingdom of Naples. Roman 
 laws were extended over the whole conquered domain, and 
 Roman magistrates were sent to enforce those laws. Each 
 colonist was allowed two acres of land for a house, lot, and 
 garden, with a share in the common pasturage. 
 
 There was a very powerful nation called the Samnites, oc- 
 cupying much of the region now belonging to Naples. About 
 three hundred years before Christ, the progress of the Roman 
 arms brought Rome in conflict with this people. The foe was 
 so formidable that the appointment of a dictator was deemed 
 necessary. Through some influences, of which we are not in- 
 formed, the senate at this time was remarkably popular in its 
 character, and, to the consternation of the patricians, appointed 
 an illustrious plebeian, M. Claudius Marcellus, dictator. There 
 was a sort of supreme court then in existence, called the Col- 
 lege of Augrus, which was entirely under the control of the 
 patricians. In the appeal which the nobles made to this court, 
 declaring that there was some illegality in the appointment of 
 Marcellus, the court, of course, decided against the commons, 
 and the appointment was pronounced void. 
 
 The patricians, elated by this victory, now attempted the 
 repeal of the Licinian law which gave the commons eligibility 
 to the consulship and to tne sacerdotal oflBce. In this attempt 
 they were baffled. Alexander of Macedon, hi the mean time 
 had died, and Greece was beginning to exhibit indications ot 
 decay. The sun of Roman power was rising, and that of 
 Grecian splendor majestically descending the horizon. Foi 
 twenty years the Romans waged incessant war with the Sam* 
 nites, with varying success. 
 
 In the fifth year of the war the Romans met with an over-
 
 70 IT ALT, 
 
 whelming defeat. For ages it could not be forgotten as on* 
 of the most humiliating reverses of the Roman arms. The two 
 consuls, Veturius and Postumius, at the head of two armies, 
 marched into Campania. The Samnite general, C. Pontius, a 
 man of Grecian culture and education, adroitly lured the Roman 
 armies into a mountain defile, which, in consequence of this 
 event, has obtained a world- wide renown, under the name of 
 f .he Caudine Forks. 
 
 Twenty-five miles northwest of Naples there is the little 
 decayed city of Avellino. A wild gorge, which nature has 
 cut through the Apennines, leads from here to Benevento. The 
 modern road from Naples to Beuevento runs through this de- 
 file, which is called the valley of Arpaia. Here the Romans 
 found themselves entangled in a ravine, frowned upon by inac- 
 cessible crags, and surrounded by the Samnite army. Barri- 
 cades in front, crowded with troops, and bristling with all the 
 ancient instruments of war, rendered advance impossible. The 
 pass in the rear was closed by strong battalions of the foe 
 against any retreat. There was no possibility of escape over 
 the precipitous hills. Every available spot from which missiles 
 could be hurled upon the invaders was occupied by the Sam- 
 nites. For a short time the Romans, like lions in the toils, 
 struggled to extricate themselves. But having lost half their 
 number, and accomplishing nothing, they encamped as they 
 best could, and throwing up entrenchments, placed themselves 
 entirely on the defensive. Pontius, sure that there was no 
 escape for his victims, incurred no risks, but waited quietly fbr 
 the slow but inevitable operation of famine. The Romans, 
 emaciated and haggard, were soon brought to terms, and 
 implored the mercy of the conqueror. 
 
 Pontius proved himself a magnanimous, though a deter- 
 mined foe. " Restore to us," said he, " the towns and terri- 
 tory you have taken from us. Call home the colonists whom 
 you have unjustly settled upon our soil ; lay down your arms 
 and surrender all your munitions of war ; take an oath here-
 
 CONFLICTS AT HOME AND WARS ABROAD. 71 
 
 after to respect the independence of our nation, and surrendef 
 to me six hundred Roman knights as hostages to secure the 
 ratification of the treaty, and you may defile before my army 
 as prisoners whom we have released, and return to your homes 
 unharmed." 
 
 These were generous terms for the conqueror to yield, but 
 very humiliating terms for proud Romans to accept. But 
 there was no alternative but destruction. The consuls and all 
 the surviving officers took the oath. The hostage knights 
 were delivered, and then the whole Roman army, consuls, 
 generals, and soldiers, in a long procession, stripped of every 
 article of clothing, except the kilt, which reached from the 
 waist to the knee, thus leaving the whole upper part of the 
 body naked, marched through a passage opened for them in 
 the Samnite lines of blockade. They all defiled beneath a 
 spear, supported upon two which were planted in the ground. 
 Such a humiliation, which was richly merited, the Roman 
 legions had never encountered before. Pontius humanely 
 ordered carriages to be provided for the sick and the wounded, 
 and supplied them with provisions sufficient for their wants 
 until they should reach Rome. 
 
 When this melancholy procession, with Roman pride so 
 healthily humbled, arrived at Capua, they were received with 
 much condolence, and tho consuls and superior officers were 
 provided with arms and clothing, that their appearance might 
 be more suited to their dignity. They then continued their 
 march in a state of mortification which no language can de 
 scribe, ashamed to speak to each other, or to raise their eyes 
 from the ground. When they drew near the city all the com- 
 mon soldiers, who had homes in the vicinity, singly and silently 
 dispersed, that they might reach those homes unseen. Those 
 who lived in the city, unwilling in their deep disgrace to enter 
 in the broad light of day, lingered outside of the walls until i* 
 was dark, and then stealthily crept to their habitations. 
 
 The loss of life in this campaign threw all Rome into
 
 78 ITALY. 
 
 mourning, but the humiliation was a blow still more keenly 
 felt. All business was suspended, all pleasure interdicted ; 
 marriages were postponed, and all thoughts were directed to 
 the obliteration of the dishonor. The two unfortunate consuls 
 immediately resigned their office, and much difficulty was 
 found in choosing their successors. The question now arose, 
 " Shall the treaty be ratified ?" Postumius, one of the consuls 
 of the previous year, came forward and made the astonishing 
 proposition, equally characteristic of Roman ambition and the 
 Roman sense of honor, that the treaty should be rejected, and 
 that he himself, with his colleague hi the consulship, T. Vetu- 
 rius, and every officer who had taken the oath to the Saninites, 
 should be surrendered to them as having promised what they 
 were unable to perform. The senate adopted this resolve, 
 even though many of them had, doubtless, sons among the six 
 hundred hostages thus abandoned to the vengeance of the 
 Saninites. 
 
 The two consuls, with all the officers, were conducted by a 
 Roman herald back to the country of the Samnites. As they 
 approached the camp their hands were bound behind their 
 backs, and they were thus delivered up as men who had for- 
 feited liberty and life by a breach of faith. As soon as the 
 surrender had been made, Postumius, the ex-consul, who none 
 belonged to the Samnites as their slave, so that they were now 
 responsible for his actions, turned and with his knee (for his 
 hands were bound) struck violently the Roman herald who 
 had surrendered him, saying : 
 
 "I now belong to the Samnites. I have insulted a Roman 
 ambassador. Rome can justly wage war against the Saninites 
 to avenge this outrage." 
 
 Nothing redeems this shameful trickery but the intrepidity 
 which could brave slavery and death to promote national ag- 
 grandizement. Such conduct may be called heroic, but it is 
 the heroism of dark and benighted natures. The conduct of 
 ^ontius was truly noble.
 
 CONFLICTS AT HOME AND WARS ABROAD. 73 
 
 " I shall not accept these victims," he said. " They are 
 not guilty. Rome has reaped the advantage of the treaty cf 
 Caudium in the liberation of her army, and now she refuses to 
 fulfill the conditions. It is a mockery both to the gods and 
 men to pretend that such perfidy is justice. If Rome would 
 rescue her name from infamy, let her either replace her legions 
 in their desperate condition, or ratify the treaty." 
 
 So saying, he sent the consuls and their companions 
 to Rome. 
 
 4
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ROME, GREECE, AND CARTHAGE. 
 FROM 318 B. 0. TO 241 B. c. 
 
 ftn DISASTER OF THE CAUDINB FORKS A VBNGBD. PARTIES IN ROME. DEMOCRACY Of 
 
 APPIUS CLAUDIUS. IGNOBLE TREATMENT OF PONTIUS. STATE OP THE WORLD AT Tim 
 TIME. COALITION AGAINST ROME. THE GREEKS JOIN THE COALITION. PYRRHUS 
 LANDS ON THE ITALIAN PENINSULA. PROGRESS OF THE WAR. EXPULSION OF THE 
 GREEKS. INVASION OF SICILY. WAR WITH CARTHAGB. INVASION OF AFUIOA. STORY 
 OF REGULUS. VICTORIES AND DEFEATS. ROMH TRIUMPHANT. SICILY ANNEXED TO 
 Bora. 
 
 A CCORDING to the Roman story, in which not much reli- 
 *- ance can be placed, the Romans, the next year sent a pow- 
 erful force under a renowned champion, L. Papirius Cursor, who 
 severely chastised the Samnites for their audacity in conquer- 
 ing a Roman army. Cursor took, they say, one of the chief 
 cities of the Samnites, recovered all the arms and banners they 
 had taken, rescued the six hundred knights which had been 
 surrendered to them, and conveyed them all safely to Rome. 
 Thus boastfully, on paper, the disgrace of the Caudine Forks 
 was effaced. It is, nevertheless, unquestioned, however little 
 we may regard these boasts, that the war between the Romans 
 and Samnites continued with increasing exasperation, and that 
 the fortunes of war were decidedly in favor of Rome. At 
 length the Samnites were crushed entirely, all their territory 
 seized by the conquerors, and strong military colonies estab 
 lished in different parts of the country to hold them in subjec- 
 tion. The Romana were now so powerful that no combination 
 of tribes could successfully oppose them. They pushed their 
 conquests eastward, over the Apennines, to the Adriatic, and 
 north into the wilds of Etruria. A Roman navy was rapidly
 
 HOME, GREECE, AND CABTHAGB. 
 
 rising into existence, and the energetic republic towered in- 
 contestably above all the surrounding nations. 
 
 The commonwealth of Rome was now composed of three 
 Beading parties. First there was the old aristocratic party, 
 the ancient patricians ; then came the middle class or commons, 
 who had gradually, by wealth and intelligence, gained many 
 political privileges. They were deemed Roman citizens, were 
 entitled to vote, and were eligible to nearly all offices in the 
 army, the church, and the state. Then came the third class, 
 which consisted not of citizens but of subjects, freed slaves, and 
 the inhabitants of conquered districts, who were brought un- 
 der the dominion of Roman law, but were not entitled to the 
 rights of citizenship. There was a fourth class, the slaves, 
 which history scarcely deigns to notice. They were then 
 probably few in number. The third class even, ancient annals 
 would scarcely have noticed but for the fact that the nobles 
 often called the brawny arms of these freed men and foreign- 
 ers into requisition to enable them to resist the commons ; just 
 as in the French revolutions the nobles roused the blind ener- 
 gies of the mob, to overthrow constitutional liberty, intending 
 upon the ruins to reerect the ancient despotism. 
 
 The middle party had now become the most powerful, em- 
 bracing many of the most distinguished men of the times. 
 Not a few of the patricians of noblest character were in sym- 
 pathy with the commons, and supported their measures. The 
 office of censor, in point of rank, was the highest office in the 
 commonwealth. The censors had far more power than the 
 consuls, and from their decision there was no appeal. Three 
 hundred and thirteen years before Christ, Appius Claudius 
 and C. Plautius^were elected censors. Plautius, from some 
 chagrin, resigned, leaving the whole power for five years in 
 the hands of his ambitious and energetic colleague, Appius. 
 With the arts of a demagogue, Appius, whose duty it was to 
 fill the vacancies which had occurred in the senate, placed on 
 that list, to the utter scandal, not only of the patricians, but of
 
 If ITALY. 
 
 the commoners, who were now growing aristocratic, the names 
 of men selected from the low popular party. These men, thus 
 selected, though energetic in character and possessing wealth, 
 were the sons of freedmen, and thus, in Roman parlance, the 
 grandsons of nobody. Appius resorted to this measure in the 
 same spirit in which a prime minister of England creates a 
 batch of nobles from the commons, to strengthen his vote in 
 the House of Lords. Though this measure was opposed so 
 bitterly that for a time it was thwarted, Appius, unintimida- 
 ted, persevered in the same line of poli cy and admitted a large 
 number of freed slaves to the rights of citizenship, thus 
 strengthening his party. 
 
 Appius having thus gained the support of the masses, in 
 the enjoyment of kingly power, resolved to construct works 
 of public utility, which should immortalize his name. As cen- 
 sor he was the treasurer of the public funds, and assuming the 
 responsibility, withe ut any authority from the senate, he ap- 
 plied immense sums to the construction of a military road 
 from Rome to Capua, near Naples, a distance of one hundred 
 and twenty miles. This magnificent road, called the Appian 
 Way, was constructed of hexagonal stones, exactly fitted to 
 each other, and portions of it still remain, having survived 
 the ravages of two thousand years. He also constructed an 
 aqueduct, which conveyed water, mostly underground, from a 
 distance of eight miles to Rome. These two works were so 
 expansive that they exhausted the revenues of the state. 
 Though the regular term of the censor's office was but eigh- 
 teen months, Appius, bidding defiance to law, retained his 
 censorship for five years, and then succeeded in securing his 
 election as consul, so that he continued in office until his 
 works were completed. 
 
 Two hundred and ninety-four years before Christ, the Gaols 
 in cooperation with many allies, and in such force as to give 
 them great confidence of success, marched again upon Rome. 
 The Romans, in two vast armies, advanced to meet them.
 
 BOMB, GREECE, AND CARTHAGE. 7? 
 
 The conflict took place on the plains of Sentinum. The Ro- 
 mans were signally victorious. The allied army was routed 
 and dispersed, with the loss of twenty-five thousand of their 
 best troops. Soon after this the Romans succeeded in the cap- 
 ture of C. Pontius, the renowned Samnite general, who had 
 defeated the Roman legions so signally at the Caudine Forks, 
 and who had treated his discomfited foe with such wonderful 
 magnanimity. The victorious Roman consul, Q. Fabius, char 
 ioted in splendor, made a triumphal entrance into Rome. 
 Pontius was led a captive in chains to grace the festival. As 
 the victor, in the procession, turned from the sacred way to 
 ascend the Capitoline hill, Pontius was led aside into a dun- 
 geon beneath the hill, and beheaded. Thus infamously did 
 Rome requite the magnanimity of a foe who had spared the 
 lives of Roman armies left entirely in his power, and who had 
 liberated unharmed, the generals Rome had surrendered as an 
 expiation for her perfidy. 
 
 During the consulate of M. Curius Dentatus, a very ener 
 getic plebeian who worked his way to supreme power, crush- 
 ing aristocratic opposition before him, Rome made such con- 
 quests in the north and south, that Dentatus enjoying two tri- 
 umphal entries to Rome in one year, declared to the asiembly 
 of the people : 
 
 " I have conquered such an extent of country, that it must 
 have been left a wilderness had the men whom I have made 
 our subjects been fewer. I have subjected such a multitude 
 of men, that they must have starved if the territory conquered 
 with them had been smaller." 
 
 With these immense conquests came the impoverishment 
 of the people, from the enormous expenses of the war, and 
 Rome was overwhelmed with misery by one of those fearful 
 pestilences which have ever, in past ages, been surging over 
 the nations. In this emergence, Curius Dentatus resolved to 
 appropriate the territory gained in these conquests for the re- 
 lief of the public distress. He, therefore, proposed an agra-
 
 18 ITALT. 
 
 rian law which should allot seven acres* of the public domain to 
 jvery citizen. The proposition roused the most bitter hostil- 
 ity of the patricians, who, with deathless tenacity, were strug- 
 gling to widen the gulf between the patricians and plebeians. 
 It seems that the proposition of Curius Dentatus was in favor 
 of the middle class, the citizens, who had the privilege of vot- 
 'ng, not of the lower class, the subjects, who had no vote. At 
 this time the slaves were so few as not to be taken into the 
 account in any public measures. The patricians, in their mad- 
 ness, called in the aid of the mob ; and tumults swept the 
 streets of Rome. But the soldiers whom Curius had led to 
 conquest rallied around him, and by their aid he triumphed 
 over both the nobles and the Jacobins, as the same class of 
 people were called in the somewhat similar conflicts of the 
 French revolution. 
 
 While these conflicts were raging most fiercely, foreign 
 foes, probably from Etruria, menaced the city. The immedi- 
 ate appointment of a dictator was deemed necessary, and Q. 
 Hortensius, a man of opulent and even ancient plebeian fami- 
 ly, was placed in office. He summoned an assemblage of the 
 whole nation, without distinction of orders, in a place called 
 the " Oak Grove," just without the walls of the city, and there 
 proposed three radical laws. 1st, A general bankrupt law, 
 releasing all poor debtors from their obligations ; 2d, an agra- 
 rian law conferring seven acres of the public domain upon 
 every citizen ; and 3d, a law depriving the senate of its veto, 
 and declaring the people, assembled in their tribes, to be a 
 supreme legislative power. There were one or two other 
 laws of minor importance also enacted. The passage of these 
 laws secured comparative internal peace to Rome for a period 
 of one hundred and fifty years. A census taken about this 
 tome gave a return of two hundred and seventy-two thousand 
 
 * The R >man acre, jugera, contained but three thousand two hundred 
 Square yards. The English acre contains four thousand eight hundred and 
 forty.
 
 GBEECE, AND CABTHAGE. 79 
 
 three hundred and twenty-two citizens ; but it is impossible, 
 from this to judge, with much accuracy, what was then the 
 population of the republic, about two hundred years before 
 the birth of Christ. 
 
 One of the remarkable events of this period, was the send- 
 ing an embassy to Greece to invite the god ^Esculapius to 
 Rome to arrest the plague, which had then been raging three 
 years. They brought back the god in the form of a snake, 
 and erected a temple for his worship upon an island in the 
 Tiber. 
 
 Forty years after the death of Alexander the Great, Seleu- 
 cus, the last survivor of his generals, then a man seventy-five 
 years of age, and sovereign of Asia, returned to Greece. His 
 vast realms, which he had inherited from the great conqueror, 
 extended from the Hellespont to the Indies. He had but 
 just landed on the Thracian Chersonesus, when he was assas- 
 sinated by Ptolmy Ceraunus, who had seized upon the throne 
 of Macedonia. Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, succeeded to 
 the throne of Asia. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, was now 
 king of Egypt having received this kingdom from Alexan- 
 der, in the division of the Grecian empire. Such, in the 
 main, was, at this time the fragmentary condition of that 
 Grecian empire which, but hah a century before, had held 
 the mastery of the world. 
 
 About the year 281 B. c. commenced one of the most for- 
 midable coalitions against Rome which had yet been organiz- 
 ed. The Gauls, with the northern nations, cooperating with 
 the nations in the extreme south of the Italian peninsula, in- 
 vited Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, a kingdom on the western 
 shore of Greece, to send an army by sea, to act in concert 
 with them for the destruction of Rome. Pyrrhus, ambitious 
 of military renown which might promote his projects at home, 
 sent an army across the sea from Greece, a distance of about 
 one hundred and fifty miles, into the gulf of Tarentum, on the 
 extreme southern point of Italy. He landed here at Taren
 
 8C ITALY. 
 
 turn, twenty thousand foot soldiers, twenty-five thousand arch- 
 ers and slingers, and fifty elephants. In the spring of the 
 year 280 before Christ, this formidable armament of veteran 
 soldiers was prepared to take the field. The nations of Italy, 
 hostile to Rome, were exceedingly elated, and rallied to coop- 
 erate with these powerful invaders. Rome was never before 
 in so great peril, and vigorously the Romans prepared to en- 
 counter the enemy. An army consisting of thirty thousand 
 foot and two thousand six hundred horse, under one of their 
 consuls, Valerius Laevinus, advanced to meet the foe, and 
 the forces encountered each other in the shock of battle near 
 the shore of the gulf of Taranto, on a large plain, then called 
 the plain of Heraclea, probably near the present site of Poli- 
 coro. 
 
 A hand-to-hand fight, with clubs, spears, swords, arrows, 
 and javelins ensued, in which physical strength alone mainly 
 was to decide the issue. Pyrrhus, conscious that the safety of 
 his army was dependent upon the preservation of his own life, 
 and that every Roman warrior would seek to encounter him, 
 not very chivalrously exchanged uniforms with one of the offi- 
 cers of his guard. The royal helmet and scarlet cloak attracted 
 attack from every quarter, and Megacles, the guardsman, was 
 soon struck down. His fall was received with shouts of 
 triumph throughout the Roman lines, and while they were ex- 
 ulting over the helmet and mantle, which had been torn from 
 the body of the slain, Pyrrhus rode along the ranks of his 
 troops bare-headed, to satisfy them that he was still alive and 
 well. 
 
 Seven times the triumphant Romans drove the troops of 
 Pyrrhus in wild disorder over the plain. Seven tunes Pyrrhus, 
 rallying his troops, in war's surging billow, swept back the 
 foe. Each general endeavored to lure all the forces of the 
 enemy into battle, holding back a reserve, which, in the hour 
 of exhaustion, should come rushino 1 fresh upon the field and 
 settle the strife. At length Laevinus, believing that Pyrrhui
 
 BOMB, OBEECB, AND CARTHAGE. 81 
 
 had brought forth his last reserve, marched his own upon the 
 field from behind a curtain of hills. It was a chosen body of 
 cavalry, and the plain trembled beneath their iron hoofs, as 
 they came, with gleaming swords, thundering into the midst 
 of the fray. But the wary Greek was not taken by surprise. 
 A few trumpet blasts were heard, and instantly there emerged 
 from their concealment fifty elephants. At a speed even sur- 
 passing that of the horses they came thundering upon the 
 plain, and with their resistless momentum and heavy tramp 
 crushed all before them. 
 
 The Roman horses, terrified by the unwonted spectacle, 
 wheeled and fled from the monsters hi resistless panic. The 
 riders lost all control over them, and rushing through the lines 
 of the foot soldiers, the whole army was thrown into disorder. 
 Pyrrhus followed up his advantage by a vigorous charge, and 
 the rout was entire and hopeless. 
 
 But for an event almost accidental the Roman army would 
 have been annihilated. A soldier chanced to cut off with his 
 eword the trunk of one of the elephants. The animal, terrified 
 and thus rendered helpless, crying with torture, turned back 
 upon the pursuing army,, The other elephants, instinctively 
 appalled by the cry, also turned, and in the midst of the con- 
 fusion and dismay thus occasioned many of the Romans escaped. 
 It is impossible now to ascertain the loss upon either side, but 
 Pyrrhus remained complete master of the field. The loss of 
 Pyrrhus was, however, so great that ho said to one who con- 
 gratulated him, " One more such victory and I should be 
 obliged to return to Epirus without a single soldier." 
 
 The conqueror now pressed forward toward central Italy, 
 at the same time sending an ambassador to Rome with terms 
 of peace. Cineas, who was entrusted with this commission, 
 was a Greek from Thessaly. It is said that in his early youth 
 he heard Demosthenes speak, and the marvelous eloquence of 
 the orator inspired him with the desire to emulate his power. 
 The tongue of Cineas, it was said, won more cities than th 
 4*
 
 88 ITALY. 
 
 eword of Pyrrhus. He had cultivated his memory to so ex- 
 traordinary a degree, that the first day after his arrival in Rome 
 he could address all the senators and the citizens of the eques- 
 trian order by their proper names. The courtly Greek, tho- 
 roughly instructed in all the learning of his countrymen, 
 attracted great attention. His wise sayings were treasured up 
 and repeated from mouth to mouth, and the senate, beguiled 
 by his address and flattered by his presents, were about to 
 assent to terms of peace far from honorable to Rome. 
 
 In this emergence Appius Claudius, who was now in ex- 
 treme old age, and who for several years had been blind and 
 borne down by many bodily infirmities, was carried in a Utter 
 into the senate house. The profoundest silence reigned in the 
 senate as the old man rose to speak. His eloquence recalled 
 the senate to a sense of Roman honor ; and at the close of his 
 speech it was voted, almost by acclaim, that no peace should 
 be concluded while the hostile Greeks remained in Italy, and 
 that Cineas should be ordered to leave Rome that very day. 
 
 Pyrrhus, resolving to prosecute the war with all possible 
 vigor, advanced with a large army, almost unopposed, as far 
 as Capua, which city was unsuccessfully attacked. Relinquish- 
 ing the siege of the city, he pressed on until he arrived within 
 eighteen miles of Rome. From the hills upon which he en- 
 camped he could discern the towers of the city. During this 
 long march LaBvinus, with the wreck of his army, had hung 
 upon the rear of the Greeks, ever carefully avoiding offering to 
 him an opportunity for battle. Here he learned that Rome 
 had made peace with the Etruscans and other northern nations, 
 and was prepared to meet him with an overwhelming force 
 Commencing a precipitate retreat, he soon in his ships reached 
 Tarentuin in safety. 
 
 The Romans sent to Tarentum to propose to Pyrrhus an 
 exchange of prisoners. He refused either ransom or exchange, 
 unless the Romans would accede to the terms of peace he had 
 offered through Cineas ; but with singular generosity he allowed
 
 BOMB, GREECB, AND CARTHAGE. 83 
 
 *D the Roman prisoners to go to Rome to spend the holidays 
 of the Saturnalia, exacting from them a solemn promise that 
 they would return, unless the senate consented to peace. The 
 senate refused peace, and denounced the punishment of death 
 upon any prisoner who should remain in Rome after the day 
 appointed for his return. 
 
 The next season the campaign was opened anew, and the 
 two armies met on the plains of Asculum, near the present city 
 of Ascoli. In the battle which ensued, Grecian discipline pre- 
 vailed, and though Pyrrhus himself was wounded, the Romans 
 retired, leaving six thousand upon the field of battle. The re- 
 mainder of the season was passed in desultory and indecisive 
 warfare, and as winter set in the Greeks retired again to 
 Tarentum, while the Romans went into winter quarters in 
 Apulia. 
 
 Pyrrhus was now quite disheartened as to the prospect of 
 conquering Rome. It so happened that the island of Sicily 
 was then engaged in war with Carthage, and a powerful 
 Carthaginian army was besieging Syracuse. The Sicilians 
 sent to Pyrrhus imploring his aid, and he accordingly, leaving 
 a garrison in the citadel at Tarentum, embarked for Sicily. 
 For two years he was engaged in war there, with very cruel 
 and bloody, but indecisive results, when he received an embas- 
 sage from his old allies in Italy, imploring his return. In the 
 autumn of the year 276 B. c. his fleet again entered the har- 
 bor of Tarentum. But hi the passage he was attacked by the 
 Carthaginian fleet and seventy of his ships were sunk. 
 
 A Roman army was speedily on the march to meet the in- 
 vaders. Pyrrhus attempted to surprise his foes in a midnight 
 attack. By torchlight they commenced their march. The 
 night was dark and windy ; the distance longer than was an- 
 ticipated ; the torches were blown out, and the men lost their 
 way. Thus the morning dawned before the Greeks, utterly 
 exhausted, reached the hights which looked down upon the 
 Roman camp. The Romans were prepared for them, and the
 
 84 ITALY. 
 
 battle could not be delayed. The battle was short, but very 
 bloody. The elephants, pierced with javelins, turned and 
 trampled down the ranks of Pyrrhus, and the victory of the 
 Romans was decisive and effectual. Pyrrhus retreated with 
 the wreck of his army to his ships, and spreading sail returned 
 to Epirus. 
 
 The Romans, after the expulsion of the Greeks, without 
 difficulty extended their sway over all the nations of southern 
 Italy. To complete the subjugation of these nations, strong 
 colonies were planted hi the midst of them. The Roman ar- 
 mies were equally successful in the north, and thus after a 
 struggle of nearly five centuries the whole Italian peninsula 
 came under the sway of Rome. The Roman colonies were, in 
 reality, garrisons established in the most populous regions. 
 
 The renowned empire of Carthage was situated upon the 
 coast of Africa, near the present site of Tunis, almost directly 
 south from Rome. The Mediterranean is here about one hun- 
 dred and fifty miles in breadth. But the island of Sicily, 
 which is two hundred miles in length and one hundred and 
 fifty in breadth, lies directly between Carthage and the ex- 
 treme southern point, or toe of Italy ; being separated from 
 the African coast by a channel eighty miles in width, and from 
 Italy by the narrow strait of Messina but two miles across. 
 
 The Carthaginian republic, which was, at this time, per- 
 naps the most powerful nation on the globe, originated in a 
 Phoenician colony which laid the foundation of Carthage 
 about one hundred and forty years before the traditional as- 
 signment of the building of Rome. The Carthaginians had 
 a large fleet and skillful seamen, which gave them the entire 
 command of the sea. Their conquering armies had taken 
 possession of the island of Sardinia, which was about one 
 hundred miles north from Carthage, and their war ships 
 were hovering around Sicily having brought nearly the whole 
 island under their sway. 
 
 Ambitious Rome now turned her eyes to Sicily, and resolv-
 
 SOME, GBEECE, AND CABTHAGX. 85 
 
 ed to take possession of it. With the energy which thus far 
 had characterized the nation, a fleet was soon built, and an 
 army of twenty thousand men assembled at Reggia, the Ital- 
 ian port nearest to the Sicilian shore. Appius succeeded in 
 transporting his troops, notwithstanding the vigilance of the 
 Carthaginian ships, across the strait, and landing them, by 
 night, on the Sicilian coast. Hanno, commander of the Cartha- 
 ginian forces on the island, hastened to meet Appius, but was 
 defeated in a pitched battle and retreated to Syracuse. The 
 Romans, after plundering the surrounding country, followed 
 the foe to Syracuse. Here the tide of war set against them. 
 Sickness decimated their ranks, and after an unsuccessful bat- 
 tle, Appius retreated to Messina, pursued by the allied Syra- 
 cusians and Carthaginians. Leaving a garrison there, Appius 
 returned to Rome in his ships, which were mainly impelled by 
 oars, that he might gather reinforcements for the continuation 
 of the war. 
 
 In the spring of the year 263 B. c. two consular armies, 
 amounting to thirty-five thousand men, crossed the straits, and 
 landed at Messina. They swept all opposition before them, and 
 speedily were in possession of sixty-seven towns. Many of 
 the Sicilians now entered into an alliance with the Romans to 
 drive out the Carthaginians. Between two such powerful and 
 unscrupulous nations their independence was impossible, and 
 thev preferred subjection to Rome rather than to Carthage. 
 
 But while Rome was thus ravaging the cities of Sicily, the 
 Carthaginian fleet, in command of the sea, was making con- 
 tinual descents upon the Italian towns, destroying and plun- 
 dering without mercy. This led the Romans to resolve to 
 meet the enemy on their own element. But the Carthaginians 
 were far superior to the Romans in naval architecture, con. 
 ctructmg line-of-battle ships, if we may so call them, with 
 five banks of oars. These enormous structures were called 
 quinqueremes. The Romans had thus far been able to con- 
 struct only triremes, or ships with but three banks of oars.
 
 8f r ITALY. 
 
 it BO happened that a Carthaginian quir^uereme was driv- 
 en ashore on the coast of Italy, and the Romans, taking their 
 model from the wreck, in two months built and launched two 
 hundred such ships. While these ships were building, the R > 
 man soldiers were constantly exercised in rowing, by being 
 placed on benches on the shore, arranged as they would be in 
 the ship. These quinqueremes carried three hundred rowers 
 and one hundred and twenty soldiers. It was always the en- 
 deavor to pierce the foe with their brazen prows, and then set- 
 tle the conflict by boarding. To facilitate this operation a long 
 drawbridge, thirty-four feet long and four wide, with a low 
 parapet on each side was attached to a mast. This bridge was 
 let fall upon the enemy's ship, which it held fast by a strong 
 iron spike fixed at the bottom of the platform or bridge, and 
 which was driven home into the deck by the force of the fall, 
 
 Thus equipped, the Romans put to sea to contend with the 
 strongest naval power then upon the globe. The expedition 
 was commanded by one of the consuls, C. Duilius. He found 
 the Carthaginian fleet not far from the straits of Messina, on 
 the north coast of Sicily, ravaging the coast near Melazzo. 
 The Carthaginians bore down upon the foe in full confidence 
 of victory. But Roman prowess was triumphant. At the 
 close of the fiercest strife for a few hours, the Carthaginians, 
 having lost fifty ships taken or sunk, with three thousand men 
 slam and seven thousand taken captive, retreated in a panic. 
 The Romans, exceedingly exultant at this victory, landed, 
 took Melazzo by storm, and now resolved to drive the Car- 
 thaginians, not only out of Sicily, but also out of Sardinia 
 and Corsica. 
 
 But Carthage was altogether too powerful to be subdued 
 by one victory. For three years war, with ah" its horrors, 
 desolated the cities and plains of Sicily. At the same time 
 expeditions were fitted out both against Sardinia and Corsica. 
 As no decisive results were obtained, the Romans decided on 
 an expedition hitherto unparalleled hi any of their conflicts
 
 BOMB, GREECE, A.KD OAETHAGB. 81 
 
 They prepared a fleet of three hundred and thirty ships, 
 which were manned by one hundred and forty thousand men 
 and resolved to carry the war into Africa. Carthage sent 
 three hundred and fifty ships to meet the foe. The terrific 
 encounter of more than three hundred thousand combatants 
 took place on the coast of Sicily. Such another naval specta- 
 cle earth has perhaps never witnessed, as hour after hour 
 these maddened legions struggled with demoniac fury. No 
 war of the elements ever equaled this tempest of human 
 
 But again Rome was triumphant. The Carthaginians, 
 having lost ninety-four of their ships either captured or sunk, 
 retreated in consternation to Carthage, to save the city, if 
 possible, from the invaders. The passage to Africa was now 
 unobstructed. The fleet pushed vigorously across the sea, 
 and the troops were disembarked upon the African coast, a 
 short distance from the headland of Cape Bon, in the bay of 
 Tunis. The coast here runs nearly north and south, and the 
 region presented an aspect of opulence, thrift, and beauty, 
 such as has rarely been surpassed. The villas of the Car- 
 thaginian gentry, embowered in olive groves and vineyards, 
 every where decorated the rural landscape. Cattle browsed 
 upon the hills ; villages were scattered over the plains, while 
 the highest attainments of agriculture, aided by an African 
 sun, spread over the whole country the bloom of an extraor- 
 dinary verdure. 
 
 Into this inviting region the Romans plunged, with an 
 army of fifteen thousand foot and five hundred horse. The 
 Carthaginians, who had never even dreamed of such an inva- 
 sion, were quite defenseless. The march of Regulus, the 
 Roman general, was unimpeded, and he soon sent word to 
 Rome that he had plundered over three hundred walled 
 towns. Having arrived within twenty miles of Carthage, and 
 not feeling sufficiently strong to storm the city, the Carthagi- 
 nians having made the most extraordinary efforts for its
 
 defense, Regulus threw up his intrenchments and went into 
 winter quarters. Some of the interior African tribes, lured 
 by the hope of plunder, joined the Romans. The Carthagi- 
 nians sent to Greece to engage the assistance of renowned 
 Grecian generals. Among others, a Spartan officer named 
 Xanthippus, a man of much military experience and celebrity, 
 espoused their cause. So much confidence did he inspire 
 that he was intrusted with the direction of the Carthaginian 
 forces. 
 
 Assembling a choice army of veterans, consisting of twelve 
 thousand foot, four thousand cavalry, with one hundred 
 elephants, Xanthippus marched from Carthage to attack the 
 Romans in their encampment before they could receive ree'n- 
 forcements from Rome. The battle was very fierce and long 
 continued, but finally the Romans were entirely routed, and 
 their destruction was so entire that Regulus escaped from the 
 field with but five hundred men. He was pursued, overtaken, 
 and made prisoner, while every man of his guard was slain. 
 Thus the Roman army was absolutely annihilated, with the 
 exception of a small body of troops left in garrison at Clypea, 
 an important town on the coast. The Carthaginian army 
 returned to Carthage in triumph, leading, as a glorious trophy, 
 Regulus, half naked and in chains. 
 
 The Roman senate, informed of the disaster, and unable 
 immediately to attempt to repair it, sent an expedition to 
 Clypea, to bring off the garrison, which was closely besieged. 
 A very powerful armament was dispatched, which beat off the 
 Carthaginian fleet advancing to repel them, and then suc- 
 ceeded in rescuing the garrison. But as they were returning 
 home along the southern coast of Italy, a terrific storm arose, 
 and two hundred and sixty ships were wrecked. The de- 
 struction of life was enormous, it being estimated that one 
 hundred thousand men perished in this awful storm. The 
 shore of Sicily for many leagues was covered with the frag- 
 ments of ships and the bodies of the dead.
 
 BOMK, GKEECE., AND CAKTHAGB. 89 
 
 The Carthaginians, encouraged by this great disaster 
 which had befallen their foes, sent an efficient general, Has- 
 drubal, with an army and one hundred and fbrty elephants to 
 drive the Romans from those portions of Sicily of which they 
 had taken possession. But Roman energy was invigorated, 
 not paralyzed, by adversity. In three months a fleet of three 
 hundred and twenty ships was fitted for sea, crossed the 
 straits to the Sicilian shore, ravaged a large extent of country, 
 extorting enormous ransom from their wealthy captives, and 
 selling thirteen thousand prisoners, of the poorer class, as 
 slaves. They then crossed the sea again to the African shore, 
 and after loading their ships to their utmost capacity with 
 plunder, commenced their return. But again they were 
 overtaken by a storm, and one hundred and twenty of their 
 ships were wrecked. 
 
 The Romans and Carthaginians now continued the strug- 
 gle for two years, with ever varying success, on the plains of 
 Sicily. About the middle of the third summer, the Romans 
 obtained a signal victory, which placed the whole of the 
 island of Sicily, with the exception of one town, SilybsBum, 
 in their hands. The Carthaginians, disheartened, sent an 
 embassy to Rome with terms of peace, and their illustrious 
 prisoner, the Roman general Regulus, was sent, it is said, 
 with this embassy, first exacting from him the promise that 
 he would return to Carthage, surrendering himself again to 
 captivity should the negotiation fail. It was hoped that out 
 of regard to his own safety he would urge the acceptance of 
 the terms. 
 
 But Regulus, with heroism characteristic of his race, will- 
 ing to sacrifice the short remainder of his life, he being aged 
 and infirm, for the glory of his country, dissuaded the senate 
 from making peace. He Avas present at the discussion, and 
 vehemently urged that the question of his life should not be at 
 all considered, while deliberating respecting the glory and 
 power of Rome ; and that the best interests of Rome required
 
 that the Roman legions should spread triumphantly over the 
 domains of Carthage. Seeing that the senate, influenced by 
 the cruel death to which he would be subjected on his return 
 to Carthage, still hesitated, he pretended that a slow poison 
 had been administered to him, which would infallibly soon end 
 iis days, His arguments were effectual, and the treaty was 
 rejected. Regulus tore himself from the embraces of his weep- 
 ing friends and returned to Carthage, where he was put to 
 death with the most dreadful tortures. 
 
 Such is the story of Regulus, which has, perhaps, obtained 
 more renown than any other incident in ancient Roman his- 
 tory. It develops a trial of character so honorable to human 
 nature, though, like pure gold embedded in quartz, it is sur- 
 rounded with much alloy, that we could earnestly wish it to 
 be true. But historical research does not confirm it. It is not 
 alluded to by Polybius, the most ancient and trustworthy 
 writer in those times ; and there is much reason to suppose 
 that it is pure fiction, invented by some eulogist to shed re- 
 nown upon the illustrious consul and general, Regulus, who 
 certainly perished in captivity in Carthage. 
 
 It was the great ambition of Rome to annex the island of 
 Sicily to her domain. The next year, 250 B. c., another im- 
 mense army was raised to drive the Carthaginians from Lily- 
 bseum, where they were strongly fortified. For two or three 
 years the war raged with all of war's possible fury. There 
 were sea-fights and land-fights, shipwrecks, gory battle-fields, 
 defeats, victories, conflagrations, and miseries which no tongue 
 can tell. At length, as the awful tragedy was progressing, 
 there arose a Carthaginian general of extraordinary ability 
 named Hamilcar. This illustrious man, father of the world- 
 renowned Hannibal, was then thirty years of age. An extra- 
 ordinary storm of disasters fell upon the Romans. Their 
 armies were defeated, their camp burned up, their fleets 
 wrecked. The Carthaginians, becoming thus supreme masters 
 of the sea, besieged the Romans in their garrisons, and even
 
 SOME, GREECE, AND CARTHAGE. 91 
 
 landed on the coast of Italy, and in ravaging the Roman towns, 
 bitterly avenged the losses they had endured on their own 
 shores. 
 
 Hamilcar, with great military genius, thwarted all the 
 plans of the Roman generals, cut off their supplies, and while 
 avoiding any general action, crippled all their movements. A 
 single anecdote may be related to illustrate his noble charao. 
 ter. After a severe action, in which Hamilcar was defeated 
 and many of his men slain, he sent to the conqueror asking a 
 truce, that he might bury his dead. The Roman consul 
 haughtily replied that Hamilcar had better devote his atten- 
 tion to the ir.ing than to trouble himself about the dead. A 
 short time after, in another conflict, Hamilcar was victorious, 
 and many Romans fell. Hamilcar was now solicited for a 
 truce, that the Roman dead might be buried. Scorning the 
 vulgar npirit of retaliation, ho replied that most willingly he 
 consented, since he carried on war, not against the dead, but 
 against the living only. 
 
 Rome was now convinced that Sicily could be conquered 
 only by the most energetic efforts, and consequently the re- 
 sources of the state were strained to the utmost in constructing 
 a fleet of three hundred ships. With this vast squadron ad- 
 mirably manned, they attacked the Carthaginian fleet, Cap- 
 tured sixty-three, sunk one hundred and twenty, and dispt /sed 
 the rest. In this conflict fourteen thousand Carthagr dans 
 were slain, and thirty-two thousand taken prisoners. This 
 victory placed the Romans so decisively in the ascendency that 
 the Carthaginians sued for peace. Hamilcar with anguish 
 yielded to the humiliating terms which Rome exacted. Sicily 
 was surrendered to Rome. All the Roman prisoners were 
 given up without ransom, and an immense sum of money was 
 exacted from Carthage to pay the expenses of the war which 
 Rome had commenced. 
 
 Thus terminated what is called the first Punic war. The 
 losses on both sides, hi both blood and treasure, were enor-
 
 02 ITALY. 
 
 mous. The simple transference of the island of Sicily from the 
 government of Carthage to that of Rome, cost Rome seven 
 hundred ships of war, OIK! Carthage five hundred. It is esti- 
 mated that in this long struggle five hundred thousand men 
 perished by sword, shipwreck, and pestilence. Carthage was 
 humiliated, not crushed, and the Carthaginians burned with 
 desires for vengeance. Rome, elated, was far from satisfied 
 with this vast addition to her domain, and was only stimulated 
 with still more intense desires for conquest. There was 0011- 
 tinually developed between these two great republics an in- 
 stinctivr hostility, which rendered it inevitable that conflicts 
 would be incessantly renewed, until the one or the other should 
 wholly perish
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE ALPS BY HANNIBAL 
 FROM 241 B. o. TO 217 B. o. 
 
 iJTVAfliON OF SPAIN BY CABTHAGB. W AB RENEWED BETWEEN BOMB AND CABTHAU.> 
 NBW GAULISH INVASION. ANNIHILATION or THB GAULISH ABMT. CONQUKST o 
 CISALPINE GAUL. HANNIBAL OBOSSES THB RHONE. PASSAGE OF THE ALPS. IN- 
 VASION OF ITALY. BATTLES ON THB TICINO AND THK Po. DISCOMFITUES OF THI 
 ROMANS. HANNIBAL ENTERS TUSCANY. GREAT BATTLE OF THBASYMENB. ANNI- 
 HILATION OF THK ROMAN ABMY. COMMEMOBATED BY BYBON 
 
 AFTER the close of the first Punic war there was peace 
 with Carthage for twenty-two years. Rome was now 
 undisputed mistress of the Italian peninsula, and of the island 
 of Sicily. The early years of this period of peace were devot- 
 ed to internal improvements. The island of Sardinia, which 
 had for some time been in possession of Carthage, was in 
 a state of revolt against that government. The insurgents 
 entreated Rome to espouse their cause. She did so, and, 
 hunting up some fancied grievances, declared war against 
 Carthage. Hamilcar, not yet prepared to renew the strife, 
 purchased peace by the surrender of Sardinia to Rome. 
 
 Hamilcar was at this time gathering his forces for a war- 
 like expedition against Spam. In view of the enterprise 
 solemn sacrifices were offered to propitiate the gods. As 
 Hamilcar was performing these rights of superstition, he sud- 
 denly requested all the attendant officers to retire, and calling 
 his little son Hannibal to his side, a boy then nine years of 
 age, led him up to the altar, and offered to take him to Spain 
 if he would give his solemn vow never, so long as he lived, to 
 make peace with the Romans. Hannibal eagerly placed his 
 hand upon the sacrifice and took the oath. Faithfully he
 
 94 ITALf 
 
 redeemed his pledge. This scene produced an impression or, 
 the child's mind which was never effaced, and which nerved 
 him to unswerving purpose and to energy of action which has 
 won the admiration of the world. 
 
 The Romans watched this embassy to Spain with much 
 uneasiness, fearful that the success of the Carthaginians might 
 so strengthen them as to disturb their own supremacy. The 
 remonstrances of Rome were BO persistent and menacing, tha 
 at length Hanno, one of the Carthaginian ambassadors, ex- 
 claimed to the Roman senate impatiently and boldly : 
 
 " If you will not make peace with us, then give us back 
 Sardinia and Sicily ; for we yielded them to you, not to pur- 
 chase a brief truce, but your lasting friendship." 
 
 Rather reluctantly Rome consented to the ratification of 
 amity with Carthage. Still they kept their armies disciplined 
 by sending them on military expeditions to Sardinia, to Corsi- 
 ca, and to Cisalpine Gaul. Many of these semi-barbario people 
 were taken captive and transported to Italy, where they were 
 sold as slaves. Twelve years after the end of the first Punio 
 war, the Romans sent a body of troops across the Ionian gulf 
 to Illyria, as the western coast of Greece was then called. 
 This expedition consisted of r consular army of twenty-two 
 thousand men, conveyed by a fleet of two hundred quinque- 
 remes. They landed almost unopposed, and sweeping all 
 opposition before them, ravaged the country at their pleasure. 
 The Illyrians were soon subjugated and their country placed 
 under the rule of Demetrius, a Greek, appointed by the Ro- 
 
 Ilamilcar, the renowned general of Carthage, was now 
 sweeping Spain with his victorious armies, and had already 
 reached the Tagus, when he was slain in battle, and was suc- 
 ceeded by his son-in-law Hasdrubal. This distinguished man, 
 alike skilled in the arts of war and of peace, devoted his ener- 
 gies to the consolidation of his conquests, and to winning the 
 friendship of the Spaniards. He was a man of commanding
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE ALPS BY HANNIBAL. Oft 
 
 stature, and of very courteous bearing, and was eminently 
 fitted to obtain an ascendency over barbaric minds. In his 
 efforts he was signally successful, and many of the native 
 Spanish princes crowded around him seeking his alliance. 
 
 The Romans, with an anxious eye, watched the progress 
 of his conquests, and the vast increase of his power ; but juJt 
 then Rome was threatened with a Gaulish invasion, and the 
 senate deemed it not prudent to provoke the Carthaginians to 
 unite with the Gauls. In the early spring of the year 226 B. c. 
 the Transalpine Gauls crossed the Alps, and uniting with 
 their brethren, the Cisalpine Gauls, commenced their march 
 for the invasion of Italy. They advanced in such strength 
 that Rome was thoroughly aroused, and the most vigorous 
 measures of resistance were adopted. A careful list was made 
 of every individual capable of bearing arms throughout the 
 Roman states. Active armies and armies of reserve were 
 organized. Immense magazines of provisions and military 
 stores were collected, and the cooperation of allies was secured 
 to assail the foe on the flanks and in the rear. The Cenoma- 
 nians and Venetians, who occupied the region now called 
 Venice and much of Lombardy, presented such a menacing 
 attitude to the Gauls, that they were compelled to leave a 
 large portion of their force to protect their own territory. 
 Still they commenced their march with an invading army of 
 fifty thousand foot, and twenty thousand war chariots. 
 
 There were two roads leading from Cisalpine Gaul to the 
 heart of Italy. Both of these roads the Romans barricaded, 
 one with an army of Romans and allies amounting to about 
 sixty thousand men, and the other by an army of fifty-four 
 thousand ; while Rome itself was protected by a reserve force 
 of over fifty thousand troops. The whole available military 
 force of the Roman republic, should it be found necessary to 
 resort to a levy en masse, amounted at that time to sevec 
 hundred and fifty thousand men. 
 
 With music and banners the warlike Gauls, sanguine of
 
 V9 ITALY. 
 
 success, pressed along their march, and avoiding the two 
 roads which the Romans had so carefully guarded, treaded 
 the defiles of the Apennines, pouring through those solitudes, 
 like torrents, into the valley of the Arno. Unopposed, they 
 pressed along the banks of this sunny stream, and then, turn- 
 ing to the right, entered the heart of Etruria. They had thus 
 skillfully eluded two Roman armies, fearlessly leaving them in 
 their rear. 
 
 As soon as informed of this, both of these armies, in great 
 alarm, commenced pursuit of the foe, who were rushing upon 
 Rome. One of these armies, consisting of fifty thousand men, 
 under a Roman pretor, soon overtook the invaders. The 
 Gauls turned upon them like wolves at bay, and, in a short 
 conflict, routed them entirely. For a few hours they delayed 
 pursuit, to plunder the Roman camp, and then, encumbered 
 with booty, commenced chasing the fugitives. After the 
 march of a few leagues they found that the routed troops had 
 rallied behind the solid columns of the other Roman army, 
 now consisting of sixty-seven thousand men, under the com- 
 mand of the consul, L. Emilius. 
 
 The Gauls, enriched with immense plunder, thought it not 
 expedient to hazard another battle, but determined to carry 
 their prisoners and their booty to their own country; and 
 then, having increased and recruited their battalions, to com- 
 mence their march anew. As the Roman armies were be- 
 tween them and the Apennines, cutting off their retreat 
 through the defiles of the mountains, they turned short to 
 the left, and followed down the banks of a little stream called 
 the Ombrone, to the shores of the sea. They then vigorously 
 commenced their march homeward, over apparently an unob- 
 structed path. But soon a new foe rose like an apparition 
 before them a foe as much astonished to see the Gauls as 
 the Gauls were to see them. 
 
 One of the consuls, C. Regulus, had been 011 an expedition, 
 rith a large army, to Sardinia. He was now, in consequence
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE ALPS BY HANNIBAL. 97 
 
 of the state of affairs at home, returning with his army. He 
 had landed his troops at Pisa, to be ready to cooperate with 
 the Roman forces in that region if necessary ; but his services 
 not being required, he was marching as rapidly as possible 
 along the shore of the sea toward Rome. Thus unexpectedly 
 the Gauls and the Romans came upon each other like two 
 railroad trains hi accidental collision. 
 
 There was nothing to do, of course, but to fight, retreat 
 being out of the question for either of the parties. The buttle 
 had hardly begun when the Gauls were appalled by the 
 clangor of Roman trumpets and the waving of Roman ban- 
 ners in their rear. It was the army of the enemy in eager 
 pursuit. They were now between two armies. The massacre 
 was soon finished, and the whole Gaulish host passed away in 
 a wail of death. One of the Roman consuls, C. Regulus, was 
 slam. But the other, L. Emilius, led his triumphant troops 
 across the frontier into Gaul, and, with the savage license of 
 war, killed, plundered, and destroyed in all directions. He 
 then returned to Rome, where a magnificent triumph awaited 
 him. The temple of the capitoh'ne Jupiter was most richly 
 ornamented with the treasures won in this campaign. 
 
 The Romans now determined upon the entire subjugation 
 of Cisalpine Gaul ; and for three years all their energies were 
 devoted to the attainment of this end. Barbarians are not 
 easily subdued, as we have often learned to our cost in our 
 conflicts with the American Indians. But tribe after tribe 
 was subjugated, and province after province was annexed. 
 During all these wars and accessions the conflict was still con- 
 tinued between the patricians and plebeians. The aristocracy 
 were ever urging measures to add to the dignity and the 
 exclusiveness of the proprietors of the soil ; while the people 
 were watching with an eagle eye to curb the power of the 
 nobles. At this time the celebrated military road, called the 
 Flaminian Way, was constructed from Rome through the 
 defiles of the Apennines, to the shores of the Adriatic. Flam-
 
 98 ITALY. 
 
 inius, the censor, who constructed this road, administered 
 the government wth an impartial hand, opposing alike the 
 assumptions of the aristocracy and the exactions of the 
 populace. 
 
 The Carthaginians were still pressing the war in Spain, 
 when Hasdrubal was assassinated in his tent ; and the voice 
 of the army, echoed back by the equally unanimous voice of 
 Carthage, called Hannibal to the supreme power. With great 
 energy the young general took the command, and in two 
 campaigns made such rapid strides, that the Spaniards, in 
 their alarm, sent to Rome for help. The Romans very gladly 
 listened to their call, and sent an ambassador to Carthage, 
 forbidding the Carthaginians to advance any further in the 
 conquest of Spam. 
 
 " Twice in history," says Thomas Arnold, " has there been 
 witnessed the struggle of the highest individual genius against 
 the resources and institutions of a great nation, and in both 
 cases the nation has been victorious. For seventeen years 
 Hannibal strove against Rome; for sixteen years Napoleon 
 Bonaparte strove against England. The efforts of the first 
 ended in Zama ; those of the second in Waterloo." 
 
 Hannibal now rises upon the theater of action as the great 
 genius of the tunes; and for some years all the prominent 
 interests of the world seem to revolve about his person. 
 Hannibal was but twenty-six years of age when, upon the 
 death of Hasdrubal, he took command of the Carthaginian 
 army in Spain. On the eastern coast of the Spanish peninsula, 
 near the Mediterranean shore, stood the important city of 
 Saguntum. The unimportant town of Murviedro, about sixt) 
 miles north from Valencia, now occupies the spot upon which 
 Saguntum once stood. Hannibal, defiant of the frowns of 
 Rome, laid siege to this city, and after a conflict eight months 
 in continuance, took it by storm. A large number of prison- 
 ers and an immense amount of booty fell into the hands of th 
 conqueror.
 
 PASSAGE OF THE ALPS BY HANNIBAL. 9t 
 
 As soon as Rome heard of the fall of Saguntum, two am- 
 bassadors were despatched to Carthage with a message of in- 
 dignation, and to demand that Hannibal and all his generals 
 should be given up to Rome, declaring that the attack upon 
 Saguntum was a breach of the treaty of peace. The Cartha- 
 ginians denied that the attack upon Saguntum was a violation 
 of the treaty with Rome. But the Roman ambassadors, eager 
 for war, were not hi a mood to listen to reason. One of them, 
 M. Fabius, rolling up his toga, held it out and insultingly 
 said: 
 
 " Behold, here are peace and war ; take which you please." 
 
 The Carthaginian judge, unintimidated, replied, " Give 
 whichever thou wilt." 
 
 "Here, then," said Fabius, shaking out the folds of his 
 toga, "we give you war." The Carthaginian counselors, 
 roused by this defiance, shouted with one voice, " With all 
 our hearts we welcome it." 
 
 The Roman ambassadors immediately left Carthage, and 
 both parties prepared for war. 
 
 The energy of Hannibal was such, and the wisdom of his 
 measures was so manifest, that, by general assent, rather than 
 by any vote, the whole management of affairs was left in his 
 hands. A large part of Spam had been conquered by the 
 Carthaginians and Hannibal sent Spanish troops to garrison 
 the fortresses of Carthage, and all the Carthaginian troops 
 which could be raised were despatched across the sea to Spain. 
 Ambassadors were sent to Gaul to explore the passes of the 
 Alps, and to secure the cooperation of that warlike people hi 
 Hannibal's contemplated descent upon the plains of Italy. 
 
 With wonderful energy and promptness all these measures 
 were prosecuted. The envoys to Gaul soon returned with the 
 report that the Gauls were eager to unite with Carthage against 
 Rome, and that though the natural difficulties of the passage 
 of the Alps were great, they were by no means insuperable 
 Hannibal assembled his troops and thus addressed them ;
 
 100 ITALY. 
 
 " The Romans have demanded that I and my principal offi- 
 cers should be delivered up to them as malefactors. Soldiers, 
 will you suffer such an indignity ? The Gauls are holding out 
 their arms to us, inviting us to come to them, and to assist 
 them in avenging their manifold injuries. The country which 
 we shall invade, so rich in corn, and wine, and oil, so full of 
 flocks and herds, so covered with flourishing cities, will be the 
 richest prize that could be offered by the gods to reward your 
 valor." 
 
 This speech was greeted by the huzzas of the soldiers, and 
 with shouts of enthusiasm they heard the day designated when 
 they were to commence their march. For eighteen years 
 Hannibal had been longing for this event. The memory of the 
 oath he had taken to his father to wage eternal warfare against 
 Rome ever inspired him. Like all truly great men, Hannibal 
 had high conceptions of a Supreme Being who controlled 
 human events ; and his first impulse was to seek that divine 
 aid hi his great enterprise. Accompanied by his staff", he went 
 to one of the temples of the supreme God, offered sacrifices 
 and fervently implored the assistance of Heaven. 
 
 It was now lato in May, and Hannibal, leaving his yaunger 
 brother Hasdrubal in command of the conquered provinces in 
 Spain, placed himself at the head of his army of one hundred 
 thousand men, with thirty-seven elephants, and commenced his 
 march along the shores of the Mediterranean, toward the 
 Pyrenees. Hannibal was now twenty-seven years of age, and 
 he consecrated himself to the enterprise before him with an 
 entireness of devotion and a recklessness of self-sacrifice which 
 the world has, perhaps, never seen surpassed, and has rarely 
 
 It was now the 218th year before the birth of Christ. 
 Cornelius Scipio and Sempronius Longus were Roman consuls. 
 Scipio took a large army and sailed with a fleet of transports 
 and fifty quinqueremes for the Rhone, that he might make a 
 ftand upon the eastern bank of that broad, deep, rapid stream,
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE ALPS BY HANNIBAL. 101 
 
 and prevent the passage of the Carthaginian army. Longus, 
 with a still larger fleet, convoyed by one hundred and sixty 
 quinqueremes, sailed for Sicily, intending thence to pass over 
 into Africa, and carry the war to the walls of Carthage. A 
 third Roman army was also raised and stationed in Cisalpine 
 Gaul, to be ready for any emergencies. This army was placed 
 under the command of the pretor Lucius Manlius Vulso. 
 
 Hannibal crossed the Ebro, then called the Iberus, unop- 
 posed. This stream had been considered the boundary between 
 the Carthaginian and Roman conquests. As some of the 
 tribes between the Ebro and the Pyrenees, a distance of about 
 one hundred and fifty miles, remained friendly to the Romans, 
 Hannibal thought it prudent to take military possession of the 
 whole region, that his line of communication might not be in- 
 terrupted. This caused delay, several battles, and a heavy loss 
 of men. 
 
 When he arrived at the Pyrenees and entered those gloomy 
 defiles, to march through them apparently to the ends of the 
 earth, many of the soldiers were alarmed and began to mur- 
 mur. One division of the army, consisting of ten thousand 
 men, refused to advance. Hannibal, with the tact of a con- 
 summate general, assembled them in the presence of his whole 
 army and saying that he wished for no cowards to accompany 
 him on his expedition, dismissed them ignominiously, and sent 
 them back to their homes. This act redoubled the ardor of 
 those who remained. 
 
 The Carthaginian army, now amounting to but fifty thou- 
 sand foot and nine thousand horse, successfully threaded the 
 defiles of the Pyrenees, and emerged upon the plains of south 
 ern France, then called Gaul. Marching along the shores of 
 the gulf of Lyons for two hundred miles, and encountering no 
 opposition from the tribes through whom he passed Hannibal 
 reached the Rhone, near the present small village of Roque- 
 moure, about twenty miles above the city of Avignon. The 
 river was here about a quarter ot a mile in width, gliding
 
 102 ITALY 
 
 through one of the most beautiful, picturesque, nd delightfa. 
 regions on the globe. There were no bridges, and the banks 
 of the barbaric stream were covered with forests. The spears 
 and banners of a hostile host were seen upon the eastern shore, 
 giving indubitable evidence that the passage of the stream was 
 not to be accomplished without a conflict. Scipio had just 
 landed his force at the mouth of the eastern branch of the 
 river, and having no idea that Hannibal could have advanced 
 BO far, had leisurely encamped, and was recruiting his troops 
 sixty miles below the spot where the Carthaginians were pre- 
 paring to cross the stream. He, however, sent out a recon- 
 noitering party of three hundred horsemen to ascend the river, 
 to learn what they could respecting the movements of the 
 enemy. 
 
 Hannibal immediately seized or purchased every boat 
 which could be found on the western bank of the Rhone, and 
 employed all the mechanical force of his army in cutting down 
 timber, digging out canoes, and constructing rafts. The foe, 
 upon the opposite bank, with no weapons but arrows and 
 javelins, could not obstruct his works. In two days he was 
 prepared to attempt the passage. By night he secretly dis- 
 patched a small but very efficient force up the river twenty 
 miles, there to cross, and then to march noiselessly down 
 through the forest on the opposite shore, and take a position, 
 to be ready to attack the foe in the rear. As soon as they 
 were in position they were to build a fire, the smoke of which 
 would be a signal to Hannibal. 
 
 The movement proved an entire success, and soon a 
 column of smoke, rising through the distant forest, informed 
 Hannibal of the arrival of his detachment; and all things 
 boing hi readiness, the army was instantly put in motion. 
 The Gauls, eagerly watching, lined the banks, quite confident 
 of being able to repel their assailants. As the boats and rafts 
 neared the eastern shore, and the tempest of war was at its 
 height, the air being filled with arrows and javelins, and the
 
 THK PASSAGE OF THB ALPS BY HANNIBAL. 103 
 
 cry of battle resounding along the river banks, the Carthagl 
 nian soldiers, with hideous yells, rushed from their ambush, 
 and assailed the Gauls in the rear. For a few moments there 
 was a scene of awful confusion, and then the Gauls, bewil- 
 dered and in dismay, broke and fled. The rout was entire, 
 and before the next morning the whole army of Hannibal, 
 elephants and all, were encamped on the eastern bank of the 
 Rhone. Just at this time a delegation of the Cisalpine Gaulb, 
 that is the Gauls from the Roman side of the Alps, arrived in 
 the Carthaginian camp, to welcome their allies, and to proffer 
 aid. 
 
 The arrival of this embassage encouraged the soldiers 
 exceedingly, as it proved that the passage of the Alps was 
 practicable, and that they would meet friends upon the Italian 
 side. Hannibal gathered his army around him, and after 
 addressing them in cheering words, to which his troops 
 responded with most enthusiastic cheers, he offered sacrifices 
 to God, returning thanks for the prosperity which had thus 
 far been vouched him, and imploring the continuance of divine 
 favor. 
 
 In the mean time Scipio's scouts had fallen in with a small 
 party of the Carthaginians, and a skirmish, sanguinary though 
 indecisive, had ensued. Hannibal, paying no attention to the 
 foe at the mouth of the river, immediately put his army in 
 vigorous motion, advancing north up the eastern bank of the 
 Rhone. Scipio, also, learning from his reconnoitering party 
 the position of the Carthaginians, commenced a pursuit, fol- 
 lowing up also the left side of the river. When he arrived at 
 the spot where the Carthaginians had crossed, he found it 
 deserted, Hannibal having been already gone three days. It 
 was in vain to follow a foe so alert. Scipio, therefore, decided 
 to return as rapidly as possible to Italy ; his route, by water, 
 being the chord of a circle, of which Hannibal was necessi 
 tated to traverse by land in long circuit, the arc. He accord- 
 ingly retraced his steps to the mouth of the Rhone, and,
 
 104 . ITALT. 
 
 refimbarking, sailed for Pisa, having sent a part of his force 
 to attack Hasdrubal in Spain. It was his intention to meet 
 Hannibal, when, exhausted with a long march, he should be 
 descending the eastern declivities of the Alps. 
 
 The Carthaginians pressed rapidly forward, and in four 
 days reached the mouth of the Isere, as it empties itself into 
 the Rhone, about one hundred and fifty miles above the 
 mouth of the latter river. The Isere, a majestic stream, fed 
 by the inexhaustible glaciers of the Alps, enters the Rhone 
 with a flood almost equal to that of the stream with which its 
 waters mingle, and in which they lose their name. Following 
 up the valley of the Isere, the Carthaginians marched north- 
 east, directly toward the mountains. At this point the wild 
 Gaulish tribes of what was called the Transalpine region, 
 began to manifest hostility. They fortified the passes, and 
 laid ambuscades ; but Hannibal, with great energy and saga- 
 city, baffled all their plans, and won his way through inces- 
 sant battles. Among the gloomy defiles there were many 
 awful scenes of confusion and carnage, the barbarians hurling 
 rocks and stones from the cliffs, and fighting with the utmost 
 desperation; but Carthaginian discipline and courage were 
 invariably victorious. 
 
 In a march of nine days Hannibal led his army, from the 
 plains of Dauphine through the ascending defiles, to the sum- 
 mit of the central ridge of the Alps. It was near the end of 
 October. The gorge through which he was passing, elevated 
 many thousand feet above the level of the river, presented but 
 one wide waste of barrenness and ice, while mountain peaks 
 towered above them, glittering in eternal snow, or black in 
 their rocky precipices and crags, swept by the storms of 
 uncounted centuries. Exhausted by the toil of the ascent, 
 the soldiers rested for two days in these wilds, until the strag- 
 glers could gam the encampment. A general feeling jf weari- 
 ness and discouragement pervaded the army. Hannibal alone
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE ALPS BY H A ST N I B A L. 105 
 
 was firm. Assembling his soldiers, he pointed them to a 
 distant descending valley, and said : 
 
 " That valley is Italy. It leads us to the country of our 
 friends,the Gauls, and is our direct route to Rome." 
 
 After two days' rest the army commenced the descent of 
 the mountains on the Italian side. To their surprise they 
 found the perils and difficulties of the descent greater than 
 those of the ascent. The gorges were blocked up with snow. 
 Fearful chasms were bridged over with the treacherous cover- 
 ings of ice, and men and horses fell into fathomless gulfs. 
 Avalanches had hi places so swept the path, that all the skill 
 of the Carthaginian engineers was requisite to render it pos- 
 sible for the army to advance. The elephants suffered terribly 
 from cold and hunger, and from the rugged travel so foreign 
 to their natures. Nearly all of these animals perished by the 
 way. It was by the pass now called the Little Saint Bernard, 
 that Hannibal surmounted the Alps, and descended into the 
 valley of the Aosta. Fifteen days were consumed hi the 
 passage of the mountains, and five months had now elapsed 
 since he commenced his march from Spam. By sickness, 
 casualties, and battle, his army had now dwindled to twenty 
 thousand foot and six thousand horse. Thirty-three thousand 
 men had perished on this march. 
 
 But the Carthaginians had now entered into fertile valleys 
 where flowers regaled the eye and fruits were abundant, and 
 where they were received by the Cisalpine Gauls with hospi 
 tality as friends and allies. In the mean time Scipio had 
 landed at Pisa, and crossing the Po at Placenta, had taken 
 command of the pretor's army on the Ticino, near Pavia, ancl 
 was marching forward to meet Hannibal, by slowly ascending 
 the left bank of the Po. It was well known by both parties 
 that the barbarian Gauls would join whichever army was vic- 
 torious ; for love of the spoils is by no means a modern inven- 
 tion. Hannibal had followed down the valley of the Aosta 
 and the Dora Baltea to the Po, and was descending that 
 5*
 
 106 ITALY. 
 
 stream also by the left bank. A collision was, of course, in- 
 evitable, and both parties were pushing forward light troops 
 for reconnoitering. 
 
 The two ajrnies soon met in fierce battle. The Romans 
 were routed, the consul, Scipio, severely wounded, and the 
 army was saved from destruction only by a precipitate retreat. 
 In their flight they crossed the Ticino, and so great was their 
 hurry and confusion that they broke down the bridge, to arrest 
 pursuit, leaving six hundred men thus cut off, who fell into the 
 hands of the enemy. The discomfited Romans did not stop 
 in their flight until they found refuge behind the walls of 
 Placentia. 
 
 Hannibal now crossed the Po in boats, and descended un- 
 opposed the right bank of the stream. Two days' march 
 brought him again hi sight of the enemy at Placentia. As 
 they declined his offer of battle, he took an important position 
 and entrenched himself east of Placentia, cutting off the line 
 of retreat and communications with Rome. Scipio, finding his 
 road to Rome thus blocked up, abandoned Placentia, and 
 marching directly westward, crossed the Trebbia, and strongly 
 entrenching himself, soon gathered reinforcements, so that his 
 army amounted to forty thousand men. Hannibal also ob- 
 tained recruits from the Gauls, and with a force equal to that 
 of the Romans, goaded them to battle. The emergence had 
 recalled the consul Sempronius, who took command of the 
 army, as his colleague Scipio was still suffering from his 
 wounds. 
 
 It was now mid-winter. The Trebbia, which in summer is 
 but a shallow and insignificant stream, was swollen by rain 
 and melting snows. The Romans were on the left bank of the 
 Trebbia, the Carthaginians on the right. The morning dawned 
 lowering with clouds, and wind and snow mingled with ram 
 swept the valley, when Sempronius, lured by a stratagem of 
 Hannibal, led his troops across a ford of the river where the 
 water was breast high, and made a fierce attack up<?n the lines
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE ALPS BY HANNIBAL. 107 
 
 of the Carthaginians. He was so desirous of taking Hannibal 
 by surprise that he led his soldiers to the assault in the early 
 morning before they had taken any breakfast. Hungry and 
 chilled by fording the icy river, they were but poorly prepared 
 to meet the soldiers of Hannibal, who, anticipating the attack, 
 which they by stratagem had enticed, had eaten their break- 
 fasts in their tents, and had oiled their bodies and put on theh 
 armor quietly around their camp-fires. 
 
 The battle was long and bloody ; but again Hannibal wa 
 victorious, and as the sun went down the Roman army wa* 
 almost annihilated. A few had cut their way through th 
 lines of the Carthaginians and had taken refuge in Placentia. 
 A few others, exhausted and bleeding, plunged into the waves 
 of the Trebbia, and escaped to the opposite shore, where the 
 Carthaginians did not pursue them. This battle left Hannibal 
 master of Cisalpine Gaul, and thus terminated his first cam- 
 paign in Italy. The winds of winter now swept so fiercely 
 over the ridges of the mountains that it was impossible any 
 longer to keep the field, and Hannibal accordingly went into 
 winter quarters. 
 
 The alarm at Rome was great, and the remainder of the 
 winter was spent by both parties in vigorous preparation for 
 the opening of the campaign in the spring. At the earliest 
 practicable moment Hannibal was again upon the march. 
 Crossing the Apennines by the valley of the Serchio, with ap- 
 parent recklessness he left a powerful Roman army behind 
 him at Arretium, and entered the plains of Italy. Two new 
 consuls had now been elected, Flaminius and Geminus. The 
 former had been placed in command of the army raised to 
 arrest the march of Hannibal, while Geminus remained in the 
 vicinity of Rome to enlist and forward new levies. 
 
 Flaminius, while quietly encamped at Arretium, learned to 
 his astonishment that Hannibal had crossed the Apennines, and 
 was marching triumphantly through Tuscany, then called 
 Etruria. He immediately b v oke up his camp and pursued the
 
 108 ITALY. 
 
 foe, sending in the mean time a messenger to inform his col- 
 league of the movements of the Carthaginians. Hannibal 
 cruelly devastated the country on his march, while carefully 
 watching his pursuers and looking for a favorable opportunity 
 to lead them into an ambuscade. 
 
 On the northeast corner of Lake Pemgia, then called Lake 
 Thrasymene, Hear the present village of Passignano, there is a 
 valley, entered from the north by a narrow defile, enclosed on 
 all the remaining sides by the waters of the lake and by steep 
 hills. Hannibal entered this defile and posted his troops in 
 ambuscade among the rocks and shrubs on the slopes of the 
 hills which bounded the valley. The Romans incautiously, in 
 eager pursuit, entered the trap just as the sun was going down. 
 Hannibal had so thoroughly studied the ground that even in 
 the darkness he could move his troops, and when the morning 
 dawned Flaminius found himself surrounded by foes, who were 
 posted hi the most advantageous positions, and his retreat was 
 entirely cut off. 
 
 The battle was immediately commenced with tremendous 
 fiiry. A thick fog rose from the lake, which concealed from 
 the Romans their foes. Hopeless of victory, they fought with 
 the energies of despair, resolved to sell their lives as dearly as 
 possible. But they were overwhelmed. A storm of arrows 
 and javelins descended upon them as from the clouds. Pon- 
 derous stones and rocks crushed whole companies with the 
 resistless power of the avalanche. When the Romans were 
 thus thrown into utter confusion, the terrible cavalry of Han- 
 nibal emerged from the mist, while at the same moment the 
 heavily armed Gauls came rushing down the hills, and in co- 
 operation they fell upon the bewildered, broken battalions, and 
 hewed them down with enormous slaughter. 
 
 For a long time no quarter was granted. The whole 
 Roman army, with the exception of about six thousand fugi- 
 tives wa.- either taken captive or destroyed. Flaminiua Lim- 
 Self fell, thrust through by the lance of a Gaul. The awful
 
 THE PASSAGE OF THE ALPS BY HANNIBAL. 109 
 
 3eed of carnage was accomplished before the sun reached the 
 meridian. It is related by Livy that the fury of the contest 
 was such, that in the heat of the fight, a violent earthquake 
 occurred, shaking the hills, rolling huge billows from the lake 
 upon the shore, and destroying many cities; and yet this 
 terrible phenomenon, shaking the earth, and whelming cities 
 in the wave, was entirely unheeded by the combatants in the 
 frenzy of the battle. 
 
 Such was the sanguinary and decisive battle of Thra- 
 gymene, which made Hannibal master of central Italy. Lord 
 Byron, in Childe Harold, thus alludes to this event : 
 
 " And such the storm of battle on this day, 
 And such the frenzy whose convulsion blinds 
 To all save carnage, that, beneath the fray, 
 An earthquake reel'd unheedingly away 1 
 None felt stern nature rocking at his feet, 
 And yawning forth a grave for those who lay 
 Upon their bucklers for a winding sheet ; 
 fiuch \M tun absorbing hate when warring nation* mint 8
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OF HANNIBAL. 
 FBOM 217 B. o. TO 208 B. o. 
 
 DBTASTATINS MABOH or HANNIBAL. COMPOSITION or HIS ABMY. TBBBOB IN Rom. 
 WINTER QUARTKRS IN APULIA. DISSENSIONS IN THE ROMAN AEMT. THE BATTLI 
 OF CANNA ANNIHILATION OF THE ROMAN AEMT. INCREASING PEEIL OF HAN- 
 HIBAL. RETBEAT FBOM TITATA. MAEOH UPON ROME. SIEGE OF CAPUA. SLAVEBT 
 or CAPTIVES. THE MABOII OF HABDBUBAL. PASSAGE OF THE ALPS. NEW VICTO- 
 RIES or HANNIBAL. DEATH or HASDKTTBAL AND DESTBUOTION OF HIS AKMY. 
 TH HEAD or HASDBUBAL. EXULTATION IN ROME. DESPAIB or HANNIBAL. 
 
 TTANNIBAL tarried for a short time in the defile of Thra- 
 " symene to bury his dead, and to take care of his wounded. 
 He sought earnestly among the slain for the body of the 
 Roman consul Flaminius, wishing to give it honorable burial ; 
 but the body could not be found. Again resuming his. march, 
 he crossed the head waters of the Tiber, and entered the 
 plains of Umbria. Scattering his forces over this rich country 
 he devastated it without mercy. The war-cry of the Gaulish 
 barbarians, in alliance with the Carthaginians, echoed along 
 the banks of the Tiber, and the terrified people, abandoning 
 their homes, fled to the mountains. The army of Hannibal 
 presented a singular conglomeration of diverse people. There 
 wsre slingers from the Balearian islands, Spanish foot-soldiers 
 from the mountains of Grenada, with their picturesque attire 
 of white jackets and scarlet edgings, African infantry with 
 their long and slender lances and polished shields, wild Nu- 
 midians, on their scraggy horses, without saddles or bridles, 
 scouring the plains with whoop and halloo ; and there were 
 Gauls, barbaric and skin -clad, fierce as the wolves which 
 howled in the caves of their forests. Advancing to Spoleta,
 
 THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OF HANNIBAL. Ill 
 
 Hannibal found the walls so high and BO well guarded that he 
 oould not take the city by assault. Not wishing to lose tune 
 hi a siege, he crossed the Apennines to the shores of the Adri- 
 atic and followed along the coast, plundering the region of 
 property of every description, and loading his army with 
 more booty than they could bear along with them. The 
 soldiers reveled hi such abundance of all good things, that it 
 was reported that they even bathed their horses hi old wine. 
 Every Roman they met, capable of bearing arms, was by the 
 order of Hannibal put to death. 
 
 When the intelligence of the battle of Thrasymene, and 
 of the advance of the Cartha^nnians reached Rome, the dis- 
 may was inexpressible. "Our colder temperaments," says 
 Thomas Arnold, " scarcely enable us to conceive the effect of 
 such tidings on the lively feelings of the peoplo of the south, 
 or to imagine to ourselves tho cries, the tears, the hands 
 uplifted hi prayer or clenched in rage, the confused sounds of 
 ten thousand voices, giving utterance, with breathless rapidity, 
 to their feelings of eager interast, of terror, of grief, or of 
 fury. All the northern gates of the city were beset with 
 crowds of wives and mothers, imploring every fresh fugitive 
 from the fatal field for some tidings of those most dear to 
 them." 
 
 The senate was immediately called together and continued 
 in session day and night for several days. No one thought of 
 peace. A dictator, Q. Fabius, was promptly appointed. He 
 was a member of one of the old aristocratic families, and a 
 very devout man, according to the Roman system of religion. 
 One of his first measures was to decree that every animal, fit 
 for sacrifice, born between the first of March and the thir- 
 teenth of April of that year, should be offered upon the altars 
 to Jupiter. Prayers resounded hi all the temples, and new 
 temples were reared. The whole population of Rome was 
 convened day after day to attend upon religious rites. 
 
 At the same time the most vigorous measures were
 
 112 ITALY. 
 
 adopted for active warfare. The fortifications of Rome wera 
 strengthened. Bridges were broken down and roads des- 
 troyed, to arrest the advance of the enemy. In the line of 
 Hannibal's anticipated march, the inhabitants were ordered to 
 fiee to the walled towns, and the country was laid waste, 
 These measures were quite effectual in retarding the march of 
 Hannibal upon Rome. Fabius, wielding the energies of dic- 
 tatorial authority, soon found himself at the head of an army 
 more powerful in numbers than that of Hannibal ; but con- 
 scious that his inexperienced troops could not cope with the 
 veteran legions of the Carthaginians, he prudently avoided 
 giving battle. Keeping ever at a distance of five or six miles 
 from Hannibal he encamped in strong positions, and watched 
 the movements of his foe. 
 
 The skillful measures of Fabius soon involved Hannibal in 
 many embarrassments. 1 ndicg himself hedged in by hills, 
 whose defiles were guard d \>^ '.he Romans, he ordered all 
 his Roman prisoners, whoso presence endangered the safety 
 of his army, in cold blood to be slain. Then, with character- 
 istic cunning, he selected two thousand stout oxen, and bound 
 firmly to their horns, with wire, fagots of dry wood, dipped 
 in resin. Two hours before midnight these oxen were driven 
 to the hills and the fagots set on fire. The animals, thus 
 oruelly tortured, ran wild and bellowing in all directions. 
 The leaves and branches of the forest were soon blazing ; and 
 the Romans, astonished by the tumult and the strange specta- 
 cle, supposing that the Carthaginians were coming down from 
 the heights to attack them, incautiously left one of the passes 
 unguarded, and Hannibal quietly marched through the defile 
 to a place of safety. 
 
 The sagacious warrior, leaving his shamed and baffled foes 
 behind, strode onward, marking his path with devastation 
 and ruin. The summer was now far advanced, and Hannibal 
 had overrun a large portion of Italy. Still not a single walled 
 city had as yet fallen into his hands. He had ravaged thi
 
 ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OP HANNIBAL. 118 
 
 plains of Italy, but had by no means conquered the Romans. 
 It was now necessary for him to retire to winter quarters. 
 He accordingly returned, burdened with plunder, to his old 
 encampment in Apulia. All Italy could not afford more 
 pleasant winter quarters than those which Hannibal selected 
 upon the edge of a fertile plain, beneath the protection of a 
 range of mountains. Before him were boundless fields waving 
 with harvests, and behind him wide pastures upon the moun- 
 tain sides, presenting rich forage for his horses, while sweep- 
 ing forests afforded him an ample supply of wood. There 
 was a small walled town in the vicinity of the proposed 
 encampment. Hannibal took it, put all its inhabitants to the 
 sword, and leaving the walls and houses standing, used the 
 buildings as a great magazine for his army ; while the soldiers 
 were quartered in an entrenched camp around the walls. 
 Having made these arrangements, he kept one-third of his 
 soldiers to defend the camp, while the remaining two-thirds 
 were despatched in ah 1 directions to plunder the surrounding 
 country. 
 
 Loud outcries arose at Rome against the dictator Fabius ; 
 but he, with imperturbable patience, pursued his measures 
 against the formidable and sagacious foe. Following Han- 
 nibal into Apulia, he encamped upon impregnable heights, 
 and watched for opportunities to harass the Carthaginians, 
 without exposing himself to the perils of a battle, for he was 
 fully conscious that his inexperienced troops were not able 
 to cope with the veteran warriors arrayed against them. 
 Minucius, master of the horse, was opposed to the cautious 
 measures of Fabius, and was eager for a more vigorous prose- 
 cution of the war. His cause was espoused by the eager 
 popular party at Rome, while the more cautious aristocratic 
 party rallied around Fabius. After violent contention a bill 
 was carried, making the two generals, Fabius and Minucius, 
 equal in command. The army was consequently divided
 
 114 ITALY. 
 
 between them, and they encamped about a mile distant fron. 
 each other, each taking one half of the military force. 
 
 Hannibal was quite elated with this evidence of want of 
 co6peration, and eagerly availed himself of it. By a skillful 
 stratagem he allured the self-confident Minucius into an 
 engagement, and then falling upon him with five thousand 
 troops, which had been placed in ambush, he would have cut 
 his army entirely to pieces had not Fabius magnanimously 
 some to his rescue. Minucius, with rare generosity, publicly 
 acknowledged that Fabius had saved him from destruction, 
 and relinquishing his separate command, placed himself and 
 his division under the control of the more wary and sagacious 
 dictator. 
 
 In the mean time, at Rome, party politics ran high. 
 There was a new election of consuls, and the plebeian party 
 succeeded in electing C. Terentius Varro, a very energetic, 
 eloquent man, who had raised himself to distinction, from the 
 humble condition of a butcher's boy. The aristocracy suc- 
 ceeded in choosing one of the consuls of their own number, in 
 the person of L. Emilius Paulus. The winter and the spring 
 passed away with no military operations of importance. Sud- 
 denly, late in the spring, Hannibal broke up his camp, and, 
 descending into the Apulian plains, surprised and captured 
 Cannae, the great magazine of the Roman army. 
 
 All Italy was now exposed to be ravaged for another 
 summer. The two new consuls having raised a large army, 
 resolved to give battle. Each of the two consuls took the 
 supreme command alternately every other day. After many 
 weeks of marchings and counter-marchings, each army en 
 deavoring to find a favorable field of battle, they at last me 
 on the unobstructed plain of Cannae, near the mouth of the 
 Aufidus, on the shores of the Adriatic. 
 
 The Roman consuls led eighty-seven thousand troops upon 
 this field, and their plumes of mingled red and black, a foot 
 and a halt" high, lit up the vast expanse over which they
 
 THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OF HANNIBAL. 116 
 
 Spread like a waving forest. Hannibal led a veteran army of 
 fifty thousand men. The sun of a hot August day rose cloud- 
 less over the plain when the battle began. When that sun 
 went down the Roman army was annihilated. Over eighty 
 thousand Romans lay dead upon the field, and among them 
 were the gory bodies of the consul Emilius, the master of the 
 horse, Minucius, and eighty Roman senators. Three thousand 
 men only, of the whole Roman army, escaped. 
 
 On this bloody field Hannibal lost but six thousand men. 
 Hannibal was greatly elated with his victory, and doubted not 
 that Rome itself would now be compelled to bow before him. 
 Thus far his march had been resistless and desolating, like the 
 flow of a lava flood down the sideg of Vesuvius. When the 
 tidings arrived in Rome of the utter destruction of the army 
 the consternation was inexpressible. Within eighteen months 
 one-fifth part of the whole male population of Rome over seven- 
 teen years of age had been slain. Every house was literally in 
 mourning. All eyes were again directed to Fabius, and every 
 measure he proposed, though his legal dictatorship was at an 
 end, was immediately adopted. 
 
 The consul Varro, at the head of seventy horsemen, had 
 effected his escape from the field, and despatches were soon 
 received at Rome from him, informing the senate that he had 
 rallied the wrecks of the army at Canusium, and that Hannibal 
 was not advancing upon the city. With much moral courage 
 the defeated consul then hastened to Rome, and presenting 
 himself before the senate, dissuaded from all thoughts of peace, 
 and urged the desperate prosecution of the war to the last ex- 
 tremity. Thus animated, a new dictator, M. Junius Pisa, waa 
 chosen ; eight thousand slaves were enlisted ; all the criminals 
 and debtors were released, upon condition of their taking up 
 arms. Thus twenty-five thousand men were speedily raised, 
 and at the head of this small force, Pisa marched to embarrasi 
 the movements of the foe. At the same time the old men and
 
 116 ITALY. 
 
 the boys in Rome were organized into military bands for the 
 defense of the capital. 
 
 Hannibal had now crossed the Apennines from the Adriatic 
 shore, and was encamped upon the right bank of the Voltur- 
 nus, about twelve miles above Capua. This renowned city, 
 then second only to Rome, had capitulated to the conqueror. 
 The summer had now passed away, and Hannibal, gathering 
 his army within and around the walls of Capua, went into 
 winter quarters. The soldiers, fearing no assault and sur- 
 rounded with abundance, surrendered themselves to luxurious 
 indulgence. 
 
 Notwithstanding Hannibal's victories, he had much cause 
 for solicitude. Upon the field of Cannse he had lost six thou- 
 sand of his best troops. He was far from home, and his army 
 was daily growing weaker. He, therefore, found it very con- 
 venient to remain behind the walls of Capua, while he sent to 
 Carthage for reinforcements. With the opening of the spring 
 active operations were renewed. Three Roman armies, amount- 
 ing in all to sixty thousand men, were encamped on the banks 
 of the Vulturous. Hannibal marched out of Capua and took a 
 strong position on the heights of Mount Tifata. During the 
 winter Philip, king of Macedon, had entei'ed into an alliance 
 with Hannibal offensive and defensive. Sicily was now in open 
 revolt against Rome. The whole summer, however, passed 
 away without any decisive action, the two hostile armies 
 watching each other and maneuvering, with occasional skir- 
 mishes, to gain the advantage. Still on the whole the Romans 
 were recruiting their energies, while Hannibal was growing 
 weaker. 
 
 Through almost uninterrupted victory Hannibal's army, 
 far from home, was wasting away, while from every defeat, the 
 Romans rose with recruited vigor. For many months the 
 storm of battle raged around the walls of Capua, recruits being 
 continually sent in to fill up the broken battalions of the 
 Romans. At length the Romans, with an army of slxtv then-
 
 THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OP MANNIBAL. 117 
 
 gand men, surrounded Capua, and in concentric lines threw up 
 their entrenchments, so that the city was effectually blockaded. 
 Hannibal was absent, ravaging the fields of southern Italy, 
 when he heard of the danger of Capua and of the garrison he 
 had left there. With characteristic energy he placed himself 
 at the head of his cavalry, some regiments of light infantry, 
 and thirty-three elephants, which had just been sent to him 
 from Carthage, and descending like a whirlwind into the plain 
 of Capua, commenced a fierce attack upon the Roman line*. 
 But the Romans, strongly entrenched, repelled all his assaults, 
 and drove him back to the mountains. His peril was now 
 great. The country all around had been converted into a 
 desert, and the horses of Hannibal, which constituted the most 
 effectual portion of his army, were perishing. Under these 
 circumstances he adopted the desperate resolve to march upon 
 Rome. 
 
 Leaving his camp-fires burning upon the ridges of the 
 Tifata, to deceive his foes, at midnight he commenced his 
 march upon the eternal city. With hasty strides he advanced 
 to the upper waters of the Tiber, and then descending the left 
 bank of the stream, encamped his hosts within four miles of 
 Rome. Before his terrible march crowds of fugitives fled, 
 seeking refuge behind the walls of the city, while in his rear 
 his route was marked with lurid flames, blood, smoke, and 
 ashes. The gleam of his spears and banners, as the awful ap- 
 parition thus unexpectedly appeared before the walls of Rome, 
 created the utmost consternation. The women fled in dismay 
 to the temples, imploring the aid of the gods. Every man 
 capable of bearing arms rushed to the walls. It so happened 
 that just at this tune a political festival had assembled within 
 the walls of Rome ten thousand men from the cities and vil- 
 lages around, and they eagerly united with the citizens to 
 repel the assault. 
 
 Hannibal, apprised of these vigorous measures of defense, 
 deemed an attack hopeless ; but he was in one of the most in
 
 *18 ITALY. 
 
 viting regions the world could present for plunder. For one 
 hundred and fifty years no enemy had approached the walls 
 of Rome. This long period of peace had secured a dense 
 population; cities and villages abounded, filled with all the 
 creations of opulence, while the fields waved with harvests. 
 Hannibal swept the country, accumulating vast stores of plun- 
 der and unnumbered prisoners. It is said that at the head of 
 a body of cavalry he rode up to the Colh'ne gate of the city 
 and defiantly hurled a dart against it. 
 
 For more than six years Hannibal had been ravaging the 
 territory of the Romans, and he had slain more of the Ro- 
 mans than were then left living capable of bearing arms 
 against him ; and now his troops were surrounding the walls 
 of Rome itself, challenging the inhabitants to a conflict which 
 they dared not accept. The Romans, who were besieging 
 Capua, learning that Rome was in danger, hurriedly broke up 
 their encampment and hastened to the defense of the capital. 
 Hannibal commenced a retreat, cautiously pursued by the 
 Romans. Suddenly he turned upon his foe, in a midnight 
 attack, and routed them with great slaughter. He then 
 marched unobstructed through southern Italy, plundering and 
 burning in all directions. 
 
 Capua, thus abandoned, was soon starved into submission, 
 and surrendered to the Romans. Their punishment for lend- 
 ing compulsory assistance to the foe was as cruel as fiendlike 
 malignity could devise. Many of the most illustrious men 
 were sold into slavery ; many were mercilessly scourged and 
 then beheaded ; and many were thrown into dungeons, where 
 they were left to the lingering torments of starvation. 
 
 The reconquest of Capua encouraged the Romans, and 
 struck terror into the revolted provinces, which had allied 
 themselves with the Carthaginians. The position of Hannibal 
 was becoming daily more perilous, and the tide of fortune was 
 manifestly turning against him. His hopes of rallying a coali- 
 tion of the Italian states against Rome were at an end. Bui
 
 THB ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OF HANNIBAL. 119 
 
 still he was at the head of a victorious army ; he had met his 
 foes but to trample them beneath his feet ; and in a resistless 
 march of hundreds of miles he had plundered and desolated 
 the plains of Italy. He consequently doubted not that he 
 could hold his position as long as he pleased, supporting his 
 army at the cost of his enemies. 
 
 In the mean time the war between Rome and Carthage 
 was raging in Spain, in Greece, and in Sicily, with varying 
 success. There is but little worthy of note in these scenes of 
 savage cruelty and blood. The siege of Syracuse, in Sicily, 
 has obtained a world-wide renown in consequence of the de- 
 fense organized and conducted by the genius of Archimedes. 
 Marcellus, the Roman general, who had command of the fleet, 
 attacked the city by water. Appius Claudius conducted the 
 land attack, bringing his ships up to the sea-wall, and attempt- 
 ing to scale the battlements by means of immense ladders, 
 raised by ropes running through blocks attached to the masts. 
 
 But Archimedes had armed the ramparts with enginery of 
 such terrific power as to baffle all the efforts of the besiegers. 
 A storm of stones, arrows, and javelins swept the decks of 
 the ships as they approached. When the ladders were placed 
 against the walls it was found that the walls were loopholed 
 so that the men, as they attempted to ascend, were shot by 
 an unseen enemy. Long poles were thrust out from the bat- 
 tlements, dropping down from their gigantic arms immense 
 rocks and masses of lead, which fell with crushing violence 
 upon the ships below. Enormous cranes were also thrust 
 over the wall, with iron grapples affixed which seized hold of 
 the stem or stern of the ship, and then by the application of 
 *n immense mechanical power, raised the end seized many 
 feet, and then dropped it into the sea with violence, which 
 either upset the ship or filled it with water. On the land side 
 also, with equal vigor, the assault was repelled. Marcellus, at 
 length, in despair relinquished the attempt to take the place
 
 ISO ITALY. 
 
 by storm, and prepared, by a regular blockade, to starve out 
 the garrison. 
 
 In the haze of these distant ages we see fleets incessantly 
 *joming and going, and hear the smothered roar of battle, but 
 it is now quite impossible to give a chronological narrative of 
 many of the events as they ensued. Polybius states that the 
 blockade of Syracuse lasted eight months, and the city finally 
 surrendered to the Roman arms, as is supposed, in the year 
 213 B. c. Marcellus, having reconquered the island from the 
 Carthaginians, again took possession of it in the name of the 
 Roman people. But for two years the Carthaginians main- 
 tained a foothold in many fortresses of the island, and the 
 fluctuations of the war were such that at one time there were 
 sixty-two towns in a state of revolt against the Romans. But 
 though the billows of war thus rose and fell, the Roman arms 
 were steadily in the ascendant, and in the year 210 before 
 Christ, word was sent to Rome that the war in Sicily was at 
 an end. We read the brief record of this stern strife with 
 composure. But no imagination can conceive the horrors of 
 the conflict. The whole island was for years swept with 
 flame and deluged with blood. 
 
 Both parties were equally merciless. There was no pity 
 for the widow or the orphan, the matron or the maiden. The 
 captives were scourged and then beheaded, or sold into per- 
 petual slavery. This horrible bondage was not the doom of 
 any particular race or color, but men of sen atonal dignity, and 
 maidens of exalted birth and of richest accomplishments, were 
 sold unscrupulously in the slave-marts of Rome and Carthage. 
 This is the slavery which existed in the time of our Saviour, 
 and which we are now told that Christ and His apostles re- 
 garded without disapprobation. And this barbaric system of 
 selling captives of all conditions taken in war, is appealed t 
 as an argument in support of slavery in the midst of the 
 Chrisf ian institutions of the nineteenth century. The Romans 
 came hi crowds to Sicily, purchased at a merely nominal price
 
 THB ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OP HANNIBAL. 121 
 
 vast tracts of land, which war had depopulated, and culti- 
 vated their extended plantations by the unpaid toil of these 
 woe-stricken brothers and sisters of the human family whom 
 barbaric war had enslaved. Neither whites nor blacks will 
 long endure such wrongs. Eighty years passed away, when 
 a servile insurrection broke out, and the Roman slave-holders 
 bit the dust. 
 
 Hannibal was now in Apulia recruiting bis soldiers, and 
 undecided as to the direction in which he would ]ea^ his 
 army. The terrible severity with which Rome had punished 
 the insurgents of Capua, and those in Sicily who had espous- 
 ed the Carthaginian cause, intimidated all the tribes of Italy, 
 who had any disposition to unite with Hannibal in the en- 
 deavor to throw off the Roman yoke. Two consular armies 
 were now sent into Apulia to operate against the invaders. 
 But even these two united, dared not meet Hannibal in the 
 open field. Concentrating his band of veterans, he marched to 
 and fro, whithersoever he pleased, all opposition flying before 
 him. He burnt farm-houses and villages, plundered the gran- 
 aries, trampled down the harvests, and drove off the cattle. 
 Famine, and its invariable concomitant, pestilence, followed in 
 bis path. 
 
 With stratagem characteristic of this shrewd chieftain, 
 Hannibal detached one of the consular armies, that of Fal- 
 vius, from its ally, fell upon it unexpectedly, and almost every 
 man was hewn down by the sabres of his cavalry. But not- 
 withstanding these successes, no one thought, even, of propos- 
 ing terms of peace with the invader. The terror, howc ver, 
 which the individual powers of Hannibal inspired, is conspic- 
 uous, from the fact that while he was almost without opposi 
 tion plundering the plains of Italy, Rome, fearing to meet him 
 in battle, sent armies across the sea to carry the war to the 
 walls of Carthage. The war now was spread over almost the 
 whole of southern Europe and northern Africa. The crash 
 of arms and cry of onset were heard in Italy, Spain, Africa,
 
 IM ITALY. 
 
 Sicily, Greece, and every where upon the waves of the Medi- 
 terranean, as, in gigantic conflict, Rome and Carthage strug- 
 gled for the sovereignty of the world. 
 
 Tidings now reached the senate that Hasdrutal, the brother 
 of Hannibal, was leaving Carthage with a strong reenforce- 
 ment, to traverse Spain and Gaul, and convey to his brother ia 
 Italy succors, which would render him invincible. The danger 
 was considered so imminent that a dictator was immediately 
 appointed. Q. Fulvius, one of the most renowned generals of 
 the empire, was placed hi this responsible post, and was also 
 appointed consul, with another renowned general, Fabius, as 
 his colleague. These two generals in cooperation with Marcel- 
 lus, the conqueror of Sicily, combined all their energies, aided 
 by dictatorial power, in organising a campaign for crushing 
 Hannibal before his brother could arrive with his reinforce- 
 ments. Each was placed at the head of a full consular army, 
 and from different directions they commenced their march into 
 Apulia to overwhelm the foe who had so long set Rome at 
 defiance. The doom of Hannibal seemed now sealed. It was 
 not doubted that Hannibal, in the south of Italy, would thus 
 be destroyed before Hasdrubal could bring his reinforcements 
 across the Alps. 
 
 In this perilous hour the military genius of Hannibal shone 
 forth with even unwonted splendor. Like a lion at bay he 
 sprang first upon Fulvius, and drove his legions broken and 
 bleeding in utter rout from the field. Utterly exhausted by 
 the blows he had received, the vanquished, humiliated, breath- 
 less consul took refuge within the walls of Venusia, where he 
 was compelled to remain repairing damages and healing 
 wounds for the remainder of the campaign. Freed from thi 
 enemy Hannibal turned, with a tremendous bound, upjn Mar- 
 cellus. The approach of the Carthaginians, impetuously, like 
 the rush of the tornado, struck the inferior band with terror. 
 They fled to a hill for safety. Here they were surrounded,
 
 THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OP HANNIBAL. 19$ 
 
 and only saved themselves from a bloody grave by an uncon- 
 ditional surrender. 
 
 Without the loss of a day Hannibal then turned upon 
 Fabius, whose troops had marched to the assault of the im- 
 pregnable walls of Tarentum, which city, capable of repelling 
 any foe, was held by the Carthagenians. But treachery be- 
 trayed the frowning fortresses into the hands of the Romans, 
 and when Hannibal had arrived within five miles of the gates, 
 to his utter consternation he learned that the garrison had 
 capitulated, and that the Roman banners were floating over 
 the towers of the city. He, however, advanced to the walls, 
 and encamped, for a few days, before the city, practicing 
 every stratagem to lure the Romans out to battle. Failing in 
 this, he resumed his resistless march of devastation and plun- 
 der. 
 
 The result of the campaign caused great disappointment. 
 Though Tarentum had been gained by the Romans, the acqui- 
 sition was the result of treason, not of military prowess, and 
 the superiority of Hannibal was more manifest than ever 
 before. The indignation against Marcellus, who had taken 
 shelter behind the walls of Venusia for the whole summer, 
 was so strong that one of the most venerable of the tribunes 
 brought in a bill before the people to deprive him of his com- 
 mand. Marcellus returned to Rome to plead his own cause. 
 He declared that he had done the best he could ; that it was 
 not his fault if he had been conquered by one whom none 
 other of the Roman generals had yet been able to withstand. 
 No one could seriously doubt the courage of the old man, 
 and the people, moved by his mortification, generously forgave 
 cim his want of success, rejected the bill of impeachment, and 
 elected him consul 
 
 Again the cloud of adversity began to darken over the 
 Roman republic. Hasdrubal was advancing, with rapid 
 strides, through the passes of the Alps. Hannibal seemed to 
 be invincible. Twelve of the Roman colonies, dreading his
 
 124 ITALY. 
 
 ravages, refused longer to contribute to carry on the waf 
 against him, and there were many indications that the Etrus- 
 cans, one of the most powerful of the Italian nations in alli- 
 ance with Rome, were preparing to receive Hasdrubal as a 
 deliverer. 
 
 The spring of the year 208 B. c. now came, opening the 
 eleventh campaign of this memorable war. Two consular 
 armies were raised amounting to forty thousand men, and 
 were sent against Hannibal. As these troops were on the 
 march, confident from their superiority in numbers that Han- 
 nibal would not venture to risk a battle, they were suddenly 
 assailed, in the flanks of their column, by the whole Cartha- 
 ginian cavalry. The Romans, taken by surprise, were routed, 
 trampled down, and scattered in ah 1 directions. In a skirmish, 
 which soon after ensued, Marcellus himself was slain. The 
 Romans retreated to a hill where they threw up entrench- 
 ments and stood upon the defensive. They no longer thought 
 of assailing Hannibal, but hoped only to escape from his terri- 
 ble arm. For the remainder of the season the field was left 
 free to Hannibal. 
 
 Again a fearful wave of dismay was rolled over Rome. 
 The tidings came that Hasdrubal, with a large army, had suc- 
 ceeded in crossing the Alps and was advancing with his exul- 
 tant troops through the plains of Cisalpine Gaul. Hasdrubal 
 crossed the Pyrenees at their western extremity, and thus 
 eluded the soldiers sent to oppose his march by guarding the 
 eastern passes of the mountains. He continued his march 
 across Gaul, passed the Rhone near Lyons, and struck the 
 route 1 of Hannibal in the plains of Dauphine, at the foot of 
 the Alps. There were now two Carthaginian armies marcn- 
 ing upon Rome Hannibal from the south, and Hasdrubal 
 from the north. 
 
 Again Rome roused all her energies, and created and 
 equipped two consular armies for the conflict. Nero and Liv- 
 ins were chosen consuls, both men of great energy. Tha
 
 THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OF HANNIBAL. 125 
 
 whole Roman force sent into the field for this campaign, con- 
 sisting of Romans and their allies, amounted to one hun Ired 
 and fifty thousand men. But for her allies, Rome would now 
 inevitably have been crushed; for the whole population of 
 Roman citizens, capable of bearing arms, amounted at this 
 time to but one hundred and thirty-seven thousand one hun- 
 dred and eight. So great was the demand for men that the 
 slaves were invited to enlist, and two legions were composed 
 of them. The consul Livius, a very stern old man, was sent 
 to oppose Hasdrubal, and the consul Nero led the army 
 against Hannibal. 
 
 Hasdrubal issued from the Alps, through the same denies 
 his brother had threaded eleven years before, and crossing the 
 Po, descended the right bank to Placentia. A Latin colony 
 held this city, and, faithful to Rome, it closed its gates against 
 the invaders. Hasdrubal, having no enginery of war suffi- 
 ciently powerful to batter down the walls, after a delay of a 
 few days marched on toward the shores of the Adriatic. He 
 immediately despatched six horsemen to his brother to inform 
 him of his approach, and to propose a union of their two 
 armies hi Umbria, and a prompt march upon Rome by the 
 Flaminian road. 
 
 Hasdrubal advanced in such strength that Livius was 
 unable to oppose him, and he consequently retreated, and 
 intrenched himself behind the Metaurus, near the maritime 
 colony of Sena. Nero, with an army of forty thousand in- 
 iantry, and twenty-five thousand cavalry, was at Venusia, 
 operating to prevent Hannibal from marching north to coop- 
 erate with his brother. There was also a Roman army of 
 twenty thousand men in the rear of Hannibal at Tarentum. 
 Still Hannibal baffled all the endeavors of Nero. Marching 
 to and fro he gathered supplies and increased his force, and 
 encamped in strong array at Canuriuna, waiting for tiding* 
 Tom his brother. 
 
 In the meantime the six horsemen despatched by Hasdro*
 
 126 ITALY. 
 
 bal, with wonderful bravery and sagacity traversed the whole 
 length of Italy, through many hair-breadth escapes, until, 
 losing their way, they arrived near Tarentum, where they 
 encountered a foraging party of the Romans, by whom they 
 were taken prisoners, and despatched under a strong escort to 
 Nero. The letter found in their possession, revealed to Nero 
 a full plan of Hasdrubal's contemplated operations. Nero 
 iespatched the letter to the Roman senate, recalled to his ban- 
 ners all the scattered divisions of his army, and summoned to 
 his camp every Roman citizen capable of bearing arms. Leav- 
 ing this force under the command of his lieutenants, to check 
 any movement of Hannibal, he placed himself at the head of 
 a select body of seven thousand men, one thousand of whom 
 were cavalry, and starting from his camp at midnight, by 
 forced marches, hastened to the banks of the Metaurus to join 
 bis colleague Livius, and aid him in crushing Hasdrubal before 
 Hannibal could march to his aid. 
 
 As he advanced on this secret expedition, he revealed to 
 his soldiers his plan. They shared the spirit of their leader, 
 and with great enthusiasm pressed on their way. As they 
 passed rapidly along, the whole population crowded the road- 
 side with offerings of meat, drink, clothing, horses, and car- 
 riages. Altars were reared to the gods at various points on 
 their route, which were incessantly smoking with incense to 
 propitiate divine favor. The soldiers were so eager, that they 
 pressed on day and night, hardly allowing any halt. In 
 seven days the march was accomplished, and Nero, with his 
 army increased to eight or ten thousand, in the darkness of 
 the night entered the Roman camp of Livius, which was then 
 intrenched upon some eminences fourteen miles south of the 
 Metaurus. Hasdrubal had also crossed that river, and had 
 established his lines at but half a mile distant from the 
 Roman ramparts, preparing to give battle. 
 
 Nero had so secretly entered the encampment of Livius, 
 that Hasdrubal was as unconscious of his arrival as Hannibal
 
 THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OF HANNIBAL 12T 
 
 was of his departure. But the next morning as Hasdrubal 
 rode out to reconnoiter, he was struck with the vast increase 
 hi the number of his foes, an increase so great as to demand 
 his immediate retreat across the Metaurus. He attempted it 
 the next night, leaving all his camp-fires burning. But Livius 
 and Nero vigorously followed ; attacked him vehemently upon 
 the precipitous and wooded banks of the stream, and, after a 
 desperate battle, overwhelming him with numbers, cut his 
 whole army to pieces. Hasdrubal, seeing that all was lost, 
 spurred his horse into the midst of a Roman cohort and fell 
 pierced by innumerable wounds, selling his life as dearly as 
 possible. The whole Carthaginian camp, with all its wealth, 
 fell into the hands of the conquerers. Of the ten elephants 
 which Hasdrubal had led across the Alps, six were killed in 
 the action and four were taken alive. Three thousand Roman 
 prisoners were found in the camp, and set at liberty. Hasdru- 
 bal's army was thus utterly destroyed, and Hannibal was left 
 alone to struggle against the Roman power now rising with 
 new energies. 
 
 Nero cut off the head of Hasdrubal, and returning rap- 
 idly to Apulia, where Hannibal was impatiently waiting for 
 intelligence from his brother, threw the gory head into the 
 Carthaginian camp. This was the first intelligence Hannibal 
 received of the irreparable disaster. For a moment he was 
 overwhelmed, exclaiming : 
 
 "My fate is sealed. All is lost. I shall send no more 
 news of victory to Carthage. In losing Hasdrubal my last 
 hope is gone." 
 
 When the tidings of the great victory was received i 
 Rome, a scene of exaltation and joy was witnessed such a 
 Rome had never displayed before. The two consuls were 
 honored with the most gorgeous triumph Rome could then 
 furnish. Victories, as well as reverses, often come in troops. 
 WTiile Rome was blazing with illuminations, and echoing with 
 the huzzas of the people, news came that the Roman legions
 
 128 ITALY. 
 
 in Spain were also trampling down their foes. Scipio was 
 there marching from conquest to conquest, crushing all oppo- 
 sition before him. He had reached and captured New Car 
 thage, now Carthagena, the proud capital of Carthaginian 
 power in the peninsula. 
 
 Scipio, the young general now rising so rapidly to renown 
 in the war in Spain, merits special notice. When but twenty- 
 six years of age, he was appointed to the command of the 
 Roman troops in Spain, under circumstances very similar to 
 those in which Napoleon took charge of the army of Italy in 
 1796 ; and Scipio wielded the powers placed in his hands with 
 scarcely less of skill and energy than Napoleon subsequently 
 displayed. It is said that he marched from the Ebro to New 
 Carthage, a distance of three hundred and twenty-five miles, 
 in seven days. Carthagena, as the city is now called, stands 
 at the head of its world-renowned bay, and spreads its 
 streets widely over hills and valleys. These valleys were 
 then lagoons, and the city was built on a peninsula, connected 
 by a very narrow isthmus with the main land. Scipio, after a 
 short siege, took the city by storm, in one of the fiercest 
 fights on record, he having inspired his soldiers with his own 
 invincible daring. The slaughter of the wretched inhabitants 
 was dreadful, ten thousand only being reserved as captives. 
 These the conqueror treated with great humanity, and thus 
 secured their gratitude and their loyalty. His honorable 
 bearing, so unusual in those dark days, and particularly the 
 delicacy with which he treated his female prisoners, produced 
 * deep impression in his favor all over Spain.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FOREIGN CONQUESTS AND INTERNAL PEUD& 
 FROM 208 B. a TO 121 B. a 
 
 SCTPIO. His CHAEACTKR AND CAREER. THB CONQUEST OF SPAIN. QUELLING THB 
 MUTINY. MILITARY PROWKSS or HANNIBAL. HE RETIRES FROM ITALY. SOIPIO 
 INVADES AFRICA. DESTRUCTION OF THB CARTHAGINIAN ARMY. TRUCB AND 
 HUMILIATION OF CARTHAGE. LANDING OF HANNIBAL IN AFRICA. BATTLE OF 
 ZAMA. CLOSE OF THB SECOND PUNIO WAR. CONQUEST OF GREEOK. INVASION o 
 Svi:i.\. TIUUD Puxio WAR. DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE. THE NUMIDIAN WAR. 
 BARBARIAN INVASION. THE PLEBEIAN AND PATRICIAN CONFLICT. GRACCHUS 
 AND OCTAVIUS. 
 
 FTIIIE victories of Scipio in Spain, and the skill with which 
 -*- he combined humanity with severity, speedily created a 
 strong disposition with the Spaniards to throw off their 
 alliance with Carthage and receive the Romans as their pro- 
 tectors and masters. Many Spanish tribes joined the army of 
 Scipio. This young Roman general was one of those marked 
 men born to command. In both form and feature he was 
 remarkably attractive and imposing. He was courteous and 
 polished in his manners, and displayed that consciousness of 
 greatness, blended with gentleness, magnanimity, and an 
 entire absence of arrogance, which naturally wins the homage 
 of all human hearts. The Carthaginian generals complained 
 that no Spanish troops could be trusted, if they were once 
 brought within the sphere of his influence. 
 
 As soon as Scipio received the news of the great victory 
 of the Metaurus, he was roused to the strongest desire to 
 emulate that victory by a still more decisive action hi Spain. 
 A gereral by the name of Hasdrubal Gisco was now in com- 
 mand of the Carthaginian forces, having an army of seventy 
 6*
 
 ISO ITALY 
 
 thousand foot soldiers and four thousand horse, with thirty 
 two elephants. As Scipio could not bring into the field more 
 than forty-five thousand foot and three thousand horse, Has- 
 drubal felt sanguine hi his ability to crush him. Notwith- 
 standing the superiority of the Carthaginian force, Scipio was 
 eager for a general battle. But when he had led his troops 
 within sight of the foe, and found them strongly intrenched in 
 Buch overwhelming numbers, he was very uneasy lest the 
 courage of his Spanish allies should fail. He, therefore, 
 formed his line of battle, placing his Roman soldiers on the 
 right and left, and encircling, as it were, the Spaniards in the 
 center. With evolutions of wonderful skill, Scipio led his 
 veteran columns to the assault, using his Spanish auxiliaries to 
 intimidate by their formidable array, while sheltering them from 
 the storm of war. The battle raged demoniacally for a day. 
 It was the old story of confusion, clangor, misery, and blood. 
 By the middle of the afternoon the Carthaginians were 
 routed and flying in all directions. Their camp, with all its 
 magazines and treasures, would have fallen into the hands of 
 the victors, but for a tempest of thunder, wind, and rain 
 which suddenly burst, with almost inconceivable fury, upon 
 the field of battle. The Romans, exhausted by the toils of 
 their great achievement, were compelled to seek the shelter 
 of their tents. The great victory virtually ended the Car- 
 thaginian dominion in Spam ; and the vast peninsula was 
 transferred to Rome, to swell the renown and the power of 
 that nation, as yet but five hundred and fifty years of age, 
 and destined so soon to be the mistress of the world. The 
 routed Carthaginians fled to the sea, and embarking in their 
 ghips, escaped to their own land. The native chiefs crowded 
 around Scipio with ofiers of homage, and it was soon an- 
 nounced to hiri that no enemy was to be found in the field, 
 from the Pyrenees to the Pillars of Hercules. Scipio dis- 
 patched his brother to Rome to announce the conquest of 
 Spain.
 
 FOREIGN CONQUESTS AND INTERNAL FEUDS. 131 
 
 The successful general, with sagacity and energy, which 
 bad given him lasting renown, now resolved to carry the war 
 into Africa. Syphax, a king of one of the African nations, was 
 then in alliance with Carthage. Scipio, having sounded him 
 through an ambassador, embarked with only two quinque- 
 remes, and was so fortunate as to elude all the Carthaginian 
 ships, and to enter the maritime metropolis of Syphax in 
 safety. It so happened that Hasdrubal Gisco had just arrived 
 in the same port, with seven ships, seeking aid from his ally. 
 Syphax invited them both to his table in a gorgeous entertain- 
 ment. The genius of Scipio was here so conspicuous, that 
 Hasdrubal is said to have declared, that Scipio appeared to 
 him more dangerous in peace than in war. Syphax was 
 brought completely under the sway of his mind, and entered 
 cordially into a treaty with him. Scipio then returned to 
 New Carthage, hi Spain, well satisfied with the results of his 
 mission. 
 
 A mutiny, in consequence of arrearages of pay, broke out 
 in the army, which was quelled by Scipio with characteristic 
 severity and lenity. The mutineers, in a body, marched upon 
 New Carthage to demand redress. Scipio, informed of their 
 approach, sent seven tribunes to meet them with fair words. 
 Thus encouraged they marched into the open gates of New 
 Carthage in high spirits. Scipio sent them a flattering mes- 
 sage, and, hi perfect confidence, they dispersed to their quar- 
 cers for the night. In the meantime Scipio had obtained the 
 names of thirty-five of the prominent actors hi the revolt, and 
 had ordered their secret arrest. In the earliest dawn of the 
 morning strong bodies of troops were stationed at each gate 
 of the city, so that no one could escape. The insurgents were 
 then invited to meet Scipio at the forum, as if to receive the 
 redress of their grievances. All unconscious of danger, they 
 crowded the market-place, unarmed, as was customary on 
 such occasions. 
 
 Scipio was seated upon a throne. Gradually the suspicion
 
 J 32 ITALY 
 
 spread through the ranks of the insurgents that they -were 
 betrayed. Troops, in solid column, were marched from ap- 
 pointed rendezvous, and they occupied all the streets leading 
 to the place of general gathering. The crier, with a loud 
 voice, commanded silence. Breathless stillness ensued. The 
 thirty-five ringleaders were brought up in chains. Scipio then 
 declared that all of the mutinous soldiers he would forgive, 
 nflicting punishment only on those who had misled them. 
 Each of these thirty-five officers was then stripped and bound 
 to a stake, and after being terribly scourged, they were all be- 
 headed. The mutiny was thus effectually quelled, and Scipio 
 gained a new ascendency over the minds of his soldiers. 
 
 The whole of the Spanish peninsula now was in the posses- 
 sion of the Romans. Scipio, thus victorious, hoped to attain 
 the consulship, and leaving his army under the command of 
 lieutenants, returned to Rome. With great pomp he entered 
 the imperial city, conveying immense wealth, gained from the 
 plundered provinces, which he deposited in the treasury. He 
 was greeted with great enthusiasm, and by acclaim was raised 
 to the consulship. Scipio now prepared, with great vigor, to 
 drive Hannibal from Italy. 
 
 The destruction of Hasdrubal's army, had reduced Hannibal 
 to the necessity of acting solely on the defensive. He had 
 sent to Carthage for fresh recruits to be dispatched to him 
 across the sea, and he now hoped only to maintain his ground, 
 until these reinforcements should arrive. His military renown 
 was so extraordinary, that the Romans dared not attack him. 
 Mago, a younger brother of Hannibal, with the wreck of the 
 Carthaginian army which had been driven out of Sj am, 
 landed in Italy and took Genoa by surprise. For a few 
 months he carried on a vigorous war against the Romans, 
 struggling to fight his way to the relief of his brother. Four 
 Roman legions were sent against him, and after many obsti- 
 nate battles he was driven to his ships, he himself being mor- 
 tally wounded. As the fleet was returning to Africa, when
 
 f CONQUESTS AND INTERNAL FEUDS. 138 
 
 off the coast of Sardinia, Mago died, suffering far more from 
 disappointment and chagrin than from his festering wounds. 
 
 The wonderful genius of Hannibal is conspicuous in th 
 fact, that for four years after the death of Hasdrubal he main- 
 tained his position in southern Italy, in defiance of all the 
 power of Rome. During all this time he received no supplies 
 from home, and had no other naval force at his disposal, but 
 such vessels as he could build and man. Conscious that hij 
 name would live and his exploits be renowned through ages 
 to come, he reared several monumental columns at Lacinium, 
 upon which he engraved minute particulars of his campaigns. 
 At length, after spending fifteen years in ravaging Italy, he 
 embarked his troops, to return to Carthage, without the 
 slightest opposition from the Romans. For fifteen years he 
 had ravaged Italy, from one end to the other with fire and 
 sword, and yet, through an almost incessant series of battles, 
 had never experienced a decided defeat. 
 
 Scipio had already gone, with a large array to Africa, to 
 carry on the war to the walls of Carthage. With a large 
 fleet he crossed the Mediterranean, and landed within five 
 miles of the metropolitan city. He did not venture immedi- 
 ately to attack the formidable capital, but, imitating the policy 
 of Hannibal, he ravaged the adjacent country, and sent to 
 Rome eight thousand unhappy captives, men, women, and 
 children, to be sold into slavery. Two large Carthaginian 
 armies were raised to oppose him, and, as whiter was fast 
 approaching, Scipio retired to winter quarters, near the sea, 
 where, supported by his fleet, he waited an opportunity to 
 strike some effectual blow. 
 
 The Carthaginians did not venture to attack him behind his 
 intrenchments, but encamped at a short distance to watch his 
 movements. Scipio, to throw them off their guard, sent com- 
 missioners to negotiate terms of peace, pretending that h 
 was exceedingly anxious to come to an amicable settlement of 
 their difficulties. In the meantime he had ascertained that the
 
 i84 ITALY. 
 
 Carthaginian camp was composed of huts constructed of 
 stakes, and thatched with dry leaves and grass. Disguising 
 some of his soldiers as slaves, they were introduced into the 
 enemy's camp, as forming a part of the suite of the officers 
 engnged in the negotiation; and these pretended slaves, un- 
 suspected, acted as efficient spies, in gaining all the informa- 
 tion which was desired. 
 
 At length he suddenly broke off all communication with the 
 enemy, having succeeded in introducing, under various dis- 
 guises and pretexts, several of his emissaries into their camp. 
 In a dry and windy night, the torch was touched to the 
 thatched cottages. The flames spread with a rapidity which 
 no human power could check. The Carthaginians, imagining 
 the conflagration to be the result of accident, were thrown off 
 their guard and they crowded together, in the utmost disorder 
 in the attempt to extinguish the flames, or to escape from 
 them. 
 
 While in this helpless state of confusion, Scipio, with his 
 whole force, fell upon them. Neither resistance nor flight 
 were of any avail. The flames, sweeping hi all directions, 
 raged like a furnace. Every avenue was choked by a crowd 
 of men and horses, in confusion and terror indescribable. All 
 the enginery of Roman warfare was brought to bear upon 
 them ; and in the course of a few hours an army of ninety 
 thousand men was annihilated, all being slain or dispersed. 
 
 Scipio, thus exultant, was still not sufficiently strong to 
 make an attack upon the walled city of Carthage. But he 
 surrounded one of the neighboring cities, and vigorously 
 pressed its siege. The retributive providence of God is here 
 wonderfully prominent, a retribution which extends to nations 
 as well as to individuals. "For whatsoever a man soweth, 
 that shall he also reap." Scipio was now ravaging the Car- 
 thaginian realms in almost precisely the same manner in which 
 Hannibal had ravaged Italy. Soon the Carthaginians had 
 organized another army of thirty thousand men. But no
 
 FOliEIGN CONQUESTS AND INTERNAL FTJEDS. 135 
 
 ooner had they emerged from the walls of the city, than 
 Scipio fell upon them, and with much slaughter drove them 
 panting and bleeding back behind their ramparts. 
 
 Scipio now swept to and fro with resistless force, compell- 
 ing the submission of the surrounding towns, and enriching 
 his soldiers with immense plunder. He advanced to Tunis, 
 then a strong post in the vicinity of Carthage, and, finding it 
 abandoned by the garrison, established himself thei c. Tinder 
 these circumstances the Carthaginians implored peace. The 
 terms which the haughty conqueror demanded were humilia- 
 ting in the extreme. The conditions he dictated were, that the 
 Carthaginians should evacuate all Italy and Gaul ; that Spain 
 and all the islands between Africa and Italy should be ceded 
 to Rome ; that all the Carthaginian ships, but twenty, should 
 be surrendered to the conqueror ; and that Carthage should 
 pay an immense contribution in provisions and money to the 
 Roman army. Hard as these terms were, the Carthaginians 
 acceded to them, and a truce was concluded, while embassa- 
 dors were sent to Rome to procure the ratification of the 
 senate and people. 
 
 Matters were in this condition when Hannibal, having 
 evacuated Italy, landed with his troops in Africa, and the truce 
 was immediately broken. He disembarked his force at Leptis, 
 and advanced to Zama, a town about five days' march from 
 Carthage. Scipio and Hannibal had a mutual admiration for 
 each other's military genius, and as the armies approached, the 
 two illustrious generals held a private interview, perhaps 
 hoping to effect a termination of hostilities. The meeting led 
 to no peaceful results, and the next day the antagonistic hosts 
 were led into the field for a decisive battle. The numbers 
 engaged on either side are not now known. The battle of 
 Tama is renowned in history as one of the fiercest and most 
 decisive which has ever been fought. The Carthaginians 
 were utterly routed. Twenty thousand were left dead upon
 
 180 TALT. 
 
 the plain, and ail equal number were taken p.-isoners. Hanni- 
 bal, with the mere wreck of his army, escaped to Adrimetum. 
 
 This was one of the decisive battles which seems to have 
 decided the fate of the world. There was no longer any force 
 to be rallied, sufficient to withstand the march of Rome toward 
 universal conquest. The Carthaginians, utterly dejected, 
 again sent embassadors to Scipio, with the most humiliating 
 supplications for peace. The conqueror, with imperial airs, 
 reproached them for their past misconduct, and consented to 
 peace only on condition that they should make ample amends 
 for the injuries done to the Romans during the truce, surren- 
 der all deserters and prisoners, give up all their ships of war 
 but ten, engage in no war whatever without the consent of the 
 Romans, feed the Roman army for three months, and pay all 
 the Roman soldiers their wages until they should be recalled 
 home ; pay an immediate contribution of ten thousand Euboio 
 talents (eleven million seven hundred and ninety-seven thou- 
 sand five hundred dollars), and also pay annually, for fifty 
 years, two hundred talents (two hundred and thirty-five thou- 
 sand nine hundred and fifty dollars), and give two hundred 
 hostages, between the ages of fourteen and thirty, to be 
 selected at the pleasure of the Roman general, and to be sent 
 to Rome, there to be held in captivity as security for the ful- 
 fillment of the treaty. 
 
 Even Hannibal was so conscious that, for the present, fur- 
 ther resistance was vain, that he urged the acceptance of these 
 merciless conditions. Peace was accordingly signed, and the 
 Roman army returned to Italy. Thus terminated the second 
 Punic war. Rome received Scipio with triumph, and in re- 
 ward for his services conferred upon him the name of Scipio 
 Africanus. During this war, at times so disastrous, Rome 
 had made enormous strides. Her dominion now extended 
 over all Italy, Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. Even Car- 
 thage had become virtually a dependent and tributary prov- 
 ince. The de&iruction of the Carthaginian fleet had made the
 
 FOREIGN CONQUESTS AND INTERNAL FEUDS. 1ST 
 
 Romans masters of the sea; and their own fleet was now 
 rapidly increasing, as a large navy was necessary to maintain 
 communication with their possessions out of Italy. From the 
 height which Rome had now attained, she looked abroad over 
 the world and coveted the possession of irnlimited power 
 Republican equality was dominant hi the councils of the na- 
 tion, and the highest offices of state were accessible to all who 
 had talents and energy to win them. 
 
 Hannibal, unable to endure the disgrace of his country and 
 his own humiliation, fled to Syria. For some years he wan- 
 dered from court to court hoping to form a coalition to resist 
 the encroachments of Rome. Pursued by his foes, he waa 
 ever in danger of arrest, and at length life became an in- 
 supportable burden. A wretched fugitive he had reached 
 Bithynia, one of the kingdoms of Asia Minor. The king of 
 Bithynia, trembling before the power of the Romans, in reply 
 to their demands, agreed to deliver him up. Hannibal, now a 
 world-weary old man, nearly seventy years of age, in despair 
 went to his chamber, drank poison and died. 
 
 The greed of conquest kept alive a warlike spirit, and 
 every man, emulous of renown, sought to attain it on fields of 
 blood. The second Punic war being thus successfully termin- 
 ated, Rome now turned her eyes to Macedonia determined to 
 crush the power of Philip, its energetic sovereign. It was easy 
 to find occasion for a quarrel. A fleet was dispatched conveying 
 a large army to the shores of Greece, and for three years the 
 hills and valleys of that fair land were swept by the storms of 
 war. At length Philip, defeated hi a decisive battle in Thes- 
 saly, was compelled to accept peace on such terms as the 
 Romans thought proper to dictate. 
 
 In anguish the Macedonian monarch surrendered to Rome 
 and her allies, every city he possessed out of the limits of 
 Macedonia, both in Europe and Asia. He was also forced to 
 deliver up nearly his whole navy to Rome, and also to pay a
 
 138 ITALY. 
 
 subsidy of one million one hundred and seventy-nine thousand 
 seven hundred and fifty dollars. 
 
 The Roman armies thus victorious in Greece, again entered 
 their ships and crossed the sea into Syria. Antiochus, the king, 
 fought bravely. In battle after battle he was defeated, and 
 he slowly retired, mile by mile, struggling against the inva- 
 ders. A decisive battle at length brought him upon his knees 
 before triumphant Rome. The terms exacted were remorse- 
 less. Antiochus surrendered all his possessions in Europe, a 1 ! 
 in Asia west of Mt. Taurus, reimbursed the expenses of the 
 war ; paid immediately in cash, a sum equal to five hundred 
 thousand dollars, and a vast quantity of corn. He also sur- 
 rendered twenty hostages to be selected by the Roman con- 
 sul, and agreed to pay a sum amounting to nearly eighteen 
 million of dollars, hi installments extending through eleven 
 years. Antiochus also surrendered all his elephants and hia 
 whole navy to Rome. 
 
 In all these wars Rome was merciless. In Epirus, after all 
 hostilities were at an end, seventy towns were sacked and 
 destroyed in a day, and one hundred and fifty thousand human 
 beings were sold as slaves. It is Christianity alone, which has 
 divested war of such horrors. Gradually all the states ot 
 Greece lost their independence and became Roman provinces. 
 Beautiful Corinth fell in ruins and ashes before the march of 
 the ruthless invaders. Metellus took it by storm in the year 
 146, B. c. Most of the male citizens were surrendered to the 
 sword. The women and children were sold for slaves. The 
 city was plundered, and houses and temples were given up to 
 the flames. With the fall of Corinth perished Grecian inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 But again Carthage roused herself for a death struggle 
 against her foes. We enter upon the memorable period of 
 the Third Punic war. Since the terminatioi of the Second 
 Punic war, Carthage had remained humiliated and silent, not 
 daring to utter even a remonstrance against any degree of
 
 FOBBIGN CONQUESTS AND INTEKNAt, FEUDS. 189 
 
 Insult or outrage. "With the most extraordinary docility she 
 yielded to every demand, never declining, whenever called 
 upon, to aid the Romans with her arms. Her little fleet was 
 ever compelled to sail, at the bidding of Rome, to cooperate in 
 Roman conquests. Still the power of Carthage was such that 
 Rome regarded the distant commonwealth with a jealous eye ; 
 and in the Roman Senate the suggestion was not unfrequently 
 thrown out, that Carthage ought no longer to be permitted to 
 exist. 
 
 When there is a disposition to quarrel, it i never difficult 
 to find a pretext. Two consular armies, with a large fleet, 
 were soon sent to Africa. The Carthaginians, overawed by 
 the magnitude of the force, attempted no resistance; but, 
 through their embassadors, surrendered themselves unre- 
 servedly to the disposal of Rome. The Roman consuls had 
 no pity. They demanded three hundred children of the first 
 families as hostages. It was granted, and the weeping chil- 
 dren were surrendered amidst the lamentations of their parents. 
 They demanded all the Carthaginian weapons of war, both 
 offensive and defensive. An immense tram of wagons con- 
 veyed the arms to the Roman camp. In a vast concourse the 
 most illustrious men of Carthage followed the train, hoping 
 by their abject submission, to conciliate their terrible foes. 
 But haughty Rome had decreed that Carthage must be de- 
 stroyed With consternation inexpressible the Carthaginians 
 then heard the demand that they should abandon their city 
 entirely, every man, woman, and child, and establish them- 
 selves any where they pleased at a distance of at least ten 
 miles from the sea. " We are resolved," said the consuls, 
 * to raze Carthage to the ground." 
 
 This demand roused the energies of despair. As the ex- 
 hausted stag turns upon the dogs, protracting but for a few 
 moments his inevitable doom, so unarmed, helpless Carthage 
 turned upon Rome. The whole population rose in a frenzy. 
 Men, women and children worked nigh ; and day fabricating
 
 140 ITALY. 
 
 arms, and throwing up fortifications. The consuls immedv 
 ately put their armies in motion, and approaching the city 
 commenced a siege. The strength of the fortifications wera 
 such, and the defenders so desperate, that every assault waa 
 repulsed. For two years the terrible conflict raged around 
 the walls of Carthage. But Rome incessantly sent new re- 
 cruits to fill up the vacancies death occasioned, while Cartt age 
 was continually growing weaker. The misery hi the city 
 from famine and pestilence, was dreadful beyond description. 
 At length the Romans forced their way through a breach 
 into one of the quarters of the city, and then the horrible 
 struggle was continued for six days and six nights, from street 
 to street, and from house to house, until the assailed, utterly 
 exhausted, could resist no more ; and the smoldering city, 
 with its dying inhabitants, was surrendered at discretion. 
 
 Hopeless slavery, without distinction of age or sex or con- 
 dition, was the doom of the captured. Fifty thousand Car- 
 thaginians were sent to the slave markets of Rome, where 
 they were sold at auction and dispersed over the empire. 
 Men of consular dignity, matrons of illustrious lineage and 
 character, and young ladies beautiful and endowed with the 
 highest accomplishments of that day, suffered the doom of life- 
 long bondage, a doom which was also transmitted to their 
 offspring. This was but one hundred and forty years before 
 the birth of Christ. Such was the slavery upon which our 
 Saviour and His apostles are impiously accused of having 
 looked with complacency. 
 
 For many days the Roman soldiers were employed in plun- 
 dering the city. Then every building, which had withstood 
 the storm of battle, was leveled with the ground. A decree 
 was passed that no one should rear another building upon the 
 spot, and the whole territory was placed under the dominion 
 of a Roman governor. Thus was Carthage destroyed, in the 
 608th year after the building of Rome, and 146 years before 
 the Christian era. Thus, in this brief and final conflict, ter-
 
 xr CONQUETS AND INTERNAL FETTDS. 141 
 
 minated the Tb_rd Punic war ; and the Carthaginian empire 
 fell to rise no more. 
 
 Though the Carthaginians had been driven from Spain, 
 many of the Spanish tribes, independent and warlike, were 
 yet unsubdued. Rome, animated purely by the pride of con- 
 quest, sent her armies for their subjugation. The annals of 
 the protracted war with these tribes, are replete with deeds of 
 perfidy and cruelty perpetrated by the great conqueror. An 
 army of sixty thousand men for many years ravaged the 
 Spanish peninsula. The cities of the natives were destroyed, 
 and the captive citizens sold into slavery. At the same tune, 
 and with similar success, Rome was extending her conquests 
 over the neighboring tribes of Gaul, adding territory after 
 territory to her domain. In Africa, also, the tramp of the 
 Roman legions and the clash of Roman arms were incessantly 
 heard. West and southwest of Carthage there was an exten- 
 sive country called Numidia. A renowned prince, Jugurtha, 
 ruled over this domain. War was declared against this prince 
 on grounds then deemed sufficient, and a consular army was 
 sent over to Africa to invade his realms. For several years 
 the war was carried on with varying success, Jugurtha dis- 
 playing much heroism and military sagacity. 
 
 The renowned Caius Marius, a man of humble birth, but 
 of iidomitable energy, secured his election to the consulship, 
 and eagerly took command of the army for the subjugation of 
 Jugurtha. The atrocities of Roman warfare are illustrated by 
 the fact that Capsa, one of the most important fortified cities 
 of the country, falling into the hands of the Romans, they 
 massacred all the male inhabitants, sold the women and chil- 
 dren into slavery, and plundered and burnt the town. By the 
 most atrocious perfidy, Jugurtha was at length betrayed and 
 delivered into the hands of Marius. The unhappy Numidian 
 prince was led a captive to Rome, to grace the triumph of his 
 conqueror. With his two sons he was dragged along, humil- 
 iated and chained, in the triumphal procession ; and then all
 
 J42 I T A L T , 
 
 three were put to death. The iniquity of Rome ""a not dimin- 
 ished by the fact that Jugurtha merited his doom ; for had he 
 been an angel of light, his treatment would have been the 
 same. It was thus that the whole of Numidia became a 
 Roman province, ; .n the year 106 before Christ. 
 
 A new foe of appalling character, and from an unanticipa- 
 ted quarter, now assailed Rome. The forests of northern 
 Europe, from the Alps to the Frozen Ocean, and from the 
 British isles to China, were at this time swarming with bar- 
 barian hordes. They were outside of the limits of the civilized 
 world, and neither Greece nor Rome had cognizance of their 
 numbers, their names, or their habits. Just at the close of the 
 Jugurihine war, two of these savage nations, called the Cimbri 
 and the Teutones, made an irruption into the province of 
 Illiricum, and falling fiercely upon a consular army, nearly cut 
 it to pieces. After much wanton cruelty and destruction, 
 they retired like wolves howling to their forests. After a few 
 years they appeared again. Two consular armies were dis- 
 patched to repel them. But the barbarians were again tri- 
 umphant, dispersing their foes with merciless slaughter. Rome 
 itself was struck with terror ; and Marius was raised to the 
 consulship as the only commander equal to the emergency. 
 Marius was successful, and chastised the invaders so terribly 
 that they fled, and for many years did not venture again to 
 insult the territory of Rome. 
 
 And now arose internal troubles ; and we enter upon that 
 period of civil wars which for more than a hundred years des- 
 olated the whole Roman territory, until the commonwealth 
 disappeared, and the monarchy of Julius Caesar rose upon its 
 ruins. This long conflict was waged between the rich and the 
 poor. The patricians were ever struggling to rear an impass- 
 able barrier between themselves and the plebeians, and to 
 monopolize all the honors, powers, and emoluments of office. 
 The plebeians had ever been striving to break down that bar- 
 rier, and to establish the democratic principle of equal rights
 
 FOREIGN CONQUESTS AND INTEBNAL FEUDS. 143 
 
 for all. At the time when this conflict broke out into open 
 war, no wealth, culture, abilities or virtue could raise a ple- 
 beian to the rank of a patrician. All intermarriages between 
 the two classes were prohibited. The government was an 
 hereditary oligarchy, which essentially excluded the whole 
 mass of the nation from any participation in the administration 
 of affairs. 
 
 The community then consisted of three classes : the aris- 
 tocracy, the plebeians, and the slaves. This latter class was 
 very numerous, composed of the victims of Rome's innumer- 
 able wars. They had few rights which either plebeian or 
 patrician was bound to respect. They were not considered 
 citizens. They could hold no property but by the sufferance 
 of their masters. And having neither money nor friends, the 
 law could rarely afford them any protection against outrage, 
 however terrible that outrage might be. The number of these 
 slaves may be inferred from the fact that fifty thousand were 
 taken in the destruction of Carthage alone; and that one hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand were driven away from the sack of 
 seventy towns in Greece. They were generally purchased by 
 the great landed proprietors of Italy, and were driven by the 
 lash to cultivate their fields. It will thus be perceived that 
 the state of things was essentially the same as it now is in our 
 slave-holding states, only that the slaves were generally whites 
 instead of blacks. As most of the labor was performed by 
 slaves, the poor free people, unable to find employment, were 
 reduced to great distress, so that it was often said that the 
 slaves were better off than the plebeian free. 
 
 It was not considered safe to entrust the slaves with arms 
 The patricians were the officers ; the plebeians the commo 
 soldiers, who fought and bled. They gained great victories, 
 of which the patricians reaped all the benefits, while the ple- 
 beians saw their condition yearly growing worse and worse. 
 The plebeians, proud of their nominal freedom, which thus 
 elevated them above the slaves, hi the country gamed a
 
 144 ITALY. 
 
 wretched living by cultivating small plats of ground. In the 
 cities they were shop-keepers and mechanics ; and there were 
 vast numbers of them who had no ostensible means of sup- 
 port. The mildness of the climate rendered but little clothing 
 necessary. They lived upon fruit, vegetables, and oil. Edu- 
 cation was confined almost exclusively to the rich. The ple- 
 beians in the country were a more respectable class than those 
 ,n the city. The popular party was thus composed of many 
 irell-meaning, industrious men, and also of many who were 
 utterly worthless. 
 
 The aristocratic party were, as a class, rich, proud, cruel, 
 selfish, and domineering. Accustomed to unlimited control 
 over their slaves, they were insolent in their manners, and 
 looked down with contempt upon all who were not on their 
 own fancied level. The plebeians often complained of the 
 sanguinary wars which were waged, asserting that the nobility 
 sought to involve the nation in hostilities, merely for the grat- 
 ification of their own ambition. But when the seat of war 
 became farther removed, and the national vanity became grat- 
 ified by the renown of conquest, and the soldiers were enrich- 
 ed by plunder these popular murmurs ceased. 
 
 The slaves had now become so numerous that they seemed 
 to compose the whole of the visible population. In Sicily 
 these bondmen rose in insurrection, and maintained a long war 
 with the Roman government, spreading devastation over the 
 whole island. There was at this time in Rome a young man 
 of nobl* birth, and of great energy and ability, who, in conse- 
 quence of some affronts he had received from the aristocratic 
 party, espoused the cause of the people. His name was 
 Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, and he was the son of Cor- 
 nelia, who was a daughter of the elder Scipio. Tiberius had 
 a younger brother, named Cams, who sympathized with him 
 in his popular tendencies. As discontents were rising, placards 
 were posted upon the walls of Rome, urging Gracchus to 
 place himself at the head of the plebeians, in their endeavor
 
 FOEEIGX CONQUESTS AND INTERNAL FEUDS. 145 
 
 to gain a share of the public lands, which the patricians had 
 monopolized. Fearlessly Gracchus came forward and pro- 
 posed a homestead bill, which provided that each father of a 
 lamily should be entitled to three hundred and fifty acres of 
 public or conquered land, in his own right, and about one hun- 
 dred and fifty more in the right of each of his sons ; and that 
 any man who possessed more land than this, should restore it to 
 the nation upon receiving a fair price for it from the treasury. 
 
 There were several others of the aristocracy who gener- 
 ously espoused the cause of the oppressed people, and cooper- 
 ated with Gracchus in his endeavors to meliorate their condition. 
 But the aristocracy, in general, violently opposed this law. 
 The irrepressible conflict between aristocratic usurpation and 
 popular rights was now opened. From all parts of Italy there 
 was a rush of the most influential patricians and plebeians to 
 Rome, to aid in carrying the measure or to crush it. M. Octa- 
 vius headed the patrician party. The struggle between these 
 two illustrious men,, each availing himself, with wonderful 
 sagacity, of all the forms of the constitution and the laws, is 
 one of the most interesting recorded in history. But Grac- 
 chus triumphed. He carried a vote, in an assembly of the 
 tribes, with a majority of but one, that Octavius should be 
 degraded from the tribuneship. Octavius was present in this 
 hour of his humiliation. The nobles looked on with unutter- 
 able indignation, as an officer was immediately sent to drag 
 Octavius, one of their own number, from the seat he occupied 
 as a tribune. The populace, exulting in their victory, shame- 
 fully broke over the restraits of law, and fell upon him with 
 such violence that with great difficulty he was rescued from 
 their hands. One of the slaves of Octavius lost an eye in his 
 heroic attempts to defend his master. 
 
 The law of Gracchus was now passed without difficulty, 
 no one venturing longer to oppose it. Gracchus, thus hope- 
 lessly alienated from the nobles, threw himself entirely into 
 the arms of the people, and, without reserve, espoused their
 
 146 ITALT. 
 
 cause. A commission was appointed to carry the reform law 
 into effect. It consisted of Gracchus, his younger brother 
 Cains, and his father-in-law Appius Claudius. The king of 
 Pergamus just at this time died, bequeathing his treasure and 
 his dominions to the Roman people. Gracchus at once pro- 
 posed that the treasure should be divided among the citizens, 
 and that the government of the kingdom should be lodged 
 exclusively with the popular assembly. 
 
 Gracchus was now the idol of the populace, while the 
 aristocracy pursued him with the most envenomed hatred. 
 To secure him from assassination, the people guarded his 
 house. The public excitement swelled higher and higher, 
 until a tumult arose, and the aristocracy, arming their partisans 
 and slaves, fell upon the friends of Gracchus, routed them 
 with great slaughter, and Gracchus himself was slam in the 
 melee. His body was thrown ignominiously into the Tiber, 
 and the triumphant nobles pursued their victory with great 
 cruelty. Even Cicero, ever prone to eulogize the rising, rather 
 than the setting, sun, alludes to the murder of Gracchus in 
 terms of commendation. For his espousal of the popular 
 cause he was deemed a fanatic, and fanaticism is ever one 01 
 earth's unpardonable sins. 
 
 Though Gracchus had thus fallen, the laws which he had 
 established could not be so easily subverted. A powerful 
 popular party, extending through all the Roman States, had 
 been organized, and they rallied anew to resist the encroach- 
 ments of the nobles. The most vigorous measures were 
 adopted to carry the popular homestead bill into effect. The 
 enforcement of this law deprived many of the nobles of their 
 enormous landed estates, which of course excited great indig 
 nation, and every possible impediment was thrown in the 77ay 
 of its operation. The popular party, to increase their power, 
 made efforts to extend very considerably the right of suffrage. 
 Thus the conflict raged with varying success, until Caius 
 Gracchus, the younger brother of Tiberius, was placed at the
 
 FOREIGN COHQUE8TS AND INTEBNAL FEUDS. 14f 
 
 head of the plebeian party. He was then a young man thirty 
 years of age, and by bis energy and eloquence, was peculiarly 
 adapted to be a popular leader. The death of his brother had 
 fired his soul with most determined hostility to the nobles. 
 All we know respecting the contest which ensued, is mainly 
 derived from Plutarch's life of Caius Gracchus ; and his accu- 
 racy is not generally deemed very reliable. He wrote two 
 hundred years after the scenes he describes, and we are not 
 informed from what sources he gained his information. 
 
 Plutarch relates that Caius commenced his career by most 
 inflammatory appeals to the people, in which he incessantly 
 bewailed the fate of his brother. From his position hi the 
 tribuneship he was enabled to exert a powerful legislative in- 
 fluence. With untiring zeal he devoted himself to the work oi 
 repressing aristocratic usurpation, and strengthening the influ- 
 ence of the popular mind and arm. His increasing popularity 
 soon invested him with almost absolute power. He constructed 
 roads, bridges, granaries, and various other works of ornament 
 or utility. He was ever surrounded by a crowd of contrac- 
 tors, engineers, and men of science, and he enjoyed the 
 reputation of universal genius. At the close of his year of 
 tribuneship, though, by the law, he was not again eligible, the 
 will of the people evaded the law, and he was again elected 
 with enthusiasm. The aristocratic senate, at last alarmed by 
 his strides, made the desperate attempt to curtail his influence, 
 by proposing measures even more democratic than Gracchus 
 had introduced. A very adroit politician, Drusus, was now 
 the acknowledged leader of the nobles. He seemed to be 
 getting the advantage, and at last a tumult was aroused, and 
 one of the aristocratic party was slain. The senate sum- 
 moned Caius Gracchus to their tribunal. Instead of obeying 
 he retired, with his friends, to the Aventine hill, and invited 
 the slaves, by promises of freedom, to aid him hi resisting the 
 demands of the senate. 
 
 Gracchus was now in the position of a rebel. The laws
 
 148 ITALY. 
 
 were against him ; and he lost all his energy. A strong force 
 of soldiers was sent to attack him. The conflict was short, 
 Gracchms, escaping from the carnage, fled across the Tiber, 
 and finding escape hopeless, was killed, at his own request, 
 by a slave who accompanied him. His head was cut off, 
 and carried to the senate, while his body, with those of 
 his followers who perished with him, was thrown into the 
 Tiber. His property was confiscated, his wife even being 
 deprived of her jointure. The aristocratic party pursued their 
 victory with relentless cruelty, sending to the scaffold many 
 who were merely the personal friends of those who were 
 engaged in the sedition. It is recorded that more than three 
 thousand of the popular party perished in the action on the 
 Aventine hill, and in the executions which followed. The 
 aristocracy were now again in almost undisputed ascendency.
 
 CHAP! ER VIII. 
 
 THE SOCIAL WAR. 
 FBOM 121 B. a TO 82 B. a 
 
 OOUUVTION or THS NOBLES. BESTLESSNBSS or TUB PEOPLE. DBMAQOGIBM OF MA* 
 nm. SEBVILB INSUBBBOTION IN SICILY. HEROISM or EUNUS. MISBBISS or TBM 
 BBBVILB WABS. SUMPTUARY LAWS. STBUGGLE roB EIGHTS or CITIZENSHIP 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE SOCIAL WAB. CONTEMPLATED REORGANIZATION or ITALY. 
 BYLLA. WAB WITH MITHBIDATBS. INTEBNAL DISSENSIONS AT BOMB. Civn, WAB 
 IN THB STREETS. VIBBATION or THE PENDULUM or PARTIES. CINNA. THE BALLY- 
 ING or THE PEOPLE. MABIUS BEOALLED. SCENES or ANABOHY. DEATH or MABIUB. 
 BBTCRN or SYLLA. POMPEY ENTBRS THB ARENA. BATTLBS AND ASSASSINATION* 
 
 nnHE developments of human nature, eighteen hundred 
 -*- years ago, were the same as now. Carbo, one of the most 
 zealous of the popular leaders, abandoned his party, and pass- 
 ed over to those who had become the sole dispensers of honors 
 and emoluments. The Roman nobles were, at this time, 
 plunged into a state of extreme corruption. The government 
 of the empire had passed entirely into their hands. The gov- 
 ernors of the provinces rioted in luxury, the means of which 
 were acquired by the most unrelenting extortion. Wars were 
 frequently waged for the sole object of plunder. The line of 
 separation between the nobles and the plebeians was never 
 more broadly marked. The nobles had but little occasion for 
 any intercourse with the plebeians, as their own numerous 
 slaves supplied them with laborers, tradesmen, and even with 
 instructors for their children. The masses of the people were 
 treated by the aristocracy with the most insulting pride and 
 oppression. The people were restless, and at times almost 
 stung to madness and they needed but a leader to rouse 
 to bloody vengeance,.
 
 100 ITALY. 
 
 Such a leader soon arose. It was Caius Memmius. He 
 began by bitterly inveighing against the corruption of the 
 nobility, and claiming for the people a larger share in the 
 administration of affairs. The senate was compelled, by the 
 popular clamor, to appoint a court of inquiry, and five persons, 
 of the highest rank, were punished by fines and banishment. 
 Marius, himself a plebeian of the humblest origin, who, in 
 spite of tne scorn of the nobles, had forced his way to the 
 head of the army, was conspicuous in his endeavors to bring 
 the populace into power, and to humble those from whom the 
 lowly in rank had endured so much of contempt and outrage. 
 
 The ev>"v vibrating pendulum of parties was again bringing 
 the people into power. Marius had attained the consular 
 chair. Satuniinus, one of the most profligate of demagogues, 
 by effrontery which nothing could abash, and by murder, had 
 secured a seat in the tribuneship, and Glaucia, a man of kin- 
 dred spirit, was one of the pretors. Both parties in the 
 struggle resorted to bribery; and Marius, a successful general, 
 overawed opposition by the presence of his army, who were 
 devoted to his person. 
 
 The animosity of the two parties daily increased, and the 
 struggle between them grew more fierce. There were fre- 
 quent tumults in Rome, and antagonistic mobs swept the 
 streets. At length there was open war the masses of the 
 people, ignorant, vicious, and degraded on the one side, and 
 the aristocracy, rich, insolent, and hopelessly corrupt upon the 
 other. Marius, as consul, was forced by his position to admin- 
 ister the decrees of the senate, though in heart he was in sym- 
 pathy with the ropulace. The people took possession of the 
 capitol, but Mariu& reluctantly cut off the pipes which supplied 
 the city with water, and compelled them to surrender. The 
 insurgents, thus taken prisoners, and unarmed, were assailed 
 by their foes, and, notwithstanding the efforts of Marius to 
 protect them, were all murdered. 
 
 The insurrection of the slaves in Sicily, tc which we have
 
 THB SOCIAL W .A. B . 161 
 
 before alluded, and which was quelled about this time, de- 
 serves more particular notice; for Sicily was to Italy, what 
 Cuba may yet possibly be to us. Large estates had been 
 purchased by the Romans in this beautiful and fertile island, 
 and these estates were stocked with vast numbers of slaves. 
 Eunus, a slave of Syrian birth, had acquired great influence 
 among his companions in bondage. The slaves on a neighbor- 
 ing plantation, exasperated by the cruelty of their master and 
 mistress, applied to Eunus for counsel. He encouraged them 
 to conspire with the slaves on the several estates in the neigh- 
 borhood, in an immediate revolt, promising to place himself at 
 the head of the movement. Four hundred men, armed with 
 such weapons as they could suddenly grasp, were speedily 
 assembled to strike for freedom. Their masters were smitten 
 down, the plantations destroyed, and without an hour's delay 
 they marched for the town of Enna. The slaves in the town 
 immediately joined them. Enna was taken by storm, set on 
 fire, and the indiscriminate slaughter of its free citizens ensued, 
 men, women and children, with the exception of such citizens 
 as understood the manufacture of arms, whom Eunus reserved 
 to supply his followers with weapons. 
 
 The successful Syrian, thus striking for freedom, and at the 
 hfeid of a small, determined, but rapidly increasing army, now 
 assumed the title' of king, and formed a cabinet council, com- 
 posed of those of his associates who were most eminent for 
 courage and wisdom. In three days six thousand men were 
 rallied beneath his banners, heroically resolved to regain their 
 liberty or perish in the attempt. Every hour the roused cap- 
 tives were rushing from all directions to swell his ranks. The 
 example became contagious. In another part of the island 
 another sagacious man, named Cleon, roused his fellow-bf nds- 
 men to arms, and acknowledging Eunus as king, sent to him 
 for orders that he might effectually cooperate in a general 
 movement. The Sicilians had no force to meet the crisis. 
 Rome sent eight thousand of her veterans to crush the insnr-
 
 152 ITALY. 
 
 gents. Emus, with outnumbering bands, urged by th 
 energies of despair, fell upon them and cut them to pieces. 
 Another Roman army was sent, and still another, which met 
 with the same fate. 
 
 Several months had now passed away, and the slaves were 
 in possession of many of the principal towns hi the island. 
 The insurrection was so successful and had become so formi- 
 dable, that Rome made a decisive effort to queU it. An over- 
 whelming force was sent to Sicily, which first besieged the 
 town of Taurominium. With great bravery and skill these 
 unfortunate men, who had so nobly struck for freedom, 
 repelled every assault until, at last, reduced to the utmost 
 extremity by famine, they were unable to resist the rush of 
 their foes, and were all mercilessly put to death. The victors 
 with floating banners and gory swords, surrounded Enna, the 
 first scene of the revolt, and the stronghold of the insurgents. 
 The power brought against them was such that their state 
 was hopeless. Cleon was slain hi a sally. By famine and the 
 sword, Eunus and all his followers soon perished miserably. 
 Such is usually the end of a servile insurrection. And yet 
 slaves, hi then* despair, will ever strike for freedom; and 
 though they perish hi the attempt, they take awful vengeance 
 upon their oppressors. 
 
 The revolt was thus apparently suppressed, yet many 
 years the disturbances continued, and there were innumerable 
 local insurrections, causing great carnage and unspeakable 
 misery. A Roman knight, Titus Minucius, harassed by debt, 
 and annoyed by the importunities of his creditors, through 
 revenge incited an insurrection, and placed himself at the 
 head of three thousand slaves. A bloody battle ensued 
 before he was put down. Soon after this, two very able 
 slaves, Sabrius and Athenio, headed revolts. Their forces 
 were marshaled in well-disciplined bands, and for some tune 
 they successfully repelled all the power Rome could bring 
 against thorn Several Roman armies were defeated with
 
 THE SOCIAL WAR. 159 
 
 great loss, and the whole island was surrendered to blood 
 and violence. The poorer class of the free inhabitants 
 availed themselves of the general confusion to indulge in 
 unrestrained license and devastation. This insurrection be- 
 came so formidable, that again Rome was compelled to rouse 
 her energies. A consular army was sent, which drove the 
 insurgents into their strongholds, and then subdued them by 
 the slow process of siege. The carnage and misery resulting 
 from these servile wars no tongue can tell. The whole power 
 of the Roman empire was pledged to put down insurrections ; 
 and though the captives could avenge their wrongs and sell 
 their lives dearly, it was in vain for them to hope for ultimate 
 
 A law was now passed prohibiting any slave from carry- 
 ing a warlike weapon. Rigorously was this law enforced. 
 At one time a boar of remarkable size was sent as a present 
 to L. Domicius, then pretor of the island. He inquired who 
 had killed it. On being informed that it was a slave, who 
 was employed as a shepherd, he summoned the man before 
 him, and asked how he had contrived to kill so powerful an 
 animal. The shepherd replied that he had killed it with a 
 boar spear. The merciless Domicius ordered him imme- 
 diately to be crucified for having used a weapon in violation 
 of the law. This rigor was pursued so unrelentingly, that, for 
 a long period, there were no more revolts. 
 
 The progress of the world to its present state of political 
 intelligence has been very slow. A decided advance was 
 made when a law was passed declaring that every decree 
 should be published on three successive market days, and 
 should then bo submitted to the vote of the people, not as 
 heretofore, tied to other enactments, to be voted^ for hi the 
 lump, so that all must be rejected or all accepted, but that 
 each clause should be acted o by itself. A sumptuary law 
 had been enacted in a tune of general distress, when Hannibal 
 was thundering at the gates of Rome, which regulated the 
 1*
 
 154 ITALY. 
 
 amount of ornament which a lady might be permitted to 
 wear, and which forbade the ladies of Rome from using a 
 carriage, except in their attendance upon the public sacrifices. 
 This law was called the Oppian law, from Caius Oppius, who 
 introduced it. It was, however, repealed as soon as the 
 national distress had subsided. 
 
 An enactment had also been established some years before, 
 limiting the number of guests to be admitted to any enter- 
 tainment, and ordering that the doors of the house should be 
 left open during the meal, to guard against any secret viola- 
 tion of the rule. By a similar decree, the principal citizens 
 were obliged to take an oath that they would not expend 
 upon any entertainment a sum amounting to more than about 
 forty dollars ; and they were not to use any other wine than 
 that made in Italy ; and they were not to display upon their 
 tables more than a hundred pounds weight of silver. Many 
 very unwise and oppressive laws of this kind had been 
 enacted, often descending to the minutest details of domestio 
 expenses. 
 
 We now enter upon new troubles, perhaps more replete 
 with calamity than Home had ever experienced before. The 
 number of Roman citizens was at this time very small, nearly 
 all the subjugated tribes of Italy being deprived of the right 
 of suffrage, and of all voice in the government. They were 
 subjects not citizens enormously taxed, and these taxes 
 were collected by men called publicans, or farmers of the 
 revenue, who practiced the most atrocious extortion and 
 cruelty. These subjugated tribes sometimes occupied the 
 position of conquered people, who were left to the independ- 
 ent administration of their own local laws, but who were 
 compelled to pay taxes to Rome, and to send contingents of 
 troops in case of war. Thirty-five tribes, hi the vicinity of 
 Rome, had, in the lapse of time, and in various ways, become 
 incorporated with the kingdom, and had secured the rights 
 of citizenship. Occasionally this wivilege was conferred upon
 
 THB SOCIAL WAB. 156 
 
 a stranger, as a great honor, in reward of some signal ser- 
 vices. 
 
 Discontent had long been fomenting among the numerous 
 tribes of Italy, from whom the political franchise was with- 
 held. Taxation without representation, seems to have been 
 as obnoxious then as now. L. Drusus, a tribune, pleaded their 
 cause at Rome. He was deemed a fanatic and an incendiary, 
 and was assassinated. This outrage threw these remote 
 Italian nations into great excitement. All their hopes were 
 blighted, and henceforth, it was feared, there would be no one 
 who would dare to plead their cause. Thus exasperated, they 
 prepared for that conflict which is renowned in history as the 
 Social War. It broke out in the year 90 B. c. and lasted 
 eighteen years. 
 
 The Italian tribes or nations who formed themselves into 
 a confederacy for the redress of their grievances were ten in 
 number the Picini, Vestinians, Marrusinians, Marsians, Pe- 
 lignians, Samnites, Trentanians, Hirpinians, Lucanians, and 
 Apulians. The deputies of these nations in revolt, met at 
 Asculum, to prepare for the terrible conflict against all the 
 power of Rome. From the imperial city two legates were 
 sent to remonstrate with them. They were both murdered 
 by the infuriated insurgents, and, in the blind rage of the 
 tumult, all the Roman citizens in the place were put to death. 
 The confederates determined that Rome should be utterly 
 destroyed, and that all Italy should be formed into one 
 republic, with Corfinium for its capital. The government 
 was to be administered by two annual consuls, twelve pretors, 
 and a senate of five hundred members. They chose their two 
 consuls, Marsian and Mutilus, and marshaled their forces for 
 the war. 
 
 The Roman consuls, this year, were Lucius Julius Csesar, 
 and P. Rutilius Lupus. In the first campaign tho Roman 
 legions were, in almost every battle defeated, and Rome itself 
 narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the Italians. The
 
 156 ITALY 
 
 city was only saved by the exertions of the powerful Latin 
 tribes, whose fidelity was purchased by extending to them the 
 rights of citizenship. Having obtained these rights for them- 
 selves, ignobly they fought against their brethren, to prevent 
 them from securing the same. They acted the part of the 
 slave who pays for his own emancipation, by riveting the 
 shackles upon the limbs of his brother. The law, granting 
 this franchise to the Latins, was called the Julian Law, from 
 its author. The Romans were so severely pressed by the foe, 
 that they were constrained to admit emancipated slaves into 
 their armies. 
 
 In the campaign of the next year, the Romans were more 
 successful. The siege of Asculum was conducted to a suc- 
 cessful termination. This caused great exultation at Rome, as 
 Asculum had first set the example of revolt. The confederate 
 Italians removed their capital to uEsernia. A new Roman 
 general, Sylla, was now rising rapidly to renown. He was a 
 man whose commanding talents and energy were almost 
 eclipsed by his profligacy. With the sweep of a hurricane 
 he demolished his foes, and in the exultation of success sought 
 and obtained the consulship. The confederates, utterly van- 
 quished, and having lost all their principal cities, were com- 
 pelled to accept terms from the victor. In this brief but 
 desperate struggle, the Italians lost more than 300,000 of their 
 sons ; and many of their most flourishing tows were changed 
 to heaps of ruins. The rights of citizenship were, however, 
 by this Conflict, greatly extended ; but the embers of war 
 still slumbered in the bosoms of those whose rights were not 
 yet recognized. The newly formed citizens were organized 
 into some eight or ten tribes, and we soon find the total num- 
 ber of tribes, composing the free citizens of Rome, amounting 
 to fifty. 
 
 Mithridates was, a^ this time, monarch of Pont as, an ener- 
 getic kingdom hi the northeast part of Asia Minor. He was 
 a man of commanding abilities, and one of the most illustrious
 
 THE SOCIAL WAB. 1ST 
 
 generals of that day. The Romans, during their lull in the 
 Social War, picked a quarrel with Mithridates, and sent an 
 army, collected from the effeminate inhabitants of Asia Minor, 
 to conquer him. Mithridates trampled them down beneath 
 the feet of his veterans. Thus victorious, he continued his 
 march westward, emancipating subjugated nations from the 
 Roman yoke, while the Greeks, with great enthusiasm rallied 
 around him. With the characteristic cruelty of those times, 
 in one day Mithridates put to death 80,000 Roman citizens, 
 whom he had found in Asia Minor. He then dispatched one 
 of his generals, Archelaus, with an army flushed with victory, 
 into Macedonia and Greece, to drive out the Romans. This 
 was in the year 83 B. c. Thebes, Athens, and most of the 
 important towns of the Grecian peninsula, threw open their 
 gates and received Archelaus as their deliverer. 
 
 In the meantime Rome was still ravaged by the most cruel 
 internal dissensions. Sulpicius, one of the tribunes, was urging 
 upon the government the extension of the rights of citizen- 
 ship to all the inhabitants of Italy. This was eminently a 
 popular measure, though it was abhorred by the aristocracy. 
 Sulpicius, thwarted by the nobles, became more violent hi his 
 proceedings, and anticipating that his foes might soon attempt 
 to crush him, by physical force, he organized a band of his 
 determined partisans for his defense. A body of three thou- 
 sand gladiators were ready to rally at his call ; and six hun- 
 dred young men, of the equestrian order, whom the nobles 
 affected to despise, ever attended him. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs in Rome, when the news 
 arrived that Mithridates had overrun all the Roman dominions 
 of Asia Minor. Soon a riot ensued. Sulpicius was victorious, 
 and the government was compelled to place nearly all the 
 Italian nations, whom they had subjugated, on an equality 
 with the Romans hi the right of voting. The popular party 
 was thus again triumphant. Thus slowly, in all ages, have 
 popular rights struggled agains* nristooratic privilege. Sylla,
 
 108 ITALY 
 
 who had vigorously espoused the cause of the aristocracy, was 
 dismissed from his command in the army, and Marius, a friend 
 of the people, was transferred to the vacant post. The soldiers, 
 attached to their victorious leader, who had rewarded them 
 with plunder, and indulged them hi every license, were indig- 
 nant ; many assassinations ensued, and finally the army, con- 
 sisting of six legions, amounting to about thirty thousand 
 men, in a mutiny, broke up its quarters, and, led by Sylla, 
 commenced a menacing march upon Rome. Sylla was at 
 this tune consul, and he was joined by his colleague Pompeius. 
 They approached the city, by stratagem entered the gates, 
 and quartered their troops upon the inhabitants. 
 
 Marius and Sulpicius, in their extremity, invited the slaves 
 to join them, with the promise of freedom, the highest reward 
 which can be offered to a slave. With such force as they 
 could raise they threw up barricades, and from the house tops 
 nurled down missiles upon their foes. A woful warfare was 
 now waged hi the streets of Rome. Sylla, without scruple, 
 set fire to the houses from whence he was assailed, and swept 
 the streets with his veteran troops. The populace were 
 speedily vanquished, and Marius and Sulpicius, with their 
 principal friends, sought safety hi flight. 
 
 Martial law was established in Rome. Sylla assembled the 
 senate, and passed a decree declaring Marius and Sulpicius to 
 be public enemies, and offering a reward for their heads. 
 Marius, through numberless romantic adventures and hair- 
 breadth escapes, succeeded in reaching Africa. Sulpicius, 
 betrayed by one of his slaves, was arrested and put to death. 
 The popular party, deprived of its leaders, and overawed by 
 the presence of the victorious army, submitted without further 
 resistance. The laws which had been passed by Sulpicius 
 were immediately annulled, and again the aristocratic party 
 were in the ascendency. But the struggle for equality ol 
 rights, in the human breast, is irrepressible. The people,
 
 THE SOCIAL WAB. 169 
 
 though again baffled, were more eager than ever before to 
 resume the conflict. 
 
 The next year they succeeded in choosing Cinna to the 
 consulship, one of the most able of the advocates of the pop- 
 ular interest. His colleague was Octavius, a patrician of the 
 aristocracy. Cinna immediately, through the tribunes, threat- 
 ened Sylla with a prosecution for his assault upon the city. 
 To escape this peril, Sylla rejoined his soldiers, and sailed for 
 Greece, to escape the storm which threatened him, and to 
 arrest, if possible, the alarming career of Mithridates. The 
 popular cause was now altogether too strong to be silenced by 
 any single defeat. 
 
 Marius, proscribed and an exile, became the idol of the 
 people. Immediately upon the departure of Sylla for Greece, 
 Cinna reenacted the law of Sulpicius, conferring upon "all the 
 Italian tribes the rights of citizenship. Great crowds of those 
 whom this law was intended to benefit, flocked to Rome, to 
 aid, by their swords, should need be, the advocate of their 
 cause. Riots soon broke out again in Rome, and great num- 
 bers on both sides were killed. Cinna summoned the slaves 
 to his standard. Octavius, his colleague, headed the senate 
 and the aristocratic party. China was overpowered, and with 
 his adherents, fled from the capital. The senate, by an act 
 hitherto unprecedented, declared that he had forfeited his con- 
 sulship, and they elected another, Cornelius Merula, in his 
 stead. 
 
 The country people regarded the cause of Cinna as their 
 own. They rallied around him in great numbers, bringing 
 with them anus and money. He was soon at the head of quite 
 an army, who acknowledged him as their consul, and took the 
 oatn of military obedience to his commands. Multitudes of 
 the popular party in Rome repaired to his camp. The Italian 
 cities, rejoicing at so favorable an opportunity of resuming the 
 contest, espoused his cause with the utmost ardor and energy. 
 So wide-spread was the jnthusiam, that in a short time there
 
 10 ITALY. 
 
 were rendezvoused beneath the banners of Ginna, thirty le- 
 gions, amounting to, at least, one hundred and fifty thousand 
 men. 
 
 Cinna despatched a messenger immediately to Marius, in 
 Africa, inviting his return. The exile, rejoicing at this unex- 
 pected turn of fortune, landed in Tuscany with a few follow- 
 ers. Assuming the garb and aspect of extreme poverty, he 
 appealed to the compassion of the people, who were deeply 
 affected by the contrast between his present penury, and the 
 splendor with which he formerly hail been invested. He socn 
 had an army of six thousand men, with whom he formed a 
 junction with Cinna. The senate sent an army to meet the 
 foe. A battle was fought, attended with immense slaughter, 
 but with no decisive results. The battle took place almost 
 beneath" the walls of the city. Marius now with his cavalry 
 swept the country around Rome, encountering no opposition, 
 and cutting off all supplies from the capital. 
 
 The army of the aristocratic party, under the command of 
 Octavius, and an illustrious young general, Metellus, was en- 
 trenched, in very considerable force, on the hill of Alba. But 
 they did not dare to risk a decisive battle, for they had not 
 full confidence in the fidelity of their soldiers ; and a defeat 
 would place Rome, with all its proud inhabitants, entirely at 
 the mercy of their foes. Cinna, by proclaiming freedom to 
 the slaves, found his forces rapidly increasing, while desertions 
 were continually taking place from the army of the senate. 
 Rome was now so strictly blockaded that the inhabitants 
 began tc feel the pressure of famine, and they clamored for 
 the cessation of the hopeless struggle. 
 
 The senate, humiliated, were constrained to send to Cinna 
 to treat for peace. Cinna, seated in his consular chair, proudly 
 received the deputies, exacting from the senate the acknowl- 
 edgment that he was legitimately consul, and demanding 
 unconditional surrender. Marius stood by hisi chair, still 
 ostentatiously dressed in the mean garb of exile, while bis eyes
 
 THE SOCIAL WAB. 161 
 
 flashed with passion and with menace. Ginna triumphantly 
 entered the walls of Rome, and infamously sent a band of 
 soldiers to murder Octavius, his colleague. The deed was 
 mercilessly performed, and the head of Octavius was suspend- 
 ed over the rostra, a bloody trophy of Cinna's triumph. The 
 wheel of revolution had again turned. The aristocratic party 
 were in the dust, helpless and hopeless. The popular leaders 
 now strode through the streets, looking in vain for an acknowl- 
 edged foe. 
 
 Marius proudly refused to enter the city until his sentence 
 of exile was regularly repealed. But impatient of the delay, 
 which the mockery of a vote required, after a few tribes had 
 cast their ballots, he took possession of one of the gates of the 
 city, and entered the town at the head of a band, zealously 
 devoted to him, consisting principally of peasants and fugitive 
 slaves. Then his emissaries immediately commenced the work 
 of murder. There seems to have been no forgiveness or pity 
 in the bosom of the democratic Marius. Those nobles who 
 had displeased him were eagerly marked as his victims. They 
 were hunted out through all concealments, and in cold blood 
 butchered. Some, to escape the dagger of the assassin, fell 
 upon their own swords. Some were slam openly in the 
 streets, and it is said that Marius gratified himself with the 
 sight of their agony. 
 
 A scene of universal license and anarchy ensued. Slaves 
 murdered their masters, plundered their dwellings, and perpe- 
 trated every conceivable outrage upon their families. The 
 wife and children of Sylla, concealed by their friends, very 
 narrowly escaped the general slaughter. Never before had 
 Rome endured such misery. In this massacre, Lucius Julius 
 Caesar, and his brother Caius, both perished, and their gory 
 heads were exposed over the rostra. Marius, when seated at 
 the supper table, was informed that the place of retreat of 
 Antonius, whom he had long been seeking, was discovered. 
 He immediately arose from the table to enjoy the gratification
 
 162 ITALY. 
 
 of seeing him killed. But, dissuaded by his friends, he resum- 
 ed his seat, ordering his soldiers to bring him the head of hia 
 foe. Crassus, after seeing his son murdered, killed himself. 
 Merula, who had been chosen consul by the senate in the place 
 of Cinna, preferring to die by his own hands, opened his veins, 
 and as his blood flowed upon the altar of Jupiter, he invoked 
 the vengeance of God upon his murderers. Catulus, who had 
 voted for the proscription of Marius, finding that there could 
 be no escape from the executioner, suffocated himself by the 
 fumes of burning charcoal. 
 
 Cinna and Marius now declared themselves to be consuls 
 for the ensuing year, and, like most demagogues, proved 
 themselves utterly traitorous to the rights of the people. The 
 enormities of Marius, with his servile bands, at length excited 
 the indignation of the populace. China was disgusted with 
 the atrocities of his colleague, and finding himself utterly 
 unable to check them, he one night secretly assembled a body 
 of troops, and attacking the band of Marius in their quarters, 
 put them all to the sword. Marius was precluded from 
 revenge by a sudden attack of disease, which put an end to 
 his life, in the seventieth year of his age. In the delirium of 
 his dying hour, he imagined himself at the head of his legions, 
 nurling them against the ranks of Mithridates. With vehe- 
 ment gestures, and loud shouts which were heard far into the 
 streets, he issued his commands. Though the light of revealed 
 religion had never dawned upon his mind, no one can doubt 
 his responsibility at God's bar for his manifold crimes. 
 
 Cicero relates that at the funeral of Marius, a furious man, 
 ramed Fhnbria, made an attempt upon the life of Scaevola, one 
 of the most virtuous men of those times. The victim escaped 
 with but a flesh wound. Fimbria, exasperated, declared that 
 he would bring Scaevola to trial before the people. Being 
 asked what charge he would bring against one whose char- 
 acter was so pure, he replied, " I shall accuse him of not
 
 THE SOCIAL WAB. 168 
 
 having given my dagger a more hearty welcctne." Such was 
 the condition of Rome at this time. 
 
 Marius being dead, China remained absolute sovereign, with 
 no on to dispute his power. The massacres had now ceased, 
 and to restore the usual forms of the constitution, Flaccus was 
 chosen colleague consul with Cinna. The condition of Rome 
 under this democratic sway much resembled that subsequently 
 witnessed in Paris during the Reign of Terror. Many of the 
 nobles left Italy, and sought refuge in the camp of Sylla, hi 
 Greece ; while others fled trembling, from the dangers of the 
 city to their country seats. Cicero describes the three years 
 which succeeded the victory of China as a period in which 
 the republic enjoyed neither dignity nor laws. 
 
 Cicero Was at this time at Rome, devoting himself to the 
 study of eloquence and philosophy, and laying up those stores 
 of wisdom and knowledge which enabled him subsequently to 
 fulfill so brilliant a career. A curious sort of bankrupt law 
 was passed by the democratic government, by which a debtor 
 Was allowed to liquidate ah 1 claims against him by paying one 
 fourth of the amount. The provinces accepted, without oppo- 
 sition, the government established hi the metropolis. But 
 Sylla, at the head of his army hi Greece, was breathing threats 
 of vengeance. Openly he declared his intention, so soon as 
 he should finish the war with Mithridates, to return to Rome, 
 and punish with the utmost severity Cinna and his supporters. 
 Sylla soon reconquered ah 1 Greece, and crossing over to Asia 
 Minor, prosecuted the war with such vigor that Mithridates 
 was glad to accept terms of peace. 
 
 China began now to manifest alarm, and apprehensive of 
 the return of Sylla with a victorious army, commenced en- 
 deavors to conciliate the rich, whose heads he had so long 
 been crushing with his heel. It wft<> evident that the wheel 
 of fortune was about to experience another revolution. Cinna 
 was not a man to fall without a struggle. He raised an 
 army to crush Sylla ; but public opinion, even in the army
 
 turned against him. The soldiers rose in a mutiny and Cinna, 
 in his endeavors to quell it, was slain. Sylla soon landed it 
 Italy, with forty thousand men. This was a small force, with 
 which to meet the two hundred thousand whom the populai 
 party had raised to oppose him, but they were veteran sol- 
 diers, flushed with victory, and the whole aristocratic party 
 was ready to join them. 
 
 Sylla landed at Brundusium, where he encountered no 
 opposition. Immediately commencing his march upon Rome, 
 he advanced through Calabria and Apulia. The two armies 
 met near Capua, and the whole consular army in a body went 
 over to the aristocratic Sylla, leaving their commander Scipio, 
 alone with his son, in his tent ; a memorable instance of popu- 
 lar fickleness and caprice. With new vigor Sylla pressed on 
 toward Rome, wantonly ravaging the country through which 
 he passed. The nobility were on all sides flocking to his camp ; 
 and Carbo, who had been the consular colleague of Cinna, 
 to check this spirit, caused a decree to be passed, that all who 
 united with Sylla, should be declared to be public enemies. 
 
 And now Cn. Pompeius, or as he is generally called, Pom- 
 pey the Great, first makes his appearance upon this stage of 
 wild adventure. He was the son of a late proconsul of that 
 name, and he lived at Picenum, in circumstances of moderate 
 wealth. The family was popular in the region of their resi- 
 dence. The sympathies of Pompey were strongly with Sylla, 
 and he warmly espoused the aristocratic side, in this stern 
 strife. With the energy which rendered his subsequent life so 
 illustrious, he raised an army of three legions, amounting to 
 about seventeen thousand men, and with the necessary supplies 
 inarched to join Sylla. He was then but twenty-three years 
 of age, and had never filled any public office. Sylla appre- 
 ciated the extraordinary energy of one so young, and received 
 him with the most flattering marks of distinction. By thig 
 time, however, the campaign weather of summer had passed 
 away and all the belligerents retired to winter quarters.
 
 THE SOCIAL WAR. 166 
 
 Carbo, who was now consul, secured the election, as his 
 colleague, of the younger Marius, the nephew and adopted 
 son of the renowned demagogue of that name. Though 
 Marius was but twenty-seven years of age, he was already 
 renowned for his profligacy. The winter was long and severe, 
 and it was not until late in the spring that military operations 
 were resumed. Soon a division of the consular army, under 
 Marius, encountered Sylla, at Sacriportum, near the city of 
 Praeneste. Their defeat was entire. Marius having lost twenty 
 thousand slain, and eight thousand prisoners, with difficulty 
 escaped. In the tumult of the rout, it was not safe to open 
 the gates of Praeneste, and Marius was drawn up into the 
 city by ropes thrown down to him from the top of the wall. 
 
 Marius had fixed on Prseneste as the great rendezvous of 
 his army, and the point from which he would sally forth in all 
 his operations. The town, built on the side of a hill, but 
 twenty miles from Rome, was almost impregnable hi its forti- 
 fications. The battlements of Praeneste were distinctly visi- 
 ble from the eternal city. Marius, during the winter, had 
 added greatly to the strength of the place, having robbed the 
 temples of Rome, that he might convert the treasure into 
 money to pay his soldiers. As Sylla advanced with his vet- 
 eran legions, Marius, conscious that the aristocratic party in 
 the capital would, at the first opportunity, rise to welcome and 
 join him, sent a summons for the senate to assemble in the 
 Curia Hostilia. Unconscious of the premeditated treachery 
 the nobles obeyed the summons. Marius then closed the 
 avenues by armed men, and designated those whom he wished 
 to be massacred. Three illustrous senators were struck down 
 in the senate house. One was killed in attempting to escape 
 Quintus Mucius Scaevola, who was then Pontifex Maximus, 
 the same who had been attacked by the fanatic Fimbria, a 
 man of spotless character, yet renowned for his heroism, see- 
 Lag a party advancing to murder him, fled to the temple of
 
 166 ITALY. 
 
 Vesta. He was pursued and cut down, with sacrilegious 
 hands, drenching the altar with his blood. 
 
 The most prominent of the aristocratic party being thui 
 slain, Marius and Carbo hoped to retain their supremacy. But 
 the terrible defeat of Sacriportum blighted all these anticipa- 
 tions. Marius was now blocked up in Prseneste, and the road 
 was open for Sylla to Rome. The gates of the city were 
 thrown open to him, and he rode triumphantly into the streets, 
 greeted by the acclamations of those who but a few months 
 before had denounced him as a rebel and an outlaw. 
 
 The wheel of fortune had indeed revolved again. Sylla 
 organized his government, replenished his military chests with 
 the proceeds of the confiscated estates of the popular party, 
 and leaving a portion of his army to conduct the siege of 
 Prseneste, with another portion hastened to Tuscany to con- 
 front Carbo, who was strongly entrenched there. Victory 
 seemed every where to light upon his banners. Desertion 
 thinned the ranks of Carbo, and treachery surrendered whole 
 divisions of his army to the foe. Verres, whose infamy Cicero 
 has embalmed in the amber of his eloquence, abandoned his 
 general, and purchased the pardon of Sylla, by the treasure of 
 money and military stores which he surrendered to his hands. 
 Carbo, thus deserted, fled, and taking a boat with a few fol- 
 lowers, escaped to Africa. 
 
 The triumph of the aristocratical party now seemed com- 
 plete, and yet at this last moment one of those sudden turns 
 of fortune, which often baffle all the calculations of human 
 wisdom, came nigh to wrest the victory from their hands. 
 The Italian allies, who had thus far looked quietly on, well 
 pleased to see Roman slaughter Roman, were alarmed at the 
 decisive victory which the nobles were gaining, for they knew 
 full well that the triumph of the aristocratic party would toll 
 the knell of their rights. They immediately combined and 
 hastened to the relief of Prameste. The wrecks of Carbo's 
 army rushed to their standards. The popular party all over
 
 THE SOCIAL WAR. 16f 
 
 Italy were animated to new courage, and sprang to arms. 
 Sagaciously and secretly they resolved to make a bold strike 
 for Rome, which, not having the slightest apprehension of such 
 an attack, was quite defenseless. 
 
 Breaking up suddenly, in a dark night, from before the 
 walls of Praeneste, the dawn of the morning found them in mili- 
 tary array within a mile of the gates of Rome, marching ener- 
 getically toward the Colline gate. Rome was in consternation. 
 All the young men of the city formed into a body of cavalry, 
 sallied from the walls to hold the foe in check till aid could 
 arrive from Praneste. But they were routed and driven back 
 with great slaughter. In the midst of the confusion and car- 
 nage, the peal of trumpets was heard, and the gleam of ban- 
 ners was seen hi the distance, and nearly a thousand helmed 
 and veteran horsemen, from Sylla's legions, came thundering 
 upon the plain. Behind them Sylla himself followed, leading 
 his infantry, panting, with their almost superhuman exertions, 
 and upon the full run. It was indeed a wild scene of turmoil, 
 clamor and blood, upon which the unclouded sun looked down 
 that morning, so different from the quietude upon which its 
 evening rays had fallen, when no sound disturbed the song of 
 the bird and the chirp of the insect, and the fields slumbered 
 in solitude. 
 
 The Italian chieftains rode along their ranks shouting, 
 " Victory is ours. This is the last day of the Roman empire. 
 The wolves who have so long ravished Italy shall now be des- 
 troyed, and their den demolished." But God had not go 
 decided.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SYLLA AND OATILIITII. 
 FHOM 82 B. 0. TO 69 B. o. 
 
 BATTLE \JNDEB THE WALLS. TRIUMPH OP SYLLA. CAIUB JULIUS CJCSAB. DEATH o 
 MABIUS. MASSACRE AT PB.BNEBTE. MISSION OF POMPEY. ABDICATION OP SYLLA. 
 His DKATH. POLICY OK LEPIDUS. TRIUMPH OF ABISTOOBAOY. CAIUS JuLiua 
 
 CAESAR. C/KSAK A RANSOMED SLAVE. HE ESPOITSKS TDK POPULAR CAUSE. 
 
 CHARACTER OF POMPEY. SPABTACUS AND HIS BAND. His DEFEAT AND DEATH. 
 THE SLAVE TBADE. ILLUSTBATIVB ANECDOTE. POMPEY CBUSHKS THE PIBATES. 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. 
 
 fTIHE battle beneath the walls of Rome was as fierce as fury 
 *- and despair could make it. Throughout the whole day 
 it raged with unintermitted ferocity, until darkness enveloped 
 the gory field. The combatants, utterly exhausted, threw 
 themselves upon the sod and slept side by side, neither party 
 knowing which, upon the whole, had suffered most hi the 
 fight. But the light of the morning revealed more fully the 
 issue of the battle. The field was covered with the dead 
 bodies of the allies, and, in confusion, the broken bands of the 
 survivors commenced a retreat. Sylla, gathering recruits 
 from Praeneste, pursued them with merciless slaughter, and 
 then, returning in triumph, entered the gates of Rome, where 
 he perpetrated deeds of cruelty and blood which have con- 
 signed his memory to eternal infamy. The detail of his 
 enormities would alike weary, disgust, and shock the reader. 
 Human nature presents itself in its most pitiable aspect in all 
 these scenes. 
 
 A division of the routed army of the Italians, three thou- 
 sand in number, sent to Sylla imploring mercy. He promised 
 to spare them if they would aid him in executing vengeance
 
 SYLLA AND CATILINK. 169 
 
 on their associates. Infamously they accepted the terms, and 
 fell upon their former companions, aiding the soldiers of Sylla 
 in cutting them to pieces. They were all then, with other 
 prisoners, amounting to eight thousand, put to the sword. 
 The infamy of Sylla is not mitigated by the infamy of those 
 who received the doom of treachery, having perpetrated its 
 deeds. 
 
 While this massacre was transpiring, Sylla summoned the 
 senate, and addressed them with the atmost heartlessness, 
 even when the shrieks of his victims were resounding through 
 the streets. Observing that the senators appeared horror- 
 stricken, he sternly commanded them not to trouble them- 
 selves with what was passing elsewhere, but to attend to his 
 words. The same chastisement, with aggravated vengeance, 
 was now meted out to the popular party, which they, in the 
 hour of their triumph, had visited upon their foes. Every 
 day witnessed its hecatomb of victims. Each morning Sylla 
 issued his proscription list, containing the names of those his 
 soldiers were immediately to butcher. All laws were tram- 
 pled under foot, and Sylla, an inexorable tyrant, as the advo- 
 cate of the nobles of Rome, exercised a despotism which in 
 mercilessness has never been surpassed. 
 
 These horrible scenes of cold-blooded murder were not 
 confined to Rome alone, but extended all over Italy. Sylla 
 seemed resolved to destroy every man who could be suspected 
 even of advocating popular rights. M. Cato, then a mere 
 boy, was roused to the utmost indignation by the spectacle 
 of these crimes. 
 
 There was one young man, the renown of whose name 
 subsequently filled the world, who narrowly escaped the 
 sword of Sylla. It was Caius Julius Caesar. He was then 
 quite young, and had married the daughter of China. The 
 elder Marius was also his uncle, having married his father's 
 sister. Caius Julius Caesar was thus intimately connected 
 with the popular party. The eagle scrutiny of Sylla had
 
 170 ITALY. 
 
 searched him out, and he was commanded to repudiate his 
 wife. Refusing to comply, he fled from Rome. Soldier* 
 were *3nt in pursuit of him to bring his head to Sylla, bu-t by 
 the entreaties of some friends, the tyrant consented to spare 
 his life. And though tradition says that he affirmed, "in 
 Caesar there are many Mariuses," it is not probable that he 
 was at all conscious of the energetic spirit he had spared, to 
 place its broad and deep impress upon the world. 
 
 The garrison at Prseneste was soon compelled to surrender. 
 Marius was beheaded, and his bleeding head was presented a 
 welcome trophy to Sylla. He ordered it to be exposed in 
 the forum. Thinking that now all his foes were vanquished, 
 and that his power was invincible, and his elevation beyond 
 all peril of fall, he assumed the surname of Felix, or The 
 Fortunate. Immediately upon the surrender of Prseneste, 
 Sylla hastened to the place to enjoy the executions he had 
 ordered. Twelve thousand men were given up to massacre. 
 The women and children were turned into the fields, houseless 
 and foodless, and the town was abandoned to plunder. Sylla 
 enjoyed this so much, and his soldiers were so pleased with 
 the wealth they gained, that the same course was pursued 
 with seven other large cities. All the inhabitants who were 
 not massacred, were sold for slaves. The entire nation of the 
 Samnites were almost entirely extirpated by the proscriptions 
 of Sylla. -;???, 
 
 Without any shadow of legitimate power, Sylla thus filled 
 Italy, through all its provinces, with blood and ruin. Carbo, 
 from Africa, fled to Sicily, hoping to rally a party there to make 
 stand against a tyrant who had been even more tyrannical 
 and cruel than himself. Pompey was dispatched across the 
 traits to meet him. His energy was successful, and Carbo 
 was driven from the island. He was pursued, taken prisoner, 
 and brought into the presence of Pompey at Lilybseum. 
 Pompey, regardless of the consular dignity of his captive, 
 ordered him to immediate execution. The republic was thus
 
 STLLA AND CATILINE. Ill 
 
 left without a consul ; and a successful general, supported by 
 his army, was at the head of the state. Sylla, instead oi 
 proceeding to the election of consuls, caused himself to be 
 appointed by the senate, dictator, for an unKmited period, 
 until tranquillity and security should be restored to the affairs 
 of the commonwealth. No one dared to offer a word of 
 resistance. 
 
 But again clouds of darkness and war began to gather in 
 distant lands. Mithridates was reassembling his forces, Africa 
 was agitated and roused with the desire to drive out the 
 Romans ; and in Spain, the spirit of revolt had sprung up and 
 spread with great rapidity and success. The power of the 
 dictator, undisputed in Italy, could not overawe these distant 
 realms. The popular cause in Italy, was apparently anni- 
 hilated, and the commonwealth lay bleeding and gasping at 
 the feet of its conqueror. The great object of Sylla, in all 
 his measures, was to strengthen the aristocratic party, and to 
 crush democratic freedom. The senate had been a legislative 
 body. Sylla transferred to it judicial power. Some of the 
 laws, which, with untiring industry, he enacted were salutary 
 in their operation. 
 
 Pompey passed over to Africa, and by the energies of fire 
 and sword, in one year quelled all insubordination there. He 
 returned to Rome plumed with victory, and enjoyed the 
 luxury of a triumph. Sylla now caused himself and one of 
 his obsequious partisans, Q. Metellus Pius, to be chosen con- 
 suls. With great sagacity he established his authority and 
 consolidated his party ; and then, with all the reins of power 
 collected in his hands, to be placed at will in the hands of his 
 creatures, he nominally renounced his office of dictator. This 
 abdication of Sylla, so renowned in history, seems to have 
 been anything but a noble act. It is true he had accomplished 
 his ends. The popular party was apparently annihilated, and 
 the aristocracy were in the entire ascendency. His partisans 
 were all enriched by the sale of confiscated estates ; his sot
 
 172 IT ALT, 
 
 diers were extravagantly rewarded by grants of land, and he 
 had retained for himself more than regal wealth and luxury. 
 He was still the acknowledged head of his party, and renoun- 
 cing only its toils, and empty title, still retained in reality both 
 sovereign dignity and power. 
 
 Sylla, retiring from the labors of office, surrendered him- 
 self to the utmost excesses of sensual and voluptuous indul- 
 gence. His associates were generally only those who had 
 talents and attractions to gild the vices of which they 
 boasted. His leisure hours he devoted to the composition 
 of his own memoirs, bringing down the narrative until 
 within a few days of his death. But little more than a year 
 elapsed, after his abdication, ere he was attacked by a loath- 
 some disease, the effect of his vices, and died, devoured by 
 vermin, in a state of the most absolute and unmitigated 
 misery. His funeral was attended with much parade in the 
 Campus Martius, and, at his own request, his body was 
 burned. The nobility of Rome, and especially the ladies, 
 vied with each other in their endeavors to confer honor upon 
 the memory of him who had so effectually reestablished aris- 
 tocratic usurpation in the eternal city. His life signally illus- 
 trates the truth that literary and intellectual eminence of the 
 highest order may be combined with the lowest and most 
 brutal profligacy. It is only that " wisdom," the beginning of 
 which is " the fear of the Lord," which is the unerring guide 
 to virtue. 
 
 Immediately upon the death of Sylla, the popular party, 
 weak as it was, made an attempt to rally and to obtain a 
 repeal of some of the most obnoxious laws of the aristocratic 
 dictator. The two consuls at this time were Lepidus and 
 Catulus. From some unknown influence, perhaps conscien- 
 tiousness, Lepidus manifested some sympathy for the popular 
 cause, and openly denounced several of the most oppressive 
 measures introduced by Sylla. Growing more and more bold, 
 as friends increased, he became the leader of those who were
 
 8TLLA AND CATILINE. 17* 
 
 DOW faintly hoping for a counter-revolution. The broken 
 bands of the Italian allies were summoned to their aid. The 
 two consuls, taking opposite sides, were arrayed in bitter 
 hostility against each other, and Rome was again threatened 
 with civil war. 
 
 The aristocratic senate, jealous of the increasing power of 
 Lepidus, at the close of his consulship allowed him to take 
 command, as proconsul, of the distant province of Cisalpine 
 Gaul, thinking that he would be thus removed to a safe dis- 
 tance from Rome. Here Lepidus found himself at the head 
 of a strong army ; adventurers from Rome and its vicinity 
 hastened to his camp, and soon he commenced a menacing 
 march towards the capital. An army was sent to meet him. 
 He was utterly defeated, and retiring in dejection to Sardinia, 
 there soon died. One of his officers, who shared in this defeat, 
 was Brutus, father of the one who has attained world-wide 
 celebrity as the assassin of Caesar. This elder Brutus was 
 taken prisoner of war and put to death. 
 
 The popular movement was thus effectually quelled, and 
 aristocracy was more firmly established than ever. But the 
 conflict could never cease. So long as one portion of the 
 community is resolved to trample upon the rights of another, 
 there must be an undying struggle. And this irrepressible 
 conflict must burst out into bloody war, whenever the op- 
 pressed see any chance to smite their oppressors. The recog- 
 nition of man's fraternity, and the admission of equal rights 
 for all, would have saved this world unnumbered woes. This 
 cruel strife, which commenced with Cain and Abel, has con- 
 tinued to the present day. In this conflict America has had 
 her Washington, France her Napoleon, and Rome her Caius 
 Julius Caesar, each, under different institutions, and with 
 varying success, was the champion of popular rights. 
 
 The family of Caesar was ancient and illustrious. Caius, 
 the one to whom the name chiefly owes its renown, was the 
 eon of Lucius Julius Cassar, a noble of pretorian rank, and of
 
 174 ITALY. 
 
 Aurelia Cotta, a lady also of illustrious lineage. He was born 
 about one hundred years before the birth of Christ. As we 
 have before mentioned, he married, in early life, the daughter 
 of Cinna, and very narrowly escaped the proscription of Sylla. 
 He first drew his sword in Asia Minor, in the war against 
 Mithridates. After this he, from time to time, studied, pro- 
 bably in company with Cicero, at Rhodes, under the instruction 
 of Apollonius Molo. On one of his excursions he was taken 
 prisoner by some Greek pirates, and was ransomed by the 
 payment of a sum amounting to nearly sixty thousand dollars. 
 The energetic young man immediately raised a small naval force, 
 and, on his own responsibility, pursued the pirates, sank several 
 of their ships, and capturing others, returned with them, and 
 a large number of prisoners, to his own land. He then de- 
 manded of the authorities permission to execute them. But 
 finding that the government, influenced by avarice, was rather 
 inclined to sell them as slaves, Caesar, without waiting for a 
 reply to his application, caused them all to be put to death. 
 
 He early manifested hostility to the tyrant Sylla, and even 
 ventured, in the height of the despot's power, to bring a 
 charge of corruption against one of his officers. Though 
 unsuccessful in his suit, as was to have been expected, the bold- 
 ness of the act gave him distinction as the foe of the aristoc- 
 racy, and the friend of popular freedom. Upon the death of 
 his wife Cornelia, the daughter of China, he pronounced an 
 eulogy upon her character, which, for its polished diction and 
 glowing eloquence, excited great admiration. We have before 
 mentioned that his father's sister married Marius. At her 
 death, though Marius had been denounced as a traitor, he or- 
 dered that his image, hi accordance with the Roman custom, 
 should be borne in the procession at her funeral. The nobles 
 were enraged, but the populace were delighted, justly regard- 
 ing this as the pledge of his devotion to their cause, and the 
 image of Marius was greeted with enthusiastic acclaim. 
 
 It is recorded that at this time he was a man of profligate
 
 SYLLA AND CATILINE. 175 
 
 habits ; indeed the whole Roman world, with but rare excep- 
 tions, appears to have been in the condition of pollution and 
 infamy, which Paul has so graphically described in his epistle 
 to the Romans. "We can see but little difference in that res- 
 pect between aristocrat and democrat between Marius and 
 Sylla. They were struggling against each other for the 
 supremacy, and each was equally unprincipled in the hour 
 of triumph. 
 
 Pompey was at this time, as the agent of the aristocratic 
 party, quelling an insurrection in Spam, and having, with hia 
 characteristic energy, accomplished his purpose, he was per- 
 mitted to enjoy the luxury of a triumph ; and was also addi- 
 tionally rewarded with a seat in the consular chair. As 
 Pompey had maintained his army exclusively from the spoils 
 of war, Spam was left in a state of utter destitution. Pompey, 
 in his passage to Gaul, had punished the Gauls with merciless 
 severity for espousing the cause of Lepidus, against the aris- 
 tocracy at Rome ; and this vast province also was thus now 
 desolate and impoverished. 
 
 A curious incident, highly characteristic of the times, merits 
 notice. About seventy gladiators, prisoners of war, were in 
 training at Capua, for the bloody gladiatorial shows at Rome. 
 They, in a body, broke away from their keepers, and encoun- 
 tering on the road some wagons with arms and supplies, 
 seized them, and retreating to the heights of Mt. Vesuvius, 
 strongly intrenched themselves there. Spartacus was the 
 chosen leader of this band. Every day their numbers increas- 
 ed by the accession of fugitive slaves, and the impoverished 
 and restless populace of Rome. Spartacus soon had a band 
 BO numerous and well disciplined, that he marched from behind 
 his ramparts, and plundering the cities of Campania, endeav 
 ored to effect a retreat to the distant Alps. A Roman army 
 was sent to attack him. He turned upon his foes with the 
 bound of a lion, and crushed them to the dust. Another army 
 was sent. It encountered the same fate. Proudly he n<yw
 
 176 ITALY. 
 
 strode on, unopposed, toward the defiles of Cisalpine Gaul. But 
 here he found a third army, which he also promptly assailed 
 and demolished. 
 
 Intoxicated by these successes, and at the head of an army 
 rapidly increasing hi numbers, Spartacus dreamed that he was 
 able to cope with all the powers of Rome, and to conquer even 
 the eternal city. Wheeling around his battalions, notwith- 
 standing their remonstrances, he began to retrace his steps, 
 Soon he was compelled to retire to winter quarters, maintain- 
 ing his soldiers by the plunder of the surrounding country. 
 The senate was now thoroughly aroused. A powerful army 
 was organized during the winter. In the early spring Sparta- 
 cus was attacked, cut off from his retreat to the north, and 
 driven, with his broken bands to the south of Italy. Here he 
 attempted to construct rafts to float his followers over to 
 Sicily, hoping to rouse the slaves to join his standards. But 
 Crassus, who led the Roman force, vigorously pursued him, 
 and Spartacus was blockaded on a small promontory near 
 Rhegium. Finding escape by sea hopeless, hi a dark and 
 stormy night he crept unobserved, with his diminished col- 
 umns, through the enemy's Hue, and directed his retreat 
 toward the fastnesses of the Lucanian mountains. Crassus 
 vigorously pursued. A desperate battle took place, and the 
 army of Spartacus was cut to pieces, he himself perishing with 
 the shim. The cruel victor lined the road from Capua to Rome, 
 with the crucified bodies of the prisoners, who were thus left 
 to perish in the lingering agonies of that most terrible of 
 deaths. 
 
 At this period the whole Mediterranean Sea swarmed 
 with pirates, who, emerging from caves and creeping cau- 
 tiously around headlands, baffled all the naval power of 
 Rome. The slave trade was then in vigor, which has never 
 been surpassed, though it was almost exclusively confined to 
 the Caucasian race. The pirates of Cilicia, in Asia Minor, at 
 the foot of the Mt. Taurus range, ravaged all shores, and
 
 8YLLA AND CATILINB. lYY 
 
 supplied abundantly, and on the most reasonable terms, the 
 great slaveholders of Italy with men, women, and children. 
 By night they would make an assault upon some sequestered 
 hamlet, strike down all who resisted, fire the dwellings, and 
 convey the residue to the great slave market at Delos, in the 
 ^Egean Sea, where purchasers flocked from all parts of the 
 Roman empire, asking no questions, for conscience sake, 
 respecting the manner in which the slaves'had been obtained. 
 How they defended tho institution we have not been in- 
 formed. They did not know that Noah, in his cups, had 
 said, "Cursed be Ham;" and as Jesus Christ had not yet 
 appeared, they could not blasphemously pervert His words 
 to support this system of demoniac atrocity. Probably, in 
 unblushing honesty of infamy, they simply exclaimed, "Might 
 makes right." 
 
 These wretched slaves, packed in the holds of pirate ships 
 constructed for rapidity of sailing, were often persons of 
 fortune, distinction, and education. Caius Julius Caesar had 
 been thus captured, and was a slave, who, not being able to 
 run away, purchased his freedom, paying for it sixty thousand 
 dollars. These pirates were as ready to steal money as men, 
 and property of every kind was seized by them without 
 cruple. Rome was too deeply interested in the slave trade 
 to act with determination against those who supplied the 
 mart, and hence for ages the shores of the Mediterranean, in 
 the prosecution of this traffic, blazed with conflagrations and 
 were crimsoned with blood. 
 
 These pirates were so numerous and formidable that they 
 often made descents from their ships and attacked fortified 
 towns. About the year 70 B. c., one Heracleo, with four 
 piratic ships, captured and burnt several Roman ships sent 
 to oppose him, and after ravaging the coasts of Sicily at hip 
 pleasure, entered, in triumph and defiance, the harbor of 
 Syracuse. Descents were frequently made upon the coasts 
 of Italy. The brother of M. Antony was once sent in com- 
 8*
 
 Jf8 T T A L T . 
 
 mand of an expedi ion against them. During his absence the 
 pirates landed by night at Misenum, seized the children of 
 Antony, and carried them off as slaves. The distracted 
 father rescued his children from bondage only by paying an 
 enormous ransom. At one time these slave-trading pirates 
 even entered the Tiber, and captured a Roman fleet within 
 twenty miles of the capital. History gives us the names of 
 four hundred cities which had been captured by these slavers. 
 The condition of humanity then must have been miserable 
 indeed. Pirates ravaged the seas, and Roman governors, 
 still more remorseless, ravaged the land. 
 
 The triumph of Sylla had greatly aggravated the excesses 
 of the governing power. The laws were almost entirely 
 inoperative against any amount of extortion and corruption. 
 One incident will show how powerless were the weak against 
 the strong. Verres, as questor, was sent on a mission to the 
 king of Bithynia. Passing through Lampsacus, in Greece, he 
 was informed that a gentleman there had a daughter of very 
 rare beauty. He determined to take her for himself, and 
 sent one of his vile and obsequious attendants, in furtherance 
 of his plans, to lodge with Philodamus for the night. He 
 was entertained with great hospitality, and at his request 
 several of his companions were invited to sup with him. 
 When heated with wine they demanded that the beautiful 
 daughter should be brought forward and exhibited to them, 
 intending to seize her. According to the Grecian customs 
 nothing could be more indecent and insulting than such an 
 exposure The father indignantly refused. His Roman 
 guests, aided by their slaves, endeavored to accomplish their 
 purpose by violence. The father, assisted by his son, fought 
 valiantly to protect his daughter. In the fray one of the 
 Romans was killed and several of the slaves were wounded. 
 The people in the neighborhood rallied and protected the 
 family. But the father and son were both condemned and
 
 8YLLA AND CATILINE. 179 
 
 beheaded. Cicero records this enormity, with others even 
 more atrocious, against Verres. 
 
 When Porapey appeared in Rome, as a successful general, 
 seeking the consulship, the people welcomed him, hoping thai 
 they might secure him as their leader He made them flatter- 
 ing promises, was elected by acclaim, and repealed, as one of 
 his first measures, the most obnoxious of Sylla's laws, and 
 restored the tribuneship the popular branch of the govern- 
 ment. By this act he secured great popularity. At the. close 
 of the year, as his consulship terminated, he declined accept- 
 ing any other office, and remained in Rome a private citizen, 
 opulent and generally revered. 
 
 The outrages of the piratic slave ctealers had now become 
 intolerable, and Gabinius, one of the tribunes, proposed that 
 the war with the pirates, should be intrusted to sne person 
 for three years ; that his power should extend to every part 
 of the empire, with dictatorial authority to raise men and 
 money; and that Pompey should be intrusted with this 
 extraordinary command. Gabinius was a partisan of Pompey, 
 and was acting under his guidance. The people eagerly 
 advocated this measure. The nobles were alarmed, for it 
 had now become evident that he was courting popular favor. 
 The senate began to threaten Gabinius, and the mob to 
 threaten the senate. The decree, after a severe struggle, 
 was carried, and Pompey passed the whole winter in most 
 energetic preparations to commence, in the early spring, his 
 war upon the pirates. With a large fleet, almost before the 
 storms of winter had ceased, he scoured the coasts of Sicily 
 and of Africa, and thence sailed for Sardinia, leaving at all 
 these places ships to guard important points, and detachments 
 of troops upon the shore. So vigorously did he proceed, that 
 but six weeks were employed in this enterprise. 
 
 The pirates, thus driven from their haunts in those regions 
 of the Mediterranean, gradually drew back toward Cilicia, 
 where they were intrenched in almost sufficient power to bid
 
 180 ITALY. 
 
 defiance even to Pompey. But the indomitable warrior pur 
 sued them ; and conscious that he must expect determined 
 resistance, he went provided with all the apparatus for con- 
 ducting sieges. To his surprise he found the pirates over- 
 awed by his military renown, and they surrendered almost 
 without any show of opposition. 
 
 With great wisdom and mercy, Pompey followed up his 
 victory. All the slaves he found in their hands he freed ; 
 took possession of all their resources for evil, and then estab- 
 lished measures to reclaim the inhabitants from their guilty 
 and wretched habits of life Some of the pirates he removed 
 into the interior, and endeavored to encourage them in the 
 cultivation of the soil. In seven weeks from the time he 
 sailed from Italy for the east, the sea was swept clean of 
 every piratic craft, and measures were in successful operation 
 permanently to change the habits and characters of those who 
 had so long been scourges of humanity. 
 
 The magnificent island of Crete had until now maintained 
 its independence. But a Roman army was at this time over- 
 running it, with every prospect of speedily effecting its sub- 
 jugation. The Cretans, hearing of the wisdom and mercy 
 of Pompey, sent a delegation to him at Cilicia, requesting him 
 to come and receive their submission. Pompey was more 
 than willing to accede to their request, and sent one of hia 
 lieutenants, Octavius, to take possession of the island. But 
 Metellus, who was in command of the Roman legions there, 
 spurned the message, and crushing down all opposition, with 
 military exactions and executions of the utmost cruelty, 
 brought the whole island in subjection to his feet. 
 
 The popular party was now again advancing, and the aris- 
 tocracy at Rome, in their alarm, opposed every measure of 
 reform, however reasonable or salutary it might be. The 
 people were now looking to Pompey as their friend. Mani 
 lius, one of the tiibunes, proposed that as Pompey had been 
 so successful in terminating the piratic war, he should be
 
 SYLLA AND CATILINE. 181 
 
 entrusted with the sole management of the war again? . Mithri- 
 dates and Tigranes. This was the famous Manilian law. It 
 was bitterly opposed by the nobles generally ; but both Caesar 
 and Cicero advocated it, and it was carried. 
 
 Lucius Serguis Catiline, a man of world-wide notoriety 
 through the eloquence of Cicero, now first makes his appear- 
 ance upon the historic stage. He offered himself as a candi- 
 date for the consulship. But the senate pronounced him 
 ineligible, as he was then under accusation for misconduct in 
 the government of a province in Asia. Exasperated by this 
 rejection, he conspired with two companions of congenial 
 profligacy, to murder the two consuls-elect, Cotta and Man- 
 lius, on the first of January, as they were taking their oaths 
 of office. Catiline, and one of his confederates Ausanius, 
 were then to seize the consular dignity for themselves, while 
 the third conspirator Piso, was to be dispatched to Spain to 
 secure that province. The plot was suspected and its execu- 
 tion was consequently postponed to the fifth of February, when 
 it was intended not only to murder the consuls, but a large 
 part of the senators. Again, by some misunderstanding, the 
 plot was frustrated. Both Cicero and Sallust mention this 
 conspiracy as universally known, yet the conspirators being 
 baffled, strangely were not punished. 
 
 Two years after this Catiline again offered himself for the 
 consulship. He had been one of Sylla's most merciless agents 
 in his proscriptions. Profligacy had reduced him to indigence, 
 and in the desperate state of his affairs he was ripe for any 
 remunerative crime. He was of patrician birth, and polluted 
 with even an unusual share of the vices at that time character 
 istic of his class. Many young nobles, his boon companions 
 in debauchery, were accomplices in his treasonable plots. The 
 oppressions of the nobles had filled the land with restless 
 spirits. The confiscations of Sylla' had deprived thousands of 
 their property, and these impoverished multitudes had some- 
 thing to hope for, and nothing to lose by revolution. It ia alsa
 
 182 ITALT. 
 
 recorded that there were many women of distinguished rank, 
 out of utterly polluted lives, ruined by extravagance and dis- 
 sipation, who were ready to use poison or the dagger, even 
 against their own husbands, hoping to extricate themselves 
 from their embarrassments by the tumult of civil war. 
 
 Catiline affected to espouse the cause of the people, thougn 
 he himself was one of the most corrupt, and had been the 
 most intolerant of the patricians. But it was evident to every 
 eye that all the honors and emoluments were grasped by the 
 rich, and the masses of the people were degraded and impov- 
 erished. Consequently whoever spake upon this theme found 
 thousands of eager listeners. Even Cicero, notwithstanding 
 the comparative purity of his character and his exalted abil- 
 ities, was bitterly opposed by the nobles when a candidate for 
 the consulship, solely because he could not boast exalted 
 lineage. But as he earnestly avowed aristocratic principles, 
 though of plebeian birth, the nobles at length condescended 
 to waive their objections. The nobles were also alarmed in 
 view of Catiline's conspiracy, and needed the influence of 
 Cicero's matchless eloquence to protect them. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that Cicero and Antonius 
 were elected consuls. Catiline, defeated in the election, was 
 doubly exasperated. He now began to push forward with 
 new vigor his schemes fbr civil war. His partisans at Rome 
 were rapidly increased, secret meetings were held, depots of 
 arms were provided at different points, and large sums of 
 money were raised. Cicero, with great sagacity, traced out 
 all the labyrinths of the plot. Though Catiline was ever at- 
 tempting the assassination of this his most formidable foe, the 
 friends of Cicero guarded him so carefully that all the efforts 
 of the conspirators in that direction were frustrated. 
 
 One of the conspirators, Q. Curius, a debauched noble, 
 hopelessly involved in debt, found himself quite unable to 
 meet the extravagant demands of a woman, Fulvia, with 
 whom he was living in criminal connection. To appease her
 
 STLLA AND CATILINE. 188 
 
 murmurs, he assured her that he should soon have money 
 enough, and revealed to her the conspiracy, which was just on 
 the eve of its accomplishment. She, woman-like, betrayed 
 the secret to another, and soon Cicero had her in his employ, as 
 his agent, keeping him minutely informed of ah 1 the details and 
 progress of the plot. In this way, also, he was enabled effectu- 
 ally to guard against his own assassination. Still the character 
 of Roman law was such that the consul could not move 
 against the conspirators until there were some overt act of 
 rebelh'on. Catiline assumed the air of an innocent and calum- 
 niated man, and his friends were so numerous, that it was 
 needful that his guilt should be undeniably proved before it 
 would be safe to strike him. 
 
 During all this time Cicero devoted his energies to the sup- 
 port of the aristocracy, lending no countenance to any meas- 
 ures for meliorating the deplorable condition of the poor. A 
 law was proposed to provide the starving populace with land 
 to cultivate, from the vast tract of national territory which 
 war had depopulated. It is true that this homestead bill con- 
 tained some objectionable features. Cicero, however, sug- 
 gested no amendment, but brought upon the scheme the 
 crushing weight of his eloquence, and the people were left to 
 starve. A resolution, humane and just, was introduced, to 
 restore to the rights of citizenship the children of those who 
 had been infamously proscribed by Sylla. Again the voice of 
 Cicero was heard on the side of oppression, and his eloquence 
 prevailed. 
 
 At a meeting of the senate, as Catiline entered with an air 
 of innocence, Cicero immediately assailed him with direct 
 accusation and bitter reproaches. Catiline, allowing exasper- 
 ation to get the better of his prudence, pithily replied, " Thert 
 are two parties in the commonwealth; the nobles, weak in 
 both head and body ; the people, strong in body, but headless. 
 I intend to supply this body with a head." 
 
 Measures were now ripe for the revolt. One of the con-
 
 184 ITALY. 
 
 spirators, C. Manlius, hastened to Etruria, and, summoning 
 his partisans, raised the banners of civil war. Others of the 
 conspirators rallied their forces hi Picenum and Apulia. But 
 Cicero was prepared for the crisis. Proclamations, scattered 
 far and wide, announced the peril. Armies were sent to crush 
 the insurgents ; and Rome assumed the aspect of a city under 
 martial law. Still Catiline walked the streets unarrested. 
 Though guiding every movement, he professed entire inno- 
 cence, and declared his belief that the alarm was a mere pre- 
 tense. As there was as yet no legal evidence against him, 
 and he belonged to the aristocratic party, he could not be 
 arrested. In his assumed innocence he offered to place himself 
 in the custody of any persons whom the senate might appoint, 
 even in that of the consul Cicero himself. 
 
 Many suspected Cicero of fabricating the story of the con- 
 spiracy to subserve his own ends, and particularly to effect 
 the destruction of his rival Catiline. Hence it became a 
 matter of vital importance to Cicero, that the conspiracy 
 should be left to develop itself sufficiently to remove all doubt 
 from the public mind. Still it was necessary for him to adopt 
 such precautions for defense, that Catiline was greatly embar- 
 rassed in his operations, and his accomplices in Rome were 
 overawed by the vigilance of the government. At length 
 Catiline resolved to lay aside the mask. One night he assem- 
 bled his associates, in one of their secret gatherings, and after 
 giving them minute directions as to the plan of procedure, 
 arranged for two of their number, C. Cornelius and L. Var- 
 guntius to go early the next morning to Cicero's house and 
 assassinate him in his chamber. The conspirators had hardly 
 crept through the dark streets of Rome to their homes, ere 
 Cicero through his spies was informed of all that had trans- 
 pired. 
 
 The next morning, November the 8th, Cicero convened 
 the senate in the temple of Jupiter Stator, on the brow of the 
 Palatine hilL Catiline, with his characteristic effrontery,
 
 BTLLA AND CATILINE. 185 
 
 entered and took his seat with the rest of the senators. The 
 audacity was so great, that Cicero, thoroughly as he knew 
 Catiline, was amazed, and broke out upon him, in that oration 
 of impassioned eloquence, with which every school-boy is now 
 familiar, commencing with the words, " How long, O Catiline, 
 wib thou abuse our patience ?" 
 
 That very night Catiline left Rome, to join Manlius in Tus- 
 cany. Still, while on his route, he wrote several letters to 
 persons of high rank, affirming his innocence, and declaring 
 that he was driven, by persecution from Rome, and that he 
 should retire to Marseilles, into voluntary banishment. In- 
 formation was transmitted so slowly in those days, that the 
 statement was believed, by many, even long after Catiline was 
 at the head of the insurgent camp. 
 
 Catiline now, with great energy, marshaled his forces. 
 Stopping a few days at Arretium he organized the insurrection 
 there, gave his lieutenants minute directions, and then pro- 
 ceeded to the camp of Manlius, which was near Fsesulaa. 
 His agents were everywhere busy, in rousing the slaves to join 
 them, by proffers of freedom, a measure which will always be 
 resorted to in civil war, and which, under such circumstances, 
 renders a slaveholding community almost helpless. In thia 
 emergence Cicero remained at Rome to protect the city. His 
 colleague Antonius was sent with an army to confront Cati- 
 line. The conspirators, left in the city by the arrangement of 
 Catiline, were, on a particular day, to murder the principal 
 inhabitants, and, in all directions, kindle conflagrations. Cati- 
 line, by a secret march with his army, was to be at hand, cut 
 off the fugitives, and, in the general consternation, with enor- 
 mous butchery, take possession of the smoldering city. A 
 large number of the profligate, ruined young nobles, were 
 accomplices in the execrable plan ; a contemplated revolution 
 of blood and woe, by which one part of the aristocracy, 
 making use of the slaves and the mob as their tools, consigned 
 another part to massacre, merely for the sake of plunder and
 
 186 ITALY. 
 
 power. Catiline had as little sympathy for the people, as had 
 those aristocrats in power, whose cause Cicero so eloquently 
 and energetically espoused. 
 
 Cicero at length succeeded in obtaining ample and legal 
 evidence against the leading conspirators in the city, and four 
 of them were arrested. Cicero then assembled all the people 
 in the forum, and detailed to them the objects of the con- 
 spiracy, and the convincing proof which had been elicited. 
 When the masses learned that the city was to have been 
 surrendered to conflagration and indiscriminate massacre, 
 their indignation was roused to the utmost. 
 
 The arrested conspirators were immediately brought to 
 trial and condemned to death as traitors. It is remarkable, in 
 attestation of the theology of those times, that Caesar advo- 
 cated confiscation and banishment instead of death ; declaring 
 that death was not severe punishment enough, since death 
 was annihilation, with nothing more to fear or suffer. This 
 emphatic denial of the immortality of the soul, was received 
 by the assembled senate of Rome without any surprise or 
 dissent, which seems to prove that the mass of thinking men 
 in that day had no belief in a future state. The popular 
 theology was believed only by the ignorant, and it had a very 
 frail hold upon them, apparently having but the slightest 
 possible influence upon their conduct. It is the gospel of 
 Christ alone which has brought immortality to light, with all 
 its infinite persuasions to a holy life. The prisoners were, after 
 long debate, doomed to death, and were strangled in their cells. 
 
 Catiline was now at the head of twelve thousand men, 
 but his plan of burning Rome had been frustrated, and he 
 commenced a retreat toward Gaul. Antonius, with a consular 
 army pursued him. A battle soon ensued. The insurgents were 
 cut to pieces, and Catiline, sword in hand, rushing despair' 
 ingly into the thickest of the battle, fell among the slain. Thus 
 terminated this most rencwned conspiracy recorded in the annala 
 of history. The eloquence of Cicero has given it immortality,
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 O^lSAE AND POMPBT. 
 FBOM 59 B. o. TO 50 B. a 
 
 (Urn- -RETCH* OP POMPBT TO ROME. CLODIUS AND TH* MTBTIO Ems. DrvoMM 
 Of POMPBIA. ANECDOTES OF C.WAR. THB TRIUMVIRATE. POLICY OF CIOBBO. 
 POPULAR MEASURES OF C.XSAB. DIVISION OF THB SPOILS OF OFFICE. PROSECU- 
 TION OF CIOBRO. His BANISHMENT AND RECALL. DBMOOBATIO TRIUMPHS. DO- 
 MESTIC GRIEFS. BLOODY FRAY. TUMULT IN BOMB. DICTATORSHIP OF POMPBY. 
 ORGANIZATION OF A KOMAN COURT. ANECDOTE OF C^SAR. Hra AMBITIOUS 
 DESIGNS. SICKNESS OF POMPEY. POLITICAL CONTESTS IN BOMB. OPEN WAB. 
 ESTREAT OF POMPBY AND FLIGHT TO QREBOB. 
 
 A N OTHER of the most renowned of the men of antiquity 
 ^ now makes his appearance upon the busy stage of Roman 
 life, Marcus Porcius Cato, a man of illustrious birth and for- 
 tune, and of exalted genius. In the early years of childhood, 
 he gave indication of that force of character and resolution 
 which distinguished his whole career. His education was 
 conducted with much care, under the guidance of a private 
 tutor, Sarpedon. His temperament was naturally cold, reserv- 
 ed, and stern. He was seldom seen to laugh, and despising 
 the effeminate and dissolute habits of the young men of his 
 day, he adopted the most singular plainness of dress, and 
 great austerity of manners and conduct. With much nergy 
 he cooperated with Cicero to quell the insurrection of Call 
 line, and in an eloquent speech, which Sallust professes to have 
 preserved, he urged upon the senate the rigorous punishment 
 of the conspirators. 
 
 As Catiline had professed to be the friend of the masses 
 of the people, the poorer classes were generally in his favor 
 Csesar, whose sympathies were avowedly in favor of popular 
 rights, was understood to lean toward the side of mercy in
 
 188 ITALY. 
 
 regard to the conspirators ; but Cato urged that they should 
 be punished with the utmost rigor of the law. The murmurs 
 of the people increased after the execution of the conspirators. 
 They declared, and with justice, that the senate were eager to 
 punish any offenses against aristocratic privileges, while they 
 were utterly regardless of all the wrongs and oppressions to 
 which the people were subjected. Cato, to appease these 
 murmurs, presented a resolve that a large sum of money should 
 be appropriated annually to the distribution of corn among 
 the people. Though this decree was enacted, there was still 
 so much discontent at Rome, and Caesar so undisguisedly ad- 
 vocated the claims of the populace, that the senate removed 
 him from his office as pretor. But the people immediately 
 rallied around him, with so much enthusiam, regarding him as 
 a victim suffering for his efforts in their behalf, that he was 
 soon again reinstated hi office. 
 
 At this time, Pompey, having accomplished all the purposes 
 of his military mission, and acquired great renown, returned 
 to Rome. The people assembled in vast numbers to give him 
 a welcome, and hear from him an address. Both parties were 
 very anxious to know to which side he would devote his very 
 powerful influence. But his speech was non-committal, and, 
 according to Cicero, both patricians and plebeians were alike 
 disappointed. Probably, devoted to his own interests, he was 
 waiting to see which side would prove the most powerful. 
 Caesar, appreciating the energy of this ambitious young sol- 
 dier, courted his friendship. Pompey received these advances 
 as merited homage to his own greatness. Each of these dis- 
 tinguished men hoped to avail himself of the abilities of the 
 other hi climbing to power. It consequently was inevitable 
 that they would soon come to rivalry, and to deadly conflict. 
 
 After the death of Cornelia, Caesar married another wife, 
 whose name was Pompeia. It was a custom of the times for 
 ladies, in closest privacy, to observe a religious ceremony called 
 the " Myster es of the Good Goddess." These rites were of
 
 CuBBAB AND POMPET. 189 
 
 such a nature that all male observers were scrupulously ex- 
 cluded. Even the picture of a man was not allowed to remain 
 uncovered upon the walls. These mysteries were one night to 
 be celebrated at the house of Cassar. A debauched young 
 noble, by the name of Clodius, who had a very smooth and 
 beardless face, disguised himself in the attire of a woman, and 
 by bribing a female slave of Pompeia, gained admission. To 
 the utter consternation of the ladies, he was discovered in the 
 midst of their rites. The infamy of the crime was such that 
 Clodius was brought to trial. The young nobles generally, 
 debauched in character, were clamorous for the acquittal of 
 their companion, being disposed to regard the offense merely 
 as a good practical joke. After the mockery of a trial, he was 
 dismissed uncondemned, to the extreme indignation of the peo- 
 ple. Caesar proudly took no part in the prosecution ; but as 
 it was whispered, during the trial, that Clodius was admitted 
 through the concurrence of Pompeia, he immediately renounced 
 her by a public divorce, haughtily saying : " The wife of Caesar 
 must not be suspected." 
 
 The aristocracy looked upon Pompey with much distrust, 
 and opposed with great determination his attempts to procure 
 grants of land for his soldiers. This brought Pompey and 
 the aristocracy into fierce collision. Cicero rather coldly sup- 
 ported the measures of Pompey, but proposed several amend- 
 ments to his bill. The conflict raged with much bitterness, 
 and finally Pompey was defeated. Casar, in the meantime, 
 had been sent to Spain as second in command in that prov- 
 ince. Here he greatly replenished his exhausted purse. It is 
 reported that one day entering the town of Cadiz, he saw a 
 tatue of Alexander in the public square. With much sadness 
 he said to an attendant, " Alexander, at the age of thirty, was 
 master of the world. I have lived thirty-five years, and yet 
 how little have I accomplished." 
 
 The vast sums of money with which he returned from 
 Spain aided him in his ambitious enterprises at Rome. Com-
 
 bining with Pompey and with Crassus, a man of boundless 
 wealth, the three united, attained such supremacy that they 
 were called the triumvirate, or commission of three. This 
 coalition wielded immense power. Caesar, without difficulty, 
 obtained the great object of his desire the consulship. The 
 aristocrats, however, succeeded in associating with him on 
 of their partisans as colleague. Cicero was not popular with 
 either party. His want of noble birth exposed him to the 
 contempt of the nobles. His apparently obsequious advocacy 
 of the interests of the patricians rendered him obnoxious to 
 the people. Finding himself thus deserted by both parties, in 
 chagrin he retired for a short time from any participation in 
 public affairs. 
 
 Cato was now the acknowledged leader of the aristocratic 
 party, and he regarded Caesar with emotions' of animosity, 
 which grew stronger and stronger until the end of his life. 
 But powerful as Cato was, he could accomplish but little in 
 antagonism with such formidable opponents as the trium- 
 virate; particularly, since Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus were 
 supported by the whole weight of the popular party. 
 
 One of the first measures of Caesar, in his consulship, was 
 to grant farms to twenty thousand Roman citizens in Cam- 
 pania, one of the most fertile regions of Italy. Bibulus, bis 
 colleague, supported by the nobles, exerted himself to the 
 utmost to thwart this measure, but in vain. The opposition 
 of the nobles was silenced by the fierce menaces of the mob. 
 In fact, Bibulus was thus so effectually overawed, that he 
 withdrew into retirement, and Caesar was left in almost 
 undisputed possession of the consular power. Caesar was 
 now the idol of the people. The triumvirate made a division 
 of the spoils of office at their disposal among themselves. 
 Caesar, with a large army, was intrusted with the government 
 of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul, and of Ulyrium, for five 
 years. Pompey, who had hi the meantime married Julia, the 
 daughter of Caesar, was intrusted with the administration
 
 C^ESABANDPOMPEY. 191 
 
 of affairs in Asia. Crassus, with his vast wealth, and ambi- 
 tious of being the richest man in the world, remained in 
 Rome, to watch over his pecuniary interests and prosecute 
 his enterprises there. 
 
 The wheel of popular parties had, manifestly, again re- 
 volved, and the aristocracy were now depressed. A strong 
 disposition was manifested to effect the ruin of Cicero. For 
 some time he had absented himself from Rome. The trium- 
 virate had caused, in the annual election, men who were in 
 their own interests to be placed in the consular chair ; and 
 these new consuls immediately commenced the prosecution of 
 Cicero, for the execution of Lentulus, Cethegus, and the 
 other conspirators with Catiline. A law was enacted, re- 
 flective in its operation, or ex post facto, as it is legally 
 termed, whic^' sentenced to punishment any one guilty of 
 putting a Roman citizen to death without trial. The popu- 
 lace, excited against Cicero, insulted him whenever he ap- 
 peared in the streets. The distinguished orator, finding his 
 cause hopeless, and conscious that he was already doomed by 
 the decree which had passed, escaped by night from Rome, 
 and retired into voluntary exile. A law was then enacted, in 
 the usual language of a decree of banishment, forbidding him 
 the use of fire and water within four hundred miles of Italy, 
 denouncing any one who should harbor him within those 
 limits, and declaring it a crime to move for his recall, either 
 before the senate or the people. His property was also con- 
 fiscated, and his house, on the Palatine hill, was burnt to the 
 ground. 
 
 Cato denounced these measures of democratic violence 
 The influence of this illustrious man was so great, that i 
 was not deemed safe to attempt to strike him down. In the 
 greed of annexation, Rome had decided, without the color of 
 justice, to take possession of the island of Cyprus, and Cato, 
 though he inveighed against the criminality of the measure, 
 was sent to bring the island into subjection to Rome. H>
 
 192 ITALY. 
 
 was selected for the mission merely as a measure to remove 
 him from the metropolis. The king of Cyprus, knowing his 
 utter inability to cope with Rome, took poison and died. 
 
 At the close of the year, new consuls came into power ; 
 new influences prevailed, and, with extraordinary unanimity, 
 both the senate and people concurred in a law for Cicero's 
 recall. He landed at Brundusium, where he was received 
 with great kindness. His advance to Rome was almost a 
 constant triumph ; and when he reached the gates of the city, 
 nearly the whole population came forth to welcome him. 
 The streets were thronged with the multitudes, who cheered 
 him on his way. Cicero was probably much indebted to 
 Pompey for his recall and his honorable reception. 
 
 One of Cicero's first measures, in the senate, after his 
 return, was eminently a popular one. There mid been, for 
 some time, a great scarcity of corn at Rome. Pompey, at 
 Cicero's suggestion, was invested with full powers to see that 
 the capital should be amply supplied with corn for a period of 
 five years. This office conferred immense power. The ground 
 upon which Cicero's house had stood was restored to him, and 
 money, from the public treasury, was placed in his hands to 
 enable him to rebuild. Some of the disaffected, however, 
 f xcited riots, and there were witnessed many scenes of tumult 
 ,*nd bloodshed. 
 
 While these events were transpiring at Rome, Caesar was 
 passing the winter at Lucca, on the frontiers of the province 
 intrusted to his command. The senate took advantage of his 
 absence to endeavor to repeal the agrarian law, by which the 
 lands of Campania had been divided among the poorer citizens ; 
 at the same time, they made an effort to degrade Caesar from 
 his command in GauL The haughtiness of the aristocratic 
 party, and their insolent bearing toward Cicero, had alienated 
 him from their cause, and he addressed the senate in a very 
 eloquent oration in defense of Caesar. He seemed now quite 
 disposed to cast himself into the arms of the popular party
 
 CAESAR AND POMPEY. 193 
 
 and composed a work, highly complimentary to Caesar, which 
 he sent to him to cement the bonds of confidence and union. 
 
 The opposition to Caesar, stimulated by the aristocracy, was 
 increasing so fast in Rome, that Pompey and Crassus decided 
 to present themselves as candidates for the consulship, hoping 
 thus to be able to sustain their colleague, for the fall of any 
 one of their number, would endanger the authority of the 
 triumvirate. The leaders of the democracy can generally 
 bring forward the mob to aid them. Through such scenes as 
 are often witnessed, when the rabble are roused, in a great 
 city, they obtained their election. The aristocracy had pre- 
 sented Cato as their candidate for pretor ; but he was rejected. 
 The whole election was a decisive democratic triumpn. 
 
 Pompey and Crassus now made rapid strides toward dicta- 
 torial power, the people being eager to grant them even more 
 than they asked. By one law, in addition to the consular 
 dignity, the government of Spain was assigned to Pompey, 
 and that of Syria to Crassus, each to hold their command for 
 five years, and to be invested with the power of raising troops, 
 and of making peace or war at their pleasure. They then 
 obtained the prolongation of Caesar's dominion in Gaul for 
 five years. 
 
 Crassus, with an army, embarked for Syria. Pompey 
 remained in Rome, intrusting the command of his Spanish 
 province to lieutenants. Pompey had now attained the 
 height of his ambition. Caesar was in Gaul ; Crassus was in 
 Syria ; and Pompey was enthroned at Rome with dictatorial 
 power. As is almost invariably the case, under such circum 
 stances, Pompey, having attained such dignity, became very 
 aristocratic in his tastes and principles, and was disposed to 
 push from beneath him the popular ladder by which he had 
 mounted to his exaltation. He was complaisant to the nobles, 
 and favored them in all things, manifesting an earnest disposi- 
 tion to regard them as the support and ornament of his throne. 
 
 Domestic griefs were then as relentless and heart-rending 
 9
 
 /04 fTALT. 
 
 as now. Pompey was irreproachable in his relations as a 
 husband and a father ; and his love for Julia, who, as we have 
 mentioned, was the daughter of Caesar, was singularly pure, 
 tender, and constant. Her death, at this time, leaving an 
 infant who survived her but a few days, prostrated him, for a 
 season, a heart-stricken man. Julia was universally loved and 
 admired. Her funeral was celebrated by an immense con 
 course in the Campus Martius, an honor which had never 
 before been conferred upon a woman. But still more momen- 
 tous issues resulted from this death. Pompey was passing 
 over to the support of the nobles. He had never been in 
 heart, democratically inclined. Caesar was still the popular 
 leader, looking steadfastly at the people as the supporter 01 
 his power. The influence of Julia had bound her father and 
 her husband together. That tie was now, by her death, sun- 
 dered for ever. 
 
 The following incident, which occurred at this time, illus- 
 trates the state of society in those days of violence. There 
 were two distinguished men, bitterly opposed to each other in 
 political strife, Clodius, a democrat, and Milo, an aristocrat. 
 On the twentieth of January, Milo, who was a man of great 
 wealth, left Rome on some business, in his carriage, accom- 
 panied by his wife Fausta, and attended by a strong retinue 
 of gladiators. As, late in the afternoon, he was ascending the 
 Alban hills, he met Clodius returning from a journey, mounted 
 on horseback, and also accompanied by thirty slaves. The 
 two rivals passed each other with civil recognition. But the 
 attendants, espousing the cause of their several masters, were 
 not so courteous. Blows succeeded jeering words, and th 
 two parties were soon involved in a serious quarrel 
 
 Clodius turned back to interfere, and, addressing one of 
 the retinue of Milo in an authoritative manner, was assailed 
 by him, and severely wounded by a blow from his sword. 
 The fray now became general between the two parties, Milo 
 engaging eagerly in it. Clodius, helpless and bleeding, waa
 
 C -ffl 8 A R AND POMPET. 108 
 
 carried into a neighboring inn. Milo, deeming it a favorable 
 opportunity for destroying his rival, made an assault upon the 
 inn, and Clodius was dragged out into the street and mur- 
 dernd. Many of the slaves of Clodius were also slain, a 
 few only escaping by flight. The gory corpse of Clodius 
 was left by the wayside, and Milo, wiping his bloody sword, 
 again entered his carriage, and quietly continued his journey, 
 ^ith the gladiators exulting at his side. 
 
 A senator who happened to pass, on his way to Rome, 
 picked up the dead body, and sent it on to the capital, in a 
 litter. It was an hour after dark, when the mangled remains 
 were conveyed to the house of Clodius. An immense crowd 
 of the populace were soon assembled, for Clodius was a 
 prominent advocate of popular rights. Fulvia, the. widow of 
 the deceased, fanned the flames of excitement by her shrieks 
 of anguish, and by the frantic manner hi which she hung over 
 the corpse, pointing to the wounds, and calling upon the people 
 for vengeance. 
 
 Through all the hours of the night, the tumult and throng 
 increased. In the early morning, two influential members of 
 the popular party took the command of the agitated mass, who 
 were waiting for a leader. The body, by their directions, was 
 conveyed to the senate house, placed before the rostra upon a 
 pile, composed of the furniture of the apartment. This waa 
 set on fire, and soon the whole senate house was in a blaze 
 the magnificent and appropriate funeral pyre of one who had 
 fallen a victim to aristocratic violence. 
 
 But the lawlessness of the mob kindles flames which it can 
 not quench. A beautiful edifice was in ashes, and Rome was 
 endangered. The tide of public sentiment turned. The pop- 
 ulace, who had received a great wrong, were now aggressors. 
 Milo returned to Rome, and with his vast wealth, and the 
 sympathy excited by the destruction of the senate house, ral- 
 lied a strong party in his defense. The populace also rallied. 
 Tumults, battles, conflagrations, blood, ensued. The next step
 
 190 ITALY. 
 
 was inevitable. A dictator was needed, with a strong military 
 arm, to restore peace to Rome. Pompey was the man for the 
 hour. He was appointed dictator, under the form of sole con- 
 Bui, without any colleague. 
 
 "With alacrity and energy, he assumed the office, and imme- 
 diately entered into an investigation of the murder of Clodius. 
 The power of Milo was such, that Pompey was in great dan- 
 ger of assassination. A strong guard surrounded his house 
 by night and by day, and accompanied him wherever he-went. 
 With singular sagacity and justice, Pompey made preparations 
 for the trial of Milo. An impartial judge was appointed to 
 preside over a court, composed of the most distinguished citi- 
 zens. Three days were appropriated to the examination of 
 witnesses. The public accusers, who were the nephews of 
 Clodius, were allowed two hours to plead their cause. Milo 
 was permitted to take three hours for his defense. 
 
 Never before in Rome had there appeared regulations so 
 wise for the attainment of justice. Milo endeavored, in every 
 possible way, to frustrate the organization of this tribunal, but 
 Pompey assured him that he would protect the commonwealth, 
 if necessary, by force of arms. The illustrious Cato, of Utica, 
 was one of the members of this court. On the first day of the 
 trial the rabble were so menacing, that Marcellus, one of Milo's 
 advocates, applied to Pompey for protection. A strong mili- 
 tary force was immediately sent to the court house, and the 
 trial proceeded without further interruption. Plancus, a dem- 
 agague of great ability and no moral principle, harangued the 
 populace of Rome, urging them to be present in all their 
 strength at the conclusion of the trial, and not suffer Milo to 
 escape, should the court adjudge him not guilty. 
 
 The decisive hour arrived. It was the morning of the 
 eighth of April. The shops in Rome were all closed. The 
 whole vast populace of the Imperial city thronged the forum. 
 The soldiers of Pompey, with their polished armor and gleam- 
 Ing weapons were drawn up in strong military array, pre
 
 C^BSAB A WD POMPEY. 197 
 
 pared at svery hazard, to enforce the laws. Porapey himself 
 was present, surrounded by an ample body-guard. The plead- 
 ings were to be heard, and the sentence immediately to be 
 pronounced and executed. 
 
 Antonius and Nepos appeared in behalf of the accusers. 
 Cicero plead the cause of Milo. But he was a timid man, and 
 overawed by the popular clamor, did not speak with his accus- 
 tomed eloquence. There were fifty-one judges to decide the 
 cause. Thirty-eight voted for the condemnation of the accus- 
 ed, and but thirteen for his acquittal. The culprit was sent 
 into exile, and retired a ruined man, to Marseilles, in Gaul. 
 His punishment would doubtless have been more severe, were 
 it not that Clodius was a man of infamous character. The 
 leaders of the mob in burning the senate house, were also 
 tried, condemned, and punished. Pompey conducted this 
 whole affair with so much wisdom and moderation, and yet 
 with such determined, inflexible justice, as to elevate him 
 greatly in public esteem. 
 
 Tranquillity being thus restored to Rome, Pompey appa 
 rently laid aside his dictatorial power by securing the election 
 of L. Scipio as his colleague in the consulship. The new 
 consul was the father of Cornelia, whom Pompey had recently 
 married. The aristocracy were pleased with Pompey's reso- 
 luteness in frowning down, with strong military display, all 
 insubordination of the mob; and as they were in no little 
 danger from popular violence, they supported Pompey's 
 power. The people were also well satisfied with him for 
 securing the trial and condemnation of one of the most power- 
 ful of their aristocratic foes. Pompey was now the first man 
 in Rome, and consequently, the .first man in the world. Caesar 
 was still in Gaul. Crassus had died in Mesopotamia, and thw 
 wreck of his army had been led back to Syria. At a bound, 
 Pompey had attained the highest round in the ladder of 
 political preferment. He was, as it were, the monarch of the
 
 108 ITALY. 
 
 Roman empire, and Caesar but the general of one of hia 
 armies. 
 
 Caesar was anndyed beyond measure in being thus eclipsed. 
 Ambition was the all-devouring passion of his soul. In one 
 of his expeditions, he passed through a miserable hamlet in 
 Switzerland. One of his friends, in contemplating the 
 wretched hovels and impoverished inhabitants, wondered 
 whether rivalry and ambition agitated the hearts of the 
 people there. Caesar divulged his whole nature in the reply, 
 " I had rather be the first man in such a village as this, than 
 the second man at Rome." 
 
 Caesar's command in Gaul was to expire in a few years, 
 and then he had the humiliating prospect of returning, a 
 private citizen, to Rome. Pompey had secured for himself 
 five additional years for the command of the army in Spain ; 
 and he had also obtained the passage of a law forbidding any 
 magistrate to be appointed to the government of a province, 
 until five years after the expiration of his magistracy. Thus 
 Caesar was cut off from advancement, while Pompey was 
 amply provided with continued wealth, dignity, and power. 
 
 But Caesar was not a man to be laid upon the shelf. 
 Obstacles to success never discouraged him ; they only roused 
 him to greater energies. He had already conquered a large 
 part of Gaul, and enriched himself with almost fabulous 
 wealth. And with him, wealth was of no value but as an 
 instrument of power. He immediately became lavish of his 
 treasure in securing the cobperation of a large number of 
 influential friends in Rome. 
 
 To Cicero he loaned money in abundance. He won the 
 applause and gratitude of the people by commencing at Rome 
 seveial works of great public utility, and by establishing mag- 
 nificent spectacles. Thus he kept his name continually alive 
 in the metropolis. To his soldiers he was boundless in his 
 fiberality, while at the same time, he welcomed to his camp 
 adventurers from all lands. Caesar had been himself a slave;
 
 CJESAR AND POMPEY. 199 
 
 but this did not prevent him from being a slave-trader. His 
 boundless wealth was acquired by plundering the towns of 
 the Gauls, and by selling the wretched captives into bondage. 
 The soul sickens in reflecting upon the atrocities and woes of 
 these dark days. If we can judge at all from the testimony 
 of history, it would appear that the best men in those days 
 were guilty of conduct which would now consign any one to 
 infamy. 
 
 Pompey and Caesar still professed friendship for each 
 other, but it was well known that, in heart, they were bitter 
 rivals. Their partisans in Rome were openly arrayed against 
 each other. As the result of past conflicts, in the days of 
 Marius, and Cmna, and Sylla, many of the Italian allies had 
 secured the rights of Roman citizenship. But all the nations 
 between the Po and the Alps were, as yet, deprived of those 
 rights. They were restless and murmured loudly. 
 
 Caesar, advocating ever the popular side, had espoused 
 their cause, and was accused even of having at one time 
 incited them to open insurrection. He now enlisted earnestly 
 in their behalf. Availing himself of the power to which 
 his military position entitled him, he had conferred upon 
 several of the towns north of the Po the rank of Roman 
 colonies; and thus, any of their inhabitants who were ap- 
 pointed to public offices in those towns, became, by that 
 position, citizens of Rome. Comum, at the foot of Lake 
 Como, was one of these towns. 
 
 A magistrate from that place, happening to go to Rome, 
 claimed his righ ts as a Roman citizen. Marcellus, then consul, 
 opposed to Caesar, denied his claim, and, in cruel mockery, 
 ordered the man to be scourged, and then bade him go and 
 show his wounds to Caesar. Cicero, in a letter to Atticus, 
 alludes to this outrage, and says that it would give as much 
 offense to Pompey as to Caesar. Pompey was not at all dis- 
 posed to make the people his foes; and he was himself -in 
 favor of conferring the rights of citizenship upon the in- 
 habitants beyond the Po, as an act of justice.
 
 200 ITALY. 
 
 Caesar was silent respecting the outrage and insult, but 
 quietly he was maturing his plans. He was at that tune at the 
 head of one of the finest armies which had ever been organized. 
 Marcellus and other foes of Caesar were conspiring to remove 
 him, at any risk, from a position of such power. Pompey, 
 with characteristic moderation, unwilling to give his former 
 father-in-law any just grounds of offense, frustrated the con- 
 templated movement. In the meantime, Curio entered the 
 consulship, and ardently espoused the interests of Caesar. 
 His enemies said that he was bribed by a gift, amounting to 
 four hundred thousand dollars. He commenced action by 
 attacking Pompey, and declaring that he was aspiring to 'abso- 
 lute command. Pompey's greatness was now such that the 
 jealousy of the people was aroused, and they loudly applauded 
 the denunciations of Curio. Pompey also began to be alarmed 
 at the increasing greatness of Caesar, and he advocated his 
 recall. 
 
 We have now traced the incidents of Roman history 
 down to the 44th year before Christ. In the autumn of this 
 year Pompey was taken dangerously sick, at his villa, near 
 Naples. His celebrity was such that all Italy was agitated 
 with sorrow, and in all the temples sacrifices were offered in 
 his behalf. When he recovered, the rejoicing seemed to be 
 universal, and there were festivals of thanksgiving in all the 
 towns. And when, in his convalescence, he returned slowly 
 in his carriage, to Rome, the populace crowded the roadsides, 
 with garlands by day, and torches by night, and strewed his 
 nath with flowers. Pompey was greatly gratified by these 
 indications of popular favor, and was deceived into the belief 
 that all Italy would move at his command. " I have," said 
 be, " but to stamp my foot and armies rally around me." 
 
 But a few months passed away ere one of Caesar's most 
 confidential officers arrived at Rome, to attend to some private 
 business for Caesar, and did not call upon Pompey, but de- 
 parted again, without holding any communication with
 
 C^BSAB AND POMPEY. 201 
 
 Soon alter this, Antonius, a warm supporter of Caesar, assailed 
 Pompey in the tribune, in a speech of the utmost bitterness, 
 following him through his whole public career with the most 
 acrimonious denunciations. It became now pretty evident 
 that there must be civil war. Neither Pompey nor Caesar 
 would be contented with the second place in the state, and 
 they were each able to command immense resources. In this 
 conflict the aristocracy almost universally would be with 
 Pompey, and the populace, as a general rule, with Caesar. 
 There were, at the same time, not a few persons of broken 
 fortunes, eager for tumults of any kind, hoping thus to retrieve 
 their ruined affairs. Caesar had presented his name as a can- 
 didate for the consulship. Pompey caused a decree to be 
 issued, declaring that Caesar could not be a candidate, until he 
 first resigned his command of the army, and returned to Rome 
 a private citizen. This would place Caesar powerless in the 
 Lands of his enemies. 
 
 Cato was bitterly hostile to Caesar. Cicero, though by 
 nature inclined to non-committal, still, with bis strong aristo- 
 cratic tastes and associations, was dispose.d to cooperate with 
 Pompey. Brutus, a nephew of Cato, was then in Rome, a 
 young man of much promise, who had not as yet taken any 
 very conspicuous position in public affairs. C. Cassius was 
 one of the tribunes of the people. C. Octavius was then a 
 boy only thirteen years of age. 
 
 At this time, an envoy came to Rome, from Caesar, with a 
 message to the senate. The letter contained a statement of 
 the services Caesar had rendered to the commonwealth, and a 
 proposition that he would resign the command of his army, if 
 Pompey would do the same ; but stating, with much apparent 
 candor, that it was not just to desire him to lay aside aU power 
 of defense, and expose himself helpless to his enemies. A 
 vehement debate ensued, the partisans of Pompey demanding 
 that Caesar should be required to resign before a certain day, 
 and that, if he should refuse, he should be pronounced a traitor 
 9*
 
 202 ITALY. 
 
 The aristocracy, as a body, united to crush Caesar. The 
 people, through the agency of the tribunes, supported the 
 popular leader. The contest was violent and protracted, and 
 at length the senate, in the exercise of its highest prerogative, 
 invested the consuls with dictatorial power, by a decree 
 authorizing them " to provide for the safety of the republic." 
 
 Lentulus and Marcellus were then consuls ; the last who 
 held that office by the free votes of the Roman people. Th 
 dictatorial power, surrendered to the consuls, alarmed the 
 friends of Caesar, and three of them, Antonius, Cassius, and 
 Curio, deeming their lives no longer safe, fled from Rome to Ra- 
 venna, where Caesar then was, awaiting the result of his appeal 
 to the senate. Caesar was commanded to resign his office, and 
 the direction of all the forces of the commonwealth was, by 
 the same decree, placed in the hands of Pompey. High as was 
 Caesar's reputation at that time as a general, the reputation of 
 Pompey was still more exalted. 
 
 Ravenna, then a more important town than now, was sit- 
 uated upon the shores of the Adria ; c, ubout three hundred 
 miles northeast fro.m Rome. Caesar had with him but one 
 legion, consisting probably of between six and seven thousand 
 men. The remaining eight legions of his army were quar- 
 tered beyond the Alps. No sooner was Caesar informed of 
 the transactions at Rome, so hostile to him, than he assembled 
 his soldiers around him, informed them of what had transpired, 
 and committed his cause and their cause to their strong arms. 
 The soldiers with enthusiasm responded to his appeal. That 
 same night he advanced, by a secret march, several miles on 
 the road to Rome, and took possession of the small town of 
 Areminum. Here Caesar received a private letter from Pom- 
 pey, in which Pompey endeavored to defend the course he had 
 pursued, declared that he had not been influenced by any 
 unfriendly feelings toward Caesar, and entreated Caesar not to 
 pursue measures which would inevitably involve the country 
 in civil war.
 
 C ^E 8 A E AND POMPEY. 203 
 
 Caesar returned an answer couched in similar terms of 
 friendship, similar avowals of devotion to the public good, and 
 similar entreaties that Pompey would not persist in measures 
 which must desolate their country with the horrors of a fratri- 
 cidal strife. In addition, he urged that both should give up 
 their armies ; that all the forces in Italy should be disbanded, 
 and that the senate and people should be left freely to deliber- 
 ate on all public questions, and especially upon the question of 
 his claims to the consulship. He finally requested a personal 
 interview with Pompey. 
 
 Two envoys, L. Caesar and L. Roscius, were sent to convey 
 this letter to Rome. Caesar, however, did not await the result 
 of uncertain negotiations, but, with his disciplined cohorts, 
 advanced, and crossing the Rubicon, which formed the bound- 
 ary between Italy and his province of Gaul, took possession of 
 the towns of Ancona, Fanum, and Pisaurum. It is said that 
 Caesar hesitated for some time upon the banks of the Rubicon, 
 ere he ventured to take that step from which there could be no 
 retreat. There are always crowds ready to gather around vic- 
 torious banners. Multitudes, from all parts of Italy, flocked to 
 the camp of Caesar. He had also summoned other legions of 
 his army from beyond the Alps, and his advance in such force, 
 toward Rome, excited general consternation in the capital. 
 
 Pompey, quite unprepared for such decisive action, fled 
 from Rome with the consuls, most of the senate, and a major- 
 ity of the smaller magistrates, and sought refuge in Capua, 
 that they might find time to organize efficient measures of 
 resistance. Pompey had no troops to rely upon but two 
 legions, which had been recently withdrawn from Gaul ; and 
 these legions were so devoted in their attachment to Caesar, 
 that it was greatly feared that at his approach, they would rush 
 to join his banners. Pompey immediately sent out recruiting 
 officers to raise soldiers, but the people, overawed by the ad- 
 vance of Caesar, were very reluctant to enlist. Under these 
 <rircumstances, there seemed to be no hope for Pompey, but to
 
 204 ITALY. 
 
 retreat to the south of Italy, cross over to Greece with such 
 forces as he could carry with him, and there attempt to organ- 
 ize an army sufficiently strong to warrant his return to make 
 war upon Caesar. 
 
 While hi the midst of these embarrassments, he received 
 Caesar's letter. The propositions it contained were discussed 
 in fall council, and the peril was so great, that, probably to gain 
 time, it was agreed to accede to his terms, provided Caesar 
 would withdraw from ah 1 the towns he had occupied out of his 
 limits and go back to his own province. 
 
 But Caesar was still advancing, and Pompey was still levy- 
 ing troops. Neither was willing to be the first to disarm, lest 
 the other should then strike an effectual blow. Caesar was 
 consequently continually accumulating troops and fortifying 
 his positions, and Pompey was also collecting an army and 
 retreating. He had sent recruiting officers in ah 1 directions to 
 enlist soldiers, but not a few of these men deserted and 
 passed over to Caesar. The month of February found Pom- 
 pey at Luceria, in Apulia, with a considerable army, but 
 one by no means sufficient to cope with the disciplined troops 
 of Caesar, who was at this time several hundred miles distant, 
 in the north of Italy, occupying the towns of Iguvium and 
 Auximum. 
 
 One of Pompey's officers, Domitius, at but a few days' 
 march south of the encampment of Caesar, had collected at 
 Corfinium nearly nineteen thousand men. The insane idea 
 entered his mind that he could with that force resist the 
 march of Caesar. In defiance of the express orders of Pora- 
 pey, that he should hasten with his division to join the com- 
 mander-in-chief at Luceria, he fortified himself at Corfinium. 
 Pompey was greatly disturbed by this act of disobedience, 
 and continued his retreat to Brundusium, at the southwest 
 extremity of the Italian peninsula, where he arrived about the 
 twenty-fifth of February. Domitius had cherished the hope 
 that Pompey, appreciating his military sagacity, would at
 
 C.E8AR AND POMPET. 205 
 
 once march to strengthen him. But he was left to his own 
 resources. The banners of Caesar soon appeared before the 
 battlements of Corfiuium. The soldiers of Domitius had 
 sufficient intelligence to perceive their utter inability to resist 
 such a foe. They began to murmur and desert, and finally 
 broke out in open mutiny. 
 
 Seizing Domitius and all his officers, they sent word to 
 Caesar that they were ready to open the gates, deliver the 
 officers into his hands, and receive him as a deliverer. 
 Caesar entered the city in triumph, and summoning the 
 officer! before him, reproached some of them with personal 
 ingratitude, but, with the magn annuity which generally char- 
 acterized his conduct, dismissed them all unharmed. He 
 even allowed Domitius to carry away a large amount of 
 treasure, which he had brought to pay his troops. The 
 soldiers, with alacrity, enlisted hi the service of Caesar. With 
 new vigor, he put his army hi motion to march upon Brundu- 
 sium, hoping to capture his only formidable rival there. It 
 was evident to all that there was no hope for Pompey but hi 
 flight. Success is usually a persuasive argument. The crowd 
 flocked to Caesar, and Pompey was deserted. Even many 
 senators and other men of rank and fortune, reluctant to 
 abandon their country and follow Pompey into exile, were 
 disposed to recognize the legitimacy of power, and to seek 
 the smiles of the victor. 
 
 On the ninth of March, CaBsar arrived before Brundusium, 
 t the head of nearly forty thousand men. Pompey had but 
 twelve thousand, but they were very strongly intrenched. 
 Many of his followers, with their wives and children, iiai 
 already embarked for the opposite coast of Greece. Caesar 
 trged the siege with great vigor, and pushed out two moles 
 from the opposite side of the harbor's mouth, that he might 
 cut off the possibility of retreat by sea. Pompey, however, 
 succeeded hi holding Caesar hi check, until he was enabled to 
 embark with the remainder of his troops and follower*, and
 
 80S ITAL7 
 
 on the seventeenth of March he spread Ms sails, and his fleet 
 Boon disappeared, passing over the blue waves of the Adriatic 
 to the shores of Greece. The citizens immediately threw 
 open the gates, and Caesar entered the town, now undisputed 
 master of Italy.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE STRUGGLE AND FALL OF POMP1I 
 FBOM 50 B. o. TO 48 B. a. 
 
 SlBOK OF BRUNDUSIUM. FLIGHT OP PoMPKY. CHAR'S MEASURES IN ROMK. .HlS EXPB* 
 
 DITION TO SPAIN. THB WAB AMD FINAL CONQUEST. C/ESAB RETURNS TO BRUW 
 Dusnru. CROSSES TO GREECE IN PURSUIT OF POMPET. VICISSITUDES OF THB WAR. 
 PoMPBY'g VICTORY AT DYRAOHIUM. RBTREAT OF C.SSAR. BATTLE OF PHARBA- 
 LIA. UTTER RUIN OF POMPEY. His FLIGHT. JOINS CORNELIA AND HIS SON. 
 MELANCHOLY VOYAGE TO EGYPT. His ASSASSINATION BY PTOLEMY. 
 
 A S Pompey's fleet was leaving the harbor, Caesar, with 
 ^*- six legions in his tram, entered the streets of Brundusium. 
 With much military skill Pompey had effected the embarka- 
 tion of all his troops and his followers, and had completely 
 swept the harbor of its shipping, so that Caesar had no means 
 of pursuing. It was on the 17th of March that the last divi- 
 sion of Pompey's array made sail, and the next day the inhabi- 
 tants threw open their gates to Caesar. He entered the city 
 in a triumphal procession, and made an address to the inhabi- 
 tants ; but finding it impossible immediately to follow Pompey, 
 he decided to repair to Rome to consolidate his power, while 
 his agents were building and collecting ships to transport his 
 army to Greece, in pursuit of the fugitives. 
 
 Pompey, regarding Caesar as a traitor and a rebel, had 
 issued very denunciatory proclamations, threatening with the 
 most severe punishment, any who should proffer him th 
 slightest aid or countenance. Caesar, on the other hand, had 
 manifested the greatest moderation toward the partisans of 
 Pompey. The sympathies of the community were conse 
 quently turning rapidly toward the conqueror. Caesar at 
 once assumed the attitude of the lawful sovereign of Italy,
 
 He sent orders to all the chief magistrates along the shore to 
 provide a certain number of ships, and send them to Brun- 
 dusium. His legions he quartered in the principal towns. 
 Success had drawn to his standards all the desperate adven- 
 turers and unprincipled demagogues of the empire, while the 
 timid and the conservative, uncertain how the conflict might 
 terminate, were reluctant to commit themselves to either 
 party. Caesar was anxious to secure the cooperation of men 
 of leading influence, and he wrote to Cicero, earnestly request- 
 ing him to meet him at Rome. But Cicero was the last man 
 for decisive action in a case in which success was doubtful. 
 He, however, met Caesar on the road, at Formia, but was 
 careful not to commit himself to his cause. 
 
 Csesar urged him to take his place in the senate at Rome, 
 arguing that his withdrawal would be understood as his con- 
 demnation of Caesar's conduct. Cicero intimated that should 
 he take his seat in the senate, he could not refrain from 
 expressing sympathy for Pompey, and that he should urge a 
 decree that Pompey should not be molested in his retreat in 
 Greece. 
 
 " I will permit no such language as that to be held," said 
 Caesar, angrily. " And if I am denied the benefit of your 
 advice, I must follow such as I can procure ; and I shall have 
 recourse to extreme measures." 
 
 On these terms they parted, and Caesar pursued his journey 
 to Rome. He immediately summoned the senate. The 
 majority had followed the fortunes of Pompey, accompanying 
 him in his retreat to Greece. Of the minority who remained, 
 several, under various pretexts, still stood aloof. Still, a 
 goodly number were convened, and Caesar addressing them 
 in a very plausible speech, recapitulated his grievances and 
 claimed their support. He, however, assured them that if 
 they were averse to assist him, he could dispense with their 
 services, and administer the government by the energies of his 
 own unaided arm. He expressed an earnest desire to rescue
 
 THE STBUGGLB AND FALL OF POMPET. 209 
 
 the country from the expenses and ravages of war, and urged 
 that ambassadors should be sent to Pompey to endeavor to 
 effect a peace. 
 
 The senate cordially accepted this last proposition, but 
 Pompey's character was such, and his threats had been so 
 decisive against any one who should countenance in any way 
 the usurpation of Caesar, that no senator could be found who 
 dared to accept the office of an envoy to his camp, with such 
 proposals. Such, at least, is Caesar's representation, though 
 Plutarch declares, and Cicero seems also to imply, that the 
 senators refused the mission, because none of them had any 
 confidence in Caesar's sincerity in his offers to negotiate. 
 
 As Spain was still held by the partisans of Pompey, Caesar, 
 about the middle of April, leaving the government of the cap- 
 ital with M. Lepidus, set out in person for the subjugation of 
 the Spanish peninsula. At the same time, armies were sent to 
 Sicily and Sardinia to bring those islands into subjection to 
 his power. This latter achievement was soon accomplished. 
 In both these places, the inhabitants cordially espoused the 
 cause of Caesar. 
 
 The first opposition Caesar encountered hi his march to 
 Spam was at Massilia, now Marseilles, in transalpine Gaul. 
 The citizens manned the fortresses, and closed their gates 
 against him. With three legions Caesar laid siege to the city, 
 and three months were employed in constructing a fleet to 
 attack the place by sea, while immense towers were reared to 
 aid the assault by land. Leaving the land army under the 
 command of C. Trebonius, and the fleet hi charge of D. Bru- 
 tus, both of whom were subsequently in the number of his 
 assassins, Caesar, with a strong division of his army, continued 
 his march into Spain. 
 
 Three of Pompey's lieutenants, with seven Roman legions 
 held the fortresses of the peninsula. Caesar crossed the Pyre 
 nees with four legions, and others were following close behind, 
 His cavalry was excellent, his troops all veterans, and devot-
 
 210 ITALY. 
 
 edly attached to their leader. Pompey's generals had not fall 
 confidence in their soldiers, and feared to venture a decisive 
 action. They, therefore, chose a strong position hi the town 
 of Herda, on the banks of the Sicoris, one of the tributaries 
 of the Ebro, and having provided themselves with abundant 
 supplies, resolved to protract the conflict. Caesar marched to 
 the opposite bank of the Sicoris and encamped, facing the foe 
 the narrow stream flowing between them. 
 
 Caesar caused a large number of boats to be constructed, 
 ingeniously framed of wicker work, and covered with hides. 
 These, being very light, were rapidly transported in wagons 
 twenty miles up the river, and a detachment of troops was 
 sent across by night, who strongly fortified themselves upon a 
 bluff, and a bridge was speedily thrown across the stream. 
 The Spanish tribes now began to espouse his cause, regarding 
 him as the advocate of popular rights, and they flooded his 
 camp with all needful supplies. Pompey's generals were 
 alarmed, and breaking up their camp, commenced a retreat 
 toward the Ebro. Caesar pursued them vigorously, so vigor- 
 ously that he outstripped them, cut off their retreat, and soon 
 reduced them to such an extremity, that, abandoned by their 
 soldiers, the generals threw themselves upon his mercy. 
 Though they had been guilty of great outrages in the massacre 
 of such prisoners as had fallen into their hands, Caesar mag- 
 nanimously allowed them to retire tmharmed, on condition of 
 their quitting Spain, and disbanding their army. The wel- 
 come stipulation was eagerly accepted, and all opposition to 
 Caesar vanished from Spain like the dissipation of morning 
 mist. A small cloud darkened the sky in the south for a few 
 days, but that, also, soon disappeared. The complete conquest 
 of Spain was thus effected in forty days after Caesar crossed 
 the Pyrenees. 
 
 Caesar returned to Massilia, which was now reduced to the 
 last extremity. Immediately upon his arr'val, the garrison, 
 relying upon his well known clemency, ofiired to surrender.
 
 THE STRUGGLE AXD FALL OP POMPET. 211 
 
 With characteristic liberality, he protected the city from plun- 
 der, and allowed both citizens and soldiers to retain their 
 liberty. The friends of Caesar at Rome, in order to give some 
 semblance of law to his usurpation, appointed him dictator. 
 The conqueror immediately returned to the capital, and not 
 willing to retain longer than was indispensable to his plans the 
 always obnoxious office of dictator, summoned a meeting of 
 the comitia for the election of consuls ; and having secured, of 
 course, his own nomination, in eleven days surrendered his 
 dictatorial office, though in that short space of tune, he had 
 adopted more measures for the consolidation of his power than 
 many rulers would have enacted in years. 
 
 Cicero intimates in his letters that many in Italy were 
 dissatisfied with Cesar's imperial sway, and had become 
 much alienated from him. But Cicero's testimony upon this 
 point can not be received without some distrust. It can 
 hardly be doubted that the great mass, both of the army and 
 the people, were quite cordial hi support of Ca3sar, as the 
 great advocate of popular rights. So far as we can now 
 judge of the measures adopted by Caesar in the administra- 
 tion of public affairs, they were eminently wise, just, and 
 adapted to promote the public weal. But the friends of 
 Caesar are so eulogistic in his praise, and his enemies so bitter 
 in their denunciations, that one who desires, ever so earn- 
 estly, to be impartial, at times finds it exceedingly difficult 
 to pronounce judgment. Julius Caesar was the Napoleon 
 Bonaparte of his day, both loved and hated, witn the same 
 Intensity which accompanied the career of the great advocate 
 of popular rights in France. 
 
 Caesar had now assembled a powerful fleet, and a well- 
 disciplined army of twelve legions, at Brunei usium, and was 
 prepared to cross the Adriatic, and pursue Pompey hi Greece. 
 Pompey had with him the two consuls who were in office at 
 the time of his flight, and about two hundred of the senate. 
 He consequently claimed that he was supported by the
 
 212 ITALY. 
 
 authority of the government, and that Caesar was but a 
 traitor and a rebel. He established himself at Thessaloni ja, 
 organized the government there, and with great vigor as- 
 sembled, upon the western shores of Greece, armies and fleets 
 to dispute the landing of Caesar. He had nine legions of 
 Roman citizens marching beneath his banners all veteran 
 soldiers and also an auxiliary force raised in Greece. His 
 cavalry amounted to seven thousand. It is, however, impos- 
 sible now to ascertain the full number of his army. Fully 
 conscious of Ceesar's military ability, Pompey was indefatiga- 
 ble in drilling his army, in the most efiective manner possible, 
 in all the exercises of warfare. To encourage the soldiers, he 
 himself took an active part in these exercises, like the hum- 
 blest man in the ranks, throwing the javelin, and performing 
 feats of horsemanship which few could rival. It was his hope 
 and expectation soon to be able to return to Italy with an 
 army so numerous and well-disciplined, as to be able to sweep 
 all opposition before him. 
 
 He issued a proclamation denouncing the rebellion of 
 Csesar, and threatening with the most direful punishment, not 
 only all those who had manifested any sympathy with Caesar 
 and his cause, but all who had not vigorously and persistently 
 opposed him. The far-famed manifesto of the Duke of Bruns- 
 wick, when on the march to crush the repubh'c in France, was 
 but the echo of Pompey's proclamation, when prepared to 
 march back with his emigrants, and reestablish aristocratic 
 usurpation in Rome. Even Cicero, with all his patrician 
 proclivities, admits that the triumph of Pompey and his party 
 would have been followed by proscriptions as unsparing as 
 those of Sylla. Pompey was by no means a merciless man, 
 but he could not restrain his party. He was but the foam on 
 the summit of the billow, swept along by a force which he 
 could not control. By no possibility could he retain hia 
 supremacy but by subserviency to the power which created 
 him. Even the most bitter opponents of Csesar admit that
 
 THE STRUGGLE AND FALL OF POMPEY 213 
 
 tne aristocratic party was at that time profligate beyond aD 
 hope of redemption. The triumph of Caesar was unquestion- 
 ably promotive of the happiness of mankind. 
 
 Caesar, ever on the alert, took Pompey by surprise, and 
 with a division of his army, amounting to twenty thousand 
 men, crossed the Adriatic sea and effected a landing, unop- 
 posed, near Oricum, which important town immediately sur- 
 rendered, thus affording Caesar a foothold from which he 
 could not easily be driven. The fleet was immediately sent 
 back to Brundusium for another division of the army. Bibu- 
 lus, who was hi command of Pompey's fleet stationed at Cor- 
 cyra, chagrined that Caesar had thus eluded his vigilance, 
 immediately dispatched his whole force, hoping to intercept 
 at least some of the transports employed in the passage. He 
 succeeded only in capturing thirty empty vessels on their 
 return to Brundusium. With atrocious cruelty, he bound the 
 seamen hi the ships, which he set on fire, leaving the wretched 
 captives to perish in the flames. Then lining the coast with 
 his powerful navy, from Salone to Oricum, a distance of about 
 two hundred miles, he watched, day and night, that no more 
 soldiers should be landed in Greece. 
 
 It was now late in November. The season was inclement 
 and chilling. Storms swept the Adriatic. These ancient 
 ships-of-war were what we should call boats, without decks, 
 constructed merely for coasting. The crews were generally 
 accustomed to go on shore for their meals, and to sleep. 
 "With such absence of accommodations, the crews were 
 exposed to very great distress, by remaining continually at 
 sea, without any opportunity to land. Caesar guarded the 
 shore, that the sailors should not leave their boats. Bibulus 
 guarded the sea so that Csesar could receive no supplies. Both 
 parties suffered very severely, and Bibulus would have per- 
 ished but for relief which he obtained by occasionally landing 
 on the island of Corcyra. The fate of Caesar seemed sealed. 
 He was blockaded on the shores of Greece, with but a small
 
 214 ITALY 
 
 part of his troops, cut off from all his magazines, with a vastly 
 outnumbering army, under the command of Pompey, in his 
 rear, and with an invincible fleet threatening him on the sea. 
 In view of this formidable force, the transports at Brundusium 
 did not dare attempt the passage. Bibulus was savage in his 
 warfare. Seizing a private vessel, which had attempted the 
 passage, he put the whole ship's company to a cruel death 
 though there were no troops on board. 
 
 Caesar was not a man to act long merely on the defensive. 
 At Dyrachium Pompey had collected his principal magazines, 
 having intended to establish there his winter quarters, that he 
 might be at hand to resist Caesar's invasion, which he did 
 not suppose would be undertaken until spring. When Caesai 
 landed, Pompey was near Thessalonica, just commencing his 
 march for his winter quarters, on the great road which crossed 
 the heart of Greece, from the JEgean to the Ionian gulf. 
 
 Hearing of the landing of Caesar, in consternation, he 
 goaded on his battalions to forced marches, that he might 
 save his imperiled magazines. By night and by day, hardly 
 resting for food or sleep, the panting legions toiled on, their 
 path being marked by the bodies of the dying and the dead, 
 who had dropped exhausted by the way. He thus, at a vast 
 expense of suffering and life, attained his object, and took 
 possession of his magazines before Caesar could reach them. 
 Thwarted in this endeavor, Caesar halted in an impregnable 
 position on the banks of the Apsus, where he pitched his 
 tents, and received the homage of the surrounding country, 
 proposing to await the arrival of the remainder of his army. 
 His encampment was extended along the left bank of the 
 Apsus. Pompey advancing from Dyrachium, took posses- 
 sion of the right bank of the same stream. 
 
 While both parties were summoning all their energies for 
 a decisive struggle, Csesar, sincerely, say his friends, insidi- 
 ously say his enemies, sent a messenger to Pompey urging 
 peace. After dilating upon the woes which civil war must
 
 THB STKUGGLE AND PALL OP POMPKY. 216 
 
 entail upon their country, he proposed, with apparent fairness, 
 that each commander should take an oath, in the presence of 
 his army, to disband his forces within three days ; and that the 
 terms of peace should be referred to the arbitration of the 
 senate and people of Rome. Pompey, who then apparently 
 had Caesar in his power, rejected the proposals with disdain, 
 impatiently exclaiming : 
 
 " I value neither life nor country, if I must receive them as 
 a favor from Caesar." 
 
 Bibulus, whose sufferings upon the sea were very great, 
 proposed also to Caesar a truce. "I grant it willingly," 
 Caesar replied, " and will allow you to come to the land to 
 obtain reinforcements and supplies, if you will allow me to 
 obtain the same by sea." This proposal was not acceptable, 
 and the conference was broken off, and with renewed diligence 
 both parties prepared for the arbitration of battle. The tide 
 of popular sympathy was constantly flowing toward Caesar ; 
 and Pompey resorted to the most severe and even ignominious 
 measures to prevent his troops from holding any communica- 
 tion with the enemy. M. Antonius was at Brundusium, in 
 command of the second division of Caesar's army, which was 
 impatiently awaiting an opportunity to cross over to Greece 
 to join their illustrious leader. 
 
 Bibulus, in command of the fleet, worn down by fatigue, 
 anxiety, and the exposure and hardships of his condition, sick- 
 ened and died. The intrigues among Pompey's generals was 
 such that he found it difficult to fix upon a successor. There 
 was thus no harmony of action in the squadron, each com 
 mander acting for himself. The sun was now returning from 
 the south, and the soft airs of spring began to succeed the 
 storms of winter. Caesar grew very impatient of delay, and 
 wrote to his officers, at Brundusium, condemning them severely 
 for their want of energy of action, declaring that they had 
 lost many opportunities in which they might have crossed to 
 Greece, and ordering them to put to sea with the very first
 
 216 ITALY. 
 
 fair wind, and steer for the coast of Apollonia, directing them 
 upon their arrival to run their vessels ashore, as the vessels 
 themselves were of but little importance. 
 
 In his burning impatience, he resolved to cross himsslf 
 to Brundusium, in defiance of the vigilance of the enemy's 
 squadron, and hi person expedite the embarkation of his 
 troops. On a dark and stormy night, he left his encampment 
 hi disguise, bribed the boatmen to brave the peril of wind and 
 wave, and made an endeavor, all but desperate, through the 
 tempest, to cross the Adriatic sea, a distance of one hundred 
 miles. It was on this occasion that he is reported to have 
 said to the seamen, who were hi dismay at the howling of the 
 tempest and the sweep of the billows, " Fear not. You carry 
 Caesar and his fortunes." But mortal strength could not 
 triumph over the elements in that tempestuous night, and the 
 seamen were compelled to put back and return to the Grecian 
 shore. 
 
 The letters of Caesar had, however, roused his officers to 
 effort. Twenty-four thousand men and eight hundred cavalry 
 were embarked, and set sail from Brundusium with a south 
 wind. They successfully crossed the sea and effected a land- 
 ing. Sixteen of Pompey's ships, from those which had 
 pursued them, were driven on shore and wrecked. Caesar 
 treated then- crews with the greatest humanity, and dismissed 
 them, unharmed, to their homes. This second division of 
 Caesar's army was landed at Nymphaeum, on the coast of 
 Dlyricum, several miles north of Dyrachium. But Caesar and 
 Pompey, from the shore, had watched the movements of the 
 fleet with eager eyes. They both immediately put their armies 
 in motion, from the banks of the Apsus Caesar to effect a 
 junction with his troops, and Pompey to prevent it. 
 
 Caesar was successful, and Pompey, apprehensive that the 
 united force might fall upon him, commenced a rapid retreat 
 toward his intrenchments. Caesar now very energetically 
 renewed offensive operations, and pursued Pompey, offering
 
 THE STBTTGGLB AND PALL OP POMPEY. 217 
 
 him battle. Pompey, who had not dared to meet him even 
 before the arrival of the reinforcements, declined the chal- 
 lenge. Csesar, flushed with success, and bidding proud 
 defiance to his intimidated foe, commenced a march upon 
 Dyrachium, and, by astonishing rapidity of movement, 
 reached the walls in season to cut off Pompey's entrance into 
 its gates. Pompey, thus baffled, intrenched himself upon a 
 neighboring hill, which commanded a small bay, where hi 
 ships could safely lie at anchor. 
 
 There was now but little probability of the speedy termi- 
 nation of the war. The two generals were men of consum- 
 mate ability. Each was at the head of a powerful army, and 
 each had command of almost inexhaustible resources. Caesar's 
 first endeavor now was to blockade Pompey's army on the 
 eminence, called Petra, where it was intrenched. The strug- 
 gle of military strategy which ensued was one of the most 
 memorable which war has recorded. As Caesar reared his 
 fortifications on the most commanding eminences, connecting 
 them all together by ramparts and ditches, Pompey constructed 
 opposing ramparts, bound together by continuous works, over 
 a space of fifteen miles in circuit. The embattled fortresses of 
 Pompey amounted to twenty-four in number. Frequent con- 
 flicts, during the construction of these defenses, occurred 
 between the hostile armies. Caesar's blockading line extended 
 over eighteen miles. These immense works required an 
 amount of labor almost incredible, labor which, if appropri- 
 ated to any useful object, might have been of incalculable 
 benefit to mankind. Both armies suffered much, in various 
 ways, during this extraordinary warfare. 
 
 Pompey's military reputation was seriously damaged by 
 the fact, that, declining Caesar's challenge to battle, he had 
 allowed himself to be thus cooped up by his adversary. 
 
 " He can not," wrote Dolabella to Cicero, " escape with 
 honor; driven as he has been, from Italy, deprived of Spain 
 with the loss of a veteran army, and now even blockaded in 
 10
 
 18 ITAL7. 
 
 his camp, a disgrace which scarcely any other thau our 
 mander has ever endured." 
 
 Want and famine began at length to reign within Pompey's 
 lines, and he resolved to break from his confinement, hewing a 
 path through the serried ranks of his foes. Having selected 
 his point and carefully matured all of his arrangements, at the 
 earliest dawn of day he made the assault, striking by surprise, 
 and hewing his way with prodigious slaughter, through the 
 legions which were hastily gathered to oppose him. Caesar, 
 who was at a remote part of his lines, hastened with three 
 legions to the scene of conflict. But Pompey's troops, flushed 
 with victory, fell upon Caesar's soldiers, in the confusion of 
 their march, and Caesar had the mortification of seeing his 
 troops put to utter rout. The flight was so precipitate and 
 headlong, notwithstanding Caesar's most vigorous efforts to 
 arrest it, that Pompey, apprehensive of an ambuscade, checked 
 the pursuit. This victory of Pompey rendered it necessary 
 for Caesar to retreat. He accordingly, in the night, sent off, 
 under a strong escort, his baggage, his sick and wounded, and 
 in the first gray of the morning, followed with the whole body 
 of his troops. 
 
 Pompey immediately and resolutely commenced pursuit. 
 Caesar, however, effected his retreat with but little loss, and in 
 four days gamed some intrenchments which he had previously 
 occupied, at Apollonia. Resting here for a short time to 
 refresh his weary troops, he resumed his march, directing his 
 steps across the country toward Thessaly. In the rich plains 
 of this province, Caesar found abundance for his troops. The 
 first 'own of importance which he encountered upon bis march, 
 was Gomphi. He found the gates shut against him, and took 
 the place by storm. Metropolis, the next city they reached, 
 surrendered at once. All the other towns of Thessaly then 
 readily yielded, and Caesar found himself in the midst of an 
 opulent country, covered with waving harvests. Here, on
 
 THE STRUGGLE AND FALL OP POMPET. 219 
 
 the plains of Pharsalia, he established himself, awaiting the 
 arrival of Pompey, and preparing for a decisive battle. 
 
 Pompey, elated with the victory of Dyrachium, followed 
 eagerly after Caesar, and pitched his camp in the face of his 
 foe. Caesar immediately offered battle, but Pompey for some 
 days declined, keeping his troops so effectually intrenched, that 
 Caesar could not venture to attack them. But at length, both 
 armies appeared, drawn up in parallel lines upon this memor- 
 able plain. It was the year 48 B. c. From the best informa- 
 tion now to be obtained, it appears that Pompey had forty-five 
 thousand infantry, and seven thousand cavalry. Caesar had but 
 twenty-two thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry. 
 These were the regular armies. On both sides there were also 
 auxiliary troops, but their number is not known. The Romans 
 considered the auxiliaries as of very little importance. 
 
 The signal for battle was given by Caesar, and his soldiers 
 rushed forward to the onset, "which then consisted mainly of a 
 hand to hand fight. The action soon became general, and 
 seventy-five thousand men struggled against each other, with 
 the most demoniac fury, for hours. But at length, Pompey's 
 ^>rces were entirely routed, and they fled in indescribable 
 confusion from the plain, leaving the ground covered with the 
 'tying and the dead. The darkness of night alone terminated 
 the pursuit and the slaughter. All who surrendered were 
 treated with great humanity. Pompey's army was annihi- 
 lated, and Caesar was so thoroughly the victor, that no further 
 foe remained to present any serious obstacle to his sway. 
 
 Pompey, with a few followers, fled from the fatal field of 
 Pharsalia, a hopeless fugitive. For a time, he seemed over- 
 whelmed and stunned by the blow, perhaps enduring as much 
 mental suffering as in this mortal state the human soul has 
 capacity to endure. In disguise, he escaped from the field, 
 accompanied by about thirty horsemen. Through the long 
 hours of the night, he rode in silence and anguish, until he 
 reached the shores of the ^Egean sea, near the mouth of the
 
 220 A T A L T 
 
 Peneus. He there embarked in a small trading vessel which 
 chanced to be passing, and crossed over to Mitylene, hi the 
 island of Lesbos, on the Asiatic coast, where he had left his 
 wife Cornelia and his son Sextus. 
 
 The domestic character of Pompey was singularly pure, 
 and this interview with his family was tender, affectionate, 
 and sorrowful in the extreme. Cornelia had received no 
 tidings from her husband since the great victory of Dyra- 
 ohium, of which she had heard the most exaggerated reports. 
 The appearance of her husband before her, a fugitive and 
 woe-stricken, caused a shock she was poorly prepared to 
 meet. She immediately joined him on board the vessel, and 
 they were detained two days in the harbor by contrary winds 
 Though the Mityleneans urged him to come on shore an* 
 receive their hospitality and testimonials of their homage, ht 
 firmly and magnanimously declined, saying, "I will not expose 
 my friends to the resentment of the conqueror, by availing 
 myself of their kindness." 
 
 Conscious that his power had vanished forever, and that 
 his great rival was now sovereign, with none to dispute hia 
 sway, he urged all to submit, assuring them that they would 
 receive no treatment from Csesar but that which was just and 
 magnanimous. There were still a few who were disposed to 
 adhere to the falling fortunes of Pompey. Several small 
 vessels joined him, and they sailed along the shores of the 
 Mediterranean to seek refuge in Syria. They attempted to 
 land at Rhodes, but the people, apprehensive of the displeas- 
 ure of Caesar, would not allow the little fleet to enter their 
 harbor. Pompey, deeply chagrined, continued his voyage, 
 often attempting to land, but as often meeting with a repulse, 
 until he reached the coast of Cilicia. 
 
 This Asiatic province was governed by Scipio, the fathei 
 of Cornelia, and Pompey felt confident of meeting here with 
 hospitality and support. But when they reached Paphos, on 
 the island of Cyprus, they were informed that Antioch, the
 
 THE STBUGGtB AND PALL OP POMPEY. 221 
 
 capital of Syria, had declared for Caesar, and that a decree 
 had been issued, that none of the fugitives of Pompey's party 
 should be permitted to land upon the coast. In dejection, and 
 almost in despair, Pompey and his friends, in the dark cabin 
 of the galley, held a deliberation as to the course next to be 
 pursued. It was at length decided to seek refuge in Egypt. 
 The your<g king Ptolemy was but a boy, but his father had 
 been placed upon the throne by the influence of Pompey, and 
 it was believed that the son would not be insensible to this 
 debt of gratitude. 
 
 The sorrowing fugitives again raised their anchors and 
 (sailed for Pelusium, near one of the mouths of the Nile. 
 The boy-king was then waging war with his sister, the 
 renowned Cleopatra, who was endeavoring to wrest the 
 crown from his brow. He was at the head of his army in 
 the vicinity of Pelusium. An envoy was immediately dis- 
 patched by Pompey to his camp. The king received the 
 envoy with the utmost apparent cordiality, and sent a press- 
 ing invitation for Pompey to repair immediately to his head- 
 quarters. But this invitation was an act of the blackest 
 treachery. The king's council had held a session to deliberate 
 upon the matter. They decided that it would be dangerous 
 to receive Pompey, lest it should give offense to the all-power- 
 fid Caesar ; that it would be perilous to reject him, lest by 
 B^me sudden turu of fortune he should again find himself in 
 p*wer. They, therefore, counseled that he should be invited 
 to the camp, and then murdered. "Dead dogs," said the 
 leading advocate of this measure, " do not bite." 
 
 A boat was sent by the king to convey Pompey from the gal- 
 ley to the shore, where Ptolemy had repaired, and was waiting 
 in person, with a group of her principal generals, to receive him. 
 Several of the officers of the Egyptian long were in the boat. 
 Among these, was a Roman centurion, L. Septimius, then in 
 the employ of Ptolemy, but who had formerly served under 
 Pompey. Pompey entered the barge, accompanied by a few
 
 ' .W 
 
 222 ITALY. 
 
 of his friends, and immediately recognized Septimius, and ad- 
 dressed him in a few friendly words, to which Septimius replied 
 merely by a nod. It was some distance from the galley to the 
 shore, and the melancholy sublimity of the occasion wss such, 
 that all sat in silence. At length the boat touched the beach. 
 Pompey rose from his seat, and as he was in the act of step- 
 ping on shore, Septimius plunged a dagger into his back. The 
 other assassins at once fell upon him with their swords. The 
 heroic man, never greater, perhaps, than in the hour of his 
 death, uttered not a cry, and attempted no resistance or de- 
 fense, but folding his mantle over his face, received in silence 
 the blows which fell upon him, until he sank lifeless upon the 
 sand. 
 
 Cornelia, holding her little son Sextus by the hand, stood 
 upon the deck of the galley, anxiously following her husband 
 with her eye, and was a witness to the whole scene. As he* 
 husband fell, she uttered a shriek of anguish, which pierced 
 every ear in the galleys and along the shore. The murderers 
 cut off the head of Pompey and embalmed it, to be sent, as a 
 present, to Caasar, leaving the headless trunk \ipon the beach. 
 As soon as the crowd had dispersed, the friends of Pompey, 
 recovering a little from their consternation, broke to pieces a 
 boat which they found wrecked upon the shore, and burning 
 the remains, gathered the ashes in an urn to be transmitted to 
 Cornelia. In the meantime, the little fleet which had con- 
 veyed Pompey to Egypt, put to sea, taking with them Cornelia, 
 in a state of utter distraction and despair. The Egyptians at 
 first endeavored to intercept them, but soon relinquished the 
 pursuit, and the fleet reached Tyre in safety. 
 
 Thus perished one of the greatest and best of the men of 
 ancient times. Pompey, as the leader of the aristocratic party, 
 was far superior to his party in elevation of character and 
 in moral worth. Though devoted to the supremacy of the 
 patricians, and hostile to popular liberty, he was a man of 
 integrity, rare in those days, of spotless purity in all his do-
 
 THE STRUGGLE AND FALL OF POMPET. 223 
 
 mestic relations, virtues then, still more rare; and the amiability 
 of his character won the enthusiastic attachment of all who 
 knew him best. Though by no means equal in genius to his 
 illustrious rival, he developed qualities of mind and energies of 
 action, which have justly entitled him to the designation, which 
 he has now borne for eighteen hundred years, and will bear 
 through all time, of POMPEY THE GBEAT.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF CLESAR AND THE FATE OF POMPBY. 
 
 FROM 48 B. c. TO 44 B. o. 
 
 CLEIUNOY OP C^ESAK. PURSUIT OF POMPEY. THE EGYPTIAN WAK. O^SAB Aim CLIO* 
 PATBA. CAPTUBE OF PHAROS. POPULARITY OF CJSSAR. Loss OF TUB ALEXAN- 
 DRIAN LlBBABY. BgllF CONFLICT WITH THB KlNO OF PoNTUS. QlIELLINH TOT 
 
 MUTINY. CATO'S EFFOBTS IN AFRICA. THE AFBICAN WAR. DEFEAT AND DEATH 
 OF BCIPIO. SUICIDE OF CATO. THE SPANISH WAB DEATH OF POIIPEY'S SON. 
 C^KiAR'S RETURN TO ROME. Hl8 TRIUMPH. HlS ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES AND 
 ENEBGY. His CHABAOTEB. CHARACTER OF CICERO. 
 
 fllHE morning after the battle of Pharsalia, Caesar gazed 
 -*- sadly upon the field, covered with the dead, and exclaimed, 
 in melancholy tones, " They would have it so." All the pris- 
 oners who fell into his hands were treated with that clemency, 
 so unusual in those days, which he ever manifested. As the 
 strife in Greece was now at an end, Caesar sent back most of 
 his army to Brundusium, and, taking with him a small body 
 of cavalry, engaged eagerly in the pursuit of Pompey. He 
 crossed the Hellespont, and followed down with his horsemen, 
 the coast of Asia Minor. For a long time, he could get no 
 tidings of the fugitive. At length he heard that he had been 
 seen in Cyprus, and he inferred from that, that he was direct- 
 ing his steps toward Egypt. 
 
 He immediately collected a fleet of ten galleys, and sailed 
 for Egypt, landing at Alexandria. Here he received the 
 tidings of Pompey's death ; and at the same time, the head of 
 the murdered man was presented to him, as if it would be an 
 acceptable gift. Caesar was shocked at the sight, and could 
 not refrain from weeping, as he gazed upon the gory remains 
 of his former son-in-law, friend, and companion-in-arms. The
 
 THE TRIUMPH OP C ^ S A B . 225 
 
 grief of Ca?sar was unquestionably sincere, and ne was filled 
 with strong indignation against the murderers of Pompey. 
 Through all the remainder of his life, he manifested great 
 respect for his memory. There is now at Alexandria a column 
 of remarkable architectural beauty, called Pompey's Pillar, 
 which tradition says, was reared by Ca3sar, a tribute to the 
 greatness of his unhappy rival. This column, which is about 
 one hundred feet high, is formed of stone, hi three blocks, the 
 pedestal, shaft, and capital. It is even to the present day, an 
 object of world-wide interest and admiration. 
 
 The death of Pompey was the signal for the dismember- 
 ment of all his forces, and the termination of the war. The 
 soldiers eagerly availed themselves of the opportunity to throw 
 down their arms, for they had long been, in heart, in sym- 
 pathy with Cassar. Plebeian soldiers, fighting the battles 
 of their patrician masters, are ever half conscious that they are 
 slaves, riveting their own chains. Even multitudes of the 
 patricians hasted to bask in the beams of Cesar's rising sun 
 Cicero, who had repaired to Dyrachium, and was anxiously 
 awaiting the issue of the campaign, that he might decide 
 which party to join, promptly returned to Italy to be early hi 
 his congratulations of the victor. Pompey's eldest son was 
 so enraged with Cicero for this apparently unprincipled deser- 
 tion, that he would have killed him, but for the protection 
 which Cato afforded the " willow backed" man, who was at 
 least illustrious as an orator, if he were destitute of all moral 
 courage and decision. 
 
 Cato had adhered to the cause of Pompey ; with a small 
 fleet he followed him in his flight, and hearing the mournful 
 tidings of his death, took Cornelia and Sextus under his pro- 
 tection and sailed for Africa, where he devoted himself to the 
 organization of a force to renew the war against Cassar. For 
 a few months, there were disturbances in various parts of the 
 extended empire, but nothing which could be deemed serious 
 opposition to Cesar's sway. The whole tenor of his policy 
 1C*
 
 228 TALT. 
 
 was toward the extension of equal rights for aH This wai 
 the talisman of his power. It might be said of Rome in that 
 day, as Napoleon said of France, " Que le peuple Fran<jaia 
 tenait plus a 1'egalite, qu' a la liberte ;" The French people 
 desire equality of rights rather than liberty. A man can 
 easily surrender a portion of his natural liberty for the promo* 
 tion of the public good, if the whole community make the 
 same surrender. But when a burden is placed upon one por- 
 tion of the people, from which another portion is exempted, 
 there must always be an irrepressible conflict. 
 
 Dictatorial power was now again conferred upon Caesar, 
 who had not as yet returned from Egypt, which he was to 
 hold until tranquillity should be restored. Antonius, or Mark 
 Antony, as history and tragedy have embalmed his name, as 
 Caesar's master of horse, was intrusted with the regency at 
 Rome. He is described as a man whose profligacy of char- 
 acter was only equaled by his energy. Indeed, Christian 
 morality seems t6 have been unknown in those days. The 
 best of men were guilty of acts which would now consign 
 their names to infamy. Even Pompey, whose virtues are so 
 highly lauded, and who, in purity of character, was vastly in 
 advance of his tunes, from motives of ambition, discarded his 
 wife, Antistia, and robbed another man of his wife, ^Emilia. 
 This was contrary to written law and to all the instincts of 
 the human heart. But these distinguished men generally had 
 no belief in a future life, and expediency was their only rule 
 of action expediency embracing the range of this brief life 
 only. Paul, hi his epistle to the Romans, has given a truthful 
 and graphic account of the condition of Rome at this day. 
 
 Honors and power were now showered thickly upoi 
 Caesar. A popular vote conferred upon him the consulship 
 for five years, and the office of tribune for life. This was an 
 office appointed expressly for the protection of the Roman 
 plebeians against the encroachments of the patricians. The 
 disposition of Cicero to be in popular favor, now that the
 
 THE TRIUMPH OP C^BSAB. 227 
 
 popular party were in the supremacy, is indicated by the fact 
 that his son-in-law, Dolabella, obtained an election as one of 
 the tribunes of the people, and immediately proposed the 
 infamous and radical democratic measure for a general aboli- 
 tion of debts, and for exempting all tenants from rents, for a 
 space of one year. But here again we see a strong resem- 
 blance between Caesar and Napoleon. The Roman conqueror 
 was as hostile to mob violence as he was to ai-istocratic 
 usurpation. And when the mob rallied on the pavements, hi 
 advocacy of the infamous measures proposed by Dolabella, 
 the troops of Caesar swept the streets, with gleaming swords 
 and clattering hoofs, " quelling the insurgent sections," and 
 eight hundred of the rioters were slain. 
 
 Immediately after the battle of Pharsalia, Caesar issued a 
 proclamation to his army, urging every soldier to save at 
 least one of the enemy. The instinctive generosity and tact 
 which inspired this singular order, are characteristic of the 
 man. The decree immediately enkindled emotions of human- 
 ity in every heart ; and mercy, in the bosoms of the soldiers, 
 took the place of the passions of war. Though fifteen thou- 
 sand of Pompey's troops were slain upon the field of Phar- 
 salia, the slaughter would have been vastly greater but for 
 this decree, which saved the lives of twenty-four thousand, 
 who were taken prisoners. These men, thus saved, were 
 easily incorporated as friends and brothers into the legions 
 of Caesar. 
 
 We have before mentioned that Ptolemy and his sister 
 Cleopatra were struggling in Egypt for the crown. Caesar, 
 soon after his arrival at Alexandria, was joined by quite a 
 formidable fleet and army. Both of the contestants for the 
 throne of the Pharaohs applied to him for support. A12 
 Egypt was rent by the strife, and anarchy distracted the 
 realm. The Egyptian government owed Rome a debt which 
 Caesar now needed, but which, under the circumstances, could 
 not be paid. He resolved, therefore, to settle the strife, and
 
 128 ITALT. 
 
 reduce the turbulent kingdom to order. Ptolemy determined 
 to resist his arbitration. Cleopatra, young, beautiful, and 
 sensual, resolved to try the effect of her charms in bribing 
 the voluptuous, self-constituted arbitrator to espouse her 
 cause. But Ptolemy had so surrounded Caesar's head-quar- 
 ters, that Cleopatra could not obtain access to him without 
 incurring great danger of being taken captive. With woman's 
 tact, as the story now is told, she accomplished her purpose 
 by being rolled up in a bale of carpeting, and thus being 
 carried on the shoulders of a man through the guards. 
 Caesar, who was delighted with the stratagem and fascinated 
 by her beauty, eagerly accepted the surrender of her person. 
 Her disgraceful situation in his camp, as his acknowledged 
 and guilty favorite, stung almost to madness the pride of 
 Ptolemy, and with indignation, he rejected Caesar's decree, 
 that Cleopatra and Ptolemy should share the throne together. 
 
 Woman's guilty love bound Caesar as by a spell. The 
 Egyptians rallied around Ptolemy, and the war, called in his- 
 tory the Alexandrine war, raged with increasing violence. 
 Caesar found it necessary to summon new legions from Italy, 
 and the conflict was so severe and protracted, that Caesar, in 
 the commentaries generally attributed to his pen, has minutely 
 detailed its events. 
 
 Opposite the port of Alexandria, there was an island called 
 Pharos, which created the harbor of that renowned seaport. 
 It was joined to the continent by a causeway nine hundred 
 paces in length, and by a bridge. Upon this island there was 
 reared a light-house, also called Pharos, which is reported to 
 have been five hundred feet in height. It was said that the 
 brilliant light, ever blazing from this enormous summit, could 
 be seen over the waves of the Mediterranean for a distance of 
 over one hundred miles. The tower was built in successive 
 stories, each ornamented with balustrades, galleries, and col- 
 umns, and from its eminent utility and gcrgeous architecture, it 
 was renowned throughout the then known we rid. " Far and
 
 THE TRIUMPH OP CvESAB. 229 
 
 wide over the stormy waters of the Mediterranean this meteor 
 glowed, inviting and guiding the mariners in ; and both its 
 welcome and its guidance were doubly prized hi these ancient 
 days, when there was neither compass nor sextant upon which 
 they could rely." 
 
 Caesar, after a bloody strife, took possession of .his island 
 and the renown of the exploit spread as would now the tidings 
 of the capture of Gibraltar. In all these conflicts, Caesar won 
 the confidence and the affection of his soldiers by his readiness 
 hi sharing their toils and dangers. In the hour of battle he 
 was ever found hi the post of the greatest danger and the 
 hardest conflict. It was also evident that Caesar, now love- 
 inspired, courted the admiration of Cleopatra by his chivalric 
 daring in her behalf. In the course of the struggle for the 
 possession of this island, Csesar was in a boat which, hi the 
 confusion of the fight, became so crowded that it was hi mo- 
 mentary danger of sinking. He leaped into the sea and swam 
 to a ship at some distance, holding above his head in his left 
 hand some important papers which he had, and drawing after 
 him his mantle of imperial purple, which he held by a corner, 
 between his teeth. 
 
 It was during this war that a large portion of the Alexan- 
 drian library was destroyed, a disaster so irreparable to the 
 world, that by scholars It will never cease to be deplored. The 
 kings of Egypt, many of whom were renowned as the munifi- 
 cient patrons of learning, had made a vast collection of books 
 or manuscripts, then inscribed on parchment rolls. The num- 
 ber of these volumes amounted to seven hundred thousand. 
 When we remember that these rolls were all written by hand, 
 with the greatest care, and at a vast expense, and that many 
 of them were richly ornamented, it must be admitted that one 
 can with difficulty exaggerate the magnitude of the loss. In 
 fact, the Alexandrian library was the depository of the whole 
 body of ancient literature. 
 
 Caesar, hi the heat of battle, set fire to some Egyptian
 
 230 I T A L T . 
 
 galleys, which were near the shore. The flames, driven by the 
 wind, spread to some buildings which were on the quay, ;uid 
 then extended until one of the most important of the library 
 buildings was wrapped in the destructive conflagration. It is 
 mainly in consequence of this loss that fragments only of 
 ancient history have descended to our times. Caesar at length 
 brought the war to a successful issue, and placed his paramour 
 Cleopatra upon the throne, in conjunction with her younger 
 brother, a boy eleven years of age ; Ptolemy having perished 
 during the war. He was drowned in the Nile while attempt- 
 tog to swim the stream to escape from an awful defeat. Caesar 
 returned to Rome. Cleopatra soon poisoned her young 
 brother, that she might reign untrammeled, and after a few 
 years of sin and misery, to which we shall hereafter refer, she 
 finally committed suicide by exposing her arm to the bite of 
 an asp. 
 
 Caesar returned to Italy by land, passing through Syria, and 
 receiving the homage of all the petty princes on his route. The 
 king of Pontus attempted to oppose him. Caesar crushed him 
 with one blow, and reported the battle in the famous words. 
 " VenijVidi, vici" I came, I saw, I conquered. Caesar had but 
 just arrived in Rome, and was preparing for a campaign in 
 Africa, where Cato was endeavoring to maintain the banners of 
 revolt against his sway, when a mutiny broke out in Caesar's 
 army, which was rendezvoused in Campania. In a tumultuous 
 array, which spread consternation throughout the capital, they 
 approached its walls. Caesar threw open the gates for their 
 admission, and met them in the Campus Martius, demanding 
 why they had left their quarters, and what were their com- 
 plaints. They demanded release from further military ser- 
 vice, upon the claim that the term of their engagements had 
 expired. 
 
 Caesar promptly replied that their complaints were reason- 
 able and their demands just, assuring them that they should 
 immediately receive their discharge, and the grants of land
 
 THE TEIFMPH OF C^iSAB. 281 
 
 which had formerly been promised them. The soldiers were 
 quite unprepared for this treatment, and finding that Caesai 
 was perfectly ready to dispense with their services, they began 
 to hesitate and to express a wish to remain. Caesar appre- 
 ciated the advantage he had gained, and while expressing 
 deep grief that his faithful soldiers should wish to leave his 
 service, persisted in giving them their discharge. 
 
 The tide was now turned, and with full flow rushed in the 
 other direction. So urgent were the soldiers in their entreaties 
 to be retained, that he at length consented to receive them all, 
 excepting the tenth legion, which had been his favorite corps. 
 He declared that he could never again receive them into his 
 service. But even this legion, in the fervor of its zeal, per- 
 sisted in following him without his orders, hoping, in the field 
 of battle, to perform feats of heroism which should secure 
 their forgiveness. They were finally received to favor, but 
 the legion itself was disbanded, and its members were incor- 
 porated in other divisions of the army. 
 
 With his authority over his troops thus effectually secured, 
 he set out on his expedition to Africa. His fleet touched at 
 Lilybseum, on the eastern extremity of Sicily, on the seventeenth 
 of December. At this point, he had assembled a force of about 
 thirty thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry. With these 
 he crossed the sea, and landed on the African coast, at Hadru- 
 metum, near ancient Carthage, on the thirtieth 01 December, 
 In crossing from Sicily to the African shore, a distance of 
 about one hundred miles, the fleet was dispersed by a storm, 
 so that Caesar landed, at first, with but three thousand men, 
 Hadrumetum was so strongly fortified by Cato and the advo- 
 cates of his cause, that it was hopeless to attack it with so 
 small a force ; Caesar therefore marched along the shore for 
 some distance, until he found a strong position, where he threw 
 ap an ir trenched camp and waited for additional ro6nforce 
 ments. 
 
 The opposition in Africa was found to be quite formidab>*
 
 J82 ITALY 
 
 A large army had been organized, and a fleet had heen col- 
 lected, sufficiently strong to cause great annoyance to Caesar. 
 Cato and Scipio were at the head of these forces, but they 
 were both conscious that notwithstanding their vast numerical 
 superiority, they were but poorly prepared to encounter the 
 veteran legions of Ca3sar, sustained as Caesar was, by the sym- 
 pathies of the popular mind. Utica was at that tune the 
 principal city of Africa. It was situated on the coast but a 
 few miles from the ruins of Carthage. Cato had constituted 
 this city the chief rendezvous for his army, and the magazine 
 for his materials of war. 
 
 Immediately upon Caesar's landing, the populace began to 
 flock to his camp. Bogud, an African prince, and Sitius, a 
 Roman general, then in exile, eagerly joined Caesar, bringing 
 with them disciplined troops and military stores. The dis- 
 persed ships also, rapidly arrived with their detachments, and 
 Caesar soon found himself in a condition to assume offensive 
 operations with the utmost confidence of success. Early in 
 April he emerged from his ramparts, and commenced his 
 march. Scipio was strongly intrenched at Thapsus. A deci- 
 sive battle was fought, a second Pharsalia, in which the defeat 
 of the foe was speedy, sanguinary, and entire. The slaughter 
 was awful, for Caesar's soldiers, many of whom were Africans, 
 had no mercy, and notwithstanding Caesar's utmost efforts to 
 restrain them, glutted themselves with blood. Scipio escaped 
 by sea, from the wreck of his army, knowing not where to go 
 to seek an asylum. But he was pursued by Cesar's ships, 
 and finding escape hopeless, killed himself to avoid the humil- 
 iation of falling into the hands of his foes. The battle of 
 Thapsus was fought in the year 46 B. c. 
 
 The tidings of this battle spread rapidly, far and wide, 
 increasing the conviction that Caesar was invincible. A few 
 of the cavalry, fugitives from the scene of the carnage, carried 
 the intelligence to Utica, where Cato was in command. This 
 illustrious advocate of patrician privilege, with spirit unbroken
 
 THE TRIUMPH OP CJESAB. 288 
 
 by the disaster, endeavored to rally his dejected forces to 
 continue the conflict. But finding all his efforts in vain, and 
 that a panic, which no human power could check, pervaded 
 his army, he gave them all permission to depart and consult 
 their own safety. 
 
 The ships in the harbor were soon crowded with the fugi 
 tivea, Cato manifested much interest in seeing all on board 
 and safely out of the harbor. He then made such open pre- 
 parations for the commission of suicide, as to induce his son, 
 with tears, to entreat that his father would live for his sake. 
 But Cato was too proud to be the recipient of that pardon 
 and those favors which he knew Caesar would lavish upon 
 him. He retired to his apartment, calmly read, for a tune, 
 Plato's Dialogues, and then plunged his sword into his side 
 The servants heard him fall upon the floor, and rushing to his 
 room, found him insensible. They bound up the wound, 
 endeavoring to restore him to life. Reviving for a moment, 
 he tore off the bandages, and blood again gushed forth, and 
 he instantly expired. 
 
 Such was the melancholy end of Cato. He was the firm, 
 earnest, decisive advocate of patrician supremacy, and the 
 unrelenting foe of popular encroachment upon aristocratic 
 usurpation. He was sternly upright, inflexible in his ideas of 
 justice, humane according to the measure of those days, but 
 haughty, often coarse, and so selfish as to take cowardly refuge 
 for himself in suicide, leaving his family to struggle alone ir 
 the encounter with life's storms. It has been well remarked : 
 
 " The character of Cato, and the circumstances under 
 which his suicide was committed makes it, on the whole, the 
 most conspicuous act of suicide which history records ; and 
 the events which followed show, in an equally conspicuous 
 manner, the extreme folly of the deed. In respect to its wick- 
 edness., Cato, not having had the light of Christianity before 
 him, is to be leniently judged. As to the folly of the deed, 
 however, he is to be held strictly accountable. If he had lived
 
 284 ITALY. 
 
 and yielded to the conquei r, as he might have done, grace- 
 fully and without dishonor, since ah 1 his means of resistance 
 were exhausted, Caesar would have treated him with gener- 
 osity and respect, and would have taken him to Rome ; as, 
 within a year or two of this time Caesar himself was no more, 
 Cato's vast influence and power might have been, and un- 
 doubtedly would have been, called most effectually into action 
 for the benefit of his country." 
 
 When Caesar heard of the event, he said, " I grudge thee 
 thy death, since thou hast grudged me the honor of sparing 
 thy life." In those days of darkness and crime, Cato, next to 
 Pompey, was the purest man of the patrician party. Hence 
 his name, even to the present day, has been a favorite theme 
 of panegyric. Caesar advanced to Utica, treating all his foes, 
 who remained there, with his characteristic clemency. The 
 kingdom was reduced to the form of a Roman province, and 
 placed under the government of the renowned historian 
 Sallust. The war in Africa being thus terminated, Caesar 
 embarked for Rome, and reached the imperial city, after a 
 tedious voyage, about the end of May. 
 
 In the meantime, the sons of Pompey had repaired to 
 Spain, and through the influence of their name, and their 
 father's celebrity, had organized there the partisans of patri- 
 cian rule in opposition to the sway of Caesar. To quell this 
 disturbance, Caesar embarked for Spain. He took but few 
 troops with him, for he was confident that he would find enough 
 there ready to espouse the popular cause. The conflict was 
 very short, and, as usual, was decided in Caesar's favor. In a 
 decisive battle, Cn. Pompey, the son of Pompey the Great, 
 escaped bleeding from the field, where he had seen his whole 
 army cut to pieces or dispersed. In his flight, he sought refuge 
 in a wild glen of the mountains. He was pursued, found hi a 
 cave, in a state of extreme destitution and suffering, and his 
 captors mercilessly cut off his head and sent it a trophy to 
 Caesar. The younger son, Sextus, fled to the fastnesses of the
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF CJSSAB. 235 
 
 Pyrenees, where he was left, a helpless fugitive, unmolested, 
 Caesar returned to Italy, the undisputed sovereign of the 
 Roman world. 
 
 The triumphs which Caesar now celebrated in the imperial 
 capital, in commemoration of his victories, were such as Rome 
 had never witnessed before. There were four celebrations, in 
 honor of each of his four great campaigns in Egypt, Asia 
 Minor, Africa, and Spain. These celebrations occupied each 
 one day, separated by an interval of several days. In the 
 first triumph an accident happened to Caesar's chariot, which 
 detained the procession, so that it was dark before the pro- 
 cession had completed its route. But this event added to the 
 sublimity of the scene, for forty elephants of the train were 
 employed as torch-bearers, each sagacious animal holding a 
 flaming flambeau in his trunk, and waving it over the heads 
 of the crowd. Still, Caesar regarded the accident as ominous 
 of evil, and, to appease the imagined anger of the gods, he 
 crawled up the steps of the capital upon his knees ; and it is 
 reported that he ever afterward, whenever he entered a car- 
 riage, repeated over three times a form of words as a charm 
 or a prayer, to secure a prosperous journey. 
 
 In the second triumph, Arsinoe, a younger sister of Cleo- 
 patra, appeared in the Egyptian procession which graced the 
 occasion. To Caesar Cleopatra was indebted for her throne, 
 and probably her sister was sent to Rome, in recognition of 
 the debt of gratitude which thus rested upon her. In the 
 third triumph, which celebrated the reduction of Asia Minor, 
 a, banner was unfurled, inscribed with the famous words, 
 " Veni, vidi, vici." The splendor of the pageant dazzled all 
 eyes and intoxicated all minds ; and when it was announced 
 that a sum of money, amounting to more than twenty millions 
 of dollars, was deposited by Caesar in the treasury, as the 
 fruits of these conquests, few were disposed to reflect upor 
 the misery caused by confiscated estates and plundered prov
 
 286 ITALY. 
 
 The popularity of Caesar was now unbounded. He eatab 
 lished the most magnificent spectacles for the entertainment 
 of the people of Rome. Meat, corn, and money were distrib- 
 uted to the poor. A feast was provided for them, twenty-two 
 thousand tables being spread. It gives one a deplorable idea 
 of the condition of Rome at this tune, to be informed that 
 there were three hundred and twenty thousand persons need- 
 ing to be fed at the public expense. It is hardly possible 
 to credit the accounts, seemingly authentic, which have 
 descended to us respecting the splendor of these gifts and 
 displays. It is said that to each of his common soldiers, he 
 gave a sum amounting to over eight hundred dollars ; to the 
 centurions sixteen hundred dollars; to the military tribunes 
 three thousand two hundred. Each man of the cavalry re- 
 ceived nearly one thousand dollars. The patricians com- 
 plained that he was pampering the populace with spectacles 
 and gold, while he was robbing the opulent and the noble. 
 
 Dramatic entertainments were established in different 
 quarters of the city, and were performed in various lan- 
 guages, for the entertainment of strangers from all parts 
 of the then known world. It is worthy of remark that even 
 then, and surely it is difficult to say why, the profession of a 
 play-actor was deemed infamous, and any patrician who 
 appeared upon the stage forfeited his rank. The games of 
 the circus, gladiatorial combats, and mock sea-fights were 
 then popular above all other shows. At one time, there 
 appeared hi the gladiatorial arena twenty elephants, thirty 
 horsemen, and five hundred soldiers on each side, to contend 
 in mortal combat. 
 
 For the display of a naval battle, an immense lake was dug 
 near the Tiber, sufficiently large to contain two fleets of gal- 
 leys, with two thousand rowers, and one thousand fighting 
 men on each side. For the amusement of the people they 
 met, not in sham fight, but in all the sanguinary horrors of 
 real war. Vast numbers were killed, and the waters of the
 
 THE TRIUMPH OP C^BSAB. 237 
 
 lake were crimsoned with their blood. Such was Rome. The 
 world has surely made advances since the advent of Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 In this horrid naval battle, the unhappy captives of Caesar 
 were compelled to fight each other, the Egyptians being 
 arrayed against the Tyrians. The gladiatorial fights were 
 scarcely less cruel and bloody. To protect the spectators from 
 the sun, silken awnings were spread over the whole forum and 
 the whole length of the Via Sacra. These entertainments 
 were so accordant with the barbaric habits and tastes of the 
 times, and so attractive as to draw such multitudes to Rome, 
 that all the principal streets, and the fields outside of the city, 
 were lined with booths for their accommodation. For some 
 cause, not explained, human sacrifices were deemed essential 
 to the completion of these festivities, and two men were the 
 victims of these revolting rites. 
 
 Caesar's power seemed now consolidated beyond all fear 
 of reverse. The senate, amidst other honors which they lav- 
 ished upon him in the greatest profusion, had appointed him 
 dictator for ten years. His statue was raised on a globe in 
 the capital, opposite the statue of Jupiter, and on it were 
 inscribed the words, " He is a demigod." His popularity was 
 such, and his confidence in the affection of the people so un- 
 bounded, that he did not even retain about his person a body 
 guard. In exploring the records of these days, one is strongly 
 impressed with the semblance between Caesar and Napoleon ; 
 though Napoleon, living in a more enlightened age, displayed 
 a character of much greater moral worth. We have before 
 mentioned that the estates of Pompey were confiscated. Marc 
 Antony, whom Caesar had left in command of Rome, and 
 intrusted with the government of Italy during his absence, 
 purchased these estates at auction of the government, and 
 relying upon Caesar's partiality, was not disposed to pay for 
 them. But Caesar insisted indignantly on the payment being
 
 888 ITALY. 
 
 made. Antony was a dissolute, extravagant man, always 
 involved in pecuniary embarrassments. 
 
 The triumph of Caesar was a signal triumph of the intellec- 
 tual and moneyed classes over the aristocracy of birth. Merit 
 was now the passport to office, far more than had ever before 
 been known in Rome. It was, however, a decided addition 
 ,0 Caesar's power that he was himself of such illustrious lin- 
 eage as to authorize him to take his stand at the head of the 
 proudest of Roman patricians. The laws which Caesar enact- 
 ed are generally admitted to have been wise and liberal, and 
 intended to promote the prosperity of the empire. Being 
 strictly temperate hi his own habits of eating and drinking, he 
 attempted to enforce sumptuary laws, which experience has 
 proved to be inexpedient. He extended greatly the rights of 
 Roman citizenship, and was intending to confer those rights 
 upon all the inhabitants within the Alps. Several persons of 
 distinguished merit were ennobled ; others were placed in the 
 senate ; and all physicians, as well as other professors of the 
 liberal arts and sciences, resident at Rome, were admitted to 
 the rights of citizenship. 
 
 These measures were very influential in breaking down the 
 rigor of aristocratic caste, of uniting the distant provinces in 
 closer ties, and in giving more unity to the nation. Nearly all 
 the soil of Italy was cultivated by slaves. To encourage free 
 labor, and to relieve the capital of a vast population of igno- 
 rant and beggared people, he conferred farms, in the provinces, 
 upon more than eighty thousand of the citizens jf Rome, thus 
 adding also, to the population and the power of regions which 
 had been desolated by war. Carthage and Corinth, which 
 had both been destroyed in the same year, one hundred years 
 before the reign of Caesar, were by his encouragement rebuilt, 
 and again attained a very considerable degree of wealth and 
 importance. It seemed to be a special object of his adminis- 
 tration to encourage free labor. Citizens between the ages 
 of twenty and forty were not allowed to be absent from their
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF C ^S 8 A E . 239 
 
 estates for more than three years at a time; and all graziers ancf 
 shepherds, on a large scale, were required to employ freemen 
 to the amount of at least one third of their laborers. 
 
 The grasp of Caesar's mind is, perhaps, in nothing more 
 conspicuous than in his reform of the calendar. Until his day, 
 the division of time was so imperfect, the year consisting of 
 but three hundred and sixty days, that the months were mov- 
 ing continually along the year, the summer months passing 
 into the winter, and the winter into the summer. The vernal 
 equinox was already two months later than it should be. To 
 rectify this irregularity, Caesar invited the celebrated Greek 
 astronomer Sosigenes to Rome, who, with the assistance of 
 Marcus Fabius, by accurate calculations, so arranged the sys- 
 tem of months, that the real and nominal time might agree 
 with each other. The year was divided into three hundred 
 and sixty-five days for three years, adding one day on the 
 fourth year. This division was called the Julian calendar, and 
 though not perfectly accurate, was so nearly so that it contin- 
 ued unchanged for sixteen centuries. In the year 1582, Pope 
 Gregory XIII. made the slight alteration called the change 
 from Old Style to New Style, which was adopted by Great 
 Britain in the year 1752. By this change, called the Gregor- 
 ian calendar, ten days were dropped after the fourth of Octo- 
 ber, and what would have been the fifth was called the fifteenth. 
 It will now require three thousand years before the error will 
 again amount to a single day. 
 
 The honors now lavished upon Ca?sar were more than frail 
 human nature could well bear. The senate declared him to be 
 the " father of his country," and voted that the title " Impera 
 tor " should be affixed to his name. The month in which he 
 was born, which had been called Quintilis, was now named, in 
 honor of him, Julius, or July. A guard of senators, and of 
 citizens of the equestrian rank was appointed for his protec- 
 tion, and the whole senate, hi a body, waited upon him as a 
 committee to communicate the decrees which had been passed
 
 840 ITALY. 
 
 in Ins honor. Never was a mind more active in originating 
 and executing schemes of grandeur. He planned public build- 
 ings for Rome, which were to surpass in splendor any which 
 the world had before seen. He commenced the collection of 
 imperial libraries ; undertook the vast enterprise of draining 
 the Pontine marshes ; formed plans for supplying Rome with 
 pure water by an aqueduct, and even began to cut a new pas- 
 sage for the Tiber from Rome to the sea, constructing a capa- 
 cious artificial harbor at its mouth. He commenced opening a 
 cai.al through the isthmus of Corinth, and making a royal 
 road over the cliffs and ravines of the Apennines from the 
 Tiber to the Adriatic. Rome was the idol of his adoration, 
 and all his energies were concentrated upon the undertaking 
 of making Rome the capital of the world. 
 
 Such energy and power could not but create both admi- 
 ration and jealousy. As subsequently in France, against 
 Napoleon, there were two parties hostile to Caesar, the aris- 
 tocracy over whom he had triumphed, and the lowest class of 
 the democracy, the Jacobins, the Red Republicans, who could 
 not brook a master. The intermediate class, however, com- 
 posing the mass of the community, were enthusiastically in his 
 favor, and were eager to confer power upon him beyond what 
 he asked. His enemies began to accuse him of the desire to 
 to make himself king in name, as he certainly already was in 
 fact. The Romans had a great abhorrence of the kingly name. 
 Execrating the pride and oppression of their former kings, 
 they had indignantly expelled them from the throne, and now, 
 for a period of more than five hundred years, their empire had 
 assumed the forms of a republic. 
 
 The enemies of Ca3sar appealed to the following incidents as 
 indicative of his ambitious desires for royalty. In some of the 
 galleries of Rome there were statues of kings of renown. 
 Caesar caused, or allowed, his own statue to be placed among 
 them. In the theater, he had a seat in the form of a throne, 
 reared for himself, more conspicuous than all the rest, and
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF CuESAB. 241 
 
 magnificently adorned with drapery and gold. In the senate 
 chamber a similar seat was prepared for him. On one occasion, 
 when the senate, in a body, waited upon him in the conference 
 of some distinguished honor, he did not even rise from his 
 magnificent chair or throne, but received them sitting. At 
 the celebration of one of his triumphs, an admirer, in his 
 enthusiasm, placed a laurel crown, the emblem of royalty, upon 
 the head of Caesar's statue. For his audacity, the man was 
 thrown into prison, but Caesar immediately liberated him, say- 
 ing proudly, that he wished to disavow such claims himself, 
 and not have others disavow them for him. He was at tunes 
 greeted, in the applause of the streets, with the title of JRex, 
 or king. Mildly he rejected the title, simply remarking, "I 
 am Caesar, not king." Marc Antony, on one of their festival 
 days, approached Caesar, who was sitting in imperial state, and 
 placed a crown upon his brow. Caesar immediately, but with- 
 out words of reproach, laid it aside. Again Antony placed 
 it upon his brow, and falling at his feet implored him, in the 
 name of the people, to accept it. Caesar still persisted in the 
 refusal of the gift, saying: "Take it away to the temple. 
 There is no king in Rome but Jupiter." The vast crowd 
 assembled applauded this act to the skies. The next morning, 
 all the statues of Caesar were crowned with diadems. In com- 
 memoration of Caesar's wonderful patriotism and self-denial in 
 rejecting the crown, the folio wing memorandum was inserted 
 in the calendar for the year : 
 
 " On the day of the Lupercalia, M. Antony, the consul, by 
 command of the people, offered the dignity of king to C. 
 Caesar, perpetual dictator, and Cassar refused to accept it." 
 
 Still it was affirmed, that these were but the pre uninary 
 steps by which Caesar was preparing to ascend the throne. 
 
 The horrible system of slavery of that day consigned to 
 that degradation the most noble, wealthy, and illustrious 
 families who chanced to be taken captives in war. Conse- 
 quently, the slave was often in lineage, political rank, and 
 11
 
 942 ITALY. 
 
 intellectual dignity superior to his master. Caesar himself had 
 been a slave, and his freedom had been purchased at a vast 
 expense, by his friends. Many of the most renowned men of 
 the times were slaves. Caesar, the friend of the people, was 
 strongly anti-slavery in his sympathies, and was disposed to 
 reward merit, wherever he found it, hi Roman citizen, freed 
 man or slave. To the excessive annoyance of the aristocracy 
 he intrusted the charge of the public mint to some of his own 
 slaves, in whose integrity and ability he reposed confidence 
 When he left Egypt, the command of three legions was in- 
 trusted to the son of one of his freedmen. 
 
 Cicero was quite disposed to be on friendly terms with 
 Caesar, but he could never regain that confidence which he 
 had lost by his notorious deficiency in moral courage. The 
 abilities of the distinguished orator could make no atonement 
 for his timidity and temporizing spirit. He was often found 
 waiting in Caesar's ante-chambers ; but, though always treated 
 with respect, he was never received into the imperial councils. 
 Cicero, in one of his letters to Atticus (Epist. lii.), has given 
 a very interesting account of a visit he received from Caesar, 
 at his villa near Puteoli, in December, 46 B. c. Caesar having 
 no son, was disposed to adopt C. Octavius, his sister's grand- 
 child. On the twentieth of December, with a retinue of two 
 thousand troops, as a guard of honor, he visited the father-in- 
 law of Octavius, who resided in the vicinity of Caesar's villa. 
 All the hours of the morning he spent earnestly engaged in 
 business. He then took a walk on the sea shore, after which 
 he went into a bath, amusing himself in the meantime hi 
 hearing read one of the most virulent Philippics agains 
 himself. He then honored Cicero with a call, dining witl 
 Him, ir company with some of the most prominent of his 
 attendants. " Caesar," writes Cicero, " seemed to enjoy him- 
 self exceedingly, and was in very good spirits. The conversa- 
 tion did not touch at all on politics, but we talked much on 
 Kterary subjects." 

 
 THE TRIUMPH OP C^BSAB. 248 
 
 Caesar's constitutional bravery rendered him insensible to 
 danger ; and he adopted no measures to guard against assas- 
 sination. "My life," said he, "is more important to my coun- 
 try than to myself. I have attained all which ambition could 
 desire ; and I would rather die than make myself an object of 
 terror to the people."
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ASSASSINATION OF C^JSAB 
 FROM 44 B. a TO 42 a a 
 
 AND CASSIUS. THE CONSPIRACY THE SCENE OF ASSASSINATION. OOMTOOT of 
 THE CONSPIRATORS. INDIGNATION OP THB PEOPLE. FLIGHT OF THK CONSPIRATORS 
 FROM ROME. MEASURES OF MABO ANTONY. CAIUS OOTAVIUS. INTERVIEW WITH 
 CIOKRO. COLLISION WITH ANTONY. RALLYING OF THK ARISTOCRATS. CIVIL 
 WAR. FALSE POSITION OF OOTAVIUS. PHILIPPICS OF CIOBRO. DEFEAT OF ANTONY. 
 ESCAPE BEYOND THE ALPS. OOTAVIUS CESAR'S MARCH UPON ROME. TRIUMPH o 
 THE PLBBKI AN CAUSE. THE NATURE OF THE CONFLICT. 
 
 rriHERE was at this time in Rome a man of much distinc- 
 * tion, both in rank and achievements, named Marcus Junius 
 Brutus. He was a nephew of Cato, and had been a warm 
 partisan of Pompey, fighting in his ranks at Pharsalia. In 
 that disastrous battle he was taken prisoner, and receiving his 
 life from the clemency of Caesar, entered into his service. 
 The government of Cisalpine Gaul was conferred upon him, 
 and he administered the affairs of the province, under the 
 direction of Caesar, with so much wisdom and justice, not- 
 withstanding many great blemishes in his personal character, 
 as to reflect much honor upon Caesar's government. The 
 mother of Brutus, who was Cato's sister, is said to have been 
 once the object of Caesar's most tender affection, and hence 
 Caesar was disposed to confer upon Brutus, her son, every 
 favor. Wantonly, Brutus had divorced his first wife Appia, 
 and married Porcia, Cato's daughter, and his own cousin. 
 This Brutus conceived the plan of striking a dagger into the 
 heart of the benefactor who had spared his life, and who was 
 still loading him with benefits. 
 
 Caius Cassius was another of Pompey's generals, who
 
 ASSASSINATION OF C^SAB. 245 
 
 after the battle of Pharsalia had surrendered to Caesar, and had 
 been generously received into his service. From a boy he had 
 been remarkable for the impetuosity of his character and the 
 violence of his temper. Cicero says that, even at the moment 
 of his surrender to Caesar, he intended to assassinate his 
 benefactor, and would have done so had not an accident 
 prevented. Caesar had constituted this treacherous man one 
 of bis lieutenants. Cassius was the intimate friend of Brutus, 
 having married his sister. 
 
 The conspiracy, for the assassination of Caesar, originated 
 hi the bosom of Cassius. He enlisted the cooperation of 
 Brutus, and a large number of others were soon involved in 
 the plot. Cassius, who was an earnest republican, probably 
 hoped to introduce democratic sway. But Brutus, with strong 
 patrician prejudices, hoped to bring the aristocracy again into 
 power. The death of Caesar was essential to either of these 
 plans. Not a word of extenuation can be offered in favor of 
 Brutus and Cassius, both of whom had accepted honors and 
 office from him whom they were conspiring to assassinate. 
 The whole number of the conspirators is said to have 
 amounted to sixty. Their first intention was, to strike Caesar 
 down when passing unguarded through the streets, or to 
 inflict the blow, when presiding hi the Campus Martins over 
 the elections of magistrates. 
 
 Caesar, having issued an order for the senate to convene on 
 the fifteenth of March, then called the Ides of March, and 
 there being a rumor that on this day the title of king was to 
 be conferred on him by his partisans in the senate, the con- 
 spirators, many of whom wore senators, fixed upon that occa 
 sion as the hour for the accomplishment of their plan. Oi 
 the evening of the fourteenth, Caesar supped with Lepidus, 
 his master of horse. The conversation, at the table, was 
 turned to the question, " What kind of death is the most to 
 be desired." Caesar, who was writing at the time, had hie 
 attention arrested by it, and exclaimed, looking up from his
 
 246 ITALY. 
 
 paper, " The most sudden death is the most desirable." It u 
 said that he had received frequent warnings to beware of the 
 Ides of March. Various incidents had so wrought upon the 
 mind of his wife, exciting her alarm, that she passed the 
 night preceding his assassination in feverish dreams, which 
 so excited her imagination, that in the morning she entreated 
 her husband not to leave the house that day. Caesar himself 
 was not well that morning, and, yielding to the fears of his 
 wife Calpurnia, he remained at home until the senate was 
 assembled. 
 
 One of the conspirators, Decimus Brutus, apprehensive, 
 from the delay, that Caesar had received some intimation of 
 the plot, and might not attend the meeting of the senate, 
 visited him and urged his attendance. At eleven o'clock in 
 the morning, Caesar, accompanied by Decimus Brutus, and 
 others of the conspirators, set out for the senate-house. On 
 his way, a friend, whose suspicions had been aroused, ap- 
 proached him, and placed in his hands a paper, containing a 
 written statement of his suspicions, which he begged him to 
 read immediately. Caesar, holding the paper in his hand, and 
 pressed by the crowd, passed along, in conversation with his 
 friends, until he entered the senate-house. Marc Antony, the 
 devoted friend of Caesar, and his colleague in the consulship, 
 was detained at the door by Trebonius, one of the conspirators, 
 that he might not render Caesar any aid. Some of the con- 
 spirators had wished that Antony should be slain also, but 
 JULIUS Brutus objected to it as needless. 
 
 All the senators rose to greet Caesar when he entered the 
 senatorial chamber. As he ascended t his magnificent chair 
 of state, the conspirators contrived to gather around him as 
 his immediate train. The chair was placed near the pedestal 
 of a statue of Pompey the Great, which Caesar had charac- 
 teristically permitted to remain as the chief ornament of the 
 senate-chamber a building which Pompey had reared. It 
 tvas observed that Cassius looked imploringly to that statue as 

 
 ASSASSINATION OF C ^E 8 A R . 24? 
 
 if invoking the spirit of Pompey to aid him in his murderous 
 deed. 
 
 As Caesar took his seat, surrounded by the conspirators, 
 one of them, L. Cimber, approached as if to offer him a peti- 
 tion. His accomplices pressed near as if to support him in his 
 request. Cimber suddenly seized Caesar by his robe. It was 
 the signal for tne attack. Many daggers were instantly 
 gleaming in the air, and Caesar was pierced by many wounds. 
 The victim made frantic endeavors to brush his assailants 
 away, and the confusion was so great that many of the assas- 
 sins were wounded by each other's daggers. Caesar, seeing 
 Brutus among his murderers, seemed to surrender himself to 
 despair, as he exclaimed, "And you too, Brutus!" Then, 
 with dignity, covering his face with his mantle, he fell, 
 pierced by twenty-three wounds. It seemed that each one 
 of the conspirators wished to avoid striking the fatal blow, 
 for of the twenty-three wounds he received, but one was 
 mortal. 
 
 The scene of consternation and confusion in the senate can 
 not be described, as that numerous and august body witnessed 
 this murderous act. The deed was so rapid in its accom- 
 plishment that there could be no rescue. Brutus, brandishing 
 his dagger, dripping with blood, in the air, called upon Cicero, 
 congratulating him that his country was delivered from a 
 tyrant. The senate immediately dispersed in terror, the 
 friends of Caesar flying for their lives, expecting that they 
 also were marked out for death. The conspirators, keeping 
 in a body for mutual protection," repaired to the forum, where 
 tuey addressed the crowd who gathered around them, and in 
 earnest harangues endeavored to defend their deed. Pro- 
 tected by a band of gladiators, they then went into the 
 capitol, where they took refuge for the night, accompanied 
 and sustained by a number of the nobles. 
 
 The dismay throughout all Rome was such, that the body 
 of Caesar remained for several hours hi the spot where it fell
 
 248 ITALY. 
 
 At length three of his slaves placed the body on a Utter and 
 carried it to his home. They were so agitated that, as they 
 bore the mutilated corpse through the streets, the arm of 
 Caesar, blood-stained, hung down, the hand at tunes sweeping 
 the pavement; a piteous and revolting spectacle. 
 
 The morning of the t xteenth of March found Brutus and 
 Cassius, with their accomplices, in the capitol, which was a 
 citadel on the Capitoline hill. Many of the aristocratic party 
 had joined them, with their sympathy or their congratulations, 
 and among the rest was Cicero. The aristocracy expected 
 the immediate restoration of the old regime, which had been 
 crushed with Pompey at Pharsalia, which was to the ancient 
 nobility of Rome what Waterloo was subsequently to the 
 popular party in France. Dolabella, who had been in high 
 authority under Caesar, seems to have hoped to place himself 
 at the head of the radical democratic party the mob and 
 sustained by them to grasp the supreme power. He imme- 
 diately assumed the consular dignity, inveighed bitterly 
 against his murdered benefactor as a tyrant, and attempted 
 to conciliate the assassins by visiting them in a friendly way 
 in their retreat. But Antony and Lepidus rallied the moro 
 conservative masses of the people, who had ever regarded 
 Caesar as their peculiar representative. 
 
 The veteran soldiers of Caesar, many of whom were then 
 in Rome ; most of the magistrates who had been appointed 
 by Caesar; the foreigners who had been admitted to the 
 rights of citizenship, and a large part of the industrial and 
 and moneyed classes, were all disposed to support the govern- 
 ment as organized by Caesar. Cicero, we regret to say, must 
 De regarded as a participator in the crime of Caesar's assas- 
 sination ; for he joined the murderers that very night, and 
 counseled them as to the steps next to be pursued. The 
 assassination of Caesar was regarded as securing the "resto- 
 ration" of the Roman " Bourbons." 
 
 Marc Antony and Lepidus, as soon as they had recovered
 
 ASSASSINATION OP CJE8AR. 249 
 
 ftom their consternation, rallied the friends of Caesar, to wage 
 determined warfare against the regstablishment " of that exclu- 
 sive and insulting system which was upheld by the friends of 
 the old aristocracy."* It now seemed that the murder cotJ3 
 only introduce a civil war, from which there could be no 
 refuge but in another dictator. Cicero urged the leaders of 
 the assassins, Cassius and Brutus, immediately to summon the 
 senate, and grasp all the reins of government while the people 
 were bewildered by the panic. But Marc Antony anti- 
 cipated them, and, in his character of consul, legally convened 
 the senate on the seventeenth of March. Caesar's veteran 
 soldiers sprang to arms and surrounded the capitol where 
 the conspirators were assembled, menacing them with death 
 should they emerge from their retreat. Caesar's widow, Cal- 
 purnia, placed, in the hands of Antony, Caesar's will. Its con- 
 tents were immediately announced to the people, and its 
 generous provisions roused their enthusiasm to the highest 
 pitch. 
 
 By this will, Caius Octavius, then a young man of eighteen, 
 was declared the heir of Caesar's property, and was adopted 
 into his family to assume his name. Several of the conspira- 
 tors were appointed his guardians while he should remain 
 under age, so little did Caesar suspect their treachery. Ha 
 bequeathed his beautiful gardens upon the Tiber to the Roman 
 people ; and to every citizen a sum of money amounting to 
 about twelve dollars. The vast population of Rome, roused 
 by this remarkable proof of the attachment of their illustrious 
 advocate, burned with the desire to avenge his death. All 
 opposition to the good name of Caesar, was swept away by the 
 breath of their indignation. 
 
 His friends in the senate were animated by the public tide 
 flowing so strongly in his favor. They immediately voted him 
 the most impi sing funeral honors at the public expense. Mars 
 
 * Thomas Arnold, 
 xl*
 
 250 ITALY. 
 
 Antony was appointed to deliver his eulogy. AH ms admin- 
 istrative acts were confirmed, his appointment? to office were 
 declared to be valid, and all the grants of land he had made 
 were pronounced inviolable. The assassins were, however, so 
 powerful in rank and influence, and the peril of civil war so 
 great, and its issue so uncertain, and yet so indubitably pro- 
 motive of national ruin and woe in its progress, that the two 
 parties agreed to a truce, which was effected by the advice 
 and through the influence of Cicero. 
 
 The conspirators assented to the continued ascendency of 
 the popular party, and that party decreed to consign to ever- 
 lasting oblivion the crime of the Ides of March, and promised 
 never to call any of the participators in it to account for their 
 conduct. This adjustment was considered so satisfactory that 
 we are informed, Brutus and Cassius on that same evening, 
 supped with Marc Antony and his friends. 
 
 The funeral of Caesar was conducted on a scale of magnifi- 
 cence such as had, perhaps, never been witnessed before. The 
 body was conveyed through the streets on a bier of ivory, 
 decorated with scarlet and gold. At the head of the proces- 
 sion was borne the dress in which Caesar was assassinated. 
 The funeral pile, upon which the body was to be consumed, 
 was reared in the Campus Martius, and a model of the temple 
 of Venus was constructed to hold the remains while the funeral 
 oration was delivered. The oration of Antony was brief, but 
 very effective. The decrees, with which the senate had award- 
 ed to Caesar extraordinary honors and powers in requital for 
 his extraordinary services, were publicly read, and also the 
 oath which the senate, including the assassins, had taken to 
 defend his person. The few words which Antony added, so 
 vividly recalled the brilliant achievements of Caesar and his 
 devotion to the popular cause, that the ardor of the people in 
 favor of Caesar, and their indignation against the assassins, 
 was roused beyond all bounds. 
 
 A clamor arose as to the place where the body should be
 
 ASSASSINATION OF C^SSAB. 25l 
 
 burned, all being anxious to name the most honorable locality 
 in the city. Some named the senate-house, others the temple 
 of Jupiter. In the midst of the confusion, two of the veteran 
 soldiers of Caesar stepped forward and set fire to the bier upot 
 which the body lay enwrapped in thick and gorgeous drapery. 
 An unparalleled scene of enthusiam then ensued. The ladies 
 rushed forward and threw upon the flames their scarfs and 
 mantles. The soldiers crowded to the bier and cast upon the 
 pile their javelins and war clubs. The populace broke into 
 the neighboring houses and temples, smashed chairs, tables, 
 altars, and heaped the fragments upon the pyre. Dense vol- 
 umes of smoke arose as from a volcano, and the crackling of 
 the flames drowned the murmurs of the multitude. 
 
 The passions of the populace were now roused, and not- 
 withstanding the decree of amnesty passed by the senate, they 
 demanded vengeance upon the murderers of Caesar. Earth 
 has never heard a sound more appalling than the roar of an 
 infuriate mob sweeping the streets. With the rush of the tor- 
 nado the frenzied masses, raising cries which sent terror to all 
 hearts, assailed the dwellings of Brutus and Cassius, but the 
 senate had adopted the precaution of placing troops in defense 
 of these dwellings, and the unarmed mob were repelled. 
 Turning away they encountered an innocent man, whom they 
 mistook for China, one of the enemies of Caesar. His doom 
 was sealed. As well might one appeal to the reason of fam- 
 ished wolves, as to the passions of an infuriated mob. They 
 fell upou the innocent, helpless stranger, beat him to the 
 ground with then- clubs, cut off his head, and paraded it 
 through the streets on a pike. 
 
 For many days these tumults continued. The populace 
 erected to the memory of their benefactor a marble statue, in 
 tha forum, twenty feet high, and upon it inscribed the words, 
 " To the Father of his Country." An altar was reared by the 
 side of this statue, on which, for a long time, sacrifices were 
 offered to Caesar as if he were a god. Every day tumultuoua
 
 862 ITALY. 
 
 groups assembled around this column, until at length, by the 
 strong arm of the law, these acts of violence were quelled. 
 
 A man by the name of Amatius, who was to Rome what 
 Marat was subsequently to Paris, placed himself at the head 
 of the mob, and formed a conspiracy for the assassination of 
 all the principal senators of the aristocratical party. But 
 Antony, the consul, was by no means disposed to tolerate the 
 reign of the mob. Amatius was arrested, tried, condemned, 
 executed, and his body was ignominiously dragged by a hook 
 through the streets of Rome, and thrown into the Tiber. 
 Still the hearts of the people burned to avenge the murder of 
 Cffisar. There was an instinct of justice which declared that 
 such a crime must not go unpunished. These indications so 
 alarmed the conspirators and rendered their residence in Rome 
 BO uncomfortable, that they deemed it expedient to retire, for 
 a time, from the city. 
 
 They all left Rome, some seeking refuge in their coun- 
 try-seats, and others in distant provinces. Marc Antony 
 was thus enabled gradually to assume dictatorial power. 
 Having Caesar's will in his possession, and being regarded by 
 the people as his successor and the representative of his polit- 
 ical views, he had but to announce a decree as recommended 
 in Caesar's will, to secure its immediate enforcement. Cicero 
 says that Antony forged grants to states and individuals, 
 which he pretended to have found among the papers of Caesar, 
 and which he sold to such advantage, that he raised in less 
 than a fortnight, a sum of money exceeding a million and a 
 half of dollars. He took a tour of the neighboring states, 
 and bound to his service by oath Caesar's veteran generals. 
 
 The young Octavius was at this time in Apollonia, in 
 Greece, pursuing his studies. He had long been regarded as 
 Caesar's probable heir, and had consequently received very 
 flatting attentions. As soon as the tidings reached Apol- 
 lonia, <ri the assassination of Caesar, the military officers in the 
 vicinity crowded around him, and urged him to avenge the
 
 ASSASSINATION OP C^SAB. 25 
 
 Murder of his uncle, assuring him of the cooperation of all 
 the troops under their command. Octavius, not knowing the 
 strength of the foes he might have to encounter, deemed it 
 expedient to more with caution, and consequently hastened 
 privately to Rome. He did not ascertain the particulars ^f thj 
 assassination until he reached Brand usium ; where he w s also 
 informed that he was declared Caesar's heir and his adopted son. 
 
 Octavius immediately assumed the name of Caesar ; and, as 
 he advanced from Brundusium to Rome, his partisans rallied, 
 from all quarters, around him. On his way he stopped at 
 Puteoli to visit his father and mother. Cicero's villa was at 
 this place, and Octavius, anxious to secure the support of the 
 illustrious orator called to see him. Cicero received him with 
 great politeness, but studiously refrained from calling him 
 Caesar. Octavius hastened to the capital, and at once sought 
 an interview with Antony. But Antony, now in the height 
 of his power, as the executor of Caesar's will, was not at all 
 disposed to resign the scepter to Octavius. Indignant at the 
 repulse he encountered from Antony, who had very artfully 
 ingratiated himself into the popular favor and felt secure of the 
 people's support, he turned to the aristocratic party, seeking 
 to court their favor in the strife against Antony, hi which it 
 was evident that he must now engage. 
 
 Indeed, the aristocratic party was at this time gaming 
 ground. Decimus Brutus, one of the assassins, had been 
 appointed by Caesar, in his unsuspecting confidence, to the 
 command of Cisalpine Gaul. He was now there, rapidly 
 organizing an army; and by the plunder of neighboring 
 tribes, he was obtaining wealth, which he lavished upon his 
 Soldiers, to secure their supp rt. Sextus, the youngest son of 
 Pompey, whom we have befor^ mentioned as hr.ving secured an 
 unmolested ^etreat among the fastnesses of the Pyrenees, was 
 gathering the fragments of the old aristocratical party in 
 Spain, that with these forces he might join Decimus Brutus. 
 
 Junius Brutus and Cassius, exiles from Rome through fear
 
 254 ITALY. 
 
 of popular violence, were secretly plotting with the members 
 of the aristocratic party to cooperate with the generals in 
 Gaul and Spain to reestablish patrician ascendency. In Asia, 
 in Syria, and in Galatia movements were already on foot for 
 the accomplishment of this end. It was the old struggle 
 between the outs and the ins. Antony and Dolabella, Cicero's 
 son-in-law, were now at the head of affairs at Rome. A 
 meeting of the senate was convened in June. Cicero says 
 that Antony stationed soldiers along all the avenues leading 
 to the forum, who prevented any senators from attending the 
 meeting but those who would act in accordance with his 
 wishes. Three laws were passed which were very popular. 
 The aristocracy condemned these laws severely, and said that 
 they were enacted merely to court favor with the mob. By 
 one of these laws the lands belonging to the national domain 
 were to be distributed to settlers. Another decree admitted 
 even plebeians, who had attained the rank of centurions, to be 
 eligible to the judicial power a law exceedingly offensive to 
 the nobles, but which modern civilization will certainly com- 
 mend. " The third and worst" measure, in the judgment of 
 aristocratic privilege, was a decree which allowed men, con- 
 demned for any state offense, to appeal to the people. 
 
 By the verdict of republicanism, these decrees would all 
 probably be pronounced salutary measures of reform. The 
 patricians made such endeavors to embarrass the execution 
 of these laws, that Antony entered the senate escorted by an 
 armed torce, that he might repel any violence which should 
 be attempted. Antony was now all powerful in the senate 
 and in Rome, and the conspirators did not dare to leave their 
 retirement and show themselves in the capital. Brutus and 
 Cassius were untiring in their plots to regain that power for 
 which they had imbrued their hands in the blood of assassina- 
 tion. They were preparing to leave Italy and to rally around 
 them provincial armies, with which they hoped to march 
 triumphantly upon Rome.
 
 ASSASSINATION OF CAESAR. 255 
 
 Elated with their prospects, they issued a proclamation, 
 which Marc Antony professed to regard as a declaration of 
 war. Cicero, with his characteristic vacillation, was in com- 
 munication with both parties, though he did not cordially 
 espouse the cause of either. While affairs were in this 
 menacing attitude, and the cloud of civil war was gathering 
 blackness, the young Octavius Caesar, almost unobserved, was 
 creating and concentrating powerful influences of support. 
 Some victories of Sextus Pompey in Spain so animated 
 Cicero, that he at length consented to allow himself to be 
 placed at the head of the aristocratic party, and to consecrate 
 all his energies to the restoration of the old patrician regime. 
 With this object in view he repaired to Rome, where he 
 arrived on the thirty-first of August. Cicero himself has 
 given an account of this enterprise. 
 
 The day after his arrival he attended a meeting of the 
 senate. Antony chanced to be absent. Cicero, perhaps em- 
 boldened by the absence of Antony, pronounced his well- 
 known oration called his First Philippic. Cautiously, in 
 temperate phrase, but very sagaciously and powerfully, he 
 assailed the measures of Antony's administration. Antony 
 was much exasperated, and soon replied in a speech in which 
 he accused Cicero of being an accomplice in the assassination 
 of Caesar. This charge Cicero could not successfully repel. 
 He was, indeed, afraid to attend the meeting of the senate 
 when Antony replied, lest that reply should rouse the senate 
 to acts of personal violence upon himself. 
 
 Cicero prepared a reply, called the Second Philippic, which 
 is read to the present day with admiration, but which h 
 feared to enter the senate to deliver. The speech wa 
 written, nrt spoken. Cicero sent it at first to his friend 
 Atticus, with the earnest injunction that he should not let 
 it be seen by any of the friends of Antony. This visit dis- 
 couraged Cicero, and he retired again, the weak, eloquent, 
 scholarly man, to the shrubbery and flowers of his villa.
 
 *56 I T A L T . 
 
 Cowper himself was hardly less adapted for the storms of 
 state than was Cicero. And yet Cicero was ever consumed 
 by the desire of grasping that scepter of power, which, by his 
 nature, he was utterly incapable of wielding. It is not difficult 
 to find such men in modern times. 
 
 We hear much in our degenerate days, so called, of Roman 
 virtue. Unfortunately, authentic history seems to be but a 
 record of Roman vice. One of the first acts of Octavius 
 Caesar, after his arrival in Rome, was to hire some assassins to 
 murder Antony. The plot was discovered. Antony, who had 
 at one time been engaged in a similar endeavor to assassinate 
 Caesar, knowing how easy it was in Rome to hire any number 
 of daggers, was greatly alarmed. The indications of Octavius' 
 popularity were such that he did not dare to bring him to 
 trial. He became even afraid to trust the strong body guard 
 with which he had surrounded himself. He accordingly left 
 Rome and went to Brundusium, that he might, by flattery and 
 bribes, devote to his interests four legions which were quar- 
 tered there. He addressed the troops with all his powers of 
 persuasion, and offered to each man a gratuity amounting to 
 about fifteen dollars. To his surprise and mortification, the 
 troops, accustomed to the largesses of Caesar, ridiculed the 
 meanness of the gift. 
 
 Alarmed and indignant at these indications of revolt, An- 
 tony summoned several officers whom he suspected of being 
 ringleaders in the disaffection, and caused them instantly to be 
 put to death. Receiving tidings from Rome that his enemies 
 were making headway there he hastily returned. Octavius 
 Caesar was more successful with some legions in the vicinity 
 of the imperial city. Through his friends and the vast wealth 
 which Caesar had bequeathed him, he was enabled to present 
 to every man of these legions a sum amounting to eighty 
 dollars. He commenced collecting his troops at Capua, and 
 wrote to Cicero urging him to advocate his cause in the 
 senate. The illustrious orator, deeming the prospects of Octa*
 
 ASSASSINATION OF C-fflSAB. 25 <T 
 
 vius encouraging, after much hesitation, and casting longing 
 eyes toward Brutus and Cassius, who were now far away 
 beyond the Ionian gulf, ventured to accept the proffered hand 
 of Octavius. 
 
 The young adventurer, under the auspices of Cicero, visited 
 Rome, and addressed the assembled citizens hi the forum. 
 But he had a difficult task to perform, as he wished to recon- 
 cile in his favor the two antagonistic elements of aristocratic 
 privilege and popular rights. But the spirit of Julius Caesar 
 was in his heart, and it broke out in his words. And when, in 
 the fervor of his address, he pointed to the statue and swore, 
 by the immortal gods, that he would emulate his uncle's spirit, 
 and strive to attain his uncle's greatness, the people applauded 
 him to the skies, while the nobles turned away in disgust and 
 indignation. Csesar, though dead, still ruled in Rome. 
 
 In the meantime Antony was marching upon Rome with 
 some troops who remained faithful to him. Octavius, not able 
 then to resist him, retired. Antony issued a proclamation de- 
 nouncing him as a traitor, and threatening with the severest 
 punishments all who should, in any way, abet his cause. But 
 every day, tidings were reaching Antony that his legions were 
 in revolt, and were giving in their adhesion to Octavius. He, 
 in his alarm, retired to Gaul, taking command of that distant 
 province, hoping there to reestablish his power ; but his fears 
 of Octavius were so great that he traversed Italy by cross 
 roads, lest he should be intercepted by his formidable foe. 
 Decimus Brutus was then in command of Gaul, and he resolv- 
 ed not to surrender his office. Antony thus found himself 
 immediately arrayed against hostile troops. Dolabella, the 
 colleague of Antony in the consulship, was now in Syria ; con- 
 sequently Rome was left without the presence of either of the 
 consuls. 
 
 The purity of Cicero's private character gave him much 
 influence, notwithstanding the boundless corruption of those 
 times. The worst of men could appreciate the nobleness of
 
 258 ITALY. 
 
 what is called good morals. The pendulum of Cicero's mind 
 now vibrated again to the cause of the aristocracy, and, as 
 Brutus had sent a proclamation to Rome, declaring both hia 
 determination and his ability to defend Gaul against Marc 
 Antony, Cicero hastened to the metropolis, and in a full meet- 
 ing of the senate pronounced his renowned oration, entitled 
 the Third Philippic. This oration, in its eloquence and its cau- 
 tion, is characteristic of the author. He proposed a vote of 
 thanks to Brutus, the illustrious advocate of aristocracy, for 
 the firm stand he was making against Antony ; and, at tho 
 same time, called for an expression of gratitude to Octavius, 
 the representative of the plebeian cause, for his hostility to 
 Antony. 
 
 The indications were very decisive that Antony was 
 ruined ; but whether the party of Brutus, or that of Octa- 
 vius would rise upon those ruins, was not settled. Cicero was 
 prudently prepared for either. The opening of the new year 
 introduced two new consuls, Hirtius and Pansa. Cicero grew 
 more bold, and proposed in the senate, that Antony should be 
 declared a public enemy, and that the people should be sum- 
 moned to rise en masse to crush him. The proposition of 
 Cicero was adopted, with the exception that a deputation 
 should first be sent to Antony with the demand, that he should 
 throw down his arms and submit himself to the senate and 
 people. The sun of Octavius Caesar was now manifestly 
 rising. The senate admitted him to its membership with 
 high rank, and erected an equestrian statue in his honor. 
 
 The delegation sent to Antony was composed of Sulpicius, 
 a renowned lawyer, and one of Caesar's most devoted friends, 
 of Piso, the father of Caesar's wife, and of Philippus, the 
 husband of Caesar's niece, and stepfather of Octavius. One 
 of the consuls, Hirtius, also took the field, with a well pro- 
 vided army, against Antony. The courage and decision of 
 Cicero now waxed rapidly. Antony rejected the terms pro- 
 posed by the senate, but returned some propositions of hii
 
 ASSASSINATION OF C;8AB. 259 
 
 own, which he offered in the way of compromise, but which 
 in their turn were peremptorily cast aside, and Antony was 
 declared to be a rebel. This was a great gain for Octavins 
 Caesar. The embroilment of parties was, however, now 
 such, that the people were embarrassed to know which was 
 the popular, and which the aristocratic side. 
 
 Junius Brutus, then in Greece, with consummate sagacity 
 and administrative skill roused the enthusiasm of Pompey's 
 veteran soldiers, and assembled beneath the banners of the 
 old aristocratic party, seven legions, with a well-supplied 
 treasury, and all the needful munitions of war. Dolabella 
 then in Greece, discomfited and defeated, fled to Syria, and 
 sought a cowardly refuge from life's woes, in suicide. 
 
 Cassius in Syria, was as triumphant as Brutus in Greece, 
 and it now became apparent that the civil war would be one 
 of no ordinary magnitude ; and, from the chaos of parties, 
 there began to emerge again the two distinct arrays of the 
 advocates of patrician supremacy on the one hand, and of 
 plebeian equality of rights on the other. Cicero, whose 
 sympathies were invariably with the patricians, proposed 
 in the senate, 
 
 " That the senate highly approve of the conduct of 
 Brutus and confirm him in the government of the armies 
 he has raised and the provinces he has acquired ; and that 
 they request him to hold himself in readiness to lend his 
 assistance to the commonwealth, when necessary." 
 
 By the commonwealth, was meant the old aristocratic 
 regime of Pompey. Cicero was now rushing headlong into 
 the embraces of the aristocracy, and, in his zeal, which was 
 tempered with but very little discretion, he urged a resolution 
 equally laudatory of the conduct of Cassius, the other lead- 
 ing assassin of Caesar, and which conferred upon him also 
 almost absolute control over the fleets, armies, and revenues 
 of the East. This inordinate proposal alarmed the people, 
 and raised a great outcry against Cicero. Antony availed
 
 260 ITALY. 
 
 himself of this sentiment, in the endeavor to rally around 
 him the undivided energies of the popular party. He wrote 
 a letter to Octavius, urging upon him the impolicy of com- 
 mitting himself to the old Pompeian policy, a policy which 
 was in deadly hostility to all the principles of Cesar's gov- 
 ernment, and, though it might deceive the people for a time, 
 could never secure their cordial support. 
 
 This letter was intercepted and placed in the hands of 
 Cicero, and he read it to the assembled senate. The progress 
 of the war in Italy, or rather in that portion of Italy then 
 called Cisalpine Gaul, had placed Octavius as commander-in- 
 chief of those forces which were fighting the battles of the 
 assassins of his uncle, an eminently false position for him to 
 occupy. Antony had been defeated in a sanguinary battle at 
 Mutina, now Modena, and was on the rapid retreat, pursued 
 by Decimus Brutus and Octavius, yet hoping to find refuge 
 beyond the maritime Alps. As, in confused retreat, he 
 pressed along his way, his ranks were continually swelled by 
 the slaves, and the lowest portion of the people who flocked 
 to his standards. When the tidings reached Rome that the 
 army of Antony was defeated, and in wild confusion was 
 rushing through the fastnesses of the Alps, the exultation 
 was very great with the aristocratic party then in the ascen- 
 dency there. Congratulations, thanks, and ovations were 
 voted to Brutus and Octavius, and it was reaffirmed that 
 Antony and all his followers were public enemies. 
 
 Octavius seems to have been conscious of his false posi- 
 tion, and that through the force of circumstances he had 
 become the tool of a party who execrated the principles of 
 his uncle, and who were the unrelenting foes of that popular 
 political equality, through which alone he could hope for 
 permanent ascendency. He therefore manifested but little 
 zeal in the pursuit of the fugitives ; and Antony soon rallied 
 his forces between Genoa and Nice, and was joined by such 
 reenforcftments, as enabled him again to assume the aspeot
 
 ASSASSINATION OF C^ESAB. 261 
 
 of one prepared to cope with his foes. Cicero, now avowedly 
 the warm friend and partisan of the aristocracy, was, by his 
 commanding influence, at the head of the government of 
 Rome, directing all its measures. He was watchful to re- 
 ward with honors and to strengthen with office, those upon 
 whom he could rely as supporters of the patrician cause. 
 
 Murmurs loud and deep were now heard in the army of 
 Octavius, respecting the unequal distribution of purse and 
 place in favor of the enemies of the people. Octavius, every 
 hour, became more and more warmly in sympathy with his 
 troops, and decided to turn his attention from the prose- 
 cution of a provincial war in which he was but harming his 
 own cause, to the endeavor to secure his election as consul at 
 Rome. This would place the scepter of power in his hand 
 which he could wield effectually for the furtherance of his 
 high ambition. He accordingly sent a deputation of his friends 
 to Rome, to suggest his name and to labor for his election. 
 These men engaged in their enterprise of securing the con- 
 sulship for their commander, Octavius, with the spirit of 
 successful soldiers, who felt conscious that they were backed 
 by a powerful army. It is said that the centurion who 
 headed this delegation, when he presented the name of Octa- 
 vius to the senate, insolently pointed to the hilt of his sword 
 and said : 
 
 " If you refuse our request, this shah 1 grant it." 
 Octavius Caesar, now, in imitation of his uncle Julius 
 Caesar, wheeled around his columns and commenced a march 
 toward Rome. He was at the head of an army flushed with 
 victory, and devoted to his service, and who knew that if the 
 scepter of power was placed in their commander's hands he 
 would wield that scepter for their benefit. By a singular 
 coincidence, he marched along the same road from Cisalpine 
 Gaul, which his uncle had traversed. The revolution of the 
 wheel which crushed the patricians and elevated the plebeians, 
 was almost instantaneous. Octavius encountered no impedi-
 
 262 ITALY. 
 
 tnents in his march; no murmurs even seem to have been 
 raised. He advanced to the gates of the capital and en- 
 camped his troops in the Campus Martius, uttering no other 
 menace than the presence of such an army silently indicated. 
 He was everywhere recognized as the Nephew of his Uncle, 
 and that armed him with almost invincible power. 
 
 Almost without opposition he was elected consul, and the 
 plebeian's heel fell crushing upon the patrician's head. We 
 should have more sympathy for the patricians in their down- 
 fall, had they not enjoyed long ages of ascendency, during 
 which the plebeians had writhed beneath the tramplings of 
 patrician feet. This oblivion of the ties of brotherhood thia 
 attempt of one class of men to live at the expense of another 
 this irrepressible conflict, in which the patrician has endeavored 
 to crowd his brother plebeian into the dust, has been through 
 all ages the fruitful source of human woe. And this conflict 
 will continue bitterly to the end, until the ties of fraternity 
 shall be recognized, and until the principle of our own declar- 
 ation of independence is enthroned in all hearts that all men 
 are created equal, and are entitled to life, liberty, and the 
 pursuit of happiness. 
 
 Octavius Caesar commenced his consular reign vigorously. 
 He first expunged the decree that Antony and his friends 
 were public enemies. He then sent a wave of terror to the 
 remotest bounds of the Roman empire, by a law which 
 enacted that all implicated in the assassination of Caesar, 
 wherever they could be found, should be arrested and 
 brought to trial. M. Agrippa appeared as the accuser of the 
 conspirators, whose names were well known. As they did 
 not appear to respond to the charge, they were all convicted 
 of treason, and doomed to perpetual exile from Rome, by a 
 bill of attainder, which in the usual style prohibited them 
 the use of fire and water, within a certain distance from the 
 metropolis.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 OOTA.VIUS CJ3SAR. 
 
 FROM 42 B. c. TO 32 B. o. 
 
 firs OF DECIMUS BRUTUS. MASSACRES IN ROME. DEATH or CIOKBO. 
 
 THE TRIUMVIRATE. WAR IN MACEDONIA. RUIN OP THR PATKIOIAN CAUSE. 8ci- 
 
 OIDE OF CASSItTS AND BRUTUS. TRIUMPH OF THE TRIUMVIRATE. OPPRESSION O 
 
 THE PEOPLE AND DISCONTENT IN ROME. PROFLIGACY OF OOTAVIUS CAESAR. DOWN- 
 FALL OF LEPIDUB. DRUSILLA. DIVORCE OF ANTONY'S WIFE. ANTONY AND CLEO- 
 PATRA. WAK BETWEEN OCTAVIUS AND ANTONY. MUSTERING OF THK FOBOES. 
 
 ANTONY AND HIS BBIDAL PARAMOUR. 
 
 TVECIMUS BRUTUS, abandoned by his soldiers who de- 
 *J serted in battalions to Antony, attempted to escape to 
 Greece, in the disguise of a Gaul. But he was arrested, and, 
 at the command of Antony, beheaded. Though the assas- 
 sin of Caesar deserved no better fate, there was no virtue in 
 Antony, which authorized him to be executor of such ven- 
 geance. Octavius, now invested with the consular dignity, and 
 at the head of a victorious army, opened a friendly corre- 
 spondence with Antony and Lepidus, in which they agreed to 
 bury all past differences, and to cooperate in the furtherance 
 of the common cause. Antony had reconducted his troops 
 back to Mutina, and the three chieftains held an interview on 
 one of the numerous marshy islands, which then existed be- 
 een the Apennines and the Po. They constituted them- 
 es a triumvirate to administer the affairs of the empire, 
 supported by their united armies ; they divided among them- 
 selves the powers within their grasp, and made arrangements 
 for the punishment of their adversaries. The three returned 
 to Rome, followed by their troops, and, without difficulty, 
 secured the appointment of the triumvirate by the legal
 
 264 ITALY. 
 
 tribunals. A list of the proscribed was then made out and 
 published, with a proclamation which said : 
 
 " Whilst we are hastening to attack our enemies abroad, 
 we can not with safety leave so many other enemies behind us 
 in Rome ; nor can we delay to take precautions against our 
 domestic foes, lest the dangers with which we are threatened 
 from abroad, become too formidable to be overcome." 
 
 Rome was appalled at the appearance of the names of one 
 hundred and thirty senators, with a still larger number of the 
 equestrian order, on these proscription lis*. All persons were 
 warned, by the severest penalties, against harboring the pro- 
 scribed in any way, while rewards were offered to any one 
 who would bring their heads to the triumvirs; and it was 
 also stated that there should be no record kept of the payment 
 of this money, that no stain might be left on the memory of 
 those who should receive it. In nothing, perhaps, is the awful 
 corruption of those times more conspicuous, than in the 
 eagerness with which sons sought the promised reward by 
 betraying their fathers to death. 
 
 The name of Marcus Tullius Cicero was, of course, found 
 on this proscription list. : Cicero, apprehensive of danger, had 
 fled from Rome, and in disguise was hastening to the coast, 
 that he might embark for Macedonia, where he could seek 
 shelter beneath the power of Junius Brutus and Cassius. He 
 obtained a vessel, and even commenced his voyage. But a 
 storm so delayed his progress, and caused him to suffer so 
 ouch from sea-sickness, that he returned to the Italian coast, 
 and, with unwonted heroism, said, " I will die hi that country 
 which I have so often saved," 
 
 Cicero had now attained his sixty-third year. Quietly 
 he returned to his villa, at Formiae. His slaves, devotedly 
 attached to their master, saw some soldiers approaching, and 
 knowing full well their object, almost forced him into a litter 
 that they might convey him to the shore and place him on 
 Ooard a ship. The soldiers overtook them while still on
 
 OCTAVIUB O^SAB. 265 
 
 Cicero's grotmds. He commanded the slaves to make no 
 resistance, but to set down the Utter. Calmly he stretched 
 his head out, with his neck bare, to be dissevered by the 
 sword. The deed was immediately performed, and the gory 
 head remained in the hands of his murderers. They also cut 
 off his hands, saying that they were the instruments with 
 which he had written his Philippics, and they carried both 
 head and hands, and exposed them at the rostra where Cicero 
 had uttered strains of eloquence which still vibrate through 
 the world. Rome crowded to witness the shameful spectacle, 
 and both plebeian and patrician wept over his cruel fate. 
 Whatever judgment may be pronounced upon the weakness 
 of Cicero, he was, beyond all question, one of the purest and 
 best of the men of those dark and dissolute days. 
 
 It is urged in defense of Cicero's apparent timidity and 
 vacillation, that he regarded with equal disapprobation the 
 selfish and unprincipled members of both factions the aris- 
 tocratic and the democratic. Neither party, it is said, was 
 worthy of the support of any intelligent and honest patriot. 
 There was, however, this undeniable difference: the patricians 
 were struggling to deprive the plebeians of an equal share in 
 political privileges ; while the plebeians were contending for 
 equal rights for all. In this conflict, which seems to have 
 agitated the world for countless ages, there is not much room 
 for doubt where the sympathies of an honest man should be. 
 Still every historian feels disposed to deal tenderly with the 
 reputation of Rome's most distinguished philosopher and 
 orator. The intellectual world owes him a debt of gratitude, 
 which should fall as a mantle to vail his frailties. 
 
 The annals of those days were filled with records of the 
 tragical deaths of some, and the wonderful escapes of others, 
 of the proscribed. Many of these anecdotes aid one very 
 much in obtaining a conception of the state of society at that 
 time. Vetulio, one of the proscribed, assumed the rank and 
 state of a pretor, a Roman magistrate of very high station, at 
 13
 
 286 ITALT. 
 
 tne head of the judiciary. He disguised his slavs as tictors, 
 officers in retinue, who bore the insignia of power before men 
 of illustrious political position. Charioted in splendor, he thus 
 commenced a journey from Rome to Naples. Travelers whom 
 he met moved aside, overawed, from his way. The doors of 
 inns were eagerly thrown open. Carriages and horses were 
 impressed as by governmental power. At the sea shore, in 
 the name of the government, he seized vessels for himself and 
 his attendants, and effected his escape to Sicily, where he 
 threw himself under the protection of Sextus Pompey, then 
 in power there. 
 
 Antius Restio, another of the proscribed, escaped from his 
 house by night. His slaves, elated at their master's doom, 
 commenced pillaging his property. One alone followed his 
 master; and strange to relate, that one had been cruelly 
 branded in the face by h; 3 master, and had been loaded with 
 chains, from which his insurgent fellow-servants had releaseo 
 him. This slave, with a spirit of forgiveness which Chris- 
 tianity itself might envy, followed his master, concealed him 
 by the way-side, constructed a funeral pile, and then, with 
 inhumanity of which even paganism should be ashamed, mur- 
 dered an innocent traveler who was passing by, and placed 
 him upon the pile. While thus employed the soldiers came 
 up. He informed them that he had slain his master, and was 
 preparing to burn his body, and pointed to his branded cheek 
 and his limbs galled by the chains, as an excuse for the re- 
 venge thus satiated. The unsuspecting soldiers cut off tha 
 head of the murdered man, and received for it the proffered 
 reward. Suspicion being thus lulled, the slave succeeded in 
 conveying his master safe to Sicily. It is difficult to exag- 
 gerate the horrors attending the execution of these proscrip- 
 tions. They found but a counterpart during the reign of 
 terror in France. In the one case as in the other, all these 
 woes were consequent upon the strife between aristocratic 
 usurpation and popular equality. The recognition of man's
 
 OCTAVITT8 C^BSAB. 267 
 
 fraternity; the adoption of merit as the passport to office, 
 without regard to the distinctions of rank, would have saved 
 Rome all this expenditure of blood and misery. 
 
 All the machinery of confiscations, forced loans, and bur- 
 densome taxes was called into requisition to aid the triumvirs 
 in prosecuting the civil war in which they were now engaged. 
 The soldiers, conscious of their power, rioted in robberies and 
 plunderings, and were guilty of e\ery atrocity which human 
 passion could incite. Bands of slaves, liberated by the flight 
 or death of their masters, and with no badge of color to 
 indicate their servile condition, assumed the disguise of sol- 
 diers, and sought the redress of their past wrongs by the 
 sorest vengeance. It seems that the triumvirs did what they 
 could to repress these disorders. Were the leaders of the 
 popular party ever so patriotic and unselfish, the only choice 
 before them was to submit to the haughtiness and the out- 
 rages of patrician supremacy, or to fight the battles of popular 
 rights with every weapon they could grasp. This disposition 
 of those in power not to respect, but to trample upon the 
 rights of those beneath them, is utterly infamous, and through 
 all past time has deluged the world in crime and woe. The 
 only alternative for the slave, is patiently to bow his neck to 
 the yoke and his back to the stripe, or to assert his manhood 
 through the dreadful energies of conflagration and blood. 
 
 Macedonia and Sicily were still under the sway of the 
 patrician party, and many of the aristocracy from all part* 
 of Italy, flocked to the banners which were there unfurled 
 Sextus Pompey, with a fleet and an army, had taken posses 
 efon of the island of Sicily, and there, safe from immediate 
 assault, had established his head-quarters. He dispatched his 
 ships to cruise along the coast of Italy, to encourage the 
 friends of patrician sway to persist in opposition to the estab- 
 lished government, and to receive on board any who either 
 Bought protection or wished to join his camp. 
 
 Though the triur-.virs at Rome were in the undisputed
 
 268 ITALY. 
 
 possession of power, the old forms of government were re- 
 tained, the offices being filled by men in favor of plebeian 
 rights. By the usual forms of election, Lepidus and Plancus 
 were chosen consuls. Lepidus remained at Rome to admin- 
 ister, with his colleague, the home government. Antony and 
 Octavius Caesar prepared for an expedition to the East, to 
 attack Brutus and Cassius, who were rallying the forces of 
 rebellion there. Notwithstanding the most earnest entreaties 
 of Cicero, that Brutus would hasten to Rome to aid the nobles 
 with his army within the walls of the capital, Brutus, more 
 sagacious than Cicero with regard to the strength of the 
 plebeian cause, declining this appeal, crossed over to Asia, 
 and effected a junction with Cassius at Smyrna. 
 
 Octavius and Antony speedily dispatched an army, under 
 able generals, across the Adriatic to Macedonia, and took 
 possession of that rich and powerful province. Traversing 
 the whole kingdom unopposed, from the Adriatic to the 
 ,<Egean sea, a distance of nearly three hundred miles, Saxa 
 and Norbanus, in command of this force, established them- 
 selves in a very formidable position, on the great plain of 
 Strymon, near Philippi, at the opening of some mount ain 
 defiles, through which they supposed that Brutus and Cassius 
 must necessarily pass, should they attempt to return from 
 Asia and regain Macedonia. 
 
 The patrician generals were soon on the march with a 
 force vastly superior to that of their plebeian foes. A 
 Thracian chief guided them, through forests and swamps, by 
 unfrequented paths, across the mountains, and suddenly their 
 trumpet blasts were heard and their banners gleamed in the 
 rear of the intrenchments of Saxa and Norbanus. The patri- 
 cians threw up formidable intrenchments, and having a vast 
 superiority of land forces, and with their fleet in entire com- 
 mand of all the neighboring seas, they hoped soon to starve 
 then* foes into submission without risking a battle. Octavius 
 and Antony, hearing of the peril of the army, hasteted to its
 
 OCTAVIU8 CAESAR. 26f 
 
 aid with large reenforcements, from Brundusium; and, not. 
 withstanding the most energetic endeavors of Sextus Pompey 
 to cut them off with his fleet, they effected a landing in Mace- 
 donia, and soon joined their friends at Philippi. 
 
 The material forces now, on either side, were nearly equal ; 
 but the moral forces were so unequal as to render the victory 
 of the Triumvirs almost certain. The soldiers of Brutus and 
 Cassius were fighting for their masters ; the soldiers of Octa- 
 vius were fighting, as they believed, for themselves, their own 
 rights, their own political equality with the wealthy and the 
 high-born. After a few days of cautious maneuvering the 
 charge was sounded, and horseman and footman rushed into 
 the battle. 
 
 Cassius led the left wing of the patrician army, Brutus the 
 right. The field was soon so enveloped in dust, that neither 
 victors nor vanquished could tell what was transpiring around 
 them. Antony rushed upon Cassius, trampled down his 
 cohorts, and sweeping every thing before him, broke through 
 the intrenchments, and seized the camp of his foe. The 
 unhappy assassin of Ceesar, accompanied by an officer and a 
 single freedman, fled to a neighboring hill, and immediately 
 dispatched one of his staff to ascertain the fate of the division 
 led by Brutus. 
 
 Anxiously, from the hill-side, he watched his progress. In 
 the extreme distance he soon saw him meet a body of cavalry, 
 and a faint shout reached his ear. The horsemen, with his 
 messenger in their midst, now commenced a rapid advance 
 toward the spot where he stood. Cassius, inferring that his 
 officer was a prisoner, and that his captors were approaching 
 but to cut him down, yielded himself to the folly and the 
 cowardice of suicide. Presenting his sword to his freedman 
 he ordered him to plunge it into his heart. The order was 
 obeyed, and Cassius fell dead to the ground. A moment after, 
 the cavalry came galloping up the hill to announce to Cassiua 
 that Brutus had been signally successful, and to call upon him
 
 270 ITALY. 
 
 to rally his broken bands in the rear of the victorious ranks. 
 Had Cassius lived, the whole issue of the campaign might, 
 perhaps, have been changed. 
 
 Brutus was thus deserted to struggle alone against the tide 
 of adverse fortune. Though he had maintained his ground 
 and repelled the assaults of the enemy, there was but little in 
 prospect to encourage him. His soldiers had fought through 
 the influence of military discipline, and not inspired by good- 
 will. Desertions began to thin his ranks. Octavius, though 
 but partially victorious, was elated by the result of the battle, 
 and all his troops were eager for another fight. Brutus, con- 
 scious that he was growing weaker by every hour's delay, 
 gathered such reinforcements as he could speedily command, 
 and again led out his legions hi order of battle. 
 
 Octavius was ready for the strife. Fiercely for a few hours 
 the battle raged, and then the patrician troops began to give 
 ground. First they slowly retired, then rapidly retreated, 
 then fled, a rabble rout, in utter confusion and dismay. Brutus, 
 cut off from his flying troops, escaped to a ravine in the moun- 
 tains, gloomy with overhanging cliffs and forests. Several of 
 his friends accompanied him in utter despair. The sun had 
 now set, and the gloom of night enveloped them. Brutus sat 
 down upon a rock, and, for a moment, gazed in silence from 
 the glen through the foliage and the cliffs to the stars beam- 
 ing brightly. Sadly he conversed with his friends, in such 
 strains as would naturally fall from the lips of a reflective man 
 whose whole earthly interests were wrecked, and who had no 
 confidence in immortality. The Christian can look beyond 
 time's narrow horizon for the redress of all wrongs, but Bru- 
 tus, in death, could see nothing but a leap in the dark. 
 
 " Oh unhappy virtue ! " said he, " I have worshiped thee 
 as a real good; but thou art a vain, empty name, and the 
 dave of fortune." 
 
 Again he quoted a verse from the Medea of Euripides: 
 "0 Jupiter, forget not to punish the author of all this misery."
 
 OCTAVIUS CJB8AB. 271 
 
 Thus the melancholy hours of the night wore away. A 
 friend was dispatched to see if he could ascertain any tidings 
 from the camp. But he did not return, and Brutus rightly 
 inferred that he had perished by the hands of the enemy. 
 The morning was beginning to dawn, when their retreat 
 would no longer be safe. 
 
 " It is time for us to go hence," some one said. 
 
 "Yes," Brutus replied; "we must indeed go hence j 
 but it must be with our hands and not with our feet." 
 
 He also had decided upon suicide. Shaking hands with 
 all his friends, in a final adieu, and thanking them for their 
 faithful adherence to his cause, he said : 
 
 " I weep for my country, but not for myself. I am hap- 
 pier than my conquerors ; for I shall leave behind me a 
 name, which no success or power can confer upon them." 
 
 Then, to save his friends the anguish of witnessing his 
 death, with two attendants, he retired for a short distance out 
 of their sight. To one of them he gave his sword, and, 
 placing his heart against the glittering point, he threw him- 
 self upon it with such force that he instantly fell dead to the 
 ground. Thus perished Brutus the noble assassin, the 
 heroic self-murderer, in whose character were singularly 
 blended far more of the virtues than of the vices of pagan- 
 ism. Brutus died at the early age of forty-three. 
 
 The leaders of the aristocratic party were now nearly all 
 destroyed; and the power of the triumvirs was effectually 
 established. But the soldiers were to be rewarded, and theii 
 expectations were high. The military chest was empty, and 
 could only be replenished by confiscation and plunder. Antony 
 was accordingly sent to Asia to reorganize that country, and 
 to raise contributions, by those extortions with which all 
 Roman generals, of every party, were so familiar. Octavius 
 returned to Italy to superintend the important matters de- 
 manding attention there. 
 
 Octavius, suffering severely from ill nealth, commenced
 
 *Y2 1TALT. 
 
 slowly his journey t<! Ivome. But the triumph of the ple- 
 beians had by no means secured the liberties of the. people. 
 They soon found that the rapacity of a victorious army could 
 be as oppressive as the extortions of a rich nobility. The 
 people were despoiled of their property and their lands, that 
 these gifts might be lavished upon the troops. This caused 
 so much exasperation that there were frequent and bloody 
 conflicts between the soldiers and the citizens ; houses were 
 plundered and destroyed, and anarchy, even in the city of 
 Rome, became so great, that the shops were closed and the 
 magistrates resigned their offices in despair. 
 
 Lucius Antony, a brother of Marc, raised the banner of 
 revolt against this merciless spoliation. The people rushed 
 eagerly to his standards. Patrician and plebeian alike com- 
 bined for mutual protection against the extortion of a rapa- 
 cious soldiery. Octavius himself would gladly have repressed 
 these disorders, but he was indebted to bis soldiers for his 
 supremacy, and a quarrel with them would leave him entirely 
 powerless. The army was conscious that its leader must obey 
 its behests, and, unscrupulously and unopposed, they rioted in 
 violence and oppression. 
 
 But Octavius soon had cause for alarm, in seeing that a 
 truly national party, composed of men of all parties, was 
 rapidly forming around Lucius Antony. Octavius had pro- 
 fessed to be the leader of the democracy, but now the 
 democracy itself was organising against him. Undisciplined 
 citizens, however, could make but a feeble stand against the 
 veteran legions of Octavius. L. Antony was soon over- 
 whelmed. But anxious still to court popular favor, and to 
 retain the position of a friend of the people, Octavius par- 
 doned the plebeians engaged in the revolt, and wreaked his 
 vengeance on the patricians alone. Lucius Antony, in defer- 
 ence to Marc, the colleague of Octavius in the triumvirate, 
 was pardoned, but nearly all the citizens of distinction, who 
 were taken captive, were remorselessly put to death. Thret
 
 OCTAVIU8 C^BSAB. 278 
 
 Hundred of the prisoners, most of them of the highest rank, 
 were sacrificed, on the Ides of March, on an altar erected in 
 honor of Julius Caesar. The city of Penesia, where the 
 insurgents had made a stand, was plundered, and then burnt 
 to the ground, and the magistrates were all put to death. 
 Octavius Caesar was then but twenty-three years of age. 
 
 From the defeat of the army of Lucius Antony, and from 
 the executions which ensued, a young man, of the highest 
 patrician rank, and whose family subsequently became re- 
 nowned in history, escaped to Sicily. His name was Tiberius 
 Claudius Nero. His wife, Brasilia, soon after was married to 
 Octavius Caesar, and his little son, then but two years old, in 
 half a century from that time, as Tiberius Caesar, became 
 emperor of Rome. Such is history, and such is life. The 
 impoverished fugitive to-day, is the monarch to-morrow and 
 the monarch throws aside his diadem to perish, an exile in 
 distant lands. 
 
 This brief contest, thus terminated, rendered all further 
 opposition to Octavius hopeless. The whole power of the 
 empire was now in the hands of a mercenary standing army, 
 and that army dominated its chief. Sextus Pompey was still 
 in power in Sicily, at the head of a numerous and well- 
 disciplined army, and his fleet was in supremacy so entire, 
 that nearly all the ports of Italy were blockaded by it, and 
 even Rome itself was thus reduced to great distress. Some 
 considerable jealousy had now sprung up between Octavius 
 and Marc Antony, as to which should be the greater. The one 
 was Caesar's nephew the other his oldest associate, and his 
 favorite general. Octavius, very wisely, was disposed to com- 
 promise, that he might avert the threatened breach of friend- 
 ship. Fulvia, the wife of M. Antony, having recently died, 
 Octavius gave him his sister Octavia in marriage, and agreed 
 that all the provinces of the Roman empire, eastward of 
 the Ionian gulf, should be under the exclusive dominion of 
 Antony, while Octavius Caesar should be supreme over the 
 12*
 
 294 ITALY. 
 
 region west of that line. Lepidus was to be left undisturbed 
 in the possession of Africa. The Iriumvirs then, after some 
 correspondence with Sextus Pompey, held an interview with 
 him at Misenum, on the coast of Campania, and concluded a 
 treaty, by which they surrendered to him the islands of Sicily, 
 Sardinia, Corsica, and the province of Achaia. They also 
 paid him a sum amounting to about three millions of dollars, 
 hi compensation for his father's confiscated estates. Thus the 
 Roman empire was divided into four parts. 
 
 It is pleasant to record that in this treaty the humane 
 regulation was introduced, that there should be a general 
 amnesty for all political offenses, and that the proscribed, who 
 had fled from Italy, should be allowed to return in safety, and 
 recover a fourth part of their confiscated estates. But the 
 leviathan of human depravity is not easily tamed. "War was 
 soon renewed ; and the shouts of the infuriated combatants 
 pierced the skies, while conflagration and blood desolated the 
 land. The Parthians, from the eastern shores of the Caspian, 
 had marched upon Syria; and, after many fierce battles, all 
 Syria and Palestine, with the exception of Tyre alone, fell 
 into the hands of the invaders. The foe then ravaged Cilicia, 
 and like demon legions penetrated Asia Minor. Antony 
 raised an army in Greece for the recovery of his provinces, 
 and again the horrid billows of war rolled over the land, 
 saving in their train pestilence, famine, and misery. But 
 the Parthians were driven out, and the woe-scathed people 
 had Antony for their plunderer instead of Pacorus, the son 
 of the Parthian king. 
 
 Difficulties soon arose between Octavius and Pompey, 
 each accusing the other of not being faithful to the terms of 
 the treaty. Some affirm that Octavius was the aggressor, 
 and that he had assented to peace, only that he might recruit 
 his energies to renew the war, and acquire for himself univer- 
 sal empire. Others assert that Pompey, hungering and thirst- 
 ing to regain the ascendency, throughout the Roman empire,
 
 OCTAVIUS CAESAR. 275 
 
 of the old aristocratic party, of which his father was the 
 illustrious representative, was responsible for the outbreak 
 of hostilities. The question can not well be decided. Even 
 to the present day, opinions will be expressed according to the 
 reader's proclivities toward the patrician or plebeian side of 
 this question. Neither Octavius nor Pompey were scrupulous 
 as to the means employed for the attainment, of their ends, 
 and there can be no question, that they both were equally 
 eager to gain, for the parties which they represented, undis- 
 puted dominion. 
 
 The war between aristocracy and democracy is ever waged 
 fiercely. Octavius wrote immediately to Antony to cooperate 
 with him. But Antony was then fully occupied with the 
 Parthian war, and it is supposed that, jealous of the power 
 of Octavius, he was perfectly willing that he should be weak- 
 ened in the strife with Pompey. But for the entreaties of his 
 wife, Octavia, the sister of Octavius, it is said that he would 
 even have united his fortunes with those of Pompey. Octa- 
 vius, baffled in his first attempts to effect a landing in Sicily, 
 appealed again to Antony. The two illustrious sovereigns 
 met at Tarentum, by their sole authority renewed the trium- 
 virate for five years more, and Antony, who was just setting 
 out on a military expedition to Parthia, intrusted his fleet of 
 three hundred ships to Octavius, and also his wife and child, 
 to reside in Rome during his absence. 
 
 At the same time Octavius, in harmony with the utter 
 demoralization of the tunes, married his third wife, Livia 
 Drusilla, whom he wrested from her husband, Tiberius Nero. 
 Drusilla, at the tune of her marriage, was on the eve of again 
 becoming a mother. To this scandalous union Octavius was 
 driven by mere sensual passion. Octavius first married Clodia, 
 the daughter-in-law of Antony. He soon repudiated her, and 
 married Scribonia, the sister of the wife of Sextus Pompey. 
 Both of these unions were formed for political purposes 
 merely. Octavius charged Scribonia with being as profligate
 
 276 ITA.LY. 
 
 as he was himself. This charge, however, was not made 
 until, incited by a passion for Drusilla, he had resolve 1 to 
 divorce Scribonia. This divorce was effected on the very day 
 in which Scribonia became the mother of a daughter. At this 
 time Octavius was but twenty-five years of age. 
 
 A vast amount of money was needed for the prosecution 
 of the war against Pompey, and Italy again groaned beneath 
 the burden of taxation. Every man of wealth was required 
 to furnish a certain number of slaves to provide the ships 
 with rowers. In the spring of the year 36 B. c., Octavius had 
 assembled an overwhelming force on the coast of Campania. 
 The fleets were sheltered in the lakes Lucrinus and Avernus. 
 Lepidus had sent to his aid a powerful army from Africa. 
 The army effected a landing on the island of Sicily, and Pom- 
 pey, utterly defeated both by land and sea, abandoned the 
 contest as hopeless, and escaped to Peloponnesus. 
 
 Octavius, flushed with victory, assumed an air of authority 
 and of superiority which roused Lepidus. A conflict imme- 
 diately ensued, which was short, bloodless, and decisive. The 
 soldiers preferred to have for their commander one who was 
 sovereign at Rome, rather than a governor of the remote 
 province of Africa. In a body they passed over to the camp 
 of Octavius. The ruin of Lepidus was so entire, and so utter 
 his helplessness, that in the garb of a suppliant he repaired to 
 ene tent of Octavius, threw himself at his feet, and besought 
 his mercy. There was no occasion for severity upon so pow- 
 erless a foe. Octavius spared his life, and allowed him to 
 retire wherever he pleased, with his private property. Some 
 of the nobles had rushed to the camp of Lepidus, hoping to 
 take advantage of the quarrel for their own reinstatement. 
 AL of these, with but few exceptions, were mercilessly put to 
 death. 
 
 Having secured the enthusiastic devotion of his troops by 
 immerse gifts of money and lands, Octavius now returned to 
 Italy The army was in his hands, a pliant weapon with
 
 OCTAVIUS CAESAR. 2f7 
 
 which he could bid defiance to the world. By such influences 
 does one man get a control, which compels millions of men to 
 bow to his sway. A people, jealous of liberty, should guard, 
 above all things else, against the organization of a great 
 military power, unless, as is unhappily the case hi many of 
 the ttates of Europe, this great military power is absolutely 
 essential to guard against the encroachments of menacing 
 foes. 
 
 The conqueror was received in Italy as undisputed sov- 
 ereign. Antony, far away upon the plains of Asia, was 
 forgotten in Rome. The senate voted, that Octavius Caesar 
 should be received with that triumph called an ovation ; that 
 an annual thanksgiving should be appointed in commemora- 
 tion of his victory ; and that his statue, decorated with trium- 
 phal robes, should be erected in the forum. He addressed the 
 senate in speeches containing a full exposition of his political 
 views. The sentiments he advanced were, generally, eminently 
 just, and calculated to promote the public weal. He promised 
 to do all in his power to grant peace to the empire ; all the 
 unpaid taxes, for the support of the war, were remitted ; he 
 proposed vigorous measures to prevent the extortion which 
 had been practiced by the public officers, and established an 
 efficient city poh'ce. 
 
 But these judicious measures were sullied by one of unpar- 
 donable atrocity, if, through the somewhat obscure recital of 
 those times, we are correctly informed respecting its nature. 
 In the treaty with Pompey, amnesty was promised for all 
 political offenses. A large number of slaves, who had served 
 under Pompey, were now scattered throughout the empire. 
 These men were ordered to be arrested, and returned to their 
 former masters, if they could be found. If their masters 
 could not be found, they were mercilessly to be put to death. 
 It would seem that there must be some mistake in this recital, 
 the act seems so unreasonable. But historic fidelity renders it 
 necessary, that it should not be passed over in silence.
 
 278 ITALY. 
 
 Sertus Pompey arrived safely in the Peloponnesus, and 
 sailed thence with a few followers to Asia to seek Maro 
 Antony, hoping to form an alliance with him against Octaviua 
 Caesar. He first stopped at the island of Lesbos, where hia 
 father found his wife and child on his retreat from the fatal 
 field of Pharsalia. He was received by the inhabitants so 
 kindly, that his hopes were quite revived. A number of his 
 partisans, who had been widely dispersed, here joined him ; 
 and a great number of others plundered and wretched, who 
 had nothing to lose, and nothing to fear, as no change could 
 be for the worst, offered him their services. For food, cloth- 
 Ing and a chance for plunder, they were willing to go anj 
 where, and serve any body. 
 
 Antony sent a force of disciplined troops under M. Titius 
 to oppose him, and the rabble of adventurers gathered beneath 
 the banners of Pompey were speedily slain or dispersed ; and 
 Pompey himself was taken prisoner and cruelly slain. The 
 death of this illustrious son, of a still more illustrious sire, 
 was celebrated by Octavius hi Rome with indecent rejoicings. 
 
 Octavius and Antony were now dividing the world be- 
 tween them. They were both men of too much ambition to 
 brook a superior ; and Antony, as sovereign of the east, was 
 by no means disposed to yield the palm to Octavius, monarch 
 of the west, though Rome, which had claimed to be the 
 mistress of the world, was his capital. Every month the 
 indications of an approaching quarrel became more clear. 
 Complaints and recriminations passed from one to the other, 
 until war was openly and madly declared. 
 
 Antony was, at this time, in Leucopolis, a city of Asia 
 Minor, in effeminate, guilty, and unblushing dalliance with 
 Cleopatra, the beautiful, voluptuous, and wanton queen of 
 Egypt. With wonderful seductive charms of person and of 
 mind, she had obtained the entire ascendency over Antony, so 
 that he was perfectly her slave. Octavius sent his sister Octa- 
 via to her faithless husband, expecting that his treatment of
 
 OCTAVIFS C^BSAB. 2TO 
 
 her would be such as to magnify his unpopularity in Italy, and 
 rouse the people to that vigorous prosecution of the wai 
 which personal animosity would inspire. Antony, in obedi- 
 ence to the requirements of Cleopatra, his paramour, who 
 languished, sighed, and wept, and played off all the pretty 
 artifices of coquetry, not only sent Octavia back to Home, 
 refusing to see her, but followed this outrage with a bill of 
 repudiation and divorcement, cuttingly copied verbatim from 
 the divorce which Octavius had infamously inflicted upon 
 Clodia, the daughter-in-law of Antony. Such was Roman 
 virtue. 
 
 Antony now resolved publicly to make his queenly para- 
 mour his wife. To Cleopatra it was a matter of no earthly 
 moment, save as she might enjoy the pomp and pageantry of 
 the nuptials. There were no ties which she respected ; and 
 governed solely by her passions, and possessed of regal wealth 
 and power, she played the wanton at her pleasure. The city 
 of Alexandria, her capital, was selected as the spot for the 
 espousals. In the public theater two thrones of gold were 
 erected. Antony sat upon one in the dress so appropriate to 
 his character of the god Bacchus. Cleopatra sat upon the 
 other by his side, representing the Egyptian goddess Iris. 
 Cleopatra had then several children. One was the son of 
 Julius Caesar. Two were recognized by Antony as his own. 
 On this occasion Antony conferred upon his bride, as a 
 present, vast provinces over which he held sway. 
 
 While the agents of Antony were collecting an army in 
 Greece for the decisive strife with Octavius, he repaired with 
 Cleopatra to Samos, an island of the Archipelago, to superin- 
 tend his measures. His conduct here was such as must needs 
 consign his name to utter contempt. His camp was crowded 
 with armed men from all the countries of the East, blended 
 in ridiculous confusion with comedians, dancing girls, and 
 buffoons. From Samoa, Antony and his wedded paramour 
 proceeded to Athens, in Greece. But while they were thui
 
 280 ITALY* 
 
 wasting their hours in folly which exposed them to universal 
 derision, Octavius was mustering all his energies for the strife. 
 Still Antony, through the combined energies of Egypt and 
 the whole western empire, had assembled an enormous force, 
 consisting of one hundred thousand foot, twelve thousand 
 horse, and five hundred ships of war. Octavius had mustered 
 an army of eighty thousand foot, twelve thousand horse, and 
 two hundred and fifty ships. His ships, however, were better 
 built and more efficiently manned than those of his antagonist. 
 With such forces these two imperial men prepared to contend 
 for the mastery of the world. But Octavius was in the prime 
 of youth, and inflamed with a yet unsated ambition. Antony 
 had already passed the meridian of his days, for many years 
 he had tasted both the bitter and the sweets of power, and 
 LOW he was surrendering himself to voluptuous indulgence, 
 and to all the enervating influences of a sensual and shameful 
 love. A lascivious woman was the ignoble idol of his adora- 
 tion; and for one who worships at that shrine, final destruction 
 b enre.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 AUGUSTUS AND MARC ANTONY. 
 PROM 32 B. o. TO 10 a a 
 
 BATTLK OF AOTTBTI. FLWHT or CLEOPATRA. ENTIRE VICTOET or OoTAvros. Tn 
 PURSUIT TO ALEXANDRIA. SUICIDE or ANTONT. GUILE or CLEOPATRA. HB 
 ENDEAYORS TO WIN OOTATIUS. DESPAIR AND SUICIDE or CLEOPATRA. TBIUIIPM- 
 
 AJTT RETURN OF UOTATIUB TO EOME. HlS WlSE ME A8URE8. THE TlTLI OF AUGUSTUS 
 
 CONFERRED. STATE or THE ROMAN EMPIEE, ITALY, GAUL, BEITAIN, SPAIN, AFRICA, 
 STEIA, ASIA MIN-OK, GREECE. THE DESOLATIONS or CIVIL WAS. 
 
 AN the coast of the Grecian province of Epirus, there is a 
 " noble sheet of water, twenty-five miles in extreme length, 
 and from three to ten miles in breadth, now called the gulf of 
 Arta, but then known as the Ambracian gulf. "Within this 
 bay Antony had assembled his fleet, and, in a formidable posi- 
 tion, had drawn them up hi line of battle. Cleopatra, hi alli- 
 ance, had contributed sixty Egyptian galleys to the armament. 
 Octavius entered the bay, with his fleet, prepared for the 
 decisive encounter. The two armies were upon the opposite 
 shores, where they could not reach each other or take any 
 part in the battle, but in situations in which the whole scene 
 was open before them, and where they could animate the 
 combatants by gestures and shouts. 
 
 The hostile ships approached each other, to grapple side to 
 Bide and to engage in a hand to hand struggle, with all the 
 fury human passion could inspire. Octavius and Antony, in 
 person, were in command of their several fleets. Cleopatra 
 also, in person, assumed the command of her own sixty 
 Egyptian galleys. The voluptuous queen sat canopied in 
 her imperial barge, ridiculously surrounded by her maids of 
 honor.
 
 882 ITALY. 
 
 The morning of the second of September, 31 B. c., dawned 
 clear and cloudless upon the bay, which was covered and sur- 
 sounded with all the pomp and pageantry of war. Tha 
 banners of the opposing legions, and the gleam of polished 
 helmet and cuirass, sword and javelin, glittered in the sun's 
 rays, while twenty-four thousand horsemen rode to and fro, 
 impatient to participate in a fight, which, however, they could 
 only witness as a spectacle. Such a gladiatorial scene on 
 such an arena, stands unrivaled in this world's history. In 
 beautiful order and in a long line the two fleets, driven by the 
 arms of the rowers, approached each other. Each ship was 
 in itself a fort, containing its garrison of fighting men ; and 
 the business of the rowers was simply to lay them alongside 
 of each other, that the trained soldiers, hand to hand, with 
 sword, javelin and battle-ax, might decide the fray. It was 
 Rome against Rome ; Antony against Octavius. 
 
 For a long time the horrid butchery continued. The 
 clangor of the battle, as steel met steel, and rang upon coats of 
 mail ; the cries and shouts of onset and of death ; the huzzas 
 of the legions upon the shore ; the cloud of missiles which 
 almost darkened the air ; the flash of fire-balls and the smoke 
 and flame of the conflagration, all combined to present a scene 
 wnich Trafalgar or Aboukir could hardly have surpassed. 
 Cleopatra was struck with a sudden panic, as she saw several 
 of the mammoth quinqueremes of Octavius pierce Antony's 
 center, hurling destruction on all sides. Fearing that her 
 detachment, thus cut off, was doomed to destruction, she gave 
 the signal for retreat. This created a general panic, and, in 
 a few moments, the whole fleet of Antony was in a state of 
 utter rout, the oarsmen straining every nerve to escape as 
 they could, pursued by the exultant galleys of Octavius, hurl- 
 ing destruction upon the fugitives. 
 
 Antony joined Cleopatra in her own ship, but at first was 
 go angry with her for her cowardice, so fatal to his cause, that 
 for three days ht refused to speak to her, he remaining at the
 
 AUGUSTUS AND MARC ANTOWY 283 
 
 prow of the ship, with his attendants, and she, with her maids 
 of honor, being at the stern. But love triumphed; and soon, 
 enclosed in each others arms, they approached the coast of 
 Africa. The army of Antony, thus abandoned by its leader, 
 and cut off from retreat, either by sea or by land, by vastly 
 overpowering forces, surrendered to Octavius. 
 
 Antony was so transported with mortification and rage, 
 that he resolved to resort to suicide, which seems to have been 
 the Roman remedy for all great misfortunes. With much 
 difficulty he was dissuaded from the cowardly act, and return- 
 ed to Alexandria with Cleopatra. 
 
 The queen of Egypt was apprehensive that Octavius, hav- 
 ing subjugated all Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria, would urge 
 his conquering legions even to Egypt, and, conscious of her 
 inability to repel him even from her own capital of Alexan- 
 dria, she adopted the desperate resolve of transporting her 
 fleet across the isthmus of Suez, to the Red sea, and embark- 
 ing there with her army, to seek a new realm which she would 
 conquer for herself from distant and unknown barbarians. 
 She accordingly, without mercy, robbed her helpless subjects, 
 confiscating estates and pillaging the shrines of the gods and 
 the magazines of the opulent, until she obtained riches suffi- 
 cient for the enterprise. But the difficulty of transporting a 
 fleet over a sandy waste, eighty miles in width, was found to 
 be insurmountable, and Cleopatra was compelled to remain in 
 Egypt and abide her doom She had succeeded in transport- 
 ing a few of her ships across the isthmus, but the Arabs 
 ieized and burnt them. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra now combined to place Egypt in the 
 best possible state of defense ; for though they had no hope of 
 being able to repel their proud conqueror, it was probable that 
 such formidable preparations would influence Octavius to 
 grant them more favorable terms. Indeed, Cleopatra, whose 
 love for Antony was merely ambition, and the pride of exer- 
 cising her own powers of fascination, resolved to sacrifice
 
 284 ITALY. 
 
 Antony for a higher ambition, and to offer her person, with aD 
 her seductive charms, as a bribe to win the favor of Octavins. 
 She already had thrown herself into the arms of Julius Csesai 
 and of Antony, and both with eagerness had accepted the gift. 
 Would not Octavius be equally impassioned ? But Cleopatra 
 forgot that the charms of girlhood had vanished. Thirty-nine 
 years of voluptuousness had left their traces upon brow, and 
 cheek, and form. 
 
 Several embassies were sent by Antony and Cleopatra to 
 Octavius ; but with each, Cleopatra treacherously sent a secret 
 messenger with propositions of her own. Octavius did not 
 condescend to pay any attention to any of these combined 
 messages, but strode onward with his legions. He, however, 
 opened secret communications with Cleopatra, and with that 
 perfidy which was so often displayed by the most illustrious 
 men of that day, offered to treat Cleopatra with distinguished 
 favor, if she would expel Antony from her kingdom, or put 
 him to death. History declares, with all her manifold vices, 
 that outside of Christianity, true virtue has rarely been found. 
 
 At length Antony discovered this secret correspondence 
 which was passing between Octavius and Cleopatra. But 
 Antony was powerless. He had neither fleet nor army, and 
 his proud mistress had but to utter the word and he was ban- 
 ished, imprisoned, or executed. The unhappy man, inflamed 
 with jealousy and rage, and conscious of utter impotence, was 
 almost frantic. But the days were passing, the armies of 
 Octavius drawing nearer, and the doom of Antony and Cleo- 
 patra was soon to be decided. 
 
 Octavius reached Pelusium, at the mouth of the most 
 eastern branch of the Nile, about one hundred and fifty 
 miles from Alexandria. The governor of the city, probably 
 at the suggestion of Cleopatra, surrendered without the 
 slightest attempt at defense. There was now no obstacle 
 whatever in the way of the march of Octarius to Alexandria. 
 3ut Antony resolved not to perish without a struggle- Cleo-
 
 AUGUSTUS AND MARC ANT O NT. 28fr 
 
 patra had again acquired her accustomed dominion over him, 
 and had beguiled him into the belief that she was attached to 
 his fortunes. As the advance guard of Octavius approached 
 the city, Antony, at the head of a picked body of troops, 
 sallied from the gates, and for a moment resuming his long 
 lost energies, repulsed the division with considerable slaugh- 
 ter. Elated with this trivial victory, he returned to the city, 
 and in a sort of miniature triumph the last flicker of the 
 dying flame of his fortune presented to Cleopatra a soldier 
 who had distinguished himself in the fight. The queen, in 
 continuation of her duplicity, magnificently rewarded him 
 with a helmet and breast-plate of gold. But that very night 
 the soldier, with his glittering reward, deserted to the ranks 
 of Octavius. 
 
 The next day the whole army of Octavius approached, 
 both by sea and by land. His galleys, almost covering the 
 sea, impelled by vigorous oarsmen and crowded with war- 
 riors, entered the harbor. His infantry and his cavalry, 
 marching beneath those eagles which the genius of Julius 
 Caesar had immortalized, and which ever seemed to lead to 
 victory, invested the city by land. But Antony had aroused 
 the energies of despair. He had collected a large fleet and 
 army, had made all his arrangements for a conflict which he 
 knew full well must prove decisive, and, with a throbbing 
 heart, he took his stand upon an eminence which commanded 
 alike the bay and the shore, that he might watch and guide 
 the fight. 
 
 His galleys, in beautiful order, advanced to meet the foe ; 
 and just as Antony expected to hear the trumpets peal the 
 charge, and to witness the commencement of the murderous 
 fray, to his amazement and consternation he saw the fleet of 
 Octavius opening to admit his galleys; the two fleets exchanged 
 friendly salutes, and with blending banners and triumphant 
 music, returned to the harbor. 
 
 Bewildered and woe-stricken, the unfortunate chieftain
 
 turned his eyes to the land. The same scne was opened to 
 him there. His cavalry, with sheathed swords and waving 
 banners, galloped into the lines of Octavius, where they were 
 received with plaudits which almost shook the temples of 
 Alexandria. The infantry thus abandoned and with no re- 
 treat before them, threw down their arms in despair. The 
 duplicity of Cleopatra had been successful, and Antony, be- 
 trayed, was ruined beyond all hope of redemption. In a 
 state of ungovernable fury he returned to the city, clamor- 
 ously inveighing against the perfidy of Cleopatra, and appa- 
 rently resolved, in his frenzy, to plunge a poniard into her 
 heart and then into his own. 
 
 But Cleopatra, anticipating this violence, was pix^>a/ed to 
 evade it. She had erected a strong citadel, in which she had 
 that morning taken refuge, under the protection of an efficient 
 guard, and it was not in Antony's power to approach her. 
 Still continuing her duplicity while concealed hi this retreat, 
 she caused word to be sent to Antony that, in deapair, in view 
 of the defection of her troops, and of the utter ruin which 
 awaited both her and Antony, she had refused longer to live, 
 and had committed suicide. 
 
 The tale, so plausible, again deceived the deluded old man, 
 whose energies of mind as well as of body, voluptuous indul- 
 gence had enfeebled. All his former passion for Cleopatra 
 returned with the violence of a flood. Bitterly he condemned 
 himself for his unjust suspicions. 
 
 " Miserable man that I am," he cried, " what is there now 
 worth my living for. All that could render life attractive to 
 me is gone. O, Cleopatra ! thou hast taught me the way, and 
 the only way, to escape the misery which is now my lot." 
 
 Calling a faithful attendant to his side, a man named Eros, 
 who had been his slave, but whom he had freed, Antony 
 placed a poniard in his hand and ordered him to plunge it 
 into his heart. The devoted man, who had promised to per- 
 form this deed for his former master, should fortune drive
 
 AUGUSTUS AND MARC ANTONY. 287 
 
 him to this last resource, took the dagger, and plunging it 
 into his own bosom fell dead at the fet; of Antony. For a 
 moment the Roman chieftain hung in admiration over the 
 corpse of his faithful attendant; then seizing the blood- 
 stained weapon, he thrust it into his own body, inflicting a fatal 
 wound, but one which did not .cause immediate death. 
 
 "Writhing in anguish and deluged in blood, and yet with- 
 out sufficient fortitude to repeat the blow, he entreated his 
 friends to put an end to his life. With fright and horror they 
 recoiled from the deed. In the meantime Cleopatra had heard 
 that Antony had stabbed himself and was dying. The scene 
 in Alexandria, at that hour, no imagination conceive. A hos- 
 tile fleet was entering the harbor, Roman legions, with shouts 
 of victory were crowding in at the gates. Antony was dying. 
 Rumoris of every kind filled the streets with regard to Cleo- 
 patra. The vast population of the city surged to and fro, in 
 the wildest turmoil and dismay. 
 
 Cleopatra did not dare leave her retreat. But she sent 
 one of secretaries with a body of men to bring Antony to her 
 presence. He was taken upon a litter, and carried through 
 the tumultuous streets to the citadel. But even then the 
 queen was afraid to allow the gates to be opened, and cords 
 were let down from a window by which the litter, containing 
 the body of the dying man, was drawn up to her apartment. 
 Antony, pallid, faint, and bathed in blood, gazed feebly upon 
 Cleopatra, and endeavored to reach forth his arms as if to 
 embrace her. The queen, either with love revived by the 
 sight, or continuing the dissimulation which had ever been so 
 prominent in her character, wept and bemoaned bitterly. She 
 tore her hair, beat her breast, and frantically kissed the pale 
 lips of the dying man, calling him her husband, her lord, 
 her emperor. 
 
 4 Moderate your grief," exclaimed Antony, " and still li ve, 
 if you car do so with honor. As for me, weep not over my 
 misfortunes, but congratulate me upon the happiness which I
 
 288 ITALY. 
 
 have enjoyed. I have lived the greatest and tl e most power- 
 ful of men. Though I now fall, my death is not inglorious. I 
 am a Roman, and by a Roman only have I been vanquished." 
 
 He had but just uttered these words when he fell back in 
 his Utter, and the spirit of the Roman warrior departed to 
 God who gave it. 
 
 One of the generals of Octavius, named Proculeius, now 
 approached the citadel with propositions for Cleopatra. She, 
 however, justly fearful of treachery, refused to admit him; 
 but, aided by bis soldiers, he effected an entrance by means of 
 a ladder, at the window through which Antony had been 
 drawn. Cleopatra, alarmed at finding herself a prisoner, 
 drew a poniard and attempted to stab herself, but Proculeiup 
 snatched the dagger from her hand. She was then conveyed, 
 with the respect to which her rank entitled her, to the palace 
 where Octavius had established his head-quarters, but wai 
 guarded with the utmost circumspection. 
 
 Octavius, now undisputed master of the world, was dream- 
 ing of the splendid triumph which awaited him in Rome ; 
 and the presence of Cleopatra, the renowned queen of Egypt, 
 to lead in the tram of the captives, would be one of the 
 most conspicuous ornaments of the triumph. Conscious of 
 the degradation which awaited her, she watched for an op- 
 portunity to commit suicide. Octavius with almost equal 
 interest guarded his captive, that she might not thus escape 
 him. Her fetters were truly those of silk and gold, for she 
 was treated with the most profound deference, surrounded 
 with all her accustomed luxuries, and all her wants were 
 abundantly supplied. 
 
 Octavius indulged himself with a triumphal entrance into 
 Alexandria, endeavoring by humanity and condescension to 
 secure the favor of the people. Yet cruelly, it would seem, he 
 caused the eldest son of Antony, and also Caesario, Cleopatra's 
 son by Julius Caesar, to be put to death. Fearing nothing 
 from any of the other children of Cleopatra, he treated them
 
 CAESAR AUGUSTUS AND MABC ANTONY. 289 
 
 aH as princes, providing them with teachers that they might 
 receive an education suitable to their rank. 
 
 At length Octavius visited Cleopatra in person. She re- 
 ceived him artistically languishing upon a couch, draped is 
 gauze-like robes which scarcely concealed her voluptuous 
 beauty ; for though the freshness of youth had departed, she 
 ras still a woman of rare loveliness. No one knew better 
 than Cleopatra how to magnify her charms, by tones of soft- 
 ness, and that artlessness of manner which is the highest 
 achievement of art. Her beautiful eyes were filled with tears, 
 her cheek flushed with emotion, and rising from her couch 
 she fell, half-fauiting, prostrate at the feet of Octavius. The 
 young conqueror lifted the exquisitely moulded, drooping form 
 and placed her on the couch by bis side, supporting her against 
 his own bosom. A queen whose renown filled the world, 
 beautiful, graceful, pliant, had thrown herself into his arms. 
 How could he treat her cruelly ! Had Cleopatra been nine, 
 teen instead of thirty-nine, the decision might have been dif- 
 ferent, and, by facile divorce, the way might have been made 
 easy for Cleopatra to share the throne of universal empire 
 with Octavius. But as the circumstances were, ambition 
 proved more powerful than love. 
 
 Cleopatra exhausted all her magazines of art tears, smiles, 
 reproaches, blandishments, flattery, supplications to win Octa- 
 vius, but in vain. He treated her with politeness, but his 
 heart remained obdurate. The queen took from her bosom 
 some letters, full of tenderness, from Julius Caesar, and with 
 a trembling voice and falling tears read them to Octavius. 
 
 " But of what avail to me now," she said, " is all this 
 kindness. Why did I not die with him. And yet jn Octa- 
 vius I see another Julius. You are his perfect image. He 
 seems to have returned from the spirit land in you." 
 
 AU was in vain. After a long interview Octavius left, and 
 Cleopatra reflected in despair that for the first time her charms 
 had failed her. She had surrendered herself to Ootavius and 
 13
 
 he had coldly laid her aside. What more could she do ? 
 Nothing. There now remained for her but to die, or to be 
 carried to Rome to grace the triumph of her conqueror. 
 There was a young Roman in the camp by the name of 
 Dolabella. He was much affected with the queen's grief, 
 and she, with woman's tact, had soon thrown around him 
 all the meshes of her wiles. Dolabella kept her informed of 
 all that was transpiring. One day he brought to her couch 
 the tidings, that in three days she and her children were to 
 be sent to Rome. 
 
 The crisis had now come, and, with singular calmness and 
 fortitude, Cleopatra prepared to die. After taking a bath, she 
 attired herself hi her most sumptuous robes, and sat down 
 with her friends to a truly regal feast. Apparently banishing 
 all care, the festive hours passed rapidly away. At the close 
 of the feast she dismissed all her attendants but two. She 
 then wrote a note to Octavius, informing him of her intention 
 to die, and requesting that her body might be buried in the 
 tomb with that of Antony. She had contrived to have 
 brought to her, in a basket of flowers, an asp, a reptile the 
 concentrated venom of whose bite causes inevitable death, 
 and yet with but little pain. She dispatched the letter to 
 Octavius, and immediately placed the reptile upon her arm. 
 The poisonous fangs pierced her flesh, stupor and insensibility 
 soon ensued, and she sank back upon her couch and died. 
 
 Octavius, immediately upon receiving the letter from Cleo- 
 patra, dispatched messengers hoping to prevent the fatal deed 
 But they arrived too late. Upon entering the chamber they 
 found Cleopatra already dead, still arrayed in her royal robes. 
 Her two waiting women were at her side. One of the mes- 
 sengers uttered words of reproach; but the maid of honor 
 replied : 
 
 " It is well done. Such a death becomes a glorious queen, 
 descended from a race of illustrious ancestors." 
 
 Octavius now returned to Rome, the undisputed master of
 
 C^BSAB AUGUSTUS AND MABC ANTONY. 291 
 
 the world. His ambition was gratified in a very magnificent 
 triumph ; the portrait of Cleopatra with the serpent upon her 
 arm, being borne very conspicuously in the train of the cap- 
 tives. Rome was now at its culminating point of power and 
 splendor. Such an empire had never before existed upon 
 earth. It contained within itself nearly the whole of the 
 then known world, being bounded by the Rhine, the Danube, 
 and the Euphrates. It was, however, a heterogeneous realm ; 
 a conglomeration of discordant states, with every diversity of 
 languages, manners, customs, and laws. The city of Rome 
 numbered near four millions of inhabitants, a motley con- 
 course from all the nations and tribes of the world ; the cir- 
 cumference of the city was fifty miles. 
 
 Octavius now commenced a series of measures of reform, 
 which have secured alike the approbation of friends and foes. 
 Whatever his motives may have been, his actions were noble 
 hi the highest degree. Every act seemed aimed at the 
 promotion of the public welfare. Barbarous customs were 
 abolished; the rights of the citizens protected; humanity 
 encouraged , and wholesome laws enacted upon every subject 
 which legislation could reach. There was transient peace 
 throughout the world, and most of the nations, over which 
 the Roman eagles fluttered, were in the enjoyment of a mea- 
 sure of prosperity such as the world had never known before. 
 
 These enactments being in successful operation, and the 
 favor of all classes of people being won, Octavius, whatever 
 his motives may have been, assembled the senate, and in a 
 carefully prepared speech, which he read to them, resigned all 
 his power, expressing the wish to retire to private life, and to 
 restore Rome to the old constitution of the commonwealth, 
 republican in its forms. The intelligence of most people, even 
 now, will decide that such a conglomeration of heterogeneous 
 people, so ignorant, so barbaric, so lawless, so infinitely diver- 
 sified in manners and laws, could not be well governed by 
 Republican institutions. It is said that Octavius could not
 
 292 ITALY. 
 
 have been blind to this ; that he not only knew full well that 
 the senate of Rome would not accede to a measure so suicidal, 
 but that he had actually arranged with his partisans in the 
 senate to I eject his proposal, and that thus his resignation of 
 power was a mere trick. 
 
 It may have been so. The motives which influence human 
 minds are so conflictive and blending, that it is not easy to 
 pronounce judgment. Indeed, the heart often deceives itself. 
 Octavius was now thirty-six years of age. Ambition may 
 have been sated, and, as he could then retire safely with opu- 
 lence, renown, and an immortalized name, he may, with a 
 mind now vacillating to this side and now to that of the 
 question, have decided to retire to the tranquil dignity open- 
 ing before him. At the same time he may have been gratified, 
 and his ambition inspired anew, by the solicitations of the 
 senate that he should continue in power. But whatever his 
 motives may have been, the facts are, that he made a formal 
 surrender of all his power into the hands of the senate. 
 
 The senate unanimously, and with urgency which could 
 not well be resisted, besought him not to resign, declaring 
 that such a surrender of power would plunge the nation into 
 irremediable disorder. With reluctance, real or affected, 
 Octavius consented to retain the cares of empire for ten years 
 longer, expressing the hope that, at the end of that period 
 imperial powers would no longer be needed for the interests 
 of the state. With the most ardent expressions of joy the 
 senate and the people accepted this consent. All parties now 
 vied with each other in lavishing honors upon Octavius. The 
 senate voted that the epithet August should be ever attached 
 to bis name of Caesar ; and from that time the prefix Octavius 
 has been dropped, and he has thenceforth been known as 
 CaBsar Augustus. In his honor the eighth month of the year 
 was called August, as the seventh month had been named 
 July, in commemoration of the renown of Julius Caesar. 
 
 Thus, at the age of thirty-six, Caesar Augustus commenced
 
 CAESAR AUGUSTUS AND MAEC ANTONY. 298 
 
 his legitimate and undisputed reign, which, with the cordial 
 support of both senate and people, continued undisturbed for 
 forty years. His administration was so brilliant in all beuefi' 
 cial results, that, to the present day, no higher commendation 
 can be conferred upon a sovereign, than to compare his admin- 
 istration with the Augustan era of th Roman empire. 
 
 The remote barbaric island of Britain was nominally in 
 subjection to Rome. Julius Ceesar, during his campaign in 
 Gaul, had crossed the channel with a fleet of one fafc*idred 
 galleys, and, after several fierce battles with the savage inhabit- 
 ants, declared himself conqueror of the island, and, laden with 
 what was then called glory, but with nothing more substantial, 
 returned to Rome. The petty chiefs of the tribes of Britain 
 occasionally sent gifts to Augustus Caesar to propitiate his 
 fevor, for the foray of Julius Caesar had made them alarmingly 
 acquainted with the energy of Roman arms. 
 
 The despotic power held by Augustus, was conferred upon 
 him by the appointment of the people, and it was universally 
 understood that this power was wielded for the public benefit. 
 All history shows that to such despotism communities will 
 readily submit. Such was the despotism of the first Napol- 
 eon. The French people regarded him as their own creation. 
 They regarded with admiration the sagacity and energy with 
 which he swayed the scepter of power for their good ; and 
 they were ever eager to confer upon the idol they had en- 
 throned, more power than he wished to assume. 
 
 By the famous Portian law, the origin of which is lost in 
 obscurity, no Roman citizen could be either scourged or put 
 to death. No matter what his crime, the severest penalty 
 which could be inflicted upon a citizen was exile and confisca- 
 tion of property. Even hi the army, a Roman soldier could 
 not be flogged ; though the scourge was applied freely to 
 soldiers from the allies. Such was the law. In times of 
 mutiny, however, and hi seasons of popular violence, the Isro 
 was often disregarded.
 
 804 ITALY. 
 
 The vhole Italian peninsula, from the Alps to the Strait* 
 of Messina was now called Italy, and all the native born in- 
 bitants of this region had attained the rights of Roman 
 : nenship. We must exclude, however, from these rights, a 
 ge number of slaves, torn from their homes in various 
 nations by the rapacity of war. Sicily was at this time quite 
 desolate. It had recently been ravaged by the wars between 
 Caesar and Sextus Pompey, and impoverished cities and 
 wasted fields everywhere met the eye. Immense flocks and 
 herds tended by slaves, were pastured on its fertile plains and 
 mountain sides. The islands of Corsica and Sardinia were 
 in a similar state, only the inhabitants, on a much lower scale 
 of civilization, were exceedingly barbarous, and robbers 
 roamed the mountains and in piratic bands infested all the 
 neighboring seas. They, not unfrequently, even crossed the 
 sea to Italy, and, after plundering a few houses, retreated to 
 their inaccessible fastnesses where they could bid defiance to 
 the Roman power. 
 
 The condition of the Alpine provinces, bordering Italy on 
 the north, had been essentially the same. But Augustus 
 Caesar himself had, at one time, in traversing those provinces, 
 lost all his baggage and many of his soldiers from an attack 
 by the robbers, which so exasperated him, that he entirely 
 extirpated the nation of the Salassi, selling no less than forty- 
 four thousand of them into slavery. He then colonized the 
 country with Roman settlers. One of the colonies was estab- 
 lished at Aosta, at the head of the valley from whence two 
 roads, still famous, branch across the Alps, one for mules over 
 the Great St. Bernard, and the other, then practicable for car- 
 nages, over the Little St. Bernard. Thus tranquil communi- 
 cation with Gaul was secured. 
 
 Gaul had hardly yet- recovered from the rough usage i\ 
 had encountered in its recent subjugation to Rome. But 
 twenty years had elapsed sincp Julius Ca3sar swept over it 
 With his legions. The Roman conquest, introducing Roman
 
 CAESAR AUGUSTUS AND MAEC ANTONY. 295 
 
 Jaws, arts and commerce, had proved so beneficial to the 
 realm, that the Gallic people were well satisfied with the 
 result. Roman colonies had been established in different 
 parts of the kingdom. Still the extortions of the Roman 
 governors were at tunes very oppressive, and yet perhaps 
 not more so than were the exactions of the native rulers of 
 Gaul. Human sacrifices were prohibited by the Romans, and 
 also the barbaric custom of carrying about as ornaments, the 
 skulls of enemies. Learned Greeks became in great demand 
 hi the cities of Gaul as teachers. As the Gauls had no litera- 
 ture of their own, the old Celtic language, which was not a 
 written language, rapidly disappeared, and the Roman took 
 its place. The Latin became of necessity the court language, 
 and was almost exclusively adopted by the higher classes. 
 
 The peninsula of Spain was at that time divided into three 
 provinces, Baetica, Lusitania, and Hispania Tarrac lensis, each 
 of which was placed under the dominion of a Roman governor. 
 Spam had been hi the possession of Rome for about two hun- 
 dred years, and was the most flourishing part of the empire. 
 The inhabitants had become almost entirely Roman in dress, 
 manners, and speech. From the valley of the Gaudalquiver, 
 then one of the most fertile and densely populated on the 
 globe, a very lucrative traific was carried on, along the shores 
 of the Mediterranean, with the cities of Italy. The articles 
 transported in this traffic were wool, corn, wine, oil, wax, 
 honey, and an insect used in producing a celebrated scarlet 
 dye. The Spanish merino was then, as now, highly cele- 
 brated, a single ram often selling for over nine hundred dollars 
 of our money. Spain was also rich in mineral treasures, gold, 
 silver, lead, tin, iron, and copper. The present towns of 
 Cordova and Seville were then distinguished Roman colonies. 
 
 All the northern coast of Africa, from the present site of 
 Algiers to the straits of Gibraltar, was called Mauritania. 
 Augustus had conferred the sovereignty of this province 
 npon Juba, an African prince, who had married one of le
 
 96 ITAJ.T. 
 
 daughters of Antony and Cleopatra. The portion of norther* 
 Africa, bordering on the Mediterranean, east of this region, 
 extending several hundred miles, was called the province of 
 Africa, and was assigned to a proconsul, with a military estab- 
 lishment of two legions. It was a powerful province, and was 
 engaged in almost constant warfare with the barbaric tribes 
 of the unexplored interior. A very thrifty trade was carried 
 on between this region and the Italian cities. Next eastward, 
 came the large province Cyrenaica or Libya, originally a Gre- 
 cian colony, but now devoured by the omnivorous Roman 
 empire. From this region the currents of trade flowed east- 
 ward, by the way of Egypt and the Red sea, to India. There 
 was then a canal from the delta of the Nile to Suez on the P -d 
 sea. There was also a land route across the desert, tolerably 
 supplied with water from wells and reservoirs. Alexandria 
 was the great Egyptian port for all this commerce. When 
 the Apostle Paul sailed from Syria to Rome, he informs us 
 that the voyage was made in a ship from Alexandria. "When 
 we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia," he 
 writes, " we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. And there the 
 centurion found a ship of Alexandria, and he put us therein." 
 
 At this time Alexandria was the second city in the Roman 
 empire. 
 
 Leaving Egypt and following along the coast of the Medi 
 terranean to the ^Egean sea, we pass through the extensive, 
 populous, and opulent provinces of Syria and Asia Minor. 
 These provinces were cut up into smaller subdivisions, all 
 subjected to Roman control. Throughout this wide region 
 Greek was the language commonly spoken, particularly by 
 the higher classes. Still there were very many language! 
 and dialects in vogue in the different provinces. The enof- 
 mous expenses of the Roman armies demanded heavy taxa- 
 tion; and the tax-gatherers, unprincipled and extortionate, 
 were detested by the people. 
 
 All Greece was divided into the two great provinces of
 
 C-BSAB AUGUSTUS AND M A B C ANTON*. 291 
 
 Macedonia and Achaia. Civil war had swept these provinces 
 with a blast more destructive than tornado ever inflicted. 
 The war between Julius Caesar and Pompey was a storm 
 which emptied all its vials upon that devoted land. The 
 cloud was but just disappearing, and the thunders of the 
 tempest had scarcely ceased their reverberations, when the 
 blackness of another cloud appeared in the horizon, gleam- 
 ing and rumbling with the most terrific menace. Again 
 the tempest swept the land, as the legions of the triumvirs 
 and of Brutus and Cassius surged to and fro in billows of 
 flame and blood. The ashes of the cities were still smoking, 
 and the clotted blood still crimsoned the fields, when the 
 bugle blasts announced the rush of still other legions to the 
 war scathed arena, and all the powers of the east, under 
 Antony and Cleopatra, met all the powers of the west under 
 Octavius Ca3sar, to contend for the mastery of the world. 
 Greece, scathed, depopulated, smoldering, presented but a 
 melancholy aspect of ruin and despair. But notwithstanding 
 this material desolation, Greece still maintained her preerai 
 nence in literature, philosophy, and the arts. 
 18*
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 TIBERIUS O.ESAR, CALIGULA, AND CLAUDIUS. 
 
 FROM 10 B. o. TO A. B. 61. 
 
 UWEQUAL DIVISION or WEALTH. SLAVERY. TIM JEWS. TIBERIUS CjesAB, DEATH 
 OF O^BSAR AUGUSTUS. TTEANNT or TIBKKIUS. His RETREAT OF OAPRBJB. DEATH 
 or GEKMANIOUS. EDICT AGAINST THE PLAY-ACTOBS. TESTIMONY or TACITUS. 
 TERRIBLE ACCIDENT. CALIGULA. DEATH OF TIBERIUS. CRUCIFIXION or OUB 
 SAVIOUR. EEION or CALIGULA. His CBUELTT AND MADNESS. ASSASSINATION 
 or CALIGULA. ACCESSION or CLAUDUJS. ANECDOTES. DEATH OF CLAUDIUS. 
 ACCESSION OF NERO. His CHABAOTBB. 
 
 FT! HERE has never been any period of the world in which 
 -*- wealth has been so unequally divided, as during the Au- 
 gustan age of the Roman empire. The great generals and 
 the haughty nobles rioted in princely luxury, exhausting, in 
 their voluptuous pleasures, the revenues of whole provinces. 
 There was an order of Roman citizens, below the nobles, 
 called equites, or knights. The fortune necessary to admit a 
 man into this order, was about sixteen thousand dollars of our 
 money ; and yet in the city of Rome, with a population of 
 over four millions, there were but four thousand persons, not 
 nobles, possessed of this sum. An immense number of the 
 population, at but a slight remove above begging, were mainly 
 supported by the bounty, so called, of the emperor ; that is, 
 distant provinces were robbed to feed the idle population of 
 Rome, which population was ever eager to rush into the 
 armies of the Caesars. Consequently, the circling and swoop- 
 ing of the Roman eagles was pretty certain to be seen, 
 wherever plunder was to be found. And no plunder was 
 more eagerly grasped, by the brutal soldiery of pagan Rome, 
 than the matrons and maidens of the conquered nations. But
 
 TIBERIUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AND CLAUDIUS. 299 
 
 little more than half a century before the reign of Csesar Au 
 gustus, one of the consuls at Rome, L. Philippus, declared 
 that there was not at that time in the whole commonwealth 
 more than two thousand citizens worth any thing. An amaz- 
 ing statement, which, however it may have been exaggerated, 
 proves the deplorable state of the times. 
 
 All the industry and prosperity of the empire were cursed 
 and crushed by slavery. By the opulent families slaves were 
 BO generally employed, that there was no encouragement for 
 the free laborer. As the slaves were of the same race with 
 their masters, many of them being men of high culture and 
 genius, they were occupied in the most important vocations. 
 Even architecture, medicine, and the liberal arts and pro- 
 fessions were in their hands ; and these employments were, 
 consequently, rendered less respectable and less profitable, 
 when pursued by others. 
 
 The condition of the slaves, generally, was dreadful. The 
 barbarous wars, ravaging all lands, had glutted the market ; 
 and the slaves were so cheap, that there were but feeble 
 motives of self-interest to restrain masters from the inhuman- 
 ity of wearing out their slaves by neglect and hard usage. 
 According to Plutarch, slaves could often be purchased in the 
 Roman camp for three shillings of our money. In that day 
 there were no newspapers, no established mails for letters, no 
 public means of conveyance for travelers. Many of the Ro- 
 man roads, however, were excellent, and there were relays of 
 horses to expedite the journeys of government couriers. The 
 eastern and western extremities of the Roman empire, were 
 separated by the formidable barrier of totally different lan- 
 guages, the Latin being the predominant language in the west, 
 the Greek in the east. In the elementary schools at Rome, 
 nothing was taught but reading and arithmetic ; and the 
 teachers were men of the humblest station and acquirements. 
 The religion of Rome had but the slightest influence in the 
 control of morals. It was an axiom among the philosophers,
 
 300 ITALY. 
 
 that God could never be the cause of pain or punishment, and, 
 consequently, they had no fear of any divine retribution for 
 whatever crimes. And the silly superstitions of the vulgar, 
 had about as much influence over the habits of life, as the fear 
 of ghosts has at the present day. The writings, the paintings, 
 the statuary, still extant, all attest to the exceeding grossness 
 of manners, and the unmitigated sensuality which then pre- 
 vailed. The idea even of sympathy and brotherly kindness 
 between man and man, seems hardly to have existed. We 
 turn over page after page of the ancient writers, in the vain 
 endeavor to find any allusion to those virtues. There were no 
 alms-houses, no hospitals, no societies of benevolence. No 
 one raised his voice against the degradation of the lower 
 classes, against slavery, against the crimes of the kidnapper, 
 and the atrocities of the slave market. 
 
 The Jews were widely scattered over the eastern pro- 
 vinces of the empire. Their kingdom, in Syria, had first 
 been overrun by the Greeks, then by the Romans. Their 
 native language, as a spoken tongue, was lost; so entirely 
 was it lost, that it had been found necessary to translate their 
 scriptures into Greek. This translation, called the Septua- 
 gint, from the number of learned Jews engaged in it, was 
 made, or rather commenced, about 280 years B. c., and con- 
 tained " The Scriptures" in general use by the Jews at the 
 time of our Saviour, and from which our Saviour quoted in 
 His public and private addresses. Here and there, scattered 
 over the cities and villages of Palestine, were individuals, 
 Romans and others, who, having read these scriptures, had 
 imbibed their ennobling spirit. Enlightened by the revela- 
 tion of one God, of immortality, of the nature of piety, these 
 " proselytes of the gate" who had yet not become Jews, wor- 
 sliiped the true God, and were thus distinguished, hi character 
 and moral conduct, from the pagans around them, and from 
 whom they emerged. They were spoken of by the Jews as 
 ** devout" persons, who feared God. Snob was the Roman
 
 TIBEBIU8 CAESAR, ALIGULA, AND CLAUDIUS. 801 
 
 centurion, Cornelius, and many others spoken of in the New 
 Testament. 
 
 Fourteen years before the death of Caesar Augustus, om 
 Saviour, Jesus, the long-promised Messiah, was born, in Beth- 
 lehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king. Herod was 
 a native of Syria. He had fought under the banners of 
 Brutus and Cassius. After their overthrow he joined Maro 
 Antony, and by him was appointed king of Judea, one of the 
 provinces of Palestine. After the disastrous battle of Actium, 
 Herod paid such successful court to the conqueror, Octaviua 
 Caesar, that he was confirmed in his kingdom. He was a man 
 of distinguished abilities but of ungovernable passions, and 
 execrable and infamous in character. This was the Herod 
 who ordered the assassination of all the babes of Bethlehem, 
 hoping thus to destroy the infant Messiah. He died miser- 
 ably a few years after the advent of Christ. 
 
 It will be remembered that Augustus Caesar had married, 
 as his third wife, Livia Drusilla, then the wife of Tiberius 
 Nero, a Roman noble and general. Caesar had, at that time, 
 by his wife Scribonia whom he repudiated for alleged profli- 
 gacy, a daughter Julia. Livia had also a son Tiberius. Julia 
 and Tiberius, by the marriage of Octavius and Livia, be- 
 came brother and sister in law. They, however, were subse- 
 quently married, and, as Caesar had no other children, Tiberius 
 was adopted as his heir. Julia was so shamefully and un- 
 blushingly profligate, glorying, with more than masculine 
 effrontery, hi her amours, that Augustus himself ordered her 
 divorce, and banished her to a small island just off the coast 
 of Campania. Here she was imprisoned and treated with 
 great rigor, her father refusing to forgive her, or even to see 
 her again. None are so merciless towards libertines, as liber- 
 tines themselves. 
 
 Caesar Augustus was now advancing in life, and, during 
 the last ten years of his reign, associated Tiberius with him 
 in the administration of the empire. As the shades of the
 
 302 ITALY. 
 
 evening of life darkened around Augustus, he displayed with 
 increasing conspicuousness, that gentleness, courteousness, and 
 affability, which had charactei'ized his reign for forty years. 
 He forbade any one to call him " lord " or master. When 
 the people urged him to assume the title of dictator, he cast 
 aside his robe, saying that he had rather they would plunge a 
 dagger into liis breast than give him that odious name. He 
 adopted the utmost simplicity in his equipage and his style 
 of living. When a delegation was presented to him, to an- 
 nounce in the name of the senate and the people, the title 
 conferred upon him of " Father of his Country," he was 
 affected even to tears, and replied : 
 
 " I have now gained all that I have desired. What is 
 there left for me to pray for, but that I may preserve, to the 
 last day of my life, this same unanimous love of my country- 
 men." 
 
 When seventy-six years of age he accompanied Tiberius on 
 a journey to Beneventum, about one hundred and fifty miles 
 south of Rome. Here he was slightly attacked with illness. 
 Returning slowly, as his disease grew more serious, he 
 stopped at N"ola, at the paternal mansion where his father 
 died. Here, at three o'clock in the afternoon of the nine- 
 teenth of August, A. D. 13, the emperor, Augustus Caesar, 
 expired, saying with his last breath : 
 
 " Farewell Livia ! and ever remember our long union." 
 
 It is characteristic of the awful corruption of those times, 
 that no one seems to have been shocked at the supposition 
 that Livia poisoned her husband. Tacitus attempts to explain 
 the motives which might have influenced Livia to this crime. 
 Poisonings and assassinations were so common, that such 
 atrocities seem hardly to have been regarded as a breach of 
 respectable morality, if there were any motive, in the line 01 
 expediency, for the deed. 
 
 One of the first acts of Tiberius, who now reigned untram- 
 meled, was to assassinate Agrippa, the son of his divorced
 
 TIBERIUS C^ESAB, CAIIGULA, AND CLAUDIUS. 303 
 
 wife Julia. Agrippa, utterly debauched, was as bad as his 
 mother. Tiberius said that Augustus had enjoined it upoi 
 him, with his dying breath, not to allow Agrippa to live one 
 day after Augustus should breathe his last. Tacitus, however 
 says: 
 
 " It is more probable that Tiberius and Livia, the former 
 from motives of fear, the latter impelled by a step-mother's 
 aversion, expedited the destruction of this young man, the 
 object of their jealousy and hatred." 
 
 It is recorded of Augustus Caesar, that he was in stature a 
 little below the ordinary size, admirably proportioned, with 
 brown hair, slightly curled, and a countenance remarkably 
 genial and mild. He was extremely temperate in eating and 
 drinking, but a seducer and adulterer, a man of groveling 
 sensuality. Gaming was a vice which followed him through 
 all his years. His education was good, and all his intellectual 
 efforts, whether in writing or speaking, highly creditable to 
 him. His public speeches were carefully written, and commit- 
 ted to memory. He never was considered a man of courage 
 even on the field of battle, where, inflamed by the excitement, 
 cowards can easily be brave. He had a constitutional dread 
 of lightning, and when there was a severe storm, would hide 
 himself in the interior of his house. But his reign, as a 
 whole, was so infinitely superior to that of any of his prede- 
 cessors, that the " Augustan era " of any nation has become a 
 proverbial expression to denote harmony, prosperity, and en- 
 lightenment. 
 
 The funeral of Augustus was solemnized at Rome with 
 great magnificence. Tiberius pronounced the eulogy in the 
 presence of the assembled senate. Temples were erected for 
 his worship, divine honors decreed to him, and the supersti- 
 tious people were fully confirmed in the belief of his divinity, 
 as one of the senators, Numerius Atticus, attested on oath 
 that he had seen Augustus ascending to heaven. 
 
 Tiberius Caesar, on his accession to the government of the
 
 304 ITALY. 
 
 Roman empire, was fifty-six years of age. With the excep- 
 tion of the assassination of Agrippa, which Rome seems to 
 have regarded as a mere peccadillo, the commencement of hia 
 reign was distinguished by clemency, sagacity, and devotion 
 to the public interests. But soon Tiberius entered a career of 
 cruelty, which has transmitted his name with infamy to the 
 present day. 
 
 Retiring from Rome he sought a retreat in Campania, a 
 province composing part of the present kingdom of Naples, 
 and which was then deemed the most mild, salubrious, and 
 fertile spot upon the globe. At a short distance from the 
 shore was the beautiful island of Capreae. Here Tiberius sur- 
 rendered himself to the most extravagant luxury, and to every 
 sensual indulgence, heedless of the complaints and the jaisery 
 of his subjects. Crime created suspicion, and suspicion engen- 
 dered cruelty. Secret spies were listening at all key-holes, and 
 the most harmless actions were construed into deadly offenses. 
 
 The legions on the banks of the Danube had a commander 
 by the name of Germanicus, who was the idol of the soldiery. 
 His troops urged upon him to assume the sovereign power, 
 promising to support him with their swords. Indignantly he 
 repelled the suggestion, punishing as traitors those who were 
 the instigators of the revolt. Nevertheless Tiberius, notwith- 
 standing the loyalty of Germanicus, thus effectually tried, 
 dreading his popularity, ordered him on a distant mission, 
 where he soon perished, if not by poison, administered by 
 command of Tiberius as was supposed, certainly by hardships 
 and exposure, which the emperor had arranged to secure his 
 death. The children of Germanicus were denounced as ene- 
 mies of the state, and several of them were thrown into 
 prison, where they were starved to death. The wife of Ger- 
 manicus, thus widowed and childless, was driven into exile. 
 Execution now followed execution. Suspicion doomed multi- 
 tudes to imprisonment, torture, and death without the formal- 
 ity of trial. When one, to escape this cruel torture of the
 
 TIBERIUS C-<E8AR, CALIGULA, AND CLAUDIUS. 30ft 
 
 rack, committed suicide, Tiberius expressed deep regret that 
 the victim had thus escaped him. When another, in agony 
 insupportable, implored that death might put an end to his 
 sufferings, Tiberius exclaimed, "I am not sufficiently your 
 friend to shorten your torments." 
 
 The fear of assassination embittered every hour of this 
 monster's life. The miseries he inflicted upon others re- 
 bounded upon himself. Piso, one of the most illustrious of 
 the Roman generals, finding that his own doom was sealed, 
 retired to his chamber and plunged a dagger into his heart. 
 He had but executed the orders which Tiberius had issued, 
 and he was then pursued unrelentingly, that it might be made 
 to appear that Tiberius had not directed but condemned his 
 acts. He left the following touching letter addressed to 
 Tiberius : 
 
 " Oppressed by the combination of my enemies, and the 
 odium of falsely imputed crimes ; since no place is left here 
 for truth and innocence, I appeal to the immortal gods, that 
 toward you, Csesar, I have lived with sincere faith, nor toward 
 your mother with less reverence. For my sons I implore her 
 protection and yours. My son Cna3us had no share in the 
 events laid to my charge, of whatever character they were, 
 since during the whole time he abode at Rome. My son 
 Marcus dissuaded me from returning to Syria. Oh that, old 
 as I am, I had yielded to him, rather than he, young as he is, 
 to me ! Hence the more earnestly I pray that, innocent as he 
 is, he be not involved in the punishment of my guilt. By my 
 devoted services for five-and-forty years, I entreat you; 1 
 who formerly, during my fellowship in the consulship with 
 the deified Augustus, your father, enjoyed his approbation 
 and your friendship ; I, who shall never ask your fav <& here- 
 after, implore your mercy for my unhappy son." 
 
 It is a fact, worthy of record, but not easily explained, 
 that during so corrupt a reign as that of Tiberius, when 
 all manner of licentiousness was practiced with unblushing
 
 306 ITALY 
 
 effrontery, even Tiberius should have entered a complaint t 
 the senate, against the demoralizing influence of play-actors. 
 
 " In many instances," said the emperor, " they seditiously 
 violate the public peace. Many promote debauchery in pri- 
 vate families. The Oscan Farce, formerly only the contemp- 
 tible delight of the vulgar, has risen to such a pitch of 
 depravity, and has exercised such an influence on society 
 that it must be checked by the authority of the senate." 
 
 The play-actors, thus denounced as a public nuisance, were 
 expelled from Italy. The senate and the Roman people had 
 become so obsequious, that a proposition was made that a 
 temple should be reared to Tiberius, and that he should be 
 worshiped with divine honors. In the utterance of the fol- 
 lowing fine sentiments Tiberius rejected the proposal; showing, 
 (n accordance with the declaration of Paul, that there is a 
 law of right and wrong, written upon the human heart, 
 which renders every man, pagan as well as Christian, ac- 
 countable at God's bar : 
 
 " For myself," Tiberius replied, " I solemnly assure you, 
 and I would have posterity remember it, that I am a mortal 
 man ; and that I am confined to the functions of human 
 nature, and that if I well fulfill my duties as a sovereign it 
 suffices me. Justice will be rendered to my memory, if I am 
 regarded as worthy of my ancestors, watchful of your in- 
 terests, unmoved in perils, and fearless of private enmities in 
 defense of the public weal. These are the temples I would 
 raise in your breasts. These are the fairest effigies, and such 
 s will endure. 
 
 As for temples of stone, if the judgment of posterity 
 changes from favor to dislike, they are despised, as no better 
 than s'epulchers. Hence it is that I here invoke the gods, 
 that, to the end of my life, they would grant me a spirit 
 undisturbed, and discerning in duties human and divine. 
 And hence, too, I implore our citizens and allies, that, when- 
 ever my dissolution comes, they would celebrate my actions
 
 TIBEEIUS CJESAB, CALIGULA, AND CLAUDIUS. 807 
 
 aiid the odor of my name with praises, and benevolent testi- 
 monies of benevolence." 
 
 It was nine years after Tiberius commenced his reign that 
 he retii'Bd from Rome to the island of Caprese. Tacitus, IE 
 allusion to this retirement, says that the probable motive for 
 seeking this retreat was "that he might indulge his cruel 
 and libidinous disposition with greater effect in the secrecy of 
 a retired situation. Some thought that in his old age he was 
 ashamed of his personal appearance, for he was exceedingly 
 emaciated, lank, and stooping, his head bald, his face ulcerous, 
 and thickly patched with plasters." Tacitus states that there 
 was also a report that Tiberius was driven from Rome by the 
 restless spirit of his mother, whom he scorned to admit as a 
 partner in the sovereignty, which she demanded, since through 
 her he had received the sovereignty itself. 
 
 For six years Tiberius remained at Caprea}. During this 
 time there were many revolts in distant provinces and many 
 conspiracies at home, all of which were put down with a 
 bloody hand. A terrible accident occurred at this time, sur- 
 passing anything which has been experienced in modern days. 
 A man by the name of Atillius erected at Fidenae, a few miles 
 from Rome, as a pecuniary speculation, an immense amphi- 
 theater, for gladiatorial exhibitions. As his sole object was 
 to make money, he sordidly built it upon a weak foundation, 
 without sufficient braces, for an edifice so vast and to contain 
 such multitudes. Crowds of all ages and both sexes flocked 
 from Rome to witness these games. The theater was filled 
 to overflowing, and a countless throng surrounded the walls, 
 when they gave way, with an awful crash, some portions 
 bulging out and overwhelming the multitudes swarming 
 around the walls, while other portions tumbled inwards. 
 Thousands were instantly killed, but other thousands crushed 
 and mangled were buried beneath the ruins. Their cries and 
 groans, for many days and nights, filled the air as they were 
 laboriously dug out from the mass of timber and stone At>
 
 308 ITALY. 
 
 cording to Tacicus the carnage resulting from this one accident, 
 was greater than the slaughter at Waterloo. Fifty thousand 
 persons were crushed or maimed by this terrible disaster, 
 which led to an efficient senatorial enactment to prevent a 
 lecurrence of such a calamity. 
 
 There was at Rome a young man, called Caligula, son of 
 that renowned general, Germanicus, whom Tiberius had so 
 much feared, and whom it is supposed he had caused to be 
 put to death. This young man, utterly dissolute, had played 
 the sycophant with so much address, flattering Tiberius, 
 applauding his voluptuousness and cruelty, and paying him 
 the most servile homage, that he so ingratiated himself in the 
 favor of the tyrant, who had no children, that he adopted him 
 as a son, and took him to share his counsels and his debauchery 
 at Caprese. Of this Caligula a distinguished Roman orator re- 
 marked, " Never was there a better slave or a worse master." 
 Tiberius himself said of Caligula, " He has all the vices of 
 Sylla, with none of his virtues." 
 
 At length the sands of the tyrant Tiberius were run out, 
 and his death hour tolled. He did everything in hie power 
 to drive off reflection, and t,o deceive himself with hopes of 
 continued life. But the king of terrors was inexorable. 
 Tiberius had left his retreat at Caprea?, and was at this time at 
 Misenum, near Naples. As he was reclining upon his couch, 
 death rapidly approaching, his physician felt his pulse, and 
 whispered to others, " His life is ebbing fast ; he can not long 
 continue." A fainting fit ensued, which led all to think that 
 he was dead. 
 
 The courtiers immediately, mindless of the corpse, sur- 
 rounded Caligula with congratulations, declaring him the 
 successor. Triumph and joy reigned through the apartments, 
 and Caligula was exultingly receiving the homage ever at- 
 tendant upon a new reign, when, to the consternation of all, 
 it was announced that Tiberius had revived and was calling 
 for attendants and food. But the wretched old man waa
 
 TIBERIUS CJESAR, CALIGULA AND CLAUDIUS. 309 
 
 helpless. A few persons entered his chamber, took a pillow^ 
 pressed it upon his face ; and, after a short and feeble strug- 
 gle, the smothered monarch lay still in death. Thus expired 
 Tiberius in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and the twenty- 
 second of his reign. 
 
 Our Saviour was crucified in the eighteenth year of the 
 reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pontius Pilate was at this time the 
 Roman "governor of Judea. Though the Jews were per- 
 mitted to retain many of their local laws, they were not 
 permitted to inflict the death penalty, without the approval 
 of the Roman governor. Hence the Jews having condemned 
 our Saviour, took Him to Pilate for the confirmation of the 
 sentence. Pilate, deeming the sentence unjust, as he could find 
 no ground even for accusation, and yet not willing to displease 
 his Jewish subjects, referred the case to Herod, son of Heroa 
 the Great, who was then tetrarch, or sub-governor of Galilee, 
 the province in Judea in which our Saviour had been arrested, 
 and who with most propriety should take cognizance of the 
 charges against Him. This was the Herod who beheaded 
 John the Baptist at the instigation of his wife Herodias, 
 because John had denounced their incestuous union. 
 
 But Herod was unwilling to assume the responsibility of 
 condemning a man to death who was manifestly guiltless, and 
 referred the matter back again to his superior Pilate. The 
 governor, thus forced to action, wickedly surrendered the 
 victim to His persecutors, at the same tune declaring that 
 Jesus was innocent of crime, and that all the responsibility 
 of His death must remain upon the heads of His executioners, 
 "His blood be upon us>" they exclaimed, "and on our 
 children." 
 
 It is related by Justin, and by Tertullian, Eusebius, and 
 otners who have perhaps followed his narrative, that Pilate 
 wrote to the emperor Tiberius an account of the crucifixion 
 of our Savioui by the Jews, His subsequent resurrection, and 
 the miracles which He performed, and that Tiberius was so
 
 810 ITALY. 
 
 impressed by this narration that he reported it to the senate, 
 with a recommendation characteristic of the superstition of 
 the times, that Christ should be recognized as divine, and 
 take His place as one of the crowd of Roman gods. The 
 senate did not accede to his request, but Tiberius issued an 
 sdict commanding that Christians should not be molested hi 
 their worship. 
 
 Caligula commenced his reign with a brief attempt to 
 secure popularity by justice. But not one year had passed 
 away ere he surrendered himself to the uncontrolled dominion 
 of lusts and passions, rendered furious and untameable by 
 years of indulgence. Elated by the accession to sovereign 
 power, Caligula assumed the most arrogant airs, demanded 
 divine honors, and appropriated to himself the names of such 
 divinities as he thought he most resembled. His conduct was 
 often that of an idiotic madman. He erected a temple of 
 gold, and placed hi it a statue, dressed daily in similar clothes 
 to those which he that day wore. Crowds were influenced 
 to gather around the statue in worship. The most exquisite 
 delicacies which money could purchase, were offered in sacri- 
 fice at his shrine. He even, with sacred rites, ordained his 
 wife and his horse to officiate as priests in the service of the 
 temple, reared for his deification. His extravagance in luxury 
 and personal gratification exceeded all bounds. His baths 
 were composed of the most costly liquids, his service was of 
 gold ; and jewels were dissolved in his sauces. His horse, 
 Incitalus, occupied a stable of marble, with a manger of ivory. 
 Gilt oats were presented him to eat, and wine from a golden 
 goblet to drink. 
 
 The cruelty of Caligula was equal to his insane folly. 
 Senators were slain at his command, uncondemned and un- 
 tried. Death, in the most cruel form, was the doom of any 
 one who incurred his suspicion. He fed his wild beasts with 
 the bodies of his victims, tossing them into their dens to be 
 devoured alive. No spectacle was so pleasing to him as the
 
 TIBERIUS CJ3SSAB, CALIGULA, AND CLAUDIUS 811 
 
 tortures of the dying. His spirit, demonized by cruelty, was 
 wrought up to such a frenzy, that he was heard to express 
 the wish that all the Roman people had but one neck, that he 
 might dispatch them at a blow. His warlike expeditions to 
 Gaul and Germany were marked by folly which the world 
 had never before seen paralleled. Indeed, if one half is true 
 which history has transmitted to us respecting Caligula, there 
 never was an inmate of a mad house more thoroughly and 
 detestably crazy. 
 
 Such a monster, wielding the scepter of omnipotent power, 
 could not live long. As one after another of the members of 
 his court was stricken down, it was plain to the survivors that 
 there was no alternative before them but to kill or be killed. 
 Caligula, having every nerve of suspicion quivering with sen- 
 sitiveness, suspected a conspiracy for his assassination. A 
 beautiful woman, Quintilia, was arrested, as acquainted with 
 the plot, and put to the rack to extort a confession. Heroic- 
 ally she endured the awful agony, and every joint in her body 
 was dislocated. This act roused the conspirators to the 
 immediate execution of their deed, and Cherea, a Roman 
 senator, as Caligula was going to the bath, plunged a dagger 
 into his heart, exclaiming, "Tyrant, think of this." Thus 
 perished one of the most execrable monsters who ever bur- 
 dened a throne. At the time of his death Caligula was but 
 twenty-nine years of age, having reigned less than four years. 
 It lias been well said of this despot, " Nature seemed to have 
 brought him forth to show what mischief could be effected by 
 the greatest vices, supported by the greatest authority." 
 
 The conspiracy, which plunged the dagger into the bosom 
 of Caligula, was but the spasmodic movement of despair. No 
 arrangements whatsoever were made, or even contemplated, 
 for securing a successor, or for continuing the government, 
 and consequently there ensued a singular scene of confusion 
 and anarchy. The conspirators, terrified, and not knowing 
 what destruction, like an avalanche, might fall upon them, fled
 
 819 1 T A L T . 
 
 into all possible concealments. The worthless sycopl ants and 
 partisians of Caligula, anticipating the same doom which had 
 befallen their infamous confederate, also fled in the utmost 
 consternation. Some soldiers, strolling through the deserted 
 palace, found hid, and trembling, behind some rubbish, an 
 uncle of Caligula, named Claudius. He was an unfortunate 
 man, fifty years of age, totally devoid of common sense, hav- 
 ing experienced some serious mental injury from the diseases 
 of infancy ; and yet he had manifested some ability as a writer. 
 General viciousness was a prominent trait in his character. 
 
 The soldiers took the affrighted, half crazed man, and de- 
 clared him to be emperor. Then, in a body, marching to the 
 senate, by the moral suasion of gleaming swords and sharp 
 pointed spears, they influenced the senate to confirm the 
 appointment. This poor wretch had a wife, Messalina, the 
 renown of whose profligacy has survived the lapse of eigh- 
 teen centuries. She has attained the preeminence of being 
 regarded the most abandoned woman earth has known. It is 
 recorded that every man, in the household of the emperor, 
 was her paramour. Officers, play-actors, buffoons, slaves, all 
 were alike welcomed by Messalina. Her atrocities were far 
 too shameful to be recorded. The ladies of her court were 
 compelled to practice in her presence the same shameful enor- 
 mities in which she indulged, and whoever refused, was 
 punished with torture and death. At length one of her para* 
 mours, with the connivance of Claudius, openly murdered her. 
 The brutal husband was alike regardless of the infamy of her 
 life, and of the lawless violence which effected her death. 
 
 Claudius, afterward, in the midst of his boundless debauch- 
 eries, recognized one of his paramours, Agrippina, as his legal 
 wife. She had already given birth to the child subsequently 
 known as the monster Nero. She was the fourth wife of 
 Claudius, two having been divorced and one killed. The 
 question is sometimes asked whether the world, on the whole, 
 is advancing or retrograding in moral character. No 

 
 TIBERMTS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AND CLAUDIUS. 818 
 
 who is familiar with the history of the past, will ask that 
 question. England and America, manifold as are the evils in 
 both countries, are as far in advance of ancient Rome, in all 
 that constitutes integrity and virtue, as is the most refined 
 Christian family in advance of the most degraded, godless, 
 and debauched. 
 
 Some of the first acts of the reign of Claudius were hu> 
 mane, and seemed intended to promote the public good,. But 
 the possession of unlimited power, soon developed the malig- 
 nity and energy of a demon. Britain was at this time rent 
 with intestine divisions, the barbaric tribes struggling against 
 each other in deadly warfare. There seemed to be no pros- 
 pect of any end to the strife. Bericus, the leader of one of 
 these tribes, or petty nations, went to Rome and urged the 
 emperor to make a descent upon the island, assuring him that 
 in its present distracted state it could be easily subdued. An 
 army was accordingly dispatched for its conquest. Marching 
 across Gaul, and embarking on board their ships on the shores 
 of the channel, they crossed to the savage island, and after 
 many sanguinary battles with the natives, planted the banners 
 of the empire securely there. 
 
 Claudius was greatly elated with this conquest, and repair* 
 ed in person to Britain that he might receive the homage of 
 his new subjects. This was A. D. 46. After remaining upon 
 the island sixteen days he returned to Rome, where a magnifi- 
 cent triumph awaited him. His achievements were deemed so 
 important, that annual games were instituted in commemora- 
 tion of them. The conquest, however, was very imperfect^ 
 since but a few tribes had been vanquished, and a large 
 portion of the island still remained under the sway of its war- 
 ring, but independent chieftains. A Roman general, Plautius, 
 and his lieutenant Vespasian, who subsequently rose to great 
 renown, were left to continue the subjugation of the island. 
 Thirty battles were fought before Britain was fairly reduced, 
 A. D. 51, to the form of a Roman province. But still for many
 
 514 ITAL*. 
 
 years remote tribes, in their fastnesses, bade defiance to ftll thf 
 armies of Rome. 
 
 Carradog, or Caractacus, as he is sometimes called, the 
 king of South Wales, was one of the most valiant and suc- 
 cessful of the opponents of the Roman general. But the 
 valor of barbarians was of but little avail against the disci- 
 plined legions of the empire. In a decisive battle he was 
 taken prisoner, with his wife and daughter, and, as trophies 
 of the conquest, they were sent to Claudius. When Carradog 
 beheld the splendor of the imperial capital, dazzled by the 
 wealth, poww, and gorgeousness which surrounded him, he 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " How is it possible that people, in the enjoyment of such 
 magnificence, should envy Carradog a humble cottage in 
 Britain." Agrippina, though from constitutional tempera- 
 ment less sensual, was no less unprincipled than Messalina. 
 She ruled her weak husband with a rod of iron. One day, 
 when intoxicated, he imprudently declared that it was his 
 fate to be tormented with bad wives, and to be their execu- 
 tioner. The hint was sufficient for Agrippina. The emperor 
 was particularly fond of mushrooms. She prepared with her 
 own loving hands a dish for her dear spouse ; sprinkled some 
 poison upon the delicious viand ; with smiles presented the 
 repast to Claudius, and had the pleasure of seeing him fall in 
 convulsions and die at her feet. 
 
 We have mentioned that Agrippina had a son, whose 
 name was Nero. Who his father was, perhaps Agrippina 
 herself could not tell. This lad, Claudius had adopted as his 
 son and heir. Nero was but seventeen years old when his 
 mother poisoned Claudius. He was highly educated, having 
 been trained by the finest teachers the times could furnish. 
 It has been said that the commencement of his reign was 
 marked with clemency and justice ; but this period was so 
 exceedingly short as scarcely to deserve notice. Influenced 
 by his mother, all rivals who could endanger his sway, were
 
 TIBERIUS C^ESAB CALIGULA, AND CLAUDIUS. 315 
 
 speedily put to death, by poison, the dagger, and the mystery 
 of the dungeon. It is reported that the young Nero at first 
 reluctantly consented to these assassinations. But all such 
 scruples soon disappeared. 
 
 Nero pronounced the funeral oration of Claudius. It was 
 written, however, by Nero's accomplished teacher, Seneca, 
 and would have been an eloquent performance, had it not 
 been so ridiculously untrue. When Nero touched upon the 
 wisdom, foresight, and magnanimity of the imbecile brute, 
 even the obsequious senate of Rome could not restrain itself, 
 and the young, imperial orator, was astonished by a general 
 burst of derisive laughter. 
 
 Nero had early married a lady of illustrious birth, named 
 Octavia, whom he now treated with the grossest neglect, 
 she being supplanted by a beautiful emancipated slave, named 
 Acte, who was purchased in Asia. A very bitter quar- 
 rel soon sprang up between Nero and his mother. Agrip- 
 pina was a woman of much ability. She had accumulated 
 wealth which even rivaled the imperial treasury, and there 
 was a large party ready to espouse her interests in any con- 
 flict with her son. Claudius had left a son, Britannicus, four- 
 teen years of age, and a daughter Octavia. Agrippina hi her 
 rage threatened to drive Nero from the throne and plaoa 
 Britannicus upon it.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 NERO. 
 FROM A. D. 51 TO A. D. 67 
 
 BBTITEEN NERO AND HIS MOTHER. MuRDBB OF BRITANNIOU8. ATTEMPT TO 
 
 MUBDBB AGBIPPINA. HER ESCAPE. EFFECTUAL PLAN FOR HER MURDER. R- 
 IIARK OF TACITUS. WAR IN BRITAIN. HORRIBLE LAW OF SLAVERY. ITS EXECU- 
 TION. REPUDIATION AND DEATH OF OOTAVIA. THE FESTIVAL. NERO SETS FIB 
 TO EOMK. Tim CHRISTIANS FALSELY ACCUSED. THEIR PERSECUTION. THE IN- 
 SURRECTION OF GALBA. TERROR OF NERO. HE COMMITS SUICIDE. GALBA CHOSEN 
 EMPKROB. His ASSASSINATION. 
 
 TVFERO, alarmed lest his mother, with her boundless wealth, 
 ** her influence, and her peculiar sagacity, might be able to 
 wrest the scepter from him and place it in the hands of 
 Britannicus, who, as the son of Claudius, had a more legitimate 
 right to the throne than he had himself, plotted the death of 
 Britannicus. In those days it was necessary for every con- 
 spicuous man to guard incessantly, and with the utmost vigi- 
 lance, against poison and the dagger. Neither princes nor 
 their children, allowed themselves to partake of any food until 
 it was first tasted by a special officer. A cup of drink, yet 
 harmless, was presented to Britannicus by his taster, but so 
 hot that he handed it back to be cooled. Cold water con- 
 taining poison was then poured in. He drank, fell back in 
 convulsions, and died in the arms of Agrippina, who, with 
 Nero, was present. Nero reclined upon a sofa in apparent 
 unconcern as the prince was struggling in the agonies of 
 death, and remarked that he did not think that much was 
 the matter with Britannicus, but that from childhood he had 
 been accustomed to such fainting fits. The body of the 
 poisoned prince was removed, and the festive banquet went
 
 NERO. 81t 
 
 on undisturbed. Agrippina understood the matter full well, 
 but, with policy, affected to be deceived, and to regard the 
 death of Britannicus as natural. The very night of his 
 murder, in a storm of wind and ram, the body of the mur- 
 dered prince was burnt on a funeral pile hi the Campus 
 Martius. Such were the achie^ ements of a Roman emperor 
 at the commencement of his reign, when but little more than 
 seventeen years of age. There were then one hundred and 
 fifty millions of people subjected to the despotism of this one 
 monster. How strange the power of circumstances, which 
 can confer upon one depraved, contemptible boy such unlim- 
 ited dominion, and which can reduce so many millions to such 
 utter helplessness ! 
 
 The vast property of Britannicus was distributed by Nero 
 among his own partisans, and thus their support was pur- 
 chased. But Agrippina, in whose bosom maternal milk had 
 been converted into venom, slowly, cautiously, determinedly 
 prepared to wreak vengeance upon her detested son. Sho laid 
 aside vast treasures, as the resources for bribery or war. She 
 courted the friendship of able men, whose cooperation she hoped 
 to enlist ; and held frequent conferences with them in secret. 
 But the eye of Nero was sleeplessly upon her ; and though 
 they both, in their social intercourse, affected the most cordial 
 relations, and addressed each other with the most endearing 
 epithets, neither of them was blind to the fact that they were 
 engaged in a conflict of hie or death. The mother and the 
 son occupied palaces but a short distance from each other, 
 and were each surrounded by numerous retainers, who offi- 
 ciated as guards of honor. Nero, by hie imperial power, 
 withdrew from Agrippina her retainers, and she was left 
 almost in the condition of a private lady. Fears of his frown 
 prevented also any of the courtiers from approaching her but 
 in secret. 
 
 Nero was soon" informed that his mother was plotting to 
 effect his assassination, and to place one Rubelliu* Plautuf
 
 18 ITALY. 
 
 upon the throne, a relative of the deified Augustus. Nero, 
 who, like most guilty men, lived in a state of constant terror, 
 was now anxious to secure as speedily as possible, the death 
 of both his mother and Plautus. But Agrippina was too 
 powerful to be stricken down by an open blow. Caution 
 and cunning were requisite. The almost incredible story is 
 related by the ancient historians, Tacitus repeating it after 
 Cluvius and Rusticus, that Agrippina, in order to blind her 
 son, would present herself before him, in the most wanton 
 attire, when he was intoxicated, and would so inflame his pas- 
 sions by kisses and caresses, as to lure him to incest; and this 
 so openly, that the matter was talked of freely throughout the 
 palace and among the soldiers. 
 
 All this time, and through all this unparalleled infamy, 
 both mother and child were watching for an opportunity to 
 murder each other. The following ingenius plan, for the 
 accomplishment of his end, was at length adopted by Nero. 
 He had a vessel so constructed that by withdrawing a few 
 bolts, at sea, it would easily fall to pieces. Agrippina was to 
 be enticed on board this ship for a pleasure voyage, and then 
 was to be left to perish as if by the ordinary casualties of 
 wind and wave. Assuming a very affectionate air he invited 
 his mother to accompany him to a festival at Baiae, near Na- 
 ples, on the sea shore. Taking her arm he conducted her to 
 the beach, and showed her the beautiful galley, richly deco- 
 rated, which he had prepared expressly for her pleasure. 
 There were many other regal barges floating upon the 
 wave, but none which could compare with that devoted to 
 Agrippina. It appears that the mother was quite deceived by 
 her guileful son. A rich banquet was prepared, and after 
 much feasting and merriment, during which Nero leaned upon 
 the bosom of his mother very lovingly, he accompanied her 
 to the shore, that she might embark in the treacherous barge 
 for her country-seat at Antium, near Rome; Conducting hei
 
 NKBO. 319 
 
 to her luxurious seat he kissed her affectknately and bale her 
 adieu. 
 
 It was then past midnight as the festival had been protract- 
 ed to this late hour. The night was wonderfully fine, the 
 stars shinning brilliantly, and not a breeze rippling the surface 
 of the Mediterranean. Seamen manning the three banks of 
 oars with lusty sinews, drove the barge over the glassy sea, 
 when suddenly the canopy which overarched Agrippina fell 
 with a fearful crash. It had been so loaded with lead that no 
 doubt had been entertained that it would effect certain des- 
 truction. The attendant who reclined at Agrippina's feet was 
 instantly crushed, but one of the partitions fell hi such a way 
 as to protect Agrippina, though she was slightly wounded. 
 The boat, however, filled and sank, many perished, others 
 escaped by swimming to the shore. The agents of Nero, on 
 board, who had made provision for their own safety, supposed 
 that they had effected their purpose, and that their victim, 
 mangled, and enclosed in a winding sheet of lead was sunk to 
 the bottom of the sea. 
 
 But Agrippina, floating upon a part of the wreck had suffi- 
 cient fortitude and sagacity to keep silent. In the early dawn 
 she was picked up by a small boat and conveyed to her villa. 
 Though she perfectly comprehended the treachery from which 
 ghe had escaped, she shrewdly pretended to regard it all as an 
 accident. She immediately dispatched a courier to inform her 
 affectionate son that, through the mercy of the gods, she had 
 escaped fearful peril, but entreating him not to be needlessly 
 alarmed, as she had received but a slight wound, and would 
 probably soon be quite restored. Nero was impatiently wait- 
 Ing to receive the news that his mother had gone down to her 
 watery tomb, when he was thunderstruck with the intelligence 
 of this utter failure of the plot. He knew his mother too well 
 to imagine that her eyes could be blinded to the stratagem 
 from which she had so wonderfully escaped, and he doubted 
 not that she would immediately resort to some desperate mea-
 
 320 ITALY. 
 
 sure, hi self-defense, to secure his assassination. His only 
 hope, then, was to strike a blow before his mother could strike 
 the one she was doubtless premeditating. 
 
 Immediately he summoned one of his most efficient parti- 
 sans, in whose depravity and efficiency he could place reliance, 
 ordered him to take a strong body of picked men, hasten to 
 the villa of Agrippina, break into the room, cutting down all 
 opposition, and kill her thoroughly. Anicetus, the executor 
 of this order, with his band of assassins, was soon on the 
 march. Unannounced and unexpected they burst into the 
 villa. The slaves, and feeble guard fled in all directions. It 
 was midnight. Agrippina was hi her chamber with but one 
 maid, and a single lamp was dimly burning. Hearing the 
 noise the maid fled. Agrippina, alarmed, raised her head 
 from the pillow, when the assassins rushed in, and one blow 
 from a club, upon her head, followed by thrusts of swords 
 and javelins which pierced her body, dispatched her so effect- 
 ually, that Nero declared that the mission was accomplished 
 to his perfect satisfaction. 
 
 There was a law enacted by the Roman slaveholders, that 
 if any master should be murdered by a slave, every slave belong- 
 ing to that household, male and female, young and old, should 
 be put to death. The object of the law was to protect the life 
 of the master, by rendering every member of his household 
 responsible, with his life, for his master's safety. A slave in 
 revenge for some injury which he had received from his mas- 
 ter, Pedanius Secundus, struck him dead. The law doomed 
 the whole family of slaves, four hundred hi number to capital 
 punishment. There were hi this doomed household old men, 
 babes, boys, and maidens. The deed was perpetrated by one 
 man, maddened by outrage, and it was clear that all the rest 
 were innocent. These slaves were not negroes, but men and 
 women of the same blood with their master. 
 
 The sympathies of the populace were excited in theii 
 behalf, and with a spirit which was then deemed radical and
 
 NERO. 821 
 
 fanatic, they appealed to a higher law than that of the tyrants 
 of Rome, to the law of immutable justice, and declared that 
 these innocent people ought not to be, and should not be 
 beheaded. The question created great agitation, and there 
 were indications of seditious resistance to the execution of 
 the law. Even some of the senators espoused the popular 
 cause, and declared the law to be inhuman, contrary to jus- 
 tice, and that it ought not to be executed. 
 
 The conservatist party, however, cried out vehemently 
 against the fanaticism of this spirit of innovation. Tacitus 
 has given us the speech of Caius Cassius, one of the slave- 
 holding senators, demanding the execution of the law : 
 
 " When a man of consular rank," said Cassius, " has been 
 murdered by his slaves, a crime which none prevented, none 
 disclosed, what security can any man feel ! Are we to hunt 
 up arguments against a decision of law, long since weighed 
 and determined by our wiser ancestors ? Do you believe 
 that a slave could murder his master without one menace, one 
 incautious word betraying his design ? Grant that he con- 
 cealed his purpose, that secretly he obtained his weapon, 
 could he pass the guard at the chamber door, and perpetrate 
 the murder unknown to all ? Our ancestors regarded with 
 uspicion even those slaves who were born in their own 
 houses, and who, from infancy, had partaken of their kind- 
 ness. But we have slaves from various nations, with rites 
 and customs differing from our own ; and it is impossible to 
 curb such a rabble without the terms of law. Under this act, 
 gome who are innocent must doubtless perish with the guilty. 
 But of a routed army, when every tenth man is struck down 
 with a club, the brave must fall as well as the cowards. 
 Every great judicial warning involves somewhat of injustice 
 to individuals, which is compensated by the general benefit." 
 
 This reasoning carried the majority of the Roman senate, 
 and it was decreed that the law must be executed; and though 
 there were a few remonstrating voices, all these guiltless people 
 14*
 
 were adjudged to death. But the popular heart was aroused 
 Tumultuous throngs were assembled to rescue the condemned. 
 Nero, espousing with all his energy the cause of what was 
 then called the " law and order " party, lined the streets of 
 Rome with his armed legions, and with a guard of troops 
 conducted the whole band to their execution. There is com- 
 fort in the thought that there is another tribunal wheiv Ae 
 oppressed will have a more impartial hearing. 
 
 One wearies of the task of describing the individual assas- 
 sinations which Nero perpetrated. Favorite after favorite, 
 passing into disgrace, drank the poisoned cup, or was pierced 
 by the dagger. His wife, Octavia, whose life was but a lin- 
 gering martyrdom, he repudiated, and then he married his 
 concubine, Poppa3a. The maids of Octavia were put to the 
 rack to compel them to accuse their mistress of crime as an 
 excuse for the repudiation. But even all the intolerable 
 agony of quivering nerves and crushed bones, could extort no 
 evidence against Octavia. But Nero was resolved to put her 
 to death. He called Anicetus, the assassin who had murdered 
 Agrippina, and making him a magnificent present, requested 
 him to swear that he had held adulterous intercourse with 
 Octavia. The tool was pliant. 
 
 The tyrant then in an edict announcing her guilt banished 
 her to the island Pandataria. Here this unhappy princess, 
 the daughter of the emperor Claudius, and both half sister 
 and wife of Nero, and sister of the assassinated Britannicus, 
 but twenty years of age, was bound hand and foot, and her 
 veins opened under every important joint in her body. As, 
 through excess of terror it is stated, the blood coagulated 
 and would not flow freely, she was placed in a vapor bath, 
 very highly heated. She soon fainted and died, and her head 
 was cut off and carried to Poppaea to satisfy her that she had 
 nothing more to fear from her rival. Amazing as it may seem, 
 the degraded Roman senate decreed thanksgiving to the goda 
 on account of the execution of Octavia.
 
 NERO. 828 
 
 Tacitus describes one of the festivals of Nero, in Rome, 
 which he says he gives merely as a specimen of all. Revolt- 
 ing as the description is, we give it to show what were the 
 morals of ancient Rome. This banquet in honor of the 
 emperor was given by Tigellinus 
 
 "He built," said Tacitus, "in the lake of Agrippa, a raft, 
 which supported the banquet, it being moved to and fro, 
 by other vessels drawing it after them. The vessels were 
 striped with gold and ivory and were rowed by bands of 
 pathics beautiful boys devoted to the most infamous pur 
 poses who were ranged according to their age and accom 
 plishments in the science of debauchery. Upon the margin 
 of the lake were brothels, filled with ladies of distinction. 
 Over against them nude harlots were exposed to view. Now 
 were beheld obscene gestures, and, as soon as darkness came 
 on, all the neighboring groves and circumjacent dwellings re- 
 sounded with music and glared with lights. Nero, wallowed 
 in all sorts of defilements, lawful and unlawful ; and seemed 
 to leave no atrocity which could add to his pollution, till a few 
 days afterward he married, as a woman, one of his contami- 
 nated herd of boys, named Pythagoras, with all the solemni- 
 ties of wedlock. The Roman emperor put on the nuptial 
 vail. The augurs, the portion, the bridal bed, the nuptial 
 torches were all seen." 
 
 One day some one repeated in conversation, in the pres- 
 ence of Nero, the line, " When I am dead let fire devour the 
 world." Nero replied, " It snail be said, ' "VThen I am living, 
 let fire devour the world.' " Rome then contained four mil 
 lion of inhabitants, dwelling in very close, narrow, winding 
 itreets. Nero ordered his secret emissaries to fire the city 
 while he, from a neighboring tower, watched the progress of 
 tne flames. The buildings were mostly of wood, and the 
 conflagration was such as this world had never witnessed 
 before and has not seen since. It is said that Nero, during 
 the conflagration, in his private theater, played and sang the
 
 824 ITALY. 
 
 'Destruction of Troy." The motives which led to this 
 diabolical deed were probably complex, including love of 
 novelty and excitement ; a desire to behold the sublimity of 
 the scene in which the dwellings of four millions of people 
 were wrapt in flames the dismay of the sufferers their 
 frantic endeavors to save life and property and the pic- 
 turesque exhibition of the millions of the homeless and the 
 perishing, the aged, the sick, parents, children, matrons, 
 maidens, wandering, wailing, dying in the fields. The pic- 
 ture possessed rare attractions in Nero's eyes. The wail of 
 concentrated millions was music which but few mortals had 
 been privileged to hear. It is also said that Nero wished to 
 glorify himself by rebuilding the city on a scale of far greater 
 magnificence than before. It is estimated that the population 
 of the whole Roman empire, at this time, was one hundred 
 and fifty millions. By robbing these mercilessly, funds could 
 easily be obtained, to rear a new Rome, which should be the 
 pride of the world. 
 
 For nine days and nights the fire raged with quenchless 
 fury. Multitudes, which have never been counted, caught in 
 the narrow streets, perished miserably in the flames. Tem- 
 ples, libraries, palaces, priceless works of art, all were consum- 
 ed. Of the fourteen sections of which Rome was composed, 
 ten were left but a pile of smoldering ruins. The most 
 extortionate taxes were levied immediately upon the provin- 
 ces, and with the immense sum thus obtained Nero, commen- 
 ced rebuilding the city. But the cry of millions plunged into 
 poverty and misery could not be stifled. The tyrant, alarmed 
 in view of the execrations which rose loud and deep around 
 his palace, and which the bristling spears of his petted guards 
 could not exclude, endeavored to shield himself from obloquy 
 by accusing the innocent Christians of the crime, and punish- 
 ing them with the most terrible severity. 
 
 "Not all the relief," writes Tacitus, "that could com* 
 from man ; not all the bounties that the prince could bestow.
 
 NERO. 825 
 
 nor all the atonements which could be presented to the gods, 
 availed to relieve Nero from the infamy of being believed to 
 have ordered the conflagration. Hence, to suppress the ru- 
 mor, he falsely charged with, the guilt, and punished with the 
 most exquisite tortures, the persons called Christians." 
 
 Soon after the death of Christ, persecution in Judea scat- 
 tered the Jews all over the Roman empire. Christianity was 
 probably thus carried to Rome. Paul was soon taken to the 
 imperial city, a prisoner, in chains, and there, for two years, he 
 preached the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, even in the palace 
 of the Caesars. A large and flourishing church was ere long 
 established there, and on no page of holy writ does the light 
 of inspiration beam more brightly, than in Paul's epistle to the 
 Romish church. The purity of the religion of Jesus Christ, 
 denouncing in language the most impressive which inspiration 
 could frame, adultery, slavery, extortion declaring God to be 
 the common Father of the whole human family, and that every 
 man should see in his fellow-man a brother, whom he should 
 regard with brotherly love; proclaiming that God looked with 
 indignation upon idolatry, that He would avenge all wrong, 
 and that a day was coming when all the world should stand 
 at God's tribunal emperor and slave on the same footing and 
 that every man should receive according to his deeds such a 
 religion, such doctrines, roused Nero, and his courtiers, and 
 all the nameless pollution of pagan Rome to a frenzy of rage. 
 
 To crush this rising faith the most atrocious libels were 
 fabricated. Infants were taken to the church to be baptized. 
 Pagau olanderers aflirmed that they were oflered in bloody 
 sacrifice. Wine was drank at the sacrament of the Lord's 
 supper, and bread eaten in commemoration of our Saviour's 
 broken body and shed blood. The pagans declared that the 
 Cnristians, in midnight feasts, having murdered a man, ate his 
 flesh, like cannibals, and drank his blood. Thus, a terrible 
 prejudice was created against the Christians. Many believed 
 these stories, who would, perhaps, have joined Jie Christian*
 
 826 ITALY. 
 
 had they known the truth. Tacitus, the renowned pagan his- 
 torian, who seems to have been a man of much candor, and of 
 much appreciation of right and wrong, was manifestly under 
 the influence of these gross libels, for in the following terms 
 he describes this first persecution of the Christians at Rome 
 by Nero : 
 
 " Christ, the founder of that name, was put to death as a 
 criminal by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea, in the reign 
 of Tiberius. But the pernicious superstition, repressed for a 
 time, broke out again, not only through Judea, where the 
 mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also, 
 whither all things horrible and disgraceful flow from all 
 quarters, as to a common receptacle, and where they are 
 encouraged. Accordingly, first those were seized who con- 
 fessed that they were Christians. Next, on their information, 
 a vast multitude were convicted, not so much on the charge 
 of burning the city, as of hating the human race. And in 
 their deaths they were also made the subjects of sport, for 
 they were covered with the hides of wild beasts, and worried 
 to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and when 
 day declined, burned to serve for nocturnal lights. Nero 
 offered his own gardens for that spectacle, and exhibited a 
 circensian game, indiscriminately mingling with the common 
 people in the habit of a charioteer, or else standing in his 
 chariot. Whence a feeling of compassion rose toward the 
 sufferers, though guilty and deserving to be made examples 
 of by capital punishment, because they seemed not to be cut 
 off for the public good, but victims to the ferocity of one 
 man." 
 
 It would seem that the whole Roman empire was plun- 
 dered by Nero to obtain money to rebuild Rome. The 
 temples were pillaged ; and the tax-gatherer, with his armed 
 bands, penetrated the remotest provinces, not a nook even of 
 Greece and remote Asia escaping his extortionate visits. But 
 at length human nature could endure the monster no longer
 
 N E B O . 82? 
 
 Servius Galba, governor of Spain, a man of meditative, pen- 
 sive mind, and of courage which no peril could daunt, resolved 
 at whatever hazard to rid the world of Nero. Disdaining the 
 insidicus movements of the assassin, and believing that pub- 
 lic indignation was ripe for revolt, he summoned his willing 
 legions, declared war against Nero, and commenced a march 
 upon Rome. 
 
 The spark had fired the train. With electric speed the 
 insurrection spread, outstripping the forced marches of the 
 battalions of Galba ; and the tidings reached Rome, rousing 
 the whole city to enthusiasm, even before the tramp of the 
 avenging army was heard upon the southern slopes of the 
 Alps. Nero was seated at the supper table, with one of his 
 boy concubines, dressed hi women's robes, at his side, when 
 at the same moment the intelligence of the march of Galba, 
 and the insurrection in the streets, reached his ear. The 
 brutal, cowardly monster was so struck with dismay, that he 
 sprang from his seat so suddenly as to overturn the table, 
 breaking two vases of immense value. He rent his clothes 
 and beat his forehead, crying like a madman, " I am ruined. 
 I am ruined." 
 
 He called for poison, but he had not even courage to do 
 that weakest of all deeds drink of the cup. He valiantly 
 called for a dagger, looked at its sharp, glittering point, and, 
 afraid of the prick, laid it aside. He rushed from the palace, 
 heroically resolved to throw himself into the Tiber, but as 
 oon as he saw the dark rolling tide, his resolution vanished, 
 and he stopped. One of his companions urged that they 
 should flee to his country-seat, about four miles from Rome, 
 and conceal themselves. Nero, insane with terror, bare- 
 headed, with his long locks floating in the wind, his clothe 
 disordered, and covering his face with his handkerchief, 
 leaped upon a horse, and with four attendants, through 
 innumerable perils, hearing every where around him the 
 execrations of the multitude, by whom he was not recog-
 
 828 ITALT. 
 
 nized, gained his retreat. Just before reaching it, however 
 some alarm induced him to abandon his horse, and plunged 
 into a thicket by the road side, and through reeds amd bram- 
 bles, with torn clothes and lacerated flesh, he reached his 
 transient, insecure asylum. 
 
 The senate, in the meantime, had assembled, and embold- 
 ened by the universal insurrection and by the approaching 
 legions of Galba, pronounced Nero a tyrant, and doomed him 
 to death, more majorum, that is, according to ancient custom. 
 The decree soon reached the ears of the trembling Nero. 
 
 " What is it," he inquired, " to die more majorum ?" 
 
 " It is," was the very unconsoling reply, " to be stripped 
 naked, to have the head fastened in the pillory, and in that 
 posture to be scourged to death." 
 
 Nero had been highly amused in witnessing sufferings far 
 more dreadful inflicted upon his innocent victims ; but the 
 idea of such a death for himself was any thing but amusing. 
 Indeed, he was so horror-stricken, that he seized a dagger and 
 pricked himself. But it hurt. So he laid the dagger aside 
 and groaned. He then tried to talk himself into courage. 
 "Ought Nero to be afraid?" he said. "Shall the emperor 
 be a coward ? No ! let me die courageously." Again he 
 grasped the dagger, looked at its point earnestly, but it was 
 so sharp ! Again ho laid it aside, and groaned in despair. 
 
 Just then ho heard the sound of horses' feet, and looking 
 up saw, in the distance, soldiers approaching. In a few 
 moments his retreat would be discovered, and he would be in 
 their hands. There would then be no escape from the strip- 
 ping, the pillory, and the scourge. In frenzy he entreated 
 one of his servants, a freed man, to hold the dagger so that 
 he might run his throat fiercely against it. This time he 
 succeeded in severing an artery, and the blood gushed forth. 
 He sank upon the floor just as the soldiers entered, and look- 
 ing up to them with a malignant scowl, said, " You are too 
 late," and died. There is a theory of false rsligion which
 
 KB BO. 329 
 
 says that there is no punishment in the future world; and 
 that the spirit of Nero ascended to heaven to be greeted with 
 the words, from the lips of our heavenly Father, " Well done, 
 good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy 
 Lord." But the Bible assures us that " after death cometh 
 the judgment." This is the only solution of such a career as 
 that of Nero. This monster reigned thirteen years, and died 
 in the thirty-second year of his age. 
 
 Servius Galba, who had not yet reached Rome, was imme- 
 diately proclaimed by the senate emperor. He was an old 
 man, seventy-two years of age, and he was also childless. 
 Galba, conscious that it would require much time to effect a 
 reform of the corruptions which pervaded the whole empire, 
 and that he, already oppressed with the infirmities of age, had 
 not long to live, adopted as his successor a young man of very 
 noble character and rare virtue, Piso Lucianus. But a de- 
 praved people do not wish for a virtuous sovereign. The 
 Roman army, accustomed to plunder and to licentiousness, and 
 to enormous bribery, though weary of the wanton cruelty of 
 Nero, still wished for a leader who would gratify their lux- 
 urious and lustful desires. 
 
 A young man by the name of Otho, appealing to these 
 corrupt passions, formed a conspiracy in the encamped army 
 of Galba. He ridiculed his severe discipline, the restraints ho 
 imposed, and his neglect to enrich the soldiers with plunder 
 and bribes. He assured them that Piso would tread in the 
 steps of Galba, and that the affectation of such " virtues," as 
 they were called, was absurd in such a world as this. Prob- 
 ably earth has never witnessed a more diabolical band than 
 was presented hi a Roman army. The conspiracy ripened. 
 The soldiers, at the appointed tune, in a mass, raised the 
 shout of revolt, lifted Otho upon their shoulders, and with 
 the clashing of weapons and huzzas, declared Otho their 
 emperor. The venom with which the virtuous Galba wai
 
 830 ITALY. 
 
 pursued, seems to have been as malignant as that which wae 
 emptied upon Nero. 
 
 A tumultuous band, with oaths and imprecations, rushed 
 *o the tent of Galba. The heroic old man, conscious that no 
 resistance would be of any avail, as the assassins burst into 
 his tent, looked up calmly and said, " If you wish for my 
 head, here it is. I am willing at any time to surrender it for 
 the good of the people." The words were hardly uttered ere 
 the heavy broadsword of a Roman soldier fell with its keen 
 edge upon his neck, and his head rolled upon the floor of the 
 tent. Another seized it by the hair, thrust a pike into the 
 palpitating flesh, and, with shoutings of tumultuous thousands, 
 the gory trophy was paraded through the camp. His body 
 was kicked about, until one of his slaves dug a hole and 
 buried it. Thus died Galba, after a reign of but three 
 months. The senate, overawed by the army, and impotent, 
 ratified the foul deed, and Otho was declared emperor. Such 
 was the condition of Rome A. D. 67. 
 
 It is supposed that the apostle Paul suffered martyrdom at 
 Rome during the persecution under Nero. Chrysostom says 
 that a cup-bearer and a concubine of Nero, through the 
 preaching of the apostle, became converts to the religion of 
 Jesus, and that this so enraged the tyrant, that Paul WM 
 immediately beheaded.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 BMPKRORS, GOOD AND BAD. 
 PROM A. D. 67 TO A. D. 180. 
 
 OIHO AND VITBLLIUS. THE CONFLICT. THE TRIUMPH OP VESPASIAN. Tmrs DESTROYS 
 JERUSALEM. His ACCESSION TO THE THRONE. SUCCESSION OF DOMITIAN. ADORN- 
 
 MENT OF THE CAPITOL. HlS DEPRAVITY AND DEATH. THE CROWN CONFERRED 
 
 ON NKRVA. TRAJAN, ASSOCIATE EMPBBOB. REI&N OF TEAJAN. His COLUMN. 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PLINY. CONQUESTS OF TRAJAN. KEISN OF ADRIAN. 
 AHTONINUS Pius His NOBLE CHARACTER. MARCUS AURELIUS. VEEUS, HIS COL- 
 LEAGUE. DEATH OF AUBELIUB. 
 
 was one of the parasites of Nero, having passed his 
 ^ youth in the midst of the corruption and debauchery of 
 the imperial palace. He had surrendered to Nero his very 
 beautiful and very infamous wife Poppsea, which wife, soon 
 after died from a kick which she received from her regal 
 spouse, just before she was about to give birth to a child. 
 Otho had received, in exchange for his wife, the proconsulship 
 of Lusitania, one of the provinces of Spain. He had squan- 
 dered all his vast resources, and was hopelessly embarrassed 
 by debt. 
 
 There was, at that time, at the head of the Roman legions 
 on the banks of the Danube, a general by the name of Aulus 
 Vitellius. He was descended from one of the most illustrious 
 families in Rome, and had received his education, in all the 
 luxuries and vices of the times, in company with Tiberius Cae- 
 sar, in his retreat at Capreae. Hearing of the death of Nero, 
 immediately followed by the death of Galba, Vitellius secured, 
 with large bribes and promises, the cooperation of his army, 
 and had himself proclaimed emperor, with all the military pa- 
 rade of his camp. Otho and Vitellius were both instantly on 
 the march to settle their claims on the field of battle.
 
 882 ITALY. 
 
 The armies, nearly seventy thousand strong on either side 
 met on the plains of Lombardy, near Mantua. For a week 
 they fought with prodigious slaughter, and with wavering 
 success. At length Otho was hopelessly defeated, and accord- 
 ingly he ran a sword through his heart, after a nominal reign 
 of three months; and the exultant Vitelh'us advanced to Rome 
 to assume the imperial purple. The obsequious senate prompt- 
 ly declared him emperor, and he took up his residence in the 
 palaces of the Ca3sars. Vitellius was neither cruel nor tyran- 
 nical, in the ordinary meaning of those words; he merely 
 surrendered himself to every possible degree of voluptuous- 
 ness, and self-indulgence, thus securing for himself universal 
 contempt. He even equaled Nero in debauchery. To have 
 exceeded him, surpassed mortal powers. The expenses of his 
 table for four months amounted to a sum equal to thirty mil- 
 lions of dollars. 
 
 There was but little to excite fear in the character of such 
 an effeminate voluptuary ; and a conspiracy was soon in pro- 
 gress for his overthrow. Vespasian, a Roman general who 
 had acquired some renown hi the wars hi Germany and in Bri- 
 tain, and who had been consul at Rome, was at this time in 
 command of an army hi Judea. He resolved with his soldiers 
 to drive the usurper, of whom Rome was weary, from his 
 throne. It was not difficult for Vespasian to induce his sol- 
 diers to proclaim him emperor. The conflict was short, but 
 sanguinary. Though Vitellius displayed no energy, his gen- 
 erals and his soldiers, in danger of losing the spoils of office, 
 fought fiercely. But Vespasian, having sent able generals to 
 Italy, was victorious, and Rome itself capitulated, after a 
 bloody battle beneath its walls and through its streets, during 
 which the beautiful capitol, the pride of the city, was reduced 
 to ashes. Vespasian still remained in the east, and Antony 
 had command of the army sent against Rome. Vitellius was 
 dragged from an obscure corner in the house of a slave, where 
 he had hid himself, and was paraded through the streets, with 

 
 BMPEBOBS, GOOD AND BAD. 833 
 
 his hands bound behind him and a rope about his neck, until, 
 after hours of ignominy and torture, he was beaten to death 
 with the clubs of the soldiers. His body was then dragged 
 over the pavements, and the mangled mass, having lost nearly 
 all semblance of humanity, was thrown into the Tiber. 
 
 The senate now united with the army in declaring Vespa- 
 sian emperor. Vespasian was at this time at Alexandria, in 
 Egypt. The Jews had rebelled against their Roman masters, 
 and Vespasian was then organizing an army to besiege Jerusa- 
 lem. His eldest son, Titus, was an exceedingly dissipated 
 young man, who had been educated at the court of Nero, 
 having been an ultimate friend of the unfortunate prince Bri- 
 tannicus. The emperor entrusted the command of the army 
 which was to march upon Jerusalem to this young man, while 
 he proceeded to Rome to administer the government of the 
 empire. Having a high reputation as a man of ability and 
 integrity, he was received with great rejoicing by the Roman 
 people. 
 
 The siege of Jerusalem, and its destruction A. D. 70, is 
 one of the most memorable events in the history of the world. 
 Human nature, perhaps, has never before or since endured 
 such woes. It is impossible for the imagination to conceive 
 more appalling horrors, or sufferings more terrible than were 
 then experienced. The reader will find these scenes of rage, 
 despair, and woe minutely detailed by the pen of Josephus. 
 The siege lasted six months. The city was entirely demolish- 
 ed. In accordance with the prediction of our Saviour, not 
 one stone was left upon another. The very foundations of 
 Jerusalem were plowed up, so that even the ruins of the 
 city could hardly be found. A million of Jews perished in 
 the siege, and one hundred thousand taken captive were sold 
 into slavery. All Judea was thus brought into perfect and 
 unresisting submission to the conqueror. 
 
 Titus, with the spoil of Jerusalem, and his long train of 
 captives, returned in triumph to Rome. In commemoration
 
 834 ITALY. 
 
 of this great victory, a triumphal arch was erected, whici 
 remains, almost perfect, to the present day. Vespasian proved 
 one of the best of the Roman emperors. He devoted himself 
 with great energy and sagacity to the public weal, and after a 
 reign of ten years, died respected and beloved. Feeling that 
 his end was approaching, he said, "An emperor should die 
 standing ;" and aided by his friends he rose from his couch 
 and expired, sustained by their arms. Vespasian reared the 
 gigantic amphitheater, called the Coliseum, the ruins of which 
 still attract the wonder and admiration of the world. It fur- 
 nished seats for eighty thousand spectators, and standing room 
 for twenty thousand more. 
 
 Titus succeeded his father. His character had undergone 
 a wonderful and most salutary change. Abandoning all the 
 vicious practices of his youth, he became distinguished as the 
 exemplar of virtue and the guardian of liberty. With almost 
 unexampled self-devotion, he engaged in the work of doing 
 good. His memorable saying, Perdidi diem, " I have lost a 
 day," when one day had passed in which no opportunity had 
 occurred of doing good, is characteristic of his disposition 
 and his habits. Beautifully has the sentiment been versified 
 in the words : 
 
 " Count that day lost, whose low descending sun 
 Views at thy hand no worthy action done." 
 
 It was during the reign of Titus, A. D. 79, that the cities 
 of Herculaneum and Pompeii were buried beneath the lava 
 and ashes of Vesuvius. After being lost sixteen hundred 
 years, they were discovered in the beginning of the last cen- 
 tury. These cities, thus wonderfully brought to light, reveal 
 much of the social habits and customs of that day. The re- 
 nowned general Agricola, during the reign of Titus, was very 
 efficient in promoting the civilization of the barbarous natives 
 of Britain. He introduced the Roman modes of dress and 
 living, encouraged education, and promoted a taste for the 
 fine arts.
 
 BMPEBOB8, GOOD AND BAD. 385 
 
 The reign of Titus was short. He had a brother Domi- 
 tian, a man of utterly depraved nature, who was eager to 
 grasp the scepter. It is supposed that he poisoned Titus, for 
 the emperor was suddenly seized with a violent and strange 
 sickness, which speedily caused his death, in the forty-first 
 year of his age, after a reign of but about two years 
 
 Domitian ascended the throne which he had purchased by 
 the murder of his brother. His character was a compound 
 of imbecility, folly, jealousy, and ambition. Jealous of the 
 renown Agricola was acquiring, in conflict with the barbarians 
 of Britain, he caused him to be poisoned, as is generally sup- 
 posed. His conduct exposed him to universal ridicule and 
 contempt. Wishing to enjoy a triumphal entrance into Rome, 
 he dressed a large number of slaves to grace his triumph, as 
 if they had been captives taken in war. He had gold and 
 silver statues of himself placed in every conspicuous position ; 
 and assuming divine honors, required that all men should ad- 
 dress him with the titles they gave to the Deity. Those 
 whom he deemed his enemies were mercilessly punished 
 with death, accompanied with all conceivable tortures. The 
 slightest suspicion led to condemnation. Upon the Christians 
 he wreaked vengeance, undiscriminating and pitiless. Ambi- 
 tious of fame he rebuilt, with wonderful splendor, the capitol, 
 which was burnt during the war between Vitellius and Vespa- 
 ian. The gilding, alone, of the capitol, cost over twelve 
 millions of our money. The profusion of his expenditure 
 was such, that Martial says, in one of his epigrams, " If the 
 emperor had called in all his debts, Jupiter himself, even 
 though he had made a general auction of Olympus, would 
 have been unable to pay two shillings in the pound." 
 
 The tyrant was accustomed to write down, in a pocket- 
 tablet, the names of those he intended to destroy. His infa- 
 mous wife, Domitia, accidentally got a peep at the tablet, 
 while her husband was sleeping, and, to her consternation, 
 found her own name, with that of others, in the fatal list. She
 
 immediately informed those who were doomed to die with 
 her. A successful conspiracy was instantly entered into, and 
 the thrust of a dagger from one of the doomed men, rid the 
 world of the monster Domitian. In his character not a re- 
 deeming trait could be found to mitigate the enormity of his 
 depravity. 
 
 The tidings of the death of Domitian was hailed, through- 
 out Rome, with universal acclaim. His statues were demol 
 ished, the inscriptions he had cut erased ; and his memorj 
 was consigned to infamy. The senate, apprehensive that the 
 army might anticipate them in the choice of a successor, on 
 the very day of the tyrant's death, conferred the imperial 
 purple upon Nerva, a venerable and virtuous old man of sixty- 
 five, but of no force of character. Upon coming to the throne 
 he took an oath that no senator during his reign should be 
 punished with death, whatever his crime. He recalled all the 
 Christians who had been driven from Rome by the persecu- 
 tion of Nero. The army did not like this humane sovereign, 
 and conspired for his overthrow. 
 
 The emperor, not knowing how to deal with difficulties so 
 stubborn, and finding the cares of government too heavy for 
 him to bear, summoned to his aid, as a copartner upon the 
 throne, Trajan, a general of much renown, then in command 
 of an army upon the Danube. Nerva had hardly taken this 
 important step, ere he suddenly died, after an eventful reign 
 of but little more than a year. Trajan assumed the scepter. 
 
 The Dacians had been for some time in the habit of cross- 
 ing the Danube and making destructive inroads upon the 
 Roman empire. Domitian, lost in luxury, devoted but littlr 
 thought to the protection of his frontiers. Trajan raised a 
 powerful army, marched into Dacia, conquered the barbarians 
 in a decisive battle, and compelled the humiliated king to 
 acknowledge himself a vassal of the Roman empire. But 
 Trajan had hardly returned to Rome, ere the Dacians were 
 again in revolt. Again the emperor turned upon his foes.
 
 EMPERORS, GOOD AND BAD. 337 
 
 That Dacia might be more accessible to his armies and thus 
 more easily kept in subjection, he constructed a bridge across 
 the Danube. This stupendous structure consisted of twenty- 
 two arches. The ruins, which still remain, testify to the 
 amazing skill of the Roman architects. The Dacians fought 
 with great courage and military prowess, but after a conflict 
 of five years they were effectually subdued, and a new pro- 
 vince, thirteen hundred miles in circumference, became an 
 integral part of the Roman empire. The vestiges of the 
 military road trod by these legions, from the banks of the 
 Danube through the heart of Dacia even to Bender, on the 
 river Dneister, may still be traced. 
 
 The conquest was deemed so important, that a magnificent 
 column was raised, to commemorate it. This column, one 
 hundred and eighteen feet in height, and surmounted by the 
 statue of the emperor, was entwined by a spiral belt, upon 
 which were sculptured all the principal events of the expedi- 
 tion. The shaft still stands, one of the most admired works 
 of art in the world. Napoleon adopted it as the model of 
 the world-renowned column, reared to his honor, or rather, 
 to the honor of his army, in the Place Vendome. 
 
 Trajan did not look with a friendly eye upon the rapid 
 advances which Christianity was making throughout the 
 empire. The spirit of Christianity prohibited war, and Trajan 
 was emulous of military glory. Christianity forbade unlaw- 
 ful sensual indulgence, and Trajan was a voluptuary. Still he 
 was a kind hearted man, naturally humane, and he had but 
 little heart zealously to persecute those whose innocence and 
 purity of life could not but command his respect. 
 
 Trajan had appointed Pliny, a nephew of the illustrious 
 philosopher of the same name, as governor of the province of 
 Pontus, in Asia Minor. There were very many Christians in 
 that region, and as many severe edicts had been issued in 
 Home against them, which it was the duty of Pliny to see 
 
 10
 
 888 ITALY. 
 
 executed, and as his humane spirit revolted against such 
 cruelty, as needless and impolitic, he was perplexed, and 
 wrote to the emperor for instructions. Pliny's letter was 
 written about A. D. 106. 
 
 Trajan in his reply says : 
 
 " You have done perfectly right, my dear Pliny, hi the in- 
 quiry you have made concerning Christians. For, truly, no 
 one general rule can be laid down which will apply itself to all 
 cases. They must not be sought after. If they are brought 
 before you and convicted, let them be capitally punished, yet 
 with this restriction, that if any renounce Christianity, and 
 evidence his sincerity by supplicating our gods, however sus- 
 pected he may be for the past, he shall obtain pardon for the 
 future, on his repentance. But anonymous libels in no case 
 ought to be attended to ; for the precedent would be of the 
 worst sort, and perfectly incongruous to the maxims of my 
 government." 
 
 Animated by the love of conquest, and that renown which 
 conquest brings, Trajan, hi imitation of Alexander, commenced 
 a march of invasion through the barbarous and little known 
 nations of the East. He placed himself at the head of his 
 troops, lamenting that he was so far advanced in life that he 
 could hardly hope to eclipse the renown of the great Grecian 
 conqueror. Traversing the whole extent of Asia Minor, he 
 crossed the Euphrates, and, hi an uninterrupted career of con- 
 quest, advanced to the Tigris. Leaving subjugated nations 
 behind him, the announcement of whose names excited the 
 wonder and admiration of ambitious Rome, he descended even 
 to the Persian gulf. Here, building a fleet, he embarked his 
 army, and ravaged the coasts of Arabia, compelling all the 
 kings of those regions to confess themselves as vassals of the 
 empire. He was preparing to follow the route of Alexander, 
 and to extend his conquests to the remote Indies, when death, 
 that sovereign whom even a Roman emperor must obey, sum- 
 moned him to the spirit land. The approach of the king of
 
 GENERAL GIUSEPPE GAR1BALDX
 
 EMPEBOB8, GOOD AND BAD. 839 
 
 terrors led Trajan to endeavor to reach his home in Rome, be- 
 fore he should die. With failing heart he left the army, and 
 turned to retrace his steps. But death was inexorable, and 
 the emperor had but reached Cilicia when he died, in the sixty- 
 fourth year of his age, after a reign of nineteen years. 
 
 When Trajan left his triumphant army, on the shores of the 
 Persian gulf, he intrusted its command to his nephew Adrian, 
 who had been his companion in many wars, and was a man of 
 much military renown. The army proclaimed him emperor, 
 and Rome accepted the appointment. He had the virtues and 
 the vices of a kind-hearted pagan, being affable to his friends, 
 constitutionally humane, but a perfect demon when his pas- 
 sions were aroused. Conscious of the feeble grasp with which 
 the empire held its barbarian conquests beyond the Danube, 
 and beyond the Euphrates, he wished to contract the limits of 
 the empire, and to consolidate his power. The stupendous 
 bridge which Trajan had constructed across the Danube, 
 Adrian destroyed, lest it should facilitate the incursions of 
 the barbarians. 
 
 With a splendid retinue, Adrian undertook to visit all the 
 provinces of his empire. He entered Gaul ; thence proceeded 
 to Germany, Holland, and Britain. During this visit, he or- 
 dered the construction of that famous wall, the ruins of which 
 are still visible, from the Solway Firth to the mouth of the 
 Tyne, to protect the Roman territory from the incursions of 
 the barbaric Picts and Caledonians. He returned to Rome 
 through Spain, and after tarrying a short time in the capital, 
 visited Greece, Asia Minor, and Palestine. Wherever he 
 went, he reformed abuses, and encouraged improvements. At 
 Athens he was so favorably impressed with what he learned 
 respecting Christians, that he endeavored to discourage perse- 
 cution, and wished to recognize Christianity, and to give Christ 
 a niche in the temple with all the other gods. 
 
 From Greece and Syria, Adrian passed over to Africa 
 Among other great and salutary enterprises he ordered Co*
 
 340 ITALY 
 
 thage to be rebuilt, giving the new city the name of Adrian- 
 ople. But a few fishermen's huts, at that time occupied the 
 site of a city which had contained seven hundred thousand in- 
 habitants. Returning to Rome, he again resumed his journey, 
 and passing through Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria, visited Ara- 
 bia and Egypt. No monarch, before or since, has had such an 
 empire under his sway. At Alexandria he repaired Pompey's 
 tomb, that had fallen into ruins. In Palestine he ordered the re- 
 building of Jerusalem. The Jews engaged in the work with 
 their customary ardor, and, elated with hopes that God had 
 interposed in their behalf, and that the day of their deliver- 
 ance had come, they rose in insurrection. The terrible ener- 
 gies of the Roman empire were turned against them. After 
 one thousand of their chief towns had been destroyed, and six 
 hundred thousand of their inhabitants had perished on the 
 field of battle, the Jews were again chastised into sullen sub- 
 mission. 
 
 Adrian was one of the most highly accomplished men in 
 the Roman empire, alike remarkable for personal beauty, intel- 
 lectual culture, and polished manners. Many anecdotes are 
 related illustrative of his humanity and moderation. But his 
 ungovernable passions at times deprived him of all self-control, 
 and in the delirium of his anger he at tunes perpetrated deeds 
 of great cruelty. Social purity was a virtue almost unknown 
 in pagan Rome. The court and the camp of Adrian exhib 
 ited a harem of unblushing vice. He was, from youth, 
 celebrated for his fine scholarship, and his memory was so 
 extraordinary, that having once read a book he could immedi- 
 ately repeat the whole. It is also reported that he could call 
 every soldier in his army by name. The temple of Olympian 
 Jupiter, in Athens, commenced five hundred years before, was 
 finished by Adrian. 
 
 After thirteen years spent in these useful travels, Adrian 
 returned to Rome an infirm old man. The cruelty of the 
 slave code he mitigated very essentially. With insatiable
 
 EMPERORS, GOOD AND BAD. 841 
 
 thirst for information, and a very high appreciation of all intel- 
 lectual eminence, he courted the society of all the celebrated 
 men in literature, science, and art. But disease was making 
 rapid inroads upon his frame, and his sufferings, at times, were 
 so great that he frequently was heard to exclaim, " How mis- 
 erable a thing it is to seek death and not to find it." Upon 
 his couch of pain and death he wrote the following touching 
 lines: 
 
 "Animula, vagula, blandula, 
 
 Hospes comesque corpora 
 
 Quas nunc abibis in loca, 
 
 Pallidula, rigida, nudula? 
 
 Nee, ut soles, dabia jocoa" 
 
 Prior has endeavored to translate or imitate this stanza in 
 the following lines, which but feebly express the spirit of the 
 
 original : 
 
 "Poor little, pretty, fluttering thing, 
 Must we no longer live together ; 
 And dost thou plume thy trembling wing, 
 
 To take thy flight, thou knowest not whither? 
 Thy humorous vein, thy pleasing folly, 
 
 Lie all neglected, all forgot ; 
 And pensive, wavering, melancholy, 
 
 Thou dread 'at, and hop'st thou know'st not what?" 
 
 It is said that he died, in the sixty-second year of his age, 
 repeating the above words, so illustrative of the gloom which 
 must have ever darkened the last hours of a reflective pagan. 
 His prosperous reign had continued nearly twenty-two years. 
 Adrian, who had no son, was anxious to transmit the empire to 
 one worthy of the imperial bequest. There was a senator by 
 the name of Titus Antoninus, a man of about fifty years of 
 age, of such unblemished integrity and purity of morals, as to 
 secure the full confidence of the sagacious emperor. The peo- 
 ple, in honor of his virtues, surnamed him Pious. For thia 
 man Adrian cherished the highest esteem. But there was a 
 beautiful boy in the court, but seventeen years of age, on 
 Marcus Aurelius, whose singular fascination of character and
 
 849 ITALY. 
 
 manners had won the affection of the emperor. Adrian loved 
 the boy as if he had been his own child, and yet his sense of 
 propriety would not allow him to place the destinies of per 
 haps one hundred and fifty millions of people in the hands oi 
 one so youthful, and whose character was, as yet, so immature 
 and untried. He, therefore, compromised the matter and ap- 
 pointed Antoninus his successor, with the condition that ho 
 should adopt Marcus as his son, and transmit to him the 
 crown. 
 
 Antoninus was true to his trust, and immediately adopting 
 Marcus, bound him to his family, by marriage with his daugh- 
 ter Faustina. The father associated the adopted son so intim- 
 ately with him in the government of the empire, that history 
 usually speaks of their united reigns. The Roman empire 
 had never before been so well governed, and never before had 
 been so prosperous and happy as under the reign of these 
 excellent men ; proving that the happiness of a people depends 
 far more upon the character of the rulers than upon the form 
 of government ; and proving, also, that the only effectual way 
 of ameliorating the condition of the human family is by the 
 regeneration of human hearts. 
 
 Antoninus nobly protected the Christians, issuing a decree 
 that " if any one shall for the future molest the Christians, and 
 accuse them merely on account of their religion, let the person 
 who is arraigned be discharged, though he is found to be a 
 Christian, and the accuser be punished according to the rigor 
 of the law." 
 
 He often quoted the beautiful words of Scipio: "I had 
 rather preserve the life of a citizen than destroy a thousand 
 
 The remains of a wall are still traced, which he reared to 
 protect the Britons from the incursions of the Picts and Scots. 
 After a reign of about twenty-one years, he died at the age 
 of seventy-four, A. D. 161. The senate reared a column to his 
 memory, which still stands, and it has been well said of him
 
 EMPERORS, GOOD ANE BAD. 343 
 
 "He is almost the only monarch that has lived without spilling 
 the blood of his countrymen or his enemies." 
 
 The death of Antoninus left Marcus Aurelius, who, from 
 nis adoption, had also taken the name of Antoninus, in sole 
 occupancy of the throne. Imitating Pious, whose memory 
 ne revered, he adopted a young noble by the name of Verus, 
 as his partner on the throne. But the adoption proved ex- 
 ceedingly unfortunate ; for Verus developed almost every vice, 
 unredeemed by any virtue. It so happened that iust at this 
 time the Parthians made a very fierce, desolating, and san- 
 guinary irruption into Syria. Verus marched with an army 
 to punish them, while Marcus Aurelius remained in Rome, to 
 attend to the general administration of the empire. Verus, 
 however, having advanced as far as Antioch, committed the 
 army to his generals, while he remained there in his metro- 
 politan palace, indulging in every possible excess of volup- 
 tuousness and debauchery, where he soon died. 
 
 Aurelius, relieved from the embarrassment which the con- 
 duct of his vicious and imbecile colleague had ever caused, 
 now, with renewed vigor, assailed the multitudinous foes 
 which had risen up against the empire, and crushed them all. 
 One of the legions of his army, consisting of between four 
 and six thousand men, was composed entirely of Christians. 
 The fact is attested by both Christian and heathen writers, that 
 on the eve of an engagement on an arid plain, when the army 
 of Aurelius was perishing with thirst, a terrible tempest arose, 
 and amid flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, the re- 
 freshing rain in floods fell upon the Roman camp, which the 
 soldiers caught in their helmets, thus obtaining an abundant 
 supply, while at the same time a terrible storm of hail fell 
 upon the barbarian camp, throwing them into such confusion 
 that they were easily routed and cut to pieces. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius was so impressed with this apparent 
 miracle, which he regarded as an interposition in his behalf 
 by the Christian's God, that he issued a decree prohibiting
 
 844 ITALY. 
 
 farther persecution, and wrote to the senate in their favor. 
 Independently of his rank, Aurelius was in character and 
 acquirements a distinguished man. Many of his philosophical 
 and humane sayings are still quoted, and remains of his writ- 
 ings, which are still read with interest, give him a high posi- 
 tion among the classic writers of antiquity. While devoting 
 himself with untiling diligence to the welfare of his subjects, 
 even giving popular lectures to the masses of the people in 
 Rome, upon all matters pertaining to their domestic welfare, 
 tidings came that the Russian Tartars were invading the 
 empire. The emperor grasped his sword, and having reached 
 Vienna, in this his last campaign, was seized by the plague, 
 and suddenly died about the year 180, in the fifty-ninth year 
 year of his age, and the nineteenth of his reign.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE DECLINE AND FALL. 
 FROM A. D. 180 TO A. D. 235. 
 
 MARCUS AUXELIUS. PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY. COMMODUS. His DBATH.- 
 
 HENT OP THE DECLINE AKD FALL. THE PBETORIAN GUARD. ITS CHARACTER AHI 
 INFLUENCE. THE THRONE SOLD AT AUCTION. JULIAN. THE RIVAL EMPERORS. 
 TRIUMPH OP SBVERUS. His PJSRPIDY. REIGN OP CARACALLA AND GETA. MURDE* 
 >F GETA. ASSASSINATION OP CARACALLA. MACRINUS. His SHORT REIGN AND 
 DEATH. ELAGABALUS. BOTH PONTIPP AND EMPEROR. Hra EXTRAORDINARY 
 DEPRAVITY. ANECDOTES OP MAXIMIN. 
 
 A LL writers unite in the praises of Marcus Aurelius, the 
 " second of the Antonines, as he is sometimes called. Still 
 he displayed one trait of character which has ever given occa- 
 sion for perplexing comment. His wife, Faustina, beautiful, 
 fascinating, and sensual to the highest degree, was notorious 
 and unblushing in her amours. She affected no concealment. 
 Reveling with the gay voluptuaries of the court in the most 
 luxurious and wanton dissoluteness, she left her philosophic 
 and phlegmatic husband to the meditations of his study and 
 the schemes of his cabinet. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius seemed to be the only man in the empire 
 who was utterly indifferent to this libidinousness of his spouse. 
 Avowing himself a disciple of Zeno the stoic, and in his re- 
 nowned "Meditations" advocating that philosophy, which 
 renders it essential to virtue that one should be indifferent, so 
 far as his inward happiness is concerned, to all external things, 
 Aurelius did not allow the shameless conduct of his wife to 
 disturb his serenity in the slightest degree. On the contrary, 
 the more gross her crimes the more he lavished upon hei 
 caresses, endearing epithets, and titles of honor. Even hei 
 15*
 
 846 ITALY 
 
 overs he sought out and loaded with favors, giving them 
 conspicuous posts of trust and emolument. 
 
 During a connection of thirty years, Aurelius was unin 
 termitting in the tenderness of his attentions to his dissolute 
 wife. He lost no opportunity of manifesting respect for her 
 in public. He caused a decree to be issued, proclaiming her 
 " Mother of the Camps and Armies." All Rome smiled to 
 read in the " Meditations " of their revered emperor the ex- 
 pression of his thanks to the gods for having conferred upon 
 him a wife so faithful, so gentle, and of such wonderful sim- 
 plicity of manners. The senate at the earnest request of the 
 emperor, declared her to be a goddess, temples were erected 
 for her worship, and she was invested with the attributes of 
 Juno, Venus, and Ceres. 
 
 This same weakness of character was indicated by the 
 manner hi which his son Commodus was educated. Unre- 
 strained by his father, and incited by the example of his 
 mother, he grew up a monster of depravity. Commodus was 
 nineteen years of age at the time of his father's death. The 
 virtues of Aurelius secured for him easy accession to the 
 throne, and he was promptly recognized by the army, the 
 senate, and all the provinces. He was a burly, beastly man, 
 of huge frame and of such herculean strength, that he often 
 appeared, in theatrical exhibitions, in the character of Her- 
 cules, dressed in a lion's skin and armed with a club. 
 
 The atrocities of Commodus can never be described. Civ- 
 ilization would tear out and trample under foot the page 
 containing the abominable recital. Nothing can be conceived 
 of in the way of loathsome, brutal, fiend-like vice, and cruelty 
 of which he was not guilty. He filled his palace with de- 
 bauchery, ransacked the brothels of Rome, compelled his 
 sisters to yield to his incestuous love, and killed one of them, 
 Lucilla, for venturing to repel him. He amused himself with 
 cutting off people's lips and noses. The rich were slam fo* 
 their money ; the influential and powerful from jealousy, and
 
 COMMENCEMENT OP THE DECLINE AND FALL. 847 
 
 the friends of the slain were also dispatched lest they should 
 murmur and excite discontent. At length one of his concu 
 bines, named Marcia, apprehensive that she was doomed to death 
 by the tyrant, presented him with a goblet of poisoned wine. 
 
 Commodus drank freely, and almost immediately fell into 
 heavy slumbers. But soon deadly sickness and vomiting en- 
 sued. Marcia, who had enlisted others m her enterprise, fear- 
 ful that he might escape the effects of the poison, sent a young 
 gladiator into the room to finish the deed with the dagger. 
 Commodus, stupefied and weakened by the drug, was probably 
 easily despatched. The conspirators, exulting in their achieve- 
 ment, and conscious that the tyrant could find no competitor, 
 resolved to fill the vacant throne with one whose avenger 
 would secure the support of the army, the senate, and the 
 people. 
 
 Helvius Pertinax, the prefect or governor of Rome, had 
 risen from lowly birth to senatorial dignity and consular rank. 
 He had filled many of the first offices of the state, and all with 
 much honor to himself. At a late hour of the night, the con- 
 spirators rushed into his apartment to offer him the crown. 
 With great reluctance Pertinax accepted, at their hands, the 
 imperial purple. He was immediately conducted to the camp, 
 while a report was circulated through the city that Commodus 
 Had died of apoplexy. The people and the army, with joyful 
 acclaim, accepted the new emperor, and conducted him to the 
 senate-house. The senators had been suddenly convened. It 
 was in the early dawn of the morning of the first of January, 
 A. D. 193. In great consternation they had assembled, fearing 
 that the summons would prove but some new trick of the 
 tyrant. When assured that Commodus was no more, their 
 joy surpassed all bounds. Decrees were passed consigning the 
 memory of Commodus to infamy, and Pertinax was invested 
 with imperial title and power. 
 
 From the reign of Commodus is generally dated the begin- 
 ning of the decline and fall of the Roman empire. Here, Gib-
 
 848 IT ALT. 
 
 bon commences his renowned history. Pertinax immediately 
 entered upon vigorous measures of reform. His domestic es- 
 tablishment was arranged on a very economical scale ; exiles 
 were recalled, prison-doors thrown open, and confiscated es- 
 tates restored. The bodies of victims, illustrious in rank, 
 which had been thrown into ignominious graves, were con- 
 signed to honorable sepulture, and all possible consolat'ons 
 were bestowed upon ruined families. 
 
 The extortions of Commodus had been boundless, the whole 
 empire having been taxed to its utmost point of endurance to 
 minister to his limitless luxury. Though the treasury was ut- 
 terly exhausted, so that Pertinax commenced his reign with an 
 empty purse, and at a time when the support of the army, 
 which was absolutely essential, could only be secured by lav- 
 ishing gold upon the legions with a profuse hand, he nobly 
 remitted all the oppressive taxes imposed by Commodus, de- 
 claring in a decree of the senate, " that he was better satisfied 
 to administer a poor republic with innocence, than to acquire 
 riches by the way of tyranny and dishonor." 
 
 The instruments of luxurious indulgence which the tyrant 
 had accumulated, gold and silver plate, chariots of curious con- 
 struction and enormous cost, robes of imperial dye and heavily 
 embroidered with gems and gold, and last, and yet most wor- 
 thy of note, as indicative of the barbarism of the tunes, a large 
 number of beautiful slaves, both boys and girls, whom Com- 
 modus, in his depravity, had assembled in his harem, alike to 
 minister to his lust, were sold, and the proceeds placed in the 
 exhausted treasury. It is said that there were three hundred 
 of each sex whom the monster had thus collected, and many 
 of these were children of tender years, who had been born in a 
 state of freedom, and had been torn from the arms of their 
 weeping parents. The free-born were set at liberty ; the others 
 though of the same race, were left in bondage. 
 
 These reforms, so salutary to the state, were all hateful to 
 the corrupt soldiery. They loved war, and rapine, and li cense
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE DECLINE AND FALL. 349 
 
 the plunder of provinces, the golden bi-ibes of their officers, 
 the possession of captive matrons and maidens. The brutal 
 men had found in Commodus the leader they desired. The 
 iust administration of Pertinax excited their indignation and 
 contempt. Murmurs deep and loud rose from the Pretorian 
 guard. Three hundred of them in a body, and in open day, 
 marched to the palace, entered unresisted, dispatched Pertiuax 
 with swords and javelins, and parading his gory head upon a 
 lance, marched triumphantly through the streets back to their 
 barracks. The citizens of Rome looked on in dismay and sub- 
 mission. It was not safe for any one to utter a word against 
 the army. One hundred thousand soldiers, well armed and 
 drilled, are deemed amply sufficient to hold in subjection ten 
 millions of unarmed people. The establishment of a standing 
 army, and the disarming of the militia, places any nation at the 
 mercy of a successful general. 
 
 The Pretorian guard amounted to but sixteen thousand 
 men, organized in sixteen cohorts. These renowned Pretorian 
 bands, in the highest state of discipline, were assembled in a 
 permanent camp, just outside the walls of Rome, on the broad 
 summit of the Quirinal and Viminal hills. The remains of their 
 line of ramparts, it is supposed, may still be traced. These helm- 
 ed troops overawed the four millions of Rome ; and, through 
 the subject senate, and the still more servile populace of the 
 metropolis, held the mastery of an empire of one hundred and 
 fifty millions. 
 
 The soldiers, in their intrenched camp, rallying around 
 the head of Pertinax, the hideous trophy of their power, per- 
 petrated the memorable scandal of selling the throne, at auc- 
 tion, to the highest bidder. They felt safe in taking the bids, 
 for if any one failed to pay the proffered price, the soldiers 
 had, as it was well known, a very short and decisive way of 
 settling the account. Rome had indeed now fallen ; for the 
 emperor had become but the prow of the national ship, while 
 the soldiers manned the oars, and held the rudder.
 
 950 
 
 There were two bidders for the imperial purple. It is a 
 singular comment upon the morals of that age, that the first 
 bidder was Sulpicianus, governor of Rome, and son-in-law of 
 Pertinax. Alarmed by the mutiny he had hastened in his 
 official capacity to the camp ; but he immediately forgot the 
 murder of his father, in eager graspings for the crown which 
 had fallen from that mangled brow. Sulpicianus offered a 
 sum, amounting to about eight hundred dollars of our money, 
 to each man of the guard. A senator, Didius Julianus, the 
 richest man in Rome, incited by the ambition of his wife and 
 daughter, offered a thousand dollars to each man. "More- 
 over," said he, " you will not have to wait for me to collect it 
 from taxes, for I can pay you immediately, as I have the 
 money at home." 
 
 " Going, going, gone ! " The Roman empire was struck 
 off to Julian. The soldiers reared an altar in the camp, placed 
 Julian upon it, and took the oath of obedience. Then the 
 whole band, in close order of battle, with their new emperor 
 enclosed in the center of their ranks, descended from their 
 encampment and entered the streets of Rome. The motley 
 crowd from all nations, which then thronged the capital, were 
 doubtless but little conscious of the degradation. To them it 
 was but another gala day. It is to be presumed that ladies 
 smiled from the balconies, waved their scarfs, and sprinkled 
 the pavements with flowers, as the gorgeous procession passed 
 along, with glittering helmets, shields, and spears, with silken 
 banners floating in the breeze, and with music from a hundred 
 bands. 
 
 The soldiers had summoned an assembly of the senate. 
 The newly appointed emperor presented himself to receive 
 the confirmation of that docile body, and had the good sense 
 simply to say : 
 
 " Fathers, you want an emperor. I am the proper person 
 for you to choose." 
 
 There were sixteen thousand arguments, in the shape of
 
 COMMENCEMENT OP THE DECLINE AND FALL. 351 
 
 sixteen thousand swords, to sustain this simple proposition, 
 Julian was confirmed with universal acclaim. The soldiers 
 then, in triumphal march, conducted him to the palace. The 
 decapitated body of Pertinax had not yet been removed, and 
 the supper was still upon the table, at which the emperor was 
 just about to sit down, when his assassins burst in upon him. 
 These sights must have been suggestive of interesting thoughts 
 to the new monarch. Till midnight the halls of the palace 
 resounded with revelry. There was illumination, feasting, 
 music, and dancing. But when the guests had retired, and 
 darkness and solitude came, Julian found the imperial pillow 
 filled with thorns, and he could not sleep. 
 
 But there were other armies in distant parts of the empire, 
 proud, flushed with victory, and far more numerous than the 
 Pretorian bands. Just across the Adriatic sea, in Ulyricum, 
 was Septimius Severus, a renowned general, at the head of 
 three Roman legions, amounting to nearly twenty thousand 
 men, and also with a large force of auxiliaries. In Britain, 
 Clodius Albums commanded a similar force. He was a man 
 of the highest patrician rank, and regarded with contempt 
 the plebeian origin of Julian. In Syria, Pescennms Niger 
 held an army still more powerful than that of Severus or 
 Albinus. 
 
 Each of these armies immediately imitated the Pretorian 
 band, and each, in its own encampment, enthroned its leader, 
 declaring him to be invested with the imperial purple. There 
 were now four emperors, and from Ulyricum, Britain, and 
 Syria, sixty thousand Roman troops, with large accompanying 
 bands of auxiliaries, were marching upon Rome. To meet 
 them Julian had but the Pretorian bands. Severus, in Ulyri- 
 cum, was the nearest to Rome, and was approaching with 
 rapid strides. Julian, terrified, sent ambassadors to treat 
 with him, offering to share the empire. Severus, conscious 
 of the superiority of his army, rejected the proposal. Eager 
 *> reach Rome and to consolidate his power before either of
 
 852 11 ALT. 
 
 his rivals should appear beneath the walls, he placed himself 
 at the head of bis columns, marching on foot, scarcely allow 
 mg time for sleep or food, sharing the hardships of the hum. 
 blest soldier, and animating all by the glittering prize within 
 their grasp. He crossed the Alps. City after city, neither 
 able nor disposed to oppose, joyfully received him. Ravenna, 
 the great seaport of the northern Adriatic, surrendered, and 
 with it Severus obtained the whole Adriatic fleet. With 
 unintermitted strides he pressed on, and was now within two 
 hundred and fifty miles of Rome. 
 
 Julian, almost delirious with terror, acted h'ke a mad" man. 
 He was continually sending ambassadors to the camp of 
 Severus to negotiate, and assassins to stab. He invoked the 
 gods, the senate, the people, the guards. He sent the vestal 
 virgins, and the priests in their sacerdotal garb, to plead his 
 cause with Severus. He had recourse to enchantments to 
 paralyze his foe. But all was in vain. Severus was now 
 within seventy miles of Rome, and as yet had met with no 
 opposition calling for the unsheathing of the sword. His 
 agents were already in the capital, and mingling with the 
 Pretorian bands, were attempting to purchase their espousal 
 of his cause. The soldiers cared but little who was emperor, 
 if it were but one from whom they could receive liberal 
 rewards. It was evident now that Severus would be vic- 
 torious. 
 
 The soldiers of the Pretorian guard accordingly reassem- 
 bled the senate, and ordered them to depose Julian. Then 
 they conducted Julian very politely into one of the private 
 apartments of his palace, carefully, and without any needless 
 rudeness or violence, cut off his head, and sent the bloody 
 trophy on a pike a peace-offering to Severus. Such was the 
 end of Julian's reign of sixty-six days. Severus entered Rome 
 in triumph, despoiled the Pretorian guard, which had become 
 enervated through luxury, of their arms and wealth, dis- 
 banded the body and banished the members, on pain of
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE DECLINE AND FALL. 353 
 
 death, to the distance of one hundred miles from the metro- 
 polis. But Severus, though thus triumphant, was in danger 
 of encountering the same fate which had overwhelmed Julian. 
 
 There were two hostile armies now approaching Rome, the 
 one un ler Albinus, from Britain, equal to that of Severus, and 
 the other still more formidable, under Niger, from Syria. The 
 union of these armies would render the ruin of Severus cer- 
 tain. With characteristic cunning, and perfidy, Severus dis- 
 armed Albinus, by entering into an alliance with him, giving 
 him the title of Caesar, and virtually sharing with him the 
 empire. Having accomplished this feat, he turned, with all 
 his energy, upon Niger, and in three great battles destroyed 
 his army. Niger fled helpless to Antioch. For a defeated 
 general there was no possible escape. The executioners of 
 Severus pursued the fugitive, and cutting off his head sent it 
 to the conqueror. 
 
 Severus now extended his scepter undisputed over the 
 nations of the East. But Albinus still lived, in command of 
 anries, and claiming a sort of colleagueship with the imperial 
 victor. It was needful, for the concentration of dignity and 
 power hi the hands of Severus, that Albinus should be dis- 
 posed of. Severus wrote to him affectionately, as follows : 
 
 " Brother of my soul and empire ; the gods have given us 
 the victory over our enemies. Niger is no more, and his army 
 is destroyed. I entreat you to preserve the troops and the 
 public faithful to our common interests. Present my affec- 
 tionate salutation to your wife Julia, and to your little 
 family."* 
 
 The messenger who conveyed this epistle was directed to 
 watch his chance and plunge a dagger into the heart of AlbinHS. 
 By some chance the conspiracy was discovered, and Albinus, 
 enraged, and conscious that death was his inevitable doom, 
 resolved to sell his life dearly. Severus was now altogether 
 too powerful to be vanquished by the leader of a few legions 
 * The whole of this curious letter is still extant
 
 354 ITALY. 
 
 in Britain. Albinus, however, put himself at the head of his 
 troops, crossed the channel, and met the victorious army of 
 Severus in Gaul, near the site of the present city of Lyons. 
 The battle was fiercely fought, through a long day. The 
 army of Albinus was cut to pieces, and he himself completed 
 the victory of Severus, by thrusting a sword through his own 
 heart. The head of the unfortunate general was sent a trophy 
 to Rome. The brutal victor trampled the body beneath his 
 horse's hoofs, and after leaving the mangled corpse, for a time, 
 to be devoured by dogs, ordered the remains to be thrown 
 into the Rhine. The wife and children of Albinus were also 
 inhumanly massacred. Enriching his army abundantly with 
 the spoils of the vanquished, Severus returned to Rome, where 
 a splendid triumphal arch was erected to commemorate his 
 success, which arch still remains in a good state of preser- 
 vation. 
 
 An insurrection in Britain called the emperor to that 
 island. Appointing his two sons, Caracalla and Geta as 
 joint successors in the empire, with a powerful army he 
 landed in Britain. Sending a division of his army, unde:* 
 Geta to overawe the lower provinces, he advanced, accom- 
 panied by Caracalla, to attack the Caledonians. His army 
 encountered incredible fatigue in forcing their way through 
 forests and marshes, and over unbridged rivers. In a few 
 months fifty thousand men perished from sickness and the 
 sword. But the Caledonians were at length compelled to beg 
 for peace. They were forced to surrender a portion of their 
 countiy, and, as a protection from their future incursions, 
 Severus built the famous wall, which still goes by his name, 
 from Solway Frith to the German ocean. Soon after thia 
 Severus died in the city of York, in Britain, at the age of 
 sixty-six, after a reign of eighteen years. 
 
 During his reign a new Pretorian guard was organized, 
 four times as numerous as the one disbanded. He lavished 
 great wealth upon his troops, so that they became enervated
 
 COMMENCEMENT OP THE DECLINE AND FALL. 355 
 
 by the most sensual indulgence. All power was wrested from 
 the senate, and a long step was thus taken in the road to na- 
 tional ruin. Gloom overshadowed his last days, "Omnia 
 fui," he exclaimed, " et nihil expedit." I have been all things 
 and all is of little value. Satiated with riches and fame, 
 weary of the cares of empire, and disturbed by the bickerings 
 of his sons, into whose depraved and hostile hands h* was to 
 surrender unlimited power, and with nothing to contemplate 
 beyond the grave but darkness impenetrable, he sank in sad- 
 ness to the tomb. And yet the hoary-headed tyrant be- 
 queathed to his boys the political aphorism, by obedience to 
 which he had gained all his power. It was this, "Enrich 
 your soldiers at any price, and regard all the rest of your 
 subjects as mere ciphers." 
 
 The two sons of Severus had from childhood been impla- 
 cably hostile to each other. Gradually they had divided the 
 court into two antagonistic factions. The incessant quarrels 
 of these two heirs of the throne had greatly embittered the 
 last days of their father. Caracalla was the elder of the 
 princes, and his soul seemed ever agitated with the wildest 
 ambition, and the most depraved passions. Geta was more 
 voluptuous and effeminate, and he was more popular with the 
 people. Caracalla had made several unsuccessful attempts to 
 poison his father, and at one time had nearly succeeded in ex- 
 citing a mutiny among the troops. Immediately after the deatn 
 of Severus, the two young men, who thus succeeded to the 
 crown, commenced a rapid journey, through Gaul and Italy, 
 to Rome. 
 
 They traveled the same road, with separate retinues, jeal- 
 ously watching each other, to guard against assassination, and 
 never venturing to eat at the same table, or sleep in the same 
 house. Thus, the fame of their discord was widely spread 
 On their arrival at Rome they occupied different palaces, with 
 guards stationed around the doors, and with no communica 
 tion existing between them, except that which was marked
 
 356 ITALY. 
 
 with the utmost jealousy and rancor. It seemed imp >ssibl 
 that the empire could be governed in common by men whose 
 hostility to each other was so deadly, and it was proposed that 
 they should divide the empire between them. Some progress 
 had been made in the negotiation, upon the basis that Cara- 
 calla, as the elder, should reside ha Rome, and retain dominion 
 over Europe and western Africa, while Geta, selecting Antioch 
 or Alexandria as his capital, should exercise sovereignty over 
 As5a and Egypt. Numerous armies were to be encamped on 
 each shore of the Thracian Bosphorus to protect the frontiers 
 of the rival monarchies. 
 
 This plan for a dismemberment of the empire, merely to 
 gratify the passions of two worthless young men, excited in- 
 dignation in almost every Roman breast. Caracalla reflected 
 that one dagger thrust, one cup of poison would relieve him 
 from all these embarrassments, and with new energy he pre- 
 pared to put his brother out of the way. Feigning desire for 
 reconciliation, he proposed a friendly meeting in the apartment 
 of their mother. In the midst of the conversation, two assas- 
 sins, who had been concealed, rushed in, and, with the assist- 
 ance of Caracalla cut down Geta, and he died in his mother's 
 arms, drenching her garments with his blood. She herself 
 was severely wounded in the endeavor to shield her son from 
 the daggers which were aimed at him. 
 
 Caracalla easily secured the support of the army with vast 
 bribes. The senate was now ever ready to do homage to suc- 
 cessful power. The only redeeming trait in the character of 
 Caracalla is to found in the fact that he could not escape the 
 stings of remorse. The image of his brother, bleeding, strug- 
 gling, dying, in the arms of his; terrified, shrieking mother, pur- 
 sued the murderer to his grave. But this remorse only goaded 
 him to new crimes. Julia, his mother, was threatened with 
 instant death f she did not cease her lamentations, and receive 
 Caracalla with smiles of approbation and joy. Every one who 
 was supposed to be in the interest of Geta, without regard
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE DECLINE AND FALL. 867 
 
 to age or sex, was put to death. More than twenty thousand 
 perished in this wholesale proscription. The friends of the 
 executed were compelled to hide their tears, for the slightest 
 indication of sympathy was sure to call down the vengeance 
 of the tyrant. 
 
 About a year after the death of Geta, Caracalla left Rome, 
 to visit the distant provinces of his empire. His path was 
 everywhere marked with the traces of extortion, rapine, and 
 violence. A large number of the senate were compelled to 
 accompany him, and to provide in every city the most costly 
 entertainments. New and ingenious forms of taxation were 
 invented, and the wealthy families were ruined by fines and 
 confiscations. In consequence of a lampoon, which some wag 
 in Alexandria had composed, Caracalla issued an order for the 
 general massacre of the inhabitants. A demon could hardly 
 have been more wanton and perfidious in cruelty. But enor- 
 mous gifts to the army, with the permission of any amount of 
 license, secured the support of their swords. With such sup- 
 port he had few enemies to fear. The resources of the state 
 were exhausted to enrich the soldiers, " whose modesty in 
 peace, and service in war," Gibbon has well observed, " is best 
 secured by an honorable poverty." 
 
 One of the emperor's generals, Macrinus, who commanded 
 the imperial forces hi Mesopotamia, accidentaUy discovered 
 that he had excited the suspicions of Caracalla, and was con- 
 sequenuy doomed to death. In his despair he engaged on*: 
 of his centurions, a man of herculean strength, to assassinate 
 the emperor. Watching his opportunity, as the emperor was 
 riding out one day. in the vicinity of Edessa, the centurion 
 Btabbed him in the back, killing him instantly. The assassin, 
 however, paid the forfeit of his own life, for he was immedi- 
 ately cut down by the guard. Thus terminated the diabolical 
 sway of Caracalla, with which God had allowed the world to 
 be cursed for six years. 
 
 The army now looked around for a successor, and after an
 
 868 ITALY 
 
 interval of three days fixed upon Macrinus, who made then 
 great promises. The appointment was sent to the senate, and 
 was submissively confirmed. But Macrinus was neither illus- 
 trious through lineage, wealth, nor exploits ; and gradually 
 murmurs began to arise against the bestowal of the imperial 
 purple upon one so obscure. These murmurs were loudly 
 increased by bis cautious attempts to introduce a few reforms 
 into the army. He did not venture to meddle with the privi- 
 leges and extravagant pay which the soldiers who were already 
 engaged received, but endeavored to organize new recruits 
 upon a more economical basis. The army was encamped in 
 winter quarters in Syria. Macrinus, with a division of the 
 army, as his ostentatious retinue, was luxuriating in the impe- 
 rial palace at Antioch. 
 
 Under these circumstances, a Syrian, named Elagabalus, 
 under the pretense that he was the son of one of the concu- 
 bines of Caracalla, whose memory the corrupt army adored, 
 formed a conspiracy, and, supported by the encamped troops, 
 declared himself emperor and marched upon Antioch. The 
 soldiers, eager for the renewal of their former license, with 
 enthusiasm, cohort after cohort, abandoned Macrinus, and 
 joined Elagabalus. One battle finished the strife, Macrinus 
 was slain, and all the troops flocked to the banners of the 
 conqueror. But twenty days elapsed from the commence- 
 ment of the strife to the victory of Elagabalus. The power- 
 less senate dared not remonstrate against the sword of the 
 army, and confirmed with exemplary docility, their choice of 
 a new emperor. The reign of Macrinus lasted but one year 
 and two months. 
 
 Elagabalus passed the winter in riotous living with his 
 generals hi Nicomedia, and early in the spring commenced a 
 triumphal march toward Rome. As he had formerly been, in 
 the idolatrous worship of the East, high priest of the sun, h 
 entered Rome in the double character of pontiff and emperor. 
 The streets through which he passed were sprinkled with gold
 
 COMMENCEMENT OP THE DECLINE AND FALL. 359 
 
 dust. Elagabalus, arrayed in sacerdotal robes of silk and 
 gold, with a gorgeous tiara upon his brow, and with bracelets 
 and collars studded with inestimable gems, led six milk white 
 horses, most sumptuously caparisoned, drawing a chariot con- 
 taining the black, conical stone which was the symbol of the 
 god at whose shrine he ministered. In his character of Driest, 
 he held the reins and walked slowly backwards, that his eye 
 might not for one moment wander from the divinity Le 
 adored. 
 
 A magnificent temple was reared for this new deity on the 
 Paiatine mount, and he was daily worshiped with oblationa 
 and sacrifices, which surpassed all that Rome had yet beheld 
 of idolatrous splendor. Syrian girls of voluptuous beauty 
 danced lasciviously around the altar, while the highest dignita- 
 ries of the state and army performed the humblest functions 
 before the shrine. Elagabalus rioting in imperial wealth and 
 power, surrendered himself to the grossest and most disgust- 
 ing dissoluteness. Bringing the vices and the luxury of the 
 orient to his court, and adding to those all the refinements of 
 enervating and demoralizing pleasure which the Occident could 
 suggest, he presented to the world a spectacle of shameless 
 debauchery, which had never before been paralleled. 
 
 The palaces of the Cassars had been already as corrupt as 
 the ingenuity of their possessors could make them. But 
 Elagabalus, transporting to Rome the vices of Asia, had 
 more capacity for the perpetration of deeds of enormoui 
 foulness than any of his predecessors possessed. The story 
 of his atrocities can not be told. Modern civilization can not 
 listen to the recital. He dressed boys in the robes of girls 
 and married them. The ingenuity of his court was taxed to 
 subvert eveiy law of nature and of decency. Bad as the 
 world now is, it has made vast strides in the path of improve- 
 ment since that day. Christianity has indeed, notwithstand- 
 ing all its corruptions, already wrought a wonderful change.
 
 380 I T A I, T . 
 
 No court in Europe now would tolerate for a day a Nero or 
 an Elagabalus. 
 
 At length even pagan Rome could endure such infamy no 
 longer. The fiendful priest and emperor was smitten down 
 hi a sudden fray in the camp, and, with many of his minions, 
 was hewn to pieces. His mutilated corpse was dragged with 
 every expression of contempt through the streets of Rome, 
 and cast into the Tiber. The senate passed a decree con- 
 signing his name to eternal infamy. "With an universal out- 
 burst of approval, posterity has ratified the edict. 
 
 The Pretoriau guard, in its luxurious suburban encamp- 
 ment, passed the scepter into the hands of Alexander, a 
 cousin of Elagabalus, a modest youth of but seventeen years 
 of age. The sovereign army supposed that it could mold 
 him at its will. The senate, as ever, was pliant as wax. The 
 mother of the unassuming boy was a woman of uncommon 
 character, and with singular sagacity, she for a time guided all 
 his measures. It is said that she was a disciple of the Saviour, 
 and that, instructed by that pure faith, it was her great ambi- 
 tion to cleanse Rome from the pollutions of the preceding 
 reign. She appointed for her son teachers of the most esti- 
 mable character, and he was instructed in the faith and morale 
 of Christianity. She established an advisory council, consist- 
 hag of sixteen of the ablest senators. All the minions of 
 Elagabalus were driven from office. 
 
 Under the guidance of wise teachers, Alexander Severus, 
 as he is usually called, began to develop a singularly mild and 
 f>ure character. He seems to have been endowed with ab- 
 original constitution of soul, which was dove-like and passion- 
 less. He was amiable, unsensual, and moderate in all hia 
 desires. There was nothing hi his nature which responded to 
 ordinary temptations. He was not virtuous through stern 
 resistance to the allurements of vice ; he was virtuous because 
 he had apparently no temptation to be otherwise. God had 
 made him so. In the human family there are lambs and there
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE DECLINE AND FALL 361 
 
 are tiger's whelps. The fact is undeniable. But whose philo- 
 sophy or theology can explain the fact? Elagabalus and 
 Alexander were cousins. But temptation glided from the 
 soul of Alexander, as Jeremy Taylor would say, like dew- 
 drops from a duck's neck. And yet, can cy ^hilosaphy or 
 theology triumph over the common sense declaration that 
 Elagabalus was an infamous wretch, meriting the execration 
 of mankind ? 
 
 The historians of those days give the followrng account of 
 the education of this prince, then an emperor. Strange scenes 
 to have been witnessed in a palace of the Caesars ! Alexander 
 rose at an early hour, and in prayer implored divine guidance 
 for the day. He then met his cabinet council, and with great 
 patience devoted several hours to the discussion of affairs o^ 
 state, and to the redress of private wrongs. A portion oi 
 time was then set apart for study, much attention being 
 devoted to the works of Virgil, Plato, Horace, and Cicero. 
 He then entered his gymnasium for bodily exercise, and thus 
 there was developed a muscular system of unusual vigor. 
 After a bath and a slight dinner, he received petitions, and 
 directed replies to letters and memorials, till supper, which, 
 with the Romans, was the principal meal of the day. His 
 table was always spread with great frugality, and usually 
 invited guests, distinguished for learning and virtue, sat down 
 with him. His dress was plain, and all were impressed by 
 his polished manners. For forty yaars the palaces of the 
 Caesars had been but a simmering pool of corruption. The 
 first appi oaches of Christianity thus changed the scene. 
 
 But the moment the emperor touched, even with the gen- 
 tlest hand, the privileges of the soldiers, a cry was heard which 
 resounded through the empire. In a paroxysm of rage the 
 Pretorian guards marched into the city, breathing threaten- 
 ings and slaughter. For three days, a fierce civil war raged 
 in the streets of Rome. Many houses were burned, multi- 
 tudes were slain, and the city was menaced with a general 
 16
 
 862 I T A L T . 
 
 conflagration. Several of the leading friends of the emperor 
 were massacred, and Alexander was compelled to succumb to 
 the military mob ; and the soldiers returned, unpunished and 
 triumphant, to their quarters. 
 
 The legions hi the provinces followed the successful exam- 
 ple of the Pretorian guard, and refused to submit to the slight- 
 est curtailment of their privileges. This contest with the 
 licentious soldiery embittered the whole of the reign of Alex- 
 ander. 
 
 Thirty-two years before the period of which we now are 
 writing, the emperor Severus, returning from one of his east- 
 ern expeditions, halted in Thrace, to celebrate with military 
 games the birth of his son Geta. A gigantic young barbarian 
 came rollicking into the camp, challenging any one to wrestle 
 \nth him. Sixteen of the stoutest followers of the army he, in 
 succession, laid upon their backs. The next day, as Severus 
 with his suite, on horseback, was galloping over the plain, 
 this agile young barbarian, whose name was Maximin, with 
 the speed of an antelope, placed himself at the side of the em- 
 peror, keeping pace with his horse in a long and rapid career ; 
 and then, apparently not fatigued in the slightest degree with 
 his race, in a wrestling match threw, one after another, seven 
 of the most powerful soldiers of the army. 
 
 The emperor, astonished at these feats, rewarded Maximin 
 with a golden collar, and assigned him an important post in 
 his own retinue. This Maximin was a genuine barbarian, hav- 
 ing a Goth for his father, and a woman from the still more 
 savage tribe of the Alani, for his mother. Renowned for 
 strength and bravery, he rose rapidly in the army, until he at- 
 tained the first military command. He now headed a con 
 spiracy against Alexander. " Why," said he, " should Roman 
 armies be subject to an effeminate Syrian, the slave of his 
 mother, and of the senate. Soldiers should be governed by a 
 soldier, one reared in camps, and one who knows how to dis 
 tribute among his comrades the treasures of the empire."
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE DECLINE AND FALL. 363 
 
 An immense army was at this time gathered upon the 
 Rhine, to repel an irruption of the barbarians from Germany. 
 As by a simultaneous movement, the soldiers rose, cut down 
 Alexander, his mother, and all his supporters, and with shouta 
 and clashing weapons, and trumpet peals, in wildest uproar, 
 proclaimed Maximin Imperator. Alexander reigned thirteen 
 years, and was murdered on the nineteenth of March, A.D. 285,
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 RAPID STRIDES OP DECLINE. 
 FROM A. D. 235 TO A. D. 283. 
 
 MAxniiN. His REIGN AND DEATH. REVOLT IN AFEIOA. THE GORDIANS. THB TWO 
 EMPERORS. BALBINUS AND MAXIMUS. ANARCHY IN ROME. MURDER OP THE EM 
 PERORS. PHILIP MARINUS AND DECIUS. DESIGNATION' OP O^ESAK. HERKDITAP.V 
 DESCENT. THE GOTHIC INVASION. VALERIAN AND GALLIKNUS. TERRIBLE FATR 
 OF VALERIAN. ACCESSION OF CLAUDIUS. IMMENSE ARMY OF THE QOTHB. VICTO- 
 RIES OP CLAUDIUS. CHARACTER AND FATE OPZENOBIA. AURBLIAN. INTERREGNUM. 
 TACITUS. His DEATH. PROBUB. CARUS. His MARCH TO PERSIA, AND DEATH. 
 
 TN the exaggerated annals of those days we are told that 
 J- Maximin was eight and a half feet high, and well propor- 
 tioned ; that his wife's bracelet served him for a thumb ring ; 
 that his strength was equal to that of two oxen; that with a 
 blow of his fist he could strike out the teeth of a horse, and 
 break his thigh with a kick. His daily rations consisted of six 
 gallons of wine, and forty pounds weight of flesh. The con- 
 sciousness of his low origin exasperated him, and he endeav- 
 ored to destroy all who had any personal knowledge of the 
 obscurity from which he had sprung. In the intensity of his 
 jealousy he had put four thousand persons to death whom he 
 suspected of conspiring against him. Some were sewed up hi 
 hides of slaughtered animals and left to perish either of suffo- 
 cation or hunger. Some were thrown into the ampitheater to 
 be torn to pieces by wild beasts ; and some were beaten to 
 death by clubs. For some reason, perhaps ashamed of his 
 low breeding and his ungainly address, he could not be per- 
 suaded to visit Rome ; but spent his time in traveling from 
 damp to camp, on the Rhine and on the Danube. No man of 
 graceful manners or accomplished mind was permitted to ap- 
 pear before him. His graspings for wealth were msatiabla
 
 BAPID STRIDES OF DECLINE. 865 
 
 All temples were robbed ; and the most exquisite statues of 
 gold and silver were remorselessly melted down. A short 
 reign of three years finished the career of this monsier. The 
 story of his death is thus recorded : 
 
 Some grosa outrages, perpetrated at the commencement of 
 he reign of the tyrant, goaded both the army and the people of 
 Africa to insurrection. The emissaries of Maximin in the Afri- 
 can army were fiercely dispatched, and the standard of rebellion 
 was unfurled. The soldiers compelled Gordian, proconsul of 
 Africa, to accept the imperial purple. He was a Roman gen- 
 tleman, of highest rank, and of vast wealth. His mansion, in 
 Rome, was the palace which Pompey the Great, in his regal 
 state, inhabited, and his villa, but a short distance from Rome, 
 rivaled the imperial chateaux hi the grandeur of architecture, 
 and in costly furniture and embellishments. The Gordian 
 family stood at the head of the Roman aristocracy. The old 
 man was now eighty years of age, and the affairs of his prov- 
 ince were mainly administered by his son, who had accompan- 
 ied him to Africa, a lieutenant then in the prime of life. 
 
 The senate ir Ro.me, disgusted with Maximin, who was at 
 this tune with the army in Pannonia, on the upper Danube, 
 joyfully received the tidings of the revolt in Africa, and in- 
 stantly sanctioned, by their suffrage, the choice of the Gor- 
 dians. The father and son established their court at Carthage. 
 Rome was in a tumult of joy. The populace ran through the 
 streets brandishing their daggers, and shouting the praises of 
 the Gordians. But the savage Maximin was a man not to be 
 despised. An army was sent against Carthage. Young Gor- 
 dian fell upon the plain where his routed troops were cut to 
 pieces, and the aged father, in despair, put an end to his life. 
 Bitter was the vengeance which Maximin wreaked upon Afri- 
 ca. And now the tyrant turned his steps toward Rome. The 
 senate met in a state of inexpressible dismay. Not only con- 
 fiscation and ruin awaited them and their families, but death
 
 S66 ITALY. 
 
 in the most revolting and cruel forms. One of the senators, 
 more heroic than the rest, in a bold and rousing speech, said : 
 
 " We have lost two excellent princes, but unless we desert 
 ourselves, the hopes of the republic have not perished with the 
 Gordians. Many are the senators whose virtues have de- 
 served, and whose abilities would sustain the imperial dignity. 
 Let us elect two emperors, one of whom may conduct the war 
 against the public enemy, whilst his colleague remains at Rome 
 to direct the civil administration. I cheerfully expose myself 
 to the danger of the nomination, and propose Maximus and 
 Balbinus. Ratify my choice, or appoint others more worthy." 
 
 The nomination was promptly ratified. Balbinus was a 
 distinguished orator and magistrate, of noble birth, and af- 
 fluent fortune. Maximus was a rough soldier, of lowly birth, 
 who by courage and genius had fought his way to no incon- 
 siderable renown. Maximin was now foaming and raging like 
 a wild beast. With an immense army, which had been strug- 
 gling against the barbarians on the banks of the Danube, he 
 crossed the Julian Alps. But he found in his path only smol- 
 dering ruins, desolation, and solitude. The inhabitants, terri- 
 fied by his known savage nature, had fled in all directions, 
 driving away their cattle, breaking down bridges, and remov- 
 ing or destroying their provisions. The first Italian city he 
 approached was Acquileia, at the head of the Adriatic gulf. 
 
 This city was then called the second Rome, and was forti- 
 fied with the highest resources of art, as a barrier against bar- 
 barian invasion. Maximin was a fearless, skillful, and deter- 
 mined soldier. Leaving a portion of his army to conduct the 
 siege with all possible destructiveness and cruelty, he pressed 
 on with another division of his troops to Ravenna. In this 
 dreadful hour, when Rome was threatened with vengeance, 
 the recital of which would cause every ear which should hear 
 it to tingle, some exasperated soldiers of his own camp, taking 
 advantage of the execration which the monster's inhumanity 
 had created, in open day broke into his tent, thrust him
 
 EAPID STRIDES OF DECLINE. 367 
 
 through and through with their javelins, cut off his head, and 
 with every species of derision and insult, paraded it on a piku 
 through the camp ! A shout of exultation rose from the whole 
 army, and with general acclaim they accepted Maximus and 
 Balbinus as their lawful emperors. Maximin had been invest- 
 ed with the purple but three years. 
 
 The whole Roman empire seemed agitated with joy, as the 
 news spread of the downfall of the tyrant. But in Rome, an- 
 wchy succeeded. A conflict arose between the senate and the 
 populace of Rome on the one side, supporting the new empe- 
 rors, and the Pretorian guard on the other. The soldiers 
 were victorious, and breaking into the palace, they seized 
 Maximus and Balbinus, stripped them of their robes, dragged 
 them ignominiously through the streets, and then, piercing 
 them with a thousand spears, threw their mangled remains in- 
 to a gutter, to be devoured by dogs. The soldiers then seized 
 a grandson of the elder Gordian, who had perished in Africa, 
 and bore the lad, who was but thirteen years of age, in tri- 
 umph to the camp, and proclaimed him emperor. In six 
 months, five emperors had perished. The senate, with the 
 sword at their throats, prudently acceded to the demand of 
 the soldiers, and, by accepting Gordian as their sovereign, 
 saved the empire from the miseries of civil war. 
 
 The reign of young Gordian was short, and uneventful. 
 He had but just entered his nineteenth year when, while at tho 
 head of his army in Mesopotamia, waging war against the Per- 
 sians, he was poisoned by one of his leading generals, an Ara- 
 bian soldier, by the name of Philip, who having previously 
 formed a conspiracy of the troops, was immediately pro- 
 claimed emperor. But the army on the Danube, which wa. 
 gathered there in great strength, to repel the constantly 
 menacing invasion of the barbarians, was not disposed to ac- 
 cept an emperor from the Persian army. Repudiating tin 
 election of Philip, they elected cue of their own generals.
 
 868 ITALY. 
 
 named Marinus, a man of but little note. Still Philip wafl 
 alarmed, for the Danubian army was very formidable. 
 
 He immediately sent Decius, one of the most illustrious 
 of the Roman senate, to the Danubian army, to endeavor, by 
 his personal influence, to quell the insurrection. But the 
 insurgent soldiers, rejoicing to obtain so illustrious a captive, 
 seized him, and with threats of instant death, compelled him 
 to accept the post of Imperator. In the meantime they repu- 
 diated Marinus who was powerless. Thus constrained, Deciug 
 yielded to their wishes, and led his army into Italy. Philip 
 hastened to meet him,, The two hostile armies, under their 
 several leaders, met at Verona. The troops of Philip were 
 routed, and one of Philip's own soldiers, with a blow of his 
 heavy sword, cleft the monarch's head asunder. The senate, 
 the people, and the Pretorian guard at Rome, all welcomed 
 the new sovereign, who could enforce his claim with so many 
 veteran legions. 
 
 To the eye of reason, nothing can seem more absurd than 
 the doctrine of the hereditary descent of power. That a 
 babe, a feeble girl, a semi-idiot or a monster of depravity, 
 should be invested with the sovereignty over millions, merely 
 from the accident of birth, is apparently as preposterous as 
 any folly which intelligence can scrutinize ; a folly which the 
 history of hereditary sovereignties most fearfully illustrates. 
 And yet a nation may be so unintelligent, or so depraved, 
 that they can do nothing better than submit to this chance. 
 The accident of birth may be more likely to be favorable than 
 their own stupid or vicious choice. But where there is any- 
 thing like intelligence and integrity pervading a nation, the 
 <>nly course of dignity and of safety, is for the people to 
 choose their rulers. But Rome had become so dissolute and 
 barbaric, that had every name in the empire been cast into 
 the wheel of the lottery, and had the first one thrown out 
 been accepted as emperor, the result could not have been 
 more disastrous, than that which ensued from the nominal
 
 BAPID STRIDES OP DECLINE. 369 
 
 suffrage of the senate and the army. It is not too much to 
 say that the weakes- 1 : and least successful of the Presidents of 
 the United States has been superior, as a ruler, to the best of 
 the Cfesars ; not greater in administrative energy, but better 
 as a sovereign. 
 
 History also teaches the folly of electing a ruler for life. 
 Millions may thus be doomed to suffer for half a century under 
 a Nero, a Caracalla, or a Maximin, and there is no refuge but 
 in the immorality of the dagger. Thus assassination becomes, 
 as in ancient Rome, an institution, and almost ceases to be a 
 crime. The election of a ruler, for a short term of service, 
 who is then to return again to the bosom of the people, to 
 share in the taxes which have been imposed, and to be subject 
 to the laws which have been enacted, is surely the highest 
 deduction of political intelligence. Admitting that there are 
 people, so debased, unintelligent or unfortunate that they are 
 incapable of being benefited by this privilege, happy is that 
 people who can enjoy and appreciate the dignity and utility 
 of popular suffrage. 
 
 Decius, at the head of his legions, marched from the 
 bloody field of Verona to Rome, received the homage of the 
 senate, the huzzas of the people, and took up his abode in the 
 palaces of the Caesars. The withdrawal of the troops from 
 the Danube encouraged the Goths to cross that stream in 
 desolating bands. Marching downward from the shores of 
 the Baltic sea, they had ravaged the province of Dacia, a 
 country which extended for many leagues along the northern 
 shores of the Danube, comprising uearly all the present region 
 of Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallacia. 
 
 Just across the Danube, lining the southern banks, was 
 the Roman province of Mcesia, now Bulgaria. In wolfish 
 bands these fierce warriors swam the stream, and trampling 
 down the feeble opposition they encountered, cut down the 
 inhabitants and swept the land, plundering and burning. 
 Decius, spurring on his troops, was soon upon them.
 
 870 ITALY. 
 
 The barbarians, disdaining to retreat, pressed onward south 
 westerly into Thrace, and, as Decius incautiously pursued, 
 they turned upon him at Philipopoli, routed the legions, 
 plundered their camp, scaled the walls of the city, and put 
 to the sword its whole population, indiscriminately, amounting 
 to one hundred thousand souls. This was the first successful 
 irruption of the barbarians into the Roman empire, and no 
 tongue can tell the dismay with which the tidings were 
 received in Rome. It was in A. D. 250. 
 
 Decius rallied his dispersed forces, gathered recruits, and 
 again met his foes on the plains of Moesia. Again the Romans, 
 enervated by vice and luxury, were beaten down by the burly 
 arms of the barbarians. The conflict was terrible. Decius 
 himself was slain, and his body, trampled hi the mire of a 
 morass, could never be found. A son of Decius also perished 
 with his father on that disastrous day. The broken battalions 
 of the Romans fled, bleeding and panic-stricken, in all direc- 
 tions. The senate, confounded by the calamity, immediately 
 chose again two emperors, probably intending in that form to 
 restore gradually the old Roman republic with two annual 
 consuls. 
 
 Hostilianus, a son of Decius, was elected as civil emperor, 
 to remain in Rome, while Gallus, a veteran soldier and a 
 renowned general, was elected military emperor, to take 
 command of the armies. But Rome had already fallen so 
 low that Gallus was compelled to the ignominy of purchasing 
 peace of the barbarians, by allowing them to retire, with all 
 their plunder. They took with them thousands of Roman 
 captives, illustrious men and beautiful women, to serve aa 
 slaves in the fields and the harems of the Goths. By the 
 law of human retribution this was right. Rome had made 
 elaves of all nations, and it was just that Rome should drink 
 of the cup of slavery herself. 
 
 llostilianus suddenly sickened and died. Gallus, who thus 
 became sole sovereign, was charged with his murder. At the
 
 BAPID STB IDE 8 OF DECLINE. 871 
 
 same time ^Erailianus, governor of the province of Moesia, 
 gained some little advantages over a wandering band of the 
 barbarians; thereupon the Danubian legions declared him 
 emperor, and placing him at their head, commenced a march 
 into Italy. The senate, deeming JEmilianus the stronger of the 
 rivals, murdered Gallus and his son, and conferred the impe- 
 rial purple upon ^Emilianus. The Roman empire at this time 
 consisted of a belt of territory about one thousand miles in 
 width, encircling the Mediterranean sea as its central lake. 
 Poetry can hardly conceive of a location more beautiful or 
 better adapted for the accumulation of wealth and power. 
 
 And now, along the whole line of the Danube, barbarian 
 tribes, of unknown names and customs, began to menace the 
 empire ; crossing the river with the sweep of the tornado, but 
 to destroy with resistless energy, and as suddenly to dis- 
 appear. Gallus, just before his death, had summoned Val- 
 erian, a Roman senator and general of renown, to his aid 
 with the army from Gaul. As Valerian was crossing the 
 Alps he received the tidings of the death of Gallus, and 
 determined to avenge him. As the two hostile armies, the 
 one led by Valerian, the other by ^Emilianus, approached 
 Spoleto, the soldiers of ^Emilianus, unwilling to contend with 
 troops confessedly more powerful, murdered their iwperator^ 
 and with enthusiasm declared for Valerian. ^Emilianus had 
 reigned less than four months. 
 
 Valerian was already an old man, and he associated with 
 him, in the cares of government his son Gallienus. To mul- 
 tiply the troubles of Rome, the Persians were now, in vast 
 armies, assailing the empire in the East. To meet these 
 menaces Gallienus took charge of the troops of the German 
 frontier, and Valerian marched to repel the Persian cohorts hi 
 the East. But the power of ancient Rome was no more. The 
 barbarian Franks, hi t/ibes of various names, trampling down 
 the enervated legions of the Caesars, in successive waves of
 
 72 I T A L T . 
 
 invasion, swept over Gaul and Spain, and even croesed the 
 straits of Hercules aid penetrated Africa. 
 
 Another barbarian nation, called the Alemani, came howl- 
 ing through the defiles of the Rhaetian Alps, and, almost 
 unresisted, swept over the plains of Lombardy. Leaving 
 behind them traces of the most awful destruction, they re- 
 tired, with shouts of exultation and burdened with booty to 
 their northern wilds. The Goths of the Ukraine, about th 
 same time, in three expeditions of hitherto unparalleled de- 
 structiveness, took possession of the coasts of the Euxine, 
 overran Asia Minor. In the flat-bottomed boats which had 
 transported their bands across the Euxine to Asia, they 
 descended the Bosphorus and the Hellespont, and loaded 
 their fleet to the water's edge with the spoils of the Archi- 
 pelago. Thence they marched upon Epirus, and even began 
 to threaten Italy. 
 
 As Valerian marched through Greece and Asia Minor, 
 with his veteran legions, the Goths sullenly retreated, laden 
 with the plunder of the provinces. Pressing forward on his 
 route he crossed the Euphrates, and met his Persian foes, in 
 strong military array, on the plains of Mesopotamia. Here 
 Sapor, the Persian monarch, triumphed in a decisive battle, 
 and Valerian, hemmed in on all sides by overpowering num- 
 bers, was compelled to make an unconditional surrender. The 
 Roman emperor now drained to the dregs the cup of humilia- 
 tion and misery. Derisively robed in the imperial purple, 
 Valerian was compelled to stoop, as a footstool before his 
 conqueror, who put his foot upon his neck to mount his horse. 
 Every conceivable indignity was heaped upon him for seven 
 years. It is said that at length his eyes were put out, he was 
 flayed alive. His skin tanned, died red, and stuffed, was 
 preserved for ages in commemoration of Persia's triumph over 
 imperial Rome. 
 
 Gallienus was left, by the captivity and death of Valerian, 
 sole emperor. Fond of rank and power, he could not refrain
 
 RAPID STEIDE8 OP DECLINE. 378 
 
 from the indecent expression of gratification in view of those 
 misfortunes which had relieved him from the colleagueship of 
 his father. Regardless of the dishonor which had befahen 
 the empire, he attempted to purchase peace with the bar- 
 barians, and devoted himself to the cultivation of poetry, 
 rhetoric, and the elegant arts. Many provinces were invaded 
 and ravaged with impunity, while Galh'enus only smiled at the 
 intelligence, remarking that Rome was too great to be dis- 
 turbed by a loss so contemptible. The discontent became so 
 general, that it is said that thirty insurgents rose, during his 
 reign, endeavoring to crowd him from the throne, and grasp 
 the scepter. Civil war, incessantly roused by these local 
 feuds, everywhere desolated the empire. 
 
 Odenathus at Palmyra, near the Euphrates, carved him 
 out a kingdom from the crumbling state, and maintained him- 
 self in his rebellious sovereignty for twelve years. At his 
 death he transmitted his scepter to his widow Zenobia. In- 
 efficiency and cruelty were combined in the character of Gal- 
 lienus. 
 
 It appears, by exact registers, that in the course of a few 
 years, the population of the Roman empire had decreased, 
 probably one half, from wars, pestilence, and famine. The 
 barbarians were incessantly ravaging the frontiers, and making 
 'incursions almost within sight of the domes of Rome. At the 
 same time, in almost every province, bands of the army were 
 pronouncing some successful general imperator, and were 
 raising the standard of rebellion. One of the insurgents, named 
 Aureolus, from the Upper Danube, crossed the Rhaetian Alps, 
 and inarched boldly upon Rome. Gallienus thus roused, 
 attacked him, defeated him, and drove him back upon Milan. 
 Here Gallienus, in a nocturnal attack, received a mortal dart 
 from an unknown hand, probably from an assassin in his own 
 ranks. 
 
 With his dying breath he named as his successor a distin. 
 guished general, Claudius, of plebeian birth, then in command
 
 of a division of the Roman army near Pavia. He was a 
 veteran soldier, and the senate and the army cordially accepted 
 him. Claudius was then fifty-four years of age. With energy 
 he assailed Aureolus, captured him and put him to death. 
 Heroically he engaged in the attempt to infuse new life into 
 the decaying empire. The barbarians of the north, under the 
 general name of Goths, were now, in armaments more formid- 
 able than ever before, crossing the frontiers, from the German 
 ocean to the Euxine sea, a distance of more than fifteen hun- 
 dred miles. 
 
 One army, which it was affirmed consisted of three hun- 
 dred and twenty thousand, descended the Dneister in six 
 thousand barges. Encountering but feeble opposition they 
 spread in all directions, plundering and destroying the coasts 
 of Europe and of Asia. Claudius marched against them. 
 The letter he addressed to the senate, on this occasion, is 
 still extant. 
 
 By a series of signal victories Claudius drove the barbar- 
 ians back again into their forests. As he was pursuing them 
 with sleepless energy, he fell a victim to exhaustion and expos- 
 ure, and died of a fever, after a reign of two years. He 
 gathered his officers around his dying bed, and recommended 
 to them one Aurelian, one of his ablest generals, as his succes- 
 sor on the throne. Aurelian was the son of a peasant. His 
 reign lasted four years and nine months ; and was wonderfully 
 successful. He chastised the Goths with a rod of iron, and 
 drove them in dismay from the empire. He recovered Spain, 
 Gaul, and Britain from Tetricus, who had usurped the sov- 
 ereignty there. He then prepared an expedition to crush 
 rebellion in the east. 
 
 History describes Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, as mar- 
 velously beautiful, being endowed with almost every moral, 
 intellectual, and physical grace. She was not only a proficient 
 hi Latin and Greek, but also understood the Egyptian and 
 Syriac languages. With her own pen she had written an epi-
 
 RAPID STRIDES OF DECLINE. 876 
 
 tome of oriental history. For five years, bidding defiance to 
 Rome, she had reigned over Palmyra and Syria. Her domin- 
 ions extended from the Euphrates to the borders of Bithynia. 
 Without directly avowing hostility to Rome, she seemed, at 
 times, to assume the character of a Roman empress, in com- 
 mand of the eastern division of the empire. Longinus, the 
 renowned critic, whose works are studied with admiration to 
 the present day, was her secretary. 
 
 Aurelian having vanquished the Goths, with a victorious 
 army marched along the shores of the Euxine, into the terri- 
 tory claimed by Zenobia. Two great battles were fought, in 
 both of which Zenobia was defeated, and her troops cut to 
 pieces. As usual, her subjects accepted the conqueror. Zeno- 
 bia, however, with intrepidity seldom surpassed, retired to 
 her citadel, in Palmyra, resolved to surrender her crown only 
 with her life. 
 
 " The Roman people," Aurelian wrote, " speak with con- 
 tempt of the war which I am waging against a woman. They 
 are ignorant both of the character and the power of Zenobia. 
 It is impossible to enumerate her warlike preparations of 
 stones, arrows, and every species of missile weapon. Every 
 part of the walls is provided with two or three balistce ; and 
 artificial fire is thrown from her military engines. The fear of 
 punishment has armed her with a desperate courage. Yet, 
 still I trust in the protecting deities of Rome, who have hith- 
 erto been favorable to all my undertakings." 
 
 At length Zenobia, after a long and heroic conflict, despair' 
 ing of her ability longer to maintain the siege, and conscious 
 of the doom which awaited her should she fall into the hands 
 of the Romans, endeavored to escape and seek the protection of 
 the Persian court. She mounted one of her fleetest dromeda- 
 ries and had reached the distance of sixty miles from Palmyra, 
 when she was overtaken and brought back a captive to Aure- 
 lian. When the heroic queen was conducted into the presence 
 of her victor he sternly inquired :
 
 376 IT ALT. 
 
 "How dared you to rise in arrat against the emperors of 
 R:>me?" 
 
 With an adroit admixture of flattery and firmness she re- 
 plied, " Because I disdained to consider a Gallienus as a Ro- 
 man emperor. Aurelian alone I recognize as my conqueror 
 and sovereign." 
 
 The victor was not merciful. Longinus was sent to ths 
 block. Terrible vengeance was wreaked upon the reconquered 
 territory, in which women, children, and old men fell in indis- 
 criminate slaughter beneath the swords of the Roman soldiers. 
 Zenobia was carried a prisoner to Rome, to grace the triumph. 
 Such a triumph Rome had not witnessed for ages. It was the 
 dying flicker of the lamp. Twenty elephants, four tigers, and 
 two hundred of the most imposing animals of the east led the 
 pompous procession. Sixteen hundred gladiators engaged in 
 mortal combat in the amphitheater. The vast plunder of the 
 armies, from the sack of oriental cities was ostentatiously 
 paraded. An immense train of prisoners followed slaves 
 captured from Gaul, Spain, Germany, and all the nations of 
 the east. Conspicuous among these, arresting every eye, was 
 Tetricus, the insurgent chief of the west, and Zenobia, the de- 
 fiant queen of the east. 
 
 Zenobia, radiant in pensive beauty, and robed in the most 
 gorgeous attire of the orient, walked fettered with chains of 
 gold, and almost sinking beneath the weight of jewelry and 
 precious stones. The gold chain which encircled her neck was 
 BO heavy that a slave supported a portion of it. The gorgeous 
 chariot of the queen, empty, and drawn by Arabian chargers 
 magnificently caparisoned, followed the captive. The tri- 
 umphal car of Aurelian then appeared, harnessed to four stags. 
 The senators, in their robes of office, the bannered army, and 
 a vast concourse of the populace closed the procession. 
 
 The emperor, however, treated the most distinguished of 
 his captives very generously. Many of the maidens, after re- 
 ceiving a finished education, were joined in honorable wedlock
 
 EAPID STRIDES OP DECLINE. 37* 
 
 to the generals of the armies. Zeuobia was placed in the en- 
 joyment of an elegant villa at Tivoli, about twenty miles from 
 Rome, with ample supplier for her wants. Even Tetricus was 
 restored to his forfeited rank and fortune. He reared a mag- 
 nificent palace on the Caelian hill, and invited the emperor to 
 sup with him. They remained on the most friendly terms foj 
 the rest of life. 
 
 But there was no peace for tumultuous Rome. One sedi 
 Jon within the walls was only quelled by the sacrifice of seven 
 thousand of the imperial troops. Aurelian was terribly severe 
 in discipline. The crudest tortures, and death in its most 
 awful forms, did not touch his sympathies. Ever accustomed 
 to war, he regarded life as of but little moment, and transferred 
 the stern rule of the camp into all civil affairs. His severities 
 excited constant conspiracies, and the conspiracies led to new 
 severities. The most illustrious men in Rome were sent to 
 the block. The executioner was constantly busy, and the 
 prisons were ever crowded. 
 
 A few months after his great triumph, he again placed 
 himself at the head of his armies, in a march upon Persia. 
 He had arrived as far as the Thracian Bosphorus, when some 
 of his principal officers, learning that they were doomed to 
 death, fell upon him hi his tent, and cut him down. He fought 
 fiercely for his life, but was overpowered. 
 
 It is strange that any one should have been willing to ac- 
 cept the Roman scepter, since it so invariably led to assassina- 
 tion. For two centuries, out of the great number of emperors, 
 buv t,uree or four had died a natural death. The virtuous and 
 the vicious, the mild and the severe, were alike doomed to a 
 bloody end. The army adored Aurelian, and were deter- 
 mined that none of the conspirators should gam the throne. 
 They therefore sent z deputation to the senate requesting that 
 Aurelian should be placed in the number of the gods, and that 
 a successor should be chosen at Rome, worthy of the imperial 
 purple. The senate detested Aurelian, who had ruled them
 
 878 ITALY. 
 
 with military rigor. They rejoiced to hear of his death, and 
 were astonished and delighted at the deference, so unusual, with 
 which they were treated by the army. But there was now no 
 member of the senate who was willing to accept the crown. 
 Three times the senate returned this answer, and three times 
 the army reiterated its request. For nearly eight months, 
 Rome was without a sovereign, and perhaps never before were 
 the affairs of the empire better administered, since the efficient 
 generals and magistrates Aurelian had appointed, still contin- 
 ued in power. The Roman legions yet remained encamped 
 upon the banks of the Bosphorus. 
 
 But this state of things could not long continue. Intelli- 
 gence reached Rome that a new flood of barbarians had swept 
 across the Rhine, and were ravaging Gaul. The Persian mon- 
 arch was also threatening all the east. There was a venerable 
 senator, Tacitus, a descendant of the renowned historian, 
 seventy-five years of age. He possessed vast wealth, had 
 twice been consul, and his character was singularly pure, for 
 those days of pollution. The voice of the people called loudly 
 for Tacitus. Alarmed, he had sought the retirement of his 
 viua. Being summoned to the senate, he was, with universal 
 acclaim, greeted as Tacitus Augustus. He struggled to es- 
 cape the dangerous honor. 
 
 " Are these limbs," said he, " fitted to sustain the weight of 
 armor, or to practice the exercises of the camp ? My exhaust- 
 ed strength scarcely enables me to discharge the duties of a 
 senator. Can you hope that the legions will respect a weak 
 old man, whose days have been spent in the shade of peace 
 and retirement ? Can you desire that I should ever find rea- 
 son to regret the favorable opinion of the senate ?" 
 
 Tacitus was compelled to be emperor. The army demand- 
 ed his immediate presence. He hastened to the Bosphorus, 
 put his troops m motion, and had arrived within about one 
 hundred and fifty miles of the Euphrates, when he was mur- 
 dered by his soldiers, after a reign of seven months.
 
 BAPID STB1DE6 OF DECLINE. 379 
 
 The legions, now in Cappadocia, a province washed by the 
 Euphrates, were not disposed to wait the tardy movements of 
 of the senate, and immediately elected Probus, one of their 
 generals, emperor. Probus was a soldier, and his reign was 
 an incessant battle. The foes of Rome were numberless. He 
 led every assault ; was ever the first to scale a rampart, or to 
 break into the camp of the foe. After thus fighting for six 
 years to drive back the enemy crowding upon the empire 
 from the east, the west, and the north, Probus died the 
 natural death of the Roman sovereigns. A party of muti- 
 neers rushed upon him as he was superintending the draining 
 of a marsh, work which displeased them, and pierced him 
 with a hundred daggers. 
 
 The army looked quietly on as the assassins wiped thsir 
 bloody weapons, and then elected Carus, a captain of the 
 guard, emperor, and simply sent word to the senate, in utter 
 disregard of the prerogatives of that body, that the army had 
 provided Rome with a sovereign. Carus was an old, bald- 
 headed man, and marshaling his troops for a campaign in the 
 East, he declared that he would make Persia bare as bis own 
 skull. The hardy soldier, in mid-winter, marched his troops 
 through Thrace and Asia Minor, and reached the confines of 
 Persia. The Persian monarch, alarmed, sent an ambassador 
 to negotiate, if possible, a peace. The envoys, accustomed to 
 the magnificence of oriental courts, were astonished to find 
 the Roman emperor seated upon the grass, eating his supper 
 of cold bacon and peas. A coarse woolen garment, of purple 
 dye, was the only external indication of his dignity. The 
 demands of Carus were such that the Persians retired with- 
 out coming to terms, and the Roman legions ravaged Mesopo- 
 tamia mercilessly, extending their arms beyond the Tigris. 
 
 As usual, a conspiracy was formed for the death of Carus. 
 On the night of Christmas, A. D. 283, a fearful tempest arose. 
 The mutineers, as the lightning was flashing along the sky, 
 and peals of thunder shook the camp, rushed upon Carus,
 
 880 ITALY. 
 
 reposing in his tent, murdered him, set fire to the curtains, 
 and burned his body in the flames of his own pavilion. The 
 story was sent to Rome that the tent was struck by lightning, 
 an indication that the gods wished the army to abandon the 
 Persian enterprise and return to Rome.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 DIVISIONS OP THIS EMPIRE. 
 FEOM A. D. 283 TO A. D. 330. 
 
 CARINITS AND NUMERIAN. ANECDOTE OF DIOCLETIAN. His ACCESSION. SAGACIOUS 
 ARRANGEMENTS. THE FOUR EMPERORS. WARS OP THE BARBARIANS. THE Two 
 NEW CAPITALS, MILAN AND NICOMEDIA. DECADKNOE OP ROME. ABDICATION OF 
 DIOCLETIAN. His RETIREMENT AND DEATH. CONSTANTIUS AND CONSTANTINE. 
 THE OVERTHROW OP MAXENTITO, MAXIMIN, AND LICINIUS. CONSTANTINE SOLS 
 EMPEROR. TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY OVER PERSECUTION. CONSTANTINE ADOPTS 
 CHRISTIANITY. BYZANTIUM CHANGED TO CONSTANTINOPLE. THK GROWTH AND 
 SPLENDOR OP THE CITY. 
 
 THE army appointed the two sons of Carus to the imperial 
 dignity. One of these, Carinus, was in Gaul. The other, 
 Numerian, had accompanied his father to Persia. The sol- 
 diers, weary of the distant war, insisted on being led back to 
 Italy. Numerian, sick and suffering severely from inflamma- 
 tion of the eyes, was compelled to yield to the demands of the 
 troops. The army, by slow marches, retraced its steps, eight 
 months being occupied in reaching the Bosphorus. Numerian 
 was conveyed in a litter, shut up from the light, and he issued 
 his daily orders through his minister, Aper. He at length 
 died, and Aper, concealing his death, continued, from the 
 imperial pavilion, to proclaim mandates to the army in the 
 iame of the invisible sovereign. They had already reached 
 the Bosphorus, when the suspicions of the army were excited, 
 and the soldiers, breaking into the regal tent, discovered the 
 embalmed body of the emperor. Aper, accused of his mur- 
 der, was seized and brought befbre a military tribunal. At 
 the same time, with unanimous voice, the army chose Diocle- 
 tian emperor, who was in command of the guard. Diocletiau
 
 was born a slave the child of slaves owned by a Roman 
 senator. Having attained his freedom, he had worked his 
 way to the highest posts in the army. Aper was brought 
 before him for trial. This first act of his reign developed the 
 promptness, the energy, and the despotism of Diocletian. As 
 the accused was led in chains to the tribunal, Diocletian, 
 looking upon him sternly and asking for no proof, said : 
 
 " This man is the murderer of Numerian." 
 
 Drawing his sword he plunged it into the prisoner's heart, 
 and all the army applauded the deed. Carinus, the brother 
 and colleague of Numerian was at Rome, rioting in the 
 utmost voluptuousness of dissolute pleasures. Alarmed by the 
 announcement of the election of Diocletian, he summoned an 
 army and marched to meet him. The two rival emperors, at 
 the head of their legions, confronted each other near Margus, 
 a city of Moesia, on the lower Danube. In the heat of the 
 battle a general of his own army, whose wife Carinus had 
 seduced, watching his opportunity, with one blow of his mas- 
 sive sword, struck the despicable emperor down in bloody 
 death. 
 
 Diocletian was now sole sovereign. Assassination was the 
 doom which seemed to await every emperor. The first meas- 
 ure of Diocletian was sagaciously adopted as a protection 
 against this peril. He appointed as his colleague on the 
 throne, Maximian, a general of most heroic bravery, but a 
 man of lowly birth and exceedingly uncultivated in mind, and 
 unpolished hi manners. Both of these emperors assumed the 
 title of Augustus, the highest title recognized in Rome. They 
 had been intimate friends hi private life, companions hi many 
 bloody battles, and they now devoted their energies to the 
 support of each other on the throne, each conscious that 
 the fall of one would only accelerate the rum of the other. 
 In this partnership Diocletian was the head, Maximian the 
 sword ; they even assumed corresponding titles, the one that 
 of Jupiter, the other Hercules.
 
 DIVISIONS OF THE EMPIRE. 383 
 
 As an additional precaution, each of these emperors chose 
 a successor, to be associated with him hi the government, with 
 the more humble title of Caesar. Galerius was the associate 
 and appointed successor of Diocletian, and Constantius of 
 Maximian. To strengthen the bonds of this union, each of 
 these heirs to the throne were required to repudiate his former 
 wife, and marry a daughter of the Augustus whose successor 
 he was to be. There were thus four princes on the throne, 
 bound together by the closest ties, and they divided the 
 administration of the Roman empire between them. Gaul, 
 Spain, and Britain were assigned to Coustantius ; the Danu- 
 bian provinces and Dlyria were entrusted to Galerius. Maxi- 
 mian took charge of Italy and Africa, while Diocletian as- 
 sumed the sovereignty of Greece, Egypt, and Asia. Each 
 one was undisputed sovereign in his own realms; while 
 unitedly they administered the general interests of the whole 
 empire. Several years were occupied in maturing this plan. 
 
 But the world seemed to have conspired against the 
 Roman empire. The Britons rose hi successful rebellion, and 
 through many a fierce battle maintained, for a time, their 
 independence. Barbaric tribes seemed to blacken the shores 
 of the Rhine and the Danube in their incessant incursions of 
 devastation and plunder. Africa was in arms from the Nile 
 to Mount Atlas, the Moorish nations issuing, with irre- 
 pressible ferocity, from then- pathless deserts. And Persia 
 was roused to new and herculean efforts to humble the heredi- 
 tary enemy by whom she had so often been chastised. 
 
 Maximian, who was regarded as the emperor of the west, 
 selected Milan for his capital, it being more conveniently 
 situated at the foot of the Alps, for him to watch the motion 
 of the barbarians on the Danube and the Rhine. Milan thus 
 rose rapidly to the splendor of an imperial city. 
 
 Diocletian chose for his residence Nicomedia, hi Bithynia, 
 on the Asiatic coast of the sea of Marmora, and he endeavored 
 even to eclipse the grandeur of Rome, in the oriental mag-
 
 884 ITALY. 
 
 nificence with which ne embellished his Asiatic capital. The 
 two subordidate emperors, who were Cmsar only, not Ait- 
 gustus, were practically governors of provinces and generals 
 of the armies. 
 
 A large portion of the imperial life, both of Diocletian 
 and Maximian, was spent in camps. Rome was hardly known 
 to them. In the brief respites from war they retired to their 
 palaces in Nicomedia and Milan. Indeed, it is said that Dio- 
 oletian never visited Rome, until in the twentieth year of his 
 reign, he repaired to the ancient capital to celebrate, with 
 gorgeous triumph, a great victory over the Persians. Diocle- 
 tian ambitiously surrounded himself with all the stately mag- 
 nificence of the Persian court. He robed himself in the most 
 Bumptuous garments of silk and gold, and wore a diadem 
 set with pearls, an ornament which Rome had hitherto de- 
 tested as luxurious and effeminate. Even his shoes were 
 studded with precious gems. Eunuchs guarded the interior 
 of the palace. All who were admitted to the presence of the 
 emperor were obliged to prostrate themselves before him, and 
 to address him with the titles of the Divinity. These innova- 
 tions were introduced, not for the gratification of vanity, but 
 as a protection from the rude license of the people, which 
 exposed the sovereign to assassination. 
 
 Guided by the same principle, Diocletian multiplied the 
 agents of the government, by greatly dividing every branch of 
 the civil and military administration. Diocletian was, so to 
 speak, the supreme emperor. He had selected Maximian to 
 be associated with him as Augustus, and had also chosen 
 Constantius and Galerius as subordinate emperors, with the 
 title of Caesar, to succeed to the imperial purple. The mind 
 of Diocletian was the primal element in the administration. 
 He intended this arrangement to be perpetual, two elder 
 princes wearing the diadem as Augustus, two younger, as 
 Caesar, aiding in the administration and prepared to succeed. 
 Such an array of power would discourage any aspiring gen-
 
 DIVISIONS OF THE EMPIKE. 385 
 
 eral, who otherwise, by assassination, might hope to attain 
 the crown. To support this splendor and to meet the ex- 
 penses of the incessant wars with the barbarians, from whom 
 no plunder could be obtained, by way of reprisal, he burdened 
 the state with taxation which doomed the laboring classes to 
 the most abject poverty. 
 
 In the twenty-first year of his reign, Diocletian, then 
 fifty-nine years of age, abdicated the empire. He was led to 
 this by long and severe illness, which so enfeebled him that 
 he was quite unable to sustain the toils and cares of govern- 
 ment. Weary of conducting the administration from a bed 
 of sickness and pain, he resolved to seek retirement and 
 repose. About three miles from the city of Nlcomedia there 
 is a spacious plain, which the emperor selected for the cere- 
 mony of his abdication. A lofty throne was erected, upon 
 which Diocletian, pale and emaciate, in a dignified speech, 
 announced to the immense multitude he had assembled there* 
 his resignation of the diadem. Then laying aside the impe- 
 rial vestments, he entered a closed chariot, and repaired to a 
 rural retreat he had selected at Salona, in his native province 
 of Dalmatia, on the Grecian shore of the Adriatic sea. On 
 the same day, which was May 1, A. D. 306, Maximian, by 
 previous concert, also abdicated at Milan. He was constrained 
 to this act by the ascendency which the imperial mind of 
 Diocletian had obtained over him. Maximian, in vigorous 
 health and martial in his tastes, found retirement very irk- 
 some, and urged his weary and more philosophic colleague to 
 resume the reins of government. Diocletian replied: 
 
 ** Could you but see the fine cabbages in my garden, which 
 I have planted and raised with my own hands, you would not 
 ask me to relinquish such happiness for the pursuit of power." 
 
 But, notwithstanding Dioceletian's memorable speech 
 
 about the cabbages, all the appliances of opulence and splendor 
 
 surrounded him in his retreat. He had selected the spot with 
 
 an eye of an artist ; and when in possession of the revenues 
 
 17
 
 886 JTALT. 
 
 of the Roin.'ui empire, he devoted many years in rearing an 
 imperial castle, suitable for one who had been accustomed, for 
 neaily a quarter of a century, to more than oriental magnifi- 
 cence. From the portico of the palace, a view was spread out 
 of wonderful beauty, combining the most extensive panorama 
 of mountains and valleys, while a bay creeping in from the 
 Adriatic sea, studded with picturesque islands, presented the 
 aspect of a secluded and tranquil lake. But even here, in this 
 most lovely of earthly retreats, man's doom of sorrow pur- 
 sued the emperor ; and domestic griefs of the most afflictive 
 character, blighted the bloom of his arbors and parterres, and 
 darkened his saloons. 
 
 Ten acres were covered by this palace, which was con- 
 ctructed of free-stone, and flanked with sixteen towers. The 
 principal entrance was denominated the golden gate, and 
 gorgeous temples were reared in honor of the pagan gods, 
 ./Ssculapius and Jupiter, whom Diocletian ostentatiously ador- 
 ed. The most exquisite ornaments of painting and sculpture 
 embellished the architectural structure, the saloons, and the 
 grounds. The death of Diocletian is shrouded in mystery. 
 It is simply known that the most oppressive gloom and re- 
 morse shadowed his declining years ; but whether his death 
 was caused by poison, which he prepared for himself, or which 
 was administered by another, or whether he fell a victim to 
 disease, can now never be known. 
 
 The two Caesars, Gonstantius and Galerius, now became 
 Augusti, and were invested with the imperial insignia. The 
 division of the empire into the east and the west became still 
 more marked ; the morning sun rising upon the oriental prov- 
 inces of Galerius, and its evening rays falling upon the occi- 
 dental realms of Constantius. Two new Caesars were now 
 needed to occupy the place of those who had ascended to the 
 imperial government. Galerius chose his nephew, a rustic 
 youth, to whom he entrusted the government of Egypt and
 
 DIVISIONS OF THB EMPIEB. 887 
 
 Syria. Constantine, the son of Constantius, was appointed as 
 the associate and successor of his father. 
 
 A revolt in Britain called for the presence of Constantlus. 
 His son accompanied him. Here Constantius was taken sick, 
 and died fifteen months after he had received the title of Au- 
 gustus. Constantine immediately succeeded him. Galeriui 
 did not cheerfully acquiesce in this arrangement, but Constan- 
 tine, at the head of the army of Britain was too powerful to 
 be opposed. Constantine was then thirty-two years of age. 
 Italy had thus far been elevated in rank and privileges above 
 the remote provinces of the empire ; and the Roman citizens^ 
 for five hundred years, had been exempted from taxation, the 
 burdens of state being borne by the subjugated nations. But 
 the exigences of the impoverished empire were now such that 
 Galerius, from his palace in Nicomedia, issued orders for num- 
 bering, even the proud citizens of Rome itself, and taxing 
 them with all the rest. 
 
 Maximian, who had been exceedingly restless in the retreat 
 to which his reluctant abdication had consigned him, hoped to 
 take advantage of the disaffection in Rome to grasp the scep- 
 ter again, notwithstanding the efforts of Galerius to place 
 Severus, one of his partisans, in power there. Maximian and 
 Severus soon met on the field of battle, and the latter being 
 vanquished, was doomed to die, being allowed merely to 
 choose the manner of his death. He opened his veins, and 
 quietly passed away. Maximian had previously given his 
 daughter in marriage to Constantine, hoping thus to secure his 
 cooperation. Leaving his son Maxentius as acting emperor in 
 Rome, he set out for Britain, to meet Constantine. 
 
 Galerius, enraged, gathered an army, and marched upon 
 Italy to avenge the death of Severus, and to chastise the rebel- 
 b >us Romans. 
 
 " I will extirpate," he exclaimed in his wrath, " both the 
 senate and the people, by the sword." 
 
 Constantine was in Britain, but M**i""n was a foe not
 
 388 IT ALT. 
 
 easily to be vanquished. Galerius fought his way slowly to 
 within sixty miles of Rome ; but, hedged in on all sides, he 
 could advance no farther. His perils hourly increasing, with 
 extreme mortification he was compelled to order a retreat. 
 Burning with rage, Galerius commenced his backward march, 
 inflicting every conceivable outrage upon the Italian people. 
 His soldiers plundered, ravished, murdered. Flocks and herds 
 were driven away, cities and villages burned, and the country 
 reduced to a smoldering desert. Galerius invested Licmius 
 and Maximin with imperial powers, the one in Illyricum, and 
 the other hi Egypt, and thus there were now six emperors, 
 each claiming the equal title of Augustus. 
 
 Maximian was now on his way to Britain, to the court of 
 Constantino, to arrange a coalition. Constantino was suddenly 
 summoned to the Rhine, by an incursion of the Franks. Max- 
 imian, at Aries, near the mouth of the Rhone hi Gaul, where 
 much treasure had been accumulated, took advantage of the 
 absence of Constantino to endeavor to excite a mutiny in his 
 own favor. With wonderful celerity Constantino turned upon 
 him, pursued him to Marseilles, took him captive, and allowed 
 him the same privilege which he had allowed to Severus to 
 choose his mode of death. The old emperor, who was father 
 of the wife of Constantino, opened his veins, and sank into the 
 tomb. 
 
 Galerius, retired from his unsuccessful campaign in Italy to 
 his palaces in Nicomedia, where he indulged unrestrained, for 
 four years, in that licentiousness and debauchery common to 
 nearly all the Roman emperors. He became bloated and zor- 
 pulent. Ulcers broke out over his whole body, and at length 
 he died, a loathsome mass of corruption. He had ferociously 
 persecuted the Christians during his whole reign, and by them 
 his awful death was regarded as a Divine visitation. As soon 
 as his d^ath was announced, Maximin and Licinius divided his 
 empire between them, the former taking the Asiatic, and the 
 latter the European portion.
 
 DIVISIONS OF THE. EMPIRE. 88* 
 
 There were now four emperors regarding each other with 
 a strong spirit of rivalry. Constantino in Britain and Gaul; 
 Maxentius in Italy; Licinius in Macedonia and Greece; and 
 Maximin in Asia. Constantino was renowned for his gentle- 
 manly character, and his humane spirit ; and yet, after a greafc 
 victory over the Franks and the Alcmani, he entertained the 
 people of Treves by throwing the captive princes into the am- 
 phitheater, to be torn to pieces by wild beasts ; and so bar- 
 barous were the times, that this act was not then deemed in- 
 consistent with generosity and mercy. 
 
 Maxentius, in Rome, was one of the most odious of tyrants. 
 The Christians suffered fearfully under his reign, and history 
 has preserved the name of one noble Christian matron, Sophro- 
 nia, wife of the prefect of the city, who, to escape the violence 
 of Maxentius, plunged a dagger into her own heart. The 
 tyrant filled Rome with troops, and purchased their favor by 
 indulging them in the most unbounded license. With Rome 
 for his capital, he assumed to be sole emperor, regarding the 
 other emperors as his subordinates. Open collision soon arose 
 between Maxentius and Constantino. Maxentius had under 
 his command a very formidable force, amounting to one hun- 
 dred and seventy thousand foot, and eighteen thousand horse. 
 Constantino, at the head of but forty thousand troops, marched 
 to attack him. Constantino, however, was well assured of the 
 secret sympathy in his behalf, both of the senate, and the peo- 
 ple of Rome. 
 
 Marching from Gaul, Constantino crossed the great Alpine 
 barrier by what is now called the pass of Mount Cenis, and 
 had descended into the plains of Piedmont, before Maxentius 
 had received tidings of his departure from Gaul. He took 
 Suza by storm. Sweeping resistlessly along, Turin and Milan, 
 after fierce battles, fell into his hands. He was now within 
 four hundred miles of Rome, and a magnificent road, through 
 a rich country, invited his march. 
 
 His number of prisoners became so great, that chains
 
 890 ,-: .-.'. ITALY. 
 
 needed to shackle them ; and a vast number of smiths were 
 employed in hammering the swords of the vanquished into 
 fetters. With wonderful celerity he pressed forward, sur- 
 mounting all opposition, until he arrived at a place called 
 Saxa Rubra, within nine miles of Rome, where he found 
 Maxentius intrenched in great force. His army, in long 
 array, reached even to the banks of the Tiber. The defeat 
 of Maxentius was entire, and the carnage of his troops awfuL 
 Maxentius himself, in attempting to escape across the Milvian 
 bridge, was crowded into the river, and, from the weight of 
 his armor, instantly sank to the bottom. His body, the next 
 day, was dragged from the mud, and, being decapitated, the 
 ghastly head was exposed to the rejoicing people. 
 
 Constantino, thus decisively victorious, entered the city in 
 triumph. The pliant senate gathered around him in homage, 
 and assigned him the first rank among the three remaining 
 Augusti^ then sharing the dominion of the world. Games 
 were instituted, and a triumphal arch was reared to his honor, 
 which still remains. Rome was fallen so low that the arch 
 of Trajan was shamefully despoiled of its ornaments, that 
 they might be transferred to the arch of Constantine. Con- 
 stantine suppressed the Pretorian guard forever, and utterly 
 destroyed their camp. He remained two months in Rome, 
 consolidating his power. He also negotiated an alliance with 
 Licinius, the Illyrian emperor, conferring upon him his sister 
 Constantia in marriage. 
 
 Maximin, in Asia, alarmed by this coalition of the two 
 European emperors, in dead of winter marched from the heart 
 of Syria, crossed the Thracian Bosphorus, captured Byzan- 
 tium, now Constantinople, after a siege of eleven days, and 
 met Licinius, at the head of seventy thousand troops, near 
 Heraclea, about fifty miles west of Byzantium. In a terrible 
 battle the army of Maximin was almost annihilated, and the 
 Syrian monarch, pale with rage and despair, fled with such 
 celerity, that in twenty-four hours he entered Nicomedia, one
 
 DIVISIONS OF THE EMPIRE. 391 
 
 hundred and sixty miles from the field of battle. There he 
 soon died, whether from despair, or poison which his own 
 hand had mingled, is not known. There were now two 
 emperors left, Constantino and Licinius. The provinces of 
 the East accepted Licinius, and thus the Roman empire 
 became again divided into the eastern and the western. 
 Maximin left two children; a son eight years of age, and 
 a daughter seven. Licinius, with Roman mercilessness, put 
 them both to death. All the other relatives, who could in 
 any possible way endanger the sway of Licinius, were also, 
 with the most relentless cruelty, consigned to the executioner. 
 
 Hardly a year now elapsed ere Constantino and Licinius 
 turned their arms against each other. Licinius was tyrannical 
 and perfidious ; Constantino msatiately aspiring. Sirmium, on 
 the river Save, not far from its confluence with the Danube, 
 was the capital of the vast province of Dlyricum. On the 
 banks of the Save, fifty miles above Sirmium, at Cibalis, the 
 two emperors met in hostile array. It was the eighth of 
 October, A. D. 315. The battle raged from dawn till dark; 
 and then Licmius, leaving twenty thousand of his men dead 
 upon the fiell, in the night retreated, abandoning his camp 
 and all his magazines. Constantino pursued. Licinius, accu- 
 mulating recruits as he fled, again made a stand on the plain 
 of Mardia, in Thrace. Again they fought from the earliest 
 ray of the morning until night darkened the field. Again 
 Licinius was worsted, and he continued his flight toward the 
 mountains of Macedonia. He now sued for peace. Constan- 
 tino consented to leave him in command of Thrace, Asis 
 Minor, Syria, and Egypt, but wrested from him Illyricum, 
 Dahnatia, Da Ma, Macedonia, and Greece, which were all 
 attached to the western empire. Thrace was the only foot- 
 hold which Licinius held in Europe. 
 
 Affairs thus remained in comparative tranquillity for about 
 eight years, during which time Constantino devoted himself 
 very assiduously to the government of his vast empire.
 
 892 ITALY. 
 
 ConstantiLe, with his empire firmly established, and hi* 
 armies thoroughly disciplined, was no longer disposed to 
 endure a partner in the empire, and he found no difficulty hi 
 " picking a quarrel " with Licinius, now infirm with age, dis- 
 solute, tyrannical, and execrated. But the old man developed 
 unexpected and amazing energy. He speedily assembled, on 
 the fields of Thrace, an army of one hundred and fifty thous- 
 and foot, and fifteen thousand horse. The straits of the Bos- 
 porus and the Hellespont were filled with his fleet, consisting 
 of three hundred and fifty galleys of three banks of oars. 
 
 Constantino rendezvoused his army of one hundred and 
 twenty thousand horse and foot, in the highest discipline, at 
 Thessalonica, in Macedonia. In the celebrated harbor of 
 Piraus he had a fleet of two hundred transports. Licinius 
 intrenched himself at Adrianople, in the heart of Thrace, 
 about two hundred miles northeast from Thessalonica, and 
 awaited the attack of his foe. They soon met. The disciplin- 
 ed legions of Constantino trampled the eastern legions of Li- 
 cinius in the dust, and in a few hours thirty-four thousand of 
 the soldiers of Licinius were silent in death. The remainder 
 fled wildly. The fortified camp fell into the hands of the 
 victor, and Licinius, putting spurs to his horse, hardly looked 
 behind him till he found himself within the walls of Byzan- 
 tium. 
 
 The siege of the city was immediately commenced. It 
 had been fortified with the utmost skill which the military art 
 of that day could suggest, and the wealth of an empire oould 
 execute. After a long and cruel siege the city capitulated. 
 One final battle was fought on the Asiatic shore, near the 
 heigh ts of Scutari, and Licinius fled to Nicomedia without an 
 army and powerless. His wife, Constantia, sister of Constan- 
 tine, pleaded so earnestly with her brother for her husband, that 
 the conqueror, after subjecting Licinius to the most humiliat- 
 ing acts of homage, allowed him to retire to a retreat of pow- 
 erlessness, but of luxury, in Thessalonica Here he was soon
 
 DIVISIONS OF THE EMPIBB. 393 
 
 accused of meditating treason, and was put to death. Thua 
 was the Roman empire again united under cue emperor, and 
 Constantino remained sole monarch of what was then ca^ed 
 the world. 
 
 Constantino now adopted the memorable resolve to estab- 
 lish Christianity on a stable foundation as the honored religion 
 of the empire. The doctrines and precepts of our Saviour 
 had thoroughly undermined the old pagan superstitions, and, 
 notwithstanding the most bloody persecutions, Christianity had 
 at length attained such supremacy that, by an imperial decree, 
 the banners of the cross were unfurled over the ruined tem- 
 ples of Greece and Rome. 
 
 During the first two centuries Christianity spread over the 
 whole region between the Euphrates and the Ionian sea, and 
 flourishing churches were established in all the principal cities. 
 Under nearly all the emperors the Christians were persecuted, 
 sometimes legally, sometimes illegally, now with blind, frantic, 
 indiscriminate fury, and now under the semblance of modera- 
 tion and calm judicial process. All conceivable forms of ter- 
 ror were brought to operate against them. They were driven 
 into exile, torn to pieces by wild beasts, beheaded on the 
 block, and burnt at the stake. Several of the emperors ex- 
 erted all the power with which the scepter invested them, for 
 the utter extermination of the Christians. Historians have 
 generally enumerated ten persecutions of peculiar malignity. 
 
 The city ot Kome had been gradually losing its ascendency, 
 and Diocletian had reared Nicomedia into a capital almost 
 rivaling Rome in opulence and splendor. Constantine, the 
 child of camps, and whose life had been spent almost wholly 
 in the remote provinces of the empire, had no especial attach 
 ment for the imperial city, and he was ambitious of rearing a 
 new capital, occupying a more central spot in his vast empire, 
 and which should also bear and immortalize his name. With 
 sagacity whicn nas never been questioned, he selected for this
 
 894 ITALY. 
 
 purpose Byzantium, and gave it the name of Constantinople 
 or the city of Coustantine. 
 
 The imperial city, enjoying the most salubrious clime, sur- 
 rounded by realms of inexhaustible fertility, occupying an 
 eminence which commanded an extensive view of the shores 
 of Eorope and of Asia; with the Bosphorus on the north, and 
 the Dardanelles on the south, fortified gates which no for 
 could penetrate, with a harbor spacious, and perfectly secure, 
 and with the approaches on the side of the continent easy of 
 defense, presented to the sagacious Constantine a site foi the 
 metropolis of universal dominion, all unrivaled. The wealth, 
 eneigy, and artistic genius of the whole Roman empire were 
 immediately called into requisition, to enlarge and beautify the 
 new metropolis. The boundaries of the city were marked out, 
 fourteen miles hi circumference. It is said that a sum amount- 
 ing to twelve millions of dollars, was expended hi walls and 
 public improvements. The forests which then frowned almost 
 unbroken along the shores of the Euxine, and a fine quarry of 
 white marble in a neighboring island, afforded an inexhaust- 
 ible supply of materials. 
 
 The imperial palace, rivaling that of Rome, in its courts, 
 gardens, porticos, and baths, covered many acres. The an- 
 cient cities of the empire, including even Rome itself, were 
 despoiled of their most noble families, to add luster to the new 
 metropolis. Magnificent mansions were reared for them, and 
 wide domains assigned for the support of their dignity ; and 
 though Constantinople never fully equaled Rome in popula- 
 tion, dignity, and splendor, it soon became without dispute 
 the second city in the world.
 
 CflAPTEK XXII. 
 
 THE EMPIRE DIS ME MBEBED. 
 FBOM A. D. 330 TO A. . 375. 
 
 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. DIVERSITY Of VlEWS Rj&8PECTIN HlM. THI TBAGBDT 
 
 OFCaispDs AND FJLUSTA. DEATH or CONSTANTINB. TBIPLB DIVISION OF THE 
 EMFIBS. TRIUMPH OF CONSTANTINE OVBB HIS BBOTHEBS. STRUGGLE WITH 
 MAGNBNTIUS. FATAL BA.TTLB OF MUBSA. FATB or GALLUS. ACCBSSION AND 
 APOSTACT OF JULIAN. His SCHOLARLY CHABACTBB. DEVELOPMENTS OP 
 ENERY. His WAB IN GA.BL. SELECTION OF PABIS FOB HIS CAPITAL. HIB 
 MELANCHOLT DEATH. RETREAT OF THE ARMY. CHOICE OF VALBNTINIAN. 
 VALENS HIS ASSOCIATE. ACCUMULATES WAM. DEATH OF VALEMTINIAN. 
 
 TVTO man has ever been more warmly applauded, or more 
 ** venomously condemned than Constantine, surnamed the 
 Great. And though fifteen centuries have passed away since 
 he disappeared from life's busy arena, his character is still the 
 subject of the most bitter denunciation, and of the most lofty 
 panegyric. 
 
 By nature Constantine was enriched with the choicest en- 
 dowments. In person he was majestic and graceful, with fea- 
 tures of the finest mold. Either from natural felicity of tem- 
 perament, or from his own powers of self-restraint, during all 
 his reign he preserved, to a wonderful degree, the virtues of 
 chastity and temperance. In mental capacity he was both 
 acute and comprehensive, having gathered from books and 
 travel a vast fund of information. He possessed great capa- 
 bilities of endurance, physical and intellectual. In the field he 
 displayed alike the bravery of the soldier, and the talents of 
 the general. Fully conscious of his superior abilities, with 
 boundless resources at his command, and warmly sustained by 
 the popular voice, he commenced and pursued a career tc 
 which we with difficulty find a parallel.
 
 896 ITALY. 
 
 The execution of the emperor's son Crispus, and of his seo 
 ond wife Fausta, was one of those appalling and awful events 
 which will probably ever be involved in some degree of ob- 
 scurity. So far as we can collect the facts, from the exceed- 
 ingly unsatisfactory and contradictory accounts, they were 
 these. Fausta, an exceedingly beautiful woman, and mucn 
 younger than her husband, fell in love with Crispus, the son 
 of Constantino's former wife, and a prince of remarkable at- 
 tractions, and who had imbibed the Christian views of his 
 teacher Lactantius. Fausta, in accordance with the spirit of 
 pagan Rome, which never revolted from any crime of this na- 
 ture, after earnest efforts at the seduction of her son-in-law, 
 made an open confession to him of her desires. Crispus repel- 
 led her, as Joseph did the wife of Potiphar. In confirmation 
 of the sentiment that 
 
 " Hell has no fury like a woman scorned," 
 
 Fausta, in her rage, fled to the emperor, declaring that 
 Crispus had made violent attempts upon her virtue. Con- 
 stantine, in the blindness of his jealousy and indignation, 
 condemned the innocent prince to death. Circumstances 
 soon after revealing the truth of the case, in remorse and 
 despair he sentenced Fausta to be stifled in her bath. Some 
 others who were her accomplices in the foul accusation per- 
 ished with her. It is said that from the gloom of these 
 events Constantine never recovered. For forty days he fasted 
 and mourned bitterly, denying himself all the ordinary com- 
 forts of life. He erected a golden statue to Crispus, with 
 this inscription : 
 
 " To my son whom I unjustly condemned." 
 
 The death of Crispus, perhaps, bound the imperial father 
 more closely to lis surviving sons. He resolved to divide the 
 empire oelweei them, at his death; and he gave them all the 
 title of Caesar. He placed them under the most celebrated
 
 THE EMPIRE DISMEMBERED. 897 
 
 professors of the Christian faith, and of aH Greek and Roman 
 learning. Constantino had been trained in the school of hard- 
 ships. His sons, from the cradle, were accustomed to luxury, 
 were surrounded with flatterers, and anticipated the throne as 
 their hereditary right. To train them to the cares of govern- 
 ment, the eldest son, Constantino, was sent to Gaul, the second 
 Constantius to Asia, and the third, Constans, was entrusted 
 with the administration of Italy and Africa. Constantino, the 
 father, reserved for himself the title of Augustus, conferring 
 upon his sons only that of Csesar. Two nephews, Dalmatiua 
 and Hannibalianus were also raised to the title of princes, 
 and invested with distinct commands. 
 
 After a reign of singular prosperity, continuing for nearly 
 thirty-one years, Constantino, in the sixty-fourth year of his 
 age, died, in one of his rural palaces in the suberbs of Nico- 
 media. On his dying bed he sought the consolations of that 
 Christian faith which he had ever politically favored, and was 
 then baptized as a disciple of Jesus, thus professing a personal 
 interest in the redemption our Saviour has purchased. His 
 funeral was attended with all the pageantry which Roman 
 power could suggest and execute. 
 
 The three sons of Constantino divided the realm to suit 
 themselves. Constantino, the eldest, with the recognition of 
 some slight preeminence in rank, established himself at Con- 
 stantinople, in command of the central provinces. Constan- 
 tius took charge of the eastern, and Constans of the western 
 realms. The new emperors were all dissolute young men, of 
 the several ages of twenty-one, twenty, and seventeen years. 
 
 The death of Constantino the Great was the signal for 
 war. Persia, under the leadership of Sapor, endeavored to 
 throw off the Roman yoke, and Constantius found it necessary 
 immediately to relinquish the voluptuousness of his palace for 
 the hardships of the camp on the plains of Mesopotamia. The 
 usual scones of blood and misery ensued, as the hostile armies.
 
 398 ITALY. 
 
 now in surging waves of victory, and now in the refluent 
 billows of defeat, swept the doomed land. 
 
 While Constantius, the second brother, was thus battling 
 on the fields of Mesopotamia, Constantine, the elder, waa 
 preparing to rob his younger brother, Constans of his impe- 
 rial patrimony. Breaking through the Carnac or Julian Alps, 
 he invaded Venetia, in Italy. Constans, who was then in 
 Dacia, north of the Danube, three hundred miles distant, 
 detached a division of his army, which he followed in person, 
 lured Constantino into an ambuscade, surrounded and killed 
 him, and attached all his domains, with Constantinople, to 
 his own realms. He thus became the undisputed sovereign 
 of two thirds of the Roman empire. Constans was still but 
 a boy, with but little ability and abundant self-conceit. His 
 incompetency excited contempt. 
 
 An ambitious soldier, named Magnentius, of barbarian 
 extraction, conspired against him. On the occasion of a feast, 
 in the city of Autun, subsequently renowned as the seat of 
 the bishopric of Talleyrand, which feast was protracted until 
 the hour of midnight, the conspiracy was consummated. On 
 a sudden, in the midst of the carousal, the doors were thrown 
 open, and Magnentius presented himself, arrayed in the impe- 
 rial purple. There was a moment's pause, as of consternation, 
 and then the whole assembly, with enthusiasm, wild and in- 
 flamed by wine and wassail, greeted the usurper with the 
 titles of Augustus and emperor. The soldiers were rallied, 
 and they took the oath of fidelity ; the gates of the city were 
 closed, and the banner of the new emperor floated over the 
 citadel. 
 
 Constans was at the time absent on a hunting excursion in 
 a neighboring forest. He heard at the same moment of the 
 conspiracy, and of the defection of his guard, which left him 
 utterly powerless. Putting spurs to his horse, he endeavored 
 to reach the sea shore, but was overtaken at Helena, now 
 Elne, at the foot of the Pyrenees, and was instantly put w
 
 THE EMPIRE DISMEMBERED. 809 
 
 death. All the provinces of the west acknowledged Magnen 
 tius. The tidings soon reached Constantius, on the plains of 
 Mesopotamia. Leaving his lieutenants to conduct the warfare 
 there, with a strong division of his army he turned his steps 
 toward Italy. But in the meantime, the powerful army, ever 
 encamped on the banks of the Danube, in cooperation with 
 Magnentius, appointed their renowned general, Vetranio asso- 
 ciate emperor. Again the whole Roman empire was agitated 
 with preparations for the most desperate civil war. 
 
 As soon as Constantius reached Illyricum on the frontiers 
 of Italy, he sagaciously made propositions to Vetranio, that 
 he would acknowledge him as associate emperor if he would 
 abandon the cause of Magnentius and ally himself with Con- 
 stantius. Basely the venal general accepted the bribe, and 
 wheeled his whole army of twenty thousand horse, and sev- 
 eral legions of infantry into the lines of Constantius. The 
 soldiers blended in enthusiastic fraternization, intertwining 
 their banners, and causing the plains of Sardinia to resound 
 with the cries of " Long live Constantius." 
 
 Constantius, however, having thus gained the army of 
 Vetranio, and conscious of his ability to reward it, so that 
 there should be no fear of defection, at once relieved Vetranio 
 of all the cares of empire, and sent him immediately into 
 luxurious exile. A magnificent palace was assigned him at 
 Prusa, in Bithynia. He was sumptuously provided with 
 every luxury, and was there left to " fatten like a pig" until 
 he died. 
 
 Magnentius, a bold and determined soldier, was a very 
 different foe to encounter. Though Constantius had now b 
 far the most powerful army, Magnentius was in every respec 
 bis superior, intellectually, physically, and morally. The two 
 emperors marched eagerly to meet each other, neither of them 
 veluctant to submit the question to the arbitrament of battle. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of September the hostile armies 
 were concentrated before the city of Mursa, now called
 
 400 ITALY. 
 
 Esseg, in Sclavonla, on the Drave, about ten miles from Its 
 embouchure into the Danube. Constantius, fully aware oi' 
 the military superiority of his antagonist, after earnestly 
 addressing his troops, wisely, but not very heroically, retired 
 to a church at a safe distance from the field, and left the 
 conduct of the decisive day to his veteran generals. 
 
 A more fierce and sanguinary battle was perhaps never 
 fought. All the day long the hideous carnage continued 
 Romans and barbarians, with gladiatorial sinews, blending in 
 the strife. The air was darkened with stones, arrows, and 
 javelins. Clouds of horsemen, glittering in their scaly armor, 
 like statues of steel, swept the field, breaking the ranks, cut- 
 ting down the fugitives, and trampling alike the wounded and 
 the dead beneath their iron feet. Night alone terminated the 
 strife. The army of Magnentius, overpowered by numbers, 
 was almost annihilated. Fifty-four thousand were left dead 
 upon the plain. But they had sold their lives dearly, for a 
 still greater number of the legions of Constantius slept gory 
 and lifeless at their sides. Nearly one hundred and twenty 
 thousand men, the veteran soldiers of the Roman empire, 
 perished in this one battle. Thus did Rome, in civil strife, 
 devour her own children, and open the way for the march of 
 barbarian bands. 
 
 Magnentius, in the darkness of the night, casting away his 
 imperial ornaments, mounted a fleet horse, and, accompanied 
 by a few friends, attempted to escape directly west toward 
 the Julian Alps. He reached the city of Aquileia, at the head 
 of the Adriatic sea, not far from the present city of Trieste. 
 Here, in the midst of mountain defiles and pathless morasses, 
 he made a brief pause, and collected around him all the troops 
 who yet remained faithful. But city after city in Italy aban- 
 doned his cause, and raised the banner of the victorious Con 
 stantius. He then fled to Gaul. But Constantius directed all 
 the energies of the empire in the pursuit. At length Magnen- 
 tins, hemmed in on every side, fell upon his own sword, and
 
 THE EMPIBE DISMEMBEBED. 401 
 
 iflus obtained a more easy and honorable death than he could 
 hope for from his foe. Thus was the whole Roman empire 
 brought again under the sway of a single sovereign, and Con- 
 stantius, the son of Constantine, reigned without a rival from 
 the western shores of Britain to the banks of the Tigris, and 
 from the unexplored realms of Central Germany to the dark 
 interior of Africa. 
 
 There were still living two nephews of Constantine the 
 Great, Gallus and Julian. Constantius regarded them witl 
 great jealousy, and for several years had kept them, under 
 careful surveillance, exiled in a remote city in Bithynia. An 
 they advanced toward manhood, he watched them with in- 
 creasing apprehension, and imprisoned them hi a strong 
 castle near Caesarea. The castle had iprmerly been a palace, 
 and was provided with all the appliances of luxury, ID the 
 way of spacious saloons and inclosed gardens. Here the 
 young princes were placed under the care of able teachers, 
 and were thoroughly instructed hi all the learning of the dav. 
 
 Still their hours passed heavily along hi loneliness and 
 gloom. They were deprived of their fortune, their liberty, 
 their birthright as princes. They could not pass the walls of 
 the castle, and could enjoy only such society as the tyrant 
 would allow them. When Gallus, the elder of the two, had 
 attained his twenty-fifth year 5 Eusebius, the emperor, invested 
 him with the title of Ca3sar, thus constituting him heir to the 
 throne ; and at the same time united him in marriage to the 
 princess Constantina. Constantius, having consummated this 
 arrangement, went to the west to superintend the administra 
 tion there, leaving Gallus to take up his residence at Antioch, 
 as viceroy of the eastern empire. Gallus immediately released 
 his younger brother Julian, and invested him with rank and 
 dignity. 
 
 Gallus and his wife Constantina developed characters which 
 assimilate \hein to demons. Instruments of death and torture 
 filled the dnHgeons of their palace, and scenes of woe ensued
 
 402 ITALY. 
 
 which can only be revealed when the arch-angel's trump shall 
 summon the world to judgment. Constantina died of a fever. 
 The emperor resolved to dispatch Gallus to seek her in the 
 world of spirits. With treacherous professions of affection he 
 lured Gallus on a journey to visit him in his imperial residence 
 at Milan. Just as Gallus was approaching the frontiers of 
 Etaly he was seized, carried to Pola, in Istria, and there, with 
 his hands tied behind him, was beheaded, a fate he richly mer 
 ited. A band of soldiers was sent to arrest Julian. He was 
 taken a captive to Milan, where he was imprisoned seven 
 months, in the daily expectation of meeting the doom of his 
 brother. 
 
 In this severe school of adversity Julian acquired firmness 
 of character and much, sagacity. Through the intercession of 
 Eusebia, the wife of Constantius, the life of Julian was spar- 
 ed, and he was sent to honorable exile in the city of Athens. 
 Here he spent six months in the groves of the Academy, 
 engaged in the study of Greek literature, peculiarly congenial to 
 his tastes, and associating with the most accomplished scholars 
 of the day. By the execution of Gallus, the emperor Con- 
 stantius was left with no partner to share the toil of empire. 
 The Goths were again deluging Gaul. Other bands were 
 crossing the Danube where there was no longer any force 
 sufficient to repel them. The Persian monarch also, elated 
 with recent victories, was ravaging the eastern provinces of 
 the empire. 
 
 Constantius was bewildered with these menaces which he 
 knew not how to face, and listening to the advice of the empress 
 Eusebia, he consented to give his sister Helena in marriage to 
 Julian, and then to appoint him, with the title of Caesar, to 
 administer the government on the other side of the Julian 
 Alps. The young prince received the investiture of the pur- 
 ple in Milan, on the day he attained the twenty-fifth year of 
 his age. Still he was wa ched with such jealousy by Constan
 
 THE EMPIRE DISMEMBERED. 403 
 
 this, that for some time he was detained, rigidly captive, in 
 the palace of Milan. 
 
 Constantius embraced this opportunity to visit the an- 
 cient capital of Rome, which had now become comparatively 
 provincial from its desertion by the court. Approaching the 
 city along the ^Emilian and Flaminian ways, he assumed the 
 triumph of a conqueror. A splendid train of troops, in glit- 
 tering armor, accompanied him, waving silken banners em- 
 broidered with gold, and enlivening the march with bursts of 
 music. As the procession entered the streets of the imperial 
 city, Rome was overjoyed in beholding this revival of its 
 ancient splendor. Constantius expressed much surprise in 
 view of the immense population of the city, and, surrounded 
 by such acclaim as had never greeted him before, took up his 
 residence in the palace of Augustus, which had entertained no 
 imperial guest for thirty-two years. 
 
 He remained but one month, admiring the monuments of 
 power and art spread over the seven hills. Wishing to leave 
 in Rome some memorial of his visit, which should transmit 
 his name, with that of others of the most illustrious emperors, 
 to posterity, he selected a magnificent obelisk which stood 
 before the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, on the Nile, and 
 ordered its transportation to the Roman circus. An enormous 
 vessel was constructed for the purpose. The majestic shaft, 
 one hundred and fifteen feet in length, was floated from tne 
 Nile to the Tiber, and thus became one of the prominent 
 embellishments of the imperial city. 
 
 Constantius was suddenly recalled from Rome to meet the 
 barbarians, who were crowding across the Danube and ravag- 
 ing the frontier. They had seized many captives, and carried 
 them as slaves into their inaccessible wilds. But the emperor, 
 summoning troops from the East, pursued them with vigor, 
 and compelled them to sue for peace, and to liberate their 
 slaves. And now, with a host of a hundred thousand of the 
 choicest troops of the East, Sapor, king of Persia, crossed the
 
 404 ITALY. 
 
 Tigris, marched resolutely through Mesopotamia, finding no 
 foe to obstruct his march until he arrived at Amida. Con- 
 stantius marched to meet this foe, and Julian was sent to 
 encounter the tierce legions of the north. 
 
 It would have been difficult to have found a man appar- 
 ently less qualified to lead in sueh a warfare and against such 
 a foe, than was the bookish, bashful, idol-worshiping Julian. 
 The strong men of Rome, who were nominal pagans, in heart 
 despised the superstitions of then- country, regarding them 
 only as means of overawing the vulgar; but Julian was 
 actually a worshiper at those besotted shrines. It was, 
 however, necessary for him to repair to Gaul, and to take 
 his stand in the tented field. In view of it he was heard to 
 exclaim, with a deep sigh, " O Plato, Plato, what a task for a 
 philosopher I" 
 
 But Julian developed traits of character which astonished 
 his contemporaries, and which have not ceased to astonish 
 mankind. He inured himself to hardship, not indulging in a 
 fire in his chamber in the cold climate of northern Gaul. He 
 slept upon the floor, frequently rising in the night to take the 
 rounds of his camp. He allowed no delicacies to be brought 
 to his table, but shared in the coarse fare and in all the 
 hardships and toils of the common soldiers. After one 
 unfortunate campaign, in which the barbarians firmly stood 
 their ground and repelled their assailants, Julian, at the head 
 of but thirteen thousand men, assailed, at Strasbourg, on the 
 Rhine, thirty-five thousand of the bravest warriors of Ger- 
 many. After a long battle, in which both parties fought with 
 the utmost fury, the Germans were put to flight, leaving six 
 thousand dead upon the field. In the heat of the battle six 
 hundred of the Roman cuirassiers, hi a panic, fled. After the 
 battle, Julian punished them by dressing them in women's 
 clothes, and exposing them to the derision of the army. He 
 then marched do u u the Rhine, and through a series of sieges
 
 THE EMPIRE DISMEMBERED. 405 
 
 and battles drove back the Franks, who had taken possession 
 of all that region. 
 
 In imitation of Julius Caesar, Julian, with scholarly ele- 
 gance, wrote the annals of the Gallic war. He crossed the 
 Rhine, marched boldly into the almost unknown regions of 
 the north, cutting down the barbarians before him, and re- 
 turned with twenty thousand Roman slaves, whom, by the 
 sword, he had liberated from their barbarian masters. The 
 country, thus ravaged by war, was suffering all the horrors of 
 famine. Julian sent six hundred barges to the coasts of Bri- 
 tain, from whence they returned laden with gram, which was 
 distributed along the banks of the Rhine. 
 
 Engaged in these labors, Julian selected Paris as the seat 
 of his winter residence. Julius Caesar had found this now re- 
 nowned city but a collection of fisherman's huts, on a small 
 island in the Seine. It was called Lutetia, or the city of mire. 
 The place had since gradually increased. The small island was 
 covered with houses ; two wooden bridges connected it with 
 the shore. A wall surrounded the city, and many dwellings 
 were scattered about the suburbs. Julian became very partial 
 to the place, and built for himself a palace there. 
 
 Constantius, in the meantime, was hi the far east, fighting 
 the Persians. The victories of Julian, and his renown, excited 
 the jealousy of the emperor, and to weaken the arm of the 
 Caesar, the Augustus sent for a large division of Julian's army 
 to be forwarded to Persia. The soldiers refused to go ; rallied 
 around Julian; declared him Augustus, and both emperors, 
 one from the heart of Gaul, the other from beyond the Eu- 
 phrates, left their natural enemies, and turned furiously to as- 
 sail each other. Months would elapse, and many thousands 
 ot miles were :o be traversed before the heads of their column* 
 could meet. Constantius had but reached Tarsus hi Cilicia, 
 when he was seized with a fever and died. The imperial dig- 
 nity, the purj le vesture, the scepter and diadem, did not disarm 
 death of its terror. The monarch was but a poor sinner,
 
 40 ITALY. 
 
 dying, and going to the bar of God. Enlightened by revela- 
 tion, he knew his duty, but did it not. He trembled, he 
 prayed, he was baptized, and received the sacrament of the 
 Lord's supper, and passed away to that tribunal where mon- 
 arch and subject, master and slave, stand upon the same 
 equality, and where every man shall receive according to his 
 deeds. 
 
 Julian heard the welcome tidings of the death of Constan- 
 tius, just as he was entering the defiles of the Alps, which 
 bound the eastern frontiers of northern Italy. With renewed 
 alacrity he pressed on to Constantinople, where he was 
 crowned undisputed sovereign of the Roman empire, hi the 
 thirty-second year of his age. He immediately commenced 
 vigorous measures to restore the heathen worship hi all its 
 splendor, and to throw every available obstacle in the way of 
 the propagation of Christianity. The temples were repaired, 
 embellished, and the worship of idols made fashionable by 
 gorgeous parades, and by the presence of the court, Julian 
 himself often officiating as a priest. The churches were robbed 
 of their property, and Christians were ejected from ah 1 lucra- 
 tive and honorable offices, and their places supplied by pagans. 
 The schools of the Christians were broken up, and they were 
 denied the privileges of education. To prove Christ a false 
 prophet in regard to the temple at Jerusalem, he ordered the 
 demolished edifice to be rebuilt. Encountering unexpected 
 obstacles, he was exasperated to press forward in his endeavor 
 with all the energy and power which a Roman emperor could 
 wield. To his amazement, he failed, and failed utterly. 
 
 Whatever may have been the cause of this failure, the 
 memorable fact remains forever undeniable. The Roman em* 
 peror Julian could not rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. It is 
 stated, and the statement is confirmed by very important tes 
 rfmony, that the workmen were terrified and driven away by 
 phenomena which they certainly regarded as supernatural 
 Julian, a well read scholar, knew that open persecution, in>
 
 THE EMPIRE DISMEMBERED. 407 
 
 prisonment, torture, and death had utterly failed in arresting 
 the progress of Christianity, and he endeavored to paralyze 
 the energies of the church by the influences of ignorance, con- 
 tempt, and neglect. 
 
 Under such teaching and example from the imperial palace, 
 bitterness of feeling was rapidly springing up between the 
 pagans and the Christians. Then, as now, there were millions 
 who had no faith, but who were drifted along with the popu- 
 lar current. The empire was menaced with the most terrible 
 civil war. Julian was called to Persia, to resist the invasions 
 which were there making desolating headway. Gloom over- 
 shadowed the empire. Julian was discomfited in battle; 
 pestilence and famine wasted his ranks, and with a heavy 
 heart the emperor was compelled to order a retreat. As he 
 was leading his exhausted troops over the burning plains of 
 Mesopotamia, which were utterly scathed and desolated by 
 war, the soldiers dropping dead in the ranks from sheer 
 exhaustion, while the cavalry of the Persians mercilessly 
 harassed them, Julian, in rage and despair, turned upon his 
 foes. A javelin pierced him with a mortal wound. Tradition 
 says, that as he tore the weapon from the quivering flesh and 
 sank dying upon the sand, he raised his eyes to heaven and 
 said, "O Galilean, thou hast conquered." Conveyed to his 
 tent, he died, descanting upon the virtues of his life, and sol- 
 acing himself with the thought that without any personal or 
 conscious immortality, his soul was to be absorbed hi the ethe- 
 real substance of the universe. 
 
 The retreating troops, pressed by the foe, had no time to 
 mourn the dead. Surrounded with famine, pestilence, gory 
 corpses, dismay, and the din of war, a few voices proclaimed 
 Jovian, one of the leading officers of the imperial guard, to 
 succeed the emperor. With faint acclaim the army ratified 
 the choice, and Jovian, as he urged forward the retreating 
 legions, found time hastily to slip on the imperial purple. 
 Rome had indeed fallen. Utterly unable to resist the Persians,
 
 406 ITALY. 
 
 Jovian was reduced to the ignominy of purchasing a 
 with Sapor for thirty years, by surrendering to him many of 
 the eastern provinces. And here commenced the dismember 
 ment of the Roman empire. All the garrisons were with- 
 drawn from these provinces, and the humiliated army, with 
 downcast eyes, left the banks of the Tigris forever. 
 
 Jovian repealed all the laws which had been enacted 
 against the Christians, and immediately the idol temples were 
 abandoned, and paganism, like a hideous dream of night, pas* 
 ed away to be revived no more forever. The army was seveo 
 months slowly retracing its march fifteen hundred miles to 
 Autioch. Jovian was anxious to reach Constantinople. When 
 he had arrived within about three hundred miles of the impe- 
 rial city, he passed a night in the obscure town of Dadastana, 
 and was in the morning found dead in bed, accidentally stifled, 
 as it it supposed, by the fumes of a charcoal fire in his apart- 
 ment. His broken-hearted wife met his remains on the road, 
 and with the anguish and tears of widowhood, bitter then as 
 now accompanied them to the tomb hi Constantinople. 
 
 For teiv days the Roman world was without a master. 
 Buv at length the straggling divisions of the army were assem- 
 bled at Nice, in Bithynia. After unusually mature delibera- 
 tion the diadem was placed upon the brow of Valentinian, an 
 officei oi much merit, who had retired from active service and 
 was Living in the enjoyment of an ample fortune. In all rea- 
 pects he seems to have been worthy of the throne. Majestic 
 in stature, temperate in his habits, inflexibly upright, and with 
 a comprehensive and commanding mind, he was peculiarly 
 qualified to win and retain public esteem. Julian had dismiss- 
 ed him from service in consequence of his adhesion to the 
 Christian faith. The new emperor, crowned by tiie army in 
 Nice, Bithynia, immediately proceeded to Constantinople, 
 and tLtre appointed his brother Valens associate emperor with 
 the equal title of Augustus. 
 
 Valentinian took charge of the western empire, assigning
 
 THE EMPIRE DISMEMBEltEi: 409 
 
 Valens the eastern, from the Danube to the confines of Persia; 
 the one selecting Milan as his capital, the other Constantino- 
 ple; Rome, in the meantime, being left to slow, but sure 
 decay. The war of the barbarians now assailed the whole 
 Roman empire, both the east and the west, with a ferocity 
 never before surpassed. The Picts and Scots rushed down 
 upon Britain from the mountains of Caledonia. All along the 
 Rhine and the Danube, Gothic tribes of various names devas- 
 tated the country with fire and sword. For twelve years 
 Valentinian was engaged in almost an incessant battle. In a 
 fit of passion he burst a blood vessel, and fell speechless into 
 the arms of attendants, and died in convulsions of agony, the 
 seventeenth of November, A. D. 375, in the fifty-fourth year of 
 his age.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 SHB DYNASTY OF THE GOTHS. 
 FEOM A. D. 375 TO A. D, 1085. 
 
 OP THE HUNS. FLIGHT OF TUB GOTHS TO ITALY. ENERGY OF VALENB.- 
 INGLORIOUS REION OP GRATIAN. THE REIGN OF THEODOSIUB. GOTHIC INVA> 
 BIONB. ALARIO. HOME BESIEGED. THE CONQUEST OF ROME. CAPTURE OF SICILY. 
 SAGACITY OF ADOLPHUS. BRIEF DOMINION OF THK EASTERN EMPIRE OVER TUB 
 WEST. THK RAVAGES OF ATTILA. ANARCHY IN ITALY. NEPOS, OREBTES, AND 
 ODOACBR. INVASION OF THBODORIO. JUSTINIAN AT CONSTANTINOPLE. THK CA- 
 EEEB OF BBLISARIUS. CHABLEMAGNB AND His EMPIRE. THE REIGN OF THE DUKKS. 
 SUBJECTION TO THE GERMAN EMPKROB. 
 
 VT7HILE Valentinian, on the banks of the Rhine, was strug. 
 '' gling against the hordes of the north, crowding down 
 in numbers which seemed inexhaustible, upon the plains of the 
 south, Valens, in the remote east, was engaged in a conflict 
 still more hopeless against the Huns, a branch of the great 
 Mongolian race, who emerged, in locust legions, from the 
 plains of Tartary. These savages were as fierce and implac- 
 able as wolves. Even the Goths fled in terror before them, 
 and implored of Valens permission to take refuge in the 
 waste lands of Thrace. Valens consented, hoping to obtain 
 aid from them in resisting the Huns. But the Goths com- 
 menced ravaging the province, where they had been so hospi- 
 tally received, and, in the pride of their strength, commenced 
 the seige both of Adrianople and Constantinople, and ravaged 
 he whole country to the shores of the Adriatic, menacing 
 even Italy itself, with their arms. In a battle before the walls 
 of Adrianople, the victorious Goths cut the army of Valens 
 to pieces, and the emperor himself perished on the bloody 
 field 
 
 Gratian, the son of Valentinian, a youth of but seventeen
 
 THE DYNASTY OF THE GOTHS. 411 
 
 years, who had succeeded his father on the throne of the 
 western empire, was on the march to assist Valens, when he 
 was informed of his defeat and death. The prospects of the 
 whole empire were now gloomy in the extreme, and Gratian, 
 after very anxious deliberation with his best advisers, nom- 
 inated Theodosius, a Christian general of great renown, to 
 occupy the post vacated by the death of Valens. For sixteen 
 years this heroic man maintained his position against an inces- 
 sant flood of assailants, but the empire was so exhausted by 
 these interminable wars, that he was compelled to recruit his 
 legions by enlisting under his banners tribes of barbarians, 
 who were ready to fight in any cause where there was a pros- 
 pect of pay and plunder. During his administration not a 
 province of his realms was lost. 
 
 Gratian, more fond of pleasure than of the toils of battle, 
 retired to Paris, where he ingloriously surrendered himself to 
 voluptuous indulgence. Such general discontent, was excited 
 that Maximus, governor of Britain, raised the standard of 
 revolt, and with an army crossed the channel. Gratian aban- 
 doned by his troops fled. He was overtaken near Lyons and 
 put to death. But collision immediately ensued between 
 Theodosius and Maximus, and the emperor of the east, with 
 wonderful celerity, marched upon the usurper, defeated him 
 near Aquileia, at the head of the Adriatic, and taking him 
 captive, handed him over to the executioner. 
 
 Theodosius then foolishly placed upon the throne of the 
 western empire, Valentinian, a mere boy, brother of Gratian. 
 So soon as Theodosius had crossed the Bosphorus, having 
 been recalled by the necessities of war, the child emperor was 
 assassinated, and Eugenius, a stern and veteran warrior, a 
 Burned the purple. Theodosius instantly returned, burning 
 with rage, defeated Eugenius in a long drawn battle, and 
 mercilessly cut off his head. He then assumed the govern- 
 ment of the whole empire, eastern and western, but the hand 
 of death was already upon him, and in less than four months
 
 412 ITALY. 
 
 he breath* d his last, at Milan. Theodosim was an energetic, 
 Christian bigot. He issued severe edicts against heretics; 
 prohibited the assembling of those for worship who differed 
 from the established faith ; demolished or closed all the tem- 
 ples of heathenism, and instituted that office of Inquisitors of 
 the Faith, which has been the subsequent cause of so much 
 wrong and cruelty. Still, notwithstanding his faults, history 
 has pronounced him one of the purest and noblest monarchs 
 who ever occupied a throne. 
 
 The two sons of Theodosius now acceded to the empire ; 
 Arcadius to that of the east, and Honorius to that of the 
 west. The one dominion included Thrace, Greece, Asia 
 Minor, Syria, and Egypt. The other Italy, Africa, Gaul, 
 Spain, and Britain, with the Danubian provinces of Noricum, 
 Pannonia, and Dalmatia. The vast prefecture of Ulyricum 
 was divided equally between the two. The western empire 
 was now by far the weakest, and was fast crumbling to decay. 
 The Moors threatened Africa, the Scots menaced Britain ; and 
 all along the banks of the Rhine and the Danube, Gothic 
 tribes were making their encroachments. Rome had ceased 
 to be the metropolis, and possessed at this time only the 
 renown of its former greatness. 
 
 Alaric now appears in the tumultuous arena, at the head 
 of his fierce legions. He swept through Greece, entered 
 Italy, and even besieged Milan. Though by a temporary 
 check he was driven back, the timid Honorius was so alarmed 
 by this bold invasion, that he abandoned Milan as his capital, 
 and retired to Ravenna. But immediately another cloud of 
 barbarians appeared, under the leadership of Radagaisus, and 
 battering down all opposition, passed the Alps, the Po, and 
 the Apennines. Defeated before the walls of Florence, where 
 Radagaisus was slain, the savage bands scattered over the 
 defenseless plains of Gaul, plundering, burning, and destroy- 
 ing. Honorius was utterly impotent, and but for the energy
 
 THE DYNASTY OF THE GOTHS, 4it 
 
 ef his minister, Stilicho, no headway whatever would have 
 been made against the barbarians. 
 
 Honorius was now seeking ignominious shelter behind the 
 walls of Ravenna, and the Goths, contemptuously passing by 
 him, were menacing even the walls of Rome. For six huiy 
 dred years the imperial city had not been insulted by the 
 presence of a foreign foe. The arms of the citizens were 
 paralyzed by degeneracy. The walls alone stood in their 
 native, massive strength. Alaric, at the head of one hundred 
 thousand men, subjected the city to blockade; and famine 
 soon compelled the enervated Romans to purchase a tem- 
 porary peace, at the price of the payment of a vast sum of 
 money, and the surrender of the sons of the principal citizens 
 as hostages; and Honorius entered into nominally friendly 
 alliance with the barbaric chieftain. 
 
 Such a peace, of course, could be but transient. The 
 hosts of Alaric were soon again encamped before the walls of 
 the imperial city. The slaves in the city sagaciously conspired 
 with the foe. At midnight, by a servile insurrection, one of 
 the gates was thrown open, and the shout and clangor of the 
 rushing barbarians resounded through the streets. It is not 
 in the power of mortal imagination to conceive the horrors 
 of a city sacked at midnight. Thousands of cities, at the 
 hands of Rome, had experienced this woe. It was now, in 
 divine retribution, the turn of Rome to drink that bitter cup 
 to its dregs. 
 
 There were in the city forty thousand slaves. It was to 
 enem a glad hour in which to avenge their wrongs. Rome 
 had instructed them in all the arts of cruelty and lust; and 
 Roman virgins shrieked, and Roman backs were lacerated, as 
 the slaves, in that one horrible night, attempted to avenge the 
 oppression of ages. All that was venerable and costly was 
 surrendered to pillage or destruction, and wanton conflagra- 
 tion consumed important portions of the city. The Goths 
 remained in the city but six days. The army, intoxicated
 
 414 ITALY. 
 
 with success and encumbered with spoil, rioted dong the 
 Appian way, and ravaged southern Italy, giving loose to 
 every depraved desire. For four years the whole of southern 
 Italy was subject to their sway. The Romans were com 
 pelled to serve them as slaves. Burly barbarians would 
 stretch their naked limbs beneath the shade of palm-trees, 
 and compel the daughters of Roman senators to present them 
 Falernian wine in golden goblets, and hi docile subjection, to 
 minister to their brutality. 
 
 Alaric, having reached the extremity of Italy, looked wist- 
 fhlly across the waters to the beautiful island of Sicily, separ- 
 ated from the mam land by a narrow strait, but two miles 
 wide. He was preparing his barges for the transportation of 
 his troops, when death summoned him to the tribunal of his 
 final Judge. Adolphus, the brother-in-law of Alaric, succeeded 
 him hi the dominion over the Goths. The character and 
 policy of this illustrious man may be best inferred from the 
 following remarks which he made to a citizen of Narbonne : 
 
 " I once aspired," said Adolphus, " hi the full confidence 
 of valor and victory, to change the face of the universe ; to 
 obliterate the name of Rome ; to erect on its ruins, the 
 dominion of the Goths, and to acquire, like Augustus, the 
 immortal fame of the founder of a new empire. By repeated 
 experiments, I was gradually convinced, that laws are essen- 
 tially necessary to maintain and regulate a well constituted 
 state ; and that the fierce, intractable humor of the Goths, 
 was incapable of bearing the salutary yoke of laws and civil 
 government. From that moment I proposed to myself a 
 different object of glory and ambition ; and it is now my sin- 
 cere wish that the gratitude of future ages should acknowl- 
 edge the merit of a stranger, who employed the sword of the 
 Goths, not to subvert, but to restore and maintain the pros- 
 perity of the Roman empire." 
 
 \dolphus opened negotiations with the imperial court, 
 and entered into a treaty of peace which was cemented by hia
 
 THE DYNASTY OF THE GOTHS. 415 
 
 marriage with Placidia, a sister of Honorius. In this new 
 relation, and assuming the character of a Roman general, he 
 marched from Italy, and entering southern Gaul, took posses- 
 sion of the country from the ocean to the Mediterranean. 
 Here Adolphus soon died, and Placidia returned to her 
 brother's court. The eastern empire was now inseparably 
 separated from the western. Spain dropped off. Britain and 
 Gaul, though not openly in revolt, had silently passed into 
 virtual independence. And Honorius, ignobly sheltered be- 
 hind the walls of Ravenna, had no power with which to wield 
 the scepter over distant Africa. The east was also now 
 severed from the west, never to be effectually reunited. Thus 
 the Roman empire had virtually dwindled down to the region 
 of Italy alone. After a disgraceful reign of twenty-eight 
 years, Honorius died, of dropsy, in his palace at Ravenna. 
 
 The crown which fell from" that ignoble brow, seemed to 
 belong, by right, to any one who had sufficient skill to grasp 
 it. John, the principal secretary of Honorius, clutched at the 
 falling diadem, and threw over his shoulders the imperial 
 purple. Italy accepted him. The court of Constantinople, 
 advocating the claims of Valentinian, the son of Placidia, a 
 child but six years of age, sent an army against John, took 
 him captive at Ravenna, beheaded him, and declared Valen- 
 tinian 'ill. emperor, with his mother Placidia as regent. In 
 the impotence of this reign, the Vandals passed over frona 
 Spain, which they had subjugated, and took possession o/ 
 Africa. 
 
 The Huns, who had established themselves in the country 
 from which they had driven the Goths, having compelled the 
 eastern empire to purchase peace with them by the payment 
 of an annual subsidy, commenced their march toward the 
 west. They were led by Attila, whose devastations have pro- 
 cured for him the designation of "The scourge of God." 
 The glory and dignity of Rome had vanished for ever. There 
 were uo resources of effectual resistance, and the court a,';
 
 4l IT4.LY. 
 
 Ravenna was so thoroughly debased, as to purchase peace with 
 the invader, by offering him, in marriage, the emperor's sister 
 Honoria, with an immense dowry. 
 
 Our space will not allow us to trace out the ravages of 
 Attila, at the head of half a million of the fiercest warriors 
 earth has ever known, through Gaul and Italy. He utterly 
 destroyed the renowned Aquileia, and devastated with fearful 
 slaughter, all Venetia. The wretched inhabitants, flying in 
 terror before him, escaped to the marshy islands, which hi 
 great numbers are found, but slightly elevated above the 
 waves, at the extremity ef the Adriatic. These morasses 
 were then uninhabited, and almost without a name. Here the 
 fugitives established themselves, and laid the foundations of 
 Venice, that city of the sea, which subsequently almost out- 
 vied Rome itself in opulence, power, and splendor. " The 
 grass never grows," said this 'demoniac warrior, " wnere my 
 horse has placed his hoof." 
 
 Before Attila left Italy, he threatened to return and take 
 terrible vengeance, unless his promised bride were sent to him 
 within the time promised in the treaty. The trembling prin- 
 cess was transported to his palace beyond the Danube, where 
 the nuptials were solemnized with great barbaric festivity and 
 pomp. The burly savage, inflamed with wine, retired to his 
 apartment with his bride. The morning dawned, but *he did 
 not appear. Hour after hour glided away, and still the attend- 
 ants, respecting the bridal chamber, ventured no interruption. 
 At length, their suspicions being excited, they entered the 
 room, and found the monarch dead in his bed, and his bride 
 sitting at the bed-side, veiled, and trembling. 
 
 Attila had burst an artery, and was suffocated in his own 
 blood. His body was exposed upon the plain, beneath a silk- 
 en pavilion, and his soldiers, in the clangor and pageantry of 
 war, wheeled in military evolutions around the corpse of their 
 chieftain, singing funeral songs to his memory, gashing their
 
 THE t>YNABlY OF THE GOTHS. 41fr 
 
 with hideous wounds, thus bemoaning him, " not with 
 the tears of women, but with the blood of warriors." 
 
 The emperor Valentinian had now attained manhood, but 
 a manhood stained with every vice. He artfully inveigled a 
 noble lady, alike illustrious for beauty and piety, and the wife 
 of an eminent senator, to his palace, where he brutally violated 
 her person. The outraged husband conspired with his friends, 
 and slew Valentinian in the midst of his guards. The soldiers 
 placed the diadem upon the brow of the senator Maximus, 
 who had thus avenged his wrongs. His wife soon died, and 
 he endeavored to compel Eudoxia, the widow of Valentinian, 
 whom he had murdered, to become his spouse. Indignantly 
 she repelled him, and threw herself upon the protection of 
 Genseric, king of those powerful Vandals who had wrested 
 Africa from the Roman empire. Genseric joyfully espoused 
 her cause. With a large fleet he entered the Tiber, advanced 
 to Rome; captured the city, Maximus being slain in the tu- 
 mult ; and miserable Rome was surrendered, for fourteen days, 
 to be pillaged by the Moors and the Vandals. Eudoxia her- 
 self, with her two daughters, and many thousand Romans, 
 were carried oif as slaves into Africa, to serve those African 
 tribes as hewers of wood and drawers of water, while the 
 proud matrons and maidens of Rome were doomed to the 
 ignominy of barbarian harems. 
 
 The dismembered empire, in its fragmentary state, without 
 a capital, almost without a local existence, was again without 
 a head. The army in Gaul chose their general, Avitus, empe- 
 ror. The senate in Rome opposed his nomination, and placed 
 upon the throne Julian Majorean. Another civil war would 
 have ravaged the unhappy country, but for the fortunate death 
 of Avitus. Julian struggled unavailingly against the Moorish 
 and Vandal pirates. They even captured his fleet, and burned 
 it. Julian was deposed, and in five days died of chagrin. Of 
 his successor, Severus, we can only say, he was crowned, and 
 died. Italy was now so utterly disorganized, that the court 
 18*
 
 418 1TJLLT. 
 
 of Constantinople, in the vain attempt to sa^e the wreck, as- 
 sumed to appoint an emperor for the west, and sent Anthemiu* 
 to Rome, robed in the imperial purple. To this indignity, 
 Rome, impoverished and impotent as it was, would not sub- 
 mit. A tumult was excited, and Anthemius was slain. 
 
 Ricimier, a bold, bad demagogue, the idol of the mob, and 
 the one who had led the tumult in which Anthemius was assas- 
 sinated, now, by the success of bloody insurrection, and hi the 
 chaos of anarchy, found the tangled reins of power in his own 
 hands. For forty days, he was supreme in Rome, and they 
 were days of havoc, plunder, debauchery, and every species of 
 crime. Rioting in the intemperance to which this power gave 
 him sudden access, he was seized with disease, and the tomb 
 claimed the tyrant. The court of Constantinople despairingly 
 sent another emperor, Olibrius, to endeavor to rescue Rome 
 from ruin. After a powerless reign of seven months, he also 
 died. Again the throne was vacant, and again Leo, emperor 
 of the east, assembled his court at Constantinople, to place 
 another sovereign hi the dilapidated palaces of Rome. It was 
 manifest, an emperor thus enthroned, could be sustained only 
 by the energies of foreign armies, and it was needftd to move 
 with caution. 
 
 Many months passed in these deliberations. At length 
 Nepos, accompanied by a body guard from Constantinople, 
 presented himself before the decayed senate of Rome, as the 
 sovereign which the eastern empire had sent to them. They 
 accepted him, and Rome, and Italy generally, hi weariness, 
 exhaustion, and shame, decorated him with the diadem and 
 the purple, and placed the scepter in his hands, hoping that he 
 might be able to wield it for the rescue of their ruined coun- 
 try. He established himself at Ravenna, where he could more 
 easily receive aid from Constantinople; and he purchased 
 peace with the barbarians by relinquishing all claim to por- 
 tions of the empire which they had already wrested from him. 
 But fragments of German tribes were nc if scattered every
 
 THE DYNASTY OP THE GOTHS. 419 
 
 where throughout Italy, living in a state of semi-lawlessness, 
 at times in peace, and again bidding defiance to all the power 
 of the magistracy. 
 
 Nepos was one day informed that a numerous band of 
 these barbarians, under their leader Orestes, was marching 
 upon Ravenna. The timid monarch, conscious that the arm 
 of Italian strength was paralyzed, took to his ships, and 
 escaped across the Adriatic to the coast of Illyricum. Here he 
 remained five years, nominally emperor of a country which he 
 dared not enter. At length he was assassinated, and we may 
 mention, in illustration of the corruption which had already 
 seized upon the church, that his assassin was immediately re- 
 warded with the bishopric of Milan. 
 
 Orestes, the barbaric chieftain who had driven Nepos from 
 Italy, for some unknown reason refused the purple for himself, 
 but placed the imperial robes upon his son Augustulus. These 
 barbarian bands had been introduced to Italy as allies mer- 
 cenary troops, to aid in repelling the inroads of other tribes 
 of barbarians. They now became the masters, cruel and dom- 
 ineering masters, of those whom they once had served. In 
 Spain, in Gaul, in Africa their brethren had become dominant, 
 in the realms which they had severally overrun and detached 
 from Rome. Envying the fortune of their brethren, they now 
 demanded that one-third of Italy should be surrendered to 
 them, as their exclusive patrimony. But Orestes, who had 
 just placed his own son upon the throne, did not wish to see 
 the realms of that son thus dismembered, and he opposed 
 the claim. 
 
 Odoacer, a bold, barbarian warrior, whose ferocity had 
 given him much renown, bade defiance to his chieftain, raised 
 the banners of revolt, and from all the camps and garrisons of 
 Italy, the Germanic troops rushed around him. The sudden 
 movement was so formidable, that Orestes fled to Pavia, hop- 
 ing to find shelter behind its strong intrenchments. But the 
 place was taken by storm, the town pillaged, and Orestes
 
 420 ITALY. 
 
 slain. Augustulus, now helpless, was constrained to implore 
 the clemency of Odoacer. 
 
 The troops of Odoacer saluted him with the title of king. 
 The degenerate Italians were submissive to his sway. Augus- 
 tulus was compelled to send hi his abdication to the senate. 
 Odoacer, a stern warrior, familiar only with camps, hardship, 
 and blood, did not wish to assume the imperial purple, and the 
 imperial dignity, but wished to rule Italy, as a military chief- 
 tain merely, with his own sharp sword. He, therefore, com- 
 pelled the senate, by a formal decree, to abolish the imperial 
 tmccession ; and he commenced his military reign with the 
 new title of king of Italy. Thus, after the decay of ages, the 
 ancient Roman empire fell to rise no more, A. D. 476. 
 
 Odoacei spared the life of Augustulus, but imprisoned him 
 in the castle of Lucullus, near Naples, supplying his wants 
 with even sumptuous prodigality. Italy had indeed fallen, and 
 the barbaric leader of a barbarian band, by the might of con- 
 quest, was now its enthroned monarch. With much sagacity 
 he respected the old institutions of his realms, governing 
 through those instrumentalities which time had created and 
 nurtured. He conferred upon his captains the titles of dukes 
 and counts, and thus extended the feudal system. It is hardly 
 possible to conceive a more melancholy spectacle of national 
 debasement than Italy now presented. The Roman nobles 
 had fallen, beyond redemption, into the slough of slothful and 
 voluptuous indulgence. The plebeians, still more degraded 
 and base, had left behind them scarcely any vestige of their 
 existence, which history can discern. The army was comprs- 
 ed almost exclusively of barbarians; and the country was 
 cultivated only by slaves. The Caesars had departed forever, 
 and the dynasty of the Goths had commenced its reign. 
 
 The barbarians, as they were called, now masters of Italy, 
 blended so rapidly with the people among whom they dwelt, 
 that soon no traces of distinct nationality could be perceived, 
 During a reign of fourteen years, foreigners from the wild
 
 THE D5TNA8TY OF THE GOTHS 421 
 
 wastes of the north were flocking into sunny Italy, where 
 they were gladly received by Odoacer, as adding strength to 
 his mih'tary arm. But Italy was too rich a prize, in the eyes 
 of northern barbarians, to be left long undisputed in the 
 hands of Odoacei'. North of the Euxine there was a power- 
 fid nation called the Ostrogoths. Their king, Theodoric, had 
 been well educated in Constantinople. 
 
 Theodoric commenced a march upon Italy, accompanied 
 by bis entire people. For three years a fierce warfare swept 
 all those plains, as Goth struggled against Ostrogoth in savage 
 war. At length Theodoric was victorious, and having anni- 
 hilated the armies of the Goths, and plunged his own sword 
 into the bosom of Odoacer, he entered upon the undisputed 
 sovereignty of the whole peninsula, dispersing his followers 
 every where throughout the rich and luxurious valleys of this 
 most beautiful of realms. 
 
 Theodoric governed his conquered kingdom with so much 
 energy, wisdom, and humanity, that he is justly entitled to 
 the designation of Great, which history has conferred upon 
 him. Most of the civil offices he confided to native Italians, 
 and carefully preserved the ancient laws and customs. With 
 a strong arm he secured peace ; and agriculture and the arts, 
 under his sway, flourished with vigor unknown for ages. He 
 endeavored to maintain a distinction between his Gothic and 
 Italian subjects, by conferring civil employments only upon 
 the one, and military only upon the other. One-third of the 
 soil of Italy was given to his Gothic soldiers, in remuneraticr: 
 for which, they owed him feudal service, and were to rush to 
 his banner whenever his bugle-blast was heard. Almost in an 
 hour he could call two hundred thousand warriors into tht 
 field. 
 
 For thirty-three years Theodoric reigned over Italy, and 
 few sovereigns ars equally entitled to be regarded as benefac 
 tors of mankind. Still, with all his virtues, he developed some 
 vices sufficient to condemn any ordinary man to infamy. In
 
 422 ITALY. 
 
 the seventy-fourth year of his age, tortured by suspicion, 
 oppressed with melancholy and partially insane, the old mon- 
 arch sadly died, the glooms of remorse darkening around his 
 dying bed. He left the diadem to his grandson, Atalaric, a 
 boy but ten years of age, under the regency of his daughter, 
 Amalasunta, the widowed mother of the child. The boy, 
 heir to wealth and a throne, grew up, almost as a matter of 
 course, an unmitigated profligate. He soon died through the 
 excesses of inebriation and debauchery. Theodotus, who had 
 become the husband of the regent, seized the scepter, after 
 strangling his spouse. 
 
 The emperor Justinian, at Constantinople, having recon 
 quered Africa, turned his eyes to Italy, resolved to rescue 
 that -beautiful country from the Goths, and annex it to the 
 eastern empire. With a chosen troop of about five thousand 
 cavalry and three thousand infantry, the intrepid general 
 Belisarius, who was intrusted with the command, landed at 
 Catana, in Sicily, where they were cordially received by the 
 inhabitants. With but little difficulty they effected the con- 
 quest of the island. Palermo made a short resistance. But 
 Belisarius anchored his fleet in the harbor, raised his boats 
 with ropes and pulleys to the heads of the masts, and from 
 that elevated position commanded the ramparts of the city. 
 The reduction of the island cost but one summer's campaign. 
 In the autumn he entered Syracuse in triumph, and spent the 
 winter, the undisputed master of Sicily, occupying the palaces 
 of the ancient kings. 
 
 In the spring, embarking his troops at Messina, he landed 
 them at Rhegium, in Italy, without opposition. He marched 
 along the coast to Naples, followed by the fleet near the shore. 
 Naples, was then a beautiful rural city, to which the lovers of 
 literature and philosophy had retired from the confusion of 
 Rome. The barbarians here were strong, and the siege was 
 fiercely contested. At length, by stratagem, through the dry 
 channel of an aqueduct, an entrance was effected into the city,
 
 THB DYNASTY OF THE GOTHS. 428 
 
 The strife was short, and Naples surrendered to the con- 
 queror ; and the Gothic garrison there with alacrity enlisted 
 in the service of Belisarius. 
 
 Theodotus, appalled by the ruin thus suddenly overwhelm- 
 ing him, gathered all his available force, to make a desperate 
 stand behind the ramparts of Rome. But the Goths, dissatisfied 
 with his want of energy and success, in a tumultuous military 
 gathering, declared him unworthy of the throne ; and raising 
 upon their bucklers, their general Yitiges, pronounced him 
 king, Theodotus endeavored to escape, but was pursued 
 along the Flaminian way, and slaughtered while crying for 
 mercy. Vitiges, conscious of his inability to cope with 
 Belisarius, ordered a retreat. The conquerors now marched 
 rapidly, by way of Cumae and Capua to Rome, and entered 
 the city in triumph. 
 
 During the winter Vitiges at Ravenna, and Belisarius at 
 Rome, were preparing with great vigor, for the campaign of 
 the ensuing spring. With one hundred and fifty thousand 
 men Vitiges commenced his march, and traversing the Flami- 
 nian way, arrived at the Milvian bridge, within two miles of 
 Rome. For a year Belisarius was besieged, within the walls 
 of Rome, by this overpowering host. With but five thousand 
 veteran troops he defended a circle of twelve miles against 
 the legions of Vitiges. In one desperate assault, the Goths 
 lost thirty thousand of their number in slain, and an equal 
 number wounded. Hardly an arrow was thrown from the 
 Roman ramparts which did not accomplish its mission. 
 
 But the genius of Belisarius prevailed. The whole mill, 
 tary force of the Ostrogoths had been rallied around Rome, 
 and in the long and bloody siege nearly the whole force had 
 perished. After an almost incessant battle, of one year and 
 nine days, the Goths burnt their tents, and precipitately re- 
 treated, pursued by their indomitable foes. Vitiges found 
 shelter within the walls of Ravenna. Belisarius, receiving 
 recruit*- from Constantinople, pitched his tents around the
 
 424 ITALY. 
 
 walls, and, in his turn, commenced the siege of Vitiges. At 
 length the city surrendered, and Belisarius, in triumph, entered 
 its streets ; and Vitiges was sent a captive, in chains, to Con- 
 stantinople. 
 
 But while these final scenes were being enacted, Justinian, 
 jealous of the renown which Belisarius was acquiring, for the 
 Goths were actually in treaty with him, offering him the 
 crown of Italy, entered into a hasty treaty of peace with the 
 Goths and recalled Belisarius. Embarking at Ravenna, the 
 obedient general returned to Constantinople, taking with him 
 his illustrious captive Vitiges. The departure of Belisarius 
 revived the courage of the Goths. They chose Totila, a 
 nephew of Vitiges, to the supreme command, and he, collect- 
 ing five thousand troops at Pavia, commenced the reconquest 
 of Italy from the dominion of Justinian. Belisarius had left 
 garrisons in Italy, under eleven generals, to hold command of 
 the country as a province under the eastern empire. 
 
 The Romans soon found themselves imprisoned in their 
 fortresses, while the Goths, who had.invited other foreign tribes 
 to their assistance, under Totila marched defiantly through 
 the kingdom and laid siege to Naples. Naples, Cumae, and 
 all the southern provinces were speedily subjugated. The 
 Goths were now nominal Christians, and earnest advocates of 
 the Catholic church, in antagonism to what was called the 
 Arian heresy. Totila, the new king, possessed many Christian 
 virtues. He was chaste, temperate, and his moral integrity 
 no one questioned. At this time every clergyman in the east 
 was called in Greek papa, (nd-mra^) father. The bishop of 
 of Rome, then called papa, and subsequently pope, had been 
 banished by Belisarius. The sympathies of the church were 
 consequently with the Goths, rather than with the Greeks 
 from Constantinople. Totila liberated the slaves, and thus 
 secured their enthusiast! 3 support. In the progress of the war 
 he inexorably punished with death, the violation of female 
 chastity. In earnest harangues to the troops he urged upon
 
 THE DYNASTY OP THE GOTHS. 425 
 
 them that national vice was the sure precursor of national 
 decay. 
 
 From the conquest of southern Italy, Totila proceeded to 
 the siege of Rome. The inhabitants conspired against the 
 garrison, threw open the gates, and at midnight the Goths 
 marched in and took possession of the city. The Gothic 
 king, in the morning, devoutly went to church to return 
 thanks for his victory. Totila demolished a large portion of 
 the walls of Rome, dragged the senators away as captives hi 
 the train of his army, exiled most of the citizens, men and 
 women, and left Rome comparatively a solitude. 
 
 Justinian, alarmed, had again sent Belisarius to take com- 
 mand of his troops in Italy. But Belisarius found himself 
 without an army, and could never face Totila on the field of 
 battle. New armies were sent from Constantinople to south- 
 ern Italy, and Totila entered into alliance with Theodebert, 
 king of the Franks, to strengthen him in northern Italy. Bel- 
 isarius was again recalled, and the renowned eunuch, N arses, 
 with a strong force entered Italy and offered battle to Totila. 
 The hostile armies met in the vicinity of Rome. The Goths 
 were vanquished, and Totila himself fell pierced through the 
 body by a lance. The victory of Narses was obtained mainly 
 by his barbarian allies, whom he had enticed to his camp. 
 Unrelentingly he ravaged the conquered land. 
 
 But the Goths, though vanquished, were not subdued. 
 They retired north of the Po, and chose one of their heroes, 
 Teias, to be their king. Selecting Pavia for his head-quarters, 
 and gathering around him his allies the Franks, in a rapid 
 march he advanced from the Alps to Mt. Vesuvius, and there 
 in as savage a fight as time has witnessed, he fell. Still his 
 troops, avenging his death, fought still more fiercely, till, in the 
 darkness of the night, friends could not be distinguished from 
 foes. But with the early dawn the battle was renewed, and 
 was continued until again the sun had disappeared hi the west. 
 The Gothic army was then effectually destroyed. Most of thf
 
 426 ITALY. 
 
 survivors capitulated, though a small but determined band cut 
 their way through their foes and retreated to the walls of 
 Pavia. With the death of Teias, in March, A. D. 553, the 
 Gothic kingdom in Italy passed away forever. 
 
 The fragments of the old Roman empire were gradually 
 being organized into new and independent kingdoms. Bri- 
 tain, abandoned by the Romans and overrun by the Angles, 
 became Anglia, or England. The Franks took possession of 
 Gaul, and it was called France. Spam, subjugated by the 
 Suabians and Vandals, retained its ancient name. Pannonia, 
 occupied by the Huns, became Hungary. In all these king- 
 doms the native inhabitants and their conquerors rapidly 
 blended into a homogeneous race. 
 
 While N arses was endeavoring to consolidate his conquest, 
 seventy-five thousand Franks came rushing down through the 
 defiles of the Rhaetian Alps into the plains of Milan. Like an 
 inundation they swept through northern Italy. These Franks 
 were nominal Christians, imbued with many of the supersti- 
 tions of the church, though with but little of the spirit of 
 Christ. A protracted war ensued, in which the majority of 
 these bands perished through pestilence, famine, and the 
 sword. Italy was thus again left, a war-scathed province, 
 attached to the eastern empire of Justinian. But the renown- 
 ed emperor Justinian died, and Narses died, and the feeble 
 Justinian H. ascended the throne of Constantinople. 
 
 There was a powerful nation called Lombards dwelling in 
 Hungary. Their king, Alboin, a ferocious warrior, cast wist- 
 ful looks toward Italy, and resolved to attempt its ' conquest. 
 Leading his army across the Julian Alps he speedily overran 
 the territory, and nearly the whole country, with the excep- 
 tion of Rome and Ravenna, was soon hi his hands. Assuming 
 the title of king of Italy, Alboin assigned the conquered prov- 
 inces to his captains, who under various titles of nobility such 
 as counts and dukes were bound to render him feudal service, 
 by paving him tribute, and obeying his summons to the field
 
 THE DYNASTY Ol THE GOTHS. 427 
 
 of battle. But Alboin was a true savage, drinking in revelrj 
 from the skulls of his enemies. He was at length murdered, 
 t the instigation of his queen in revenge for an outrage he 
 had inflicted upon her. 
 
 Clevis, one of his captains, who had the title of a duke, 
 succeeded him. But he was a miserable despot, and after a 
 reign of seventeen months, he was assassinated by one of his 
 servants while he slept. There were now thirty-six of these 
 Lombard warrior chieftains, with the title of dukes, scattered 
 over Italy. Each had his allotted territory, more or less dis- 
 tinctly defined, over which he had undisputed domain, subject 
 only to feudal service to the sovereign. So long as war raged, 
 a sovereign was necessary, around whom they might rally 
 against a common foe. But Italy was now supine at the feet 
 of its conquerors, and the eastern empire crumbling also to 
 decay, had relinquished all attempts at the reconquest of the 
 Italian peninsula. The dukes, under these circumstances, were 
 not disposed to choose a master, each wishing to retain his 
 independence. They, therefore, formed a federal aristocracy, 
 each one being supreme over his own territory. 
 
 For ten years Italy continued in this state, when, upon 
 some indications of an attack both from Greece and Gaul, the 
 dukes judged it necessary to be better prepared for war, and 
 they, therefore, chose one of their number, Autharis, who was 
 most highly distinguished for valor and abilities, as their king. 
 The wisdom of this measure was immediately apparent ; foi 
 in three successive waves of invasion the Gauls rushed down 
 upon the plains of Italy, where they were arrested and driven 
 back by the energy of Autharis. 
 
 At this time Pavia was the recognized capital of the king- 
 dom, and Gregory the Great was bishop, or papa, at Rome. 
 He was an ambitious ecclesiastic, and was as ambitious and 
 successful in gathering into his hands the reins of spiritual 
 power as Autharis pro /ed to be in grasping secular dominion. 
 This renowned clergyman was nobly born. He had been both
 
 428 ITALY. 
 
 senator and governor of Rome. From inheritance and lucra- 
 tive office he had acquired enormous wealth. John, another 
 very distinguished ecclesiastic, was at that time bishop of 
 papa at Constantinople. There was a very stern struggle 
 between them as to which should have the supremacy, and 
 hence commenced the schism between the Greek and Latin 
 churches, which continues to the present day. The bishop of 
 Constantinople, with the title of Patriarch, is the head of the 
 eastern church ; and the bishop of Rome, with the title of 
 Pope, is recognized as the sovereign of the church in the 
 west. Many are the anathemas which, during the last thou- 
 sand years, these patriarchs have hurled against each other. 
 Under Gregory, the idolatrous Britons were converted to 
 nominal Christianity ; and not a few became the sincere and 
 humble followers of Jesus Christ in both heart and life. The 
 forty missionaries sent to England, in less than two years 
 reported the baptism of the king of Kent, and of ten thou- 
 sand of the Anglo-Saxons. 
 
 The dukedoms now began to assume importance, and to 
 take their position in the procession of events, as individual 
 dukes, by their achievements, arrest the observation of his- 
 tory. After a short but energetic reign, Autharis died, 
 probably of poison, and his beautiful widow, Theodelinda, 
 married Agilulph, the Lombard duke of Turin. With her 
 hand Agilulph, though then a pagan, succeeded in obtaining 
 the crown and scepter of Italy. He soon, however, embraced 
 Christianity, and engaged very zealously in his endeavors to 
 promote the welfare of the church. Several of the dukes of 
 Turin succeeded him in brief, uneventful reigns. Some were 
 tolerably good, and others were intolerably bad. Each one 
 of these undistinguished sovereigns was eager to add to the 
 prerogatives of the crown, while the rival dukes were com- 
 bining to resist every encroachment upon their power and 
 independence. In the course of sixty years nineteen soveiv
 
 THE DYNASTY OP THE GOTHS. 420 
 
 eigns occupied the throne. Their names even are not worth 
 recording. 
 
 The Lombards were established mainly in Northern Italy, 
 and the emperor, in Constantinople, still held a shadowy au- 
 thority over southern Italy. The Grecian power was, how- 
 ever, rapidly vanishing before the encroachments of the 
 Lombard kings. During the eighth century, Italy was fre- 
 quently invaded by the Franks. Toward the close of the 
 eighth century, their renowned sovereign, Charlemagne, or 
 Charles the Great, swept over Italy and completed th* de- 
 struction of the Lombard monarchy, which had governed 
 Italy for two hundred years. Then forming an alliance with 
 Pope Leo III., who had attained vast temporal as well as 
 spiritual power, he organized anew a western empire. In the 
 cathedral church erected by Constantino, he crowned himself 
 emperor of the west. This memorable event took place on 
 Christmas day, A. D. 800. For forty years this illustrious 
 monarch, as king and emperor, governed Italy, in connection 
 with his other vast realms, and perhaps better fian it had 
 ever been governed before. Eight kings of the family of 
 Charlemagne ruled over Italy. The great empire which the 
 military genius of Charlemagne created, and his great states- 
 man-like qualities so long held together, consisted of France, 
 a part of Spain, Italy, Germany, and Hungary. He was a 
 powerful sovereign, but a licentious, ferocious, cruel man. 
 This dynasty was closed in Italy by the indignant deposition 
 of Charles the Fat. 
 
 For the sixty years then ensuing, wretched Italy was torn 
 by internal wars, and by the incursions of foreign foes. The 
 Lombard duchies, by family alliances, and conquests of the 
 weak by the strong, were reduced to but five or six. Among 
 these the beautiful duchy of Tuscany, separated by a chain of 
 mountains from the rest of Italy, was perhaps the most prom- 
 inent and prosperous. The dukes of Adalbert administered 
 this province for a century and a half, and their court was re-
 
 530 * T A 1 T . 
 
 nowned as one of the most brilliant and sumptuous among 
 the great feudatories. The other great dukedoms were 
 those of Friuli, Spoleto, Ivrea, and Susa. The strife between 
 these dukes for the supremacy was bitter and interminable. 
 Berenger, duke of Friuli, at length obtained the election, and 
 was crowned at Pavia by the Archbishop of Milan. Th 
 diadem he wore proved to be truly one of thorns. 
 
 The reader would but be wearied with the narrative of 
 the petty intrigues, and incessant conflicts between these rival 
 dukes, for the nominal sovereignty of Italy. Passing over 
 the dreary record of treachery, wars, poisonings, and assassi- 
 nations, in which but little can be found either to interest or 
 instruct, we find, in the year 961, a foreign prince, Otho, king 
 of Saxony, invading Italy. He conquers the realm, dethrones 
 Berenger II., and sends him to end his days in a German 
 prison, and Otho is crowned sovereign with the title of empe- 
 ror. Thus Italy, after having been annexed as a subjugated 
 kingdom to Greece, and then to France, is now grasped by 
 Germany. The country was now covered with castles. Each 
 duke was a petty sovereign over his domains, which he divided 
 into smaller portions administered by vassal counts who paid 
 him tribute, took the oath of fealty, and obediently followed 
 his liege lord in his wars. The dukes owed the emperor of 
 Germany feudal service, and took the oath of allegiance to 
 him. The counts, in their turn, divided the land apportioned 
 to them among their captains. The condition of the people, 
 robbed at every point, was depressed and miserable in the 
 extreme. 
 
 For half a century the three Othos, father, son, and 
 grandson, were acknowledged emperors and kings of Italy 
 And then, when the house of Saxony became extinct, for 
 eighty years more the succeeding German emperors held 
 sway over Italy, promulgating laws, and exacting homage 
 and feudal rents from the subjugated realm. Southem Italy 
 still remained partially subject to Constantinople. Rome,
 
 THE DYNASTY OF THE GOTHS. 431 
 
 mth its appertaining territory, was organized into a duke- 
 dom, governed in its temporal matters by a duke S3nt by 
 th emperor from Constantinople. The pope of Rome had, 
 however, now, far more power than the civil magistrate. He 
 was recognized as the head of all the western or Latin churches. 
 The papacy had become the highest object of ambition to the 
 whole sacerdotal order. Piratic barons, and young libertines, 
 whose claims were urged by the Roman ladies, not unfre- 
 quently attained the pontifical chair. The church, in its state 
 of corruption, operating upon the fears of an ignorant and 
 superstitious people, had acquired immense wealth, and was 
 making rapid strides toward the subjugation of the popular 
 mind by the powers of superstition, in which there was 
 adroitly blended the most potent elements of the old pagan 
 and of the Christian religion.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS. 
 FROM A. D. 1085 TO A. a 1266. 
 
 B*OBOACHME\T8 Or THK CHTTROH. HlLDBBRAND. HUMILIATION OF THB Er=WXl 
 
 HENRY IV. DOMINION OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE OVER ITALY. WAR BTWK* 
 
 THK EUI'KROR AND LoMBAKDY. SorTIIKKN ITALY. ORGANIZATION OP THK KlM9- 
 
 OOM OF NAPLES. THE NORMAN KMIIIBATIOV. THE VKNBTIAN RnptrBLio. ta 
 RISK AND VICISSITUDES. ITALIAN CHARACTER. THE CRUSADES. CONFLICT BE- 
 TWEEN HONORFUS III. AND FKEDERIO II. ANARCHY IN ROME. CONQUEST OF THB 
 EINODOH OP NAPLES BY CHABLBS OF ANJOU. FLORENCE. ITS CONFLICTS. 
 
 H1HE papal church was now becoming the great powei 
 -*- which for centuries was to overshadow Italy and all Eu 
 rope. The genius of Hildebrand, an obscure monk of Tu 
 cany, combined its energies, and guided them in the career of 
 conquest. In the cloistered solitude of his study he devised 
 his plan for the subjugation of the world to the papal throne. 
 The election of the popes was vested in the cardinals. The 
 clergy were detached from human society by the law of celiba- 
 cy. The pope was declared to be God's vicegerent, incapable 
 of erring, and above ah 1 human law. In the face of the most 
 violent opposition, he accomplished all his plans. The power 
 of the pope over the popular mind became so extraordinary, 
 that no king could hold his crown hi opposition to the will of 
 the holy father. Inauguration by his hand became an essen- 
 tial title to the crown. 
 
 The German emperor Conrad, who succeeded Henry II. 
 hastened to Rome, to receive the diadem from the hands of 
 the pontiff. Being engaged hi distant wars, he could devote 
 but little attention to Italy, and for many years the peninsula 
 presented an aspect of anarchy. Nobles, bishops, and citizens
 
 THE ITALIAN BEPUBLI08. 438 
 
 struggled against each other in bloody warfare. In the year 
 A. D. 1073 Hildebrand was chosen pope, with the title of 
 Gregory the VII. During the long minority of the emperor 
 Henry IV., of Germany, the sagacity of Hildebrand had been 
 diligently employed in pushing the papal encroachments. 
 Never did a more imperial mind dwell in a fleshly tabernacle. 
 The pope and the emperor soon found themselves in collision, 
 each claiming the supremacy. The quarrel arose upon the 
 right of investiture, or in other words, whether bishops and 
 dukes were to consider themselves as vassals of the pope or 
 the emperor. Hostile messages were sent to and fro, until tht 
 pope had the arrogance to summon the emperor to appeal 
 before him hi Rome. The indignant sovereign assembled 9 
 council of prelates and other vassals at Worms, and declared 
 Gregory no longer to be worthy to be recognized as pope 
 Gregory, in retaliation, excommunicated Henry, released his 
 subjects from the oath of allegiance, and prohibited them, 
 under pain of eternal damnation from supporting the emperor, 
 or in any way ministering to his wants. 
 
 The people were so overawed by the terrors of this decree, 
 that they at once abandoned their sovereign ; and he was left 
 utterly ruined and helpless. Under the dictation of the pope 
 the princes met at Oppenheim, to choose another emperor. 
 Henry IV., in dismay and despair, crossed the Alps, in the 
 dead of winter, to throw himself at the feet of the offended 
 pontiff and implore forgiveness. Gregory was then at the 
 castle of Canossa, near Reggio, in the domain of Matilda, the 
 opulent and powerful countess of Tuscany, who was, with all 
 he enthusiasm of her glowing soul, devoted to the papacy. 
 
 For three days, in mid- whiter, the abject monarch stood a 
 suppliant at the portal of the castle before he could be admit- 
 ted. Barefooted, bareheaded, and clothed in a woolen shirt, 
 he was compelled to wait, that the world might witness his 
 humiliation. At length the haughty pontiff condescended to 
 fjrant absolution to the penitent. The reconciliation which 
 19
 
 494 ITALY. 
 
 ensued was far from cordial, and Henry, mortified and 
 perated, returned to his realms, watching for an opportunity 
 more successfully to resume the strife. Soon the ecclesiastical 
 censure was renewed, and the emperor was again deposed. 
 In the meantime Henry IV. had strengthened his cause, and 
 the pope's bull had lost somewhat of its terror. Both partie 
 now prepared for war. 
 
 Matilda, the celebrated countess of Tuscany, and some 
 other Italian feudatories, placed their troops at the service of 
 Gregory. Henry led an army into Italy; the papal troops 
 were routed ; Gregory was deposed, and Guibert, archbishop 
 cf Ravenna, was raised to the papacy by the sword of the 
 emperor. The grateful pontiff placed the imperial crown, with 
 the blessing of the church, upon the brow of the conqueror. 
 Gregory VH. sought refuge among the Normans of Naples. 
 
 The Neapolitans, led by the holy father, whom the 
 emperor had deposed, marched against Rome. Henry IV. 
 retreated. They captured the city and surrendered it to mili- 
 tary license, fire and the sword. Gregory reinstated, but 
 still humiliated, believing himself no longer secure in Rome, 
 retired to Naples, where he remained in virtual exile until he 
 died, with his last breath hurling an anathema against his un- 
 relenting foe, the emperor. His successors, Victor HI., Urban 
 II., and Paschal H. continued the conflict, aided by the ama- 
 zonian energies of the Countess Matilda. Henry was driven 
 out of Italy, and, dethroned by his own son, Henry V., died 
 a broken hearted old man, in the extreme of destitution and 
 misery. 
 
 For fifteen years the struggle continued between Heury V 
 and the Roman pontiffs. At length they entered into a com 
 promise, the pope resigning the temporal, and the emperor 
 the spiritual prerogatives of investitures. During this long 
 war of sixty-three years, a series of republics had been grad- 
 ually springing up in northern Italy. The great cities had 
 become the centers of these republics, and the old feudal
 
 THE ITALIAN EEPUBLICS. 43ft 
 
 nobffity had gradually passed away. The civil war had 
 rendered it necessary that walls should be reared around the 
 towns. The sound of an alarm-bell assembled all the men, 
 capable of bearing arms, hi the great square, and this meeting 
 for deliberation, was called a parliament. Two consuls, and 
 a common council, submitted questions to the decision of the 
 parliament. While most of these northern free cities con- 
 fessed a vague allegiance to the German emperor, others, at 
 Venice, Ravenna, Rome, Naples, and Genoa, still remained 
 nominally under the sway of the eastern empire. Almost the 
 only indications of the existence of the imperial power which 
 now remained, was that the name of the emperor was affixed 
 to the municipal acts, and his effigy was stamped upon the 
 coin. The democratic cities of Lombardy possessed but little 
 of the spirit of true democracy. The stronger were ever 
 eager to domineer over the weaker. Milan crushed Lodi and 
 scattered its citizens into villages, trampling upon all their 
 rights. The Lodise, after years of oppression, appealed to the 
 emperor Frederic for help. 
 
 Glad of this opportunity to strengthen his power in Italy, 
 the emperor with a small but vigorous and efficient army 
 crossed the Alps, and, advancing through the Trentine valley, 
 entered the plains of Lombardy. Here petitioners crowded 
 around him, imploring protection from the haughty, tyran- 
 nical, aristocratic democracy of Milan. In a cruel march of 
 desolation and plunder the emperor ravished tke country. 
 Many cities were in alliance with the Milanese, while otheri 
 espoused the cause of the emperor. Notwithstanding the 
 strength of the imperial army, the walls of Milan were so 
 substantial, and the preparations for defense so ample, that 
 the first movements of Frederic were against the allied cities. 
 Tumi, Vercelli, Asti, and Tortona, after bloody battles and 
 protracted sieges, fell into his hands. The valiant little city 
 of Tortona for two months defied the emperor. 
 
 The emperor was provided with the most powerful ma-
 
 486 ITALY. 
 
 chines of war then in use. With the balistae of the ancients, 
 he threw such masses of rock into the city, that three men 
 were crushed by the fall of a single piece. But famine at 
 length compelled to capitulation, and Tortona was razed to 
 the ground. Frederic, having demolished or subdued most 
 of the cities in the alliance with Milan, entered Pavis, and 
 there received the celebrated iron crown of Lornbardy ; the 
 iron of which it was wrought, was said to be one of the 
 spikes which had pierced our Saviour, and was deemed far 
 more precious than gold. He then advanced to Rome, that 
 he might receive his imperial crown from pope Adrian IV. 
 The pope was now so powerful, and it was deemed so essen- 
 tial to the perpetuity of any reign that the coronation should 
 be hallowed by the blessing of the pontiff, that the haughty 
 Frederic condescended to do homage to his spiritual lord, by 
 holding his stirrup while he descended from his mule. It was 
 not until after this act of humiliation that the pope would 
 confer upon him the kiss of peace. Having been crowned at 
 Rome, the emperor returned to Germany, after an absence of 
 one year, without even venturing to approach the walls of 
 Milan. 
 
 The Milanese and Frederic made new preparations for the 
 prosecution of the war. The influence of Milan was so great 
 that the whole of Lombardy was combining against the em- 
 peror. With a hundred thousand infantry and fifteen thou- 
 sand cavalry, Frederic commenced his march again through 
 the passes of the Alps, and, with this immense force, invested 
 the city. Massive walls of vast circuit surrounded the city, 
 and the bulwarks were protected by a broad and deep fosse. 
 Battering ranis and balistaa were here of but little avail, and 
 famine was manifestly the all-availing foe, which could alone 
 bring the city to a capitulation. By this cruel enemy the 
 Milanese were subdued. History can express no sympathy 
 for them. They deserved to be trampled upon by the power
 
 THE ITALIAN BBPUBLIO8. 43? 
 
 ftl, for they themselves most unscrupulously had been tram- 
 pling upon the weak. 
 
 The treaty was more favorable than the tyrannic Milanese 
 had any right to expect from the tyrant of Germany. A 
 large ransom was extorted ; they built a palace for the em- 
 peror, and took the oath of allegiance to him ; and they were 
 allowed a certain degree of independence in the regulation of 
 their municipal affairs. Frederic paid but little regard to his 
 treaty; and encroachment followed encroachment as he en- 
 deavored to reduce all of Lombardy into entire submission. 
 The mangled worm turned against the foot that crushed it. 
 With horrible ferocity Frederic took vengeance. This cruelty 
 roused new energies of despair. For two years the Milanese, 
 with their allied cities, fought the emperor, struggling through 
 and over the smoldering ruins of Lombardy. Crema was 
 demolished. The harvests were destroyed, the fields devas- 
 tated, and at length, after scenes of misery which no pen can 
 describe, Milan fell. 
 
 For three weeks the emperor brooded over his vengeance, 
 while the Milanese waited trembling in suspense. He then 
 ordered every man, woman, and child immediately to leave 
 the city. The sick, the dying, the newly born, all were to go. 
 Not one was to be left behind. With his army of one hun- 
 dred and fifteen thousand men, the emperor entered the 
 deserted streets. The city was then surrendered to the 
 troops for plunder. For several days they worked diligently 
 ji wresting from it every thing they deemed of value. Then 
 the order was issued for the utter demolition of the city and 
 all its defenses. For six days this immense army toiled in 
 this work of destruction, and rested on the seventh day, their 
 efforts being effectually accomplished. Milan was a heap ot 
 ruins, and all her children were scattered, in misery and beg- 
 gary, over the plains. "Awful was this doom. It was the 
 which Milan had inflicted upon Lodi. Aristocratic
 
 438 ITALY. 
 
 tyrants can do nothing worse than democratic tyrants r 
 capable of doing. 
 
 Lombardy was now submissive in her chains and her 
 misery. But slaves will ever rise in insurrection. A con- 
 spiracy was formed, organizing the famous Lombard League. 
 The leading cities of Lombardy combined, taking advantage 
 of the moment when the arms of the emperor were employed 
 in the siege of Rome, as he endeavored to force upon the 
 church an anti-pope in the place of Alexander HI. Pestilence 
 was breathed upon his army, and it perished in the Campania. 
 The emperor was thus compelled to a disgraceful retreat 
 beyond the Alps. Harassed by the cares of his vast empire, 
 six years elapsed before the emperor could lead another army 
 into the plains of Lombardy. In the spring of 1176, the 
 peals of the imperial bugles were heard, as the gleam of the 
 silken banners were again seen winding through the defiles of 
 the Alps. Milan, in the meantime, having been rebuilt, and, 
 with the other cities of Lombardy, had made vigorous prepa- 
 ration for the conflict. 
 
 The hostile armies met on the plain of Legnano, about 
 fifteen miles from Milan. What was called religious enthu- 
 siasm inspired the Milanese with fiend-like ferocity. The 
 banner of the cross was borne on a sacred car called the 
 carrocio, in memory of the ark of the covenant which guided 
 the Israelites to conquest. Imploring the aid of St. Ambrose, 
 the canonized archbishop of Milan, and of St. Peter, and 
 having taken a solemn vow, upon the sacraments of the 
 Lord's Supper, that they would conquer or perish, they 
 rushed, regardless of wounds and death, upon the imperial 
 squadrons, and trampled them in the dust. For eight miles 
 the plain was covered with the slaughter of the fugitives. 
 
 The imperial army was so utterly overthrown and dispers- 
 ed, that for some time the fate of the emperor was uncertain. 
 Three days after the battle he appeared in Pavia, alone, and 
 in the disguise in which he had escaped from the horrible
 
 THE ITALIAN EEPUBLIO8. 439 
 
 scene of carnage. Pavia, the imperial head-quarters, and gov 
 erned by the imperial troops, had not thrown off the yoke of 
 German subjection. For twenty-two years Frederic had been 
 struggling against the independence of Lombardy. With 
 seven armies he had swept their doomed territory, inflicting 
 atrocities the recital of which sickens humanity. The fatal 
 battle of Legnano left him for a time powerless, and he was 
 compelled to assent to a truce for six years. At the expira- 
 tion of this truce, in the year 1183, by the peace of Constance, 
 the comparative independence of Lombardy was secured ; a 
 general supremacy of dignity rather than of power being con- 
 ceded to the emperor. 
 
 Southern Italy was still in a state of nominal subjection to 
 the eastern, or Greek empire, whose sovereigns resided at 
 Constantinople. There were many intrigues, and some battles 
 between the Grecian and the German emperors for dominion 
 over these coveted realms. Years of obscurity, confusion and 
 petty wars rolled on in which nothing occurred worthy of be- 
 ing recorded. Sicily was in the power of the infidel Saracens, 
 and their piratic craft infested all the neighboring seas, often 
 making devastating inroads upon the land. The natural his- 
 tory of the lion, the tiger, and the leopard, is but a record of 
 dovcl&e mildness, when compared with the natural history 
 or man. His reign upon earth has been but the demoniac in- 
 fliction of blood and woe. 
 
 " 'Tis dangerous to rouse the lion, 
 Deadly to cross the tiger's path, 
 But the most terrible of terrors, 
 IB man himselfj in his wild wrath." 
 
 Early in the tenth century the Normans established them- 
 selves in France. Embracing nominal Christianity, they were 
 inspired with zeal to visit the shrines of saints and martyrs in 
 Palestine. Traversing France and Italy they embarked for 
 the Holy Land. They thus became acquainted with the fertile 
 soil, and the luxurious clime of southern Italy. The effernina-
 
 40 ITALY. 
 
 cy of the inhabitants invited invasion. The old Norman 
 barons, steel clad, and followed by retainers surned to the 
 teeth, commenced emigrating. Their numbers rapidly in- 
 creased, and they began to accumulate near Naples. The 
 Greek emperor undertook to rescue Sicily from the infidel 
 Saracens, and enlisted in his army three hundred of these steel 
 sinewed Norman cavaliers. They fought fiercely and success- 
 fully, but, dissatisfied with the division of the spoil, they form- 
 ed a conspiracy to wrest the whole of southern Italy from the 
 dominion of the Greeks. With an army of but seven hun- 
 dred horse and five hundred foot, they commenced the bold 
 enterprise. They soon were in entire possession of Apulia, a 
 province about the size of the state of Massachusetts, now 
 belonging to the kingdom of Naples. This beautiful province 
 was divided among twelve Norman counts, whose fiefs formed 
 a feudal republic. One of their number, William of the Iron 
 Arm, was invested with a general supremacy to lead them to 
 battle. 
 
 Pope Leo IX., alarmed by their encroachments, raised an 
 army for their destruction. Germans, Greeks, and Lombards 
 were assembled beneath the sacred banner, and the pope in 
 person was so forgetful of his office as to lead the host. These 
 scenes occurred anterior to the events we have been describing 
 in Lombardy. 
 
 Reenforcements from France hastened to the camp of 
 William, and the Norman and the papal troops met in bat- 
 tle. The troops of the pontiff were utterly routed, and 
 Leo himself fell into the hands of his enemies. But relig- 
 ion, degenerating into superstition, leads men to the strangest 
 freaks. These devout, blood-stained warriors, true children 
 of the church, prostrated themselves before their holy captive, 
 and implored absolution for the guilt of defending them- 
 selves againrt him. The simple hearted ecclesiastic, not only 
 pardoned them, And granted them the full possession of the 
 lands they had conquered, as a fief of the holy see, but, in
 
 THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS. 441 
 
 accordance with ecclesiastical morality in that age, conferred 
 upon them the investiture of all the lands they might subse- 
 quently conquer in southern Italy. The pope and the war- 
 riors thus took leave of each other, exceedingly good friends, 
 and pledged to mutual assistance. 
 
 Slowly and surely the Normans advanced, until they had 
 conquered all the country which now constitutes the kingdom 
 of Naples. Thirty years of carnage and misery was the price 
 paid for this conquest. The realm was divided into two 
 duchies, Calabria and Apulia. Sicily was attached to them aa 
 a fief, under the rule of one who possessed the title of great 
 Count. At length Roger II., collecting in his hands the united 
 powers of duke of Apulia and Calabria, and great count of 
 Sicily, ambitiously attained the kingly crown, by papal inves- 
 titure. Naples became the capital of the kingdom. The 
 force of habit and of institutions is duch that for six hundred 
 years the kingdom of Naples acknowledged the superiority 
 of the popedom. 
 
 The Venetian republic was making rapid strides in wealth 
 and power. It, however, fought its way to opulence and 
 renown through innumerable petty yet bloody battles, with 
 surrounding foes. Venice had entered into the Lombard 
 league against the emperor Frederic, but still she never hesi- 
 tated to violate her pledge when it seemed for her interest so 
 to do, even joining the emperor to destroy her sister city, 
 Ancona, hoping thus to crush a rival in the commerce of the 
 Adriatic. The dukes or doges of Venice, through ebbs and 
 floods of fortune, through defeats and victories, were gradu- 
 ally making accessions to their domains. The Joges were 
 nominated in a general assembly of the citizens. This often 
 gave rise to very bitter and tumultuous factions. So jealous 
 were the people lest there should be the claim of hereditary 
 right to the dukedom, that it became a fundamental law of 
 the state, that the reigning doge should ever associate a son 
 in the government. The doge was also associated with a 
 19*
 
 442 ITAT.T 
 
 council, who were to cooperate with him in all important 
 measures. At length, as the republic increased, a sort of 
 legislature, composed of four hundred and eighty delegates, 
 was organized ; while a smaller counsel assisted the doge in 
 measures requiring special or secret despatch. 
 
 This Venetian constitution prepared the repubEc for a 
 very brilliant career, of political and commercial grandeur 
 All Europe was soon engaged in the wars of the crusades for 
 the recovery of the Holy Land from the infidels. The same 
 influences which organized the powerful republics of Lorn- 
 bardy and Venice, also soon constituted many others, such as 
 Pisa, Genoa, and Tuscany. The maritime republics became 
 vastly enriched by the crusades, transporting troops to 
 Palestine and conveying back the valuable products of eastern 
 climes. Venice alone, employed two hundred vessels in this 
 business. But a very fierce and disgraceful spirit of rivalry pre- 
 vailed between the republics of Venice, Pisa, and Genoa, and 
 they were almost constantly engaged in implacable warfare. 
 Their boasted love of liberty, was liberty to trample upon the 
 rights of others. They wished to have no masters, but to be 
 masters. Such love of liberty, liberty for ones-self and op- 
 pression for others deserves, and has ever encountered divine 
 indignation. 
 
 The Italian character, at this age of the world, presents 
 few attractive features. We have been accustomed to ap- 
 plaud their indomitable love of liberty. But haughty, revenge- 
 ful, and domineering, the Italian grasped power only to wield 
 it for his own selfish purposes, and he was ever ready to crush 
 any one who stood in the way of his own advancement. 
 Every city was the foe of every other city, and they could 
 never unite, save when driven together by a common enemy. 
 The old conflict between the aristocratic and plebeian orders 
 raged with unabated virulence. Religion degenerated into 
 mere ecclesiasticism, having but little influence over political 
 or social evils. Heresy was a deadly crime. Wrong and
 
 THK ITALIAN EEPUBLIC8. 448 
 
 utrage were venial offences with which the church did not 
 stoop to intermeddle. 
 
 About this time the afflictive intelligence reached Europe, 
 that Jerusalem had fallen before the power of the " great and 
 mighty Saladin." The emperor Frederic roused all his ener- 
 gies for a new crusade. Leading in person his armies, he waa 
 drowned hi crossing a swollen stream in Armenia. Henry VI. 
 succeeded to the imperial crown of Italy and Germany. His 
 sway over Italy, as we have shown, was very indefinite, being 
 nominal rather than real. Henry was a ferocious monster, 
 whose only virtue was a sort of bull-dog courage. Tancred, 
 of the Norman line, was now upon the throne of Naples and 
 Sicily. Henry led an army for the conquest of Naples, to 
 compel the recognition there of his imperial power ; but he 
 utterly failed. 
 
 Quite suddenly Tancred died in the flower of his age, 
 leaving the throne to his widow and child. The savage 
 emperor again pounced upon Naples, took both mother and 
 child captive, tore out the eyes of the poor boy, and sent 
 both him and his mother to the dungeons of a prison. He 
 then plundered the whole kingdom remorselessly, and pun- 
 ished with great severity all the nobles who had fought for 
 Tancred. Some were hanged, some burned alive, and others 
 had their eyes plucked out. In the siege of a castle, God, in 
 mercy, caused the monster to be stricken down. An instinor 
 tive sense of justice leads one to rejoice hi the divine declara- 
 tion, " After death cometh the judgment." 
 
 With no recognition of the fraternity of man, all Italy 
 continued convulsed with internal feuds, the oppressed of 
 to-day being the oppressors of to-morrow. The republics, 
 internally, were agitated by contending factions ; while hos- 
 tile fleets and armies were incessantly meeting hi the shock 
 of war. The antagonistic nobles reared their castles of mas- 
 sive stona, strengthened with towers, capable of repelling 
 assault and enduring siege. Huge gates of iron defended the
 
 44 ITALY. 
 
 entrance, while armed retainers, by day and by night, patrolled 
 the solid walls. In the interior there was constructed a still 
 more impregnable tower, called the donjon, or keep, to which, 
 in the lasi extremity, the lord could retreat with his followers. 
 These old feudal castles were as gloomy as prisons, and imag- 
 ination can hardly conceive of a more unattractive existence 
 than that which must have been passed witliin their walls. 
 The horrors of an assault must have been almost welcome, as 
 a relief from the dreary monotony. 
 
 The death of the emperor Henry VI. left a minor, Fred- 
 erc n., hereditary heir of the imperial throne. At the same 
 time pope Innocent III., an exceedingly energetic and ambi- 
 tious man of thirty-seven, was raised to the tiara. Under his 
 administration the ecclesiastical pretensions of the papacy 
 soared to a stupendous height. He devised the plan of 
 seizing upon a state in the heart of Italy, that the spiritual 
 prerogatives of the pope might be sustained by temporal 
 power. With consummate ability he accomplished his plans, 
 wielding such dominion over all the temporal powers of Eu- 
 rope, that every monarch trembled before him. He founded 
 the two orders of Franciscan and Dominican friars, whose 
 especial mission it was to extirpate heresy, and to repress all 
 spirit of inquiry, and all activity of mind. 
 
 Innocent HI. also organized the inquisition, intrusting its 
 fearful powers to the Dominicans. He addressed his orders 
 to the sovereigns of Europe with as much arrogance as if 
 they had been merely his body servants. He formed a league 
 of a large number of the Italian cities, called the Guelphic 
 league, to favor the pretensions of the pontiff, in opposition 
 to another league called the GhibeUine, in favor of the emperor. 
 His intrigues were innumerable to place upon the throne of 
 the German empire a prince who would be entirely submis- 
 sive to his will. Innocent retained his scepter, ever gory 
 with the blood of heretics, for eighteen years, when he passed 
 to the tribunal of the King of kings he the murderer of
 
 THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS. 446 
 
 thousands lie whose edicts have filled whole provinces with 
 wailing and woe. 
 
 Pope Honorius ILL, who succeeded Innocent, refused to 
 crown Frederic II., upon attaining his majority, until he took 
 an oath that he would undertake the deliverance of Jerusalem 
 from the Saracens. The kingdom of Naples was in a state of 
 horrible anarchy, and Frederic led his armies to chastise the 
 insurgents. He reared in Naples a magnificent palace, estab- 
 lished a university, and greatly embellished the beautiful capi- 
 tal. Luxuriating in the pleasures of that delightful clime, the 
 emperor forgot his row to fight his way over the sands of 
 Syria, for the rescue of the Holy City. Goaded by the re- 
 proaches of the pope, he made reluctant and inefficient pre- 
 parations for the campaign, ever postponing energetic action, 
 until Honorius died. Gregory IX., who succeeded, was so 
 enraged by the dilatoriness of the emperor, that he thundered 
 a bull of excommunication against him. 
 
 This act of energy accomplished its purpose. The empe- 
 ror, imploring pardon, sailed for Palestine, and, landing at 
 Jean d'Acre, commenced operations. But the pope, astounded 
 and horror stricken, that a guilty wretch, who already by a 
 bill of excommunication was handed over to the dominion of 
 satan, should have the presumption to enter upon so holy an 
 enterprise, reiterated his fuhninations with renewed intense- 
 ness. He even preached a crusade against Frederic, and sent 
 an army to ravage his Italian kingdom of Naples. Frederic, 
 perhaps, receiving a new impulse from these assaults, pressed 
 forward, reconquered Jerusalem, and placed the crown upon 
 his own brow. He then returned to Europe. The emperor 
 and the pope, both fearing and detesting each other, concluded 
 a hollow reconciliation. 
 
 Years rolled on, when Henry, son of Frederic H., insti- 
 gated by the pope, revolted against his father. The energetic 
 monarch crushed the rebellion, sent his son into imprisonment 
 for life, ravaged thh plains of Lombardy, which had sympa-
 
 446 ITALY. 
 
 thized in the treason of the prince, with fire and sword, and 
 reestablished his power. The pope again excommunicated 
 Frederic, and directed a crusade against him as the enemy of 
 the church. The emperor, in retaliation, put every one to 
 death whom he found wearing the symbol of the cross. The 
 pope summoned a council. The emperor sent a fleet to arrest 
 th* French bishops on their voyage. Genoa joined the pope ; 
 Pisa the emperor. The hostile squadrons met near the island 
 of Melona. The imperial party were the victors. Immense 
 treasure, in specie, fell into their hands ; and the captive pre- 
 lates were conveyed to Pisa, heavily loaded with chains forged 
 from silver. The pontiff died of chagrin ; but the rancor of 
 his spirit lived in his successor, Innocent IV. Secretly he re- 
 paired to Genoa, thence to France, and summoned at Lyons a 
 general council of bishops from France, Spain, and Italy. One 
 hundred and forty met ; and with all the pageantry and sol- 
 emnities of ecclesiastical power, declared that the emperor 
 had forfeited all his dignities, and that his subjects were 
 absolved from their oaths of allegiance. 
 
 This was the most pompous act of excommunication the 
 church had ever issued. It paralyzed the arm of Frederic. 
 For five years he struggled unavailingly against the adverse 
 fortune, in which these anathemas involved him, till in the 
 silence of the tomb he found refuge from the scenes of a 
 tumultuous life, such as few mortals have experienced. 
 
 Innocent IV., sheltered at Lyons, welcomed, with indecent 
 rejoicings, the tidings of the death of Frederic II. He re- 
 turned to Rome, through Lombardy, visiting most of the 
 Guelph cities, where he was received with great rejoicing. 
 The Ghibelline cities, which had espoused the imperial cause, 
 were in consternation, and breathlessly awaited their doom. 
 But Conrad IV. the son and successor of Frederic II., has- 
 tened to Italy, to revive their drooping courage. The popt 
 declared that the kingdom of Naples, by the deposition of 
 Frederic II. had reverted to the papacy. War was of course
 
 THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS. 447 
 
 the result. Different cities espoused different sides. Ther 
 were burnings, plundering, carnage, outrage in every form, 
 misery of every aspect. The imperial army at length pre- 
 vailed. Affairs were thus when Conrad IV. died in the year 
 1254, leaving an infant son. 
 
 The hopes of the pope revived. The holy father raised an 
 army and marched into the Neapolitan provinces, and forced 
 all the barons to take the oath of allegiance to the holy see. 
 Just then death's arrow cleft the air and quivered in the heart 
 of Innocent IV. There was a sable hearse, nodding plumes, 
 waxen tapers, processions of ecclesiastics in all the imposing 
 robes of the church, chants, and requiems, and Innocent 
 IV., in the darkness and silence of the tomb, was left to be 
 forgotten, while the insane strife of pride and ambition raged 
 in the sunlight, without any check. 
 
 Rome was but a den of robbers. The populace were 
 ignorant, fanatical, and blood-thirsty ; the aristocracy, both 
 ecclesiastical and temporal, were haughty and licentious. The 
 monuments of ancient grandeur were converted by the barons 
 into fortified castles, from whence they emerged for war or 
 plunder, often filling the streets of the city with feuds, rapine, 
 and bloodshed. The pope had exerted a little restraint ; but 
 his removal to Lyons, where he resided for five years, left the 
 city to excesses which became absolutely intolerable. The 
 citizens, in their despair, sent for a Balognese noble, the cele- 
 brated Brancaleone, and invested him with almost dictatorial 
 power. Energetically and nobly he accomplished his mission. 
 At the head of the citizens he attacked the fortresses of the 
 infamous nobles, who had set at defiance all the authority o 
 civil law. One hundred and forty of these citadels, withi 
 the walls, were battered down, the assailants Laving first 
 hanged their occupants on their own walls. This salutary 
 severity worked quite a reform in the Roman pandemonium. 
 
 In the Lombard republics, the conflict between the aristoc- 
 racy and the people increased in intensity, until in a fierce civil
 
 448 ITALY. 
 
 war the people triumphed, and placed one of their partisans 
 at the head of the government, which now retained only the 
 empty forms of a republic. It was still one of the principal 
 objects of the papacy to wrest Naples from the emperor. 
 Upon the death of Alexander IV. his successor, pope Urban 
 IV. offered the crown of Naples to the powerful French 
 count Charles, of Anjou and Provence, if he would take the 
 oath of allegiance to the pope, and aid in the conquest of the 
 kingdom. Charles accepted the terms with alacrity. Accom 
 panied by a thousand cavaliers, with well tempered coats of 
 mail, composed of a double net work of iron rings with hel- 
 mets, gorgets, cuirasses, brassets, and crushes of solid steel, he 
 Bailed from Marseilles to Rome. His powerful army advanced 
 by land, cutting its route through Lombardy. 
 
 While these movoments were in progress Urban IV. died, 
 and Clement IV. succeeded to the tiara. By him Charles, of 
 Anjou, was solemnly crowned, in the church of the Lateran, in 
 Rome, king of the Two Sicilies. He then advanced to con- 
 quer and take possession of his kingdom. An illustrious 
 general, Manfred, was then in the supreme command of the 
 imperial forces, and virtually king. The hostile forces met on 
 the plains of Grandella. The battle was fierce. But Manfred 
 was slain, his army dispersed, and the kingdom submitted to 
 the victor. In accordance with the ferocity of the times, the 
 principal adherents of Manfred were slain ; his wife and chil- 
 dren were sent to a prison, where they lingered through all the 
 remaining years of their wretched lives ; and the whole coun- 
 try in the vicinity of the battle was surrendered to the sol- 
 diers for pillage, and for the indulgence in any license passion 
 might instigate. 
 
 Two years after this battle the emperor, Conradin, then 
 but nineteen years of age, crossed the Alps from Germany, 
 with an army, to recover his lost kingdom of Naples. Trium- 
 phantly he traversed northern and central Italy, and entered 
 the frontiers of the Neapolitan kingdom The young warrior
 
 THE ITALIAN EEPUELIC8. 449 
 
 was outgeneraled by the veteian chieftain ; hU troops were 
 cut to pieces, and the young emperor, who had not yet attain- 
 ed his twentieth year, was taken captive and infamously exe- 
 cuted. As he stood upon the scaffold and bowed his neck to 
 the executioner, he exclaimed : 
 
 " O, my mother 1 dreadful will be the grief that awaits 
 thee for my fate." 
 
 Florence had attained the first rank among Italian cities. 
 With sunny skies, a pure and salubrious clime, and surround- 
 ed with a graceful amphitheater of hills, covered with vineyards 
 and olive grounds, then was no other spot in beautiful Italy 
 which surpassed it in loveliness. Commerce and agriculture 
 had filled the city with a vast population and immense wealth. 
 The Florentine cloths for three hundred years remained unri- 
 valed in Europe. There were two noble families in Florence 
 of immense wealth and power. The chief of the one noble 
 house, that of Buondelmonti, a young man of great elegance 
 and corresponding vanity, was aifianced to a daughter of the 
 other house, that of Uberti. But at length he abandoned her 
 for another beauty. The indignant friends of the forsaken 
 one, in revenge, murdered the gallant at mid-day, as, in a gala 
 dress, on a milk-white steed, he was riding through the streets. 
 The city was divided, and all Florence was embroiled in the 
 deadly quarrel. The Buondelmonti party were attached to 
 the church, and all the Guelph party rallied around them. 
 The Uberti family were partisans of the emperor, and wer 
 warmly sustained by the Ghibellines. For thirty-three years 
 this deadly feud continued with incessant scenes of blood-shed. 
 At length the Ghibelline nobles, aided by some German cav- 
 alry, drove the Guelphs from the city, and seizing the govern- 
 ment threw themselves under imperial protection. 
 
 The people, crushed by aristocratic insolence, in lese than 
 two years rose in an insurrection, and revolutionized the gov 
 eminent, and the influence of the pope again became domi 
 aant. It was at this time that the celebrated Florentine coin
 
 450 I T A L T. 
 
 called the florin, which attained such celebrity during the 
 middle ages, was issued from the mint. The Ghibellines 
 appealed to the Sicilies, then under the emperor, to aid them. 
 The two armies met before the gates of Sienna, and the Flor- 
 entine Guelphs, though arrayed in a force of thirty thousand 
 infantry and three thousand cavalry, were routed with dread 
 ful slaughter. The Guelph nobles fled, and Florence surren- 
 dered to the Ghibellines. The city was held in subjection by, 
 a strong force of foreign lancers garrisoned within its walls. 
 
 The exiled Guelphs joined Charles of Anjou, as under the 
 banners of the pope he marched to the conquest of Sicily. 
 After the successful termination of this enterprise, aided by 
 Charles, they marched upon Florence, drove out the Ghibel- 
 lines, and reestablished themselves there. Such was the con- 
 dition of all Italy, generation after generation. The rush of 
 armies, the blaze of conflagration, and blood-stained fields of 
 battle, every where meet the eye. Now one party is victo- 
 rious and now the other; and both are equally worthless. 
 The aristocrat tramples upon the democrat ; and the democrat 
 takes vengeance by trampling still more fiercely upon the 
 weak, whom his strong arm can crush. Imperial Germany 
 smites metropolitan Milan. And metropolitan Milan, spring- 
 ing up from the blow, smites poor little Lodi. Aristocracy 
 has been the curse of our globe, and history proves that this 
 vice has existed with just as much venom in the heart of the 
 plebeian as in the heart of the patrician. 
 
 There is but one remedy for these evils. It is the dem- 
 ocracy of the gospel of Christ the recognition of the brother- 
 hood of man. There is but one hope for the world, and th<* 
 is in the extension of the pure religion of the gospel. Form 
 of government are of but little avail so long as the men who 
 wield those governments are selfish and depraved. When the 
 hearts of men are changed by the influences of Christianity, 
 so that man the lion becomes man the lamb, then, and not till 
 then, will the sword be beaten into the plowshare. Govern-
 
 THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS. 451 
 
 ments become better only so fast as the men who organize 
 and administer those governments become better. There 
 may be republican empires, and there may be despotic repub- 
 lics. The voice of all history proclaims, that hi the religion 
 of Jesus is to be found, the only hope for this lost world.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 ITALIAN ANARCHY. 
 FROM A. D. 1266 TO A. D. 1400. 
 
 Tin GTTKLPHS AND GHIBELLINBS. TBACIC FATE or BONIFAZIO AKD ISIALDA.- Exxon 
 or THE PAPAL STATES. Tint SICILIAN VBSFBKS. CONFLICT BETWEEN GENOA AND 
 PISA. RUIN OP PUA. BTATB or FLORENCE. Oi SICILT. TUB PAPAL COUKT RB- 
 MOYED TO AVIGNON. THE ROMANCE or AN DEEW AND JOANNA. CONFLICT FOB THB 
 
 ANTAGONISTIC POPES. TjlEII "VT AM. AOCBMION OT liADULAUS TO TUB TBBONB OP 
 
 NAPLBI. CRUEL FATB or COMTANOB. 
 
 rPHE triumph of the Guelph, or church party, in Florence, 
 * banished the Ghibellines, and confiscated their property. 
 It was in fact a triumph of the popular party over the aristoc- 
 racy, who were generally imperialists. 
 
 The record of the wealth and power to which the Vene- 
 tian republic attained, remains to the present hour one of the 
 marvels of history. Her fleet conquered Constantinople, and 
 that city was retained by Venice for fifty-seven years. At 
 the time of its greatest power, Venice held nominal sway over 
 three eighths of the old Roman empire. For half a century 
 Genoa and Venice were engaged in one incessant battle: 
 fighting over the spoils of the eastern empire. Venice called 
 Pisa to hei aid. Genoa entered into alliance with the Greeks, 
 and thus the demon of war rioted over the wreck of humap 
 happiness. 
 
 The cruel death of Conradin terminated for many years 
 *he German imperial sway m Italy. The emperors, entirely 
 < grossed by troubles at home, had no forces to spare for the 
 ,'econqnest of these southern realms. From the middle of the 
 toirteentb century for two hundred years, Italy present* a
 
 ITALIAN ANARCHY. 458 
 
 tumultuous scene of domestic tragedies, implacable factions, 
 and unceasing wars. Charles of Anjou, whose escutcheon 
 can never be cleansed from the blot of the foul execution of 
 Conradin, pursued with merciless massacre all who were sus- 
 pected of adherence to the Ghibelline party. The native Sici- 
 lians hated venomously their French conquerors. Charles, as 
 energetic as he was cruel, rapidly consolidated and strength- 
 ened his power. Even Florence bestowed on him nominal 
 seigniory, and the pope invested him with the high powers of 
 vicar-general of Tucsany. Nearly all the cities of Lombardy, 
 ever exposed to outrage from the neighboring cities, chose 
 Charles for their seignior ; while others sought for the most 
 intimate aUiance with him, offensive and defensive. 
 
 These successes fed the flame of his ambition ; and, as he 
 could rely upon the military arm of his powerful brother Louis 
 IX., king of France, he began to turn a wistful eye toward 
 the fragments of the eastern empire. Pope Gregory X., the 
 friend and almost the creature of Charles, endeavored in vain 
 to compose the deep seated animosities which agitated Italy. 
 An event which occurred at Bologna at this time, may be 
 mentioned in illustration of the melancholy condition of hu- 
 manity. 
 
 There were two rival noble houses, equally proud, haughty, 
 and powerful. One belonged to the Ghibelline, the other, to 
 the Guelph faction. They had long been arrayed against each 
 other, in deadly enmity. But love, in youthful hearts, tri- 
 umphed over domestic feuds. Bonifazio, of the one family, 
 loved the beautiful Imalda of the other ; and his love was 
 warmly requited. In one of their stolen interviews, in the 
 palace of the maiden, her brothers, watching, rushed upon 
 Bonifazio, and, as their sister fled in terror, dispatched him 
 with their poisoned daggers, and dragged his body to a de- 
 serted court. The unhappy girl, returning, followed the traces 
 of the blood, and found the yet warm and palpitating corpse 
 of her lover. Frenzied with agony, with the hope of reviving
 
 464 ITALY 
 
 him she endeavored to suck the poison from his wounds. She, 
 however, only imbibed the venom herself; and the two were 
 found lifeless together. 
 
 The two houses were goaded to desperation. Their re- 
 spective factions espoused their cause. For forty days the 
 battle raged almost incessantly in the streets and among the 
 palaces of Bologna. The Guelphs triumphed. The Ghibel- 
 fines, who had assassinated young Bonifazio, were driven from 
 the city, with their associates. Their palaces were torn down, 
 and ten thousand citizens were involved in their ruin. These 
 exiles rallied in a distant town ; summoned all the neighboring 
 Ghibellines to their aid, and marched upon Bologna, defeating 
 the Guelphs in two battles without the walls. The Guelphs, 
 alarmed, appealed to Charles of Naples. He sent them a gov- 
 ernor and a garrison, and Bologna became a fief of Charles of 
 Anjou. 
 
 The independence of all Italy was now threatened by his 
 assumptions. The pontiff was so much alarmed that he wished 
 to raise a power antagonistic to that of Charles, and influenced 
 the German electors to give an efficient head to the empire by 
 the choice of Rodolph of Hapsburg, the illustrious founder of 
 the present house of Austria. The pope could now, in the fur- 
 therance of his plans, appeal to either one of these monarchs 
 against the other, he holding the balance of power between 
 them. 
 
 Pope Gregory X. died in the year 1276, and, in the short 
 space of twelve months, three succeeding popes closed their 
 mortal career. Nicholas III. was then invested with the 
 tiara, and he wielded the pontifical scepter with consummate 
 energy and sagacity. He was very adroit in playing Rodolph 
 and Charles against each other. He thus succeeded in attach- 
 ing to the holy see the provinces, or marches, as they were 
 then called, of Romagna and Ancona, formerly belonging to 
 the Countess Matilda. By this act the papal states acquired 
 the extent of territory which they retain to the present day
 
 ITALIAN ANARCHY. 455 
 
 These states now contain about seventeen thousand square 
 miles, being about equal to Massachusetts and New Hamp- 
 shire united, and contain a population of about three millions. 
 There were twenty provinces composing these states, some 
 of them being provinces of considerable extent, and others 
 merely cities, each independent of the rest, and governed by 
 its duke, or lord, or assembly of citizens. The authority of 
 the pope consisted merely in his taking the place of the 
 emperor. He had no more control over their internal gov- 
 ernment than the president of the United States has over that 
 of the individual states. The states of the church took the 
 oath of supremacy to the pope ; stamped his image upon their 
 coin; paid him a certain amount of tribute, and sen* thir 
 allotted quota of soldiers to his banners in case of war. Thus 
 affairs stood for two centuries. 
 
 Italy was at this time essentially divided into three por- 
 tions. All the provinces of southern Italy were combined 
 into the kingdom of Naples, under Charles of Anjou. Cen- 
 tral Italy was conglomerated into the papal states, under the 
 sovereignty of the pope. The northern provinces acknowl- 
 edged the feudal sovereignty, of Rodolph of Hapsburg, em- 
 peror of Germany. 
 
 Upon the death of Nicholas HI., Charles of Naples, by 
 bribery and threats, constrained the cardinals to place one of 
 his own creatures, Martin IV., upon the papal throne. Aided 
 by the pope, the ambitious tyrant was preparing an expedition 
 for the conquest of Greece, when a terrible revolt broke out 
 in his own realms. A man of amazing skill and sagacity. 
 Procida, united all the bold barons of Sicily in a conspiracy 
 to expel the French from Italy. Peter, king of Aragon, who, 
 by marriage, was entitled to the throne of Naples, and the 
 emperor Michael, at Constantinople, who was dreading the 
 threatened invasion, joined eagerly to aid the insurgents. The 
 conspiracy burst like a clap of thunder in a cloudless day, and
 
 456 I T A L T . 
 
 with terrors which, to the present hour, have echoed througb 
 the corridors of history. 
 
 On Easter Monday, in the year 1282, as the citizens of 
 Palermo, in gorgeous procession, were celebrating the resur- 
 rection of our Saviour, a young maiden, of rank and beauty, 
 was brutally insulted by a French soldier. The crowd aveng- 
 ed her by instantly piercing the wretch with his own sword. 
 It was in the early evening, and the vesper bell was tolling. 
 The hour of retribution had arrived. The stifled cry burst 
 forth. Thousands, seizing their concealed weapons, rushed 
 into the streets, and not a Frenchman hi Palermo escaped. 
 Four thousand perished that night. Ail over the island the 
 work of death spread, and did not cease till eight thousand 
 of the invaders perished in the horrible massacre of the 
 SICILIAN VESPERS. 
 
 All Sicily burst into a flame of insurrection. The French 
 were utterly exterminated, and Peter, of Aragon, who was 
 hovering near with a powerful fleet, was invited to assume 
 and defend the kingdom. Charles, almost bursting with rage, 
 instantly crossed the straits, and with an army which he had 
 prepared for the Greek war, assailed Messina. But suddenly 
 the formidable fleet of Peter appeared hi the horizon, and 
 Charles was compelled to a precipitate retreat his whole 
 fleet being seized and burned before his eyes. Peter of Ara- 
 gon was now sovereign of Sicily. 
 
 The pride of Charles was humbled to the dust. At the 
 moment when in the lordliness of power he was exulting in 
 the prospective conquest of the eastern empire, he found his 
 arm of strength paralyzed. Even his own son was the cap- 
 tive of Peter. Overwhelmed with agony he sickened, groan- 
 ed, and died. 
 
 The maritime city of Pisa had become, as it were, a nation. 
 Lucrative traffic had lined her streets with palaces, and filled 
 those palaces with opulence. The city, imperial in power, 
 had established colonies at Constantinople, at Jean d'Aore, in
 
 ITALIAN ANABCHY. 457 
 
 Syria, and was in possession of Sardinia and Corsica. Her 
 nobles, in the extent of their possessions, and the pomp of 
 their retinues, often rivaled princes. The majestic cathedral 
 she had reared, and the beautiful leaning tower, both erected 
 in the eleventh and twelfth centuries still remain among the 
 wonders of the world. 
 
 Wfealth and power fostered pride and arrogance; and Pisa 
 fell. She grossly insulted Genoa, and outraged her rights. 
 War ensued. For two years the powerful republics struck 
 each other terrific blows, and it was uncertain which would 
 fall, crushed and dying on the arena. The envenomed battle 
 could only terminate in the destruction of one or the other. 
 A tempest, unfortunately or providentially, swept half the 
 Pisan navy upon the rocks, and the bells in Genoa rang mer- 
 rily. Twenty-four galleys laden with treasure, passing from 
 Pisa to Sardinia, were captured by the Genoese; and still 
 more merrily pealed her cathedral chimes, and still more 
 pompously ascended the chaunt of her Te Deums. Pisa, in 
 desperation^ roused for a decisive effort. 
 
 The Pisans descended the Arno with three hundred galleys 
 manned by twenty-five thousand troops. The Genoese met 
 them, at the mouth of the river with one hundred and thirty 
 galleys, crowded with thirty thousand troops. Providence 
 aided the strong battalions, and the naval glories of Pisa in 
 that dreadful day of tumult and carnage, perished forever. 
 Eleven thousand were carried away into captivity. The re- 
 mainder were sunk in the sea. Ten thousand of *the prisoners 
 perished in the dungeons of Genoa, during an imprisonment 
 of eight years. The survivors, then but one thousand in num- 
 ber, emaciate and woe-stricken, were ransomed and returned 
 to their friends. 
 
 With selfishness which should make human nature blush, 
 the Guelph cities of Tuscany, all pounced together upon 
 defenseless Pisa in this her hour of adversity. Through lin- 
 gering scenes of desperation, agony and crime, the republic 
 20
 
 458 ITALY. 
 
 perished. Three short summers destroyed the growth of 
 ages. 
 
 Florence, agitated by factions of citizens and nobles, was 
 in a state of incessant tumult and blood-shed. In the van- 
 quishment of one of these parties, called the White Guelphs, 
 an illustrious man, whose name is now immortal Pante was 
 driven into exile, where he lingered sorrowfully until he* died. 
 The genius of suffering inspired his immortal poem, The In- 
 ferno. The vision of hell, purgatory, and paradise, is by al- 
 most unanimous assent, pronounced to be one of the loftiest 
 creations of human genius. The personages of his own day 
 live in the awful scenes of his poem, and their lineaments are 
 painted upon the canvas in colors which can never fade away. 
 
 Peter of Aragon did not long survive the conquest of 
 Sicily. Upon his death he transferred the crown to James, 
 his second son. The crown of Naples, divested of the beau- 
 tiful island of Sicily, remained upon the brow of Charles II., 
 son and heir of Charles of Anjou. Sicily contained ten thou- 
 sand five hundred and eight square miles, being a little larger 
 than the state of New Hampshire, and was inhabited by a 
 mixed population of about two millions. It will be remem- 
 bered that Charles, the son of the king of Naples, had been 
 taken prisoner by Peter. He was subsequently released upon 
 his relinquishing all claim to the island of Sicily. 
 
 But oaths in those days were made but to be broken. Aa 
 soon as Charles II. was safely seated on his throne of Naples, 
 the pope absolved him from his oath, and crowned him king of 
 Naples and of Sicily, or, of the Two Sicilies, as the insular and 
 continental kingdom was then called. France united with 
 Charles H. Aragon combined with James of Sicily. The 
 dogs of war were again let loose. In the midst of these wars 
 and intrigues the king of Aragon died, and James left Sicily 
 to assume that richer crown. He passed the scepter of the 
 island into the hands of his third brother Frederic. 
 
 In a spirit of infamy, which even all past atrocities do not
 
 ITALIAN ANAECHY. 469 
 
 enable us to contemplate but with amazement, James of 
 Aragon, then purchased the favor of the pope by marrying 
 daughter of Charles II of Naples, surrendered Sicily again to 
 Charles, and pledged Lis armies to aid in its reconquest for 
 Charles II., should his brother Frederic and the Sicilians make 
 any opposition to the transfer. For this act of perfidy the 
 holy father gave James his blessing, and gave him Sardinia 
 and Corsica, of which he had robbed Genoa, and of which 
 Genoa had robbed Pisa. 
 
 But Frederic was not disposed to lose his crown ; neither 
 were the Sicilians ready to relinquish their independence. The 
 war was long and fierce, but Frederic finally triumphed over 
 his combined foes. The miserable pope Boniface VIII. event- 
 ually died of insanity and rage. His successor Benedict XL 
 was poisoned by two cardinals, hired to commit the deed by 
 the king of France, called Philip the Fair. Philip then suc- 
 ceeded in placing the tiara upon the brow, and the keys in the 
 hands, of one of his own archbishops, whom he had bribed 
 into the most uncompromising obedience to his wishes. 
 
 Clement V. first very generously pardoned all the sins of 
 the regal assassin; and decorated himself with those pon- 
 tifical robes, beneath which the concealed king of France, 
 directed all the movements of the automaton pontiff. For 
 the accommodation of his royal master he abandoned Italy, 
 and took up his residence in France. 
 
 Nearly sixty years had now elapsed since any German 
 emperor had descended the Alps, to assert, through terror of 
 his banners, imperial sway in Italy. In the year 1310, Henry 
 VII., at the head of an imposing body of cavalry, came clat. 
 tering down upon the plains of Lombardy. Nobles of all 
 ranks, leaders of all factions, delegates from ah 1 cities crowded 
 to his head-quarters, to secure their own triumph, by being 
 received into alliance with him. Henry welcomed all with 
 the same affability. By intrigue and a few battles he took 
 possession of Lombardy, and plundered it mercilessly. But
 
 460 ITALY. 
 
 no sooner had the nsion of his banners disappeared, on the 
 other side of the Alps, than all Italy was up in arms against 
 him. 
 
 The thunders of the approaching strife were reverberating 
 over all the hills of Italy, when death smote the monarch and 
 he fell silent into the tomb. Louis of Bavaria, after a long 
 and bloody war, had attained the imperial crown. He marched 
 upon Italy to compel its homage. It was the summer of 
 1327. At Milan he received the iron crown of Lombardy. 
 He then marched into Tuscany ; captured enfeebled Pisa, 
 after the short siege of a month ; extorted heavy contribu- 
 tions ; erected the state of Lucca into an imperial duchy, and 
 then marched upon Rome. Here he wasted his time in the 
 ceremony, then a mere frivolity, of being crowned emperor 
 by the pope. 
 
 Troubles in Germany suddenly compelled him to recross 
 the Alps, and he left behind him in Italy the exasperating 
 remembrance of plunder and outrage. Again anarchy and 
 contending factions reigned in northern Italy. The wars of 
 rival dukes, the battle* of democratic cities, the intrigues of 
 petty factions, have, in the lapse of time, become too insignifi- 
 cant to be recorded, though in the day of their virulent ac- 
 tivity they were the wide spread cause of woe. 
 
 Robert of Naples, during the most of a long reign, had 
 protected his kingdom from internal strife and foreign inva- 
 sion, though much of the time he had been engaged in foreign 
 wars. "When Frederic of Sicily died, after a military reign 
 of forty years, he was succeeded by his son Peter H. This 
 monarch had hardly taken his seat upon the throne, ere he 
 died, leaving it to his infant son Louis. Robert of Naples, a 
 melancholy old man, drawing near to death, with no ma^e 
 heirs, offered the crown to Andrew, son of his nephew, king 
 of Hungary, on condition that the lad should repair to the 
 court of Naples for bis education, and, in due time, should
 
 ITALIAN ANARCHY. 461 
 
 marry Joanna, the emperor's orphan granddaughter, then a 
 child of seven years. 
 
 Andrew proved to be a low, brutal, semi-savage, weak in 
 ntellect, and barbarous in manners entirely beyond the reach 
 of refined culture. The beautiful Italian princess, reared in the 
 most brilliant though most corrupt court in Europe, despised 
 the princely boor, who was destined to be her husband. 
 Robert, eighty years of age, convinced of the utter incapacity 
 of Andrew to reign, left the throne to Joanna, excluding 
 Andrew. He established a regency, providing that her ad- 
 ministration should not commence until the completion of her 
 twenty-fifth year. 
 
 Joanna was but sixteen when her grandfather died. She 
 was beautiful, vivacious, inexperienced, of impassioned tem- 
 perament, and was surrounded by princes of the blood, high- 
 born gallants, dissolute men, and dissolute women, in a court 
 which has seldom been rivaled in the splendor of its voluptu- 
 ousness. The religion of the court was the religion of eccle- 
 siasticism and ceremony, not the religion of political integrity 
 and moral purity. The result was, as a matter of course. 
 Joanna became a beautiful wanton. 
 
 Andrew and Joanna quarreled. Both claimed the crown. 
 Two parties were formed. The friends of Joanna seized 
 Andrew one night, hi a remote castle to which he had been 
 lured, on a hunting excursion, slipt a noose which had been 
 carefully prepared over his neck, and threw him out of one 
 of the windows. The foul murder created au insurrection. 
 The Hungarian party gamed the ascendency. Joanna was 
 compelled to surrender the assassins, and they were put to 
 death with frightful tortures. 
 
 Louis, the elder brother of Andrew, was now king of 
 Hungary. He gathered an army to avenge the fate of hia 
 brother, and, as his heir, to claim the throne of Naples. The 
 queen, in the meantime, had married one of her lovers. The 
 nobles and the people welcomed the army of invasion, and
 
 462 ITALY. 
 
 Louis, almost without a struggle, took possession of the 
 throne. He did not long retain it. Leaving garrisons in the 
 strong places he returned to Hungary. The queen rallied her 
 friends, having secured the cooperation of the pope, and after 
 a warfare of three years, during wbich the most shocking 
 atrocities were perpetrated on both sides, she regained her 
 kingdom. 
 
 The popes still continued, under French sway, to reside in 
 Avignon in France. Their supremacy in Italy was decidedly 
 weakened by this foreign residence. Decayed and debauched 
 nobles occupied the edifices in Rome, which remained majestic 
 monuments of ancient grandeur. From these fortresses they 
 sallied forth, with their retainers, in the prosecution of party 
 feuds, of public robberies, and of nameless outrages of the 
 darkest iniquity. The shadow of republican institutions was 
 retained. It was, however, but the shadow. The citizens 
 were reduced to the deepest misery, by the insolent excesses 
 of the nobles, who garrisoned their castles with robber bands, 
 setting all laws at defiance. 
 
 In the year 1342, a deputation from Rome visited the 
 pope at Avignon, imploring him to reestablish the holy see in 
 its original seat. Clement VI., who was then the pope, de- 
 clined, and the people of Rome, in despair, rose against the 
 nobles. Rienzi, the leader of this reform, as soon as he felt 
 the reins of power in his hands, intoxicated with success, 
 plunged into voluptuous and capricious tyranny, which rivaled 
 that of the nobles whom he had overthrown. Loaded with 
 obloquy, Rienzi abdicated his power and fled from Rome, and 
 the city relapsed into its former anarchy. 
 
 For the first half of the fourteenth century all Italy waa 
 the theater of incessant sanguinary wars, provoked by the 
 ielfishness and ambition of the rival states. It mattered but 
 little what forms of government were adopted, the powerful 
 were ever endeavoring to trample upon the weak, and the 
 weak were combining to trample upon the powerful. In the
 
 ITALIAN ANABCHY. 463 
 
 year 1346, a general famine desolated Italy The famine waa 
 followed the next year by pestilence, which spread over all 
 Europe. The history of the world affords no parallel to this 
 great pestilence, which, it is estimated, swept away three-fiftha 
 of the human race. It was impossible to burv the dead. All 
 restraints were forgotten, all the ties of humanity were un- 
 loosed hi the general consternation. 
 
 It seemed as though the pestilence was doing the work cf 
 the flood exterminating a race unfit to occupy the earth. 
 But so soon as the ravages were stayed, the survivors grasped 
 their arms and renewed their insane assaults upon each other. 
 
 Venice claimed to be queen of the Adriatic, and as such 
 to be exclusively entitled to the navigation of that sea. A 
 yearly ceremony was introduced by which the doge, hi type 
 of this sovereignty, wedded the Adriatic. Genoa resisted the 
 claim, and sent one hundred and sixty galleys, with thirty 
 thousand soldiers, to enforce her protest. Venice raised a 
 similar force. Horrid scenes ensued of carnage on the sea, 
 and slaughter and conflagration on the land. 
 
 In the progress of this war the government of Venice 
 gradually passed into the hands of the aristocracy, and the 
 famous Council of Ten was organized, which long ruled Ven- 
 ice with despotic sway, unhappily the only sway which could 
 preserve from anarchy. The gloomy tranquillity of the prison- 
 dungeon prevailed in the streets of Venice, while all other 
 cities of Italy were in an incessant ferment. The innocent 
 and the guilty were alike liable to be stricken down. Every 
 act of the government was veiled in fearful obscurity. Spies 
 were ererywhere. Individuals of highest position disappear 
 ed, never to be heard of again. No one dared ask a question 
 
 Let us contemplate for a moment the aspect of Italy in the 
 middle of the fourteenth century. Rome was rapidly falling 
 into decay. The seat of the popedom was removed to Avig- 
 non, beyond the Alps, and the pope was but little more than 
 the tool of the sovereigns of France. Clement VI., the reign-
 
 64 ITALY 
 
 ing pope, was a debauched old man. In Naples Joanna held 
 her voluptuous court. Central Italy, extending from the 
 northern frontiers of Naples to the southern limits of Lorn- 
 bardy, was divided by the Apennines into Tuscany on the 
 west, and Romagna on the east. The papal states, with Rome 
 for their metropolitan city, intervened between these provinces 
 and the Neapolitan kingdom. North of Tuscany and Romag- 
 na came the great province of Lombardy, extending to the 
 Alps, composed of five ducal potentates, virtually independent 
 of each other established with much princely splendor and 
 power in the great cities. Genoa and Venice were popular 
 cities, of but small territorial extent, but majestic in maritime 
 power. Such is a general, not a minute and accurate view of 
 Italy at this tune. 
 
 Milan was the most powerful of the Lombard principalities. 
 But Verona, Mantua, Padua, and the duchies of Ferrara and 
 Modena were by no means insignificant. Gunpowder began 
 now to be used upon the field of battle ; but in that early day 
 the new weapons, clumsily constructed, had comparatively but 
 little efficiency in the field. Genoa and Venice had established 
 immense factories along the whole circuit of the Black sea, 
 where they gathered the spices and merchandise of India, and 
 the furs and other commodities of Russia. Here again, on 
 these distant waters the squadrons of the two rival cities met 
 in hostile array. 
 
 In January, 1352, the Venetian squadron, numbering sev. 
 enty-five galleys, and the Genoese with but sixty-four, though 
 of larger size, encountered each other in the Bosphorus, near 
 Constantinople. As they rushed together in the shock of war, 
 a terrific storm blackened over their heads, with vivid flashes 
 of lightning and peals of thunder, while a tornado swept the 
 waves with resistless fury. Regardless of thunder, and light- 
 Ding, and wind, and ram, through the long, dark, stormy 
 night the furious combatants struggled until the lurid morn- 
 ing dawned. It revealed an awful sight.
 
 ITALIAN ANARCHY. 465 
 
 The sea was covered with wrecks and with *he gory dead 
 The Venetian fleet was almost destroyed. Two thousand of 
 their men were slain, and fifteen hundred taken captive. The 
 Genoese bought their victory dearly, having suffered nearly as 
 much. The following year another terrific battle was fought^ 
 in which the Genoese, in their turn, were severely whipped. 
 The calamity was overwhelming, and Genoa was reduced to 
 despair. In their consternation they threw themselves upon 
 the protection of Milan, and a Milanese governor and gar. 
 rison were sent to take charge of the humiliated city. Thus 
 strengthened, the conflict was renewed. The two fleets met, 
 near the port of Sapienza, in the Morea, and the Venetian 
 squadron was utterly destroyed. Four thousand men were 
 slain, and six thousand captured. Venice, hi the extreme of 
 exhaustion, sued for peace. 
 
 The duke of Milan acquired great renown by this success ; 
 and flushed with pride and power he began to trample upon 
 the rights of the other dukes of Lombardy. They all combin- 
 ed with Venice to humble their common enemy. Both parties 
 sought the aid of the emperor Charles IV. He coquetted 
 with both parties and received the iron crown of Lombar.ly. 
 He then proceeded to Rome, escorted by a brilliant army, 
 where he was invested with the imperial diadem. For three 
 years a miserable war infested Lombardy. At length all par- 
 ties were wearied, and equally wounded and bleeding assented 
 to peace. 
 
 The Catholic historians designate the papal residence in 
 Avignon as the Babylonian captivity of the popes. From the 
 year 1305 to 1375, seven popes in succession resided in this 
 city. It possessed many attractions for the papal court. Im- 
 perial wealth had lined the streets with palaces, and the holy 
 fathers, under the strong arm of France, and the mere tools 
 of her ambitious monarchs, had found here safety, opulence, 
 and voluptuous indulgence. But at length the north of 
 France was devastated by British soldiers, and plundering 
 20*
 
 436 ITALY. 
 
 bands began to crowd down upon the rid plains of Vaucluse. 
 The luxurious prelates were alarmed, and Urban V., though a 
 Frenchman, decided to reestablish the holy see at Rome. 
 
 With great pomp, accompanied by his cardinals, and es- 
 corted by the galleys of Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and Naples, he 
 passed from the Rhone to the Tiber. Rome received him 
 with great exultation. Under the efficient sway of Urban the 
 papal states enjoyed repose, and the pontifical power attained 
 renewed splendor. The eastern empire was now crumbling 
 before the might of Sultan Amurath, and the emperor, John 
 Palaologus, left Constantinople to throw himself at the feet 
 of the Pontiff, to implore his aid in rousing Europe against 
 the infidels. 
 
 But Italy was in such a distracted state, the emperor 
 Charles IV. of Germany sweeping over it with his armies, 
 and all the petty governments engaged in interminable wars, 
 that Urban sighed for the repose of Avignon, and after a resi- 
 dence of three years in Rome, returned to his French palaces, 
 where he almost immediately died. Gregory XI. at Avignon, 
 was chosen his successor. Civil war was now desolating the 
 states of the church. To quell it, Gregory XI. sent twelve 
 thousand ferocious Britons, armed to the teeth, into the 
 tumultuous region. They smote indiscriminately upon the 
 right hand and upon the left. Even children at the breast 
 were not spared. Five thousand perished in this stern chas- 
 tisement by the holy father, in which infants were seized by 
 tne feet and their brains dashed out against the stones. 
 
 The duties of the sacred office rendered the pope's resi- 
 dence at Rome necessary. In the midst of scenes of tumult 
 blood and woe, Gregory XI. was summoned to judgment 
 The cardinals met to choose his successor. Eleven were 
 French, four were Italians, and one a Spaniard. The election 
 was bitterly contested, for the people of Rome clamored 
 against another foreign pontiff. The municipal government 
 of Rome had assumed the form of a republic, being adminit-
 
 ITALIAN ANARCHY. 467 
 
 tered by thirteen elected magistrates. These magistrates tent 
 a deputation to demand an audience with the cardinals, that 
 they might represent the wishes of the people. The sacred 
 college rebuked them vehemently for their presumption ic 
 attempting to influence an election which was under the espe- 
 cial and exclusive guidance of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 This roused the mob. The Vatican, where the cardinals 
 were in conclave, was surrounded, and the Roman popu- 
 lace insisted, with clamor and menace, that the Holy Spirit 
 should give them a Roman, or at least an Italian pope. The 
 choice fell upon a Neapolitan, who assumed the tiara and the 
 keys, under the title of Urban VI. The people were ap 
 peased and the tumult ceased. 
 
 The choice proved unhappy. The possession of power 
 developed in Urban a character of caprice and tyranny. He 
 threatened to excommunicate the cardinals. With singular 
 forgetfulness of ecclesiastical courtesy, he called one of the 
 cardinals a thief and another a fool. He threatened to create 
 a large number of Italian cardinals, so that the government of 
 the church should no longer be in the hands of foreigners. 
 
 The cardinals, with very commendable spirit, met together 
 and declared that the Holy Spirit had made a mistake in the 
 election of Urban VI., and that they declared the election null 
 and void. They then chose the cardinal of Geneva, pope, with 
 the title of Clement VH. The question is not yet settled in 
 the papal church which of these two men was the true pope. 
 As they were bitterly hostile to each other ; and as the deci- 
 sions of the true pope was invested with almost the authority 
 of divine decrees, the question must be admitted to be one of 
 very serious moment. 
 
 For forty years this untoward event produced a schism in 
 the Catholic church. France and Spain, with Joanna of 
 Naples, espoused the cause of Clement Vil. Italy, England, 
 Germany, Hungary, and Portugal, arrayed themselves beneath 
 the banners of Urban VI. Each of the antagonistic popes
 
 4o8 ITALY. 
 
 was, in ability and character, quite contemptible. Urban VL 
 with a new created college of nineteen Italian cardinals es- 
 tablished himself at Rome. Clement VII. with a major- 
 ity of the old cardinals retired to the luxurious palaces of 
 Avignon. 
 
 Urban VI. attempted to punish Joanna of Naples for her 
 support of Clement VII. by an act of excommunication and 
 deposition ; at the same time he offered the investiture of her 
 kingdom to one of his friends, Charles of Durazza. Joanna 
 appealed to the antagonistic pope and his advocates for help. 
 She being now the widow of four husbands, and childless, she 
 declared, as her heir, Louis, duke of Anjou, uncle of Charles 
 VI. king of France. Swords were immediately drawn, and 
 armies were on the march. Charles Durazzo was hastily 
 crowned king of Naples by Urban VI., and hurrying his 
 march into Naples, he seized the kingdom and the queen. 
 With his sword at the throat of Joanna he commanded her 
 to abdicate the crown in his favor. Heroically she refused. 
 Charles sent assassins into her prison who smothered her with 
 pillows. 
 
 With a fine army Louis, duke of Anjou, entered the Nea- 
 polition territory, to avenge the death of the queen, and to 
 claim the crown. Two years of devastation and blood passed, 
 when Louis died. Urban VI., not feeling safe at Rome, trans- 
 ferred his pontifical court to Naples, where he soon found 
 himself involved in a quarrel with the king his own hand had 
 created, over whom he had been very naturally disposed to 
 exercise quite dictatorial power. The conflict waxed warm, 
 and the king chased the pope into the castle of Nocera, where 
 he vigorously besieged him. In this extremity Urban VL, aa 
 a desperate resort, appealed to the party of the duke of Anjou 
 for relief. Some bold barons of that party rescued him, and 
 carried him in triumph to Genoa. Soon after this Charles III, 
 was assassinated by his own relatives, and the kingdom of 
 Naples was left in a state of ruinous anarchy.
 
 ITALIAN ANARCHY. 469 
 
 For years the kingdom presented the most deplorable 
 aspect of tumult and wretchedness. Charles HI. left a son, 
 Ladislaus, ten years old, and a daughter, Joanna. His widow, 
 Margaret, acted as regent for her son. The opposite party 
 proclaimed the young son of the duke of Anjou king, by the 
 title of Louis II., under the regency of his mother, Maria. 
 Thus Europe rallied for war around the banners of these two 
 boys. The popes, in the meantime, had each excommunicated 
 the other. All Italy was hi such a state, of anarchy, that 
 robber barons, emerging from then- castles with well armed 
 retainers, prowled about, robbing, murdering, and committing 
 crimes of indescribable brutality. 
 
 The mother of Louis took good care of him, while the 
 nobles led his armies. At length, after many bloody cam- 
 paigns, the French party were so far triumphant, that Maria 
 took her son and, with a powerful fleet and a numerous train 
 of French nobles, conveyed him to Naples. He was, of course, 
 received with the acclamations of the populace. But he de- 
 veloped a character so utterly effeminate, indolent, and dis- 
 solute, as soon to excite general contempt. 
 
 Ladislaus, on the contrary, cradled amidst the storms of 
 battle, at the age of sixteen joined his barons hi the field. 
 Marrying the heiress of the most opulent noble in Sicily, he 
 vastly increased his resources. Gradually he swept the king- 
 dom of his foes, and entered Naples in triumph. Louis and 
 his followers, abandoning the kingdom in despair, retired by 
 sea to France. 
 
 It would be refreshing could we find one good man as a 
 prominent actor in these tumultuous scenes. There doubtless 
 were thousands of humble Christians, cherishing the spirit of 
 their Saviour, and hi retirement and prayer struggling along 
 the .path to heaven. But in the camp and the court we 
 encounter little save vice and crime. Ladislaus proved a stern 
 sovereign, ruling with a rod of iron. He was a stranger to 
 gratitude, good faith, or mercy.
 
 4VO ITALY. 
 
 The beautiful Constance whom he had wedded, and through 
 whose rich dowry he had gained his kingdom, he neglected, 
 abandoned, divorced, imprisoned, without accusing or even 
 suspecting her of any faults. His vagrant desires were weary 
 of her, and he sought other charms. He afterward compelled 
 the unhappy Constance to marry count Andrea, one of his 
 favorites. As she was dragged to the altar, she said indig- 
 nantly and aloud, hi the presence of the assembled court and 
 people : 
 
 " Count Andrea, you are to esteem yourself the most for- 
 tunate cavalier of this kingdom, for you are about to receive 
 for your mistress the lawful wife of your liege."
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 FRAGMENTARY ITALY. 
 FBOM A. D. 1400 TO A. D. 1600. 
 
 DAWN OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTUBY. SCHISM IN THE CHUROH. THE THKM 
 
 THE GREAT COUNCIL OP CONSTANCE." GOOD OLD TIMES." BEATRICE TBNDA. 
 THE DUKES or SAVOY. THE HOUSE OF MKDIOL EUROPE MENACED BY TOT 
 TUBKS. THE GREAT EUROPEAN MONARCHIES. FRAGMENTARY ITALT. LEO X. 
 FRENCH CONQUESTS. SPANISH CONQUESTS. THE EMPEROB CHABLBS V. MASTBB 
 OF ITALY. PAPAL STRUGGLES. FATE OF FLORENCE. THE DUCHY OF PARMA 
 OF TUSCANY. 
 
 T1HE morning of the fifteenth century dawned upon Italy in 
 -*- clouds and gloom. The duke of Milan was master of near- 
 ly all of Lombardy, and was menacing Florence with appar- 
 ently resistless power. N.:p.es was utterly exhausted with 
 her temfic civil wars. Venice, secure within her lagoons, was 
 overawed by the most merciless oligarchy. The papal power 
 had fallen into utter contempt. The annals of those days are 
 filled mainly with the record of wars, treachery, murders, ra- 
 pine, and crimes of erery hue. Venice, by the foulest aggres- 
 sion, had extended her domain to the Adige, and the Lion of 
 St. Mark, her symbolic banner, floated from the towers of 
 Treviso, Feltro, Belluno, Verona, Vicenza, and Padua. 
 
 Urban VI., who had caused the schism in the church, died 
 in the year 1389, and Boniface IX. was chosen as his succes- 
 sor. He died in 1404, and the cardinals, surrounded by a 
 mob, in the wildest scene of tumult and uproar, raised Inno- 
 nent VII. to the papal throne. Ladislaus, the steru king of 
 Naples, drove the pope from the city, in an attempt to compel 
 the states of the church to acknowledge him as their liege 
 lord. He failed, and in his rage plundered and fired the city. 
 Innocent soon died, and Gregory XH. was conducted to the
 
 472 ITALY. 
 
 papal chair, in Rome. Europe was weary, and the church 
 ashamed of the set ism. But the states were so t Dually divid- 
 ed between Rome and Avignon, that it was difficult to effect 
 a compromise. 
 
 Upon the death of Clement VII. the cardinals, at Avignon, 
 chose Benedict XIII. The university of France, disgusted 
 with this state of things, refused to recognize either as legitimate 
 pope ; and the discontent became so general that the cardin- 
 als, to rescue the church from ruin, convoked a general council 
 at Pisa, and summoned both popes to appear before them. 
 This was new experience for God's vicegerents, and they both 
 indignantly refused. Whereupon the council of Pisa, consist- 
 ing of the cardinals, and a numerous body of prelates from all 
 parts of the Christian world, aided by ambassadors from most 
 of the crowned heads of Europe, after long and solemn delib- 
 eration, performed the very extraordinary act, which ther 
 amazed mankind, of deposing both Gregory XII. and Benedict 
 XIII. They then elected the cardinal of Milan to the papal 
 dignity with the title of Alexander V. 
 
 There were now three popes instead of two. Benedict 
 XUL, with three cardinals adhering to him, had convoked a 
 council of his partisan clergy at Porpignan, a gloomy fortress 
 on the frontiers of Spain. Gregory XII., with four cardinals, 
 and the prelates who rallied around him, met at Ravenna , in 
 Italy. And now from these three papal thrones bulls o/ ex- 
 communication were hurled, like the fabled thunderbolts of 
 Jove. The several powers of Europe arranged themselves on 
 different sides, grasped their arms, and war continued its hide- 
 ous revels. Alexander V., through many bloody battles, es- 
 tablished himself in Rome, the ancient seat of papacy. In less 
 than a year he died ; and a cardinal, of disgraceful character 
 succeeded, by the title of John XXIII. 
 
 Ladislaus, of Naples, ravaged Italy like a famished tiger. 
 With all the belligerents the papal quarrel seemed to be mere- 
 ly the occasion they embraced to extend their dominions by
 
 FRAGMENTARY ITALT. 178 
 
 ornshrag theii neighbors. Ladislaus reduced all of the states 
 of the church to his sway ; extended his frontiers to Tuscany, 
 and was advancing with such strides that he threatened to 
 bring all Italy beneath his scepter. But death, the kindest 
 ally of oppressed mankind, struck the tyrant down. In loath- 
 some disease, torn with convulsions, and shrieking in agony, 
 he sank into the grave and Italy drew a long breath of relief. 
 
 The shameful struggles of the popes still agitated aD 
 Europe, desolating wide realms with conflagration and car- 
 nage. The emperor Sigismund, of Germany, a debauched 
 voluptuary, but a man of marvelous energy of character, 
 undertook to terminate the strife. In several personal inter- 
 views with John XXTTT., he overawed the holy father, and 
 compeEed him to invite a council of the clergy of Christen- 
 dom in the imperial city of Constance, on the shore of the 
 lake of the same name. The pope and the emperor in person 
 attended this famous council ; and there was also the gather- 
 ing of ambassadors from nearly ah 1 the princes and states of 
 Europe. This memorable council was composed of twenty 
 cardinals, one hundred and seventeen patriarchs and bishops, 
 six hundred ecclesiastics of next higher rank, and four thou- 
 sand priests. There were also twenty-six princes present and 
 one hundred and forty counts. 
 
 John XXIII., finding that the council was on the eve of 
 deposing all three of the popes, fled from Constance in the 
 disguise of a groom, and threw himself upon the protection 
 of Frederic, duke of Austria. But a division of the imperial 
 army pursued the fugitive, and brought him back a prisoner 
 to Constance. Gregory XII., alarmed by this example, threw 
 down both tiara and keys, and was thankful to retain the 
 office of cardinal. Benedict XIII., sustained by the powerful 
 arm of Spain, was more obstinate. But he soon fo'ind him- 
 self constrained to yield to the almost unanimous voice of 
 Europe. The three rival popes were laid aside by the council, 
 and a new pope was chosen, Otho Colouna, who assumed th
 
 74 ITALY. 
 
 title of Martin V. The martyrdom of Jerome of Prague, and 
 of John Huss, which deeds of atrocity were perpetrated by 
 this council, hardly belong to the history of Italy. 
 
 We find individuals who say that old times were better 
 than the present. Contemplate " good old times" in Milan in 
 the early part of the fifteenth century, under Giovanni, duke 
 of Milan. From boyhood he had been nursed in atrocities, 
 taking a fiend-like pleasure in witnessing every conceivable 
 form of agony. His chief enjoyment was to see his blood- 
 hounds tear down the victims he exposed to their rage. His 
 huntsman fed the hounds on human flesh, to make them effi- 
 cient hi tearing to pieces their prey. The prisons of Milan 
 were emptied, that the duke might enjoy this sport. On one 
 occasion, when several gentlemen of Milan had been torn to 
 pieces by his hounds, the innocent, helpless son of one of these 
 gentlemen was thrown into the arena. The dogs, sated with 
 blood, refused to fasten upon the poor child, when the duke 
 himself drew his sword and ripped open the bowels of his 
 victim, kneeling before him and crying for mercy. These 
 facts are authenticated beyond all possible doubt. The friends 
 of this child assassinated the duke. What verdict shall his- 
 tory pronounce upon the crime ? It is well for us all that 
 infinite wisdom will sit upon the throne of final judgment. 
 
 Filippo, the successor of this wretch on the ducal throne, 
 was also his successor in infamy and brutality. He had mar- 
 ried Beatrice Tenda, a lady of large fortune, that through the 
 influence of her wealth he might be able to grasp the scepter. 
 Having obtained the dowry and the scepter, he now wished 
 to get rid of his spouse. He had already, with the basest treach- 
 ery, murdered many whom he deemed in the way of his am- 
 bition. Selecting a young man of his court, he accused him 
 of adulterous commerce with his duchess stretched the uu- 
 happy, innocent youth upon the rack, and by crushing all hia 
 bones, and pouring an intolerable tide of agony along all hia 
 quivering nerves, compelled his victim to avow whatever his
 
 FRAGMENTARY ITALY. 47fi 
 
 tormentors desired. The mangled, palpitating form was then 
 beheaded. 
 
 The wife of the duke was then placed upon the wheel, tc 
 compel her to confess a crime of which she had not beer 
 guilty. But Beatrice, with superhuman fortitude, endured 
 the torture. Bone after bone was dislocated, and still Bea- 
 trice exclaimed, " I am not guilty." Nerve after nerve quiv- 
 ered hi its frightful accumulations of agony, and still Beatrice 
 shrieked, and when she could no longer shriek, groaned, "I 
 am innocent." And as the ax fell to terminate her sufferings, 
 with her last sigh she persisted that she was guiltless. 
 
 God did not, in this world, summon the wretch Filippo to 
 account for his crimes. He was not thwarted in any of his 
 plans of ambition. By an incessant series of encroachments 
 over his weaker neighbors, he raised Milan to a degree of 
 power and splendor never known before, and he died at last 
 in his own tranquil chamber. There is in the human breast 
 an instinct of justice which demands a future day of retribu- 
 tion. 
 
 From the Italian chaos a new power, about this time, 
 began to emerge, on the western frontiers of the Milanese 
 states. In the valley of the Savoyard watered by the little 
 river of Arc, there was a petty lordship, possessed by the 
 counts of Maurienne. Gradually they extended their survey 
 over the whole of Savoy, a romantic realm of mountains, 
 forests, and ravines, situated on the western slope of the Alps, 
 and about half as large as the state of Massachusetts. By 
 marriages and encroachments they pressed on, generation 
 after generation, until large rural portions of Piedmont, with 
 many of the important cities, fell under their dominion. The 
 counts of Savoy began now to be regarded as one of the 
 powers of Italy. The emperor Sigismund dignified their en- 
 larged territory with the title of a duchy, and elevated the 
 count to a duke. Amadeus VHL was the first duke of Savoy 
 being raised to that dignity in the year 1413.
 
 Still Italy remained but the arena, in which all the nation? 
 of the peninsula were engaged, pell mell, in interminable 
 gladiatorial conflict. There was no cessation, except to take 
 breath and mend their battered arms. The millions of peas- 
 ants, bareheaded, and barefooted, who toiled in the fields, 
 were with difficulty enabled to raise food for themselves, and 
 for the hundreds of thousands who did the fighting. In the 
 great cities, a few merchants became enriched by commerce ; 
 and successful generals rioted in luxury obtained by the plun- 
 der of provinces. 
 
 Suddenly Europe was alarmed by the tidings that the 
 Turks, under Mahomet IL, had taken Constantinople, and that, 
 with enormous armies, flushed with victory, they were ascend- 
 ing the Danube, and were also embarking on the Adriatic, 
 and threatening all Europe with subjugation. The peril was 
 so imminent that a congress was immediately summoned, to 
 meet at Rome, under the presidency of the pope, Nicholas V. 
 But the antagonistic princes, each grasping at his own ag- 
 grandisement, could form no combination. Venice and Milan 
 exposed to the first inroads of the Turks, alone united. Na- 
 ples and Florence soon joined them. The petty states of 
 Greece had fallen, one after another, into the hands of the 
 Turks. The ferocious army of Mahomet II., their cimeters 
 dripping with blood, were within one day's march of the 
 Italian frontiers. 
 
 The pope endeavored to rouse demoralized Europe to the 
 rescue, and summoned a rising en masse of all the faithful, to 
 meet at Ancona, whence they were to be transported across 
 the Adriatic to meet their infidel foes. An immense concourse 
 yf half starved wretches, came in rags, hungry, penniless, and 
 without arms. The pope, already aged and infirm, in the 
 intensity of his disappointment lay down and died. 
 
 Venice, almost unaided, struggled fiercely against the 
 Moslem wh,h ever varying success. With an army, reported 
 to have consisted of two hundred thousand men, conveyed in
 
 FBAftMENTABY ITALY. 47fr 
 
 four hundred galleys, the Turks entered the Archipelago, 
 wrested the large and important island of Negropont from 
 the Venetians, and put all the defenders of this island to the 
 sword. The Venetians were compelled to sue for peace, after 
 a struggle of fifteen years. The victorious Sultan exacted 
 from them large portions of their territory, and an annual 
 tribute. The Turks also took possession of the Euxine, wrest- 
 big from Genoa all her possessions and all her influence on 
 the shores of this inland sea. 
 
 The rise of the house of Medici in Florence, is one of 
 those events in Italian history which deserves especial notice. 
 Cosmo de Medici, who may be regarded as the founder of 
 this house, was one of the most illustrious of men. For 
 thirty years he governed Florence with singular sagacity, 
 embellishing the city with the most gorgeous specimens of 
 architecture, and founding galleries of art which still attract 
 the admiration of the world. This family attained such power 
 and became so obnoxious to pope Sextus IV., that the holy 
 father, a scandalous old man, surrounded by pampered ille- 
 gitimate children, conspired for the assassination of the two 
 brothers of the duke Giuliano and Lorenzo in the midst 
 of the most solemn offices of religion. As the kneeling vic- 
 tims bowed, at the elevation of the host, in high mass, two 
 ecclesiastics were to plunge the fatal daggers. 
 
 Giuliano fell instantly, pierced to the heart by several 
 blows. .Lorenzo, warding the thrust, which but slightly 
 grazed his neck, threw his cloak around his arm for a shield, 
 and, with his sword, courageously defended himself, until his 
 attendants rushed to his aid. The whole church was filled 
 with consternation. Rapidly the friends of the Medici rallied 
 around Lorenzo, and he was conveyed in safety to his palace. 
 The indignation of the mob was so roused, by this outrage, 
 that they fell with the utmost fury, upon the conspirators. 
 The archbishop of Salviati, one of the accomplices, was hanged, 
 in his prelatical robes, from the window of his palace. Ser
 
 4*8 ITALY. 
 
 eral other high ecclesiastics suffered the same ignominious 
 punishment. More than seventy of the conspirators were cut 
 down, and their bodies were exposed to every conceivable 
 indignity in the streets. 
 
 At this time the church, in its external organization, as 
 hierarchy, was but a political institution, in the hands of 
 saen generally corrupt. The dignities of the church, confer- 
 ring immense wealth and power, were more eagerly sought 
 for than those of the army or the state. Hence, ambitious 
 demagogues, rowdy and dissolute barons, and the debauched 
 sons of princes, sat in the pontifical chair, and were decorated 
 with the gorgeous robes of bishops, archbishops, and cardi- 
 dinals. The spirit of piety had fled from the high places of 
 renown, and taken refuge hi the bosoms of the lowly. As 
 history has almost exclusively confined her walks to the 
 pageantry of courts and the tumult of camps, we have but 
 few records of that true spirit of Christ, which doubtless, in 
 those dark days, sustained thousands, under life's heavy bur- 
 dens. We occasionally hear their plaintive song of triumph 
 hi the dungeon, and their cry of victory, from the stake or 
 the scafibld. 
 
 Sextus IV. enraged at the failure of the conspiracy, de- 
 clared open war against Lorenzo de Medici, without any 
 attempt to disguise his complicity in the plot for his assas- 
 sination. He excommunicated the whole duchy of Florence, 
 in punishment for the ignominious execution of archbishop 
 Salviati. The Florentine government appealed to the rest of 
 Italy for support, and summoned the Tuscan clergy to a gen- 
 eral council. The long of France publicly remonstrated with 
 the pope, against the prosecution of an unjust war. Sextua 
 IV., bent on his purposes, formed an alliance with Ferdinand 
 of Naples, and war again, with even more than ordinary bar- 
 barity and horror, swept ill-feted Italy. 
 
 The conflict was raging cruelly when Italy, and indeed all 
 Europe, was thrown into consternation by the tidings that the
 
 FBAGMENTABY ITALY. 479 
 
 Turks had landed in great force at Otranto, an important sea- 
 port at the southeast extremity of the kingdom of Naples. 
 The city was taken by storm, and the inhabitants perished in 
 a horrible massacre. The sultan, Mahomet II., with twenty- 
 five thousand troops, was encamped on the opposite coast of 
 the Adriatic, ready to be transported across the sea. He had 
 also seven thousand in garrison at Otranto, waiting for the 
 arrival of this army of invasion, then to march vigorously 
 upon Rome. But such was not God's will. Death suddenly 
 terminated the earthly schemes of the Moslem sovereign. 
 Thus was Christendom rescued from the greatest peril to 
 which it had ever been exposed. 
 
 The struggling nations of Italy, in their terror, had, for a 
 moment, ceased their fraternal strife, to defend themselves 
 from the common foe. But the death of the sultan, and the 
 consequent withdrawal of his army, was but the signal for the 
 renewal of the insane fratricidal warfare. Sextus IV. was, 
 however, frustrated in his ambitious plans ; and a great and 
 sudden disappointment threw him into a paroxysm of passion 
 which hastened his death, in the year 1484. 
 
 Innocent the VUL, a voluptuous sinner, the unmarried 
 father of seven children, all of whom he openly acknowledged, 
 succeeded Sextus IV. The hoary debauchee loved ease better 
 than power. Instead of fostei-ing wars, he engaged in the 
 less destructive crimes of extortion and luxurious indulgence. 
 Ferdinand of Naples secured the election of Innocent VIII. 
 to the pontifical throne ; and the indolent, sensual pontiff, nat- 
 urally kind-hearted, for a time manifested his gratitude by a 
 ready compliance with all the wishes of his patron. But Fer 
 dinand, arrogant and brutal, pushed his exactions so far tha 
 the pope rebelled, and a war ensued, which was conducted 
 with but little vigor. During the intrigues to which this war 
 led, Lorenzo de Medici, of Florence, married his daughter to 
 one of the natural sons of the pope, and thus paved the way
 
 480 ITALY. 
 
 for the elevation of the family of the Medici to the highest 
 position of ecclesiastical grandeur. 
 
 The imbecile pontiff shamefully bestowed tlw dignity of 
 cardinal upon Giovanni, the second son of Lorenzo, a boy but 
 thirteen years of age. The boy cardinal subsequently became 
 pope Leo X. ; perhaps the most renowned pontiff who ever 
 reigned in the Vatican. Lorenzo de Medici was one of the 
 most illustrious men which any age has produced. It is diffi 
 cult to find any one of his contemporaries who equaled him in 
 the moral beauty of his life. His tastes were pure and enno- 
 bling, and in all respects his private character was such a& 
 even in this day would be deemed unsullied and attractive. 
 The enthusiasm of his intellectual nature and his exquisite 
 taste for the arts, and the splendid patronage he extended to 
 scholars, architects, and all artists, have associated his name 
 with perhaps the most brilliant epoch in Italian history, and 
 have assigned to him one of the most prominent niches in the 
 temple of fame. Under the sagacious and energetic sway of 
 the Medici, Florence attained its highest pinnacle of power. 
 
 Lorenzo de Medici and Innocent VHI. died nearly at the 
 same time. The long anarchy of the feudal ages was passing 
 to a close. From this anarchy the powerful kingdoms of 
 England, France, Spain, and Austria had emerged. Italy, still 
 broken into fragments and distracted with internal strife, was 
 menaced by each of these consolidated and gigantic powers. 
 Italian independence could by no possibility be preserved but 
 by the cordial union and concentration of the Italian states; 
 and this union it was impossible to effect. All the four great 
 kingdoms we have enumerated, were struggling, by all the 
 arts of intrigue and arms, to grasp the Italian provinces, and 
 annex them to their own domains. 
 
 Ludovica Sporza, duke of Milan, endeavored to form an 
 Italian confederacy, and sent ambassadors for this purpose to 
 Naples, Florence, Rome, and to the duke of Ferrara. But 
 mutual jealousies were so strong, and selfish ambition so
 
 FBAGMENTABY ITALY. 461 
 
 dominant, that no union could be effected. The Italian states 
 were all hostile to each other, each striving to secure its own 
 aggrandizement by weakening its neighbor. Charles VHL of 
 France claimed Naples, and sent an army for its conquest, 
 and, with powerful bribes, induced both Milan and Venice to 
 help him. 
 
 The French monarch marched, unopposed, through Savoy, 
 Piedmont, Milan, and Tuscany to Rome. The infamous Alex 
 ander VI., who was then pope, and in alliance with Naples, 
 finding himself quite unable to defend the city, threw open 
 the gates, and Charles VIII. entered the eternal city, display- 
 ing war's most gorgeous pageantry. At three o'clock in the 
 afternoon of a bright and sunny day, the French army, 
 amounting to sixty thousand men, in gay uniform, with 
 polished armor, prancing steeds, silken banners, and pealing 
 music, began to defile into the city. It was long after dark 
 ere the last battalions entered, and ten thousand torches threw 
 wild and lurid gleams over the dark masses of the soldiery, as 
 the very pavements seemed to tremble beneath the tread of 
 their solid columns. 
 
 Alfonso II., of Naples, was a cruel tyrant, detested by his 
 people. As the French drew near the Neapolitan frontiers, 
 the execrations of the populace resounded beneath his palace 
 windows ; and in terror he abdicated the throne in favor of 
 his son, Ferdinand II., and fled to Sicily. The French 
 marched resistlessly onward, battering down the castles with 
 their formidable artillery, and putting the garrison to the 
 sword. The Neapolitan soldiers fled at their advance, like 
 sheep before wolves. Capua surrendered without striking a 
 Wow. As the French monarch approached the city of Naples, 
 Ferdinand II., in despair, abandoned his kingdom, and sought 
 refuge, with his family, in the little island of Ischia. The 
 French entered Naples in triumph, and their banners soon 
 floated over every fortress in the kingdom. 
 
 The whole French army, thus triumphant, surrendered 
 21
 
 482 ITALY. 
 
 itself to those voluptuous indulgences to which a deliciotw 
 climate, a luxurious capital, and the plundered opulence of a 
 kingdom invited them. The other states of Italy were alarm- 
 ed. Venice and Lombardy entered into negotiations with 
 Austria and Spain, and formed a coalition for the expulsion of 
 Charles VIII. The tidings came upon the French like a thun- 
 derbolt from a cloudless sky. There was no safety for them 
 but in a speedy retreat to France. As the French troops, 
 in their flight, greatly reduced in numbers, descended through 
 the passes of the Apennines into the plains of Lombardy, they 
 found their path hedged up by an allied army four times their 
 number. There was no alternative between battle and sur- 
 render. The legions came together, in war's deadly shock, on 
 the plains of Formosa. Charles VEQ. was brilliantly victori- 
 ous, and, scattering his foes before him, pressed forward to 
 Turin, and thence returned to France. 
 
 Ferdinand II. reentered his kingdom, where he died, after 
 one short month, and was succeeded, as he left no children, by 
 his uncle Frederic. Still we hear of nothing but war, origin- 
 ating in the most frivolous causes, and conducted without any 
 ability. All the kingdoms, republics, and duchies of Italy 
 continue in a state of incessant broil. There is nothing to in- 
 terest the modern reader, in the record of their silly quarrels, 
 and in the recital of their deeds of barbarity and blood. 
 
 In the year 1499 Louis XII., of France, sent an army 
 across the Alps, and in less than a month cor quered the wholo 
 duchy of Milan. Ludovico, the tyrannic duke, fled across the 
 mountains into Germany. In an attempt to regain his duchy 
 he was taken prisoner, sent to France, and died after ten year 
 of solitary and rigorous imprisonment. Nearly all of Lorn 
 bardy passed under the dominion of the French king. The 
 French monarch, thus in possession of Milan, turned a wistful 
 eye toward Niples. Frederic, the king, with a disbanded 
 army, an empty treasury, dismantled fortresses, empty arso- 
 ualw, and a kingdom impoverished and desolated by the last
 
 1BAGMENTABT TALT. 488 
 
 orar, could present but feeble resistance. Apprehemive that 
 Frederic of Spain might aid his relative, Frederic of Naples, 
 the French monarch made proposals to his Spanish brother, 
 that they should divide the kingdom of Naples between them. 
 A more barefaced robbery two highwaymen never plotted. 
 We may, perhaps, be spared any painful exercise of sympathy 
 for the victim, in the reflection, that he was even a worse 
 tyrant, and a more unprincipled robber than the two confeder- 
 ated against him. 
 
 It is impossible to close our eyes to the fact that nearly all 
 these rulers were alike atrociously corrupt ; and that the 
 masses of the people were as bad as the rulers. Through all 
 the grades of society the strong trampled upon the weak. 
 
 In the confederacy between Ferdinand and Louis, there 
 was peculiar infamy attending the perfidy of Spain. With 
 villainy which extorts from history its most uncompromising 
 denunciations, Ferdinand of Spain offered, with his troops, to 
 assist the king of Naples to repel the French invasion. Grate- 
 fully Frederic accepted this offer of his relative, and placed all 
 his fortresses in the possession of the Spanish troops. With 
 consummate hypocrisy Ferdinand dissembled to the last mo- 
 ment, and then threw off the mask as the French battalions 
 resistlessly crossed the frontiers. The unfortunate monarch, 
 betrayed beyond redemption, was compelled to abandon his 
 kingdom, and to seek the retreat which his conquerors conde- 
 scended to grant him, in the island of Ischia. He ended his 
 days an exile in France. 
 
 The two regal bandits quarreled over their spoil, and soon 
 drew their swords against each other. The armies came to a 
 general engagement near the castle of Cerignoles, in Apulia, 
 and the French were totally defeated. Spain now claimed 
 entire possession of the kingdom of Naples. But France sent 
 another army into the disputed kingdom. This army also the 
 Spaniards cut to pieces. Louis XII., menaced by an insurrec- 
 tion with the loss of his duchy of Milan, abandoned the con-
 
 test. Such was the introduction of the dominion of Spain 
 over the Neapolitan states. Gonsalvo da Cordova achieved, 
 for his Spanish master, this important conquest. Notwith- 
 standing the perfidy which disgraced his exjloits, his heroio 
 courage and military genius have secured to him the appella 
 tion of the Great Captain. 
 
 About the year 1510, the energetic pope, Julius II., formed 
 the design of expelling all foreign domination from Italy. 
 The warlike pontiff, leading his troops in person, commenced 
 operations against the French. After a few successes, the 
 papal army was entirely routed, and the pope fled to Rome 
 for safety. But soon Julius II. formed a coalition with Spain 
 and Venice, under the title of the holy league. Henry VIIL, 
 of England, also enlisted under the papal banners, glad of an 
 opportunity to make war upon France. Louis XII. with 
 heroic energy summoned his strength to meet this formidable 
 alliance. Gaston de Foix, duke of Nemours, a general of 
 extraordinary abilities, took the lead of the French armies. 
 
 The hostile troops first met at Brescia. The conflict raged 
 through the streets of the city, and eight thousand of the cit- 
 izens perished in indiscriminate massacre. The terrific energy 
 of de Foix was triumphant, and the city was surrendered for 
 several days to all the horrors which could follow a successful 
 assault. Flushed with this victory, and strengthened by re- 
 cruits from France, the duke of Nemours marched to Rom- 
 agna, and again met his foes, under the walls of Ravenna. After 
 the battle of a few hours, ten thousand men were strewed in 
 gory death over the plain, and again victory was with the 
 French. But in the very last charge Gaston de Foix fell, an 
 illustrious general, a ferocious and brutal man. 
 
 Though the French battalions were victorious, they had 
 lost then* general, their best captains, and the flower of their 
 troops. The coalesced army, greatly strengthened, crowded 
 them so vehemently, that they were compelled, to retreat. 
 Disaster succeeded disaster, and the whole French force was
 
 FRAGMENTARY ITALY. 485 
 
 driven out of Italy. In the meantime the Swiss and the em- 
 peror of Germany had entered into this holy league. But 
 now fierce conflict arose among the coalesced powers respect- 
 ing the division of the spoil. In the midst of this strife 
 Julius II. died. 
 
 Giovanni de Medici, second son of Lorenzo the magnifi- 
 cent, and who had been the boy cardinal, succeeded Julius IL 
 on the pontifical throne, with the title of Leo X. Almost 
 immediately upon the accession of Leo X. the holy league was 
 dissolved. Louis XII. formed a new alliance with the Vene- 
 tian republic, crossed the Alps, and again invaded the duchy 
 of Milan. The Swiss rushed to the aid of Lombardy; the 
 French were routed with tremendous slaughter, and Louis 
 XII. soon after receiving the tidings of this check upon his 
 ambition, was, by sudden death, summoned to God's bar. 
 
 Francis I. succeeded to the throne of France, and imme- 
 diately commenced operations to retrieve the disgraces of the 
 French arms, and to reassert his title to the ducal crown of 
 Milan. The French monarch led his troops in person, and 
 met the Milanese and Swiss at Marignano. All day long the 
 roar of battle continued. Night closed upon the combatants. 
 For four hours more the mingled armies fought by moonlight, 
 until the moon went down and friends could no longer be 
 discerned from foes. In the earliest dawn of the morning the 
 battle was renewed. Twenty thousand dead then covered 
 the ground. 
 
 "I have been," said Marshal Trivulzio, "in eighteen 
 pitched battles. But every other seems to me like child's 
 play, compared with this battle of giants." 
 
 At length the Swiss and Milanese slowly and menacingly 
 retired, and the French did not dare to pursue. This horrible 
 butchery led to a treaty of peace with Switzerland; and 
 France recovered the whole duchy of Milan. The Swiss, not 
 much to their honor, changed masters, entered into alliance
 
 486 ITALY. 
 
 with Francis I. engaging to supply him with such infantry as 
 he needed, for the prosecution of his wars. 
 
 Leo X. with characteristic policy ranged himself on tiie 
 aide of the victors, and by so doing gained supreme control 
 over the French church. On the fifteenth of January, Ferdi- 
 nand of Spain died, and his grandson, Charles V., succeeded 
 to the Spanish kingdoms. Spain now was in possession of 
 Naples ; Lombardy was held by France ; the emperor of 
 Germany was ravaging the realms of Venice, in the attempt 
 to annex those realms to Austria. Leo X. was in possession 
 of the states of the church, and his nephew, Lorenzo II. of 
 Medici, was duke of the states of Florence. There were also 
 sundry small dukedoms not deserving of notice. Such was 
 the aspect of dismembered and subjugated Italy. 
 
 On the nineteenth of February, 1519, the emperor Maxi- 
 milian died, leaving all his hereditary states of Austria to his 
 grandson, Charles V. of Spain. Charles V. thus became by 
 far the most powerful monarch in Europe. Leo X. entered 
 into a secret treaty with him to drive the French out of Italy. 
 The terms were all agreed upon, and the combined army had 
 successfully entered the Milanese territory, when Leo X. sud- 
 denly died, on the first of December, 1521. 
 
 The influence of the emperor Charles V. placed a Flemish 
 ecclesiastic, who had formerly been his tutor, on the pontifical 
 throne, with the title of pope Adrian VI. The French, how- 
 ever, were driven out of the Milanese duchy, and the great 
 emperor of Spain and Germany became dominant over the 
 Italian peninsula. The pontifical reign of Leo X. is remark- 
 able for the luxurious profusion of his court, for the scanda- 
 lous sale of indulgences, to meet his enormous expenditures 
 of war and ambition, and for the Reformation which was 
 consequently provoked. France was too powerful to surren- 
 der her Italian , possessions without a struggle, and the war 
 was long, bloody, brutal, and creative of unspeakable misery. 
 
 Adrian VI. was an austere man, of simplicity of manners,
 
 FRAGMENTARY ITALY. 48'a 
 
 purity of morals, and sincerity of views. The voluptuous, 
 dissolute Romans detested him. They called him the Bailor 
 rian Pontiff, and indecently aud openly rejoiced at his death, 
 which occurred after a reign of two years. Clement VII. waa 
 his successor. Army after army Francis I. had sent into Lorn- 
 bar dy, only to be destroyed. At length he led an immense 
 force himself, and succeeded in taking the city of Milan. He 
 then laid siege to Pavia. Through the long, cold months of 
 winter his army was struggling to batter down the walls. In 
 February the imperial troops approached to aid the defenders, 
 and after a murderous battle, the French were utterly routed, 
 and the monarch himself taken prisoner. 
 
 Charles V. was now master of Italy. The stupid pope 
 awoke to the consciousness that Italian independence was 
 gone. The throne of the Two Sicilies, the iron crown of Lom- 
 bardy, the scepter of the Adriatic, and the keys of St. Peter, 
 were all virtually in the hands of the emperor. Clement VII. 
 formed an alliance with Henry VUL, of England, and Francis 
 I., of France, who had been released from his captivity, to 
 wrest Lombardy from the emperor. Florence, Venice, and 
 the old duke of Milan were also confederates in this " holy 
 league." But the emperor was too powerful for them all. 
 Battles were fought, cities sacked and burned, harvests des- 
 troyed, and thousands of families perished in misery, through 
 pestilence, famine, and the sword. Through all the dark rec- 
 ord -)f Italian history we can find no record more dismal than 
 that of the six years which foUowed the death of Leo X. 
 
 The legions of Charles V. trampled Italy beneath their 
 feet. God seemed to empty upon Rome the vials of His 
 wrath The venerable capital of Christendom was taken by 
 storm. A demoniac army of twenty-five thousand men, on 
 the sixth of May, 1527, scaled the walls, and swept, in ah 1 hor- 
 rible outrages, through the doomed city. Neither Goth nor 
 Vandal had displayed such ferocity No tongue can teh 1 tha 
 scenes which ensued; no imagination can exaggerate them,
 
 *88 ITALY. 
 
 For nine months the wretched inhabitants of Rome ware 
 exposed to spoliation and outrage. In the midst of all these 
 horrors the plague broke out. The sacred city! Pandemo- 
 nium could hardly rival it in crime, misery, and despair. 
 
 The pope and thirteen cardinals were taken captive by the 
 Spaniards, and for six months were closely imprisoned in the 
 castle of St. Angelo. The pope was at length allowed to 
 escape, after having paid four hundred thousand ducats for hig 
 ransom. Still, for two years, the savage warfare raged, the 
 ranks of all the armies being filled with the most fiend-like 
 men who could be gathered from all the haunts of beggary 
 and crime in Europe. Charles V. was triumphant, and the fate 
 of Italy seemed to be sealed. 
 
 Florence alone refused to bow her neck to the emperor. 
 The pope and Naples infamously joined Charles V. to crush 
 the heroic republic. The imperial army, under the prince of 
 Orange, entered Tuscany forty thousand strong. The strug- 
 gle was short, bloody, horrible ; and Florence fell to rise no 
 more. Her death-groan was heard in the cry of eight thou- 
 sand of her citizens cut down by the destroyer; but they 
 dragged with them, mangled and lifeless into the tomb, four- 
 teen thousand of their murderers. What a band, to stand 
 side by side in the same hour before God's tribunal ! 
 
 Italy no longer had a national existence. For nearly three 
 centuries of poverty, slavery, and dishonor, her history remains 
 almost a blank. Strangers governed her large prorincesj 
 and the dukedoms and marquisates degenerated into the 
 small change which the great monarchs of Europe handed to 
 their younger children. Still diabolical war spread its miser- 
 ies in all directions, as the despots of Europe fought incessant- 
 ly over their prey, like famished dogs gnawing at a bone. 
 Petty duchies were created and extinguished. Territories 
 were annexed and detached. There was constant change, but 
 no progress, no improvement. There was a short period of 
 forty years, at the close of the sixteenth century, when Italy
 
 FRAGMENTARY ITALY. 489 
 
 enjoyed the repose which may be found among a gang of 
 slaves whipped into the most abject subjection. Still the Ital 
 ian people were compelled to leave their homes to fight, in 
 foreign lands, the battles of their masters. 
 
 Naples, including Sicily, was governed by viceroys, sent 
 from Spain, who wrested incredible sums from the wretched 
 Neapolitans by all the ingenious measures of taxation and ex- 
 tortion. The duchy of Milan was in like manner under the 
 administration of a Spanish governor. 
 
 The Reformation, which had commenced in Germany, and 
 spread through France and England, had exerted but a slight 
 influence over benighted, enslaved Italy. Several insignificant 
 popes lived and died, until in 1555 the tiara descended to the 
 brow of Paul IV. He summoned all his energies to crush 
 the Reformation, establishing the inquisition at Rome, and 
 filling himself the office of grand inquisitor. A long series of 
 successors followed in his footsteps, eight having passed from 
 the pontifical chair to the tomb, in the short space of fifty 
 years. These all were greatly under the domination of Spain. 
 The civil government of the popes was as bad as bad could 
 be. They frowned down popular intelligence ; extorted enor- 
 mous f axes, established ruinous monopolies, paralyzed indus- 
 try, and banished population. Vas^ tracts were abandoned to 
 malaria and sterility. Mussulman corsairs ravaged the coasts 
 of Italy, and bandit hordes infested the interior of the coun- 
 try, despising the imbecile government. 
 
 Pope Paul III., wishing to mase provision for one of bis 
 Latural sons, detached from the Ro~ian see a small expanse of 
 territory, about as large as Rhode Island, and placed the 
 young man, acknowledged as his son, but judiciously called hi 
 public his nephew, in possession, as duke of Parma. This 
 first duke of Parma was as detestable for his tyranny as for 
 his debaucheries. By the utmost extortion, in the shape of 
 taxation in every form which ingenuity could devise, he was 
 able to wrench from his half a million of subjects, a revenue 
 21*
 
 490 ITALY. 
 
 amounting to about one million of dollars a year and all this, 
 by what is called divine right. The subsequent history of 
 this dukedom is full of the romance of iniquity. 
 
 Tuscany, about the size of the state of Massachusetts, and 
 with a population of a million and a half, became a grand 
 duchy, administered by a grand duke, ever sustained by some 
 foreign power. A more beautiful realm, in all of Nature's gifts, 
 is not. gladdened by the sun. The grand duke could without 
 great difficulty extort from it an annual revenue amounting to 
 four million five hundred thousand dollars.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 ITALY AT THE COMMENCEMENT OP THE FKENCH REVO- 
 LUTIOlS. 
 
 FROM A. D. 1600 TO A. D. 1796. 
 
 fsm DUCHY OF TUSCANY. VENICE. STATE OF ITALY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTUBT. 
 THE DUCHIES OF PARMA AND MODENA. RISE AND AGGRANDIZEMENT OF THE DUKM 
 OF SAVOY. STRUGGLES IN GENOA. WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCKSSION. BEPOSI 
 IN ITALY. PEACE OF Aix LA CHAPEL-LE. NAPLES UNDER SPANISH INFLUENCE. 
 THE PAPAL POWER. ITALY AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION. SAR- 
 DINIA, TUSCANY, MODENA, GENOA, LOMBARDY, VENICE. WAR AGAINST FRANCE. 
 NAPOLEON IN ITALY. His VICTORIES AND His POLICY. 
 
 HIKE emperor Charles V. placed Cosmo de Medici, in the 
 -*- ducal chair of Florence, and pope Pius V. granted him 
 the title of grand duke of Tuscany. He was a cruel and 
 perfidious tyrant. 
 
 Cosmo was succeeded by Francisco, a duke who governed 
 through the instrumentality of the poisoned cup and the dag- 
 ger, and who lapped blood with the greed of a bloodhound. 
 He married Bianca Cabello, the daughter of a nobleman of 
 Venice. She was the wife of a young Florentine. Francisco 
 Baw her, and, inflamed by her marvelous beauty, invited hei 
 and her husband to his palace, and assassinated her husband. 
 His own wife died just at that time, probably by poison, and 
 the grand duke married Bianca. His brother, the cardinal 
 Ferdinando, displeased with the union, presented them each 
 with a goblet of poisoned wine, and they sank into the grave 
 together. Ferdinando, the cardinal, by this treachery and 
 fratricide, became grand duke. 
 
 During the whole of the seventeenth century Italy remain- 
 ed essentially unchanged. Chastised into submission, impover- 
 ished, and unarmed, she forgot her former glory, and
 
 40J ITALY. 
 
 almost Into the most debased condition. The several despotic 
 governments, into which the peninsula was divided, became 
 permanently established. The people became submissive 
 slaves, and the rulers having but little occasion for violence, 
 sank into effeminate debauched voluptuaries. Italian vitality 
 had subsided into the repose of the tomb. All social ties 
 *rere loosened, domestic life lost all its sacredness, adultery in 
 high life became the rule, not the exception, and universal 
 corruption seems to have reigned throughout the peninsula. 
 
 During the whole of this century, Naples, Sicily, Milan, 
 and Sardinia were under the dominion of Spam, governed by 
 viceroys, whose rapacity was boundless. From the kingdom 
 of Naples alone, Spam extorted an annual revenue of fifteen 
 millions of dollars. Ten millions of this were sent to Spain. 
 Everything was taxed upon which a tax could be laid ; and 
 the young men were drawn into the Spanish armies to fight 
 the battles of the emperor all over Europe. 
 
 The papal states remained essentially unchanged. Four- 
 teen popes occupied, during the century, the chair of St. 
 Peter ; but no one of these attained any special prominence. 
 The pontifical power was all the time slowly but surely decay- 
 ing. 
 
 The little duchy of Parma had a succession of dukes, 
 whose lives were shortened by their dissipation, and not one of 
 whom merits any notice except for his crimes. During their 
 short reigns they rioted in all the licentious indulgence which 
 their limited incomes and their obscure courts could afford. 
 
 rhe duchy of Modena had been gradually formed with 
 varying fortunes of enlargement and curtailment, until it con- 
 eisted of an area of about two thousand square miles, with a 
 population of about half a million. In size, population, reve- 
 nue, and in the character of its rulers it was much like Parma. 
 
 Mantua and Tuscany were also duchies during this cen- 
 tury, now in alliance with one power and again with another ; 
 but never independent. There was in their inglorious history
 
 FRENCH BEVOLUTION. 493 
 
 during this century nothing worthy of notice. Duke Ferdi- 
 nand I., to attract the trade of the Mediterranean to the shores 
 of Tuscany, selected the castle of Leghorn for a free port, 
 greatly improved its harbor, and a town rapidly arose from 
 this site, which eventually became one of the most r rosperous 
 maritime cities of Italy. 
 
 It so chanced that the duchy of Savoy inherited a succes- 
 sion of very able dukes, men bold, energetic, ambitious, and 
 ever greedy for encroachments. Its dukes were thorough 
 despots, and yet far more respectable despots than most of the 
 other rulers of Italy. The duchies of Savoy and Piedmont 
 had been united in one dukedom, containing an area of about 
 ten thousand square miles, and a population of two millions. 
 It was thus in population and extent of territory, a rival even 
 of the grand duchy of Tuscany. As Savoy was much the 
 smaller province, and was cut off from Piedmont by the Alps, 
 the dukes of Savoy, to use the language of an Italian histor- 
 ian, regarded their transmontane domain much as a nobleman, 
 moving in the splendor of a court, regards the ancient and 
 neglected fief, from which he derives his title. 
 
 The duke Charles Emanuel, with energy, made a mid- 
 night attack upon Genoa, hoping to add that republic to his 
 domain ; but he failed. This duke, an intriguing politician and 
 an unprincipled warrior, reigned fifty years. His son, Victor 
 A.madeus I., who succeeded him, married a daughter of Henry 
 IV. of France. He died leaving the succession to a son four 
 years of age, under the regency of his duchess, the child's 
 mother. This gave France great influence hi Piedmont. 
 
 At nine years of age the young duke of Savoy nominally 
 commenced his reign, with the title of Victor Amadeus TL, 
 He developed great strength of character, and resisting the 
 arrogant demands of Louis XIV. of France, for six years, 
 aided by Spam, repelled army after army of French invaders ; 
 and at length made, peace without the loss of any of his terri- 
 tory By this war Piedmont acquired much military renown,
 
 Genoa was on the decline. Though nominally a republic, 
 tt was governed by seven hundred privileged nobility, who 
 exclusively possessed the rights of citizenship. But there 
 was a moneyed aristocracy excluded from these privileges, 
 between whom and the nobility of birth, there were bitter 
 feuds 
 
 The merchant princes, led by one of the most opulent of 
 their number, Vachero, and encouraged by promises of aid 
 from the duke of Savoy, conspired for the entire extirmination 
 of the oligarchy by sword and dagger, and the introduction 
 of a more democratic republic. But the plot was discovered, 
 and, notwithstanding the threats of the duke of Savoy, all 
 who were implicated in it were sent to the scaffold. 
 
 On the first of November, 1699, Charles II., the wretched 
 king of Spain, a semi-idiot, died on a bed of mental and bodily 
 anguish. In his will, which had been extorted from him by 
 all the terrors of superstition, he bequeathed his crown of 
 Spam to a French prince, Philip of Anjou, a grandson of his 
 sister, with the title of Philip V. By the rule of hereditary 
 descent, the crown should have passed to an Austrian prince, 
 the son of the emperor Leopold I. and his wife Margaret. 
 The Austrian prince was consequently crowned in Vienna 
 king of Spain, with the title of Charles IH. And now com- 
 menced the renowned war, which put all the armies of Europe 
 on the march, called the war of the Spanish succession, and 
 which for fourteen years deluged the continent in blood. 
 
 Both of these newly-crowned kings were mere boys. 
 Louis XIV. of France was the prime agent for the one; 
 Leopold I. of Austria for the other. The Spanish court 
 immediately sent orders to the viceroys and governors of 
 Naples, Milan, Sicily, Sardinia, and the Tuscan governors, to 
 acknowledge the authority of Philip V., and to prepare to 
 defend his claims. At the same time Louis XIV. sent to 
 Victor Amadeus II., duke of Savoy, to be ready to support 
 the same cause. England and Holland allied themselves with
 
 THE FRENCH BEVOLUTION. 49ft 
 
 Austria. Nearly all the other monarchies of Europe were 
 with France. Never before had Europe been plunged into 
 such embroilment. Italy became the great battle-field, swept 
 by the French and the Austrian allied armies, in the most 
 desolating and sanguinary war. 
 
 In this long contest the Bourbon prince was nominally 
 victor. All parties, exhausted, bleeding, impoverished, were 
 glad to come to terms. By the peace of Utrecht, on the 
 seventh of September, 1714, though Philip V. was recognized 
 as king of Spain, all of his Italian possessions he was com- 
 pelled to surrender to Austria. Victor Amadeus II., duke of 
 Savoy and Piedmont, gained the island of Sicily, and, with 
 this enlargement of his domain, was entitled to encircle his 
 brow with a regal crown. The Neapolitan kingdom, the 
 island of Sardinia, and the duchies of Milan, Mantua, and 
 Tuscany, all passed under the scepter of Austria. Italy 
 merely changed masters. 
 
 Four years after the peace of Utrecht, a new quarrel 
 sprung up among the European monarchies, and as one of 
 the results of the war, the duke of Savoy relinquished Sicily 
 for the nearer island of Sardinia, and embracing his three 
 realms of Savoy, Piedmont, and Sardinia into one kingdom, 
 gave the name of the last acquisition to the whole, and 
 assumed the title of king of Sardinia. The entire kingdom, 
 as thus organized, contained a population of a little more than 
 four millions, and was spread over an area of twenty-eight 
 thousand square miles, being not quite half as large as the 
 state of Virginia. It was the only portion of the Italian 
 peninsula, if we except the papal states, which was even 
 nominally independent. Its independence, however, could 
 only be secured by allying itself with some one of the great 
 monarchies France, Spain, or Austria. 
 
 Italy, thus shackled, enjoyed a sort of sepulchral repose 
 for thirteen years. But the other great powers of Europe, in 
 incessant intrigues, were continually endeavoring to wrest
 
 490 ITALY. 
 
 from each other these Italian provinces. In the process of 
 these efforts Spain gained Parma and Tuscany; and ther 
 after a short war, took possession of both Naples and Sicily j 
 while France and Sardinia united, wrested Milan and Lorn- 
 bardy from Austria. All Europe was embroiled in war in the 
 Struggle for these prizes. After deluging the continent in 
 blood and misery until all parties were weary, the great 
 powers met again in congress at Vienna, in 1738, to agree to 
 terms of peace. The kingdom of Naples, including Sicily, 
 was surrendered to Spain. France took Lombardy and 
 Parma, with which duchy Placentia had been united. Aus- 
 tria retained only Milan and Mantua. But an Austrian prince, 
 Francis, duke of Lorraine, who had married Maria Theresa, 
 afterward the renowned empress of Austria, received the 
 grand duchy of Tuscany in forcible exchange for his heredi- 
 tary estates, which were grasped by the emperor Charles VI., 
 the father of Maria Theresa. 
 
 In two years Charles VI. died, and again Europe sprang 
 to arms ; and again for seven years wretched, helpless Italy 
 was grasped by the belligerents, as they attempted to tear her 
 limb from limb. In 1 748, having buried their dead and wiped 
 their gory swords, the monarchs sat down together at Aix la 
 Chapelle, to talk over terms of peace. After much delibera- 
 tion they agreed that Austria should retain Milan and Man- 
 tua; but that Francis of Lorraine, who had now become 
 emperor, should renounce Tuscany, and that it should be an 
 independent state, under the government of a younger mem- 
 ber of the imperial house. The kingdom of Naples was also 
 declared to be independent, but to be placed under a king of 
 the Spanish house of Bourbon. The united duchy of Parma 
 and Placentia was also nominally independent, though it was 
 surrendered to the dominion of a Spanish prince. It con. 
 tained a population of five hundred thousand, an army of 
 three thousand troops, and furnished a revenue of one million 
 two hundred thousand dollars. Sardinia received very con.
 
 THE F BENCH BEVOLUTION, 497 
 
 eiderable accessions from the duchy of Milan. The othef 
 Btates of Italy remained in their former condition. Thus 
 Italy again enjoyed peace, but it was the peace of abject 
 slavery. The peninsula was cut up into petty provinces, and 
 over nearly all of them foreign rulers were stationed. 
 
 The peace of Aix la Ghapelle settled the destiny of Italy 
 for forty years. During all this time hardly anything occurred 
 worthy of notice. Religion had sunk into a debasing super- 
 stition; popular education was frowned down. The only 
 object of the rulers was, by every form of taxation, to wrest 
 as much money as possible from their subjects ; and con- 
 sequently Italy made but little more progress than might 
 have been expected in the same time from a plantation of 
 American or Cuban slaves. Still peace brought a measure of 
 prosperity, and in several of the states, where there chanced 
 to be rulers of some little patriotism and enlightenment, 
 there was considerable progress. 
 
 The Spanish prince, Charles "VTL, governed Naples foi 
 twenty-one years. Though not a man of much ability, he wai 
 well meaning, and Naples had not been so well governed for 
 ages. Many noble public works still embellish the capital, 
 which are the honorable trophies of his reign. By the death 
 of his elder brother, Ferdinand IV., of Spain, hi 1759, Charles 
 Vli. of Naples succeeded to the Spanish throne, which he 
 ascended with the title of Charles HE. His eldest son was 
 almost an idiot. His second son, in consequence, would be 
 the lawful successor of Charles to the crown. Therefore to 
 the third son, who was then a boy of but nine years of age, 
 the scepter of the kingdom of Naples was assigned. He took 
 the title of Ferdinand IV. The king of Spam was regent 
 during the minority of his son, and ever after continued to 
 exert a controlling influence over the councils of the Neapo- 
 litan kingdom. Thus though Naples was nominally indepen* 
 dent, it was virtually but a province of Spain. 
 
 Soon, however, another element of influence was intro
 
 498 ITALY. 
 
 duced which essentially modified this Spanish control. Fer- 
 dinand VII., when in his nineteenth year married the princess 
 Caroline of Austria, daughter of the imperial Maria Theresa, 
 and sister of Marie Antoinette, who subsequently married 
 Louis XVI. of France. She was an ambitious woman, im- 
 passioned, and dictatorial, and she soon gained absolute con 
 trol over the mind of her feeble husband. Such was the 
 condition of Naples when the French Revolution dawned 
 upon Europe. Nominally independent, it was so connected 
 with Spam and Austria, that it was sure to cooperate with 
 those two despotisms in the endeavor to arrest the progress of 
 free institutions. The kingdom consisted of two somewhat 
 distinct portions, the continental, and the island of Sicily. 
 The continental embraced an area of thirty-one thousand 
 square miles, and a population of six millions. Sicily had 
 nearly two millions of inhabitants spread over ten thousand 
 square miles. The army of the kingdom amounted to forty 
 thousand regular troops, and fifteen thousand militia. Its 
 revenue amounted to twenty-two million dollars. 
 
 The papal states were never so well governed as during 
 the eighteenth century. Several popes, in succession, were 
 intrusted with the keys and the tiara, who, notwithstanding 
 the inherent vices of the papal imposture, were men of great 
 moral excellence, and high intellectual accomplishments. But 
 their good intentions could not obviate the inevitable evils of 
 a system whose strength consists in the ignorance of the pop- 
 ulace, and in the abrogation of free inquiry, and of the rights 
 of private judgment. The progress of mind in the other king 
 doms of Europe, had so weakened both the temporal and th 
 spiritual powers of the popes, that they could no longe 
 domineer over princes and nations. In the wars which deso- 
 lated Italy, the only safety of the popes was to remain as 
 neutral as possible, while they threw themselves upon the 
 protection of the strongest side. Still the papal states were 
 repeatedly ravaged.
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 409 
 
 In 1775, Pius VI. ascended the papal throne. The popu 
 lation of the papal states was then about two million five 
 hundred thousand. The army numbered five thousand men. 
 All the territory of the pope united, consisting of states of 
 various names and sizes, embracing an area of seventeen 
 thousand square miles, being equal to a little more than 
 one half of the state of Maine. The revenue of the pope 
 amounted to about nine million of dollars. 
 
 " Italy," said Victor Amadeus II., " is like an artichoke. 
 We must eat it leaf by leaf." The dukes of Savoy first ate 
 Piedmont, then the island of Sardinia, and thus established the 
 kingdom of Sardinia. But their appetite was not yet appeased. 
 They then consumed the duchy of Montferrat, and several other 
 important contiguous territories, to round out and consoli- 
 date their prosperous kingdom. By the peace of Utrecht, in 
 1733, Sardinia gamed a large slice of the duchy of Milan. By 
 the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, the eastern frontier of 
 Sardinia was extended to lake Maggiore, and to the river Ticino. 
 Victor Amadeus IE. was a very able man, and he devoted his 
 reign of sixteen years energetically to the promotion of the 
 prosperity of his people. At the same time he paid especial 
 attention to the construction of fortresses, and to the disci- 
 pline of his army. He thus, small as his kingdom was in 
 territorial extent, attained a prominent position among the 
 second class monarchies of Europe. 
 
 He was succeeded by his son Charles Emanuel HI., who 
 was equally illustrious as a general, a politician, and a king. 
 His military power was such that, at a day's warning he could 
 take the field with an army of forty thousand men, highly 
 disciplined, and supplied with all the materials of scientific 
 warfare. He could also promptly call into military array a 
 militia of fifteen thousand men. Under his reign a very mag- 
 nificent chain of fortresses was reared along the Alpine fron- 
 tier, to protect him from encroachments on the side of France. 
 Victor Amadeus HI. succeeded Charles Emanuel HI., and
 
 500 I T A L T . 
 
 it was during his reign that the storm of war, which tht 
 French revolution originated, burst upon Europe. The whole 
 area of the kingdom of Sardinia, amounted to twenty-nine 
 thousand square miles, being very nearly of the same size 
 with the state of Maine. The united population of the three 
 provinces of Savoy, Piedmont, and the island of Sardinia, was 
 about four millions, producing a revenue to the monarchy of 
 fourteen millions of dollars. 
 
 Tuscany, in past ages, had been cursed, almost beyond 
 endurance, with miserable dukes, debauched, and tyrannical. 
 Cosmo III. and Giovan Castone were thoroughly despicable 
 men. Francis, duke of Lorraine, to whom the duchy was 
 assigned by the peace of Vienna, had married Maria Theresa, 
 heiress of the Austrian throne. He seldom visited Tuscany, 
 assigning the administration to his agents. Upon his death hi 
 1765, he bequeathed the grand duchy to his second son, Peter 
 Leopold, a young man but eighteen years of age. Under his 
 sway the little realm was prosperous and happy. He was a 
 prince truly devoted to the welfare of his people, and history 
 can speak of him with reverence and affection. In 1790, after 
 a reign of twenty-seven years, he succeeded to the empire of 
 Austria, and transferred Tuscany, in a highly flourishing con- 
 dition, to his seeond son, Ferdinand Joseph. He also, though 
 reigning with absolute power, proved an excellent prince, and 
 Tuscany was happy. The snug, compact duchy contained a 
 million of inhabitants, with a regular army of six thousand 
 troops, and a revenue of one-and-a-half million of dollars. It* 
 area was about equal to that of the state of Massachusetts. 
 
 The little duchy of Modena had been pillaged again and 
 again during the wars of the Spanish and Austrian succession. 
 With exceedingly varied fortunes Francisco III. reigned over 
 Modena for forty-three years, until 1780, when he died, and 
 his son, Ercole III., already an old man, succeeded him. His 
 only daughter had married one of the Austrian archdukes, 
 and he had married an elder sister of the unhappy Marie An*
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 601 
 
 toinette. Thus he was, by the strong ties of relationship, in 
 sympathy with Austria, and prepared to cooperate with the 
 emperor in his political measures. The duchy embraced about 
 fifteen hundred square miles, containing four hundred thou- 
 aand inhabitants. Nearly six thousand men were kept con- 
 stantly under arms. 
 
 Genoa had not then been incorporated with Sardinia, but 
 existed in nominal independence, calling itself a republic. 
 The little realm was governed by an oligarchy of hereditary 
 nobles, who, with vigilance never surpassed by duke or king, 
 guarded against the extension of political power to the people. 
 In fact, this world has, perhaps, never seen despotisms more 
 absolute and unrelenting than were the republics of Genoa and 
 Venice. The people were so crushed that they ventured not 
 even to squirm beneath the heel which trampled them. 
 
 In the war of the Austrian succession, waged by France 
 and Spain with other r'lied powers against Maria Theresa, 
 Genoa joined the allies against Austria. In one of the cam- 
 paigns the French and Spaniards were driven out of Italy. 
 Genoa was captured by the Austrians, all her troops taken 
 prisoners of war; all her military and warlike stores captured; 
 and the doge and six of his fellows were compelled to go to 
 Vienna, in a body, and implore tho pardon of the queen. The 
 exactions and outrages perpetrated by the Austrians in Genoa 
 exceeded all bounds. 
 
 At length, goaded to utter desperation, the whole city, 
 men, women, and children rose in revolt. Stones, furaiture, 
 clubs, weapons of every kind the hand could seize were 
 brought into action. In twenty-four hours eight thousand 
 Austrians were killed in the streets ; and, with the loss of all 
 their artillery and much of the material of war, the remnant 
 was driven from the territory. The oligarchal republic em- 
 braced an area of about twenty-five hundred square miles 
 being a little larger than the state of Delaware. Its inhabit- 
 ants did not exceed six hundred thousand. This heroic deed,
 
 502 ITALY. 
 
 achieved by the energies of the populace alone, immediately 
 brought France to the aid of Genoa, and Austria was baffled 
 in all her attempts to regain the city though aided by the 
 army of Sardinia. The peace of Aix la Chapelle, which soon 
 followed, left Genoa to independence, but still under the sway 
 of its degraded and debased aristocracy. 
 
 The island of Corsica had belonged to Genoa. It is situa- 
 ted about one hundred miles south of the city, and contained 
 a population of nearly thirty thousand, spread over a moun- 
 tainous region one hundred miles long and forty-four miles 
 broad. The tyranny of the Genoese oligarchy had driven the 
 Corsicans to insurrection. For many years a war of exceed- 
 ing barbarity devastated the island. But the Corsicans, in 
 campaign after campaign, repelled their assailants with heroism, 
 which gave them world-wide renown. At length Genoa ap- 
 plied to France for help ; and in the course of negotiations 
 agreed to cede Corsica to France for a valuable pecuniary 
 consideration. Still three campaigns of the troops of Louis 
 XV. were found necessary to bring the island in subjection to 
 France. Paoli was the illustrious leader who was at the head 
 of the Corsican troops in their battles for independence. 
 
 Among the most distinguished of the families of Corsica 
 at that time, was that of the Bonapartes. Charles Bonaparte, 
 the father of Napoleon, then a young lawyer, fought heroic- 
 ally in these wars until, overwhelmed by superior forces, the 
 island surrendered itself to the government of France. The 
 Genoese ceded this island to France in the year 1768; but a 
 few months after this, on the fifteenth of August, 1769, Napo- 
 leon Bonaparte was born, in the city of Ajaccio. 
 
 Twelve hundred thousand people, inhabiting the rich and 
 beautiful plains of Lombardy, had been organized into a 
 duchy, embracing an area of nearly eight thousand square 
 miles, being about the size of the state of Massachusetts. 
 Milan was its enlightened capital. The state belonged to 
 Austria, and was governed by an archduke.
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 501 
 
 Venice, despoiled alternately by Turk, Spaniard, French 
 man, and Austrian, had fallen into weakness and disgrace. 
 It was called a republic, since, instead of having one ruler, it 
 wae governed by a senate of hereditary nobles, under the 
 presidency of a doge or duke. Though the Venetian terri- 
 tory at this time embraced a population of three millions, 
 there were but twenty-five hundred entitled to rights of 
 citizenship. 
 
 Such was the condition of Italy when the French revolu- 
 tion roused the hopes of the masses of the people all over 
 Europe, that the hour had arrived for throwing off the yoke 
 of aristocratic domination. The enslaved Italians, hating their 
 foreign masters, watched with peculiar interest the progress 
 of events in France, and were eager for an opportunity to 
 grasp their arms and strike for independence. But disarmed, 
 shackled, overawed by foreign troops, and watched with the 
 utmost vigilance, that they might have no opportunity to 
 confer upon united action, their case was manifestly hopeless 
 without some foreign aid. Nearly the whole of the Italian 
 peninsula was at that time directly or indirectly subject to 
 Austria or to Spain ; not one state of Italy being held by 
 France. 
 
 As soon as the French people had thrown off the intolera- 
 ble yoke of the Bourbons, and established a free government 
 under a written constitution, all the despotisms in Europe 
 combined for the overthrow of that constitutional liberty, the 
 reestablishment of the Bourbons, and the reenslavement of 
 the French people. Austria was naturally very prominent in 
 this coalition, for the reigning emperor was brother of Marie 
 Antoinette Naples and Tuscany were also eager to march 
 upon France, for the queen of Naples and the duchess of 
 Tuscany were sisters of the French queen. Austria, con- 
 sequently, not only put all the armies of the empire in motion, 
 but called into requisition all her resources in Italy. The 
 Austrian rulers of Naples, Tuscany, and Lombardy, with all
 
 04 ITALY. 
 
 those who gather around the dispensers of place and power, 
 were eager to put down all the advocates of popular liberty. 
 But the masses of the Italian people were equally eager to 
 call the French to their aid, that they might drive out their 
 Austrian oppressors, and establish, in beautiful Italy also, free 
 institutions. 
 
 Five separate armies were soon organized to force the 
 Bourbon despotism upon the French people. One of these 
 was collected on the plains of Piedmont. The little province 
 of Savoy, cut off from Piedmont by the Alps, seemed natu- 
 rally to belong to France. Joyfully the Savoyards availed 
 themselves of this opportunity of escaping from Sardinia, and 
 throwing themselves into the arms of the great republic. 
 The court of Turin, which was the capital of the Sardinian 
 kingdom, cordially espoused the cause of the despots of 
 Europe against French freedom. The National Assembly in 
 Paris welcomed Savoy in a decree which forcibly states : 
 
 "That all considerations, physical, moral, and political, 
 call for the incorporation of Savoy. All attempts to connect 
 it with Piedmont are fruitless. The Alps eternally force it 
 back into the domains of France. The order of nature would 
 be violated if they were to live under different laws." 
 
 An army of forty thousand Piedmontese and Austrians, 
 was posted along the summits of the Alps, menacing France 
 with invasion so soon as the Austrians and Prussians on the 
 Rhine should so engage the attention of the republican f jrces 
 as to prepare the way for their march. A few French battal- 
 ions, poorly organized and provided, watched their foe, with 
 occasional skirmishes on those arid heights. The French, how- 
 ever, succeeded in wresting from Sardinia a small province of 
 Piedmont, called Nice, situated on the southwestern declivity 
 of the maritime Alps. It embraced about thirteen hundred 
 square miles, and contained one hundred and twenty thousand 
 inhabitants. Gradually the French drove the Austrio-Sardiniani 
 back, and gained command of the ridge of the Alps, and of
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 505 
 
 the t\vo renowned passes of Mt. Cenis and of the Little St. 
 Bernard. The counsel of the young general, Napoleon B^na- 
 parte, led to these important movements. 
 
 Early in the year 1795, Austria sent fifteen ..aousand 
 troops to strengthen the Piedmontese army, thus raising an 
 effective force of fifty thousand men. The French, scattered 
 along the ridges 01 the Alps, freezing aad starving, amounted 
 to forty-five thousand. The Austrians were encamped in he 
 warm and fertile valleys which descend into the Italian plains. 
 Some fierce battles were fought, in which the French grad- 
 ually drove the Austrians back, and made some little progress 
 toward the plains of Piedmont. 
 
 On the twenty-seventh of March, 1796, Napoleon' Bona- 
 parte was placed in command of the army of Italy. He was 
 then in the twenty-sixth year of his uge. The army consisted 
 of forty-two thousand men, with sixty pieces of artillery. 
 Perched on the summits of the mountains, they were in a 
 state of extreme exhaustion, having for some time existed on 
 half a ration a day. The officers were receiving a dollar and 
 sixty cents a month ; the cavalry horses were nearly all dead, 
 and the staff was entirely on foot. Napoleon, with beardless 
 cheek and fragile frame, presenting an aspect of almost girlish 
 beauty, hastened to head-quarters and thus addressed his 
 ragged and starving veterans : 
 
 " Soldiers ! you are almost naked ; half starved. The 
 government owes you much and can give you nothing. Your 
 patience, your courage, in the midst of these rocks are ad- 
 mirable ; but they reflect no splendor on your arms. I am to 
 conduct you into the most fertile plains on earth. Fertile 
 provinces, opulent cities will soon be in your power. There 
 you will find rich harvests, honor and glory. Soldiers of 
 Italy ! will you fail in courage ?" 
 
 On the twelfth of April, he commenced his triumphant 
 campaign, which still excites the wonder of the world. By 
 the first of May the Austrians were driven out of Piedmo 
 22
 
 506 ITALY. 
 
 and the king of Sardinia entered into a treaty, by which h 
 renounced the coalition against France ; surrendered, as in- 
 demnity for the war, Nice and Savoy to France, and granted 
 Napoleon a free passage through his territories, to pursue hia 
 foes, the Austrians, into the duchy of Lombardy. Sweeping 
 all opposition before him, he marched through the duchy of 
 Parma to Milan, the capital of Lombardy, which he entered 
 on the fifteenth of May, in triumph, greeted with the most 
 enthusiastic acclaim of the people. The proclamation which 
 Napoleon addressed to his soldiers, rang, like bugle peals 
 through Europe. 
 
 " Soldiers," said he, " you have descended like a torrent 
 from the Apennines. You have overwhelmed everything 
 which has opposed you. Piedmont, delivered from the 
 tyranny of Austria, has felt at liberty to indulge its natural 
 inclination for peace and for a French alliance. Milan is in 
 your hands, and the republican standards wave over the 
 whole of Lombardy. The dukes of Panna and Modena 
 owe their existence only to your generosity. 
 
 " The hour of vengeance has struck { but the people of all 
 nations may rest in peace. We are the friends of every 
 people, and especially of the descendants of Brutus, Scipio, 
 and the other great men whom we have taken for examples. 
 To restore the capital ; to replace there the statues of the 
 heroes who have rendered it immortal; to rouse the Romans 
 from centuries of slavery, such will be the fruit of our victo- 
 ries. To you will belong the glory of having changed the 
 face of the most beautiful part of Europe." 
 
 The Italian people panting for liberty and independence, 
 greeted these words with unbounded joy. To them Napo- 
 leon appeared as the regenerator of Italy, and the enthusiasm 
 with which the patriots from ah 1 parts of Italy crowded around 
 him, has, perhaps, never been paralleled. The Austrians re- 
 treated into the Venetian territory, and Napoleon pursued 
 them.
 
 THE FBENCH BEVOLUTIOW. 507 
 
 The king of Naples, who had taken up arms against 
 France, alarmed by the progress of Napoleon, solicited an 
 armistice. Napoleon consented, and the Neapolitan troops 
 were withdrawn from the coalition. Naples had furnished 
 five sail of the line, a large number of frigates, and two thou- 
 sand four hundred horsemen to aid in the iniquitous war 
 against the right of the French people to establish their own 
 form of government. 
 
 Venice, while assuming neutrality, was in warm sympathy 
 with the allies. They had allowed the Austrians to take re 
 uge in their territory, and even to seize the fortress of Pes- 
 chiera, which had exposed the French army to the loss of a 
 great number of valuable lives. They had even granted an 
 asylum in Verona to the brother of Louis XVI., who, assum- 
 ing the title of Louis XV ill., claimed to be monarch of 
 France, and issued his decrees accordingly to the army he was 
 collecting for the invasion of the French territory. 
 
 " Venice," said Napoleon to the commissioners sent to im- 
 plore his clemency, "by daring to give an asylum to the Count 
 de Lille, a pretender to the throne of France, has declared 
 war against the republic. I know not why I should not re- 
 duce Verona to ashes a town which has had presumption to 
 esteem itself the capital of France." 
 
 The Austrians had now fled through the Venetian territory 
 into the Tyrol, and were driven out of Italy. The Venetian 
 senate professed their inability to prevent the Austrians from 
 taking refuge in their territory, and, seizing one'of their for- 
 tresses, begged to be allowed to remain neutral. Napoleon, 
 knowing full well that they would stab him hi the back if pos- 
 sible, consented to their neutrality, saying: 
 
 " Be neutral, then. You ought, however, to be pleased to 
 see us here. What France sends me to do is entirely for the 
 inteiests of Venice. I am come to drive the Austrians beyond 
 the Alps; perhaps to constitute Lombardy an independent 
 state. Can anything more advantageous be done for your
 
 608 IT ALT. 
 
 republic ? If she would unite with us, no doubt she would be 
 handsomely rewarded for that service. We are not making 
 war upon any government. We are the friends of all those 
 who shall assist us to confine the Austrian power within its 
 proper limits.'
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 SJLPOLEON IN ITALT. 
 PEOM A. D. 1796 TO A. D. 1809. 
 
 ITALY IN 1795 MEASURES OF NAPOLKON BONAPARTE. MESBAGH TO THE POPK THI 
 CIBPAHANE RIPU BLIO. TROUBLES m GENOA. STATE OF SOUTHERN ITALY. OAP- 
 nvrrr or Pure VI. PIEDMONT ANNEXED TO FBANCE. ATROCITIES OF LORD NELSOH. 
 NAPOLEON'S RETUBN FBOM EGYPT. CAMPAIGN or MABENGO. LETTEB TO THB 
 EMPEBOR OF AUSTRIA. LETTEB TO THE KING OF ENGLAND. IMPERIAL FRANCE. 
 THE KINGDOM or ITALY. THE BOURBONS OF NAPLES DETHRONED. POPE Plot 
 VII. A CAPTITE. NAPOLEON'S DESIGNS FOB ITALY. 
 
 TN a letter to the French directory, Napoleon thus describes 
 the political state of Italy during his first Italian campaign. 
 The letter is dated December, 1796 : 
 
 "At present there are in Lombardy three parties; one 
 which allows itself to be guided by the French; another 
 which is anxious, and impatiently anxious, to obtain liberty; 
 a third friendly to the Austrians and hostile to us. I support 
 and encourage the first. The second I keep in check. The 
 third I repress. 
 
 "The Cispadane provinces are likewise divided into three 
 parties; the friends of their ancient governments; those who 
 wish for a constitution, independent, but a little aristocratic ; 
 and the partisans of the French constitution, or of pure 
 democracy. I repress the first, I support the second, and I 
 moderate the third. I support, I say, the second because it is 
 the party of the rich land-holders and the priests, whom it is 
 essential to rally around the French cause. The last party is 
 composed of young men, literary persons, and people who in 
 France, and in all countries, change governments and lov* 
 liberty, with no otter view than the mere thirst for revolu 
 tion
 
 510 ITALY. 
 
 The pope had anathematized republican France, preached 
 a crusade against her, and had suffered her ambassador to be 
 assassinated hi the streets of Rome. The English had seized 
 Leghorn, the port of Tuscany; had taken possession of French 
 property there, and had promised several thousand troops to 
 ai: the pope agains' France. It was necessary that these 
 menaces of war in the south should instantly be dispersed, for 
 Austria was already gathering an overwhelming army in the 
 north, to pour down upon the exhausted bands of Napoleon. 
 
 The young conqueror, at the head of but five thousand 
 men, commenced his march. He entered Modena. The duke 
 flod to the Austrian camp, with all the wealth he could carry 
 with him. The people rallied around Napoleon, imploring 
 him to aid them in establishing republican liberty. He as- 
 sured them of his sympathy, but said that it was not hia 
 mission to revolutionize Europe, but simply to compel those 
 who were unjustly waging war against France to consent to 
 peace. 
 
 He entered the papal states. The people welcomed him hi 
 almost a delirium of joy. The universality with which the 
 masses rallied around Napoleon, abjuring the papal author- 
 ity, alarmed the pope. " Bonaparte," says Thiers, " omitted 
 nothing to honor Italy, and to rouse her pride and her patriot- 
 ism. He was not a barbarous conqueror come to ravage, but 
 a champion of liberty, come to rekindle the torch of genius in 
 the ancient land of civilization." 
 
 Pressing forward, he entered Tuscany and drove out the 
 English. The grand duke was friendly to France, and rejoic- 
 ing in the expulsion of the British fleet, which had seized his 
 port of Leghorn, hoping thus to compel him to join in the 
 war against France, he gave Napoleon a magnificent recep- 
 tion in his palace at Florence. In twenty days all the powers 
 of central Italy hi sympathy with Austria, were compelled to 
 abandon the alliance against the French republic. 
 
 But the pope, implacably hostile to popular liberty, wa*
 
 HAPOLEON IN ITALY. 511 
 
 watching eagerly for an opportunity to renew the struggle 
 An immense army was marching down the defiles of the 
 Tyrol to assail Napoleon. The pope was secretly making 
 arrangements to join them as soon as they should commence 
 their impetuous assault. Napoleon, informed of these plots, 
 gent the following energetic message to the pope by cardinal 
 Mattel : 
 
 " The court of Rome desires war. It shall have war. But 
 first I owe it to my country and to humanity to make a final 
 effort to bring back the pope to reason. You are acquainted 
 with the strength of the army which I command. To destroy 
 the temporal power of the pope, I need but to will it. Go to 
 Rome ; see his holiness ; enlighten him upon the subject of his 
 true interests ; rescue him from the intriguers by whom he is 
 surrounded, who wish for his ruin and for that of the court of 
 Rome. The French government permits me still to listen to 
 words of peace. Every thing may be arranged. War, so 
 cruel for nations, has terrible results for the vanquished. Save 
 the pope from great calamities. You know how anxious I am 
 to finish by peace, a struggle which war would terminate for 
 me without glory as without danger." 
 
 We can not here enter into the details of Napoleon's first 
 Italian campaign. After a series of victories, such as had 
 riever before been recorded, Austria, thoroughly humbled, 
 was compelled to assent to peace on terms which modified 
 the condition of the Italian states as follows : 
 
 A new and independent republic was formed in the heart 
 of Italy, called the Cisalpine Republic. It was composed of a 
 forge number of petty states, called provinces, legations, am 
 duchies, such as Lombardy, Modena, Bologna, Ferrara, etc 
 It contained sixteen thousand three hundred and thirty-seven 
 square miles, being more than twice as large as the state of 
 Massachusetts, and embraced a population of three and a 
 half millions. Every man who had attained twenty-one years, 
 excepting convicts and paupers, was entitled to the rights of
 
 512 ITALY 
 
 citizenship. The government consisted of five directors, and 
 a legislature consisting of two bodies, both elective, a senate, 
 and a house of representatives. Milan was its central capital. 
 The republic could not stand an hour against the machinations 
 and armies of Austria and Spain, unless upheld by France. 
 Napoleon promised the feeble state the support of his strong 
 arm, and with that aid it felt indomitable. 
 
 This was the dawn of a bright day for Italy. Napoleon 
 having thus compelled Austria to sheathe the sword, and 
 having established a republic, with free institutions, in the 
 heart of Italy, based upon the principles of equal rights to 
 all men, returned to Paris, laden with the gratitude and the 
 blessings of those whom he had enfranchised. As he took 
 leave of the grateful people, upon whom he had conferred the 
 greatest of all earthly blessings, he thus addressed them : 
 
 " We have given you liberty. Take care to preserve it. 
 To be worthy of your destiny make only discreet and mod- 
 erate laws. Cause them to be executed with energy. Favor 
 the diffusion of knowledge and respect religion. Compose 
 your battalions, not of disreputable men but of citizens, 
 imbued with the principles of the republic, and closely linked 
 to its prosperity. You have, in general, need to impress your- 
 selves with the feeling of your strength, and with the dignity 
 which befits the free man. Divided and bowed down for ages 
 by tyranny, you could not, of yourselves, have conquered 
 your liberty. But in a few years, if you are left unmolested, 
 no power on earth will be strong enough to wrest your liberty 
 from you. Till then the great nation will protect you against 
 the attack of your neighbors ; its political system will be 
 united with yours." 
 
 Tie establishment of the Cisalpine republic excited the 
 hopes of the patriots all over Italy, and rendered them more 
 restless under the corrupt despotisms which so long had op- 
 pressed them. Napoleon wished to give the infant republic a 
 more energetic organization, by increasing the power of the
 
 SAPOLEONIN ITALY. 513 
 
 executive. And subsequent events proved the wisd>m of 
 Napoleon's judgment. But the French directory insisted 
 that the French constitution should be the model. Napoleon 
 was at that time a moderate republican, yet believing in the 
 necessity of a very energetic government. He was well aware 
 that the Cisalpine republic, surrounded by powerful aristocra- 
 cies, implacably hostile, needed the most efficient organization 
 possible, to enable it to repel those assaults it was sure to 
 encounter. 
 
 A stable government is always the growth of tune. Na- 
 poleon had hardly left Italy, ere the infant republic was dis- 
 tracted by internal dissensions. There was in Italy, as in 
 France, a Jacobin party, zealous for more radical democracy. 
 There was an aristocratic party who were eager to escape the 
 Austrian sway, but who wished to take the power into their 
 own hands. There was also an Austrian party, closely allied 
 with the pope. These assailed each other vehemently. Still 
 the moderate republicans were hi the great majority, and the 
 ship of state, though often bowing before the gale, sailed pros- 
 perously on. But France armed the fortresses of the young 
 republic, and supplied her with twenty-five thousand men for 
 defense. The Italians supported these troops, and entered 
 into a treaty offensive and defensive with France. There 
 were thus two infant republics united for mutual protection ; 
 while all the powerful monarchies of Europe were in heart 
 banded together for then- destruction, and were watching 
 only for an opportunity to strike them an annihilating blow. 
 
 Tn Genoa the aristocratic senate and the disfranchised 
 people were bitterly hostile. The senate had expelled several 
 members from their number, and banished many families from 
 the republic, for the crime of sympathizing with the French 
 republicans. The victories of Napoleon alarmed the aristo- 
 crats, and inspired the hopes of the people. The senate, while 
 professing neutrality, had allowed a French frigate to be cap- 
 i,ured under the guns of their forts, by an English man-of-war, 
 22*
 
 514 IT ALT 
 
 and had thus ranged themselves in the ranks of the enemies 
 of France. Conscious that Napoleon would pay them a visit 
 to avenge these wrongs, as he returned to France, with his 
 triumphant army, the Genoese government sent to France 
 imploring peace. Generously the directory agreed to peace, 
 upon condition that Genoa should be strictly neutral, pay an 
 indemnity for the frigate which had been taken, recall those 
 families, friendly to France, wMch had been banished, and 
 reinstate those who had been expelled from the senate. Genoa 
 was also to grant the republic a loan of five hundred thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 As the march of the French army gave freedom to the 
 expression of liberal opinions in Europe, the public mind in 
 Genoa became more violently incensed against the aristocracy, 
 The people met and drew up a petition to the oligarchy de- 
 manding reform in the government. The young men formed 
 themselves into clubs and began to arm. The priests rallied 
 for the nobles, and summoned all the powers of superstition, 
 which the Catholic church could wield, to rouse the most 
 ignorant portion of the populace against the advocates for 
 reform. On the twenty-second of May, 1797, there was a 
 bloody insurrection in the streets of Genoa. The nobles and 
 the priests roused the populace to frenzy, and led them against 
 the patriots. The patriots were beaten, and by the blind fury 
 of the mob, were visited with every outrage. The French 
 families in Genoa were seized and imprironed. Napoleon 
 Immediately interfered in their behalf. This so encouraged 
 the patriots that they rallied anew, and in such strength as to 
 gain the ascendency. A republican constitution was organ- 
 ized. The legislative body consisted of two chambers, elected 
 by the people, and the executive was composed of twelve 
 directors, or senators as they were called, chosen by the two 
 legislative councils. This little republic, thus self-organized, 
 took the name of the Ligurian republic. 
 
 ID Naples the republican party was crushed by ch^'os, and
 
 NAPOLEON IN ITALY. 515 
 
 buried in dungeons. The papal government in Rome was 
 equally malignant, but not equally powerful. The pope, an 
 infirm old man, and the aged cardinals, had not sufficient 
 vigor to silence the complaints of the people. The little 
 territory of Ancona, incited by the example of the Cisalpine 
 and Ligurian republics, revolted, and established the Anconi- 
 tan republic. Alone, it could hardly resist the papal army 
 even for a day ; but it hoped for the assistance of its sister 
 republics. The papal government had become so corrupt and 
 imbecile, that even the grandees of Rome inveighed against 
 the rule of ignorant and incapable monks. The papal states 
 were, however, the most benighted portion of all Italy ; and 
 the number of intelligent people was so small that Joseph 
 Bonaparte, then the French minister hi Rome, the brother of 
 Napoleon, did every thing in his power to dissuade them from 
 a decisive movement. He urged upon them that they would 
 only ruin themselves and compromise France, to no purpose ; 
 that France could not undertake to support them, but that 
 they -must be left to their own resources. Napoleon at this 
 time was anxious to conciliate monarchical Europe, by not 
 exciting the oppressed of other governments to revolt. 
 
 The republicans in Rome, regardless of this advice, at- 
 tempted an insurrection. The pope's dragoons dispersed 
 them with slaughter. Some of the fugitives sought refuge 
 under the piazza of the Corsini palace, where Joseph Bona- 
 parte resided. Joseph, with several French officers, hastened 
 to place themselves between the insurgents and the troops, to 
 prevent any further massacre. But the papal troops, regard- 
 less of the sacredness of the ambassador's person, and of the 
 sacredness of his palace, protected by the French flag, fired 
 and killed General Duphot, at Joseph's side. This young 
 officer was soon to have been married to a daughter of 
 Joseph Bonaparte. 
 
 This outrage summoned many others of the foreign am- 
 bassadors to the residence of the French embassy. Joseph
 
 d!6 ITALY 
 
 Bonaparte waited fourteen hours without sending notice of 
 the event to France, that the papal government might have 
 opportunity to make explanations. Receiving none, he de- 
 manded his passports. This was in December, 1797. The 
 directory in Paris were exceedingly reluctant to array against 
 themselves the papal government; for the Catholic religion 
 was even then one of the mightiest powers hi Europe, and 
 the pope could rouse ah 1 the religious fury of the fanatical 
 populace against France. After long deliberation it was 
 decided to demand an apology. On the tenth of February, 
 1798, General Berthier, at the head of a sufficient French 
 army, entered the gates of Rome. It was in vain for the 
 pope to attempt any resistance. The republicans received 
 Berthier with boundless exultation, and conducted him, with 
 the pageantry of an old Roman triumph, to the capitol. In a 
 tumultuous gathering, an ignorant and frantic mass of people 
 gathered near the remains of the old Roman forum, and 
 adopted, with shouts which rent the skies, an act declaring 
 that the Roman people resumed its sovereignty, and consti- 
 tuted itself a republic. 
 
 The pope was alone, abandoned and helpless, in the Vat- 
 ican. Messengers were sent demanding his abdication of the 
 temporal sovereignty; but declaring that there was no inten- 
 tion of meddling with his spiritual authority. He persistently 
 refused to abdicate. At night he was taken by the French, 
 though scrupulously treated with the respect due to his 
 station and his age, and was conveyed from the Vatican into 
 Tuscany, where he was imprisoned in a convent. From 
 thence he was conveyed to France, where he died, at Val- 
 ence, in August, 1799. 
 
 There was thus a fourth republic established in Italy, 
 called the Roman Republic. All Europe was alarmed; for 
 all Europe was in danger of being thus revolutionized step by 
 step. Naples was almost frantic with rage hi seeing the prin- 
 ciples of the French revolution advance thus, even to her very
 
 NAPOLBON IN ITALY. 517 
 
 doors. Austria and Spain were roused vehemently. And the 
 applause with which the English people greeted these repub- 
 lics, and their clamor for parliamentary reform, so thoroughly 
 alarmed the English government, that they adopted the secret 
 resolve that, at every hazard, the republic must be put down 
 in France, and the Bourbons restored to their despotic throne. 
 It was manifest to the least discerning, that these increasing 
 and growing republics were but the fruit which the French 
 revolution was bearing. 
 
 In May, 1798, Napoleon had sailed for Egypt. England 
 organized a new coalition for the restoration of the Bourbons. 
 Austria, Russia, Turkey, and Naples were active powers in 
 this coalition. Prussia and Spam were in cordial sympathy, 
 and were prepared to join the allies so soon as the march of 
 events might make it safe to do so. One of the first objects 
 to be accomplished in assailing France, was to trample down 
 these confederate Italian republics, and restore the old despot- 
 isms. Without any declaration of war, Naples commenced 
 operations by sending an army to drive the French from the 
 papal states. With an army of sixty thousand men, and aided 
 by the fleet of Lord Nelson, the Neapolitans took possession 
 of Rome. The French slowly retired, that they might have 
 time to rally their forces ; and then falling upon the Neapolit- 
 ans, routed them in several battles with great slaughter, drove 
 them out of Rome, to the great joy of the Roman people, and 
 pursued the fugitive army into the kingdom of Naples. The 
 populace of Naples now rose madly, like barbarians as they 
 were, against the detested government, and the king, in dis- 
 may, seizing the most valuable movable treasures of hi 
 crown, fled on board Lord Nelson's squadron, and was con 
 veyed to the island of Sicily. The kingdom was plunged into 
 a state of indescribable anarchy. The French took possession 
 of the city of Naples and of the whole kingdom. The lazza- 
 roni were disarmed, order was restored, and the kingdom wa* 
 organized into a republic, called the Parthenopian republic.
 
 518 ITALY. 
 
 The court of Turin, the capital of Sardinia, was hostile to 
 France. But in Piedmont, as in every other state in Italy, 
 there was a strong republican party. The French, assailed by 
 all the monarchies of Europe, and not deeming it safe to leave 
 a hostile government in possession of her communications 
 with the Alps, compeEed the long of Sardinia to abdicate the 
 sovereignty of Piedmont, and retire to the island of Sardinia 
 as his only realm. Thus, all of continental Italy passed under 
 French influence; though all these freed states were nominally 
 independent excepting Piedmont. It was thought not expe- 
 dient to organize that province into a republic, but it was 
 declared to be, until the conclusion of the war, under the 
 provisional administration of France. This event took place 
 in December, 1798. 
 
 Such remained the state of affairs in Italy in the spring of 
 1799, when the Austrians and Russians, with an army more 
 than one hundred thousand strong, invaded the plains of 
 Lombardy. 
 
 In the course of many and sanguinary battles, the French 
 were entirely overpowered and driven out of Italy. The 
 republics, with their free constitutions, were venomously de- 
 stroyed, and the old despotisms reestablished. All the friends 
 of republicanism who had not succeeded hi escaping to France 
 were massacred with most revolting cruelty, or sent by sen- 
 tence of court martial to the dungeon or the scaffold. No 
 tongue can tell the enormities perpetrated by the partisans of 
 of the king and the court in Naples. Lord Nelson brought 
 back from Sicily in the British fleet, the king and queen of 
 Naples, and took an active part in these most horrible scenes 
 of cruelty and blood. The stain, thus left upon his memory, 
 can never be effaced. The details of the carnage are too 
 revolting for recital. Four thousand persons had capitulated. 
 Nelbon declared the capitulation null. 
 
 " Unfortunately," says Alison, " the English admiral, who 
 had fallen under the fascinating influence of Lady Hamilton
 
 NAPOLEON IN IT ALT 519 
 
 (who shared in all the feelings of the court), was too much 
 inclined to adopt the same principles. He instantly declared 
 the capitulation null, as not having obtained the king's au- 
 thority ; and entering the harbor, at the head of his fleet, 
 made all those who had issued from the castles, in virtue of 
 the capitulation, prisoners, and had them chained two and 
 two on board his own fleet. The king, who could not endure 
 the sight of the punishments which were preparing, returned 
 to Sicily, and left the administration of justice in the hands 
 of the queen and Lady Hamilton. Numbers were immedi- 
 ately condemned and executed. The vengeance of the popu- 
 lace supplied what was wanting in the celerity of the criminal 
 tribunals ; neither age, nor sex, nor rank was spared. Women 
 as well as men ; youths of sixteen and gray headed men of 
 seventy, were alike led out to the scaffold." 
 
 Nothing can more conclusively show, than the above, the 
 bitterness of the passions engendered by this strife between 
 aristocratic privilege and popular rights. France was terror- 
 stricken. The directory had sunk into utter contempt. The 
 army in Italy was nearly annihilated, and the remnants of the 
 battalions, bleeding and starving, were seeking shelter upon 
 the cliffs and among the defiles of the Alps. Armies amount- 
 ing to three hundred thousand men were assailing France on 
 the Rhinish frontier. Nearly all Europe was in arms against 
 the republic. The English navy had swept French commerce 
 from every sea, had wrested from France all her colonies, and 
 was bombarding every French port which could be brought 
 within range of her guns. France was threatened with im- 
 mediate invasion, both on the side of the Alps and of the 
 Rhine. The impotence of the directory was as manifest in 
 the internal, as in the external administration of the govern- 
 ment. Anarchy reigned throughout France. The treasury 
 was hopelessly bankrupt. The soldiers, ragged and starving, 
 were abandoning their colors, and retiring hi despair to their
 
 520 ITALY. 
 
 homes. The republic was on the eve of utter and remediless 
 ruin. 
 
 Napoleon, apprised of these calamities, left Egypt, and 
 landed in France on the ninth of October, 1799. Proceeding 
 immediately to Paris, by a bloodless revolution he overthrew 
 the directory, and established the consular government. He 
 then appealed to England and Austria for peace. Contempt- 1 
 ously both powers rejected his proposal. He was told that 
 France could never hope for peace until she abolished her 
 free institutions and reestablished the throne of the Bourbon. 
 
 Napoleon, sending Moreau, with the flower of the French 
 troops, to repel the invaders on the Rhine, collected such an 
 army as he could, of sixty-five thousand men, for the recovery 
 of Italy. Suddenly concentrating them at Dijon, he led them 
 across the Alpine pass of the Great St. Bernard, met th 
 Austrians, vastly outnumbering him, upon the field of Ma- 
 rengo, and, in one of the fiercest battles ever fought, gained 
 one of the most decisive victories ever won. He had just 
 appealed to Austria, in vain, for peace. Upon the field of his 
 victory, surrounded by the gory corpses of the slain, he wrote 
 again, in the following terms : 
 
 " Sire ! It is on the field of battle, amidst the sufferings of 
 a multitude of wounded, and surrounded by fifteen thousand 
 corpses, that I beseech your majesty to listen to the voice of 
 humanity, and not to suffer two brave nations to cut each 
 other's throats for interests not their own. It is my part to 
 press this upon your majesty, being upon the very theater of 
 war. Your majesty's heart can not feel it so keenly as does 
 mine." 
 
 The appeal was long and earnest. It could be met but by 
 one answer, and that was, " The stability of European thrones 
 demands that, cost what it may, republicanism in Europe, under 
 whatever form, must be put down." It was manifest, hence, 
 that there could be no peace but in the entire overthrow of 
 Napoleon, or in his becoming so strong as to render attack
 
 WAPOLEON IN ITALY. 521 
 
 hopeless. After the battle of Marengo, the remnants of the 
 Austrian battalions were entirely at the mercy of the con 
 queror. He, however, allowed them to retire unmolested, 
 they promising to abandon Italy. In triumph Napoleon en- 
 tered Milan, where he was received with indescribable rejci(V 
 ings by the liberated inhabitants. Though the Austrians 
 refused to accede to peace, and continued the war upon the 
 Rhine, one decisive battle had driven them from Italy. Na- 
 poleon, having thus protected his Alpine frontier from inva- 
 sion, reorganized the Cisalpine and Ligurian republics, and 
 returned to Paris. 
 
 Pope Pius VII. now occupied the pontifical chair. Again 
 the allied army, having recruited its forces among the moun- 
 tains of the Tyrol, invaded Italy by the valley of the Mincio. 
 Ferdinand IV. of Naples, conscious of the execrations of his 
 people, and that they would immediately rise against him if the 
 Austrians were expelled from Italy, with almost superhuman 
 exertions raised an army of eighty thousand men, and, march- 
 ing through the papal states, entered Tuscany, rallying every- 
 where the partisans of the aristocracy beneath his banners. 
 They were attacked, overwhelmed, and driven back like sheep 
 before the patriots. Murat was then sent, by Napoleon, at the 
 head of twenty-eight thousand men, to chastise the infamous 
 court of Naples, and bring it to terms. The queen of Naples, 
 terror-stricken, in mid- winter, undertook a journey to St. 
 Peters ourg, to implore the Czar of Russia to intercede with 
 Napoleon in their behalf. He did so. The first consul, anx- 
 ious to secure the friendship of the eccentric, yet powerful 
 sovereign of Russia, granted all his wishes. Paul had recent- 
 ly, in disgust, abandoned the alliance against France, and was 
 manifesting decided sympathies for Napoleon. 
 
 France and Russia soon united in the continental system 
 so called, which was simply an effort to exclude all English 
 goods from the continent of Europe, and to refuse to have 
 any commercial transaction with the English whatever, until
 
 522 ITALY. 
 
 the court of St. James would consent to make peace with re* 
 publican France. The Bourbons of Naples were permitted 
 to remain on the throne, they agreeing that all the ports of 
 Naples and Sicily should be closed against English merchan- 
 dise. But for the intercession of Russia, Napoleon would have 
 driven the infamous Ferdinand IV., and his equally infamous 
 wife, from Italy, and would have established a government of 
 liberal principles in the kingdom of Naples. At the request 
 of Paul he pardoned them, and left them on the throne which 
 their despotism and crimes disgraced. 
 
 Austria, vanquished on the Rhine, as well as in Italy, was 
 at length again compelled to make peace. By the treaty of 
 Luneville, in February, 1801, Lombardy was erected into an 
 independent state, with the Adige for the boundary between 
 it, and the Austrian dominions. Venice was left in the posses- 
 sion of Austria. Modena was annexed to the Cisalpine repub- 
 lic, and its eastern boundary was extended to the Adige. 
 Austria acknowledged the independence of the Cisalpine and 
 Ligurian republics, declaring that their inhabitants should 
 have the power of choosing whatever form of government 
 they preferred. Piedmont remained incorporated with France 
 as one of the departments of the republic. 
 
 The grand duchy of Tuscany had been ceded to Spain. 
 It was in May, 1801, erected into a monarchy, under the title 
 of the kingdom of Etruria, and the duke of Parma, who had 
 Married the daughter of Charles IV. of Spain, was placed 
 over it as king. It was an independent kingdom in close 
 alliance with Spam. This measure was adopted as an act of 
 conciliation to the Spanish Bourbons, and with the hope that 
 it would disarm them of their enmity against France. 
 
 In the month of May, 1804, Napoleon was declared em- 
 peror of France. It was thought that the adoption of mon- 
 archical forms might, in some degree, reconcile Europe to 
 France, even while the principles of republican equality were 
 maintained by the energies of the throne. It was also said
 
 WAPOLEOW IN ITALY. 628 
 
 that the experiment had proved that the people of France, 
 with but little intellectual culture, unskilled in governing, and 
 surrounded by hostile monarchies, who were incessantly assail- 
 ing them, were unable to maintain republican forms. Most of 
 the surrounding monarchies expressed their gratification. En- 
 gland remained implacable. One of Napoleon's first acts, 
 after his enthronement, was to write to the king of England 
 in the following terms : 
 
 " Sire, my brother. Called to the throne by Providence, 
 by the suffrages cf the senate, of the people, and of the army, 
 my first desire is for peace. France and England, abusing 
 their piosperity, may contend for uges. But do their respec- 
 tive governments fulfill their most sacred duties ha causing so 
 much blood to be vainly shed, without the hope of advantage 
 or prospect of cessation ? I do not conceive that it can be 
 dishonorable in me to make the first advances. I believe it 
 has been sufficiently proved to the world that I dread none of 
 the chances of war, which indeed offer nothing which I can 
 fear. Though peace is the wish of my heart, war has never 
 been adverse to my glory. I conjure your majesty, then, not 
 to refuse the happiness of giving peace to the world. Delay 
 not that grateful satisfaction, that it may be a legacy for your 
 children ; for never have arisen more favorable circumstances, 
 nor a more propitious moment for calming every passion, and 
 displaying the best feelings of humanity and reason. 
 
 " That moment once lost, what term shall we set to a 
 struggle which all my efforts have been unable to terminate. 
 In the space of ten years your majesty has gained more, in 
 wealth and territory, than the extent of Europe comprehends. 
 Youi = people have attained the height of prosperity. What, 
 then, has your majesty to hope from war? The world is suffi- 
 ciently extensive for two nations, and reason might assist us 
 to discover the means of conciliating all, were both parties 
 animated by a spirit of reconcilement. At all events, I have 
 discharged a sacred duty and one dear to my heart. Youi
 
 524 ITALY. 
 
 majesty may rely upon the sincerity of the sentiments now 
 expressed, and on my desire to afford your majesty every 
 proof of that sincerity." 
 
 This appeal was like all the rest unavailing, and war still 
 raged. The Cisalpine republic, influenced by the same consid- 
 erations which had prevailed with the French republic, also 
 judged it best to adopt monarchical forms ; and conscious 
 of their entire inability to repel their foes, but by the aid of 
 France, they sent a deputation to Paris to consult Napoleon 
 upon the proposed alteration in their form of government, and 
 to solicit him to accept the crown of the kingdom of Italy. 
 In reply Napoleon said : 
 
 " The separation of the crowns of France and Italy, will 
 be necessary hereafter, but highly dangerous at present, sur- 
 rounded, as we are, by powerful enemies and inconstant 
 friends. The people of Italy have always been dear to me. 
 For the love I bear them, I consent to take the additional 
 burden and responsibility which their confidence has led them 
 to impose upon me, at least until the interests of Italy shall 
 permit me to place the crown on a younger head. My suc- 
 cessor, animated by my spirit, and intent upon completing 
 the work of regeneration, already so auspiciously commenced, 
 shall be one who will be ever ready to sacrifice his personal 
 interests, and, if necessary, his life, in behalf of the nation 
 over which he shall be called by Providence, the constitution 
 of the country, and my approbation, to reign." 
 
 Upon this occasion Napoleon said to his secretary, Bour- 
 rienne : " In eight days I shall set out to assume the iron 
 orown of Charlemagne. That, however, is but a stepping- 
 stone to greater things which I design for Italy, which must 
 become a kingdom, comprising all the transalpine country from 
 Venice to the maritime Alps. The union of Italy with France 
 can be but transient. For the present it is necessary, in ordei 
 to accustom the Italians to live under common laws. The 
 people of Genoa Piedmont, Milan, Venice, Tuscany, Rome.
 
 WAPOLEON IN ITALY. 526 
 
 and Naples, cordially detest each other, and none of them 
 could be induced to admit their inferiority. Rome however, 
 by her situation and historical associations, is the natural capi- 
 tal of Italy. To make it so in reality the power of the pope 
 must be restricted to spiritual affairs. It would be impoliti3 
 to attempt the accomplishment of this just now ; but if cir 
 cumstances are favorable, there may be less difficulty here 
 after. 
 
 " Since it would be impossible at once to unite Italy into a 
 single power, yielding obedience to uniform laws, I shall 
 commence by making her French. All the petty, worthless 
 states into which she is divided, will thus acquire a habit of 
 Kving under the dominion of the same laws, and, when this 
 habit is formed, and local feuds and enmities become extinct, 
 there will again be an Italy worthy of her olden renown. 
 Twenty years are requisite, however, to accomplish this, and 
 who can calculate with certainty upon the future ?" 
 
 Napoleon and Josephine crossed the Alps together, ac- 
 companied by the pope, Pius VII. On the twenty-sixth of 
 May, 1805, the iron crown of Charlemagne was placed upon 
 Napoleon's brow in the cathedral at Milan. The petty jeal- 
 ousies, which were so strong in Italy, rendered the Genoese 
 averse to be incorporated with the new Italian kingdom. As 
 the liliputian Ligurian republic could by no means stand 
 alone, and as such a kingdom would be a mere burlesque, the 
 Genoese petitioned to be annexed to France. The incorpora- 
 tion was completed in October, 1805. Eugene Beauharnais, 
 son of the empress Josephine, by her former husband, wai 
 entrusted with the vice-royalty of the kingdom of Italy. 
 
 In a new coalition, combined Europe was soon again on 
 the march to crush Napoleon. An immense Austrian army, 
 under the archduke Charles, entered Italy. Napoleon, leav- 
 ing his lieutenants to repel them, marched, in person, directly 
 upon Vienna, and in the renowned campaign of Austerlitz, 
 again chastised the allies into peace. By the treaty of Pres
 
 026 IT ALT. 
 
 burg which immediately ensued, December, 1805, the emperor 
 Francis, of Austria, acknowledged the kingdom of Italy, and 
 surrendered Venice to be united with it. 
 
 The perfidious couit of Naples, deeming the destruction 
 of Napoleon certain, when, in the wilds of Germany, more 
 than a thousand miles from his capital, he was struggling 
 against his banded foes, treacherously joined his enemies, and 
 inviting tne British fleet into their harbor, contributed fifty 
 thousand troops to swell the ranks of the allies in assailing 
 Napoleon in the rear. Just after the battle of Austerlitz, 
 Napoleon received despatches informing him of this treachery. 
 In the following proclamation to the army, he announced the 
 crime of the court of Naples and their destined punishment : 
 
 " Soldiers ! For the last ten years I have done every thing 
 in my power to save the king of Naples. He has done every 
 thing to destroy himself. After the battles of Dego, Men- 
 dovi, and Lodi, he could oppose to me but a feeble resistance. 
 I relied upon the word of this prince, and was generous to- 
 ward him. When the second coalition was dissolved at Ma- 
 rengo, the king of Naples, who had been the first to commence 
 this unjust war, abandoned by his allies, remained single- 
 handed and defenseless. He implored me. I pardoned him a 
 second time. It is but a few months since you were at the 
 gates of Naples. I had sufficiently powerful reasons for sus- 
 pecting the treason in contemplation. I was still generous. I 
 acknowledged the neutrality of Naples. I ordered you to 
 evacuate the kingdom. For the third time the house of 
 Naples was reestablished and saved. Shall we forgive a 
 fourth time ? Shall we rely a fourth time on a court without 
 faith, honor, or reason ? No ! No 1 The dynasty of Naples 
 has ceased to reign. Its existence is incompatible with the 
 honor of Europe and the repose of my crown." 
 
 In January, 1806, a French army, under Joseph 3ona- 
 parte, crossed the frontiers of the kingdom of Naples. The 
 English immediately spread their saUs and departed, taking
 
 NAPOLEON IN ITALY. 621 
 
 frith them the impotent king and his haughty wife. With 
 hardly the shadow of resistance, the " "Neapolitans threw open 
 all their gates to the French, the advocates of popular equality 
 receiving them there, as every where else, with unbounded 
 enthusiasm. Joseph Bonaparte was crowned king of tfci 
 Two Sicilies. It is the undisputed testimony of both friend 
 and foe, that the reign of Joseph Bonaparte in Naples was the 
 happiest period the kingdom had ever known. 
 
 " The brief reign of Joseph," says the New York Amer- 
 ican, " was a succession of benefits to a people who had been 
 long degraded by a most oppressive despotism. He founded 
 civil and military schools, some of which yet exist overthrew 
 feudal privilege suppressed the convents opened new roads 
 caused the lazzaroni of Naples to work and be paid drain- 
 ed marshes, and every where animated with new life and hope 
 a people long sunk in abject servitude." 
 
 Upon the dethronement of the Bourbons of Spain, Joseph 
 Bonaparte was transferred to that throne, greatly to the regret 
 of his Neapolitan subjects, and Murat, who had married Napo- 
 leon's sister Caroline, was declared king of Naples and Sicily. 
 " He was received," says Alison, " with universal joy by the 
 inconstant people, who seemed equally delighted with any 
 sovereign sent to them by the great northern conqueror. His 
 entry into Naples was as great a scene of triumph, felicita- 
 tions, and enthusiasm, as that of Joseph had been." 
 
 Sir Hudson Lowe, who has gained unenviable notoriety 
 for his inhumanity to his illustrious prisoner upon the island 
 of St. Helena, was then with a British force holding the island 
 of Capri. Murat fitted out an expedition and recaptured the 
 island. The English garrison capitulated, and was sent U 
 England. 
 
 Pius VII., the Roman pontiff, was exceedingly desirous for 
 the restoration of his temporal power, that he might be recog- 
 nized as a temporal prince, as well as the head of the church. 
 He was ceaseless in his importunities with Napoleon to grant
 
 528 ITALY. 
 
 him territorial aggrandizement. But Napoleon was decisive 
 and explicit in refusal. It was essentially the old quarre 1 of 
 investitures. Napoleon wrote to the pope : 
 
 " Your situation requires that you should pay me the same 
 respect in temporal, which I do you in spiritual matters. You 
 are sovereign of Rome, but I am its emperor." 
 
 Pius VII. replied, " Your majesty lays it down as a funda- 
 mental principle, that you are sovereign of Rome. The 
 supreme pontiff recognizes no such authority, nor any power 
 superior in temporal matters to his own." 
 
 The pope, claiming that he was an independent sovereign, 
 claimed the right, powerless as he was, of throwing open his 
 ports to the enemies of France. Napoleon, wishing earnestly 
 to be on amicable terms with his holiness, proposed as the 
 basis of an arrangement between the two governments : 1. 
 That the ports of the papal states should be closed against 
 English ships, when France and England were at war. 2. 
 That when a hostile force had landed upon Italy, or were men- 
 acing the coast, the papal fortresses, having no power in them- 
 selves to resist the enemy, should be occupied by French 
 troops. The pope peremptorily refused these terms. Napo- 
 leon wrote to Eugene the following letter, which he was 
 requested to lay before the pope : 
 
 " So the pope persists hi his refusal. He will open his eyes 
 when it is too late. What would he have ? What does he 
 mean to do ? Will he place my kingdoms under the spiritual 
 interdict? Is he ignorant how much times are changed? 
 Does he take me for a second Louis le Debonnaire, and does 
 he believe tnat his excommunications will make the weapons 
 fall from the hands of my soldiers ? What would he say if I 
 were to separate from Catholicism the greater part of Europe? 
 I should have better reason for doing so than Henry the Ylll. 
 had. Let the pope think well of it-. Do not let him force me 
 to propose, ai.d to enforce in France and elsewhere, a worship 
 more rational than that of which he is the chief. This would
 
 H1POLEON IK ITALY. 829 
 
 be less difficult than lie thinks, in the present state of men's 
 ideas, and when so man) eyes have been opened, for half a 
 century, to the iniquities and follies of his clergy." 
 
 It was one of the first principles of Napoleon that perfect 
 freedom of conscience, in religious worsh should prevail ir 
 every state over which he had any control. But the pope 
 declared that the toleration of dissenters and Jews was a sin 
 against God, and a disgrace to any Christian state. The pope 
 refused to recognize the new sovereignty in Naples, affirming 
 that the kingdom of Naples was in feudal dependence upon 
 the papal see ; refused to introduce the code of Napoleon into 
 his states ; refused to enter into an alliance offensive and de- 
 fensive with France ; refused to allow the free public exercise 
 of all forms of worship. Such was the nature of the conflict, 
 As the pope held his power by the permission of Napoleon, 
 the emperor demanded the pope's cooperation in repelling his 
 foes, and in promoting the regeneration of Europe. 
 
 In May, 1 809, Napoleon issued a decree, declaring, that as 
 the pope refused an alliance with France, and that as the safe- 
 ty of France demanded that an unfriendly power should not 
 be left in Italy, the papal states were annexed, a part to the 
 kingdom of Italy, and a part to the empire of France. The 
 pope, thus deprived of his temporal power, was granted an 
 annuity from France of four hundred thousand dollars a year, 
 for his personal expenses. " The city of Rome," said this de- 
 cree, " so interesting from its recollections as the first seat of 
 Christianity, is declared an imperial and free city." 
 
 The pope immediately issued a bull of excommunication 
 against the emperor. Napoleon was at this time struggling 
 against his foes at Wagram. Murat sent from Naples a battal- 
 ion of troops, seized the pope, and conveyed him a prisoner 
 first to Savona, and then to the palace of Fontainebleau, in 
 France. Here the pontiff remained in gorgeous captivity 
 until the downfall of Napoleon hi 1814. At St. Helena, Na- 
 23
 
 530 ITALY, 
 
 poleon, in the following words, dictated to Count Montholon 
 his intentions in reference to Italy : 
 
 " It was Napoleon's desire to raise up the Italian nation, 
 and to reunite the Venetians, Milanese, Piedmontese, Genoese, 
 Tuscans, Parmesans, Modenese, Romans, Neapolitans, Sici 
 lians, and Sardinians into one independent nation, bounded by 
 the Alps and the Adriatic, the Ionian and Mediterranean seas. 
 Such was the immortal trophy he was raising to his glory. 
 This great and powerful kingdom would have been, by land, 
 a check to the house of Austria, while, at sea, its fleets, com- 
 bined with those of Toulon, would have ruled the Mediterra- 
 nean, and protected the old course of trade to India by the 
 Red sea and Suez. Rome, the capital of this state, was the 
 eternal city ; covered by the three barriers, of the Alps, the 
 Po, and the Apennines ; nearer than any other, to the three 
 great islands. But Napoleon had many obstacles to sur- 
 mount. He said, at the council of Lyons, ' It will take me 
 twenty years to establish the Italian nation.' "
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 HALT UNDER NAPOLEON, AND UNDER THE ADSTEIANS. 
 FEOM A. D. 1809 TO A. D. 1848. 
 
 FBKNCH MEASURES IN ITALY. CONDITION or SICILY. Or SARDINIA. Or NAPLES. 
 JOSEPH BONAPARTE. MUBAT. Tm STATES or THB CHITKOH. THE KINGDOM ot 
 
 ITALY. EUGENE BEAUHARNAIS E_v YCLOPEDIA AMERICANA UPON NAPOLEON. 
 
 THE FALL OF NAPOLKON. ITS EFFECTS UPON ITALY. THE ADSTEIAN SWAY or 
 ITALY. EXECUTION OF MUEAT. INSURRECTIONS. ENERGY or AUSTRIA. STRUG- 
 GLES or THE YEAH 1820. REVOLUTION or 1830. RUIN or THB ITALIAN PATRIOTS. 
 ACCESSION or Louis NAPOLEON. REVIVAL or THE ITALIAN STRUGGLE. 
 
 fTlHE establishment of French power in Rome wrought 
 *- immediate and wonderful results. They can not be better 
 described than in the language of Alison : 
 
 " The immediate effects of the change," he says, " were in 
 the highest degree beneficial on the city of Rome. Vast was 
 the difference between the slumber of the cardinals and the 
 energetic measures of Napoleon. Improvements, interesting 
 alike to the antiquary and the citizen, were undertaken in every 
 direction. The majestic monuments of ancient Rome, half 
 concealed by the rums and accumulations of fourteen hundred 
 years, stood forth in renovated splendor ; the stately columns 
 of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, relieved of the load of their 
 displaced architrave, were restored to the perpendicular, from 
 which they had swerved during their long decay ; the beau- 
 tiful pillars of that Jupiter Stator, half covered up with frag- 
 ments of marbles, revealed their exquisite and now fully 
 discovered proportions ; the huge interior of the Coliseum, 
 cleared of the rubbish which obstructed its base, again ex- 
 hibited its wonders to the light; the channels which con- 
 ducted the water for the aquatic exhibitions, the iron gates
 
 632 IT ALT. 
 
 which were opened to admit the hundreds of lions to the 
 amphitheatre, the dens where their natural ferocity was 
 augmented by artificial stimulants, the bronze rings to which 
 the Christian martyrs were chained, again appeared to the 
 wondering populace ; the houses which deformed the center 
 of the forum were cleared away ; and piercing through a 
 covering of eighteen feet in thickness, revealed the pavements 
 of the ancieL. forum, the venerable blocks of the Via Sacra, 
 still furrowed by the chariot marks of a hundred triumphs. 
 
 " Nor were more distant quarters or modern interests neg- 
 lected. The temple of Vesta, near the Tiber, was cleared out. 
 A hundred workmen, under the dir ration of Canova prosecuted 
 their searches in the baths of Titus, where the Laocoon had 
 been discovered ; large sums were expended on the Quirinal 
 palace, destined for the residence of the imperial family when 
 at Rome. Severe laws, and an impartial execution of them, 
 speedily repressed the hideous practice of private assassination, 
 so long the disgrace of the papal states. A double row of shady 
 trees led from the arch of Constantine to the Appian Way, 
 and thence to the forum. Surveys were made with a view to 
 the completion of the long neglected drainage of the Pont me 
 Marshes ; and preparations commenced for turning aside, for 
 a season, the course of the Tiber, and discovering in its bed 
 the inestimable treasures of art which were thrown into it 
 during tiie terrors of the Gothic invasion." 
 
 It is a curious, but indisputable fact, that it is difficult for 
 any one to suggest, even now, any measure for the improve- 
 ment of Italy, which Napoleon had not both proposed and 
 adopted measures to execute. From this time until the fall 
 of Napoleon, in 1814, the political divisions of Italy did not 
 meet with any important change. The English fleet held pos- 
 session of the island of Sicily, and maintained upon the throne 
 there the infamous king and queen Ferdinand and Caroline, 
 who had fied frcm Naples to Sicily in the British fleet. The 
 people were bittirly hostile to their detested sway, and the
 
 UWDBB NAPOLEON AND THE AUSTEIANS. 633 
 
 British were hated for forcing, with their fleet and their 
 bayonets, upon the Sicilians this execrable despotism. It was 
 the harder to be borne, since "Naples, regenerated, was in the 
 enjoyment of institutions which were developing her resources 
 as they had not been developed for a thousand years. The 
 Sicilians were taxed beyond all endurance to sustain the ex- 
 travagance of the court. Matters at length were in such a 
 desperate state, that the British government, ashamed any 
 longer to uphold, by their arms, such atrocities, compelled 
 the queen to consent that her automaton husband should 
 abdicate the throne hi favor of his infant son, and that the 
 British minister at Palermo, Sir William Bentinck, should be 
 regent. Caroline resisted furiously, but was compelled to 
 submit. She, however, soon forced her husband to attempt 
 to regain his authority ; upon which the British banished her 
 from the island, and sent her to her Austrian home in Vienna, 
 where the blood-stained and impenitent queen, chafing like a 
 tigress, and with her soul crimsoned with life-long crimes, 
 subsequently died. 
 
 The wretched Sicilians were still compelled to support an 
 extravagant court, and to pay the expenses of the British 
 troops who upheld that court. Discontent and misery reign- 
 ed throughout the island. 
 
 The kingdom of Sardinia, having lost Savoy, Nice, and 
 Piedmont, had dwindled down merely to the island of Sar- 
 dinia. The king, Charles Emanuel, weary of the world, 
 abdicated, and retired to monastic life in Rome, where, sup- 
 ported by a pension from Napoleon, he passed the gloomy 
 remainder of his days a Jesuit, counting his beads. His 
 brother, Victor Emanuel, who succeeded to the shriveled 
 crown, was sustained upon the throne by the energies of the 
 English fleet. The people, envying the new continental king- 
 doms, which were in a high state of prosperity, and in the 
 enjoyment of that equality of rights which the human heart 
 ever craves, were restless and insurrectionary.
 
 584 ITALY. 
 
 Naples was nominally an independent kingdom. But in 
 that day there was n:> such thing as real independence for 
 any minor power. All Europe was divided into two parties, 
 deadly hostile to each other the friends of the liberal prin- 
 ciples which the French revolution had introduced, and the 
 friends of the old regimes. All of the one party followed the 
 lead of France, for with France they stood or fell. All of the 
 other party obeyed the call of England, Austria, Russia, and 
 Prussia, for it was only by the combined energies of all these 
 courts, that the people of Europe, every where clamoring for 
 popular rights, could be prevented from overthrowing the 
 aristocratic governments. 
 
 Joseph Bonaparte, at a sweep, had annulled all the feudal 
 laws of Naples, and all the corrupt tribunals connected with 
 them. Joachim Murat, following in his footsteps, and guided 
 by the equitable principles of the Code Napoleon, which code 
 is still the admiration of enlightened jurisprudence, established 
 impartial tribunals of justice, in which the people had a fair 
 representation; equalized all taxes; opened every post of 
 emolument or honor alike to the competition of the rich and 
 the poor, the high-born and the lowly-born ; suppressed the 
 convents, which had become nurseries of fanaticism, idleness, 
 and licentiousness ; established institutions for popular educa- 
 tion ; endowed colleges in every province, and a university at 
 Naples, with the highest course of classical, mathematical, and 
 philosophical studies; and devoted especial attention to the 
 establishment in every province of seminaries for the educa- 
 tion of females. " France," said Napoleon, " needs nothing 
 BC mucl as good mothers." This sentiment he enjoined upon 
 all the governments over which he could exert an influence. 
 
 Agricultural societies were formed in every province; 
 charitable institutions founded , a national institute was estab- 
 lished, and a general board of direction of public works waa 
 organized, undei whose vigorous superintendence the most 
 important improvements were prosecuted all over the king
 
 UNDER NAPOLEON AND THE AUSTRIANS. 585 
 
 dom. The state revenues were augmented, the public credit 
 completely established, and the enormous national debt so far 
 liquidated as to amount, at the fall of Napoleon, to but six 
 hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 The territory which had composed the states of the church 
 had been entirely dismembered and reorganized. Some of the 
 provinces had been annexed to France ; others were annexed 
 to the Italian kingdom, and others were organized into duke- 
 doms, dependent upon and subservient to France. The French 
 provinces in Italy were united into one general government, 
 and placed under the administration of Louis Napoleon, 
 brother of Napoleon I., and father of the present emperor 
 of France. Afterward, upon his transfer to a more impor- 
 tant post, the government was assigned to prince Borghese, 
 an Italian nobleman, who had married Pauline, one of the 
 emperor's sisters. These departments were under the same 
 system of laws as those in France, and governed in the same 
 manner. The people of the papal states were so intensely 
 hostile to the ecclesiastical government under which they had 
 groaned, that this change was hailed with general and cordial 
 satisfaction. There is undisputed testimony that the papal 
 states had never before been so prosperous or so happy. 
 
 The kingdom of Italy embracing in general Lombardy, 
 Venice, that part of the Tyrol which forms the valley of the 
 Adige, the Vattelline, the duchy of Modena, and the papa! 
 provinces of Ferrara, Bologna, Romagna, Urbino, Macerata, 
 Camerino, and Ancona, embraced a population of six mDlion 
 seven hundred thousand. The realm, as thus constituted, em- 
 braced about thirty-six thousand square miles. The constitu 
 tion was essentially the same as that of France. Eugene 
 Beauharnais, the only son of Josephine, was but twenty-five 
 years of ago when appointed to the vice-royalty of this king- 
 dom. He was a man of much administrative ability, and 
 possessed his mother's characteristic magnanimity and ainif
 
 38 ITALY. 
 
 bility. He was exceedingly beloved by his subjects, and tc 
 the present day, is spoken of with reverence and affection. 
 
 Nearly all the prominent offices of state were conferred 
 upon native Italians. The famous road over the Simplon, was 
 constructed by France and the kingdom of Italy united, at 
 an expense of one million two hundred thousand dollars. 
 Works of public utility were prosecuted vigorously all over 
 the kingdom ; general education was encouraged, and pre- 
 miums unceasingly offered for improvements in the arts. 
 Energy and emulation were everywhere diffused, and the 
 strife between plebeians and patricians was broken down, as 
 the humblest peasant rejoiced in the possession of equal rights 
 with the most exalted noble, and saw all the avenues to wealth 
 and power, as freely open to the child of the cottage as to the 
 child of the castle. Even to the present day the Lombards 
 love to speak of the glories of the " kingdom," and look back 
 with regret to those days, which they pronounced to be the 
 brightest which have ever shone upon Italy. 
 
 The Encyclopedia Americana, in a very able article upon 
 Italy, says : " If the downfall of Napoleon is regretted in any 
 quarter of the world, it is in Italy. This country had become 
 destitute of every element of national life. Its commerce was 
 fettered by numerous political divisions ; its administration 
 poisoned and vitiated to a degree of which none can have an 
 idea except an eye witness ; the cultivation of the ground im- 
 poverished, by the heavy rents which they had to pay to the 
 landholders ; science enslaved by the sway of the clergy : the 
 noblemen, distrusted by the foreign governments, and not 
 admitted to offices of importance, had lost energy and activity. 
 In fact hardly anything could be said to flourish, with the ex- 
 ception of music, and, to a certain degree, other fine arts. 
 
 " Under Napoleon everything was changed. Italian armies 
 were created which gave birth to a sense of military honor 
 among the people ; the organization of the judicial tribunals 
 was improved, and justice much better administered ; industry
 
 UNDEE NAPOLEON AND THE AUSTBIANS. 537 
 
 was awakened and encouraged ; schools received new atten- 
 tion, and the sciences were concentrated in large and effective 
 learned societies. In short, a new life was awakened, and no 
 Italian or German, who wishes well to his country, can read 
 without deep interest the passage in Las Casas' Memorial, in 
 which Napoleon's views on these two countries are given. 
 His prophecy that Italy will one day be united, we hope will 
 he fulfilled. Timor, has been the ardent wish of reflecting 
 Italians for centuries, and the want of it is the great cause 
 of the suffering of this beautiful and unfortunate country." 
 
 In the winter of 1812, the proudest army France has ever 
 raised, perished among the snows of Russia. It was the 
 signal for all the old monarchies of Europe again to combine 
 to destroy Napoleon, the disturber of their thrones. He 
 struggled against them with heroism which has excited the 
 wonder of the world. One million two hundred thousand 
 bayonets advanced upon exhausted France, and Napoleon 
 fell; and with him fell, of course, all those liberal govern- 
 ments his genius had created, and his arm had upheld. The 
 French constitution was trampled into the bloody mire, by 
 the squadrons of England, Austria, Russia, Prussia, with all 
 their innumerable allies, and the execrable despotism of the 
 Bourbons was reestablished over the subjugated French peo- 
 ple. The enormous sum of three hundred and seven million 
 five hundred thousand dollars, was extorted from the conquered 
 French, to pay the allies for the expense of riveting upon 
 them anew the chains of tyranny. One hundred ana fifty 
 thousand foreign troops, were stationed in all the most im- 
 portant fortresses of France, to keep the French people in 
 subjection to Bourbon sway. Earth has witnessed many 
 crimes, but never one on a more gigantic scale than this. 
 
 Italy encountered the same doom as France. Her consti- 
 tutions were trampled in t'-ie dust, her liberal governments 
 indignantly demolished, and the old, worn out regimes of 
 priestly fanaticism and aristocratic tyranny unrelentingly re 
 23*
 
 538 ITALT. 
 
 Sstablisbed. The triumphant allies met in congress at Vien- 
 na, to divide between them the spoil, and to map out Europe 
 anew, in such a way, that the people should be effectually 
 prevented from any farther attempts to establish free govern- 
 ments. 
 
 The emperor of Austria, Francis I., received all the former 
 mainland territories of Venice, and the whole of Lombardy as 
 far westward as the Ticino, and south to the Po. These ex- 
 tended realms he organized into a monarchy, which he called 
 the Lombardo- Venetian kingdom. It contained seventeen 
 thousand six hundred square miles, and four million one hun- 
 dred and seventy-six thousand inhabitants. The emperor ot 
 Austria governed the realm through a viceroy at Milan. 
 
 The king of Sardinia, Charles Emanuel, who had for 
 some time possessed only the island of Sardinia, received back 
 Piedmont and Savoy ; while, at the same time, all the provin- 
 ces of Genoa were attached to his throne. 
 
 Modena, with some adjoined territory, was reconstructed 
 into a dukedom, and was conferred upon Francis, son of the 
 archduke Ferdinand, who was a brother of the emperor of 
 Austria. It contained an area of two thousand and seventy- 
 three square miles, and a population of about five hundred 
 thousand. Its revenue was one million five hundred thousand 
 dollars. Its standing army in time of peace was three thou- 
 sand five hundred ; when upon a war footing it consisted oi 
 nineteen thousand nine hundred and fifty-six. 
 
 Parma, also enlarged by the addition of Piacenza and 
 Guastally, became again a duchy of very considerable extent, 
 revenues, and power, and was conferred upon Maria Louisa, 
 the daughter of the emperor of Austria, whom the allies for- 
 bade to follow her husband Napoleon to St. Helena. The duchy 
 contained two thousand seven hundred and twelve square 
 miles. Its standing army amounted to four thousand men, 
 and its revenue to one million two hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 The grand duchy of Tuscany was assigned to the Austrian
 
 UNDER NAPOLEON AND THE AF8TRIANS. 539 
 
 archduke Ferdinand, whose son Francis reigned over the 
 adjoining duchy of Modena. It contained eight thousand five 
 hundred and eighty-six square miles, being a thousand square 
 miles larger than Massachusetts. Its population was about 
 one million five hundred thousand ; its revenue amounted to 
 about five million dollars, and its standing army consisted of 
 seventeen thousand men. 
 
 The states of the church, extending to the south as far as 
 the kingdom of Naples, and in the north reaching to the Po, 
 and bounded on the west by the Mediterranean, Tuscany, and 
 Modena, were restored to the pope. These states consist of 
 nineteen departments, six of which are technically called Lega- 
 tions, and the remainder Delegations. Their total area consis- 
 ted of seventeen thousand two hundred and ten square miles, 
 being about as large as the Sardinian kingdom, and the 
 Lombardo- Venetian kingdom, and about half the size of the 
 kingdom of Naples, exclusive of Sicily. The population of 
 these states was a little over three million, and the standing 
 army, with which the vicar of Christ kept his subjects in sub- 
 jection, amounted to fifteen thousand two hundred and fifty- 
 five infantry, and thirteen hundred and fifty cavalry. It is 
 said that the revenue wrested from the subjects of the pope 
 amounted to over fourteen million dollars annually. 
 
 The papal government is sufficiently peculiar to merit a few 
 additional observations. The pope is an elected sovereign, 
 chosen by the sacred college, which consists of the seventy 
 cardinals. This number of cardinals is instituted in imitation 
 of the evangelists sent out by our Saviour. When any vacan- 
 cy occurs in the college it is filled by the appointment of the 
 pope, who acts without control. When the pope dies, for 
 nine days his body remains in state, during which time one of 
 the cardinals, called the cardinal chamberlain, officiates as 
 pope. The body is then buried, and the cardinals meet in a 
 private room in the Vatican to choose, out of their number, a 
 successor. A majority of two-thirds is essential to a choice.
 
 fi40 ITALY. 
 
 The power of tl e pope is absolute. It is one of the leading 
 principles of his government, that all the civil offices should be 
 filled by priests. 
 
 Upon one of the mountains of the Apennines, surrounded 
 entirely by the papal states, there is a diminutive realm of but 
 thirty square miles, called the republic of San Marino. It is 
 what we should call in America a township, six miles long ind 
 five miles broad. A stone mason in the fifth century estab- 
 lished a hermitage there. His followers increased until they 
 formed a community of some seven thousand persons, govern- 
 ed by their own laws. The insignificance of this hamlet has 
 been its strength. No government has been willing to tram- 
 ple upon a people so sequestered, poor, and powerless, and 
 thus the republic of San Marino has remained unchanged 
 amidst the storms which for centuries have been desolating 
 Italy. 
 
 The allies restored to Ferdinand, the old and infamous 
 king of Naples, the realm which had so long been cursed by 
 his tyranny. He reascended the throne with the title of 
 Ferdinand I., king of the United Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. 
 With both the continental portion and the island of Sicily, it 
 embraced an area of about forty-two thousand square miles, 
 being about as large as the state of Louisiana. Its population 
 was about seven millions. 
 
 Such was the condition in which Italy was placed by the 
 congress of the allied powers, convened after the overthrow 
 of Napoleon. Every privilege which the Italian people had 
 gained in the line of popular rights was taken from them ; and 
 they were delivered back, bound hand and foot, to their old 
 masters. The whole peninsula became virtually but a prov- 
 incf of Austria ; nearly all its departments governed by Aus 
 trian princes, or by those who acknowledged their dependence 
 upon Austrian armies to hold the restive people in subjection. 
 
 We must now endeavor to describe the condition of Italy, 
 province by province, under the sway of these despotisms in>
 
 UNDEB NAPOLEON AND THE AUSTBIANS. 841 
 
 posed upon the Italians by the allies. Let us commence with 
 Naples. Ferdinand L, as one of the conditions of his re6n 
 thronement, entered into a secret treaty with the emperor of 
 Austria, that "he would not introduce in his government, any 
 principles irreconcilable with those adopted by his imperial 
 majesty, in the government of his Italian provinces." 
 
 Murat made a desperate attempt to regain his kingdom, 
 believing that the Neapolitans, with whom he had ever been 
 very popular, would rise unanimously in his favor. He landed 
 almost alone upon the coast of Calabria. Some of the soldiers 
 of Ferdinand with but little difficulty seized him, and sent 
 word of his arrest to the court at Naples. Orders imme- 
 diately came back from Ferdinand, that he should, with the 
 utmost promptness, be condemned to death by a military 
 commission. "There shall be allowed to the condemned," 
 said the dispatch, " but one half hour to receive the consola- 
 tions of religion." He was condemned, and was informed 
 that he was immediately to be led out to his execution. In 
 the following touching letter he took leave of his family : 
 
 " My dear Caroline ! My last hour has arrived. In a few 
 moments I shall cease to live. In a few moments you will no 
 longer have a husband. Never forget me. I die innocent. 
 My life has never been stained with any injustice. Adieu, my 
 Achille ! Adieu, my Lsetitia ! Adieu, my Lucien 1 Adieu, 
 my Louise ! Show yourselves to the world worthy of me. 
 I leave you without a kingdom, without fortune, in the midst 
 of my numerous enemies. Be constantly united ! Show your- 
 selves superior to misfortune. Think of what you are and of 
 what you have been, and God will bless you. Never reproach 
 my memory. Be assured that my greatest grief, in these last 
 moments of my life, is to die far from my children. Receive 
 the paternal benediction. Receive my embraces and my tears. 
 Cherish always the memory of your unhappy father." 
 
 He was led out into the fosse of the prison of Pizza 
 Twelve soldiers, with loaded muskets, were drawn up in a
 
 042 ITALY. 
 
 fine awaiting him. He walked up to his positicn until the 
 muzzles of their guns nearly touched his breast. Looking 
 serenely at the soldiers, with a smile upon his lips, he said : 
 
 " My friends, do not make me suffer by taking bad aim. 
 The narrowness of the space obliges you almost to rest the 
 muzzles of your pieces on my breast. Do not tremble. Spars 
 the face ; straight to the heart." 
 
 In his hand he held a little medallion containing portraits 
 of his wife, Caroline, and his four little children. Gazing upon 
 it he gave the signal and fell, pierced by twelve balls. Thus 
 died Joachim Murat, on the thirteenth of October, 1815, in 
 the forty-eighth year of his age. 
 
 The king, Ferdinand I., could not forget the old principles 
 of Bourbon rule, and now that the people had enjoyed a short 
 experience of liberal principles, the tyranny of the old regime 
 seemed doubly execrable. The taxes were greatly increased ; 
 all the public works which the French had either planned .or 
 executed, were neglected or suffered to fall into decay; .the 
 education of the people was entirely abandoned ; for the funds 
 which had been appropriated for that measu? % were needed to 
 supply the voluptuousness of the court. The discontent of 
 the people rapidly increased, and, in defiance of dungeons and 
 death, the murmurs were so loud that it was evident to atten- 
 tive observers, that troubles were at hand. A secret society 
 of patriots was organized, called the Carbonari. It spread 
 throughout all Italy, and soon numbered six hundred and 
 forty-two thousand persons, enrolling in its ranks nearly the 
 whole genius, intelligence, and patriotism of the land. 
 
 On the second of July, 1820, an insurrection broke out at 
 Avellino, an important post about fifty miles west of Naples. 
 The people rose tumultuously, and the soldiers as eagerly 
 joined them. The emeute was spreading like wildfire, and the 
 tidings plunged the court of Naples into the utmost conster* 
 nation. All the disposable force of the court was ordered to 
 inarch immediately upon Avellino. But Carascosa, the roy-
 
 UNDER NAPOLEON AND THE AUSTRIANS. 641 
 
 alist general, found his own troops shouting, "The Constitu- 
 tion," and to prevent them from joining the ranks of the 
 insurgents, he was compelled to lead them back to Naples. 
 General Pepe, who was in command of the garrison, at 
 Salerno, now placed himself at the head of the patriots, who 
 consequently made Salerno their head-quarters. The court 
 was powerless, whole regiments declaring for the constitution. 
 The students, the professional men, the whole intelligent class 
 were unanimous in the cry. The king thus terrified yielded, 
 and took an oath, with all the solemnities of religion, to adopt 
 and maintain a free constitution, founded npon the principles 
 of the Code Napoleon, such as the Spanish people had recently 
 extorted from their king. 
 
 A new ministry was organized, and the authority of the 
 kingdom, by this bloodless revolution, passed into the hand* 
 of the patriots. Illuminations, the ringing of bells, and every 
 demonstration of joy pervaded the kingdom. In Palermo, on 
 the island of Sicily, an Englishman, General Church, was in 
 in command of the troops who supported the power of Fer- 
 dinand. A bloody fight ensued. But the patriots with great 
 slaughter overpowered the soldiers. The Sicilians made a 
 feeble effort, to repeal the union and secure the independence 
 of the island of Sicily. But the attempt was speedily quelled, 
 and the whole kingdom remained united under one constitu- 
 tion. The constitution granted one representative in the 
 legislature for every thirty thousand inhabitants. 
 
 The signal success of this enterprise, roused the people of 
 the papal states. With shouts of " long live the republic," 
 the populace sprang to arms hi various places ; but the troop 
 proved true to discipline and mercilessly shot them down. 
 
 In Piedmont the insurrection was more serious. The 
 people there, familiar with the French armies, had become 
 highly intelligent. Afl of the most respectable portion of th 
 community, including the merchants, the educated classes, and 
 the officers of the army, were members of the Carbonari, and
 
 044 ITALY. 
 
 were anxiously watching for an opportunity to overthrow the 
 government of aristocratic privilege, and to introduce in its 
 stead the Napoleonic government of equal rights. Some 
 student, whose ardor and enthusiasm triumphed over their 
 eense of prudence, put on the cap of liberty and raised the 
 standard of rebellion in the small town of Andennes, in the 
 district of Novarrais. The people rushed so eagerly to join 
 them that it was found necessary to send four companies of 
 the royal guard to arrest the movement. The whole king- 
 dom was soon in a blaze, there seeming to be entire unanimity 
 in the resolve to overthrow absolutism and establish a consti- 
 tutional monarchy. Many noblemen joined in the enterprise. 
 On the tenth of March, 1821, at a vast gathering of citizens 
 and soldiers at Alessandria, the same constitution was adopted 
 which had been adopted in Naples. 
 
 The tidings reached Turin, the capital of the Sardinian 
 kingdom. The populace crowded the streets shouting, " Live 
 the Constitution." The soldiers fraternized with them. 
 There was no wish to overthrow the monarchical form of 
 government. They only wished for the establishment of free 
 institutions under this form. Monarchical England, not re- 
 publican America, was the model which they wished to imi- 
 tate. Scarcely an intelligent man could be found hi Italy, 
 who deemed the Italians prepared for a true republic. The 
 demand was only for a constitution which should give the 
 people a voice in the government, and which should limit the 
 absolute and despotic power of the king. With one voice 
 Turin rose and made this demand. The Austrian troops, left 
 in garrison there to maintain the cause of absolutism, fled 
 from the city. The tri-color floated over the bastions of 
 Turin, and beneath the windows of the palace, the constitution 
 was proclaimed by the shouts of the military and the people> 
 The king was utterly bewildered. While anxiously delibera- 
 ting with his council, three guns from the citadel announced 
 that it had fallen into the hands of the constitutionalists.
 
 UNDKR NAPOLEON AND THE ATT8TEIAN8. 545 
 
 Austria, in the meantime, had sent a demand that the Pied 
 montese troops should be disbanded, and the fortresses filled 
 with Austrian troops. The king sent from his palace the 
 prince of Carignan, heir apparent to the throne, to ascertain 
 more definitely the wishes of the people, now triumphant. 
 
 The prince was received with every demonstration of 
 respect, but the people were united and firm in their demand 
 for the constitution. " Our hearts," said they, " are faithful 
 to the king ; but we must extricate him from his fatal coun- 
 cils. The situation of the country and the people demand the 
 constitution." 
 
 To grant the constitntion was inevitable war with Austria; 
 for it was well known, that war to the last extremity would be 
 waged by that despotic government, before it would allow free 
 institutions to be established so near its capital. The king of 
 Sardinia had also pledged himself to the emperor, to maintain 
 absolutism, and to crush, with all the energies of fire and 
 sword, any attempt of the people to encroach upon the as- 
 sumptions of the crown. Austrian troops were quartered in 
 Piedmont to aid the long in maintaining his despotic power, 
 and to send the alarm instantly to Austria, should that power 
 be menaced. 
 
 In this perplexity the king decided to abdicate. He trans- 
 ted the crown to his brother Felix, who was then at 
 Modena, and appointing Charles Albert, prince of Carignan, 
 regent, set out immediately for Nice. On the evening of the 
 same day, April thirteenth, 1821, the prince regent found 
 himself compelled to adopt the constitution, on condition, 
 nowevsr, of the royal assent. 
 
 The "holy allies," Austria, Russia, and Prussia, met in 
 congress at Laybach, to devise eflicient measures to put down 
 this spirit of liberty hi Italy. The British government was in 
 sympathy with the despots. The British people were in such 
 warm sympathy with their Italian brethren struggling for theii 
 rights, that the government did not dare to join the " holv
 
 546 ITALY. 
 
 allies." Lord Castlereagh, however, in the name of the 
 British cabinet, sent a dispatch to the congress, stating that 
 while England wished to remain neutral, it admitted this was 
 a case in which the intervention of the northern monarchs, to 
 arrest the progress of the people, was justifiable. The sen- 
 timents of the British court at that time are reflected, as in a 
 mirror, in the representation which Sir Archibald Alison gives 
 of these events. He is the court historian, and eloquently 
 does he advocate their cause : 
 
 "Such," says Alison, "was the revolution of 1820. Com- 
 mencing with military treason, it ended with robbery, mas- 
 sacre, and the insurrection of galley slaves. Nothing durable 
 or beneficial was to be expected from such a commencement. 
 It was characterized accordingly throughout by impassioned 
 conception and ephemeral existence; violent change, disregard 
 of former usage, inattention to national character, oblivion of 
 the general national interests. Designed and carried into exe- 
 cution by an active and energetic, but limited and special class 
 of the people, it exhibited, in all the countries where it was 
 established, the well known features of class legislation ; and 
 by the establishment of class legislation of the very worst 
 kind universal suffrage it insured at no distant period its 
 own downfall." 
 
 Influenced by such views as the above, Russia, Austria, 
 and Prussia sent their armies to extinguish the rising flame of 
 liberty in Italy. Instructed by the tremendous energy with 
 which France, emancipated from feudalism, had struggled 
 against combined Europe, the allies sent forces strong enough 
 to crush the Italian patriots at a blow. Russia put in imme- 
 diate motion an army of one hundred thousand men. Nearly 
 the whole military strength of Austria was, by forced marches, 
 crowding down through the defiles of the Tyrol upon the 
 plains of doomed Italy. A division of the Austrian army, 
 amounting to fifty thousand men, speedily crossed the Po ; 
 and they were followed by solid battalions of Russian, Pros-
 
 UNDEB NAPOLEON AND THE AU8TBIAN8. 647 
 
 Bian, and Austrian troops, extending back, in apparently inter- 
 minable lines, even to the heart of Russia. The storm first 
 fell upon Naples. It was resistless as the avalanche deso- 
 lating as the tornado. King Ferdinand had joined the allies 
 in their congress at Laybach, and returned to Naples behind 
 the guns of their resistless battalions. The banners of liberty 
 were trampled in the dust the constitution torn into shreds 
 the patriots shot, hanged, and sent to the galleys. England 
 and the Bourbons of France, notwithstanding their assumed 
 neutrality, sent fleets to the harbor of Naples, to protect the 
 Bourbon monarch there, should he need their aid. Ferdinand 
 I. issued a decree to all the friends of the old regime to rally 
 in aid of the allies. 
 
 A few bloody and despairing conflicts terminated the strife. 
 The same soldiers, who with their bayonets had replaced the 
 Bourbons on the throne of France, now replaced another 
 branch of the Bourbons on the throne of Naples, and reestab- 
 lished as execrable a despotism, as that under which any nation 
 has ever groaned. On the twelfth of May the king entered 
 his capital, surrounded by Austrian troops, who garrisoned the 
 city and silenced every murmur of the people. A court mar- 
 tial was immediately established for the execution of military 
 law upon all the known friends of a representative govern- 
 ment. For months the court was busy in its sanguinary toil. 
 Multitudes suffered the most cruel and ignominious punish- 
 ments. Many of the purest spirits of Italy fled to other 
 lands, and with loss of property wandered in exile and penury, 
 until death came to their relief. 
 
 The revolution being thus repressed by Austrian bayonets, 
 for the work was already accomplished before the Russian or 
 Prussian troops had crossed the frontiers, vigorous measures 
 Were adopted to prevent the possibility of another effort for 
 popular liberty. A general disarmament of the Neapolitans 
 was ordered, and the fortresses were placed in the hands of 
 the Austrian troops j a vigorous censorship of the press was
 
 S4S ITALY. 
 
 established, and all the books in circulation were carefully 
 examined ; a loan of five million dollars was raised ; the taxes 
 greatly increased, and an army of between fifty and sixty 
 thousand Austrians, including seven thousand cavalry, remain- 
 ed in occupation of the Neapolitan kingdom to hold the peo- 
 ple in subjection. The whole expense of this Austrian arm^ 
 was borne by the Neapolitans. 
 
 The Austrians now turned, with accumulated strength, 
 toward the plains of Piedmont. They were so strong in num- 
 bers that they sent word to the Russian troops that they 
 might halt where they were, as their cooperation probably 
 would not be needed. The tempest of war burst terribly 
 upon the little realm. The Austrians, in overpowering num- 
 bers, took possession of all the fortr9sses, and entered Turin 
 in triumph. The new king, Felix, had joined the Austrians 
 at Novara, 'and at the head of their columns, guided the 
 attacks upon the Piedmont fortresses, and made his public 
 entrance into Turin. The popular cause was crushed as effec- 
 tually as in Naples, and the old, absolute, royal authority 
 reestablished. Confiscations and executions followed. De- 
 tachments of Austrians, amounting to twelve thousand men, 
 were placed in possession of the four most important fortress- 
 es of the kingdom. The Piedmontese were compelled to sup- 
 port these foreign troops, at an expense in money of one hun- 
 dred thousand dollars a month, and of thirteen thousand 
 rations daily. 
 
 The silence and repose of the dungeon continued unbroken 
 in Italy for several years. The taxes were everywhere so 
 enormous, that the people were generally in a state of extreme 
 misery. On the fifth of May, 1825, Ferdinand I., of Naples 
 died, and his son, Francis I., ascended the throne. He reigned 
 for five years, in perfect obedience to the emperor of Austria, 
 who with Austrian troops held possession of his kingdom. 
 .He died the eighth of November 1830, being succeeded bj 
 his son Ferdinand 11.
 
 ITNDEB NAPOLEON AND THE AUSTRIAN'S. 549 
 
 The revolution in France in 1830, by which the elder 
 branch of the house of Bourbon was driven from the throne, 
 and the scepter placed in the hands of Louis Philippe, con- 
 vulsed Italy, from the Alps to the extremities of Calabria. 
 But the Italians were bound hand and foot ; their fortresses 
 were in the hands of the Austrians, and the whole power of 
 the Austrian empire was ready, at a day's warning, to march 
 and quell any popular rising. There were a few desperate 
 outbreaks, but the vigilance of the police, and the presence 
 everywhere of an overpowering Austrian force, enabled the 
 rulers to repress with rigor every movement of reform. 
 
 For a few years after the fall of Napoleon, at Waterloo, 
 the French people had submitted in entire exhaustion and 
 despair, to the old regime of the Bourbons, imposed upon 
 them by allied Europe. But in the year 1830, they again 
 rose and drove the Bourbons again from the throne. The 
 remains of the great emperor were then mouldering beneath 
 the sod at St. Helena. His only son, the duke of Reichstadt, 
 had pined away and died in the palaces of Austria. All the 
 members of the Napoleonic family had been banished from 
 France. There was no one of the name with whom the 
 French people were acquainted, or to whom they could ap- 
 peal. 
 
 Under these circumstances they reluctantly consented to 
 place upon the throne Louis Philippe, the duke of Orleans, a 
 member of the house of Bourbon. Though it was known 
 that his sympathies would be mainly with the nobles, it 
 was deemed, that, on the whole, the appointment of Louis 
 Philippe to the sovereignty, was the best arrangement which 
 could then be made. Eight years passed away, while discon- 
 tent rapidly increased as the government was becoming less * 
 and less favorable to popular liberty. Again the masses were 
 roused. Louis Philippe was driven across the channel. Louii 
 Napoleon presented himself in the streets of Paris. To the 
 oeople he was a stranger. But he was the grandson of
 
 550 ITALY. 
 
 Josephine, and his name was Bonaparte. He was *he legiti 
 mate neir of that throne of the empire, which the popular 
 voice had reared, and pronounced hereditary in the line of 
 Napoleon. 
 
 Openly and earnestly Louis Napoleon avowed his adher- 
 ence to those principles of popular sovereignty, and of equal 
 rights, which had been the glory and the strength of the 
 empire. Cautiously he was received, for he was a stranger, 
 with no credentials, in the form of deeds achieved, to present 
 in attestation of his worth or ability. He was first made 
 a legislator, then president, then emperor. This astonishing 
 revolution in France, shook every throne in Europe. The 
 people everywhere were roused anew to shake off the detested 
 yoke of aristocratic despotism. In every state of Italy there 
 were strong indications of tumult, and of a general and des- 
 perate insurrection against the established powers. The pope, 
 Pius IX., in his alarm, hoping to conciliate the people, adopted 
 the unprecedented reform of establishing a new cabinet, com- 
 posed of ten laymen, and but three ecclesiastics. He also 
 promised the people a constitution, and permission to or- 
 ganize a national guard. 
 
 In Venice the agitation was intense and universal. The 
 people all over the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom rose in euch 
 strength, that the Austrian garrisons did not venture to at- 
 tack them. The Austrian force, at that time in Lombardy, 
 amounted to eighty thousand, and yet General Zichy, who 
 was in command, wrote to Vienna, that he should need, at 
 least seventy thousand more to enable him to make headway 
 against the people. The renowned Austrian general, Joseph 
 Radetsky, was then commander-in-chief of all the Austrian 
 forces in Italy. 
 
 In Milan, Radetsky first brought the Italian troops, eigh 
 teen thousand in number, to assail the Italian patriots, or 
 rebels, as he deemed them. For six days the ferocious con. 
 flict raged, almost without intermission, through the streets
 
 FWDEB NAPOLEON AND THE AUS1KIANS. 651 
 
 of the city. The women even, joined their husbands and 
 fathers, in the fight against the detested Austrians. In every 
 city in the vicinity, the flame. of insurrection was blazing forth. 
 At length the Austrians in Milan, discomfited, were com- 
 pelled to retreat to Crema. All Italy raised a shout of ex- 
 ultation. 
 
 Charles Albert, who was then the king of Sardinia, though*, 
 this a favorable opportunity to deliver his kingdom from 
 Austrian domination, and nobly resolved to espouse the popu- 
 lar cause, and to confer upon his subjects the blessings of a 
 free constitution. He was in command of an army highly 
 disciplined, amounting to seventy-five thousand men, and was 
 thus prepared to assume the position of leader of the liberal 
 party in Italy. He drew his sword against Austria, and 
 throwing away the scabbard, marched to join the patriots at 
 Milan. 
 
 The state of affairs thoughout the whole Neapolitan king 
 dom was essentially the same as in Piedmont, Lombardy, and 
 Venice. Ferdinand H. despatched nine ships-of-war to bom- 
 bard Palermo, and forty-eight hours the horrible storm of 
 ruin and death fell upon the city. The king, at length ap- 
 palled by the vigor of the defense, and by the insurrections 
 bursting out in every important town of his kingdom, pro- 
 fessed to yield to the demands of his people. He withdrew 
 his soldiers from the conflict and promised his subjects the 
 constitution of 1812. The announcement was placarded in 
 the streets of Naples, exciting the citizens to the highest 
 transports of joy. But it was soon found that the constitu- 
 tion the king was disposed to grant was very different from 
 that which the people expected. As the basis of the new 
 constitution the king proposed, first, that the Roman Catholic 
 religion should be the religion of the state, and that no other 
 should be tolerated! The civil war was speedily renewed; the 
 Sicilians struggling to obtain entire release from Naples, and 
 to establish the independence of their island. In Naples bar-
 
 652 ITALY. 
 
 ricades were thrown up, and for eight hours a sanguinary 
 conflict raged between the royal troops and the citizens. 
 Eight thousand of the Neapolitans were slain, and the victory 
 of the king was complete. Martial law was established, and 
 the most unrelenting despotism reigned. 
 
 In Sicily, however, the constitutionalists were triumphant 
 A parliament was summoned ; the king was declared dethron- 
 ed ; Charles Albert, second son of the king of Sardinia, wa 
 elected king of Sicily; and the infant kingdom joined the 
 Italian league for the independence of Italy. Ferdinand IL 
 sent fourteen thousand troops, with a powerful train of artil- 
 lery, to reconquer the island. On the third of September, 
 1848, the bombardment of Messina commenced. For several 
 days the horrible storm of shot and shells fell upon the city. 
 The gutters ran with blood, and the streets were filled with 
 the mangled bodies of the slain. A large part of the city waa 
 in ruins, and the ammunition of the citizens had failed. It was 
 no longer a battle, but a massacre. Messina fell in one loud 
 wail of woe, and the banners of Ferdinand IL, of Naples, 
 Again floated over the smoldering walls.
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 AUSTRIAN TRIUMPHS AND DI SCOMPITUB B. 
 
 FBOM A. D. 1848 TO A. D. 1860. 
 
 BBTWBmr AUBTRIA AND SARDINIA. AUSTRIA TRIUMPHANT. CONOKNTRATK* 
 or Tint PATRIOTS IN ROMK. BUEN OF TH POPULAR PARTY IN PIRDMONT. HBBO- 
 i8M OF GARIBALDI RKNBWAL OF TUB WAR BBTWKXN SARDINIA AND AUSTRIA. 
 INTERVENTION or FRANCE, PROOLAMATIOVB. BATTLM or MONTZBKLLO, PAXMTRO, 
 AND MAGBNTA SARDINIA AND LOMBARDT EIOAINBD. PRBSBNY STATB OF ITALY. 
 
 A LL Italy, now, from the Tyrolese Alps to the southern 
 ^*- shores of Sicily, was in a blaze of insurrection. Venice 
 and Lombardy were in arms. The king of Sardinia, leading 
 the hosts of freedom, was strongly intrenched on the banks 
 of the Mincio. A large body of volunteers, from the papal 
 states, asking no permission of the pope, marched and joined 
 them. The tumult in Rome was fearful, the populace sur- 
 rounding the palace, and demanding that war should be 
 declared by the papal government against Austria, and in 
 favor of Italian independence. This sentiment was so univer- 
 sal, with the soldiers as well as the civilians, that the pope 
 was compelled to yield. The grand duke of Tuscany followed 
 in the same line, issuing a proclamation in which he promised 
 his subjects representative institutions. 
 
 The Austrian army was concentrated upon the Adige, 
 about twenty-five miles east of the Mincio. From all parts of 
 Italy volunteers were crowding to the banners of Charles 
 Albert. From all the fortresses of Austria, the veteran le- 
 gions of the emperor were hastening down to swell the impe- 
 rial ranks marshaled beneath the walls of Verona. It would 
 be uninteresting to follow the incidents of the campaign
 
 554 I T A L T . 
 
 which ensued, through sanguinary skirmishes, weary maneu- 
 vers, and bloody battles. Armies nearly one hundred and 
 thirty thousand strong, on either side, struggled month after 
 month, with almost equal success. The Italians were enthusi- 
 astic, young volunteers ; the Austrians, veteran soldiers. Ve- 
 netian Lombardy was finally regained by the Austrians. As 
 the imperial banner was again unfurled from the battlements 
 of Milan, the Austrian field marshal announced, in an order 
 of the day, " There is no longer an enemy on Lombard 
 ground." The anguish and dismay of the Italians were dread- 
 ful. The king of Sardinia, thoroughly disabled, withdrew 
 from the conflict, agreeing to an armistice of six weeks, to 
 negotiate for peace. 
 
 Still there were a few Italians, who, with the energies of 
 despair, resolved to persevere in the struggle against the over- 
 whelming power of Austria. Mazzini, an illustrious leader 
 of the patriots, issued a proclamation, saying, " The war of 
 the kings has terminated; that of ihe people is about to com- 
 mence." Garibaldi, another hero of indomitable courage, 
 was gathering volunteers at Genoa. The British government 
 had not regarded with any sympathy this movement of the 
 Italians to regain their independence. Alison expresses their 
 yiews in saying that the British government, "which had 
 from the outset disapproved of the treacherous advantage 
 taken by the Piedmontese government of the revolution at 
 Milan, and earnestly dissuaded from the war, was now earnest 
 in its endeavors to mediate between the contending pai-ties." 
 
 Italy was swept by the Austrians in all directions ; Gari- 
 baldi was driven into the Alps, and Austrian sway was estab- 
 lished. Still all Italy was in a ferment ; and it was evident 
 that there was a lull only in the storm ; that it had not ceased. 
 Charles Albert, hi the pathetic proclamation he issued, said : 
 
 " The throbs of my heart were ever for Italian independ- 
 ence ; but Italy has not yet shown to the world that she can 
 sonquer alone. 9 '
 
 VICTOR EMANUEL 
 
 Italy.
 
 AUSTRIAN TRIUMPHS AND DISCOMF ITURE. 555 
 
 The clamor in Rome, for reform, was so loud and threat- 
 ening, that the pope, in the disguise of a servant, on the box 
 of the Bavarian minister's carriage, escaped from his capital, 
 and threw himself on the j rotection of the king of Naples. 
 
 Hungary had now commenced a struggle to escape from 
 Austrian thraldom. This reinspired the hopes of Italy, and 
 especially of the Piedmonttse. The cry of the people was so 
 earnest for the renewal of the war, that Charles Albert, the 
 king, said to the British and French ministers : 
 
 " I must either declare war or abdicate the crown, and see 
 a republic established." 
 
 On the twentieth of March, 1849, the war was renewed. 
 The Austrians, eighty thousand strong, crossed the Ticino, 
 and entered Piedmont. The two hosts met at Novara. In 
 a terrific battle the Piedmontese were vanquished, and there 
 was witnessed one of war's wildest scenes of horror and woe. 
 Charles Albert had refused to accede to those terms of sub- 
 jection to Austria which the emperor demanded, and hence 
 the renewal of the war. Like Napoleon at Waterloo, Charles 
 Albert, at Novara, sought in vain for some ball to pierce his 
 heart ; but there was none for him. As he was led from the 
 field of confusion, dismay, and death, he said to General Du 
 rando: 
 
 "This is my last day. I have sacrificed myself to the 
 Italian cause. For it I have exposed my life, that of my 
 children, and my throne. I have failed in my object. I am 
 aware that I am individually the sole obstacle to a peace, now 
 become necessary to the state. I could not bring myself to 
 sign it. Since I in vain sought death, I will give myself Tip 
 as a last sacrifice to my country. I lay down the crown and 
 abdicate in favor of my son, the duke of Savoy." 
 
 The unhappy monarch retired to Nice, where, enveloped in 
 the gloom of the most bitter disappointments, he soon died. 
 Victor Eman lei II., the present king of Sardinia, ascended 
 the throne. It was necessary for him to accede to almost
 
 556 ITALY. 
 
 any terms of peace which might be proposed ; for a triumph- 
 ant army of Austrians, already in possession of one of the 
 most powerful fortresses of his realm, was prepared to sweep 
 his territories in all directions. Austria was inexorable. She 
 demanded fifty millions of dollars in cash, permission to gar- 
 ri^on the Sardinian territory, between the Ticino and the 
 Sesia, with Austrian troops ; the mutual occupancy, with the 
 Piedmontese, of the fortresses of Alessandria, and the dis- 
 banding of nearly all the Piedmontese troops. The king was 
 compelled to submit to these terms, slightly modified, while 
 the people were in almost a frenzy of rage and despair. 
 
 The ruin of the popular party in Piedmont, was the signal 
 for its overthrow all over Italy. Sicily was swept as with a 
 billow of blood, and the infamous Ferdinand II. regained his 
 whole territory. Mazzini and Garibaldi were still, however, 
 at the head of formidable insurrectionary forces, and after 
 having performed prodigies of valor, driven from post to 
 post, they had retreated to Rome, where they had been joined 
 by the remnants of the revolutionary bands. TJuder these 
 circumstances it was evident that Austria would immediately 
 take possession of Rome, and, with the aid of Naples, restore 
 the pope to his throne, and thus attain supremacy over the 
 whole peninsula. France was alarmed at this vast increase 
 of a power, in heart as hostile to French as to Italian liberty. 
 Taking advantage of an invitation addressed to the cabinets 
 of Paris, St. Petersburg, Naples, and Berlin, to cooperate for 
 the restoration of the temporal power of the pope, France 
 eat an army of twenty-eight thousand men and ninety pieces 
 of cannon, under General Oudinot, and after a short siege, 
 which the defenders conducted with great heroism, took pos- 
 session of the city. It was impossible that Rome should 
 remain independent. The only question to be decided was, 
 whether France should be dominant within its walls, or sur- 
 render Rome, with all the rest of the Italian peninsula, to the 
 Austrians.
 
 AUSTRIAN TRIUMPHS AND DISCOMFITURE. 5W 
 
 Garibaldi, with five thousand men, escaped from the city 
 by night Austrian columns pursued him through the moun- 
 tains of Tuscany. His force was soon disbanded. His wife, 
 who had nobly shared all his dangers, expired of exhaustion 
 in one of the passes of the mountains. After many hair- 
 breadth escapes and much suffering, he reached Genoa, and 
 embarked for America. The government of the pope was 
 thus reinstated over the papal states. 
 
 The only state in Italy which now maintained even a sem- 
 blance of independence was Sardinia. This kingdom enjoyed 
 a representative legislature; and, with steady current, all its 
 measures were flowing in the direction of popular rights. 
 England, apprehensive of the intervention of France hi behalf 
 of the Italians, which would greatly strengthen the power of 
 the new French emperor, by giving him all Italy as an ally, 
 urged Austria to abandon her Lombardo- Venetian kingdom 
 to independence; allowing it to select its own sovereign; the 
 Italian kingdom only paying an annual tax to Austria of five 
 millions of dollars. This would deprive France of all excuse 
 for intervention. But Austria would not listen to the pro- 
 posal. With an eagle eye the Austrian emperor watched 
 Sardinia, fully conscious that a free constitutional state, exist- 
 ing so near his kingdoms, was a constant protest against his 
 tyranny, and tended continually to excite his subjects to 
 revolt. It soon became evident that Sardinia must be brought 
 into subjection to Austria, and her free institutions abolished, 
 or Venetian Lombardy would strike again for freedom. Aus- 
 tria commenced her menace by multiplying her military 
 resources, and strengthening her fortressee on the Sardinian 
 frontier. Large masses of men, under the ablest generals, 
 were poured into Italy. Sardinia, taking the alarm, began 
 also to arm. Austria ordered Sardinia to disband the corp& 
 she was raising, and to place her army on a peace footing. 
 Sardinia replied: 
 
 " Austria, which increases its army on our frontiers, and
 
 568 ITALY. 
 
 threatens to invade our territory, because liberty here reigns 
 with order, because the cries of suffering, of oppressed Italy 
 nere finds a hearing, Austria dares to intimate to us, armed 
 only in defense, that we are to lay down our arras, and put 
 ourselves in her power." 
 
 Sardinia had applied, in this great emergency, to France 
 for sympathy and aid. Louis Napoleon, conscious that Sar- 
 dinia was the only kingdom in Europe in cordial sympathy 
 with the French empire, and the only one to which he could 
 look for alliance in case there should be another coalition of 
 the European powers against the rights of the French people 
 to choose their own form of government, informed Austria, 
 through his ambassador in Vienna, that he could not look 
 with indifference upon the invasion of Sardinia by the Aus- 
 trian troops. Regardless of this menace, Austria accumulated 
 two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers upon the frontiers of 
 Sardinia; and then ordered them to cross the Ticino and 
 march directly for Turin. 
 
 Louis Napoleon was prepared for the emergence. He 
 issued the following manifesto : 
 
 " Austria in causing her army to enter the territories of the 
 king of Sardinia, our ally, declares war against us. She thus 
 violates treaties and justice, and menaces our frontiers. All 
 the great powers protested against this aggression. Pied- 
 mont, having accepted the conditions which ought to have 
 Insured peace, one asks what can be the reason of this sudden 
 invasion ? Is it that Austria has brought matters tc this ex- 
 tremity, that she must either rule up to the Alps, or Italy 
 must be free to the shores of the Adriatic ; for in this country 
 every corner of territory which remains independent endan- 
 gers her power ? 
 
 " Hitherto moderation has been the rule of my conduct. 
 Let France arm, and resolutely tell Europe, ' I desire not 
 eonquest ; but I desire firmly to maintain my national and 
 traditional policy. I observe the ti eaties, on condition that
 
 AUSTRIAN TRIUMPHS AND DISCOMFITURE. 559 
 
 no one shall violate them against me. I respect the territo- 
 ries and rights of neutral powers, but I boldly avow my 
 sympathies with a people whose history is mingled with my 
 own, and who groan under foreign oppression.' 
 
 " France has shown her hatred of anarchy. She has been 
 pleased to give me a power strong enough to reduce into 
 nonentity the abettors of disorder, and the incorrigible mem- 
 bers of those old factions, whom one incessantly sees con- 
 federating with our enemies ; but she has not, for all that, 
 abdicated her task of civilization. Her natural allies have 
 always been those who desire the improvement of the human 
 race, and when she draws the sword, it is not to dominate but 
 to liberate. The object of this war, then, is to restore Italy 
 to herself, not to impose upon her a change of masters ; and 
 we shall then have upon our frontiers a friendly people, who 
 will owe to us their independence. 
 
 " We do not go into Italy to foment disorder, or to disturb 
 the power of the holy father, whom we have replaced upon 
 his throne, but to remove from him this foreign pressure, 
 which weighs upon the whole peninsula, and to help to estab- 
 lish there order, based upon legitimate, satisfied interests. 
 We are going, then, to seek upon this classic ground, illus 
 trated by so many victories, the footsteps of our fathers. 
 God grant that we may be worthy of them! I am going 
 soon to place myself at the head of the army." 
 
 Two hundred thousand French troops were immediately on 
 the march. They were received with unbounded enthusiasm in 
 Sardinia. On the tenth of May, 1859, Napoleon left Paris. He 
 embarked at Marseilles and arrived at Genoa at two o'clock 
 in the afternoon of the twelfth of May. No language can de- 
 scribe the enthusiasm of his reception. On the twentieth the 
 advance corps of the French and Austrians met at Montebello, 
 The Austrians were routed and driven back again. Again on 
 the thirtieth .strong divisions of the two armies met at Pales- 
 tro. Again, after a series of terrific conflicts, the French and
 
 560 ITALY. 
 
 Sardiniats triumphed. The Austrians were repulsed with 
 great slaughter, and were driven across the Ticino, out of the 
 territory of Sardinia. The French and Sardinians pursued 
 them. Again the Austrians made a stand upon the fields of 
 Magenta. The Austrians had here collected all their resources 
 upon a line of battle nearly thirty miles in extent. The battle 
 which ensued on the fourth of June, was one of the most 
 dreadful which has ever afflicted humanity. Forty thousand 
 men were either killed or wounded during this long day of 
 conflict, hi which all the modern enginery of war were called 
 into action. On the twenty-fourth of June, the French again 
 overtook the Austrians on the field of Solferino. 
 
 The Austrians were again beaten. Sullenly Francis Jo- 
 seph retreated into the heart of the Venetian territory ; anc 
 threw his army into the renowned fortresses, which for age? 
 Austria had been rearing upon those subjugated plains. It 
 was clear to every mind that France was now in military 
 array sufficient to capture those fortresses, and thus drive the 
 Austrians out of Italy. But instead of this, Louis Napoleon 
 proposed terms of peace, and the war was closed by the 
 treaty of Villafranca. 
 
 Why did not the French persevere and drive the Austrians 
 out of Italy ? The following are the reasons assigned. After 
 the battles of Magenta and Solferino, Louis Napoleon rode 
 over the field where forty thousand men had been struck 
 down hi every form of mutilation and death. He was utterly 
 overwhelmed by the aspect of misery before him. His most 
 experienced engineers stated, that though the conquest of the 
 famous quadrilateral fortresses in Venetia could surely be effect- 
 ed, it would require the lives of at least fifty thousand French 
 soldiers, and probably still more of the Austrians. Surround- 
 ed by the dying and the dead, and with their groans filling 
 his ears, such a vision appalled the mind of the emperor of 
 Prance. 
 
 Again ; monarchical Europe contemplated with apprehen
 
 TRIUMPHS AND DISCOMFITUBE. 661 
 
 sion this triumpli of the French arras. It was affirmed that 
 France sought oidy to gam Italy for herself, and that thia 
 great addition to the power of the empire would endanger 
 the rest of Europe. Prussia, especially, with most of the 
 German states, threatened to join Austria, should Louis Na- 
 poleon push his victories any farther. Neither could it be 
 concealed that the British government shared hi these appre- 
 hensions, and was in sympathy with those great powers which 
 menaced Napoleon. The emperor of France was, consequent- 
 ly, compelled to arrest the march of his victorious columns, or 
 to see all Europe embroiled hi the most dreadful war which 
 earth has ever witnessed. 
 
 The danger for despotic Europe was indeed imminent. 
 The people of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany had risen as one 
 man, expelled their rulers, and placed themselves under the 
 dictatorship of Victor Emanuel. The Neapolitan kingdom 
 and the papal states were intensely excited, the people 
 forming secret societies, arming and filling the air with 
 menaces. The young men, by hundreds, were flocking to 
 join the ranks of the Sardinians. The Hungarians were elate 
 with hope, and even the Poles dreamed that the hour of their 
 redemption was at hand. Every despotic throne in Europe 
 was trembling. In hot haste a coalition of the great mon- 
 archies was being formed, to arrest the progress of free insti- 
 tutions. There was no alternative for Louis Napoleon but to 
 go on and embroil all Europe in war, the results of which no 
 human wisdom could foresee ; or to heed these menaces, and 
 to stop where he was, having rebcued Sardinia and liberated 
 Loinbardy. 
 
 With frankness quite unusual hi diplomacy, he stated these 
 reasons, obvious to every eye, and consented to the peace of 
 Villafranca. He affected no concealment of his sympathy for 
 all those who were struggling for constitutional government, 
 and regretted that the Venetians could not be freed from 
 foreign domination, as well as the Lombardians. In his boy 
 24*
 
 668 ITALY. 
 
 hood he had fought on the plains of Italy for Italian indepen- 
 dence; and in that struggle his only brother had fallen in 
 exhaustion and death. His sympathies and his political inter- 
 ests were alike enlisted in behalf of Italian freedom. And 
 though the Italians, regarding simply their own wants, were 
 bitterly disappointed by the peace of Villafranca, they recog- 
 nized fully the debt of gratitude they owed Louis Napoleon, 
 But for his strong arm Sardinia would have been crushed ; 
 and the chains of Austrian despotism would have been riveted 
 anew upon Italy. No other monarch was willing to send a 
 regiment or a ship to aid the Sardinians. Impartial history 
 must declare that Louis Napoleon has been the liberator of 
 Italy. 
 
 Some condemn Louis Napoleon with great severity for not 
 completing the expulsion of the Austrians from Italy. Others 
 render to him the tribute of gratitude and veneration for what 
 he has achieved, and equally applaud his conduct for stopping 
 when he did, thus saving France from a war against combined 
 Europe. And there are others who reproach France alike for 
 the carnage of Magenta and Solferino, and also for not pressing 
 on to the still more dreadful carnage which must have been 
 experienced beneath the walls of the quadrilateral fortresses 
 of Venetia, and which must have caused all Europe to run red 
 with blood. 
 
 The intervention of France rescued Sardinia from entire 
 subjugation by Austria ; liberated Lombardy from the Aus- 
 trian sway, and so enlarged the kingdom of Sardinia by the 
 addition of Lombardy, Parn ^ Modena, and Tuscany, as to 
 render it capable, in its own strength, of resisting all future 
 encroachments of the Austrian court. The territory of Sar 
 dinia, by these annexations, is doubled, and its population 
 more than doubled, being increased from five millions to 
 eleven millions. The very substantial nucleus is thus formed 
 for the concentration of regenerated Italy into one great con-
 
 AUSTKIAN TKIUMPHS AND DISCOMFITURE. 563 
 
 ititutional monarchy, which shall take its stand amidst the 
 leading powers of the earth. 
 
 It was a question anxiously discussed, whether it were 
 better that regenerated Italy should consist of a confederation 
 of independent states, somewhat after the model of Germany, 
 or of a consolidated kingdom like that of France. The French 
 government took the ground that this question was to be left 
 entirely to the decision of the Italian people, without any 
 foreign interference. Thus far the decision has been emphati- 
 cally hi favor of consolidation and unity. The question of 
 confederated states, or a united government, was submitted 
 to the popular vote of the duchies of Tuscany, Modena, 
 Parma, and the papal province of Romagna, where the people 
 had expelled their Austrian rulers. Every male beyond the 
 age of twenty-one was allowed to vote. 
 
 In Tuscany the vote stood three hundred and sixty-six 
 thousand five hundred and seventy-one for united Italy, and 
 fourteen thousand nine hundred and twenty-five for a con- 
 federacy of states. In Romagna there were two hundred 
 thousand six hundred and fifty-nine for annexation, and two 
 hundred and twenty-four for a separate kingdom. Four-fifths 
 of the people of these states voted for annexation to Sardinia, 
 under Victor Emanuel, as one kingdom. When the result of 
 this vote was presented to the Sardinian monarch, he said : 
 
 " I accept the solemn vote, and henceforth will be proud 
 to call them my people. In uniting to my ancestral provinces, 
 not only the states of Tuscany, Modena, and Parma, but also 
 the Romagna, which has already separated itself from the 
 papal government, I do not intend to fail in my deep devoted- 
 ness to the head of the church." 
 
 The provinces of Savoy and Nice both lie on the French 
 side of the Alps. Their inhabitants speak the French lan 
 guage, and are, in character, as well as in geographical posi- 
 tion, French rather than Italians. The formidable barrier of 
 the Alps separates them from Italy. The narrow stream of
 
 54 ITALY. 
 
 the Guier, spanned by the bridge Beauvoisin, separates the 
 plains of Savoy from the plains of France. The question was 
 submitted to these people with which nation they would prefer 
 to be incorporated. With great unanimity they chose France. 
 
 That the sympathies of the British government, in thift 
 conflict, was with the Austrians, is as undeniable as thai the 
 sympathies of the people were with the Sardinians. In the 
 celebrated speech made by Kossuth in the London tavern, 
 May twentieth, 1859, the Lord Mayor being in the chair, he 
 eaid: 
 
 " Now, my lord, I do not remember to have heard of one 
 single official or semi-official declaration which has left the 
 impression on my mind, that, if her majesty's government 
 were not to remain neutra 1 , they would side with Sardinia and 
 France against Austria. But I have heard of many declara- 
 tions, forcibly leading to the inference, that the alternative was 
 either neutrality or the support of Austria. 
 
 " We have been told that if a French fleet should enter 
 the Adriatic, it might be the interest of England to oppose it. 
 We have been told, on high authority too, that if Trieste 
 were to be attacked, it might be the interest of England to 
 defend it. Nay, the inspired ministerial candidate for the 
 West Riding of Yorkshire, even told the electors that it 
 might be the interest of England to protect Venice. From 
 what ? Of course from the great misfortune of getting eman- 
 cipated from Austria. Thus, turn it as we may, the alternative 
 is this either England remains neutral, or else she will be 
 brought to support Austria." 
 
 Had England cooperated with France, Austria might have 
 been definitely expelled from Italy, and the long hoped for 
 Italian nationality established. But the British government 
 not only refused to cooperate, but menaced France, with both 
 fleet and army, if she pursued the discomfited Austrians into 
 Venetia. Had England then been in sympathy with Sardinia, 
 the Italian question might have been settled. It is now un-
 
 AUSTRIAN TRIUMPHS AND DISCOMFITUBE. 565 
 
 Settled. It must recur again and again, until Italy is eman- 
 cipated from Austrian domination. The thorough humiliation 
 of Austria, by expulsion from Italy, would have opened th 
 door for Hungarian emancipation. One can not; without 
 emotion, read Kossuth's imploring cry, that the British gov- 
 ernment would not interpose in behalf of Austria : 
 
 " I love," exclaims the noble Hungarian, " my fatherland 
 more than myself; more than anything on earth. And in- 
 spired by this love, I ask one boon only one boon from 
 England ; and that is that she should not support Austria. 
 England has not interfered for liberty ; let her not interfere 
 for the worst of despotisms that of Austria." 
 
 The cabinet of St. James turned a deaf ear to this cry. 
 The armies of France and Sardinia were arrested in their 
 career of liberation. Venetians and Hungarians, plunged 
 ID despair, still gnawed their chains. 
 
 Italy now consisted of essentially four portions. There is 
 Sardinia, free and independent, with a government founded 
 upon the basis of equal rights for all men, and leading for 
 ward nobly in the cause of education and all national im- 
 provements. The eyes of all Italians are now directed to this 
 state, as the nucleus around whi^h Italy is to rally in the or- 
 ganization of one great constitutional monarchy. In a letter 
 from Father Gavazzi, dated August fourth, 1860, he says : 
 
 " We fight now for the sole purpose of uniting all Italy 
 under the constitutional scepter of Victor Emanuel. Let 
 Englishmen repudiate the idea that there it anything repub- 
 lican in the present movement ; since even the most ardent 
 advocates of republicanism, have sacrificed their views to the 
 great cause of our independence, unity, and constitutional 
 liberties. Be sure that if there is no intervention in our 
 fightings, we shall arrive to crown in the capital our dear 
 Victor Emanuel, as the constitutional king of one Italy." 
 
 Venetia remained in the hands of Austria. France was 
 compelled to leave her there, notwithstanding the expressed
 
 666 ITALY. 
 
 wish of the emperor, that " Italy might be free to the Adri- 
 atic." The anguish of disappointment which the Venetians 
 felt, in being thus abandoned to their enemies, after the 
 emancipation of their brethren of Lombardy, can never be 
 told. This anguish, so intense, would not admit of repose. 
 The Venetians were watching for an opportunity to strike 
 again for freedom. When that hour should come, it could 
 not be doubted that their brethren of Lombardy and Pied- 
 mont, now in such cordial sympathy with them, would rush 
 to their aid. 
 
 The pope was truly a " sick man." Europe had outgrown 
 the temporal papacy. The papal government, like the 
 Turkish, was rapidly crumbling to pieces. It had no vital 
 energies of its own. The moment the foreign troops should 
 abandon the " eternal city," the temporal sway of the pope 
 would cease. Whether the inhabitants of the Papal States 
 were sufficiently intelligent to lay aside local prejudices in 
 favor of united Italy, time alone could tell. But the current 
 of events was now manifestly in that direction. 
 
 There remained only the kingdom of Naples. Ferdinand 
 II. had died a few months before, universally execrated. 
 He had acquired the sobriquet of Bomba, from the eagerness 
 and mercilessness with which he bombarded the insurgent 
 cities of his empire. Francis II., who succeeded him, had 
 not developed a single good quality ; while, on the other 
 hand, he had secured the contempt and detestation, not only 
 of his own subjects, but of all Europe. Modern Christendom 
 has witnessed no government so unmitigatedly bad as that 
 of Naples. The history of the kingdom for the last half 
 century is but the history of its insurrections, of the des- 
 perate struggles of a people goaded to madness. 
 
 It would require a volume to record the insurrections 
 which have agitated the island of Sicily during the last half 
 century. Four times within that period have the Sicilians 
 made the most heroic efforts to throw off the yoke of the
 
 AFSTBIAN TBIUMPHS AND DISCOMFITTTBE. 067 
 
 king of Naples. In 1848, the populace rose in Palermo. 
 Ten thousand peasants crowded into the city to join them. 
 Even the priests and the capuchins from the convents blessed 
 the banners of the patriots, distributing among them arma 
 and ammunition. Messina and all the other large towns 
 speedily united in the movement. The Neapolitan troops 
 were driven from all the central points. A provisional gov- 
 ernment was formed, headed by Ruggiero Settimo, a distin- 
 guished military officer, and by the duke of Serra di Palco, an 
 illustrious scholar and antiquary. 
 
 Lord Minto was then in Italy on a mission from the 
 British government. He endeavored to mediate between the 
 contending parties ; and induced the king to make important 
 concessions to his revolted subjects. But the Sicilians, fami- 
 liar with the perfidy of the king of Naples, refused to listen 
 to his terms, though Lord Palmerston urged them to do so. 
 
 "Sicily," said Lord Palmerston, "though a fine island, fufl 
 of natural resources, and inhabited by a highly gifted people, 
 is, nevertheless, not large enough to be, in the present state of 
 the world, a really independent country ; and were it entirely 
 separated from Naples, it would run the risk of becoming an 
 object of contest for foreign influence, and of sinking at last 
 into the condition of satellite to some of the more powerful 
 states of Europe." 
 
 The Sicilians, urged by England, at last consented to ac- 
 cept the constitution, and parliamentary representation proffer- 
 ed by the king. They, however, insisted upon the condition 
 that the Neapolitan troops should be withdrawn from the 
 island. To this the king refused his consent, declaring that 
 the English were only intriguing to secure the island for them- 
 selves, and that it was necessary to keep an army in Sicily to 
 guard against the English. The Sicilian parliament, summon- 
 ed by the provisional government was in session, when the 
 tidings came of the overthrow of Louis Philippe, and of the 
 establishment of the French republic. The parliament, with
 
 568 ITALY. 
 
 enthusiam, decreed the deposition of Ferdinand, of Bourbon, 
 England promptly recognized the independence of Sicily, and 
 advised the election of the duke of Genoa, a Sardinian prince, 
 to the throne. 
 
 Ferdinand, in a rage, sent an army of twenty-four thou- 
 sand men to reduce the island. Messina, after a frightful 
 bombardment, was taken by storm. City after city was thus 
 bombarded and taken ; and the scene of horror and cruelty 
 became so revolting, that the English and French admirals 
 imperatively demanded a cessation of hostilities, and inter- 
 posed so effectually that Ferdinand was compelled to grant the 
 island a separate legislature, though he garrisoned it strongly 
 with mercenary troops. Then, utterly regardless of his 
 pledge, he treated the island as a conquered province, and 
 reestablished, in all its rigor, the ancient despotism. The 
 promised constitution was thrown aside ; new burdens were 
 'imposed ; fifteen hundred patriots were either shot or immur- 
 ed in dungeons ; a police, composed of the vilest of mankind 
 was instituted, from whom accusation was deemed proof of 
 guilt, and no man was safe. Thus, under the form of law, 
 the most atrocious crimes which ever sullied any government 
 were daily committed. 
 
 This state of things existed but little more than a year, 
 when, stui,? to madness, on the twenty-seventh of January, 
 1850, the citizens of Palermo again grasped their arms. They 
 were shot down without mercy. Awful vengeance was taken 
 by the king, and again the Sicilians, with their fetters riveted 
 anew, bowed down beneath the yoke. 
 
 " It is a strange and touching fact," remarks a lady travel, 
 ing in Italy, " that every peasant's song is in the minor key 
 One never hears an exception ; and their voices are so sono- 
 rous, subdued, and patient, that the sound comes forth like 
 that of a soul complaining to itself of something it is deter 
 mined to bear," 
 
 On the eie tenth of May, 1860, the heroic Garibaldi, who,
 
 AUSTRIAN TRIUMPHS AND DISCOMFITURE. 560 
 
 on the plains of Lombardy, had performed deeds of romantic 
 valor in the war for Sardinian independence, landed on the 
 shores of Sicily. With two small steamers, under the Sardi- 
 nian flag, he entered the harbor of Marsala, on the extreme 
 western coast of the island. Quietly fourteen hundred men, 
 well armed, stepped from their boats upon the beach, and, 
 forming into line, marched unresisted into the town. Gari 
 baldi immediately raised the banner of Sicilian independence, 
 and in the name of Victor Emanuel, " King of Italy," took 
 possession of the island. 
 
 The people of Sicily, in a frenzy of enthusiasm, rushed to 
 the standard of the liberator. The next morning, at five 
 o'clock, Garibaldi marched hi the direction of Palermo, where 
 there was a royalist fleet, and also a strong garrison of royal- 
 ist troops. The mountaineers and the peasantry rallied around 
 him so rapidly that he soon found himself at the head of an 
 army four thousand strong. On the fifteenth of May he encoun- 
 tered thirty-five hundred royalist troops sent to oppose him. 
 Garibaldi fell upon them impetuously. They broke and fled. 
 He pursued them to Palermo, and on the twenty-seventh took 
 the city by storm. All the energies of war were called into 
 requisition, in this short, bloody, decisive battle. The popu- 
 lace of Palermo, within the walls, joined then- friends without, 
 hurling down upon the royalists, from the roofs of houses, fur- 
 niture, and missiles of every kind. The city was compelled to 
 capitulate, and Garibaldi remained master of Palermo. 
 
 The patriots, with accumulated numbers, marched upon 
 Messina. The troops of Francis II., did not venture to await 
 their attack, but abandoned the island, and retired to the main 
 land. 
 
 Sicily was now free. Garibaldi, with his heroic army of 
 patriots, was about to land on the Neapolitan shores. The 
 king trembled in the midst of the mercenary bayonets with 
 which he was surrounded. Thousands of the Neapolitans 
 were anxiously waiting the arrival of the liberators, to join 
 their standards.
 
 670 i T A & ?. 
 
 The patriots of the Papal States were impatient, and could 
 scarcely be restrained as they grasped their arras and lis- 
 tened to the blast of Garibaldi's bugles. The eyes of all 
 Europe and America were turned to Italy. The popular 
 sympathies all over the world were with the Italian patriots. 
 
 After many severe conflicts, Garibaldi, on the 8th of Sep- 
 tember, 1860, at the head of his staff, entered Naples in 
 triumph. The whole population rose en masse to welcome 
 him. His army of thirty thousand troops followed him in 
 easy marches, everywhere welcomed by the most hearty ac- 
 claim of the Neapolitan population. 
 
 The king, Francis II., upon the approach of Garibaldi, 
 fled, taking with him thirty thousand mercenary troops, to 
 Gae'ta, a seaport about sixty miles north-west of Naples. 
 Nearly the whole Neapolitan fleet, with an immense amount 
 of military stores, and a large quantity of money in the 
 treasury, fell into the hands of Garibaldi. He immediately 
 organized a provisional government, and proclaimed Victor 
 Emanuel king of Italy. 
 
 The greatest panic prevailed at Rome. Insurrections 
 were everywhere developing themselves throughout the 
 Papal States. The pope had enlisted in his army a large 
 number of foreign soldiers to hold the native Italians in 
 subjection. But there were French troops in Rome protect- 
 ing the pope. This French intervention requires a chapter.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 FRENCH INTERVENTION. 
 FROM A. D. 1860 TO A. D. 1870. 
 
 BIRTH AND EARLY HISTORY or THE POPE. His SPIRIT OF REFORM. ASSAS- 
 SINATION OF COUNT Rossi. INSURRECTION IN ROME. FLIGHT OF THI 
 POPE. INTERVENTION OF AUSTRIA, NAPLES, AND SPAIN. RECKLESSNESS 
 OF THE INSURGENTS. FRENCH INTERVENTION. THE MODERATE REPUBLI- 
 CANS AND THE REDS. VIEWS OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT. THE CAP- 
 TURE OF ROME. INSURRECTION IN PARIS. DISAPPOINTMENT OF THI 
 FRENCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 TN this chapter it will be necessary to turn back a few 
 -* pages in the volume of history, that we may give our 
 readers a consecutive narrative of the causes and results of 
 the intervention of France in behalf of the States of the 
 Church. It is a question upon which the minds of men are 
 greatly divided ; the Catholic community being with great 
 unanimity on one side, the Protestant on the other. The 
 writer will content himself in giving simply the historical 
 facts, facts which well-informed men of both parties will 
 admit to be true. From these facts, each reader can deduce 
 such conclusions as may be in accordance with his predilec- 
 tions. 
 
 The pope, Giovanni Mastai, was the second son of Count 
 Mastai Ferretti. His parents were wealthy, and resided in 
 the ancient town of Sinigallia, on the Adriatic, where Gio- 
 vanni was born on the 13th of May, 1792. As his elder 
 brother inherited the title and the estate, Giovanni entered 
 the army, r,nd became a member of the Pope's Guard. At 
 Rome he fell in love with a beautiful girl named Chiara 
 Colonna. She refused his addresses. His chagrin was so 
 great, that he renounced the world, and entered the church. 
 
 671
 
 672 HALT. 
 
 He soon became distinguished for his apostolic virtues, his 
 gentleness, and his unbounded charities.* 
 
 One of the first acts of the pope, upon the commencement 
 of his reign in 1846, was to issue an act of general amnesty 
 for all political offences. This opened the prison-doors to 
 nearly three thousand captives, many of whom were of 
 distinguished rank. These released captives, in a dense 
 crowd, with their friends, repaired to the Palace of the 
 Quirinal to express their gratitude. The pope appeared upon 
 the balcony to give his blessing to the multitude. Illumina- 
 tions blazed, and rejoicings were diffused, throughout the 
 whole city. This was on the 18th of July, 1846. 
 
 Count Rossi, a man distinguished for his virtues and 
 abilities, was prime-minister of the pope. On the 15th of 
 November, 1848, as he was on his way to the Chamber, a 
 band of assassins, belonging to the Revolutionary party, in 
 broad day, surrounded him, and plunged their daggers into 
 his heart. The papal government was so weak, that this one 
 assassination seems to have annihilated it. The deputies in 
 the Chamber, each thinking that he was marked for assas- 
 sination, fled in dismay. The triumphant revolutionary clubs 
 in Rome, taking advantage of the consternation, prepared 
 to force a revolutionary government upon the pope. 
 
 The pontifical territory then consisted of nineteen States, 
 embracing seventeen thousand square miles, and a popula- 
 tion of about three millions. A few hundred adventurers in 
 Rome, armed to the teeth, without consulting these millions, 
 endeavored to force their views of government upon them. 
 
 The day after the assassination, several hundred of these 
 desperadoes, followed by an immense crowd, marched to the 
 Palace of the Quirinal with a list of several of their partisans, 
 whom they demanded that the pope should appoint as his 
 ministers. The Swiss Guard, one hundred in number, closed 
 the gates against them. With cannon and musketry the 
 gates were blown open, and a prelate was shot in the ante- 
 
 Italy and the War of 1859, p. 268.
 
 FRENCH INTERVENTION. 573 
 
 chamber of the pope. The delegation broke into the cham- 
 ber of the pontiff, and, with loud menaces, compelled him 
 to sign their appointments. 
 
 The pope was now a prisoner in his palace, and powerless. 
 Through the assistance of the Bavarian minister, Count 
 Spaur, he effected his escape. The count obtained passports 
 for two fictitious personages, Dr. Kann and lady from 
 Munich. The pope represented the doctor; the countess as- 
 sumed to be the doctor's wife ; while the count himself 
 mounted the box as a servant. Under this guise, in the 
 carriage of the Bavarian minister, the fugitives reached 
 Gae'ta, the first town on the Neapolitan frontier. Rome was 
 thus left in the hands of the revolutionists. These events 
 took place in November, 1848, one month before the election 
 of Louis Napoleon as President of the French Republic. 
 General Oavaignac was at that time dictator of France. 
 
 It was manifest to all reflecting men that the revolution- 
 ists were acting insanely, even upon the admission that their 
 motives were right, and that the results at which they aimed 
 would be beneficial if accomplished. Count Rossi, whom 
 they had assassinated, was the sincere friend of reform. He 
 knew perfectly well, that, even if there were entire unanim- 
 ity in the Papal States in favor of reform, Austria would 
 instantly send in an army, and crush out every vestige of 
 revolution. What could three millions do to resist thirty 
 millions? Moreover, it was not improbable that the friends 
 of revolution, even in Italy, were decidedly in the minority. 
 In an earnest appeal to the insurgents, Count Rossi said, 
 
 u What do you propose to yourselves by your incessant 
 provocations against Austria ? It is not threatening you. 
 It confines itself to the limits which the treaties have as- 
 signed. Is it a war of independence which you would 
 invoke ? Let us, then, calculate your forces. You have sixty 
 thousand regular troops in Piedmont,* and not a man more. 
 You speak of the enthusiasm of the Italian populations. I 
 
 * It is to be remembered that this was before the emancipation of Sardim.. 
 by the aid of France. The insurgents probably hoped the patriots all OYM 
 Italy would rise against Austria.
 
 674 ITALY. 
 
 know them. Traverse the provinces from end to end : see if 
 a heart beats, if a man moves, if an arm is ready to commence 
 the fight. The Piedmontese once beaten, the Austrians may 
 go from Reggio to Calabria without meeting a single Italian. 
 
 ** I understand you : you will apply to France ! A fine 
 result, truly, of the war of independence, to bring foreign 
 armies upon your soil! The Austrians and the French 
 fighting on Italian soil ! is not that your eternal, your lam- 
 entable history? You would be independent? France is 
 so already. France is not a corporal in the service of Italy. 
 She makes war when and for whom she pleases. She nei- 
 ther puts her standards nor her battalions at the disposal of 
 any one else." * 
 
 The impulsive revolutionists did not need this warning. 
 It was alarmingly manifest to General Cavaignac and the dic- 
 tatorial government in France that Austria would instantly 
 intervene, not to aid the Romans in the establishment of a 
 republic, but to reseat the pope upon his throne, and to sur- 
 round him with such influences as to render any essential 
 popular reform hereafter impossible. The pope, being thus 
 under supreme obligation to the Austrians, regaining and 
 holding his power under the protection of the Austrian 
 armies, would be the intimate ally of Austria in enforcing 
 absolutist principles throughout Europe, and in frowning 
 down every movement for popular reform. 
 
 Thus the papal power, which is decidedly the greatest 
 moral power in the world, controlling the consciences of 
 two hundred millions of people, would be held in entire 
 subservience to Austria. France, struggling to throw off the 
 fetters of the old regimes, could not but regard this im- 
 mense ascendency of Austria with alarm. It was certain 
 that Austria would thus move. She was already marshalling 
 her armies with that intent. All the Catholics in Rome, 
 friends of the pope, would welcome these troops as deliver- 
 ers. The result could not be doubtful. 
 
 Under these circumstances, General Cavaignac, as dictator, 
 
 * D'Hausonville, vol. ii. p. 621.
 
 FRENCH INTERVENTION. 675 
 
 acting in behalf of Catholic France, immediately despatched 
 three steam-frigates to Civita Vecchia to take the holy 
 father under the protection of the French government. It 
 was a political movement, in order that the papal govern- 
 ment might be brought under the influence of the liberal 
 policy of France, rather than under the domination -of the 
 absolutism of Austria. The commander of the expedition wan 
 left much to his own discretion in reference to the detail of 
 operations; while he was authorized to rescue the pope, and to 
 convey him to France if he would accept French hospitality. 
 
 Though General Cavaignac was at this time dictator, France 
 was nominally a republic, and measures were in progress for 
 the organization of a new government on the principles of 
 republicanism. Still, in the republican ranks, there were two 
 parties, the Moderates, and the Radicals, or Reds, who 
 were bitterly hostile to each other. The Reds hoped that this 
 military expedition would exert all its influence to establish 
 a republic in Rome. The Moderates feared that this deci- 
 sive action would alarm all the courts in Europe; that it 
 would be regarded as a proclamation that the French re- 
 public was devoting itself to the propagation of revolution- 
 ary principles, seeking the overthrow of every throne ; and 
 that this would array, as in the days of Napoleon I., all the 
 monarchies of Europe against republican France. On a 
 debate upon this question in the French Chambers, M. 
 Barrot said, 
 
 " If we allow Austria time to go to the Eternal City, it will 
 be, in the first place, a very serious injury to French influ- 
 ence in Italy. It will also insure the re-establishment of ab 
 solutism at Rome as in the time of Gregory XVI. Let us, 
 then, intervene ourselves, that the cabinet of Vienna may 
 not acquire an undue influence in Italy, and that we may 
 prove a safeguard to Roman liberty." * 
 
 Protestants generally are not aware of the degree of ven- 
 eration with which the pope is regarded by members of the 
 Roman-Catholic Church. The Abbe J. H. Mignon writes, 
 
 * MM. Gallix et Guy, p. 197.
 
 676 I T A L T. 
 
 " There is one name which my lips never pronounce but 
 with profound veneration. It recalls to me in my mature 
 years, as in my more tender youth, the power and the good- 
 ness of Christ visibly represented on earth ; and the day in 
 wnich that name shall fall upon my ear, without awakening 
 in me filial respect, I shall believe that an impious thought 
 has come to succeed in the depths of my soul that pure faith 
 which I have imbibed with my mother's milk. This name u 
 that of the pope." * 
 
 It is estimated that the Catholic communion in Europe 
 numbers over two hundred millions. The government of a 
 Catholic country which should ignore a sentiment so pro- 
 found and so widely disseminated would be insane. 
 
 Soon after this, France, with great unanimity, elected. 
 Louis Napoleon the grandson of Josephine, and the son of 
 Louis Bonaparte and of Hortense president of the newly* 
 formed republic. The difficulties and embarrassments which 
 surrounded the new government were of the most formida- 
 ble kind. 
 
 "It was true that Louis Napoleon had many a stormy ele- 
 ment to encounter; had to pass all the quicksands and 
 shoals of Parisian capriciousness ; to set upon and subdue 
 the boisterous, bloody mountain ; to bring order out of the 
 chaos of revolution; to quiet the minds of the people of 
 France, and re-assure them that there was sufficient stability, 
 conservatism, and virtue in society to preserve it. He man- 
 aged this so steadily as to elicit confidence, excite hope, and 
 rally around himself those who desired domestic peace, the 
 preservation of property, and the protection of life. His 
 name, amid all the wild tumults ofl'~ two-years' presidency, 
 bomed up as a landmark of safety, >reakwater against the 
 angry waves of discord, a symbol of future solidity and 
 rest." f 
 
 At the time that Louis Napoleon was elected president, 
 the pope was still a fugitive at Gae'ta, and the French steam- 
 ers had accomplished nothing. The pope had transferred 
 
 Projet de Solution de la Question Romaine, par 1'Abbe J. H. Mignon. 
 t Italy Mid the War of 1859, p. 89.
 
 F BENCH INTEBVENTION. 577 
 
 bis court from Rome to Gaeta. The pontifical government 
 was still recognized by all Europe, and the ambassadors of 
 all the foreign courts had followed the pontiff to his retreat. 
 The leaders of the insurrection in Rome were generally 
 avowed unbelievers in Christianity, revilers of all religion. 
 As such, they were very obnoxious to the Catholics through- 
 out Europe. It was denied that they represented the opin- 
 ions of the Roman people, but that they and their followers 
 were desperate men, who from all parts of Europe had 
 flocked to Rome, allured by the attractions of that license 
 and plunder which revolutions ever afford. Austria had 
 already gathered a powerful army, which was just ready to 
 move to replace the pope upon his throne in the Vatican. 
 
 The president of the French republic immediately sent 
 General Oudinot, with a detachment of three thousand five 
 hundred men, to Civita Vecchia. The expedition sailed 
 from Toulon, and entered the harbor of Civita Vecchia on 
 the 25th of April, 1849. As the troops disembarked, Gen- 
 eral Oudinot issued the following proclamation : 
 
 "Inhabitants of the Roman States! a French army corps 
 has landed upon your territory. It is not its object to exer- 
 cise an oppressive influence, or to impose upon you a govern- 
 ment not conformed to your wishes. The corps comes only 
 to preserve you from the greatest misfortunes, and to facili- 
 tate, if it can, the establishment of a regime equally sepa- 
 rated from the abuses forever destroyed by the illustrious 
 Pius IX., and from the anarchy of these last times." 
 
 The revolutionary assembly at Rome feared that the ex- 
 pedition imperilled the revolutionary government which it 
 had adopted, and that the restoration of the pope would 
 prove the overthrow of the republic. It called that govern- 
 ment a republic which was established without any appeal to 
 the suffrages of the people of the Roman States, and prob* 
 bly in opposition to their wishes. The revolutionary gov- 
 ernment accordingly closed the gates of Rome, manned the 
 forts and ramparts, and opened fire upon the approaching 
 columns of Oudinot. After a pretty severe battle, the 
 25
 
 578 ITALY. 
 
 French were driven back with considerable loss. Re-en 
 forcements were immediately despatched to General Oudi- 
 not; and in a letter to him, dated the 8th of May, 1849, the 
 president wrote, 
 
 " The intelligence announcing the unforeseen resistance 
 you have met under the walls of Rome has given me much 
 pain. I had expected that the inhabitants of Rome, opening 
 their eyes to evident reason, would receive with joy an 
 army that came amongst them to accomplish a benevolent 
 and disinterested mission." 
 
 In the first message of the president of the French re- 
 public to the Corps Le*gislatif we find the following state- 
 ment of the motives which led to the intervention : 
 
 " At Rome, a revolution has been effected which deeply 
 moved the Catholic and the liberal world. During the last 
 two years, we have seen in the Holy See a pontitf who has 
 taken the initiative in useful reforms, and whose name, re- 
 peated in hymns of gratitude from one end of Italy to an- 
 other, was the symbol of liberty, and the pledge of all hopes ; 
 when suddenly it was heard with astonishment, that that 
 sovereign, lately the idol of his people, had been constrained 
 to fly furtively from his capitol. 
 
 "The acts of aggression which compelled Pius IX. to 
 leave Rome, appear, in the eyes of Europe, to be the work 
 of a conspiracy, rather than the spontaneous movement of a 
 people who could not, in a moment, have passed from the 
 most lively enthusiasm to the most afflictive ingratitude. 
 The Catholic powers sent ambassadors to Gae'ta to deliberate 
 upon the important interests of the papacy. France was 
 represented there. She listened to all parties without taking 
 sides. Austria, in concert with Naples, responding to an 
 appeal from the Holy Father, notified the French govern- 
 ment that these two powers had decided to march upon 
 Rome, to re-establish there unconditionally the authority of 
 the pope. 
 
 u Being thus obliged to take some action, there were but 
 three courses which we could pursue, either to oppose by
 
 FRENCH INTERVENTION. 579 
 
 arms all intervention (and in that case we should break 
 with all Catholic Europe) for the sole interest of the Roman 
 republic, which we have not recognized; or to leave the 
 three coalesced powers* to re-establish at their pleasure, and 
 unconditionally, the papal authority; or to exercise, of our 
 own accord, direct and independent action. 
 
 " The government of the republic adopted the latter 
 course. It seemed to us easy to satisfy the Romans; that, 
 pressed on all sides, they had no chance of safety but from 
 us ; that, if our presence had for its result the return of Pius 
 IX., that sovereign, faithful to himself, would take back with 
 him reconciliation and liberty ; that we, being once at Rome, 
 would guarantee the integrity of the territory by taking 
 away from Austria all pretext for entering Romagna. We 
 even hoped that our flag, planted without resistance in the 
 centre of Italy, would have extended its protective influence 
 over the whole of the peninsula, to none of whose griefs can 
 we ever be indifferent. 
 
 " Our expeditionary corps, small in numbers, since serious 
 resistance had not been anticipated, disembarked at Civita 
 Vecchia ; and the government is instructed, that if, on the 
 same day, it could have arrived at Rome, the gates would 
 have been thrown open with joy. But, while General 
 Oudinot was notifying the government at Rome of his arri- 
 val, Garibaldi entered there at the head of troops formed of 
 refugees from all parts of Italy, and even from the rest of 
 Europe. His presence, as may be imagined, increased sud- 
 denly the force of the party of resistance. 
 
 * On the 30th of April, six thousand of our soldiers pre- 
 sented themselves before the walls of Rome. They were 
 received with cannon-shot. Some even, drawn into a snare, 
 were taken prisoners. We all must mourn over the blood 
 shed on that sad day.f That unexpected conflict, without 
 
 * Austria, Naples, and Spain which had also joined the coalition. 
 
 t " In this untoward affair, the French lost four officers and one hundred 
 and eighty men killed, eleven officers and four hundred men wounded, and 
 eleven officers and five hundred and sixty men made prisoners; while the en- 
 tire loss ou the side of the Romans was only three hundred and twenty." 
 Ann Hist., 1849. ]>. 623.
 
 680 
 
 changing the final accomplishment of our enterprise, has para* 
 lyzed our kind intentions, and rendered vain the efforts of our 
 negotiators. 
 
 General Oudinot repaired to Palos to await re-enforcements. 
 Soon eight regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and a train 
 of artillery, reached him. In the mean time, a united army 
 of Austrians, Neapolitans, and Spaniards, fifteen thousand in 
 number, were advancing upon Rome. General Oudinot de- 
 clining any co-operation with these forces, and being then at 
 the head of twenty-eight thousand men with ninety pieces of 
 artillery, marched to Rome, and, on the 2d of June, com- 
 menced the siege of the city. The assault was conducted 
 in such a way as not to imperil the inestimable treasures of 
 art with which the city abounded. In the instructions sent 
 to General Oudinot, there was written, 
 
 " The President wishes that the monuments of Rome, 
 which are the admiration of all civilized people, should be 
 honored and protected. Act so that art and history may 
 not have occasion to deplore the ravages inseparable 
 from a siege. If you are forced to carry the city by as- 
 sault, remind your soldiers that they are not at war with 
 the inhabitants of Rome, but with their oppressors and their 
 enemies. Burn more powder if necessary. Put off the cap- 
 ture of the city a day or two to spare the blood of our 
 brave soldiers." 
 
 The executive government at Rome consisted essentially of 
 three men, Mazzini, Annelini, and Saffi. Before commen- 
 cing the siege, the French government sent a commission to 
 the triumvirate, stating that, should France withdraw, Aus- 
 tria would inevitably and immediately occupy Rome ; that 
 French protection would secure equal rights for all; and that 
 Austrian domination would inevitably doom Italy to civil 
 and ecclesiastical absolutism. 
 
 These representations produced no apparent effect upon 
 the revolutionary party at Rome. They strengthened the 
 fortifications, mounted heavy pieces of artillery, and pre- 
 pared for a vigorous defence. There were twenty thousand
 
 FRENCH INTERVENTION. 581 
 
 armett men within the walls, with two hundred pieces of 
 artillery and an ample supply of ammunition. It was hoped, 
 that, by prolonging the defence until fall, the malaria of the 
 Campagna would prove more fatal than bullet or sword, and 
 would either destroy the besiegers, or put them to flight. 
 
 Early in June, General Oudinot, at the head of twenty-eight 
 thousand men, and with ninety pieces of artillery, again 
 approached the walls of Rome. The siege and the defence 
 were conducted alike with great energy. The French were 
 embarrassed in their operations by their great desire to avoid 
 injuring any of the monuments of antiquity with which the 
 city abounded. The siege commenced on the 2d of June. 
 On the 2d of July, a practical breach was made. At three 
 o'clock in the morning an advance bastion was carried by 
 assault, and the French were in possession of the city. 
 They immediately proclaimed the re-establishment of the 
 papal authority under the protection of France. The trium- 
 virate, with five thousand men, fled from the city at mid- 
 night, after having issued the following proclamation : 
 
 " Eomans ! in the darkness of the night, by means of 
 treason, the enemy has set foot on the breach. Arise, ye 
 people, in your might ! Destroy him I Fill the breach with 
 his carcasses ! Blast the enemy, the accursed of God, who 
 dare touch the sacred walls of Rome! While Oudinot 
 resorts to this infamous act, France rises up, and recalls its 
 troops from this work of invasion. One more effort, Romans, 
 and your country is saved forever. Rome, by its constancy, 
 regenerates all Europe. In the name of your fathers, in the 
 name of your future hopes, arise, and give battle ! Arise, and 
 couquer ! One prayer to the God of battles, one thought to 
 your faithful brethren, one hand to your arms! Every man 
 becomes a hero. This day decides the fate of Rome and of 
 the republic. " MAZZINI, ANNELINI, SAFFI." 
 
 It will be noticed, that in this spirited proclamation, scarcely 
 appropriate, indeed, for men under full flight, there was the 
 declaration that "France rises up, and recalls her troopa
 
 582 ITALY. 
 
 from this invasion." Though the republic was established 
 in France, there was a class, more radically democratic, who 
 were violently opposed to its moderate measures ; who in- 
 sisted upon a government more thoroughly democratic; and 
 that France, with her armies, should immediately proclaim 
 war against every throne, and engage in the propagandism 
 of revolutionary principles throughout all Europe. In the 
 preamble to the French constitution which the Assembly 
 had drawn up, it was declared, 
 
 "The republic respects all foreign nationalities in the 
 same manner as she expects her own to be respected. She 
 undertakes no war with the idea of personal aggrandize- 
 ment, and will never employ her strength against the liberty 
 of any nation." 
 
 This declaration was exceedingly offensive to the " Red 
 Republicans," as they were called. They endeavored in 
 every way to promote insurrection in Paris, hoping to over- 
 throw the republic, to establish the reign of radical democ- 
 racy in France, and then to aid vigorously in establishing a 
 similar government in Rome and in all the capitals of 
 Europe. These radical democrats were divided into many 
 antagonistic parties, but all united in a common sentiment 
 of hostility to the existing republic. The clubs and the 
 opposition newspapers in Paris were loud in their condemna- 
 tion of French intervention in favor of the reigning pontiff. 
 
 " The minister," exclaimed Ledru Rollin in the Assembly, 
 "who ordered an expedition to Rome, and who did not 
 direct it to act for the interest of the Roman republic, shall 
 henceforth bear a mark of blood on his forehead." 
 
 While the leaders of the clubs were striving to excite 
 insurrection in the streets of Paris, M. Ledru Rollin presented 
 in the Assembly, on the 10th of June, an act of accusation 
 against the president and the ministry. But this very 
 Assembly had voted to send the expedition to Rome, and to 
 furnish the supplies. The act was promptly rejected by a 
 large majority. The conspirators then resorted to the terrors 
 of insurrection.
 
 FRENCH INTERVENTION. 583 
 
 On the morning of the 13th of June, 1849, an immense 
 concourse, composed of the lowest classes and the most 
 desperate characters in Paris, began to gather on the 
 boulevard near the Chateau d'Eau. The throng soou 
 assumed so menacing an aspect, that all Paris was thrown 
 into a state of alarm. It was observed that the whole bodv 
 of the socialists, marching from their various clubs, were In 
 the ranks. As in a tumultuous throng, armed with all sorts 
 of weapons, they advanced towards the Chamber of Deputies, 
 they shouted, " We are going to finish with Bonaparte and 
 the National Assembly ! " The following placard was posted 
 throughout the streets : 
 
 " The president of the republic, and the ministers, are 
 without the pale of the constitution. That part of the 
 Assembly which, by voting, has rendered itself their accom- 
 plice, is also without the pale of the constitution. National 
 Guards, arise ! Let the workshops be closed ! Our brethren 
 of the army remember that you are citizens, and, as such, 
 that your first duty is to defend the constitution. Let the 
 entire people rise ! " * 
 
 General Changarnier, who was in command of the military 
 force of Paris, quietly took his station with five regiments 
 of infantry and cavalry in the Rue de Richelieu. When 
 about one-half of the column of the insurgents had passed 
 along the boulevards, he issued from his retreat, and, falling 
 upon the flank of the struggling mass, easily cut it in two. 
 Then wheeling to the right and left, with his troops rapidly 
 coming up from the rear, he advanced in both directions at 
 the pas de charge. The insurgents, terror-stricken, fled in 
 all directions. Not a bullet was fired ; not a sabre was 
 crimsoned with blood. In a few moments, the streets were 
 cleared. It was so adroitly done, that shouts of derisive 
 laughter echoed through the streets of Paris at the expense 
 of the discomfited insurgents. 
 
 The conspirators were so sure that they should succeed in 
 
 * Histoire PoHtique et Populaire du Prince Louis Napoleon, par Emita 
 Marco de St. Hilaire, p. 280.
 
 684 ITALY. 
 
 dispersing the Assembly, and in overthrowing the govern- 
 ment, that their leaders had met, twenty-five in number, with 
 Ledru Rollin. at their head, in the Conservatoire des Artc 
 et des Metiers, in the Rue St. Martin, to organize a provis- 
 ional government. When they learned that the mob was 
 dispersed, and that the troops were near the door, they 
 leaped from the windows, and fled in all directions. Ledru 
 Kollin succeeded in escaping to England.* 
 
 At four o'clock in the afternoon no vestiges of the emeute 
 could anywhere be found. The president, with his staflj 
 rode along the whole length of the boulevards, loudly 
 cheered by the people, who were rejoiced in being thus 
 easily rescued from the horrors of insurrection. 
 
 This utter failure of the socialistic and radical democratic 
 factions to overthrow the government greatly strengthened 
 the arm of legitimate power. Though the success of the 
 French army at Rome re-established the authority of Pius 
 IX., he did not immediately return to the city, but intrusted 
 the government to three cardinals. These ecclesiastics 
 were all strong advocates of the old civil and religious 
 despotism. With their passions roused by the outrages 
 committed by the insurgents, they immediately introduced 
 measures of antagonism to all those reforms which the pope 
 had inaugurated. When the president of the French 
 republic was informed of this, he sent the following de- 
 spatch to Colonel Ney, his orderly-officer at Rome : 
 
 " The French republic has not sent an army to Rome to 
 smother Italian liberty, but, on the contrary, to regulate it 
 by defending it from its own excesses, and to give it a solid 
 basis by restoring to the pontifical throne the prince who 
 had boldly placed himself at the head of all useful reform. 
 I learn with pain that the intentions of the holy father, and 
 our own action, remain sterile in the presence of hostile 
 passions and influences. As a basis for the pope's return, 
 there are those who wish for proscription and tyranny, Say 
 
 Moniteur, June 14, 1849.
 
 FRENCH INTERVENTION. 585 
 
 to General Rostolan from me, that he is to allow no action to 
 be performed, under the shadow of the tricolor, that could 
 distort the nature of our intervention. I thus sum up the 
 re-establishment of the temporal power of the pope, 
 general amnesty, secularization of the administration, Code 
 Napoleon, and liberal government? 
 
 The pope, Pius IX., exasperated by the rude treatment 
 he had received from the Revolutionary party, many of 
 whom were the open revilers of all religion, had thoroughly 
 renounced the liberal opinions which he had formerly advo- 
 cated, and was turning to Austrian despotism for sympathy 
 and support. 
 
 The pontiff was, by universal admission, naturally a 
 sincere, kind-hearted man, honestly seeking to promote the 
 welfare of his realms. "Mild and affectionate in disposition, 
 averse to violence, having a horror of blood, he aspired 
 only to make himself loved; and he thought that all the 
 objects of social reform might bo attained by this blessed 
 influence. 
 
 "His information, both in regard to his own and neighbor- 
 ing countries, was considerable ; and he was animated with 
 a sincere desire to bring up Italy, by pacific means, to a 
 level with those countries which had recently so much 
 outstripped it in liberty, literature, and social progress. 
 Unfortunately, he wanted one quality which rendered all the 
 rest of no avail, or rather rendered them the instruments of 
 nvil : he was destitute of firmness, and, like most ecclesi- 
 astics, aad no acquaintance with mankind. 
 
 " He thought he would succeed in ruling men, and di- 
 recting the social movement which he saw was inevitable, 
 by appealing only to the humane and generous feeling; 
 forgetting that the violent and selfish are incessantly acting, 
 and that, unless they are firmly restrained, the movement 
 will soon be perverted to objects of rapine and spoliation. 
 Experience soon taught him this ; and, in consequence, he 
 was forced into the hands of the other party, became the 
 opponent of progress, and acquired the character of vacilla- 
 25
 
 586 ITALY. 
 
 tion and inconsistency. Kind and benevolent, but weak and 
 inexperienced, he was the man of all others best fitted to 
 inaugurate, and least to direct or restrain, a revolution." * 
 
 The emperor of the French, having rescued the pope 
 from revolutionary violence, and replaced him upon hia 
 throne, was much disappointed to find him turning against 
 those reforms for the promotion of which France had inter- 
 posed in his favor. The emperor wrote to the pope, urging 
 him to grant those reforms which the welfare of his States 
 BO imperiously demanded. 
 
 " I entreat your holiness," wrote the emperor, " to listen to 
 the voice of a devoted son of the church, but who compre- 
 hends the necessities of his epoch, and who perceives that 
 brutal force is not sufficient to resolve questions and to re- 
 move difficulties. I see in the decisions of your holiness 
 either the germ of a future of glory and of tranquillity, or 
 the sure continuance of violence and calamity." 
 
 The priestly court of Rome was not at all disposed to 
 co-operate with the emperor of the French in his endeavors 
 to popularize the papal government. It opposed all reform. 
 The Austrian princes, whom the treaties of 1815 had im- 
 posed upon the people of the dismembered Italian States, 
 had fled before the uprising of the people. The question of 
 Italian confederacy, or of Italian unity, was everywhere 
 agitated. The pope still retained his throne. He was 
 maintained there by French troops. All the Catholic 
 powers, and apparently all the leading Catholic laymen, in 
 Europe, like Thiers, were agreed in the opinion, that it would 
 not be consistent with the interests of Europe that Victor 
 Emanuel, or Francis Joseph, or any other sovereign, should 
 be permitted to annex the papal territory to his dominions, 
 and thus compel the holy father to become his subject. 
 
 " The only possible security for the independence of the 
 pope," said M. Thiers, " is the temporal sovereignty." 
 
 A very able writer, in a pamphlet entitled " Le Pape et le 
 
 History of Europe, by Sir Archibald Alison, vol. vffi p. 206.
 
 PBENCH INTERS EN T I OH. 687 
 
 Congr^s," says, " In a political point of view, it is necessary 
 that the chief of two hundred millions of Catholics should 
 not belong to any person ; that he should not be subordinate 
 to any power; and that the august hand which governs 
 souls, not being bound by any dependence, should be able 
 to raise itself above all human passions. 
 
 a lf the pope were not an independent sovereign, he 
 would be a Frenchman, an Austrian, a Spaniard, an Italian ; 
 and the title of his nationality would take from him his 
 character of universal pontiff. The Holy See would be noth- 
 ing but the support of a throne at Paris, at Vienna, at 
 Madrid." 
 
 Thus the Koman question became one of the -most em- 
 barrassing which had as yet arisen in Europe. How could 
 there be a united Italy, cut in two by the Papal States, 
 with Rome, the natural capital of Italy, the metropolis of the 
 realms of the pope ? By what right could Sardinia, Naples, 
 and Venetia seize upon the realms of the pope, and annex 
 them to their united realms ? The possessions of the pope 
 were sanctified by centuries. No one denied that he had as 
 good a title to his throne as any other sovereign whatever. 
 The fact that he was the head of the Catholic Church no 
 more interfered with his temporal rights as a sovereign, it 
 was said, than Queen Victoria's rights are annulled by her 
 being the head of the Church of England, or than the 
 rights of the Czar of Russia are impaired by his being the 
 recognized head of the Greek Church. And again it was 
 asked, " How is it possible to deprive the pope of his posses- 
 sions, and thus of his legitimate revenues, without sinking 
 him into subserviency to a master, and thus destroying all 
 possibility of independent action?" Thus it will be seen 
 that the Roman question became one of exceeding difficulty 
 and delicacy.
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 
 
 TBIIUNO VIEWS OF NAPOLEON I. OBJECT OF THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA. TOT 
 CARBONAKI. LETTER TO THE POPE. Louis NAPOLEON IN ITALY. Hu 
 NARROW ESCAPE. LETTER FROM MR. MORSE. INSURRECTIONS QUELLED. 
 MAGENTA AND SOLFERINO. PEACE OF VILLAFRANCA. VENETIA NOT LIB- 
 ERATED; AND WHY. VIEWS OF M. THIERS. FIDELITY OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 
 
 TO THE ITALIANS. ADDRESS TO THE CORPS LGISLATIF. THE PAPAL 
 STATES. DIFFICULTY OF THE QUESTION. SPEECH OF PRINCE NAPOLEON. 
 VIEWS OF THE EMPEROR. IMPORTANT LETTER FROM THE EMPEROR. 
 
 FT1HE following record of historical facts will give the 
 J- reader an idea of the complications and perplexities with 
 which the question of Italian unity has been surrounded ; a 
 question which still agitates Catholics and Protestants alike, 
 and which threatens the peace of Europe. The writer will 
 endeavor to make an impartial presentation of facts, sustained 
 beyond all doubt by documentary evidence. 
 
 Las Casas reports the Emperor Napoleon I. as saying to 
 him at St. Helena on the eleventh day of November, 1816, 
 " One of my great plans was the rejoining, the concentra- 
 tion, of those same geographical nations which have been 
 disunited and parcelled out by revolution and policy. 
 There are dispersed in Europe upwards of thirty millions of 
 French, fifteen millions of Spaniards, fifteen millions of 
 Italians, and thirty millions of Germans. It was my inten- 
 tion to incorporate these several millions of peoples each 
 into one nation. It would have been a noble thing to have 
 advanced into posterity with such a train, and attended by 
 the blessings of future ages. I felt myself worthy of this 
 glory. 
 
 "In this state of things, there would have been some 
 chance of establishing in every country a unity of codes
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 689 
 
 of principles, of opinions, of sentiments, of views and inter- 
 ests. Then perhaps, by the universal diffusion of knowl- 
 edge, one might have thought of attempting, in the great 
 European family, the application of the American Congress, 
 or of the Amphictyons of Greece. What a perspective of 
 power, grandeur, happiness, and prosperity, would thus have 
 appeared ! 
 
 " The concentration of thirty or forty millions of French- 
 men was completed and perfected ; that of fifteen millions 
 of Spaniards was nearly accomplished. Three or four years 
 would have restored the Spaniards to profound peace and 
 brilliant prosperity. They would have become a compact 
 nation: and I should have well deserved their gratitude; 
 for I should have saved them from the tyranny with which 
 they are now oppressed, and from the terrible agitations 
 which await them. 
 
 " With regard to the fifteen millions of Italians, their con- 
 centration was already far advanced. We only wanted 
 maturity. The people were daily becoming more estab- 
 lished in the unity of principles and of legislation, and also 
 in the unity of thought and feeling, that certain and infalli- 
 ble cement of human concentration. The union of Pied- 
 mont to France, and the junction of Parma, Tuscany, and 
 Rome, were, in ray mind, only temporary measures, intended 
 merely to guarantee and promote the national education of 
 the Italians. 
 
 " All the south of Europe would soon have been ren- 
 dered compact in point of locality, views, opinions, senti- 
 ments, and interests. The concentration of the Germans 
 must have been effected more gradually; and therefore I 
 had done no more than simplify their monstrous complica- 
 tion. How happens it that no German prince has yet 
 formed a just notion of the spirit of his nation, and turned 
 it to good account ? Certainly, if Heaven had made me a 
 prince of Germany, I should infallibly have governed the 
 thirty millions of Germans combined. 
 
 ?At all events, this concentration will certainly be brought
 
 590 ITALY 
 
 about, sooner or later, by the very force of events. The im- 
 pulse is given ; and I think, that since rny fall, and the de- 
 struction of my system, no grand equilibrium can possibly be 
 established in Europe, except by the concentration of the 
 principal nationalities. The sovereign who, in the first 
 great conflict, shall sincerely embrace the cause of the peo- 
 ple, will find himself at the head of all Europe, and may 
 attempt whatever he pleases." * 
 
 The great object of the Congress of Vienna, upon the 
 downfall of Napoleon in 1815, was so to dismember and re- 
 construct Europe as to hold its peoples in entire subjection 
 to the feudal kings. Italy was, therefore, by the allies, cut 
 up into fragments, and so parcelled out as to render any 
 rising of the people in favor of popular rights almost im- 
 possible. 
 
 I have already given an account of the manner in which 
 the kingdom of Italy, as organized by the first Napoleon, 
 was dismembered by the allies at the Congress of Vienna, 
 and parcelled out among the princes of Austria. 
 
 The whole of Italy, with the exception of Sardinia, was 
 virtually cut up into provinces of the Austrian Empire. 
 
 The Italian people were exasperated in being thus handed 
 over, bound hand and foot, to Austria. A secret society 
 was organized, called the Carbonari, to rescue Italy from 
 Austrian sway. The society spread with unprecedented 
 rapidity. It is said that during the month of March, 1820, 
 six hundred and fifty thousand members were admitted.! 
 In the month of July, 1820, the insurrection burst forth in 
 Naples, and almost simultaneously in the Papal States, in 
 Sardinia, and in other parts of Italy. 
 
 Austria, Russia, and Prussia had entered into a "holy 
 alliance " to march their armies to crush any uprising of 
 the people in either of their realms, "a convention," 
 writes Lord Brougham, " for the enslavement of mankind 
 under the mask of piety and religion." 
 
 * Napoleon at St. Helena, by John S. C. Abbott, pp. 272, 273. 
 
 t See Enc. \m., article " Carbonari; " also Alison's Hist, of Eu., vol. ii. p. 18a
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 691 
 
 The whole military force of these three monarchies wag 
 immediately put in motion for the re-enslavement of Italy. 
 The tempest of war burst first upon Naples. The banners 
 of liberty were speedily trampled in the dust ; the bands of 
 freedom were bloodily annihilated ; and the leading patriots 
 were sent to the galleys, shot, or hanged. In Sardinia, the 
 same scenes of blood and woe were enacted. Throughout 
 Italy, the popular cause was utterly crushed. Terrible 
 scenes of confiscations and executions ensued. Forty thou- 
 sand Austrian troops were garrisoned in Sardinia to hold 
 the little realm in subjection. 
 
 Still the members of the Carbonari were active. For ten 
 years the volcanic fires were gathering for a new irruption. 
 The overthrow of Charles X., and the enthronement of 
 Louis Philippe, aroused the popular party all over Europe. 
 Louis Napoleon, then a young man twenty-two years of 
 age, residing with his mother at Arenemberg, in Switzer- 
 land, had, with his elder brother, joined the Carbonari. He 
 attended a secret meeting in Rome to consult for the libera- 
 tion of Italy. The pontifical government, dreading his 
 name and influence, arrested him, and sent him, under an 
 escort of mounted troops, out of the papal dominions. 
 
 He repaired to Florence, where he met his elder brother, 
 who was residing with his father there. Both of the young 
 men joined the patriots. Hortense, well aware of the 
 power of Austria, and trembling for the safety of her sons, 
 wrote to them, entreating them not to engage in so hopeless 
 a cause. In Louis Napoleon's reply to his mother, he 
 wrote, 
 
 "Your affectionate heart will understand our determination. 
 We nave contracted engagements which we cannot break. 
 Can we remain deaf to the voice of the unfortunate who call 
 to us ? We bear a name which obliges us to listen." 
 
 The armies of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, were immedi- 
 ately on the move. The name which Louis Napoleon bore, 
 his rank, and the reputation he had already acquired as a 
 man of ability, gave him a commanding position in the
 
 592 ITALY. 
 
 patriot ranks. Under these circumstances, he wrote a letter- 
 to the pope. 
 
 The importance of this letter the light which it throws 
 upon the nature of the conflict at that time, and upon the 
 views of the writer, whose subsequent career has arrested 
 the attention of the whole civilized world demands its in- 
 sertion in full. This letter was written from the camp of the 
 revolted States, at Terni, in the spring of 1831. It was sent 
 to the then reigning pontiff", Gregory XVI., by the hands 
 of M. le Baron de Stoelting. The baron was returning t 
 Rome, having brought the young prince a letter from his 
 uncle Jerome, then residing in the Holy City, and who had 
 endeavored to persuade his nephews to withdraw from the 
 conflict. 
 
 " VERT HOLY FATHER, M. the Baron of Stoelting, who 
 has brought to me at Terni a letter from my uncle, Prince 
 Jerome, will inform your holiness of the true situation of 
 things here. He has told me that you were grieved to 
 learn that we were in the midst of those who have revolted 
 against the temporal power of the court of Rome. I take 
 the liberty to write a word to your holiness to open to him 
 ray heart, and to enable him to hear language to which he is 
 not accustomed ; for I am sure that the true state of things 
 is concealed from him. Since I have found myself in the 
 midst of the revolted States, I have been able to assure myself 
 of the feeling which animates all hearts. The people desire 
 laws and a national representation ; they desire to be on a 
 level with the other nations of Europe, to be equal to the 
 epoch. 
 
 " They fear anarchy, and it will not appear ; for every one, 
 even to the humblest workman, is fully persuaded that there 
 is no more happiness for men under the reign of anarchy 
 than under the reign of despotism and oppression. 
 
 " If all the sovereign pontiffs had been, animated with the 
 evangelical spirit which they assure me would have guided 
 your holiness if he had been elected in a tranquil period,
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 593 
 
 the people, less oppressed, less suffering, would not, perhaps, 
 have been united with those enlightened parties, who, for a 
 long time, have cast eyes of envy upon the condition of 
 France and England. 
 
 " Religion is everywhere respected. The priests, the 
 monks even, have nothing to fear. The Romagnols espe- 
 cially are intoxicated with liberty. They arrived this even- 
 ing at Terni ; and I render them this justice, that in the 
 cries which they continually raise there is never one against 
 the person of the chief of religion. This is due to the 
 chiefs, who are everywhere men the most highly esteemed, 
 and who on all occasions express their attachment for reli- 
 gion with as much force as their desire for a change in the 
 temporal government. 
 
 " The kindness of your holiness to my family constrains 
 me to inform him, and I can assure him upon my honor, that 
 the forces organized, which are advancing upon Rome, are 
 invincible.* The chiefs and soldiers are well appointed ; but 
 they are far from wishing to do any thing which is dis- 
 honorable. I shall be too happy if your holiness will 
 deign to reply to me. 
 
 " It is bold in me, since I am nothing, to daro to write 
 to your holiness ; but I hope to be useful to him. It is 
 the manifest and decided wish that the temporal power 
 should be separated from tho spiritual. But your holiness 
 is beloved ; and it is generally believed that your holiness 
 would consent to remain at Borne, with his riches, his 
 Swiss, the Vatican, and permit a provisional government 
 to be formed for temporal affairs. 
 
 " I declare the truth upon my oath ; and I entreat your 
 holiness to believe that I have no ambitious view. My 
 heart could not remain insensible in view of the people, 
 in view of the prisoners released from Civita Castellana, 
 who were everywhere embraced and covered with tears 
 
 This was true so far as the papal government had any powers of resistance; 
 but the armies of the Holy Alliance poured into Italy, sweeping all opposition 
 before them.
 
 of joy. The unhappy creatures! Many of them almost 
 died of joy, so much were they enfeebled, so much have 
 they been maltreated ; but that was not under the pontifi- 
 cate of your holiness. 
 
 " It only remains for me to assure your holiness that all 
 my efforts are directed towards the general good. I know 
 not what reports have been made to your holiness : but 1 
 can give the assurance that I have heard nearly all the 
 young people say, even the least moderate, that, if Gregory 
 XVI. would renounce the temporal sovereignty, they would 
 adore him ; that they would themselves become the most 
 firm supporters of a religion purified by a great hope, and 
 which has for its foundation the book, the most liberal that 
 exists, the Divine Gospel. 
 
 "Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE." * 
 
 The Austrian armies, with the armies of Eussia and 
 Prussia hastening to re-enforce them, again swept resist- 
 lessly over Italy; and the patriot bands were slaugh- 
 tered mercilessly. The Austrian authorities eagerly sought 
 for the two princes who bore the name of Bonaparte. A 
 price was placed upon their heads. Hortense, with a moth- 
 er's love, hastened to the rescue of her sons. She found 
 the eldest dead at Forli from the fatigues of the campaign. 
 Louis Napoleon was also dangerously sick with a burning 
 fever. Hortense, disguising her only surviving son as a ser- 
 vant, succeeded in effecting his escape through a thousand 
 perils to France, and thence to England. Thus terminated 
 the second attempt for the emancipation of Italy. 
 
 Our distinguished fellow-countryman, Samuel F. B. Morse, 
 chanced to be in Italy at this time. He has kindly fur- 
 nished me with the following account of his personal ac- 
 quaintance with some of those scenes which I am here 
 recording : 
 
 " It was in the spring of 1831 that I left Rome for Flor- 
 
 * Le Gouvernement Temporal des Papes, jugo par la Diplomatie Frar^aise^ 
 pp. 151, 162.
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 5^0 
 
 3nce, in the midst of the attempted Italian resolution of 
 that year. My companions, besides two English gentlemen, 
 were two Americans, Lieutenant Williams of the army, 
 afterwards an aide to General Scott, and killed at Monterey 
 in our war with Mexico; and Mr. Cranch, son of Judge 
 Cranch of Washington. Both of them, as well as I, had 
 been students of art in Rome. 
 
 " The day we left Rome was an exciting and eventful one 
 to us. In the morning, we were at the headquarters of the 
 papal army at Civita Castellana ; and in the evening, hav- 
 ing passed over the interval between the two armies, we 
 arrived at the headquarters of the Bolognese or Revolu- 
 tionary army at Terni. We arrived at dark at the post- 
 house, which was the headquarters of General Cercognani, 
 who, being apprised that a party of Americans had arrived 
 from Rome, invited us to share the accommodations of the 
 post-house with him and his staff. 
 
 " While at supper, the general introduced us to a courteous 
 gentleman as the Baron Stettin, who, speaking English flu- 
 ently, and having travelled extensively in the United States, 
 made our evening pass very pleasantly. After conversing on 
 a great variety of subjects, he said to me, 
 
 " ' You are perhaps surprised to find me here at the head- 
 quarters of a revolutionary general.' 
 
 " I replied, that, knowing his antecedents, there certainly 
 was some mystery in the fact. 
 
 " ' Well,' said he, ' I will tell you why I am here. The 
 two sons of the late king of Holland, Louis Bonaparte, are 
 here ; and their friends, anxious lest they should compromise 
 their position, have sent me to persuade them to return.' 
 
 " I, of course, manifested the surprise I felt in common 
 with my companions. We could not but applaud the de- 
 votion and daring of the noble young men for a cause which 
 appealed so strongly to all our sympathies for the long- 
 oppressed Italians; and we could not but secretly hope that 
 our courteous friend the baron might not be successful in 
 his mission. So strongly were our sympathies aroused in
 
 596 ITALT. 
 
 favor of the Italian uprising, that our enthusiastic military 
 companion, Lieutenant Williams, proposed to leave us to 
 pursue our journey to Florence alone, while he offered his 
 services to the commanding-general ; and it was with dif- 
 ficulty that he was reasoned out of his determination, so sud- 
 denly formed from the impulse of a brave and generous 
 heart. 
 
 " We left in the morning ; and, on our arrival at Florence, 
 we found that our intercourse at the headquarters at Terni 
 had compromised us with the authorities, and we were per- 
 emptorily ordered to quit Florence in twenty-four hours. 
 After much vexatious negotiation with our consul, we were 
 found to be harmless artists, intent on study and the arts of 
 peace, and not on revolution. We were then permitted to 
 stay some months under close surveillance. It is needless to 
 say that this attempt at revolution very speedily succumbed 
 to the overwhelming force of Austrian intervention. 
 
 " While in Florence, passing one day by the Church of 
 the Trinity, I was attracted by the funeral decorations of the 
 exterior of the church, and, entering, found a lofty and 
 splendid catafalco, upon which were the mortal remains of 
 some distinguished person. On inquiry, I learned that the 
 funeral solemnities were in honor of one of the noble broth- 
 ers, the young Bonapartes. The other lives to see his 
 earliest efforts for oppressed Italy crowned with success, and 
 he himself occupying the most brilliant throne in Europe, 
 justly admired for his largeness of soul, and the unsurpassed 
 wisdom of his prosperous administration." * 
 
 Queen Hortense, on her heroic journey for the rescue of 
 her sons, met General Amandi, minister of war of the Italian 
 provisional government. He said to her, 
 
 u Your majesty has indeed reason to be proud of being the 
 mother of two such sons. Their whole conduct under these 
 sad circumstances has been a series of noble and courageous 
 actions ; and history will remember it.** 
 
 This communication was written three years before the disasters of fh 
 tranco-Prussiaa War.
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 597 
 
 Eighteen years more of grinding oppression passed sadly 
 away until 1848, when the French again rose, and, driving 
 Louis Philippe from the throne and the kingdom, established 
 the republic. These events roused anew the liberal party 
 throughout all Europe. Charles Albert, then king of Sar- 
 dinia, was the only ruler in Italy who had even the semblance 
 of independence of Austria. Emboldened by the example of 
 France, which had constituted a republic on the basis 
 of universal suffrage and of equal rights for all, he ventured 
 cautiously to commence introducing popular reforms into 
 his kingdom. All over Italy the revolutionary movement 
 burst forth. Again the armies of Austria were on the move, 
 and, in a series of terrible battles, swept the whole Peninsula 
 with billows of fire and blood. Charles Albert, as he fled 
 from the disastrous field of Novara, where his forces had 
 been utterly routed on the 22d of March, 1849, said to Gen- 
 eral Durando, 
 
 "This is my last day. I have sacrificed myself to the 
 Italian cause. For it I have exposed my life, that of my 
 children, and my throne. I have failed in my object. Since 
 I in vain sought death, I will give myself up as a last sacri- 
 fice to my country. I lay down my crown, and abdicate in 
 favor of Victor Emanuel." 
 
 Thus ended the third attempt at a popular uprising in 
 Italy. Charles Albert soon died of a broken heart. Two 
 more years passed away, when the empire was re-established 
 in France, and became a power which all Europe was con- 
 strained to respect. Count Cavour was prime-minister of 
 Victor Emanuel. 
 
 The Sardinian court, after a few years, applied to the im- 
 perial government in France to learn if France would aid 
 Sardinia against Austria, should Sardinia enter upon the 
 work of popular reform. The pledge was promptly given. 
 Sardinia cautiously commenced introducing enactments of 
 liberty. Austria remonstrated, declaring that liberty in Sar- 
 dinia would excite discontent in other parts of Italy. Two 
 hundred and fifty thousand Austrian troops were moved to
 
 the Sardinian frontier. The ambassador of imperial France 
 immediately informed the Austrian court that " France 
 could not look with indifference upon the invasion of Sar- 
 dinia." 
 
 Unintimidated by this menace, the Austrian army, in April, 
 1859, crossed the Ticino, and commenced its march upon 
 Turin. 
 
 It was under these circumstances, as we have already de- 
 scribed, that the armies of France were sent to the aid of 
 the Italians. In the great victories of Magenta and Solfe- 
 rino, the Austrians were driven from Sardinia and from Lom- 
 bardy. And here will the reader pardon me for a little 
 repetition, as I endeavor to present in chronological sequence 
 the efforts which have been made for the emancipation of 
 Italy ? 
 
 All Italy, in one general burst of enthusiasm, rose against 
 the Austrians, and were flocking to the banners of France 
 and Sardinia. 
 
 Dynastic Europe was alarmed. The spirit of the French 
 Revolution of 1789 had risen from its grave. Hungarians 
 and Polanders were grasping their arms. Ireland was ex- 
 ultant that her hour of opportunity had come. Sardinia 
 and France were now pushing triumphantly forward for the 
 liberation of Venetia, that Italy might be free to the Adri- 
 atic; that united Italy might be organized into a kingdom 
 upon the basis of universal suffrage and of equal rights for 
 all men. 
 
 Under these circumstances, England joined Prussia, as we 
 have mentioned, in an alliance with Austria, to prevent the 
 liberation of Venetia and the unification of Italy. France 
 and Sardinia were informed, that unless they immediately 
 arrested the march of their victorious armies, and left Vene- 
 tia in the hands of Austria, in accordance with the treaties 
 of 1815, all the military power of both Prussia and England 
 should be brought forward to the aid of Austria. This was 
 an appalling menace. It was certain that all Europe would 
 thus be involved in the most sanguinary of wars. Thus the
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 599 
 
 liberating army was arrested. The peace of Villafranca, 
 which recognized the liberation of all the rest of Italy, left 
 Venetia in chains. 
 
 This intervention and coalition of the dynasties against 
 Italian liberation compelled the French army to return 
 across the Alps, leaving its work but partially accomplished. 
 We have already given the glowing protest of Kossuth 
 against this action on the part of the British govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The leaders in this Italian revolution were willing, in 
 order that they might disarm monarchical Europe of its hos- 
 tility, to relinquish the idea of a republic, and to accept 
 monarchical forms imbued with republican institutions. 
 Father Gavazzi, in a letter addressed to the British cabinet, 
 dated Aug. 4, 1860, wrote, 
 
 " We fight for the sole purpose of uniting all Italy under 
 the constitutional sceptre of Victor Emanuel. Let Eng- 
 lishmen repudiate the idea that there is any thing republican 
 in the present movement ; since the most ardent advocates 
 of republicanism have sacrificed their views to the great 
 cause of our independence, unity, and constitutional liberties. 
 Be sure, that, if there is no intervention in our fightings, we 
 shall arrive to crown in our capital our dear Victor Emanuel 
 king of Italy." 
 
 M. Thiers, and the party which he led in France in oppo- 
 sition to the imperial government, were bitterly opposed to 
 the sympathy which the emperor manifested for struggling 
 Italy. In the celebrated speech of M. Thiers in opposition 
 to both Italian and German unification, before the Corps 
 Legislatif, in March, 1867, he said, 
 
 " As for me, when distinguished Italians have spoken to 
 me of unity, I have said to them, ' No, no, never ! for my 
 part, I will never consent to it : ' and if, at the time when 
 that question came up, I had had the honor to hold in my 
 hands the affairs of France, I would not have consented to 
 it. I will say to you even, that, upon that question (pardon 
 me for being personal), the friendship, very ardent and sin-
 
 WO ITALY. 
 
 cere, which existed between Monsieur Cavour and me, hat 
 been interrupted." * 
 
 In reference to this subject, an editorial in " The London 
 Times " of December, 1866, says, 
 
 " The Italians have been often unjust to the emperor of 
 the French. They have been hard of belief, impatient, un- 
 charitable. They may henceforth be better disposed to do 
 him justice. They must acknowledge in him their greatest, 
 most unwearied, most generous benefactor. Whatever he 
 may have been to other nations, and to the French them- 
 selves, to the Italians the emperor has always been that 
 Louis Napoleon who took up arms for Italy, and against the 
 temporal power, five and thirty years ago. It seems as if 
 some vow made at the bedside of his brother, dying in hie 
 arms at Forli at that juncture, swayed Napoleon's mind 
 through life, and bade him go firmly, however slowly, to his 
 goal. In all other measures, in any other home or foreign 
 policy, the emperor had friends and opponents. Of any 
 other good or evil that he may have done, others may share 
 the praise or blame : but the Italian game was played by 
 him single-handed ; and the game is won. Throughout all 
 France, in the emperor's cabinet, in his household, Italy had 
 only one friend, a friend in need, and a friend indeed." 
 
 By the peace of Villafranca, which took place in the sum- 
 mer of 1859, all the fragmentary provinces of Italy, except- 
 ing Venetia and the States of the Church, were united in 
 one kingdom under Victor Emanuel. The emperor of 
 France had been absent from St. Cloud, upon this Italian 
 campaign, but sixty-seven days. By the general voice of 
 Europe, Napoleon was recognized as the liberator of Italy. 
 But for his aid, Sardinia would have been inevitably crushed 
 by the Austrians. The emperor was greatly disappointed in 
 being compelled to leave Venetia still in the hands of her 
 oppressor. Two days after his return to France, the em- 
 peror said, in an address to the great bodies of the state, 
 
 tt When, after a prosperous campaign of two months, the 
 
 * Monitenr, March 16, 1867.
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 601 
 
 French and Sardinian army arrived beneath the walls of 
 Verona, the struggle had inevitably changed its nature, both 
 in its military and its political aspects. I was fatally obliged 
 to attack in front an enemy intrenched behind great for- 
 tresses, protected against diversion upon his flanks by the 
 neutrality of the territories which surrounded him. And, in 
 commencing the long and sterile war of sieges, I found 
 Europe before me in arms, ready, it might be, to dispute our 
 success ; it might be, to aggravate our reverses. 
 
 " Nevertheless, the difficulty of the enterprise would not 
 have shaken my resolution if the efforts required had not 
 been out of proportion with the results to be expected. It 
 vould have been necessary to resolve boldly to break 
 through the barriers presented by neutral territories, and 
 then to accept the struggle upon the Rhine as well as upon 
 the Adige. It would have been necessary for us to avail 
 ourselves everywhere, openly, of the resources of revolution. 
 It would have been necessary to shed still more of that 
 precious blood which had already too freely flown. In a 
 word, to triumph, it would have been necessary to risk that 
 which it is not permitted for a sovereign to put at hazard, 
 except for the independence of his country. 
 
 "If 1 arrested my steps, it was not in consequence of 
 weariness or exhaustion, nor from an abandonment of the 
 noble cause which I wished to serve, but because in my 
 heart something spoke louder still, the interests of France* 
 
 " Can you, then, believe that it did not cost me something 
 to strike off openly, before Europe, from my programme, 
 the territory which extends from the Mincio to the Adriatic.? 
 
 " Can you believe that it did not cost me something to see 
 in honest hearts noble illusions destroyed, patriotic hopes 
 dispelled? 
 
 " In order to serve Italian independence, I have made war 
 against the will of Europe. As soon as the destinies of my 
 country were imperilled, I made peace. 
 
 " Can it now be said that our efforts and our sacrifices 
 have been in mere waste ? No ! As I said in adieu to my
 
 602 ITALY. 
 
 soldiers, we have right co be proud of our short campaign. 
 In four combats and two battles, a numerous army, which 
 yields not to any organization in bravery, has been van- 
 quished. The king of Piedmont, of old called the ' Guar- 
 dian of the Alps,' has seen his country delivered from inva- 
 sion, and the frontiers of his States extended from the 
 Ticino to the Mincio. The idea of Italian nationality has 
 been admitted by those who have most strenuously con- 
 tended against it. All the sovereigns of the Peninsula 
 comprehend, at length, the imperious necessity for salutary 
 reforms. 
 
 " Thus, after having given a new proof of the military 
 power of France, the peace which I have concluded will be 
 fruitful in happy results (the future will more fully reveal 
 them every day) for the happiness of Italy, the influence of 
 France, the repose of Europe." * 
 
 When the shrewd Bismarck had matured his ambitious 
 plan of creating in the heart of Europe an immense German 
 empire, with the sceptre in the hands of the king of Prussia, 
 it was essential that German territory should be wrested by 
 war from the dominion of Austria. But this power was 
 stronger in arms than Prussia. Bismarck needed help. 
 Though, under a different policy, he had previously prevented 
 the liberation of Venetia, he now informed Victor Emanuel, 
 that if he would attack Austria upon the south, while Prussia 
 attacked her on the north, Venetia might easily be wrested 
 from Austria, and annexed to Italy. It was purely a selfish 
 policy. It did not pretend to be any thing else. Italy so 
 understood it. 
 
 Austria, attacked so fiercely by Prussia in the campaign 
 which was terminated by the awful defeat of Sadowa, found 
 it necessary to withdraw her troops from Venetia. She sur- 
 rendered the province to France, by whom it was immedi- 
 ately transferred to Italy, which was now free to the Adri- 
 atic, with the exception of the States of the Church 
 
 La Politique Imp^riale, p. 304.
 
 ITALIAK UNITY. 60S 
 
 The question was earnestly discussed, whether it were 
 better for Italy to be united in a centralized government like 
 that of England and France, or in a confederacy of States, 
 each independent in its local affairs, but with a national bond 
 of union somewhat similar to 1 hat of the United States or 
 of the German confederation. The emperor, while willing 
 to leave the decision of this question entirely to the Italians 
 themselves, freely expressed his opinion that a confederacy 
 would be better for Italy for a time, until the States should 
 be somewhat accustomed to acting together, and until local 
 jealousies and rivalries should be appeased. Lamartine also 
 earnestly advocated this view.* 
 
 The princes whom the treaties of 1815 had placed over 
 the several States of dismembered Italy had fled before the 
 uprising of the people, who were now preparing for the new 
 organization of United Italy, either as a confederacy of 
 States, or as a consolidated, centralized kingdom. 
 
 The question respecting the Papal States now became 
 exceedingly embarrassing, and difficult of solution. There 
 was no monarch in Europe who was better entitled to hia 
 realms than the pope. There was no sovereignty more sol- 
 emnly hallowed by time, and by the recognition, for centu- 
 ries, of all the courts in Europe, than the papal sovereignty. 
 Neither Victoria nor Alexander nor Francis Joseph could 
 present a more indubitable claim to the crown which each 
 of them wore. The question arose, "What right have Sar- 
 dinia and Lombardy and Naples and Tuscany and other 
 minor States to unite, and, by the power of their combined 
 armies, seize upon the possessions of the pope, and annex 
 them to their realms ? The pope had neither made nor men- 
 aced any aggression against them. He had done nothing 
 whatever to warrant the hostile invasion of his territory." 
 
 And again: the enormous wealth expended in rearing 
 the magnificent Cathedral of St. Peter, innumerable other 
 churches, the gorgeous pile of the Vatican, and in filling 
 
 * Le Cabinet Anglais, 1'Italie et le Congrts, par Lord Normanby, p. 29.
 
 604 ITALY. 
 
 them with the treasures of art, belonged, not to the city of 
 Rome, but to the universal Catholic Church, of which the 
 pope was the recognized head. It would be difficult to 
 count the money-value of these treasures of architecture 
 and of art. The sum amounted to millions upon millions, 
 obtained by gifts from devout Catholics through many cen- 
 turies, and from all the Catholic world. " What right," it 
 was asked, " have surrounding kingdoms and duchies to unite, 
 and, by the might of their resistless armies, to grasp these 
 treasures?" The pope was the recognized spiritual head of 
 two hundred millions of subjects in Europe. This was 
 their property, which they had intrusted to the keeping of 
 the temporal and spiritual sovereign of the States in the 
 midst of which this property was deposited. ' i ' 
 
 Again : it was asserted that it was essential to the welfare 
 of Europe that the pope should enjoy so much of temporal 
 sovereignty as should render him independent. The moral 
 power, swayed by the pope, was immense almost beyond 
 comprehension. It was not consistent with the safety of 
 Europe that the king of Italy, or the king of Austria, or 
 any other sovereign, should be permitted to annex the Papal 
 States to his dominions, and thus compel the holy father to 
 become his subject. 
 
 There was still another obstacle to be encountered. While 
 the radical reformers of Paris and Rome would gladly see 
 the pope driven from his throne, and his territory annexed 
 to Italy, there was another party, not small in numbers or 
 powerless in influence, who were radical absolutist friends 
 of the old regime. These were found in France and all 
 over Europe. They consisted of most of the crowned 
 heads, the ancient nobility, the dukes and princes, with their 
 families and adherents. These men were bitterly hostile to 
 the liberal policy of the French emperor ; and they urged the 
 pope to persevere in arresting the progress of that democ- 
 racy which they both hated and feared. 
 
 Numerous deputations from France, composed of noblemen 
 of the highest rank and other distinguished men devoted to
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 605 
 
 the ancient regime, visited the pope with expressions of synj 
 pathy and words of encouragement, assuring him that they 
 regarded their allegiance to the holy father as superior to that 
 which they owed to their own government. 
 
 Thus there arose one of the most perplexing questions 
 which ever embarrassed diplomacy. The pope exercised 
 almost supernatural power over the consciences of two hun- 
 dred millions of men. No statesman could ignore that fact. 
 It was essential to the repose of Europe that the pope 
 should be independent, not the subject of any king. "There 
 is no possible independence for the pope," says M. Thiers, 
 " but in the temporal sovereignty." And yet, if the pope, as 
 a temporal king, held the States of the Church, and the city 
 of Rome, the natural capital of Italy, it seemed fatally to 
 destroy the idea of Italian unity. The apparently insoluble 
 question was, " How can the independence of the pope be 
 preserved when he is shorn of his temporal sovereignty, and 
 sinks down to a mere subject ? " 
 
 Prince Napoleon made a very able speech upon this sub- 
 ject before the French Senate on the 1st of March, 1861. 
 This speech probably expressed the views of the imperial 
 government; and, as Prince Napoleon is son-in-law of Victor 
 Emanuel, it is reasonable to suppose that his opinions were 
 in harmony with those of the Italian court. 
 
 "There remains," said the prince, "the question of the 
 abdication of the papal power. I recognize the necessity of 
 a certain independence in the spiritual chief; that he ought 
 not to be the subject of any sovereign whatever. Hence the 
 difficulty in settling the question in respect to Rome. Still 
 it does not appear to me insoluble. We can here only 
 sketch the great features of the solution. 
 
 ** Rome ! this is the question. It is to leave the pope an 
 incontestable spiritual sovereign, with that liberty of action 
 which assures his temporal independence. This does not 
 appear to me impossible. 
 
 " Cast your eyes upon a plan of Rome. The Tiber divid- 
 ing that city, you see upon the right bank the Catholic city,
 
 606 ITALY. 
 
 the Vatican, St. Peter's. Upon the left you see the city 
 of the ancient Caesars ; you see Mount Aventine ; indeed, all 
 the grand souvenirs of imperial Rome. On the right bank 
 is the Rome in which the most vital part of Catholicism has 
 in modern times taken refuge. There might be a possibility, 
 I will not say to foi ce the pope, but to induce him to com- 
 prehend the necessity of restricting him there. There may 
 be a possibility of guaranteeing to him his temporal inde- 
 pendence in those limits. Catholic countries might assure 
 him an income suitable to the splendor of religion, and 
 might furnish him with a garrison. 
 
 " You cannot make any thing human immutable. But it 
 is evident that an income from the Catholic community, 
 when guaranteed by all the Catholic powers, would be as 
 secure as any thing can be. It would be ever, more than 
 now, the revenue of the Holy See. I think that the inde- 
 pendence of the pope might thus exist, surrounded by 
 higher and more honorable sanctions. There might be left 
 to him a mixed and contested jurisdiction in special cases. 
 He could have his flag. All the houses in that part of the 
 city could be assigned to him in property (en touie pro- 
 priete). 
 
 " History gives us an example of this neutrality in Wash- 
 ington, that federal city which has so long been the object 
 of the respect of the whole American continent. You will 
 thus have an oasis of Catholicism in the midst of the tem- 
 pests of the world. This may be regarded as a chimera. 
 But how many things, treated at first as chimeras, have been 
 realized ! " * 
 
 There were at this time, and still are, three parties upon 
 this Reman question, quite distinctly defined. The first 
 represented the old absolutist party, opposed to all reforms 
 or innovations, adhering to civil and ecclesiastical absolu- 
 tism. This party included the ancient nobility, the cardinals, 
 the ecclesiastics generally, and the most ignorant and fanatic 
 
 * Question Italienne: Discours prononce*e au Senat par S. A. I. le Princa 
 Na K.K'on dans le Seance da 1" mai, 1861, pp. 151, 162.
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 607 
 
 of the people. The second consisted of those TV ho rivered 
 Catholicism as one of the most ancient and venerable 
 branches of the Christian Church. They were sincere 
 Catholics ; but they wished to see Catholicism conform to 
 the progressive spirit of the times, to contribute to popular 
 enlightenment, and to welcome the approaches of civil and 
 ecclesiastical liberty. Then came the third party of ultra 
 democrats and infidels, the revilers of all religion. They 
 would pay no respect to any prescriptive rights, but would 
 gladly drive pope and priest alike out of Europe, confiscate 
 all church-property, and establish revolutionary government, 
 to be controlled by the most violent and reckless of men. 
 
 The preceding pages show that the emperor of the 
 French belonged to the intermediate party. He had been 
 born and educated a Catholic; he was a sincere believer 
 in the Christian religion as held by that branch of the 
 church : but he was also an advocate of entire freedom of 
 conscience and of worship ; and the two fundamental prin- 
 ciples of his political creed were, that government should be 
 founded on the will of the people as expressed by universal 
 suffrage, and should maintain equal rights for all men. 
 
 Still the years passed away, during which the Roman 
 question continued to agitate all Europe. The emperor of 
 the French, ever anxious to avoid war, and yet conscious that 
 the spirit of the times imperatively demanded some modifica- 
 tion of the assumptions of the papacy, presented various meas- 
 ures to Victor Emanuel and to the pope for the reconstruction 
 of Italy under a federation, with the pope elected as president ; 
 which proposition was scornfully rejected by the Vatican. 
 He then urged, but in vain, the assembling of a congress of 
 the European sovereigns to settle in friendly deliberation 
 this and other questions then threatening to deluge Europe 
 in those surges of blood which have now swept over the 
 continent.* 
 
 * "The emperor proposed a federation of all the independent States, of which 
 Borne should be the centre, and the pope the chief. We, who have had the honoi 
 to exhibit this programme, know better than any one else with what sarcasnu
 
 608 ITALY. 
 
 The views of the emperor upon this question were in 
 accordance with the expressed opinions of Lord Brougham. 
 In opposition to the attempt to consolidate Italy into one 
 nation, he wrote, "Italy has never been one country, one 
 nation. In reality, the unity of its different States has never 
 continued for the space of a single hour." 
 
 Lamartine, unfriendly as he was to the emperor, earnestly 
 advocated this proposal. Lord Normanby, in a very able 
 pamphlet upon this subject, writes, 
 
 " It is worthy of remark, that the Emperor Napoleon and 
 M. de Lamartine stood upon the same platform as to the 
 future of Italy. When two eminent men, who were but 
 little accustomed to act in harmony, were of the same 
 opinion, it is well to recall to mind that these two men 
 understood Italy better than any one else ; and they have 
 neither flattered nor cajoled her." * 
 
 The following admirable letter from the emperor to his 
 minister of foreign affairs is full of interest. It contains 
 more information upon this all-important subject than can 
 anywhere else be found within the same compass. It was 
 dated, 
 
 " TUILEEIES, May 20, 1862. 
 
 "MosrsiEUR LH MiinsTBE, Since I have been at the 
 head of the government in France, my policy has always 
 been the same in reference to Italy, to favor the national 
 aspirations, and to induce the pope to become the support 
 of them rather than the adversary ; in a word, to consecrate 
 the alliance of religion and liberty. 
 
 tt Since the year 1849, in which the expedition to Rome 
 was decided upon, all my letters, all my discourses, all my 
 despatches to the ministers, have invariably manifested this 
 
 and abuse it was received by the party whose influence directed the Vatican. 
 Subsequently, eyes were opened ; and the idea of Italian federation, under th 
 presidency of the pope, commanded the support of those who had repelled it 
 with the most energy and the least reflection." La France, Rome, et I'ltaUe, 
 par A. de la Gue'ronniere, p. 31. 
 
 * Le Cabinet Anglais, 1'Italie et le Congrei, par Lord Normanby, p. 20.
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 609 
 
 tendency. My efforts, I confess, are now broken to pieces 
 against resistances of all kinds, in presence of two parties 
 diametrically opposed, absolute in their hatreds as in their 
 convictions, deaf to counsels inspired by the single desire of 
 good. Is this a reason no longer to persevere, and to 
 abandon a cause great in the eyes of all, and which ought 
 to be useful in benefits for humanity? 
 
 " It is important that the Roman question should receive 
 a definite solution : for it is not only in Italy that it troubles 
 the mind ; everywhere it produces the same moral disorder, 
 because it relates to that which man has most at heart, 
 religion and political faith. 
 
 " Each party substitutes for the true principles of equity 
 and justice its exclusive opinion. Thus some, forgetting the 
 recognized rights of a power which has continued for ten 
 centuries, proclaim, without regard to a consecration so 
 ancient, the forfeiture of the pope. Others, careless of the 
 claims of the legitimate rights of the people, condemn with- 
 out scruple a part of Italy to immobility and eternal 
 oppression. Thus the one party disposes of a power still 
 existing, as if it were overthrown ; and the other party 
 disposes of people who demand to live, as if they were 
 dead. 
 
 " Still it is the duty of statesmen to study the means of 
 reconciling two causes, which passions alone present as 
 irreconcilable. Even in case of failure, the attempt will not 
 be without a certain glory. And, in any event, there is an 
 advantage in declaring loudly the end towards which we 
 tend. That end is, to arrive at a combination by which the 
 pope will adopt that which is grand in the thought of a 
 people who aspire to become a nation ; and, on the other 
 hand, that the people should recognize that which is salutary 
 in a power whose influence extends over the wr ole world. 
 
 "At the first view, in considering the prejudices and the 
 
 animosities equally, one despairs of a favorable result. But 
 
 if, after having examined to the bottom of affairs, we appeal 
 
 to reason and common sense, we love to persuade ourselvei 
 
 26
 
 610 ITALY. 
 
 that truth, that divine light, will, in the end, pervade all 
 minds, and show clearly the supreme and vital interest which 
 invites, which obliges, the parties of the two opposing cause* 
 to listen to each other, and to be reconciled. 
 
 "Italy, as a new State, has against her all those who cling 
 to the traditions of the past. As a State which has called 
 revolution to her aid, she inspires with suspicion all the men 
 of order. They doubt her ability to repress anarchical 
 tendencies, and hesitate to believe that a society can 
 strengthen itself with the same elements which have over- 
 turned so many others. In fine, she has at her gates a 
 formidable enemy, whose arms and ill-will, easy to be under- 
 stood, will still, for a long time, constitute an imminent 
 danger. 
 
 " These antagonisms, already so serious, will become still 
 more so in supporting themselves upon the interests of the 
 Catholic faith. The religious question aggravates the situ- 
 ation very much, and multiplies the adversaries of the new 
 order of things established beyond the Alps. A little while 
 ago, it was the absolutist party alone which was opposed to 
 it. To-day the greater part of the Catholic populations of 
 Europe are its enemies ; and this hostility embarrasses not 
 only the benevolent intentions of governments attached by 
 their faith to the Holy See, but it arrests the favorable dis- 
 positions of Protestant or schismatic governments, who 
 have also a considerable portion of their subjects of the 
 same faith. Thus everywhere it is the religious idea which 
 chills the public sentiment for Italy. Her reconciliation 
 with the pope would greatly smooth down these obstacles, 
 and relieve her of millions of adversaries. 
 
 " On the other hand, the Holy See has an equal interest, if 
 not a stronger one, in this reconciliation ; for, if the Holy 
 See has zealous supporters among all fervent Catholics, it 
 has against it all the liberal party in Europe. It is regarded 
 as in politics the representative of the prejudices of the 
 ancient regime ; and by ItaJ v it is deemed the enemy of her 
 independence, the most devoted partisan of re-action.
 
 ITALIAN UNITY. 61J 
 
 Thus the Holy See is surrounded by the most excited 
 adherents of the fallen dynasties ; and this support is not 
 calculated to augment in its favor the sympathies of the 
 peoples who have overthrown these dynasties. 
 
 "Nevertheless, this state of things injures less the sovereign 
 than the chief of religion. In those Catholic countries 
 where modern ideas have great influence, men even the 
 most sincerely attached to their faith find their consciences 
 troubled, and doubts entering their minds, uncertain whethet 
 they can reconcile their political convictions with those 
 religious principles which seem to condemn modern civilisa- 
 tion. If this situation, full of perils, should be prolonged, 
 political dissent would be in danger of introducing regret- 
 table dissent into the Christian faith. 
 
 " The interests of the Holy See, as also those of religion, 
 require, then, that the pope should be reconciled with Italy ; 
 for that will be to be reconciled with modern ideas, to retain 
 within the bosom of the Church two hundred millions of 
 Catholics, and to give to religion a new lustre in exhibiting 
 the faith as favoring the progress of humanity. 
 
 "But upon what foundation can a work so desirable be 
 established ? The pope, brought back to a correct apprecia- 
 tion of the true state of affairs, will comprehend the necessity 
 of accepting all that which connects him again with Italy ; 
 and Italy, yielding to the counsels of a wise policy, will not 
 refuse to adopt those guaranties which are necessary for the 
 independence of the sovereign pontiff, and for the free 
 exercise of his power. 
 
 " This double end will be attained by a combination, which, 
 maintaining the pope master of himself, shall break down 
 the barriers which now separate his States from the rest of 
 Italy. That he may be master of himself, independence 
 must be assured to him, and his power must be accepted 
 freely by his subjects. It is to be hoped that this will be so 
 on the one side, when the Italian government shall engage 
 in co-operation with France to recognize the States of the 
 Church and their admitted boundaries ; and, on the other,
 
 612 ITALY. 
 
 when the government of the Holy See, coming back from 
 ancient traditions, shall consecrate the privileges of the 
 municipalities and the provinces in such a manner, that they 
 shall, so to speak, administer themselves ; for then the 
 power of the pope, soaring in a sphere elevated above the 
 secondary interests of society, shall extricate itself from 
 that responsibility, always weighty, and which a strong 
 government alone can support. 
 
 "These general indications are not an ultimatum which I 
 have the pretension to impose upon the two parties at dis- 
 agreement, but the basis of a policy which I think it a duty 
 to seek to promote by our legitimate influence and our dis- 
 interested counsels. 
 
 " Whereupon I pray that God may have you in his holy 
 keeping. " NAPOLEON." * 
 
 * La Politique Imp&iale Expos^e par les Discours et Proclamation da 
 1'Empereur NapoKSon, iii. pp. 367-373.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIIL 
 
 THE SEIZUBE OF BOME 
 
 WICE AICD SAVOT. THE DEPUTATION AND THE EMPEROR. THE STATES or 
 THE CHURCH. THE EMBARRASPIKQ QUESTION. PARTIES is ITALY. 
 RESULTS OF SEDAN. AGITATION IN ITALY. DIPLOMATIC MEASURES. 
 MESSAGE TO THE POPE. THE REPLY. PROCLAMATION OF VICTOR 
 EMANUEL. THE MILITARY MOVEMENT. THB CAPTURE OF ROME. THB 
 LEONINE CITY. REMONSTRANCE OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 MUCH has been said respecting the annexation of Nice 
 and Savoy to France. These were two small countries 
 npon the French side of the Alps ; the one containing about 
 one hundred thousand inhabitants, and the other five hun- 
 dred thousand. They spoke the French language, and were 
 French in all their tastes, manners, and customs, industrial 
 pursuits, and commercial relations. By the treaties of 1815, 
 Savoy and Nice were taken from France, and annexed to 
 Sardinia. As Italy was now being re-organized by the 
 absorption of all its fragmentary provinces into one king- 
 dom, the inhabitants of Nice and Savoy were anxious to 
 return to France. As they geographically belonged to 
 France (being on the French side of the Alps, and ethnologi- 
 cally were Frenchmen), Victor Emanuel, respecting the doc- 
 trine of nationalities, gave his ready assent. Napoleon III., 
 true to his principle of popular suffrage, had the question sub- 
 mitted to the vote of the people, whether they would remain 
 with Italy, or return to France. The question was decided 
 by an overwhelming majority in favor of re-union with 
 France. 
 
 On the 21st of March, 1860, a deputation from Savoy and 
 Nice had an interview with the emperor in the Palace of 
 the Tuileries. In reply to their address, the emperor said, 
 
 618
 
 614 ITALY. 
 
 "I thank you for the sentiments which you hare ex- 
 pressed to me, and I receive you with pleasure. The king 
 of Sardinia having acceded to the principle of the union of 
 Savoy and of the county of Nice to France, I can, without 
 failing in any international duty, testify to you my sympa- 
 thy, and accept the expression of your wishes. The circum- 
 stances under which this rectification of our frontiers has 
 been effected are so unusud, that, in responding to legiti- 
 mate interests, no principle is wounded, and consequently no 
 dangerous precedent is established. 
 
 "Indeed, it is neither by conquest nor insurrection that 
 Savoy and Nice will be re-united to France, but by the free 
 consent of the legitimate sovereign, supported by popular 
 adhesion. Thus all that there is in Europe which does not 
 cling to the antagonistic spirit of another epoch regards as 
 natural and equitable this annexation of teriitory. The 
 response made to the communications addressed by my 
 government to the powers represented in the Congress of 
 Verona authorizes a reasonable hope that the subject will 
 receive from them a favorable examination." * 
 
 As I have mentioned, the States of the Church extended 
 entirely across the breadth of Italy, from the Tuscan to the 
 Adriatic Sea. It is generally supposed that the majority of 
 the inhabitants were in favor of annexation to the newly- 
 formed kingdom of Italy ; though this is denied by some of the 
 warm friends of the pope. It is very certain that the inhab- 
 itants of the Italian peninsula, in general, had awakened to an 
 intense yearning for the unification of Italy, with Rome for 
 its capital. But Victor Emanuel was not in favor of seizing 
 upon the States of the Church simply by the right of might ; 
 and he was well aware that the Catholic world might enter 
 a very vehement protest against an act of unprovoked ag- 
 gression. The emperor of France also, while renouncing 
 all disposition to dictate to the king of Sardinia, counselled 
 him to respect the historic rights of the Holy See." f 
 
 La Folitique Imperials, p. 824. t Ibid., p 828.
 
 THE 8EIZTTBE OP ROME. 615 
 
 But Victor Emanuel found himself in a very embarrass- 
 ing situation. There was a strong democratic and infidel 
 party in Italy, led by such men as Garibaldi and Mazzini, 
 who were ripe for any measures of violence in reference to 
 the pope. They would gladly hurl him from his spiritual as 
 well as from his temporal throne, and confiscate all the 
 property of the Church. These men formed the nucleus of 
 a strong opposition to the constitutional monarchy of Victor 
 Emanuel. They wished to overthrow his throne, and to 
 establish the government of a radical democracy. With 
 great efficiency, they raised the popular cry of "United Italy, 
 with Rome for its capital." The Journal Italic " of Sept. 
 15, 1870, says, 
 
 " The Italian democracy has seen in the question of the 
 capital too good a pretext to perpetuate agitation to permit 
 it to escape them." 
 
 By the disaster at Sedan on the 2d of September, 1870, 
 the emperor of France was taken captive. The mob in 
 Paris rose, and also in several other large cities, and de- 
 clared the empire abolished. Provisional governments were 
 established, which were called republics. The French troops 
 were recalled from Rome. This revolution in France so 
 roused the Italian democracy, that the government of 
 Victor Emanuel felt compelled to take the lead of the popu- 
 lar impulse, which had become so strong, that it threatened 
 to sweep them from power. To save the monarchy, it was 
 deemed essential to seize upon Rome ; for, unless the 
 government should do it, the revolutionists would rise en 
 masse, and proclaim a republic in the captured city. Ap- 
 parently, the only way to baffle the intrigues of the revolu- 
 tionists was to anticipate them in the movement.* 
 
 The news of the disaster at Sedan reached Florence, the 
 then capital of Italy, on the 4th of September. It was on 
 this day that the democracy in Paris declared the empire 
 
 * The confirmation of these views will be found in an able article in the 
 American Church Review, written by a gentleman who was in Florence at tht
 
 618 ITALY. 
 
 abolished, and proclaimed the so-called republic. This gov 
 eminent of a democratic committee in Paris was in favor of 
 the overthrow of all thrones, and of the establishment of 
 a universal republic. The agitation in Italy became so great, 
 that the government of Victor Emanuel was impressed with 
 the necessity of immediate action. Both of the leading 
 journals in Florence, on the 7th, published rousing articles, 
 entitled " To Rome," in which they declared that the time 
 had come when the temporal power of the pope must cease. 
 A fortnight of intense agitation passed away. There were en- 
 thusiastic meetings all over Italy, in Milan, Turin, Verona, 
 Venice, Naples, Palermo, calling for the seizure of the 
 territories of the pope, and the appropriation of Rome as the 
 capital of 'Italy. The enthusiasm was so genei'al, that those 
 who were in the opposition found it expedient to keep 
 silent. 
 
 " Indeed," writes a gentleman who was then in Florence, 
 " no ministry, not the monarchy itself, could for one day have 
 resisted the popular will. A wand could as soon have re- 
 sisted the spring-flood of the Arno at mid-course as the 
 government have told the Italian people at this time that 
 they could not go to Rome." 
 
 The papal government, confessedly the worst in Europe, 
 being a combination of both secular and ecclesiastical abso- 
 lutism, was inveterately inimical to the constitutional mon- 
 archy of Victor Emanuel. On the 7th of September, the 
 Italian minister of foreign affairs, in Florence, issued a circu- 
 lar to the cabinets of Europe, in which he stated that the in- 
 terests of the Italian monarchy demanded immediate action 
 in taking possession of the States of the Church. " The 
 security of Italy," he wrote, "renders it essential that an 
 end should be put to a state of things which maintains in 
 the heart of the peninsula a theocratical government in open 
 hostility to Italy, and which, by its own confession, can only 
 subsist by means of foreign intervention, and whose territory 
 offers a base of operations to all the elements of disorder." 
 
 Several of the most distinguished statesmen of Italy were
 
 THE SEIZURE OP ROME. 617 
 
 summoned to Florence to confer with the government upon 
 the difficult affair. It was universally admitted that no 
 monarch in Europe had a better title to his throne than Pio 
 Nino. It was, consequently, necessary to devise some plau- 
 sible excuse for wresting his realms from him. 
 
 The court at Florence sent a letter to the pope by an emi- 
 nent nobleman of Sardinia, Count Ponza di San Martino. 
 This document, which was very deferentially worded, an- 
 nounced to the holy father the determination of the Italian 
 government to take possession of the States of the Church, 
 and to constitute Rome the capital of United Italy. The 
 pope was assured of the profound respect with which the 
 Italian government would still regard his spiritual power. 
 But he was informed that it was one of the necessities of 
 the times that he would be deprived of his temporal power ; 
 and he was entreated to submit to the inevitable with as 
 good a grace as possible. 
 
 The reply of the pope, which was a very laconic and em- 
 phatic refusal, was given in a formal audience which was 
 granted the ambassador on the 10th of September, 1870. 
 The very next day, Sunday, Sept. 11, the troops of 
 Victor Emanuel crossed the frontier, and entered the States 
 of the Church at three points. 
 
 General Cardona, with the principal army, marched from 
 Terni directly upon Rome. General Bixio, with another 
 division, advanced from Orvieto upon Civita Vecchia. Gen- 
 eral Angioletti, with another force, advancing from the 
 south-east, invaded the papal territory by the way of Frosi- 
 none and Anagni. These military bands were so strong as 
 to render any effectual resistance on the part of the pope 
 impossible. 
 
 The next day, the 12th, the Italian court issued a procla- 
 mation to the Catholic bishops, announcing that the pope's 
 independence would be respected, and his spiritual power 
 supported ; but that 
 
 "The clergy will not be permitted by any act or discourse, 
 or in any other manner whatever, to stir up disobedience to
 
 618 ITALY. 
 
 the measures of the public authority by censuring the insti- 
 tutions or laws of the State ; and all offenders will be pro- 
 ceeded against with all the rigor of the law." 
 
 The ecclesiastical influence of Italy was generally strongly 
 in favor of the pope. The next morning, the three leading 
 journals of Northern Italy one at Turin, one at Milan, and 
 one at Bologna were suppressed by the Italian government 
 for containing articles unfriendly to the movements in 
 progress. In the mean time, the armies of invasion pressed 
 rapidly on, the feeble forces of the pope retiring before 
 them. The pope, conscious that any resistance would be 
 unavailing, commanded that there should be only such show 
 of force at the gates of Rome as to prove to the world 
 that his realms were wrested from him by military violence. 
 
 At half-past five o'clock on Tuesday morning, Sept. 20, 
 the Sardinian troops, having arrived before the walls of 
 the city, opened fire upon the Porta Pia and upon the 
 Porta Salavia. At half-past eight, a breach was effected 
 at the Porta Pia ; and at half-past nine it was carried by 
 storm. At ten o'clock, two divisions of General Cardona's 
 army entered Rome, and took possession of the city ; and the 
 struggle ceased. 
 
 Rome is divided by the Tiber. On the left bank of the 
 river are found the Palace of the Caesars, the Forum, and 
 nearly all the mouldering remains of the " lone mother of 
 dead empires." On the right bank are found the Vatican, 
 St. Peter's, and nearly all the monumental and artistic wealth 
 which the Catholic Church has accumulated there during a 
 period of more than a thousand years. This ecclesiastical 
 portion of the world-renowned metropolis is often called ihe 
 Leonine city, from the immense improvements made in it 
 by Pope Lee X. about the middle of the ninth century. 
 
 The Leonine city was respected by the invaders. A regi- 
 ment of Italian troops was sent to encamp under the win- 
 dows of the Vatican for the protection of the pope. Gen- 
 eral Mari was placed in charge of the captured metropolis. 
 On the 2d of October the question was submitted to the
 
 THE SEIZURE OF KOME. 619 
 
 ufirages of the people of Rome, whether they tfculd re 
 nounce their temporal allegiance to the pope, and become 
 the subjects of United Italy. The vote was almost unani- 
 mous in favor of the change. But the clerical party refused 
 to vote, affirming that they were overawed by sixty thousand 
 bayonets, and that the pretended appeal to the ballot-box 
 was a mere farce. 
 
 On the 1st of November, the Italian government issued 
 the following decree : " All the political authority of the 
 pope and the Holy See is abolished, and will remain so. The 
 pope will be entirely free in the exercise of his ecclesiasti- 
 cal rights which he now possesses as the supreme chief of 
 Catholicism, and will enjoy all the honors and liberties which 
 constitute sovereign prerogative. Tho appanage of his 
 holiness and his court shall bo furnished by Italy, which 
 also assumes the debts hitherto contracted by the Pontifical 
 States." 
 
 I have written the above narrative, not in the interests of 
 Catholicism or of Protestantism, but in the interests of 
 historical verity. The intelligent American reader wishes to 
 know the facts just as they are ; and he is abundantly capable 
 of drawing from them his own inferences. I have endeav- 
 ored to be perfectly impartial. The Protestant world, with 
 great unanimity, commends the seizure of the Papal States 
 and the occupation of Rome : the Catholic world, with at 
 least equal unanimity, condemns those measures. What the 
 final result will be, it is impossible to foresee. The agitation 
 caused by these transactions is rapidly on the increase. An 
 intense feeling of indignation is roused among the Catholics 
 throughout the world by the occupation of the city of Rome 
 by the Italian troops, and the deposition of the pope from 
 his temporal sovereignty. The following resolutions, drawn 
 up by the Right Rev. Bishop McFarland, Bishop of Hart- 
 ford, and adopted by all the churches in his diocese on 
 Sunday, March 12, 1871, will give the Protestant reader 
 an idea of the view which the Catholics take of this all-
 
 important question. We give the resolutions, with the 
 circular letter addressed by the bishop to the pastors of the 
 various churches. 
 
 PROVIDENCE, March 6, 1871. 
 
 REV. AND DEAR SIR, The following resolutions of sym- 
 pathy for the holy father were adopted last night by a very 
 large meeting, held in our cathedral, in this city. 
 
 I wish to have similar meetings called in all the churches 
 of our diocese, on next Sunday or the Sunday following. 
 You will please inform me of the action taken by your con- 
 gregation, that I may be able to convey information of the 
 same to his holiness. 
 
 Very truly, yours in Christ, 
 
 F. P. McFARLAND, 
 
 Bishop of Hartford. 
 
 1. Resolved, That, in the name of the two hundred thou- 
 sand Catholics in this diocese, we desire to express our deep 
 and heartfelt sympathy with our holy father, Pope Pius 
 IX., in his present distress, and our reprobation of the un- 
 merited wrongs which have been inflicted on him. 
 
 2. Resolved, That the invasion of Rome by Victor 
 Emanuel, in violation of solemn treaties, and without any 
 pretence of a casus belli, was a flagrant breach of the laws 
 of nations, and that acquiescence in such iniquity must en- 
 danger the security of nations, and end in international 
 anarchy. 
 
 3. Resolved, That, besides the violation of justice and 
 faith, we condemn this act of the government of Florence 
 as a sacrilege against the person of the vicar of Jesus Christ, 
 who has been exposed to insult, and held as a prisoner in his 
 own palace ; and also against the Church, whose patrimony 
 has been plundered, and given over to the hand of the 
 spoiler. 
 
 4. Resolved, That these sacrilegious outrages have inflicted 
 injury on all countries having Catholic subjects or citizens, 
 as every such nation is deeply interested in the complete
 
 THE SEIZURE OF B O M E. 621 
 
 freedom and independence of the head of the Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 5. Resolved, That, while we insist on the necessity of the 
 freedom of the Holy See from the control of any and every 
 civil government, we also demand the right for ourselves of 
 approaching the holy father, and of communicating with 
 him, without let or hinderance from any other civil ruler 
 whatever. 
 
 6. Resolved, That we will use all the means in our power 
 to console and support the holy father in this the day of 
 his affliction, and will endeavor by every lawful means to 
 hasten the hour when he will be restored to his rights. 
 
 7. Resolved, That we hold the independence of the 
 sovereign pontiff to be essential to the freedom of conscience 
 from secular control. 
 
 8. Resolved, That, in the present condition of civil society, 
 we consider the temporal sovereignty of the pope to be the 
 surest guaranty of his independence, and of his free action 
 in the government of the church. 
 
 9. Resolved, That the government of Pius IX., during his 
 long and glorious pontificate, has entitled him to the love 
 and fidelity of his subjects, and to the approval and support 
 of all Catholics. 
 
 10. Resolved, That, as men prompted by a sense of justice, 
 we protest against the seizure of Rome as a violation of 
 right ; that as American citizens, bound to uphold the su- 
 premacy of law and of the rights of property, we protest 
 against the act of robbing the weak by the strong; that 
 as Catholics, prompted by devotion to the Church, we protest 
 against this crime as a violation of the rights of the Catholic 
 world, to which the Christian monuments of Rome belong. 
 
 No one can doubt the sincerity of these men. Every 
 friend of humanity must long for the advent of that day 
 when we shall all see eye to eye, and when these painful an- 
 tagonisms shall be no more. But for six thousand years the 
 generations have come and gone, each spending its brief
 
 622 ITALY. 
 
 existence on this globe in contention, tumult, and deadly 
 strife. The prospect of an immediate brighter day is not 
 very encouraging. Still it is manifest that the world is 
 making progress; and the voice of prophecy cheers us 
 with the assurance that the time will ultimately come when 
 the desert shall blossom as the rose, and when the I'on and 
 the lamb shall lie down together.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LATER HISTORY. 
 
 Tn ATTTHOB'S DEATH. NEW CHAPTER BY ANOTHER HAND. EFFORTS TO cox- 
 CILIATE THE PAPACY. PERPLEXING QUESTIONS. LOYALTY OF THE KlNd 
 TO FREE INSTITUTIONS. PAPAL GUARANTTS. THE RELIGIOUS CORPORA- 
 TIONS. RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. DEATH OF VICTOR EMAN- 
 UEL, AND ACCESSION OF HUMBERT IV. DEATH OF Pius IX., AND ACCESSION 
 OF LEO XIIL ATTITUDE OF THE NEW POPE. THE SUFFRAGE QUESTION. 
 FIRST NATIONAL EXPOSITION. GBBAT RELIGIOUS CHANGES. DEATH 01 
 GARIBALDI. 
 
 rFHE preceding chapter, which was the last that Mr. 
 JL Abbott wrote, records the seizure of Rome by the 
 Italian army and the overthrow of the temporal power c 
 the pope. The call for a new edition of the work, after the 
 lapse of more than ten years, during which period the author 
 died, devolves upon another the duty of preparing a new 
 chapter, bringing the history down to a later date. 
 
 Rome was entered by the Italian army in September, 
 1870 ; but it did not practically become the capital of Italy 
 till the beginning of July, 1871. Victor Emanuel, when he 
 received at Florence the deputation sent to inform him of the 
 adoption of the plebiscitum by which the people of Rome de- 
 clared it to be their will that the city should become the seat 
 of the Government of United Italy, was deeply moved. " At 
 last," he said, "our arduous task is accomplished, and our 
 country is reconstructed. The name of Rome, which is the 
 grandest name uttered by the mouths of men, is joined with 
 the name of Italy, the name which is dearest to my heart." 
 He also took occasion to proclaim his loyalty to the Church 
 of Rome. " As a king and as a Catholic," he said, " while
 
 624 ITALY. 
 
 I here proclaim tbfe unity of Italy, I remain constant to my 
 resolve to guarantee the liberty of the Church and the 
 independence of the Supreme Pontiff." The declaration 
 was, no doubt, made in good faith ; but whether or not it 
 has been fulfilled is a controverted question. 
 
 Before entering the Eternal City in state, the king sent a 
 private message to the pope, expressing his personal attach- 
 ment to the Church and his devotion to the Holy See. Gen. 
 Viale was deputed to present himself at the Vatican, and, in 
 the name of the king, to congratulate the pope upon having 
 held his pontificate beyond the space of a quarter of a 
 century, allotted by legend to St. Peter. The pope, how- 
 ever, refused to receive the visit of the envoy; and other 
 similar overtures from the Quirinal to the Vatican were 
 treated in the same way. That this was a great disappoint- 
 ment to the king there can be no doubt ; for he was exceed- 
 ingly anxious to be reconciled to the papacy, and for that 
 purpose prepared to make almost any sacrifice consistent 
 with the welfare of United Italy. In defying the anger of 
 the pope, rather than jeopardize his country and his throne, 
 he evinced a high degree of courage. 
 
 The kingdom has enjoyed uninterrupted peace during the 
 last twelve years. Its relations with foreign powers have 
 presented, from tune to time, very embarrassing questions, 
 requiring skillful diplomacy on the part of the king and his 
 ministers ; but every danger from this source was safely 
 passed. Questions of internal administration have been 
 even more perplexing. The inexperience of the Italians in 
 constitutional government, the conflicts arising from local 
 and personal interests, the ignorance and indifference of 
 la*g? masses of the people degraded by long submission to 
 despotic authority, the conspiracies and plots engendered by 
 an unwise and impatient radicalism that demanded a harvest 
 while yet the seed had not had time to germinate, and the 
 presence of a wily and powerful sacerdotalism resting upon
 
 LATER HISTORY. I2f 
 
 centuries of prejudice and superstition, these and other 
 causes have made the task of governing United Italy one of 
 great and peculiar embarrassment. 
 
 Victor Emanuel, it must in all fairness be conceded, bore 
 himself well hi the midst of all these difficulties, to the 
 end of his career; and his successor has followed his 
 example. It is doubtful if the king felt any strong attach- 
 ment to constitutional government in itself considered ; but 
 his common sense enabled him to see, that, as Italy could 
 only have achieved independence and unity under free insti- 
 tutions, so, if his throne was to endure, the constitutional 
 character of the government must be maintained. Though 
 he was a man of strong opinions, he chose his ministers in 
 accordance with the votes of Parliament, and loyally sup- 
 ported the policy recommended by them. If constitutional 
 government is now well established in the Peninsula, as it 
 certainly seems to be, the credit for this result is due to the 
 wise moderation and firmness of Victor Emanuel. 
 
 The footing on which the dethroned pontiff is allowed to 
 reside at the Vatican, and to exercise his spiritual authority 
 unhindered and under the protection of the government, was 
 defined in the bill of " Papal Guarantys," enacted by Par- 
 liament in May, 1871. The person of the pope is therein 
 declared to be " sacred and inviolable," and offenses against 
 him are punishable in the same manner as offenses against 
 the king. It is decreed that he shall be received by the civil 
 authorities with royal honors, and given the same rights of 
 precedence that are accorded to him and his representatives 
 in other Catholic countries. The law allows him as many 
 guards as he thinks necessary to protect his person and pal- 
 ace. His annual allowance from the government was fixed 
 at 3,225,000 lire, free from all rates and taxes. He was to 
 remain in possession of the Vatican, the Lateran, and Cas- 
 tel-Gondolfo, with all their outbuildings, furniture, etc. ; and 
 both the libraries and picture-galleries contained hi them 
 J47
 
 626 ITALY. 
 
 were to be inalienable. No official or other government 
 agent was to be allowed to enter any of the papal palaces, 
 even hi the discharge of his public duty, without the pope's 
 permission ; and the same rule was to apply to buildings 
 where a conclave or council should be assembled. The pope 
 was to be left free to correspond with the bishops and the 
 whole of the Catholic world without interference on the part 
 of the Italian Government. He was to have postal and tele- 
 graphic service of his own for each of his palaces ; and all 
 the papal seminaries, academies, universities, and colleges 
 in Rome and the suburban dioceses were to be solely under 
 his control. The government relinquished the privilege it 
 had previously enjoyed of presenting and nominating persons 
 to 'offices or benefices in the Church, on the condition that 
 Italian subjects only should be appointed ; and the bishops 
 were exempted from taking the oath of allegiance to the 
 king. 
 
 These conditions show that the government meant to be 
 conciliatory toward the Church in all save the denial to it 
 of temporal power. Victor Emanuel, in opening the first 
 parliament held hi Rome, manifested a conciliatory spirit. 
 "The work to which," he said, "we have consecrated our 
 fife, is completed : after long expiatory trials, Italy is restored 
 to herself and to Rome. Here, where our people, after 
 the dispersion of many centuries, finds itself for the first 
 time assembled hi the majesty of its representatives ; here, 
 where we recognize the country of our thoughts, every 
 thing speaks to us of greatness, but every thing at the same 
 time reminds us of our duties : we shall not forget them in 
 the joys of this day. Regenerated by liberty, we shall seek 
 in liberty and order the secret of strength, and a reconcilia- 
 tion between the Church and the State. Having recognized 
 the absolute independence of the spiritual authority, we may 
 be certain that Rome, as the capital of Italy, will continue 
 to be the peaceful and respected seat of the pontificate."
 
 LATER HISTORY. 627 
 
 At the very hour when Victor Emanuel was uttering these 
 words in the presence of the representatives of the people 
 of Italy, the pope, addressing his partisans, spoke in a far 
 different strain. In the words of his official organ, "he 
 condescended to speak of that conciliation blated forth by 
 the impious, who had even ventured to foreshadow it by allu- 
 sive pictures, that so-called conciliation by which the ene- 
 mies of God hope to conquer our noble resistance and disarm 
 our holier rights ; and here, raising his voice, he protested 
 solemnly that no ' conciliation ' would ever be possible be- 
 tween Christ and Belial, between light and darkness, between 
 truth and falsehood : then, with eyes and arms uplifted to 
 heaven, he prayed the Omnipotent to sustain the force of 
 his vicar in the hard struggle, and fortify by divine aid his 
 constancy, offering to sacrifice his life sooner than yield to 
 the insane devices of triumphant iniquity." 
 
 " What," he asked on another occasion, " are certain 
 governments? They are like a pyramid, of which the apex 
 is dependent on a cabinet, which is dependent on an assem- 
 bly, which in its turn is dependent on a thousand demons 
 who have chosen it. All are slaves of sin : the angel of 
 God pursues them, and threatens them with a naked sword." 
 
 On a subsequent occasion, Pius IX., addressing the Col- 
 lege of Cardinals, in reference to the action of the govern- 
 ment in taking possession of the convents, repudiated every 
 thought of a conciliation with the Italian Kingdom. In No- 
 vember, 1873, in an encyclical letter, he declared that Rome 
 had " passed under the sway of men who despise law, who 
 are enemies of religion, who confound all things, human and 
 divine." He insisted that the especial object of the Italian 
 Government was the subversion of the pontifical authority, 
 and the destruction, if possible, of the Catholic religion itself ~ 
 
 In May, 1873, a bill was passed by the Chambers, and 
 accepted by the Senate without modification, in regard to the 
 religious corporations of Rome and the former Papal States.
 
 628 ITALY, 
 
 The government was anxious to avoid an open breach be- 
 tween itself and the papacy. The minister for foreign 
 affairs, in introducing the bill, urged that Italy must recog- 
 nize the cosmopolitan character of the pope's spiritual gov- 
 ernment, and must leave him the necessary machinery of his 
 rule. If the heads of the Clerical party did not find this ma- 
 chinery, they would be able to show that they had a distinct 
 grievance, and had been violently prevented from doing in 
 the sphere of spiritual affairs what the interests of the Church 
 required. This would give them an advantage in their war- 
 fare against the new order of things. The party of the Left 
 was sternly opposed to every concession, insisting that the 
 ministers should cause all traces of theocratic rule to vanish. 
 The bill provided in general for the application to Rome 
 itself of the statutes by which convent property throughout 
 the rest of Italy had already been subjected to the laws of 
 mortmain, and taken by the State for purposes of charitable 
 and educational endowment. Special exception was made, 
 however, on behalf of the establishments belonging to the 
 heads of orders, generals, and superiors of religious associa- 
 tions, having branches in foreign countries. It was felt that 
 to cut off these generalships would inflict a blow at the pope, 
 which his peculiar position at Rome rendered it decent and 
 merciful and also politic to avoid. The government, there- 
 fore, conceived that these ' ' generals ' ' should receive a pen- 
 sion from the State as the pope received his, and that they 
 should be allowed to retain at least a few apartments in the 
 houses where they had so long had their residences. This 
 proposition was sternly opposed, not only by the party of the 
 Left, but by some of the supporters of the government : and 
 eventually a compromise was effected, by which it was settled 
 that the " generals " should receive a pension from the State, 
 amounting, for the whole of them, to four hundred thousand 
 francs yearly, and that they should continue to occupy part 
 of their presen* residences ; but this provision was restricted
 
 LATER HISTORY. 629 
 
 in its application to the present "heads" during their life- 
 time and their continuance in office. The bill passed in the 
 Chambers by a very large majority ; and in the Senate not a 
 single protest was made against it, though the measure was 
 denounced at the Vatican as a spoliation and a sacrilege. 
 On the day that the bill passed the Senate, the pope, in an 
 address to the College of Cardinals, protested against it as 
 an iniquity, and also against the previous occupation of the 
 Papal States, and repudiated every thought of a reconciliation 
 with the Italian Kingdom. A few months later, the gov- 
 ernment began to enforce the law with firmness, but in a way 
 to give as little offense as possible to the representatives of 
 the Church. 
 
 In 1874 the Parliament undertook to provide for the ele- 
 mentary instruction of the young. The Church regarded this 
 as an invasion of her special prerogative. The great diffi- 
 culty was, to dispose of the religious question as connected 
 with the schools. It was proposed that the State should 
 assume control of public instruction, but that there should 
 be unlimited freedom for private schools, and that the eccle- 
 siastical and monastic institutions, which formerly monopo- 
 lized the training of Italian youth, should be reckoned in the 
 latter category. The State itself proclaimed neutrality in all 
 matters connected with creed and worship, professing to give 
 uo religious instruction of any kind. This was the inevitable 
 lugic of a separation between the Church and the State : but, 
 with a view to exonerate the schools from the charge of being 
 immoral and godless, it was provided, that " in all elementary 
 schools, together with the earliest notions respecting the 
 institutions of the State, should be taught the maxims of 
 social justice and morality on which those institutions are 
 founded ; and for that purpose a little manual, approved by 
 the government upon the advice of the superior council oi 
 public instruction, shall be drawn up, and rendered obligatory 
 throughout the kingdom." Finally, the Assembly, while
 
 630 ITALY. 
 
 approving the clause concerning the introduction of this 
 moral manual into the public schools, threw the responsi- 
 bility of dealing with the religious question upon the local 
 authorities, the Communes to have the power of suppressing 
 "eligious instruction in the schools. 
 
 On March 23, 1874, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Victor 
 Emanuel' s accession to the throne was observed as a national 
 holiday, and celebrated with great enthusiasm. The attach- 
 ment of the people to their sovereign, and their gratitude to 
 him for his successful efforts to secure the unity of the country 
 and to redeem it from ecclesiastical rule, found expression in 
 a great variety of ways. In the following year there was great 
 excitement, and, in some quarters, not a little fear of disturb- 
 ance, on account of the presence of Gen. Garibaldi in Rome, 
 he having come to take his seat in Parliament. His mode- 
 rate and patriotic course, however, disappointed the expec- 
 tations of his enemies ; and the government was strengthened 
 by his influence. His address to the workingmen of Rome 
 was noble, inspiring them with thoughts of peace and loy- 
 alty. In 1876, Cardinal Antonelli, the pope's secretary of 
 state, died, and was succeeded by Cardinal Simeoni. 
 
 On the 9th of January, 1878, Victor Emanuel died. As 
 the hour of death approached, the king was anxious to 
 receive the last rites of the Church ; but, as he was an 
 excommunicated person, his private chaplain hesitated to 
 comply with his wish, and would not do so until authority 
 was received from the Vatican. The pope himself, notwith- 
 standing his frequent denunciations of the monarch as a 
 sacrilegious usurper, expressed his regret that his infirmities 
 would not permit him to visit the Quirinal on this solemn 
 occasion. The king's death created a profound sensation 
 in every part of the country, and elicited universal demon- 
 strations of respect and sorrow. 
 
 The Prince of Piedmont, son of Victor Emanuel, suc- 
 ceeded to the throne as Humbert IV. In taking the place
 
 LATER HISTORY. 631 
 
 of his lamented father, the young monarch expressed him- 
 self in language which was received by the people with groat 
 satisfaction. "At this moment," he said, "there is but 
 one consolation possible ; namely, to show ourselves worthy 
 of him, I by following in his footsteps, you by remaining 
 devoted to those civic virtues by the aid of which he suc- 
 ceeded in accomplishing the difficult task of rendering Italy 
 great and united. I shall be mindful of the grand example 
 he gave me of devotion to our country, love of progress, 
 and faith in liberal institutions, which are the pride of mj 
 house. My sole ambition will be to deserve the love of my 
 people." The ceremonies in Rome attending the accession 
 of the new king were imposing ; and the manifestations of 
 popular feeling throughout the country were such as gave 
 assurance that a great crisis had been safely passed, and 
 that the government was strong in the affections of the 
 people. 
 
 The death of the king was followed within a month by 
 that of the pope. He died Feb. 7, 1878. In the Basilica 
 of St. Peter his body lay in state for three days, during 
 which time it was visited by crowds of people. Clad in the 
 pontifical habiliments, it reposed upon a crimson bed, sur- 
 mounted by twelve large candelabra, and so placed that the 
 feet of the deceased pontiff extended beyond the altar-rails 
 of the chapel in which the bed stood, so that the faithful, 
 according to custom, might be able to kiss them. 
 
 Cardinal Pecci succeeded to the pontifical throne as Leo 
 XIII. The coronation ceremonies took place March 3 in 
 the Sistine Chapel. Cardinal Simeoni was succeeded by 
 Cardinal Franchi as the pope's secretary of state. The 
 accession of the new pope has wrought no essential change 
 in the attitude of the Church toward the government of 
 Italy. Leo XIII., no more than Pius IX., is willing to 
 acquiesce in the loss of the temporal power as irrevocable. 
 It is believed by multitudes that the former has really no
 
 632 ITALY 
 
 expectation that that power will ever be restortJ, but that 
 he is constrained by his official advisers to persist in the plea 
 that without it his spiritual authority can not be freely ex- 
 erted. The pretense that the pontiff is a prisoner in the 
 halls of the Vatican is still kept up as a means of exciting 
 the sympathies of the Catholic world ; but not one of the 
 Catholic powers betrays any disposition to interfere in his 
 behalf, and the great body of Catholics in Italy appears to 
 be satisfied with the separation of the Church from the State. 
 The new pope is a little more moderate in his language than 
 his predecessor was, but in other respects the situation is 
 unchanged. The new pope refuses to acknowledge, even 
 indirectly, the authority of the government. He repudiates 
 the modern doctrines of religious toleration, and believes 
 himself commissiomed of God to forbid, in the States once 
 under papal rule, the exercise of every form of religion 
 except that of which he is the representative. And yet 
 when King Humbert, in 1878, narrowly escaped death at 
 the hand of an assassin, this same pope sent a telegram 
 expressing his congratulations. " I pray God," he said, 
 " for the preservation of your majesty's health." 
 
 The terror of Italy is an ignorant suffrage, combined with 
 the indifference to public questions of a vast proportion of 
 those who have the right to vote. For many years, voting 
 was restricted to those who paid taxes to the amount of 
 forty lire. In 1879 Garibaldi came to Rome to start a legal 
 agitation for manhood suffrage. He said that those who 
 obeyed the laws ought to make them ; that those who are 
 obliged to fight in defense of their country should have the 
 right to elect their representatives in Parliament. It is hard 
 to deny such postulates as these, which are all but self-evi- 
 dent ; nevertheless many of the sincerest friends of universal 
 liberty believe it would be dangerous to go so far. Thia 
 question, combined with those of taxation and a depreciated 
 currency, has been a source of great embarrassment to the
 
 LATER HISTORY. 683 
 
 Italian Government. At present, we believe, the tax quali- 
 fication for voters is only ten francs ; but every voter must 
 be able to read and write. How this will work remains, to 
 be seen. Pius IX. at first forbade the faithful to take any 
 part in the elections, but he afterwards removed the rtstiic- 
 tion ; and the* Church party has won some victories in the 
 municipalities. What complications may hereafter arise 
 from this source nobody can foresee ; but it is believed that 
 the foundations of the government are strong, and that the 
 restoration of the temporal power will prove to be impos- 
 sible. 
 
 In the summer of 1881 the First National Exposition of 
 the Art and Industry of United Italy took place in Milan. 
 The results astonished, not only foreigners, but the Italians 
 themselves. The country, under the influence of free insti- 
 tutions, is making rapid advances in material wealth. Agri- 
 culture and manufactures are being stimulated by the air 
 of freedom. In short, Italy, since achieving her political 
 independence, has set herself resolutely to achieve her eman- 
 cipation from dependence upon foreign industry, and to 
 prove, that, in natural productions and native manufactures, 
 she intends to be second to none, and unrivalled in more 
 than one department. 
 
 . The religious changes that have taken place in Italy since 
 the destruction of the temporal power and the introduction 
 of tree institutions are so clearly described in a letter writ- 
 ten by the Rev. Dr. S. F. Smith, an eminent Baptist divine, 
 after careful observation during the year 1882, that it is 
 deemed proper to insert it here. 
 
 " The religious condition of Italy is full of interest, and 
 the Christian work carried on within its limits is full of 
 promise. A careful observer has recently remarked that the 
 whole kingdom is honey combed with evangelizing influences. 
 With the loss of temporal power, the religion of the Roman 
 Catholic Church has also lost much of its significance and
 
 634 ITALY. 
 
 prestige. As the pope can no longer control armies and the 
 police, so he can no longer hold the minds of men in subjec- 
 tion ; and they are more and more sliding away from him. 
 The prefect of Rome has recently said publicly that the peo- 
 ple would rather see the imperial city laid in ashes than re- 
 duced again under the power of the Supreme Pontiff. The 
 latter, in every recent allocution, confesses the waning of 
 popery, and bewails his inability to resist its decline. The 
 childish sport of the carnival in Rome, the present year, is 
 said to have been a great f alling-off from former like occa- 
 sions. Some of the newspapers pronounced it a total failure. 
 It is to be hoped the minds of the people are becoming edu- 
 cated to higher things. There are said to be hundreds of 
 priests who are convinced of the error and folly of the super- 
 stitions they teach, and who would abandon the Romish 
 Church at once if they could be assured of any method of 
 getting a living. Many of the churches are but sparingly 
 visited by the people. Almost the entire population devote 
 themselves on the sabbath and on feast-days to an abun- 
 dance of recreation, but the religious element of the sabbath 
 and the saints' days is very generally held in abeyance. 
 Many, especially of the better-educated classes, have sunk 
 into a thoughtless indiff erentism : some have fallen into athe- 
 ism. A few, with tender spirit, not knowing what is truth, 
 still blindly follow their blind leaders, endeavoring to extract 
 consolation from the empty forms of the faith which they 
 have inherited, and which they have been taught to accept 
 with unthinking submission. 
 
 " Such is the field which the gospel of Protestantism and 
 of the New Testament is entering. It is now, happily, an 
 open field, so far as legal restrictions are concerned ; although 
 converts to the gospel of Christ, undoubtedly, have to meet 
 much private persecution. But the whole country is opened 
 to evangelical effort, and at many points the word of God 
 is taking effect. It might not be prudent to record for pub-
 
 LATER HISTORY. 635 
 
 lie information all that could be said. It :s enough to know 
 that the scriptures have found their way into thousands of 
 families ; that hundreds of children are taught in Christian 
 schools ; that the gospel is preached every sabbath day, 
 openly, in many centers of population and influence ; and 
 churches of Christ have been organized. Several of the 
 Christian denominations are interested in the work of Italian 
 evangelization, and have planted tbeir banners on the ram- 
 parts, where they propose to hold the fort till He whose 
 right it is shall reign without a rival, and all His enemies be 
 subdued under His feet. 
 
 " This is what I found of Protestant effort in the imperial 
 city of Rome. The English Wesleyans ; the American 
 Methodists ; the Southern Baptist Convention of the United 
 States ; the English Baptists under Mr. "Wall, and a second 
 congregation where Mr. Grassi preaches to a large audience ; 
 the American and English Episcopal congregations ; the Ital- 
 ian Free Church, under Gavazzi, with schools for children, 
 and a theological seminary under a Scotch professor ; the 
 Scotch Presbyterian Church ; and a young ladies' school of 
 more than a hundred pupils, constitute the advanced guard 
 of the army of the Lord of hosts, going forth to the conquest 
 of this ancient and classic land. To these are to be added 
 various schools, mothers' meetings, weekly conferences and 
 lectures, hospital work, beggars' meetings and other institu- 
 tions, Bible-readers, colporteurs, etc. Mr. Wall has a print- 
 ing-office in connection with his work, and is able to sell 
 Italian Testaments, well printed and bound, for the sum of 
 six cents. I found Bibles and Testaments among the books 
 for sale by the street- peddlers. He has a church in Rome of 
 more than a hundred converted Italians, men and women, 
 and frequent baptisms." 
 
 As we close this chapter, news reaches us of the death, on 
 June 2, 1882, of the great Italian patriot and hero, Giuseppe 
 Garibaldi, aged seventy-six. His death, like that of Maz-
 
 636 ITALY. 
 
 zini ten years before, has deeply stiiTed the hearts of the 
 Italian people. His faults were many, but he endeared him- 
 self to his country by his self-sacrificing devotion to her 
 welfare ; and his will be one of the great names in Italian 
 history,
 
 SECOND APPENDED. 
 HISTORY SINCE THE YEAR 1888. 
 
 ITALY JOINS THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE. SCHEMES OF COLONIZATIOH, ASSAB BAT, 
 ERETRIA, MASSOWAH. BATTLES OF DOGALI AND ADOWAH. REFORM OF FRAN- 
 CHISE. OTHER LEGISLATION. IRREDENTISIC. AGRARIAN TROUBLES. SICILIAN 
 EETOLUTION.-CHOLERA. EARTHQUAKE, MisuHDERSTANDiNe WITH FRANCE 
 ABOUT TUNIS. -THE BANK SCANDALS. CHURCH AND STATE. PRESENT CON- 
 DITION OF THE ITALIAN PEOPLE. CONCLUSION. 
 
 T^HE year of Garibaldi's death, recorded in the last 
 * chapter, was also the year when Italy entered 
 upon a new era in her relations with foreign powers. 
 Although no record of the fact was published, it was 
 subsequently known that Italy entered into an alliance 
 with Germany and Austria-Hungary concerning the 
 attitude to be assumed toward France and Russia. 
 Connected with this event was the colonization policy 
 pursued for the next fourteen years by the government, 
 which sent expedition after expedition to Abyssinia and 
 Western Africa. This will be noticed later. The for- 
 mation of the Triple Alliance, though it would bring to 
 Italy the help of two powerful nations in case of war 
 with France, was strongly opposed by a large popular 
 party, the Irredentists. The results of this treaty have 
 been in some respects very unfortunate for Italy. By 
 the terms of the agreement all the contracting parties 
 to the treaty were obliged to maintain large standing 
 armies. The year 1882, also, saw fresh activities in 
 the building up of the navy. The great expense of 
 this military and naval enterprise has had the result 
 of so increasing the taxes in Italy as to be almost intol-
 
 6d8 ITALY. 
 
 erable to the middle class and peasantry, and has nat- 
 urally driven enormous numbers of the people to emi- 
 grate to France, where the price of labor was higher, 
 and particularly to the United States of America. The 
 Triple Alliance was not published until 1888. The Ger- 
 man government was then forced to reveal the text of 
 its treaty with Austria, which formed part of the alli- 
 ance, in order to quiet the public apprehension as to the 
 apparently warlike and menacing attitude of Russia. 
 The text of the treaty with Italy was not made public 
 even at that time, but it was understood that if France 
 should attack Italy or Germany she would find them 
 both allied against her. If Russia and France should 
 join to make war upon any one of the three parties 
 to the Triple Alliance, the former coalition would 
 be obliged to deal with Germany, Italy and Austria 
 combined. 
 
 Much of the interest in the history of Italy since 1882 
 centers in her unfortunate African policy of coloniza- 
 tion. In 1869 an Italian steamship company bought 
 the bay of Assab in the Red Sea to the east of Abys- 
 sinia. In 1882 the Italian government succeeded in 
 getting certain rights defined, concerning the country 
 surrounding the bay, and in getting the privilege of 
 constructing fortifications there to protect the Italian 
 colony which had sprung up. Assab was made a free 
 port, and the government could concede land to com- 
 panies. In 1885 an expedition, military and naval, 
 was sent to the west shore of the Red Sea to found a 
 colony there between the port of Massowah and the 
 French colony at Obock. Italy's aim was thereby to 
 gain a footing in Africa, which she thought would be, 
 as many colonies are and all should be, a source of 
 wealth. It would tend to divert the stream of emigra- 
 tion into lands within the sphere of Italian influence. 
 England at the same time agreed to help Italy found
 
 HISTORY SINCE THE YEAR 1882. 639 
 
 colonies on the west coast of Africa, as well as stand 
 by her in case any trouble arose between Tripoli and 
 Italy. In return for this, Italy was to side with Eng- 
 land in her enterprises in Egypt. The expedition oc- 
 cupied Massowah, and, though immediately questioned 
 by Turkey as to what were their intentions on the Red 
 Sea, succeeded in showing that there was nothing un- 
 precedented in occupying the port in a commercial spirit 
 and not as conquering. 
 
 In 1886 another expedition was sent under Count 
 Giupietro Porro, and met with a disastrous fate at the 
 hands of the Abyssinian natives. His mission, though 
 really one of peace, was, on account of its too military 
 appearance, misunderstood by the emir of the district 
 of Harrar in which the Italians had settled some years 
 before. The whole force of Count Porro was accord- 
 ingly surrounded in a narrow pass, separated from the 
 protection of the coast, and massacred. 
 
 In 1887 Count Salimbeni conducted a scientific mis- 
 sion into the interior of Abyssinia. His plans were 
 frustrated by a military demonstration in Massowah on 
 the part of the Italian troops there. This irritated the 
 natives, who captured the count and demanded the 
 immediate evacuation of Massowah. A few days later 
 the battle of Dogali took place, which cost the Italians 
 23 officers and 407 soldiers. 
 
 In the following year Italy found herself on the verge 
 of a disagreement with France over a brush between 
 the consuls in Massowah concerning the tax which had 
 been imposed on foreigners by the Italian government. 
 Bad news also came that another Italian force had been 
 destroyed by an Abyssinian leader, and that the Sultan 
 of Zanzibar was in a quarrelsome mood. 
 
 The year 1889 was marked by the treaty between 
 King Menelek of Shoa, a division of Abyssinia, and the 
 Italian representative; the treaty, among other pro-
 
 640 ITALY. 
 
 visions, defining the boundary between the Italian 
 colony and Abyssinia. In the following year this col- 
 ony was, by a royal decree, given the name of Eretria, 
 and in 1891 an agreement was signed by the English 
 representative in Rome, Lord Dufferin, and the Italian 
 prime minister denning the Italian sphere in Abyssinia. 
 
 In 1894 Colonel Baratieri defeated a large force of 
 dervishes at Kassala, their chief stronghold in Eastern 
 Soudan; and in the following year severely defeated 
 Ras Mangascia, who had attacked him with a large 
 force of dervishes, a victory which was repeated in a 
 few months at another place. These victories were 
 to a certain extent offset by the victorious onslaught 
 of the Shoan army, in December of the same year, 
 under King Menelek, upon a force of Italians and 
 allied natives. 
 
 Italy was destined, however, to receive a severe blow 
 in her East African possessions, in the defeat of the 
 troops of General Baratieri at Adowa. Baratieri was 
 but newly made a general, and the rules of the Italian 
 army made it impossible for him to continue any longer 
 than necessary in command of so large an army as had 
 been assembled in Italian East Africa. There were 
 44,000 men, including the allies levied from the natives. 
 General Baldissera had been sent from Italy to take 
 command. Baratieri, realizing that his chance of mak- 
 ing a great victory all his own would, upon the arrival 
 of the other general, be gone, resolved to attack the 
 Abyssinians under Menelek. They were 80,000 strong 
 and well armed. Prudence, which should have coun- 
 seled him to wait for a better opportunity, was over- 
 come by the thought of possible glory. On March 1, 
 1896, Baratieri advanced against the Shoans, but met 
 with a terrible repulse. Fifteen hundred Italians were 
 taken prisoners, two generals were killed. After this 
 disaster, however, a treaty of peace was arranged with
 
 HISTORY SINCE THE YEAR 1882. 641 
 
 Menelek which liberated all prisoners, assured the free- 
 dom of Ethiopia, and called for an amicable settlement 
 of the boundaries. General Baratieri was tried by 
 court-martial and acquitted of every charge except 
 that he committed a grave error of judgment. 
 
 The flower of the Italian army had been crushed, 
 and the news of this calamity had a bad effect upon 
 popular feeling toward the government. At Milan, 
 Turin, and other large cities, the sentiment against 
 the colonial policy, which had terminated so disas- 
 trously, rose to such a pitch that troops destined for 
 the relief of the army in Africa had to be sent off from 
 the Italian garrisons during the night, so as to attract 
 as little attention as possible. The Crispi ministry fell, 
 and Rudini was again called to take the Ministry of the 
 Interior. In 1897 the new Italian boundary was pro- 
 posed by Menelek, and, although it diminished the 
 area of the Italian possessions, it was nevertheless ac- 
 cepted by Italy. Kassala, won in 1894, was given up. 
 Such is the unhappy outcome of the policy of coloniza- 
 tion on the part of the Italian government. 
 
 In 1882 the question of reform in the franchise was 
 taken up and a bill was introduced into the parliament 
 to confer the privilege of voting upon all Italians of the 
 age of twenty-one years and over who knew how to 
 read and write. In addition to these conditions, they 
 had to show that they had received the lawful amount 
 of elementary education; unless they were members of 
 academies of sciences, letters or arts; members of cham- 
 bers of commerce or of agricultural societies; professors 
 or instructors in any branch of learning; possessors of 
 university degrees, and many other professions which it 
 would here be tedious to mention. These exceptions fur- 
 ther included the army and entire civil service and rail- 
 road employes. In addition to the above, the franchise 
 was given to all those who paid taxes to the amount
 
 642 ITALY. 
 
 of 19.80 lire (-= about $3.80). The bill became a law 
 on April 28, 1882. In 1883 a series of new laws was 
 adopted giving autonomy to the Italian universities and 
 handing over secondary education to provincial author- 
 ities ; reserving, however, to the state the complete con- 
 trol of all primary education. But legislation in Italy, 
 as in other constitutional monarchies, suffers in the 
 National Assemblies from the opposition of its many 
 political parties. The power to make laws in Italy is 
 given to the king, assisted by two parliaments, the 
 Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, the former con- 
 sisting of members appointed for life by the king, and 
 of princes of the royal house. The Senators are not 
 limited. The Chamber of Deputies is re-elected every 
 five years by the suffrage known as scrutin de liste. 
 In this chamber every 57,000 people in Italy are rep- 
 resented by one deputy. The two chief political parties 
 in the Chamber of Deputies are the Ministerial Left and 
 the Opposition Left or Pentarchy, which has been weak- 
 ened by discords between the deputies composing it so 
 that the ministerial party has usually had the majority 
 and the controlling voice in the legislation. To Signor 
 Depretis, who died in 1887, is due in large part the 
 firmness of the ministerial position, and his successors 
 have endeavored to carry out his principles. The plans 
 of the ministerial party are often hindered and delayed 
 by the demonstrations of a popular party by the name 
 of Irredentists. 
 
 Irredentism, or the political sentiment which favors 
 Italia Irredenta, or "unredeemed Italy," is directed 
 against the alliance with Austria and Germany, par- 
 ticularly the former, on account of feelings of hatred 
 aroused in the war with that country. The Irredent- 
 ists, in addition to their opposition to the Triple Alli- 
 ance, have a great desire to regain for Italy the Italian- 
 speaking provinces which were taken from her in the
 
 HISTORY SINCE THE TEAR 1882. 643 
 
 last war by Austria, and even the district of Ticino, 
 which has not belonged to Italy for hundreds of years, 
 and is now a canton of Switzerland, situated to the' 
 south of the Alps, and extending from the St. Gotthard 
 Pass almost to Como. It should be said, however, that 
 the inhabitants of Ticino, though they speak the lan- 
 guage of Italy, are in no wise anxious to return to her. 
 The Irredentists on the other hand, who look upon this 
 part of the country with longing eyes, are a strong 
 party in Italy and are numerous in Ticino. Trieste is 
 another province that the Irredentists would like to see 
 returned to Italy. The Italians in this part of the Aus- 
 trian territory are in the majority of the population 
 only on the seacoast. In 1889 the estate of an Italian 
 who died in Trieste was taken possession of by the 
 Austrian officials. This caused extreme jealousy on 
 the part of the Irredentists in that city, and was fol- 
 lowed by much more stringent measures of repres- 
 sion against them, taken by the Austria-Hungarian 
 government. 
 
 The foreign policy of Italy, during the period under 
 review in this appendix, has been directed not alone to 
 the colonization of parts of Africa, but to the strength- 
 ening of Italy's interests in Tunis. France had agreed 
 in 1884 that the relations between Italy and the Bey of 
 Tunis should remain unaltered even after the with- 
 drawal of privileges of consulship in that country. The 
 death of a Tunisian general, Hussein Pasha, in Florence, 
 was followed by the French consul's presuming to take 
 possession of his papers. A Tunisian lawyer was 
 named by the authorities in Florence to receive them, 
 but the French consul would not give them up. The 
 lawyer in his turn got the help of the police, forced his 
 way into the house of the French consul and appropri- 
 ated the documents. This incident recalled the occu- 
 pation of Tunis by the French and their pushing the
 
 644 ITALY. 
 
 Italians out of the country. The question of interna- 
 tional law immediately arose whether the documents in 
 question really belonged to the custody of the French 
 consul, and whether the rights of France as a nation 
 were not infringed by the action of the Italian magis- 
 trate and lawyer. 
 
 Italy has suffered less, however, at the hands of 
 other nations than from the unfortunate management 
 of her internal affairs. Even if her colonies in Africa 
 were not as prosperous there as could be wished she 
 certainly got a foothold. 
 
 But when looking at her internal history we see that 
 Italy has been visited during the period now under 
 consideration by numerous calamities for which she 
 deserves the commiseration of the civilized world. Im- 
 portant among the misfortunes of the Italian peasantry 
 is the agrarian trouble. In 1885 the northern provinces 
 suffered from a famine, and uprisings of the starving 
 peasants were with difficulty suppressed. Particularly 
 was this the case in Mantua and in Lombardy, where 
 the field laborers struck and were incited by socialists 
 to commit violent acts. A report upon the agricultural 
 state of the country, ordered by the parliament in 1877, 
 had shown that the profits of farming were steadily 
 declining and that the difficulties of successful agri- 
 culture were increasing. Disease of silk worms con- 
 tributed to render the production of silk small, and 
 blight had fallen upon the fruits and vines. Importa- 
 tion of silk and rice had lowered the prices of these 
 commodities. Harder than all this to bear was the 
 enormous taxation upon land. Twenty-two different 
 kinds of taxes were levied upon land, and these were, 
 in northern Italy, more than could be borne, the chief 
 burden being the municipal tax, sometimes nearly ten 
 times as much as the State tax. In the province of 
 Cremona an instance of excessive taxation showed an
 
 HISTORY SINCE THB YEAR 1883. 645 
 
 assessment of more than one-half the revenue of the 
 property. Bread riots occurred in Milan in 1886, and 
 much damage was done to shops and other buildings 
 by workmen, who thus protested against the new octroi 
 duties. In the same year the land-tax was subjected to 
 a complete reconstruction, although the finances of the 
 nation were and remained in an unfortunately low con- 
 dition. New disturbances arose in Pavia over the 
 strike of laborers. In 1889 Lombardy was the scene 
 of still greater rioting on the part of ignorant peasants, 
 who had been incited to make violent demonstration 
 which ended in robbery and murder. Tariff war with 
 France had so reduced the price of wine as to cause 
 great suffering among the vine growers. In 1890 
 workers in the rice fields of Ravenna appealed for 
 more wages, but were answered only by the calling 
 out of the military. The soldiers were stoned by the 
 laborers, who in turn were fired upon and several killed. 
 In 1893 the peasantry in Sicily arose. Sicily, though 
 one of the most fertile regions of the world, and for so 
 many centuries the source of the grain supply of the 
 Roman empire, was at this time so mismanaged as to 
 produce almost nothing, and the poor people were starv- 
 ing to death. Here again the taxes added to the bur- 
 dens, and profits were annihilated by the number of 
 hands through which every commodity had to pass. 
 The uprising in Sicily finally assumed such grave pro- 
 portions that the soldiers were called out and several 
 war vessels were placed in the harbor of Palermo. A 
 state of siege was kept up in Palermo. The following 
 year all Sicily was under martial law, and the insurrec- 
 tion passed over to Calabria, Ancona, and Lombardy 
 on the mainland, and took the form of violent attacks 
 upon the quarters of the military. As this movement 
 was on the point of spreading over the whole of Italy, 
 it was successfully checked by the royal authorities.
 
 646 ITALY 
 
 This just saved the deposition of royalty for the estab~ 
 lishment of a republic in Italy. In 1895 the condition 
 of the Sicilian peasants was no better. Their burdens 
 were heavier and their strength to bear them less. The 
 sulphur and pyrites mines, which had given employ- 
 ment before to numerous miners, had now to be left 
 unworked, the products being driven out of the market 
 by the importation of these minerals from America. 
 This drove the miners to the fields, which could not 
 afford subsistence to the peasants already engaged 
 there. In 1896 the people of Sardinia were suffering 
 as badly as the Sicilians. They were forced to eat 
 grass, and were at the same time hounded by the tax- 
 gatherers; so that they were driven to either one of two 
 evils, emigration, or, in case of failure in that direction, 
 to crime. In other parts of Italy brigandage had re- 
 vived. A German prince was robbed by the brigands 
 even at the outskirts of the Imperial City. 
 
 Throughout this period increased demands for money 
 were made by the government. The costly steps taken 
 in joining the Triple Alliance and in the fatal scheme 
 of colonizing Africa could not be retaken, and the 
 country was becoming worse and worse involved. The 
 government was blamed, too, for the costliness of its 
 fetes in Rome and Naples. The Roman festival in 
 1895 was held at the same time that the peasants in 
 Sicily were starving. Much dissatisfaction had been 
 expressed with the expenses attending the marriage of 
 the Crown Prince in 1896, and one member of the 
 parliament proposed "that as the monarchy was use- 
 less its maintenance by the nation was unnecessary, 
 and that the king's civil list should be reduced.'* 
 
 In 1897 the agrarian troubles again broke out, the 
 price of bread steadily went higher and higher, and 
 the contadini in various parts of the country, chiefly 
 the vine growers, took forcible possession of untilled
 
 HISTORY SINCE THE YEAE 1883. 647 
 
 estates in Latium. They rushed in upon pasture lands 
 and commenced to sow them with seed. The blood 
 that would have been spilled by the soldiery who were 
 then called in was saved only by allowing many of the 
 peasants to remain on the estates in the capacity of 
 farmer tenants. 
 
 In the same year the distress of the country was 
 marked by a protest of butchers against the increasing 
 consumption of horse flesh. The only efforts on the 
 part of the government to remedy the state of affairs 
 was to help large numbers of the contadini to emi- 
 grate to the Dobrudscha. This was not the first time, 
 moreover, that the government re&o/ted to encourage- 
 ment of emigration as a means of lessening the poverty 
 at home. In the same year the shopkeepers in Rome 
 became aware that a large portion of the tax upon per- 
 sonal property had, through negligence or corruption 
 on the part of the tax gatherers, failed to be collected, 
 that a new tax had been imposed which would fall 
 upon them, and still more heavily than the other. 
 They decided to make a public protest and petition the 
 government to remove the supplementary tax. A day, 
 October llth, was appointed on which all shops should 
 be closed and delegates from the shopkeepers should 
 march behind a grand procession to the place where 
 they were to be received by Signor di Rudini, the Prime 
 Minister. This procession was the occasion of a riot in 
 which the troops fired upon the people. This caused 
 great alarm to the government and prompted them to 
 admonish their tax-collectors to be more careful in the 
 future. 
 
 Italy has been an unfortunate nation in the last fif- 
 teen years, having been visited both by cholera and 
 earthquake. In 1884, during the exposition at Turin, 
 cholera decimated many villages in Tuscany and Pied- 
 mont, and visited Naples with direful ravages; such,
 
 648 ITALY. 
 
 indeed, that there was no way of disposing of the dead 
 fast enough and the bodies were allowed to remain in 
 the streets. Even the sick were abandoned, as in the 
 great plague in London two centuries ago. As many 
 as three hundred died in a week. In September the 
 disease had reached Genoa. In 1894 Southern Italy 
 suffered from a terrible earthquake. In the provinces 
 of Catanzaro, Calabria and Reggio the repeated shocks 
 destroyed whole villages, and many hundred families 
 were crushed beneath falling buildings. Thousands 
 were made homeless. An official was sent to the dev- 
 astated country by the government for the purpose of 
 rendering assistance. He was empowered to grant the 
 non-payment of taxes by particularly needy persons. 
 
 In the year 1888 a fresh incident occurred which con- 
 tributed to a misunderstanding with France. As early 
 as 1881 hard feeling was aroused between the two na- 
 tions by the riots which had occurred in Marseilles, in 
 which some Italian subjects took part. In the same 
 year a rupture had taken place in Tunis between the 
 French and Italian consuls there; and in 1888 an in- 
 fringement of international law on Italy's part, in the 
 matter of the action of her Tunisian consul, was fol- 
 lowed by the withdrawal of the Italian and French 
 ambassadors from Paris and Rome respectively, with- 
 out, however, leading to any military display. The 
 irritation against France, which has already been 
 spoken of, will have to be mentioned again in speak- 
 ing of the relations between the Pope and the King; 
 the former, as will be seen, having more sympathizers 
 in France than in Italy in his desire to be released from 
 his captivity in the Vatican and to regain once more 
 the temporal power which the Church has lost. 
 
 In all her internal and international projects Italy 
 has been hampered by the state of her finances. The 
 people, taxed beyond endurance, have yet the church
 
 HISTORY SINCE THE YEAR 1882. 649 
 
 to support, as the majority of them are Roman Cath- 
 olics; and social conditions are such that pauperism, 
 beggary and labor troubles are increasing instead of 
 diminishing. 
 
 A source of the financial weakness of the country 
 was the corruption of those who had the direction of 
 the national banks of Italy, six of which are empow- 
 ered by the government to issue bank notes. An in- 
 vestigation into the methods of managing these banks 
 was called for in 1893, ostensibly as a precautionary 
 measure taken before granting a six years' renewal of 
 the privilege of issuing notes. It was at the same time 
 known that the Banca Romana had gone far beyond 
 its legal prerogatives in issuing notes sixty-four million 
 lire in excess of what was permitted by the govern- 
 ment. The investigation showed that several member* 
 of parliament and others had been allowed by the bank 
 to open false accounts, and that counterfeiting had been 
 carried on by the president of the bank. Several mem- 
 bers of the Cabinet, including Giolitti, Rudini and 
 Crispi, were said to have received large sums, illegally, 
 from the bank. The king is believed to have devoted 
 four million lire of his own personal property to aid 
 public men in paying their debts and thus averting 
 the great bank scandal. Other banks were implicated, 
 and a criminal court sitting in June, 1893, sentenced 
 the cashier of the bank of Naples, and another private 
 individual, to a long term of imprisonment. In the 
 following year Bernardo Taulongo, governor of the 
 Banca Romana, was tried for the excessive issue of 
 notes. In 1895 the ex-premier, Giolitti, who had given 
 evidence against Crispi in the bank scandals, was ac- 
 cused of having come illegally by his information. His 
 appeal for a trial by the Senate was granted, resulting 
 in the abandonment of action against him; and in 1897 
 the charges against Crispi were withdrawn on the legal
 
 650 ITALY. 
 
 technicality that a minister could not be tried after 
 leaving office for what he had done while in office. 
 
 In 1892 Italy and the United States suffered a diplo- 
 matic rupture in which the ministers of the respective 
 countries left Washington and Rome. On March 14, 
 1891, several Italian subjects were lynched by a mob 
 at New Orleans, La. This incident was soon closed, 
 however, by the offer to Italy of $25,000 on the part of 
 the United States Secretary of State, which sum was 
 to be devoted to the families of the victims. This 
 money was promptly accepted, and Ministers Porter 
 and Baron Pava immediately returned to their respec- 
 tive offices. 
 
 The Church and State came to blows in 1886, in the 
 persons of clerical and royal sympathizers, on the occa- 
 sion of a procession of Liberals in Naples in celebration 
 of the entry of Italian troops into Rome. This was 
 followed by anti-church riots in many of the larger 
 Italian cities. Laws were also passed making it crim- 
 inal for any churchman to use words in his preaching 
 which could be construed as against the interests of 
 the unity of Italy under King Humbert. In 1889 Leo 
 XIII. made an appeal to all the European courts to 
 aid him to regain his temporal sovereignty. It had 
 been impossible in previous years to make any rap- 
 prochement between the Church and the Italian State, 
 and in view of this the Pope asked help from the other 
 European nations. This was refused by all of them, 
 even by France, which was supposed more than the 
 others to favor the Roman Church. A great popular 
 expression of hostility to the Pope's request took place 
 in Rome this year, in the shape of a procession cele- 
 brating the unveiling of a statue of Giordano Bruno, 
 whom the Church burned in 1600. 
 
 The year 1891 attracted attention to the question of 
 the relation of the Papacy to the Italian government.
 
 HISTORY SINCE THE YEAR 1888. 651 
 
 The present Pope, Leo XIII., who succeeded Pius IX. 
 in 1878, though not less zealous than his predecessor 
 for the return of the temporal power to the Church of 
 Rome, has been more politic and less demonstrative 
 than Pius IX. The fact that the Pope does not recog- 
 nize the rights of the present king of Italy, and that 
 the Catholic clergy in that country were forbidden by 
 the head of the church to avail themselves of the fran- 
 chise granted by the royal government in national 
 elections, places Italy, in which there are ninety-nine 
 per cent Catholics and one per cent Protestants, in a 
 curious position. The present Pope has undertaken 
 a diplomatic compromise in removing the prohibition 
 of the clericals to vote in national elections and to hold 
 seats in parliament, on the condition that he will be 
 aided hi regaining possession of the city of Home, 
 either by the complete removal of the Italian govern- 
 ment to some other city, or by the exclusive papal use 
 of the city for certain periods of the year in which the 
 Pope could hold court. The good will of France in 
 this direction was gained; but in Italy an expression 
 of popular hatred between French and Italians, on the 
 occasion of a pilgrimage of a number of French Cath- 
 olics to Rome in October, 1891, precipitated a practical 
 consideration of the compromise of the Pope. The 
 French pilgrims spat upon the register of visitors in 
 the Pantheon where the body of Victor Emmanuel lies. 
 They also cursed the present king and shouted "Long 
 live the Pope." This was the signal for a strong anti- 
 French demonstration in Rome. The affair was ter- 
 minated, however, by the arrest of the insulting persons 
 and their deportation to the French frontier. 
 
 In the spring of 1898 the increased poverty and 
 inability of the masses to buy bread led to great dis- 
 tress and manifestations of popular discontent in Rome, 
 Pisa, Naples, Ravenna, Ban, and other places, where
 
 658 ITALY. 
 
 bread riots of serious nature occurred. On May 2d, 
 three rioters were killed by a volley from the troops in 
 a place called Bognia Cavallo, and on the following 
 day the government called upon reserve troops to sup- 
 press the rioters in many other parts of the country. 
 This was shortly followed by the proclamation of a 
 state of siege in the province of Florence. So great 
 was the despair of the people that the Swiss govern- 
 ment had to take decisive steps to prevent bands of 
 the poor people from crossing the Italian frontier into 
 Switzerland. 
 
 Such, then, is the condition of Italy at the close of 
 1898. Cleft in twain by the two irreconcilable ele- 
 ments headed by the King and the Pope, administered 
 by a corrupt corps of public officials, which has even 
 contaminated the banking system of the country, the 
 people ground down to the earth by oppressive and 
 unjust taxation, labor unable to get its proper remu- 
 neration even by a strong protection of native indus- 
 tries, bitter feelings against France, and, among the 
 Irredentists, against Austria, and the wounds of her 
 African campaigns still fresh, Italy presents a pitiable 
 spectacle. What wonder that her subjects emigrate, 
 and are even encouraged thereto by the government? 
 Of national excitement there is too much, and of true 
 patriotism too little. The rich in many cases either do 
 not understand or deliberately ignore the condition 
 of the poor. The question of Marie Antoinette, "If 
 they can't get bread why don't they eat cake?" is 
 asked to-day by the Italian wealthy classes. Anarch- 
 ism has daily to be put down by the government, and 
 Socialism is steadily increasing. To some minds it is 
 only a question of time when the constitutional mon- 
 archy will give place to an Italian Republic.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 j battle ot, 282. 
 ADOLPHUB, policy of, 414 
 
 makes a treaty with the 
 
 rors, 414 
 death of, 415. 
 ADRIAS made emperor, 389. 
 
 travels of, through his empire, 1 
 has Carthage rebuilt, 840. 
 character of, 340. 
 lines written by, 841. 
 adopts Marcus Aurelius, 341. 
 death of, 341. 
 
 ADRIAN VI., made pope, 486. 
 death of, 4S7. 
 proclaimed emperor, 371. 
 death of, 871. 
 HAS, kills Latinus, 19. 
 
 the god, brought to Rome, 79. 
 ide the capital of the confed- 
 eracy, 156. 
 AFRICA, rebellion in, 171. 
 
 termination of the war in, 234. 
 dominions of Caesar Augustus in 
 
 northern, 296. 
 AGRARIAN LAW, enactment of the, 37. 
 
 an, proposed by Dentatus, 
 
 repeal of the, 192. 
 AGP.IOOLA, attempts of, to civilize Britain, 
 
 AG RIP PIN A, fourth wife of Claudius, 812. 
 
 poisons Claudius, 314 
 
 plots the death of Nero, 817. 
 
 narrow escape of, 818. 
 
 death of, 320. 
 
 Aix LA CHAPBLLE, treaty of, 496 
 ALAEIO, attacks and ravages Ittuy, 413. 
 sacks Rome, 413. 
 death of, 414. 
 ALBA LONGA, site of, 19. 
 ALBANS, subjection of the, to the Bomans, 
 
 ALBINUB, appointed co-emperor, 858. 
 
 death of, 854 
 ALBCNI, conquers Italy, 426. 
 
 death of, 427. 
 
 ALESSANDRIA, constitution of, 544 
 ALEXANDER (the Great), conquests of, 67. 
 ALKXANDEK (Severus) appointed king, 860. 
 
 murder of, 868. 
 ALEXANDER VI., opens Rome to the French, 
 
 ALEXANDRIA, destruction of the library of, 
 ALPS, passage of Hannibal over the, 105. 
 
 6 3 
 
 AMADEUS II., duke of Piedmont, 4& 
 
 successes of, 495. 
 
 exteLsi-m of territory by, 49ft 
 
 death of, 41, J. 
 AUADBUS III. (Victor) made grand duke, 
 
 AMADECG VIII., mado duke of Savoy, 478. 
 AMATIITS, conspiracy of, 252. 
 
 death of, 252. 
 
 AMPHITHEATER, buildirj of the, 807. 
 AMCLIUS, slain by Romulus and Remus, 90 
 ANDREW, character of, 460. 
 
 death of, 4:i. 
 ANTHEMHTB, sent as emperor to Rome, 418. 
 
 death -t, -118. 
 ANTIOOH, declares for Cosar, 221. 
 
 (of Syria) conquered by the 
 
 Romane, 131 
 ANTONINUS, made emperor, 843. 
 
 adopts MCJ-CUO Anrelins, 842. 
 acts and character of, 842. 
 death of, 343. 
 AuTOimm, chosen consul, 182. 
 
 pursues Catiline and defeat* 
 
 him, 180. 
 counsel for the accusers ot 
 
 Milo, 1?7. 
 ASTONIUB (M.) et Brunducinm, 215. 
 made regent c-r Rome, 226- 
 character of, 226. 
 AHTONira (Titus), character of, 841. 
 reign and death of, 842. 
 ANTONICB, see ilso Aurclius (Marcus). 
 ANTONY (Lucins) raises a revolt, 272. 
 
 defeated by Octavins, 272. 
 ATONT (Marc), children of, made slave* 
 
 offers the crown jo Caesar, 241. 
 rallies the people, 248. 
 reads Csesar'8 will, 249. 
 convenes the senate, 249. 
 delivers the eulogy on Ceesr, 250. 
 accused by Cicero of treachery, 
 
 252. 
 rejects the advances of Octavln* 
 
 253 
 
 with Dolabells rules Rome, 254 
 convenes the senate, 254. 
 laws of, 254 
 
 goes to Brundustnm, 256. 
 marches to Rome, 257. 
 denounces Octavius as a tnritoi 
 
 257. 
 
 desertion of the troops of, 26T. 
 retires to Gaul, 257. 
 rejects the terms of the senate, fioa 
 declared a rebel, 268.
 
 654 
 
 INDBT, 
 
 AnTONY(Marc) (continued) defeated by 
 
 Brutus and Octavius, 260. 
 letter of, to Octavius, 260. 
 rallies his forces near Nice, 260. 
 member of the second triumvi- 
 rate, 263. 
 
 agreement of, with Octavins, 274. 
 extortions of, in Asia, 271. 
 renews the triumvirate for five 
 
 years, 275. 
 In Leucopolis, 278. 
 sends Octavius to Koine, 278. 
 rivalry between Octaviusand, 278. 
 marriage of, with Cleopatra, 279. 
 camp of. ic Samoa, 279. 
 army of, 280. 
 
 assisted by Cleopatra, 281. 
 defeat of, at Actiuui, 282. 
 returns to Alexandria with Cleo- 
 patra, 283. 
 attacks Octavius near Alexandria, 
 
 285. 
 is ruined by Cleopatra's treachery, 
 
 285. 
 
 death ot, 287. 
 APKR, history of, 381. 
 APPI AN WAY, construction of the, 76. 
 APULIA, Hannibal establishes his winter 
 
 quarters at, 118. 
 rebellion in, 184. 
 
 ABOADIUS, emperor of the east, 412. 
 ABOHIMEDES, defense of Syracuse by, 119. 
 ABISTOCEACY, oppression by the, 88. 
 strength of the, 55. 
 manners of the, 144. 
 establishment of the, 178. 
 ABUNS, kills Brutus, 29. 
 ABOANIUB (son of ^Eneas) kills and suc- 
 ceeds his father, 19. 
 ABCITLUM, siege of, 156. 
 ATALARIC, life and death of, 422. 
 ATHENIO, revolt of, 152. 
 ATELLIUS, builds an amphitheater, 807. 
 ATTILA, devastates Italy, 416. 
 marries Honoria, 416. 
 death o , 416. 
 
 AUGURS, college of, pronounces the ple- 
 beian appointment void, 69. 
 ANOUS MARCUS, reign of, 24. 
 AUEELIA GOTTA, history of, 174 
 AUBELIAN, made emperor, 874. 
 defeats Zenobia, 874. 
 enjoys a triumph, 876. 
 death of, 877. 
 AUBKLIUS (Marcus), love of Adrian for, 
 
 842. 
 given the name of Antonius, 
 
 843. 
 
 death of,' 844. 
 wife of, 845. 
 AtTBW)LU8, rebellion of, 878. 
 
 death of, 874. 
 
 AUSTRIA, treaty of. with France, 522. 
 AUTHABIS, chosen king by the dukes, 
 
 death of, 428. 
 
 AVKLUNO, city of, 70. 
 
 defeat of the Romans at, 70. 
 insurrection of, 642. 
 
 AVBNTINE HILL, appropriated to the com- 
 mons, 45. 
 
 AVTONON, made the seat of the popedom, 
 
 BALHINUB, proclaimed emperor by the 
 
 senate, 866 
 death of, 867. 
 
 BANKRUPT LAW, passage of the, 168. 
 BARBARIANS, incursions of the, 142. 
 
 successes of the, in the Roman 
 
 empire, 872. 
 
 BEATRICE TENDA, tstory of, 474. 
 BEAUHARNAIS (Eugene) appointed vloc 
 
 (Ku 
 kin 
 
 ng of Italy, 525. 
 BELISABIUS, successes of, 423. 
 BERENGBB crowned king of Italy, 480. 
 
 dethroned, 430. 
 BIBULOS, colleague of Caesar, 190. 
 
 retires from the consulate, 190. 
 blockades Ceesar in Greece, 218. 
 attempts to intercept Ceesar, 91ft 
 captures thirty vessels, 218. 
 cruelty of, 218. 
 death of, 215. 
 
 BONAPARTE (Charles), history of, 502. 
 BONAPARTE (Joseph), reign of, in Italy, 627 
 
 see also Napoleon. 
 BONIFAZIO, story of, 453. 
 BOUBBONS, replaced upon the throne of 
 
 Naples, 547. 
 BRITAIN, chiefs of, send gifts to Ceesar 
 
 Augustus, 298. 
 BRITANNIOUS, history of, 815. 
 
 death of, 816. 
 BBUTUB (Lucius Jun-us I.), oath of, 2& 
 
 entrusted with the supreme power, 
 
 executes his sons, 29. 
 
 death of, 29. 
 
 BBUTUS (Elder), fate of, 178. 
 BBUTUB (Decimus), commands the fleet at 
 Massilia, 209. 
 
 visits Caesar and urges his attend- 
 ance on the senate, 246. 
 
 assembles the conspirators in the 
 capitol, 248. 
 
 appointed by Caesar commander in 
 Gaul, 254. 
 
 gathers an army in Gaul, 264 
 
 commands in Gaul, 257. 
 
 refuses to yield to Antony, 267. 
 
 flight of, 265. 
 death of, 265. 
 
 BRUTUS (Lucius Junius II.) favors tke 
 
 aristocracy, 245. 
 enlists sixty conspirators, 246. 
 house of, attacked by the mob, 
 
 251. 
 
 defeats Dolabella in Greece, 259. 
 pursues Antony, 260. 
 joins Cassius at Smyrna, 268. 
 army of, surrounds Saxa, 868. 
 defeat of, 270. 
 
 last hours and death of, 271. 
 BRUTUS (Marcus Junius), resume of the 
 
 history of, 244. 
 fevored by Cassar, 244 
 resolves upon Caesar's death, 244 
 
 C. 
 
 C^SAR (Augustus), commencement of the 
 
 reign of, 298. 
 acts of in the Alpine provinces 294.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 655 
 
 CJ&AI 'Augustus) (conUnued), death of, 
 
 802. 
 
 person and character of, 808. 
 CMS At (Lucius Julius), .Roman consul, 
 
 155. 
 
 death of, 161. 
 
 C.C8AI (Cams), death of; 161. 
 &R8AI fcCaius Julius) pursued by Byila, 
 
 169. 
 
 purchases his freedom, 177. 
 early life of, 174. 
 theology of, Ib6. 
 
 removed from the pretorship, 188. 
 t>nt to Spain, 189. 
 entrusted with the Gauls and Illy- 
 
 rium, 190. 
 
 a member of the triumvirate, 190. 
 Joins Pompey and Crassus, 190. 
 made consul, 190. 
 opposition of the senate to, 192. 
 at Lucca, 192. 
 expiration of the magistracy of, in 
 
 Gaul, 198. 
 espouses the cause of the Italian 
 
 allies, 199. 
 
 creates Kornan colonies, 199. 
 proposes himself aa candidate for 
 
 consul, 201. 
 army of, 202. 
 
 commanded to resign, 202. 
 crosses tho Rubicon, 208. 
 takes Ancona, Fanum, and Pisa- 
 rum, 208. 
 
 answer of, to Pompey, 208. 
 at Brundusium, 205. 
 enters Corflnium, 205. 
 dismisses Domitius, 205. 
 conduct of, in regard to Pompey, 
 
 207. 
 
 measures of, in Italy, 207. 
 general sympathy with, 207. 
 summons the senate, 208. 
 sails for Spain, 209. 
 armies of, subdue Sicily and Bar* 
 
 dinia, 209. 
 encamps on the Sicoris, opposite 
 
 Ilerda, 210. 
 
 assembles a fleet to pursue Pom- 
 pey, 211. 
 
 appointed dictator, 211. 
 resigns the dictatorship, 211. 
 lands at Oricum, 213. 
 blockaded in Greece, 218. 
 encamps on the banks of the 
 
 Apsus, 214 
 joins his troops at NvEiphseum, 
 
 216. 
 
 takes Gomphi, 218. 
 captures Metropolis, 2ia 
 conquers Thessaly, 218. 
 entrenched at Apollonia, 218. 
 defeats Pompey, 219. 
 gnef of, for Pompey, 224 
 sends his army to Brundusium, 
 
 224. 
 
 Bails for Egypt, 224 
 made dictator, 226. 
 made consul for five years, 226 
 made tribune for life, 226. 
 opposes Dolabella's law, 227. 
 decree of, rejected by Ptolemy, 228. 
 courts the love of Cleopatra, 229. 
 anecdote of, 229. 
 
 CJMAR (Cains Jnlins) (.continued), con- 
 quers Pontus, 280. 
 revolt in the army of, 230. 
 places Cleopatra on the throne, 
 
 returns to Italy. 280. 
 
 power of, over his troops, 281. 
 
 sails for Africa, 231. 
 
 popular sympathy in Africa with, 
 
 j. ined by Bogud, 282. 
 Joined by Sitius, 232. 
 attacks and defeats Scipia at Thap- 
 
 quells revolt in Spain, 284. 
 defeats the sons of Pompey, 284. 
 remark of, on the death of Cato, 
 
 284. 
 makes Utica a Bornan proving 
 
 234. 
 
 three triumphs of, 286. 
 immense deposit of, in the trea- 
 sury, 235. 
 
 sovereign of the world, 235. 
 entertainments of, 236. 
 power of, 237. 
 
 made dictator for ten years, 287. 
 statue of, erected, 237. 
 character of the laws of, 238. 
 has Carthage and Corinth rebuilt, 
 
 238. 
 
 special object of the administra- 
 tion of, 288. 
 
 honors conferred upon, 239. 
 "the Father of his Country," 239. 
 imperator, 239. 
 
 accused of aspiring to be king, 240. 
 reasons for the accusations against, 
 
 240. 
 
 works of, in Rome, 240. 
 rejection of the crown hy, 241. 
 anecdote of his reception of the 
 
 senators, 241. 
 
 sympathy of, for slaves, 242. 
 resolves to adopt Octavius (O.X 
 
 242. 
 
 description of a visit of, 242. 
 convenes the senate on the Ides of 
 
 March, 245. 
 warned to beware of the Ides of 
 
 March, 245. 
 
 entrance ot, to the senate, 246. 
 expresses his choice of death, 246. 
 murder of, 247. 
 effect of the death of, 247. 
 consternation and flight of the 
 
 friends of, 247. ' 
 will of, read In public, 249. 
 estates of, bequeathed to Bom* 
 
 249. 
 
 funeral of, 260. 
 acts of the senate in regard to th 
 
 laws of, 250. 
 
 statue erected in honor of, 251. 
 the mob determined to reveng. 
 
 the death of, 251. 
 memory of, in Rome, 257. 
 CJWAB (Tiberius), life of, at Capra, 804. 
 cruelties of, 804. 
 denounces play-actors, 805. 
 temple proposed in honor oi; 806. 
 retires again to Capra, 807. 
 death of, 808.
 
 656 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 OAUOTTLA adopted by Oeeoar (Tiberias), 
 
 808. 
 
 character of, 808. 
 life of, 310. 
 death of, 811. 
 
 CAMILLUS appointed dictator, 68. 
 CANULEIUS (C.), demands of, to the trl- 
 
 buue, 56. 
 
 CANNA captured by Hannibal, 114. 
 CAPITOL, assembling of tho conspirators in 
 
 the, 243. 
 CABAOALLA, his assassination of Geta, 856. 
 
 reign and death of, 857. 
 CABAOTAOUS, in Home, 814. 
 OABBO, deserts the people, 149. 
 
 declares the adherents of Sylla pub- 
 
 lie enemies, 164. 
 flees to Sicily, 170. 
 taken prisoner by Poropey, 170. 
 death of, 1TO. 
 
 CARBONARI, formation of the, 542. 
 CABINUS chosen einporor, 881. 
 
 death of, 882. 
 
 OARUS elected emperor by the army, 879. 
 defeats the Persians, 379. 
 death of, 880. 
 CARTHAGE, the empire of, 84. 
 
 fall of, 136. 
 
 CABTHAGENA, capture of, 127. 
 CABTHAGINIANS, defeat of the, 87. 
 
 vanquished by the Bo- 
 mans, 91. 
 
 the terms of their surren- 
 der, 186. 
 
 CASSIUS (Sp.) beheaded, 38. 
 CASSIUS (Caius) elected tribune, 201. 
 flies from Rome, 202. 
 history of, 244. 
 character of, 245. 
 originates the conspiracy against 
 
 Cssar, 245. 
 secures the cooperation of Brutus, 
 
 245. 
 
 loins Brutus in the capitol,248. 
 house of, attacked by the mob, 251. 
 triumphant in Syria, 259 
 death of, 269. 
 
 CASTOR AND POLLUX, assistance of, 88. 
 CATILINE (Lucius Serglus) offers himself 
 
 as consul, 179. 
 is rejected, 181. 
 character and life of, 179. 
 conspiracy of, 181. 
 plans a civil war, 182. 
 attempts the assassination of 
 
 Cicero, 182. 
 
 reply of, to Cicero, 188. 
 plans of, for the revolt, 185. 
 'oins Manlius in Tuscany, 185. 
 defeat of, 186. 
 death of, 186. 
 sympathy of the people with, 
 
 CATHOLICISM, Napoleon's opinion of, 528. 
 OATO (Marcus Porcius), birth and charac- 
 ter of, 187. 
 
 urges the execution of the conspira- 
 tors, 188. 
 
 appropriates money for the distribu- 
 tion of corn among the people, 188. 
 
 opposed to the triumvirate, 190. 
 
 rapouses the cause of Cicero, 191. 
 
 candidate of the noblea for pretor, 19& 
 
 OATO (of Utfea) a member of the trlbnnaij 
 
 196. 
 takes Cornelia and Sextus to Africa, 
 
 225. 
 
 holds Hadrumetnm, 281. 
 with Scipio commands the army it 
 
 Africa, 281. 
 
 character and opinions of, 288. 
 army of, desert, 238. 
 dea'h of, 233. 
 
 CATULPS, 173. death of, 162. 
 CAUDINB FORKS, Kornans defeated at, 70 
 CBTHEGUS, death of, 191. 
 CENSORSHIP, office of the, B8. 
 CENSORS, power of the, 75. 
 CENSUS taken in Koine, 78. 
 CHARLEMAGNE crowned emperor of the 
 
 west, 429. 
 
 the iron crown of, placed 
 
 on Napoleon's head, 525. 
 
 CHARLES ALBERT espouses the populaf 
 
 cause, 551. 
 abdication and death 
 
 of, 555. 
 CHABLBS (count of Anjou) made king at 
 
 Naples, 448. 
 conquers Conradin, 449. 
 successes of, in Italy, 458. 
 at war with Rodolph, 454. 
 rebellion against, 455. 
 death of, 456. 
 
 CHARLES II. made king of Naples, 458. 
 CHARLES III. (of Naples), deatli of, 488. 
 CHARLES IV. made emperor, 465. 
 
 successes of, in Italy, 466. 
 CHARLES V., power of. 486. 
 
 master of Italy 487. 
 crushes Florence, 488. 
 CHABLES VII., king of Naples, 497. 
 
 succeeds to the throne of 
 
 Spain, 497. 
 death of, 497. 
 
 OHABLHB VIII. takes Home, 481. 
 takes Naples, 481. 
 successes of, in Italy, 488. 
 CHABLES II. (of Spain), death of, 494. 
 CHARLES III. (of Spain), history of, 404. 
 CHABLES EMANUEL III., life and death ot 
 
 i condemnation of, 309. 
 
 th of, 826. 
 OH >TY in Home, 826. 
 
 opposed by Nero, 885. 
 CHRISTIANS, the, protected by An toning 
 
 CIOKBO (Marcus Tullius), his approval of 
 
 the murder of Gracchus, 146. 
 at Borne, 163. 
 
 advocates the Manilian law, 181. 
 made consul, 182. 
 convenes the senate, 184. 
 makes his celebrated oration agatost 
 
 Catiline, 186. 
 unpopular with both noble* and 
 
 people, 190. 
 exile of, 191. 
 persecution of, 191. 
 espouses Cawar's cause, 199. 
 pleads the cause of Mllo, 197. 
 disposed to joia Pompey, 201. 
 declines to cooperate with Ctesar 
 
 208. 
 decides to join Cesar, 225.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 65? 
 
 (Marcos Tulllns) (continued), seeks 
 
 Intimacy with Caesar, 242. 
 letter of, to Atticus, 242. 
 joins Brutus, on the death of Csesar. 
 
 concludes a truce between the 
 
 nobles and people, 250. 
 joins the aristocrats, 255. 
 three philippics of, 255. 
 character of, 256. 
 joins Octavius, 257. 
 influence of, 257. 
 proposes to give Cassias control of 
 
 the fleet, 259. 
 at the head of Rome, 261. 
 death of, 265. 
 CMBF.P. (L.) gives the signal to attack 
 
 Cajsar, 247. 
 CHINA, revolt headed by, 159. 
 
 reenacts the laws of Sulpicins, 
 
 159. 
 
 made consul, 159. 
 treats with the senate, 160. 
 raises an army to meet Sylla, 168. 
 death of, 164. 
 CraoiNNATus (Lucius Quintius) appointed 
 
 dictator, 40. 
 energy of, 40. 
 victory of, 41. 
 death of the son of, 44. 
 change of character of, 44 
 foul murder of Mselius by, 
 
 CnreAS, sent ambassador to Borne, 81. 
 
 ordered to leave Home, 82. 
 GISALPINE REPUBLIC declares for a mon- 
 archy, 524. 
 rights of the, 75. 
 appointed by the senate, 75. 
 law against murdering Roman, 
 
 p, extension of the rights o 
 
 denied the nations between 
 
 the Po and Alps, 199. 
 rights of, extended by Cteear, 
 
 j the three, of Rome, 148. 
 CLAUDIUS (Appius I.), trial of, 49. 
 
 doom of, 42. 
 
 seizes Virginia, 48. 
 
 flight of, 60. 
 
 Impeached, 53. 
 
 death of, 53. 
 
 CLAUDIUS (Appius II.) appoints citizens to 
 the senate, 75. 
 
 constructs the " Appian Way," 76. 
 
 urges the Romans' to resistance, 
 
 CLAUDIUS III. declared emperor, 812. 
 character of, 812. 
 marries Agrippina, 812. 
 conquest of Britain by the 
 
 army of, 818. 
 death of, 814. 
 IV. made emperor, 874 
 
 defeats the barbarians, 874 
 death of, 874. 
 crowns Charles, 448. 
 IV, condition of Italy under, 
 450. 
 
 CLEMENT VIL made pope, 4<J7. 
 
 at war with Urban, Yl, 
 
 resides at Avignon, 469. 
 death of, 472. 
 
 CLEMENT V. made pope, 459. 
 CLEON heads a servile insurrection, 161. 
 
 death of, 152. 
 
 CLBOPATBA at war with Ptolemy, 221. 
 made queen of Egypt, 240. 
 poisons her younger btothei 
 
 230. 
 with Antony prepares .'ir war 
 
 deserts Antony, 284 
 
 offers herself to Octavicc, 
 
 de prisoner, 288. 
 ited by Octavius, 
 
 wins the love of DolabeU* 
 
 death of, 290. 
 Cixms, life and death of, 427. 
 CLODIUB, anecdote of, 189. 
 anecdote of, 194. 
 death of, 194 
 funeral pyre of, 195. 
 CLCBLIA, escape of, 31. 
 honors to, 32. 
 CLUBS of the nobles, 43. 
 COLLATINGS (Lucretia) declared the moot 
 
 beautiful lady, 27. 
 rape of, 28. 
 
 COLLATINGS (husband of Lucretla) en- 
 trusted with the supreme 
 power, 29, 
 COLLEGE OF AUGDKS, see Augurs. 
 (Jo.Mi.Mus (Pontius), heroic feat ot, 60. 
 COMITIUM, origin of the, 22. 
 COMMODUS, character of, 346. 
 
 death of, 347. 
 COMUM rude a Roman colony, 199. 
 
 a magistrate of, claims to be a 
 
 Roman citizen, 199. 
 CONFEDERATES, plans foi the republic of 
 
 the, 155. 
 
 CONSPIRACY of Ka-so. 43. 
 CONSTANCE emperor of the western pro- 
 vinces, 897. 
 death of, 898. 
 CONBTANTIUS I. successor of Maximiaa, 
 
 appoints Constantino hit 
 
 successor, 8S7. 
 death of, 887. 
 CONBTANTIUS II. emperor of the eastern 
 
 provinces, 897. 
 at war with Sapor, 897. 
 defeats Magnentius, 400. 
 visit of, to Rome. 403. 
 conquers the barbarians, 
 
 marches to meet Sapoc, 
 
 404. 
 
 at war with Julian, 405. 
 death of, 406. 
 CoRBTAjmNI II. emperor of the west 
 
 887. 
 
 defeats Maximian, 888. 
 enters Rome, 890. 
 defeats Licinius, 891. 
 makes an attack OB 
 
 Byzantium, 894.
 
 658 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 II. (continued), sole mon- 
 arch of the world, 893. 
 establishes Christianity, 
 
 393. 
 
 Improves Constantino- 
 ple, 894. 
 establishes himself at 
 
 Constantinople, 89T. 
 death of, 898. 
 
 CONSTITUTION, a new, drafted, 52. 
 CONSUL '-idicial power taken from the ple- 
 beian, 67. 
 CONSULS, Invested with dictatorial power, 
 
 202. 
 CONSULAR ABUT, desertion of the, at Capua, 
 
 164. 
 
 CONTINENTAL SYSTEM, passage of the, 521. 
 CORIOLANUS (Caius), proposition of, to fur- 
 nish bread, *6. 
 exile of, 3T. 
 COBINTH, fall of, 188. 
 COENELIA, wife of Cesar, 174. 
 
 death of, 174. 
 
 CORNELIA, second wife of Pompey, 197. 
 at Mitylene, 220. 
 goes to Africa, 225. 
 
 CORNELIUS (Merula) made consul, 159. 
 CORNELIUS (C.) appointed one of the as- 
 sassinators of Cicero, 184. 
 CORSICA a part of Italy, 17. 
 COBBUS appointed dictator, and arrests 
 
 Manlius, 64. 
 COTTA elected consul, 181. 
 
 See <ll/i(J AUKELIA. 
 
 CRETANS, subdued by Metellus, 180. 
 CBIMKRA, emigration of the Fabii to the 
 
 river, 88. 
 
 CRISPCS, story of, 896. 
 CURIATII chosen Alban champions, 28. 
 CURSOR (L Papirius), alleged victory of, 74. 
 CURIO uiade consul, 200. 
 
 flies from Rome, 202. 
 CURIUS (Q.) reveals the conspiracy to 
 
 Fulvla, 188. 
 
 CYPRUS taken by the Romans under Cato, 
 191. 
 
 one of the triumvirate, 190. 
 remains in Rome, 191. 
 ambition of, 191. 
 made consul, 193. 
 invested with full power in Syria 
 
 mbark* for Syria, 198. 
 death of, 197. 
 
 DEBTS, collection of. 88. 
 DSCKMVIM, power of the, 47. 
 DMTATUS (M. Curius), con q nests of, 77. 
 proposes an agrarian law, 78. 
 DEMETRIUS, appointed ruler of Illyria, 94. 
 DKCIUS, declared imperator, 368. 
 
 defeated by the Gauls, 869. 
 death of, 870. 
 
 O.OTATOE, absolute power of the, 86. 
 DtMUETiAN, sole emperor, 382. 
 
 makes Maximian his colleague, 
 
 382. 
 
 selects Galerias as his succes- 
 sor, 3S3. 
 residence of. PS3. 
 
 DIOCLETIAN (<-rmffni.td). r^etgnation of, 880 
 
 death of; 886. 
 DOLABELLA elected tribune of the people, 
 
 227. 
 
 proposes absolution of all debt- 
 ors, 227. 
 
 rallies a mob, 227. 
 retreats to Syria, 36. 
 defeat of, 269. 
 death of, 259. 
 DOMITIAN, character and life of, 885. 
 
 death of, 886. 
 
 DoMiorur (L.), anecdote of, 15ft 
 DOMITIUB, collects an army at Corflmum, 
 
 204. 
 
 fortifies Corflnium, 204. 
 soldiers of, deliver the city to 
 
 Caesar, 205. 
 DRUSUB (L.), leader of the nobles, 147. 
 
 espouses the cause of Italian tribes, 
 
 155. 
 
 his death, 155. 
 DRUBILLA, wife of Nero, 278. 
 
 marries Octavius, 278. 
 DYRAOHIUH, magazines of Pompey at, 914 
 
 EGYPT, condition of, In the reign of Ctesar 
 
 Augustus, 296. 
 ELAOABALUS declared emperor, 858. 
 
 death of, 860. 
 
 ENNA pillaged by Knnus, 151. 
 EPIRUS, return of Pyrrhus to, 84. 
 ETRURIA, formation of the kingdom ot, 
 
 522. 
 ETRUSCANS, deaih of Mezentlut, king of 
 
 the, 19. 
 
 ravages of the, 89. 
 defeated by the Romans, 68. 
 EUDOXIA, history of, 417. 
 EUNUB, influence of, 151. 
 
 heads an insurrection, 181. 
 destroys the Roman army, 7*9. 
 death of, 152. 
 
 FABIUS (Quintns) regains popularity, 89. 
 
 FABIUB (Q.) appointed dictator, 111. 
 
 FAMINE In Rome, 57. 
 
 FARMS given to every Roman family, 68. 
 
 FAUSTA, history of, 896. 
 
 FAUSTINA, voluptuousness of, 845. 
 
 honors to, 846. 
 FERDINAND I.,- swears to adopt a free oo- 
 
 stitution, 543. 
 death of, 543. 
 FERDINAND II. ascends the throne of KB 
 
 pies, 548. 
 
 regains Sicily, 559. 
 death of, 566. 
 FERDINAND (of Bourbon) deposed by the 
 
 Sicilians, 668. 
 
 FLAOOUS chosen colleague with Cinna, 108 
 FLAMINIAN WAY, construction of the, OT. 
 FLAMINIUS defeated aud killed, 108. 
 FLORENCE, condition of, at the time d 
 
 Charles, 449 
 
 FILIPPO, history of, 474. 
 FIMBRIA, anecdote of, 162.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 659 
 
 raUTOB, revolution in, 60S. 
 
 coalition against, 504 
 Nice taken by, 504. 
 Napoleon leads the arm) at, 605. 
 reverses of, 519. 
 Napoleon returns to, 520. 
 PBANCIS I., successes of, in Italy, 488. 
 
 ascends the throne of Naples, 
 
 548. 
 
 death of, 548. 
 FBANOIB II., succession of, to the kingdom 
 
 of Naples, 566. 
 FRBPBBIO enters Italy, 435. 
 
 crowned emperor by the pope, 
 
 436. 
 
 conquers Milanese, 436. 
 destroys Milan, 487. 
 conquered in Lombardy, 483. 
 death of, 443. 
 PUDEBIO II.- vows the deliverance of 
 
 Jerusalem, 445. 
 death of, 446. 
 FRBDBMO III. flies from Naples, 48L 
 
 death of, 432. 
 
 FREEDOM declared national, 58. 
 FIJI/VIA betrays the conspirators, 188. 
 wife of Clodius, 195. 
 death of, 278. 
 
 GABINIUS, plans of, for the war with the 
 
 pirates, 179. 
 QA..BA (Servius) raises a revolt In Spain, 
 
 827. 
 
 proclaimed emperor, 829. 
 adopts Piso (Lucanius), 829. 
 death of, 330. 
 GALRRIUS, emperor of the east, 886. 
 
 death of, 8Sa 
 GALLIENUS (Valerian), character and life of, 
 
 873. 
 
 defeats Aureolus, 878. 
 death of, 878. 
 CUu.ua I. made military emperor, 870. 
 
 death of, 871. 
 GALLUB II., origin of, 401. 
 
 marries Constantina, 401. 
 GARIBALDI refuses to yield to Austria, 564 
 embarks for America, 557. 
 lands at Marsala, 569. 
 6.1 UL, condition of, at the time of Caesar 
 
 Augustus, 295. 
 GAUL*, rise of the, 58. 
 
 rout the Bo mans, 59. 
 make peace with the Romans, 62. 
 march of the, against Koine, 76. 
 defeat of the Romans by the, 869. 
 GIHOA, revolt of, 501. 
 
 sells Corsica to France, 502. 
 treachery of, 518. 
 makfts peace with France, 614. 
 insurrection in, 514 
 Ligurian republic formed in, 514 
 GKNSZRIO ravages Rome, 417. 
 GBJMANIOUS, character of, 804 
 
 death of, 804. 
 
 6 ETA, assassination of, 856. 
 GHIBBLLLNBB, who were the, 449. 
 
 defeat of, 454. 
 
 ftouo (Hasdrubal), defeat of, by Scipio, 180. 
 enters into a treaty with Scipio, 181. 
 
 GIOVANNI, crneltie* f, 474 
 
 GORDIA* L made emperor by his soldier* 
 
 Is defeated by Maximin, 866. 
 death of, 865. 
 GORDIAN II. proclaimed emperor by the 
 
 soldiers, 367. 
 death of, 367. 
 
 GLADIATORS, escape of, 175. 
 GLAUCIA, the pretor, 150. 
 GOD, the, ^Esculapius brought to 
 
 GODDESS, mysteries of the good, 188. 
 GRACCHUS (Tiberius Sempronius) esp 
 
 the popular cause, 144. 
 death of, 146. 
 GRACCHUS (Cains) placed at the head of 
 
 the plebeians, 146. 
 retires from Rome, 146. 
 death of, 147. 
 GBATIAN, emperor of the western empire, 
 
 nominates Theodosius successor 
 
 of Valens, 411. 
 death of, 41L 
 GBKEOB, embassy to, 79. 
 
 the remains of, 79. 
 
 fall of the republic of, 188. 
 
 state of, at the time of Cmai 
 
 Augustus, 297. 
 
 GREGORY (the Great), history of, 427. 
 GREGORY VII. at war with Henry FVV 
 
 484 
 
 deposed. 484 
 death of, 434. 
 GREGORY XL made pope, 466. 
 
 death of, 466. 
 GUELPHB, origin of the, 449. 
 
 at war with the Ghibellln**, 
 
 452. 
 
 led by Charles of Anjon, 468. 
 victory of; 454. 
 
 HAJOLOAR, rise of, 90. 
 
 nobility of, 91. 
 
 he causes his son Hannibal, to 
 
 take a vow of enmity to 
 
 Rome, 98. 
 death of, 94 
 vows never to make peace with 
 
 the Romans, 93. 
 called to supreme power, 98. 
 captures Saguntum, 98. 
 speech of, to his troops, 100. 
 stratagem of, 102. 
 passage of, over the Alps, 104. 
 wins the battle of Thrasymeae. 
 
 108. 
 
 the army of, 110. 
 captures Cannae, 114 
 annihilates the Roman arm}, 
 
 115. 
 
 bad situation of, 116. 
 marches against Rome, 117. 
 attempts to crush, 122. 
 despondency of, 127. 
 the head of Hasdrnbal sent to, 
 
 127. 
 forced to act on the defensive! 
 
 182.
 
 660 
 
 INDEX 
 
 HANNIBAL (continued), return of, to Car- 
 thage, 133. 
 
 Interview of; with Bcipio, 185. 
 suicide ot, 137. 
 HA^JNO, defeat of, by Appius, 85. 
 
 demands oi; on the Eoman senate, 
 
 94. 
 HASUUUBAL succeeds Ilamilcar, 94. 
 
 asswf i nation of, 98. 
 HASDBUBAL (brother of Hannibal) attempts 
 
 to reenforce Hannibal, 122. 
 crosses the Pyrenees, 124, 
 death of, 121. 
 JJKNBY IV., excommunication ot; 438. 
 
 death of, 434. 
 
 HE.NBT VI., character and death of, 448. 
 HENKY VII., successes of, in Italy, 469. 
 
 death of, 460. 
 HENRY VIII. joins the pope, 484. 
 
 successes of, 485. 
 HEKACLKO, defeat of four Koman ships by, 
 
 111. 
 enters the harbor of By 
 
 177. 
 
 HEBOTLANEUM buried, 884. 
 HESOD, history of, 801. 
 
 death of, 801. 
 HILDEBEAND, pope of Rome, 438. 
 
 called Gregory VII., 488. 
 excommunicates Henry IV., 
 
 483. 
 HIETIUS with an army in the field against 
 
 Antony, 258. 
 consul at Home, 258. 
 HOMESTEAD BILL introduced by Gracchus, 
 
 145. 
 
 HONORIUB made emperor of the west, 412. 
 attacked by Alaric, 412. 
 retreats to Ravenna, 41& 
 death of, 415. 
 HOBTEUBICS (Q.) appointed dictator, 78. 
 
 his laws, 78. 
 HORATII, the brothers, chosen Roman 
 
 champions, 23. 
 crime of, 24. 
 
 HOBATIUS (Marcus) chosen consul, 80. 
 HOSTILLIANUS made civil emperor, 870, 
 
 death of, 370. 
 
 HOSTILITO, see Tullns Hostilius. 
 HUNOABY, strikes for freedom, 555. 
 
 loiutrs (Lncius), the law proposed by, 45. 
 IOILIUS, the betrothed of Virginia, 49. 
 ILLTKIA placed under the rule of the Ro- 
 mans, 94. 
 INNOCENT III., acts of, 444. 
 
 at war with Frederic II., 446. 
 death of, 446. 
 INNOCENT IV. excommunicates Frederic, 
 
 446. 
 
 death of, 447. 
 INNOCENT VIII. made pope, 479. 
 
 death of, 480. 
 INSFBREOTION of slaves in Sicily, 151. 
 
 termination of the servile, 
 
 162. 
 ITALIAN ALLIES, relieve Praeneste, 166. 
 
 with Carbo's legions, 
 
 march to Koine, 167. 
 defeat of, 168. 
 
 ITALIANS, character o( 448. 
 ITALIAN TBIBES, confederacy of. 156, 
 number of, 158. 
 names of, 155. 
 
 ITALY, geographical position of, 17. 
 traditions of, 18. 
 
 invaded by the Transalpine Gaul*, 95. 
 what was, at. 
 condition of, 294. 
 slaves in, 894. 
 
 conquest ot by Alboin, 426. 
 under the dukes, 427. 
 under the rule of Constantinople. 
 
 431. 
 
 successes of the Turks In, 476. 
 under Charles V., 488. 
 reformation in, 4S9. 
 inquisition in, 489. 
 condition of, during the seventeenth 
 
 century, 492. 
 division of, by the peace of Alx la 
 
 Chapelle, 496. 
 condition of, during the Frenw 
 
 revolution, 503. 
 leagued with Austria against France, 
 
 503. 
 
 successes of Napoleon in, 505. 
 Anstrians driven from, 506. 
 letter of Napoleon from, 609. 
 condition of, 509. 
 English driven from, 610. 
 people of, welcome Napoleon, 810. 
 at peace with Austria, 611. 
 made a republic, 512. 
 dissension in the republic ot, 618. 
 under French influence, 518. 
 French driven from, 518. 
 Napoleon's projects for, 680. 
 French influence in, 681. 
 fall of, 537. 
 
 the insurrection of 1848 in, 6681 
 present condition of, 665. 
 
 J. 
 
 JAWB, king of Sicily, 458. 
 
 at war with Charles IL, 488. 
 
 marriage of, 469. 
 JESUS, birth ol, 801. 
 JOANNA, made queen of Naples, 461. 
 
 character of, 461. 
 JOHN, bishop at Constantinople, 428. 
 
 rival of Gregory, 428. 
 JOHN XXIII., measures of, 478. 
 JOVIAN proclaimed emperor, 407. 
 
 repeals all laws against Christian: 
 
 death of, 408. 
 JUGUKTHA, betrayal of, 141. 
 
 death of, 142. 
 JULIA, wife of Pompey, 190. 
 death of, 194. 
 
 daughter of Augustus, 801. 
 character and death of, 801. 
 JULIAN, who was, 401. 
 
 life of, in Athens, 402. 
 ma-ries Helena, 402. 
 sent against the Gauls, 404 
 goes to Paris, 406. 
 at war with Constanttns, 405. 
 crowned sovereign of the RomaB 
 empire, 406.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 661 
 
 (continued), attempts to restore 
 heathenism, 406. 
 revers3S of, 407. 
 death of, 407. 
 JULIAN (Majorean) made emperor, 417. 
 
 death of, 41T. 
 JULIAN CALENDAR, 239. 
 JULIAN LAW, 156. 
 JULIANUS (Didius) purchases the throne of 
 
 Rome, 350. 
 death of, 352. 
 JULIUS II. pope of Rome, at war with 
 
 Louis XII., 482; 
 death of, 485. 
 JUPITER, temple to, 26. 
 JEWTINLAN, sends Belisarius to Italy, 422. 
 makes peace with the Goths 
 
 424, 
 
 death of, 426. 
 
 JUBA made prince of Mauritania, 295. 
 marries a daughter of Antony, 295. 
 
 K^:so, riots of, 48. 
 
 KOSSUTH, speech of, in London, 564. 
 
 LADIBLAUS ' ing of Naples, 469. 
 character of, 469. 
 conquests in Italy, 472. 
 death of, 478. 
 LABCIUS (Titus) invested with 
 
 power, 82. 
 
 LATIN TRIBES made citizens, 156. 
 LATINS unite against Borne, 82. 
 LATIN rs, king, 19. 
 LAW, the early Roman, engraved on tablets 
 
 of brass, 46. 
 an ese jjoiit facto, 191. 
 a, forbidding reelection to magistracy 
 
 under five years, 198. 
 of appeals, 254. 
 for distributing lands, 254. 
 the law portion, 293. 
 making all slaves responsible for the 
 
 death of the lord. 821. 
 LHAGUE (Lombard), what was the, 488. 
 
 defeat of the imperial legions by 
 
 the, 438. 
 the peace of Constance secured by 
 
 the, 439. 
 
 LKNTULUS made dictator, 202. 
 LEO X. chosen pope, 485. 
 
 death of, 486. 
 LKPIDUB espouses the popular cause, 172. 
 
 sent by the senate to Cisalpine 
 
 Gaul, 173. 
 defeat of, 178. 
 death of, 178. 
 
 LBPIDUS (M.) left by Cesar in Rome, 209. 
 rallies the people after Csesar's 
 
 death, 248. 
 
 member of the second triumvir- 
 ate, 268. 
 
 made consul, 268. 
 his possession of Africa, 274. 
 quarrels with Octavins, 276. 
 retires to private life, 276. 
 , character of the, at Alexandria, 
 229. 
 
 LICIWIAM BILLS, passage of the, 67. 
 
 attempted repeal of the, 6* 
 LIOIKIUS (C.) elected tribune, 65. 
 
 succeeds Galerius in Europa, 
 
 marries Constantia, 390. 
 joins Constantine, 890 
 defeated by Constantine, 891. 
 sent to Thessalonica, 892. 
 LIGUMAN KINGDOM incorporated witfc 
 
 France, 525. 
 LILYB^EUII, attempts to drive the Cartha- 
 
 geninns from, 90. 
 LIVIUS chosen consul, 124. 
 
 sent to oppose Hasdrubal, 126. 
 Louis (of Bavaria) made emperor, 460. 
 Louis XII. in Italy, 483. 
 defeat of, 485. 
 death of, 485. 
 
 Louis PHILIPPE appointed king, 648. 
 Lucius TABQUINIUS, gee TARQUINIUS. 
 LucRETire (Spurius) chosen consul, 80, 
 LUNEVILLF, treaty of, 522. 
 LUPUS (P. Rutilius), Roman consul, 1. 
 
 xitrs (Sp.), efforts of, for popularity 
 
 assassinated, 57. 
 MAOEDON Alexander of, death of, 69. 
 MAORINUS appointed king, 858. 
 
 death of, 858. 
 
 MAGKNTA, defeat of the Austrians at, 560. 
 MAGNBNTIUB, rebels against Constana. 
 
 898. 
 
 acknowledged emperor, 899. 
 at war with Constantius, 
 
 899. 
 
 defeat and death of, 400. 
 MANILLA* LAW, nature of the, 180. 
 
 passage of the, 181. 
 MANLIUB (M.) saves the citadel, 61. 
 popularity of; 64 
 arrest of, 64 
 
 defense and acquittal of, 65. 
 death of, 65. 
 MAKLIUB (C.) made consul, 181. 
 
 commences civil war in Etruria, 
 
 184. 
 MAROELLUS (M. Claudius) appointed dicta- 
 
 tor, 69. 
 MABOELLUB, advocate of Milo, 196. 
 
 treatment of the Comnm mag- 
 
 istrate by, 199. 
 conspires to ruin Ctesar, 200. 
 made dictator, 202. 
 MAKOUB AUBBLIUS adopted by Adrian, 
 
 841. 
 
 adopted by Antoni- 
 nus, 342. 
 
 is sole emperor, 848. 
 makes Verres nil 
 
 colleague, 848. 
 MABIUB made commander, 158. 
 
 attempts to defend Borne with 
 
 slaves, 158. 
 escape of, 158. 
 return to Rome, 160. 
 collects an army and joins Ciima, 
 
 160. 
 besieges Borne, 160.
 
 662 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 MABIUS (continued), slaughter of aristo- 
 crats by the soldiers of, 161. 
 death of, 162. 
 MAKIUS II. declares himself consul. 162. 
 
 defeated by Sylla at Saeripor- 
 
 tuin, 165. 
 chosen colleague with Carbo, 
 
 165. 
 
 treachery ot, towards the sen- 
 ate, 165. 
 death of, 170. 
 MARRIAGE prohibited between plebeians 
 
 and patricians, 47. 
 MARSIAN made consul, 155. 
 MASSILIA, siege of, 209. 
 
 garrison of, capitulate, 210. 
 MARTIN V. made pope by the council of 
 
 Constance, 473. 
 
 MAXENTIUB, emperor in Italy, 3S9. 
 character of, 889. 
 defeat and death of, 390. 
 MAXIMIAN, colleague of Diocletian, 388. 
 residence of, 883. 
 resignation of, S85. 
 attempts of, to regain the scep- 
 ter, 387. 
 
 defeat and death of, 888. 
 MAXUIIN, strength of, 362. 
 
 proclaimed imperator, 863. 
 size and character of, 364. 
 insurrection against, 365. 
 death of, 366. 
 MAXIMIN (Q.) succeeds Qalerius in Asia, 
 
 388. 
 
 captures Constantinople, 890,, 
 death of, 391. 
 
 MAXIMUS proclaimed emperor by the sen- 
 ate, 366. 
 death ..f, 367. 
 MAXIMUS 111. declared emperor, 417. 
 
 death of. 417. 
 MEDICI, house of, at war with Sextos IV., 
 
 478. 
 MEDICI (Lorenzo de), character And death 
 
 of, 480. 
 MEDICI (Cosmo de) made duke of Tuscany, 
 
 MBDICI (Francisco de), history of, 49L 
 MEDICI (Fernandino de) made grand duke, 
 
 491. 
 MEOACLES personates the king, and is slain, 
 
 MEMMIUS (Cains) leader of the populace, 
 
 150. 
 
 MERULA, death of, 162. 
 MESSINA, bombardment of, 552. 
 
 captured by Ferdinand, 568. 
 MBTELLUS commands the army, 160. 
 MWENTIUS, death of, 19. 
 MILAN, destruction of, 487. 
 MILO, anecdote cf, 194. 
 
 returns to Koine and rallies the no- 
 bles, 196. 
 trial of, 196 
 exiled to Gaul, 197. 
 cause of, advocated by Cicero, 
 
 19T. 
 Mnruoius (Lucius), dangerous position of; 
 
 appointed co-chieftain 
 
 Fabius, 113. 
 defeat of. 114 
 death of; 115. 
 
 with 
 
 MiNuortrs (Titns) Incites an it 
 
 152. 
 
 MIRAOLE, performance of a, 343. 
 MITHRADATKS, war with, 157. 
 success of, 157. 
 MODENA, history of, 000. 
 MORRANUB assists Saxa in the command at 
 
 the consular army, 268. 
 MODENA, reconstruction of; 538. 
 Mucius (Caius) attempts to 
 
 Porsenna,81. 
 MUEAT, his reception at Naples, 527. 
 
 execution of, 541. 
 MUTILUS made consul, 155. 
 MUTINEERS, punishment oi; 18L 
 
 NAPLES, added to Rome, 67. 
 
 division of the kingdom of, 489 
 organized into a republic, 517. 
 king restored to, 518. 
 
 NAPOLKON BONAPARTE, birth of. 502. 
 
 commands the 
 French army in 
 Italy, 505. 
 successes of; in 
 
 Italy, 512. 
 message of, to the 
 
 pope, 511. 
 makes peace with 
 
 Austria, 511. 
 speech of, to the 
 
 Italians, 512. 
 sails for Egypt, 
 
 517. 
 returns to France, 
 
 520. 
 appeals to Austria 
 
 for peace, 520. 
 return of, to Paris 
 
 from Italy, 521. 
 declared emperor 
 
 of France, 522. 
 letter of, to the 
 king of England, 
 523. 
 
 fall of, 537. 
 
 NAPOLEON II., death of, in Austria, 549. 
 NAPOLEON III., rise of, 550. 
 
 reasons of, for advising the 
 peace of Villafranca, 561. 
 N ARSES, victories of, 425. 
 
 death of, 426. 
 NAVY, rise of the Roman, 74. 
 
 construction of the Roman, 86. 
 NEPOS made emperor, 41 a 
 
 driven hy Orestes from Italy, 4* 9. 
 death of, 419. 
 NEPOS (C.), counsel for the accusers of Milo, 
 
 NKRO chosen cons'nl, 124. 
 
 sent to oppose Hannibal, 125. 
 
 decapitates Hasdrubal, 127. 
 NERO (Tiberius Claudius) escapes to Sicily 
 
 NEKO (son of Agrippina), history of, 814. 
 
 pronounces the funeral oration of 
 
 Claudius, 815. 
 poisons Britannicus, 816. 
 plot of, to murder his mother, MS.
 
 IND E Xc 
 
 663 
 
 NSBO (son of Ajrrlprina) (continued), has 
 
 Agrippina ussitssinated, 220. 
 upholds the law making all slaves 
 responsible for the master's life, 221. 
 festlral of, described by Tacitus, 823. 
 causes Rome to be fired, 823. 
 accuses the Christians of burning 
 
 Kome, 824. 
 
 persecutes all Christians, 825. 
 determines to rebuild Borne, 324. 
 taxation of, 026. 
 insurrection against, 32T. 
 condemned to death by the senate, 
 
 328. 
 
 death of, 828. 
 
 NEBVA made emperor by the senate, 886. 
 character of, 886. 
 makes Trajan his colleague, 386. 
 death of, 886. 
 
 HtOB incorporated into France, 653. 
 NICHOLAS III., extention of the holy see 
 by, 454. 
 death of, 455. 
 
 NIBBTTHE, statement of, 20. 
 NOBLES, clubs of the, 43. 
 
 political opponents of the, burned, 
 
 44. 
 
 NORMANS, successes of the, in Italy, 440. 
 NUMA (Ponipilius), reign of, 28. 
 NUMIDIA becomes a Koman province, 142. 
 NUMEKIAN chosen emperor, 881. 
 
 death of, 881. 
 NUMITOE, placed on the Alban throne, 20. 
 
 O. 
 
 ODENATHCS, kingdom of, 378. 
 ODOACER attacks Orestes, 419. 
 
 abolishes the imperial succession, 
 420. 
 
 reigns in Rome, 420. 
 
 death of, 421. 
 OOTAVIA, second wife of Antony, 278. 
 
 wife of Nero. 815. 
 
 repudiated, 822. 
 
 death of, 822. 
 
 OOTAVIUS (M.) heads the patricians, 145. 
 OOTAVIUS (Cains), who was, 201. 
 
 by will Casar's heir, 249. 
 
 rallies Cassar's troops, 252. 
 
 assumes the name of Caesar, 258. 
 
 see also OOTAVIITS C/ESAR. 
 OOTAVIUB (Ctesar) courts the aristocracy, 
 
 r .i. pares for war, 255. 
 
 plots to murder Antony, 256. 
 
 obtains aid of Cicero, 256 
 
 admitted to the senate, 257. 
 
 speech of, in Rome, 257. 
 
 made consul, 262. 
 
 first laws of, 262 
 
 revenges the death of Caesai, 
 
 2. 
 
 encamps In Campus Martins, 
 
 262. 
 a member of the triumvirate, 
 
 Joins Sara with reinforcements, 
 ^268 
 
 winy of, takes Macedonia, 268. 
 foattl* of, with Cassius on the 
 plains of Strymone, 269. 
 
 OoTAvros (Caesar) (continued), 
 
 270. 
 
 excesses of the army of, 272. 
 
 agreement of, with Antony, 27& 
 
 marries Livla Drusilla, 275. 
 
 wives of, 275. 
 
 at war with Pompey, 275. 
 
 implores the assistance of An- 
 tony, 275. 
 
 renews with Antcny the trium- 
 virate for five years, 275. 
 
 taxations of, 276. 
 
 defeats Pompey, 276. 
 
 pardons Lepidus, 276. 
 
 enjoys a triumph, 277. 
 
 wise measures of, 277. 
 
 cruelty of, 277. 
 
 fleet of, in the Ambraclan gutt, 
 
 success of, 281. 
 
 treats with Cleopatra, 284. 
 
 takes Pelusium, 284. 
 
 enters Ecrypt as a conqueror, 285. 
 
 visits Cleopatra, 289. 
 
 is oblivious of her charms, 289. 
 
 returns to Rome, 290. 
 
 measures of, in Rome, 291. 
 
 pretends to resign, 291. 
 
 receives unlimited power from 
 
 the senate, 292. 
 called " August," 292. 
 changes his name to Augustus 
 
 Csfsar, 292. 
 
 see also AUGUSTUS CAESAR. 
 OPPIAN LAW, character of the, 154. 
 OPPIUS (Spurius), fate of, 54. 
 ORESTES drives Nepos from Italy, 419. 
 
 makes his son Augustulus empe- 
 ror. 419. 
 death of, 419. 
 
 OTHO raises a rebellion against Galba, 829. 
 is declared emperor by the senate, 
 
 880. 
 
 character of, 331. 
 at war with Vitellus, 881. 
 defeat of, 33*. 
 death of, 382. 
 OTHO II. invades Italy, 430. 
 
 crowned emperor, 480. 
 family of, in Italy, 480. 
 
 P. 
 
 PALERMO, insurrection at, 567. 
 
 captured by Garibalil, 569. 
 PALMERSTON, remarks of, on Sicily, 567. 
 PANBA consul at Rome, 253. 
 PAPAL GOVERNMENT, form of the, 589. 
 PAPi*itrs(M.), indignity to, 60. 
 PARMA, reconstruction of, 538. 
 PABTHIANS takes Syria and Palestine, 274. 
 
 driven out by Antony, 274. 
 PATBIOIAHS struggles of the, for the su- 
 premacy, 88. 
 
 demands of the, 51. 
 
 yield to the popular will, 56. 
 
 rights of the, 75. 
 
 victory of the, 146. 
 PEDAKIUS (Secundns), consequences of the 
 
 death of, 320. 
 
 PENSSIA burnt to the ground, 273. 
 PEOPLE, laws to be submitted to the 153.
 
 664 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PKROAMFB, death of, 145. 
 PETEK (of Aragou) leads an insurrection 
 . against Charles, 455. 
 successes of, 45G. 
 death of, 458. 
 PERTINAX (Helvius) decreed king, 847 
 
 assassination of, 349. 
 PHAROS, position of, 228. 
 
 lighthouse of, 228. 
 taken by Ctesar, 229. 
 
 PHILIP (of Macedon) allies himself to Han- 
 nibal 116. 
 
 purchases peace of the Romans, 187. 
 PHILIP elected emperor, 367 
 
 army of, revolt, and make Decius 
 
 imperator, 868. 
 death of, 368. 
 PHILIP V., history of, 494. 
 PIIILODAMUS, anecdote of, 178. 
 
 death of, 178. 
 
 PHILLIPUS a delegate to Antony, 258. 
 PHILIPPUS (L.), remark of, about I 
 
 wealth, 299. 
 PICENUM, rebellion in, 184. 
 PIEDMONT, liberty crushed in, 548. 
 PIRATES in the Mediterranean, 176. 
 ravages of, 177. 
 
 defeat and surrender of the, 180. 
 PISA (M. Junius) appointed dictator, 116. 
 PISA, wars of, 456. 
 
 humiliation of, 457. 
 PiBO, death of, 305. 
 letter of, 305. 
 
 Pius (Q. Metellus) chosen consul, 171. 
 Pius VII., condition of the papal states 
 
 under, 499. 
 Naples under, 521. 
 his contest for temporal power, 
 
 528. 
 
 made a prisoner by Mnrat, 529. 
 POLLUX, see CASTOR. 
 POMPEIA, wife of Ctesar, 188. 
 divorce of, 189. 
 
 POM 
 
 I' 01 
 
 EII buried, 834. 
 Kins joins Sylla, 158. 
 EY (Sextus), see SBXTUS. 
 BY (Cn.), death of, 234. 
 BY joins Sylla, 164. 
 
 Spain, 
 
 quells an insurrection 1 
 
 175. 
 
 made consul, 174. 
 buccesses of, on the coasts of Africa 
 
 and Sicily, 179. 
 made dictator, 179. 
 prepares for war with the pirates, 
 
 returns to Rome, 188. 
 
 proposes grants of land to the sol- 
 diers, 189. 
 
 In collision with the nobles, 189. 
 
 a member t r the triumvirate, 
 19C 
 
 Invested with power to supply 
 Rome with corn, 192. 
 
 made consul, 193. 
 
 assigned the government of Spain, 
 
 as husband and father, 194. - 
 prepares for the trial of Milo, 196. 
 organizes a tribunal. 196. 
 appointed dictator, 196. 
 frustrates the schemes of Mar- 
 cellos. 200. 
 
 POIIPBT (continued), sympathy of th pe 
 
 pie with, 200. 
 declares Caesar ineligible to consul* 
 
 ship, 201. 
 all power placed in UK> bands o 
 
 202. 
 
 goes to Greece, 204. 
 escape of, 206. 
 military skill of, 207. 
 entrenched in Ilerda, 210. 
 claims to be supported by the 
 
 senate, 211. 
 establishes himself at Tbessalonica, 
 
 212. 
 
 army of, 212. 
 encamps on the right bank of the 
 
 Apsus, 214 
 rejects the proposal for pejee, 
 
 fortifications of, 217. 
 pursues Csesar, 218. 
 defeat of, at Pharsalia, 219. 
 surrender of the army of, 219. 
 flight of, vl9. 
 goes to Mitylene, 220. 
 death of. 222. 
 
 head of, sent to Csesar, 222. 
 summary of the character o 228 
 pillar to, at Alexandria, 225. 
 PoimtTB (C.), victory of, 70. 
 magnanimity of, 70. 
 returns the Roman victims, 18, 
 death of, 77. 
 PONTUS, king of, opposed to Csesar, 280. 
 
 is conquered by Caesar, 230. 
 POPR, power of the, in Koine, 432. 
 at war with Henry V., 434. 
 condition of Italy under the, 430. 
 escape of the, from Rome, 555. 
 POPLICOLA, see PPBLIUS. 
 POI-ULAR CAUSE, strength of the, 169. 
 advance of the, 180. 
 PORSENNA, attempts to assassinate, 81. 
 
 peace proposed by, 31. 
 POSTUMITTS, characteristic proposition at, 78, 
 PLACENTIA resists Hasdrubal, 125. 
 PLANCUS made consul, 2G8. 
 PLEBEIANS, struggles of the, 38. 
 demands of the, 43. 
 forced to flee from Rome, 47. 
 condition of the, 148. 
 PLINY made governor of Pontus, 838. 
 PLUTARCH, his works, 147. 
 PR.SNESTE, head-quarters of Marius, 165. 
 besieged by Sylla's army, 16*. 
 surrender of, 170. 
 
 PRETOR, name given to the consuls, 85. 
 PRIVERNATIANS, manly character of the, 
 
 68. 
 incorporated with tha 
 
 Romans, 68. 
 PBOBUB made emperor, 879. 
 
 death of, 379. 
 
 PUBLITO erects citadel of Velia, 80. 
 _given title of Poplicola, 30. 
 PUNIO WAK, end of the first, 91. 
 
 termination of the second, 136. 
 commencement of the third, 
 
 188. 
 
 termination of the third, 1U. 
 J/TOLEMY, king of Egpyt, 221. 
 
 at war with Cleopatra, 221. 
 plans of, In regard to Pornpey, 8flt
 
 I H D B T. 
 
 665 
 
 (continued), treachery of, 221. 
 at war with Csesar, 228. 
 death of, 230. 
 
 PYRRHCS invades Italy, 79. 
 victory of, 81. 
 reverses of, 82. 
 triumph of, at Asculum, 88. 
 goes to Sicily, 83. 
 defeated hy the Romans, 84. 
 return of, to Epirus, 84. 
 
 QrrwqircjKMEB, construction of the, 85. 
 
 RADRTSKI (Joseph), cmnmander-in-chlef of 
 the Austrian troops in Italy, 
 650. 
 
 RAVENNA, where situated, 202. 
 RBOILLUS, battle of lake, 82. 
 BKOULUS, defeat and capture of, 88. 
 
 sent to Rome by the Cartha- 
 ginians to negotiate peace, 89. 
 death of, 90. 
 
 doubts as to the history of, 90. 
 RBMUS, legend of, 20. 
 death of, 20. 
 RESTIO (Antius), escapes of, 266. 
 
 anecdote of the slave of, 266. 
 ROBKET, reign of. in Naples, 460. 
 
 leaves his crown to Joanna, 461. 
 ROMAN CITIZENS, number of, 154. 
 ROMAN LEGATES, murder of, 155. 
 ROMAN WORLD, character of, 176. 
 ROMAN VIRTUE, 256. 
 ROMAN EMPIRE, condition of the, 415. 
 BOMANS war between the, and the Albans, 
 
 23. 
 triumph of the, over the JSquians, 
 
 41. 
 
 refusal of thf, to fight, 42. 
 plebeian and patrician conflicts 
 
 among the, 48. 
 routed by the Gauls, 59. 
 
 Eurchose peace with the Gauls, 62. 
 umiliation of the, 62. 
 
 defeat of the Volscians and Etrns- 
 caus, 63. 
 
 refusal of the, to follow the dic- 
 tator, 66. 
 
 the Privernatians incorporated 
 with the, 68. 
 
 colonization of the, 69. 
 
 defeat of, by the Sammies, 70. 
 
 humiliation of the, 71. 
 
 increased power of the, 74. 
 
 defeat the Gauls and capture C. 
 Pontius, 77. 
 
 Bend to Greece for a god, 79. 
 
 defeated by Pyrrhus, 83. 
 
 victory of the, over Pyrrhns, 84. 
 
 invade Sicily, 85. 
 
 construction of a navy by the, 86. 
 
 ntter defeat of the army of the, 
 by Xanthippus, 88. 
 
 loss of the ships of the, 88. 
 
 disasters to the, 90. 
 
 victory of, over the Carthaginians, 
 
 ROMANS (oontinusd), jealousy of the, 94. 
 
 defeated by the Gauls, 96. 
 
 a compensating victory of the, 97 
 
 plans of the, for stopping lianni 
 bal, 101. 
 
 the army of the, destroyed bj 
 Hannibal, 107. 
 
 massacre of the, 111. 
 
 conquer Philip of Maeedon, 187. 
 
 conquer Antiochus, 138. 
 
 atrocities of, 141. 
 
 defeat of the legions of the, 155. 
 
 condition of th" t the timfl of 
 Csar, 226. 
 
 amusements'of the, 281. 
 
 barbaric habits of the, 287. 
 ROME, date of foundation of, 18. 
 origin of, 20. 
 famine in, 36. 
 deplorable state of, 42. 
 depopulated, 51. 
 famine in, 57. 
 captured by the Gauls, 59. 
 attacked by the Volscians, 63. 
 annexes Naples, 67. 
 three parties of, 75. 
 invaded by Pyrrhus, 80. 
 menaced by Pyrrhus, 81. 
 colonies of the, 84. 
 victory of the navy of, 85. 
 surrender of Sardinia to, 98. 
 forbids the conquest of Spain, 99 
 rise of an army of, 111. 
 raises armies to crush Hannibal, 
 
 122. 
 exaltation in, at the defeat of Ha* 
 
 drubnl. 127. 
 possesses the whole Spanish penln 
 
 sular, 182. 
 
 increased dominion of, 186. 
 resolve of, to raze Carthage, 189. 
 bequeath of dominions to, 146. 
 corruption of the nobles of, 149. 
 murder of the populace of, 150. 
 narrow escape of, 156. 
 internal dissensions in, 157. 
 battle under the walls of, 168. 
 under Cinna, condition of, 168 
 weakness of the laws of, 178. 
 law against killing a citizen of, 191. 
 civil war threatened in, 20L 
 works of Csesar in, 240. 
 prospect of civil war in, 249. 
 parties in, 259. 
 effects of slavery in, 299. 
 the Jews in, 800. 
 Christians accused of the burning 
 
 of, 824. 
 
 persecution of Christians in, 825. 
 Paul preaches in, 825. 
 commencement of the decline oC, 
 
 847. 
 
 first irruption of the Gauls in, 870. 
 sacked by the barbarians, 4ia 
 ravaged by Genseric, 417. 
 condition of, 418. 
 condition of, while the popes wen 
 
 in France, 462. 
 rebellion in, 463. 
 schism in the church of, 467 
 three popes chosen in, 471. 
 deposition of the three popes of, by 
 
 the council of Constaace, 478.
 
 666 
 
 BOMB (continued), Insurrection in, 616. 
 papal outrages in, 616. 
 declared a republic, 516. 
 pope of, taken to France, 616. 
 declared an imperial and free city 
 
 bv Napoleon, 529. 
 ROMULUS, legend of, 20. 
 
 builds Rome, 20. 
 disappearance of, 22. 
 Rossius (L.) envoy to Csesar, 
 BUGGIERO, see SETTIMO. 
 BUTULIANS alarmed at the advancement of 
 
 the Trojans, 19. 
 death of the king of the, 19. 
 
 SABINES, robbery of the, 21. 
 
 united with the Romans, 81. 
 BABBITTS, revolt of, 152. 
 SACRED HILLS, origin of the, 84. 
 SAGUNTUM captured by Hannibal, 98. 
 SALLUST, governor of Utica, 284. 
 SAMNITEB, power of the, 69. 
 
 defeat the Romans, TO. 
 alleged defeat of, 74. 
 SAN MARINO, the republic of, 540. 
 SARDINIA apart of Italy, 17. 
 revolt in, 98. 
 
 surrender of, to Rome, 98. 
 at war with Austria, 657. 
 receives assistance from France, 
 
 558. 
 
 SATURNALIA, festival of the, 88. 
 SATURNIUS, his means of becoming consul, 
 
 150. 
 SAVOY joins France, 504. 
 
 incorporated into France, 568. 
 SAXA, commander of the army of Octavius, 
 
 26S. 
 SOJJVOLA (Quintus Marcus), anecdote of, 
 
 162. 
 
 death of, 166. 
 SOIPIO (Cornelius), attempts of, to stop 
 
 Hannibal, 100. 
 defeated and wounded by Hannibal, 
 
 106. 
 
 captures new Carthage, 128. 
 history of, 128. 
 
 effects a treaty with Gisco, 181. 
 mutiny of the troops of, 181. 
 elected consul, 182. 
 stratagem of, 184. 
 his conditions for the surrender of 
 
 Carthago, 185. 
 Interview between Hannibal and, 
 
 185. 
 
 title of honor conferred on, 186. 
 00IPIO (L.) elected consul with Pompey, 
 
 governor of Cilicia, 220. 
 defeated at Thapsus, 232. 
 death of, 232. 
 
 SELKUCIIS, assassination of, 79. 
 BKNATE, popular appointment of the, 69. 
 
 receives a messenger from Caesar, 
 
 201. 
 
 follows Pompey, 208. 
 agreement of the, to Caesar's plans, 
 
 209. 
 
 SEPTIMUS (L.) murders Pompey, 223 
 SEPTUAQINT made, 800. 
 
 SEBVIUB (TulUus) obtains crown of Borne, 
 
 children of, 25. 
 assassination of, 26. 
 SERRA DI FALCO, leader of the provisional 
 
 government, 667. 
 
 SETTIMO (Rnggiero) at the head of the pro- 
 visional government, 567. 
 SEVERUS (e ALEXANDER.) 
 SEVERUS (Septimus) marches to obtain the 
 
 throne of Rome, 851. 
 elected king, 352. 
 letter of, 858. 
 
 expedition of, to Britain, 864 
 death of, 354. 
 
 SEXTIUB (L.) elected tribune, 65. 
 chosen consul, 67. 
 is taken to Africa, 225. 
 flight to the Pyrenees, 286. 
 collects the aristocrats in Spain, 
 
 254. 
 determines to join Brutus in Gaul, 
 
 254. 
 SBITUB (Pompey) establishes himself in 
 
 Sicily, 267. 
 
 fleet of, blockades Italy, 273. 
 agreement with the triumvirs, 
 
 274. 
 
 treaty of, with Octavius, 277. 
 goes to meet Antony, 277. 
 is attacked by Antony, 278. 
 death of, 278. 
 SEXTUS IV. made pope, 478. 
 
 death of, 479. 
 SICILIAN VESPERS, history of the massacre 
 
 of the, 456. 
 
 SICILIANS, they depose Ferdinand, 568. 
 SICILY, a part of Italy, 17. 
 ravages in, SC. 
 
 Insurrection of slaves in, 160. 
 desolate at the time of Augustas 
 
 Caesar, 294. 
 
 demands of, on the king, 567. 
 taken possession of, by Garibaldi, 
 
 669. 
 SLAVERY, character of the eariy Roman, 
 
 120. 
 
 character of the Roman, 140. 
 effects of, on Rome, 299. 
 SLAVES in Rome, 75. 
 
 captured and sent to Rome, 18& 
 condition of the Roman, 148. 
 insurrection of Sicilian, 151. 
 successful insurrection of, 152. 
 prohibited carrying weapons, 16&, 
 SOCIAL WAR, cause of the, 155. 
 SOCIETY, anecdote illustrating the state ot, 
 
 at the time of Pompey, 194. 
 SOLFERINO, defeat of the Austrians at, 660. 
 SPAIN, in destitution, 175. 
 
 conquest of, completed, 210. 
 condition of, in the reign of Casai 
 
 Augustus, 295. 
 SPANIARDS, desire of, to receive the Romana 
 
 as masters, 129. 
 SPANISH SUCCESSION, war of the, 494. 
 SPARTACUS leader of gladiators, 176. 
 
 history of, 176. 
 SUBJECTS, rights of, 75. 
 SCLPICIUS organizes his partisans, 167. 
 
 attempts to defend Rome, 168. 
 defeat of, 158. 
 death of, 168.
 
 INDEX . 
 
 667 
 
 fcttA, sncce of, 1M. 
 
 made c< ami, 156. 
 
 dismissed from army, 158. 
 
 conquest of Koine by, 158. 
 
 sails for Greece, 159. 
 
 conquers Greece, 168. 
 
 makes peace with Mithridates, 168. 
 
 lands at Brundusium, 164. 
 
 confronts Carbo in Tuscany, 166. 
 
 enters Rome, 166. 
 
 terms made with Italians by, 168. 
 
 cruelty and tyranny of, 169. 
 
 treachery of, 169. 
 
 assumes the name of Felix, 170. 
 
 made consul, 171. 
 
 appointed dictator, 171. 
 
 latter d&ys and death ot, ITi 
 
 funeral of, 172. 
 8WACU8B, siege of, 119. 
 
 siege and surrender of, 120. 
 
 TACITUS, description by, of the persecution 
 
 of Christians, 826. 
 TACITUS (Augustus) chosen emperor, 878. 
 
 death of, 878. 
 
 TANCRED, character and death of, 443. 
 TARENTUM, capitulation of, 128. 
 TABJUINIUS (Lucius L), omen in favor of, 
 
 25. 
 
 elected king, 25. 
 
 death of, 25. 
 
 TAEQUINIUS (Lucius 11., or Superbus) seize* 
 the Roman throne, 26. 
 
 attacks Rome, 82. 
 
 flight and death of, 83. 
 TABQUINIUS (Sextos! outrage by, 28 
 
 driven from the city, 29. 
 
 attacks Rome, 80. 
 TAUROMINIUM, siege of, 162. 
 TKMPLES, erection of, 111. 
 TERRITORY, division of new, 89. 
 THAPSUS, battle of, 232. 
 THBODORIO overcomes Odoacer, 421. 
 
 Dvernment of, in Italy, 421. 
 
 death 
 
 THEODOSIUS succeeds Valens, 411. 
 
 successes of, 411. 
 
 death of, 412. 
 THEODOTUS assumes the scepter in Rome, 
 
 death of, 423. 
 
 THRASYMENE, battle of, 108. 
 THRONE, sale of the Roman, at auction, 849. 
 TIBERIUS (Cresar), see CJSSAR (Tiberius). 
 TITUS, K66 LARCIUS. 
 TITUS takes Jerusalem, 838. 
 arch of, in Rome, 834. 
 made emperor, 834. 
 Herculaneum and Pompeii buried in 
 
 the reign of, 835. 
 death of, 335. 
 TOTILA made king of Italy, 424 
 
 conquest of Rome by, 425. 
 death of, 425. 
 made emperor, 886. 
 constructs a bridge over the Dan- 
 ube, 836. 
 
 column erected in honor ot, 887. 
 conquests of in the east, 888. 
 death of, 889. 
 
 TBEBONTUS (0.) commands Caesar's army 
 
 TRIBES, discontent of the subjugated, 155. 
 TRIBUNES, adoption of the, 84. 
 
 elected from among the coin- 
 
 inoners, 52. 
 
 TRIUMVIBATB, Pornpey a member of, 190. 
 Casar a member of the, 190. 
 Crassus a member of, 190. 
 proclamation of second, 264, 
 acts of the, 267. 
 agreement of the second, 
 
 with Sextus, 274. 
 TBOY, record of, 17. 
 TULLUS HOSTILIUS chosen king, 28. 
 kills the Aibun king, 24. 
 death of, 24. 
 TURNUB, death of, king of Rutilians, 1. 
 TUSCANY, history of, 500. 
 
 U. 
 
 URBAN IV., condition of Rome under, 447. 
 gives Charles the crown of 
 
 Naples, 448. 
 death of, 448. 
 UBBAN V. visits Rome, 466. 
 
 death of, 466. 
 URBAN VI. chosen pope. 467. 
 
 at war with ClementVIL, 468. 
 residence at Rome, 469. 
 death of, 471. 
 UTBBOHT, peace of, 495. 
 
 division of Italy by the peace ot, 
 495. 
 
 V. 
 
 VALENS, colleague of Valentinian, 408. 
 at war with the Goths, 410. 
 death of, 410. 
 VALBNTINIAN crowned emperor, 408. 
 
 associates Valens with him- 
 
 self, 408. 
 wars of, 409. 
 death of, 409. 
 VALBNTINIAN III. made emperor, 415. 
 
 troubles during the reign 
 
 of, 416. 
 death of, 417. 
 VALERIAN made emperor, 871 . 
 
 defeated by Sapor, 372. 
 death of, 372. 
 VAEGUNTIUS (L.) chosen to assassinate 
 
 Cicero, 184. 
 VELIA, citadel of, 30. 
 VENICE, republic of, 441, 
 
 under the rule of the Council ol 
 
 Ten, 468. 
 
 at war with Genoa, 464. 
 destruction of the fleet of, 465. 
 attitude of, towards Napoleon, 
 
 507. 
 
 VERRES, desertion of, 166. 
 anecdote of, 178. 
 adopted by Aurelius, 848. 
 colleague of Aurelius, 348. 
 death of, 348. 
 VESPASIAN declared emperor by the army 
 
 defeats Vitellius, 882
 
 668 
 
 fEBP ASIAN (continued), declared emperor 
 
 cnaracter and death of, 884. 
 VITIGES declared king of Koine, 428. 
 
 taken captive by Belisarius, 424 
 VBTULIO, condemned by the triumvirate, 
 
 265. 
 
 escape of, 266. 
 VICTOR EMANUIL II. ascends the throne 
 
 of Sardinia, 555. 
 VILI.AFBANOA, peace of, 560. 
 
 Napoleon's reasons for ad- 
 vising the, 561. 
 VIEGILIA, embassage of, 87. 
 VIRGINIA, seizure of, by Appius Claudius, 
 
 death of, 60. 
 
 VmaiNius (Lucius), seizure of the daugh- 
 ter of, 48. 
 
 assassinates Virginia, 60. 
 VITSLLIUS (Auhis) is proclaimed emperor 
 
 by the army, 331. 
 defeats Otho near Mantua, 882. 
 declared emperor by the senate, 
 
 882. 
 
 ViTEi.Lnr8(mwM6<f), death of, 883. 
 VALERIA, scheme of, for deliverance, 8& 
 VOLSCIANS, the, attack Rome, 36. 
 
 attack Home, and are defeaUd, 
 
 VOLTJMNIA, embassage of, 87. 
 
 WAB, price of, 92. 
 
 WIVES, Koman method of obtaining, 81. 
 
 WOMEN, laws protecting, 21. 
 
 XANTHIPPITS, Intrusted with the command 
 of the Carthaginian toruwt, 
 
 defeats Begulus, 88. 
 
 dafMtoC.374.
 
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